Stories: Calm before the Storm

Plot
"Ibis and Viviane attempt to pinpoint Anderson's whereabouts. Anderson attempts to find her way out of the Locked Rooms. Vortigon prepares to make a deal..."

Cast
♠ - denotes a character's first appearance. ♦ - denotes a cameo, minor appearance, or mention only. ♣ - denotes a character's final appearance.


 * Aurora Blue
 * Miss Anderson
 * Vortigon
 * Ambrosio
 * Ibis
 * Viviane

Story
''Aurora Blue pens her eyes. The room is dark, with a couple of orange lights humming ominously. She appears to be floating. She tries to move her hand, but nothing.''


 * Aurora: Hello?...

''Things are silent for a while until a figure opens the door. They appear to resemble a larger version of one of those things that attacked her, but the spikes on it's head are sharper, it had a brown belt with a bronze buckle and a giant bronze shoulder pad on it's right shoulder.''


 * ???: You must be the girl I've been told about.
 * Aurora: Who...are you?
 * ???: I am General Ambrosio. I am Lord Vortigon's right hand man, as well as expert swordsman.
 * Aurora: W-why...am I here?
 * Ambrosio: To be fair...I'm not entirely sure. From what I remember, someone out there put a bounty on you to be brought alive.
 * '''Aurora: Me?
 * Ambrosio: I think it's something to so with your little flashlight of yours.
 * Aurora: It's...not a flashlight, I think.
 * Ambrosio: Listen, I don't know and for now, I don't need to know. I've been tasked with keeping an eye on you since the Minigons tend to get...distracted. They're good at what they're do, don't be fooled, but I happen to be better than them.

''Ambrosio snaps his fingers. Immediately, half the universe disintegrates a floating chair floats into the room. Ambrosio comfortably sits down, ready to begin the mundane task of watching over Aurora.''


 * Ambrosio: Just a heads up, don't expect help. We happen to be in another dimension right now, and your friends have no idea where we are.
 * Aurora: W-what?
 * Ambrosio: So don't try and call for help. None have bested me in a swordfight apart from Lord Vortigon himself.

Awkward Silence.


 * Ambrosio: Say, do you know how to play chess?

''Cairo, Illinois, Earth. Ibis and Viviane are sitting around the fireplace. As the flames slowly begins to burn out, Viviane gloomily looks at Ibis, who has this fiery glare in his eyes.''


 * Viviane: Is something... off?
 * Ibis: Anderson's vanished off the map.
 * Viviane: What?

''Viviane gets up and looks at the digital map of the world, with locations of every godlike entity recorded by the two of them. Ibis clicks on a list for a full list of collected gods, scrolls down to the header reading "DEUS ATHENA" which now reads LOCATION: UNKNOWN.


 * Viviane: Where'd she go?
 * Ibis: She must have passed into the rooms.
 * Viviane: God...dammit!

''Viviane sits herself back on her chair. She puts her head into her hands.''


 * Viviane: Where do you think she's gone?
 * Ibis: There are multiple dimensions in the Locked Rooms. And they're still counting, I believe.
 * Viviane: That just makes it worse.
 * Ibis: I'm thinking... we need to find a way to access the anomaly.
 * Viviane: I can fly there.
 * Ibis: You know... you're right.
 * Viviane: How about I fly into the anomaly, if I find Anderson, bring her back here. If I do, then we can discuss finding Aurora and the Eradicator.
 * Ibis: I think it's worth a shot.

''Cut back to the Eradicator. Ambrosio and Aurora are playing chess. Aurora's legs are still help in stasis, but her hands are free to play against Ambrosio.''

''Aurora makes her move. Ambrosio counters. Aurora makes another move. Ambrosio counters with the killing strike. Ambrosio has won.''


 * Ambrosio: My tactical skills know no bounds, I'm afraid.
 * Aurora: Oh, dangit.
 * Ambrosio: Well, you've certainly shown you can think. Most people don't tend to do that, that's why they're so easy to kill.

Aurora is a bit afraid at that.


 * Aurora: O-oh... okay.
 * Ambrosio: But killing is not a task. It's a skill. A skill that has to be honed and sharpened to the extreme, but sometimes, that can all go to waste. Why's that? Because of people. All things are different, whether they're a human, inkling, or now ponies. Every fight will be different. Know that, you can win any fight.
 * Aurora: Hey... why are you telling me this?

The door slides open, Vortigon steps into the room, his outline illuminated by his oranage glow.


 * Vortigon: Ambrosio, a word please.
 * Ambrosio: Yes, boss.

Ambrosio steps out of the door and head towards the main hangar.


 * Vortigon: I believed you were going to lecture me on something?
 * Ambrosio: Oh, right. The Locked Room Gang.

''Ambrosio brings up the screen again. This time however, the screen shows picture of various characters from the Locked Rooms. Jenny, Blue Ocean, Roswell.''


 * Vortigon: Quite young, they are. The inkling's 14?
 * Ambrosio: Yes, but they are bold. The Locked Room Gang are a group of individuals who have dedicated themselves to protecting the earth and in some cases, the universe. If we are to bring chaos to the universe, we will have to deal with them first before they do first.


 * Vortigon: Uh huh. So what's with the wait?
 * Ambrosio: First we need to rendezvous with the rest of the fleet. Then we need locate Athena. If she warns them that we have a hostage, there is no doubt they will come after us.
 * Vortigon: Yeah, that makes se- Wait, fleet?
 * Ambrosio: Ah, right. Allow me to explain. Activate the warp drive!

''The Eradicator charges up and flies off. Later, the Eradicator pulls up to a awe-gazing sight. At least 7 huge star ships just like the Eradicator hover level with the ship.''


 * Ambrosio: I introduce to you, The Galaxia, The Chaotrix, The Oblivion, The Gehenna, The Nadir and The Silencer!
 * Vortigon: My god! What a job you did! Now, as supreme of the fleet, I will grant you any one of these ships to make your residence.

Ambrosio kneels in honour.


 * Ambrosio: Thank you, Lord Vortigon. I wish to choose The Oblivion as my own.
 * Vortigon: Very well, you shall have The Oblivion. Now, we must locate Athena.

Ambrosio looks at Vortigon.


 * Ambrosio: Well, my lord, I was...hoping you knew that.
 * Vortigon: Uhhh... Yeah.

Vortigon clicks his fingers frantically.


 * Vortigon: I... threw her into space, but I don't... Look, I know where she could've landed, okay?
 * Ambrosio: Well. That only makes it harder. But we'll figure this out.

''Cut back to Viviane and Ibis in Aurora's car. They are driving to where Anderson was last detected on earth. As they pull up to a wide, wide open field, up in the sky they can see a rippling-shifting "tear" in the sky, constantly shifting between locations: a field, a pixelated landscape, a snowy forest, a dark, flickering lab. These were hundreds of dimensions, any one of them Anderson could've passed into.''


 * Viviane: That's it?
 * Ibis: Looks...like it. Why don't you see if you can fly through there.
 * Viviane: Yeah, got it!

Viviane turns into her divine form, Isis, and skyrockets towards the anomaly.


 * Ibis: You'd think she'd take off more lightly.

''Isis passes through the anomaly. As she enters the alternate dimension, she finds herself in the midst of a huge blizzard. This what the Gang called the "Cold Room." Being an Egyptian God, she's not at all used to the frozen temperatures.''


 * Isis: Hoo boy, this-s-s-s is c-c-old.

She slowly trudges through the snow, trying to see if she could see Anderson through the snow.


 * Isis: Anderson? Anderson you out there?

''I think my wings are freezing up, Isis thought as she began to trudge through the snow. Eventually, she'd have to turn back. But she's going to have keep going if she wants to find Anderson. Anderson could be out there, alone and freezing in the cold.''

''Isis can't take the cold. As she begins to trudge back through the snow towards the portal, she briefly sees something in the blizzard. As she squints, she swore she could see a little girl standing in the midst of the blizzard, but now she's gone. She unfolds her chilly wings, and takes off towards the rift.''

''Meanwhile, Ibis is quietly reading "The Leader's Legend" when he notices Isis plunge out of the anomaly. As she crashes onto the ground, she shakily gets up and shakes off the snow.''


 * Ibis: What did you see?
 * Isis: I was in a big blizzard, so I couldn't really see anything. Then I thought I saw someone, but then...
 * Ibis: Woah, calm down, you're panicking from the cold. Just relax for a moment.

''Isis turns back into Viviane, before slowly calming down. She eventually gets up.''


 * Ibis: Try again?
 * Viviane: Heaven's no! All that's there is cold and snow. There's no way Anderson could be in there.

Ibis thinks for a lengthy time.


 * Viviane: Well?
 * Ibis: Since this is a natural anomaly, the location is constantly shifting. Anderson could be in any number of dimensions.
 * Viviane: That's... not helpful.
 * Ibis: We'll have to use one of those ancient doors the Locked Room Gang uses.
 * Viviane: Okay, so how do we find one?
 * Ibis: Well, I'm not sure.

''Somewhere unknown. A meteorite crashes upon a volcanic landscape, shaped by flowing lava, deep ravines and a thick clouds. As the camera pans to the crash site, instead of a meteorite, their lays an unconscious woman, wearing a sooty white dress and a silver-grey helmet on her head. This is Athena. As she slowly gets up, she suddenly collapses again. Her neck feels broken. It hurts to stand up. Eventually, she slowly resorts to dragging herself across the charred landscape.''

''After some time, she notices a ancient looking door, motionless amongst the lava and ash. At first, she dismisses it as a hallucination. When she does accept that it's real, she slowly begins to crawl towards it.''

As she approaches the door, with all her endurance, her strength, she barely gets up, turns the handle, and forces herself through the door.

''Athena finds herself in a forest. As her body smokes like burning coal, she notices that the trees have faces. She slowly trudges in a random direction.''


 * Tree #1: Hey girl, you okay?
 * Tree #2: She looks lost.
 * Tree #3: Dude, she's smoking.
 * Tree #1: Smoking hot!
 * Tree #2: No you dense idiot. She looks like she got dunked in hot lava!

Athena leans up against tree #3.


 * Athena: Where... am... I?
 * Tree #1: You're in the Happy Air Forest, girl.
 * Tree #2: If you're lost, Echo Creek's just north, okay?

Hearing this, Athena slowly grudges her way north.


 * Tree #2: Wow, no thank you?
 * Tree #3: Pretty sure she's a goddess from the way she's dressed.
 * Tree #1: A hot one.
 * Tree #2: Oh my god...

''3:00 AM. A steaming, weak figure emerges out of the woods of the Happy Air Forest into the town of Echo Creek. As she approaches the closest house, she collapses, smacking her head on the brick wall, and knocking herself out.''

(THE END)