Upon reaching their newest location via Fresh Poof, Ink was all limbs in his bid for escape from the position of 'baggage.'
Fresh let him go and Ink landed with a flop.
"What was that for?" Ink demanded with a pout, fixing his clothes and disheveledness as he got up.
The 'Creators' as Error called them laughing didn't help his feeling of displeasure. He's been doing his best to ignore them as Error suggested, but sometimes he couldn't help but peek.
Fresh smiled at Ink who just blinked at their surroundings, realizing where they were.
"... The doodle sphere? Why?" Ink asked.
"Ink, broski-bro." Fresh said, smiling wider. "How do you feel about spicing up the gnarly meeting by making one heck of a radical entrance?"
Ink's eye lights sparkle into stars. "I like the way you think."
"Same, bro." Fresh cracked his knuckles. "Let's get creative, broski."
***
A reality somewhere ...
That battle with Player was intense, knocking out the internet globally. But she would get the last laugh in the end. She didn't break into this facility for nothing.
She plugged something in and her monstrous computer wired to life. Her screen showed a single bar of wifi.
Mary Sue smiled.
She clicked on the icon for UnderHacked.
***
Back in UnderHacked ...
"Well that was cool." Congod said, finishing his cookie. "But Imma go devour- I mean, destroy some AUs now. For the Balance - yeah. As the Number One Fresh Fan I can't let that rad skele-dude down."
Congod stood up. He was shorter than when he was sitting. Shorter than Ink even.
PC seemed saddened by the plan but remained quiet having been present to learn that it was necessary.
"Woah Woah, hold on a minute." Snasy made 'time out' hand gesture. "Firstly, we shouldn't just be taking out AU's all willy-nilly when we don't know which ones to target. You heard Fresh. Too much destroyed at once could domino. Secondly, I am the biggest Fresh Fan."
Spiffy face palmed and muttered. "Why include the secondly ..."
Congod gave a slow frog blink. "You can't be the biggest Fresh Fan, reason is, that would have been my first objection. Second objection, as Fresh's biggest fan, I get special privileges." Congod picked up the drawing Fresh made that showed how many AU's needed to be destroyed. "Such as Fourth Wall abuse as long as it serves the greater narrative."
"So, like all the Mods with access to the fandom wiki and the Soul connection thing." Snasy commented.
Tiffa chimed in. "I lack the fandom wiki, unless I access it by hijacking one of your computers ... speaking of, if one of you has a second monitor or set up I could use to catch up on fanfiction, that would be great."
"I have my old PC I can set up some time " Zane offered.
If Tiffa could have stars in her eyes, she would at this moment. "You are a lifesaver."
Congod looked at the group before continuing the previous topic. "I don't think you guys know what I mean by Fourth Wall." Congod knocked on the air magically connecting to something and briefly blocking the reader's view. "The Fourth Wall. In game."
Each knock resounded through the air, nudging nearby furniture away a few inches.
Congod looked at the readers and smiled, waving through the Wall. "Hi, readers." Also, hi big real me, I will make you proud, even with the Rules :) "Anyway, world's to devour, arson to commit. Come on Glitchy Nick-Time-Clone, let's bounce!" Congod grabbed Nick's arm, despite her being in spectator mode. The two disappeared in a burst of buttercup petals.
Snasy was silent for a moment. Distractedly they said. "... That makes for one hell of a cosmic knock knock joke. I guess that makes us the punchline."
"I guess this means you aren't the #1 fan." Spiffy said, trying to lighten the mood.
"Shut." Snasy made a zipping motion.
Tiffa sipped some tea. "That's probably who Ink meant by OC's. It's probably fine. Right?" She drank more tea. "Right. Not ..." 'Us' was left unsaid.
"Sooo ... anyone down for some arcade games?" Zane suggested. "To drown out the existentialism."
"Sure. I'm down." Tiffa set down the empty cup.
PC raised a hand. "May I also join?"
Zane smiled at the bean. "Of course."
"Why the hell not." Snasy said, Spiffy following.
Before the left the door was kicked open to reveal a slightly panicked looking Ax3.
"Am I late???" Ax3 asked.
The group exchanged glances.
***
In a well known AU ...
Error stood on a hill. The weather was surprisingly peaceful. Signs of what had happened there long ago was obscured by time as new plant growth sprung up around the area.
Sifting through the long grass he found what he was searching for on that lonely hill.
The stump of what was once a significant tree. A magnificent person.
"F-F-F-Forgive my intrusion ..." Error placed his hand upon the stump and the Core of the shined, but stubbornly remained half submerged in the wood. "I'm here to help your sons."
Slowly the delicate Core floated out of its safety, glowing upon the land, containing the full detail of the makeup of the AU and its history.
Error retrieved what he needed and returned the Core to its safe haven.
As he walked down the hill he paused to look back.
"... Thank y-y-y-ou, Emotion. Rest in peace."
As Error portaled away, the stump faintly glowed in warmth that could easily be missed before dimming once more into the inanimate.
***
In the Omega Timeline ...
Core and Seraphim oversee the preparations set to stream the Truce Meeting to several stadiums in the Omega.
With assistance from Alive, an Alphys, and their multiversal celebrity Metta, things were going smoothly.
"Are we sure this is the best method?" Seraphim asked. "If something goes wrong, we're live."
Seraphim Chara spoke from the hanging Gaster Blaster. "There are no Resets in this."
Core recalled the person they had glimpsed in the new AU.
"I believe this is going exactly how things need to be."
"Another one of those future sight gut feelings?"
"Something like that."
***
In the Meeting Room ...
Blue was in charge. This was one of the first times he had been without Dream or Ink to keep the peace. And now, he didn't have Ink in the other room to call if there was an emergency. And the room was already filled to capacity.
He regretted that open Multiversal Google Doc. Turns out 500+ heads is not better than 2 in this instance. Red and Sci had already shown up, helping with the Doc, but it was still an ordeal to organize - Lust left the two to catch up with Candlelight, his Grillby.
Most of his time has been spent editing the Doc and answering concerns about where Ink and Dream were. Blue was just grateful he had the energy for it, surprisingly. Perhaps something to do with being exposed to the deity realm and being magically super charged ... but that was something he has been trying to avoid thinking about. Who knows what kind of side effects he could experience?
It doesn't help his worry about how things were doing in the deity realm when he had Inks phone with him - because of course Ink had to drop it just before the most important meeting of the multiverse and go off to a place where only gods can even consider entering.
Blue suppressed his urge to sigh. It could have been worse. He might not have had Razz and Classic there to help. A surprise sure, but Blue could use the help, his pride was not above accepting it. Razz had even talked (ordered) his brother into helping with the tech and cameras for the live stream.
But at least most of the vital information and FAQ have managed to spread to where it needed to, so Blue wasn't answering the same five questions over and over anymore.
Alter had thankfully taken it upon himself to help organize the seats for the guests that would show up - both the Bad's and the Gods. Even went out of the way to print out name cards for them.
All in all it kind of felt like a prosecutor stand and the jury with the Star Council as the audience. Something official, in any case.
All that was left was for everyone to be civil, and get this over with as peacefully as possible.
Inks phone in Blues pocket felt heavy ... he hoped someone was monitoring Ink to make sure he didn't get into too much mischief. He left with Error so it should be fine. Error wouldn't just leave Ink to his own devices.
A hand fell on his shoulder and Blue turned with a start to see Classic before deadpanning.
"DO YOU MIND GAINING MY ATTENTION IN A NORMAL WAY? THIS IS GETTING OLD."
Classic just lazily shrugged, putting his hand back in his pocket, moving to be in a better talking position. "nahh. this works." Classic looked over the very full meeting room and commented. "big turn out."
"SHOULDN'T BE A SURPRISE, CONSIDERING THE SEVERITY OF THE SITUATION ... EVEN STILL I THINK THIS IS THE MOST WE'VE HAD GATHERED SINCE THAT START OF THE STAR COUNCIL."
"yep." Classic said, popping the p. "even tk and asy showed up."
"AH - I'VE BEEN TO BUSY TO NOTICE. IT'S RARE THEY JOIN."
"eyup." Classic nodded in agreement. He checked his phone. "we should expect some of our 'honored guests' any minute now."
Blue snorted. "SO VERY HONORED. I HAVE FEELING THIS IS GOING TO GO ABOUT AS SMOOTHLY AS SANDPAPER." Blue got up and stretched, checking his phone for any new messages. "I GUESS I SHOULD MEET THEM IN THE LIVING ROOM SECTION. NO NEED TO HAVE A FLASHY ENTRANCE DIRECTLY INTO THE MEETING ROOM, THEY'RE GOING TO BE UNDER ENOUGH SCRUTINY AS-"
Blue, and those in the council room, were interrupted by loud sounds and flashing colors.
Fresh and Ink had Poofed into the middle of the room blasting air horns and 90's music from a boombox (Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up - you might have heard of it). The two were wearing rollerblades and skates for whatever reason, spinning around each other. Somehow confetti was manifesting into existence above the two, only to disappear when it touched the floor.
Ink was wearing sunglasses and a boa. He also had a party popper he set off.
"YO YO YO YO!" Fresh shouted, his voice echoing through the stupefied crowd. "I be the raddest skele-dawg by the moniker Fresh, and I'm here to promote radical tubular-tastic multiverse peace, muh swag Star Councillor bruhs!"
"And I support this message!" Ink said, meeting Fresh's enthusiasm, trying not to fall in his roller skates.
Blue face pace palmed.
***
(A/N: just- just take it before i lose more of my sanity AaAAAAAaAaaAAhahahahahAHAHAHA-
Also ... nah there's no also - have a good day/night!)