[AlexFili]

Fifteen's Tale - Deja View

== CHAPTER 1 ==

“Speech, speech, speech!”, the rowdy slig crowd chanted. The dusty battle-hardened slig veteran uneasily gets to his feet. He looked around at the large crowd several times while approaching the microphone stand. He taps the microphone a few times to check that it works, it does. He then begins his speech. “My fellow sligs, today we have totally decimated our enemy. We have shown that we're smarter, more powerful and more deserving of this victory”, he held his fist in the middle of the air. “Here here!”, the crowd of sligs chant.

The veteran continues grimly. “I'll admit, we lost lives and some of our friends didn't make it. But what's important is this. We never gave up and we never doubted our beliefs. Thanks to your valiant efforts, we secured the Balthazar Mint and now our economy is safe from the tyranny of the Black Brotherhood” The veteran took his time to pace around the podium and look at each slig individually, as if he was personally talking to each and every one of them.

“Our victory today... WILL be remembered for generations to come. You've set an example to sligs all throughout Mudos. So for that, I personally offer my congratulations. And so, we now raise a toast to our fallen heroes whom we lost today” At this, the entire crowd of sligs picked up their tankards and held them up at the sky. “To my most dedicated generals, Two, Four and Five. We salute you. TO OUR FALLEN HEROES”

All the sligs raised their tankards. “TO OUR FALLEN HEROES”, they all said in unison and drank. 'This tastes a little bitter', Fifteen thought to himself. Seventeen walked up to Fifteen and patted him on the back. “Good win eh? Let's get drunk tonight” Fifteen smiled, “Sure, nothing special happening tonight” And so, Fifteen drank a beer, and another... and another...

Day Three

“Ugh”, Fifteen moaned lazily. “What time...”, he mumbled before looking at the clock on the wall. It was 6 O'Clock, in the afternoon. The date on the calendar was Tuesday. “Aww heck, the victory was on Sunday. I've been asleep for that long? Heck...”

He moaned as he massaged his head. He had a bad hangover and a banging headache. It was about 8 O'Clock before he managed to get out of the barracks and to the mess hall. It was far too late to do any proper work, so he looked at a newspaper at the local stand. He began reading the paper and then gasped. “The brave slig veteran Danzig has been... murdered?!”

He dropped the paper in shock and then slowly picked it up again. He unwillingly read the rest of the article. “Danzig was known to have been hanging around with a group of high-ranking sligs before someone broke into the camp early on Tuesday morning. Six sligs were injured in the raid, two of which are in a critical condition in the Redanza Slig Medical facility”

One of them would have been Sixteen, Fifteen's roommate who doubled as one of Danzig's secret bodyguards. Fifteen had to see him today, no matter what. He put all his personal needs out of the picture for now. He took a bite of an Opple before heading over to the RSM.

Sixteen wasn't critically injured but his condition still made Fifteen worry for him. On his way out, Fifteen took a look at a bed nearby, in which Thirteen lay. He was the unluckiest slig who ever lived. Today he had the bad fortune of slipping on a Scrab Cake wrapper and ended up knocking over a greeter which caused him additional injury. Fifteen made his way to bed back in the barracks where he'd have a nice, long sleep.

== CHAPTER 2 ==

Day Four

“Ugh, Wednesday already”, he moaned, as he got up out of his bunk bed and put on his pants. He took a quick glance at the newspaper he had found yesterday and then left.

Wednesday was usually the day when all of the goods would come in. They would be loaded onto the train platform and then delivered to the factories who needed the spare machine parts and other items. In his morning shift, Fifteen loaded several crates onto the large diesel train waiting nearby and then headed to the lunch hall.

Nineteen came over and said, “It's busy today. Unusually busy” Fifteen nodded, “Yeah, it gets like that sometimes. Tough day?” Nineteen shook his head, “Not so bad, not so bad. Can't complain. Pint on Friday?” Fifteen smiled. “Yeah yeah. See you”

Before he knew it, it was Fifteen's turn to use the teleporter which would take him to the nearest factory, Waffop Wagons. The sligs spend a few days there before coming back to their own factory and barracks here at Shrow Piping. “Fifteen”, the announcer said into the megaphone. Fifteen walked up to the teleporter, gave the thumbs up and pulled the lever.

'Something's not right', he thought to himself. It felt different this time. Instead of the warm fuzzy glow, he felt a kind of cold wind sweep over him. “Hey, something's wr-” Suddenly, Fifteen was cut off as the lever was pulled and he was zapped. Only, he didn't end up exactly where he wanted to be.

Day One

“Speech, speech, speech!”, the slig crowd chanted. The battle-hardened slig veteran uneasily gets to his feet. Fifteen woke up, still clutching his head and clearly dazed “Where the heck did I go?” He looked around, “Another party? Wow, our profits are going straight down the drain this year”

The veteran continued to speak as Fifteen got to his feet “... we have totally decimated our enemy. We have shown that we're smarter, more powerful and more deserving of this victory”, the veteran held his fist firmly in the air. “Here here!”, the crowd of sligs chant. Fifteen looked around more closely now, “This looks so familiar”. He turned around and saw Nineteen and Seventeen there, but he was surprised to see Sixteen and Thirteen there. 'Healed so soon, how can that be? Hang on, why are we back in Shrow? Didn't we get in the teleporter?' All these questions were hurting his head so he held it for about a minute and closed his eyed.

Fifteen was very confused by all of this. He continued listening to the veteran's speech, though he was getting even more confused as time passed by, “Thanks to your valiant efforts, we secured the Balthazar Mint and now our economy is safe from the tyranny of the Black Brotherhood” Fifteen couldn't believe his ears. “I... I went back in time?”