Council of Creators Episode 50

Shadow Paradigm is the 50th episode of Council of Creators, as well as the Season 2 Finale and the final episode of the first act of the Aetherium Arc. It was written by KoopaGalaxain.

In Universe 6991, something was very wrong. At least, that's what Longy thought. He had woken up that morning with a raging headache, and no matter what he could do, he just couldn't force it away. "Agh! This seriously hurts... why won't it go away? I've done everything I can!" He uttered with a groan.

"Are you sure this is just a headache?" Jolly inquired. "You don't suppose this could be another one of your 'premonitions' happening again?"

"He's right, ya know." Teeny mused. "Tell us, ya great galah, do you see anything in your mind that could be causing this?"

Longy paused for an agonising moment that felt much longer than it really was. "On second thoughts... yes... something is definitely there... a void... a strange light... a...rift? I can't make out what it-"

"EVERYONE, WATCH OUT!" Hedron's voice boomed, as he charged forward and threw the other Bootnokks to the ground, an impressive feat given the massive difference in height between Hedron and Longy.

At once, a huge sword appeared from over the horizon. It appeared to be the size of an entire continent! Flying at incredible speeds, the gigantic weapon soared straight over the fallen bodies of the four bootnokks, missing them by mere metres. As it continued on its way, it cleaved straight through a mountain range in the distance, before rising up and rocketing into the sky, disappearing through a mysterious portal just as quickly as it had appeared. Longy and the other surviving members of the Bootnokk Batallion charged towards what had once been the mountains, only to find a lake of boiling lava when they arrived.

Teeny looked over the edge of the burning caldera, and could only bring himself to utter a few short words...

"...Sweet Mother of God..."

---   COUNCIL OF CREATORS Season 2 Finale: Shadow Paradigm --- LOCATION: The Bar, Ustin, Universe 1 TIME: 01:00 AM

Hokuto Black King was pacing the floor of Koopa's secret laboratory, looking around at all the inventions Koopa had produced during the time he had been at the bar. Scratching his chin fervently, the reptilian bartender was clearly looking for something. He was gripping a notebook with ragged and well-worn pages, and alternated his search with leafing through the acres of notes inside it. "The Portable Universe Devices... come on, where are they?" he thought to himself. "If I can just find all of them intact, I can modify them according to these notes... that might be the only way I can get their friend back."

It was then that he accidentally bumped into a stack of dusty boxes, sending one of them crashing down to the ground and spilling their contents all over the floor. "Thank the Multiverse for this room's soundproofing." Hokuto Black King thought to himself, as he went to investigate the box's contents. As he knelt down to get a closer look, a grin crossed his face.

"Excellent."

SEVEN HOURS LATER

The bar was abuzz with activity as the Creators went about their tasks for the morning. BRK was busy polishing the bar counter with Hokuto Black King, Scoobs and Koopa were both dusting (on opposite corners of the room), while Indominus, MKG and Wolf were all reorganising a collection of books into a new bookcase.

After a few minutes, Hokuto Black King paused. Raising his voice, he caught the attention of everyone else in the room.

"My friends... I have something I must show you, and it is of the utmost importance. It's about your missing friend. Come with me." He uttered, as he left his post at the bar and began walking towards the basement. Confused, the Creators followed him.

"Behold, the results of my efforts." Hokuto Black King uttered upon opening the door to the basement, revealing the conjoined Portable Universe Devices. Each of them were linked up to some sort of central console with glowing lights on it. The completed machine made a series of loud bleeps and error sounds.

"Wh...what have you done?!" Koopa uttered, looking upon the warped devices that used to be some of his creations. "How did you even know how to modify the devices to create that? I could have sworn that such a creation was only theoretical..."

"There's no time for explanations as to how I created this." Hokuto Black King replied abruptly. "What I have been meaning to tell you, is that all this time... a higher authority has had me become the friend that I am to you... I am... I was a double agent. On his orders, your friend was captured by me and held by him... his name is Aetherium, and I fear we do not have much time before he finds out that I have chosen to side with you."

Hokuto Black King then pulled on a cord attached to an easel, resulting in a rolled-up illustration unfurling itself, revealing the image of a giant sword-like being, a huge point of light erupting from the centre of its hilt. "That's... That's the Sword Thing I fought a few weeks ago!" BRK uttered, gazing at the illustration closely to make sure that his exclamation was correct.

Koopa, taken aback by what Hokuto Black King had just said, had barely any time to comprehend the gravity of the situation. For weeks, someone the Creators thought of as their closest friend had secretly been working against them, only to have defected? That was all that he could make sense of from the mess he was presented with.

"If... if you were working against us for all that time, what made you change? How can we trust you?" BRK asked nervously.

"It all happened while you were gone, BRK." Hokuto Black King replied. "I am sure that you are familiar with what happened to the Earth, that pandemic which nearly destroyed humanity... Fighting alongside your comrades on a mission to protect them, I had an epiphany. I could make my own decisions, and not just be some subordinate. I had come to befriend all of you, and in that moment I had realised the value of being an ally. Now that Aetherium probably knows about my plan, this may be the last time any of us fight together, as the whole planet may not survive what we are about to face."

He then took a bow, and got down on one knee with his head lowered.

"My friends... It would be an honour to fight alongside you, one final time."

Humbled by this, the Creators all started applauding Hokuto Black King for his honest and moving speech.

"Now, I shall demonstrate this new creation in action!" Hokuto Black King yelled. Everyone held their breath as each of the Portable Universe Devices activated in sequence, firing beams of energy into a growing portal that hovered just above the ground. "Be ready!" Hokuto Black King insisted, as the process concluded.

From the portal stepped four mysterious figures, shrouded in shadow thanks to the dim lighting of the room. The first to become visible was what appeared to be a human female, with a silver-coloured bird resting on her shoulder with pink hook-like legs.

"Is that...Cdr?!" Indominus began, his voice picking up in excitement. "Oh my god, it's like a fanfiction come true! I have so much to tell you, and you'll be in every one of my-"

"Euthanize it, now." Hokuto Black King uttered with a stern tone, and BRK immediately followed, firing a shot from a blaster he had taken off the wall. As soon as the beam of energy struck the Female Cdr and its avian companion, it turned the two into ash, who blew away on a draft coming in through an open window.

The remaining two figures became visible at the same time, the two of them looking quite similar to each other. They were revealed to be Demon Koopa and Doctor Meme, the latter of the two carrying a miniaturised and inanimate BIOS-SX to power some sort of device on his right arm.

"How... fascinating." Doctor Meme uttered. "It feels like timelines and universes are being interconnected, if just for a moment! I must find out more about this."

"Hey, I'm just hoping the inhabitants of this place buy cars. You have no idea how frustrating it is trying to run a totally legitimate business in a part of the planet where so few people live." Demon Koopa replied, the both of them completely ignoring the dumbfounded Creators who were watching them with wide eyes. The two Greenman lookalikes scaled the stairs to leave the basement, before promptly fading out of existence before they could reach the door, unintentionally returning to their own universes just as quickly as they had appeared in that of the Creators.

At long last, the Creators stood before the final being to have stepped forth from the portal, which closed behind it. A huge wave of relief washed over everyone in the room when Scoobs became visible in the gloom, weakened but alive, and stood unsteadily on his feet. BRK and Wolf rushed forward to stop him from falling down. Scoobs glared at Hokuto Black King with a gaze that felt like a knife cutting straight through his armoured skin.

Cdr breathed a sigh of relief as he rushed over. "Ah, you made it out of there alive... We were fearing you wouldn't make it after being in there so long!"

"Whatever." Scoobs replied flatly, before suddenly pointing towards Hokuto Black King. "You."' He then suddenly stood upright, and walked with a new strength straight towards the modified Planet Nackle dinosaur. "What do you have to say that could stop me from killing you right here on the spot?"

Hokuto Black King took several steps backwards, only to be followed by Scoobs, who looked him straight in the eye. A bead of sweat ran down the bartender's brow.

"You will need my assistance for what is about to happen." Hokuto Black King replied, remaining stern in his tone despite his obvious unease. "For, if my reasoning is correct... this planet is about to go through hell."

All of a sudden, the very atmosphere itself seemed to be shaking, and a loud hum filled the air, forcing everyone to cover their ears.

"Follow me." Hokuto Black King uttered. "He has arrived, and my existence as a creation of my master allows me to find exactly where he shall appear." And with that, Hokuto Black King and the others ascended the stairs out of the basement, and left the bar with great haste.

Outside, the city had fallen to chaos, and a riot was raging. Hundreds of thousands of people were swarming the neighbouring streets, stealing anything they could get their hands on and then setting ablaze the empty buildings once their contents had been completely taken away. The street the bar was on had only been spared because a tall office building had collapsed at its end, cutting the road off from the rest of the chaos. The people involved in the riot were fighting with unnatural strength, viciously beating anyone who got in their way with whatever weapons they could get their hands on, and the groans of the injured could barely be heard above the baying of the enraged mob.

After walking for what felt like hours, the Creators had made it to the coast, far away from the madness that had overtaken Ustin. Making their way to the top of a towering cliff that overlooked the orange sea, the group had finally reached the place Hokuto Black King had told them Aetherium would arrive at. A deep rumbling noise could be heard in the distance, growing ever louder with each passing second.

A radio BRK had found along the way began transmitting a message from the Ustin City Council. Everyone gathered around it to listen to the broadcast.

"Good afternoon. This is Bartholomew Agincourt, a major in the Ustin Army. Following the devastating riots in the city today, the government and my superiors have agreed on implementing martial law for the following two weeks. While the situation is largely under control, many lives have been lost, and I can't risk a repeat of these events happening again. It is therefore for everyone's safety that those contained within a 20 mile radius stretching from Central Ustin are subject to a 10 hour curfew, stretching from 10 in the evening to 8 in the morning. Anyone caught breaking this curfew will be punished accordingly. Please stay tuned, as more information will be revealed over the coming hours. Thank you."

"Well, at least we're out of there. No need for stealth like when Organon attacked, right?" Koopa asked.

"Right." Wolf replied. "But we can't let that lower our guard; the military will surely arrive here soon if Hokuto Black King's predictions are correct, and we will most likely have to protect them."

From a nearby bush, two glowing orange eyes gazed the small group of heroes closely, twitching with what seemed like fatigue every now and then. It turned out that Universe 1's own version of Baron Helium had been residing in this place, by some sheer coincidence. He began murmuring to himself quietly.

"Th-these people are...they are just fine. I won't need to hand out some of my retribution to these ones... they aren't my prey. But, if what they are talking about is true, then... then I must move on." And with that, the Helium Robot quickly activated the thrusters in his feet and drifted off, the Creators and Hokuto Black King too occupied by their discussion to even notice Baron Helium slowly floating upwards and away into the atmosphere, his head flattened out like a microlight's wing.

Council Of Creators

 * Cdr
 * Nerd
 * Koopa
 * Wolfzilla
 * Scoobs
 * MKG
 * BRK
 * Indominus
 * Hokuto Black King

Kaiju

 * Aetherium
 * Hokuto Black King
 * G-Rex (Mentioned)
 * Longy, the Long Godzilla
 * Teeny, the Tiny Godzilla
 * Jolly the Christmas Pudding
 * Hedron
 * Platinum Dove (Cameo)
 * Koopa, the Baddest Demon of Them All
 * Doctor Meme
 * BIOS-SX (Cameo)
 * Baron Helium (Cameo)

Other Characters

 * Bartholomew Agincourt
 * Kathleen Hudson