"Your drinking water? At this time of the day? You do realize you're going to pee on the bed if you drink this late." My mom stated. Just a reminder that I used the stupid excuse of drinking water to hide Veronica and her cube inside my closet.

"Ahhh! Sorry mom, I was just really thirsty. What are you doing up so late yourself?" I asked her.

"I had to use the bathroom and thought I'd better check up on my, oh I don't know, children! Now go to sleep and goodnight." She stated.

"Goodnight," I said back. She closed the door behind her and as she entered her room, I opened the closet door.

"Sorry I pushed you inside, she was about to see you," I said.

"Ah, it's fine. But why do you have an empty box in here?" She asked me. I looked at the box and there was nothing there, but it was the same box I had pulled my journal from my first day.

"I don't know why, I'll throw it away later." I shrugged, not wanting her to find out I potentially had a journal.

"Alright, well. Before you so rudely shoved me into your closet I was about to explain Pink's power."

"Pink?" I asked her, she nodded excitedly.

"Pink is my favorite color. Not only the person but the actual color." Yeah, I could tell Veronica. Your farmer/PJ's outfit was bright pink. If you stayed out of the closet for even one millisecond longer a blind person would've seen you.

"Did you find out about her powers or who she was? Because based on the video and the cube there were only ten colors that had gotten executed." I stated.

"Well, that's because she was killed beforehand in battle by one of the Emperor's infamous generals. It was said she fended off against two and a half armies filled with one thousand each before she accidentally tripped. That was when she was slain. Her powers mainly consisted of using hyperpowered claws and biting her enemies so hard they died within seconds."

"That sounds... like a really bad power," I stated.

"But here's the thing though, with her incredible speed she was able to avoid multiple bullets and swords, and was able to take out so many of the Redwood militia she was nicknamed 'The Pumaʼ. Sick nickname right?"

"Yeah, I guess so. Are there any other colors?"

"Well there was one more, his name was 'Red' though, I think his powers were imitating the ones that he saw. For example, he could imitate Greens' or Browns' powers to a T. Although, not much else is known about him since he died way earlier than when they were executed."

"Did you find out how he died?" I said out of curiosity.

"I think it was said there was an explosion on an expedition he was going through. The explosion killed six other people including him but then again, there were no eyewitnesses left alive in that explosion." She said, sitting down on my bed. I sat down next to her and asked her,

"Are there any more?"

"There were three more I believe. Gold, Silver, and another... which I can't remember the third one for my life. But she was nicknamed something if I remember clearly for once." I waited for her to think some more and she snapped her fingers,

"The Forgotten One."

"What was her power? Or Gold and Silver's for that matter." I asked her.

"I honestly have no idea. Remember, I only spent an hour on this so I wasn't able to find out what either of their powers were. Still, it's a little strange how that color is called the 'Forgotten One'." She stated.

"Kind of ironic that you can't remember the color's name but can remember her nickname having the word "forgotten" in it."

"Sorta strange, I know. Oh well." She said, packing up her stuff into her pockets while I sat up.

"And again, all of these spirits are supposedly in that factory?" I asked her.

"I can't guarantee you that they are in the factory since I haven't even gone there myself! But I do know that those spirits are a possibility. I honestly, from the bottom of my heart, am surprised that you've found this out." She stated, heading over to the window.

"Pfft I didn't exactly find it out. One of my other friends did. But you helped me understand what that factory might contain, even if only a little bit." I stated.

"And aren't their powers the coolest thing!?!"

"Well, I don't see it as necessarily cool, but it's nice to know about this and re-confirm some of my earlier suspicions. I just have one question though, Veronica. Why did you decide to tell specifically me about this? You could've talked with anyone else about this. The Redwoods. That family of yours. The police, militia, anyone! But why me?" I asked.

Veronica said after a slow, heavy breath.

"It's because, well, I wanted to make it up to you all. I know as a certainty that you would be the only person to believe me. I know deep down that I hurt you and your friends. However, a part of myself doesn't accept that I hurt you and instead teases you more. So I thought that this would... I don't know, act as a 'will you forgive me' gift? And you're the only one who knows about this factory other than me as I've stated like, six thousand times by this point." She stated, brushing her short hair aside and looking outside the window.

As I listened to her, she had a complete attitude shift from usually being snarky to becoming unbelievably self-aware. So I said,

"Well. I can't forgive you yet, you know that. However, maybe if you start stopping being so meaninglessly mean to people, including my friends, and change your attitude for once. Then I'll consider it." She had a smile on her face and took another deep breath.

"I'll try my best George. Anyway, that's the only thing I wanted to give you... so uh.. yeah. Thank you for listening to me." She said. Things became a little awkward afterwards and after about a minute or so, she said,

"I'd better go now before my family notices I'm gone and I don't think I want to be shoved into another closet again. Goodnight!" She exclaimed, climbing down the ladder one rung at a time and waving goodbye at me. I waved goodbye back and I went to bed.

I was so tired and just done for the day that I dozed off into sleep. I was more excited than ever before as I now had clear evidence of the factory being a real thing other than just a hoax. Plus, with the added fact that I knew about what could be contained in the factory, I was extraordinarily enthusiastic. But I was, as I said before, so tired that I could barely focus on anything else than rest.

**————————————————————————————**

I woke up in a startle, my room was illuminated with a bright light. But that wasn't the sun, it was way too bright for it to be that.

Wait.. why was it getting brighter?

My room turned and twisted and as I saw it, I wanted to barf before I closed my eyes shut. I opened it again only to find out I was in an ecotone, or two biomes of land merged into one.

I wondered how I even got here in the first place as I was just in my bed a couple of seconds ago. Why was I here? It looked so abandoned and deserted.

The biomes that were meeting at my feet seemed to be forest and desert biomes. As I woke up fully to the ecotone I was in, I realized I was wearing a coat. Why? I had absolutely no clue, so I took off the coat and stood up. I looked directly at the coat and turned it around so the back faced me. There was one word stitched onto the back of the coat that was sewn with a light blue yarn.

"Faith?" I asked myself, scratching my head. I unfocused on the coat and looked at my surroundings. On one side, it looked so peaceful that I felt like I could sleep on the grass of the forest. Meanwhile, on the other side was a desert, and do I need to explain why a desert would sound inhospitable?

I looked around and didn't see anything other than the forest and desert that was outstretched for a prolonged distance.

However, I heard a distant roar. I thought it was my stomach for a second. After all, I was standing near a desert and a forest in the middle of nowhere, why wouldn't I be hungry?

But I saw in the far distance something that made my heart stop. It was the same lion-hawk hybrid chasing after me while a group of angry bees were chasing after the hybrid. But it looked like they were more friendly with each other than with me. I looked to my right and saw the angry pack of monkeys and the owl-snake hybrid staring at me like prey. I heard a sound to my right and saw the butterflies and frogs coming after me while coming down from a rock next to me was the snail. All of them came from Ruby's basement.

Oh yeah, I was sprinting.

I ran as fast as I could to the only direction that didn't have a previously trapped animal wanting to kill me! I searched around the area quickly only finding deserted ground until I spotted a structure in the direction I was running to. Were the animals leading me here?

No way, they wanted to kill me!

As I saw it, I knew I had to get inside to survive the enclosing animals that weresurrounding me on nearly all sides. I had the urge to run there as quickly as I possibly could, and so I did.

After I ran for what seemed like forever. I had finally gotten to the structure. I climbed a fence that was in my way and just in time as the lion-hawk hybrid slammed right next to my foot after flying for what seemed like forever. The other animals saw the factory and stopped dead in their tracks as if they were nervous the factory was a living being.

"HAH! Can't catch me now!" I exclaimed, jumping down from the fence. At first, I didn't recognize the land on the other side of the fence. So, I went through the other side of the fence with caution.

However, after looking further into the complexity that was surrounding the lone factory, I read a sign at the top of the factory's entrance saying,

'A Factory is where dreams are made of'.

Based off only this, I realized I was in a dream. Pfft, like I wouldn't have noticed beforehand. Suddenly spawning into a place after I slept in my bed in my house wasn't a clear indicator enough!?

Again, I couldn't say this enough, I really should've noticed that I was in a dream since I spawned here out of nowhere. But why would I dream about the factory of all places? I would've much more liked to dream about a love interest, or about eating a five-stack burger, or literally ANYTHING ELSE other than being chased by venomous, poisonous, and dangerous animals that were recently experimented with and trapped in cages.

Why was this dream exceedingly long too? Usually, my dream happened in a snap but this time, it felt different.

In pure natural instinct, I investigated the factory on the outside more, finding crates that had nothing inside of them. I guess my dream couldn't have been a little bit more imaginative. Like a bazooka or something so I could blast this whole dream away and the animals while I was at it. I glanced around some more until I could finally see the entrance at the back of the factory from where I had jumped the fence.

I paused my thoughts for a moment.

Okay. Veronica said that there might've been spirits already inside this factory. I should be able to be respectful of them right?!

Unless they were vengeful for their lives and—GAH! Why was I talking about this in my dreams!? It was my dream for goodness sakes! Pull yourself together George! I pushed on the door and entered the factory with a sigh.

As I walked inside the factory, I caught sight of ten lone capsules and five smaller capsules that could fit into the palm of someone's hand. While I did want to interact with all of them, I first wanted to pay my respects to these spirits. I mean, they were the first to try to rebel against the Redwoods and that fool of an Emperor. They died because of it, the least I could do was pay my respects right?

I kneeled down and said, arms outstretched.

"Thank you, for everything you've tried to accomplish. You fought vigorously and with all of your effort. I'm truly sorry that your efforts were wasted." I stated. I suddenly felt a wave of emotion kick me in the face and I tried to keep myself together without bawling my eyes out. I stared at each of the capsules especially carefully and saw something on them. Each of the capsules had a note on it. As I got closer, numerous emotions continued to overwhelm me and each step was like going through a snowstorm with pure iron boots and an anvil trapped on my waist.

As I was bounding ever so close to one of the notes on the first capsule—a black one—I looked at the note and made out a word. The words I saw on it were:

"Destiny," I stated.

As soon as I said the word, my mind went blank. With no emotional feelings at all like I was being lifted by the breath I lived by. There was simply nothing. It was pitch white, I was in a blank canvas and the artist was about to paint over me with colors. I tried to look to my left and right and again saw nothing. I tried to move my arms and soon realized I couldn't move my limbs, nor my body. But I didn't panic. I was in a state of total calmness, it was as if nothing could ever make me afraid or nervous again.

Was this what it felt like to give no fucks?

I snapped out of it in a fit and realized something baffling. I blinked a couple of times and I was now in a deep forest. How the hell did I get here!?!

I felt a sudden state of panic and like I had to run away from something, but I didn't know what I was running away from, I just needed to—

"RUN!" I heard a voice scream from deep within the forest.

I ran as fast as I could through thick bushes and trees in a random direction I picked out. While I ran, I saw the trees around me and the forest filled with animals and creatures I hadn't seen before.

As I became additionally nervous that something was chasing me, I glanced in the distance at two women. I wanted to interact with them and say that something was chasing me, yet I felt like they were the ones that I was trying to avoid. However, I didn't recognize them so instead of introducing myself, I hid near the bushes nearest to them.

As I was hiding, one of them whistled ever so softly while gripping her staff, causing one of the birds to come to her and fly around her head. She chuckled while holding her hand high in the sky, the bird flew and laid down on the girl's hand.

While the other woman was fixing her bow. The girl that had called the bird over was—for the lack of better words—extremely beautiful. She had on a light green outfit with her pants and shirt the same color. She also had on a small scarf with her as well as dark green gloves that contrasted with her light green outfit. She maintained a beachy haircut cut with four large pieces of her hair sticking out and her face lightened up because she was chucking. She also had on dark green shoes that perfectly fit herself.

Meanwhile, the girl next to her fixing her bow was also captivating with her hair in a perfect bun, her outfit also completely light blue and she had a necklace and bracelet that was fully painted purple. They both had an emblem on the chests of their shirts but I didn't know what it meant, neither did I know what it stood for. It looked like a three triangles mixed within a larger one, but there was a diamond rhombus on the background of the triangles.

The girl who was fixing her bow set it down and wiped her hands. She picked up the bow and tested it out by trying to shoot a tree that seemed around a full seventy feet away from her. There was no way she was going to hit that tree from that far right?!

Well, I was wrong. She hit a bullseye from seventy feet out and sliced the arrow through the tree and three more trees before the arrow completely disappeared. If I had to guess, the arrow was traveling around the whole world by this point.

Anyway, the two girls started to strike up a conversation after the girl with the bow shot her 'Mr. Worldwide' arrow. I lay there in the bush like a complete stalker while they spoke. The girl with the staff spoke in a softer tone while the girl with the bow spoke in a much darker manner.

"I'm glad we got this time to rest for at least a little bit." The girl with the staff stated.

"Yeah, but you'll never know if Black has to call for us again, Lime. Still, though, it's sort of nice to get some practice." I was surprised. That was Lime!? THE Lime?!? What was she doing in my dream?!

"I know, Cyan. But if we want to be successful in these preparations we have to relax at least for a tiny bit before we go on the attack again." Lime stated. And that was Cyan too!?

"Hmmmm... fine. But I'm not going to eat your fish again. Gave me an aching all around my body the last time I ate it and trust me, I don't want to eat that shit again." Cyan said. It almost made me chuckle because I was reminded of my mom's spaghetti. I kept silent though since I didn't want to give them both a heart attack by chuckling in a bush.

"Don't worry I'm not going to get a fish again. I already got sandwiches from your brother anyway!" She exclaimed, handing Cyan a sandwich as she looked at it with disgust.

"Ugh. Egg and spinach?! I should've known my brother would make something as disgusting as this. I would rather take the fish." She passed the sandwich back to Lime.

"Oh, c'mon! It isn't that bad!" Lime mumbled, devouring her egg and spinach sandwich and handing back the second one to Cyan.

"Hey! Don't say no now! You have to eat to get your energy back up to one hundred percent." Lime stated.

"I.. ugh. Fine Lime, but I'm going to hate eating this, just letting you know. You better get a trash bag ready for me to throw up in." She said, eating a bite off of her sandwich. She looked miserable as she ate the sandwich one bite at a time.

"Hey. Do you ever want to go back?" Lime asked Cyan.

"What do you mean?" Cyan asked her, getting a canteen from her side.

"I mean like, go back to the way things used to be? Back to that town I forgot the name of, hanging out with our friends?" She asked her.

"Do I ever want to go back huh... yeah. I would love to go back in time and tell my younger self to not go into that stupid structure. But here we are now, stronger than ever before and on the cusp of getting everything ready for a deadly battle."

"A small battle. Everything's going to be okay as long as everything we've planned goes according to plan, which it absolutely will."

"Lime let's be realistic for a minute. None of our plans ever work right before a battle. Remember Longsford? Gyui? Dreamland?! We prepared those cities to have death traps everywhere! You know the funny thing about those three battles though? Only one single trap was set off in each of them and they were the most useless mines ever that just got pressed on by some unlucky soldier. We're going to need much more than just our plannings and traps to win." She said in a fierce tone. Lime sighed deeply.

"Then you better eat your sandwich and get a good night's rest. Because tomorrow, according to me, they'll go through our traps no matter what." Lime let go of her bird and got up, stretching.

"I wish I could have the optimism you have right now, but I don't want to see—" Cyan choked up like she was about to cry while Lime stopped stretching and tapped her on the back.

"Hey, it's alright. If you ever see him again you'll beat him the fuck up. After everything he's done to us behind our backs and yours especially, he deserves that. Okay?" She asked Cyan. She wiped her tears away and nodded,

"Okay."

However, a big-

BOOM!

-occurred and both of them looked at each other in horror.

"Maybe one of your animals set it off?" Cyan asked.

"No. I'm controlling all of the animals in the small perimeter, that's why I have my staff out. I swear I've explained this to you for the 600th time. This is something else, something more... dangerous."

"Could they be.. they couldn't have right? That would be impossible for them to already be here!"

"There's only one way to find out Cyan. Grab your bow fast, we have to be on the move right now if we want to get the jump on them!" Lime stated. Cyan grabbed her bow and canteen quickly as she finished her sandwich and headed off to where the massive blast occurred. They abandoned the makeshift camp they had.

As I approached the camp, now empty by the two women I saw leaving. I saw a piece of paper on the floor, I immediately experienced the same thing I had felt in the factory—a rushing flush of emotions—followed by a sort of uplift as if I was on a cloud. However, I persisted on and read the note and interpreted one word once again. The word was:

"Future."

I passed out.