Chapter 34: Supercharged
"That... was INSANE." Hailstorm was the first down from his perch. He stared at the skull of Eho's avatar for a few seconds, and turned back to Reed. "How did you do that?!"
"Triff has blessed me with the powers of justice and atonement," Reed explained. "Sihok was only the beginning - now I can set upon the path to righting all of my wrongs, from sloth to wrath."
"Now THAT is the Reed we know and love!" Giango patted him on the back.
"The perks of being a God Tier," said Blah. "I am so jealous by the way."
"So, Blah... you wish to seek my help?" Reed turned to the human.
"Ok, as I was saying before that ground-breaking revelation..." Blah transitioned. "Bear with me here. We're not even from this timeline. Most of us, I mean. We stumbled across a future we didn't anticipate, and with the help of a time machine we brought its only two survivors here. However, this time machine is incapable of jumping between timelines, so we can't get back. You wouldn't happen to know anything about alternate universes, would you...? Or at least how Sihok managed to send his troops halfway across space to attack Earth?"
Reed turned his gaze to the sky. "Perhaps... I've learned a few things from the Conqueror which sound suspicious... he's tried to keep it secret, but occasionally a hint or two would slip. The very fact that he allows converted Jemento and Triff to join his ranks has always puzzled me..."
"Yeah, that's not how Eho works," Blah recalled. "So it sounds to me like there's more to his plan than total annihilation. Which means he's probably serving under someone who isn't Eho." And then he remembered. "Oh! Have you ever been to that other planet in the medium? And what became of Bellia?"
"Bellia..." Reed lowered his head, reliving a past moment. "She was taken down by Sihok's forces near the beginning of the session. I have never been to her land since."
"Which means whoever Sihok answered to probably resides on her planet now." Blah turned back towards the rest of his squad. "Which means that'll have to be our next destination if we want answers."
"Ok... guess I'll fire up the TARDIS again," Tails agreed as he headed back for said ship.
"Not gonna happen," Blah interrupted. "We can't risk our enemies getting their hands on it. Thankfully, Skaia gives its players a means to travel between the planets naturally. We just need to go back to Reed's house and take the second gate above it." He turned back to Reed. "You DID build that high already, right?"
Reed shook his head. "We only made it to the first gate," he lamented. "I didn't even try to reach the second. The thought of visiting the area where my friend had been killed wasn't very appealing to me..." He looked to the remains of Sihok, then down at his new demigod outfit and clenched his fist. "Until now."
"So, let's move out!" Blah gestured back to the TARDIS. "We'll take this as far as Reed's place and then cheat our way up to the second gate."
"...how do you plan on fitting an entire battalion in there?" Reed tilted his head as he gauged the size of the tiny blue box.
Blah sighed with a tired smile. He now knew the Doctor's pain. "You'll see."
The TARDIS re-materialized in the front yard of a huge skyscraping structure. It had originally been a darkened stone brick manor, but portions of it had been duplicated and stacked on top of it like a giant copy-and-paste job. It stretched several stories tall and ended just below the first of a series of spinning spirograph-shaped portals stationed in the air, all lined up and leading to the faint outline of Skaia.
Reed was the first to step out of the TARDIS. "Mother of Triff..." he gasped, "I've seen a lot of strange things but this machine really steals the show..."
"You get used to it," Blah shrugged, following him out. "Anyway, some of us can fly but if we want to get everyone through we'll need to alchemize some stuff. What do your grist reserves look like?"
"The imps stopped coming not long after Bellia's untimely death," Reed explained, "so I've had to improvise by recycling objects... with the clarinet, the tunic, and the grenades, I used nearly everything I had..."
"So... in other words, kind of broke," Blah filled in the blanks. Reed nodded. "I-or rather, Blahsprite, has a TON of build grist that we're not using, but nothing else. Hmm... maybe we have something we don't need anymore... Everyone, check your possession for things that are obsolete or worthless."
Blah slung his backpack around, and everyone else checked their personal inventories. Blah first pulled out the card containing the Breaker, memorized the code, and set it aside. He couldn't find much of anything else he didn't mind parting with, however.
The sound of several objects dumping out in a pile caught the attention of everyone, who turned around to see Broshi standing in front of Sihok's dismantled skeleton. "How's that?"
Hailstorm shuddered. Blah grimaced. Reed raised an eyebrow.
"I don't see any problem with it," Giango stated, followed by general agreement and mild nervous chuckling from his squad.
Each one carrying some of the burden, the gang brought the bones to Reed's Alchemiter, which sat in the music room, a room that was once furnished with a wide collection of musical instruments but now only housed stands and cheap folding chairs.
The bones were all set in place and Blah handed Reed a blank captchalogue card. "Take this to your Punch Designix and put in this code exactly: PCHOOOOO. That's P, C, H, and five O's, all caps. I trust you know what to do from there."
Reed nodded and left the room. Blah glanced at Reed's computer, an old-fashioned 90's desktop hooked into a generator. The SBURB client labeled the skeleton "The Conqueror Conquered" and the grist values impressed Blah greatly. 1,000 build grist for starters, and several different types, including shale, sulfur, flint, and mercury, quantifying in the hundreds, as well as a handful of garnet and a single onyx. A few strokes and clicks of the mouse and the bones vanished into thin air, populating Reed's grist cache with a treasure trove. "This should more than cover the costs," Blah affirmed. The skeleton also appeared in Reed's phernalia registry, a catalog of all of the items that the Alchemiter produced or recycled over time. The codes for each item were available from that list.
Since Reed hadn't returned yet, and Blah was feeling curious, he set his newly acquired laser-pointer-like device on the pedestal and checked the monitor. The grist costs were rather high indeed, being 400 build grist, 300 cobalt, and 10 of a pure blue diamond-shaped grist type he had never seen before.
"Whoa whoa whoa is that a sonic screwdriver?!" Blahsprite exclaimed.
"Hah, yeah, it is," Blah scratched the back of his head. He had almost forgotten to show his friends the device. "I found it along with the Pwnhammer..."
"You should totally alchemize that with your phaselance!" Blahsprite suggested. "Sometimes on the long ride I fantasized alchemy combinations, and the Phaselance with a sonic screwdriver was one of them..."
"He just went on and on about it," Tails complained. "I couldn't concentrate."
"Oh my god, you're right," Blah agreed. "A sonic phaselance... That's like, the next-"
"Next logical upgrade, I knooow," Tails unamusedly remarked. "Now that you CAN alchemize it, could you either do it or stop talking about it please?"
"That's the thing though, we don't have any cobalt, or that blue stuff." Blah pocketed his sonic screwdriver. "Plus, this grist is reserved for Reed. I'll make it on my own time."
Reed returned to the music room, carrying a carved navy blue totem. "Carved and ready," he announced, putting it in the designated spot. The computer displayed the schematics for a red jetpack, decorated with orange flames and costing 40 build grist and 80 shale each. Blah calculated that they'd be able to make about 5 rocket packs with the grist that they had.
"5 packs... that should hopefully be enough," Blah said. "A lot of us can already fly, so if the rocket-wearers each carried another individual I think we can make it."
There was agreement all around. Reed took the cue and made 5 rocket packs, which the Jemento squad quickly distributed amongst themselves. The suited gang made their long climb to the roof of the tower-like manor.
The first gate lay above them, a staircase leading up to it. The gate above was even higher up; where the first gate was at 12 stories, the second gate looked to be around 30. "I hope no one is afraid of heights," muttered Blah nervously. "Everyone, board your respective mounts."
Hailstorm bent down, allowing Blah to ride as per usual. Broshi grabbed both of Tails's hands, Seraphina blinked atop Blahsprite's shoulders, and Pinkie Pie practically dove into Reed. Each of the rocketless Jemento soldiers paired up with another who had one.
"Alright, whoever you are," Blah told the sky, "Prepare yourself, because I'm bringing an army." He looked around as everyone braced themselves for flight. "On the count of ten, everyone blast off. One... Two... Thr-"
"Ten!" shouted an over-excited Pinkie Pie. The flyers immediately and nervously took off, startling all of the riders (besides Pinkie) into hanging on for dear life. The trip felt much longer than it was, but eventually each vehicle passed through the target gate one by one, Blah and Hail being the last.
'Now it's OUR turn to face our destiny...'
The gate dropped the army off above a thick layer of clouds resembling dark smog, above which the peaks of a handful of scattered mountains poked through. Lightning struck between clouds frequently enough to rattle Blah's confidence a tad, and Hailstorm thought about how he might have nightmares in the future about having to contain this big of a storm. Very little extraterrestrial light shined through the uppermost layer of storm clouds, but the lightning was so abundant that it might as well have been a series of flickering lightbulbs.
"So where are we supposed to be going?" yelled Hail to Blah above the roar of the wind and thunder. The rest of the group hovered uncomfortably above the storm, awaiting orders.
Blah squinted, carefully scouting the mountaintops. A bolt of lightning illuminated a detailed silhouette on the very top of a nearby peak. "Over there!" Blah shouted, pointing at the mountain. "That's gotta be it!"
Eagerly, Blah's forces made their way towards the shadow that flashed in and out of sight against the lightning. As they neared, Blah noted that it was a castle, one that he expected would be built up at least a little bit; however, it wasn't much bigger than any castle he had ever seen. And sure enough, the seven gates stretched above it through a hole in the clouds just big enough for them to be visible.
The place seemed abandoned. The walls were cracked and worn, even charred in some places where struck directly with a bolt of lightning some time ago. Hail cruised into landing at the ledge in front of the drawbridge, which was a decent size for stationing about 20 people. Their arrival was greeted with a massive thunderbolt that struck the central, circular tower.
The drawbridge was already open, revealing a barren grand hall. Aside from the dusty and forgotten SBURB equipment, the room was nothing more than a dark empty box.
"There's nothing here..." said Blahsprite softly. "This place has been empty for years."
"Well, no wonder," Pinkie observed, checking the dust on the Alchemiter platform. "Hardly anypony can come all the way up here to visit!"
"Hmm..." Blah rubbed his temples in thought. "I guess they're not here. Strange, I would've thought they'd put their base in a place where they could easily travel between planets..."
"Unless they travel by some other means," Tails considered. "That's entirely possible at this point."
"Well, I'm not leaving until we search every nook and cranny for clues," Blah proclaimed. "Everyone split up, and meet back here if you find anything. This castle shouldn't take too long for us to search."
"Okie dokie loki!" Pinkie bounced off into a side chamber on her own. The others each formed small groups and went their separate ways.
"Hail, you're with me," Blah invited. "I'm going straight for the roof... I've got a hunch."
"You and your hunches," Hail said with a roll of his eyes as he followed Blah up the spiral stairs in the middle.
A short climb up three flights later, they found themselves at the top of the central tower. Immediately, they noticed a figure sitting atop an especially elegant, dark red throne. This was a man, hunched over and leaning with both hands on a huge violet battleaxe. He looked to be about Blahsprite's age, perhaps slightly older, and his orange hair spiked upward in several places. He wore a teal outfit that was akin to medieval royalty, complete with long stockings. Seeing the human and pegasus, he smirked wickedly and sat up straight, revealing the light turquoise symbol on his shirt: a circle, with three curved tendrils sprouting from it equilaterally.
"Ah, I was wondering when I'd finally get the chance to meet you face to face." He left the axe leaning on the throne, holding both his arms out with a flourish. "Welcome, Blahsadfeguie, Hailstorm. I take it you can fill your equine friend in on who I am?"
Blah, experiencing a world of disbelief, removed his glasses, clearing them with his shirt, and put them back on. Of all of the characters that Blah had designed over his lifetime, how could he have forgotten about the one who was arguably the most powerful of all of them? "Charge..." Speaking the name brought upon a wave of nostalgia, a feeling he never thought would seem ominous to him.
"Yep, that's me," he affirmed, as Hail raised an eyebrow. Charge's voice was highly reminiscent of Cody's, and he even had a similar look going for him.
"You're... a Prince... Prince of Mind..." Blah deduced from Charge's outfit.
"Ah yes, but that's not all," the Prince held up his finger, as he walked smoothly closer to the two of them. "Master of the Fist of Purple Lightning, caretaker of the pocket dimension known as Chargeworld, and rated number 2 among Multiverse Monthly's Top 10 Toughest Dudes of All Creation."
"...ok, you're just making that last one up," Blah argued.
"Who would number 1 be?" Hailstorm asked skeptically.
"Nobody important," Charge replied. "You'd never get to meet him anyway. But regardless, you've come here looking for answers, correct?"
"Of course," Blah said impatiently. He wasn't sure whether to trust this guy; on one hand, he was the avatar of his roleplaying adventures for most of his earlier childhood, but on the other, he was ridiculously powerful and had a rather unconventional agenda. Plus, Prince was far from the most trustworthy class in the game. "So you're a SBURB player... but I already know who each of the 8 players should have been... and there are only 2 lands in the Medium..."
"Heh, about that." Charge leaned on the side of the tower's fortifications. "I technically was never supposed to be a player."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Blah demanded. "You didn't do anything to DJ, did you...?"
"I didn't," Charge said without skipping a beat. "Such a shame, what happened to him. I noticed the session was going awry, so I sort of snuck in to try and do my part... and you know, you - or at least your alternate future self - never would have survived if not for me."
Blah thought back to the lab, the alchemy equipment, his laptop... "You're moderatingDischarge." He facepalmed. "I can't believe I didn't make that connection sooner... Your quirk is kind of lame, by the way."
"We-he-hell," chuckled Charge, "that face that you type, the one with the 'L', what even is that supposed to look like?"
"I think we're straying a bit far from the subject here," interrupted Hail. "What I want to know is, what do you have to do with the Eho attacks? And the Conqueror?"
"I won't lie to you guys," Charge began. "I didn't cause those attacks, nor did I try to stop them. I was just letting history take its course."
"That's... something I might expect from a bard, not a prince," Blah declared. "Tell me, are you... aware of your current situation?" He didn't want to say outright what it is, in case he didn't already know.
"Oh yeah, I know this is a doomed timeline," Charge confirmed. "In the Alpha timeline, everyone is much more successful. I had a bit of help from the Seer to come to that conclusion."
"The Seer..." Blah ran through all of the players in his mind. "Sera?" Charge nodded. "Ok, that one was kind of a given. Anyway, I'm guessing you didn't bother with the Eho because you knew it wouldn't matter in the end."
"Bingo," Charge applauded. "All I had to do after reaching God Tier was wait patiently for you."
"So you could kill us?" Hail blurted out, cutting right to the chase. Blah glared at him.
"Haha, you're a bit paranoid, poor guy," Charge patted Hailstorm on the head, the pony recoiling. "No, I would never dream of killing you. I know that you seek to return to the Alpha timeline."
"You can take us back?!" Blah cried. He noted the excitement that he let slip through his voice, and he quickly toned it down. "That's it? Out of the kindness of your heart? Just gonna bring us straight back, no conflict whatsoever?" Alarm bells were going off all throughout Blah's head - Charge seemed helpful enough, but he couldn't believe that it would be this easy.
"I can, so I wouldn't be much of a hero if I didn't," he responded. "Chargeworld is a constant, a separate universe all its own; I can connect to any and all of my alternate selves through it. It serves as a gateway between timelines, so all we'd have to do is enter it and take the right door."
"...so wait, how do we know you're not the Alpha Charge then?" Blah furrowed his brow. "You could essentially switch places with yourself and nobody would notice."
"Doors to Chargeworld can only be opened from the timeline's side," Charge dismissed. "If at any point there is no Charge in a timeline, then the door will remain closed and all Charges would forever be barred from the Alpha timeline. Same thing applies if a doomed Charge stays in the Alpha and dies as per his fate. Death is something that not even I can predict, especially when selves are mixed and matched. Nobody understands exactly how that crap works."
"I see what you mean..." Blah cupped his chin with his hand thoughtfully. "Ok, one last question: do you know how we ended up here in the first place? How did we cross between timelines?"
"When you defeated the Wall of Flesh," the Prince told Blah, "the ancient spirits of darkness and light were released. With Ipsus's last breath, he was able to use his full power to shift the dimensions under your feet, bringing you to a timeline in which Ipsus still lives and then goes on to devour all. But I assure you, he's long gone in your world."
"He just never gives up, huh," Hail muttered.
Blah gave a disgruntled sigh. He still wasn't entirely convinced that Charge was telling the truth, but from the sound of it there wasn't any other way to go back to the Alpha timeline. "Mind if I round everyone up so we can make a decision together?"
"Go for it," Charge encouraged. "I've already waited this long, I can wait another few minutes." He sat back down on his throne.
The group reunited back in the grand hall, all of them empty-handed. Except for Pinkie Pie, who had somehow acquired a fresh cupcake and was snacking casually.
"There was nothing but barren halls and rooms that have been empty for years," Blahsprite reported. "Not so much as a crumb anywhere. Somebody did a good job of cleaning up. Everyone else reach the same conclusion?"
Quiet, disappointed chatter. Broshi couldn't help but stare at Pinkie Pie though. "That looks like something to me..."
"She probably has cupcakes stashed all over the universe in case of a cupcake emergency," Blahsprite sarcastically explained. "Believe me, that's just Pinkie being Pinkie. You get used to it." Pinkie nodded, voicing a few unintelligible syllables through her overstuffed mouth.
"What about Blah and the pegasus?" asked one of the Jemento soldiers.
"We're here, sorry," Blah called, as he climbed down the stairs and into the room.
"I have a name, you know," Hail scoffed, his doubt painting his words with scorn.
"Ok, so long story short," Blah hasted, "There's a guy up there who says he can get us back to the alpha timeline, BUT," he paused before the crowd hyped up, "He's extremely suspicious. He claims to have been trying to help, and that he's not ultimately behind the Eho attacks... but it just doesn't sound right."
"I could read his mind and see if he is lying or not," Sera offered.
"...oh, I forgot you could do that for a second," Blah admitted. "Ok, follow me, everyone. We'll get to the bottom of this."
Anxiously, the rest of the group followed Blah and Hail to the top of the roof. This sounded a bit too good to be true to everyone.
"Ok, Charge," Blah addressed as he set foot on the top step, "I've brought everyone here. Repeat to them what you said to me, if you don't mind."
"Sure." Charge stood up as the last of the Jemento joined the audience. "Basically, I can send you back where you came from. The alpha timeline, that is."
"Indeed he can," Sera mentally whispered to Blah and the others.
"And you have nothing to do with Sihok?" Blah questioned again, being as thorough as possible.
"What, you don't trust me? Your most loyal creation?" Charge crossed his arms. "Of course not, he acted of his own accord. Minus the times he claimed to have spoken to Eho, that is."
"That is the truth..." Sera verified again.
"And you don't want to hurt us," Hailstorm added cautiously.
"I'd never cause harm to you, we're on the same side after all," Charge reassured him.
"Also positive," Sera justified. "His intentions are pure - he only wants to help us return to the game as it was meant to be played."
Hail still didn't completely believe it; if Seraphina decided that he was being honest, then he was either perfectly legitimate... or a master of manipulation. He turned to Blah judiciously, and saw that he was already shaking Charge's hand. "Alrighty then," he heard Blah say, "Sounds good to me. I just want to go home, how about you guys?"
Sera nodded, and Broshi gave a thumbs-up. Hail clouded up, giving the trip one last thought. If he made the wrong decision, it could mean the end of everyone's journey. But if there was one person he trusted by now, it was Blah, and if he was convinced... ultimately, it was good enough for him. "Let's go," Hail said, his confidence slowly returning.
"Glad to hear it!" Charge reached for his battleaxe with both hands and raised it high above his head. The sudden motion made everyone uneasy again as the weapon crackled with purple jolts of electricity. With an expression of effort, Charge brought the axe down... on thin air. The slice divided the very space where it had traveled, creating a rift that opened into a purple haze. There was a collective sigh of relief. Charge laughed. "Hah, lighten up, guys! That's how I always open Chargeworld." He set down the axe, leaning on the handle and gesturing to the rift with his other hand. "Just step on through, my Alpha self has already directed it to his timeline."
"Awesome," Blah remarked, stepping towards the portal. He stopped before sticking his foot inside it, suddenly remembering. "One last question. Is it too late to help DJ or is your Alpha self replacing him in the player list?"
"I'm not sure myself," Charge said. "I had no choice but to join when the Earth was destroyed here, but circumstances are different in the main timeline. You might have time after all, if you hurry. As for Alpha me... he'll be busy preparing for the worst. Good luck!"
Blah gave a handwave. "You too, for whatever it's worth." He directed his wave to the rest of the crowd; since they belonged in this timeline, he figured they wouldn't be joining him. "See you all on the other side."
"Bye! I'll try to finish the TARDIS and get it to you later!" Tails saw them off as the Alpha heroes entered the portal one by one.
"Tell myself I said hi!" Pinkie Pie raised a hoof enthusiastically.
As Hail's tail disappeared into the rift, Charge swung his axe upwards along the seam, sealing it shut. "Alright, now that that's done..." Charge set his axe against the throne again and held up a board game. "Who's up for some Monopoly?"
Hailstorm slowly came to. The world around him was naught but a colorful blur, and his dizziness prevented him from moving his limbs. But as his vision returned and he became more aware, he noticed that he had been taken to Ponyville. The town was as normal and lively as ever, even after having to be repaired twice.
He looked around, and saw Twilight Sparkle running up to him, carrying Spike on her back. "Hailstorm! Glad to see you're ok," she greeted.
The pegasus stood up and stretched his legs and wings. "Me too, to be honest..."
"We heard about what happened," Spike said. "I guess now you can say you survived the underworld, huh?"
"Oh, it was a bit more than that..." Hail looked around.
"Where's Blah and the others?" Twilight asked.
"I was just wondering that myself. I was hoping he could explain everything instead of me." Hail scratched his head as he continued to scan the streets, becoming more concerned by the second. "I, uh, expected everyone to end up in the same place..."
"What happened?" Twilight mirrored Hail's amount of worry, as did Spike.
"Well, long story short, we ended up in an alternate universe and this guy who was another of Blah's 'creations' helped us get back by sending us through a portal..." He groaned exasperately, sprawling out on the ground. "I should've known he wasn't to be trusted."
"Hmm." Twilight cocked her head curiously. "Follow me to the library, you can tell us all about your trip and we'll figure it out from there."
"You know, they could have just been dropped off some other place," proposed Spike as the three headed back for the library. "I don't know how inter-dimensional travel works, but it can't be 100 percent perfect all the time."
And what a ride it was, ladies and gents. The story should now return to its normal pace of updating (if you could call it that). Have a good night!