DELTATOAD [Chapter 1]

4) ❤️ Unfamiliar Familiar World

The floor had given out, and now you and Mr.L were free-falling into whatever void that had consumed the outside. You could only watch like a helpless ragdoll as you were separated from the man in green, leaving you alone. Everything was overwhelmed with darkness, your senses included. Just when everything seemed unbearable...

You fell asleep.

----------

----------

----------

The silence was so deafening, it was almost like everything was too loud once your hearing came back to you. It might be only a few leaves rustling, or a breeze hitting your skin, but it was enough to remind you that you were alive.

For now.

A brief recollection overtook you. You were supposed to be outside, weren't you? The garden, if you remembered correctly. You didn't say anything at the time, but Mr.L didn't seem to realize that the exit he chose wouldn't have led to the kart regardless of any magic black voids. In all honesty, you wondered how he came to decide going outside via the garden anyway.

It's not like Mr.L has ever been to Peach's old garden before.

As you warily reached out, you felt relieved when a few flower petals crunched in your gloved grip. Flowers meant that you were out in the garden, right?

You lifted your gaze to your hand, your body still lying down, and noticed the first thing wrong. Your gloves were a different color than before. Instead of white, they were now a grey color.

It almost reminded you of Mr.L's outfit, but that can't be right...

Opening your palm, you were stunned when the flower you grabbed was an extremely unnatural color. With a pitch-black stem and snow-white petals, it looked unreal. You set down the plucked flower only to realize that you had fallen into a large patch of this black and white flora. Besides the flowers, not much plant-wise seemed to be nearby.

There was no grass of any kind, only ground. It was hard to tell, but you think the ground is some kind of dirt or gravel that was turned into a stone-grey color. You got to your feet and stomped on it, confirming that it definitely seemed to at least act like normal dirt. Looking down at your feet, you could notice two more changes.

Similar to your gloves, your boots were grey. Not even your overalls seemed to have been spared, the pant legs now a red color. Curious, you held out your arms and noticed that your sleeves were navy blue. It was as if your overalls and shirt swapped colors. After briefly taking off your cap, you found it colored blue as well with a mushroom replacing your classic "M". Just by moving your arms to take off and put back on your hat, you noticed something slightly hindering movement.

One pat-down and you found yourself plated with body armor below your overalls. Your left shoulder blade boasted a fancy silver piece of metal. Reaching behind that armor piece on your shoulder, you were now gripping something leathery.

Now is not the time for that.

You looked down at the floor and found a nice reflective puddle of (what you hoped was) water. Stepping out of the flower bed you landed in, you gave yourself a good look over.