Day 3: Part 1!
On Drek's ship...
Zing dragged his beaten and battered opponents through his partner's ship as he had a plan in mind for them and while he could have placed them in the prisoner cells, he decided against it. While he trusted Foster, he had this weird feeling in the back of his mind that his general let Hayley, Bobby and Bismuth escape for some bizarre reason. The alien made a mental note to confront Foster about this once this whole thing was over and done with just in case that was what happened.
Placing Jasper's gem in a cell and placing Elise in another cell. He dragged Dan and Eclipsa through another hallway.
As he was doing so, he felt a sharp pain in his ribs.
"Argh!" He shouted as he dropped his soon to be victims. "Woah, that fight must've taken more out of me more than I realized."
Inhaling and then exhaling, the alien shrunk back down to his normal size.
"Damn, using that form for a while takes a lot out of me." Zing said, berating himself for having a sort of time limit on his powerful form but he then shrugged it off. "Maybe it's because I haven't used it in a long time. Guess Lincoln and I have another thing in common."
Making another mental note, he walked up to a door as it slid apart.
It was a large room with a bunch of technology from Drek's years of mass planetary genocide and weapons manufacturing. The lights turned on as the alien entered the room.
After looking around for a bit Zing saw something. Something perfect for his plan.
He dragged Dan and Eclipsa to a spot in the middle of the floor and placed them there. He looked to his and saw a console. Walking towards it, he pressed a button on it.
A large casing of glass descended from the ceiling trapping the two inside of it.
At this moment, Dan began to stir before he then woke up with a yell.
"I'll hurt you six ways to Sunday!" The man yelled before his face slammed into the strong glass. "Ow!" He rubbed his head in irritation. "What the heck?"
"You're awake Dan. You sure are persistent." Zing said, being rather impressed with Dan's resilience but rather annoyed by it at the same time. "You're just in time."
"In time?" Dan squinted his eyes at his enemy. "For what?"
Instead of responding to Dan's question, the alien pressed a button on the console. The machine beeped to life as a red mist began to flow out of Dan's eyes and mouth and a purple mist flew out of Eclipsa's unconscious body.
Dan was screaming in pain as the mist exited his body. It felt excruciating to say the least.
The pain only lasted for a few seconds before Dan fell to his knees. As he breathed heavily from this literal draining experience, only one question was on his mind.
"What... the hell... was that?!" Dan managed to get out amongst his heavy breathing.
"What did you think?" Zing asked rhetorically. "I used this machine to take away your powers. Eclipsa's as well."
Hearing that caused Dan to look down at his hands since they were shaking from the ordeal. What was the alien said true, is Dan's power that had saved his life as well as those he was with now gone?
"Let me guess, Zing?" Dan began as he glared at the alien. "Now that you've taken our powers away, what are you are going to do to us now? Kill us or something else I've seen in movies back home?"
This caused Zing to bust out in laughter a bit. "Oh Dan. You have no idea what I have in store for you and the rest of your friends. Especially Lincoln and Roger. Only way this ends either with those two brought before me or I destroy Earth, there's no way out of this."
Dan just growled at him in defiance before he then said. "When this all said and done, you'll get what you have coming to you."
"It all depends on who delivers, fool." Zing said as he began to laugh once more before he began to cough with some of his purple blood, even collapsing to a knee.
Dan took notice of this and thought to himself. "Maybe we did more damage to him than I thought." Since he couldn't do anything right now, he began to think to himself once more. "I may be captured but as long as Lincoln and Roger don't get caught, then so far so good."
Another thought crossed his mind. "But time's running out! Earth will be destroyed once this day is up. I may not believe in miracles, but I'll make an exception just this once."
As Dan stared at Zing as he then exited the room, he noticed that that he was stumbling around a bit.
"And apparently Zing is battling the clock too." Dan thought to himself. "But why?"
In the Glamorian Cave beneath the surface of Zeenu...
Everyone was looking at Lincoln with concerned looks on their faces. Something was wrong and if his recent behavior was anything to go by, then their current situation just got even more complicated. Yes, while the group was relieved that Lincoln was finally found after almost four days of searching the planet high and low for him, they were also worried as it seemed that he doesn't remember anything. And that just made this situation even worse.
"So, you don't remember anything?" Milo asked. "Nothing at all."
"No." Lincoln confirmed shaking his head.
The group that surrounded him just looked at each other. What could they do to help the young kid through such a process like this? None of them had much experience with amnesiacs, so how could they help Lincoln if this is what has become of him?
Milo looked towards Leggy, Leni, Luan, Lucy, Lana and Clyde and Ronnie Anne. "Can you guys come outside with me?"
Nodding, the group Milo requested went outside the tent.
"What's wrong with Lincoln?" Leni asked. "Does he like, really not remember anything?"
"It appears so." Clyde said. "This is a quite the dilemma."
"Agreed." Ronnie Anne groaned as she brought a hand to her face. "Great, as if we didn't have enough problems to deal with."
"Let's deal with those problems one at a time." Milo began. "Alright, first things first. We need to help Lincoln get his memory back."
"I'm in." Lana said excitedly before a hint of realization entered her brain. "But how do we do that?"
Leni looked towards Leggy. "Leggy, do you have any ideas on how we can help our brother get his memory back?"
The ruby thought about it briefly before she spoke with an uncomfortable look on her face. "Well, on Homeworld if a gem lost their memory, the higher ups either shatter them because they're perceived as defective-"
"Wow, Homeworld is not fun." Lucy pointed out.
"It wasn't supposed to be." Leggy agreed as she continued. "As I was saying, while those gems were shattered, they were a few that got their memories back."
"How?" Luan asked.
The ruby went silent for a bit, feeling rather uncomfortable discussing this. But if she wanted to help Lincoln, she needed to be honest. "Our... former superiors would have the gem in question incarcerated and beaten by other until they remembered. And you did... or else."
Breathing heavily, the Ruby managed to say. "I was a victim of this more times than I could count."
Suddenly, flashes of the past entered her inorganic mind as she clutched her hair, let out a scream of pain and fell to knees as tears fell out of her eyes.
"Leggy!" Milo yelled as he knelt down to her.
"What's wrong?" Ronnie Anne said in concern.
"I think she's having a panic attack!" Clyde hypothesized as he didn't know what to do.
"Leggy-" Leni began as she placed a hand on the small gem's shoulder.
However, that proved to be a mistake as the distressed Ruby's gemstone glowed brightly. Remembering what had transpired all those years ago and the resulting trauma of it. It was too much for little soldier to bear.
Everyone was forced to jump back as the Ruby literally spontaneously combusted. Her entire body was covered in flames.
Leni was blowing on her hand as everyone were at a loss at how to help Leggy now that she was like this. They can't get close to her without getting burned all over.
"Leggy, please!" Leni called out to her.
"You need to calm down!" Lana called out to the Ruby in distress.
"If we don't calm her down soon, she's going to burn the village down." Clyde said before he too called out to Ruby. "Leggy, you're spiraling! If you can hear me, listen to this!"
He took a step closer to flaming inferno of distress. "It's something that Lincoln has helped me with time and again..."
But Leggy was too distressed to listen, while she could hear Clyde and the others, she didn't bother paying attention as the memories were getting stronger.
In them all she could say out loud was, "What did I do?", "Please, stop!" and "I'm sorry!"
Homeworld, 11 Years Prior...
On the broken apart planet known to the Gem race as Homeworld was a single tower. It was a tower made of some of the strongest materials known to Gemkind as it was known as a sort of solitary confinement as opposed to the Gem prisons where defective or insubordinate Gems were stored until either a trial or public execution by the Diamonds. The prison tower was so strong that not even Quartz who were known for their natural strength due to years of fighting or even fusions who were known for their combined strength due to the strength of whoever makes up the fusion couldn't break through the wall.
Inside the tower was a certain Ruby, and she was scared out of her mind.
"This may not bring back your memories but beating up a worthless runt like you will be worth the time." a Jasper said arrogantly as she cracked her knuckles.
"Yeah!" said an Amethyst with the same arrogant smile as she summoned her weapon, which was a spiked mace. "Got to relieve some stress over a failed mission somehow."
"Please stop!" Leggy pleaded as she was cornered with her back up against the wall as she began to hyperventilate.
Soon the Ruby found herself unable to move as a Peridot used her limb enhancers to restrain her, only leaving her head exposed.
"Apologizes Ruby but this is just a standard procedure." The Peridot said in a robotic tone. "It's either this or you are going to be shattered. And I am certain that you do not want that."
The forgetful Ruby's pain filled screams, pleas and cries was the only sounds audible from the tower alongside the sounds of the beating the poor gem was enduring.
Leggy was still drowning in tears. Despite this, she managed to snap back to reality when she heard Clyde's voice as she turned to him, seeing the concerned look on his face. Heavily breathing, she put the flames that were surrounding herself out.
After seeing the flames around her disappear, Ronnie Anne and Clyde cautiously approached her.
"Are you okay?" Clyde asked.
"Y-Yeah." Leggy said as she stood up. "Sorry about that."
"Don't be." Leni said to the small gem. "I'm sorry for asking you."
"No, no." Leggy said to the blonde as she wiped away her tears. "It's not your fault, you didn't know."
"So punching Lincoln in the head to help him get his memories back is definitely off the table." Lana said after a few minutes of silence. "Any other suggestions?"
The group began to really put on their thinking caps for this one. How could they possibly help someone with amnesia when they had very little knowledge of it, much less how to figure out on how to restore the amnesiac's memories?
"Hmm, this is difficult." Milo said as he placed a hand to his chin to think. "Maybe we can try and make him remember by telling him some parts of his life."
"That's a good idea Milo but there's a problem with that." Luan said with a bit of doubt. "There's a lot of memories to go through and I don't think that we don't have enough time to go through all of them."
"Well, I think we should tell him what's happening but at least the important stuff." Ronnie Anne suggested. "That way he'll at least know what's going on and we'll tell him all the personal stuff later once we find a way off this planet and we're out of danger."
"Well... I guess we can try that." Lana began.
"Yeah, I guess it's better than nothing." Clyde said with a shrug.
Everyone else agreed and headed back into the tent.
Back in the Zeenu Captial...
"Alright, that's the last of the laser cannons." The emperor said as he assisted one of his guards in placing a huge laser cannon onto the roof of the palace by using a giant crane.
He then looks out into the city, which had lasers on each roof, and razor-sharp barbwire on the barricades being put in the roads by some of the alien refugees and even a few citizens.
"Emperor." a voice shouted urgently.
Looking to his right, he saw Globgor running towards him with Meteora in her baby carrier. It wasn't just him either, Chris was also with him.
"Globgor, Chris, what's the matter?" The emperor asked noticing the monster's distressed face.
"Eclipsa and Elise haven't come back!" The king of the monsters said. "I remember those two and Dan going after Jasper, and they haven't come back since."
The planet's ruler began to think. "Hmm, that is a problem. Well since now that the city is armed. I'll be sure to arrange a search party once we get an update on where Lincoln is. We're already stretched as it is."
Globgor sighed deeply. He got where the emperor was coming from. Lincoln's whereabouts and arming the city in case an attack happens were top priority. Since one of them was nearly done, the other one wasn't. He loved his wife and while he was sure that she could take care of herself, it was his love for her that caused him to worry about her.
As for Chris, he also understood where the emperor was coming from. The man bear was also worried for his wife, yet he knew that she could take care of herself. He also knew that their group were stretch thin as it is doing a multitude of things. If they were stretch any more than the possibility of an attack happening and call for backup would be for naught.
Suddenly, a dark shadow has appeared below them causing them to look up.
To their surprise, it was Drek's ship up in the sky.
"Oh no..." Chris said as he transformed into a bear again.
"This is not good." Globgor said, he cradled his daughter closer.
Into the city, Roger and Sinbad looked up and they also saw the spaceship.
"Oh my god!" Roger shouted in fear. "No!"
"Fight or flight Roger?" Sinbad asked as he pulled out his knife as he glared up at the spaceship.
Roger began to think on this. Sure, he could run, but that would prove to Zing just how cowardly he is and if there was one thing that the alien hated it was proving someone right. Even if he did find somewhere to hide, it was only a matter of time before his ex-boyfriend finds him and does whatever he wanted to him. And with Lincoln who knows where, it was doubtful that he would be found before Earth's timeline is up.
It was then he made his decision.
"Actually Sinbad..." The alien said with a determined look on his face. "I have a different idea."
"What's that?" The comedian said as he looked at him for a bit.
"Let's gather everyone together and I'll explain it." Roger said. "You're not going to like it though."
Elsewhere Hekapoo looked up and saw the spaceship floating in the sky.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me..." The magical gal said she pulled out her dimensional scissors and rushed to the center of the Zeenuian capital where everyone was gathering to discuss what to do about this.
Inside the ship, the little red commander was with Zing as the former began addressing his soldiers.
"Men, you are about to go to battle." The alien began. "Where? That city below us." He turned around to show them a holographic display of the city down below. "Our ship's scanners have detected one of Zing's targets within this vicinity so you must go down there and retrieve him by any means possible. Are you ready?!"
"Yes, Supreme Chairman Drek!" His soldiers said.
"Good now get to work" The little red alien commanded as he opened a hatch to which his soldiers flew out of it with their jetpacks and for those who didn't have them rappelled down with cords.
Back in the city, everyone was gathering together with the emperor at the front.
"Citizens and refugees of Zeenu. That ship in the sky is raining down those seek to do us harm and capture Roger. It will be up to us to protect him!"
"Wait!" a voice shouted.
Everyone looked and saw Roger rushing towards the emperor urgently.
"Roger." The emperor said confused. "What are doing? You need to hide."
"No. I don't need to emperor." Roger said as he can't believe what he was planning to do. "I have a plan that might save us without the need to fight."
This caused everyone to talk amongst themselves. This was rather confusing for them to hear. They didn't have to fight that army that was currently coming to fight them. What was Roger planning?
"What do you mean?" One of the refugees.
Roger just looked up at the army before he closed his eyes.
Back in the ship, Zing sitting in a chair as he watched the battalion of soldiers deploy from the ship.
"Once Roger is in my hands all that's left to find Lincoln and once those two nuisances are out of the way I can-" The alien was thinking to himself when suddenly...
"Gah!' Zing shouted as he felt a weird pain in his head. "What the hell?!"
"Zing, can you hear me?" said a familiar voice.
Instantly did the alien recognized that voice.
"You..." was the only thing he could say in disdain. "You got a lot of nerve contacting me like this."
"Hey there Zing." Roger said. "Look I know you're looking for me and Lincoln, but I have a proposal for you."
This confused Zing. What was Roger playing at? What was he planning?
"What kind of proposal?" Zing asked being rather curious yet cautious at the same time.
"It's simple. I'll give myself up to you." Roger explained. "And in exchange, you and that army of yours spares everyone else those prisoners you have in your ship, my friends and the Earth."
This left the former extra-terrestrial emperor both rather shocked and befuddled at this surprising proposition from his ex-lover now turned bitter nemesis. It was shocking because it was Roger who known on both his old home planet and on his new home of the planet Earth or his extreme selfishness and entitlement to whatever he desired, and it left him befuddled because he just couldn't comprehend one of his old subjects being this... What was the word?
It was like the opposite to being selfish.
Well, whatever the word is he certainly didn't expect something like this from Roger of all people. Not once in a very long time.
Shakin his head, Zing thought back cautiously. "And why should I accept this offer? What's stopping me from searching this planet for Lincoln and destroying Earth regardless of your surrender?"
"If you wanted, you would've nuked Earth the moment you had Drek's weapons at your disposal, but you decided not to do it because you've decided to give us a chance." His enemy mentally responded in a smug tone. "In spite of everything that's happened to you over the past few weeks you still held onto your honor. Which is more than can be said for most people who've been in your situation before in one way or another."
"Okay, you got me there." Zing couldn't help but agree to what Roger said in his mind. He hated to admit but Roger did have a point.
"And besides I can tell that you're taking your anger out on everyone else because you've lost everything." Roger continued channeling a bit of his Dr. Penguin persona into this conversation. "While understandable, you never confronted that source: Me. You just tortured me, and we never had that conversation. So, if I need to surrender in order to make sure this war ends, I'll do it."
"Roger, that's noble but-" Zing began but he was cut off.
"I started this whole mess Zing, it's time I finish it!" Roger said with finality in his voice. "So, what do you think? Do we have a deal?"
Zing began to think this over. As bizarre as this situation is, he did have some honor to him. When Lincoln and his friends needed help with Aquamarine and the Eyeball Ruby, he did help them there. Sure, Lincoln did destroy his ship and the rest of his friends did cause his people to rebel against him due to him lying to them for so long but now that thought about it, he did have some blame for that.
If he was just honest with them, he would still have their loyalty, he would still have his army of guards, and he would still have his spaceship.
Maybe he should've let the Exiles go when they requested it instead of throwing them into more gladiator fights for his kind's amusement.
Suddenly, he shook his head as to regain his senses.
"Wait, why am I thinking about this now?! I have nothing to be regretful for!" Zing said, hardening his resolve. "What happened was their own choice! When this is over, I'll vaporize this planet just to get rid of all of those traitors just because I feel like it!" He them took a breath to calm himself down. He had an opportunity to finally end this now, but he needed to think this over before he decided to go forward.
While he could agree to Roger's deal and spare everyone else there was also the 90% chance that his friends would stage another rescue attempt just like they back on his last spaceship.
There was also Lincoln, he was still out there doing who knows what. He had some of Drek's soldiers searching the planet for him and no doubt those people from Earth are looking for him too. What should he do about that whole debacle?
There was also the matter of Earth. If he did accept this proposition, he would have to call off his doomsday of that planet. Actually, that planet was nothing more than a speck of water and dirt in this vast universe. He'll probably either destroy it anyway just to make sure his two archnemeses watch as the lives they've built there be utterly obliterated in an instant to teach that everything can be taken away just as easily as it can be given to them.
An alternative option then popped into his head. If he didn't destroy Earth, maybe someone else is going do it anyway so why should he even bother with a doomed planet anyway? It was so insignificant that he wondered why so many people tried to either destroy or conquer it? He didn't know maybe it was out of pride or something.
Did he really want to fall into that cliche as well?
He's heard many different stories of that planet being attacked by the likes of Vilgax, Vexnus and her Cluster Prime forces, the Gems from the Gem Homeworld with the multiple invasions, and even though this was strange to hear about from some of his former subjects, his empire has heard of many other extra-terrestrials attacking Earth in the following centuries.
He just didn't get it.
Seriously? What made that planet so popular that it became the target of so many hostile encounters with many monstrous despots and intergalactic empires?
He needed to make a good call on this, or he would risk losing everything.
Well, he would risk losing everything else that he had left.
No to mention Drek would risk losing everything he's built so far as well.
Meanwhile on Earth...
At the Loud House, the family was with Phineas Ferb and their friends in Lisa's room in front of a giant computer. The Lincoln clone wasn't with them considering that it was too crowded in there and having him there would just make things rather uncomfortable for the two groups. He couldn't exactly blame them for it too much.
So, while the family was trying to fix this mess they made, the clone was just exploring the house trying to distract himself from some troubling thoughts that were stirring in his head such as:
"Why am I even here?"
"Was I created for a purpose?"
"If that's the case, what is that purpose?"
"Am I even human in spite of being a clone of one?"
After all, while Lisa didn't create the body of the clone, and she did say that she did it because she missed Lincoln, he felt like that wasn't the only reason.
Entering the bathroom, he stood in front of the mirror above the sink as he looked into it as those same thoughts cropped in his mind.
As if his prays were answered the clone cried out in pain as he clutched the sides of his head as a new voice entered it.
"You only exist because I need a new meat puppet to interact with these worthless mortals! Hahahaha!"
Screaming out in agony, the clone fell to his knees as he cried out. "I don't know who you are, but I don't want to be controlled by you!"
"Hahahaha! You say that like you have a choice! I'm the reason you're here to begin with!" mocked the voice.
Thus began a tug-of-war between the two voices for control over this body. The soul that wanted to not be controlled tried to shake off this strange influence by slamming his forehead into the towel rack causing it to break in half.
"Get out of my body!" demanded the clone.
While this did cause the strange voice to be stunned briefly (as well as hurt the Lincoln clone's head) it refused to relinquish control as it grabbed used the body's legs to do a front flip onto the bathroom mat.
"NO! I'VE WAITED FAR TOO LONG FOR THIS!" refused the strange influence.
Getting up before the clone can get a chance to try and regain control he stood in front of the mirror.
Opening one of his eyes, it wasn't a normal human eye at a moment.
It was colored yellow.
"Hahahaha! Finally, now I can- OW!"
The soul of the clone wasn't quite done as he used one of his hands to make a fist and sock whoever this guy was directly in the face cause the control to go to him as well as give his body a black eye (the eye that was yellow).
"Please stop!" The clone begged as tears streamed down his eyes.
"I'LL NEVER GIVE UP UNTIL I GET WHAT I DESIRE!" said the strange voice as he refused to give up on getting control of this body.
Clutching his head again, the clone said in defiance as he stood up slowly. "You... can't... control me you creep... I... won't... LET YOU!"
Without warning the clone began to run all around the bathroom, slamming his body against the different structures trying to gain 100% control. It's becoming a struggle.
Suddenly, the door was kicked open as Lynn Jr. alongside Buford, Baljeet and Isabella piled into the bathroom.
"What's going..." Lynn began before her eyes widened in shock at the sight. "What in the name of-"
The clone was now apparently choking himself on the floor as he tried to gain control of himself. "Help... me!"
His eyes turned yellow once more. "WILL YOU QUIT ALREADY?!"
His eye turned back to normal as he began to roll around on the floor in a struggle. "You give up!"
"What's wrong with him?" Baljeet said scared, as he hid behind Buford.
"I think someone's trying to control his mind!" Isabella said taking into account the yellow eyes that the clone briefly had.
Looking at the group with his yellow eyes once more, the clone laughed manically as he lunged at them. Instead of attacking them he had one goal in mind.
Escape.
"Oh no you don't!" Buford said as he wrapped his arms around the clone in a bear hug effectively restraining him.
Isabella looked towards Lynn. "Lynn is there anything that Lucy had that can help us with a possible possession situation?"
Lynn thought about it before saying. "Well, she does have a spell book, but I doubt that'll help."
"We'll take what we can." Phineas said as he looked back at the struggling clone. "Go get it."
Nodding, the athlete quickly ran towards her room as began rummaging through Lucy's side of it.
"C'mon, c'mon." Lynn said to herself as she looked everywhere. "Where could that stupid spell book be?"
After two or so minutes of searching, the jock finally found what she came in for which was sitting underneath the mattress o her sister's bed.
"Finally!" Lynn said triumphally as she raced out of the bedroom... while making a mental note to clean up the room later.
Lynn raced back to the bathroom and saw that Phineas, Ferb, Baljeet, and Isabella were now struggling to hold the clone down. Looking towards Buford she saw that he was holding his now bloody nose.
"I got the spell book!" Lynn announced showing them the item in question.
Instead of being terrified the restrained cloned just laughed.
"Hahahaha! Really Pigskin! You're gonna use a fake spell book against me?! Oh, this'll be good."
Flipping through the spell book for the right spell that'll them do some good for a little bit. She finally found the right one to use.
At least she hoped that it was the right one.
"Possessing an unwilling body best be clear of it, away with you evil spirit!" Lynn said, confidently as she thought to herself. "Please work, please work! Please for my love of all things athletic please work!"
At first, nothing happened causing the evil spirit to laugh.
"Oh well, Pigskin. Your one chance failed. I'm not giving you a second one!"
One of the clone's hands began to envelop in a blue colored flame but before he could do anything. Suddenly the flame went out.
"WHAT?! WHAT'S HAPPENING?!"
Suddenly, the clone's eyes glowed a bright yellow before it screamed in agony as it fired energy beams from them, causing the four to back away.
"NO! NO! THIS WASN'T TO BE!"
The energy from the beams came together before it took form.
Everyone was in shock at what they were seeing.
To be continued...
So, there you have it folks. Roger is planning to give himself up to Zing in order to save his friends and spare Earth from his former Emperor's wrath. While Lincoln has been found he doesn't seem to remember anything.
Will Zing agree to his enemy's proposal or is Earth doomed?
On Earth, what exactly is happening with the clone and who exactly is trying to control him?
All will be revealed next time on "The Exiles"!
I hope you guys had a happy Thanksgiving and I'll see you all next time.