Heroes of the Multiverse
by Ari Rockefeller
Usual
disclaimers apply. These characters do
no belong to me.
Sweat was running down his face as
he settled into a defensive stance, his Power Pole feeling like it weighed a
ton. His breathing was labored and
rough. The sun was setting in the
horizon, bathing the sky in a beautiful crimson. The combatants couldn’t take the time to
enjoy the lovely scenery. No, the
training took precedent over that.
Ash was training hard for the better
part of the day under Goku’s tutelage.
In the relatively short amount of time, Ash had nailed the basics of
Goku’s style of martial arts. Also,
thanks to Goku’s training, Ash had a good grasp on how to manipulate the latent
electrical energy within him. When
training in such, they discovered that Ash’s “supply” of electricity wasn’t infinite;
sometimes he had to take a Thundershock from Pikachu every now and then to
recharge himself and cut loose with a big attack (by his standards, at least;
Goku and Gohan could do similar stuff with less effort).
Another thing they noticed is that
Ash was not built for intense, Saiyan-style physical combat, needless to
say. In the first “spar” he was in with
Gohan, Ash was out like a light after one roundhouse kick to the side of the
head. He was laid out flat, a spiral for
one eye and a star for the other, babbling incoherently all the while. It was a half hour before he was good to go
again. After that, it was a small ki
blast (the size of a baseball) that leveled the young Pokémon master and burned
a hole in his shirt. It wasn’t a big
blast by any standard, yet it managed to knock the wind out of Ash and make him
taste his own blood in the back of his mouth.
Ash’s arms had to toughen up, and quick, because blocking the repeated
blows was beginning to take a serious toll on his forearms and shins. Though he was trying his best to hide it, he
whimpered whenever he touched the sore areas on his arms or put too much weight
on one leg. Not to worry, though. Fortunately, Goku had with him these amazing
little beans known in his world as Senzu beans.
According to him, these little things restore one’s strength
instantaneously as soon as it’s consumed.
The gaijin boy did so, and as soon as he swallowed the thing, the pain
in his body disappeared and he was overflowing with energy. He was ready to go.
That was a while ago. Since then he was given time to rest, and eat
dinner when Chichi called them to it.
There wasn’t much of the fish Goku caught left. Ash had since changed into the white gi top
and green hakama he took from the Hikawa temple in
While Gohan enjoyed sparring with
his new friend, he was feeling very, very restrained. His father warned him to hold back, as to not
cause any permanent damage to Ash, and with good reason. The young demi-Saiyan could easily crush
stone with his hands and make fissures in the ground if he stomped down hard
enough. There was a point in his life
where he couldn’t even hold a glass without it shattering in his hands not
matter how gently he held it. Deep down,
Gohan seriously wanted to cut loose and bury his fist or foot in something and
watch it crumble under the force of his blow.
But that would have to wait. Right now as about sparring with his new
friend.
The boys were in defensive stances
about ten yards from one another. Their
clothes flipped in the wind, Ash’s hakama pants billowing like flags. He had the sleeves of his gi top rolled up to
the elbows. The Power Pole was in its
scabbard on his back. Both waited for
the other to make the first move, not moving, not blinking. Gohan could afford to be patient and let Ash
make the first move; he was much more disciplined than that. Ash on the other hand, wasn’t.
Moving quicker than he ever did in
his life, Ash sprinted towards the demi-Saiyan adept with a mighty battle
cry. He cocked his fist back and let it
fly as he got close enough, but Gohan easily sidestepped the attack. Seeing the miss, Ash corrected his stance and
got ready to block the impending blows from his sparring partner. The next exchange saw the would-be Pokémon
master on the defense, blocking everything coming his way and stepping back
with every few blocks.
“Don’t keep moving back all the
time!” Goku shouted. “Step to the side!”
Ash did as suggested, stepping past
a spinning side kick and retaliating with a hard reverse punch that caught
Gohan square in the jaw. Gohan staggered
back a step, but fortunately for him, Ash wasn’t nearly as fast or skilled as
he was. As such, Gohan had no problem
parrying the follow-up attacks. At one
point, Gohan caught the other boy’s fist, slowly applied pressure, and bought
the kid down to one knee. Desperate and
knowing he couldn’t power out of this hold (and punching Gohan in the stomach
was like punching a brick wall), Ash concentrated, and channeled his electrical
energy into the fist Gohan caught. Gohan
grunted as several thousand volts swept over him, ending with Ash launching him
back a few feet.
Gohan kipped up easily, only to find
Ash had drawn the Power Pole. He wasn’t
about to use it like a regular bo, but rather, in a way exclusive to that
particular weapon. “Power Pole, extend!”
Ash shouted, thrusting the staff outward like a spear. It extended quickly and raced towards its
intended target – Gohan – only to be batted away at the last second. Gohan then found himself sprinting around in
a circle as Ash spun with the greatly extended pole, chasing down the son of
Goku with it. After a few seconds, Ash
realized the futility of this, and willed the Power Pole back to the length
designated for him.
It didn’t stay that length,
though. As soon as Gohan faced Ash
again, he heard Ash yell, “Power Pole extend!” again, and saw him bring the
staff down in an overhead attack. Gohan
caught the oncoming staff against his body, and the two were in a standoff with
the staff.
The standoff held for about a
minute, neither side gaining a real advantage over the other. Again, Gohan was holding back tremendously,
again not wanting to seriously injure his new friend. “Let go!” Ash shouted.
After a few minutes of struggling,
Gohan was happy to oblige. “Okay,” he
shrugged. Using his right hand, he
grabbed the part of the Power Pole coming from Ash and pushed down hard on
the end he had with his other hand. The
result was instant. Ash was launched
high into the air, screaming in disbelief all the while. He flailed his arms and legs wildly, trying
to gain some semblance of control as he plummeted. Without the ability to fly on his own, and
with his Pokémon still in their balls attached to his belt, he was fairly
hopeless.
Unless…
It suddenly dawned on Ash as his
flight pattern hit its highest point. He
has a way of flying that doesn’t involving manipulating his too-weak ki and
without the aid of Charizard. And it had
been given to him earlier that day!
“KINTOUN!” Ash bellowed. In the
distance, an orange cloud came streaking in and caught the airborne kid before
he could fall to the ground. The cloud
continued on its flight path for a little while until Ash got back on his feet
and could take control.
Gohan stayed on the ground during
this time, watching Ash regain control and take flight. He jumped around several times to avoid
lightning strikes from the airborne Pokémon master. As he dodged this way and that, he remembered
he had the Power Pole still in his hands, and that it reverted to its smaller
size. About this time, Ash climbed
higher on the Kintoun, circling above his prey higher and higher. Finally, when Ash reached a desirable height,
he jumped off, his arms and legs spread out.
As he fell, Ash gathered his remaining electrical energy and channeled
it throughout his body. His aim was true
as he fell, aiming for Gohan. Ash called
this move the “Falling Star”. It
would’ve looked impressive if it hit.
For that matter, if he got the
chance to miss.
Gohan saw how wide open, unprotected,
and how immobile Ash was as he plummeted, and moved quickly to stop this
amateurish move. He flung the Power Pole
straight up in the air, like a javelin.
Ash couldn’t move out of the way, and it struck him right in the
forehead. The impact resounded with a
dull “thud”, and Ash plummeted end over end to the ground, semiconscious. He flopped to the ground so hard his body
left an imprint.
Pain resounded through his
body. His eyes were screwed shut and his
breathing was ragged. Gohan walked over
to his fallen friend and squatted beside him.
There was a large red welt where the staff struck his forehead. Slowly, Ash opened his eyes and lifted his
head. To him it was one of the most
difficult tasks of his life. He took one
look at Gohan, and let his head drop back to the ground.
“You alright?” Gohan asked of his
defeated friend.
“Yeah, just fine,” Ash said after a
while. The pain wasn’t as bad, but he
still didn’t feel like moving. Gohan
extended a hand to him, which he took, and allowed himself to be pulled to his
feet. The blow to the head made him a
bit dizzy, but he could still stand on his own two feet without falling over.
Goku walked over to them, an
indistinguishable look on his face. “I
think that’s enough for tonight,” he said flatly. “You did pretty good, kid.” He kneeled in
front of Ash, who still looked bewildered.
Probably from the blow to the head, Goku thought. He held one hand atop his head, to keep it
from moving. With his other, he held one
finger out and told Ash to follow it with his eyes only. The boy could, it turned out. “Eh, you’ll be alright,” Goku said with a
rustle of his hair. “Come on, let’s head
in.” The three went back into the house
for the night.
Meanwhile,
across the voids between dimensions…
On a rocky, desolate cliff
overlooking the ocean sits a large, thought to be abandoned asylum. Decades ago, this was Belle Isle Asylum, home
to some of the worst psychologically defective human beings imaginable. The doctors that staff Belle Isle put the
hapless fools through unspeakable tortures in the infinitesimal hope of being
“cured”. Electroshock therapy, straight
jackets, padded cells, sensory deprivation…you name it, someone was subjected
to it. Needless to say, these insidious
practices were leaked to the public, bringing forth the local government to
shut down the establishment and put those in charge in jail for a long, long
time.
Years passed, and the place fell
into disarray. It remained all but
forgotten and abandoned until a mad scientist and his hapless, often unwilling
assistant stumbled upon the old asylum and turned it into his new laboratory,
where night after night he turned out a new creation with the intention of
taking over the world. Even now, as a
wicked thunderstorm loomed over the area, making the ocean dangerously rough
and flinging lightning in all directions, he continued to toil, letting nothing
stand in his way—not failure, not injury, not even his own incompetence. Even now, his words echoed out into the night.
“Gentlemen…behold!”
The mad doctor certainly didn’t look
too professional in his purple muumuu with a large, gold “W” neckline that went
as far down as his chest. His stark
white hair stood straight up off the top of his head, which was contained in a
large, glass dome helmet. He walked
barefoot around the lab, his hairy feet sticking to the floor every once in a
while. Thick, yellow rubber gloves
adorned each hand, and a yellow mask obscured his eyes.
As he called out to his assistant (he
insisted on using the word “gentlemen” even though he had but one assistant),
…nothing.
Neither Steve nor Dr. Weird moved
for a few seconds. Dr. Weird looked on
like something was supposed to happen, while Steve grew even more confused.
“What?” Steve asked.
“What the hell?!” Dr. Weird shouted,
looking genuinely surprised. He waddled
over to the blocked off storage area for a closer look. “I don’t get it! It was right here just a minute ago!”
“What was?” Steve asked, stepping
forward.
“It was here, and now it’s
gone! Where is it?” Dr. Weird went up to Steve and grabbed the
lapels of his lab coat. “Where is it?!”
“If I knew just what you created, I’d be able to—”
A loud noise accompanied by a flash
of light quickly silenced the young lab assistant. A bluish-white vortex opened up in said
storage area. It swirled violently for
about a minute before three white, shapeless forms spilled out. They didn’t stay shapeless for long,
however. Once they hit the ground, they
assumed human forms. At least, one of
them looked human. The one that was
human was in fact a beautiful woman. The
other two…well, weren’t. The first
looked like a humanoid praying mantis and the second – the white thing with the
purple accents – looked like nothing ever seen on this particular Earth.
“I do hope our transitions from one
dimension to another are a little smoother than that,” Freiza stated bluntly,
cracking his neck. “I’ve been more
comfortable floating in deep space with a good two-thirds of my body blown to
pieces.”
“Be thankful the vortex didn’t tear
you asunder, Freiza,” Beryl retorted.
“And besides, give me some credit.
This is the first time I’ve attempted a spell like that. Even the greatest wizards were apprentices at
one point in their lives.”
The three visitors’ heads turned at
the sound of glass breaking. Steve’s
test tube slipped out of his hand and shattered on the floor, his mouth agape
in shock. Dr. Weird had churned out some
pretty cockamamie devices (such as that Mothmonsterman, that unpredictable
Rainbow Machine, and – even worse – that hideous mutant spider that turned to
rapping under the name M.C. Pee Pants), but whatever the hell these guys are are beyond anything the
doctor could ever dream up.
Ignoring the weak, insignificant
human, Cell, Freiza and Queen Beryl turned their attention to the very
eccentric Dr. Weird. The good doctor was
just as surprised, but it soon wore off.
“Steve!” he shouted, putting one arm
around Freiza and Beryl. “Allow me to
introduce...my old college buddies!” His
cackle reverberated off the walls of the old asylum.
Beryl looked repulsed. “This thing…is…touching me…” she said,
mortified. Cell was the first to
respond, putting his hand through the top of his glass helmet, shattering it,
and grabbing the top of his head and twisting.
Dr. Weird’s neck broke with a resounding snap. Freiza caught the body and tossed it
effortlessly out the back of the lab (which had a large hole in the wall from
floor to ceiling and was at least 20 feet wide).
“Coming here was a waste of time,”
Cell stated. “I suggest we move on. This planet isn’t worth blowing up.”
“Nonsense,” Beryl protested, “there
must be something in this dimension
worth taking with us. Those
teleportation spells are very time consuming and take a lot out of me. If we don’t find any sort of ally in this world
it’ll just be a waste of resources.”
Beryl looked around for the other guy that was still in the room…Steve,
she believed his name was. There he was
over by a large control panel, scared shitless and trembling just a bit. The other stood there, motionless, making
Steve even more fearful. One sudden move
could spell all kinds of hell for the hapless assistant.
“Well, we might as well take this
one with us,” the
“Why?” Cell asked, “He’ll just be
more baggage to carry around.”
“We could use a few good minions,
couldn’t we?” Beryl argued. “It’ll save
us the trouble of doing the most menial tasks ourselves. I don’t expect you to understand what it’s
like having people who obey every last word at your command, Cell. But you, Freiza,” she looked at the
changeling, “can understand my position, can you not?”
“My subordinates were much stronger
than this piece of garbage,” Freiza dismissed, “and just as incompetent. But if you insist…”
“So, what do you say?” Beryl said as
she sauntered up to the still frightened Steve.
“Would you like to join us in spreading chaos and destruction across
countless thousands of universes? I’m
sure it’s what your master would’ve wanted.”
Finally, Steve regained his wits. It took him a while, but somehow, Beryl
talking to him helped him figure out how to speak again. “I-If by ‘master’ you mean ‘employer’,
then…well, I’ll pass on this one.”
“What.”
“Look, I’m not as ‘evil’ as you
think I am.” Steve took time to make the
quote signs as he spoke. “I’m nothing
like Dr. Weird.”
“You work for an evil madman, what’s
left of him, anyway;” Cell explained, “thus, by proxy – provided he’s not
holding any loved ones of your hostage – you
are evil. That’s how it works.”
“Not in this case, pal.” Steve was starting to get indignant. “I’m just doing this to put myself through
college; I don’t actually want to hurt anyone.”
“And this is the best you could come
up with?” asked Freiza.
Now Steve was mad. “Yes!” he shouted. “Working at this lab pays a lot more than
working two jobs on the Boardwalk down the
Steve’s words were abruptly stopped
by an irritated Freiza, who grew tired of the boy’s prattling. From his vantage point behind Steve, it was
easy for him to put his hand through his back so that it came out his chest,
killing him instantly. Freiza sharply
withdrew his hand from Steve’s chest, leaving Steve to stand there for a few
seconds before collapsing to the floor, dead.
Blood drooled out of the hole in his chest, pooling over the cold, tiled
floor.
“Someone had to shut him up,” Freiza
grunted, flicking his arm in an attempt to remove the blood from his arm. “There are three things in this world that I
hate—cowardice, bad haircuts and insubordination. And this imbecile just happened to possess
all three of those traits.”
“Oh, wonderful,” Cell said. He folded his arms and rolled his eyes,
letting everyone know how bored he was without words. “Are we finished here? This little excursion is growing less and
less productive by the second.”
“You can’t expect to gain new allies
with each dimension we travel through,” Beryl argued. “Our contemporaries aren’t going to just fall
out of the sky, you know.”
As the three visitors conversed, they failed to notice
what was going on outside the asylum-turned-laboratory. A purple, octagonal spaceship with various
blue accents descended from the clouds and hovered above Belle Isle for a few moments. This ship looked like something out of an
old, 8-bit era video game and sounded just as such. After several moments more, the ship took off
into the night.
CHAPTER
IV
OUT
AND ABOUT
“Come on, let’s go! We gotta roll!”
Ash shouldered his backpack as he
dashed out the front door of Goku’s mountain village home. He and
Despite the physical pain he was in
after the rigorous training he was put through, Ash did not sleep very soundly
that night. How could he? Visions of what he thought the Multiverse
would be like played around his imagination nonstop. He couldn’t stop thinking about all the fun
he would have in this place. Imagine…he
would be meeting characters that up until now he believed to be no more than
figments of his imagination! His cartoon
idols, in the flesh, right before his very eyes—some of which he may have the
pleasure of working with! So with those
thoughts playing around in his head, he couldn’t find sleep that night, no
matter how badly he wanted to. Though his
body ached and hurt to touch in some places (like his forearms and shins), he
kept tossing and turning in his makeshift bed, disturbing Pikachu and Gohan
from their sleep on several occasions.
It got to the point where he was laying in his spare bed staring at the
ceiling and watching the others sleep at 3:30 in the morning. When he heard someone else (who turned out to
be Chichi) get up and start making breakfast, he cited insomnia and helped the
lady.
“Aren’t you three going to say
goodbye?”
Goku,
“Now you guys don’t get into any
trouble in the City, alright?” Chichi warned.
“No more than usual!” Goku said with
a big, toothy grin. “Don’t worry, we’ll
be okay. Once Ash gets his feet wet
everything will go along just fine.”
Tossing his backpack into the trunk
of Goku’s car, Ash gave one last look around this world before setting out for
the Multiverse. After shutting the
trunk, he moved for the back seat of the car.
Gohan stood in his path, smiling.
“So, you’re off to be a hero, huh?”
he said.
“Yeah,” Ash answered. “Too bad you can’t come with us.”
Gohan shrugged. “Yeah, well…” He looked back over his
shoulder at his mom, who was busy kissing Goku.
“Some battles I just can’t win.”
Ash chuckled, and looked back at
Gohan. “Do you think you’ll visit any
time soon?”
“Are you kidding? Ash, bro…” He quickly slid beside Ash, and
put one hand around his shoulders while using the other to almost paint a
picture in the open space before them.
“Trust me when I say I’ve got
“Are-are you sure about that?” Ash
asked, nervous.
“Man…” Gohan scoffed, “everyone in
The City knows who I am. Stick with me
and I’ll show ya how to have a good time.
We’re gonna be doing everything together, Ash!”
“Heh, you certainly make it sound like
fun.” The sound of car doors shutting
found Ash’s ears. “Looks like it’s time
to go,” he said. Ash opened the back
passenger door and hopped in, Pikachu a split second behind him. The yellow mouse Pokémon plopped down in his
trainer’s lap, looking up at him with his wide brown eyes.
“Pikachu, pika-pika?” {“Are we going to the Multiverse now?”} it
asked.
“We sure are! Are you ready, Pikachu?”
Pikachu would’ve answered, but was
cut off. Goku and
“Yeah!” Ash answered, clutching his
fist.
“Pikachu!” {“Let’s do this!”} Pikachu added.
Doors slammed. Seatbelts clicked locked. The key turned in the ignition and the car
went up on its jacks, quickly accelerating to the necessary 88 miles an hour. As it hit that speed, the jacks disengaged and
the car took off, ripping a pin-prick of a hole in the space-time continuum as
it made its way between dimensions and into the Multiverse.
* * * * *
The bright flash of light was hard
on the eyes of the young boy after the relative darkness of the dimensional
wormhole. He shut his eyes tight and
held a hand over his eyes until the light seemed less bright than it was. When Ash regained his sight, he was delighted
and surprised by what he saw.
Well, it would’ve been better if he had
a better view from inside the car.
“Hey, whaddya say we put the top
down?” Goku asked. His free hand was
already moving along the keyboard, as though asking the question was just a
formality.
“This thing’s a convertible?” the
boy asked.
Goku answered his question, but not
in the way Ash was expecting. His hand
dropped like dead weight on the return button, and with a light mechanical
groan, the roof detached and folded up, storing itself in a small compartment
behind the back seat. As the roof settled,
Ash had to hold onto his hat, for if he didn’t, the wind would’ve blown it all
the way back to the Pokémon world. One
look at the speedometer said they were going at more than 90 miles an hour.
“Did this come standard?”
“This? Yeah.
Though it took some work to get it programmed into the system.”
The sky was a delicate shade of
blue, nothing like Ash had ever seen before.
A few clouds dotted the sky in some places, but there were just enough
to make the sky that much more appealing.
They were on an eight-lane highway that circled the city, and could be
used to mark the border of
“Wow, this certainly is a long, long
road!” Ash said, near-shouting at Goku and
“We’re about fifty miles away from
the inner city,” Goku answered with a smile.
Ash balked and nearly flew out the back of the car. “Yeah, it’ll be a while before we arrived at
Bulma’s lab, so just sit back and enjoy the ride!” Goku stepped on the gas harder, and the car
climbed to 100 miles an hour, well above the speed necessary for a dimension
hop. Even
Among the various road signs
designating exits to different parts of the city and/or smaller roads, one sign
kept popping up over and over again. It
was a highway marker sign, obviously, but it was moving by so fast he had
trouble reading it.
“Highway 13?” he asked. “Goku, am I reading that right?”
“That’s right,” the Saiyan warrior
answered. The highway continued for
countless miles. Other drivers got on
and got off at their own volition, adding and subtracting from the moderate
traffic on Highway 13.
“Isn’t there any speed limit on this
thing?”
“Nope!” Goku shifted over one lane as a bridge came
into view.
“But why not?” Ash asked, leaning
forward. He couldn’t lean too far
forward, what with his seatbelt holding him in place.
“Don’t need one!”
Ash glanced at
The bridge came into view, a tall
suspension bridge that spanned an inlet into the city. It was almost a mile and a half long, but as fast
as they were going they were over it and across the river in a moment. Their travels along Highway 13 lasted nearly
an hour as Goku pointed out various landmarks of the city and the spectacular
* * * * *
After dense inter city traffic, the
three eventually pulled up to the Brief estate, home office of the
“Long time, no see, Goku,” Bulma
said. “I’m glad you’ve decided to go
along with the superhero group project you were telling me about.”
“Yep,” Goku said. “Here, let me introduce you to the team so
far.” He motioned to the other two, who
were a step behind the Saiyan. “This is
Darien Chiba, a magical-powered superhero known as Tuxedo Mask.”
“And this…” Goku continued, ruffling
Ash’s hat, “is Ash Ketchum, a world-famous Pokémon Master. And this is his Pikachu.”
The boy chuckled as he readjusted
his hat. “Come on, you’re embarrassing
me…” he squeaked.
“Pika,” {“Yeah,”} Pikachu added.
“I’ve heard about you, kid,” Bulma
said. “Don’t tell me the so-called
world’s greatest Pokémon Master is shy,
now, is he?”
“Hey, there’re plenty of things I’m
not—shy, afraid, reckless…but you’re right about one thing, I am a Pokémon Master, and there’s nothing
that can stop me or my Pokémon!”
“Yeah, that’s the spirit!” She turned back to Goku, who had a few more
questions for her.
“Hey Bulma,” Goku started, “I talked
to Trunks on my way over here, and he said something about a special treat…or
something…that you were making for us.
What is it, exactly?” He looked
around looking for something that would stand out as special or unique, and
while Bulma is an exceptional creator and a super genius, nothing had that
special quality Goku was looking for.
“Oh, my son was right, Goku,” she
responded, “but…you won’t find it lying around the lab. This is a little more…top secret.” Bulma walked a few steps away, beckoning to
the three. “This way,” she said. The CEO of Capsule Corp. led the three heroes
over to the main supercomputer towards the back of the room. The console was wide and expansive, with a
large, multi-screened interface. Her
hands moved like lightning across the keyboard.
She clicked one last “OK” button on the screen, and a set of blueprints,
various schematics and 3D models appeared on various monitors.
“What is that?” Ash asked. “A video game?”
“Hardly, kid,” Bulma said. “I’ve been tossing around the idea of a
Capsule Corp. space lab for some time now, but I haven’t had any real reason to
have it built. But after you told me
about starting a superhero group, I thought, ‘This is just the motivation I
need!’” She spun on her heel and threw
her arms out wide. “Gentlemen, say hello
to the space station Looking Glass!”
After a round of awes and general
statements of amazement, Bulma ran down the details of the multi-billion credit
space station (“Credits” are used as currency in lieu of things such as
dollars, yen, pounds, etc.) funded by her company. Originally designed for zero-G research and
development, the project was put to the side due to the high cost and no real
way to profit from it. But the banner
fiscal year, plus Goku’s dreams of an elite superhero team finally spurred her
to build the space station. She would
have to put aside any hopes of making money off of its use, but she insisted
that Capsule Corp was well off enough to basically give them this right off the
showroom floor.
The space station Looking Glass resembled a giant wheel on
a stick. The “wheel” had eight spokes,
each about 100 feet in length, which were each connected at the axis and to one
another by a long pathway that finalized the resemblance to a wheel. Various antennas, satellite dishes, and other
technical equipment would be stationed on the “axle” above the wheel, while docking
bays, garages, and other such maintenance areas would be below the wheel. Right in the center of the station would be
the main command center, the center of activity for the would-be superhero
group. A few more clicks brought up some
blueprints of the inside. They looked
pretty bare bones, but that was because it hadn’t been finished. Or built.
“And…you’re just giving this to us?”
“Think nothing of it,” Mrs. Brief
insisted. “In fact, as long as you
heroes are willing to stick with this, you can count on Capsule Corporation for
all your technological needs.” She
tilted her head and smiled at the three.
“Think of me as the ‘house mother’, the one that’ll inevitably have to
clean up your messes.” All four laughed.
“You know,” Ash said once the
laughter died down, “Right now there’s just the three of us. Don’t you think this’ll be a bit…much?”
“We told you we were gonna get more
heroes on our cause, right?” Goku said.
“Well, once we get a few more heroes to join our cause it’ll…fill up
pretty nicely.”
“Also we still haven’t figured out
just how we’re going to get people to join us,”
“What’ll it take, then?” the curious
boy asked.
“Well for one,” Bulma stated,
“you’re going to need a name; something that doesn’t sound too contrived or
cutesy. You guys got any ideas?”
For the most part, they had no
ideas. Goku,
“O…kay…let’s come back to that,
then. You guys have to be patient, you
know. If you go out looking for
opportunities to save the world you’re…just gonna look weird.”
“Does this mean we just gotta wait
until it falls in our lap or something?” Ash asked.
Goku shrugged. “It seems like we don’t have too much of a
choice, kid,” he said. “But don’t worry;
“Besides,” Bulma added, “you two haven’t
seen very much of the city, have you?
There’s so much to see and do you may never see it all!”
“Wow. I can’t wait to get out there and see what
this city has to offer!” Ash stated.
“Pi ka pi ka!” {“Me neither!”}
Pikachu added.
The next half hour or so was spent
hanging around the lab, discussing the prospects of Goku’s still unnamed
superhero organization. The newbies also
got some insight as to how the Multiverse works—there are still 24 hour days,
just like in their own respective worlds, as well as years that were 365 days
long. The planet was still called Earth,
still the third planet in the Sol system, and it was the central hub for
activity in the Multiverse (though some outlying planets had life of their
own). The City wasn’t the only place
people lived, however. There were
smaller towns and villages out in the plains and in the mountains, and several
scattered about the banks of the
* * * * *
Towards the heart of
The majority of the
super-skyscrapers (terms used to describe buildings taller than 125 stories)
are within a ten block radius of one another.
Most of them are owned by corporations.
Their owners are well known within The City, names like the Masters
Corporation, the Garcia Concern, the Kaiba Corporation a.k.a. KaibaCorp, the
Mishima Zaibatsu and of course, the Capsule Corporation. But the one that garners the most attention
is the large, 150-storied office building that was the heart and soul of the
political scene in
This of course was the mayor’s
office, affectionately known as the
The building is used as city hall,
but was called the
The news of his exploits stayed with
him for some time, and as a result, when Multiverse City was in need of
leadership, he decided to run, and was elected in a landslide victory. That was about 15 years ago. Since then, The City, and basically the world
around them, was so stable that the people didn’t see a need to elect a new
mayor, and he’s been in office ever since.
Although, underneath it all, he’s
just a man with simple needs, simple desires, and simple functions.
Mike Haggar was busy washing his
hands after using his private bathroom when he noticed it. He turned the taps on the sink expecting the
water to come out. Nothing did right
away. Frustrated, he slapped the faucet
just as something did emerge. Thinking
it was water, Haggar put his hands under it.
What did come out was the color of water, but that’s about it. It was blue, it was slimy, and it splattered
over his hands and the sink, causing him to step back in shock.
Looking over the blue gunk that was
all over his hands, Haggar grabbed some paper towels hoping to get rid of it
all. It only seemed to make it
worse. Discarding the towels he headed
back to his office and straight to the intercom on his desk.
“Yes?” the voice of his secretary
asked.
“Get someone from maintenance up to
my office immediately,” Haggar said flatly.
“Something’s…wrong with the sink.”
“Right away, sir,” the secretary
replied.
Ten minutes passed, and a
maintenance man finally made his way to the mayor’s office (despite all the
elevators in the building they weren’t light speed fast). The mayor showed him into the bathroom and at
the source of the problem. “It’s not
just here, sir,” the maintenance man said, “it’s like this all over the
building. Bathrooms, water fountains,
filters for the pools, you name it.”
“What’s causing it?” Haggar asked.
“Don’t know, sir.” The sink began to shake, and the faucet shot
off, spraying blue sludge all over the place.
Haggar and the handyman ran out of the bathroom, but couldn’t escape
getting the stuff all over them. They
tried the best they could to shake whatever this crap was off their
clothes. Haggar’s suit was no doubt
ruined.
He couldn’t worry about getting a
change of clothes just yet, though. The
frantic buzzing of his intercom needed to be taken care of first. “What is it?” he asked, answering.
“Mr. Haggar, sir, it’s getting
worse…”
* * * * *
“Reports are coming in from all over
the city concerning an unidentifiable mutation in the city’s water supply,” a
news reporter said over the television.
“Authorities equate the would-be water to that of slime or quote,
‘liquid gelatin’, unquote. What’s worse
is that it’s not just
Goku turned off the television and
tossed the remote back onto the couch.
“This is not good,” he said, looking at Bulma and the others. “If this gets too out of hand, people will be
rioting in the streets.”
“Not to mention the price gouging
that’ll occur by shopkeepers that have bottled water on their shelves,”
“Price gouging?” Ash asked.
“Charging an absurd amount of money
for something you can’t function without.
Let’s say a bottle of water in your world is…what, a dollar?”
“That sounds about right.”
“Imagine paying…I don’t know, $50
for that same bottle.”
“What? That’s absurd!”
“Good thing we’ve got plenty of our
own in the fridge if it gets too bad,” Bulma said.
“Hey, where do you think this is
coming from?” Ash asked the Capsule Corp. CEO.
“I’ve got an idea.” She scratched her head as she tried to
think. “If the outlying towns have been
hit too, that means it’s not coming from any of the desalinizing or purifying
plants in the city. So that must mean…of
course! Someone must have contaminated
“Right,
“Where’s that?” Ash asked.
“North of the city, beyond the
“Looks like you’ve done your
homework, Chiba-san,” Goku said with a smirk.
“I try.” He morphed into Tuxedo Mask. In no time, the three heroes made it outside,
following Goku’s lead. He and Tuxedo
Mask jumped up, floating overhead while Ash summoned the Kintoun Cloud. Once he hopped on, he accompanied his
teammates.
“Which way?” the Earth Soldier
asked.
“This way,” Goku said as he pointed,
“past the City and beyond the mountains.
I just want to warn you that the mountains are known to have magical
properties and all sorts of creatures
roaming about. I haven’t been here in a
while so I can’t be certain. Just be
careful, you two.”
“You can count on me,” Ash said with
a clenched fist.
“Pika,” {“Me too,”} Pikachu added.
“Good. Let’s go!”
Goku and Tuxedo Mask’s energies flared, and they took off like bullets
towards the edge of the city, with Ash right behind them. Down on the streets below, few paid any heed
to the orange and white streaks of light the three of them produced, the sound
of people flying overhead nothing too out of the ordinary to them
* * * * *
The flight to the lake took no more
than ten minutes. In that time, Goku
explained to the newcomers the quasi-magical properties of the
“We’re coming up to the lake now,”
Goku noted. The three stepped up their
pace. As they cleared a particularly
jagged ridge, they found the lake. It
was a large thing, what looked like an oblong water mark in a really, really
deep valley. It looked like the valley was
filled only halfway, like someone had been drinking out of it or something. The water was a shade of dark, denim blue,
nothing too out of the ordinary. “This
is not good.”
Goku and Tuxedo Mask touched down on
the shores of the lake, as Ash dismounted his cloud. “What’s not good? This lake is huge.”
Goku pointed up at a smooth looking
part of the cliff above them. “The water
level’s supposed to be up there.”
“Wow,” Tuxedo Mask said, adjusting
his mask. Even he was surprised by
this. “What do you think is causing
this?”
“Hard to say.” He put his hand in the water momentarily,
then pulled it back out. “This water
seems polluted, but that’s about it. The
problem’s probably coming from underneath the lake.”
“Underneath?” Ash asked.
“Pika?” {“How?”} Pikachu chirped.
“There’s a network of caves around
this area that were made when the region was mined for coal,” Goku
explained. “We explore the caves, we’ll
find the problem. Come on, this
way.” Tuxedo Mask and Ash followed Goku
away from the lake’s shores and into the rocky paths in the area. The opening that was the closest was still a
good several hundred yards away, and the three were on foot. They came to a relatively flat, open path,
when things went south.
Ash balked as the ground beneath his
feet gave way very quickly. He and
Pikachu fell into a hole in the earth, his surprised yell echoing throughout
the narrow passageway. Just before he
disappeared, he made a desperate grab at the ground to keep from falling. But no luck.
He and Pikachu fell out of sight.
His and Pikachu’s yell lasted five seconds before a sudden and painful
sounding “Oof!” cut the young Pokémon trainer off.
The others didn’t react fast enough,
and couldn’t make a move to catch him.
They could only look down the hole in shock as Ash and Pikachu’s forms
were swallowed by the darkness.
“Ash!” Goku shouted. “Ash!
Are you okay?”
“Can ya hear us, kid?”
TO
BE CONTINUED……………