The Displaced Tournament: Future's Darkness.

Somewhere far, on the farthest side of the galaxy, was a tournament. Not a Displaced Tournament, the place where it was being held wasn’t even on Equestria, it was on a planet sized space station. In a stadium filled to the brim with one-hundred-thousand people of all colors, of all shapes, of all sizes. Some people looked humanoid, some had three legs, some had a thousand eyes, but all were in attendance for the tournament. The arena was much like the Roman Colosseum, but with a large stage at the center, big enough that people could move around a lot as they fought. An announcer stood at the center of that stage, the arena was an open one, so a blimp could be seen from above. The announcer had slick blond hair, sunglasses, and a suit… Along with purple skin.

“Hello and salutations one and all to the FINALE of the Galactic Fighting Tournament!” The announcer exclaims, the crowd screaming in response to his voice, “This has been the BIGGEST and most competitive tournament in a LOOOONNNG time! This is the 86th anniversary of the Galactic Fighting Tournament, and everyone really turned out! The crowd is electric, the fighters are strong, this truly is one of the greatest tournaments to EVER happen!” Once more the crowd roars and the announcer smirks. “Now, enough about me, it’s time to introduce our finalists! Coming out in the blue corner…”

All the lights turned blue and a spotlight shined down on an entry point to the arena. “He’s came back with a vengeance, knocking out each and everyone of the fighters in his way to take back his crown,” the ground started to shake as the fighter made his way to the entry point, a mere few moments away from stepping into the light, “HE IS…!”

Walking out of the corner and exposing himself to the spotlight is a man with blueish-green skin standing at a height of seven-foot-two. He wears a blue vest with orange trim that exposes his belly, looking like a well-rounded individual with some bulk to him, having the build of a strongman with a bit more belly to him. He has jorts and sandals on. On his head was a blue bandana. He has an orange goatee, orange eyebrows, and long curly orange hair that goes past his shoulders. His eyes were green as well. The fighter was grinning ear to ear, exposing a golden tooth, and around his waist was a saber in a scabbard.

“...GALESTORM, CAPTAIN OF THE SCOURGE DEVILS!” The crowd was absolutely screaming, their cries of cheer could be heard all across the artificial planet and almost poured to outer space. Galestorm walked with a confident strut, his grin remaining on his face as he made his way to the stage.

“He was a participant in the 32nd ever Galactic Fighting Tournament, and won over Xohsu of the River People! Now he’s back after a long time away, pillaging and plundering the galaxy as a Space Pirate! But instead of plundering planets, he’s going to plunder the victory from his opponent!” Galestorm stopped when he got to the stage, standing on his platform, “Who we will be introducing NOW!”

“Coming out of the red corner,” The stadium lights turned red and a spotlight shined on the other side of the floor, “He’s a man fighting for more than himself, fighting for his people on Planet Psyos, who are suffering from an unexpected drought due to a solar storm hitting the planet. He’s a man on a mission, a man with a dream, a man with a wish! HE IS…!”

Walking out of the corner and exposing himself into the light is a man in a brown martial arts gi, a black belt around his waist with the symbol of a fist on the back of his gi. He wore no shoes, as feeling the floor beneath him was better than mere shoes. The man had brownish-green skin with black and dark green dots speckled across it, he has no hair, but he does have black eyebrows and brown eyes. He stands and moves at a height of five-foot-eleven, and moves with a clear focus in his eyes.

“...UMOD, THE PSYCHIC MARTIAL ARTIST OF PLANET PSYOS!” The crowd cheers on the Martial Artist as he makes his way to the stage. He wasn’t looking around or anything, his eyes were solely on Galestorm’s. Something that the Space Pirate noticed,

“He has the fate of his planet on the line, everything is on the line for him, and all he has to do is defeat this MOUNTAIN of a man, Captain Galestorm!” Umod walked out onto the stage and stood on his platform with a clear focus.

Galestorm unsheathed his saber, which was half the length of his torso and rested his weapon on his shoulder, “Ah, Umod, be it?” He hums with narrowed eyes, “You’re a psychic martial artist, ‘uh?”

Umod nodded, “I am,”

Galestorm’s grin grew wider. “Then ye can predict yer loss, can’t ye?” The pirate laughed, slapping his belly.

It was Umod’s turn to narrow his eyes. “No, but I can predict yours,” Umod took upon a Kyokushin Karate stance.

Galestorm’s laughter grew louder, “GRAHAHAHA! I be likin' ye, maybe after I beat ye, I’ll let ye join me crew, 'ow does that there sound?”

“I appreciate the offer, but I won’t be taking it.” The Martial Artist shook his head.

“Ah… So be it,” Galestorm’s grin slowly faded and he looked on with some disappointment.

The crowd starts to build up in hype as Umod and Galestorm take their stances getting ready to fight, the announcer was still on stage looking between them. “OUR FIGHTERS ARE READY!” The crowd cheers loudly, a bead of sweat rolling down Umod’s forehead, “THE CROWD IS READY!” the arena started to shake at the volume of the crow, “AND I AM READY! SO LET’S GET THIS PARTY STAAARTEEEEEEDDDD!” He raises a finger to the sky as the crowd peaks in volume. “LET THE FIGHT BEGI–”

Before Galestorm could move, Umod shot forth to the center of the stage where the announcer was. Seeing this, the pirate took his saber off his shoulder and slashed at the air, making an air slash that tore through the ground. Aiming straight at Umod and the announcer. He quickly grabbed the announcer in his telekinetic grasp and pushed him off the stage and out of the way from the attack before also jumping out of the way of the slash. The Martial Artist glared at Galestorm.

“Ah, so ye predicted, nay, foresaw I would try an’ cut ‘em down,” A grin reappears of Galestorm’s face, “What an interestin' ability.”

Umod glare deepened, “You did it to see if my psychic abilities were real.”

The Space Pirate shrugged, “Maybe, maybe not, but whatever, let’s just SCUFFLE!” he shot towards Umod and the Martial Artist kicked off the ground and shot towards Galestorm with his foot extended. Foot met blade, causing a massive shockwave of power to explode between them. But Galestorm was stronger and pushed Umod back, leading him to flip and land on his feet. He shot forth again and went for a feint kick to his head, only to come back around and went for a roundhouse kick to his chest. The pirate blocked the blow with his forearm, the blow pushed him back. Galestorm went to counter attack with his large saber but Umod ducked under it and went in for a punch of his right fist straight into Galestorm’s gut.

The strike made a loud boom and sent Galestorm back a few dozen feet, he growled and planted his feet down before slashing at the air a plethora of times. But this time, the air slashes were infused with energy, turning a light green color. Umod noticed this and dodged the air slashes, ducking, weaving, and flipping over them. When he knew he couldn’t dodge, he reached out a hand and caught an air slash in psychic energy and sent it back at Galestorm. But he smacked it away with the back of his fist and kept shooting out air slashes.

Occasionally, Umod would throw one of the air slashes back, forcing the pirate to dodge. It couldn’t be more infuriating for him, with a snarl, he launched forth as Umod dodged another air slash and raised his blade to bring it down on him. The psychic stepped out of the way as the saber cut into the ground, Galestorm went to backhand Umod with his other hand only for him to dodge and planted a front kick straight to the pirate’s chin. But before he could pull his foot back, Galestorm grabbed Umod by his ankle and spun him around. With a roar, he tossed the psychic and forced him to roll across the ground.

Umod grunted and flipped to his feet just in time to see Galestorm come in with a slash of his saber. He raised his fists and blocked the attack with his forearms, he created a small psychic barrier around his arms to prevent bleeding from the impact of the slash. But the blunt force still carried over and rattled his arm, Galestorm saw that and grinned. He cocked back his left fist and went for a gut punch that Umod couldn’t do anything but take. The martial artist wheezed from the pain, but didn’t allow it to take over him and swiftly unleashed a left punch of his own; a haymaker that landed on Galestorm’s jaw despite the height difference. The pirate saw right before the punch connected – which it in fact didn’t – that Umod had used his psychic energy to conjure a fist to crash onto his jaw.

With Galestorm’s head whipped back, Umod slammed both of his fists into the exposed gut of the pirate and sent him skidding back. The psychic caught his breath briefly before sprinting after Galestorm. The pirate snarled and performed an upwards air slash at close range that shot towards Umod. The Martial Artist’s eyes widened and he leaned out of the way, dodging in the nick of time, but also stopping his advance. Seeing that his opponent was off balance due to the lean, the pirate blasted forward and slashed his saber into the gut of Umod. Like before, he conjured a barrier around his body that protected him from the slashing damage but not from the bludgeoning effects that came after.

Umod was sent back a few feet, but he quickly recovered and performed a backhand spring that got him to his feet. He let out a quick exhale and gathered himself. Psychic energy quickly surrounded him which caused his eyes to shine a bright pink. A pink aura surrounds him and he shoots up into the air, flying like Captain Marvel. He looks down at Galestorm who looks up at him with a grin, with a yell, he fires off a blast of psychic energy that Galestorm splits in two. He continues to fire off blasts of psychic energy while flying around, the pirate dashed around the stage to dodge the blasts of energy. When he could, Galestorm sent an air slash at Umod that he would then dodge too.

The two fighters continued to fire projectiles at each other, air slash met psychic blast, rinse and repeat. But eventually, Galestorm shot up towards Umod with incredible speed and attacked, the strike was something the psychic didn’t foresee. The pirate appeared behind Umod, as a massive slash wound appeared diagonally across the chest of Umod. He gasped and wheezed at the attack, and turned around to face Galestorm just in time to get a foot to the face that sent him crashing to the ground. Umod groaned and closed his eyes, when he opened them again, he saw Galestorm coming down with his saber. With a gasp, he narrowly rolled out of the way to avoid the blade.

The blade met the stage, and it caused the whole stadium to shake briefly. Galestorm was on a knee and huffed before standing up, he turned only to catch a psychic fueled punch to his nose that sent spiraling back. He lost grip of his sword as he was spinning and eventually landed on his stomach. Umod held his chest in pain, seething from the punch. He used his psychic powers to grab hold of Galestorm’s saber and pull it away from him.

Galestorm put his hand on the ground and slowly pushed himself to his feet and held his nose. Umod only saw the back of the pirate but could hear a sickening crunch as he set his nose back into place.

“Alright, then…” He rose to his feet, “So that’s 'ow ye want to play…” He turned around and grinned, “Then let's play!”

The pirate shot off towards the Martial Artist. Using quick thinking as well as foresight, Umod used his psychic hold on the sword to throw it up high in the air to prevent Galestorm from reaching it. He crossed his arms and blocked a mighty punch from Galestorm that pushed him back. The pirate didn’t let up, going for a variety of punches and kicks, but Umod either deflected, blocked, or weaved past them. When he saw an opening, he landed a hook to Galestorm’s rib cage. However, by doing so, Umod took a blow from the pirate. Galestorm seized opportunity and landed a fierce uppercut that knocked Umod off his feet.

Galestorm caught him by the ankle and slammed him to the ground once, then twice, and then several more. Feeling the effects of the slams made the Martial Artist wince, but he eventually landed a psychic punch straight into the chin of Galestorm before unleashing a multitude to the body and head. Galestorm was forced to let go and Umod capitalized with a tornado kick straight to his jaw.

The pirate was sent flying back but he flipped and caught himself, his hands on the floor. He grinned and dug his fingers into the stage before flipping a large portion of it at his opponent. Umod furrowed his brow and flew up, but he couldn’t get away from the falling tiles, so he had no choice but to punch through them as he continued flying upwards.

“Look out below, ye psychic knave!”

Umod’s eyes widened and he looked up to see Galestorm holding his saber. He had retrieved it from the sky while he was distracted, and the blade of the sword was glowing bright green with energy. He didn’t have time to block as Galestorm came down and slashed a vertical line onto his chest. The Martial Artist couldn’t make a psychic barrier around him in time, and the slash went all the way through, causing him to spurt purple blood out of his chest and cry out in pain.

Umod was sent careening to the ground, but Galestorm wasn’t done, he flew down and slammed his foot onto the face of the psychic. Carrying him all the way to the shattered stage, the blow made a loud BOOM and some debris from the stage lift were sent scattering into the sky before falling down like rain. Dust filled the air, blocking everyone’s view of the fight, but what they could hear didn’t sound good. They could hear cries of pain, and yelps and groans.

When suddenly, Umod’s body was thrown out of the dust cloud to tumble across the ground before skidding to a stop on his stomach. He was covered in bruises, with blood spilling out of his chest and nose, as his face was nearly unrecognizable. He slowly slid his hands to both sides of his chest and pressed his palms on the tile of the stage. With a grunt, he started to push himself to his feet, only to get a foot to the left side of his rib cage, causing him to wheeze and get sent flying off the stage and slamming into the stadium walls. The crowd, of course, cheered at the brutality.

Galestorm stood in a puddle of Umod’s blood and looked out to his crumpled body against the arena walls. He watched as Umod slowly sat back up against the wall, holding his bleeding chest with his right hand. A grin spread across Galestorm’s face and he raised his saber high and prepared to unleash an air slash straight at the battered psychic, but before he could, the announcer stepped in his way.

“Woo!” He exclaimed, “That was a close one; you ringed him out, Galestorm! Making you the victor!”

Upon him saying that, everyone started to cheer loudly, their fists in the air. The applause echoed off the walls of the arena, and the Space Pirate raised a brow and put his saber – which was wet with the purple blood of Umod – on his shoulder. He looked at the announcer, then glanced over at his opponent who was being carried out by the paramedics. He could hear the pained voice of Umod.

“Damn it all… I could… I can still fight… Damn it…”

A smirk appeared on Galestorm’s face as his eyes went back down to the announcer who was just above half his size. “So, there lad, what do I win?”

The announcer smirked as well, “You get ten billion credits!” he said with vigor, his finger pointed to the sky, “Be sure to treat it with care, we don’t want the economy crashing like back in the 23rd Galactic Fighting Tournament.”

Galestorm nodded slowly, “Right, an’… That’s all?”

The announcer nodded, “Yup, that’s all!”

…

…

…

“That’s all?” He grabbed the announcer by the collar of his shirt and picked him up. The crowd immediately stopped cheering.

The short purple alien raised his hands high, “H–hey! That’s all we can give you. I–I mean, then we would have to give prizes to second and third place!”

Galestorm raised a brow, “Second an' third place get a prize? What do they get? Why should they get any? They be losers!” he scoffed.

“Well, second place gets one-hundred-million credits, third place gets one-million credits, but you have ten whole billion. Isn’t that enough?” A grin appeared on the face of Galestorm.

“Ye be forgettin’ somethin’... I’m a Space Pirate. Ye just let a predator go right into the brassel coop,” Galestorm laughed loudly, “And I say it be about time we pillage and plunder.” He looked up and inhaled, “ME HEARTIES! GET YER LAZY ASSES DOWN HERE!”

Immediately, four figures jumped up from the stands and landed on the stage behind him. However, one of them landed next to him. Standing up just past Galestorm’s shoulder, a man with black hair with a single white stripe running through it. He wore a pair of red rimmed glasses, his eyes shining through with an ever-present gaze that seemed to pierce through the very souls of everyone that even looked at him. This man also wore a white button-up shirt, a black vest, a pair of black suit pants, and well-worn black combat boots. Pushing up his glasses, the man let out a sigh as he slowly slipped on a pair of black gloves.

“I do hope you remember Captain, that our ship can’t really hold that much treasure or valuables.” He hummed, adjusting his black vest and straightening it out. “Our last raid was quite the haul.”

The Captain waved off his First Mate, “I didn't forget, Craig. Which be why I 'ad Z plunder that there storage device a while back. Remember? The one with the, uh... Pocket... Pocket something, I forgot.” He waved a hand at the memory.

“You mean ‘Pocket Dimension’, Captain?” Craig hummed as he gazed at the crowd.

Galestorm snapped his fingers, “That one.”

Standing a bit behind Craig and Galestorm was a young Changeling woman with a lean and agile build. Standing at just below Craig’s height, the woman had long, dark cerulean hair that was tied up into a ponytail flowing down to the middle of her back. With hesitant jade eyes, she looked around, flicking her gaze between Craig, Galestorm, and the crowd. A cutlass was sheathed on her hip, and she had a mismatch of various bits of armor such as an odd cocoon green gauntlet around her left forearm, and a similar pair of green greaves on her legs, covering and protecting her chitin black boots and pants. She was wearing a torn, gray trench coat, with a cracked green breastplate under it, and while it seemed to still be very sturdy and durable, it had definitely seen better days. On her right shoulder was a green pauldron, which also had seen many days of combat as it too was cracked and chipped to Hell, but it was still looking better than the breastplate. On her back was a pair of turquoise, membranous wings, both of which seemed rather… feeble. The right one especially had seen some damage, as a massive tear had cut a chunk out of it. Jutting out of her forehead was a long alicorn-like horn. Although it was… damaged, covered in small, hole-like bits, her horn was cracked slightly, but not completely broken. And apart from the rest of the crew, there was an underlying worry and hesitance within her eyes, but she did very well to hide it from all but the most observant of people.

Right next to her were two figures who couldn’t be more opposite from each other. The first was a large, dark purple, rotund man with small spikes all over his body, spikes on his head, arms, torso, and even his legs. He was shirtless, didn’t have shoes, and wore only pants. He was taller than Galestorm by a foot, had a large body, large arms, and relatively short legs in comparison. He also had beautiful, almost charming, green eyes despite his appearance. Next to him was a dark blue man with height similar to Craig’s, reaching just above the Captain’s shoulders. He was long and lean like a player in the NBA. His legs were longer than his torso. He had no hair just like the purple man’s, and almost looked like a lizard. He wore a black tracksuit with blue trim to it, and had blue shoes with black trim to them.

“Looks like the crew is all here,” Galestorm hummed, glancing back at the three, “Thankfully, none of ye got lost like last time,” he eyed the tall blue one.

“Hey,” He said, his voice raspy, “It’s hard to know where you are with speed like mine!”

“Keep telling yourself that, Z,” The dark purple one said, while Z furrowed his non-existent eyebrows.

Galestorm turned to the dark purple one, “Be nice, Bruce.” The spiky purple bulky guy huffed and crossed his arms, nodding with a grunt. “Now that the all crew be here, why don’t we start the pillagin’ and the plunderin’?”

Z went down into a runner’s stance, Bruce cracked his knuckles with a grin, Craig slowly removed his glasses and placed them in his vest’s front pocket which revealed his serpentine eyes which gleamed with blood red malice. The Changeling took a deep breath in as she slowly unsheathed her shimmering, magic-imbued cutlass, and Galestorm licked the blood off his saber.

“Let the games begin…”

From inside the locker room, a familiar brownish-green man sat down on a bench, a backpack next to him. One of the doctors had him drink a healing serum to close off his wounds and help him recover. While he was nowhere near fully healed as the aches from his fight with Galestorm simmered in his body, it was enough for it to be bearable. His arms resting on his knees, his gaze was downwards towards something he had in his hand; a closed locket.

Umod let out a deep sigh and clicked a button on the top of the locket to open it. Inside was a photo of himself, a female of the same race with blue eyes, lighter green skin and a more slender and sleek build. In the middle of them was a young female grinning ear to ear, taking features from the two next to her. She had her mother’s eyes but took the darker skin that Umod had. There was a note on the other side of the locket.

“Today’s hope brings a brighter future.”

The Psychic Martial Artist closed his eyes and bowed his head lower, “I’m sorry, Nascha, my love. Lory, my heart.” He clenched his free hand strongly, but not strong enough to hurt. “For us to survive, we’ll have to leave the others and move to a new planet.” Umod pursed his lips, as he thought of ways to break the bad news to his wife and daughter. He paused, thinking about tapping into his psychic powers to look into the future to try and gauge their reactions to what he would say. “Hm…” he furrowed his brow and started to focus his energy on the future.

But that focus would be broken when the stadium tremored, as if an explosion had been set off. The locker room ceiling lights went from white to a flashing red. Umod’s eyes snapped opened and he rose to his feet, “What the Hell?!” He looked around, seeing some of the lockers falling over and hitting the floor. His water bottle fell off the bench and spilled all over the floor. He quickly closed his locket and stuffed it back in his ripped and torn gi. He picked up his backpack next to him and slung it over his shoulder. Quickly, he moved towards the door and opened it.

He flinched at the brighter red flashing lights that the halls of the stadium had. There was a crowd of people sprinting, running down the long hallway with fear in their eyes. Umod looked at them as they passed by, confusion and concern clear on his face. He wanted to stop them, stop one and ask what the Hell was going on, but he knew better. And besides, what came over the intercom quickly clarified all confusion.

”ALERT! ALERT! THE STADIUM– No, PLANET SORLEI IS UNDER ATTACK! WE’RE ALL UNDER ATTACK!” The announcer cried out on the intercom.

“What?!” Umod cried out, panic wavering on the edge of his voice.

”You guys need to evacuate, you guys MUST evacuate! We’re being attacked! Attacked by Galestorm, and the Scourge Devils!”

Umod slowed slightly as he looked up at a speaker near the ceiling. Why was he attacking Planet Sorlei?

”Apparently, he–” The announcer screamed out before being ripped away from the microphone.

A familiar voice spoke into the intercom, “Ahoy, fuckfaces and losers, this be yer Captain speaking. To be honest, – which is unknown for a pirate like meself – I’m not ‘appy.” Galestorm said flatly, “I’m not 'appy that there I didn’t get what I deserve. I be a warrior. One o' the best in the fuckin' galaxy, an' I get a measly ten billion credits? I deserve more than that there, an' that’s what I’m goin' to get; more than that.”

Umod clenched his fists and glared up at the speaker. “Those ‘measly’ credits could have saved my people,” he thought to himself.

“So, I recommend ye listen to… Whatever his name’s, dyin’ words,” The sound of the announcer gurgling on his blood could be heard briefly in the background before a SNAP followed after. “...And run while ye still can…”

The speaker stopped, and the halls were now desolate after everyone had left. Umod finally stepped into it, his eyes still on it, glaring with eyes of fury. His fists clenched tighter, “You beat me, robbed my world’s future.” A pink aura surrounded him, his eyes glowed bright pink, “I won’t let you rob my family’s.”

The Martial Artist sprinted down the street. His bare feet touching the charred, artificial soil. Everywhere he could see was on fire, the buildings, the stadium he left. The fire was so spread out, he could see it over the horizon. Yet, instead of running away from the explosions, the fire, the screaming, like many of the people native to this space station, he ran towards it. But the natives weren’t the only ones running, tourists, thieves, rogues, all were leaving; even some of the tournament competitors. All of them, who would have gotten ten thousand credits from competing, wouldn't be getting it, all because of Galestorm.

Umod’s eyebrows furrowed and he started to run faster towards the explosions and brimstone. As he ran, he started to hear footsteps coming from behind him. He quickly turned around and stopped to throw a kick at where he predicted whoever was following him would be, only for his foot to catch air. He saw a blur kick his other leg while his foot was in the air, making him fall to a knee. But he quickly recovered and planted his palms on the ground to spin and try and land a cartwheel kick on the blur, but they blocked it and pushed him back.

“Enough!” They cried out. Umod somersaulted to his feet and upon his eyes laying on the blur, his brows were raised. The blur was a female with baggy white martial arts pants, her shoes were pink running shoes and her shirt was a black tank top. The girl herself had pink skin and magenta hair, her eyes were black and her iris’ were red. She put her hands on her hips, “What the Hell are you doing?”

“What the Hell am I doing?” Umod asked, he almost wanted to ask the question back; ask what she was doing. But a distant explosion told him that wouldn’t be a good idea. He huffed and looked towards where the boom came from, “I’m going to take down Galestorm.”

The girl paused and looked him up and down, “Wait a minute, are you Umod? Didn’t ya lose to him?” The Psychic Monk clenched his fists.

“I know that!” He spat out, fury in his voice, “I know he’s beaten me, I know he won fair and square, but I won’t allow him to cause harm to this planet, to everyone who lives here! Look at them, look at everyone!” Umod pointed to the sky, the girl following his finger to see ships trying to breach the upper atmosphere only to either catch fire or even explode from a stray slash. “They’re leaving their home, a place that gave them memories, joy and sorrow, all because of that piece of trash and his greed. There is nothing in this universe that I hate more than greed, meaning, there is nothing in this universe that I hate more than Galestorm.”

The girl crossed her arms, “Hm… And you really plan on fighting him alone?”

The Martial Artist nodded, “If I must.”

A grin appeared on her face, “Well, ya don’t gotta fight him alone. I was planning on fighting Galestorm too, that bastard is stealing my credits!” Huffed the girl.

Umod turned to her, “Wait, does that mean you’re a fighter?”

“Yeah, the only one who has the balls to step up and fight ‘em! Well…” She paused for a moment and glanced at Umod, “The only other one. I was in third place, and fought with the guy Galestorm beat to get into the finals for the third spot, if ya saw that match.”

Umod’s eyes widened, “Oh yeah, I remember, you’re Pheramene, you defeated your opponent with an axe-kick to the dome.”

Pheramene nodded, “Yup, pushed in their soft spot!” she laughed.

“Good,” A smile formed on Umod’s lips, “With you here, I might have a fighting chance after all.”

“Aw, 'ow touchin’!” Umod and Pheramene turned to the location of the voice and took upon fighting stances. The voice came from on top of a building, fire below it. The fire illuminated Galestorm and his crew behind him, the Space Pirate had his saber resting on his shoulder like usual, “They be goin' to team up together an' defeat the big bad pirate!” he laughed, slapping his belly, but he wasn’t alone in his laughter. Bruce and Z laughed with their Captain.

“Damn straight!” Pheramene said with a fiery grin, slamming her right fist into her empty palm, “We’re gonna send yer ass to Kingdom Come!”

“That’s right,” Umod furrowed his brow, “We won’t allow you to terrorize this world– no, this universe no longer. For as long as this universe has scum like you, the brighter future I fight for grows dimmer each day.”

Sighing as he looked at the fighter girl, Craig shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You two are… indescribably dense and optimistic. It’s honestly a little sad.”

“Yup, super dense and optimistic!” Z cackled out, “But that isn’t that bad of a quality to have, at least they’re positive.”

Bruce nodded in agreement, “At least they're positive,” he repeated.

The Changeling woman was quiet for a moment before she looked at Pheramene and Umod. “You two… You should’ve just ran when you had the chance.” She mumbled softly. “Now you’re going to die.”

Galestorm nodded, “That they will be. Welp!” He turned over to Craig, “The psychic kicked yer ass in the semi-finals, do ye want to run that back?”

Craig hummed as he stepped forwards, removing the glove from his left hand. Galestorm turned around, leaving his mate to it. “Yes, actually. I would like to have a rematch.” Craig’s eyes gleamed with murderous intent as he flexed his ungloved hand, revealing extremely sharp claws and red scales shimmering from his skin.

Umod raised a fist towards the right hand man, “I defeated you once, I’ll do it again. Spare yourself the embarrassment and leave.”

Before Craig could reply, Pheramene laughed, “Ah, typical, I didn’t expect Captain Galestorm, ‘Strongest in the Galaxy’ to be a wuss!”

Galestorm paused and slowly turned back around, “What did ye say…?” a light green aura surrounded him. The ground beneath them started to quake. He glared down at Pheramene with eyes of pure, unbridled fury.

The Changeling’s eyes widened as she looked at Pheramene. “You… You just fucked up.” She said with an awkward chuckle, fully knowing what her Captain could do.

Pheramene ignored her words, “Sending your goons after us? What a chump! A real man would do their own dirty work, but oh wait,” she brought a hand over to her mouth, almost holding back laughter, “You’re not a real man. You’re a sissy!”

A vein appeared on Galestorm’s forehead, he was shaking, absolutely shaking with rage. “Ye’re gonna regret sayin’ that…”

“Oh reall–”

“DIVINE DEPARTURE!” Galestorm’s saber glowed a bright light green and he slashed the air, unleashing a large air slash that mimicked the saber’s glow. The slash was aimed directly at Pheramene and not at Umod. He didn’t even have to dodge; not that he would have time to. Pheramene saw the attack and crossed her arms to block, she dug in her heels and braced herself to compete against the slash.

But there was no competition.

The slash carried her away towards the sky, she grunted and fought back against the air slash. But to no avail. She growled and fired up a dark pink aura, a boost that could help her push it back. Yet it didn’t even help her push it a millimeter. Her eyes widened with fear and dread, she looked down at Umod who was nothing more than a speck to her at this height. The Psychic Martial Artist looked up at her and reached out a hand to try and reach her with his telekinetic grasp, but it was too late. With a horrified and agony filled scream, the slash atomized her and exploded. Bringing a bright green glow to the blackened sky.

Umod looked at the explosion with horror, his hand reached out. All that remained was dust falling from the sky, he couldn’t speak. Couldn’t even utter a word, a comrade was just killed right in front of his very eyes. And he couldn’t do anything.

Walking ever closer, Craig didn’t even bat an eye at the death of Pheramene. “She honestly brought that upon herself.” He hummed, removing his other hand’s glove and placing them in his vest pocket.

“All she wanted…” Umod muttered under his breath, “...All she wanted…!” he said louder so that the Scourge Devils could hear her. “...Was her credits… Credits that she– that she worked for, FOUGHT FOR!” He snarled and turned back to Galestorm, ignoring Craig in front of him. “And you MERCILESSLY killed her!”

The Space Pirate rolled his eyes, “Craig, what did ye just say?” he asked with an annoyed expression. Looking down at Umod with a look someone would give to a fly.

“That she brought it upon herself.” Craig raised an eyebrow as red scales began to crawl up his neck. “Now, please, pay attention to our fight, Mr. Umod.” He huffed with slight annoyance. “You weren’t this rude when we fought earlier.”

Umod’s fists started to clench tightly, his pink aura came back and surrounded him. “Galestorm… You are scum, you kill, lie, cheat, steal, you’re ungrateful, you walk around with no consideration, no empathy for life! And you killed Pheramene… You’re gonna pay for that…” His pink aura started to spike, "YOU'RE GOING TO PAY THAAATT! GAAAAAAAALLEEEEESSSTTTOOOOOOOOOOORRRRMMMM!!!"

Umod first shot towards Craig with incredible speed, blitzing right past him with his shoulder. The speed and momentum of the shoulder check sent him crashing through the building below where Galestorm and the others were standing. The Psychic flew at Galestorm with his right fist clenched. With a roar, he went to punch Galestorm right in his face, however, the floor in front of the Captain crumbled. A blood red blur shot out from under it and caught his fist with insane strength, making the Martial Artist’s eyes widen.

Hissing with serpentine irritation, red scales covered half of Craig’s face, revealing a hellish demonic snake-like appearance, as veins bulged with barely contained vitriol all across the First Mate’s neck. “As I said, Mr. Umod. Pay attention to OUR FIGHT!” He roared, his hand letting go of Umod’s fist as the sudden, split second force and pressure of Craig’s boot being shoved into the Martial Artist’s sternum sent him hurtling to the ground, creating a crater beneath the psychic as Craig jumped down and landed on the ground in a rather… professional manner.

Umod held his chest with a pained expression, sitting up to look at the man– no, the demon that stood across from him. He furrowed his brow, “Fine then, I’ll deal with you first.” While still on the ground, he raised his left finger and pointed it right. The First Mate turned to his left just in time to catch a psychic construct of Umod driving his left fist straight into his face. The blow proved to have similar effects to his kick on the Psychic, sending him back far. Umod sat up and quickly followed after Craig to unleash a Coral Reef ecosystem worth of variety in the punches and kicks he sent at Craig. The construct quickly dashed in to provide assistance to Umod.

Regaining his composure as he continued sliding backwards due to the sheer velocity he was sent, Craig took a deep breath as the scales on his face quickly receded, and his professional and composed facial expression returned. However, the scales on his clawed hands remained as he began parrying what punches and kicks he could, leaning and weaving, dodging those that he couldn’t and while some did land, Craig twisted his body in ways that looked borderline torturous to any normal person to minimize the impacts of those attacks. This continued for a little bit before Craig’s eyes split, making four slitted irises and pupils as one pair looked at the Psychic Construct of Umod and the other looked at the real thing. And Craig began parrying even more attacks instead of dodging them, before grabbing the wrists of both the construct and Umod, and used them as branches to flip up into the air, before performing a perfect split of his legs to slam his boots into their faces.

Landing on the ground, Craig suddenly put his hand into the air and he paused. Before slowly taking a bow. Tapping into the future briefly, Umod ducked down low and avoided something that would cut a little off the top; literally. A building behind him was severed in twain. With his legs bent, he leaped towards Craig with incredible speed and cocked back a fist, his psychic construct did the same. The First Mate raised his arms to parry and deflect, but just when Umod got in range, a foot made of psychic energy crashed into his jaw. Forcing Craig to feast his eyes on the stars. Umod finally came in and socked Craig in his Adam’s apple, while his psychic construct landed an uppercut on the gut of the First Mate. Knocking the wind out of his sails.

Umod landed two punches, a right hook to his jaw, and a left to his cheek, followed by a spin kick in which he planted his heel right on the temple of Craig. Making him spin off the ground before he landed with enough force that he slid across the ground.

Staying on the ground for a few seconds, the corners of Craig’s mouth twitched upwards for a moment before he regained his passive expression. Blinking twice, he then pushed himself off the ground and brushed the dirt and rocks off his sleeves. With a huff, Craig turned and looked at Umod, glancing down at his glasses and confirming that they were indeed – somehow – untouched during the altercation.

“I must admit, Mr. Umod, it seems I underestimated you, and made the foolish mistake of not going all-out immediately during the tournament proper. And for that, I apologize.” Craig said, folding his body in a proper, non-hostile, apologetic bow, before straightening himself. “However, it is now that I must unfortunately inform you that this is no longer the case. As such, I will no longer be holding back.”

The First Mate then pointed his hand out towards Umod and his construct. And a blizzard of invisible slashes suddenly began to raze everything in its path to rubble as it flew towards the psychic.

Umod took a step forward and immediately was covered in slashes – or so you think. His psychic aura was like a forcefield to him, preventing the cutting aspect, but not the bludgeoning that comes with the psychic shield. The Martial Artist reared back a fist and punched the air in front of him. Instead of a shockwave traveling to Craig’s mid section, a colossal psychic fist slammed into the back of the First Mate and sent him flying towards Umod. He then flipped into a bicycle kick that connected onto his jaw and sent him to the sky where the psychic construct met him to land a sledgehammer onto the midsection of Craig. Causing him to flip a multitude of times on his way down.

From getting knocked to the sky to getting knocked back down to the earth, Umod leaped into the air and met Craig in the middle. He planted a finger right on his solar plexus and instantly closed the distance the finger made with a knuckle that once again knocked the wind out his sails. He spun like a Spinjitzu Master and unleashed a devastating tornado kick to the neck of Craig. Sending the First Mate flying through not one, not two, not three, but five buildings.

Poking the large piece of rubble that was on him, the rock turned into small bits of gravel as Craig filled it with hundreds of precise slashes. Dusting himself off and standing back up, he braced his shoulder and rolled it a few times before popping his neck with an audible crack. Looking in the direction of Umod, Craig leaned forwards before pushing off the ground, lunging forwards with incredible speeds and appearing in front of the Martial Artist in a literal blink of an eye. Grabbing Umod by the face, Craig slammed him into the ground before picking him up and throwing him into a nearby building, with only enough force to crater the wall. Taking hold of the side of his opponent’s head once more, Craig began sprinting through the place, dragging Umod’s face through dozens of buildings before stopping and throwing Umod forwards. Jumping up and showering the Psychic with a second blizzard of invisible slashes, Craig then sent a singular slash upwards, propelling him down and slamming his boots into Umod’s head with a powerful dropkick as he slid off of Umod’s face and further ahead.

Catching Umod by the midsection and pressing his palm to the Martial Artist’s stomach, Craig grabbed the man’s torn gi and with his other hand, swiftly swiped the side of his hand across Umod’s middle, creating one large slash that tore the gi and sent Umod flying back. And Umod continued flying for almost ten straight seconds, crashing through dozens of buildings before he finally landed right back in front of Galestorm and his crew. But Craig wasn’t finished with him as Umod noticed the serpentine First Mate sprinting directly for him and closing the distance, fast.

The Martial Artist watched as he came in, his body tense. That series of attacks did one Hell of a lot of damage to him. His body stung with pain, yet due to his psychic aura, the slash didn’t make him spill blood. Whatever, what mattered was that Craig was coming, and coming fast! Craig’s red aura made him look like a giant serpent, tearing through the rubble, snaking, dashing its way towards Umod. What can he do, what should he do?!

A thought came through his mind and he dropped his stance. He looked at Craig coming in, his fists unclenching. He closed his eyes and let out a deep breath.

The blue lizard man standing with Galestorm laughed, “Ah, he’s already given up! This was nothing, Craig has a LOT in the tank!”

Umod didn’t pay him any mind, and remained in that position.

And when Craig came to seep his fangs into the Martial Artist, he weaved the attack and countered with a right straight. His right knuckle slamming firmly into the nose of Craig, psychic energy poured into the punch. His eyes were still closed, his expression blank, but his fist full of power. The blow was so strong that it blew back the fire within a hundred mile radius and shook the earth. But that was just the first of it. Umod pushed further and from the speed that Craig was moving, his body continued forward and his head followed. He was peeled off the knuckles of the Martial Artist and flipped upside down. The back of his head slammed onto the floor, making a loud CRACK to boom like thunder.

The momentum his body was going continued to be carried and he sailed behind Umod, flying through everything that was behind the Martial Artist. As the crashing grew distant, he sighed and stood back up from his punching form and looked up at Galestorm. His right fist smoking. The Space Pirate’s eyebrows were raised with interest. His eyes were on the smoking fist of Umod before drifting down below him…

…On the ground were the broken glasses of Craig.

“Well shit,” Galestorm said, nodding his head, "Impressive, ye broke his glasses.” Z and Bruce’s eyebrows were raised and looked at the broken glasses in shock.

The Changeling’s eyes drifted down to the broken glasses as well, and she blinked, her own brows raising. “Like Captain said, impressive.” She then shook her head a little as she stared Umod directly into his soul. “But that ain’t good.”

As soon as those words left her mouth the ground began to rattle and shake, the ground becoming unstable as the voice of Craig echoed from the rubble behind Umod. More buildings began to collapse as rage and bloodlust filled the place, as if a dam had just been broken and was now flooding the place with water.

“You broke… my glasses.”

Craig said simply, yet his voice echoed throughout the entire space station. And as Umod turned to look in the direction of where Craig was sent flying, he saw nothing but rocks and pebbles of rubble as two glowing red eyes looked at him from the cloud of dust that they had spawned. Suddenly, Craig was in front of him. He hadn’t blinked, yet Craig was now in front of him, his shadowy face staring mere inches away from his own.

“Bad move. Mr. Umod.” The ever professional First Mate stated the fact.

“Apophis’s Fangs.”

Craig gently placed a hand on Umod’s shoulder before brushing his hand from one side of Umod’s torso to the other, leaving four glowing red lines streaking diagonally across Umod’s body. And almost instantly, blinding pain followed as four large, sudden, invisible, and unstoppable slashes tore into the Martial Artist’s body.

Purple blood spurt from his chest, and he cried out in pain. In response to this, from behind Craig, the psychic construct returned with a vengeance, its hand in a chopping form, but it was about to do anything but chopping. It shot towards the back of Craig, the hand seemingly sharpened as it drew nearer to where his heart should be. However, Craig turned just in time for the hand to pierce his chest and avoid his heart. Instead, it pierced through the gap between the lungs and pushed out on the other side.

Craig and Umod stood across from each other, both heavily wounded. The psychic construct’s arm is deeply embedded through the body of Craig, Umod’s chest bleeding thoroughly. The two fighters look at each other's eyes, both of them taking exhausted breaths. The psychic construct raised its other hand, preparing itself to unleash a finishing strike, however…

…A pair of shoes slam into the head of the Martial Artist, causing the construct’s hand to disintegrate on contact against Craig. Umod was sent skidding across the blackened earth and rolled to a stop on his back. Craig turned to his left and saw the culprit of the attack, Z; who stood up straight, looking down at the wounded Martial Artist, “Tch, that woulda killed you. You should be more careful, Craig.” He scoffed.

Humming as he looked at his chest wound, feeling the inconceivable pain that came from such a wound, but being such a professional badass that he didn’t visibly show it, the First Mate responded. “Yes, you’re correct, Z. Thank you for the assistance. And my apologies Captain, I lost my head for a few seconds. It won’t happen again.”

Galestorm jumped down from the building and landed in front of the duo, “Good, we don’t need another ‘Sawbooyah Incident’, savvy?” The Captain grunted and walked towards Umod. Who gritted his teeth.

“Yeah that wasn’t our best moment.” Craig chuckled dryly.

“We have a best moment?” Z raised a brow as Bruce jumped down to join the party.

“Of course we do; Donut Thursdays.” The big one noted, “And speaking of donuts…” he looked at the hole in Craig’s chest.

Looking at his wound, Craig nodded. “Yes, this is a bit of an issue.” He looked over to the last member of the crew who was walking over. “If you wouldn’t mind “un-donutting” me, Chrysalis. I would greatly appreciate it.”

Rolling her eyes with a small smile, Chrysalis chuckled as she hovered her hands over Craig’s wound, her palms glowing with soft green magical light. “What I’m a little more miffed about is that your glasses are broken. You’re lucky I carry spares, but don’t make it a habit of letting them get broken again.” She chastised the First Mate. “We only have so many.”

“Apologies, Chrys. I’ll make sure it won’t happen again.” Craig nodded as his chest slowly healed, blood congealing over the wound as bone and muscle began to reform, flesh covering scales as it was eventually sealed shut.

The Captain moved slowly, moving towards Umod, who lay on the ground bloodied and beat. As he made his way on over, he stepped on something that made an audible clink. Galestorm paused and looked down with a curious expression, he moved his foot and found that it was a locket he had just stepped on. He reached down and picked it up, he turned it around, analyzing the texture and the design. Surprisingly, it appeared to be unharmed, no dents, scratches or anything. There was a button on top of it, so he clicked it, opening the locket. He saw the photo of Umod’s family and the line that came with it: “Today’s hope brings a brighter future.”

A chuckle escaped his lips and he closed the locket. He grabbed his vest and opened it to put the locket inside a pocket. “Somethin’ to remember ye by,” he gave a nasty grin.

Umod clenched his teeth and slowly sat up, looking at Galestorm and his crew, how they all stood together. They were strong, really strong. Even if he had managed to kill Craig, there would be another person to fight, they would have finished the job. He winced and hissed in pain as he slowly rose to his feet.

“He’s getting up?” Bruce raised a brow, looking at Umod with shock.

Craig looked over and hummed. “It seems so.” He turned and bowed to Umod with professionalism. “Thank you for the fight, Umod. But I believe I’ve won this bout. I’d say ‘Try again some other time,’ but… I fear that will not be possible. So, I will merely leave you with; Goodbye.” Craig stood straight as he turned away, putting on the spare glasses that Chrysalis had given him and slipping on his gloves once more. Thankfully, being turned into a donut didn’t damage his vest.

…

…

…

“You’re wrong…” Umod rasped.

Z raised a brow, “The blood loss seems to be getting to him.”

“I’ll say,” Bruce agreed.

Chrysalis looked at Umod with pity. She hated seeing warriors like this die. It reminded her of… less than stellar days, before she met Galestorm and Craig.

The Martial Artist let out a deep sigh, his body shaking, burning him externally and internally. “I won’t die…I won’t allow it…” From his right hand, psychic energy started to gather, forming a small ball. “...This… This fight… Has sealed your fate, Galestorm.” The Space Pirate raised a brow at this, “...You are going to die… Not as one of the strongest warriors in the galaxy… Not even as a Captain, but as a coward…”

The pirate paused and slowly brought his saber off his shoulder, dropping it down to his side where the blade glowed light green.

“...This…” The ball of psychic energy in Umod’s hand glowed bright pink, “...WILL BRIGHTEN THE FUTURE!”

He threw the ball of psychic energy and in turn, Galestorm swiped his saber, unleashing a light green air slash that disintegrated the ball of psychic energy before it. It slammed into the chest of Umod and he cried out in pain. The slash carried him far, crashing through building after building, before eventually, over the horizon…

…The slash exploded.

Galestorm finally put his saber back in its scabbard and turned around, “Alright, that be enough. Z, get the ship,”

Z nodded. “On it, boss!” The blue alien vanished from sight. Galestorm just continued to walk as Bruce looked at where his Captain launched Umod. A large trench was there as proof of the attack, as wide as the length of a bus and as deep as the Marriana. Bruce turned around and followed his Captain.

Not wasting a second, nor a thought to the recently departed, Craig began to closely follow Captain Galestorm, walking right by his side. Face as passive as ever as he looked at the destruction. “Shame he declined your offer, Captain.” He remarked.

“Eh, who be needin’ a psychic anyway? They be shams,” Huffed Galestorm like it was an ordinary Tuesday morning.

Craig tilted his head in agreement. “True. We do have someone better than that.” Craig flashed Galestorm a rare smile, before it faded as he glanced over his shoulder to see the person he was talking about, Chrysalis, staring at the place where Umod had just perished.

Chrysalis was lost in her own thoughts. She’d seen so much death. So much destruction. Over the years she’d thought she’d be able to tune it out and for the most part, she’d been successful. But… there was something about this that just… it made her feel uneasy. Sick, almost. Under her breath she muttered, “I’m so sorry… for everything.” Chrysalis prayed that no one else but the dead could hear her.

Sighing as he looked at Chrysalis, not having heard her words, Craig turned to face forwards and raised his voice. “Chrysalis! Don’t dally behind! We’re leaving!” His voice was enough to snap the Changeling back to reality as she mumbled out an acknowledgement, jogging over to join them.

The space station was crumbling.

Buildings started to collapse in on themselves, the ground as well, everything was in ruins. In a crater, still on the surface of the dying space station, was Umod. A massive slash wound across his chest. He looked up at the blacked and fiery sky with half-lidded eyes. Not having the strength to open them brighter, or even enough strength to close them. And yet, despite him no longer being able to detect Galestorm’s presence on the artificially made planet, or even his crew. He still sat up.

His hands weakly rested in his lap, breathing slowly, his gi was non-existent. He was in nothing but his pants, revealing his bare and wounded chest to the doomed space station. Slowly, he slid his knees under him and sat on them. No matter what, Galestorm had to be stopped, and if he couldn’t stop him…

Umod raised his hands shakily and held them out in front of him. He used all of his last remaining psychic energy into this, creating a mass, an almost misty mass in front of him. Using incredible strength, he closed his eyes and focused his energy into the psychic mist.

“...The Universe… The Gods… Hear me… No…” He coughed as the smoke was finally getting to him, “...Warrior, hear me… You have been chosen out of the trillions, out of every single form of life out in the cosmos… You have been chosen. There is a man, a creature, a monster… He is the scum of the universe. The worst of the worst… He has no mercy, no honor, and no respect for all things living… Right now, he is surfing the cosmos, annihilating, pillaging, plundering, robbing innocents of their lives… Their future…”

He furrowed his brows, “...He will not stop. He will not rest until someone stops him… I tried to stop him… And I threw everything I had at him… You, brave warrior, must do what I could not. Defeat him, bring the one who’s surrounded by darkness back into the light… Save the galaxy… Save the universe… Avenge all those he’s mercilessly killed… And turn this dark present… Into a bright future…”

The mist of psychic energy hummed bright pink before flying off into the sky, shooting like a comet and heading out of the upper atmosphere. Leaving Umod the only one there, he looked up at the mist as it went by. A smile graced his lips.

“I’m sorry, Nascha, Lory… Looks like Dad won’t be bringing any souvenirs when he gets back from the tournament after all…”

And like that, the ground collapsed beneath him, making him sink into the earth below.

The ship of the Scourge Devils was a galleon, and it looked identical to a pirate ship. A forcefield was around it, preventing the vacuum of space from reaching it. The ship was on auto pilot and was sailing away from the space station, Sorlei. Bruce was under the deck, in the kitchen, cooking up a meal for everyone after a successful raid. Galestorm was standing close to the edge where Sorlei could be seen, as was Z. Craig was standing next to Galestorm, looking out over the crumbling space station, whilst Chrysalis had decided to lean over the railing of the ship as she watched the destruction as well.

Miniature explosions littered the station. “Ah, the small little firecrackers before the big firework,” Galestorm hummed to himself, crossing his arms with a grin.

“It would seem so, Captain. But it is natural to have a little bit of progression before the grand finale.” Craig shrugged as he adjusted his glasses.

Eventually, the station started to glow bright, as if it was turning into a star. Galestorm then wore a grin, his teeth on full display as the space station grew brighter and brighter before it exploded into a bright light.

He laughed, “GRAHAHAHAHAHA! WHAT BRILLIANT FIREWORKS! DO YE SPY THIS, CRAIG?!” he clapped his hands together.

“Indeed I do, Captain.” Craig confirmed before turning to him. “I think this might be in the top twenty biggest explosions we've seen.”

Z watched the space station explode with a bead of sweat rolling down his forehead. He gulped, “Yknow, I will never get used to seeing that…” he muttered.

Galestorm raised a brow and watched as the lights died down, “Eh?” he turned to Z, “Well, get used to it. It’s in the job description,” he turned around to head below deck. Z followed.

“No it was not,” Z shook his head.

“Shaddap!”

As the two headed below the deck, it left only Craig and Chrysalis being the only ones atop.

Standing there in silence, they continued looking out over the dimming remains of the space station’s annihilation. Then the silence was broken after a good minute as Chrysalis let out a shaky breath. She was mentally and emotionally exhausted, her legs feeling like jelly underneath her. Despite anchoring herself on the railing of the ship, she began to collapse to the deck before Craig vanished, appearing right by the Changeling’s side and catching her.

“Chrys, are you alright?” Craig asked, helping lower her to the floor so she could sit.

Nodding, Chrysalis’s breath hitched in her chest as she brought her knees up, hugging them close. “I…” She bit her lip, accidentally biting too hard and causing green blood to seep from the wound. “I don’t know how much more I can keep doing this without a break, Craig.” She sniffled, tears she’d barely contained before now freely spilling down her cheeks. “Fuck, I just want to go home and be done with all of this… this bloodshed.” She buried her face into her knees.

Frowning at this, Craig let out a small huff as he laid a hand on her shoulder. “Chrysalis… You’ve been on this crew since the beginning. You know you can’t just leave.” He reminded her, offering a rare smile that only one other person has seen. “Plus, I don’t think we’d have survived this long without you. Nor would you have without us. We’re a crew, a family.” He leaned in and gave her a small hug, and while it might’ve not done much to reassure the former Queen of the Changelings, she did appreciate it.

“Yeah… a family.” Chrysalis repeated, her heart not really into those words.

Craig who stood back up. “Good. Now,” he offered her a hand. “What say we go down and get something to eat. I believe Bruce is making Quesadillas, your favorite.”

Looking at Craig’s hand for a moment, Chrysalis’s mind flashed with memories of being alone, scared and terrified of the monster that was Ryker. Her torn wing and cracked horn ached with phantom pains of even catching a glimpse of the man. She remembered running, her subjects sacrificing their lives so she could escape, so Chrysalis could run. The former Queen remembered selling parts of her armor, bit by bit, just so she could get off world and as far away from Ryker as possible. And she remembered the feeling of shivering in the bitter cold of that alleyway, hungry and starved, of both food and the love she needed to survive. Out of magic, out of money, and out of options. She thought she would die on that day. But it just so happened that a hand had been outstretched, and she was asked to join a man’s crew, a crew that was only two strong. The Captain, and the First Mate.

Chrysalis was brought back to reality as she looked at Craig’s hand and his soft smile, gently taking his hand, “Y-Yeah.” She mumbled softly, wiping away the tears on her cheeks. Craig nodded, his smile slowly disappearing, but the memory of it was still there to comfort her.

Chrysalis remembered the warmth of Craig’s hand the first time she took it, all those years ago. And just like that day, she could feel the freely offered love Craig gave her. The two of them walked down, below deck to partake in the feast and drink that Bruce had prepared for them.

They were a crew.

They were a family.

Craig was her big brother.

Galestorm was her Captain.

…

…

But she couldn’t shake the constricting, hollow pain in her heart.

Nor did she find out how much longer she could continue like this.

And as the ship sailed off in the distance, a small pink mist passed by like a comet, heading deep into the cosmos.