Title: CC: Jo Solo the Swordsman of Chaos
Author: Joshua
Disclaimer: Based in the 'Chaotic Circumstances' Universe, which is based primarily on the BtVS universe owned by Mutant/Enemy Productions initially created by Joss Whedon. Sunnydale therefore belongs to them, but most, if not all of the characters, unless specifically said to be otherwise in the story, are Original Characters developed and/or created by me, just to prevent any questions.
Summary: The story of a single individual on The Halloween Night that changed the town of Sunnydale and by proxy the whole world. What exactly /was/ the catalyst that invoked Chaos on that fateful night?
AN: As usual, you can contact me via my e-mail addresses at or . if you have any questions or just to give a review or two, which of course is immensely appreciated. Also, for the record, the following is ENTIRELY fictional, so don't confuse it for anything /BUT/ fiction!
Story:
My name was . . . is, no . . . my name, for one night, was Jo Solo. My name before that night was Joshua. Just Joshua cause I certainly wasn't anybody special. My name now . . . Now my name is . . .
I'm Joshua "Solo" Allen. Sword Master, in-training, of Chaos.
And I've changed the world.
Now I have to keep it from blowing itself to pieces because of that.
Sorry, I really should explain better. First of all, while I'm a Sword Master in-training, and I've changed the world and all that, I'm only 10 years old. I'll be 11 on July 1 of next summer. And as most ten-year-olds do, I used to have an imaginary hero, and I do have an overactive imagination. With me, before /that/ night, it presented itself in drawing pictures and coming up with stories of superheroes and the like. One "hero" in particular favored above all others.
Jo Solo, the Swordsman of Chaos.
A young hero, ironically the same age as me, that possessed a magic sword that allowed Solo to wield the power of Chaos against his enemies, who were typically based off the bullies in my classes at school. Despite Solo being so young and so powerful, I made extra sure that he was wise enough to use his power properly, as a hero should. So not only was Solo's sword near-infinitely powerful, but it also allowed him to learn at a faster rate than everybody else, and also let him learn and slowly master every single sword technique that ever existed. I made extra sure that what Solo learned, he /learned/ and his skills couldn't be taken away like his power could by stealing the sword.
Why I chose Chaos instead of Order, or Good, or Light or other popular 'heroic' powers for Solo's sword, goes back to when I was about three or four, and a story my parents had read to me called "Xanth". Well, actually, the book was titled "The Source of Magic" but it was part of the Xanth series by Piers Anthony, and I learned the lesson that chaos is needed for society to progress, to evolve. I've also been very keen on 'growing up' and "evolution" had been described to me by my parents as 'growing up'. Hence, Jo Solo became the Swordsman of Chaos.
As for his name itself, that actually was kind of embarrassing, because I really, really, really liked Star Wars growing up and while I loved Luke Skywalker, I liked Han Solo even better. So, I just outright and boldly told my parents one day after watching "Return of the Jedi" for the umpteenth million time, that my name was no longer Joshua Allen, but Jo Solo, since I obviously couldn't be "Han". It was pretty much taking all but two of the letters off my real name, but come on! I was six at the time.
Regardless, the name stuck and Jo Solo became the Swordsman of Chaos by the time I turned ten, wielding the Blade of Chaos, and able to learn and perform every known sword technique there ever was in a fraction of the time that it would take anybody else.
Did I mention that I happen to live in Sunnydale, California? Didn't always. Moved around because of my dad's job when I was little. Used to live in Illinois, Missouri and Tennessee, and I was actually born in South Carolina, but we moved to California just before I turned 9, so I've been in Sunnydale for a little more than a year or so.
So when I heard about the new Halloween costume shop opening up in town I begged and I pleaded and I did everything a 10-year-old kid does to get his parents to take him some place he really wants to go. And just to prove the point that my parents aren't spoiling me or anything like that, they made me do double the chores around the house and helping the neighbors to "earn" the extra allowance so that I could buy my very own costume instead of having to beg money off my parents too.
I managed to save up over fifty dollars.
And I bought a brown fedora hat, a plastic katana, a green cloth mask, and a matching green cape/cloak, which I then combined with a green sweater-jacket, some black jeans, and a black pair of sneakers I had at home to make my Halloween costume for this year. In other words, I dressed up as Jo Solo, Swordsman of Chaos. The shop's name, where I got 50% of my costume including the sword piece, was "Ethan's".
My dad just bought a white mask, and my mom bought a fake gold tiara and some gold face paint. They were going to be going to a masquerade ball at City Hall, while I would go to the High School for Trick-or-Treating and then spend the night with one of my friend's at their house after it was over. Besides the mask, my dad would be wearing a tuxedo, complete with cape and top-hat, left over from a magician costume a few years back, and mom had a great white dress to go with the tiara, so she'd be going as a princess of some kind. I later learned that she used the gold face paint to put an inverted crescent moon on her forehead and Dad had been holding a rose in his hands as the clock struck six that night.
At six o'clock is when the world changed forever, for me and for everybody else wearing a costume in Sunnydale that Halloween night.
/Sunnydale High/
/Halloween Night October 31, 1997/
/4:35 PM/
"All right, everyone together?" Kelly Keegan, Freshman High School student and one of the many that were roped into the Halloween Trick-or-Treat escort duty by Principal Snyder. She was dressed up in a brown faux-leather mini-skirt and bikini halter top. Both had bead-like decorations that were made to look like bones and animal teeth woven into them. She also had her hair styled up, had on sturdy leather boots, and a lot of jewelry on. On her back she carried a fake bow and arrow set, complete with quiver and several arrows, and a plastic short sword strapped to her hip. Part of the jewelry included two metal bracelets on both of her wrists. Not many got it, especially the guys, but when one of the kids in her group asked Kelly what she'd dressed up as, she smiled and answered that she was an Amazon.
"Yes," we all, children that we were, answered together.
There were about seven of us with Kelly that night as we all headed out into the streets of Sunnydale, the sun still up, but setting quickly in the fading dusk. Besides myself, dressed as personal superhero Jo Solo, there were six others. The Bishop brothers, Chip and Dale had dressed up in demon costumes. The Clarkson twins, had dressed up as Superman and Captain Marvel, of the DC Universe. Sean Torres, one of the popular kids of the Elementary School, dressed up as Spiderman, and his "girlfriend" (although I doubt even they knew what that term really meant) Jennifer "Jenny" Madison, who had an older half-sister in High School, dressed up as nothing less than Tinkerbell. The difference from other fairies walking the streets was that she wore the green mini-dress and had her blonde hair styled to match with the Disney movie character.
Little did we know, as we went to the first house, how things were going to change that night... forever.
We might've chosen different costumes. Well... some of the others might've.
Three houses later, we, meaning "Kelly's Group", ran into another group who was being lead by one of Kelly's best friends, IE "Molly's Group". Molly, incidentally was dressed as Wonder Woman. And believe me, she had the figure to match and /fully/ fill out the costume to the hilt. And then some. Molly Marianela, a Latin-American buxom, feminine, and voluptuous brunette with unblemished lightly tanned skin, big diamond-blue eyes, her hair going down to her waist in straight locks, and on the JV cheerleader squad to boot. Rumors had it she was either Cordelia Chase's illegitimate sister, or the next Queen C after the current holder graduated. And in the one-piece spandex strapless bathing suit and the knee-high red and white-striped boots that was the "Wonder Woman" costume... well let's just say that if we were going to a Comic-Con instead of Trick-Or-Treating, she'd win the Best Costume Prize hands down.
There were about three, maybe four more demons in Molly's group. Couldn't quite tell on the last one as the kid, who I did not recognize on sight, had dressed up as some kind of spider thing with a mostly-black body, a blue face, and a strange little ornament on his left wrist. It was made up of three silver half-spheres and surrounded by strange black markings. Later research told me he'd dressed up as Benchura, a Vandel from an Anime/Manga known as "Beet the Vandel Buster". Having him shove me to the ground and start making fun of my costume told me that the kid was Dustin Hofferman, the class bully. I'm not really too upset about what happened to him later that night.
The rest of Molly's group consisted of the youngest kids that were on the School-sponsored Trick-Or-Treating program. The Tracy Triplets. Think Sunnydale Elitests, like the Chases, only the /actual/ Kings and Queens of Sunnydale. The Tracys were Old Money that had been in Sunnydale only a year shorter than the Wilkins's had been but they also had more money and owned a large part of the property surrounding and outside of town. Surprisingly, except for their upscale 10-acre mansion home, they did not own /any/ property inside the Sunnydale City Limits. They were also very absentee parents as they sent their 7-year-old triplet daughters out with a teenager supervisor for Halloween. Dressed as the Powerpuff Girls no less.
Their bodyguard stood an exact twenty feet away, dressed as Professor Utonium. Haircut and all.
Two houses after that, our combined group ran into Kelly and Molly's other best friend and her group, IE "Brandy's Group". Brandy Beppin, an Asian-American that, for a petite Asian, was almost as voluptuous as Molly, though not quite as buxom, was dressed up as another anime character, but one that even I knew without having to research it later on. She had on a very tight and conforming red Chinese-dress with slits for both legs, but even tighter martial-artist white pants that only went to her knees, and slim black slippers on her feet. She also wore a blue wig, but since she was Asian herself, she matched her costume very well.
Nevertheless, I was oddly struck as I realized that out combined group was now being lead around by three Amazons. The generic "Xena/Hercules" type Kelly dressed as, Wonder Woman, and now a Chinese Amazon named "Shampoo".
Speaking of our combined group, we now had roughly ten demons, counting Dustin, three PowerPuff Girls, a Spiderman, a Superman, a Captain Marvel, and much to Jenny's relief an additional three fairies to our Tinkerbell's flock, though two of them were more the generic "Fairy Princess" costumes, while the third was a bit less frilly, much like hers, only the other girl, an 11-year-old redhead named Bloom, had dressed in a sparkling blue halter-top and mini-skirt, with matching sky-blue forearm gloves and knee-high boots. The only thing making the costume a fairy costume were the gossamer wings fitted to the back of the halter-top. And then there was me. And not counting "Professor Utonium" ten paces back.
Half of our group was made up of demons, the other half of superheroes, and the remainder were fairies.
We moved on, as a combined group while the three older teen girls gossiped and chatted amongst themselves, only bothering to make sure we were quiet and didn't race on ahead while everyone else waited in line at whatever door we were at to receive a few pieces of candy. I think we might've given a few people panic attacks, having over twenty children lead by three teenage girls in skimpy costumes walk up to the door, each and every one of us expecting lots of candy for our bags. We probably made it to another ten houses after combining with Brandy's group before it got late enough that the three girls decided it was time to head back to the high school. It might also have had something to do with the fact that the sun had just set and we were the only group on the street at the time when they finally noticed it was less than a quarter till.
We went to one more house, mostly to silence the whiners who raised a ruckus at being told it was time to go home. I had been satisfied with my haul, I remember that much clearly. Lots of chocolate and one lady had even been handing out Twinkees! I had been worried that Dustin and his friends might try to steal some of it when we got back, so I was clutching my bag tightly. But even more tightly, I had my fake plastic sword from Ethan's held in my other hand, and I was wishing with all my might that I really was Jo Solo, Swordsman of Chaos, so that I could protect my candy and keep Dustin and his demon friends from beating me up.
Something I had forgotten about, something that I later learned was very, very, very important, was that I had a cut on my right hand, from a small accident with a Swiss Army Knife earlier that day, and it only had a band-aid on it. But, and this is the important part, all that squeezing on my sword had reopened the wound and I was squeezing so hard that even the band-aid couldn't stem the flow of blood for long. It had probably been just a drop, maybe more of a smear, or it could've been more than that. Regardless, there had been a mark on the sword's hilt. The mark of a spell, a spell powered by Chaos. A mark that was now covered in my blood.
But I was so preoccupied with my worries that I never even noticed. Not even later on after the night was through. But I was worried over nothing. Dustin and his pals never even touched me, let alone tried to steal my candy.
Kelly, Molly, and Brandy managed to herd us all back onto the main streets of Sunnydale and headed towards the High School. They were still gossiping and talking about the party at the Bronze later on, but not to the degree where they lost track of us. Besides, what happened next wasn't their fault. Just as we rounded the corner of the last street, the High School within sight even, the clock struck 6 o'clock.
And the spell struck us all.
/Main Street, Sunnydale, CA/
/Halloween Night October, 1997/
/6:01 PM/
Jo Solo staggered back to his feet. An odd sensation to say the least, as the only time he was ever off his feet was when he was sleeping, or facing something a LOT more powerful than he was. Taking a quick glance around, the Swordsman of Chaos decided that it wasn't the latter, but neither was it the former because there was no way /anyone/ could sleep with this much chaos in the air, and not just everybody running around like chickens with their heads cut off either.
Taking a deep breath and swallowing in the pure magic of Chaos that permeated the very air, Jo Solo took a closer look at his surroundings, taking in the details with but a glance, analyzing everything and determining threat, benign, ally, light, dark, type, time period, and history in less than a few seconds.
The very first thing Jo Solo noticed, and was immediately grateful for, was that he was holding the Blade of Chaos in his hand. The shard of the universe made material was glowing softly as though it too were breathing in the atmosphere of chaos magic. What concerned Jo Solo though was that he'd been holding it by the blade and it was not inside it's hilt. Quickly rectifying that and taking the Blade of Chaos into his right hand, held by the hilt this time, he noticed that he hand was bleeding. Also easily rectified, he simply waved the sword over the wound and it healed instantly.
There were others around him. A group of nearly twenty individuals, each of them as soaked in chaos magic it was as if they had bathed in it almost. The Blade of Chaos began to pulse softly, it's glow shining in time with some unknown pattern or beat.
First, there was some kind of black and blue-skinned spider demon creature that took one look at all the humans around it before screeching out loud and then ran for the hills as fast as it's short stubby legs could move it. Second there were another nine different demons. They gave off the stench of chaos demons, but they weren't. For starters, some of the species that were present didn't exist outside of fiction and those that were technically real, there was something off about them. Also, they behaved like animals, which was further demonstrated when they all took one look at the Blade of Chaos, then ran from it like hyenas from a brush fire.
The remaining were a varied and eclectic group, all very colorfully dressed as well. There were also at least three fairies, tiny little points of fluttering light and dust that flew around like butterflies. Another that "felt" like a fairy, but she was human sized, dressed in a sparkling blue halter top and mini-skirt, hovering at least a foot off the ground.
Then there were another four individuals that Jo Solo recognized immediately, though he wished he hadn't. They never got along too well, unless that is they were forced to work together to solve some crisis or another. Superman, Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, and oddly out of place with the others but not unfamiliar, Spiderman. Just behind them were three little girls dressed in identical dresses, save that each was a different color. The redhead was in a pink dress, the blonde in a blue dress, and the short-cut black haired girl was in a green dress. They took one look around and then took off into the air at a very impressive speed, leaving neon-color-trails that matched each to their dress color.
Standing just beside Wonder Woman were another two women, though each looked like they were still teenagers. One that had a wild look in her eye that dressed like some kind of native of a tribal country somewhere, while the other with blue hair had a bored yet calculatingly cold look in her eyes and dressed in martial artist clothing. Judging from appearances as well as the look of dislocation everyone was sporting, Jo Solo quickly surmised that each had been teleported or otherwise transported to this location without any warning that it would be happening at all, just like him. He was also able to take a guess as to each person's original location and the fact that they may not all speak the same language.
Deciding to go with the majority for the moment, Jo Solo spoke in English, "Obviously we are all confused about what just happened, but also obvious is that if this happened everywhere else just now it will not take very long for people to begin panicking and that will only lead to innocent people getting hurt. Introductions can wait for the moment as a crisis is at hand and we cannot wait to be overwhelmed. Superman, you need to get in the air and start scouting for safe locations that we can transport any innocent bystanders to. Spiderman, Captain Marvel, get to the local hospital, if there is one and set up a guard there and make sure that nobody tries to take it out and keep it open for any and all injuries coming in."
"Who are you to be giving us orders?" Superman demanded. It was at this point that Jo Solo noticed that this Superman was more like a Superkid, not even a teenager yet.
"Yeah!" Spiderman . . . make that Spiderboy chipped in, though he seemed embarrassed after speaking.
"I'm the one that's used to this kind of stuff happening all the time and I'm the first one that made the suggestions. I'm not claiming to be in charge Super... kid. I'm just telling you what needs to be done. Whether you do it or not is up to you, but like I said, there's a chance innocent people will be hurt if we do nothing," Jo Solo explained. It was right around that point that the screams started.
"I'm not one for 'I told you so' and I care more about helping innocents than getting into a superhero pissing contest. Superman, you're the best to find safe locations because you are the fastest and your X-ray vision will be a great help. Spiderman, er, I mean Spiderboy, you and Captain Marvel are the next fastest after Superm... Superkid, and the hospital /has/ to be protected."
"What about us?" the redhead fairy in blue spoke up.
"Help Superkid. Spread out and if you find anybody lost and confused, help guide them to those safe locations," the green-clad swordsman answered.
"And what will you be doing?" Wonder Woman demanded, crossing her arms in annoyance.
"The rest of us are going to be going out and putting a hurt on those that aren't just panicking, but actively trying to hurt innocent people during this," he replied. Holding up his sword, he continued, "I may look small, and yes, I'm young, but this is the Blade of Chaos. After the GodSword, the very First Sword Ever Created, it is the most powerful blade there is and it will cut through absolutely anything on the mortal planes. Anything. I am known as Jo Solo, the Swordsman of Chaos. My skills are limited to battle, and that is why I chose to ally myself with the three Amazons present, while it seemed fitting the heroes present would much rather do what is needed to save lives and to live up to their calling as heroes."
"OK, he's got a good point there," Spiderman/boy commented.
"Fine, I can deal with that, and you do make several good points for someone I've never seen before. One question though, what's with mangling our names?" Superkid demanded to know.
"Have you taken a look at yourselves? I received the Blade of Chaos when I was only just learning to walk and grew and mastered it and every martial art associated with swordsmanship ever since. I'm the age and appearance that, according to my memories, I'm supposed to be. Can you all say the same? Spider/man/ is a 12 year old boy, Superman is my age, and Wonder /Woman/ is a teenager herself still. Let's just say that I know what I'm talking about and agree to do our jobs, OK?"
The Kryptonian superhero grumbled but acquiesced and then immediately took to the air and started to scan for safe locations, the fairies trailing after him through the air. Captain Marvel, who ironically looked like his adult self, likewise took to the air, but headed in the opposite direction, Spiderboy quickly web-slinging after him. Leaving just Jo Solo and the three Amazons there on the street.
"So," Wonder Woman, and the term is used loosely, "what is your plan Mr...?"
"Jo Solo, Swordsman of Chaos. The Natural Force of Chaos that exists throughout the omniverse, just so you're aware, and so you understand I am not a villain nor do I enjoy seeing people suffer. We need to focus on those that would cause the most harm and stop them. And of course help anyone else along our way. My sword does permit me to fly, and part of your gifts from Hera include the power of flight, I understand. What about you two?" the boy asked the other two teen amazons.
"Shampoo no fly," the indigo-haired girl spoke in broken English, "But she can jump real good. Shampoo no see why she follow small boy's orders in first place."
The other amazon just grunted, folding her arms defiantly against her chest.
In reply to the challenge issued by the Chinese Amazon, Jo Solo drew the Blade of Chaos from his back, held it in his hands, and then he disappeared in a flash of movement, before reappearing only a single second after he'd vanished. Ten seconds later, a groaning sound drew the attention of the three amazons to the trees planted intermittently along the roadway. Twelve trees, six on each side of the street, slowly fell to the ground, in very loud crashes. Crashes that also happened to simultaneously stop several of the monsters that were on the street from trying to either destroy or enter the homes that were there.
Silently gulping, the Amazons, save Wonder Woman, glanced back at the young boy carrying the sword of near-infinite power, and Shampoo replied, "Maybe Shampoo listen to boy's orders as suggestions... and follow them as well..."
"As reluctant as I am to follow the orders of any /man/," the third amazon spoke the last word like the gravest insult imaginable, "I am honor-bound to follow the orders of the Crown Princess of the Amazon Nation. So... if Princess Diana of Themyscira commands that we follow your orders... then I will follow them until she orders otherwise."
Now it was Jo Solo looking expectantly at the tall dark-haired amazon. She grimaced at the attention being given her by a fellow amazon, but she acknowledged what it would get, the cooperation of her companions, and nodded towards the boy.
"I happen to agree with your statement and your assessment of the situation," Wonder Woman addressed Jo Solo, "Superman... or Superboy as he currently is, /is/ best suited to finding safe shelter, while the warriors track down and face the gravest threats. Also, given that you do seem to have greater knowledge in these circumstances, at this time, we will follow your lead and heed any advice you wish to impart. Understand though, if I feel our objectives cross at any point, we will immediately part ways, and perhaps not all of us will be so fortunate to walk away uninjured. Agreed?"
Jo Solo nodded his head, saying, "Agreed. And since there are trust issues at hand, I /suggest/ that you, Wonder Woman, do aerial recon around our group, and act as reinforcements if it becomes necessary. This takes it so that your fellow amazons don't have to worry as much about watching their backs, and you get two amazon warriors to watch me, just in case. Sound good?"
"Yes, let's move out," Wonder Woman commanded after only a moments consideration, before taking to the air herself.
"Which way we go, /boy/?" Shampoo asked.
Jo Solo paused for only a moment before pointing in the direction the pulse of Chaos magic was coming from, and said, "That way. It's where the source of Chaos is coming from, so it logically stands to reason that in our course to that point, we'll run into the more chaotic entities that have been summoned to this plane. How fast can you run?"
"What does that have to do with anything?" the nameless Amazon rudely remarked.
Jo Solo just shrugged before sheathing the Blade of Chaos, and then took off at a high speed, potentially the maximum of normal human musculature, and then leaping to the roof of the building that happened to be in his way on the direct line of sight to the source of chaos magic. The two remaining amazons stared after the blurred form for only a second or two before quickly racing to catch up, Shampoo helping her fellow amazon in the leaps onto and from the roofs of the various buildings they had to jump over.
Not before too long they came across a few people in trouble. They seemed like ordinary folk that were being herded and chased by the child-sized demons. There were several other... creatures present as well, some seemed like victims themselves, while others either defended or attacked as the demons did, making it nearly impossible to tell who was on who's side from sight alone.
Without hesitation, Jo Solo took a higher than normal jump and fell from more than twenty-five feet in the air into the midst of the crowd of panicked people. The second that he hit the ground, on his feet by the way, his sword bit the pavement tip-first and then exploded into blinding electrical energy. The electricity itself neither touched nor harmed the crowd around the young hero, but rather shot out giant lightning bolts up into the air. Lightning bolts that very quickly redirected themselves at the demons and other monsters that were attacking the innocent people. And while the heroes watching couldn't /see/ the difference between those monsters attacking and those defending, it would seem that the magic of Jo Solo's sword /did/ know the difference between them and assaulted only those that attacked.
Once the immediate threat to the crowd of innocent people was ended, Jo Solo leaped up in a feat of superhuman agility and strength, shooting over the crowd and arrowing in on the closest of the violent demons/monsters.
Taking their cues from him, the Amazons, Wonder Woman included, began their own attacks in defense of the innocents.
Wonder Woman dove down and started whaling with both fists, throwing her weight around, to use a paraphrase, utilizing her magically-enhanced Amazonian strength to full effect, and very shortly after the demons went flying.
Shampoo likewise started to use her super strength to great effect, though in combination with her martial arts skills, so when the demons went flying, they did not get back up. The remaining amazon warrioress, while not nearly as effective as her Amazon sisters, still cleaned house, so to speak.
Jo Solo trusted his companions to keep the crowd from being overly harassed, so he decided to focus on the much larger threats to their safety and protection. Those that Wonder Woman couldn't take down with a single punch, he leapt over to and with a single magical attack from the Blade of Chaos, he usually managed to either fell them, or drive them back for the Amazons and 'good' monsters to take care of.
He slashed the Blade of Chaos through the air and from it shot out a blinding white arch of energy that flashed through the air and exploded against a trio of mini-demons that were getting too close to one of the young girls of the crowd. Then he back flipped over a charging horned minotaur-type monster and slashed his sword again, this time a wave of pure force crashed against the back of the monster, driving it to the ground face-first. As he landed, he casually cast out his sword a third time and another group of mini-demons were driven back by firecrackers exploding at their feet.
Looking around, he spotted more trouble on the other side of the group and it would cause harm before he could get there. So, he went into a unique combat stance, ran his finger along the flat of the Blade of Chaos, and after he reached the tip, blurred through a complex sword technique, which the immediate result of was the three monsters that had been attacking over ten feet away cried out in pain as deep lacerations almost exploded from their skin, their blood gushing like geysers from their flesh.
It didn't kill them, but it did give Jo Solo enough time to leap back over the crowd and land between the monsters and the innocents they were trying to harm. Once he was in a better position, he crouched down into a different swordsman stance, the Blade gleaming with untapped power. Rather than be deterred, or even afraid of the weapon that had obviously just injured them, the monsters charged in attack.
Jo Solo smirked, barely stifling a chuckle as he made two more air-slashes, which spawned half a dozen energy bolts that flew with unerring accuracy and exploded with devastating effect against each charging beast, simultaneously blasting them back and knocking them all out. Beyond the mini-demons still running around, there was only one monster left that was still a threat to everyone. He was seven feet tall, wearing azure armor that was demonic in as much that it was alive as it's design. He was also carrying a great sword that was taller than he was.
"I have the feeling I should know your name," Jo Solo commented to the sword-swinging behemoth, "but it eludes me for the moment. Oh well. Nice sword. Soul Edge, right? This... should be fun."
That having been said, Jo Solo charged the Azure Knight, moving blazingly fast, his own sword gleaming in anticipation. /Nightmare/, bearer of Soul Edge, just growled demoniacally and swung his 7-foot-plus blade around in a horizontal chop. Jo Solo casually jumped over the swing and slashed downwards with the Blade of Chaos. Surprisingly, Nightmare was quick enough to block the attack and still have enough strength to swing his great sword back up.
After that exchange, both swordsmen took a step back to regard the other and to reassess the situation. Nightmare broke the stalemate first, charging in with a shoulder-rush, but Jo Solo just nimbly danced back out of the way, even as Nightmare brought his 8-foot long blade down in a disturbingly fast vertical strike, already twisting to keep up the pressure. Jo Solo blocked the first strike, and then very quickly side-stepped the remaining blows, now understanding that despite the magic of the Blade of Chaos, he just did not have the body strength to actually block Nightmare's attacks.
That's OK though, Jo Solo never was one much for defense alone.
Nightmare rushed they small swordsman once more, but this time, Jo Solo slid around the rush and was inside the creature's defenses before it even knew what hit it. Which just so happened to be fourteen individual slashes, three thrusts to it's body, and a parting cut along its back. If Nightmare had been anything else, and carried any other weapon besides Soul Edge, it might have fallen right there. As it was, it fell down from the pain and injury, right before mindlessly getting back to its feet.
"Gotta admit, you're certainly tenacious," Jo Solo acknowledged the evil-possessed swordsman.
Nightmare only swung it's sword in reply, slashing and chopping away, trying to drive the younger and smaller swordsman back. Instead, Jo Solo merely dodged the horizontal chops and side-stepped the vertical slashes, landing hits of his own where he could on the azure behemoth. After about a minute of this, Jo Solo casually noticed that the Amazons and the others that had been fighting, had finally cleared up the other demonic entities that had been causing the trouble in the first place, and were now just standing back, watching what must be a very unique fight. After all, it's not every day you see a giant, demonic knight with a big-ass sword getting his tail whipped by a /ten year old boy/!
They danced around each other for another two minutes, Jo Solo dodging and side-stepping while Nightmare either defended, or completely ignored the younger swordsman's attacks. Finally, seeing that neither one of them were getting anywhere, Jo Solo took a different tactic.
He began to twirl his sword around and around, until he had it going so fast in one hand that it looked like a solid, spinning cutting disk. Nightmare, seeing this, took a step back. It knew what hits it could take and what hits it couldn't and it wasn't about to test out Soul Edge on /that/!
Gathering energy through his body and from the space around, Jo Solo channeled power into the Blade of Chaos, igniting it almost as the blade began to glow and it went from a cutting disk to a blazing disk of lightning! Lining up on which ways Nightmare could dodge in, even taking in the possibility it could dig straight to the core of the planet or fly into out space, Jo Solo launched his attack.
"/CHAOS STRIKE: DIVIDING DISK!/"
The blazing disk of lightning flew from it's wielder's hand, spinning on it's own axis several times as it homed in on Nightmare. The one thing Jo Solo hadn't considered though was for Nightmare to just stand there and try to defend itself against the attack. So the /Chaos Strike/ didn't even have to alter course once before it struck and there was a blinding flash of light as Nightmare disappeared from view.
Once the light faded, the Blade of Chaos calmly flew back to Jo Solo's hand and was sheathed just as calmly. Slowly, almost afraid to look, everyone turned to see the fate of Nightmare... and saw nothing anyone could have ever expected. Two men lay there, face down on the street, clearly unconscious.
One held a heavy broadsword that, disturbingly, had a living, and blinking, eye placed in the pommel, but was dressed in a costume mockery of what Nightmare had appeared to be. The other man, he was dressed in very real armor, but it was solid steel and nothing like that demonic mockery Nightmare bore. He also held a sword, but this was nearly identical to the sword Nightmare had wielded, only more of it was metal and less of it was of the same living flesh wrapped over it. It too, held a living, blinking eye near the pommel.
"See," Jo Solo said to everyone that was watching, "that's the problem with a /Chaos Strike/. You /never/ know what the end result is going to be afterwards. You can always hope for one outcome over another, but you'll never really /know/. Got any really strong guys, or monsters, or creatures over here?"
Wonder Woman stalked over and demanded, "What is that supposed to mean? And what did you do to him? Why are there two men when there should only be one dead monster?"
Jo Solo calmly looked up into the tall Amazon's face and replied, "A /Chaos Strike/ is the actual power of my sword. Everything else that I use it for is a combination of ambient energy, and sword skills. With /a Chaos Strike/, I invoke the Force of Chaos to aid me in attacking my enemy, but the end result is not as simple as blowing them up or cutting them down. It's different every time. A few times, I was the one injured instead of my target, who was actually granted more strength."
Seeing that she understood this much, as did everyone else who was listening, he continued. "As for why I requested if there were any individuals amongst our gathering that possessed super strength, it is because even while it appears that my attack has rendered the monster harmless, there are now two warriors with demonic swords lying there instead of just one. Until we determine that neither of them are evil, nor intend harm to anyone, it would be prudent to have them... restrained."
"Oh," was all the superheroine could say in response.
Thankfully, there were a few individuals that were neither injured nor particularly violent and were quite willing to help out. They quickly picked up the two, making sure nobody but Jo Solo touched their swords, and even he had a reluctance to really get near them. After that, is was simply a matter of calling for Superman, or Superkid in this case, and have him and the Powerpuff Girls take the injured and/or unconscious to the hospital.
Once they were all gone, it was just Jo Solo and the three Amazons once again.
"Now what?" Wonder Woman asked the diminutive self-proclaimed superhero, who seemed to be the only one with any clue as to what was going on.
Almost in answer to her question, there was a loud explosion overhead and when they looked up, there were two warriors, flying above the city, each surrounded by a golden fiery light or aura. They were fighting and every time they clashed thunderous echoes and ground shaking shock waves spread over the small town.
"That's gonna be a problem," Jo Solo sighed.
"What... what are they?" the nameless amazon stammered.
Jo Solo sighed louder, then answered, "They are each and both, Super Saiyans. To answer your next question, Saiyans are an alien humanoid race evolved from monkeys. Not apes, monkeys, there is a difference. A /Super/ Saiyan is the evolutionary elevation of the strongest of all Saiyans to the next level of strength. In terms you Amazons can understand... they're beings that can slay gods if they so choose to."
"How dare you!" the Amazon shouted, drawing her weapons.
Shampoo frowned, then stated, "Should not overestimate the power of flashy effects and compare it to the gods so easily."
Wonder Woman looked back and forth between the golden warriors and the Swordsman of Chaos before her, before adding her own comments, "One should not presume to understand the gods, nor their limitations."
"Hate to break it to you, but the gods aren't all they're cracked up to be," Jo Solo smirked. "Anyway, so long as they hold back from using the planet killer ki attacks, we should be OK, although there's going to be a lot of collateral damage come the morning. We need to end this spell before then, though."
"And how do you—" Wonder Woman started to ask, only to be cut off when the two flying warriors shot different colored beams at each other and an explosion to rival any nuclear blast in the history of man, just without the nasty side-effects of killing everything around them, lit up the sky. Then they did it again and again.
"Told you!" Jo Solo shouted over the explosions. During a lull in the battle, he spoke at normal volume, "I can sense where the source of this Chaos spell is originating from. Whoever, or whatever is there should give us a clue, at the very least, about what cause this and how to stop it. Once the Chaos leaves this realm, all of us will return to our homes, probably thinking this was nothing more than some crazy dream. Well, for those that won't /know/ anyway..."
"Such as yourself?" Wonder Woman clarified. He only nodded.
"We need to..." he trailed off, then tilted his head as though listening to something or someone. "Actually, we need to wait here just another minute."
"Thought you said need to fix Chaos soon, or else!" Shampoo protested.
"The Amazon is quite correct, you need to hurry, Bearer of Chaos," a voice said from behind them. They spun on the spot and saw... a gnome? Elf? Very small wizard? Regardless, he had pointed ears, pale white skin, balding hair line though his pure white hair fell long to his waist, and bore almost regal garments of red and gold. Combined with an aura of mystery, mischief, and power surrounding him, they all immediately identified him as a wizard of considerable power.
"I am Jo Solo, Swordsman of Chaos. Though I bear a Shard of Chaos Itself, I am not of Chaos. Who are you, stranger?" the magic sword wielding hero demanded.
"I am Dungeon Master," the wizard answered.
"Bet you're having to introduce yourself quite a lot tonight, huh?" Jo Solo smirked.
The wizard just shrugged and smiled widely.
"What does short magic man want with Shampoo and friends?" the purple-haired Amazon asked.
"Simply to tell you that you need to hurry, and to go that way," he pointed off to their left.
"What? No riddle, no mysterious clues, no logic ridden puzzle to solve?" Wonder Woman asked, rather suspicious of the simple directions.
The Dungeon Master merely shrugged. "My powers are many and great, but they are limited. The very most that I can tell is that your group is needed to stop this spell, while I can sense that other such groups are needed to minimize the damage or obtain specific objectives before the spell is complete, I can say no more than you need to go in that direction. What you face, what is there, or what you need to do, I cannot say."
"Why not?" the Amazon growled.
"Because of him," Dungeon Master pointed at Jo Solo. "He is a Bearer of Chaos. His very presence in this universe blinds me to many different possible futures, while making others significantly brighter. False futures, futures he creates, something else entirely, again, I cannot say. Chaos is chaos and can only be understood after it has passed. Go somewhere else," he shrugged, "and you may accomplish something greater and save many more lives, or cause a greater tragedy by far to occur. I cannot say for certain. I must go. Others need guidance on this night of adventure and peril!" He vanished in a blinding flash of light.
"Oh... Kay..." Jo Solo drawled. "Well, let's go," he turned in the direction the Dungeon Master had pointed them towards.
"Wait! Did you not hear what he said? We don't even know if that's a trap or not? We might be needed elsewhere!" Wonder Woman argued.
"Well, before he even showed up... this is kind of the direction that I was about to point us in," Jo Solo explained. "It's the general direction of the source of this Chaos spell. So... we were gonna go in this direction anyway, the only thing meeting the Dungeon Master changed was that he delayed us by a few minutes. That could make all the difference that needed to be made. Delay any longer and..."
"Fine!" the tall brunette snarled. "Lead the way!"
"Yes ma'am!" Jo Solo snapped off a perfect salute. Then quickly took to the air, leading them towards the center of chaos. Grumbling about 'men', 'soldiers', and 'kids' the whole way, Wonder Woman followed via her own means of flight, while Shampoo leaped after from rooftop to rooftop and the third amazon held on for dear life the whole way, carried by Wonder Woman's incredibly strong arms.
Almost as though it had just occurred to her, Wonder Woman turned to the so-far-nameless amazon and asked, "Tell me sister, you have not given us your name, nor what tribe you hail from."
"I am of the Amazon Nation, my Princess," the brown-haired amazon answered after a moment of gathering her courage. Clearly, she wasn't very fond of heights, or flying. "My name is Kelly. Last I remember before arriving is this strange village was hunting with our sisters and my fellow amazons. Then, suddenly, I was here with no memory of how or why."
"Why is always the last question answered in every mystery," Jo Solo commented from the lead. "Answer all the other questions; Who, What, When, Where and How, and Why eventually becomes clear in the end. What was your native village?"
"Why should I bother answering your questions, /man/?" Kelly snarled.
"Because it good question," Shampoo answered for him with a glare for the other amazon.
"Kelly... That doesn't really sound like an Amazon's name..." Wonder Woman muttered, hoping to keep her suspicions quiet and keep from angering the amazon in her arms.
"Newsflash Princess," Jo Solo called back, taking them lower in hopes of avoiding the two golden warriors that still fought above them, "The concept and ideology of Amazons, aka fighting and strong women, was not and is not limited to just Ancient Greece. Shampoo is from China, if that helps you any, and she's as much an amazon as the two of you. More so probably. Kelly is actually a modern-day slur of an old Germanic name, surname at that. The name hadn't even been 'invented' so-to-speak two hundred years ago, let alone two thousand! Now, what village do you come from, Kelly?"
Blushing, the brunette stuttered for a moment before finally answering so they could hear her, "The Sun Valley of the West. That is all I can remember of the name. Then again, we do not have time to reminisce about my childhood memories! We must save this village, correct?"
"What training do you have?" Jo Solo asked, then added in a sharp tone, "And we do have time for you to answer that question, as if you are not capable of handling some of the creatures we may come across, you become a liability and all of us need to know that going in. Is /that/ understood?"
Wonder Woman rolled her eyes and muttered something about soldiers, then spoke to her sister-in-arms (literally), "Kelly, as much as it pains me to say this, the Swordsman is correct. We need to know what you can handle and what you can't. I would claim the same for any junior amazon under my command in a crisis, as we are now."
"Yes, my Princess," Kelly humbly replied. "I have completed basic training in physical performance, archery, sword, shield, staff, and riding. I somewhat excelled at riding actually, but privately focused my skills in sword and archery. I have also completed the training for defense, in all areas."
"To what degree?" Wonder Woman questioned.
Kelly blushed once more, then mumbled, "Acceptable by the Armsmistress."
The Amazonian superhero raised an eyebrow at that statement, curious about why she seemed embarrassed by being called 'Acceptable.'
Seeing her confusion, Jo Solo added, "It means she passed with the bare minimum and was neither exceptional, or all that bad, but not exceptional. Any special abilities? Powers, Blessings, Gifts from the Gods? Anything like that?"
Scowling once more, the amazon merely shook her head.
"Any particular loyalty to one goddess over the next?" he then asked.
At that, Wonder Woman was the one glaring, though the other two added their own. "That is a very personal question, Swordsman. And not something than any /man/ can just ask like that."
"One that we need the answer to," he argued back. "I may only be ten, but I understand a lot more than you think I can. For starters, your own capabilities."
"Shampoo is one of the Chinese Amazons, they pretty much worship only one goddess in particular, and their tribe focuses almost entirely on martial arts training, throw in some chi magic for specialties but I know what she can do. You are well-known, Princess, and you also openly worship Hera, Queen of the Gods, but also one of the most powerful goddesses next to Athena, and even then only due to her seniority as being a child of the Titan Kronos. You're armor is mystically enchanted, but only for flight and enhancing one or two of your natural Amazonian abilities, and then there's the Lasso of Truth. All made by Hephaestus, but fashioned on Hera's order for your mother, Hipolyta, Queen of the Amazons. I pretty much know what you can do too."
He altered his flight path, taking them down to the roof of one of the larger buildings in the center of the town, though it looked like it might be for some kind of business than anything else, given the square flat roof. They joined him there after a moment to land.
"Kelly, here, on the other hand," he gestured to the now firm-footed amazon, "is an otherwise mortal girl with a bit of training to defend herself. Defend herself against men with swords and maybe on horseback. Not demons, monsters, and who knows what else."
He pointed to Shampoo, "Chinese Amazons have a hell of a lot of tricks, not to mention Shampoo is one of their strongest, which makes her as strong, if not stronger than you in some areas. You fight monsters and demons on a weekly, if not daily basis, amidst fighting men with /guns/, which is another difference."
"If Kelly can't /at least/ match Shampoo, then she has to stay behind and be taken by Superkid to one of those safe areas he's supposed to be looking for. So if she has a patron goddess, now would be the time she needs to start praying for one of those Gifts they like to give out!" Jo Solo shouted at them.
Kelly, shame-faced, looked down at the gravel rooftop they stood upon. Before anybody could start any kind of argument, she announced, "I don't have one."
"Come again?" Jo Solo questioned.
"I don't have a patron goddess. I... I've never prayed to the gods before, all right!" she shouted back.
"That's... OK," Jo Solo sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, pacing a little bit.
"You're ten, you're too young to look like Batman on a bad day," Wonder Woman teased him.
"Do you want to worship goddess?" Shampoo asked her fellow amazon.
Kelly shook her head no.
Jo Solo looked up and a cunning grin lit up his face. Although to the older women, they thought that on his ten-year-old face, it was more like the face of a child up to some mischief, or a prank.
"OK, we may have a way around this, emphasis on /may/!" he told them. "Kelly got really lucky in the last fight, as the rest of us took on whatever monsters that were really bad. Not to discredit you, Kelly, but you don't have anything super special about you. You said it yourself, you have minimum training at the most! And we're going to be going up against some things that are... considerably tougher than minimum training prepares you for."
Wonder Woman had to admit to that. Most amazons were blessed by the gods with agelessness and a certain amount of super strength. Kelly didn't seem to have even that much. And while she knew Batman himself had nothing more than pure human ingenuity on his side, he also had a lifetime of personal training to turn his body into as much of a weapon as his mind and vice versa. Again, Kelly only had minimum amazon training, only cleared for patrol duty back in her village if she judged correctly. Not even allowed combat training for the army yet!
"What do you propose?" she demanded of the young hero. Kelly almost protested, but one look was all it took to quiet the young amazon. "Not that we will do anything just yet. The decision must be Kelly's. However... given what we have already faced and what we may yet face, she needs to be better prepared."
"What I... propose," he grinned at Wonder Woman's term, "is that I can empower Kelly, the same way that a patron god or goddess would. Not exactly really. Think of me as sort of an... Avatar for Chaos. Again, not exactly, but close enough. I can channel the Force of Chaos just enough that one, or two, or... however many powers that it might end up being, are given to Kelly and hers to keep, no questions asked, no sacrifices needed, no patronage required."
"An intriguing offer," the dark-haired super heroine commented. "What kind of powers?"
He shrugged. She nodded, understanding what he meant. With Chaos, you never knew what you could get. Something useful, useless, harmful or helpful, there could be no way to predict at all.
"Kelly?" Wonder Woman turned to her 'younger' sister, "It is your choice, but as it stands now, you would more than likely be killed if you followed us further."
"We can also call Superkid and those Powerpuff Girls here to take you to one of the safe locations they were supposed to be scouting for," Jo Solo offered as a compromise.
Kelly stiffened at the very thought that she should run and hide rather than face battle, no matter how overwhelming the odds. Still... she did not want to die, not if all it meant was that she was a distraction for her princess and battle companions. She turned to the youth, child really, and asked him a question.
"It is said that no one offers power, of any kind, without some kind of price. You say that I will not be enslaved to you, nor will I owe you sacrifice or patronage. What /will/ I have to give you?"
He shrugged, then answered, "Well, your permission, for starters. But you're right, there is a price. The standard, 'with great power comes great responsibility' and 'power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely' and even 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you' stuff. In other words, once you have these powers, there's no giving them back. At all. Ever. So on the day, maybe tomorrow, maybe in fifteen minutes, maybe on the day that you finally die, years from now. On the day that you no longer want these powers, you'll still have them and there's no changing once you get them either. We can still call Superkid."
"He's going to hate being called that," Wonder Woman said under her breath, trying to contain her laughter. It was, after all, still a serious situation.
Kelly was deep in thought, but finally, she nodded and said aloud, "I understand. I will do this. If it will help me in battle and to fight beside my princess, then so be it. Like any Amazon, I will die in battle, so any powers, whatever they may be, that will aid me in this will be sufficient."
"Well, we'll see," Jo Solo said as he drew the Blade of Chaos.
In a rather comical pose, he raised the blade to the heavens, holding the hilt with both hands. At least, it was comical until a bolt of lightning struck the blade and bands of visible energy exploded from it. Barely a second after this happened, he lowered and pointed the sword, still held with both hands, straight at Kelly and a bolt of force was unleashed from the tip, hitting the girl dead-on and knocking her back to the ground.
"KELLY!" Wonder Woman screamed. Even Shampoo was worried, though she did not cry out.
Jo Solo dispersed the remaining chaotic energy surrounding his sword and sheathed it once more.
"What did you do to her?" Wonder Woman shouted, getting into the young boy's face.
"What? You thought empowerment is supposed to be a fancy light hovering over you and then suddenly you can fly, fight and crow like Peter Pan? Besides, she's still alive, just knocked out. You try forcing an elemental into a human body and see the human body handle it without flinching next time!" he argued back.
"An elemental?" she repeated. Jo Solo shrugged, trying not to blush.
"It was either that, or actually give her a piece of Chaos of her very own, and needless to say, that's dangerous enough as it is. So, I did the next best thing. Captured a wayward elemental spirit and fused it to her own. Gives her powers, however limited, and this way they don't suddenly shift or change on her every few minutes. Why do you think, at the age of /*10*/ that I'm a /Swordsman/ of Chaos? You always have to be something /OF/ Chaos, otherwise you're changing what you are so many times a second that it doesn't even really matter. I use sword techniques. That's my limitation."
"What about not knowing what Kelly get?" Shampoo asked.
He shrugged again. "No way of knowing what kind or even which elemental I got until it was already fused in her and she wakes up. My guess, if I had to though, is that it was some kind of water elemental."
"Ohhh... my head," Kelly groaned, slowly getting to her feet.
"Kelly, are you all right?" Wonder Woman asked, helping the young amazon the rest of the way.
She nodded, her light brown hair falling in waves around her neck, having come undone from her ponytail when she fell. "Yeah, I'm... I'm all right. In fact, I feel better than ever!"
"Want to see powers?" Shampoo asked/begged.
Kelly smirked and somehow she /felt/ what it is that she needed to do. With a wave of her hand, a nearby fire hydrant suddenly exploded and a fountain of water came out, only for it to change course mid-stream and start flowing around Kelly and the other heroes like a friendly snake.
"See? Water elemental," Jo Solo commented. "If you concentrate, you should be able to create steam and ice as well as contract the moisture out of the air in case you need to. Shall we continue on?"
Wonder Woman agreed and started walking in the last direction they'd been heading in. The other two amazons quickly fell into step behind her. Jo Solo sighed and with a wave of his hand, and some very subtle tapping of the power from his sword, he repaired the destroyed fire hydrant... by turning it into a public drinking fountain. Hey, Chaos isn't all about destruction and violence. Sometimes it's just altering the flow of events and balance just enough to create whole bursts of different types of reactions. In other words, Chaos is all about creating more chaos in the universe.
/Downtown Sunnydale, CA/
/One Block from "Ethan's" Costume shop/
/8:50 PM/
"OK, even I didn't expect this," Jo Solo muttered as he and Wonder Woman flew above the chaos below.
Currently, the streets of Sunnydale, the town they were all in, for about a three block radius, were swarming with battles, fights, brawls, and outright wars that makes a European sporting event look tame. At the center of it was a group of five individuals, four of them in brightly-colored spandex, another in tweed. Around them were almost a hundred individuals, most of them fighting each other, some of them just taking another few of the really dangerous ones out.
Jo Solo and the Amazons were sort of in between on those last two options, trying to keep the general chaos contained, but also going after those that proved to be more dangerous than the others and needed to be put down fast. They'd been joined by another couple of "Supermen", all claiming to be Kal'El of Krypton, varying in ages from the Kryptonian's true age, to a teenager, to kids with the adult's memories. There were even a small group of Supergirls as well as numerous other heroes or just plain confused people that had the power to help and were doing so.
The monsters, demons, Movie Madness Nightmares on the other hand, were far more numerous and needed to be put down sooner rather than later. Have roughly thirteen Freddy Kruegers pop out and speaking in the same voice with the same infliction was bad enough, but combine that with two Aliens, four Predators, /5/ Jason's, /10/ Ghostfaces, a /Micheal/ from Halloween, a /Chucky/ from Child's Play, a /Crypt Keeper/ from Tales from the Crypt, and a whole lot of zombies (from multiple sources).
If that wasn't bad enough, they also recognized less... classic monsters in the form of Apocalypse of the Marvel Comics universe, Mongul of the DC Comics universe, Genocyber, Myotismon and Devimon from Digimon, a few tentacle demons that came right out of the pages of La Blue Girl and related titles, and even a few Power Ranger style monsters!
And that still wasn't all of it.
"This is getting out of hand!" Wonder Woman screamed at him.
"Tell me about it," he muttered back, swinging his blade to fend off another of the tentacle monsters. They were really going after the Amazons, not to mention the Supergirls, the Powerpuff girls and every single female within sight in fact.
"WELL!" she screamed at him as she watched Shampoo beat off another demon and Kelly use her newly gifted powers over the element of water to freeze one of the Power Ranger monsters.
"Well," he said back, slashing out with an energy blast, keeping his voice normal, but still able to be heard, "What do you want me to do about it? I didn't start this, and if I use a Chaos Strike... well, we won't know /what/ could happen. That's not a good thing in a fight. I thought an amazon would know that!"
"Oh, you shouldn't have said that," one of the nearby Supermen wryly commented.
"Well, you /are/ a Swordsman of Chaos, are you not?!" she screamed.
"Chaos Strike. Only power over Chaos that I have. WILL. NOT. KNOW. WHAT. HAPPENS!" he screamed back, striking down a demon with each word.
"Then boy do better!" Shampoo screamed back at him, suddenly by their side. "Stop talking and start /fighting/! Or boy go home!" As she made this claim, she landed a punch that sent the nearest demon flying high into the sky, and then crashing into another group of demons.
"Stupid, Chinese, Backward, Bimbo, B*#!, #%&^!, (*&%*(!, 8%#$*1!" Jo Solo muttered under his breath. "YOU WANT BETTER!" he suddenly screamed, "I'LL GIVE YOU F(%!#& BETTER!!"
He brought the Blade of Chaos down by his hip and closed his eyes briefly before they snapped open, glowing a fierce red light. The Blade itself also began to glow, until he reversed his grip and it suddenly exploded with energy. In a flash of movement, the ten year old warrior was suddenly at the head of the battle, a large natural demon, brought forth by the chaos on the streets rather than the chaos spell, loomed over him. Not for long, however as Jo Solo slashed his weapon, sending out a shock wave of power that nearly ripped the demon into pieces as it flew back from him.
It didn't stop there as Jo Solo dashed forward again and slashed again, with another shock wave, and then another, and another, and another. By the fifth such attack, the demon, if it wasn't dead already, it definitely was after that as it's body exploded into a gory mass of meaty chunks, flying every which way over the battlefield. Jo Solo had already moved onto his next target.
He spent about a minute wiping out over fifteen demons using the same slashing shock waves, until he came across the one demon, a Power Ranger monster incidentally, that did not immediately explode after the third or fifth attack. Seeing this, he grinned and grabbed his weapon with the other hand and jabbed the Blade forward... around one hundred times in ten seconds. The monster's perforated chest was weakened and it looked like it would keel over right there, except that Jo Solo didn't let it end there, as he made an upward slashing shock wave that sent it high into the air. Where he met it and immediately began cutting it to pieces, slicing and slashing at high speeds, all in mid-air, until finally he did finish it with an overhead thrusting cut that sent the monster straight down into the ranks of monsters and demons, where it exploded dramatically.
Jo Solo was already on the other side of the battle, proceeding to cut up all the demons with Overdrive attacks, until he found another one that had a higher defense, in the form of a magical forcefield in fact. Growling, he knew that a higher level attack wouldn't work until that shield came down, so he brought it down the only way he knew how. With his sword.
Charging right at the shielded demon, he cried out, "/KUZURYUSEN!!/"
There was a flash of light, and then the demon was blasted back, sliced into about 12 meaty chunks, each flying off in a different direction. Jo Solo then held his Blade down by his waist once more. This time, his eyes and the Blade began to glow a brilliant silvery white.
"/CYCLONE SLASH!!/" He spun around, drawing his weapon as he did, and in the wake, a torrent of hurricane-level winds spread out from his center, and every where the wind touched, a cut was made. It was a testament of the wielder's control that only the demons and monsters were affected, while all the heroes and everybody that Jo Solo identified as being on his side only felt a soft, cool breeze.
In the aftermath, all the demons seemed to focus on him and started rushing forward. Seeing this, Jo Solo merely struck the flat of his Blade against it's sheath to create a spark, before the entire weapon and a good portion of the arm holding it were wreathed in very hot flames.
"/CHAOTIC SPARK: RAGE OF INFERNO!!/" He made a single overhead chop, and in front of him everything for ten meters was burned away to ash, while everything outside of that range was severely burned with up to 4th or 5th degree burns.
He turned around instantly after the strike and dashed past the demons that had been coming up behind him, his very hot sword coming only a hairsbreadth from touching each of them. After he had passed though, they all stopped moving... and were instantly covered with at least a foot of solid ice, each. "/Hyoton Kenjutsu: Aisu Bure-do/," he whispered. The vibrations of which were more than enough to shatter each of the new ice sculptures occupying the streets of Sunnydale.
Turning to the last of the demons charging him, he merely placed the tip of his Blade on the ground, and then rapidly raised it to above his head. The only warning the demons had was the sudden glowing cracks appearing at their feet, but even by that point it was too late as they were consumed by an explosion of energy coming from the ground.
Seeing that the majority had been weeded out, Jo Solo decided to "do better" again, and charged the few demons that hadn't attacked him, but were instead fighting everybody else on the street. All anybody else could see were flashes of movement and momentary glimpses of Jo Solo as he was slaughtering the age-old demons and mythological monsters. First he was driving the blade hilt-through the head of a vampire attacking one of the Superkids, blink and he's slicing up a chaos demon, blink again and the Blade is thrusting new holes in countless creatures of darkness in less than ten seconds, and then there was the fact that it was like he was teleporting all over the battlefield. Even the Kryptonians couldn't keep up with his speed, as he was /not/ using any kind of teleportation at all. It was all pure speed.
Finally, an uneasy stillness settled over the battlefield. Jo Solo had just killed the last of the attacking demons, and all the assorted heroes, warriors, fairies and so forth had just stood there and watched him do it.
"And he's the one that /is/ exactly how he's supposed to be?" Superkid asked Wonder Woman, quietly so as not to disturb the sudden silence.
Before she could answer, Jo Solo turned in their direction, though he was looking directly at Shampoo in fact, and then asked loudly, "How's /that/ for 'do better'? Huh?!"
The Chinese Amazon at least had the decency to blush, though no one was certain if it was in embarrassment... or anger.
Suddenly, in the shop behind them, there was a crashing sound and a flash of light. Followed immediately by a wave of energy that swept out in all directions. Unfortunately, as it passed, every living thing was knocked out cold and fell bonelessly to the ground, completely unconscious.
All, that is, except for Jo Solo, Swordsman of Chaos.
"Hunh," he grunted, looking around, then down at the shard of Chaos he still held in his hand. "I'm gonna be in so much trouble," Joshua Allen moaned to himself, seeing as no one else was around to hear him.
That's about the time that the memories started flooding it. It almost made the young boy want to pass out himself, but other memories of training and learning all his sword techniques came to mind and the same grit that helped a fictional being learn all that helped the young boy keep from fainting. Gulping, he realized what had just happened and knew that he couldn't just leave all these people lying here helplessly on the road like this. He had to do /something/!
But what? He was just a kid. Kids aren't supposed to handle stuff like this!
Which is right when more memories started pouring into his young mind. Memories of being a leader, of making tough decisions, of just 'knowing' what to do. Stuff that he had written or drawn pictures of his made-up hero Jo Solo doing... but now from the other perspective. He could /remember/ what it felt like to make those decisions and do all that stuff now. Taking a deep breath, Joshua slowly calmed himself down and forced his mind to think clearly.
"Well..." he said to himself after some heavy thought, "I... he said it enough times to Wonder Woman, but that's when it was just Jo Solo, /Swordsman/ of Chaos. I had been thinking of doing this for a while now, but I didn't know enough to really make it work. So... now... I have to become a Swords /Master/ of Chaos. But then... I still don't know how to do it... Guess I'll just have to call myself a Swords-Master-In-Training then." He sighed and took a deep breath. "OK, Joshua. You can do this. You know how. The sword is real. All this really happened. Now just do it."
He silently held up the Blade of Chaos and took another deep breath as he closed his eyes. Concentrating in his mind, as he 'remembered' Jo Solo doing when wanting to access his powers of Chaos, Joshua tapped into the Force that had just imbued over several thousand people with uncanny and phenomenal powers across the globe. The one bonus that he did have over his character was that not only was he 'real', but because the young boy only had a goal in mind, nothing more than that, nothing on /how/ to do it, only on /what/ he wanted done did he get such good results.
"/Chaos Strike: Heaven's Light!/" he cried out even as a bolt of energy flew up from the Blade and then back down all over Sunnydale (and several other spots across the Earth) and the next thing that he knew, every still-living person was teleported to the one place where they most wanted/needed to be at that point in time.
Some went home, some went to a friends house, some even went to their High School Library.
Thus ended the night that I changed the world. Now, because of my 'character', my blood, a madman's spell of Chaos, and a few other things I'm only beginning to find out about, there are hundreds of people with supernatural powers, bodies that are not there own, and memories and personality traits of people that probably aren't even real. And I am the sole owner of an artifact of such monumental power that it could destroy the universe as we know it, and I'm not joking about that.
So, now I'm training myself. I have the memories of an experienced swordsman, but that's not enough. Now, I train myself to master everything that I can. I am Joshua "Solo" Allen, Swords Master, in-training, of Chaos.