The Fading Oddities of Nate Smith (A NateWantsToBattle Fanfiction) --COMPLETE--

Chapter Nineteen

It's time to get to the bottom of this.

Most of the video results that show up upon searching are drum covers, sports tricks, and the like, but as I keep scrolling, my cursor stops over one certain video:

"Nate Smith Voice Demo Reel #2"

The thing that catches my attention is the picture on the thumbnail - it's of Nate. Surprised and extremely curious, I click on the video and plug in my pair of earbuds to take a listen.

A few seconds in, and I'm convinced; that voice definitely belongs to Nate. Hoping to find out more, I scroll down to the video's description to check the uploader, whose username is "NateWantsToBattle."

I click on it, and it all comes back to me.

This channel...these parodies, these covers, these Let's Plays...they all belong to NateWantsToBattle, the YouTuber I watched all the time back in high school.

How could I possibly not have known that that very YouTuber was the one I found on the side of the road just a week ago...?

Utterly dumbstruck at this point, I scroll through the channel and click on the most recent video, which, upon looking at the upload date, was a very long time ago - eleven months, to be exact...

The video itself proves no use in my little investigation, so the next thing I turn to is the comments section. Surely, there's something in there that'll connect the dots and help me find the truth. After a minute or so of more scrolling, I stumble across a comment chain that catches my eye:

Skippy The Mudkip
--11 months ago--

Has anyone heard from Nate? He hasn't been active in a while, and I'm starting to get worried...

VIEW 10 REPLIES v

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Mewtra
--11 months ago--

Not sure...Dookie hasn't been online either. Wonder what happened to them?? :/

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Dimensions_Unknown
--11 months ago--

idk where they went but i think it has something to do with this:

http://www.redticket.com/news/item?-65-46-14674.html

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theMurderKHRP
--11 months ago--

+Dimensions_Unknown OMG WHAT COULD THIS MEAN?! D:

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Skippy The Mudkip
--11 months ago--

+theMurderKHRP I'm not sure, but the article DID say it had one fatality.

Nate and Dookie haven't been active.

I think I can see what happened...

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Skycat23
--11 months ago--

+Skippy The Mudkip WHAT?! No! That can't be true!! D: Do you think one of them...you know...

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Autumn Glen
--11 months ago--

+AnonWantsToNookie HOLY CRAP ARE YOU SEEING THIS

THIS CANT BE TRUE NOOOO

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AnonWantsToNookie
--11 months ago--

+Autumn Glen +Skycat23 oh no.

oh, nonononono.

WHY.

WHYYYYY.

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Dr3ami3_Arabian
--11 months ago--

This is crazy, but before we jump to conclusions, how about we think about the others involved in that accident? It could've just been someone else.

But that just throws us back to Square One and we still don't know what happened to them .-.

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Skippy The Mudkip
--11 months ago--

+Dr3ami3_Arabian I think you're right. Hopefully nothing happened that's as bad as we think ;-;

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Skippy The Mudkip
--10 months ago--

Guys, I figured out what happened. It's all right here:

http://www.newscrazybizz.com/articleno=728272647nshh/

Stated directly from the article, it says that "most of the victims in the crash back in August survived except for Hunter "Dookieshed" Hughes, who was pronounced dead at 4:30 PM that same day."

As for Nate? I'm not sure. It never said what happened to him.

So, there you have it; two friends torn apart - one by death, and the other by unthinkably shocking grief.

RIP Dookieshed, and let's hope that Nate is okay.

My eyes widen as I read through each comment. Dookie's...dead?! Shocked tears begin to shimmer in my eyes as I click on both the articles linked in the chain, reading and rereading all three until I can get a good grip on what exactly happened that August.

My next action is to whip out my phone, utter shock taking over my decisions. I take a picture of the comment chain and copy down the two links. With now shaking fingers, I switch to the texting app and get ahold of Tess.

"Tess! I have something to show you!" I type, "It's REALLY important; please respond ASAP."

I close out the page and get up from my seat, gathering my things and heading straight back to the dorm. Within a few moments, I get a text back:

"Jesus, what is it now? I'm trying not to get my phone taken up as many times as it was last month, thanks."

I stop on the side of the hallway to type back, "Take a look at this." Before sending, I attach the photos of the comments and the links to the two articles.

Tess doesn't respond for about a minute or so, so I use that time to continue my walk back to the dorm. My phone vibrates, and I whip it back out to check her reply.

"...Oh my God."

"Oracle told me to look it up. I have a feeling there's more to all this than we thought."

"Um, yeah. I'd think so."

"Heading back to the dorm now; I have a few questions I need to ask Nate."

"Okay. Meet you there."

"What? I thought you were in class??"

"Not anymore. I need to hear this."

"Alright. See you there."

With that, I lock my phone and shove it in my pocket, breaking into a jog to get to the dorm as soon as I possibly can. As I run, a million questions come surging through my mind, nearly dizzying me. Why is Nate all the way in Tallahassee? Why did he leave LA and YouTube? What happened in that crash? Most of all, why does Oracle know so much about this...?

I shake my head and keep running. Only Nate has all the answers, and right now, answers are all I want.