Lauren McNeigh

Lauren struggled with the vampires as they crowded around her. She was ambushed by them upon nearing the Colony. She heard Flutterbat’s shrieking voice boom throughout the Colony.

“Bring the intruder to my chamber!” she commanded. “I will punish her insolence and dispose of her!”

Lauren didn’t have any time to react and couldn’t fight from how she was bound by the vampires. They then put her infront of the hole that lead to where Flutterbat’s voice was ringing out. They then swung her backward before letting go as they threw her in. She screamed as she slid inside to where the tunnel took her. Soon enough, she got to the end. An exploding seed hit her upon her entrance. She fell to the ground.

With a groan, she picked herself up and looked at who she was dealing with. She flew down from her post beside the Mushroom of Life before revealing herself. Flutterbat looked just as how she made her during the “Bats!” episode. The only difference was that she wore the black dress from Nightmare Night, and a crown rested on her head. It was made from twigs, but it had a bat-shaped gemstone on the center. She then hissed as she stomped on the ground.

Lauren didn’t want to fight Flutterbat, but she had no choice. Everything down here is not what they used to be. She tuned up her Jack Bomb and threw it in the vampire’s direction. She was quick to the dodge, but the explosion got to her, sending her to the wall. She was quick to get up. With a hiss, several bats came to her side and headed straight for Lauren.

Lauren used her Cards on the bats, slicing them up as she absorbed their Meta Essence. She then looked up to see that the vampire had regained her footing. She grabbed an apple from a tree nearby and sucked all the juice out. She then spat the seeds and used them as pellets. Lauren had to dodge as she wound up the Jack Bomb again. She didn’t have time to react as a bat clung onto her and started to shriek loudly in her ear. In her confusion, she threw the Bomb as she fought to get the thing off her.

She finally got it off by stabbing it with her knife, absorbing the essence and also killing off the rest. She looked up to see that Flutterbat was struggling to get off the ground. She fluttered for a bit before a snapping sound was heard. It looks like she now had a broken wing.

“I don’t need to fly to fight!” she hissed out before summoning more bats. One came with a basket of apples. She took one and started to spit seeds out like a gun.

Lauren had a hard time just dealing with the situation. She then used her Ice Wand on the bats, freezing them. But as she threw her Jack Bomb on Flutterbat, she found that she was out of ammunition. Bad timing; more bats! She looked around frantically for any source. Her search rested on Hazel, who was beckoning for her to come while peeping from a rock level below. She ran as fast as she could to where the child was.

“I’m out…of ammo…bats…” she panted when she got to safety.

“Drink this” Hazel handed her an unusual teapot. It looked like a grasshopper, but it was shaped into a teapot. “It’s Grasshopper Tea. It will help”

Lauren looked at it warily. “What will it do?”

“You remember the Rage Box? It will be the same thing, but you’ll be getting grasshopper features instead”

Lauren looked at the pot again before sighing with her head back. She then took the pot and drank down the contents. Hazel watched, rather confused. “I was gonna get a cup, but, oh well”

She heard the grinning in Hester’s voice. “Those who say there’s nothing like a nice cup of tea for calming the nerves never had real tea. It’s like a syringe of adrenaline straight to the heart!”

Lauren groaned as she put the pot back down. It tasted nasty, but she soon felt adrenaline course through her veins. She then reeled her head back as the transformation proceeded. She gained a bug-like appearance with green skin, black eyes, and wings on her back.

She then sprinted out of the hiding spot and attacked all the bats now that she was on full ammo and speed. They didn’t have time to react as she was quick to absorb all their Meta Essence. Flutterbat herself couldn’t react fast enough before she was hit again by another Jack Bomb. Lauren kept aiming until she got tired as the tea wore off and she turned back to normal.

Flutterbat then recovered herself before she used the apple seed bullets again. Lauren had to deflect them off with her knife. But she didn’t notice as Flutterbat charged at her, ramming her into a wall before retreating. Lauren knew she was already tired and on her last leg. She made the final blow by throwing her knife at her.

Flutterbat fell down in hysterics, screaming around as she tried to get the knife out of her side. Her screams were loud enough to rattle the stalagmites above her. They soon fell down and killed her. Several others fell as well, forming a staircase from the ground to where the Mushroom of Life was. Lauren glanced one last time at the dead Flutterbat before climbing up.

“Hester and I never really trusted toadstools, but I guess some of them have their good points” Hazel spoke as she looked at the growing mushroom with uncertainty.

Lauren sighed. “I wish I were hallucinating. What a terrible choice: Eat a toadstool, or remain food for insects?”

She made her decision when she picked at the right side of the mushroom, and ate the piece. Soon after, she was beginning to grow again. As she grew, she looked down at the duo who was just watching.

Hazel’s polite side kicked in. “You know, they say it’s rude to eat and run. But in some cases like this, it’s unavoidable”

Lauren kept on growing and growing, scaring away the tiny vampires around to go flee, and prompted the duo to vanish again. Why they were used in this shrunken part rather than insects were not known. Then again, this was Wonderland. Nothing made sense when Corruption comes about.

Lauren took a while, but she was finally back to her normal size. When that happened, she looked at her surroundings and was surprised at where she was now. It was the Dragon Lands. Stone structures and passages spread about. Molten lava surrounded platforms. There were so many ways to go.

Hazel’s voice rang out. “The dimensions of this desolate track are unknown to all but the inhabitants. But only one path shall being you to the end game”

Lauren nodded at the advice. She went on to where her next destination would lead her to.

Though she was glad to be rid of the vampire and bat enemies, she found the new ones here not as easy to deal with. Though, the appearance of the enemies always depended on where she was.

There were Fire Dragons with eyes filled with Corruption. They were around half Lauren’s size, but were muscular. They wielded spears and would stab Lauren when she within range. They couldn’t breathe fire since their mouths were shut by muzzles. They couldn’t fly since their wings were seemingly cut off from how there were bloody stumps on where they should be.

There were Fire Snarks that roamed the lava pools. They were similar in form to their water counterparts, but they were a flame red and had magenta eyes to go with the territory.

There were creatures called Lava Men that were large and lava-infused and hard the upper part of a human figure. They were in the lava pools and kept giving surprise attacks. Though, they turn to stone if they stay out of lava for so long.

Then there were those things called Phantasmagorias made up of several skeletal ghosts. They reminded her of the Sirens quite a bit, but they also were bigger and more decaying. When they opened their cloak, they had a trail of ice that they spat at Lauren. Upon attack, she found the cloaks were transparent while their insides were solid. She had a hard time just aiming for their insides.

Lauren went up and defeated the Fire Dragon on the top of the hill point. She then heard a familiar whimpering nearby. She looked to her side and saw a familiar face.

“Bunita Katsuma?”

Yes, it was Bunita Katsuma. She was bruised a little, but okay. She was frightened alright. She was trapped inside a cage that seemed to have deemed her OC powers useless.

Right soon, Hazel and Hester appeared. “Bunny! There you are!”

Both hurried over the cage and tried to unlock it, but to no avail. Lauren made them stand back before she used her Ice Wand on the lock and broke it. The young OC then jumped out and hugged her Makers.

“Sweetheart!” Hester cried as she pet her fur.

“Oh, Nita, are you okay?” Hazel hugged her tightly.

“Mom, Mother, I was so scared!” the young OC whimpered in fear.

“Shhh, it’s alright now, sweetie” they cooed. “Mom and Mother are here now”

Lauren watched as the duo comforted their creation. This was their first one afterall. How the OC got trapped here, she’ll never know. Atleast she was guarded by a weak enemy. She watched the sight, remembering how it felt like to be a mother. It was nice to see that the darkness here still had some light.

Soon after, Bunny calmed down and thanked Lauren for freeing her. She also informed her that her Sisters, Brazy, Bunochius, and Bunster were also kidnapped, each one with a more difficult enemy.

“I don’t know who has them, but I can feel they are very far apart from each other. I think Brazy is somewhere in the palm Realms, Bunochius is in Anastasia’s lair, and Bunster is somewhere in Tirek’s lair”

“We’ll find them” Lauren promised.

“Wait! I wish to help you!”

Lauren was stunned. The young OC then looked to her side back to her makers, who nodded. She then closed her eyes before turning into a green staff. It had a point at the top that was meant for holding something.

Lauren then took the staff to add. She couldn’t seem to use it at first, it’s like it was missing a few things.

“The Hidebrit’s OC Staff is extremely powerful. We created four main OCs to represent each of the main groups of the Fandom: Original, Alternate, Freak, and FNAP, in case the need arises” Hazel explained.

Lauren nodded. “Don’t worry about your OCs, I’ll find them all”

Both smiled before disappearing. “Take care, Lauren”