Rob fell with a hard thud to the ground of the first island that he happened to land on. Despite what they might have thought, they had not beaten him, not by a long shot. They had come close, he had to give them that, there had been a couple of moments when he really thought he was going to lose control, but fortunately the odds had been just right in his favor for him to get away. He hadn't had much time to react when the rainbow laser had shot out from Sunset and her friends, barely enough to hit Slo-Mo again. He'd managed it, though. He might not have been able to affect them directly with the remote while using whatever powers they possessed, but he was still able to manipulate their surroundings just enough to escape. It had been simple, really: Hit Slo-Mo before the laser hit, open a portal back to the Void, step through, get things back to normal speed, and voila, the perfect escape.

Unfortunately, due to the hasty nature of his escape, he'd had no control over where in the void he landed. On his feet, he rubbed his head from the impact and did an analysis of his surroundings. Nothing had changed. Not that he'd expected it to. He felt something on his legs, and a glance down revealed a small patch of corruption crawling up his legs. In view of his immunity, he paid no attention to it, and lifted his head back up.

"Wait-" He said, looking down again. Something wasn't quite right. He looked back down again, but not at the darkness that was creeping up his legs. He knew he'd landed on hard ground. But when he looked down again, he found himself standing on a sloping roof. His vision distorted and blurred, causing him to flinch and momentarily lose his balance. He brought a hand up to his face and felt it. When he removed it, he found another small patch of darkness he hadn't noticed before. The slightest bit of concern began to rise in him as he stared at his static-covered hand. Up to this point, he had believed himself to be completely immune. But that didn't seem to be the case, as it seemed to have distorted his vision and caused him to hallucinate. He grimaced. It didn't matter, whatever this stuff was, it still obeyed the remote. He brought the remote up to his face, before deleting the patch covering his face and doing the same to his legs. It seemed to have an effect on him, but only superficially and only when it was on his face. Noted.

With that out of the way, he leapt down from the roof he was on. It was slow, though, due to the almost non-existent gravity. He landed softly on his feet and turned around out of curiosity to see what it was he had landed on. His jaw dropped-

His house.

It had been so long since he had seen it, so long in fact that he had been under the impression that it was completely lost to the Void. It was such an immense place, even the biggest islands could easily lose their way. He'd almost given up hope of finding it. But here he was, standing in front of the last remnant of his old life.

He didn't waste any time heading up to the front door. His house wasn't anything special, hardly anything in the Void ever was. It was a typical suburban type home, modest in size, with a dark blue paintjob and small white porch jutting out in front of the front door. He became ever more nostalgic the closer he drew, even daring to knock on the front door once he reached it, even though he knew no one would answer. He slowly opened the front door, savoring every moment. Stepping inside, he was met with the living room. Like the house itself it was modest in size, containing no more than a basic TV setup and speakers on the right side, with a small brown couch situated in the center of it all. To the right of the room sat a flight of stairs leading up to the second floor, where the bathroom and bedrooms lie. To the left of the stairs was a small hallway, leading to the dining room and kitchen.

It was small, and nothing special, but it was the last remnant of his old life, as not even his body resembled his old self at this point. Despite the fact the house had to have been here for years, nothing had changed, everything left exactly as it was the moment it had been sucked into the Void. He didn't understand it himself, how the Void just seemed to freeze in time whatever entered it. The usual march of time had no effect here like in the real world, and the only way things could be changed was by physically doing something to it.

He moved over towards the staircase, where all the pictures in the house were hung. He tentatively reached a hand out towards a picture of himself, surprised when before his hand could reach it, a small tendril of corruption shot out from his wrist and grabbed it for him. He elected not to question it for the time being, too transfixed on the picture held in his hand.

It wasn't anything special at first glance, simply an old school picture of himself. Still, he stared mesmerized by it. It had been so long, or at least it felt like it had, that he had almost forgotten what he used to look like. His old self might as well have been an entirely different person at this point, a far cry from the disfigured, corruption coated being he was now. The only things he had in common with his old self now was the one eye and height, that was it. His old self had dark blue skin and a full head of long brown hair. His skin now consisted of almost nothing but static, the only exceptions being his lower section and torso, colored red and yellow respectively. His hair was a mere afterthought, in it's place instead lie solid brown colored shapes hovering an inch or so over his head.

Unbeknownst to him, the darkness had once again made its way up and along his body, blending in with the static that already covered him. His face glitched again, causing his eye to momentarily go blank and a wide distorted smile to cross his face. He dropped the picture of himself, it falling face down onto the hardwood floor below and the glass shattering into dozens of tiny pieces. He gasped, before whimpering and rushing back outside, where he collapsed onto the stairs outside and started to cry. It wasn't fair! He never wanted any of this to happen, all he ever wanted was a place in the spotlight, to break free of the strings that bound him and become more than just a background character. More importantly than that, he wanted to be a hero! Someone people looked up to, not as some distorted mess, a reject constantly viewed as the villain. He was a villain, he knew that, but it was never the role he truly wanted, only the one he'd always known.

He composed himself, laying his hands out in front of him, analyzing the one containing the remote. He looked back and forth from the remote to a small puddle of corruption a few feet away. He had a small lightbulb moment. "Maybe it's not too late." He thought to himself. "Maybe if I go back-"

He stood up, only to glitch again, his face distorting and freezing again, an and for a moment a loud laugh escaped his throat. He panicked, going for the remote again in a desperate attempt to get it off of him, only for something to pull him back to the ground and knock it out of his hand. He felt it pulling at his consciousness, trying to tear it away. He flailed about and stood up haphazardly, desperately trying anything he could think of to stay awake. His efforts proved futile, and before long he collapsed again, unconscious, that same distorted grin and blank eye on his face as he lie there, the darkness moving all along his body.

Rob stood atop an island high up in the endless expanse of the Void, overlooking hundreds, no, thousands of others. It was beautiful. He didn't understand why he'd doubted himself for so long. He was always meant to be the villain of this story, there was no other explanation for why they all looked down upon them. He felt thankful, thankful to the darkness for finally showing him the light. ”Hmm, how ironic.” He thought. He would a background character no longer, he had a purpose. Why should he care what they think anyway? None of this was real after all. They were all simulations, NPCs, and nothing more. He looked down and around at the corruption moving all along his body.

It was time for the simulations to end.

He smiled. He finally had a purpose: If he couldn't be his world's greatest hero, then he would be the multiverses greatest villain. No, more than that, he would be its destroyer.

His face cleared of the corruption, his eye and mouth returning to their normal state. Instead, it moved towards his back, where four more tendrils emerged and extended from his back. He felt powerful, almost godlike. He extended his hand and arm outward toward a nearby island. One of the tendrils extending from his back shot into the ground, before returning a few seconds later with a fresh set of batteries retrieved from the house in question. Another of the tendrils reached out in front of him and grabbed the remote from his right hand, taking the batteries and replacing the old ones in it. All without him having lifted a finger. It all made sense now. He had never been immune, it had simply taken its time with him, slowly but surely molding him into its image, its vision. He had been a reject, a wayward soul without purpose. That's what it had sought to do with him, give him purpose, where there was none.

And he was all too happy to oblige.

He thought about going back, to that world filled with sentient horses and humanized versions of them. To take revenge once more. He wanted to, but the darkness had other plans. That could wait for now, he had a multiverse to destroy. He didn't mind, after all, where would the satisfaction of just killing them right then and there be?. No, he wanted to watch them squirm, see the shock and terror in their eyes as they saw what he'd become, what they'd forced him to be.

Revenge.

Author's Note

Hope you all have been enjoying my return so far! There’s much, much more to come, but unfortunately I may have to take another small hiatus after the next few updates, but not for a reason you might suspect.

I’m getting commisions! Or at least, I should be. Music, art, the whole nine yards for a future chapter. Unfortunately though, until that happens, It’ll be hiatus time again, but hopefully a short one. After that, it’s full steam ahead!