Chapter 23.
Hey everyone. Back with another chapter.
First off there are two things I want to say.
First off RIP to Kobe Bryant, his daughter and everyone else who died in the helicopter crash. May they all Rest In Peace.
And second, for those who don't know, the Arrow series finale has aired. I personally am glad the show has ended, I couldn't take it anymore.
Seasons 6 and 7 were total garbage in my opinion.
Seasons 3 and 4 were mediocre at best.
Seasons 1, 2, 5 and 8 were the best.
And I really didn't like that Diggle was the one to give the eulogy. Diggle IMHO is no longer worthy of being Oliver's brother. Slade, Roy, Barry and Anatoly are all Oliver's brothers.
And I didn't like the ending. I don't mean any offence or disrespect to any Olicity fans out there, but I am not a fan of the pairing.
Now onto the story.
This chapter will go back to Tripp, Morris, Nico and Shang Chi and it will also serve as a bridge chapter, bridging Chapter 21 with Chapter 25.
It will also feature an important event that will happen in the future.
Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, followed and favirouted this fic so far.
On with the show.
Guest: I know that in the Arrowverse, the character is called Bear. But this version of the character exists in the MCU and is called Kodiak while the other version exists in the Arrowverse and is called Bear. Hope that makes sense.
HeroWitch: Merci (Thank you) my friend. Glad you enjoyed it. I totally agree with you. Glad you enjoyed the fight against the Yakuza and then against Sabretooth, Blue Talon and the Longbow Hunters.
Tripp's POV.
We were trekking across this dead planet.
There was no life anywhere on the planet.
There were a few dead shrubs that littered the landscape.
It had been roughly 3 days since we met Shang Chi and he had agreed to help us.
That was after he had kicked the crap out of me.
He was the most skilled fighter I had seen in a long time.
Since then, we had developed a mutual respect for one another.
Shang Chi had roused us very early in the morning, saying we needed to find the secret entrance to R'lyeh, quickly.
We had been walking all day across miles of hills and valley's.
By now it was nearly late evening.
Shang Chi said we needed to find a place to lay low for the night and then we would continue in the morning.
Eventually we camped out at the base of a mountain, and Shang Chi had managed to lay the base of a fire using sticks from the dead shrubs.
He then used some sort of mystical martial arts moves and punched the air extremely hard.
Somehow, the fire lit instantly.
We were pensive and quiet the entire time.
Nico and Morris had drifted off to sleep sometime later and I was getting there.
You see for the last few days, ever since I entered this dead planet; I have been having dreams of some beautiful blonde haired Russian woman with me in some sort of place I have never been to.
I was intrigued to see if the dream would repeat itself again.
The only weird part was that I had never seen her before in my life.
No like literally never. I'm not even kidding.
I closed my eyes, and yep you guessed it, I was back in the dream world-place thing.
I was in a modest apartment. It was small with a few chairs and a couch.
I couldn't really tell where it was; after all I woke up before I could find out its location.
I looked around the apartment briefly.
I heard the same female Russian voice calling from another room.
"Tripp, what are you doing up? It's still early" the woman said as she walked out in nothing but a robe.
Man but she was beautiful and I tried not to stare.
"Early for what?" I asked, feeling confused.
She frowned at me.
"Oh you're such a joker Tripp. For our wedding of course" the woman said.
"Ourrrr weddingggg?" I stammered.
"Okay you're making me nervous here Tripp. Are you getting wedding day jitters? Did you change your mind or something?" the woman asked.
"No. I was just joking. Ha ha ha," I said, trying to mask my uncertainty.
Suddenly, the world began warping again.
I woke up with a start.
The fire was now dim.
Nico and Morris were both sleeping like logs.
Shang Chi was still awake and was looking at me with concern.
"Are you okay Tripp? You woke up with a start" he asked.
"Yeah, bad dream that's it" I assured him.
I didn't really feel like talking about it.
"I know you had a dream of either the past or the future. This plane of reality, does that to you. What dream did you have?" Shang Chi persisted in asking.
Maybe Shang Chi could help me.
I took a deep breath.
So I explained to him my dream of the woman to him.
He nodded in understanding when I finished.
"I will send you back into the dream. You must identify who the woman is and where you are" Shang Chi said.
"Why?" I asked him.
"Because dreams of the future are important. They can potentially aid you in the future when you need it" Shang Chi explained.
"But I have already tried many times but I never seem to grasp anything that can give me a clue" I said.
"I know. Which is why I am using an ancient Chinese prayer. It will keep you in the dream long enough for you to figure out who the woman is and where you are" Shang Chi said.
I lay back on the ground as Shang Chi knelt next to me.
He placed two fingers on my forehead and whispered in an unknown language.
Imiadetley, I felt myself becoming drowsy.
I found myself back in the same apartment again.
The woman was in the kitchen on the phone with someone.
After a few minutes, she hung up and turned to face me.
"Tripp, why aren't you leaving yet? My bridesmaids will be here any minute now. You know its bad luck to see the bride in her wedding dress before the wedding," the woman said.
Yeah okay.
This felt so weird. Me getting married? Although I couldn't have done worse. She was pretty hot.
"Uh yeah, I'm leaving now" I said.
"Wonderful." the woman replied.
"It's nice to finally have some peace after the Crisis" the woman said.
That made me stop in my tracks.
The Crisis?
So it had happened.
But when?
"Ah yeah totally. Where are we again?" I asked her.
The woman frowned and looked at me with a confused expression on her face.
"In Budapest of course" the woman said like it was obvious.
In case you were wondering, it was not.
"And you are?" I continued.
She looked at me with exasperation.
"Yelena or course. What has gotten into you Tripp, don't you want to marry me? Is this some joke?" she asked with tears in her eyes.
"No, no, no or course not" I said taking her in my arms and holding her close.
She looked up to me and our lips met.
She leaned in and kissed me.
At that moment, I woke up again.
Shang Chi was kneeling beside me.
"Did you get any more information?" he asked me.
"The place is Budapest. And her name is Yelena" I said.
Shang Chi's face imiadetley changed to one of recognition.
"I know her. Her name is Yelena Belova" he said.
Okay.
This was just confusing me.
I wondered what Shang Chi's connection to this woman was.
"How do you know that?" I asked him.
"I met her once in a bar in Kiev. We were in a pub once and we talked. So I know her. And you're a lucky man" he said.
"Why am I having these dreams. And is it real?" I asked the most pressing question on my mind.
"Usually, this world gives you dreams of the past. Sometimes a Great Old One, Outer God, Great One or Old God will give you a dream of the future as a warning sign. Usually an Old God does. The rest of them are jackasses" Shang Chi said.
Seriously? Who the heck were Outer Gods, Great Ones and Old Gods? I remember Novu explaining the Great Old Ones to me before we came to this dead planet.
"Who are the others? I know about the Great Old Ones, but who are the rest of them?" I asked.
"The Outer Gods are the second most ancient beings in the entire Multiverse, spawns of Azathoth, the Blind Idiot God himself who is the creator of all. The entire Multiverse and everything and everyone in it are all part of Azathoth's dream. If he were to awaken, all would cease to exist and it would be just him again" Shang Chi said.
My eyes widened.
This Azathoth guy was seriously powerful.
"The Great Ones are the weak gods of earth that live in other dimensions and in unknown Kadath. Most of them are neutral in conflicts, but some are more benevolent towards humanity" Shang Chi said.
"And the Old Gods opposed the Great Old Ones and waged war against them for millions of years, before triumphing and sealing them away in prisons" Shang Chi explained.
Okay this Multiverse was seriously messed up.
"You need to get some rest. You are going to need all the energy for when we rescue Cthylla" Shang Chi said.
I drifted off back to sleep and thankfully there were no more dreams.
When I woke up again, Nico and Morris had already packed there gear and Shang Chi was waiting at the entrance.
"We must move quickly, because these lands are sometimes walked by Ithaqua, the Wind Walker himself" Shang Chi said with worry in his voice.
"Who the heck is Ithaqua?" Nico asked the same question that was son my mind.
"He is a Great Old One, who searches the lands for humans who he takes to his home the icy planet of Boreth, where he implants a psychic seed into there bodies. They eventually give birth to a Great Old One child" Shang Chi said.
That made me blanch.
What is it about these people?
"Lets move" Shang Chi said, snapping me out of my thoughts.
We moved out of the cave and down the hill.
There was a massive open plain which Shang Chi said we needed to pass through in order to reach the portal to R'lyeh.
He seemed a bit nervous, constantly looking around as we walked.
"We need to cross those hills" Shang Chi informed us after about an hour of walking.
"I would not consider that wise" a new voice said.
I spun around with my gun at the ready.
Sitting on a rock was a petite blonde haired elf like humanoid.
"Karakal, what are you doing here?" Shang Chi asked in a defensive tone.
"Come now Shang Chi, that's no way to treat an old friend" the elf said in a flirty tone.
Shang Chi's face hardened.
"Karakal we are not friends and I am tempted to beat the hell out of you right here" he snarled.
Okay what was Shang Chi's history with her?
"Uh Shang Chi, who is this?" I asked him, trying to defuse the situation.
"This is Karakal. And she is one of the Great Ones I mentioned" he said.
I still had no clue why Shang Chi was so defensive towards her.
"Yes Shang Chi and I go way back" Karakal said.
"Karakal, you have five seconds to tell me what you want before I punch one of your lungs loose" he said.
"All right. I'll get straight to the point here. If you go to R'lyeh, you will die" Karakal said bluntly.
Shang Chi raised his eyebrow.
"How exactly?" he asked.
"Cthylla is guarded by a massive army of Deep Ones and Yuggya, who will slaughter you all the moment you enter. The landscape is dangerous. You must be careful to not wake up Cthulhu or his son Zoth-Ommog. And Dagon lurks close by" Karakal said.
"Well we have to at all costs" Morris pointed out with Nico nodding.
"Ah well, I can't help sheer stupidity. Well good luck on your mission then" Karakal said.
"Just like that? Why don't you come with?" Nico asked.
"Because I am a Great One. R'lyeh is beyond my jurisdiction. But I wish you good luck" Karakal said before vanishing.
Well I certainly hoped we could get out of this alive.
And Chapter 23 is done. I hope you all enjoyed it.
The woman in the dreams was Yelena Belova from the upcoming Black Widow film. Picture her being played by Florence Pugh just like in the movie. I am interested to see what her role in the film is going to be, as long as they don't mess it up with Batwoman level BS or something like that.
And yes, Tripp and Yelena will get married in the future. I am setting up a romance between the two here.
And yes they will get married after Crisis on Infinite Earths.
So the mission to R'lyeh is underway. I also hope you liked the cameo from Karakal.
Zoth-Ommog is another Great Old One. Also known as The Dweller in the Deep, he is Cthulhlu's son who was imprisoned with his father.
Next chapter will go back to Jason's team and will be the final one centred on him.
Until next time, review, follow, faviroute, stay tuned and tell me what you thought of this chapter.
Arrowverse Fan 217 Out.