BIT Squad: Enter the BIT-verse!
Episode 11 - Ghosts of the Shatterverse
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)
Sailing in an unfamiliar world in the Omniverse, BIT Squad found themselves reunited with the Great Gator, making use of his green pirate ship to explore the seemingly endless seas. "Put your back into it, swabbie! Don't make me come down there!" Gator yelled to 1BIT from behind the wheel. "Who, me? You didn't give me a job..." the gray fox murmured. "Gangway! Barrel comin' through!!" shouted Zed and Cupie, chasing a rolling keg across the deck! 1BIT jumped out of the way, and the barrel struck the ship's railing, a cork popping out of the top, spraying its contents all over the floor! "What? The barrel's full of soda!" Vixy stammered, looking at the mess. "It be me cola, landlubber!" Gator shouted, "And I'll make ya walk the plank if we lose another drop!" Inside the ship's cabin, 2BIT and Bucky were studying some maps. Not of the sea, but of the Omniverse. "So, we've been to comic-land... Indie-game world... And the less said about that planet of sentient rubber chickens the better..." 2BIT murmured. Bucky tapped his foot in annoyance. "Must we travel with that costumed lunatic? There must be another version of my Arcangel in the multiverse that we could have taken." he stated. "Wouldn't be yours, it'd be some other Bucky's." 2BIT explained, "Yours was destroyed, remember?" Bucky sighed, and the cabin door opened, Dusk standing in the doorway. "Message from Stripes in the crow's nest; Ship approaching. There I found something. Nap time." he said, reading off a tattered piece of paper, soaked in what appeared to be soda. 2BIT shrugged. "Okay, let's see if they be friend or foe. Yarrrr... The sea be makin' me all salty!" the blue fox said, stepping onto the deck as Bucky shook his head. "Maybe he really is related to Gator..." he mumbled.
Tails was searching for the ship Stripes had spotted through a telescope, leaning on the port railing. "I don't see a ship anywhere..." he mumbled. "Oh, that's because it's over there!" Cupie giggled, pointing starboard. The approaching ship was the Angel's Voyage, normally under the command of Knuckles the Dread. However, the ship was currently shorthanded, and seemed to be having trouble steering. "Turn that wheel, Catfish! We'll smash into that emerald vessel if we don't put the wind to our backs!" shouted the acting captain, Batten Rouge. "Catfish" Big was straining to turn the ship, while "Sails" Prower was trying to properly set the, well, sails. Gator glared at the approaching ship. "How dare they attempt to command one of my ships!" he shouted. He liked to think all ships belonged to him. "Maybe YOU should steer us out of here, Captain!!" Vixy yelled. As both crews scrambled, they were too late to fully course correct, and the two ships smacked into one another's sides, causing a bit of damage to each vessel! "Everyone okay?" 2BIT asked as Stripes fell down from the crow's nest. "...ooowww..." he whimpered. Bucky stood over him with a sigh. "I'm going to need help to move him, he's got some broken bones!" the ship's doctor reported. "Okay, you do that, Dusk, Vixy! The rest of us... FIX THE SHIP BEFORE WE DROWN!!" 2BIT yelled. "Aye, aye!" Tails saluted, heading to the starboard side to assess the damage. He was met with Sails, looking over from the other ship. "Me eyes are playin' tricks! I see a contrapionless me!" Sails babbled, his "contraption" third tail holding a hammer. "Huh... There are MORE of me outside our own multiverse! Crazy!" Tails said. Batten landed on the deck of Gator's ship and looked to 2BIT, who seemed more captainly than Gator. "Apologies for collidin' like that. Our capp'n, plus another crewmate, each abandoned ship for their own adventures. It be tough crewin' a pirate ship with three mates and a frog!" she explained. "We'll get us patched up in a jiffy. No worries..." 2BIT said, shaking her hand.
Gator took over crow's nest duty from Stripes, since Bucky was currently tending to the tiger's injuries. "They lost my precious cola and now my ship's paint is all scratched up! Both of 'em! Oh, hey, ghost ship! ...GHOST SHIP!?" Gator shouted, yelling and pointing at a gloomy fog ahead, a ship's tattered sails visible through the fog. 2BIT looked there, scratching his head. "Yeah, that's...something." he murmured. Batten flapped her wings and rose into the air, drawing her sword. "I'll check it out! Arr... But me crew is busy fixin' our ship. Will anyone here back me up?" she asked. Everyone glanced around awkwardly, and 2BIT gave a sigh. "Zed, why don't you take junior along? Could be a good first mission." he stated. 1BIT looked confused. "Junior? Who's that...?" he muttered, slowly realizing it was him, "Wait, I can't be junior! I'm older than all of you!" he protested. "Even better. Ye'll have the wisdom of experience!" Batten said, "All aboard the life boat! Let's get this mission underway!" she announced. 1BIT looked to Zed nervously. The zebra didn't exactly seem thrilled, either. "Wouldn't I be more useful here? I can conjure tools!" he said, twirling his magic pencil. 2BIT shrugged. "Look, Tails is busy, Bucky is busy, and Dusk and Cupie have gotten too much spotlight on this series!" he stated. "I could go!" Gator suggested. Look, Gator, you're lucky I'm letting you out of retirement. This is a Zed & 1BIT episode. "Awww..." Gator whined. But I'm the writer here, so they'll do as I say. Zed and 1BIT reluctantly boarded the life boat and started to row after Batten as she flew ahead. "No one said there'd be rowing..." 1BIT grunted. "Maybe I can conjure the ghost-catching equipment from that Halloween story..." Zed murmured, gulping as he realized he didn't know what it looked like to draw it.
1BIT and Zed crept cautiously onto the ship, but Batten flew ahead of them with sword drawn! "Arr! Come out and face my steel, spirits!" she shouted. A piratey voice seemed to respond. "Arrr har! Me beauty!!" Batten looked about in surprise. "C-capp'n? Is that you?" she stammered. A spectral form of Knuckles could be seen in the corner, holding up a gem in his hands, repeating "Me beauty!" over and over. "G-ghost!" 1BIT shouted. "Surrender, in the name of the Chaos Council!" came another voice. "Rusty??" Batten babbled, looking to find a ghostly yet robotic Amy on an upper deck. A spirit of Sonic was running back and forth as well, seeming to change his shoes and gloves with each pass. There was also another version of Tails clinging to the mast with his robotic tails, and even more strange beings as well, all transparent and ghostly. "What...? What is going on here?" Zed wondered. "They are echoes of beings who exist here in the Shatterverse!" Standing in the crow's next was the Masked Fox, glaring down at the trio on the deck. "Your presence here is making the Shatterverse even more unstable than it already was. If you don't leave, the Shatter Spaces will converge into one, and time will stop." he announced. 1BIT chuckled nervously. "Okaaaay, let's go home, then!" he suggested. "Wait just a moment! Who are ye? Do you know where Capp'n Dread really be?" Batten shouted. The Masked Fox gazed up at the sky, raising a hand to block the sun's rays from his eyes. Perhaps this was a signal, as giant tentacles rose up from the sea around the ghost ship, starting to drag it under the ocean! "A-a kraken!!" Batten cried as Zed ran to the railing, looking down to see a giant, carnivorous squid! "W-we need a MUCH bigger boat!!" he shouted.
With a sea monster on the loose, it was a good thing that the ship repairs were mostly done. "Let's go! Ready the cannons! 1BIT and Zed are in trouble!" 2BIT shouted. "Hey! I'm the captain here!" Gator yelled, "Ready the cannons!!" In the meanwhile, Batten and 1BIT had both drawn swords and were slashing at the tentacles as they came toward them! "Arrr! Where'd ye learn to fight like that?" Batten asked as 1BIT rolled under a tentacle and stabbed it quickly. "Well, there were some frogs, a cult, and some weird glitchy monsters in purgatory..." 1BIT babbled in response. Zed was higher up, caught in a tentacle and holding onto the edge of the crow's nest desperately to keep from being dragged underwater. "G-guys, HAAAALP!!" he shouted, his pants dropping to his ankles as the tentacle's grip slipped! He clutched his blue-striped shorts to keep himself decent, but that meant he was holding the ship one-handed. Fortunately, a cannon blast made the kraken release him, the creature roaring while Zed climbed into the crow's nest and pulled his pants back up. "That does it!" he grumbled, drawing a door into existence, which he walked through to arrive back on the deck of Gator's ship. "What about Rouge?" Tails asked, "...and 1BIT!" he nearly forgot. Zed sighed and erased the door, drawing another one. He then reached into the doorway and pulled 1BIT and Batten onto the deck. "Yarrr? How did ye do that?!" Batten stammered. With the ghost ship clear, the Angel's Voyage joined Gator's ship in blasting the kraken with cannonballs! It roared angrily, and pulled the ghost ship under the waves in a swift motion! 2BIT and Gator peered out to look for the beast, but the waters seemed calm. "I think we did it!" 2BIT cried. "My poor third ship..." Gator whined.
Unfortunately, BIT Squad's presence was still a problem. The ghostly images of beings from other Shatterspaces started to appear on the decks of both ships. "Oh, yeah, we're making this world unstable by being here, apparently!" Zed explained quickly. "This is madness! I've gotta return to the Angel's Voyage!" Batten shouted, flying off the deck and heading to reunite with her crew. "You might want to rethink invading the Omniverse..." the masked fox said, standing on the railing of the ship, the other ship visible behind him. "You invaded our world first!" shouted Vixy. The masked fox scoffed and then dropped over the edge of the ship! There was no splash, and no sign of him when the squad looked. "Okay, Blocky? Can you hear me?" 2BIT said, now wearing his helmet and talking into an attached communicator, "Get us home!" he cried. The entire ship beamed out of No Place, and once it was gone, the ghostly images faded away. "...Let's just forget this happened, shall we?" Batten stated, Sails and Catfish nodding in agreement.
That evening, 2BIT was thinking over the situation in his room within Byte Space. "Hey, don't spy on me in here!! Ah... Well, I was just wondering if the masked fox is a good guy or a villain. I think maybe he wants me to wonder, though... Maybe I should just go to bed..." he yawned. So, we switch to Tails' room, where the fox held his head, feeling strange. "Maybe I'm seasick..." he grumbled, gasping as he looked into a mirror on the wall and saw Sails! He rubbed his eyes and looked again, seeing Nine this time. Rummaging through his closet, he found a sort of scanner and checked himself out with it. "Energy Signature: Paradox!" the scanner said. The fox gulped. "Wh-what's this mean...?" he wondered. It could mean only one thing!
To be continued... (Yep, that's what it means!)
