Crystal Calamities [II FANTASY AU]

Chapter 1

The sun rose over the horizon as the bustling city of the Meeple Republic awoke from its slumber. Sunlight flooded into the buildings as objects roamed the streets, trying to complete their everyday tasks. One of those objects being Knife, a rookie knight, who had recently applied to the job of protecting the civilians.

Knife wandered through the streets, passing by street vendors, waterways, and gardens, scouring the area for any criminal activity. This was usually what he did all day, with the situations themselves being the only thing somewhat entertaining. Knife was deep in thought, thinking of his future break as street vendors and citizens gawked at his royal blue armor, which flowed in the wind. He strolled through the plaza, not paying much attention to his surroundings, when he heard the patter of feet behind him. Knife turned around and-

*CRASH*

Knife jumped as a barrel rolled to his feet, with muffled screams coming out of it. Immediately, Knife rolled his eyes, picked up the barrel, and tipped it over. Out came a pair of Cherries, wearing matching green dresses, with a red belt wrapping around their waist. 'Ah.' Knife thought. It wasn't an average shift without the two bothering Knife, so he wasn't that surprised that they showed up.

"Oww.. Hey Knife!.." The cherry on the left greeted, hissing in pain under their breath right after. Great. Knife had to deal with THEM out of everything else.

"Alright you guys, you KNOW you aren't supposed to be disrupting knights while on duty." Knife said, glaring at the Cherries, annoyed. He didn't really mind them walking up to him at literally any other time, but he drew the line when it came to his duties.

The Cherries took turns groaning in disappointment, but eventually nodded. But before they left, the Cherry on the right suddenly nudged the other Cherry, causing them to realize something.

"Oh my gosh! Right!" Suddenly, the two turned back to Knife, and tugged on his cape. Knife looked confused, but stayed still, waiting for the Cherries to explain what they were talking about. Once they stopped tugging, they started to elaborate on why they approached him.

"Test Tube wants you to come to her lab, she wants to show you something!" One of them exclaimed, pointing to the end of the road. Knife turned around annddd... There it is.

The bUilding Knife was looking at was a tall, wonky, wooden 3-story building with green drapes on every pillar going up to the top of the roof, and a large telescope pointing out of the roof. Knife smiled at the sight of that place. Most of his friends and acquaintances were there, so that place was like a safe spot to him. But there was something wrong with the building.. Tall? Check. Green drapes? Check. Telescope? Yup, that's it. Knife knew Test Tube wasn't that interested in astronomy, so either she got REALLY into it, or someone moved in. "Huh. What's with that telescope?" Knife asked, pointing it out to the Cherries.

The Cherries squinted at the building, and both let out a noise of realization.

"Ohh! THAT telescope!" The right cherry said, hopping up and down. "Yeah, it's been there for what? A couple of days?"

"Obviously." Knife rolled his eyes. "But what I'm actually asking is WHY is it there??"

There was silence for a few seconds, as the three looked at each other in confusion. It stayed like that until the Left Cherry chimed in.

"Soo.. Let's go!" She tugged on her stem, signaling for her sibling to come along. They agreed to join their sister, and they walked to Test Tube's lab while Knife just followed them, still confused.

"Anyways, how have you been?" Knife asked, trying to ignore their clear avoidance as they passed by a couple of fruit and potion sellers.

"We've been good!" The two said in unison. "How has things been for you, Knife?" One of the cherries questioned. "Heard you finally got your dream job, which is GREAT!" They also said, raising their arms up in happiness.

"Yeah, it is." Knife said in a prideful tone, pointing his thumb to his chest and nodding.

The cherries giggled, and continued to trot down the marble sidewalk.

"Annd.. We're here!"

Knife looked up, and grinned seeing the place he used to call home.

_______

The bells rang loudly as eager students rushed out of their classes, parting ways to go to their next. Among these students was Microphone, who had just left her alchemy class along with her best friend, Soap. They stepped out of the classroom, and made their way to the garden for their lesson in agriculture.

"Hey, Soap! Tell me again, what do you wanna be when you get out of this place?"
Microphone questioned, stretching her arms to let Soap know what "the place" was, even though Soap already knew what they were referring to.

"Well, I mean.. There's lots of places and occupations all over this region ALONE! It's amazing, Anyways, I suppose just staying here is best for me. This region is so tidy compared to the other regions! How about you?"

Soap asked, pointing at Microphone as they descended down a long, marble staircase.

"Huh! I never actually thought about it. I am definitely not staying here, though! All these Meeple symbols are creeping me out."

The two glanced at a banner boasting the symbol of their government's symbol, an apple with a bite in it and a thick root.

"I'm indifferent to it." Soap remarked as they reached the bottom of the staircase.

"Alright, herbology! Let's see what you got!"
Mic said, all pumped up. Herbology was one of Microphones more favored classes, since it was basically a free period where students could do basically anything.

"Never say that again."
"Okay.."

The two exited the school's building, and headed over to the greenhouse.

An hour and a half later, the two emerged from the greenhouse, looking absolutely FILTHY. Microphone had dirt over her uniform, while Soap looked like she just got hit by a truck.

"EUGH! Mic, help me get this gunk OFF!"
Soap yelled, scraping patches of dirt off of her pants. Soap HATED being dirty, since being dirty just inconvenienced her often.

While Soap was flailing around, Mic decided to make cleaning a LOT more convenient. So while Soap was busy, Mic pointed her wand at Soap, and quickly made a silhouette of a teardrop. It was supposed to just hose the dirt off of Soap, but Mic had botched it, resulting in Soap getting hit with a jet stream of water.

"GAHH!!" Soap shrieked, the water blasting her uniform AND the dirt. Oh god. THIS ISN'T GOOD! Microphone ran up to Soap, apologizing profusely for doing something so stupid. Soap stopped screaming and listened to Microphone's ranting on how she wouldn't do it again, and how she could make it up to her. When Mic finished, she looked up at Soap, wondering what she was gonna say.

"..Sigh.. It's alright! Thanks for trying to help, just.. Remind me next time.."
Soap panted out, clearly shaken,

"I'm gonna go up to our quarters and change, okay?"

Mic was surprised that Soap wasn't that angry. Sure, it rinsed, no, blasted all the dirt off Soap's uniform, but she was soaking wet, which could make her track mud..

'Oh!' Mic realized that the bell signaling lunch had just rang, and students were free to leave the campus. Microphone thought of following Soap up to their sleeping quarters, but she figured Soap would want to be alone. So she ran for the academy's exit, having an idea on where she wanted to go.

END OF CHAPTER 1