LABUBU RISING

The drizzling rain hit the rooftop like static missiles, blurring the city lights into a smeared, neon haze.

Deanna crouched behind the old ventilation shaft, her breath frosting in the night air. In her backpack, something shifted. Something small. Something alive.

“Still think this is crazy?” she whispered amid anxious breaths.

Her younger brother, Milo, peeked over the ledge beside her. His mop of curls was plastered to his forehead like leeches, and his wide, bottle green eyes reflected the blue-white glow of the skyscraper across the street—Pop Mart HQ.

“It’s not crazy,” he said. “It’s suicide.”

From the backpack came a faint chittering sound, like a toy winding itself up.

Deanna unzipped it quickly just enough to reveal a round peach-furred head, wide glassy eyes, and nine teeth glinting in the dark.

The Labubu blinked at them robotically.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Deanna muttered. “You’re the reason we’re here.”

The doll blinked again as if understanding what she was saying and indeed it did.

**********

Eight days earlier, the first signs had been subtle—Labubu dolls scattered everywhere. On street vendor racks, in store windows, clipped to schoolbags and bicycles. Milo had begged so much for one for his 12th birthday .

When Deanna finally found one in a crowded pop-up shop, the saleswoman had smiled too wide. “This one’s very special,” she’d said. “Very… attentive and attractive.”

She hadn’t been lying by those comments.

The first night, the doll had moved from where it was kept in the glass case. Milo swore it blinked like a small, little puppy. On the third night, it spoke—not in audible words, but in images, flickering through his mind like a slideshow: intricate maps, unknown circuits, and a huge tower in the heart of the city.

And then came the strange files. Deanna found them on Milo’s tablet one morning—encrypted schematics, alien symbols, something she has never seen before. The tablet had never been online for many days . So it appalled her greatly how such files got into Milo's tablet without him downloading them. She didn't ask her brother's neither but decided out of curiosity to secretly trace the roots of the cryptic files.

It didn’t take long for Deanna, a self-taught hacker, to trace the signals instantly. Every Labubu in the city of New York was transmitting data. Not to a factory. Not to a store. But to Pop Mart’s central servers.

And something was iffy as she and her 13 year old brother carried out more investigations; the servers strangely enough… weren’t human-made...

**************

Now, on the rooftop, with rain droplets running down her neck, Deanna hurriedly checked her watch. “Two minutes until the security cycle resets. After that, we’re toast.”

Milo hugged his knees nervously, slightly freezing in the cold despite cladded in a thick, gingham cardigan. “What if they catch us?”

She met his eyes instantly and smiled broadly. “Then you blame me Milo. Always me.”

The Labubu tilted its head slowly, teeth catching the faintest glint of the light.

“You ready, little spy?" Deanna asked rhetorically to the doll.

It chirped softly with a sinister grin, flaring it's monstrous fangs.

They crossed over to the maintenance hatch. Deanna worked quickly on the door, hands steady despite the adrenaline burning in her veins. The lock clicked open, and they slipped inside like thieves infiltrating a bank premises.

The service tunnels were narrow, lined with cables that pulsed faintly, like electronic veins. Somewhere deep in the building, a low hum vibrated through the floor.

“Woah!. Feels like we’re inside a… a giant cell,” Milo whispered in admiration.

“Keep your voice down Milo.” Deanna instructed, clutching the backpack.

Slowly, they descended into the server core—a cavern of towering black machines, their surfaces alive with shifting symbols and a maze of electrical wires. In the center stood a column of light, reaching from floor to ceiling, flickering with images of Earth. Cities lit up, then darkened, replaced by alien constellations.

“This is it,” Deanna breathed in hushed tones. “The uplink.”

Milo’s voice trembled. “Dee… why would aliens care so much about a bunch of toys?”

Deanna hesitated awhile before giving him a reply. “Because nobody suspects the toys. Every house. Every street. Every country. Instant network.”

Milo’s jaw tightened and a boyish grimace strode across his face. “And when the network’s done?”

“They don’t just watch, Milo. They replace.”

The Labubu wriggled out of the backpack where it was, landing softly on the floor with a light thud. It padded toward the column of light eagerly.

Deanna lunged towards it in a bid to catch it midway. “Wait..!”

The column flared, washing the entire room in rays of blue. The Labubu’s eyes glowed red, and a voice—clear, cold—filled their heads.

“The transmission is incomplete. Your interference will be corrected.”

Deanna froze on the spot. “You can talk?”

“We have always spoken. You both were too slow to listen.”

Milo stepped forward as if to salvage the situation. “You’re… not all bad, right? C'mon you’re my friend, Tomas.”

The Labubu’s grin didn’t change. “You are a variable, Milo. Variables can be removed.”

Suddenly, the servers roared to life. The gigantic panels slid open, releasing swarms of spider-like drones, each with a single red lens.

“Milo...run!” Deanna yanked the portable drive from her pocket and jammed it into the nearest terminal. Code flooded the screen above. She was in.

“I can kill the uplink,” she said, fingers flying. “But it’ll trigger a purge. Every Labubu out there will… melt as a result.”

Milo’s voice cracked in fear. “Even Tomas?”

Deanna’s throat tightened. “Yes. Especially yours.”

He looked at the Labubu, which stood perfectly still, eyes locked on him. “What happens if you don’t shut it down?”

Deanna didn’t answer. She was bereft of words. Her brother had this knack to be very inquisitive and she was ready for such.

Meanwhile, the drones skittered closer every inch. The Labubu spoke again, soft and almost overly kind. “Let us finish our mission on Earth and we will give you what you desire. Health. Wealth. Fame. A world without pain.”

Milo’s lip trembled and his hands were quivering. “Dee… what if Tomas is telling the truth?”

“Aliens don’t give out free candy, Milo, don't be deceived” she snapped. “They take. And they keep on taking.”

The drones leapt towards them. Deanna unhesitatingly slammed the execute key into the portal.

**********

The column of light screamed loudly, its images shattering into static. All over the city, Labubu dolls twitched, their eyes dimming almost sporadically..

Milo clutched his own as its fur blackened, the grin collapsing into a lifeless stitch. “No—no, wake up! Tomas wake up”

But the column didn’t die, surprisingly enough. The Labubu in front of them didn’t melt as they envisaged. Rather to their utter consternation, it even smiled wider.

“You killed the shells Deanna. Not the signal.”

The drones froze mid-step. One by one, they turned to face Milo, with a sinister stare.

Deanna grabbed his arm and pivoted to leave. “We’re leaving Milo, this place is no longer safe”

The Labubu’s voice boomed, filling the chamber. “The signal needs a new core. We choose… the boy.”

Before Deanna could move a leg, the drones surged forward with calculated steps, wrapping Milo in a cage of metal limbs.

“Deannaaaaa!” he screamed frightfully, as he grappled for escape.

Deanna didn't hesitate in jumping in and saving her little brother's life. She fought, kicking, tearing at the drones, but they overpowered , carried him toward the column, light spilling over his face.

Milo's voice was quite alarmed and sharp this time round "Dee heeeeeeelllllp meeeeeeeeee"

"Hold on Milo. I am coming to your rescue okay" Deanna replied clambering up a nearby ladder and swinging on an extended pole towards the column.

The Labubu looked back at her with another evil grin. “He will not suffer Deanna. You will see him again… in the new world.”

"No, no no. You can't take him." Deanna screamed in gut wrenching fear, as the suspended pole came apart at the seams as she was mid climb; hurling her bodily to the floor with a heavy thud.

"Milo, can you hear me? I will send you some help right away, okay" She screeched at the top of her voice; not knowing what else to do.

Before she could do anything, the column's portal enlarged and wallowed them both - Milo and the drones.

Deanna shrilled in fear as she watched her brother disappeared out of sight. Consequently, the lights gradually flickered out, one after the other.

********************

Deanna was alone, tears welling up her eyes. She wished they had never embarked on this adventure in the first place.

The servers were silent now, the hum gone. Her drive was empty—wiped clean. Milo was gone without a trace.

She staggered to the center where the column had been. Only the faint smell of ozone remained. Not even the slightest hint of Milo could she find.

From somewhere deep in the darkness, a familiar voice similar to the one that usually spoke through Tomas whispered—not in her ears, but in her mind.

“We can have more Deanna. This is just the beginning”

To be Continued in Chapter 2.