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Dimension: Amethyst

Planet: Capitol Prime

Specific Location: Summit Meeting room 8, floor 9853171

Time: Unknown

The Paradox stood, gazing at the stars once more, as he waited for Pictor to arrive. He was late, which was rather unusual, but the Paradox was sure that his comrade had a plausible excuse for such tardiness.

Then Pictor strolled into the room with purpose. The way he held his posture alerted the Paradox that he was quite satisfied with something.

"You seem quite pleased, Pictor," commented the Paradox quietly, "Could you explain the reason why you are, as well as why you are late?"

"Demon attack," said Pictor, "The Grand Devil has declared war on us. Two other Dimensional Lords and I were ambushed by four hundred Arch-demons while we were recalling the extraction team from the My Little Pony dimension."

"They attacked you, you say," murmured the Paradox, "What was the outcome of the battle?"

Pictor laughed sadistically, "It was fun! We shredded those creatures as if they were unarmed children! They didn't stand a chance. It was almost as invigorating as killing innocents!"

The Paradox sighed. Pictor thought that the Paradox had lost his mind, but the Paradox also contemplated the fact that Pictor, too, could be insane. The way Pictor took delight in torturing innocent beings was most certainly a sign of an unhealthy mind, was it not?

The Paradox shook his head and said, "The extraction team… were they successful?"

Pictor nodded and extended a hand. A box materialized on his palm. He then set the box down and opened it up for the Paradox to see its contents. Seven crystal vials sat in neat rows within the container. The Paradox deftly levitated one out. He rotated it, spun it, and even shook it as he inspected the contents closely.

The Paradox began to run diagnostics on it as he said, "Has anyone been able to run scans on it?"

"That's the scary part," replied Pictor, "They have."

"And?"

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Extraction claimed that they ran every possible diagnostic scan on the material, and everything came up negative. According to the scans, the crystalline contents is technically not even in existence."

"Do you think they were lying to you? Is it not some sort of Imagination Energy?"

"Phasetroopers do not lie. And no, it is not. We thought it looked like it from the photos you dug up, but it is, in truth, nowhere near to that material. What have you come up with, Paradox?"

The Paradox set down the vial that he was inspecting and said, "They were telling the truth. I will mournfully admit that I cannot figure out what material this is… but in the end, it is not really relevant, is it?"

Pictor shook his head. "I don't understand."

The Paradox nodded his head patiently. "I know you do not. Let me explain. The reason why I decided to proceed with stealing the vials without trying to force Ruby Blossom to get the truth behind their contents from Doxia was because I decided on another amendment to the Great Plan. I know Doxia needs the vials for some reason or another. Now that he has allies coming to him, he will become strong-headed, and will no doubt attempt a raid on Capitol Prime. That is exactly what we need: for him to leave the My Little Pony dimension."

"Understood. However… are you sure this will work? Doxia is, by far, the most powerful Dimensional Lord of our time since the retirement of the Leader of Amethyst and the disappearance of Kytax."

"Do not speak of Kytax to me, Pictor. But yes, he is. But it is not relevant."

"The hell it is, Paradox. He could rip you to pieces with ease."

"Perhaps he could, perhaps he couldn't. As I said, it is not relevant."

"Damn you! Speak straight for once!"

"He is a hero, Pictor, and he is playing right into a trap that involves his friends. The moment he enters the trap, he will have no other choice to stay in it… or watch his friends die. He is powerful, but he is also weak. Weak because of his morals and his principles."

The Paradox suddenly turned away from Pictor and approached the large crystal window again. He placed an armored hand against it and muttered, "Morals… Principles… They are nothing but chaff before the scythe. Intangible wistfulness in a land echoing with the despondent and sepulchral cries of the suffering. Evil… evil must be destroyed… it ALL must be destroyed… I must destroy it all… I must…"

Pictor slammed his fist hard against the table, causing the thing to explode into nothing. He yelled, "Snap out of it, Paradox! Hell has declared war on us! We must retaliate!"

The Paradox turned slowly around and said, "Prepare to go to the Kamina Dimension. The old shipyards of the Maelstrom war should still be there. Prepare to re-commission the Amethyst and the Sapphire Armadas. However, we will need a decoy. Prepare a billion Phasetroopers and Dimensional Lord Pimboli and send them out against the dimension of Quinto Præsidium. The dimension is teeming with demons. As they are drawing fire, bring the two armadas of warships here. We will begin to prepare the Amethyst Armada to lead a strike against the Infernal Realm. All available Phasetroopers and all available Dimensional Lords will join you in a strike against our new enemies. As for the Sapphire Armada, they will wait on me and my command… for the new development of the Great Plan to click into place."

Pictor nodded. Then he cocked his head on one side as he said, slowly, "This invasion against the Infernal Realm… We will not be able to destroy or occupy it, you know that right? It would be against Heaven's decrees."

The Paradox nodded. "Heaven seems to have made it clear that they will not get themselves involved in any form of hostile contact, but we must not provoke them yet. Pictor, when you reach the Infernal Realm, burn everything you can to the ground, but do not do not make it appear that we are, in truth, taking it over. If you tread carefully, Heaven will not suspect a thing."

Pictor nodded. "There will be resistance. There will be a lot of resistance."

The Paradox began to laugh, for the first time in over a billion years. "Pictor! You know what the Amethyst Armada is, right? They will CRUSH EVERYTHING. Nothing can stop it. The Maelstrom Forward Guard could not, the Maelstrom itself could not. We will lay waste to the Infernal Realm."

Pictor stroked the place on his helmet where his chin would be as he said, "I am still unsure, Paradox. The Grand Devil was the most brilliant of Angels in the Ancient Ages before the First Heaven War, and he is twice your age. He will obviously have a counterattack planned out."

The Paradox shook his head. "The Grand Devil and I are quite similar, I must admit. But there is one minor difference that makes all the difference. This difference is why I will rise and he will fall. You know why that is? We both have stared into the Abyss… but when he did it… he blinked."

Pictor slowly backed out of the room. He felt an icy chill run through him. The Paradox was most certainly insane. There was no doubt about it. But all Pictor could do now was either help the Paradox complete the Great Plan, or run, and die trying to hide.

The Paradox once again turned his back and looked out of the window. He began to mutter to himself again, in a somewhat haunted voice, "The ages have been filled with a see-saw of control. Good and evil both trying to find a way to control the Earth Multiverse as all that is good crumbles into nothing. But now the final age is here, and it has the apricity of hope... But the frosty coldness of the malice within the ranks of the mortals overcomes the ardor of those who thought they could do good. Now it will all end at the crepuscule of reality… And I will be what is left standing as it all goes dark."

Pictor raised a hand and called charged up a blast of pure power, capable of blasting a galaxy into nothing. He continued to charge it until it reached its maximum potential, and then he aimed his fist at the back of the Paradox's head. He held his pointing fist there for a moment, contemplating an attack against this sickly monster that had once been his leader, but then he put his fist down and dispersed the charged power. He too was a monster. It was too late for either of them.

Shaking his head, Pictor left. After he did, the Paradox telepathically opened a link to an unknown operative. "We are setting the plan into motion," said the Paradox, "Doxia should be making his move soon. Set the trap for Archangel Michael."

Dimension: Transformers

Planet: Earth

Specific Location: Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas, United States of America

Time: Two years after the events of the Dark of the Moon, three days after the arrival of Doxia in the My Little Pony dimension

Wild blasted himself into shards of shadow once more as spears, swords, axes, bullets, and mortars shrieked through the spot he had once stood. He then solidified again directly in from of Alyss. He leapt for her throat with a roar, but she simply conjured a brick wall in front of him. He slammed head-first into the wall, shattering the thing to dust. However, as the dust settled, Wild found Alyss behind him, hovering a massive tank above his head, a Maus. She snapped a finger and the Maus dropped. Wild dove out of the way just in the nick of time. Unfortunately, he being on the ground put him at a disadvantage. Alyss capitalized on this disadvantage and began to hurl razor-sharp playing cards at him. Wild snarled as several whizzed by his muzzle, cutting deep gashes in it. Wiping away blood from a cut above his left eyebrow, Wild roared, "Throwing cards? Is that the best you can do?"

With that, he slammed his front hoofs (which were slowly transforming into paws as Wild became Feral) into the ground, and spikes made of pure shadow erupted from the earth. Alyss managed to dodge the attack, but found her dress caught on one of the spikes. Growling with triumph, Wild approached her, saying, "Remind me why morons like you wear dresses to battles?"

Alyss snapped a finger, and suddenly Wild was surrounded by card soldiers from the Looking Glass Wars dimension. Turning his attention from Alyss, Wild proceeded to viciously murder his new enemies. The second he had finished with them, he turned to see Alyss again. However, she was no longer caught on the shadow spike. Now she was hovering a couple of meters off the ground, with an armada's worth of guided missiles surrounding her.

Wild cast an unworried and unappreciative eye over the host of deadly weapons as he said, "Touchy, are you not?"

Alyss slammed the palms of her hands together and the weapons hurtled towards Wild. Wild closed his eyes and conjured up a bubble shield of pure shadow. The projectiles hit the shield and exploded with rending blasts of fire, heat, and kinetic energy. As the dust cleared, Wild coughed and dropped the shield. He was considerably more exhausted now, but still alive and fighting.

Alyss simply conjured up another wave of missiles and hurled them at him again. Once again Wild threw up a shield, and once again the shield held. Alyss did it again, and again, and again. After the fourth time, Wild was barely able to stand due to exhaustion. He glared up at Alyss and gasped, "Too… scared… to fight me?"

Alyss blinked, her expression something between sadness and complacency, as she prepared another wave of missiles. She rose her hands high to prepare her final attack. Then Wild leapt into action. He used every last ounce of his strength as he hurled himself forward. He smashed into her and dug his teeth deep into her right shoulder. Alyss let out a cry of pain as Wild sent lances of shadow power through her body, poisoning her blood. Alyss tore Wild off of her and hurled her away. Wild smashed into a tree where he lay, just above unconsciousness. Breathing heavily, Alyss limped toward him. Usually she could easily heal wounds, but a shadow-poisoned wound was pretty much fatal without the help of a Dimensional Traveler Healer.

"It looks like we're both going to die now," gasped Alyss as she limped straight up to Wild. She conjured up a long spear, and prepared to drive it into Wild's face.

"What, you don't fear death, Alyss? That makes two of us," chuckled Wild as he resigned himself to his fate.

"No, I fear death," said Alyss between coughs, "But if I know that my death is for a noble cause: to bring down monsters like you, then I am willing."

She raised the spear high, and thrust it forward. Suddenly a gunshot went off and the spear Alyss was holding flew out of her hand as a bullet smashed the weapon into splinters. Alyss gave a gasp as she fell backwards. Funsch, polishing a six-shooter from the Indiana Jones dimension, strolled towards Wild and helped him up. He then glanced at Alyss, who was slowly dying.

"So. I guess you're the unlucky soul who decided to cross swords with the last hope for the multiverse. Too bad," said Funsch with little to no remorse. He pointed the gun straight at her head.

Suddenly a whizzing sniper bullet knocked Funsch's gun out of his hand. Now Franklin strolled forward. Giving both Funsch and Wild a warning glance, he looked Alyss straight in the eyes as he slowly kneeled down next to her prone form.

He pulled back her upper garment to expose the bloody wound and pressed his right hand against it. His hand suddenly began to glow an eerie blue as he said, to Alyss, "Take deep breaths. For this to work, you need to be calm."

"I poisoned her with shadow energy," said Wild curtly to Franklin, "She's dead already."

"Miranda taught me a thing or two about healing shadow wounds. I used to do a lot of work in the Lord of the Rings dimension, and she thought that I could use training on how to deal with a Morgul Blade wound," was all that Franklin said at first.

Alyss gave a shaking sigh, and then closed her eyes.

"I guess that training was not enough," muttered Wild.

Abruptly Alyss gave a gasp and her eyes snapped open. She tried to get up quickly, but Franklin held her down. "Hush now, Alyss. You need to rest for a moment. Lay there for a second."

Alyss eyed Franklin suspiciously, but did as he bade. Franklin nodded to her and then turned to Funsch, who was eying them both truculently.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Franklin?" snapped Funsch in not-so-hushed tones.

"I'm saving her," replied Franklin simply.

"She tried to kill me," snarled Wild, "Why are you trying to save the woman who tried to kill me?!"

"She didn't kill you, you were saved," said Franklin harshly, "She, however, was going to be killed by you if no one did anything. I will not stand by while you guys blatantly break the Traveler's Code. There may be very little honor in the Earth Multiverse today, but that makes a single good act shine all the brighter."

Funsch opened his mouth, and then closed it. He opened it again, and then closed it again. After a pause, he finally said, "He has a really good point."

Wild grumbled and turned pointedly around, muttering something about killing Pinkie Pie in the name of Rainbow Dash or something related to that.

Alyss was now watching Franklin with grateful eyes as he got down on one knee and helped her sit up. "You wound is still laced with shadow, but it is no longer poisoned. However, due to the presence of the shadow, you will have to let nature heal it for you."

Alyss grinned, rather ruefully, as she replied, "Thank you Franklin. No outlaw would ever do that for another… it is apparent that there has been a mistake with this warrant for you all."

Funsch facepalmed as Franklin cast a rather smug glance over in his direction. He then turned to Alyss and helped her onto her feet. "I am glad you think so, because you are right, there has been a mistake: we are not criminals."

Daniel then arrived on the scene. He glanced at Alyss, and then grinned. "Well… Franklin, I think you were right after all. One point for stupid-yet-relevant principles!"

Alyss looked at Wild, Funsch, Franklin, and Daniel and said, "What is going on?"

Franklin pulled a face. "Well… The Paradox has been lying to us. Fifteen years ago, he started falsifying traveler database information and scrambling our interdimensional sensors. This sowed dissent and distrust in our ranks, thus setting off the Era of Anarchy. Thanks to this, he was able to proceed with his real plan without any opposition from heroes. This plan involved setting off a weapon of mass destruction hidden in the Harmony Units. This weapon is capable of destroying everything within the Earth Multiverse."

Alyss held up a hand as she closed her eyes for a moment, trying to drink all of this information in. "So wait… are you telling me that the crazy conspiracies that Jetfire, Funsch, and DeWhite were constantly spewing were and are correct?

Franklin nodded. "They are correct. Just recently the Paradox attempted to set off the weapon, but was stopped by me, my team, the firstborn, Joseph Torrus, my sister, and one of the Paradox's former allies. That is why there is a price on all of our heads."

Alyss grabbed Franklin roughly by the shoulders and gazed straight into his eyes. They held eye contact for a moment before she released him and declared, "I believe you are telling the truth. Count me in. What are we doing next?"

"What… you want 'in' just like that? How do we know we can even trust you?" snorted Wild, still gazing ferociously at Alyss.

Franklin waved Wild down as he said, "We can trust her. I've known Alyss from the old days, she is not like Matthew Tricost."

Daniel looked Alyss straight in the eyes as well. She stared right back at him unflinchingly. The two held the gaze for a second or two longer before Daniel slowly nodded his head, not taking his eyes off her. "Yes… yes… I think we can trust her. And if we find out we cannot in the end… we can kill her."

Alyss glared at him. "If you find that you cannot trust me, I will have ruined the honors I have built up over the decades and I will kill myself."

Funsch clapped his hands together loudly as he said, "Okay! Wonderful. Now let us get a move on. If I am not mistaken, Jetfire is pretending to be a Blackbird Spy Plane in the Smithsonian Museum again. He has something for being a spy plane, though I have no idea why. What we need to do is sneak in there and wake him up. We wake him up, explain the situation, and then get the hell out before more travelers come looking for us."

"We are going to have to be careful," interjected Alyss, "There are two other travelers here that accompanied me. They are right now scouring the globe, still looking for you four. We will need to avoid them."

"Can you draw them away?" asked Funsch.

Alyss nodded. "I can, but distracting them will not be enough."

Daniel nodded. "Very well. I have a plan. Franklin, pretend to be Alyss's prisoner. She will call in her allies, and they undoubtedly will come. Then you two attack. Between you two, you guys should be more than a match for them. Take them out."

Franklin nodded, but could not help but add, "I agree to this plan, but I will not be killing anyone."

Alyss nodded as well. "Yes, I agree to this plan, but I will not kill either."

Wild rolled his eyes. "Awesome. Great. Whatever. I couldn't care less. Let's move! The sooner we move, the sooner we find Jetfire, the sooner we find Jetfire, the sooner we find Finnian Jones."

Alyss looked at Wild in surprise. "You all are looking for Finnian Jones?"

Funsch sighed. "Apparently we are. What, are you going to tell us that he doesn't exist?"

Alyss shook her head. "No, I know he exists. I've never seen him personally, but we used to write letters to each other when I was dealing with the loss of my husband."

Funsch blinked, then shook his head and muttered, "I guess I'm the only one still set on believing that he doesn't exist… Whatever."

"We need to move… NOW," said Daniel, "Funsch, open a portal."

Funsch nodded wordlessly and did so. At the same time, Alyss opened another portal. Alyss and Franklin stepped through one, and Funsch, Wild, and Daniel stepped through the other.

Note: I do not have much to say right now other than that I hope you enjoyed the chapter and that I would appreciate some feedback! Thanks!