The Bloom

Ghid · April 2, 2026, 2:43am

This is the first part of the Death of the Wild Masks story, a continuation of the long-running series The Wild Masks. This topic, as well as the others in this series, contain depictions of several different users, all of whom signed up to be present in this story via PM.

To find the other parts of Wild Masks: Requiem, you can check out the host topic here.

CHAPTER LIST

Ch 1
Ch 2
Ch 3
Ch 4
Ch 5
Ch 6
Ch 7
Ch 8
Ch 9
Ch 10
Ch 11

Death of the Wild Masks - Volume One
The Bloom

—
Chapter One
—

A boy walked alone.

The mountain beside him loomed, casting its dreadful shadow across everything beneath it. The delirious words of his father came back to him, repeating over and over, as the sensation of the reddened hand that gripped his wrist readily returned to his mind.

Follow the mountain. Find the grave.

Through a cleft in the hill before him, the boy marched forwards, undaunted by the biting cold sweeping through the valley. Time had driven the two halves of the hill together, such that the passage grew closer and closer until only by sidling between the two faces could he barely squeeze past, into the hollow tucked away beneath the hilltop.

The sandy soil had worn away through centuries of rain. Dusting off the grainy surface, the boy lifted the rough-hewn boards from their place beneath the moss to reveal a cavity, the soil comprising its base having swallowed the decayed remains of its long-deceased occupant.

The only remnant left intact, partially embedded into the ground beneath, was a worn, wooden mask.

—

Kauri groaned.

A thousand voices bellowed in his ear, their eager hands rattling the wall of the cage. He knew that none of them spoke any measure of kindness; a great deal had been wagered against him, and nothing in support.

The mask he wore wrapped around his entire head, supporting the massive blade extending off his face, split down the middle and meeting just before intersecting with the rest of the mask. The inside edge of each blade curved away from one another, meeting the static edge on the outside of the blade as they joined at the tip.

Clutching his bruised stomach, Kauri staggered back to his feet, given a brief moment of respite by his opponent. She wore a black band around her neck, which, imbued with extraordinary power, turned her entire body into diamond. Stalking around him, her exposed arms glistened in the buzzing light, waiting for the opening necessary to hit him again.

Darting towards her, he activated his mask, a relic long ago imbued with the same source of power she had received. His opponent, while not terribly short, was dwarfed by his massive frame, and forced to resort to kicks to make up for his reach. Sending a vicious high kick as his chest, Kauri ate the impact, activating his mask and sending him high into the air.

The power instilled in his bladed mask gave him great control over the mass and density of his body, and having decreased his density to lift himself into the air, he abruptly increased it, slamming his extended heel into the trapezius muscle of his opponent with enough force to break her side nearly off.

Landing in a crouched position, he quickly spun onto his hands and delivered a hand-standing crescent kick to the side of her neck before she could react. The deafening crack from the impact preceded the shattered neck of his opponent slipping off its body, colliding with the center of the ring with a chilling thud.

The goading shouts fell into silence as the grunting Kauri, still clutching his stomach, scooped up the diamond head of his opponent and exited the ring, handing off her cranium to one of the audience members without bothering to look, his eyes focused on the red-lensed glasses which stared back at him.

—

“Red won’t be happy with that.”

Kauri turned his bladed mask, glaring as the woman who spoke to him gently pushed the obtrusive blade away from her face. Her red-lensed glasses reflected the hazy light around the pair, partially obscured by her massive afro, which despite its size refused to move in the light breeze.

“I don’t care what he says he wants out of the arenas,” Kauri huffed, folding his arms in retort and tipping his mask down as far as his head would allow while still being able to glare straight forward from the tops of his eyes. “We both know he’s only using it to keep people out of the way. And I’m not letting anything get in the way of locating that mask.”

The woman turned her gaze down to the crumbling street below, loosely feeling the bottom edge of her high-cropped coat. “If we take too long, he’ll send someone to find us. You think we can narrow it down fast enough?”

“Trust me, Uchū.” Kauri stared out of the corner of his eye at her, the grey sky around him burning orange at the horizon. “By the time Red Scare realizes what’s going on… The ultimate mask will be mine.”

—

Ch 2

RedPandalorian · April 7, 2026, 6:10pm

You have summoned me by my name.

Ghid · April 11, 2026, 12:09am

Ch 1

—
Chapter Two
—

“What are you going to tell her?”

Kauri collapsed into the ruined bean bag chair with a thud, his hip bone smashing directly through the padding and colliding with the floor. “That it went off without a hitch. But say nothing about the mask. I’m not ready to show my hand to her in case she reports it to Red Scare.”

“She’s not going back to him,” Uchū replied, the large afro catching on nearly every corner in the room. “She really wants to get away. I can tell just by being here.”

“And I’m not taking any chances either way.” Kauri glared dangerously at the woman, whose head collided with the shelves directly above her cot. “So keep your mouth shut. Understand?”

“Yike, okay.” Uchū sighed, staring up at the shelves. “So… Before I go, I just wanna say something first.”

Kauri’s slow blink was taken as permission to continue. “I know I’m not supposed to be here. I don’t know why I’m here, or how I got pushed into existence as I did — if what’s floating up there had any part in it. But I wanted to thank you for not beating my face in the moment you saw me.”

Kauri rolled his visible eye with the significant implication that the one obscured by the bladed mask was rolled in unison. “I’ve heard that whatever you call yourselves can only be seen normally by people in great peril. Thankfully it didn’t come to that.”

“I suppose I should hop out now…” Uchū winced as Kauri’s fingers gingerly lifted up the red-lensed glasses, setting them to the side. “Do you think she’ll be okay?”

“Sure, whatever.” Kauri gestured impatiently for Uchū to hurry up. “Get it over with already.”

A bulbous white eye slowly emerged from behind the woman’s left pupil, its opposite soon appearing to follow it. Pushing upwards, the glistening skin of their host phased through the darker skin of the unconscious woman, the temporal struggle of the much smaller figure to escape his surroundings producing an ethereal tugging at the air around where he and the woman collided in space. With a gasp, the little figure sat up, taking a moment to reintroduce his inhuman lungs to the unpleasant air of his damp surroundings.

“Oh.” He glanced downwards, only to find his waist embedded in the middle of the woman’s chest. “Uhm, gimme a hand please?”

Kauri grunted as he ascended out of the ruin of foam beads and cheap fabric, placing his hand on the woman’s shoulder opposite himself and offering his free hand to the large-eyed individual trapped inside her. With an effort, he slowly drew his legs up out of her stomach, rolling off of her body and falling to the floor.

The woman took a deep and determined breath, her eyes tracing the worn undersides of the shelves. Her eyes slowly blinked through the mental fog as her hand wearily felt for the cartoonish head of Uchū, gently patting him as she reacquainted herself with the sensation of being.

“Please don’t throw up,” Kauri mumbled, leaning forward on his knees from his seat in the beanie bag chair. “Did you feel anything?”

“Sick.” She reached blindly for her glasses and eventually hooked her pinky finger around them. “Got such a migraine right now. Felt like I could fly anywhere… Like people. Like there was so much inside them. I could go anywhere.”

Kauri and Uchū shared an uncomfortable glance, the latter growing visibly concerned as she continued. “There’s so much space in people. So much they try to hide. I could see it all, like… Like it was a real place. There was so much to see, so much that…”

“Psychology majors,” Kauri blurted out under his breath, ascending from his ruined seat and lumbering towards the dilapidated refrigerator at the end of the room. “Uchū, please put her into a coma if we ever do this again so I don’t have to hear about her college life.”

Uchū’s gaze turned back towards her after following Kauri’s movements, sheepishly breaking away after a moment as she returned the glasses to the bridge of her nose. “What did you get to see, hm?”

“Uh,” Uchū’s eyes abruptly snapped back to her lightest of smirks as he fidgeted rapidly with his fingers. “Well, uh, you were right. They, um, they didn’t notice me at all, and I got as close to the big light thing as I could.”

“And we all know that your desperate humanitarian cause kicked into gear and you fought the evil glass ceiling fixture mega-corporation and saved the world,” Kauri interjected, slamming the refrigerator door shut and sliding the top of a bottle into the groove of his bladed mask, levering it against the two blades and popping the bottle cap off. “Were you around for woodstock?”

The woman rolled her eyes at the injured expression Uchū’s soft face bore in response to the distracting jab, swinging her legs off her cot and leaning forward, resting her forearms on her knees. “And what did they say?”

“The onibi?” Uchū blinked. “Uh, yeah, they said they had been around the general area before they got bottled up. There was a lot of talk about the knowing, which I think means people who can see us. I mean, uh… Yokai in general.”

The sound of Kauri gulping down air as he attempted to stick the neck of the bottle through the eyehole of his mask briefly interrupted Uchū. “Uh, anyway, there’s apparently still a lot of people who can’t see them, although not as many as there used to be. They didn’t want to get out nearly as much as they wanted to know about him, whether or not he can see them.”

“Him who?” Kauri gasped, having finished his bottle and begun wiping its contents off of his lower eyelid.

“The ghost,” Uchū replied. “The ghost that watches Wild.”

Kauri’s head snapped towards Uchū so quickly there was no notion of movement in between. His eyes turned to lock with the woman’s, who returned the look with a subtle yet confident nod. “Did they say where he is?”

“You were right again, Kauri.” Uchū nodded. “They said the ghost’s at that hospital. Probably he’s hiding out there to avoid the sweeps. But he could be there for misdirection; the onibi can’t get into the deep zone either.”

“I don’t want to go there,” Kauri grumbled, his hand tightening around the empty bottle. “We’ll keep heading for the hospital and go to the deep zone only if we don’t have any other choice. Ado, I’m gonna need your help waking Relic.”

The woman sighed, weakly rising off the cot and stumbling towards the refrigerator, passing it and nearly running into Kauri, who was busy trying to motion with any degree of subtlety to Uchū. Only after an exaggerated motion nearly involving directly pointing at the shelf did Uchū’s face light up with realization and he nodded profusely in reply.

Stepping out after Ado, Kauri ducked under the low doorway and leaned against its frame, pulling it shut behind him. Ado stood with her hands in her pockets, silently watching the tattered horizon and the setting sun blocked by the thick smoke wafting upwards. “Don’t you ever get cold in a crop top?”

Ado smirked, glancing back at Kauri with a slight raising of her eyebrows. “Don’t you ever get hot with a mask covering your face?”

Kauri leapt slightly as his gaze turned to meet the rough, slab-faced visage which stared into him. “The face comments,” it spoke, the fractured stone where its face had previously resided contrasting heavily with the sculpted stone muscle built into its neck. “I take it they are not being made in my presence as a slight?”

“We’re moving out.” Kauri adjusted his jacket, his black leather gloves producing a satisfying stretching sound as he flexed the muscles of his hand. “Grab the base and let’s get a move on.”

“Certainly,” Relic replied as he stretched himself upwards, the six-foot-six Kauri dwarfed by the colossus, spanning more than triple his height. “Red Scare would be most pleased if he knew where you are going.”

“We’re going to the hospital.” Kauri stepped into the open palm of his cohort, who lifted him effortlessly to the top of the shipping container he resided in. “I have one in mind, one there hasn’t been a lot of activity around. Hopefully it’ll have some resources in case one of us gets injured.”

“Is one of you in pain?” Relic abruptly leaned in, the general pleasant attitude he exhibited before abruptly vanishing as his faceless visage stared down the bladed mask before him.

“What, from the fight?” Kauri scoffed. “Not a chance. But getting shaken around like that convinced me we had better stock up before something really serious happens.”

“Yes,” Relic mused, staring off into the smothered sunset. “Serious.”

—

Ch 3

Ghid · April 11, 2026, 12:26am

And there we go

My apologies to anyone who may have been lead to believe the chapters were all going to be shorter with this one; you should have learned by now that I have no self restraint

Response Croissants

Oh my goodness actual feedback :shock:

There wasn’t any fighting ring as far as I remember

In WM, the code Wild operated under to never kill anyone or anything unless absolutely necessary formed a lot of how the heroes viewed the world around them, and, subsequently, Ren’s betrayal at the end. Tone’s character arc revolved around his dynamic with Corey and having broken Wild’s code by killing (twice) Corey’s dad with flimsy justification for each occurrence.

Meanwhile, the villain team, in step with being disorganized and self-sabotaging, had wildly differing views on the subject of killing people, with Odgu taking the most moral position and Hawk and Usul holding the positions of life irrelevancy and job mindset, respectively.

As for deaths, Tone killed Know (Corey’s dad), the strange limbo life of Hawk ended when Ren pulled the demon eye from his skull, and Usul died after Ren abandoned him to the frames. It’s also implied Kureli died off-screen by the hands of Usul, and Pakka died of (un)natural causes.

Oh, and Corey died due to injuries sustained from Hawk.

Uh yeeaaaahhhhh totally

Surprise surprise Now you’ll just have to theorize all over again

Red Scare is an original character. I am mentioning this now because there will be some details later on that might imply he’s actually a user, but he’s really not.

I have no clue about self-mocs and masks. I don’t typically reference them when making characters based on users unless there’s some intrinsic element tied to the user.

Tonight on Top Gear
I get a hand
James gets out of bed
And Hammond stares into the fire

RedPandalorian · April 11, 2026, 12:55am

I thought I was Red… Thank you @Zhyndea for making the thoery.(sarcasm)

Ghid · April 13, 2026, 8:50am

Ch 2

—
Chapter Three
—

“So what have we learned?”

Kauri’s suppressed grumble finally escaped his lips. “If you mention one more word about your psychy valve you’ve been trying to force on me-”

“It’s psyche eval.” Ado forcefully corrected, leaning forward for additional emphasis. “Short for psychiatric evaluation. And you really do need one.”

“We’ll have to run it by RED SCARE first,” Kauri replied, leaning towards the back of Relic and increasing his volume to ensure he was heard. “Because I’m sure HE’D want to give approval on that-”

“Okay, enough,” Ado whispered, pulling Kauri back towards her by the elbow. “I mean what have we learned about the you know what?”

The subtle turn of Relic’s head drew Kauri’s gaze for a moment. “I mean, it’s not overly important. He thinks he knows something you don’t, but you do know. You saw me tell him, correct?”

“I was there for all of it.” Ado gave a slight nod. “He is a really bad actor. Somehow worse than you, actually. But that’s a story for another time. There’s been a lot of the yokai congregating here.”

“Not sure they’d all label themselves yokai, Ado.” Kauri shot another glance at Relic, whose head began turning away from the pair. “But there’s definitely been a lot of them recently. That giant bear was around about a year ago, the one as big as a skyscraper.”

“Which is a comparison with significant variance.” Ado blinked.

“You know what I mean.” Kauri growled. “Relic, were you there for the giant bear?”

“I was,” Relic answered, not bothering to turn his head towards the pair as he lumbered onward. “They say it had the pattern of a skull on its face, but I got a great view of it when I shielded Red Scare from its attack. He drove it back afterwards, and it was just a white pattern.”

“Do you know who got rid of it?” Ado inquired, tapping Kauri’s knee and pointing her finger down.

“I cannot say I do.” Relic mused, paying little attention to Kauri clumsily standing and walking towards the entrance of the shipping container, which swung up and down with each step that the stone giant took. “Many believe it was Red Scare that slew the creature, others say it was a ghost that felled it. I saw only the smallest dot challenge the beast, and the entire creature disappeared two hours later.”

Kauri closed the door to the shipping container, muffling the sound of the conversation. The cabinet door opened, Uchū poking his head out shortly after to cautiously spy about the room.

“I need to know.” Kauri leaned against the cabinet, Uchū recoiling slightly at his presence. “You’re a yokai, just like the onibi. So is Relic. How likely is it-”

“He’s not a yokai,” Uchū protested, “he’s a jötunn.”

“Yeah, I don’t care,” Kauri grumbled. “You’re both the same. You both popped into existence just over two years ago, you’re both supernatural spooks. Okay? Got it? Now can you or can you not get into the deep zone?”

Uchū was silent for a moment, his giant eyes scanning the air in front of him for a definite answer before worryingly returning to Kauri’s visible eye with a restrained gulp. “I don’t know. Maybe. I’d be scared to find out.”

“You’d be scared to do a handstand,” Kauri huffed, pushing off the cabinet and returning to his full height. “Do us all a favor. Next time wait until someone confirms it’s safe before sticking your head out like that. The wrong person finds out you exist and you’re dead.”

Ignoring Uchū’s gaze glumly returning to the floor, Kauri stomped back to the wooden door and paused with his hand on the knob as a loud thumping proceeded from above. Flinging the door open, he effortlessly pulled himself up the side and crouched on the edge. “What’s up?”

“There’s a yokai back there.” Ado adjusted her glasses. “It’s been laughing its head off about something. If we can corner it we shouldn’t have any difficulty.”

“It’s smart enough to laugh.” Kauri gripped the edge of the shipping container for stability. “It’s smart enough to be dangerous. Stay up here and get ready to blow its head open.”

With that, he leapt off the top of the shipping container, activating his mask to lower his density and glide effortlessly through the air. Touching down on a dilapidated rooftop, he slowly climbed down behind the chattering monster, which spun around to face him.

“Now let me guess.” Kauri folded his arms, staring down the intimidating creature. Its monkey-like visage preceded a massive, rounded spine, framing a huge body coated in thick bristly fur which peaked at the arch of its shoulders. Tiger-like stripes ran across its limbs, with menacing claws and puffy fur similar to the fur framing its red face. Its scaled tail rattled viciously as Kauri dragged on the silence for as long as he could. “They were out of wings at the freak store, weren’t they?”

With a chattering laugh, the creature sprung forwards with impressive speed, launching itself into Kauri and clamping its heavy paws around his shoulders. Abruptly lifting into the air, it dug its rear paws into his chest, repeatedly dragging them down across his legs to little effect, as Kauri’s mask had upped his density and durability to withstand it.

Suddenly increasing his density much further, Kauri became too heavy for the creature to hold, slipping through its grip and plummeting to the ground below. The yokai let out an offended screech, its shrill voice mimicking human laughter as it held itself aloft on steady wind. Bellowing down at Kauri, it did not process the thumbs-up he gestured as the signal it was.

Steadying herself, Ado lifted a toothpick into the air, resting on her curled forefinger and braced by her thumb. Activating the power of her glasses, she flicked the toothpick forwards, using her glasses to substantially increase the acceleration of the toothpick until it cracked through the air like a bullet.

The small toothpick shot through the cranium of the yokai, dropping it like a rock. It plummeted downwards until its heavy body landed with a thud against the street. Picking himself out of the crater he made, Kauri stepped overtop the fallen yokai and finally addressed the cornered dog it had been chasing.

“Honestly more of a cat person, no offense.” He nodded at the poor canine, trembling against a dilapidated wall. “Don’t worry, Ado’s coming over with one of those tag things that’ll help people locate ya. No need to thank us.”

“I hope he’s been tagged already,” Ado sighed, climbing through the rubble and stooping by the shivering dog long enough to administer the tracking tag. “There’s so many pets still lost after all this time. They got most of the people, though.”

“So you track and chip dogs for the government, too?” Kauri huffed, climbing back over the body of the creature and trudging towards Relic. “Whose side are you actually on?”

Ado glanced down at the dog, a smirk slowly creeping up her face. Without a word, she dropped a small handful of dog treats on the ground and departed.

—

It was August.

For many days, the rallying cry of the masses had been a restoration of the old way — to uphold the ideals and ideology that had sustained them, that had made them great. Yet beneath the veneer, those closest to the top whispered in hushed circles, the same phrase repeated over and over again.

Sleduy za goroy, they said. Follow the mountain.

Gora watched their hurried movements. They scurried about like ants on concrete, desperate to find a familiar footing. Yet all knew their place in things; should any of them resent his position, or question the legitimacy of their campaign, the slightest application of his worn, wooden mask brought even the greatest resistance to its knees.

It had been nearly a year since his influence gathered them about him. Together they struck at the heart of a changing nation, conquering many of its time-weathered institutions and threatening to usurp the entire government. But as the greater forces closed around them, Gora disappeared.

Alone, they fumbled and fell. Many were captured. Others died. Yet almost all failed to realize they were a test, an application of the powerful mask he wore, to see how far his abilities could carry him.

And it would be the defending forces that would find the ominous message left by Gora for his loyal followers, fearfully obeying his every whim until, as they discovered, it was all for nothing.

Sleduy za goroy. Naydi mogilu.

—

Ch 4

Ghid · April 13, 2026, 9:08am

Just another day in the monkey-tiger-snake killing company

For everyone’s sake, I’ll clarify that the fearsome foe they faced and beat really easily is called a Nue, and it’s a yokai with not a lot of history to go off of. It has some relation to bad weather and is evil, and that’s about it.

Boy I sure hope these Masks don't get Wild

Ah, that’s what you meant. Yeah, that’s all performative; nobody was in real danger there, and we only ever see the one fight.

It would imply, es, and since it’s been revealed in the latest chapter, I can clarify this is a little bit of the ol’ Ghid misdirection at play. The truth of the matter is, Kauri’s keeping Uchū in check while Ado is actually on top of things.

Red Scare was first introduced in the 50th chapter of Wild Masks, if only by name. As for any connection to Ren, we’ll have to see.

I cannot confirm or deny allegations that Corey came back from the dead and got super tall and cool-looking

Based assumption

The truth is stupider than you think

I mean smarter because I’m so smart

Tonight on Top Gear
I get clawed by a tiger
James shoots a monkey
And Hammond can’t get out of the cupboard

Minethuselah · April 13, 2026, 2:01pm

I saw a typo but I’m not telling you where

I kinda like how we aren’t drowning in characters in the first bit, which I felt kinda happened with Wild Masks. Maybe I’m remembering wrong though, who knows.

ChubChub86 · April 13, 2026, 7:07pm

Please Ghid

It doesn’t make me look good when the longest book I’ve read is actually an obscure topic on a dying Internet forum.

Also I see the typo smh

Ghid · April 13, 2026, 7:09pm

you’re making me paranoid

yes but does the book make you look good since you are in it

Minethuselah · April 14, 2026, 4:03am

New idea - whenever Ghid makes a typo we all say we’ve found it but never tell him what’s wrong. This will make him reread everything he makes us endure, sharing in our suffering.

RedPandalorian · April 14, 2026, 9:11pm

The Boards will work in unity against Ghid in their duty to torment Ghid to their destiny to overthrow Ghid.

Ghid · April 20, 2026, 12:32am

Ch 3

—
Chapter Four
—

“What else did they say?”

Uchū tapped his fingers together, having folded the wrinkles of his puffy pant legs atop his hands as he fidgeted in his seat. Ado’s repeated tipping of her head did nothing to draw his gaze back towards her, and his eyes traveled from one portion of the floor to another.

“They mentioned some of the other yokai out there.” His eyes briefly shot to the door. “Ijū, Wani, Shōjō, Koma Inu, Aka Manto, Amefurikozō-”

"American what?" Ado raised her eyebrows.

“Uhh,” Uchū looked back at her for a moment and immediately averted his gaze, “no, but, uh, anyway, they hadn’t seen any of them, they just felt they existed. The only one they saw themselves was the giant bear.”

Ado leaned forward, trying desperately to get within Uchū’s line of sight. “And did they have any thoughts about who killed the giant bear?”

The door suddenly swung open, Kauri dropping down through the opening a moment after. “Get up here, both of you. We’ve got a train to catch.”

“Train?” Uchū asked as Kauri disappeared back through the open door. “What train?”

“Let’s find out.” Ado grunted, pulling herself up the shipping container and attempting in vain to reach to Kauri for help, whose back was turned to her. Uchū quietly phased through the top of the container and braced as best he could to pull her up by the hand.

“We’ve got a minute,” Kauri huffed, his arms folded across his chest. “Bring dumpling head up to speed and then figure out how to get me down there.”

Uchū’s mouth hanging open in offense at the newly-ascribed descriptor went ignored by Ado. “Not all of Japan is without power. Some trains are left running to make the laps at every available station to pick up survivors, and everyone left is told to head for the stations.”

“But that’s not a survivor.” Kauri pointed at the distant speeding train. Something rested atop its sleek exterior, clawing incessantly at the slippery surface. “That’s got to be the third ugliest yokai I’ve ever seen, and I can’t even see it that well.”

“Please be nicer,” Ado cautioned, placing a comforting hand on Uchū’s head, as he pondered what Kauri could have meant by that. “Relic, aim for just after that crossing. What weight are you traveling with?”

“One cubic meter of styrofoam.” Kauri hunched down inside Relic’s palm as the giant scooped him up. “Two inch cube of brass for velocity. Tailored as I approach. Wind is light, traveling counter to the train.”

“That would be…” Ado mumbled, tapping her thumb across her middle finger as she ran through the math in her head. “Got it. Ready on your mark.”

“Have a pleasant flight,” Relic rumbled, reeling back and flinging Kauri through the air, accelerated by the power of Ado’s glasses and lightened by Kauri’s bladed mask. Uchū squinted at the moving target he hurdled towards, his eyes widening abruptly a moment after and prompting him to grip Ado’s leg for stability.

“That’s not a yokai…”

—

Kauri slammed into the roof of the train, tumbling across its smooth exterior and increasing his density to stop his slide. The material cracked and squealed under his added weight as he slowly rose to his feet, eyeing the suspected yokai before him.

It was nearly impossible to tell what it had been prior, if there had been a prior. The face of a man in his late forties blazed out of the darkness, his skin a bright cherry red, his black hair contrasting with the yellow petals surrounding his visage. They were rough and bark-like, closing off his neck and slowly changing into brown as they neared his shoulders before turning into black. The rest of his body had the same armor-like black plating, although his form was so distorted it was impossible in the world of men and monsters what exactly the creature before him was.

It desperately slammed a thoroughly ruined train pass into the top of the car, bellowing out incoherently as the vehicle made no sign of stopping. Abruptly turning to face Kauri, the shining white teeth of the monster flashed as its solid red eyes gazed past him into the distance.

“Alright, weirdo.” Kauri drew his fists above his face in a ready stance. “Knuckle up or you’re picking up your teeth. You just caught the wrong train.”

The creature did not seem to care how cool Kauri thought he was, and as he dashed forward to meet it, it reared up and drew in a guttural breath, which was silently exhaled as Kauri landed a vicious kick directly to its plated stomach.

Both he and the creature stared at each other for a moment as the kick did absolutely nothing, despite the force behind it. Kauri dramatically increased his density as the creature furiously roared, grabbing him by the knee and effortlessly swinging him upwards before slamming him back down, his weight crashing through the roof of the train car.

“Ow…” Kauri groaned, rising up enough to roll himself backwards and avoid the creature abruptly collapsing into the car. “Look, can we talk this out at all? I just saw you on the top of the… Train.”

Kauri slowly stood as the grotesque creature sidled into one of the seats and breathed laboriously, its hand still clutching the fragment of train pass. Cautiously approaching, Kauri descended into the seat across the isle and studied its incessant shuddering out of the corner of his eye.

“You trying to get back to your family?” He mumbled.

“Ssenn… Daii…” it hissed despondently, turning one blood-red eye independent of its counterpart to face him.

“Well,” Kauri grunted, lifting himself out of the booth he occupied and backing away from the creature. “Try not to kill anybody, alright?”

Crouching down, he dramatically decreased his density and jumped, soaring up through the hole in the ceiling and flying away in the wind. The train rocketed down the countryside beneath him, and feeling the wind at his side, he reeled back, sending a punch forward in the air while dramatically increasing the density of his fist for a split second, the force carrying him towards the distant giant whose faceless visage watched his approach.

“I trust the spirit proved effortless to overcome?” Relic inquired as his outstretched hand caught the speeding Kauri.

“Uhh yeah,” Kauri mumbled, holding his head as he recovered from the spin he had entered. “He’s gone, he’s off to Sendai… I don’t remember where Sendai is.”

“It’s the-” Uchū began, but jolted violently as the realization hit. "Whoa, whoa whoa whoa hold on. You let it live? YOU??"

“That thing’s not gonna hurt anybody,” Kauri mumbled, lowering himself to the ground and rubbing the temple of his mask. “It was just tired and desperate. I’m sure the train people will figure it out once they get there.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not upset.” Uchū clapped his hands together in satisfaction. “I just really don’t like the idea of killing people and I’m glad to see you coming around.”

“What?” Kauri glared back at the paste-white figure, whose childlike smile and glossy eyes paired almost picturesquely with his clasped hands as he stood approvingly of Kauri’s seeming rehabilitation. “Why do you assume I like killing people?”

Uchū and Ado shared and broke away from an awkward glance towards each other, with each trying hard not to look at Relic’s incredulous attitude towards the lanky leader of the little group. “Well,” Uchū broke the tense silence after a moment of apprehension, meandering about as he tapped his fingers together, “it’s probably better you didn’t kill that one since it wasn’t a yokai.”

“What are you talking about?” Kauri grunted, rising from his seated position on the ground. “Of course it’s a yokai. Black and red, really ugly, wall-eyed… Like you except for the colors.”

“Kauri,” Ado sternly scolded, only to be interrupted by the yokai in question.

“I know you’re jealous of my looks, Kauri, but I’m a yokai.” Uchū smoothed over his minimal offense with a tip of his head. “I know when I’m looking at other yokai, or jötunn, or whatever. And I can promise you that thing, whatever it was, is absolutely not a yo-”

Uchū froze, his upturned gaze eventually drawing the rest of the party towards its target. High atop one of the ruined structures overlooking the plains where the train tracks rested was a figure, his black clothes tattered and worn, his silver hair shifting in the wind.

His left arm was missing. His face was devoid of features.

“Wild,” Kauri whispered.

—

Ch 5

Ghid · April 20, 2026, 12:42am

Wild (apparently):

Predicaments

We shall have to wait and see

I cannot confirm or deny allegations that Pakari has an afro irl

Perhaps indeed

As I’ve said before, this is a direct sequel to the Wild Masks. Perhaps, there’s some clues in the ending of that one to shed some more light in this story.

bruh

what did I sign up for

Tonight on Top Gear
I get on the wrong train
James helps me along
And Hammond spots a stalker

Minethuselah · April 20, 2026, 2:07pm

guys it was me

I didn’t spot any typos this time, just one questionable punctuation mark and one awkward grammatical point. Still not telling you where they are.

Ghid · April 20, 2026, 7:58pm

Ch 4

—
Chapter Five
—

“Are we supposed to do something?”

“Shh,” Ado hushed, turning her open palm towards Uchū.

Kauri cleared his throat, stepping forward to greet the enigmatic figure above him. “We’ve been looking for you for quite some time. There’s something we believe you have, something you can lead us to.”

“Take us there.” Kauri’s eye burned from underneath the brow of his mask. "Now."

The figure stood in silence, his silver hair waving in the occasional gust of wind, while Kauri maintained a steady gaze. The seconds turned into minutes, neither party showing any indication of actually responding. Relic’s muscular neck broke the silence, creaking as it turned towards Kauri, and slowly lurching to one side as he neared his height to murmur under his breath. “Is he dumb?”

“…Maybe he can’t hear us.” Uchū tipped his head to one side. “Can you see if he has ears?”

“It was to my understanding that Wild of the Wild Masks was in possession of a face.” Relic mused, reaching to scratch at a chin that didn’t exist. “Is he really the one that freed the Demon?”

The figure’s head abruptly turned to face Relic, and the entire party froze once more. “He moved that time,” Relic pondered out loud. “Do you think it was because I made mention of the D-”

“Ssshhhhhhhhut up.” Kauri hissed, slowly turning his vicious eye onto Relic. “Shut up shut up shut up.”

“Sir,” Uchū stepped forwards, clutching one forearm with the opposite hand and conveniently ignoring the repeated gestures from Kauri and Ado to get him to stop. “Maybe there’s been a misunderstanding. We’re looking for Wild, of the Wild Masks. Do you know where he is?”

The silent figure continued his brilliant soundless performance of eyelessly staring into Relic. After several seconds with no reply, Uchū gave a despondent shrug and trudged back toward Ado, sitting on a small piece of rubble and resting his chin on his palms.

“Look, we don’t have a lot of time.” Kauri huffed, pacing slightly as he desperately waited for a reply. “You’re the only one who knows where it is and how to find it, so people say. You’re the one who brought about, well, you know who… Are you gonna help us out?”

“Alright, fine.” He growled, bracing himself. "The Demon."

Snapping his blank face towards the sound, the figure launched off the building and came crashing down towards Kauri, who increased his density just before the outstretched heel of his opponent could connect. The attached leg let out a sickening snap, lying twisted and broken as the figure collided with the ground.

No sooner had the impact occurred, however, than the figure swiftly stood, his shattered limb twisting about and repairing itself beneath his pantleg. Reaching out, the figure grabbed the edge of Kauri’s bladed mask and abruptly yanked him forward, catching his head with the one remaining hand and crumpling him into the street.

“Relic!” Ado snapped, prompting the giant to swing a massive uppercut into the torso of the figure, whom Ado immediately increased the acceleration of to send him flying upwards. Uchū ran over to Kauri’s crumpled side, grabbing him by the shoulder and needlessly shaking him around. “Did you see that?”

“Yeah,” Kauri coughed. “His right arm is left-handed.”

“We should not remain here.” Relic hastened, dragging the shipping container over and clumsily opening the door. “Get inside, everyone. You will have to control the speed of the fall. I will join you later.”

“Don’t mention you know who-ghhk” Kauri gargled as Relic’s massive hand temporarily closed his throat whilst grabbing him by the torso. “He’ll just fingd you eajhier that wauhy.”

“Understood.” Relic forcefully pushed Kauri inside and hefted the shipping container up onto one hand. “Have a pleasant flight.”

Reeling back, he lunged forward and threw the shipping container with all his might, requiring very little additional acceleration from Ado to push it along. Uchū closed his eyes and held tightly to Ado’s arm as the container flew through the air, while Kauri tried to pull himself out of the furniture.

As the container tipped the end with the door upwards, leaving Kauri to catch the plastic dishes that fell from the open cabinets, Ado craned her head out of the open doorway and eyed their surroundings. “Everyone out.” She mumbled after a moment, leaning against the side while she flexed the powers of her glasses. “We’re here.”

Dumping the plates, Kauri clambered through the open doorway and dumped himself out onto the street. The sliding glass doors, stained with dust and filth, presented themselves to him immediately after he disembarked. Backpedaling away to get a clearer look at the building, Kauri chuckled under his breath and folded his arms in satisfaction as Uchū struggled to help Ado out.

“Well, now.” Kauri gestured to the door as Ado focused on lowering the shipping container to the ground as gently as she could, Uchū tapping her leg to draw her attention towards the shattered hospital sign above the sliding door. “Relic doesn’t aim too bad for a guy with no eyes.”

—

“Are you sure you have eyes?”

“Please stop being so rude.” Ado hushed, sighing as Kauri jumped down the center of the stairwell and splintered the bottom floor with his added density. “I think his suggestion to start with the lower levels makes a lot of sense. We only have to walk through the entire building once this way.”

“Coming up or down before or afterwards doesn’t really change anything.” Uchū admitted, lowering himself down each step with caution. “I just figured we’d check here since we’re starting so close to the bottom.”

“I can’t think of an unlikelier place for Wild to be than the hospital basement.” Kauri grumbled, pushing through a small door and ducking to avoid the low frame. “If I were here, I’d want a view with-”

" …With what?" Ado mused, watching as Kauri stopped in place and snapped back toward the door.

“That’s a security door,” Kauri mumbled, walking back to the door and pushing it open again. “The lights are on and the front door was functional, but the alarms didn’t go off.”

“Maybe the alarms burned themselves out by now,” Uchū hypothesized as Ado squeezed past Kauri and continued forward. “It’s been two years, after all. We don’t know how long they would’ve been on.”

“Why is there another elevator here?” Ado pointed at a slim pair of elevator doors at the end of the hallway.

“Must be maintenance,” Kauri dismissed, dipping inside an empty room and abruptly reappearing. “Hey, wait a minute. There’s a sign on that. Go read it while us tall people check these rooms over.”

Uchū lightly stomped toward the elevator in a huff while Ado looked on disapprovingly. “Stupid tall people privileges… Uh, it looks like a light? No, wait, ‘ultraviolet light surgery.’ Is that what we want-”

“Of course there’s a basement basement,” Kauri grumbled, pushing Uchū to the side and smearing his hand across the down button. “Never trust a hospital to do a good job organizing their floor plans.”

“You’ve got to be more careful around Uchū,” Ado scolded, lifting the cream-white figure in her arms and gently patting his malleable head. “He’s very delicate; we don’t want anything happening to him.”

“Oh no, how horrible.” Kauri jammed his finger into the button for the lowest level and leaned against the elevator wall. “What happens if he does get hurt? Does he shoot out air and fly across the room until he deflates?”

“I get hurt and I heal from it,” Uchū grumped, folding his arms and trying very hard not to show how nice Ado’s head massage felt. “Do you become tolerable if you get punctured?”

“Hey.” Ado flicked her fingers across Uchū’s scalp. “Be nice, both of you. I don’t want Wild backing out of working with us because you keep fighting.”

“There’s a simple way to avoid it.” Kauri huffed, elbowing his way through the doors as soon as they opened, revealing a dimly-lit hall in a much cleaner state than the rest of the hospital. “Admit that I’m right and move on.”

Ado sighed, gently lowering Uchū to the ground and following after Kauri, whose bladed mask poked in and out of side rooms as he traversed the empty hall. “It’s too clean,” He mumbled, trailing his fingers along the wall and rubbing them together. “Someone’s been cleaning here. No cobwebs, no dust.”

He approached a door which, like those he had poked his head inside before, contained a small panel of glass to see through. The slightest glimpse through the glass prompted an immediate backpedaling, and a cautioning hand was extended towards the two approaching him. Pushing off the wall he had slammed into, he slowly cracked open the door.

The room was dark, but the soft glow of electronics inside provided a light blue ambience which swept over its contents. Lying in the hospital bed was a static figure, his silver hair draped down to the base of his head. The hospital gown he wore covered a set of pajamas with little sheep printed across them.

“Curious.” Kauri lifted the static figure’s empty left sleeve. “Very curious.”

—

Ch 6

Ghid · April 20, 2026, 8:22pm

My work got canceled for today and I threw this chapter together pretty fast as a result

You should've been mercy (please kill me for referencing that)

At this point I can safely say it is a post-apocalyptic setting, at least in Japan. The ending of Wild Masks set the stage for a lot of pandemonium, and a lot else has happened in the two years since.

WHERE

I gotta admit, I wasn’t sure if you had the right level of brainrot to deal with Wild Masks shenanigans.

Now I’m sure

Boooring

He might as well be trapped in 2012 with some of the insults he comes up with

Nope! get pranked silly message boards user

Maybe this other one he found is the real Wild…

I wonder where everyone’s gone.

I cannot confirm or deny allegations that Minethuselah looks like a 40 yr old

I will find them and then I will find you

Tonight on Top Gear
I check into the hospital
James parks the car
And Hammond gets ridiculed for being short

ChubChub86 · April 20, 2026, 10:20pm

Is his right hand left handed though

This is pretty much exactly what I imagined after reading this guys description.

Ghid · April 25, 2026, 9:24pm

Ch 5

—
Chapter Six
—

“Where does this get us?”

“That,” Kauri gestured to the figure on the bed, “has got to be Wild. Whoever it is running around with a backwards hand is just a copycat, maybe a yokai of some kind that got the details wrong.”

“He was certainly a livelier color,” Ado mused, feeling the bone-white skin of the motionless figure’s neck. “No pulse. But if he’s rotting, he’s doing it in a very weird way.”

“That thing wasn’t a yokai either.” Uchū clambered onto the bed, lifting and dropping the empty left sleeve with an inquisitive attitude. “Maybe the product of a yokai, or maybe someone’s got a really weird mask that makes inaccurate flesh amalgmatons of people.”

“Amalgamations.” Ado corrected.

Uchū shook his head. “I will never understand English. It’s not amalgmaton but it is automaton, and automation is something completely different. I don’t get all these A words and their unnecessary complexity.”

“How about atrophy?” Kauri puzzled, lifting up the figure’s shirt and exposing his stomach. “Dude’s got a six pack from lying in bed for two years.”

“Wow.” Ado raised her eyebrows dramatically, sending an elboy Kauri’s way. “Don’t be getting jealous now, big guy.”

“That isn’t funny,” Kauri grumbled, throwing the shirt back down. “Why didn’t his muscles starve themselves after all this time? He can’t have been here long. Otherwise he wouldn’t have any of that.”

“Oh! I know! I know!” Uchū threw his hand in the air excitedly. “He was being fed a mixture of proteins to keep his body from pulling stuff from the muscle! It’s like how they did it in that film you showed me a couple months ago where the guy is in space and-”

“No tubes.” Kauri pointed at the flickering machinery. “Nothing running from his body to anywhere else here. Not even for waste. Either he hasn’t been here that long, or something strange is going on. Either way I don’t like it.”

“Maybe this isn’t really Wild?” Ado touched the figure on the shoulder. “Maybe it’s a clone of him from after a certain point. Maybe that’s what the other thing was, too. A discarded clone.”

There was a sudden click from the hall, the sound of mechanical components moving inside a metal door. Swiftly Kauri flipped off the light switch and ducked behind the solitary chair in the room, with Ado scooping up Uchū and escorting him to the other side of the bed. After a minute of silence she let him out of her arms at his gesture, and he began slowly creeping towards the barely-opened door.

His progress was temporarily interrupted by Kauri using one foot to push him closer to the opening. Uchū smacked the extended shoe away with a frown and turned back towards the door, slowly peeking through and cautiously observing the entire hall.

“There’s nobody here.” He looked back inside. “Maybe it came from somewhere else?”

“We’re not gonna stay and find out.” Kauri clambered upwards, striding to the bed and scooping the figure up in his arms. “Watch our back, tofu. We’ve got more back to watch than you do.”

Uchū flopped his arms with a huff, impatiently waiting as Kauri pushed the door open with his knee and cautiously exited into the hall. Ado followed at his heels, doing a far better job at covering the rear than Uchū, whose smooth head turned towards every perceived noise in terror while completely disregarding everything else. As the elevator ascended with the party safely inside, Uchū’s eyes remained locked on the empty sleeve of the lifeless figure, reaching out hesitantly to grasp it but retreating when Kauri’s menacing gaze turned to meet the motion.

“Uh oh.” Kauri’s eyes flashed as the elevator descended the moment they exited it. “Move, people. Now.”

Kauri centered himself at the base of the stairs, and with a nod to Ado, he leapt upwards, decreasing his own density while Ado increased his acceleration to send him floating upwards. After hooking his foot around the stairway guardrail and pulling himself to the ground floor, Ado picked up Uchū and jumped, repeating the motion without the density control, Kauri catching the collar of her high-cropped coat and pulling her in as she neared.

“I have made a tremendous discovery,” Relic rumbled, picking himself up through the demolished hospital entrance and brushing away the ruins of the welcome desk. “This is most certainly not Wild. But it looks as though you found him? Red Scare will be most pleased.”

“I’m sure.” Kauri huffed, racing over and peering out the open hole. “You got him, then? Where is he now?”

As the figure greatly resembling the one in Kauri’s arms stepped through the open hole, Relic snapped forwards at blinding speed, his fist sending the character rocketing backwards and spinning off the rocks. “He was just here. You may have missed him.”

“Take this one.” Kauri handed off the motionless figure as he stalked through the shattered entrance, spotting the silhouette rising to his feet in the distance. “I’m staining the air with his guts.”

“A pity.” Relic glanced back towards Ado as the faceless figure raced to meet Kauri beneath the entrance of the dilapidated hospital. “Someone was probably planning on breathing it.”

—

The rough plating of the creature buckled, shifting itself to accommodate the harsh strikes of its foe. Effortlessly lifting a large slab of shattered concrete, it tossed the substance forward, recoiling as it exploded into dust in front of its target.

Thick, black smoke billowed endlessly out of the scarf surrounding the figure’s visage, his brows obscured by the golden circlet stretched across them, its detailed exterior that of a Chinese dragon. The rest of his body was wrapped in dark cloths, which he tightened across his forearms as he stepped forward.

Howling, the creature’s oddly human face flashed its white teeth, the train pass still clutched in its grip. Wordlessly the cloth-draped figure stepped forward, raising his hand and striking savagely at the creature’s face. He backpedaled dramatically as the creature, entirely unfazed from the attack, attempted to grab at his extended hand.

“Hit it again.”

The figure braced, striking forward with an open palm with tremendous force, the air around the creature blasting away and ripping dead grass from the ground around it. Yet the creature did not move, its lifeless red eyes locking onto the extended palm with an offended air.

“Interesting.” There was a creaking from behind the figure, a flash of light preceding a creeping golden shine across the ground. It split to pass the figure, crawling to meet the creature and slowly working its way up its legs.

The creature panicked, turning and immediately collapsing as its lower legs, now solid gold, weighed it down. It pressed on, rising to its feet and hobbling along until its hips had transformed. Pulling itself away by its hands, the lifeless red eyes now shone with fear as it looked back at its pursuers.

“I knew you had fear in you.” The voice smiled, the smoking head of its subordinate eclipsing all of the creature’s view while the gold enveloped its form. “You can defy the Demon’s power, but you cannot resist the gold.”

—

Ch 7

Ghid · April 25, 2026, 9:35pm

Finally, some action

…almost

We need our ultimate theorizer to come back to the Boards so we can determine if this guy’s hand is all right or if it’s just what he has left

Tonight on Top Gear
I lift up a man’s shirt
James grabs a man by the neck
And Hammond gets pushed around