The Adventures of the "Four Muskytears"

☁️ Taking Risks [2/5] ☁️

69's POV:

Before long, all four of us stood in the backyard, the expanse of the forests beyond towering before us.

With Jester in the lead, he led us along a path between the winding trees, opening up to a grassy clearing.

A cool breeze swept through my metallic armor plates, bringing in the scent of pine as we settled in the grass.

"Alright, I'll make the rift thing and we hop on in." Jester stated, standing in the center of the clearing. "Hey Stick, what's the name of the dimension again?"

"Dimension One, I'm sure." The engineer replied, a shoulder bag slung over his lab coat. "By the way, what did you guys pack? This is basically a camping trip, but instead of hunting, we're being hunted."

"I just have about three or four cans of motor oil, yeah. Just fuel for me to keep fighting." I spoke, gesturing to the camouflage backpack I was wearing."

Stick turned to face me, then looked out across the clearing, his gaze darting about. "Where's Polar? Did she shapeshift into a cub and waddle away or something?"

"I'm right here!" I glanced down, making eye contact with my short companion.

"You scared me for a moment," I chuckled, crouching down to meet her at eye level. "Anyways, I'm ready to tear through flesh. What about you?"

"Oh yeah!" Jester's surprisingly crisp voice came from just in front of me, turning to Polar for a moment. "Polar, do you still want to shapeshift and stuff? I mean, I can make it so you're stable in this dimension. It's my home, after all!"

She seemed slightly overwhelmed at the mention of her former shapeshifting abilities. "I... I can shapeshift? Without losing control of my form?"

"Yeah, you can." Jester chuckled, waving a hand at the air in front of him. "Anyways, I'ma get this rift set up. Do what you wanna do."

The masked man walked away, his hands tucked in his maroon hoodie.

Polar, now slightly trembling in her place, awkwardly looked down at her boots, clearly trying to muster up a thought.

In a nutshell, she used to be a shapeshifter before she began to lose control of her forms.

Because of that incident, which we'll dub the "Cerulean Conversion", Stick had to invent some sort of device that stored all her ability and whatnot into a simple vessel: Polar's headphones.

Why her headphones specifically? Not a clue. I wasn't part of the event, so I have no idea what happened to her.

What I do know is that Jester's contemplating breaking Polar's said vessel and unleashing chaos over this completely random dimension.

"So... I can shapeshift into my polar bear form?" The shapeshifter squeaked, extending out one arm to examine it.

"Jester said you could." I replied, standing back up. "I mean, you'll be stable. It's not like anything could go wrong."

Polar nodded in reply, dipping her head. "I'm worried, though. What if I do accidentally lose control of the form I take? What if I go feral?"

"That's why you have the rest of us here." Stick chimed in, walking over to us with his steel staff in his hand. "You'll be perfectly fine. Remember, if anything fails, I'll just put your device back together and we can chuck the headphones back on you to return you to normal."

"Yeah." I gently patted Polar on the back. "Just keep the headphones on you, okay? Take 'em off if you wanna shapeshift. While the rest of us are causing chaos, you can just experiment and see what you can and can't do. You'll be fine."

She responded with a quiet squeak, the corners of her lips turned up in a soft smile. "Thanks."

"Rift's ready!" Jester called out, waving at us. "Come on, let this possibly life-threatening adventure begin!"

As the masked man disappeared into the portal, I looked up at the rift, briefly analyzing it.

At first glance, it seemed like this rippling, iridescent portal straight to the Nether.

The edges of the frame were a hazy fog, lined with a thin, opaque layer of mist to create the border between the rift and open air.

What made up the rift's entrance itself was a wisteria-purple gaze, swirling around like disturbed sand on the ocean floor.

Stick warily glanced at it, eyeing the glimmering portal up and down. "Uhh... Ladies first?"

A startled squeak came up from beside me. "I dunno if that's safe yet... Jester hasn't come back."

The engineer shrugged. "Oh well. Might as well go and check on him." He hopped into the portal, disappearing into the fog.

I turned to face Polar, who now had her headphones on, and was clearly nervous.

She brushed her hair back, revealing the plastic, bear-like ears projecting out of the handle of her headset. "Sorry, I'm a little hesitant on this... I know we've done it tons of times in the past, but..." Her voice trailed off, ending in a quiet sigh.

"It's alright, I know we haven't done this in a while." I spoke, walking toward the portal. "Come on, they're probably waiting for us."

Turning around, I glanced at Polar, beckoning for her to follow.

After a moment of consideration, the shapeshifter waddled over to me, her small backpack propped up against her back. "Uhh... Do I just follow you in?"

I nodded, extending a hand toward her. "That's entirely up to you. If you want to, you can hold my hand, just in case you feel a bit nervous. Remember, I won't leave your side, and I promise to protect you."

She took my hand, which was alarmingly cold to the touch.

Facing the portal, I took a deep breath, looking down at Polar. "Ready?"

"Ready." The shapeshifter responded, adjusting her headset with her free hand.

"Alright, let's head in." I chuckled, facing the rift.

With her hand in mine, we stepped into the portal, whisked away to an entirely new world, with no idea of what would happen next.