Splat Force V: Final Frontier; Chapter 12

■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■

W E L C O M E ! ! !

This is Nomad! I hope you are all having a great day! Once again, I am back today with another new Chapter of Splat Force V: Final Frontier!

With the previous Chapter establishing the multiverse and all of the unique worlds as well as bringing back a few old faces, this Chapter will be going head on into showing all of the bizarre nature of it. In the words of Anakin Skywalker, this is where the fun begins!

This Chapter will have some heartwarming moments mixed with some tense moments, as well as having some nice scenery, which is always a plus, as well as having a few surprise appearances.

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

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

(Previous Chapter)(Chapter Hub)

C H A P T E R  1 2 :  O L D  F A C E S  R E I M A G I N E D

Jumping around the multiverse, Shauna went from world to world collecting allies for the battle at a very quick rate. One second, she was at an R.A.I.C base plucking out all the troops, which could range from numbers between twenty and forty, and the next second she was at the Coraldia Acid Squids camp recruiting about ten to twenty-five allies at a time. This was only a few of many allies in the five, six, seven world's she had traveled to, with her total number so far nearing ninty. In a little under half an hour, she had made more progress than anyone else.

E A R T H  7 2 9 1

In her next world, Shauna landed in an unknown environment. The sky was blue, signaling that it wasn't on Malefor's radar yet. She was surrounded by platforms and mini slopes. She looked around and saw many floating islands around her. It was then that she saw in the distance that she was inside in the middle of Mount Nantai.

"Is this... Octo Canyon?"

She whispered to herself. Back on her world, Shauna only heard stories about Octo Canyon, but surprisingly, it was a place that she had never been to before... until now, at least.

"This is stra-"

W H O O S H ! ! !

All of a sudden, a strong gust of window blew her all the way to the back of the mini island, though Shauna managed to get a strong grip onto the ground just before being launched off.

"What the?!"

"Don't move!"

A voice called out from ahead. Shauna quickly looked up. There in front of her stood four individuals, all of whom she had never seen before.

The mini group of four consisted of one Octoling and free Inklings. From left to right, the gifted Inkling who attacked Shauna was a male Inkling with pale skin and two different colored eyes, his left being blue and the right being purple. He had yellow hair as well, though his hair was shaven on the left side whilst the other side was long and went down to his neck. He wore a yellow uniform with blue stripes. He had white pupils in his eyes.

Next was a female Octoling with pale brown skin. She had long red hair, a body suit with no left sleeve wearing black shorts and glasses on her forehead.

Next was the leader of the group. She had long aquamarine hair and blue eyes. She wore a sand, orange and blue colored pancho over a grey skirt along with sandals on her feet. She wore a large blue hat on her head.

And finally, the fourth and final member was a pale-skinned Inkling with shoulder-length yellow hair and reddish brown eyes, wearing a yellow body suit with black shorts and large black boots to fit her bustier body figure. She had black glasses resting on her forehead.

"Who are you guys?"

Shauna asked as she slowly stood up, holding both of her hands in the air.

"We're the new Squidbeak Splatoon."

The Cap'n answered as she lowered her weapon. Her voice sounded deep, yet very feminine.

"We don't know how you got here, but you have to leave!"

"T-The Squidbeak Splatoon?!"

Shauna asked, recognising the name. The Cap'n slowly and awkwardly nodded.

"Didn't Bolton Vulcan kill you guys?"

The Octoling on the team started to laugh.

"That guy? We kicked his ass, like, years ago!"

"Oh, right..."

Shauna muttered back.

The yellow-haired one shook her head.

"We were assigned on a mission about six years ago to beat him. We did as we were told and we're speaking to you now."

"Damn straight, Romona."

The Cap'n said under her breath.

"To think I made a full transition after that... that was a great year to be alive!"

Romona Sterling gave her Cap'n an uneasy look.

"Hey, umm... are we openly calling each other by our names in front of strangers, or... what?"

"Eh, she'll probably be gone in a few minutes anyway, so we might as well."

The Cap'n replied before looking back at Shauna.

"My name is Brioni Shepherd, the Octoling to my right is Kim Walters, and our gifted friend over here is Je-"

"Jesse. My name is Jesse Guthrie!"

Jesse answered awkwardly and quietly.

"Yeah, that's what I was gonna say."

Shauna took a deep breath, trying to resist the urge to tap her foot inpatiently.

"Okay... how much experience do you guys have?"

"Ooo... good one!"

Brioni answered before tapping her chin and looking to the sky for a few seconds before getting her answer.

"About eight to fifteen years depending on who you're asking."

"Okay, that's good enough for me!"

She replied before shooting her Portal Projectiles at each of the team from left to right.

Each Squidbeak member had this confused look. Brioni saw the projectile just below her chest and looked back up at Shauna.

"Girl, what the fu-"

She was about to ask before all four of them were consumed by their respective portals.

Smiling at her finished work, Shauna was about to press the random button again before hearing a voice call out from behind her.

"Shauna May-Deacon."

Shauna jolted and turned around, both hands glowing, though the lights were quickly dimmed once she saw that it was just The Beholder.

"Hey! What's up?"

"You've collected more allies then anyone else. You have proved yourself useful and played your part very well."

The Beholder complimented, making Shauna feel good about herself before giving her a task. He raised his left hand and opened a portal himself.

"In this world, you find a soul that's been lost for a long time, a soul that I failed myself... find him and bring him back home with you. You've done more then enough work."

"Okay then..."

Shauna whispered to herself as she walked to the portal. After taking a couple of deep breaths, Shauna threw herself into the portal.

E A R T H  2 0 1 2

Falling from ten feet in the air, Shauna fell onto a large pile of rubble inside of an abandoned subway station.

"Ow..."

Shauna whispered to herself before lifted her head up, shaking it side to side, and then getting up to have a good look around.

There were no signs of life anywhere. No civilians, no pets, no birds, not even a single plant. The area around her looks as if it had been blown apart. All of the color was gone. All that was left was just a grey and black mess.

"What the hell is this place...?"

Shauna asked herself.

B A C K  O N  E A R T H  1 1 0 9

Having sneaked through the ventilation, Magnus crawled through the vents of the fortress. To no surprise, it was dark, tight, and warm, really warm. After crawling around, he saw a small hatch that led down into a room below. It was an open room with an entrance. The walls were a dark marron and it was lit up by walls of fire at the back.

Magnus looked down into the room and was about to enter until he heard speaking coming from below.

"How many of them are there?!"

Damian Batson asked as he, Drift, and Melissa all walked into the room. Magnus stayed back and watched from above as they entered the room.

The sight of Drift sent butterflies to his stomach. He had a gut feeling that he'd be seeing a Drift variant around in the multiverse, he just didn't think that it would be this soon.

"No idea, Damian, no idea."

Drift replied whilst shrugging his shoulders.

"They've been appearing around the world. Rex and Alyssa told me that they've even been popping up in Inkopolis."

Melissa, who had her eyes closed and was focusing her mind on the shadow creatures, was able to put a couple of things together.

"It's all connected to the sky."

Damian gave her a confused squint.

"The sky?"

He asked, to which Melissa replied a hum. He chuckled.

"What? Is the sky falling or some squit?"

Melissa rolled her eyes.

"No? I'm saying whatever is going on with the sky is what's causing these creatures to appear."

Drift nodded.

"I can believe it"

He replied before going into a ramble. As he spoke, Melissa began sensing something in the vents, that something of course being Magnus himself, though she wasn't quite able to tell yet.

"Think about it, the sky goes purple, our gifts get a tad bit stronger, and these weird ass dark creatures show up and start causing chaos. I think it's easy to put two and two together... Melissa?"

Melissa quickly looked back at Drift.

"Sorry, got a little di-"

She said before picking up another presence, this time being one that she recognised.

"He's here."

Seconds later a flame ring appeared at the front of the room. The three of them all turned to face it. Magnus' eyes widened in the vents upon seeing the flame ring, knowing exactly who would be walking through it at any given second.

After a couple of seconds, Bolton Vulcan walked through the flame ring, blade in his right hand with a large wipe in his left.

"These creatures have been sighted everywhere I've been all day. No where is safe from them."

He said as he wiped the blood from his blade.

"Our allies over at the Splat Force have given us a heads up on where they'll strike next."

"And where would that be?"

Melissa asked.

"Somewhere around here."

Bolton told them as he stopped in front of them.

"We have to be vigilant."

Unlike the Bolton from Magnus' world, this one seemed... not as bad. Hearing Bolton call the Splat Force an ally was a relief, but still felt so wrong for Magnus. This Bolton even had a difference of appearance. The front two tentacles of his long red hair remained the same, although the back two were no wrapped in a bun. His cape was ripped short, now only going up to his back. His boots and tros were the same, yet he wore different robes. They were a soft dark grey with a black top underneath. The sleeves ended at just the forearms.

Drift noticed the blood on the blade his biological father carried and frowned.

"Is that blood?"

Bolton gave Drift a disappointed sigh.

"Whilst I was fighting off these creatures in Inkopolis, several R.A.I.C troops came at me with the intent to take me down. I tried my hardest to resist, but..."

"Bolton..."

Drift sighed disappointedly.

"I know, I'm sorry..."

Bolton muttered back, feeling ashamed.

"These past five years haven't been an easy transition, but I'm trying to do better, I promise."

Meanwhile, feeling uneasy in the vents after hearing Bolton it to killing a couple of troops, Magnus began crawling forward ad quickly and as quietly as possible. Unfortunately,  he panicked too much, and his foot accidentally put too much pressure on the vent cover, causing it to come loose and fall.

The moment it hit the ground, all eyes were drawn to it. Magnus felt his heart skip multiple beats as he went pale. Bolton became fixated on the vent.

"Someone's in the vents!"

"I got it!"

Melissa replied before stepping forward and reaching her left hand out towards the vent.

Magnus suddenly felt a strong force pull his legs back, forcing him to slowly be pushed back. He struggled and grunted, trying his hardest to not be pulled in. Quickly, Magnus reached into his utility belt and grabbed a Splat Bomb. Upon activating it, he threw it down into the room.

B O O M ! ! !

Although the blast was out of their reach, the shock and sound of the sudden bomb was enough to force Melissa to let go for a moment, allowing Magnus to make a quick escape.

As the dust settled, Bolton's blade began glowing in the colors of fires.

"Scout the building and find him."

He instructed.

"On it!"

Damian replied before running off. Both Drift and Melissa slowly followed from behind.

After crawling quickly for a couple of minutes, Magnus had to rest himself as he felt tired from all of the quick crawling. He panted loudly and groaned as flopped his body against the metal surface of the warm vent.

Just as he was catching his breath, however, he suddenly heard even faster crawling in the distance. Realising that it must be Damain, Magnus knew he had to act quickly. Luckily, to the left of him was a vent entrance to the kitchen.

Busting down a the mini entrance and crawling into the kitchen, Magnus quickly sealed the vent back up and frantically started to look around for a hiding spot, eventually settling on one of the cupboards under the sink. He went into his swim form to climb inside. Once secure, he went back into his Octoling form and closed the door before once again turning into his swim form to hide in one of the buckets.

Just mere seconds later, Damian came in from the vent and started running around the room ten times over, checking every cupboard, under every table, and even in the oven, microwave, and grill, but found nothing. After only two seconds of being in there, he left through the vent once again. Magnus was able to here the crawling sounds slowly fade out as he went away.

After staying hidden for another thirty seconds to be safe, Magnus slowly made his way out of the hiding spot, climbing out of the bucket and pushing open the cupboard door and exiting in his swim form before going back into his Octoling form.

Everything seemed calm for him in that moment, though at the same time, his vision was a bit blurry from being stuck in a cramped, dark space for way longer then he should've been.

Feeling a little dizzy, Magnus headed for the sink and turned it on before drinking from it for a couple of seconds. Once done, he quickly turned off the tap and panted to himself for a moment, wiping his mouth. He was now ready to make a move on.

He lifted up his left arm and was about to select the random button and travel to a new universe, however, just as he was about to do so, he suddenly felt someone touch the back of his head. Within a second, Magnus went from awake to asleep. He collapsed onto the ground, Melissa stood over him.

The Inkling telepath rolled Magnus onto his side to take a closer look at him. She was surprised to see who it was, a little too surprised, but why? She then looked down at the gear he was wearing. It looked different to what she ed the Splat Force of her world wearing. Trying not to think too hard about it, Melissa grabbed a brown bag from one of the cupboards, putting it over Magnus' head.

E A R T H 7 7 2

Exiting another one of many portals, Samantha landed near the top of a snowy mountain in the midst of a blizzard. She felt the freezing temperature hit almost instantly the moment her suit came off of her.

Straight ahead of her was a massive castle made entirely of ice. She squinted her eyes at the sight, the blue colors not blending in well with the white environment.

"Okay... fifty-two so far. Might as well make it fifty-three."

She whispered to herself, recounting the amount of allies she had recruited before marching forwards towards the castle.

The moment that she entered the castle, Samantha was greeted by a large open room. There was a small couch against the right wall, alongside a mini-table in front and a desk to the right of it. All made out of ice. At the back of the room was a spiral staircase that led upstairs. To the left was the entrance to a much darker room. Samantha wasn't able to see what it was.

Samantha looked around the place, confused.

"Hello?!"

She called out, her voice echoing.

"Anyone home?!"

As she was partially expecting, there was no response, just deafening silence. There was something about the place that just gave Samantha an uneasy feeling, though it didn't hit as to why it was. She kept on looking around in the meantime.

Suddenly, an icicle shard came flying out from the darkness, hitting Samantha's splattershot and knocking it out of her hand. Now alerted of this mysterious presence, Samantha turned her attention to the dark room and saw ten more icicle shards flying her way. Thankfully, she went into her swim form and flipped over them. The shards instead were sent into the wall.

"STOP!"

Samantha shouted at whomever was standing in the dark room.

"I can explain why I'm here, just ceasefire!"

Things calmed down in the room. It looked as if Samantha's peaceful idea resonated with the individual in the shadows.

"Who are you?! What are you here for?!"

She said. Her voice sounded young yet aggressive, as if she were only a little bit younger than Platinum, and yet, there was something familiar about it.

"My name is Samantha Stewart! I'm from another universe... planet... dimension, oh, what the hell I not from around here!"

She answered, both hands wide in the air. She then paused to take a breath, calming herself to make her seem less hostile.

"I don't know who you are, but I need your help!"

There was a long silence that filled the room. Samantha was dreading the possibility of another surprise icicle, but when the mysterious girl spoke again, the idea dimmed.

"S-Samantha?!"

She called out, sounding shaken up.

"Yes, that's my name!"

Samantha replied. When the girl didn't respond, Samantha quickly thought back to how she sounded. The way she spoke didn't sound like she was a stranger, no, Samantha knew this girl, but how?

"Do you know me?"

"Y-Yes... I-I do..."

The girl replied. She sounded as if she were getting emotional.

"I-It's been... it's been so long!"

It became official to Samantha that whoever the girl was had history with her in this universe. An idea did pop into her head, but she threw it away instantly, thinking that it couldn't possibly be her.

"Who are you?"

She asked.

"Come out from those shadows. I want to see you."

After a couple more seconds of silence, two footsteps were heard. A silhouette became much clearer, though Samantha still couldn't make out the details. It was a feminine body, as expected, she had hair going down to just below her neck, and on the top of her head was a Bobble Hat.

"Samantha... i-it's me."

The girl muttered. By now, Samantha had gotten a good image of the girl's silhouette. Only one person in her life actively wore a Bobble Hat. That was when it hit her. She gasped, her eyes widened and began to water. To pure shock of it all caused her to drop her weapon. Her body began trembling as the girl slowly made her way out of the shadows.

"Y-Your little sister..."

Ami Stewart came to the light and stopped just a few feet away from Samantha. She looked very different to how she looked in Samantha's world. Here, her hair was as blue as the ice around her, and she wore a navy blue body suit. Her Sporty Bobble Hat had a blue color instead of the dark pink that Samantha knew. Her skin was as pale as ever, and her eyes were still blue, however, in this universe, she had white pupils. She was gifted.

"A-A-Ami!"

Samantha called out weakly before collapsing onto her knees, holding both hands over her mouth as she started to sob uncontrollably and loudly.

"S-Samantha?"

Ami whispered gently as she slowly walked to her sister, standing over her as she watched her cry.

"Wh-Why are you crying?"

Ami got onto her knees to get onto the level of her emotional sister. After a few more seconds, Samantha finally opened her eyes and looked up from the ground and at her sister.

"N-Nothing..."

She whispered, wiping the tears out of both of her eyes as she tried to calm herself down.

"I-I've just... I-I-I've missed you, so, so much!"

"I-I missed you too!"

Ami whispered back before wrapping her arms around her sister.

Samantha accepted the hug without hesitation, wrapping her arms around Ami tightly, maybe a little too tightly, not that Ami minded, she seemed fair touch starved herself with the way her eyes were watering from the hug. Samantha sobbed loudly for nearly half a minute before finally speaking.

"I-I have so many q-questions!"

The two sisters giggled for a moment.

"Yeah, me too!"

Ami responded. Although they did plan on getting to the talking stage, the two sisters insisted on keeping the hug up, not wanting to let go of each other just yet.

M E A N W H I L E  E L S E W O R L D S . . .

After leaving the wild west that was Earth 1888, the father-daughter began scouting the multiverse for allies, being the only pair/group of the team not to split up.

Together, they went through many different worlds gathering more and more allies. One world it was Rex doing the collecting, and the next world it would be Platinum. They both took it in turns doing the heavy work, and it was paying off very well.

Along the way, they encountered universes in which Rex was either dead or never even born. Hearing the many stories about how he was killed by Bolton, Terrador, Project ZM, Vincent Fisk, Kamala Sabeina, Led Levin, among many other villains in the multiverse put a big strain on Rex, thought he did his best to mask it.

Apart from that, everything seemed to be going fine, however, in one of the universes, as Rex and Platinum were escaping a building that was collapsing due to acid raining, some of the rubble had hit Rex's uni-jump watch, cracking both the screen and the watch itself.

"Argh! Dammit!"

Rex exclaimed as both he and Platinum took cover under a large chunk of held up rubble.

"Dad, are you okay?!"

Platinum asked with concern before noticing the damaged watch.

"This ain't good!"

Rex exclaimed as he tried to touch the screen, but it had a difficult time trying to process his touch.

"It ain't working for me right now!"

"Hold on!"

Platinum told him as she booted up her uni-jump watch, scrolled past the random and home button and pressed the emergency escape button. Once done, her nanotech suit activated. Once it was on, she scanned her watch onto Rex's, still managing to get a signal and connecting them. Within seconds, they were both pulled out of the world.

On the otherside of the portal was not another world, nor home. Both Rex and Platinum had arrived at the bridge between worlds. Both of their suits came off at an instant. The both looked to their left and their right, neither had an end in sight.

"We're so far out..."

Rex whispered.

Platinum just looked confused.

"Where even are we? I thought that the emergency escape button would send us home, not to... wherever this is."

"The bridge between worlds... allegedly."

Rex explained.

"The Beholder said that if something were to go wrong, that we were to come here. I told Fisk about it. I'm assuming he worked with The Beholder last night to add this place onto the radar."

"That... makes sense."

Platinum replied before looking around her a second time before slamming her hands on the side of her thighs.

"Where do we even go?"

"No clue."

Rex replied as he looked down the endless pathway ahead of him before looking to the right at the other direction.

"I don't want to risk us accidentally going the wrong way."

"Yeah, same..."

Platinum replied. All of a sudden, something clicked in her mind, causing her to snap her fingers.

"Wait! I that The Beholder told us about some train, right?"

Rex looked back at Platinum. It clicked in his mind as well.

"Yeah, think of the train."

"Alright, so on the count of three, you and I both start thinking about trains, okay?"

Rex sighed.

"Okay... here we go."

"One... two..."

Platinum said out loud.

"Three!"

The moment she finished counting, both Platinum and Rex began thinking about trains. It was the most random thing that they could've been doing considering the circumstances and the lack of time that they had, but they had to try.

Thankfully, this time things worked out really well for them as they suddenly started hearing the whistle of a train in the distance, followed by the chugging.

C H U G G A ,  C H U G G A ,  C H U G G A ! ! !

F W E E E E E E T ! ! !

The pair them opened their eyes and saw a navy blue train heading their way, rolling on generating track in the air.

"Dad, I think that's our train."

"Yup! I think so too!"

Rex replied. As the train got closer, eventually, the pair of them saw an opening in one of the open carrier cars. The pair of them went into their swim forms and super jumped at the train, landing inside the carriage. Rex landed easily, whereas Platinum fumbled and was about to fall off of the train, only for Rex to catch her.

"I got you!"

"Thanks!"

Platinum replied as she secured herself on the train.

And just like that, the pair of them were off. The train headed to the right of where they were standing beforehand. After a couple of minutes, both Platinum and Rex sat opposite each other, with Platinum eager to spark a conversation.

"You ever thought you'd be with your daughter at the back on an inter-dimensional train wagon?"

Rex wheezed and chuckled a little.

"Oh no, I must certainly did not, hell, I didn't think I'd be doing something like this... in general."

"Ha! Me too!"

Platinum said back, making her father smile before the conversation died down. After a few seconds, Platinum schoched her butt forward on the wooden floor so she'd be a bit closer to her father. She sat between the open doors and looked at him.

"Do you think..."

Platinum paused, not before gaining her father's interest.

"Do I think...?"

Platinum sighed and turned to her left, looking out of the carrier car and into the beautiful sea of galaxies mixed in with the bright green lights around them.

"It's nothing..."

Rex knew his daughter too well not to know that something was up. He even managed to put two and two together on what was making her feel this way.

"Do I think... that she's out there?"

He asked, assuming that was the question. Platinum jolted, looking back at Rex, not responding.

"Is that what you wanted to ask me?"

Platinum immediately felt bad, already regretting opening her mouth. She still chose not to respond. Rex saw that she was struggling to get the words out.

"I think so."

Rex answered.

"I mean, there are plenty of worlds in which I'm dead... a very concerning amount, but that's the multiverse I guess, so I'm sure there are worlds where she is alive."

Platinum continued frowning until she finally spoke.

"Do you think... there is a world where we're all happy together?"

Rex's face dropped a little. He struggled to find a way to answer.

"That... is a good question..."

He answered, sounding restrained.

"I'd like to think so, but I'm not too sure. Every world has it's own twist, so if that's the case, then the question should then turn into how long it'll last."

"Yeah, that sounds about right..."

She whispered to herself, g before looking back out the carrier car.

"I-I just... I-I just want to see her, y-you know? These could be my final few hours alive, an-and I guess I just..."

"I know... me too"

Rex told her.

"I've lived a long life, gained many people, and lost just as much. Knowing that we all could be alive and happy somewhere is just about all of the closure that I need."

"Yeah, that's a good point..."

Platinum said before turning her body around to face the open door. Rex saw from the right side of her face that she was now silently crying. She wiped a falling tear from her right cheek and sniffled.

Seeing his daughter like this hurt Rex greatly, but he decided to stay quiet for the time being and let her get it all out of her system. She understood her pain, he felt it everyday, he figured It was best for her to deal with it her own way.

As the journey continued, the sights outside only got more and more prettier. The green light around the area became more and more hidden by the pretty colors of blue, pink, and purple. In the distance, white glowing whale could be seen swimming through the air.

The pretty sight warmed up Platinum's heart and made her giggle. Rex, who was on the verge of getting some rest, was fully awakened by the sound of is daughter's laughter. He shifted himself up a little, making a little bit of noise, alerting his daughter that he was getting up.

Platinum heard him get up and gave him a gesture to her. She shuffled herself to the left so he could sit next to her on her right. Rex slowly moved towards his daughter, sitting down next to her. He saw the glowing white whale in the distance and started smirking at it.

The father-daughter duo engrossed themselves in the beauty of everything that was laid out in front of them. All of the colors, the galaxies, the stars, all of the different universes that were out there. It was the most beautiful sight that they had ever stumbled across, and yet it was likely a sight that they were never going to see ever again after this day.

Neither of them got their phones out to record it, nor even take a simple photo. The pair of them simply just existed in the moment, living every second as if it was the last. The warmth they felt in that moment was comforting, blissful, and beautiful.

Although the pair of them could've been living in their final few hours alive, at least they would both be dying after seeing a sight that every other being in the multiverse would simply dream of seeing.

"You know, if there is anything to go off of."

Rex muttered. Platinum looked at him as he started speaking. Rex paused for a moment to look at his daughter before finishing the sentence with a wide smile on his face.

"Your mother would've loved this sight..."

That was all Platinum needed to hear. Tears came out of her eyes naturally, thought she didn't wipe them away nor fight them back, she let them flow down her face. She moved herself so that she was closer to Rex before resting her head on his left shoulder. The pair of them continued to stare at the beautiful multiverse as the train ride went on.

B A C K  O N  E A R T H  1 1 0 9

Bolton, Drift, and Damian were waiting at the same room they met in early. They had received word from Melissa that the intruder had been successfully caught.

Melissa entered the room, Magnus in hand and in the bag. Bolton tilted his head at the sight of the Splat Force gear, not recognising it. Melissa stopped and put Magnus onto his knees.

"Unmask him."

Bolton requested.

Doing as he wanted, Melissa took off the bag on Magnus' head, revealing him to the other three. Damian didn't seem fazed, but for Bolton and Drift, it was an entirely different story, especially Drift.

"M-M-Ma-Magnus?!"

He stuttered, freezing in place.

"D-Drift..."

Magnus muttered back.

Bolton looked puzzled.

"I don't understand... you died..."

"Wh-What?!"

Magnus asked, shuffling his body up right whilst staring into Bolton's eyes.

"What do you mean I- ARGH!"

All of a sudden, Magnus was hit by a very sudden migraine followed by visions playing in his mind, those visions of course being the memories of this universe's Magnus Lang. He was at a protest for the gifted until an explosion went off. Weak, he tried getting back up, only to be gunned down by one an enforcers.

After the memory ended, Magnus began panting and groaning, breathing heavily as he tried to make sense of what he saw.

"I-I was... I was shot."

"Y-Y-Yeah..."

Drift stuttered.

"D-Do you not ."

Magnus shook his head before looking back up at Drift and Bolton, eyes filled with mercy.

"Th-This is gonna sound really weird, b-but I'm not your Drift!"

Bolton tilted his head.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm from another universe! My history is different to yours!"

Magnus told him before glancing over at Melissa, who stood to the right of him.

"You can confirm, can't ya?! Read my mind!"

Feeling uneasy, but wanting answers, Melissa took a step forward, but before she could read his mind...

"Wait."

Bolton called out before taking a step closer to Magnus.

"I want to see it as well."

Melissa timidly nodded. Bolton got onto one knee, getting on Magnus' level. Melissa held both of her hands out, one going on Magnus' head and the other going on Bolton's head. She then closed her eyes and began to focus real hard. It only took a couple of seconds for her to receive the shock of her life.

Memories of Magnus' life started playing in both her and Bolton's heads. Of course, there were memories that lined up with this universe, but after that, it was a whole new territory for them. Included in his memories was Bolton taking over Inkopolis and enacting his great salvation over the world, the killing of Damian Batson, him getting tortured by Bolton and getting the scar on his cheek, the end of Bolton's reign, the entire conflict with Vincent Fisk, Cyrus Zagan, and Project ZM, and finally, Magnus and the Splat Force beginning their journey through the multiverse.

"Ugh!"

Bolton and Melissa grunted in unison as they exited Magnus' mind.

Magnus, who also had to relive all of those memories as well, looked up at them.

"Believe me now?"

Bolton stood back up slowly and looked down at Magnus. He grabbed his blade from its scabbard and pointed it towards the scar on Magnus' right cheek.

"I did this to you?"

He asked, to which Magnus nodded. Bolton pulled his blade away.

"I know this is gonna sound really strange, but these shadows creatures you've been fightin', they all come from a bein' named Malefor. He is comin' after every world in the multiverse, and he will not stop until all that exists is destroyed."

He informed them.

"Me and the others are scattered throughout the multiverse lookin' for allies, and I know we've not had the best history in my world, but you're not Bolton. I overheard what you said early about tryin' your best, and if you really mean, you'll help me! Otherwise your world will be destroyed too and you'll never get that chance!"

All of this was a lot to take in for Bolton, as well as Drift, Melissa, and Damian, the three of whom were all puzzled.

"How can we help then?"

Bolton asked.

Slowly getting up from the floor, Magnus started preparing his Portal Projectile.

"Hold still."

He said before firing at Melissa, Damian, and then Drift.

The three of them were taken aback by the sudden gadget being attached to them, with Damian getting a little chuckle.

"Never thought I'd be successfully shot a-"

He quipped before the portal took him and the other two away.

Now, all who remained were Magnus and Bolton, the latter of whom seemed alerted.

"What did you do?!"

"I sent them to a safe area. They will remain there until the battle comes."

He said before rearranging his Portal Projectile, changing the settings of it to Home Instead of Safe Place.

"Ugh, everyone's gonna hate me for this..."

"Hate you for what?"

"We were all tasked with bringing at least one person with us when we return. If this were any other situation, I would never do this, but you're one of the strongest bein's that we know. If anyone is gonna put up a good fight, it's you."

He said before firing the Portal Projectile at him. Unlike the other times it was fired, this time instead of a portal going around, a nanotech suit similar to that the Splat Force were using went around Bolton's body.

Once the suit was fully activated, Magnus activated his suit. When both were fully suited up, Magnus selected the home button on his uni-jump watch. Once done, he quickly grabbed Bolton's left wrist, connecting him to the destination as well by overing his watch over Bolton's. Once done, they only had a couple of seconds until a singular portal took both of them.

T O  B E  C O N T I N U E D . . .

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

T H X  F O R  R E A D I N G ! ! !

Thx for reading the twelfth Chapter of Splat Force V: Final Frontier! Eight Chapters left. Bet you didn't see some of those appearances coming, huh? We're just at the tip of the iceberg, and next week things will get even heavier, so stay tuned for that! Until next time, stay safe out there! ^^

■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■

#CuratorReview