Veil Of Greed: Hunt For The Numbers!
Chapter 32: Don't Forget
Date: April 1st, 2023
All of us burst into tears and tremble. Bray's really dead.. We couldn't believe it. I pull out my sword and grip onto it so tightly that it hurts. "Damn it! Bray! Why did you have to die?! It's not fair! If anyone should have died, it should have been me! I keep immersing myself in pleasure in my world and not doing enough about all the crap that's happening in my world! I could at least try to get my family to learn the truth but I hardly put in any effort to! I could donate to mutual aid and other causes but I don't! I shouldn't give myself a free pass of I'm so damn good that I'm doing everything I can excuse! I'm not because I'm not doing everything I can! And even so, I can't get myself fully motivated to do stuff to change my world! I'm having that much fun with what I enjoy! It's not that I'm doing nothing, it's that I'm not doing enough to cause change in other people!" "Don't beat yourself up too hard, Adam. As you say, happiness gives us the will, hope, and resolve to fight. Without hope, what's the point of living? Even as a mii of science, this hurts me to the core! Look at me! I'm not even being my usual self right now! And of course that's not impossible! You know why I said no healing any of us back there could do would save her? By the time Nathan found her, many of the most critical moments after such a serious injury had already passed." "Bray.. We will avenge you and make sure Pmurt Nedib dies again but this time, stays dead! I'm so ready to blow some heads off!" "Bray.. The most powerful Great Sage ever so far in the history of Miitopia.. We will honor her. But right now, we can't just stand here crying. We have to fight just as she wanted us to in her final hours." "You're right.. Damn it. We better avenge her. I will let my sorrow flow freely for now! It hurts too much to ignore! Let's go help defeat the other villains and eliminate the remaining enemy troops."
"As Bray would say, 'indeed, that is what we shall now do because we must.'" "Dominic, it's too early for impressions." "I know, I just forgot. Anyway, let's try to keep ourselves together more once we have no more tears to cry. I'll leave behind a few metal clones of myself to guard her body and answer any questions from others that come up. Oh and insist on keeping her body here until we can make preparations to bury her. I hate saying something like this, hate is a really strong word when I say it. Normally, I'd complain about wanting a nap. But until my grief is settled, I won't again do so!" "Does anyone else want to say anything at this time? We have to go quickly, I think some of the others are in big trouble and need our help." They all shake their heads and so, Dominic sighs as he creates some metal clones and asks them to do what he told us he was planning on having them do. They accept and all of us who saw Bray die teleport away. Our first stop is Appleloosa/the Buffalo Tribe's territory as Dominic found out those who are there are having a lot of trouble with the Nazi invaders as there are in fact some androids mixed in with the Nazis. We arrive at the Appleloosa train station. Or rather, what's left of it. Bakugo yells nearby: "About damn time somebody showed up to help us! These damn androids piss me the hell off, even more so than all those damn extras!" But then he stops yelling upon seeing our faces. "Hey, what the hell happened with all of you? Answer me." Barla sighs: "Someone very close to us was murdered by Pmurt Nedib." "Oh you mean that rich bastard killed somebody actually important?! I want to crush that villain myself!" "Yes. It was hell. Bray is dead now. And I will blow heads off to avenge her." "Wait a second, you mean that that powerful sage or whatever she was is dead?! Damn it! She allowed all of us to push past our limits!" "If you're done talking, Barla and Bakugo. I hate to say something now myself. We have to get back to fighting. Defeating the enemy here isn't going to happen without fighting."
"Okay. Let's do this!" "Whatever! Whatever happens happens as long as I get to blow up some more bastards!" And so, we all jump into battle or run into it. Whatever. It doesn't take long to kill all of the remaining Nazis. The only problem was those damn androids. Even Deku couldn't destroy one with any of his attacks or abilities. Froppy, Grape Rush, and Deku are currently overwhelmed by androids with no one to help them. It looks like everyone's been split up during the battle here. The Appleloosans are all hidden somewhere and the Buffalo Tribe are doing their best to attack. But some of both groups are on the ground unconscious. I go to those 3. And I do my best to slice through androids in my way. But all I really do is get them out of my way for now. Once with them, I sigh: "Don't thank me for helping you. It's unnecessary. Let's just fight together with all that we have. Unfortunately, without Bray's massive healing spell, I'm very limited in what I can do. I can still do a lot but not nearly as much. I'll keep from using Artist's Eye just yet. I can only use it for so long after all." "We heard everything from over there, ribbit. How are you feeling?" "Not good but there are far more important matters at hand. I'm going to fight even as I grieve. There's no other choice in order to allow this world a decent future. Let's try to combine our skills. Fighting solo but together isn't going to be enough. Deku, you might be more capable than me in making a solid plan. Scratch that, you are with my emotions the way they are. You know my skills as well as yours and Froppy's and Grape Rush's. Please. I'll protect all of you in the meantime. Give you time to rest and come up with something." "Are you sure you can protect us with all these enemies and your emotions the way they are?" "Yes, I am sure. You haven't seen even close to all of the battles I've been in. I fought a dark lord for hours by myself and that was 4 months ago. It was difficult but I did it and bought time others needed. 6 months ago, I killed a counterpart of mine who was much stronger than me."
"Okay. We'll take your word for it. Please be careful." "Don't worry. My magic reserves are finally back in full force after so long. It's all thanks to Bray. I already cast Repair to fix my gear. It's go time. Haaaaaaaaaaa! Ultimate Proud Protector!" I let my emotions and pain fuel me and my defensive moves. I hold my sword in a block position and combine it with my shield which I have equipped onto my left hand once more. When I have to dodge energy blasts, I dodge them. If I can't dodge them, I let my gear take the hit. If I can stop an attack from reaching the others, I do so. After a couple of minutes, Deku yells: "I've got it!" I turn my head to face him even as I continue dodging and blocking the attacks dished out by the androids. These androids have always generally stayed away from fighting me head on. They know I'm too skilled for them in that department and they don't want to waste their energy reserves on fighting me hand to hand style. "What's your plan, Deku? Don't make it too risky. I may have been given healing abilities as among Bray's last gifts for me. However, my mana isn't nearly as high as hers was. It's not enough to cast a healing spell with a large AoE. A drawback of classes and jobs that focus on swordplay is less mana than others. Magical sword attacks don't take as much mana as mage spells but still." "Don't worry. Just pay close attention. Mineta, I need you to throw out as many of your balls as you can and have them get our enemies stuck in place as much as possible. Throw them to the ground. Froppy, I want you to lure them in and trap some of them together with your tongue. Adam, I need you to concentrate enough to make compressed sword slashes that can damage our enemies. We found out that once you break through their outside, you leave a weak spot. I'll go in and use my punches and kicks to destroy them as best I can."
"I like the plan but I'm going to do more than just those slashes. When I've slashed through as many as I can successfully, I will help reduce the damage the 3 of you take and try to deal more damage myself when possible. If any of us gets hurt, I'll cast a healing spell. I hope Bray's gifting me healing abilities will be enough for me to successfully pull that off. I've gotten rusty when it comes to magic because I had no access to it for so long." "That's perfect! Mineta, Tsu, do you have anything to add?" "I think Mineta would be better bait to be perfectly honest with you." "Who said just one of us had to be bait? When it comes to moving while physically attacking, I'm pretty up there. I'd like to be bait too. If we can provoke them enough, that will be possible. Deku, Mineta, Tsu, let's do this already." They nod and so, our strategy begins. Mineta grabs the manifestation of his quirk: purple balls that look like grapes on the top of his head and starts throwing them in the direction of the androids. Currently, we're in the arena where Buckball tournaments are held in Appleloosa. How did I spot the 3? The battle here so far destroyed most of the arena and sent the rest of it closer to the train station somehow. I'm not sure how. "Take this, you jerks! Come and get me! I'm fresh meat and I won't stop throwing my balls for anything!" After he runs out of balls, me, him, and Froppy get moving. With her tongue, Froppy traps 2 androids while evading others as Grape Rush just runs around screaming in excitement. Meanwhile, I yell with my sword drawn: "Hey, androids! Don't you know that if you all come after me that you could beat me up close and personal? I once had a lot of trouble with an android called Cell after all!" The 3 of us have successfully baited them. They lack some core features of human intelligence. As a result of that lack, they charge at us and get stuck on the balls. I grimly smile on account of my grief: "It's now my true turn. I'm going to cut you bastards."
I raise my sword before doing what I can to let mana flow into it. Once that's done, I stop moving around and let the androids behind the ones that got stuck try to come to get me by jumping over them. That's when I release it. With all of my effort, strength, and focus, I perform a high pressure version of one of my attacks: Drawing Devastation but executed more slowly to really increase the generated air pressure. Many androids got caught in my slashes and I actually damaged them enough to create cuts in their biomechanical skin. I sweat heavily and breathe in and out. I don't feel any satisfaction because my grief hasn't diminished one bit. In fact, it's growing instead of shrinking. My willpower is the only thing keeping up from completely breaking down and losing my edge. Deku punches through and destroys a lot of androids in less than a minute. After I feel better, I use the basic Miitopian Cure spell on myself. It's so simple even I could do it. That erases my fatigue and some pain I got from all that. Much of my restore mana has already been used so I have to be more careful. With that said, I also use Cure on Mineta. This allows him to start throwing even more balls without his scalp bleeding all over again. He throws more and with all the other androids really mad, I had to jump into the fray even as many also got stuck. I let their attacks bang up my armor. That sounds reckless but trust me, I knew what I was doing. My armor will last a while without getting critical damage that makes holes in it. As I let my armor get banged up, I performed another high pressure Drawing Devastation attack to cut into as many androids as possible all over again. It worked. And Deku blasted away all of them. But then, I got an idea. "All of you, I need you to cover me. I wonder if I can wipe out the rest around here with a Kamehameha." "Kamehameha? Doesn't that attack require a lot of build up and has been unable to get through enemies like the ones we're dealing with?" "Enough outer damage to them is enough to break through to their weak interior so.."
"I see now! I should be able to use Air Force to break through the skin of some of the androids at least! Let's do this! Tsu, Mineta! Same deal as before with you but get back when Adam's ready to attack!" They nod. It took me some time but with their help, I had enough time to gather the Ki I needed to perform another (imperfect) Kamehameha. Since Ki does regenerate over time, particularly doing rest, I had enough Ki to attack with Kamehameha again. "Stand back! I'll put all of my despair and effort into it! If it wipes me out, so be it! It'll mean you three can still live to fight another day! Haaaaaaa! *they all get back* Good, you've all backed up. Great! *breathes in and finishes charging the Ki* KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" My body felt so drained as I finished the attack and my muscles ached after it. Cure was enough to alleviate the pain from the fatigue but I was pretty damn wiped out. Even so, I obliterated the rest of the androids along with a bunch of nearby androids who the core founding members of the Justice League were dealing with at the time. And there was also a huge crater now. I grimly smile again: "We did it. Together. I hope the rest of the androids have been taken care of now. We need to help others still after all. Letting out my grief through all of that has helped a lot. Not keeping it in was the best thing I could have done. I feel better now for the time being. I still can't believe what happened to Bray but at least I'm not drowning in sorrow anymore. It will hit again later but right now, I can compose myself. We can't stand around doing nothing. I'll still fight even though I'm drained. There's no other way. So many have and will get hurt here in Equestria today and beyond. We have to end this invasion that's going on and take down those 3 villains."
"You're right! We must keep fighting! There's no time to celebrate or rest! Let's be heroes!" I shrug at that last sentence due to my exhaustion. I would have said something otherwise. It is then that we find out that the battle for Appleloosa and the territory of the Buffalo Tribe has ended. The Appleloosans come out of hiding as Dominic uses Glitch.exe to heal everyone who's been hurt. But then, he yells so loud that even as far away as we were from him, we could still hear him. "We're done here! Sorry to leave like this but so many other places are still in danger! Thank us some other day! Goodbye!" And with that, all of us who just fought teleport to coordinates sent by Kakashi of all people. It's at the base of the Hippogryths' mountains. Kakashi sighs in relief: "Thank goodness you came. As you can see, we killed all of the Nazi troops but those androids are another problem entirely. We need all the help we can get to defeat them." Froppy replies: "You're welcome. How are things going here? Tell us more about the situation before we jump in, ribbit." "Well, it's nothing sort of a dire emergency. Even with all that we can do, we are losing a lot of our forces to the androids. No one's died yet but a lot are injured and can't fight anymore." "That's not good. But they can be defeated. If you put in enough force into one area of an android, that will break through to the weaker interior of their body. And from there, you can destroy them. That's what allowed us to win in Appleloosa and the area of that Buffalo Tribe just now, ribbit." "I see. I'll relay this to Inoichi. I still can't believe he was brought back to life but isn't permitted to reside in our village or world anymore." "I'll reply this time. It was necessary, we needed his skills but we can't risk messing with the future if your world any further than needed." "Okay so what now?" "We go Plus Ultra and save everyone!" "Izuku Midoriya, you remind me a lot of Naruto. I'm glad to see more young individuals such as you two fighting to make things better even in other universes like this one."
"Hey Kakashi! You and the others better get moving! More ninja are getting injured! At this rate, we'll lose and bring despair to the seaponies and hippogryphs!" "I know, Shikamaru. We're coming, don't worry. All of you, you can see where we need help. Go there. It doesn't matter who goes where. We just need all the help that we can possibly get." Most of us nod and we all set off for different areas of the battlefield where a town used to be until it began with the invasion's start. I ended up fighting alongside Nagato, Konan, and Yahiko: "I'm surprised you 3 didn't go with most of the Akatsuki to another battle." Nagato replies: "We were needed more here." "That makes sense. Let's fight together and bring down these androids. I should be able to make openings by breaking through their skins. Just did that in Appleloosa. It's remarkable that their insides at one point were as tough as their outsides but now, that has changed. I say that because we've been through so much that something like that is now hard to fathom even though the androids weren't even introduced until within the last 2 months." "It is remarkable. And I'm saddened to hear about Bray. She was a great woman. Pmurt Nedib won't get away with causing all this pain forever. He will be brought down and we the Akatsuki will be a part of what brings him to his knees. We are investigating leads as to where his base of operations is. Once it is found, his days will be numbered." "That's good. I'm okay btw. Okay enough to fight despite my Ki exhaustion at least. Let's just deal with these bastards and move onto helping others deal with them too and get to helping fight the 3 villains still active in this world. I will avenge Bray anyway I can. Her death won't be the end of her legacy." After 20 minutes of fighting, all androids in the area are finally destroyed. As a result, everyone present teleports to another location. We have received word that all battles have concluded except for the ones with the villains who have taken literally no damage this entire time. In fact, a showdown is happening between them and everyone else who wasn't just helping fight androids right where the final battle before Twilight became ruler of Equestria took place.
Konan shouts loud enough for all to hear once we teleport there: "Everyone! Take on any of the villains you wish to but remember that this will not be an easy fight. They are dangerous and extremely powerful. We all have to be careful." With that said, we split up and go help fight whoever we feel like helping fight. With our help in the mix, Cozy Glow gets quickly overwhelmed and defeated anyway, the 6 numbers in her were immediately extracted. It turns out that most of us who had just teleported in, myself included went for Cozy Glow first. And then, all of us who fought her help quickly defeat Chrysalis as well. Both Cozy Glow and Chrysalis were turned into cards once the numbers they had were extracted. But Tirek. Tirek was a whole other problem. He's massive because he's taken all Equestrian magic away, leaving all ponies powerless to stop him. Okay, the Elements of Harmony could still work but Tirek is so powerful now that the Mane 6 don't even try to initiate that. We were in a very bad spot as Tirek was now draining magic from other worlds too. "Arr! This be a huge problem! Since when did this magic stealing landlubber have the ability to take the magic from creatures who aren't ponies?! I rarely use magic so I'm fine but this is very bad! Thrashbeak! Let's do our best to help plunder Tirek's victory!" "Squawk! Magic stealing landlubber Tirek bad! Defeat landlubber with help asap! Squawk!" Llenn complains: "Oh come on! How are we supposed to defeat a monster THAT big!" Asuna sighs: "That Tirek looks even bigger than Aincrad's Floor 100 boss! This is really bad!" "We'll see how tough he is when I do this! System call: generate burst element! Discharge!" Alice's attack does no damage. Big Bang Kamehameha, Rasenshuriken, many BRAIN Blasters, Fukaziroh's grenade launchers, my Great Infernal Tornado Slash, the Ultimate Gem, Haikai, Deku's Detroit Smash, and pretty much any other attack or weapon you can think of does absolutely no damage either. "Damn it! How in the hell are we supposed to stand a chance against him?! He's about to kill us all! I never thought we'd be so outmatched by someone like Tirek!"
"I feel the same way, Barla. Only the Elements Of Harmony could undo his magic absorption. But as you can see, the Mane 6 have basically given up so that's not something we can rely on at all. Unless someone gets them out of that funk, we have currently zero solutions to stop Tirek with." But then, GADGET appears before us: "That's not exactly true. I have made more clones of myself. They are maintaining a gamma ray barrier to stop Tirek from harming you organic and inorganic life forms. It won't last long so haste is of the greatest importance at the moment. It would also help if some digital life forms were resurrected. But don't worry about that. You'll figure out how to resurrect digital life forms someday, Dr. Dominic Duns." "Me? That's a lot of pressure. I would complain but I haven't moved on from Bray's death. How could I when it just happened today?" "Yes, you. More importantly, the BRAINS main base has a high energy laser cannon. And from my dwelling, we have any high powered cannons ready to fire on any target anywhere." "You do? Since when?" "We have to defend against governments and other problematic entities somehow." "That's reasonable. Okay, I have one set of the controls of THAT laser cannon. Let's try it. Tirek is about to break that barrier your new clones made." "Yes. It is a pity that it won't hold any longer but that was the best I could do." Dominic nods and pulls out sone controls from his ender pouch: "I never thought I'd be using these. Oh well. It's no big deal that I never thought I would. The laser cannon has been regular receiving upgrades despite all that's been going on on a weekly basis. Even as we just let clones keep things guarded and running up there in it. The BRAINS main headquarters happens to have been transported to this universe shortly after we arrived to it. My heart aches but I must press the launch button. Using all kinds of data such as battle data, the laser cannon has become an ultimate deadly weapon. It has been proven to destroy most materials, even high tech spaceship parts."
As Tirek begins to deal so much mind boggling damage against the resistance of a lot of magical, physical, and energy shields, Dominic calmly activates the controls in his hands before pressing a big red button after tapping a screen to lock a specific target: Tirek. "System message: Target locked, preparing to fire. Are you sure you want to fire at specified target?" "Yes." "State your identity before the firing sequence can be completed." "I am Dr. Dominic Duns, my job is Entropy!" "That's all the necessary verification. Firing begins in 5 4 3 2 1. Firing on target now." Dominic manipulates reality to put a lot of space between Tirek and everyone who was just fighting him until he did so. With that done, we all can't help but watch as a laser red beam comes from out of this world and hits Tirek after he tries to stop it. He tries getting away but GADGET says: "Gravity Amplification Waves successfully generated. Enemy target locked in place. Target is unable to move." A burst of energy comes out from the center of Tirek's huge body as the laser continues firing through him. His screams of pain almost hurt my ears from how loud they are. It's like the whole entire world can hear him cry out in pain. The laser stops firing and Tirek is pretty burned, having taken severe damage. As his body begins to heal, GADGET speaks again: "Villain Elimination Procedure activated." The newest GADGET clones turn completely black with red eyes and the AI then says in a booming voice: "Tirek is weakened. Everyone who can still fight, you must help eliminate him. Attack with all of your strength now." That's all any of us needed to hear. Now that I've gotten a little time to rest, I feel slightly less drained compared to before. I run at Tirek with the others. Since everyone is here and then some, we're able to all attack at once and completely crush him. His body shrinks back to normal. Shun takes no delight in turning him into a card before pocketing said card. I don't know who retrieved the numbers that were inside of him but someone did and it wasn't me. In retrospect, it's fine that it wasn't me whi did so. Not that big of a deal. Seriously.
With Tirek defeated, Equestria was now obviously in ruins. Not even the big cities like Manehatten or Las Pegasus were spared. So much information was shared between everyone during all of the battles that went on due to the invasion and appearance of 30 number cards. To our count, there's only 20-30 number cards still out there. Pmurt Nedib wants them all so it's likely he's going to start trying to hunt all of us down, not just those of us who reside in Miitopia. All of us. He doesn't know where we put the majority of the numbers we've collected but he does know about our associations to an incomplete extent. As for other pressing matters, Bray still has to be honored and buried. Equestria has to be rebuilt along with pretty much the rest of the world too. Then there's still the matter of the Equestrian Resistance and many of us as well not agreeing with how Equestria is governed entirely. Most BRAINS members immediately leave after the battle is over. Only members of the Akatsuki, the Knights Of Hanoi, Playmaker's faction, Kohnanix BRAINS, Miitopian Peoples' Liberation Front, Tomapie BRAINS, and Minecraftia BRAINS end up remaining. As for non BRAINS members, that's another matter to take care of. But Biara and Ghost Gal get everyone's attention about that. Then, Biara speaks: "We have with some help from the Time Space Investigation Group determined what happened in the Underworld and GGO before they left this world just now. 2 entities with unknown identities caused portals to this world to open up in them. We have reopened them with the best hackers we have around." Ghost Gal adds: "So those of you who came from either one of those can just jump into the sky right now to return. I'm not sure why that's the way but we're working with it. Oh and just so we're clear, this isn't the last time any of you will encounter us. We will see you again someday. I have a feeling that a new crisis will force that to happen. But for now, it's been nice fighting with you. See you again some day! Bye!" After the GGO, ALO, and Underworld players/residents leave, that left an angry Benson fuming: "SO WHEN CAN WE GO BACK TO OUR UNIVERSE?! TELL US NOW OR ELSE!"
Barla literally despite her also going through serious grief like Dominic, myself, and you know who else just activates her Quantum Leap band and opens a portal with it to their park: "Get in the damn portal. Some of us will see you again but for now, go into it. Bye for now." "You know who else needs to be into the damn portal? My mom! Let's go into it so my mom isn't lonely on the other side! See you there, losers!" "Hey, we're not losers, man!" "*steps through the portal* I was just kidding! You should know that by now! You know who else should know that by now? My mom!" High Five Ghost goes in next after which Benson runs in with excitement on his face. Skips drags Mordecai and Rigby through with him because their brains stopped working for some reason. Barla closes the portal behind them. "There we go! One problem solved! Hell yeah!" Big Mac speaks: "What about Equestria and the rest of our world? Can't Dominic fix it all." Dominic sighs: "There's too much damage for me to. And I'm exhausted so I can't fix anything anyway and we'll be too busy for me to come over to fix anything." "I see. That brings me to the other main issue." And so, 3 hours of discussions in the middle of the battlefield take place where we worked to convince Twilight and the others to consider our proposal from earlier. It was difficult but we did manage to convince them once they better understood everything about Equestrian society. During that time, everyone present had to drink a Sleep Replacement Potion due to the fact that it was early morning in Equestria now and we'd had fought for so many hours total just on an individual level. "Okay, we understand now. But what do we do now?" "Twilight, you're still in charge. Issue a decree that allows for the establishment of a democratic government and ends the kingdom."
"My prized pupil, are you sure you want to change how things are?" "I can't ignore how helpful a new system would be. And besides, all creatures would still come to my friends and I for help regarding friendship problems. We can still solve them despite what's about to change. It's because of the current system that Cozy Glow sought power and worked with Tirek and later, Queen Chrysalis. Cadence, what of the Crystal Empire in all of this?" "I'm okay with this. I only rule over the Crystal Empire to protect it. If there is a better way to keep ponies safe, I'm right behind it." "Flurry Heart may never become a princess who rules over something but that's okay." "Arr! Sorry to interrupt but this is unexpected. I'm amazed we convinced you all. But now, training everycreature to defend themselves and rebuilding are things that must be done. I wish we could help with that but as you know, we can't. It's up to you. Please keep spreading the magic of friendship. Thrashbeak and I have learned a few things from it. Isnt that right?" "Squawk! Hell yeah it is! Squawk!" "See?" "I would like to add to your comment, Pirate Blaster. There will be more threats coming to this world in time. As it stands, of everyone who can actually fight that are from this world, you don't possess the numbers or strength needed to repel a large invasion by yourselves like the one we and so many others helped defeat here. There is another war coming and if I'm right, it's going to be bigger than almost any ever before it as far as we're aware." "Another war? No.. The ponies of Equestria really wouldn't stand a chance as things are." "Eyyup, Twilight. I'm afraid that even we, the Equestrian Resistance aren't strong enough to repel an invasion. I saw that first hand in Ponyville earlier. The other creatures have already left so it's only just those of us who have been discussing this left." The Tomepieians left a while ago as did the Minecraftians but they will be in Miitopia to fight tomorrow, that's for sure.
Some more discussing happens and the rulers of Equestria, both current and former along with Big Mac come to a complete agreement and understanding. Would have stayed to see the changes begin to happen but as Barla said once that was over, it was time to honor and bury Bray in a fitting resting place. We said goodbye to the ponies before picking up Bray's body and Dominic's clones. After we left Equestria, we went to the Knights of Miitopia's base which is looking fresh and brand new almost now that battles don't happen above it daily. We don't have long until the Nazis launch another attack. Mel left Equestria ahead of us and it waiting at the entrance of the base: "Thank you for coming here, everyone. I'm so glad we worked out this arrangement before the war started. Many knights were laid to rest in a secret underground garden and cemetery in our base. Follow me. *we do so and enter inside with her before walking with her* The preparations are already complete. The preparations of course were specified by Bray when we asked her how she wanted to be honored when she died. We even have nearly everything prepared in the event all of us here die and aren't able to be revived anytime in the near future. Swiftdrawer, you said you wanted nothing flashy or fancy, just speeches by those closest to you and some music before the casket is closed. Isn't that right?" "Yes. Don't go all out on my funeral if I die on virtually a permanent basis before you. This is going to hurt a lot but it must be done as per our friend's wishes. Dominic, you did teleport her body to the coffin, right?" "I did. It's so hard to stay calm right now." "I feel the same way. Damn it. I'm like a floodgate that's about to burst with tears. The intense fighting only temporarily eased my grief. Now, it's time for the moments we dreaded the most of this entire situation other than her death itself."
When we come to the end of a hallway in the base, Mel triggers 2 secret doors: revealing 2 rooms. "We have already decided who's going to carry the coffin into the cemetery. Those of you who are, please come with me to the right room. Everyone else, please go to the left room as we finish preparing what still needs to be done. We'll close the casket in the cemetery once everyone pays their respects. We'll give 15 minutes before the ceremony starts to let others from other worlds come if they can and wish to come. That will also be enough to finish the preparations." We all nod. By this point, pretty much the entire Miitopian Peoples' Liberation Front had arrived as did everyone from Twisted Land, Scar Basiltomato, and some others. Not a single one of us wore formal clothes. We all just kept on what we wore while fighting against the invasion of Equestria and the world it is located on. Myself, Bray's siblings and parents, Dominic, Pirate Blaster, Thrashbeak, Barla, and a few others follow Mel into the secret room on the right. The place looks ancient and at the end of it lies Bray inside the coffin. "So Mel, what preparations are there left to do?" "We're going to patch up all of Bray's injuries even though she's gone from the mortal realms now. And all of you must check to see if your armors are in good shape. We don't want any of them breaking. If they're bloody, they're bloody. That's not a concern, don't clean any blood in them up. Finally, we will put protections in and over the coffin and decorate it a little bit. I have a 3D image of how Bray wanted her coffin to be decorated. Thanks for making that, Swiftdrawer. It must have been hard. We will also respect her wishes to allow us to specify the protections. We place protections for the deceased to prevent the likes of the Dark Sage from resurrecting them as mindless zombies. Let's hope that the protections are more than enough to prevent that." We all nod and get to work. Mel looks over my armor with my help and we find no damage that's worth repairing at the moment. My armor will stay together. And I plan on helping lift Bray's coffin in my left hand while holding my sword in my right hand.
All our preparations are easy and don't take long. Both scientific and magical protections are placed. Even a stun laser for if someone tries to open the coffin after the casket is closed. Decoration wise, there wasn't much put in. Just some carvings of words and phrases Bray was known for saying and her staff. Her staff was placed on top of her chest and abdomen. Oh and a few immortal flowers that were discovered by accident when the Wacky Clowns went on a mission to bring down a time disrupting fascist dictatorship. Those were placed wherever, Bray wasn't concerned about the placement of them. Nor were we. In fact, the immortal flowers negate necromancy luckily enough. They were what allowed the Wacky Clowns to complete that mission. The dictator used zombies to control the masses but the flowers blocked the necromancy required to pull that off. Once the preparations were complete, Mel grimly smiled: "It's time. No other guests are coming to see this or give any speeches. Let's go the cemetery now. We've determined where all of us are going to be to carry the coffin already so let's just get into position, ready to lift it carefully and gently. Unlike coffins on Earth, our coffins are always extremely thick, dense, and handmade. Because of the material they're made of, we have to have a lot more hands help carry the coffins. That's why we're all going to be lifting it." None of us speak. We just nod. With that, we all work together to lift the coffin. I'm one of the two lifting the part of the coffin poised to enter the cemetery room first. Dominic is the one. Mel is just behind me and she just like me, draws her sword and holds it upwards. Dominic and I nod to each other to indicate that we're ready. The others also nod to indicate that they're ready as well. We don't speak. We just move. One step and then another. One step and then another. Slowly, calmly, honorably. Take one and then another. Repeat until we reach the site where Bray is to be buried. I almost lose my grip on the coffin when I see how big the cemetery room really is. It's so big that I only see one side of the wall, the side we're now passing through. It's like an underground paradise with even artificial sky and stuff. Waiting for us are a lot of comrades.
They clear us a path to walk through which we do so very slowly. We take our time going to where she's going to be buried. Those who have come to honor her make sure they don't lose their sight of us as we keep moving. Fluffy Afro and The Wacky Clowns are providing live calm rock music, a style very different from what they normally perform together. That was what made me realize just how real this all was and I nearly burst into tears again. But I held it in. I'm going to speak first about Bray and then, I'll cry. But not before then. I can do this. I volunteered to go first so I wouldn't lose any of my thoughts as I listened to the others talk about Bray. It takes about 20 minutes for us to reach just right by where Bray's grave has already been dug. Hell, the tombstone is already ready to go. It just needs to be installed and is resting on a wooden table with a green, white, and light blue cloth over it that has a wooden painted version of the emblem of the Knights of Miitopia along with the Miitopian Peoples' Liberation Front flag also on the cloth. I sense sound amplification magic with Artist's Eye around and above that table. Behind it are Fluffy Afro and The Wacky Clowns as they continue performing live. Bray didn't care who did the music or what it was. She also didn't care what we did after she was buried. So all of that was up to all of us to decide instead. When those 5 see us coming with the coffin, they quiet down their performance and Blaze of all individuals moves the stuff on the table to make room so we could place Bray's coffin onto it. We moved to the other side of the table, the same side Fluffy Afro and The Wacky Clowns were continuing to perform. And then, everyone who has come catches up with us so we place the coffin down onto the table. After that, we stay behind the coffin and stand side by side. We wait to start until all of the chatter has finally died down. That was for the best all things considered. When it did, I spoke while raising my sword much higher than I had as we carried Bray's coffin all the way here.
It was for 3 reasons: symbolism, my own comfort, and to get everyone's attention on me which is something I generally don't like doing. "All of you, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for being here. This is.. tough. As I speak to all of you, my heart aches and my eyes threaten to unleashing a maelstrom of tears and sadness. It's like another hole has opened in my heart where Bray's presence was. She's not gone and not forgotten. She has moved onto a afterlife that truly and legitimately exists. It's existence has been proven through interdimensional travel. I was there as a player controlling a mii who looks exactly like Bray's father on the day Bray was born as a Tomodachi islander. Or rather, Warrior Adam, my mii counterpart. They, Austin, Lauren, Carlos, Jayden, Kelly, Easton, Madeline, Lucy, and Julia have lost a special family member. We all lost her. They may be only her family by flesh and blood because she chose to be born again in another body far from Miitopia but still, they mean a lot to her and vice versa. Like I said, I was there when she was born. Back when even she thought she was a he. But as we have all learned over time, just because someone has the appearance and supposed genotype to be seen as a typical he does not mean that everyone who was raised to be a he as a result ends up sticking with being a he. Bray was a healer and a fighter. She's been so important to our strides forward throughout all these years. Bray will never be forgotten in this world as long as we or our future and current disciples live on. We learned so much from her just as she learned a lot from us. And now, it's time for us to say goodbye. Before Dominic speaks, I hope you'll all join me for a moment to remember who Bray still is even though she's in the afterlife now. I now don't know how we're going to be able to crush the Nazis for good here in Miitopia but I do know that we must so we will find a way. Don't forget her."
I take a moment to take a deep breath: "As she aged on the Tomodachi islands in her 2nd body, I helped raise her. She cried, she laughed, she played with blocks, she ran around in a yard. Then, she moved into an apartment on Pizza Island and truly started her 2nd life. Eventually, I first met her for real in a dream Miitopia and then, the town of Fun Land. That was after I cast her as the Great Sage, unaware that that decision I made in the Miitopia game was predetermined by the fate of this world. I had no idea that there were other Great Sages before her or that Nathan would become the next Great Sage. But now I know all that and more. I became among those closest to her. We helped each other a lot. I died, she revived me. She almost died, I stopped her from bleeding out. Because she is transgender, that was enough for the Nazis to try to kill her with a gun. That was enough for so much hatred to be leveled against her. And I won't stand for it. Trans people are not threats to anything but the fragility of twisted accursed societies such as the one I live in in my other life! We will not let her murder go unpunished or be in vain. We will fight to save this world and as many other worlds as possible that we can within the reasonable rules of time interference that we have set for ourselves and follow to a tea. Bray will be avenged and we cannot let ourselves lose hope, be consumed by despair, or forget all about her! Today, we remember her and soon, we fight to make what she wanted as much as us a reality. A truly just and inclusive world for all to live in equally! That is all I have to say for now. Let's take a moment to remember who she is and get ready for another fight with Nazi bastards!" Fluffy Afro and The Wacky Clowns even stop playing to remember Bray with all of us. I recall so many things about Bray, even the times I've drawn her or the times I made versions of her in some games. And then, I start to burst into tears all over again. Just as Dominic was about to speak too. He whispers to me: "You can go somewhere else to cry if you want. We'll all understand if you do."
"No, I will stay up here and let the others know how I feel. I'm not going to hide my feelings. I do that enough to harmoniously tolerate my family most of the time and not drive myself crazy on my world. If there are any Nazi spies here, they'll see who we are more clearly than ever before we get 'em." "I like your thinking. Let it all out even if it means you can't pay attention to a thing any of us says about Bray. It's for the best." I nod: "If I don't let myself feel all my pain with Bray gone, then I will doom myself to a much bigger emotional and mental breakdown later down the line." And so as the others talked about Bray, I just kept crying. It's been years since I've cried so much. I didn't cry nearly as much over my mom because let me be honest, she said some things that concerned and bothered me for even so long after she said them. Things fueled by media lies during events such as the summer 2020 BLM demonstrations. And I had disputes with her for over 6 years every so often. In addition, I never got as close to her as others did. But with Bray, I've spent so much time fighting and adventuring with her. We've both saved each other and had a strong bond and friendship that will continue on even though none of us can reach her by any method anymore. It takes thousands of times more energy to visit an afterlife with Quantum Leap bands than going from Twisted Land to say, Universe 7. It's been tested. I've read the graphs. That's how I know. And of course, the more I cry, the more I think about Bray to try to make myself feel better but that just makes me cry even more. This has happened before regarding other people in my life. But still, I experience the strongest emotional crying session I have ever had in memory, completely making all others seem minor and brief by comparison. I just couldn't stop crying no matter what. When all the speeches were finally completely, it took Blaze licking me after relentlessly poking me to get me to become aware of my surroundings again. Pirate Blaster then says to me softly: "Adam, it's time to bury her. I didn't know you could cry so much. Arr."
"I didn't either. It's like years of crap spilled into my grief and it amplified my emotions and tears.. I think I can manage long enough to watch her get buried.." He and Blaze nod and wrap themselves around me as we headed to watch as Julia and Madeline used magic to gently place Bray's coffin into the ground. It didn't take long but damn, it felt like it just kept going on forever. The pain. So real and dreadful. I ran out of tears after crying a little more before Julia and Madeline finished what they were doing. And that's when the casket was finally closed. I would have screamed right then and there since my eyes were red from crying so much and I didn't have anymore tears to express my grief. But I didn't. And I wasn't alone on that front. Even Dominic was in the same position. Julia, Madeline, and the others too. It's like all of us cried and just managed to run out of tears during this part of the ceremony. With the coffin in the ground and the casket closed, it was time to shovel all the dirt from the dirt pile by hand to finish burying her. Myself and those who also brought the coffin to this cemetery step forward, put away our weapons, and pick up shovels that are in a pile next to the dirt pile. In minutes, the dirt pile becomes no more as we use all of it to bury Bray for good. We throw the shovels somewhere once done. Then, Julia uses her magic to get the tombstone and place it where Bray is now buried. She even uses a spell to secure it in the dirt. The ceremony is complete and the plan was to party and dance to try to pull a book right from Latin America's Day of the Dead in my world. However, not a single one of us felt upbeat enough to dance. Instead, all we just stood there silently and cried, wrapping our arms around each other. Even when we stopped that to relieve ourselves in the large bathroom made by the knights and then consume a feast, none of us felt like talking or anything.
All of us, even those who barely knew Bray at all ate in silence. That's how important to the movement to crush the Nazis Bray became. We finished eating and quickly cleaned up. I sigh: "Damn it. Now we have to fight the Nazis." That's when Dominic receives a random electrical shock: "This is bad. The next time disruption related to number cards has been identified and it's an active dangerous situation there. Why does it have to happen now?!" "Dominic! What the hell did you do to yourself?! How do you know that after getting shocked?!" "Barla. Everyone. Listen. Forget my earlier vow. This is a nap causation. Before I get eye drops for all of us to treat our red from crying eyes, I must tell you all something. Actually, we won't need them. Someone must have cast a spell. Anyway, I can sometimes sense disruptions in other universes that manifest as electrical shocks. It hurts a lot every time but the level of pain tells me how bad the situation is. I felt so much pain just now. That means that the time disruption is currently causing a crisis in another universe. GADGET, I know you're here somewhere. Can you track down where the disruption is going on?" GADGET appears through the ground below us. "Yes, I have already located where the disruption is taking place. But after this, I am returning to my universe. I was curious to see how what is called a funeral happens in some form. I better understand them now. Thank you for allowing me to be here without explicitly inviting me. The disruption is somewhere in a region known as the Land of Ooo on a world that was once dominated by humans." "Adam, do you know what the Land of Ooo is?" "Damn it, that's the setting for Adventure Time. Now we know where it is happening. But when is it happening? I hate such a welcoming distraction because processing the grief is so important but we must know when it is occurring." GADGET replies before vanishing through the floor: "I cannot describe when it started but I can send the time coordinates. My software prevents me from currently understanding what is happening there. I'm sending the time coordinates onto the main BRAINS chat and calling for an emergency team to form to solve the disruption with anyone welcome to join."
Barla exclaims: "Damn it! We don't need this! What are we supposed to do now that this has to be taken care of too?!" A loud boom is barely heard from somewhere else: "Nap causation! The Nazis are attacking again! Where are they getting all these people to fight?! You'd think that they'd run out of everyone who knew they've been using by now! This is a huge problem! Adam, go there now! Find whoever the main character is! Just go! We'll figure out who else to send after we start fighting those damn Nazis!" "Okay, I will!" I get out my phone and look at the time coordinates closely. "Quantum Leap! Take me to Finn and Jake's treehouse at these time coordinates: 562409.67545764.43256817." I put away my phone in time to be teleported straight to that location at whatever time the time disruption began and find myself at Finn and Jake's treehouse right after they planted the seeds that came from the death of a grass version of Finn who later became known as Fern. Since I'm a number holder, the altering timeline can now be further altered in any direction. It's more complicated than that but whatever. The numbers that have appeared in this universe have begun changing the future already. Finn and Jake spot me almost right away. Finn exclaims: "Another human! There aren't too many here in the Land of Ooo! Who are you? It's nice to meet you! I'm Finn the Human and this is my best friend, Jake the Dog!" "Hi, I'm Jake! You look really cool in that armor! Where'd you get it?" "Finn and Jake, a pleasure to meet you. I already know about you and the Land of Ooo. I am not from this world. You're familiar with the whole multiverse thing so that saves me some trouble. I'm Adam but I have some other names too. For now, let's stick with that and Swiftdrawer. I am a knight as you'd probably expect. I didn't get this armor just anywhere. Friends of mine created it with magic and science. I designed it and painted it."
Adventure Time. A show featuring Finn and Jake as main characters as they explore the Land of Ooo and go on many adventures together. Friends include a living game console named BEMO, Princess Bubblegum, creator of the Candy Kingdom and Candy People, and Marceline the Vampire. They have even left Ooo and traveled through dimensions and I believe time as well. Many situations have taken place. Jake even has a family who age faster than him crazily enough. There was also the whole elemental assimilation of Ooo that happened where 4 characters became pure elementals of candy, slime, fire, and ice. It felt like a show that didn't have a coherent plot at first when I started watching it from the start but it's actually not that way. There are several villains introduced such as the insane Magic Man who went insane after his wife was killed, the Lich King, and GLOB, the embodiment of chaos. There are such an array of individuals like Finn's dad who got put in a intergalactic prison and Prismo, a being who can grant one wish to someone but only exists because of complicated dream stuff that got more complicated when he poofed out of existence only for Finn and Jake to bring him back. It's a lot. The Land of Ooo is made of several regions of different biomes and has portals to the world's Vampire Realm and Lumpy Space, a dimension where everyone is lumpy and sounds pretty grumpy. Lumpy Space Princess is an interesting character to say the least. There's also Simon who was the crazy Ice King, obsessed with Princess Bubblegum. Gunther who became a new Ice King some time after secretly turning out to be a space demon but then just mellowed out after he was returned to being a penguin. There's also Death and the former King Of Mars, Abraham Lincoln who was succeeded by King Man formerly Normal Man and Magic Man. It's a long story to explain. And there you have it, an okay summary of the show that leaves out a lot of spoilers. Tune in next chapter to find out what the numbers have caused THIS time. To be continued.
Outro: So yeah, I'm going to finally add Adventure Time into my plot line. As if things weren't complicated enough to the point that nearly everything that happens can at least in part be traced back to the Dark Lord Melvin's stealing of faces in Miitopia. I will get further into Regular Show and Sword Art Online among others such as Yugioh Sevens and Duel Links in the future. Also looking to add in more Pokémon (but the main storyline with Ash and friends) along with The Eminence In Shadow and a show I haven't even started watching yet: Saint Seiya. As things keep getting worse in our world, I will keep writing and look to showing Miitopia become a highly advanced collection of anarchist collectives that show a better future we can achieve. Although we can't use magic like Miitopians can unfortunately. Magic can't fix everything anyway. And the path to fix our world will be vastly different from the fight to fix Miitopia in my stories. We will lose so many good people prematurely regardless if we do anything about that or not so we might as well do something so maybe less good people will be lost prematurely. If I survive long enough with access to the internet, you will one day see the fall of the mysterious figure who keeps doing things behind the scenes and more societies evolve into Sci fi ecological utopias such as the one the Lost Academia is located in. Be on the lookout for that eventually. That's all for now, thank you for reading.