Splat Force V: Final Frontier; Chapter 2

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W E L C O M E ! ! !

This is Nomad! I hope you all have had a good day! As promised, I am back with Chapter 2 of Splat Force V: Final Frontier!

It's been about seven months since I last finished a big story, so I'm glad to see I've still got it in my to carry out this premier day! I thought it would've been harder then what it is!

If you can recall, the previous Chapter contained not just the return of the gifted, something that's already starting to effect the team, but it also featured the arrival of what appeared to be a creature lurking from within the shadows.

In this Chapter, as you can probably guess, we'll be finding out just what these creatures are and what their deal is. No really a shock there, it was pretty self explanatory from how the last one ended, but I felt that I might as well drag this intro out a little longer than I should.

So without further ado, let's get into this!

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(Chapter Hub)

C H A P T E R  2 :  F R O M  T H E  S H A D O W S

Rex Allen's rented hotel apartment was wide and open. He had a king-sized bed with dark wood pillars going to the roof. The walls were smooth white, and the roof was brown. The floor was made from light grey tiles. In front of the bed was a brown couch sitting in front of a glass table and a TV against the wall. To the left of the TV was the kitchen with the best state-of-the-art equipment. Opposite the kitchen was the door to the bathroom.

The Splat Force Commander stood by the window as the radio played a somber classic rock song. He was still wearing his charcoal tros from his Splat Force gear along with his utility belt and black boots. He took off his brown top gear and scarf, throwing both to the side for a moment before putting his hands on his hips and looking out into the city.

The purple skies hadn't completely ruined the colorfulness of the neon lights from buildings, something that was a relief to him. It is then that he stared at his reflection.

For a man in his early fifties, Rex Allen looked fit and healthy for his age. His chest and back was an good shape. The scars from his many years of battle were faded, but still visible. Rex could make out the wrinkles on his head, particularly the forehead, although it didn't bother him as much due to his fringe from his long down hair. His cheeks were thinner then how they were in his prime, but that was again, due to age, and again, it was covered up by his beard.

After a moment or two longer, he reached into the left pocket of his utility belt, taking out an old folded photograph. Upon unfolding it, he looked at it fondly. It was an old photo of himself alongside his wife, Alyssa Frida, and daughter, Platinum when she was much younger. The photo was the only thing that he was able to find from his wife when she died. He kept it on him all of the time.

As he looked at the photo, question began to linger in his mind. Were the gifted always meant to come back? Did Alyssa die for nothing? Could all of this be reversed. The questions in his mind urked him because the last thing he would want was for his wife's death to mean nothing.

After another moment of looking at the photo, he folded it up and returned it to his utility belt. Once it was back inside, he went straight back to looking out of the window. All of a sudden, he saw another explosion in the distance, this time coming from close to where the Cathedral was.

Alarmed, Rex quickly rushed to his radio and shut it off before walking back to his window and opening it. He heard what he was expecting: police cars, gunshots, and screaming, however, there was one sound that he could never have recognised.

The sound was off a distorted deep screech. It sounded like something straight out of a monster movie. It lasted for five seconds before fading out.

B Z Z Z Z Z Z T ! ! !

Feeling his phone go off, Rex immediately took it out of his utility belt. It was Platinum calling. He answered instantly.

"Hello? What's going on?!"

"Dad, y-you need to get out here right now! There's this... dark monster thing, I don't know what it is!"

Platinum panted over the phone. In the background of the call, an explosion from a destroyed police car was heard.

"Me, Magnus, and Samantha have tried fighting it off, but it's too strong! I-I don't how long we can-"

"Don't worry! I'm coming!"

Rex exclaimed before instantly hanging up.

Meanwhile, more police cars showed up to the scene, all armed and ready, wearing their most protective gear.

"Forward!"

The one in the lead yelled out. The police force pull up their shields and charge forward.

The shadow creature took notice of them and screeched at them, the roar echoing all around the area. The creature itself had four very long thin black legs and a thin stomach. It's head was long, thin and as black as the rest of it, with it's teeth being a very dark grey. As it made it's move towards the officers, they stood their ground, grabbed their weapons, and opened fired.

B A N G ,  B A N G ,  B A N G ! ! !

B A N G ,  B A N G ,  B A N G ! ! !

B A N G ,  B A N G ,  B A N G ! ! !

Surprisingly, the gunshots actually dealt damage to the creature, slowlying it down and making it flinch. There were very small bullet hole that were quickly healed and patched up, although the healing was more like the skin around it being smushed together. It's blood was purple, and small drops on it landed on the floor before the wounds were smushed up.

Angered by the damage, the creature roared once again before lefting up it's left front leg. Each of the officers saw this as an attack waiting to happen. They crouched and hid behind their massive shields. Within the next few seconds, the creature swiped at them.

S W I P E ! ! !

If it wasn't for the shields, the officers would've been cut to pieces, but thanks to the shields, they were only knocked to the side like Bowling Pins, although their shields took significant damage from the swipe and almost broke from the impact.

Coming out from the piece of rubble just in front of the Cathedral building, Magnus readied his Splatterscope, aiming it at the creatures stomach and fired.

B A N G ! ! !

As expected, the bullet pierced the creatures back, causing the skin to smursh together to cover the wound. The creatures screeched a little before turning around, now looking down at Magnus, who stood his ground, ready to strike again.

The shadow creature raised it's front left leg again, ready to strike down at the Octoling below, however, right before getting the chance, it felt bullets being digged into his back.

B A N G ,  B A N G ,  B A N G ! ! !

B A N G ,  B A N G ,  B A N G ! ! !

The creature spun around to see Samantha blasting at it with her Splattershot. The creature instantly turned around and let another roar before before cut off by another round of gunfire, this time coming from the roof to its right.

B A N G ,  B A N G ,  B A N G ! ! !

B A N G ,  B A N G ,  B A N G ! ! !

Platinum fired at the creature using her Duelies. In response to this, the creature lifted it's right leg up and slammed it into the budding she was on, causing it to cave in on itself. Seeing this and accidentally tripping and dropping her weapons, Platinum went into her swim form and super jumped onto the ground below next to Samantha.

As the creature looked back down at both her and Samantha, Platinum felt her adrenaline spike. Her entire body started to go warm. Right as the creature made it's quick move forward, Platinum forced both of her arms forward, firing two energy beams at once, stunning the creature.

Seeing the opportunity from behind the creature, Magnus proceeded to super jump over the creature, but whilst he was exactly above it, he got out his Splatterscope and managed to get a couple of shots into it's head.

B A N G ,  B A N G ! ! !

Just as Magnus landed next to the others, Platinum started becoming exhausted and could barely hold it together anymore. She had to stop herself, even if it meant she couldn't hold the creature back anymore. The moment the creature broke free, it roared once again both raising both of it's front legs before slamming them into the ground.

S L A M ! ! !

The impact of the slam caused all three of them to get knocked back, as well as cause craters were the legs were digged in. As the dust settled, Magnus, Platinum, and Samantha were all out of the fight, however, just before the creature could do anything else, two Splat Bombs were thrown towards it.

B O O M ,  B O OM ! ! !

The explosions caused the creature to flinch and fumble back. Super jumping into the fight was Commander Rex Allen, all suited up and ready to fight. The creature quickly regained it's focused and looked down at Rex, growling. Rex ran forward, pointing his N-Zap at the creature before firing.

B A N G ,  B A N G ! ! !

The bullets hit square on the head, but didn't do much as expecting. The creature slammed down at Rex using it's left front leg, only for Rex to quickly dodge out of the way. Seeing an opportunity, Rex grabbed onto the leg as it was lifted out of the ground.

Right as the leg reached it's highest point, Rex through a Splat Bomb at the creature's head, going straight into it's mouth, however, just before it exploded, the creature crushed it with it's teeth, alarming Rex completely.

The Splat Force Commander super jumped off of the creature and landed on the floor below it, however, as he did so, the shadow creature once again raised both of his front legs, slamming it into the ground.

S L A M ! ! !

Not having anytime to react, Rex was sent flying back, landing on his back against debree. He groaned, holding onto his back as he tried to sit up. The creature came marching towards him, roaring as he readied to deliver the final blow. Rex looked up at the monster and grabbed his N-Zap, refusing to go out that easily.

The moment the creature struck, something out of the ordinary happened. Rex watched with his eyes as the creature was stopped mid attack by a light-blue barrier that seemingly formed out of nowhere. The barrier had hexagon shapes all around it.

Suddenly, the barrier, as well as the sealed shadow creature was lifted into the sky. Rex, alongside the other fighters in the area, all looked up in shock and confusion as the barrier went into before suddenly vanishing into a light blue cloud, making it disappear entirely. The fight was over, but how?

Rex, Platinum, Magnus, and Samantha, all regrouped, with the former two hugging each other tightly.

"Are you okay?!"

Rex asked worryingly.

"I'm fine, don't worry!"

Platinum assured her father before pulling out of the hug and looking back to the sky.

"What the hell was that?"

"I don't know."

Rex asked before thinking about the barrier it was sealed inside of.

"But, something about that... that shield it was inside of... I just, I don't know..."

Magnus and Samantha approched the two of them, giving them both ensuring looks.

"We'll figure that out later."

Magnus told them. Rex nodded, coming to an agreement.

Just then, both Shauna and Emily arrived, both in their casual clothing, Shauna wearing a pale purple ripped crop top and skirt, and Emily wearing tight black leggings and a blue shirt. They may have missed the fight, but they didn't miss whatever that barrier was.

"Thank god you guys are okay!"

Shauna exclaimed as she and Emily ed them.

"Is anyone hurt?"

Rex smirked.

"I just have a bit of a sore back, but I'll live. It's not the worst thing I've taken."

Shauna snickered.

"That's very assuring!"

Whilst Shauna spoke to the other, Emily was too focused on what was around her.

"What even happened here."

Samantha shrugged.

"Beats me. We're still trying to figure it out."

Magnus gently stroked his chin as he spoke his thoughts.

"It must be connected to the sky. I'm sure there's a story here, that creature can't have just come from nowhere."

Rex cleared his throat.

"Whatever it is, we have to get to the bottom of it."

He told them.

"For now, rest up, all of you. We'll start our look for answers tomorrow. If you know anyone who might help, go to them. See if you can make sense of any of this."

The team all came to an agreement there. As each member went their own ways, Emily stayed an extra couple of seconds to just look at all of the damage caused. She hadn't seen anything like this since the end of Bolton Vulcan's reign of terror. Anxious about it all, and knowing who to go to when she was feeling this way, Emily made herself a plan for the next day.

T H E  N E X T  A F T E R N O O N . . .

At the Humboltd Institution, Vincent Fisk had been alerted that he had a visitor and was taken to the visitation center. The room was split in two, separated by a wall and five glass windows with seats on each side. It was where Prisoners could speak to their friends or family. Vincent was taken to the window on the far left.

Waiting for him on the other side was Emily, wearing her full Splat Force gear, it's white and black color scheme being a polar opposite to that of Vincent's orange prison jumper. Seeing this, Vincent knew that she meant buisness.

He sat down and picked up the phone. Emily too picked up the phone on her side, connecting the pair of them.

"Back here already?"

Vincent asked.

"I just wanted to check in with you."

Emily told him.

"I know that all of this must be a lot to digest, considerin'... you know."

"Yeah, I do."

Vincent replied with a heavy sigh, thinking back to his past.

"Past me was right. The gifted really did come back, but how? Didn't Alyssa Frida die curing everyone?"

Emily nodded before giving her theory.

"I think it has somethin' to do with whatever it is that's goin' on with the sky. The area around me where I was just started... glitchin' like in a video game and then boom, the sky just turned purple."

"Yes."

Vincent responded.

"Have you heard about what religious people, extremists, and prophecy believers are saying?"

"No... why should I care?"

Vincent scoffed lightly, understanding why she'd feel that way.

"They are tying all of this back to an old prophecy."

"Of course..."

Emily sighed, holding her head in her right hand for a moment before looking back at Vincent.

"Is this somethin' I'm gonna have to look into now?"

"The word is that this prophecy talks about purple skies and shadowy monsters, sound familiar?"

Emily became alarmed, but she kept her expectations responsibly low. She masked her concern with a light scoff, shaking her head a little.

"Surely it must be a popular trend then."

"It isn't."

Vincent answered sharply, getting it into Emily's head that this prophecy could very well be what was happening. Emily dropped the facade, now fully focused on whatever Vincent was about to say.

"It is a prophecy that can only be found in one place, and one place only."

Emily leaned in.

"Okay... where do I have to go?"

L A T E R  T H A T  E V E N I N G . . .

Emily had successfully managed to gather before Magnus and Shauna. The other three were already occupied. The three of them arrived at the Inkopolis Cathedral, all in their Splat Force gear. It was turning dark after the sunset, so there were on guard the whole time.

"Are you sure about this, Emily? Is this prophecy in any religion book or is it just exclusive to this buildin' in particular?"

Magnus asked as the three slowly approched the front door of the Cathedral.

"Fisk told me about it. He said this was the only place it has ever been in."

Shauna chimed in.

"I'm sorry, but does that not sound the least bit weird? I'm all for ancient evil prophecies, but the fact that this one is not in a book yet is just-"

"Weird? I know, I feel that too."

Emily replied, placing her hand on the door nob and looking back at her partner.

"But if what Fisk said is true, we might be able to find a lead with this thing, so in my eyes, it's worth a shot."

Magnus gave his friend a gentle nod.

"Alright, but you best know what you're doin'."

"Oh, Magnus, when am I not careful?"

Emily said, sounding snarky as she opened the Cathedral door. She, Magnus, and Shauna all headed inside.

The inside of the Cathedral was a massive rectangular room. Each of their steps echoed throughout the empty building. It was dark: the lights were off, the only light coming from the big round circular window at the top of the wall ahead. Making up most of the room were many rows of seats, all facing the front to the alter. However, what really peaked their interest was what was behind the alter. There were drawings on some of the walls, not many understood what it meant.

Emily, Magnus, and Shauna all walked to the alter, eyes glued to the drawings. Shauna lifted her right hand and lit up the room with her gifts so they could see it better. The sky in the drawing was dictated as purple, just like how it was now. There were weirdly drawn monsters rampaging, just like how it was now, however, their focus was on the center of the drawing. It was a figure of someone in blackish purple armour holding a massive sword, and behind the being was a large structure of the same color with a beam digging into the ground.

Underneath the drawing were sentences written in an unknown language, but at the very bottom of the writing was a singular word.

'MALEFOR'

"That's... not worryin' at all."

Magnus uttered, eyes still glued to the drawing for a moment before looking to Emily.

"What could this mean?"

"I don't know."

She replied.

"But whatever it is, it isn't good."

L A T E R  T H A T  N I G H T . . .

At the base, Rex, Platinum, and Samantha were in their casual clothes, training themselves. Samantha was doing work out routines and stretches on the red carpet whilst Rex helped Platinum at the target practise.

"Alright, ease."

Rex whispered in her ear as he slowly positioned her left arm so that it was facing one of the training dummies

"Can you feel the warmth around your body?"

"Y-Yeah...?"

Platinum replied. She felt different parts of her body go warm and cold in the moment.

"That's the energy within you. Your mother told me that she'd think about where she'd want the energy to go, which in this case would be-"

"My arm?"

"Yes."

He answered, giving Platinum the signal to think about her arm. Platinum, with her eyes still sealed shut, began thinking about her left arm, taking in deep breaths as she tried channeling her energy. It was then that she felt the warmth go into her arm. It was sudden, causing her to clench her fist. Rex took notice of it.

"Do you feel it."

"Mmm..."

Platinum hummed in response.

"Okay. Now, ever so slightly just pull your arm back a little and then push forward."

Rex instructed, going off of memory of when his wife used to do so.

"When you do that, that's when the ener-"

Whilst he was speaking, Platinum did as she was instructed. All of a sudden, a light blue energy beam flew out of her fist, hitting the target. Platinum jolted and opened her eyes after hearing the target go down.

After a moment of processing it, she let out one chuckle.

"Ha! Did I do it?!"

She asked, looking back at her father for approval.

Rex chuckled and crossed his arms.

"Yeah, I think you did!"

He told her, making Platinum feel good.

"I think a few more training practices with this, and you'll be an expert in no time!"

"How did you know what to do?"

Platinum asked.

Rex snickered a little.

"Heh, that's the thing, I didn't. I just went off of what your mother used to tell me ages ago. I only helped her with her aim."

Interrupting the moment, Emily, Magnus, and Shauna all entered the base, panting. They had ran all the way over to avoid the risk of another shadow creature attack. Rex, Platinum, and Samantha all walked over to greet them.

"Where have you three been?"

"Inkopolis Cathedral."

Emily answered, walking past Rex and towards the staircase.

"I'm gettin' some air outside, I'm sweatin' after that run!"

As Emily walked up to the balcony, Magnus stepped forward to explain what they had learned to Rex and the others.

"Emily visited Fisk earlier today, and he told her about this prophecy at the Cathedral because he thought the whole situation right now sounded like it."

He answered before going on to explain it.

"When we got there, we saw this really big drawin' behind the alter about purple skies, shadowy monsters and this weird lookin' dude with sword and a buildin' behind him. There was a bunch of writtin' below it and the only word I could make out was Ma-"

"Malefor."

Rex interrupted.

"Y-Ya know about it?"

"Yes, well, no, not really. Alyssa told me that Terrador said a few things about it on the final day of the Gifted Wars whilst they were both inside of that place."

Rex clarified. As he spoke with Magnus, Emily had reached the balcony. She rested her arms on the side bars before looking to the sky. Her eyes widened at what she saw, although due to the ongoing conversation down below, none of the others took notice of it.

"Something about the end of worlds, or whatever. I'm not really a prophecy kinda guy."

"Neither am I, but a lot of the stuff in there add up to what's goin' on. I think it's somethin' we should look at."

Magnus replied.

Freaked out by what she was seeing in the sky, Emily called out to the team.

"Guys?!"

She called out, instantly getting all of their attention.

"There is a big man in the sky!"

She wasn't lying. Within the purple sky, a being with the silhouette of galaxies colors watched down from above. All of the team could see him now, Rex squinted his eyes, not believing what he was seeing.

"What the..."

The being started to move down, getting closer and closer to them. Spooked, Emily super jumped off of the balcony, back into the base, hiding behind some of the others. Rex got into a fighting stance, preparing to face off against whatever it was.

Alas, the being finished coming down from the sky, entering the base. It was a giant, the size going from the floor to just below the roof. They could only see it's head as the rest of the body was covered by it's cloak.

"Splat Force of Earth 20."

The being spoke. The team all huddled together, unsure of what is was doing, although Rex became focused on what the being just called them.

"I am The Beholder, sworn protector of the multiverse, and I need your help!"

T O  B E  C O N T I N U E D . . .

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T H X  F O R  R E A D I N G ! ! !

Thx for reading Chapter 2 of Splat Force V: Final Frontier! And thus marks the end of my  final story premier weekend! This story is an absolute treat, and I've loved being able to finally work on it after all these years of building up to it! Next week will go back to the once a week schedule, thank god for that: I get more time to rest! The next Chapter will follow off from where this one left of with our heroes coming face-to-face with The Beholder, so stay tuned for that! Until next time, stay safe out there! ^^

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