Hope On The Horizon

Ingrid, Cecila, and Gerald finally make it up the cliff to the wrecked church.

"Whoa...did Luke have to stay here all of the time?" Gerald said, surveying the wreckage of the building. "This must've been horrible."

Cecilia examines a stray piece of debris. "No...the church was standing not too long ago...this wood hasn't started to rot yet."

"Then this must be one of the clues to why he disappeared..." Ingrid said. "Come on, let's search the premises."

The trio walked up the cracked stairs and stopped in front of the closed doors. "Ya think anyone's in there?" Gerald asks.

"Well," Ingrid sighed. "I'm not going to bust in like some crazed maniac...I'll knock."

Inside, three sharp knocks were heard. Everyone looked to the double doors.

"Who could it be?" Brief asked.

"Could it be the goth?" Kneesocks mused, hoping that she was wrong.

"It couldn't be." Garterbelt said, "The energy that I feel...is not holy nor demonic..."

"Then could it be Luke?" Panty asked.

Another series of knocks were heard again, then a sound of the door trying to be opened.

"Whoever or whatever it is...it's trying to get in!" Scanty said, painfully summoning her revolvers.

"No...don't engage!" Garterbelt ordered. "You kids are not fit for a fight yet...the best you could do is hide."

Brief opened a door that led to the basement. "We can hide down here."

"Hurry up! It's getting quiet out there..." Garterbelt said, picking up his Bible.

The four of them scuttled down the stairs to the basement and locked the door behind them.

Garterbelt faced the door, waiting for what was to come.

"I don't think anyone's home..." Ingrid said.

Gerald smashed his fists together. "I got this...you...might want to take a step back, ladies."

Ingrid and Cecilia jumped back and hid behind a pile of metal debris.

His eyes flashed red as his hands flared red. "Wallbreaker!"

"...Did...Did he just...name his move?" Ingrid asked.

"He's nicknaming everything in this place." Cecilia said, a faint blush on her features. "He named me Solaris."

Ingrid looked confused. "The South Star?"

"Yup. It suits me...at least...that's what he said."

Ingrid smiled. "It suits you, Cecilia...believe me...Gerald wouldn't waste his breath."

"You can say that aga-"

BOOOM!

Broken chunks of wood flew past the two girls as they ducked behind the bushes for cover. Gerald, however, stood at the entrance, doing a little victory jig.

"Finally got that to work!" He exclaimed.

"First of all...that name was misleading, considering the fact that you broke a door. Second of all...you're going to have to pay for that."

Garterbelt emerged from the shadows, standing just beyond the entrance.

Gerald took a step back. "Okay...creepy dude in the shadows..."

"Why are you defacing my sanctuary?" Garterbelt asked.

"Sanctuary? You live here? Not to be rude...but...are you completely deaf, sir? I've been knocking at this door for the longest time...thinking that someone would live here...and then you come out of the shadows, thinking that you're some bootleg Chuck Norris!"

Garterbelt stood confused. "Chuck who, now?"

Gerald sighed. "Can we just talk?"

Garterbelt looked skeptical. "You fucking kidding me?"

Gerald's eyes flashed red. "Excuse me?"

"You come along wrecking my house, call me a 'bootleg Chuck Norris', and expect for us to just sit down and have a talk...as if none of this ever happened?"

"Okay, sir...I don't know what you're problem is...but if you're going to pick a fight with me..." His eyes flashed blue as two handguns appeared his hands. "...You're going to have to be really fast."

Garterbelt chuckled. "I'm faster that you'll ever be...and I have a much bigger gun." He pulled out a huge minigun from his afro as a seemingly unlimited amount of ammunition comes out from it.

Gerald stared in shock. "Okay...hey, Ingrid...Cecilia...you can come and help me anytime you want...preferably now..."

Ingrid and Cecilia jumped out of the bushes and stood beside Gerald.

"We're here, Gerald...oh...why does he have a gun?!"

"I don't know...he brought it out of his head!"

"His...very huge afro, you mean." Ingrid pointed out.

"I don't care! He's gonna gun us down if we don't move!"

Ingrid summoned her scythe, and Chains surrounded Cecilia.

"So how are we doing this, Ingrid?" Cecilia asked.

"Well...we're dealing with projectiles, so our best chance would be close combat...which we are all capable of doing."

"Then let's go for it." Gerald said, aiming his weapon at Garterbelt. The priest stood his ground, wondering how he was going to deal with the three weird kids in front of him.

"Cecilia...we're going to need a ranged fighter in order to distract him while Gerald and I bring the heat."

"Got it..." Cecilia said.

"Team...Engage!"

Gerald dashed off toward Garterbelt, while Ingrid hung back for a bit. Cecilia ran up to what used to be the steeple of the church.

"I hope I didn't set myself up for ruin..." he grumbled to himself as he and Gerald exchanged rounds.

"The Phantom of Daten City?" Gabriel repeated. "Are you sure, m'lady?"

"I wouldn't have said it if I didn't have faith in him." Judgement responded.

Gabriel stood at attention. "I will bring him at once, ma'am."

"Thank you, Gabriel."

Gabriel ran out of the chamber and out through the main hallway. In a small storage closet near the exit, a small, golden keypad magically appeared.

"I'd never thought that we'd have to pull out the big guns..." Gabriel said under his breath. He entered the secret passcode into the keypad (which I won't disclose for obvious reasons), and a hole opened beneath him. He fell through it and came up a few moments later in a small test lab of some sort.

An attractive female angel stood at the controls. Her name was Ruth, and she was in charge of watching Patrick Fagry until he decided to work for Heaven.

"Hey, Ruth."

She turned around, red eyes locked onto Gabriel's golden ones. "Hey, Gabriel." she said. "You need something?"

"Yeah...him." He said, point to the ghost in question.

"Why?"

"Judgement's orders."

"Ugh...finally! I get to get out of here! This guy does nothing but sleep and pick his nose all day!"

"At least you can go live life now."

"You can say that again."

"Welp, he's all yours, Gabes."

"Gabes?"

"Think of it as a pet name." she said, turning to leave.

She stopped...and turned around to face Gabriel again.

"H-Hey Gabes?"

"Yeah?"

"When this is all over...do you...I don't know...want to...hang out?"

"Like...as friends?"

Ruth smiled. "Yeah...we can do that."

"Wow...no one's ever asked me to meet up with them before...It's a date, Ruth!"

She blushed madly. "DATE?!"

Gabriel realized what he had said. "NO, NO, NO...I meant...'get-together'!"

Ruth's blush faded slightly. "Yeah...whatever."

"Bye, Ruth!"

"See ya, Gabriel..."

He turned back to face the dark test lab. "What is wrong with me?"

Of course, the two had a little thing going on...but none of them knew how to admit it. Ruth made the bold first step.

Gabriel pushed her out of his mind, at least, for the time being. He sat down in a swivel chair and spoke in a microphone in order to communicate with Fagry.

"Patrick Fagry? Please respond if you can hear me."

A few moments later, a gruff voice echoed through the speaker.

"What do you want...?'

"We need you..."

"I already told you...I'm not going to join you..."

"...I know that you don't want to help us...but If you don't...then we could kiss Heaven and Earth goodbye.

"I don't care..."

"But...it's about your fiancé..."

Though you couldn't see it, Fagry's eyes widened at the mentioning of Stocking.

"What happened to her?" his voice was filled with dread.

"She fused with another being in order to help him contact his friends back in another Universe...she's trapped him in the body of the fusion, and now...she's on a honeymoon with him."

Fagry just stared blankly. "Wut?"

"Yeah...it seems that your departure left a huge scar on her soul...and darkness was able to seep through and take over." Gabriel explained.

"...I-I need to help her!" Fagry exclaimed, banging on the glass. "Come on, man...let me out of here!"

"I will," Gabriel began, slowly moving his hand over to the 'Unlock' button. "But this means that you're with us now."

Fagry cursed himself. "...Fine...but I'm only doing this for Stocking!"

Gabriel smiled as he pressed the button. "Good choice. Now follow me...Judgement will give you your orders."

"GACK!"

Gerald was blasted into another mound of debris. He rose again, breathing heavily.

Garterbelt stood triumphant over him, his intimidating minigun pointed at Gerald's forehead.

"Any last words, punk?"

"Yeah...I got a few," Gerald sneered.

His arm glowed an electric yellow as his eyes became of the same hue.

He pulled back his fist, though it all happened in a millionth of a second.

"FUS RO DAH!"

A lightning strike right to the guts of the priest sent him flying back into the doors of the church, crashing into more furniture.

"HA!" Gerald yelled back into the church. "Gotcha!"

Cecilia, who had been aiding the team from the top of the church spire, gracefully came down to congratulate her boyfriend on his victory.

"You did it!"

"Of course I did!" Gerald smiled. "Of course...I wouldn't have done it without you both helping me out."

Ingrid was a few yards away, staring at the conversation between the two. Tears brimmed her eyes, threatening to fall.

"...I hope you're okay, Luke..." was all she could whisper.

In the church, the priest was starting to pick himself off of the floor as the basement door flew open.

"Da hell is going on out there, afro priest?" Panty exclaimed. "Why are you hunched over? Get back out there!"

"I'm not trying to get myself killed! Even though I'm immortal doesn't mean that I can go dying all the fucking time!"

"What do they even want?" Brief asked, coming up the stairs.

Garterbelt's expression went blank. "They wanted to talk. Or at least the boy wanted to.

"Who are they?" Panty further investigated.

"I don't know!"

Scanty and Kneesocks came up the stairs, with Kneesocks still in her sister's arms.

"So...should we check on them?" Cecilia asked when the three of them regrouped.

"Well...it's been five minutes, and he hasn't come back out." Ingrid said.

"We should proceed cautiously." Gerald suggested. "I don't think that he's really hurt."

Both girls nodded their heads. The trio slowly made their way up the stairs and entered to door, walking in on a heated conversation between Panty and Garterbelt about what their next plan of action should be. It wasn't until Brief tapped Panty's shoulder that they noticed them.

Silence took over the two parties, one waiting to see who would make the first move.

Ingrid dismissed her Scythe and spoke calmly.

"Sorry about your friend...but we didn't come here to harm...at the very least, we came here to help."

Panty scoffed. "Don't give me that bull. You're here to finish us off...I'll bet your Corset's first line of defense!"

Cecilia, Ingrid, and Gerald looked at each other then back at the rest of them. "Who's Corset?"

"Now you're just playing dumb!" Panty said, summoning Backlace and aiming it at the trio.

Ingrid stepped in front of them with her arms spread. "Please! Don't shoot! We mean no harm!"

"I find that very hard to believe...considering the fact that you injured Garter..." Panty said, stepping closer. "Why exactly are you here, anyway? You're at the church...so I don't think this is some kind of innocent coincidence."

Panty had Ingrid at gunpoint, with Backlace touching the center of her forehead. "So...before I blast your brains out...do you mind telling me why the hell you're here?"

Gerald and Cecilia stood shocked. Ingrid looked like she was about to cry.

"Aw...the little girl's about to cry." Panty mocked.

"Please..." Ingrid said. "I just want to find him..."

Panty pressed Backlace to her head even further. "Who is 'him'?"

Ingrid started to cry. She collapsed to the ground. The only thing preventing Panty from killing her is the fact that she just looked so pitiful.

"Who are you looking for!?" Panty questioned again.

Ingrid sobbed for a bit before she yelled. "I JUST WANT LUKE BACK!"

At that moment, Panty put two pieces together, and dropped Backlace.

"Oh...my...god..."

Brief had a face of utter regret as well. "Is that..."

"Ingrid?" they said in unison.

Ingrid's tear stained face looked back up to them. "H-H-How do y-you know me?"

Panty stepped closer; Gerald and Cecilia ready to pounce on her if anything went wrong.

Panty squatted down and pulled Ingrid into a hug.

Ingrid was taken aback. Then she started to cry into Panty's shoulder, as if she was the sister that she never had.

"I...am so...sorry...I-I didn't know that-"

"It's okay...the way you reacted was totally reasonable..." Ingrid said between sobs.

Panty felt this sudden urge to hug her tighter.

I guess she was like the sister that Panty never had.

"Fair Judgement, I have brought you Patrick Fagry."

"Good...now leave us be, Gabriel...I want to talk to our little ghost one-on-one."

Gabriel looked a bit disappointed. Then he nodded and exited the room. Maybe he could find Ruth and...hang out. This lifted his spirits again.

When Gabriel left, silence filled the room until Fagry finally found the courage to speak first.

"So...what do you want me to do...?" he asked.

"It's quite simple." Judgement began. "We will first strip you of all of your Dark Matter and replace it with Light Matter. This will turn you into an angel, so you can fight alongside Stocking's sister and her acquaintances."

"Will that be...painful?"

"I don't know...it's the first time that we're actually doing this..."

Fagry's eyes widened. "You mean that it couldn't work?"

"Maybe...but you do get a Sacred Weapon!"

"...And that's supposed to be some kind of prize?"

"Perceive it in your own way." Judgement sighed. "When you do meet and finally defeat Stocking...talk to her...and make her happy."

Fagry nodded.

"And then there's Corset."

"Shiet..."

"He is now looking for a entity that rivals the power of the Hellsmonkey. They refer to it as the Blob."

"Yeah...what about it?"

"If Corset were to find it and open the Hell's Gate in Oten City..."

Fagry finally caught on. "Then...it's game over."

"Exactly...for Heaven and Earth." Judgment sighed. "Alia...the fusion between my daughter and the foreign being, will slowly become corrupt if you don't reason with her...and if she sees a reason to join forces with Corset..."

"Then game over for the whole Universe..."

"My point exactly. We need you, Fagry...you're the only person in the Universe who seemingly could save the whole Multiverse from being slain."

Fagry genuinely took time to think about this...and every passing minute put judgement on more and more pressure.

"I've made my decision." Fagry said, tone serious.

"And your decision is...?" Judgement asked, hopeful.

"I'm getting my fiancé back." he said.

Judgement was beyond overjoyed. "I knew that I could count on you, Fagry!"

"Judgement...I want to save her more than anything...I don't wanna be stuck here knowing that my sweetheart has been depressed and corrupted all of these years...I'll never forgive myself if I didn't take this job...I love her so much...and I don't want her to lose her sanity because of me...I WANT TO SAVE HER!"

Though you couldn't see it even if you tried, Judgement wiped a tear from her eye and smiled.

"Patrick Fagry...you shall never be referred to as The Phantom of Daten City..."

Fagry looked up as the cloud parted. The sight left him shocked...Judgement's heavenly face was shown.

"You will now be known all throughout Heaven as The Light of Daten City."

Her voice was like silk.

Patrick Fagry would be the only being in the known Multiverse (besides God himself) to see Judgement's face.

Not even her own daughters have seen their mother's face.

Black...

I opened my eyes...after what seemed like an eternity.

"Where am I?" I asked.

As if on cue, Stocking appeared to me from the darkness.

"You're inside Alia...we both are."

"Stocking...I trusted you! Why did you trap me here?!"

Stocking came closer to me. She was only wearing a tight robe. "Because I love you..."

"This is not love, Stocking!" I said. "Even I 'm still new to this stuff...and I know that this isn't the way that things roll!"

She continued to step closer to me until our noses touched. Her chest was pressed against mine, making me blush profusely.

"There is no one way a ball can roll, my darling." she seductively whispered.

"You have a point...but you're rolling a ball right off of a cliff because of the things you're doing right now!"

"I think that I'm doing the right thing..."

"You're not...Stocking...please just call this whole thing off."

She then kissed me out of nowhere. She was forcing her tongue into my mouth this time.

"MMM!"

She broke away. "Don't you want my tongue in you?"

"NO! That's...gross!"

In a flash of white, I lost all control of my body.

"What...what did you do to me?" I can't move my arms!"

"You can't...because I'll be moving them for you..."

My arms, seemingly having a mind of it's own, cupped her cheeks and kissed her. But this time, she was using her tongue to wrestle with mine.

My entire body was completely at her mercy. I couldn't resist. All I could do was stand there as she invaded my mouth. (Geez...I don't like where this is going.)

When she finally broke away, she stepped away and slid back into the darkness. "I have to keep the fusion stable..." she said. "I'll be back soon...and maybe...just maybe...one day I can actually fuse with you...if you know what I mean..."

I shuddered, then fell on my knees.

I sighed.

"Ingrid...wherever you are...please...come save me...I miss you so much...and I do anything just to see your smiling face again..."

Stocking looked back at the kneeling figure for a moment, looking kind of sorry, but then her expression almost instantly switched from sorrow to some kind of deformed grin.

"He'll be mine soon enough..." she said in an eerily monotone voice. "...I'm just going to have to brainwash him..."

"What are your demands, sir!?"

One demon stood at attention in front of a office desk. he was cloaked in a black hood, so his features weren't visible. The only thing you could see were two blood red eyes.

"Bring me the thing that they call the Blob..." the devilish voice said. "I need that for Phase One of 'Hell of Earth II'.

"What about the angels, sir? Shall I dispose of them?"

"If you see them...don't engage unless it is the last chance you have at survival." the voice ordered. "My so-called daughters have betrayed me...so watch out for them as well. You're an Assassin...so this shouldn't be hard for you."

"I will not let you down, Corset."

"I know you won't...Lucifer."