Review Responses:

Pt35 - The character's won't be getting too terribly injured for now, the stakes aren't that high at the moment, though I plan to gradually ramp things up going into the future. Also, this episode's taking a pretty crazy shift in this chapter, you'll see what I mean.

Fourth wall repairman - I've tried to tie this in with the series pretty well, exploring various parts of its world while also expanding the series' world beyond the books. This expansion will likely become pretty extreme in the future, as the story starts to become its own thing. One of my goals for this isn't to just tell a story in the WoF world, but to construct an entirely knew world around it. I've always imagined this story as a TV show, but realistically it will never happen. Even my slightly more realistic dream of it becoming an official manga spinoff series is totally unrealistic. Honestly though, the best I can do is make this story the best it can be, and hope that its quality and crazy premise get it popular enough to warrant some attention. Also, sorry I forgot to reply to your first review! Not sure what "pjo" is, but feel free to write your own multiverse fic. I've actually come up with a theoretical explanation that would allow multiple WoF multiverse fics to coexist in the same canon without interfering with one another.

aRandomSunwing - I left a review on your story. Hope I can be of some help!

Meteor WoF fan - Glad you liked it!


Chapter 41: The Cure


Claws of the Clouds Mountains

Early Afternoon

The smell of burning flesh filled the air, as Maple and Lin helped the scarred Ricky toss the last of the twitching corpses into burning piles. Luna was crouched down, leaning against the side of the shuttle's lowered ramp, Hidden at her side eyeing her injured leg warrily. Their Ricky was standing off to the side, trying not to look at the smoldering corpses, while simultaneously finding himself unable to peel his eyes off of his eyepatched counterpart.

"This is gonna be a pain to clean off…." Maple lamented through the Reggie-tron's speakers, attempting to wipe off some of the blood from the mecha's metal legs, to no avail.

"I think we'll all need a nice long shower after this." Hidden replied, eyeing his sticky, pine needle covered tail.

Luna stared down at her own blood-stained talons, and winced, the pain in her leg flaring up. She felt herself starting to uncontrollably shiver, despite her whole body feeling unusually hot.

"Let me guess, one of 'em bit you?" Hidden asked, noticing her heavily breathing as she tried to push through the pain. Luna meekly nodded.

"Just a little…." she groaned, barely able to muster enough energy to reply.

The SandWing sighed, watching as the other Ricky stepped over to her. The SkyWing kneeled down, Luna shifting over so he could examine her leg. He carefully unraveled the bandages, Luna wincing as her wound was exposed to the open air.

"So, she's been infected with whatever this zombie virus is?" Hidden asked.

The other Ricky solemnly nodded, wrapping the bandages back around Luna's leg and rising to his feet. "From the looks of it, she's got about a day or so before the Othermind takes her."

"The Othermind…?" Luna grunted, leaning back against the side of the shuttle's ramp. "Talk about a messed up timeline…."

"So you're from another world too, aren't you?" the other Ricky asked, garnering surprised looks from the two of them. "Figured as much, what with this big thing here, and that metal dragon you're traveling with."

"Wh...wait. Has someone else already been here...?" Luna wheezed, "I thought this was a non-interference timeline…."

"Not sure what you're talkin' about, but yeah, someone else did come through not too long ago." the other Ricky replied.

"Guess that explains why he wasn't so shocked to see us." Hidden muttered, as Lin and Maple finished with the last of the bodies, striding over to the shuttle, with their Ricky joining soon after.

"So, will we be heading back then?" Lin asked, starting up the shuttle's ramp. "This timeline is obviously too hostile to set down in, and Luna's in no shape to keep moving forward."

"No...too risky…." Luna wheezed, "This virus, it's probably...too unpredictable between timelines…*huff*...like magic…."

"Well there's gotta be some kind of cure for it...right, uh...Ricky?" Hidden asked.

The other Ricky paused for a moment, thinking. "That other traveler I told you about, he set up a city. There's a cure there." he explained, "Though it's well over a day's flight away."

Hidden grinned, turning to his brother, who nodded, hopping over into the shuttle's cockpit. Lin stepped down off of the ramp, she and Hidden helping Luna up as the group stepped away from the shuttle, their Ricky briefly igniting its bottom thrusters to lift it into the air for a moment before setting it back down on the ground.

"I think we can make it." Hidden said.

The other Ricky stared at the shuttle in amazement, slowly stepping over to its rear ramp. "How fast can this thing go?" he asked, looking back, a half grin on his face.

"Pretty fast." Hidden replied. He stepped over past the other Ricky, making his way to the other side of the cockpit. "We never really got around to testing it, but I'm sure it could easily make the trip."

"This shuttle can fly across half the continent in an hour!" Ricky shouted, sticking his head out of the cockpit. "I think…."

The other Ricky donned an excited grin upon hearing this, walking up into the shuttle and sticking his head into the cockpit. Lin helped Luna over to the ramp, Maple stepping up with the Reggie-tron to support her other side, the trio entering the shuttle as the ramp closed up behind them.

"So, care to point us in the direction of this cure city?" Hidden asked.

The other Ricky nodded. "Only if you show me what this thing can do!"

Hidden grinned, and their Ricky grabbed the control wheel, flicking a few levers to activate the shuttle's bottom thrusters. The craft rumbled, slowly rising into the air, when a half-rotted SkyWing leapt down from the treetops, landing right on the shuttle's windshield.

"Aw, gross!" Hidden groaned, "Does this thing have any windshield wipers or what?"

His brother shrugged, trying to look away from the growling zombie trying to claw through the glass. "I-It should slide off as we fly away…." he nervously suggested.

The shuttle lifted up through the treetops, the undead SkyWing smearing the windshield as it slowly slid off. The vast surrounding mountains came into view as the shuttle cleared the trees, though Luna couldn't see most of it from her spot lying against the wall.
"Kinda like Twice Dead, isn't it?" Hidden asked, staring out at the landscape spread out before him.

"Come on, you know I didn't like that movie!" Ricky replied, "And besides, I don't remember them having a spaceship in it…."

"Yeah...talk about an unfair advantage, huh?" Hidden said, scratching the frills on the back of his head. "Anyhoo, where to Ricky two?"

The other Ricky paused to look at Hidden for a moment, before pointing out through the windshield. "We'll want to go southwest from here. Over the desert."

Their Ricky nodded, and pushed forward on the steering wheel, the shuttle rocketing ahead. The other Ricky had to brace himself against the doorway of the cockpit for a moment, watching the world fly by with an excited grin plastered on his face.

Luna shifted, trying her best to control her shivering. Her condition certainly hadn't gotten any better, and she was starting to feel a slight tingling in her claws. She still hadn't decided what was worse, turning into a mind-controlled drone, or a dragon-eating rage zombie.

"Three moons, there's no end to them!" Hidden exclaimed, staring out of the windshield at the world below. "How many zombies are there out there?!"

The other Ricky shrugged. "Recently it seems that for every one of the buggers you burn, two more pop up in its place."

The scarred SkyWing turned to his counterpart, staring at him for a moment. "So, you're supposed to be me from another world, are ya?" he finally asked.

"Y-Yeah…?" their Ricky nervously replied, turning away from the controls as he switched on the autopilot.

There was a brief pause, Luna wondering what the other Ricky was gonna do, when the eyepatched dragon finally spoke up.

"You...think you could show me how you pilot this thing?" he asked, nodding to the control panel in front of them. Their Ricky stared at the other Ricky for a moment, not sure how to respond, his brother giving him an encouraging grin.

"A-Alright…." he replied, turning back to the controls. "Well, you see, this here is the steering wheel, though, it's not much of a wheel really…."

Luna laid her head on the floor of the shuttle, taking deep breaths as pain throbbed throughout her body. Soon enough they'd arrive at their destination, wherever that was. She was pretty curious as to who this previous timeline traveler was, though she didn't have the energy to ask the other Ricky, and he seemed preoccupied at the moment anyway. She'd likely find out soon enough.

Knowing the multiverse, it could be anybody.

It was a little more than an hour before the shuttle began its descent, though it felt like five for Luna. She let out a long sigh of relief when the shuttle slightly jerked, its landing gear crunching down on the ground below. Ricky was still explaining the shuttle's controls to the other Ricky, the two so deeply engrossed in their conversation, Luna wondered if they even realized that they'd landed. Hidden sat beside them, silently messing with his twin-screened gaming device.

Lin got up and pulled the lever on the back wall, lowering the shuttle's ramp, as Maple helped Luna to her feet. The trio made their way down the shuttle's ramp, Luna gazing about groggily at the surrounding terrain, her peripheral vision having slightly blurred over the course of the trip.

The ground was brown and rocky, with sparse plant life scattered about. Small patches of grass dotted the terrain, spread between clusters of dark-leaved trees and rough crags. The sun shone bright directly overhead, casting a blinding glare on Luna's vision.

"Wha...hey! We're in the...the old Night Kingdom…." Luna yawned, recognizing the terrain in the back of her mind. "Why're we here…?"

"Does she seem a bit...off...to you?" Maple asked.

Lin sighed. "It's probably the virus messing with her head."

"Hey! Who're you callin' off…." Luna replied.

She tried to shake off Lin and Maple, teetering forward a few paces before nearly falling to the ground, the two quickly grabbing her again before she hit the ground. The world spun about her, completely throwing off her balance.

As she struggled to regain focus, the Othermind slowly filling her head with a thick mental fog, her eyes fell upon a massive structure in the distance. She squinted, realizing that it wasn't one structure, but numerous smaller ones, clustered together on a wide, flat plateau at the center of a massive circular ravine.

Even in her off-kilter state, Luna could clearly tell that there was nothing normal about the city. The light grey stone buildings were so pristine and polished, they practically glowed in the sunlight. The vast circular chasm surrounding the city formed a near perfect circle, its sides eerily smooth. At the center of the city stood a massive stone tower, twisting spirals of granite and marble seemingly having grown up from the ground towards the sky. The top of it seemed to be emitting some sort of semi-translucent shield, draping over the city like a massive umbrella.

Luna felt a sick feeling start bubbling up in her stomach, though she wasn't sure if it was from the city, or the Othermind slowly clawing through her.

"That's some pretty impressive stuff right there. Ya mind if I give this thing a spin sometime?" the other Ricky asked, hopping out of the side door of the shuttle's cockpit behind their Ricky.

"Uh, I guess...if that'd make you happy."

The other Ricky grinned, abruptly wrapping a foreleg around their Ricky's neck. "Thank's Rick! You're real cool, you know that? Don't let anyone tell you otherwise!" he said, pointing a talon at their Ricky, who sheepishly grinned in response.

Hidden stepped around from the other side of the cockpit, staring out at the domed city in the distance. "So that's the city with the cure?" he asked, turning to the two Rickys. The eyepatched SkyWing nodded, and Hidden turned his focus toward a wide stone bridge crossing the chasm, setting off towards it without a second thought.

"Come on guys! We don't have all day!" he shouted back, already halfway to the bridge.

"Technically, we do." Maple quietly replied, she and Lin helping Luna forward after the SandWing.

The three of them soon made it to the bridge, Hidden waiting for them between two towering stone statues of NightWings in regal poses. The SandWing briefly looked over the edge of the bridge, immediately recoiling as he pinched his snout.

"It's like a sea of corpses down there!" he shouted, as Luna heard talon steps approaching them from behind. She slowly turned her head to see the two Rickys stepping up to the bridge, the eyepatched one staring at the forcefield warrily.

"Is there something you need to tell us?" Lin asked the other Ricky, noticing his troubled stare.

"Well uh, ya see, that forcefield there kills the Othermind...but uh...well it's a one way trip." the other Ricky explained.

"And you couldn't have told us this earlier?"

The other Ricky chuckled, casting a sideways glance back at the shuttle. "It...kinda slipped my mind…."

Lin sighed, Hidden turning to the city, and then back to the group. "We don't have much of a choice, we don't want Luna turning into a mindless zombie after all." he stated.

"That'd be...preferable…." Luna grunted, a wave of fatigue washing over her.

"So, what's the plan then?" Maple asked, leaning the Reggie-tron against the low wall that ran along the side of the bridge.

Hidden thought for a moment, turning to the other Ricky. "I'm guessing you don't want to go in there with us, do you?" he asked.

"My place is out here." the other Ricky replied, "I ain't afraid of no plant."

"Alright then!" Hidden said, slapping his foretalons together. "In that case, the two Rickys can stay back at the shuttle, while the rest of us head into the city to cure Luna. We don't know what we're getting into here, so we'll need all claws on deck."

"I'd say it's nothing good." Lin stated, "Considering we're entering what is supposedly an inescapable city."

"We'll see about that…." Hidden said with an excited grin. He turned back to the two Rickys, stepping over to bump wings with his brother.

"You two gonna be alright out there?" he asked.

"Don't you worry 'bout us!" the other Ricky replied enthusiastically, wrapping a foreleg around their Ricky. "I can handle those walkers. Plus, we've got that crazy rainbow canon thing, don't we?"

"You mean the dubstep canon?" their Ricky wheezed under the other Ricky's strong grasp.

"Yeah, that! Anyhow, you and your friends stay safe in there, okay brother!" the other Ricky continued.

"Brother…?" Hidden asked.

The other Ricky grinned. "Any brother of this guy is a brother of mine!" he said, letting go of their Ricky and turning back towards the shuttle. Their Ricky briefly paused to catch his breath, and gave one last wave to Hidden, before heading off after his scarred counterpart.

"Oh, and say hi to Krill for me!" the other Ricky shouted, as Lin and Maple started dragging Luna towards the forcefield. The SilkWing had grown so exhausted that she couldn't stand up on her own, her symptoms escalating so quickly, she wondered if the time limit was really as long as the other Ricky had said it was.

"Almost there Luna, just a little bit further…." Lin muttered, casting a worried glance down at the SilkWing.

Luna could hardly keep her eyes open as her head pushed through the barrier, a cool wave of relief spreading across her body. The fog filling her mind began to clear, the blurriness of her peripheral vision subsiding as her energy started to come back a bit. She still felt exhausted, though, and her leg still hurt like crazy.

"You alright Luna?" Maple asked, as the SilkWing pulled out of her and Lin's grasp, struggling to stand on her own four legs.

"Y-Yeah, I think so…." she replied, slowly regaining her balance as she turned around to face the group.

Hidden turned back to the forcefield, tapping one of his foretalons against the inside of it, sending light ripples across its surface. "Seems pretty solid, that other Ricky wasn't lying." he said disappointedly.

"Well, perhaps the one who built this city is still here?" Lin asked, turning to stare down the straight road leading deeper into the city, "If so, then we might be able to ask them to let us out."

"Here's hoping." Hidden replied, already setting off down the street. Maple followed after him, Lin turning to Luna and silently offering to help her along. The SilkWing shook her head, slowly walking along behind the EarthWing as the aftereffects of the infection gradually dwindled away.

The city was quite impressive, Luna had to admit. The streets were incredibly clean, the stones paving them looking freshly cut. The buildings were even more dazzling up close, tiny quartz crystals mixed in the bricks reflecting the sunlight in a dazzling display. Dragons off all the common species (with the not-so-surprising exclusion of HiveWings) milled about here and there, casting the newcomers curious glances, but otherwise leaving them alone.

"Hey, Hidden? Something wrong?" Luna asked, noticing the SandWing carefully examining the townsfolk they passed by, and attracting a few confused stares in return.

"Uh, nothing, I think…." he replied, "Something doesn't seem quite right about this place, but nobody's acting especially weird or anything."

"I'm surprised you haven't noticed the IceWing guards all over the place." Lin commented. Luna glanced around, and sure enough, every single IceWing she saw was standing at attention, adorned in a set of shiny silver armor.

The group eventually arrived at a wide circular road, wrapping around the fortress that stood at the base of the tower. Luna could see IceWings all about the massive structure, guarding heavy metal doorways and standing atop wide watchtowers. Something about the way they stood so stoically, as if their job was all that mattered in the world, really rubbed Luna the wrong way.

"Well, we meet again!" a voice boomed, the sound of heavy wingbeats echoing from overhead.

Luna froze, instantly recognizing whose voice it was. The group slowly looked up to see a massive black dragon descending from the top of the central tower, his sweeping star-speckled wings blocking out the sun and casting a dark shadow over the group.

The black dragon landed in front of them with a resounding thud, the ground rumbling beneath him. Nearby townsfolk began to gather, watching curiously at a distance. The NightWing grinned, a twisting silver crown atop his head, and six teardrop scales running from the back of each of his eyes across the sides of his face.

Thanks multiverse…. Luna thought, her talons clenching into fists. Of all the dragons, it just HAD to be another Darkstalker!


AN:

So yeah, bet you weren't expecting him to come back in this episode.

I'd say this is a pretty solid chapter, though as usual, I'm sure my writing could still use a lot of improvement. Hopefully you guys liked Apocalypse Ricky!

What will the team do now that this Darkstalker is back? Will they be able to escape his inescapable city? Stay tuned!