Oh thank you so much!! I'm so honored to have been your first attack, don't be so hard on yourself for it, I absolutely adore it and it makes me so happy
Finally, I'm achieving more and more strength of sitting down and writing stuff dedicated to Oxide. I want to make a full on series of Oxide's perspective of a lot of the matters concerning things after CTRacing, but for now we'll just focus on the events of the Grand Prix. More can come. It was also totally an excuse to get more indulgent and bring back my magnum opus of a fancharacter, but this never stops being about Oxide.
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Things were certainly... different on Gasmoxia since the whole grand ‘Survival of the Fastest’ scenario. Oxide had a good time and he was gone as soon as he came. While he had stated that his home world would think of him as a loser, he was very self-assured that shouldn’t be the case, he had a career and was known to exaggerate. Of course, nothing had changed within his family, his brother grilled him but what else was new. Though his grandparent seemed strangely avoidant, but he shrugged that off as something else occurring, as Cellulose was a council member for the emperor. Maybe it had something to do with Glycerin not being around, with no one knowing where she went, but that too was typical.
But after he had departed from the family home, and was wandering deeper into the city, he couldn’t help but see people just stare at him weirdly, trying to avoid his gaze but watching him like a hawk, smirking as they looked back at their phones. Truly he hadn’t been mistaken and assumed too much, right? He had been doing this for long enough, nothing had to have changed just because the Earth dwellers were just a little uglier than most of what you’d find in space.
As he had pulled up his own device to get in contact with someone that would have more answers, he received a call from Sylazide.
“Ah, just the nymph I was waiting for!” The green alien chirped.
“Are you getting calls from other nymph business doers?” They immediately responded, faking offence.
“No. But that’s not the point! Sylazide, was there anything... incriminating in the broadcast of my race on Earth? Anything mocking?”
“Huh—No?? You reviewed it about five times, remember? It was a busy night, you were drinking a lot of coffee, which probably explains why you don’t remember, you crashed pretty hard.” They remarked, eyes wandering in thought.
Oxide placed a finger under his trunk, thinking. Right, he was very meticulous over the things that got put out about him. Not that they minded, it was a team effort to make the best out of his career. Sylazide very much welcomed their output having his seal of approval.
“I’m surprised you’re already out of the house, Par.” The little bug continued. “Glycmaw should still be crushing you with hugs right now.”
“Mom wasn’t around. Also, I’m surprised you’re already out of your meeting.”
“Not much of a meeting. Nuclear Pizza was just making me try their new ‘Green’ flavor.”
“...Green?”
“Green.”
Okay. No asking what that meant, bigger fish to fry, Nitros Oxide, and there were definitely bigger things as his child looked like they had more to say.
“So, I got some information you’d really love to hear, actually.” Sylazide started, wiggling in their spot as their purple eyes lit up with excitement. “How much are you hankerin’ to get back to Earth?”
“Considering the day I’m having, there’s a chance I’d welcome the overly abundant bodies of water. What’s going on?”
“You wouldn’t believe it, those ‘slugs’ down there were inspired by you coming over! They must have had something cooking behind our backs, ‘cause not only do they have their own little news network, but they started their own ‘Grand Prix’. There’s even new people signing up to race, and they look like they are ready to do it for a while.”
The taller bug went stiff, only his pupils and irises dilating at the idea of more racing. That he really did light a fire in those Earthlings, it is almost like they missed his presence the moment he left. There was a distinct tapping of his feet on the ground beneath him, growing more and more excited. He could race constantly against them, find new challenges, and expand his horizons as an utter star. He was going to have eyes on him, and he welcomed it.
“I’m already at the ship, by the way, since you look so raring to go, Par.” They giggled. “Does ol’ Smello need to know about this though, you know he likes to know everything.”
Tsk. Still having to worry about answering to his emperor. But Oxide kept up a grin, already coming up with an idea. “I’ll tell him on the way there, he couldn’t expect my race with the Earthlings to end so soon, and it was just supposed to be a fun activity. Besides, you’d be amazed at how much freedom he gives me. He didn’t put up a fight years ago when I showed up with an egg and told him I was going on a break.”
“Better to ask for forgiveness than permission, right?” Sylazide chuckled, giving a knowing smirk to their phone.
“I wasn’t going to ask for permission of what I did outside my career!” He remarked, placing a hand on his hip, though he was still very full of glee.
“And going back to Earth isn’t part of your career?”
“It is, but it’s not part of Velo’s. With that, I’ll be on my way. Keep my seat warm, would you?”
“Hey, why does your chair move so much when that would cause problems as a pilot?”
And with that, he hung up, then it was all a blur until he found himself back on the Wumpa Islands. The emperor didn’t seem to mind that he was doing this again, almost eager. Too eager. He was watching the current races from afar, watching the newbies struggling to drive backwards at the small bandicoot’s race track, somewhere he was familiar with when he had first arrived. Oxide sipped at the slushy he was holding, a concoction made out of the islands signature fruit, surprised at how much he was enjoying the tropical flavors. That might be enough to shake off any concerns laying in the back of his head.
It was shockingly peaceful, despite the fact that he was bothering to show his face on Earth once more. That was, until, the tiny techie marsupial jumped up to where he was seated. His pipes ignited briefly as his legs scrambled to try to back away before regaining his composure.
“O-Oh, it’s merely you... which one were you again?” He began, putting a sense of bravado upfront. He had a persona to keep up. “Coconut Coconut.”
Coco immediately cackled. “No need to elongate my name, mean green. But hey, it’s a step up from ‘the one with the username I don’t like’!”
“I still don’t, for the record.”
“Right right, because you have such a high standard and we’re just a bunch of ‘Terra vermin’.” She smirked. “Just teasing you, though, great to have you back... But, why? I thought you were done with us? For good is supposed to be for good, right?”
He paused, trying to think of the best way to word his reason. “I had heard of you starting your own competitions, and I couldn’t let you Earthlings hold all that glory forever. If there’s new racers around, I need to see if they can stand up to me.”
She raised her eyebrow, nodding her head. “So, did you get called a loser back on your home planet, or...?”
“I didn’t run away from any bullying, Coco! I can take a little heat.” He spoke, a little offended.
“Sorry, I’m just looking out for you. Everyone else will probably have less mercy than me!” She spoke, chuckling a little, really not taking things too seriously. “Joe and Pinstripe have weapons.”
“They’d have to catch me first.” He spoke, smug. “Besides, I have bodyguards.” Thinking about how Greg no doubt would defend him if given the chance, he closed his eyes, sipping on his slushy.
Coco nodded before bringing up something she had been holding onto for a while. “Yeah. Plus, maybe they’d back off knowing your mom is here.”
His eyes widened as he inhaled a bit of his drink, going into a coughing fit. Was Coco trying to kill him, he thought as he collapsed on the ground, his pipes going off each time he hacked, trying to clear up his lungs. Oxide’s body shook as he felt lightheaded, unable to comprehend the implications of what she had said.
It took a while and he had his finger raised until he was able to talk. Finally, he set it down. “...What!? How do you know who my mom is!?”
The bandicoot did her best to hold her laughter, smirking as she looked at her tablet. “I was streaming some of the races and a new viewer suddenly pops in – one ‘QueenBeeTNT’. And she proceeds to type in my chat, all caps, “HELLO EARTHLING!!! MY NYMPH IS CURRENTLY ON YOUR PLANET RACING! HE’S THE BEST! HAVE FUN, GOOD LUCK!” and then proceeded to donate 200 unidentifiable dollars. Here’s proof.” She snorted as she showed her screen and the history of her chat.
There was a deep sigh travelling through Oxide’s trunk. Oh, this completely ruined the bravado that he was keeping up. At least for Coco. He could totally keep up the act in front of everyone else. He didn’t respond, his face turning a sea green.
“What could I buy on Gasmoxia with this donation?” She asked, genuinely curious.
“I don’t----- The new ‘Green’ flavor at Nuclear Pizza!” He blurted.
“Oh, rad, when are you taking me?”
“Not answering that!”
“That wasn’t a no~. Thanks peapod.” She spoke, tapping him with her elbow. “Oh, so how I knew you guys were related was that I hacked into her computer to get her information.” Coco mentioned extremely nonchalantly. “Anyways, it was super fun to get a reaction out of you, we should talk more!”
He just frowned, crossing his arms. “Don’t bring any of this on the race track and we’ll get along better.” He huffed. She had no response, only giving a shrug before jumping into a kart and speeding off. Finally, he released a sigh, resting his shoulders for a moment. That could have gone far worse, if she were more aggressive that would have been a lot easier to handle it, but shoving down his shock of Coco digging into his personal business was not easy.
It wasn’t that he never wanted anyone to know who his mom was, or being embarrassed that she talked so kindly of him. But he had to have some professionalism around him, he had to interact with so many planets and cultures, so that required setting some boundaries on how people got to his personal life. He couldn’t be the one who (allegedly) brought Mars to extinction and someone who was a total mama’s grub. Imagine the interviews! They would be a disaster!
Sure, he had hired his own offspring, but Sylazide got the memo on that. Not Glycerin. Which speaking of her, no one still had a hold of her. If you really wanted something done, you had to do it yourself, he thought. Besides, she would never ever miss a call from him. Clicking on his phone, he brought it to his hearing sacs, before hearing the echo of a ringtone. His eyes widened, before swiftly skittering to the edges of the stands.
At first, he wasn’t noticed, so he just watched for a moment, barely noticing a butterfly flutter nearby. But as it glided towards him, a set of red eyes turned towards him, and he could only stand and stare at a set of lips accompanied with piercing, gigantic tusks formed into a wild smile. Without much hesitation, he was pulled from the stands into a hug from a figure taller than him.
“OXYYYYY!! HOW’S MY LIL’ NYMPH?” Her shrill voice shrieked, hopefully not gaining the attention of any of the Earthlings.
“H-Hi, Mom...” Oxide squeaked out, trying to find the strength to breathe from the tight embrace, which was eventually loosened. “What are you doing on Earth? Have you been looking for me?”
“If I was, I wouldn’t go here, silly!” She waved her hand. “The little orange rat—--”
“Bandicoot.”
“Gesundheit---- She told me AAAAALL about the beautiful flowers on this planet! She said you called this place ‘gushy’ and it excited me! Look at the flowers! Have ya seen the bees, Oxy?” Just as she said that, she spread her arms out, a swarm of bees immediately rushing and looping around her arms happily before just resting on her.
He blinked as he just watched her, impressed at how much she already connected with the nature of the planet. She looked in her element. But he still had to cover his own hind. “How much have you told her? You haven’t told her about my siblings have you?”
“No, I hadn’t got to that part!” She giggled. “Kiddin’! She doesn’t gotta know ‘bout every little dynamic!” She flashed her eyelashes. “Not ‘till I tell her about when you started racing and when you were oh so itty bitty and---”
“Mom!” He hissed, glancing around. “Not so loud! You don’t know who’s recording!”
She spun around, the bees flying off her arms and scattering around. Glycerin paused for a moment. “I don’t think they don’t see anything! Coco was saying her big brother tended to attract trouble. Bee specific trouble, to name a few. Beesides, Oxy, I think if the Earthlings were recordin’, they should get to know about me too! What, are you trying to hide me?”
“It’s not that I want to hide you. The Earthlings just might not take me seriously if they saw you coddling me.”
She simply chuckled. “They can take ya seriously and be endeared by you at the same time, sweetie. But c’mon, think about it. Velo’s got most of the Nitros family workin’ for him in some way or another. Some of us being a big deal here would also be very cool! Plus who doesn’t like the imagery of a bad bug who also loves his mama?”
He hesitated, placing a finger to his lip as he thought about it. On one hand, maybe it’ll take some mystique away from him, and who knows, maybe one of his siblings would want to get involved... on the other hand, maybe it simply would make him untouchable by anyone who still beefed with him after his little game. A part of him also felt a little guilty that maybe he wasn’t showing enough care towards her.
His thoughts kept wandering as she continued. “Sometimes you gotta give the act up a little. It sure isn’t helping your situation back home. Oh right, your grandren Cellulose wanted me to tell ya about that!”
Then his thoughts resembled more of a train wreck as she threw that out there. He raised his eyebrow hard as he frowned. “What do you mean? I noticed they were avoiding talking to me, but they talked to you just fine?”
“They didn’t know that... you didn’t know.”
“Didn’t know what?”
Glycerin pulled out her phone, tapping away before displaying a projection of many videos and headlines. To his horror, behind his back, the Emperor had weaved a story about his failure. That, without his permission, he had gone to the Earthlings to challenge them, cheated, and lost, and Velo was going to assemble everything he could to create the ultimate galactic circuit, to properly show those of Earth what speed truly meant.
It was a long while of silence while Oxide just growled and occasionally clicked, dwelling on this. His own boss had turned against him, that he was being used as a mere stepping stool! His pipes ignited as he paced in place. Sure, he did totally cheat and lose, but it was all fun and games! Velo made him look serious to the point of being a joke.
Soon, Glycerin wrapped an arm around him, patting him on the shoulder. “Do the Earthlings know?”
“...They shouldn’t...” He muttered.
“Good!” She chirped.
“How is any of this good?!”
“’Cuz the footage of ya racin’ here will be gold, right?” She asked, starting to smirk. Which, as he once more went into his thoughts, he started to slowly smile. His reputation was something to grow here, and with CTR TV running, he’ll bring more attention to himself. He’ll make the vermin better racers. He’ll make himself a better racer.
It quite frankly fueled dreams of taking Velo down a peg. While challenging the state of monarchy on his planet was a whole other discussion, it wasn’t that he outright hated his emperor; he could just be annoying and entitled. All the better to work behind his back. This career was his, not Velo’s, not anyone else's. And as he turned up to look at his parent, Oxide knew support was always there.
Bottom line was that he was going to race more, which always brought him to a better place. It always beckoned him, it always guided him and brought him to the top. There was only room for one fastest racer from Gasmoxia, and he wasn’t going to leave that space any time soon.
I don't think I made it clear, but anyone is free to ask questions about my writing, or just my stuff in general. I bring up my Crash writing specifically because there's things in my head that are clear to me that maybe no one else picked up on. Which is okay. I just want to ramble.
So little fact, Syl has Oxide's wheezy laughter. That's something that's very clear in the original CTR and the idea of a little teenager laughing like that is baller to me.
Oops, I meant to post more oc references at some point, but after a while of just trying to put my focus elsewhere, I did have a bit of a side project I was sitting on. I've been meaning to re-introduce concepts, that I've worked on with my family and characters that mean a lot to me. So here's a little something before the events of Crash Team Racing!
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“...But if I win...”
“But if I win...”
“I’ll turn your entire globe...”
“...I’ll turn your entire globe...”
“Into a concrete parking lot!”
“Into a----- Sylazide, this is a terrible speech!”
“C’mon, Par, it’s great, it’s grand, an offer no one can refuse!”
“A concrete parking lot?”
“Hhhheheheh~.”
“See, you can’t hold back your laughter!”
“You didn’t deny my points though. You got anything better?”
Supposedly wise words from the real manager behind Nitros Oxide’s legacy. Sure, Velo had been around for longer and called the shots of him and the entire planet, to name an iota of what that guy owned, but he didn’t come up with stuff like this! Now, Nitros Sylazide, the racer’s own offspring, they held themselves to the high standards of working for him. Not that they had to, but they wanted to. He was a true legendary racer, but did he know how to work many cameras at a time? To manage all the business deals that all of Gasmoxia had prepared to thrust at him? No. He tried that.
But deals and the fine print excited them. Though, while their current work wasn’t about the fine print, it had to be something that clicked towards the masses regardless. All of Earth had to hear that they had been graced with the fastest racer in the galaxy, and they couldn’t refuse. Because that would personally suck and be a total buzzkill, for everyone. From their research, aliens hadn’t really... shown up on Earth, some Earthlings didn’t even believe they existed, so there had to be someone truly evil that needed to be stopped, that all those mushy little guys would line up to race.
And that would all make their parent happy. A reasonable cause! They couldn’t help but stare off in pride, not only in themselves for contributing to the speech, but for their parent that they were always happy to help. Though as they rocked back and forth on their cane, Oxide broke out of his own process of thinking to check up on them. Moving his chair to reach them, he placed his hands on his lap, just watching them.
“Sylazide...” He began before his lips curled into a slight frown. “Where did you get the idea of a parking lot?”
Blinking a few times, they focused their eyes once more, starting to grin. “Last time you got road rage.”
“It was not rage, it was annoyance that I didn’t get priority parking.” Oxide stated, pinching between his eyes as he groaned, withholding anger. They were just stating a fact, it wasn’t stirring the pot at all. “Didn’t those people know I was with the Emperor?”
“Y’know how Smello is, Par. Besides, you’re kinda one of the hundreds of people that work for him. Glycmaw was there too.”
“And she got to be closer to the stadium than me!”
“Well, did you see that flower arrangement? C’mon, be a little proud of your own parent. Like I am for you.”
He opened his mouth, jade blush approaching his cheeks. “It... wasn’t that I wasn’t proud of her.”
The nymph shrugged in response, giving him a teasing look. “Oh yeah, I know. Don’t worry about it. Besides, we’re getting sidetracked, my pride in you has to be placed somewhere! We got cameras to set up- and fast before people get wise of us floating in the atmosphere before we’re ready. We can’t risk any actual damage. Greg doesn’t want to hurt anybody unless they hurt you, and I don’t want anyone to hurt Greg.”
A beat turned into a full on silence as Oxide pieced together what they said, what they implied. It was obviously a bit, but the whiplash was still there, resulting in a chuckle from the green insectoid. Never a dull moment on the ship, or in the Nitros family itself. That only further proved itself as Sylazide pulled out a device, pressing on many buttons as floating cameras began to turn on, eventually making their way out of ship and rushing towards a remote spot on the globe.
“Are you certain you have the right spot?” The elder couldn’t help but ask.
“Of course! Pretty easy to track this one girl’s social media to see all the racing they’ve been doing down there.” They responded, before tapping away at their device, eventually handing it over to Oxide. “Here, scope out the competition.”
Taking it in his green hands, he scrolled through what he was shown, sticking his forked tongue eventually in disgust. The fashion, the squishiness of the beings below, the vulgarity of the name ‘Kickass_Coco’. “Ech! How revolting! The way the yellow one looks especially in these photos!”
“And their racing?”
“Leaves something to be desired...” He muttered, disappointed.
“That’s what you’re here for! They’ll race like nothing ever raced before because of the big scary bug from beyond the stars! These guys hadn’t seen aliens before, and this will go down in history!” Sylazide spoke, raising their hand up, before they swiftly took back their phone. Eventually they lifted up their cane, its base retracting before forming into a floating platform, which they steadily lifted themselves onto.
Their motivation and attitude couldn’t help but infect Oxide, as he tapped away at the controls of the ship, viewing the many spots that the cameras were capturing, including a race track itself. Perfect place for his time to shine. He had a smug little grin across his green lips, as their point set in. He was one of a kind, he was always told that, and he was literally going to be that as the first ‘threat’ the planet had seen. As the best racer there ever was. He was going to change all these Earthlings lives and they had no idea... for now.
“Decided they were too ugly to keep waiting?” Sylazide joked.
“Yes.” Oxide responded, with not too much of a second thought. “Okay, it’s more than that but you know what I mean!”
“Power of being a genetic clone~.”
“Not how that works.” He responded, before sighing. “No distractions, Sylazide, not that your input isn’t appreciated. We have to be ready to go soon. They might get slower just waiting for us.” He couldn’t help but chuckle at his joke. “Hovercraft status?”
“Sulfate’s checked it, I think she said it could handle flight.”
“Hologram projector?”
“Nol had it last. Hold up.” Once more, a few clicks on the phone and more devices moved, including a pad hovering above the exit door, and a camera above Oxide’s control pad. Giving a thumbs up, they slid away from the cameras view. “Everything is good to go.”
“Excellent! No more delays?”
“Not like there was, but I get it, the speed need is really igniting. Those pipes are next.”
He giggled at that remark, a bit of smoke rising up behind him before he shook it off, giving a serious expression.
“Good job, Par.” They remarked. “Impressions are everything! You got the speech memorized?”
“I believe so.”
“Including the concrete parking lot?”
“...Maybe.”
They gave a very knowing look, raising their eyebrows, testing him but he tried to be as stern as could be. No goofing off! It was going to be a series of races for everyone to remember.
This is Kiasma, a specifically very tall and noodly Lysgy, from planet Varila. She is considered a leading figure in her family, but really she is very supporting and doesn't try to be in the spotlight. She is just a gardener who is... particularly feared. This comes in handy with the rebellion, as she is a capable fighter, but while she believes in defending the galaxy, her home and the environment, she cares immensely for her family, especially after a considerable loss of her second child, Kallest. They aren't dead, just missing, but regardless it is a huge motivator for her, but especially her eldest, Marlleks.
I uh... realize I haven't posted the refs of my ocs that I've had for a couple years now! I'll slowly get to it, so let's get to a random one!
Well look at that, the number generator put the main character of my story! This is Camilla, a Skalaszar, or, in short, an alien from planet Gridi. She is a part of a rebellion, working more as support. She is not very expressive and acts very flat, but she cares immensely for her cause and working as a team, even if she pushes herself.
I'm doing artfight this year, I am so excited!!! And oh yeah, the featured characters are some folks I haven't posted the refs of here, but trust me, there's big things for my original story
I cleaned my computer a while ago and that changed my settings on CSP so... I decided to give an update to Voise's ref now that I've been using different brushes and stuff like that
Once more here is beloved Violette Thaddeus Noise, or Voise for short, feral gremlin clone supreme
So, still having a lot of motivation towards Pizza Tower, I did put together some roleplay side blogs, maybe they'll be main blogs someday but honestly I've held onto one of these urls for a while. I just saw Pizza Tower roleplaying on tumblr was really popping off and I wanted to join in, roleplaying is such a crucial part of my art expression, has been for years.
So if you want to see what I cobbled together, here's Noise and, I couldn't help myself, my fancharacter of my previous fanfics, Voise!
Yes I am proud of my urls! The Noise one was an obvious joke relating to the Noid (who is slightly relevant to my headcanons) and then. just. reversed it. funny
Hi sorry for no art, uhm. oops! But definitely there's something in there that wants to do stuff, and I've felt a lot of passion towards Pizza Tower once more, it's actually very tempting to want to put myself out there with roleplaying and such heh heh
Was gonna work on my original story but got derailed by a dream. So it's Neverhood time... with a fun twist!
So my friend is a fan of Catscratch and we got talking about our respective dig tenapples stuff that we like. A short part of it is basically Willie and Waffle would be friends, but Klogg would hate Mr Blik because both are the decided leaders (by themselves) of their respective family and Klogg has no patience for people who are shitty to their family.
So here's a blissful Blik, unaware about the enemy he's made GHTHHFHT
Hi, I was super euphoric today thinking about Pizza Tower, so consider this a Part II to the writing I did last night of Voise's origin! This is about Voise again, but is more a character exploration piece on beloved cowboy the Vigilante. Takes place just shortly after the last.
Since the destruction of the Pizza Tower, he's taken it upon himself to be the guardian of the small 'town' they've created, which is just everyone's residence and establishments. He's training the toppins to be on the look out for the possible return of Pizzahead, as foretold in one of the ending images.
So, prior to the writing of the origin story, we were planning stuff for the bond between Voise and Vigilante, but as we realized, things weren't gonna start perfect. Them being a clone sets him off into.. vigilance. to a bit of an extreme degree.
It was an awkward evening for the Vigilante. From what he could tell just making his rounds through their settlement in the middle of nowhere, Peppino was more on edge than usual, and things were quiet from the local couple. Too quiet. There always had to be something rustling from Noisette's cafe, and usually Noise was skipping around, causing mayhem in his wake, or standing outside for a smoke. Really, when thinking about it, he hadn't seen them since this morning.
"Sir?" Spoke one of the toppins, the pineapple to be exact. Vigert was very serious about teaching all of them how to defend themselves, and he had to teach them to keep a watchful eye, danger could be lurking everywhere. "Do you, like, feel like you're being watched?"
He ceased his movements, rotating his slimy head to get a look at his surroundings. He couldn't immediately see anything, but come to think of it, something seemed off. Pulling out his gun, he slid his way around some of the establishments. No one was hiding. "You seem to be onto somethin', li'l one." He spoke.
He continued to survey his surroundings before the toppins looked upwards. "False alarm, I think it's just Noisette watching us."
Confused, the Vigilante turned his gaze upwards, and he saw a brief silhouette of what appeared to be her on the roof, but it didn't say anything and disappeared as soon as he saw it. Putting away his gun, he grunted. "That's weird. Best I go check on her. Go get yourselves some rest." The toppins cheered as they quickly ran away from their training, while he slithered to Noisette's cafe.
Placing a gloved hand on the door, he opened it, hiding his slight concern for his best friend, as he saw her waving towards him. "Hi Vigi! Oh my gosh, you would not believe the day I had!"
"Why were you just starin' at me outside?"
"I wasn't? I've just been standing here."
"… Where's Noise?"
"In the back."
Balling his hand into a fist, he focused on her with concern. "I think somethin's up, there was someone who looked like you on the roof and---" Shifting his eye away from her for a second he saw something in his vision. It took him some moments to realize it was the same figure, now just looking at him from behind the counter. Pulling out his gun, he shouted, "Noisette, take cover!"
"Huh?" She was oblivious for a moment, though she soon turned behind her, where he was aiming his pistol. Realizing Voise had come back from being outside, she soon got in front of them. "No, no, no, don't shoot! This is Voise! They aren't harmful!"
"How do you know?!"
"They're my clone (and Noisy's). They just showed up today, and I'm adopting them!"
"So that's why things have been quiet… I'm sorry, but this has to be some sort of trick from Pizzahead. He's the only person I know who has cloned one of us."
"You don't know a lot of people, Vigi."
"Then where do they come from?"
"The ruins of the tower!"
"That just proves my point, Hazel! They are clearly meant to be spying on us, getting our secrets. You can't just house this thing."
"You're assuming so much. They wouldn't do anything harmful. Just look at them."
Noisette moved out of the way, and Voise was still completely dead silent, just looking back and forth between them. Smiling towards the cowboy, they spoke. "Hi. Heard about you."
"I bet you have." He muttered.
"I like your gun."
"You'd like your hands on it, wouldn't you? Why are you here?"
"No direction. Needed home."
"Oh really now? You got no clue where Pizzahead is?"
They shook their head in response. "Do you not trust Noisette?"
"What's that got to do with anything?"
The bunny eared baker soon stepped in. "I think they are trying to say that in your care for me that you think I wouldn't handle myself. Just because something came from the Tower doesn't mean it's some sort of scheme. We were raised in the Tower!"
"That's different!" He responded. Yet, he was beginning to put away his weapon. Maybe he himself was too on edge. Sure, he still couldn't feel himself trusting Voise, this entity was still too suspicious, still too many questions, but could he really allow himself to treat his best friend like a defenseless damsel? No. "Does Noise know about them?"
"Yeah, he decided he's taking them in as an apprentice."
"Oh. Goody. Well, I'll take my leave. Sorry I almost opened fire in your establishment."
"No harm, no foul, Vigi."
"Right. Be seein' ya tomorrow." As he slithered away, he looked back at the clone, squinting and pointing at his eyes before pointing at them. His glare intensified as they crossed their arms and titled their head.
Soon the night passed, and it was a couple days after the incident. Another morning had arrived, and things between the Vigilante and the Voise hadn't improved. Sometimes they had left somewhere with Noise, but on a morning like this, they were 'helping' Noisette around the cafe. Didn't seem like they were doing much other than sitting quietly on one of the stools.
Both he and Peppino usually arrived in the cafe for their morning coffee, but for the past while, when Peppino saw them around, he usually bolted, just like today. He didn't really budge as he sipped on his coffee. Occasionally he would turn his attention to them as they started chewing on a honeycomb. Why Noisette had raw honeycomb somewhere in her kitchen was anyone else's guess. "Still here?" He grumbled to them.
"Yep."
"Haven't been slitherin' away from your caretakers in the night, have ya?"
Noisette soon piped up as she was brewing another pot of coffee. "Sometimes before bed they would go into the yard and collect leaves while walking on all fours. We've got cameras and they've never strayed far."
He wasn't very satisfied, still not believing that their act was a genuine one. Though, that was too specific of a story and they were under enough surveillance.
"Pizzahead probably forgot about me." Voise spoke up.
"How can you be so sure?" Vigilante asked.
"Was unconscious for a while." They paused, lifting up their mask and hair to show their wound from getting hit in the head with a brick. Pulling down their mask, they surprisingly continued. "Probably seemed preeeeeetty dead."
He grunted in response. It had been too soon of knowing them, they weren't the lying type quite yet, and Noisette hummed as if she knew that this was a fact. He briefly dwelled on the fact that Fake Peppino didn't have any loyalty to his creator, and in fact was more dependent on who he was cloned from. But that seemed too coincidental, it couldn't be a case that happened twice, especially since Voise wasn't as goopy and more capable of speech, the short sentences appearing more as a quirk.
But he wasn't ready to let his guard down. Life was too good, having people to protect and being free from Pizzahead's deception, even if that meant losing what his grandpappy established. "Well. I best get the toppins ready fer their trainin'." He said, slipping off of the stool and making his way to the door.
"Oh! That reminds me!" Noisette had a smile on her face. Unknown from him was the fact that it was a very plotting, knowing kind of grin. She had a plan. "Noisy and I are going to go on a date tonight. We need someone to watch Voise, and we were hoping you would."
"They can't be on their own?" He immediately asked, rather impulsively. Wait, this was perfect, he could keep his eye on them. "Er, forget I said that. I'll do it."
"Yay, thank you so much, Vigi!!" She ran over to give her friend a hug. She did feel some guilt that she was lying to her bestie, but he needed to give her new family member a chance. He was being stubborn and she wasn't entirely having it.
He soon left and the day continued as normal. The toppins were brushing up on their target practice, and he tried to take his mind off the matter until he noticed Voise behind the fence. He jumped slightly realizing their presence and saw them motion their hands, indicating that the target was crooked. They soon left soon after, returning to the cafe, mouthing 'see you later.'
Later quickly came, and he entered the cafe just as the couple was about to leave. Noise gave Vigilante a look, all the while adjusting his hair. "Now, cowboy, you don't have to show off that you're the fastest shot from nowhere by gunning down my protege."
"Don't be silly, Theo!" Noisette chirped. "Vigi's a much kinder soul than to shoot family. He's going to protect them. See you two!" She couldn't help but giggle, giving a wink towards her boyfriend as they left. Once they were out of the establishment, Noise grabbed onto her, utilizing his jetpack to get them where they wouldn't be easily seen, which was the roof of Peppino's pizzeria.
"Gotta say, this is a pretty clever idea. And I know clever ideas." He told her, looking at his girlfriend with utter pride that she was capable of withholding the truth.
"Maybe. You don't think he's onto us, do you?"
"He's a person prone to focusing too hard on something. I think the thought that you'd lie to him to get him to let go of his paranoia isn't even a concept in his head."
"True. Oh no! I just realized I might have left my lemon and bacon pie in the oven!"
As they looked in the direction of the cafe, it turned out that inside, in the two minutes that had passed, was complete silence. It was pretty awkward, and Vigert didn't exactly feel like saying the first word.
"Evening, Mr. Lantte" Voise eventually spoke.
He tipped his hat at them, very slowly. "Howdy. What exactly are you going to do without them? You can't really do anything funny with me around."
"Are you sure?"
"… What're you planning?"
"Nothing. Can do stuff, though."
"Not without me trailin' right behind ya."
"Of course."
They both continued to sit, Vigilante expecting Voise to just sprint off, but instead they pulled out their sketchbook and doodled, looking up at him occasionally. He looked over their shoulder, stretching his slime to do so. They didn't exaclty mind, as he got to see the page that included their beginnings. He could feel himself worried at how they depicted their abandonment under the ruins of the tower, everyone was so eager that all was said and done, and didn't think anything else was left.
Was that all there was, was just someone who was finding their purpose in life, finding where they belong? They turned their attention towards him, breaking him out of his thoughts. He squinted at them. "I still don't exactly trust you."
"You will."
"Ya know, you don't exactly help yer case by speakin' the way you do."
"But it's fun." They smiled at him, appearing much more innocent. Noisette's charm definitely still existed in them, and that's how they knew they'd win him over. "So. Who's the ghost?"
"Figures you've been watching me enough to see him. That's my grandpappy. He had a pretty nice livin' back at the Pizza Tower. Lived there all his life, practically raised me. He was a humble farmer, taught me all I knew. … Then a chicken killed him."
"The long one?"
"Yup."
"That's pretty cool."
"Cool?!"
"Died as he lived."
"… Surrounded by chickens?"
"Yeah."
He stared in shock before leaving a small chuckle. "Okay, you got me there. It's not like he's really gone, his ghost hangs around, still watches over me. I still don't like that chicken though."
"Right."
"… What're you even drawin', by the way?"
They showed their current page. It was the Vigilante depicted as a very slimy cat with a cowboy hat.
"Well. I can say I never saw that drawn before. Pepperman would never."
Voise blinked a couple times, unsure of why everyone kept bringing up this Pepperman. Then their eyes widened, sniffing the air. "Does… something smell like burning?"
A drop of sweat oozed out of the cowboy as he realized how terrible of a sign that was. Running to the kitchen area, he saw a very smoke-y inside of the oven. "Oh shit! Kid, get me the fire extinguisher!"
Leaping up from the stool, they ran to the aforementioned extinguisher, struggling to get it to activate. He saw them struggle and swiftly grabbed it, managing to crack it open and get some foam to spurt out. It seemed to start to suppress the disaster waiting to happen. They both stood there, scared…
Then the oven promptly exploded, the whole cafe going down, Vigert swiftly using himself to cover Voise's body to protect them. He didn't realize what he was doing before it happened, but it was the right thing to do, his instincts knew that and got the better of him.
As only ash remained of the cafe, the Noise couple stared in complete awe. Not the good kind of awe. It was pretty bad. Leaping up from where they were hiding, they ran towards the two of them. "Oh gosh, I'm so sorry! That was my bad!" Noisette yelled.
What remained of the establishment was the burnt pie, which Voise promptly picked up and started to eat. The Vigilante watched them, before seeing Noise look at him with a rather smug expression. "I saw that, y'know."
"Saw what?"
"You protected Voise. The so-called thing you thought would be giving information to Pizzahead."
"He did that!?" Noisette yelped, running to hug her best friend. "I'm so proud of you, Vigi! You truly do care!"
"The place was about to blow up, what was I supposed to do?" He responded. He turned away from them, but he was pretty proud of himself. Maybe it wasn't worth getting so worked up over this clone that was eating literal ash pie. Maybe it was way more important to be concerned over what they were going to do now that Noisette's place of employment went down in flames. Eh, who are we kidding, the place will regenerate in its next appearance. Cartoon logic!
