Chapters View Online
The Beginning Era: Sidelined - Towards Adventure
"Just wish Rob would've given us specifics on what his mission was this time. He JUST got back from taking care of the Pokemon World, and brought back that strange Typhlosion that's a Demi-Demon." Zapper said, as Scootaloo was currently there, waiting for Rob to get back.
"Didn't he find me?" Scootaloo asked.
"Oh yes, he did. But as soon as he dropped you off, he vanished again." Expert said. "Also, you've been asleep for two whole days." He added.
"Oh." Scootaloo was disheartened at that. "I was hoping I'd get to meet him at least before he got ran off." She added.
"Knowing Rob, he'll be back before you know it." Zapper said. Suddenly, Expert's computer spurned to life.
"Yes! I did it! I'm a genius! I've connected with Rob's life force." Expert said.
Wow, no wonder this guy was given the nickname 'Expert'. Scootaloo thought to herself.
"Nice. Should we tell the Typhlosion?" Zapper asked.
"Err...I don't know. Says Rob's in a completely different Pokemon World from where he was before. Somewhere in the future it seems." Expert said. "That's...all I've got. I can't make the connection until things are stabilized on that end." Expert said. "Oh, I never got your name, young one; what is it?" Expert asked Scootaloo.
"Oh now you ask for my name? It's Scootaloo." Scootaloo announced.
"Right. I see." Expert said. "Well then Scootaloo, you'll need one of these." He added before putting a strange device into one of Scootaloo's ears.
"What is this thing?" Scootaloo asked.
"It's a translation device. It'll allow you to understand foreign languages. It's useful when you have to talk with the Typhlosion or any other being that talks different then we do." Expert said. "Not everything out there speaks english after all." He added.
"It gets crazier when you factor in worlds that look like the ones from video games." Zapper noted.
"...Wait, your saying video game worlds are real?" Scootaloo asked.
"Real as flash and bone. Pokemon like the Typhlosion that's hanging around here are just one example of what you'd think would be a video game creature, but it's not." Zapper said.
"Th-that's..." Scootaloo said. She wanted to say it was impossible, yet here she is a filly talking to two humans. For all she's aware of, she might be from a video game world of some kind and not even be aware of it.
"It's kind of why I'd highly advise not playing any video games. I don't know if you are from a video game of some kind, but if you did find one with your essense in it, playing it would cause you to freeze up. I've already seen it happen with Victoria." Expert said.
"Oh! When can I meet this Victoria?" Scootaloo asked.
"You can't. She kind of...died a few months ago." Zapper said.
"I warned her if her nerves got stimulated, she'd die, and yet she took a hit from something that stimulated her nervous system for Rob." Expert said.
"Oh." Scootaloo said. "Wait, your saying that tiny girl was Victoria?" She asked, remembering something from the videos she watched.
"Yep. That was her." Zapper said.
"Ooof." Scootaloo said. "At least she was able to go out on her own terms then." She added.
"Yeah, that was some solence at least." Expert said. Suddenly, there was some flashes of light going on.
"Huh? What's that about?" Zapper asked.
"I think some sort of portal is forming right here in the lab!" Expert said.
"But that's impossible. Is it Rob?" Zapper asked.
"Well I am also sensing Rob's Life Signature with it." Expert said before giant portal opened up and then spat a human; this one having on some kind of suit.
"...Expert...I think the suit...needs a check-up..." The human said before fainting.
"Rob!" Expert said.
This is Rob Snowden? Then again, this is in the past. He won't be as Rainbow Dash remembers him yet... Scootaloo thought to herself.
It had taken a full day for Rob to be able to at least get up and walk about, during that time, Scootaloo learned why Rob was wearing that strange suit: His last handling of using the Maximum Overdrive state had left his body almost paralyzed, so he was being forced to use that suit to dapen his powers for the time being. However, it seems that Rob's last adventure had him turn into a Pokemon for a really long period of time, and it resulted in him passing out after coming home from that world he was in.
Even still, the fact that he is able to be up and about after just an additional day of recovery from that is amazing. No wonder Rainbow Dash treats him in such high regard. Scootaloo thought to herself. She was waiting for Rob to get out of his briefing before coming up to him.
"Heh. It's you. I doubt you want to be cooped up in here all day. You can join me out at see." Rob told Scootaloo.
"That sounds like a plan!" Scootaloo said before following Rob outside, where she witnessed a strange vehicle. "What is that?" The filly asked.
"That is my Speedster. Hope in." Rob said. Scootaloo followed instructions, and before she knew it, the speedster sped off and into the sea before it finally slowed down. Once it slowed down enough for her to process things, Scootaloo threw up. "Oops. I should've warned you that you were going to throw up after experincing that sort of ride." Rob told the pegasus filly. "Everyone throws up in this thing after experiencing it's super high speeds for the first time." He added.
"Now you tell me..." Scootaloo said.
"I'm serious. Even I threw up on the test flight I gave this thing." Rob said.
"...So not even your immune from that huh." Scootaloo said.
"Yeah. Maybe I should really get to warning--" Rob was saying when a strange radio frequency was being picked up. "This warrents investigation." Rob said, before the Speedster gently sped off towards the radio frequency.
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The Beginning Era: Sidelined - The Mission Begins
Rob and Scootaloo boarded the ship. "We don't know what's on here, so stick close to me." Rob said.
Scootaloo nodded. "Right." She responded. However, not too long after that got on board, the filly noticed a large boat and several rescue boats next to it. "What's this about." Scootaloo said.
"...The United Nations Army?" Rob asked, noting the logo on the larger boat. He and Scootaloo headed on ahead, which is when they saw a bunch of soldiers trying to get through a door. Rob was ready to fight them when they aimed their guns at him.
"Hey, if it isn't the man himself." A voice from one of the soldiers said.
"...Virus?" Rob asked as a lone male of the group stood up.
"It's nice to see you again. Oh, and your buddy's here too." Virus said, removing his mask.
Rob turned to the more decorated officer. "...Aaron." Rob said.
"What are you doing here?" Aaron asked.
"...There was a strange distress signal coming from this ship. I followed it. And I will find it's source if it's a cry for help like I believe it is." Rob said. "What about you?" He asked.
"...That information is not for an outsider." Aaron said.
Scootaloo couldn't help but notice the wince Rob made at that.
"Commander, we're all prepped." One of the other soldiers said. They tried to bomb the door open, but failed.
"No dice. Looks like we're going to have to use the laser to slowly burn our way through. This is going to take a while." Aaron said.
"We've tried using explosives, but it's tricky to pull off without cartoral damage." Virus said.
Scootaloo just flew ahead, before managing to somehow, open the door. "...Or you can just do what I did...apparently." The filly said.
"Hmph." Aaron said. "You really shouldn't be here. Neither of you. This is an United Nations Army mission only." He added.
"You don't even know what could be in here. It could be anything." Rob said. "So, if I must agree to it, I'll stick to the regs until all survivors are accounted for and rescued." He added.
"...Fine..." Aaron said before heading ahead with the soldiers.
"And you, you're going to have to follow orders too." Rob said. "If you can't handle that, you can just wait here." He added.
"Fat chance." Scootaloo said. If Rob is agreeing to follow orders here, then fine. He must have some reason. Is it something with Aaron I wonder? She thought to herself.
Rob and Scootaloo headed forward, soon discovering a large open space.
"...Took you long enough to take the bait." A male voice called out.
"Crusader." Rob said. Suddenly a robed human popped out of nowhere.
"That was such an easy trap to pull to lure you hear. I mean come on, a radio frequency only your equipment could pick up? It should've been obvious." The human said.
"You tricked me into coming here? I don't like being tricked." Rob said. "This has to be why you still can't get that sword of your to work." He added.
"What's someone like you doing on a United Nations Army vessal? Did you disable it's engines?" Aaron asked.
"Oh yes. That was me. But if your looking for the humans, well they are long gone. I killed them. Every last one of them. You would've done the same, if you saw what I saw they were carrying on this thing." Crusader said. "No one should treat Pokemon like slaves let alone create an artificial pokemon capable of destroying half the planet once it's complete." He added.
"So there are still Pokemon surivors here? Fair enough." Rob said. "We'll just rescue them. But as for you, even if you were to get past me, you'd have to deal with some United Nations Army Soldiers." He added.
"Of course, the artificial pokemon isn't the only thing on this ship. There's something else that drew me here." Crusader said.
"...Another high powered demon, similar to Grand Train." Rob guessed. "Crusader, if that's what your after to kill, then let me help you in that at least." He added.
"On the countrary, I'm going to kill--" Crusader was saying before suddenly a giant robot assembled. "What the--?" He asked before a strange man showed up.
"So the United Nations Army has shown up? Then I can have some fun." The man said. "Call me Delinquent." He added.
"So, Delinquent, what is your goal?" Rob asked.
"I plan on using the laser device on board this ship to destroy Russia's capital city. Once it's destroyed, anarchy will reign over that place and the country will eventually cease to exist." Delinquent said.
"!" Crusader branded his sword towards Delinquent at that. "No! I can't let you activate that laser device!" Crusader said. "Looks like we're going to call truce again, Rob." He added.
"I didn't look forward to fighting you yet anyways." Rob said.
There was a huge battle, and eventually, the robot was defeated.
"...I'll be back." Delinquent said before fleeing through the opening his robot created.
"...Hmph. I'll be going on ahead." Crusader said before going on ahead.
A bit later, the group was now in the room more standing at attention.
"We don't know why this Crusader would kill the crew and spare the Pokémon aboard, and why Delinquent wants to use the laser device on board this ship. We can't allow Delinquent to gain control of the device, or Crusader to roam free. And here's what we do know outside of that: The electrical system aboard this place is all pervasive. As a result, we're going to have to form a tight group and move as a group." Aaron said. "This is because our com systems are useless." He added.
"Oof. That's smarts." Scootaloo said.
"Rob, it seems your suit's com systems still work with this place and can patch through to me despite everyone else not being able to." Aaron said.
"Expert helped me make this suit, so that's no surprise to me." Rob said.
"I see. For now, stick close by. We're heading to where we've detected a mass energy spike on the ship. It could very well be that Artificial Pokémon Crusader spoke of. Priority one is to find any survivors and bring them to safety; no matter what they may be." Aaron said. "For now, I'm tasking you Rob to go ahead and check the energy spike." He added.
"Right. Scootaloo, you stick close by then." Rob said before heading off ahead with Scootaloo.
View Online
The Beginning Era: Sidelined - Degree of Seperation
Rob and Scootaloo continued through the ship, finding a simulation of a forest. That's when they noticed some foilage rustling.
"I swear if that's that Crusader guy..." Scootaloo said. That's when a strange black creature with yellow rings popped out, and looked at them.
"...Rob?" The creature asked. Scootaloo's translator was translating from Poke-speech.
"Throsten, buddy! It's good to see you again. But how did you get here?" Rob asked.
"Wish I knew. This strange rift brought me here. Was unlike anything else I tell you. I was so scared, but thankfully all it did was spit me into this forest." Throsten said.
"This...isn't a real forest." Scootaloo said.
"Could've fooled me." Throsten said. "So, what's going on exactly? A new adventure? I'd love one of those." He added.
It took a bit of time for Throsten to get caught up. "...Heh. I see. Sounds like I could actually be of some help." Throsten said.
"You're not from this world, so I hope you don't mind taking orders from Aaron since he's in charge." Rob said.
"What about you though? Are you alright with taking orders from him?" Throsten asked.
"...It's complicated." Rob said.
"Well then uncomplicate it." Throsten said. "Because to me, it seems you treat him more then just some UNA Commander." He added.
"Knew I shouldn't have told you my tricks of perception. Aaron has been the closest thing I've ever had to a father figure." Rob said.
"I get ya. But that's you. If there are Pokemon aboard, then I'll do what I can to help, but at the end of the day, I'm going to do what I feel like doing. At least sticking close to you, I won't be as afraid when I'm going up against anything this ship has to throw at me." Throsten said.
"Still trying to become brave I see. Some things don't change." Rob said.
"I've got to become the bravest ever at some point right?" Throsten asked.
"Not sure if that's even a thing, but for now, why not settle for getting your bravery acknowledged first and foremost?" Scootaloo asked.
"Hey, I didn't even think of that. Yeah, that sounds like something that'll help." Throsten said.
"Plus, right now, you can be treated as a suvivor and not part of the team since your not hostile." Rob said. "I'm sure Aaron would appreciate the additional help though." He added.
"Best check to make sure." Scootaloo said.
"Right..." Rob said.
"No objections on my end." Aaron's voice said over Rob's communication system. "Seems your com systems auto translate Throsten's pokespeech for me." Aaron added.
"You might need to tap into that for this. Call it a feeling." Rob said.
"You and your feelings. Then again, the last time you had one, it saved a bunch of lives. So I'm willing to humor that for now." Aaron said.
"Well then Commander Aaron, shall we meet up someplace? I doubt you want to wonder all the way over here." Throsten said.
"Would save my unit some trouble. We'll meet you in the corridor to that area." Aaron said.
The two groups started to meet up, with Throsten rushing over to Aaron. "So cool! I love these uniforms!" Throsten said.
"Err...thanks?" Aaron said.
"He's like a kid in a candy shop." Scootaloo said, joining over him. However, as soon as she passed the threshold a part of the cealing between Aaron's side and Rob's came crashing down, cutting the two off.
"Hold on, I'm going to visual." Aaron said, bringing up a video feed.
"I'm fine Aaron." Rob said. "But it seems we're cut off from one another." He added.
"Just what I wanted." Crusader said, appearing behind Rob. "This time there will be no interruptions with our battle. We didn't get to finish our first one." The swordsman said.
"Rob, whatever you do to beat that guy, don't use the Hyper Explosion power." Aaron said.
"But what about the regs?" Rob asked.
"Regs go out the window when someone is trying to kill you." Aaron said. "Just don't die." He added.
"...Got it." Rob said. Scootaloo was forced to watch Rob give a smack down to Crusader.
"...Tch. Your good. Tell me, why do you fight? Why do you wish to protect everyone? What is your reason?" Crusader asked.
"Maybe one day Crusader, you'll understand the answer to those questions for yourself." Rob said.
"...This about the sacred sword again? Perhaps that is what I am missing..." Crusader said. "You get to live. For now. But I won't stop hounding you through this vessel until you give me your answer." He added before he suddenly sped off.
"Aaron, I'll have to backtrack into that area and see if I can find a way back up to the main deck." Rob said.
"Understood. We'll take a different path to the same place. If you see any of the Pokemon Survivors, rescue them." Aaron said.
"I know the regs." Rob said.
"And Rob, whatever you do, don't die." Aaron said before cutting off the link.
"Wh-what do we do now?" Throsten asked.
"We take the alternate route back up to the main deck." Aaron said.
"Can't we just use the door we initially took to get down here?" Scootaloo asked.
"That won't work. Delinquent's robot now blocks that door and we don't have any way of moving it without causing casualities. We'll have to take the long way around. Doing so, we'll probably come across many of the ships automated defenses." Aaron said.
"Automated defense system huh? I'll do my best not to get held down then." Throsten said.
"Hey Throsten, is there a reason you want to get brave?" Scootaloo asked.
"Yeah. But it's personal. I don't really feel like sharing right now. And please, don't press the issue." Throsten said.
"Very well, for now, you can lead on ahead." Aaron said. "It seems Rob's feeling was on the money after all." He added.
"That's Rob for you. He always manages to come up with a back-up plan just when you think you don't need one." Throsten said as he started leading the group.
The Beginning Era: Sidelined - Side Bravery
As the group progressed, Scootaloo noticed Aaron was pratically agonizing Throsten to continue taking the lead as they passed several automated defense systems such as a large security bot, and a complex machine.
"Is there a reason your dealing with Throsten the way you are?" Scootaloo asked.
"He may say that he wants to be brave, but it's one thing to be brave and another that to actual do it while overcoming your own weakness by yourself. I'm just making sure he'll be ready to make that jump." Aaron said.
"...I just hope it doesn't backfire." Scootaloo said. The group soon came up to a large door, with Crusader trying to slash his way inside.
"Destruction of United Nations Property is inexcusable." Aaron said, turning his gun on Crusader. "I've already got you for murder of United Nations personal." The commander added.
"...You might change your mind, when you see what's behind this door." Crusader said, before motioning to a palm scanner. "My prints don't work, but yours might." He added.
"...Very well." Aaron said before pressing his palm to the scanner unarmored. The door soon swung open. The group entered a large chamber with a bit of lava in it. "What am--" Aaron said.
"Whoa! What's that thing?!" A solider exclaimed.
Scootaloo, Throsten, the rest of the soldiers, and Aaron looked at where the soldier pointed. They saw what appaered to be a huge version of Groudon.
"What...is that?!" Aaron exclaimed.
"It's the artificial Pokemon this ship was creating." Crusader said. "It's technical name? Experiment GR0U-D0N." He added.
"What on earth..." Aaron said.
"It's only a prototype, but it has enough strength to destroy over half the ship." Crusader said. "It's thankfully dormant right now." He added.
"Not for long." Delinquent's voice cried out before the man himself entered the room and started throwing switches. "Sorry, but I ain't about to let you stop me from activating the onboard ray device. Ciao!" Delinquent said before fleeing.
The giant artificial Groudon started to spring to life. "Crap, that thing is going to take out half the ship." Crusader said. "And there are Pokemon pens in the back past this thing." He added.
"How long do we have before it becomes able to do what you said?" Aaron asked.
"I'd say about three hours." Crusader said.
"Are you for real? That's not enough time to get all the pokemon in those pens out of this room and to safety!" Aaron said.
"Then we'll just have to stop it, right?" Scootaloo asked.
"Good luck. This thing was designed specifically as a weapon of mass destruction." Crusader said.
"What are we supposed to do then?!" Scootaloo exclaimed.
"It's all up to me then huh..." Throsten said. He then shook his head. "Gotta stay strong...gotta do what's needed." Throsten said.
"Throsten, are you crazy?! You can't go up against that thing. That's not bravery, that's just foolishness." Aaron said.
The Groudon suddenly roared at the group, but Throsten barely flinched. "I'm done running away. I've been running away my entire life. It's time to stop running away." Throsten said. "This time I fight. I don't care how stacked the odds are against me, I'm not about to let innocent lives be taken on this day." He added.
The Groudon started to get free from it's chains. "If your planning on defeating that thing, you better be ready for the fight of your life." Crusader said. Groudon suddenly broke off one it's chains.
"I'm not scared. I'm not scared." Throsten said. "I can do this!" He added as the Groudon got completely free.
Artificial Abomination
Experiment GR0U-D0N slammed a fist down at the platform the group was on, but Throsten not only flip dodged it, but he started climbing the beast, before leaping off the arm and hitting the backside with a Shadow Ball. This suddenly made the beast become very agitated as Throsten landed on a platform on the other side. The arificial Pokemon unleashed a barrage of meteors before trying to smash Throsten again, but the Umbreon dodged it, and repeated his action from before.
"Whoa. Go Throsten." Scootaloo noted.
After doing this a third time, the plating fell apart, revealing a large crystalline beast. "Now you see this thing's true form!" Crusader noted.
Throsten then suddenly leaped up into the air. "Right...time to stop running away..." Throsten said. "Take this you artificial copy! SHADOW BALL BARRAGE!" He yelled out before launching a whole bunch of Shadow Balls that took out the crystals that made up the beast and soon, it began to thrash in the lava as the crystals slowly faded away.
The artificial pokemon after all it's crystals fell away, started to be melted by the lava, and as it did so, it surprisingly gave a thumbs up before it fully submerged into the lava.
"...He...he did it...he actually did it." Aaron said, stunned.
"...Huh. Not bad." Crusader said before leaving.
"That was something else." Scootaloo said as the group started getting all the Pokemon in the back to the rescue boats, and then Rob came up with some more rescued Pokemon.
"Rob, your okay!" Throsten said.
"Of course I'm okay." Rob said. "By the way, was that rocking of the boat as I passed by this indoor lava area because of you." He added.
"Ha! You'll never believe me, but I took out an artificial giant Groudon!" Throsten said.
"Had help, no doubt." Rob said.
"Nope. He did it all by himself." Aaron said.
"Yeah...yeah I did didn't I? I did it all by myself." Throsten said. Suddenly, part of the boat began to open up as Crusader showed up.
"No! That idiot just activated the laser machine!" Crusader said.
As Delinquent came out, he was suddenly electrified and blasted off into the horizon at the same time because of some strange commutation of electricity. "What is that?!" Aaron exclaimed.
"The very reason why I'm here." Crusader said before parts of the ship started to get drawn towards more commutation of electricity out in the water.
"Quick Aaron, get those Pokemon into the boats!" Rob said before an electrical blast shot towards Aaron. Rob jumped in front, and took the blast, which destroyed the suit he was wearing. "...Well, I just hope my body is up for dealing with whatever this is. Crusader, what am I looking at?" Rob asked.
"It's a demon that can manipulate electronics. My tribe calls it Haywire." Cruasder said. Much of the boat had become a part of this mysterious demon.
"In that case, we're going to have to call truce again." Rob said. "And this time, you are helping if you want to save those Pokemon." He added.
"...Fine." Crusader said. All it took really though, was Rob powered up into his Maximum Overdrive state, with his power being directed through Crusader's special sword to end the demon in question, though before that, nothing they did even effected the demon.
"Phew..." Rob said, landing in the main boat. "I hope I don't have to do that again any time soon." He added.
Crusader suddenly appeared and branded his sword at Rob. "I still want an answer. Why do you do what you do? What purpose do you fight for?" Crusader asked.
"...Why don't you look over there." Rob said, pointing to a boat where a Ninetales female was nuzzling a Vulpix kit.
"Does that kit belong to that Ninetales?" Aaron asked.
"Yes, yes it does." Rob said. "If you can't see my reason based on that, then allow me to spell it out Crusader: I do what I do to make sure those who have yet to have their own future are able to do so. That's what I fight for: I fight for the future of the innocents." He added.
"...I see...I think I finally understand..." Crusader said. He put away his sword. "...It seems I owe you an apology." The robed man said.
"Actually you owe me several." Rob said. Suddenly, a strange human came out of the water, and the next thing Scootaloo knew, Rob was hit by a strange blast from a mysterious cannon before the strange human vanished.
View Online
The Beginning Era: The Dark Core - His Other Half
Previously on Justice Hero Scootaloo, I had been sent back so far back in time, that I had wound up towards the beginning of Rob's journey, shortly after he mysteriously vanished to do some adventure no one knew he was on. When he returned, I joined him in checking out an abandoned UNA ship where I encountered not only Aaron, but also an Umbreon named Throsten. I got to witness the Umbreon take down an artificial version of the Pokémon Groudon, and then had to witness Rob and Crusader defeat the mysterious electrical demon known as Haywire. The victory was short lived however, when a mysterious unknown human came out of the water and fired a cannon at Rob. This blast didn't do any damage, but it did make Rob become ill.
...And now, the journey continues...
"Dear lord, are you certain about this Aaron?!" A UMA Lieutenant asked.
"Yes sir. It was like that mysterious human was just waiting underwater for the most opertune moment possible, and then well..." Aaron said looking at Rob who was still ill. "I already made contact with someone who said they were willing to help." He added.
"...Fine. I trust you." The Lieutenant said. Scootaloo was currently with Throsten.
"I know I was a bit of a coward, but...even this is just more of an act of cowardness." Throsten said.
"I'm not so sure. It seems well executed." Aaron said. "I won't lie and say that Rob falling ill warranted my attention more." He added.
"It allowed that mysterious human to get away." Scootaloo said. "And that may just have been their plan." She added.
"...And I thought Rob was perceptive." Aaron said. That's when Expert and Zapper came in.
"Geez, who in the world could've done this of all things?" Zapper asked.
"Honestly, I could only hazard a guess, and even then, it's not a good one." Expert said. "That human could've very easily been a Dark Admin that I overlooked somehow." He added.
"Dark Admins? This about that Dark Tribe thing Rob was on about?" The Lieutenant asked.
"Hmph. It's their handiwork, that's for sure." A deep voice said. Scootaloo easily recognized it.
So that wasn't a dream... Scootaloo thought to herself. Sure enough, the entire base was greated to the same creature she met briefly.
"What's a Victini doing here?" Aaron asked.
"Forget that, isn't it a Shadow Victini?!" The Lieutenant exclaimed.
"Now that's no way to talk to someone who has information on how to get a leg up on the Dark Tribe." The Shadow Victini said.
"Shadow Rob! How'd you get here?" Zapper asked.
Shadow...Rob? Seriously? How unorginal... Scootaloo thought to herself.
"...What was that remake about my name?" Shadow Rob asked.
"...You can read my mind?!" Scootaloo exclaimed.
"Don't you know that Victini are part Psychic type? And being a legendary means your minds are basically open books to me." Shadow Rob said. Scootaloo just went silent at that. "...Wise decision to remain silent." The shadow Victini said.
"What are you, some kind of double agent for our side?" The Lieutenant asked.
"Why don't you ask Aaron? He probably knows better than anyone what kind of person I am." Shadow Rob said.
"...Yeah I figured as much. Your some kind of reflection; a mirror of Rob." Aaron said.
"Bingo. Knew you'd figure it out." Shadow Rob said.
"Okay, so I'm guessing you used that to your advantage to get in the good graces of the Dark Tribe. So why stop playing double agent?" The Lieutenant asked.
"Because the time for playing double agent is over. The Dark Tribe has been tasked with constructing their ultimate machine: A living weapon known as The Dark Core." Shadow Rob explained.
"No texts mention anything about this Dark Core..." Expert said.
"They wouldn't. It was meant to be a top secret project that only the Dark Tribe knew of. The Dark Core is a living weapon that can make your inner fears come to life. If the Dark Tribe finishes constructing the Dark Core, and it gains enough power, it will make the manifestations of people's worst fears run rampent, killing thousands of lives." Shadow Rob said.
"Th-that's just wrong." Aaron said, unnerved at this.
"Exactly. That's why it's best to take out the factories that are producing the parts to make the Dark Core. And I just so happened to know where they all are. Of course, each one is heavily guarded." Shadow Rob said.
"Then let's do this. This is the UNA's chance to deal a devestating blow to this Dark Tribe." Aaron said.
"Now hold on just a--" The Lieutenant started before he was suddenly gripped by some kind of Shadow Hold.
"Need I remind you that thousands of lives are on the line here? Do you want that kind of blood on your hands for not authorizing the UNA's support on this mission? Because I will personally garentee that you will be blamed for those deaths if the Dark Core is able to reach is maximum potential." Shadow Rob said. The Lieutenant slowly nodded in response. "Good boy." The Shadow Victini said. "Now don't fall behind." He added.
"Guess we're moving. Hope we'll meet up with Rachet on the way." Zapper said.
"Knowing him, he's probably at one of the factories already." Expert said.
Meanwhile, Scootaloo followed behind as well with Throsten; the filly's mind wondering just what kind of mind would dream of creating a weapon that could bring life to people's worst fears. And what really bugs her, is that she's worried she will eventually find out...
Author's Note
For those wondering what Shadow Rob looks like...just imagine a Victini with the same color scheme as the infamous Shadow Lugia. Right down to the red eyes. I would honestly post a reference picture, but with the death of flash, dress up games are not playable anymore.
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The Beginning Era: The Dark Core - A Hero's Sacrifice (Contains Death)
"So, where exactly are we heading first?" Scootaloo asked, as the entire group followed Shadow Rob.
"There's a factory not to far from where the UNA USA branch office is located. We're heading there first since it's the closest." Shadow Rob said and led the way to a factory.
"How'd we miss this thing?" Aaron asked.
"Hmph. You wouldn't think this factory was a front for the Dark Tribe because it's also a toy factory. The Dark Master is clever like that." Shadow Rob said.
"I'm starting to understand how someone like that could get so many to turn like that. Regardless, his weapon must be destroyed. Then the UNA can arrest the dark tribe members outside of the Dark Admins. Without a cult, that Dark Master's title is worthless." Aaron said.
"...Not a bad idea..." The lieutenant's voice came over the radio as he stayed behind with Expert.
"Why do I have a sinking feeling it's not going to be that easy?" Expert's voice came over a device Zapper was carrying.
"We can worry about that if it comes up." Zapper said. "Let's head on inside." He added.
The group headed inside, seeing several humans knocked unconscious; some even tied up with grapple cable. "...This grapple cable is reinforced with Titanium. The Octograpple did this." Crusader said.
"Wow. For an old man, he sure managed to figure this place out." Zapper admitted.
"The UNA has heard a few tales of the aging Vigilante. Including a rumor that he helped deal with a demon called Grand Train." The Lieutenant said over the radio.
"Actually that's not a rumor that's a fact: I was there to help him finish that demon off." Crusader said. "I honestly thought the tales of that man being able to deal with supernatural threats with just his grappling devices and peak human strength were just fantasy until I bore witness to the hero's strength first hand." He explained.
"Didn't that guy go through some intense training to gain such strength?" Aaron asked.
"That's what I heard, and I believe it." Crusader said. The group headed in deeper to the factory, soon hearing clashing. When they got to the source, they saw an old man dealing with a strange human whose very presence reaked of darkness.
"It seems your old age hasn't slowed you down one bit Octograpple." The strange human said.
"I may be old, but I'm not so old I can't seal you up again, Gorzon. What are you doing here and how on earth did you break your seal?" The old man; most certainly Octograpple; said. If the fact that he was very old didn't give it away, those grapple devices on his arms certainly did.
"Hmm...let's just say a certain monster released me, not realizing what I was. It's funny, the Dark Master is the one who released me, you know. As if you didn't already have enough reason to have turned on him." The other human said.
"What? Octograpple, what's he talking about?" Crusader asked.
"! Crusader! You shouldn't be here right now." Octograpple said.
"...Oh? You reak of the Crusade Tribe. Heh...guess one must have been away or something when the entire tribe was subjected to genocide." The strange human said.
Crusader drew his sword and the mysterious human. "Genocide? What do you know about my tribe's genocide?" Crusader asked.
"Stop! You don't know who this is." Octograpple said.
"Then fill us in." Aaron said.
"...Fine. This shapeshifter's name is Gorzon. He is a being of pure dakrness that can change his own shape at will. Sometimes he's a human, other times he's a black cat, and other times still he's a Pokemon. Regardless of the form he takes, one thing is clear: He is capable of using Dark Mana." Octograpple said. "He also seeks to turn all mortal beings into his zombie slaves." He added.
"Of course, just one tribe of humans became immune to my zombification magics. That being the Crusade Tribe. So, I simply...wiped them all out. At least I thought I did. Looks like I missed one." Gorzon said.
"What?! But I thought Grand Train was responsible." Crusader said.
"Oh he was the one that ordered me to do so in the name of the Dark Master that he served. But I was going to kill all of your kind anyways. The screams they gave off as I killed each and every last one of them..." Gorzon's grin not only split his face, but was morbidly creepy and sickening. "...Well let's just say I enjoyed it. A lot~" He added.
"Y-you...how could you?! How could you just murder an entire tribe of people?! You...your sick." Aaron said.
"Sick is an understatement. This is a monster." Octograpple said.
"Why thank you for the compliment." Gorzon said, keeping his face splitting creepy & morbid grin.
Scootaloo was having her nerves tested. Th-this guy is just pure psychotic. The pegasus filly thought to herself.
"Ugh..." A nearby Dark Tribe member was coming to.
"...Tch. And now look. That foreman of this factory is coming to because you wasted so much time." Gorzon said. "Only one thing left to do now." He added before he suddenly hit a nearby self-destruct button. "Oh, and just for your information, Octograpple there is a Triator of the Dark Tribe. Just thought I'd like to bring it up before I left. Mark my words: You haven't seen the last of me." Gorzon said before he left the building.
"...Dark Tribe Traitor...but...then that would mean..." Crusader was putting the pieces in his head.
"...Guess it's time for this hero to do one last thing." Octograpple said.
"What?" Aaron asked.
"You won't have enough time to get everyone that's not the foreman." Octograpple then contained the Foreman and himself in his grapple cables. "Go!" The hero yelled.
"...I...think I can see...where a certain other hero gets his heroics from." Crusader said as the group started to escort the normal Dark Tribe members out of the factory. "...May the judgement of the Fates have mercy on your soul, old man." Crusader said before he too left.
"...Heh. Looks like he figured it out. How ironic..." Octograpple said. He smiled. "Still, it'd be better...if my son never got to realize who I really was to him." The old man said before closing his eyes.
The group was clear enough of the factory, just before it blew up. "...Crusader, what did you mean when you said that you can see where a certain other hero got his heroics from?" Aaron asked.
"...If you don't get it now, you never will." Crusader said.
Scootaloo had one idea, but she decided to keep it to herself. Just in case she was wrong.
Author's Note
Yeah this is the part of Gorzon's origins for his lore. And it's pretty darn obvious how twisted this guy is coming out right out of the box forcing one character to make a sacrifice play.
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The Beginning Era: The Dark Core - Slay the Guilty (Profanity Warning)
There had been a breif moment when Shadow Rob was examining Scootaloo's forelegs. But it didn't take long for Shadow Rob to stop and then continue leading the way.
Shadow Rob was clearly looking for something. But what? Scootaloo was thinking to herself.
"I really should've done my research. How did I forget to keep track of the four dark admins?" Expert said over Zapper's device.
"Don't beat yourself up Expert." Zapper said. "No one saw the fact that that Manipulator guy was one of those admins." He added.
"I saw the poster when you showed me. But that was most certainly not the guy I saw pop out of the water." Throsten said.
"Indeed. I saw his face clearly. Not the same jaw line or nose shape." Aaron said.
"Speaking of the Manipulator, he's most likely at this location." Shadow Rob said.
"Good. It's time for some good old fasion payback." Zapper said. "Because of that jerk, Tellma had to commit suicide." He added.
Scootaloo shuddered. She remembered that incident from the videos. Led to a massive trial and everything.
"Hold your emotions. Anger will not suit you well." Aaron said.
"Ever had one of your men have to take one for the team?" Zapper asked. Aaron was notably silent as he looked down at the ground below in shame. "Thought so, army man. The UNA may treat people like me and Rob like aliens because we have; as your higher ups put it; metahuman natures. But I doubt any of them know what's like to lose someone you've come to know. Especially back to back." He said.
"Human, Pokemon, or whatever species we may be on our surface, deep down we all have feelings. And we should use them." Shadow Rob said.
The group entered the factory, and battled their way through a few Dark Tribe Members that actually attacked them. Making their way to the factory belt.
"Oh lookie. The UNA decided to muscle in on us. And your Commander Aaron right?" The mysterious man Scootaloo recognized as The Manipulator said.
"Yeah. That's me." Aaron said.
"Hand over your walkie talkie." The Manipulator commanded.
"How about you tell me why?" Aaron asked.
"Maybe you should ask your provided lieutenant that question." The Manipulator said.
"...What?" Aaron asked. He grabbed his walkie talkie "Sir, what is he--"
"...Fucking asshole. You said you'd overlook that." The Lieutenant said suddenly over the speaker.
"Yeah. And I quote 'so long as none of your men come near me'." The Manipulator said. "Yeah, I knew Aaron was yours. You should've ordered him to stay away." He added.
"I strong armed him. Said I'd make sure he'd be responsible for the death of thousands of lives if he didn't let the UNA in on this." Shadow Rob said.
"Then he should've passed it to a different lieutenant. Because the fact of the matter is, that lieutenant of Aaron's? He's dirty." The Manipulator said.
"Wh-what?!" Aaron exclaimed.
"Oh yes. He took a bribe from a mob leader to look the other way once. You say you blackmailed him into accepting so millions of lives wouldn't be lost? Such a shame. He already is responsible for the death of an entire town. All because he accepted a bribe from some mob leader who would go onto kill thousands of lives." The Manipulator said. "The truth hurts to hear, don't it? It's why I'm good at what I do. See, I don't need blackmail or threats, when I have the truth." He added.
"You...you are just no different then Gorzon..." Crusader said. "I've had enough." He suddenly stepped forward.
"Aw...what you gonna do? You were never going to be a demon slayer. Not everyone of your tribe was demon slayers. And you won't be one. Not now, not ever!" The Manipulator said.
Suddenly Crusader slashed him without warning, causing a bit of blood. "Like I could care less what you say now. Your guilty. You manipulate others by uncovering their secrets. Why not instead let the law handle things like that instead of basically keeping it in your back-pocket as an 'in case of emergency break glass' situation." Crusader said. "At that point, your using the truth as blackmail." He added.
"Ah, but it makes me not look as guilty as those who have secrets they wish to hide. Secrets that might cost them their job, their life, or worse." The Manipulator said.
"No. You are as guilty as them. Because not letting the law handle it makes you just as guilty." Crusader said.
The Manipulator laughed. "The law? What a joke. The law could care less. It'd become my word against theirs in an actual court of law. I'm a Dark Admin worshpping a master. Aaron's superior is a person in the United Nations Army. What do you think a jury is gonna do? There is no jury in the world that would convict a noted UNA Lieutenant. His superior officer; the General though; would at least look into the incident. And then it'd be evidence against the lieutenant's word." The Manipulator said. "That's what I want the walkie talkie for: To tell General Highton the truth." He added.
"That doesn't make what your doing right, boy." A more gruff voice said over the communicator.
"G-general Highton..." Aaron said, recognizing the voice.
"And I most certainly will not let some living weapon be unleashed. I'll be looking into the whole situtation myself, but for now, deal with this Dark Core situation. That's an order commander." General HIghton said.
"...Fucking hell..." The Manipulator said.
"Looks like you just got served." Scootaloo said.
"Man that feels good. That'll teach you not to mess with us." Zapper said.
"Fucking. Hell. I'm going to fucking ass fucking destroy you!" The Manipulator said.
"He's pissed." Shadow Rob said.
"Your just as guilty as Gorzon. And so long as I wield this sword, I will slay the guilty, while never again slaying an innocent." Crusader said. "I see now that I should've been after the real demons of the world: Ones like you and Gorzon who use everything at their disposal to cause pain and suffering." Crusader said.
Suddenly, Scootaloo heard something in Crusader's mind. I've been waiting for you to realize that. You had fallen of the path, but now you are on it once more. Now go forth, and slay the guilty with my blessing a strange voice was saying.
Suddenly the sword Crusader was holding glowed with holy light. "Wh-what the...no! It can't be!" The Manipulator said. "The sword...it's deemed you worthy...it's holy power has been restored!" The Manipulator said.
"Heh. I think I know what that means for you." Shadow Rob said.
"I'll be back!" The Manipulator said, triggering the self-destruct sequence as he fled.
"Drat. That man got away. Again." Zapper said.
"He is not the concern right now. We worry about the Dark Core first. Then we hunt him down." Aaron said.
"Indeed, Commander Aaron is right. Worry about that man who had caused you pain later. Focus on the primary mission." General Highton said.
"Was going to do that anyways, General." Shadow Rob said.
"Also, I'm going to be talking with Expert about this Dark Tribe as you continue. I want to know exactly what kind of person this Dark Master is." General Highton said.
"Expert won't know. I know the face, and the name. He calls himself Condescending Consequence. But I'm afraid that's all I know. I know he wishes to unleash the Dark Core. That thing must not be unleashed." Shadow Rob said.
"Indeed." General Highton said.
Author's Note
So if it wasn't obvious, the main reason why I decided to make Scootaloo's thoughts be orange as opposed to italics like every other thought will be, is mostly because I wanted Scootaloo to be special. Not just because she's the title character, but also for one other reason which will be hinted at constantly before the big reveal. Can you figure it out?
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The Beginning Era: The Dark Core - A Hidden Talent
"Up ahead is the third factory." Shadow Rob said. "...Aaron, you can worry about what's going to happen to your assigned Lieutenant later." He added.
"Reading my mind again, are we?" Aaron asked.
"That's not what you're thinking currently. I'm just that perceptive." Shadow Rob said.
"Some things just do not change." Zapper said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Scootaloo asked.
"When Rob gets better, you'll understand." Zapper said.
"Ooookay..." Scootaloo said. The group headed inside, finding lots of near death Dark Tribe members, and then an out of commission foreman with a human standing in front of the unconcious foreman.
"You!" Zapper said approuching the human who was wearing some kind of gear.
"Been a long time, Zapper." The man said.
"You know this dude?" Throsten asked.
"Oh yes. We've met. This dude almost put Thunder Isles in danger. And that forced me to reveal my secret blue lightning powers." Zapper said.
"If it wasn't for that outsider, I would've been fine just continuing to be a part of Thunder Isles. But no. That outsider just had to show up and force my hand." The man said.
"You were always arrogant, Voltage." Zapper said.
"Maybe, but at least I went out taking you with me because of Maritis's paranoia." Voltage said. "I tried to join up with these Dark Tribe freaks, but none of them would even give me the time of day." He added.
What? That doesn't make any sense. Scootaloo thought to herself. She could just tell, something strange was going on.
"So, I decided to show them what for. Too bad I got here too late: Some machine parts have already been shipped out from this factory." Voltage said. "But, seeing as your here Zapper, I think it's time I settled an old grudge!" He added before unleashing a Lightning Spell.
"Again with the lightning magic?" Zapper asked.
Strange...I feel like I could do that. Scootaloo thought to herself before she actually tried it. This not only shocked practically everyone when she effortlessly unleashed the same spell right onto Voltage, but it knocked him right into the machinery, causing his gear to cause the place to start exploding.
"Did...did you just..." Shadow Rob started.
"Save it. We gotta get out of here." Aaron said. The group got out just in time for the factory to explode.
"...Scootaloo, did you seriously just use that lightning spell without even thinking about it?" Shadow Rob asked.
"Yeah." Scootaloo answered.
"...Interesting." Shadow Rob said.
"If the parts from this factory have been shipped though, doesn't that mean we need to hurry to the last factory before parts from it ship?" Aaron asked.
"You have a point. Let's hurry." Shadow Rob said.
The group arrived near the fourth factory, only to see it having been demolished and Gorzon standing outside.
"Ah. It's you again." Gorzon said. "Afraid your too late, there was nothing here. So I did you a favor and...got rid of it for you along with those inside~" He said with that same evil grin from before.
"You idiot, there were innocents in there!" Crusader said.
"Do I look like I care?" Gorzon said. There was not a hint of sorrow in his voice. Just pure evil.
"Your sick." Aaron said.
"Ah but don't go leaving so soon." Gorzon said before suddenly creating a barrier, causing a make-shift arena. "After all, I'm just starting to have fun here~" He added.
Shapeshifting Terror
Gorzon quickly shape shifted into some kind of bat creature, before trying to dive bomb Aaron's squad. Scootaloo did her best to dodge and then hit Gorzon a few times before she got off of him.
"Tch. Little brat. I'll make you pay for that." Gorzon said before he suddenly transformed into a copy of one of Aaron's men, before taking out a flamethrower which spewed some kind of fire spell.
"That shapeshifter is channeling his magic through that facsimile." Expert said over Zapper's device.
"But Aaron's squad isn't authorized enough for flamethrowers. How the hell did this shapeshifter know the UNA even had one of these things?!" General Highton said.
"Why do I have a feeling we're not going to like the answer, nor are we even going to get one in the first place?" Zapper asked.
There it is again. I feel like I can do that too. Scootaloo thought to herself before she turned her own version of the fire spell on Gorzon.
"What the...how did you do that? That's not fair! Try this on for size!" Gorzon said before shape shifting into another member of Aaron's squad before taking out a freeze ray which was ultlizing an ice spell.
"There it is again. How does this monster know the UNA has these weapons?!" General Highton said.
"We can worry about that after we beat his face in." Shadow Rob said.
Once again, Scootaloo somehow managed to turn the ice spell onto Gorzon, which seemed to upset him even further. "WHAT THE HELL?! DO YOU HAVE ACCESS TO MIMIC MAGIC?! THAT'S NOT POSSIBLE! THE CHANCES OF THAT BEING THE CASE ARE WAY TOO LOW!" Gorzon said before he transformed into a copy of Aaron himself before he started using a lightning gun to launch a lightning spell.
"Okay that's three for three, but the UNA hasn't even finished testing the lightning cannon device yet; it's still in the prototype stage!" General Highton said.
"General, I know I'm not authorized, and it's risky, but using it against him might be our only option." Aaron said.
"Save that permission General." Scootaloo said before unleashing the same lightning spell right onto Gorzon, causing him to get super duper electrocuted.
"Little...brat...you do have it don't you? You somehow have access to Mimic Magic...it's the only explination." Gorzon said.
"And you talk too much." Scootaloo said before punting Gorzon off into the horizon.
"YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE LAST OF ME!" Gorzon yelled out as he flew off.
"Did you really have to punt that shapeshifter like that?" Zapper asked.
"We've got bigger problems. I can sense it...the Dark Core. Seems the Dark Master must've completed it after all!" Shadow Rob said.
"Seriously? We took out all these factories for nothing then." Zapper said.
"Not necessarily. We ensured that they couldn't make another one easily is all." Aaron said.
"...That's a fair point, well made." Zapper said.
"Let's go and destroy the one that was built then." Throsten said.
"Agreed." Scootaloo said.
Author's Note
So there are a few things I want to adress here. First, is that there was originally an outright boss fight against Voltage in that third factory but even though I cut it, it wasn't for time constraint reasons. Instead, I had cut said boss fight to drop some very clear hints about what's going on with Scootaloo being able to just use various magic spells without even thinking about it.
The second thing to adress is the Gorzon fight which was originally going to last much longer then it actually ended up being here. The main reason it's been effectively cut in half is because I wanted to again showcase something going on with Scootaloo.
Finally, in case anyone is wondering why Rachet hasn't spoken up yet, that's because most of his lines are being repurposed into Scootaloo's lines, so before anyone comments that I've yet to have Rachet say anything, just know that most of the time, Scootaloo's lines were originally Rachet's lines with a few that are most obviously pure Scootaloo such as the "Save that permission General" and "And you talk too much" lines. The main reason a lot of Rachet's lines are being reused into Scootaloo lines is because they actually work for her really well if you can believe that.
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The Beginning Era: The Dark Core - Fear Itself
The entire group soon came across a mysterious building.
"It's inside. I'm sure of it." Shadow Rob said.
"We're ready for it." Rachet said.
"Don't be so sure. Remember, this is living weapon capable of making your greatest fears come to life." Shadow Rob said.
"Tch. It's not that bad I'm sure." Rachet said.
"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Aaron asked. The group entered the building.
They were in some sort of massive arena, with a strange crystal planted up on a large pillar in the center.
"There it is, the Dark Core." Shadow Rob said. Suddenly, a pair of eyes opened up on the core. "And it's awakening." SR added before suddenly the group found themselves staring down the artificial Groudon.
"What the..." Aaron said.
"Gah! Not that thing again!" One of Aaron's men suddenly said before the artificial groudon started to chase after him.
"It's not real soldier." Aaron said.
"Sir, what's that?!" Another member of the squad said, and pointed. Suddenly there was also now a bunch of rabbits.
"Rabbits! A whole lot of them. But it's just an illusion." Aaron said before all the rabbits suddenly smothered him. "...NEVER MIND THAT, THESE THINGS ARE REAL, THESE THINGS ARE REALLY REAL!" He said before panicking.
"The commander is scared of rabbits of all things?" One of Aaron's men asked.
"I warned you this would happen." Shadow Rob said.
"Wait...but...then that means..." Throsten gulped before he was suddenly confronted with a pair of Umbreons that started to belittle him.
And before anyone could react, more and more things started to be unleashed, ranging from a huge thunderstorm to a giant robot.
"This thing...this thing can read minds...that's the only explination." Scootaloo said as she was confronted by an evil version of Rainbow Dash. It had always been her greatest fear that Rainbow Dash would suddenly turn evil. And this was not helping.
"There's got be some way to beat this thing." Aaron said.
"Fools. You cannot beat me. I command your fears. And I will feed of your fears." A mechinical voice said.
"The dark core talks?!" One of the soldiers said. "BAD DAY BAD DAY BAD DAY!" He yelled out.
"Throsten, we could use a little help!" Another soldier shouted.
"Forget it, that guy is cowering in fear at the images of two Umbreon. I'm guessing that's his parents." Shadow Rob said.
"This thing is attacking our biggest weaknesses without so much as batting an eye." One of the soldiers said.
"That's the whole point of my existance: Causing your greatest fears to haunt you. Nothing can defeat me." The Dark Core said.
"Throsten, you need to be brave; I know you can!" Aaron shouted.
"I said forget it!" Shadow Rob snapped again.
Scootaloo could suddenly hear Throsten's thoughts. Wh-what's the point anyways? I'm not brave enough for this...I'm a failure...I'm nothing but a worthless failure...I can't do anything right... Throsten thought to himself. This...this the worst thing possible...I've encountered a raging waterfall, countless legendaries, and fought a giant artificial groudon that could've killed countless of Pokemon... Throsten's thoughts continued. Suddenly, Scootaloo felt Throsten's thoughts chance. W-wait a second... Throsten's thoughts said. My parents...they're nothing compared to anything like that... Throsten thought to himself. Compared to what I've been through, dealing with issues back home will be nothing. It's nothing. I'm braver then this...brave enough to deal with it. I'm not physically strong enough for my end goal, but I'm brave enough to take that pludge. So you know what? No more. No more running away. It's time I tackled things head on. Throsten's thoughts ended.
The rest of the group was still battling the fear copies, when suddenly they were all hit by countless shadowballs. "What the--" The Dark Core was saying before it was forced to cry out in pain as Throsten striked it before anyone could notice he had even moved close enough to the the thing. "What is this?! You should be cowering in fear. How dare you strike me! I will make your greatest fears even stronger now." The Dark Core said.
"Go ahead. I'm waiting." Throsten said, getting into a fighting stance.
"Don't agitate the thing." Shadow Rob said.
"Wait." Aaron said. Shadow Rob was about to snap again, when he and everyone noticed something...perculiar.
"Well Dark Core? Where's my fears? I'm still waiting." Throsten said.
"What's going on? Why isn't anything appearing anymore?" Rachet asked.
"Because the Dark Core no longer can draw anything from Throsten." Aaron said.
"...Well...I'll be dipped." Shadow Rob said.
The Dark Core was visabbly swearing. "Wh-what the hell...what happened to you? What's going on here?" The Dark core asked.
"You can't come up with anything, can you? That's because I've chosen to stop running away. I'm brave enough to do anything I set my mind to. Including getting even stronger physically before I head back home. I know back home will be tough for me, but compared to what I've already been through and could still go through? It's nothing. It's less then nothing. And I no longer fear for what I have yet to face. I know I can handle it now. I'm brave enough for it. Your a weapon made to be feared. But I think your greatest fear is someone who is no longer able to feel fear." Throsten said. "You can't extract my fears because I have none. I've conquered the demons in my mind. Now you face the prince of Starview Vally!" He added. A splash screen suddenly showed up.
Starview Vally Royal
"No! No this can't be possible!" The Dark core said. "Fear exists in all...fear rules all! You should be afraid. You should be very afraid!" It added.
"No matter what comes my way from here, I'm done running from it. I'll get stronger. And I'm sure to encounter things no one has ever witnessed before on my adventure. But you know what? I'm ready for it. Nothing's going to stand in my way. Not you, not the Dark Master, not anyone! Nothing can make me scared anymore. I'm not scared of you. I'm not going to be scared of the future. And I'm most certainly not scared about home either." Throsten said.
"Wh-who are you?! WHAT ARE YOU?!" The Dark Core was in a state of absolute fear. How ironic.
"I AM THROSTEN, PRINCE OF STARVIEW VALLY; AND I AM YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE!" Throsten said before he unleased a giant Shadow Ball that destroyed the Dark Core once and for all.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The Dark Core yelled out as it blew up.
"Everyone out of here!" Shadow Rob said.
The place they escaped from exploded.
"We made it." Scootaloo said.
"Of course we did. I knew we would make it." Throsten said.
"It's almost like I'm witnessing a different person all of a sudden." Shadow Rob said.
"Who cares about Throsten's sudden character turn? We just got rid of the Dark Master's greatest weapon." Zapper said. "I'll call Expert so he can tell Rob." He added. He tried the device, but all it showed was a blank holographic screen. "...Huh...that's never happened before." Zapper said, before shaking the device and trying again; only to get the same result. "Expert said this thing was hack proof." Zapper said.
"Our comlinks are also useless." Aaron said.
"You!" A soldier said, grabbing Shadow Rob. "Was this some kind of trick?!" He exclaimed.
"Excuse me?" Shadow Rob asked.
"You weren't rotting for Throsten. The only one who wasn't. So you must be trying to play us huh?!" The soldier exclaimed.
"Excuse me?! What could I have to gain from that?" Shadow Rob asked.
"Money, Power, fame...take your pick." The soldier said.
"EXCUSE ME?! Do you think I'm that petty?" Shadow Rob was obviously getting angry.
"Let's just calm down." Scootaloo said.
"I'll calm down when this jerk confesses." The soldier said.
"Now wait just a second..." A suddenly unidentified masculine voice said.
"Um..." The soldier question Shadow Rob suddenly said.
"Did you guys here something?" Zapper asked.
"I said now wait just a second..." The male voice spoke again.
"We've got to be hearing things!" One of the other soldiers said.
Suddenly, the display of the holographic was ripped off, only to display an image of a strange human. "That's him! That's the guy I saw!" Throsten said.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, but now that I"m here, let's get this party really started!" The human said.
"Condescending Consequence..." Shadow Rob growled.
"THAT'S Condescending Consequence?!" Aaron exclaimed. He knew a book could never be judged by it's cover but this guy obviously did scream evil.
"You should know right up front, I created that Dark Core specifically with one purpose in mind: To weed out the traitor I knew was in my mist. I had a feeling it had to be Shadow Rob." Condescending Consequence said.
"Why you..." Shadow Rob said.
"But that's old news, and old news bores me. We must look to the future, and future is me, for I am the Dark Master that the Dark Tribe worships! Next to me, every other villain you've faced is going to look like sweet cuddly bunnies." Condescending Consequence said.
"No, this can't be happening!" Shadow Rob said.
"I must bid you, adiu!" Condescending Consequence said.
To be continued...
Author's Note
I do not apologize for the Jackie Chan adventures reference in this chapter. Have a nice day.
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The Beginning Era: The Dark Master - First Impression
Hey there. Let me catch you up to speed.
So Rob got made sick by some sort of cannon shot when his other half Shadow Rob appeared and dragged me, Throsten, Zapper, Crusader, and the UNA into a quest to destroy four factories in order to stop a weapon called the Dark Core from being built.
Unfortunately for us, the Dark Core was completed despite our efforts, and true to what Shadow Rob said it could do, the Dark Core made our greatest fears into reality, which put Throsten into a near useless state.
That is, until he looked into himself and realized that he could overcome anything now; he's already been through some rough times, and made it through them, so it was then, with a brand new couragous heart, that Throsten revealed himself as Prince Throsten of Starview Valley before beating the snot out of The Dark Core and causing it's destruction.
However, this victory against the Dark Tribe was short lived, when the Dark Master appeared and decided to bring forth his own brand of evil.
And now, the journey continues.
"From my calculations, from your current position should be a Dark Tribe camp. For now, it's best to try and bring in the members for questioning so we can try and limit Condescending's aviable help." Expert said.
"This Condescending Consequence is a threat the UNA cannot ignore. Especially since he was able to hack the entire global networking system to make his decleration earlier today." General Highton said.
"What I want to know is how that man was able to hack the UNA." Aaron said.
"I wish I knew. I was only able to learn his name and his face. Nothing more." Shadow Rob said.
"Let's worry about that later. We're close." Throsten said. The group arrived at a Dark Tribe village.
"Not a bad looking place, admittedly." Scootaloo said.
"We're not supposed to complimenting the enemy." General Hightop said.
"Maybe so. Perhaps when this is over, the UNA could sieze this, and then use it as a shelter of some sort. It'd be a waste to let such a place like this fall to ruin." Aaron said.
"Not a bad idea actually." General Hightop said.
Suddenly, Condescending Consequence appeared in the sky. "Hello there, UNA. Fancy seeing you here. I do hope you weren't planning anything with the Dark Tribe Villages." He said.
"What the...how's he doing that? Magic?" Aaron said.
"Well, not that it matters. In a few seconds, there won't be a Dark Tribe anymore." Condescending Consequence said. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a bunch of Shadows suddenly cropped up and took over the Dark Tribe Members seemingly.
"Wh-what just happened?!" Zapper asked.
"Behold, my newest creations born from the Dark Tribe: The Darklings. Now that I have the basis of all those that were from the Dark Tribe in the DNA of my Darklings, I can create millions of them enmass. Oh, and just so you are aware of: The ones they were before? Yeah they no longer exist. Being turned into Darklings has made them into simple minded monsters that I can influence the will of. Just watch." Condescending Consequence said. The new Darklings started to tear up the village.
"What horrors have been unleashed now?" Aaron said.
"...We have no choice. For the sake of the ones converted, we'll have to kill them. It's probably the only way to save them in this state." Throsten said.
"...I hate to admit it, but the Prince has a point. Deadly force authorized." General Hightop said.
"Wait one moment." Shadow Rob said before using a small ember on one of the Darklings; it was a single hit that killed it instantly. "...I thought so." He then punched one without much effort and killed it that way too. "...Yep. My suspecious are correct." He concluded.
"What do you mean?" Aaron asked.
"You can kill these things without much effort. Numerous they may be now, they can be sliced through like a hot knife through butter. It may be a tired cliche, but these things are as weak as can be." Shadow Rob said.
"...Okay now that's just disturbing. And very inhumane. Still, kill them all. Maybe the ones in the village that were turned can be put at peace." General Hightop said.
Eventually, the group defeated a stronger Darkling which made the rest vanish. "Not bad. You defeated one of my Elite Darklings. I can't make as many of them, but they get the job done where needed. Now it's time for your next treat." Condescending Consequence said.
"Why do I not like the sound of that? General, get my feed." Aaron said, activating his hud.
"Already on it." General Hightop said. However, he and the entire UNA were hopeless to stop the madman before them from eating a bunch of innocent humans.
"Th-that's just wrong. That is all kinds of wrong!" Zapper said.
"Is that guy even human? I think he's psychotic." Rachet said.
"Either way, he needs to be taken down." Throsten said, a determined look on his face. "It may be scary, but this is just the kind of challenge I need to get stronger." He added.
"This is now an Omega Level alert. We need to--hey!" General Hightop said. "Rob, what do you think your doing?" He asked.
"...Knew that was coming. Rob must've been watching too." Zapper said.
"I have a feeling we might need Rob and Zapper for this. Call it instinct." Aaron said.
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The Beginning Era: The Dark Master - Mimic Magic
"Rob, are you sure your up for this?" General Hightop said.
"I may not be in full recovery, but there's not much time to waste. Right now, my mimic magic might be just what we need to really make that psycho pay." Rob said.
"The UNA is on route to your location. But where on earth are you headed anyways?" General Hightop.
"Going to get some additional help." Rob said.
"Some sort of ally you were keeping in your back pocket?" General Hightop asked.
"Something like that. You've seen Rachet and Throsten. And they are Pokemon." Rob said.
"Wait, Rob, are you going to get some video game character? What makes you think whoever you have in mind will agree?" Expert asked.
"...I have no doubt he will help us. Or she. You know, it was never really made clear in that game I played before all this started." Rob said.
"You don't even know their gender ? What kind of video game does the protagonist not have a clear gender in?" General asked.
"Wait, that warp..." Expert said. "...I see." He added.
"What? Where is--whoa!" General Hightop said. "That's one heck a view. And that is a really big tree." he added.
"My target is said tree." Rob said.
"Wait what?! What good is a tree going to do?" General Hightop said.
"Did someone order a large fire?" Gorzon suddenly asked before part of the forest was set on fire.
"GORZON!" Aaron said over the comms.
"Huh? How'd you get access to my private channels. Get off this thing!" Gorzon also said over coms.
"I gave them access. I hope you don't mind." Condescending Consequence said.
"Oh. So your the big bad Dark Master? Well I've got news for you pal: I'm taking you down." Gorzon said.
"Says you. Oh boys." Condescending Consequence said before some pillars were suddenly stuck into the ground. "In about twenty minutes, I'll suck this forest of all it's plant life." He added.
"Oh come on! My fire will spread faster then that." Gorzon said.
"That's assuming you have a fire." Condescending Consequence said.
"What are you talking about, my fire is right--huh?" Gorzon asked.
"See? No fire." Condescending Consequence said.
"Oh it is ON now Dark Master. I'm just starting to have fun!" Gorzon said.
"Now what are you pointing the finger at me for. I certainly didn't do anything to your precious--huh?" Condescending Consequence said. Suddenly, a pillar was destroyed, as a strange glowing white thing was riding a dark owl. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" Condescending Consequence said.
"Heh...knew that little guy wouldn't have said no." Rob said as he began gunning Darklings.
"What the hell was that white thing?" General Hightop asked.
"That was Ori. They are the one I was hoping to talk to." Rob said.
"Ori?! But then that would mean this is the..." General Hightop said.
"Now do you get it?" Expert asked.
"Heh. Not a bad idea actually." Aaron said.
"Anyways, I think I can sense Gorzon up ahead. I'm going to take care of him." Rob said.
Meanwhile...
"So Expert, how does Rob's mimic magic work exactly? Please tell me that that perception thing isn't part of it." General Hightop said.
"The perception thing is not part of it. And no, I'm not just saying that. Rob's powers work by him seeing someone utilize the mana pool to cast a certain spell. Once Rob has seen that spell, Rob can use his Mimic Magic to manipulate the overall mana pool to cast the same spell." Expert said.
"Okay...but how does one create these spells to begin with?" General Hightop asked.
"Oh mana pools are everywhere general. You just can't see them with the naked eye. Most people who can manipulate the mana pool can only use a single element. But there are exceptions, and I think Gorzon is one of them: Someone who is attuned to a certain element but can make other spells." Expert said.
"So, what element is Rob attuned to?" General Hightop asked.
"None of them." Expert said.
"I beg your pardon?" General Hightop asked.
"Ever heard the phrase 'jack of all trades, but master of none' general? Because that's what mimic magic is in a nutshell." Expert said.
"Okay now that actually makes more sense." General Hightop said.
"So, what exactly is Ori?" Scootaloo asked. Gorzon had been defeated, and the spires were destroyed; saving the forest.
"A light spirit." Rob said.
"I get that, but what is that shape?" Scootlaoo asked.
"Don't know. Doesn't matter." Rob said.
"Oh good grief." Aaron said.
"What matters, is if Ori is willing to help us." Rob said. "So, you in?" He asked.
Ori just nodded. As did the owl. "I saw those blasts. I think Condescending Consequence should be scared." Aaron said.
"Your saying that because that thing shot down our UNA jet." One of the soldiers said.
"Well that jet was going to pollute things." Rob said. "This forest is meant to have a balance and be man-free." He added.
"...Of course it is..." Aaron said. "Besides, all the more reason." He added.
"Just so you know, Ori only takes orders from the Tree of Light." Rob said. "You won't be able to command him." He added.
How wise. The tree said. This Condescending Consequence is a long term threat not just to this forest, but to all nature in all worlds. He must be stopped. The tree said.
"...Okay, I've just witnessed a whole new level of strange." Aaron said. "A talking tree. I can't believe there exists a talking tree." He added.
"Well we honestly should've expected this from a--" General Hightop was cut-off.
"What the general was saying, was that it's great Ori is on our side." Expert said.
"Now what was that for?" General Hightop asked.
"Telling a video game character they are one, or a video game character playing their own video game here in our world causes them to basically freeze in place. It's basically them finding out the truth about their world in ours." Expert said.
"...I don't know if I should mad about such a loophole, or be glad I actually understand it." General Hightop said.
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The Beginning Era: The Dark Master - Revenge Is Served Cold
The entire group was heading towards the site of an abandoned City Block.
"Hey Rob? Some guy showed up at the UNA HQ." Gerneral Hightop said.
"Jester? What the heck are you doing here?" Expert suddenly said.
"Been a while, I know. Besides, I've been a bit busy." A new male voice said over the radios.
"Jester, what the heck? We've haven't seen you since well...you know." Rob said.
"What do you think? I've been tracking the movements of that no good Manipulator." The voice identified as Jester said. Scootaloo had no idea what he looked like right now, but she could tell he was acting rather cold.
"We encountered him at one of the Dark Core factories. But we don't know where he went from there." Aaron said.
"Well lucky for you, I know where he's heading: A deep forest located not too far from your current location." Jester said.
"If the UNA can take him in, we'd be that much closer to getting rid of Condescending Consequence once and for all!" Expert said.
"Condescending Consequence? Who's that?" Jester asked.
"You've missed a lot. Don't worry, I'll fill him in." General Hightop said. "But what did you mean he hasn't been seen since a certain period of time?" He asked.
"Manipulator was the one who caused events that led to the death of Tellma." Expert said.
"And I have a score to settle with that guy. For Tellma's sake." Rob said. "Besides, I have a plan; if the Manipulator is going to pull what I believe he's going to pull." He added.
"You have a plan? What sort of plan?" Jester asked.
"I'll tell you later." Rob said as the group arrived to the forest said. "Aaron, activate your helmet's feed and set it to record. Just trust me." He added.
This is going to be good... Scootaloo thought to herself.
As the group enetered a clearing, there stood a lone male human, who just looked like your typical normal everyday human. Scootaloo recognized him as being the Manipulator. Go figure, behind that normal everyday looking exterior, lies the mind of a classic manipulator. Scootaloo thought to herself.
"Well, look whose here. Didn't expect you to come looking for me all too soon." The Manipulator said.
"End of the line for your tricks Manipulator." Rob said and branded a sword at the opposing male. "This time, you won't be getting away with them." Rob added.
"A sword huh? Interesting. I didn't think you'd need one with all your fancy smacy powers." The Manipulator said.
"I don't need my powers to defeat you. And I'll prove it too. Time to stop hiding behind your manipulation tactics. You and me are going to fight, one on one. And I'm going to state upfront, I won't be using any of my powers to defeat you." Rob said.
"Putting a handicap on yourself huh? Fine by me. Let's see how you fight like everybody else then!" The Manipulator said.
Ruthless & Cunning
Rob and the Manipulator quickly started to battle, and the Manipulator was being quite the fighter despite seemingly having no powers: The manipulator was using everything from throwing knives, to using them to attack, to even just running very fast.
However, no matter how fast The Manipulator ran, Rob ran just as fast. "Hey, you said no powers." The Manipulator said.
"Did you think I spent all my free time between Hoenn and Johto just sitting on my ass? I didn't. I started training my body and making it go beyond it's natural limits. So, I hardly need to unleash my inner potiential with magic now." Rob said.
"It's true. Rob has trained his body to match the output he gets when he unleashes his body's inner potential." Expert said.
"...Not going to lie, that's actually clever." The Manipulator said before the battle continued. Rob was only using that sword of his to attack, not even using anything else.
"I'm definantly seeing Aaron's Helmet feed here, and dear lord. I didn't think it'd be possible for someone to do this without magic. Yet here we are." General Hightop said.
"That's Rob for you: He always looks to impress." Zapper said.
"Hmph. Not going to lie, this is fun to watch." Shadow Rob said.
"Being a bit envious huh?" Rachet teased.
"Shut up." Shadow Rob countered quickly.
Suddenly out of nowhere, the Manipulator started to fly after Rob knocked him into the air.
"He can do that?!" Jester exclaimed.
"...Um...Oops?" The Manipulator said. "Not that it matters. Rob would have to use his powers to reach me up here. So, I win." He added.
"Wrong. I was planning on you revealing you had powers this whole time." Rob said.
"You were? But how on earth are you going to continue the fight?" The Manipulator asked.
"Not continue; finish it!" Rob said before throwing his sword up into the sky.
"What the..." The Manipulator said.
"Now to time it right..." Rob put on some kind of grapple gun.
"Hey, isn't that the grapple device you got from Octograpple?" Crusader asked.
"Yep. I just made a minor tweek." Rob said before he fired it. Suddenly, he went zooming up towards his sword, and then grabbed it by it's hilt; the inertia carried him all the way up to The Manipulator.
"Sir, are you seeing this?!" Aaron exclaimed.
"He's using the basic concepts of force to get up to Manipulator!" General Hightop said.
"WHAT THE FU--" The Manipulator said before Rob suddenly combo sword slashed him and then started falling down hard with The Manipulator with one final sword strike.
The two impacted the ground, leaving quite the creator. "Oof...never doing that again..." Rob said, getting up; he got hurt, but not badly.
The same could not be said for The Manipulator though, he was pretty badly hurt from the experience. "You...you beat me...you actually beat me without using any powers whatsoever...I don't understand..." The Manipulator said.
"Yeah. And you wanna know the best part? I had Aaron record the whole thing. So basically Manipulator, I just manipulated you into revealing you had powers yourself. And I someone who uses powers, was able to beat you without using my own." Rob said.
"You...you mean you manipulated me? Me? The guy who's known to do that to others?!" The Manipulator said.
"That's right. That was for Tellma." Rob said. "Sure, I have powers, but I don't need them to beat anyone. I don't even need them to save anyone either." He added. "I once saved this female Anubian Jackal without using any powers. I just grabbed her hand and pulled her to safety. Didn't need any powers to do that. So I decided to prove once and for all that I don't need powers to be a Justice Hero." Rob said.
"You...your going to pay for this, your going to--" The Manipulator was suddenly thrown away by a massive hand. "But...why?!" He yelled out as he went flying.
"Condescending Consequence..." Rob said.
"Your smarter then you look Rob Snowden. I can't wait to tangle with the likes of you." Condescending Consequence said from what sounded like everywhere. "But our battle will come later. For now, enjoy your victory today." He added.
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The Beginning Era: The Dark Master - Philosphy & A Locket
Everyone was taking a much needed break back at the UNA HQ, where Scootaloo got to meet Jester. Country to the man's name, he looked nothing like his name sake, but he did wear an all dark cyan outfit.
"Not going to lie, the way you managed to trick The Manipulator like that, and did it without using any powers, well...that just took the cake." General Hightop said.
"Just because I have powers, doesn't mean I need to use them to be a Justice Hero." Rob said. "Heck, I believe being a Justice Hero goes beyond just having powers. I've always had the belief that it's not what one is able to do, it's what they actually do that matters." Rob said.
"I don't follow." General Hightop said.
"What I mean, is that you can have every known power in the book, but if you don't use them to protect the innocent and secure the future for those that have yet to find their own slice of happiness, then what good are those powers? Anyone can do the right thing in protecting the innocent, it doesn't matter if they have powers or not. A real Justice Hero doesn't need powers to defeat the bad guys." Rob said.
"That's...one interesting take on things. Not to mention different." General Hightop said.
"Like I said to Manipulator: The first time I ever saved anyone, I didn't use any powers what-so-ever. I just reacted and grabbed their hand; or paw in this case." Rob said.
"That Anubian Jackal you mentioned. Do they have a name?" Aaron asked.
"Patra." Rob said, and it was then that everyone realized he had out some sort of heartshaped locket.
"What...is that?" Scootaloo asked.
"Hey, I noticed that a few times back in the Johto Region." Rachet said.
"I recognize that too. It was when we found that that Rob remembered everything." Throsten said.
"Sometimes I forget we have Pokemon on this mission..." General Hightop said. "Is it weird that I'm getting used to their constant presence?" He asked.
"Everything feels weird knowing that Video Game characters actually exist and can be visited through that strange warp area." Aaron said. "Though I did feel a presence there when we went through it." He added.
"Ah. That would be that one guy." Rob said. "He wouldn't give me an exact name, he just said he guards the Warp Zone which is what that warp area is called...apperently. His words, not mine." He explained.
"So where did you get that locket?" Aaron asked.
"Patra gave it to me." Rob said. "Even has a picture of her inside of it." He added.
"Wow. Didn't expect her of all characters." Aaron said.
"You recognize her, Aaron?" General Hightop asked.
"Hmph. Just in case, I've been doing my best to keep up with what video games do exist." Aaron said.
"...Honestly, given the circumstances of the way we know all of existence to work now, I suppose I can't fault you for indulging in something like this." General Hightop said.
"So what exactly happened?" Throsten asked. "I mean, I know you saved her, but what exactly are the details?" He asked.
Scootaloo knew the details, but didn't say anything. "When I was off getting something to block Victoria's desiease for Expert to make a special medicine that simi-cured her, it led me to the Grand Canyon where I saw Patra and then saw her falling off into what was going to be the ravine of the Grand Canyon. I just acted, grabbed her paw, and hoisted her up. I guess the addenaline I had going for me during that moment allowed for something like that to happen without powers. Heck, I only had access to the fire spell and the U.M.D. but I didn't think of either thing; I just acted." Rob said. "Of course, the whole reason she was going to fall down there was because of a massive storm. So she and I kind of...stayed somewhere for a while." He added.
"I'm guessing the two of you got close during that time. Given she gave you that necklace." Aaron said.
"Yeah. She said she promises there will be a time where she and I can be together. And I have this feeling that she's right. Somehow." Rob said.
"I wouldn't doubt that for a moment. Sometimes things can just work out that way." Aaron said.
General Hightop was just silent for a time. Everyone was.
That's when a red alert occurred. "What the..." Genral Hightop said. "There's a proximity alert at the nearby city block." He added.
"What's even there?" Rob asked.
"Nothing. Just a bunch of old buildings that are set to be demolished in a couple of weeks." General Hightop said. "But that block is dangerously close to UNA HQ." He added.
"...Wait, did you just say that the city block is set to be domilished?" Rob asked.
"Yes, I did. Why does it matter? The UNA--"
"Needs to stand down." Rob said, interupting General Hightop.
"You just interupted the General." Aaron said.
"I know exactly whose there. I can handle this without the UNA's help this time. The one whose there, well...they don't mean any harm. There aren't any civilians there, so I'm just going to pioletly go talk to the one that's there." Rob said.
"I'm coming with. Best to have some back-up, right?" Scootaloo asked. "Just in case." She added.
"Sure. But you don't attack unless I give you an all clear." Rob said and went off.
"Right." Scootaloo said.
"...Just who in the world could be at that abandoned City Block that would make Rob not need the UNA? He does realize it could very well be the Dark Tribe." Genral Hightop said.
"That's because it's the M.O. of someone Rob's met before: This strange guy who wants to study chao known as Krono." Expert said.
"That's DOCTOR Krono. Give him some respect." Rob's voice said over the radio.
"...I forgot he and Scootaloo could still hear us..." General Hightop said.
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The Beginning Era: The Dark Master - Desperate Scientist (Profanity Warning)
Rob and Scootaloo were already in the abandoned city block now.
"Dang, this block is fairly close to the UNA's HQ." Rob said.
"That's probably why they have that proximity alert." Scootaloo noted. "So, what's with you calling this guy Dr. Krono?" she asked.
"It's out of respect. The guy wants to get a doctor's degree in studing something. He's only targeted areas with either no living person around the area for miles, or is a place slated for deconstruction. He says he wants to revamp a space for what he wants to work on." Rob said.
"Wait, that's what he wants to do?! Seriously? If that's all he wants to do, he can just ask for funding from some review board." General Hightop said. "Heck, I'd greenlight it if I was a scientist." He added.
"That's the other thing...Dr. Krono wants to study Chao in a more in-depth lens." Rob said.
"...You mean those things from the Sonic Adventure Duology? He wants to study those things? I suppose everyone has to have a hobby." Aaron said.
"...I guess there are mysteries about those things that do need explaining. I'm guessing the review board of scientists don't get it then." General Hightop said.
"I told him that he could get in front of a review board for proper funding and negotiate for land, but he told me and I quote 'That process will take too long for my liking. I wish to achieve my life dream before I die, so I don't have time to wait for some review board meeting.'" Rob said.
"Okay, I get that the process takes too long, but can't you just convince him to be patient?" Jester asked.
"That's why I wanted to tackle this on my own terms. If I can get Dr. Krono to listen to reason without a bunch of soldiers pointing guns at him, then maybe he'll actually listen to me." Rob said.
"...Okay, that actually makes a whole lot of sense, I'm not going to lie. For a Metahuman, you can sure think like any normal human can. Common sense like this is missing in much of society today." General Hightop said. "If nothing else, the UNA might be able to part with a patch of land we really have no use for and give it to this Krono fellow for basically for free." He said.
"That's DOCTOR Krono. And I'll be sure to mention it to him." Rob said.
"...Geez, picky much? That's the second time Rob's gotten on the General like that." Jester said.
"To be fair, he also got on my case for leaving out the doctor part." Expert said.
"...Yeah I should've remembered that." General Hightop said.
Rob and Scootaloo soon came across a man in machine. This man looked like your typical scientist with that obviously worn out labcoat. "...Dr. Krono I presume?" Scootaloo asked.
"Interesting...I didn't know that universe had video games attached to it." The man in the machine said.
"Dr. Krono, please listen to me: I've come to try and convince you to give up on forcibly bulldozing land for your project. Maybe if you'll just be patient with the review board--" Rob was saying.
"I can't! It'll take too long to get proper funding and land from those jerks." Dr. Krono interuptted.
"Wait! The UNA has some land they said they could give to you for free. Can't you work from there?" Scootaloo asked.
"I still need the funding though. And even getting a proper loan will take--" Dr. Krono suddenly started coughing. He covered his mouth when he did so. But suddenly, shortly after, he looked at the palm of his hand. He looked pale suddenly too. "...Damn it...damn it damn it damn it..." Dr. Krono said. "I'm running out of time..." He said.
"Running out of time? What does--"
"I got no other choice! Come forth, Biolazard!" Dr. Krono said. Out of nowhere, a giant lizard monstrocity showed up.
"Isn't that the Biolazard from Sonic Adventure 2?!" General Hightop exclaimed.
"Biolazard...I want you to raze this entire city block. Do that, and then find a way to buy me some addtional time, and we can consider my whole reviving of you even." Dr. Krono said.
"Why's he suddenly so desperate that he'd call on the Biolizard of all things? Let alone revive the thing?!" Expert exclaimed.
"Your asking us ?!" General Hightop was just as confused about the whole situation.
Revived Prototype of the Ultimate Lifeform
Rob and Scootaloo had to do their best to dodge the new and improved Biolizard as Dr. Krono had given the prototype a lot of upgrades. Now in addtion to the attacks it was known for, it was now capable of just firing lazers in this more base state from it's body.
"Dr. Krono obviously tricked out this prototype. He must have wanted to make sure it could get the job done no matter what." Zapper said.
"Yikes!" Scootaloo said, suddenly dodging a laser heading for her. The attacks were very fast too.
"Right, time to see what this can do." Rob said, suddenly taking out a green gem.
"Wha--that's a--!" Dr. Krono noticed it.
Suddenly, for both Rob and Scootaloo, the world around them seemed to slow to a crawl. "What the...what is this?!" Scootaloo said.
"I don't know, but let's not look a gift horse in the mouth!" Rob said before using the slowed down time to attack Biolizard. However, after a series of sword slashes from Rob, time suddenly resumed and Biolizard threw Rob off.
"What the...what just happened? How did Rob get on top of Biolizard so fast?!" Expert exclaimed.
"You mean he's never used this power before?!" Aaron exclaimed.
"I...don't think that was Rob's doing. He's got some kind of gemstone." General Hightop said.
"Rob, try using the gemstone again!" Scootaloo said once she heard that.
"Right." Rob said, using the stone again. Just like before, the world around him and Scootaloo slowed to a crawl, allowing Rob to repeat the process from before.
"I think that mysterious gemstone has the power to control time. I think it's power is allowing Rob to move faster than we can perceive." Expert said.
"What kind of gemstone has the power to do that?" General Hightop asked.
"Who cares right now? I'll take the welcome advantage against this thing." Rob said. "Even with my Mimic Magic powers, this would've been hard to do, but now the fight is much more fair. Gotta give him credit, Dr. Krono wanted to make sure the Biolizard could do whatever he wanted." He added.
After one more cycle, the protype was destroyed. "NO! NO NO NO! Damn it! I'm running out of time. Gotta think of something else. Quickly!" Dr. Krono said before he fled in his little machine.
"Seriously, what does he mean he's running out of time? He's far too young to be dying now, right?" Scootaloo asked.
"Yeah, true. So then why is he so admant about him just not having enough time?" Rob asked.
Author's Note
For those that saw Dr. Krono's appearence in My Little Pony: When Generations Collide and heard him say stuff there, please, do not spoil that for here. Let those that didn't read about that, and those that just want to enjoy this story, be allowed to do so without spoilers. Thank you for understanding in advance.
...Of course if I do see any comments that spoil it; even if it's spoiler blocked; I WILL delete your comment on sight. And that will be a warning shot. If I see you do it again on this story before it's revealed what this is about in this story, then I will block you for three weeks. Do not test me.
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The Beginning Era: The Dark Master - Return of Jack
"So, we don't know where that scientist went now. Seems the Biolizard damaged the UNA's tracking software." General Hightop said.
"From what I'm reading from my own sensors, Dr. Krono headed for a field not too far out from the nearest town, and is currently inside of a Rocket. Whatever he's doing, he's getting off the planet in a hurry." Expert said.
"Your sensors are still working? How?" General Hightop asked.
"Rob helped me design them." Expert said.
"Of course he did..." General Hightop said.
"We should worry about Dr. Krono later. He's not a priority." Rob said.
"Yeah. That Condescendence jerk is." Scootaloo said.
Out of nowhere, Jack suddenly showed up in the building. "Jack?!" Rob exclaimed.
"...Seems I'm going to have to take your offer. That jerk of a Dark Master broke into the cottage and took Jill. No one takes Jill and gets away with it. No one!" Jack said.
"Okay, living doll Pokemon is pissed now." one of the UNA soldiers said.
"Well luckily, it seems I've finally got a lead on where Condescending Consequence is." Expert said. "Seems it's not to far into the forest from where The Manipulator was." Expert said.
"You mean he was right there?" Rob asked.
"I'm coming with this time. Hopefully, we can get Jill back and capture this Dark Master alive." General Hightop said.
"That so called Dark Master won't be alive once I got my strings around him." Jack said.
"Okay, the doll is clearly unhinged now." One of the UNA soldiers said.
"Dude, the love of his life was just kidnapped. I think anyone would get unhinged at that." Jester said.
"Yeah, but this is that taken up to an eleven." Aaron said.
"Maybe so, but we can use that." Rob said.
"...Not a bad idea..." General Hightop said.
The entire group reached a new clearing in the woods where The Manipulator was hiding out in. There, they saw the man they had been looking for. Only...he looked less giant then they thought he would.
"Well, I'm surprised you found me so quickly." Condescending Consequence said. "But that's about to me abosutely nothing!" He said before suddenly the ground cracked in a circular motion before the Dark Master suddenly hefted the cracked piece of earth way out into the sky.
"No wonder the Dark Tribe followed this guy; it must be one of those 'the weak follow the strong' scenarios." Zapper said.
Suddenly a giant hand grabbed onto the battlefield.
Another giant hand grabbed the battlefield, before a giant form of Condescending Consequence showed his face.
The Dark Master
The air around them had morphed into some kind of psychedelic background.
"Okay, what is this guy? This is far beyond any sort of Metahuman quility!" General Hightop said.
"This kind of power...it's what that guy that guarded the Warp Zone warned me about: That there are those that dare to try and match the power of the gods!" Rob said. The Dark Master began shooting fire out of one of his hands.
"So, your saying this guy is like some presudo god?!" General Hightop said.
"I think so." Rob said before he focused on the hand that was spewing the fire, causing Condescending Consequence to wince and yell in pain from it.
Next the Dark Master started using lightning attacks from his other hand. "I got this one!" Zapper said, using his own blue lightning attacks to damage the hand.
"And how much you wanna bet..." Rob said before the head of Condescending Consequence started to breath out ice. "HOW DID I SEE THAT COMING? It's like there's a pattern." Rob said.
"Don't care. Allow me." Jester said, using his own ice powers to attack Condescenidng Consequence's head.
"You mean that guy has had ice powers this whole time?! No wonder the HQ felt so chilly despite the thermostat being 78 degrees Fahrenheit." General Hightop said.
"That's how Jester's powers work." Rob said.
Eventually though, Condescending went back to normal size, but was now floating above the battlefield...which itself was now floating in the air!
"Tch. You think I haven't got a few surprises of my own? Check this out!" Condescending Consequence said before suddenly a dark orb is thrown on the battlefield. Before the group's eyes, manifiests...some kind of four legged giant robot.
"Wait, isn't that Dr. Krono's Robo Walker?!" Rob exclaimed.
"It's obviously a clone." Expert said.
Clone Army
The group was able to shred through the Robo Walker with ease.
But that's when Condescending Consequence unleashed a Clone of Jack himself. "What the...I AM INSULTED!" Jack said.
The next clone after that was The Artificial Groudon. "There's even one of this thing?" Throsten said.
But the next clone had Rob suddenly freeze. "No...not that..." Rob said.
"That...looks like some fancy Darkari." Aaron said.
"That's the Ultimate Darkari. So he called himself." Throsten said. "He's the one that had Rob's mother killed." He added.
"So that's why Rob was away for so long..." Expert said.
"Not again..." Rob said.
"It also killed a version of Cresselia." Throsten added.
"I won't let anyone else die to this thing!" Rob said before suddenly one shotting the clone with some kind of laser attack.
"Was that Hyper Beam?!" Rachet exclaimed.
"Enough games Condescending Consequence." Rob said. "I'm going to destroy you to pieces!" He added.
"Wait hang on...I've just realized...how the heck can this platform stay in the air for so long? I know this guy has a lot of power but...this seems much for even Rob's power." Scootaloo said.
"What the heck are you saying?" General Hightop asked.
"I mean this!" Scootaloo said before she flew so fast, she spun the dark master around very rapidely.
But that's when something no one saw coming happened: What everyone thought was some human, was some kind of strange black creature with a lot of machinery attached to it. "Wh-what the hell are we looking at?!" Rob exclaimed.
"I don't know. But it doesn't look friendly. I think it's the true identity of the Dark Master." Expert said.
"No! You saw me?! You saw my true self?! No. I'm not ready for this!" The mysterious creature said before fleeing. It did drop Jilly as it fled.
"Jill! Your okay!" Jack said.
"Jack...whatever that thing was...it's some kind of pure dark monster...I was so scared..." Jill said.
"It's okay Jill...let's go home..." Jack said. "I'm obviously out of my league with that thing anyways." He added.
"We don't even know what that thing was." Rob said. "But I think it's stopped doing bad things for the time being." He added. "But there will come a time when it'll strike again. And I want to be ready." Rob finished.
"We all should be ready." Aaron said.
"Agreed." General Hightop said.
That's when an alert went off as the battlefield returned to the earth.
"What's that?" Scootaloo asked.
"Someone's broken into the old abandoned lab where Project Frankenstien took place!" General Hightop said.
To Be Continued...
Author's Note
So, fun fact with the whole thing with Condescending Consequence really being a mysterious black creature with machine parts attached to it: This is a completely original scene. As in this sort of reveal did not exist in the original lore. But seeing that a common trope is that the MLP:FiM characters are able to see past magical disguises, I decided to include that here since I liked the concept so much.
Also the fight with Condescending consequence was going to have an additional phase, but I figured that with the creature's true identity revealed and promeptly fleeing because of it, the fight got cut short one phase. But obviously, this is not the end of that thing. Besides, we've got lots more to cover in the meantime.
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The Beginning Era: JHF Foundation - Factory Break-In
Hi, it's me Scootaloo. Let me catch you up to speed here.
It has become a long grueling battle against the one known as Condescending Consequence. However, I could tell when we met him in the flesh that he was no human. And I was right: The one we knew as Condescending Consequence was a front for some strange creature with machine parts on it. However, it fled when I revealed it's true self.
It seems this is going to push Rob even further to create his Justice Hero Federation, and little did anyone realize, the time for fate to prove that such a thing was needed would be arriving shortly...
And that's not the only proving that would be going on. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. Just after the mysterious creature that posed as a human fled, the building where Project Frankenstein took place had been broken into. And sometimes...you just can't save everyone.
"I can't believe this place is still here." Rob said.
"So, from what I understand, it was Project Frankenstein that became Rob's reason for leaving the UNA." Scootaloo said.
"I detest those that try to play god. I knew a project that aimed to revive the dead was doomed to fail, and it did in the worst way possible." Rob said.
"I'll never understand why the brass signed off on this project to begin with." General Hightop said. "Guess that's what make me a general and not one of those that sit on the board." He added.
"Regardless, let's try not to use lethal force here. Once a reason for their break-in is established, I'm sure they can be convinced to just surrender." Rob said.
"For once, I'll agree to that. But I have to ask why." General Hightop said.
"Because I'd rather not there be an unnessary death." Rob said.
"Well whoever it is, they activated the sprinkler system." Aaron said. Indeed, the sprinklers were going off.
"Yo, check this out." Zapper said. There was a machine that looks like it was damaged by fire.
"That wasn't like that before." Aaron said.
"That's the prototype accelator device. Someone must have used it." General Hightop said.
"Ugh..." A female voice said.
"Over there." Rachet said. The group came across a female Ampharos.
"What happened to you?" General Hightop said.
"I...just wanted..." The ampharos said before passing out.
"Just wanted what? Hello?" General Hightop said.
"Chill. She's fallen unconcious. Someone else must have done it to her. I bet she just wondered in here. A place like this would be like a buffet to an electric Pokemon." Rob said.
"Yeah. She's obviously wild." Rachet said.
"Let's focus on who else is here. Jester, take her back to the UNA HQ for now." Rob said.
"Right. My powers will not be best used while the sprinkler system is on." Jester said. He then left, carrying the unconcious ampharos.
"I saw a shadow up on the catwalk." A UNA Soldier called out.
"Then I'm going up there. If they fall, I want to be able to catch them." Rob said and headed up there.
"Too bad I can't fly with so much wetness in the air." Scootaloo said.
"The water pressure would make it harder to fly for you right now. But with the right training, you wouldn't have such an issue." Expert said.
"Hey, what's this?" Zapper asked.
"Looks like a vat of latex." Expert said, examing what was inside.
"That stuff? Why was that stuff even here? Not even I knew this was here." Aaron said.
"Probably something they wanted to do if the prototype version of Project Frankenstein worked as it should have." General Hightop said.
"Typical. More gods playing gods." Rob's voice said. "Hey, who are you?" He suddenly asked.
"No! Leave me alone! I belong here now." A female voice said.
"I'm getting Rob's feed now." Expert said, bringing up a display. There, the group say him talking to another female ampharos, but this one seemed much younger.
"What do you mean you belong here? This place isn't safe." Rob said.
"My mother...she didn't care about me...she forced me to evolve when I wasn't ready." The ampharos said.
"She must be talking about the ampharos we found earlier." Aaron realized.
"Listen, I can help you. You just have to trust me, okay?" Rob said.
"No! I don't want to trust anyone but myself." The ampharos said.
"Can't you at least tell me your name?" Rob asked.
"It's...It's Lateria." The Ampharos said.
"Listen, Lateria...I get that you don't want to trust me...but this catwalk can be very unstable." Rob said. Suddenly Lateria's electricity caused the place to come back to life. "...And that's not going to help." Rob said.
"Wh-what so dangerous about this place? I'll be fine..." Lateria said. Suddenly, out from under her, the catwalk broke.
"No!" Rob said, and grabbed one of her flipper hands.
"You...you would go out of your way to save me?" Lateria asked.
"I wouldn't...want anyone to die...ever..." Rob said, but he was struggling.
But without warning, his grip slipped. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Lateria screamed as she fell into the vat of latex.
General Hightop just stared, and it was obvious Rob was beating himself up over this.
Later, it was confirmed that the Ampharos found earlier was the later's mother, so she was promptly arrested for tresspassing and child abuse. General Hightop then went up to Rob.
"...I know you wanted to save her." General Hightop said.
"Doesn't make me feel better." Rob said. "She didn't have to die like that, you know." He added.
"Her mother pushed her into such a fate. But part of me wonders, if she's really dead at all." General Hightop said. "That latex was most likely part of Project Frankenstein after all. So there's a good chance she could still be alive." He added.
"Yeah...but she'll have been turned into a monster." Rob said.
"Maybe. She was only ten from what I understand." General Hightop said.
"...You know as well as I do that the odds of her becoming anything but a monster if she did somehow become a product of that latex are way too low." Rob said.
"...Yes. I suppose if she somehow retains all of her mind...it'll be a miracle of miracles." General Hightop said.
Author's Note
Ah irony. I honestly didn't expect to post this chapter today of all days. I did not plan this.
But while Mother's day is a day for the mothers of the world, sometimes we all need to realize that not all mothers are the good sort.
Also, in case it wasn't obvious by the fact that I didn't put the death warning tag up for this chapter...Lateria did not die. In fact, she will be showing up later. But just as it was foreshadowed: She will not be the same.
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The Beginning Era: JHF Foundation - Invaders From Outer Space
The next couple of days, Expert decided to test the mysterious gem stone Rob had.
"So, to sum up what we've learned, it seems only Rob and Scootaloo can activate it at all." Expert said.
"Learned that one the hard way..." Aaron said, holding an ice pack to his head.
"You're the one that wanted to have sport balls shot at you. Expert offered to use smaller rubber balls, but you turned it down." Jester said.
"Even I have no idea why you didn't follow Expert's advice on that." General Hightop said.
"And when they do use their powers, they end up moving at roughly double our perceived notion of time." Expert said.
"What about that one time where they went at only half our perceived notion of time? Or the time when they went two point five times faster than we could perceive?" One of Aaron's soldiers asked.
"I did say roughly." Expert said.
"Right...you guys better go outside now." Aaron said.
The soldiers did so. "Unbelievable. You'd think they'd understand something as basic as common sense." General Hightop said.
"How's Rob?" Zapper asked Scootaloo.
"He's dealing I think. I think he just needs someone else to save to remind himself that he can." Scootaloo said.
"In that case, odd as it may sound, I hope that he gets that chance to do so." Aaron said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" General Hightop asked.
"For all his powers sir, Rob is still an emotional person. Metahuman or not, he shouldn't dwell on the ones he wasn't able to save forever. And I think he needs to be able to reaffirm himself that he can save someone's life." Aaron said.
"Even if that means an opposing soldier on the field of battle?" General Hightop asked.
"Hmph. He was once able to get the UNA a POW to trade for my one of my own men. He did so by essentially saving them from an avalanche." Aaron said.
"Ah. I remember that." General Hightop said.
"Wow. Seems Rob is just that kind of person." Scootaloo said.
"Normally, trying to do such a thing is against standard policy, but Rob did it because he knew how much my own men meant to me." Aaron said.
"And normally I'd condone getting too attached to your own men, but then again..." General Hightop said.
"Sometimes you just got to be in the field to remind yourself you're not invincible; no matter how powerful or high ranking you are." Expert said.
Scootaloo was reminded of something she heard through the grapevine; that the wonderbolts had nicknames that were used to humble them; still, she hoped Rainbow Dash wouldn't get too upset over the whole thing.
Suddenly, many sceams started to come over the channels. "What's going on?" General Hightop asked.
"We're surrounded..." One of Aaron's soldiers radioed in. "...cyborg bees..." Seems the line was only letting some things through. And the next thing let through was a scream before the soldier was seen being dismembered by some sort of cyborg.
"My men!" Aaron said. Suddenly, the entire UNA's systems were hacked, and the screens showed a giant cyborg bee with beefy upgrades
"Attention humans. We are The Hives. We have traveled from our home world to eradicate you. We will not allow you to do to your own planet what happened with ours. Your eridacation is already under way. There is no hope for peace. No hope for appeal. We will make sure that no other planet suffers the same fate as ours." The Cyborg Bee said before the feed cut off.
"Guess it's time for me to do my thing. If you really think the UNA can handle cyborg bees on it's own general, your basically asking for them to succeed." Rob said.
"I'm following along then." Scootaloo said.
"Aaron, I'm going with you." Throsten said.
"Throsten, are you sure about that?" Rob asked.
"I'll be fine." Throsten said. "Sure, these robotic bees may look scary, but I refuse to be scarred by them. This time I'm willingly going out there into the firefight that's going to happen." He added.
"Spoken like the couragous heart you've become. Throsten, remind me once this is over, to award you a medal for your bravery." General Hightop said.
"In that case, you might need protecting too. Guess that's my job." Rachet said.
"I can take care of myself, thank you." General Hightop said.
"General, I trust Rachet like the brother I never had. So you can trust him. Besides, we don't know what these Hives are capable of. You'll need every advantage you can get." Rob said.
"...As much as I hate to admit you have a point there; you do have a point there." General Hightop said. "Fine, but if I give an order, follow it." General Hightop said.
"Right. Let's go out there and make sure no one else dies." Zapper said. "We owe it to Aaron's men to make sure that no one else dies. And also to chase off those alien bugs." He added.
"I'll remain here and moniter everything. I hope I will be fine by myself." Expert said.
"You are not staying behind on your own." Shadow Rob said. "And Jester is too much of an ice pop to help you concentrate." He added.
"What was that?!" Jester exclaimed.
"It's true and you know it. Besides, I'll be the perfect defender." Shadow Rob said.
"Well let's stop wasting time here then, let's go go go!" Scootaloo said.
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The Beginning Era: JHF Foundation - Allies From Outer Space (Death Warning)
Scootaloo helped out where she could, and Rob was always doing his best to save people from these mysterious Hives.
However, during this process, there were a few times where she and Rob went up against the princess of The Hives Veronica.
Time and time again, they fought, and now it was leading to this showdown on an old bridge.
"So, it seems this is where our battles have led us, human." Veronica said.
"...So they have." Rob said. "I just have one quick thing to state before we start this." He added.
"Tch. Typical. You always have something to say. The time for talk is over human." Veronica said as she charged forward but Rob dodged her easily.
"You didn't let me finish. I pity your planet. They didn't have someone like me there. Because if it did, what happened to your planet wouldn't have happened at all." Rob said.
"Oh not this again. Your just all talk human." Veronica said before turning around and heading for Rob again who dodged again.
"I'm serious. I'm a Justice Hero. If your planet had one, you wouldn't have ended up like that. Because a real justice hero would've prevented that." Rob said.
"Shut up shut up shut u--" Veronica said, but then as she was charging at Rob a third time, suddenly she veered off the side of the bridge.
"Veronica!" Rob yelled out before he fired his grapple and started pulling Veronica to safety.
"Huh? What the..." Veronic was confused. "Why? Why are you saving me? We're enemies." She wondered.
"We may be enemies Veronica...but a real justice hero doesn't discriminate." Rob said. He was having some trouble helping Veronica up, so Scootaloo helped him.
"I will admit, I don't know much about this Justice Hero thing myself. But I will say this: Rob's here to make sure that this planet doesn't try something that could end with what happened to your planet." Scootaloo said. "This planet has Rob to make sure that the other humans don't play god." She added.
Veronica was helped to safety. "What do you mean by playing god?" She asked.
"Isn't that just what the humans of your world were doing when they were created cyborg animals?" Rob said, helping Veronica get off the bridge before it snapped. "Phew, thank goodness I had the forsight of getting you off of there." Rob said.
Veronica pondered Rob's question for a few moments. "...I guess my mother must've not thought of it like that." Veronica said.
"Your mother wants to kill off all humans right? But I'm here to make sure that this planet doesn't end up the same way as yours." Rob said. "But I have to know: Whose choice was it to invade this planet to begin with?" He asked.
"That was my mother's. She's the queen. She said she chose to start here because of how similar our two planets are to each other." Veronica said.
"Then that fits the last piece of the puzzle that I've been trying to figure out from everything you've told me about your kind. How you became the way you are now. How your world suffered because the humans of your world decided to play god." Rob said. "Everything about this is clear to me now: Your mother has stepped out of her boundaries simply because she's become blinded by her own rage." He added.
"Good luck getting through to her." Veronica said.
"I'm not the one whose going to stop her." Rob said before heading off with Scootaloo following.
Rob and Scootaloo arrived at the hive's mothership. "So, you've finally come for your friends. Don't worry. Their alive. For now." The large cyborg bug said. "But fight, and my soldiers will kill them off. Slowly." She said.
"Your nuts you know that?" Scootaloo asked.
"Child, it's still not too late to consider joining our mission." The Hive Queen said.
"Yeah too bad I'm still saying no. Because I'm willing to bet this goes beyond just wanting to kill of the human race of every planet you come across." Scootaloo said.
"HOW DARE YOU?!" The Hive Queen said.
"...Wait, Scootaloo you may be onto something there. Spill it: You want complete control over this planet so you can enslave it's animals to your cause after you've elimated the humans on it." Rob said.
"Wait what?! How did you--" The Hive Queen said.
"Looks like I just hit the nail on the head." Rob said said.
"Hmph. Doesn't matter. I am the queen of the hives. And they will obey their queen." The Hive Queen said.
"Not anymore." Veronica suddenly said, as she suddenly appeared with the rest of the earth's main defense force.
"What?! Veronica, how dare you turn against me?!" The Hive Queen exclaimed.
"Bet you didn't know that your words were just convayed through your hive mind. After all, thanks to Veronica, I know that you used to be anthromophic bees. Meaning that if I got you to confess to your true motives, that would be passed through the Hive Mind." Rob said.
"Now that...was actually clever." General Hightop said.
"You...YOU'VE RUINED IT! YOU'VE RUINED EVERYTHING!" The Hive Queen said.
"No mother. You have!" Veronica said before she pushed her own mother out of the mothership.
"YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS CHILD. YOU'LL PAAAAAAAAAAAAY!" The Hive Queen shouted as she fell.
"Good luck collecting on that front." Rob said.
"Really? A one liner? Now?" Expert said.
"As the new queen of The Hives...I just want to apologize. My mother seemingly just became so power-hungry and no one really saw it." Veronica said. "But...I can see that you have someone that will prevent something like what happened to us from ever happening again." She added.
"Yeah. I didn't exist when your planet became the way it did. But I promise you, I will make sure any future attempts to play god are not ignored." Rob said.
"I have no doubt you will keep that promise." Veronica said. "For now, the Hives must go back home, and search for a way to return our planet back to normalcy somehow." She added. "But the next time any of us come here, it shall be as friends. Not foes." The new queen said.
"If you ever need any help; for whatever reason; just come find me." Rob said.
"I will make sure I do." Veronica said.
The Hives had been kind enough to drop everyone back at the UNA HQ.
"Okay, even I'll admit, the fact you used Veronica's Mother's Hive Mind against her like that was clever." General Hightop said.
"Hey, it's what I do." Rob said. "Just because I have powers, doesn't meant I need to use them to save the day all the time." He said.
"Heh. Yeah you've certainly proved that this time around." General Hightop said.
"Whoa what the heck?!" One of the UNA Soldiers exclaimed in shock.
There, in the doorway, was Lateria. Only...she was now made of latex that constantly dripped off her. "Please...help me..." She said.
Author's Note
I'm just going to say that this arc is full of small little mini-arcs like this all around. Originally, I entilted this arc as being "Three Tales" since this arc was essentially three mini-arcs slapped together with some minor plot threads linking them all together. However, seeing that these mini-arcs end the way they do, I decided to rebrand the arc for this story into "JHF Foundation" which should give you a clue as to what the ending of this arc will be.
That being said, I'm sure that even if you can already guess what the ending is for this arc, sometimes even knowing that can still allow you to enjoy this arc because of the content leading up to what will inevitably happen at the end.
Also, that ending is the reason why the chapter where Lateria fell into that latex tank didn't have the death warning on it even though this one did because of Veronica's mother being killed via a long fall.
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The Beginning Era: JHF Foundation - Different Planet Time
"Hmm...this is strange. Expert, are you sure you've given me the maps to the most accurate depection of the Mario Universe possible?" General Hightop asked.
"Yes. Everything should be up to date. Unless something's changed like somehow, Mario going to the moon." Expert said.1
"Well, either there's a game we've missed, or there's an unidentified planet in that universe." General Hightop said.
"Well the most recent game to my knowledge is Super Mario Galaxy 2 just being announced." Rob said.2
"Well regardless, if your whole thing with The HIves was any indication, you might be able to get the folks of this unidentified planet to agree to a pact with the UNA in some form of truce." General Hightop said. "Heck, do that and I'd have a hell of an easy time convicing the higher ups to give you your JHF." He added.
"Well that settles it then. Shall I come with?" Scootaloo asked. "It'd be nice to explore a planet that's not Earth." She added.
"We've decided to call our Earth, Prime Earth and the Earth that The Hives come from Alternate Earth. Helps keeps things straight." General Hightop said.
"I'll input that into my database. Which, I decided to make a portable version of with for Scootaloo." Expert said before giving Scootaloo a tablet.3
"Some kind of Tablet?" Scootaloo said before booting said tablet up.
Boot Up Sequence Initiated... A robotic voice said. Now initializing AI assistance program, code named D.E.C.A. AKA Digital Encyclopedic Computerized Assistant the voice added. Suddenly the screen glowed a bright orange. Boot up complete. The voice said before suddenly a face showed up on the screen.
"yawn Morning everyone. Today's my first day alive. Hi there. My name is D.E.C.A." A more feminine voice still computerized but close to an actual human's voice said as the face moved.
"Whoa! A real live talking AI program." General Hightop said.
"Sweet." Scootaloo said. "I'm going to call you Deca." She added.
There were question marks on the computerized face's eyes. "Didn't I just introduce myself as D.E.C.A.?" The AI asked.
"You got it wrong. I'm calling you Deca; meaning I'm not calling you by your acronym. I'm giving you an actual name name." Scootaloo said.
"Oh! I understand." The AI said.
"Is that, their face?" General Hightop asked.
"Yes." Expert said.
"Plus, Deca is a girl." Scootaloo said.
"I have no gender. I am an AI." Deca said.
"Yes you do. Well, now you do. I'm going to refer to you as a girl, so you better get used to it." Scootaloo said.
"Oh! That would make it easier for me to communicate with others and gather data. I shall update my interface systems." Deca said.
"It's quirky." Aaron said.
"Well, better teach the thing on the way to the Speedster, Scootaloo." Rob said.
"Sure." Scootaloo said.
"File found for Speedster." Deca said. "The Speedster is a formally decomissioned Space Shuttle that Rob repaired and improved upon to create the ultimate space travel machine. It is noted that all first time riders throw up after experiencing the ride. Not even Rob himself was immune to this fact." Deca said.
"That thing is surprisingly detailed." Aaron noted as Rob and Scootaloo left through the doors.
"Well I did make it." Expert said before suddenly Crusader appeared.
"Did you know where Rob is heading?" Crusader asked.
"Why yes, to a planet we just discovered." Aaron said.
"What are the cordinates?" Crusader asked. A printout of the cordinates were shown. "What are the odds?" Cruasder said and grabed a communication device and started tuning into the frequency.
Meanwhile, Rob and Scootaloo touched down on the planet. "Those crabs are Sidesteppers." Rob noted.
"Rob, this is Crusader calling. You need to forget any plans for peace with that planet right now." Crusader said.
"What's up Crusader?" Scootaloo asked.
"I just finished anaylizing where Dr. Krono went. He's on that planet already." Crusader said.
"Wait seriously?" Rob asked.
"I have no idea what's going to happen, but I noticed a file in Dr. Krono's registry; it said that as a final ultimatum, that scientist was going to hold the heirs to each area's hierarchy hostage in exchange for the planet's money." Crusader said.
"Blackmail and kidnapping...there has to be some sort of reason." Rob said.
"Wait...Dr. Krono did say that he's running out of time the last time we heard from it. But I have to ask just what did he mean by that?" Scootaloo asked.
"We'll have to ask him face to face. Hope your ready for an adventure." Rob said.
The duo managed to make it to the castle at the Beachside Area, where at the end of said castle, they faced a giant mechanical Sidestepper, and had to trick it into electrocuted itself.
"Dr. Krono's desperate. He wouldn't make something like that for no reason. I have a good feeling that these much more advanced robot designs are related to how exactly he's running out of time." Rob said.
"Your usually able to know exactly what it is with little information." Scootaloo said.
"I don't want to just guess. As this is the one time, I hope I'm wrong. Besides, to talk about it with a child...not the best idea." Rob said.
"...It's something serious, isn't it? I've noticed you try to downplay a lot of really serious things around me." Scootaloo said.
"Oh this is something serious alright. What I'm refusing to tell you right now, Scootaloo, is something far more serious then anything else I've ever tried to sugar coat before. It's something no child should ever have to think about. So that's why I want to be wrong for once. Because if I have to explain it...I shudder to think how you'd handle it." Rob said.
"...Dang. This must be pretty bad then. Let's just hope that whatever your thinking the reason is, is actually wrong then." Scootaloo said.
"That much, I will agree on." Rob said. Scootaloo heard Rob's thoughts. But at the same time, I can't help but worry. Can it really be something as serious as that of all things? is what Rob's thoughts were at that time as the duo proceeded through the castle and onto the next area after freeing the first captured royal.
Author's Note
1 - Yes I realize that this is a reference to Super Mario Oddessy, but I had this line written years before Super Mario Oddessy even came out. For context, I had this line made when I was playing Super Mario Galaxy 1.
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The Beginning Era: JHF Foundation - Out of Time (Blood Warning)
In the next area, known as the Ocean Area, the duo dodged bloopers and at the end, dealt with a Blooper Robo they had to defeat by making it ram into the underwater pipes that blew out currents, rescuing a second royal in the process.
In the third area, known as the Plains Area, the group had to deal with Spinies and Lakitues. This ended when the duo had to outlast a Spinny Making Machine, though this time, Dr. Krono himself operated it.
"Dr. Krono, why are you doing this? Is this really related to you running out of time? Let me help. Tell me what's going on, and I can help." Rob said.
"There's nothing you can do. Justice Hero or not, there's nothing you can do for me now. I won't die before I see my life's dream complete." Dr. Krono said. He unfortunatly, got away after that.
"Drat. We were so close to getting answers." Scootaloo said.
"Rob, we've got more problems: Reports say Dr. Dalfino has arrived on that planet now too." Expert said.
"That guy again? Come Scootaloo." Rob said.
Funnily enough, the next area known as the Haunted Area, is where Dr. Dalfino had stationed himself. However, what shocked Rob the most was that Dr. Dalfino had challenged Rob to a sword fighting duel. Rob managed to win, but it was harder then the hero thought it'd be.
"Hmph...your good. But you'll need more skills then that to beat the likes of me." Dr. Dalfino said before just leaving in his usual vehicle.
"Doesn't seem like Dr. Krono was anywhere near here." Rob said.
"Seems that way. Maybe he just skipped this area?" Scootaloo asked.
"That would mean he did so for one of two reasons: Either he didn't want to deal with ghosts, or he's running out of time thing really is what I'm hoping it's not." Rob said.
"You mean he thought that because he's running out of time, he thought only seven kidnapped royals was enough?!" Scootaloo exclaimed.
"And if that's the case, then we need to get to Dr. Krono for the answer. Fast." Rob said.
In the next area, the Lava Area, the group encountered lots of lava bubbles, with the robo at the end being a giant Podobo. But while it could move in the lava, it was not immune to Rob's sword at all.
In the sixth area, the Desert Area, there were many Pokeys and Hammer Brothers. The ending robot this time was a robo Sumo Bro, which was easy enough to defeat when it could be defeated from below.
In the seventh area, the Sky Area, there were more Lakitus, though these threw things besides Spinies, and there were Koopas. The robo waiting for the duo at the end this time though, Rob recognized. "Is that a Robot based on the Devil Chaos Chao?!
Dr. Krono's Ultimate Robot
This robot; while it stood at only eight feet tall, still had tricks up it's sleeve. For one, it was the most durable robot ever, being able to take all of Rob's and Scootaloo's attacks without even so much as flinching; the attacks clearly doing as little damage as possible.
To top it off, the machine could fly, throw boulders, and even run very fast with such ease, it'd make even the likes of Sonic & his friends blush. This thing too every aspect of a Chao, turned it up to max, and then doubled that max. It was like fighting Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, all at once, only it was only the one foe. And there were also the missiles.
"This thing...it's like the ultimate robot." Scootaloo said.
"No kidding. If it wasn't already clear Dr. Krono is desperate, now it's even more so. Which only makes my worry about what it is that's causing Dr. Krono to run out of time, all the more likely, and I'm afraid. I've never been afraid like this, but if I'm right about the reason behind all of this, then that means we need to destroy this thing. Now." Rob said.
"I have an idea..." Scootaloo said before she used the mysterious gem stone to suddenly turn a missile on the robot which dealt massive damage. "Bullseye!" The Pegasus filly said.
"Nice thinking." Rob said. Three more missiles was all it took to defeat this creation. "This...was the most desperate play I've ever seen. Something of this magnitude means Dr. Krono really is running out of time. And I'm afraid for what that means." Rob said. The duo continued.
On the other end, Rob and Scootaloo could hear talking. "What...does Rob mean he's afraid for what that means?" General Hightop asked.
"...It doesn't take Rob's super perceptive skills to figure this out general." Expert said. Whatever was said next was a whisper.
"...Dear god..." General Hightop gasped.
On the other side, it could be seen that Aaron was looking at the feeds; specifically at Rob. "...Guess it's time to really prove just how much of a hero you really are." Aaron said.
The duo made it through the final area, the Cavern Area, and at the end, they came face to face once more with Dr. Krono.
"Dr. Krono, please...let's talk. I can help." Rob said.
"There is no more time to talk. I don't have the time." Dr. Krono said before suddenly a giant Buzzy Beetle that had some sort of contraption on it. "You may have been saving the royals as you defeated my machines...but now I'm using the royal I captured here against you. I wonder...can a hero such as your self really hurt them? I suppose it's time to find out." Dr. Krono said.
Desperate Scientist
This was a fight unlike any other that either Rob or Scootaloo had ever faced before. They knew they could not hurt the royal, for hope the UNA's plan could still work with this planet, but how could they stop a mind controlled royal otherwise?
That's when Rob noticed, that Dr. Krono's pod had a similar device on it. "That's it!" Rob said, before getting the mind controlled Buzzy Beetle to charge into the cavern wall, which caused rocks to fall. In an instant, Rob used the mysterious gemstone to slow down time and redirect one of those rocks to Dr. Krono's pod.
"What the...was that..." Dr. Krono was unable to answer before it was done again. "Why you...how could you possibly have one of those?!" Dr. Krono said. But after one last rock was sent his way, his pod crash landed.
"It's over Dr. Krono. Let me help." Rob said.
"It's far from over! I won't stop until I fulfill--" Dr. Krono was suddenly cut off by his coughing fits again. But this time, he was unable to cover his mouth before he coughed up something on the cavern floor.
"I-is that...Bl-blood?!" Scootaloo excalimed.
"...I was afraid of this..." Rob said.
"No...no not yet..." Dr. Krono said as he coughed up more blood. "I'm not ready to go yet. I haven't fulfilled my life's dream yet..."He continued before coughing up more blood.
"Rob...why is Dr. Krono coughing up blood so much?" Scootaloo asked, worridly.
"...The whole reason why Dr. Krono said he's running out of time. Because he is. He has an uncurrable strain...of Terbucosis." Rob said.
"What's...oh dear...is that some sort of sickness...where the subject coughs up a lot of blood." Scootaloo got out. She felt sick to her stomach.
"Yes. And in the most severe cases...it's fatal." Rob said. "And this is the most severe of cases I've ever seen." He added.
"...Then Dr. Krono...really is running out of time..." Scootaloo said.
"That's why I need to go and get something. Stay with him." Rob said.
Author's Note
So fun fact about the Dr. Krono boss fight: There's technically a second phase, but all it amounts to is dodging the same heavily telegraphed attack three times. An attack that does zero damage no matter what. It's meant to really drive home the fact that Dr. Krono's body is becoming just that weak. So I hope you don't mind if I had that cut out especially since you weren't missing much to begin with.
Side Note: Wait, there's no warning for just simple blood? The closest warning tag is Gore but I reserve that something far more gruesome then just someone literally coughing up blood because of an illness they carry.
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The Beginning Era: JHF Foundation - Giving Time
Scootaloo stayed with Dr. Krono for a whole hour before Rob finally returned. When he did, he plunged a syringe of something into Dr. Krono's bloodstream. While it returned his color, it also had one unfortunate side effect: It turned the human into a Devil Chaos Chao.
"...So...its seems I have become something that I wished to study...how ironic..." Dr. Krono said. He still needed to regain his strength though.
"Easy. You still need to regain your strength." Rob said.
"Dr. Krono...what you've done on that planet is very hash. But...given the circumstances...I doubt there's a jury that would dare punish you more then you already are. From what I understand, unless actively hunted, Chaos Chao will live forever." General Hightop said.
"That's my penance for what I've done...and for not saying anything..." Dr. Krono said.
"Save it. Despite the circumstances, the UNA is prepared to give you a place to do your studies, and the funds to do so. On the one condition that you swear to never do something this drastic ever again." General Hightop said.
"Hmph. That's an easy condition to stay true to. But, I am forever in your debt most of all, Rob Snowden." Dr. Krono said. "Should you ever have need of me, I will gladly aid you." He added.
"Err...thanks?" Rob said.
From there, it was easy to get the planet to be at peace with the UNA. It turns out, that the planet is full of pacifists. So they are naturally peaceful unless someone forces their hand. So the UNA's willingness for peace was very welcome.
"I must say, you did a lot more there then was ever expected." General Hightop said. "You not only saved the lives of the royals there, and got the peace treaty agreed to by those same royals, but you were even able to save the life of someone who was ill. If the higher ups don't give you that JHF you want so bad now, they'll have to accept my resignation instead." HE added.
"You'd threaten resigning over something like that?" Rob asked.
"It's your actions that define who you are. And you've pretty much proven that, even with your powers, you can still be human enough to make rational judgement calls. Even the difficult ones such as saving your enemies." General Hightop said. "If the UNA higher ups can't see that, then I don't wish to be part of the UNA." He added.
"Thank you sir for those words of wisdom." Rob said.
"No Rob Snowden...thank you for reminding me what it's really like to be a hero. I guess in some way, you saved me too." General Hightop said.
The UNA higher ups had indeed signed off on Rob's JHF, on the condition the UNA were to laison with the JHF on occasion, and one officer was the go between. Aaron jumped on board, hoping to repair what damage was done to his relationship with Rob form Project Frakenstien.
But you might be thinking that this is the end of my story here. After all, this sounds like the perfect capstone to end things off on, doesn't it?
Well, that's what I thought too...but Dr. Krono had to ask one question...
"By the Way Rob..." Dr. Krono said. "Where did you get a Time Stone?" He asked.
"What's a Time Stone?" Rob asked.
"It's what you hold. It's one of seven. If I was you, I'd get the other six. They lay scattered across the various universes." Dr. Krono said.
...Yeah suffice it to say, that means my adventures here are not over yet.
If anything, things have only just begun...
Author's Note
Another chapter that's shorter then normal. But considering this is the end of the first Era of this story, you could say that this was mandatory.
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Beyond Earth Era: Time Stone Hunt - Three of Seven
A male Eevee was working on something in a strange lab within the Pokemon Universe.
"Finally, my project is almost complete. And when it is, I'll finally be able to have my own personal harem of Eeveelutions." He said.
Suddenly, his lab wall suddenly exploded, and he became trapped under rubble.
"Knock knock, anyone home?" Rob asked, standing in the now open wall.
"Seriously? That's what your going with?" Scootaloo asked. And where's the cool factor that would intrigue Rainbow Dash? She wouldn't idolize just anyone after all. She thought to herself.
"It's just polite really. Besides, looks like this lab's owner isn't here right now." Rob said. "Let's grab the time stone and get out." He added before he headed over to a nearby machine.
"Guess we got lucky that we didn't have to fight anyone for this one." Scootaloo said.
"Yeah. But I doubt the others will be this easy. This was the only one of two Dr. Krono could get a location lock-on for." Rob said before he managed to get a Time Stone out of the machine, this one colored blue. "Got it, let's head out." Rob said before the duo left.
If they had stayed, they would've noticed the male Eevee crawling out of the rubble. "Ow..." He would say after.
Scootaloo here. You're probably wondering what is going on here right? Well after that meta morphed scientist Dr. Krono told Rob that the gemstone he was carrying around was a Time Stone and that Rob should find the other six of them in case any fell into the wrong hands, Rob and I decided to go on a little planet hopping, hoping to find the other six. Dr. Krono was able to get a read on two of the time stones very quickly after analyzing the wavelength of Rob's time stone. Guess that scientist has a good heart deep down, even if he was willing to cause land destruction to get what he wanted when he could've said something sooner. But there's little that can be done about what happened now. Besides, after we left, that Dr. Krono did too. Seems the JHF's first official mission is to find the remaining time stones and if possible, stop those with evil intentions from using their powers for their own selfish needs. After all, even without the ability to control time, Dr. Krono mentioned that anyone could use the time stones for whatever purpose simply by putting it into a machine where it's powers could then be used to do basically whatever. And it's that thought that drives us right now.
...I just wish I could see what Rainbow Dash sees right now...
"You know, I wish Throsten would've taken the offer to come along. After all, one of the time stones is located in the Eeveelution Kingdoms." Rob said.
"He did say that while he's not running away anymore, he wants to make sure he's good and ready for what will come when he returns home." Scootaloo said.
"Heh...that Umbreon has changed so much." Rob said.
"He almost froze up against the Dark Core, but he managed to find his Bravery. All by himself." Scootaloo said.
"Heh...about time." Rob said.
"You sound like you know him." Scootaloo said.
"It was that time when I had gotten taken through that warp. During that time, Throsten who was still an Eevee then, was one of the most scared individuals I've ever seen. Yet, he had a desire for adventure not unlike my own. Something about that, despite my lost memory, resonated with me, so I ended up encouraging him, helping him push his own limits. And eventually, together, we defeated The Ultimate Darkari." Rob said.
"That's that clone you blasted with Hyper Beam." Scootaloo noted.
"Yeah." Rob said. "...Story time will have to wait." He added as the Speedster landed in the mysterious Eeveelution Kingdom, specifically in Icicle Vally.
"Brr...it's cold here." Scootaloo said.
"That's on purpose. This is where the Glaceon live alongside other Ice Type Pokemon. The cold tempatures are for their benifit." Rob said.
Why does this cold remind me of the Frozen North? During one of the spring breaks, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity took me and the other girls up to the Crystal Kingdom for some sightseeing and even to bear witness to the Freezing North. And this cold somehow is similar to the Freezing North. But how is that possible? Scootaloo thought to herself.
"Stranger, you have travaled far." A Male Glaceon said. "What brings you to this place?" He asked.
"We seek a certain Gemstone to prevent it from being used for malevolent forces. If you know of any colored hexagonal gemstones around here, that would be most helpful." Rob said.
"...In that case, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. While there is such a gemstone here, it was discovered by the forefathers of this part of the Eeveelution Kingdoms and has been entrusted to my family ever since. I simply refuse to give it up." The Glaceon said. "This is an order from the ruling monarch of Icicle Vally." He added. However, suddenly, a house was destroyed by dark energies. "What the heck?! WHO DESTROYED MY HOUSE!?" The glaceon exclaimed.
Without warning, Gorzon appeared, holding a purple hexgonal stone. "Who knew that I'd find something shiny here? And I can sense great power in this thing. Oh yes. This will work nicely with my plans." Gorzon said.
"Gorzon! How dare you destroy a house just to grab something?!" Rob exclaimed.
"You got a problem with that?" Gorzon asked.
"As a matter of fact, I do." Rob said before suddenly he unleashed some sort of massive ice spell the likes Scootaloo was unfamiliar with. It froze Gorzon solid.
"...Okay now that was cool. Both figuratively, and literally." Scootaloo said.
Rob then broke into the ice and grabbed the Time Stone. "I beleive that this isn't yours." Rob said.
Gorzon then broke out. "Oh you are so dead!" Grozon said. But then out of nowhere, an icicle spear came out of the ground and sent the dark being flying. "YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE LAST OF ME!" Gorzon yelled as he flew off.
"What...just happened?" The Glaceon ruler asked.
"My magic happened." Rob said. "Oh, while I'm thinking about it..." Rob said before he snapped his fingers, restoring the ruler's house.
"So...I guess we'll have to leave the time stone here then..." Scootaloo said.
"Maybe not..." Rob said. "Who knows if Gorzon will try to come back for it." He added.
"Considering you were able to cause that invader and home wrecker to flee without damaging our lands, as well as fixing my house, perhaps it would be best if you kept it for now. Maybe even return it to it's rightful place." The Glaceon King said. "It's clear that it's place is not here." He added.
"I'll be sure to keep a look out for wherever this could stay. In fact, I promise I'll make sure to find its rightful place on behalf of your linage." Rob said.
Okay now that was even cooler. Now I can see why Rainbow Dash thinks this guy is cool. Scootaloo said.
Author's Note
This arc may not take that long you say? You don't know me that well, do you?
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Beyond Earth Era: Time Stone Hunt - The Man of Secrets
"Three time stones down, four more to go. I just hope this doesn't turn into like that one thing." Aaron said.
"What one thing? Did I miss something?" Rob asked.
Somehow, Scootaloo could hear Aaron's thoughts. Maybe it's best he doesn't know... Aaron thought to himself.
Scootaloo decided not to bring that up. "So, any ideas on where to look next?" She asked instead.
"Not entirely sure. Those things could be anywhere." Expert said.
"The UNA would love to use it's resources on this, but we can't. Right now, our resources are being used to track down the wherabouts of a serial killer whose real name is Elise Larkston." Aaron said.
"Sounds like someone I don't want to cross paths with. Plus, capturing her sounds like it'd help out the UNA a little bit. If I see her, I'll radio in." Rob said.
"Do you even know what she looks like?" Scootaloo asked.
Before Rob could answer, a human woman that looked ordinary brushed past them. "Oh my gosh, I am so sorry. I'm just going over to the nearby arcade." She said.
"It's fine. It's my fault for standing in an allyway." Rob said.
"Still, I must apologize for just bumping into you. What's your name?" The woman asked.
"Rob Snowden." Rob said.
"Well Rob, my name's Ere. I hope I see you again sometime." The woman said before leaving.
"Strange woman." Scootaloo said.
"Found it! I found the most recent photo of Elise." Aaron said over Rob's device. A picture of a familiar face splashed Rob's Screen.
"What? We just saw her." Scootaloo said.
"Yeah. But she told me her name was Ere." Rob said.
"Typical Serial Killer behavior. Appear normal and give out a fake name." Aaron said. "I'll send units over to your location." He added.
"Right, I'm going to look around for a bit though. Maybe there's something I can find to explain why she would use the name Ere at all." Rob said.
Rob and Scootaloo went the way Elise had come from and soon discovered a set-up in the middle of a space that connected to four allyway. This set up had a small little bed, some sort of machine, and a strange green liquid in a beeker with some nearby plastic cups. "Hmm. This liquid is very green. Maybe I should try it." Scootaloo said.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." A male voice called out. Suddenly approuching the duo was a man in a scientist garb. "Drinking a single cup of that will knock you out for 24 hours. Any more will kill you." The man said.
"Oh great another scientist." Scootaloo said. "So, what's your big research project huh?" She asked.
"Research? I don't do research. I don't need to. I've already seen the dark side of society, including it's most deepest darkest cababilities." The man said. "I'm Cole. Cole Watterson." The man said.
"We noticed a serial killer coming from this way. Were you aware she was here?" Rob asked.
"Hmph. Indeed, I was aware of her being here. Good luck getting her to stand trail now though. Whatever made her the way she was before is gone now. All that remains is a woman looking for love." Cole said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Scootaloo asked.
"One's very mind and soul can be changed if you have the right knowledge on how to change a person to their very core. All you need is the right circumstances and the right machines to be able to make someone into somebody else without that reincarnation business." Cole said.
"You mean you turned her into a totally different person?!" Rob gathered.
"Indeed. That's exactly what I did. It's what Elise wanted after all. I had her consent to change her. Make her someone new." Cole said.
"Why would you help a known serial killer?" Scootlaoo asked.
"Because she wanted to stop being that. She wanted to change. But she knew society would not let her change. Not while she was still Elise." Cole said.
"You know that helping a known fugitive is against the law, right?" Rob asked.
"Your laws are not as concrete as you might think. There's always loopholes. Easily exploitable loopholes at that." Cole said. "Besides, what else was I supposed to do? Turn her over to the feds? Especially since she wanted to become someone else?" He asked.
"It's not your place to take the law into your own hands like that." Rob said.
"And who decided that? Society did, that's who. But no matter what, I object to the norms of society. Because I constantly ask 'why is society like this and not like some other thing?'" Cole started. "If Elise was to be put in a courtroom, there's not a jury in the world that would let her try to reform. She regretted what she had become, and wanted to reform. But she knows that there's not a jury in the world that would let her do so. Society would sooner put her in the crosshairs of a firing squad then allow her to reform.
"But my method of reforming her is different then what society has in mind for that term. I simply put a person into a state of unconciousness, then I go in and I change them to their core; making their mind and soul that of their ideal type of person. And just like that, once they wake up, they are someone new, someone different. And because they are no longer the kind of person they were beforehand, it could be argued in a court of law that they are a entirely different person then who is being charged. Tell me, how could society hold responsible someone for their crimes when they aren't even capable of being that sort of person anymore?" Cole asked.
"That doesn't make what you do legal." Rob said.
"Maybe it doesn't, but I could care less." Cole said. "Here, I don't really need this anymore." He said. He suddenly handed over the Cyan Time Stone. "This somehow ended up in my possession, and it allowed me to complete my personality overwriting research. But I have no further use for it now that I've perfected the methods to rewrite a person's very core." Cole said.
"Right. But don't think this changes anything with what you've done." Rob said as he and Scootaloo turned to leave.
"One more thing before you go; a piece of advice if you would." Cole said. "Society claims that if something has high defenses, so high that it becomes an immovable object, that the ability to overcome such figurative brick wall is something beyond even a powerful user. But all things have a way to overcome them. Even a mighty tank will fall when you find their glaring weakness." He explained. "It's not up to me if you remember my words but head them well; they may prove useful." Cole finished.
"Right..." Scootaloo said. This guy is starting to get on my nerves. Who is he, really? the filly thought to herself before she left with Rob.
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Beyond Earth Era: Time Stone Hunt - The New House (Profanity warning)
Scootaloo was told to stay with Aaron and Expert for a few hours while Rob went to the mayor for what they wanted. And later, Rob came back. "So, what did the mayor of the city want? I have to admit, not even the UNA knows what he would want." Aaron said.
Rob sighed. "The entire city basically built this house on a hillside for me, and gave me the deed free of charge. Not sure what I'm going to do with five stories of living space, but I'm going to have to think of something, as the mayor insisted on me having what is basically a mega mansion." He explained.
"What do you mean by five stories? I don't think five books is that much space." Scootaloo said.
"Err...what Rob means to say is, the mansion he was given apprently has five floors to it." Aaron said. "...WAIT A SECOND, FIVE FLOORS?! ARE YOU ACTUALLY BEING SERIOUS?!" Aaron suddenly exclaimed, being obviously taken aback by that.
"Yeah, apparently the whole town got together to build the damn thing." Rob said. And then Aaron fainted.
"What's the big deal about five floors?" Scootaloo asked. She didn't want to bring up Twilight's castle and how it has seven floors and Celestia knows how many rooms to the point where it's easy to get lost in the thing.
"Well, let me be clear: In addition to the master suite; that's what they call a master bedroom with the master bathroom connected to it; there's five thousand bedrooms, three pool rooms, a simulated beach room, at least seven closets with cleaning supplies in them, and err..." Rob noticed the vacant looks he was getting from not just Aaron but Scootaloo too. "...I think I better stop there before I completely break your brains." He added.
Forget Twilight's castle; THAT place just took the cake for being the biggest place ever. Scootaloo thought to herself.
"I have one question: How the hell does the city expect you to maintain that place by yourself?" Expert asked.
"Not sure, but there is something the mayor mentioned: Several residents went missing out near a mansion out in the woods. Scootaloo, mind taking a look with me?" Rob asked.
"Yeah sure." The pegesus said. Anything to get my mind off of how damn big that mansion is. Scootaloo thought to herself. Then blinked. Now I'M doing profanity. Rainbow Dash would wash my mouth out with soup if she heard me say something like that. Scootaloo added to her thoughts.
Well safe to say, the mansion with the rumors turned out to be someone who was using the Orange Time Stone to transform whoever came across the mansion into female anthro Pokemon with...very noticeable breasts to say the least while also brainwashing the lot.
It creeped Scootaloo the heck out. And this prompted Rob to seek Cole's help for some of the people who were brainwashed against their will.
"Hrr...never really tried to restore personalities before. Still, at least this is more of just a mental thing, then both a mental and soul related issue." Cole said. "...Oh dear." He said, looking at some of his readouts.
"What? Is something the matter?" Rob asked.
"Yes unfortunately there is. Some of these folks have been like this for so long...I doubt there's anything left of their old selves." Cole said.
"Talk about bad news." Aaron said.
"Even science has it's limits I'm afraid. Still, perhaps you should consider keeping the ones who either too far gone, or the ones that will wish to remain like this as some sort of cleaning staff." Cole said.
"Hey, I don't want to be that kind of guy." Rob said.
"You don't have to be. Just put them on some sort of payroll." Cole said.
"...I hate that you just brought up a good counterpoint." Rob said. "Especially when I already have a lot of wealth from everything that happened. More then I know what to do with, that's for sure." He added.
"Well then, take this as the sort of opportunity to find a way to spend some of that. Waste not want not after all; it's one of the few principles of society I can actually get behind." Cole said.
"I don't get it." Scootaloo said.
"Err...Cole, Waste not want not means to basically means to avoid using a commidity on a big splurg." Rob said.
"Well this isn't much of a splurg is it? I'm willing to bet that you'll STILL end up with more money then you'll know what to do with." Cole said.
"...Dammit, why do you have to be right again." Rob said.
"Regardless, I still don't agree with you taking the law into your own hands." General Hightop said. "You clearly aided a known criminal. That's cause for arrest." He said.
"Like I told Rob here, there's always a loophole." Cole said before handing General Hightop a piece of paper.
"...What the..." General Hightop said. "This is a contract of consent. And one of the things the signer agrees to...is that by agreeing to undergo the procedure, the act of them becoming someone different willingly can fall under the Good Samaritan Law regardless of the patient's past actions." He added.
"Like I said, there is always a loophole when you know where to look. Society is full of contradictions. That's why I can't stand most notions of Society because those same notions can cause contradictions. Sure, it's against the law to aid a known criminal. But the same law protects those who only wish to help someone in need, even if the person doesn't want your aid." Cole said. "So, while your laws vandalize those who aid criminals, it also protects those who aid them if those criminals seek aid willingly. It's an example of a legal loophole. You can't arrest me for aiding a known criminal without getting slammed with me acting under the Good Samaritan law. Which means I get to walk out those doors scott free, or else your own laws will be called into question." He said. "And if you do arrest me, it only proves my whole point right: That society doesn't care if a serial killer wants to change; they'd sooner rather said killer be shot to death in a firing range." Cole concluded.
"This...this isn't over. I'll find some way to arrest you legally without you getting out of it because of some loophole." General Hightop said.
"I look forward to seeing you try. So long as my acts of aiding serial killers happen on US soil, you can't touch me." Cole said.
However, one thing no one expected was that the moment Cole stepped out of those doors, he was shot by a sniper. It didn't take the UNA long to find the sniper and arrest him. Cole was able to ultilize a loophole, showing just how mendable the law really could become under those who knew how to use it. But for this, there was no defense against it. It was murder. Plain and simple.
Still, General Hightop wanted to confirm for himself about Ere, so Rob escorted him towards Ere. However, during the questioning, a massive earthquake struck, caused by a rampaging Nidoking. This rampage killed everyone in that building who didn't make it out in time, which included Ere and several others. Even if Elise was a different person, they shouldn't have just died like that. However, Rob and I were being tasked to go after the next time stone first, as it like the Nidoking, was on the move. General Hightop decided to put some UNA spies on the Nidoking's trail to see where it goes. But little did anyone realize just who; or rather what; that nidoking was really like.
This wouldn't be the last time we would see Cole though. But that's for another time.
Author's Note
Yeah you know it's a big deal when I use profanity to describe how big something is.
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Beyond Earth Era: Time Stone Hunt - Built to Tank
Disappointment is disappointing; if that three word summery doesn't describe what we had to go through to get the Cyan Time Stone, then let me just do as much detail as I can think of: When we followed the trail of the time stone Expert had us chase, we discovered that it had been picked up by a Thunder Roc monster. Most likely it had traveled from one of the monster video game worlds. But Rob kept insisting that what master video game it came from was not as important as getting the time stone itself. I would've begged to differ, but there was little time before Rob starting firing away at the Thunder Roc. With his powers and my speed punches, it really didn't take much if anything to ground that thing. It was promptly captured by the UNA while we grabbed the Cyan Time Stone. Like I said: Disappointment is disappointing.
"Now that six of the seven time stones have been collected, I can use my computer to pinpoint the exact location of the seventh one." Expert said.
"How can you be so sure on that?" Aaron asked.
"Because, with six time stones in one place, my computer will be able to use their combined energy signature to find the last one with pin-point accuracy." Expert said. "And I'm done." He said.
"That was fast." Aaron said. "Wait a second..." He did a double take.
"...General Hightop, where did you last say those UNA spies tracked that Nidoking to again?" Expert asked.
"Dear god...that Nidoking has the last time stone!" General Hightop said. "Try not to kill that thing if you can, the UNA is going to want some words with it. But if it comes between Scootaloo's life and capturing that thing, prioritize the filly." He ordered.
"Hopefully, it doesn't have to come to any of that." Scootaloo said.
Oh how naive that was for me to say just then.
It didn't take long for Rob and Scootaloo to find the lair of the Nidoking.
"Hmph. Didn't I see you at that place I demolished?" The Nidoking asked.
"There were people inside that place you demolished." Rob told the Nidoking.
"Oh go cry me a river." Nidoking said.
"Excuse me?" Scootlaoo was not happy to hear that.
"Those people should've never been in a place scheduled to be demolished." Nidoking said.
"No it wasn't. It was still being used." Rob said.
"Doesn't matter in the end does it? Those people are dead because they couldn't get out in time." Nidoking said.
"Just who are you?" Scootaloo asked.
"Call me Tank." The Nidoking said.
"Well then Tank, looks like we're going to rumble. Because you have something I want, and I have the feeling you ain't about to just hand over that gemstone you have." Rob said.
"You would guess correctly." Tank said.
Defensive Master
However, it seems that Tank's name was very much warrented: Rob and Scootaloo did their best to damage him, but not even Rob's most powerful non-lethal attacks did next to nothing.
"There's no denying this: Tank is a tank." Rob said.
Scootaloo remembered something Cole said: About how even the strongest tanks will fall when you find that glaring weakness. And that gave Scootaloo an idea to try and use Tank's defenses against him. Unfortunatly, she was captured before she could even try.
"Such a puny little one. How easy it would be to squeeze you into a pile of goo." Tank said.
Something strange seemed to happen just then. One moment, Scootaloo was sure she was then squeezed to death by Tank in the most literal way possible, but then the next moment, suddenly Tank was shot by a powerful blast coming from all seven time stones at once without her dying in the process.
"What the...what just happened?!" Scootaloo exclaimed.
"Whoa...when did the seventh time stone suddenly join with the others?" General Hightop said over the radio.
"It must have sensed the other six nearby and joined up. But according to my readouts here, it seems something was just altered to the point where it no longer happened." Expert said.
These things can change the course of history?! Scootaloo thought to herself. Now she really knew these shouldn't ever be used by villains.
"But what could have just been altered, and will we ever know?" General Hightop asked.
Don't plan on telling you that I was killed by this Nidoking. Scootaloo thought to herself.
"This guy cares nothing for the value of life. Even if I have all seven time stones, it's clear that he kills just for the fun of it." Rob said.
"Tch. Not sure how you got that time stone away from me. But my boss is gonna be peeved." Tank said. "I'm outta here." He said.
"Your not going to get away that easy." Rob said before he suddenly used Hyper Beam to cause a lot of damage in a quick succession. While Tank was very much still alive, he was very bruised.
"Ouch...that actually hurt." Tank said.
"This is going to hurt more." Scootaloo said before picking up Tank by his tail, spinning him around, before throwing him at a wall.
"OW! Now that's REALLY smarts..." Tank said.
"...I think he's safe to bring in now." General Hightop said.
Suddenly a strange black portal opened up and swallowed up Tank. "What was that?!" Rob exclaimed.
"No idea." Scootaloo said.
I won't forget that Tank said he was working for someone. And that was someone we'd encounter soon enough...
Author's Note
In the original script, Zapper is the one that joins Rob for the fight against Tank. As such, he is the one that gets saved by the Time Stones rewriting history so his death never really happens. Even if Scootaloo is being substituted here, the same principle applies as to why this chapter does not have a death warning: While there are mentions of death, because said death is essentially rewritten to never happen, no one really dies as a result. However, a major change her is that while Scootaloo is aware that history just got rewritten as is Rob (even if he hides it yet hints at it), Zapper would not be aware that history got rewritten. However the rest of the cast still doesn't know that history got rewritten outside of Expert who says "something got rewritten" without specifing what. Not even his machines can tell him that someone's death was rewritten.
And before anyone calls this being a deux ex machina moment and calls the Time Stones too OP; it is said in Sonic CD that they can control the very fabric of time itself so...
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Beyond Earth Era: The Creation Crystal - The Hunt Begins
"Now that Rob has all seven time stones, their powers might prove useful. That crystal Rob touched from before is known as the Creation Crystal. Unfortunately, all the pieces of it scattered for some unknown reason." Expert said.
"Is that thing important?" General Hightop asked.
"Somewhat. If someone gathers up all the shards, they'll be able to make the completed crystal do whatever they wanted it to do before it planted itself in the ground." Expert said.
"...You do realize that that could spell trouble, right?" General Hightop asked.
"On the plus side, if some evil force got a hold of the pieces, after two hundred years once the full crystal was used, the planted crystal would send a subliminal message to whoever has their hearts set on wanting to protect the innocent and restore hope." Expert said.
"...But that would mean dealing with two hundred years of being ruled over by whoever did find the shards. So you do realize how that's not better, right?" General Hightop asked.
"...Guess you do have a point." Expert said.
"No worries. Scootaloo and I can find the shards easily." Rob said.
"How exactly are you going to find them if you don't know what they look like?" General Hightop asked.
"Hey, I found this thing outside." Aaron said, holding a glowing crystal shard as he came in.
"...That is a Creation Crystal Shard." Expert noted. "And that one will be able to track the others on it's own." He added.
"...I missed something didn't I?" Aaron asked.
"Just give that shard to Rob and I'll fill you in." General Hightop said.
"This'll be a nice relaxing change of pace." Rob said, grabbing the shard.
"Don't jinx us!" Scootaloo said.
Rob and Scootaloo used the first shard to guide them to Royal Planet. There, it was discovered that the Ghost World royals had the crystal, so it was easy to convince them to hand it over considering Rob helped saved the world from Dr. Dalfino not to mention the entire planet from being blackmailed by Dr. Krono.
This allowed the duo to reach the third shard, which was located somewhere in Johto. This allowed Rob to take Rachet along for the ride.
"Been a while since we were here." Rachet said.
"Yeah. Not since my whole thing of needing to keep my powers down so I could do hero work again." Rob said.
"Why did you even need to do that?" Scootaloo asked.
"Seven words: Over exposure to the Maximum Overdrive state." Rob answered.
"Oh. That thing that makes you float normally or something." Scootaloo said.
"Actually, that state puts not only my physical attributes but also my magical attributes into overdrive. It's not pleasant on the body." Rob said.
"Oof. What made using it so much a good idea?" Scootaloo asked. "Oh wait, that's right: Somehow Dr. Dalfino merged the real world with the world of the Justice League Cartoon show and caused you and Super Man to basically fight it out for a while. Though, I'll never get over the fact that Victoria basically sacrificed herself to stop you from getting affected by that thing that makes you experince the worst pain possible over all your nerve receptors at once and then multiplies that by a thousand." Scootaloo said.
"That's not what caused that. I just wanted to fix what Dr. Dalfino had caused as quick as possible." Rob said.
"Right. That was after that." Scootaloo said.
"But thanks for the emotional scar there." Rob said sarcastically.
Wow, he's even sarcastic like Rainbow Dash is. No wonder she digs this guy. Scootaloo thought to herself. But then blinked. Wait, if Rainbow Dash likes this guy so much, why doesn't she go after him instead of Soarin? Scootaloo thought to herself.
"Wait, your kidding right?" Rob asked as they got the next shard. "I think these shards are saying the next one is in...Mirage Oasis!" Rob suddenly exclaimed.
"Uh...is that sufficiant?" Scootaloo asked as Rob pulled out a strange locket that was in the shape of a heart. And when Rob opened it up, Scootaloo noticed what was inside.
More then that, she heard Rob's thoughts. It looks like it's time Patra. Time for us to meet again. You said we'd meet again one day, and we will sooner then you think. I hope to see you soon. Rob said.
Scootaloo then faced hooved. Of course! Why didn't I think of it sooner? Rob's already got his special somepony. Meaning he's fully taken. Duh! Scootaloo thought to herself.
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Beyond Earth Era: The Creation Crystal - Meeting Patra (Death Warning)
You know, I just thought of something: If Patra gave Rob that locket, does that mean she has feelings for him? It's pretty obvious that they'll get together in the end. Which sucks for Rainbow Dash I bet. She would've totally tried to get in with him. Scootaloo thought as she and Rob headed for the Warp Zone. Scootaloo then blinked. Wait, but then he might see that as her just fangirl crushing over him. Ouch. She added to her thoughts.
"Here we are Scootaloo, this is Mirage Oasis. One of the creation crystal shards is here no doubt." Rob said.
"So, we going to go say hi to Patra while we're here?" Scootaloo asked.
"You know me well." Rob said. "And we won't have to look far." He added as they came up close to a village next to a giant Egyptian themed castle.
"Whoa. Wonder who lives in there?" Scootaloo asked.
Rob pointingly said nothing as he noticed a few anubian jackals chatting away with each other. One wore a dress Scootaloo recognized. "You'll learn. I spy Patra." Rob said.
"Wow. She's pretty friendly." Scootaloo said.
"You have no idea." Rob said as he went up to the three female jackals.
"Hey Patra, whose that coming up to us?" One of them asked.
"Rob? When did you get here?" Patra asked.
"Just now. Been a while since I last saw you." Rob said.
"That's not really my fault. I've got my paws full you know. I was just chatting with a couple of my friends here." Patra said.
"Heh. Still a social butterfly like nobody I've ever seen; seeing as you've made friends with just about all the citizens." Rob said.
I doubt this Jackal could give Pinkie Pie a run for her money in the making friends department. Scootaloo thought.
"Yeah. I'm still trying to become a high priestess you know? So I'm bound to become a little busier than normal." Patra said.
"How busy can you possibly be right now?" Scootaloo asked.
"Oh wow!" Patra noticed Scootaloo at that. "She's SO cute! Rob, where did you find her?" Patra asked.
"I found her passed out in the forest." Rob said.
Can you stop her from hugging me to death now, Rob? Scootaloo thought to herself before Patra let go of her own accord.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. Pray tell, what name do you go by?" Patra asked Scootaloo.
"Scootaloo." Scootaloo said.
Patra curtseys. "Well it is a delight to meet you Scootaloo. I am Patra. If you hadn't noticed already, I am a bit of a social butterfly. And that's despite of my responsibilities to Mirage Oasis." She said.
"Responsibilties?" Scootaloo asked out loud.
"I bet you were curious about the giant castle here in Mirage Oasis yes? To tell you the truth, it belongs to the royal family. Of whom, I am the current Princess of." Patra said.
Scootaloo's eyes went wide. So not only is she a social butterfly, she's also a Princess?! And to top it all off, she and Rob are so going to become a couple?! And I thought this sort of thing only existed in fairy tales. She thought to herself. Yeah...no one can compete with a Princess. One whose willing to become friends with whoever they want regardless of social demographic. Scootaloo thought to herself. She blinked. Whoa...how the heck do I know about that? She added to her thoughts.
Her thoughts were interupted by a loud roar. "Oh dear, not again." Patra said.
"What's going on?" Rob asked.
"It's this giant spider known as Arachne. No matter what my soldiers do to it, it just keeps coming back for more." Patra said. "It's like it's unkillable." She added.
"I'll handle this for you Patra. But then I'm going to look for something that's around here okay?" Rob said.
"Alright...just be careful." Patra said.
Scootaloo felt a pang in her chest. I'm not supposed to like the mushy stuff but...dang it, can it be more obvious she's perfect for him? Scootaloo thought to herself.
Rob and Scootaloo approached Arachne to start a Boss Fight .
Scourge of the Oasis
...Or as much of a boss fight as one could call it that. After doging a few bones Arachne threw, Rob just started unloading all his magic spells onto Arachne at once. Didn't take long for the skull to be destroyed and reveal the spider's true face and not long after that before that Spider started to flee.
But Rob wouldn't let up, he just kept spamming his spells until Arachne suddenly curled up onto itself.
"Was that nescessary?!" Scootaloo exclaimed.
"S-sorry. Maybe I overdid it a little. I just...I just thought about stopping him from thinking about attacking the city again." Rob said.
"Rob, it's okay." Patra said. "If anything, by killing Arachne, you have finally stopped it's snackings." She said.
"Wait what?" Scootaloo asked.
"Arachne was no stranger to coming into the village and eating one of my citizans whole. I guess I forgot to mention that?" Patra said, sheepishly at the end.
Scootaloo facehooved. That would've been nice to know before hand, Princess. Scootaloo thought to herself. Still, at least it made Rob's killing of Arachne actually--
Suddenly with a roar, Arachne came back to life, skull reformed and everything. "What the..." Scootaloo said.
"This spider...I think I have a good idea on why it's like this." Rob said before destroying the skull again. This time, he stopped before he then slammed from up high right into Arachne, making it spit up one of the Creation Shards which Scootaloo picked up.
"That is so gross...but how did you know?" Scootaloo asked.
"Was wondering why it took so much of my magic to kill it once before." Rob said. "Now this should be a lot easier! I doubt General Hightop can blame me for killing a spider that mercissly eats citizans whole." He said before he suddenly used the Chaos Sword to behind the spider in one clean slice, ending the threat once and for all for real this time.
"I would've never have guessed that such a tiny object was the reason our kingdom had no luck against Arachne. The spider must have stumbled across it and ate it; mistaking it for food." Patra said.
"You don't mind if we take it right? It's what I was after here in the first place anyways." Rob said.
"Considering you just stopped a monster that had been slaughtering my people? You may take shard with you. But, I do insist that you at least stay the night here. And enjoy a banquet." Patra said.
"You know I don't like being put on a pedestal." Rob said.
"Again, you just stopped a mass murderer. Giving you a banquet to fill your tummy before you leave is the least Mirage Oasis can do for saving us from sleepless nights." Patra said. "Oh, and I guess me too. Seems you saved me again Rob." She said before she went up to Rob and kissed his cheek.
Scootaloo wanted to make a face, but found she couldn't. W-why am I not grossed out by this? This mushy stuff should be getting to me... She thought to herself.
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Beyond Earth Era: The Creation Crystal - Demon of Hate
"Damn it, how? How did you get out of my maze?" An anubian Jackal asked, now handcuffed.
"It wasn't easy, but then again, I used to do mazes in my head all the time. This was just not an easy one." Rob said.
"My maze was supposed to be impossible to beat." The jackal said.
"Well I can't believe you of all people would stoop to such a level, uncle Laris." Patra said. "And right after we just celebrated Rob's victory over our most long standing foe Arachne as well." She added.
"Stupid freaking justice hero. I was close to devoloping a way to destroying that spider, and now he gets all the glory." Laris said.
"Well you know what they say: You were a day late and a dollar short." Rob said.
"A one liner? Really? At least it fits." Scootaloo said.
Patra giggled. "I think his one liners a little cute personally~" She said.
"Oh boy..." Scootaloo said.
"Well the good news, is your uncle seemingly had a lot of the shards I've been looking for." Rob said. "I'm only missing the one now." He added.
"So, guess this is goodbye again." Patra said.
"Hey, next time it'll be your turn to come see me. I promise." Rob said as he and Scootaloo left.
Patra smiled at them. "I promise the same." She said.
Okay, can it be any more obvious just how compatible the two are? Twilight would have a field day with this. Scootaloo thought to herself thinking back to Patra.
"So, the last shard is...here? But this is where Tank was." Rob said.
"But we didn't see it on his person the last time we saw him." Scootaloo said. "Then again, maybe he dropped it." She added.
"Maybe." Rob said before picking up the shard which was just lying there on the ground. Suddenly, before him and Scootaloo, a strange black shadow figure emerged.
"ArE yOu ThE oNeS wHo DeFeAtEd TaNk?" The strange shadow before them asked.
"That was us." Scootaloo said.
"ThEn YoU dIe..." The shadow figure said.
Demon of Hate
Now this was an actual boss fight. The mysterious shadow figure was using elemental attacks out the wazzo: Fire, Lightning, Ice, Water, Earth, Wind, Light, Darkness, and Elementaless...you name it, it was being sent towards the two heroes.
Of course, Rob was able to match this blow for blow, before the shadow figure suddenly transformed into a giant scorpian, which acted just like it should mostly, though the heroes mostly dodged it and then delt damage.
However, after that, the strange shadow morphed into what looked like a demon. "A demon? We were fighting a demon?!" Scootaloo exclaimed.
"Ouch...god my skin is burning. Normally, my skin doesn't burn from magical attacks. How can this be possible? Who are you mortals?" The demon asked.
"I'm Rob Snowden; I'm a justice Hero." Rob said.
"And I'm Scootaloo. But I don't see how it's my magics that are burning your skin." Scootaloo said.
"It was the human's magic that was burning my skin. What did you do? Normally magic doesn't do that to me. Nothing does really. The only way you could do that to me is if you had some kind of overwhelming amount of love within you." The Demon said.
"I don't get what your talking about, but I ain't about to let you take the creation crystal shards away from us." Rob said.
"Wait what? How many of those things do you have?" The Demon asked.
"Why should we listen to a demon?" Scootaloo asked.
"I may be Astrotle Mondoli, the Demon of Hate, but even I wouldn't dare bring all those shards together under one location. You have to destroy those things now..." Astrotle Mondoli said before suddenly a strange ball of complete and utter darkness appeared, but it was not Gorzon because it was floating.
"The hell is that?!" Scootaloo said before she and Rob beat up the ball of darkness.
"That was just some facimile." Rob said.
"Sure, it was one I created, but that was just to warn you. I may not like you mortals, but you are messing with something you can't handle." Astrotle Mondoli said before he vanished.
"Hmm...I find it hard to trust anything a demon said, but..." Crusader said. "I don't need too. My sword is reacting to something made of pure evil and despair residing in these shards." He said.
"Well then for the time being, the UNA will keep them under it's roof seperated just in case." General Hightop said. "By the way, I heard about the situation with Arachne. Normally, using deadly force without permission is frowned upon but...given the fact that it was eating civilians mercilessly without a care in the world...I think the UNA can overlook this even if you didn't know that information before hand." He added.
"I just reacted. I could tell Patra really was fed up with that spider for some reason. So I just...reacted." Rob said.
"Even a Metahuman jumps the gun every now and again it seems. I guess that just further shows how alike humans and Metahumans can be in the end. I'm not afraid to admit that I've reacted that way because my own feelings clouded my judgement. So I suppose the fact that you let your emotions cloud your judgement like that, only proves that despite all your powers, your still like everyone else." General Hightop said.
"Oh? I think I'm picking up Krono's energy readings from outside." Aaron said.
"Seriously? Call him DOCTOR Krono." Rob said.
Little did any of us know what awaited us this day...
To Be Continued
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Beyond Earth Era: Saving a Friend - Arrivals
"This took a lot of work, but it's finished." General Hightop said. Before everyone was a tall building.
"It's huge." Scootaloo said.
"It has to be. This is going to be the headquarters of the Justice Hero Foundation from this point forward." General Hightop said. "Though Expert refused to let us move any of his equipment, let alone copy it to make a lab for him here."
"Expert's better off in his bunker. His computer network is linked to Deca anyways, so there's no shortage of information." Rob said.
"But what if we need him for anything specific?" General Hightop asked.
"I can notify him if there's something that requires his direct attention; no cause for alarm there." Deca said.
"Hmph. Did you really have to make it so big?" A familiar male voice said. Everyone turned towards the voice to see Shadow Rob.
"Shadow Rob. Is there a reason for your visit?" Rob asked.
"Not really. But you're going to have more visitors than just me very soon." Shadow Rob said.
Aaron was about to ask when he noticed the Devil Chaos Chao mech landing nearby, with Dr. Krono soon exiting the mech in question. "Krono is here?" Aaron said.
"How many times do I got to tell you it's DOCTOR Krono?! Show him some respect." Rob said.
Wow, Rob is really passionate about that. I don't blame him though. Scootaloo thought to herself.
Dr. Krono couldn't help but chuckle. "Actually, calling me Doctor Krono isn't really out of respect anymore." The chao said before getting out an official doctor's license. "Ta-Dah!" Dr. Krono said.
"Dang, that was actually fast." Scootaloo said.
"Didn't take long for me to get recognized in my field of study. You're looking at the first ever researcher of Chao behaviors, lore, and in-depth biology." Dr. Krono said.
"Well, congratulations. You've certainly earned the recognition." Rob said.
"He's not the only one coming." Shadow Rob said.
That's when everyone noticed Patra coming up. "Oh look, how cute~" Patra said before suddenly hugging Shadow Rob, making Rob start laughing.
"Let go of me..." Shadow Rob said.
"Huh? Wait..." Patra looked over at Rob.
"...It's a long story. Short version: Some sort of device created a Shadow Pokemon clone of me, and I just so happened to have been a Victini at the time." Rob said.
"Wow. Your still cute though." Patra said.
"I am NOT cute." Shadow Rob said.
"Oh, I am loving the embarrassment Patra is dealing to Shadow Rob." Zapper said.
"Wish I could just take you with me to Mirage Oasis, but that wouldn't be advised." Patra said. "Anubis is wanting to have me do the High Priestess test soon. Which will involve, sadly, six months with only meager supplies and no one to keep me company."
What? But, doesn't she and Rob get together in the end?! I don't get it. Scootaloo thought. Rob doesn't look happy, got to salvage this somehow.
"Well, it's only six months right? And then your free to see Rob whenever, right?" Scootaloo asked.
Patra giggled. "I'll make sure to come and visit as often as I can. Or he can even come visit me as much he possibly can too. Mirage Oasis will always welcome the slayer of Arachne into the palace." She said.
"Oh. I guess it won't be too bad then." Rob said. He looked a lot happier now. "Plus, I've got your locket. So long as I've got that with me, you'll always be on my mind." He added.
"You promise you'll never forget?" Patra asked.
"If I ever start to forget, all I'll need is one look at the locket you gave me, and I'll be reminded of your smile, your cheerful attitude, and how nicely you treat commoners." Rob said. "That much I can promise. And I'll make sure to keep it close to me." He added.
Good. Maybe now the gap where Rob goes missing for five whole years will be gone. And he and Patra can live happily ever after in six months. Scootaloo said.
However, Shadow Rob looked at Scootaloo. She could feel him in her mind. What are you talking about? Five years? What are you on about? Shadow Rob 'said' to Scootaloo.
Scootaloo knew it was telepathy. That's not important. Not anymore. She 'said' to Shadow Rob.
Before the Shadow Victini could inquire further, everyone noticed there was a UFO on it's way to collide with the new building. "I GOT IT!" Rob said, before he used his powers to stop the UFO in it's track and get it down gently. Soon, coming out of it, was a very weak looking Veronica.
"H-help me..." Veronica said before she suddenly passed out.
"We got to get her to Expert; he'll know how to heal her." Zapper said.
Scootaloo's blood went cold. What was going on? She knows Veronica is an ally of the Justice Hero Foundation, and had her own child, but she looked like she was dying from massive pain. This is what happens when she only knows the surface details of Rob's tale. And now she's worried that upon trying to change history for Rob's happiness with Patra, she's caused events to happen that will take away Veronica's life.
Author's Note
In case you couldn't tell, I managed to get the dress up victini flash game working, and recreated Shadow Rob's reference pic in it. Progress!
Also, before anyone is down in the comments brings it up, yes I know the sonic games where Chao are present, they give the basics on how Chao raising work, but they only give you the surface level stuff. There's a lot more to chao then just the basics the games give you.
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Beyond Earth Era: Saving a Friend - Back in Time
Expert was examining Veronica. He had a sour look on his face. "Well, I hate to say it, but it's too late to help her." Expert said.
"What?! How can you say that?!" Scootaloo exclaimed, growing more worried.
"It's the cybernetics attached to her body. Her body has been becoming poisoned. And I doubt the rest of her colony has fared any better. I wouldn't be surprised if she's all that remains now." Expert said.
"Wait, are you saying because of her kind using those cybernetics to take back Alternate Earth, the entire race of Hives will die out?!" Rob exclaimed.
"That is what I'm saying. It takes years to remove cybernetics as embedded as this. Years Veronica does not have. As she doesn't have years, only minutes." Expert said.
"Are you saying she's not going to last that much longer?" General Hightop asked.
"That is what I'm saying yes. I'm surprised she's lasted this long to be honest with you. But, this is the end of the road for her." Expert said.
"Dammit..." Rob said, before he hit a nearby wall. "DAMMIT! The one time I want to help someone, and I can't. We can't change the past, only the future." Rob said.
"There are times when we wish we could change history. But it is impossible. As much as I hate to admit it, we'd need a miracle to change the course of Alternate Earth's history." Aaron said.
"If only I had the power to do that; I'd go back in time and stop the humans of Alternate Earth from ever creating their cyborg army." Rob said.
That was when suddenly, the Time Stones flew out of Rob's pocket, and began glowing. "Wh-what's going on? They've never done this before." Expert said.
"Thought this was obvious. Did you fools forget? The Time Stones control the very fabric of time itself." Dr. Krono said. Suddenly, the time stones created a portal.
"That looks like...Alternate Earth but...not cybernetic." Aaron said.
"Like I said, the Time Stones can control time itself. They are responding to Rob's wish to save Veronica's life by changing history." Dr. Krono said. "Only Rob and Scootaloo can go through the portal so they can fix Veronica. This may be the only chance we have of saving her life." He said.
"But what will happen if he does that? Will we suddenly be in some alternate timeline?" General Hightop asked.
"I doubt the Time Stones will allow Rob to fix Alternate Earth's past without causing a ripple effect that will change some aspects of the greater multi-verse around us. But I also doubt that they'll bring Rob back to some timeline he knows nothing about." Dr. Krono said. "He would not wish for that." He said.
"But then Veronica--" Aaron began to argue.
"The Time Stones will fix her history; just not ours. Rob wants to change Veronica's past. Not ours. So it will not effect the rest of us. Don't you understand something as simple as that?!" Dr. Krono exclaimed.
"I trust you, Dr. Krono. I'm going to save Veronica." Rob said.
"Yeah. I'm going to help. Plus, we have the Chaos Sword, so we'll be golden." Scootaloo said.
"...Very well. I can see no reason to stop you. I only have one order for you on this endevor." General Hightop said.
"Yeah? What's that?" Rob asked.
"Don't you dare die in the past. That is my only order. I leave whatever you do up to you. Do whatever you need to save Veronica. Even if it means using Deadly Force." General Hightop said.
"General Hightop..." Rob said. He smiled. "...Your a good general." He added before jumping through the portal with Scootaloo close behind.
"I can use my intruments to measure Rob's progress." Expert said. However, he never got the chance. Something suddenly caused everything to become frozen in place. As if time had stopped moving entirely.
At least in the present.
Rob and Scootaloo came out nearby a giant Beehive building. "What in the world?" Scootaloo said.
"Okay, now I've seen the strangest thing ever." Rob said simply.
"This is the hive?" Scootaloo said.
"Halt human! You have no business here." It was Veronica, uncyborg, and younger then she was before.
Rob decided to play it cool. "I'm Rob Snowden, I'm a Justice Hero." Rob said.
"Justice...hero? You speak strange words for a human." Veronica said.
"Wait, don't do anything..." Scootaloo paused to think of an excuse. "...We're from a totally different planet. We heard there was some bad stuff going on with the humans on this planet. We're here to stop them." She said.
"...Forigners huh? Why should I trust you?" Veronica asked.
Scootaloo bit her lip. But then, Rob suddenly tacked Veronica to the ground, just in time for a stray dart to wiz past where she was and hit the nearby wall of the hive. "...That came out of nowhere." Scootaloo said.
"Another human assissin. They have been growing in number lately." Veronica said. "How did you notice he was even there, stranger?" She asked.
"I've been through enough to be able to just tell things like that. But that looked like some sort of andriod, not a human." Rob said.
"...Then the humans ARE up to something. Your help will be greatly appreciated, Mister Rob." Veronica said.
"Wait, that got you to trust us?" Scootaloo asked.
"Hive rule number 7: No one who would save a life could ever be evil." Veronica said.
"Yeah. I do my best not to kill anyone if I end up fighting someone. But, I've come to realize that's not always the case. I wish I didn't have to kill those that are just not able to be saved." Rob said.
"You may be a forigner, but your words speak as if you are a Hive. I shall accompany you, Rob. And we shall stop the humans of my planet from--" Veronica was saying.
"Hey, what's this?" Scootaloo asked. She was in front of a dead body. It looked like it's been there for a few weeks.
Veronica went pale at the sight of it. "M-mother?!" She said.
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Beyond Earth Era: Saving a Friend - Revelations
Scootaloo felt her blood run cold again. If this was Veronica's mother, and the body has been here for a few weeks, then that could only mean one thing: The one Veronica took out on the Cyborg Hives' was never her mother to begin with; it was an imposter.
"...I've got a bad feeling about this." Rob said.
"This can't be real...I just saw my mother this morning. But the decay...this body's been here a week." Veronica said.
"It means that who you just saw this morning was an imposter. Am I right, Rob?" Scootaloo asked.
"Your on the right track Scootaloo. But I have a feeling there's more here then a simple imposter plot." Rob said. "That over there, that looks like a machine factory."
"So close to our hive? I don't understand." Veronica said.
"We should check it out." Rob said.
Scootaloo followed close behind.
The group heard voices from inside. "C'mon you lousy humans; if I want my plans to succeed, then I need a lot more cybernetics then this." A femine voice said.
"That...that sounds like mom." Veronica said.
"More like her replacement." Rob said.
"But there's no mistaking her voice for me. I've heard it since I was but a little grub." Veornica said.
"Yet, we just saw her dead body." Scootaloo said.
"Exactly Scootaloo." Rob said. "Glad somebody's paying attention."
"Wait, your saying something strange is going on?" Veronica asked.
"Your about to see exactly what." Rob said.
There were two humans inside, working a large conveyor belt. However, there was also what looked to be Veronica's mother. "Th-that's impossible." Scootaloo said.
"Exactly." Rob said. He suddenly launched a light spell into the building, which landed right at the copy's feet, before it suddenly blew up, creating a colom of light. This allowed the trio to enter the factory while the humans were gobsmacked.
"Di-did you do that?" One of the humans asked.
"We got to get out of here. That thing has been working us non-stop. Do us a solid, and stop it." The other human said before grabbing the other human and fleeing.
"What? Why did that human call--" Veronica said.
"Uh...Veronica? Look." Scootaloo said.
When Veronica did, she noticed the 'copy' was in fact a disguised android.
"This doesn't make any sense..." The Android said. "How did you; a mere human; manage to figure it out?" The android asked.
"You didn't cover your tracks very well. First off, the HIve's Queen's body was right outside their building, which pointed to the fact that there was a factory hidden behind their hive. What's more, based on the decay, that body is a few weeks old. When I overheard you saying something about Cybernetic parts, that's when I realized you were never a real flesh and blood living being. Because the biggest clue you left behind, the one that you really should've hidden, was that the body of Veronica's mother had clear signs of being machine made." Rob said.
Wait Rob noticed that of all things? Wait, why am I asking that question? It's the legendary Justice Hero I'm talking about here; of course he noticed something like that." Scootaloo thought to herself.
"Your very clever. For a human that is. And observant too. I have to applaud you for being able to figure it out." The android said. "Of course, that means I'm now going to have to kill you all." The android said.
Rob and the android fought for a while, while Scootaloo and Veornica tried to deactivate the factory. "Gah, this is so complicated." Scootaloo said.
"I know right! We're getting no where fast." Veronica said. Suddenly, the fight shifted towards the machines, which Rob slashed up.
"Ha! You missed!" The Android said.
"Did I?" Rob asked. "Who said I was aiming for you specifically there?"
"...You didn't..." The android said before the machines started to explode.
"I did. How do you like them apples?" Rob asked before he fired a spell that caused parts of the roof to cave in on the android. "We gotta get out of here." Rob said.
The trio fled the factory, and soon it blew up, causing the parts of the android to land nearby. The two humans from before soon approuched them.
"We...we were only trying to create an android with the ability to think for itself. But..." One of the humans said. "...But our superiors couldn't control it. It went rogue, and started to believe that anything that wasn't a machine was imperfect." He added.
"All we ever wanted was to make this world bettter. Make technology and nature co-exist in a perfect balalnce. But some others don't think the same way. They believe technology will lead this world to ruin." The other human said.
Well they're not wrong... Scootaloo thought to herself..
"After this, that side is going to call for a total recall on all technology. I expect us humans to get into a big war with one another over technology." The first human said.
"Spread this message please: Tell all the animals to stay out of this war." The second human said. The two humans then left.
"...Guess not all humans are evil." Veronica said.
"When you look deeper, you may find something surprising. This was something I didn't expect." Rob said. "History is written by the winners, but in this case, it'd be better if this was not covered up."
"Agreed." Scootaloo said. The time portal appeared before the duo. "...Looks like it's time for us to go." Scootaloo said.
"Hey, one of these days, I'm going to come visit you personally. I promise." Veronica said.
"I'll hold you to that." Rob said as he and Scootaloo entered the time portal.
Beyond Earth Era: Saving a Friend - Pieces
As the duo stepped through the portal, time resumed in the present day as Veronica began to glow a bright white. "Wh-what just happened." Expert said. "I have no explination for what just happened."
"Error. Time travel effects currently effecting software. Need time to reboot software." Deca said before she started rebooting.
"Why do I feel stiff?" General Hightop asked.
"It occurs to me, that there may have been a few side effects to the use of the time stones to create that time rift." Dr. Krono said. "I honestly should've expected this to happen. These are the time stones we are talking about."
"Wait, what's happening with Veronica?" Patra asked. Soon, Veronica stopped glowing. She was no longer a cyborg in the present day, and looked as if she was an older version of her past self.
"Facinating. It looks like history was successfully changed and nothing seems worse for wear." Expert said. "It seems the time stones are not to be underestimated."
"I'll probably try to avoid using them like that again. Too many changes to the past might cause some irrerrable damage." Rob said.
"Ugh...whoa. Trippy." Veornica said. "I've got two different sets of memories now. Is that wierd?" She asked.
"Guessing it's part of the side effects of using the Time Stones to correct history." General Hightop said.
"No doubt there." Dr. Krono said.
"Still...I can't believe it...my mother..." Veronica said.
"Yeah. So, big surprise: It turns out the one we saw Veronica push out of the Hive UFO from their little invasion was not really Veronica's mother." Scootaloo said.
"...I need a full report on what happened, stat." General Hightop said.
After a long period of explaining, General HIghtop sighed. "This...this is some shocking news to listen to." He said.
"Sometimes, the truth can be stranger then fiction. And that could never be more true then right now." Rob said.
"As much as I hate to admit it, you are right. This truth is stranger then the theories I had brewing." General Hightop said.
"But, what should we do with this information? Surely, we are the only ones aware of the real truth, considering the Time Stone's must've changed the memories of everyone who was not witness to the Time Portal." Aaron said.
General Hightop looked deep in thought. "...We keep this under wraps. Even from the big wigs in the UNA. This sort of power is something that we should keep a lid on. I will not allow these stones to be used for greedy purposes." General Hightop said.
"Perhaps that's for the best. We don't want the UNA to start breathing for further changes to history. No matter if there are some things in history we would prefer were changed." Expert said.
"Your thinking about the Holocost aren't you? Yeah, no doubt the UNA would want that whole thing flushed down the drain." General Hightop said.
"Erasing anything from World War 2 would cause the UNA to stop existing. So if they do find out, try telling them that. I'm sure that would shut them up in a hurry." Rob said.
"Hmph. For a Justice Hero, you can be quite devilish at times." General HIghtop said.
"I'm only saying the truth here." Rob said. "Messing with anything world war 2 related would stop the UNA from existing if you really think about it."
"That's a fair point I suppose." General Hightop said.
Back outside, soon Veronica came out of the UFO which was now much more organic and Bee themed then before with the parts of the android that Rob destroyed. "Here. I'm not excactly sure what I'd do with these, but I'd recommend keeping these in a place where the android can never be reactivated." Veronica said.
"I'll make sure to keep them under lock and key. Simply trashing them will not work." Rob said.
"Well, this has been a decent experience. Still, I better go get started on my six months." Patra said.
"I'll come visit you as soon as I have a free moment after six months, Patra." Rob said.
"I'll be waiting for you, Rob." Patra said. And then she left.
"Well, I've got to get back home myself. So I'll see you all later. Next time, I'll definatly be coming for a social call." Veronica said.
"I'm sure you can convince the other species to think about providing the JHF with some assistance when needed." Rob said.
"That won't be an issue. I think this new cobolaration between our earths will do wonders in the future." Veronica said. She then left herself.
"So, are you heading back Dr. Krono?" Scootaloo asked.
"Nah. I've got some free time. Besides, I owe Rob a debt I can never hope to repay. And not just because he saved my life." Dr. Krono said. "Plus, I have to start thinking of getting a mate of my own. And I'd like some time away from the Chao for that."
"Aren't Chaos Chao unable to breed though?" Rob asked.
"Maybe, but being the only intelligent chao...it can get lonely. Besides, I'll be making sure I do it ethically and with consent." Dr. Krono said. "I'm still a scientist after all." He added.
"Hey, your the Chao Researcher. You could easily just say you want to see what giving a chao intelligence will be like to see if that can further the species." Scootaloo said.
"Going to pass on that. I have zero idea on how a colony of sapient chao like myself would even function. So, I won't go there. Too many unknowns." Dr. Krono said.
"He has a point you know." General Hightop said.
"Thank you General." Dr. Krono said. "In the meantime while I sort things out, I'll be aviable for anything the JHF or UNA needs. Especially if that Dalfino pops up again."
"You know, I haven't heard from him for a while now. I did send Shadow Rob off to investage some wierd dark readings at Thunder Isles though. The Protection Spear's readings was sending me a warning signal that darkness was heading to Thunder Isles." Rob said. "Shadow Rob hasn't reported back yet though. And that was two days ago."
"In that case, I wouldn't mind visiting home. Scootaloo, want to come with me?" Zapper asked.
Scootaloo smiled. "Yeah, I could use the detox." She said.
Little did anyone know, that things were about to get chaotic.
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Beyond earth Era: Triple Threat Chaos - Making Mistakes
Author's Note
Outside of the intro here, the next two arcs are going to be first person view from Scootaloo's perspective.
Also, originally this arc was full of throw-away one-off boss fights. But I've scrapped all of them and will only be using the major fights with one lone exception.
Beyond earth Era: Triple Threat Chaos - Making Mistakes
What was I thinking? A voice over of Scootaloo's thoughts suddenly came up. I should've realized that Rob being Rob, something like this could've caused the five-year gap to happen regardless of if I salvaged his relationship with Patra or not...
Scootaloo was with Rob and Dr. Krono staring up at the largest multi-limbed mech the young pegasus had ever seen in her entire life. Seems a lot more happened in just two months rather than the full six. But I'm getting way ahead of myself. The voice over said. Let me back up here, to when me and Zapper had went to Thunder Isles...
Two months prior...
When Rob had informed me that his shadow self had went to Thunder Isles a few days ago and had not reported back, Zapper insisted that he and I should go to Thunder Isles to check things out. So, that's exactly what we did. A lot of residents were hiding out in their houses as we headed for Thunder Tower, where the Thunder Cheif resided. We began climbing the tower, but halfway up, we came across Shadow Rob.
"Shadow Rob? There you are." Zapper said.
"Wait." I said. Suddenly me and Zapper dodged an attack from Shadow Rob.
"Oh boy..." Zapper said. It seemed we were having to fight Shadow Rob.
Clone of Rob
Shadow Rob
Shadow Rob was using his usual shadow moves of Shadow Shining Flare, Shadow Storm, Shadow V-Create, and Shadow Fire.
As I had gotten a preview of how Shadow Rob fought from the VHS tape Expert had me watch, this made knocking Shadow Rob out relatively simple.
"Okay, what happened there just now?" Zapper asked.
"Not sure, but I don't think Shadow Rob did that of his own accord." I said. "Kind of looked like he was possessed somewhat."
"...Then I can already guess who's at the top." Zapper said as he and I continued up to the top of the tower.
I could already guess who would be up top as well, and sure enough, Zapper and I were both right: It was Gorzon.
"Well, look who the cat dragged in? If it isn't the banished Thunder Isle resident. You really shouldn't be here, you know. Don't want to be going up against your cheif's word now, do you?" Gorzon asked.
"That doesn't matter right now. Zapper is here to investigate the darkness readings the Protection Spear was giving Rob." Scootaloo said.
"Speaking of him, it was easy to use my dark magic to take control of that hero's shadow half. Honestly, it was quite pathetic. And honestly, he's just a joke. He could barely put up a fight against me, and you two easily overcame him." Gorzon said. "Seriously, that shadow clone should just take a hike."
"Don't diss him like that." I said.
"That Shadow Victini should just face it: He's nothing but a worthless copy. He'll never amount to anything." Gorzon said.
"That's it, your going down." I snapped at him.
"Go ahead, just try and defeat me." Gorzon said before he suddenly summoned a strange syth out of thin air. "Because heroes will always end up being stuck-up at the end of the day."
Shapeshifting Being of Darkness
Gorzon
Gorzon's usual magic blasts were on full in this fight it seemed: Fire, Lightning, Ice, Wind, Earth, Water, Holy, and of course, Darkness. All those spells were being used on Gorzon and I. However, getting close was no option this time, as the self-proclaimed "Master of Darkness" had a sythe now that he would swing if we got too close.
I didn't even know he had a sythe until now, but apperently, he did. He was just saving it for a real showdown. And he was pretty clever with it. After knocking down his health enough, he started imbuing the sythe with his magic thus turning the fight on it's head: Now we had to dodge an elementally charged weapon while still fightning Gorzon. Eventually though, we managed to defeat the shape shifter.
"You got lucky ths round. That's all. But next time, I'll be in full force. You haven't seen the last of me." Gorzon said before he vanished.
"I could've handled him on my own, thank you very much." The Thunder Cheif said.
"Seriously old man? We just saved your ass." Zapper snapped.
"I'm pretty sure I banished you. You should have never come back." The Thunder Cheif said.
"Now let's just both calm down--" I tried to defuse the situation.
"And you were going to end up becoming sliced sushi if I hadn't have come back. Ever think of that?" Zapper asked.
"I had that monster where I wanted him. You got in my way." The Thunder Cheif said.
"So this is how you thank someone after they save you? Grill them consantly?" Zapper asked. "Fine, if that's the way you want it..." Zapper walked over to the protection spear.
"Wait, don't remove that!" I said. Too late, Zapper dislodged the thing, threw it over the edge to the ground below Thunder Isles, and got us out of there using one of Rob's Return Discs to teleport us out of there.
"Zapper, what did you do? Why am I not recieving a singal from the protection spear at Thunder Isles anymore" Rob asked when we teleported in front of him.
"He did a bad thing." I said. I would then go into detail about exactly what happened.
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Beyond Earth Era: Triple Threat Chaos - Consequences
Author's Note
Friendly reminder: Both the rest of this arc, and the next one will be in first person P.O.V. from Scootaloo's perspective.
Beyond Earth Era: Triple Threat Chaos - Consequences
General Hightop and Aaron were both informed about what Zapper had done. The two were with Rob in some kind of meeting now.
"I really don't see what the big deal about removing the protection spear thing is about." Zapper said.
"Expert's records show that the protection spear is meant as a warning system in case evil goes near a location." Deca said.
"...Oh. Then be honest, how bad is it?" Zapper asked.
"Deca, how long has it been since the meeting began?" I asked.
"About three hours, give or take." Deca said.
Soon, Rob came out, but said nothing before he went off. "...Wonder if they've stopped?" Zapper asked.
"Doubt it. I can sense Rob is heading for Expert's lab which he has at least connected to the JHF building via a tunnel that requires a passcode to use. Rob has his own passcode to use for said passageway." Deca said.
"Guessing Rob's grabbing Expert then." I said. Rob soon came back with Expert, before they both went into the meeting room.
"You would be guessing right. I bet this is about the Protection Spears." Zapper said.
"So yeah, I'd say not good." I said. "I'll be shocked if your even allowed to continue being a JHF member after this."
A bit later, Expert left back to his lab. It took an additional two hours before the meeting finally ended.
"Let me just state this for the record: I was afraid something like this could happen at the end of the day." General Hightop said.
"Thankfully for the JHF, Rob assured us that this kind of action has it's consequences should it happen." Aaron said. "Rob has said that whenever a JHF member acts out like this, he'll personally see to the punishment of said member. After all, this sort of emotional outburst will not go unpunished."
"Which brings us to what the UNA represenatives have decided, and we agree should happen." Rob said. "Zapper, you are to get your things packed and move out of the JHF building by the end of the week; your membership is being terminated immediately."
"I called it." Scootaloo said.
"While I could excuse the occasional emotional outburst and give the JHF members a warning with some a punishment to try and ensure that such behavior is known to not be tolerated, you went beyond simply throwing a temper tantrum." Rob said.
"Rob assures us that regardless of what you could say in your defense, in your outrage over the Thunder Chief's behavoir, you had destroyed JHF property. And that has no excuse." General Hightop said.
"I don't care how mad you got with the Thunder Chief, you still dislodged the Protection Spear and threw it off the islands. I highly expect that when the spear hit the ground, it was broken." Rob said. "Such destruction of property will not be tolerated no matter what reason there is behind it. So I am personally terminating you from the JHF."
"Oof..." Zapper said.
Just then, Dr. Krono came running towards the group. "I found Dalfino's current hide out. That so called 'doctor' has a base on a mountain that overlooks the UNA's HQ building. If that's not a serious threat to the UNA, then I don't know what is." Dr. Krono said.
"The UNA must take action against this, but Dalfino has not been causing any trouble. We don't know what he's up to." General Hightop said.
"Then I'll go scout his lab. If I get attacked just for stepping foot into it, then I do have the right to defend myself." Rob said.
"That's true. If your only going to go look around there, and you get attacked for it, then that would be seen as a violent reaction to a non-violent action. At which point, self-defense would be auto-authorized so long as you don't go crazy." General Hightop said.
"Someone has to go with him then. I volunteer." I said.
"But that'll leave Zapper alone with Jester. And while I can trust Jester to stay behind here by himself, I don't know if Zapper should be here if neither Rob nor Scootaloo are here to keep an eye on him to make sure there's not further destruction of property." Aaron said.
"Hey, I'm only going to be getting my stuff is all." Zapper tried to defend.
"Trust not authorized. Scootaloo, your going to keep a close eye on Zapper to make sure he doesn't do any more funny business." General Hightop said.
"Phooey." Zapper said.
"That's what you get for ignoring me when I told you not to do anything with the spear." I said.
"Speaking of, since you did warn him not to mess with it, you not going to get punished Scootaloo. That was the easy decision to come to." Rob said.
"True, Expert confirmed that Deca recorded the incident in full. Which allowed us to see the incident in quesiton." Aaron said.
"Great job at keeping your cool by the way." General Hightop said.
"Err...thanks." I said.
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Beyond Earth Era: Triple Threat Chaos - Side Entrance (Profanity warning)
Scootaloo's P.O.V.
"Okay, what's with the dragon skull?" I asked.
"Normally, Dalfino just has a normal skull on one of his little fortresses. Not sure why it's a dragon's skull this time." Rob said.
"Who cares? Let's go in there and see what he's up to." Dr. Krono said.
"There's most likely a side entrance that'll lead straight to the lobby. Scootaloo, you and Zapper take that one." Rob said and went through the front entrance with Dr. Krono.
"Why am I getting stuck with you?" Zapper asked.
"Oh, I don't know; probably because of the fact that you destroyed JHF property." I said.
"You're not going to let that go, are you?" Zapper asked.
"I did tell you not to do anything irrational." I said as we entered the side entrance.
As soon as Zapper and I entered the side entrance, we were immediately attacked by some dinosaur modled robots. "Okay, what's with the dinosaur bots?" I asked.
"Hell if I know." Zapper said. "This is my first time actually fighting anything Dalfino has cranked out."
"Speaking of which, is it just me, or is that guy's name like three latters more than 'dino' which as we know is short for Dinoaur?" I asked as I bucked a robot into a nearby wall.
"Trust me, you're not the only one whose noticed." Zapper said.
"Rob's noticed it too then?" I asked.
"Who else?" Zapper asked.
However, after destroying all the robots, suddenly a giant one appeared. "What is this?!" I exclaimed.
"It's the Giant Dino Robot. Be ready for it!" Zapper said.
Utility Mecha
What shocked me however, was as soon as the thing came alive, Deca spat out a strange display.
Utility Mecha
"What is this?" I asked.
"It's my Power Level display. Expert thought it'd be helpful for you to know your opponet's power levels." Deca said. "The power level that's being displayed is my own personal readings of a foe's power level."
"Huh...that's neat to know." I said. I then battled the Giant Dino Robot for a while avoiding it's various attacks. However, after just a short while, it's head and arms flopped to the floor as the rest of it exploded. "Wait, there's a phase 2?!" I exclaimed.
This new form of the Giant Dino Robot subclassed "Rocket Fists" by Deca was much more difficult then the last form, but between Zapper and I, the new form was soon down for the count.
...Or so we thought. Soon, a single pod shot out from the head as it was destroyed, revealing that a Dino Robot was piloting the mech, and now it's pod was surrounded by a lot of crazy gadgets. Deca called this pod "Dino X".
However, because this was just a simple dino bot piloting the thing, the Dino X form of the Giant Dino Robot was just as easily defeated as the other two forms. "That...could've been a much tougher gauntlet." I said.
"Rob's only faced this three-stage version of the Gaint Dino Robot once before from my records. And even then, the Dino X form was somehow separate from the whole thing." Deca said.
"Dalfino must have put the whole thing together just know. I'd hate to see how Dalfino operates that thing." I said.
Heading through the door that was being guarded, we spotted Dalfino and Rob having a sword fight with each other. However, as I was looking at Dalfino, I noticed something strange. "Hey...does any one else notice the strange red aura around Dalfino?" I asked.
"Wait what?" Rob was shocked.
"YOU CAN SEE THAT?!" Dalfino said before he suddenly got Rob stunned and then quickly blew up the entrance Rob came out of. "Looks like it's time to bail in that case." Dalfino said, before he smashed through the window.
"Dalfino!" Dr. Krono yelled out, however, very shortly a Dragon was seen flying away from the base of the hillside this fortress was on.
Warning: Self-Destruct Sequence initiated... A computerized voice not belonging to Deca called out.
"We gotta run." Rob said as we fled the now self-destructing fortress.
We arrived back at JHF HQ. "Deca recorded the whole thing. But what was with that dragon?" General Hightop asked.
"Beats me. First time I've ever seen Dalfino utilize anything Draconic." Dr. Krono said.
"Same here." Rob pointed out.
"My records also agree with this." Deca said.
"...Huh. What are the odds?" Aaron asked.
"Doubtful this is just a coincidence. Scootaloo, you said you saw a red aura around Dalfino right?" Rob asked.
"Yeah, I did." I said.
"Funny thing is, while I could not sense any such aura myself, my power level scanner systems were returning an error reading on Dalfino's Power Level." Deca said.
"So something must've interferred with Deca's Power Level Readings then. But I saw no red aura either." Zapper said.
"Neither did I, but I doubt Scootaloo would lie like that." Rob said. "Perhaps, it's something only she can see."
"Perhaps..." General Hightop said when Deca suddenly sounded an alarm.
"Alert! Urgant news: Thunder Isles has become still and lifeless. Details unknown. Recommend immediate investigation!" Deca said.
"No...you don't think..." Zapper said.
"I do. Time to go help you clean up your mess, Zapper." I said.
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Beyond Earth Era: Triple Threat Chaos - Return to Thunder Isles
Scootaloo's P.O.V.
"But that doesn't make any sense at all!" Expert said. "I'll have to create something that will let Deca sense what Scootaloo sensed. I'll be in my lab if anyone needs me." He added before leaving.
We were all back at the JHF HQ. "Should we bother him?" Aaron asked.
"Doubt we should. But it does get me wondering about that dragon I know Scootaloo and Zapper saw same as me." Rob said.
"I can't really explain why I saw what I saw." I said.
"I was detecting a strange magic affecting my power scale level readings; something was preventing me from getting an accurate fix on Dalfino's Power Level." Deca said.
"So, the plot thickens." Rob said.
"Maybe someone here can talk some sense into the Thunder Lord into letting me back on the isles." Zapper said. "I mean, where exactly am I going to go?" He asked.
"I'm not making a promise I'm unsure if I can keep, but we can at least attempt that." Rob said.
"You sure you want to do that for him?" Aaron asked.
"Better he's back with his people." Rob said.
"...Why is that such a good point?" General Hightop asked.
"Because it is. I'll go with to provide extra coverage just in case the Thunder Lord tries to outright fry Zapper. He's already being punished enough sir." Aaron said.
"Fair enough." General Hightop said.
"I'll maintain contact with Expert, on the off chance we run into something big." Deca said. "And also the building as a whole."
"Then I'll stay here and monitor the communications." Jester said.
"Let's do this." Rob said but then Crusader limped into the room. "Whoa, who did this to you?"
"You've...got to come help...thunder isles...Delinquient...Delinqueint has..." Crusader got out before he passed out.
"...Delinquient?!" Rob exclaimed.
"But that's impossible! How'd he manage to upstate the Thunder Lord?!" Zapper exclaimed.
"...Looks like this diplomacy mission just turned into a rescue mission." Rob said.
"Your telling me the Speedster can't go to Thunder Isles?!" Aaron exclaimed as the Speedster was touching down near the Great Basin.
"Thunder Isles may exist in the cloud layer of earth, but it exists on a frequency none of your technology can ever touch." Zapper said.
"Also, General Hightop, as soon as we are done here, I want you to make sure this location of the Thunder Isles Portal stays off the UNA record. The Thunder Lord has made it clear that the portal's existence is too dangerous for the UNA to know about." Rob said over his transmission device. "I may trust you and Aaron both, but..."
"No buts. I understand his concern. I'll make sure I make no mention of where the Thunder Isles Portal Location is in my official report to the UNA council." General Hightops said.
"Thankfully for us, the portal seems to still be functional." I said.
"This is going to be difficult." Zapper said.
"How's Crusader?" Rob asked.
"Recovering. He did say to be careful. A dragon seems to be on Delinquient's side." Jester said.
"Maybe it was the same one we saw flying away from Dalfino's lair, with no doubt Dalfino on it's back." Zapper said.
"It?" Aaron quesiton.
"We don't know that dragon's gender. For all we know, that dragon could be a female one." Zapper said.
"...It was male. I don't know how I could tell, but it was male." I said.
"That's interesting actually, Crusader said he was attacked by a male dragon specifically." Jester said.
"Perhaps some species from a planet have come here." General Hightop said. "After all, to most earthlings, dragons are just a myth."
"Still, what are the odds?" I asked.
"...Too unlikely to just be a random coincidence." Rob said. "In we go."
On the other side, the group saw nothing but black glossy islands and the tower part linked to some kind of strange mini-castle.
"So...is this how Thunder Isles is supposed to look?" Aaron asked.
"No...something is very wrong here..." Rob said.
"This is not how Thunder Isles is supposed to look." Zapper said.
"Focus everyone. Let's check out that mini-castle." Rob said.
"You sure we should do that?" Aaron asked.
"What choice do we have?" I asked.
"...Fair point." Aaron said but then suddenly Gorzon appeared.
"Are you enjoying your time here, mortals?" Gorzon asked. "Because you should think twice before attempting to battle me out in the open like this."
"Oh yeah? And give me one good reason--" Rob began.
"Uh...guys..." Zapper said, noticing a statue of a person.
"...Wait...why is there a statue of the portal keeper here?" I asked.
"That isn't a simple statue...is it?" Rob asked.
"Good. You've already figured it out." Gorzon said.
"What you mean Rob?" Aaron asked.
"I mean that that statue is still a living innocent person. And I'm willing to bet each and every statue we see, is the residents turned to stone by whatever sorcery did all of this to begin with." Rob said.
"As much as I'd love to take credit for this...this is not my work. But, I'm more then willing to make sure you can't undo this in exchange for an oppertunity for revenge." Gorzon said. "And since you can't fight back, that puts me at an advantage."
"You say that like you expect to be fighting us at all." Rob said before going up to Grozon and blasting him at point blank range.
"Rob! What was that for?!" Aaron exclaimed.
"Trust me, Gorzon's already survived worse then a thousand mile drop." Rob said. The shape shifter turned into a hawk and flew off. "...Plus, he's a shapeshifter, so he can also just do that."
"...You knew that he'd do that the whole time, didn't you?" Aaron asekd.
"Something like that. But I was actually hoping he'd turn into a Dragon. But since he defaulted to a hawk on pure instinct...that means our dragon can only be in one location: The mini-castle." Rob said.
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Beyond Earth Era: Triple Threat Chaos - History
Scootaloo's P.O.V.
The mini-castle was full of dragon inspired archtechture. Or rather, that was to say, it looked very, very genuine for where I was.
"Who did a trading spaces with a genuine dragon?" Rob quipped.
"...A one liner? Now?" Jester asked.
"Holy...am I reading Deca's data on this architecture right?! This is all mint. All of it original." Expert said over the coms suddenly.
"But that's not possible. Draconic architecture this accurate should be impossible!" General Hightop said over coms.
"It is if your from my world." Scootaloo said.
"But this isn't from your world, or any other world for that matter. It's genuine earth models." Expert said.
"But that's even more impossible!" General Hightop said.
"...Maybe not..." Rob said.
"Rob?" General Hightop said.
"Another one of your deductions?" Aaron asked. "Always knew to rely on those when you have them. Saved my men a few dozen times."
"There's just one piece of evidence I need first." Rob said. "Or more accuretly, a speech."
"You always knew when I was near." Dalfino's voice said before a couple of torches lit up a throne with the portrait of a dragon that looked so detailed & life-like that it looked like it could jump out of the painting at any second. "I know your UNA friend is wired. So are all of you. I want the entire UNA to know about earth's forgotten history...around dragons." Dalfino said, now illuminated on the throne below the dragon portrait.
"General Hightop, I know you can hear me over the coms Rob's got himself, Aaron, and this pegasus filly hooked up with. So, since I now have your attention, allow me to list off some of your own history. While your more known for having a grandfather who fought on the side of the union during the american civil war, what no one talks about is how he has a twin brother. One who didn't fight in the war, but lived in Hampton. No one talks about him, because he died during that standstill that caused many to go hungry." Dalfino said.
"So you know about that. Then you know that my grandfather always wished he could've saved his brother." General Hightop said.
"But that's not the only part of your family history that lays dormat. Did you know that your mother was a former sovient union spy?" Dalfino asked.
"What?! But...but that's impossible! She never had any evidence towards that!" Genearl Hightop said.
"Because she defected once she fell in love with your father. She quickly buried and hid any traces of russian influence she had. Because she came to realize how pointless serving her boyfriend's enemies would make her lose the one thing she found here in america that should could not find in Russia. My point in bringing all this, is that it's easy to erase history...when history is written by the winners." Dalfino said.
"That old proverb?" Rob asked.
"But in the case of dragons...that proverb couldn't be more true." Dalfino said before snapping his fingers. More torches lit up on the walls, and above each one was another dragon painting just as detailed & life-like as the one above Dalfino's throne.
"Whoa...these dragons look like they could come to life at any second. Are we going to have to fight robots designed to look like dragons?" Zapper asked.
"No. Dalfino could never do that." Rob said.
"Figured it out, have you?" Dalfino asked.
"The red Aura Scootaloo saw; Deca's inability to read your power level because of a sensory block; the dragon three of us saw fly away from your castle near the UNA HQ; the dragon that attacked Crusader; and these paintings..." Rob said. "All of it leads to the most impossible conclusion of all, but there's simply no other explination: Your no human. You never were human. You've been a dragon masqurading as a human."
"Isn't that a bit of a--" I was cut off when Dalfino chuckled out of nowhere.
"So...you figured it out huh? I must be getting sloppy. But then again, have you ever wondered why I got so sloppy with that?" Dalfino asked.
"You wanted me to come to that conclusion on purpose." Rob said.
"I left the breadcrumbs on purpose you know. I wanted you to figure it out." Dalfino said. Suddenly a red aura became visable around him.
"Whoa...now I'm seeing the red aura!" Aaron said.
"This...is bad." Expert said.
"Just what is Dalfino doing?!" Zapper exclaimed.
"Please, in the little time you have left...call me...Laathind!" "Dalfino" said, before his eyes took on a draconic slit look.
To be continued...
Pre-History: A Fateful Event
"You sure you want to be practicing these spells outdoors Twilight?" Spike asked. He and Twilight were outside the Friendship Castle in an open field.
"But of course. These spells were in the old castle. It's my job as a princess of Equestria to check them." Twilight said.
"I could help if you want." Starlight offered.
"That wouldn't be a good idea. If any of these spells are dark magic, you using them would break Equestria's laws." Twilight said.
"Oh. That's a fair point to be making." Starlight said. She had a feeling that would be bad. Princess Celestia had placed the unicorn into protective custody sure, but using dark magic when essentially on parole for the time being would guarentee the unicorn would be made into a stone statue if not thrown in Tartarus for her crimes.
"Well here I go..." Twilight said, readying her first spell.
Meanwhile, Scootaloo was going faster then ever on her scooter; so fast she was setting things on fire.
"Do you smell something burning?" Starlight asked.
"That can't be right. Twilight isn't using any fire spells." Spike said. He then noticed Scootaloo heading their way. "SCOOTALOO! YOU NEED TO STOP!" Spike yelled out.
But he was too late, when Twilight hit the filly with the spell and before they knew it, she vanished, leaving her scooter behind.
"SCOOTALOO!" Spike yelled out.
Scootaloo was currently in some kind of warp tunnel.
"Where am I? Where is this place?" Scootaloo asked. But before she could ask any further questions, she was spat out of the warp tunnel and onto a forest's floor. "Ouch..." Scootaloo said. She was losing consciousness and fast. She swore though, she saw a figure heading up to her. "Help...me..." She cried out before she lost consciousness.
Scootaloo slowly began to wake up.
"Where am I?" Scootaloo asked. She was in some sort of Labortory when a strange old looking bipedal creature popped in that she didn't recognize.
"Ah. Good your awake." The creature said, obviously male from his voice.
"Who...are you?" Scootaloo asked. "More importantly, what are you?" She asked.
"I'm guessing you want both questions answered. Well, what I am is a human." The creature said.
"A human? So Twilight was right, they do exist." Scootaloo said.
"Friend of yours I'm guessing. As for who I am though...that's more of a complex answer. I'm someone who has been researching the abnomoralities of the world, and I'm super smart to boot. As for my name, it's something I've forgotten, so no one knows my real name, not even I do. So people just call me Expert out of respect." The human explained.
"So, where am I?" Scootaloo asked.
"Your at my Lab. You were found by Rob outside not too far from here. He brought you here before he got a call to head somewhere for his next mission. Now, if you don't mind staying right there, I'll be right back. Don't touch anything." Expert said.
Scootaloo looked around. There was a super complex machine in front of her. "What's this..." Scootaloo said before reaching a hoof out towards it.
"Didn't you hear him? Do not touch anything. That means look with your eyes, not with your hooves; that machine is priceless." A deep voice said before a strange black and gray creature showed up.
"Who are you?" Scootaloo asked.
"I see no reason to tell you yet." The creature said before he charged up a spell and blasted it at Scootaloo. Scootaloo ducked and closed her eyes.
But just when the spell would impact her, she noticed she felt no pain. She looked up. The mysterious creature and the spell were gone. "Where did they go?" Scootaloo asked.
Expert came back in. "Where did who go? No one can get in here without triggering any alarms." Expert said, coming up to Scootaloo.
"...I guess no one." Scootaloo said. Did I imagine the whole thing? She thought to herself.
"Now hold still. This...is going to sting." Expert said before he started messing with Scootaloo's wings.
Scootaloo winced in pain as Expert was doing something to her wings. "Your...not kidding..." Scootaloo said, being as still as possible despite the pain.
"And done." Expert said. "That should allow you to fly now. Give it a try." He added.
Scootaloo blinked before testing it out right away: Sure enough, she was flying now. "Wh-whoa! What did you do?" The filly asked.
"Your wings were underdevoloped and crippled, so I uncrippled them and gave their devolepment a bit of a boost." Expert said.
"Whoa. How are you able to do something like that? No wonder everyone calls you 'Expert'." Scootaloo said.
There was a beeping noise. "Yes, who is it?" Expert said, going over to the machine which displayed another human on it.
"Hey, I'm back from foraging." The human said.
"Right. Thanks Zapper." Expert said.
"Why are you out in the woods like this anyways?" Scootaloo asked.
"Because it's required. This was my duty in prepping the one who is destined to save the multi-verse after all." Expert said.
"Save it from what?" Scootaloo asked.
"A great evil." Expert said.
"Well, I'm sure I could help out! Tell me everything!" Scootaloo said.
"After Zapper comes inside, I'll put up some footage on my computer here." Expert said. "Then you can see Rob in action." He added.
Scootaloo was being treated to what would only be described as "Rob Theater" where she got to witness Rob's opening moments as he got the basics of his power set. It was then Scootaloo realized that she had been thrown back in time, to when Rob's journey was just beginning. Scootaloo had heard Rainbow Dash talk Rob Snowden up as a legend. Scootaloo only hopes she doesn't change history, and finds a way back to her own time before it's too late.
But while she's here, getting to take part in the adventures of the hero her own idol talks up first hoof, is a once in a lifetime experience.
Pre-History
The End
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The Beginning Era: The Dark Master - Jack & Jill
"I sense that Condescending Consequence is going for a patch of land out in the outskirts back in your world. The earth tells me these things. " The tree of light said telepathically to the group of heroes. Rob had since changed his clothes, now sporting a green shirt with blue shorts.
Meanwhile, Aaron's units now had on more proper army gear. "I wonder what Condescending Consequence wants with that land." Aaron said.
"That land is sitting on top of a large oil reserve. The UNA has sent several units out to try and claim the abandoned land, but every unit has come back severely injured; and that's if any of those men have come back alive at all." General Hightop said over the coms.
"Now that's one hell of a mystery. Something to worry about when we get there. No doubt whatever the cause for those injuries is probably going to attack us as soon as it seems Aaron's unit." Rob said.
"Maybe we should not go General and let Rob handle the negations with well...whatever it is that's causing those attacks?" Aaron said.
"And let Condescending Consequence have free reign of that oil reserve? Not a chance. Metahuman or not, I'm not leaving something like this up to Rob." General Hightop said.
"Why do I have a bad feeling your going to regret saying that?" Shadow Rob asked.
"What makes you say that?" Scootaloo asked. Suddenly, one of the army men were attacked by a large shadow spike popping out of the ground.
"Oh I don't know, MAYBE THE FACT THAT THAT'S A POKEMON POWER." Shadow Rob said. "Only...that's one being cranked up to eleven. Yikes, that looks painful." He added.
"Ow my ribs..." The soldier who got hurt said.
"There's a pokemon at that house? No wonder we've been getting attacked." General Hightop said.
"Gah! Screw this noise! I'm not loosing a third Elite Darkling to this stupid ghost." Condescending Consequence suddenly said.
"Leave here! Leave here and do not return!" A very angry voice said.
"A ghost Pokémon? I wonder if it's Giratina." Shadow Rob said. "Only a legendary could hope to put in this much power behind powers like this." He added. Another one of Aaron's soldiers got hit by another shadow spire.
"I'M TELLING YOU TO LEAVE NOW! YOUR THE UNITED NATIONS ARMY; I WON'T ALLOW YOU TO DEFILE THIS LAND!" The angry voice said.
"Who in the world is talking? You know what, Aaron, your with me." Rob said before grabbing Aaron and going fast.
"Hey wait up!" Scootaloo said, hurrying after.
The trio arrived inside the house.
"...Place looks deserted. Looks like not a single living thing has lived her for years." Aaron said.
"Ghost Pokémon do tend to be attracted to abandoned buildings like this one." Rob said.
"Yeah, but this place is far too small for any legendary Pokemon right? I know the Artificial Groudon was huge and, but surely most legendaries are about that size to begin with." Scootlaoo said.
"They are." Rob said.
"...Okay now I'm scared." Aaron said. He suddenly noticed a doll just sitting on a couch. "...What the...a-an abondoned doll?" Aaron said and went to get closer.
"Aaron wait!" Rob said before Aaron was suddenly bound up in a shadow boundage. Also, there was suddenly an opra remix of a very particular song .
"I warned you UNA folks to stay away countless times. I've even killed a lot of you to get you to stay away. And still you refuse. Now your sending a pegasus child on, attempting to think that would persuade me to stop? I won't fall for such meaningless tricks." The angry voice was coming from the doll.
"I should've known: It's a Banette!" Rob said.
"Good. You know what I am. My name is Jack." The Banette said. "And I'll be your ticket out of this life." He added.
Wraithful Doll
Jack looked just like every other banette, but it seemed his powers were anything but: He was easily cranking the capabilities of every known ghost type Pokemon Move and their powers up to an eleven, even using powers that only legendaries could hope to pull off and beyond.
"Yikes, this is crazy!" Rob said as he and Scootaloo dodged attack after attack.
"Your pretty nimble. I suppose I'll have to come at you full force." Jack said before suddenly growing to an extra large size.
"Okay, tiny doll is huge now!" Aaron said, finally recovered from his injuries.
"Aaron are you--" General Hightop was saying, but there was lots of static. "...Can't reach...Hurry and..." He was saying before the line went dead.
"I've lost contact!" Aaron said.
"Not good!" Scootaloo said.
The group continued to battle with Jack, still having little success in even clocking damage on him. However, Rob was strangely, not attacking, only dodging.
"Rob, what are you doing?" Aaron asked.
"Trust me!" Rob said, still refusing to attack and just dodge.
This continued for several hours before suddenly...
"STOP!"
Jack suddenly returned to normal size as a second banette; this one wearing a bow on it's head, came into the room.
"Jack just stop...that one human there...he's not attacking you." The Banette said, her voice very feminine.
"...Human, why do you not attack?" Jack asked.
"Because, it seems like this land is special to you, isn't it? I find it odd that a banette would sit on a couch clearly too big for itself. Unless it belonged to someone." Rob said.
"...You would guess correctly. This Banette here...she's my life mate Jill." Jack said. "We are two banettes who were bassed from one child to the next like unwanted toys. That is...until the day came we ended up at this house. We were gifts from a couple who had a daughter who lived alone here at this house. She was so sick, that she had to be under constant supervision, so this house was made to observe her condition. Because she never set foot outside the house outside of gong to fetch a pail of water from the well outside, she had no contact with the outside world. This cottage was essentially her entire world." He said.
"As we were bounced around, each child not even attempting to play with us, we grew further and further into resentment for all children. But that girl...she was different from the rest. She was much different." Jill said.
"She treated us like we were her best friends, not even realizing for the longest time that we were alive. She played with us, played pretend with us, and ultimately, warmed her way into our hearts so much, we did things around the house for her at night and whenever she had to go into town." Jack said.
"One night, the girl woke up as we were taking care of a rather noisy snake. We had just driven the snake off, when she had come down the stairs from the loft above to get a glass of water before going to bed. That was her plan, before she noticed that we were moving of our own accord." Jill said.
"We had no choice. We had to come clean about what we were. We had thought she would disown us now that she knew the truth, and we wouldn't blame her. She was just too nice to hold any resentment towards. Instead, she was so excited, she could barely contain herself. She welcomed us as we really were, and gave us our names." Jack said.
"Her favorite nursery rhyme was of Jack & Jill, so we were named after those characters. And for the next three years of our life, we were the best friends of a little girl who knew too much. And refused to tell anyone else." Jill said.
"But one day, her conditioned worsened, and she passed on. But Jill and I just could not leave. We didn't want to. So, we dedicate ourselves to live in this cottage together forever." Jack said. "We owe it to our best friend to protect this place from any and all intruders. So I hope your general got all that." He added.
"I got it. Still, to live alone by yourselves, away from society..." General Hightop said.
"Looks like the coms are restored." Aaron said. "But this is why you attacked all those UNA soldiers." He added.
"Hey Jack? The other guy who was here? His name is Condescending Consequence. I'm planning on dealing with him. Maybe you'd like to help? Our side could really use your kind of techniques." Rob said.
"No. If that jerk tries attacking again, I'll just deal with him the same way as this time. I don't need to go anywhere. And neither does Jill. We're both content right here where we are." Jack said.
"Huh? But don't you want to potentially find more friends? Maybe others like you?" Scootaloo asked.
"Let me tell you this Pegasus: When you find that special someone that you'd be willing to spend the rest of your life with, then you'll understand why I'm choosing this path. Same with you, human." Jack said, referring to Rob with his human comment. "And this better be the last visit this place gets from the UNA. I won't hold back if you come back after this." He added.
"Duely noted. The UNA has already lost enough soldiers from trying to take this land. But I suppose I'll see about getting a protection order on that land at the least." General Hightop said.
"But what about the oil reserve?" Aaron asked.
"Oh, is that why you wanted this land? For the oil reserve? Well, why didn't you say that? I can have an oil drill set up no problem. Just so long as you never try to actually claim this land, I'll let you have as much oil from the reserve as you want until it runs dry." Jack said.
"...That was a lot simpler then I thought it'd be. And to think, it's thanks mostly to Rob that this happened." Aaron said.
"...So it is..." General Hightop said. So it is... Scootaloo picked up on his thoughts.
Author's Note
Yep. I went there for this chapter. I doubt anyone who saw this chapter's title expected me to go there of all places.
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The Beginning Era: JHF Foundation - Not From Outer Space
Lateria was being treated by Expert.
"So, how is she?" Aaron asked.
"The good news, is that I've managed to stabalize her condition. She's no longer in any danger of infecting anyone without their consent." Expert said.
"Wait, infection?" General Hightop said.
"Seems that the latex project from Project Frakenstien made her condition become infectious. If she had waited for help, she would've turned others into her mindless slaves." Expert said.
"What's a mindless slave?" Lateria asked.
"...And that's why I stabilized her so she couldn't have her six-year-old mind corrupted by that sort of power." Expert said.
"Well whatever that means, I'm glad you did it." Lateria said.
"But you did say you had bad news." Aaron said.
"The bad news, is that she's now effectively Ageless. There's nothing I can do there. In order to stabalize her condition, I had to make her become an Ageless being." Expert said.
"Oof. Your basically saying I'll live forever then huh?" Lateria asked.
"Sadly yes. But, I'm sure if you find someone who you become good enough freinds with, that you bring up the fact that you can make them a living latex creature like yourself, they wouldn't mind keeping you company. So there is some solace in that fact." Expert said.
"...Well, that's better than it could've been. Thank you mister. I never got your name." Lateria said.
"You can call me Expert. Everyone else does." Expert said.
"What's your real name?" Lateria asked.
"Err...sadly I don't seem to be able to remember." Expert said.
"Well then, I'm just going to call you Mr. Science Guy. So, Mr. Science Guy, can I go try and make friends now?" Lateria asked.
"Yes you can. And I told you, you may call me Expert." Expert said.
"Nah. I'm going to call you Mr. Science Guy." Lateria said, then went to the door. "Later, Mr. Science Guy." Lateria said.
"...What just happened?" Scootaloo asked.
"What always happens with a child." Rob said. "Looks like Expert has been nicknamed 'Mr. Science Guy' by a six year old." He added.
That actually got everyone in the room to laugh. Everyone but Expert that is.
"Oh ha ha ha. Very funny." Expert said.
Author's Note
Short little chapter here, but it was worth reminding everyone that Lateria is indeed a six year old trapped in what would constitute in an adult's body. And no, this has nothing to do with FA's recent new policy update regarding sexual Pokémon content. That was not at all an intended thing to happen. It just happened to be that the stars lined up that I would post this sort of chapter not too long after FA's new policy update happened. I couldn't have planned something like this even if I tried.
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Equestrian Interlude: Back in Equestria - Rainbow Dash Learns
"What do you mean Scootaloo is somewhere you can't find?!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
"Trust me, I've used all my powers, but I can't find Scootaloo anywhere." Discord said.
"This is my fault...I should've kept the spells indoors." Twilight said.
"Easy Twilight. There is no way you could've known this could happen." Celestia said.
"...I just hope Scootaloo comes back soon. I can't wait to tell her I got in the Wonderbolts. Oh, and that I'm going to be dating Soarin. Speaking of which, later." Rainbow Dash said.
"...Wait, Rainbow Dash is doing what?!" Applejack suddenly exclaimed.
Meanwhile, there was a figure covered in darkness sitting on a rock.
"Times change, people change, but it seems that the basics of society do not change..." A male voice called out from the darkness, coming from the figure. Suddenly, in the shadows behind him, was images from the previous era. "We all have our beginnings. The things we have. The thing we remember the most..." The figure said. "And children, curious as they are, when they get a taste for one thing, they want to get a taste for more of that thing." He added. "So yes, times may change, people may change with it...but childhood curiosity will always remain intact..." He finished.
You are now entering
Author's Note
...It's an interlude. Did you really expect a full chapter from this?