Well.
Having to reintroduce a friend to somebody who doesn't remember them is... Interesting.
'Don't take it personally, it's just...'
'I understand, don't worry about it. He has been unconscious since the Orespawns attacked, after all.' Preston sighed, his amber eyes darting around the village nervously. He felt so out-of-place, like an demon in a church, but none of the humans gave him any attention.
He was fine with that.
'I still can't get over the fact that you've been here since we got back, and nobody told us,' Kenny muttered, his voice finally beginning to return to normal after it's long silence, 'But hey, it's good to have you here. Life's been rather dull since the fight.'
'At least you weren't stuck in the same room for all these years!' The former hybrid joked, seeming to relax around his old friends as the walked through the village. After conferring with Harry, who'd said that it was best for the three to get some air, Preston and Kenny (Along with Mitch, who was currently staring at something in the forest) were making their way to the village's parkour arena.

'Uh... Kenny, what actually is a parkour?' The Texan asked a few moments later, causing for the blond to almost choke in surprise whilst Mitch was still staring 'You-You guys never played parkour? What about UHC?'
'I've almost literally been living under a rock all my life, Kenny. The first time I ever heard somebody mention it was about an hour... Woah' He began to point out, before his eyes fell upon one of the strangest things he'd ever seen. Various multi-coloured platforms were moving through the air as if by magic, causing people to jump then fall into a pit of water that expanded underneath the entire course. Nearing the very top of the parkour, a few jumps away from the black-and-white checkered finish line, was a young man dressed in a black jacket and an orange tie.
Preston held his breath as the black platform moved beneath the guy, who wore a confident smirk behind his sunglasses - He'd memorized all of the set's patterns, he had this. 'I see you've got your eye on the Village's top parkourist, mate. That's Bodil, completely and utterly undefeated on this course, yet he can never reach the finish.' As if to prove that point, there was a loud shout before the teenager hit the water. Stifling a laugh, Kenny dragged his two friends over to the benches where you could watch people fail at the course 'Hey Bodil, long time no see.'
'Kenny! Gods, I haven't seen you in years bro. How've you been?' The Bulgarian spluttered from the large pool, not bothering to drag himself up the ladder and instead coming to rest at the edge, 'And I see you've brought a friend, mind introducing me?'

'Oh, right. Preston, this is Martin Petrov, and like I said he's the village's best parkour artist. Martin, this is Preston. He's... From another village, and just moved here.' Kenny stumbled over a few words, but the dark-haired male didn't seem to notice as he nodded quickly. 'I'm guessing you guys are here to test out the latest pattern, eh? Well, come on!' And with that, Bodil dashed up the ladder and sprinted to the starting line.
Rolling his eyes, the blond sent a glance over to his Canadian friend and, seeing that he was still staring into space, tugged Preston in Bodil's direction 'It's really easy, once you get the hang of it. You've just got to make sure you land in the water if you fall.'

'Kenny, I don't know if-' The young brunet was cut off by a contagious, dolphin-like laugh as the barrier rose, allowing the new contestants to run the course. Kenny ran straight ahead, as did Martin and a few others, but the Texan jogged at a slower pace - No use wasting energy for jumping, right?

+++

'Hurry up, slowcoach!' Preston yelled as he ran past Kenny, giving him a light shove as he jumped to the twentieth platform. Letting out a stream of curses, the blond staggered back and fell off the edge, causing his old friend to laugh as he continued jumping through the sky. Bodil was only a few metres infront of him, and any other parkourists were far behind - It was only him, and the "Parkour Master" as people called the older male.
'Well Rookie, you're doing pretty well - How long have you been doing this for?'
'I've never played this in my life!' The Texan called happily, ducking as a violet platform sailed over his head before lunging for the bright red square by his right. Bodil faltered in surprise, allowing for Preston to gain some ground before he looked up. There, five jumps infront of him, was the golden tower - The penultimate jump of the entire course. Determination and adrenaline were pumping through the teenager's veins, causing him to lush away any other thought apart from one - Beating the Master.

Taking a few steps back on his own ground, Preston's heart was racing as he sailed from one block to another with ease; It was as if he'd been parkouring all his life. Stretching his hands out for the golden blocks, he smirked triumphantly when he heard Martin behind him - He was ahead, and he'd never even played before. Ascending the barely-worn ladders that wrapped around the creamy material, once he got to the very top he decided to look down.
Big mistake.
A high-pitched squeak escaped the brunet's lips as he saw how far away the ground was, pressing himself against the small wall and squeezing his eyes shut - Heights had never agreed with Preston. Infact, he could barely make it into Choco's house all those years ago, and even that was only fifteen metres off the ground.
'You alright, kid?' A Bulgarian accent asked, and he opened his amber eyes to see the older teen standing infront of his, hands on his hips 'Y-Yep! Yep, I'm fine, totally fine.'

'Y'know, if you're afraid of heights you can just say. I can't really judge, I used to be terrified of them,' The ebony-haired male continued, 'But you can't let fears get in the way of something you enjoy. Keep your eyes on the prize, got it?'
'Yeah... Yeah, I think I do. Thanks Bodil,' Preston nodded slightly, taking a deep breath and pushing himself away from the golden wall, 'D'you wanna go first?'
'Even if I did, I wouldn't make it. That's a ten-foot jump, practically impossible.'
'Then why do you try?!'
'Like I said, I enjoy this - Who cares if I lose? I can just brush it off, and try again, like so.' The Bulgarian then tried the jump, only falling short by two feet or so, and let out a joy-filled whoop as he fell into the ant-sized pool beneath them.
"Practically impossible...
Who cares if I lose?" Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, the winds seemed to calm around the boy as he took one step back. He leaned forwards, preparing to run before he made his move. Dashing for the edge, he felt the ground disappear from his feet, but he didn't concentrate on that.
"I can just brush it off, and try again."

He felt himself falling, falling...
Then his body made contact with a cool platform.
Amber eyes shooting open, the Texan pushed himself up and looked around. He was still in the air, but now there was a checked pattern under his - Wait.
Wait.
'I-I did it?' Preston asked himself, before a childish grin made it's way onto his face as he cheered and threw his arms into the air. 'I did it!' He yelled happily, hearing multiple cheers coming from the ground. They were cheering, for him.
And boy did it feel good.

~~~

'Sounds like a right party's going on over there.' Lachlan noted, hands in his pockets as his companion simply nodded. As they saw the colourful, moving platforms, Rob's first thought had been "Preston would have loved that.". Now they were walking towards it, as his Australian friend had suggested that it would be a good place to start.
'We should probably be careful, though. It's beginning to get dark, and I don't want this to end up being a literally suicide mission.' The wolf hybrid muttered, pressing forwards as Lachlan watched him with concern.
Well. I say wolf hybrid, but as soon as they crossed the shimmering barrier that separated the Glitched Lands from the true Overworld their appendages completely disappeared.

"There's something he's not telling me." The blond thought, shaking his head before following his friend to the bright arena. There were multiple series of platforms, seeming to move by some sort of magic, and people were jumping from square to square. Some people fell off by their own accord, while some were shoved by their friends in light-hearted banter. It looked fun, and Lachlan wanted nothing more than to postpone their job so that he could try, but Rob practically stormed straight past.
Almost.
A red and white blue caught his electric-blue eyes, and he followed the colour to see a teenager standing away from any of the others. They had a familiar feel, and apparently the boy felt the same thing, because his jaw dropped once he saw the two "Woah - Hold up a second."
'Yo Rob, hang back for a second.' Lachlan ordered, ignoring the older teen's protests as the other brunet began to walk towards them. Once he was a few feet away, he stopped, caramel eyes widening with recognition.

'Lachlan, Rob, what the fudge are you guys doing here?!' Mitch hissed, though a smile was creeping onto his face. The older Canadian froze and turned around, meeting the human's gaze and letting out a strange kind of squeal-slash-gasp 'Y-You're alive?'
'I could say the same for you two! Gods, I don't - How? And why did you guys come here? It's dangerous!'
'That's what I thought, but my Dad made us come to "Spy" on you guys. Also, for the "How"; We don't know ourselves. Most of us just woke up in the middle of that forest over there, still behind the barrier, and we found our parents later,' Rob explained, almost trembling with excitement whilst his younger counterpart was just staring at the bright colours.
'How's everybody been?'
'There's a ton to tell... Also, how are you? Jerome literally tried to fight the Orespawns around you, and has tried to find you on the mountains multiple times - How did you get out alive?'
'Long story short, we were shot by these weird red needle things that knocked us out, and when we woke up we were all back here. Vik was unconscious for the past five years, and it turns out we've had Preston here all this - Rob? You alright? You've gone seriously pale.'

The Canadian's jaw dropped, and all of his energy and blood seemed to drain into the ground as he stumbled forwards. He fell to the ground, a soft buzzing in his ears as he focused on the grass - Preston wasn't hurt, he was alive.
And he was right here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rob cares about Preston more than himself which is adorable and makes the plot so much more entertaining to write mwahahahahhahahahahahahhahahahahahahhahahahhahahhaa

See you all in the next chapter, and have a great Morning - Afternoon - Evening - Dawn - Dusk - Midnight - Paranormal Timezone!