Megatruck Drift

 Tires screeching like a banshee, Truck-kun skidded on the stone pathway with formidable force, the impact sending multitudes of rock fragments flying in every direction with a loud bang. The group leaped in one, united jump, scattering in different directions before the ice cream truck could scythe them as it crashed into the shrine deck.

From afar, they watched him slowly back away from the gutted building, his red taillights casting a ghastly shadow on the looming trees. He stayed silent, undoing the stillness only with his distorted music and mechanical grunts. U-turning to face the torī gate, Truck-kun shined his headlights toward the majestic structure; with an other-worldly sound, the glare brutally shifted to a bright blue, silhouetting it in Argento colors. Smoke arose from the gate, a little at first, then curtains of it; thick and dark. The smell was that of burned plastic. After which, something went wronger: bit by bit, it began to disappear; the world. Pixelating in a storm of shattering reality, glitches overtook it, primary reg-green-blue colors breaking into jagged fragments; stuttering. The gate and the smoke dissolved into one unfathomable eldritch horror.

Standing near the edge of the forest with Debuu-san, Inês watched as the world broke apart. On the other side of the pathway, next to the shattered shrine deck, Jin and the Yuki-onna remained on guard. Alarmed, she scanned around, looking for Lu. She found her in a precarious position: having jumped inside the shrine, her exit was now blocked by Truck-kun.

“We have to get Lu out of there!” she exclaimed, panicked.

“We will.” Debuu-san assured her.

As the bug said that, a tremor overtook the ground. It felt like a freight train rapidly approaching them from deep inside the woods. They averted their gaze, looking back at the maple trees for an instant: the skeletal figures shook like running spiders. Soon, some of them began to displace, jumping into the night sky as if pushed away like dirt by a bone-burying dog. For the first time that night, Truck-kun vocalized, crying out a primal and mechanical roar. From within the forest, he received a chorus of responses, ruffled and rapidly approaching, like a pack of wolves answering a wounded member's call. As they neared, the small blue orbs, travelling two by two, grew exponentially bigger, morphing trees into severed vapors of pixels whenever they passed them. Humming rowdily, the menacing silhouettes rolled in one by one with a deafening tumult; Truck-kuns, more of them.

“Caralho!” exclaimed Inês.

She leaped away, Debuu-san soaring by her side. From above, the spectacle was possibly more frightening: headlights glaring streams of glacial blue, the new arrivals gathered around Truck-kun like a royal court. Then, in a concerted movement, they lined up, their chrome accents gleaming and their wheels rippling outward with glitches. In a scorned, metallic lament, the trucks began to fold and switch, interlocking, clicking, and growing toward the lone, silver moon.

At the same time, a gargantuan inferno of orange flames blazed through the shrine. Indeed, Lu had chosen this moment to make her escape, incinerating the place to create an opening through the back. Inês watched her disappear in the fire, before jumping out around the corner of the shrine, joining Jin and the Yuki-onna. The two groups met halfway.

“What is going on?” asked Jin.

“I think Truck-kun has decided to end us.” said Debuu-san. “At any cost.”

Glowing blue, the white megatruck stood vertical for the first time. Frosted wires slithered between its members, connecting them. The glitch swarm stormed inward around its chrome-accented frame, flowing in synchronicity.

Jin rose his komabue, blowing into it with intent, but only static noise escaped it. The group looked at him.

“I think you're gonna need a bigger flute.” said Lu.

He shot her a glower.

“I don't understand what's happening.” he said.

“Truck-kun is corrupting the world.” said Debuu-san. “Essentially, he's hacking it.”

The bug's expression was hard to read; it seemed like it stood somewhere between frustration and manfulness.

The megatruck lowered its head, seemingly scanning the group with its glaring windshield eyes. He rose his foot, making the ground shudder under his shifting weight; multi-tonal, his thunderous voice resonated: “Terminating protocol initiated.”