[The Void Project] BACK FROM THE DARKNESS

[CainWolf]

Chapter one of the new story that continues where chapter nine of the previous story left off. I have seven out of ten chapters done so I figured I'd start posting and I really think this is my best one yet. I know I say that about a lot of stuff but I wouldn't post if I didn't think it was good. By the way if you have any small voided villagers like squirrels, mice, hamsters, or small birds then I could use some background characters for Broccolo's gang, The Tiny Terrorists. So if you have any voided villagers that are small and you don't mind them being antagonists then I could use some (they could even leave the gang later if you want, ex-gang members are cool). If you have voided villagers that don't fit that description but you'd like to see cameo then they can still appear in future stories, they can even have a major role if you want, I'm open to suggestions.

Spoiler: Chapter 1

Aidan stared sadly in the direction Curlos vanished to. "I should go after him." Bella lightly smacked Aidan in the back of his head. "Don't be stupid kid, did you pay any attention to what just happened?" Aidan rubbed the spot Bella hit and glared at her. "I did pay attention to what just happened and you know what I see? I see a good friend in a lot of pain and I have to do something about it." Bella pinches the bridge of her nose in exasperation and sighed. "Your naive goodwill is a nice change of pace from the usual gloom and doom around here but helping him is incredibly stupid, he gets crazier by the day and I can't even tell if he means it when he threatens to kill us all." Aidan smirks at his old friend. "Perhaps, but I haven't been in The Void all that long and even I can tell that he is overdue for a kind gesture." Bella paused, there was a sense of familiarity in what Aidan said that she couldn't quite place.

Bangle was the first to speak up. "I'm willing to trust Aidan's judgement on this one, I do what I can but Curlos just has some issues to work out that I can't help him with." Fauna looked worried. "I don't want to sound like I'm doubting Aidan but he doesn't know Crazy Curlos, he only knows the old Curlos." Aidan puts a conforting hand on Fauna's shoulder. "You don't stop being who you are just because a situation is bad, if I can't handle my friends at their worst I don't deserve them at their best." Fauna still looked uncertain. "Everyone tends to be at their worst in The Void, but even by The Void's standards Curlos is known for being one of the craziest villagers here. There are some who can't even remember how to speak who aren't as insane." Aidan looked determined. "All the more reason to go after him."

Aidan started to head in the direction Curlos went. "If I don't return in an hour I probably got lost, send a search party if you feel like it." Aidan jokes. "Aidan you shouldn't go alone, it's dangerous!" Fauna called out, Aidan turned with a smirk. "Don't worry, I'm taking this sword I won from a fortune cookie." Aidan pulled out a sword from a letter he was using for extra storage and continued on his way, vanishing into the dark, mostly. Bella chuckled mirthlessly. "That kid is as bad at vanishing into the dark as the sheep, that blue scale armor suit is worse than Curlos's periwinkle scarf." Fauna looked worried, "Do you think he'll be alright?" Bella rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "I'm not sure, Curlos has been increasingly unpredictable but I haven't been hanging around him much lately... What do you think Bangle? If anyone knows what goes through Curlos's mind it's probably you." Bella is met with silence and she looks around. "Bangle?" Fauna looks around as well in surprise. "She vanished." Bella smirked. "Those boys could learn a thing or two about vanishing mysteriously from her."

 

[CainWolf]

Spoiler: Chapter 2

Curlos leaned against the tree with a bored look on his face as Broccolo discussed the plan. "You got all that Curlos?" Curlos rolled his eyes. "Why did I agree to team up with you again?" Broccolo kicked Curlos in the shin and the sheep hissed, rubbing his leg in annoyance. "Who else are you going to team up with? Everyone else is sick of your insanity, your circle of allies keeps getting smaller every day. If we don't take our revenge and escape now we may not get another... opportunity." Broccolo suddenly seems distracted, his large ears twitched. "Something's coming, hide!" Broccolo hissed urgently, darting into the bushes as Curlos climbed into a tree.

Curlos peered out into the darkness until his eyes caught something blue and scaly approaching. Is that Alli? Curlos wondered before the figure came close enough for him to see. "It's Aidan, and he's alone! This is our chance Curlos!" Broccolo hissed excitedly. Curlos sighed and dropped out of the tree causing the human to stumble back. "Curlos! You startled me there bud-er, I mean..." Curlos glared at the nervous human. "If it were up to me then you'd be worse than startled human." A light slap could be heard from the bush nearby, Curlos could guess that Broccolo was facepalming. "Curlos! Stick to the plan you numbskull!" Broccolo whispered in annoyance, underestimating how well tiny human ears can hear. "Is someone there?" Aidan asked, craning his head to try and look at the bush behind Curlos.

Broccolo sheepishly peered his head out of the bush with a nervous smile. "Oh, Aidan is that you?" Curlos stared at the little mouse in exasperation. "Seems you blew your cover there Broccolo..." The rodent subtly elbowed Curlos to shut him up as Aidan looked at them in confusion. "Broccolo? What's going on?" Broccolo's thoughts raced as he tried to improvise his plan. "Well... I was just..." Broccolo noticed the sword Aidan had been carrying and had an idea. Reaching his paws behind his back he gave his own tail a painful twist and started crying as Curlos raised an eyebrow in confusion. "I was hiding in the bushes because The Void is such a scary place for a little guy like me... I have no way to defend myself, if I only had a weapon then I'd at least stand a chance..."

Broccolo sobs and Aidan kneels down next to him. "I'm so sorry Broccolo, here take my sword." Aidan hands over the weapon he had in his hands as Broccolo rubs his eyes. "R-really?" Broccolo asks, Aidan nods his head. "Sure, I have about five other Master Swords at home." Broccolo takes the sword while trying not to smirk. "So... Do you know how to get home then? I wouldn't want to take this sword without being sure that you could get more." Aidan rubs his chin thoughtfully. "Well when I dropped in through a portal, I was chased off by a blue alligator that was sleeping nearby but I had a rope tied to a bookcase so if it's still there then we should easily be able to find it and climb right out." Aidan looked down to find a sword pointed at his throat, Broccolo grinning menacingly at the other end. "There isn't going to be a 'we' Aidan, I've waited too long for revenge to just skip out of here with the one who sent me to this forsaken place!"

Aidan glanced nervously at Curlos. "Hey Curlos, I know you're angry at me but you don't really want me dead do you? I'd really appreciate it if you helped me, please?" Curlos crossed his arms and turned his head away, avoiding eye contact. Broccolo grinned like a madmouse and brought the sword back to prepare for a finishing blow. Aidan sighed sadly and shut his eyes. "Fair enough, I'm sorry for everything you guys had to deal with. Curlos, if you find that portal can you at least bring my other voided villagers back to Crystal? They shouldn't have to go through the things that made you a monster." Broccolo started to bring the sword down on Aidan's head but a golden axe caught it and pulled back. Curlos pushed past Broccolo and got right in Aidan's face. "A monster!? How dare you call me a monster? You're about to be killed and for your last words you get all high-and-mighty on me to make me feel bad? You don't know what you put me through!"

 

[CainWolf]

Spoiler: Chapter 3

A dark figure crept through the woods, almost invisible to all but the sharpest eyes. Silent feet carefully but quickly move across the ground, avoiding every dead leaf and stick that would alert those nearby of their presence. Ears swivel like satellite dishes pick up a nearby conversation and the shadowy being climbs a tree for a better vantage point of the commotion being caused by a rat, a sheep, and a human. The group remains oblivious to the newcomer as they continue their heated argument.

"Curlos get out of the way, we could just finish this and go without anyone knowing! You're putting my plan in jeopardy!" Broccolo screeches at the manic sheep. "I couldn't care less about your plan, this little creep let me get thrown here again like every other mayor I had to deal with and he thinks he can call me a monster? Others harassed me with pitfall seeds, nets, hammers, whatever they could think of to drive away tier 5 villagers like me but this one. He became my best friend and then tossed me aside and forgot about me like I was nothing! I'd have preferred an enemy!" The sheep's words caused Aidan to flinch. "I didn't know! Nobody ever told me about the void!" Curlos glared at the human and leaned in close to make sure his next words were heard clearly. "The Void is capitalized." Everyone paused in confusion at Curlos's bizarre statement, before continuing to argue loudly.

"Curlos you're completely insane, stand down so I can finish the human or I'll take you down too!" The blue rodent snarled, Curlos snorted derisively. "You and what..." The sheep paused, remembering something as Broccolo smirked. "Go ahead Curlos, finish that sentence." Curlos glared down at the little rat. "Don't tell me you brought your gang with you." Broccolo cackled wickedly, his eyes glowing yellow. "You think I just slink around the woods all by myself? I had to have a backup plan in case you didn't want to follow along like a good little sheep." Suddenly a group of nine small villagers emerged from behind trees, out of holes, and through bushes as Broccolo grinned. "The Tiny Terrorists are getting out of The Void, and there isn't going to be enough room in Crystal for anyone who isn't with us so you'd best pick a side."

Curlos looked down at the gold axe in his hooves as he pondered his options. His eyes narrowed for a moment before realizing something. Curlos suddenly grabs the front of Broccolo's shirt and leans in close to whisper something in his ear. Broccolo looks alarmed for a moment and then glances down at Curlos's axe before nodding once. "Tiny Terrorists, retreat..." A pink squirrel squeaks in surprise. "What? But we have them surrounded!" Broccolo glares at the squirrel and she goes quiet. Broccolo leads his gang away, sword still in his paws.

 

[CainWolf]

Spoiler: Chapter 4

Aidan nervously glances at Curlos. "So... I know you're mad but I wanted to talk. Are you still going to kill me?" Curlos turns to face Aidan with an unsettling grin. "Do I look mad to you?" Aidan nervously laughs. "I'm not entirely sure what kind of mad we're talking about now..." Curlos chuckles a bit. "Neither am I, but if you want to talk then I'm not going to interrupt... Unless I want to axe you a question!" Curlos laughs maniacally and Aidan backs away slowly until he hits a tree.

"Well... Curlos... I figured that if I was going to go and find the portal then I should bring back some of my friends and I know you don't consider me a friend anymore but I wanted to invite you." Curlos rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm, it is quite tempting to leave, even if it is with you... But how many of your 'friends' do you plan on taking?" Aidan straightens up a bit. "As many as I can find! I owe it to them." Curlos nods his head. "Well that's all well and good but some are quite difficult to find, especially Bruce! I know he's in The Void too but he is quite difficult to track down. How much time are you willing to spend hunting down Bruce?" Before Aidan can reply a gruff voice calls out. "He doesn't have to hunt down Bruce." The sound of hooves softly hitting the ground emanate from behind Curlos as a figure drops down from the nearby tree.

Curlos grins at Bruce's arrival. "Hey Brucey boy! I was starting to think you were avoiding me!" Bruce growls at Curlos. "Don't act all innocent Curlos, whatever mental issues you may have you know I don't tolerate potential killers." Curlos smirks at the cranky deer. "Why, whatever do you mean Bruce?" Bruce glares at the sheep. "I saw everything Curlos, you were about to help the rat kill Aidan!" Curlos keeps grinning. "You saw everything huh? Did you hear everything? Including what I whispered to Broccolo?" Bruce's anger turned to confusion as this seemingly irrelevant question. "I... Couldn't quite hear... Are you implying something or are you just being insane?" Suddenly something dropped from the trees above and landed on Bruce's head and he found himself trapped under a weighted net. "He's implying something." Bruce looked in the direction of the voice to find a sword pointed at his face.

3 minutes earlier

Curlos looked down at the gold axe in his hooves as he pondered his options. His eyes narrowed for a moment before realizing something, there was a familiar face spying on them from the tree above. Curlos suddenly grabs the front of Broccolo's shirt and leans in close to whisper something in his ear. "We're being watched, look at my axe, you need to retreat and regroup for an ambush." Broccolo looks alarmed for a moment and then glances down at Curlos's axe to see Bruce's reflection in the polished blade. Broccolo nods once in acknowledgement. "Tiny Terrorists, retreat..." A pink squirrel squeaks in surprise. "What? But we have them surrounded!" Broccolo glares at the squirrel and she goes quiet. Broccolo leads his gang away, sword still in his paws.

 

[CainWolf]

Spoiler: Chapter 5

Bruce glares at Curlos from under the net. "This is a new low Curlos, I expected better from you." Curlos rolls his eyes. "Really? Letting you get ambushed is a new low? Not the murder I was planning a few minutes ago but distracting you from a net is the lowest of the low?" Bruce snarled at the sheep. "You're betraying the only ones who give a damn about you to take revenge on someone who never meant any harm, this net means nothing but the break in trust means everything."

Curlos kneeled down by Bruce to look him in the eye. "The only ones who give a damn about me drift away, I haven't seen you in weeks and you're the closest friend I have besides Bangle. The only reason for that is because she just got here and isn't sick of me yet but it's only a matter of time, you got tired of having me for a sidekick." Bruce felt pity, but kept it hidden. "I work better alone Curlos, I didn't mean to have friends in the first place." Curlos snorted in annoyance. "A lot of people seem to feel that way about me..."

"Hey Curlos, if you're gonna be Jason Todd does that make me the Joker?" Curlos rubbed his temples in annoyance. "Shut up Aidan." Suddenly Curlos heard a loud squeak as something heavy struck the back of his head, not enough to knock him out but it left him dazed and he dropped the axe in shock. "No, I think you should really hear me out. I think I can be crazy too, perhaps not as crazy as you but enough to get by." Curlos turned to see Aidan carrying a hammer with a familiarly manic grin etched across his face. "This may be a toy hammer but it does it's fair share of damage to robots after about a hundred hits, let's see how many your thick skull can take."

Curlos stared at Aidan, complete confusion on his face. "Seriously? When did you get a hammer? And when did you start being crazy!?" Aidan cackled in a mad laugh of his own. "You don't think I'd give away my only weapon without a backup on hand? And Curlos? I was a madman when I first arrived in Crystal, I just toned it down since being a mayor required a bit of seriousness and you didn't arrive early enough to see Crazy Aits." Curlos glared at his nemesis. "You can't out-crazy me! I am the biggest basket-case in the void!" Aidan chuckled at this. "The Void is capitalized Curlos." Curlos paused at this bizarre statement. "Maybe you are crazy... Very well! Let us settle this once and for all!" Curlos yelled out dramatically, dragging a hoof across the ground and lowering his head for a charge.

 

[CainWolf]

Spoiler: Chapter 6

Curlos charges towards Aidan, his golden horns seem to shine despite the surrounding darkness. Aidan puts one hand out against Curlos's head, his shoes drag backwards creating a cloud of dust but the human remains standing against the charge and takes the opportunity to pummel Curlos with the hammer. Curlos stumbles and falls to the ground, disoriented. "What was that?" Aidan grinned down at Curlos. "That's the strategy I use for the hammer tour, stand in front of the robot and let it push you along with it and you can often get about five hits before it changes direction. Truth be told I'm disappointed it worked on you, I'd expect you to be smarter than some Roomba."

Suddenly a sword comes from Aidan's left and he just barely manages to catch it with his hammer. "Expecting Curlos to be smart isn't a very smart move in itself, why else would I bother with backup?" Broccolo sneers from the other end of the sword, Aidan smirks in return. "Getting bored just watching Broccolo? Sorry for ignoring you but me and Curlos were having a moment so if you could wait your turn..." Broccolo tries to sweep his sword at Aidan's feet, causing him to stumble back to avoid it. "Silence human, I'm taking you down right now."

"No, I'm taking him down... Ow my head... I've waited too long for vengeance." Curlos rises to his feet while rubbing his head. Aidan takes advantage of the momentary distraction to strike Broccolo in the face with the hammer then tries to charge Curlos before either of them can recover. Aidan trips over an unseen rope and falls to the ground at Curlos's feet, each end is held by a member of Broccolo's gang. "The best advantage The Tiny Terrorists have is that our small size makes us hard to notice, even when we're right under your feet!" A pink squirrel jeers at Aidan. Curlos tries to stomp on Aidan's head but he rolls to the side and manages to get up. Broccolo approaches, a black eye forming from the hammer's blow and his hair was a complete mess making him abnormally menacing.

With a start Aidan realizes he lost the hammer when he fell and now he was surrounded. "So... Are you guys sure you don't want to talk about this?" Broccolo growled at Aidan. "I don't think so, I've had enough talking." Broccolo started to bring his sword down on Aidan's head but the blade was stopped by a gold axe. "I think I'd like to talk about this..."

 

[CainWolf]

Spoiler: Chapter 7

Everyone turned to stare at the sudden arrival of Bangle, who had the golden axe Curlos dropped earlier. "Sorry Aidan, I know I said I trusted your judgement but you have pretty bad judgement." Aidan rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, fair enough." Broccolo glared at Bangle's intrusion. "You should leave now Bangle, we still have you outnumbered and you won't get another chance to walk away." Bangle smiled down at the angry mouse. "Why don't you count those numbers again?" Broccolo took a quick look around and realized that Fauna was standing nearby with her shovel, Bella sitting on an amp with her guitar at the ready, and the net holding Bruce had been cut open and surrounded by five unconscious gang members that had been guarding him.

Broccolo tried not to show his nervousness. "W-well, you're still outnumbered! I still have myself, four gang members, and Curlos against the five of you." Bangle glared at Curlos. "Curlos, are you actually against us? You can still join us but if you fight us then I'm not talking to you anymore." Curlos crossed his arms and leaned against a tree. "I'm not gonna fight you Bangle but there's no way I'm going to protect Aidan, I'll just watch from over here and hope he dies in the fight."

Bangle shakes her head disapprovingly. "That's cold Curlos, guess you don't want earplugs then." Curlos tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Why would I want-" Suddenly a deafeningly loud chord emerges from the speaker Bella was sitting on. Curlos clutched his ears and fell to his knees, as did Broccolo and his remaining gang members. Aidan looked pained by the noise but his human ears were much less sensitive and he wasn't immobilized so he took the chance to pick up the sword Broccolo dropped. Broccolo opened his eyes to find the sword inches from his face. "Heh, you know maybe I would like to talk about this after all?" The sword pulled back and Broccolo flinched, expecting to be stabbed.

Instead Aidan rested the sword against his shoulder casually and kneeled down next to Broccolo. "I'd like to talk too, if you want you can still come with us." Broccolo raised one eyebrow and stared at Aidan. "You really do have bad judgement don't you?" Aidan shrugged dismissively. "Perhaps, but that isn't an answer. Come on, you were a friend of mine at some point and I still have your villager pic to prove it." Broccolo rose to his feet. "You aren't very bright are you? There's only room in your town for ten villagers, you can't bring all of us. My gang would have had to force everyone else out of your town just to fit us all in, and even that would've required me to betray Curlos and leave him here." Curlos stopped rubbing his ear for a moment. "What?" Broccolo walked over to the pink squirrel and helped her up. "Good luck Aidan, I don't actually want you to have good luck but I figure I might as well try to jinx you in a final act of spite."

Aidan looked at his sword for a moment. "Hey Broccolo, you can hang on to this." Aidan tossed the sword to the ground at Broccolo's feet, the mouse looked up at Aidan with a questioning expression. "I told you I had plenty of those, you seem like you'll need it more than I do. Just do me a favor and don't kill any innocents with it." Broccolo smiled for a moment before picking up the blade. "I'm not making any promises." With the sword in hand Broccolo gathers his gang and they vanish into the night.

Am I trying too hard to be unexpected here? I think I might be but I don't get a lot of feedback so it's hard to say.

 

[CainWolf]

Spoiler: Chapter 8

Curlos watched Broccolo's gang leave and realized he should make his escape as well. The sheep slowly backed away into the dark, his dark brown fur vanished easily but before he could make a full retreat something grabbed his periwinkle scarf and dragged him back. "Hkk! Let go of my scarf Bruce! You ruined my dramatic exit!" Bruce rolled his eyes. "I told you a million times Curlos, the scarf is what ruins your attempts to vanish mysteriously." Bruce shoved the sheep back into the clearing where he fell at the feet of where the others still stood.

Curlos looked around at the exasperated faces of the group. "Whatever, you guys don't have the guts to kill me so do your worst!" Bangle facepalmed in annoyance. "Is that really all you have to say for yourself?" Curlos paused and chose his next words carefully. "I don't regret trying to get revenge on Aidan, but I'm sorry I had to turn against you to do so Bangle." Bangle looked surprised at Curlos's sudden change in tone but she went back to glaring and Curlos continued. "I won't try to take revenge again, I might not try to help him if others try to kill him, but I'm done with seeking revenge."

Curlos noticed something in the corner of his eye and realized Aidan was holding out his hand to help him up. "Well I'm fine with that, once we're back in Crystal you won't have to stop others from killing me." Curlos looked at Aidan skeptically and hesitantly took Aidan's hand. "We?" Aidan nods cheerfully. "Sure why not? I'd be fine with having you back in Crystal." Everyone stared at the human in sheer confusion, none more so than Curlos. "I know you said you can be crazy but did you pay any attention to what just happened? There is a subtle but important difference between crazy and stupid." Aidan chuckled and patted Curlos and the back. "I did pay attention to what just happened Curlos, and let me tell you something..." Aidan looked Curlos in the eye and suddenly looked very serious. "You still aren't even in my top five worst villagers."

Curlos started to open his mouth to say something but Aidan cut him off. "Curlos, just come back with us. You don't have to go back to being my friend but you can at least allow me the peace of mind of knowing you're safe." Curlos glared at Aidan and leaned in ominously. "I want to wear the scarf..." Aidan crossed his arms in annoyance. "Fine, just don't spread it to anyone else." Curlos smirked and nodded his head. "Done, now let's go find the portal."

 

[CainWolf]

Spoiler: Chapter 9

"So a sleeping gator is the first thing you saw when you arrived? Figures you'd open a portal right in the middle of Alli's territory." Curlos gripes as they make their way through The Void. "Oh yes that was totally intentional, why if I did it any better I'd have climbed down straight into her mouth! I always wanted to be a midnight snack for some angry monster in trashcan Narnia." Aidan quips back to the smug sheep. "Will you two shut up? We'll all be midnight snacks if you don't keep it down!" Bella whispers in annoyance. "Right, let's take advice about being quiet from the mouse that carries an amp and guitar all over The Void! Perhaps the stealthy thing to do is to disguise ourselves as rockstars and put on a concert!" Curlos taunts at the white mouse, before Bella can offer a rebuttal Bruce growls loudly causing everyone to pipe down as they reach Alli's territory.

Aidan takes the lead as he starts to recognize the area. Stepping over the log he left his helmet on after his arrival he waved the others over and pointed. In a clearing a rope dangled from a barely visible portal, it would be difficult to spot if you weren't looking for it. The group cautiously approached the rope, everyone keeping their eyes peeled. Alli was nowhere to be seen, which on any given day can either be really good or really bad. Aidan led the climb up the rope with Curlos and the others close behind.

Aidan climbed up through the portal to the familiar surroundings of his home and started to reach down to grab Curlos's hoof to let him up. Curlos smiled at this kind gesture and started to reach up when a roar made him freeze. The others dropped to the ground and scattered as Alli tore into the clearing and reached the base of the rope. The vicious gator jumped up to wrap her claws around Curlos's ankle. The sheep lost his grip on the rope and slammed into the ground with a loud thud, a cloud of dust rising around him. Curlos attempted to scoot backwards as Alli loomed over the him. "Hey Alli, long time no see! What's it been, three, four days since you tried to kill me? Must be a record for us..." The roar that followed made Curlos's scarf flutter like a hurricane hit him in the face. "Your breath smells nice today, kinda fruity. Did you eat Tangy or did Aidan drop some peaches when you chased him from the portal?"

Alli's claws dug into Curlos's scarf and prevented him from scooting back further. Bruce tried firing stones from his silver slingshot at the fierce alligator but he focus doesn't waver from Curlos. "Have at thee foul beast!" A shout comes from above and much to everyone's surprise Aidan falls out of the portal dressed as a knight with a hammer in each hand and two swords on his back. He lands on Alli's back with a loud bang as metal hits scales and they both get the wind knocked out of them. "Ow, I was going to whale on her with these hammers but I can't quite breath now..." Aidan wheezed out in a breathless tone. Alli recovered faster and stood back up with her ire now directed at the human helplessly gasping for air on her back. She tries to swipe at him with her claws but he dodges, though his reflexes are slowed and he clearly can't keep it up. Alli slams her back into a tree and Aidan falls off of her with a pained cry. Aidan looks up to see Alli moving toward him and he tries to back up only to be stopped by the tree he had just slammed into. Alli starts to lunge and Aidan shuts his eyes, when nothing happens he opens them to see Alli's claws met with Bangle's as they attempted to push each other back.

"Wow, I forgot how big Bangle was..." Aidan looked up in surprise at Curlos who was suddenly right next to him, Bangle turned her head just enough to leer at the sheep. "Watch your mouth Curlos, or else I might be having lamb chops for dinner..." Curlos chuckled nervously and helped Aidan up. "What happened to not helping if others try to kill me?" Curlos rolled his eyes at Aidan. "I said might not, besides you came back for me... Even if you did take your time." Aidan nodded in agreement. "I had to stop by my armory for weapons, I thought they would help. I lost the hammers again already but I also have these." Aidan pulled something out of his pocket and showed it to Curlos. "That can work, give them to Fauna." Aidan ran off as Curlos prepared to put his plan into action.

By the way Tangy wasn't actually eaten, I don't even know if Tangy is in The Void, Curlos just has a dark sense of humor at times. Despite the dark setting I try to keep things clean so I don't want to imply that casual death is constantly going on outside the main story.

 

[CainWolf]

Spoiler: Chapter 10

Alli roared and snarled at Bangle in an animalistic manner, Bangle tried to remain more civilized in general but in the heat of things she couldn't help herself from letting out a fearsome roar of her own. With Alli's claws occupied Curlos took the opportunity to dive head-first into her exposed stomach causing her to stumble back several feet and land in a freshly dug pitfall seed. With Alli stuck Fauna raised her shovel high and brought in down on Alli's head, knocking her unconscious. Everything was suddenly very quiet except for the heavy breathing of several individuals trying to catch their breath. Curlos walked over to Alli and gently patted her on the head. "Goodbye Alli, I'm gonna miss you." Bella facepalmed in exasperation. "There is something wrong with you Curlos, get away from her before she wakes up and eats your face."

Once again everyone ascends up the rope to reach the portal, Aidan climbs through first. Curlos reaches his hoof out to touch the portal again but the portal only ripples at his touch without giving way. "What the... I can't go through!" Aidan looks alarmed and tries reaching through to pull Curlos up but the sheep can't breach the portal. "Why won't this work?" Aidan cries in desperation. "Because you have ten villagers. The Void doesn't give up its residents so easily and when it does you need room for whatever may come, even then you can not take back your own." Aidan turned in surprise to see a girl in a HHA jacket staring at him sadly. "Lila! What do you mean?" Lila approached slowly. "You can not simply take back your villagers as easily as you sent them away. While it is possible for them to return you'll find that the path is far more perilous."

Aidan knelt by the trashcan, tears in his eyes as he stared down at his friends. "There has to be something I can do..." Lila shook her head sadly, though Aidan didn't even look up to see. "I'm afraid the only thing you can do is get out of the way..." Aidan paused in confusion. "Get out of the way...?" Suddenly the heavy bookcase that Aidan had tied the rope to toppled over and Aidan scrambled away as the trashcan was crushed. Aidan looked up at Lila in shock. "Sorry Aidan, The Void would eventually have either killed you or trapped you there and I couldn't risk it." Aidan got up and started to storm towards Lila in rage but was stopped as she held up a sword to his throat and all he could do was glare. "You're a monster! You didn't even let me say goodbye or offer them extra supplies..."

Lila lowered the sword. "Apologies Aidan, but I couldn't risk it." Aidan sneered at her. "Because I could be trapped or killed? Do you think I care about that when my friends are trapped and could be killed?" Lila grabbed the front of Aidan's shirt. "You don't get it you fool! You aren't just some alternate character that can be deleted and sent to The Void without consequences, I wouldn't care so much if you were, you are a mayor! If you go then this entire town goes as well..." Aidan goes quiet, tears fill his eyes and Lila starts to leave, but she pauses to say one last thing in a gentle tone. "They'll be okay, most of them have been to The Void before and those that haven't have friends that do... As long as they watch out for each other they'll be able to survive, perhaps they'll even be able to live."

I intended this as the last chapter but then I felt like I should show what happened on the other side of the portal so I wrote an epilogue yesterday and I'll be posting that tomorrow.

 

[CainWolf]

Spoiler: Epilogue

"I'm afraid the only thing you can do is get out of the way..." Lila's words echoed through the portal as Curlos pounded at the portal. Curlos tried to peer through the other side but the only thing he could see from this angle was the bookcase with a rope tied to it. Suddenly Lila goes over to the bookshelf and gives it a shove and the last thing to be heard was Aidan's voice. "Get out of the way...?" Before he scrambles away. The portal closes abruptly as the bookcase crashes down on it and the rope cuts off sending everyone crashing to the ground.

"Ah well, I never expected it to be that easy anyway." Curlos lamented above the sound of his friend's groans. "Get off Curlos, you can piss and moan later." Bruce said as he shoved the sheep off to the side. Curlos got up and brushed himself off. "I thought something sharp was stabbing me in the back, you should file down your horns like Hellboy or something." Bruce gave Curlos a light shove. "Like you don't compare me to comic books enough, perhaps you should get rid of your horns first and let me know how that works out for you." Curlos laughs, the first genuine non-maniacal laugh in a while.

Bangle, Bella and Fauna look at Curlos like he's crazy despite, or possibly because of his normal laugh. After the laugh dies down Bangle is the first to speak up. "Why are you so chipper? I'd think you'd be more upset than any of us." Curlos smiled gently at Bangle. "Upset? I never really expected to make it back to Crystal even if I wanted to, I still have the stuff I looted from him; a gold axe, a supply of perfect peaches, and a timer he had on him for some reason... I don't know why he had that, here you take it."

Curlos tosser the timer at Bangle who still looked confused. "You didn't want to go back to Crystal? After all that?" Curlos nodded and started to walk away. "We should go before Alli wakes up." Bangle ran to catch up to Curlos as the others followed. "Curlos, did you really not want to go back to Crystal? This isn't just a sour grapes thing is it?" Curlos slowed his pace to look at Bangle sadly. "I'm more at peace with what happened between me and Aidan now and I'm glad for that but I can't go back to Crystal, it was an important chapter of my life but I gotta look to the future..."

Curlos looked around to see his friends were fairly downcast, he pulled out a basket of perfect peaches. "Hey guys, I know it's a bummer that things didn't work out but I'd like to propose a toast! I don't exactly have fancy drinks so everyone just take a peach." Bangle raised an eyebrow but took a peach anyway and the others joined in. "To the future! May it lead us to a brighter place, because it's not like things can get any worse! Unless I invoked Murphy's Law just now!" Bella facepalmed and tried not to laugh but she found herself giggling and the rest of the group joined in, even Bruce chuckled slightly. Curlos gently bumped his peach against Bangle's in a toast and they both dug in.

The last chapter of the third installment of my void saga. I'm still writing stuff but that will probably be the last we see of Aidan unless I write about the town of Crystal but that isn't really void related so I don't think I'd post here. For now I do have more void stories in the works, I'm about halfway through a new void story already and have another couple planned. A while back Curlos started appearing in the shops area of my town and I wrote a short story about his escape but I'll be hanging on to it until I'm done writing for him. If anyone wants to see it you can pm me and I'll send it to you but it isn't officially canon until I'm done writing for Curlos so the final version may or may not be edited depending on what comes up in my stories.

 

[Captain Crazy Chicken]

I know I'm not a moderator, but STOP. SPAMMING!!

 

[CainWolf]

I know I'm not a moderator, but STOP. SPAMMING!!

Spamming? I want a second opinion, I don't think this is spamming. This is a forum to share stories and other creative ideas. I'm not bumping or anything here, I contribute something different every time to the topic and only once a day unless I'm responding to someone. I don't think once a day is unfairly taking any attention away from other topics and at least two people mentioned they liked my stories even though they don't always post responses.

I will admit that one such post commenting on my story was two pages ago and the other person who liked it only sent a pm but I'd say this thread isn't dead yet and I don't believe my posts are truly unwanted bumps. This thread has a history of ups and downs in how active it is, it's just in a bit of a lull right now.

 

[toxapex]

I haven't done anything for this thread since spring, man... I should draw something...

But I don't know what, exactly...

 

[Shadow Star]

So, wow how long has it been since I was meaning to get another chapter on here? XD Anywho, I'm not quite sure what caused me to ditch this for some time. I think college and family life mostly. While college is still trying to drag me away, I feel like this can be a great stress relief as I do find writing to be helpful. Probably quite soon I'll put up the next chapter of Shep's Search. Also I felt like I should mention for those who still write stories on this, if anyone would like to use my voided villagers in their stories, go right ahead.
Fang
Nibbles
Mira
Hamlet
Hazel
Blanche
Rhonda
Violet
Chow
Merry
and Shep (though in reality he wasn't voided, but since I'm claiming him to be for my story, you can use that variant of him XD)

 

[deerui]

I want to do something in this cries

 

[Shadow Star]

Spoiler: Shep's Search: Chapter 3; Final Letter's

Much like Mira had described to me, the path towards Fang's house was pretty straight forward. The walk was silent, the only sound being from the river I had to cross on the way to Fang's. Aside from that, it was just silence all around me. But, it did give me a chance to properly look at the world around me... my new home, I guess.

Much like the train station and the route to Nibble's home, the world was very bleak. You would only have to be here for a few seconds to pick up a lot of emotions of this place. I could try and list them, but there would be too many to list. In short, the feelings range from despair and sorrow to anger and confusion. Far off into the distance, I could see flickering lights from what I assume would be other villages. It makes me wonder why my 3 dearest friends stayed so cut off from everyone else. Was it really that bad here? Sure, it seemed bleak and dark, but wasn't there a way to brighten it up? Though I didn't have much time to dwell on my thoughts as the familiar house I knew too well came into sight.

His house seemed like any other house here. It was dull, depressing and showed slight damage. His mailbox had the mail icon flicked up, the 'ding' sound and light going in sync to alert him of mail. I wanted to see what was inside, but felt that would be rude. I ignored it and went up to the door to knock. Upon knocking, movement could be heard from inside but nothing opened the door. So, I did as Mira advised and went to the mailbox to get the key.

As I opened the mailbox, the new mail icon flicked back down as I took out the key and noticed an opened letter inside. Since Fang had already read from it, I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to read it. It was probably just a reminder about a birthday. If I recall, Rhonda's birthday may have just been if she was in town. However, it wasn't. Instead, it was a letter from Miku. The paper was the petal paper, Miku's personal favourite. I doubted on reading it but since the paper looked quite old, I started to read.

Dear my beloved Fang,
Thank you very much for the birthday party you threw for me today. You really caught me by surprise! It was great fun though, so I thought I should give you a gift in return. I hope you like it as much as I do. I'm holding you to your promise of making my wish come true! "We'll always be friends!" Don't forget to stop by sometime, I'm working on something upstairs I think you'll enjoy!
We'll always be friends, ~Miku

How odd. Miku celebrated her birthday with me not too long ago and Fang was gone by then. This means it was from her first birthday in Konoha as mayor, when they were super close.
"Shep, put the letter back." a deep and dark voice spoke. Looking up from the letter, I saw Fang in the doorway and his appearance was different completely compared to how I remembered him, though it was hard to tell as the light from inside caused more of a silhouette.
"Fang?" I asked. He motioned to step inside the house, but his unnerving glare wasn't all that comforting. "Maybe.... you'd like to read it?" I offered. He grunted, stepping out of the house and snatching the letter out of my paws and quickly inspected it to make sure there was no damage. Nodding in satisfaction, he made his way into the house, motioning me to follow.

What happened to you?

So I finally got this done. I wasn't quite sure where I was going with this but I think it turned out well. Now onto the notes!

Spoiler: Story Notes!

So Fang finally appears. I was still debating what to do with his personality, but I think seeing as he's a cranky, he'll initially be grumpy to everyone he sees, even old friends. However, give him time and he warms up. However as he warms up, you see he isn't as jolly as most crankies end up being once you befriend them. Instead, you'll start to see how upset he is at leaving and how frustrated and upset he gets when he talks about Miku not visiting him and not being able to leave the void. At the same time though, he will speak fondly of her.

As for the letter, it was probably a tad too long for what the games allowed, but I figured I'd make it nice so Fang would have something to reflect on. My theory for him keeping it in the mailbox is that this was the final letter he got from Miku and part of him can't look at it due to it reminding him of his home town and Miku. But, he keeps it in the mailbox because a part of him then feels like Miku is still keeping in touch with him. He's using the letter to hold onto his sanity even though he's fully accepted that he can't go back. As for the gift Miku sent him, well you'll see it next chapter

Overall not much development here aside from the introduction of Fang. I think within the next couple of chapters, a possible flashback will occur to do with the relationship between Miku and Fang. Still, I'm hoping I can get back into this again. ^_^

 

[Saaaakisuchan]

Weeee... haven't seen this thread in a long time... time to add my story...

Spoiler: Tweetville

Welcome to Tweetville, home of happiness and kindness, not a single good deed goes unnoticed here. The animals are smiling and happy as they shower you with greetings, gifts, and compliments every day. Our friend Yui (pronounced you) suspected nothing when she moved here, how could she? The paths were candy themed, somehow they got pink trees to grow and lots of fruits grew here. Plus there was plenty of things to do, fishing, catching bugs, shopping and socializing. Yui were happy here in Tweetville, and Tweetville was happy with you.

One day Diana asked Yui if she would go shopping with her, Merengue, and Fauna, the glamorous girls of Tweetville. It was an honor to her to go shopping with them. It wasn't like a high school scenario, popular girls and not-so popular girls, it was more like a first experience thing. All the villagers talked to Yui and were friends with her, but Yui didn't really know what they did behind the scenes when they weren't around her. Yui happily told them "yes" and headed back home to get ready. If she were to go shopping
with glitzy girls, what would she wear, say, what would she even do?

Yui did what she thought was best, be herself but be a little bit fancy with it. So she did her hair with her usual pink bow, wore her favorite dress, a blossom dress, put on some pale pink eyeshadow and some white shows with a black bow on them. Yui grabbed her purse and ran out to meet them at T&T Emporium, she didn't see them so she decided to go window-shopping. She peeked in through a window into Leif's area and noticed that someone was in there. Yui watched and listened as the two talked about something.

"Make sure nobody knows about this..." the customer asked.
"Why not?" Leif curiously asked as a question mark appeared above his head.
"Because I said not to!" the customer's voice was harsh.
"Okay.. if nobody asks.."
"Good." Yui wondered what just happened as Merengue poked her "Hey! Yui, ready to shop?" Fauna asked. How long had they been standing there? Yui wondered. "Yeah... lets go!" she shook it off as she walked inside. The customer seemed to be gone and Yui was curious as to where he could of hidden. "Come on, slowpoke!" Diana practically dragged her up the stairs to Gracie's floor, her wallet would be cleaned out by the end of this spree..

--END OF PART 1---

 

[Sloom]

"I'm afraid the only thing you can do is get out of the way..." Lila's words echoed through the portal as Curlos pounded at the portal. Curlos tried to peer through the other side but the only thing he could see from this angle was the bookcase with a rope tied to it. Suddenly Lila goes over to the bookshelf and gives it a shove and the last thing to be heard was Aidan's voice. "Get out of the way...?" Before he scrambles away. The portal closes abruptly as the bookcase crashes down on it and the rope cuts off sending everyone crashing to the ground.

"Ah well, I never expected it to be that easy anyway." Curlos lamented above the sound of his friend's groans. "Get off Curlos, you can piss and moan later." Bruce said as he shoved the sheep off to the side. Curlos got up and brushed himself off. "I thought something sharp was stabbing me in the back, you should file down your horns like Hellboy or something." Bruce gave Curlos a light shove. "Like you don't compare me to comic books enough, perhaps you should get rid of your horns first and let me know how that works out for you." Curlos laughs, the first genuine non-maniacal laugh in a while.

Bangle, Bella and Fauna look at Curlos like he's crazy despite, or possibly because of his normal laugh. After the laugh dies down Bangle is the first to speak up. "Why are you so chipper? I'd think you'd be more upset than any of us." Curlos smiled gently at Bangle. "Upset? I never really expected to make it back to Crystal even if I wanted to, I still have the stuff I looted from him; a gold axe, a supply of perfect peaches, and a timer he had on him for some reason... I don't know why he had that, here you take it."

Curlos tosser the timer at Bangle who still looked confused. "You didn't want to go back to Crystal? After all that?" Curlos nodded and started to walk away. "We should go before Alli wakes up." Bangle ran to catch up to Curlos as the others followed. "Curlos, did you really not want to go back to Crystal? This isn't just a sour grapes thing is it?" Curlos slowed his pace to look at Bangle sadly. "I'm more at peace with what happened between me and Aidan now and I'm glad for that but I can't go back to Crystal, it was an important chapter of my life but I gotta look to the future..."

Curlos looked around to see his friends were fairly downcast, he pulled out a basket of perfect peaches. "Hey guys, I know it's a bummer that things didn't work out but I'd like to propose a toast! I don't exactly have fancy drinks so everyone just take a peach." Bangle raised an eyebrow but took a peach anyway and the others joined in. "To the future! May it lead us to a brighter place, because it's not like things can get any worse! Unless I invoked Murphy's Law just now!" Bella facepalmed and tried not to laugh but she found herself giggling and the rest of the group joined in, even Bruce chuckled slightly. Curlos gently bumped his peach against Bangle's in a toast and they both dug in.

The last chapter of the third installment of my void saga. I'm still writing stuff but that will probably be the last we see of Aidan unless I write about the town of Crystal but that isn't really void related so I don't think I'd post here. For now I do have more void stories in the works, I'm about halfway through a new void story already and have another couple planned. A while back Curlos started appearing in the shops area of my town and I wrote a short story about his escape but I'll be hanging on to it until I'm done writing for him. If anyone wants to see it you can pm me and I'll send it to you but it isn't officially canon until I'm done writing for Curlos so the final version may or may not be edited depending on what comes up in my stories.

Well it has been quite a while since I dropped by this forum, I'm glad to see people are actually still coming. I read through the stories posted and they are looking good. I have a story I was working on but I put it on hiatus due to lack of interest but if the forum is really coming out of it's lull then I may have to finish it up if anyone is interested.
---

Shadow Star-Glad to see a third chapter on this one. Normally I'd have to go back and reread the previous chapters after this much time but I actually remembered this story straight away, that is fairly unusual for me but it's a great story so far and something about it stuck in my mind rather well.

CuteLuka<3-I like what I see so far here. Funny thing, I picture Leif doing that question mark emote in my head as clearly as when he does that in the game. In any other story it would be odd to describe a question mark appearing over someone's head but anyone who plays the game knows exactly what that means. A bit of constructive criticism, when a character is thinking something in their head like that How long had they been standing there? Yui wondered. part of your story I find it helps to use italics so it sticks out a bit more and you can see exactly where it begins and ends: How long had they been standing there? Yui wondered.

Well it has been quite a while since I dropped by this forum, I'm glad to see people are actually still coming. I read through the stories posted and they are looking good. I have a story I was working on but I put it on hiatus due to lack of interest but if the forum is really coming out of it's lull then I may have to finish it up if anyone is interested.
---

Shadow Star-Glad to see a third chapter on this one. Normally I'd have to go back and reread the previous chapters after this much time but I actually remembered this story straight away, that is fairly unusual for me but it's a great story so far and something about it stuck in my mind rather well.

CuteLuka<3-I like what I see so far here. Funny thing, I picture Leif doing that question mark emote in my head as clearly as when he does that in the game. In any other story it would be odd to describe a question mark appearing over someone's head but anyone who plays the game knows exactly what that means. A bit of constructive criticism, when a character is thinking something in their head like that How long had they been standing there? Yui wondered. part of your story I find it helps to use italics so it sticks out a bit more and you can see exactly where it begins and ends: How long had they been standing there? Yui wondered.

 

[CainWolf]

Well it has been quite a while since I dropped by this forum, I'm glad to see people are actually still coming. I read through the stories posted and they are looking good. I have a story I was working on but I put it on hiatus due to lack of interest but if the forum is really coming out of it's lull then I may have to finish it up if anyone is interested.
---

Shadow Star-Glad to see a third chapter on this one. Normally I'd have to go back and reread the previous chapters after this much time but I actually remembered this story straight away, that is fairly unusual for me but it's a great story so far and something about it stuck in my mind rather well.

CuteLuka<3-I like what I see so far here. Funny thing, I picture Leif doing that question mark emote in my head as clearly as when he does that in the game. In any other story it would be odd to describe a question mark appearing over someone's head but anyone who plays the game knows exactly what that means. A bit of constructive criticism, when a character is thinking something in their head like that How long had they been standing there? Yui wondered. part of your story I find it helps to use italics so it sticks out a bit more and you can see exactly where it begins and ends: How long had they been standing there? Yui wondered.

Gingersnap35-Interesting interpretation of The Void if I do say so myself, not a lot of people speculate about the happenings of when an entire town gets deleted so it's good to see someone delving into the less discussed aspects of The Void.
---
I look forward to seeing more from everybody, this is good stuff. If anybody wants to use my void villagers, especially my crazy little interpretation of Curlos, then feel free to do so. If anyone wants feedback or advice on any void stories I'll be happy to help.