Chapter 42
“This is going to end so badly,” Calypso muttered as we all stepped up onto the teleporter.
“We got this,” I said, giving her a wink. “Just going to pop on over and kick his ass, then be home in time for dinner.”
A little smile played on her lips as she slugged my shoulder.
Lance and Jero stepped up last as the teleporter began to buzz.
“Let’s get this fucker!” Greg yelled as we all teleported.
We all reappeared in a dark cave-like room, with a single large door ahead of us.
A strange feeling fell over me as we stood there, like a heavy pressure pushing down on my soul.
“The Watcher’s domain,” Castor muttered as he took on his true form, towering above us. “He awaits us, just beyond that door.”
I looked at Mallogory and nodded as she gave me the same look.
We came together and began our dance, Ego pouring into her Stomata. As we came to the end, we leaned in to kiss.
Then we blew apart, the fusion failing.
Groaning, I sat up, looking confused.
“The Watcher must have put a barrier up to counter fusing after watching you two,” Castor said, looking displeased.
“Great, wished we’d known that,” Mallogory groaned as she stood up and walked over to me, the two of us leaned on each other.
Castor looked at Greg. “It is time, Greg.”
Greg frowned as he pulled the Seed of Knowledge out, “I really don’t like this, bro.”
He started to crush it, but before he could start, Castor stopped him. “We’ve talked about this, you MUST eat it. It is the way it is intended.”
“And I’ve told you I know what I’m doing!” Greg snapped, but Castor remained over him.
“Do it the right way, otherwise you jeopardize us all,” Castor said sternly.
With a groan, Greg nodded, “I think my way is better…” He put the drug into his mouth and began to chew. Gulping loudly, he swallowed it.
“Well?” Lance asked.
Greg blinked, rubbing his stomach. “Uh…. what happens next?”
His eyes went wide and rolled back into his head.
“Is it working?” Reinhardt asked.
Then his head exploded.
We all stared on in shock as his body stumbled and hit the ground.
“... Ominus was wrong,” Castor said, with sadness in his voice.
Lance blinked, then roared, “What the fuck?! It just killed him!”
“That was the risk,” Castor hung his head solemnly. “The Seed is only for UAD, if any other being eats it, they die instantly.”
“FUCK!” Lance screamed in frustration as he walked away, heading for the doors.
“Lance…” I began, but he cut me off.
“No, we’re doing this. The Watcher is going to pay for all this shit!”
We all looked at each other and slowly followed after him.
Balgore hung back a bit, staring down at Greg’s body. He made a sign with his hands and patted him, then he stood and followed us.
“Prepare yourselves,” Castor said from above us. “I will distract him, while all of you figure out how best to beat him.”
“Yep,” Lance yelled up, eyes glued to the door.
With a mighty heave, Castor pushed the doors open, and we walked into the massive room beyond.
“You came,” a voice boomed across the room to us as the Watcher floated above the ground.
As we walked in, the doors slammed shut behind us and disappeared. Lance walked ahead of the group, staring across the room at the Watcher.
“And here we are again, Lance. You and I, staring at one another at the end of a story. Just like last time, you’ve brought more friends to die before you,” the Watcher mocked, seeming to be very sure of himself.
Lance spit onto the ground, cards floating up around him, “This time will be different.”
“We shall see,” the Watcher replied, then looked to Castor. “Ah, ]̸̗̙̰̺̏̉̅́͐͝ͅ[̷̛͕̦͓͙̩̀̈͘̕͜]̵͈̾;̸̖̼̘̹͑͑̄̚'̶̖̜̀̍͗̓͘͝/̷̧̗̮̬̹̿͛͗͒͗͘.̵̠̗̙̭̇͋̂/̴̧̨͈̤̪̰̓̅̾,̵͔͉̞͔̻̅͒̄̒;̵͈̫̩̄̚'̴̼̙̜͎̓̔͜͠;̸͙̲̜͈̒̿͋̔̍-̵̧̛̛̥̩̲͆̎͛͘;̸̟̤̘͉̖̃̐̾̈́̍͂͜'̷̰̰̻͙̱̪̃̂̌͑͝;̶̳̌̓͊̌͊͘͜'̴̡͖̙̎͋̌̄́̈́.̷͈̊͂͝'̶̝͚̱̽͗̈́̄̚'̴̛̘͚̆́̔'̷̻́͠͝f̶͈̳̈́͛͒̈́͆;̷͉͉̹͖̫̄͜'̷̰̭̼̳̋;̶̫̯̰̌͐̾̋̕ͅ'̸̟̽͐͘/̸̧̻͇̭̔͋̈͠.̸̡͇̻̌̌͛̒͆.̷̨̪͖̥̠̭̅̽ it is so good to see you again. How’s your father?”
“Do not speak of him,” Castor said in a low voice.
The Watcher scanned each of us, “Missing one, are we?”
Lance growled, a card flashed as a beam flew towards the Watcher. But all he did was let it hit him, not even reacting.
“This is going to go exactly like last time, I’m afraid,” the Watcher said with a look of false sadness on his face. “I thought you’d have learned your lesson.”
“Lance, calm down,” I said quietly, but the Watcher’s eyes moved to me.
“Ah, a creation of mine! I hoped you’d make it this far so I could see you in the flesh,” he said in a creepily loving voice.
It shook me to my core.
“Castor,” Lance said slowly. “Get him.”
With a flash, Castor and the Watcher appeared before each other in the middle of the room.
“A lowly messenger like yourself dares challenge a Virtue?!” the Watcher bellowed, his voice alone sending wind blasting into our faces.
Castor did not respond as he suddenly grabbed the mechanical arms of the Watcher, and the two began to flash in and out of existence. Every time they reappeared, Castor looked more and more hurt.
“How do we fight something like this?!” Reinhardt asked, looking at her sword with a frown.
“We just do!” Lance yelled as the two dueling beings returned again, this time with Castor flying back and slamming into a wall.
“Go!” Lance yelled as he took to the air, flying for the Watcher as Castor slowly stood back up.
We all moved forward, unsure of what to do. As we neared him, he wheeled on us, looking furious.
“Foolishness!” he bellowed as a beam shot out and hit Remi. She seemed to unravel as we ran, falling to pieces before our eyes.
Not knowing what else to do, I sent my Ego forward and attached it to him.
This was the biggest mistake of my life as I felt my entire being get sucked into him and spat back into me. I collapsed immediately, suddenly very weak. As if my soul had been thrown into a blender!
Lance flashed cards like crazy as all kinds of attacks pelted the Watcher’s strange body.
With a bang, Castor rejoined the fight, the two going back and forth with hits. Doing it old fashioned for a moment before they blinked out of existence again.
While they were gone, Mallogory ran back to me and tried to help me back up. But my legs were to weak to support myself.
A loud whoosh of air was heard as the Watcher reappeared alone, flashing two beams out, causing Calypso and Jero to scream out in horror as they too seemed to fall apart at the seams.
“We’re dying out here!” I hissed, shoving Mallogory off of me. “Go! I’ll be fine!”
She looked conflicted as she slowly stood up and spun, heading for the battle.
Lance threw a shield out over Reinhardt as the Watcher turned for her, but it did nothing as he smashed through it with a metal clawed hand. He sliced straight through her before she could react, killing yet another of our friends.
Castor reappeared, looking wrecked beyond repair, and yelled as he fired a beam from his hand, hitting the Watcher in the back. This actually seemed to hurt him as he let out a wail of some kind and turned, a beam of his own coming out of his face and pushing Castor’s back.
Trying to help, Lance flashed another card, causing the Watcher to flash gold. What ever he did seemed to slow the Watcher.
Bronwyn, using her elastic like Ego, threw herself up towards the Watcher’s back. As she flew by, she sliced through his right wing, shredding a large hole in it.
“Enough!” he bellowed as his beam of energy seemed to grow and quickly over take Castor’s own energy. The Watcher’s beam blew over Castor, and when it cleared, all that was left were the feet of the messenger.
With an angry twirl, the Watcher spun around and flashed a bowl of energy out of his body. It passed over Bronwyn and Balgore. Bronwyn just exploded immediately, while Balgore seemed to weather it, but fell to his knees. Smoke poured up from his body as he yelled in agony.
“Interesting,” the Watcher said as he suddenly snatched up Balgore and put him in some kind of jar. “Welcome to my collection, strange creature.”
As the Watcher turned to put away the Jar, I looked around, horrified to find it was just Lance, Mallogory, and myself left.
Lance was desperately speaking into his cards, trying to make new ones as Mallogory stood by his side, looking unsure of her next move.
Once he was done, the Watcher turned back to us, looking everything over. “What a shame, really. Are you ready to stand down, Lance?”
“No!” He yelled, a few cards flashing as he grew in size to match the Watcher. He transitioned into his Apollyon form and let out a pained roar.
The Watcher just looked on in amusement as he glanced my way. “I warned you, Lance.”
A beam suddenly flew from one of the eyes along his body and hit me.
Mallogory turned to me just as I felt a strange sensation wash over me.
Oh…
ooo000<^>000ooo
Mallogory let out a pained wail as she watched Scamp melt into a puddle of gore.
Lance charged forward as another card flashed, allowing him to move faster than light. He slammed into the Watcher and began to wail on the extremely solid and unmoving body parts of the Watcher. Each hit just clanged loudly, his hooves shattering with each hit.
“This will never hurt me,” the Watcher said calmly as he hit Lance with a arm, sending him flying backwards.
He floated towards him, barely acknowledging the crying Mallogory as he sent a beam to her, turning her into a rocket as she flew into the air and exploded in gore like a bad cartoon skit.
“Lance, are you feeling it? The sensation of losing yet again?” The Watcher said as he sent a beam to Lance, causing him to return to his normal form.
Lance growled as he stood up, flashing a card as a new wave of energy shot forward, hitting the Watcher in the face. But he just kept coming as another beam came out and hit Lance, causing him to fall to his knees as he felt like he’d been thrown into a rock tumbler.
“Stop,” the Watcher commanded.
Even if he wanted to, Lance didn’t have it in him anymore to keep fighting.
So he just stared up at the Watcher as he towered above him.
“Better,” the Watcher said. “This entire event, the entire arc, could have been avoided if you’d just played along. No one else had to suffer. But just like on Equestria, all you do is hurt others.”
“You won’t break me,” Lance coughed out, not giving in.
“Yes I will,” the Watcher replied calmly. “Did you have no plan? Just walking in here and believing you’d win? I expected so much, and this is what you gave me?”
Lance didn’t respond, just stared up at the being above him with hate filled eyes.
“Submit,” the Watcher said simply.
“Fuck you,” Lance said, spitting on the ground between them.
A beam hit him, causing his right leg to melt off of his body. He grimaced and hissed, but he did not back down, just spat again.
“Hm… physical pain does nothing to you. How about… mental,” he said in a sinister voice as a beam hit Lance, causing him to scream in agony as three parts of himself were killed instantly.
“Shall I go further?”
Lance shook as he looked up at the Watcher, bloody tears pouring out of his eyes. His mind was now silent, with Break, Dawn, and Eclipse gone.
“Further,” he spat out.
“Very well,” the Watcher replied as a pony appeared before Lance.
“Lance?!” Twilight yelled, looking both confused and horrified as she reached out for him.
“Twilight?!” Lance gasped out, reaching for her.
A large metal hand came down right in front of him, crushing the purple mare instantly.
He stared straight ahead, eyes appearing dead as the Watcher raised his hand and wiped it off on the ground next to him.
“Dead,” the Watcher said simply. “And she’s been saying this whole time how you would come and save her. What an ending to her story.”
“...” Lance stared at the mess before him, unable to speak.
“Further?” The Watcher mocked, but got no response. “Which of your children is your least favorite?”
“Don’t,” Lance mumbled, eyes still glued in front of himself.
“Dad?!” He heard Fawn say from his side. He didn’t have it in himself to look as he heard another fist slam into the ground.
“Everyone you love is dying, because you refuse to break, Lance,” the Watcher boomed from above him.
“Fine,” Lance said, unable to stop himself as he looked to the side, seeing his daughter. “You want me to give in?”
“Yes.”
“Then make me!” Lance yelled as a card flared up next to him.
“Another card?” The Watcher laughed. “That’s your last one, isn’t it? Better make it a good one.”
Lance’s lips trembled as he closed his eyes, saying a prayer.
“Let’s try this again!” He screamed out as the card flashed.
The Watcher’s eyes went wide, then he smiled, “Bold move! Do you really believe you’ll do it all differently?”
Lance spat onto the ground as all of time came to a grinding halt. Then, with an extremely violent jerk, everything shot backwards.