Author's Note:

Hey, everyone! I know you're probably ready to read and all that, so if you don't really care to see me speak, skip past the bold text. That being said, all of you can refer to me as UDUX for now. Thank you for jumping aboard the train, it's great to have you here!

Before I say anything, I wanna ask all of you... how are you? How is everything going? Is everything going according to plan, or are you guys suffering a little? Did you get that one job you wanted? How is school during the pandemic? It's strange to ask, I know, but a lot of us need somebody to check on us every now and then so if you guys don't have that in your life, I'd like to be that person for you. I know this is cheesy, but just remember that no matter how hard things get, everything will end perfectly fine.

But that's not the only reason I asked that question. See, those deep feelings and conversations I just attempted to have with you are what this series will cover in such a way that you are not being fed an opinion, but instead are being fed the knowledge required to make those decisions. Parallel Universe is meant to be a deep fictional story about the envoy beyond what we, as humans, know and love. For people who enjoy Dragon Ball, Naruto, Bleach, Hunter X Hunter, RE: Zero and many other deep works that are not only limited to anime, this is a story meant for you.

This series is not only going to be a long-running story (over 300 chapters!), but will soon evolve into a full-blown comic book / manga series in the near future, so I hope you all stay on the train to watch this evolve into something amazing. I personally can't wait, and hopefully a lot of you will be hopeful as well.

You all may see that there is a placeholder cover page for this work, and I deeply apologize for that. See, I'm a traditional artist, so I scan things that I have drawn into my computer when I want them to go online- but my printer recently lost it's ability to scan. I know this is huge and possibly even ballsy to ask, but if I could receive enough money through donations to buy a decent or even really good scanner for artwork, you will see Parallel Universe begin to glow with multiple pictures, gorgeous cover art, and etc. It will make the story more worthwhile to read and also make things more fun.

If this interests you, then the link to my PayPal is paypal.me/Ultimadux. You can also find this link on my profile, and if you have any questions regarding donations or just want to talk, let me know on my page.

Now that all of that is out of the way, I'll leave you guys alone. I hope all of you enjoy this story from beginning to end... whenever that end is, exactly!

-UDUX, the Hero

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Parallel Universe

The Earth can never die.

The things on it may die, but the Earth itself is undying.

Like a pinecone, it grows, then one day it may fall (though this would be figuratively rather than literally.) When it falls it can be broken into pieces, but every part of it can grow into its own tree no matter how inconspicuous it may seem. The more pieces there are, the more pine trees you have– but to get more life you have to break life apart.

That being said, let's say that the Earth did fall apart. Let's say that humans became the downfall of the Earth, after all. In the event that the Earth did fall apart, what would you do?

Would you sit and watch as everything around you falls, then fall with it? Would you let fate decide how your story ends, or would you seize the moment and become the thing that fate never even knew you could be? Make your life worth all the years you've lived so far?

That's your choice. I won't judge you. But me, personally, I'm going all out even if it kills me. My life doesn't end when fate decides it's over, it ends when I'm satisfied with how I went out.

So, without another moment wasted, let's get into the expansive story of a boy (and his crew!) in a dimension far into the future who does exactly that– but before we take you there, you'll have to understand what came first.

In another dimension, the year 22XX had arrived six days ago. 22XX is a future unlike any other you have ever witnessed; technology has definitely advanced, but people here take a much bigger heart towards agriculture due to the growing fear of destroying the Earth! There are cars everywhere, but people carpool to save gas and lower pollution. Farmers grew back into fashion since they were getting paid more to grow crops that the Earth ran low on. People even work up and down the street to keep things clean because no matter how advanced we become we will not be able to solve the issue of littering... and poverty also continues to exist, though there is much more assistance in that field now.

That being said, 22XX is a lot like the current world we live in now. But there was a reason this year was significant in this world's history.

A new unit of technology, codenamed UNIVERSE, had just been created. Granted, it was a piece of technology that was able to bring your deepest imaginations and fantasies to life just by thinking about them. The bonus was, it was in the form of a small motherboard... basically, it was pocket sized.

The scientist who made UNIVERSE, Torin Ayoma, held up the invention he created and laughed aloud. "They said I wouldn't make it..." he cried, nearly in tears for his creation, "They said I shouldn't make it! But here it is...!!" He placed the device on his hip, and it began to rapidly flash green. "Okay..." he began, getting ready to perform a feat of various proportions. He took a large breath and soothed his mind before finally thinking of the thing he wanted to make. '...Fire!!'

Fire began to spew from his furthermost fingertip, then quickly dissipated into smoke when he was satisfied. "Simply enthralling." he complimented, looking at his hand to see if the fire had burned him. It did not, but he was sure he felt the sensation of fire grinding at his hand. "Hmm," he moaned.

He began to think more about the possibilities, then eventually encountered a lightbulb moment. "Say... if I can create fire... does that mean I can summon..." He hesitated, but placed his hands down towards the ground and yelled for a new creation. 'Flood...!!'

Water rapidly began to shoot from his hands by the gallons. He became afraid of the ordeal and began to panic. 'Okay!' he thought loudly, 'That's enough!!'

The water stopped flowing, but it was too late to save the floor from the extreme drenching it had just taken. His room had around an inch of water laying on his floor. "Okay..." he groaned, realizing that his creation was a bit too great, "If I want this to be mass-producible... I'm going to have to nerf this thing...!!"

He cloned his device and placed the clone in the drawer underneath his desk. "...Alright. Let's get to work." he said, taking a screwdriver and beginning to unscrew the back from UNIVERSE.

Fast forward to around twenty years later, in the middle of spring. This same technology was being used for construction, entertainment, recreation, fine dining– if you can name it, you can most likely do it with this special technology– but there was one catch: everything you create must be created at its most basic form first. That being said, a construction worker can not create a building, but can create the blocks to create that building. A person can not create an explosion without first building up enough kinetic force to induce said explosion. That was the work of Torin Ayoma.

Torin made the media quickly by using this technology to showcase how the Earth could improve with just the power of the human mind, and eventually found himself to be a billionaire with an undeniable monopoly. He soon created the Universe Corps, a company that uses UNIVERSE to perform tasks for the community and its property, and became its head, with the promise of those who work for him being able to witness the power of UNIVERSE firsthand. Those very few people got their hands on UNIVERSE and found that production of the special technology was incredibly limited and encouraged him to eventually allow a closed test of it at the least.

After a while, Torin gave in to this idea and allowed the first public test of UNIVERSE to the citizens of the Earth... but sadly, good things never come without a price.

The years to come, the technology found itself to be used for evil and selfishness. Torin frantically continued to create more and more renditions of the hardware to keep people in line as the world began to burn, but people continued to use the technology incorrectly. The world that once revered him began to curse his existence and blame him for everything that began to shatter. He then vanished out of existence, and his presence was never heard from again.

On the other hand (and on a much lighter note), parts of the world continued to see the peace that others failed to maintain. One such town existed in the southern-most part of the United States that isnow named Fara. Our story begins with a twelve year old boy in Fara who has ambition and strength, but no drive or motivation. I know he may sound a lot like any person in this day and age, but that's not the point– at twelve years old you would think there's a lot to uncover, but the world to him seemed rather small. Bu'Ki, the little boy in question, was about to begin his journey to become something greater than he could have ever anticipated.*

*Bu'Ki is pronounced BOO-KAI. This dimension has a unique language that is socially and culturally interpolated into the world, so names reflect this societal standard regardless of one's culture, race or origins. Some people still have conventional names, with an emphasis on some.

Bu'Ki's story starts off with quite the cozy slumber; he wasn't a heavy sleeper but he could definitely sleep without a care in the world about what was going on. The sun hadn't fully risen (partially due to the fact that it was only seven), but even so, the birds were abnormally obnoxious this morning as if the world was projecting a bad omen.

Suddenly, clashing and clanging noises could be heard from down the stairs. This woke Bu'Ki up from his deep sleep. "...what in the...?" he murmured, rising up. He tapped himself to see if he was dreaming, though when he felt the sensation he quickly realized he was awake. He searched for his phone in the covers to figure out what time it was.

7:04 A.M.

"Mm," Bu'Ki mumbled in annoyance as he tossed his phone to the side. He pushed himself from his bed and swung his hand around the air in hopes that he would feel a brass line that he could pull down and turn on his light. He eventually tugged on it, and the light came on to reveal a slightly cluttered room. He looked at the piles of clothing on the carpet and shook his head. "Ma'!?" he shouted, assuming that the figure making the noise was a human being, if anything.

There was no answer. Bu'Ki tilted his head. Maybe it was because they didn't hear him.

With all the energy he could muster, he began to walk out of his door and sluggishly walk down the stairs. The clamoring continued, and as Bu'Ki got closer to the bottom of the stairs the noise increased in volume. 'What is going on?' he thought to himself.

He reached the bottom of the stairs and took a look in the kitchen. A brown-skinned figure was cooking something on the stove-top. "...Ma'?" Bu'Ki called out once more.

The brown-skinned woman, dressed in a lavender robe and a white headscarf, turned to Bu'Ki's direction. "Oh...!!" she exclaimed, jumping backward as she hadn't expected Bu'Ki, "Bu'Ki, you scared me! I was just cookin' breakfast for the house this mornin', I apologize if I woke you up." Bu'Ki squinted at her. 'I scared you?' he complained in his head, 'You're the one who made noise at seven in the morning... you must have no perception of time.'

He walked into the kitchen and looked over his mom's shoulder. On the counter there was a bright rainbow colored fan, and laying next to it on the stove was a pan of rice and two yellow patties in another pan that was filled with oil. "Ooooh, Omelettes?*" Bu'Ki asked.

**In Parallel Universe, Omelettes are a food item akin to a beef patty, but the patty is made of an egg substitute and is filled with various foods and sauces, e.g. broccoli and chicken inside of a broth.

Bu'Ki's mom nodded. "You like Hukateki Omelettes, right?" "Ah, nah," he responded sarcastically, "I said 'Ooooh, Omelettes?' cus' I want you to throw them away." Bu'Ki's mom rolled her eyes. "Oh, hush." she joked.

Suddenly the backdoor flung open, scaring Bu'Ki out of his mind. "Well, well." A large, muscular brown-skinned man shouted as he walked in, "You're finally up at a decent time."

Bu'Ki realized it was his dad and relaxed into a shrug. "Eh. Decided sleep was for the weak today." His dad laughed and walked up behind Bu'Ki's mom, then hugged her from behind. "Good morning, my little scrumptious, dear honey sugar plum." he joked. Bu'Ki and his mom both cringed at the sudden remark. "...Now Heshiram," the mom replied, "You know that's disgusting..." Heshiram laughed loudly. "Now, Kachinada– since we're calling each other by our full names now– you know I love you." Kachinada laughed with Heshiram happily, ultimately making Bu'Ki feel like an outcast. 'Yeah... no.' he thought, 'I don't think I could ever get that lovey with somebody... that's just disgusting.'

Pronounced Kah-CHEE-Nah-DAH and Heh-She-RAHM.

A few minutes later, the food had finished and the plates were handed out. The meal for the day was Hukateki Omelettes with rice and Millennium Meat.*** Bu'Ki put his hands together and blessed his food, then immediately grabbed his fork and began destroying his plate of food in front of his parents. Heshiram and Kachinada watched him gorge his food down for a few seconds in awe. "What?" Bu'Ki said when he swallowed his food, "I'm tellin' you, one of these days this speedeating is gonna be worth it. Mark my words."

His parents then looked at eachother, laughed, and joined in to feast for themselves.

*** Millennium Meat is a popular brand of a meat substitute for vegetarians and pescatarians, but it uses animal products such as eggs and milk and resultantly is not a viable vegan supplement.

A light bulb went off in Kachinada's head. "Oh," she started, "Did you know your birthday is in, like, six days? What are you planning for your thirteenth birthday?" Bu'Ki shrugged. "Eh, I'on know. It's the beginning of November, it's too cold to do anything outside." Heshiram beat his chest to swallow his food faster. "That doesn't mean anything... I was just runnin' around in the cold! With no jacket! I mean, It's pretty fun if you don't let it get to you... what's it, like, forty outside?"

Bu'Ki glared at him. "Oh please, you're a different breed." Kachinada laughed in agreement and held up her fan to her face. "More than a different breed, honey. You're a whole new species." Heshiram nodded. "Hah, yeah. In some ways, literally." he said, winking at Kachinada not-so-subtly. Bu'Ki thought in the worst possible way and cringed. "Aw..." he whined, "That's not... wow..."

"N-no!" Kachinada cut in, full of embarrassment, "Bu'Ki, he meant something that has to do with work!!! Oh my gosh, who taught you to think like that!?" Bu'Ki glared at her in hopes that she would catch the hint. "So anyway," he shouted abruptly with the intent of moving on, "I'm almost done with my food. You guys should eat faster instead of flirting all the time and letting your food get cold." Heshiram shook his head and huffed. "Keep talking," he responded, "And I'll eat the food and the plate. Then your next meal."

"Mmm, pweese won't!" Kachinada shouted with a face full of food.

Bu'Ki placed his fork down. "Are you guys going to work today?" he asked. Kachinada and Heshiram eyed him confusedly. "Well, yeah," Heshiram pondered, "But that'll be later tonight... What's up?"

Bu'Ki pointed a finger at himself. "I know I've sounded, like, mega annoying today... but you guys said you would take me one of these times to see y'all work, and I never got to." Kachinada nodded, but retreated into her own head when she was about to reply. After a short while of silence, Heshiram filled in for her. "Well, I'll tell you what." he began while standing up to flash his UNIVERSE grid at Bu'Ki, shown to be anchored to his right hip, "I guess we can take you tonight, then."

Kachinada stressed as much as a mother could when she heard those words. "Heshiram." she called out, saying nothing more. Heshiram looked at her and shook his head. "Come on, now. We said we'd show him on his birthday, but you know we don't know how that's gonna..." He stopped the sentence there. Kachinada glared at him for a few seconds, but then pondered about the idea for a while more and eventually came to. She nodded very slowly. "...Sure. But if we take him..."

Heshiram beat his chest once more. "Girl, stop that. He's got our blood!! If anything happens, he'll be fine! It's not like he's hanging with Copernicus... or your little girlfriend or whatever." Kachinada rolled her eyes and smiled. "Priya," she said jokingly, "Is a wonderful girl who deserves to be called so much more than my 'little girlfriend', and you know that!!!" Heshiram laughed loudly as a response like he had been all morning.

Bu'Ki attempted to cut into the conversation. "I mean, I think Copernicus is pretty cool, but Ms. Cyprilla... ehhh... she's cool, but she's weird."*** "Exactly!!" Heshiram yelled to Kachinada, "I told you that my friend is better than yours!!"

***Pronounced 'See-Pree-UH'.

Kachinada rolled her eyes once more. "Oh, he'll understand her more when he's older! Trust me!" Bu'Ki cut in again. "Oh yeah," he began to ask, "What is... that?"

His finger aimed directly at his mom's UNIVERSE grid, anchored on her left torso. "Oh... well..." she stammered, creating a lie on the spot, "This, here, is my... uh... my special ID. It's for when I sign in to Universe Corps. It has all my information on it and a little more–" "A lot more." Heshiram blatantly interrupted, "I'll admit, we haven't really been one-hundred percent with you... you know?" Kachinada covered her mouth as she watched Heshiram take the initiative to do the one thing she couldn't. Bu'Ki sat still, feeling as if he was stuck in the middle of a bigger, very much invisible conflict.

Heshiram breathed in, then puffed everything back out. "...You'll figure out the rest tonight when we go. I'm serious about you coming with us this time, man... if you're asleep, I'm waking you up and dragging you with us. By your hair. Don't think I'm joking now, I'll actually do it– you got me this worked up so now I'm not gonna let you bail. Better yet, go get some more sleep... I doubt you got more than, what, like, an hour?"

Bu'Ki, in the midst of getting chewed out by his dad, realized what was happening and became extremely hyped. "Actually, four hours," he rebutted, "But that means nothing cus' it's not really a good thing. What time do you want me to set my alarm?" Kachinada, still worried, began to feel a little more hopeful about the situation and smiled at Bu'Ki. "...Ten," she said, "As in, we're leaving at ten. At night. We wanna be back before it gets too late."

Bu'Ki swiped his phone from his pocket and quickly flooded the alarms into his phone. "Alright, I've got 9:10, 9:15, 9:20, 9:25–" "That's great!" Heshiram interrupted with a joke, "But alarms don't wake you up anyway, so I don't see why you're setting them!"

Bu'Ki began to move to the staircase. 'Well, the alarms aren't gonna work if I hit snooze on them.' he thought as he ran into his room, closed his door, turned off his light and shot into his bed. He checked his phone again to see what time it was.

8:06 A.M.

"Huh," he moaned, "It really took, like, an hour to eat..." He turned off his phone and flipped it over as he pulled up his blanket and attempted to go to sleep. 'I swear,' he thought once more, 'If it turns out that they've been doing somethin' cool my entire life, I might just cry.'

After about ten seconds of lying down, he found out that he was restless. He tossed left and right periodically. Eventually he rolled his body upward and placed his pillow over his face. "...ten o' clock, P.M..." he pondered aloud, "It's eight-ish... so that's about twel– fourteen hours. That's a lotta time..."

He began to think of ways he would keep himself in bed until then. Suddenly, he got an idea. He leaned over out of his bed and pulled his notebook from his dresser. 'Okay,' he began to think, opening the notebook to a new page, 'Let's brainstorm.'

He titled the page 'Superpowers I Want' and began to list things relevant to this topic. The first thing he wrote down was Invincibility. 'If I had superpowers, then I'd want invincibility, because what's the point of being super strong if you can just get hurt?' The next thing he listed was Flight. 'If I could fly... then I'll be able to move anywhere I want. Sure, there's a lot of land, but there's a lot more air...'

He continued to do this until he started to fall asleep and his page was full with super abilities and their explanations. He managed to close his notebook and push it off his bed and onto the floor before he drifted to sleep.

Later that day, Bu'Ki's parents, Heshiram and Kachinada, drank their evening coffee. Each cup steamed hot with a dark brown, strong smelling brew. "Hoo, yeah," Heshiram whistled, "Just the way I like it. Strong and thick, baby." Kachinada cringed. "Ugh, you're so... mm'. If our son turns out to like weird food combinations and pure coffee, I know who to be mad at." She began to pour cream

and sugar into her cup, thinking about something that had trickled her mind earlier. "Say, honey," she began, "How much of our job did you wanna show him?" Heshiram raised his eyebrows. "Ah," he replied, "Just enough to make him think we're not some lazy office workers."

Kachinada's mouth dropped open. "Oh my gosh! Office people are not lazy! You say so many offensive things like that..." Heshiram shrugged. "Eh. I'm in my own house, I should be able to say what I w–"

The wall of the kitchen behind Heshiram suddenly collapsed into rubble. A strange, gaseous smell burned through the room. "...What the?" Heshiram questioned, "Kachinada, what time i–"

"6:28," she responded quickly, "Seems this one is a bit early...!!"

Heshiram stood up and slid his finger across his UNIVERSE grid. "Well regardless, whatever's out there just leveled my kitchen– now I'm gonna level it's ass, and that's before taxes!" He ran outside through the hole in the house without thinking. "Heshiram, what are you doing!?" Kachinada yelled, running after him, "We can't–!!"

She froze when she saw the threat towering several stories above them. It seemed to be a giant replica of a toy robot. "Holy hell." she whispered to herself. The machine suddenly winded it's arm backward as if it was preparing to sweep the roof of the house away.

"Hey, you!!" Heshiram yelled loudly as he ran around the figure, "I don't know who's in there, but if you don't jump out then I'll make this entire machine jump!!" Kachinada gasped. "No! Honey! You can't...!!"

The robot's arm flew forward, slamming into the top of the house and completely removing it's upper quarter. People in other parts of the neighborhood began to turn on their lights and check out the conundrum for themselves. Heshiram's eyes widened when he realized Bu'Ki was upstairs. "Kachinada!!" he yelled, filled with worry, "We're doing this for Universe Corps!! This is literally our job!!!"

"I know that's our job, but we're too strong!!" she yelled back. Heshiram dropped his arms when he realized that the situation had become dire, but quickly pulled himself together and flashed his UNIVERSE grid. "Gacchīn." he called.

Upon chanting, the sky became a bright yellow shade, contrasting from the darker shade of orange it had been before. Strange white flakes slowly drifted down from the clouds above. "Yeah... so what?" Heshiram continued suddenly, "If we watch our strength, we won't kill him. Well, her. I'm assuming the robot is a girl... even though I shouldn't..." Kachinada raised an eyebrow. "...You know that can be interpreted as transphobic, right?"

"Hopefully not," Heshiram replied grimly, "I love all people. It'd be really unfortunate for someone to hate me over a misunderstanding..." The robot listened to the two banter on about the subject for a couple of seconds, but it soon became uninterested and blasted at their house from a different angle. Kachinada gasped. "Oh no!! I forgot... let's take care of this so that it won't be a problem! Who's taking it on?" Heshiram pointed at her. "If I do anything, I'm pretty sure he's de– uh, she's dead."

Kachinada rolled her eyes. Her hands migrated to her UNIVERSE grid and with her pointer finger, she pressed a button in the center. An LED light on the grid began to flash blue. "Jūgen." she called.

A large plasmatic suit of armor suddenly spawned on her and encased her small body, giving her the appearance of a person who was much larger. The shoulder plates bore long, colorful feathers akin to that of a cockatoo, and the breastplate flashed in colors of the rainbow. The rest of the armor radiated an aura that shifted between a shade of fuschia and navy blue. Without a second wasted, the robot became enticed in her get-up.

"Well, Heshiram," Kachinada yelled, "Give me about... one hit?" Heshiram grinned, but as he began to nod the robot began to charge a shot from it's chest cannon. Kachinada quickly aimed her fingers at the area and shot out what seemed to be air, disintegrating the blast and causing the robot to fall backwards.

"Uh," Kachinada remembered as the robot crashed onto its behind, "...two hits. Take it or leave it." Heshiram laughed loudly, making it clear that his laugh was, indeed, his signature.

Bu'Ki heard his dad laughing and began to wake up. Though he was half asleep, he pulled himself above his sheets and looked around. "Dad?" he called out. His parents heard him and ceased moving. "Oh, crud..." Kachinada whined, worried about the situation. The robot looked up at the house curiously. Heshiram heard his son and walked towards the house. "Bu'Ki!?" he called out, "You're finally up!? You were asleep for ten hours, boy!!"

Bu'Ki rolled out of his bed and stood up. He wasn't fully awake, so the world around him appeared incomplete. "Damn... did I sleep into tomorrow morning?" he whispered, looking around. He started to see more as blood rushed to his head. Suddenly, his eyes widened. "...Whoa." he exclaimed as he realized what was going on– though ironically, he couldn't really put a finger on what 'going on' was. He saw that his room was missing it's upper half and ran to check what was occuring on the outside, seeing his dad and a woman in a beautiful set of armor stand in front of a giant action figure.

"It's not a problem, Kachinada!" Heshiram called to her, "This is what we wanted him to see! Now keep going crazy! Finish the job!"

Bu'Ki gasped. "Ma!?" he yelled, "That's you!?"

Kachinada sighed. For a brief second, she felt exposed; she never thought the day would come where her child would be able to see her wearing a suit of armor. This feeling within her caused something bizarre to occur... the compassion she felt in the moment manifested itself into energy, which created a heart in front of her chest. She looked at the heart and smiled. "Oh, wow," she commended, "He's gonna see everything today, then." Heshiram grinned as her right arm reached backwards into her chest. The heart, like a portal, allowed her hand to bypass through, and when she pulled her hand out she seemed to bring a shiny steel rod with it. The rod had a fancy blade with multiple engravings, similar to an axe, and a large pointed head on its end. In other words, she had essentially pulled a halberd from a heart-shaped portal on her chest.

Bu'Ki watched in awe. 'No way,' he thought, 'It'd like... almost what I thought it was! My parents are seriously superheroes! But... it's a little different.'

He took another glance at his mom, then looked at the robot. 'This isn't the typical superhero stuff I'm used to... it's more like knights and dragons...'

Kachinada felt the rush within her. "Hmm," she moaned, pondering once more. She aimed the halberd at the machine. "Let's see what we're dealin' with." A quick, yellow beam shot from the tip and bashed the bot on the head, pushing it to the side briefly, then bounced off and into the opposite direction. It continued to bounce from every surface in the area it could find. "Ah. Perfect," Kachinada stated, "You're the only one here. That means I'on have to worry about nothin'."

Bu'Ki's mouth dropped. 'Holy crap...' he thought, 'Is that supposed to be some type of echolocation?'

The giant began to stand up and charge another beam, but didn't aim at the ground this time. It was preparing to send another blast at the house. Kachinada panicked, but quickly got an idea and ran to the side. "Heshiram!!" she screamed, dashing in his direction. Heshiram caught on to the plan and grabbed her when she got to him. With a great lean backward, he tossed her into the air high over the house and into Bu'Ki's room, where she landed on her feet and turned toward the figure. Her UNIVERSE grid's LED became blood red, and her halberd began to flash in a pattern. The air around them became thick and hot.

"Bu'Ki, listen to me!" she yelled, "Remember this name: Universalists!!! That's what we are!!" Heshiram raised his eyebrows, surprised that Kachinada was finally embracing her job. Bu'Ki raised an eyebrow as well. "Universalists?" he asked. From the end of the halberd, a strange wave that seemed as if it bent time and space shot into the head of the robot and dented it heavily, but did not pierce through. The robot promptly fell over, and the beam that charged within it disappeared. Dirt clouds from the landing covered the scene.

After a while of staring at the fallen figure, Kachinada continued her speech. "People who work in the human-relations department of the Universe Corps are called Universalists. It's our job... not exactly to protect, but to restore order where we can. We also make sure that people don't come into contact with the supernatural or extraterrestrial. That being said, we're a lil' higher than the government."

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Bu'Ki gasped. "So, y'all are, like, superheroes!?" he replied blindly.

"Nope." Heshiram yelled, "Not superheroes."

He walked through Bu'Ki's door as if nothing had been destroyed. "We're kinda like knights." he reassured, "Knights in shining armor." Bu'Ki became hyper. "So, dad, you can do that too!?"

Heshiram shook his head. "Eh. Something like that. I can't do what she does with the armor... and the little 'stick knife' thing... but I guarantee you, I am so much cooler than your mom!!" Kachinada's mouth dropped. "First of all, it's a halberd, you..." she stopped herself, realizing she was going to say something mean. "Oh, whatever!! You're jealous!! This is my spotlight, so go sit somewhere..."

Her sentence ended abruptly when she looked at the fallen robot from two stories up. "...But yeah, Bu'Ki," she randomly picked back up, "Some of us Universalists don't really fight. Better yet, a lot of us do construction, or fix landscapes, make cars and vehicles... so people think we can be kinda boring. I think we're pretty neat even when we aren't fighting." Bu'Ki couldn't believe his ears; he thought that anyone with the ability to do anything close to what his mom had displayed was incredible, and that feeling bubbled inside of him. "They just don't understand it like we do," he responded meagerly, "It's easy to say something's trash when you never pay attention to it."

"Well said." Heshiram nodded, pointing at the rubble outside, "That, out there, was... well, hopefully, is another human being, you know." Kachinada's suit of armor vanished into the air around them, releasing a sharp electronic sound. The family felt the deeper tone that Heshiram was taking and leveled themselves with it. "So you guys kill people?" Bu'Ki asked.

"No!!!" Both of his parents yelled simultaneously, rapidly shaking their heads. Kachinada then looked to the side as if she was thinking about something and grimaced. "Well, we're not supposed to." she eventually finished, "We're supposed to be the good guys... but a lot of us are really sketchy."

Bu'Ki realized what she was saying and nodded. "I get it, honestly. If I had that much power and I wanted to do something bad, I would do it without even thinking." Heshiram grinned and patted his son on the shoulder. "Exactly," he replied.

A loud siren blared over the area, making Bu'Ki and his parents jump out of fear. "Wait, what?" Heshiram questioned, "What's–!!"

He cut himself off when he realized what probably happened. "Kachinada!" he called out, "Did you...!?" He didn't finish the sentence, but Kachinada knew what he was implying. "No! He's– she's still alive!! If she died, that entire robot would've disappeared!" Heshiram placed his finger over his mouth to think. "True... then why are they here...?" Bu'Ki squinted at his dad. "Who?" he asked, stressed out from the situation. Flashing orange lights filled the vicinity, and the siren became louder. "We should see what's going on, y'all." Kachinada commanded, coddling Bu'Ki in her arms.

The three moved down the stairs and eventually to the door. Heshiram took the lead, slowly reaching for the doorknob while his hand hovered over his UNIVERSE grid. Then, right as his hand touched the doorknob, something knocked from the other side.

"U.P." a male voice yelled from behind the door.

Kachinada raised her eyebrows. "U.P.?" she asked, "For what?" Heshiram groaned. 'Damn, I should've known,' he thought to himself, 'Those are the only people who could walk into a Gacchīn like that.'

He twisted the doorknob, realized the door was locked, then turned the lock and opened the door. A man in a bubbly black vest and a professional black suit was seen on the other side. "Good afternoon, sir. Ma'am. Child." he said once he got a glimpse of the family.

The three of them stared at the officer. Bu'Ki raised an eyebrow. "...'U.P.'?" he questioned. The officer nodded. "Universalist Patrol," he replied, visibly unhappy, "...So I assume that the kid is not one of us?" Heshiram shook his head. "No, but he plans to be one of us, soon. His birthday's i–"

"Sorry to be rude, but that is none of my concern." the officer interrupted. Heshiram raised his eyebrows. "Oh," he responded, "For you to come here and be rude like that, there must be a problem." The man reached into his back pocket and pulled out a large golden ring with a translucent orange piece. The translucent part set alight, and out of it came a plasma beam that shot into Kachinada's UNIVERSE grid, turning it off. The beam then wrapped around her and slowly began to drag her to the officer. "Kachinada Kinse, you are being taken into custody for two major offenses that were put in place on August seventeenth: exposing Universalist technology to a non-Universalist unit, and pursuing havoc on a Universalist of a much lower rank!"

Heshiram's mouth dropped. "What!? Yo!!" he yelled, "When were either of those offenses!? Why were none of us notified about that!? And we didn't kill anything, regardless!" The officer grimaced at Heshiram. "August seventeenth." he repeated, "The executive order was given out for those two new rules, whether you heard them or not." Kachinada looked at the band wrapped around her and gasped. "But that was two days ago!!" she yelled, "Me and my husb– my husband and I were on an expedition until yesterday! We had no idea that th–"

"Don't make this harder than it has to be." the officer interrupted once more, "Don't resist, and it'll be over soon." Bu'Ki didn't know what to do. Without thinking, he grabbed his mother and attempted to pull her back. "Bu'Ki, don't do that!!" Heshiram warned, "Please, officer, hear us out. We had no way of knowing!" Bu'Ki listened to his father, but quickly realized he couldn't let go. The adrenaline was forcing him into a fight or flight response, and his body desperately wanted to fight. "If I let go," he asked, "What's gonna happen to mom...!?"

Heshiram's heart dropped. He took a glimpse at the officer, who was being overly aggressive. The officer sent a signal to him. 'Don't you dare tell him what happens to us.' he threatened through telepathy. Heshiram looked between his wife and his son, then took one final glance at the officer. Without hesitation, he became angry and growled like a dog before turning to Bu'Ki and telling him the truth. "She's gonna be put in something much worse than prison." he followed through, "Encapsulation. Your body is put into a giant crystal and frozen for years, but you're still awake! You can see everything and feel everything, but you can never die or age!!"

Bu'Ki and the officer couldn't believe their ears and both found themselves frozen in their emotions. "You stupid...!!" the officer roared at Heshiram with extreme anger, "You just gave yourself a sentence, you idiot!!!"

"Not like it matters!!!" Heshiram yelled back, "If I have to tell the truth when nobody else will, then so be it!! I'm tired of corrupt Universalists doing the wrong thing!!!" The officer, in his adrenaline, pulled out a special device and shot it at Heshiram. "Alright, that's enough from you!!" he screamed. The shot acted like a taser, electrocuting Heshiram, but he didn't fall. "I won't let you silence me!!" he yelled through the pain, "People deserve to know what the hell you guys are doing!!!"

Bu'Ki tugged on his mom much harder. "No!!!" he yelled, "Everybody calm down! We can find a way to fix this!!! It's not that seri–"

The officer redirected his aggression towards Bu'Ki. "And you...!!" he yelled, dropping the device he used to shoot Heshiram and pulling out a smaller, chip-like piece of technology, "You're going to learn to listen to your superiors if it's the last thing I do!!!"

Bu'Ki gasped and quickly let go of his mom, raising his hands in the air in submission. Heshiram's eyes widened as a bright green series of flashes began to spark from the chip. "Wait... no!!!" Heshiram yelled, "Please!! Don't you see he has his hands up!? STOP!!!"

Kachinada stared at her son as he was about to be put to sleep. 'Bu'Ki!!' she sent to Bu'Ki telepathically, 'Remember what I told you earlier!!! Regardless of how it looks, there are good ones of us out there!! I promise you, we'll–'

Bu'Ki couldn't hear her speaking through his mind anymore. A green light shot straight at Bu'Ki's head, rendering him unconscious on impact. His parents watched as his body dropped to the ground lifelessly. A loud ringing sound was heard as nearly everything blurred out... except for his father's screaming voice.

"Become a Universalist!!!" Heshiram yelled to him, "Become a Universalist, and we will see you before you know it, Bu'Ki!!! I better see you get there in the future!!!"

Bu'Ki, laying on the ground as his parents both got abducted, realized that his eyes were beginning to close. No matter how hard he tried to stay awake, he was inevitably falling asleep.

'...Universalist...' he thought, seconds before his eyes closed,

'I'll...

see you there...'

Everything faded into darkness, and all of the noise ceased.

.....

....

...

"Wake up." A voice in his head called.

The next day came, but the sun didn't rise on time. The air outside continued to blow and the sky stayed as dark as the night... for a second.

The reality was that all the light in the sky flickered on and off continuously like a lamp being played with by a child. Nearly every sound of the morning had ceased to exist at that moment: the birds didn't chirp, not a single dog barked, and the crickets and cicadas continued to screech as if everything had just turned into evening.

Bu'Ki tossed and turned until he couldn't anymore, then eventually rose from his sheets and looked around his room. Seeing it was still dark, he rolled his eyes and returned back to his pillow. He closed his eyes for a few seconds until a random car horn blared from outside. Hearing it, he became confused and quickly checked his window. His window blinds were left open from last night.

'Ah man. I forgot to close my blinds last night.' Bu'Ki thought to himself. He returned to his bed and began to search for his phone, but the darkness succumbing his room rendered him unable to see anything. '...What time is it...?' Bu'Ki thought to himself, looking around for his phone. Suddenly his room came to life when light from the outside attacked his window. 'Holy... what the–'

He stopped thinking and remembered to seize the moment to search for his phone. It took him a second to look for it since it was hidden between his sheets but he soon got a hold of it and checked the time.

11:01 AM.

'...Whoa.' he continued to think to himself, 'But wasn't it just dar–'

The lights went back out. 'There it is again.' He began to move where his muscle memory could remember his light switch was, and when he felt a brass line he clasped it and tugged downward. The light in his room came on with a click shortly after, revealing a slightly cluttered room. He looked out of the window to see what was going on.

In the sky, two glowing objects that seemed to be stars flew around the night sky and collided with one another, creating a large flash of light that nearly blinded Bu'Ki. '...Huh... cool.' he thought blankly.

Bu'Ki quickly moved towards his room door and opened it. The rest of the house was dark and vacant. "Ma'?" he called out. There was no answer, and he began to worry. "Dad?" he called out with hope. The silence continued. Bu'Ki raised his eyebrow. "Huh," he claimed, walking down stairs, "I guess they're still at work."

Bu'Ki walked into his kitchen and began to search for something to eat. He grabbed a footstool and jumped on it to look into the cabinets, but wasn't really feeling any canned food so he jumped from the stool and checked the pantry instead... but he wasn't really feeling cereal either, so he opened the refrigerator as a last resort. In there he found a plastic container filled with food that had been labeled "For Bu'Ki". 'Huh.' Bu'Ki thought, 'I forgot Mom made dinner last night... wait, did she?'

He stopped to think about the events of yesterday. 'Or... did she make breakfast?' he asked himself, opening the container. He immediately felt happiness. 'She made Hukateki Omelettes last night?! And I slept through it!?'**

**Large patties in this world that are filled with love... and various vegetable sauces, meat, cheese and broccoli, then dipped in egg wash and deep fried for a refined taste.

Bu'Ki, swaying left and right, quickly placed the Omelette in the microwave and started the timer. He smiled as he tapped his foot and waited for the minute to pass. 'Oh yeah,' he noted as he remembered his purpose for coming down stairs, 'Let's find out what's going on.'

He found the TV remote on the counter and turned on the television from the kitchen, only to be greeted by a black screen saying 'NO SIGNAL'. 'No signal...?' he asked himself, cycling through the channels. None of the channels on the TV came on. 'Are the satellites all out?'

Bu'Ki then got up and hustled to the living room where he could see through the window. Crowds of people in the neighborhood were positioned outside, watching the sky in groups as the two stars clashed far above them. 'Hmm.' he moaned, deciding to walk out the front door and watch the phenomenon himself.

At that moment, the microwave dinged. 'My food...' he whined. He was hungry, but ignored the feeling and continued to twist the door knob. 'Ehh. It'll be there when I get back.' He pulled the knob inward, opening the door.

Immediately he was greeted by a random burst of light that came from the sky. 'Wow, for real? You couldn't wait til' I stepped out of the door, you had to hit me the second I opened it.'

He took a few steps from his front door while it was still bright and immediately noticed a few odd things: the clouds had all scattered away from the sky, the light seemed to be less potent and the stars were still visible despite there being a large presence of light. '...What?' he asked himself.

He began to walk to the side of his house where he had previously seen people sitting around and gazing at the phenomenon. They were still there, absorbing their surroundings like children in a museum. Even the mail carrier had walked out of her truck and started looking at the incident. The mail carrier...

A light bulb went off in Bu'Ki's head. "Excuse me," he called out to the mail carrier, "Can I talk to you for a second?" The mail carrier turned around, exposing her relatively young age. She seemed to be around the same age as Bu'Ki, and they were both around the same height. Bu'Ki became confused. "...Uh...?" he began.

The mail carrier looked at him for a second then suddenly jumped, realizing that she was not supposed to expose herself. "Oh no... you got me..." she whined, calming down from the huge fright she just had, "...I'm not supposed to be out here, but what's up...?" Bu'Ki blinked twice. "I'll ask in a second, but first, how old are you?" he asked. She placed her hand over her chest. "I'm eighteen!" she responded, "Look, I have my ID and everything–!!"

She pulled her ID from her pocket, which showed that she was, in fact, eighteen. Bu'Ki remained skeptical. "You must've forged it..." he replied.

"Oh, come on!" she yelled back, "I go through this every time someone sees me! A person can be eighteen and look younger than that!" Bu'Ki shook his head in dismissal of her words. "Yeah, but not this young. Come on, tell the truth." The mail carrier shoved her palm into her face and sighed. "Well, the truth isn't what you think it is," she eventually responded, "But if you would like to know... then jump into this truck with me right quick."

Bu'Ki's eyebrow raised and his eyes widened. "Ehhh, I'on know about that one..." he said with haste, "My parents taught me better than that, n' that's kinda sus..." The mail carrier pointed at herself and shook her hands. "Seriously? You're taller than I am! What am I gonna do, tie you up and take you to some unknown–" "Well, to be fair, we're both short," Bu'Ki cut in, "I'm like... 3'8"... you're probably like 3'6'' or 3'7", it's all possible." The mail carrier shook her head and lowered her tone. "Well I'm literally a mail deliverer," she stated, "If I abduct you, then I lose my job. I need this job, so I won't abduct you. Is that good enough?"

Bu'Ki thought about it for a minute until the bright light went away and the sky went back to darkness. The mail carrier's jacket glowed a florescent green, which caught Bu'Ki's attention. 'Wait...' Bu'Ki thought, 'Do all of the mailman jackets do that? That's cool...' He then checked her from top to bottom, looking for anything abnormal.

Eureka.

The mail carrier had a UNIVERSE grid on her left leg. 'Wait...' Bu'Ki thought, 'My mom and my dad have one of those...'

The girl glared at him, misinterpreting him to be a pervert. "Yeah, and you said I was sus..." she complained, shifting backwards slightly. Bu'Ki ignored the remark, and after a few seconds, finally responded. "Sorry, I was looking to see whether or not you were an alien. Yeah. I'll take it."

The mail carrier's mouth dropped as if she felt disgraced, but after a second she chose to ignore him entirely, grab him by the arm and walk him into the truck. When they walked through the doors, she turned to him with a serious face. "Okay," she said suddenly, "First, before anything happens, close your eyes."

Bu'Ki, without question, closed his eyes and hoped for the best. The mail carrier pushed her hand into her pocket and pulled out a strange little chip, which she clicked, held in her palm and aimed at Bu'Ki's head. A green light erratically flashed from it.

Bu'Ki could see the light flashing at him through his eyelids. "...Wait... deja vu...?" he questioned aloud, slightly opening his eyes to see what was going on, but before he could grasp the situation he was already too late. A green beam flashed into his face and knocked him into a deep sleep.

The mail carrier smiled as Bu'Ki began to fall forward and caught him when his body reached hers. "My name is Juju, by the way."

She then took a look back, breathed in and walked backwards into the back of the mail truck. When she passed the gate separating the front seats from the back, a sudden white flash swallowed her and Bu'Ki whole. It seemed as if they were in a whole other dimension filled with blue light, bright stars and yellow clouds. The portal they walked through stayed open, and what could possibly have been hundreds of boxes were placed around the area in different clusters which at a glance would seem to be sorted out. She walked backwards with Bu'Ki for around a few feet, then sat down with him. "Hey!" she called out, "Wake up!"

Bu'Ki couldn't hear her; he was more than asleep, although he didn't let out a single snore.

Juju giggled from the sight and began to scrub him on the back a few times. "Come on. Wake up." she repeated.

Bu'Ki eventually came to, slowly rising back into existence. "...What?" he moaned. He then began to look around as his senses came back. "...Whoa." he exclaimed when he realized they were in another plane of existence. He reached the worst conclusion possible. "Ah, I should've known," he started, "You killed me, then you killed yourself. Now we're waiting for God to tell us what to do, aren't we?"

Juju felt insulted. "No! You're not dead!" she shouted, "We're in another dimension! Look!"

She pointed at the portal they walked through, which vaguely looked like a rip in thin air, but instead of seeing the other side you saw the world you used to be in. Bu'Ki raised an eyebrow. "So what was that flashing green light that I saw through my eyelids?" he asked. Juju didn't know exactly what she should say. "Look, this will be a little hard to believe," she stated, "But you're alive. That green flashing light that you saw... that puts people to sleep temporarily. I couldn't bring you in here while you were awake, so I put you to sleep, put something on you and dragged you in."

Bu'Ki continued to seek more information. "Why?" he asked. Juju shook her head and began to scold him. "Because humans can't go through portals naturally without special gear!! I promise I never killed you and I still don't want to kill you. Just for clarification, I never will!! Look at what you have on your side."

Bu'Ki checked his sides and noticed a strange metallic object on his right. He told a peek at it and promptly gasped. "I know what this is...!!" he declared, remembering that his mother and father had the same device located on their right side. Juju's eyes widened. "...You do?" she asked, "...Do you... have any... say, friends or family members who have had one of those?"

Bu'Ki nodded. "My mom n' my dad have these," he responded, "They say it's important, n' I know it's some type of technology... that's really it. You gotta tell me everything else."

Juju leaned forward, expressing interest. "So your parents are Universalists, is what you're saying?"

Bu'Ki stopped to think. He thought he heard something similar to that word a few times before, but wasn't sure if he knew that was the word. "...Yeah." he replied, slightly lying, "I think. But I've only heard the word... wait no, hold on... I know a little bit..."

Juju understood the dilemma and nodded her head as a response. "Well, I'll keep it nice and short so I can get back to what I was doing... Universalists, in their most broad form, are a society of special forces that deal with the supernatural, specialize in human relations and study, or expedite, different universes and dimensions." Juju noticed that Bu'Ki's eyes were wider than usual, so she stopped talking. Bu'Ki, being invested in the conversation, disliked this. "Okay," Bu'Ki stated after a second of silence, waving his hand, "Keep goin'."

Juju laughed. "Oh, so now you believe me." she conned. Bu'Ki pointed at the space around him. "Honestly, what's not believing you gonna do? I'd just be in denial that any of this is happening– either way, even if I didn't believe you, this is all pretty interesting– so come on, keep it goin'." Juju heavily respected his way of thinking. "You're very mature for someone your age." she complimented.

Bu'Ki squinted. "You know we're, like, the same age, right?" Juju shook her head. "How old are you? I'd say that you're 15, tops."

"Twelve," Bu'Ki responded, "My birthday's in... I think, five days, though."

Juju gasped loudly. "Wow! Well, happy early birthday...!!! I hope it'll be... fun..." The tone of her response fell off strangely, so Bu'Ki found it necessary to question her. "...Thanks... but why did you say it like that...?" Juju began to fiddle with her keys. "Um," she started, "I'll tell you in a second... but, just so you know, I'm actually sixteen, so I'm older than you. Ha." Bu'Ki raised his eyebrows. "Honestly, that's easier to believe now that you brought all the other crud into the mix."

"Whateeeever." Juju replied, rolling her eyes. It was clear she had something on her mind– she never stopped fiddling with her keys– and because of that the situation became awkward rather swiftly. "Uh..." Bu'Ki called out, unsure of the mail carrier's name. "...Juju." Juju reassured him, "Call me Juju." Bu'Ki nodded. "Mmm... Juju. What're you thinking about?"

Juju caught her keys in her palm and laid her hands between her legs. "Well," she began, seeming antsy, "Your birthday might not be that fun day you expect it to be."

Bu'Ki became interested in the proposition. "...Oh?" he opened, "What makes you say that?"

Juju stared into Bu'Ki's eyes eerily, making him uncomfortable. "Well, in about..." She checked her watch. "...twelve minutes, this world is going to be wiped clean of humans and animals."

She paused, expecting a dramatic effect from him like she did the first time, but yet again she never received it. Bu'Ki leaned in and began waving his hand again. "...Okay. Come on, keep goin'." he commanded. Juju giggled briefly and continued to speak. "One of our scientists– uh, I dunno his name– created this big device that is meant to wipe out all humans and animals on Earth. Anything with a spirit."

"But why?" Bu'Ki asked.

Juju shrugged. "I guess he got tired of all these people causing problems. Who knows?"

Bu'Ki stood up in preparation to leave. "And why didn't anyone stop him?" he continued to ask. Juju shrugged again. "Guess they didn't know."

Bu'Ki glared at Juju and began to think about his parents. "So..." he asked with a much darker tone, "My parents... will they be alright? They're Universalists, so like..."

Juju breathed in. "Well, of course." she replied, "Every Universalist, as long as they are alive or encapsulated, will be fine." Bu'Ki remembered that word and gasped. A vivid, yet vicious memory of his dad yelling to him entered his mind without warning. 'Encapsulation,' he remembered his dad yell, 'Your body is put into a giant crystal and frozen for years, but you're still awake!'

Bu'Ki fully remembered the situation from last night and became a little aggravated. 'Become a Universalist.' echoed through his head as if someone was literally talking into his ear. Juju worried about Bu'Ki's sudden mood drop. "Come on, don't be like that." she said, "Go ahead. Ask me something." Bu'Ki didn't waste a second fulfilling her request.

"How do I become a Universalist?" he asked.

Juju gasped happily. "Whoa," she responded, "You actually want to be like us!? That's different!!" Bu'Ki looked at her strangely. "...What do you mean?" he asked. Juju stood up and walked towards him. "Nobody really likes Universalists like that." she told him, "Most people look at those of us who do the wrong thing, then judge us all as a whole, so they don't really like Universalists. They think we're lazy, good for nothing people with special powers." Bu'Ki shook his head.

"Yeah, no. I don't think they're lazy," Bu'Ki replied, preparing to step out of the portal, "I definitely think some of y'all are a little misguided. Y'all took my parents and encapsulated them, but I'on think all of you deserve hate for it."

Juju nodded with a smile on her face. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that... but I'm glad you understand." she replied. The two walked through the portal, and with another large, white flash they ended up in the front of the truck again. Juju checked her phone for the time.

11:17 A.M.

"Dang," Juju whined, "We've got five minutes to get off this planet. Are you tryna hitch a ride with me, or...?"

The sky turned dark one last time. Bu'Ki looked at his house and sighed. "You know," he began, knowing he was going to say something he would regret, "I'll stay behind and find my own way off this planet. I still gotta eat... I got food in the microwave that better not be too hot..."

Juju giggled. "You kill me." she replied, "Alright, then I wish you luck. I hope I can see you again when this is all over." Bu'Ki nodded and jumped off the truck, then abruptly Juju remembered that she forgot one detail. "Oh! Uh..."

"Bu'Ki." he responded, alluding to what Juju did earlier. Juju smiled. "Your tech... that UNIVERSE grid you have... it's a little messed up, but it'll be good enough to do the trick. Think of whatever you wanna make in your head, something that can fit in your hand... like a purse, or a watch. Use that to get above the clouds. When you're above the clouds, you're good!"

Bu'Ki nodded. "Alright. Awesome," he said to her, "Have fun. I'll see you on the other side."

Juju couldn't stop smiling. The situation was so wholesome, but she was holding back a thought that would have ruined the moment. 'You idiot,' she thought to herself as she tried not to laugh, 'We're not gonna die... we'll see eachother on this side!' She knew it was corny, but regardless, she laughed. But suddenly, her face dropped as if she realized something. "Oh, wow," she said, knocking herself on the head, "I forgot to tell him why I... oh well. If I get the chance, I'll tell him."

She started the truck, and its wheels began to glow a special off-white color. Bu'Ki walked into his house and turned around to see the entire truck fly off into the sky, coated with what was potentially hundreds of sparkles. "Wow..." Bu'Ki thought out loud, admiring the truck.

He then realized a second later that the clock was ticking.

"Oh, shit!!!" he exclaimed, "I gotta eat!!!"

He dashed towards the kitchen and checked his phone.

11:19 A.M.

"Oh boy. Here we go."

He rushed to the microwave, grabbed his fork, opened the microwave, grabbed the plate and brought it to the table quickly. He stuffed his face with as much as he could. 'Good thing I practiced for this moment my entire life!' he thought hysterically, 'I told them it would be... useful...'

He stopped eating. He remembered back to the morning before, where his parents were sitting next to him and staring at him as he ate. He could still feel their warmth radiating onto him, which made him begin to realize that he missed their interactions; his dad's laugh, his mom's cooking and sweet bitterness, but most of all, his mom expressing her love to Heshiram, regardless of how disgusting Bu'Ki previously thought it was.

He stabbed his plate with his fork. It was the memory that could make a person smile and cry at the same time.

So he did.

He pushed himself from his chair and stood up to look outside. "I'm done eating, guys." he said to himself as if his parents were still there. He looked at his plate and how it still had food on it, then thought about how his parents would have reacted to that. "Whoa. Son, are you okay?" Bu'Ki said, mimicking his dad, "For once you're not gorging all that food down?" He then thought about what his mom might say and mimicked it as well. "Heshiram, leave the boy alone. He's still growing. You don't want him to have an eating disorder, do you?"

Bu'Ki laughed as if he actually felt himself in the moment, but when he opened his eyes again he realized he was alone. He knew nobody was around, but the very thought of him crying embarrassed him. "Stay strong," he told himself, "You still gotta get off this planet."

He walked up to his door and turned the doorknob. "Goodbye, house," he said grimly, "Hopefully we can see eachother again, soon." He opened up the door and walked outside, looking back at the house once he reached his sidewalk. "I wish I had more time to tell everybody goodbye." he concluded.

He pulled out his phone as he wiped his tears from his eyes.

11:22 A.M.

No, wait.

11:23 A.M.

Bu'Ki's eyes widened. "Oh, no." he exclaimed, realizing he hadn't set up anything yet. A bright light akin to that of an atomic flash covered the sky, then seemingly faded into a darkness that caused everything within it to glow white. People on the streets began to scream and run frantically, though it was clear that they were already doomed.

"Huh!! So she wasn't pulling my leg," Bu'Ki cried, shoving his phone in his pocket and leaning over, "Dude... I gotta go...!!" He began to brainstorm possibilities. 'Okay, let's think... um... I gotta move so I have more time to think... how about some speed shoes?'

A pair of black and white hightops with a translucent blue arrow pointing forward spawned on his feet. "Holy crud, that's so cool." he complimented, arching his back as if he was ready to run. The translucent part of the shoes glowed bright, then accelerated him forward at an incredible speed.

"This is awesome!!" Bu'Ki yelled as he was running forward at a speed that probably rivaled that of a car, "But I've gotta continue thinking... what's gonna get me off this planet? Juju told me this tech is a bit messed up so I've gotta keep it simple..."

He continued to think for a second, then began to hear sounds of destruction near him. He looked around. An extremely bright light began to come from the west and radiated onto him. Almost everything that was enveloped within the light was destroyed, and people who were unlucky enough to get caught in the light evaporated into the air. "Oh, shit!!" he cried, turning away from the light and moving his legs a bit faster. 'Think, think, think!!!' he told himself with urgency, 'Escape... escape... room.' The random thought of an escape room popped into his head, but he didn't waste a second questioning it. 'Escape room... find a key for the... door...'

His mind set alight when he realized he had this answer. 'Door.' he repeated, 'Space door.'

A cluster of sparkles spawned in front of him and revealed a spinning white door with a special heart engraving. The door floated on thin air and kept it's distance several feet in front of him, as if it were trying to race him. "...What the?" he questioned. Bu'Ki looked back at the light, which was now extremely close to him to the point where he could see particles within it floating around. 'We don't have time for this...!!' he thought, turning around and speeding up to try and reach the door. The distance between Bu'Ki and the door closed with every step that he ran.

'Oh, okay. So this is a challenge.' he thought, preparing himself to compete with an inanimate object, 'Well, lucky for you, I think I can move a little faster...!!' He began to shift his legs quicker, causing his net speed to raise gradually. He came within two feet of the door and it opened up, revealing its beautiful, sparkling galaxy-like interior. "Whoa." Bu'Ki exclaimed, having expected nothing of the sort.

A strange, heavy wind began to suck Bu'Ki towards the door similarly to that of a vacuum, eventually lifting him off his feet and pulling him into the door. He covered his eyes as the extremely bright light began to encompass him and the door.

Then suddenly, the door closed behind him, and the brightness went away. To Bu'Ki, he was safe.

The door gradually began to spin and created a loud shrieking noise, becoming faster and faster until it eventually disappeared into sparkles. The light blew past where the door used to be and swallowed nearly everything in its path.

The door spawned around a hundred miles above the Earth and rested there. It's spinning gradually decreased until it eventually stopped, and when the spinning stopped it became awfully quiet.

The Earth became swallowed by the light. Everything on it, including the clouds and the blue skies themselves, succumbed to its demise with a deafening roar that could most likely be heard from the moon. One could wonder that, if anything beyond the humans existed, they would observe this event the same way they would for a comet or a star.

After a while, the light seemingly finished it's job and diminished at a slow pace, leaving a cold, brown Earth with small patches of clouds and gigantic oceans of water. The Earth began to seem anthropomorphically sad– something about the way you may have felt from looking at it brought the idea that Mother Earth had just gotten dumped by its greatest boyfriend it could have ever had. When the light completely disappeared, there was nothing left to love. Nothing left but silence.

However, this silence rang a bit different. This was a true hush, meaning nothing but the echoes from the destruction of the Earth and those who fell with it roared through the air.

After a while of reminiscing, the door covered itself in a bright pink light, and, given a few seconds, it shot straight down to the Earth at an incredible speed.

The door flew past the clouds within a matter of seconds and dived near a large body of water, then just narrowly missed it by changing its direction and flying to a safer area. Within the span of a few seconds the door found a large stretch of land, then did something strange– it swiftly planted itself in the ground at a weird angle and stayed put.

Dust flew in every direction from where the door had crashed and spread into the air around them. Heat waves warped the visibility of what had seemed to be a desert full of red clay. It was so quiet that you would expect at least a tumbleweed to drift through the lot, but alas, there was no wind.

Suddenly, the door's handle began to twist.

The door popped open immediately after. Bu'Ki didn't realize that there was a gravity difference between the world in the door and the Earth, so when he jumped out he nearly tripped in a comical fashion. 'Well, that was weird,' he thought, 'I'on ever wanna do that again.' He took a while to regain his balance, but when he finally did he took a deep breath and screened the area for the first time.

The world became something entirely different from what it used to be. The good thing was, the light on the Earth had returned to normal. The strange part was this; the sky, instead of it's usual blue tint, now seemed to be a lighter hue of lavender. Nearly all the grass and plant life had disappeared as far as Bu'Ki could see, and the clouds had become largely vacant, though they moved through the air at abnormally high speeds. What was most notable was actually something rather off-putting: there were non-living objects moving around that clearly shouldn't have been.

"...Whoa!!" Bu'Ki exclaimed with his mouth open as wide as it possibly could be, "This place... isn't even Earth anymore..." He noticed that there was no life. Not even the wind had accompanied him here, yet he didn't feel so alone. Finally, something caught his attention, and his eyes widened more than they ever had before.

One of the rocks began to move towards him and he shouted in fear, jumping away as fast as he could. "What is that!?" Bu'Ki yelled out.

The rock then stopped, almost as if it heard him and became offended, then turned and moved the other direction.

"...is that supposed to be a ghost?" Bu'Ki asked himself as he watched the random rock disappear into the distance. When he couldn't see the rock anymore he turned around to see what was behind him. He found another rock, but this one was floating at his eye level and a few inches away from his face.

He jumped, but showed great restraint in doing so. "...Naturally, I should be running for my life," he said to himself, "But I dunno. I mean, whether I run or not, it just doesn't look like these things really wanna do anything to me." The rock continued to float in front of his face harmlessly, proving his point. Bu'Ki then began to think for a little bit.

'Hm.' he wondered, 'Can the ghosts understand what I'm saying?'

A lightbulb went off in his head. "Hey," he said to the floating rock, "...Move up and down, kind of like your nodding, if you can understand me."

The rock, assuredly, moved itself up and down.

"Wow." Bu'Ki responded, "But then..." He looked around him. The area was filled with shifting rocks and pebbles. "...Why are there so many ghosts around here?" he asked, blindly.

A strong chill hit him from behind and froze his spine. 'Oh, no...!!' he realized, becoming hysterical, 'These rocks are the people who didn't make it... they're dead...!!'

Bu'Ki began to feel extremely bad, resting his hands on his knees as the deep breaths he was taking began to fail. "Well, that's not good." he said aloud, "I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of freaking dead people... that are literally rocks..." The rock that floated in front of him moved in a circle as if it was trying to tell him something, but left before Bu'Ki could figure out what that was. "Hold on, where are you goin'?" he asked the rock. He realized that rocks couldn't talk and shut his mouth. "That's tragic..." he whined.

The extreme heat from the sun above suddenly hit Bu'Ki like a truck. 'Holy hell, it's hot.' Bu'Ki began to ponder aimlessly,

'Holy hot, it's hell.

Hell is hot.

Hot is hell.

This... is hell.'

Bu'Ki pushed himself up and began to look around for some shade to walk to, but couldn't find a single shadow to sit under. 'Hell...' he continued to ponder, '...is this.'

Bu'Ki thought about the situation for a second, then shrugged. "Well, that's that." he stated. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine a hat to shield himself from the sun, but the dry heat messed with his thinking. A strange, black top hat spawned on his head. "Why?" Bu'Ki asked himself, unsure of why he thought up a top-hat of all things. Regardless, the top hat was definitely doing its job, so Bu'Ki decided it was good enough and settled with it.

He looked in every direction, but noticed there was nothing but vacant land for miles. Bu'Ki sighed when he realized what he had to do.

"Oh well," he groaned as he picked a random direction and began to send himself onward, "Let's get started."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Parallel Universe

Author's Closing:

Whew, that was long!

I don't expect for every chapter to be this long, but man, the first chapter always is the heaviest to get through. Around half of this word count should be good enough for each chapter, but nevertheless I hope you guys enjoyed it.

This coming Wednesday, chapter two should be up. I know it's two chapters in one week, but that's what happens when the first post is on an irregular day... hopefully I'll see you there! Let me know how you guys feel about everything! Have some discussions with me, I'll respond where I can.

Until next time,

UDUX, the Hero