MSM story- "Through another World,"

[BirbMonster]

Welcome to a new msm story- "Through another World", featuring Hermit and Gwen as POV characters.

 

Prologue

The dry grass gently tickled Hermit’s claws. Finally, he’d arrived at Shugabush island. 

The young Strombonin looked around at the unusual landscape, tightly clutching his Strombone. The plants were tinted in unique autumn-esque colors, and oddly enough every part of the landscape was decorated in these weird human-world devices. They called them “shouters”. 

A familiar lavender Bowgart brushed against him. 

“We’re finally both 18, huh?”

Hermit nodded at Harebell in excitement. “Yeah. I can’t believe it,”

“There’s so much ahead of us!” Harebell half-shouted in excitement. “We could travel the world as much as we please,”

“True. Come on though, Bell. No time to lose!”

I’ll finally get to meet the Shugafam face-to face, he thought as the two made their way along the wooden path. I’ve wanted to do this for more than 10 years, huh. But mom and dad were always too scared of the Seam.

I don’t even believe in the human world. Don’t think it would be a problem.

“Alright, here’s the plan,” Hermit announced. “We go to the town and explore outside the castle. The song will happen when the sun sets, so in around 2 hours. Then we can meet the Shugafam, and that’s it for the day,”

Harebell smiled and grabbed onto Hermit’s hand. “You’re a great planner,”

 

As he walked, Hermit admired the unusual environment more and more, watching the orange critters scuttle and flap between the trees.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a flash of white. 

He stopped to turn and see what it was. But there was nothing there. 

“Hermit? What-”

“No, no. It's nothing,” Hermit said, shaking his head and trotting back over to him. “I thought I saw something. It's probably a trick of the light,”

“Oh, what was it?”

“This weird white flash. Like I said, it's nothing?”

“Sure it isn’t…” Harebell turned and spun pointlessly and dramatically, spreading all four of his fluffy arms. “Seam magic?”

Hermit chuckled. “We both don’t believe in it,” he said. “Unless you’re as superstitious as my parents,”

“Hah! Never! Your mother probably believes every single myth someone’s ever told her!”

“Remember when she got me those crystals for my 13th birthday? Said it was because my Celestial was Loodvigg!”

Both monsters chuckled happily, reminiscing on childhood memories. 

“That reminds me, I’m getting you something for today,”

“Wow, what is it?”

“It’s a surprise! Come on now, I can see the town!”

Hermit tried to take off running in excitement, but something was pulling him back by the tail.

He looked behind himself, suddenly horrified. There was another white light, this time definitely real. It was right above him, dragging him as he floated off the ground.

“HAREBELL!”

The Bowgart snapped right around, shocked, and immediately ran to drag Hermit away from whatever that was.

“WHAT. THE. FURNOSS!” Harebell shouted as he desperately grappled at Hermit’s claws, already just out of reach. 

Oh no oh no oh no, he thought, feeling is tail and hind legs fall into the light. 

“NO!” Harebell yelled, jumping desperately only to slip on a patch of leaves.

“HAREBELL!” Hermit shouted as he disappeared into the portal. The last thing he saw was a desperate pile of lavender fur, screaming and calling his name.

 

A few minutes later, he opened his eyes, splayed out on the grass with the Strombone a few inches in front of his snout.

The world around was something he’d only heard of and seen fake-looking sketches of.

It couldn’t be…

————-—————-

 

15 years later, in a different place…

“Bye,” Gwen said in a monotone voice at the Oaktopus leaving the store. “Have a wonderful day,”

Day can’t be wonderful if it’s so lame and boring and exactly the same every time, she thought with a grimmance plastered across her beak.

“Well, Gwendolyn, it’s 5:00 pm,” said an authorarive voice from behind her. She turned to see Frazil, the Deedge who managed the store.

“That’s Gwen for you, fool,” she muttered angrily, saying the last word under her breath. “Well, bye,”

Frazil’s face contorted into an expression of anger. “Gwendolyn, keep having the attitude of a grouchy teenager and you’ll be fired, understood?”

Gwen simply muttered a few horrible curse words under her breath as she left the store, talons immediately sinking into the thick snow.

Lucky me walking out into a BLIZZARD, she thought, shaking the snow out of her frizzy green feathers.

Funny. Even after a few years back from the Collosingum, she was still re-adjusting. 

But then again, almost 7 years there really changed her life.

It was GOOD there, though. They were the greatest champion there until that stupid T-Rox came.

Too bad she got kicked out.

In fact, if anyone on Cold Island knew the reason she was kicked out, they’d probably get thrown in jail.

The image was still in her mind. The vines she was controlling, growing through the T-Rox’s skull, wrapping around his body as he collapsed to the ground, dead.

They shuddered at the memory, but a high-pitched voice coming from just below.

“Hey Gwen!”

She looked down to see her sister, Pandora, a brightly-coloured Tweedle with abnormally long head and tail feathers that had to be tied back in braids.

Well, techically this was her cousin. But adoptiveley, and in her heart, their sister. 

You see, as a Dandidoo, with a Tweedle and a Potbelly for parents, she couldn’t really have a Tweedle sister. But her aunt and uncle passed away, her parents adopted her cousin- Pandora. 

“Good evening,” they smiled happily. Though they were embarrassed to admit it, the sweet little Tweedle was a soft spot of hers.

“How was work today?” she asked politely.

“Same as always,” Gwen responded, looking up at the already ink-dark sky. 

“And you said that’s bad?”

“Yeah, it sucks,”

“Think positive!” Pandora exclaimed, flapping up a few meters into the air before landing again at Gwen’s other side. “It isn’t as bad is it could be. Love life and be grateful for what you have,”

You tell me that so often, they thought. But I don’t think it ever really gets to me, not with a job that sucks like a black hole of boredom.

“Come on,” she said, taking long strides along the street. “Let’s get back to the castle. We could talk and have fun there as much as we want, sis,”

As she walked, Gwen noticed a T-Rox clomping along the streets in a fluffy winter coat.

He stared right back at her with piercing, electric-blue eyes, looking directly forwards.

Something about him looked familiar.

No. Storm is dead. Besides, this one doesn’t look like he was ravaged by a pickaxe.

But still, creepy.

“Pandora?” She whispered.

“What is it?”

“That T-Rox. Doesn’t he look like…”

“The one you… you know the one…”

“Exactly like Storm. But without the scars,”

“Stay calm, Gwen,” Pandora advised. “It’s probably just a coincidence,”

[BirbMonstwo]

@Loxfeafcakeratfawnscarhamp

GET OVER HERE

[Loxfeaf]

1 hour ago, BirbMonstwo said:

@Loxfeafcakeratfawnscarhamp

GET OVER HERE

I STARTED READING IT BUT SCHOOL THEN MY BRAIN FORGOT ITS EXISTENCE

[Loxfeaf]

1 minute ago, Loxfeafcakeratfawnscarhamp said:

I STARTED READING IT BUT SCHOOL THEN MY BRAIN FORGOT ITS EXISTENCE

OK. I READ IT. I COMBUSTED BECAUSE I TRIED NOT TO SCREAM BUT MY BODY WASN'T ELASTIC ENOUGH TO HOLD THE AREA OF THE SOUNDWAVES SO I EXPLODED.

[Loxfeaf]

16 hours ago, BirmBonster said:

As she walked, Gwen noticed a T-Rox clomping along the streets in a fluffy winter coat.

He stared right back at her with piercing, electric-blue eyes, looking directly forwards.

Something about him looked familiar.

No. Storm is dead. Besides, this one doesn’t look like he was ravaged by a pickaxe.

But still, creepy.

“Pandora?” She whispered.

“What is it?”

“That T-Rox. Doesn’t he look like…”

“The one you… you know the one…”

“Exactly like Storm. But without the scars,”

“Stay calm, Gwen,” Pandora advised. “It’s probably just a coincidence,”

*Explosive screeching*

[BirbMonster]

Gwen paced around their room in circles.

There wasn’t anything to do today, was there?

She pulled one curtain aside and looked out of the window across the snow-scattered landscape. The blizzard had ended, and now far more monsters were outside. Faint cheers of happiness could be heard from a group of excited children, sliding clumsily down a hill.

 

Her sigh was interrupted by a gentle tapping on the door. Taking a deep breath, they grabbed the key in their beak and tossed it onto the ground, peering down at the guest.

 

It was her sister.

“Good evening, Gwen!”

“Hmf. Whatcha here for?”

“Well, the song is in a few minutes, and I wanted to ask you if you’re coming this time,”

The Dandidoo sighed again and tapped the ground with her talons. 

“No, thanks,”

Singing hasn’t felt the same for her since their time in the Collosingum. Gwen couldn’t sing a single note without vines and flowers rising suddenly from her ground, that was how hard she’d trained there.

 

What did others think? Were they scared? Did they think she was an outcast?

 

Maybe I shouldn’t have said yes to Firecracker’s offer. Then things could be different.

 

“Could we at least go for a walk?” Pandora asked calmly.

Gwen nodded, adjusting the spiked collar around her neck as she left the room and followed Pandora down to the castle floor.

 

Pandora never really walked, though. She’d jump into the air every few seconds to do some flips and somersaults, then gently glide back down again, smiling as she bounced on and off the ground.

 

Outside, Gwen could already hear the distant music, the lyrics of the eagerly visiting Werdos. 

The snow crunched beneath her talons as she walked away from the town, down a small trail going through the forest outside.

 

After a few minutes of walking, each step quieter as the two moved away from the singing crowd, Pandora perched on a tree branch right above Gwen’s head, making a waterfall of snow tumble down.

 

“Hey!” Gwen shouted as it hit her head-feathers. “Watch it!”

“Sorry. I just… saw something,”

“What?”

“Some light. In the forest. You know, like the Seam portals we talked about yesterday,”

“Those? Don’t be ridiculous. Cold Island is nowhere near the Seam,”

“The chances are low,” Pandora explained, gracefully leaping off the branch again. “But never zero,”

 

Gwen huffed, scraping at the snow with her claws. “There’s no way that…”

She paused.

There was a blinding light in front of them, pure white and simply floating in mid air.

It had its own pull. It tugged at her feathers, trying to drag her in.

Pandora gripped tightly onto a nearby tree, fighting against the strengthening pull.

 

Gwen noticed how much it was pulling her, too. It relentlessly slid her across the snowy ground, and she tried to get hold of a bush, but failed. 

 

Pandora slipped off the branch, the portal’s pull now stronger than her talons.

“PANDORA!” Gwen shouted. She began to desperately hum a tune, summoning gigantic dandelions to spring from the ground and wrap around the squealing Tweedle. 

 

She was swept of her feet by the sparking anomaly, and dragged into it suddenly. When it hit her skin, it was sizzling and hot, causing her pain as a tingle shot through their neck, body, and down through to her legs.

 

As she was fully inside the portal, everything blacked out for a moment. Then, she was shot out into a different place- a clearing in a forest, that looked a lot like Plant Island, but somehow off.

She felt feathers wrapped around them. “Pandora, get off me!”

 

She rolled the dizzy Tweedle off her back, groaning in pain. 

What was that? It was so weird. Am I dreaming?

“Gwen….” Pandora whispered as she shakily rose to her feet.

“What?”

“Where are we?”

Gwen raised her long neck and gazed across the landscape. She was in a soft patch of grass with forest behind her, and in front of her, a cliff with what looked like a town at the bottom.

“I don’t know…” Gwen responded, looking around the strange town. In front of them, the sun was beginning to set, highlighting its unusual features. “But I don’t think it’s the Monster World,”

[BirbMonster]

Hermit huffed, spread out along the ground. The only sound was the rhythmic tap of his thin tail each time it hit the ground and his own hoarse breaths.

He looked up at one of the walls of his bunker, the one covered in scratches. Each one represented a day trapped here, and there were far too many to count. They were even beginning to unevenly spread across the ceiling and floor, winding out onto other walls between his strange collections.

Had gazed thoughtfully at his hands, unrecognisable from his years trapped in the Human World. His scales were rougher and dirtier, streaked through with the deep scars of constant fighting for his life.

He let out a deep, lonesome sigh, slowly rising to his rough, dusty feet, boredly running his cut-covered claws along the dusty walls of his bunker.

Hermit slithered out of the small hole in the wall that led to the outside world, pushing through the dense bushes that hid his hideout from the humansd.
The Strombonin stared at his reflection in a puddle, formed from recently fallen rain, looking at the scars across his eyes and muzzle, and his cracked horn and armour plates.

Then he glanced back up at the stars and the shimmering full moon, breathing in cool nighttime air.
He remembered his days living on cold island- the snow beneath his feet all year long, his family surrounding him, the Werdos that he admired visiting every few weeks. What was it that they sang?
Look at the stars in the big black ink....
Tell me what you feel and tell me what you think...
Is it cold outside?
Is it cold out...?

He paused, trailing one foot-claw through the puddle, sending gentle ripples dancing across it's sleek surface. He felt lonely. And bored. And it was, indeed, cold outside.

Hermit perked up as he heard a rustle in the bushes. Humans? His faint thoughts whispered to him. He dashed silently across the moist grasses, diving swiftly into his bunker and nearly slamming into the wall as he skilfully skidded across the ground, grabbing one of the weapons in his collection of human stuff.

He held the gun tightly in shaking hands, peering out of the bushes in a stealthy crouch. An owl hooted in the distance. The human-world critter flapped off at the sight of him.
He waited with his gun lifted and one claw on the trigger for what seemed like forever, silencing his breathing.

Then he heard a louder rustle and saw a shape move. With a loud bang, he winced and pulled the trigger, hoping he hadn't hit an innocent critter.
But instead, the bullet whisked at breakneck speed just over the feathers of... a Tweedle. The stranger yelped as she was almost hit, falling back as a loudly screaming Dandidoo followed her.

"HEY! YOU! STOP WAVING THAT CRAZY THING AT MY SISTER BEFORE I GIVE YOU ANY MORE SCARS!"
He gasped as a blast of sudden wind knocked him over and vines grew around his feet. He'd never seen someone actually use Collosingum magic, but that was not the thing to mention right now.

"Wait! Stop!" He shouted hoarsely, his voice damaged from years of little speech. "I haven't seen other monsters in forever!"
"Gwen!" The Tweedle shouted at the same time, pulling the intimidating Dandidoo away. "Be nice!"
"Yes! Now let me go!"
The vines released Hermit's legs, allowing him to jump to his feet.

"Thank Galvana you're here! I've been alone for so long!"
"Not to be rude, but how long?" The Tweedle asked politely. She was brightly coloured, with feathers so long and thick they were tied back in braids. A necklace of wooden rainbow beads hung around her neck, clicking each time she took a step.
"I don't know for sure," he responded with a slight stutter, his head down. "But... it was the thirteenth of September, in the year 11985 when I came," My birthday, he thought with a frown. "Must've been... five years or so?"
"I don't think so, sir. You see..."
The Dandidoo (who seemed to be named Gwen) interrupted. "It's the first of September, 12000,"

Hermit felt like someone had just torn a hole through his chest. That was far longer than he'd expected.
I missed the new millennium. I'm in my 30s.
How...
Am I still alive...?

"Sir..." The Tweedle whispered calmly, placing a wing on his shoulder to comfort him. "Deep breaths. Are you ok?"
Hermit just stayed silent. After all these years he didn't realise he'd forgotten how to communicate.
"Come in," he said, awkwardly leading the newly-met monsters into his bunker. His mind was a tornado of thoughts and emotions, of excitement, confusion, worry.

He curled up on a beanbag in the corner, staring nervously as the two sat on the carpet in front. I never expected visitors.
"Uhhh... I'm Hermit,"
"I'm Pandora, and this is my sister, Gwen," the Tweedle responded. For the first time he noticed that Gwen had a crack running along her beak. He didn't even wince. He'd seen much worse wounds on himself.

The silence was broken suddenly by Gwen. "So. Are we going to be trapped here for... that long?"

Hermit sighed. Was he doing it too much? Was he being normal right now? "I've seen portals, but I can't leave without my Strombone. I'm convinced it's alive. I saw the humans taking it somewhere. But it's too dangerous,"

"So you've been moping around here for this long?!" Gwen shouted, her painted talons scraping the ground. "And not even trying?"

"Gwen!" Pandora yelped, turning to her sister. "Do you need help, sir?"

Hermit just nodded in silence.

"Here's a deal," Gwen snapped. "We help you find that Strombone of yours, and you help us ALL GET THE HECK HOME,"

Hermit perked up in excitement. He'd get his Strombone back. He'd go back to Cold Island... back home.

And see Harebell again.

He nodded and awkwardly shook Gwen's talon.