Chromed & Calico Paradise

Chapter 1: Unexpected Friendship

(Of course it all had to change. Of course everything had to turn for the worse. At one point, we were all just vibin' and having fun, celebrating our victory against the IO. And now... now we have all of this going on. The chrome, the Herald, the Nothing. But why, though? Why did it all have to change so suddenly? I mean, we've been through a lot of stuff and faced some pretty bad threats before, but this? Despite being in the Loop for so long, I've never seen anything like this. Well, kinda. I mean, there was this one time where all of these Cubes were wandering on the other side of this Island and where changing the environment around them all orange and red, but this still feels different to me. I wonder if other Loopers feel this way too. I wonder...)

Y/N, an agent for the Seven, has been lost in thought ever since they arrived at Rave Cave. They've been trying to calm themselves down and start thinking straight. The catastrophe that's been going around the Island has very much affected them for the worse, so they thought spending some time in this chill place would help themselves out a bit. Soon after some time, they will be greeted by someone unexpected, someone who likes to keep it calico.

"Heya, pal. You feeling all right? Think you've been there for quite a while now." Says the calico, greeting Y/N to make sure they're all right.

"...Huh? Oh! Yeah, yeah, I'm all right." Replies Y/N, surprised by the calico's appearance.

"Sorry if I've been making you feel uncomfortable. I've just been thinking a lot." Continues Y/N.

"Nah, you're cool. I was just checking up on ya. Ya looked a little troubled." Says the calico.

"Mind if I hang around with you a bit?" Asks the calico.

"Sure, I don't see why not." Replies Y/N.

"Sweet, thanks. Not much to do around here, anyway. Not a lot of people come here anymore. You know, 'cause of the chrome and all that." Says the calico.

"Yeah... it just sucks, all of this just sucks." Says Y/N, starting to feel gloomy by the topic.

"At one point, we were all just vibin' and having a good time, celebrating our victory and having our hopes up about the thought of finally being able to go home, back to our own realities. Now we've got huge problems on our hands, probably even worse than our battle between the IO. Of course everything had to be ruined. IT JUST HAD TO BE!" Says Y/N, now starting to feel angry towards the topic.

"Woah, woah, chill out, pal. No need to get so worked up in here out of all places. Place was made for fun, after all." Says the calico, trying to calm down Y/N.

Y/N paused for a second, turning back to see the calico with a grin on her face.

"I... well, it's... I-It's just that..." Says Y/N, stuttering while trying to figure out someway to reply.

"I-I'm sorry about that. It's just that... all of this is just crazy. Like, this was so unexpected." Says Y/N, finally figuring out what to reply.

"I guess I just thought... that it was over. That everything bad that happened to us was finally over. Clearly, I was wrong, but it's just so overwhelming. You get what I mean?" Asks
Y/N.

"I guess so, yeah. It's kinda hard not to pay attention to all the crap that's been going around the Island, especially all of this." Replies the calico.

"Don't know how much this is affecting you, pal, but it sounds like a lot of it's making you this mad. You probably just need to take a chill pill, get this off your mind for a bit. Is that why you're here?" Asks the calico.

"Yeah, actually. I thought visiting here could get all of this madness out of my head for a bit." Replies Y/N.

"Then I guess that idea was a bust, huh?" Says the calico.

"I guess so..." Says Y/N, starting to form a gloomy look on their face.

The calico saw that Y/N was starting to become sad again. She didn't like seeing them look so miserable, so she tried to think of something to cheer them up. Then after a few moments, she had an idea.

"Hey, c'mon, don't act like that, pal. I'm sure there's something that can cheer you up." Says the calico, attempting to cheer Y/N up.

"In fact, I've got an idea. How's about we go do some cool stuff together, huh? Trust me, I've got some preeety fun things in mind." Continues the calico.

"Really? Like what?" Asks Y/N, curious about the calico's offer.

"Well, we can got do some skateboarding, shoot ourselves out of some cannons, set fire to multiple trees and watch as they burn to the ground and disintegrate into nothingness. You know, all that fun stuff!" Replies the calico.

Y/N stares blankly at the calico once she said her last idea before thinking about her offer.

"...Eh, what the heck? Could be fun." Says Y/N, accepting the calico's offer.

"Hell yeah! This is gonna be fun. Wanna head out right now, then?" Asks the calico, excited that Y/N agreed to her ideas.

"Yeah, let's go. Hopefully this'll be able to cheer me up." Replies Y/N.

The two start to head out of the cave, with the calico having an excited look on her face and with Y/N hoping to be able to take their mind off of the madness and have some fun.

"Say, what's your name, anyway? Didn't ask ya before." Asks the calico.

"Oh, right. Sorry about that. My name's Y/N. What's yours?" Replies Y/N.

"Name's Meow Skulls." Replies Meow Skulls.

"Huh, that's a cool name." Says Y/N

"I know it is. Yours isn't half bad too. Has a nice ring to it." Says Meow Skulls.

"Well, thanks for that. And thanks for offering to do this. You know you didn't have to." Says Y/N.

"It ain't no biggie. Besides, I didn't like seeing you all sad and stuff. I prefer to keep things calico, if you know what I mean." Says Meow Skulls.

"Yeah. Yeah, I think I do." Says Y/N.

To be continued in Chapter 2.