Nextgen Kids: The Nature Wars

Nextgen Intro: First Day

Ladies and gentlemen, it is time to begin the Nextgen Series of the Gameverse. We will begin with this long one-shot and it will be followed by a series of smaller one-shots that will introduce the Nextgen Kids Next Door. But first, I wonder what Nolan York is up to in the future?

The NEW Adventures of Sandman and Coldman

Nighttime in Quahog, Rhode Island was rarely beautiful. The streets were dark and damp, and the only lights came from that of the streetlights. Things were not peaceful. At least, not for a certain theater. Hundreds of people forcibly tied up, sitting in rows along the audience as they faced ahead at the stage. Standing upon the stage, a short figure, dressed like a king, in gray pants, black shoes, red shirt, and king's crown stood, holding up a gray puppet-holder with colorful, glowing spots on the ends of it. The figure himself was designed like a puppet, standing atop a small stand as a row of puppets floated above the stage.

"Silence, my dear audience." The Puppet King spoke in a low tone. "And let my friends perform. From the top, my puppets: OHH, Old King Coal was a merry old soul!"

"Yodeladi-yodeladi, lo-HEE-HOO!" The puppets sang as the King made them dance around in midair.

A grappling hook suddenly shot from the side of the stage, zipping by and pulling back to chop the strings which the floating puppets hung from, dropping to the floor. The Puppet King looked with confusion, and a laser zapped over and burned the stand he stood on, dropping him to the stage. "You know, you shouldn't force people to watch crummy shows like this." The Puppet King turned his attention toward the side of the stage, seeing a figure in black cargo pants, gloves, grey hoodie, and a gas mask sitting in a wheelchair. "Matter of fact, you shouldn't be here at all." The figure said, moving closer, out of the shadowy corner to give the Puppet King a better look. "Shouldn't you and the rest of your Brotherhood cronies be posing as ice sculptures?"

"Well, well, what do we have here? Sandman, isn't it? I hardly recognized you with the wheelchair."

"That guy's old news. You can call me: Sandman II: Now It's Personal!"

"...What the hell kind of name is that?" Puppet King asked.

"Forget about it! The point is, I'm here to kick your butt. Now, we can either do this the hard way," he readied his gas gun, "or the hard way."

"Or, we can simply do it my way. I bet those limp legs of yours would make great puppetry. Come, my puppets: show our guest the true beauty of puppetness and strings." At his command, some people walked out from the other end of the stage. The puppets he was previously making dance appeared to be designed from these people, and they had glowing blue eyes. Sandman could tell he had switched their souls with the puppets. He also recognized one of the puppets as Officer Swanson.

Puppet King sent the possessed people after Sandman, who was careful when fighting them, seeing as they were actual people. He merely punched his punching glove from his wheelchair at their faces to knock them unconscious, and also used his gas gun to make them cough and fall asleep. Puppet King, unable to breathe in the gas, shooed the gas away to get a look at the hero again.

"You know, you remind me of this other guy I know that was in a wheelchair. In fact, it was his fault that all of my Brotherhood friends had been frozen."

"Really? He sounds neat. I'd like to meet him."

"Unfortunately, you won't even get the chance."

"GRR!" Sandman was suddenly gripped by a massive hand, looking up as the giant alien villain, XL Terrestrial lifted him up. "What? You, too?!"

"You see, Sandman," Puppet King began, stepping closer, "while all of the other villains were frozen, XL Terrestrial and I were able to make a miraculous escape. Now it's time to squeeze you like jelly out of a plumb. But first, perhaps we'll see just what lies under that mask of yours..." XL Terrestrial reached his other arm over, about to grab Sandman's mask in his fingers and pull it off...

To Sandman's good fortune, a pair of icicle missiles shot over and struck Terrestrial's arm, causing him to drop the hero and his chair back to the floor. "What the-" Puppet King tried to say, taking notice of another figure standing on one of the balconies over the audience. The second hero jumped down to their floor, and appeared to be dressed in an icy-blue Eskimo-like coat, with black pants, black shoes, and a silver Eskimo-like metal mask, with metal points along the side that were designed like feathers. The figure also wore a pack full of ice on his back, with a hose attached to it.

The figure launched various icicles from his fingers, slicing the ropes which held the audience captive. "Now unless you wanna be on the news for being injured in a hero/villain's line of fire, I'd suggest you scram now." He ordered. The audience immediately piled out of the auditorium.

"Oh, great. And who are you supposed to be?" Puppet King asked.

"You can call me..." the icebender stepped closer, "Coldman II: A Frosty Comeback."

"What is this, Cheesy Name Tuesday?" XL Terrestrial asked.

"Well, whatever the case may be, these so-called heroes are getting on my nerves. Puppets: attack them!"

The controlled people rose back up and started attacking Sandman again. Coldman ran around the chamber as XL Terrestrial tried to stomp him, but the giant alien's feet were too slow, and the frosty hero dashed around and shot ice chunks at his head from the hose on his pack. Terrestrial was pelted in the face and fell over, his hand crushing and destroying part of the stage, but Puppet King jumped away and dodged.

The possessed citizens kept coming at Sandman, but the half-crippled hero kept shooting them away with gas blasts. He noticed the glow emitting from Puppet King's holder, and yelled, "Coldman, grab his Control!" The ice-themed hero took notice of his magical puppet-holder, but XL Terrestrial recovered and snapped the hero in his hands, binding his arms. Coldman tried to shake away, and was able to blow Ice Breath through his mask and into the alien's face. Terrestrial dropped Coldman and tried to rip the ice off, then ended up tripping and falling over.

"No!" Puppet King gasped when Sandman shot his grappling hook over to take his Control. He tossed it to Coldman, who unleashed ice from his hands and froze it in midair, afterwards making it shatter to pieces. The souls were freed from the lifeless puppets upon the stage, flowing back into their actual bodies. The two heroes then turned and watched as the defeated XL Terrestrial shrunk back to normal, too.

Not too long after, the police had come. The crippled officer Swanson, now looking pretty ancient, handcuffed the two criminals and led them into the back of a police van. "You guys give freakshows a bad name." the Chief of Police told them. "And by the way, uh... I don't suppose either of you know what a poopsack is." The two villains exchanged weird glances and shook their heads 'no'. "CRAP!!"

The heroic duo of Sandman and Coldman watched from atop a building as the villains were locked into the van. "And the day is saved once again." Sandman simply stated. "Thanks for the help, Yuki."

"Anytime, Nolan." Yuki Crystal said, taking off his mask and hood. "But why do I need the ice pack again? I have icebending powers, you know."

"Hehe, you never know. Might encounter a chi-blocker some day." Nolan chuckled.

"Well, I suppose you don't need to worry about that." Yuki joked. "Anyway, I gotta go. Olive wants me to be around for dinner. Later, Nolan." With that, Yuki conjured an ice path in the air and used it to ski away.

"Heh... speakin' of which..." Nolan spoke, shooting his grappling hook in the distance to haul himself away.

York Household

"And just when the Imperial Guard was about to strike his spear in the two operatives," Danika York explained to her 5-year-old son as he happily sat in bed, blanket halfway over his body as he listened to her exciting story, "your father shot over, and STABBED him right in the back!"

Dillon York then gave a tired yawn.

"You should get some sleep, now, Dillon." Danika smiled. "I'll tell you more in the morning."

"Okay. Goodnight, Mom."

"Goodnight, Sweetie." Danika switched the lamp off in his room and kissed her son's forehead as he covered up in his blanket and cuddled with his shadow, Mario.

Danika gently shut the door of his room as she turned and saw her husband rolling in, and Midna immediately flew over and smacked Nolan across the face. "Ow!"

"Where on Earth have you been?? Your son was getting tired, and had no one else to give him story time!" the spirit shouted.

"Shouldn't you be in the Spirit World or something?"

"A Pokémon always sticks with its master. Eee hee hee! Later!" Midna wiggled her fingers and flew away as Danika approached Nolan.

"Sigh, Danika, I'm sorry I wasn't around, I was-"

"Don't worry about it, Nolan." Danika smiled, sitting on his lap. "It's not easy being a superhero. Always having to save the world and junk like that."

"I still wonder how Yuki got to be Mr. Oldman's successor." Nolan chuckled.

"Maybe he just needed to pick a snobby child and just didn't have any other choice." She joked. "But at least you both have a loving wife to come back to. Now whaddya say we get some sleep ourselves? If we're lucky, you might be able to get a few stories in to Dillon before school."

"Heh, yeah..." Nolan smiled. "Sleep would be nice." Nolan then proceeded to follow his wife in the bedroom. He removed his gas mask and other articles of clothing which made up his alter ego and hung them up before joining his wife in bed.

This next segment takes place a couple years later.