[Fan-Fic] A GREY FUTURE

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[Fan-Fic] A GREY FUTURE

Post by The-J-Man »

[So after many projects and only one completed story to show for it all, I've returned to make my heavenly contribution that I've been thinking up for quite a while. Another one of my emotional stories that I have had lots of practice in over my absence. An entirely new story.]


PROLOGUE:

DEAR JOURNAL,

I watched many places pass me by through the car window; hoping that one of them would be my destination and this long feeling of anticipation would end. I'm so excited my family is moving to a place with enough room for all of us. Not only that, but the house was a Fixer-upper, so we'll be building it the way we want. I still cant believe it...I'll have a room of my own. I'm so excited to see this Babylon gardens place, make some new friends. But...I'm scared. Honestly, I've been scared about this whole thing deep down, but I wont let that get to me now that I'm following through with it.




A young man and his recently married wife drove through the scenic roads of Babylon Gardens in a silver expensive-looking luxury sports car. A Cadillac by the looks of it. Following behind the car was a moving truck fully loaded with everything the newly weds had to their name, and behind that was a truck with lots of construction equipment. The convoy drew the attention of the Entire neighborhood as all the vehicles pulled up to a recently vacated house. The pair of newly weds had bought the old house as a Fixer-upper and looked ecstatic to start working on it when they got out of their car.

Two houses away from the vacant fixer-upper, was the Sandwich residence. Their tan dog, Peanut; and their purple cat, Grape were both playing some kind of game when they saw the convoy of moving and construction equipment pass by and park no more than a five minute walk away. They watched as the new husband and wife got out of the car with curiosity.

The Man was of average height with a thin build, supported by an athletically toned body, suggesting he indulged in Tai-chi or Yoga with his wife often. He wore a pair of slim jeans and a t-shirt that was covered by a black cargo-jacket.

The woman was of similar appearance to the man. A few inches shorter than Average height, black skinny jeans showing her thin athletic build, and a white T-shirt as her top

"Hey Peanut look, new neighbors." Grape mentioned as she motioned to the house further down the street.

"YAY, new friends!" Peanut exclaimed as he threw a Frisbee he and Grape were playing with at the same time he got distracted.

"OW! Grape exclaimed in the background when the thrown Frisbee hit her on the side of her head when she stopped paying attention to the game

"Hey look, there's someone else in the back seat of the car." Peanut mentioned while Grape was grumbling and griping for Peanut to pay attention when he throws things.

The man the opened the backseat passenger's door to reveal a boosted car seat with what looked to be a Dog seated in it. The pet already unbuckled himself and then stepped out when the door was opened to take a deep breath of his new surroundings, and reveal what he looked like.

The Dog the new family had brought along was obviously a long-haired mixed breed. He was some type of Collie mixed with an Australian Shepard. He had a lot of fur and the build of a border collie, and the coloration pattern of an Australian Shepard. Only, this dog's fur color was as dark as a freshly paved road, with lighter grey markings and spots. The collar he wore around his neck was a metallic silver and the white tag dangling from that collar was in the shape of a five-point star. Of course, the dog looked a bit nervous about being in a new neighborhood...maybe a bit more nervous than he should be.

Nevertheless, his mood brightened a little when he saw the house he was going to be moving into, even if it was in disrepair at the moment.

After a few minutes, Mr and Mrs. Sandwich came out of their house, dressed like they were going to be guests to a host, which they technically were going to.

"Hey mom, hey dad, what are you all dressed up for?" Peanut asked as he picked up his Frisbee from the side-walk with Grape next to him, rubbing the sore spot on her head.

"Going to welcome the new neighbors. Why don't you guys come with, meet them too?"

"YES!" Peanut exclaimed as he grabbed hold of Grape and practically dragged her along

Thankfully, the new neighbors were already outside, so the Sandwiches didnt have to go through the awkwardness of ringing the doorbell and waiting with anticipation. Both the husband and wife were getting busy in organizing tools to tear down the outdated parts of the house. However, it was plenty awkward getting someone who had a sledgehammer in their hands.

"Hey neighbor!" Mr sandwich said to the husband, handing over an apple pie that he implied was home-made, but he actually bought it from the store, hoping Mrs. Sandwich wouldn't notice.

"Hey, thanks. Nice to meet you Mr...?"

"Earl Sandwich, this is my wife Jill, and those two are Peanut and Grape." Mr Sandwich introduced his family, pointing out everyone as he said their names

"The Sandwiches? Funny name, nice to meet you." The husband was then joined by his wife and the dog they brought along joined too, but he hid partly behind the man's leg. "My name's Greg Capriani, thats my wife, Sarah; and the one hiding behind my leg is Swift." The mystery man said, introducing himself and pointing everyone in his family out, but there was one more that he wanted to mention. "We also just recently found out that My wife is pregnant, so stay tuned."

"Oh congratulations!" Mrs. Sandwich exclaimed.

"Hi there!" Peanut said to Swift, letting him see that he didn't have any reason to hide from him and Grape

Swift emerged and of course did the thing that dogs do when they greet each other, and shook hands to introduce himself formerly. "Hi, I'm Swift. I'm uh...I'm still kinda new to the family thing.

Now Peanut and Grape could see Swift in more detail. He had bright green eyes, a constantly nervous expression on his face, and he was just a few inches taller than both Peanut and Grape. His tone of voice was shaky and unsure, consistent with his nervous expression. He also held a hard-back book journal with a pen sticking out of the pages like a bookmark. The journal was pretty worn, and he had written in quite a few pages so the pen bookmark was near the end of the book.

"He kinda reminds me of Res." Peanut said softly to Grape with a smile, meaning it as a complement of sorts.

"Yeah he does...maybe its a writer's thing." Grape said softly back, keeping the conversation between herself and Peanut

Greg then handed Swift a roll of blue painter's tape. "Hey Swift, there should be two identical bedrooms in the house. Go put a piece of tape on the one you want so we know which is which. After that, why don't you go with Peanut and Grape here so they can show you the neighborhood while we get ready to start tearing the walls down?"

"Oh-Okay." Swift replied as he took the roll of tape and went into the house.

"Shy guy, huh?" Mr Sandwich commented on Swift's personality.

"Yeah..." Greg said. Both he and Sarah looked concerned as he leaned on the handle of the sledgehammer he was holding, taking a deep breath. "Swift's a recent addition to the family, we adopted him close to two years ago from a shelter...he's...been through a lot. Came from a bad family, and he's kinda fragile. So could you guys keep him out of stressful situations for now? There's a reason we call him Swift, his natural instinct is to run away and it once took us a month to find him after he ran away fro a guy in an Easter Bunny suit."

"Can do!" Peanut agreed

"Sure, not much to be stressed about in this neighborhood so he should be fine." Grape added.



DEAR JOURNAL,
My day is going a lot better than I expected, I met some new neighbors and they offered to show me around. I'll admit that I'm very nervous about it...but I'm ready. I don't want to keep spending all day cooped up in my room, trapped with the words in my mind. I'm gonna go out there and show the world that I'm alright."



"Great, I cant thank you guys enough. He's been in a bad place for a while, and he was really enthusiastic about this change of scenery. He vents his feelings writing in that journal of his and writing novels that he encourages us to publish. he's trying his best to get back on his feet, and writing helps him a lot. You may know his book series actually, Its a Futuristic noir story called 'A GREY FUTURE'. Kinda leaves hints here and there about what he went through, so We think he was adopted by abusive owners. Dont tell me I told you any of this, he'd really trying." Greg said.

"Poor thing, what happened to him?" Mrs. Sandwich asked,

"Only two things on this Earth know the answer to that question. Swift, and his journal; and He doesn't let anyone read his Journal...anyway, just be careful with him." Greg said.

"No problem Mr. Capriani, He's in good hands, trust me." Mr Sandwich said, vaguely motioning to Grape.

"Please, Mr. Capriani is my father, call me Greg or Gregory." Greg said, passing the tool in his hands to his wife while she made ready to start tearing the house's drywall down

Swift then came back, giving the roll of blue tape back to his dad. "All done. Were you talking about my book series?" Swift asked, only having heard that part of the conversation while he was walking back.

"Hey wait; now that I think about it, I have heard of that story, A GREY FUTURE. Haven't read it, but some around the neighborhood are calling it a rising competitor to the Pridelands series. A dark noir crime thriller." Grape pondered out loud.

"Y-Yeah...writing helps me a lot. Dont be surprised if you catch me writing or drawing in my Journal, Its...just a writer's thing..." Swift said

"Alright then, why don't you three run along and go have the grand tour of the neighborhood." Mr Sandwich said to the group of pets.
Last edited by The-J-Man on Sat Mar 24, 2018 12:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: [Fan-Fic] A Grey Future

Post by The-J-Man »

Dear Journal:
Peanut took my picture in front of the local bookstore here in Babylon Gardens, my first stop along our lengthy tour of the vast neighborhood. I met and greeted a lot of other pets who were very friendly to me and were very interested in making friends with me. Some of them even shared stories of when they first moved to Babylon Gardens, that made me feel a lot better. Though...everyone I met freaked out at the mention of my name as I introduced myself, and the reason soon became apparent to me when I looked at the photo Peanut took of me in front of the book store. A sign for advertising my book with my name in the biggest letters I've seen printed on a poster was posted on the glass for all to see. How embarrassing. Anyway, all went well despite that complication...all except for one dog named Bino...I don't think he likes me...and not for any rational reason either. Not that I was expecting much rationality in this place. Everyone knows that Mr. Milton left everything to his pet ferrets, and they seemed to be doing better than alright with keeping the place presentable. Note to self, don't set yourself up for Jinx's
swift Capriani.jpg
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"H-...Hey Peanut...Grape?" Swift asked, seeming a bit unsure of what he wanted to say.

"Whats up Swift?" Grape asked as she and Peanut stopped walking to pay attention to the conversation.

"I'm uh...guessing my Dad told you about my...Problem?" Swift asked, having finally put all the pieces together about Peanut and Grape's behavior towards him all day, deliberately keeping Swift out of stressful situations.

"Yeah, uh- he basically told us to be kinda careful with you." Peanut admitted, trying not to maintain eye-contact.

"I...I cant thank you guys enough for bearing with me all day, even for a stranger." Swift said, not sure if he should feel sad or grateful for everything Peanut and Grape had done for him...even if it was just a tour of the place that they have done many times before.

"Its no trouble." Peanut added, looking to see how high the sun was over the Horizon.

Soon, it will be dusk and Swift was due to be back at his house by sun-down, as per his usual time limit, so he used his newfound knowledge to get back to his mostly empty house that will be under construction for the months to follow. His family had their work cut out for them, but it was a labor of love, as Swift's dad said.

"So Swift, how was your day?" Greg asked

"It was...pretty good. Everyone's so nice around here..." Swift replied with the first smile Greg had seen on his face in a long time.

"Well be sure to get some sleep tonight. Tomorrow we're getting some serious work done on the house. Tearing down the walls and ripping out the old fixtures." Sarah said to Swift with a nudge.
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Re: [Fan-Fic] A Grey Future

Post by dusk »

I love this story thus far, looking forward to more of it. Keep up the great work! I was also thinking of doing a cover drawing for each of my chapters, and I am hoping that is what you are doing as well.

Best of luck,

~Jolty
As I gaze upon the stars, I realize how much I will miss this world.

20-23-5-14-20-25 25-5-1-18-19 8-5 4-9-4 14-15-20 18-5-20-21-18-14,

20-8-5 19-9-24 6-9-14-7-5-18-5-4 13-9-19-6-9-20 23-9-20-8 12-15-20-19 15-6 6-21-18.


*Russian Intensifies*
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Re: [Fan-Fic] A GREY FUTURE

Post by The-J-Man »

"You cant see it, but there's illustrations in the book."
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Re: [Fan-Fic] A GREY FUTURE

Post by dusk »

Woah! Geez, these are really well done!
As I gaze upon the stars, I realize how much I will miss this world.

20-23-5-14-20-25 25-5-1-18-19 8-5 4-9-4 14-15-20 18-5-20-21-18-14,

20-8-5 19-9-24 6-9-14-7-5-18-5-4 13-9-19-6-9-20 23-9-20-8 12-15-20-19 15-6 6-21-18.


*Russian Intensifies*
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Re: [Fan-Fic] A GREY FUTURE

Post by The-J-Man »

"FACE"
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Re: [Fan-Fic] A GREY FUTURE

Post by D-Rock »

This is seeming pretty good so far, and cool job on the artwork. Well, let's see what reality-threatening event we're going to experience this time.
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Re: [Fan-Fic] A GREY FUTURE

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Tarot barged into the door, slamming the slab of solid oak into Peanut's face and throwing him back a few feet, like a scene out of a cartoon. Swift immediately became frightened and Tarot didnt help by running up and grabbing onto him and shook him back and forth, as if she expected answers to fall out of him like a Pinata.

"You! You're the one causing the tip in the balance!" Tarot exclaimed, not seeming like herself.

Luckily, Grape intervened once she made sure Peanut was fine. She had to physically pry Tarot off Swift's arm. "Tarot Stop; You're scaring him to death!"

Tarot blinked and the green hue vanished from her amber eyes, and she realized what she was doing. "OH MY DOG! I'm so sorry!" She apologized profusely to Swift, who was curled up on the far side of the couch on the verge of tears.

"Tarot, what was that all about?" Peanut asked.

"I-I don't know. I don't even remember coming here. The last thing I remember is messing around with the pieces of that Lantern Artifact that broke while we were in the past. I think...maybe it had some residual energy linking to the Spirit Dragon's magic(k) from the past...but why did I come here and nearly give Swift a panic attack." Tarot pondered out loud.

"Beat's me, but you were rambling on about tipped balances and universal powers, or something like that. All I remember is that you came in at the exact moment we found this picture in Swift's book." Grape said.

Grape and Peanut showed Tarot the illustration of the Kitsune and the ancient symbol, and then she called Sabrina over to try and help her understand what this could mean. Soon enough, the black cat arrived and exchanged introductions with Swift; then she skimmed over Swift's book to see if she could recognize anything.

The story itself was about a mistreated dog who ran away from his terrible owner, and struggled to make ends meet while having a spell of bad luck at the start. Afterward, he was taken in by a mysterious spirit that taught the dog to stand up for himself, and made him feel loved again. Later on, the dog ran into his abusive owner again, who had taken in a new female dog that he was being mistreated as well. The two pets met in the night and fell in love, then agreed to run away together. However, they were stopped by the terrible owner who would not let the female dog go. So, the protagonist fought against the terrible owner and freed his love. Throughout the entire story, there were illustrations and descriptions that matched up with people, pets, and the Demigods that had affairs in Babylon Gardens.

Sabrina and Tarot were both left with a real head scratcher. No way Swift would have any knowledge of the Demigods or anyone in Babylon Gardens for that matter.

"Swift...have you ever been to Babylon gardens before?" Sabrina asked

"N-no..why do you ask?" Swift replied with his head tilted to the side.

"Okay, let me ask this; Where did you get the inspiration for this Story of yours?" Tarot asked.

Swift had to think for a moment. "I don't know how to explain it exactly. The beginning part of it, I based off...personal experience. The other half came to me in dreams." As swift was talking, his bright green eyes turned a bright shade of Red. "Lately though, my dreams have been of the same thing. falling into an abyss while seeing my life flash before my eyes. I just get this feeling of needing to do something, but every time I get close to figuring it out, I reach the bottom and...I wake up."

Now things seemed to start to make sense to the two psychics. Tarot, Peanut, Sabrina, and Grape all huddled together to hold a private conversation. Muttering something or other about needing to talk to someone. After a five minute huddle, the group of four disbanded.

"Guys please... Is there something wrong with me?" Swift asked, getting nervous again.

"Oh no, nothing's wrong with you Swift." Tarot exclaimed with a nervous smile. "But...I would like to invite you over to my house so we can talk about something important."

"O-...okay."



Dear Journal:
I dont know what to write...My life was going great for a while...and now everything's coming back to haunt me again.




The group eventually made their way over to the D'angelo house. Needless to say, the Decor put Swift on Edge

"So...you and Sabrina think that I'm a psychic like you two?" Swift asked after being told that on the way.

"Not exactly...but we do think that you have a link to something that's giving you a degree of foresight." Sabrina replied, trying to keep her answers vague.

"You mean something like that white fox I keep seeing in my dreams?" Swift said, remembering something that he must have repressed from his memory.

At the mention of that sentence. Sabrina, Tarot, and Swift all but vanished with a blip, leaving Peanut and Grape standing there confused.

Elsewhere, The group of three reappeared on top of a gigantic playing mat, and in the presence of three giants seated around the table that mat was placed on. One giant was a massive purple dragon with a crown on his head, the giant seated next to the dragon was a massive black and green Centipede with an anthropomorphic upper body and an egyptian eye design over the right two of its four eyes. Swift almost fainted at the sight of the benevolent beings before him, but he calmed down when he saw a familiar face on the third giant. The white fox with nine tails he'd seen before.

"Well then, Now that You've figured it out, we can finally start this game proper." The Kitsune said.

"I-its you...D-...okay. I must've just gotten hit by a truck, and now I'm just stuck in a dream." Swift uttered, at a loss for words.

"Unfortunately mortal, you are not in a comatose dream." The purple dragon bellowed.

"So...these are the mortals you have chosen as your avatars?" The Centipede said in a deep, but scratchy voice

"Kitsune, what the howl is going on?" Tarot demanded to know from the Demigods

"Oh, We've started a new game." Kitsune replied with a nonchalant grin.

"Well then what's Bahamut doing here? And who's the Centipede?" Sabrina asked, pointing a thumb at the purple dragon, and then at the Centipede.

"Oh, after Bahamut heard about Universes and Unrealities from Pete during his testimony, he thought it sounded interesting, so he wanted to play a game. The Centipede over there is Horus. He's filling in for me as the Game Master, and he's pretty good at it. Anyway, for the last two years I've been teaching Bahamut to play, more specifically how to gain the favor of the Avatar he wants. I've been using Swift as an example."

Meanwhile, while the two psychics were conversing, Swift was close to hyperventilating. "Wh--Wait a minute! Even if I believe this is all real, these guys want to use me to play a game?"

"'HAVE BEEN'. Past tense. Two years ago Swift, Kitsune gave you a choice of fates. You chose to make a new life entirely and leave the problem unsolved." Horus stated, pointing at the journal Swift kept clutched to his chest.

Horus then snapped his fingers and showed Tarot, Sabrina, and Swift a scrying image of Sasha, a dog who lived in Babylon Gardens, and one who Swift had met just recently.

"I dont understand. W-What does she have to do with my decision in the past?" Swift asked.

The image then showed the conditions Sasha lived in, all the work she was made to do, and then an image of her owner came into view. Swift went wide-eyed and fell onto his back after seeing who it was. There was no mistaking that face, and it belonged to Swift's former owner.

"Swift, what's wrong!?" Sabrina asked, helping Swift to calm down and take deep breaths.

"T-Th-...That's who used to own me! You mean that horrible man lives in Babylon Gardens! I don't get it, this is happening just like it did in the book I wrote..."

"Well Swift, it was the fate you chose. I agreed to help you run away and make a new life for yourself. I gave you those dreams to help you write that book of yours and tipped the scales a bit to give you a loving family. I never said that I always give happy endings. These kind of things tend to happen when you run away from your problems. Though I will admit that the foreshadowing prediction was a bit of a low blow on Horus's account." Kitsune stated to Swift with a more stern expression.

"I'm used to teaching lessons to spoiled pharaoh's and hard-headed kings. Its kind of a habit for me to rub salt in a wound to make sure the lesson sticks. So now this begs the question to you three mortals." Horus replied.

"Beloved Sabrina and Tarot. I would like to ask one of you to be my Avatar in this game. There are problems on your world that must be dealt with now that the Spirit Dragon and the Gryphon are sentenced to 60 years in mortality. So, this game will be dedicated to ensuring your world is safe for that time. Each encounter you prevail in, the more time your Earth will be spared. Bahamut asked Sabrina and Tarot.

"Swift, I will ask you the same thing. You owe it to everyone to fix your mistakes...will you be my avatar?" Kitsune asked of Swift with an amused grin.

Swift thought hard for a full five minutes, and finally decided that running from his problems was not the solution, even if every part of his common sense was telling him different.

"I'll do it" All three replied once it was decided.

"About time you all woke up, I can smell breakfast." Horus said, in an odd adage.

In an instant; Tarot, Sabrina, and Swift all woke up at the crack of dawn in their respective homes. Except for the fact that Swift was still staying at the Sandwich house, so he woke up from their living room couch in a cold sweat. Peanut and Grape had to spend a few minutes consoling Swift after his ordeal, and didn't even eat breakfast. Afterward, Swift took off without telling Peanut or Grape where he was going, not that he had any idea himself. He just needed to relieve some stress and wandering around was the best way Swift knew how to do that.

After an hour, Swift was feeling a bit tired, and turned around, only to collide snout-first with Sasha.



Dear Journal:
Demigods have a sick sense of humor.
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Re: [Fan-Fic] A GREY FUTURE

Post by D-Rock »

Alright, this was an interesting way to connect Sasha into Swifts' life.
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Re: [Fan-Fic] A GREY FUTURE

Post by Krytus The Dreamer »

I like this. I will wait for more.
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Re: [Fan-Fic] A GREY FUTURE

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"Well hiya cutie!" Sasha said in her large and bubbly voice

"H-hi...We've met before." Swift said, believing Sasha didnt remember when they were introduced a couple weeks ago.

"Oh yeah, I remember you now. I was just on my way to join my boyfriend with his workout in the Gym."

"Oh, okay. Dont let me keep you. I got something I need to do too. B-bye." Swift said as he backed away inch by inch, desperate to get out of the situation.

"Bye then!" Sasha said in reply

Swift just turned away from Sasha, not saying a word to her, and being thankful that she didnt seem offended or hurt in any way. She actually was just as content to keep skipping along the sidewalk as if nothing even happened, humming away at a song that she seemed to be having trouble remembering. Still; Swift felt really bad about running away from this problem, but he knew somewhere in his gut that he just wasn't ready to confront Sasha.

Swift returned to the Sandwich house and Peanut and Grape both saw that he looked much more forlorn than usual.

"Hey swift, something wrong?" Peanut asked, pausing the video game he was playing, while he turned his attention away from

"N-no...its nothing...Is Tarot here?" Swift replied.

"Oh yeah, she said that she had to go take care of a few things, but she would come over here to get you once she's done." Grape said.

Swift took a seat on the couch and saw that Peanut was playing one his favorite games; Mario Cart. He used to play this all the time to take his mind off things the first year he was with his new family.

"Oh hey. I love this game." Swift said, as excited as he could sound with his small voice.

"Oh you've played this before? Pick up the other controller if you want to join." Peanut said, feeling the ambient mood starting to lift a bit.

Swift did just that and Peanut started a new game in split-screen. Grape joined in too, all three of them taking turns when one of them lost a race. This was the older Wii version of Mario cart, so it was a heck'uva lot more fun than the version that was recently released, and both Peanut and Grape agreed.

The fun lasted all but 20 minutes before the game became rage-inducing as it usually did whenever Peanut and Grape played together. Peanut even began to suspect that this game was designed specifically to end friendships.

"Hey Peanut, can we play another game...?" Swift stated, having had enough of blue shells and falling off the map on Rainbow road.

That would have to wait though, Because Mr. and Mrs, Sandwich came in the front door with arm-fulls of grocery bags. "Guys. a little help?" Mr. Sandwich asked.

Peanut, Grape, and Swift all helped to take the Grocery bags in one at a time.

"So Swift, me and Peanut noticed that something's still bothering you. You sure you don't want to talk about it?" Grape asked while she struggled to hold up a large bottle of soda.

"yeah, I'm sure." Swift said also struggling to hold the paper bag he was holding together as the loader in the store thought it was a good idea to put a lot of heavy items into the fragile paper bag.

Soon, all the groceries were inside and all that was left was to put them away. Swift surprised everyone when he put on an upbeat jazzy music track on while he worked.

"hey Swift, whats with the music?" Mr. Sandwich inquired.

"Oh..s-sorry force of habit." Swift replied, realizing he had just put the music on without thinking. "My family has this...thing where we put on some music while we do chores. My dad says my mom started it when she got the idea from a 'Chick-flick'...you want me to turn it off?"

"I kinda like it!" Peanut said as he moved and stacked cans to the beat of the song, which was actually helping him move faster and in sync with everyone.

"Yeah, me too. I was never one for awkward silences anyway." Grape commented, moving along in another area of the kitchen; making quick work of clearing the fridge of any expired foods and replaced them with the fresh grocery items.

Mr and Mrs. Sandwich both shrugged their shoulders and joined in too. Not one of the Sandwich family realized just how much a song could change the mood of doing chores. In fact, they noticed that Swift was enjoying himself too. This was the first time they had ever seen a genuine smile on his face. By the time the song had ended, the groceries had all been put away and kitchen was spic-and-span.


Dear Journal:
I'm glad to write that I've made some good friends over the past few weeks. Tomorrow; I'll be able to come back home to help my parents work on the house, now that they've cleared out all the Asbestos from the ceilings. It was so weird to think that something so toxic was originally meant to prevent fires from burning houses down. Anyways; I really think that once we're done with the house, I should convince my parents to do something nice for the sandwiches.




Swift was then surprised to feel a tap on his shoulder out of nowhere.

"GAH!" Swift exclaimed.

Tarot stood there, thankful she didn't cause a major disaster. "I swear, I don't mean to scare you on purpose." Tarot stated, realizing that she just scared Swift half to death again.

Swift had to regain his composure before replying. "It-It's okay..."

Tarot followed everyone in and helped put the groceries away so Swift could give her his undivided attention. She then took Swift over to her house again where Sabrina was busy doing research in books and on the internet. Joining her was the smaller version of the Kitsune that Swift had encountered now three times in his life.

"What's going on?" Swift asked.

"Thankfully, this part is easy to explain." The Kitsune replied, as if he had been waiting to give this speech. "Basically, us three demigods have decided to send you all on a 'Practice encounter' because this version of the game is different from the one Sabrina and Tarot played. We're playing the latest version; 540 billionth to be exact. Anyway, no time to explain the full set of instructions, so you all best get a move on."

The Kitsune then snapped his fingers and a large portal appeared underneath Tarot, Sabrina, and Swift, sucking them in and the other end of the portal dumped them in an alternate dimension. This dimension was definitely locked in the middle ages as in the distance was a cobblestone settlement with a large castle built in the middle of the town square. The town itself was wrapped around the castle and was bustling with both humans and pets of all kinds. Contrary to what would be expected, all the pets were treated the same way as in Babylon Gardens in their home dimension.

"This must be this Universe's version of Babylon Gardens; and if that's right, I bet I know who lives in that castle." Tarot stated, finding that she was in a much larger and more muscular form than before. Sabrina also looked down to find herself in a Mage's garb like she wore in the last game.

Both Tarot and Sabrina then looked back at Swift, and were surprised by his appearance. Swift was clad in Knight's armor from the neck down and armed with a short lance in his right hand. Swift himself was taken aback by his new threads. "Whoa...I feel...completely different."

"That's because you have Mana powering your abilities as a Fighter" The kitsune said, having appeared out of nowhere as he usually does. "So allow me to explain the mechanics of 'The Game', or more specifically the new ones: This game is not about facing other Avatars in pitched combat, rather; you all must work together to vanquish monsters and other such things that are troubling different dimensions across the multiverse. I started you out in this dimension because it has the easiest problem that you all need to solve. Just some simple bandits that are preventing the flow of supplies to this dimension's version of Babylon gardens, or Babylon fields as its called here."

"Sounds easy enough..." Sabrina commented.

Then; a distant voice started calling for help, and all three of the Avatars sprung into action.
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dusk
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Re: [Fan-Fic] A GREY FUTURE

Post by dusk »

I really like this! It's a neat concept I hadn't too particularly thought about, versions of Babylon Gardens with different "themes". Excellent work, I am looking forward to more!
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D-Rock
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Re: [Fan-Fic] A GREY FUTURE

Post by D-Rock »

This was a good read. Finally seeing Swift happy, that's nice. This alternate dimension should have some interesting encounters, but hopefully it all helps towards helping Swift find closure in his life.
Faith doesn't change circumstances. Faith changes me.
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