Shendu was seething with rage. His powers had once again been stripped from him and for doing something right. Maleficent stole his powers for trying to kill King Mickey. Isn't that what she wanted all along? And when she showed up, Shendu knew they could've wiped out all of the Restoration Committee. Why didn't she try to finish them? With all her boasting of her powers of the darkness, why didn't she use those powers? She was a hypocritical fool, who was going to be swallowed by the darkness sooner or later.
Shendu's thoughts were cut short as he entered the meeting chamber. The accursed witch decided, of all things, to have a meeting after ripping his powers from his own body. Shendu sat in the chair furthest from Maleficent, glaring angrily at her. The witch however was smirking confidently with her hand under her chin.
"Greetings one and all," the witch greeted. "I'm afraid that things are about to become grave…and it's all thanks to our friend Shendu." The demon slammed his palm on the table then stood up.
"Don't you dare blame anything on me! If we had stayed and fight, we could have destroyed everyone in that blasted town!"
"Perhaps, but there was no way you could be sure," Maleficent replied calmly. "Now King Mickey has seen first hand how powerful I am, and will no doubt bring Sora and his companions knocking onto my doorstep. I was waiting for our power to grow, but now we must hasten our forces if we're going to deal with this properly." Shendu scowled then sat back down. The witch did make a valid point. "So, Pete, Shendu, you both shall travel to the worlds that have our allies in them and you will tell them to prepare themselves for the arrival of the wielder of the Keyblade. Ganondorf, with your dark powers, you and I shall look for Skeletor."
"Hades couldn't find him," Pete asked.
"No, he didn't care," Maleficent replied bitterly. "Hades has permanently cut all ties with me. He's even gone so far as to bring Jafar back from the dead to defy me. But I hope with my dark magic and Ganondorf's that we'll be able to find him."
"I think it'd be faster if I just went out and looked for him with my ship's scanners," Dark Samus spoke. All eyes turned to the copy as she removed her helmet. She had her bangs brushed to the side and the rest of her hair pulled back into a ponytail. Her skin was pale white, her eyes were black with red irises, with black veins running along her cheekbones to her jaw. Pete shifted uneasily at the human being he sat next to. "My ship can travel from world to world, just like Ganondorf's new flagship: Halberd. I have a scanner that should be able to find this Skeletor in no time."
"I have my doubts about technology where magic has yet to fail me," Maleficent replied.
"Right, that's why you seem so terrified of these Keyblade warriors." Maleficent scrunched her nose slightly at the copy. Shendu huffed quietly with approval then looked over at Dark. "My scanners are what led us to this world, not Ganondorf's affinity for darkness. I'd suggest you give it a shot. What've you got to lose?"
"Very well, if you wish to waste your time with that, then by all means, go ahead. Ganondorf and I shall still use magic to find him."
"Mind it I take the big guy with me," Dark asked, flinging her hand out at Bowser. Ganondorf smirked then turned to the koopa king.
"Be my guest."
"Very well then, get ready to set out. For soon, we will be at war…"
Shredder walked through the halls of the Purple Dragon's lair. There were fires everywhere, explosions, holes in the floor and walls. They were trashing the place as Hun watched from his room on his monitors. The buff thug slammed his massive fist in the computer, destroying the monitors. Hun then stood up and faced his front door. There were nearly forty of his best Purple Dragons heavily armed with all guns aimed at the door. Hun placed his hands on the handle of a turret he set up earlier.
"Get ready men, once those ninja freaks come busting through, you tear them apart!"
"Yes master Hun," the Purple Dragons all replied.
Shredder walked to the end of the hall which had the giant emblem of the Purple Dragons on the front. He turned to his ninjas then nodded once. The Elite and robot ninjas moved to the sides while Shredder took one step back.
"Knock, knock Hun!" Shredder strode forward then kicked the doors apart with ease.
"Fire," Hun shouted. Countless bullets flew through the air, all zeroing in on one target: the Shredder. Hun sneered as he held down on the trigger, not giving his former master even a second to breath. After nearly two minutes, all the weapons clicked empty. Hun smirked then looked at the smoke. "Sayonara Shredder…"
"Hun," a familiar, inhuman voice called out patronizingly. Said gangster's eyes widened with shock. Shredder came walking through the smoke with an electrical shield, similar to the current of the Sword of Tengu, around him. "I'm disappointed Hun. I thought you would've had traps set, or at least laser weapons." Shredder's arms fell by his side, lowering his barrier as well. "That way you don't have to reload them." The Purple Dragons all trembled with fear.
"What're you idiots waiting for," Hun shouted. "Reload and shoot!" The thugs all quickly went to reload their guns with trembling hands. Shredder threw his arm outward. Nearly two dozen Foot Ninja robots flooded into the room with blinding speed.
The ninjas quickly pounded away at the Purple Dragons who were still focused on reloading their guns. A few were smart enough to drop their guns and pull out close range weapons, but even then it made little difference. The Elite jumped in, two standing on either side of their master. Hun scowled angrily at the sight of his men being pummeled so easily. A few robots landed behind the mountain of a man. Hun tore the turret off and used it as a blunt object to smash the robots like they were made of tin. The leader of the Purple Dragons then turned and leapt off his balcony, landing with a floor shaking impact. Shredder had his arms crossed over his chest while Hun glared angrily at him. The Elites all scowled then moved to attack, but where cut off when Shredder raised his arms to block them.
"Hun, come now, surely we needn't fight like this," Shredder said with a quarter-soothing tone. "We worked together once, and we had this city under our hands."
"But those Turtles kept ruining everything! What'll change this time! A few fancy robots, your Elite guard? What's changed Shredder?"
"What would you say…if I told you there were alternate dimensions, and nearly a hundred of them were alternate realities with Ninja Turtles in each one?"
"I'd say you were out of your mind!"
"But it's true Hun. There are countless worlds, or dimensions, out there. If we join together we can conquer these worlds, as we attempted to conquer the stars of this world!"
"Yeah, and what can you do? I'm content with ruling this city! Your crazy schemes haven't gotten us anywhere before you slimy Utrom!"
Shredder turned his head then nodded to a robot. The robot nodded back then opened up a compartment in its wrist. A vial of purple mutagen shot out and into the robot's hands. It opened the vial then poured it on a Purple Dragon's head. The Dragon began to scream and writhe around in pain as his features began to alter drastically. The man soon became a giant bulldog, rivaling Hun in sheer body size.
"That is a very powerful mutagen I acquired Hun. With that, and my robot army, we shall take over, and conquer every last known world! And we can destroy every last Ninja Turtle in existence!" Shredder pulled out a jar of mutagen from his belt then held it up. "With this, we can turn any human into a powerful mutant, completely obedient to us."
"Not a chance," Hun shouted. "You want to turn my men, my Dragons into freaks? I don't think so!"
"How unfortunate," Shredder murmured. "I'll just have to kill you and mutate my Dragons regardless." Shredder stepped towards Hun at his own pace. The blonde mountain prepared himself. He'd never admit it out loud, but he was nervous about taking on the Shredder. He wasn't even sure if he could do it.
"HE-YA!" Suddenly, someone kicked Shredder in the back, causing him to cry out and stumble forward. The mutagen flew out of his hands and into the air. Shredder staggered then spun around, seeing Michelangelo and Raphael standing behind him.
"No…no, no, no, NO!"
"Well if it ain't old metal mouth," Raph exclaimed. "I thought we'd seen the last of you for good!"
"Honestly, we had to take out two other Shredders after you! Why can't we go a day without some new Shredder popping up?" Shredder screamed with rage then moved to attack. Suddenly, Donatello landed next to Shredder then tripped him with his bo staff. Shredder fell onto his hands then launched himself over Raph and Mikey. The Foot Clan leader landed next to his Elite, glaring angrily at the Turtles.
"Elite, take care of the Turtles! This traitor is mine!" The Elite vanished in a cloud of smoke, then reappeared next to the three Turtles.
"Bring it on," Raph shouted before tackling two of the ninjas.
Hun scowled then looked over at Shredder who was charging at him. The gang leader threw one of his mighty punches forward. Shredder quickly ducked under it, wrapped his arms around Hun's then threw the man over his shoulder. Hun slammed into the ground with a heavy thud. Hun roared with rage and then threw his arm forward, flinging the Shredder across the room. As Shredder smacked into the wall, Hun slowly rose to his feet. Leonardo landed in front of the large Dragon, smirking tauntingly at him.
"I was wondering when the fourth freak'd show up," Hun shouted. Shredder got up and glared at Leonardo. "How about a temporary alliance to take out the Turtles once and for all Shredder? Once I'm done with them, it'll be just you and me!"
"Deal," was Shredder's simple replied, flexing his hands as he approached Leo. The turned scowled at Shredder then turned to Hun as he threw his fist forward.
Shendu was in his chambers, mediating quietly to calm himself down. No reason for him to roast Pete alive for his anger at Maleficent. The demon opened one eye as he heard thunderous footsteps approaching him. Before Shendu was the koopa king: Bowser.
"What is it," Shendu asked, closing his eye.
"I saw the look in your eye. Betrayal, hatred, rage, all directed at that witch. She's the one in charge, but you think she's a damned fool." Shendu opened both eyes, staring directly at the koopa king. "I think you're right: we could've killed all of those heroes together, but instead the witch decides to bring us home. If we killed them, then this Keyblade wielder and his friends would have never showed up. Ganondorf is an idiot who is much like Maleficent, but that idiot isn't fit to lead. We lost two members of our group while under his command, and he shattered the heart of Princess Zelda while trying to turn her into a Heartless."
"Do you have a point with all of this?"
"We need someone better to rule," the king whispered. "Someone not obsessed with filling the worlds with darkness. We need someone who is focused on conquest so that we may rule instead of destroy."
"I'm listening," Shendu admitted, leaning forward with intrigue. Finally another being who wasn't radically desperate to use the darkness.
"I think you're the best person I've seen to lead us, but I can't be certain yet. I wish I could accompany you, to find a better leader out of the others Maleficent has recruited, but I'll leave that to you…if you believe we could be led by someone other than these darkness obsessed fools that is."
"I'm not certain," Shendu murmured. "But I'll keep an eye out. It'll have to be someone powerful, that's for certain. As for me, I'm not the type of person to lead people into battle. If I were in charge I regret to admit I'd be more like Maleficent and leave the fools to their own devices. Not only that, but you've witnessed how easily my powers can be stripped from me."
"But you agree with everything else I said," Bowser asked.
"Indeed. If we let Maleficent continue down this path then everything will be swallowed by darkness, and we'll have gained nothing. The fool is on a downward spiral towards destruction for herself and everyone else. Still, we must be discrete and patient about this." Bowser nodded once. "So while you look for Skeletor, I'll keep an eye out for a replacement for Maleficent."
"Ooh, sounds like someone's plotting something," a voice called out. The two turned to the entrance, seeing Dark Samus in the doorway. Bowser growled then stepped forward. Dark held her hand up, "Whoa big guy, easy. I agree with you guys. Well, sort of. I don't care who leads me to conquest, but in the end, I just want to rule. I don't have loyalties to anyone right now."
"And opportunist," Shendu inquired.
"Something like that. If you can find someone better than green-face, I'll be happy to follow them. If not and your betrayal starts hindering plans for conquest, well, I may have to tip off Ganondorf." Bowser snarled angrily. Dark waved carelessly then walked away.
"Can she be trusted," Shendu asked.
"I'm not sure…but her love for battle and domination are absolute. If we can find someone better than Maleficent or Ganondorf, then she'll join us. If not…and we try to hinder Maleficent or Ganondorf, then she won't give a second thought about ratting us out." Shendu nodded once then motioned for Bowser to get out. The koopa king nodded then walked out of the room.
In Radiant Garden, the Restoration Committee had just finished putting the fire out, and now most of them were working to rebuild what was destroyed or burned down. Leon walked next to Mickey, both of them having sour looks on their faces.
"Gosh…things are worse than I thought huh?"
"Don't worry your majesty; I didn't even know things were this bad. That man Teela and I fought, that armored warrior Tifa fought, that turtle thing, and the wolf must've just arrived. I knew about Shendu, and Pete's a given."
"I was afraid it'd come ta this…" Mickey sighed then looked up at Leon. "I gotta send a letter out to Sora, Kairi, and Riku. We gotta get them involved if we're gonna save everyone."
"Are you sure your majesty?" Mickey looked at the floor with pained eyes.
"Not really. A part of me hates having to ask for their help again. They're just kids ya know, and this isn't their fight."
"With all due respect your majesty: they're wielders of the Keyblade. It's their duty to bring balance to the worlds. I hate to admit it: but this is their fight." Mickey sighed again.
"I know…but that doesn't make me feel any better for askin them ta help…" Leon knelt down then placed a firm hand on Mickey's shoulder. The two nodded to each other. Mickey looked ahead then walked into Merlin's home to start writing a letter.
The sun started to crack through the horizon in the plains. Lightning yawned, stretching her arms above her head as she walked towards the jeep where Ilias lay. She looked in the back, and the boy was still sleeping soundly. Lightning looked in the distance, seeing the sun rising up then shook Ilias a bit. The boy groaned then pulled his blanket over his face.
"Wake up Ilias."
"Five more minutes," the dirty blonde boy groaned.
"Fine, I guess I won't give you your birthday present." Immediately, the boy straightened up, his face scrunched up as he thought carefully to himself, counting the days mentally. Ilias' face lit up with realization, and a huge grin grew formed across his lips.
"It is my birthday!" Ilias quickly shot out of the jeep and onto his feet, grinning brightly at Lightning. "Do you have that cool present you mentioned?"
"In fact I do."
Lightning knelt down to eyelevel with Ilias then reached behind her back. She showed Ilias a box with white wrapping paper with a red ribbon around it and handed it to him. Ilias scarcely contained himself as he tore the paper off in one swift movement. A long box was all that remained, and Ilias quickly threw the lid over his shoulder. Inside the box was a small, handheld, switch-blade knife*. Ilias' jaw dropped as he popped the curved blade open and stared in awe of the light reflecting off of the shiny metal.
"Holy…"
"I hope you like it," Lightning said. "It's a survival knife that I saw while doing a bit of window shopping."
"This is…so cool! I would've liked my own gunblade, but this is just as cool!" Lightning smirked then ruffled the boy's hair a bit.
"I'm glad you like it kid, just don't hurt yourself with it though."
"No problem!" Ilias looked up at his teacher and smiled. "Thanks a bunch." Lightning returned the smile then placed her hands on her hips. "So are we getting ready to leave soon?"
"Leave, why you only just got here?" Lightning and Ilias snapped their heads up at the new voice, seeing a man wearing no shirt, with large white hair, wearing white pants and holding two swords.
"Run," Lightning shouted. Ilias quickly ran past Lightning, only to be blocked off by Nero the Sable. Lightning turned her head as she heard Ilias screaming, but was too late as Nero flew off, cackling madly with the boy in hand.
Lightning scowled then turned to Weiss who had thrown both of his blades at her. Lightning blocked and then spun around, throwing Weiss of balance. The former Guardian sergeant then swung her blade at Weiss's head, but the Deepground commander simply blocked with one of his blades. Lightning kicked the man in the chest, causing him to stagger back. The Guardian soldier flipped backwards, forming her weapon into a gun then fired a round at Weiss. The white haired man sneered then blocked it with a simple swipe of his blade. Lightning landed on her feet then aimed the barrel of her gun directly at Weiss's face. Weiss simply chuckled then took a step forward. Lightning fired her gun, but Weiss pulled his head to the side then charged. Lightning continued to fire and pace backwards as Weiss deflected her bullets, rushing at her full speed. Just as the Deepground commander pulled his sword back to strike, Ryu appeared between the two, blocking Weiss's sword.
"Ah, so I've finally found you…" Weiss swung his second blade at Ryu, only to be blocked by Lightning. The white haired man laughed as he pushed both combatants back then flipped back a few yards from the two. "That boy, if he means anything to you you'll come with us off worlder!"
"We can't let that happen," Felicia's voice called out. Ryu and Lightning turned around, seeing the commander walking towards them with Dante, the white haired Nero, Trish, and Lady. "If we hand you over, it means the end of the world."
"So what, we just roll over and let Deepground kill Ilias," Lightning shouted.
"I didn't say that Farron," Felicia snapped.
"That's what it sounded like to me," Weiss stated mockingly. Lightning scowled then moved towards Weiss, only to be blocked by Ryu. "You have one day to reply before we kill him."
"No," Ryu snapped, shooting forward in a blur.
Weiss snarled as he narrowly blocked Ryu's lightning fast strike. The white haired man quickly spun around, slicing at Ryu with both of his swords, which were blocked. Felicia held her arm out to stop Dante and his team, then sprung forward herself. Weiss used one blade to block Ryu's sword, then kicked the ninja in the stomach, sending him flying back. Felicia swung at Weiss's head. The white haired man ducked with only a few hairs missing. Felicia placed her hand on Weiss's skull, pulling herself around by the man's hair, and then landing a solid kick on his chest. Weiss grunted as he skidded back while Felicia landed in a crouched position. The white haired man growled then aimed both of his blades forward and began firing. Felicia spun her sword around with speed and precision, blocking each bullet without even blinking. Suddenly, Ryu shot above Felicia, darting over towards Weiss. The Deepground commander angrily growled before aiming one blade at Ryu and the other at Felicia, firing a bullet from each one. Ryu swung his blade, knocking the bullet harmlessly to the side while Felicia did the same. Weiss jumped back as Ryu sliced through empty space. The Deepground commander was obviously irritated as he swung one of his blades outward in rage.
"You have one day! No exceptions!" Weiss holstered his swords then threw his arms out, vanishing in a ball of light.
Ryu scowled angrily, "Damn it."
"What do we do," Lightning asked. "We're not going to just let them kill Ilias are we?"
"No," Felicia replied. "But we can't hand Ryu over either."
"Then what the hell do you suggest," the pink haired soldier snapped. Felicia's response was holding up a tracking device that blipped a red dot a few miles off to the south. "Is that…what I think it is?"
"I planted a tracking device on Weiss." Lightning recapped the fight in her mind. An image of Felicia placing her hand on the man's head flashed in her head. "He certainly has plenty of space to hide it…"
"So this means that he'll lead us back to Deepground's lair," Ryu stated.
"Which means we can launch a counterattack to destroy Deepground once and for all," Felicia finished. Dante laughed with disbelief, looking at his teammates then back at the brunette.
"You're one hell of a lady Elfe." Felicia groaned then snapped her head to Dante.
"Don't call me that."
Leonardo was thrown back, smashing through one of Hun's coffee tables. The Turtle quickly flipped backwards as Hun smashed his fist into the ground. Shredder stood behind Leo, who quickly spun around. The Shredder bent his arms at his elbows, then erupted a powerful shockwave from his body that sent Leonardo flying back. The Ninja Turtle was stopped when he hit Hun's solid chest and fell to the ground. Hun chuckled coldly then cracked his knuckles.
"Finish him off Hun," Shredder said casually, rather than giving an order.
Hun pulled his arm back, ready to strike. Leonardo quickly slid his foot under the jar of mutagen that Shredder held earlier, then flung it up at Hun. The glass shattered over the man's face, causing him to cover his face with his massive hands and scream in pain. Leo rose to his feet then watched Hun with wide eyes filled with worry before turning to face Shredder.
"Master." Shredder reached behind his back and pulled out a communicator, showing Karai's face. "Master, the Technodrome is finally ready…"
"Excellent," Shredder replied with a light tone that showed his pleasure. "Bring it up to the surface Karai! It's time for us TO RISE!" Karai nodded then cut off transmission. "Foot Ninja," Shredder called out to his robots. "The Technodrome is coming! Get ready to load all of the mutants on board!" The robots turned to their master then quickly started lifting up Purple Dragons they injected with the mutagen.
"Not so fast Shredder," Leonardo snapped. "What mutants are you talking about? And what's a Technodrome?"
"It shouldn't matter to you Leonardo. For you see, the world as you know it, is about to come to an abrupt end. All Ninja Turtles in existence shall be destroyed, and I will conquer the universe!"
"You must be nuts," Leo stated. Shredder chuckled slowly as the earth began to shake. Leo struggled to keep his balance, but Shredder remained still.
Outside of the Dragons' lair, the streets began to crack and crumble, and entire buildings began to fall apart. Slowly, a massive, circular flying fortress came up from the ground. The Turtles watched with shock as the fortress came floating up behind Shredder, who was now laughing madly, drunk off his own triumph.
"Let's see you stop me now Turtles!"
"You got it," Raphael shouted as he rushed forward. Shredder spun around, releasing an energy wave from his hands. The wave struck Raph and threw him backwards, smashing through a wall.
"Fools! My new body gives me unlimited power! The Sword of Tengu was my most powerful weapon, but now, my entire body possesses the same power!" To demonstrate, Shredder threw his arms outward, releasing a massive shockwave that nearly destroyed the entire room and knocked the Turtles flat on their shells.
"Master," Karai called out through the communicator. "We're getting ready to destroy this world. You must hurry." Shredder's robots, carrying the soon to be mutated Purple Dragons, and his Elite Ninja all dove out of the nearest hole in the wall. Shredder himself slowly walked towards the wall, but was stopped when he heard a loud groaning sound. The Shredder turned around, seeing Hun on the ground crawling pitifully towards him.
"Master," the man moaned out weakly. "Help me…"
"Help you," Shredder repeated. "I thought you were going to take your Purple Dragons to the top Hun. You called me crazy, and tried to kill me."
"Please master…I'm sorry…"
"I should leave you here to die," Shredder said, turning his back to Hun.
"NOOOOOOOOO!"
A shockwave was released from Hun, causing the Shredder to stumble forward before turning around and stare with amazement at his former right-hand. The large man was unconscious, with a dark aura flowing off him. Shredder approached him then flipped Hun onto his back. Hun had been transformed into a giant mutant turtle. Shredder narrowed his eyes, curious as to where the shockwave came from, but decided to question things like that later. The ninja alien lifted Hun onto his back then quickly ran and jumped out of the hole in the wall.
"Karai," Shredder called out over the radio. "Prepare to destroy this world once I get onboard!"
"Yes my lord," Karai replied, pressing a few buttons and pulling on some levers. The Technodrome began to hum and roar with life.
A bright beam of light shot out from the top of the flying fortress, tearing a hole through the sky itself. Darkness started swirling around the center of the beam as buildings and rubble began to float upward. Shredder quickly ran onto the boarding ramp which began to close up once he set foot on the ramp. Reality itself seemed to bend around the beam of energy. Shredder turned to the nearest monitor and watched as the world was beginning to destroy itself. Their world went first, and soon the destructive power was amplified, swallowing entire chunks of worlds at a time.
"Yes…yes, it's all crumbling apart! This is it: the end of the Ninja Turtles!" Shredder threw his head back and laughed as loudly as he possibly could so that all the other Ninja Turtles, in all the other alternate realities, could hear his triumph, his long awaited triumph.
Eggman leaned forward as he looked at his monitor. A constellation of stars appeared to be sucked into a black hole of some sort. The scientist leaned forward and zoomed in to the constellation, and watched as some floating fortress was destroying a massive amount of worlds with just a single weapon. Eggman hummed to himself then typed in a few commands to send his fleet towards this flying fortress. The ships all turned and headed towards the coordinates Eggman entered in. The scientist then typed a few more buttons, pulling up an image of Shadow the Hedgehog floating above a suspension device with two black beams of energy pulling at him from head and foot.
"Seems as if my new Heartless manufacturing source is working out just splendidly," Eggman told himself. "Next time Pete sees me, I'll have an army of Heartless just waiting for him." Shadow screamed in pain as his natural darkness was being used to create artificial Heartless. Eggman had discovered, through trial and error, how to manufacture Heartless. There was nothing wrong with them as far as he could tell. He didn't perform extensive tests on them, he just cranked them out and let them scurry off to whatever world they so desired.
Shredder stood in his observation room which was one big long walkway with a giant oval window that overlooked the emptiness of space. Karai approached her father who remained silent as he looked out into the vastness of the universe before him. The kunoichi remained silent out of respect towards her father.
"It's over," Shredder finally whispered. "After battling the Ninja Turtles for so long, it's finally over. And I have emerged victorious!"
"I am glad father," Karai replied. "But now that the Turtles are destroyed…what is next for us?"
"We go forth and conquer Karai! There are new worlds out there, and I will make them all bow down before the wrath of the Shredder!" The master of the Foot Clan threw his head back and started laughing again.
Shendu and Pete visited Emperor Palpatine's world first. The Emperor was sitting on top of his throne as Pete and Shendu entered. "Greetings my friends," the old man wheezed with a smile on his face. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"
"Nothing good actually you're Emperor-ness," Pete replied. "Maleficent thinks that the Keyblade wielders are gonna show up and start messin things up for us."
"I am not worried," Palpatine murmured. "Did you forget? My army is infinite. I rule the galaxy. I am not worried by a child who wields a key for a weapon. Regardless, I should thank you for the warning. I'll put Lord Vader on alert."
"Alright, that works, thanks for your time!" Pete leaned to Shendu and whispered, "Let's get out of here. This guy creeps me out." Shendu remained still, watching the Emperor closely.
"We'll take our leave them," Shendu said. The demon was disappointed with the Emperor. The man seemed too self absorbed and focused on the darkness just as much as Maleficent herself was. "Where's the next world we're heading to?"
"Uh…we're heading to that ninja world we found you at, and then Chase Young's world, Eggman's Fleet, and then the Technodrome and I think that's it."
Shendu hummed to himself. Madara might've been a good pick, but Shendu despised the man out of a personal history. Not only that, but Madara was far too shady to be trusted. He didn't even know who the devil Chase Young was. Eggman was obviously out of the question. The man was a genius, but he was far from leadership material, and Krang and Shredder were obviously out as well. They could barely lead their own forces, how in the world were they supposed to replace Maleficent? Shendu needed to find a worthy replacement, but so far everyone was either incompetent or steeped in the darkness just as badly as Maleficent was. They needed a true leader…
Skeletor stood outside of a mountain. He, ALPHA, and Christie followed Genesis all the way here. The swordsmen then entered through a secret passage. Undoubtedly this is where Deepground hid from the rest of the world. The problem with it all was he didn't know how many soldiers lied beyond that wall. Not only that, but their leader was unquestionably powerful. The key issue was how to get in without blasting his way through and getting slaughtered halfway through the base. Even with ALPHA and Christie it was going to be difficult.
"If only I had the Heartless," Skeletor seethed. "Or at least more followers…"
"And you lost all of your beasts during the attack from that Genesis guy," Christie added. Skeletor sighed with aggravation and shook his head.
"Yes, thank you Christie, I remember that. I need reinforcements, but there's nobody on this miserable world." ALPHA's head suddenly snapped up. Skeletor looked over at the clone that quickly ran off. "And of course ALPHA has to go crazy." The warlord and the assassin stood up and followed after ALPHA.
Skeletor and Christie stopped when they saw ALPHA standing on top of a small hill, looking downward. "What is it," Skeletor asked.
"Maybe a secret passage," Christie guessed. ALPHA looked at the white haired woman.
"A secret passage to Deepground's lair," Skeletor mused. "How did you discover this ALPHA?" Suddenly, the hill blew up, throwing ALPHA and Christie back, while Skeletor simply shielded his face from the wind and dirt.
"Sorry, it's not a secret," a voice called out.
Genesis swooped out of the smoke, heading in Skeletor's direction. The warlord braced himself, but surprisingly Genesis shot past him. Christie landed on her feet, but was quickly knocked back by a forceful blow from Genesis. ALPHA landed on its hands then flipped onto its feet, only for a short little girl to jab it with a pair of electrical orange blades. The clone shook around in pain before falling over on its side. Shelke turned at the same time as Genesis, both of them staring directly at Skeletor. The warlord snapped his head back and forth between the two, waiting for one of them to make the first move.
"You've fallen into a trap," the same voice from before exclaimed. Skeletor turned to the smoking hole that was once a hill and saw a figure floating upward through the ploom of smoke. Skeletor raised his staff up, ready to fight what he could only guess was Deepground's leader. "Now, it's time for you to help me destroy everything!" The figure threw its arm outward, sending the smoke flying away from the floating man. Skeletor once again shielded his face before looking up. He was surprised to see…a clown?
Genesis moved forward, ready to strike Skeletor in the back. Suddenly, a wall erupted in front of the swordsmen, keeping him from moving any further. Skeletor looked up at the clown who held his hand out, then looked back to see Genesis standing on the other side of a wall.
"Now, now, now you had your chance with him. It's my turn to play with him!"
"Who in the world are you," Skeletor asked. The clown threw his head back and laughed before giving a mocking bow.
"My name is Kefka Palazzo, master of Deepground, herald of destruction, an agent of chaos, harbinger of hell, and your worst nightmare!" Kefka threw his arms forward with his index and middle fingers pointed at Skeletor. The warlord looked quizzically at the clown before he was suddenly blown away by an explosion that was summoned in the blink of an eye. Skeletor bounced off his back and skidded to a stop on his front. Kefka started laughing madly as Skeletor slowly rose to his feet, his chest now smoking from the blast. "Isn't this so much fun! I can hardly wait until we destroy everything!"
Skeletor huffed then undid the snaps on his cape, letting it fall gently to his feet, "You're crazy, but you're powerful. I suppose I shouldn't let appearances catch me by surprise." Kefka chuckled sinisterly, waiting for Skeletor's move.
The warlord threw his staff forward, screaming with rage as he sent a powerful blast forward. Kefka twirled to the side, narrowly missing the blast, but laughed insultingly nonetheless. The clown stopped then looked down at Skeletor then shrugged. Skeletor huffed then twirled his staff around then waited for Kefka to strike. The clown saw the warlord's ploy and simply giggled before he pulled his arm back. Skeletor tensed up, waiting to spring at the first movement. Kefka grinned widely as he pulled his arm back as far as it could go, and simply snapped his fingers. Skeletor gasped briefly before he was engulfed by a giant explosion.
"Uh oh, I didn't break my new plaything did I?" Kefka stared at the smoke for a moment before a powerful blast of energy shot out. The clown quickly arched backwards, letting the beam fly past him. The clown then allowed his lower body to come up before he looked down at the tower of smoke, seeing a barrier swirling around Skeletor. "Oh joy! We get to play more!"
"Crazy freak," Skeletor muttered.
*the knife that Ilias got for his birthday is the same knife that Lightning got for her birthday in Final Fantasy XIII.