Whos To Say Theres Arent Two?

Who’s to say there’s aren’t two?

Chen & his cousin Chad, almost identical in appearance, though Chad is more of a jerk, and they pull the classic ‘impersonation switch’ move so they’re never in the same place at the same time.

Yes I like to make in-universe theories for what is probably just a spelling and/or script error and/or marketing error

i’ve come to the life altering decision of whether or not to call chen the cheerleader ‘chad’

In our defence, we were left unsupervised and we realized Red is a cryptid hunter Gravity-Falls style and Smith would continue/even fuel the rumours that he’s some inhuman friendly but mysterious cryptid. Things spiralled.

Also the song ‘The Nowhere King’ slaps and gave us too much creative fodder, and now we may have accidentally created the m!verse version of the Overlord

Hey, you guys know the Cryptid AU? The one from a while back, one of the original AUs? Where Shogun doesn't introduce himself to anyone, basically BotW speedruns & kicks m!Garm's butt and becomes known as the local cryptid by the name of 'The Red Blur'? Yeahhhh... It, uh, it went places

Oh that is an understatement

*slinks in like a worm on a string*

*holds string gently and gets you a chair*

Hi :D

Hush Now (Cryptid AU)

So I got inspired by the song, “The Nowhere King” (NWK) from Centaurworld and this happened. I recommend reading the summary of the SPBNR Cryptid AU & perhaps ‘Watch Your Mouth (Cryptid AU)’ as that is earlier in the timeline, but to quick summarize:

Red (M!Kai) is at the ‘Nest of the Red Blur’ (aka the abandoned apartments Smith took over and stylized to fuel the cryptid rumours about him) when... oh dear, it seems a real cryptid (cough M!Overlord based on NWK) has taken an interest in his apprentice- :3

TW for creepiness, horror, tar, kidnapping, etc.

Waking up in an old decrepit building full of ivy and spiderplants, scrap metal, peeling wallpaper, and washed out paintings of cake was not the ideal scenario, but considering Red had been cryptid-hunting for the elusive cryptid that seemed intent on training him for some reason, the Red Blur, the previous night (or was it still night? early morning? it was hard to tell), it wasn't as frightening as it should have been.

It was still mildly terrifying waking up in the nest of fabric. But he'd been here a few times before, and it was at least appreciating that the Red Blur didn't leave him alone on a rooftop or alleyway in the city when he inevitably ran out of energy and crashed during their late-night runs. 

He untangled himself from the nest and stretched, wincing at the crack of bones. Urgh, he was going to end up like Master Wu at this rate. The Red Blur (in their own way) had shown him the exit (after a bit) the first time he'd woken up in their lair, but he still got lost in the maze of nature-claimed hallways of the apartment ruins. 

Well, at least he could explore then. And it was only mildly creepy wandering around alone. 

But something felt... off. He couldn't quite place his finger on what. Was it that the air was still, a suffocating cold that stung his throat and puffed his breath in little clouds? The way the broken clock on the wall still seemed to tick, chiming just off-key to the steady march of time? The pungent smell of petroleum, something acidic and tar-like like rotten mold?

The apartment creaked and shuddered with every step, which shouldn't have been possible considering it was formed from concrete and carpet. Red felt like he had chugged a gallon of oil; the taste was heavy in his mouth and he wrinkled his nose in disgust. 

𝓗𝓾𝓼𝓱 𝓷𝓸𝔀 (Hush now)

Red froze in the centre of the hallway and batted his ears. He could have sworn he heard a chorus of whispers, sounding both at the ends of the hallway and inside his head. Wind brushed the back of his neck.

There weren't any windows in this hallway.

𝓓𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓶𝓵𝓮𝓼𝓼 𝓼𝓵𝓮𝓮𝓹 (Dreamless sleep)

Red's feet were planted- almost as if frozen or glued- to the old stained carpet. A low creak sent a violent shudder throughout his body, but when he looked at either end of the hallway, no one was there. Though... was it just him, or was the area getting darker, the edges tinted with shadows. 

𝓓𝓪𝓻𝓴𝓷𝓮𝓼𝓼 𝓲𝓼 𝓷𝓲𝓰𝓱 (Darkness is nigh)

No, it wasn't shadows...

𝓠𝓾𝓲𝓮𝓽 (Quiet)

It was tar.

𝓢𝓲𝓵𝓮𝓷𝓽 (Silent)

Tar, leaking from the cracks in the wallpaper. Tar, dripping down from the ceiling in fat droplets and tendrils. Tar, spilling out from underneath the carpet. 

𝓗𝓪𝓽𝓻𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓬𝓱𝓮𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓼𝓴𝓲𝓮𝓼 (Hatred that reaches the skies)

Red couldn't move. All he could do was stare at the tar, a choir of ghostly voices resting phantom hands on his shoulders and singing soft melodies in his ears. His mouth felt sticky and he coughed, struggling to suck in a breath through the choking, acidic air. Something cold and wet dripped down his chin. 

𝓨𝓸𝓾 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓫𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓳𝓸𝔂 𝓽𝓸 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓝𝓸𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓚𝓲𝓷𝓰 (You will bring joy to the Nowhere King)

The tar was reaching toward him, forming clawed hands that pushed off from the floor, the walls, the ceiling with a leisurely pace.

𝓦𝓱𝓮𝓷 𝓱𝓮 𝓼𝓮𝓮𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓵𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽 (When he sees the light)

It was cold.

𝓛𝓮𝓪𝓿𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓮𝔂𝓮𝓼 (Leaving your eyes)

{---------------}

The Red Blur- or Smith, though no one knew his name nor that he wasn't actually a cryptid, heard the scream. It sounded like- but why-

Smith bolted from his room, the only part of the abandoned complex he hadn't changed to match the 'nest' aesthetic of the building and raced through the hallway.

But when he got to the spot where he'd heard the scream from, he found nothing but a smoking scorched stain on the carpet and a message written in black paint on the wall:

𝓘 𝓭𝓸𝓷'𝓽 𝓪𝓹𝓹𝓻𝓮𝓬𝓲𝓪𝓽𝓮 𝓬𝓾𝓻𝓲𝓸𝓾𝓼 𝓵𝓲𝓽𝓽𝓵𝓮 𝓹𝓻𝓮𝓽𝓮𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻𝓼 𝓲𝓷 𝓶𝔂 𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓸𝓻𝔂 (I don’t appreciate curious little pretenders in my territory)

So there might actually be movie evidence to this! I don’t care that the movie uses many of the same minifigures and the same thing happens to other school kids and you can spot the same character designs at the beach as you can at school - in-universe theory explanation, more twins and/or some might be ditching.

So we know Chen the cheerleader (or maybe this one is Chad because he’s a jerk) is at school when the GarmAlarm sounded. The school’s procedure is “Duck and Cover”, so all students should remain in the building (minus the m!ninja, with the infamous “bathroom pass” excuse). But right before that scene, as Garmadon calls for his generals to do specific tasks during his first attack (ex. “General #2, pop that kid’s balloon!”), we see-

The heck are you doing out of school, cheerleader? Especially since, when we cut back to the class-

Sitting right behind Kai.

Coincidence? I think NOT-

i’ve come to the life altering decision of whether or not to call chen the cheerleader ‘chad’

send me a made-up fic title and i'll tell you what i would write to go with it