~~000~~
Tales of the Multiverse Bit 175
Maki! Take some pictures of me!
Why should I?
As Nico Yazawa and Maki Nishikino got into a light argument, Hanayo Koizumi and Rin Hoshizora noticed a small dust devil forming underneath Nico's feet and before anyone could react, the dust devil turned into a mini-tornado and Nico is caught within it, much to the girls' shock.
~~000~~
After Tadakuni and Paletta returned from the Moon's realm, the members of Grand Empire's Team B, consisting of Bubbles Utonium, Darkwing Duck, Dib Membrane, Golem Head, Hinomaru Izumo, Johnny Test, Mahoro Andou, Poppy the Popplio, Tadakuni and Zoe Orimoto alongside Ran the Warrior and Paletta, continues on their way towards the next town.
"You hired a drug addict instead of that beautiful chicana?" Johnny questioned in disbelief, "My God, GH, how badly did you want that woman?" he asked.
"Now, just hold on here." Golem Head interrupted, "Ditop's credentials are top-notch, even if they are from the nonprofit sector." he argued, "Six months at Helping Hands Institute and one year at Covenant Place." he quoted.
"Those are detox centers." Mahoro pointed out.
"Centers?" Golem Head uttered, "No, look right here!" he demanded, "Institute." he corrected, "Place." he added.
"GH, you're in denial." Dib pointed out with a blank look.
"Yeah, GH." Bubbles said in agreement, "You're what Too Tall Jones called 'a codependent enabler'." she commented.
"Well, Ditop does do a lot of vomiting, even for a new employee." Golem Head admitted.
"Do you have any idea what these guys are talking about?" Ran questioned in confusion.
Drake shook his head, "It's better not knowing." he replied.
The group kept moving forward while climbing down the mountain at the same time until they reached a wooden bridge with a hooded figure standing before it.
"Who the hell is this guy?" Johnny questioned.
"Must be a guard or something." Zoe assumed.
The hooded figure then noticed their presence, "Do you have a permit to enter the town?" he inquired, "If not, please leave." he beckoned, "You shouldn't be here." he declared.
And all of a sudden, Hinomaru outstretch his arms forwards and punches the hooded figure on the face, knocking him out cold while falling down to the ground.
"You know..." Tadakuni uttered, "... we could just have Paletta put him to sleep." he stated.
"Sorry." Hinomaru apologized, "Just want to get this over with." he admitted.
"Let's get going." Drake beckoned.
The group then proceeds to walk across the wooden bridge while leaving the unconscious hooded figure behind and after a few minutes of walking, the group arrives at another town by the end of the bridge where another hooded figure took notice of their arrival and immediately walked towards them.
"Hello there." the hooded figure greeted, "We haven't had visitors in our town in a long time." he admitted, "Who might you be?" he asked.
The group then proceeds to introduce themselves.
"I see..." the hooded figure uttered, "... you're here for our shards." he mentioned, "Right this way." he beckoned.
The hooded figure then led the group in the middle of the town when all of a sudden a large cage is dropped upon them, much to their shock.
"Hey! What the?!" Johnny exclaimed.
"Shit!" Drake cursed, "He led us to a trap!" he pointed out.
"We have heard of you." the hooded figure said, "You shouldn't have come here." he chastised, "Now stay there and rot." he declared before walking off.
"Hey! Hey!" Johnny called out while grabbing a pair of bars, "Get back here you son of a bitch!" he demanded.
"This is not good." Ran uttered in dismay.
Golem Head then sat on the ground in a fetal position, "What will become of us?" he uttered out loud, "Are we going to rot in this cage for the rest of our miserable lives?" he asked while rocking back and forth.
"I would have berated you but in this kind of situation, your reaction is justified." Dib stated.
Bubbles then noticed another cage right next to them and inside the aforementioned structure is a lone figure.
The figure is a boy with a short and petite appearance, he had a short orange-brown hair and he had red-colored eyes. He wears a red capelet with a cat-eared hood and a yellow halo-like logo on the forehead area, he wears a red long-sleeve tunic with white cuffs and wears black pants.
"Hey look!" Bubbles called out, "We had a neighbor!" she pointed out.
Everyone then turns their attention to the boy in the cage right next to them, "Um, hi?" Ran greeted nervously.
The boy then turns to them, "He kept talking about a group collecting the shards." he mentioned, "That must be you people." he assumed, "I'm Berry." he introduced himself, "The red shard bearer." he revealed, "And I want to get rid of the shard." he admitted.
Shard of Rage
Berry
"Get rid of the shard?" Zoe uttered in surprise, "But why?" she asked.
"Who are you exactly?" Berry asked back, "Why are you collecting the shards?" he furthered, "What are you trying to achieve?" he concluded.
"We had different reasons but collecting the shards is very important." Tadakuni replied.
"I wish I could welcome you all to my town..." Berry expressed, "... but this town isn't anyone's town but his now." he revealed, "I didn't think anything good could come from these shards but here you are..." he admitted, "I don't want this-the shard of rage." he confessed, "It caused me nothing but grief." he shared, "But before I go..." he uttered, "I need you to..." he trailed, "I need you to do a favor for me." he clarified, "This shard..." he mentioned, "It fell here and chose me." he said, "Out of all the people, it decided to curse me." he complained, "I have been imprisoned here ever since." he pointed out, "It has brought me nothing but misery." he voiced out, "Please free me from this shard." he pleaded, "From this prison." he emphasized, "I need you to kill my father for me." he beckoned.
His favor has taken everyone aback, "What?" Mahoro uttered in shock.
"Okay..." Johnny uttered, "... this started off as a nice normal story." he commented.
"My father is the one keeping me here." Berry revealed, "He wants to collect all the shards for himself and use their powers for their own greed." he explained, "You can see him walking around." he pointed out, "Don't get caught by him." he warned, "So please." he pleaded, "Please." he cried, "You people are the only one who can help me." he said.
"What should we do, guys?" Zoe asked in concern.
"Maybe Paletta and I should meet up with the Moon and asked for advice." Tadakuni suggested.
Drake nodded in response, "Then please do it." he beckoned.
And a blink of an eye, Tadakuni and Paletta found themselves back in the strange area which consists of a white and dark-blue colored schemed walls with white flowing curtains, and down below them is a long flight of stairs.
"This doesn't seem good." the Moon admitted in concern, "I'm sorry my dear children." it apologized, "I never meant to send you all to a place like this." it admitted, "I cannot even help you in any way from up here..." it admitted, "Please, stay safe." it advised.
Tadakuni and Paletta then approaches Auri whom is shaking in anxiety.
Tadakuni and Paletta then approaches Rosa, "Berry..." the pink-colored maiden uttered, "... I know him." she said, "I didn't..." she trailed, "I need to stay strong, Berry will be fine." she assured to herself, "Please make sure that he's fine." she pleaded.
Tadakuni and Paletta then approaches Rie, "Wow..." the green-colored boy uttered, "The shards being separated really is bad." he commented, "We need to get out of here." he beckoned.
Tadakuni and Paletta then approaches Bre, "It's unfair." the blue girl complained, "Life is so unfair." she furthered.
And with that, Tadakuni and Paletta climbs down the stairs and in a bright flash of light, the two are gone from the Moon's interior and the two are now back inside the cage where the rest are waiting for them.
"So, how was it?" Dib asked.
Tadakuni shook his head, "We had no choice but to kill Berry's good for nothing father." he replied.
"Son of a bitch." Drake cursed.
"So..." Johnny uttered, "... who'll go out there and assassinate hood boy's erpats?" he asked.
Tadakuni stood up, "I'll do it." he volunteered.
"Are you sure about this, Tadakuni?" Bubbles asked in concern.
Tadakuni smiled in response, "Better be me than Paletta." he replied while patting the aforementioned girl's head whom looks at him in worry.
Tadakuni then looks around and noticed a pretty wide gap between two bars, he immediately squeezed his way out of the cage and then activating his powers to conceal his presence, the normal high school boy then began to walk around while finding a way to eliminate Berry's father.
Thinking fast, Tadakuni looks around and noticed a lot of graves right next to each houses, he then went to a higher ground and noticed a cauldron filled with food. Tadakuni then thought of poisoning Berry's father but discarded the idea when he realized that he might accidentally poisoned the other members of the town.
Walking far ahead while looking back to see Berry's father strolling around down below, Tadakuni then noticed a large crate next to an edge when an idea came to mind.
Tadakuni stood behind the crate and waited for the man to walk along his line of view and when the man gotten closer, Tadakuni immediately pushed the crate off the edge and it fell on top of the man, crushing and killing him on the process, blood splattered underneath the large object and to his relief, he doesn't see any dismembered body parts scattered around the crate.
Tadakuni stood in silence for a couple of minutes and is shaking at the same time while comprehending the fact that he just killed a person, he then took a deep breath and then walking off.
"It is what I had to do." Tadakuni uttered in justification.
Upon finding the keys to the cages, Tadakuni made his way back to his friends & Berry and immediately frees them from their captivity, much to their relief.
"Is he gone?" Berry asked.
Tadakuni nodded in response, "Yeah." he confirmed.
"You okay, Tadakuni?" Mahoro asked in concern.
"I'm fine." Tadakuni reassured, "I'm a little shaken to be honest but it has to be done." he stated.
"I see..." Berry uttered, "... thank you." he expressed in gratitude.
Berry then hands the shard to Paletta and upon doing so, there was brief flash of light and the next thing everyone know the whole town gained its color and everything are now sporting a bright red color while Berry disappeared without a trace, much to everyone's surprise and awe.
"I'm seeing red." Johnny commented.
"Oofa, this one kinda hurts my eyes." Zoe admitted.
"Don't you think it looks a bit tacky?" Mahoro pointed out.
"How does gaining the color red made it tacky?" Bubbles questioned in disbelief.
Paletta then turns to Tadakuni, "What is it, Paletta?" he inquired and she responded with a few blinks of her eyes, "You want to talk to Moon?" he mentioned to which she nodded in response, "Alright." he conceded, "Guys!" he called out, "Paletta and I are going to talk to Moon for a bit." he stated.
Drake nodded in response, "Go on, we'll wait here." he replied.
And a blink of an eye, Tadakuni and Paletta found themselves back in the strange area which consists of a white and dark-blue colored schemed walls with white flowing curtains, and down below them is a long flight of stairs.
But the difference this time is that the color red is added and Berry had joined Rosa, Auri, Bre and Rie.
"Thank you for doing this, Paletta and Tadakuni." the Moon said in gratitude, "You all don't need to do any of this, if you don't want to." it pointed out, "I hope you understand that." it expressed.
Tadakuni and Paletta then approaches Berry, "Hello, you two." the hooded boy greeted, "I'm happy to see you both again." he expressed, "Thank you for helping me, again." he expressed in gratitude, "It was what needed to be done." he justified, "You know, when the shard flew to our town, I realized that the power it gave me could be used to help people." he shared, "Healing was something we needed at that time." he pointed out, "And it worked-everyone got better." he admitted, "But my mother got worse and my father..." he trailed, "Why do people fight when they disagree?" he questioned, "If we just listened and tried to understand each other, I think that everything would be better." he stated, "I want everyone to achieve happiness." he expressed when his father came to mind, "Well, almost everyone." he corrected, "Some people don't deserve to be agreed with." he admitted.
Tadakuni and Paletta then approaches Rie, "New child!" the green-colored boy cheered, "We were ill, before the shards fell, so we didn't get to travel around." he shared, "It's so nice to talk to people from other towns!" he expressed in joy.
Tadakuni and Paletta then approaches Bre, "It's unfair." the blue girl complained, "Life is so unfair." she furthered.
Tadakuni and Paletta then approaches Auri, "I hadn't even realized how badly the crown being broken had affected the kingdom." the shapeshifter admitted, "I'm glad you all came to help us." he expressed in gratitude.
Tadakuni and Paletta then approaches Rosa, "I'm so glad Berry is okay." the pink-colored maiden expressed in relief, "Thank you." she said in gratitude, "We are only missing the Shard of Disgust, the Shade Shard." she mentioned, "They say that it disappeared with the thief..." she shared, "No one knows where they went, though." she said, "No one even saw them on the night that the crown broke." she furthered, "The only person leaving the castle was the princess." she pointed out, "Princess Chroma..." she uttered, "I hope she's fine." she expressed in concern.
And with that, Tadakuni and Paletta climbs down the stairs and in a bright flash of light, the two are gone from the Moon's interior.
A/N: Inspired from someonestupED, damnlastwords, Jamesdean5842, Hope the Victor and Ace Neptune. All OCs and concepts not created by moi were given permission for me to use by it's respected creators.