Crisis of The Worlds: Weathering The Storm

Chronic Disturbances

Hours later, Orb and Obliv were out on patrol of the outskirts of Pentref, before noticing a fight between a member of the British Army and a candy shop-owner. Obliv was stunned, pointing out the uniform to Orb.

"Orb! Look, that guy in the uniform is trying to rob a candy store!" Obliv yelled. Orb was dumbfounded at the sight of a human in Pentref. They hurried over, separating the man from the traffic cone running the store. "What's going on?!" Orb asked. The man pushed her off.

"She doesn't have a permit to be selling goods like this in this here colony of Great Britain!" the soldier complained. Obliv's jaw dropped. "Colony of what? Do you know what year this is?" Obliv asked.

"Aye, yes. It's 1973." the soldier said. Obliv shook his head. "It's 7081, and you're in the Yoyle Empire."
___________

Soshi watched the news from the lab with morbid curiosity. Kama walked over. "What the hell are you watching?" she asked, concerned at the intensely violent clash on the news.
"Apparently a bunch of German soldiers appeared and began violently clashing with law enforcement and the population at large. I'm honestly kind of terrified."

"German soldiers?" Kama asked in confusion. Soshi sighed. "Thousands of years before objects appeared on this planet, the British, French, Americans, Germans, Soviets, and Japanese each set up colonies. The Germans centered their colony in the Yoyle Mountains, whereas the British set up colonies on the western third of the continent with the exception of Atlinia, which was taken by the Soviets. This was done a decent while after the Second World War ended in stalemate. These soldiers in Yoyleland are monsters, and I'm keeping an eye on the situation just so that if I have to, I can intervene as quickly as possible."

"How did they show up here?" Kama asked. Soshi shrugged. "That I don't know. I feel like something weird is happening that could require serious intervention." Reglissina burst in, interrupting him. Sage followed her close behind.
"You couldn't be more right about that last part. "

"What could we even do? Soshi doesn't really seem to want to help." Kama asked.

"We shouldn't want his help. I can sense the conflict with evil in his heart. He could be swayed by the enemy." Sage replied.

"As a soldier, that's the most insulting thing I've ever heard said about me in my life. I would never betray my emperor and my country!" Soshi responded.

"Then why don't you get up and do something about it?!" Sage cried.

"Because if I turn my back on my son, I can't trust that he'll be safe! I refuse to lose him in the same way I lost my wife and his siblings!" Soshi yelled.

"I understand, Soshi, but your son is 14 or 15. Surely he can look after himself." Kama said. Soshi just sighed. "Not during the end of the world, he-" Before Soshi could speak further, his phone rang. He almost lost his temper until he saw the number on it, when his eyes went wide.

"How on God's Earth-" Soshi took the call. "What's going on?" Soshi asked. A woman on the other end yelled at him. "Soshi, you said you'd be home from work an hour ago! What's keeping you and where's Dwight?!" Soshi struggled to conceive of a proper response.

"Who's that?" Kama asked. "My wife. Look, Cheryl, I'll be over there in just a second to explain this disaster. Just hold on." Soshi said.

"All right." Cheryl sighed, clearly frustrated before she hung up. Soshi just stood there in total shock that seemed to quickly wear off in a moment of wide-eyed clarity.

"Fire up the portal, I'll get Dwight in here. I have some family business I need to attend." Soshi said before walking out. Reglissina shuddered. "Who's Cheryl?" Sage asked.
"Soshi's dead wife. I have a feeling the two universes merging means that people from different times will show up in the present and vice versa." Reglissina said.

"How do you know that?" Kama asked.

"I remember everything that the Forsaken used my body for and every thought it defiled my mind with. It attempted to persuade Soshi to stand aside as it destroyed the Aether by creating a universe where his family was alive and well. But accurately recreating Soshi's wife meant that, thankfully, that backfired. She urged him to take the stand, and I applaud her for that." Reglissina responded.

"His wife must be bossy in addition to being of strong moral character." Sage said just before Soshi returned with Dwight.

"You three don't get cozy. I might be gone for a while, but you're clearly by far the most adept for the task of pulling together a fighting force to deal with this. Kama, you're on coordination. Liquorice and Sage, you two will brief everyone you can get together on the situation at large seeing how knowledgeable you both seem to be." Soshi said before he and Dwight went through the portal set up by Launch Pad.
___________

Empress Liy looked on, sighing before calling someone on screen. A blue and green book with glassy robotic eyes. "Book, New Earth and the Aether are out of my grasp for the time being. What have you come up with, Book?" Empress Liy asked before putting her face in her hands in frustration.

"There are four other Earths which have so far have faced the first taste of your destruction. The Jewel Kingdom on Earth-J, the Floral Kingdom on Earth-F, the Sugar City States on Earth-C or S, and the Kingdom of Encrossia on Earth-M. Two of them are likely to refuse you, most likely the Florals. If you can destroy some or all of them, you'll be on top. Also, New Earth and the Aether's merging is slowly but steadily slowing down in the netherverse. They may survive yet." Book said.

"Build a machine that will speed up the process. I want them both to die if they want to refuse me."

"What will you do if someone who can fight you head on gets involved?" Zack the Zipper asked.

"A legitimate question from this enemy. General Tagayo of New Earth has temporal anomalies tracing back to him. He could possibly be a threat if provoked." Book said.

"General Tagayo will be easy enough to take out if I need to. Blue Quartz, stand ready, your part in all this is coming quickly. I'll call you back later, Book." Liy said, closing the call.

"What do I do in the meantime?" Blue Quartz asked.

"You can toy with our guest, just please don't kill him." Empress Liy responded.

"What's going on? I want real answers!" Zack yelled. "Sure. The people out there are afraid, because the worlds are going to end. They're afraid just like you'll be!" Blue Quartz said, staring into Zack's eyes. For some reason Zack couldn't figure out why, Zack felt terrified. He wanted to curl up and crawl away. He tried to resist, but he couldn't. He backed away, confused and terrified.

All he could think about was what might happen if Blue Quartz even touched him. It made no sense, Zack knew he could fight back, but he was scared out of his wits. How could this be happening? He had no idea, he could barely reason. He ran, to the only place he could seem to think of. The cell. Then Blue Quartz walked up to him, causing him to huddle in the furthest corner from Blue Quartz, only for Blue Quartz to approach him closer. To see Blue Quartz's face. "Of course, you can't do anything. Your cancer is killing you, and the situation you've been put in a truly insurmountable situation where nobody could help you. What could you think to do? In your shoes, I couldn't think of anything.

So why not just give up? After all, nobody could help you in either regard."

His terror was slowly then suddenly crafted and formed into despair. He did legitimately have cancer, and he couldn't really think. He didn't know why. He just couldn't really think, he only felt awful. He just looked down at the floor.