Main Story - Book 1, Chapter 5: Name a More Iconic Duo, I’ll Wait

    The forest surrounding Bushwell came alive this time of day… even though Looma had been kept in an eternal night for many years, the plant-life seemed to still be biologically trained to tell the difference between day and night. Not once did Ghasquerade see a plant suspended in half-bloom due to the strangeness of Looma’s time, as if these unthinking bystanders were somehow tuning into something beyond their home to discern where they stood in the universe. The particular plants surrounding Bushwell always flowered at night, their glowing stamen giving the impression of stars hanging in the Twistwood canopies like fruit, or eyes peering down from the darkness.
    Ghasquerade must have gotten turned around in the thicket, because the walk home was taking… longer than expected. The once-recognizable landmarks of Bushwell became obscured by the ever-closing gaps of the trees, and the path he was walking became entangled upon itself until it faded out of view entirely. He only truly realized he was lost when he heard an unfamiliar voice from a clearing in the woods… no, multiple voices. An argument.
    Ghasquerade, when peering into the ongoing altercation, saw a beaten-up young Lucemorph kid at the feet of a burly-armed Amphiblot carrying what seemed to be a sentient boombox and a tattered doll which resembled a dog-like creature. Strangely, the doll was twisting around wildly, as if resisting the man’s grasp, but such a thing should be impossible… right?

Artist: Metriobarynx

    “Heh! That’s what playin’ hero gets ya, twerp! A fresh whoopin’ from ZABIZ AND ZIXEL!” the Amphiblot gloated, stomping on the kid’s discarded scarf. “Got paid a pretty penny to get this little freak!”
    He squeezed the doll, making it writhe more intensely and making the kid visibly upset.
    “You let Pupperit go, or I’ll…” the kid struggled to stand upright. Clearly a battle had been taking place long before Ghasquerade arrived.
    “Poor thing… I think you’ve had enough ass-whooping for one day!~ Let’s bounce, Zix.” 
The man hopped atop his hoverboard and began to make his escape, when he locked eyes (or, rather, singular eye) with Ghasquerade. His cocky grin dropped instantly into a baffled, open-mouthed frown.
    “Zixel, you were supposed to be keeping an eye out for spies!” he interrogated his handheld mechanical partner.
    “It is… hard to do that when you are carrying me, Zabiz.” Zixel responded in a genuine tone.
    Zabiz seemed to only become more upset at that response, and corrected course straight towards Ghasquerade at blistering speed.

    Ghasquerade barely had time to react before he was caught in a full-force shoulder-tackle, knocking the wind out from him and sending him slamming into a nearby tree, which groaned as it shed several leaves atop his beaten-up body. Hopping off his hoverboard, Zabiz picked Ghasquerade up by the hood and laughed in his face, flinging spit onto his mask with each raspy chortle.
    “I’d heard about you from the big guy, said to watch out for any diamond-faced weirdos that try and get in my way...” He held Ghasquerade at different angles, sizing him up like a freshly reeled-in fish. “Y’ def got the diamond-face, but he made you seem a lot… bigger.”
    Zabiz shrugged. “Whatever, guess you’re just as much of a dud as that cross-breed freak you lot hang around with.” He threw Ghasquerade to the ground, the force creating a cavity as he slid across the dirt. “Makes you easier to deal with, at least!”
    Ghasquerade could only let out a confrontational groan as Zabiz gestured towards Zixel, “Zixel? Think we vaporize this square?” Zixel nodded, and Zabiz balled his hand into a fist, which started to glow with a Brilliant yellow energy. Before he could let his attack loose, however, he was halted by a high-pitched voice quickly approaching from the way Ghasquerade came.
    “YOU JERK!!” Florella screamed as she leapt up and swiped her wand across Zabiz’s face, creating a magical shockwave which sent him backwards. “Don’t you DARE say that stuff about my brother AGAIN!”
    Ghasquerade - equal parts thankful and furious that his sister had followed him all this way - stammered to get a word in, but his weak voice was drowned out by Zabiz’s laugh.
    Zabiz wiped a bit of blood from his lip, glancing between the two, “Brother?” he chuckled, “ I see how it is… you’re that cross-breed ain’t’cha?”
    He stood up and pointed towards an infuriated Florella “You came all the way here from your cardboard box to peep your brother getting his ass whooped! Adorable!”
    “Shut. UP.” Florella sent another magic projectile at Zabiz, just narrowly missing his head as he dodged to the side.
    “Feisty, huh? Well, you oughta get better at aiming if you wanna hit the two of us with a wimpy little peashooter like that!”
    Zabiz charged up another punch, this time aimed at Florella. He weaved through each projectile she sent to him, approaching through each gap in the onslaught.
    “Any last words before I turn that little walnut brain of yours to mush?” Zabiz said triumphantly, prepared to throw a devastating blow right to Florella’s face.
    “Sure…” Florella pointed her wand right up to his nose, “Watch your six.”
    “Huh? I don-” CRACK! Zabiz was interrupted by a powerful roundhouse kick to the jaw from the Lucemorph kid he left alone, sending him tumbling and crashing into a tree and flinging Zixel off his shoulder. Zixel crashed to the floor, which seemed to strip the two’s hoverboard of any sort of magical powers, causing it to fall to the ground as well.

    “Ugh… Zixel?” Zabiz noticed Zixel’s busted-up hull, and rushed over to it, “ZIXEL?!”
    Desperately fiddling with his friend’s discarded pieces in his hands, he muttered to himself, “Zixel, no, no, no… I’ll take you to see Dad, he’ll know what to do, just hang in there…” 
He balled his hands into fists before turning to the kids with tears in his eye and yelled “KEEP YOUR STUPID DOLL, I DIDN’T WANT IT ANYWAY!” Then he scooped up the scraps of his friend and ran off.