Chapter 15
A/N: Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome back to a brand new chapter in the story of the reality-hopping Doom Slayer! This chapter is actually quite an exclusive one, as it is my very first chapter that holds the title of a sequel to a previous chapter. I know that there are many requests for multiple universes for the Slayer to travel to, but this one was already in the works long before then. But don't you worry, I have received your requests for chapters, and am going to try my damnedest to give you the good stuff. With that out of the way, let's begin! Reminder that none of this is owned by me. None of it!
Pablo held tight to the girl in his arms as he rushed to get her to safety. All around him, gunfire mixed with the guttural screams of man and demon in an orchestra of desolation. A not-so-gentle chorus that signified the end of the world.
'This is it,' Pablo thought to himself as he reached the transport. This was the big finale. Kandar the Destroyer had been summoned by the Dark Ones. It was here to test the mettle of man, and so far, man was failing that test. Nothing the military was throwing at it barely made a scratch. In fact, all they were doing was making it angrier and more powerful.
Everything that had happened in Pablo's crazy, messed up life had been leading up to this. Ever since meeting Ash, the constant presence of demons, the evil dead, and talking puppets had definitely left Pablo with some serious issues. He had seen things that no mortal should ever have witnessed, done things that would earn him an afterlife of eternal damnation, and felt pain so excruciating that it made breaking a femur feel like a massage. And yet, if given the chance to do it all over, Pablo wouldn't have had it any other way.
Setting the girl down inside the vehicle, Pablo turned to see Ash, Kelly, and Brandy run up to him. He smiled and felt a touch of elation when he saw Kelly. After everything that had happened, the two of them were finally on a level that Pablo considered a relationship. All it had taken was for both of them to literally go to Hell and back. Pablo's only regret was that it was the absolute worst timing possible. Just when he had finally gotten himself out of the friendzone with her, the world decided to come to an end. The Ghost Beaters always had luck like that.
Kelly smiled back for a moment, but neither of them said anything as Pablo quickly helped usher Brandy into the transport while Kelly covered him. Pablo was about to usher Kelly in next when he heard soldiers shouting behind him:
"Sir! Strike group authorized! They're gonna nuke it!"
"Goddamn it! Not until we're clear! On our signal, you hear me?! On our signal!"
Not good.
"Jefe!"
Ash looked at Pablo, his game face dominating his features. When he made that face, he looked more like a hero than anyone Pablo had ever seen. An indomitable figure that ate Evil for breakfast. A true Jefe, straight out of the stories Pablo's uncle had told him regarding the heroes of old. If only they had a few more of those heroes right now.
"That won't kill it. It's only gonna make it stronger! Bigger!"
Ash nodded, then strode over to the sergeant.
"Hey chief! I wouldn't nuke that thing if I were you!" Ash said.
The sergeant had obviously dismissed Ash's opinion before he even finished his sentence.
"Get your ass in the transport! Or you're on your own, cowboy!" he said. Before Ash could say anything more, the sergeant turned on his heel and jogged away.
Pablo was about to call out when he heard Kelly's battle cry from his left. Ash had heard it too, and he caught Pablo's eye before pointing to the transport.
"Get in there! I'll get Kelly!"
Pablo nodded. That was another one of the things he had always appreciated about Ash. He had gone through so much shit that nothing really fazed him anymore. Every situation was taken in stride, with Ash always knowing what next to do, even if he actually didn't.
Pablo turned and climbed into the vehicle, Kelly quickly following behind as her and Ash returned.
"Dad, get in!" Brandy yelled, holding her hand out to help her father.
Ash took her hand in his, and at that moment, Kandar let out a blood-curdling roar that shook the world to its core. Pablo winced at the noise, but it was quickly forgotten as Pablo noticed a change come over Ash. He had stopped, his hand still in Brandy's, but his eyes looking at the three of them, as though he was coming to a realization.
Pablo stared back incredulously. It's like he was paralyzed. Pablo was about to ask Ash what the hell he was doing, but when Ash locked eyes with him, he understood. Neither of them said a word, but they had both come to the same conclusion. They knew what had to be done. The prophecy had foretold it long before any of them could have hoped to change it, and it stated that Kandar had come to test the mettle of man. And the champion it was to face: Ashley J. Williams.
Pablo almost missed it, but Ash nodded to him in understanding. There was no other way. What was foretold would come to pass, and there wasn't a soul on Earth that could change that.
Letting go of his daughter's hand, Ash reached deep inside his pocket, and pulled out a package. With a toss, Ash passed the bag to Pablo, who caught it in both hands. Pablo frowned in confusion as he stared down at the bag, uncertain of what it was he was actually looking at. It was a small Ziploc bag, and through the clear plastic, Pablo could see several burnt pieces of metal and a folded sheet of paper inside. Despite the weirdness of the contents, Pablo felt a twinge of familiarity at the small package he held in his hands.
His gaze traveled back upward at the sound of Ash closing the doors to the transport. The doors slammed shut with a boom, a sound that suddenly carried more weight for Pablo than he could have ever thought possible.
"NO!" Brandy screamed. She pounded on the door as Ash locked it from the outside. Pressing her face close to the window, Brandy shouted at her father.
"What are you doing?!" she cried hysterically.
Ash gazed at his daughter through the glass.
"My father always said I ran from my fights, Brandy," he said. His tone was firm and decisive. There were no quips to be made right now, not when their time had run out.
"I'm not running from this one."
Brandy said nothing, but frantically shook her head. Hopelessly trying to deny what her father was saying to her.
"Ash, come on! Get in the fucking truck!" Kelly said angrily from the seat across from Brandy. Her voice was angrier than Brandy's, but Pablo had known her for a long time now, and he knew all of her tells. He could see that Kelly was scared. Scared of being dead, scared of Kandar, and though she would never admit it, scared of losing Ash. Her eyes betrayed the same denial and fearfulness that Brandy's did. They had all just been reunited at long last, and now, Ash was about to leave them again.
"Kelly," Ash's voice was calm and level through the walls of the vehicle.
"People are gonna need a strong leader, someone they can depend on. Someone they can believe in."
Pablo saw the weight of realization fall on top of Kelly like a ton of bricks. She knew now that this was the last time she would ever speak to Ash.
"That's you."
Ash looked at Pablo.
"Pablo, you remember what I said? About only using the bag if you were in deep DEEP shit? Now's a good a time as any. The paper inside will tell you what to do."
Pablo's eyes widened as the truth dawned on him. He remembered their conversation in the Delta from what had seemed like ages ago. He nodded once to Ash, who nodded back in confirmation.
"You're the Jefe, now."
Pablo tried to hold back, but tears formed unbidden at the corners of his eyes. He tightened his mouth into a line to try and stem the flow.
Ash gestured to the others in the vehicle.
"You save them."
Pablo looked to the little girl that he had placed in the transport with them. Looking back at Ash, he nodded once more. A gesture that Ash again returned.
"You said you wouldn't leave me!" Brandy pleaded; Ash shook his head solemnly at his daughter's words.
"I'm doing this for you," he said, his voice hitching slightly. "I'm doing it for all of you."
Pablo could see it. Ash's walls were coming down. What he was saying now was coming from the heart and nowhere else.
"I gotta finally, for once, own up to who the hell I am."
Pablo heard the sergeant's voice in the distance.
"Come on! We're leaving, let's go!"
Brandy obviously heard it too, and Pablo could feel her desperation as she placed her hand on the glass that separated her from her father. Ash took in the sight of his daughter for one last time, then placed his hand on the glass too, right across from hers.
With a lurch, the convoy began moving, and Pablo watched as Ash started growing smaller and smaller as the distance increased. Ash watched them leave for a while, then he turned to face the sixty-foot-tall monster that was Kandar.
…
Ten minutes into the ride, and no one had said anything. Kelly had a deep scowl on her face, and if Pablo knew her, which he did, he knew that she was growing more and more frustrated with the fact that she couldn't punch, kick, or shoot her way out of this one. This was no one's fault, and there was nothing she could do.
Brandy was still looking out the window, trying to catch a glimpse of her father over the horizon. They had ridden for a while now, and they couldn't even see Kandar the Destroyer from where they were now.
Pablo stared down at the package in his hands. The small pieces of burnt metal looked like they used to be a part of a mechanism at some point, but they were too mangled and singed to make anything out of it. The piece of paper folded up inside didn't look like anything extraordinary, looking to be nothing more than standard notebook paper. Pablo carefully popped open the Ziploc bag and pulled the paper out, careful not to spill or lose any of the metal fragments inside. After resealing the bag, Pablo carefully unfolded the paper.
A quick glance to his left showed that Kelly was watching him, so he slid over so that she could see it too. Pablo hoped the distraction would help her calm down a bit more, but he didn't have too high of hopes on improving her mood.
After finally unfolding the note, Pablo recognized Ash's untidy handwriting on the page. Pablo read it quietly. Mumbling so that only Kelly could hear him:
Well, future Ash! If you are reading this, that means that shit has really hit the fan huh? I mean, let's face it, this is a huge trump card you're holding here. As in, this card is so trumpy that it literally flips the table over and shoots the other player. So, while this may be your big 'get out of jail free' pass, keep in mind that he's probably not going to be happy about this. So, in case you'd forgotten, because honestly, I have no idea how old you are or if you're even in the present, here's how to do the incantation. Step one: throw the grenade fragments on the ground in front of you. Step two: Say the words: SISITSU INA QITRUB TAHAZI. Make sure you say them right! We wouldn't want that kind of fiasco again. Step three: Kick ass. Step four: apologize profusely. And that's it! Good luck!
Pablo frowned, questions already jumping into his mind. He glanced at Kelly, who had a similar confused look on her face. Pablo recognized the Sumerian words. They roughly translated to: "summon the onslaught". Pablo supposed that whatever the incantation did was not kind to evil, but on the other hand, you still had to speak the language of evil to summon it.
"Apologize profusely?" Kelly asked. "When the fuck does Ash-?"
Kelly's sentence was immediately cut short as the convoy ground to a halt. All at once, Pablo heard shouting and gunfire start up outside the vehicle, but he couldn't see anything out of the window.
"What the hell?" Brandy said aloud. She tried looking through the window at all angles but couldn't see anything. The gunfire then abruptly died, casting an ominous silence throughout the air. Pablo could hear his heartbeat in his ears, and cautiously, he looked out the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of what was happening outside.
The silence was shattered instantly as a Deadite appeared, screaming and pressing its face into the glass.
"Well, well, well! Talk about fish in a barrel!" the Deadite cackled, pounding on the glass. The glass was strong, but the Deadite was stronger, and the glass began to crack as the Deadite continued to pound.
"Oh shit! Everybody back!" Kelly yelled, aiming her rifle as she did so. In the next moment, the deafening noise of automatic rifle fire blasted Pablo's eardrums as Kelly opened fire through the back window of the vehicle. The cracked glass shattered, and the Deadite convulsed as the rounds tore through its cranium. Kelly continued firing until the Deadite fell backward and out of sight. What Pablo saw next through the window made his blood run cold.
What he saw were more Deadites than he had ever seen. There were hundreds, maybe even a thousand. It seemed like the entire population of Elk Grove had been possessed, and they were all converging on convoy. Fast.
"Oh fuck!" Brandy screamed. "What are we gonna do?"
"I don't got nearly enough ammo to take care of these things!" Kelly yelled, reloading her rifle.
Pablo stared at the approaching horde, then at Kelly and Brandy, then finally down at the package in his hands. He contemplated it for a moment, remembering what Ash had said to him.
'Pablo, you remember what I said? About only using the bag if you were in deep DEEP shit? Now's a good a time as any.'
"Everybody, stay back!" Pablo yelled as he climbed past Kelly to the shattered window.
"Wait, Pablo! What are you doing?" Kelly yelled. Pablo answered her by taking the bag of metal and tossing it out the window at the encroaching horde outside. Still holding onto the paper, Pablo pushed Kelly and Brandy behind him. Just in time too, as the first of the Deadites reached the vehicle and tried to grab at him through the window. Stumbling back and fumbling with the paper a bit, Pablo took one last glance at the growling Deadites, then looked at the words on the paper.
"SISITSU INA QITRUB TAHAZI!"
A bright red light exploded into Pablo's vision, and he grunted and screwed his eyes shut in response. The light persisted, and Pablo could hear what he thought was thunder over the yells and cries of the Deadites outside the vehicle. Suddenly, the thunder faded, but the noise level only began to increase as numerous Deadites began to scream in agony from outside. The red light faded, and Pablo waited for his eyes to adjust. When his vision cleared, Pablo looked out the window again.
The scene before him left him in shock and awe, as he saw a lone figure in the dark of the night. A figure which was currently carving through Deadites with brutality the likes of which Pablo had never seen. Armed with a pump-action shotgun, the figure would alternate between using its weapon and its fists to maul the ranks of the horde. It was difficult to make out any details of the figure in the fading light, but Pablo could see that it was wearing some kind of armor that bulked out its already imposing frame.
As surprised as Pablo was, he had to admit that he had no idea what to expect after he chanted the incantation. For all he knew, it could've opened a portal to the ocean and flooded everything within its vicinity. But as Pablo watched the figure continue to massacre the Deadites outside, he decided that this was much better.
Glancing back down at the paper in his hands, Pablo saw that there had been a post script written in afterthought at the bottom of the page.
P.S. Say hello to Metal Guy for me!
"Metal Guy?" Pablo asked aloud. Kelly came up beside him.
"Metal Guy?" she repeated quizzically, glancing back at the figure with a mix of admiration and awe.
"It just says 'say hello to Metal Guy' at the bottom here. I guess that's probably who that is."
Kelly shrugged.
"Works for me," she said as she reached through the shattered window of the vehicle and opened it from the outside.
"Wait, what are you doing?" Brandy asked, frowning as Kelly stepped outside with her rifle.
"I need to shoot something or I'm going to lose my fucking mind, and until this 'Metal Guy' clears out the Deadites, we aren't going anywhere. So, we might as well help him along."
Pablo found himself agreeing wholeheartedly with Kelly. Ash wouldn't sit around and wait for someone else to save him, so neither would Pablo. Grabbing an extra rifle from inside the transport, Pablo offered it to Brandy.
"Are you coming with us?"
Brandy looked at the weapon for less than a moment before snatching it from Pablo's grasp.
"Fuck yeah."
Pablo nodded and grabbed another rifle and told the others to stay and wait for them to return. The little girl said nothing, but she nodded her head in response. Pablo gave her a high five, then jumped out of the transport and readied his weapon.
Looking ahead, Pablo saw that the Deadites had completely forgotten about them and were now attempting to swarm the Metal Guy, who appeared to be having little to no issues dealing with the horde, but he could only kill so many Deadites at once, and Pablo knew that the Ghost Beaters could lend a hand with that.
"Let's go!" Kelly shouted, raising her rifle and firing into the crowd of Deadites. That was all the encouragement Pablo and Brandy needed, and soon the three of them were mowing down Deadites with their rifles. Meanwhile, Metal Guy continued his onslaught with his shotgun.
Over the course of the next few minutes, the four Deadite killers fell into a rhythm of slaughter. Each finding their own pace as they tore through the incarnations of evil. Metal Guy seemed to notice that Pablo, Kelly, and Brandy were trying to help, and would remain relatively close by as the tide of Deadites continued to surge toward them. When the Deadites got close enough, the three of them were forced to use their fists as well as the butts of their rifles to dispatch of the former humans. Despite their flawless teamwork, Pablo noticed that the rate at which each of them were disposing of Deadites was far from the rate that Metal Guy was running at. Even with their combined kill count, the three of them couldn't hope to compare with how many Deadites Metal Guy was ripping through.
As if to emphasize the point, every time Pablo thought the three of them were about to be overwhelmed, the metal masochist would momentarily pull out a rocket launcher and fire it into the crowd of Deadites, which earned Pablo and the girls a bit of breathing room every time.
As Pablo shot down another Deadite, he tried to use his Brujo Especial abilities to see what kind of creature this was that they had summoned. Was it some kind of neutral demon? A familiar? A weird puppet-thing? As Pablo looked at it under a Brujo's eye, he saw some kind of energy pulsing from Metal Guy in droves. The energy itself was an enigma to Pablo, as it didn't appear to be demonic or mortal in origin. As hard as Pablo tried, he couldn't get a reading on this thing at all. What he did know, however, is that whatever this thing was, he was a force of nature. In addition to the slaughter show he was putting on, Pablo could also feel a sense of incorruptibility emanating from Metal Guy's entire being. He was a hurricane of destruction, and anything evil that stood in his way was promptly obliterated.
Sooner than Pablo thought possible, there were no Deadites left within the area. At least, none alive. Instead, there were now piles upon piles of corpses and severed limbs. Pablo took a deep breath as relative silence finally returned.
'Man,' Pablo thought. 'Imagine if Ash could see this…'
"Oh man! Ash!" Pablo said aloud, drawing the attention of Kelly, Brandy, and Metal Guy.
Pablo ran over to their armored savior, who had just then been stomping on the heads of a few of the corpses.
"Look…uh…Metal Guy? I'm Pablo and this is Kelly and Brandy."
"Sup," Kelly said with a nod of her head.
Metal Guy said nothing, but wordlessly spared them all a glance before looking back at Pablo.
"Ok look, Kandar the Destroyer is back in Elk Grove." Pablo pointed for emphasis. "And Ash stayed behind to fight it. Against that thing, only Ash stood a chance, but now I think you can help him."
Metal Guy nodded once. He seemed to recognize Ash's name and seemed willing to help.
"I know we are supposed to thank you and stuff like that, but they're gonna nuke the entire area to try and destroy Kandar. We know that's not going to work, so our only chance is for you to help Ash destroy it before they drop the bomb. None of us will make it very far if they do.
Metal Guy nodded once more, then pointed to the convoy, indicating that he wanted them to get up and go. It was an idea that Pablo could definitely get behind.
"Thank you," Pablo said as the three Ghost Beaters ran back to the truck.
Metal Guy nodded once more, then turned and sprinted in the direction of town with a speed matched only by a formula car.
"Do you think he can save him?" Brandy asked hopefully as she climbed into the passenger's seat of their truck.
Pablo climbed in after Kelly and took his position at the wheel. He started the engine.
"From what we just saw, I'm pretty sure that if he can't, no one can."
…
The Doom Slayer ran full-tilt as Kandar the Destroyer came into view. It was large, but larger demons had fallen before him before, and this one would be no exception. As the Slayer closed in on his prey, he saw that the massive monster was currently inspecting something that it had grasped in its left hand.
It was an assault tank.
Just as the Doom Slayer reached for his weapon, the tank came alive as it fired its main cannon. The projectile penetrated both the lower jaw and chest of the Kandarian Demon, and the beast shrieked in pain and stumbled, dropping the tank to the ground as blood began to surge from its wounded areas. The Doom Slayer stopped short and observed the scene as Kandar fell down onto its knees. There was movement from the top of the tank, and the Doom Slayer turned to see none other than Ash Williams himself poke his upper half out from the top of the turret.
But something was wrong. Kandar was dying, to be certain, but as it began to fall to the ground, the Slayer saw that its corpse would land right on top of the tank. The tank that Ash was currently occupying.
In a flash, the Doom Slayer was running at top speed again. Ash had seemingly realized the danger he was in as well, and quickly ducked back into the armored metal hull for cover. Kandar roared one last time before falling to the ground. The tank was crushed underneath.
But the Doom Slayer did not believe it so. Finally reaching the demon's corpse, he immediately pulled out his chainsaw and began sawing through the now dead demon flesh. Blood and organs spewed forth as the Slayer cut his way further into the body, but he hardly noticed the gore that he himself had grown so comfortable around. After a minute of sawing, the Slayer reached the tank. After sawing out some room to work, the slayer faced the thick steel armor that blocked his access to its interior. Drawing his hand back into a tightly-balled fist, the Slayer plunged an armored hand deep into the outer armor of the tank. When he withdrew his fist, there was now a small hole in the side of the armor. Gripping both sides of the hole, the Doom Slayer pulled his hands apart. There was a great shrieking of metal as the armor yielded to the Slayer's strength, causing the hole to grow wider and wider as he slowly tore through the metal. At last, the Slayer made a hole large enough to fit through, and he wasted no seconds in going inside to retrieve Ash.
Inside, he found Ash barely conscious, but uninjured. The man had aged quite a bit since the last time the Slayer had seen him, yet he only recalled it being no more than a few days since they had last met. No matter.
Grasping Ash firmly by his collar, the Slayer dragged him out of the tank and away from the Kandarian corpse. Ash was barely lucid, but he recognized the Slayer in his half-conscious state.
"Meh-Metal Guy…that you?"
The Slayer continued dragging Ash away from the danger but turned his head and nodded.
"Kick ass…I figurd Pablo wuh…woulda brought you here…"
The Slayer said nothing.
Ash chuckled. "Still the same ol' silent type eh? Leas…Least I know it's really you now. But if I'm being honest, I am slipping a little bit…wake me up tomorrow morning."
Ash then fell unconscious. The Doom Slayer immediately stopped and checked the man's vitals.
"You there! Step away from the Chosen One!"
The Doom Slayer turned to the direction of the voice. Approaching him were four individuals, each armed with rifles, and each one trained on the Slayer. The Slayer immediately stood up. His P.K.E scanner confirmed that they were all human.
"We are the Knights of Sumeria, enemy of evil, and follower of the Chosen One. We do not know who you are, but we can see that you are an ally of Ashley Williams," one of the Knights said.
In the Slayer's experience, never before had he seen knights dress so casually.
"The threat of Kandar and the Deadites have passed, but the Chosen One is in need of medical attention," the Knight continued. "We have medical supplies and can tend to him."
The Slayer examined them for a moment, then determined their intentions to be truthful. He stepped away from Ash, allowing them to step to his aid.
The one that had spoken remained behind. She stepped up to the Slayer. Her face betrayed no fear, and the Slayer assumed her to be their leader.
"I know who you are. You are the Doom Slayer, are you not?" she asked, her voice low so that the other Knights could not hear.
The Slayer nodded once.
"Your name rings in prophecy as well as that of Ash Williams. You are also present in the texts that we have uncovered. You are a worthy ally to our cause against the Dark Ones, but I know there exists turmoil in your own world."
The Slayer said nothing.
"I warn you, the prophecies speak of a great threat in your world. One far beyond anything the Dark Ones may present. If it is not stopped, many worlds, including our own, may be placed at risk. You must return there; they need you now more than ever."
The Slayer looked at her. Then turned to Ash.
"You need not worry about him. The Knights of Sumeria are strong, and we will always aid him on his quest against the Dark Ones. Of this, you have my word."
The Slayer searched her face for any tells of falsehood. Seeing none, he nodded once more and stepped back. Giving her a thumbs up, the Doom Slayer activated the tether and disappeared with a bang and a flash of bright blue light.
A/N: Alright! There is another one for y'all. I sincerely hope you enjoyed, and please do remember to drop a review to call me out on my work. I'm really interested to see what everyone has to say about the dynamic of sequel chapters in the story as opposed to having the Slayer just jump to a new universe every time. Let me know! I'll see you all next time.
-ImpulsiveWeaver