The Tale of a Dog Hero

The Future Looks Bright

After 7 years of hard work with his friends, they were known around many towns and cities as The Fallen Gods or Fallen. During these 7 years, Oscar and Tippy had grown into a relationship. Zuko has discovered how to alter the perception of reality thanks to Eleanor's help. He had created a deck of cards capable of immense power, but at the cost of the power being randomized when pulled out of the deck. Zane had further increased his technological advances and shaped his ring that altered the atoms around him into his watch, capable of ripping holes in reality to travel dimensions. He also created a mobile workshop that can shrink into a small cube. Everything was going well for the heros during these years. There wasnt too many fights that endangered the team anymore. But that had changed when Oscar had turned 19. During the years, Oscar had been running solo missions without anyone knowing. He would find Resistance bases and take them down. While doing so, he learned many things about the Mayor (some good, but mostly bad) and why the Resistance even exists...

It was a winter night with snow covering the ground all over. Oscar was exploring an underground hideout where he suspected more members of the Resistance would be. While sneaking around, he noticed a trip wire and carefully stepped over it. When triggered, it seemed to drop a large platform from the ceiling to crush whoever was under. When he made his way past, a light coming from a doorway shined out of the hall. Oscar could hear footsteps approaching him. He assumed two or more people. as quickly and quietly as he could, he leapt to the ceiling and clung onto the cracks in the structure. Just as 3 people rounded the corner and into the hallway, Oscar lifted his lower end and pushed his feet against the wall. As they walked past, Oscar realized that their feet phased right through the wire. When they passed him and were a good bit away, Oscar dropped down and continued down the hall. He entered the room the group came from and looked around for any maps or notes. All there were was bookshelves and desk near the center of the room. Inside the desk was a notebook with unimportant scribbles and a few pens with a pack of cigarettes. On the desk were more scribbles on paper. He looked closely at the bookshelves but the only thing that caught his eye was a book called Tailes of Connections. Strangely enough, it looked familiar. Oscar decided to take it with him and hid it inside his jacket. He continued onto the next room that seemed to be a kitchen and dining room. After searching high and low, he only found an interesting recipe for sausage and hashed browns. Oscar abandoned that room and headed down to the next door. It had a seam in the shape of a square at the bottom of the doorway. seemingly a trapdoor, but the lever is out of sight somewhere. As he entered the room, he realized there were 4 people sitting at a table and quickly hid outside the room again. 3 of them were transparent, and the last appeared to be a seeker. He wore a blindfold and had a staff beside him. He heard faint talking, so he leaned in to eavesdrop.
"We can't just leave it here. Someone is bound to go looking where they shouldn't..." "Relax. We have guards. If they can't do their job, then why do we have them, right? The last guy who found this place, barely got through the first trap." "But what if HE shows up." "He?" "Yeah, ya know. The fallen hero. The howling death?" One of the people started laughing "If he shows up. Then he won't leave alive. We have just the setup and I have something he doesn't. The data book he's after."
Oscar jumped to the ceiling and crawled through the doorway to slowly approach the group discussing their next moves. "In fact... There is a reason why I have the book and you all don't... I can see anything by vibration alone. And yes... I know your here... Got off the roof, dog." Oscar's eyes widened and he didn't move."I said. Get DOWN HERE!" The man threw a cup at Oscar's face. He quickly caught the cup and dropped it, before lowering himself down. The 3 ghosts rushed Oscar in a circle. Down the hall, Oscar could hear people talking. "They found him. Let's move!" Oscar looked around the room and examined it as best as he could without drawing attention to what he was doing. The seeker picked up his staff and pointed it at Oscar. "You know... After all this time, I expected you to be better than that. You were found out as soon as you stepped into this room. Amateur move..." Oscar gave him a dirty look, and ran to the right. One of the ghosts tried to tackle him, but he jumped over and landed on the wall. From there, he started breaking pieces of the wall and throwing the stone fragments around at random. All 3 ghosts ran towards him. Oscar jumped off the wall and tried to punch one of theme on his way down, but it fazed right through his head. Oscar looked puzzled at his hand. "What?..." "We arent able to be touched, hero." The 3 grabbed his arms and legs while he was lost in confusion. 1 grabbed his legs, and 2 grabbed his arms. "WHAAAT?!" Oscar quickly tried to break free from their grasp. Slowly, the blind man walked his way toward Oscar, tapping his staff on the ground while humming a little tune. Oscar flailed around until he got a leg free. He jumped off the ground as hard as he could, and broke free from the others grasp. Oscar jumped back just as the Seeker swung his staff. A wide swing made Oscar jump back. Strait down, and he side stepped. Diagonal up, and he would slap it upward. Forward jab, and he ducked while moving to the side. Oscar found a window, to jump close and land a shot on his side. Strait down, and he side stepped. Forward jab, and he side stepped again. A wide swing, and he punched the staff. A loud crack echoed through the hideout as the staff broke in two. Oscar got close and used his window to land a hook to his right side, under the ribs, and another to his left shoulder. As the ghosts tried to rush Oscar, he summoned his pistol and took aim, at which all 3 of them immediately stopped moving, cautious if it could touch ghosts. The seeker fired a large gust of wind at Oscar that only made him move back one step. "Ah well... worth a shot." The seeker rushed forward and punched him in the face, knocking him into a wall. Before he could recover, he was then kicked through it, to the next room. The other ghosts that were down the hall showed up. That made 1 Seeker and 6 ghosts. Oscar was getting outnumbered fast. He summoned his pistol again and pointed at the ghosts. "Anybody move, and everyone gets shot." He made his way toward the seeker again, as the ghosts backed away. While Oscar faced the blind man, one of the ghosts tried to attack Oscar from behind. He quickly realized and spun on his heel to blast every ghost in sight. They all screamed for a moment, then realized they were all ok. "Huh... Looks like you can't hurt us at all... The howling death is sounding more like a wim-" Oscar cut him off, by throwing a rock at his face. The hit connected and he stumbled back. That was all Oscar needed to put two and two together. Oscar ran through the hole in the wall, just as the seeker came through, and tackled him back into the old room. Oscar picked himself up and began to jump forward and backwards in a corner. The seeker moved his head only after Oscar landed and jumped again. As long as he kept jumping at a random location, then Oscar should be able to take him out. As quickly as he could, Oscar jumped to the ceiling and pushed back off to a different spot. Then, he jumped off a wall, to the ceiling, then the ground. He kept doing this around the room faster and faster as he grew more familiar with the layout. The ghosts tried to stop and grab him, but he would just throw rocks as hard as he could to keep them back. The seeker tried to keep up with Oscars movements but couldn't determine the location of the next jump, before he was already there and gone. "Stop this! Fight me like a man! This is cowardly. To hide in your own vibrations like this." Oscar immediately stopped what he was doing and slammed into the ground. "What?" "You heard me, coward! You plan on taking me down where I cant attack." Oscar slowly walked toward him. "No. That wasn't what I was doing. You see... This place isn't very structurally sound. I figured that out when you kicked me through the wall. All I just did was shake the place enough to make it fall. And us fighting is what will drop this place." The seeker stood, shocked at what he just realized. The vibrations in the room shook the entire hideout. "Damn... Very well. What's your plan for getting out of this? You aren't leaving with this book unless you kill me, and you would bury yourself trying to take it." Oscar lowered his head until his eyes were hidden in shadows. "Who said I wouldn't be willing to bury myself? I fully intend to fight... The question is... are you?" Oscar got close enough to whisper in his ear. "How much of a coward do you reeaally think I am?" Hearing this enraged the seeker and he yelled out as he pushed Oscar back. "You are a pawn!" Oscar braced himself before he got pushed and stood up strait before whispering quietly. "Big mistake..." Oscar jumped to the ceiling, and pushed back off as hard as he could, landing on the seeker. He stomped on his chest with his left leg and slowly pulled on his left arm. The seeker began screaming in pain as Oscar pulled harder and harder until a sickening ripping sound could be heard. Blood splattered against Oscars face as the ghosts tried to intervene. Oscar threw the now removed arm in their direction. He stared daggers at the 6 ghosts as the sounds of the hideout caving in, mixed with the screams of the seeker laying under Oscars foot. Slowly, he put more pressure onto his leg. Slowly, the seeker lost more and more breath. Slowly, the sounds of ribs cracking could be heard. And slowly, the life of the guardian of the data book drained. Oscar lifted his pistol and shot at the ceiling, which caused it to start crumbling and breaking away. Oscar grabbed the book and ran towards the exit. He hopped past the closed trapdoor at the doorway but triggered the tripwire in his haste. He looked up to see a large slab fall towards him. He lifted his arms and caught the piece. He positioned it to where it blocked the hallway behind him in case the ghosts tried to follow. Oscar made it to the surface in time to watch the rest collapse. "All that over a book..." He walked over to a nearby lake and broke a hole in the ice. He washed his face and arms before making his way to his old village.

The next morning, Zuko had been at home training with Nexus in a laboratory Zane made for everyone. When they enter the isolated room, several cameras scan their body physique and weight using pressure plated doors, walls, and ceilings. Several tests can be conducted in the room to test each members strength, fighting style, and maneuverability. Zuko and Nexus were fighting holograms while talking about their life. Zuko begun the topic by asking simple questions. "Nexus. Where were you manufactured? If you don't mind my question..." "I was made during a war. In a factory, where there were thousands of versions of myself being made. It wasn't too far away from here, actually." Zuko focused more on what she was saying than fighting at this point. "So what happened during the war?" Nexus grumbled before telling the story. "The war started on 2957, and ended 3008. What you call seekers, were fighting for their land. The opposers were... Your species. Newly evolved to have humanoid features, your kind quickly grew into power. Mankind turned to robots as their protector and overtime, they became one with robots. Starting with limb implants, to organ replacement, to transferring themselves into what is essentially a robot. Reproduction was no longer required, so instead, they build bodies and implant them with an empty memory drive." At this point Zuko stopped fighting all together. "Fifty-one years... The war ended over two hunded years ago. How are you still alive?" Nexus froze up for a moment, then stopped fighting. She walked toward the exit to review their statistics. "I don't feel like talking about it. Not right now..." "I can respect that. Just know that I'll be listening if you wish to share." They enter the lab room and look over the fight and where they need to improve on. Zuko kept good pace against 4 opponents at once, but needed to move around more often. Nexus didn't push her right arm out all the way when throwing punches. She had trouble opening her shield on time, that was built into her right arm as well, when attacked. Nexus skimmed over her stats and walked out of the room. Zuko followed without even glimpsing his stats. "Are you ok, Nexus? You seem upset." She motioned for him to follow her. They left their home and headed towards Dallo's exit. On their way, walking through the street, she continued her story. "I am the last model of the NX defence robot. Did you know that there were only 562 defence bots out of the tens of thousands of other robots there were? The steel in my joints have to be replaced every 40 years or so. Even I cannot beat corrosion. The iron that makes up the working bones in my body should be replaced every 100 years. That isn't a fun process..." "What do you mean?" "It means that supplies are limited. I cannot afford to take too hard of hits before I need to replace parts again..." "Ah- Oh... You have to use your partners in war to-... I'm assuming you're running out of parts." "Yes... I am 236 years old. I have outlived several generations. Yet that's not what makes me worried. I know what comes after death. I worry about when my death will come. And who will claim it. I wish for it to happen, yet I refuse to take the cowards way out." Zuko stood still, baffled by her life and what she has lived through. "May I give you a hug?" Nexus stopped and turned to Zuko. "Sure..." They both hugged and rocked back and forth slowly. "Keep this a secret, ok Zuko?" "Of course. I shall take it to the grave. Just rest, and I will take you to the factory." Nexus shut off and Eleanor floated into her. Zuko and Eleanor walked towards the factory in silence.

Tippy arrived home with some groceries and plopped down on the couch. "OSCAR... Oscar?" She listened closely but heard no response "Hm. Who does this man think he is? A five year relationship and he gets afraid of you... Guess I'll fix my own snacks, huh, junior?" Tippy gets up and walks to the kitchen while rubbing her belly. She grabs some cheesecake from the fridge, a box of biscuit crackers, and a bottle of chocolate milk, before plopping back on the couch to watch some YouTube. After an hour or so, she falls asleep to funny car fail videos...

A figure watches over Oscar as he hides out in a small survival hut he made to sleep during the day. The figure was dressed in a long cloak with a scarf. The hood overshadowed its face the only visible feature were its shins and below. Oscar had awoken suddenly and looked around, but the character was already gone.

Editor note:[{( Hello! This chapter was a bit gloomy, as from now on, this is Oscar's highlight point in life that directs his choices in the future. This age for all the characters are very serious as they arent really kids anymore and are working hard on their future as well. I hope you enjoy the upcoming chapters as it will be more lore heavy. Thank you all for reading so far! If you all want to know about the book of Tails of Connections, I recommend reading Zukofox's story, and if you want to learn about where Zane went and what he is doing, give W1NTERF13LD and his books some love too.)}]