I can feel the excitement, the emotions... it's so intense. I love it! Definitely worth the wait!
I'm intrigued by Time's brother.
And poor Jack :<

alkdsfj stan echo!! solamoon fanboy and he plays the guitar!!
i'm intrigued about myst, something about him doesn't sit right with me but i'm excited to see where him taking time's place in ra goes
poor jack though ;-; and hh kat get some sleep my goodness

great chapter hehe-

owo great chap!! the music was great as always
congrats to echo for making it!
👀 myst and time as brothers, huh? did not expect that but it was a welcome surprise
and trippy dream sequence 👀👀👀
very much worth the wait! keep up the great work :D

Great chapter!  Love the fight scene and the group chats XD

Grimmalkin's letter XDDDD
👀 Time and Myst are brothers, and Myst is substituting for Time? I'm interested to see where this goes.
But poor Jack!! Nasty nightmares

Very nice chapter!! I'm very excited to see where a these plots end up going!

man Kat needs to get some sleep soon hdhjfjf
and oh man,,, between RA!Jack and Rift!Jack, I sure do get beaten up a lot huh 😔😔

Last edited by Jack (8/11/2020 2:39 pm)

I SAW MY CH I L D

YES GREAT CHAPTER I APPROVE

Chapter Sixteen 
[now playing: another perspective by idealism]



Sunset on a Friday evening was a time filled with many activities. Some families were sitting down for dinners, students were getting ready to celebrate their weekend, and people were finally winding down and melting into the weekend.

For Ark and Riri, it meant buying suspicious-looking-meat-on-a-stick and walking to the abandoned playground to eat said skeptical protein.

The golden hour glow set over the playground rusted from no care, illuminating the duo who sat on creaky swings.

Riri took a bite of her peculiar meat stick. The vendor they always bought from gave her two sticks of soy-sauce marinated deep-fried something-or-other. She didn’t really care what, it just tasted good and kept her warm. 

Ark did the same, focusing on eating one of the pieces of meat on the wooden stick. The vendor had given him chicken with a barbecue seasoning, making Riri elbow him in the side with a mutter about the chicken incident.

“Any plans this weekend?” Riri asked, leaning her head against the chain of the swing, the metal’s rubber casing peeling away. She picked up her tapioca cup up from the ground, moving the straw to get the last few bubbles out from the bottom. 

Ark hummed. “I actually need to talk to you about that. I think I’m actually gonna be busy for two weeks.”

Riri turned to look at Ark, a suspicious brow raised. “Two weeks? Are you going on a vacation or something?” she asked, rocking back and forth on the swings. Soft creaks came from the metal arch above the duo.

Ark shook his head, taking another bite of his food and swallowing it. “Actually, a friend of mine needs help with...something.”

“Illegal activities?”

Ark scoffed. “What? No, of course not. She’s too cool for drugs or that stuff. It has to do with, uh…”

“Family?” Riri suggested, swirling the ice in her cup and staring at it.

“Yeah,” Ark responded, leaning back and looking at the warm tones the sky was painted. “She needs someone to travel with, so the guys are offering to go with her.”

Riri hummed. “You don’t have to ask for my permission. You can go, you know.”

“I know, I just want to make sure you don’t panic when I go away,” Ark said, looking back at his food.

“Your presence isn’t that big in my life, doof.”

“I’m literally the only person you talk to other than your parents and occasionally the weird gossip kid,” Ark said. He took another bite of his food before continuing with his mouth full. “Why d’ya even talk to him?”

“To keep our names off the records,” Riri said, resting her cup in her lap. “He shuts up quickly if you give him a juice box and some money.”

Ark nodded in understanding, pocketing the wooden skewer from his first meat stick. “He doesn’t...know, right?”

“About Joker? No.”

Ark sighed in relief. “Good. I almost thought I slipped on the day of the festival, made one too many jokes about a prank I pulled.”

“He has no idea,” Riri said, finishing her own kebab and snapping the wooden stick in half. “He doesn’t know about Bunni, either.”

“Good,” Ark said, nodding. He focused on entertaining himself by unwrapping his next meat skewer, starting to eat it. Riri didn’t make conversation, choosing to sip on her drink instead and ponder over how she had gotten into this position.

It wasn’t intentional for her to figure out Ark’s identity, and it was a pure accident that he figured hers out. Maybe she was too obvious, maybe she let her childish fighting voice slip. She could remember the day they had asked each other about it, though. 

The two were sitting in the same abandoned playground, on a summer evening where they had bought cheap sandwiches from a vendor and gotten smoothies from another. The sun was fading from orange to purple to navy, the stars fighting their way into their vision.

“Okay, this is going to sound incredibly stupid, but hear me out,” Ark said, setting his sandwich down in his lap. “Wouldn’t it be weird if you were Bunni?”

Riri choked on a bite of her sandwich, hacking it out in a coughing fit. “What...the heck makes you imagine that?”

Ark shrugged, fiddling with the paper wrapping on his cutlet sandwich. “You two are the same height, and your voice sounds familiar when she gets serious. Also, you have that scythe diagram on the wall in your room?”

Riri’s lip drew into a tight, straight expression, the girl staring off into the distance. “Well, if we’re making dumb accusations, I’d say that you were Joker. Tall, chaotic, like the color purple a bit too much…”

Silence.

Riri and Ark turned to look at each other at the same time, realization dawning on the duo. Riri raised a hesitant fingergun, forcing out a laugh. “There’s no way you could be…”

Ark seemed to be seriously contemplating it. “Yeaaaah, no way you’re Bunni…”

The duo sat in uncomfortable silence. Both could feel the lying energy emanating off of the two and in unison once again turned to look at each other.

“Wait a minute.”

“Ohmygod—”

“ARE YOU ACTUALLY?!”

Which led to a chaotic conversation (“You never told me you were fighting?!” “Not like I could have told you, dingus!”) and chase around the playground which was too unstable for such a moment like that. After that day, the two had kept the other’s secret.

“Will you help me get the registration for short leave done?” Ark asked, interrupting Riri out of her miniature flashback montage.

Riri nodded, her head clearing of the thoughts from the past. “Yeah, of course. Get the paperwork next time you go in for training, come to the bakery and I’ll help you fill it out.”

Ark thanked the other, looking at a notification on his phone. “Are you sure you’ll be alright on your own? You won’t have anyone to ride the train with or—”

“I’ll be fine,” Riri interrupted. There was a second where she seemed to question her own logic. Sheepishly, she added a soft “I think” afterwards.

“You could always try making new friends,” Ark said, finishing off his kebab and setting the trash into the paper bag they had brought. The elder boy started rocking back and forth on the swings. “What about that chick you ranted about? The one who showed up and you went grocery shopping with?”

Riri groaned. “God, don’t remind me,” she said, laying back so she was holding herself up on the swing. “Can’t believe I started talking because I thought she was my mom.”

“You’ll get over it,” Ark said with a snort. “Besides, you two might become friends. You never know.”

“Yeah, fat chance,” Riri said, finishing her second skewer with a huff. “I’m pretty sure she’s joined the ranks of the people who think I’m a weirdo.”

Ark rolled his eyes, spinning in his swing so the chains twisted together. “Give ‘er a try, you might make a friend who isn’t me.”

Riri didn’t respond, swinging her legs and watching the buckles on her shoes slowly lose their shine in the sunset light. 

 “We both know what happened last time I intentionally tried that,” Riri said, looking over to Ark. Ark was not glooming about like the younger earth elemental— he was twisted up in the entirety of his swing chains, his leg sticking out an awkward angle.

 It was Riri’s turn to laugh, fighting the dorky grin making her way over her face. “Dude, what the heck?”

“Spinny swings,” Ark said, lifting his feet from the ground and letting his swing twirl. His shout of “fun!” was chopped out as he swirled.

Riri giggled, watching the elder spin without a care. A small part of her felt sad, mournful that her friend was going to leave. She knew he was coming back, but...it was like having your older brother leave for college, and you’re left on your own.

Ark had stopped spinning. “Why are you frowning?”

Riri shrugged. “Dunno. I guess I’ll just miss you.”

Ark ruffled Riri’s hair with a grin. “Aw, I’ll miss you too! Don’t worry, though, I’ll be back in a flash if I don’t get arrested.”

Riri didn’t seem phased by the end of Ark’s sentence, as if the concept of him almost getting arrested was commonplace. “Don’t die,” she sighed.

“I won’t, yeesh,” Ash dissuaded, running a hand through his hair. He stared at the neighboring forest in thought. “I still have to finish senior year, no time for dying now.”

Riri made a noise of agreement, standing up from the swings. “Makes sense.”

Silence returned over the duo, Riri focusing on her swinging and Ark fascinated with the clouds above. Neither of the two could figure out anything to say.

[now playing: Night Raid with a Dragon by Camellia]



“Y’wanna go to the stadium?” Riri asked, looking at the elder as she broke the silence. “I’m bored and wanna go fight. Or train in rhythm practice, or...yeah. You could get a chance to get in a final battle, too.”

“I’m down,” Ark said, rolling his neck and popping the air from his bones. He adjusted the messenger bag on his shoulder, sliding the strap up and turning to look at Riri. “How far is the station from here, again?”

Riri fixed her bag over her shoulder, looking over the fence at the far end of the playground. “If we jump the fence, it’s about a five minute run if we don’t bother with sidewalks.”

“Parkour still legal in this part of town?”

“Yep.”

“Then, I’ll race you to the station?” Ark said, shooting a devious smirk at the younger.

Riri grinned in response, pulling the hair tie around her wrist up and her hair into a short ponytail. “Ready? 3, 2— HEY!”

Ark had already taken off and was halfway up the fence. “Slowpoke!”

Riri sprinted after the other, vaulting over the fence and rushing down the hill. “CHEATER! Get back here!”

Ark only cackled in response, bounding off the sides of buildings to avoid the boxes in the alley he ran into. “See you at the station!”

"bonus round!" *Ender gets drop-kicked across the arena*

I loved this one!! grimm and gemini are both sides of the bonk meme dfhjgldfj

oooh nice chap! fights were good and it was interesting to see the fighters who know who each other's identities. music was great as always as well!

hehe great chapter!

oooooo new chapter!

must c o n s u m e