Chapter 24: Week 3: Part 1!
"This was it." 'Lincoln' thought as he stood on the platform in front of a crowd of aliens that were cheering against him as Foster and a guard were floating towards him using another platform as he was holding some sort of smoothing device, which Foster then turned on as the platform got closer.
Once it was close enough, Foster stepped his platform and onto Lincoln's. He then grabbed "his" underwear and ripped them off "his" lower body, and he was shocked with what he saw as was the crowd.
Instead of Lincoln's... you know, it was Zoe's head in it's place.
"Oh, thank you." The shape-shifter thanked the head of the Emperor's elite guard. "Those red undies were not clean."
"The shape-shifter!" Zing said in shock.
Zoe, still masquerading as the Loud boy, kicked Zing off the platform. Zing let out a scream as he fell a long way down before he landed on his back really hard as the muscular blue alien and several other slaves surrounded him with angered looks on their faces.
Trying to find the remote to the slave collars, Foster's eyes widened in shock as he couldn't find it. Looking to the right, he saw that was a few feet away from him. Still in pain, he got on his stomach and began to crawl towards the remote, one inch at a time.
However, before he could reach the remote. He saw Sinbad stomp on the device, breaking it into pieces.
"Oh no I'm sorry." Sinbad mockingly apologized. "Was that important, I felt like that was important."
"What have you done?!" The downed alien demanded.
"You can't shock us anymore, that's what I did!" Sinbad shot back.
Back on the platform, Zoe shape-shifted the upper part of her body into a giant fist, which she promptly used to punch the guard off the platform as well.
Zing was in shock before he spoke in anger.
"Guards! Find Lincoln Loud and his friends!" Zing demanded.
Suddenly, the alien emperor was struck from behind and knocked onto the platform where Zoe was still standing, dropping his scepter on his royal platform (where he was standing) in the process.
"What the?!" Zing asked in shock as he looked up.
"Something invisible took his scepter and broke it in two before dropping it to the floor before retreating into the curtains behind it.
Realizing what happening, Zing spoke again.
"Guards, Lincoln is invisible! Seize him before he frees Roger!" Zing demanded.
"Hold it right there!" a voice called out from behind them.
Looking behind them, the crowd of aliens saw the chamber of the Majestic open up as the massive space squid climbed out it, with Chris, Dan, Jasper, Globgor, Meteora, Eclipsa and Milo, much to the shock of everyone.
"If you guards want to get to Lincoln, you're gonna go through all of us!" Dan said as he turned his hands into hammers.
"But before we do that, I have something to say." Chris said as he looked up at the crowd of alien citizens. "People of the Zing Empire! Your emperor has been deceiving you all! There is such a thing as love in the universe!"
"Yeah," Sara interjected as she pointed at the emperor. "And Zing should know as he has been in love before, but he's been hiding it!"
The crowd gasped and began to mummer to each other at this newfound information.
"They are right Zing," The Majestic said. "Allow me to show all of you the truth."
The majestic than plugged his three tentacles into the sound system as the holographic TV screens appeared for all to see.
It showed various memories of the formerly incarcerated slaves.
From a tall, multi-armed, green skinned, bug like alien proposing to his equally tall, bug-like, tall girlfriend by pulling out three diamond rings with his three arms.
To Globgor and Eclipsa's secret wedding...
To Lincoln's confession at the girl who he insulted prior and kissed her...
To Dan's pursuit of one of Burgerphile's former employees...
To Chris and Elise's first meeting...
To Eclipsa and Globgor's secret wedding from Mewni...
To Leggy's confession to Lincoln and the white haired man with the plan reciprocating those feelings and ending with the two of them kissing...
And many other moments of romance from all over the galaxy...
The slaves were beginning to tear up at the memories of what they had, what Zing took them away from as their hatred for the emperor grew even more. The people in Zing's empire were shocked to see this previously unknown information now brought into the light.
Suddenly the Majestic spoke.
"There is love in the world, everyone." He began as he wrapped a tentacle around Zing's body. "And you should know Zing..." His tone grew grew dark as he screamed. "CAUSE YOU"VE HAD IT!"
More of his tentacles jammed themselves into Zing's big head as his memories were so overwhelming that a flash of blinding light made everyone cover their eyes.
No one was ready for what they saw...
Back on Earth, at the same time...
The Loud family was riding in Vanzilla towards one of Lynn's sport games. As Lynn was busy bragging and boasting about how she was going to win it (much to some of her sister's annoyance), no one seemed to notice that Leni and Luan were suspiciously quiet during the ride as they sat in the back of the vehicle.
"You remember the plan?" the comedian asked her older sister quietly.
"Yeah." Leni said, just as quietly. "Just the important parts anyway?"
Luan resisted the urge to face palm herself as she thought to herself. Of course she would remember just parts of it." She then whispered. "When we get to the game, we're going to pretend to go to the bathroom. To get away from the rest of our family, once were far enough, we'll sneak towards the control room of the stadium and reveal everything that we've done to the public. That'll show the rest of our family what happens when they abandon one of our own."
"Okay, that makes sense." Leni acknowledged in her mind before speaking quietly. "I just hope it works."
"So do I Leni, so do I." Luan said silently before thinking to herself. "Maybe with the public's help, we could rescue Lincoln from space."
"What are you guys talking about?"
"AAH!" The two older sisters screamed as they saw Lucy sitting next to them.
Recovering from her almost heart attack, Leni spoke. "Lucy, what are you doing back here? I thought you were sitting up there."
"The others may not have noticed, but I've noticed that you have been very suspicious lately." Lucy said quietly. "I wanted to know what you two are up to."
"So what if we have?" Luan whispered in anger. "Why do you care all of a sudden?"
"Yeah!" Leni whispered harshly. "It's like, none of your business, Lucy. So please back off."
Lucy was silent for a bit before she responded. "Well, to answer your question Luan, ever since Leni told us off for what we've done and Lisa cloned him that day, it made me doing a lot of thinking... and..."
"And?" The two whispered in unison.
"I realized that Leni," She turned to her older, blond, dumb sister. "You were right, we have gone too far in what we've done." Tears streamed down as she tried her best to get a grip on herself as her crying would draw attention from the rest of the family. "I also realized how much Lincoln was there to love and help me when the rest of you guys didn't bother or were busy... and... and I didn't realize it until it was too late."
After Lucy finished, she began to quietly sob into her knees as her siblings look on in surprise. They had no idea that the goth sister felt this way and wanted to make amends for what they've done recently.
Before the fashionista or the comedian could say anything, the goth spoke again, quietly of course as she wiped away her tears from her face as best she could.
"I know it's far too late to say this, but I'm truly for just going with everyone's decision to banish our brother from our lives and if there's a way for me to help you two make amends for our crime, I want to do it. So... please give me the chance... I'm begging you. I want Lincoln back just as much as you guys do so if you guys have some sort of plan, I want to help you two with it."
Leni and Luan looked at each other for a bit before huddling together as they whispered to each other at an even lower volume then what they were using. It took a minute before the two turned back to Lucy.
"Alright, Luce." Luan began softly. "We can tell that you really want to make it up to us and to Lincoln, so we'll let help us." Lucy smiled and was about to say something when the comedian held up her hand, urging her to stay silent. "But, just because we're letting you help us doesn't mean we trust you all the way, you're going to have to earn it as you help us."
"Yes, o-of course." Lucy said softly. "So, what are we going to do?"
As the three girls were discussing their plan for when they get to Lynn's game, they didn't notice that Lana had overheard most of their conversation as Lola was too busy drowning Lynn's bragging as most of her other siblings were trying to do. And just like with Lucy, the mud loving mechanic also thought about Leni's words when she called the rest of their family as well as the tomboy herself out on their sin. And just like with the goth, she also wanted to get Lincoln back but she didn't know how to.
Maybe Leni, Luan and Lucy can help her with that if they accept her help with their plan of course... that is if they'll accept it of course.
"Please be alright big bro, wherever you are up there." She thought to herself as she felt herself on the verge on crying.
Danville, the same time...
Zack and Melissa were inside of Milo's house trying to search for any sign of there friend or any of his three family members. The place looked like it was broken into, but despite that, everything was in its correct place as there was almost no damage to the house itself.
They searched the living room, the kitchen and even the rooms upstairs. Sadly, they found jack diddly squat. All they really found was Milo's dog, Diogee in the kitchen, who was starving and thirsty to heck.
"Diogee!" The two said in shock as they rushed to his side.
"Hang on boy!" Melissa said as she rushed to the cabinet that had dog food in it. Because it was heavy, Melissa had to drag out and across the floor. Zack even had to assist her with it.
Once the two were back at the dog's side, Zack ripped the bag open a bit to avoid making a huge mess and poured the contents of said bag into Diogee's dog bowl.
Diogee weakly crawled to it as he opened his mouth and took a huge bite of the food mountain before him. As he ate, his hunger was becoming satisfied.
After of a full two minutes of eating, Diogee's stomach was full as he let out a weak bark.
Noticing this, Zack got up and dashed towards the fridge. He grabbed the jug of water, dashed back to the dog and poured it into his bowl.
"C'mon Diogee, come drink some water." Zack pleaded as he helped the full dog to his bowl.
Diogee did not hesitate as he lapped up water into his mouth as he was just dying of thirst.
Which he was.
Once he was finished, the dog felt better. Much, much, better.
Taking one step at a time, Diogee was back on his four legs.
"Good job Diogee!" Melissa said as she scratched behind the dog's ears.
"Diogee, I know you just cheated death and all that but right now we need your help. Can we count on your help?"
Diogee barked, indicating that he was going to help the two.
"Alright, that's our missing best friend's dog." cheered Zack. He was immediately punched in the shoulder by Melissa. "Ow!"
"Too soon dude." Melissa said bluntly.
"Yeah, I know. Realized the moment I said it." Zack said, rubbing shoulder to ease the pain. "Sorry."
Suddenly, three heard a faint crashing sound coming from what appeared to be the basement.
"Do you hear that?" Melissa asked.
"I think it's coming from the basement." Zack said. "Let's check it out."
Heading to basement's door, Melissa gently opened it. The two teens and their missing best friend's dog made their way down the stairs which took almost a minute or so to get to the bottom.
Once they were at the bottom, they saw something surprising...
Elise was sitting beside her window looking up at the sky.
"Chris, please be safe up there." She thought to herself before she then thought to herself. "Dan, despite everything you dragged my husband through in your revenge schemes... I hope you're alright."
Elise then got up from her position and stretched her back as she began to think back on what she done when she joined up some enemies that has made over the years.
As far she knew, this was going to bite her back into the ass hard when Dan and Chris get back to Earth.
The only questions were when and how...
Just then, she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket as she dug into her jean pocket and picked it out.
"Hello?"
"What on God's Earth did you do, woman?!" a male voice on the other end asked in anger.
"Excuse me?" Elise asked in confusion. "Who is this and how did you get this number?"
"This is your boss, Elise." The man confirmed. "Sorry, my throat is a little dry. Now to reiterate what I just asked: What on God's Earth did you do, woman?!"
"I'm afraid I don't follow, sir." Elise said, clearly wanting an explanation as to why her boss was suddenly angry with her.
"You shot Dan and Chris into space!" Her boss revealed.
Elise's eyes widened as she nearly dropped her phone. "H-How do know that?"
A buddy of mine who works at NASA showed me some footage from a few weeks ago and it showed me how of you and many others broke into a NASA base and shot Dan as well as Chris and a few others into space!"
"Show me the footage cause I won't believe it unless I see it."
"Fine! I'm sending you my coordinates now. Just know that you're going to be facing potential jail time for this. Same goes for the others who broke into that same base two."
Elise was not liking this one bit. It took all of her willpower to not crush her phone in her grip as she exited her house.
God she hoped that something world ending was going to happen at that moment...
On another planet far away from the Milky Way galaxy, diplomatic discussions were forming as Amethyst, Bismuth and Peridot were currently talking to a crowd of Gems about what was currently going on across the universe. It took about a few minutes to explain everything to them due to the crowd asking w multitude of questions, but it all made sense once the trio were able to answer them once they found the right words, thankfully managing to avoid having to fight them.
As for Garnet and Pearl, they're on another planet cleaning up the damage the Gems did there.
For Lapis Lazuli, she was on the same planet that Amethyst, Peridot and Bismuth were on... just on the other side of it as she was attempting to get her fellow terraforming gems to stop colonizing it... with some trial and error.
For Connie, she and Lars, as well as the Off Colors, they were also on another planet attempting a peaceful resolution... which they were laughed at by the Gems that were on that planet even saying such blasphemy and even attempted to vacate them from the planet. Connie wanted to attack them but she managed to restrain herself from doing so as Lars stood up for the both of them as well as the Off Colors, much to the surprise of the Gems there. After apologizing, the pink teen then told them everything.
As for Steven, he was on Homeworld with the other Diamonds, attempting to teach them about how to live in a more... peaceful time. With some trial and error along the way of course.
The main Crystal Gems weren't the only ones doing this as some other Gems Gems assisted them such as Nephrite and her crew, and even some former Crystal Gems like Biggs, Crazy Pace and Snowflake. They were all across the galaxy doing the same thing.
"And that's everything that happened." Bismuth said to the crowd of Gems, flashing them her traditional smile.
"I see." A random Peridot said. "So this... pointless war between Homeworld and Earth is over?"
"Yeah, dude." Amethyst said as she gave a peace sign with her fingers.
"And we don't have to colonize anymore planets?" A random Aquamarine asked.
"Nope." Bismuth said. "At long last, at least."
"And we can do... what we want and not face any repercussions for it?" A deformed Quartz asked, unable to process what she was hearing.
"Of course, as long as it doesn't involve destruction that is." Peridot said. "Just think about what you wish to accomplish, then go out there and do it."
The three gems then left the crowd to their own devices as they tried to figure just what they wanted to do with their lives.
As they were walking, Amethyst decided to ask something to her fellows.
"Yo Biz, Dot. Can I ask you two something? It's been on my mind recently." She asked as she looked at the other two gems.
"Of course Amethyst." Peridot said.
"Shoot, short stuff." Bismuth said, looking down at the small gem. "What's on your mind?"
"Well..." Amethyst began nervously. "Have you noticed that some of our friends have been acting weird lately?"
"Weird, how?" Peridot asked, confused.
"Like. keeping important secrets kind of weird." Amethyst said.
"Hmm," Peridot began to think as she placed a finger underneath her chin. "Now that you mention it, I think Lapis has been rather... distant lately."
"More so than usual?" Bismuth asked.
"Well, yes. Ever since she came back to Earth to help us fight Blue and Yellow Diamond, and the fight against White Diamond, she's hardly talked to me anymore." Peridot revealed.
"Maybe she feels like she doesn't deserve to talk to you." Bismuth said.
"Maybe. But anytime I tried to talk to her, she would say that she's fine and immediately changes the subject." The tech gem said.
"Have you told Steven about this?" Amethyst asked.
"Yes, but Lapis shut him out too, which was really surprising." Peridot said.
"For real?" Amethyst said.
"Yes, and apparently Steven chose to give her some space when she asked him too." Peridot said.
That statement confused the two gems to their cores. Why would Lapis shut out Steven, the only one who helped her when no one else bothered?
"Well, I wouldn't worry about it too much, Tiny." Bismuth said. "You shouldn't pry into another gem's mental troubles. That'll just cause them to shut out those around them even more. I'm speaking from experience here."
"Okay, if you say so." Peridot said, when she really thought about it.
"When Lapis is ready, she'll open up. You just have to be patient." The builder gem said before she then said. "And now that I think about it, Garnet and Pearl have been zoning out recently."
"Like Garnet using her future vision." The purple gem asked.
"I think so." Bismuth said. "I wonder what Garnet's using her future vision for?"
"Maybe to prepare us for a threat coming." Peridot said before asking. "What about Pearl though?"
"I noticed that she's been covering her mouth a lot more." The builder gem revealed.
"Seriously? After the whole Pink Diamond fiasco?" Amethyst asked in annoyance. "I thought we were past that phase!"
"You think Pink forced her to keep another secret?" Peridot asked.
"I don't think so. She told us everything regarding Pink." Amethyst said. "I think this is her own secret that only she, Garnet, and Lapis know about."
"Should we tell Steven or the other gems about this?" Bismuth suggested.
Amethyst thought about it for a moment. If Steven did get involved, he would just be upfront and just ask them if they were keeping secrets about it. On one hand, the three gems in question would lie and say they were fine and Steven, being the nice guy that he was, would believe them from the get go.
Then again, he does have a tendency to blurt out information that he wasn't supposed to such as revealing himself to Peridot when she was working for Homeworld, the two times he and Amethyst confronted Jasper, and the countless times he pretended to be his mother's alter ego: Rose Quartz, only for it to backfire on him later.
With that, she came to a decision.
"Only gems you trust, but leave Steven out of it." Amethyst decided.
"Really?!" Bismuth said in shock.
"But why? Doesn't Steven deserve to know." Peridot asked.
"He does Peri, believe me. But think about it. Steven is quite gullible when comes to trying to keep things secret and just taking things at face value. Not only that, but he's already dealing with enough problems, why pile on even more for him to solve. Especially dealing with... all this." Amethyst said as she spread her arms to signify what they were currently doing, before she let out a sigh. "Maybe when we find out more about what the heck's up, we'll tell him. But for now, let's keep this under wraps, okay?"
Bismuth and Peridot looked at each other in concern for a bit as they weighed their options. They knew Amethyst has a point, but the three all knew what happened when someone keeps a secret for too long.
Letting out a sigh, Bismuth said. "Alright, but not for too long. If we don't find out by the end of the month, we tell Steven. Agreed?"
"Yeah, I understand." Amethyst said.
"And don't worry. I won't say anything. Even if they try to torture me." Peridot declared.
As the three gems were walking towards the warp pad to go back to Earth, someone has overheard their conversation. It was a Lapis Lazuli. But not just any Lapis Lazuli...
It was their Lapis Lazuli.
"I've got to warn Garnet and Pearl." She said as she flew off using her water wings...
In the realm of Mewni, Rhombulous and Omnitraxus Prime were standing guard as they looked at the crystal containing the Butterfly family, Marco, Buff Frog and Tom.
"This is what happens to traitors." Rhombulous said to the crystallized Star. "It's sad too. I was actually starting to like you being around you, Star."
"So did I." Omni said to his fellow high council member. "I mean granted, she was reckless and irresponsible. I mean, what was Moon thinking when she gave the wand to her?"
"Agreed." Rhombulous said as he then looked down at the ground and sighed. "Man, I wish Lekmet was here. It just isn't the same without him."
"I understand how you feel. I miss him too but we have to move on Rhombulous. The future of Mewini depends on it." Omni said as he placed a hand on his shoulder. "You know as well as I do that Mewni needs to head into the future. Lekmet would say the same thing if he was here."
Letting out a sigh, Rhombulous then said. "Yeah, you're right. At least Toffee got what he deserved."
"Thanks to Star." Omnitraxus said. "If she didn't destroy Toffee, he would've continued to corrupt the realm of magic with his evil and we would still be in that limbo state."
"Yeah but when she had an opportunity to ditch her duties as queen, just like Eclipsa did, she took it." Rhombulous said as he glared at the teen princess. "Sad to say that she can't be trusted."
"True. I think it's best we keep them in your crystal for now." Omnitraxus said. "We need to uphold the laws Mewni has or it's going to collapse in on itself."
As the two were continuing to converse, unknown to them, Hekapoo was listening in on them as she clenched her fist and felt totally disgusted.
Disgusted with how her two magical companions were acting so casually about what they were doing...
Disgusted that Marco, Tom and Buff Frog were also crystallized for helping Star and Moon help Eclipsa, Globgor and Meteora escape to another dimension...
But mostly...
Disgusted with herself for going with this, for not stopping it before it escalated into... this.
But the one thing she was the most disgusted about herself is...
For not standing by her friends when they literally saved her from death and saved Mewni multiple times than she could count.
"This is going too far even for me." The fiery scissor forger thought to herself. "I have to do something."
But what can she do? Rhombulous and Omni weren't exactly pushovers when it came to their abilities. They were probably some of the most powerful of the Magic High Commission. And considering the two are guarding her frozen friends, that's going to be quite the obstacle to get pass.
She needs help...
She looks down at a pair of dimensional scissors as a smile grew on her face.
...and she knows just where to get it!
To be continued...
Wow, talk about a roller-coaster of suspense. Not only the battle for freedom has begun on Zing's ship, but it looks like some of the public are starting to figure out what happened behind the scenes of the Exiles' disappearance from Earth. Speaking of the disappearence, it looks like some of the people responsible are starting to regret what they've done.
Will Leni and Luan's plan work with Lucy and if accepted, Lana's help?
Will Hekapoo get the assistance she needs?
How long will Pearl, Lapis and Garnet keep what they've done a secret?
What was discovered in the Murphy's basement?
Is what Elise's boss saying true or is this a hoax?
Everything changes next time on "The Exiles."
AN: Okay, I'm pretty sure you guys are wondering why I'm doing this and are going to say "you owe us some answers". I've decided to help humanize some of the people who shot the Exiles into space like Lucy, and Hekapoo and Lana, as well some of the people are starting to figure out that something's up like Amethyst and Elise's boss. Like I said, everything will change in the next chapter.
This is the Reality Shredder and I'll see you all next time.