Pibby - Power Corrupted AU

Chapter 2: Corrupted Ambition

It's been a few hours since Pibby fled from her friends and allies. The day was finally turning to night. Pibby was walking aimlessly across the dark empty grass plains of her home world. She was still upset about the whole situation. "How could they do this to me? Don't they know what I am capable of? I'm not some weak little kid anymore!" Pibby picks up a rock with her corrupted arm and throws it across the field and over the horizon, never to be seen again. "And it's not my fault AB got hurt. Nobody was listening to me! Sigh... I'll show them. Once I am able to control the darkness, I'll uncorrupt and save everyone. And then everything will go back to normal..."

Pibby sat down on the ground feeling exhausted after everything that had happened. There's not much she can do out here without any supplies or shelter. So she lays down on the soft grass looking up at the night sky. Ready to sleep after a long day. "I know I can do it..." Pibby closes her eyes and dozes off to sleep. The night grew darker as time passed. She laid there for the next few hours until she heard something. She quickly gets up and puts her guard up. Her corrupted arm once again formed itself into a blade.

The field around her was completely empty, except for a few trees scattered around the area. All she could hear was the trees rustling in the wind. She looked around the area to find the source of the noise. It wasn't until she noticed her arm started to faintly glitch out again. "What the?" Pibby started to walk forward, and her arm started to glitch even more. In front of her was a massive hill that was even taller than the trees. She walked forward and up the hill to see what her arm was attracted to. Once she reached the top, what she saw made her stomach drop.

Pibby saw the darkness was spread across the entire land, like a glitching black ocean. For a moment she didn't know what to do. Part of her wanted to run, while the other wanted to go down there. "Ah screw it." Pibby slowly descends down the hill ready for whatever might happen next. Once she reached the bottom of the hill, she noticed that it wasn't reacting to her in any way. Ironically, it remained calm and still despite her being so close.

"Hmm? At this point I would've been attacked by its corrupted army or something. Does it not recognize me as a normal person?" To test this, Pibby put her uncorrupted hand into the darkness and quickly pulled it out. There was little to no reaction. And her hand was completely fine. However, she felt like she was just jolted with energy. "Whoa... It's true! It doesn't see me as an enemy, just another one of its corrupted puppets..."

Pibby didn't know what to do now. She stood there pondering on what she should do. "When I put my hand in there, it didn't hurt me like it did when it got a hold of my arm. This time it felt like it bonded with me." That's when an idea came to Pibby.
"What would happen if I..."

For a moment, she hesitated for what she was about to do. That's when Pibby did the unthinkable and dived straight into the ocean of darkness. It's silent at first. Nothing seems to happen for the next few moments. The wind continued to blow across the land peacefully. That's when the darkness started to glitch out more than usual. The darkness itself looked completely unstable. Soon parts of the darkness started to flail wildly causing some damage to the land. Trees were struck down and mountains were cracked. Then suddenly, it all fell silent. The darkness had calmed down and returned back to its still state.

It remained this way for a while. Until Pibby finally emerged out of the darkness. She slowly made her way out and struggled to get back on to the grass. Pibby looked very unstable and in some form of pain. Her entire body was glitching and surrounded by glitched black corrupted squares. The pupil on her right eye looked unstable yet functional. While her other eye has gone through a drastic change. Pibby removed the eye patch she's been wearing ever since the incident with Melira. She was finally able to see clearly again through it, but it was far from normal. The eye itself was filled with the darkness, with a glowing white pupil in the middle.

"I feel... so strange." Pibby falls down and holds her head in pain. Her head felt like it was about to explode. "What's happening to me!?" She starts shedding tears from the pain alone. And she would soon start seeing things that weren't really there. These feelings were starting to drive her crazy. She laid there and waited for it all to go away. And soon it would, however her mind still wouldn't be the same as before. Her mind had become one with the hivemind of the darkness.

As soon as the pain in her head went away, she stood up and looked around the area. The ocean of darkness that was once there had strangely disappeared. "Wait! What happened?" She runs across the field where the darkness used to be. "Where'd it go? How could it just vanish out of thin air? I feel like it's still nearby but where?" Before she could question it any further, an arrow flies right by her face, nearly striking her. "There she is!"

It turned out to be a couple of survivors that were tracking down Pibby. They were making their way towards Pibby, ready to kill. One of them was equipped with a bow and the other with an ACME laser pistol. Pibby quickly ran behind one of the many trees to hide behind for cover.
"Damn it! You traitors again? Can't you see what I'm trying to accomplish for our future?"

The two survivors continued to fire their weapons, ignoring everything Pibby said. Pibby was starting to get furious. "Why won't they listen to me? Do they not understand that I can do so much more now?" Pibby's anger started to grow more. So much the thought of these survivors dying had finally crossed her mind. As soon as she had that thought, a wave of darkness appeared through the trees and out of the ground.

"Oh great!" Pibby says as she prepares to fight. But the darkness ignored her completely and came rushing towards the two survivors. "OH CRAP!! We gotta go!" The two started to run but weren't fast enough to escape the terrifying wave. "AAAAAAHHHH!!" Soon their screams fell silent as they were both swallowed by the darkness, leaving nothing behind. After that the darkness once again started to dissipate and the field once again was empty.

Pibby was shocked. She had no idea what just happened. "Did- did I do that? I didn't mean to- '' Pibby hesitated for a second after realizing what she's done. "No! They were the ones trying to attack me! All I did was defend myself!" Pibby once again tries to come up with excuses to justify what she's done. "And I didn't know that was gonna happen. How could I?!" Pibby then takes a second to realize: "Wait, how did I do that?"

She starts walking towards the middle of the field to where the survivors stood. "Hmm." She closes her eyes and tries to focus. She attempts to summon the darkness once again to the field. And within seconds, the darkness filled the field around her. "Whoa.." She stands in the middle of the now glitching black void unaffected by its presence. To test even further, she raises her hand towards a tree. Suddenly a large tendril was formed and grabbed the tree out of the ground. She clenches her fist which leads to the tendril to crush the tree in the process. The tree falls to the ground in pieces.

"I- I did it... I DID IT!" Pibby was filled with joy. She jumps up and down happy to have finally accomplished her goal. "I've won! It's finally over. For real this time! And this power! IT'S AMAZING!! I knew destroying the darkness would have been a waste. And I did it all by myself. No one else could've done what I just did..." Pibby calms down and takes a moment to collect herself. She takes a moment to think of what to do now.

"If I'm lucky, I could return back to the group and tell them about what I've done. Well... maybe not everything... But, what if they don't listen to me again?" She stood silent for a moment. "If they don't want to listen to reason, they shouldn't blame me for what will come next. As far as I'm aware, I'm the real hero..."

What Pibby didn't realize, there was one more survivor hiding who witnessed the whole fight go down. "She... she corrupted them! She didn't even give them a chance." The survivor was too scared to move. But he knew what needed to be done. "I need to warn the others! She might be coming after them too!" The lone survivor quickly ran away. Returning to the group of survivors to warn them of what they've just witnessed.