So… I finally came back to the site after I pretty much forgot about it. I've decided to skip the retellings and write something original for a change (well, as original as it can be when the premise is old villains uniting). I was inspired by claireanela and her Super Mario Replay. Though this work will contain more original characters and locations.

Deep in the Underwhere, in one of the darkest, foulest corners, a great evil was held. A terrible evil by the name of Velz'ar bound into a mystical cell, enchanted with some of the strongest runes in existence and guarded by Jaydes' loyal D-Men. The cell was extremely durable, withstanding even the cataclysm that freed Bonechill, but over the millennia, it had weakened.

At last, the time that Jaydes and the D-Men feared had come. With a burst of dark energy, the cell had shattered and Velz'ar was free once again. He was in a very dark stone corridor with little defining features, other than the countless cells of other beings forced into their punishments. The great evil knew his work was far from done, however. He would need to gain strength again, and gain allies; allies that he could easily tempt and manipulate, but it would not be hard for him. After all, the most power-hungry and evil beings in existence were right there in cells next to him, waiting to claim the world they thought was rightfully theirs. His promises of power would be too enticing for them to resist.

"Code Black here, we have a Code Black! Get every reinforcement here immediately!". Of course, he had to fight off Jaydes' wretched D-Men first, but that was only a small inconvenience for a being of his power level. Velz'ar was at far from full power, being unable to even craft a concrete body for himself. All he had was his purple wispy form and a fraction of the abilities he could have with a proper body, but it would be more than enough.

He unleashed a wave of energy, causing the first wave of about twenty D-Men to scatter into dust. He knew Jaydes could restore them, but he would be long gone by then. Another group of D-Men, wielding mystical pitchforks and numbering about a hundred, emerged next. The guards unleashed orbs of reddish energy from their weapons, but Velz'ar summoned a barrier, which their attacks collided into harmlessly. He willed spikes to form on the barrier, causing some of the D-Men to gasp, before firing the spikes at blinding speeds. The spikes pierced through most of the D-Men. Some tried to block the attack with their pitchforks, but they put up no resistance.

Velz'ar would have loved to continue annihilating these fools, but he had little time before Jaydes found out what had happened, and he needed to gain as many allies as possible. He generated several arrows from dark energy, sending them different directions and destroying a dozen cell doors.

"No!" a D-Man yelled before he silenced it with a blast of energy. The great evil would have released more of the prisoners if he had more time, but knew Jaydes would appear any second, and as powerful as he was even without a body, he was not sure if he could take her on directly, at least for now.

"Prisoners of the Underwhere" Velz'ar finally spoke, with an unnatural voice that seemed pitched up and down at the same time and had a reverberating echo that seemed to come from everywhere, each echo around a quarter of a second after the previous one. The initial voice was calm, but each echo sounded progressively more like the cackling of a madman. "It is time for our chance at revenge! Join me, and I will grant you power beyond any you have ever known. You will be unstoppable, and the universe will be your playground. You will take revenge on those who wronged you, who sent you into this pit of despair, and all worlds will see your glorious visions!"

Velz'ar was sure the prisoners were hooked, but he didn't have time to check, as he could sense Jaydes' presence very near. So he gathered up all the strength he had left and wrapped each of the twelve open-celled prisoners with a tendril of darkness. He had not made out their features yet, but he knew they would be useful to him, otherwise they wouldn't be locked all the way down there. D-Men began firing bolts of energy at him, but they couldn't interrupt as he and the prisoners in his tendrils teleported out of the area, escaping the Underwhere's greatest prison.

For a moment, there was an uncomfortable silence. Then Jaydes appeared from thin air in the corridor, seconds too late to stop this menace.

"Queen Jaydes, it is too late" said one of the surviving D-Men. "We did all we could, but we underestimated Velz'ar's power."

Jaydes' expression was stern, but no more so than any other time. The queen would not show her personal emotions to the guards, especially at a time this critical. Even still, the D-Men knew she was upset, and did not want to be on the receiving end of her wrath.

"So," she asked calmly but firmly, "how many of the vile souls were released?"

"Oh, y-yes" the remaining D-Men scrambled to their feet, observing the cells. "A dozen, your highness." one of them squeaked. "That shouldn't be too bad, right?" he said, more to himself than to Jaydes

"Do not be foolish." the queen responded, which caused the D-Man to gulp in nervousness. "He will come back to gain more followers once he is stronger, and then he'll be a threat to all worlds."

"So, what do we do about the released souls?" another of her servants asked.

"Nothing." Jaydes responded matter-of-factly. "I sense he has already left this realm."

"My queen," one D-Man interrupted, attracting the attention of Jaydes' icy stare. The D-Man's knees nearly buckled just from her expression, never mind her vast power. "If this threat could just teleport out of the Underwhere, why can't you do the same to pursue him?" he said as his voice cracked multiple times.

"How long have you been a D-Man?" Jaydes asked, in a way that was not hostile but still would have given the D-Man a heart attack if he wasn't already dead.

"U-um, not long?" he stammered.

"Well then, I can forgive your blatant ignorance on account of your inexperience." Jaydes said. "For your information, I am forbidden by Divine Law from leaving the Underwhere and Overthere."

"So, will this monster just be allowed to roam free throughout all worlds?"

"Not quite." Jaydes expression softened a fraction of a degree. "Even though we cannot stop him now, there are many powerful gods and heroes in the other worlds. Velz'ar will have a difficult time taking them on, and in the meantime, I will personally guard this area to make sure he cannot recruit more of these vile beings." Multiple D-Men opened their mouths briefly, ready tell Jaydes that they could handle the prisoners on their own, but they stopped themselves, partly because they had just been shown that wasn't true, partly because they feared interrupting their queen.

"Do you think they will be enough, my queen?"

"We can only hope."

Alright, there's the first little chapter. Don't think this fic will just be dark and 100% serious the whole time though. I promise there will be plenty of humorous moments. Constructive criticism encouraged!