Actually, yes. I'll make a spot for you in the Government.

Chapter 11
Those creatures we were running from earlier really aren't so harmless after all! They're weird, sure, but they're quite friendly to us. I have to admit though, it was scary seeing 8 creatures running towards us. We're now in their house.

Here, it seems far different from Fish. It's cold here. Really cold. All you see is white everywhere. The ground is white. They say the ground is usually brownish but it's covered in this thing they call 'snow' most of the time. They made a nice house for themselves but explained that it took a long time to meet.

Electrodrop was the first person we met. He called himself a 'shaman' while the other four were called ninjas. He told us this really long story about how they got here. According to him, they were banished by these leaders they called 'mods'. They called those sky islands above them a kingdom called Transformice. They said that's where all mice come from. Electro refused to explain exactly why they were banished for the moment. It seemed like a painful memory, so we didn't bother him.

You'd think they'd be savages, but they actually seem civilized. They seem like my grandparents. They even have that odd 'French' accent Apatosaurus talks about sometimes. They said that there's not much food here because of the climate, but mentioned that they grow several plants. When I asked them if they have fish pellets, they just looked at me as if I grew 2 heads. They said that all they have here are leaves and this delicacy called 'cheese'. The leaves were incredibly bitter (I think even Apato gagged at the taste) while the cheese was... I don't know how to describe it. It wasn't savory like krill or salty like seaweed. It wasn't tasteless like fish pellets. I guess I could call it... sweet? Yeah, that's the word that fits the most.

'Rats' is the name for their species. They prefer calling themselves mice and find 'rats' to be a derogatory term. They were rather confused when Peak asked them what type of animal they were, so we explained our story. After all 5 of us were done speaking, there was an awkward silence left hanging in the air. Finally, they started to introduce themselves. The 'shamans' were Electrodrop, Nicknamejk, Sourisplum, and Bethdacat. The 'ninjas' were Cryoid, Vampirevil, Gayali, and Ilikedragons. The one called Gayali finally spoke up. She explained that they had no idea where Tig was, but they knew of a friend of his: Melibellule. They explained that she was in this building called 'Atelier 801' up there. I asked them how to get there. Vampirevil spoke up and said it'd be difficult. For one, they're actually banned from entering, so they'd need a disguise. Second, there was no way to actually go up. You'd need to make some sort of 'airship' (I'll explain that later) and then creep along the sides. We'd also need to make sure no one saw us enter. So, first they changed into more 'normal' clothes. Then, we decided to wait for nightfall. After all, it wouldn't exactly be a wise decision to fly up in broad daylight.

So now, it's almost sunset. First, Conf and Peak decided to explore this land, so I came with them. I found lots of odd stuff like this pile of rubble with a placard that simply said '!!!!!!!!'. I saw a few posters that said 'WANTED' and showed pictures of various mice that hacked or bullied other people. I have no idea what happened to this place, because from what I can tell it seemed a lot of people used to live here.

I'm kinda shocked right now, actually. Throughout the entire time we'd been here, Ashen seemed... odd. I couldn't put my finger on what his expression was conveying until just now. I had asked Ilikedragons if it was possible to go back to Fish. He said, "One of us said that he'd go to this place you're talking about. He said that he wanted to explore the place and see if there was anything that could help us.. get back there. We want to go up there, like you guys, but for completely different reasons which we'll explain later. Anyways, he went off one day and just... disappeared. Never came back. We assume he's dead since we haven't gotten any sign from him." Peak asked, "What was his name?" Nicknamejk said, "I can't... remember.. oh god." Her eyes widened. She dropped the piece of cheese she'd been holding. She simply whispered, "It's your friend. Ashen."

Chapter 12 - Questions

Nicky's kinda throwing a fit right now. She's crying, screaming, doing everything she can to avoid directing her rage at us. I think her bedroom's wrecked right now.

Ashen was a friend of ours. A really close friend. I never really got to fully explain the whole Shams and Ninjas thing, and the entire event just affected Nicky so much. She cried whenever anyone brought it up. I'll just try to explain everything to the best of my memory.

There were 9 of us. Five of them were shamans, like Nicky, while four of them were ninjas. While most of what I wrote here last time was true, there was an entire story we left out. Four of the shamans were part of a VERY close-knit family. Sourisplum and Bethdacat were the parents, while Electrodrop and Nicknamejk were the children. Nicky had a boyfriend at the time. That boyfriend was Ashen. The two were extremely close, and Ashen was a very kind boy, one that both Souris and Bethda approved of. He was so devoted to Nicky that when the family actually started trying to fight the hackers, Ashen joined right alongside them. Us four friends, the ninjas, just found them and decided to join them since we had the same goal. Wherever we went, he followed. They were perfect together.

After the banishing, we started to explore what was left of our home. We started scavenging for materials to make a decent shelter. One day, he told us about these 'realms'. He said he found the sea. When we went there, we found that the sea was cruel. But we sensed something different. We saw shapes down there. We all wanted to know if what we saw down there were hallucinations or part of a nightmare come true. Nicky and Ashen were by far the most eager to go down there. They seemed fearless. Ashen volunteered to go first. He used his powers to create a sort of air bubble for himself. So we waited. And waited. And waited. After around 20 hours, Nicky was starting to become anxious. She was about to follow Ashen when the sea... turned to land. It suddenly became an infinite stretch of the snowy wasteland we were stuck in. We were perplexed at first. Then, a pit formed in my stomach. Nicky started screaming and tried digging a hole. All of the ninjas tried to help her set aside the earth and go down as far as we could, but all we were met with was soil and eventually bedrock. For the first couple of days, she was inconsolable. Then, she decided to force Ashen out of her mind. It was the only way she could cope with her loss. We soon pretended he never existed. While she was sleeping, we would try to find Ashen, but our searches were fruitless.

When we finally realized that Ashen was HERE, along with four other newcomers, we were overjoyed. Nicky hugged him so tightly, it seemed like he would suffocate. But then when she finally got off him, all he said was, "Who are you?"

The first couple of minutes after that were tense. Nicky was distraught. She started shouting at him. Questioning him. I don't think he even got a chance to answer.
"Who are they?"
"What was down there?"
"Did they hurt you?
"Do you know who you are?"
"Do you still have your powers?"
"Do you remember us?"
"Do you remember me?"

"I don't know," he said.
She hid in her bedroom and started wailing. Her family is waiting outside her bedroom, trying to console her. It's painful being in the house. The newcomers are trying to ask him about how he came here, but I can't hear what they're saying. Us ninjas decided to leave them alone and scout for a potential rendezvous for sunset. From what I remember, before Transformice had to rebuild, Atelier was on the border of the English and French server, but sort of... hidden from everyone. To those who were staff members, it showed their favorite environment. To those who were normal mice, it was just this gray building that had an impenetrable barrier around it. The only way mice could ever go in is if they were allowed by a mod, sentinel, or admin. So we were at a loss. Then, Gayali had a great idea.

"Have the shamans build failships and make them fly over the fence. Around 3-4 AM. Not even the stat-padders are awake at that time. When we find Atelier, we'll have to be very careful. I know they have barriers, and as far as I'm concerned, infiltrating through the doors or windows would be suicide. We'll send 2 ninjas and 2 shamans to go in. The ninjas will dig a hole near Atelier, while the shamans will support them when they dig through the ground and go under Atelier. Then, you'll make a hole in Atelier, get inside, open the door, and let us meet the admins. Foolproof."

Well, it's not exactly foolproof, but we'll figure it out. The main thing is we have a plan. I have to go now. It's midnight already and I want to squeeze in a few hours a sleep before getting in. I'm pretty sure everything's settled now. The newcomers have slept now, and even Nicky's snoring now. I think she cried herself to sleep. I have no idea how we'll solve the situation between her and Ashen, and whether we'll get him to remember us... but one step at a time.

Chapter 13 - Burn
When I woke up, the world was on fire.

I wasn't being figurative. My house smelled of smoke. I was first woken up at midnight by my daughter, Krissy. It was oddly bright outside. There were black spots dancing in my eyes as I tried to fight the migraines I got every other day. After closing my eyes for around 10 seconds, I opened them and looked outside the window.

The only thing about Romania that's noteworthy, aside from the fact that the entire community seems like one huge rural town, is its mountains. We have 3 major mountains here in Romania: Mt. Măreție, Mt. Moldoveanu, and Mt. Brânză. All 3 of these mountains were spread far apart. Măreție was pretty and considered a national treasure. Its forests were wonderful and something straight out of Bambi. The main city in RO, RO1, was situated near this mountain. The other two on the other hand... Brânză was OK. Pretty average. Moldoveanu on the other hand was something straight out of Snow White. The trees' bark was black. The tip of the mountain was craggy and notoriously hard to reach. No one bothered to live there since the trees tended to break and crush everything whenever we had one of our freak storms. We lived closest to Moldoveanu, but Măreție was also near us, while Brânză was several kilometers away.

When I looked outside, the normally dark Moldoveanu was bright orange. It was on fire. The fire also engulfed RO1 and was... heading towards our neighborhood. Our neighbors were still asleep. I was too focused on saving my neighbors and I to notice the fact that maybe most of my friends were slowly burning alive in RO1. I had to save my house. That was all I focused on. We went to the nearby lake and started throwing buckets of water. A rich neighbor of mine lent her multiple hoses to the rest of the neighbors. The smoke was blowing towards us.

My husband used to fight fires for a living in EN. He'd come back coughing, wheezing and tearing up. I never understood why he reacted so badly to fires. I assumed that maybe it was because of his smoking. Now, I knew why. The smoke invaded my lungs and started choking me. I covered my mouth and nose with my blouse, but it still hurt to even breathe. My eyes started stinging. It felt like hell. The oldest person in the neighborhood, Mr. Alexander, simply collapsed. When my friend went to check on him, she found no pulse. He was dead. His eyes were glazed over. There was blood dripping out of his mouth. I simply closed his eyes and left him there.

By 5 AM, the skies were starting to lighten up, but the fire was still heading towards us. It felt like it was boiling. The heat was searing. The embers started flying towards us. The power went out as well as the water. We were all sapped of our energy. We felt at this time it was impossible to beat the flames. However, it was also impossible to leave. We were trapped.

I actually considered suicide at one point. I didn't want to burn alive. My neighbors had the same view. We simply hugged each other, said our farewells, then waited in our houses. I kissed Liet, hugged my children, sang them their last lullaby, then went to sleep.

When we woke up again, we were surprised to find... that we woke up. I looked around my room to make sure I was still in my home. I even pinched myself a few times. It wasn't a dream. I just started laughing and crying. It was wonderful. I couldn't believe we weren't dead. I accidentally woke up the rest of my family, but they were just as happy as I was. We decided to look outside to see how bad the damage was.

Everyone, with the exception of Mr. Alexander, survived. Not a single house was touched. We saw how close we were to burning up when I saw that there was scorched grass just a meter away from the house closest to the fire. I noticed that it was raining. That was our saving grace. For a moment, all I felt was bliss. We survived. However, I saw that the main town wasn't so lucky.

I walked over to the town, which was 2 kilometers away. All that was left was charred rubble. My daughters begged me to bring them there. They wanted to see their friends. I had Lietfan and my friend, Luciana, accompany them. They covered the eyes of my children when they noticed a few corpses lying in the middle of the road. We walked over and saw that there was a tent city. The tent city was the exact opposite of our neighborhood. It was miserable. There was a news conference in the largest tent. I decided to join the audience. I learned horrifying details. 40% of Romania incinerated. 908 out of the 2,124 citizens of Romania believed to be dead. School and town hall destroyed. There were moderators acting as journalists everywhere.

I eventually found out that around half of the school's students had died in the fire. Our neighborhood was one of only 3 towns to survive the fire intact. The other 7 were mostly destroyed. The remaining towns became a symbol for bravery and hope. Our neighborhood, which they decided to name RO2 now, has become the new capital. Our town is now being flooded with refugees.

I also found that out of the 13 friends I had in RO1, 7 died. I don't know how I'll deal with this. It's honestly too much for everyone. Everyone's been affected by this one way or another. I don't know if we'll ever recover completely. If I'll ever be able to face the facts. If I'll ever accept that while I managed to save myself, my neighbors, and my family, I couldn't save them. But I will say this.

To all the departed, rest in peace.

Chapter 14 - Cover-Up

[This was recovered from the house of Icanhasdonut.]
Today, every single mod, sent, and arb was sent to Atelier for the second time in a week. No one expected what they'd tell us. No one expected we'd be forced to do this. I'm not safe with writing this anywhere, but I don't think I can let this stay on my chest any longer.

Everyone had heard of the fire in Romania. It added a layer of gloom to the already tense atmosphere of Transformice. The sheer number of deaths was enough to shock even the most callous person. Out of the 2,000 mice that lived there, almost half had perished. Some networks had even published pictures of the bodies and some of the more severely injured survivors. Fur was reduced to spotty patches. I saw a girl with her face covered in scar tissue. It was so shocking that Sydoline ordered a temporary moratorium on pictures of the tragedy. There were already relief concerts and fundraisers being planned. Everyone agreed that we should help them. But there was something else people wanted even more. Vengeance. There were already some guesses that it was arson. There were even a few guesses by some crazy conspiracists that a mod started the fire.

Turns out they weren't so crazy after all.

Instead of meeting in the usual room, they first forced us into a line, like we were little children preparing for the school assembly. Then, Tigrounette forced his eye up to this scanner-like thing, causing this secret door to open. We walked down so many flights of stairs that I was almost convinced they wanted us to go down to the badlands again. Finally, they revealed this extremely spacious room that was like an auditorium, but slightly smaller. I was seated in the front, so I noticed something behind the stage where the admins were about to speak. It was an enclosed room with no walls. I wondered if this was the legendary interrogation room I'd heard rumors about. Before I could ask, they started speaking.

Melibellule was the first to speak. "Now, as you know, there have been major tragedies in two servers: Brazil and Romania. With Brazil, it was a simple glitch gone horribly wrong. There is certain code designed to remove the cheese from the map. This is reserved for certain maps, like tribe houses. One of our arbs from Brazil accidentally included this code in the main database for his server. This is what is causing the famine. He has been suspended for an indefinite amount of time."

This elicited murmurs from the audience. The last major suspension we had heard of was with Redditguy. Suspensions usually lasted from days to weeks. You were only suspended forever if you did something major like ban people for personal reasons, or in this case, inadvertently causing more than 500,000 mice to starve. While this was shocking to us, it was nothing compared to what they'd say about Romania.

Tigrounette stepped on-stage and then cleared his throat before speaking.

"The fire in Romania is a tragedy unlike any other we have ever experienced. We are deeply sorry for all the pain it has caused you, especially to those from Romania." I heard a sob coming from Gogoninja. Both RO and NL were under his jurisdiction. My friend, a fellow EN arb named Alikha, explained to me later on that some of his relatives had died in the fire. Tig continued speaking. "There have been some rumors spreading around that this fire was caused by arson. There have been even more outrageous rumors that this fire was caused by one of us. We've found that... those rumors are true."

Everyone was too shocked to speak. Tig went on. "There were a group of rioters in the main town of RO1. We've been dealing with more and more protests in these past few days, so we didn't think anything would go wrong. We'd managed to handle the last couple of situations pretty well. However, this protest was different. I'll let Gogoninja speak."

He had to wipe some tears from his eyes before speaking. It was hard to understand him since he had an accent, but I picked up on most of it. "When we arrived at the plaza, there was this huge barricade. The people behind the barricade were armed with Molotov cocktails, cannons, boxes, and runes. This was scary for us. As soon as they saw us, they attacked. Cannons slammed into my colleagues. I was able to dodge and even knock out a few of them, but near the end of the battle, it went bad. They rallied and were able to capture everyone except my friend, Petrosani, and me. They'd run out of everything except the Molotovs. They grinned and then threw one at us. I winced, expecting to feel excruciating pain in a few seconds... but I didn't. I looked and saw that my friend CAUGHT the Molotov and threw it at them. He missed and hit the barricade."

Sydoline decided to speak next. Now, she was always considered by us to be the most sensitive of the three admins. This was required since she was the community manager. She needed to empathize with the public. As a result, she was the most severely affected of the admins. She stammered her way through what seemed to be a prepared speech.

"Th-th-this information is... very sen-sensitive. If anyone were to find out, it would have d-dire consequences for all of us. I-I want y-you all to NEVER mention a word of th-this outside this room. U-understand?"

Many of us protested and shouted. I heard someone say, "What about them?!" I heard another shout, "So you're letting them get away scot-free?!" Suddenly, Sydoline screamed as loud as she could. The entire room was silent.

"I never wanted this! They never wanted this! What happened was an accident, all right?! If anyone ever finds out about this, we are SCREWED. They'll think we're trying to kill them!" She started breaking down into sobs, and Melibellule decided to speak for her. "Petrosani has been placed on temporary leave for now. At 15:00, Sydoline will hold a press conference on both events. She will reveal the true cause of the Brazil famine. As for Romania, she will place the blame on the rioters. I realize how unethical this is, but it is our only choice. If any of you decide to mouth off about this to even your mom or dad... you will be placed in exile."

Suspensions and bans were commonplace, but placing someone on exile? It was unheard of. To place someone on exile meant to send them down to the badlands... forever. I've been down there, and I don't think I could survive more than 1 day there. The staff left the room after she said these words. We were allowed to go home early, presumably so we could be allowed to digest these news. I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep quiet. I don't want to be the bad guy. I want to be known as someone who performed his duties for the rest of Transformice, not to save ourselves from danger. But if I say anything.. I may cause a revolution. I may cause our downfall. I don't want to be known as part of a corrupt institution, but I don't want to cause the government to fall either. I don't want any of this. I want to rest, relax, and have fun. I want to settle down, maybe have some children, and spend my last days satisfied with life. I don't want to live with this. This is just too much of a burden for me.

Wow I love how you did this story so far ^^

I read this whole thing. You TRULY are an author. And I love how you included Transformice. You inspired me c:

@ Xin and Bunny: Thank you two so much!

I am so sorry for abandoning this thread. I was unable to access this forum due to issues like it constantly crashing on me, but now I can update this. Yayyyy.

Chapter 15 - Society​
​
For one day, we had some calm. The leaders were still cautious after the press conference, but they found the explanations plausible. I still had some doubts. I mean, who’d be stupid enough to throw a Molotov in a town known for its forests? But for that day, everything was fine. We could relax, have a drink, and not think about what would be the government’s next move. ​
​
Quite a pipe dream, right?​
​
The leaders of Four Clovers announced that we would have a day-off. We almost couldn’t believe our ears. It was wonderful. As soon as they said that we could go, I rushed outside and looked for the gang: Xinaug, Miguewordede, Lillyunicorn, and Adiline.​
​
We went off to the English forums. I’m not exactly sure how to describe the English forums. Society in the EN server has become… tribal, you could say. Why? There’s three main things that determine your friends, the way people treat you, and most of all, how popular you are. Our society is cosmopolitan, even plastic. Behind the scenes, like in Four Clovers and the government, this isn’t the case. But usually, fame is the game. Here are the three things I’m talking about.​
​
First, your tribe. This is the least important of all the factors. Most people don’t care if your tribe is broken or dead. That doesn’t matter. What DOES matter is if your tribe is well-known. For example, simply being a member of, say, 15 to Life will make you bound to receive questions like:​
“Do you know any mods?”​
“Oooohhh, are you a pro?”​
“How’s it like there?”​
“Can you get me in that tribe? I promise I’ll be nice!”​
And even:​
“Is Caity your girlfriend?”​
​
Yikes.​
​
Personally, I can’t handle being questioned like that all the time. This is why I try to hide the fact that I was part of Neospect. Neospect was semi-famous. So when the tribe disappeared, it became common knowledge across most of the community. A lot of the members of Neospect had literally hundreds of friends. Whenever someone discovers I was from there, they’d just ask me a bunch of questions. They’d ask if their friend was hacking, if they quit, if they were banned, and even if I had something to do with it. I have to restrain myself in order to avoid punching that person in the face.​
​
Also, if anyone finds out you’re part of Four Clovers, you’re screwed. There’s a huge price on our heads right now. Something like 1000 fraises if anyone provides info leading to our capture. That’s only for the newbies. If anyone mentioned anything which would get one of our leaders caught, he or she would probably become the richest mouse of all time. To avoid being caught, we wear these masks whenever we have one of our rallies. Also, we use this weird gadget that alters our voice.​
​
I’m getting off-topic. So, that’s how being in a tribe determines how popular you are. Next, your original community. The 5 days before the Divide sparked off this huge shake-up of our demographics. There were multiple exoduses and influxes in every community, especially the English community. When the dust settled, multiple mini-communities propped up. There were Chinatowns, mini-Brazils, Istanbulias, and so on. Soon, your ethnicity started influencing how people thought of you. If you were from the English or French server, you were considered high-class. If you were from the Brazilian, Turkish, or Spanish servers however, you were considered low-class. Some mice would probably avoid you like the plague, while others would insult you. This is because a large percentage of these communities have been known to hack or cheat, and many kids have kinda ruined their reputation with their constant taunts of ‘lixo’ and blaming a particularly bad race on the winner cheating. If you were from other communities, it wouldn’t matter, except if you were from Romania. As of now, being from that community automatically gains you lots of pity.​
​
Finally, your clique. Yes, kiddos, cliques don’t stop existing in high school. They become a very important part of our life in the English community. There are 7 main types of cliques.​
​
Hackers: These people are the ultimate scum of Transformice. Whether you’re part of us, staff, or just a normal mouse, you’ll probably hate them. Heck, even stat-padders hate them. These mice take steroids and whatnot to try to become the new Supermaus. Some of these steroids simply help you jump in the air as much as you want while others help you finish entire rounds in .01 seconds. If you’re ever caught hacking, you’ll be kicked out in a blink of an eye. This is why they often go in hiding. From what I know, some associate with each other while some are loners. Others masquerade as normal mice. Some associate with farmers in order to raise their ranks. ​
​
Maniacs: These mice commit many types of crime, but we collectively refer to them as the maniacs. They spam, troll, farm, stat-pad, and basically become a nuisance in the daily life of an ordinary mouse. The trollers don’t really like to associate with each other. They just like fooling and insulting mice on a whim. The spammers are usually mice who have just found the forums and find that they need to shout repeatedly and literally shove their art in people’s faces. I mean ‘literally’. I’m pretty sure I’ve accidentally inhaled some of the residue from some of their pastel drawings. The stat-padders are usually sore losers. Let me explain first. We have this group called CheeseForMice. Pretty nice guys, not really affiliated with the staff. Aside from having forums like the official one the staff maintains, they also have statistics on EVERY mouse. I don’t know how they manage it. It scares us. Anyways, their statistics list... a lot of stuff. They keep track of how much cheese you’ve collected. They know how many mice you’ve saved. They know how many times you’ve won a race. They know how many times you’ve completed bootcamp. Heck, they even know the number of cheese you’ve collected while saving mice. It’s insane. However, I don’t really think they’re bad guys. Just mice with a lot of time on their hands. Anyways, they use all these stats and use various equations and algorithms to determine who’s the ‘best’ mouse. They have rankings which determine which mouse has saved the most mice, which mouse has the highest cheese-to-round ratio, and so on. These stat-padders like increasing their first ratio. If they don’t get a first, they quit the race. And then they badmouth other mice. If they’d just mind their own business, maybe we wouldn’t spit on their face so much.​
​
Sorry for that. Stat-padders are a sore topic for me. The farmers also strike a nerve with me. I don’t know why. I guess I just find it unfair that they shove their high rankings in our face when they’ve done virtually no work to get those stats. These people have to associate with each other. It’s the only way they can ‘farm’. Basically, they get their own special room, usually somewhere far off so that they don’t get discovered by some mod. It’s usually a group of 11 mice I guess. Then, 10 mice, usually close friends of the ‘special’ mouse as we like to call them, basically sit back and don’t do anything while the special mouse gets all the firsts. It’s ridiculous. There’s also save farming and cheese farming. Just insane. Those are the maniacs.​
​
Nobodies: These people comprise approximately 80-85% of the Transformice population. They’re normal, but unknown. A nobody. They have their own friends and their own normal life.​
​
Socialites: There are many ways to become a socialite. A socialite is basically a mouse who is well-known in the forums. Maybe they attend the forum regularly. Maybe they’re very funny. Maybe they’re just plain pretty. Whatever the case, they’re famous and they relish it. Some are so charismatic that they literally have fan clubs. Most that I know, however, are down-to-earth. They know how to handle the good life. They actually try helping the toddlers who are new to the races. I like those people and regularly enjoy talking to them. Migue and Lilly are socialites, the best ones I know.​
​
Artisans: There are three types of artisans: the artists, the writers, and the videomakers. The artist is the most common type of artisan. No matter how badly you draw, you’ll be accepted by the community if you draw regularly. The people who regularly go to the museums to look at drawings are very supportive and like giving constructive criticism. Because of them, some mice have improved greatly. I’m one of the artists, so I know what I’m talking about. I host this weekly exhibit with Tokipocky, nice guy by the way. We take requests, so I guess that helps with the fame. Mice really like seeing themselves in a framed portrait. Next, we have the writers. With telling stories, it’s a hit or miss. Some stories languish in obscurity while others become well-known EVERYWHERE. For example, most mice know about Transformice: The Journal or The Stuck Series. I ran into two of my friends when I made my occasional stroll through the storytellers’ circle. This guy set up some random roleplay I guess. Basically, it wasn’t just one mouse telling the story. It was 22 of them. It was about zombies. You told your story through first-person. I didn’t get the appeal behind it, but the friends I met there did. I listened, it was mostly OK. Some were really good and legitimately scared while others were new at telling stories and weren’t really getting the mood right. After they were done telling their stories for the day, I met up with two of them: Adiline and Xinaug. I found out that Adiline was the girl who recruited me while, of course, I found out Xinaug was the name of that girl I talked to regularly in the army. So anyways, where was I? Oh right, the artisans. The last type of artisan is the videomaker. The mice here like producing their television shows and whatnot. Some are really funny, I like watching them. Others make mediocre music videos usually. Videos are a new medium here, so they’re just taking off. I only watch TV once in a blue moon, so I’m not familiar with them. There was this buzz about a guy who wanted to make a 2-hour film, but I think he was full of bull. He never followed up.​

Racers: I’m not familiar with these people. Apparently, they’re like socialites, except they don’t even want the fame. Most I’ve met have become bitter. I guess it’s like being in a famous tribe, but worse. In every race, there will always be some random mouse asking what room, say, Thejkb is. These people are in the top 1,000. Most associate with each other, although the really well-known ones like Kingtrex or Camillavilla stay on their own. These people are known throughout every server and idolized. There’s only one clique which is even more famous. That is…

Staff: I hate these people for reasons which are quite obvious. Well, the official staff. ‘Staff’ can also be used to refer to the people who run CFM. Those guys are cool. You hear their names as soon as you enter school. “Barrydarsow.” “Caitybumz.” “Dracoleaf.” It’s a personality cult with these people. Sometimes, you hear their name merely in whispers as if they’re the Boogiecat. Other times, you hear them in casual conversation, while mice talk about what they’re wearing, what they ate. Ugh, it’s ridiculous. I’ve heard that some are nice, like Caity for example or Vulli. I’ve gotten to meet both of them personally and I actually agree. I know Vulli quite well since he’s one of the best artists in CFM. The staff in CFM is not as well-known, but they’re important to us. Pompomball, Minkee, Sabusha, Kazumamice. Those are some of the staff in CFM. They’re funny, approachable, wonderful type of mice. Meanwhile, the official staff, well most of them anyways, always seems like it’s on a power trip.

Those are the cliques. I… have no idea why I said this much about the forums. I think this is the only thing that will actually listen to me. All of my friends are off doing something else and I’m just sitting here, all by myself. Heck, I don’t even get to talk to Xinaug that much. She’s thinking of transferring to Surveillance, and while that’s great and all, I don’t have anyone else to talk to. I feel so out of place here. I guess it’ll take some time to fit in, but I just feel so alone here.

Oh gosh that was weak. Stupid Pudding, stupid. Man up.

Anyways, we were at the forums. The Cheese forums. We went off to the main chat circle. There, the main topic wasn’t Brazil, or even Romania. It was us. Us. All 5 of us we’re taken back by this. As it turns out, our rally made some impact on many mice. They were heavily divided, with some mice coming out in support of the staff, and others in support of Four Clovers. They were debating furiously, insulting each other and whatnot. It was amazing. Back then, our rallies barely attracted 10 mice. I have no idea what sparked so much interest. Personally, I think those 2 disasters made them start agreeing with us. When one community goes up in flames while the other starves, it causes people to become angry.

We only watched for a short while before going off at this new restaurant. There, we talked about normal things. I asked Adiline and Xinaug if they had any ideas for my story, but they were just as stumped as I was. Darn. Lilly showed off a draft for one of her drawings. It was beautiful. I think it was an angel mouse floating in the clouds or something like that. That reminds me, I have to go meet up with Toki one day, when this all settles down. Then, Migue shared some stories from his Spanish friends. They were kinda funny. Some guy accidentally made a story circle in the drawings section. It was this lovey-dovey story. A newbie drawer mistook this for a request and then got the genders wrong. He showed us a picture he took of the entire thing. Gosh, their faces were priceless.

When the sun started to set, we went back to houses, slept, then went back to the Four Clovers HQ for the daily grind.

Right after lunchtime, I was relaxing in my dorm when I heard noise. Then I heard the cannons fire. When I looked out into the main command room, I saw this squadron. They were coming out of the basement where we kept the rest of the squadrons…

We ran. I could only find Xin. I still have no idea where my other friends went. I’m still shocked right now. To think that they made the first move. We were about to start mobilizing our forces within two days. They managed to free all 2,000 prisoners. I felt lucky that our dorms were closest to the exit. I wanted to go get my friends, but it was impossible. The squadrons from the government were blocking the entrance into the dorms for Propaganda and Recruitment. I can’t be a hero. I was only able to gather a knapsack filled with basic survival materials and this journal, of course. Xin and I put on our mask before running off as far as possible.

I showed her the former tribe house of Neospect. It was still exactly as I left it. The consoles for our video games were still scattered in front of the TV. The doors to the bedrooms were left open, as if waiting for someone to enter. She knew the story of my former tribe already. I explained to her I was only hiding out here because it was out of the way. Also, I was slightly hoping Migue would come here, maybe bring news about Adiline and Lilly.

I can’t sleep now. I’m so worried for those three. As far as I know, no one knows that I, Greatpudding, am affiliated with Four Clovers. They think I’m some normal mouse. I’ll try to check out the forums tomorrow, look for word on Migue, Adiline, and Lilly. The power was cut off after the tribe was disbanded, and it’s winter so I’m freezing right now. I know this journal isn’t much, but it’s all I have. I need someone to talk to about all this, and if it’s a machine, so be it. All I want to do is just find my friends and be done with this. I’m not sure if Four Clovers will ever come back together. Goodbye.

Chapter 16 - Watch and Learn​
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Ashen's definitely one of them.​
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In hindsight, we should've seen that coming a long time ago. But we didn't. It took us all by surprise. We decided to ask him about how he got here. His story was... odd, to tell you the truth. ​
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He explained that he woke up in the middle of nowhere. He wasn't anywhere near the town or that hill. Just really far off. He remembered this odd feeling of not belonging in the sea, as if he needed to get out as soon as possible. He also remembered feeling like his body wasn't his. That feeling lingered with him for a long time, up until we met him. By then, he had gotten used to life here and disregarded the feeling as something irrational. We asked him how he even met us.​
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He started off life in Fish as a hobo. He had no idea how to swim, which made getting most food impossible. He begged and starved everyday. He revealed to us that he never learned how to swim. He only figured out that he could control 'fire' and water, so he used that to his advantage. He started forcing the water to bring him up. This didn't get him any special attention. The way he controlled the water really made it look like he was swimming. My friends and I only bumped into him and thought he was a nice guy. I know it sounds really naive of us to have only learned of this now, but his past never came up in conversations. We never talked about our pasts because for almost all fish, it's the same. You're born, your parents teach you how to get fish, you start getting good at it, you learn how to build, you meet someone you love, you settle down, you have children, you retire, you die. That's it. As I said before, life is boring here. That was one of the many reasons why I left Fish.​
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There were a few odd things about him. He always said his parents were 'away' whenever we wanted to meet them. Also, he would only say 'I was born with it' whenever I asked him how he could make fire. There were so many sketchy things about him that have just been explained now. It's insane. It's mind-boggling, almost. There's another problem by the way. No one knows exactly how he lost his memory. All we know is that it was between the time he found us and the time he disappeared. Also, he can't remember his old friends and I highly doubt he will. So, they're starting over.​
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As I've said already, Nicky's taking it the hardest. She's lost, now. It's not easy starting over 5 years of history. You can't replicate that. To be honest, the situation between those two is becoming worse since of course, his first impression of her is a wreck who can't even look him in the eye without crying. But she's trying to hold it together, just to get us in there.

Speaking of that, we're here! We're in proper Transformice now. The plan Gayali made worked and so we're here now. There's just one tiny kink... no one speaks our language. According to Vampirevil, we may have ended up in the Turkish server. First, I don't know what Turkish is. Is it a type of food? Country? Species? I have no idea. But they speak this weird language. Even Apato doesn't know it. The shams and ninjas... that term still doesn't quite roll off my tongue. I'll just call them the 'outsiders'. The outsiders know how the language sounds like. They just don't speak it. It's quite easy to fit in however since a bunch of English-speaking people live here. The outsiders are really confused as to why some speak English, but it's good for us. I guess I'll ask them later. Anyways, today, we're learning how to get cheese on our own and how to 'spawn', whatever that means. They said they'll explain it later. Right now, they're teaching us how to walljump. They said it will become extremely necessary later on along with many harder skills. We've already mastered running, but walljumping? Oh dear.
They said we have to use the calluses on our paws to get enough friction to hold on, but the problem is pushing yourself off the wall, and then landing on a higher spot. That's where we struggle. For now, we're settling with the few wheels of cheese we've collected already. I have to say, it'll take a long time before I get used to life here. But we're on Transformice, so that is a huge step towards getting to Tigrounette.​

This is REALLY good! It's so detailed and I-I just can't explain it!

Oh god the color blinds my eyes.

Sorry if you don't allow critiques but uh....

You could add some more dialogue.

But the story is just...wow!

Oh no, I'd love critiques! I can't really improve without them anyways.

Just be constructive is all I'm asking. Don't be like 'this story makes me want to smash my head in' :c

Anyways, the colors are kinda necessary for me. They indicate which POV the story is in.

Also yeah, I could definitely add some dialogue. I'll try to take note of that when making new chapters.

And also, thank Mice and Vivi! Here's another chapter : D

Chapter 17 - Restart

So, he really doesn't remember me.

OK.

We can replicate history. It's not hard. It'll just be like those love stories where the guy or girl suffers amnesia and then the other person tries to get them back together but then they have trouble but eventually something dramatic happens which reunites the two together and they live happily ever after.

That can happen between us, right?

It's not like Ashen avoids me like the plague because he thinks I'm a freak for crying and insisting that we were together for 5 years and you don't forget 5 years, Ashen! It was 5 years of connection, love, caring, understanding, we went through everything! How the hell do you forget 5 years, Ashen? 5 of the most meaningful years of our lives. How? Was it all worth nothing to you? Tell me!

OK, so maybe I'm not OK. Not like anyone would be if the same thing happened to them.

He can go screw himself for all I care.

Nothing else here is helping. We're back in Transformice, but we have to hang around everyone like a bunch of creepers and keep silent. And it turns out we landed in the wrong server. Perfect! The stars are really lining up nowadays, aren't they? There's a bright spot however. Just one. It turns out around... one-fourth or so of the people here speak English fluently.

That's where that bright spot ends.

Why? Because we've been hanging around them, learning some information. From what I've heard, while we were gone, tons of new servers were added. And they don't call them servers anymore, they call them communities. So the sociopolitical atmosphere of Transformice has completely changed. Also, there was something called the Divide which is basically this huge electric fence surrounding the borders between every community. It was to stem immigration and ethnic conflicts or something. Apparently, the mods screwed it up so badly they managed to get a bunch of foreigners locked outside their own home. That would explain the English speakers. That means we can't even go to Atelier. The normal way, that is.


Since they've changed Transformice into a bunch of sky islands (how they managed to make the islands stay there is beyond me), it's theoretically possible to infiltrate the place by going underground. So, we just use Gayali's plan, only this time we'd infiltrate... FR? EN? I don't know. But there's a way. It's just going to become a lot harder to get there.

So for other 'updates'... the newcomers are learning awfully fast. They just need more practice on wall-jumps. They're starting to get firsts, which is phenomenal. Albeit, it's on the really easy maps/luck maps, but it's something. It's actually fun teaching them since it keeps my mind off of those other things. Also, we have other reasons for helping them other than out of the goodness of our heart. We're worried for Transformice. I saw one entire island glow up a night or so before the newcomers came. Also... more people had been falling from the sky.


This was nothing unusual for us given our location, but the time it took for them to be transported back there had been getting longer and longer. They usually fell 1/4 of the way. But then they fell 2/5. 1/2. 3/5. 2/3. 3/4. Then to the ground.

A mouse's body can survive a lot of things. A lot. But one thing they cannot survive is a miles-high fall. By the time we left, we had to bury 5 mice.

Something is happening up there. We can't tell what, but it's worrying me. I fear... no, no, they were gone and are gone forever. They can't be back. Maybe some really bad glitches? We'll see.