In the morning, Jack crawled out of bed and made his way down to the kitchen, where he found Mark and Amy seated at the table. Sighing, Mark looked up at him. "Have you checked your socials?"
"Good morning, Sean." Amy smiled.
Jack looked between them, stretching. "Morning Amy. At least someone has manners." He teased. "I haven't checked anything yet. It's been kind of freeing to-"
"Dark and Anti took over..." Mark sighed. "And then started losing their grip."
Jack's eyes widened and he patted his pants. "I don't... even have my phone."
Mark nodded. "Will had mine. So, I assume-"
"Jameson took mine! That's right!" Jack gasped, racing out of the room. After a moment, he leaned back into the kitchen, clearing his throat. "Do you happen to know where-"
"They're in the back yard." Mark mumbled, Amy leaning over to gently pat his arm.
Jack nodded and headed outside, hesitating a moment as he tried to figure out what he was walking in on.
Wilford was pointing towards the sky, swirling his hand. "That's the head there... and then the tail goes back that way. You see it now?" Jameson, who was laying next to him, squinted, slowly shaking his head. "Yes you do! Look! Right... there!"
"Jameson?" Jack asked hesitantly.
"Jack!" Wilford sat up, pointing into the sky again. "You see the fox, don't you?"
"Uh..." Jack glanced up at the clouds, and then back down. "Sure. Jameson... I need my phone back, buddy."
Wilford smirked. "See? HE sees it." Jameson narrowed his eyes at Wilford, slowly shaking his head, as he reached into his pocket to pull the phone out and held it out to Jack.
"Thanks!" Jack grabbed it, rushing back inside.
Wilford watched Jack go, then grinned at Jameson. "He saw it." Jameson rose an eyebrow, shaking his head.
Jack already had twitter open as he re-entered the kitchen. "So my last tweet was..." His eyes widened. "Shit." He cleared his throat. "You'll never see Jack again. Thank Jameson."
Mark nodded. "My twitter sounds like I got drunk." He shook his head. "There's... about twenty tweets about how amazing Chica and Henry are. It wouldn't be that bad, except, there's random ones in the middle. Like... 'Never trust Wilford', and 'Anti is the worst kind of asshole'."
"Ohhh... the replies are worse..." Jack whined, still staring at his phone.
Mark's eyes widened, and he quickly skimmed his twitter. "Dark didn't reply to anyone." He let out a sigh of relief, looking back at Jack.
"Why would you tell him this, he wouldn't care." Jack frowned as he read, then looked up at Mark. "I DO care!"
Amy nodded her head. "Don't... check the responses to that-"
"What's wrong with Jack? Where's Sean? I think Sean might really be dead this time guys. Wow, why's Jack being such an asshole." Jack cringed, staring at his phone.
"Did you get more coffee?" Came a glitchy giggle, as Anti wandered into the kitchen.
"What did you do?!" Jack screamed.
Anti shrugged, rummaging through the cupboards. "So I ate some coffee beans... I was having really weird cravings, okay?"
Jack grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back, holding his cell phone out in front of the glitch. "No! What did you do?!"
In a split second Anti shoved him back growling as he followed after him, baring his teeth. "Don't. Fucking. Touch. Me." The glitch hissed, his body twisting in and out of reality.
"Anti!" Mark got up, not exactly sure what he could even do to help.
Hearing Mark's yell, Dark made his way into the kitchen. He placed a hand on Anti's chest, gently pushing him back, and away from Jack. "Fuck off!" Anti hissed, pushing at Dark's chest.
Dark glanced down to where Anti's hand had landed, then back up at him. "Is that the choice you wanted to make?" Anti growled, glaring at him. "Let us go for a walk." Dark suggested, and Anti snarled, pushing past him and headed for the front door. Dark glanced at Mark, then smirked. "I am taking your dog."
"We need to talk about what you did to my twitter." Mark grunted.
Dark chuckled. "You should see Instagram." He shrugged, heading out of the room to leash Chica.
Mark and Jack looked at each other. "Instagram!" They gasped, both turning back to their phones.
Amy bit her lip, leaning over the table to watch Mark's phone. Robin leaned in the doorway, yawning. "Good morning."
"What the fuck is this?!" Jack cried out.
Robin smiled. "A phone." Jack glanced at him, then sighed, turning it towards him. Robin leaned in, studying the picture, which seemed to be a knife, covered in blood and he cringed. "Who's... blood is that?"
"I don't know!" Jack whined. "Did Anti stab anyone?"
Mark groaned. "Dark posted pictures of Chica and Henry."
"You'd do that." Amy chuckled.
Mark shook his head. "As puppies."
Amy's eyes widened. "Oh... shit."
"How do I explain that?" Mark groaned. "How do I explain puppy pictures? We never had either of them when they were this small, especially not together..."
Jack sighed. "There's... a whole bunch of pictures of static. Great." He mumbled, scrolling through. "Holy shit!" He gasped.
Mark tilted his head, looking up. "What?"
"I can't believe he took this picture... let alone posted it to MY instagram!" Jack groaned.
Robin leaned over his shoulder. "Is that Chase?"
"Sleeping... with a knife to his neck? Yes, yes it is." Jack rubbed his face with his hand.
Mark shook his head. "That's rough."
Jack frowned. "How are we going to fix this?"
"Have Wilford and Jameson turn us back into kids and start over?" Mark smiled.
Jack hesitated, then chuckled, shaking his head. "That doesn't sound half bad actually."
The room was quiet a moment before there was a yawn. "Dudes, is there any more coffee?"
Jack turned, smiling slightly. "Chase... how are you feeling?"
"Uh, you know..." Chase shrugged. "I'm alright, bro. I still... feel a bit squiggly, but, everyone has those days I guess."
Nodding his head, Jack patted his back. "Good... it's good to hear the language again."
"What language, dude?" Chase tilted his head.
"Bro? Dude?" Jack smiled.
"Oh!" Chase grinned. "Dude! I didn't even realize..." He chuckled, nodding. "Uh, yeah, I guess it's good to be back, bro."
Jack frowned slightly. "Hey... Anti didn't stab you at all, did he?"
Chase glanced down at himself, patting his hands over his chest and sides. "Uh, I don't think so, bro. Not uh, not recently anyway."
Jack let out a sigh of relief, patting his back. "Good. That's good."
"Why?" Chase rose an eyebrow.
Jack chuckled nervously. "Never mind. There's no coffee. Anti-"
"Ate all the beans." Chase growled, pulling away from Jack and left the room.
"He's... still a little off." Jack cringed.
Mark nodded a little, still looking through his phone. "They're all still a little... off. They're readjusting though. Dark was seeming more himself. Still obsessed with Chica though." He shrugged, glancing up at Amy. "Not that I can blame him."
Amy smiled. "Chica is a pretty good girl."
"The best girl!" Mark nodded.
Jack sighed. "I guess I can just post an apology and say that I got carried away with the Anti stuff."
Robin shook his head. "Don't apologize until you decide what you're doing."
"Yeah..." Mark shrugged. "We'll figure out... something. You have been wanting to do an ego video, right?"
"Well yeah, but this is a little bit much, and it's been going on for more than a week now!" Jack groaned.
Mark set his phone down, tapping his fingers on the table. "What if we embrace this?"
Jack narrowed his eyes. "Embrace this?" He glanced at Robin, then looked back to Mark. "Embrace what?"
Mark stared across the table at Amy who shook her head. "I don't know what you're talking about either."
"You know..." Mark looked back at Jack. "We'll make videos... about Dark and Anti really taking over the channels. Which makes all this build up make sense."
Jack sighed. "It's still gone too far..."
"Maybe not." Robin shrugged, patting Jack's shoulder. "They've been theorizing. They might be pretty excited about it, and you can always go back and give real responses to anyone Anti was mean to."
"If we can get them all to cooperate... it shouldn't be that bad to shoot. Robin can help us edit it together?" Mark gave Robin an awkward smile and the man laughed, nodding in response.
"Yeah, of course." Robin grinned.
Mark slapped his hands on the table. "Good! Let's get shooting!"
Amy frowned. "If you need them to cooperate, you might want to give them another day. Let them settle down more? Anti got pretty... agitated there."
Jack bit his lip. "Another day?" He glanced down at his phone.
"They'll be okay." Robin offered, patting his shoulder.
Mark sighed. "Yeah... Amy's got a point. We can give them a little hint though. Toss up some little teaser trailers that say 'soon' ... so they know something's still coming."
Jack nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, okay. That could be good."
"Let's have breakfast and then we'll shoot." Mark smiled, getting up. "Bacon and eggs?"
"Bacon a little-" Amy started.
"Under cooked." Mark chuckled. "I know, I know."
Jack bit his lip. "Crispy?"
"Yeah, me too, don't worry." Mark grinned, opening the fridge. "Robin? You wanna pick a side?"
"Either way." Robin shrugged. "Do you want help? Or?"
Mark shook his head. "I'm alright, thanks though Robin. I'll host. You just relax."
Wilford slowly nodded his head, still laying in the yard. "Okay, yeah... I see the bunny. That's easy though. Half of them look like bunnies."
Jameson's chest bounced as he laughed. Then he pointed to a cloud, before placing the palms of his hands against his cheeks and flapped them. "Fish?" Wilford rose an eyebrow. "That's a good one! Where's the fish?" He grinned, looking back to the sky. Jameson leaned over, pointing. Wilford tapped his fingers against his chin, then nodded. "I think I see it."
"See what?"
They both looked up to find King looming behind them, gently wringing his hands around his crown.
"Hey King." Wilford smiled, patting the grass beside him. "Come cloud watch, old boy. Tell us where the squirrels are."
King smiled, laying down beside him, and looked through the clouds. "I usually see them so easily..."
"Give it some time." Wilford shrugged and Jameson nodded, leaning over Wilford to pat King's shoulder.
"Thanks." King sighed, still fidgeting with his crown as Wilford started pointing out a pirate ship.
Inside, Chase stretched out on the couch, and mumbled, "I'm kind of tired, bro."
Dr. Iplier shrugged. "Probably because you're dying."
"Dude!" Chase gasped, sitting up again, then smiled. "I feel kind of honored actually."
"Honored to be dying?" Google Blue asked.
Chase laughed. "Nah, bro! I'm the first person he's said is dying in like... days."
Google Blue nodded. "That is an accomplishment?"
"Don't ruin this for me, dude!" Chase laughed.
Dr. Iplier shook his head. "Are we sure we wanted you back to normal?" Chase's smile faded and he glared at the doctor. Dr. Iplier tensed, getting flash backs of Anti chasing him through the house. Clearing his throat, the doctor nodded. "Yeah, I mean... of course we do. Uh, bro?"
Chase relaxed, smiling. "Yeah, I want to be completely back to normal too, dude."
As they finished eating, Mark and Jack headed off to find the equipment they needed, while Amy and Robin took their time. "Workaholics." Amy chuckled.
"Oh, I dunno. I mean we did just have a mini vacation." Robin shrugged.
"I forgot you're one of them." Amy teased.
Robin gasped. "I know how to relax!" He bit his lip, then shrugged. "I mean procrastinate. I know how to procrastinate." Amy just chuckled, shaking her head.
Mark set up a small green screen while Jack played with the settings on the camera. "I need to get one of those."
"You should." Mark glanced over his shoulder, smiling. "You should get some more help too..."
"I know, I know." Jack smiled. "I'm working on it. I mean... I have Robin-"
"MORE help." Mark chuckled.
Jack nodded. "Yeah, yeah. So... should I say anything, or just..."
Mark shrugged. "Your video."
"I can't believe we're still faking Anti effects." Jack chuckled, handing off the camera to Mark. "I thought I was done with this when he started working with me." Jack tilted his head. "Well, a bit anyway. He still... does Dark always do what you ask him to?"
"No." Mark laughed. "I bribe him most of the time. Or sometimes I let him think he's tricking me into doing what he wants, just so he'll pay some kind of attention to what's happening. Sometimes I just bribe Wilford to ask him for me. For some fucking reason, he listens to Wilford."
Jack smirked. "I think you literally wrote the reason he listens to Wilford."
"Shut up and act like a psycho." Mark huffed, starting the camera.
Jack nodded, forcing a malicious grin, letting out an Anti-esque giggle. "Soon." He hissed at the camera, then let his face relax, glancing up at Mark. "Is that too short?"
"Why are you asking me?" Mark smiled.
"Just answer the question." Jack groaned.
Mark shrugged. "They're just teasers. I think it's great."
"Thank you. Was that so hard?" Jack smiled.
"Yes." Mark smirked, handing him back the camera. He adjusted the suit he'd put on and sighed. "Why'd I make him so damn proper? I mean... it works on him..." He shrugged. "But any time I want to mimic him, I have to find a suit that fits."
Jack chuckled. "Fan fare."
"No..." Mark groaned.
"Just go." Jack smirked, starting the camera.
Mark stood up a little straighter, adjusting his suit as he let his expression go blank. He placed his hands behind his back. It was Dark's signature stance, but more importantly, it hid his cast. Then he slowly smiled. "You never needed him. He will simply be... a nightmare... soon." The smile twisted into a devious smirk. He held it a few moments, before it faded into a more genuine smile. "I think I've still got it."
"Gave me chills." Jack teased.
"Come on." Mark took the camera from him and sat down in front of his computer. "Let's get these edited... I'd like to check in on the guys."
Jack leaned on the back of the chair, nodding his head. "Yeah, I'm kind of worried about Chase."
"I'm... a little worried about all of them." Mark admitted.
It wasn't too long before Amy opened the door to the recording room, checking in. "Editing?"
"Mmhm." Mark mumbled. Jack was leaned down on the desk next to him now, trying to figure out how to help.
"Robin and I can finish up. Go take a break." Amy smiled.
"I just had one. Like a week long one." Mark sighed.
Amy leaned over the back of the chair, gently massaging his shoulders. "I can edit up a bit of Darkiplier, you know that... and Robin knows Anti. Let us do this."
Mark looked up at her. "I can do-"
"They need you." Amy sighed.
Mark bit his lip, glancing at Jack. "Alright. Thanks." He got up, giving her a soft kiss.
Jack smiled at Robin would was standing in the doorway at this point. "You sure?"
"I'm sure." Robin nodded.
"You want a kiss too?" Jack teased.
Robin chuckled. "If it's the chocolate kind."
Jack grinned. "I'll look into it." He patted Robin's shoulder, heading out to the living room.
"When it's done-" Mark started.
"I will show it to you." Amy promised. "Now go!"
Nodding his head, Mark followed after Jack, who was already settled on the couch beside Chase. "Do you wanna have a little competition?" Jack smiled.
"Competition?" Chase sighed.
"Trick shots!" Jack grinned.
Chase chuckled. "I don't think you can speed this up, bro. It just has to happen."
Jack nodded. "Yeah... I guess I figured that. I'm just worried about you."
"You... are?" Chase shifted.
"Of course." Jack smiled.
Mark slipped past them, pausing to look at the doctor. "How are-"
"You're dying." Dr. Iplier looked up at him.
"I guess you're-" Mark started again, getting cut off a second time.
"Maybe if you'd let ME look at that arm, something would be different. But as it stands, you ARE dying." Dr. Iplier nodded.
Mark glanced down at his cast, then nodded. "Clearly, you're fine." He shook his head, before making his way over to look out the back door, then quickly slipped outside, crossing the lawn to where the three were laying. He laid down beside King, who instantly grinned.
"Mark!" The man beamed.
"You're getting pretty excited to see me again." Mark chuckled.
King's eyes widened, and he immediately looked up towards the sky. "Sorry."
Mark frowned, gently nudging his elbow against King's side. "I didn't mean it like that. I'm glad to see it. You're... becoming more..."
"Child-like." Wilford grinned.
"Himself." Mark growled.
Wilford sat up, looking over King, at Mark. "Exactly! Child-like."
King was chewing his lip nervously, and Mark let out a frustrated sigh. "Just like me." Mark pointed out, smiling. King glanced at him, smiling slightly and Mark shrugged. "I do have the mental age of 7." Nodding his head, King chuckled. Wilford laid back down, watching the clouds. "You're still in trouble by the way." Mark uttered, his attention focused on Wilford now.
"What would the great Wilford Warfstache poss-ibly be in trouble for?" Wilford glanced at him.
"The little stunt you pulled where you and Clyde over there turned us into kids so you could go on some ridiculous trip. We haven't forgotten about that you know." Mark mumbled.
Wilford sat up again, tilting his head. "Clyde?"
Jameson's hands were wrapped over his torso, rolling slightly in the grass as he silently laughed. Mark nodded. "Bonnie and Clyde?"
"I think I dated a Bonnie once..." Wilford wiggled his mustache, looking off to the side as he thought.
"He's calling YOU, Bonnie!" King giggled. "Even I got that one!"
Wilford shrugged his shoulders, laying back down. He gently pinched Jameson's side and the mute jumped a bit, squirming away from him, before he stuck his tongue out. "I should start calling you Clyde." Wilford teased. "That'd confuse everyone."
Jameson shook his head, grinning. King bit his lip, finally putting his crown back on his head and Mark smiled. "That's better."
King glanced at him and smiled, before looking back to the clouds. "Oh! That one kiiiiind of looks like a squirrel!"
"Which one?" Wilford looked back to the sky, trying to follow as King pointed, and Mark couldn't resist getting in on the cloud watching.
Before too long Robin and Amy made their way out to the living room. "Ready?" Robin grinned.
"Done already?" Jack gasped.
Amy glanced around, nodding. "Where's Mark?"
"Outside." Google Blue answered. "With the trouble makers."
Smiling, Amy nodded and made her way over to open the back door. She went to call out, but caught herself, slowly walking over instead. "What about that one?" Wilford pointed.
"Not fluffy enough for a squirrel tail." King wrinkled his brow.
Wilford narrowed his eyes, glancing at King. "They're clouds. All they are is fluff!"
Mark shrugged. "Some ARE fluffier than others." He shifted as he caught sight of Amy and opened his arms. "We're finding animals in the clouds."
"Do you want me to come down there? Or... did you want to come see this video?" Amy smiled.
Mark hesitated, then motioned her down. Laughing softly, Amy laid down beside him, laying her head on his shoulder. King grinned over at her. "We're trying to find more squirrels."
"Oh, good." Amy nodded.
Google Blue turned back to the group inside. "Amy has joined them."
"What are they even doing?" Jack laughed, getting up and made his way over. He opened the back door, clearing his throat. "I thought we wanted to get these videos up?" He called.
"We're cloud watching!" Mark screamed back.
Jack tilted his head, thinking it over a moment before he leaned in the doorway. "Come on Chase, come look at some clouds."
Chase rose an eyebrow. "Why?"
"It'll be good for you." Jack chuckled. "Come on, bro!" With a sigh, Chase got up and passed him, heading over to lay down beside Jameson. "Coming Robin?" Jack grinned, as he turned to follow Chase.
"Uh, sure." Robin shrugged, grinning as he headed out.
Google Blue placed a hand on the door handle, turning to look at Dr. Iplier. "Go out there?" Dr. Iplier huffed. "Do they know how deadly the sun is?" Google Blue shrugged, and pulled the door closed.
As Dark and Anti approached the house, Chica tried to pull around back, hearing Mark's voice. Anti had a firm hold on Henry's leash and was staring intently at the dog, who was also trying to get to the back. "It's broken again." the glitch uttered.
Dark shook his head. "They want to go to the back yard. Perhaps they want to see Will..."
"Who wants to see that violent powder puff?" Anti huffed.
"I thought you admired his violent methods of problem solving?" Dark chuckled.
Anti let out a soft hiss. "Doesn't mean I like admitting it out loud."
Dark nodded ever so slightly. "Of course." He opened the gate into the back yard and tilted his head. "Apparently there is a party."
"A really lame party." Anti grunted, gasping as Henry ripped the leash out of his hold. "No! Bad..." Dark rose an eyebrow, watching as Anti seemed to struggle. "Bad slobber factory!"
"Slobber-" Dark began, before a popping of static nearly drowned him out.
"It was bad! Shut up!" Anti hissed before making his way over.
Henry was standing over Amy, licking her face as she giggled. Mark smiled, reaching up to pet him. "Hey Henry..." He grinned. The dog contently flopped down beside Amy, gently snaking his head up over Amy's stomach until his nose pushed against Mark's side, and then he seemed to settle there.
"Your mutt is broken." Anti hissed.
Amy tilted her head to look up at him, and simply smiled. "He's perfectly imperfect." She explained, running her fingers through his fur.
As Dark brought Chica closer, he finally let go of her leash and she whipped around, crouching low and crawled her way up between Mark and King, beating them both with her tail as she wagged it. "Hi Beaks." Mark grinned, fluffing up her fur with one hand. Biting his lip, he looked up at Dark. "How was she?"
Dark shrugged his shoulders. "Fine."
Mark nodded his head. "Feeling more yourself?"
"We are getting there." Dark sighed, putting his hands behind his back.
"The video." Amy sighed, though instead of moving to get up, she wiggled closer to Mark.
Mark nodded his head in response. "In a little bit."
"Dude!" Chase gasped, pointing. "Do you see that?!"
"No?" Jack laughed. "What do you see?"
"That dragon, bro!" Chase pointed enthusiastically. "With the giant wings, and breathing fire!"
Dark glanced up and Anti glitched violently. "This is stupid." The glitch hissed.
"Mostly." Dark nodded, though neither of the dark alters moved. They simply stood back a bit, watching the sky with the others.
When the clouds became scarce, they finally all began getting up. "Alright." Mark sighed. "We really should get those videos up."
"Yeah..." Jack nodded, smiling at Robin. "Thanks."
Robin smiled. "It's what you pay me to do."
Jack chuckled. "I guess, huh?"
As everyone trickled back inside, Mark, Amy, Jack and Robin headed back to the recording room to check out how the videos had come out and post them. "So, tomorrow we figure out how the videos go, and maybe try to get some shooting in?" Mark smiled.
Jack nodded, sighing softly. "I wish you had coffee."
"We can go get coffee." Mark smiled.
"Or..." Amy smirked. "We could send Google."
"He'd probably love to get away from us for a bit actually." Mark chuckled, and as he expected as soon as he asked Google Blue if he would grab a few things from the store, the android was practically already out the door, leaving Red and Yellow behind, though they seemed to disappear from sight, avoiding everyone else until Google Blue's eventual return.
Feeling more comfortable about where things were with their channels, Mark and Jack settled in the living room with everyone else. With all of the egos getting closer and closer to feeling themselves, everyone was a lot more comfortable. They watched a few movies, and ate a pile of snacks, before all settling in to sleep for the night.