Ohana, They Ain't
Make a mental note: Arcs that seem pointless... probably aren't. This is one example.
Also, the Nightlark in this chapter is only named for the writer Nightlark. They aren't similar in any way other than that.
Finally, for the TNOiTC, I'm using the incarnation of Cloud from Advent Children and Kingdom Hearts, which is why he's listed as both FFVII, KH, and AC, while Nanaki wasn't.
Things Not Original in This Chapter
Idea of Experiments - Plot - Lilo & Stitch the Series
Nanaki - Character - Final Fantasy VII
Cloud - Character - Final Fantasy VII/Advent Children/KH
Dream Star
"What is it you want, Enverse?" Dark Shadow demanded.
"What I want, Dark Shadow, is a host. I need a body to create my experiments. Yours would be preferable-"
"No."
"I figured such. Where can I find a proper body to do my bidding? Being a full, yet weak, spirit, rather than one of those half-ghosts, I cannot operate the lab I'll need to wreak the havoc you desire," Enverse replied.
"I'd suggest Donlan. He has displayed an unusual amount of intelligence. It might prove useful, along with his access to Shadow's technology. Additionally... I've seen his latest invention. It may be useful."
"Yes, master."
Enverse disappeared, and Dark Shadow breathed a sigh of relief. He had his uses, but he was also ridiculously annoying. Arren approached him from the side.
"Master, the operative Duak has told me of his plan. You may be interested in it," she said.
Shadow's Lab
Donlan worked on a strange machine. It looked mostly like a table with a window in the center of it. It was red with weird blue orbs, knobs, levers, and panels on it.
"Whatcha' working on?" Brujaa asked.
"I was bored while you were training for a month, so Shadow actually convinced me to do something not-lazy. So, I decided to make a device to help create living creatures," Donlan said.
"Living creatures?" Brujaa asked.
"Yeah. Through a mix of magical and scientific resources, I can actually manage to create a body. It can also create a mind for it to follow instincts and orders of the one who created them/it/whatever," Donlan explained.
"Ah-huh."
"I'm proud of what I did. Of course, Shadow and Nanaki helped out with technology and magic respectively, but oh well," Donlan shrugged.
"That's nice."
"Did you pay attention?"
"No."
Donlan sighed as Brujaa turned and walked away. He unrolled the blueprints to the device, put on a strange helmet, which apparently let him scan the machine, because he pumped his fist into the air.
"It's finished!"
Worst timing ever.
Enverse floated in, unnoticed, and disappeared into Donlan's back. He glowed briefly, before returning to "normal", and Donlan found himself a puppet, with Enverse pulling the strings. Shadow floated over to him, before dropping to his feet.
"Alright. So, what will your first be?" Shadow asked.
"Hmmm... lemme think for a moment," Enverse said.
He then went to work, twisting knobs, pulling levers, and pushing buttons. The machines scanned him as he worked, and finally projected the image of a strange, robotic-like device. It had no legs or arms. Instead, it had what looked like a chair that could rotate and orb-like shoulders with wires that emerged.
YES and NO was projected.
"Yes."
Experiment 01 was born in a flash of light. The strange robot immediately rushed over on the hover chair and the wires hooked up to Shadow's computer.
"So you developed a robot that can access a computer?" Shadow asked.
"It can access any information on the internet at the speed of light," Enverse said.
'And that was just a test...' he thought to himself.
Enverse went back to work.
This time, the robot had hover legs, an orb attached to a rod for an arm, and the other arm was given up in place of a strange box-like device.
"What's this one?" Shadow wondered aloud.
"Well, Database over there may have some needs or wants. This thing is an omni-bot to help him when he needs stuff. They have a link, so Omni can be given orders by Database to serve him better. That orb is a laser, but the energy can form tools and whatnot," Enverse said.
"Hmmm... they have strange programming, according to my scanners," Shadow said.
Experiment 02 Omni came into existence in a rare fusion of science and magic. It immediately jetted over to Database and proceeded to hover by it.
The next one had some organic properties for sure. It was just covered in armor, and was rather hulking for three feet. Enverse didn't quite have the hang of it just yet.
Shadow covered his eyes, an affectation, as Goliath leaped into the world, then backhanded him. Shadow flew back, then righted himself. He looked around as he noted that the lab doors shut down and energy pulsed through the walls. There was no escape. Database made sure of that.
Goliath tried to attack again, but Shadow dodged it, before attacking the experiment via homing attack. Goliath stumbled, then fell when attacked again. Enverse became a whirl of motion as he operated the machine. He barked out "yes" and a blur of light shot into Shadow before he could do further damage. It slowed down long enough for Shadow to get a good look at it. It had armored boots and a helmet. Other than that, it looked somewhat like a raptor, only about three feet. The helmet had two large eyeholes and two tendrils that extended from it, crackling with electricity.
"Meet Mach Ten," Enverse sneered
"Why are you doing this, Donlan?" Shadow demanded.
"Because I'm not Donlan. I'm Enverse!" Enverse snapped.
Shadow attempted a homing attack on Mach Ten, but when connected, he hit the tendrils. Bolts of electricity flooded his system, and he fell to the ground, twitching and ticking as his systems tried to reboot.
"That takes care of him for the moment," Enverse said, chuckling at the fallen robot's misery.
Several more experiments flashed to life.
Some strange reptile-like bird without limbs other than its wings called Zephyr.
Archangel, a golden being with white wings and robes, flew out to cause havoc.
Something that looked faintly like a seal with a crystal in its head waddled out of the machine, then suddenly began to hover and shot about, looking for what it needed to help. Enverse called it Pulse.
A chameleon with a wheel for its back legs and some odd device on its head crawled about the lab, then turned invisible and exited the lab, to spy. Considering its James Bond-like demeanor, Enverse named it Chameleonds.
An ooze inside a very small ship (about two feet wide and tall) with a laser on it emerged into the status of living. It looked at Pulse, who was starting to make it dizzy with its constant movement. Its eyes turned blue, and so did Pulse's, then the seal-like experiment stopped. It was then called Siyon.
A black wolverine slashed ferally as soon as it began to breathe. Siyon quieted it with its abilities, then the two flew off, Siyon by the ship, and Nitemare, the wolverine experiment, by Siyon's well-developed mental powers.
The next thing looked like a turtle, but it had quills all over its shell. Quill Bomb was taken by the tuxedo-wearing experiment called Black Hole, who could form warp holes.
A ball wrapped in bandages with a single appeared. Then another. And another. And another. The Soccer Mummies rolled off to create chaos.
A gem floated from the machine, but just hovered there. Then, a mirror formed. Stratagem and Mirror attached to one another, created a clone of Donlan, who held them and walked off with them.
The next looked like a hulked-up soldier with a large cannon on his right arm. His right eye was actually a strange, silver orb. Considering his obvious love of guns, the soldier was called FPS, just before he ran off, his commando boots clunking against the metal floor.
Hexabyte, some strange clawed creature who was like a djinn from the waist down in the fact that it was energy, rather than actual limbs. It was humanoid above the waist, and it had virus-like qualities, thus the name. It zapped off to cause mayhem.
A medieval soldier with a cape, called Reaper, warped through its shadow. A beautiful woman-like creature, called Banshee, walked towards the other areas of the Hunter Base. The final experiment had wings unfurling from its back as it stood up. Black hair cascaded down its back to its waist. The purple eyes gazed across the lab.
This was his crowning achievement. Nightlark.
Enverse cackled as the pinnacle of his works flew through the open window and out into the world. Chaos could only come of it.
A few moments later, though, Brujaa and Cloud burst through the door. That sort of killed Enverse's good mood.
"He's possessed!" Cloud immediately shouted, having used the powers of darkness he obtained some time ago.
Brujaa nodded, then took off towards Enverse at high speeds. Enverse gasped as he was slammed into by Brujaa, then as he slammed into the floor. He tried to get up, but he found Cloud's boot on his chest, with the Buster Sword pointing at his face.
"Do it, Cloud, and Donlan dies. I'll live, though," Enverse sneered.
"Which is why he won't shank you."
Enverse stared at Brujaa questioningly. Then the dark power surged into him, and Envere found himself looking at Donlan, who was starting to recover from the possession.
"Kill him dead!" Donlan shouted.
Brujaa sent ecto-lightning streaming into Enverse, who howled in pain. Then it stopped, and Enverse stared around.
"What did you create?" Brujaa demanded.
"The boy knows everything about them," Enverse spat.
"Exactly! So kill him until he dies!" Donlan ordered.
"Alright."
"What?" Enverse asked.
The ecto-lightning tore into him, then the Buster Sword, coated in darkness, pierced his torso. He howled in pain, until he finally was forced into the realm of the dead.
Brujaa dropped on one knee, breathing heavily.
"What'd you create?" Brujaa asked.
"About twenty things, all uber freaking powerful. Right now, they're a tad confused, so we have an advantage over, say, the four in the lab with us right now," Donlan replied.
Two pillars of light shone down through the ceiling.
"Hello, heroes of Popstar. I have a feeling we can help."
The light cleared away to reveal Rose and Vogma. Rose still wore the pink dress and her hair was similar to Amy Rose. Vogma had no hair, but was wearing red armor decorated with gold. He had a sword strapped to his side, and his skin was ashy gray.
"You can help? Brujaa asked.
"Oh yes. You see, Enverse programmed his experiments to be evil, but some of the programming wasn't thorough enough. And, just watch," Rose replied.
She held up her hand, and pink energy spewed forth, entering into Database. Vogma followed her lead, shooting red energy into Omni.
After a few moments, they stopped, and the Experiments held their heads. That's when Goliath and Mach Ten snapped out of their confusion. Mach Five charged at high speeds, straight for Vogma. Goliath leapt into the air, then shot down towards Rose through use of pumping his fist down towards his target.
Mach Ten was promptly incinerated upon contact with the Sage of Fire, as he had ignited just before contact. Rose conjured a tornado before herself, and Goliath was sent flying through the wall. The outside life suddenly turned on him faster than it ever did on Dee, actually killing Goliath. The vines wrapped around him, choking him as it tried to crush his windpipe. Goliath wished that last one had happened. It would have been faster.
Rose and Vogma dusted off their hands.
"We can't take on all the experiments that quickly, but we will definitely help knock down the numbers," Vogma said.
Brujaa and Donlan did a behind-the-back-high-five.
"What can I do?" Cloud asked.
"You'd be best to take care of Black Hole. He can warp through up to twenty black holes he can create, and he can shoot blasts from them," Donlan said.
Cloud nodded, then ran to the hangar, where Fenrir soon revved to life and took off. A scanner attachment on his bike soon gave him the approximate location of his quarry.
"We should send some people who are used to taking on large numbers of monsters," Donlan said, "those Soccer Mummies can multiply."
"Well, if she's not still giving out puff-puffs, I'm certain Jessica can be useful in that department, along with her traveling buddies," Brujaa said.
"Puff-puffs?" Shadow asked.
"I'll tell you when you're older," Brujaa replied, patting Shadow on the head.
"The rest, I'm sure we can take care of," Donlan said.
"Let's go!" Brujaa and Donlan shouted, flying out of the lab, into the skies.
"Morons," Shadow muttered.