Author's Note: This is the first installment of a new "Infinity Crisis" story with a hook/premise that should prove to be pretty interesting; Each chapter is written by a different "Infinity Crisis" writer, with none of us consulting with each other about it. That means that whatever we write, it's up to the next participating writer to progress the story, try to tie things together, and (most fun of all) introduce whoever or whatever they like. Since I was the one to propose this "round robin experiment", it naturally made sense for me to start things off. So I hope you enjoy!
Earth-1219111
Blithe Hollow, Massachusetts
Norman Babcock walked out of the front door to his home and felt the brisk air hit his face. It was rather gray in Blithe Hollow on that early afternoon, with the sky cloudy and overcast, but with enough light peeking out to still be able to tell that the sunset was still hours away. After taking a moment to make sure his shoes were still tied, Norman started on his way to walk to Neil's house to hang out.
"Norman!" he heard a voice call out to him before he could shut the door.
That was when he saw Dani float up to the doorway from somewhere else in the house. As with all the other ghosts Norman could see, Dani was transparent and generated a green glow that made it look like she was surrounded by a kind of fog or mist.
"Where are you headed?" she asked.
"Nowhere crazy. Just Neil's. I won't be gone very long." Norman answered plainly.
Since Norman was very much used to seeing ghosts all over the place, he didn't question it at first when Dani first arrived in his home. As far as he knew, she was just the ghost of a girl from another part of the town whom he'd never met until she died, possibly during that disaster from a while back when people were vanishing in clouds of dust. Dani herself was just fine letting him think that.
"Okay. See you later," Dani smiled. "I'll go see what your grandmother is doing."
After that, Norman went in his way, casually walking down the sidewalk with his hands while gripping the handles of his backpack. He passed by and weaved around a lot of living people as he did, while making sure to wave at or at least nod at the ghosts he was used to seeing around the neighborhood. This elicited some odd glances at him, but not as many as there would've been back from before his adventure to help the so-called witch of the town's past rest in peace. But as he kept walking, there was a shift in the atmosphere, in more ways than one.
"Hmm…" Norman rubbed the back of his neck and looked around, unsure of where he exactly was.
Norman wasn't sure if it had happened the instant he noticed it or if it had been gradual while he was lost in his thoughts. What mattered was that Norman was now alone, with no people living or ghostly anywhere to be seen and he found himself standing at the end of a winding stone pathway that led to a building he'd never seen before. It looked like a worn down church house, but completely black in color from its bricks to its paint. Figuring he simply got turned around somehow, Norman turned to leave, but stopped when he heard a loud thumping sound come from the house. The door to it swung open and, to Norman's confusion, two figures emerged. They both wore long black robes, wide brimmed flat hats, and, most strikingly of all, face obscuring leather masks fashioned to have bird-like beaks.
"Enter, Young Master Norman," they spoke in unison, but with distinctly different accents, one sounding Scottish and the other Italian. "Join our righteous cause."
Norman looked down and saw that one of the two figures' hands were soaked in bright red blood. The boy immediately dashed away, not caring which way he went so long as it got him away from the bizarre strangers and their bizarre house.
"You should've washed your hands." the Scottish accented one admonished the other.
"Why?" the Italian accented one tilted their head back at the other. "It's not like this is human blood."
Norman didn't hear the two. All of his focus was on getting away until he no longer felt their ominous presence. Eventually, he stopped to catch his breath.
"I need to get to Neil's house…" he said to himself.
Norman realized that if some new supernatural thing was indeed popping up, he would have to do more than just tell Neil. He'd have to tell everyone and try to figure out what exactly was happening and how to fix it, whatever it may be. Maybe he could give Salma a call too once he got to a phone.
"Kid, what you really ought to do is get to Root Core." a woman spoke.
When Norman looked up, he saw that he had stopped at none other than the former site of the 'Blithe Hollow Witch' statue, right around the heart of the town. This shouldn't have been possible, as going to Neil's home wouldn't have led him this way at all. His eyes then fell in two adult women who he was sure he didn't recognize; The one who had mentioned some place called 'Root Core' was mixed Filipino, had short, messily cut dark brown hair with a couple pink dyed streaks, and was dressed like how one might expect a rock nightclub DJ to. The second woman appeared to be somewhat older than the other, was Caucasian with shoulder length blond hair, and wore a military uniform evocative of those worn by captains in the US Navy. She held a pale metallic device that looked almost like a large, very strange designed television remote in her hand.
"Hello, Mr. Babcock," the blonde woman approached him. "May I call you Norman?"
Norman looked at the two women for an extended moment and nodded yes. They instantly gave off a much more trustworthy air than the two who had walked out of that creepy dark house.
"Good. I am Captain Dana Mitchell," the woman introduced herself before motioning at the other woman. "And this is my…erm…colleague, Vida Rocca. Believe it or not, but we've been looking for you for a while today, Norman."
"Wh…Why's that now?" Norman asked.
"Because we need your help. Duh," Vida half-smirked while crossing her arms. "So, Cap'n, do you want to give the kid the whole spiel about the Multiverse or do you want to just use the Transportal Device and show 'em?"
Norman gulped. He had a feeling that the strangeness was only just beginning.
Earth-500
The New Castle of Lions, in the depths of space
Fei Wei was in the New Castle's brightly lit, spacious training gym. She had entered the room roughly twenty minutes earlier, after changing out of her team uniform and into some pale blue and gray sportswear. Kwashi had designed the outfit for her with her input back on a lunar colony the group had stayed at for a time after driving off self proclaimed missionaries of the Shining One's cult. The outfit had proved to be to Wei's liking so far, as it was the only thing she wore into the training gym.
"Strike hard, strike fast," she advised herself. "Weave right, weave left."
The pilot of the Blue Lion was currently wearing a pair of large white boxing gloves and practicing her punches out on a rectangular sandbag that was hanging from a long cord. Though there was anti-gravity tech onboard that could be used to make her target levitate and even move at random to give her a greater challenge, Wei hadn't felt like having to program in a training routine. Swift would always give her grief if she forgot to reset it if he used the room after she did.
After getting in four good blows on the sandbag in a row, Wei turned to move on to her next activity, only to hear a beeping at the doorway. Kwashi ran into the room, wearing his full team uniform, save for the helmet. His glasses were foggy.
"Wei, come with me quick! Moa says there's been a breach in the Lions' Den!" Kwashi exclaimed.
The Lions' Den. That's what the group had started calling the hangar where the five huge robotic lions that formed Voltron usually stayed while they traveled in the New Castle. Wei was half sure that Anargul came up the name, but it was also possible that Vince himself had said it during one of the times he took a break from exploring the cosmos for potential allies and teleported onboard to check in on the team.
"Let's move!" she nodded.
The two dashed down the corridor. Anargul hopped out of her room and joined them along the way at some point, which the two only fully registered after she had been running next to them for several seconds. The young pilot of the Red Lion was in her team uniform as well, in her case with her helmet on. The black visor was down with its LED eyes glaring bright and Anargul was already baring the claws on her gloves in fiery anticipation of a battle.
"Табысқа жет!" the girl practically roared.
The three barged into the Lions' Den, where both Swift and Moa had already arrived. Swift was in his regular outfit that he had first met the rest of the team in, and was holding the dark colored dual swords once wielded by Keith, the former pilot of Black Lion from long ago. Moa, like Anargul and Kwashi, was in her full uniform. Her helmet's visor wasn't pulled down, showing her non-human face. But instead of fighting whoever the intruder was like the others were expecting, the two were simply standing in place while awkwardly looking at who it was who had gotten onboard the New Castle of Lions without permission; Two women were sprawled on the floor of the chamber, with the five mech Lions looked at them inquisitively. Both were human in appearance and bound together by a 'rope' made of crackling pink energy by one of their respective wrists.
"Not exactly what I was expecting, guys." Kwashi said.
"It's…uh…good that you came anyway," Swift wasn't sure whether he should put away the swords or not. "At least I think so."
"Alright," Wei stepped forward and carefully helped the women up. "Who exactly are you two? And why're you here?"
The woman bound by her left wrist was Caucasian with vibrant auburn hair with choppy bangs and partially held up in the back and with barrettes. She wore a scratchy looking light green hoodie over a red collared white crop tee with a pink, blue, and green logo on the chest and a grayish purple knee-length skirt. She also wore loose sneakers with orange socks.
"Frances Foster, but call me Frankie," she introduced herself fairly friendlily, but still clearly confused and frazzled by her current situation. "Seriously, call me Frankie. And…I don't know!"
"So that's the name of the girl I found myself tied to. And I have no goddamned clue either. I have no idea what's happening, which is never a good thing," the woman bound by her right wrist said in a more brusque, less emotional tone. "Ugh. The name I go by is Erica Slaughter."
Erica was Caucasian too, but paler than Frankie and with pale blonde hair, which was pulled back a short wavy ponytail and had sweeping bangs that sometimes covered her intense, striking eyes, which were an unnaturally iridescent shade of green. Her nose and mouth were covered up by a bandana tied around her lowered face. It was as black as night save for white markings on the front that together looked like a maw of a vicious fanged beast. She wore a simple white tank top that exposed her toned, partially scarred arms, body hugging black pants, heavy duty black boots, and a large black with a solid silver buckle. A sharp, oft used machete hung by her side, with a streak dark ichor still staining the weapon.
"Oh dear…" Moa shuddered.
"Well she gives off no red flags at all." Swift sarcastically muttered.
"There's nothing red on her. And what's wrong with red?" Anargul asked completely innocently, not bothered by Erica Slaughter's appearance at all. She removed her helmet, confirming to Erica and Frankie that she was a child. "She looks rad if you ask me."
"Erm…Thanks. Now what the hell is this place?" Erica scanned the room, taking in the sleek, futuristic trappings, the Lions, and then, lastly, the recognizably alien appearance of Moa. "Is that an animal mask? That can't be your real face."
"But…this is my real face." Moa touched her beak, looking a bit self conscious because of the remark.
"Look, lady, I know we just met, but you probably shouldn't be rude to the only people around who can help us with whatever this glowy, pink stuff is," Frankie chided Erica like a child while pointing at the energy rope with her free hand. "Besides, she's probably just the kid's imaginary friend that she made!"
The entire Voltron Force looked at Frankie as if she had just uttered something bizarre and nonsensical. Even the Blue Lion looked like it may have done a double take, but whether that was the case was unclear. Because while it would've made sense back where Frankie Foster was from, here her expressing a belief that children could will flesh and blood beings into existence using only their minds made her sound completely insane. Except to Erica Slaughter, funnily enough, who pulled down her bandana around her neck with her own free hand, noticeably intrigued. As she had her own experience with creatures brought to life by belief in them alone. Except she would never be naive enough to call such creatures any person's friends.
"Listen…Frankie, was it?" Erica started to say. "There may be a reason we've been drawn tog—"
"Baaa!"
"Baaaaabaaa!"
"Baaa! Baaa!"
Erica's thought had been cut off by, of all things, the bleating of several sheep that had just wandered into the Lions' Den though the open doorway.
"Sheep?!" Wei threw up her hands. "I didn't see any sheep get onboard! How could they? We're in space!"
"We are?" Frankie and Erica unintentionally spoke in unison.
The two went ignored for the moment as the sheep walked further into the room. Swift placed a hand on Wei's shoulder, with the intent for it to be a comforting gesture.
"So this is a weird day even by our standards, but we'll figure it out. The sheep could have something to do with those two." Swift motioned back at the two women.
"I'll round them up," Kwashi knelt down in front of one of the wool covered animals and held out his hand to beckon it to him. "It should be easy enough. After all, sheep are practically harmless."
"What are 'sheep' again, Anargul?" Moa inquired.
"They're a domesticated animal from Earth," the girl answered. "People in a lot of places farm them, both for their wool and…"
"Gaaaaah!" Kwashi suddenly screeched in pain. "Help me!"
Everyone looked to see that the sheep was biting down hard on Kwashi's now bleeding hand, trying to devour his fingers. The other sheep all began to circle around the members of the Voltron Force, with the ruminants' mouths all wide open and watering as if they were ravenous, meat eating predators. Because, thanks to depraved mad science, that's exactly what they were.
"...their meat." Anargul gulped.
"I never would've thought I'd have to train for this!" Wei exclaimed.
Erica's expression hardened and she pulled her distinct bandana back up over her lower face. While she still wasn't sure how she had ended up in this otherworldly place and she had never encountered monsters exactly like these before, she certainly knew how to kill the ones who attacked and devoured people. For all her very justified misgivings about House of Slaughter, the organization purportedly founded by her universe's St. George, had at least been able to teach her how to do that.
"You're going to want to close your eyes, redhead," Erica pulled out her weapon. "In my experience, this gets real, real ugly every time."
Earth-414
An obscure sector of the cosmos
'Space Rangers' Mission Journals - Entry #3335308 for Space Ranger ROBERTA EDMONTON of Planet EARTH'
'After accompanying Superwoman and her two new acquaintances from another universe to Krypton for the sake of their research purposes, I found myself ordered by the Command Council to remain on the planet for the foreseeable future in order to become better acquainted with the common citizens of the planet and its culture. This went on to be the longest I've spent on the planet since I underwent training camp after being recruited to the Space Rangers. I found a second home within that time, namely living with a small family in the countryside after explaining my circumstances. While a pleasant place, I am relieved to have now been called back into active duty in the wider universe.
I have been partnered with an already well accomplished Space Ranger rookie; Tenclouds, a young adult male hailing from the Planet Starhaven. I firmly believe I was assigned with Tenclouds because he is human, as are all Starhaveners. This mission will be a good indicator if we do work well together or not.
Tenclouds and I were assigned our shared mission at Space Ranger Headquarters on the island of Vathlo. A ship of the same model and design as one frequently used by the Cosmic Hounds space pirate gang has been spotted by civilian and cargo vessels in the sector of space which we were sent to. All attempts to communicate with it have been rejected by its unseen, unknown crew. There are zero indications of which planet or space port the vessel came from, nor where it is going, since it remains in the sector and hasn't landed anywhere. This has raised suspicion among the Command Council, who suspect the Hounds' leader known as P'ortiia may be involved. Tenclouds and I are to board the ship to investigate, identify whoever is onboard, and then contact the closest Space Ranger operations base for further instruction.'
Bobbi pressed a button which turned off the screen she was sitting in front of. She was in the control room of the ship that she and Tenclouds had been given for their mission. She could see the mystery spacecraft from the window, with it currently staying in place as if it were a station and not a ship.
"Are you done yet?" she heard Tenclouds asked from the nearby doorway. "I swear you've been tweaking those same few paragraphs for at least half an hour!"
Bobbi reminded herself to hide her frustration with her fellow Space Ranger's attitude and turned to look at him. Tenclouds was wearing the standard light yellow and hot pink uniform that she was also wearing. Like all the people of Starhaven, he was a descendant of indigenous North American peoples from various tribes who were abducted and left on the lush and Earth-like planet by a still unknown extraterrestrial party roughly thirty generations ago. His features made it apparent, such as his reddish brown skin tone and his long, straight black hair. Which, much to Bobbi's inner frustration, both contributed to how ruggedly handsome she found her junior Space Ranger. To her relief, she found it wasn't too hard to mask her attraction to him with professionalism and the occasional glare if he said something annoying.
"It's the proper procedure, Tenclouds," she responded as coldly as she could without it being excessive. "But, yes, I'm done. Put on your helmet. It's time to go in."
Bobbi and Tenclouds both placed their translucent helmets over their heads as they walked down the hall to where their weapons were stored, just in case.
"So do you think Commander Daanjoor is right? Do you think it's P'ortiia's Cosmic Hounds?" he asked as they both grabbed the rest of their gear.
"I've tangoed with P'ortiia's lapdogs a few times now. So has my friend Kristin," Bobbi said, thinking back. "But this…doesn't sound like them. Whatever it is though, I can handle it, so just stay behind me if things go south."
"Things don't have to go south for me to want to do that," Tenclouds grinned, only to instantly realize how that must've sounded. "Err…What I mean is that I know you're more seasoned so you can trust me to follow your lead! …uhh…I'll stop talking now."
"Umm…" Bobbi paused, not sure how to react to that. "Okay. Let's get a move on."
The two used then proceeded to forcibly dock with the unidentified vessel and break in using their gear after a token attempt to make contact that, as expected, went unanswered. To their surprise, the interiors were pristine, like the ship had just come off the assembly line, been barely used or touched, or perhaps even both. Even though no crew members could be seen, all of the lights were on in the corridor and in each room they checked. After searching those areas, Bobbi and Tenclouds went to the control deck. The door was locked, but Bobbi blasted it open with her dark green, vaguely pistol-shaped blaster, a standard tool for a Space Ranger.
"This hasn't been particularly hard," Tenclouds noted. "I guess the only reason we're the first ones to force our way on is because a 'ghost ship' has a mystique that scares most folks off."
"Tenclouds, look!" Bobbi pointed. "Are those what I think they are?"
Instead of anything resembling a captain's chair, the control deck had three large, sleek mechanical chambers on a shared rectangular platform with thick tubes and cables connected to a panel on the wall behind them. Bobbi and Tenclouds walked to them and saw that each one contained motionless figures whose appearance were all but completely obscured by the glass, which was foggy and tinged with artificial frost.
"Hypersleep pods!" Tenclouds exclaimed.
Bobbi walked over to the control panel and it only took a cursory glance at how the screens, buttons, and disks blinked to confirm what she had started to suspect.
"It seems to me that this ship is entirely automated," she announced. "I've used this same sequence for longer voyages back to Earth with my original ship."
"So that means…" Tenclouds looked at the three hypersleep pods with concern. "These people probably aren't a crew. So…"
"Passengers is the safest bet," Bobbi finished for him. "There's any number of possibilities. Travelers, prisoners, and so on. Either way, we'll have to wake them up to see what they know about this ship."
"I'll get a read on the energies coming off the pods first," Tenclouds pulled out a scanning device. "Y'know, since that's proper procedure too."
Bobbi rolled her eyes and continued to examine the control panel. Her earlier observation continued to be validated when one of the mini-screens showed an image of her own home planet, Earth. This did puzzle her though, as this sector was not part of any variation on the sequence she herself had used to return there.
"Call it a hunch, but I think this ship was never supposed to be here," she said while stroking her chin. "Maybe it went off course? But we haven't seen any signs of damage that would cause th—"
"No way!" Tenclouds exclaimed.
Bobbi rushed over to look over Tencloud's shoulder at the scanning device and her jaw went agape. If what they were looking at was accurate, it meant that this was a very different mission than they'd been expecting.
"It says they aren't even from our universe!" he continued.
"Multiverse stuff, eh? That complicates things," Bobbi looked closer. "…and then some; Look, the readings from each are distinct. They aren't just foreign to our reality, but to each others' as well. Three pods, three passengers from three different universes."
The two Space Rangers stared at the three hypersleep pods with unease. They had come in search of answers, but instead found even more questions.
"What should we do?" Tenclouds asked.
Bobbi tried to answer, but she fell silent and pressed her hand to the glass sections of one of the pods.
"We'll do what it takes to find out what's going on, Tenclouds," she said. "…Even if it ain't proper procedure."
Bobbi reached for a particular switch that she knew would open the pods, which would awaken those inside. She felt herself waiting for Tenclouds to object or hold her hand back, but he didn't. She took a deep breath and then flicked the switch.
Earth-199596
London, England
Shrieks of fear were carried by the wind as a crowd of ordinary people fled out of a fire station and into the street, forcing multiple motorists to come to abrupt halts to avoid hitting them. Just moments before, the people had been attending a public tour of the fire station and had been having a pleasant time being shown its two fire trucks and the rest of the equipment by some firefighters. But something had clearly just gone terribly wrong to cause this scene to break out, and although Safiya Roked wasn't sure what it was yet as she observed the commotion from above, she could already tell that she would be soon enough.
"Sounds like the city is in need of Lionheart's help," Saifya heard her friend comment from over on the couch. "Yet again."
"Oh, Hadil," Safiya turned to look at her with a reassuring smile. "Playing the role of a superhero comes with the risk of having your day interrupted. No one ever implied otherwise."
Safiya was in the flat that her friend Hadil rented that overlooked the street and the fire station. Hadil was a British Muslim much like she was and they'd known one another for several years. Her headscarf was more plain than Safiya's.
"I know, I know," Hadil laid her head down on a throw pillow. "It's just disappointing. This is the first time you've been able to come over in…four months, I think? But go. I'd feel guilty if you didn't."
Safiya nodded and willed the legendary blade known as Excalibur to manifest in her raised hand. Some golden yellow sparks appeared around her hand and a weird sound could then be heard all around the flat and in the hallway outside. The sound could be best described as being like most of the keys on a synthesizer keyboard being pressed at once and mixed with a fuzzy old recording of a thunderstorm. The sparks formed into the shape of a sphere in Safiya's palm before growing into the shape of Excalibur. The golden yellow light then spread off of the fabled weapon and onto Safiya herself, covering her body before fading away to show her in her full Lionheart armor, right down to the green eyed, lion's head-shaped helmet, the chest plate that bore the cross of St. George, and the scabbard where the sword normally rested.
"Go show them who's boss," Hadil said encouragingly. "…if there even is a 'them' to deal with. Maybe it's just a fire."
"That sure would be ironic." Lionheart smirked.
She leapt out of the window, put Excalibur into the scabbard as she plummeted, and landed on all fours in the middle of the street. Lionheart then ran on all fours towards the fire station, weaving gracefully past the legs of anyone standing in her path.
"Heh," Hadil commented as she saw her old friend enter the chaos. "Ireland has that ghostly girl in blue and even Scotland and Wales both have one now, I've heard. You'd think there'd be more of the costumed crowd in London by now then, yeah? Or that they'd all come here to team up?"
She only then realized she was talking to herself, shook her head, and turned on her television to drown out the panic outside her window. She figured she must've left it on a news channel the previous night, since the ginger haired reporter Harry Harris was hosting a piece about strange sightings of people dressed in plague doctor outfits in many seemingly random spots around the UK. Hadil rolled her eyes, assuming they must've been some dumb teenagers who were celebrating Halloween far too early. But she was very, very wrong.
Outside of Hadil's complex, Lionheart had just managed to reach the fire station. She rushed inside and followed the sounds of screaming until she came upon a shocking sight; A massive sinkhole had opened up in the floor of the place, with glowing pink light pouring out of it. A fire truck was already half consumed by the hole and its light. Hands coated in pink energy we're grabbing at the legs of whichever firefighters they could reach, clearly trying to drag them into the still growing fissure.
"Lionheart!" cried out a firefighter as he dodged one of the glowing pink. "Help us! This is absolutely not what we've been trained for!"
"Don't be a coward!" a second firefighter chided his coworker.
The second firefighter was then grabbed by one of the hands, but Lionheart ran to him and swung Excalibur at it, freeing him from it.
"Swallow your pride and get to safety!" Lionheart shouted and looked at the gleaming pink sinkhole, seeing that it was growing larger with each passing second. "Quickly! Both of you! Bring along anyone else you can!"
The fire truck was then fully consumed by the pink glow and fell down into the sinkhole-like portal. Lionheart could tell if she didn't act fast, some of the firefighters would follow. Whatever all this was, she could already tell it was something that would require a bit of assistance. With that in mind, she held Excalibur aloft and, from its tip, shot a beam of golden yellow energy into the air that plowed through the ceiling of the fire station. Up in the sky, it morphed into the shape of a glistening lion that took off running on the air itself to go to where its master needed it to.
The Oasis of Glimoru, Location Undisclosed
A slender Egyptian woman with long, loose black hair knelt on a large, circular stone in the heart of a shimmering, bountiful pond of water that shifted from one color to another. She was Fatima Taj, the primary magic wielding guardian of her native universe. Instead of her shining golden dress and winged helm, she was dressed in a simple, oversized white robe. It was what she always put on when she came to this secluded and special place, a wellspring of benign magic known as the Oasis of Glimoru. It had been many years ago when she was but an ordinary young girl that she had stumbled upon this impossible place and she was first introduced to the art of magic by the Archmage before her, the last known descendant of Glimoru, the first Archmage of their world.
"A good place to feel at one with the rest of the world's magic…" she mused to herself.
Taj dipped the tips of her left toes into the water as it shifted from one soft color to the next. She then threw off her robe and let it plop onto the smooth stone, leaving herself in only a white two-piece swimsuit. The Archmage stepped in and then waded through the calming, temperate water. She smiled, tossed her head back and let it completely soak her hair. She took a moment to savor how nice it felt, but then noticed something; the water had turned pink and, while Taj personally felt it to look quite lovely that way, her heart filled with worry as it stayed that same shade of pink instead of shifting to another color as the pond naturally did every few moments.
"Oh dear," she whispered to herself. "Too much pink energy could prove…dangerous."
The Archmage rushed out of the pond and created a portal with a mere wave of her hand.
"This could only mean one thing!" her eyes widened.
Neglecting to put her robe back on, Fatima Taj ran through the portal to parts unknown. She could only hope she wasn't too late to stop what she feared was coming.
Earth-16219
Birdwell Island, Massachusetts
It was a very big day for the dogs who lived on Birdwell Island. The good kind of big day. Much to the delight of Clifford and Cleo, their dear friend T-Bone had run up to them at Clifford's house-sized doghouse with the most wonderful news for them; Mimi had given birth to a litter of puppies the previous day. The two dogs excitedly ran to go to the home of Sheriff Lewis, T-Bone's owner.
"I'm very happy for you and Mimi, T-Bone," the giant red Labrador Retriever said in the canine tongue as he followed his smaller friend.
"Thanks, Clifford," the round yellow bulldog beamed with joy. "I can't wait for them to meet you. And you too Cleo."
"I hadn't even realized your special lady was back on the island!" the spry purple poodle admitted.
Clifford's much beloved owner Emily Elizabeth was walking down the sidewalk in town along with her friends Charley and Jetta, the latter of whom was accompanied by her blue greyhound Machiavelli, better known as Mac. Charley had invited them to come to his father's houseboat to look at a small wooden chest he'd found hidden away, with the hope being that they could help him find the key to unlock it and see what was inside. That's where the group was heading when the group of dogs appeared. Thanks to Clifford's famous stature, it was anything but difficult to notice him cone up running down the street with Cleo and T-Bone.
"Looks like another little adventure is in progress," Mac observed, not that the humans could hear anything more than a woof.
"Wow," the pink and black striped sock wearing girl said as her big red dog rushed by. "Clifford sure is in a hurry. I'm not sure if he even saw me."
"Maybe we should find out what the dogs are up to then," Charley suggested. "I'm sure we can do my thing afterwards."
Emily Elizabeth, Charley, Jetta and Mac all followed as fast as they could to see what was going on with the dogs. It wasn't long before both groups arrived at Sheriff Lewis' house. Clifford, T-Bone, and Cleo weren't too surprised and took the appearance of the kids and Mac in stride. T-Bone led them all to the musty tool shed in the Sheriff's backyard, which was so rarely used that the kids and the dogs other than T-Bone himself hadn't remembered he had one, if they even knew in the first place at all. Jetta was the first to suspect what was happening. As for her pet, Mac had already figured it out through smell.
"Oh I hope they're cute!" she squeed.
"Not cuter than I was, I hope," Mac smirked, his tone indicating to the other dogs that it was merely a joke.
"You think it's puppies?" Charley asked.
"Let's find out!" Emily Elizabeth opened the shed's door.
Inside, Sheriff Lewis was sitting on a stool in his boxers, mismatched slippers, a worn out T-shirt repurposed as pajamas, and an open bathrobe. The man noticed and made a shushing sound at the new arrivals while still smiling warmly, even if he had ark bags under his eyes. He then motioned for the kids to look at the wall he was facing and they entered behind T-Bone with Cleo and Mac, while Clifford had to stay outside the shed while looking through the still open door.
"Jetta, you were right." Emily Elizabeth grinned.
Sheriff Lewis had been watching over T-Bone's true love, Mimi, a brown coated cocker spaniel with a pink bow on her head. She was sitting on a rug that was a recreation of a classic art piece depicting St. George slaying a dragon. But no one really noticed that curious detail since Mimi was surrounded by her and T-Bone's new litter of six puppies. They were short and rotund like their father while taking the color of their fur from their mother, and had a nice blend of both bulldog and cocker spaniel characteristics.
"Aren't they precious?" Sheriff Lewis smiled. "Their names are Ponyboy, Johnnycake, Cherry Soda, Two-Bit, and Viking."
There was a drawn out pause.
"Umm…Why choose those names?" Charley asked the sheriff.
"T-Bone and his lady love helped me decide," Sheriff Lewis began to explain. "Before you ask, no, I haven't gone nuts due to lack of sleep. I know T-Bone can't talk like that one dog with the alphabet soup I saw on the news. They just sort of barked until I said names they liked. It's…hard to explain."
"Those are seriously what you wanted?" Cleo asked the new parents.
"Yes," Mimi looked up from her puppies. "They're based on a book that my first human loved a lot."
As the kids and the dogs cooed over T-Bone and Mimi's offspring, a much different scene was playing out on a different part of Birdwell Island, specifically on the houseboat that served as the home of Charley and his single father, Samuel.
"Oh no. No, this is not good at all…" the Jamaican restaurateur was greatly perturbed.
Samuel had just come home from work early due to the stove at his restaurant breaking. When he saw that his son wasn't there, he didn't worry at all, correctly assuming that Charley was out spending time with his friends. But what did make him worry was seeing the wooden chest which he had hidden away long before his boy had even been born. Charley wasn't supposed to know about its existence, but there it was, sitting on the kitchen table. The sunlight coming in through the window highlighted the finer details of the small chest, such as an intricate carving of a sword on the lid and a bronze plated lock with three circular keyholes.
"How did he find this?" Samuel asked himself while cautiously picking it up. "Hmm. Still locked. Thank goodness. He isn't ready to know about this yet."
He quickly stashed the chest away in a new hiding place, in a cupboard that Charley usually never opened himself unless Samuel asked him to fetch something from it once in a blue moon. The man knew it wasn't the perfect new hiding place for it, but it would have to do if his son truly had already come across the previous place he kept it. The sunlight from the window faded away and a rumbling could be heard in the distance, a prelude to thunder. A storm was coming. One both literal and metaphorical.
"Calm down, Samuel. You're talking to yourself like you're crazy," Samuel looked in a mirror on the wall, trying to stay positive but still feeling worried. He thought back to what he had been told by the one who entrusted him with the chest and what was locked within it. "...May the power protect us."
There was a knock at the door to the houseboat and Samuel remembered he had thoughtlessly locked it on his way in. Given that it sounded like some rain would be pouring soon, Samuel assumed it must've been someone looking to get inside before getting caught in it without a rain jacket. Given that he saw Charley's was hanging on the rack, he thought it may even be him and some of the other kids like Vaz or Emily Elizabeth.
"Hello?" he opened the door. "Worried about the r—What the?!"
Standing before him was a woman dressed in a dark plague doctor outfit, but with her arms exposed to show that she had Nordic runes tattooed along both. She held a blood red crystal orb in her hands. Samuel was stunned.
"Tell me, local…" the woman spoke behind her bird beaked mask in Norwegian-accented English. "…Tell me where I can find the one who would stop our righteous cause. If you don't…"
She reached into her cloak and produced a seventeenth century amputation saw.
"…I will have no choice but to make this the worst day of your life!"
Earth-1219111
Ashland, Oregon
When Wyborne 'Wybie' Lovatt had been asked by Coraline if he could give her company while she ran an errand, he had been hoping it was actually just a cover for something more exciting that her parents wouldn't have approved of. To his dismay, it hadn't taken long to realize that all Coraline had wanted to do was go to the Presto Print in the city to pick up something she was having printed. As for why she wanted Wybie to come along, it was simply because there wouldn't be much to amuse herself with in such a place on a late morning.
"That was pretty boring," Wybie groaned as they exited the business. "Do I look like the kind of kid who browses for sticky notes and pencil sharpeners?"
Coraline just rolled her eyes as she adjusted her jacket. She carried a brown paper folder under her arm.
"At least it's over," Wybie continued. "Now we can do something fun."
"Like what? Throw rocks down the well? Look for dead animals' bones by the trees?" Coraline asked rhetorically, but then smirked. "Actually, that probably is what you'd like to do."
"…Guilty." Wybie nervously admitted, his eyes darting back and forth.
The two walked to where they'd propped up Wybie's red bicycle. It was easy to spot, as it was graffitied with the phrase 'FUCK THE KNIGHTS #UnionizeNow' in white spray paint on a faded brown brick wall. It would be lunchtime before they knew it and they didn't have much money on them to eat out, so they'd have to go back to the Pink Palace Apartments for something to eat. Even if that hadn't been a factor, it would be best not to be out for too long; Wybie was still as averse to the risk of upsetting his grandmother as ever and Coraline didn't want her parents jumping to conclusions about her friendship with Wybie.
"So…uh…well…" Wybie stuttered. "How did they turn out?"
Coraline answered by reaching into the bag from Presto Print and whipping out a small rectangle of paper. It was a business card, and the motion made it look as if she was giving it out seriously. When Wybie looked at it, he saw that it read 'Coraline Jones' in the exact shade of blue that she dyed her hair. The 'l' was actually a depiction of the cat that skulked around the Pink Palace and the 'o' was a round eye. Underneath her name was smaller text in black that read 'No, it's not a typo. It's Coraline, NOT Caroline. So get it right.' Wybie looked at her.
"If these cards can't spell it out for people who get my name wrong, then nothing will." Coraline said.
"What if they can't read?" Wybie asked.
He climbed onto his bike.
"One is for my Biology teacher who keeps screwing it up," Coraline tucked the card back into the bag. "I would certainly hope she can read."
She got onto the back of the bike behind Wybie and hugged him from behind. It had yet to occur to her that this could be cause for her parents to jump to the conclusions she had been considering earlier.
"Hmm…Isn't that the one you said is obsessed with Johnny Depp?" Wybie asked as he started pedaling.
"Yup," Coraline said. "She even has a poster for 'The Libertine' up next to the American flag. And she's always picking on Amber Kluzniak, the girl who sits behind me, just for her name."
"That's weird," Wybie shrugged. "Both of those things, just to clarify. Both of those things are weird."
After some time, the two friends came to be mere moments away from the address of the Pink Palace Apartments, at a spot where it should've been effortless to see the brightly colored old building. Which is exactly why both Coraline and Wybie were both floored when they saw that it was gone. The latter screeched to a halt and rubbed his eyes to see if they were playing a trick on him, but it was in vain. The house which Coraline and her parents and their small handful of neighbors called home was simply gone, as if wiped from existence.
"Coraline…" was all Wybie could manage to say.
Coraline could tell he was disturbed, because she felt the same way. In that moment, neither knew what to think. The only thing they had to go on was the shared feeling that something was most certainly wrong. Together, they made their way to where the building was meant to be anyway, clinging onto the hope that it would somehow reappear by the time they got there.
"Oh my god." Coraline whimpered.
It hadn't returned. The only sign that the Pink Palace was even supposed to be there at all was the sign for it that hung from a wooden post near the edge of the property's limits. Neither of the two saw the cat anywhere either. In the place of Coraline's home was a shallow crater. Coraline walked up to it and gasped.
"There's a guy in there!" she pointed down.
At the center of the shallow crater where the Pink Palace had been mere moments earlier was a man huddled on his side, writhing in pain on the ground. Coraline and Wybie slid down the side, stumbling before catching themselves. They ran to check on the mystery man. Getting closer revealed that his clothes were in tatters, in a way that suggested that an animal had attacked him.
"Hey, do you know what happened to the Pink Palace?" Wybie just threw the big question out there.
"And who are you?" Coraline added another. "Are you hurt?"
The man only just then registered the presence of Coraline and Wybie and turned away while burying his face into his hands so they couldn't get a clear look at his face. Then he proceeded to do something that both of the kids found rather unnerving and inappropriate to the situation; He started to sing to himself as if they weren't even there to hear it.
"Baa, baa, black sheep
Have you any wool?
Yes, sir, yes, sir,
Three bags full;
One for the master,
And one for the dame,
And one for the little boy who lives down the lane…"
Wybie already deeply regretted how he'd been hoping for his and Coraline's day to get more interesting.
Now here is where I'd normally be including some Author's Notes to break down my ideas and explain the ambiguous parts and whatnot...but I'm opting to not do that this time around, since that would limit the freedom of the writers following after me and that would defeat the whole point of the Challenge! concept. Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope we can all enjoy this sure to be wild ride.
TO BE CONTINUED in IC Challenge! Chapter 2 by...L1701E!
