Cory's journey had begun. He waved goodbye to the president from the window of his bus ship, even though he knew the president wasn't watching. Cory didn't blame him, with great power comes commitment or something profound such as that. The sun was nearly down as the bus took off, flying in the direction of the south toward Florida.
"Master Cory, why not just go straight to the Alamo, that is your destination, correct?" Espio asked.
"Yes, but I need allies in order to defeat the Aztecs, we will need to travel from Florida to Texas along the coastline in order to meet the many people who wish to help me!"
Cory starred out the window as the landscape below him zipped by. He knew the south was populated with many people who wanted to help him. Those many people could help him in his quest. Many people from the south were fans of him, most likely. Cory knew if he looked hard enough, he would find those many people. Actually, he hoped they would find him.
Florida was their first stop. The warm air would rejuvenate Cory's power level and possibly bring him back to full power. Cory had changed back to normal since his encounter with the darkness. Though he still carried the scar he had gotten from his encounter on the moon base, it was less intense. His hair was still long, as stated before, but now it was brought together with the bandana of power he wore now. The prophecy, it seemed, was coming true.
The fedora he once wore is actually an astral artifact forged by Kek himself. He gifted it to the Japanese, but at that time it was a samurai helmet. The fedora, it seems, does not have an original form. It is made from the same power of the chaos emeralds, and seeing the power of those, it is no surprise that the fedora has infinite forms. It has changed many times throughout history in order to compensate to its owner. As stated previously, it was first discovered in the form of a samurai helmet. Later, it was fashioned again into a World War II era hat and was worn by the Hideki Tojo, the leader of the Japanese. After it was locked away within the confines of the monastery, it slowly morphed into the fedora, as many followers of Japan wore them. Now it sits upon Cory's head as a bandana, a universal symbol of power.
"Would you like to hear some tunes, master Cory?"
"Yes, put on Jpop."
Japanese flooded the bus as the music of a lost people played over the radio. Jpop was, of course, produced within the United States by the government. Cory sang along in Japanese, though he barely knew the words so he basically just mumbled along with the music.
As the bus neared Florida, Cory remembered why no one lived in Florida: the vampire clan. Though they weren't actual vampires, they labeled themselves after that since they drank blood. Florida had been abandoned when the vampire clan began stealing cattle and killing them for their blood. Many of the vampire clan members had aids, but that's besides the point. The entire state had been covered by a force field that prevented anyone from entering or exiting, essentially cutting off communication with the clan.
Espio landed the bus just outside the barrier. No one was around. They were all alone in the middle of abandoned homes. Since the clan was nearby, no one wanted to live in these homes, thus they were now vacant. Cory got out and looked toward the top of the force field, the sun reflecting off of the blue glow it emitted. There was no way around it, and no way to get inside.
Suddenly, a figure wearing a robe walked up behind Cory. Cory fell over and drew his katana, ready for a battle with the disguised stranger. He raised his large arms, moving them slowly toward his hood. The man seemed to be overweight, and breathing heavily. Or maybe it was muscle? He pulled down his hood, revealing his true identity: Alex Jones.
The TV star spoke with a deep, raspy voice, "Hey kid, you're the one who killed the internet, right?"
Cory nodded, calming down as he was in the presence of a superhero.
Alex nodded and walked closer, "Good job, the elites were using it to mind control the civilians to pay more taxes," he looked up at the force field, "I've been out here ever since, killing vampires and fighting the good fight."
Cory gasped, "You know how to get in?"
"Yes, of course, kid. Want to help me liberate Florida?"
Cory didn't need to answer. Alex bolted off, walking at an incredible speed for someone his size. Cory ran behind him with his hands behind his back, using the aerodynamic form to project himself forward at a similar speed to Alex himself.
They approached a bunker door, it appeared to be made out of metal of some sort.
"The elite overlords use this tunnel to bring vampires they find outside into Florida. Their reptilian skin protects them from the AIDs all vampires have."
Cory nodded as he helped Alex open the door to the bunker. Alex jumped straight down into the hole, falling was looked to be 20 feet, and landing unharmed at the bottom of it. Cory slowly climbed down the ladder, carefully putting his hands onto the rusty metal bars. Each one creaked, threatening to break under the immense weight Cory held. Cory got to the bottom safely, breathing loudly as his feet touched the ground. The only light within the room came from the hatch they had just come through, darkness swallowed the rest of the room. A hallway could be made out, but other than that nothing could be seen.
Alex began walking forward into the darkness, Cory followed into the unknown.
"The fourth dimensional phantoms that did not make the journey with the reptilian elites used to inhabit these tunnels within their dimension. We can't comprehend the fourth dimension, but it contains our world in it, like how our world contains the second dimension within it."
All these words flowed over Cory's head. These concepts were too complex for young Cory's brain to withhold. He nodded, even though Mr. Jones couldn't see him. Cory thought hard, and realised something fascinating.
"Are you related to Indiana Jones!?" Cory shouted.
Before Alex could answer, a screech could be heard echoing through the tunnels. The vampires knew of their presence. Cory unsheathed his katana, lighting up the entire tunnel with its glowing aura. Blood stained the walls and floor of the metallic tunnel. It seemed as if the clan had been waiting for someone to finally open the door so they could be let out into the outside world.
"Though most of them are vampires, any ones let in after are cold hard criminals because the reptilian elitists got sick of sending them to prisons. Lucky for us, these vampires only drink animal blood so we are safe," Alex said in his rough voice.
Cory looked in horror as a pale man stumbled toward them. His clothes were in rags and his hair appeared to have been forcefully pulled out. His mouth was covered in blood stains and he had a horrible odor to him. He held up a hand toward the duo, showing his unnaturally long nails.
"The vampires are protected by demonic energy that can only be combated by other demonic energy from a separate demonic faction. Your sword will be no use against them, don't even try to use it. I have an ultraflux blu faction nitroscope that will be able to take these guys out if they're protected by the succubus rosso clan!" Alex held up a complex looking device and pointed it at the man, who starred upward as a bolt of plasma ignited from the end of the nitroscope. Demonic voices could be heard all around as the man was pulled downward into the ground by a ghostly force.
"Demons are actually from the fourth dimension and the elitist are part of them. Each demon has a code word that will cause them to reveal their true form for mating purposes," Alex whispered the word to Cory, who gasped.
"That's why they outlawed that word in the United States back in 2054!"
Alex nodded, "But be warned, if you speak the word to a demon, it may attempt to mate with you. Do not allow the demon to insert its eggs into you!"
Cory didn't know what mating meant, so they continued onward in silence. The boy kept his katana out to help guide him through the tunnels, and it became apparent quickly that the bloody mess on the walls and floor was getting worse as they went on. Soon, the blood seemed to still be wet and fresh footprints could be made out in the red liquid on the floor. The smell of iron became so strong that Cory got a headache as bad as the one slenderman gave him.
A light appeared at the end of the tunnel, and Cory sprinted toward it, Alex following closely behind. They emerged in the city of Tampa bay, Alex was right about the tunnel being fourth dimensional because there was no way they could have covered that much land in that little time. Vampires swooped down and subdued them just as they got out.
"W- where are you taking u-us..!?" Cory mumbled. The vampires merely hissed at them as they dragged them in bloody chains across the landscape. It was soon apparent that the city was in ruins and covered in blood stains. This put the blood display put on in Berlin to shame. Grass seemed to die from all of the blood found on top of it, the entire landscape seemed to be decimated. Eyes watched from the windows of buildings as our heroes were taken as prisoners to the leaders hut: a large skyscraper that was once the tallest in tampa, but now stood half its height as the top was demolished. At the entrance, they were greeted by two more vampire guards who took them inside.
The floor of the lobby was decorated with a star shaped symbol which had blood staining it. At the end was a throne of sorts with a man sitting on it. The man wore a dark robe, stained with blood. On his head was a crown with a human skull on it.
"Welcome, tresspassers, to Tampa, Florida. The bloodiest place on Earth!" He held his arms out to the side, blood dripping from the goblet he held.
"What do you want with us, vampyric overlord?" Alex asked.
"Every month, the reptilian overlords give us prisoners. Do you know what we do with the prisoners?"
"You brainwash them into joining your ranks and becoming blood drinkers."
"Not quite…" He moved over to a curtain and pulled out a human head, it looked fresh, killed within the last few days, "they are sacrificed to the great succubus who watches over us all from the underworld!"
Cory was taken aback. The severed head was disturbingly realistic. Cory had never seen a prop quite lifelike. Then it dawned on him. This wasn't a movie. This wasn't an anime. This was real life.
"Every month the reptilians give us several hundred prisoners. After we ran out of cattle to dine upon, we turned to humans. Since we are so isolated, and the blood kills all plant life, we have dined on criminals and drank their blood for the past 11 years. What is weird, though, is the fact that there are only two of you here, and that you are 2 weeks early."
"We aren't prisoners," Cory said.
The vampyric overlord raised an eyebrow, "No? So you are regular citizens? Excellent. You see, prisoners contain souls of darkness which, in turn, yield less pleasure to the great succubus. You would be the equivalent of over 2000 criminal prisoners." He smirked evilly as he said this.
"Where do you come from? How did your clan form? Don't you owe us information before you kill us?" Alex asked, reaching into his pocket slowly.
"Ah, I am so glad you asked. Our origins are with the KKK, though as time went on we learned that Christianity was what was holding us back. After converting to an occult agenda and killing anyone who opposed our change, we began craving blood. Our demonic brothers in the underworld lusted after the red life-giving liquid."
The guards walked up to Cory and Alex and laid them out onto the pentagram. The vampyric overlord grabbed a pike from the wall and walked toward them, wobbling just like the man in the tunnels had. Cory started freaking out, thinking he was about to die. He went through all of the possibilities of how he could escape. Then it dawned upon him. The word.
Alex smirked as Cory shouted the demonic mating word at the top of his lungs. The vampyric overlord dropped his weapon and instantly changed into a reptilian, his true form. The elites controlled everything, even their enemies. The rest of the guards began acting strangely, almost as if they were in a trance. Many ran up to Cory and pulled out long fleshy cords from their stomachs, trying to attack the end of it to Cory's mouth. Cory pushed them aside and ran out of the building with Alex, looking for a way to escape.
"What are you doing? Stop them!" the vampyric overlord shouted at the guards. None responded.
"We're going to blow this place, kid." Alex said in his rough voice, dropping devices to the ground as he went, "we gotta fight the good fight!"
They dove into the metal tunnel, sprinting toward the other end as the electrolyte blu pulse bombs went off one by one, decimating all vampires within the range of Tampa. The tunnels shook as they ran through them, a blue energy field appearing behind them. Alex jones let out a scream as he went super, grabbing Cory and flying to the end of the tunnel before the dangerous blu contamination reached them.
When they landed, Cory looked back into Florida territory, the entire area was engulfed in a blue plasma. Soon, smoke appeared and filled the entirety of the bubble, blocking out any view anyone may have had. As the smoke began to clear, Cory was treated to a familiar sight: it looked exactly like Japan looks. A flat, empty area, only filled with dust.
"We just killed a reptilian elitist, kid. This is your greatest accomplishment. Soon the tectonic plate troopers will be here to kill me, so we'd better go!"
"Can you join my super fighting team in order to fight the Neo Aztecs in Texas?" Cory pleaded.
"Of course, the Aztecs worship the reptilians of the fourth dimension, so we should put a stop to them as soon as possible. I also think that skeletal horse aliens live near there so we should see them too."
Cory was ecstatic as Alex entered the ship. Alex put on his tinfoil hat as they took off, afraid the high altitude could result in alien brainwashing. The team had begun. With the expertise of Alex Jones, Cory would be able to defeat any supernatural threat, but he would still need more troops in order to defeat the entire Aztec army.
Meanwhile, the leader of the Aztecs sat on his pyramid, devastated by the news of a reptilian death.
"Stuff like this doesn't just happen. Nobody normal can kill a reptilian as easy as that. Find as much information on this Cory kid as you can. I want him brought here and sacrificed to the reptilian lords in order to right this wrong upon the Earth." He turned to his guard, sending him away. The man sat upon the largest pyramid ever created, which sat within the capital Tenochtitlan. An army surrounded it. Millions of troops were under this mans command. Soon, the war would escalate.