Chaos Effect

Chapter 92: Chapter 92

"Great, another version of Edwin. Just what I needed."

The gold and blue armored man tilted his head, considering Seto for a moment. "You remind me of some of the heroes I\'ve met in my world. Or perhaps the Public Safety Commission. Yes, that might be it." Seto could hear the dark purr in the man\'s words. "Believing themselves above all, that they have earned the right to not merely look down on others but to do all they can to crush them." He suddenly snapped all his weapons around so they were pointed at Seto, the defense systems on his own suit screaming warnings as they registered just how much firepower Chaosbringer had. "They died screaming."

"You can show me how," Seto said as he brought up his own arms. "I\'ve been looking forward to smacking the smirk of Edwin\'s face But that would upset Mokuba. But he doesn\'t know you... and you\'ll be the perfect chance to finally settle some scores."

"Belay that, both of you!" Des snapped as he flew over. "We have other things to deal with."

Seto turned towards the Eternal Gate and saw that more of it was beginning to crumble. There was something filling the air around them... something that made Seto\'s teeth ache.

"Oh.... fuck," Chaosbringer hissed.

"You know what that is?" Seto demanded.

As once Chaosbringer lowered all his weapons. "Someone let him out."

"Let WHO out?"

Des though looked over at Chaosbringer. "You sure?"

"Yeah... I\'m sure. Wyatt was always careful to keep all of us away from his cell because..." He shuddered.

Seto narrowed his eyes. "Who is it?"

"Slash\'s Chaos," Des stated. "The Chaos of Earth 151... NONE."

~MC~MC~MC~

NONE didn\'t so much walk towards us as he prowled. Movements smooth as silk yet filled with predatory grace that had me shuddering with worry. There was something... wrong... about him. Something about the way his smile seemed to stretch across his face, almost painfully so. Forced. It was like he had decided that if he ever stopped smiling he\'d never be able to do so again so he forced himself to keep doing it even as the rage built within him.

\'Because that is not a happy smile,\' I thought to myself as NONE finally came to a stop in front of us, his head suddenly tilting to the side with a sickening crack of popping bones.

"Well... what do we have here?" he asked with an amused chuckle. "A rather interesting collection of people, I must say. Wyatt I know, of course. We\'ll be dealing with you in a moment."

"Listen, I-"

NONE merely waved his hand and Wyatt\'s mouth disappeared.

"Shhhhhh," he said, pressing a finger to his own lips. "The big kids are talking." He reached out and plucked one of the cords from Gleipnir. "Hmmm... whoever made these does fine work." He looked at me and the static suddenly grew worse, making my head pound. "Another me... are you like him?"

"He isn\'t," Slash said quickly, moving to stand in front of me. "He actually has been a huge help! I wanted to find you after you disappeared and he and his friends helped me! We attacked the Eternal Gate and everything."

It was odd to watch NONE listen to Slash. Because it was clear he wanted to say something... but couldn\'t bring himself to interrupt her. He let her babble on, his smile a bit more natural. A bit more fond.

"So... yeah. He\'s a friend."

NONE chuckled. "Good... good!" He slinked over to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder, the static still there but fading away to something manageable. "I\'m glad he\'s your friend." He suddenly paused. "Better than Iris?"

"Yeah," Slash said and from her tone there was a story there. "More like Brock."

"Lovely!" NONE declared... before grabbing my chin and forcing me to lock eyes with him. "But remember... she is MY friend first."

"Understood," I got out with him pinching my cheeks. "I... have a Cassie on my Earth already."

"Perfect!" He let go of my face and suddenly the static was completely gone and I could move freely. "Thank you for caring for her little brother but I\'ll take it from here!" He pushed away from me (which sent me sprawling to the floor) and was instantly next to Slash, looking over her Ranger outfit with a delighted smile on his face. "Oh... this is nice. Nice nice nice. Why didn\'t I think of giving you something like this before?"

"Uh... the gauge," Slash said.

NONE\'s good mood soured instantly. "Right... that thing." And within the same moment he perked up. "Funny thing though... I haven\'t been idle while I was here. Did some experimenting... seems like we\'re outside of time and space while here."

"Yeah," Slash said, rubbing the back of her head. "We\'ve... actually been looking for you for a while."

"No matter, you found me!" He pulled away from her. "And I can finally do this."

He snapped his fingers and there was a flash of light...

...and where an 11 year old had been standing moments earlier there was a grown woman.

She wasn\'t exactly like the Cassie from my world. There were differences there, just as Aiden and I and Wyatt and King Edwyn had differences. Scars in different places, different beards and hair cuts. It was more like she could be Cassie\'s cousin or sister. But it was a far cry from the 11 year old transgender child that had been fighting at my side. It was Slash before she\'d been caught in her fuck-up of a world.

"Has to be undone when we return to our world but when we\'re here you can be however you desire." He pulled a MASSIVE mirror from his coat and plunked it down in front of her. "See!" He gestured at her reflection like a child showing off their crayon drawing.

Slash stared at herself, fingers reaching up first to touch her reflection, then grazing her own face... before she burst into tears.

NONE panicked.

"No... no no no!" He hurried to her but stopped short of touching her. "This was suppose to make you smile!" He began to smack his head with his hands, violently beating himself. "What did you do wrong you stupid man! What did you do!? Stupid! Can\'t do anything right!" He tugged at his hair, ripping out chunks.

"Stop!" Slash got out, grabbing his wrists and at once he paused though utter misery was on his face. "Happy tears. Happy tears."

"...happy tears?" he asked, confused. He glanced first at her lips and then her eyes, back and forth, and I wondered just what kind of life he had led that he didn\'t understand basic human emotions anymore.

Slash nodded, still smiling as she allowed him to touch her wet face. "Happy tears. Haven\'t you ever been so happy you cried?"

"...when I met you and you didn\'t run away," he admitted in a small voice and at once Slash was crying again even as she hugged him.

"Thank you," she whispered, just loud enough for me to hear. She pulled away but made sure not to break contact. "Its weird seeing you like this... I\'m use to you looming all huge."

"This better?" NONE asked as he swelled to 8 feet tall.

"No, go back to normal," Slash said with a laugh and at one he returned to his normal size. "I like it. I fit better against you when we hug." She gave him another one before sighing. "Never let Dawn see this... she\'ll be convinced we\'re a couple."

NONE and Slash both shuddered at that.

"So," he said, clearly trying to get his mind off the idea of the two of them in a relationship, "what is all this then?" He gestured at her Ranger outfit.

"I told you-"

"Yes yes, you got it from him," he waved at me dismissively... and the force of his wave sent me flying backwards, crashing into some busts. "I\'m talking about stealing from another Ranger. You are FAR too good for that!" He rubbed his chin before suddenly grabbing the neck of the outfit and ripping down. The entire thing tore away revealing a redish-purple version of the Wild Force ranger outfit, Slash suddenly holding a helmet that had an insect-like design rather than a shark. "There we go!"

"Drapion?" Slash said, looking it over.

"I know you like them for some reason." He shrugged. "Now, did the little usurper with my face give you anything else? I kid, I kid, not really, did he?"

"No," Slash said with a put upon sigh.

"Why not?" NONE complained, coming over and lifting me up. "Is he being selfish? I see he has something new... I can taste... power on it." He leaned down and inspected my cane.

"It was forged for me in the God of War Universe by the dwarves Brok and Sindri along with The Lady of the Forge," I told him. "My secret weapon against Wyatt."

"...you are getting a secret weapon!" NONE called out.

"You don\'t... whatever," Slash said, shaking her head as she clearly knew there was no stopping NONE from getting her a \'secret weapon\'."

"I\'m thinking a saber. Based around the Ouboros..." he paused, suddenly snapping his head towards Wyatt. "But first... I need to take care of some business."

The bounty hunter began to wiggle harder, trying to break out of his bonds.

"Now... when you came to me I allowed you to bring me along to this place," NONE said, his tone no longer pleasant. Even though he was smiling it reminded me of a hyena\'s grin, full of teeth and dark intent. "I came because I thought that you might offer a way to help Slash escape the loop. I TOLD you I was willing to remain your prisoner if you freed her. And instead... you... hurt... her..."

He suddenly lashed his hand out but rather than strike Wyatt he gently caressed his cheek.

"Oh... you silly little man." He raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

"Edwin!" Edna cried out over the comms. "What happened? All the droids are... gone!"

"Yeah, dealing with it. Get back to the ship and stand down."

"Yes, let\'s all get back to the ship," NONE said and in a blink I found myself back on the Broken Symmetry with the others all standing around me, just as confused. I saw plenty of other Chaoses looking about, half in battle positions as it was clear that NONE had yanked them away just as they had been preparing for another fight. Edna looked up from where she was kneeling and I realized that she was hovering over a knocked out Aiden Order, restraints on his wrists and, amusingly enough, a gag in his mouth. "Its good for an artist to have an audience," NONE said, reminding us all he was there. He loomed towards Wyatt, fingers raised like the talons of a demon...

...only for Slash to suddenly be standing in front of him.

"You... would let yourself be held prisoner forever... just to get me out?"

"Of course," he said, confused by her suddenly question.

Slash began to smack NONE with her helmet.

"WE ARE TRAPPED TOGETHER!" she shouted as he shielded himself. "You think I could live with myself if I was free but you were trapped forever!"

NONE was startled and didn\'t even move to stop her hits. "But I don\'t matter-"

"YES YOU DO!" Slash screamed. "You were trapped too! You are like me! Fuck, Edwin, I could have been you if I went first! Don\'t you EVER trade your freedom for me ever again!"

"She has a point," my dad said which caused NONE to spin around in shock.

"...dad?" he whispered and I gave Slash a nod; she half dragged NONE over to my dad and brother, mostly because now he was sobbing and keening.

"A million years," I told King Edwyn as he limped over with Edna and several other Chaoses. He watched as my father, without hesitating, wrapped his arms around NONE and allowed him to sob on his shoulder, clinging to him. It didn\'t matter it wasn\'t his true father, from his original dimension. My dad was close enough. "He\'s been doing this for millions of years. Let him have a moment."

"Hey, I don\'t blame him," one of the newer Edwins, the one in vaguely Iron Man armor, stated as he pulled off his helmet. "At least most of us are able to see a version of our parents. Edna here clued me in... he\'s your actual father?"

"Got sucked into this mess," I told the other man.

A Yellow Lantern version of myself shook his head. "When I find out who sucked us into this garbage..."

Booster frowned, finally noticing the lantern. "Skeets, don\'t let Ted know about this."

"Of course Sir."

I looked down at Wyatt. "We can figure out what to do with this bastard."

The armored Chaos instantly had his wrist blaster aimed at Wyatt\'s head. "He took me from my daughter. He dies."

"We don\'t kill," the Gold Lantern said, much to my surprise. "We have to be better than that."

The oddest of the Chaoses, one that looked like a fuzzy duck, nodded. "As much as I want him to suffer for attacking me like that there is no honor in it."

"I don\'t know," the Mandalorian Chaos said as he pulled out his own rifle and pointed it at Wyatt\'s head, "seems to me that when one has zero honor they can\'t expect to be given it."

"I don\'t know what is happening," another Chaos, this one wearing a black and white trenchcoat with a red face mask, stated before pulling out a gun... with the COBRA logo on it... that he pointed at Wyatt, "but if we aren\'t killing him I think I\'ll just take him. For protection."

"No one is taking him," I said quickly. "We don\'t need this devolving into a fight amongst ourselves. So put the fucking guns and blasters away."

"I don\'t know," a tall well built version of myself with blue velvet wings purred, "perhaps it would be good for us to clear the air, determine just what direction we should go and whose Justice is the strongest-"

A shadow fell over us all and a massive glowing sword drove itself into the ground next to Wyatt, blocking him from the guns.

"That is my Justice," the larger Cybertronian Chaos stated. "Do you wish to test it?"

At once the blue winged Chaos held up his hands in surrender while the armored Chaos and Manadalorian Chaos considered the largest of us for a while before backing down.

"Now that we have that settled," Edna stated, "we can get us all together and vote on what is going to happen to Wyatt."

"You think... you are in control?" Wyatt asked, his mouth apparently having been restored at some point.

Des rolled his eyes. "Oh wonderful, the speech from the villain where they claim that they are in control of everything and we are doomed. I so do love these." He huffed. "Can we go back to just shooting him?"

"First off I think its amusing youthing your weapons will be able to hurt me," Wyatt told us all. "They did little to stop me when I first showed up on your worlds." He looked at the armored Chaos. "Chasobringer... I tore through you and your quirk weapons with ease. Devil of Mandalore... for all your boasts of killing the biggest game, of eliminating Palpatine himself and helping forge a new Mandalorian Empire... you fell like a child on Anakin\'s saber to me. Dark Phantom, your \'justice\' is nothing more than a label to hide your own evil... and did NOTHING to stop me."

I tapped my cane on the ground and Wyatt hissed as the cords tightened around him.

"Yeah... no one gives a fuck about the past at the moment," I told him. "What matters is the present and the future. The Present is that we have you and you need to answer for what you did. Your Future depends on how well you can watch that mouth of yours. And considering all of us here have sharp tongues I\'m guessing you won\'t be able to do much at all." I turned to Edna. "I will keep him restrained. We need to figure out a way to lock down his weapons so he can\'t summon them."

Chaosbringer spoke up. "Give me some paper and I can see about making a safe that even that gun can\'t phase through. He can\'t break through... whatever it is you have him wrapped up in?"

"No," I stated. "This cord was created to hold Garn." The others stared at me and I sighed. "In our reality it was for Fenrir."

"As in the giant wolf of Ragnarok?" the duck... platypus?... Chaos asked in surprise.

"Yeah."

Edna shot me a cold look. "Someone went above and beyond when they were searching for weapons."

"Blame the dwarves," I stated. "The point is that I have him locked down and until I say so he remains restrained."

At once all of us were pushed aside, NONE once more next Wyatt while my brother, father, and Slash were with us after a moment.

"My little brothers and sisters have been naughty... keeping me away."

"Sorry," my brother said, "we tried to distract him but he noticed you all clumped together."

"Its okay," I said before taking a step forward. "We are trying to figure out how to restrain him."

"Erasure from existence takes care of that easily," NONE said darkly as he raised his hand, causing Wyatt to lift up off the ground. I saw several of us tense but once more the static began to fill our ears, causing us to at once cringe and freeze up under the onslaught.

"Joey... it hurts," Serenity whimpered but Joey couldn\'t offer any comfort to his sister as I could see him struggling just as much as her, curling in on himself.

"We are outside of time and space... its like you aren\'t even real. A figment of a deranged imagination that needs some medicine to balance out all those humors." NONE twisted his hand and Wyatt began to grunt, jaw locked up as he clearly fought not to cry out. The static was growing worse; Des and the Devil of Mandalore were struggling to activate anything in their helmets to block out the noise but I knew that wasn\'t going to work. Not with NONE. "I suppose I can play doctor as best as anyone else. The knee bone\'s connected to the leg bone. The leg bones connected to your existence. Your existence is connected-"

"Seto!" Mokuba screamed in pain.

"That\'s ENOUGH!" I roared, eyes blazing.

NONE snapped is head around towards me. "Shhh... this doesn\'t concern you."

"You\'re hurting them," I snarled, struggling to move forward. "Stop it."

"They\'ll live... I suppose."

Slash at once was in between the two of us. "Turn it down," she asked him.

At once NONE softened. "As you wish."

The static faded to a fair more manageable sound, like a distant ringing, and I heard everyone who wasn\'t a Chaos let out sighs of relief.

"We must not be as affected as them," Edna said, glancing over at my friends.

"Good to know," King Edwyn said, pressing his fist to his jaw and making it crack. "Now then-"

"I agreed to turn it down... Wyatt still is MINE." NONE forced us all back, sending us skidding across the floor. Slash was the only one not sent away but NONE wasn\'t looking at her as he turned his full attention once more on the bounty hunter. "You\'ve given me... several wonderful presents, little brother. But you\'ve also charged a lot for them which I guess means they aren\'t presents at all but rather... goods that I\'ve bought from a grocer. Who overcharges. And that is naughty." He began to walk around Wyatt, smile sharp and huge. Looming over the restrained man like a gargoyle on its perch. "You showed me a place where my friend can finally look as she feels. I will always be thankful for that."

He placed his hand on the back of Wyatt\'s neck and began to squeeze, fingers digging into the flesh.

"And then you tried to hurt her. Now... I know you weren\'t trying to kill her because if you did I would test the boundaries of us being outside of space and time and see if I could truly make your suffering last FOREVER. We\'re stuck in a timeloop, the two of us... I wonder if I could jam you into one myself. Hmmm... remove your arms and legs, take away your eyes and mouth. Leave you little more than a blob that can only feel pain. I have no mouth and I. Must. Scream."

"NONE..." Slash whispered.

"He hurt you," NONE growled even as he smiled. "He deserves to suffer a thousand times for that."

"I know... I know he does... but this isn\'t the way."

"And why not?" NONE asked and I realized he wasn\'t demanding she change his mind... he truly wanted to know. It was like a toddler who had just begun to speak, wanting to know why the sky was blue and when the answer didn\'t satisfy their curiosity would just keep repeating, "Why?"

I took a breath.

"Because each day," I said, causing NONE to turn to me, "we wake up and have to decide who we want to be. Are we the same person that we were the day before? Unchanged? Do we slip and fall back, becoming worse? Or... do we strive to be better?" I forced myself to take a step forward. "You... have to decide, right now... to be better."

"I am better than him."

"No," I said, "I don\'t mean him. I mean the you that you were the day before. And the day before that. You need to be better than them. I need to be better than the man I was. Before I was taken... I killed. I get it NONE... I get it. I killed people and I could easily do it again." My hand tightened around my cane. "With a thought I could have those cords tighten and kill Wyatt right here. I might even be faster than you could stop me. But... I have decided to be better. Not for him, not for Mai, not for my family, not for any of you. For myself. Today I say, "I will be better"."

NONE considered me for a very long moment.

"You are him... the one we heard on the Dex. The one that said we weren\'t alone."

"Edwin Chaos of Earth-1," I stated. "Better than the man that made that message. Are you better than the man who heard it?"

"...what if I\'m not a man?" His body distorted, just for a moment, into static and bones.

"Then work to become one again."

Slash reached out and placed her hand on NONE\'s arm.

He rolled back his head before he finally turned and hugged Slash, Wyatt falling to the ground hard and the rest of us released.

"Thank you," she whispered softly to her friend. "Thank you for not doing it just because I asked."

NONE opened his mouth to speak only for a blinding light to shine down from above us, blinding in its radiance.

"Well... I was wondering when he\'d show up," Wyatt muttered.

"What the fuck is that?" Edna shouted, alarms in the Broken Symmetry going wild.

The bounty hunter let out a grim laugh. "The one who hired me." He rolled his head back. "Fuck... we\'re all in trouble."

"Where are the others?" my dad asked and I suddenly realized that other than Slash the only people still on the ship were Chaoses. The Pharaoh, Mai, Pegasus... everyone... was gone. Leaving just us standing around, utterly confused. Just us and all the gear we had scoured for them. A green lantern ring that trembled on the ground, caught in a dome of energy. Morphers. Swords and shields and other melee weapons. Guns and crossbows. Just lying on the floor of the ship, their owners having disappeared.

"I think he might know," my brother said and we all looked up to see that the ceiling above us had been, for lack of a better word, stretched so high that none of us could see it anymore. And hovering in the center of that eternity was a grand glowing figure that even at the far distance dwarfed everyone in the room. There was never a thought of trying to raise a weapon against the being. To try and strike him down. All of us were left speechless by the being.

He was more of a silhouette than a fully formed person, a swirling of darkness that was illuminated by starlight one moment, only to suddenly switch and become a figure of blinding light with ever shifting blackholes within his form the next. Gleaming eyes as bright as a supernova in one instant changed to the vast emptiness of space with a simple blink. His arms were spread out wide as he hovered above us, rays of light and shadow radiating from his form.

It was like arriving in Heaven only to discover that every religion was completely wrong.

"So..." NONE said, the only one of us not struck by the raw power of the new arrival, "I suppose that means YOU are the one I can blame for Slash being hurt." He smirked as he stepped forward, holding out his hand. "Let\'s have a chat."

He snapped his fingers.

Nothing.

NONE slowly looked at his hand before trying again.

Nothing.

In that moment I discovered that nothing was more terrifying than a being that made you feel small and powerless... feeling that exact same sensation themselves.

"I AM ENTROPY." The being said. And though he didn\'t bellow the words the sheer size of them, for a lack of a better word, had us all falling to the ground, struggling to lift our heads. The closest I could equate it to was the feeling of being in a stadium and every pyrotechnic firing off at once as the entire crowd roared and cheered. A sound that you felt as much as you heard. "FROM ENTROPY I HAVE COME AND FROM I IT SHALL APPEAR. TO THOSE THAT EARN MY FAVOR I BRING ABOUT THEIR EVERY DREAM. TO THOSE THAT DEFY MY WILL I DRAG FROM THEM NIGHTMARES THEY NEVER KNEW EXISTED. IT WAS I WHO TASKED WYATT CHAOS TO BRING YOU HERE AND NOW I SEE THE ERROR IN MY ACTIONS. YOU, EDWIN CHAOS, HAVE SHOWN JUST HOW LIMITLESS A CHAOS CAN BE IF GIVEN THE TIME TO PREPARE. FOR THIS I THANK YOU."

I wasn\'t feeling good in the slightest about getting the being\'s praise.

"YOU HAVE ALTERED MY PLANS AND FOR THAT I SHALL GRANT YOU ONE BOON, TO BE COLLECTED UPON YOUR CHOOSING ONCE THE TRIAL HAS BEGUN." Entropy waved his hand and it felt like the entire multiverse was shaking. "IN ONE YEAR TIME, PER MY RECKONING, I SHALL BRING THE MIGHTIEST OF CHAOSES TO MY CHOOSEN ARENA. THERE YOU WILL BE DIVIDED INTO TWO, SO YOU MIGHT SHOW ME ONCE AND FOR ALL THAT WHICH IS GREATER: GOOD OR EVIL. DESTROY YOUR ENEMIES AND I SHALL GRANT YOU YOUR HEART\'S DESIRES!"

Entropy began to point at each of us.

"GOLD LANTERN. BOOSTER GOLD. CHAOS PRIME. EDLYN. GIO. EDNA. ARNO. JOSIAH. DES. NONE. SLASH-"

At once NONE broke from his shock that Entropy had so easily been unaffected by his powers. "She is not a part of this!"

"SHE HAS BEEN ALTERED, MISSINGNO. TOUCHED BY THE DRAGON THAT MAKES ITSELF. SHE IS A CHAOAS NOW, YOUR SISTER." NONE found himself forced down to kneel though the powerful being managed to throw himself over Slash in an attempt to shield her. "KING EDWYN. AIDEN. WYATT. EDWIN. YOU ALL ARE BUT A FEW THAT WILL WAGE GREAT BATTLE. PREPARE YOURSELVES FOR WHAT IS TO COME! CHOOSE YOUR ALLIES CAREFULLY."

And with that, as quickly as he appeared, Entropy was gone.

"I tried to warn you," Wyatt muttered before he faded away. I looked around and realized that the others were beginning to fade too.

"All I can suggest is we heed his warning," Chaos Prime stated. "Prepare yourselves for the fight at hand..." his words trailed off as he disappeared.

"Please... she just got to experience this..." NONE pleaded and after only a moment Edna grabbed from her jacket a copy of the Millennium Ring, one she must have snagged during our trips through the multiverse. She threw it towards NONE but Slash caught it first.

"I think its better I hold onto this," she said before looking right at me. "Hey Edwin? Guess I was wrong... you are like the one who sent that message-"

She was gone before I could respond.

"We\'ll be ready," King Edwyn stated. "Gather not only what can help yourself but the rest. And prepare yourselves for battle." He held up the Blue-Eyes White Dragon and gave us a nod as he disappeared.

"Look after yourself, Kevin," my dad told me with a smile.

"I have the Ring dad... we\'ll see each other again!" I didn\'t know if he heard me as he and my brother both disappeared.

"Hey Edwin? Edna?" Booster said. "Good luck." Des merely nodded as those two faded away.

Leaving Edna and I.

"They\'re right... I don\'t think this is something we can fight against," Edna stated. "We have to be ready."

"Not just us," I said, frowning as I saw the Broken Symmetry begin to fade away, revealing bits and pieces of the KaibaCorp blimp. "He said that we were the first-"

"Edwin!" Mai\'s voice cried out.

"Ed!" Joey echoed.

I focused on Edna. "We need to warn them!"

"We will!" Edna called out. "Edwin! You have to remember that-"

"Captain!"

"-ear for Entropy isn\'t a y-"

"Grab on, Edwin!" and I felt something latch onto my hand and tug.

"-for you!"

There was a tearing sensation and suddenly I was yanked forward, Renard and Yuri catching me in a hug as I stumbled forward, Mai within seconds grabbing hold of me. I looked about to realize that we were all standing on top of the blimp, where we\'d all been having our duels.

"Don\'t EVER do that again!" she scolded me.

"Do what?"

It was Seto of all people who answered. "They panicked because you kept appearing and disappearing. I told them you were merely stabilizing to our world but they refused to listen." He folded his arms over his chest and huffed. "I don\'t suppose you were able to get any of our stuff, were you?"

"No," I admitted. I only had the weapons and gear that I had brought with me when we\'d first fled Wyatt: my morpher, the Millennium Key and Ring, and my phone.

There was an itch in my hand and I on impulse I thrust out my hand... and after a moment Gleipnir in its cane form flew into my hand.

"WHOA!" Mokuba exclaimed. "How did you do that?"

"Magic," I stated.

That made Seto huff. "More like magnets or the like. Come on Mokuba, we\'ve been up for far too long. Its time to get some sleep before the next round of the tournament."

"Seriously?" I asked, watching as the Kaiba brothers headed out. "We just spent... it feels like years... outside of space and time and you want to focus on a tournament?"

"We took care of your little errand, Chaos. Now its times to return to what matters." With that Seto stepped into the elevator, letting the doors shut behind him.

"...ladies and gentlemen Seto Freakin\' Kaiba," I muttered, Renard finally letting me go. "Alright guys, we need to talk about what the juck fust happened... fuck just... whatever." I groaned, rubbing my forehead. "I don\'t know about you guys but I\'m pretty sure its been at least a year since I was on this fucking blimp." We had all gone out to gather items of power for the attack on the Eternal Gate but I know I had probably been away the longest thanks to visiting so many different worlds to make sure everyone else was kitted up. While Des and Edna had made sure I didn\'t miss even a second I\'d still mentally gone through all that. "And we still-"

Joey though let out a yawn. "Yeah Ed, we can talk about all that stuff with Edna and Marik and Ishizu in da morning. But I need ta get ta bed."

"Joey," I said slowly, "we need too-"

Serenity though was yawning next. "Uh huh. I know we still have a lot of stuff for all of us to work out but the day is really hitting me hard."

I noticed that Rex, Koyo, Duke, and even Pegasus and Solomon were looking rather tired, already moving towards the elevators. I glanced back and saw that of my group only Renard looked uninterested in the conversation, eyes heavy with drowsiness. That wasn\'t to say that the others weren\'t looked tired. Mai\'s shoulders we slumped, Tea looked ready just to sit down on the ground, and even the Pharaoh seemed to just want to sit down and rest. But they weren\'t ignoring me and in fact looked as startled as I was that the others were moving away.

\'What the fuck?\' I thought to myself as most of our group disappeared into the elevator. Only Mai, Yuri, Tristan, Tea, Yugi, Brom, and myself remained. \'What am I missing here...\'

"Earth-2!" Tea suddenly exclaimed.

"Pardon?" I asked.

"Tristan, Yuri and I... we already went to the multiverse with you!" Tea said, bubbling with energy that frankly I was wishing she\'d figure out a way to share with me. "And you said Yugi and the Pharaoh went with you yesterday, right? Or yesterday for us here..."

"This is going to get confusing," Tristan said.

"Wait til you begin noticing the filler arcs," Mai muttered.

"But that\'s why we aren\'t brushing aside what happened. We are already used to the multiverse." She shot me a look. "Because something happened... something that is why you were last and took so long to return, right?"

"Yeah," I admitted. "Something did. See-"

But the Pharaoh cut me off. "It can\'t be that, Tea," he stated. "Mai and Brom didn\'t go with Edwin into the multiverse so why aren\'t they being affected by... whatever happened?"

"Because gods have a stronger will," Brom said.

We all slowly turned to him and his eyes went pure black while Mai suddenly stiffed, her hair growing straight as her own eyes burned black and silver. Runic symbols appeared on their flesh, tattoos of swirling color and energy as an aura of power surrounded them both.

"He\'s right, lover," Selene purred as she glanced at me before looking at Brom. "Cousin."

"Cousin," Brom said with a simple nod. At once Mai was back in control of herself and Brom was smiling. "You never asked."

"...we are having a fucking TALK about that later on!" I snapped, jabbing a finger at the man before looking at the others. "But first we need to deal with bigger issues." I huffed and ran my fingers through my hair. "Suppose neither you or Selene have heard of someone named Entropy?"

"No," Brom said and when Selene made no appearance I took that as her answer. "I assume that was someone you encountered?"

"Yeah," I grunted. "What level is NONE to you two?"

"He would be considered an Outer God."

Yuri paled. "I\'ve read enough Lovecraft to know that ISN\'T good."

I knew bits and pieces too, myself, and that made me swallow nervously. "Entropy was able to render NONE completely powerless."

"That... isn\'t good," Brom stated. "What does he desire?"

"A battle," I said flatly. "A tournament or a conflict or... I don\'t know." I began to pace. "But he wants to determine something."

~Earth-2~

Aiden growled low in his throat as he looked around his throne room. His carefully gathered soldiers... dead. His throne smashed. Bullet holes in the walls.

He would find a way to track down Wyatt Chaos... and make him PAY.

~Earth-3~

Edna smiled as she entered the card shop, her friends barely managing to say hello. They weren\'t being unfriendly it was just, to them, she\'d only been gone a day or two. All the while she soaked in what they looked like, remembered how their voices sounded like, savored every moment because she didn\'t know when it would be taken away from her again.

~Earth 52~

"Not going to ask me where I disappeared to?" Booster complained when he entered the Time Lab, nodding to his sister before focusing on Rip.

"Another tantrum?" Rip asked. "Or maybe you think it\'s a secret I don\'t deserve to know?"

Booster, utterly exhausted after all that had happened, snapped. "You want to talk about secrets, Rip? Let\'s talk about you... father to son."

Rip\'s eyes went wide. "How..."

Booster let out a laugh. "Time Master? Oh kiddo... let me tell you about the TRUE multiverse."

~Earth 77~

"The Battle City Tournament will be the greatest Duel Monsters Tournament the world has ever seen!" Mai Valentine declared dramatically to all the gathered duelists in the town center.

Josiah glanced over at Tea, the Amazon Queen that shared her body having taken over to stare down her rival while Serenity began to talk rapidly about how she hoped that the tournament wouldn\'t occur when her brother Joey was supposed to get the operation to restore his hearing. But Josiah\'s mind was on what his brother had told him about his world\'s Battle City Tournament... and the threats that would be coming at them hard. Of destruction. Cults. And Gods.

~Earth 88~

"I don\'t know," Arthur said, rubbing his chin, "we are getting up there in age. Going on adventures is a thing for the young."

"Exactly," Arno stated as he looked over the maps. "Look... you and Solomon have to raise your grandchildren now. Yugi\'s mother is in no shape to be there for her son and Rebecca... the point is that we can\'t protect them if we are hobbling about. All we\'d be is hindrances. This... gives us a fighting chance."

"Solomon?" Arthur asked.

"I agree," the former Legendary Gambler stated. "To protect our kids."

Arthur sighed but nodded, knowing it would be a hard sell to his wife but he\'d convince her.

"Let\'s get to work," he muttered as they began to pour over the maps of Aztec ruins.

~Earth 151~

"Prepare for trouble!"

"Make it double!"

"To protect-"

Slash held out her hand, and a serpentine saber formed against her palm, crackling with lightning and then ice.

NONE popped up behind Jessie and James and smirked. "Thanks, we were looking for people to test this out on."

~Earth 299~

"The threat of House Muto-"

"No longer concerns me," King Edwyn stated to Mako. "They have been driven back and our spies keep watch on them." And thankfully it seemed like even with the changes he had made Atem Muto was doing everything his canon self had, making him almost painfully easy to counter. "To the East lies powers that will allow us to face the threats that are coming. You are my greatest sailor... will you help me secure these relics?"

"...consider it done."

~Earth 1874~

Wyatt looked up from where he\'d fallen, mouth set in a grim line.

"Good and evil, huh?" he muttered as he got up, dusting himself off. "I wonder where I\'ll fall."

And with that he began to walk away, ready to seek out his next contract.

~At the Eternal Gate~

"What do you think, my Lord?"

Enigma leaned down and looked over the battle scarred courtyard.

"Examine everything," he said calmly. "I want to know what our enemies are capable of. Their gaze may be turned away from us... but soon they will seek to finish what they started and I will have them, and every other Chaos, crushed."

The Chaos Contract

~Earth 7~

"If you are receiving this message it means that you have found yourself in a world that isn\'t your own. For you it may have only been moments... or centuries. But no matter the time... I know you are scared. So I send this message to you all across the Multiverse. One I wish I had received when I began this journey. I... am Edwin Chaos of Earth-1. And I ask you to remember this simple fact: While you face threats that you could never have imagined...you... are not alone."

"Hey, what was that?" a young man in an orange gi asked, looking at his friend who had been listening as the radio he\'d set up to play music while the others watched the fireworks that were going off. The radio had suddenly stopped playing the rock song and switched to something... else.

"I\'m not sure," the tall blond man said, rising up. "But I think we better keep training, Goku."

Don\'t stop, don\'t stop, we\'re in luck now! Don\'t stop there\'s so much to be found! We can find paradise all we have to do is go go free your soul! Dragon soul!

AND INTRODUCING AVO KAYOS

THE CHAOS OF EARTH 7

To Be Continued In

Chaos Wars