AOE Saga

The Dragon Within

Chapter 4: Matt's Darkest Memories

When they went back to headquarters, the experiments forced Matt to explain about his 'friends.' He eventually told them that he used to be part of the Temporal Marines and they were his former teammates. "Why'd you quit?" asked Lilo. "I thought it was a bit cramped working in C.P.S. so I moved out," said Matt, slightly stiffly. "Your grammar's wrong," said a voice. Everyone turned around to see that NegaMorph's entered the room. "What do you mean his grammar's wrong?" asked Stitch. "When someone's talking in the first person, they are supposed to say 'we' and 'us' if it's plural. But I guess you two were so close there hardly seemed to be any difference." "What are you talking about?" asked Akira. NegaMorph seemed surprised. "He never told you?" he asked, "guess it's more personal than I thought. But you should have at least heard it from Morph." Draco looked at Morph who looked like he was trying to invent his own song by whistling. "Morph," said Draco, "is there something you should tell us?" "He won't tell," said NegaMorph who was changing the length of the fangs in his hand-mouth to see which suited better, "Matt made him swear not to tell, but he forgot to make me swear. So I have no problem telling you that Matt had-"

Suddenly Matt used his power over plasma to snap NegaMorph's mouths shut. Then he used it fling NegaMorph all over the place and do what was apparently uncomfortable positions. Then Matt had NegaMorph stretch to where he nearly snapped in two. "Listen up, you fouled-up crossbreed," he said in a rigid voice full of anger, "if you dare reveal anything you aren't supposed to, I'll make sure not even your shadow will come back together. Do I make myself clear?" NegaMorph was not in any position to talk properly but one of his mouths managed to squeak, 'yes'. Then Matt let go of NegaMorph, who snapped back together and collapsed upon himself in exhaustion. Then Matt marched out the door, still fuming, saying, "I'm going to bed."

"What on this planet was that for?" asked Chip. "Who Matt used to have known must have something to do with this," said Rick. "I wonder who or what it could be?" asked Contrinus. Then Jake came in and noticed NegaMorph lying in an exhausted puddle. "What happened to him?" he asked. The others told him what happened. "That must be a really bad memory," said Jake. "Wait, Draco," said Lilo, "why don't you use your telepathy to see what's making Matt mad?" "Because I can only read the thoughts he's thinking," answered Draco, "I can't go into his mind." "But I can," said Jake. "What?" said Stitch. "Rose gave me a dream amulet so we can be in each other's dreams. We can also use it to access other people's subconscious. I better go, since I know about the dream world." "I've always wanted to see Matt's mind," said Kala. "He'll probably need healing," said Contrinus. "If Contrinus goes, I go," said Draco. "If Draco goes, I go," said Chip. Surprisingly, Morph didn't join in. "Aren't you coming?" asked Chip. "Nah," said Morph, "I'm not allowed in other people's dreams, court order." So all who weren't going left the room, but they left NegaMorph since he was too tired to move anyway. Then Jake, Kala, Contrinus, Draco, and Chip all sat at a table and each put a hand on the amulet. Then they let themselves drift off to sleep.

Suddenly they found themselves inside a long gray corridor with doors on both sides. "There's got to be enough doors for everyone in New York," said Kala. "There are," said Jake. "Sure is a lot of people, eh Chip?" said Draco. Suddenly they saw that Chip's not there. "I guess he wasn't touching the amulet as he was supposed to," said Contrinus. "He shouldn't be too far," said Draco. They examined different doors and found one labeled NEGAMORPH. "I wonder what his subconscious is like," said Kala as she opened the door. She only looked for a minute and then closed it behind her. "What was it like?" asked Jake. "Sorta like a combination of the Null Void, the End of the World, and the World That Never Was," said Kala. "There's Chip's door," said Contrinus, pointing at a door labeled CHIP. They all quickly went through.

However, as the door to Chip's subconscious closed, the door to NegaMorph's conscious opened again. NegaMorph stepped out and said, "So this is the Dream Corridor. Could use a new paint job." You see, NegaMorph overheard our heroes' plan to infiltrate Matt's mind and made sure he went to sleep not too far off from where they were. He knew that they couldn't resist the chance to look inside his subconscious and would open the door for him. "Now I can get into Matt's subconscious and get V-627's mind," he said. But as he was about to walk down the corridor, he noticed two doors labeled CHRISTOPHER POWELL and ANGELA SILVIA.

NegaMorph's grin spread halfway around his head as he said, "Then again, I'd never get a chance like this." He searched through the pockets of his coat until he produced two black beads. These were Nightmare Beads, when attached to the door of someone's subconscious; they'll give wake-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night-screaming nightmares. Unfortunately, these were only strong enough for one bad dream, but they could be linked to make sure that the two victims shared the same dream. After putting a Nightmare Bead on both Chris's and Silvia's doors, NegaMorph said to himself, "Now, what kind of nightmare should I give them?" He thought for a minute and said, "Ah, just the one." He pressed a hand against both of the Beads and said the spell that would make the beads give the appropriate dream. Then the beads turned red and melted into the doors. NegaMorph went back to his own door and said chuckling, "Sweet dreams."

When Jake, Draco, Contrinus, and Kala entered Chip's mind, they expected to see a lot of machinery and other scientific stuff. Instead, they found themselves on the left side of a stage. "What kind of dream is this?" asked Draco. Suddenly a spotlight turned on and shown down on Chip who was standing in the center of the stage. He was wearing an old-fashioned British general's uniform. As the invisible instruments started playing, Chip cleared his throat and sang;

Chip:

I am the very model of a modern Major-General,

I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral,

I know the Kings of England, and I quote the fights historical,

From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical;

I'm very well acquainted with, too, with matters mathematical.

I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical,

About binominal theorem I am teaming with a lot o' news,

With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse.

Chorus:

With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse.

With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse.

With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse.

Chip:

I'm very good at integral and differnential calculus;

I know the scietific names of beings anamalculous:

In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,

I am the very model of a modern Major-General.

Chorus:

In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,

He is the very model of a modern Major-General.

"What the heck is this?" asked Jake. "I believe it's an exerpt from the Pirates of Penzance," said Kala. "Shall we grab Chip and get out of here?" asked Draco. "No, no," said Contrinus, "I think he's doing well." Chip continued until the end of the song and then Draco stepped out and tapped Chip on his epauletted shoulder and whispered in his ear. "Oh right," said Chip. The stage and Chip's uniform vanished and they all went quickly out the door. They went down the Dream Corridor until they found one labeled MATTHEW LYNCH. "This is our stop," said Jake as he opened the door.

The door opened into what looked like the old 'ISS Ohana's' bridge section. Various signs pointed to what were probably parts of Matts mind. The most interesting was the security console. All the screens were showing various memories and past dreams. Jake looked at one of the monitors, showing a futuristic shuttle with the words 'Skyraid' painted on swooping away from an exploding station. "Intense," said Jake before something grabbed him. "Who are you guys? I didn't know Matt was letting his dreams run around," said the obvious voice of V-627. It was indeed the homicidal 627 virus clone. He glared at the group. "Chip, the walking tin can, Draco the magic dragon and even Kala…the walking, talking cure," insulted V-627. "I'm not tin," said Chip, "I'm made of a special alloy that protects me inside a computer." Draco merely huffed. Kala glared and said, "Now I'm going to cure you, for good." She reached out towards V-627 but she somehoe couldn't touch him. V-627 laughed and said, "You'll have to better than that! This is Matt's mind, you're just guests. You can't touch me here."

V-627 spotted Contrinus. "And who's the new one? I admit that stone's made it hard to find out what Lynch is up to," he said strolling over. Draco just managed to stop himself from blasting V-627. "We came to find out why Matt's so touchy at the moment," he said. V-627's grin widened. "Ah…I thought so…through there…last on the right." He said before sitting in the security chair. As they turned to leave he added in a serious tone, "Be careful…something's been lurking around there. I'd hate to have permanent company…it's already crowded with us two already."

The group walked through the corridor with its flickering overhead lights till it led to what seemed to be Matt's quarters. Draco looked at it. "Here goes," he said and opened the hatch. It opened out into a busy street on a splitter colony station. "I wonder where this is," said Jake. Round the corner came Matt, carrying a shopping bag and whistling. Kala walked out to meet him…and was walked straight through. "Ok…that was creepy," she said shuddering. Jake said, "I guess we can only watch," as they followed the oblivious Matt round the corner…where an apartment building was surrounded by several station police hovercars. "What the hell are you doing?" yelled Matt. One of the policemen motioned for him to be quiet, saying, "We received a tip off that there are some arms smugglers at this address. We're about to bust them."

Matt stared for a minute then burst out laughing. "You've been sent a prank call," he said chortling and walking towards his door. Draco and the others watched as Matt stopped in front of his door saying, "Me and my sister are the only tenants in this block. Now bug out before I call your searg…" KAAAAABOOOOOOOOOM. The whole front of the apartment vanished in a fireball tossing Matt and the cops back from the force of the explosion. As they watched Matt was stunned as he fought insanely to get back inside.

An old newspaper was on the ground, showing the date to be tomorrow. Kala looked sadly as the dream began to fade away. "Poor Matt…lets go…I've seen enough," she said walking to the door. As the group left two red eyes appeared and there was a scraping sound…like metal. Outside a wall was now blocking the way they'd arrived. The only way was the long way round. After a few minutes walking they began to get the sinking feeling that they were being followed.

"I never knew that Matt had a sister, and lost her," said Draco. Suddenly Chip paused by one door and then went in. He came back out holding two files. "She was lost, she was taken," said Chip. "What?" said Draco. "That was Matt's information storage," said Chip and he handed Draco one of the files, "and this is some info regarding Matt's encounters with Splitters." Matt read the contents and said, "So Matt and his sister destroyed a Splitter's space colony because it became infested with Symbiotes?" "The Splitter Forces was going to have that cleansed, but the Lynchs blew if up before that. Apparently, that was their last adventure together before that bombing." "So that's why Matt was acting queer when Splicer was around," said Draco. "And here's the most important piece of evidence," said Chip as he handed Draco the other file. Draco pulled out the slightly charred note that was in it. "'Revenge is ours'?" said Draco, "not that good a comeback for Splitters." "The Splitters didn't write that." "What?" "Look," said Chip, "that letter right there is part of the wrong dialect. Not to mention that Splitters hardly ever use the word 'revenge', they prefer 'vengeance'." "So you're saying that someone knew that Matt and his sister did something to get the Splitters really mad at them and used this bombing to frame the Splitters?" asked Draco. "That's my most likely guess," said Chip, "but what I can't understand why? What was the motive?" None of the others had heard this conversation and were walking normally. "Should we go put these back?" asked Draco. "That's not necessary," said Chip. He put the files inside those mail-carrying tubes and sent them back to the information storage. "All that would do is make Matt remember those two things, but he's probably still fuming so that wouldn't matter much."

Suddenly they all heard the noise of metal creaking and the feeling they were being followed was increased. "What's behind us?" asked Kala. "I don't know," said Chip, "I can't see through that darkness." Contrinus fluffed up her wings and opened her beak. A ball of iridescently-colored fire shot out and collided with the darkness behind them. The darkness scattered under the fireball's radiance of light and revealed the creature stalking them. It was none other that Massacrate, chainsaw body, two scythes on his back, horned and sharp-toothed skull with glowing red eye sockets. The only difference was that this Massacrate was 20 feet tall. "That's one vivid memory," said Draco as Massacrate roared. "RUN!" yelled Jake and they all hightailed it with Massacrate following them.

They came to what resembled a long metal bridge. On the other side of the bridge was the area they first entered when they went into Matt's mind. As the others crossed the bridge, Draco stopped and yelled at the the oncoming Massacrate, "You cannot pass!" "Draco!" cried Chip and Contrinus. In response to Draco's challenge, Massacrate's blades covered themselves in blue fire. "You will not harm my friends!" cried Draco, "you are nothing more than a memory of the real Massacrate, a shadow of a Doom Weapon that haunts Matt's mind. Go back to the shadows."

Massacrate reached down to grab Draco but was buffeted by Draco's prism sword. "You shall not pass!" yelled Draco and he focused his energies through the prism sword and blasted the part of the bridge Massacrate was standing on. It gave way underneath him and the Doom Weapon of Death fell through. But before he fell into the dark abyss beneath, he grabbed Draco and dragged him down with him. The others watched horrified as Draco disappeared from sight. "Let's get out of here," said Jake weakly. They quickly went out the door and into the Dream Corridor and from there into the waking world.

They woke up with a start except Draco. "I never want to that again," said Contrinus. She looked at Draco's sleeping body and asked, "What will happen to him now?" "He'll probably sleep forever," said Chip, "his dream self never to return home." Contrinus put her head on Draco's shoulder and started weeping. Then Matt came in, yawning, and said, "Man, what a weird dream I had." He looked at everyone and asked, "What's going on?" Suddenly Draco yawned and woke up. "What a pleasant nap," he said. Contrinus trilled with joy and kissed Draco on the cheek. This caused his chameleonic skin to involuntarily turn red around his head. "How'd you escape?" asked Chip. "It turns out that that Massacrate was really just a personification of a curse the real one put on Matt." "And what was that curse?" asked Kala.

"It said that Matt would soon be in the hands of the ones he offended most. Of course that could be anybody. So the curse-Massacrate went away and I found another way to the door." "Which was?" asked Chip. Draco had a bit of disgusted look and said, "I'm not telling, but let's say it wasn't the cleanest way out." Then he turned to Matt and said, "By the way, you might want to hide those magazines in a different spot." Matt looked confused. "My Judge Dredd comics?" he spotted the dream amulet. "Wait a minute…what were you doing in my brain?" he said, slightly miffed.

Later that night…

Chris dreamed he was at a wedding. He was dressed up in a tuxedo and had his hair combed and everything. But he wasn't a guest, he wasn't even the best man, he was the groom. The bride beside them had her face completely shrouded in a white veil. In front of them, Louis Griffaxe was saying, "And do you Chris take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?" "I do," said Chris. "Then by the power invested in me by the Elemental Spirit of Wind and as captain of the ship Carbolodornviorten, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride." Chris moved the veil aside and leaned forward. He only had enough time to see his bride's purple-furred face before their lips touched. At that moment, both Chris and Silvia woke up with a scream and not far away, NegaMorph, opened his eyes for a second and then closed em, grinning hugely.

Matt's Psyche

Deep subconcious

Deep in Matt's mind one door sat. It had been dreamed up with one clear purpose, to separate outside and inside quite clearly. Inside sat what looked like, at first glance to be Matt in his hybrid form…till you saw the eyes. They were the eyes of a murderer, of someone who'd kill you as easily as tell you the time of day. Suddenly, the curse-Massacrate appeared. "Out you come," he said slicing a small hole in the door before vanishing. Slowly the hole was getting bigger. Draconus looked at the hole in his prison. "Soon, Mr. Lynch…soon," he said. He'd waited for months…he could wait a little longer…


Now that's foreshadowing. Who planted that bomb? What will the curse do to Matt? Who was that mysterious being locked up in Matt's deep subconscious? Keep reading this story for the answers. PLEASE REVIEW.