The Flying City

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Flamel and Ford listened to the Wizard's description of the Final Nightmare. Like usual, they didn't blink as the room disappeared, replaced by the Void itself.

"It's Revelations... Ragnarok... the nuclear warhead... the Fall," Ford was listing off situations out loud. "Apocalypse and the End of all things. The Eternal Darkness. A fulfilled prophecy from the Dark Prognosticus." He looked up. "You are saying all of those ends are caused by one single traveling event?"

"And here is where our beliefs diverge, Wizard," Flamel said. "You call it the Final Nightmare, but I believe all things work in a circle. Ouroboros and lemniscate. This 'Final' Nightmare can't have caused an infinite end. Eventually the worlds the Final Nightmare destroyed will be reborn. It is not an end of all things. Just a continuing cycle of 'ends'."

To Gantz, Flamel's beliefs would probably be disturbingly similar to those of the woman once known as Infi-FF...

[Felix Falora]

"I can understand such an event would lead to trauma. A gathering of darkness that would feed on emotion and destroy worlds invoked with it... and yet I am afraid that you are still wrong, Wizard," Masahiro said. "The ultimate fate of all life is to die. Death is but a phase of physical life, to prepare for spiritual life. It is possible that those who fell to the Final Nightmare are in their respective afterlives. But it is how humans spend physical life that matters. There is no stopping the Final Nightmare because what it is is death. And when one's time has come, he cannot stop death. In the end, Wizard, you're wrong. You claim to be emotionless, but I can't help but feel that there's a lot of emotions running in that shell of a body."

[nintendonut1]

"G....geez..." For a moment... for ONE MOMENT... Eddy almost sympathesized and understood why. Geez, why couldn't he have told them about this Final Nightmare SOONER!?

He glanced to his left, where Ed was petrified as if zapped by his own ZPE. Clearly he felt the same way...

But to his right... Double D's gaze looked spaced out... and finally, he shook his head. Despite the gravity around them, Eddy still rolled his eyes. Of COURSE. Why couldn't Sockhead be emotional about it like he normally would be?

Silently, his steps borderline etheral, Double D stepped forward... and placed a hand on the Wizard's arm.

"...I understand how you feel," he spoke softly, as if speaking to a child. "I understand one hundred percent. It... hurts to see life end. It's terribly frightening to witness the end of anything, whether it be life itself, or a world, or a perception you've held onto for generations. And to discover a physical manisfestation of that fear... I may have not reacted too differently than you did."

Without fear, he brought his gaze up to the Wizard. "This fear of the Final Nightmare engulfing more worlds... you still have that fear, or else you would've abandoned this utopia idea long ago. Because that fear still makes you human, if only a fraction. This fear of yours won't protect these people, as you've said it only attracts this entity. You're prolonging their end, but never will you be able prevent it."

Then... a small smile. "But they are all correct; the end of one thing only marks the beginning of another. The cycle of life, whether it be the life of people, worlds, or entire planes of existance, may seem unfair at times, but believe me... it's a good one. It has worked for countless millenia, and even after your utopia falls, it will continue to do so, long after we're all gone."

[gantzgun74]

................

Yep... Rosaline's assumption was right on the money. Double D spoke out at that point, leading to the others to nodding in agreement. Gantz was somewhat put off by how similar Infi's beliefs were similar to Flamel's but he put it off quickly.

"I... I see." Even Otto understood, even if for a brief instant, the Wizard's plight. "This Final Nightmare... It would be traumatizing, that much I can agree on." The boy shrugged. "But Double D is right. As is Flamel. Regardless of whether or not this Final Nightmare is in fact a natural type of doomsday or not. It's a doomsday none the less. It can't be prevented." He sighed lightly. "Wizard... All you've done with this city and it's people is delaying the inevitable... And delaying it in the most twisted and contorted of ways."

Misty shook her head. "Otto's right. All your doing is preventing them from learning the truth. Change is inevitable, as is Death. We all have to face it someday." She lowered her head at that. "I like to believe though that... Even if that is the case, Death isn't the end." Otto looked at Misty moderately surprised. Given how brutish she tended to be, he never once thought that she could be philosophical too



Gantz stood up out of his seat. What Misty said was absolutely correct in his eyes given he was Christian himself. "Your reasons are sound, you just want to prevent the deaths of thousands of people." He looked to the Wizard, his face considerably lightened. "I above all people can get that; I've lost a few friends in my lifetime that I would've given anything to bring back, to prevent their deaths, but I know that, tragic as they were, it was just a natural part of life. Death comes to all living creatures eventually."

Rosaline stood up and patted the boy's shoulders seeing him shake lightly. "You okay Gantz?"

"Yeah... Yeah I am. Your concern is appreciated though Rose." The gria smiled lightly at this. "Anyways, as I was saying, Wizard, I like to believe that when the day should come that I die, I'll see the friends that I lost in the same place; in a paradise that far outlevels this city... By a landslide."

"Life is precious." Came Wally with a nod. "It may be short mate, but that just gives us all the more reason to treasure it as it is, experiencing all of the emotions, all of the feelings, and all of the experiences that we can. A quote that I remember from a game I played once goes that 'it's Because our lives are so short, that we can love so earnestly and completely.'" He smiled fondly after finishing this, his thoughts likely wandering back to Rachel back in Arcadia Valley.

"In a nutshell, I suppose what we're saying is, if this Final Nightmare should come to us... Bring it on. If we can prevent, we'll prevent it, if we can't... Well that's okay with me. A few of us have had a good full-filling life thus far." Otto shrugged. "And for those of us who haven't... Well Final Nightmare isn't here yet."

[42zombies]

The Wizard was silent for a moment. Perhaps too silent.

"I appreciate your sympathy." He said, as impossible to read as ever. "Your points are valid. However, I've gone too far to stop now."

With a wave of his hand, the void was gone; they were back in the colorless room that the Wizard had summoned them to in the beginning. But two familiar forms had joined them; Shapeless, dressed in his best suit, and young Trump, looking up at the guests admiringly.

"I am about to teleport you out of my city." The Wizard warned. "Do not attempt to re-enter without my permission, or you will be met with deadly force. That includes you, Eddward."

[Felix Falora]

Felix refused to speak. His mind was blown. In the end, it was the same Edd he had fallen in love with, only more traumatized to a point that he had done this... but then he was reminded that the Edd he did fall in love with was still with him, with angelic wings, fighting with him. In the end, what was wrong and what was right... he didn't even know anymore.

"I've a few questions to ask before you teleport us out," Masahiro said. "For starters... What will you do if the Final Nightmare finds you? How will you fight back and what if you are consumed? Secondly, why do you think continuing this with your newfound knowledge will benefit you? And finally... do you think, even with our new knowledge, anyone here will just let you continue your invasions? We're still bound by a greater requisite to stop you if you try to invade the Prime World."

[42zombies]

The Wizard did not answer right away. After a moment of reflection, he gave his answer to Felix.

"I have the same answer for all three of your questions: everything will turn out as I've planned it. Nothing has been unforseen." He said, a cyrptic air around his words. "I have nothing to fear from the Final Nightmare; it won't be able to feed on me. It is not an omnipotent event, anyway; I doubt it is even sentient. It does not actively hunt down its victims."

Nobody had noticed that Dream had simply vanished.

"Now, I once again ask that you peacefully agree not to re-enter my city." The Wizard requested. "My plans woul only trouble you if you did so."

[nintendonut1]

"......very well."

"OH COME O--!" Ed frowned in disapproval, finally zapping Eddy frozen to FORCE his mouth shut.

Nodding to his friend, Double D unflinchingly continued. "You can keep your city, Wizard. If these people are happy because they look up to you, then we have no right to take that away from them. No matter how maddening it is.

"Of course, the same goes the opposite way." His tone grew considerably deeper in warning. "Just know that if your 'perfection' begins to spread into our world... we will all fight firmly to stop it."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Flamel and Ford looked toward each other, and Flamel nodded. Ford looked toward the Wizard and once again pulled his hat down over his eyes.

"Wizard. Let this be said now," Ford said. "I predict an event that will shatter your will shall happen soon. When this tower comes crumbling down, so will your utopia. Fate is not as concrete as you believe, and the only one who can even tell what the true 'fate' is would never follow you. He's more concerned with his games with dolls."

"Ooh, scary," Ms. Dopple said, and got up off the sword she was leaning on. "Since everyone seems to want to give you their opinions on things, I might as well chip in. This city represents everything boring to me. A doppelganger has no purpose in a perfect world. And the most depressing thing in the world is discovering you have no purpose." She pulled the sword out of the ground and let it absorb back into her body.

"I came here to see what this business was all about," Ms. Dopple said as she walked back to the others. "And now that I know, I've made my decision."

And with that, she waited for the Wizard to teleport them from the city.

[42zombies]

The Wizard simply chuckled. "Don't pretend you know me, Mr. Ford," he responded, "You'll be sadly disappointed in the end."

There was an impossible feeling of cold around them, and then the room began to swirl like a whirlpool; even the Wizard and his companions were swept into the current. Only his guests stayed solid, unmoving in the psychic current.

"Fate is determined by Choice, Mr. Ford, and we are nearing a crossroads; so, Eddward, which path will you take?"

And, with a ghostly echo, the group found themselves standing on the edge of the desert.

[nintendonut1]

"........"

"...well, NOW what?" Eddy grumbled. "We're not gonna stand around and wait for something to happen, are we!?"

"But Eddy! He'll destroy us if we go back!"

"But I'm sick and tired of standing still and letting him do whatever the hell he wants!! This has GOT. TO. END!!!"

Double D remained quiet, gaze ever fixed on the city.

[gantzgun74]

"We all agree Eddy."

Gantz looked to the boy with a small look. "But, exactly... How do you suggest flying up to the city? The Wizard practically teleported us down here. He's likely watching us as we speak, so we can't very well sneak back in."

Otto looked away, seeming quite angered. "We have to do something... This madman is only going to hurt more innocent people." He turned back, giving Gantz a hard look. "And you act like you don't care for that at all."

Gantz's eyes widened at this, before he turned to the man, a deep frown forming on the man's face. "...... Oh yeah, that's because I DON'T care..." Sarcasm was heavily apparent in his tone. "Maybe that's because I DON'T have family in the Real World who's probably going to get hurt... OR WORSE. Maybe that's because I DON'T have two little sisters, a big brother, a mom, and a step-dad there who CONSTANTLY worry about my safety. Maybe that's because I... DON'T... CARE... What happens to the home town I was born and RAISED IN..."

Otto flinched at this.

"I do care, Otto and DON'T YOU DARE suggest otherwise."

The boy's shoulders sagged. "Sorry.... I didn't know."

Gantz appeared to calm down. "I know... I'm still getting used to that... The Otto I knew knew about my family."

Looking up to the city, Misty was feeling more and more enraged by the second. "I agree with Eddy though. I hate sitting here, feeling so powerless! The Wizard's going to do what we saw to millions of other people, if we don't stop him!"

"We will stop him Misty." Gantz insured, appearing to be thinking as hard as he could. "Everything he said made sense, I won't deny that... But we're not going to let him get away with stealing the free will of every living person he comes across."

"There's just one problem mate... We're down here? He's up there? Any of that ringin' a bell?" Wally reminded, looking a little anxious.

Rosaline looked to Gantz with a raised eyebrow, "Can't you summon up a summon spell that could fly us up there Gantz?"

"No.." Gantz shook his head at the plan. "He'd be expecting that." The boy looked to Double D. "What about you, Double D? Any thoughts?"

[nintendonut1]

Double D didn't respond. This was... quite the quandry, wasn't it...?

The angel's silent treatment was only adding flames to Eddy's anger. Embers were almost steaming around his feet when he all of the sudden rushed up and grabbed Double D up by the shirt.

"What is WRONG with you!?!" he shouted, shaking him. "Why aren't you angry!? Why aren't you upset!?!? GEEZ, can't you show us a LITTLE proof that you aren't turning into the Wizard already!?!!?"

The proof he was looking for came in a low growl, and Double D's flashed up a glare from glowing eyes.

[glow=yellow,2,300]"Don't you... DARE insinuate.. that I'm...!"[/glow]

A small blast of light energy didn't hurt Eddy, but was enough to knock him to the ground. Ed yelped hurrying to pick his friend up, while Edd's glare softened, losing its glow.

"Oh... oh, dear, Eddy, I'm so sorry...!"

"Pfffffft~!" However, Eddy was only laughing, waving it off. "THAT'S more like it! Quit freaking me out like that!"

Double D sighed sheepishly, almost cracking a smile at his friend's antics. "...forgive me, I... I thought facing him in a calm and collected manner would help me reach the Wizard better, but..." He looked up towards the city and shook his head. "...his stubbornness rivals yours, Eddy."

"So what're we gonna do, Double D?" Ed asked softly.

"That's the question of the day, isn't it?" Eddward scratched under his hat in thought. "I agree for once that we shouldn't wait for something to happen, but rushing in headfirst will get us nowhere either..."

"Sssssso...?"

"....we need a plan of entry...one that is..." A smirk slowly crawled onto his face. "...brash and unexpected."

"HUH???"

"The Wizard claims to foresee and therefore expect all. I'm sure he's either expecting us to do one of the two options mentioned earlier. So what other options do we have?"

"...uhhh..."

"Long distance POKE!!"

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Flamel and Ford were standing slightly away from the main group, watching the others as they argued. To Flamel, Gantz seemed unbalanced. Double D was having to deal with the fact that that thing that they had met up there, that emotionless, unchanging man, was him, and his friends were obviously having issues with it.

"Attacking someone who knows all and expects all... hmph. It's like trying to fight Laplace's Demon," Flamel said.

Ford gave a smirk as Double D spoke. "We need to attack him without actually entering the town, is what you're saying. Some summoning spells and astral projection techniques can penetrate the barrier. I managed to make it in via a teleportation spell, but I'm sure he expected that."

"We also need to consider how he's predicting things, then," Ms. Dopple spoke up. She actually looked bored and unconcerned with everything. At Ford's glare, she smirked. "Oh, don't look at me like that. Despite my interactions with you all in the past, I'm actually on your side. Free will's the only thing worth living for, and I like my free will. Without it, I lose everything worth living for."

Ford glared at Ms. Dopple some more before pulling some paper splattered with ink out from under his cloak. He dropped it on the ground and began concentrating. A magical circle formed around his feet.

"O evil tree... I call upon thy pact and present this offering of blood and paper in exchange for thy servant...
Bring forth thy servant, born from the unholy union of alchemy and ink, and allow him to wreak havoc upon those who I call my enemies...
I summon forth thee... Black Cat!"

A large black mass shot up from the magical circle and formed together in front of Ford. Ford turned toward Double D.

"This is my personal summon, the Black Cat," Ford said. "He's a mindless being made from ink, and if there's any creatures from paper-based worlds inside the Wizard's utopia, he can kill them, never mind the Wizard's claims. If there's any way he could help at all, please tell me."

[42zombies]

The Wizard's defense is almost perfect. Your daemon would not be able to enter.

The familiar voice was a shock. Morpheus stood in a place where he should not have been, dressed in a high-collared cape and suit. He looked down on all of the people in the world, almost uninterested.

Few people can simply come and go in that world. It blocks out anything foreign. You would have to wait for the Wizard to lower his defenses before you could launch your attack.

Once the Wizard enters what he calls the Prime World, New Babylon you will be able to enter New Babylon easily. Until then, it is important you attempt to fight the Wizard's forces whereever you find them.