Chronobreak- Don’t Blink

Summoners Rift

The Fields of Justice was alive with the sounds of weapons clashing and the mist like feeling of magic that lingered in the air. Minions from both sides charged at one another and fought alongside the champions that were selected by the League to take part in this battle. Among them, was a young boy who lived among the streets of Zaun. Mostly, he would be referred to as a low life or a street rat. But to the League, he was much more than that.

He was Ekko: The Boy Who Shattered Time. Despite being from the corrupt streets of Zaun, Ekko is known as a prodigy who is known to spend his days with the other lost children in the city that don’t have a place to call home. His own invention, the Zero Drive, allows for Ekko to be able to manipulate time to his advantage, whether in a fight or to help defend his friends. However, he knows that not all things can be rewound.

He learned that personally when his best friend, Ajuna, died. He tried multiple times. Multiple rewinds in order to possibly save his life. But he soon realized that no matter how many times he tried, some things just can’t be fixed. There are no tools, no spare parts, nothing that could help bring back a friend. Things like this just needed time. And sometimes, things just aren’t the same afterwards.

Now though, he was in the center pathway, or what the other champions called “The middle lane”. Alongside him was the minions that were helping him and his team defend their home base, or “Nexus”. Ekko had only been in the league for close to two months and there were still a lot of things that he personally needed to learn and get use to. One in particular being the disembodied voices that he heard every few moments into the battle. He personally liked them at first, but soon, it just kept on getting repetitive and gave him a major headache.

Today he was fighting along four other champions. Leona; The Radiant Dawn, Quinn & Valor; Demacia’s wings, Braum; the Heart of the Freljord, and then Rengar; the Pridestalker. Or in Ekko’s case, Kitty cat, due to the fact that Rengar was a walking, talking lion. He didn’t really know or understand the reason why they were fighting this time. But then again, he didn’t need a reason. Anytime he stepped onto the battlefield, he was representing his city and to him, that’s all that mattered. Greatness and progress shouldn’t belong to one city after all.

His team’s soldiers or otherwise known as minions, were fighting alongside him. Originally, Ekko was tempted to give them names since it was odd to call them Minion 1 or Minion 2. But the only one that he could come up with was for a tank like minion he named “Dave”. But that wasn’t what he was focusing on since no one usually gave a damn about minions anyway. Instead, it was to break down the enemies defenses. As he progressed further down the lane he was in though, things seemed a bit quiet… Perhaps some would say… Too quiet?

“BOMBS AWAY!!!”

Quickly, Ekko had to roll out of the way of a set of incoming bouncing bombs thrown by Ziggs. The yordle that was also known as the self proclaimed “Hexpolsives Expert”, but given his tactics… Not so much an expert in the element of surprise.

“You do realize that I now know you’re trying to surprise me, right?”, Ekko huffed as he recovered from the roll.

“FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!” Was the only response he got back as more explosives were thrown at him, including a Satchel Charge.

“Man, can’t knock any kind of sense into him like that.” Ekko thought. “Guess I can do it this way!” Holding his guile, he quickly smacked a contraption into the air, sailing towards where the Yordle was standing. While Ziggs was still confused, Ekko phased dived, or sped up time to seemingly teleport right behind him, activating the trap that he placed at his feet.

This was one of Ekko’s abilities was what he personally referred to as Parallel Convergence. This was a circle like trap that slowed any enemies that were inside it, but if Ekko stepped in during the time that it was active, he could freeze the time of a certain area and have anyone inside be stuck in place for a short amount of time.

Now that the crazed Yordle was just stuck in place, Ekko took his club and smacked Ziggs towards the satchel charge that Ziggs had placed before on the ground as it was about to explode.

AN ENEMY HAS BEEN SLAIN

“Whew… I rather not have myself blown to bits today.” Ekko told himself. He was crossing the halfway point of Summoners Rift, but was a little concerned with how to proceed. He needed to upgrade his equipment back at the base, but was caught up between leaving his post and preparing himself for the big fight that was to come. He saw that the amount of minions on his side were now the size of a small battalion, which made him feel comfortable with taking a quick break..

Turning towards the minions that were marching forth, he told one of them. “Keep on going, I need to rethink a couple of things.” With that, he began to cast his Recall spell that he had to learn upon joining the League. The process was tedious, but he was able to figure out all the kinks after some practice and guidance from a few of the other champions.

Five seconds later, he was back at where he started, square one. And also, at the front of the merchant’s little shack. “Welcome champion, How can I help you?”

“I’m looking for something to let me dive right in and deal as much damage as I can in the shortest amount of time. Have any suggestions?” The Merchant grinned, looking through the plethora of items that he had in stock before pulling out one to show to the boy.

“This is the Lich Bane. It’ll not only provide you with a little extra mana, but your guille will become empowered with magic when you use your abilities.”

“All in. Just my style.”, Ekko chuckled. “How much?”

“3000 gold.”

Ekko went into his coin pouch and pulled out the amount that the vendor asked for. “Here you go. Thank you kindly.”

“Just a moment, before you go, I think you should have this,” the Merchant interjected, showing a small emblem to the boy. “I found this while looking through my inventory and I believe this may be suited for someone of your caliber. You are from Zaun, are you not?”

He nodded his head. The emblem the merchant was showing was a hand size version of the Crest that represented his city.

A feeling of pride washed over him upon seeing this. But then, he remembered that everything, especially this, came with a price. “Um… I only have around 100 gold after my last purchase. Should I come back and get it when I have enough-?”

The merchant shook his head. “Keep it. Consider it as a token of my appreciation. If it’s not for talented hard workers like you, I wouldn’t have a business to run. Now, you might want to hurry. Those minions can’t last well on their own midlane.” Ekko soon snapped back to reality as he noticed the minions that were hustling from the Nexus passed the inhibitor.

“Thanks, Mr. Merchant… Walrus guy!!” He shouted, hurrying because he didn’t want to be late. Not noticing the pink cloud of smoke that went off briefly after he started to run. Going back into his lane, he noticed that another problem decided to show up. This time though, it wasn’t Ziggs. When he approached the group, he had to make a split second dodge to avoid an incoming gunshot. The boulder behind him exploded into a million pieces as an 80. caliber round smashed straight through it.

Looking up, he saw another enemy and narrowed his eyes.

Caitlyn, the Sheriff of Piltover.

“Aw… Who called the cops?”

“That’s enough, little boy.” She rasped, clicking the lever on her rifle. “You’ve been causing too much trouble around here and I need to put a stop to you.”

Ekko gripped his weapon, cocking a smile at her. “I don’t cause trouble, I start it. You’re going to need more than that gun of yours to beat me, law dog.”

“Is that a threat?” The sheriff retorted, gritting her teeth as she centered the crosshairs on his head.

“No, it’s a challenge.” Ekko smirked a little, grabbing a contraption from his right pocket and preparing for the sheriff to make the first move. However, he was caught off guard to hear a spark of electricity from a nearby bush as a shuriken infused with lightning flew past his head and landed on a nearby tree, singing the bark to a crisp. From the bush emerged another yordle. This time, a ninja named Kennen.

“Seriously, there’s two of you?! I’ve had enough trouble with one of your kind trying to kill me!” He complained. There was something involving these little critters that Ekko wasn’t a fan of. Mostly because there was more to them than meets the eye. He learned that the hard way when he met a yordle scientist named Heimerdinger in a battle on the Twisted Treeline. His turrets and inventions caused Ekko to keep on his toes and try not to get his team blown up in the process.

Now though, he had to deal with an electric yordle ninja that was trying to fry him with his lightning shurikens. Not to mention the gunfire from the sheriff. As he kept moving though, the teen watched a set of bolas trip the sheriff by the legs and had her fall to the ground before a familiar face emerged and slashed through her.

This helped relieve the pressure off of Ekko as he through out the contraption that he was holding and hit him. However, the last blow went to the Pridestalker that defeated the first opponent in the save savage fashion.

DOUBLE KILL!!

“Seriously, Rengar!? I was just about to make my move on him!”

“Yeah, like I would believe that.” The Lion spat. “Your toy is still over there.”

Ekko sighed, “You know what they say, what goes around…” He caught the device as it came back to him. “...Comes around.”

“Right… You need to quit slacking off. Leona is pushing the tower in the bottom lane and are working on tearing down their defenses. Quinn & Braum are doing the same thing on the other lane. Right now, it’s our job to push forward.”

“Wouldn’t Leona need help?” Ekko asked, wondering how someone like him would take on a tower by himself.

“She’ll be fine. She’s been in these situations before and has been in the League for years, kid. She knows what to do. Now, quit standing around and hurry up. Whoever else is out there isn’t going to wait for you to make your move on them.” The feline retorted as he disappeared into a nearby bush.

“Thanks for the support… Furball.”

“Shut up and fight. Or else you’ll just end up as a trophy in someone’s den.” The lion threatened. With the lane cleared up, Ekko had space to continue moving. But his main concern was Leona. He knew that the paladin could handle this on her own, but Ekko still had the feeling that she would need some support.

Quickly, he began to channel one of the summoner skills that he chose for this match, Teleport. It would conveniently move him to a target in which he chose. Given that there was a battalion of minions by the paladin’s side, it made going to her a lot easier. After channeling the spell for about five to ten seconds, he soon appeared by Leona’s side.

“Ekko? What are you doing here? I thought you would be in the middle lane?”

“Last I checked, Rengar is helping clean out the trash over there and the others are pushing top, so I thought you needed some help.”

“You couldn’t be more right,” the warrior replied, pointing at the tower by the entrance to the enemy’s stronghold. “That tower is the only one left before the enemy’s inhibitor is exposed. However, Udyr is over there and killing any of our men that try to get over there.”

Looking over, the teen saw the spiritwalker in his Spirit Guard outfit using his fists in order to smack away at a few minions. “Really? He’s the problem? Oh dear, it’s Udyr! He barely seems like a threat!”

“Patience Ekko, there’s more to him than meets the eye-.”

The boy just rolled his eyes as he looked back at his teammate. “Patience? What’s that?” Without even letting Leona answer, he charged into the fray, trying to use his Timewinder to catch Udyr by surprise, only to watch as he didn’t budge due to his Turtle Stance. Then, he looked back at the champion that tried to attack him. Growling, he changed his stance. This time to Tiger stance. One that allowed for Udyr to move faster on the ground and pursue enemies. This one in particular being Ekko.

“Uh oh…”

At the moment Udyr charged, Ekko avoided his attack by using Phase Dive to dodge to his right. The spirit caller smirked, changing now to Phoenix Stance as he tried to use the flames that were emitted to burn the boy. Despite this working however, as they clashed, Ekko already had a chance to win. He just needed to time it right.

That was when Udyr was about to perform his final strike. “Rewind!”

This was Ekko’s Ace in the Hole. Chronobreak. An ability that allowed for him to retrace his steps back to where he was four seconds ago. Not only does the ability apply damage in an outward explosion, but it allowed Ekko a quick chance to recover. With a massive in the space-time continuum, Ekko warped out and back into reality, warping the area around him into a massive explosion of chrono energy

AN ENEMY HAS BEEN SLAIN

Ekko heaved a sigh of relief. “See, no biggy. Right Leona?...... Leona?”

YOUR TEAM HAS DESTROYED A TURRET

Ekko turned around, now seeing the paladin by the base of the tower she was trying to destroy. “Oh come on!? Did you seriously have to use me as bait!!?!”

“It’s not really how I do things, but I don’t let an opportunity go to waste. Besides, their inhibitor is right there and Quinn had just broken through the top lane’s defenses.” Leona pointed, seeing the demacian ranger and the bald mustache man destroy the tower on the other end of the base. “The quick we push through, the more likely chance we will win.”

“Wait a minute… Where’s Rengar though?” Ekko asked. “Has anyone been in contact with him-?”

AN ALLY HAS BEEN SLAIN

That caused Leona and Ekko to worry as the looked at one another. As they destroyed the enemy’s inhibitor and continue to fight the minions and champions of the opponent’s base, Ekko tried keeping track of everyone there. There was Caitlynn, Ziggs, Kennen, Udyr…… Wait, where was the fifth one?”

AN ALLY HAS BEEN SLAIN

ENEMY DOUBLE KILL!!

The screams that followed caused Ekko to lose focus. He was on his toes, trying to find out where this enemy was on the battlefield. That was, before he heard another voice.

“Stand behind Braum!”

Before another attack tried to strike Ekko, the Heart of the Freljord rushed in to block it with his shield. “You okay there, little rascal?”

“Thanks for the save, big guy. Who was that?” The boy asked. Braum sighed briefly.

“That’s Diana. Scorn of the Moon… and she really… REALLY… wants to kill us.”

“Why so?”

“Leona, that’s why. Diana has a fierce hatred for her-”

At the moment the muscled man said that, Leona and Diana had engaged one another and clashed swords. Diana furiously trying to strike Leona and cleave her head while Leona focused on disarming her.

“We can worry about them later. Right now, we need to get rid of those last two towers so we could go for the Nexus.”

“Good Idea.” Ekko agreed with Braum. The two of them pushed onward along with the new “Super Minions” that had spawned from destroying two of the enemies inhibitors. The minions, along with the combined strength of Ekko and Braum were able to destroy the first tower. But upon doing so, the Scorn of the Moon caught wind of their plans. She kicked Leona backwards and crippled her of using her arm that allowed the paladin to use her sword as she used her curved blade to go for Braum. As she was rushing forth though, Ekko saw her coming and pushed the Freljord man out of the way with all his strength as his guile clashed with Diana’s hooked blade.

“Foolish child. Do you have a death wish!?”

“I would say for you would be the one if you’re messing with me, lady.”

The Scorn growled. In a fury, she tried to hit the boy, only for him to phase dive behind her and tried to blink strike her from behind. But, to his surprise, Diana had three orbs glow around her as he was about to land his attack.

“What the-?!”

The three orbs caused a surge of magic to shoot pain through his body while the last one threw him backwards. Despite this though, Ekko didn’t give up as he continued to try and fight. even using his healing summoner skill to restore Leona’s health so her arm could be back in place. “Just what kind of goal are you planning to accomplish by stopping me, child?! Is this some insane plan from Leona?”

That’s when Ekko smiled… “Who said I was trying to stop you?... I was trying to stall you.”

Diana’s eyes widened. When she turned around, it was already too late. Ekko threw himself in Diana’s line of fire for her to not notice Braum while he tore down the opponent’s Nexus. When she turned to look, the last blow in the Nexus caused the mystical gem to crack and explode.

VICTORY!!!!

“Seem’s like I win, Moony.”

“This is NOT over kid. Do you hear me-!?”

Around then was when the cyan light that originally summoned the champions to the battleground whisked a few of them away at a time. First was the losing team, then there were his teammates. Now it was his turn. But as the magic glowed around him, the Token of Appreciation from the vendor he received earlier began to vibrate.

“What in the name of-!?” was all he was able to say before the cyan magic that surrounded him began to change and twirl violently, causing Ekko to disappear from sight.

Equestria

Luna was roaming through the starry playground of the dreamscape. Watching over the dreams of numerous ponies across Equestria. However, through her search, she came across something… unexpected.

It looked like the silhouette of …… well, a silhouette. Luna couldn't tell who, but could tell that it was a creature nonetheless. Two legs. Two arms. It had clothes from head to toe even though some of them looked ragged. Mane was standing up on end? Could it be a zebra? As she got closer though, she could see a darkened silhouette of Princess Twilight just outside. This, to her, meant that something else was going on outside. With a quick cast of a spell, Luna emerged into the real world, surprising the Alicorn.

“P-princess Luna!! I never expected you to be here!”

“I could say the same for you, Princess Sparkle… Pardon my rudeness, but why are you out here so late?”

“Well… I was looking outside my bedroom window as I was taking a break from studying to find this. There was a trail of weird…… symbols that lead all the way to it. But I can’t tell what it is exactly. You can’t even touch it either. It’s some sort of projection.”

Luna, surprised by that statement, tested the theory by trying to wave a hoof through it, only for her hoof to cut through the projection before it reformed. “Fascinating…”

“Have you seen this before Princess?”

“No actually… I have not.” The Night Alicorn replied honestly. “Did you said that there was a trail earlier?”

“Yes, but it faded away already. It was too fast for me to try and record.”

“I see…” Luna was very surprised by everything she and Twilight were seeing. But a few moments later, a small flash occurred, causing the two of them to be transported somewhere new.

“L-luna!? Where are we?”

“I-I don’t know. I would only assume that this is a dream.”

Around them were streets that almost looked like Canterlot, but ten times worse. The two ponies watched as they saw candles and what looked like a memorial on a wall before the two of them began to hear some words. While hearing this though, they realized that everything around them… was moving in reverse.

People waste a lot of time… Then they wish for more… Want more hours in their days, days in their years.

What they were seeing began to zoom out, showing two figures. A monster with a metal arm and what looked like a young child. Then, the two princesses heard a voice again.

As if they had all that extra time, they could fix any mistake. I don't need hours or days or years…… I only need seconds.

Everything that the two princesses were seeing unfolded so fast. A fight that occurred between the two of them and unknowingly, the child had slain the monster and won. To them of course. However, when it crashed into the memorial wall, the boy sighed to himself. It was back to square one for him.

Here's the thing about time…… if you can't make the most out of any given moment, then you don't deserve a single extra second.

When the vision ended, both Luna and Twilight had found themselves back where they were before in Ponyville. However, the image from before was gone. All that was left was the symbols that faded away. Both princesses that night decided to keep this to themselves. Thinking that this was some sort of weird dream.

But… Not everything is exactly a dream now… is it?

Ekko

He felt his body hit hard stone as he tried to open his eyes. Ekko honestly had no idea where he was or how he got here, but he had a strange feeling from it. Based on a variety of different factors from the texture of the ground to the noises that he heard… there was one thing he knew for sure.

He must’ve been in some kind of dream. Especially with the feeling of hooves touching his head. Trying to wake him up. When Ekko opened his eyes, he found himself staring at a two unicorns. One of whom was trying to talk to him. He couldn’t hear what they were trying to say, as his ears rung. Thinking it was just an illusion, he let gravity run it’s course as he fell backwards on the pavement.

End Break 0

Author's Note

Never look back...
-Ekko; The Boy Who Shattered Time