One
Universal Dreams
I awoke after being rendered out cold for some time. I find myself sleeping next to Sylvia and Blake not far from. "What happened?" I wondered.
Sylvia then wakes up. "The last thing I remember was being onboard the bridge of the Hyperion," she answered.
"I was on Galvan Prime and I witness Legion taking a pounding from an Elder One," I said.
Sylvia notices something. "Ken, your costume, it's gone," she said.
I notice I was normal, I picked up the Helm of Nexus and looked at it. "It's powerless. That's impossible, nothing can cause the Helm to be powerless," I said.
Sylvia tries to fire a blast, but she fails. "My powers are gone too. I'm normal," she said.
Blake then wakes up. "Did something get the number of the guy who lighted the bridge?" He then senses something. "I can no longer hear the Gauntlet. I'm cured," Blake said.
"Did the Elder Ones strip us of our powers?" she asked.
We then got up. "I don't think so. The last thing I recall was someone jumping out of his chair and fighting off the Empress. That's all I remember," Blake said.
"I don't understand. How did we all end up being powerless?" she wondered.
"Right now, we need to find the others and figure out a plan to deal with the Elder Ones," I said.
"First, we need to figure out where we are. Let's inspect the area. But first, a change of clothes would be in order." Blake and Sylvia got changed and we then head into the street and we recognised the city. "Okay, we're in Paris. That's novel," Blake said.
"It's a start. Our next step is to find the others," she said.
Ken stares at the TV shop and realises something. "Guys, I don't think we back on our parallel Earth, let alone our multiverse," I said.
"What makes you say that?" she asked.
We walked over to the TV shop. "Since when did Ben 10 become a TV show," I answered.
Minutes later, we were sitting in a cafe and coming to terms with what's happened. "What gives, how is it we ended up in another multiverse," she wondered.
"With the Elder Ones now set free, every lock that kept the other multiverses separate is now coming undone. It would explain why we're powerless. Every multiverse has different laws, meaning we're powerless, while the heroes of this multiverse are," Blake said.
"That explains a lot, but we need to get home and end this once and for all," she said.
"How are we going to do that? We're basically unknowns trapped in another multiverse and this is new territory. We need to be careful, one false move could trigger some unexpected event or worse," Blake said.
"You mean like a butterfly effect?" I asked.
"In a manner of speaking, yes. I hate to see what the Elder Ones are doing to our Earth," Blake said.
We then noticed the civilians fleeing and panicking in the streets. "Well, it wasn't the croissant." We left the cafe and noticed the Elder Ones have arrived. "That was quick," she said.
"We have to help them," I said.
"How? We're powerless remember. Even if we did, how are we going to fight them? We barely escaped with our lives," Blake said.
We then noticed a group of scientists fighting and defeating the Elder Ones. Sylvia is shocked to see that one of them is a kid. "How could they do it? What are they thinking bringing a kid into a battle?" Sylvia said.
"Hello, Ben, Rex and I are teenagers," I said.
"Oh yeah, I forgot." I then concentrate. "What're you doing?" Sylvia asked.
"The laws of science may prevent you two from having powers. Who's to say the laws of magic don't apply to me. I just need to concentrate," I answered.
"Will that even work?" Blake asked.
"That's what I'm about to find out," I replied.
I concentrate for long as I can, but I then got nothing. "Nothing?" she asked.
"Nothing, I guess the laws of magic apply differently to this multiverse," I answered.
"We need to hide. If the Empress finds out we're alive. She'll hunt us down," Blake said.
Sylvia then notices a kid being cornered by an Elder One. She slides under it and defeats him. The kid then reunites with her parents. "I may be powerless, but I'm not going to stand there and watch an innocent kid get hurt," she said.
The other Elder Ones gang up on Sylvia. "My scans indicate you're not from this multiverse. It does not matter, as long we kill you," one of the Elder Ones said.
The man intervenes and defeats the gang. "That was a brave thing you did, Miss?" he asked.
"Sylvia, Sylvia Masterson," she answered.
"I'm Doc Saturday, you need to get somewhere safe," he said.
Blake then recognises the name. "Doc Saturday as in Solomon Saturday," Blake said.
He then becomes disturbed. "How did you know my name?" he asked.
"We'll explain once you lot deal with the Elder Ones," Blake answered.
"Doc, we're outmatched," Drew said.
"We need to get out of here," Sylvia said.
A ship arrives and lands. "Come on," Doc shouted.
We made our way onto the ship and flew out of Paris. We were then thrown into a cell. "Is this really necessary?" Blake asked.
"How is it you know about them?" Doc asked.
"We're on the same side. The truth is we're from a parallel multiverse," I answered.
Doyle then enters the brig. "I don't buy it. Something's not right here," Doyle said.
"We're telling the truth. Hours ago, we were on a mission to prevent them from escaping and we failed," Sylvia said.
"Right now, we're trapped on your multiverse," Blake said.
"It's been a rough day. We need to get some rest," Drew said.
They left the brig. "Great, I saved a kid from getting killed and we end up in a prison," Sylvia said.
"I'm glad I'm normal. Otherwise, the Gauntlet would tear the prison and this ship in half," Blake said.
"What will it take to convince them of the truth?" I asked.
"It's obvious they know Alonso Juarez. It's possible that he's from this multiverse," Blake answered.
"Who is Alonso Juarez?" Sylvia asked.
"Before all of this, a black ops team caught wind of a scheme to relocate our parallel Earth onto a new one. The masterminds behind the scheme were a clandestine organisation called The Sliders. They were led by an illusive man named V.V. Argost," Blake answered.
"I take it they foiled the scheme?" Sylvia asked.
"Yes and in the process, they scored a huge amount of intel. Trent and I were in the process of analysing the intel. We found a lot of information, from operation reports, bank statements and every dirty little secret. One of which includes numerous attempts to capture or assassinate Alonso Juarez," Blake asked.
"What did he do to offend them?" I asked.
"That's the thing, they didn't mention a reason. But we did find references of Alonso travelling across time, parallel Earths and multiverses," Blake answered.
"Do you think any of this will convince them to release us?" I asked.
"Doubtful, but given the circumstances. We could be stuck here for a while," Blake answered.
"We better pray that the others managed to survive," Sylvia said.
We got some rest. A day later, a kid arrives in the prison. "Wait, you that kid we saw fighting the Elder Ones in Paris," I said.
"I overheard your conversation and I think you're telling the truth," he said.
"What makes you say that?" Sylvia said.
"Because I've seen them before," he answered.
Blake then becomes curious. "When?" Blake asked.
"A while back, I travelled forward in time by twenty years into the future and I've seen firsthand what they'll do if you lot fail," he answered.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"I'm Zak Saturday. I need to know, what happened to Alonso?" he asked.
"He was in terrible shape. He had scars all over his body. They tortured and interrogate from the look of it. We were in the process of rescuing when the unexpected happened. Which you saw recently," Blake answered.
Doc and Drew entered the room. "Tell us everything," Drew said.
Sometime later, we had breakfast and we explained everything to the Saturdays. "So you guys come from a parallel multiverse," Doc said.
"Yep, from where we from, aliens and super powered beings exist," Blake said.
"So, there's a whole group of you?" Drew asked.
"More or less, we're part of a team known as the Guardians. Our mandate is protect our galaxy and our multiverse from threats. Unfortunately, our recent adventure led to failure and we ended up here," I answered.
"You met Alonso. Did he mention how he ended up being captured?" Zak asked.
"No, but I would I like to know more about what Alonso was working on. It should give us a clear indication what the Elder Ones are planning," Blake said.
"He still has an apartment in New York. It's where he did most of his research," Drew said.
Later, we flew over to New York and head over to the apartment. We entered the home and Blake takes a look around. "There's been some activity here recently," Blake said.
"Yeah, that was me and him," he said.
"Have you lot got any idea what he was researching or doing?" Blake asked.
"His area of expertise is time travel," Drew answered.
Blake picks up a journal and reads some of it. "This journal is dated 1995. It looked like he visited Italy during the Bonfire of the Vanities. He also visited a parallel multiverse, but he doesn't mention which one," he said.
"I found something. Its one of the recent journals, dated six years ago," I said.
I threw it over to Blake; he catches it and starts reading. "Alonso was there when Ben Tennyson first discovered the Omnitrix. In fact, he knew that it was going to happen. There're blueprints to the design, everything," he said.
"Okay, I'm officially creeped out," Sylvia said.
"Can't say I blame you," Doc said.
"Are there any more journals like these? You know, right up to date?" he asked.
"When Alonso disappeared, he allowed the government to keep some of his research. As for the rest, it was divided between us and the other Secret Scientists," Drew answered.
Sometime later, we arrived at a storage warehouse. Doc opens it up and turns on the lights. "This is where the government stored most of his research," Doc said.
We entered the warehouse and Blake begins inspects the boxed. He goes through one of them, opens it up and picks up a set of blueprints. He reads the prints. "I've seen these blueprints before. There was a replica of the prints among the intel we acquired. These prints are the actual thing. From the looks of it, Alonso figured out a way to reverse engineer an Arc Cube fragment and he used it to power up the device. It enabled him to travel not only through time and space. Also, to parallel Earths and parallel multiverses," he said.
"Wait, you can tell all of that through a blueprint?" Drew asked.
"I'm a physicist. I'm familiar with most theories surrounding time and interdimensional travel. So I got some idea here," he answered.
"Do you think there's anything in there that can help us get back home?" I asked.
"Hmm, it's going to take me some time to rummage through all of this. Can you help me get some of the boxes onto the ship?" he asked.
We then began loading the boxes onto the ship and after that, we left. It was late evening as Blake goes through the research. Zak then enters the room. "Don't you ever get any rest?" Zak asked.
"I'll rest the moment we defeat the Elder Ones. If I were a college student, I would've loved to write a thesis on the theories Alonso discovered," he answered.
"You lot mentioned you are superheroes. You don't look super," Zak said.
"It's this world's laws regarding science. We can't use our powers here. I've been doing this for too long. I should get some rest," he said.
Blake gets up and heads to bed to take a nap. Elsewhere, I and Sylvia were enjoying the view of the night sky from the observation deck. "Finally, we got some time to ourselves," Sylvia said.
"It's a break from all the super heroics we've been doing lately," I said.
"And I don't have to hear your mom ringing up every night to make sure you're alive," Sylvia said.
I then chuckled at that remark. "There's that, it's been ages since we took a vacation," I said.
"And it's our first one together. It does make me wonder how're the others doing. What was it like, fighting on Galvan Prime I think it was?" she asked.
"It was a warzone, no question about it. There was gunfire and explosions everywhere and villains around every corner. I'm more concerned about Legion. He gave it all, he fought right until the end, but Seth threw him like a ragdoll without mercy or remorse," I answered.
"I've seen worse, back when I was fighting in World War II. I and the rest of the Mystery Men faced all sorts of threats, even to the downright bizarre," Sylvia said.
"Those must've been fun times," I said.
"They were," she said.
They embrace each other. "At least we got each other," I said.
"You're so cute when you go all romantic," she said.
"I try," I said.
Drew then enters the room. "Am I interrupting something?" Drew asked.
They let go as they became embarrassed. "No, you weren't," I answered.
"Liars, you two are a couple. I should apologise for locking you lot up in that cage," Drew said.
"We would be in your shoes doing the same thing if you visited our parallel multiverse," I said.
"No hard feelings," she said.
"We're all on the same side. It looks like Blake knows what he's doing. You said you're superheroes. I would like to learn more about you," Drew said.
We thought about it for a couple of minutes. "We're all friends here. I should start first. A year ago, I was the victim of an alien parasite. Fortunately, my sister and my cousin were there to save. But the experience left me traumatised and it haunted me. I felt guilt and hatred for what I did. I barely got any sleep. Then one day, my predecessor, the previous Dr. Nexus sacrificed his life to prevent the Merciful Fate from escaping. The helm chose me to become the next Sorcerer Mage and thwart evil. Juggling college studies and my super heroic duties isn't easy," I said.
"Part-time superhero, huh? What about you, Sylvia?" Drew asked.
"I wasn't born in the 1980s or the 1990s. I was born in 1922. I first got my powers when I saved my brother from explosion caused by a saboteur. I used my powers to fight the Axis and Japanese empires during the World War II. Near the end of the war, I sacrificed my life to prevent an Axis rocket from reaching the US. I flew it into outer space when it exploded. My body was frozen into a crystal like substance. Years later, the next generation of heroes found me and I was invited to join the Guardians and I accepted," she answered.
"It sounds like you had interesting adventures. Your friend, Blake knows a lot about time travel and string theory," Drew said.
"Well, he is a genius and one of our residential scientists," I said.
"It's getting late. We should get some sleep. It's been a busy dozen hours," she said.
"I already prepared guest rooms for you two and Blake. They're down the corridor outside the observation deck to your right," Drew said.
We left the observation deck and head down to the guest rooms. I slept for the first time in weeks. I then had a flashback while I was dreaming. I dreamt of the time when I tried to summon Aeon when he appeared. I wanted to know how Ben was doing.
"You didn't have to gather all of those ingredients. All you have to do was ask for me and I would come," Aeon said.
"Finding you lot is like finding a needle in a haystack. I need to know, how's Ben doing?" I asked.
"Legion is proving to be an effective teacher. Other than that, he's doing well. Something is on your mind, Sorcerer Mage. What is it?" Aeon asked.
"Do you think we'll survive this? The Elder Ones, I mean," I asked.
"It is not my place to judge who lives or dies. That is up to a high authority. I wasn't even born when the war raged on. I only heard stories through my father and grandfather. And they both bore the scars of war," Aeon answered.
"It sounds like we're running on blind hope," I said.
"Hope is never blind. You lot defeated Dark Sai and do you know why you did? You defeated him because you had hope and you believed in it. You should never give up on hope. It may help you end the Elder One threat. Until we meet again, Sorcerer Mage," Aeon said.
He then vanishes into thin air. Morning came and Blake is already working by writing an equation on a few chalkboards. Doc enters the room and notices what Blake is doing. "Do you normally do that?" Doc asked.
"Every morning, I do it as a distraction from my real work," Blake answered.
"Is that game theory about who'll win in a duel between Komodo and Fiskerton?" Doc asked.
"Yeah, I kind of picked on the fact that this Earth was partly populated with cryptids. Also, I took mathematic classes while I was at college," he answered.
"I thought Fiskerton would win, but Komodo," Doc said.
"In nature, reptiles are known to be deceptive and cunning. When an anaconda gets ready to eat, they expand their stomachs," he said.
"Who knew," Doc said.
"Doc, Blake, breakfast is ready!" Drew yelled.
They head over to the dining room. We were having breakfast and enjoying ourselves. "Blake, have you figured out a way to get us back home?" I asked.
"No, I checked Alonso's journals a dozen times and neither of them contain Universal Gate blueprints," he answered.
"What's a Universal Gate?" Zak asked.
"It's a piece of technology that allows us to travel between parallel Earths. The gates themselves require a huge amount of energy. Also, it would require some experience with astrophysics and quantum mechanics to power the gates and an engineering team to build them," he answered.
"So we're stuck here until the others come and find us," Sylvia said.
"Exactly, on another note, the journals are incomplete. There're at least several still missing and unaccounted for," he said.
"Will either of those journals provide a clue or something that can get us back home?" I asked.
"Possibly, but I did discover something interesting. Alonso returned here between 1996 and 1998. One of his journals mentions him investigating a mountain range in Scandinavia. And it'll you surprise you," he answered.
He gets the journal out, places it on the table and Sylvia and I look at the page Blake marked. We were surprised to learn what the picture is. "That's Niflheim Mountain," I said.
"Niflheim Mountain?" both Doc and Drew asked.
"From where we from, it's a prison, designed to hold some of our multiverse's worst criminals. Alonso was doing some cave exploring inside the mountain and he found some interesting finds. Unfortunately, they were too big to be dragged out of the mountain, but he left them there instead," he said.
"It's not much, but it's a lead," Sylvia said.
We flew over to Norway. We left the ship and explored the mountain. Blake finds some runes. "These runes don't match any known Viking runes," he said.
"We've seen them before. We were near the North Korea/China border when we found some ancient ruins. These runes are different, while some are identical," Drew said.
"This would be the archaeological find of the century, but we're on a tight schedule. Shall we head inside," he said.
We head inside the mountain and the Saturday's are amazed by what's inside the mountain. "This is amazing," she said.
"What's the story behind Niflheim Mountain?" Doc asked.
"Niflheim Mountain's history has been surrounded in controversy. Most of which revolves around the foundation of the prison. Locals say the prison was founded shortly after the sacking of Rome to imprison various enemies of local Viking tribes. While scholars say the prison was founded during the sixteenth century," I answered.
"At least that's the story from where we from," Sylvia said.
Blake then finds a skeleton in one of the cells. He examines it. "This skeleton has been here for a long time. At least a thousand years or more," he said.
"I don't get it. Why here of all places," Zak said.
"Maybe Niflheim Mountain didn't start out as a prison." We then discovered more runes. "I recognise these runes. The translation means 'Heir Apparent'. Could it mean that Legion will arrive?" I wondered.
"It's like you said earlier, Legion took a real pounding back on both Galvan Prime and the Hyperion. I wonder if it means he survived," Sylvia said.
"Okay, I'm lost. Who's Legion?" Zak asked.
"He's the reason why the Guardians were formed. Months ago, he planned to pull Dark Genesis into our multiverse, thus destroying it. We thwarted him of course and now he's our best hope to solving our current problem," he answered.
"Hmm, Catch 22," Doc said.
Sylvia then heads into the guard's room. She picks up a broken mace and examines it. "Something must've gone down. Guys!" I and the others head into the guard's room and we were shocked by the discovery of skeletons, a lot. "Some of these skeletons are old," Sylvia said.
Blake picks up a skull and inspects it. "This skull has got to be at least a thousand years old," he said.
"I don't think so. Take a closer look at the uniforms. They're SS," I said.
"It's not a sight I wanted to see," Sylvia said.
"It looks like they were planning to convert Niflheim Mountain into a prisoner of war camp. But it looks like they were stopped dead in their tracks," Doc said.
"But what killed them?" Zak asked.
I picked up a rifle and inspect it. "This rifle hasn't been fired. It's still loaded," I said.
"Maybe they were ambushed?" she asked.
"If it were, there would've been a chance that some of them fight back, but its not. This is a pre-emptive strike. The question is: who killed them and why?" I wondered.
"You don't think its the Sliders?" Zak asked.
"I doubt it, there's nothing of value here," he answered.
"I don't know what a Slider is, but I know you lot are not welcome here," a voice said.
We were curious whose voice was it, we left the guard's room and we a found an armoured individual standing there in front of us. I recognise the armour. "Wait a minute; you're a Dark God, aren't you?" I asked.