Author's Notes: Ladies and Gentlemen; behold the first chapter to a new story, a story that may intrigue and excite you, I really can't say. This is one of my first non-first person perspective tales written in a while and I hope it meets with your approval. This is a crossover between Buffy the Vampire Slayer and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. I'm using an AU Season Seven Buffy and an AU 2002 Series MotU; I make no claims to owning any of the characters in this story; all of them belong to their respective owners, I just borrowed them for a time.
The story referenced in the prologue has yet to be typed up; it is however written on paper, whoever reads this story does not need any knowledge from that story; it is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. This was merely a germ of an idea, which I had one day and decided to persue it.
If you don't like the story; let me know where I can improve upon it and I'll try to do some re-working, the story itself starts out without any Buffy characters in this first chapter, so sorry for all you Buffy fans, but take heart in chapter two I promise Buffy will appear. As the story progresses I'll also go into greater detail on the character's appearence as Buffy and crew meet the Eternians for the first time; I have a thing about writing too many identical lengthy character descriptions in one story. So sorry for those of you who don't know who any of these people might look like.
Anyway without further ado I present Chapter One of The Pact...
Prologue
It is said many friendships are formed by brief encounters; that can be quite true of many, and Alain Desrochers of Earth Prime is no exception, but what happens to those friends and even their enemies once he has left their universe?
Perhaps this tale of heroes and villains engaging in a tried and tested manner can shed some light upon such things…
What has gone before; or, what happened when our intrepid heroes received a mission that led them to Eternia.
The Omniversal team of heroes known as Salvation was charged by Roma; who was relaying a request by Primus at the time, to venture forth to Eternia to prevent the balance from being disrupted too much due to the discovery of the Dark Matrix.
Also known collectively as the Matrix of Conquest and the Dead Matrix Annex; this powerful talisman houses part of Unicron's true essence and is a powerful force for evil.
The leader of the Horde, Hordak; imprisoned in the realm of Despondos discovered the talisman and used its' awesome powers to break free to Eternia with his army. Laying siege to Snake Mountain at first; the Horde decimated several of Skeletors' minions and allies, including many of the Snake Men and King Hsss who had banded together in hopes of throwing back the Horde.
Skeletor himself was stripped of his power and imprisoned in Despondos by Hordak, who believed that to be a fitting punishment for his betrayal and failure to aid him in his bid to return to Eternia.
Next the Horde moved upon the Palace of Eternos; the Masters and her defenders fought valiantly, but alas even with the aid of Salvation they could not prevail, and such noble heroes as Mekaneck and Zodak fell in battle.
He-Man himself fought Hordak, but proved no match for the borrowed powers of the great Chaos God; and during the battle in the throne room he was severely injured enough that he reverted to Prince Adam before the very eyes of his parents, Teela and Force Captain Adora. Upon seeing this King Randor sacrificed himself to prevent his sons' death and the remaining members of the royal family were captured.
All hope seemed lost; but Adora held a great secret, she learned the awesome truth thanks to the Sorceress, that she was daughter to Randor and Marlena, sister to Adam and the inheritor of the awesome mantle of She-Ra, the most powerful woman in the universe.
Hordak's downfall however came not at the hands of the Eternian royals, but a being in service to Unicron who was charged with the retrieval of the Dark Matrix. Nemesis Prime; a powerful Decepticon warrior arrived at the moment of truth and proceeded to reclaim the Matrix, obliterating Hordak in the process to punish him for daring to believe that he and he alone had the right to wield such power.
Everything seemingly returned to normal; Marlena assumed the mantle of ruler in her husband's stead until such time as Adam was truly prepared, and Salvation left perhaps to another destination and mission that the Eternians were not privy to.
But surprisingly enough to the survivors of Snake Mountain; Skeletor somehow returned without so much as an explanation, however Skeletor's return would harbor a new adventure for the defenders of Castle Grayskull.
An adventure that will take them to their mother's home planet of Earth and reveal the secret of how she found herself on Eternia all those years ago upon first meeting Randor… But first let us turn the clock backwards a few months; to the time of Skeletor's imprisonment and reveal his perspective of what occurred that day…
Despondos was a realm of desolation; there was little to no vegetation and countless miles of oppressive nothingness, a vast desert under a sky of a hue that belied the sense of hope, it was here that Hordak had been imprisoned for eons ever since his fall at the hands of King Grayskull.
But thanks to the appearance of that strange talisman he had escaped and was most likely wreaking havoc on Eternia. But first he had granted his former ally a fitting punishment; naturally he had imprisoned Skeletor within that self same land of exile, not before destroying Skeletor's Havoc staff though and rendering him almost completely powerless.
Skeletor was currently musing over his predicament; he had to free himself, but his magic was limited no thanks to Hordak, and he doubted very much that Evil-Lyn would release him if his hated rival was defeated by He-Man.
"You wouldn't be far off Skeletor." A deep voice remarked startling the lone master of evil.
"Who's there?" He demanded glancing around the barren landscape for a source to the voice and finding nothing, just as before.
"A friend." The unknown being returned; Skeletor couldn't tell if it was male or female due to the way it spoke almost as though with two voices of both genders. "I will free you from Despondos on the understanding that you perform a small favor for me at some future date." It stated its' tone seemingly smug.
"What kind of favor?" Skeletor wondered keeping his options open; it was unwise to accept offers from unseen benefactors, but listening never hurt.
"Nothing you can't handle; merely the extermination of my enemies, of course when the time comes you won't have much choice in the matter." It replied in a casual tone of voice; Skeletor's eye sockets flared red, he was nobodies lackey.
"And why should I agree to such a questionable arrangement; I don't even know you or your so called enemies." He returned; it laughed openly causing the entire realm of Despondos to shudder, as though whoever or whatever it was had even greater powers then Hordak himself.
"Perhaps I was mistaken; another less questioning individual, such as Evil-Lyn might be more eager to assist me." It remarked in an obvious ploy to upset Skeletor, a ploy that unfortunately worked all too well.
"She is a worthless trollop; I will accept your proposal, with the understanding that I won't be your underling." He stated; it chuckled slightly causing the realm to tremble once more, only this time it was less of an impact and the sands did not shift so much.
"Of course not Keldor, this is merely an exchange of mutual beneficence; I have the power to aid you and in turn you have the power to assist me." It returned before Skeletor found himself miraculously free of Despondos and once more upon Eternia, he was standing partially up the summit of Snake Mountain; remaining unseen to those below.
He watched in some surprise as a large mechanical being of some kind raised his weapon and proceeded to vaporize Hordak; the creature was mostly black with an intermixing of red, dull silver and a tan/light brown combination on certain body parts. Surprisingly enough he seemed to have the body parts of some organic beast grafted upon numerous sections of his body; Skeletor watched this fascinating behemoth vaporize his rival and then simply vanish into a dark vortex of energy.
"A fitting end for a fool." Skeletor stated smugly before making his way back inside Snake Mountain; he had to begin plotting his next move while the rest of Eternia believed him to be gone, and there was the little matter of re-asserting himself as leader of those who had survived the conflict with the Horde.
The Pact
Several months pass and we find Skeletor seated upon his throne as he was seen often enough; brooding over the many countless failures he had been faced with, a very long time ago when he was still Keldor he had been so close to the Elders power he could almost taste it, but now…
Beaten at every turn by those accursed Masters and what's worse; now He-Man had that little whore She-Ra helping him out, twice the power, twice the humiliation. He couldn't stand this constant failure and despite the incompetence of his minions he knew deep within that part of the blame fell on his shoulders, He-Man was just too strong; he had a power… A power Skeletor strongly suspected was tied to the secrets of Castle Grayskull.
His forces were vastly depleted because of that business with the Horde, but at least he could take some small comfort in the knowledge that fool Randor was dead as well.
"Ah Skeletor." A voice spoke up breaking him from his silence; his eye sockets flared with red fires of his rage as he turned to glare at Beastman.
"What is it Beastman?" He inquired a dangerous edge to his tone, which caused the reddish furred henchman to cower slightly; when Skeletor was in this kind of mood it was wise not to make him wait for reports.
"Mer-Man's back from his little scouring mission." Beastman replied standing a little straighter as Skeletor did not immediately explode in a rage; his master nodded and the mostly dark green skinned, dull golden perhaps brownish sea-shellarmor clad individual, who had been waiting in the shadows of the entranceway, took this as a sign to enter.
"Well?" Skeletor prompted in impatience; Mer-Man simply shook his head.
"I searched the entire Sea of Rakkash from one end to the other; in all possible locations… There was no sign of the artifact or vessel you were hoping to find." He informed in his customary bubbling tone; he always sounded like he had a mouthful of water, Skeletor fumed in silence. It had taken him months just to discover the existence of this particular derelict somewhere on Eternia; his searching could not end in vain, he refused to believe that something so massive could simply vanish completely from the face of Eternia.
"You are most certain that you searched the entire Sea of Rakkash?" Skeletor demanded; Mer-Man nodded.
"Even some of the lesser accessible locations." He added in a semi-hopeful tone that Skeletor would not punish him for failing.
"How is it possible that the Etherian vessel could simply vanish after its crash landing on Eternia?" Skeletor mused aloud. "I am aware that the great unrest caused that fool Randor to lose his trade routes with our sister planet, but even so when they required aid that fool Angela did send a supply ship." He stated revealing some of the history of Eternia that he had discovered to his underlings; Beastman snarled slightly.
"What do we need with an Etherian ship anyway?" He dared to ask; Skeletor eyed him briefly in rage, but then seemed to calm down.
"If you will recall; before Hordak freed himself he did attempt to send a mission to Etheria while we were still trapped behind the Mystic Wall." Skeletor reminded. "He even requested that I give him several troops; as you know that is how we lost a few of our allies."
"Yeah, but what could there be on Etheria that we need?" Beastman wondered continuing to test Skeletor's limits and yet seemingly oblivious to that important fact.
"Because; some of the Horde's weapons are still on Etheria, it is entirely possible that were we to venture there we might discover a device that could breach the barrier surrounding Castle Grayskull." Skeletor calmly explained; Beastman roared slightly in a mocking gesture.
"Like any of those old toys still work." He muttered; Skeletor glared at him. "Why not just use a portal to travel to Etheria?" He questioned.
"Because I'd much rather put my trust in a vessel; magical travel between planets is difficult at even the best of times, and I have never personally seen the surface of Etheria. We could inadvertently wind up on the bottom of some ocean and drown." Skeletor snapped his patience at last at an end. "Now leave me!" He ordered; both of his minions turned to comply when suddenly Snake Mountain itself began to tremble under some unseen force.
Mer-Man toppled to the hard stone floor and slid along its length coming to a stop at the foot of the throne; Beastman ducked low to the ground and covered his head to prevent rocks from damaging it growling at the unnatural phenomena, Skeletor however remained seated barely gripping the armrests to his throne, he would not cower to anything or anyone in his own home.
"I have come to collect." A very familiar voice spoke up as the tremor subsided; Skeletor recognized the being who freed him from Despondos months earlier.
"Now isn't the best time." He returned doing his best to show no fear; it chuckled darkly and the tremor returned even stronger this time.
"You have no choice in the matter." It growled and with a brilliant explosion of mystic energies Skeletor, Beastman and Mer-Man were taken from Eternia.
The Sorceress gasped fearfully as she sensed the sudden display of power; someone had just taken Skeletor from Eternia and that did not bode well, for here Skeletor's evil could be contained. He-Man and She-Ra were destined to protect Eternia from his evil, but someone with even greater power took him for an evil purpose; and wherever he was now there were no defenders capable or powerful enough to stop him.
"Adam; Adora come to Grayskull immediately, something is terribly wrong." She called telepathically to her two young charges; she only hoped she could act in time to prevent Skeletor from doing something truly evil wherever he was now.
The planet Earth was not a world used to sudden jarring changes; definitely nothing as extreme as receiving three beings from another planet in the middle of it's' sunrise, one lone sun similar to Eternia's shone down upon this strange paved roadway.
Skeletor was clearly enraged at being abducted from the planet Eternia in such a manner; as evident by his tight grip on his precious Havoc staff and the flaring redness within his eye sockets. Beastman was merely confused at the jarring change of scenery while Mer-Man was busy regaining his footing after the tumultuous journey.
"How dare you remove me from my domain!" Skeletor growled loudly looking around for the source of the power which had brought him here.
"You have no rights here Keldor; I brought you here for a purpose, and you will do as I order or I'll return you to Despondos where I found you." It stated in a low dangerous voice, a voice that seemed different to Skeletor for some reason; Beastman eyed his boss curiously while Mer-Man who had fully recovered his senses was now looking about for the source of this strange voice.
"Very well." Skeletor began. "I shall do as you wish, for now." He reluctantly agreed; it chuckled once more only this time the ground did not tremble, if this was indeed the same entity it was obviously weaker on this alien world.
"Excellent; then allow me to introduce you to your target." It said as though speaking to a hit man; and then a young woman materialized before the three Eternians, she was dressed in a strange style of clothing with two primary pieces. Something that would have to be pants and a strange looking shirt with an odd symbol and alien writing indecipherable for the moment to Skeletor; she was dirty blond with hazel colored eyes and as she drew closer to the three of them she smiled seductively; Beastman was unimpressed he could break this wench with one hand, Mer-Man was silently curious and Skeletor was completely incredulous.
"This puny whore is your worst enemy?" He exclaimed with a sneer, or what approximated as one on his face; the woman tilted her head and crossed her arms.
"I ain't kidding." She snapped back with an odd slang. "Much like your He-Man; she has been chosen to be my own nemesis… She's been given the powers to deal with my own minions." She continued and then right before their eyes her form shifted into that of the long dead King Hsss.
"Sssso I decided to look elsewhere for beingsss she couldn't fight." He informed with a wicked smile before the body of the entity morphed into Randor's form. "So here we are; all you have to do is defeat her utterly and completely, but don't kill her…" He added pausing so his body could change once more into the form of Hordak.
"I want her to suffer." He stated darkly with a twisted smile that seemed impossibly wide.
"How's he… She… Uh; it doin' that?" Beastman muttered aside to Mer-Man.
"How am I supposed to know." Mer-Man shot back defensively; Skeletor ignored their murmurings and eyed the woman once more, for it had become her again. He was committing that face to memory; and yet at the same time he couldn't help, but feel as if this creature, this shape shifter. Was in fact something else; something that had not been the one to free him from Despondos, a pretender, perhaps his true target even.
"How exactly do I make her suffer?" He wondered shaking aside his doubts; he was intrigued by this woman now; it smiled revealing perfect white teeth.
"My friends aren't as strong as me." She remarked with a little pout now obviously putting on an act of innocence and fear. "And I love my friends so very much; whatever would I do if someone hurt them…" She gasped in mock horror. "Or killed them." She finished smirking wickedly; Skeletor was now displaying a wicked smile of his own, or at least the closest approximation to that expression.
"Ah yes; the direct approach." He quipped internally laughing at his own clever little joke, which really wasn't that funny if you considered it; then he broke into a wild and insane laugh. Beastman and Mer-Man didn't know how to react so they laughed along; until Skeletor shot them a glare.
"Come along you two; I'm going to require your assistance." He stated with a short dark chuckle.
"Uh; if we're gonna fight this little girl, where do we find her." Beastman wondered in his snarling, growling means of speech; in response the odd shape shifting creature pointed to a sign, Beastman growled angrily for the words were meaningless to him.
"He can't read." Mer-Man snickered; until he too looked at the sign and realized he didn't understand it at all.
"This is another planet." Skeletor reminded with a brief sigh; and then a yellowish glowing light escaped from the tip of his staff and swirled about the three of them, now they could all understand the native scribbling including the Bad Girl writing on the shirt the facsimile was wearing.
"She's in this town." It informed sashaying over to the sign and licking her lips sexily. "Thirteen Sixty Revelo Drive; you can't miss it." She added; Skeletor nodded and strode confidently passed the sign, Beastman spat at it before trailing after the overlord of evil and Mer-Man was left last in line.
"They better have a pool or something somewhere; my skin's getting flakey." He muttered with a burble; the strange entity smirked as it stood next to the sign watchin the three Eternians make their way into the town.
"The Slayer is in for a world of hurt." She remarked. "Welcome to Sunnydale Keldor." She added with a dark chuckle.
To Be Continued... Well what do you think? Good? Bad? Review and let me know. Incidentally I'm not too certain on the address I used for Buffy's house; I did some research, but just couldn't find it in the amount of time. If it's wrong and some major Buffy fanatic calls me on it, then by all means let me know.
I hope that for some of you who may be unfamiliar with the new 2002 series of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe don't get turned off by this; I'd put it in the MotU section, but it's more of a Buffy crossover after all. Perhaps I'll make some fans for He-Man... Oh and yes the characters do seem to be a tad more darker and using demeaning terms they might not otherwise, but this is an AU version of the universe with a bit of a darker slant on things... I mean there's been character death, so if they tend to demean women a little in their words this one chapter it's just a foible of mine in an attempt to darken things up a little. I suppose I could have cut back on it, but... Meh.