Project: Shimmer (ii Blue Eyes AU)

[2] -Hot Air Balloons-

"We need to get out of here!" Baseball yelled over the blaring ship. "Ya no duh genius!" Knife answered back, already heading in the opposite direction of the ship. Lightbulb draged herself up from the ground and sprinted after Knife, Suitcase and Baseball hot on her heels. Mephone was frozen in place for a moment before he quickly followed the others. A large radio looking device descended from the open panel. A loud ringing sound emitted from it, followed by an orange colored wave of energy that shot straight towards the fleeing objects.

Mephone quickly turned around and manifested a large shield; trying to block the energy, but it quickly proved to be useless as the wave crashed hard into the shield, making it glitch and fade into pixels. Mephone's screen glitched and sparked as he was hit by the energy. He fell to the ground, groaning in pain as Lightbulb noticed his absence. "Mephone!" Lightbulb skidded to a halt, almost getting toppled by Suitcase as she turned to go back for him. Before she could reach him, however, a long winch with a large metal claw at the end shot out from the ship and towards the paralyzed Mephone.

The claws of the winch stabbed into the ground around Mephone, sending chunks of grass flying before clamping painfully around his body. Mephone cried out in pain as the impact sent a long horizontal crack throughout his screen. Lightbulb watched in shock as Mephone coughed and wheezed from the pressure. He looked to her one final time with a panicked expression before he was yanked into the air by the winch and into the ship.

The ship swiftly made u-turn and flew back into the sky, disappearing over the trees. Lightbulb stared at where Mephone once was, scared and confused. All that was left was small bits of glass and dug up earth from where the claw grabbed Mephone. "What. The. Hell." Knife peaked his head out from behind the tree he was hiding behind. Baseball quickly jumped out from behind a rock, "Is it gone?! Is everyone alright?!" Baseball checked with both Suitcase and Knife but Lightbulb didn't pay attention.

She picked up a shard of glass and stared at it, she looked to where the ship disappeared; concerned. Mephone's face...she couldn't get it out of her head. The terrified look he gave her before he was pulled into the ship was burned into her memory. Mepad and Toilet vanishing was already concerning, but Mephone being violently abducted by what seemed a meeple ship was something Lightbulb had never expected to ever see.

Weren't they business partners? That'd what Cobs said while they were at meeple headquarters..."I don't understand..." Baseball questioned, looking off into the sky as well. "What was that ship?? and where did..." Baseball trailed off as he saw Lightbulb turn around, the shard of Mephone's screen still in her hands. "Lightbulb, what happened?" Lightbulb fiddled with the glass before responding. "That ship shot this long metal thing at Mephone, it picked him up they took him with em!" Lightbulb frantically explained, becoming increasingly more distressed the more she thought about what happened to their host.

Suitcase seemed to be in the same emotional boat as Lightbulb because she looked equally as upset as she did. "We need to go after him! Who knows what could be happening to him!" Lightbulb agreed but both Knife and Baseball looked a bit unconvinced. "Didn't that corn guy say they staged that Mephone fight? I mean I know that weird egg looking ship showed up and Mephone said it was from Cobs but still." Knife shrugged his shoulders and Lightbulb shook her head.

"I dunno...I saw him, it didn't look very fake..." Mephone's face and horribly cracked screen flashed in her mind and she grimaced. "Why would Cobs be so violent if it was all just an act? You guys didn't see him, but I'm telling you Mephone looked terrified... We need to go after him, even just to check." Lightbulb declared. "But it would just be a huge waste of time-" Knife tried to argue but Lightbulb crossed her arms and gave him a disapproving look like an upset older sister. Knife sputtered before groaning in defeat. "Fine! Fine I guess you make a good point, so, what do you say we do now genius? We don't exactly have a space ship."