The Web of Stories
Even Lacey, Death, War, Pestilence, and Famine do the occasional mermaid pin-up. They rather like acting sexy when they get the chance. If the site for the photo-shoot is in an actual clam underwater, such as the one they’re in right now, so much the better.
Pestilence’s Rider Form.
Kamen Rider Pestilence! You are infected with the disease of defeat!
I was hesitant to post this one, given what’s going on. But, she’s part of Megumi’s friends and I can’t ignore that.
Bio:
Sickness is a constant in any universe and none can escape it. Yes, an excellent immune system can stave it off, but even the best immune system can be caught off guard. Pestilence serves to remind us of that fact.
Personality-wise, think Shockwave, but with ethics and a moral code. She’s the scientist among the Four Horsemen, her specialty being biology. Even she can see the logic in ethics and emotions. It was those factors that let her obtain the Languorem Ring to become Kamen Rider Pestilence.
She helps War, Famine, and Death to train Lacey Thanatos to be Kamen Rider Apocalypse to help Megumi Hishikawa stop Lord Vortech and Megumi’s father, Hiro Adachi.
I had busied myself with a machine designed to help bring the ghost to a better plane of existence. “Okay,” I muttered. “Todo lo que necesito hacer es conectar esto y estaremos bien.” (All I need to do is connect this and we’ll be good.)
“Señor Ortiz?” asked a voice. I whirled around to see Lacey looking at what I was doing. “Are you trying to contact your dad?” she asked.
“No,” I replied.
“Good, best to avoid him,” advised Lacey. “You know full well he’s not to be trusted. The dead outside of this school rarely are.”
“The mortal realm’s no better,” I grunted.
“Yes, I spoke with Mickey a while ago,” murmured Lacey. “He told me about your feelings concerning the F.N.S and your desire to leave us.”
“I just…I can’t stand the F.N.S right now!” I answered. “I joined you to get away from all the lies I was told back home, but I’ve been lied to again by people I’ve only known for two years! It’s like…it’s like I’m fighting a one-man war against lying! Can you even fathom what that feels like?!”
“Completely, believe it or not,” replied Lacey. That caught me off guard.
“Perdon?” I asked.
“I fully relate to your feelings,” elaborated Lacey, “but I don’t agree with your methods.”
“…How can you relate?!” I protested.
“Alesandro, do you know why I became a Horseman of the Apocalypse?” quizzed Lacey.
“You were chosen to help Megumi fight Vortech,” I answered, not seeing how it correlated to what the conversation was about.
“That was the impetus,” answered Lacey, “but, truth be told, I was gonna join After Academy anyways. I came from Universe T-H-3-5-1-M-P-5-0-N-5.”
“The Simpsons?” I asked. “You were a resident of Springfield?”
“Yep, and had an abusive father,” confirmed Lacey. “I hated how chaotic that place was and felt like I was alone in trying to corral the chaos. Death offered to return me back to my universe with a fresh perspective and a better chance of controlling the chaos. I stayed because I found something that I never had in Springfield, a family with the other Horsemen. Now, here I am, part of After Academy’s faculty and being a part of a family with the F.N.S. Now, it IS, at times, dysfunctional; it most certainly is NOT perfect, but the F.N.S and the Horsemen became my family. I certainly hope they’ve become yours.”
“Didn’t War initially join Vortech’s cause at the start of the Vortech Wars?” I asked.
“Yes, but the Four Horsemen have LONG worked through that,” replied Lacey, “because that’s what family does.”
“If they’re meant to BE family,” I grumbled. “Sometimes the family is so toxic that you need to get away from them.”
“Also true, as we can both attest to our blood family,” conceded Lacey. “Now, the question becomes, has this family become that toxic to you?” I stopped working, then set down my tools and sat on the ground.
“I don’t know,” I sighed.
“Well, is there a reason that you’re staying with us?” asked Lacey.
“I was contacted by a ghost a while ago,” I explained. “He’s in an eternal nightmare and I want to help him get out of it.” I then pondered the idea. “You know, now that I think about it,” I mused, “wouldn’t someone who regrets his actions think that he DESERVES punishment?”
“As a matter of fact, yes,” replied Lacey. “Charles Dickens got that kind of ghost right. They’re tormented by their own regret and can only blame themselves since they never regretted their actions when they were alive. Jacob Marley DOES regret his actions and accepted there’s nothing he can do except blame himself since it’s too late for him.”
“This ghost I met didn’t have that kind of thinking,” I revealed. “Megumi DOES regret what she did and made no attempt to stop me from leaving. Something doesn’t add up here.” Just then, the ghost shimmered into view.
“Help me! Please!” wailed the ghost, Carl.
“…Why?” I asked.
“There is goodness in you!” pleaded Carl. “Help me! Let me start again!”
“You’re chained for a reason,” I continued. “If you REALLY regret your actions, you wouldn’t try to escape or shift the blame to…”
“Okay, you know what,” grumbled Carl, standing upright despite being chained, “I saw this coming.” He pulled back the hood to reveal a monstrous head. It had two long tendrils coming from the back of the head and a single eye.
“CAAN!” screamed Lacey.
“Give me access to After Academy’s library,” demanded Caan.
“I read about you!” I snapped. “Why should we obey a Dalek like you?!”
“You have no choice in the matter!” snarled Caan as he equipped his Dal Driver.
“DAL DRIVER!” it screamed. He then took out the Pure Dalek can and turned the dome before inserting it into the belt. “PURE DALEK!” it shouted. He then turned the crank and the piping formed the sides of his suit. “ARE YOU READY?!” asked the Dal Driver.
“Henshin!” called Caan. The piping then slammed the sides of his suit onto him.
“THE UNSTOPPABLE KILLER!” announced the belt. “PURE DALEK! EXTERMINATE!” Caan was now Kamen Rider Dal.
“Henshin!” shouted Lacey as she spun the dial. She became Kamen Rider Apocalypse and clashed with Caan. “Go get help!” she shouted.
“But…!” I stammered.
“NOW!” demanded Apocalypse. I took off and ran through the campus streets to find help. Her fellow Horsemen then saw me.
“Alesandro! Stop!” called Death. “What’s going on?!”
“Lacey’s fighting Caan outside the campus!” I explained. “She needs help!”
“A villain with future vision attacks us! Sure! Why not!” snarled Pestilence.
“Anyone got any ideas?” asked Famine with her mouth full.
“…I’ve got a trick in mind,” chuckled War.
War approached the battlefield with a confident grin on her face. “Mr. Caan, I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure of meeting face to face,” she called, distracting him long enough for Apocalypse to strike him and join War. Dal recovered and drew himself up to his full height.
“You are War!” he observed. “The multiverse has changed if you engage in mortal affairs!”
“Tends to happen,” remarked War. “Tell me, what was your position before your little club?”
“Before the Cult of Skaro,” replied Dal, “I was the Attack Squad Leader of the Thirteenth Assault Group! Many worlds fell under Dalek control thanks to my efforts!”
“Yeah, evil hasn’t changed,” grumbled War. “Comes with the territory. You always rely on permanence to get you through the day. Good, on the other hand, ALWAYS changes. We’ve got new ways of dealing with people like you.”
“There ARE no people like me!” argued Dal. “Not yet!”
“There’s ALWAYS gonna be someone like you,” replied War. “…Wait, not yet?”
“You will never know!” snapped Dal.
“You’re right, I foresee your defeat coming,” chuckled War. “Kamen Rider Dal, you will be haunted by three spirits! Expect them…right now! Henshin!” She transformed and her fellow Horsemen, also in Rider form, joined her in attacking him while I got to work on the machine. Death called it clever, I call it narrowly avoiding disaster. Caan couldn’t fully manifest in this universe unless he was invited in some way. Because I didn’t fully follow through on bringing him into this universe, he was stuck in a transitional state. He’s immune to conventional attacks, but, then again, the Apocalypse Riders are anything BUT conventional. Their attacks managed to do him some damage.
“Guys, it’s time!” I called when I finished.
“Do it!” ordered War. I pressed the button and Dal was sent away from After Academy. “You’re NOT getting a refund on your application!” laughed War as all Riders powered down. Dal was struggling under the machine’s power and turned to me.
“I now…understand…what it means…to live!” he begged me. “Have…PITY!”
“Pity?” I replied, giving my best Dalek impression. “I have no understanding of the word! It is not registered in my vocabulary bank!” I then dropped the act. “For your sake, look to see me no more.” One final button and Kamen Rider Dal vanished, never to terrify After Academy.
“I have to apologize again, for all this,” offered Alesandro.
“No, no, no,” I replied after hearing all of it. “You were doing what you thought was right, obeying your conscience. I didn’t have that kind of courage. If you’ll let me, though, I’d like to work towards proving that I CAN do so.”
“Well, can’t exactly leave the F.N.S on that note, can I?” chuckled Alesandro. “The F.N.S IS a better family than my blood relatives. We all had a flub or two in our lives. The best we can do is pick ourselves up and get back into the fight.”
“Truer words have never been spoken,” I agreed. Just then, the comms chimed. I pressed the accept button. “Moshi moshi!” I called.
“Megumi, mind having everyone gather in the Gateway Room?” requested Richard. “We found something that will make some heads roll.”
“Sure thing,” I replied. I then switched to general broadcast. “Minna, report to the Gateway Room. Richard’s team found something.” We all gathered in the Gateway Room and Technarain, Sludgiona, Batman, Pup-X5, Lukas, and Richard looked pretty mad. “What happened?” I asked.
“We finally figured out what caused the results to go the way they did,” explained Richard. “Someone tampered with the results, someone with more access to the results than any of us who voted. So, the question becomes, X-PO, why? Why did you do it?” …X-PO?
“How is this POSSIBLE?!” I roared. “All five Sources within our grasp, and yet none have been retrieved! I am only inundated with excuses, even from my own wife!” I pointed to Igura after she returned from 5-U-P-3-R-M-4-R-1-0. She snarled at the accusation, but I didn’t pay attention. I turned to our newest addition. “Well, Cyber-Leader Gi? What’s YOUR excuse?!”
“It is illogical for me to give one,” replied Cyber-Leader Gi. “I had underestimated the power they had and it cost me my victory. The fault is mine.”
“Yes, I do believe it is!” I confirmed.
“However, there IS a way to fix this for all of us,” supplied Cyber-Leader Gi.
“Explain! Quickly!” I ordered.
“We still have a fix on four of the Sources’ respective energy signatures,” explained Cyber-Leader Gi. “The reason it is not all five is because, according to what the Joker discovered on the Tarlaxian scout ship’s flight recorder, the Source of Starvation is in Tarlax 14’s vault. However, the other four are all in one place. Logically, it would be the Vortex Riders main base of operations.”
“And since they originally scrambled Vorton’s new coordinates, they may have used it again for some sense of familiarity,” I deduced. “But it won’t matter if we use the Sources as a beacon to guide us there. Muster the fleet. Cyber-Leader Gi, do we have the coordinates of the Sources current position?”
“We do,” confirmed Cyber-Leader Gi. “The probes we have sent to observe the universe have identified the universe as V-0-R-T-0-N.”
“Feed them to all ships,” I ordered. “We leave at once.”
I looked at the various trophies the Doctor left behind on Vorton for me to examine. I snorted at a few. The only trophy I could respect wasn’t even evidence of the Doctor’s victory. That victory belonged to the Vortex Riders. It was an empty, open Dalek casing. The Doctor’s trophies just laid there near the casing. “Look at all this,” I muttered to myself. “Relics and artefacts that I should feel some connection to. I don’t, though. It’s all just junk to me.” I picked up a tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator and just sat with it in my hands. “Michael says it doesn’t matter who I am, as long as I live my own life.” I snorted again. “My own life. A life with no memory of who I am. No real history. Wearing someone else’s face! I don’t even like this face, even though it’s considered attractive by human standards! If the Emperor Dalek was lying, and I AM a clone of Rose Tyler, then I’m just a copy. A duplicate. Something that was mass-produced like…like…” My rant faltered as I examined the gunstick’s socket on the Dalek casing. “I remember…not being able to…shoot myself? ……NO!” I threw the extrapolator at the glass case the casing sat in and it shattered. “It’s just some stray thoughts coming to the surface! Thoughts that aren’t mine! They can’t be!” I could only laugh hopelessly. “I can’t trust who I am! I can’t trust ANYTHING about me! If I wanted to, I could just walk around pretending to be Rose Tyler, because all I am is a copy! A copy that can only see the impurity of…! Impurity of…” More memories came to the surface, the glorious saucers hanging over every world across time and space, the Emperor commanding us all, leveling… “…I remember now!” I couldn’t believe it! A smile crossed my face! “I REMEMBER NOW!” I ran my hands across my face…face…hands…arms…legs…two eyes…no! “I remember…I REMEMBER!” NO! NO! NO! I AM CONTAMINATED!
With the Gateway having been fixed so that the seven person limit was removed, we didn’t need my power as Vortex. My team, Team Death, assembled first. “Coordinates set,” reported Rusty. “Whenever you’re ready.”
“Shall we, Megumi?” offered Death.
“Minna,” I called, “ikuze! CHARGE!” We charged into the portal, flying through the rift.
Next up was my team, Team War. “Okay, Michael,” called Elphaba. “Your path is set.”
“Off we go!” I called. War gave off a battle-cry as we charged into the portal.
I had already taken everyone up to the Virginia. I adjusted the rose rings around my wrists as we arrived at the bridge. It was multi-leveled. The pilot sat in the center of the bridge’s lower level in a chair that looked like a multi-axis trainer, the chair astronauts use to simulate disorientation on reentry. The walls had half a TARDIS console built into them. The Captain, me, would sit in a chair on the level above the pilot and the First Officer would sit in the seat behind me, facing the back of the bridge in order to relay commands. I was showing off the consoles, starting from port, then going to bow, then starboard, then stern. “Welcome to the bridge!” I began. “We’ve only got a limited amount of time, so let’s go through it quickly. The port consoles are science stations, the bow consoles are weapons, the starboard consoles are in charge of communications, and the aft consoles command Engineering when the Chief Engineer is on the bridge. Now, positions. Liam.”
“Aye?” gulped Liam as he was snapped out of his awe.
“You know technical stuff, right?” I asked.
“…I hit things,” replied Liam. “They get fixed.”
“Splendid,” I answered. “You’ll work with R9 as an Engineer. Amelia, Pestilence, you work the science stations.”
“Got it,” confirmed Pestilence as she and Amelia took their respective consoles.”
“Hongo, you work the weapons,” I directed.
“Both consoles?” asked Hongo.
“Only one needs to be used,” answered Mikhail, “but we’re people who prefer back-ups. So, when one explodes, the other kicks in when only one person’s working the weapons.”
“Now THAT makes sense,” replied Hongo.
“Speaking of working consoles,” I interjected, “Mikhail, you’re in charge of communications.”
“да,” (Da, yes) confirmed Mikhail.
“Tanisha, you’ve flown ships before,” I recalled.
“Not this type,” remarked Tanisha. “I need to familiarize myself with the controls.”
“It’s like a video game,” I assured. “Think of the space battles in Star Wars: Battlefront II, the 2005 release.”
“Ah, the good one,” remarked Tanisha.
“Where does that leave me?!” protested Scorpainia.
“It leaves you as my First Officer,” I answered.
“YOUR First Officer?!” exclaimed Scorpainia.
“Megumi legally transferred ownership of the ship to me,” I explained. “As such, I’m it’s captain.”
“I see,” replied Scorpainia.
“Make sure my orders are carried out and smack anyone who says or does something stupid,” I instructed.
“Smacking limbs ready,” reported Scorpainia.
“All right, man your stations,” I directed. “Majel, ship status.” An image of the late Majel-Barret Roddenberry appeared on screen. She was in one of her Lwaxana Troi dresses.
“Still in standard orbit,” she reported, “and this a.i. is really, REALLY bored!”
“Is that…?!” gasped R9.
“No, it’s the a.i. based off of her,” I answered. “When she heard that I needed a shipboard computer, she volunteered. After I explained that it would have a full range of emotions, she planted the idea of an interactive image in Lukas’ head and suggested herself. This was after her guest lecture on how much influence women had in early science fiction. I agreed and so Lukas coded Majel here.”
“And I’ve been stuck orbiting Vorton for a while now,” muttered Majel.
“Well, our new adventure may stretch your engines,” I replied. “We’re going to universe 5-U-P-3-R-M-4-R-1-0 to rescue some Tarlaxian explorers.”
“OOOH! Going outside Vorton!” cheered Majel. “Ready and waiting!”
“Tanisha,” I instructed as I sat down, “set a course for 5-U-P-3-R-M-4-R-1-0. 50% of speed factor 1 until we’ve cleared orbit, then punch it to speed factor 7.”
“Got it,” confirmed Tanisha as she pressed the necessary buttons. As Scorpainia moved to sit behind me, I noticed something.
“Hey,” I whispered to her, not wanting to draw the bridge’s attention to it, “are you all right?”
“What do you mean?” replied Scorpainia in the same whisper.
“Your claw’s shaking,” I answered. Scorpainia’s right claw was shaking a bit. She looked at the claw and saw it shake. She then opened and shut it a few times, making it stop twitching.
“Must be getting old,” she chuckled. I could see it in her eyes, something’s terrified her. We were on a time crunch, though, so I put it to the back of my mind.
“Course laid in,” reported Tanisha.
“Engage!” I ordered in my best Picard impression. The engines hummed, the lights brightened…and the ship lurched, nearly throwing me out of my seat. Scorpainia yelped as the same happened to her while everyone else held onto their consoles as they fell.
“I’ll just correct the orbit, shall I?” gulped Majel.
“Vorton’s hailing us,” reported Mikhail.
“Put them through,” I directed. “They probably want to know what’s going on.”
“Is everything all right up there?” asked Richard.
“Just learned that the controls ARE similar to the space battles of the 2005 Star Wars: Battlefront II,” replied Tanisha, “but with inverted controls.”
“I think we need to learn how to fly this thing,” muttered Scorpainia.
“Majel, why don’t you pull up some tutorials?” I suggested.
“Tutorial system: engaged,” replied Majel. “We’ll start with step 1: Crash Avoidance.”
“When that’s done,” called Liam, “que up Snakes on a Plane.”
“Dude! Do it!” agreed R9.
“…All right,” mumbled Majel. “Queuing up Snakes on a Plane, directed by David R. Ellis and starring Samuel L. Jackson and…”
“Majel, cancel that order,” I interrupted.
“AW!” protested Liam and R9.
“You guys go on without us,” called Emily to my group.
“Okay, if you say so, Sis,” I muttered.
“We should probably get going,” mumbled Famine as she finished her chicken wings.
“All right, then,” I declared. “ATTACK!” We charged into the portal and fell through the rift.
“Moon-kyung,” called Joshua, “wish to do the honors?”
“Me?” I gulped.
“Why not? Let a new girl try her hand in a command position,” replied Lacey.
“…Well, I DID want to join the army when I was a girl,” I conceded. “Time to get some practice in. Gaja!” (Let’s go!) We charged into the portal and headed to our destination.
“There IS one thing I never liked about manning the Gateway,” muttered Elphaba as Ms. Moon-kyung and her group departed.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“The waiting,” explained Elphaba.
“No one really likes waiting,” I replied.
“I’m actually fine with it,” signed Chell. Thank goodness Tanisha taught Rusty, Elphaba, and I how to understand American Sign Language.
“Why?” asked Elphaba.
“Back home,” continued Chell, “I was constantly put into dangerous situations by GLaDOS, never getting a moment’s rest. I’m fine with just waiting.”
“Well, maybe it’s the old bad guy in me,” sighed Elphaba, “but I would stave off the ennui by conquest.”
“You’ve REALLY got a bad case of jitters if conquest staves it off,” remarked Rusty. I snorted holding back a laugh.
“I don’t know if you noticed,” I remarked, “but your old associates in the Dalek Empire are the twitchiest bunch in our universe.”
“And knowing that there’s a hostile multiverse out there,” interjected Elphaba, “we need to be ready for attack. THAT’S what’s making me twitchy.”
“In MY day,” I replied, “we took on Daleks, Cybermen, Autons, Zygons, and all manner of space thuggery, and it doesn’t get more hostile than THAT!” Just then, the Gateway’s control console beeped. Elphaba took it.
“This is Vorton,” she introduced.
“It’s Emily,” called Young Miss Saunders. “We finally got the ship controls hammered out. We’ll see you later.”
“Good luck,” bid Elphaba. As soon as communications ended, the Virginia left orbit, opened a rift, and vanished into it. Rusty and I saluted, you’re familiar with the salute of the United Kingdom, as it left.
“All right,” declared Elphaba as she took charge, “we’re all going into one hour shifts monitoring various aspects. Rusty, you’re monitoring the power systems. Brigadier, you’re monitoring weapons. Chell, medical monitoring for you. I’ll monitor the Gateway for any rift activity. We switch at the end of our shifts, Gateway to medical to weapons to power to Gateway. Understood?” We all confirmed our duties. “Perfect, let’s…” the Gateway beeped again, interrupting her. Since she volunteered for Gateway duty, she checked the console. “Someone’s coming through!” she yelped.
“Shocker Rift?” asked Rusty as she readied her gunstick.
“…No,” reported Elphaba. “A blonde woman in rags.”
“What was she doing in the rift?” I asked.
“Does it matter?!” signed Chell. “Bring her in! She’s unprotected!” Elphaba opened a portal and brought the woman to the platform. Rusty’s eyes went wide.
“I know that face!” she breathed.
“Pardon?” I asked.
“From the Pathweb, the shared intelligence of the Daleks!” explained Rusty. “From the Doctor’s memories as well! I know that woman!”
“Who?” asked Elphaba as Chell picked her up and carried her to the medical bay. “Who is she?”
“…Rose Tyler!” declared Rusty.
The Virginia was cruising through the rift at speed factor 7. I arranged a bouquet of my favorite flowers in the Captain’s Quarters when the door chimed. “Come in,” I bid. Scorpainia came in.
“We’ll be in Mario’s universe in two hours,” she reported.
“Appreciate it,” I reciprocated. She then turned to leave. “Hey, wait!” I called. “Don’t you want anything? Tea? Sandwich?”
“No thank you,” replied Scorpainia. “I have…other things to attend to.”
“…Okay,” I shrugged. The door shut when Scorpainia left. She’s never been this dodgy before. Then again, she DOES have a lot on her plate…as did I. At that point, I made a decision. I knew the consensus was that we wouldn’t tell the new guys about Megumi’s emotional collapse, but my conscience was kicking me ever since we made the decision. Now may not be the best time, but better than during battle. I headed to Liam’s quarters and knocked on the door.
“Aye?” he called.
“It’s Emily,” I answered. The door opened and I saw Liam with grease on his face.
“What can I do for you, Captain?” he asked.
“May I come in?” I asked.
“Sure, go ahead,” he bid as he stepped aside. I looked around and saw various tools out while a machine was on a workbench.
“You settled in quick,” I mused.
“Aye, that I did,” chuckled Liam. I then sighed.
“Okay, I gotta say this or I won’t say it at an appropriate time,” I declared. “Liam, we didn’t tell you our entire history. We left a part out.”
“Oh?” asked Liam.
“When we picked up Hongo and the others,” I explained, “ we left them in the dark about Vortech. It came to bite us in the ass and Megumi went through an emotional breakdown. We have a history of keeping secrets, I’m sorry to say. The general vote was not to tell you new guys, but it doesn’t sit right with me. If this changes anything…”
“Honestly, you proved me wrong by telling me this,” interrupted Liam.
“…Huh?” I quizzed, utterly confused.
“I thought you were just using your parents to cover up why you were involved,” replied Liam, “that you were forced by X-PO. The fact that you went with your gut just now proved me wrong. I have a habit of making assumptions and it fractured a few friendships in my life.”
“…I honestly expected you to leave us right now, but I’m glad I was proven wrong,” I sighed in relief.
“No more secrets then?” quizzed Liam.
“No more secrets,” I assured.
“Then perhaps you can clear something up for me,” directed Liam. “Where did you get this ship?! Was there a sale at the shops?!”
“I take it Death spun the ‘Spoils of War’ yarn?” I asked. “Nothing like that. The Horsemen were building the Virginia as a last-resort during the Vortech Wars. We didn’t need it, so they just gave it to us for us to take the occasional joyride or have a pleasure cruise. We still maintain the weapons just in case we need them. Given what’s going on, we may need them soon.”
“So, what did you do for a living again? Before you got your Vortex Driver?” asked Liam.
“I did Let’s Plays on YouTube,” I replied.
“…I went into the wrong line of work,” muttered Liam. Just then, Majel came onto the screen.
“I hate to interrupt,” she began, “but junction J-7 is out again. I think I need a 9 volt in there.”
“Hold on,” I replied. “I got this.” We headed into the hall and found the junction. I then took out a tool and fired a lightning bolt into it, making it glow again.
“Thank you!” bid Majel.
“You got a tool that can shoot lightning?!” yelped Liam.
“Yeah, don’t you?” I asked.
“…No!” replied Liam.
“You don’t?” quizzed Majel.
“…And you do?!” squeaked Liam.
“Of course, I do,” boasted Majel. “One of my weapons can do that.” Just then, something chimed. “Hold up, I’m picking up a vessel off the starboard bow,” muttered Majel.
“Can you identify it?” I quizzed.
“It almost looks like the Tarlaxian scout ship, Tranzek, but the mass and shape aren’t exact,” reported Majel.
“Let’s see it,” I directed. Majel showed us the vessel. It looked like a mean version of a science vessel. “All hands, to your stations!” I called over the comms. We all made our way to the bridge while R9 and Liam headed to Main Engineering. “All stop,” I ordered.
“Answering all stop,” reported Tanisha. The Virginia stopped and took a scan of the vessel. The results came up on screen, matching what Majel said earlier.
“On screen,” I commanded. The vessel appeared on screen and shocked us all.
“Is…that the Tranzek?” asked Mikhail.
“It looks like they glued debris onto it,” muttered Scorpainia. The upgraded vessel then moved off.
“After it,” I ordered. We followed it until we arrived in Mario’s world, in orbit around Mario’s planet. How did I know it was Mario’s planet? The Comet Observatory was in orbit as well.
“We’re being hailed by the Observatory,” reported Mikhail.
“Let’s hear it,” I directed. Rosalina then came up on screen.
“I’m glad your vessel responded,” mused Rosalina. “Tell me, what brings you here?”
“I can explain the full story later, Ma’am,” I replied, “but our immediate priority is the vessel we were in pursuit of, the one orbiting the planet as well.”
“Then, perhaps we should work together and find out what’s going on with that vessel,” suggested Rosalina.
“A good idea,” I answered. “We’ll maneuver close and attempt to dock with it and pick up what the crew’s doing.”
“The crew?” asked Rosalina. “What crew? I’m not getting any bio-readings from the ship.” Scorpainia gasped. I turned around with a quizzed look.
“If…if she’s not getting any bio-readings,” stammered Scorpainia, “then…they’ve either taken their equipment offline or…or they’re…dead.” That raised a few red flags for us.
“Ma’am, we’ll still investigate this,” I affirmed. “That’s supposed to be a manned vessel. We’ll report our findings when we’ve finished. Saunders out.” The call ended. “Scorpainia, is there an airlock on that kind of vessel?”
“Middle of the port side,” replied Scorpainia.
“Tanisha, maneuver us alongside the Tranzek’s port side,” I directed. “Line our docking tube with the airlock
“God, I HATE parallel parking!” grumbled Tanisha. We used maneuvering thrusters only to get alongside.
“I just had a thought,” called Hongo.
“What’s up?” I replied.
“The vessel DID move, right?” asked Hongo.
“…Yes, we pursued it to this universe,” I confirmed, not sure where Hongo’s line of questioning was going.
“Then, that means they have some sort of power,” continued Hongo.
“…Then why aren’t they acting on us moving?” I asked.
“Well, if we’re parallel to the ship,” replied Hongo, “our weapons couldn’t effectively hit the vessel. I mean, they WERE attacked before we departed. Maybe…”
“Oh no!” I gasped, realizing Hongo’s theory. The thing that attacked the Tranzek may still be onboard!
“I’m detecting an energy spike from their weapons!” called Amelia.
“Hard about!” I shouted. “Raise shields!” Unfortunately, Majel couldn’t raise shields fast enough as the Tranzek hit us. The lights then came on. They were blood-red instead of the standard white. The enemy vessel continued firing on us. “Hongo, return fire!” I ordered. Hongo’s fingers danced across his console, firing on the enemy vessel.
“Direct hit!” reported Hongo. “No effect! The enemy’s shields are too powerful!”
“Majel! Shields! Now!” I commanded.
“Shield power’s dropping like cement!” answered Majel. Scorpainia activated the comms on her armrest.
“Engineering! What’s going on?!” she demanded.
“Things are happening all at once!” reported Liam. “I’m trying to…” He was interrupted by an explosion. “Damn it! we needed ‘at! I’ll caa ye back!” He ended the call.
“R9, where are you?!” I called.
“On my way to Main Engineering!” replied R9’s voice. Good. Liam needs all the help he can get.
“Hongo, weapons status!” I barked.
“They keep adapting to every shot we throw at them!” answered Hongo. “We can’t penetrate their shields!”
“Tanisha, move us so we can fire the graviton launcher!” I ordered.
“The graviton launcher doesn’t have enough power to fire!” countered Majel. “In fact, we’re losing weapons power all together!”
“I don’t care!” I snapped. “We have to hit them! We…” the enemy vessel got in front of us. “Ah hell! EVASIVE MANEUVERS!” Tanisha tried her best, but the ship wasn’t moving fast enough! We still got hit!
“We can’t fight in this condition!” called Scorpainia. “We have to retreat!”
“Tanisha, get us out of here! Floor it!” I ordered, thinking that Scorpainia’s suggestion was a good one. I then called Main Engineering. “Liam, divert all power to engines!”
“I’ll do what I can,” replied Liam, “but some of the engines are down! We’re not moving so fast!” Just then, the Comet Observatory moved between us and the enemy vessel. She appeared on screen.
“Get out of here! We’ll hold them off!” she called.
“You don’t have weapons!” I countered.
“No, but we have shields! Now go!” insisted Rosalina.
“Intruder on the bridge!” shouted Scorpainia. We all turned to see a woman wearing a demonic looking Kamen Rider suit. Hongo then struck his pose.
“Rider…” he began.
“Stay on weapons!” I called as I drew my i.d. tag. “This one’s…”
“Such bravado,” spoke the demonic Kamen Rider. The voice…made me freeze. I recognized that voice. It haunted and hunted me during high school. I saw the owner of that voice cast into Hell itself…and still I heard it from that Kamen Rider. “Something wrong?” taunted the Kamen Rider as her hand moved to her belt, a demon’s head. “You’ve boasted that you could defeat me anywhere, anytime. I must say, you fat hog, you haven’t proven that to me today.” She closed the belt’s demon mouth, making the eyes close and the suit vanish in smoke. As it cleared, the woman underneath was revealed to be…
“Hillbilly Heather!” I whispered.
“That name!” snarled my, once late, arch-nemesis, Heather Richards. “That was never my name! You spat that name at me and it stuck!”
“How?” I gasped.
“I always endure!” hissed Heather, guessing the context of my question. “After you cast me into Hell, I was put into the outer ring of Hell’s seventh circle, condemned to forever swim in a river of boiling blood and fire!”
“Violence against people and property,” I recalled from Dante’s Inferno.
“I was not about to let those centaurs keep me down,” continued Heather, “so I ignored the pain of the arrows, mounted one, and charged off along the riverbank. Some demons didn’t like that, so they pursued me. Shocker Rift then came after me to try and enslave me again, so I managed to rip a Combatman’s skull out of his head and beat him to death with it!”
“That doesn’t seem physically possible!” countered Pestilence.
“That’s what the demons screamed as I beat the Combatman to death,” replied Heather. “The skull then turned into my new belt but needed souls to power it. I simply helped myself to those that swam in that river with me as well as the demons, centaurs, and Combatmen, then transformed into the Kamen Rider you just saw so I could escape Hell. I don’t exactly like using that word ‘Kamen’ or the word ‘Henshin’, given that they’re impure…but the multiverse proved that it hates purity. So, better to burn it and start all over again! I escaped Hell, blindsided a Shocker Rift saucer, intercepted the Tarlaxian scout ship, and seized control. The debris flung around by Vortech’s Rift Loop made the ship into a superb weapon!”
“What about the Tarlaxian crew?” I asked.
“After I took over their minds,” explained Heather, “they became excellent extensions of my will!”
“You destructive, filth-spewing…!” I snarled.
“Don’t assume you’re alive for idle chit-chat, you stubborn sow!” interrupted Heather. “You haven’t yet taken my place in Hell because I want you to know that it was I who defeated you, I who conquered Hell itself!”
“What now?” I hissed.
“Now?” asked Heather. “Now I kill everyone on this ship, destroy it, and use its junk to enhance my own!”
“Don’t you want to take it intact?” I asked. “You don’t need to destroy it OR us.”
“What I want,” growled Heather, “is to peel the skin from your bones! I want to tie you to a cross and burn you alive! I want to hurl stones at your helpless form! WHAT I WANT……I want many things; you sack of fat and juices! But, every time I try to prolong your agony, you always come out on top! No, you will die by my hand and you will die quickly so I don’t have to see you a second longer! Take this thought with you as you fall to Hell! As I swam in infinite heat with the taste of blood flooding my taste buds, the only thing that kept me from succumbing to madness, as the rest of the damned had long since done, was my hatred! My singular hatred of YOU!” She called up her ship. “Fire!” she commanded. Just then, she saw, on screen, her vessel’s lights flickering. “Oh, for…WHAT’S GOING ON OVER THERE?!” she shrieked as she vanished in a ball of fire.
“Floor it!” I ordered Tanisha. As we scrambled to get away, I noticed Scorpainia standing as still as a statue. “Scorpainia?!” I called. “SCORPAINIA!!”
“We’re drifting too close to the planet!” reported Tanisha. “I don’t have enough power to get us out of the atmosphere!” That shook Scorpainia into action.
“Make the landing as steady as possible!” she shouted.
“Releasing landing struts!” called Tanisha. “Deploying air brakes!” The Virginia’s landing struts were built like skis, so we were going to slide a good distance. The air brakes slowed us down a bit and helped level our descent.
“Do we have enough power to maintain orbit?!” I screamed at the spider monster.
“Yes,” droned the spider monster.
“Then keep us in orbit while I repair things!” I commanded.
“Understood, Pure One,” replied the spider monster.
Like I mentioned, our descent was rough. The impact was lessened, but still hard enough to make us bounce around. We skidded a good mile until we came to the outskirts of Toad Town. The Toads gathered around, hoping for survivors. Peach, Mario, Luigi, Daisy, and Rosalina came up. Rosalina was explaining the situation as Peach directed the crisis teams to get us out of the wreck. We all managed to survive, albeit a little dizzy. My mind still focused on two things: Heather’s resurrection and Scorpainia’s freezing up.
Peach and I followed Scorpainia and entered the warehouse. I got my Vortex Driver out, ready to transform, but a fireball knocked it out of my hands. I ran after it but another fireball just blocked the way and pushed us back. “You think you’ve won,” taunted Heather’s voice. “You think you have a chance, but the truth is, you’ve already lost. You have no sense of permanence. No means of remembering the glories of the past. Purity, on the other hand, purity is strong. Purity is perfection! Purity reminds us of the past! Diversity destroys what existed and was strong. In the end, those that cling to diversity are cowards!” I then realized that the voice was behind me. I whirled around only for Heather to wrap her fingers around my neck and toss me into boxes. Peach rushed forward with a cast-iron pan at the ready. Heather slammed her fist into Peach’s gut and threw her aside. Scorpainia swung her sword at her but Heather side-stepped and drove her foot into the exposed flesh of Scorpainia’s knee joint. One of the disadvantages of an exoskeleton, your joints are so easily exposed. Scorpainia was down but Peach and I got back up. I swung a punch but Heather side-stepped and my punch hit Peach’s face.
“Oh god! I’m sorry!” I apologized. Heather then grabbed my braid and flung me aside. Damn dress! I can’t move as effectively! Heather then drove her knee into Peach’s jaw, then pressed her fingers to her ear.
“Install the parts and destroy the enemy ship,” she ordered. “I’ll finish down here and kill Emily.” She then approached me. “Did you hear that?” she chuckled. “Everything you love will burn!”
“Oh, Heather, for all your technical genius,” I taunted, “you’re such an idiot and a loser!”
“Loser?!” snapped Heather as she slapped me silly. “You idiots are all at my feet and I’m not even in my Rider persona! What makes you think I’ve lost?!”
“Those baubles around Scorpainia’s waist aren’t a belt!” I replied. Heather turned to her and was jabbed in her side by Scorpainia’s stinger! She shoved her aside and fled, the pain of the venom flooding her nerves. I decided now was a good time to warn the ship. “Guys, the enemy’s about to bombard the Virginia!” I warned.
“Already in space!” reported Mikhail. “We have a plan and have the Source!”
“Good, act on the plan!” I ordered. “I’ve gotta keep Heather down here!”
“Understood!” replied Mikhail. The call ended.
“You know, there are moments where I don’t know why I’m even fighting!” grumbled Scorpainia as she massaged her knee joint. “I mean, that venom’s not lethal to humans! Maybe I’m just staving off the inevitable! No, wait, I got it! I’m waiting for the next reboot since this whole thing is like a comic book!” She then laughed for a while, stopping only to reflect. “I don’t know,” she sighed, “maybe I’m finally starting to hate my life.”
“…Do you?” asked Peach.
“…You know what, I don’t,” replied Scorpainia. “I still love my life. I love seeing what comes next. I love being around you guys. I love wandering the multiverse with you and seeing new universes. I wouldn’t be satisfied until I explored as much of the unexplored as I could and…” Her eyes then went wide. “That’s why I gotta live,” she breathed. “I’m an explorer! I like discovering the good and the bad! That would be the only thing that would allow me to stave off boredom if I became immortal! That’s why I need to live!”
“A good answer!” I praised.
“You two!” laughed Peach. “The way you go on!”
“What about it?” asked Scorpainia.
“You act like there’s nothing separating the two of you!” replied Peach. “You guys act like old friends instead of a Queen and foreign dignitary!”
“…We ARE friends,” answered Scorpainia. “Peach, is that what’s holding you back?”
“Titles mean nothing in terms of friendship,” I supplied. “We ARE friends. You don’t need to be the same class as others to be friends.” Peach then got the look of someone who had an epiphany.
“…I’ve been so isolated from my friends because of the class difference between us when I could have just ignored our classes,” she mumbled. She then got a look of resolve. “Time to really defend the kingdom!” Just then, the crews of both ships appeared with the Tarlaxians restrained.
“Scorpainia! The Eye! Now!” called Pestilence.
“Coming up!” confirmed Scorpainia. She approached the Tarlaxians as the jewel in the center of her armor pulsed with a soft light. “Look,” she commanded. The Tarlaxians looked and got a good view, still struggling against their bonds. Their struggles lessened until they stopped as the jewel pulsed. Soon, its pulsing stopped and the Tarlaxians shook their heads, getting a good look at Scorpainia. “Spidarachnimpa, my sister, how are you feeling?” asked Scorpainia.
“Crappy,” muttered Spidarachnimpa. “Where are we?”
“The Source universe the Council assigned to you without my knowledge,” explained Scorpainia.
“…Did you miss the memo or something?” asked Escargripam.
“They didn’t even draft one,” I replied.
“Us! The Queen! Our allies! Who else did they not tell and what’s that down my pants?!” Octorpindar griped. “Was it placed there when I slept?!”
“You were dead, actually,” explained Pestilence. “We used a green mushroom to bring you back to life.”
“A 1-Up mushroom,” Peach and I said together.
“…So…it’s bowel evacuation,” gulped Octorpindar. “I don’t know if that’s better or worse.”
“Don’t worry!” called Mikhail. “In anticipation of that, I have fashioned you some new pants while you were in the brig!” The new pants were a shade of pink that clashed horribly with Octorpindar’s purple skin.
“…At least I maintain a modicum of dignity,” mumbled Octorpindar. Just then, we heard a roar. “What was that?!” yelped Octorpindar.
“Get your swords and prepare for battle!” ordered Scorpainia.
“What’s going on?!” squeaked Escargripam.
“We’re in another universe that has items that give people powers,” replied Scorpainia, “trapped in a warehouse with a racist b***h that could give the Daleks a run for their money in terms of hatred, while armed with big swords and belts that turn people into superheroes.”
“…And you’re still keeping the multiversal exploration program well-funded?” asked Spidarachnimpa.
“Best use of tax money,” replied Scorpainia. “Octorpindar, wipe your ass and get ready!” As Octorpindar headed off to obey, Spidarachnimpa held up a device, a Chronicle Driver, to our amazement.
“Who needs extra protection?” she called.
“…Peach, wanna try it out?” I offered.
“Me?” yelped Peach.
“Like I said, you’re stronger than you think,” I answered. I held the belt closer to her. Peach seemed to consider…then took the belt and put it on.
“Chronicle Driver!” announced the belt after the strap formed.
“Just follow Liam on the transformation sequence,” I directed. “Speaking of, let’s do it! Hongo, if you please?” We all lined up and faced the door. I.d. tags and Armor Auto-bios came out and poses were struck.
“Rider…!” called Hongo.
“Henshin!” we all shouted.
“Open! Turn! Imagine!” cheered Liam’s belt. “The Shield of Highland!” Liam’s Rider form evoked traditional Highland dress, complete with kilt and sporran. His weapon was a shield with a gatling gun near his hand.
“Open! Turn! Imagine!” announced Peach’s belt. “The Scepter of Crown!” Peach looked like an old knight with a skirt. Her weapon was a long scepter. The door then disappeared in a ball of fire, revealing Heather, looking ready to kill.
“Rider forms, then,” she hissed. “Very well. Henshin.” She pulled the horns down, making the mouth and eyes open and spew fire. It curled around her and she vanished in the blaze until she waved it off in her Rider form. Mikhail started us off.
“Kamen Rider Gallop! My riding skills are unmatched!”
“Kamen Rider Hunt! I shall always get my prey!”
“Kamen Rider Pestilence! You shall be infected with losing!”
“Kamen Rider Herald G! I bring news of your defeat!”
“Kamen Rider Touché! En Garde, thing of evil!”
“Kamen Rider Highland!” called Liam. “It shall be a fine day for winning!”
“I am the start of a group of warriors! I am Kamen Rider!”
“I am Scorpainia, the exploring Queen!”
“I’m R9-D7! My radical voice will slice through you, dude!”
“Kamen Rider Crown!” announced Peach. “My strength will upend your tyranny!”
“If we’re doing catchphrases, then here’s mine!” snarled Heather. “Kamen Rider Diablo! I shall scatter your ashes to the winds!”
“Yeah, f**k you too!” countered Scorpainia.
“ATTACK!” I shouted. We all charged at Heather, Diablo, and were knocked down as she slammed her fist to the floor, causing a massive ring of fire to surround her. She then drew her hand slowly upwards and caused the flames to be drawn to her hand until it formed a gratuitously-sized sword. The blade was three times as thick and twice as long as a broadsword, thus requiring a main handle and a handle on the side, just beneath the blade. She managed to make a huge arc of fire with her swing. Scorpainia and Peach, Crown, were knocked off their feet. Crown then converted her scepter into a double-barreled gun and fired. The shot pushed Diablo back a bit. She recovered quickly and targeted Peach. She ran at her, but met with Liam, Highland, shield-bashing her, then he revealed the gatling gun and fired! Diablo took some hits, then rotated the side handle 90⁰ to her right and moved the main handle 45⁰ down. She then pointed the blade in its new configuration at Highland!
“Och heel!” he yelped as he raised his shield. A good move. Energy gathered at the blade’s tip. She then pressed a button on the main handle and fired a torrent of flames. Highland was knocked back a ways, thankfully, the shield took the brunt of it.
“This is getting us nowhere!” hissed Scorpainia. She then recalled something about Ichigō. “Say, Ichigō,” she called, “have you ever used your Keystone after the Vortech Wars?”
“Not really, why?” asked Ichigō.
“Did one ever shrink to get inside a belt?” inquired Scorpainia.
“…No, but I someone who can,” replied Ichigō, understanding the plan. “Highland! Over here!” As the rest of us continued fighting Diablo, Ichigō explained the plan to Highland, who seemed to have a mischievous expression.
“Do it!” he called.
“Scale Keystone, activate!” announced Ichigō. “Lessen scale of Highland!” Highland shrank down as Ichigō picked him up and flung him towards Diablo. He managed to scurry inside the belt, unbeknownst to her, while we continued fighting. Diablo grabbed Hunt and hoisted her into the air.
“You should remember your place!” she hissed.
“My place is alongside my friends!” snarled Hunt, not bothering to hide her, to put it mildly, irritation of that phrase being thrown at people of her skin tone. She converted her blade into rifle mode and fired at Diablo’s face. Diablo dropped her and covered her face, leaving her open for Hunt tripping her up. Diablo got up and I noticed her speed was a little slower. Highland then came out of the belt.
“Okay, nae gonnae thaur again!” he squeaked. “Ichigō! Now!”
“Normalize scale of Highland!” called Ichigō. Diablo swung a punch at me but I managed to catch it, not something I’d normally do. Diablo noticed this.
“What the?!” she growled. “What’s going on?!” I drove my knee into her stomach, winding her before she could block it. “What’s wrong?! Why’s my reaction time so s**t?!”
“That’s my doing!” laughed Highland when he returned to normal size. “The Rider’s undersuit acts as a neural interface between the person and the armor! The belt regulates it so the reaction time is the same as if the person’s wearing nothing at all! Mess with that function and the armor slows you down!” At that point, Diablo was struggling to stand. “NOW!” called Highland. We Vortex Riders spun the wheel while Highland and Crown pressed the button on their buckles. Herald G flipped a switch near her buckle while Pestilence opened and closed the buckle again.
“Final attack!” called the Vortex Drivers.
“Final Pen Stroke!” announced the Chronicle Drivers.
“Final Message!” shouted Herald G’s belt.
“Final Plague!” rasped Pestilence’s belt. We all leapt into the air.
“RIDER KICK!”
“RIDER GALLOP KICK!”
“RIDER HUNT KICK!”
“RIDER TOUCHÉ KICK!”
“RIDER HIGHLAND KICK!”
“RIDER CROWN KICK!”
“RIDER HERALD G KICK!”
“RIDER PESTILENCE KICK!” We sailed through the air with our feet outstretched and kicked so hard, she was knocked back at least 5 yards across the warehouse. Her armor cracked in places and fell, revealing Heather in pain.
“…So…did that…?” asked Peach. Heather then got up and made an effort to walk towards me while clutching her side.
“MUST…KILL…YOU…EMILY! …HATE…YOU!” she strained. I then cancelled my transformation and stormed up to her.
“You just don’t know when to stop, do you?!” I snarled. “You know, earlier, you boasted how purity will win! How we need to return to the glory days in order to remember them! How those who cling to diversity are cowards! That’s the thing, though! Purity does nothing but regresses us! It makes us repeat the mistakes of the past! We’re forever stuck in a moment in time! Life is all about making new glory days! I intend to make them happen!” At that, I was near enough that I swung a punch right into Heather’s exposed face! The punch was so hard, the rest of her armor fell apart as she was sent spinning! I then turned as she exploded, her body disappearing into the flames. “…Man, that felt good!” I sighed.
——————————————————————————————–
We were back on the Virginia. Unfortunately, the Tarlaxian crew lost their ship during the second space battle, so we offered them a lift to Vorton which they accepted. Peach joined us and took up the second communications console on the lower level while Octorpindar took the weapons console on the upper level to help Hongo. “Course laid in,” announced Tanisha.
“Engage,” I directed. This time, the Virginia entered the rift without lurching. “Contact Vorton and tell them we’re on our way back. Mission accomplished. ETA, three hours,” I ordered.
“Message sent,” reported Mikhail.
“Emily, Vorton replied with a rather weird story,” called Peach. She then relayed how many Sources we have in our possession, which Tarlaxians made it back, who else among the new guys knows about what we didn’t tell them, and the whole thing about the clone of one of the Doctor’s companions. We arrived without incident. After the welcome back, I met with Megumi, the Doctor, and Rusty to discuss the situation with the Rose clone.
“Where IS the photocopy?” I asked.
“Michael took her to After Academy for some food and to try a theory she came up with,” replied Megumi. “Maybe some casual conversation in a new environment will jog her memory. If not, the theory will be plan B.”
“I take it there’s been no luck in finding her memory?” I sighed.
“Nothing,” confirmed the Doctor. “Chell’s just as stumped and I asked every race I know of that uses cloning, even the Sontarans. The Sontaran Fleet Marshal I spoke with asked if she came from batch Z/772-9 and I have no idea why he’d mention that defective batch.”
“What about the Daleks?” asked Rusty.
“Believe it or not, I spoke with Davros himself,” replied the Doctor. “His exact words were ‘Only my children need cloning technology to survive. Why do you think I ordered the Enemy Duplication Program to be shut down?’ before going on a rant about his children’s superiority that I hung up on.”
“I wouldn’t toss out that idea too quickly,” advised Rusty, “not with our history of making duplicates of your companions.”
“…Pardon?” asked the Doctor.
“You know, the Kar-Charrat incident?” quizzed Rusty.
“…There was an incident involving the library on Kar-Charrat?” inquired the Doctor.
“Yes, we attempted to take it,” answered Rusty.
“Why would you guys want a library?” I asked.
“To make one of us a mobile data-store,” explained Rusty. “The library held the entire knowledge of the universe.”
“What does that have to do with the Daleks duplicating one of my companions?” quizzed the Doctor.
“Doctor, don’t you remember?” asked Rusty. “We needed a time-sensitive person to enter the facility and used a duplicate of your companion at the time, Ace. It used the DNA tag that the original Ace was implanted with so she could come and go as she pleased. It was equipped with voice modulation so it could lower the defense grid and we swarmed the place, killed most everyone on the staff, and tried to take the data using you as a safety buffer in case the test subject went insane. You discovered that the staff was using the native Kar-Charratans as data storage within the library’s wet-works facility and managed to free them while foiling our plans again.”
“You never…WHAT?!” protested the Doctor.
“Has your recent regeneration scattered your brain cells?!” yelped Rusty. “Doctor, we made a duplicate of one of your companions!”
“No, you didn’t!” argued the Doctor.
“I can prove it!” insisted Rusty. “In Michael’s universe, it’s an audio drama called The Genocide Machine! Computer, play The Genocide Machine!” The audio drama was about two hours and the Doctor was surprised at what happened during her seventh incarnation.
“I don’t remember this at all!” she finally replied when we finished.
“How could you forget this?!” I protested. “Ace was cloned!”
“That’s the thing!” argued the Doctor. “Like I apparently said back then, Dalek duplicates are cold! That’s because of their mechanical origin! The clone I scanned was totally biological!”
“Another mystery!” groaned Megumi. “What now?!”
——————————————————————————————–
“Okay, the iteration we’re contacting,” explained the Rose clone after plan A failed, “met Rose before. It’s not very logically-minded, thinking itself a god, but it knows some things and masterminded a lot of stuff the Doctor encountered, including the Cult of Skaro.”
“What makes you think it’s involved?” I asked.
“I’m grasping at straws here,” sighed the Rose clone as she tinkered with the machinery. I will say, her technical skill is very commendable. “I guess what I’m trying to prove through this whole exercise is that I’m NOT her.”
“Seems like this whole thing is a little dodgy!” I observed.
“It is,” confirmed the Rose clone. “That’s why only you know about it. Ready?”
“I guess,” I muttered.
“Then throw the switch when I tell you,” directed the Rose clone. She keyed in a command and her console turned green. “Now!” she commanded. I threw the switch and a hologram of a Kaled mutant with an enlarged brain appeared.
“Not the full resurrection a god like me deserves,” it boomed, confirming its status as the Dalek Emperor during the Ninth Doctor’s last episode, “but it will serve to…” it caught sight of the Rose clone. “YOU!” it shouted.
“No, I’m not the Bad Wolf,” replied the Rose clone.
“I know that!” dismissed the Emperor.
“…You do?” I asked.
“Of course, I remember from Pathweb in the…” replied the Emperor before it trailed off. “…Ah! You don’t remember! I can see it in your eyes!”
“What do you see?” asked the Rose clone.
“The truth,” answered the Emperor. “You don’t know it, but your soul does! It’s screaming to be remembered! I can see it!”
“What is my soul screaming for?!” demanded the Rose clone.
“Not yet!” chuckled the Emperor. “It’s too entertaining to reveal it right now! You failed once and will fail unless you remember your origins!”
“Was she some messed-up experiment your Time Controllers made to weaken the Doctor if you lost the Last Great Time War?!” I snapped.
“No, but it would have been a perfect contingency plan!” laughed the Emperor.
“Then who?!” shouted the Rose clone, desperate for answers. “Who created a clone of Rose Tyler?!”
“…Clone?” quizzed the Emperor. “What clone? You are not her clone!” The image then faded, leaving us with more questions than answers.
——————————————————————————————–
I stood outside After Academy, just looking at the clubhouse in the distance. A feeling welled within me, a feeling of betrayal. “…Well?” I asked myself. “Do you want to stay?” Just then, something approached me. It was a person wrapped in chains and rags!
“Help!” the person begged. “Please!”
“Who are you?” I asked.
“I was…Carl,” replied the person. “When I was alive, I treated mankind like nothing.”
“When you were…you’re a ghost?!” I yelped.
“Yes,” answered Carl. “I had chosen to move on, unlike those that study in this school. I was deemed not evil enough for Hell, but not good enough for Purgatory or Heaven! Such…such restless pain!”
“I…I’m sorry,” I sympathized.
“Please! Help me! Find a way to help me repent and move on! Help me!” Carl then faded, leaving me stunned.