Chapter 2
Richie walks out of the museum through the wall with his hands in his pocket. He looked frustrated and lost in thought as he walked down the steps.
"I've met Paladins before. You used to be like gods to me." Richie rested his head on his right hand in a thinking position. He remembered the gem, and then the seven new ones that appeared after the big green one shattered. What did any of it mean, and what was the man's goal. Richie could hear sirens getting louder, no doubt coming to his location. He sighed.
"I need a quite place to think. Gideon, can you pick me up?" He stopped walking and waited a few seconds before a beam of light consumed him. When the light vanished he was gone.
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Richie opened his eyes and looked around. He was in his high-tech ship's cockpit, the cockpit of the Waverider (AN: Legends of Tomorrow) Richie massaged his neck as he walked over to the console in the middle of the room.
"Gideon, I need some information on a mysterious green big emerald, also look up best ways to get rid of cricks."
"Of course Richard, the crick solution has been sent your omnitrix, but your first request has been denied." Richie frowned.
"What, why?"
"I was told to send you to your office if you ever requested information on 'green big emeralds'."
"What by wh…" Richie turned to his office and noticed that curtains covered the entrance and the windows were tinted. "Huh- didn't notice that." Richie walked over to the curtains and pushed them out of his way to see just who decided to catch a ride on his ship. He widened his eyes when he found the "great" Professor Paradox sitting in his chair, with his assistant, a woman who also looked somewhere in her twenties.
She had dark skin and frizzy black hair. She wore a blue and black combat suit with two utility belts. One was around her waist, while the other one was around the chest. Covering her hands were black gloves, and on her forehead were orange goggles with blue lenses. Richie raised an eyebrow.
"Professor, what are you doing here?" The woman shrugs.
"Not gonna even acknowledge me?"
"I'm hoping if I don't Megan you'll disappear like a horrible hallucination." The Paladin said, turning to Megan with an annoyed look. Megan put on a fake pout.
"Aww, is Richie mad at me?"
"Oh, of course not. I always love getting back together with the woman who LEFT ME ON A ZOMBIE PLANET FOR 200 YEARS!" Megan rolled her eyes.
"Oh please. It was either you or me, and one of us had to go get reinforcements. I came back didn't I?
"Two hundred years later thou!" Megan scoffed.
"Well, you can think of that as karma for getting my memory wiped by those mutant Martians in universe 4325."
"Wha- you're still blaming me for that?!" Paradox shook his head and sighed before raising his hands.
"Alright, alright you two, let's give it a rest. Megan, we didn't come here to rehash old wounds." Megan looked like she wanted to say more, but calmed down none the less.
"Sorry Professor." She said, before leaning back on the edge of the desk.
"Professor, whatever you need from me, let me guess, it has something to do with what I just fought against, doesn't it?"
"And what you will fight against." Richie nodded.
"Wonderful." He slowly smiled. "Tell me more." Paradox smiled before turning to his assistant and nodding. Maria took out a mechanical ball the size of a pokeball and threw it in the air. The ball stopped midair, at nose length and lit up before exploding into light. All around the three now was a holographic globe. Richie looked around, looking a little impressed.
"This, is what you saw Richie?" Megan asked, making him turn back forward. A big green emerald was right in front of him, the same one from the museum. Richie kept his eyes on the emerald.
"What is it?"
"That- is known to many as the Master Emerald. This emerald was forged out of, well everything. Everything that was and everything that is."
"This gem is made out of literal infinity, powered by it too." Paradox continued. "This Master emerald's power is unmatched. There are poor copies of this gem all around the Omniverse, but this is the original."
"Something so powerful sounds like something that should be on my radar." Richie said.
"This is old Omniverse stuff Richie. They didn't teach us this during training and there aren't any books on the emerald." Megan stated. "Everything I know about this I learned from the Professor.
"The emerald was a mistake, a mistake that was supposed to be lost in time and space."
"Yet I find it in some random museum?" Richie questioned. Judging by Paradox's face, it seemed to confuse him as well.
"Yes, a confusing piece of this situation I'm going to have to look into later."
"Anyways," Megan continued. ", this emerald's power is not something that should be left in the hands of one man." Richie was circling the emerald now, examining every inch.
"The man said he's been searching for this thing for years, and when he got there he was really impressed with its power. I don't want to admit it, but he's a guy who can throw strong magic around. Anything that can impress him should scare others." He looked back at the two guests. "Speaking of which, who is he? I just keep calling him Stranger in my head."
Megan waved her hand and a monitor showing some slightly blurry images of the man when he was by himself in the museum. "His name is Syrus, he's- a Chronian." Richie widened his eyes and quickly turned to Megan and the Professor. "What, you just said a…" Megan, seemingly understanding the reaction nodded. Richie saw her nod and shook his own head. "A Chronian." It felt weird to say that species name with his lips, as if he hasn't said it in a long time. "W- how?" Paradox sighed.
"I suppose nothing is truly gone, that goes for ancient species like this. We don't know how he's here and how long he's been moving through the Omniverse, we know very little about him in fact. All we can say is that he doesn't just posses Chronian abilities; he's also shown signs of sorcery, and different kinds as well. Mana, tricksory, the list goes on. Without the emerald he's already powerful."
"So then why use the emerald, what mission is he on to need all that power?" Richie asked, his tone was more serious now. Paradox just shook his head.
"Time is fuzzy at the moment. There are so many different timelines right now I can't tell you which one seems more likely. His plan could literally be anything, which is why you need to collect the seven pieces of the now broken Master Emerald, so we can forge it back together and get it away from Sirus' hands before it's too late." Richie raised an eyebrow and nodded.
"Riight. How do I do that, I just go out and find them?" Paradox waved his hand, and the gem next to Richie started to act up, making him back up until he was next to Megan. The emerald suddenly shattered into seven emeralds, all different colors, just like in the museum.
"When you shattered the Master Emerald, you reverted it into its healing stage, the Chaos emeralds."
"Reassuring name."
"Shut up." Meagan said before elbowing Richie in the gut, making him double over.
"The Chaos emeralds are not something to laugh at. While the Master emerald heals its shattered body, the shards revert to their, less stable forms. While the Master emerald collects energy from the past and present, the Chaos emeralds gather energy from past, present, and future."Megan informed.
"Wait cough, you said nothing could beat the master emerald, but if the Chaos emeralds also take power from the future, wouldn't that make it stronger?" Paradox shook his head.
"Just because the Chaos emeralds take power from three parts of time instead of two doesn't make it stronger, it only makes them unstable because of it. The future is always unknown, there are millions of possibilities. That much uncertainty makes each emerald disoriented, and eventually insane, causing them to act chaotically."
"And now this chaos is spread out across the Omniverse, we need you to track them all down and collect them. The chaos they're dispersing should be strong enough for Gideon to track down."
"Ok, wait just a second professor's assistant." Megan frowned; she hated it when he called her that. "You're real quick to dump this on me. Don't get me wrong I love the challenge, but is there a reason why none of you are participating?" Paradox sighed.
"Unfortunately, I have been prohibited from being anywhere near the Master emerald and anything related to it after an incident with them a long time ago. I cannot be in the same universe as any of the emeralds and that includes my assi- partner. My hands are tied."
Richie grew a child like smile and leaned on his desk.
"And you chose me because, what, you trust me the most?" Megan rolled her eyes.
"Oh gods, Professor, please don't feed his ego." Richie turned to Megan and stuck his tongue out. Professor gave a small smile to Richie.
"Richard, I truly believe you are the man for the job. You have an amazing ability, one that you've yet to realize." Richie raised an eyebrow as he watched the professor get up and dust off his coat. "Well we should be going. Things to see, no doubt mistakes to fix."
He snapped his finger and the ball absorbed the dome and flew back into his hand. Paradox stuffed the ball in his coat's pocket; how it fit Richie had no idea, and walked out of the office with Megan and Richie behind him as the curtains lifted and the windows undimmed themselves.
"There will be many trials ahead, but I know you'll be able to do it, and tt's not like you'll be alone."
"Yeah, Gideon and I just like always." Paradox spun around and raised both eyebrows.
"Not what I meant. Are you ready Megan?"
"Don't mess this up Richie." Megan said with a smirk. She punched Richie's arm as she passed him and stopped next to Paradox.
"Agh, wait what do you mean?!" He asked as he rubbed his arm. Paradox pulled out his pocket watch and opened it. An orb of energy surrounded both the professor and Megan before it and the other two disappeared. Richie stood there, watching the smoke rise where the two Omniverse travelers' once stood. He moved his punched arm in a circle as he walked past the ship's council.
"Gideon, send me the route to a universe that's emitting chaos radiation."
"Of course Richard, it has been sent." Richie stopped in the middle of a circle in the middle of the room, and jumped. Instead of hitting the ground, he stopped midair and a holographic orb surrounded him. Holographic controls and data screens appeared around Richie and he looked around with an excited expression on his face.
A holo-device, like an arm gauntlet appeared close to the Paladin who immediately stuffed his whole right arm in it.
"It's hero time." He said before grabbing onto something inside the gauntlet and pulling on it. He twisted the device and the ship started to glow multiple colors, It kept glowing, until it suddenly shot forward and out of the universe.