Prologue: Dark Times

BlueTiger321: Hey everyone! It's hard to believe but I am back with a brand new story. As you have read from the description, this is going to be a musical-type story featuring songs that I have come to adore growing up, which is somewhat similar to We Will Rock You and Rock of Ages and other plays. One of the reasons why I'm writing this story is because I feel that a lot of the music today is just crap, which must be a sign that I'm getting old! *shudders* Anyway, I will guide the cast of characters that I have come to love throughout my other stories on a whimsical tale filled with action, comedy, romance and, most importantly, good music. Now I should mention that I shall name each particular song and the artist/band that was famous for singing it just to give you all the feeling of what to listen to and to save myself from having to give credit to each song at the end of each chapter (and I also don't mean to insult anyone's intelligence if any of you have heard these songs before). And since this is a T-rated story, I will not include any songs that have extremely bad language (no matter how awesome I think they are). So here's the legal stuff: the story is of my own creation but the cast of characters used are property of their respectful owners, credit goes to the websites A-Z Lyrics Universe and Jango for the lyrics of each song, and every song used is property of their artists. And with that out of the way, please enjoy this story!

In the fabled Toon City where various characters of cartoon shows, anime and video games made their home, a thick cloud of misery loomed over their heads. Once every citizen lived a carefree life in harmony, but now they were facing the ultimate punishment for absolutely no reason. The mood quickly spread over all of them and made them feel that life was no longer worth living.

The cause for this unexpected mire was of one person whom every citizen had come to hate. Her face was plastered on every billboard throughout the city and various posters lined nearly every building to remind everyone that she was in command. No one could even go ten feet without staring into her cold, sadistic yellow eyes sitting in her malicious face that held a calm smile. Her black hair was tied back into a small bun while the rest parted in the front into two bangs. Everyone knew that this girl was their new ruler, Azula.

Because of her influences, Azula had taken over the city and ruled with an iron fist. Her first decree was to take every dangerous felon out of the prison known as Arkham City and let them wander the streets to scare the civilians into obedience. The entire metropolis had also been sealed shut with a large wall that was patrolled constantly by Azula's new guards, who were the operatives of TYGER that once were in charge of security of Arkham City, to prevent escape.

The streets of Toon City were now a place where no one was safe from danger, and it would seem like that only to the ones who had given up hope.

"New Dark Ages"

As Made Famous by Bad Religion

(A/N: Just to let you all know, if I haven't shown any character singing the songs, it means I'm giving you the freedom to imagine whichever character you want to sing. It also means that I don't have to worry about whether a particular character should be singing.)

Various toons gathered around CN Square looked up at the sky and felt a sudden urge to express their feelings of the recent events. They then broke out into song:

Yeah can you hear the call in our rambling land susurrations,

That can expand beyond all hope of light and plunge us into unrelenting night

A pall on truth and reason,

It feels like hunting season

So avoid those lines of sight and we'll set this right

Welcome to the new dark ages

Yeah, I hope you're living right

These are the new dark ages

And the world might end tonight

As the singing continued, a group of thugs all dressed in camouflage pants and winter jackets, some wearing black ski masks, and having a patch of clothing shaped like a tall, black bird on their backs, walked up to the Square to see what was happening. They were former henchmen of the supervillain, the Penguin, and they each looked on as the civilians sang their hearts out.

Now come ye children one and all - let's heed Ezekiel's call,

And bide until the word is good and ripe and get plucked clean out of sight

The world will be erased our kin will be

Immaculate ejaculate in space

Before the king of king's love, he'll snatch us

From above, brothers help me sing it

Welcome to the new dark ages

Yeah, I hope you're living right

These are the new dark ages

And the world might end tonight

It was during that time that one henchman shook his head, thinking that all the singing was getting on his nerves and that the civilians had no right to publicly express themselves. "What a bunch of morons," he said. "They're just makin' fools outta themselves."

Another henchman snickered as an idea suddenly formed in his head. "Well then, maybe we oughta give 'em a little incentive to break it up."

The idea seemed like a good one to the others as they all nodded their heads and beat their fists into their palms. After all, to them it was their job as instructed by Azula to keep the citizens in line—and they loved it.

The thugs then marched over to CN Square just as the song was nearing the end.

So how do you sleep

There's nothing to keep

This is deep

Because we're animals - with golden rules

Who... who can't be moved by rational views, yeah

Welcome to the new dark ages

I hope you're living right

Welcome to the new dark ages

Sing it again, yeah

These are the new dark ages

I hope you're living right

Welcome to the new dark ages

And the world might end tonight

The toons all ended by holding up their hands and looking at the sky as if it was their only place for finding peace. It abruptly ended when they all saw the group of thugs walking up in a threatening manner.

"All right, folks, show's over! Now get lost!" shouted a henchman.

Feeling intimidated by the thug's presence, the toons all looked wide-eyed in fright and ran off as fast as they could all in different directions. The other thugs all made shooing motions with their hands to add to the effect and to show they were serious about them breaking up their gathering.

"Get outta here, or we're gonna mess you up good!" shouted another henchman.

"And we better not see you here again, ya filthy maggots!"

CN Square was now empty, save for the men who entered. They then broke out in laughter and high-fived each other for their act of cruelty.

"Man," said one of them, "that felt good."

"It sure as hell beats workin' for Penguin."

"Finally, we're doin' somethin' we're good at and nobody can stop us. This is the life."

"Now c'mon, let's go find some other suckers to scare."

The thugs left CN Square together to find some more diabolical work all in the name of their new master. The mood around the Square seemed to be filled with despair after they were gone since there was no shred of hope left for anyone to have.

BlueTiger321: Well, there's the end of the prologue. Seems really dark, doesn't it? Oh well. In the first chapter we'll be greeted by the first batch of characters along with the story's villain. So, until next time, be sure to read and review!