Chapter Text
Looks To The Moon was thrown to the ground with a clang.
Immediately, she looked back to the gravitational anomaly that ripped her off her arm and threw her here. But within a few second? It was gone.
What?
A few seconds ago she was sitting with Ruffles in her chamber, and now she was… truthfully, she had no idea where she was. Or where Ruffles was. As for why she was here? An aforementioned gravity anomaly in her chamber ripped her off her arm. Off her arm. Fully. As if she wasn’t already doomed enough.
“What the- Woah! Hi guys!” An excited voice came from behind her.
And from the sound of it, she wasn’t the only one this happened to. Even before she stood up and turned around to see the speaker, she knew who it was.
Behind her, on the floor in a lump was No Significant Harassment, Seven Red Suns, and Five Pebbles.
“Oh! Hi?”
Pushing aside her confusion for the situation she immediately reached out a hand to help them up. She was a big sister after all. Sig took her hand and shakily stood up.
“Jeez! I am not used to standing. Did you have to deal with this that whole time? I think I feel even worse for you now.”
Moon sighed.
“What’s in the past is in the past. It is nice to see you though, despite these… unique circumstances. Suns?” She reached her hand out again.
Sun simply nodded at her and took her hand to stand.
The only one left was Pebbles. In all honesty, he looked pathetic. Being the newest model of the local group other than Innocence, he was decently smaller than Moon and the others. He was sitting on the floor, simply shielding his eyes from the surrounding light. Moon crouched down beside him.
“Pebs?” She said softly.
His eyes widened, as if he just processed the situation he was in. And the fact that moon was there too. He wasn’t doing great was he? He scrambled to sit up as he spoke.
“Wha- where am I” Pebbles hissed a bit. “And why is there light? Wai- AM I OFF MY ARM? Moon, what is happening?!??”
“Nothing, your ok!” Moon said, attempting to calm him. “Well, technically not nothing… I don’t know where we are. If I’m assuming correctly you three also got ripped from your structure by that gravitational anomaly?” She glanced at Suns and Sig, who both nodded at her.
“I mean really Moon, no need to be so formal with it,” Sig stated. “That bitch was a portal.”
“Hey! Don’t swear!” Moon quickly replied.
Suns butted in. “Despite his… choice of phrasing, that is most likely correct. I mean, an anomaly that sent us to an unknown location after passing through it fits the hypothetical description of a portal pretty well,” he stated.
Pebbles spoke up as well. “I will be honest here. I am not exactly in the.. greatest state of.. anything currently, so I am unaware of how I ended up here.”
“Who,” replied Sig almost immediately.
“Me you moronic-“
“Asked.” Sig stared at Pebbles with a (metaphorical) shit eating grin. Pebbles on the other hand was glaring so hard, that if looks could kill, Sig would have the rot too.
“Hehe, I am just amazing aren’t I?” said Sig. “So, now, maybe let’s talk about some other important things like where we are and how the f-“ moon glared “…heck, we’re functioning right now, without our superstructures, y’know?”
Sun started. “I am unaware of of the answer to either of those. Though I am aware of the fact that I can still feel my structure.”
“Same. Well, what limited amount of it I could feel before I got here,” pebbles spoke.
Moon let out a short hum, contemplating the current situation. Maybe-
“WAWAWA” *thunk!*
Moon (once again) tumbled down, but for a different reason this time.
Ruffled, who had just barreled at her a second ago was now happily babbling an top of her.
“Oh! Ruffles! Your ok! Thank goodness, I was a bit worried there!”
Sig over dramatically pointed to the mousey critter and shouted.
“SCUG!!”
Suns looked confused but content. He always appreciated the slug cats. Pebbles was in shock for a second, then glared, then looked away, guilty.
Sig stumbled to Moon, over joyed.
“Moon!!! You didn’t tell me you had a slug cat! Aaahhhh they’re so cute!!”
He scooped Ruffles up into his arms as Moon stood up and dusted herself off.
“Wawa!” Replied Ruffles smiling at the iterator.
“Ah! Yes! That is Ruffles! I don’t really know where he came from, but he’s been a huge help, and great company.”
Ruffles bounded out of Sigs grasp to run circle around the group, making happy wa’s as he did.
The group was quiet for a good second. Suns started to say something, but quickly stopped when Ruffles stood dead still and let out a low gurgle. Turning to see what had worried the cat, she saw an… odd creature.
Standing in a doorway was a being that looked oddly similar to her creators. It was bipedal and taller than her, and wore clothes like they did, but there was noticeable differences as well. It had no mask or bindings, as well as long hair, something usually frowned upon. It’s clothes were also decently different style wise. Moon hadn’t seen anything like it, even within Metropolises street wear, which was said to be rather outlandish compared to most fashion. It also just… looked a bit different in a way Moon found it hard to describe.
The creature broke the silence by making an odd noise. Some syllables sounded like stuff from their language, but not in an order that would form anything word like.
Sig, who looked just as confused as her, spoke. “Hello?”
In return, the creature put on a disgruntled expression and turned out the door, making another noise. In response, two other creatures appeared and entered the room in full. The first one, with light yellowy hair and a dull pink eyes, repeated the first noise it had made.
Sig glanced at Suns and Moon. “You think I should repeat the noise it made? It seem like they have a language. Maybe it’s a greeting of some kind?”
Moon shrugged. Suns looked a bit nervous.
“Maybe not. It might lead them on into believing we know their language, and I don’t think that’s the best idea.”
Sig sighed. “Ok then. But that still leaves the question of what-“
“RUFFLES!”
Moon shouted at the cat who had lunged at the creatures and easily hopped on one’s head. One of them, with very long brown hair and red attire, pulled out a weapon. A flat, sharp blade of metal. They quickly and carefully pointed directly at the scug, who froze.
But, this was Ruffles we’re talking about. He didn’t stay frozen for long.
The aquatic critter leaped towards the weapon, flipping in mid air and snatching it from the red creature. Ruffles ran behind Moon, wrapping around her legs and letting out another growl, clearly a warning not to mess with them.
“Ruffle! Haven’t you learned anything from the scavs?” Moon reprimanded, putting her hand out near Ruffles. He handed the item to Moon though not before giving her a sorry look with big watery eyes.
Moon sighed and approached the creatures, holding the the item out to them and bowing slightly. “I am very sorry for his behavior,” she stated, despite the fact that they most likely couldn’t understand her. The red one simply glared worse than pebbles, the pink one taking the object instead, and squeaking something to the iterator.
Turning back to the others, she scooped up her cat, much to its dismay. “Well, seems as though someone has to babysit Ruffles. I’ll do what I can to help, but I think I should focus on keeping him under control.”
“That’s fine. Probably for the best,” pebbles spoke, Moon finding a place to sit against the wall.
Sig only grinned.
“Oooookay! Time to use some significant charm on them!”
Moon sighed. This would be something.
—————————————————————
Keade was having a great time.
Apparently, because Miu was a world class idiot, Keade doesn’t have to do that terrible algebra test she had been dreading, and instead gets to meet people from other dimensions.
Earlier today, Miu was working with another ultimate she didn’t quite catch the name of, and some how managed to open, so far, 20 portals to different realms, with people and creatures from each realm being thrown out of the portal and into hopes peak.
Other than this being a huge scientific discovery, it was also a huge problem. Within only an hour or two, almost 50 people from other dimensions already here. And since Hopes Peak was nothing but resourceful, both Miu and the other ultimates class were called in to assist, along with a good amount of others.
And turns out Kaede, with few (currently) useful talents other than her charm, was not sent back to class, but instead thrown to the wolves every time a new portal formed.
It’s an introverts nightmare, but Kaede was finding it pretty fun. Of course, she was one of the only people having fun, but she was nonetheless.
She was sent to work with Maki and Shuichi. Shuichi was there to take initial notes on subjects. Kaede questioned it at first, but with all the horror stories of what could happen when dimensions mixed, she realized maybe it wasn’t that bad of an idea. Maki was the first line of defense. They really only gave her one order, and (while Kaede thought it was a bit harsh) it was very effective; If someone or something is acting violent, neutralize it.
So with the team assembled, they were put to work. The result? It. Was. Amazing.
From talking toys to fellow pink enthusiasts, Keade was meeting plenty of friendly faces. And while some interactions were… less than pleasant (she hissed at Keade. The little girl hissed like a feral cat) most went great.
So when Miu called them back into there portal room (“Bitch, emo, emo bitch, get moving, we have another!”) the only thing Kaede was concerned about is wether the ice in her iced mocha would melt while she worked.
Near the door stood the pianist, followed by her friend closely behind. Grabbing the door handle, she quickly shook off her nerves, and the door clicked open.
Whatever odd noises were in the room before, were no longer there. The 5 being in the room were entirely quiet, just staring at Kaede.
“Hello!”
The things looked like robots. They were about 4-5 feet tall with big eyes and metal antenna, except for the small fish like creature with big round eyes (clearly not a robot) that stared from the ground.
The one closest the the entrance was blue with coral accents, with an evidently old white dress draped over her. The second closest was a sunny yellow, coincidentally with a sun on its forehead. It shared the same big black eyes as the first, and wore a dusty lavender dress. The third really did look like an alien. It had white eyes and a green body, with an oversized purple shirt and magenta scarf. The furthest robot was a baby pink with long thin antenna and an orange cloak. The fish… thing, had a pale blue body, with wide pinkish eyes and pink fins. It looked like a really weird cat in her opinion.
Breaking their silence, the green on warbled something to her. Something that was very clearly not a language they knew. Kaede called Shuichi and Maki into the room.
Keade spoke to it again. “Uhh, hello?”
The robots only looked at each other and started making more odd noises.
Kaede turned to her fellow ultimates. “So, uhh, clearly there’s a bit of a language barrier here.”
“Yeah…” Shuichi responded. “We could try to communicate with drawings maybe? I mean, it’s clear they can talk to each other somehOWAA-“
Shuichi froze and yelled as the the fish thing leaped on to his head. The blue robot also made a loud noise. Maki quickly pulled Kaede back and whipped out her knife, pointing it at the thing.
“Shuichi, stay calm.”
“Getitoffgetitoffgetitoff-“ he spoke panickedly.
Maki snapped at him a bit. “What part of ‘stay calm’ do you not understand dumbass?”
“Sorry!”
Just as Shuichi finished speaking, Maki and the fish came to a standstill, glaring red eyes staring into wide innocent pink ones. Then suddenly-
“SHIT!” Maki shouted at the thing did a whole flip in mid air and snatched the knife right out of her hand.
They were up against something alright.
Giving an almost smug look at the glowering Maki, it sat partially curled around the blue robots legs. The robot, in a tone that Kaede could somehow tell was stern like Kirumi, said something to the animal, and took the knife back.
Maki put her arm infront of the weaker ultimates as it approached, but instead of attacking, it… bowed down?
Taking a slight bow, the blue robot held out the knife to Maki and said something in its garbled tone. Maki just glared, and Kaede took the knife.
As Kaede handed the knife to Maki and the Blue robot went to the corner with what is seemingly her pet, Maki muttered to the other two ultimates.
“ I hate that stupid wet rat .”
“Don’t be that mean!” Shuichi responded. “I think it’s… kinda cute? Kinda scary too, but still.”
“Huh.” Kaede was at a loss for words.
Instead of talking, the trio just stared blankly at the bots, watching them (assumably converse) for a few minutes.
Shuichi spoke.
“…we might have to rely on drawings.”
Neither her or Maki responded, but the robots sure did. The pink one and the green ones conversation got more intense, the green one motioning to Shuichi. The sunny one tried to but in once but ended up backing up to stand by the blue one.
As the trio watched intently, the robotic alien simply put his hand out to the pink one and turned to them. In a still kinda messed up voice, it actually said something they could understand.
“Hello!”
Keade grinned. “It said something! In English! Maybe it can understand us!”
Shuichi put a hand on her shoulder. “I think it just repeated what it heard us say.”
Her smile fell a bit. “Well, at least it’s a fast learner then.”
The green one turned triumphantly to the pissed off pink one. They beeped at warbled at each other again for a hot sec before the yellow one actually butt in. It said something, and the pink one responded by somehow projecting a screen on the ground. It did something, then ushered the others over to look at it as well. After a few minutes, the projection stopped and they looked at the trio.
The green one (once again) stepped forward (which Maki was clearly not a fan of).
“Hello! I am No Significant Harassment, but you can call me Sig!”
The pink one immediately bickered at it.
“You could’ve just said ‘I’m’ instead of ‘I am’.”
‘Sig’ glared. “Well sorry that I can not speak a whole language perfectly after just skimming the files.”
The pink one scoffed. “Just let me do the talking.”
“Ok.”
Kaede was shocked, but honestly glad. A language barrier would’ve been a nightmare. Shuichi, didn’t even look up as he furiously wrote in his notebook. Maki looked concerned.
The pink one walked in front of them and gave a short bow before speaking.
“Hello. I am iterator designation Five Pebbles, though for conveniences sake, feel free to call me Pebbles. Could you possibly inform us of where we currently are and why we are here, if you have that knowledge of course?”
Kaede stared at Pebbles for a sec before responding. Shuichi took that second to tease her.
“What? To many big words?” He said with a smug smile.
She swatted him with her hand. “Oh, shut it! Anyways,” she turned her attention to Pebbles. (What’s with these names?)
“Hi, uh, Pebbles. Nice to meet you! My name is Kaede, and these are my Friends Maki and Shuichi! I usually greet people a bit more but since you asked, I’ll just tell you what’s going on. You are currently at Hopes Peak Academy due to a portal incident type thing,” she stuttered out. “While we are going to try to get you guys home soon as possible, this is kinda the first time this has happened… Ever. So, it might take a while. Hopes Peak will provide the basic necessities to you for free while your here though. So, I look forward to getting to know you all!”
The green one, Sig, that’s his name, Sig, who had been looking at a projection again, quickly closed it and spoke. “Nice to meet you too Kaede! And by the way, don’t mind Pebbles being so bland. I’m a lot funner than that!”
Pebbles glared again. “Funner isn’t a word.”
“What? Yes it it! The root fun plus the suffix er. It makes perfect sense. It’s a word.”
“Not formally its not.”
“Does this situation seem formal?”
As the two bickered, the Sunny one and the blue one stepped up to them and bowed. These ones were the tallest of the group, and the blue one was still holding the fish-cat-thing.
With a smooth and calm voice, the yellow one spoke softly. “Hello. I am Seven Red Suns, but feel free to shorten than to Suns.”
The blue one chimed in as well. “And I am Looks to the Moon, though most call me Moon, or Big Sis Moon. I apologize for their behavior, they argue a lot. I also apologize for my scug. He is a very high energy creature.”
“Oh, it’s fine.” Shuichi replied.
“…can I pet it?” Kaede added.
Despite having no mouth, she could still see the smile one Moons face. “Of course! His name is Ruffles!”
As Kaede touched it, it made a loud, happy ‘wa!’. It was very smooth and slimy, not the best texture, but how adorable it was almost fully made up for it.
Maki spoke. “I think its time to pass them off now guys. We don’t know when a new portal could be opening.”
Shuichi and Kaede nodded.
The pianist spoke. “Follow me guys.”