Astral Kings #6

Months have passed and Dante hasn't returned from space. In a depressed state, Gwen hasn't left her room even when souls resurfaced and destroyed cities. Worried, the computer tried its best to track Dante, to cheer Gwen up. Sadly, it couldn't find Dante's gauntlet signature nor the badge it gave him. Luckily, the computer was sure that Dante was alive, and didn't give up on its search. Suddenly, in his Panthera form, Dante ran out of a portal that appeared inside Gwen's room. Tired, Dante reverted back, revealing he was severely injured."Dante!" Gwen said as she rushed to his side as he fell to the ground. "Computer, Dante needs medical attention!" She yells. "Stay with me Dante. Come on, Dante. Stay awake!""Gwen, get Dante to the medic room. I already prepped a healing pod. It should be ready to go.""Right. Torpelet Cidem moor (Teleport Medic Room)" Gwen said. Instantly, Gwen and Dante appeared in the medic room, where there were five large tubes on the wall. One of the tubes was filling up with a mysterious liquid."Gwen, hurry and put Dante in the tube. We need to hurry." The computer said."How?""Take off all of his clothes and lay him on this platform." The computer said as a platform rose from the floor."Alright," Gwen said while blushing beet red. She carefully unzipped his jacket and seen a large gash and a lot of blood. "How is this possible? Our clothes are supposed to protect us from things like knives and blades. Why is there a large gash? What could have done this?" Gwen thought. Placing him on the platform, Gwen stepped back as Dante was lowered into the floor compartment and closed in. "Dante, please be okay?""Don't worry, Gwen. These healing pods are capable of healing missing limbs and curing the deadliest diseases known to Maiju kind.""Alright, but I'm not leaving." Gwen said."Okay, he should be fully healed in ten hours.""Thank you," Gwen said as she sat on the floor beside him. "Dante, you owe me a big explanation." Five hours later, an alarm sounds throughout the temple."Computer, what's wrong?" Gwen asked."There's someone downtown causing destruction in the city above. By the looks of it, it's a clone of Dante.""Clone? Or another dimension's Dante?" Gwen said as she ran out the medic room. "Qui pe Hto lc, rew op," Gwen chanted, which changed her clothes into the outfit her future counterpart gave her. "Computer, send me my motorcycle.""Already on the way. Jump!"Gwen jumps and her motorcycle drives up from behind her. Landing on the motorcycle, Gwen gripped the side of the bike, where its handlebars were. Revving the bike, Gwen smiled as a helmet formed around her head. "God, I love Maiju tech." Gwen said before racing down the hallway. The hallway suddenly became a downward inclined, revealing a secret doorway. Racing into the doorway, Gwen found herself in a dark tunnel that led to the subway system beneath the city. Soon, she seen a found a station that held the scared citizens. Getting off the bike, Gwen stepped over to a citizen. "Hey! excuse me, can you please tell me what's going on?" she asked. Unfortunately, he didn't say anything because of their fear. Gwen sighed and removed her helmet. "See, I'm harmless.""Okay. But truthfully, I don't know what happened? All I know is that buildings started falling and killed many people. I was lucky to make it down here." The citizen said."Alright, thanks for the info." Gwen said as she walked away."Hey! Wait! You shouldn't go up there. Who knows what kind of stuff is happening up there." The citizen yelled out to Gwen."Don't worry, I'm stronger than I look." Gwen said as she radiated magical energy. She then flew up the stairs and out of the subway station.Once in the air, she sees the devastation caused by the other Dante. Shocked by what he could do, Gwen began to realize what her future counterpart meant when she said even through the hard times."Dante, where are you?" she thought."Right behind you if you look." Dante's copy said he appeared behind her. Before she had a chance to react, Dante's copy disappeared."So, you're the reason why my counterpart is so weak. Guess being around the one person we all truly love will do that." He said as he reappeared five feet away from her."What do you mean by that?" Gwen asked."Well, you might not know, but this isn't the only universe. And in every one of them, there's a version of me, you and everyone else you might know. Some are good while some are evil. And then, there's me.""What makes you so special?""Well, besides being a multidimensional conqueror, I ruled my earth with an iron fist. I toppled governments, destroyed armies, and killed those who opposed my rule. Including you.""What?" Gwen said, shocked."That's right. And I took my time enjoying every last second of it. Each cut and broken bone I caused sent me over the edge with pleasure. And don't even get me started on your screams... shouting for Eric. I made sure to play that for him before killing him.""So, in your dimension, I fell in love with Eric while you had the crush on me. Huh, I don't know if that's irony or a cruel joke." She said."Definitely, a cruel joke because my version of you was a cruel bitch that ignored me and made fun of me. And, that just made it even more enjoyable when I killed her.""Huh, well, I'm sorry on behalf your me… man, I'm going to hate dimensional travel… so confusing. Anyways, Can you please go back to your world and take your army with you?""Really? You just expect me to agree to leave a perfectly good dimension unconquered by me."Gwen sighed. "Guess not." She said before channeling magical energy into her hands, and blasted Dante's counterpart. Unfortunately, it was only able to knock him to the ground. Landing in front of him, Gwen channeled more magical energy into her hands. Suddenly, Gwen felt like someone was gripping her neck tight."Wow, that's amazing. My Gwen didn't know magic, nor did she put up a good fight." Dante's counterpart said as he took the form of Novex.Gwen struggled to focus as Dante's counterpart increased his grip, making it harder. "Oh, yes. That's the face. I can only imagine what my counterpart would feel if he saw you die right now. My guess would be that he would turn into something like another one of us I respect. A conqueror. Maybe I'll take him under my wing. Make him my ultimate subordinate." He said before laughing maniacally."He… oul… ver." Gwen said, struggling."Sorry, I couldn't understand you.""It might've been a while since I spoke the language, but I think she said he would never." A teenage girl said as she appeared behind Dante's counterpart and punched Dante's counterpart hard."Argnis," Gwen, free from his grip, immediately casted a powerful binding spell. Instantly, golden chains rose from the ground, wrapped around Dante's counterpart, and buried him in the ground up to his neck. She, then, took a deep breath and laid on the ground."Are you okay?" The teenage girl said as she walked up beside Gwen."Yeah, but who are you?" Gwen asked."Well, I'm Fei Lin Cheng. But I'm known as the hero, Miracle.""I didn't know there were superheroes in this dimension." Gwen said."This dimension?" Fei Lin asked."Never mind? Anyway, what are you doing here? Not that I'm complaining.""Well, this incident is all over the news around the world. And I thought I was the only one like this. So, I sped over here as fast as I could. I wasn't expecting another hero.""Well, we just started thi…Dante's counterpart was trying to break free from Gwen's binding spell. "Natonis," Dante's counterpart screamed out. Immediately, he transformed into a flaming giant that stood a hundred feet tall."Oh, come on! Not even, Dante can do that yet." Gwen yelled. "Computer, we have a problem." She said telepathically."Sorry, we don't have anything on this planet that can help with that Elemagant. All I can say to get back here and wait for Dante." The computer said."Okay, we'll be there soon." Gwen answered. "FeiLin, we need to retreat. Torpelet eplmet!" Gwen said to FeiLin. Immediately, Gwen and Fei were teleported into the Maiju Temple."Where are we?" Fei Lin asked."This is mine and my boyfriend's home. But you can call this our secret superhero lair." Gwen answered.Suddenly, FeiLin was scanned by the temple."Recognize, Fei Lin Cheng, aka Miracle." The computer said."Why do your superhero secret lair know me?""I don't know." Gwen answered."Please allow me to answer that question. Along with you and Dante, we were also informed of the people who would be your allies including your spouses.""Spouses? How many exactly?" Gwen said."Sorry, but you'll have to find that out yourself. But, I'll tell you this. It was your idea." The computer said."Wow, I'm learning a lot of stuff about you and your boyfriend. Polygamy?" Fei Lin said, teasingly."Truthfully, I have thought about since… wait a minute. We need to talk about the super powered conqueror up there." Gwen said."Really? Passing by an embarrassing question. I can see us being great friends in the future." FeiLin said, smiling.Gwen smiled. "I look forward to it. You have no idea how long I been looking for female friends. Anyways, we need help. But the only ones we could ask are in other dimensions or healing in a pod.""What?""Yeah, our lives are really complicated. I'll explain it later."" Okay, later. So, who are these people we can call.""Well, there's Avery Lucrada, aka Aramus. She could easily handle him, but she has her own problems in her dimension. And, that's goes the same for Yolunda Wilde, aka MegaGirl. And my boyfriend is incapacitated right now.""How long will it be until he's ready?" Fei Lin said."The computer said it'll be another four hours and thirty minutes.""What! What happened to him?""I don't know last time I saw him he was flying a radioactive substance out of the earth's atmosphere six months ago. And I didn't see him until he suddenly appeared out of a dimensional portal in my room.""And I thought my life was complicated.""You haven't seen nothing yet." Gwen said as she thought of what they could do."Gwen, Dante has exited the healing pod.""What!" Gwen yelled.Gwen and Fei Lin ran to the medic room. Once they arrived, they saw Dante standing with a blank expression."Wow, I see why you like him." Fei Lin said."That's not the main reason." Gwen said as she covered Fei Lin's eyes. "Dante!"Dante looked back with a shocking expression. "Gwen, is that you?" Dante said.Gwen began to cry and ran to Dante. However, instead of hugging him, she punched Dante in the shoulder."Ow, what was that for?" Dante whined."Oh, I don't know. Maybe because you did the exact thing I told you not to do. Do you know how hard it was for me? I thought you were dead." Gwen said, crying."You're right. I'm sorry. It's all my fault, but we got something more dangerous heading our…"If you're talking about your other self, then…"Dante, Gwen, there's something you need to see." The computer said, as it pulled up a video on a screen."This video is meant for the ones who dares to stop. I have two words for you. Think... Twice." Dante's counterpart said before showing Dante's and Gwen's families tied up using chains."Crap! How did he get here so fast?" Dante said."Dante, it's been a good five hours since you came back. And you were heavily injured. And he appeared twenty minutes ago. I tried to fight him, but I failed. I couldn't do what was needed.""No, Gwen. It's not your fault. I led him to this dimension, and I should've ended him when I had the chance.""Uh, excuse me, I know you want to have a pity party for yourselves. But, if I've learned anything from the three weeks I've been a hero, it's that not all time you're going to win. You're going to lose some, but that's when you learn your most important lessons.""Wow, Fei Lin. That's some real inspiration." Gwen said."Well, her counterpart was wise beyond her years too." Dante said."Really, you met another me on your trip to another dimension. Cool, how was she?""Fei Lin," Gwen said, signaling her."Oh, I'm so sorry. Let's deal with anti-you first." Fei Lin said."Let's call him what his victims call him, Monstra." Dante said."Alright, Monstra, it is. Computer, can you prep us some clothes. Something superhero-like." Gwen said."Already ahead of you." The computer said as Cain's hologram showed. "Follow me," it said before walking out the room. Following the hologram, Dante, Gwen, and Fei Lin walked down a hall into the dressing room, where they saw ten tubes. "Welcome to the Closet. The place where we've been storing the prototypes for your superhero suits. And, for the past six months, we been going through every scenario possible you could experience and made these." Cain explained as two of the pods opened, revealing the outfits their future selves wore."Time for our debut." Dante said as he looked at Gwen."Yep,""So, where's mine?" Fei Lin said."Right here," Cain said as another pod opened, revealing a red and white outfit."God, I love this place." Fei Lin said as she ran to the pod.Meanwhile, Dante's and Gwen's family and friends struggle to free themselves their chains. However, Dante's counterpart returns and reverts."What the… Dante! What are you doing? Release us... this instant young man." Alan said as he shook."Alan, shut up. This is probably your fault he's like this. Leave this to me." Janice whispers. "Dante, why…"Don't try to appease to my better side, Mom. I'm not the little, pathetic boy you raised. I'm something better and stronger." Dante's counterpart said."What are you talking about? Dante, it's us. Your family. I know it's only a few months, but you shouldn't have forgotten us that quickly." Sarah said.Dante's counterpart looked at Sarah and smiled. "Hmmmm, you're the same in both this universe and mine. Naïve and dumb. Heck, you can't even accept that I'm not your Dante. But that'll be even more fun when I break you." He said as he summoned a flame to his hand."What?!" Sarah yelled, shocked."Are you serious? You never knew abo…"Monstra!""Who dares call me that?!" he yells as he turns around.Immediately, Dante's counterpart sees Dante and the others."So, you finally showed yourself. Your girlfriend, there, was boring and barely put up a fight. Hopefully, you won't be a disappointment." Suddenly, he burst into laughter. "What am I saying? You weren't much of a challenge back in my universe, so I doubt you would be able to put up a good fight.""What? Is that what happened before he appeared in my room?" Gwen thought, looking at Dante."Don't worry, Gwen. I'll have something for him." Dante said, telepathically, as he activated his gauntlet. Scrolling through his selection, Dante looked for a specific alien he had gotten recently."Wow, you're still manually selecting your aliens. My... you have lots to learn." Dante's counterpart said before charging him.Intercepting him, Gwen and Fei Lin launched their strongest attacks. Gwen used her magical energy blast while Fei Lin transformed into a big T-rex and swatted Dante's counterpart away."Hurry, Dante!" Fei Lin yells after transforming into a giant bird."I know! I'm looking as fast as I can." Dante said.FeiLin flew after Dante's counterpart. Gwen then landed in front of everyone."Before, any of you say something, we don't have time for questions. I need to get you all to a safe place.""Gwen, what's going on? Why are there two Dantes?" Janice asked."Trust me, Mrs. Moore. We will answer all of your questions later after we handle this problem.""What are you two going to do? The police couldn't even fight him off." Eric's father said."Not to mention, we couldn't even put up a fight with our magic. It's like he's immune to it." Her father said."Like I said, Now isn't the right time to answer your questions. And don't worry about us. We'll be fine." Gwen said as she created a magic circle. "Dante! I'll be right back." Gwen said. "Tropelet elpmet," She chanted before she and everyone disappeared."Where is it? I know I scanned Yolunda's soul before leaving her dimension." Dante said."The unknown souls have been locked and is unusable until fully analyzed."Dante sighs. "Really, how long they're until fully analyzed?""The souls have been ninety-eight percent analyzed. It would be another ten minutes until fully analyzed.""Okay, I can wait ten minutes. Just need to conserve my energy until then." Dante said with relief. He then selected Panthera and followed Fei Lin.Meanwhile, Gwen appears inside the main section of the Maiju temple with everyone."What is this place?" Sarah asked."Welcome to the Temple. The only place in the world where we can hide and not be found by Monstra." Gwen said. "Such a stupid name." she thought."That's what they called him… not me." Dante's voice echoes in Gwen's head."Yeah right," Gwen said loudly."What do you mean, Gwen? We seriously want to know. Explain to us what you've and Dante been doing in the last few months." Gwen's mother said.Gwen sighed. "Okay, here's the abridged version. Dante and I have been doing things unthinkable. We became superheroes that, actually, do good. We saved the planet from a radioactive…"Enough, Gwen. Stop. Just stop. We wanted real answers from you. Not some stupid lies about you playing superhero."Gwen sighed. "Computer, watch them. I have to go back up Dante before something bad happens." She said as she summoned magic energy to her hand. Extending her hand quickly, opening a portal."What?" her father thought."Try not to explore too much. I haven't explored the temple much." Gwen said before walking into the portal.Crashing into a nearby forest, Dante's counterpart lay in the crater, angrily. "I'm going to kill that b…A blue Whale, suddenly, landed on top him. Then, the whale transformed into a bird and flew high into the sky. "Oh, this is going to hurt." Fei Lin said before transforming into a blue whale again, instantly dropping out of the sky."Ecrofnier(Reinforce)" Gwen chanted. Fei Lin's body glowed a golden color while she continued to fall.As she crashed into the ground, a large crater was created. "Crap, I missed him." Fei Lin thought as she reverted into her human form."Watch out!" Gwen yelled out as she flew to Fei Lin. However, she was too late. Dante's counterpart came up from the ground and tried to strike Fei Lin in the back. Luckily, Dante arrived just enough to move FeiLin out of the way."Sacrificing yourself for a weakling like that. You are just a pathetic fool." His counterpart said."Oh, I guess we have something in common. We both think our counterpart is foolish." Dante said as he reverts into his human form."My, you've gotten arrogant. Transforming into that weak form of yours. You can't even imbue yourself yet. Do you plan on fighting me like that?""Come and find out." Dante said.Angered, Dante's counterpart charged at him, transforming into an eight-legged alien with no eyes. However, Dante activated his gauntlet and selected one of the new alien souls. Transforming, Dante began to feel strange. His body started to change in multiple ways. His body became more feminine and slimer. Suddenly, he became female. As his counterpart approached, Dante punched him back. "Oh, I'm going to love this form." Dante said."Wow, Dante, I never thought you would be the type." FeiLin said."Well, I didn't know this soul would've changed me like this. But this is exactly what I need to defeat Monstra.""Speaking of, can we change his name? Monstra doesn't feel right." FeiLin said as Dante's Counterpart charged at them again."Sure, what you had in mind?" Dante answered as they dodged him."Well, he is your counterpart, and your codename is…"Well, truthfully, I haven't made one yet. I mean… technically I do have one but I don't like it that much." Dante answered as he dodged his counterpart attack.

 "Really, what is it?"

 Dante sighs. "Astra,"

 "Woah, that's unique. Why don't you flaunt it more?" FeiLin asked.

 "I don't kn… Dante gets knocked into the ground by his counterpart's tails. "Let's talk about this later and focus on him." Dante said as he catches his counterpart's paw.

 "Right, Gwen, are you joining us anytime soon?"

 "Yeah, sorry, but I was busy forming this spell." Gwen said as she clapped her hands. Suddenly the ground around Dante and his counterpart began to glow and fuse together.

 "AHHHHH," Dante screamed out in pain.

 "What did you do to him?" FeiLin asked.

 "I fused the two of them together. However, this is very risky depending on the strength of each's willpower."

 "And are you sure his willpower is up for it? His counterpart is very strong-willed." FeiLin said, worriedly.

 "Yes, I believe in Dante. He is one of the stubbornest people I know." Gwen said.

 "AHHHHHHH!" Dante screamed out before glowing a bright light.

"What's happening?" FeiLin said."Stay on guard. The winner has been decided." Gwen said as she summoned fire in her hands."Hold your fire. It's me." Dante pleaded."Prove it. Tell me something that only I would know.""You mean like how you got during our fir…"Okay, I believe you. Let's not disclosed about me that loosely." Gwen screamed as she quickly covered Dante's mouth."Woah, Gwen, I'm shocked. And here I'd seen you as a good girl. Turns out you're a Da Ji.""Shut up!" Gwen said.They all began to laugh.