(A one-shot fic for the ii Monster AU)
It was a long way to Paradise Island for sure. There was a reason it was created several miles away from Inanimate Island. To keep it out of Cobs' radar so MePhone and his contestants could be safe.
Though over the course of a month, MePhone had been long gone and his former contestants have been building themselves a community in his absence, some of them setting off back to Paradise to retrieve some stuff they think would be wonderful to bring back to Inanimate Island.
OJ has been trekking through the water for what has been an hour or two, carrying the other two members of the OSC in his arms, two other objects floating around them, and one other sat on top of his glass rim.
"Thanks for letting me hitch a ride, OJ. My wings were starting to get tired." Bot expressed their gratitude while peering down at the kraken. "Hey, don't even worry about it! I'm glad I could help you rest up!" He bared an appreciative smile as he responded.
"Are we almost there?" A muffled voice whined from inside of Cabby's lower cabinet. She chuckled and patted the cabinet door. "Don't worry, Floor, I'm sure we're getting close." She reassured him with a gentle tone. "I know how eager you are to finally be back."
"Everyone. It looks like we're arriving at our destination shortly." Candle announced as she gestured her hand out to the island in the distance. Bot, Yin-Yang, Suitcase, and Cabby all made some excited noise as well as Floory with his muted celebration in preparation for their arrival.
"I can't wait to be back on that island. So many fond memories there" They held the sides of their own face as Yin began reminiscencing on the fun times there. "Then why wait? Race you to the island, losers!" Yang chimed in, his cackling fading with their tail whipping around in the wind as they took off.
OJ tittered before muttering something under his breathe "If only I could." His feigned smile disappears, replaced by surprise as Candle levitates down to him, beginning to pat his shoulder. "Don't exhaust yourself, OJ. You're already doing so much."
Before OJ could respond, Bot shifted to stand up. "If it's a race Yin-Yang wants, it's a race they're gonna get!" Bot exclaimed with a competitive smirk on their face before launching themself forward with their extending legs, flapping their wings after them once airborne.
"Try not to strain yourself!" Cabby called out to Bot like a mother looking out their child.
"Bot is really adventurous, huh?" Suitcase assumed. Cabby nodded back at her. "Has been for quite a while." She responded with smile. "They're a great artist too! I should show you some of the pictures they've drawn some time!"
When OJ and the rest of the group arrived onto the beach, they could see the robot butterfly and the half-and-half dragon shaking hands. It was clear who the winner was from Yin-Yang's big, toothy grin alone. They're lucky Bot is a good sport.
Candle lowered herself onto the ground near OJ, catching Yin-Yang excitedly waving at her. She chuckled and waved back. The kraken carefully lowered his arms down to the ground, waiting for Suitcase and Cabby to get off at their own pace before pulling his arms back towards himself.
After Cabby rolled down OJ's hand, someone noticed the tiny drop. A muffled gasp came from inside the cab. "Have we made it? Are we here?" Floory asked, absolutely brimming with enthusiasm.
"Why don't you see for yourself?" Cabby opened up the lower cabinet and lifted up the terrium, containing a chuck of grass and dirt with a face on it. Oh man, was that face happy. The Floor squealed at the sight of the island again. "I'm so glad I tagged along! I can't believe we're actually back here!"
She giggled at his excitement. She took off the lid and dumped him onto the sand, grinning as she expected a cheerful reaction.
The Floor was thrilled, but something was immediately off after he moved onto the sand. His expression of pure joy dropped and dropped fast. Something felt... wrong, but he couldn't place it and it sure shined through with his expression.
"Floor, is something the matter?" Cabby asked with a concerned tone. The group's attention shifted to Floory upon seeing his face or from Cabby's worry.
"I don't really know how to explain it, but I just feel... kinda weird. Like I'm missing something almost."
"Maybe it's because you weren't on this island for so long," Bot suggested. "Maybe you're homesick."
Floory still wasn't sure if that was it, unless being homesick genuinely made feeling sick.
"Okay, now that we've landed, let's get moving to see what we can find that we can bring back." OJ announced, reiterating the plan to the group. "I'll remain here at the rendezvous while everyone splits up to gather whatever they want to take with us back to Inanimate Island."
The group began to split off. Floory still couldn't ignore the odd feeling, it was starting to annoy him. Nevertheless, he also decided to split up like everybody else, teleporting off to who knows where.
It had been another hour after the group split up to search the island. The sun in the center of the sky, harshly gleaming down the Earth below. OJ and Suitcase were at the shore they arrived on, discussing something as they waited for the others to return.
"Maybe we could take the pic-nix tables back home with us," Suitcase suggested, pointing a leg at them. "Since Trophy gave up hunting and Knife can't anymore, maybe it's a good idea to bring them back!"
"I suppose that's not a bad idea," OJ responded. However, his tone sounded uninterested about the idea. "But I feel like if we did, we're not really doing things for ourselves. We could totally learn how to cook! Plus, Tea Kettle already knows how! ..As far as I'm aware, "
Suitcase looked disappointed that her idea got shot down, but that feeling was short-lived as the two of them perked up from the sound of three sets of approaching footsteps and squeaky wheels.
"We're back!" Bot announced with their arms in the air. "Cabby and I stopped by the library."
"I figured some of these books could be handy for setting up our new society since this place may be inaccessible for the future." Cabby explained disheartenedly
"And we found Sprinkles!" Yin happily exclaimed as they raised up the similar looking Inani-mate in their hands. She let out a happy bark and flapped her wings.
OJ couldn't help but smile down at the group he brought along until he realized something. Something, or rather, someone is missing. "Wait a minute... where's The Floor?" He was scanning the ground around him for any trace of his face. The others immediately started doing the same.
"You don't think he got lost?" Suitcase nervously purposed. "Not likely. He knows every inch of this island." Cabby replied to the fellow mimic.
"Do you think he's hiding? Maybe that's the weird feeling he was getting earlier. He doesn't wanna leave now that he's back." Bot began fiddling with their hands when speaking their mind, their antennae dipping down.
OJ put on a determined face after Bot spoke and looked back down to Suitcase and Cabby. "I'll go check the other shorelines. I'll try not to take long." He started pulling himself closer to the deeper water to be capable of swimming faster.
The group watched OJ as he took, most of them anyway. All of them except for Candle. Once OJ realized Floory was missing, she turned to look more towards the rest of the island. Yin-Yang spotted this and turned toward her out of curiosity. "Candle? Is something wrong?" Yang asked.
"No. Nothing's wrong." Candle assured them while still facing away. "There's just something... peculiar happening."
"Like what?" Yin invited her to continue
Candle turned around, making eye contact with Cabby. "Cabby, I assume you remember the day I started doing aura readings?"
Bot and Cabby shared a glance from that day being brought up now. "Yes, I do. Why?"
"Then I suppose you also remember writing down what The Floor's aura was, as well with how I mentioned his aura surrounds his face?"
Cabby nodded as Candle recalling it was bringing it to the surface again. "But why are you bringing this up now?"
"Floory's aura is encompassing the island."
The ground began to shake as if the island heard what Candle said. The whole group struggled to keep themselves on their feet. Bot flopped against Cabby for support as Suitcase fell onto her back.
"I swear I didn't do it this time!" Yang yelped.
Floory groaned as he squinted his eyes open. He expected to be blinded by the sun at this time of day, but he was pleasantly surprised to see the blue sky. However, it wasn't only the blue sky he was seeing. He could also see the ocean stretching on into the horizon. A sight rare for him. He blinked confusedly, raising a hand to the side of his face.
Wait, he never had hands before. His gaze turned to look at it after pulling it off himself. It felt surreal seeing a hand turn in front of him in the direction he wanted it to. He couldn't stop staring at it for a minute. The webbed scaley talon intrigued him as much as it did shock him.
He looked down to see that he had legs, too. He instinctually took a step back. It felt interesting to feel the water move when he pulled one of his legs back. From he could guess, he could feel that he had a tail as well. He grinned with an amazed look in his eyes.
"This... this is amazing! Cabby, are you seeing this?" He was beaming. He looked back up, only greeted by the ocean and sky. His smile gradually fades. "Cabby? ...OJ?" He began to call out for the group, gradually sounding more desperate. "Bot?? Anyone??"
His anxiety started to grow more and more intense the longer he's unable to hear anything or anyone besides his own breathing. He could feel pounding in his chest. The more he felt it, the more panicked he became.
"Okay- okay.. m-maybe... maybe this is a dream! Yeah! And if this is a dream, I'll just wake up soon!" Floory stammered, trying to figure out ways to comfort himself. Unfortunately, there was one thing that was keeping him from believing his own lies. Everything felt so real. He could never feel to this degree when he was dreaming.
He couldn't stop thinking about it. It was starting to overwhelm him. Since no one was here, he was starting to helpless. He couldn't talk to anyone to ground himself. For all he knew, he was alone with no sign of life around for miles.
Or so he thought. A spot of the ocean in front of him started parting in unusual ways. Floory managed to pace his breathing once the water caught his gaze. He watched it with intrigue. It took him a while to recognize that the parting water is spelling out letters. "Floory, I'm here." He muttered out the words, taking a moment to register the message in front of him
"Uhh... then who are you? Where are you actually?" He looked around before hearing the water shift again. "...Look at your right hand. What?" He was perplexed. He lifted his hand, turning it to see if he could spot anything, but nothing was catching his eye.
He heard the water shift again to see other words that were messy and thinner than the previous. "Just flip your hand over. Oh!" Once he flips his hand over palm side up, he spots something small on his finger, glinting back sunlight.
Floory raised a brow at it, then brought it closer to his face to see if he could get a better look at what's on his hand. He squinted down at it, trying to focus his eyes on the tiny thing on his fingertip. It took him a few seconds until he could recognize the glass kraken nervously waving up at him.
Floory's eyes widened. "OJ?!" He jerked himself back from his right hand in shock. He never expected to witness the kraken being dwarfed by someone before, let alone by himself. He pulled the arm closer to him again, holding his other hand underneath it as well. When he saw OJ again, he appeared quite off balance from The Floor's movement. "Whoops. Sorry, mate." He apologized with an uneasy grin and a softened volume. OJ raised up a thumbs up to try to tell him that he's alright. "Well, that's a relief."
There was a pause between the two. "So... what should we do about all of this?" He asked him, taking away his other hand to gesture to himself. "Got any ideas?" OJ looked unsure. The tiny kraken lowered his hand out to the ocean, causing the water to part into words once again. "I don't. Could you put me back up on the island?"
After Floory read that, something dawns on him. They're all up there. Cabby, Candle, Bot, Suitcase, and Yin-Yang. They're all on top of him now that he's the entire island, and he caused them all distress just by waking up. "Oh... yeah, I can do that. No problem." He complies, but clearly sounds upset. He eased his hand up to the island, catching a concerned glance from OJ on his way up. Whatever they decide, it's for the better.
"Guys!" OJ called out to the group once the finger he was on raised him up to the edge of the island they were all stationed. They looked relieved to see him. He pulled himself off of Floory's finger to rest on the ground. "So uh... The Floor woke up."
"Oh, we know." Yin replied.
"We could hear him!" So did Yang.
Floory pulled his hand back down to himself, the ground vibrating from his arm movement alone. Sprinkles whimpered and huddled close to Yin-Yang. Suitcase and Bot are standing close to Cabby for support.
OJ's brows furrowed from the sight of his friends trying to keep themselves stable from every little move The Floor makes. He could only imagine how bad it was when he jolted back, but that's not all he was thinking about. He couldn't help but think about Floor during all of this. At this size, Floor couldn't hear them. He could barely see them, and every micromovement would throw people off their feet. That's why his tone sounded off. He's worried they think of him as a hazard. OJ had to think of a plan to work this out and fast.
"Cabby, what do you have in your files about Floory?" OJ demanded. Cabby opened up the teethed cabinet, scrambling through it since the books she put in there made it more crowded. She muttered to herself before she pulled it out. The lower cabinet shut as she opened it up to read through it.
"Thanks to Paintbrush, I've had it written down that The Floor has had limbs buried under the sand this whole time, and the whole Red Spot thing from the body swap fiasco I missed." Cabby explained. "Apart from that, there's only obvious information. Like how he teleports around and how he eats more than the average monster."
OJ didn't say it, but he was afraid none of that information could help them.
"Hold on... didn't Floory say something about feeling weird when he got dumped back onto the island?" Suitcase broke the silence. "What if it wasn't just from being separated from the island for so long?"
What Suitcase was insinuating started ringing bells for OJ. Specifically about conversations he and Paintbrush had, expressing their concerns that Floory hasn't eaten much since they were all recovered by MePhone for the last time.
"It was hunger." OJ uttered.
"Yes... Yes! That makes sense." Cabby nearly squealed in excitement as her questions about Floor finally started to be answered. "MePhone must've designed his smaller face as a way to get nutrients into his body as it rested."
"Because with a body as big as Floor's in such a small world, it's hard to sustain it." OJ continued off of Cabby's sentence.
"So that explains why he disappeared. His body was waking up to try to find food." Bot assumed. "Even though there's nothing big enough to sustain him."
The group was stuck in thought once again.
"I think the one we could do right now is put him to sleep and wait for his face to come back, we put him back in the terrium, and we head on home." OJ suggested, already looking towards Candle as the one who could pull it off.
Everyone seemed to be in agreement with this plan, with no complaints that had to be vocalized.
"If we're gonna do this, we have to let The Floor know the plan too." Suitcase brought up.
"Agreed. Candle, do you think you can let him know?" OJ asked toward the psychic. She simply nodded. She kneeled down to the ground, resting her hands on top of the grass with all three eyes shut. Her flame faded from its usual orange to a bright purple.
Floory had been standing still as a statue ever since he lifted OJ back to the others. He didn't wanna cause any other problems for his friends while he was stuck in this massive form. In all honesty, he was afraid of what they could be planning. He kept telling himself that it would be okay, but he couldn't be more unsure.
"Floory." Candle's voice spoke out from within his own head. He used all of this strength to not react more than his eyebrows raising.
"Oh! Hi Candle! H-how are you?" He unfortunately couldn't stop the stammer from slipping out.
"I'm well. OJ insisted that I inform you of the plan." She explained calmy despite his reaction.
"Oh! Okay! Explain away." Floory insisted, attempting to sound as positive as he psychically could.
"OJ's considering a sleep spell so we can let the island settle back to how it normally was, and we can take you back home when your face re-emerges."
Floor's eyebrows furrow. It's not that it's a bad idea. It's the fact that he may be separated from his actual body forever. All because it could be dangerous to his friends.
The Floor let out a little sigh. "If it's the best idea we've got, I'm willing to do it."
The group looked between each other, now unsure about the plan. They could not hear how Candle explained the plan, but Floor's response to the idea was their main turning points. Bot was holding onto their arms. Yin-Yang were holding Sprinkles close. Cabby looked at Suitcase and OJ, baring the look of "Are we sure we want to do this?" behind those eyes. Candle herself looked saddened by his reaction as well.
OJ watched all of their expressions change in a matter of seconds. He lowered his hand against Candle's back. She opened her eyes to look up at him once she felt him.
"We may have to consider a Plan B." OJ remarked. Candle agreed with a simple nod. She took a minute to think. "I believe I have an idea. One that I think The Floor would be thrilled to help you with." She cryptically said with a little smile up to the oblivious kraken.
Amongst one of the shorelines of Inanimate Island laid two monsters of varying sizes. One an electric eel with a lightbulb form, the other, a tall paintbrush with dim flames emitting over their bristles, flowing down their back, and glowing from their tail tip. Lightbulb laid so peacefully with her eyes closed, while Paintbrush appeared antsy. Their tail flicked from thoughts that were lingering in their mind.
Lightbulb opened one of her eyes as her partner pulled themselves up from the burnt grass, sitting with their back to ocean. "Is everything alright, Painty?" She asked as she sat up herself.
"Yeah, I'm just wondering how OJ and the others are doing." Their answer felt dull, not spitting out the whole truth.
"Oh, come on, that can't just be it." Lightbulb nudged her elbow against Paintbrush's arm, smiling up at them. "What else is going through your braincage?"
They couldn't help but let out a little chuckle from the way she phrased that. "Okay. You remember when I was spending more time around Floory for a few days?" Lightbulb nodded
"I started doing that because Tea Kettle came to me when she noticed that Floory rejected food she offered him, something he never really does."
"Well, it's like they say, Painty, you can lead a crab to seafood, but you can't make it eat."
"But that's the weird thing, Lightbulb. Every time I was around Floory, he never once ate." Paintbrush pointed out. "It just worries he hasn't eaten since we were all brought back and I'm scared about how that'll affect him when he returned to his body."
Lightbulb peeked off to the side of Paintbrush with a raised brow before looking back up at them. "He has a body?" They didn't even question what caught Lightbulb's attention. For all they knew, she was probably keeping an eye on Baxter.
"Sort of. There was a whole accident that caused some of us to be swapped in each other's bodies, and I ended up with Floory's." Paintbrush explained. "I figured out how he teleports, under his guidance of course, learned how bad his hunger can get, and I might've found out he was the entire island from learning he had some limbs buried under the sand."
Paintbrush paused after that whole ramble, waiting to see if Lightbulb got all of that information. Lightbulb perked up. "Ohhh! So that's who that is on the horizon!"
