bottledchaos

Hopping Celestial Fox, Ch77 - Tragedy

“It really worked… but…” I said over the phone, my voice trembling.

Contrary to what I had expected, our – in retrospect, insane – plan had worked. We had checked with a couple of our classmates who had been absent the other day, and they had all pretty much said the same thing. They’d had headaches and had greenish blue spots appear on their skin, but after the ‘Divine Surge’, as people were calling it, they had all been miraculously cured.

And not only that, al...

Hopping Celestial Fox, Ch76 – Deus ex machina

I gasped as I blinked my eyes open again. I found Frank starting out into the distance and followed his gaze.

A massive tsunami of white magic rolled over the land away from us, faster and faster, speeding up exponentially. I would have felt terrified if I didn’t know that it was supposed to get rid of the zombie plague. As it stood, I was merely… unnerved.

We had done this. We had launched a planet-sized spell right here in the real world.

It suddenly ...

Hopping Celestial Fox, Ch75 - Action

I was really fast. I’d never really measured my top speed in my not-true form, but I knew I had to be inhumanly fast to outrun a Mana Gorger. Frank, although he couldn’t hope to match my top speed, also ran a fair bit faster than one would expect from a guy his age.

Casey was the only one who didn’t get any physical enhancements with her true form, but she made up for it with her intelligence and ability to actually use the staff once we got to the top. For now, though, I...

Hopping Celestial Fox, Ch74 - Return with the elixir

Frank and Casey both had their ruby seed teleport waypoints at Casey’s place, but I’d never moved mine from my room. That meant that I had to make my way over to her place once we all calmed down after our realization.

The walk there didn’t take too long, but it also meant that I saw the unnervingly empty streets. Maybe I was just imagining things, but I couldn’t help but think about all the people who must have gotten infected by the stupid plague. It wasn’t as if us...

Hopping Celestial Fox, Ch73 - McGuffin

“Sooo… Wanting to murder a dragon aside…” Frank spoke up. “We agreed on a deal, right? Is there anything else or are we free to go save the world now…?”

I glanced at Frank, still a bit pissed at the dragon.

The crystal in exchange for Elyssa and Mom staying with him for a bit, and the staff for our help with saving this world. I still felt uneasy about leaving Mom and Elyssa behind here, even if it was just for a few days. But then again, we were ge...

Hopping Celestial Fox, Ch72 - Protagonist

“Mom!” I yelled in despair, dislodging the ruby seed I’d kept hidden under my tongue. I quickly scrambled to catch it and curled my fist around it in a feeble attempt to hide it.

Cradence didn’t react other than looking at me, but I had the distinct feeling that he was doing the equivalent of raising an eyebrow.

“You can’t… You can’t just stay with him…”

“It’s okay, honey,” Mom assured me. “It’s not like I’m going away forever, right?...

Hopping Celestial Fox, Ch71 – Mentor

We're back! Sorry for the delay. I've just been dealing with life(tm) a bit lately.

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“Greetings, goddesses and their friends,” the words… no, the pure information echoed in my head.

I stumbled back as it hit my mind. Everyone did, in fact. Everyone except Casey, who had probably expected it.

“Oh, shit… What the…” Frank whispered.

“Hello… Mr. Cradence,” Casey replied, managing to keep the...

Hopping Celestial Fox, Ch70 - Cliffhanger

Day two of our expedition started with a much more somber atmosphere. Even Frank seemed quieter than before. He kept glancing at Wi for some reason, though. The girl in question still looked upset and was avoiding Casey even more than before.

I sighed to myself.

Curiosity killed the cat… Ignorance is bliss… and so on. Maybe we shouldn’t have asked where all the mana came from. I could have lived without knowing the truth. But then again, maybe it was better we knew so that C...

Hopping Celestial Fox, Ch69 - Euphemism

I had my doubts, but it turned out that Wi had some kind of ability to make everything on her person lighter in order to be able to fly. That included anything or anyone she carried.

It kind of made sense if I thought about it. There was no way normal physics would ever allow her to lift her own body weight with such small wings. There had to be some magical physics intervening.

That odd ability became less effective with heavier things, though, so she couldn’t lift a c...

Hopping Celestial Fox, Ch68 - Hero’s journey

“By the way, you never answered if you can breathe fire and stuff,” Frank asked, eying Mom’s scaly wings.

Mom glanced at him with a hum.

“I think I can. I’m not exactly sure how, but I have this vague sense of this warm spot here…” She touched the spot between her collarbones. “I don’t want to test it while we’re in this very flammable forest, though.”

I winced.

“Oh, uh, right. That could end very badly.” Frank chuckled awkwa...

Hopping Celestial Fox, Ch67 - Deuteragonist

Looking at it again, this time without being in a rush, the fancy stones surrounding the secret entrance teleporter of the castle were engraved with various symbols.

“Do you even know what’s written on them?” I asked.

“I… do, actually,” Casey said, her brows creasing. “Even though I hadn’t come up with the language…”

“The heck? Then who did, if not you?” our pack bull questioned.

“Well… I came up with some random symbols and words without th...

February 2024 update

Hey, there! I hope you're all having a lovely day!

As for me, I'm still writing pretty much every day (other than those days where I don't feel well), so you can expect updates to keep the same pace for the time being!

For those who missed it, I finally managed to put together and release the E-book version of Princess Fox, which is now available on Amazon and 2024-02-01 03:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post

Hopping Celestial Fox, Ch66 - Adventure

Even though she had specifically avoided canonizing her existence as the world’s goddess, for all intents and purposes, Casey was the goddess of Wiland. Granted, her control wasn’t absolute, but she could change things in a major way and more importantly, she now even knew exactly what she could and couldn’t change and how it would affect the world at large.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to dwell on the implications of Casey’s apparent newfound godhood. ...

Hopping Celestial Fox, Ch65 - Editing

Turning into her true form – and it also was Mom’s true form, unlike mine – had apparently gotten completely rid of the virus… or whatever had been causing the headaches. Even when she transformed back, the headaches wouldn’t return again.

I was relieved that Mom wouldn’t be turning into a fish zombie anymore. It was good… but also bad. With Mom being made immune, it also meant that – as much as I cringed admitting it – we had lost our test subject. And since ...

Hopping Celestial Fox, Ch64 - Master of two worlds

Since Casey’s parents still wouldn’t come for at least a few days, we decided to make her home our base of operations for now.

My mom lay down on the couch while the three blondes brought out some of the magical items they had looted from the wizard’s secret lab. Frank and I stood off to the side since we both sucked at magic.

I still wasn’t fully comfortable with having Mom be our test subject. I wanted to go back home and fetch another miracle cure just in case… But at...

Hopping Celestial Fox, Ch63 - Drama

We snuck out of school and headed to Casey’s place right away. On our way there, I called Mom and explained the major fuckup… the two major fuckups I had committed.

“Are you sure about the… the zombie plague?” Mom asked. “It could still be a normal flu going around. Have you checked if the other kids also have the scales?”

We… hadn’t. In hindsight, we really should have done that before we’d started panicking.

“No… ...

Hopping Celestial Fox, Ch62 - Plot twist

For some reason, the attendance that day was poor and we also had a couple of substitute teachers. Apparently, there was some kind of flu epidemic going around. Or at least that was that everyone was saying.

Which was strange because it was spring and it hadn’t even been that cold lately.

Of course, my mind jumped to the worst case scenario; Whatever Mom had been infected with, I’d brought to school and infected everyone as well.

But then, why hadn’t Frank and Casey sh...

Hopping Celestial Fox, Ch61 – Romance

I woke up on Monday with a grumble.

My extended weekend was over and it was time to go back to school. But that, although annoying, was far from what bothered me the most at the moment, though.

As soon as I walked into the kitchen, I spotted Mom pulling some milk out of the fridge while holding her head. There was another greenish blue spot on her elbow.

“Mom!” I yelled out in alarm.

She turned around and our eyes met.

“Oh, Renee. Good morning.”

Her...

Hopping Celestial Fox, Ch60 - Allusion

I went straight to my computer, logged back into the game, grabbed the quest item and a teleport flower, and made my way back to the Golden Woods to the spot close to the portal.

I looked around to make sure there weren’t any players around and with a nod from Mom, I opened the portal to RLO once more.

I felt a bit uneasy going inside again. Sure, the updates usually happened on Tuesday and it was still Sunday, but the mere possibility of the devs doing something to me while I w...

Hopping Celestial Fox, Ch59 - Death flag

After Casey laid out her plans on how to handle saving her world, there was a bit of an argument about how dangerous it would be and what we should do instead.

And then Wi spoke for the first time since the meeting had started.

“You’re just going to let my world be destroyed?! Just because it’s too dangerous to get involved?!” she asked, her voice cold, her eyes glaring at my mom who kept insisting on talking Casey out of getting involved.

Mom froze at the sudden ven...

Hopping Celestial Fox, Ch58 - Worldbuilding

“So, let’s start with the obvious,” Casey took charge once the initial reactions to Frank’s introduction passed. “First of all, Renee obviously has something supernatural, magical, and/or divine going on about her.”

I grumbled to myself, but couldn’t refute her.

“Only you can see and interact with the portals. And… For you, they have always been around, right?”

“Well, yeah…” I nodded. “But I didn’t do anything about them. And then later...

Hopping Celestial Fox, Ch57 - Supporting cast

I blinked awake, feeling much calmer and more relaxed than I had in what felt like ages.

After the little portal experiment yesterday, Mom and I had ended up chatting, playing board games, cooking lunch together, and then watching movies in the evening.

It was… nice.

Casey had also messaged me about their progress on the magic and editing experiments. She had learned that that world’s magic was much harder for her than she had anticipated despite her literally being the ...

Hopping Celestial Fox, Ch56 - Dialogue

“– then I returned back home and tried to relax for a bit. But then I got the call from you, packed a few potions, and went to the hospital,” I finished my retelling of the last few days.

Mom had only occasionally interrupted to ask for clarification, but otherwise let me tell the whole story from the moment I’d gotten mad at the floating purple things and tried to rip one apart, all the way to now.

“I see…” Mom nodded for the last time, deep in thought.

She wa...

Hopping Celestial Fox, Ch55 - Oxymoron

I blinked my eyes open. It was morning again.

I wasn’t wearing my pajamas and I was still in my not-true form.

Huh…

I must have fallen asleep at some point. It had gotten quite late by the time I ended up revealing everything to Mom, after all. And with her needing time to digest everything and me crying my heart out again…

Shaking that thought off, I got up and got changed. I eyed the closed portal in the middle of the room for a second with a ...

Hopping Celestial Fox, Ch54 - Flashback

Mom and I were sitting on the couch in the living room, leaning into each other. She was stroking my big fox tail in her lap, her expression vacant.

I wanted to know what she had meant before, but I also understood that she needed a moment to take everything in. Letting her pat my tail wasn’t a bad experience either…

“You said… that you have healing potions…? That they would help with the headaches?” she finally mumbled after a long time of silence.

“Uh, yeah. ...

Hopping Celestial Fox, Ch53 - Filler

“Mom, please… If they said a week off, then just take the week off,” I pleaded with my mom as we returned back home from the hospital.

I had decided not to tell her about the portals while in the hospital just in case someone overheard us. Didn’t want even more people thinking I was crazy.

… But, that was just an excuse. I was still concerned about telling her everything.

Mom sighed.

“Okay, fine… No working from home, I promise,” she finally ac...

Hopping Celestial Fox, Ch52 - Slice of life

When I returned home, Mom still wasn’t home.

I pursed my lips in concern even as I automatically transformed into my not-true form.

She had been working more and more lately because of the project deadline and I was getting quite concerned about her health.

I checked my phone for any messages from her and found none.

With a sigh, I headed to my room to change out of the dirty and torn clothes I’d worn during today’s… adventure. I briefly eyed the closed portal ...

Hopping Celestial Fox, Ch51 - Exposition

I felt lightheaded when I finally woke up. Physically, I felt no pain or discomfort whatsoever. Mentally, I was beyond exhausted.

I let out a soft mewl as my eyes cracked open.

“Renee! You’re okay!” a somewhat familiar voice called.

I turned my head and as my vision adjusted to the light, a blond-haired girl with pointy ears appeared in my field of view. The dirty rags she used to wear were gone and so was the filth that had once covered her hair. She now wore a simple...

January 2024 update

Happy New Year, everyone!

I decided that it would be a good idea to make monthly updates a regular thing just to keep myself focused and to let ya'll know what to expect for the following month, so here we are!

During December, I managed to fall into a daily routine that starts with me writing in the morning, which, if nothing else, keeps me consistent. And that means a lot of chapters to read for you guys!

The current plan for January is to keep churning out Hopping Celesti...

Hopping Celestial Fox, Ch50 - Climax

I held my bleeding arm, crouching out of sight as quietly as possible as I peeked out into the dark rocky passageway with a sharp eye, my body tense. My breaths came out slowly and carefully.

I had no idea whether I would even survive this. But despite my fear, I kept quiet and made as little movement as possible.

The wait felt excruciating. Every second felt like an eternity. Every breath I took could have been my last.

The worst part was the uncanny feeling of deja vu.