Note: Hello everyone! Keep up that speculating! To Russet Burbank: Here is a hint! The other Inquisitor might just be someone new. Anyway, read on!

Flashbacks: Shadowed Horizon

Dimension: Clifford

Planet: Space

Specific Location: A parsec from solar system KOI-351

Time: Over 500 Billion years before the death of the Paradox

"Okay! Listen up buds!" shouted Doxia loudly to gain attention in the briefing room (which consisted of Doxia, Allison, Meadolax, Libra, and Vaporis), "I know all of you are dying to check your Facebooks, Twitter accounts, and MySpaces, but we have a mission to discuss here. Now, what was I talking about before I was so rudely interrupted?"

There was a long pause. Finally Allison raised her hand and said, almost meekly, "Ummmm… We weren't interrupting you in the first place. You were talking about the target base specs before you suddenly started shouting about us interrupting you, and Facebook. What's a MySpace?"

Doxia sighed dramatically. "And now I remember how old I am. You listen here young'un…"

"Doxia, I think we can save that for later. Remember that last time we both broke out singing 'Let It Go' during that one summit meeting?" interjected Meadolax from the back of the room.

Doxia sighed again. "Fine. Now, this is the target base. From the info we hacked from the main computer at that last Dukarse base, we triangulated the closest 'new weapon' delivery to this place. Sources say the Dukarse have these deliveries all over their dimensional territory, so we need to act fast to steal it, analyze it, and figure out how to disable it before the Dukarse start a new phase of mobilization. Now… behold our enemies' base!"

Doxia telepathically brought up a holographic projection in front of his, and everyone else's, faces. This base was oil-rig-like just like the last one, but that is where the similarities stopped. The last target base had been similar to a college campus, with several large buildings scattered across the raised platform. This base was like a fortress. It had massive walls, tall spires, and an enormous tower in the center that stretched high up. Missile launchers, proximity turrets, and artillery lined the walls. It looked like a pretty tough place to crack.

Allison raised her hand. However, thanks to their new telepathic link due to project Dual Blade, Doxia knew exactly what she was going to say. "The reason why we are attacking this place specifically, Allison, is because this is the closest to the A.E.S. Intervention – which will be the best starting point – and because it is the closest to Amethyst territory. We really have no other choice but to hit this place, and to hit it hard."

Doxia then telepathically began to bring up different schematics and photos as he explained, "Like the last base, this whole planet is covered with phantom devices and energy shields. Thus, Libra, Allison, Vaporis, and I are going to have to hit this place the hard way: Space-to-Surface Dive-Pods. They will be launched from the A.E.S. Intervention, and will hit the base in formation riiigghhhtttt… here. Since we will be arriving from directly above at high speeds, they will not be ready for us. The moment we arrive, secure the perimeter for Meadolax and disable the AA weapons. With those offline, Meadolax can land on the roof of that largest tower using an ATS Scorpion. At this point, our team of Inquisitors, the Malachi 2 Chapter, will STSDP from the A.E.S. Intervention as well to support Vaporis in holding our perimeter as Allison, Libra and I hit the largest tower from the ground. With Meadolax working his way down through the building, and Allison and I working our way up, we can locate the weapon quickly and then escape through the ATS Scorpion and go pick you guys up."

Libra raised a hand. The moment Doxia gave her the go-ahead nod, she said, "I've been looking at these specs and have seen some disturbing high-level anti-Dimensional-Lord tech. This looks like a tough task for any amount of us in a short time, and we know destroying that galaxy or planet is out of the question. Why do we get the Malachi 2 Chapter? I think, due to the importance of the mission, we should get no less than the John 3 Chapter."

Doxia shook his head. "You just think that because you have a crush on Blue… or Dark… or Sunflower. Anyway, we can't because they are right now assassinating a Barius Warlord who has been lending vast amounts of soldiers to the Dukarse. As for the tech… just keep your head down. Since the beginning of time, only five Dimensional Lords have been killed, and the Heaven Multiverse was severely ticked off each time that happened."

Doxia closed all of the projections with a slight mental push and nodded his head. Class dismissed.

As the room emptied, Doxia strolled up to Allison and threw an arm around her.

Allison shrugged off his arm and said, "I am fine, thanks. And yes, I did check that paperwork for you."

Doxia threw an arm around her again and said, "You know, sometimes being linked to you like this has its advantages and its disadvantages. For example, the disadvantages are that I can hear you mentally raging about my love for the movie Frozen and Totoro. However, these are offset with the advantages of me now know that you still try to sleep at night."

Allison immediately threw off Doxia's arm roughly and turned her back on him. Doxia sighed. "Look, Allison, I wasn't making fun of you. In fact, I am fascinated. Why do you still try to sleep?"

"Sleeping in something I hold dear," muttered Allison, clutching at herself as if she was freezing, "The peace… the quiet… the chance to reflect. I just wish I hadn't been forced to sacrifice it."

Doxia stepped in front of her and gently pressed his visor against hers. Even through both masked helmets were one-way glass and metal, Doxia could see through it. He looked straight into her golden eyes and smiled.

"Hey. I understand how important peace and quiet is to you. And that is why you will never know how appreciative I am of you putting up with me and my babble. That is who I am, and you cannot begin to fathom how grateful I am that you accept me like this. Hey… next time you lay down and try to sleep, let me know, I will try it out with you. Who knows? We might be able to somehow catch a dream… the first lords in just about 500 Billion Years."

Allison slowly reached forward and hugged Doxia. Retaining her humanity was something that she valued highly, but it had been scoffed at by countless Dimensional Lords who considered it worthless in the face of the immortality and omnipotence that they had gained. So, Doxia's acceptance of her and her ways meant a lot to her.

At this point, Meadolax sidled into view and sent Doxia a secret PM that read: "Score Bro… Again! YOLO. Ask her out."

Even though it was a secret PM, Allison could see into Doxia's mind as clearly as he could see into hers, so she read the PM at the same time. She gave Meadolax a pointed glance. Then she realized he had meant for her to see it as well. The two male Dimensional Lords looked at her expectantly. Finally Allison sighed and said, "Doxia. I accept your request. I would love to go on a date with you."

Doxia pumped a fist. Meadolax jumped into the air and shouted, "I am the best match-maker of ALL TIME! Come on guys! Celebrate with me!"

Allison crossed her arms and said, "Please… no."

Doxia immediately straightened up and said, "Get a hold of yourself man! We need to act like gentleman!"

Meadolax stopped hopping up and down, and then bowed low. He then said, in a British accent, "Oh dearie me! Forgive my little bout of hopping and the like. I do bally well like a bit of a hop early in the mornin' though. It's good for the flippin' heart and such. Well… I have to go now. Cherrio!"

Meadolax then shimmered and vanished, having teleported elsewhere. Doxia then opened a portal to the A.E.S. Intervention. He held out a hand to Allison and said, "Time to skedaddle. You with me, buddy?"

Allison quickly gave herself a brushdown with her hands for no reason whatsoever, and then took his hand tentatively. The two then stepped through the portal. Vaporis and Libra were waiting for them.

"Are we ready?" said Libra quietly, "We have the STSDPs ready for launch. The target coordinates are all set, and the Malachi 2 Chapters have set up the underwater nano-scrambler device. The enemy sub-dimension radar and semi-molecular diffusion radios are offline. ETA in thirty second at launch."

Doxia nodded and leapt into his pod. It was one-man, but he motioned Allison to sit next to him anyway. She looked confused, but Doxia quickly said, "Dual Blade. We have to be together."

Allison nodded and stepped into the tight space with him. The pod door shut and the vehicle blasted away at an incredible speed.

Libra and Vaporis quickly leapt into their own respective STSDPs and were off in seconds.

Down at the Dukarse base, two soldiers were standing side-by-side, doing nothing.

"Hey… do you ever wonder why we're here?" said one slowly as he gazed off into the sky.

"What, you mean the answer to life, the universe, and everything?" replied the other one, "You know we solved that a while ago, the answer is…"

"No," interjected the first, "I mean why are we here? I thought we were supposed to be deployed to central HQ, where they were amassing the reserves for all those new weapons we got. Rumor has it, those weapons were given to us by a new uprising interdimensional empire, who has technology beyond even Amethyst."

"Get out!" snorted the second disbelievingly, "EVERYONE knows that Amethyst has all the good goodies! Like yesterday I was talking to my buddy and he was like…"

Then the STSDPs arrived. The shockwave of the pods arriving at incredible velocities sent the two troops flying across the courtyard of the base. In seconds, the alarm was raised and powerful tanks rolled out to engage… but it was too late. They had been taken by surprise.

The doors flew open and Doxia rolled out. He leapt onto his feet and loudly shouted, "HAH! BOOM BABY!"

Allison stumbled forward and shouted, "HAH! BOOM BABY!"

Then she tripped. As she jumped up again, she snapped, "Okay. I did it. Now you have to tell the Special One that we were the ones who broke the A.E.S. Immaculate."

Doxia laughed as he hurled a beam of gravimetric energy, turning the whole battalion of anti-Dimensional-Lord tanks to pancakes. "Okay! Fine! But I had that on video."

Alarms were triggered everywhere, and soldiers ran out, hurling bolts of Dimensional Energy. Doxia dove under a wave and conjured up two high-powered anti-existence carbines. He hoisted them and began to pull the triggers with speed available only to those with super-reflexes. Waves of energy tore through the targets, turning the whole group to dust.

As this was going on, Libra and Vaporis were back-to-back, warding off tracking missiles and destroying groups of hoverpad-mounted Gatling guns. Libra glanced at Vaporis and then spread her wings. Vaporis quickly unleashed a massive seismic blast that caused several smaller concrete security spires to collapse. With this distraction now in the face of the enemies, Libra quickly gained height and assassinated the Gatlin-gun troops on the hoverpads. She then commandeered one and then shape-shifted into an exact replica of one of the troopers manning the guns. She then quickly flew backwards until she was behind the line of deadly tanks pressing in on Vaporis's position. Then she opened up, turning the whole line into dust from behind, where their energy shielding was the weakest.

Doxia and Allison were also fighting side-by-side, clobbering whole battalions of heavily armored soldiers in seconds. Suddenly Doxia grabbed Allison and dove to the ground on a whim. It was lucky for them, because high-powered Dimensional Energy bullets tore through the air above their heads. A long line of snipers were hitting them from a hovering transport carrier some distance out over the sea.

Doxia snorted in frustration as another hail struck the ground a centimeter from his face. Doxia quickly threw up a massive explosion of shadow energy, obscuring the sniper's line of fire. He then turned to Allison and said "When I say 'go,' hurl an energy bolt straight at them."

The shadow cloud began to clear, and Doxia yelled, "Go!"

Allison leapt up and hurled an energy bolt. The transport skipped to the left, narrowly dodging Allison's attack… and headed straight into Doxia's. The transport and all that was inside exploded into flames. Nothing but ash managed to sprinkle into the ocean below as the whole thing dissolved. Doxia then turned a pulled a face as he saw a whole group of powerful mechs bearing down on their position.

These mechs were heavily armored and extremely dangerous… and the enormous group was blocking their path to the main building. Suddenly Doxia had an idea. He opened up a telepathic channel with Meadolax and said, "Change of plans. Have you landed the Scorpion?"

"Sure have buddy! You need some extra backup from little old me?"

"I sure do buddy-numero-uno. Just jump from the building into the courtyard. Land and land hard. The enemies need a little bit more of surprising."

"Righto dude! Check this out! I've been waiting to say this!"

Doxia closed the channel and turned to Allison. "We need to distract them and keep their fronts to us. Meadolax has a little surprise coming up for them."

Allison had already mentally heard what had transpired and nodded. The two released a wave of energy bolts in focused beams at several mechs. Though the mechs had enough power to absorb supernovas, they could not stand up to such a focused attack from beings powerful enough to dissolve a dimension. Two mechs immediately went up in flames and simply shimmered out of existence. The mechs began to really open up with their attacks, but did not break formation. That is… until Meadolax arrived.

Falling from the sky at two-times terminal velocity; he smashed into the ground feet first, causing the whole base to tremble. The mechs tried to turn around, but it was too late. A massive hurricane of power sent the giant robots skimming through the sky like discarded dandelion seeds into the ocean. As the smoke and flames cleared, Meadolax walked through the debris of war and struck a dramatic pose.

"I… am… your… FATHER!" he shouted.

There was a pause. Then Meadolax faceplamed. "Dangit! That was the wrong quote! Rewind! Rewind! Let's try that again!"

Doxia chuckled as he shook his head. "No time buddy! Let's roll! Get back to the top and rig the base's location. We will hit this whole place with a Tyreal's Hand Cannon when we leave. Hopefully the residents of this dimension's earth will not be missing an extra planet, 'cause this place is going up when we finish the mission."

Suddenly wings made of energy and light erupted from Meadolax's back. He spread the blinding wings wide and flapped them swiftly. In a moment he was rocketing back up to the ATS Scorpion parked on the top of the central tower. At this moment, three more STSDPs dropped from the sky, and their doors flew outward. Three heavily armed Inquisition troopers (all colored dark grey) with black Amethyst insignias plastered across their heavily armored chests rushed out and accosted the enemy soldiers nearest to Vaporis. Doxia quickly glanced at Libra and Allison and motioned them to follow him. The three sprinted inside the building and were attacked by heavy wall-mounted turrets.

Doxia swiftly warded off the shells with a miniature black hole as Allison whipped out her sword-guns and hurled them at the obstructing devices. The turrets were slashed off the walls and tumbled, sparking, to the ground.

"I've hacked into the mainframe and gotten control of their systems," said Meadolax over a telepathic link, "The weapon looks to be in the security vaults in the center of the building, where the protection protocols are the heaviest. I can seize control of the elevators and get you three to the hall. From there you guys are going to have to punch your way in."

Doxia quickly waved Allison and Libra into a nearby elevator as he dropped a score of security soldiers with a single gesture. Then he dove in and let Meadolax take control. The elevator took them to the 500th story and opened up. They were immediately accosted by a giant mech. Doxia threw up a shield of solid power, reflecting the hail of deadly energy bolts. He then kicked it forward. The shield smashed into the mech and sent it flying backwards.

It collided with a whole group of troopers and barreled through a wall, taking its massive metal hulk and all those poor soldiers with it.

Then, just as there was a second of silence, a dozen wall-mounted turrets folded from the sides of the hall and opened fire on Doxia and his team. Libra and Allison dove through the hail of energy bolts as Doxia drew the turrets' fire. They quickly disabled the whole group with slashed and cuts of their hand-held weapons, all the while narrowly avoiding any attacks sent their way.

With the turrets gone, the room went quiet again. But just as no more than a seconds-worth of silence had passed, several more armored mechs rose from ground panels. These mechs were armed with Dimensional-Energy charged flamethrowers. They hurled their focused streams of extremely deadly fire straight at Libra and Allison. Libra spread her wings and hurled herself through a window (narrowly avoiding a stream of fire). As she smashed through, she spread her wings and hovered in place, throwing bolts of energy. Allison hit the floor hard, rolled, and then kicked off a wall, spinning through the air. The seven mechs turned their attention to both Libra and Allison to take them out… a vital mistake. Suddenly Doxia uncloaked beside them and erased the whole group from the timeline with a single release of energy. Total destruction. Finally the passageway was quiet once more, and no more trials rose up to oppose the group. Now all that stood in their way was a twelve-meter-thick vault of Vibranium and Adamantium. Doxia blew it open with a single discharge of power.

Inside the vault was a whole plethora of interdimensional relics probably won from raids. In the center was a large metal crate, with unusual, archaic markings covering the whole thing. Doxia cocked his head to once side as he approached it. He gently tapped it and began to press his face to the thing, as if peering into the very depths of the container.

Doxia drew in a sharp breath. "There is something within this that is wrong. This weapon is truly evil."

Allison cocked her head to one side as she saw what was going on within Doxia's mind. Her breathing became labored as she saw Doxia struggling with the readings of his scans. Something inside the crate WAS evil. Pure evil.

Doxia jerked backwards quickly and said, "Enough! We need to get moving. Meadolax is waiting."

He then opened up a telepathic connection with Vaporis and his team. "Vaporis? How are you doing?"

"I'm fine, Doxia," replied Vaporis over the link, "The Inquisitors and I are holding them off. But there seems no end to them! Hurry up, or I might inadvertently blow this whole solar system up, and that would destroy this dimension's timeline forever."

"Understood, old friend," said Doxia briskly, "There will be no dimensions going bye-bye by our hand today! Let's roll out!"

Doxia levitated the crate with the weapon within it and held it by his side. He approached the other side of the vault and kicked the security door at that side as well. Immediately turrets dispatched to assault them, but Doxia released a massive shockwave of power that turned the offending weapons to slag. Doxia strolled down the melting hallway and turned the corner to the elevator. Then he stopped.

A lone guard was standing between him and the exit.

The guard stiffened and held up his shotgun with shaking hands. He was basically threatening a tank with a pea shooter.

The guard shook as he said to Doxia, "Uhhh… Stop! Stop or I'll… um… er… I'll shoot? HQ? This is Johnson of level 500 security. We're going to need a bigger… um… everything."

Doxia leaned close until his visor was a hairsbreadth from the guard's visor. Then Doxia simply said, "Boo."

With a yelp, the guard leapt through a nearby window screaming, "Iimmediatelyregretthisdescision!"

Chuckling, Doxia strolled up to the elevator and opened it up. He, then the crate, then Allison, and then Libra bundled themselves into the thing. The lights flickered as Meadolax took control of the systems once more, and the elevator began to rise. Then it stopped.

Doxia snorted. "Meadolax? Hello? Remember the part where we rise to the top like majestic chickens and fly away into the sunset in the Scorpion?"

"Yeah, I remember the majestic chickens part, but I thought we had agreed that pigeons would be better," said Meadolax, who sounded unworried, "It looks like the Dukarse dudes have gotten a huge group of peeps to cut through the elevator's maglev system. You will be falling in less than ten seconds, so here is what I'm going to do: blow a hole through the elevator and the shaft and dive out. As you are falling, I will fly the Scorpion down like a hawk and scoop the crate up in the cargo hold along with Libra. You and Allison, will hit the ground as hard as you can… and rupture the whole planet. Coolio?"

Doxia chuckled. "Your coolio has never been more cool, my friend. Let's do this!"

At that very moment, the elevator dropped and the group within the elevator began to float. Doxia then shouted, "Libra! You and the crate are going to take a little trip outside!"

"What?!" yelled Libra, "No! I am not leaving you two!"

"Whatever! Nose goes!" roared Doxia back. He and Allison quickly touched their noses.

Libra blinked. Then she yelled, "What is that supposed to-"

She didn't get through the entire sentence, because Doxia interjected, loudly, "You lose!"

He then blew a hole in the side of the elevator and the elevator shaft with a blast of explosive energy. He then shoved Libra (and the crate) out. The two were immediately sucked out into the air.

Libra seized the crate and spread her energy wings. However, she only had to glide airborne for a couple seconds before the ATS Scorpion (piloted by Meadolax) whizzed down with several Dukarse jetpack troops hot on the trail. Libra went into a dive once more, and Meadolax expertly piloted the Scorpion in front of her. She barreled into the dropship bay. Meadolax then performed an incredible spin, completing a 180-degrees turn in a millisecond. The jetpack troops tried hard to pull away, but it was too late. Meadolax turned them to dust with a hail of energy bolts from the Scorpion. He then shot off into the sky with blinding speed.

Doxia and Allison continued to fall.

"You ready?" shouted Doxia. Allison nodded. Then Doxia held out a hand. Allison glanced in surprise at the gesture. However, after a moment of confusion, she reached forward and gently took it. The two fell at thrice the speed of terminal velocity.

"Vaporis! I suggest you and the Inquisitors get off the ground!" shouted Doxia, "We're coming in hard!"

On the ground, Vaporis quickly signaled for Inquisitors to follow him. They shot off into the sky.

Silence fell on the battle-scarred courtyard.

"Aha! You better run!" shouted one of the soldiers gleefully. Then he froze. "Ummm… Why did everyone go so quiet?"

Then Doxia and Allison struck the ground with incredible force. The whole base and the whole planet shattered with a massive explosion of power.

Doxia and Allison floated amidst the debris, looking around at the asteroids and chunks of rocks that represented the grave of the planet.

"We exploded the bad guys successfully," said Doxia telepathically to Meadolax, "Come pick us up, big guy."

In a moment, the ATS Scorpion appeared from behind one of the larger of the colossal rocks, and rocketed towards them. It pulled up next to them and unlocked a docking bay. Doxia and Allison quickly entered, and the Scorpion shot away.

In two hours, Doxia, Allison, Meadolax, the Amethyst Empire Special One, and Mattimeo stood together, awaiting the lab reports on the weapon.

"It looked like some kind of bomb," mused Doxia to Mattimeo, "I really couldn't tell. Maybe some kind of multi-dimensional nuke?"

"That isn't what I'm worried about," said Meadolax, not sounding worried at all, "What really caught my eye was the strange aura that surrounded the weapon. Is it just me… or did it feel… EVIL?"

"Yeah! That is what bothered me as well!" exclaimed Doxia (also not sounding bothered at all), "There is something wrong!"

"Well, from my own personal scans, the weapon actually looks like some kind of container," said the Special One quietly, "There are no forms of deadly explosives known to us in there, and that is what personally bothers me. We know of every natural and man-made element ever to exist anywhere in the multiverse, and yet whatever is inside that weapon does not hit our scanners. If that is true, then why has the Dukarse Empire gone through such great lengths to protect it? I suppose we will find out soon…"

At that moment, everyone in the room received an update from the lab detailing all of the information discovered from the test.

"This… this doesn't make any sense," muttered Doxia, who NOW sounded worried, "What does this even mean?"

Suddenly the Special One slammed his fist hard on the table, smashing it into shards. Everyone looked at him as he drew in a sharp breath.

"Maelstrom," he whispered, "This bomb contains Maelstrom. The devices are set to explode tomorrow. And when they do, all Dukarse soldiers assembled will be infected. The Maelstrom is upon us. We have no time to prepare."

Note: And here was the latest of the flashbacks! What did you think of it? Do you want more like this? Now, please give me reviews! Lots and lots of them! If you give me reviews, I will give you a tank. Remember, tanks are useful, since if you have one, the other person's argument is invalid. Thanks!