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Dr. Zero · (12-11-2013)

“COMPUTER, SLOW THE DESCENT!” shouted Dr. Zero into the control panel of his self-made rocket ship. He had just breached the atmosphere of a far-away planet that his sources referred to as “Malkroa” and he was losing control. The shuttle had lost over three quarters of it’s power and was spiraling straight toward the side of a mountain.

The ship was picking up speed and Dr. Zero was beginning to panic. He didn’t fear injuring himself, but he had no idea how he’d make it back to Parts Unknown should the ship be destroyed. He pulled back on the controls and got no response. “Curses,” he mumbled to himself moments before the one-man ship crashed in a fiery spectacle.

He dragged himself up and out of the rubble before checking his suit for damage. No tears, and no cracks on the helmet. According to his calculations, the atmosphere was not safe to breathe in on Malkroa.

Now dear reader, you may be asking yourself why Dr. Zero decided to visit Malkroa in the first place and that is a fair question. The answer to that question would be that he had been going through several ancient texts that he happened to have on hand for research, and that one of those texts referenced a strange object called “the gem of Malkroa”.

The text also describes the people that live, or lived, there.

“The Malkroans are a peaceful race when it comes to dealing amongst themselves, but are quite suspicious of outsiders. They have been known to attack many visitors on site simply out of fear for their own safety. The have a light, olive green colored skin, no hair, and are naturally tall and lanky. The natural athletic ability they possess is leaps and bounds above that of human beings, but they are technologically stunted.”

All this said to Dr. Zero was, “The Malkroans are dumb and violent,” which, while not true, might as well have been to Dr. Zero. The gem of Malkroa was described in very vague terms. All that was gleamed from the text was that the thing was powerful and sacred to the Malkroans. Alph couldn’t understand why Dr. Zero would risk the journey for it. Nurse X didn’t care after Dr. Zero practically sacrificed her Hyper-Squatch to the Super Squad R5.

Dr. Zero hadn’t really felt a need to explain himself to his underlings. Sure, the text was vague, but Dr. Zero had heard of the gem sporadically over the ages. The latest revelation he had was what drove his decision to hunt for it. The gem was said to be able to open doors from one side of the universe to the other, which would greatly simplify Dr. Zero’s plan of galactic conquest. Not only that, in the hands of certain skilled users, it was said that the gem could open doors to other realities.

This idea intrigued Dr. Zero. It showed him that he had set his sights too low. Why settle for conquering one galaxy, when you could potentially conquer all of the galaxies that ever existed? There was no good reason not to. Unless you count the fact that now Dr. Zero was stranded with no idea where he was.

He had charted parts of the planet before making his venture, but after the crash, his mapping device was beginning to malfunction. Dr. Zero’s ship had crashed near the mountain’s peak, so he climbed the rest and rested, sighing as he looked out over the surrounding area.

“Curses…Curses, indeed.”

He felt himself coming down with one of the common afflictions he’s noticed about inhabiting a human body…Hunger. Dr. Zero scanned the atmosphere and found that at the height he was at, the air was breathable in short amounts. He sat down and removed an edible gel-packet from his backpack and opened his visor. He squirted the disgusting “food” into his beak and no sooner did a spear whiz past his head.

“What in the blazes?”

Dr. Zero stood up and scanned the area from which the spear came, and noticed a bush being disturbed not far under from where he stood. He quickly descended to the area, knowing that this course of action could very well lead to a physical confrontation. With no knowledge of where he was or how to find the gem of Malkroa, he felt that he may be able to get a lead from whoever this was.

The perpetrator was no longer there when Dr. Zero arrived at the bush. To his left, there was some sort of cave-like entrance. Showing no hesitation, Dr. Zero entered and turned on a light at the top of his custom helmet. He scanned the area and found footprints of the dirt. He was on the right track. He followed them as the cave led down several natural-looking tunnels. Dr. Zero was now in the mountain.

After close to 20 minutes of tracking, the footsteps disappeared. Dr. Zero was in a long passageway, but it seemed as if his Malkroan attacker had simply vanished. “How could this be?” he thought. It’s not as though Dr. Zero had never seen anything like it before, he had, but not from one as uncivilized as this. These are primitive peoples. Hunter-gatherer types. “Hunter.” It hit him like a ton of bricks. Dr. Zero had let himself be fooled. He thought he had been tracking this creature, but he was the prey all along.

Before he could fully process the thought, the Malkroan hunter sprang on him. He had climbed up the wall and was waiting for Dr. Zero to pass under him, surprising him. He tackled Dr. Zero to the floor, and raised a jagged, bone-like dagger in the air. Dr. Zero caught the assailant’s arm, and struggled to keep the blade from piercing his suit. More importantly, he kept the blade from piercing himself.

Dr. Zero flipped the Malkroan off of him and scrambled to his feet. “HALT, SAVAGE!” he yelled, even though this being was clearly not of the Clan Poffo. The hunter charged at Dr. Zero, and was met with a kick right in the chest. The Malkroan grunted and fell to the ground, tumbling backwards into the darkness. Just as he was enveloped in shadow, Dr. Zero heard him cry out.

“AAAAAIIIIIIIEEEEEE!!!”

The screaming was cut short, as Dr. Zero then heard the body thump onto the ground. He approached the darkness, briefly bothered by the fact that his first possible lead seemed to be dead. As he got nearer, however, he could hear something shuffling. Almost as if someone…A lot of someones, actually, were moving around below.

With no fear, he walked forward. He came across a ledge that was obviously what his attacker had fallen off of. Before he could survey the area, a snare wrapped around his neck and jerked him to the ground. Torches lit up all around him, and Dr. Zero was surprised to be swarmed by close to 10 Malkroans who tied him down quickly.

“UNHAND ME, YOU SAVAGE BRUTES!” he protested. They did not heed his words.

One rather old-looking Malkroan with a white beard and bald head approached him. He leaned down, looked at Dr. Zero with fascination in his eyes, and placed his palm on Dr. Zero’s visor before breaking the light just above it. He tilted his head back and rolled his eyes in the back of his head.

“YULUAH, MYA EPTAH!”

The crowd that had surrounded both of them repeated him.

“YULUAH, MYA EPTAH! YULUAH, MYA EPTAH! YULUAH, MYA EPTAH!”

Another Malkroan, a child by the looks of it, came to both of them, and handed the older one a necklace. He pulled Dr. Zero’s head up and placed the necklace on him. He waved for others to come near, and they pulled Dr. Zero to his feet, tying his hands behind his back now.

They escorted him to down a long, dank hallway as the crowd continued to chant.

They came to a large stone door with no opening, untied Dr. Zero’s hands, and tossed him in the room. The door was sealed behind him.

Dr. Zero rushed back to the door, banging on it and shouting, “LET ME OUT OF HERE RIGHT THIS INSTANT! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I AM CAPABLE OF!”

“Heh…Too late now, kid,” a voice in the darkness said, shocking Dr. Zero. “Hope you came here to be a gladiator, ‘cause that’s what you’re gettin’.”

Threaded Mode \| Linear Mode The Malevolent Gem of Malkroa pt1
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