Once Upon a Time, Part 1

[Masøn M.]

(Hurray!… I have no idea which fictional series this is from so I’ll probably stay silent for a bit…)

[Josiah the Carrot Stick]

(Tales of Goldstone Wood.)

[Josiah the Carrot Stick]

(I just looked it up, Mason sent us to Hyrule. Not me.)

[Masøn M.]

(Tis true… Didn’t expect it to be a major plot point lol. I was definitely wrong.)

[Josiah the Carrot Stick]

(Hahaha, it worked, though.)

[DScott]

Peter thought that he was going to go crazy in his room by himself. He looked at the door hoping someone might come through when the side of the wall opened revealing Douglas. Douglas took a step in as the door shut behind him seamlessly.

“There isn’t much time. When we get out of this room, I need you to follow me. We’re to attempt to obtain a *thing* and portal out of here. Are you ready?”

Peter thought a moment. He didn’t know if he could trust him, but then he didn’t think he could trust the Franklin folk. “Yeah, let’s go.”

Douglas waved a card about the wall and the panel opened. He stepped inside and motioned Peter to follow, and they stepped into the hallway. The lights gave just enough dull yellow light to show Douglas’ outline. Douglas took a right turn and they came to a dead end. Douglas again waved a card and a panel opened letting light flow into the hall.

They stepped into another room that looked similar to the last, but had a cot rather than a chair. Douglas motioned for Peter to follow him out the door. They stepped out into a hall like the one Douglas had been in earlier. Peter followed Douglas down the hall. He wondered what Franklin wanted with him, and now might be the last chance he had to find out.

“Douglas, you were going to tell me what these, uh, Franklin Folk wanted with me…”

“They are not really the ones who wish to use you, it’s…” his voice dropped to a whisper “At first we called her Vala Muinthel, but we soon started calling her Valdra Muinthel. She wants to use your Time Lord Essence to power a – a doomsday device.”

Peter walked silently for a moment. He thought back to Kristen. She and Valdra Muinthel might be one in the same. “Why are the Franklin Folk helping her?”

Douglas looked down for a moment before turning to face him. “That’s a story for another day. Right now, we have to…” Peter looked beyond Douglas. Franklin had discovered them.

“Why is he not in his room? Tests are not to be conducted until tomorrow. Certainly, we all know?”

“Ah. Oh yes, well I’ll take him back. Just a slight error I assure you.”

Franklin looked suspicious. “We should make sure our guest has several accompanying him.” They started walking back to the room. “We think the A.C.C.U. has been underperforming recently, and we think it might have negative effects on the mind. Perhaps we should visit the medical room after this.”

Douglas’ face lit up for a moment. A.C.C.U.? He hadn’t heard about that, or at least he didn’t remember it. That might be helping HER control them.
“Yes. That would be…” Douglas swung a punch at Franklin, followed by a kick to the stomach.

“Hurry!”

Peter didn’t need any further coaxing. He followed Douglas, but took one last glance at Franklin. He wondered if they were related. Peter could hear someone helping Franklin up. He ran faster.

Douglas took him into his storage room, and ran to the back and got his computer from the cereal box.

“What are you doing?” Peter asked keeping an eye on the door.

“I’m looking for something that’s using a lot of power. There, there it is. How did I not know? Let’s go.”

He grabbed a sack, and they were running again. After about five minutes of running, Douglas led them to a large room across the room there was a strange machine, but off to the side there was a console. Sitting at the console was Franklin. He looked up, and saw them. He stood up and started coming towards them. Peter glanced at Douglas. He didn’t do anything.

“What is our guest doing here?”

Peter was baffled. Surely Franklin knew they were trying to escape. Douglas didn’t hit him that hard, did he?

Franklin was coming closer.

“Jump him!” Douglas said as he did just that.

They knocked him unconscious, and Douglas ran to a panel and opened it up. He pulled out a box, and started messing with buttons on it.

“You have to go ahead and get out of here.” The strange portal from his first meeting with Franklin opened up. Douglas handed him the box.

“Go, I have to take care of that.” He said pointing to the strange machine. He pulled a strange glowing ball from his bag.

Peter nodded backed up, ran toward the portal, and jumped. Into the wall. He staggered back and managed to regain his balance.

“What are you doing?!” Franklin had entered the room with another box, he must have shut the portal. He was accompanied by… another Franklin?! Franklin was on the floor still. Peter was confused, but he thought he might be starting to understand what was going on.

Douglas was starting to panic. “NO!! This ends now!” He said throwing the ball at the machine.

Franklin, or Franklins gasped. The ball hit the machine and exploded. They stood there in shock for a moment. Douglas threw another ball.

“What have you done? We don’t have protection anymore!” Franklin yelled over the explosion.

The other Franklin, ran up to Douglas. Douglas swung at him, but Franklin blocked, and Douglas held his arm in pain. Franklin took this moment to knock him on the upside the head. Meanwhile Peter was charging at the other Franklin, but he sided-stepped out of the way and knocked the box out of Peter’s hand, and picked it up.

He looked at the box and gasped. “He was going to send him to HER.”

“Well he won’t be safe here, we can’t fix A.C.C.U. soon enough for him to be safe.”

Peter charged at Franklin again. “Then we’ll send him somewhere else.” He opened a portal as Peter smashed into him. The other Franklin came and they pushed Peter in. As it was closing he could hear their faint voices for a moment.

“A.C.C.U. can’t be fixed. At all. We’ll have use an alternative.”
“We could have helped him discover his potential. We didn’t even find his-“ And that was all he heard.

[DScott]

(I might have gotten carried away.)

[Masøn M.]

(This is the action sequence that this story deserved… And the one it needed…

Also, welcome to the ‘I got carried away…’ club!)

[DScott]

(I’ve always wanted to be in the ‘I got carried away dot dot dot’ club!)

[Wileycoyote]

(Ok I have a few questions. First off so do we know where all the rest of the time Lords and Carlos and Robecca are? Or can I make something up. Also what’s up with the woods again? And I’m assuming that Hyrule was apart of LoZ right? Ok and another question for Franklin, what does A.C.C.U stand for?)

[DScott]

(Anti Cerebral Control Unit)

[Awkward Potato]

(I like it, Franklin! Bekah, to answer your questions…none of the Time Lords except Manalive and Dawn are accounted for unless I missed something, the woods are Goldstone Wood from that series, and yes, Hyrule is from LoZ.)

[Poulet Frit]

(ALL SO GOOD!!! great thing to read right when I woke up too!)

[Josiah the Carrot Stick]

(I’m probably off eating vegetables somewhere.)

[Wileycoyote]

(You canibal)

[Josiah the Carrot Stick]

(*cannibal)

[Wileycoyote]

(lol I thought it looked wrong)

[Josiah the Carrot Stick]

(Haha, oh well.)

[Wileycoyote]

(lol I thought it looked wrongn)

[Wileycoyote]

(Ugh what is up with my spelling today )

[Josiah the Carrot Stick]

(It happens to the best of us.)

[Masøn M.]

“Not again,” Peter thought. He was sick of getting portaled all around. At least this time it was semi-familiar to him. Remembering how he had landed last time, he braced himself for impact.

When the portal spit Peter out, however, he felt… nothing. It was a pleasant surprise. He sat up and looked around. It was… beautiful. He was in a large courtyard of sorts. Trees were scattered around everywhere, with large, brightly colored fruits hanging down from the branches. Though there were no animals in sight, there was a sort of distant chirping. It filled in the silence perfectly, without being obnoxious or intrusive. Surrounding the courtyard was a huge gold and marble hotel-like building. The architecture was indescribable, nothing like Peter had ever seen before. In the sky a golden sun shimmered and lit up the entire sky. The air was light, and felt… good.

Straight ahead Peter saw a large gate which lead into the building. As he stood up to begin walking toward it, he continued to look all around him. He wasn’t sure where he was, but he knew that it was the best place he’d ever been. A smile crept up his face, and he didn’t know why. He just couldn’t help smiling in this place. It was, dare he say, perfect. When he was nearing the gate, he spied a small pond to his left. It was lined with brilliant pink flower. He walked over to one and picked it up. Then popped it into his mouth. He didn’t know why, but it was like an instinct, buried deep within his mind. It tasted like nothing he’d ever tasted before, yet somehow also felt familiar. He didn’t think he’d ever eaten anything like it before, he’d probably remember eating a flower, but nonetheless he kept the thought in the back of his mind. Somehow, everything looked and sounded more brilliant, as if the flower had enhanced his senses! It was amazing! So he ate multiple, stuffing them into his mouth.

When he was full, he continued into the building, entering into its dazzling lobby. It looked like something you could only dream of. He noticed that there was a cherrywood desk in the corner with a little bell on it. He went over and clicked the little button on the top. Instead of ringing with an annoying ‘DINNGGG’, it was softer, and the sound gently floated in the air around Peter. Out of nowhere, a man appeared behind the desk. His face looked warm and kind. He looked ageless, as if he was young and yet had lived for hundreds of years.

“What can I do ya’ for, son?” the man asked.

“Uh, I’m… I’m not quite sure. You can start with maybe telling me where I am?” Peter sounded nervous, for some reason. He didn’t know why. He thought that maybe he wanted to impress this man, or not make a fool of himself in front of him.

The man chuckled and said, “Well, we call this place the in-between. We don’t really know where we are to be honest! Isn’t it just wonderful, though!”

“It really is,” Peter replied. He paused for a moment, and said, “This… This isn’t heaven, is it?”

“Oh, heavens no! But it may as well be!” the man smiled.

The answer slightly confused Peter, and also unsettled him for some reason. “So… is this like a hotel?”

“It’s like a lot of things, to be honest. There are hundreds of things you can do here. But yes, we do have rooms that you can live in. Best rooms in the universe, I always say.”

“Well, I don’t have any money, so I don’t know–”

“No matter boy! None of us have money! That’s the beauty of this place! I was in your place many years ago, nearly everyone here was.”

Peter looked around. “I don’t… I don’t see anyone…”

The man flashed a brief puzzled look, so faint and quick that most people wouldn’t even notice, but Peter did.

“Ah yes, you… You just arrived, did you not?”

“Well, obviously.”

“Right, right, yes. Of course you did, what am I saying. Well, erm, some of the folks prefer to stay, uh, hidden to newcomers. They like to observe the new people at first. Tend not to like new folks disrupting their wonderful lives they’re living here. I’m sure they’ll open up to you soon, they always do.”

“Wait, so you can just make yourself invisible to whoever you want here?”

“Uhh, yes. There are many things you can do here. The possibilities are near endless.”

“Alright. I suppose I’ll take a room, then?”

“Yes, yes, right, right. I’ll just give you a room key and you can take the elevator to your right to the correct floor.”

He opened a drawer and picked out a card, handing it to Peter. “I hope you enjoy your stay. There hasn’t been a soul who hasn’t!”

“Right, thanks.”

Peter took the card from the man and walked to the elevator the man had gestured to. As he approached the doors slid open automagically. He walked in and an angelic voice sounded from the ceiling, saying “Please hold your card up and wait patiently as we take you straight to your desired room”. Peter did as he was told, and waited for a few seconds. Suddenly he felt a slight jerk. “We have arrived at your destination”.

“That’s strange,” Peter thought. “I hardly felt movement at all.”

The doors opened and Peter walked out of the elevator and… straight into his room? The elevator behind him closed, also closing a second set of doors within his room.

“Instant transportation. I can live with that,” Peter said to himself.

He decided to look around his room, although it was more of an entire house in and of itself! To his left was a living room, with a huge, soft couch. The living room lead into the kitchen, a kitchen like Peter had never seen before. He walked over to the fridge and opened it. Inside it was stuffed with flowers, the same flowers he’d eaten outside. Though he was full, he plucked one out and shoved it into his mouth. It tasted just as amazing as earlier. To the left was a door that lead into the most incredible bedroom. The furniture was lined with gold and gems, the bed in the middle could probably fit three people, and the chandelier hanging from the ceiling gave light to the entire room. He took it all in with awe, and walked over to another door he spotted in the room. It lead to the bathroom, and it was just as fantastic as everything else in this place.

He ran around his hotel room, giddy with excitement like a kid who had just been told they were going to Disney World. He just couldn’t stop smiling. He finally collapsed into his bed, thinking of all the things this place had to offer. He wondered when he could meet the other residents. He couldn’t wait to meet people! He wanted to have some friends to enjoy this place with!…

“Friends…” he thought, losing his smile that had stayed on his face for such a long time. He remembered Dawn, and Brooke, and Josiah. He remembered Mason, and Kye whom he’d just met. He remembered Manalive. He remembered Carlos. They all seemed so distant now. Like none of their adventures had ever happened. It didn’t sit well with him. He ran to the bathroom and puked. Thought everything else felt great in this place, that wretched feeling of losing your stomach stayed the same. And it all went. When he finally stopped, he got up and walked back to his bed. Everything looked darker, but his mind felt clearer. He laid back on his bed, suddenly much less comfortable, closing his eyes and trying to get some sleep.

His sleep was filed with nightmares. One nightmare consisted of him being trapped in a room, with no windows or doors to escape. Another consisted of him repeating the same day over and over, unable to leave the vicious cycle of repeating time. In another, he saw all of his friends in front of him, but they were beaten and unconscious. They looked terrible. And when he tried to run over and help them, his legs couldn’t move. He hoped so dearly that one of his ‘abilities’ the Franklin Folk had discovered wasn’t the gift of foresight. In his final dream that night, he was sitting in a completely black room, void of anything. All he could hear was a faint voice, repeating the same thing over and over.

“open your eyes. open your eyes. Open your eyes. Open your eyes. Open Your Eyes. Open Your Eyes. OPEN YOUR EYES. OPEN YOUR EYES.”

And he tried, over and over, until he finally woke up to the sound of a voice in his room.

“Shut up, we can’t let him hear us. The first day-ers always sleep well, but it doesn’t mean he won’t wake up. You know how much trouble we’d been in if him, of all people, woke up!”

Peter got the chills and prepared for whatever would come next.

[Masøn M.]

(I should mention that this is loosely based off of a piece of Greek mythology that is fleshed out a lot in Percy Jackson, but can be originally found in ‘The Odyssey’…)

[DScott]

(Interesting. I like it.)

[Dawn]

(I’M excited!)

[Josiah the Carrot Stick]

(Huh, I don’t remember that being in Percy Jackson. Also, I get to read the Odyssey for school this year, so that should be interesting.)

[Poulet Frit]

(Niceee!!!)

[Josiah the Carrot Stick]

(Indeed.)

[riseofthekumquat]

Peter sat still, frozen in fear by the raspy breathing of whatever was in the room with him. In the darkness of the room, he struggled to fully comprehend his situation. He remembered the hotel, he remembered that he was upstairs; He didn’t know how the elevator worked or how he reached his room. It was all a haze of pleasant tastes and sensual smells. The intruders had the upper-hand in the dark, with their eyes having adjusted already and their general knowledge of the hotel and with the fact that they could allegedly turn invisible whenever they pleased. So when it came to choosing between fight or flight, fighting was not an option.

Peter could make a blind run for the door. He had no idea where he would go afterward, but the streams of light protruding from beneath the doorway seemed to be his only hope at the moment. He thought about trying to turn himself invisible but quickly realized how stupid of a thought that was. The Intruder already knew that Peter was there, turning invisible would do nothing but, ironically, give himself away. So he could either muster up his courage and make a break for the door or he could pretend to be asleep. At the sound of something sharp scraping against the carpet, Peter decided that his options had been narrowed further: he couldn’t just lay there and play dead, he either had to make a break for it or *be* dead. Peter readied himself and took a deep breath.

3…

The foot steps stopped at the foot of his bed.

2…

Peter felt the weight of something climb onto his bed.

1…

Something slimy brushed against Peter’s arm.

NOW!

Peter threw the covers off in a wide arc, hoping to temporarily disorient whatever had jumped up on his bed. He shot out of the room like a canon, not stopping until he was into the light of the hallway. He heard multiple inhuman shrieks come from the room and, foolishly, looked back to see his intruders. The three red-eyed creatures looked like a combination between a goblin and a giant bat, roughly about four feet tall. They jumped around defiantly, continuing on with that shrieking sound, acting like alpha chimpanzees who had been challenged to fight. One of them flashed their massive teeth and with one flap of their leathery wings exploded out of the hotel room. Peter quickly turned and sprinted down the hallway, the trio of creatures hot in pursuit.

It was only at this point that Peter remembered that he had been instantly transported to his room. He knew nothing about the seemingly endless stretch of hallway that laid out in front of him. He kept on at a full sprint, but the sheer length of this hallway weighed on his mind. He just had to get to the end of it and then he’d figure out what to do next. He just had to get away from these three creatures.

No, not three.

The flapping, the shrieking, it had all gotten louder. But it hadn’t gotten closer. There were more of them. A small army of them had assembled behind him. It was at this point that Peter began to see the bodies, former customers drained of their blood and missing limbs. Some peaked out of open room doors, some lay strewn in the middle of Peter’s path. Peter hurdled the bodies and refused to let his terror slow him down. Another hotel room door exploded open and Peter narrowly dodged another one of the creatures that came flying out. Peter felt like his heart was going to explode, every breath felt like liquid magma in his chest, but if he slowed his pace even a little bit the swarm of hundreds of creatures that had joined up behind him would catch him and eat him alive.

Turn invisible, Peter silently chanted to himself, TURN INVISIBLE!

Even if the man running the hotel was telling the truth (doubtful at this point), Peter couldn’t see how he would ever figure out how to unlock those powers.

At last! Sweat heavenly mercy! The hallway came to an end and there was a sharp, narrow turn towards the ballroom. The massive ensemble of hellspawns behind Peter lacked his maneuverability and this corner should thin out the heard a bit. Peter turned the corner without missing a beat and several seconds later heard the deafening crashing sound of hundreds of those creatures colliding with each other as they tried to fit through a much narrower hallway. Peter still couldn’t let up. He didn’t stop till he reached the balcony overlooking the ballroom, where he could see all of the hotels’ floors at once.

Peter’s quivering heart sank into his stomach.

The ballroom was at least a good mile below his feet. It was hard to get an exact guess on how high up he was, there were no lights on in the hotel outside of the ones of this floor. The ballroom was lit by moonlight. Even more terrifying, the balcony appeared to be a dead-end. The distant shrieking became significantly less distant.

Then another familiar sound enveloped Peter’s senses.

“O P E N Y O U R E Y E S,” came a whisper from what seemed like the very air around Peter.

“O P E N Y O U R E Y E S”

Peter climbed over the railing of the balcony and leaned back over the edge to create separation between himself and the swarm that had forced their bodies into the narrow hallway. Many of the creatures had landed and started crawling towards him, some on the ground, some on the wall, some on the ceiling, all with teeth bared. The hair on their jet-black bodies stood on end.

Peter tried to catch his breath and control his shaking body which partially hung over a drop to certain death.

“Open your eyes,” he chanted to himself. “Wake up.”
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Peter’s unconscious body lay in a chrome cryosleep chamber in the middle of a moderately large room filled with Franklins holding clipboards, observing Peter’s brainwaves through various monitors.

“YOU TOLD ME THIS ONE WOULD BE TROUBLE,” came a booming voice that seemed to apparate from every corner of the room, “BUT THIS…”

“He has been through six different scenarios over the last few days,” marveled Franklin 2265, current captain of the Cryosleep Division, “With the others, we merely had to put them in a labyrinth of quests and pop-culture references and they were content to lay and rest until the day that their brains turned to mashed potatoes. This one has too secure of a grasp on reality, questions everything. We can’t seem to get him to forget about the real world.”

“THEN WHY ARE YOU THREATENING HIM IN THIS SCENARIO? WHY DIDN’T YOU JUST LET HIM ENJOY THE HOTEL!?”

“We wanted to fatigue him, break him down, make go insane. Once he embraces loses his mind-”

Franklin 2265 is cut-off by the slow building of a high-pitch tone. All of the Franklins drop their equipment and cover their ears. The room starts shaking with the pressure. We finally see who that first Franklin was talking to: a giant, levitating… orange? At least it sort of looked like an orange.

Franklin 2265’s nose starts to bleed. The noise cuts out and Franklin 2265’s face is dragged upward by some unseen force toward what one would assume to be the face of the giant orange.

“WHEN I’M FINISHED WITH YOU, YOU WILL *BEG* FOR THE SWEET RELEASE OF INSANITY!”

“You’ll never get away with this!” yelled a familiar voice

Douglas was levitated above the two, clearly under the control of this giant orange creature and in no position to make any threats. The orange rotated slightly, as if to look up at him.

“YOUR FOOLISH OPTIMISM AND DESIRE TO BE THE HERO HAS BEEN MOST USEFUL IN FURTHER TRAPPING THIS SPECIMEN. FOR THIS AND FOR THIS ALONE, I WILL APPEAL TO THE MISTRESS TO SPARE YOUR LIFE, IN SPITE OF YOUR TREACHERY. DO NOT FURTHER TEST MY GENEROSITY.”

And with that, Douglas drifted towards the wall of the room. The walls became a liquified substance and Douglas was quickly dragged in, kicking and screaming. The creature then turned back toward a terrified Franklin 2265.

“TRANSITION THE SCENARIO, TURN THIS INTO A HERO FANTASY. SEE TO IT THAT NO MATTER WHAT, THIS SPECIMEN DOES NOT WAKE UP AGAIN. I ASSURE YOU CAPTAIN 2265, THE MISTRESS IS NOWHERE NEAR AS FORGIVING AS I AM. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?”

“Y-yes, Lord Kumquat.”

“GOOD. FIX THIS SITUATION BEFORE SHE FINDS OUT”

And with that, Lord Kumquat levitates out of the room and the door shuts behind him.

The Franklin’s scramble back to work, flipping dials and switches.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

“Open your eyes,” Peter is still chanting as the bat-goblin creatures close in on him, “Open your eyes.”

Peter is awoken from his trance by the sound of something metal landing next to him. It’s a handgun. Peter really should have questioned where that had come from, but he’s not one to look a gift horse in the mouth in a situation like this. Peter grabs the gun and fires a round towards one creature, grazing its shoulder. Another one was in prime position to sneak up and take a bite out of him, but he puts the barrel in the creature’s mouth and blows its brains out. For a feeding frenzy mob that was all ready to take him down a minute ago, the creatures scattered almost immediately, flying away off in different directions of the hotel.

Peter climbs back over onto the right side of the railing and collapses into a heap, beyond exhausted. But then he hears something even more unsettling than the shrieks of the creatures.

“NO! GET BACK! NO! HELP!” screamed the voice of a girl from about three floors below him.

There might be another survivor in here, thought Peter, I need to save them before the creatures get there. Would one handgun be enough?

Wait, how did he not notice that closet up here before?

It’s open.

And inside there’s a shotgun, an ammo vest to carry all the shells, an ax, and some climbing rope.

Again, Peter didn’t have the time to stop and recognize how convenient this was. He had to get down there to save any survivors.

“It’s showtime.”

[Poulet Frit]

(The real question is, who is more despicable, kumquat or Kristen??)
(I like this addition. I should think about writing a Kristen part…)

[Author]

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