Chapter 1: Interspatial feels




First things first. I’m the realest, or at least I think so.  
“How the hell did we get here”?, I said. Or, thought, kinda?
I had no body to talk with. I was energy. I tried “looking” only seeing a strange blue black void with spirals of gas of some sort. Around “me” there were “lines” that spanned forever, some branching off into other “lines”. I tried manifesting a “body”, the best I got was an outline filled with firefly like dots. “I” was green, but my perceived right arm was purple.  A few more figures that looked like people but different colors, the closest to “me” was a calming blue, three other figures seemed to be floating away, to a different “line”, Pink,Yellow, and Orange. Until they merged with the line, a thought, seemed to be announced as they left, “Farewell, Comrades!” three different voices, all in unison.
 As “I” and the other figure floated toward the “line” unable to steer or even move, a feeling of sadness washed over “us”.  “No, come back!” I thought, or spoke. 
”Don’t go” 
Moments later, we were enveloped in light and pictures, memories of our adventure. The beginning, the creation of a world ending device, meeting of friends, and subsequent ending of the world. Memories that just didn’t seem like mine. The Battleship, rusting away. Burying Souljaboy’s sunglasses. Crying, into the sunset,on a destroyed world. Staring at the corpse of a friend in the Eye. Then, new scenes emerged. Clouds, with rain following suit. An island, boats, a buoy with indiscernible writing. A fire. Warmth, my first new feeling in this brave new world. A bittersweet warmth. 




Chapter 2: Awakening


The first thing I saw was a Buoy. It was stuck in a tree. Right above me. Apparently I was flat on my back. Looking up. Now I wouldn't consider myself a buoy expert. But I recognized the buoy as one they used at Guilford Lake. A spot I used to frequent before the world ended. 
“Bababooey” I said in response to the thought.
 To which a short chuckle came in response. I sat up, looking around to see a vaguely familiar sight. A small campsite. Surrounded by trees, on a hill, with water lapping gently around it.
 “Ding! Ding! Ding! It's an island, dumbass!” I thought out loud.
 To any bystander, I was a strange boy, waking up from a coma and immediately degrading himself, as was my character by now. On the second scan of this island I saw another, a slimmer figure. Short hair, unseasonal choice of attire, a hoodie, shorts and a wreath of chicken feathers around their neck. Obviously, it was Samantha.  They laughed at my bababooey remark to the buoy in the trees. It was faded but the “No Wake”. I laughed a good and hearty laugh, like a goose, being strangled with a toy grabber arm. Standing up was a new beast however. (You try standing up after being ripped up and put back together again.) After struggling like a baby calf I stood up, feeling a slight disproportional weight coming from my right arm. My day be so fine then, boom, metal arm. 




Chapter 3: Yohoho and a bottle of rum




After the successful awakening event on No Wake Island, Samantha and I searched the campsite for anything helpful. Aside from a cassette tape I had on me. We found some canned beans, a small handgun with a cool skull design, some ammunition. A map of Guilford Lake, with a circle scrawled around a random point in the middle of the lake. Weird. And a jury rigged transistor radio that seemed to be jammed to a specific frequency.  An external battery pack, longer and thicker antenna, and an LCD panel obviously didn't belong, connected with a few loose wires coming out of the sides. I showed this finding to Sam and they jumped back in fear, still scarred from the 420DS incident. I decided to keep this near me and let Sam deal with the fear of technology. After fighting off 2 squirrels for some cup noodles, I decided to turn on the radio. It played some music, soft classical. As we searched the island we found a boat. A pontoon boat, tied to a tree.
 “Looks like someone forgot to put this one in the pasture!” I said in a very bad cowboy voice. 
“O’vsly” Sam responded, in an equally bad impression. 
Once the island was picked clean we boarded our new vessel The “Ol Bessy Lou”  Working the thing was interesting, doing the Macarena was not part of the instructions, yet we did it anyway.  Once we got on the water, I noticed that the lake was much bigger than the lake I thought it was. Using the Island as a landmark, I deduced that we were nearly over the Guilford Lake Camp-Ground. Figuring this was a good spot, I went fishin’. Caught me 3 bluegill and a Coke Bottle. The bottle was faded and only said Coc. Resulting in a 20 minute back and forth about the pronunciation, not an argument but playful banter. Finally some sense of normalcy. After our success in rustlin’ up some dinner, our radio started chiming. Sam nearly fell off the boat and I had to console them after gaining my own bearings. The LED displayed “F is broadcasting” 




Chapter 4: Houseboatwife Radio




The soft music turned to static. Static into more static until it seemed like it was heavy. We succumbed to the mindless waves of electricity until we could hear it resonating in our very skulls. His voice, like a light in the dark, a knife through the cloth, a creaky board in the dead of night, came through with such luster. 
“Yeah, im feeling a bit crabby, and I ask of you dear listener, would you like to know why?.” 
The brashness of the voice immediately broke the trance.
 “BECAUSE I HAVE CRABS, THATS RIGHT, CRABS! I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE AMUSING, ALL FUN AND GAMES TO GO TO NEO MEXICO AND HAVE SEX WITH A GENETICALLY ENGINEERED CATGIRL NAMED “LOS CANGREJOS”! TURNS OUT IN SPANISH THAT MEANS  “THE CRABS”! I PAID SEVEN HUNDRED O’NELLA RUBLES FOR THE CRABS! So my dear listeners, next time you take a visit to Neo Mexico and decide to have sex with a hooker whose name in that language means “The Crabs”, maybe you’ll boot up your PDA.”
 We were dumbfounded, and utterly flabbergasted.  We soon fell unconscious. Sleepytime. 








Chapter 5: Asbestos flavored 


Waking up from our premature nap, I was craving asbestos. Sam woke up a few seconds later. I pondered about how familiar the voice through the radio was. Getting into the driver's seat made me feel special, like mommy’s little sailor, although I was thousands  of miles away from my mommy. Driving a boat isn't that hard, especially downgrading from a warship to a small pleasurecraft. The hard part is the sunken trees that exist for some reason.
 “You know Conner, that voice sounded like you.”
 Sam said while packing their rucksack up with some assorted plumage from a seabird. 
“I know dude, kinda funky. For some reason I felt a strange connection, even if he was talking about his STDs.” I replied.
 “I don't like the sound of static in my head either.”
 “Same” they replied, very drawn out. 
On the horizon, a large object jutted against the plains of water. Of course, being young adventurous teens, we went towards it (Cus why not).  




Chapter 6: New Guilford


Our shiny new boat was a bit loud, and not shiny at all. But she got the job done, and we couldn't complain. We did anyway.  The wheel felt sticky to turn, and we had plywood for a floor. Tip Toeing on a boat is difficult when it's going 9 knots. Oh yeah, the object in the water, we were getting closer. As the object became less of a black splotch and more detailed, it turned out to be a large group of trailers and RVs. On water. We pulled into the large grouping of floating mobile homes.  Thankfully they had a dock. We docked our boat with minimal confrontation. An arch akin to a highway overhead road sign read, “Welcome to the village of New Guilford” greeted us to the community. As we walked along the plank wood platforms between the RVs we came across a town square esc, uh, town square. Small stalls and even Trailers decorated as stores made up a majority of this square. The noisy square was filled with children running happily to and fro, and vendors selling small crystals and paper. We browsed the stands selling an assortment of items, from dried fish to small pamphlets relating to household “spells” for some reason. Apparently a form of magic was commonplace here. We wandered from shop to shop, but as soon as a man who looked like MC Ride from Death Grips  walked into the square, the children stopped and rushed to him and we took notice. 
“Teacher!” “Good Morning Mr.Stefan!”. The kids seemed delighted to see him.
The man spoke and the students and teacher started walking down a walkway.
 “Yo, Sam” I nodded and half whispered, “That guy looks familiar, and I want an autograph. Let's follow em’”
 “Aight, whatever” They responded, distracted by the sights of the small aquatic village. 
Trailing behind the group nonchalantly we overheard something about a swim class. The class walked to a dock.  The children turned to their teacher,
 “Mr.Stefan! Mr.Stefan! Is it time for swim class?”
 A child spoke over the cacophony of small children talking. The man spoke
 “Alright class”, Now I knew it was him, his voice matched up to the music he made. “We’re going to be going over different swimming styles, remember, stick to your swim partner, and no ins and outs.”
 The children skillfully dived into the water in pairs.






Chapter 7: Mr.Cringeside


With every step I took I felt more confident. I was gonna get MC Ride’s autograph. “Uh, hello, Mr.MC Ride? Sir? I was wondering if I could get an autograph?”
 I was doing it, coming out of my cage if you will, my confidence spiked.
 “How do you know that name, boy.” He spoke, not even turning.
 If you’re familiar with a spike, you know that it drops hard.  My gut SANK. A feeling of pure condensed dread jabbed into my very core.
 “U-hh, you look like him, and you sound just like him.” “I’m a Big fan” 
He turned, and by the look in his eyes, he was feeling the exact same way. His eyes started to tear up, he backed away slightly. 
“C-Conner, I thought you died, long ago. How?”
 My fear turned to confusion. 
“Um, how do you know my name? And, I didn’t die? Yet?” 
He stared me in the eye, almost sternly, but not angry? Sam eyed the man who was near breakdown, analyzing him. 
 “Tell me something Conner, do you remember me?” 
I shook my head. “Uh, no sir?” 
He continued “Do you remember her? Please tell me you do.”  Don’t you remember what we did? Or even our contributions to the world? You don’t recall the horrific shit we did in the name of alchemy? And the price we had to pay?”
 This guy was spiraling.
 “What about Jeffery and Jovan? How about me? Can’t you remember your own wife and kids? Tell me its's fake. Please fucking tell me you’re joking!” 
After taking in this desperate and heartfelt speech, being my tonedeaf self, I replied bluntly,
 “Sir, I don’t wanna be rude, but I just got here, and I only know you as the Death Grips guy. I'm sorry, but I  have no idea what you’re going on about.” 
My response seemed to echo for a minute in his mind. He held his forehead with his palm, seemingly staring at the boardwalk below. 
 “God. I-Im sorry, but you look just like him.” He sighed and looked up at us.
 “Come with me please, I wanna talk to you.”
 He started walking, noticing we weren't moving, as Sam and I were just staring at him, he gestured for us to follow him. As we moved from the small landing, the kids called out to their teacher.
 “Mr.Stefan, where are you going?!?!”  He responded in a somewhat forced normal tone, 
“ I’ve got a meeting, class is cancelled today.”
 He continued walking. Much to the displeasure of the children. We started down the one way streets of plank wood.
       For a floating town, New Guilford was surprisingly dense with buildings. After about 5 or 6 minutes (you try telling time after all that) We came to a quaint trailer, painted as blue as the sky. He unlocked the door and told us to come in. Sam kept a hand on the gun in their hoodie pocket. 




Chapter 8: Da Truf.wmv




The interior of MC Ride’s home was surprisingly well kept, aside from a workstation on the far side of the living room. 
“ I apologize for my outburst. I don’t know what came over me. Please, make yourselves at home. Sit a minute, we’ve got much to discuss.”
 Despite being well kept, a floating trailer is still a trailer. Most of the furniture was salvaged, but some parts were held together. Like the wood had grown that way all along. 


We sat on the off-green couch. It was rather scratchy but we ignored it. I could see in Sam’s pocket that they were fidgeting with the small revolver, obviously iffy about the whole situation. Mr.Ride rummaged around in a drawer, then produced a small vaguely gun-shaped tool. A screen connected with screws and a mess of wires coming from what should be the slide of the weapon. 
“Alright, I need to run a test. To see if you are who I think you are.” 
He messed with a few switches, and the screen awoke. He walked over towards me, and asked for my arm. He held the device up to it and...... Sam with reflexes unseen before, pulls their gun and shoves it under his jawbone, aiming for the brain. 
“Whoah, hold on! No need to get viole..”
 *Click* Sam’s thumb pulls back the hammer, arming the weapon.   
 “I’ll do it.”
    Ride raised his hands.  Sam had a look I had never seen in their eyes. Anger, paranoia, and determination. Trying to diffuse the tension, I spoke up. 
“Sam, gun, hand it to me please.”
 Sam shook their head stubbornly.
 “Come on. It's not worth it.”
 Shaking again,
 “No”, a pause. Then a yell,
 “Not until he tells me the fuck he’s trying to do!”
 MC Ride seemed relieved at that statement. And he chuckled, despite the harsh tone. Sam, not amused, pushed the gun harder into his jaw.
 “Oh, I get it. Hey, its cool, its cool.” 
He spoke calmly and effortlessly, as if he’s been held at gunpoint before. 
“This is a scanner, I’m gonna do a DNA test. That’s all, no more, no less. All I have to do is scan a bit of skin.”
 Calmed by this, Sam lowered the gun. 
“Alright, but if I see anything I don’t like, it’s gonna end badly.” 
Sam looked a bit uneasy as Ride scanned my forearm. Burning a tiny bit of hair off in the process. And waited for his results. He walked to his workbench, and connected the scanner to a computer kept on the corner of his table. A monochrome green terminal flashed to life, showing the telltale double helix, then another. It seemed to be comparing two strands of genetic material. Several boxes came and went on the screen, before a “MATCH” flashed in the center.
 “Yup, As I expected.”








Chapter 9: I woke up like this


“So if my machine is right, you’re Conner.” MC Ride, said, turning to us.
 “Uh, yeah? I’m him.” I said sarcastically.
 “Nonono, like you’re a genetic match for Conner. Which is weird, because, uh. Hmmm, how do I say this? Uh,  He’s dead.” MC Ride said hesitantly. 
The room got quiet for a bit.  Me and Sam just kinda stared at each other, not really knowing what to say in this situation. Ride, trying to diffuse the obvious tension, said,
  “So, uh, you guys want something to drink? I got tea and stuff.” 
Sam perked up at the mention of tea, and a small smile formed.
 “Ooh, I want tea, I haven’t had tea in FOREVER!”
 (Note to self, give Sam tea)
 “Heh heh, And the stone cold killer warms up!” Ride chuckled a bit and went to a cupboard, “And for you, Conner, I remember your favorite. Black coffee with sugar, am I correct?”
 “Uh, not at all, but I haven’t had coffee in a minute, screw it, Coffee please.” I responded, kind of confused.
 Ride stood for a second, then realized his mistake.  He silently fixed two mugs of coffee, and a mug of tea. He came and sat on the couch, and set the drinks down for us.
 “So, let's discuss the elephant in the room. You.”
 Ride started as he took a sip.
 “So, what's up with the arm?”
 I thought a moment, wondering truly, how I got the arm.
 “Uh, honestly I don’t know. It just was kinda here when I woke up. I haven't really thought about it till now ” 
I said, motioning to my shoulder. Ride looked confused, 
“When you woke up? Ok, let's start from the beginning, where did you come from dude?”
We explained our story, everything from stealing a 3DS to stealing a boat to fighting the 4DS. He was kinda lost near the end, but he understood.
 “I can tell you two have been through alot. Hell, you look like it.”
 Ride continued 
“God knows how far from home,and your friends you guys are. That's rough.  If you need someone to rely on, I'm here for you” 
 “Thanks, Mr.MC Ride.” I said. 
“No, just call me Stefan.”








Chapter 10:Michael Jackson eat your heart out




Ride was a gracious host. Even though Sam almost killed him. But he treated us like family, and we needed his support more than ever. He allowed us to stay in his home. A floating camping trailer. It was small, not very well lit, rocked on the lake's waves, and a little drafty, but overall was very home-like and pretty well decorated. From the way he talked and walked, his put together appearance, Ride was a far shot from what I knew him as. And that was a madman. Now actually intelligible in speech, he was kind to Sam.


 Although, It seemed hard for him to talk to me. Every other sentence was always a "remember when" statement. He always stopped for a while after that. I think he realized I wasn’t who he thought I was. Because we were crashing with him, he let us use his shower. 
“God, how I missed those. Being deconstructed and reconstructed again gets you clean. But waking up in the dirt doesn't.” I told Ride, before going into his bathroom.
 Everything was clean, neat and tidy. Stefan doesn’t screw around with hygiene. The mirror seemed to have a problem with it. I couldn’t recognize the man in it. He had the same arm as me, cold and metallic, almost like his eyes. It didn’t match up with what I thought was “me”. I could have sworn that “I” was not as tall, and that my hair was a bit shorter. The most defining feature was the arm. It stuck out like a sore thumb. It looked similar to a suit of armor. Like a knight. Maybe I’d call this man “Lancelot” because that sounds cool or “Guts” because I was weeaboo trash. But, everyone called him  “Conner”. 
So, we had a name, I guess that counts for something . 




Chapter 11:Midnight Rendezvous




Showers are nice. They’re warm and feeling clean is great. I haven’t had a hot shower in ages. I don’t think the Battleship even had hot water. The best part about showers is that everyone looks silly with frizzy hair. Even Sam, whose grim demeanor seemed to wash away like dirt after they left the shower. Sam seemed livelier which in turn made everyone else happier.


 Of course it was late, and we had barely slept since we arrived in the Guilford Region. Turns out, Ride’s couch was also a bed. One of those pull out ones. He had even set out sheets and blankets for us. Ride was thoughtful. One problem, there was only a single bed, and I haven shared a bed with anyone except my brother, and that was during vacations. (God, that seems like forever ago.) Eh, whatever. Im gonna be asleep in two seconds anyway, who cares. Sam was asleep before I could get into my side of the couch. And as I was gonna lay down, Ride came out from his room shoving something in his pocket. 
“Yo, Conner. I was gonna go chill on the roof, you should join.”
 Ride was a bro, seeing the awkwardness I was about to enter and saving me from it. He opened a hatch, and put up a small ladder. I’d never seen a rooftop sitting area before. Mostly because all of the roofs I had been on, you weren't supposed to be on.
“Come sit” Ride said, pulling up a yard chair next to his.
 I did as he asked and sat down.
 “Wow” I gasped.
 “New Guilford is beautiful at night.” 
Ride sat in his chair.
 “Yeah, it’s crazy that it even exists in the first place.” 
He had a cooler next to him He pulled an unmarked brown bottle out and offered it to me. 
“Want one?” he asked,
 “Sorry, man. I don't drink” I responded, almost shocked.
 “Shit bruh, I don’t drink much either. It’s Kombucha. I’ve been working on perfecting it.”
 Ride had a way of talking that seemed so familiar, so friendly, it was intriguing. “Sure, I'll try it. Why not?” I responded, taking the bottle.
 We sat, with our drinks. Looking at the town on the lake.
 “You look just like him, you know.” He said, seemingly out of nowhere.
 “I mean I guess that's expected, considering you’re him.” 
Confused, I responded “Uh, like who?”
 “Like Conner. I knew him when he was alive.” Ride said things like he expected me to know them.
 “So, he’s dead?”I asked. 
 Ride continued, “Yeah” He exhaled, 
 “Has been for a long time now. It’s been a while. Few hundred years or so?”
 I turned my head sharply, 
“Excuse me what!? What year is it?”I questioned, a bit exasperated, 
 “Shit man, like Twenty Two Thirty Something, I stopped keeping track after a while.”
 Ride responded, obviously trying to remember.
 “So you’re telling me its Twenty Two Thirty Something and I’m dead?” I responded, I was getting a little louder now. 
“Well you’re not dead, obviously. My Conner is. The sheer fact that you are sitting next to me proves he wasn’t crazy.” Ride pointed with his bottle towards me.
 “He always believed in alternate worlds or something like that. Heh heh,Everyone thought he was batshit insane!” He laughed, remembering a long forgotten time. 
“Everyone thought that Samantha chick got to his head or something. Heh, only took ya a few hundred years to get here!”
To be completely honest, I was kinda lost. 
“So I'm guessing I'm in a different world?  And from what you said, I guess I already existed here. And so did Sam.” 
Ride took a long swig from his bottle,
 “Ayup, you both lived and died already, he left behind some crazies too. Heh, they were good kids. Pretty sure he still has some great grandson somewhere. Cornelius, I think.”
 He took another swig, 
“Me and Conner were good friends, we were researchers in some fancy lab out in Vegas. He always came up with some crackpot theories about “world lines” or something. No one else took him seriously, except me.”
 “Few hundred years later, he was right. Heh.” 
This was a lot to take in, yet he continued 
“He wanted me to give whoever could pass his little word riddle test thing, he had a box for them, said it was important.”
 I slouched a bit in the chair, taking everything in, 
“What's the question?” I asked curiously,
 “Its a little hazy, but does the “Wind Fish” have any significance to you?” he questioned. 
I thought for a minute, thinking of that giant whale. 
“Only thing that comes to mind is the phrase “It be the nature of dreams to end” I guess.”
 Ride looked satisfied,  
“Heh, I’ll be damned. That’s what he told me. Word for word. I guess these belong to you”


He handed me a cigarette pack. Inside were 18 cigarette things, rolled in paper. A small flat chunk of shiny plastic with “Angela” written in fading sharpie. And a small piece of paper that read “Bring a gas can”. 
 “A chunk of Disc?” I asked. 
He gave a quick,
 “I'd keep that in there, if I were you.”
 I took his advice and put it back. 
“And what about these cigarette things? I don’t smoke.” 
He laughed a bit and said, 
“Neither did he. Heh, knowing him, it's probably rose petals. He always went on about how the smoke protects. Against what? Shit, I wish I knew!  Heh, But between you and me” 
He nudged me with an elbow 
”He told me he had an old lover who “always liked it when he smelled like roses.”” I sniffed the cigarette, It smelled like roses. 
“Need a light” he said, producing a small flame from his finger.
 “HOLY SHIT, YOUR HAND IS ON FIRE!” I sort of yelled.
 “Yo yo yo, don’t worry! It’s a little magic trick. Now, again, would you like a light?” 
Ride had a calming aura to him, and it obviously worked. I didn’t notice right away that his eyes were a dull gold color.
 “Sure” and I lit the Cigarette.
 The night went by with smoke and stories being exchanged, as well as small chuckles. I had come to terms with the tough ideas, like other me being dead. It was hard though, but he helped me through it. He explained that he and other Conner were magical scientists, or alchemists. And used a mixture of magic and science called “Alchemy” to drive humanity forward. 


Things were still a little confusing, but I was figuring it out now. Eventually, our conversation died down, and we were both tired. We went down, back into the trailer and to our respective beds. After saying “Goodnight” to Ride, I carefully tiptoed over to the couch, trying not to wake Sam up. Too late Sam was awake. Or at least half awake. 
“Where were you?” Sam was really sleepy, and barely spoke in a whisper. 
“Don't worry about it much, I’m here now.” I whispered and ruffled their hair.
 “Good” they responded. 
I got under the covers, they were warm. Somehow, I could feel with my metal arm, but just barely. I knew this because Sam had unconsciously grabbed onto the thumb.
 “Wow, you’re cold.” They whispered. 
“That’s the metal hand, silly” I said, yawning.
 “Oh, hehe”. Sam giggled and shifted in the blankets, still holding onto the thumb of the hand. 
“You smell nice”, 
That made me smile. And I kept it till I slept.








Chapter 12: Glowy Circle Training Montage




(Dream Sequences suck. Everyone is like “Oh, the dreams have meaning. Oh, character development.” Bullshit. Dreams are terrible plot devices and I hate them.)
 “So lemme tell you about this weird dream I had.”
 I told Ride as he was making breakfast. I told him about a wacky dream I had about boats or something. We were on the couch, eating the eggs Ride made.
 “So.” He paused 
 “You guys wanna see something cool?” and Ride put aside his plate and pulled out a nail from his pocket. 
“Watch this!” and his face went blank.
 And for a second he seemed to be in deep concentration, and then his eyes went yellow. But didn’t keep the shine or have that “light” that most people have in their eyes. They were dull. Like they were painted gold. Then, the nail rusted into nothing within the span of like five seconds. Sam was freaking out. They haven't seen the trick before, to be honest neither had I. We were both jumping like giddy children. 
“How did you do that? How? Tell me, tell me!” Sam yelled out in excitement.
“Okay okay, chill out. I'm pretty sure I can teach you to do that.”
 Sam lit up “Really!” 
“Hmmmm” Ride looked at the ceiling and thought for a moment, 
“Yeah, from what Conner told me, you guys came from a big sky portal. So, I’m like 89 Percent sure you guys are probably Reality Benders. Yeah, let’s try it.” 
And thus began our cool guy alchemy training. 
“Okay, so y'all are going to want to focus real hard on the nail. And then imagine making rust out of it.”
 We were out in front of his house now. Holding our nails in our palms with a piece of paper in the other.  Alchemy came to me pretty easily, within a few minutes of trying I had rusted the nail a bit.
 “Cool, I did it!” I said, very pleased. 
When I looked over to Sam I saw they had surpassed me in making the nail rust. “Mrph” I mrphed,” Watch this”. 
And I used the rust that fell off the nail, and reformed the nail again. Good as new. Ride, who had been overseeing our exercise, had finally spoken up.
 “You both are naturals! I'm very proud of you both. Your potential is very high, so, let's crank up the heat!”
He placed a few nails on the plank wood walkway that made up the sidewalk, and stepped back. 
“Now, when you are doing advanced Alchemy, you hold your arm straight.”
And he held his arm out, his palm facing the nail.
“And because of your gift, You can imagine the Alchemist’s circle in your mind.” 
And as he said that, he went into his stone faced “zone” again. Then, a weird glowy circle appeared in front of his palm and the nail “poofed” instantly.
“Woah” Me and Sam said in tandem.
 Ride looked over with his glowy eyes and was grinning ear to ear,
 “I know right! Cool stuff! Now, metal man, your turn.” and he nudged me forward. He had placed a nail on the boardwalk and let me go at it. I did as he did, monkey see, monkey do. Held my arm straight. Palm to the nail. And thought of a cool pentagram thing, as well as turning the nail to dust. The Alchemist’s Circle popped in front of my hand, and I went into a trance-like state. The only thing I could think of was rust. And I focused hard on rust. And the glowy circle changed as the nail withered into a pile of orange dust.








Chapter 13: Magical Eugenics 


“I feel tired” Sam exclaimed. 
 Ride looked over, seeming a tiny bit concerned. 
“Metal Man? How about you, tired?”
“Ehh, kinda. Drained is a better term.” I replied.
“Fuck”  Ride, sighing as he shook his head. 
“Uggghh, alright, come inside.” 
We followed him back into his house. 
“Sit down please.” He said as he walked to his work station.
He went to a closet and wheeled out some equipment. Sam looked over suspiciously. Wheeling over to the couch, Ride said, 
“I'm gonna attach some sensors to you. I need to measure your energy production.” Sam asked “Energy production?”
“Yeah. every person produces alchemical energy. I'm just gonna see how much you guys make.” 
Ride said as he clipped a few sensors to my shirt. He flipped a few switches and told me to sit still.
 “Focus on making a reaction. Really hard.”
 I focused on turning iron to rust. 
“Hold those thoughts, keep focusing.”
 A few seconds passed 
“Okay, now stop.” Ride said as he was looking at the screen on the machine.
He noted something down on a notepad and went over to Sam. 
“May I?” He asked politely. 
Sam hesitated for a moment, staring at the sensor. 
“Fine, but nothing funny.” 
Ride clipped a sensor to their wreath of feathers, and to the sleeves of their shirt. He went through the same procedure, “Focus”, “Hold” “Done”, a quick note or two, and the experiment was over.  
“Alright you two. I got some news.” He looked at his notes. 
“You guys produce less energy than the normal person. Honestly, I kind of expected that.” 
I chimed in “And why is that?” 
He responded “Well, most people look for high energy production in partners. And over time, people have a higher production. Pretty strange isn’t it?”
“Yo isn’t that like eugenics or some shit?” Sam questioned.
“Yeah, kinda.” Ride said as he fiddled with his machine.
 “Conner, I want to take a look at that arm of yours, I noticed some strange spikes on your charts.”
 “Alright, whateves.” I held my arm out and Ride attached some sensors to it. 
“Okay, try to focus on a reaction, but try to focus with your right arm.”


 Have you ever tried focusing with your arm? It's kinda difficult. But I did it anyway, and it made Ride’s machine scream. 
“Holy fuck!” 
We all said in unison, as the alarm went off. I stopped focusing and the machine quieted down. 
“Does that mean I’m super cool now?” I asked.
 “Uhh, yeah. Lets say that” Ride responded, shocked.
“I’m getting an abnormally high reading from your arm. What's up with that?” 
I looked at my arm confused. 
“I honestly couldn’t tell ya man. Maybe I’m just built different.” 
Ride and Sam laughed a little bit, and I felt proud of my funky arm.


Chapter 14: Come over to my House (pending)




We spent a while at Ride’s place. About 3 months or so. A Lot of which was just studying. Ride was a scientist, teacher, rapper, and a bro all at the same time. And unfortunately for me he was a teacher. Thinking about it, I only had around a High School Freshman level education. Better than nothing, but it doesn't help because I don't have a very great grasp at Chemistry. Fortunately, Ride used to teach at the New Guliford School, as, you guessed it, a chemistry teacher. Ride didn’t understand me when I called him Heisenberg. But after like 3 days of it he finally understood. He punched me in the arm. The metal one. It was a time. 


Sam didn’t really take well to alchemy, although able to do it, Sam stuck to their reality bending capabilities. Ride taught us both for whatever reason. And we went along happily. Eventually we had become average, if not above average alchemists as well as benders. Sam had discovered that they were really good at manipulating small objects and even better at strands of fiber or string. On multiple occasions Sam had made a blindfold of my own hair while I was reading my chemistry textbook.


 For a while things were good. We all had a routine. Ride would go out at 11 am and teach the children of the village, as well as help on projects. During that time we would study our respective curriculums. Ride had set up an entire school curriculum for both Sam and I. Sam would study Reality Bending (It's in the name, it's like telekinesis or something) and I studied Chemistry. As well as the history of alchemy. It was mostly just how to make a good Alchemist’s Circle. Ride would come back at about 4 PM and we would have about an hour or so of actual teachings, face to face. And then we would make dinner and watch the “old” movies that Ride had collected. “Old” as in from 2000 onward.


 And so we lived on, and we were comfortable. But I still had some things on my mind that bothered me. Like where my friends are, how we got here, why is MC Ride in Ohio. Ohio in general. My arm.  Ya know. The obvious.




Chapter 15: Wait a minute, Who are you?




It was an average Tuesday. And we were studying our books, being good little students. Sam was lounged in a recliner chair, in what looked to be an uncomfortable position, twirling their hair using their Reality bending abilities.  I sat at the couch, reading some required texts. Required by Ride were a few chemistry textbooks, scientific journal magazines, and a book titled “Alchemy: from Medieval to Modern”. I had recently reached Chapter 15: “The 2020’s” when something caught my eye. 
 “In 2025, up and coming alchemists, Stefan Burnett, Jovan Campbell, Jeffery Williams and Conner Frogweiler discovered a revolutionary new way of producing raw alchemical energy. Although unable to reproduce it after almost every lab member left shortly after, it has been the backbone of the alchemical powerhouse: Young Thug City. The process has not been disclosed to the public and is considered a “one time miracle from God”, said by Jeffery Williams, head researcher of Young Thug research labs.”


“What the fuck?” I said aloud, rousing Sam from their trancelike focus. 
“What's up? Something good?” Sam said, jumping from the chair.
“I guess so. My name is listed in this book.” 
“Lemme see.” Sam said as they snatched the book.


Sam read the page I was on, 
“Yeah what the..” Sam said, raising their head to look at me.
“That's definitely your name, but why are you in here and with Mr.Ride?” They continued
I replied, shocked, “I don’t know, I remember Ride talking about how he worked in Vegas a few hundred years ago, but I didn't know it was noteworthy."


"Wait a minute, a few hundred years ago, you say that so casually. Why didn't I hear about this?” Sam sounded both confused and a little annoyed, almost accusatory. 
“I’m pretty sure you were asleep. I think he told me about it on our first night here.” I replied, trying to calm Sam down a little.
“Okay, but I still feel like I should have been told, that seems kinda important doesn't it?” Sam said, still annoyed.  
I didn’t help.
“Yeah. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, I must've forgotten about it. I say we ask Ride about all this.”
Sam replied, a little less annoyed now, “Sounds like a plan. I’m curious now.”


Apparently Sam knew that Ride was like two hundred and fifty, but never really questioned it. I guess that's what a year and a half of walking the apocalypse does to you, leaves you used to the impossible. 




Chapter 16: Wait a minute, Who are you? (Part 2)


 We could hardly focus on our books after my discovery. We waited anxiously until Ride returned home. 
He walked through the doors, same as always. 

“Oh students, I’m home!” He said. In the same jovial way of greeting us he always did. 
 “Hey Mr.Ride.” We both said, as was tradition. 
Although now we were anxious, as we wanted to know why he was in the book.
“So, how was the day?” He said, putting some bags he had brought from town onto the kitchen table. 
“It was alright” Sam said to him.
“Oh no” Ride turned to them, “Did something bad happen?”
“No, not bad, I’m just confused about something.” Sam said.
“Oh, whew, I thought something bad happened to you guys.” He replied and
 sat down on the loveseat next to the couch.
“So, what are you confused about?” He asked.


“Well” I started, “I was reading this book” and I held up the Alchemical History book. “And I read something really weird.”

Ride looked at me and said 
“Oh really, go on.” In his teacher's way of speaking.
“Well, it says in 2025 some people made a discovery, and it was a bit odd. I figured you knew about it.”
He looked like he was trying to remember something and spoke, “Well, I was around then so I might know, my memory is a bit fuzzy though. Who made the discovery?”


I opened the book and flipped to the marked page, “It says Jovan Campbell, Jeffery Williams, and uh… You and Me.” 


Ride looked shocked for a second, then lowered his head slightly with a small sigh.
“Oh, that. I had a feeling this would come up sooner or later. Guess I can’t hide from it. 


Sam spoke up, “What cant you hide from? What happened in 2025? And why are You and Conner named?” 
“Well, it’s a complicated story.” Ride said. He never raised his head. 
We had only seen him this way once, when we first met him.
“And I think you’re both ready to hear it.” He said, exhaling.


Me and Sam looked at each other quickly, we both knew this was probably a bad decision to bring it up.


He started his story in a scholarly way of speaking, 
“As we all know, you both came from somewhere different. Most likely a different timeline and or universe. And because of this fact, you were never supposed to be here. “You both” had already lived and died long before you guys came along.”


Already, Sam looked to be a little confused but was catching up.


“It's currently 2232 A.D., about 207 years after this story I'm about to tell.
In 2024, Jeffery Williams or as you would probably know him as, Young Thug, the rap artist, quit making music and started a laboratory. He invited some of the most promising alchemists of the time, which included, Jovan Campbell, himself, Conner Frogweiler, and Me, Stefan Burnett, to research a new way to make soul energy. The stuff we all use to make our powers work. We worked in Las Vegas, which is now two cities. Young Thug City, and Old Vegas. And it was there we made our greatest breakthrough and our biggest regret.”


Ride sounded scripted at first, like he had been rehearsing this speech. And to be honest he probably was. But now he started to get a little choked up. I could hear it.
“In 2025, we kidnapped and murdered a woman. In the name of Alchemy.” 
He started crying now. 
“It was November, we were all still new researchers, when our theory originated. Jeffery asked “What if we used an entire human soul to generate energy?”  He was the most experienced and what he said we listened to. The next day we abducted a woman by the name of Angela Thomson. Then, a week later, we proceeded to kill and trap her soul within a disc. But we failed, and the disc shattered. And we were all nearly killed.”


Ride was sobbing profusely now, Sam, shocked at what he had said to us, started to cry silently as well. 
I felt sick, and I ran to the bathroom to vomit.
I threw up into the sink, and as I looked up to the mirror, a different man stared back at me. 
He looked very similar to how I looked a few days ago, but he was different. He smirked, and where his eyes should be, he had chunks of a night sky. He had crystalized horns coming out of his head, and when he spoke, had a snarky tone.
“You know what you are don't you?” he spoke, separately from myself. 
“You’re a murderer. You know that right?” He laughed.
I looked at the man, who didn’t have the same arm, this wasn’t me. 
“I’m not. I never killed her. Shut up!” I yelled.
The man just chuckled, and then was replaced by me. Hunched over the sink.


I got myself together. Cleaned up the vomit, and walked back to the living room. Where Ride was still crying into his hands. 


I sat down and asked 
“Hey, are you gonna be alright?”
Ride looked up and said, “I think so, I'm not done though.”


Ride started back up.
“We all changed. The screaming piercing our very beings. By the time she had been shattered we had all changed. My wife, Lucy, had been there too. She was a photographer and recorded the whole thing. She wouldn’t stop crying. Conner and Jovan had rushed into the test chamber from where we had been observing and checked on what was left of Angela. They were silent the entire time. 
 Jeffery, he just laughed. He laughed and laughed. He couldn’t stop. He went. He was completely off the deep end. Conner ripped off his lab coat and said he was done. Jovan did the same, but silently covered her corpse and walked out. Conner followed him. And Lucy and I couldn’t bear to look at Jeffery. We left too.
After that, we never saw Jovan again. I think he went to Arizona. Conner stayed only a week, to finish his other project. He left too. Lucy was inconsolable and never left her room. And I stayed only a day after Conner. After that we were gone. Jeffery then took Conner’s project and founded Young Thug City.”


We sat there in silence, for what seemed to be awhile. Until Sam spoke,
 “I never expected you to do something like that.”
Ride, utterly depressed, responded,
“You both probably hate me. I’m sorry we ever crossed paths.”
I looked over and said something that would change the course of all of our lives,
“Is he still alive?”
Ride looked up, through the tears asked,
“What? Why?”
“Is he alive or not?” I asked again
“Well, yes. We have the same power. He rules Young Thug City.”
“Good.” I said, becoming more confident,
“I’m gonna get revenge, Ride. I wanna clear our names!”




Chapter 17: And So, it begins


I’m sure my response came as an incredible shock to both Ride and Sam, but hearing what ride had to say woke up something deep inside me. Something that had been sleeping for quite a while.


“Wait, let me get this straight. You wanna get back at Young Thug?” Sam asked, bewildered.
“Well of course! From what Ride tells us, he didn’t show any remorse when they killed her. That's fucked up, and if he is still living and using that lady’s tortured soul then that pisses me off. I want him dead!” I ranted.


Ride looked over, shocked as well, 
“Even though I took an innocent life, you still want to clear my name. And your counterpart’s too?”
“Duh. You may have killed someone, and thats fucked up. The fact that you sat here and cried as you told us shows that you feel like shit about it. As well as the fact you only use alchemy to teach and for innocent people shows that you’re not a bad guy.”
Ride looked utterly astonished, then Sam spoke up. 
“I want to help too. For all that you have done for us. You can't be the monster you say you are!”


Ride froze, then started to smile through his tears, 
“I never expected this. Well shit, if you guys are willing to do this then I can try to help the best that I can. Thank You, so much.”


I started again,
“Don’t worry about it, Ride. Getting into shit is what we do best.  How do we get to Young Thug City and who should we talk to?”


Ride looked a little sad again
“About that. As I said, I had a wife. Lucy. And about 23 years ago I had a daughter. My wife was killed.” 
Ride looked like he wanted to cry again, but didn’t. 
“Lucy was there during the incident, and because of that, she gained the heightened alchemical abilities we all gained. Although she wasn’t an alchemist, the fact she was powerful put a target on her back. Jeffery had conspired with a mercenary group to hunt down my family. And when we were traveling America, helping the less fortunate, she was killed in front of my own eyes.”
Ride stopped for a minute, and tried to regain his composure. 
“Because of our abilities, she died. And I was left to raise our daughter, Ophelia, alone.”
Sam spoke quietly, 
“I’m sorry about your wife.”
Ride responded, 
“It's alright, its been a while. I’ve had time to grieve. Now it's time for action.“
Ride perked up, with some confidence again.
“When I told my daughter, years later, she wanted revenge too. So, she went off to join a group I helped start. The “Old Vegas Rebels”. They hate the fact that Young Thug City took over a part of Vegas and they want it back. If we wanna kill Jeffery, then we gotta talk to them.”
I thought it over,
“Alright it’s settled, Sam, we’re going to Vegas!”
“Hell yeah, road trip!!” They replied.
“Hold on.” Ride said, 
“Lets not get ahead of ourselves, Jeffery is insanely powerful, both alchemically and politically. If we want to stop the man, we would need more alchemists.”
“Alright, where do we get more?” Sam questioned. 
“Well, I was thinking. Back in the day, Me, Conner and a man named Arnold, started up a division of the Old Vegas Rebels. Called the “Starkiller Division”, the same one that my daughter had joined up with.”
I butted in,
“Okay, where is this all going??”
“You’ll see.” Ride said, back in his teacher like tone once more,
“Conner had a family, you see. I’m pretty sure that they are still around. And rumor has it they are incredibly talented alchemists. So we need them on our side. Everyone is itching to kill Jeffery, so I'm sure they could help. Problem is, I don't know where they are. So, thinking about it. You guys could go to Vegas, convince them to start prep on retaking the city, and find out info about Conner’s family!” He seemed excited now, things were finally picking up.
Sam asked, 
“That's great and all but, what will you be doing? You can't go to Vegas with us, you would be too much of a target.”
“You make a good point, I would have to stay and prep. If you guys can start work on retaking the city, then it could cause enough of a stir that I can get there unnoticed.” Ride replied succinctly.
“Sounds like a plan.” I said, 
“When can we get started?”
Ride thought about it, “How about in two days?”
Sam got really excited and yelled 
“FUCK YEAH!  ROAD TRIP!!!!!”


And that was all we needed to set everything into motion.