"When the time comes and disaster strikes, he arrives. He, the son of the sacrificed, shall walk amongst us once again in our most desperate hours, as he has always. For he is the guardian cast from Elysium who gave the fallen knight a second chance. Those who've wronged the Earth shall soon be met with fear as they recognize the title heard across the stars. The Time Sweeper." - Elysium 4:18
DUST AND THE SWEEPER: BLiNX AND THE KNIGHTS OF ELYSIUM
Chapter 19 - Knighted We Stand
All was quiet at the border of the isle. Chron stood atop a boulder in the middle of the river with a low tide. Low enough that the rocks are clear to traverse through to the other side past the isle headgate. Those at the command station reported in, monitoring the rest of the area from their computers with Blinx, Aniki, Dust, and Haley at the helm.
"Everything's clear here, sir," said the observer over the radio. "Just seeing a lotta purple hues in the sky and the rest of outer space."
"It wasn't like that hours ago," Aniki replied from the portable station.
Blinx faced the commander, "Nah, but it was when we were out dere traveling. Guess that means it's not safe here anymore…"
"Has it already been two days," Haley asked.
"Eh, it sure feels like it's been a lot longer…"
SHOOM
All the monitors displayed a warning of an impending storm the instant the earthquake began. A Time Wave started distorting the environment from across the river to the isle, causing aspects of time itself to warp! Suddenly, parts of an old civilization began reappearing and clipping into forest areas, from golden arches meshed with trees to giant gears merging with stone! The Time Sweepers quickly used their Sweepers to try and protect everyone from the effects, with even some Moonblood mages taking a stand to use their magic like a shield. However, it was Aegis who showed the most capability. The Administrator hovered from the isle pool and rewound time on the clock on his waist. Reality slowed to a crawl, then rewound back to before the spike by a few hours. But with such an act, he had also fallen into Trio's trap.
She watched over the planet from his lair, shrouded in darkness, and commented, "Shoot. You went an' did exactly what I wanted you to."
Suddenly, the energy spike seemed to repeat itself, and the Administrator shielded the isle from the Time Wave. However, his clock's constant slowing and rewinding quickly drained his usefulness as he descended back to Earth. Fortunately, the power surge stopped, and he continued to stand upright, healthy but spent. Blinx and the others arrived just outside the station to check on him, aided by Ori, Fidget, Ginger, Fale, and Princess Lena.
"Yo boss," Blinx called out. "You alright?"
"I am," he answered. "But I am unable to use anymore of my Sweeping abilities until I can fully recharge."
The Princess' eyes lit up. "Trio must've done all that to keep you busy. Guess she knows about your upgrades, huh?"
Ahrah further explained, "Since Aegis uses the same material as an Elysian Blade, he has access to divine abilities many of us do not. Along with Lady Tethys, he is as much of a threat to Trio as we are."
"And Tethys still ain't 100%," Fale added.
"Sounds like if we're gonna get everyone to Edinmire soon, we're gonna have to get a move on, won't we Aegis," Dust asked him.
The Administrator nodded, "Correct."
"There's a loooooootta people out here, y'know," Fidget retorted.
"And plenty of targets for Trio, yeah," Dust agreed. "That's why we're going out there first to destroy those heavy cannons."
Hearing that and agreeing with the rest of the crew, Aniki got on the radio from his wrist communicator and announced...
"Alright, men, listen up! Change of plans. Trio's drained the Admin and we've still gotta gather our resources for the upcoming trip. The Knights of Elysium're gonna head out and destroy those antiaircraft guns. I want a small squad to go with 'em to help. The rest of you, get to work finishing our equipment. You got that Time Sweepers?"
Those nearby and around the forest simultaneously went, "GOT IT!"
"Hm, Knights of Elysium ain't half bad," Blinx commented.
"Better than the name I came up with," said Fidget. "I called us the Barefoot Six but you and Dust wear shoes."
HEADS UP!
The whole group's attention was abruptly shifted towards the entrance to the base. Several Guard Sweepers and Warmbloods scurried away from the sea wall as an ominous black void formed at the center of it. Dust and Blinx immediately readied their Sweeper and Elysian blade when they noticed a familiar sight. The tentacle-like cables replacing the arms of a once living, breathing feline slithered out of the darkened time portal. Slowly, the decayed face of the great warrior from another universe pulled out, along with her tattered cloak and oozing torso, overlayed by a starry void.
Mortified by the sight of the being's exposed teeth and hollow black eyes, Blinx nearly uttered, "What the…?!"
"WHAT IS THAT," Fidget screamed and pointed!
Dust explained, "That's what we had to go through to reset the timeline so we could stop the regime from happening. But she should be back in the Toonverse…!"
"Perhaps Trio extracted her from another timeline," the sword suggested.
"Precisely," said Aegis.
Ginger faced the rest of the gang with her fists tightened in anticipation, asking, "Do you know what she does other than looking scary?"
"She'll explode and take the universe with it," Blinx answered.
"…Oh."
Haley put away her hammer and wondered, "So uh… How do defuse the living bomb? We can't just hit her or she'll go off. Don't do anything and she'll still go off."
"Last time we fought, our boy Max put her soul back in her body," said Blinx.
"What…?"
"Too much to get into. But I got an idea. Picaro, Chron, Aniki, you got yer sweepers ready?"
Aniki pulled his off his back and said, "Right here."
Likewise, Picaro readied his and replied, "On it!"
"This better be good," said Chron.
The morbid entity rose further and lifted its wires off the ground. The black hole in its torso started glowing into an eerie bright red, and what remained of the beast's eyes lit up. The wind picked up, and the time sweepers all prepared their sweepers, aiming at her with a countdown.
"3…2…1…REVERSI!"
With the time guns going off simultaneously, reality distorted, and the creature returned to ground level, deactivating as it lowered its arms and rested against a nearby tree. Its tiny white pupils power down, and it lowers its head.
Picaro smirked. "Did you just yell, 'Reversi?"
"I'm tryin' to add some humor, man," Blinx answered. "That thing's freaky."
Suddenly, the void in the corpse's stomach started echoing. A familiar, accented voice spoke through, alerting the rest of the gang.
"Shoot…! I was startin' to think that was overkill, but…I'm surprised y'all actually did it!"
Ahrah verbally scowled, "I thought you said you were looking forward to seeing us…!"
"I did. That was just a warmup. An' Aegis, looks like you already got acquainted with yer new form if you could tell what's goin' on with the corpse here. I don't even know where it came from, but it's a good lil' taste for what's gonna go down in a bit."
Fidget screamed, "You're gonna throw zombies at us?!"
"Eeeeeh... You'll see."
As the goddess' voice faded, the lot could finally approach the vessel's body, keeping their guard the closer they got.
"She's treating this like it's a video game," Picaro commented.
"Well...it is," said the Nimbat.
Mayor Bram, having seen the action from a safe distance, walks up to everyone and tells them, "If she isn't a threat anymore, we can hold her here. Just, uh…gonna be sure to stay fifty feet away from her."
Fale said, "I'm just surprised Trio's pluckin' folk from other universes now."
"Wouldn't be a first," Aniki explained. "We once sent a Time Sweeper to observe what sounds like the same place this critter came from, but they never reported back. Probably got assimilated into the universe. Can't let that happen again."
Dust nodded, "We won't. Time to go through with the plan. Is the ship ready?"
Haley smiled, "It sure is!"