As soon as the chair was off and the helmet was off his head, he collapsed in Veronika's arms. "Good job, kid." She congratulated the twelve year-old boy limp in her arms.

"What happened?" Trixie and Chester ran over to her and Sanjay, with Elmer's help, worked on getting everyone back to work.

"That chair put a strain on his brain. I should get him to-" Veronika was cut off as Tim slowly stood.

"You okay?" Chester asked.

Tim shot a glace at his friend then tackled him to the ground. "You moron! How dare you show that without my consent!" Trixie had to pull Tim off the young mechanic.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked frantically.

Tim broke away and threw a punch at Chester. Because he was still recovering from the chair, the punch was sluggish and Chester easily swatted it aside. "Did I miss something?" Chester asked as Veronika and Trixie struggled to restrain their furious friend.

"I only wanted you guys to see those memories!"

"Why?"

Tim sighed. "Those are my memories, duh! They include my thoughts and opinions about other! You saw life through my eyes, you learned about my life in a way that only a telepath could."

"What's wrong with that?" Veronika asked.

Tim turned to Chester, who flinched expecting another fight. "How do you view Trixie now?" he asked. "Has that alternate memory changed or added anything to your view of Trixie?"

"No." Chester replied. Tim gave the blond teen a gaze that filled him with guilt. "Okay, okay, yeah, I do feel something different about her. That show changed my view of her…but not by much. I now also have added mean and rich to my list of her qualities."

"That's not all, I betting." Trixie murmured.

"This is dumb. Your memories of your other life shouldn't influence us. We're nothing like those… What should we call them?"

"Alternate memories?" Chester suggested.

"Yeah, 'alternate memories.' But that right there is the key to disrupting Victoria's reign over the Earth."

"What do you mean?" Tim asked.

"The whole thing was video taped...and more." Chester explained. "We now have a clear understanding of how it was before this nightmarish excuse of life came about. Shade is going to put together a video."

"What's gonna be on it?"

"A panoramic view of Vicksdale from your alternate memories."

"Uh, it was called Dimmsdale." Tim corrected.

"Ah,"


Crocker led his surrogate daughter through the outer court of her mansion. They were on their way to the dungeons where prisoners were being tortured. They descended the stairs to the dank cell room. "Look around you." Crocker inhaled the thick sweaty air.

Victoria shook her head. "It's not helping me." She complained.

"No," Crocker agreed. "It's not supposed to. It's supposed to make you feel worse!"

"Huh?" Victoria didn't understand.

Crocker lovingly rubbed her back. "My friend, your best ideas to…inspire the people come to you when you feel especially evil."

Victoria cruelly smiled. He was right. She came up with the torture chamber when she had starved herself for days. "You are so right. But before I think, I need a laugh." She walked to a control panel and pulled a lever back. The scream of a man accused of theft greeted her ears.

"What lever, may I ask, was that?" Crocker asked.

The young dictator smiled, "The Judas Cradle is very fun!"

Crocker's eyes began to tear, "I've taught you so well."

"C'mon, pops. I have an idea." Victoria motioned for them to leave the chamber as the man's screams echoed through the dank room.


Dwight stood at the entrance to the base. The day before was quite an adventure. He would've never guessed that Erebus was Lawrence's brother and that Lawrence's brother was also a Dark Soldier. The whole event was very confusing.

"Hey, care for company?" it was the former Dark Soldier Mario.

"Yeah, sure…whatever." Dwight gestured to the rock next to him.

Mario took the seat then fished around in his pocket and his hands came out with a juice packet. "I gotta say, the food at the med bay here is totally better than the food in the Tower's med bay."

"Hm." Dwight stared into the deep woods that protected and hid the underground base from Victoria's evil eye.

There was a moment of silence. "Soooo," Mario dragged out the word as he searched for something to say, "You friends with Molly?"

Dwight thought about his answer. He was friends with here, but he always hoped that they could be more. "Yeah," he voice cracked with his answer. "Why?"

Mario struggled not to smile and settled for a shrug. "I was just wondering what you were thinking when she brought me in."

Dwight blushed. "Well, I felt jealous. She never held me like that before."

Mario couldn't help but laugh that time. "No, genius, about her aiding a Dark Soldier, not that she was holding me up."

"Oh, well," Dwight cleared his voice, "I see." He turned to Mario. "Tell her nothing."

"Hey," Mario put his hands to his chest. "You can trust me."

"Right." Dwight replied sarcastically. "If you must know I felt betrayed. She might as well have brought Victoria in for lunch!"

"Ouch." Mario shrugged. "I guess I should've seen that coming."

"A-hehehe yeah," Dwight laughed with half-sarcasm.

There was silence between the two boys for a while. Both just listened to the sounds of nature.


A boy stood on the edge of a cliff. Many people in Vondon knew the cliff, but not many knew what lay beneath the cliff. There was water at the base, that was for sure, but after much research, this boy also discovered that beneath the waves was a tunnel; a tunnel that connected Vondon to the rest of EurAsia. After many late nights and close encounters, this rebel had found the exact location of the tunnel's entrance. Soon he'd be in EurAsia proper on his way to the North American Alliance.

"Shane! Wait up!"

Shane sighed. Of course he couldn't have done that research without help. His help was Chloe-Anne Stilltower, the hyperactive hacker of the Vondon Resistance branch.

The brown-haired computer expert finally caught up to Shane. "Whew, for a second I thought you were gonna leave me." She half-joked knowing very well how much Shane didn't want her company. She was too bubbly for his taste.

They both had similar childhoods; they both grew up on the farms of Vondon and both had their parents chosen as the Masters of the Games.

The Games was an event that was held once every two years. People would come from all over to try and beat each other to win the gold. If you won the gold, you be taken with Victoria to serve her. Your family would never see you again. It used to be a secret as to what happened next, but Chloe, wanting to know what happened to her parents, hacked a V-drone's optical interface and watched as Victoria placed the winners in capsules beneath her frightful tower and filled them with a yellow gas. This gas was later discovered to be a poison that would eat away at the brain but preserve the body when put in an oxygen-based aerosol from. The eeriest thing was that there was no struggle even as the prisoners realized that they were going to die. They could've easily overpowered Victoria for her guards were no where to be seen. Nevertheless, they chose to die with a smile on their face. That was just how much power Victoria had over the people of Earth.

When Chloe hacked the optical interface, she invited Shane to watch because he had suffered the similar fate. Both watched as their loved ones were ked into the death hall and placed in the capsules. Both cried when their parents died with a smile. But that's where the similarities ended. Shane vowed that day to kill Victoria with his bare hands and immediately trained himself in various forms of combat. He waited for the day Victoria would leave her haven of New Zealand. When the news that Victoria had arrived in Vicksdale reached his ears, he knew that this was his only chance.

Chloe on the other hand decided to bury the pain and the next day put her pretty face on in an effort to hide the pain. Instead of blaming Victoria like Shane did, she blamed herself had self-destructive tendencies only Shane knew about. He had saved her from committing suicide more than once. She had been friends with Chester before he moved to NAA. For her, helping Shane get to NAA was just an excuse to see her first and only love again.

"So, ready?" Chloe stepped to the edge and wavered.

Shane's hand flashed out and grasped her shoulder. He pulled her into his arms. "You were gonna jump, weren't you?" the thirteen year-old asked.

Chloe shrugged. "What do you care?"

Shane opened his mouth to speak but realized that he really only saved her life because it was the right thing to do. Though there was a nagging feeling that he couldn't understand, one he had only felt when he was with his parents. He hated Chloe for that. She could bring up feelings that he wanted to repress. "Let's just get this over with and jump," He said.

Chloe broke free and ran to the edge, only to be held back again.

"With darkchutes." Shane added.

"'With darkchutes.'" Chloe sarcastically repeated as she slipped her over-alls off leaving her in a white jumpsuit. "What does it matter? I did some calculations and it turns out that there is a one in 12,895,080,907 chance that we'll actually survive the plunge...even with the darkchutes-ahh!"

Shane pushed Chloe as she spoke off the cliff. He then jumped himself and pulled his chord. "Pull your chord." he instructed.

Chloe nodded and pulled her chord.

After a few minutes of falling, the duo made touch-down in the frigid waters. "Never tell me the odds." Shane said as they imerged in an underwater cavern.

Chloe rolled her eyes. At least Evie would consider the odds.. she thought to herself about Shane's girlfriend. According to the plan, she was to join them in Vicksdale about two months later.

"Okay, according to the map, we should go...this way." Shane started off to his left.

Chloe took one look at the ground and smirked. She was a hacker at heart and wasn't very good at outdoors skills, but from what she saw lying on the ground in front of her, she could guess that Shane was about to have a very interesting experience.

"One...two...three...four," Chloe counted the seconds.

There was a roar followed by a scream. Shane ran out of the cave he had entered at top speed followed closely by a wall of flame with the dark silhouette of a three-headed dragon.

Shane caught his breath and hid behind his friend. "You totally-huff-knew!" He fumed.

"Yeah...But I didn't want to tell you the odds." She responded smugly.

Shane frowned. "I could've been killed!"

"I thik he's kinda cute." Chloe smiled at the dragon. She turned to Shane, "We should name him! How about 'Snowball?'"

"It's now official; you're nuts." Shane made his way to the opposite tunnel.

The dragon growled. "Awww," Chloe sighed affectionatly. "He's lonely."

"No, you're lonely." Shane corrected. "Now let's go before he gets hungry."

The two teens began their journey to EurAsia mainland's surface.


Molly and Lawence were in the Training Room when a rebel entered. "Lawrence?" the kid, Del, adressed his commanding officer.

"Yeah?" Lawrence asked.

"Does you're mommy know you're here?" Molly teased.

Del was one of the few kids to be born into the resistance. He had both parents in the resistance, though they were split up; his father was in NAA and his mother was stationed here.

Del blushed. "Shut up." the tiny Asian muttered to Molly.

"Molly please go be mean somewhere else." Lawrence sighed.

"Yeah, yeah, sure." She exited the chamber.

"Okay, what is it?"

Del handed Lawrence a data disk. "Shade sent this to all resistance leaders on high priority. I don't know what it is, but it's not normal for something this small to be on such high setting."

Lawrence read the title. "Uh, Del, call Molly in here and have Jonathon find Dwight, please."

five minutes later Molly was in front of Lawrence again. "Yes?"

"Read the title," He gently handed the disk to the raven-haired girl.

"'His Memories.'" She read. "Whose memories?"

"Tim's."

Molly remembered the events with the Special Ops team from Vicksdale. The battery. Now she remembered. "I guess he really was special." Molly half-shrugged.

Lawrence nodded. "As soon as Dwight gets here, I'll play it."

After a couple minutes passed, Molly ventured to break the silence. "Sooo, how come your bro was a Dark Soldier?" she asked.

"Heh, heh, this old story. If I had a nickel...okay, so My parents willingly gave my brother up to the Dark Soldier training program begause of his 'Warrior Gene,' the gene that supposedly is in every person but is only active in few people."

"yeah, yeah, yeah, it gives the person superhuman abilities but the power must be harnessed to be used 'correctly' according to Victoria. I know about the stupid gene."

"Oh, well I didn't have the gene at the time-"

"Wait, 'at the time?' I thought it was determined at birth?"

"Yes and no. It can be caught at birth but everyone can develop it, though it will never be as...destructive and powerful as a fully developed Gene. Now can I finish?"

"Some other time." Dwight interupted. His thin body casted an eerie shadow on the two. "What is it you wanted to show me?"

"Us."

"Huh?"

"Us," Molly corrected. "It wasn't just you that went on that mission." she reminded.

"Okay, us. What did you want to show us?"

Lawrence inserted and started the disk. "Lock the doors." he instructed.

Dwight did so and then the lights went off. Shade's form from midchest up appeared and he began to speak. "Lawrence, my friend, I am glad you have recieved this. This disk contains data that Vicky would no doubt want destroy even more than she wants the Resistance eliminated."

Molly's eyebrows went up.

"This disk holds the memories of another time and dimension from our greatest member in the Vicksdale Resistance Branch; Timothy Xerses Turner." Shade's image faded out and what replaced it sent chills through the spines of all three in the room; it was the sky. No swirling oppressive clouds, no v-drones buzzing about, no attack planes, not a Dark Soldier in sight.. Molly nearly fainted and Dwight had to be supported by Lawrence who himself was finding it hard to believe that he was staring at the true sky.

"Hey, what's goin' on?" Mario asked as he entered the room.

Everyone broke their gaze from the screen and looked at him. "How'd you get in?" Dwight asked.

"Former Dark Soldier; do you have to ask?" Mario sarcastically responded. Then he saw the screen "How'd you get video of the sky?" he asked. "Normal drone cameras don't survive that high."

"What do you mean?" Lawrence asked.

"Oh, Victoria's castle and all Dark Soldier establishments are buit to allow access to the sky."

Mario watched as their faces fell.

"You didn't know that, did you?" he asked slowly.

Lawrence shook his 'no.' "You've seen the sky first hand." he stated.

Mario sheepishly nodded.

"Okay, then. Another reason to hate you." Molly muttered with a forced smile.

Mario hung his head.


All around the word, Resistance leaders were watching the video of Tim's memories; all were touched and inspired with a new hope. Tim was officially considered the most powerful person in the resistance, some considered him greater than Shade.

"Congrats." Trixie congradulated her firend. "You've just inspired the whole resistance that there is something to fight for."

Sanjay patted Tim on the back. "Ya know, I've always believed that there was something wrong with this world and that it wasn't always this way."

"Really now?" Tim asked.

"Yeah," Trixie responded. "In fact, he was the first one to instill doubt about Victoria's reign. Aside from my parents."

"Where are your parents?" Tim asked.

Trixie turned away. "Dead. They were slightly reluctant to give me up to the Dark Soldier program. That inkling of resistance brought them a swift, but painful death."

"'Swift and painful?'" Tim asked.

"Yeah. Their bodies were filled with electricity then exploded." She shuddered.

"How do you know?"

"They forced me to push the trigger. Everyday I wake up, there's a picture of them in my mind to remind me that I killed my parents."


Molly opened her toolbox and retrieved a wrench. A jeep tire was punctured during a practice run. She grunted as she removed the bad tire then reached for the good tire, but a shadow fell over her back. "Who is it?" She asked with no emotion. The view of the sky was so magical that she felt dead when the whole video ended.

"Me," Mario responded. "I want to take you somewhere."

"Like a date? 'Cause I'm not in the mood for fun." She threw the wrench into the box and faced the former foe.

Mario grinned. "You'll love this place. Believe me." He got in the jeep and motioned for her to join.

"You are aware it is missing a tire?" Molly smirked.

Mario blushed, Oops! "Uh, yeah, just waiting for you to put on the other tire."

"Right."

Three minutes later they were cruising the outskirts of the town heading for the Tower. "Where exactly are we going?"

"You'll see," was Mario's only reply.

Finally they were at the base of a guard Spire. "Okay, follow closely."

Three flights of stairs later they were standing in a capsule and it was shooting from the Spire into the air. It landed on a platform and with a hiss of the pressureized doors opening, they stepped onto the floating island.

"Okay what is this?" Molly asked cautiosly.

"Just look up." Mario instructed.

"Fate..." She looked at Mario and smiled widely. "Sweet, sweet Fate. This is the place?"

"Yep, this is were Dark Soldiers come to see the sky."

Molly glanced around her but saw no Dark Soldiers. "Where are they then?"

Mario turned his eyes to the metalliod floor. "How old does this platform look?"

"About half a year, why?"

"Its twenty-seven years old." he corrected.

"Holy crap! It looks so new!"

"Yeah, no Dark Soldiers come up here."

"Why not? It's the sky! I mean, don't they get sick of seeing the gray swirls?" Molly was astonished.

"They do what Victoria tells them. They have no free will. Just becasue it is here doesn't mean they want to see the sky."

Molly sat on the edge and began to cry. They have the oppurtunity to see what the rest of humanity can't and they brush it off as an uneeded luxury?

Mario sat next to her and held her. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" he asked.

"What?"

"The sunrise." he pointed to the array of colors that ranged from red and orange to blue and purple.

"Yes very." She kissed him.

Then the two just sat and watched the sunrise.


"Okay! Jump!" The copilot pushed Shane and Chloe out of his jet and watched them plummet.

"This is totally cool!" Shane yelled.

"Chloe threw up in response."Sure-ugh-what ever-hurck-you say."

After a short freefall time, the two opened their parachutes and floated to the ground. after landing, Chloe cut the parachute away from her body in disgust. "Stupid archaic technology. Can you believe he didn't have darkchutes!?"

"Yeah, yeah, what a shame." Shane replied without enthusiasm. He retrieved the card that the pilot had given him. 'Don't unfold it 'till you touch the ground. Then give it to the man in the blue suit.' the pilot had instructed him. "What the hell!" The card was just blue on both sides. "Oh, well." The two walked to the nearest town according the the GPS system in Chloe's palmtop computer. Upon entry on man stood out; a man in a blue suit. "Here, sir," Shane handed the man the card. "I think this is for you."

Even the man's face was covered in blue cloth. He nodded and motioned for them to follow him. He led them to an old wine cellar and pointed to some seats. They sat and he removed his head covering. His face was covered in blue tattoes.

The two teens recoiled in their seats. "Whoa! Who are you?" Chloe asked.

"You can call me Mister Blue. The man who sent you is an agent of mine."

"Are you part of the Resistance?" Shane asked.

Chloe punched his arm and frowned at him. Moron!

Mr. Blue chuckled. "No, no, no, no, but I am part of a different resistance and I can a sure you that you are in good hands. I will take you where you want to go, Vickstralia, but you'll be doing some jobs for me along the way. And I'll be with you to help and make sure you do them, correctly."

"Extorion. I see." Shane thought over the deal. Mr. Blue seemed okay, maybe this deal would help them out a lot. Perhaps his group could join the resistance.

Chloe thought otherwise. "My partner and I need to talk it ov-"

"It's done. We accept."

Chloe shot Shane an evil are-you-out-of-your-mind-we-barely-know-this-guy! look. After being her friend for years, he knew exactly what each look meant. "It's okay!" he assured her. "Besides, his name is so cool and mysterious."

Chloe rolled her eyes and again questioned again their friendship.


A/N: Wow that took too long, but school is just...sigh. Anyhow as you can tell, slower updates. Much slower. Well thanks for staying with me, we're about half way through the story! "Yay!. Read and Review. Shane is SuperPoofs character btw. Woo hoo! PSAT's are over!