#githv

What is GITHV?

This is a crossover roleplay between @huffle-dork and @crystalninjaphoenix and the next continuation in our Multiverse series! The rifts caused by Rift!Anti have pulled Inverted!Jackie, Stitched!Schneep and Switch!JJ into the Swap universe! But the rifts seem to pose a danger even to Alt and Bro- so another multiverse adventure begins!! but this time without the TRVLR and no sure fire way to get home..

Read on AO3

GITHV tag

Swapboys

Septnautical

Darker Seas

CKTC

Swap Bad End

The In-Between

Jackie's eyes widen and he immediately regrets shouting. He pokes his head over the rocks but JJ grabs him and drags him down again.

"I-it must have been a mistake," Schneep whispers, trying to see if he senses any especially large creatures nearby. "Perhaps something interfered with your powers? Like—like how radio waves interfere with each other sometimes and make static?"

I don't think they'll understand that, JJ points out.

Marvin growls and shows off his fangs. "I-It's okay... we can't panic we just... gotta figure out how to get a-all of us to the arch without a-alerting mesmers or ghost leviathans or getting in the brine..."

"And... crabsquids." Jamie adds nervously.

"That's a very long dangerous check-list..." Chase mumbles.

Mer-Jackie swims up like Jackie did to look at the area. "... I don't see any ghost leviathans yet... but those things are sneaky..."

JJ also looks over the rocks. He vaguely remembers Anti showing him some pictures of stuff from Subnautica... if he's correct, the ghost leviathans are huge and glowy. Yeah, no sign of them. We just... have to be quiet, he says. With all of us, we can keep an eye out.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Schneep asks. "I am, apparently, made for this environment." He flicks his tail. "Maybe I should go first? Even with the... you know." He waves his hand in front of his face.

"Technically you and JJ are safe here. Ghost rays also live around here," Henrik says. "So... maybe that could work."

"We can form a group," Jackie mutters. "Like a little ball. The ones who are more vulnerable to the poison brine stay in the middle, and the rest stick to the edges.”

"Can't you simply make another warp gate?" Schneep asks Marvin.

"If he could, I'm sure he would've suggested that," Jackie says.

"Oh- y-yeah lemme see-" Marvin says as he quietly tries to open a new gate- they can be kinda loud. However, when he tries, he gets a shock of green electricity up his hands and he yelps. Then, he full blown starts to panic, his voice raising. "i-I-i! I can't m-make another gate!!"

"Shit- I didn't think we were near the no-warp zone!" Mer-Jackie curses.

"I-I don't think we are! I just... i-I can't make one!" Marvin screeches in distress. Jamie surges over and grabs his arm, trying to shush him. Chase also comes over and tries to quiet him, "M-Marv calm down, we'll figure something out!"

Alt suddenly pales and curses, "...ah shit- m-maybe my glitches...?"

"Alt!" Bro hisses, "I told you!!"

"I know I know I'm sorry!" Alt whispers.

Marvin doesn't seem to hear his brothers though as he looks up at Alt and suddenly snarls. "Y-You! Your f-freaky powers messed with mine!" He then bursts out from where Chase and Jamie are holding him and goes to tackle Alt to the ground with a yell. Alt squeaks in response and tries to push him off but he's a bit freaked out. "I-I didn't think it'd hurt you! I-I'm sorry!"

Jackie blanches and rushes over to Marvin and Alt. The mandibles on his back instinctively shoot out and grab Marvin on either side. "Leave him alone! He didn't do anything!" Jackie says, trying to pull Marvin back.

Jackie, be careful! JJ says, also jumping in to help. He casts a protective shield in between Alt and Marvin, hoping to push Marvin's hands away.

"I think JJ was right earlier, I think we should be quiet!" Schneep says, trying to be heard without raising his voice too much. He keeps trying to sense nearby souls.

Marvin is snarling like a terrifying predator eyes trying to go pink behind his mask. Alt covers his head and then blinks as JJ shields him.

Bro gets in between Marvin and Alt and pushes Marvin back with a snarl. “Back off!”

Anti and Mer Jackie growls at seeing Marvin get pushed and Chase has to grab them both to make sure they don’t go after them too.

Then, there’s a terrifying roar coming from the expanse before them- the area starting to show a blue glow.

Bro freezes, “…that’s bad news isn’t.”

The way Marvin and Reaper Jackie freeze seem to answer their questions.

Jackie lets go of Marvin and backs away at the sound of the roar.

Ghost? JJ guesses.

Schneep's eyes widen. "That feels big." He feels around the rocks. "I-is there anywhere to hide?! Any—any small crevices? If not, fucking run."

“Marvin, which way is the arch?!” Henrik asks sharply.

“I don’t know!” Marvin squeaks, “That’s why I was hoping we’d just warp there! I haven’t been over there lately this place is like a fucking maze!!”

“S-So run then?!” Bro asks.

“Swim!” Mer-Jackie yells as a bright blue horrifying fish with a hammerhead like head barrels towards them through the murky water, trailing blue like ribbons and roaring so loud they can feel its vibrations in the water.

Bro sees this terrifying thing coming and for a second he freezes- but he sees Henrik is too. Without thinking he barrels into Hen right as this thing sails over top of them and ends up crashing the two of them back down into one of the rocks. Jackie and JJ dive down, swimming as fast as they possibly can away. Meanwhile, Schneep is gone the moment he feels the vibration of the roar. Just completely out of sight, having leapt away. Alt glitches away and has to right himself as he feels a bit dizzy doing so.

The rest of the boys manage to dodge okay while Marvin panickedly look around. He spies something in the distance and spurs down, "I-I'm starting to remember! Swim down towards that smaller set of ribs!" Bro helps Henrik up and grabs his hand to help him follow. Mer-Jackie does the same with Anti and Chase grabs Jamie- just because their tails make them a bit slow. Jackie and JJ swim after them. Schneep waits until the group is on the very end of his soul sensing range and then leaps over to them from his hiding spot in that strange cooler section of water near the ground.

Luckily for them, the Ghost Leviathan is clumsy and sped straight past them- too big to turn back around to chase them in time. By the time it does, the merboys have all swam down into a lower section of the briney falls. They all stop to catch their breath.

"F-Fucking hell..." Alt gasps, "T-that thing was terrifying...!"

“That was so loud," Schneep gasps.

If I wasn't running on pure adrenaline and terror that might have been cool, JJ says. But again. Pure adrenaline and terror.

"I-is everyone okay?" Jackie asks, looking around. "Schneep? You kind of disappeared for a moment there."

"I was in a cooler section of water, I think it was perhaps some sort of mist," Schneep says. "It must have hid me."

“That is the brine-“ Henrik explains. “Ah but no worries for you… it can be your protection here. It is too close to the ground for the ghosts to go towards.”

"The brine..." Schneep repeats. "Brine. Brine. Briiiine." He giggles a little. "A funny word."

"Oh god the near-death experience made you loopy," Jackie comments.

"I tend to disassociate when too upset, actually," Schneep says casually. And then break down, but that doesn't need to be shared. "I just think it is a funny word."

“You sound like Alt when he’s loopy after glitching too much.” Bro snickers. Alt frowns and flicks Bro. Then he laughs. “It is a fun word though- don’t get to say it often. Briiiiine-“

“Okay that’s enough,” Chase laughs.

Alt swallows and then timidly goes up to Marvin. “…I’m so sorry I caused this I… is there any way I can help?”

Marvin looks away and rubs his wrists. “…we probably need to just… give it a bit… I-I self repair… whatever you did will get out of my system somehow…”

"Sorry I grabbed you, too," Jackie mutters. "Panicked."

No harm done, it all seems! JJ signs cheerfully.

“Let’s not get too dragged down gang,” Bro tries to say lightly. “We can get through this! Who knows how to navigate down here?”

“Probably Marvin… the rest of us don’t come here…” Anti grumbles. He seems to be swimming a bit slower as he wraps his arms around himself, “p-probably because it’s f-fucking freezing down here…”

“Is it?” Marvin says, flicking his tails. “… I never noticed.”

“It is kinda chilly…” Chase agrees, rubbing his arms.

“I think it’s bracing!” Mer-Jackie grins. Anti whacks him with one of his tails.

JJ shrugs. Seems perfectly fine to me.

"Me too," Schneep adds.

Jackie frowns. "Maybe it's a bit chilly."

"Perhaps it has to do with the temperatures our, ah... fish... samples? The temperatures they can live in," Schneep says.

"Then why am I cold?" Jackie asks. "I thought I was some arctic creature!"

You're also a lobster, JJ says, amused.

"Ssshut!"

“What’s a lob-ster?” Jamie whispers with a tilted head.

“Some weird human thing I’m guessing.” Anti grunts.

Marvin stiffens a bit and his eyes turn slightly pink as he drones, “The chelicerate is a predatory animal that patrols the warmer waters found near thermal vents.”

“Ohhh so that’s why!” Mer-Jackie grins, “Your species hunts in warmer waters. Guess not everything is icy over there.”

“Huh. Guess that explains it,” Jackie says. “Weird that there’s some animal that sticks to a vent when the rest of the water is so cold. Like—you think they’d evolve to tolerate the cold, then.”

“There are animals like that on Earth.” Schneep shrugs. “I suppose it just shows that if life is possible, it will find a way.”

“S’also why i’m miserable…” Anti pouts. “I need a thermal vent…”

“I think there’s some on the way, Anti.” Marvin tries to smile at him. “C’mon.”

Marvin starts to lead them down further into the cave, swimming right above the brine as it swirls like a cloud on the sea floor. The area is beautiful in an eerie way. Above them they can see ghost rays swimming, letting out an ethereal ghostly song.

Alt grins and nudges JJ, “Look! It’s you!”

JJ looks up at the ghost rays. “Ooooo.” He waves at them, grinning wide. Prettyyyyy.

“So how far d’you think we are from that place?” Jackie asks. “And can you describe the stuff to avoid? Heard you mention… mesmers and… crabsquids?”

“I think a crabsquid is described in its name,” Schneep points out.

“Hey, you never know.”

“I mean other Schneep’s not wrong,”  Chase laughs, “They’re… big creatures with long legs like a crab. They emit emp blasts.”

Alt pales at this, “Oh they do? …gotta make sure to avoid that…”

“Mesmers are smaller but I think they stay mainly around those bones…” Mer-Jackie says as he looks around.

“There are also the river prowlers…” Henrik points out. “But maybe they will avoid us because we have one with us?”

The corridor is starting to get darker, bits of bright blue light shining on the cave walls.

But suddenly… there’s the sound of a drone of some sort… and something foreign calling out to the group. Strange creatures… come closer… don’t be afraid… come over this way….

Schneep stops swimming momentarily. “Do you all hear that?” It’s a voice. How unusual… he doesn’t think he can sense any strong souls. He turns to face that way just in case.

“Hmm?” Jackie also turns towards the pull.

JJ frowns and quickly shoves the voice into the back of his head. Anything that talks to you like that can’t be good.

Anti hears the voice in his head and freezes, then shrinks up and curls to put his hands over his ears. “No! No no g-get out!”

Henrik quickly swims over to see what’s wrong. “A-Anti??”

Alt shudders as he hears the voice and hunches up, his tail starting to light up with sparks.

Those who feel the pull turn to see creatures with beautiful swirling wings flowing out of the darker water, coming towards them. Once they hear it and look at the colors- it’s impossible to turn away. They feel themselves drawn forward towards that beautiful light. It’s just… so pretty…

As the boys are drawn in they see the water around their vision swirling with beautiful pastels green purple and blues- the effect getting stronger the more they turn towards the creatures. Stronger the closer they get… they want to get closer.

Oh… that’s beautiful. Jackie has never seen anything so beautiful. He grabs onto Schneep’s shoulder. “Wish you could see this,” he whispers.

Schneep frowns. “Why? What is happening?”

JJ looks back at the others. His eyes widen. No no no! It’s just like those spirals in that SCLERA place! He darts forward, keeping his eyes down and squinted, and grabs onto Jackie, trying to pull him back. But Jackie just frowns in annoyance and shoves him away without even looking.

Bro looks over and gets drawn into the swirls of color. “…wow…” he laughs dazedly and starts to swim forward. The Mesmer beckons him closer.

Marvin and Reaper Jackie, who are leading the pack, look back in confusion as the group starts to disperse. “What are you guys doing?” Marvin squeaks in concern.

Henrik gasps, “It is a swarm of mesmers! E-everyone do not listen and do not look! Try to get away from them!”

But, it seems Chase and Jamie have fallen for the voices too. Floating together towards one Mesmer, Bro going towards another.

The Mesmer drawing Jackie in seems pleased. That’s it child… very good… don’t resist… don’t look away..  come closer… let me show you something beautiful. The mesmers drone to their prey.

As Jackie nears it- it suddenly opens up its mouth and 4 sharp toothed tentacles try to snap shut around his face.

JJ cries out. Schneep, get him away from there! he signs. He backs up, concentrating, and sends out a spray of magic, aiming mostly for the one that's trying to eat Jackie but hoping to catch others in the crossfire. But nerves cause his magic to go wide by a long shot.

Schneep leaps out of Jackie's grip and grabs his tail from behind, pulling him away and downward.

Jackie yelps and finally looks away, down at Schneep. "Dude, what the fuck?!"

"Try to think clearly, Jackie!" Schneep shouts. "Do you think this is normal?!"

Alt doesn’t know why he’s able to avoid this so well but he dives towards the Mesmer drawing in Bro and tries to shock it.

The Mesmer trying to draw in Bro dodges Alt’s attack and swims away, dragging Bro to follow closely after it. He grins in delight and doesn’t take his eyes away.

“C-Chase! Wake up!” Alt tries to call, grabbing onto Bro’s arm. But he makes the mistake of looking up and- fuck! Another comes up a bit closer to get in Alt’s line of sight- and Alt looks directly at it. He feels his senses leave him completely. The drone overtaking everything else.

yes… don’t resist now… come come… I’m very friendly… come see my beauty…

Alt’s shoulders slump and he breathes out, relaxing. “Okay…” he lets go of Bro and starts to swim dazedly towards the one pulling him away.

“No! D-Don’t!” Marvin tries to warn but he swims back- terrified of the swarm as it brings back memories. Without his warps- he feels powerless.

JJ sees Alt get taken in out of the corner of his eyes. He gasps and sends a spear of icy magic towards that mesmer.

The ice shreds through the Mesmer, leaking yellow blood into the water as its fishy body is cut in half. Alt stops swimming but- his eyes are still swirling with its colors. He still feels entranced. He doesn’t seem to notice anything else around him. He can’t even bring himself to keep his tail swimming so he starts to fall through the water.

Mer-Jackie roars and tries to tackle the ones targeting his brothers. As ReaperJackie tries to tackle the Mesmer drawing in Chase and JJ- another one gets right in his face. His eyes immediately start to swirl and he lowers his mandibles and hands.

oh… we remember you strange reaper… you were quite the tasty meal… will you let us feed on you again? In exchange we will let you gaze upon our beauty for as long as you can…

Mer-Jackie breathes, his head lolling a bit on his neck. “Y…yeah…” he whispers- going in a tight circle as the Mesmer makes its prey follow it docilely like a game.

“J-Jackie!” Henrik shouts. Anti is still too freaked out to do anything- his body shaking against his will.

Bro gets close to his Mesmer- staring at its wings with delight in his eyes- its mouth starts to spread apart- fangs glistening in the dull cave light but he doesn’t seem to notice.

Jackie shakes his head. Huh? What was he doing? Schneep has pulled him close to the ground, almost to the brine, and as he looks up he sees the teeth and fangs on the mesmers. "Holy shit!" he gasps. "Th-they're gonna—we got to do something!"

Schneep reaches to a side for a weapon—and pulls out his trusty scissors. "Tell me where they are and I will go there."

"You can tell where people are, right?!" Jackie says urgently.

"Yes!"

"There's one right in front of Bro, i-it's the one closest to someone, it's about to fucking eat him!"

"Got it!" Schneep disappears, and reappears in the water right above the mesmer, stabbing downwards. Schneep manages to skewer the Mesmer and it shrieks in anger and tries to wrap a tentacle around Schneep’s arm.

Jackie looks around wildly, trying not to look directly at anything. He sees his hybrid counterpart try and get close to one of the mesmers, only to get caught in its grip. He has to do something! Closing his eyes, he charges through the water with a yell, hoping to pin the mesmer.

By some miracle, Jackie’s hybrid instincts kick in and his mandible crushes the Mesmer into one of the stalagmites. Mer-Jackie is still entranced though, just slowing to a halt and sinking a bit through the water- not knowing where else to swim.

Marvin yelps and dives down to catch him, holding his twin close to his chest.

Schneep stabs the mesmer’s tentacle as soon as it latches onto him, then leaps behind Bro. He grabs onto him and starts pulling the same way he did with Jackie. JJ grabs onto Alt where he’s floating and starts swimming away. Jackie backs away from the crushed mesmer, breathing heavily, stunned at his own capabilities. He sees the other two and Marvin grabbing the mesmer victims and dives down next to Marvin to help.

The Mesmer Schneep attacks screeches in pain and swims away. And soon, Bro is able to shake out of the trance and blinks up at Schneep as they’re pulled away. “H-huh? Schneep?”

Chase and Jamie have neared theirs, Chase reaching out towards it. The Mesmer snaps out its jaw and bites down hard on Chase’s arm. He’s snapped out of trance as he yells in pain. This is enough to make Anti uncurl and roar in anger. Sending a fire ball out to blast and kill their Mesmer. Jamie blinks in slow dazed confusion and Chase tries to scoop him up, looking for a place to take everyone to hide.

Henrik seems to pick up on this and looks around and points down below where the brine makes a couple waterfalls, seeing a plateau of safe rock just below the streams. “D-Down there! Hide behind the brine, I think there’s a cave there!”

Chase and Marvin nod and hurry down, curving around the stream and finding safety behind the falls. As soon as the three others hear Henrik shout, they move in that direction as well, JJ taking Alt, Schneep taking Bro, and Jackie taking mer-Jackie- seeing Marvin have some difficulty carrying him. 

They’re all taken down under the falls and luckily, enough of them glow enough to shed at least some light in the shallow cave.

Henrik leads in with Anti and sighs shakily. “W-Who’s hurt?”

“I-I got bit,” Chase says and Henrik swims over and rummages through his bag, finding some creepvines and wrapping up Chase’s hand.

Marvin is shaking but stays outside the cave to watch out for any more signs of trouble.

Bro settles to the ground, still a bit disoriented and spacey. “What… what happened…?”

“Mesmers…” Henrik snarls, showing a bit of anger.

Jackie shivers. “I-I thought you said those things stick around the bones. I figured we’d gone far enough away from them to not have to fucking worry.”

“Maybe we weren’t far enough away… or we were too interesting to ignore…” Chase mumbles, frowning at the still tranced Jamie.

JJ shakes his head. I don’t like that. I don’t like things that… mess with your head.

Jackie gives him a strange look. “Uh… you mentioned… something called Distorter once…”

JJ pales a little. Lets just say that if Distorter was a hybrid, he would definitely be one of those things.

“I see…” Jackie mutters.

“I-I think we are all safe?” Schneep says, holding tight to his scissors still.

Bro sees Alt still tranced in JJ’s arms and he hurries over, trying to shake Alt awake. “A-Alt?! Alt hey!” But Alt’s head just dazedly lolls backs and forth. “T-The fuck?!”

Anti looks at JJ with probably the most sympathetic look he’s given yet. He then swims over to Jamie in Chase’s arm and frowns, “I don’t get it… w-we killed those fuckers right? Why are they still… caught in this?”

Jackie frowns. "Maybe—maybe we just need to snap them out of it?"

"If Alt is not being snapped out by Bro shouting at him, what will snap him out of it?" Schneep asks.

"Uhhhh... we could slap him?"

Schneep frowns disapprovingly.

JJ looks out through the brine waterfall, checking that there are no threats. There aren't, but something could show up at any moment. He pulls back. I think we should move on. We can carry them with us.

Henrik snaps out of his focus as he finished Chase’s arm and nods to Jackie. “A-Actually yes! The only thing I have found to work is… t-temporary pain. I do not know why… but the trance only lingers if a Mesmer is killed while their victim is in trance.”

"Huh. Weird." Jackie pauses for a moment. "Maybe it's something like... the signal is able to continue in their head? Sort of... sustain itself? I dunno, I know there are a lot of mental magick spells like that. 

“That is a good theory…” Henrik muses.

“Anyway." Jackie swims over to Alt. "Sorry, Alt." And he slaps him across the face.

Alt immediately exclaims in surprise and grabs his cheek, the colors immediately clearing from his eyes. “Ow! Jesus!”

Schneep can't help but laugh a little at the sudden slap noise. "Ah—sorry, that is not funny. Just—the noise without context."

“Oh thank god…” Bro sighs in relief. “T-Thanks Jackie I dunno if I could have done that.”

Alt massages his cheek with a confused frown then sits up with a gasp. “T-That weird fish! It.. it-“ He looks visibly pale as he swallows shakily. “…f-fucking god damn it…”

"No problem." Jackie nods at Bro. "You okay, Alt? I don't think I hit you too hard, but I also feel stonger in this merman form so I might not be a good judge.”

Alt tries to nod but he’s visibly shaken. “Y-Yeah I’m… it s-stung like a bitch but I’m… I’m fine.” Bro frowns and brings in Alt for a very gentle hug. Alt shudders and flicks his tail to try not to spiral. 

Anti frowns at Jamie and then slaps one of his tentacles against his face. Jamie makes a noise of surprise then sits up, blinking up at his brothers in confusion.

Mer Jackie is still under too but he seems to slightly be waking up, not down as long as the others. “…m..Marv…?” He mumbles, blinking like it’s still kinda hard to see.

"Oh! Hey, other me!" Jackie looks back at mer-Jackie. "Marvin? He wants you!"

Marvin perks up and swims back quickly to his brother, bending down. “J-Jackie?? Are you okay?”

Mer-Jackie grins dazedly, “Didn’t get bit this time…!”

Marvin snorts and pushes his face away playfully, “Yeah… thank the stars we weren’t alone again…” Marvin sighs and lightly taps mer- Jackie’s cheek to wake him up too and the colors start to completely clear from his eyes. He pushes himself up and shakes himself out like a dog. “Fuck dude! I hate fucking mesmers…”

“….t-those things are really strong for s-something so small…” Bro mumbles.

“It is because their calls can reach your mind…” Henrik says with a shudder. “They are smarter than most prey here… maybe not as smart as a sea emperor or a warper but… smart enough to draw fish into their thrall.”

"Not smart enough for me to sense their souls, apparently," Schneep grumbles unhappily. But if those emperors and warpers are stronger, he'll probably be able to sense them, at least?

Do you think covering our ears would protect us from mesmers? JJ asks. I know it's not a good idea to cover your ears while swimming somewhere dangerous, but I'm just trying to establish how they work.

Schneep nods. "Rules are always good to know."

“I… I think we’re for sure out of their territory though…” Marvin says quietly, “I think I-I’m starting to remember the way. We should be safe…” he looks to JJ and shrugs, “Covering your ears won’t work against them… cuz it’s in y-your head… and to be honest it’s about to get kinda dark … but only for a little bit. There’s river prowlers ahead and… i-I think that’s it until we swim up…”

“We just gotta try our best to lay low and not draw too much attention,” Mer-Jackie says with a shake of his tail as he swims up from the ground. “…sadly though just us being here brings a lot of attention… so we just gotta be brutal enough to send fish swimming’ scared~!” He grins.

"Hell yeah, I can be brutal." Jackie flashes a dark grin. "Let's move. The sooner we head out, the sooner we get there."

JJ nods slowly. That does make sense... Schneep, perhaps you should stay in front? Maybe it'll discourage the river prowlers from getting close to us.

"I'm willing to do that, but someone should be next to me," Schneep says.

Marvin nods, “I’ll stay by other Schneep then… Since I mostly know the way.”

“Alright- let’s keep it going then!” Bro tries to say brightly, hoping his enthusiasm is contagious. Mer-Jackie grins at him and nods.

The boys all filter back out into the main cavern past the brine and Marvin starts to lead them down a bit more in the lower parts. The brine still flows but- now there seems to be a big island below surrounded by the mist. Big funnels puff warmer water into this area like heated vents. And strangely to the right are large glowing pillars… and what looks like massive metal cables sunk into the cavern walls. And under them, by the vents and in between some more falling brine… is a decently sized skeleton. Not the size of the rib cages they saw… but pretty big. This thing must have been at least 100 meters…! It looks big enough for you to even swim inside of it.

"Whoaaa," Jackie whistles. He's so tempted to swim through that skeleton but they have to stay focused. "I so wish you could see this, Schneep." He diverts down to one of the funnels, enjoying the warmer waters.

"Describe it for me," Schneep says.

"Well, this whole place has been pretty green. The brine is green, and it looks like rivers and waterfalls. There are these glowing pillar things and this huge ass skeleton!"

And these strange cables, JJ adds. 

Alt looks down at the skeleton and can’t help but shudder. Bro whistles too, “Damn that thing is sick! What is that thing you think?”

The merboys (except Marvin) all pause to look down and then they gasp. Anti seems palest of the all as he stammers out, “T-That’s… that’s a sea dragon…! What… what was one doing down here…?”

"A sea dragon?" Jackie repeats. "Oh, like—oh."

"Perhaps it was looking for food?" Schneep speculates. "Well, in any case, if it is old enough to just be bones now, whatever killed it is definitely no longer around. So we don't need to worry."

Mer-Jackie stares at the skeleton and hums. Then starts to swim and gestures for the others to follow as he talks, “you know- Zara told me a story once. About how this planet got the khaara… said the architects that lived here came here to look for a cure and captured a sea emperor. But it was old… and they didn’t know how to hatch its eggs… and a sea dragon was really similar to the sea emperors so they took one of its eggs and… she got angry and attacked a big base of theirs. And… it broke the base and spread the disease into the ocean. Causing the outbreak almost a 1000 years ago…”

"Outbreak? Oh, so it's some sort of disease?" Jackie asks. "Or, well. It was almost a thousand years ago, so I'm guessing—hoping—it's not around any more."

"I'm sure that would've come up with the list of dangers," Schneep points out.

"Oh yeah! You guys don't know about that!" Mer-Jackie says. He then laughs and shakes his head. "We don't really get what it is but yeah its not around anymore. Except the time that Chase got it."

"It is a strange disease..." Henrik mumbles, "It nearly wiped out the whole planet I am told... it was only about a 100 years ago that someone from Alterra fell to the planet and got the cure from the sea emperors... they were the only one who had the cure surprisingly. It is something they produce naturally. ...which is probably why they took Jack... just in case it ever returned..."

"I'm... sorry that happened to you guys... that your brother went missing..." Jackie says slowly. "And that bit about Chase getting it, too. Sorry about that."

"It's okay," Chase says, having swam back to swim with the others. He smiles tightly. "We got it fixed really fast... but that’s how we found out what warpers could do. They were made to get rid of the khaara... or creatures that were too sick with it since they didn't have a cure. But, things had been so peaceful here for so long no one had seen a warper act aggressively. So we were all pretty shocked when Marvin suddenly warped me into the grand reef." He rubs his arms, "It's okay though... we're figuring it out. And... we have Jack back now... we'll figure out how to wake him soon..."

Anti seems to be sinking a bit as he's swimming, looking like he's having trouble staying awake as Chase says this.

JJ notices Anti sinking a bit and ducks down, shaking him a little.

Anti blinks sleepily at JJ and tiredly bares his fangs at him. His Jamie comes up and subtly grabs his arm, looking at JJ gratefully. 

JJ looks back at the cables again then asks, What are those? Man made? Or... alien made?

Marvin seems determined to get past this part as quickly as possible and bites but a growl of frustration at people getting distracted. But as Jamie mentions the cables Marvin freezes almost robotically. He doesn’t look that way but stammers out. “..a-alien-made- don’t… don’t go that way-“

JJ looks at Marvin, puzzled. Then nods slowly. Alright. We'll avoid it if there's danger. Let's keep going.

Marvin shivers and nods, quickly swimming away from this corridor as fast as he can.

Alt looks curiously at the path with the cables. Wonder what’s over there that’s got Marvin so spooked?

The merboys shake out their fear as they see their brother booking it away. “M-Marvin! Hang on!” Chase shouts and tries to follow.

Jamie looks at where Alt and JJ are looking and flicks his tails sadly, whispering. “…I think over there is where the bad man kept Marvin… that’s why he’s scared…”

JJ looks at his other self and softens. He nods.

Jackie and Schneep also glance back at the corridor with the cables. "I get it," Jackie mutters. "I really get it."

"I think we all understand that response," Schneep says.

Alt seems to shiver at this too and nods, holding his arms. "Yeah... w-we get it. Let's not dwell on it."

"I agree with Alt, let us not dwell," Schneep says.

Let's hurry past, JJ says. Onwards we go.

They all speed away from the skeleton and weird cables, coming towards an expanse of even more green brine waterfalls. Marvin starts to swim upwards quickly, a very steep expanse- swimming towards a strange tree with white tips that glow brightly in the darkness.

JJ unconsciously starts to swim faster, looking up at the tree with wide eyes. That's so pretty! he says. Why is there a tree here? A glowing tree?

Marvin pauses in his faster swimming and slows down, twitching a bit to answer JJ's question. "Oh... those are ghost trees I think... they're our way of finding where this arch is... t-there's a whole area of them... I dunno why but they grow down here..."

"Maybe it's cuz of that biggg pink one that has that giant egg!" Mer- Jackie says, swimming up towards Marvin and startling him some. "Maybe these are just its baby trees!"

Marvin laughs a bit, "Maybe..." 

"Oh, a giant egg? How fascinating." Schneep chuckles. "In all honesty, that would make sense, if there is one big tree it is probably sending out some sort of seeds--or, well, it is not likely seeds because this is underwater, but something like that. But eventually it lands and new trees go."

“Ah… I heard that those are… more ghost Leviathans…” Henrik says quietly, adjusting his goggles. “Their parents come here from the void to lay their eggs because the tree somehow provides nutrients to the eggs…”

“Yeah well- never seen one hatch before.” Mer-Jackie says with a shrug.

"From the void?!" Jackie repeats. "The hell is that?! Doesn't sound good."

“Oh… yes-“ Henrik coughs, “The life on this side of the planet is only contained in a crater… if you travel outside the crater’s safety- then you meet a spot that is almost devoid of life… and here is where the adult ghost leviathans live.”

"What about Jackie?" Schneep asks. "His fish species isn't from the crater."

I suppose there's another bit of life in that arctic area, JJ figures.

Marvin twitches a bit and slows, eyes turning pink. “4546B’s craters edge is inaccessible because of its depth, freezing waters and lack of life. The voids connect the warmer waters to the colder waters of Sector Zero, where another crater breeds more life. The Void of Sector Zero contains the Void Chelicerate. A rare mutation of the chelicerate that prefers to roam in dark, open waters at the edge of the sector. Like the Ghost Leviathans of the warmer sectors of 4546B these creatures roam the dark waters searching for microscopic fauna to eat.” He then shakes himself out of it and blinks. “Huh… didn’t know about that…” 

"Oh." Jackie pauses. "...huh."

"So the planet is mostly uninhabitable except for some craters," Schneep sums up. "Fascinating."

Marvin looks up at the cavern and sets his face in a determinated look. "...we're almost there but... when we get to the ghost forest... w-we gotta be careful... there's another ghost leviathan up there... i... I dunno how we'll avoid it though... the area is... p-pretty open despite all the trees..."

A lot of things named after ghosts in this area, JJ comments, looking down at his own body. Probably because they're translucent and/or glowing.

"Another one of those giant things?" Jackie mutters. "Okay, we'll have to hurry through, then. Fast and quiet."

Marvin nods, “Yes… the arch is at the highest point of the cave… we’re almost there.”

Now they can see bigger branches of ghost trees underneath an arch where one more big waterfall of brine falls.

JJ gasps. Oh, this place really is so pretty! He looks at all the ghost trees and underwater waterfalls in awe.

Schneep sighs. "I am usually okay with not seeing things, but this universe in particular is proving the exception."

JJ winces. Sorry, Schneep.

"No no, is fine, it's not anyone's fault. And I am not going to stop you from saying it's beautiful just because I cannot see it."

Alt swallows nervously, “…I really hope this arch thing works…”

"It'll work," Jackie says, unusually optimistic. "And if it doesn't, we just have to wait for another rift, and try to find another way in the meantime."

Alt giggles, “That’s pretty positive coming from you, Jackie.”

Jackie tries for a smile. "W-well, I think we have to be, in this situation. I mean... if we don't have optimism, what do we have?" He shakes his head. "I don't want to... I don't want to feel hopeless, you know?"

Alt smiles shakily but Bro nods enthusiastically. “yeah! Good srat, dude!” He bumps into Alt. “We got this!”

Alt shakes his head with a laugh.

JJ nods. How close are we to the arch?

Marvin slows and holds out a hand to everyone to stop. Just before them is a smaller cavern that seems to be source of the brine rivers and falls. It has a shallower tier of pools weaving through taller ghost trees. At the edge of the pools- there’s one more huge waterfall- and what looks like a broken metal door behind it. But swimming just in front of it is another Ghost Leviathan.

“…it’s just up there- right in its path.” Marvin says quietly, trying to hide his shaking.

Jackie quickly stops swimming, holding his arms out to stop anyone behind him. "God they really are so big," he whispers. "Okay. We have to get around that thing, avoiding all the brine except in the case of Schneep and JJ, and to that metal door behind the brine waterfall. The--the brinefall. It is... right in front of the door. Ooookay."

JJ frowns, staring. There must be a way through. Maybe we can wait for it to leave? Or, well, I suppose Schneep could just appear right by the door... right, Schneep?

"Yes, I have no doubt I could appear right there, no matter where it is," Schneep says. "Ever since I got control of my powers I haven't had difficulty reaching a location within, ah... 'eyeshot.'"

"Okay, but the rest of us can't do that," Jackie whispers. "And you and Alt can only take a few passengers while glitching. And your glitching feels terrible. No offense."

Schneep shrugs. "None taken. By the way, the leviathan cannot see or sense us over here, right?"

“I’m not so sure…” Marvin whispers. “I-I think we might be far enough away…”

“…you all only need Marv and yourselves to go to this arch thingy right?” Anti says sleepily. He looks at the others and then puffs out his chest, light shining brighter in his eyes. “…then we’ll distract the thing while you get inside. That way you all have time to get to the thing using your majic whatever.”

“But I.. I can’t warp right now-“ Marvin emphasizes.

Mer-Jackie shakes his head. “Anti’s right! If Alt and Schneep can just pop over there then we’ll only need to distract it for a second! We’ll drive it away! The others can stay over here where it’s safe- or oh! we can all meet up at the cove tree over there.” He points over to a spot of glowing blue in the dark back the way they came. “It’s completely safe over there!”

Anti cracks his knuckles then grins at Reaper Jackie. “I’ve been itching for a fight… I’m actually looking forward to this. No more swimming away scared…!” Reaper Jackie shares his grin and grows out his claws. “Agreed.”

Jackie nods as he listens to Anti and mer-Jackie talk. "Hell yeah. I bet I could be helpful in this." He grins, and his mandibles snap a little. "I've been in a lot of fights—though I've never fought a giant glowing fish."

I'd be surprised if you had, JJ says.

The merboys all laugh at this. “It does sound strange like that doesn’t it?” Henrik chuckles.

Chase, Henrik and JJ look nervous. But eventually Chase sighs. “…alright bros just.. be careful. Don’t try to kill it- just… distract it long enough for them to get inside and then come find us.”

Bro looks at Alt and Schneep, “…you both okay with this?”

Alt seems nervous, flicking his tail as it sparks slightly. “… glitching feels wrong here but… I-I can try…”

"I am okay with it, yes," Schneep says.

"How's your powers?" Jackie asks.

"I have been able to jump normally so far, I do not think there will be trouble."

I could be helpful, too, JJ continues. My magic might not be so helpful with the arch, it'll be more useful as a distraction. I could also help heal people up if they get too hurt.

Bro nods, “If it seems like it’s going after us Jackie, JJ, me and Alt can help keep it back- but we should all focus on getting in that tunnel! Soo! Let’s get it rolling!”

Chase swims up to the boys and smiles warmly. “just in case this works and we don’t see you again… this was fucking weird but… nice too. S’nice to meet humans who… relate to what we’ve been through.”

Jamie beams. “If you ever can come back… somehow- it would be nice to meet again!”

Henrik smiles, “But if not… please be safe. I do hope you all get home.”

Of course! JJ beams. You've all been so kind.

Jackie leans close. "Even Anti?" he whispers.

JJ nudges him playfully. Yes, even him. When you don't trust people, trust is the kindest thing.

Anti blinks at this and then hides his flushing face with one of his tails. 

"Sure." Jackie looks at the others and smiles. "Yeah, I'd love to come here again if possible. I have a lot of stuff going on back home that I want to take care of first, but eventually."

"I agree, it's been strange, but nice." Schneep nods. "So... goodbye." He grins. "Until we may meet again."

“Goodbye-“ Henrik smiles and Chase, JJ and Henrik all go towards the cove tree.

Anti and Mer-Jackie grin at the others. “I guess we should do that too and shit.” Jackie laughs. He turns towards them. “This has been super cool and I’d love to show you so much next time! If you can. But until then- let’s fuck shit up!”

He goes to hit Anti’s shoulder and braces to swim. “We’ll get its attention! Try to swim or warp past whatever it is you do!”

Anti looks at the others and nods. “…bye.” Then he and Jackie rocket towards the ghost leviathans, both of them roaring loudly at it. The ghost Leviathan roars and races up to meet them.

Jackie watches them go, wanting to go after—and starting to for a moment—before he thinks better of it. After all, if they're going to leave, they have to all leave together.

Alt startles and goes to grab some of the others. “Link up! I can get us up there!”

Marvin swims back and holds his hands close to him. “No way! I-I’m not getting near your weird powers again!”

“Why didn’t you say anything about that before this?!” Alt snaps in frustration.

"Marvin, you don't really have a choice," Schneep points out. "We need you up there! Are we just going to swim there? Right by the fight?"

You could bring him, JJ suggests.

"IIIII don't think he would like that."

"We don't have a lot of time!" Jackie says. "Whatever we're going to do, we have to do it fast!" He turns to look at the fight.

The ghost Levithan rushes to meet the boys and mer-Jackie rushes to try to spear it with his mandibles. But it moves too quickly and grabs Jackie by his tail and then tosses him into the cave wall.

“Jackie!!” Anti screams and then turns to growl at the ghost Leviathan. He builds up fire balls and starts to loop around the bigger fish, pelting it with fire as it screeches in pain.

Bro yells out, “Fuck! Jackie!”

“M-Marvin come on!” Alt urges, going to grab his arm. But Marvin lashes out and scratches at Alt’s arm with his claws, his eyes going a bit pink and his voice sounding a bit more robotic. “No! I-I-“ he looks back to where Jackie fell and then speeds over to try to get to him.

Alt grabs his arm and yells out in pain before trying to yell out after him. “M-Marvin!”

"Fucking hell!" Jackie shouts. He swims after Marvin.

"Wait, hold on!" Schneep swims after him as well, in case they need to make a quick getaway.

Marvin is too fast- having been here before he knows what to dodge and where to go.

Alt and Bro try to follow after the others but can’t catch up to Marvin.

Luckily Anti is still keeping the Ghost Leviathan occupied but it already seems like he’s slowing.

Schneep tries leaping closer to Marvin, but his targeting is slightly off. He has to swim the rest of the way.

Jackie curses under his breath. He's not going to be able to catch up! So he instead turns to look at Anti and rushes over, determined to help. "Hey! Ghostie goo!" he shouts.

“Jackie?! The fuck are you doing?!” Bro shouts and spurs after him.

Jackie’s shout distracts the Ghost Leviathan enough for it to look his way- and Anti lands a fireball in its face. It roars in pain and runs into some of the trees around as its vision is affected.

Marvin races over to Mer-Jackie and tries to shake him awake. Orange hybrid blood clouds in the water from Jackie’s bitten tail and a spot on his head where he hit the wall. Marvin blinks tears out of his eyes as he tries to wake his brother up. “j-Jackie?? Jackie! W-wake up!!”

Schneep stops next to Marvin. He reaches out, and feels the slightly warm blood in the water. "Jameson?!"

JJ hurries after everyone else, quickly catching up. He looks at mer-Jackie, assessing the damage. Head wound—tail wound—if there's ever a time for healing magic, it's now. This will take a minute, he says, eyes glowing blue as he grabs onto reaper Jackie's arm. A film of blue magic starts to cover his wounds, healing them slowly.

Marvin slightly snarls at JJ as he comes closer, almost curling up around Jackie protectively. But he blinks in surprise as he sees the wounds start to close.

Alt spurs over to the small group surrounding Reaper Jackie and then floats a bit away from them and uses his magic to create a shield around them.

JJ smiles at Marvin reassuringly. This is what my magic does, he says. Meanwhile, the wounds seal up.

"We have to get there soon! While it's distracted!" Schneep hisses.

Jackie grins and decides to put these mandible things to use. He swims up to the ghost leviathan and latches onto its side, serrated edges digging into its flesh and then quickly letting go. He swims downward immediately after. The Ghost Leviathan roars in pain and is immediately diverted off course and starts to swim away from its territory with fervor.

Bro blinks at Jackie’s attack and laughs, ramming against its tail slightly as it swims. “Yeahhh!! Dudes you guys fucked that thing up!!” Bro says, turning to Jackie and Anti.

Anti grins, the water bubbling a bit hot around the edges of his mouth. “Fuck yeah. I needed that.” He looks at Jackie though, “You were very impressive though… you know- for a human.”

"Ha! I'll take it." Jackie grins.

Alt braces his shield, thinking about Schneep’s warning and then gasps as he hears the Ghost Leviathan swimming away. He laughs in disbelief and lowers his shield. “I… I think we’re good to breathe for a second Schneep… it’s swimming away!”

"What the—oh, it is!" Schneep gasps. "Amazing! Driving off something so big. Truly a marvel."

Anti grins and then swims down back to everyone else, Bro follows close behind.

Marvin watches the magic with muted fascination and wonder, slowly getting closer and reaching out like he wants to touch it. “…y-you didn’t have to do this… w-why are you doing this?” He asks JJ. “…does it hurt you?”

JJ smiles at Marvin gently. No, it doesn't hurt me. It tires me out, if I use a lot of it, but it doesn't hurt me. As for why... well, I don't like seeing people hurt. Most people don't. Jackie is a good man—or, a good hybrid. He doesn't deserve to be hurt. He nods at the magic. You can touch it. But it won't feel like much of anything.

Marvin does go to touch it and just marvels at the sight of it. He feels over Jackie’s tail and balks as he feels the skin being healed over so fast. He laughs a little. “…that’s amazing… s-some white suit machines can do stuff like this… b-but I don’t think they’re this fast… or through. T-they still leave scars…”

He frowns as he sees the large scar on Jackie’s side and thoughtfully touches parts of his jaw.

Jackie notices the scar when Marvin does. He narrows his eyes slightly, wondering if the white suits were healing their own actions... and hating them just at the possibility.

If the wounds were worse there would be scars, JJ says. But lucky they weren't, and I got here quickly. He rubs his neck.

Anti lands down, looking a bit worried. “Is Jackie-?” Then he stops himself and blinks in surprise as Jackie looks almost completely fine. “W-Woah…”

Bro grins, “Yeah JJ! Way to go!”

JJ grins, a bit shyly. I'm just doing what I thought would help.

Schneep nudges him slightly. "And that is an admirable thing--not to mention it must take a lot of magic to heal."

Not that much, really. Though... he hopes that he doesn't have to use magic for a while. Just in case.

Soon enough the injured reaper opens his eyes, his wounds pretty much healed. He blinks in confusion then grins dopily- though he might just be dazed still. “…did we win?”

"Yes, Jackie, we won!" Schneep says, laughing.

Marvin snorts through his nose and playfully slaps mer- Jackie. “You fuck… you gave us all a fucking heart attack-“

“I didn’t ask to be bit and thrown across the cave!” The reaper protests.

Alt and Bro laugh.

“…just in case that thing is still around, why don’t you two join us inside the tunnel? Maybe Marvin will be able to warp again once we’re gone.” Alt says.

Jackie nods. "Yeah, we should get out of here quickly."

Anti shrugs. Mer-Jackie smiles and tries to get up but still seems kinda weak so Marvin grabs him and puts his arm over his shoulder. “…yeah okay I-I’m sticking with Marv…” the reaper laughs.

Marvin doesn’t really look at the others as he hurries towards the metal doorway. “c-c’mon then…”

Alt starts to follow closely behind, followed by Bro then Anti dragging behind the pack. The other three hurry after everyone else.

The cavern clearly looks like an underground cave that has slowly filled with water over the past century. The way is twisted and a bit confusing- branches of ghost trees jutting out and parts of the path looks like it’s made of its branches. Eventually, Marvin swims up a walkway made of wood before floating in front of a large impressive structure. It houses a glowing green field of energy, shining like light on top of water- inside a metal diamond frame. It looks completely foreign and alien to anything they’ve seen so far.

Such strange architecture, JJ comments. And then they arrive at the glowing green field. His eyes widen. How strange! Is this what we're looking for?

"Maybe?" Jackie says. "Certainly looks like fucking... alien stuff. Just by design."

Schneep slowly reaches out, and JJ pushes his hand to the side so that he touches the frame instead of the energy field. That probably wasn't something they wanted to do.

Marvin does exclaim as Schneep reaches out but relaxes as JJ diverts him. “y-Yeah this is it… it’s programmed to take people to… hq I think. Down in the lava zone. But… I think it can be programmed to go other places…?”

He looks at Alt finally and nudges his head towards the structure. “Wanna give it a try?”

"You got this, Alt!" Jackie says encouragingly.

Alt swallows shakily and then nods. He goes to place a hand on the structure and closes his eyes, feeling out the energy inside it. His tail sparks up as he tries. And trying to access the tech- trying to insert some of his own magic into it to find a grip- god it hurts! It’s a rush of a foreign alien language that makes no sense- just jumbles of words and symbols and things he couldn’t possibly understand. He digs claws into it before breaking off connection with a yell and falling down to the ground, clutching his head.

“Alt!” Bro shouts in concern and tries to swim towards him- but as he gets too close he gets mildly shocked and he spurs back. “What happened?!”

“T-Too m-much-“ Alt whimpers, his eyes filled with green light rippling just like the portal. His voice echoes slightly with static, sounding robotic. “D-Don’t under s-stand… too much p-p̵̯̕o̵͙̾ẅ̸̥e̵̪̊r̴̤̄”

JJ gasps. He starts rushing forward as well but then Bro gets shocked back and he stops.

"Too much power?!" Schneep repeats.  "What does that--"

The swirling mass of energy seems to glitch slightly- and seems to start to darken… in the middle- it almost seems like a crack is forming.

Jackie gasps. "Look!" He points at the energy... at the spot where it's darkening. "Is that--"

If it is, we have to link up! JJ says.

Alt’s head snaps up and his eyes widen. “W-What?! D-Did I do that?!”

“I-I dunno- we probably just have really bad luck!” Bro shouts, holding out a hand to Alt.

Anti pushes Marvin and Reaper Jackie behind him, growling at whatever this growing mass of black energy is.

“W-what is that?!” Marvin gasps.

The cavern shakes and the rift cracks open even bigger, glitching more and the water around the boys starts to get drawn in.

“It’s the rift! I… I guess this was all for nothing huh?” Alt says a bit tearfully. He looks to the merboys and smiles as they start getting pulled. “…thanks so much for trying to help us…”

"Yes, thank you so much," Schneep says. "Get out of here as soon as we are gone!"

It was nice to meet you! JJ adds.

"Maybe we'll see each other again!" Jackie shouts. He grabs onto Alt, and JJ grabs onto him and Schneep. "It wasn't all for nothing, Alt! We spent time with these guys, at least!" 

Alt blinks and then smiles with Jackie and nods. “y-Yeah…”

Jackie smiles back at them. "Goodbye!"

"Goodbye!" Schneep adds.

JJ nods a farewell.

Mer-Jackie tries to swim closer, looking like he wants to help but Anti holds him back with one of his tails. “W-We’ll see each other again! I-I just know it!” The reaper shouts after them. 

Bro grins, “I hope so! Take care of each other, okay?”

Anti blinks and then smiles giving them a nod. “…we will.”

“Anti please- try to stay calm.” Henrik says gently. “It is strange I know but… this is not a trick. We’re trying to help them get home.”

Anti doesn’t seem convinced as he curls up more and growls at them. “How do you know this wasn’t just a-a elaborate plan to get to Jack?! You all just lead them straight here!”

“Cuz we trust them dude!” Mer- Jackie says. Marvin and Chase kinda grumble but Jackie ignores them. “I don’t think they could lie about all this- not even Alterra could make up some of the shit we’ve heard!”

“Look man, if we wanted to get into this place we wouldn’t bother with some fucking elaborate trick,” Jackie says, trying not to snap. “We’d be plenty capable of getting in here without any trickery.”

“I do not think that’s as reassuring as you want it to be,” Schneep mutters, hanging back.

We understand that this is strange, and you don’t have to trust us, JJ says calmly. But we really don’t mean you any harm. If there’s anything we can do or say to prove that, we would.

“As long as you don’t tell us to do something we can’t,” Jackie mutters. He leans to the side. “So… this is some kind of lab space. Or, it is on the other side.”

“Anything interesting?” Schneep asks curiously.

Anti bristles and growls at Jackie, bunching up like he might lash out. But Jamie comes over and shakes his head at him and touches over his heart. This seems to give Anti pause. Then, hearing JJ use the same robot as Jamie has him relaxing even more. But, he still on edge.

Behind Anti and through the glass is the lab space. Seems to be open air at the moment as a couple people in blue and black suits are walking around, typing stuff in on holo screens or checking on the main subject of the room. Which of course is Jack. He seems to be asleep, set mostly upright on a lab table with wires and things tucked under brown armor-like plates on his arms and upper torso. He has 5 similarly armored tails that are submerged in a small tank of water below him. They seem to have glowing bits of blue underneath like suction cups. He seems to have a breathing mask on his face but filled with water that also filters over the gills on his neck.

“Ya wanna prove yourselves to me? Okay- I wanna hear what Jack has to say about this.” Anti growls.

His brothers all balk and look at each other. “Uh… I dunno how that’s gonna happen Anti…” Chase says quietly. “You’re really the only one here that talks to him… r-regularly in your dreams…”

“He’d know if these bitches are a threat or not.” Anti glares at the newcomers. “I’m not letting them near him otherwise.”

“Anti please be reasonable!” Zara tries to say, “We just need to talk to Danan and you know she’s-“

“No!” Anti growls sitting up to spread out his tentacles in a defensive stance. “Don’t get any closer…”

JJ backs up, hands raised. We’ll stay back, he promises. He looks at the others. Won’t we?

Jackie looks up and nods. While this exchange has been going on he’s been describing the lab—and Jack—to Schneep. Now he looks at Anti warily. He doesn’t want to fight him, but if it comes down to it he’ll defend himself.

“Jack… is the one outside of the glass?” Schneep asks slowly. That soul feels strange. Like his Jack, but… there’s something about it. Like the magic he senses in JJ, Alt, and Bro. “A-and he speaks in your dreams? How? A-and… how are you going to get advice from him? You are not asleep.”

“He can hear us,” Anti says eerily. “If he’s as worried as I am… he’ll do something…”

“Like.. what exactly?” Alt says with a raised eyebrow. “Look I-if you let me closer I could talk to him for you- I could go into minds and-!” He attempts to swim a bit closer but Anti snaps his jaws and lunges forward. But not to attack just to keep Alt back. And Alt glitches back and Bro catches him.

“Don’t test me ya fucking fake humans! I’ll tear you to ribbons!” Anti growls. Jamie hugs his neck and tries to hold him back but- Anti is bigger and stronger than him.

Jackie tenses, glaring at Anti, the mandibles on his back instinctively snapping. JJ holds his hands out, a shield starting to form. Schneep backs up, scleras turning black, getting ready to leap out of the way of danger.

However before the situation can get anymore tense- the human-hybrids and Anti feel a sudden pull in their guts- and their eyes fill with cyan. And then… it’s like they’re pulled into sleep and they all sink to the floor as their consciousnesses get pulled somewhere else.

When they open their eyes, they seem to be in the deepest reaches of the ocean- almost pitch black around them. It still feels like water- and they’re still in their hybrid forms. But it also feels… floaty. Like a dream.

And… Schneep finds he can see.

A bit before them is… the hybrid they saw in the lab. But he’s awake now, staring at them with startling bright cyan eyes. He regards them with a neutral expression, tilting his head as he studies them.

“Huh?” Jackie looks around. “What? Huh?! Huh?!”

“W-Woah…” Alt whispers.

“T-The fuck is this place?” Bro asks.

JJ backs up. Is this an illusion?

“Ah!” Schneep presses his hands to his eyes, closing and opening them several times. He expects them to hurt from the sudden influx of imagery… but they don’t. Confused, he looks around.

Alt startles and goes over to Schneep, “A-Are you okay Schneep?”

Bro sees him seemingly looking around and gasps, “Can you see?”

“Oh! I can see! I can see!” Schneep laughs in amazement. 

“What?!” Alt and Bro both shout in delight.

Alt smiles. “This is the mind I guess… like you being able to see in dreams.”

Schneep looks at the others, starting with Alt and Bro. “Oh! I can see the resemblance, but you two look less like my friends than I was picturing.” 

Bro and Alt look at each other then laugh. “It’s the freckles I bet.” Alt snickers.

Then Schneep looks at JJ. “You look very much like my Jamie, though—except for the mouth of course.” Then he looks at Jackie. His eyes widen in shock for a moment. But he doesn’t say anything. He looks down at Jackie’s tail. “Oh—you have a lobster tail.”

“Wh—no I don’t!” Jackie protests.

JJ laughs. Lobster boy.

“Shut up!”

Bro laughs too, “Oh my god! He is a lobster!” Alt hides his laugh behind his hand.

Anti shakes out his head then gasps and spurs up towards Jack, “Jack!!”

The other hybrid smiles at Anti and open his arms and Anti hurries over and gives him a quick hug. Then he seems to protectively hang over Jack’s shoulder as he glares and growls at the visitors.  Jack keeps his face neutral but there’s a bit of warmth radiating from him.

“Sorry to just… pull you in. I didn’t want Anti to hurt you… if you’re as innocent as you claim.” He says with a bit of authority. 

“U-um…” Jackie stares at Jack. It’s a bit… strange… to hear his voice, so similar to the Jack he knows. When was the last time he heard Jack’s voice?

It’s fine, it seemed like an emergency, JJ says. 

Jack tilts his head, “Anti said you were …fake. And… I can sense you are not Alterans but also… so strange… were you really.. human?”

“We were indeed human,” Schneep says. “A-and we can be human again. It is unusual, I know, but it’s true. We mean you no harm. You or any of your family.”

JJ glances around. So… this isn’t an illusion. It must be some sort of… mental landscape.

Jack nods, “Yeah we’re… I dunno exactly where but I have like… telepathy I think it’s called. The hybrid part of me is sea emperor and they have that too… I think the doctors here think I can do a bit more cuz of you know- having a human mind.” He laughs. “It’s weird but… I can talk to people like this… least until they figure out how to wake me up.”

Jack separates himself from Anti, much to the younger brother’s dismay and appears in front of the group in a flash of blue. He studies them closer.

“Alt… Chase… Schneep… JJ and… Jackie huh?” He says slowly looking at all of them. He then smiles and nods. “…yeah I… I think you’re good.”

“What?! You trust them just like that?!” Anti yells.

“Mmm yeah. I can see… bits and pieces of where they come from. This isn’t their home… and it seems like they all have a lot to get back to… family and people they really love.” Jack smiles sadly and holds a hand over his chest. “…I know the feeling…”

Jackie backs up a little as Jack appears closer. “O-oh. You can like—read our minds?” he says. “Can you um—n-not do that? There are things in my brain that I-I don’t want people to see.”

“Not fully,” Jack laughs, answering Jackie, “I just get… feelings and snippets. Flashes of things that are important or like..  really strong feelings. I can talk in the mind more than see it. I won’t pry I promise…”

Jackie lets out a sigh of relief. "I-I know you won't. Still... thanks."

“You’re like… an enchanter almost…” Alt mutters.

Jack blinks, “…I dunno what that word means but… thank you?”

JJ also looks a bit uneasy, but he pushes through that, knowing Jack means no harm. We would very much like to get home, he says. I sort of left my friend waiting.

Jack looks to JJ with sympathy and nods, “Unfortunately me and my brothers don’t have the kinda powers you guys have… but I’m sure my brothers will do what they can to help. Even Anti.”

Anti makes a noise of protest but Jack gives him a look and Anti crosses his arms and grumbles. “…yer sure they’re not with Alterra?””

Jack nods, “I’m sure.”

There’s a beat of silence before Anti groans, “Finneeee!”

JJ laughs a little at Anti's attitude. He can't help but be reminded of his friend. Thank you, Anti. I'm sure there's a lot you could do to help us.

"You know, Jamie, if this is the mind, why are you still signing?" Schneep asks. "Shouldn't you be able to talk if I can see?"

JJ shrugs. I suppose I'm more used to this by now.

"Ah. Well, in any case, thank you, Jack." Schneep nods at him. "Now we have to figure a way out of here."

Jack laughs and shakes his head, “Don’t worry. I got that. It was… nice to meet you all. I wish it could have been in person but… keep my brothers safe if you can, okay?” He smiles sadly and then his eyes turn cyan before the space around the boys turns white.

"Bye Jack!" Jackie shouts, a bit desperately, as the space starts to fade.

"Nice to meet you too," Schneep adds.

Your brothers will help you, I know it, JJ says.

Jack smiles at them all before everything goes white.

Then, they’re back in the lab observatory. Alt shakes himself out and blinks as the merboys have surrounded the passed out visitors.

“Are you guys okay?!” Mer Jackie asks.

Anti pushes himself up and shakes his head out like a dog. Jamie hugs his head with Anti lets him do so begrudgingly.

Schneep blinks. "Ah, back to reality."

"We're okay." Jackie pats himself down. "Jack just wanted a word with us—well, kind of? He wanted Anti to know we were safe to trust."

Which we are! JJ says cheerfully.

Chase's eyes widen. "Y-You talked to Jack??"

"Yeah... and they're all good." Anti sighs.

"Now. Is Danan out here?" Schneep swims up to the wall of the tank, facing out. "I can tell there are people, is she one of them?" Anti lets Schneep pass with a huff. 

At the window, an older black woman with bouncy black hair and bright green eyes is writing notes on her own PDA. She blinks as Schneep comes forward and smiles. She touches a button on her jacket and her voice comes from a speaker on their side. "Oh Henrik I-!" Then, she blinks and takes notice of how different Schneep looks and seems confused.

Jackie chuckles. "I think you've been spotted, Schneep. And she looks really confused."

"Ha! I can imagine." Schneep grins.

"Yeah just- hang on-" Henrik says and goes to push the button for the comms as Alt and Bro come over to meet her. "Hello Danan? Is there a way for you to meet us in here? We have... many things to discuss with you."

Danan looks surprised but then she nods and touches the button again. "Of course. Lemme just get finished up in here."

It takes a few minutes but soon the door to the observatory opens and the woman swims in. She smiles at everyone but she can't hide her surprise. "Oh well! Hello there... I did not know we had so many new people on my base."

JJ waves at Danan. Hello! This must be very surprising. Well you're going to be even more surprised when we tell you where we came from.

"We're not from here," Jackie says. "To the point where we haven't even heard of Alterra. I'm Jackie, this is JJ, Schneep, Alt, and Chase. We're from another universe."

"Nice to meet you!" Schneep waves cheerfully. "The others speak highly of you."

“Do they now?” Danan says with a smirk. “I’m glad my reputation precedes me! Well I’m Dr. Kendra Danan and…I’m sorry did you say another universe?”

“Insane, right?” Zara laughs. “Have you ever heard of traveling to different universes?”

“Well… it was a theory I remember being vaguely interested in for a bit…” Danan says, crossing her arms.  “Alterra was very interested in the possiblity of it off planet but… not here.”

Alt deflates a bit, “Oh well… we were hoping you might know if it’s.. possible to maybe reprogram a… what were they called?”

Marvin’s eyes flicker pink, “Alien Arch.”

“yeah that!”

Danan hums and then thinks. “…I’m not sure we have the tools but..  if they were maybe connected to architect technology somehow…?” She looks at Marvin.

Marvin shakes out himself then looks at Danan with wide eyes. “M-Me?!”

“You are the only warper around that can possibly understand technology like that…” Danan says with an encouraging smile.

“Oh I.., I don’t k-know…”

“Well… it’s either we try this out or… we just wait for the rifts to find us again… which is not ideal…” Alt mutters.

Danan and Zara blink, “Rifts?” Danan asks.

"They're what sucked us here in the first place," Jackie explains. "See, the three of us—" He gestures at himself, Schneep, and JJ. "—were actually from a different universe than those two." And he gestures at Alt and Bro.

"Three separate universes, actually," Schneep says. "But then we were pulled to their world through these rifts, and all five of us were pulled from that one to this one some time later."

They look like black cracks or tears, JJ explains. Like the air itself has been ripped. And they pull at people nearby. Like... when you open an airlock and all the air goes rushing into the vacuum.

"How do you know what airlocks do? You've never been in space!" Jackie says. "H-have you?"

No, but I've seen movies! You ever seen a movie where someone got ejected into space?

"...I've played Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Unleashed, does that count?"

"Ayyy SBA2! That's me and Alt's favorite!" Bro says excitedly. Alt slaps his tail with his own. "Focus-"

JJ blinks. Sorry, I've never played a Sonic game.

"Really?" Schneep says. "Even I have played a Sonic game--the classic sidescrollers, though, none of the 3D games."

"We're getting so distracted." Jackie shakes his head. "God—I've probably missed my time to take my ADHD meds. Anyway. The point is. You really think that we might be able to mess with these alien gates to open up a way to another universe? That seems... complicated."

"... I'm sorry I don't know anything about these rifts...." Danan says.

"They also have like- magic and stuff." Mer Jackie says excitedly. "So- maybe that could help?"

"Well... what the architects could do was nothing short of magical... so- who knows? It's still a mystery to us but... maybe it just needs the right touch." Danan smiles. "Us scientists believe there's nothing wrong with trying something out. They should be safe to look at, at the very least."

Alt sighs, "... It at least gives us a goal for now... and if it works, great! If it doesn't then... gotta wait for the rifts then... honestly it could be worse."

Bro grins at the merboys, "You guys up for taking us on an adventure?"

"I wanna! I wanna!" Mer Jackie says excitedly. Jamie claps and swims around his brothers in a couple big loops. Henrik chuckles, "I am quite curious what we could find." Anti and Marvin grumble a bit but Chase nudges them and they get quieter. "If Jack trusts you all then... yeah. I'm willing to help you guys get home." Chase smiles.

"Awesome!" Jackie whoops. "Let's see more of this place! It's the strangest fucking place I've ever been, so might as well enjoy it while it lasts."

"I am getting better at swimming, I swear I am," Schneep says.

"Y'know, if might actually be better if you took off your shirt," Jackie suggests. "Less drag. More maneuverability. I mean--the fish'll still be there, but still."

"Huh. You might be right, actually," Schneep says, tilting his head thoughtfully. "Okay, might as well try. This is not time to be modest." He starts taking his shirt off.

JJ frowns at Jackie. Did you just want him to join the rest of us in some weird peer pressure thing?

"No, I don't care what he wears or doesn't," Jackie shrugs. "But I really do think it might help. Here, put it in the bundle. Also, do you guys have a bag or something for all our clothes?"

"Of course," Danan laughs. She swims over to the wall and there seems to be a fabricator in here too. After clicking a few buttons it starts to create a large flexible bag. She swims over and hands it to Jackie. "There! That should work right?"

"Ah sweet, thanks!" Jackie grins and takes the bag, putting all their clothes inside. "I hope one of you two know how to dry stuff for when we get out," he says, looking at Alt and JJ.

Oh, of course, that's easy, JJ says.

Then, Danan seems to think and looks over to Marvin, "Marvin... how did you know about the alien arches? Most of them are on land where you all can't reach..."

Marvin quickly looks away and holds his arms. "Um well... I... one it's this... f-fucking chip in my head... but um... I also found one in the lost river...? I... I think the forcefield that kept the water out got d-damaged by a Ghost Leviathan."

"The Lost River?!" Chase shouts, "T-That place with the brine that poisons you guys??"

"...I mean the new Schneep guy is a river prowler- he'll be fine." Marvin says shortly. "And JJ.. he's a ghost ray. And I-I can... self-repair... apparently."

"Ghost leviathan?" Jackie repeats, raising an eyebrow. If that reaper thing was also a leviathan—and there was poisonous brine— "This doesn't sound like a good place."

"Oh! I think there's another forcefield that got damaged in the one by the mushroom forest though!" Zara says happily. "I'm pretty sure I came across that recently but- wasn't really sure how to use those things still..."

"They need an ion cube to work usually," Danan explains. "Most of them that need ion cubes in the main gates are down in HQ but... I think those are still intact...? hm... the mountain base is probably one that needs one."

"...the Lost River one was active." Marvin says quietly.

"...that's really dangerous though! Last time you and me went there you nearly lost your arm and I got bitten to death by mesmers!" Mer-Jackie explains.

"We didn't die Jackie-" Marvin snaps at him. The two glare at each other the way siblings always do when they fight and want to be right.

"W-well, don't fight about it," Jackie says, voice trembling a little. "Don't—don't fight about it.” 

"What the fuck happened that nearly lost you an arm?" Schneep mutters.

And... what was that? Mesmers? JJ repeats, spelling out the word. He's visibly uncomfortable with the implications of that name.

Marvin looks to Schneep, "...a Ghost Leviathan attacked me and bit my arm. ...and it was just a baby too." He shudders and grabs his arm, where the others can see what looks like bite marks. "And uh.. m-mesmers are fish that can... pull you in with colors on their fins and they can s-speak in your mind."

"They majorly suck." Reaper Jackie says and Henrik nods in confirmation.

Hypnotizing fish, JJ comments. Great. He signs the word slowly, making the fish robot say it in a drawl that's clearly meant to be sarcastic.

Alt bursts into giggles. "Oh my god- that was great JJ. But also- mood."

"Also… uh, The brine is easy enough to avoid. It's only on the bottom of things and like... the falls and pools." Marvin mutters.

"Since when do you know so much about it?" Mer Jackie asks with a growl.

"Since I was trapped there for a month, asshole!" Marvin snaps back. Henrik quickly goes to push them aside. "Enough you two!"

Jackie cringes while looking at mer-Jackie and Marvin. He knows that they're siblings, bickering is probably normal, but—why is he thinking of fights with his Marvin? He doesn't like thinking about him— “We can—maybe we can grab one of those cube things from the lost river base and take it to the mushroom place?"

If we're going there anyway we might as well just stay there, JJ points out.

"Can you not make an ion cube with your machines?" Schneep asks, confused. "Or... do you need the design or something?"

"The ion cubes are architect tech so... we don't know how to make them." Danan explains, "They seem to grow in these places though and there's a self-replenishing supply in HQ. But that one is one you all cannot reach... or my boys can't at least."

"Plus uh- Alterra." Zara points out.

"Yes that too."

"Huh. I suppose even machines that can rearrange matter have a limit," Schneep says thoughtfully. "But that limit is not helping right now."

Alt looks at Jackie with a bit of concern and lightly touches his tail against his. Then he sighs and says, "... if the one in this lost river is the only one you all can take us to that's active... then we'll just have to take our chances."

When Alt touches him, Jackie jumps a little, then quickly shakes himself off. "Yeah. And we have safety in numbers, too."

"Besides! We got tons of natives here to help us!" Bro tries to say positively. The merboys either smiles at him or snort and look away.

Danan smiles and nods, "It shouldn't be a long trip. Marvin should just be able to warp you straight there. Unless you all are eager to explore. It is an eerily beautiful place down there."

JJ smiles at Danan. Perhaps we can explore a little bit, but we should do this quickly, I think. Messing with these arches might take a while.

"So we are leaving right now, then?" Schneep asks. "Or—should we prepare? I would be fine with leaving now, in either case."

The merboys all look at each other. Anti shrugs, "I say lets get this over with. I'm eager for things to... be less exciting." He grumbles.

Marvin nods and then opens up a warp gate in the middle of the room. "This should take us straight there." He says, "Everyone swim on through."

"Hmm. Swim through? So you open up a portal," Schneep muses. "Like a small wormhole. Or like a portal from the game Portal." He giggles to himself at the repetition of the word.

"Yeah, actually, it does look a bit like a portal," Jackie says. "But you can't see through to the other side and it's this swirling... pink and purple and blue—"

"Oooo, my favorite colors," Schneep says, grinning. "As my Jackie would say, bisexual lighting."

Jackie and JJ both burst into laughter at that. A little less intense, but you got the idea! JJ says.

Alt studies the warp gate curiously. "... I wonder what would happen if I tried to glitch through this..."

"I dunno if now is the time to play around like that Alt." Bro chuckles.

Marvin makes a face then shrugs, "If it's similar to warping... hm... I can't say I'm not curious too..."

Alt's eyes sparkle a bit and he grins and then glitches through. From their end- nothing seems to have happened- except a tiny spark of green across the surface. And a bit of green reflecting in Marvin's eyes and a barely noticeable twitch in his hands. Bro hurries after Alt.

JJ frowns as Alt glitches through. Not sure that was a good idea.

"Well, it's too late now." Jackie shrugs, making sure that he has the bag on securely. Then he swims on through.

Schneep frowns. He swims forward hesitantly, then passes on through.

JJ lingers nervously at the back. He probably shouldn't be worried. Probably nothing happened. But still, he can't stop the anxiety as he approaches and slowly goes through the warp gate.

Mer-Jackie doesn't look excited to go in the warp gate but Jamie grabs his hand and starts to lead him through. Henrik and Chase laugh a bit at this and follow after. Anti gives the others a neutral glance before he shuffles through.