It proved rather difficult for Froufrou and Kahli to meditate their way into an effective method of twisting the third timeline scenario. Eventually, they landed on deciding that they'd twist the timeline so that the Supreme Time Protector actually warned them about Speed Times before they encountered the Speed Time itself, back when they first obtained the [class] of [Time Manipulator]. This seemed like an ideal way to proceed as it made both Kahli and Froufrou wonder if they'd be able to twist their way into some sort of a nested [checkpoint] scenario where they'd get the opportunity for more timeline picks. Worst case scenario, though, they'd be stuck with the open-ended resolution of the third timeline as opposed to the deaths witnessed in the first and second scenarios.
[Now viewing scenario 3 (twisted)]
Kahli and Froufrou were standing there in the forest, but everything around them seemed to be morphing and changing. Or... was that just Kahli's vision? Her vision seemed... degraded somehow. Curious.
Kahli looked to see Sahdi, and in fact she was much older than Kahli expected. Then, she looked to G'athoong, and saw that the dragon looked to be on her last legs - literally, she was old and tattered and it looked like two of her four legs had fallen off! Yet, she hadn't regenerated into a younger dragon... It was incredibly strange.
Then, Kahli looked to Froufrou for emotional support, but her jaws flew open in a gasp the second she saw her [paired] pet.
"Froufrou! Your tendrils! They're... by Theseosus' pincers, they're so dry!"
Froufrou squelched, but it barely smelled at all! She tried to writhe around, but her tendrils could only flop.
Then, Kahli looked down at her hand, her living wood hand, and noted that the wood looked and indeed felt brittle and almost unmoving. Then, she felt her face. With a gasp, she realized the truth - it was covered wholly in living wood.
"What in Theseosus' pincers is going on?!" asked Kahli with bewilderment.
What do you mean? thought spoke G'athoong.
"Yea, what are you talking about, Kahli?" asked Sahdi. "Are we going to keep moving or not? We're almost in Flungunglia."
Kahli felt even more confused. Sahdi was talking as if they'd never been stuck in a Speed Time! She said as such to Sahdi, who only laughed.
"I don't know what's gotten into you, Kahli, but we were never in a Speed Time or anything of that ilk. We've just been walking through the forest, following your map, then you suddenly froze for a second, started kind of babbling in tongues, and ever since you've been acting very strange indeed."
Kahli tried to process all of that information, but it was indeed quite difficult. She could gleam that apparently in this timeline, a [checkpoint] would've never gotten triggered. But how could she be here, either way? Was this somehow a function of her [skill] wherein she could twist a timeline to the point that it truly didn't match up with any of the other scenarios?
Was this a timeline, or was this more akin to an entirely different universe? A different dimension? How different was this, really, from any other timeline?
Kahli had feared of this before when using her [skill] to twist timeline scenarios. In many ways, this seemed to be a bit of a nightmare come true, and she didn't know how to feel about it.
"Seriously, Kahli, come on. We're almost there," said Sahdi. "Stop staring off into space like you just witnessed the birth of an entire universe and come to Flungunglia with us."
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Kahli entered Flungunglia with Sadhi and G'athoong through a residential neighborhood on the outskirts of town. There were a number of small, peaceful playgrounds available for enjoyment set up, all of them somewhat fungus themed - mainly mushrooms, too - that housed many denziens of Flungunglia. And those denziens left Kahli incredibly confused.
See, what was so confusing was that there were no young children playing on the sets. It was instead groups of the oldest taumans you could possibly see, some of them looked barely able to walk, and yet here they were - swinging from monkey bars, sliding down slides, and asking for ice cream. It was truly a bizarre thing to behold.
But it wasn't that bizarre. To clarify, it wasn't that bizarre compared to the sight of the people watching those old taumans play rambunctiously on the playground. See, there were some children sitting on the benches, watching the older adults playing erratically and chatting with one another about work and hobbies. It seemed to be a complete juxtaposition of normalcy superimposed over the weirdest thing ever, and Kahli felt incredibly uncomfortable being made to behold such a surreal sight.
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"What is going on?" she asked with a shudder. "Everything's all wrong."
"All wrong? What do you mean, Kahli?" asked Sahdi with a confused tone. "Those nice kids are just enjoying an evening out with their grandparents!" She gestured to the older taumans on the playground when she said kids and to the children sitting on the benches when she said grandparents. Something was wrong with this timeline, very wrong indeed, but Kahli didn't want to dwell on it if she didn't absolutely have to.
"You look like you've seen a small child, Kahli," said Sahdi.
"What?" Kahli was confused. "I mean, I did just see small children, but-"
"Sorry, I meant that you look like you've seen something supernatural. Because children always end up looking like older versions of their parents, you know."
Kahli shuddered. Was this just normal, business as usual here? If so, she wanted out of this timeline."
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Kahli eventually happened upon the wreckage of a restaurant. It was surrounded by all sorts of tauman, all of them looking to be the totally wrong age for what they were doing. Indeed, you could even walk past apparent two year olds drinking beer together in Flungunglia during this timeline, something Kahli was certain wouldn't fly if things were back to business as usual. She was hopeful that this timeline would end, as it had so far been a surreal, hellish nightmare that disturbed her to no end.
That disturbingness continued when she sawa a young, lanky youth walk up with a bit of a sense of swagger and a flame ignited up the length of his left arm.
"Omar? What on Nomachiato are you doing?" Kahli asked. "Also, wow, you look so different than I pictured what you'd look like as an older teenager. It's truly wild to see."
"Oh, fuck off, Kahli," said Omar as he spit on the cobblestone.
"Rude," replied Kahli.
"Yea, well, I don't give a flying fuck, don't give a rat's asshole, don't give a bull's shit is what I don't! What are you going to do to me, Kahli? Complain at me? Regardless, you'll be happy to know that I ran into your funny little robot friend.”
Kahli gasped as she saw a tiny, pink alarm clock scoot up and greet her with a high pitched chiming.
"Hello, Kahli, it's nice to see you," said the alarm clock that was Unit 5a23.
"Nice to... see you too, Unit 5a23," said Kahli uncomfortably. Did she even know the people in this timeline like they seemed to know her? It seemed as if she'd ended up in a bit of a permutation of an ideal time wherein everything and everyone had their life cycles somewhat set in reverse. She wondered what the cause of this could've been, and whether she ought to feel guilty about subjecting everyone in the timeline to their own conscious experience. Regardless, she was here now, and oddly enough it didn't seem like the scenario was quite ready to cut off - this was the longest Kahli had spent in a single scenario, that much was certain!
"You know, Kahli, you don't have to stare at me like that," said Unit 5a23. It sounded like, despite his now cheerful appearance, he had quite a chip on his shoulder. "I just finished a huge fight with a consumer! Do you know what a consumer is, Kahli?"
Kahli explained that she did indeed know what consumers were, and that Froufrou and herself had recently fought one while trying to select a timeline. Apparently, she explained, they could actually take [skills] and other powers from people they consumed - almost like a more advanced version of [scalping] [skills.]
"Wow, that makes me pretty glad that I just caught him instead of trying to really fight. Wouldn't want to get added to his list of [skill] trophies," said the cheerful little automaton. "Do you want to see him?"
Kahli and Froufrou exchanged glances and squelches that made them both feel quite anxious at this question. After all, neither of them had really considered the prospect of catching a consumer, except in that they'd seen the part of the facility that F.I.N.G.E.R. used to house tent after tent of consumer. Did Unit 5a23 have a little consumer tent hiding somewhere around these parts? Kahli asked him as such.
"Not a tent," said Unit 5a23. "But don't worry, I'm more than happy to show you how we captured him."
"We?" Kahli asked.
"Oh, me and Omar. He's a great guy, a huge help, too."
Kahli sighed. Even in a massively twisted timeline where everyone’s aging seemed to be totally reverse, Omar was up to his usual crazy shenanigans all the same. It just went to show that even when everything changed, there were things that didn't. How curious.
"Okay, here, check this out!" Unit 5a23 produced a small, leather satchel. "This is so cool, basically what we did is-"
[End scenario]
Kahli groaned as she was back in the void.
"Wow, that was a real scenario two experience in that twisted scenario there at the end," said Kahli with a sigh and a roll of her eyes.
"Yes, that it surely seemed to be," said the Supreme Time Protector. "That being said, I hope this fiasco helps you gleam the difficulties of dealing with Speed Time such as this. That scenario was one I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy, and-"
"Wow, rude," said Kahli with a sigh. "But, regardless of how the timeline went, I think we need to shift gears a little here and go with the third timeline. Untwisted of course. It was the only thing with somewhat of a clear path forward."
"Very well," said the Supreme Time Protector. "Best of luck with that."
Kahli shot the Supreme Time Protector an angry look from the corner of her eye. She didn't appreciate the lack of condifdence, though there wasn't much she could do about it. Plus, Froufrou's squleches had made it abundantly clear that she agreed with Kahli, which helped immensely with her confidence.
"Alright, Froufrou. Here we go!"