Chapter four: psychos mobius.

"the greatest and most powerful lies we tell, are the ones we tell ourselves, be truthful to yourself, sometimes it is much easier to accept our faults, than it is to lie about them"

-helior

benson smiled broadly as he sped along the huge road leading through the woods, happily enjoying the company of the newly shrunk german shepherd in his breast pocket, and his ever-present 'woo-ing' from excitement.
"LEFT BEN, LEFT!" kevin called out, prompting benson to take the left route.

benson looked forward and noticed that the road appeared to warp, somehow going straight up in sudden peaks on the ground that were roughly seven times his size. "What the...?"

kevin looked too "oh that? that's just a minor annoyance, they've been popping up a lot recently."

"what are they?"
kevin shrugged "dunno."
suddenly benson's vision clouded, and he screeched to a stop.
kevin tugged at the shirt "hey... why'd ya' stop? are y'okay?"
"i... don't..." benson's breathing became laboured "...know... i'm feeling ba-"
he could feel himself about to faint, not wanting to accidentally crush kevin, he quickly grabbed him, and before he could protest, benson had thrown him and called out the release "NOITAIRAV OEN, lleps... tsal t-taht odnu"
and kevin crashed into the ground at full size, cursing at the sudden throw "friggin' ..." but strangely he noticed that he was still fully clothed, usually his clothes didn't GROW with him...
kevin sprang up and turned just in time to see benson's eyes roll back and watched him tumble off the bike...
-the bike! it was tilting over, it would land upon benson!
kevin quickly crawled over and steadied the bike, just moments before it landed on his little fox friend...
"dammit not again...!"
he checked benson's pulse and his breathing; pulse was normal, but benson was hyperventilating...
(how the hell can he have a regular pulse when he's breathing like that?) kevin wondered, confused
"BEN! BENSON!! come on man, DON'T DO THIS AGAIN!!"

---

meanwhile... back in the void...

(aw, dammit not this crap again...)
benson looked around... it was the same as last time, he was all alone in the pitch black nothingness, only this time he felt as if he were floating in the air.
slowly, a ball of blue light approached out of nowhere, benson couldn't fathom it's purpose... but felt like he had to touch it... so he did...
the light glowed brighter, then moulded itself into a shape vaugely resembling his own outline.
the glowing stopped, and there was a copy of himself standing opposite him, except this one was coloured in monotone grey only, and kept it's eyes firmly shut.
(what the heck...? what is this thing?)
the copy laughed quietly, or rather, silently, there was absolutely no sound coming from it.
"I... what am I?..." it asked, seemingly able to have heard his thoughts "I am... Benson Appolo Palmer, same as you are" it said calmly, in the same voice he had heard last time he was here...
"correct, that was me."

(tell me exactly what you are...NOW!) benson demanded, reaching out and grabbing the impostor by his collar
"i already told you though; I am you... I AM BENSON APPOLO PALMER, THE FOX WHO LOST EVERYTHING SEVEN YEARS AGO."
benson punched it in the face, which only made it laugh at him
(SHUT THE HELL UP!!)

"no."
he punched it more savagely this time, drawing dark grey fluid from it's mouth.
"you should stop that"

(why?)

"wipe your mouth..."
benson did so and froze as he looked at his hand...
there was bright crimson blood on it. HIS blood.
(b- but you never hit me...?)

"no," it admitted annoyingly "but YOU hit me, and I AM YOU." it grinned evilly "get it now?"
benson was shocked, this ... thing... it looked like him, sounded like him, albiet a bit distorted, and he even sustained the same injuries that it did... what in the name of holy heaven and burning hell was it?!

suddenly they both reeled back, hit in the face by an unseen force, benson tasted blood.
the creature's eyes onened, it had deep purple sclerae with flourescent yellow irises and no pupils.
and it looked absolutely seething with murderous rage.
"WHAT THE FUCK?! WHO'S THERE? WHO HAD THE GALL TO STRIKE ME?!?!" it screeched in an utterly monstrous voice, intent on knowing who it's attacker was.
benson could see no one... but then he heard something far off, just at the corner of his hearing...
'WHAT'S GOIN' ON?! HOW AM I 'SPOSED TO HELP YOU, BEN?!'
(Kevin!) benson realised, then took a drastic measure; (PSYCHOS MOBIUS!! ... ACTIVATE!!!) he bellowed in his mind, and just as he expected, a brown-black blur began to appear and take shape...
(i knew it...!)

---

kevin couldn't think of how to help benson, he looked in pain and trembled on the ground

"what do i do? what do i do?!" kevin panicked "what am i supposed to-?"
"GUARGH!" benson cried out in agony, and blood began to flow from the corner of his mouth
this was serious.
with no other ideas, kevin picked benson up, as he struggled against an unknown assailant.
"ben..." kevin started... and flicked benson, with force equal to a full on punch, at the small fox's size "WAKE THE HELL UP!"
benson screamed in an absolutely heart-wrenching second later, and kevin was sure he saw the little fox's body flicker, as if it were an image on a screen.
benson's eyes shot open, entirely green, and everything else seemed to lose colour...
"WHAT THE-?"

"ETAVITCA!!! ... SUIBOM SOHCYSP!!" benson screamed, and then everything went black.

---

then, a dingy greyish blur and a vibrant orange blur began to form in the blackness, kevin gasped as the blurs focussed...
it was benson.
and ... another benson, a grey one at that.
benson looked at kevin and screamed a silent howl, thrust his arm at kevin, and kevin heard his voice (...TOTAL PALADIN!!) as benson clenched his fist, and a white longsword appeared before kevin
(use that on this grey bastard!!)
fueled by adrenaline and instict, kevin grabbed the sword and lashed out at the grey duplicate "Who the hell are you, y'grey freak?!"

the blade narrowly missed its target and the impostor snarled "insolent dog!"
"well SO'RE YOU!!"
"I AM A SHADOW, YOU MUTT! I HAVE POWER YOU CANNOT BELIEVE!"

"I..." kevin slashed at the creature...
"...DON'T..." he cut at it's face...
"...GIVE A DAMN...!!!" he impaled the creature in the arm...

the 'shadow' glared at kevin, both in anger and fear.

"...LEAVE BENSON ALONE!!!" he aimed at its head...
and the real benson hit them both hard in the chest.

(NEUTRALISE! FREE US FROM THIS PLACE!) benson's voice exclaimed angrily
kevin choked back a scream as everything went white.

---

kevin woke with a start on the path, panicking, he hurriedly scanned the area for benson, locating him glowing a dim blue a few meters from him...
...awake.

"BEN!" kevin rushed to him, forgetting his size

benson's eyes widened and his ears flattened back against his scalp "kevin-!" benson pleaded "K-KEVIN! - STOP! STOP OR YOU'LL TRAMPLE ME!!" benson screamed and cowered in fear as the giant german shepherd managed to skid to a stop mere inches from him.
benson fell over "DAMMIT, WATCH WERE YOU'RE GOING AT THAT SIZE!" he scolded the giant "For heaven's SAKE, you could've KILLED ME!"

kevin ignored the fox's warnings and scrambled to pick him up
"hey! Hey! HEY! HEY!!" benson cried "Watch it! I don't NEED or WANT any bones broken!"
kevin ignored him, something more pressing on his mind.
"ben, what WAS all that jus' now?! all that stuff with th' sword an' the grey you, what th' HELL was that?!" kevin yelled, desperate for an answer.

benson couldn't take it anymore "STOP! stop yelling!" he begged his friend "stop and i'll explain!"
kevin nodded, but didn't loosen his grip. waiting for an answer.
benson looked at him pleadingly to let him go, but the giant shook his head "explain."
benson stopped struggling, it was no use.
the blue glow stopped and benson started to explain "that thing was calling itself my 'shadow' which means it was a manifestation of my dark side or whatever, i think it wanted to take control or something..."
kevin nodded "i follow ya'. how'd i get there?"

"Psychos Mobius."

"psycho- what?" kevin asked, confused.

"Psychos...Mobius" benson repeated slowly "i called you into my mind, i couldn't think of anything else!"

for the next five minutes benson explained the workings of 'psychos mobius' which, summarised, was that it allowed the user to bring other things, usually AI's, into their minds, benson had used it to gain an upper hand on his shadow, and explained that he struck kevin and the shadow to 'shock' the dimension into deactivation.

kevin stared at the helplessly squirming fox in his grip "okay... i think i get it... is this gonna happen again?" he asked coarsely

benson cowered in kevin's grip "a-ah... i'll make something to suppress it, i-it shouldn't happen again then..."

kevin sighed in relief "good"

"k-kevin?"
kevin wasn't looking at him, but still answered
"yeah?"

"can you... s-stop crushing m-me?"

kevin snapped to his senses "OH SHIT!" he yelled, and immediately lessened the pressure, brnging benson to eye level, giving him a look - over to check if he'd broken any of his friend's bones. thankfully, he hadn't, but asked anyway "are y'okay? did i break anythin' on ya'?"

"no, luckily i'm in one piece." benson breathed "are you going to calm down?"

kevin nodded "i'll try to." he said in a pathetic voice "sorry..."

benson smiled "you apologise too much"

kevin laughed "better than never!"

"true, good to see you back to normal."

"can we ... can we keep going?" kevin asked, putting benson down beside the motorcycle, which was still running.
"guess so, of course, you'll have to shrink again..." benson reminded him.

"i know... what was it?"

"em naht rellams tsahg nivek ekam"

kevin laughed, now dwarfed by his towering friend, who was smiling down at him. "yep, that's the one!"
benson picked him up, and placed him back in the breast pocket.

"at least we both have a way to keep each other where we know we wont lose each other!" benson chuckled

"yeah... 'cept i don't have any clothin' with pockets."

"you'll get some though, right?" benson asked dryly

"'spose i should. guess i shouldn't make ya' miss out. it's quite comforting to feel y'r beat so close..."

benson smiled slyly, and raised an eyebrow

"i mean in safety terms!" kevin insisted
benson mounted the bike and lowered his goggles.
"whatever" benson said coolly.

kevin lowered his goggles.

benson kicked off again, once more zipping down the path, but this time, he turned on the built-in MP3.

'dreamless dorm'

'ticking clock'

kevin piped up "oh! this is that one they intercepted from the other human planet!

"earth?"

"that's it. what was this called again? 'burnt bread' or something?"

the music played on.

"i can't remember, actually" benson corrected.

"wonder why we know they exist, but they have no idea 'bout us?" kevin mused.

"that's easy; we're outside their range of perception."

"how?"

"no one knows. it's usually simplified to 'because, magic' i think"

kevin raised a paw "well- turn Right-"

benson turned right.

"- isn't that wierd?"

"no wierder than the day we've already had!" benson chuckled to the little german shepherd in his pocket.

"true!"

-about an hour later-

benson pulled up at a monolithic building in the forest, lifting his goggles to marvel at the sheer size of kevin's home.

"woah."

"yeah, 'specially from this size."

benson parked and turned his bike off, clearing his throat "oorehctiws oen"
and suddenly kevin was at full height, holding benson in his paw
"cool" kevin remarked

"adding 'Neo' to the spell makes it react specifically as i intend for it to."

"you mean the 'oen' part?"

benson sighed "yes, that."

kevin smiled a broad, toothy smile, as he walked to the door and opened it

"you live alone... right?" benson asked, leaning against kevin's thumb.

"well... not right now, i don't" kevin bumped his friend with a finger to emphasise his point "for a while, i've got you, don't i?"
benson playfully pushed against the finger, trying to push it away, but failing. he decided to try something else, and hugged it. "yeah... you do..." this made kevin look pleased "...for now at least." benson finished.
the two friends gazed happily at each other as kevin walked inside and closed the door behind him.

their friendship truly started in the morning... until then, it was time to sleep...