"Hmm... something about this place looks familiar to me..." Cherry commented to herself.
"Not sure how it is for you since I lived here my whole life as far as you know." Mike replied as she sounded different now.
Lionel squinted at that. "...curious."
"Tell me about it." Cherry agreed.
"You guys should see the view from the roof," Jen suggested. "It's amazing, isn't it, Mike?"
"You said it, Jen," Mike agreed with her sister before she looked a little soft. "I just wish Mom and Dad could be here to meet Lu and Og." she then said as sad violin music began to play out of nowhere.
"Oh, I know, Mike, we miss them too, especially when you went away on the island." Jen replied as she hugged her little sister.
Jamie bore a grave look on his face as Mike and Jen hugged each other.
"You guys remember that my parents died when I was little and that Jen and Jamie are my only family, right?" Mike asked Lu and Og.
"Yeah, I didn't think much of it though." Lu shrugged.
"That's even weirder," Og said to Cherry and Lionel. "I know for a fact that Mike's mentioned her parents a few times and has even written to them on occasion like when she tried to denounce her destiny to become The Island Nose for the First Day of Spring since she was our guest."
"I have no idea what that second part means, but whatever," Cherry shrugged. "Seems like they're milking up some drama about dead parents we haven't even met, I mean, no offense." she then added.
"None taken," shrugged Lionel. "Not to mention, the 'boo-hoo-hoo' melodramatic violin? Sheesh!"
"Yeah, that was sad, but that was kind of a pathetic way to make us feel sorry for the situation." Cherry commented.
Soon, they rode in an elevator to get to the rooftop of the building where there was a group of gargoyles, sitting together like in Notre Dame.
"Reminds me of that time I went to Notre Dame," Cherry commented, glancing at her adventure scrapbook, showing Lionel the gargoyles there. "That's Victor, Hugo, and Laverne." she then told him.
"Oh, neat!" Lionel commented.
"Mm-hmm." Cherry nodded.
"So, what're we doing up here?" Lu asked before she came to the end of the rooftop. "Is this so the people of New York City can see a real life island princess in person?"
"Uh, actually, we came here to show you-" Jamie began to say.
"Let her have her moment." Mike advised as the sun began to go down.
"ATTENTION, NEW YORK CITY!" Lu said aloud with her hands around her mouth to make her voice echo. "I AM THE PRINCESS LU FROM THE ALBONQUETINE ISLAND! IT IS AN HONOR FOR ALL OF YOU TO MEET ME!"
"HEY! Shove it, brat!" A man's voice yelled from the distance.
"YES!" Lu beamed as she took that as a compliment. "THE SAME TO YOU!"
Lionel chuckled.
"...you were saying, Jamie?" asked Mike.
Jamie groaned and face-palmed a bit at what Lu did. "So, anyway, this place isn't like other places... we started to notice this sometime after you went on that tropical island after you told your school where you wanted to go to avoid suspension." he then began to explain to Mike.
"Is that how it happened?" Og asked, though he sounded dubious.
Lu shrugged in response to that.
"There's a legend to this building that's about to come true and it's time to learn about... The Manhattan Clan." Jamie continued to say before grinning, almost wolfishly.
Lionel and Cherry glanced at each other, curious.
"Okay, this story has more holes than a piece of swiss cheese." remarked Cherry.
"You're telling me!" Lionel replied. "I read Mike came to the island cuz of an exchange program!"
"Oh, she did, but there's a lot more to it than that, in fact, look at that." Jamie said as he pointed into the blue violet night sky.
The sun went down and soon the moon came up as the gargoyles on the statue began to shatter from their rock forms and come to life.
"WAH! MONSTERS! They're gonna get us!" Cherry panicked, sounding out of character for a moment until she slapped herself in the face suddenly. "Whoa, what just happened there? I'm not a coward." she then complained to herself.
"Is that strange?" Og asked Lionel.
"Yeah, I mean, Cherry's a cautious person, but she's not afraid of her own shadow," Lionel explained. "She might back out, but she's learned to overcome that, so it feels like someone is controlling Cherry without her consent and somehow I feel like it's not just Cherry being a bit OOC: or out of character as we Tropers would call it."
"Hmm..." Og hummed in thought and nodded as he took Lionel's words to good use.
"Meet The Manhattan Clan." Jamie introduced, gesturing to each of the gargoyles who began to come to life with the power of moonlight.
"Coming to life by moonlight." Lu commented.
"Just like The Sailor Scouts." Mike added.
"Uh, no, that's not how that works." Cherry groaned and deadpanned.
Each of the Gargoyles yawned and stretched as they limbered up.
"Man, that was a heck of a nap," groaned the blue one. "I'm famished!"
Jen and Jamie smiled as they began to introduce Mike to the Manhattan Clan. Lu looked grossed out at first, though she stayed further away from the gargoyles.
"Well, looks like nothing wrong can happen here..." Cherry remarked with her hands on her hips.
However, as she said that, a portal opened up to show random robots set out for destruction.
"I know I probably jinxed that, but I knew something bad just had to happen." Cherry then said in defense.
But as we know, some of these were Vilgax and Aku's robots from the spaceship.
"A-ha!" Lionel commented as he stared at the above line of text. "So that's where they've come from, eh?"
Maybe?
"Maybe my butt," Cherry rolled her eyes before smirking. "Looks like we got some kinda crossover on our hands, Lionel, and it's not just The Manhattan Clan meeting Mike, Lu, and Og."
"I'm just surprised people know who we are." Lu commented to herself.
"Only a select few." Og remarked to his cousin.
"Then the only way to get answers is to kick some ro-butt!" Lionel declared. "Unless the narration is going to give us a clue."
Why would I tell you that defeating the robots is what would help you get teleported to their spaceship?
"Ha-HAAH!" Lionel grinned. "Didja get all that?"
Oh, blast!
"Got it." Cherry smirked as she had her notebook handy.
Well, looks like we're all screwed now.
"All right then, let's do this thing." Cherry then said to Lionel as she looked determined and ready to go.
"Aye-aye!" Lionel agreed as he took out some of his old Batarangs.
Cherry cracked her knuckles as she got ready. "Okay, guys, don't worry, we can handle-" she then began to say.
Suddenly, the howl of a wolf was heard as Mike rushed by, glaring in determination to beat up the robots.
"This...?" Cherry finished weakly.
"Help us, Mike! You're our only hope! Og, tell me when it's over!" Lu cried out as she hugged her cousin.
Jen and Jamie smirked before blending into the shadows while Mike fought the robots.
"Say, what's going on here?" The fat gargoyle asked out of confusion.
"I have no idea, but it seems like Mike Mazinsky just turned into a wolf for no reason." Cherry replied.
"Well, this is gonna get annoying," Lionel commented. "...besides, don't worry, fellas; we'll do a story for you guys another time."
"Yes, I can tell that this wasn't supposed to happen," Goliath remarked and nodded. "Just seems like wasted potential at the moment."
"Oh, believe me, I know." Cherry replied as Mike defeated the robots.
"Haha!" Mike smirked as she won until a robot part hit her in the head. "Ow!"
"MIKE!" Og cried out before he dashed over to the redheaded tomboy. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I think so, I just feel like I got hit by a truck..." Mike groaned as she held her head and seemed to be going back to normal. "Something feels kinda weird around here. What?" she then muttered before seeing Jen and Jamie.
"Don't worry, Mike, it's us, your big brother and sister since we lost our parents when you were young." Jen said innocently.
"Everything's gonna be okay for you, Lu, and Og from now on." Jamie added before he seemed to push a button on a remote to capture the trio of kids and send them somewhere else.
"Lionel, we gotta go after them, I don't like the looks of this." Cherry warned her partner in crime.
"Neither do I!" Lionel replied as he grabbed onto Cherry and leapt after Mike, Lu and Og, as they suddenly vanished in a teleportation beam.
Soon, the five ended up in a tube together, surrounded by several other characters from an "alternate Toonyverse".
"What's going on here?" Mike wondered.
"Dunno." Og replied.
"Hey, good lookin', what's cookin'?" Eddy smirked at the sight of Mike.
"Finally, some service around here!" Lu smirked back at Eddy. "I, The Princess Lu, shall claim you as one of my many husbands."
"I ain't talkin' to YOU, Monkey Girl." Eddy scoffed at her.
"Eddy, get ahold of yourself!" Double D insisted. "What about our actual girlfriends?"
Eddy shook his head. "Ugh... that was weird..." he replied. "Thanks for that."
"What happened?" Ed asked.
"I dunno, but I really didn't like it." Eddy replied.
"What're we doing here?" Double D asked.
"I feel like we might find out sooner or later." Cherry replied mysteriously as the villains relished in their victory.
"Phase 1 complete! The champions are imprisoned and in our power!" Aku beamed. "The League of Extraordinary Villains is triumphant and soon the universe will be ours!"
"Sure it will." Mandark scoffed at first.
"Come, Apprentice Mandark! To the robotics lab!" declared Aku. "We must complete the robot templates for our invasion force!"
"MY quota has been met, Aku!" remarked Vilgax. "MY robots are ready for re-imaging and new input!"
"Anything beats their old input..." Mandark muttered under his breath as he walked off.
"MY robots are more... internally complex," explained Aku as he shifted into his flight form. "Their superior design makes them the perfect templates, Vilgax. You simply can't beat a demon-powered robot!"
"I, Mojo Jojo, engineering genius, whose ability to create mechanical marvels will make even more astounding-" Mojo began to say.
"We have quite enough robots for now, Mojo Jojo. Perhaps you could busy yourself with tracking our robot servants who have been missing," Aku replied, sounding slightly irked. "Oh, and place a few guards outside as well... There's a good monkey!"
Mojo grumbled at that while Mandark just smirked at the idea of even Mojo having it rougher than him in the villain department.
"Treated like a second-class villain!" Bubbles frowned to see her chimp arch enemy in such a state.
"By a squid-faced alien, shape-shifting demon, and a pipsqueak human psycho villain pretender!" Mojo added as he groused. It's species discrimination. Robots, guard the door!" he then commanded before wearily sighing to himself.
"Speaking of which, maybe we'll find out what happened to them while trying to get outta here." Lionel muttered.
"Yeah, it might be interesting." Cherry remarked.
"Say! You two aren't supposed to be apart of this!" Mojo glared at Cherry and Lionel. "Why are you intruding? Are you hoping to conspire against these heroes as well?" he then wondered.
"Whoa! Dream on, Monkey Butt, the last thing I wanna be is held hostage, but what I wanna know is what you villains are up to." Cherry retorted and defended.
"Ditto!" Lionel replied.
Mojo chuckled wickedly at them before pointing at them in mockery. "Like I, Mojo Jojo, would tell you the secret origin, story, and anything else about the robots such as where they could be right now!" he then said with a smirk.
Maybe not, but I can!
"What? Who said that?" asked Mojo.
I'm the narrator, wiseguy.
"Get used to it," Cherry told Mojo. "We were victims of him as well."
Well, apparently I did you two a favor since you had nothing going on with your story about the most forgettable cartoon characters in the history of Cartoon Network.
"Watch it, buddy," Cherry glared. "Mike, Lu, & Og might not have the strongest fanbase out there, but Lionel and I still at least remember them and find their adventures mostly enjoyable."
"Yeah!" chimed in Lionel.
Alright, alright. Since you'd like to know how this whole mess began, I guess I could fill you in.
FLASHBACK!
An undisclosed amount of time ago, Aku was directing his robots with the construction of something. "The Warp Cell goes there! Handle it carefully!" he instructed. "Until it's installed, its energy is unstable!"
"MASTER AKU, IT DOES NOT FIT." said one of the robots as it attempted to fit the Warp Cell into the socket.
"That is because you placed it UPSIDE-DOWN!" shouted Aku.
There was then a HUGE EXPLOSION! BOOM!
"NOOOO!" Aku yelled out as this looked very bad for him. "How can I expect to rule the universe when I'm served by idiots?!"
Eventually, the destruction cleared and everyone began to adjust back to normal terms, but for many, adjusting was a struggle itself with a villainous boss.
"Powering my robots with Oni alone isn't working! Those spirits are worthless! No wonder Samurai Jack always defeats them!" Aku began to rant to himself as a fireball appeared in the palm of his hand. "There must be another way! Perhaps, out there, there are others I can use..." he then stopped and pondered until he was soon greeted by a mutated chimp with his inter-dimensional portals. "Ah, Mojo Jojo! A mechanical genius with simian cunning and limited ambition!"
"Curses! Defeated by a gaggle of little girls!" Mojo complained as he was defeated once again thanks to the Powerpuff Girls.
"Perfect! When the time comes, he can be bought off by domination of his single, backwards world! Or killed... whatever works!" Aku remarked to himself as he watched Mojo and soon was shown another portal of a young human genius who happened to be a preteen. "Mandark, a boy genius whose given name is Susan! What WERE his parents doing? Trying to create a mad psychopath? Scientific genius, young, malleable willing to delve into dark magic and best of all, easily disposed of when the time comes," he then commented. "It will be novel to have a human apprentice."
"Dexter will PAY for this ignominy!" Mandark announced to himself. "Mandark vows it!"
"And Vilgax, smarting from his latest defeat by the shape-shifting Ben Tennyson. I will offer him a way to destroy the boy, once and for all, and then of course, I WILL DESTROY VILGAX!" Aku then noted as he spied on his next companion for this mission. "We'll need a great name..." he then paused until it hit him. "I've got it! The League of Extraordinary Villains! Together, we will conquer and, in the end, I will rule alone! Is this a great plan or what?" he then concluded to himself fiendishly.
"And I guess Mike, Lu, and Og or Ed, Edd, and Eddy don't really have any villains in their franchises, so it just ended at that?" Cherry guessed during the first part of narration and recap.
More or less, yes.
"Well, that's interesting, I guess..." Cherry shrugged.
"Indeed," Lionel nodded. "So, what else happened?" he then asked.
MEANWHILE...
The Powerpuff Girls and Rowdyruff Boys appeared to be floating together after the defeat of a certain villain.
"Face it, Mojo Jojo!" Buttercup taunted.
"You are never, ever going to rule the world!" Blossom added.
"You're just gonna go to jail!" Bubbles concluded.
"Yeah!" Brick added. "And thanks to our new big brother and sister who showed us the ways on the path to good for the most part, me and the boys are joining the girls as a Power/Rowdy team!" he then added as Butch and Boomer nodded in agreement.
"Wait, what?" Lionel asked. "When the heck did that happen?"
That's not important, right now Mojo Jojo's defeat is important.
"Well, all right..." Cherry rolled her eyes and shrugged at that.
And so, as Bubbles predicted, Mojo ended up in jail where he belonged.
"This is an unfortunate development for a simian genius. Townsville, the entire world, would be mine, but for those machinations of those invidious little Powerpuff Girls and somehow even recruiting and convincing The Rowdyruff Boys to go on a path to good!" Mojo ranted as he gripped the bars in his cell and lamented to himself about his defeat as a notorious villain. "If only there were a way to reveal to the world my true brilliance! To showcase my exceptional villainy! To-" he then began to say to himself until he was suddenly met by a new face.
"I AM AKU! Shape-shifting master of darkness and living embodiment of evil!" Aku announced and introduced himself in the chimp's face. "Perhaps I might be of assistance? Those pesky little children defeated you because they were playing six against one!"
"Like three alone was bad enough." Mojo mumbled at that.
"Hardly playing fair, was it?" Aku continued with a grin as he snaked himself around Mojo. "Joining my League of Extraordinary Villains will even the odds and prove your incomparable iniquity once and for all!"
"I am uncertain about this," replied Mojo. "I am a solitary loner who works unaided—"
"I have a plan of conquest," interjected Aku. "If you are part of it, once our mission is complete, you—MOJO JOJO—will rule your world!"
"Very well! I accept your terms!" Mojo declared. "We could construct robots of the Powerpuff Girls, and use them to conquer this world through peaceful means! People love and admire them, so they would never willlingly fight them or—"
"ROBOT DOPPELGANGERS! How brilliantly EVIL!" Aku beamed. "Congratulations, and welcome to the team! I'll get back to you... after I deal with—I mean, meet with Vilgax and Mandark!"
"What? Wait! Who's Mandark?" Mojo wondered.
MEANWHILE...
"Once, I eschewed magic and destroyed my spell book! But I saved this final summoning spell in case of emergency," Mandark remarked as he began to scribble something with a piece of red chalk. "The last stroke is done! And now-"
There was suddenly an inky black presence in the room next to the preteen genius.
"HA! It worked!" Mandark grinned at his victory. "Dexter has foiled my plans for the last time! I command you-" he then began to say.
"Oh, please, Mandark!" Aku interrupted and taunted as he made his presence known. "Mandark, my boy, that summoning spell is completely bogus! There's no way you can command a being as powerful as Aku, shape-shifting Master of Darkness and living embodiment of evil! Still, young, though you are, you show aptitude for magic, for science, and for villainy! Perhaps you would like to join The League of Extraordinary Villains as my apprentice." he then offered.
"What are you talking about?" asked Mandark.
"The League will initially focus on the worlds of league members," explained the shapeshifting demon. "From these worlds, we shall select the most beloved and potentially-powerful individuals, create avatar-robots in their likenesses, and use these robots to take control. Of course, we will rule through these avatars. First, their worlds... THEN THE UNIVERSE!" He reached a hand out and displayed an image of Dexter, happily clutching a scientific award. "Dexter MacPherson, boy genius, shows such potential for greatness." he stated.
This made Mandark's blood boil. "I have FAR more genius than Dexter!" he spat. "Why didn't you want to make a robot of me?!"
"Ah, there's genius, Mandark..." Aku explained as he appeared behind Mandark's shoulder. "...and there's the greater genius who controls him. That could be YOU!"
Mandark rubbed his chin in thought. "It would be more fun to zap Dexter's consciousness into the robot... Dexter would know he was helpless to obey my every whim and wouldn't be able to do anything about it..." he considered.
"The heroes! Knowledge and personalities, trapped in robot bodies, so they think and act like our heroes, but must use their abilities on our service!" Aku urged as he grinned eagerly. "Excellent! Exactly what I had in mind!"
'You think you aren't here to serve me, Aku, but you're already doing it,' Mandark thought to himself maliciously, but masked it with an evil grin toward the fellow evil entity. "I'll join you and be your assistant!" he then agreed aloud before thinking more to himself with his own tricks up his sleeve. 'Until I'm ready to rule the universe alone.'
"So I guess this is now where Vilgax comes in?" Cherry asked.
Indeed it is, young, perceptive perky goth, though you don't seem to know his motivations as well as the likes of Aku, Mojo Jojo, or even Mandark Astrnomonov.
"Yeah, I was never really big on Ben 10's adventures growing up," Cherry admitted with a shrug. "Not bad or intolerable, just not really my style."
"I guess I can fill you in, then," Lionel replied. "Vilgax's main goal is to claim the Omnitrix for himself and use its alien powers to dominate the universe. I can only assume Aku convinced him this would be a good opportunity for him to get the Omnitrix."
"Ah, okay..." Cherry nodded at the brief recap on Vilgax.
Yes, of course, now that you've been told, now you must see what there is to see about Vilgax while in a completely different galaxy...
"Vilgax: the most dangerous being in the universe! A conqueror! A destroyer of worlds!" The aggressive alien was heard ranting to himself, wallowing in self-pity of being destroyed by a plucky and mere young hero. "Brought low by that insignificant human Ben Tennyson! I DESIRE THE OMNITRIX! But even more, I WANT TO DESTROY BEN 10!"
"Thanks to the Omnitrix, Ben 10 is a one-man army with thousands of transformations to call on," Aku smirked as he arrived. "You need a plan of that magnitude if you are going to defeat him. I offer you such a plan."
Vilgax spotted the new being and grabbed him by the throat. "Who are you?!" he then demanded.
"I am Aku, shape-shifting Master of Darkness and living embodiment of evil!" Aku explained frantically in a strangled voice until he morphed into a dragon to free himself.
"And this plan?" Vilgax then asked, keeping a close eye on Aku just in case.
"I have assembled a League of Extraordinary Villains. Together, we will ensnare the most potent and influential heroes we villains have encountered," Aku began to explain confidently. "We will create robot doppelgängers of these heroes and infuse them with minds and powers of the heroes, but under OUR control. In our names, they will conquer their worlds before we sweep out to conquer the universe."
"Ben 10... and a few other robot avatars? Ridiculous!" Vilgax remarked. "We would need a conquering robot army! Thousands of superpowered robots under our command!"
"Thousands of Ben Tennysons... which you would control!" Aku pointed out.
"I'll do it! I will join your league!" Vilgax declared.
"Excellent!" Aku laughed as he vanished. "I'll be in touch!"
Once the demon had left, the squid-faced fiend smirked wickedly. "And when the universe is taken, I will rid myself of you others and RULE ALONE!" he declared under his breath.
And so...
"So I see..." Cherry commented and nodded. "So far so bad."
"My Robo-World is ready! Now assemble the League members!" Aku commanded and soon did a quick reminder. "As you know, I am Aku: shape-shifting Master of Darkness and living embodiment of evil!" he then began to say.
"As you know." Cherry and Lionel repeated with a glance at each other.
"Welcome, gentlemen, to my Robo-World and to the League of Extraordinary Villains!" Aku continued to speak to his fellow villains who had been invited just for this occasion. "May I introduce Vilgax: conqueror of planets and destroyer of worlds, Mojo Jojo: simian mastermind, and Mandark: boy genius and apprentice in villainy!" he then showed them a screen of their respective adversaries. "Each of us has chosen a candidate or candidates for inclusion in our plan! Samrai Jack." he then added and stated his first.
"Ben 10!" Vilgax added.
"The Powerpuff Girls!" Mojo announced.
"Dexter!" Mandark concluded.
"We will build and control an army of robot avatars of these heroes, then capture the heroes, and infuse these robots with the heroes' minds and powers," Aku soon explained to his fellow villains about why they were all there. "Under our control, each army will conquer before each hero's world before joining forces to sweep out to conquer the universe."
"Our candidates aren't stupid, Aku," remarked Vilgax. "They won't fall into just any trap."
"We need some clever, unexpected way to get them in our power," replied Mandark. "A simple matter for one of MY vast intellect!"
"Heroes want to defeat enemies, but they get bored," Mojo grinned. "We could give them new villains they haven't seen. Which they'll probably defeat-"
"Which is good because that will set off a booby-trap!" Aku beamed. "When the heroes win, it will set off a warp that will send the heroes here into our power! We'll need prisons to hold them!"
"An army is a large group!" Mojo announced. "We need to build many robots! A large number who-"
"And design machinery for the consciousness transfer!" Mandark added.
"And, as insurance, create a threat that will force the heroes to our will." Vilgax concluded.
"This plan has everything! TEAMWORK! VENGEANCE! COERICION! CONQUEST!" Aku grinned at his fellow villains with high anticipation. "Truly, it is worthy of our combined villainy!"
"So that's what happened?" commented Lionel. "Criminy."
Yes, and now you're all caught up, can I go now?
"Yeah, I guess we know everything we need to know now," Cherry remarked. "Though why did you involve Mike, Lu, Og, and the Eds?" she then wondered.
The Eds seemed to be Mojo's suggestion, saying they had some amphibious DNA deep within them somehow like mutant crimefighters.
"Well, that doesn't sound like the Ed, Edd, n Eddy I grew up with." Cherry commented with a shrug.
"Maybe the universe made some changes to keep things interesting?" Lionel suggested.
"Maybe?" Cherry shrugged. "I'm just gonna have a word with Drell about this in the future."
And never mind the involvement of Johnny Bravo, The Grim Reaper, the residents of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, and even iconic sibling duo: Cow and Chicken.
"Crikey!" Lionel commented. "Things are sounding like they're gonna get pretty crazy!"
"I'm not sure if I even wanna do this anymore..." Cherry commented before sighing. "But I made it this far, so the least we can do is at least try to help out this alternate Toonyverse, right?"
"Yup!" Lionel said as he hugged her. "I'll have your back, no matter what."
"You're such a nerd." Cherry rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, but I'm your nerd." Lionel replied with high pride.
Cherry scoffed before she smirked a little in approval. "Guess we might as well get comfortable until we can think of a way out of here," she suggested. "How do we fill the time though?" she then wondered.
Please, allow me...
And so, it happened that the greatest evil minds of the known universes joined forces to conquer first their enemies and then everything else. Mechanical minions were sent throughout the charted dimensions to challenge and capture each planet's most beloved heroes. Robots were even sent to other, random dimensions to hunt down heroes that our villains had never heard of before. (That was totally intentional by the way. It had nothing to do with Unit J5 knocking over Carpaxian wine on the warp console. Honest.)
"Sure, whatever you gotta tell yourself." Cherry was heard snarking again.
And now the evil hero-hunting robots have made their way to at least five totally unexpected universes... including this one known as Aron City.