Spikor: The Beginning
© Aidan Cross, copyright 06/29/98
The Spikons were all evil creatures, but none were quite so evil as Spikor himself. He was the son of a greatly feared warrior on the planet- but his father was killed in a fierce war when Spikor was in his teens. Determined to become an even more dangerous fighter than his father, Spikor spent his whole youth training. He would attack other Spikons, and when he was finally convinced he had trained enough, he ventured out into the desolate world of Infinita and attacked anyone who dared cross his path, often killing them by impaling them on his spikes.
It was not long before everyone on Infinita knew about Spikor and his evil doings. He would travel about the whole planet in his super-fast vehicle- the Landshark- and few people would dare venture out alone, even some of the greatest warriors of the planet. When the ruler of Infinita, Emperor Dagon, a huge green demon, heard of Spikor, he felt that this warrior may pose a threat to his reputation as most dangerous creature on Infinita. He ordered his servants to track down Spikor and bring him to his kingdom so that he could fight him and prove he was still the greatest warrior on the planet.
Eventually, the Emperor's servants tracked down Spikor as he tortured a small village of poor people who had been slaughtered a hundred times too many by the vile creatures they shared their planet with. Spikor was finishing many of them off, and the others were surrendering at his feet, pleading with him to spare their lives. The village was now a mere mess of blood, corpses and remains of shabby buildings. As Spikor laughed to himself at the destruction he had caused, he suddenly found himself bathed in a bright red light, and he was suddenly unable to move a muscle. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the Emperor's servants in their fighting vehicle. One of them was aiming a stun gun at him, from which the bright red beam was emitting and paralysing Spikor. The rest of them were fully armed with guns. Spikor heard one of them shouting:
"Alright Spikor- your time is up. Your days as a feared warrior are almost over. You are coming with us- and you will fight the Emperor, to prove your fighting skills. Against the Emperor's power, there is no way you can win."
Spikor gulped. He had heard of the many devastating victories Emperor Dagon had had over his opponents. Was he really able to defeat the Emperor? He was about to surrender- but then he realised that if he were ever to surrender to an opponent, he had no chance of being the most dangerous warrior on the planet. He had no choice but to fight the Emperor- even if it meant losing his life.
The warrior holding the stun gun pressed a button, which drew Spikor closer to the vehicle. Eventually he was firmly inside it. The warrior released Spikor from the stun beam, and he was free to move again, but not for long. The fighter at the main controls pressed a button, and steel bars appeared out of nowhere and bound Spikor. He was trapped. As the vehicle started on its way to the Emperor's kingdom, Spikor glanced back at the village he had just ruined, the bloody corpses scattered all over the place, the residents who remained alive lying grieving by the bodies of their loved ones, the Landshark parked nearby holding a crushed body in its jaws. This could be the last destruction I ever commit, thought Spikor.
Eventually, they arrived at the Emperor's kingdom. Two of the servants fitted him with handcuffs, and dragged him up to the Emperor's palace, still bound by the steel bars. The servants brought him up before the Emperor.
"Here is the warrior you demanded, my Lord." One of them said.
"Excellent!" laughed the Emperor, his red eyes blazing. "Now, Spikor, let's see how good a fighter you really are!"
He rose from his throne and let out a powerful roar, spreading his arms out and throwing his head back. He's gonna be a damn tough opponent to beat, thought Spikor. He wanted to surrender- but knew it would damage his reputation. The servants unleashed Spikor from the handcuffs and steel bars. He was free again, but he wasn't sure he wanted to be. He summoned all of his strength.
"To the arena we go!" the Emperor shrieked. "There this imbecile shall perish!"
The servants led the nervous Spikor to the arena, where there were huge crowds gathered to watch the fight. And they were all cheering for the Emperor to win. The two fighters took their positions. The Emperor was huge, much bigger than Spikor, and his muscles looked so powerful. But I must do my best, Spikor reminded himself, Then if I die, at least I will not have appeared as a weakling.
"Let the fight begin!" shouted a servant through a loudspeaker. The Emperor charged forward, his red eyes blazing in fury. Spikor hurled himself backwards at the Emperor, felt his spikes collide with the Emperor's flesh. Then he spun round to see the damage he had caused. Barely any. The Emperor was so tough that he seemed to feel no pain at the wounds inflicted upon him. The crowd cheered for the Emperor again. Angered, Spikor lunged himself forth again, curling himself into a ball, colliding with the Emperor's chest. He somersaulted to the ground….. and saw the Emperor still standing upright, his chest seeping blood, but feeling no pain. The spikes which had impaled millions of creatures to their death had caused virtually no harm to the Emperor. By the Galaxies, Spikor thought, I'm never gonna win.
The Emperor threw his head back in maniacal laughter. "Those spikes are useless against my power!" he shrieked. Then he raised his hands high above his head and said, "Let's see how you fare against this!" He brought his fists crashing down violently on Spikor, pummelling him straight to the ground. Spikor had never felt so much pain in his life before. His head felt so sore….. he was convinced he would be beaten now. The Emperor's eyes blazed an even brighter red, and beams came shooting out of them, stunning Spikor and flinging him to the end of the arena. The crowds cheered for the Emperor even louder. One more blow and it would be the end for Spikor…..
The Emperor stomped towards Spikor, who was crouching low on the ground, panting for breath, desperately trying to regain his energy. Spikor turned slowly to face his opponent. The Emperor bent down, his red eyes staring straight into Spikor's.
"Now," he said, "You die!!!!!" He seized Spikor by the torso and raised a fist which would surely knock Spikor's life away. But Spikor just managed to summon enough strength, and headbutted the Emperor in the face. Both of the Emperor's eyes were impaled by spikes, and his eyes disintegrated into a mess of blood, which went streaming down his face. The Emperor screamed in agony, and fell back heavily to the ground. The crowd's cheers died down. Could this warrior actually be able to defeat the Emperor? The Emperor lay screaming on the ground for a few moments, giving Spikor time to regain strength. Then he stood above the Emperor, said "Thought you could defeat anyone, then?" and leapt right over the Emperor's body, digging his spikes further into the Emperor's chest, then he dug his head spikes into the Emperor's neck, and decapitated him.
The crowd stared in amazement at the triumphant Spikor, standing over the corpse of the defeated Emperor, who had never lost a battle before. A group of servants walked up to Spikor.
"You defeated Emperor Dagon!" they exclaimed. "You are the most dangerous warrior on the planet. You can be our new ruler. All hail Spikor, the greatest warrior on Infinita!"
The crowd repeated "All hail Spikor, the greatest warrior on Infinita!"
So Spikor was crowned Emperor, and for several years remained in that position, defeating millions of warriors, becoming one of the most feared creatures in the universe.
But he was unaware of Prison Star, an intergalactic prison which concentrated on jailing the most dangerous creatures in the universe. As Spikor wreaked havoc all over Infinita, and caused destruction on several other planets, the prison guards decided they must imprison him. They knew that imprisoning a warrior with spikes all over his body would be difficult for ordinary people. So for several weeks they planned the most effective way of capturing Spikor. Eventually, one of the scientists of Prison Star invented a metal suit, which was impossible for the wearer to remove themselves.
"If we fit Spikor with one of these," he told the guards, "we will all be safe from his spikes."
"Sounds good," said a guard, "but how will we get it on him?"
"Easy," replied the scientist, "two of you guards will wear a similar suit, but you'll be able to remove this one yourselves. That'll protect you from Spikor's spikes as you capture him and fit him with the suit."
"Good idea," replied the guard, "two of us will travel to Infinita and sneak up on Spikor tomorrow."
The next day, two guards travelled to Infinita wearing the suits. They landed their space shuttle in a desert, so no-one would see them land. The space shuttle held the suit which they would fit Spikor with. Once they landed, the shuttle converted into a land vehicle, and they travelled to the kingdom where Spikor reigned.
Once they reached the kingdom, they used the built-in computer to detect Spikor's whereabouts. It revealed him to be slaughtering failed warriors in a nearby street. They followed the computer's directions, eventually finding themselves in a street where Spikor and his servants were beating to death some unfortunate creatures whose fighting skills had not proved satisfactory. The guards fired a blade at Spikor, which sliced through his left hand, severing it instantly. The guards then charged the shuttle through the crowd of servants and up to Spikor, who was clutching his bleeding wrist in pain. They both got out of the shuttle, went up to Spikor, and before he could attack they clamped the metal helmet on, then the armour until his whole body was covered.
"Alright Spikor," they said, "you're coming with us." And they dragged him struggling into their vehicle, which converted back to a shuttle and blasted off into space. They caught sight of the huge space complex that was Prison Star, homed in on it, and landed the shuttle on it, dragging Spikor into a cell. He was imprisoned alongside the most dangerous criminals in the whole prison.
Spikor, however, was determined that he would get out. In the past he had always got what he had wanted, and he was determined that this would be no exception. But how could he get out? He was locked in his cell, unable to inflict pain on anyone because of the metal suit, and his left arm was constantly in pain because of the severed hand. He could not inflict pain on anyone. But perhaps he could use clever thinking in order to escape.
For months, he tried to think up a way to escape, but could never come up with anything that would not end up with him being put back in this cell. Until one day when a new prisoner was imprisoned in a cell near to his. There was a massive struggle outside, and a trident which the prisoner had been holding was dropped, completely unnoticed by the guards who dragged him to his cell. The gap between the barred door of Spikor's cell and the ground was just big enough for Spikor's remaining right hand to squeeze through. So he squeezed his right hand through the gap, got hold of the trident, and pulled it through into his cell. It could just be what he needed….. if he could fit it into the gash where his left hand had been….. he tried this, and with all his strength, knocked the trident against the metal hand of his suit. Eventually, the metal hand shattered, revealing the gash where his left hand had been. He inserted the trident into the bloody gash. It looked like a special sort of trident. One of those used by the warriors of planet Lekkon, which fired laser beams. He tried aiming it against the wall. A laser beam flew out, leaving a burn mark on the wall. Excellent! He could use it on the bars and escape!
He fired at the bars, until each one splintered. Then the door was open. He was free. He did not know the way around Prison Star, but he had to do his best to find the landing area so that he could steal a shuttle. He used his memory to recall the way he had been taken from the shuttle to his cell when he was brought there, and navigated through the corridors until he found the landing bay. There were guards there, but he fired a laser beam from his trident at each of them, knocking them unconscious. Then he sneaked into a shuttle, and blasted off.
Now that he was free, he could return to Infinita and re-establish his reign of terror. He could get his servants to free him from this metal suit. But suddenly, he happened to glance behind him, and noticed that there was a Prison Star shuttle pursuing him. And there was another shuttle too….. but he had never seen one like that before. They were fast closing in on him. He speeded up but it was no use, they were going to catch him!
Suddenly, the mystery shuttle swerved round, and fired at the Prison Star shuttle. What luck! thought Spikor. It's on my side! The mystery shuttle fired a few more times, until the Prison Star shuttle had completely exploded.
Spikor braked his shuttle, and looked out to face the shuttle that had saved him. It zoomed closer, and suddenly he found himself teleported onto the mystery shuttle itself. He was face-to face with a huge, very evil-looking being with blazing eyes, a long cape and a metal helmet. He recognised the figure as Horde Prime, the master of all evil in the universe.
"YOU HAVE IMPRESSED ME WITH YOUR SKILLS, SPIKOR." Horde Prime said in his booming, thunder-like voice. He fired a bolt of power from his fist, which destroyed the metal suit in seconds. "I COULD NOT LET THOSE FOOLS FROM PRISON STAR WASTE YOUR ABILITIES. NOW- YOU JOIN MY FORCES!"
Spikor knew that someday he would challenge Horde Prime himself, but now was not the time. He must go along with him for now.
"I am honoured to serve you, my Lord." He said, "What tasks may I perform?"
"THERE IS ONE THING I WANT YOU TO DO. ON THE PLANET ETERNIA, THERE IS A STRUGGLE GOING ON BETWEEN ANOTHER FORMER RESIDENT OF INFINITA NAMED SKELETOR, AND HE-MAN- THE DEFENDER OF ETERNIA, AND HIS ARMY, THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE. SO FAR, HE-MAN HAS THWARTED EVERY ATTEMPT AT DESTRUCTION BY SKELETOR. BUT I AM DETERMINED THAT SKELETOR SHALL TAKE OVER THE PLANET IN THE END! YOU MUST JOIN SKELETOR'S ARMY. YOU COULD PROVIDE GREAT HELP IN THE LORD OF DESTRUCTION'S CONQUEST OF ETERNIA!"
This was better than he could have hoped for. Spikor had always looked up to Skeletor when he had caused destruction on Infinita before he left to conquer Eternia. Even though Spikor would no longer be a leader, he would be helping the great Skeletor, believed by many to be the most evil being in the universe! And when they had conquered Eternia, Spikor could challenge Skeletor himself and put himself on Eternia's throne. "I will serve Skeletor!" he told Horde Prime.
"THEN TO ETERNIA YOU GO!" Horde Prime said, and led Spikor to a machine. It was a teleportation machine- so Spikor stepped inside it, Horde Prime flicked a switch, and seconds later, Spikor found himself facing a great mountain, with snake faces carved in it. This must be Snake Mountain, the legendary base of evil!
Spikor stepped inside, and found his way to the throne room, where Skeletor sat on his bone throne.
"Who dares enter Snake Mountain?" Skeletor asked.
"Spikor- the former ruler of Infinita, and feared warrior."
"Spikor? One of the Spikons, I believe. I have indeed heard of you and your defeat of the Emperor Dagon! How I always wished I could have fought that weak fool! You need not demonstrate your powers, Spikor- I have heard much about you. You are accepted as a member of the greatest evil force in the universe. Together we shall destroy He-man and conquer Eternia!"
Once Spikor had joined Skeletor's army, he set about reconstructing his old vehicle, the Landshark. Many replicas were produced to propel the evil warriors into battle. So as Spikor and the other evil warriors battled against He-man and the Masters of the Universe, Spikor was determined that he should be the one to defeat He-man and rule Eternia. After all, he had always got want he wanted in the past…..