For the Love of Animation...

[Katrielle Layton]

Bendy wasn't entirely sure what had just happened-- he knew that Henry had activated the Ink Machine, but things hadn't worked as intended and now ink was absolutely everywhere. Apparently one of the pipes burst. He just needed enough ink to regain his physical form, not to flood the workshop! Ugh, now he needed to go clean up this mess; ink stains were almost impossible to get out of wood and he didn't want to waste any of it coloring the walls.

As the little devil made his way around and tried to wipe the excess ink off of his face, he stumbled across a hole that hadn't been there before. It was just shy of the exit, so... Henry probably fell down there while trying to flee. From a quick estimate, the inky monster realized that it led straight to the basement. That wasn't a good thing. He had to find the man before he found that... one place.

He took a few steps back, then rushed at the hole. Right before he got a chance to jump in, his vision was blocked by stray ink. He stopped at the edge of the descent and attempted to clean himself again. When he finally got the ink out of his eyes, however, he was surrounded by black. Did he forget to shut off the machine? It was the only explanation he had that could explain the sudden darkness that was all around him. He tried to move, but found himself glued to the spot.

A white silhouette appeared with the widest grin on its face. The demon was too confused to fully understand the stranger's explanation, but he caught the fact that he had been thrown into a new universe. He also learned that that he could make stuff with Omnilium and that he couldn't die.

Before he could wrap his head around this new information, he was immediately submerged underwater. In a panic, he flailed his way to the surface and pulled himself out of the monochrome fountain he had found himself in. While the liquid didn't actually penetrate his skin, it had washed away the excess ink, much to the living cartoon's pleasure.

As he glanced around the unfinished world, his confusion only grew. People of all shapes of sizes could be seen, most of them towering over Bendy by a foot or two. Well, he needed to get more information, so he ran up to a random person. "Howdy there! The name's Bendy! I seem to be a bit lost. Mind explaining where I am?"

[Katrielle Layton]

The redhead in a yellow cloak glanced down at the new Prime who just addressed him. "What exactly are you?" He asked, somewhat confused.

Bendy's grin twisted down slightly in annoyance, but he quickly forced it upwards before the man could notice. "As I just told you, I'm Bendy! Bendy the Darling Devil!"

The stranger's face paled suddenly. He reached his hand into his cloak, then hesitated. "You didn't tell me you were a demon the first time."

"Didn't I?" The ink monster held a finger near his face in a mock-innocent gesture. "Must've slipped my mind." With his arms lowered to his side, the cartoon's voice turned sober. "Now would you mind explaining where I am?"

With his green eyes nervously glancing around, the man sighed. "Alright," he began, rubbing his neck. "I'm Alphonse, by the way. Now much do you know?"

Bendy's tone immediately returned to its cheerful state. "Well, Sir Smiley up there told me that this place is the Omniverse, and that I can make stuff with Omnilium... What exactly is that?"

Alphonse frowned, obviously concerned with teaching this dark creature the art of Omnilium. However, he figured that the thing would learn eventually, and if he didn't show it now, it might hurt him. He gave a defeated shrug and coalesced a glossy, rainbow bubble into existence between his hands.

The cartoon's eyes grew larger, clearly enthralled with the object. "Is that it?" He reached out a gloved hand to touch it, but the redhead pulled the Omnilium away.

"Yes," the man answered. After the demon glared daggers at him, he hastily added "you don't need mine."

"Aw, fine... How did you do that?"

"It's... really difficult to explain. Just think about summoning it and it should appear."

Bendy focused and imagined the sphere of Omnilium appearing in front of him. Slowly but surely, it began to materialize a foot away from his face. As soon as it was completely there, his hands wrapped around it and he gave a little chuckle. "Hah, that's cool. Now how do I make stuff with it?"

Alphonse gave a fake chuckle, his eyes darting about. "Same thing-- just think about what you want to make. It takes several minutes, but as long as you have enough Omnilium, you can make it."

"Can I make living things with it?"

"...Yes."

"Nice! How do you get more?"

"You just do stuff. You gain it over time." It took him a moment to notice that the ink devil was gazing longingly at the orb of Omnilium he held, so he placed it back into his stash. "Um... before I leave you, this is The Nexus, a subset of the Omniverse. You can access most of the other Verses through here. Might I suggest starting with that one?" He pointed out into the emptiness in the distance, towards a gate-like object. "That's the gate to the Pale Moors. You'd fit right in. You might want to summon a vehicle-- it's farther than it looks."

Bendy nodded and gave Alphonse a little bow. "Sounds alright. Hey, you're not as big of a square as I thought you were! How about you tag along with me?"

The redhead started backing away. "How about no?"

"Don't be a drag, Alph," the monster said, enjoying as the person squirmed uncomfortably.

"I'd rather not."

"Fine! Buzz off then."

The man scrambled away into the distance.

Alright, now that he was out of the way... Bendy sat down and focused-- there was already something he had wanted to summon.

It wasn't but 30 minutes later when he raced across the blank expanse in a tiny monochrome steamboat, his buddy Boris the Wolf by his side. The S.S Behemoth chugged along, floating just above the ground in a pool of ink it constantly generated. It didn't take long for the nautical vessel to arrive at the gate, but the cartoon had to adjust his angle so he could squeeze through it without breaking his ship.

But hey, he was finally getting somewhere.