Misadventures in the Multiverse

Chapter Eleven

Clyde woke up dazed and confused tied to a chair The Reaper, and Kugo standing before him. Kugo seemed somewhat conflicted. "You just had to stick your nose where it didn't belong. I didn't want to have to do this, but I can't let this get out." Kugo said, while The Reaper simply listened off to the side. "Can we skip this part, and jump straight to the evil plan," Clyde said, a little annoyed. "Well... You, and that prideful woman you call a captain ruined everything, I'd love to just get rid of you, but my benefactors need you as bait." Kugo with frustration explained. 

Clyde looked around the room, seeing the remains of monsters in tubes, and a few new uninjured ones too. He was starting to get an idea of what he was doing. "So what, this is all some fake game to you?" He asked the fighter. Kugo sighed, taking a long time to answer, like there was a bit of regret. "It used to be real. In every battle I fought, I gave my all it was thrilling to put my life on the line and become stronger.... but after a while, all the threats were gone, and the ones around well... weren't on my level. There are no aliens in this universe, Clyde." Kugo said, almost sounding exhausted by this charade. "So you asked them to help? Kugo, you don't seem like a bad person. Why are you doing this?" Clyde asked, understanding the plan but not the real motive.

Kugo let out an angry laugh. "Why am I doing this? Because I miss the thrill. But enough of this crap, it's time to get moving, are they ready?" He turns and asks the imperial officer in the corner, whom Clyde had neglected to notice. "Yes, yes." He pushes a button as two robots enter the room. "Stop this, whatever you're going to do?" Clyde said half-heartedly, knowing he already made up his mind. Kugo simply leaves with them. The Reaper says nothing, guarding Clyde. 

Raleigh and the others started to walk back home she was a little worse for wear, Kyle lending his shoulder. "I guess she can't really handle her alcohol." He says. She didn't even drink that much and felt like this, Luckily enough she could tell she was almost sober again. "Don't worry, I'm gonna be better soon." She said, barely able to form the words. They walked a little farther as she slowly came back to her senses. The other explosion shook the earth, drawing their attention. "What, but we just defeated the alien's leader!" One of them said shocked. 

Kugo crashed down, forming a small crater as one of the robots flew closer. It was all an act, but they were pretty convinced it was a threat. They started to get ready for another fight, but before they could, he spoke up. "We have a new enemy to deal with! I hate to say it, but Clyde was on their side the whole time, he ambushed me!" Kugo said, easily convincing them. Raleigh sobered right up hearing that, shaking her head. "What do you mean he's an evil robot traitor, he's just a dumb fleshy human." She said in his defense. 

He pretended to be shocked. "You must be working with them too. Are you the cyborg queen?" He asked, already knowing the truth. "Well, I am a cyborg, and you can call me a queen if you want, but." She said, playing into her overconfidence. "See, she admits it!" Kugo says, causing Kyle and the others to back away ready to fight. She started to back away, not wanting to fight them like this. "Hey, calm down, something weird is going on. Let's talk about this." Before they can answer, the other robot flies in, saying "Protect the queen." Only further incriminating her. 

She looked a bit conflicted, welling up with unpleasant emotions. Her insecurity getting the better of her, she runs off instead of trying to fight them. They try to chase after her but are stopped by the robots. Kugo is the only one able to slip past. She ducked down an alley she didn't know this town like the port world she was just running around blind. She ran into a big plaza where Kugo was already waiting. 

"I'll level with you. I know, you're not a traitor. But I need you both gone, and my friends in The Empire want you for some reason. So surrender, and they won't hurt Clyde, or you can fight me, which honestly I would prefer. It's been a while since I had a real challenge." He grins, cracking his knuckles. She didn't think he was lying about having Clyde, but she knew better than to trust they would honor their word, so she had no real choice but to fight. 

She got into a fighting stance. This time taking out her Poser, and Multi-tool using the cube like gauntlets like the man from before. He laughs, stoked to have this chance. "Perfect. A good and honorable fight, nothing but grit." He says, becoming one with his Poser. It covered him like armor. He rushed forward, making the first move. She dodged out of the way, taking him more seriously than an average foe. She punched him in the back, causing him to stagger. He tried to retaliate, but her Poser blocked his attempt. 

He backed away and flew out into the air out of her range. "Nice, nice, you're very strong, but not for long I'll surpass you soon. Take this." He put both his hands forward as a ball of energy formed in his hand shooting out a giant beam from his hands destroying a nearby building. She was not expecting that, barely able to move out of the way in time. "You want a fair and honorable fight, and then you go and pull out a huge fuck off laser beam?" She asked, somewhat annoyed by his seemingly fragile ideals, but now that she saw him doing that, she wondered if she could do something like that in this world. 

With the swipe of her hand, she tried to get her poser to shoot out an energy wave, and just like she hoped it did so. She smirked, getting into it a little again, the waves were weaker, but she could do them much faster. Kugo could barely dodge them all. The last one cut him deep in the chest, making him fall, but not quite end the fight. He choked up some blood. "Impressive, but I'm not done yet, all I have to..." He started to say, but she wasn't having it, punching him in the gut. He blocked the next blow, but not the one after, it was getting harder for him to keep up. Eventually, he couldn't hold out anymore. Falling to the ground. 

She looked down at him, disappointed it turned out this way. "Where is Clyde?" She asked not playing around with him anymore, but he failed to answer her. She sighed, and walked away, determined to find him herself if he wouldn't say. "Wait." He said weakly, she stopped but didn't face him. "How could it be that I lost to you?" He asked as it started to pour down rain. "You lost because you forgot what really mattered to you." She said to him, walking away. The Reaper wasn't that far away. Waiting for her. "I expected as much." He said the gun pointed at her face.

"Hold on, Mr. Killer guy," Clyde said, rubbing his arms. With him were some of the creatures in the tubes, seemingly on his side. The Reaper looked a little surprised. "Let's just say these guys are a little tired of playing this game." He says as the 5 monsters attack him. He isn't able to repel them all at once and doesn't seem to have a Poser, so with only a bit of a fight they manage to beat him down. Afterward, they look at Clyde, giving him a nod of respect and slinking off into the shadows. 

"Clyde!" Raleigh said, lifting his face to see if there were any bruises. "How did you get away?" She asked him. He thought back. As soon as The Reaper left he used his Poser to try to free himself, but the poser was also bound like him so it was a bit of an awkward shuffle over to one of the panels, freeing the monsters who out of respect did the same for him. "I don't want to talk about it." He said, a little embarrassed about how pathetic it was. "What about them?" She said, referring to the monsters. "I don't think they will attack anyone anymore it wasn't their choice to begin with. Still, I don't think we are welcome here anymore." He said, looking down, and seeing Kugo's body. 

She nodded, agreeing with him. "It's a shame, I kinda liked this world." She led the way back to the ship, and Kyle and the others found Kugo seeing if he was ok. "What happened? Did the Cyborg Queen get away?" Kyle asked him nervously. Kugo groaned, sitting up, conflicted on what to say. "No, I was wrong, they weren't them after all." He said standing up them seeming to accept that. He looked up at the sky. "What really matters to me, huh?" He says to himself, going home with his friends. 

The Hopper lifted into the air under the cover of night, Raleigh being careful to try and avoid the defenses they mentioned before disappearing into a flash of light like always, Clyde could feel the weird power leave his body. "I hope that doesn't mean we can't use Poser's anymore I kinda liked it." He said disappointed. "Some powers are tethered to the world they come from sadly." She explained to him, but before she could say more alarms began to flare. "What's going on?" Clyde asked. "How the hell did they?" Raleigh started to say. The Huge Multiversal Empire Flagship is in the Vortex right behind them, ready to fight. They were not getting away this time.