Once Upon a Time, Part 1

[superchris01]

(Yeah that way we don’t forget what the last section was about)

[DScott]

Who writes the previously?

[superchris01]

(I think it just be an update from the author of the section will include a quick previously to remind people what happened up to that point or the last section. So it won’t be its own segment so to say)

[superchris01]

(I believe that was Kumquat’s idea and I’m totally for that. Help keeps everyone on track after maybe two pages of conversation and notes, lol)

[Masøn M.]

(Exactly. We’re just making this a little easier to read and understand. It’s like the ‘Revision’ period of any novel or paper. The first draft is kinda just throwing up your ideas onto a page. Now we’re forming that throw up into something beautiful…

That was a weird analogy…)

[superchris01]

(But a beautiful analogy in a weird way)

[riseofthekumquat]

PREVIOUSLY ON Once Upon A Time:
————————————————————————————————————————————-
“PUT HER BACK UNDER AND PREPARE HER FOR THE OPERATION?”

“Operation? You mean-”

“WITH THE CURSE GONE, THERE ARE NO MORE TRAPS OR PRECAUTIONS LEFT TO STOP US. IT’S TIME TO GIVE THE ELDEST HER FULL POWERS BACK.”

On the counter is a container with a swirling purple cloud inside. It’s labeled “_Valdra Muinthel_- The Spirit Of The Queen”

“WE’LL START THE PROCEDURE IN TEN HOURS.”

————————————————————————————————————————-

Lord Kumquat found himself on the bridge of the ship, staring out at the surface of Jupiter. On the security cameras, thousands of Franklins scrambled around like ants in a hill, but only the hum of the ship’s computers broke up the bridge’s haunting silence. A great conflict stirred within him, a feeling comparable to a 3-am stomach flu.
What’s happening to me, he thought, as the kumquat floating back and forth across the bridge, observing his own reflection.

Then he caught a glance of a familiar, very not Kumquat-like reflection in the glass.

“NO. YOU’RE DONE HERE. I KILLED YOU, TRO-… CHRIS. I KILLED YOU, CHRIS.”

But even as he corrected himself, he wasn’t sure if that was the former identity that he was staring back at. Memories, images, objective facts were starting to blur. He quickly turned away from the reflection in a vain attempt to quell his sharply growing migraine. He pulled back and looked at the surface of Jupiter. Even the chaotic dance of the Red Spot seemed out of place. Before he could study the oddity of the storm’s new pattern, one of the smaller moons eclipsed the ship’s line of vision and brought with it a new mystery.

There, in one of the craters.

A ship. Or maybe a station. Very clearly a metallic structure, built by someone. An invisible hand reached down to one of the panels and called for three of the top generals to come up to the bridge immediately. Lord Kumquat, uncharacteristically mistrusting of his own abilities, asked Grand Maff Franklin to zoom and enhance the image of the metallic structure. He knew what it said, his enhanced abilities allowed him to read it from where he stood. He just hoped he was wrong. But sure enough, the metallic, warehouse-like structure appeared on the large monitor with big black words printed on the side of the structure.

PART TWO.

“Sir, what does it mean?”

“CONTACT GRAND CAPTAIN FRANKLIN. TELL HIM TO GATHER BLUE SQUAD AND ASSEMBLE A BOARDING PARTY. WE’LL BE IN CONTACT, BUT IF YOU SEE ANOTHER SHIP FOLLOW US INTO THE STRUCTURE, DO NOT HESITATE, OPEN FIRE ON THE MOON.”

“Yes sir!” said Grand Maff Franklin as he ran back through toward the main part of the ship, shouting commands over the radio.

“I HOPE WE’RE NOT TOO LATE…” Lord Kumquat murmured.
——————————————————————————————————————————————

The cloaked ship lands in the suspiciously open hanger. After a few minutes, the invisibility cloak is lifted and the ship’s main door opens. The Franklins, each in full battle armor and holding X450-Granada Plasma Rifles, quickly float out and fall into formation in front of the locked door. They are followed by Grand Captain Franklin and Lord Kumquat. Lord Kumquat begins shaking as he strains to pull the hanger door shut with his telepathy. The door is shut, the airlocks click into place and the Franklins descend back to the ground as gravity returns to normal. The Heavy Weapons Specialist Officer screws four silent tactical grenades into each corner of the locked door. Without a need for a verbal command, the rest of the group back far away from the door and with the push of a button the steel door pops off its hinges and the HWSO catches the door before it can clang against the ground. He delicately set it on the ground as the group stared into the dark corridors that laid before them and clicked on the flashlights at the end of their rifles.

The first thing that stood out was that someone was clearly here before. The walls were covered in writing, with the same words appearing on the walls every few feet: TOPHAT, Dawn, Chris, Douglas, Betrayal, Troy, Valdra, Deceit, Dimensions, Butterfly, NOT REAL, NOT TRUE, and UNFINISHED. The halls led into a massive, multilayered lobby, roughly the size of a super mall. There was absolutely no way that such a room could fit into a structure as small as the one that the group had entered. Time Lord technology was being used for sure.

One sentence covered every wall:
YOU BROKE TIME. YOU BROKE TIME. YOU BROKE TIME. YOU BROKE TIME. YOU BROKE TIME. YOU BROKE TIME. YOU BROKE TIME. YOU BROKE TIME. YOU BROKE TIME. YOU BROKE TIME. YOU BROKE TIME. YOU BROKE TIME. YOU BROKE TIME. YOU BROKE TIME. YOU BROKE TIME. YOU BROKE TIME. YOU BROKE TIME. YOU BROKE TIME. YOU BROKE TIME. YOU BROKE TIME. YOU BROKE TIME. YOU BROKE TIME. YOU BROKE TIME. YOU BROKE TIME. YOU BROKE TIME. YOU BROKE TIME. YOU BROKE TIME. YOU BROKE TIME. YOU BROKE TIME.

Lord Kumquat looked up towards the distant ceiling and reads the one message that only he was meant to read:
The Langoliers are have chosen your line.

Line up back to back, Lord Kumquat telepathically commanded the group, keep your eyes on-

Before he could even finish the command, a blood-curdling scream rang out. All the flashlights pointed towards the source as the body of a Franklin was caught in a giant mouth. The creature was just that: a floating mouth with little more than a grey ball for a body snarled back at the group. The mouth bit down hard and the Franklin turned into sand. The massive room lit up with the purple light of the plasma rifle fire and the screams of Franklins being attacked by these creatures. After about 30 seconds, only the HWSO, Grand Captain Franklin, and Lord Kumquat remained, surrounded by a dozen of the creatures. The HWSO vaporized a pair of the creatures with a thermal detonator, GC Franklin unloaded several plasma rifle rounds into another one, and Lord Kumquat drove back severa of them with a bright orange lightsaber blade that he pulled out of thin air. After cutting through half of the horde, the creatures retreated back into the shadows.

There was a long moment of silence as the surviving trio stood in a pile of sand that was once several Franklins.

“My lord,” finally spoke up GC Franklin, “what the hell were those?”

“LANGOLIERS,” he replied, “THE TIME EATERS.”

“What are they doing here?”

“THE UNIVERSE IS FULL OF VARIABLES AND POSSIBILITIES. EVERY ONCE AND A WHILE, WITHIN A SINGULAR UNIVERSE, POWERFUL EVENTS WILL DISRUPT THE NATURAL ORDER AND ALLOW CONTRADICTORY EVENTS TO TAKE PLACE WITHIN THE SAME TIMELINE. THE HUMANS CREATED A WORD FOR IT: A ‘PARADOX.’ WHEN SUCH AN EVENT TAKES PLACE, TWO TIMELINES COMPETE TO BE CANON. THE LANGOLIERS ARE THE NATURE FORCE THAT IS SENT TO UNDO SUCH EVENTS AND CHOOSE WHICH TIMELINE IS CANON AND WHICH IS DESTROYED.”

“And ours was chosen for destruction,” mused GC Franklin.

“Precisely,” came a new voice from above.

The trio pointed their weapons at a massive Langolier with a white exterior that reflected like marble as it descended from the ceiling.

“It’s not your fault,” explained the giant mouthed creature, “continuity was scrambled and the story has gotten too dense for outsiders to keep track of. What we’re doing here is restart your universe from a recent save point: possibly a few days ago, possibly even a few hours ago. In doing so, we will take the best parts of your timeline and add it to the established continuity.”

“So this is like Crisis On Infinite Earths?”

“Yes.”

“Or Flashpoint?”

“Uh huh”

“Or Doomsday Clock?”

“Man, DC really has done that whole ‘multiverses collide so that we can find an excuse to reboot our entire universe and clean up continuity errors’ thing quite a bit. It’s getting hard to keep up with.”

“IF IT WILL GET ME CLOSER TO FINDING OUT WHO I AM, AWAKENING KRISTEN, BRINGING VENGENCE ON THE TIME LORDS, AND STOPPING THIS MIGRAINE, I SAY JUST GET IT OVER WITH.”

“Excellent.”

“Will it hurt?”

“How would I possibly know that?”

“[*sigh*] Great. Just do it.”

And then everyone turned into sand and was sucked into a portal in the Langoliers’ mouth as the very fabric of reality collapsed in on itself. The timeline began to restart and it was now up to the writers to collectively figure out what events from Part One were canon and where Part Two would pick up from.

Good luck.

[END OF PART ONE OF THE GAME]

[Jeff Ross]

We conclude this fantastical tale with an important message:

“Wow, what a confusing story! Good thing I have a tool that helps me keep everything straight. Hi, I’m Ryan Matlock, and if you’re unsure about what happened in this or any other adventure you’ve ever encountered, just have a visit to the Clarification Station. This patented piece of technology works even better than the Infatuation Station, if you can believe it. Just download the ‘Clarification Station’ app to your phone, put in your request, and receive all the clarity you could ever want within 30 minutes or less. Our patented technology takes machine learning to the extreme, as the Clarification Station Google searches the topic at hand, compiles all relevant facts, contexts, & inside jokes relating to the search, and cobbles them together into a simple, succinct narrative for you and your whole family to understand and enjoy.

How much does this cost? Peanuts compared to the physical and mental strain you would endure from trying to figure everything out yourself. The app is completely free to download, and each search costs less than your favorite 1 lb cup of Kopi Luwak coffee. Plus if you download the app today and enter the promo code ‘LETLANGOLIERSLANGUISH’, you can get 16% off your second search. This is a limited time offer, though, so you’ll have to act quickly. Isn’t it time for you to enjoy some relaxation station instead of dealing with frustration station? Submit your questions to the Clarification Station right now!””

Announcer: Go to your favorite app store and download the Clarification Station app today! We are not responsible for any delays caused by a poor internet connection, which is required for using this app.

“So what did you think of the story, Matthew Bird?”

“Well, Ryan, it became way more complex than I anticipated at the beginning. I think I’m going to have to download the Clarification Station app to make sure I understand it all before the sequel releases!”

Here concludes this fantastical tale.

(That’s right, this whole story premise was started by Matthew Bird so he could rake in the dough as primary spokesperson for the Clarification Station app. There’s a plot twist you didn’t see coming. 😀 )

[Masøn M.]

(It is finished…)

[Masøn M.]

(Actually it isn’t. We oughta come up with a title for Part 1. Then Part 2 can be the sequel book. I have no suggestions. I’m so helpful.)

[Wileycoyote]

(The Time Lords Return for the first one and then maybe Starting Again for the second book)

[Dawn]

(BLESS YOU KUMQUAT THAT IS AMAZING)

[riseofthekumquat]

(I thought we were just going with this being the first draft. I don’t think we need separate titles since the remake with the corrections is the “real” story.)

[Masøn M.]

(Ah, that makes sense…)

[Dawn]

(We are, I just thought it made sense to have part 1 be draft and part 2 be polished. Do I just have convoluted logic?)

[Jeff Ross]

(I don’t think your logic is convoluted, Dawn, but sometimes your communication and execution thereof could use a little improvement to increase the clarity for the idea’s beholders. Actually, this assessment applies to everyone, not just you.)

(Matthew Bird: “Or, you could just use the Clarification Station app and never misunderstand Dawn’s logic ever again.”)

(Sorry, Matthew, but I don’t think we have that kind of budget right now. Way to keep plugging the brand even when the story isn’t taking place. #SellOut)

(Matthew Bird: “Hey, there’s a reason it costs so much to use. They paid me extremely well to continually find opportunities to promote the brand. If you see how effective the app is [and are approached by the company with a large financial incentive to do this], you’d be promoting it non-stop as well.”)

(I don’t think so. Then again, I am tube tired right now to try to argue that point. I may be suffering from a little bit of sleep deprivation station.)

[Josiah the Carrot Stick]

(I agree that this should be the first draft.)

[riseofthekumquat]

(If anyone is just now stumbling upon this thread, here is the continuation thread where the rest of the story is being written: https://auxcableshow.com/community/topic/once-upon-a-time-continued/)

[Brooke AC]

It’s tragic

[DScott]

But it’s not to late.

[Awkward Potato]

*too

[Josiah the Carrot Stick]

WILD POTATO SIGHTING

[Brooke AC]

WOAH

[Josiah the Carrot Stick]

CRASH BANDICOOT SIGHTING

[DScott]

Where?!

[Josiah the Carrot Stick]

Above me.

[Brooke AC]

Huh

[Josiah the Carrot Stick]

Uh-huh.

[Wileycoyote]

I’m just commenting so it’s not on page 8 lol

[DScott]

(I just reread my 1st entry, and it is bad. It has so many missing words.)

[Author]

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