BIT Squad: Enter the BIT-verse!
Episode 10 - The Tale of 1BIT
Copyrights: 2BIT and most of his squad belong to the author...2BIT.
Tails and other Sonic characters (c) SEGA
Other characters belong to their respective owners (i.e. Mario (c) Nintendo, Kingdom Hearts (c) Disney/Square-Enix, Pokemon (c) The Pokemon Company/Game Freak)
The masked fox had menaced several worlds by now, and BIT Squad were determined to find his world before his mischief could go too far. Now that they'd worked out a means of travel to the Omniverse, the squad members were taking turns exploring various worlds. Today, 2BIT arrived in a new world with Bucky, Cupie and Dusk joining him. They looked around as they crossed a bridge into this strange land. "Heeey, is this place where Blocky is from?" Cupie questioned. "It does look kinda low-res here..." Dusk mumbled. It was indeed a simple-looking world. It felt oddly familiar to 2BIT. "You know, guys... This place feels oddly familiar." See, he said so. Bucky placed a hand on a weird block-shaped bush, examining it. "Your memories could be resonating with an alternate version of yourself. Of course, that's just a theory..." the rat mumbled. Cupie flew up high to get more of a look around. "Hmm, let's seeee... There's some neat ruins! Ohh, and a forest over there! And lookit, such a cute little house!" he said, pointing around. Dusk folded his arms in annoyance. "We can't see, we're stuck down here!" he pointed out. "A house means people." Bucky stated, "Perhaps we should ask the owner some questions... Assuming they understand our language." he suggested. It was a bit weird that in all their interdimensional travels, BIT Squad had never encountered a foreign language. Until now, that is, as 2BIT noticed a sign with a language he didn't recognize written on it. "Hmm, I don't have the best feeling about it, but let's have a look anyway. Lead the way, Cupie....Cupie?" he muttered, looking up. "He got over-excited and flew ahead." Dusk sighed. Hence, their mission now was to look for Cupie.
This land they found themselves in was quite strange. Much of the terrain appeared...not fully textured, like it was the beta version of a video game. They found odd monsters, such as a giant round creature. It wasn't moving. "Is that supposed to be a slime?" Dusk murmured. "Careful. Could be a surviving Lost One..." Bucky warned. "I'll just get rid of it! Eat lightning strike!" 2BIT cried. Nothing happened because he doesn't have that power anymore. "Alright, writer. What combat skills DO I have?" Hmmm... All right, to avoid straining my brain, a random bolt of lightning struck the slime after all. It seemed completely unaffected. "You know, I could have zapped it, too..." Bucky pointed out. Fine, I'm stupid. And so is 2BIT, because he decided to touch the unmoving slime. When he rested his hands against it, it poofed out of existence and he fell down onto his face. "Seems a bit glitchy around here..." Dusk murmured. Indeed, the other creatures they met along the way to find Cupie were similarly off. There was a sort of blocky goblin, resembling a model from early 3D games, and there was a lone unmoving wolf that unsettled the squad quite a bit. The only creatures that seemed "fully programmed" were smaller versions of the slime, which Bucky handled with his own lightning so things could make a bit of sense for once. Ultimately, they found Cupie resting by a fire, which was next to the house he'd seen earlier. "Oh, hey, guys! What took ya?" the mouse asked. "It's not as easy getting around for those of us who can't fly..." Dusk grumbled in response. 2BIT stepped to the door of the house that they'd found. "I suppose I should knock..." he shrugged. Upon knocking, he heard a squeaky voice on the other side of the door. "Who...who's there? Hello? Can you help me? My name is 1BIT!" the voice said, to 2BIT's astonishment.
Before the Squad could properly meet this "1BIT," they had to first get him out of the house. Dusk was elected to examine the door, and shortly after laying hands on it, he phased through it and ended up trapped along with 1BIT. "Ugh, I knew this would happen..." he groaned from the inside. "Want a waffle?" 1BIT could be heard saying to him. "Oooh, they have food in there!" Cupie said excitedly, only for Bucky to hold him back. "No one touches the door! We need to get them out, not get trapped with them!" he stated. And so, they made a few attempts at creating an exit. They tried throwing rocks at the windows, but an invisible barrier repelled the rocks back into them, knocking them over! They tried to blow up the door with some bombs they found in a nearby chest, but the odd building took no damage. Bucky tried zapping it with electricity, 2BIT tried a jackhammer, but it seemed impossible to break their way in. Finally, they tried dropping a fishing line down the chimney, but when Dusk and 1BIT grabbed the line at the same time, Cupie fell into the house as well! "That does it, I'm going to put in a call to Gator. He'll teleport in and out nice and easy." 2BIT grumbled. However, Cupie popped back out of the chimney, lifting a soot-covered Dusk by the arm as his little wings flapped quite hard. "Blugh... No one said I'd be a chimney-brush today..." the hare groaned. "Well done, Cupie! Go back and get the other guy!" Bucky said. Cupie gave an enthusiastic salute, and in no time, he pulled a light gray fox out of the chimney, who wore a tunic reminiscent of the hero of Hyrule.
"Whew, thanks you guys... I thought I'd never get outta there..." 1BIT sighed. 2BIT stared at him. 1BIT looked a lot like him, and yet he wasn't one of the variants created at the battle of Green Hill. "Who...ARE you?" he asked. "What do you mean, 2BIT? It's me...1BIT!" the other fox said, as though they had met before. The group climbed down from the house and rested together around the nearby campfire before resuming the conversation. "So, you don't remember me? Awww..." 1BIT sighed. 2BIT shook his head. "Ahh, it's more like... I KNOW I've never met you. I'm not sure what this is, though. Time travel? Amnesia shenanigans? Maybe you met one of those other mes? There's a lot of options..." he said awkwardly. "Maybe you should tell us your story, 1BIT." Bucky suggested, the most practical one in the group apparently. 1BIT rubbed his head. "Where to begin? Ah, well... There's like, this terrible cycle going on in my world. There's an Heir, a big meanie fox trapped in a prison. They say the Heir maybe has the power to defy death! But...I've learned that was a trick. See, I was created by BIT, a fox who defeated the Heir, but was then trapped to become the new Heir. Before he was trapped, he used a secret code to create more BITs! So there was me, and 2BIT, and a few more that I think died on their adventures... maybe turned to zombies... Oh, and also 8BIT! He's a meanie who trapped me in purgatory because I annoyed him." At the end of that long explanation, Dusk gave a heavy sigh. "Yeah, of course alternate-multiverse me got killed. Surprised I'm still alive in our multiverse." he grumbled. "So 8BIT did this to you? Hm, could he be the masked fox?" 2BIT wondered. "Actually I got myself trapped in the house..." 1BIT said sheepishly.
Wrapping up his story, 1BIT explained that there was no painless way out of his purgatory. He used a secret code that he found in an ancient document (the game manual), which gave him a fire bomb. He burned himself until his HP ran out, and he respawned in this mysterious place (known as Devworld to the Tunic fanbase). Looking for a way out of this new purgatory, 1BIT got himself trapped in that house. More than once. Respawning had been the only way he could find to escape it, but burning is painful so he didn't want to do it anymore. "What a story! It had everything! Swords... codes... BITs..." Cupie said, remaining positive and upbeat as always. "So we're like...INSIDE a video game?" 2BIT questioned. "What's a video game?" 1BIT asked. "Oh, they're lots of fun! You should play with us sometime!" Cupie smiled. 1BIT gave a little smile back. "Thanks... I'm actually not sure what to do now. My 2BIT either died or he won the...uh...game and then forgot all about me..." he murmured. 2BIT looked lost in thought. "So it's all true... The Omniverse and everything... There may be infinite more 2BITs and 8BITs... With a variety of origin stories. I guess I do prefer my origin to be multiple choice, heh." he mused. Very Joker of him. Wait, Batman was the last chapter. At any rate, this also meant that finding the masked fox might be literally impossible. They just might have to wait for him to find them. 2BIT's eyes fell on 1BIT. He looked a bit pitiful there. Lonely and defeated. 2BIT patted his shoulder. "Alright, then. You're with us now, 1BIT! Welcome to BIT Squad! Now I never have to hear anyone ask 'What happened to 1BIT' ever again!" he declared. 1BIT smiled and shook his hand. "Thanks, 2BIT. I'm ready to get outta purgatory!" he said happily.
And so, with that, BIT Squad left the strange world, now joined by 1BIT. As they passed through the portal that would lead to Byte Space, they failed to notice the masked fox watching them from the shadows. He shook his head. "There they go... Meddling in other multiverses... Right on schedule..." he growled.
At any rate, that's how 1BIT escaped from purgatory. After that, he, 2BIT and 8BIT re-enacted his story for their new Youtube channel, 2BIT Gaming, which you should check out. The BIT-trio also teamed up for an adventure in Pokemon Scarlet, which of course takes place after both Tunic and this chapter. Hey, knowing this writer's stories, you knew he'd find a way to make his Youtube channel canon eventually. But this hasn't simply been an ad... 1BIT will return... in future chapters of BIT Squad!
To be continued...
