Moot <3 Point

Today was a rare, quiet sort of day for the Spirit Guides. No ghost sightings in the area to speak of, no pressing errands to run, and in all honesty they weren't even that horny. Which was why, at the moment, Casey was enjoying a nap and Kol was finally, finally getting through that book he was supposed to be reading for book club. It was kinda terrible.

Gabe had disappeared an hour or so ago, announcing that he was gonna take a long walk and maybe visit Miki. Usually a "long walk" for him meant getting terribly distracted for several hours, which was why both of his friends were rather surprised when he burst into the apartment looking like he'd just seen one of the Fates in person.

"GUYS! GUYS, I JUST SAW THE COOLEST THING!!!" he shouted, holding something small cupped in his hands.

Casey grumbled something vaguely inquisitive as she came back to reality, while Kol just bookmarked his current page and stood. "Really? Like what?"

Gabe proceeded to hold out his hands with the glee of a small child showing off a cool bug... except this was absolutely not a bug whatsoever.

The thing in Gabe's hands resembled a person... vaguely. If it were a few inches tall, had no fur, and a head shaped like a sideways pill with an antenna glued on. It stared up at them with line-shapwd eyes, a square-shaped mouth constantly open, clad in purple pants and a green... um... shirt? Hoodie? It covered most of his head, so...

And beside it was a rainbow-colored, bump-covered sphere... with several small pieces of detritus stuck to its surface.

"Lookit 'im!!! Isn't he adorable? I saw him rolling his little ball down the street, and I brought him home so nobody'd step on him!" Gabe said, looking as proud as he possibly could.

"Um... this looks like a spirit, Gabe..." Casey replied, sufficiently shocked into awakeness by the sheer oddity of the creature, who was now rolling said small orb around Gabe's palms.

"But it's not! I put up a ward, and he just walked right through! And then he picked up that coin there with the ball!" Gabe replied, placing the odd thing down on a counter. It proceeded to roll up a grape with quiet determination.

"I mean, he IS pretty adorable, Case." Kol replied, watching the entity continue its apparent task. "And we were talking about getting a pet..."

Casey crossed her arms, and stared down at it. It stared back at her, quietly. "...hm. Fine. But if he rolls up my earrings he's going to the kennel."

Gabe let out a literal squeak of glee.

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The creature, which they agreed to name "Prince", spent most of his free time rolling around his orb and picking up anything small enough to stick to it. At one point, they attempted to find something he would eat, but all the candidates they considered were promptly added to the orb.

It seemed to be all Prince wanted to do, even. Roll things up. It was almost a little disturbing.

Eventually, they set up a small "pen" for him, filled with some small objects for him to roll up as he pleased. Every now and then, he'd bump against the small wooden walls, as if wondering whether he could roll those up too. But then he'd go back to work.

Gabe had, at this point, been watching said rolling with barely concealed fascination for hours, occasionally throwing in marbles, stray puzzle pieces, or small candies so that Prince wouldn't run out of things.

"Hey, guys, I think his ball thing is getting bigger!" Gabe called after a while.

"It's probably your eyes playing tricks." Kol replied, glancing up from his book to check the clock. "And it's getting late. We should get some sleep."

The other two mice thought that sounded like a pretty good idea, so Gabe threw in another large handful of things, and the three of them hit the hay. Surely, Prince had to sleep at some point, right?

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The Spirit Guides awoke to a very cold breeze, a mostly empty apartment, a missing wall, and a very, very angry Nixxy.

"When were friends planning to tell Nixxy that The Destroyer had come?" The kelpie asked, tapping a finger against her crossed arms with visible annoyance.

"Th-The Destroyer?" Casey asked, still slightly convinced this was all some horrible dream.

"Yes!!! Destroyer! Small green thing that likes rolling!!! Takes things to make Consumer Orb bigger!!!" Nixxy threw her arms up like she was speaking to an idiot. "He not supposed to be here!!! This not his world! We could have sent back, but you gave him things! Many things! Things he uses to get more things!"

Gabe rubbed his eyes a bit. "Wait... so that ball WAS getting bigger?"

Nixxy briefly looked like she wanted to scream. "Do Spirit Guide schools not teach about other universes?!? Destroyer is son of Space King! Space King from other universe where he destroyed space! So he uses Destroyer to get things to make new space!" Nixxy pinched the bridge of her muzzle. "Of course it not Cow Level. Oberon forbid it that easy."

Gabe frowned. "But... if he rolls up everything, why'd he roll everything but us?"

Nixxy... actually seemed a bit puzzled by that. "My guess? You give him things. Let him roll in peace. He not used to kindness. Maybe decided to spare you... yes, seems likely. Now get up! You three make mess, now clean it up!"

They didn't particularly like her tone, but they couldn't help but agree they were somewhat responsible for this predicament. And so they dressed quickly and set out, looking for the trail of conspicuously missing objects so that they could follow "The Destroyer".

As it turned out, he'd moved onto the fish market by now, several stands and people had already been rolled up, and things were looking to get very ugly very fast unless someone did something to stop the Prince.

"Oh Fates, he's rolling up people!" Gabe shouted, gesturing to several individiauls now caught in reptitive flailing animations. "Are they in danger?!?"

Nixxy shrugged. "Actually, no. It weird. When planet or star made, everyone go back home like nothing happened." She pauses. "But probably should stop anyways. This getting pretty silly altogether, in Nixxy's opinion."

Casey summoned what seemed to be a full armada of mana tentacles, a small smirk on her face. "Oh, I can fix this. There isn't anything alive or dead that can get out of my grip!" She boasted, sending said tentacles out to restrain the orb.

And then the four gathered heroes received an unfortunate lesson on the wonky Katamari physics as Casey was, somehow, rolled up by her tentacles.

As if on cue, a loud, deep, flamboyant voice spoke from the very heavens! And it was most certainly not a Fate.

"Goodness, you just picked up a wet thing!!!" The voice cried out. Then there was a pause. "Oh. It's just Casey. Protagonists other than Us are SO confusing..."

Nixxy got a look of dread. "Shit! Even bigger problem!!! If we not stop this, Casey-friend will become alternate player character!"

Kol shrugged. "I dunno, that doesn't sound so bad."

"They'll put her in ridiculous rainbow dress!!!"

"WE HAVE TO SAVE HER!"

Gabe seemed to have a bit of a lightbulb moment. "Wait, you said they're from another reality? Maybe I can just open up a portal back there? And when they become a planet or whatever, everyone will just come back?"

Kol shook his head. "It's too risky. What if putting them in the new universe means they get stuck there? I think we may be beat!" The medium seemed dismayed. "Oh, if only we could rely upon divine intervention! We need a Fate Ex Machina!!!"

And then, the heavens heard Kol's prayers. Or maybe the author realized he'd backed himself into a corner. Either way, something amazing happened. The clouds parted, and the massive hand of Minerva herself reached down. It stopped the katamari in its tracks with a clang, several objects flying from its surface.

At this point, everyone perhaps expected some grand show of divine might. Some magic or miracle that would solve everything in the flashiest possible manner. Instead, the Fate picked the Katamari up like a baseball and shook it firmly, the myriad objects the Prince had recovered falling out like someone getting shaken down in a cartoon.

In time, all that was left was the Katamari itself, still massive, but empty. The Prince clung to it comically, hovering over a pile of recovered loot. A vast Gate opened, to a world of eye-searing colors, giant mushrooms, and way too catchy music.

"Nixxy, was... was the Space King high when he created his universe?" Gabe whispered, unable to tear his gaze away from the other world.

"Everyone involved sober, apparently. Me just as surprised as you."

Minerva's voice boomed out, set with a tranquil fury. "TELL YOUR VAIN DAD TO STAY OUT OF MY FUCKING UNIVERSE."

And then, the katamari and Prince were thrown back into their universe with a throw that would make most professional pitchers green with envy. The gate closed. Minerva's hand disappeared into the sky. The nightmare was over.

The two spirit guides and Nixxy stared at the piles of debris and people stumbling to their feet. It was a mess. The Prince had caused untold amounts of oddly tidy property damage and madness.

Nixxy cleared her throat. "...we may need bigger broom."