The Book of Urble

The Book of Urble

(Based on True Events)

## Ancient Times:

The Urbles were a humanoid race with skin of different colors of the rainbow itself. They originated on a planet known as Rousseau. Like humans, they advanced slowly, but eventually they advanced from hunter/gatherers to actual societies.

The Urbles advanced quickly over the years, becoming small societies, as well as discovering and domesticating a variety of different creatures such as:

* Click-Clacks: A creature with six legs, antennae, and mandibles. Insectoids. Click-Clacks were named after their signature sound they made and were domesticated as a trusty mount, and would be used as such for millennia
* Spibles: Creatures that ranged from the size of a pebble to the size of a Click-Clack. They were arachnoids. The ancient ones, however, were the size of a large building and could somehow speak telekinetically to lesser sentient Spibles, as well as creatures that equaled their intelligence, such as Urbles. Most of these ancient Spibles were killed off because of the threat they posed, but some still remain…
* Nemian Lions: Originating from the Nemian Mountains on the planet, Farber. They are large, large feline beasts. Only a few are recorded throughout history. They were even bigger than the ancient Spibles, and were one of their natural predators. The Nemian Lion’s pelt was practically impenetrable, making them highly sought after. A few of these recorded beasts were named Bobbi, Henry, George, Ruby, and Remi. They all had a variety of colors.
* Fluffbugs: Fluffbugs were also insectoids but not in the same way. They were an odd species because they worked in packs. They were only big enough to be up the waist of an Urble. They are circular little things with pink and orange fur, and big, adorable eyes. However, while they aren’t harmful by themselves, its the Alpha Fluffbugs you have to look out for. Somehow, they are very closely related, despite not looking alike whatsoever. The Alpha Fluffbug looks similar to a Nemian Lion, but instead of feline features, its rather canine. Very aggressive.
* Titans: The Titans. A mix of giant creatures. There really is no specification of what they are, just as long as they’re a threat and they are bigger than an Alpha Fluggbug or a Nemian Lion. Despite that size classification, the Queen Spible (One of the ancients) is often mistaken for a titan, despite being smaller than a Nemian Lion. Listed are notable Titans throughout the
	+ Bobo
	+ Grizz
	+ Polar
	+ Mush
	+ Wunc
	+ The Baboon
	+ Batty
	+ Nemian Cubs
	+ Katrina
* Parkomi: Parkomi. Plural for Parkomis. Giants. Humanoids. They are more legend than truth. Only ancient texts really speak of them, mainly just being an old tale to scare children. However, some people still believe in them. Some people still believe.
* Jampones: Jampones are small versions of what we would call a narwhal. Small mounts used as mounts throughout canals or short water travel. They’re known for being very kind as they just swim around and live to serve Urblekind.
* Squealers: Squealers were large creatures, similar to whales, that were native to gas giants. They would swim through the gas like it was water and would live off of the small organisms living in it as well. They were known for their high pitched squealing noise.
* Phoenix: Phoenixes were large, ancient creatures. They are some of the only creatures known to posses the ability to live in space as well as being able to use the ability of a jumper engine within their own bodies, jumping from system to system. Wondrous, bird-like creatures that could breathe fire. They were also very, very large and could almost seem to be made of fire itself.
* Tortuga: The size of an Ancient Spible, the Tortuga is a peaceful and loveable creature that is most comparable to a turtle. The larger ones were worshiped as deities by the Skurble nation on Irving.
* Sharkomi: Plural for Sharkomis, a Sharkomi is a large, predatory fish living in most planet’s oceans. They are big, the size of around ten city blocks. They usually terrorize fisherman, most known for their presence on Cabín.
* Ice Worms: While they are called worms, they are more serpent-like, living on most planets, burrowing around the ice and snow of the poles picking off any unlucky soul who may be down there. They are not as big as the largest serpent ever recording, being the Titan, Apple, but they are still large, being about 20 meters long.
* Squeakers: Large animals covered in fur. Usually passive beings unless provoked and often used as livestock. They are known for squeaking despite their large size as they maneuver through the pastures that they take up so much land of.
* Mantis Beast: Giant creatures known in ancient times as large war mounts for the Urble Empire alongside click-clacks. They faded out of use as they were more often just seen as monsters native to the Core system on planets like Rousseau and Martin.

### Creation:

Being crafted by the hands of creation, there was the five realms, especially the three main ones. Being created first was the Existent Plane. This was basically the universe as we know it. The ever-expanding realm that consisted of stars, planets, moons, black holes, and other celestial objects. This is what most of history is what would take place in.

Going up and going down, there were the two other realms stacked above and below the Existent Plane. Above was the Holy Realm. A place that was only limited by the resident’s imagination. It is where an Urble’s soul and consciousness would go for their afterlife. They would reappear here in a golden heaven of clouds and thrones with anything they want to their whim. It evolved over time based on who went there but the idea was if you lived a morally good life and didn’t do bad things in your life, then you would be sent here. There wasn’t an overruling god of this realm (Somewhat different than its opposite realm) and it basically would just bend its reality to whoever lived there. Most people who went there went to their paradise but if you were truly notable in history, then you became one of the council leaders of the place.

Between the Existent Plane and the Holy Realm, there lay the Prophetic Plane. A starry void where you would walk on an invisible floor. All that surrounded you was a starry void filled with swirling aurora lights. It is used as a place for people to get advice when on hard times. Not just anyone though, but people who were the chosen ones of their personal prophecy. Prophecies were rare but when they were present, this plane of existence is where they would go at points in their life to meet with ancestors.

Below the Existent Plane, there was the Sacrificed Realm. The Sacrificed Realm was unique in itself as it wasn’t exactly a realm. As the hands of creation created it, they didn’t anticipate the fact that it would fester and form something much more evil that the hands ever predicted. The realm itself was its own being. Its been called many things. The Ink Demon. A demon. A devil. The ooze devil. The ooze. The monster. But it was truly just the Devil.. It was all one thing that looked like a landscape. It was a hellscape. The underworld. A giant island floating in a void below a conceptual and indestructible ceiling with the island having yellow lava lakes and a dark, dry purple wasteland. In the center of the circular island was the first ring. Mount Hell. A circular mountain range with a valley in the center where it would eventually be home to the Village of Lost Souls. People who did notably bad things in life that outshined normal sins would be sent there as they eventually were enough of them to build a community of stilted houses in the mountain’s valley. Below the mountain, almost like fossil fuel reserves or water aquifers, there were pockets of ooze. Ooze was the devil in his purest form. He was the whole realm but the ooze was the embodiment of him. The only time he ever appeared in a purer form was the next realm. The second of the three rings of hell was the wasteland. Rocky and sandy plateaus and plains of dark purple earth and fog where Titans who passed in the Existent Plane would roam. Any Urble down there that died would turn into a creature known as a Banshee that would resemble the Urble that it represented. They flew near the ceiling of the realm, fighting off anyone who got too close. The Titans on the other hand would just die and resurrect over and over again as they lost more and more flesh as they would eventually just be skeletal versions of what they once were. The third and final ring was the Dunes. Just pure sand all the way down of the magical realm and was the largest and vastest of the rings. It was foggy and practically impossible to see through as it was only home to the Parkomis souls that would be monstrous foes to anyone who made their way out far enough.

The fifth and final realm isn’t really in a specific location compared to everything else but it is used by a specific person. The Devil. This realm was known as the Dealspace. A place where the devil could make deals with people he chose to prey upon. Its described as a black inky void where you could try to run around but just end up where you started. Its where you could see the silhouette of an inky black man with no facial or bodily features. Just a humanoid form with two glowing purple eyes. He makes deals with people down on their luck or people longing for power.

These realms would be the things that make up a reality. Five realms makes a reality. And all these different realities and timelines make the multiverse. The prime timeline is what we follow in this book but we explore other realities in one of the chapters towards the end.

### Two Warring Cultures:

Rising over time were major tribes and factions on the planet that the Urbles thought was the only planet out there. Rousseau. It was home to many cultures but eventually, an ancient family (The namesake of the species) would form and unite the nations of the land into the Urble Empire. They ruled over many cities, their most notable being Urblania, a large city known for being made of quartz and marble palaces and apartments. Arenas, stadiums, and coliseums. The peak of culture for the time. Through ruling for millenia, two cultures started to divide the empire. This led to two men leading the cultures and what would end in civil war. Starting back then as well was something evil digging into the Empire and its royal family. A woman by the name of Mitchell led a cult dedicated to the devil and bringing him to rule the realms.

Cousins in the Urble family bloodline, there was ArmƟr Urble and Urble Urble. An odd name for sure, but things were different back then. This led to the declaration of a separate empire known as the Armored Urbles. The Armored Urbles and the Urble Empire were now the superpowers of the planet. Ruling over most of the Southern hemisphere was the Urble Empire with their many different biomes and such. The northern hemisphere was mostly rocky and mountainous with also different mountain biomes.

For a while, there was peace for a few centuries but culture was differing too much. Both believed in the story of the realms but the Armored Urbles formed and believed in prophecies based on visions that ArmƟr had. Not only did the Urble Empire disagree with the prophecies of the Armored Urbles but also jealousy started to break through as the Armored Urbles had the rare, holy, and indestructible metal that was Urblazium. Urblazium, at least for the first few centuries, was covering the bodies and were the weapons of every AU soldier out there. They were formidable with the indestructible element that could only be melted down and forged into armor in the molten lava deep in the mines of the Playgrondi mountains where the capitol of the AU was. The capitol was nestled around tall mountains in a cold area of snow and ice, the valley being perfect natural defense for the nation. The capitol city of Slabvalia was much more brutalistic and gray than the open-structure and white gleaming city that Urblania was.

Slabvalia was home to a heavily descended castle different than the palace that Urblania had in the Southern hemisphere. War broke out between them as the UE craved for the rare metal that the AU possessed.

One notable battle was the Night of One Thousand Cries. A giant pit had been dug out and a false floor been put over it. As UE soldiers made their offense through the dead of night, they fell onto the spikes below and bled out or died of the impact. An AU travesty but the real battle was yet to come.

Based on a journal found and put in museums in the modern day, there was the story of how the final battle of the war really felt like: *My eyes shot open. Cannons had been booming outside the castle walls as well as catapults striking the walls. I got out of bed and looked out the barred window. Fires blazed. They had finally arrived. Father had said they were closing in, but them finding us always seemed impossible.*

*My door shot open as my uncle, father’s brother, and my royal bodyguard, Blackberry Urble came in to evacuate me. “Ratchetous! We have to escape immediately!” I was only 6 at the time. I was the king’s son and the city was falling. The Urble Empire were evil and wanted to take our culture away. Things seemed so black and white back then.*

*As we dashed through the castle, I caught glimpses of the white and gold armor belonging to the enemy. They slashed through our men and outnumbered them. Our Urblazium supply quickly ran out as we buried our soldiers with their gear and without headstones. They were lost to time and now only our more seasoned soldiers had it.*

*We caught a glimpse of the man that would eventually become my arch-nemesis. The Immortal. A man who seemed to forgotten his own name as he had lived for centuries, joining the royal family as their personal royal guard. He was stronger and more enhanced. One of the royal family’s advisors, Mitchell, used her sorcery to make him immortal at the price of constant pain as his body decayed with him still being alive over time.*

*I saw the immortal captain slice through our men as we ran through the hallways. We ended up walking out into the main courtyard. We would have kept running but Blackberry stopped me in fear of what was already going on. I saw two men mounted on click-clacks. My father and the Emperor. Cousins reunited, they were talking to each other, my father’s signature sword and shield glimmering in the lantern light. I still remember the confrontation they had.*

*The Emperor didn’t have a helmet on, his long, flowing blonde hair and his snow-white skin being displayed. Urble perfection. “Cousin. We meet again.”*

*My father kept circling the courtyard slowly as they paced around, “That we do. Ready to do this dance one last time?” He gripped the Clipper, his legendary sword capable of firing magical projectiles made of Urblazium from the barrel on the hilt.*

*“Why not end this? This silly charade has been going on long enough. Give up these mountains and join us again and your people will befall no more harm.” He made the offer. He seemed genuine, but the Emperor had that slight hint of evil behind it.*

*My father spat, “Bullshit, cousin. You want to stamp out our prophecies and mine these mountains dry of our resource. Well here’s my answer. The mountains are already dry and you won’t give us this deal.” They raised their weapons at each other and as the Clipper clashed with the Emperor’s blade, an arrow sailed over the castle walls right at me.*

*My uncle jumped in front of me as the arrow lodged in his chest. He crumpled to the ground as he handed me some parchment. A map. He told me to run. Run and not to look back. And so I did. That was the beginning of my new life. As I ran off out of the castle, I realized that there were barely any soldiers left as they had made their way up the mountain to the mines. I saw my father there too. He looked around for me. But I wasn’t there. As soldiers defended me only to get slaughtered by the Immortal, the mineshaft blew up as my people sealed themselves underground.*

*The Immortal dragged me away with the rest of the children as we were carted off to the empire’s gem. Urblania.*

Ratchetous had been captured after the Battle of Slabvalia. He had been given the punishment that the rest of the children of the Armored Urbles had gotten. He would fight in the gladiator stadium of Urblania where they would fight the Immortal. He played up the crowd as the nation’s favorite celebrity. A soldier who represented their greatness and their evil.

After a few years of aging and training, Ratchetous was last. He had seen all his friends go out there into the stadium and none of them to come back. He would. He left the gated room as a crowd of thousands cheered for the Immortal to slaughter the Prince of the AU.

Ratchetous waited for the Immortal to run at him where he dodged out of the way and bashed his shins with the mace he was given. Upon hitting and bludgeoning him over and over, he bashed open a section of the Immortal’s helmet, showing his right eye and the area around it. Ratchetous took a dagger and tried shoving it down into his eye but the Immortal resisted. For the first time in centuries, the Immortal was scared. Ratchetous noticed his cracked, golden skin around his sickly golden eyes. What appeared to be a blessing was really a curse. As he was about to kill him, a voice rang out.

Magnified by Mitchell’s magic, the Emperor’s voice rang out telling the battle to stop and that it had been enough. The Immortal left the battle alive but so did Ratchetous. As he left the stadium dungeon for the first time in years, he felt the rain start to come down on the white streets of Urblania. He smiled.

Ratchetous later bought farmland in the farming town of Triton about thirty miles outside the capitol city’s limits. He started a family and lived a good life. His only regrets were not being with his family. When he had his children, he passed down the map he received from his uncle all those years ago.

(Author’s Note: UE knights, the Immortal, and Emperor Urble (Minus a helmet), all wear intricate armor looking like something I picture as a Fortnite skin. Its a little odd but the skin called the Ageless Champion, being the tier 100 skin from chapter 4 season 1. When he has his armor on, it really is a cool design.)

### Zimmerman’s Reign:

Tens of millenia later, the Urble Empire declined into a dictatorship when Emperess Zimmerman was put in charge. The very day upon her coronation, she set in place many laws restricting the freedom of the population. She was the granddaughter of Emperor Urble as generations passed. Mitchell and the Immortal were still her top advisors as Mitchell and her devil cult had fully infiltrated and controlled the

Four descendants of Urble himself stepped up to lead the resistance. Nurble, Afro, Scar, and Lauren. The four led a short war against Zimmerman’s regime. While it ended her reign, it also ended with the golden and marble palace going up in flames, along with the rest of the capital city. So many unnecessary deaths. The four knew that they had to make it so nobody was more powerful than the other. Four nations (Or colonies) were made. The Nurbles, led by King Nurble. The Zurbles, led by Queen Lauren. The Hurbles, led by General Scar. And the Shnurbles, led by President Afro. For a few decades, they set up territory throughout the planet and held meetings once a month in the new capital city.

### Sororicide:

One day, the Hurbles and Shnurbles took their torches and marched on the Zurble city at night. They broke down the doors and walls and slaughtered and burned the buildings and people of the Zurble colony. To this day, nobody truly knows why they did this, whether it was strategic or not.

The four colonies usually held their meetings once every four moons on Rousseau but this time, the Nurbles noticed the absence of the Zurbles. The Shnurbles came clean. Afro spilled his guts about the raid, guilty of all of it. Nurble and his men stormed out of the senate hall and back to their territory. A new grudge had formed, dooming the lives of thousands of men.

## World War Tuesday:

Nurble had to think. How to give his brothers what they deserve. They take thousands of lives. He takes thousands of lives. He started drafting his people into the army, and he appointed a general to lead them. General Blueberry. A man with blue skin, a perfect strategic mind, a perfect sword fighter, and a badass jetpack.

Blueberry had grown up from the gutter. He saw the Zimmerman Empire fall. He lived in poverty on his farm out in the wetlands with his father. He rode five miles on the back of his family’s most valuable item, their Click-Clack. He rode into town to sell their wares in the market. However, he always saved up enough of his own money to see the Scrimmage games. Scrimmage was a sport invented back in the ancient times. A town or city usually had their own team that played in the league. Teams of thirty would be placed in a battleground. A game of capture the flag or death match was played. It was a delight to watch and sparked Blueberry’s mind at a young age for strategy and the valor of dying in battle.

Blueberry started to send spies into the Hurbles to find information on what kind of weaponry they have. The Hurbles noticed immediately, sending their own spies into the Nurble lines. A plot to start a war called World War Tuesday. The Hurbles knew the war was inevitable, so why not start it themselves?

### The Brutal Battle:

Launching an offensive on a Nurble outpost, a large open field became a graveyard for both Nurbles and Hurbles. Reports came in saying that it was quite literally, an ocean of blood. The green grass was stained red everywhere. There was nowhere that wasn’t blood red. The battle that kicked off the war.

It was Blueberry’s first battle. He recounted his events in his autobiography later on in life, such as his own experience fighting his first duel of the battle. Here is a segment of it:

*I was taken aback. I remember arriving a few hours after the battle had started on my Click-Clack and I was almost immediately taken out by a stray arrow grazing my cheek. I actually still have the scar. The deafening booms of the cannons. The screams around me. It was terrifying, yet exciting. I turned to my second-in-command, Lieutenant Lime. “Split up our reinforcements. Have one side come in from one side of the field, and the other side from the other. Maneuver around them!” I hadn’t shouted so loud in years. Lime had agreed and ran off to relay the orders.*

*I, along with some of my men, had ran head first into the battle. Blood quickly stained our clothes. I had gotten into a duel with one man, however, he didn’t notice one of my men behind him. He was tripped by the man as he fell right onto the tip of my blade, skewering him through the head. Blood trickled down my knuckles, staining them for days, as I couldn’t take a good bath. It was terrible. I’ve been in more brutal battles than that but for some reason, that’s the one that always gives me nightmares.*

The Shnurbles quickly aligned with the Hurbles after hearing about the Nurble plot to start the war, and so, the war went on. Hurble operatives went into a residential area of the Nurbles’ and planted bombs, slaughtering hundreds of civilians. The rest of the war was truly brutal, and most records of it have been lost to time. Like literally. Bombings have destroyed the records.

### The Aerial Attack:

Nurble around this time couldn’t go into the battle himself because he was supporting the start of his new family with his wife and son. So, he hired a brilliant engineer by the name of Landyn Whurble. He was a quirky feller but Nurble took a liking to him. Landyn came up with an idea. Using the use of a new invention of his, the hang glider, he ordered a platoon of Nurble soldiers to glide in from the hills surrounding a quaint, Shnurble mountain town in which they would silently kill the inhabitants and burn to the ground. An interview with Landyn later revealed his thoughts on the matter:

At the time, it was all so exciting. Being hired by the leader of your nation to help win the greatest war ever? It was like being asked to get any candy you wanted as a kid at the candy shop. I had all the resources I needed and now I could let my imagination run wild.

However, I guess it didn’t hit me until after the fact, that I was responsible for those deaths. The reports came back about how instead of killing the people of the mountain town quickly and then burning it down, the Nurble platoon, nicknamed “Whurble Squad”, had taken glee in locking people in their homes and burning them alive. It led me down a dark road. I tried to commit suicide with all the guilt. It almost worked. One of my friends pulled me off the ledge there, but it was a dark time.

I still think of what it must have been like to be a mother. Hugging your child as the flames around you closed in, knowing you would just have to sit there and let them burn you alive. Such innocents. To this day I will never know why war always involves the innocent civilians. Casualties in the crossfire, I guess? I will never know.

As his interview said, the plan didn’t go exactly according to plan. Whurble Squad went in and locked them in their homes, burning them alive like a giant bonfire. While the Nurbles might usually be on the good side of history, that doesn’t mean they did good things.

### The End:

There were many more battles, but far too many to put in this history book. However, it ended with a treaty with the three colonies knowing that continuing this war would lead to no true winner, and more deaths along the way.

It opened up the road to a new age. An age where the Urbles would be leaving home.

## The Space Race:

The Nurbles began work on constructing life support and short-distance space travel. A revolutionary vehicle had been made, known as the Modeship™. It had a cockpit, a small room that could hold about 20 or so soldiers, and was made for hovering, sky travel, as well as short-distance space travel. Using a fleet of these ships, the Nurbles constructed two space stations that orbited the giant planet in tandem. These stations were known as the Left and Right Tyres. These space stations were revolutionary for the time and technology - at least when it came to space travel - boomed overnight. The Shnurbles and Hurbles quickly got word of this and realized they must not be outdone. After all, the two Tyres were enormous, big enough to support the population of small cities.

With that, a new space race had begun. More and more different ways of space travel had been made, with more and more different ships being made. Space Yachts were used by the rich and powerful, being the size of cities in space, despite being only made for the rich. Carrier Ships designed to carry fleets of Modeships which were now being used as vehicles of war. And probably the most influential two inventions of all, the Mothership and the Jumper Engine. The Mothership was an invention by the Nurbles, but truly first utilized by the Hurbles. You see, it was an enormous ship, bigger than the Right and Left Tyres themself, designed to be the biggest ship to ever be seen in a fleet (Which it was), but what was the point when the only things to explore were a few moons and a space station. That was where the Jumper Engine came in to play. The Urble species had known about other habitable systems out in the universe for some time, but they had no way of getting to them. The Jumper Engine, designed by the Hurbles, was a giant piece of machinery capable of jumping into a sort of superspeed to get to other systems within a few days of travel. And with that, Rousseau was no longer the home of Urblekind. The three remaining colonies went off to find their own planets.

Oddly enough, things only seemed to advance in the skies, for on the ground they were still using Click-Clacks as mounts and swords and bows as weapons, and would continue to do so for a long time.

### Two Warring Houses:

King Nurble sent off his one and only son, Kingo, to find a suitable system. He landed on the Dakota system, home to many planets orbiting its star. The first planet they chose was Farber. Landing on it, a first go at colonizing it happened. The first city set up was economically ruled by two warring houses, House Cash and House Tape, both two rich families wanting to make their fortune on this new planet. And that they did. They had two large mansions on opposite sides of the settlement which they jabbed at each other for years on end as Kingo oversaw the expansion of the colony’s rule. A long time friend of Kingo’s, Squiggle Cash, who was part of the Cash family, tried to get him to favor them over House Tape. However, House Tape owned the drilling rights to the reservoir underneath the land, in which Kingo needed access to. While House Cash was more notable in stature, Tape had the resources to offer. Squiggle Cash was a friend of Kingo’s from back in their military days. Squiggle was Kingo’s head of artillery in Nurble City as well and he knew he couldn’t just not take his side. Another young member of house Cash was the young, but brilliant mind, of Cache Cash. An odd name, but he would grow up to be one of the most infamous people in the galaxy.

As the feud went on, it became violent, and Kingo, who was still young and patient, decided to end it through choosing a side. He sided with the Cashes, forcing the Tapes off their land through force with soldiers. With the violence over in the settlement and the first step of colonization successful, Kingo took his ticket back home to Rousseau.

With his return, he came back to a planet of mourning. Over the five years he had been away, his father had grown ill, passing in his sleep while he was away. Kingo was broken. While the other colonies had advanced on their own planets (The Hurbles to the Jaquelyn system on the planet Green and the Shnurbles staying in the Core system along with Rousseau, settling on a large planet called Grossbart.), Kingo went into reclusion for a year, refusing to be coronated as the new king of the Nurbles.

When he finally came into the light, he did it with not just himself mourning, but even Nurble’s forsaken brothers, Scar and Afro. It took place in the now very urban settlement of Farber, the city now named Nurble City after the late king. With Kingo’s coronation, a treaty was also signed to give up all territorial rights of Rousseau from all three colonies, only having one large, shared megacity, with the rest being a land preserve for the native flora and fauna.

Things finally had come to an age where war wasn’t needed. The final main conflict between colonies would come as a surprise to them all.

## The Assembly War:

A young Urble by the name of Wintral had been a nature specialist on Rousseau. He was a veteran of World War Tuesday, turned angry at the world, wanting his revenge. There were many creatures in the galaxy, one of them being the Spible. An eight-legged creature that worked as a hive mind under the rule of the sentient Queen Spible. A Spible the size of a building that lead the thousands of arachnoid creatures. Wintral had something to offer her. Rousseau.

“With my help, we together could lead an organized attack on all of Rousseau, and take it for ourselves.” Wintral offered.

Staring back at him with eight eyes, acid dripping from her mandibles, the Queen telekinetically responded, “We have been here long before Urblekind, and we will be here long after.” The thousands of Spibles started to gather under the guide of Wintral.

He broke into the senate hall, taking the capital megacity for himself. Spibles ran rampant throughout it for days until word got out to the other colonies. But when it did, they all sent their armies to homeworld. A battle occurred as Wintral and the Queen fought against the combined army of Urblekind.

General Blueberry arrived in the megacity, seeing corpses of civilians littering the streets, their bodies torn into by Spibles. The metropolis would take years to rebuild its population and infrastructure. Blueberry was enraged and lead his attack on the main nest made in the senate hall. They eventually managed to take the Queen down, sedating her. Wintral on the other hand, he was taken into custody.

It took weeks to slaughter or scare out all the spibles from the city but by the time they did, millions were dead. It must have felt like the day of reckoning had come for everyone in the city. An apocalypse. The end of days.

Eventually, it was rebuilt. The aftermath was long and grueling. The Queen Spible was kept under sedation and transported via Mothership to an uninhabited planet in the Dakota system known as Farboo. Wintral on the other hand, he went on trial. Here is a transcript of an interrogation with him:

* Interrogator: “Why’d you do it, Wintral?”
* Wintral: “You all deserved it.”
* Interrogator: “What do you mean, Wintral?”
* Wintral: “The people at the top. Who the hell cares if someone did an atrocity? They think that just because they are mad at someone, they can throw their people at each other, not caring what happens. So why can’t I? Why should I care about people’s live when the people at the top don’t? Nurble sure didn’t.”
* Interrogator: “......”

While Wintral was the first major terrorist with the only goal to cause chaos, he surely wouldn’t be the last. He would simply just be an example.

### The First Block:

Farboo wouldn’t be uninhabited for long. One single settlement was constructed on it, a giant cubic facility. Literally a giant black block, visible from satellite, built on the face of Farboo. It was called The Block. It was the first version of The Block, with more being seen in the future. Prisoners from all around the Dakota system were sent to the prison, with the first being Wintral.

## Revolution:

Head of the Tape household, Oliver Tape, would not forget the injustice he was dealt during the settlement of Farber. Forced off their estate, their rights trampled on, and now he was being put in charge of settling new lands across the sea of Farber. How much is one man expected to take?

He flies across the seas on a Modeship and oversees the construction of some new economic center of civilization. Rurbago City. An overseas hub for resources. He oversaw the continent for a few years until he realized something. Why be some lapdog for the Nurbles? They’ve never done anything for him, have they?

Him and his assistant, Steven Bammilton, wrote up a message. They declared a revolution. The rest of the people of the newly settled continent agreed. They named themselves the Rurbles. King Kingo was far too busy to deal with some stupid revolt overseas. Kingo actually had started to become a little unhinged. The once bright-eyed and innovative leader had started to decay, his mind not being the same. He didn’t even think it was worth the time of his top general, Blueberry. So instead he sent the next best thing. Commander Cook. Except, Cook was off planet. Who cares? He’ll just wait until he gets back.

### The Shield’s Tomb:

Cook was on Rousseau, on a mission to investigate an old Armored Urble tomb. Him and his men entered the temple in the Plygrondi Mountains. They entered at their own peril. They knew the risk, but also the reward.

It was an old shrine built by the Urble Empire who believed in three realms. The Holy Realm, where you would go if you generally did good in your life. The Existent Plane, where you would live your life. And the Sacrificed Realm, a hellscape of purple and yellow hues, purple tinted lava oceans, an eternity of nothingness alongside other heathens.

This shrine was a memorial to the people that died in the war against the Armored Urbles, their bodies laid to rest under the temple. They made their way through the main hallway, dodging any ancient traps and poisons, and making their way towards the main chamber. It had many valuables, but sitting on a pedestal in the middle of the room was a highly detailed stone statue. It seemed to be a shrine to the Armored Urbles themselves. A sign of respect towards them, respecting their deaths as well. Cook went on to say in a documentary:

It was highly detailed. An armored man with his arms crossed over his chest, a sleek, metal shield equipped. I was drawn to it. I jerked the shield from the statue and immediately felt the weight of it. It was odd. Heavy, like the sense that it was a weapon requiring skill, but very easy to maneuver with it and using. I didn’t know how much value it really held until later on.

Upon the commander’s return, he and his men analyzed the material of the shield to find it was something not from this plane of existence. Something out of this world. Kingo gave him his order to take an army of two thousand men and attack Rurbago City. With his newfound weapon, Cook went out for the attack.

The shield belonged to the leader of the Armored Urbles, King ArmƟr. He was a great warrior who had two weapons, a shield and a blade, that were made of a practically indestructible material known as Urblazium.

### The Battle of Rurbago:

Cook, his shield on his back, and a mission in his mind, crossed the sea with a fleet of modeships, carrying 2,000 soldiers. With his new piece of equipment, he was ready to prove himself to his superiors. One day, he wanted to be the general, just like Blueberry. Maybe one day he could lead! Just like Kingo. He states:

I was scared. But I wanted to prove myself. Fresh off my heels from a success back on Rousseau, I was ready. I oversaw a platoon of troopers help clear out the megacity after the Assembly War, and I was a trenchman in World War Tuesday. It was exciting to prove myself. I remember how cool it was being up in the cockpit with the pilot. I was used to being in the back, sitting on those god-awful seats attached to the wall. Being shoulder to shoulder with a guy you met in boot camp. Exciting times.

His outlook would change when he landed. They landed a 20 kilometers up the coast, setting up a small settlement that would serve as the main Nurble encampment throughout the war. They stayed there for a few days and eventually moved out, leaving a hundred men behind to defend. The lucky ones rode out on Click-Clacks but most of the regiment was forced to march forward. They did this for a day straight until eventually they made their way to Legchick Hill, just outside of the city. Click-Clacks had been carrying equipment, in which they set up camp on the hill, overlooking the city. They put together their cannons and got ready.

#### 10 PM:

Night fell over the city, but it was still lit up with joy. It was a large, old fashioned metropolis. The main street was home to the new Tape Mansion, as well as the Scarf Theatre. A show was going on, some musical.

One hundred soldiers moved in from the hill, silently marching down main street with their blue uniforms. People on the streets assumed this was just some way to mock the Nurbles. It wasn’t until this first squad marched up to the Tape Mansion and started shouting for him to come down did they think differently. Oliver Tape didn’t come down from his mansion. Coming out was his young adult son, Terry “Scarface” Tape. He was scarred by a Spible as a child and got the nickname ever since.

“What do you fine people want?” He asked, the streetlights illuminating the event. Cook had sent down Officer Davey Smith.

“We have an army awaiting the word to march and attack this city. Give up your independence or face the consequences.” Davey ordered.

Scarface chuckled and gestured to the crowd of civilians, “Now why, my good folk, would I ever do that?” The crowd laughed, the soldiers straight-faced, and Davey angrier than a Nemian Lion fighting a Spible.

“I swear to the Holy Realm above, if you don’t listen to me right now, we will open fi-!” Davey, red faced, caught a throwing knife right between his eyes. He fell to the ground, blood flowing past his eyes and nose.

The blue clad soldiers looked up, not quite knowing what just happened. Scarface stood there, his hand hovering over his belt where he had more knives. The crowd stood there for a second. For a few more seconds, they just stood there, the streetlights flickering. Then all hell broke loose.

#### 11 PM:

The soldiers had broken formation, unsheathing their swords and drawing their old fashioned muskets from their backs. A battle had broken out on main street as Scarface retreated back inside the mansion and the local Rurbago military came in.

By 11 PM, cannons were striking the city from Legchick hill, and more and more soldiers had flooded the city. Cook ran into the city, his shield strapped to his arm. He bashed the heads of Rurbago soldiers and started taking people out. His frenzy only ended when a cannonball landed right in front of him.

His ears were ringing. He wandered around the streets, watching the bloodshed around him. He couldn’t think straight. Shell shock. Somehow, he wasn’t shot. He realized. He realized this was wrong. He didn’t need to prove himself to Kingo or Blueberry. He needed to prove his worth to himself. He regained his mind. He ran into the streets shouting for his men to stop. They followed the order.

“Stop! Everybody, drop your weapons, this is a ceasefire!” He shouted. Rurbago soldiers stopped firing. “We’re joining them.” His men were silent. “I am a Nurble, through and through, but Kingo is wrong for denying these people their independence. And if I am going to sit through this and watch as we slaughter our brothers in arms, then I’d rather be one of them slaughtered. You don’t have to follow my lead, but I beg of you. Please.”

Some of his men agreed. Some didn’t. The battle continued for a while, but the Kingo loyalists were outnumbered.

#### 6 AM:

Any Kingo loyalists were driven out of town. Leading them was a young woman by the name of Lynn “The Orange” Carpel. She was a Kingo loyalist and she brought what little survivors she had back to their encampment at Legchick hill and back to the encampment up the coast.

Cook was off the rails. I stand by the fact to this day that I was doing the right thing, even if history don’t seem to see it that way. She states for the documentary on the revolution. They flew back to the Nurble side of the world to inform them of what had happened.

#### 3 PM:

Embracing Cook in open arms was Oliver Tape. Despite his disdain for the loss of lives and how his city was littered with his people’s bodies, he knew that the idea of a Nurble commander turning to the rebel’s side was nothing short of natural propaganda. As the cleanup project began, Oliver through a party. While it is looked back as a bit of an inappropriate decision because of such a recent battle, it was right in the moment.

A garden party with the whole city invited in the large backyard property of the Tape Mansion. “A toast to our new friends! To Cook and the Nurble traitors of the 37th regiment!” While it was great for the Rurbles, Kingo was outraged.

### Landyn’s End:

Not just Kingo being outraged at the news, but Blueberry was disappointed in his pupil. “HOW? Why are my men turning on me?” He chucked a chair at the wall, it shattering into pieces.

Blueberry sat in the office in silence. “Sir, I’m sorry about this turn of events. If it means anything, that Orange girl did the right thing. At least we have tha-” Blueberry was cut off by Kingo chuckling.

“Loyalty. That’s all we need. If only the whole army could be as loyal as you. Bring Landyn Whurble out of retirement. I need something else.” Kingo had ordered something of Landyn that seemed impossible. He wanted him to clone Blueberry. A fully commendable army.

Landyn didn’t want to after his guilt over Whurble Squad, but Kingo didn’t give him a choice. Landyn, being the genius he was, churned out an invention in a few day’s time. He took Blueberry’s DNA, and churned out one thousand elite soldiers, identical to Blueberry.

These would later be named the Top One Thousand. A new invention also came to be known as plate armor. Almost like a very hard plastic, plates covering the bodies of the soldiers. Their blue skin and blue armor would be recognizable as a symbol of both hope and fear throughout the galaxy. The Top One Thousand were all painted their numbers on their right breast plate. This would mark them as important. Notorious.

Once again, if I had known what horrible things that my invention was going to be used for, I would have never invented it at all. Of course, Kingo didn’t give me any choice anyways. Even going down in history as one of the smartest men to ever live, doesn’t pale in comparison to the atrocities these men will commit.

Kingo had me install programming in their minds. Around one hundred orders that only the leader of the Nurbles can execute. I still don’t know what they are but I can only assume they’ll be used for nefarious purposes. That’s all I’m legally allowed to say on the matter anyhow.

Weeks later, Landyn was found dead in his apartment in Nurble City. He had hung himself. The depression had hit him hard, and Kingo wouldn’t allow him to see help, fearing he would reveal his secrets.

### The Cal-Mark Division:

This platoon of one thousand soldiers was sent across the seas, led by Blueberry himself. They knew that Cook had a legendary weapon, so they had to get one of their own. Blueberry took a shot at finding his own weapon, and the Nurble explorers made it happen. It resulted in the Clipper. The sharpest blade in the galaxy, unable to be dulled. The brother of Cook’s shield, being the blade that ArmƟr used in his day. The hilt also doubled as a pistol, the first in the galaxy to shoot bullets at such speeds of modern weaponry, unlike the muskets of the time.

Blueberry was fitted with armor like his men, except he got a menacing helmet, covering his face. The blue armor fit well with his high-tech jetpack, with sleek red painting on it. He also took along with him Orange, who was now fitted with an orange version of the armor, with a red jetpack to match. All that for loyalty.

They landed on Legchick hill. They didn’t wait. They ran into the city streets, the newly made Cal-Mark division of the Nurble military being the most skilled soldiers to ever see battle. If the Rurbago soldiers weren’t prepared from the previous battle, then they would have been swept. However, with Cook’s help and knowledge of Nurble Tactics, they managed to fend them off for a good while. Cook states:

Its funny looking back on it now. I got in a duel with Orange. Felt like a playground rivalry, fighting for the approval of a more popular friend, being Blueberry. We fought like no tomorrow. It broke my heart when I did that to her. I knocked her to the ground and rose my shield above her, bashing it down on her a few times, giving her some permanent damage.

Whole battle was terrible though. Really just a real bloodbath. Seeing those Cal-Marks for the first time. They’d eventually grow on me, but it was scary seeing your mentor die on the battlefield over and over again. But when it came down to it, the skill of one of those Cal-Marks in a sword fight is worth any ten Rurbles.

Seeing Blueberry though, in that new outfit. Downright chilling. Faceless. Just a straight, menacing grimace etched into the helmet as he slashed through my men. Seeing your mentor do that is scary, man. Even for me.

The Cal-Mark division proved their worth that day. Kingo invested immediately in replacing his draft army of unreliable civilian soldiers, and replacing them with his Cal-Marks. He started investing in large facilities to start cloning them in mass, although their amplified body strength and reflexes were toned down, making the Top One Thousand unique, even among their clone brothers.  Each member of the TOT was given their own regiment of 200 soldiers, turning the Nurble military, 200,000 strong with 1,000 regiments of soldiers, all led by their own highly skilled operative.

Kingo wasn’t done. He would make these rebels pay for what they did.

### Grape Bay:

A small town on the coast, around 80 kilometers up the coast from Rurbago was a settlement known as Grape Bay. Led by Cal-Mark 389, nicknamed Roper,  led the 389th regiment on an attack on the settlement. They killed off anyone who defended the town and took the locals prisoner. Roper, by order of Kingo, forced a group of fifty women and children to their knees, and then the broadcast started.

Over on Grossbart, the Shnurbles had invented Intergalactic Broadcasting, which could send a live video message at all times. It had brought a lot of good things like television shows and Intergalactic News. But the broadcast in Grape Bay would go down in history. The broadcast was to the people of Rurbago, namely Oliver, Scarface, and Cook. It showed a Cal-Mark lieutenant by the name of Roper in front of the people on their knees, each with a Cal-Mark holding a knife to their throat.

Greetings, people of Rurbago City. This is your final warning. If you don’t surrender your lands back to us now, it will no longer be a few battles. This will be war. Bloody and brutal.

To prove to you we are not bluffing, we shall make an example of what happens to settlements that fight back against us. ON MY COMMAND!

He stopped talking to the broadcast. It simply showed him raise his arm, and then bring it down quickly, in tandem with the Cal-Marks slitting the throats of all fifty women and children. The broadcast was shown all over the planet. Both Nurbles and Rurbles sat there, shocked. It was quiet. Just the bodies falling into the sand, as the waves lapped up on them, bringing their blood out to sea.

Oliver couldn’t believe his eyes as the women and children fell to the ground, their bodies lifeless.

Let this be an example. Insurrection shall not be tolerated. Grape Bay would go onto be the base of operations for the Nurbles for the rest of the war effort. Jabs at each other occurred, and all-out battles were common.

### The Second Battle:

The Second Battle of Rurbago was the one that finished the war. It was also where the infamous duel between Cook and Blueberry took place, Cook’s shield still having the dent from the Clipper to show for it.

The whole Nurble Cal-Mark division was sent in to surround the city from all sides, storming down the streets, striking down any soldier or civilian they see. Orders are orders after all.

#### Surrounded:

Reports of movement on the horizon came from watchtowers outside the city. They saw movement nearing the city so the soldiers in the towers sent their reports back. They had no idea what was really coming.

Many Cal-Marks fought that day at Rurbago who would one day become famous. Almost all of them actually. Blueberry, Dart, Mikey,

Reports came back and Tape ordered Scarface and Cook to start mobilizing troops to defend from that side of the city. The Rurble military was rounded up and soon enough, a menacing 10,000 soldiers were stationed just outside Rurbago, awaiting the attack.

#### Duel:

When they were met by the 974th and 889th regiments, they were confused at such a little force was thrown at them. The Cal-Marks still managed to do damage, but they weren’t enough to fight off the Rurbago military. Thats when reports came in across the city of havoc in the streets as civilians and soldiers stationed back in Rurbago were being slashed down in the streets as the other 998 regiments stormed the city.

It was a bloodbath. Men, women, and children were slaughtered on sight, as Blueberry and Orange darted around, slashing down any who tried to defend the city. It wasn’t until 9:30 that warriors like Cook and Scarface could get to the city streets and fight off these behemoths of power that were Blueberry and Orange.

Today, a famous statue stands in the Memorial Gardens of New Nurblania, depicting the infamous three-way duel between Scarface, Cook, and Blueberry. In Blueberry’s autobiography, he talks about the duel, detailing its finer points:

I was on R Street, which was the large road that led to Main Street, forming a T-intersection. I had my armor on, hiding my face. This was the first time I really felt what it was like to be feared. I was just following orders, but I regret it to this day. I killed so many innocents. They feared me.

I was marching down R street, almost to the intersection. I remember shouting orders to my men, “Burn down buildings!”, “Kill them all!”, those kinda things. Cook had turned the corner, and flinched when he saw me see him. It gave me a false sense of security, seeing the fear in his eyes. Looking back, I don’t think it was fear. Just realization. He knew what I was in that moment. And he knew what he had to do.

Scarface turned the other corner, and unsheathed his blade. I knew what was going to happen in that moment. Maybe it was just my loyalty that pushed me so hard. But I think it might have just been my own bloodlust in that moment.

That was Blueberry’s side of how it started, but Cook has his own thoughts on the duel itself:

Scarface and I rushed him. Scar tried slashing him and I tried to throw my shield at his jetpack. He managed to lift off the ground and get behind us. It was a flurry of jabs and slashes before I managed to get a good bash at his armor.

He crumpled to his knees, the wind must have been knocked out of him. Scarface took the chance. He slashed his hand, disarming him, and took the Clipper.

While I bashed his jetpack, putting it out of commission, Scarface had taken his helmet off. Blueberry was out in the open. We could’ve killed him. He deserved it. We could have. Some say we should have. But instead, Scarface put both blades too his neck, crossing over each other. “Yield and call off this war. You have the power to do so, so do it.”

I remember his eyes. He seemed scared, but somewhat relieved. Almost as if he knew that if he was given a good reason to call off the bloodshed, then he wouldn’t be punished for it later. So he did. The battle ended around 10:30 PM.

#### Peace:

And that it did. The battle was called off. Despite Kingo’s orders, Blueberry ended the war as well, signing the peace treaty. Blueberry, despite his orders, was happy that the bloodshed had ended. The next five days were cleanup. The field surrounding Legchick Hill was known as the Rurbago War Cemetery, as all that were killed in the first and second battles of Rurbago, from both sides, were buried there. It stands to this day.

Celebrations in the streets across the newly freed nation. Independence. The newly crowned King Tape was proud of his work, not needing the approval of some overseas monarchy to tell him what he could and could not do.

For that week and that week only, he allowed drinking in the streets. Partying. The party felt eternal, residents stated.

Kingo wasn’t happy about this loss. Not happy at all. He considered executing Blueberry, but he knew he was too valuable of a soldier. Luckily, the Nurbles would soon have a new enemy that was actually worth their time.

## The Rest of the Galaxy:

### Update:

While most of Urble history is focused on the Dakota system, there was some turmoil in the other regions of the galaxy. As we know, Rousseau was the home planet of the Urbles. The other two main nations of the galaxy was the Hurbles and the Shnurbles. The Hurbles moved to the Jaquelyn system where they became fairly peaceful but also very innovative and economically strong on Green.

The Shnurbles on the other hand settled on a very large planet known as Grossbart. It was very close to Rousseau, also being in the Core System. They quickly industrialized. The Shnurbles, while it is unfortunate, made their empire on slavery. Lots of slavery. They were an innovative lot, but they were cruel. Under President Afro’s rule, he implemented the stack method. The economic classes of their civilization was built on literal stacks on the planet’s surface. The slaves and lower class would work and live in underground cities while the middle class would live on the surface, still suffering from the major pollution of Grossbart. The rich and powerful would live up in steampunk sky cities above the polluted atmosphere where they could enjoy the exploits of the lower classes.

Rousseau held the largest city in the galaxy. It was visible from space among the rest of its terrain, a large splotch of gray and orange being Megatropolis. It was the core of the galaxy and was home to many things such as the Assembly War memorial and the large senate hall. The senate hall was where nations and organizations would hold meetings with their leaders all coming to Rousseau to meet. Almost every meeting consisted of an argument between the Shnurbles and the rest of the galaxy on the morality of their exploits, but when it came down to it, everybody else also prospered from the Shnurble economy, so it never really got fixed.

Micronations existed such as the Rousseau Republic, which was the micro government that ran Megatropolis and such. There were also small nations such as the Crurbles or the Gurgles, but they were short lived. Over time, the Dakota system was home to most of the galaxy’s drama, except for one major event that rocked the media.

### The Hurble Infection:

A plague had broken out in the capital city of the Hurbles. The capital city was situated in a lush valley built along a glistening blue river. It was beautiful. However, many Hurbles started contracting a deadly disease that was often fatal.

Some strands of the disease mutated people’s genes making them somewhat superhuman but also very disabled. The planet went on lockdown as the galaxy did their best to help support a cure. Eventually, however, they couldn’t do such a thing. They basically just let the disease fizzle out as the galaxy built an immunity. Most people lost confidence in General Scar who still led the Hurbles, and many Hurble immigrants flocked to places like Nurble City, Megatropolis, and Rurgbago. However, after the disease, the Hurbles stayed strong in their numbers and slowly repopulated once more under Scar’s rule.

## One-Eye:

The galaxy hadn’t seen a terrorist threat since the Assembly War, so time had passed long enough for someone to fill such a power vacuum. The power vacuum was filled by a young man, with a vendetta against a childhood bully. Someone discriminated against by his peers, and tired of it. Someone who could rile up a crowd with just his words. Someone named Cyclops.

### Childhood:

Cyclops was what his peers would call, a freak. Racism wasn’t exactly commonplace in the galaxy, but it wasn’t unheard of. His skin was a rare hue of dark purple, but that wasn’t the main thing about him that made his peers dislike him. He was born with one giant eye, making him an easy target for bullying.

He went to school with someone, now famous for their triumphs and their massacres. Blueberry. Blueberry was popular at school and got good grades, but he was also Cyclops’ number one hater. He thought that he was freakish and that he was a threat to society. Unfortunately for the stereotype of the rare birth defect, the threat to society part wasn’t exactly false.

The bullying started out as youngsters, with just name-calling and spreading rumors. But it got violent one day on Cyclops’ walk home from Nurble City’s downtown academy.

Cyclops had been walking down an alleyway when two members of Blueberry’s posse blocked it off, smirking. Cyclops tried to turn around but was met with two more, as well as Blueberry.

“What’s going on, one-eye?” Blueberry said, antagonizing him. “Going back home to write out your plans for world domination or something?” He said, shoving him to the ground.

Cyclops got up from the ground and readied himself. He wasn’t going to let them push him around this time. He threw a punch at one of Blueberry’s boys, catching him in the jaw and knocking him to the ground. Cyclops got a rush of satisfaction as he did it, but Blueberry and his boys looked at their friend, shocked. He had hit the ground, his head splitting open on a jagged and broken brick.

Cyclops knew he screwed up. Not just in a moral way, but he knew that Blueberry wasn’t going to let him get away with it. He tried making a run for it but was grabbed by one of the boys and held there, facing Blueberry. “You fucked up. And now…” he trailed off, throwing a punch into Cyclops’ stomach, “...you’re gonna pay for it!” He shouted as him and his boys beat the living hell out of him.

It was a full hour of agony. Blueberry and his boys were finally done with it as they walked off, leaving their friend’s body so they don’t get caught for their bullying as well.

Instead, they left an anonymous tip, blaming it on Cyclops, which technically was his fault.

Nurble minutemen broke down Cyclops’ family’s door, taking him away, locking him in prison for his foreseeable future.

And that was where he sat. When the first Block opened, he was transported there, being in the medium security district. It was where only low-life criminals were kept, with anyone important, like Wintral, being kept in SuperMax.

But after being in prison for a good fifty years, Cyclops was finally out. And he had a long time to think about the injustice he was given. He got a ticket on a transport to Farber. He landed on the planet, setting foot on home soil, which he hadn’t done in years. The Urble lifespan made it so he was still only a young adult, but it didn’t mean he matured from hiding his face. He wore a wide-brimmed hat, and always looked down. For a while, he tried looking for jobs. However, you don’t make it far in the applications process when looking like he did.

When he heard about the newly found country overseas, he thought maybe the people who hated the Nurble regime as much as he did, might be more accepting. He didn’t get an amazing job there, not just because of his looks, but his history of being a Block inmate. He made a career in doing hard labor in a Rurble quarry. He operated the large drilling machines, and did a good job doing it. For a few years, thats what he did. He didn’t seek education all that much and didn’t really care. He was promoted by the drilling company to overseer of his quarry. He was making good money and had a fine life.

On a summer vacation trip to the big city of Rurbago, he had a revelation that left him infuriated. He visited the Rurbago War Cemetery and gazed at the statue of Blueberry and Cook shaking hands. The statue was detailed enough for Cyclops to recognize him. It sent him down a rabbit hole of researching what his old bully was doing there. He found out about him leading the Nurble military. Him being the genetic donor to the whole Cal-Mark division. Oh, the injustice he was dealt.

And so, he had a new purpose in life. Bringing justice to those who were wronged by the Nurbles. Wronged by Blueberry.

### One-Eye Rising:

He went back across the sea to find a place of operation. An abandoned ghost town called Enton, about a hundred miles away from Nurble City. Nobody would catch onto him here. Enton had made it big when it was used for processing electricity with all its power plants, but when Kingo became leader, and stopped investing in the town, it quickly was abandoned. It was perfect.

He began finding others like him, with the one-eye defect. He got a good group of fifty or so to start setting up a good base of operations in Enton. They revitalized the power plants and got the lights back on. Then, they started campaigning. To the poor, to the shunned, to the ex-inmates. Anyone that didn’t have a horse in the race of life. He quickly got them on his side. They would make their message clear.

Across the course of a few months, they planted a rows of bombs that would start fires. Fires, which being viewed from space, would spell out, ‘One-Eye Rising’. The bombs went off, a line of them going through Nurble City, right down the alley that he was beaten in.

Blueberry was put in charge of the endeavor, investigating into the case. He remembered Cyclops from childhood, being a possible link to the name One-Eye, It was his nickname for the kid. But he was in prison…

He found out that he was released from the Block, about a year prior. But why now? A week after the bombings, a Cal-Mark was found, hung, in the alley that Cyclops was beaten in. A note was left:

Sorry, Blue. Thought it was you.

An autopsy report found that every bone in his body was broken. He knew it had to be Cyclops. He was the only one to call him by his first name, and not his full name, Blue Berry.

They hypothesized that he must have been beaten with some kind of weapon to do that much damage. But no… oh, no. Cyclops had engineered a new steroid that gave him a sort of temporary super strength. What he didn’t know is that it caused heart problems later in life. Blueberry tracked the One-Eye terrorist group to Enton. A midnight assault on the small town led to the deaths of a few Cal-Marks, but mainly the few hundred members of One-Eye. The Cal-Marks swept through easily, but were stopped when they reached a group of One-Eye soldiers who had injected themselves with the steroid. They were like monsters, their muscles bulging and their veins pumping. They were hit by bullets, but it didn’t matter. They were temporary super soldiers, like the Top One Thousand themselves. Cal-Marks stood no chance as the ten or so One-Eyes swept through them, knocking them to the side.

By 1 AM, the steroids had worn off and they terrorists were shot dead. The only one left to find was Cyclops…

### Power Plant Alpha:

Blueberry braved it alone as he flew to the outskirts of town where the power plants lay. He squeezed his way through the winding beams of metal and wires, the Clipper at his side, a flashlight attached. Voice recordings on his body armor picked up the event:

“You didn’t think I forgot about what you did to me, did you?” Cyclops’ voice echoed through the power plant. He heard scurrying as Blueberry made his way through.

“What I did to you wasn’t fair, I see that now. Not just come out and lets talk this out.” He said, trying to reason with him.

Laughs echoed throughout the chambers, “Come out and talk? Yeah, right. I saw what you did to my men out there. My residents. They were innocent, and you shot them without thinking. How many have you condemned to death, or a life of solitude in the Block. People who didn’t deserve it.” He said, laughing.

Before Blueberry could react, Cyclops slammed down on him from above, breaking his newly fixed jetpack. He kept slamming Blueberry, breaking him. Giving him the same treatment that he gave to him. He laughed and laughed but he started to notice his heart start to hurt. It went from some heartburn, to his chest having sharp flashes of pain. He stumbled backwards, holding his heart. Blueberry had to take the chance. He unsheathed the Clipper, and tripped Cyclops, sending him reeling back into a tangle of wires, his body lighting up with electricity. His skeleton was visible through the flesh as he cried out in agony. Blueberry ran out of the power plant, turning off the power. The screams were halted. He ran inside, trying to see if he was alive. He checked his pupils. They wouldn’t dilate. His heartbeat was gone.

Just like that, Blueberry had condemned this lost soul to death. The One-Eye group was gone, but Blueberry went into a mental crisis. He wanted to hang up his gear, but Kingo forced him to still work. Kingo offered to give him a mental helper. A brain chip that the Cal-Marks have that help their mental health. Blueberry accepted the gracious offer and had one installed. He felt better soon after.

### The Shiny Division:

In response to the terrorist threat, Kingo founded a new division in his Nurble military. A division where people with unique abilities would be trained. For example, being put in charge of the Shiny division was a man by the name of Root Beer, or Rootbeer. He was a mutated Hurble who survived the Hurble Infection on the planet, Green. With this, he now had the power to kill someone with a single touch of his finger, so he wears heavy leather gloves.

Other members of Shiny division was Woody Chippington, nicknamed Woodchip because of his ability to generate a wooden suit of armor and wooden weapons. A green man by the name of Vineage, who could produce thorny vines and such to swing around on or restrain enemies. He also wore a hardened leaf mask, hiding his true face. There was a shiny by the name of Glaze, a man with expert martial art abilities, and skin hard as metal. There was Darius Threeton, who could make up to two temporary clones of himself. Lemon who had a jetpack just like Blueberry and Orange. An elderly man with white skin by the name of Ghost who was in a life support suit, but could go invisible and phase through objects. Dr. Adrian Bot was a super genius who Kingo put in charge of his whole science division of the nation. A shiny named Clown who was a genius who survived his modeship crashing and went crazy in the jungle by himself, and then came back. Still crazy, but a genius, and expert martial artist.

Also, the whole Rurble military, like the Nurble military is called the Cal-Mark division, they name their military the Rookie Division.

## Migration:

The Rurbles started to colonize more and more of their continent but were not expecting what they would find. Leading the expedition was Scarface’s son, Rookie, who was exploring the new world. They were going through a tropical mountain pass when they were faced with a dilemma. A sleeping giant. The first discovered of its kind. A Nemean Lion, that they nicknamed, Bobbi. She was a feline monster with black fur. One of her legs seemed to be ripped off by some ancient fight, so she was tripedal.

They tried not to wake her, but as they snuck past, they were attacked by another beast. Another Nemean Lion known as Henry. It almost destroyed their entire platoon and they tried getting out of the mountain pass. They boarded their modeships and tried flying away when a much bigger beast, the size of the mountains themselves, revealed itself. An Alpha Fluff Bug known as Duke took out most of their small fleet with a wave of its paw.

Rookie got out of there quick but it was too late. They had gained the attention of the three monsters, who followed them back across the continent, sniffing their trail, and leaving havoc in their path.

Rookie managed to get back to Rurbago where he managed to get the word out to the public. Soon, the whole planet was buzzing with fear. A press conference with Kingo revealed his plans:

“We have considered many options. However, attacking these monsters would just be too expensive, as well as most likely resulting in many casualties, despite not even knowing if we will succeed. Instead, we are offering free tickets and travel for any Nurble and Rurble to migrate to Farboo and settle there.” He said into the microphone. The crowd boomed with questions, cheering, and criticisms. “Calm down, everybody calm down. No Urble will be left behind in the migration unless they wish to stay.”

And just like that, the whole seven billion Urbles on the planet started their transport to new settlements on Farboo. Mainly, the Nurbles’ mothership was heavily utilized, the S.S. Abby. People left in masses, and metropolitan cities like Rurbago and Nurble City were ghost towns within weeks.

### Cityscapes:

People would need new places to live so the two new main cities on Farboo were built on the Southern continent which had a nice climate. Plans were set in place for the two cities to be built so the two nations could have their own economic hubs.

The main Nurble city was known as Nurblania. Unlike Nurble City, which was haphazardly built and expanded upon itself, Nurblania had time to be planned out in advance and was made to last. Its massive downtown portion had skyscrapers, with the tallest building on record being built there, known as Pringle Tower, being over 500 meters tall. Pringle Tower was known as Nurblania’s Gem, owned by John Pringle. Nurblania also had its canal district which had canals and boats instead of streets. So with the canal district, the downtown area, and the suburbs, the city was booming within a few months, with a population of around ten million. Hovervehicles were not invented yet, so the main form of transport outside of the canal district was still just Click-Clacks or in the larger cities, rail systems.

The main Rurble city was founded as Rurble Town, being built in a circular fashion, always expanding in rings around the main Capitol Tower in the center. Unlike Nurblania, Rurble Town wasn’t built in the Southern continent and was actually on the equator. While Nurblania was very busy because of its business and economic capabilities, Rurble Town was bustling because of its mining business, being surrounded by quarries and drilling cites where precious resources were excavated from the ground.

Of course there were hundreds of other smaller settlements but there was one place that was set up that was more on the secret side. Cal-Marks had found large frozen beasts on the Southern continent where they seemed to be still alive, just frozen inside the ice underground. A large facility was set up to monitor and research them, known as Area 37.

Kingo also ordered a draft for a new division of the military, this time not being clones. They would wear lime colored armor and would be known as the Lime Legion. They were led by an operative Shiny known as Lime, who, like Blueberry, Orange, and Lemon, could fly, but this time with rocket boots instead of a jet pack. Lime was also very kind and moral. The Lime Legion were a sort-of makeshift police force for the city of Nurblania. They were a kind police force, but could be brutal when need be.

#### TP:

A vigilante who wrapped himself in tattered white and yellowed cloths to hide his body stalked the city of Nurblania, bringing criminals to justice. People nicknamed him TP after the cloths on his body, almost poking fun at him. However, he was also a good man. He kept streets clean. His main enemy was the gang known as the Orange Gang. Their leader was Lil Biggie.

Biggie grew up in the canal district, running drugs from the beginning, knowing about the industry. TP was his enemy. In reality, they were foils to each other. Opposites. TP’s identity wasn’t known by the public, but he was truly the eccentric John Pringle, who used high-tech gadgetry to take people down.

Besides Biggie, TP did have one other nemesis being the superpowered individual known as Evilman. Evilman was a cartoonish villain who never really had any true threatening schemes but definitely had the potential to do so. Evilman had the power to shoot lasers out of his eyes, had ice breath, super strength, x-ray vision, flight, superhuman speed, a healing factor, and a basic form in invulnerability. He wore a sleek black suit with white accents tight to his body showing off his muscles. He was honestly the most powerful person ever. There was an array of other villains he fought such as Merman (An Urble who could breathe underwater and with the help of his magical quartz spear he found in an underwater tomb on Rousseau, he can control water. He’s mainly a villain

Gang wars, canals, skyscrapers, trillionaires, vigilantes, alter-egos, supervillains, and crime-fighting. Nurblania sure was an interesting place.

### The Purple Sheep:

The Rurble Military consisted of mostly just applicant soldiers but they needed a better source of military power when it came to their numbers. So, they looked to the Nurbles, who had engineered their Cal-Mark division through cloning. King Tape decided to take a visit to the cloning facilities, which were facilities built on stilts above the oceans of Farboo.

Tape landed on one of the modeship ports and made his way across the bridge to the main facility. Before he reached the door, it opened by itself as the man who led the Nurble science division, Dr. Bot, walked out with open arms. “Ah, how are you, Mr. Tape?” He said, shaking his hand.

“Good, good. I was wondering if I could have a meeting with Kingo? The Rurbles are in need of a new military, and we thought maybe we could pay you for one.” He replied. Dr. Bot guided Tape inside and through the long corridors to get to his office. He passed the main reception room where a statue of Landyn Whurble stood, his hand across his chest, a hopeful look on his face.

They walked into the main office. Dr. Bot was also the inventor of Holotechnology. They went into the office and called Kingo, who appeared as a life-sized hologram.

“Ah, Tape. What is it you need, old friend?” Kingo asked. Tape explained his need for a quick source of military personnel that would be loyal. “I see. Sure,  I can produce them for you. All I’ll charge is that I get to put my the brain chips in them. Just so they can’t disobey any of your orders. Its just protocol.” Tape didn’t see anything wrong with that. How could he predict that this decision would be the worst one of his life?

You see, by now, Kingo had descended into a very dark mental state. He had been manipulating his own little pet project. The brain. He wanted to be able to make his armies’ brains, his brain. The Cal-Mark brain chip was what he used. Filled with about 100 different protocols that he can order, turning off any personality or separate loyalties that the Cal-Marks may have, and now, he had the power to control the Rurble military as well, disguising it as graciousness.

The Rurbles renamed the Rookie Division to the R-Force.

### Shuttle and Cache:

Kingo was going crazy. A tactical genius, but insane. With Blueberry and Dr. Bot overseeing the operation, he started to secretly construct a space station known as Shuttle. It would be able to fire a high power beam that can wipe out cities from space. What did he plan on using it for? We still don’t know to this day. Perhaps he could have used it on his enemies. The Rurbles, maybe? The other nations out in the galaxy? Or perhaps his own cities…

He though that his people had become too reliant on the cities and companies that help them in these days of urbanization and technology. Kingo wanted to make them realize who they relied on. So he started talks with a fellow psychopath. The young, but brilliant Cache Cash. He had been a researcher for the Nurbles for some time, but left the organization when he had a disagreement with the new head research who replaced him, Dr. Bot.

Not many people know exactly what Kingo and Cache talked about, but there were some recordings of their conversations:

“So. I understand you have the blueprints to make a superweapon.” Kingo said. “You just need the funding.” There was a pause and then Cache spoke up.

His voice was young and almost warm and welcoming, however there was something else. A sense of uneasiness put on anyone who heard his voice. As if something bad was going to happen.

“Yes. If I could get the materials, then I can show Nurblania what you want. Show them that they rely on the government. Or at least that they should.”

Kingo wanted Cache to attack the city as a terrorist, just like Wintral and Cyclops. That was the plan. A tragedy. A tragedy that would lead right into another one…

## The Orb:

The galaxy had problems with a currency system. Trading and such was a little barbaric and they needed a currency to be used throughout. While Cache Cash was still working under Dr. Bot, he founded the Galactic Banking System, or the GBE, as well as Bot making the Holowatch, a watch that latches tightly to an Urble’s wrist and could pull up many applications via hologram. Its also how transactions can be made through the GBE and the credit system. Credits were the currency, digital and physical.

Through the credit system, Cache was transferred five billion credits from the Nurble treasury itself, instead of his personal account, which would arouse suspicion later on. Cache bought property on the moon of Farboo, Farbree. Farbree was a wetland moon, and was pretty sizeable compared to other moons in the galaxy.

He built a large underground warehouse below the wetlands where he started his work. Large slabs of metal. Wiring and reactors. Within months, he had completed his project through the help of Cal-Mark workers, under the influence of one of Kingo’s orders. A metal orb, a gyrosphere. It was the height of a skyscraper with the power to flatten buildings.

### The Attack:

Sunny. That’s what reports said of that day. It was going to be sunny all day, with clear skies that night to see the stars. The Pringle Tower gala would be happening that night. A block party in the canal district. This was the very news report by the Nurblania news:

On screen was the upcoming celebrity, Baby Blue, who would eventually be the anchor for Intergalactic News. He had baby blue skin and wore a baby blue suit. “Good morning, Nurblania, my pride and joy. Its going to be a good day. Its sunny out with an eleven percent chance of rain in the canal district. Let’s hope not, folks, because tonight is the annual canal district block party. As well, the Pringle Tower Gala is tonight, with anyone in town invited. Over to you, Rosie, with sports.” The camera panned to Rosie O’Hara, who talked about the recent win for Nurblania in the Scrimmage Leagues.

Such a hopeful day. Ruined. Reports came in from the scalding hot desert outside Nurblania city limits. A large mass appeared on the horizon. The Orb. People were confused. The news didn’t want to cover it just yet, in case it was something dumb. You don’t want to panic people, do you? If they did cover it on the news, maybe more people would’ve lived.

It struck a fueling station for modeships just outside town. Then it was havoc. It was only ten minutes before it reached the downtown sprawl. So many dead, and it was only noon. The Lime Legion did their best, reports flying in to the nearest military base, being Area 37. They sent out Cal-Mark regiments and modeships but the Orb was causing enough chaos already. The Lime Legion weren’t enough

Luckily, one man actually managed to do a lot of damage. The hero the city needed. TP. He managed to swoop in and save people from the wrecked buildings. He saved a few hundred people. He also stuck sticky bombs to the Orb, actually doing damage, denting it. Unfortunately, his body was found, in a coma. He had been rolled over by concrete and such, much of his bones broken. Kingo ordered for his body to be put in storage.

Cal-Marks arrived and opened fire on the monstrosity, trying to do damage. The metal shell was basically impenetrable. They fought their best. Blueberry and Lime were the main military leaders fighting the thing. They didn’t know what to do. This wasn’t spurred by anything. This was absolutely insane. Cache was inside the orb. Controlling every movement.

### Titans Awakened:

It wasn’t until later that night, with the sun down, that they managed to fight it off. Cache was insane, but he was panicking. He rolled out of the city, out near Area 37. He abandoned ship, leaving the wrecked orb behind. It eventually exploded before Cal-Marks could get there. This explosion. It shook the ground, awaking the titans, frozen in the ice. It didn’t even need to damage the ice. Their strength alone was enough to break themselves out, heavily damaging the Area 37 facility as well as releasing them into the continent. Monsters. Behind the ice, a fog came out. It enveloped the continent, toxic if in it for extended exposure such as a few days. The continent was covered in brown fog, up to the atmosphere. The rest of the planet was fine, but now it was a hellscape down there, a foggy hell where behemoths roamed.

### Cleanup:

Nurblania. It was wrecked. Giant beasts roamed the wasteland that was the once habitable continent. Rurble Town was far away on a different part of the world, so they were fine. But  the canals of Nurblania were polluted and flooded. Pringle Tower had fallen over. The only building still in service was Nurblania General Hospital which was treating thousands of patients, including many Shinies that had fought against the Orb.

This was all because of Kingo. Kingo somewhat regretted what he did, but to be honest, he didn’t care. Cal-Mark regiments rolled out into the newly dubbed Gaslands to find the monster that was Cache. They found him passed out from gas exposure on a dusty plateau. If they didn’t find him sooner, he would have been a Titan’s supper. He was shipped off to the Block to recover, and would be interrogated later. Meanwhile, the Nurbles had to at least handle the Titans a little bit. There was so many. They managed to sedate a few and lock them into giant paddocks at Area 37, which was still fully running, even with the attack. The paddocks included the Queen Spible who had been transported from Rousseau. A giant bat-like titan with leathery wings, and soft fur was also put in a paddock. It was nicknamed Batty. There were numerous smaller Titans that they recovered but the largest one had to be Bobo. Bobo was a primate being. But he was big. Gigantus. About double the height of Pringle Tower, he was a majour threat to Urble kind on Farboo. So he was kept in a giant paddock, the paddock being the largest building to ever be built, even taller than Pringle Tower.

Kingo was worried. He stressed and had frequent anxiety attacks. What should he do? If he let Cache recover, there would be no telling what he could say. He couldn’t execute him yet, the public would be outraged. So he just bided his time as Cache was kept on life support, sucking the pollutants out of his lungs, being watched over by Cal-Mark 11, nicknamed Ticker. Ticker was the warden of the Block and watched over Cache carefully. Since Wintral, this was the biggest inmate they’d ever had. Time would tell what he would say…

## Protocol 37:

Nurblania General Hospital was supporting thousands of patients, and also acted as a makeshift shelter from the wastelands. The 900,000 or so that survived the attack sheltered or recovered there. The Lime Legion, still around 30,000 members strong, were critical in this. Lime was a very humble man, who just wanted to do the right thing. So he did. Him and his second-in-command, Stomper, oversaw the recovery of the Shinies and civilians at the hospital.

Meanwhile, Cache woke up two months after the attack. He was dazed and disoriented. He saw Ticker, Blueberry, and Kingo standing over him. It went something a bit like this:

He opened his eyes. The first person he saw was Kingo, looming over him, a stern, but anxious look on his face. Just like Kingo suspected, the first thing Cache did was open his stupid mouth, “Kingo! Did we do it? Is Nurblania gone?” He gasped. Blueberry and Ticker looked at Kingo, confused and surprised.

“What the hell is he talking about Kingo?” Blueberry inquired. Blueberry had no idea what Cache meant. Cache on the other hand, was simply waiting for Kingo’s response.

The cogs turned in his head. Nobody knew that Kingo ordered him to do it. A grin appeared on Cache’s scarred face as he giggled, “Oh, that is funny, isn’t it? They don’t have a clue!” He cackled and coughed as he lay there.

“Shut up you lunatic!” Kingo shouted, slapping Cache across the face. “He’s insane. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He won’t say anything, let’s just kill hi-” Blueberry shot him with a stun gun, Kingo flying into the wall.

“You bastard! I knew something was up! We were loyal to you!” Blueberry shouted at him, outraged. That was all Kingo heard before he slowly blacked out.

Both Cache and Kingo were put in SuperMax security, just like Wintral. Blueberry went on a search for evidence. Voice recordings. He found it easily enough on Kingo’s holowatch. And just like that, the whole galaxy knew what Kingo was. A lunatic, just like Cache and Wintral, little more than a terrorist.

### Orders are Orders:

Kingo woke up to footsteps. The heavily armored Cal-Marks pacing up and down the long hallway that was the SuperMax section. Kingo was confused. He managed to peek down the hallway. He saw only a few cells with people in it. Wintral was bouncing a ball against the wall, used to the intense boredom. He got the ball for good behavior.

Cache was pacing his cell, trying to find a way out as Wintral tried to explain to him that there was no possible way out. Wintral had accepted it. Cache wanted out. And Kingo? Well Kingo knew he could get out of here. Not through wit or cleverness. Just because of what he had set up before. He could do whatever the hell he wanted. But now wasn’t the time. He had to let people think they were secure. Let them try to figure out what to do. Then he’d walk out of the Block, and start punishing the people for their treason.

And that’s what he did. Through the course of a few weeks, he was fed news that through the monarchy, one of his two sons, Princo, would become the new king of the Nurbles. He loved his son, but he almost had a sort of resentment towards him for not at least trying to get him out of the Block. He was the king, after all. But he didn’t. So Kingo thought the time was right.

Camera footage was recovered of when it happened: Cal-Mark 45,885 (Nicknamed Charles) was pacing the SuperMax hallway. The prisoners could talk freely through it but usually the Cal-Marks would just ignore them or antagonize them. But Kingo spoke up. His voice wasn’t restrained because nobody knew, of course, about what he was capable of. “Hey. Hey, over here!” Kingo whispered.

Charles walked over to the cell, wondering what stupid crap he had to say now. He walked up to the cell door and was about to say something but was interrupted. “Initiate Protocol 1. Get me out of this cell.”

Cameras went dark after that. From what researchers can understand, Protocol 1 ordered the immediate loyalty to Kingo, and any personality the Cal-Mark has gained over their life disappears. Thus, Charles let him out. Kingo then walked the hallways of the Block, turning Cal-Marks to his side until he could get to the intercom. At that point, he was in full control of the Block. Three words came over the speaker after he told them all to be loyal to him. It went out to every Cal-Mark in the division. Every. Single. One. Initiate Protocol 37. Protocol 37. Kingo needed to get rid of the strongest people that could oppose him. The Shinies. That’s what Protocol 37 was. To execute any Shiny on sight. That was Kingo’s main campaign for the duration of this war.

### The Shiny Purge:

#### The Hospital:

At the moment the protocol was executed, there were more Shinies at Nurblania General Hospital than there were at the Shiny academy building itself. Hundreds of Shinies recovering in the hospital. The majority. Kingo knew this. The Block was closed off due to ‘construction’ so nobody knew that Kingo was out and the Cal-Marks were under his control. The only Shiny on his side was Blueberry. And Blueberry was his right hand man. Under the order, Blueberry was a monster. A faceless soldier willing to do whatever it took. His armor covered it all. And Blueberry would do anything.

So a regiment of 50,000 Cal-Marks was put together and showed up at Nurblania’s ruins. When they reached the hospital, Lime was delighted to see reinforcements to help with the recovery process. But of course, that’s not what they were there for, were they? Lime welcomed Blueberry with open arms. Literally, he tried to give him a hug. But Blueberry shoved him away.

“What’s going on, Blueberry?” Lime asked, hurt by the shove. He was confused by what was happening. Another man there was the head of the hospital Dr. Peter Tape of House Tape. He also peacefully resisted the Cal-Marks that day but was pushed back and apprehended. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was one of Dr. Bot’s star students, then they would have killed him.

“The situation is complicated enough. Step aside so we can get into the building. Comply and there will not be any serious casualties of your men.” He said. His voice was filtered to be deeper and raspy through the helmet. Imposing.

“What do you mean my men won’t be casualties? I don’t know what’s going on, but you are not entering this hospital.” He said back, holding his ground. You could cut the tension with a knife. Newspapers in the streets rolled by like tumbleweeds. For a few seconds, everyone stood still. Lime and his men were confused, his men not knowing what to do.

Finally, Blueberry spoke up, sighing as he did so, “Fine. You have only brought this upon yourself, Lime.” He said. Within a split-second, Blueberry flew at Lime, Lime only managing to dodge at the last moment. The Clipper lodged into the ground as Blueberry missed.

Nobody but the Cal-Marks knew what was going on but war broke out in the streets outside the hospital. It lasted a few hours, with the tents that civilians were in being ripped up and civilians being killed. Lime did his best but he had to hop on a modeship by the end of it. His second-in-command, Stomper, had been knocked unconscious during the battle, so he was out of commission as well. Not all of the Lime Legion were killed. A lot of them got away. But this was a sacrifice. The Cal-Marks didn’t harm the civilians after the battle. Not any of the surviving ones, anyway.

Cal-Marks stormed the hallways of the hospital, checking each and every room. If one of them had a Shiny in it, they were promptly shot dead. Shinies that were executed here consisted of famous ones like Darius Threeton and Glaze. Both of them could do nothing to fight back. They were bedridden after all. Darius had three rib fractures after getting shot. Glaze was harder. He had hardened skin, but a shot in the mouth finished him off. A lesser known Shiny by the name of Crosswire who had an enhanced intellect for engineering and coding, as well as making makeshift items from junk. He was there. Then he wasn’t. Same story for Caleb Ducton. He could stretch his arms and had super strength. Not for long. Hundreds of other Shinies were put down at the hospital. A purge. The start of a genocide.

#### The Academy:

The new Shiny Academy was a shimmering building in the middle of a prairie. It was far from any city, the closest big city being Rurble Town. However, its location wasn’t any secret either. When news of the massacre at the hospital began to circulate, it went into a frenzy. People didn’t know what was going on. And that was when the Cal-Marks showed up. The fear that was circulating was best explained in Orange’s reports:

We heard the reports from the hospital. But we thought that we were safe. We thought. We thought that maybe we could protect ourselves better. I was training some young Shinies, Mud and Geode. Mud could blend into anything by changing his skin and clothing while Geode could control the Earth beneath him. Bright young students. I couldn’t imagine what was going to happen that day.

My husband, Lemon, was out front, guarding the front of the tower with the rest of the patrol men. There was around fifty Shinies there, not including all the cadets. They were so young. I still think about that day. We heard gunshots at the front gates around 3 PM. My husband, he… well, he was killed. He didn’t even draw his gun. He was four feet off the ground with his jetpack when a bullet caught him in the shoulder. He was finished with a clean slice to the throat. Then they breached the building.

Alarms. That’s most of what I remember. The two cadets. They were scared. Only around 8 years old, both of them. We hid underneath a table in the canteen. I remember being dead silent. The only lights being the spinning red lights among the darkness. I remember the tear rolling down my cheek as I covered the cadet’s mouths. I remember a Cal-Mark’s boots walking by. Slowly. Like he wanted to just scare us. But he just kept walking. The screams of children. Gunshots. Screams. Silence. Rootbeer managed to protect many of them, even in his middle aged years. He managed to survive the attack, god bless, but others weren’t as lucky. Clown. Oh, I always liked him. He was a good man. Insane but funny and kind. He died fighting off Cal-Marks storming the East dormitory. He managed to save a lot of cadets. I still miss him. Along with my husband…

Me, Mud, Geode, Woodchip and his son, and Rootbeer managed to escape the building, running off into the prairie, hiding out in a woodland for a while. Vineage was over in the mountains North of Rurble Town, with his wife, Rose. He was lucky. Oh, I miss my Lemon.

She went through a lot that day. Everyone did. The only Shines spared by the order was Dr. Bot and Blueberry. They were loyal to Kingo. Even Bot, without the order. He knew he could gain more power from being loyal. And he did. The purge at the academy shocked the whole galaxy. Still, nobody knew Kingo was behind bars. Everyone rushed to ask Princo what was going on, but he was gone. What nobody knew was that Kingo put him in the Block. Nobody could understand why this was happening. For all they knew, the Cal-Marks were just rebelling. It wasn’t until the Battle of the R-Force mansion that they knew the truth…

#### The Mansion:

Up in the cold mountains north of Rurble Town, there lay a log-cabin mansion that was home to the Rurble’s R-Force. It consisted of many different Rookies such as Rose (Vineage’s wife, who also has the same powers), Cook, Scarface, Dr. Cyborg (A Rurble super genius and cyborg) and Rookie. There were many more different members of it as well but they weren’t as significant. Vineage was visiting them, and they were all reclining by the massive fireplace when the door burst open. They were surprised at first but even more surprised when they saw a battered and bruised Lime.

“They’re coming. The Cal-Marks. Blueberry. They’re killing us all!” He rambled. He tried calming down. R-Force tried calming him down but they didn’t understand. The remaining members of the Lime Legion were with him, outside. They were setting up an encampment outside, the mansion being used as a temporary base for any Shiny refugees. With the Purple Sheep soldiers, the Lime Legion, the R-Force, and any remaining Shinies, they might have a chance at defending themselves.

Lime explained what happened at the hospital to them. Following him a few hours later was Rootbeer, Mud, Geode, and Orange showed up at the mansion shortly after. They told them of the events of the academy. Massacres all around. Everyone was scared and cold. Luckily, the mansion kept them safe for a few days, while the Cal-Marks swept the planet, looking for any survivors.

It wasn’t long until they found them, however.

Lime and his men were patrolling outside when flying up from a cliff was Blueberry. A surprise, but something they were still expecting to happen eventually. Lime chuckled and shouted up at Blueberry who was gazing at the mansion and the surrounding camp. Lime couldn’t tell what he was thinking because of the helmet but they hoped that Blueberry didn’t bring enough soldiers. “Hey Blueberry! Here to kill us?” Lime flew up to him with his rocket boots, making them face-to-face.  “You aren’t gonna win this time. You’re done.”

Blueberry just sat there, the only sound being the blowing wind and the release from their flying mechanisms. After a minute of this standoff, he finally parted his lips. “You are mistaken.” That was all he said before he grabbed Lime by the throat, clamping down. Before the Legion could even raise their weapons, Blueberry unsheathed the Clipper and sliced off his legs from the knees down. Lime let out a scream as Blueberry dropped him from the height, Lime’s head splitting open on an icy rock below.

The Legion quickly raised their weapons but stopped in their tracks as a fleet of Modeships suddenly appeared to just appear out of nowhere. They had been cloaked. Cloaking technology was invented very recently and it had been rolled out to the Cal-Mark military Modeships very fast. A fleet of Modeships appeared, almost fifty of them.

A battle broke out on the mountainside, Cal-Marks quickly advancing on the mansion. The Lime Legion were overtaken, the members of R-Force not being able to get outside in time as the pretty formidable Lime Legion was quickly wiped out. Purple Sheep soldiers defended the mansion as the Rookies managed to escape. It was a formidable battle but the Purple Sheep were quickly slaughtered as well.

R-Force would’ve been wiped out as well if it wasn’t for them escaping through the tunnels underneath the mansion. They got to a far-off landing pad where they managed to escape via a modeship. Blueberry was outraged. The Legion were traitors. One of the best men he used to know, he had just killed. His old self was trying to get through. He had frequent migraines and panic attacks as the chip couldn’t hold back his true self from trying to get through.

He was so angry that he ordered the mansion to be destroyed. And that they did, firing large blasts at it, the mansion’s roof collapsing into itself and the main large stairway at the front falling downwards.

The Rurbles and Shiny refugees had only one stronghold left, one that they hoped that they could keep a secret…

### The Great Tree:

Farboo was also home to the second-biggest jungle known in the whole galaxy. (The Maxian Jungle which took up the entire moon of Grossbart was the largest jungle) The Yardigan Jungle took up a whole continent and was also home to a structure known as the Great Tree. The Great Tree was a tree that went up into the atmosphere. A wonder of the modern world. However, back then, it was a secret to the rest of the galaxy. For a few years now had been being turned into a Rurble base, a large network of high-tech hallways and dormitories built inside the branches. It could fit the population of a city. And thats what it did. The Rookie and Shiny refugees who had been the main target of the purge were held up here, under the leadership of King Tape.

Tape’s head advisors in this purge were Cook, Rootbeer, Scarface, Vineage, and Rookie. This was mainly because they were the R-Force. The first official lineup of R-Force consisted of Cook, Rootbeer, Scarface, Rookie, Vineage,  Rose, Woodchip, and Orange. They were the main leaders who led the rest of the Shiny and Rookie refugees. Tape and R-Force led the refugees and Purple Sheep as they hid at their stronghold. They were safe for now. But this tree would be the location that ended the war.

#### Kingo City:

Meanwhile, a city had been built around the first Block, a large, gray urban sprawl that was patrolled by Cal-Marks and surrounded the Block which was the capitol building of the city. Kingo sat in his office, shouting at Blueberry as he received the report of the attack on the mansion.

“Sir, the Shinies escaped. I managed to kill Lime but the Purple Sheep were too-” Blueberry was cut off by Kingo chucking a chair at the wall. He was so angry. But Blueberry just reminded him of the perfect idea.

“The Purple Sheep? Oh. The Purple Sheep. Yes, well. Well I think I have an idea…” Kingo said, trailing off. He managed to get into contact with just one single Purple Sheep. He ordered him to tell him about the stronghold. And that he did. Slowly, Kingo managed to turn every single Purple Sheep at the stronghold, the soldiers still acting normal until Kingo told them otherwise. His plan was starting to come together.

Kingo took a trip to Area 37. He had a meeting to attend to. He slowly walked into a large paddock, a regiment of Cal-Marks all flanking him. The beast slowly came out of a burrow in the ground of the paddock. Leg by leg, the Queen Spible. She telekinetically spoke to Kingo. What are YOU doing here. The one who keeps me locked behind these walls.

Kingo spoke back, “I am deeply apologetic for what we did to you and your kin in the Assembly War. However, we need you to do it again. A flank. You will be released, I promise you.” He said, crossing his fingers behind his back.

You are a tricky one, Urble. Your kind and my kind have warred for millenia. But I will help you if it means I get to slaughter more of you. She replied. Once again, it was all coming together.

#### The Battle for the Tree:

It was a dark and stormy night. It was the biggest storm that they had seen in centuries, thunder and lightning cracking the sky every few minutes. Training continued at the tree. Groups of children being trained into Rookies and Shinies by the more experienced soldiers. There was a sense of peace and solitude at the tree. Even in the storm, the strong branches of the tree didn’t sway. Things were going fine. But the dark storm covered the entrance of a few spibles slowly moving in, nobody noticing as the ground started to disappear.

##### 7 PM:

It wasn’t even 8 o’clock when the orders came in through the Purple Sheep’s earpieces. Slowly but surely, they all got the order. The first shots rang down a hallway. A soldier had infiltrated a dormitory where children were sleeping. One of them stirred, and at the sight of this, shots rang out, flashes lighting up the darkness. Around ten children sleeping in the room were shot dead, not even being able to open their eyes one last time.

Investigating the scene was a child from across the hallway. He was a Shiny known as Boxer Chippington, Woodchip’s son. He went by Box Top. He was almost shot by the Purple Sheep soldiers but blocked the bullets with his metal shell that he wore on his back. He ran down the hallway, managing to pull an alarm and get to a safe place to hide. The stealth aspect was gone. Battle broke out.

##### 8 PM:

Vineage and Cook were back-to-back, fighting off hordes of Purple Sheep coming at them. They were fighting on one of the branches because they were interrupted in a training session. Just an hour before, they had been sparring when the alarm went off.

Through the distraction of the Purple Sheep and the storm, nobody noticed that by now, the ground had disappeared, an ocean of legs and eyes had replaced it, a Spible ocean with waves of millions of Spibles snatching up anyone who even tried to escape the onslaught. Hundreds of cloaked modeships started flying into the hangars of the tree, Cal-Marks coming out. Their first target was Tape. Led by Blueberry, a few Cal-Marks broke down the door of his office. Rookies tried using their powers but were quickly shot. Tape took a pistol and blew out the window where he jumped onto a modeship. A Cal-Mark almost shot at the ship when Blueberry grabbed the gun. “Watch,” he ordered. They simply gazed at the modeship try to leave as a giant leg rose up from the ocean of spibles and dragged the ship down into it, killing all who were aboard, including Tape.

Blueberry smirked under his helmet. Even with his old self poking through, he still relished in the death of his long-time enemy. He gazed out onto the horizon of the main branch. He saw the battle as R-Force, led by Cook and Vineage. Cook. The name rang through his head. The subconscious resentment towards him for forcing his surrender at Rurbago. He wanted revenge ever since. He flew out the broken window, firing a blast from the Clipper, knocking Vineage to the side, temporarily knocking him out.

Blueberry landed there, the battle seeming to part into a circle around Cook and him. One last duel. “How about a rematch?” Blueberry asked, cockily.

He dashed at Cook, who blocked the attack with his shield. The Clipper left a shower of sparks in the air as the two ancient weapons clashed together. ArmƟr’s weapons were once more reunited, and once more being turned against each other.

They clashed, sparks seering against Cook’s skin. It was a brutal fight but it ended up with Cook being on his knees, his shield discarded to the side, against the ground. Cook held his gut as Blueberry had sliced him, his blood pushing out. “You see now? You see what happens to traitors?” Blueberry shouted at him as he raised his boot and kicked Cook off the branch, and into the sea of spibles below.

Vineage shoved Blueberry to the ground, blasting a vine out of his hand, trying to get Cook to grab it. But it was too late. Cook fell into the ocean of spibles and was assumed dead. Vineage got up, rage running through his blood. He glared at Blueberry, who was getting up from the ground. Blueberry got up, “And now I have to kill you too. You’ve brought this on yourself. Boy.” He almost sounded disappointed. However… no. He relished it. They engaged in such aggressive combat that some people reported that they often thought one of them should have been dead, through the stabs and bullets they had both taken. In the end, Blueberry was disarmed, the Clipper being thrown to the side, lodging itself in the ground. As Blueberry buckled to his knees, Vineage took the Clipper and his own blade, know as the Grass Blade (A sword that could be materialized from his and Rose’s power).

Vineage put both blades to Blueberry’s neck. “Surrender your men.” Vineage uttered, no other words than that.

Blueberry chuckled, the helmet’s voice respirator making him sound even more imposing, “No, my child. I don’t think I will.” Blueberry flew up in the air, too quick for Vineage to slice his head off. With his backup pistol from his ankle holster, he let two shots off into Vineage’s torso, and then watched as Vineage, just like Cook, took his tumble off the branch and into the sea of spibles below. He managed to let a vine out, connecting himself to the branch and hanging there. But Blueberry stood over him, smirking under the helmet. With one slice of the Clipper, he cut off the only support to the branch and watched as Vineage cascaded into the sea of death.

Blueberry almost had his win. If he could take the Great Tree, then he could win the war. But it wasn’t meant to be. A shot rang out, catching him right in the jetpack, disabling it. He turned around to see Rookie, bloody, bruised, and battered. He stared at Blueberry. “You’ve killed my friends. My mentors. My grandfather.” He trailed off.

“Your point is?” Blueberry asked, his cocky demeanor riling Rookie up even more. A third duel on this branch ensued. Blueberry was tired by now, dueling with both Cook and Vineage before this. He raised his sword at Rookie, attempting to kill him as well but his kneecap suddenly shattered. Rookie didn’t care about some duel. He simply just shot Blueberry in the knee. He crumpled to the ground, holding his knee as Rookie slowly walked over to him.

“Last chance. Surrender.” He said. Blueberry’s humanity managed to break through. He tried to surrender… he really did. But he just couldn’t. Luckily, his chip deactivated… Something else had happened in that moment…

##### Kingo’s Downfall:

In Kingo City, there was barely any Cal-Marks as most of the military were stationed in the battle. So it was easy pickens as Scarface led an assault team to storm the capitol building. They slaughtered any Cal-Mark who got in their way as they knocked down the doors and stormed the building. They reached Kingo’s office. He was just sitting there. As if he was expecting them. As Scarface entered the room, he was bashed in the head by a Cal-Mark standing behind the door.

Kingo only had this one guard, who was quickly disposed of. Scarface recovered and then went into a long session of beating Kingo into ordering the Purple Sheep and Cal-Marks to give up the war. “We know you did this, Kingo. Stop the violence, maybe your punishment won’t be as harsh.” It wasn’t until Scarface got his final idea that Kingo truly surrendered. He threatened Kingo’s son, Princo. Some of Kingo’s only humanity left was in his love for his son. And when they put that gun to his head… well Kingo’s humanity managed to poke through and surrender. An order went out to every one of his slave soldiers. It disabled the chip’s orders.

Blueberry ended the battle at the Great Tree, all the Cal-Marks confused at why they were there, having no recollection of the prior few months of genocide. Just like that, the violence that Kingo and Cache had started was over. All that was left was the cleanup…

### Aftermath:

#### Purge Count:

An estimated 400 million were slaughtered in the war, including both victims of the genocide (Like Shinies, Rookies, etc.) as well as soldiers fighting suh as the Lime Legion, Purple Sheep, and Cal-Mark division. Out of the 400 million killed, about 50 million of them were the victims of the purge. Noteable purge victims that were noted at the time were Cook, Vineage, Tape, Clown, Lemon, Lime, Stomper, TP, Crosswire, Glaze, Darius Threeton, Caleb Ducton, and hundreds more.

The shiny known as Crosswire would probably impacting the future the most that died was Crosswire. Not only would his likeness and voice  be used as the holographic AI assistant that the Nurble government would use but also his son would go on to become a top ranking shiny as well.

The son’s name was Haymitch Wire otherwise known as Haywire. He trained alongside Peter Tape as Dr. Bot’s two students to continue his work after he was gone. While Dr Tape was much more of a kind and honest doctor, Haywire was more focused on the ideology of Bot which was to always come out of a situation on top and to have control over everything.

An unexpected surprise was the inmate population of the first Block. Kingo had all 2 million prisoners there rounded up and executed in mass. Even Wintral, the first terrorist himself, was found in his cell, his body rotted, and his brains blown out, the blood seeming to paint the wall. Cache was still in his cell, simply humming a little tune. Kingo on the other hand got his punishment. Beatings and public trials. He was sentenced to life in a SuperMax cell the moment that the second Block was fully built. He would wear a full metal muzzle that also covered his mouth fully, restricting him from saying anything to the Cal-Marks. Otherwise, Kingo City was still running fully. While it was an ugly stain on Urgle history, it was still home to millions of people so it stayed, the first Block still being the capitol building.

Cal-Marks were held on trial but they were quickly discharged as they were in no control of their actions, even if they seemed as if they enjoyed what they were doing. People were less accepting when it came to Dr. Bot. Bot willingly joined Kingo but Bot managed to get out of jail time by claiming he was forced to work for Kingo. We know today that these were lies at the time, but they didn’t know that back then.

#### New Additions:

A larger and more secure Block started construction in the middle of the Yardigan jungle on Farboo. It was large and secure, being in the middle of nowhere. It was in the middle of the mostly uninhabited continent that was the Yardigan Jungle and couldn’t be more secure.

More news was that Kingo’s son, Princo, would be put in place as the new Nurble king, despite being easily dethroned by his father beforehand. He was given full control of the chips in the Cal-Marks, the public trusting him to use it responsibly, which he did. The Rurbles on the other hand still had the Purple Sheep but they cut ties with the cloning facilities, going back to an applicant army where they would all just wear purple armor in the remembrance of the old military. Princo reinstated the Shiny division as well as making an official cosmic navy for the Nurbles, led by top admiral, Captain Cherry who would man the S.S. Abby and command the rest of the fleet. Not to mention, he needed an overseer for the now completely constructed battle station that his father had started building known as Shuttle. Cherry would command that as well.

Princo was a good man, not wanting to be looked at the galaxy as the next Kingo. So he was a peaceful man who opened up negotiations with the Rurbles for economic trade once more. He only had one nefarious ambition…

## Skirmishes:

### Task Force 37:

Princo wanted Cook back. He read the reports. He knew the story. The ancient shield was now in the hands of Cookie who trained every day with it, knowing he had to be a good warrior for his people, with his father, Scarface, being the new king. However, Princo ignored the reports. He knew that if he could find Cook out there, then he could maybe convince him to rejoin the Nurbles. So his mind was made up, he knew that if Cook was alive, especially considering there was no body found, that he would be somewhere in the Yardigan Jungle.

He made a hand-picked team of four Cal-Marks. They were all top one thousand and were very special operatives. Cal-Mark 94, also known as Carl. Cal-Mark 78, also known as Davey. Cal-Mark 859, also known as Batter. Finally, the leader of the task force, Cal-Mark 37, known infamously as Dread. They were known as Task Force 37, named after both Dread’s Cal-Mark number, as well as the recent war.

They went out into the Yardigan Jungle, armed to the teeth, with only their hovervan to guide them through. Communications in the jungle weren’t great and it wasn’t completely mapped out. They were mostly on their own. A few weeks into the journey of finding Cook and mapping the jungle, they were attacked, and attacked hard. A beast. A Nemean Lion. They knew there were some on Farboo, but the only thing they could do was run. The beast was nicknamed Ruby, because of the red bloodlust in its eyes. They managed to conceal themselves in the foliage, the beast getting bored of searching and it left. Their van was totaled and they had to go on foot for the rest of the trip. They managed to domesticate some wild Click-Clacks and they rode them in a consecutive line for the journey. They started picking up on clues on the way there.

They were almost at the end of the trail when they noticed something didn’t feel right. They were in the Northwest region of the jungle. This region was interesting because of its multiple layers of canopies that almost seemed like solid ground. There were literal creeks above the ground held up by leaves. Magical stuff. However, they were slashing through leaves, paving a trail, when something happened. Suddenly, Carl, who was in the back of the line was grabbed from above and pulled up into the canopy above them. Only his boot was left as it fell to the ground. The rest of the task force tried getting on edge quickly but they were overrun quick.

It was indeed Cook. But he had a thick beard and armor that seemed to be made of large pieces of bark. He was different. Grizzled. He slaughtered the task force, leaving only one alive. Dread. Dread sat there in silence as he just took in what just happened. Within a minute, his men, some of the best men he knew, were slaughtered before his eyes. He made a vow that day. Not just to one day kill Cook, but also to never be a pawn for the Nurbles again.

Out in those woods, he took a hunting knife and literally carved open his own head and removed the chip. It hurt but he knew how to do it cleanly. He took the Cal-Mark combat helmets of his comrades, each helmet unique with its own modifications. He took them and wandered off into the jungle. He never returned to base. Princo and the government didn’t know what to think. They just wrote it off as a failed mission, and the soldiers labeled as missing.

#### The Sanctuary:

What the rest of the galaxy wasn’t aware of at the time was the micro civilization living in the Yardigan Jungle known as the Forest Warriors. As both Vineage and Cook had fallen into that sea, they did both live through the onslaught of the spibles. Vineage managed to make a bubble around himself made of hardened plants and thorny vines. He was passed around like a beach ball in the sea until it faded away after the battle.

Cook on the other hand was bruised and beaten and almost swallowed numerous times, but he broke his fall on the spibles’ bodies. They were both taken in and rehabilitated by strangers. These strangers were known as the Forest Warriors. They helped keep the nature of the galaxy safe and were known to use magical capabilities instead of technology. They often talked to the spiritual realms such as the Holy Realm and the Sacrificed Realm. They would contemplate life and what to do. Nobody quite knows when the Forest Warriors started but their concept has been around since Farboo was first created in the primordial ooze.

They rehabilitated and took in Cook and Vineage both, who for the time being, acted as Forest Warriors, defending the hidden home of The Sanctuary deep in the Yardigan Jungle. Vineage found out that unlike other Shinies, and unlike his wife, his powers didn’t originate from chemical and genetic mutations. His was rooted in the magic of the forest itself. Cook on the other hand was proficient in shield weaponry so he crafted a magical shield made of wood. It wasn’t indestructible, instead being regenerative. If a whole is sliced or shot into it, it could quickly regenerate and grow more wood and bark into that hole. It was a wonder of the ages. However, nobody knew about it…

#### Dread’s Journey:

Dread had the unlucky experience of going to his colleagues’ homes and telling their families of the event. He didn’t want to do it. Task Force 37 was supposed to be secretive. Not many people were to know about it and families and relatives were to be off-contact with everyone until missions were over. By now, their families were notified that they were missing and they were searching the best they could.

It was this that led to what he had to do. He managed to get to a small town on the coast of the Yardigan continent. He got safe travel to Kingo City, which was the temporary capitol of the Nurbles until they could find a better one. The downtown was depressing and sprawl-like but the rest of the city was nice suburbs and such. He went down to one of those suburbs and did the first visit.

Carl’s wife answered the door, somber. She knew the minute she saw him through the window that her love was gone. She just stared at him, tears welling up. “Fucking bastards.” She said as she slapped Dread across the face and shut the door behind her, sobbing the minute it was closed. Dread understood her anger at the government. He dreaded the next visit.

Davey’s wife answered the door on their acridge outside of the city. She answered the door excited. “Did you find my Davey? Kids, come see…..” She trailed off when she realized it wasn’t the usual government agent that came to inform them. She saw Dread, battered and bruised, a makeshift cloak covering his Cal-Mark armor. “I see.” She shut the door.  He knew her, unlike the last woman. She was a family friend, as he was closer to Davey than Carl. Carol was Davey’s wife and she was a happy woman. He heard that a few weeks later, they moved to Rousseau.

Batter’s family was similar. Except this time he felt the worst. They were much more impoverished than the others, living in the bad side of Kingo City. He knocked on their apartment door and told them of the news. His wife seemed to already know. He knew that they relied on the government checks from her husband. With his salary alone, he could support them. But if he’s gone, which he was, then they wouldn’t be very good off. They would live until the government officially said they were gone, but once they do, those checks will be gone.

And then there was one. His family. His house. His home. He made it to the door. He peered through one of the windows to see his two toddler sons playing with toys. His wife sat there, alone, but making do for the young ones. He smiled. He almost knocked. Almost. But he knew that if he did knock, then he would be going back to this life. He wouldn’t be able to leave. He knew he was meant for greater things. To free his millions of brothers from the shackles of slavery that the Nurbles keep them in. He wrote a note and stuck it to the door:

My dear family,

I am not dead. I saw things out there I cannot unsee. I want to be with you. More than anything, I do. But after I saw my brothers die out there, I know I can’t just move on. I’m going to try to make a difference. And unfortunately, I cannot do that if I am with you. I love you. I love our boys. But this isn’t a matter of choice for me. Its what I’m destined for. I hope you can understand but I know you must be angered. I love you. I truly do. I am sorry.

He left the house in the Kingo City suburbs and went downtown. He broke into a workshop garage where he started working. He sawed the four helmets of his and his team into fourths. When he was done, he welded them all together, each quarter being a different piece. He then dipped it in some molten golden alloy, plating it in gold. He fine-tuned this helmet to be comfortable and functional. He then left. Some people sighted him going to Farber, to fight monsters of imagination. Some say he joined the Bounty Hunter’s Guild and became the best bounty hunter of all time. Some say he died. For a long time, nobody knew where he went. However, he would come back one day…

### Jeff’s Pond:

Scarface was a calculating leader. Just like Princo (But in different ways) he didn’t want to make the same mistakes of his father. He was skeptical of Princo. He knew the power he held and Scarface made a cutthroat decision as he contemplated his next move as leader. He knew of a large, peaceful lake out in the Farboo countryside. A large lake known as Jeff’s Pond was there and had a lakeside mansion belonging to the Tape family for years now. He decided to host a dinner party in the evening, as the sun would set on the lake.

His ulterior motive was to kill Princo. A rash decision, but one he deemed necessary.  And so it was. He would go on to invite a few other people but mostly it was just Princo being the main guest. And so it was.

Princo showed up via a modeship, stepping off politely as violins played for the guests as they walked the path up to the mansion. It was a beautiful piece of real estate, it truly was. Princo had his head diplomat with him, who was also ex-military. Who was this diplomat. Who else but the son of Cache himself. His name was Spruce Cash. He was nothing like his father. He didn’t aspire to be some genius, nor did he want to take over/destroy the galaxy. He just wanted to do things for the greater good. As Princo and Spruce walked into the mansion, the five Cal-Marks that had accompanied them on their travels stayed behind at the ship. Meanwhile, the Cal-Marks that went up to the mansion stationed themselves in a few of the many seats surrounding the large dining hall table.

“Welcome, my distinguished guests!” Scarface shouted, raising his glass in the air. “Let us dine!” He said as the feast began. Conversations were short but Scarface managed to actually have a good conversation with Spruce and Princo about how all three of their fathers were challenged men in their lifetimes, and how they didn’t want to make the mistakes that they did. Scarface almost called off the assassination but he continued with the plans. As the sun had almost set, the Purple Sheep quickly raised their weapons, ready to fire. Scarface tried getting out of the room quickly as they opened fire on the Cal-Marks and Nurbles who sat at the table. Spruce jumped in front of Princo, taking a few bullets to the back. Luckily he was wearing a bullet-proof vest. The Cal-Marks managed to draw their weapons quickly and got off a few shots with their guns before being shot. Some of these shots caught Scarface right in the neck, lodging in deep. As the standoff continued, nobody could get medical attention to Scarface as he bled out on the expensive wooden floor.

Spruce accompanied and defended Princo as they escaped down the hillside to the lake, where they got in a canoe at the dock. They watched as Cal-Marks filed out of the modeship and managed to keep the fight going for a few minutes while they rowed out onto the waters.

As Princo rowed the canoe, his suit all wet and bloody, Spruce aimed down the sights of his pistol and managed to get some amazing shots at some Purple Sheep who were pursuing them. The Cal-Marks were quickly taken down by the larger Purple Sheep force at the mansion, however by then, Princo had already called for a modeship to come pick them up as the Purple Sheep realized that they had royally screwed up by not killing him off.

#### Negotiations:

Princo was outraged at this attack on his life. He revealed the existence of the Shuttle Space Station, or SSS, to the Rurbles, threatening to use it. Rookie, who had renamed himself to Cookie in Cook’s honor, was now leading the Rurbles. He had just had his first son, Cookie Jr, or CJ and he didn’t want his son growing up in a time of war. He also knew that they couldn’t afford a war with the Nurbles, especially with the threat of the SSS looming over them.

Peace was quickly made, the Rurbles apologizing for such a rash decision their late king had made. Scarface was a good man, but to this day, nobody really knows if he fully thought through that decision.

### The Battle of 1:00:

The battle of 1:00 was short and quick. It was on the tropical dwarf planet known as Cabĩn. It was a tropical planet that could be a tourist destination for the galaxy. The problem was that both the Rurbles and the Nurbles wanted control of it. So as they were both setting up tourist resorts on the tropical beaches of the planet, they ended up meeting in a mountain pass while traveling. On the Rurble side, the Purple Sheep regiment was led by soldier Kanon Flatmouth.

On the Cal-Mark side of things, a top one thousand soldier by the name of Mikey led the Cal-Marks on Cabĩn. Mikey was a really great soldier, brave and courageous, however he was hot-headed. As tensions rose between the two regiments, Mikey (Without orders from anyone) and his men opened fire at the Purple Sheep. The battle in this mountain pass lasted a good few hours before diplomats had to figure things out and shut down this possible war. Mikey was court marshaled but was quickly back in service overseeing a small town on Farbore known as Keyboard Outpost. Flatmouth on the other hand was killed in the battle.

Cabĩn on the other hand was agreed to be shared by both nations as a resort planet for the people of the galaxy. The skirmish was dubbed The Battle of 1:00.

## Irving:

A system was discovered one day known as the Country Club System. At its core was a massive planet, larger than Rousseau, known as Irving. For the rest of the nations, they didn’t see any point in colonizing such a thing,  but the Nurbles on the other hand. They did.

But it wasn’t just the Nurbles. A small nation by the name of X-Zurbles (Named in honor of the Zurbles) had formed and set up colonization as well. People worried that the Nurbles and the X-Zurbles would be aggressive but it was quite the opposite.

### The Vest Division:

The V.E.S.T division. It stood for the Violence Ending State. They would be a division of the military focused on peaceful colonization and diplomacy throughout the galaxy. Leading the division would be one of Rootbeer’s latest proteges, known as Vee. Vee was talented. He was an agile, strong, and handsome martial artist who had a nack for commanding people. They set up an outpost settlement in a mountain range on Irving, right alongside the X-Zurbles’ outpost settlement. They would have late nights of festivals and bonfires. Peace talks and political schemes.

Things were peaceful and while the X-Zurbles’ president, President Jessica, stayed behind on their homeworld known as Martin (Martin was actually in the Rousseau system in fact), coming to Irving was her top general, known as General Marshmallow. He was… well he was shorter. About the third of a height of a regular Urble, but still proportionally the same. His second in command, known as Jeremy, was an honorary knight of the X-Zurble royal guard.

Things were going so smoothly. In fact, Irving quickly became a hub for smaller nations trying to make their way in the galaxy. A nation known as the Skurbles quickly rose to power on Irving, a little further away than the Vest outposts.

The Skurbles were an offshoot of the Nurbles. They were a bunch of rich, eccentric nobles who wanted to have their own nation. When Irving was discovered, they took their chance and claimed territory, setting up towns and even a city or two. The largest cities were known as Shrick and Jung. Jung was more based on science, being a Skurble city. The Skurbles had a lot of funding, and were key in helping make more innovative and faster space ship designs throughout their existence. Jung was what actually inspired such designs of future cities of R City, with its ecopunk type nature. The  Skurbles were known throughout Irving for their peace, as well as their religion where they worshiped the large beasts known as Tortugas. Tortugas are large beasts, about the size of an Ancient Spible. The difference is that they are much more peaceful, being a large, titan-like version of what we would call a turtle.

Shrick on the other hand was what came of the Vest/X-Zurble outpost. It was large and quaint. There was an urban, downtown part of it, but the rest of it was quaint suburbs on the sides of the large, beautiful mountain passes. It was a nice city and the two cities lived pretty much harmoniously.

Two very famous celebrities moved to the city of Jung. The celebrities were major influencers both socially and politically being Ricardo Frank and Lana Frank. They also had a son living there by the name of Ricardo Jr who while having a boost in life because of his fame, wealth, and stature, he actually did put the work in to become a naval commander. The family had some very public drama as Lana Frank secretly went off her meds and murdered Ricardo in his sleep, suspecting him of cheating. During the trial with her not being in custody for a short time as her son payed her bail, she shot her son five times in the chest as well and buried him in her garden. He was found a day later as they found her in Ricardo Jr’s beach villa, dead from an overdose.

Leading the Skurbles was Queen Maggie, with her second-in-command, Benjamin. While she was focused on simply building more cities, Benjamin had other plans…

### The Romal Empire:

Benjamin had an admiration for the old empires such as the Armored Urbles, Urble Empire, and Zimmerman Empire. He admired them and even wanted to bring back their type of reign, and rule Irving under one nation. He secretly founded the Romal Empire. It was a small rebellion within Jung. It grew power over the years and Benjamin watched as the peaceful nation of the Skurbles weakened themselves by not investing in military strength.

Around two decades into the colonization effort, the Romals rebelled and marched on the capitol building. Of course, war broke out on Irving. The VEST division and the X-Zurbles fought to save the city of Jung, however, the queen was killed, and their sacred Tortuga sanctuary was burned to the ground.

There was a meeting on Rousseau discussing the rebellion, with the Nurbles and X-Zurbles heavily campaigning for the other nations to help the Skurbles in their fight. However, nobody would. So it was up to the Nurbles to send in their military to help.

A long and brutal war ensued:

#### The Jung Dogfight:

For the first time, the Nurbles truly broke out their air force. You see, most nations usually had their militaries were broke up into an air force, cosmic navy, ground forces, and oceanic navy. The Nurbles had usually only had to break out their cosmic navy and ground forces (The Cal-Marks being what they were famous for) but they had never really broken out their air force. The war on Irving was what truly made them have to develop a strong air force.

It was around this time that the modeship design became more streamlined. It became both a troop carrier in its back, as well as a good fighter ship for aerial and cosmic battle. Around 6 in the morning, as the dew on the grass was just starting to shine on the sunrise, about fifty modeships quietly flew in over Jung. They were known as Sword Squadron. Sword and Shield Squadrons were the two best squadrons of fighter ships, both named after the Clipper and the Shield distinctly. They were usually stationed in the main hangar of the S.S. Abby but things have changed.

A small detour, just to explain other remarkable squadrons, the Rurbles also have their top squadrons. There are five, being Capitol Squadron, A Squadron, R Squadron, O Squadron, and N Squadron. They all stood for the different letters of the name “Aaron” with Capitol Squadron being the capitol A. Capitol Squadron was the best of these five led by a pilot named Briar. He was distinguished across the galaxy as one of the best pilots ever. These squadrons were also usually stationed on the S.S. Aaron.

Sword Squadron flew in, led by Cal-Mark 398,488. He also went by Talon. He and his men flew above Jung and started shooting at the numerous makeshift barracks set up throughout the streets of Jung. They did their best to not hurt any civilians, however, not all civilians were unharmed.

After them shooting these military bases, the Romal air force was quickly dispatched. While it didn’t stand up to the Nurble air force, they definitely could stand up to the one squadron attacking them. Shooting out from some air strips on the mountains was Rob Squadron. A dogfight broke out over the city as these two groups of ships fought.

Talon and his men managed to take down ten or so ships but they were quickly overrun. Luckily,  reinforcements came in through the form of Jack Squadron, the fighter squadron in Shrick. With these reinforcements, they managed to take down Rob Squadron and take back the city of Jung as the X-Zurbles moved in with ground forces and took out any remaining Romals on the ground.

Unfortunately, this dogfight wouldn’t end the war. Benjamin and his ground forces managed to escape the city and fly towards Shrick, ready to take the city down with them if they were going to be defeated.

#### The Battle of Shrick:

A large army, being bigger than what the Vests and X-Zurbles could defend from, appeared on the horizon of Irving as they started storming through the city streets, setting fire and blowing up buildings. They slaughtered civilians, Benjamin being at the lead. He led them through with his long, red cape flowing in the wind.

It took a whole hour for a counter-army was created as Cal-Marks and X-Zurbles fought alongside each other. It was an odd sight seeing the battle. The Cal-Marks wore their signature blue battle gear, covering their entire body. The X-Zurbles often wore battle gear that almost resembled medieval armor. The VEST division wore puffy vests to go along with their name, as well as mismatched pieces of armor left over from the Lime Legion. All of these mismatched soldiers were fighting against the even stranger soldiers that were the Romals.

They were golden armor that barely covered them, dark red cloths separating the pieces of armor as they ran in with their signature weapon. The Spearshot. It was a spear that could harness energy and shoot blasts out of its tip. They really took on the whole “Empire” idea when it came to their army.

Despite outnumbering the defenders of Shrick, the Romals were quickly outnumbered as they had much inferior armor. Benjamin was taken captive but died on his transport to the Block as he was beaten to death by prisoners on his transport. Unfortunately, Benjamin managed to beat Vee in a duel, with him being cut down and slaughtered as it happened. Marshmallow was Vee’s best friend, and he was outraged that Benjamin wasn’t going to rot in prison.

Benjamin isn’t often talked about in history, however, he was still responsible for many, many deaths in that era of Irving’s colonization.

Eventually, the Nurbles left Irving as the X-Zurbles and remaining Skurbles managed to take hold and colonize the rest of it, making large metropolises and cities.

## Davis’ Reign:

### The Galaxy:

The planet of Farbore was one in the Dakota system. Most planets followed the name of Farber being similar to the main planet of it like Farbore, Farbree, and Farboo. Other celestial objects of the Dakota system are the tropical dwarf planet known as Cabĩn. There’s also the large, brown gas giant known as Brunsing. Brunsing might be a gas giant but it still is home to life, being home to giant whale-like creatures that seem to fly through the gaseous planet, wandering about. These creatures are known as Squealers, known for the noises they make.

Another planet in this system was one a bit further out when it came to the orbits around the star, was known as Anderson. It was a planet often shadowed in darkness due to its orbit, however it was very diverse with different climates. Finally, there is a planet known as Farbae as well as the moon of Farbore known as Farbree II. Why is it called Farbree II? People were just lazy. It was smaller than Farbree as well as having a very different climate, Farbree being a wetland climate and Farbree II being a rocky and mountainous landscape. All that was on the moon was a small outpost where a crew of fifty Cal-Marks ran and operated it. Not much on Farbree II except for rocks and dust.

Why is this recap of the Dakota system important? Well because the planet of Farbore was the next planet to start getting colonized. It wasn’t as large as Farboo was but it did immediately start having more large cities. Three main cities were founded. There was New Nurblania which followed a very cyberpunk type vibe. There was a rurble city known as R City which was known for being ecopunk and very eco-friendly with walkability and sky bridges. Finally there was Carpville, up in the North Pole, which was a rough metropolis to live in as it was in the middle of a frozen tundra. Farbore was shaping up to be a great new planet for the Nurble and Rurble nations.

The rest of the galaxy still was the same as ever. The planet of Grossbart in the Core System ruled over itself with the Shnurble government as well as its primary moon being known as Maxian (Maxian is a jungle moon and known as the largest jungle in the entire galaxy.) The Jacquelyn system’s main planet was Green. The Rousseau system has the terrestrial giant that was Rousseau surrounded by other planets and moons. One of these planets was Martin and one of the many moons orbiting Rousseau was known as Lewandowski.

Lewandowski orbited Rousseau and had its own nation at one point. A small nation never really amounting to anything, the Crurbles were a trade nation that acted as a buffer between planets who had raw materials and the planets who were the main trade hubs. Lewandowski acted as a place where they could turn those materials into products.

The moon was interesting because it was practically always shrouded in the shadow of Rousseau with only small patches where sunlight reached them. Most of the planet was dark and the plants were bioluminescent. The Crurble flag was a rectangle with one half being red with the other being blue. Their capitol on Lewandowski was the city of Darkplace. Darkplace was always shrouded in darkness but was lit by bulbous orb plants that could be as large as skyscrapers. The orbs glowed with a whitish yellow light. It was a cool moon. It also was home to one of the remaining cultist elders of the old cult to the Sacrificed Realm. The elder was known as Budiki. He was a crazy old man with a staff that could cause earthquakes and had one of the smaller versions of the light orbs hanging from the top. Luckily, he never interacted with the outside world, instead acting as a hermit in the pitch black swamps of the planet.

### Elections:

Because of the aggression and possible war that almost broke out over the Battle of Jeff’s Pond, the people of the Rurble and Nurble nations forcefully expelled the two kings, Princo and Cookie. Neither leader wanted to look bad and resist the people’s wishes so they willingly stepped down, putting their faith in the people to choose a new leader.

An election was held and a new young politician came straight off a modeship from the Jaquelyn system. A Hurble. His name was Davis Campton. Davis was a good politician and had a way with words. Through a few months of campaigning, Davis managed to sway the people to vote him into office. He had yellow skin. He was always seen wearing his suit and red tie. He had a thick, brown beard as well as slicked back hair. He was practically born wearing a suit. However, this democratic election simply made him the start of a new monarchy,  instead of switching how the government works. With that, he had absolute control over everything. He had a very cutthroat head advisor who was known as Umu. Umu shared Davis’ views of wanting control over the system, however, he also was later on revealed to be a Cache loyalist.

Davis started showing his true colors when he publicly executed some protestors that had been pushing for his removal from office. Princo still didn’t want to look bad so he didn’t order the Cal-Marks to remove him or anything. In fact, Princo heavily refrained from ever using the orders and most people simply thought he forgot about them.

It wasn’t long until there was a group of people that started to miss the ways of the old governments. While it was nice to have the Rurbles and Nurbles temporarily join together under the Davis Administration, anyone who opposed it would face the administration’s wrath. A secret police was put in place that would kill off anyone who publicly disliked his reign.

So with such a terrible leader, it wasn’t long until an underground rebellion started. Literally, Princo and Cookie made their base of operations underneath the city of Rurble Town. Rurble Town had a series of underground tunnels and bunker areas that were a part of the old sewer system. Later on, a new system was put in, leaving these expansive tunnels and bunkers abandoned. Perfect for a rebellion. Princo and Cookie rounded up a good few hundred people to start the rebellion, but it was a long way off until a true force.

### Decimation:

Davis wasn’t taking any chances. His secret service informed him that they had gotten wind of a small rebellion starting to grow in Rurble Town. So Davis did what he did. He acted irrationally. He was responsible for taking the most life in one instant event. He looked at what he had in his arsenal and noticed the SSS. It was just sitting there,  orbiting the planet doing nothing. So why not put it to some use?

It was a cloudless day in Autumn when the first reports of a satellite in the atmosphere were reported. It was an hour later when people noticed a large red glow start to appear as the SSS charged up its blast. People were confused and honestly ignored it, assuming it was just something going on in space. It was around 1 PM when the ground rumbled above these sewers and bunkers. Princo and Cookie were in one of these bunkers, and survived the decimation above them.

A giant red beam rained down from the sky, searing the ground and disintegrating any living thing in its radius. People killed instantly. What was left was a giant crater visible from space. The sewer systems were destroyed but the bunkers were far enough down to have the rebellion survive. All that death and Davis didn’t even succeed.

That was when the people had had enough. This wasn’t going to be some war or some kind of military operation. The Cal-Marks immediately turned on Davis and took him from his office and brought him out into the streets. He was beaten and bruised by them until he was almost dead. The rebellion revealed themselves from the wreckage and the Davis Administration was disbanded as Princo and Cookie were put back in power.

Davis’ supporters, including Umu and the secret service, were exiled from any Nurble/Rurble settlement. They founded their own nation in a desert on Farboo, founding the city of Yellowton, and founding the Yellow Confederacy, the name being based on the sun’s rays beating down on the desert. Umu led this fledgling nation for the time being as Davis was put on trial before the intergalactic senate on Rousseau and promptly taken to the newly finished second Block, to join the ranks of other SuperMax criminals like Kingo.

However, Rurble Town was still destroyed. A metropolis, flattened within seconds. Millions of lives lost within seconds. The only good outcome of this was a small one. In the crater of Rurble Town, many precious metals and natural fossil fuels were found under the surface and a large mining and drilling operation was started within the crater.

Meanwhile, the galaxy mourned these lost lives as life went on. With this loss of life, the Nurbles and Rurbles fully migrated once more to the planet of Farbore, leaving the old cities and such to be annexed or destroyed by the other organizations and creatures on Farboo like the Yellow Confederacy or the Forest Warriors.

What people didn’t remember is that Cache had been instated as the leader of the Nurble military during Davis’ reign, and nobody noticed as he slipped away, free to cause chaos.

## Prinko’s War:

Farbore was a new hope for the people of the Rurbles and Nurbles. R City, New Nurblania, Carpville, and other settlements like Keyboard Outpost were doing well. Things were looking up for this new planet’s people and everything seemed to be going well. That was until something unexpected happened. Princo apparently had a secret brother known as Prinko. His twin.

Prinko followed his father’s ideals directly and with the turmoil surrounding Davis and Princo being leaders and whether either of them were a good option, he managed to forcefully take over the Nurble Government with the help of Cal-Marks who listened to him. Not many listened to him directly, but they somewhat liked him.

He spread propaganda. A lot of propaganda. Princo was locked in the Block for conspiring against the Nurble government even before Kingo did Protocol 37. Of course none of this was all that true. Without people realizing it, they had basically just reinstated Kingo into power.

Prinko wanted a new capitol city for the Nurble nation. So he made one. A settlement was set up. It started as just a large, large power plant with a military base, but grew in size over time. It is known today as the great Jolt City. Prinko didn’t just plant it in a random location, oh no, he was strategic. A few miles out of this town was the greatly imposing Fort Theodore. A Rurble fort. Already, the Rurbles had seen right through Prinko and shut down trade and such with him. They had prepared for aggression but nothing could have prepared them for what was to come…

### Dad’s Friends:

Prinko sat upon his throne at the Jolt Military Base, where he commanded the Cal-Marks. Only a few miles from this military base was Fort Theodore. A large, almost town-sized fort belonging to the Rurbles.

It was a major threat to Prinko’s rain and he wanted them gone. He knew he had to confide in someone. He wanted to be like his father but even the Cal-Marks wouldn’t let him take him out of the Block. So he confided for advice from one of his father’s friends. Squiggle Cash. Squiggle was his second-in-command at the Jolt base. He was known for his leather jacket and sunglasses. He had pink skin and was in charge of all the artillery in the Nurble military. He’d been in charge of artillery since Kingo’s reign and was more than happy to give Prinko some advice.

“You know, I’m not exactly the guy to be asking. People don’t already like you and I could get in a lot of trouble if people find ou-” Squiggle was cut off. He had been working on repairing the missile launchers of the base’s anti-aircraft defenses when Prinko had asked him for advice on Fort Theodore.

“I don’t want the bullshit about how you could get in trouble. As acting leader of the Nurbles,  I order you to talk to me. You knew my father. I don’t want to make the stupid mistake that my brother did. What would dad do?” He asked, genuinely being sincere with admiration for his father.

Squiggle sighed, taking off his shades and slicking his hair back, “Well to be honest, your father wouldn’t take shit from the Rurbles. They used to fear us. They wouldn’t dare put a fort there if your father was still in power. So my advice is to show them who’s boss. Now the Cal-Marks won’t blindly follow you, they’re more weary nowadays. But…” he trailed off.

Prinko noticed his eyes darting back and forth as if he knew something, “What? What is it!” Prinko shouted at him, the rest of the people in the hangar noticing them talking.

“Quiet down. Look, if you want advice on mass manipulation, then you might want to talk to one of your pop’s other friends. Here.” He opened his holowatch and sent Prinko some coordinates. “Up in the mountains, surrounding this valley. There’s this old mineshaft. Your dad’s friend is there.” He said.

And so it was. Prinko, by himself, took a modeship up the mountains and found the mineshaft. He saw a campfire, just put out a few minutes ago. When he took a closer look at the mineshaft, he heard a voice behind him. “Well aren’t you the bastard’s spitting image. That rare white skin and everything.” Prinko turned around quickly to see Cache Cash. At first he was confused, but then remembered that Cache and Kingo had conspired together. Cache seemed to have let himself go, having long, gnarly hair and facial hair, as well as a prominent gut. “What are you here to see me for?” He said, walking closer, pouring a cup of coffee from the kettle by the fire.

“Squiggle Cash said I could find you here. The Cal-Marks don’t trust me and I need to know how to manipulate them.” He explained to Cache.

Cache chuckled, “Ol’ cousin Squiggle sent you? Well that makes sense. Me, him, and your father used to get up to all sorts of trouble back in Nurble City. Fun times. Anyways, yeah, I can help you. I think your pops told me how to access the chip commands one time, let me look in my records.” He replied. He took an old box out of his sleeping bag and opened it.

Dusty papers flew out, one of them having a list of all the commands on it. From what people knew, his father was the only one that memorized them all, and any records were burned. Apparently not. Prinko eyed the paper and saw Order 2. Give command rights to someone else. Perfect.

“Well I’m glad you came to see me. Talk to me any time, kid. Any time.” Cache said as Prinko departed with the list on the modeship. To Prinko, Cache was less of a terrorist maniac, and more of just a fun uncle. But with the list of orders, war was on the horizon.

### Orders are Orders:

Prino returned to Jolt base and immediately gained control over the Cal-Mark military. They were his and his only to use. With that, he, along with Squiggle Cash, started writing up plans to attack Fort Theodore.

So it was. There was about ten miles of open fields of crops and prairie land between the fort and the base. The Rurbles owned this whole area in between and it would be hard to get to the fort without anyone noticing their arrival. So they decided to attack via dropships. As previously stated in the Irving section of history, modeships had gotten more and more specified and streamlined. The back that carried around twenty to thirty soldiers could now have the floor drop for paratroopers or dropping bombs. This is what the plan was to attack the fort.

A squadron of around one hundred modeships came in, carrying many Cal-Marks. They dropped in right in front of the fort and immediately opened fire. The Purple Sheep on guard were confused but quickly got the message as battle broke out between both sides, fighting against each other. They’d fought time and time again, but by now, when it came to ground forces at least, they were pretty equal. Fort Theodore’s walls were very tall and the soldiers shot down from it, not a single Cal-Mark reaching the front gates.

An hour into the battle, Cookie revealed himself and opened the gates. He led his men into battle as he fought against the Cal-Marks with Cook’s shield, cutting them down easily. None of them were a match for him, except for one. Another hour into the battle, Prinko got reports that the battle effort wasn’t going well, so he sent reinforcements led by Blueberry.

Blueberry flew in, once again under the influence of Kingo’s orders, as the Clipper and the Shield once again met in close combat. Blueberry this time wasn’t as easily countered by Cookie as he wasn’t tired out. However, Cookie was much more experienced with the shield and took quite a liking to shield combat. With a throw of the shield, it bashed right into Blueberry’s helmet, breaking both the helmet and his nose. The shield bounced back and Cookie caught it. Blueberry hit the ground, for the first time in about a century, he was truly injured.

His ears rang as he lifted his hand to his face and toughed it. It hurt. He brought it away from his face and saw the red on his blue glove. He felt streams of blood flowing down his face. He was more confused than angered. How the hell did he do that? He would never have thought that Cookie would really be that good at shield combat. But if Blueberry underestimated him, then Blueberry would stop. He wouldn’t go easy.

He got up from the ground and flew at Cookie, catching him off guard and skewering his hand, stabbing straight through like a kabob. Cookie screamed but managed to bash his shield into Blueberry, the Clipper coming out. You could see straight through his hand, a gaping, bloody hole in its place.

“Shit!” He shouted. He ran back into the fort, and as the gates were closing, Blueberry shot a bullet from the Clipper. It just perfectly got stuck between the two gates, and with them a little bit open, the Cal-Marks stormed the building.

As the Cal-Marks entered the fort, they were met straight in the face with the barrel of a light cannon. Blast ammunition had been used for a long time now, mainly in space where bullets don’t work. But on the ground, a light cannon firing that high powered blast would destroy a platoon. And that it did as a blast came out of it destroying the first ranks of Cal-Marks that made it through the gates first.

Light cannons are very powerful weapons, so the Cal-Marks were more weary as they knew there was one right behind the corner. The battle continued on for a good long time as more and more deaths occurred.

The Cal-Marks’ main mission was were to destroy the Purple Sheep for their traitorism as most Purple Sheep that were still clones had their chips removed. They were traitors in the Cal-Marks’ eyes and they must be gotten rid of.

#### Battlefield One:

The area between Jolt base and Fort Theodore grew to be known as Battlefield One. It became a warzone as missiles and attacks were dispatched back and forth for weeks. Trenches were dug and tunnels underground for sneak attacks. There were ruins of farmhouses and suburbs in between as the war went on. There were numerous battles, but there really wasn’t any fighting that occurred elsewhere. Battlefield One would eventually become a mass cemetery for both sides that fought in Prinko’s War.

As the war went on, both sides weren’t making any progress except for wasting their soldiers. So Prinko decided to do something to scare the Rurbles. He made a public announcement for a new division known as the O-Mark’s. They would be the clones of Orange. She would be the framework for the newer, stronger, and more numbered division of the Nurbles. It would be expensive but plans were put in place.

Unfortunately for Prinko, before he could actually start the cloning process, his cloning facilities on Farboo were destroyed by Rurble bombers. A few hours later, Jolt base was attacked. Leading this attack was someone coming out of hiding. The one and only, Vineage. He had fully rehabilitated in the Forest Warriors and decided to come out of hiding to see his wife and friends again. While he was a Nurble, he led the Purple Sheep against Prinko.

Swiftly, Purple Sheep moved in and killed any in their way. They found Prinko and, just like Kingo, they threatened to kill Prinko’s father if he didn’t call off the orders. And that Prinko did. He was nothing like his father, really. Just a cheap copy trying to be someone he wasn’t. He would never live up to his father. He was a coward.

But even after they locked Prinko up in the Block, they made a decision. They executed Kingo. It wasn’t some big public event. They simply killed him. It was better for him to be dead rather for him to be able to pull some other big event. The Block was now home to Davis and Prinko both, at least when it came to the SuperMax prisoners.

### Jolt City:

Slowly but surely after the war ended, Jolt base became Jolt City. Jolt City would be a great city, powered completely by clean energy. It kinda gave off the same vibe as New Nurblania with its cyberpunk type except while New Nurblania was a cyber, polluted metropolis, Jolt City was a clean city. It was known throughout the galaxy for how it only relied on public transport and almost zero citizens owned hover vehicles or Click-Clacks because people got around on the high-speed monorail and subway systems. Jolt City, of course, would also be different from New Nurblania because while New Nurblania’s cyber lights were mainly pink, being able to be seen for miles around, Jolt City’s lights were a dark and mellow blue that had an almost calming effect.

The downtown portion of Jolt City would also become home to the new Shiny HQ where new cadets would be trained by Rootbeer and Orange. The building was the shape of a giant “S” with gold-tinted windows. It was great. Battlefield One was in the middle of the city and was a mass war cemetery. Fort Theodore was also there, and it was converted into a museum of the war. The old Jolt military base was turned into a large wind and solar farm.

Meanwhile up in the mountains overlooking Jolt valley, Cache watched on, disappointed in his friend’s son. He could have done that so much better. Caused so much more chaos. More death. So he put plans in place. He started gathering his followers….

## Hatred by Nightfall:

It was around the time of year that it was getting colder. Late autumn. And a ghoul was about to reveal itself. You see, the old religion that followed the Sacrificed and Holy realms, well, it was true. The Holy Realm was  a land of golden clouds and paradise where the good people would go after they die. The Sacrificed Realm was a hellscape. Bright yellow oceans of lava with dark purple land masses. There was a mountain down there that reached the ceiling of the realm known as Mount Hell.

This hellscape was so dangerous because while all the evil people down here had made a small village where they lived on the mountain, beyond this mountain where people would appear when they die, it was an infinite, flat desert of dark purple sand and rocks where monsters roamed.

Titans and other beasts would go here when they die, to roam this wasteland for any unlucky soul that tried to roam the wastelands as well. It was mainly titans in the closer parts of the wasteland to the mountain. But the legend was that in the further outskirts, the Parkomi would roam. The yellow, molten oceans would swallow you up through burning or through any dead souls of Sharkomi that swam through.

It was here that Kingo went when he died. He joined this village of lost souls. Wintral, Zimmerman, Cyclops, and more were here. Recently around this time, long-time president of the Shnurbles has died, and he was sent here. President Afro. Through all the slavery and killing he did, he was definitely evil.

Don’t mistake it though, just because you were already dead, there was a much worse fate. For those who die in the lava or are eaten up by the beasts in wastelands, they are reincarnated down there as a Banshee. Banshees would be guards at the top of ceiling of hell, where they flew around, picking up and dropping any unlucky soul that got too high.

But Kingo wasn’t content with just being down here. Through underground reserves of ooze in the Sacrificed Realm, he managed to rip a hole through the ceiling of the realm, avoiding the Banshees and sending some ooze through to the real world. It was a living specimen. Immortal, this ooze manifested into a humanoid, with no facial features or anything. Just a gooey, black ooze that shaped itself into a human shape.

It appeared in the suburbs of Jolt City where it went on a killing spree. Killing civilians a horrific serial killer, wearing a dark jumpsuit and metal mask covering his whole head. When he was apprehended, they couldn’t get off the mask. It also appeared to own an urblazium machete. Nobody knew where it came from, but it was taken down by a squad of Shinies. It had already killed around twenty civilians and Cal-Marks police officers.

The mask and machete wouldn’t leave it, just disappearing and reappearing in the monster’s hands if taken away. The monster was dubbed Hatred. Hatred would be used from then on to be brought out of a freezing chamber and used as the final test in a Shiny’s graduation where they would become full Shinies. They would just have to beat the beast in a fight to graduate. And beating this immortal beast wasn’t easy, but it was still a capable feat.

Kingo meanwhile was locked down there, as the Holy Urbles made the ceiling of hell even more secure.

## Cache’s True Impact:

He was known throughout the galaxy for his attack on Nurblania but his true impact would be his second main attack. Through support from the Yellow Confederacy’s leader, Umu, he was supplied a fresh supply of materials and funding. The Yellow Confederacy was built on their main cities, Kingo City and Yellowton.

Throughout this, Cache started kidnapping people throughout the galaxy. He brainwashed them in his bunker under the wetlands of Farbree. He got to work making more and more Orbs. These orbs however were also living quarters. Inside, it could fit a few hundred soldiers with a nuclear core at the center to power each layer of the orb. These new orbs could make a giant jump, crushing buildings, as well at rolling at high speeds. The orbs could drill underground, burrowing throughout the land. They could deploy smaller vehicles from the bottom of the orb like hovercycles and vehicles.

His followers grew to be known as Clan Cash, the successor of House Cash. They would wear a tight fitting uniform covering their whole head. They almost looked like insects with heir streamlined, black screen that was their visor on their helmets. They all had this rubber-padded tight armor with green accents. Not to mention the signature green patch they adorned on their shoulder that depicted two “C”s that were back to back and two lines striking through them.

Cache was slowly becoming more powerful than he ever was. Full small settlements that doubled as superweapons. And he had a fleet of them, of around fifty or so of these orbs the height of tall buildings. He was a warmonger. He only needed one more thing. He had hacked the reports of when Task Force 37 hunted down Cook. He knew he needed Cook.

Finally, he had his final aspect of the plan, alongside his orb fleet and Cook. After seeing reports of Hatred terrorizing Jolt City, he knew immediately that it was made of the ethereal ooze depicted in ancient texts. He knew that somehow, the Sacrificed Realm was breaking through. Religion was something he thought was stupid. However, the realms weren’t just religion. He knew they were real. He had proof. So he knew what he had to do. One of his men that wasn’t brainwashed was known as Blade. Blade was a religious zealot, being able to contact the people of the Sacrificed Realm and switch consciousnesses with them. He’d never done it before but with Cache’s orders to do so, he started communicating with the Sacrificed Realm, readying for an attack.

### R-Force:

Around this time period, the Forest Warriors were starting to emerge more freely, without fully revealing themselves. One of these people was a middle-aged man with long hair known as Spectre. He was similar to Blade. Specter could see and talk to spirits from the Holy Realm and temporarily use their abilities.

Specter quickly recruited to R-Force, infiltrating and getting information. He wasn’t evil, but the Forest Warriors did want info on the rest of the nations. Around this time, the R-Force team consisted of Cookie (Leader), CJ (Cookie’s son, Cookie Jr.), Orange, Woodchip, Boxtop, Geode, Mud, Specter, and Spruce. Spruce had figured out Specter’s secret pretty early on but promised to keep it a secret if Specter promised to teach him the ways of the Forest Warriors. So Specter did, slowly bringing Spruce to the Sanctuary every so often to teach him.

While it might have been a little treasonous, Spruce, with Specter’s help, stole the shield from Cookie. They knew they could be thrown in prison but they had to return it to Cook. Cook was gracious, telling them that he would soon be ready to reenter society. In return for bringing him his shield, he gave Spruce the wooden shield with regenerative properties.

So Spruce returned with Specter, now having the Wooden Shield. He also imbued it with more magic, making it able to morph around his body, making him be able to turn it into anything he wanted, from wooden armor to a weapon like a sword.

While Cookie did search everywhere for the shield, he managed fine without it. Unfortunately for Cook, he would soon be subjected to worse things than just missing a shield…

### The Plan Goes On:

#### The Caravan:

Cache was in dire need of more materials, as Umu couldn’t supply him with any more funding. He was on his own and needed something. He found his first target in the crater that used to be Rurble Town. Rurble Town eventually was rebuilt in the middle of the giant crater with it now being a bustling town again, however, the outskirts were still heavily mined for rare metals and other materials and Cache set his sights on it.

It started with the transport. Cache received news that a long caravan of about fifty hovervehicles were transporting an explosive fuel known as erzanium from the crater to a nearby refinery. He was going to take that.

The caravan was heavily guarded, with modeships flying side by side with it, as well as flank vehicles to be on the sides of the transport vans. Why not transport it by flight? Erzanium can’t reach certain altitudes when its unrefined or the thin air can ignite it. So there it was. A heavily guarded caravan. But then the rumbling started.

Slowly but surely, a rumbling sound got louder and louder as it ended with one of his orbs surfacing. Cache wasn’t even here, instead having his men simply get the materials. Around fifty Clan Cash members on hovercycles were deployed from the orb and they came up on their sides, shooting light blasters at the drivers, causing the caravan to come to a stop

It only took a few minutes for the guards to be disposed of and the Clan to load up the Erzanium into the orb and take it away to refine it themselves. In and out, nobody the wiser.

#### Cook:

Cook had been out on patrol, a little further out than usual. He had his shield and had recently shaved. He was readying himself to reenter society. He was walking around when he felt someone watching him. He tried reacting but within a split-second, a large, electrified net was shot out of the foliage, wrapping around him. Even with his superhuman strength, he was restricted by the current of the voltage.

Standing over him was Cache’s grinning face, “Gotcha.” He said as his men dragged Cook’s thrashing body away, back to their orb. Cache got back to his orb and strapped Cook into a chair. “You’re gonna listen to me. And you aren’t gonna have a fucking choice.” Screams echoed throughout the orb as he slowly tortured and brainwashed Cook into working for Clan Cash.

#### Portals and Monsters:

Blade and Cache secretly went to downtown Jolt City in an alley where they started the ritual to destroy the city. They set up a spot where they would bring the Sacrificed Urbles to the real world, along with the monsters within. A dark purple beacon was sent into the sky of Farbore as people started investigating.

Clan Cash burrowed up as the orb fleet started attacking small towns as well as Jolt City itself. Cal-Marks fought throughout the city, defending the Existent Plane, while R-Force was dispatched to deal with the portal.

### Battle of Jolt City:

R-Force met Cache in the middle of the street. Cookie shouted at him, “This is the last time Cache! You aren’t doing stuff like this again.” Cookie said.

“You are mistaken,” he said, echoing Blueberry as dropping down from the building was Cook. He wore a a Clan Cash suit with his eyes and mouth cut out for better visibility and talking. His once silver, circular shield now had a black and green leather wrap with the Clan Cash emblem endorned on it.

“Cook?” R-Force stared blankly at him as he stared them down, awaiting Cache’s order. “Cook, what happened to yo-” Cookie was cut off by Cache.

“I’ll let you deal with this.” Cache said as he walked down the alley to assist Blade with opening the portal to the Sacrificed Realm. Cook nodded and turned around to stare down R-Force. Cookie was confused when he saw the shield, realizing what must have happened to it.

Fighting broke out immediately as Cook chucked his shield at CJ, who managed to get out of the way through somersaulting on the ground. Vineage was probably the most confused, as he had just seen Cook a few weeks earlier. How was he on Cook’s side.

Numerous members of R-Force tried shouting at him and making him find reason. He managed to bash his shield into Orange’s jetpack and started beating the shit out of her. Vineage and Rose used their vines to restrain each arm as the rest of the team took turns beating him and trying to break him out of his trance.

Meanwhile, the battle raged on throughout Jolt City as the portal got bigger and bigger, getting closer and closer to opening. Being assigned to fight here were two Cal-Marks. Both were Top One Thousand and were known to be some of the best operatives in the universe. One of them was Phil. Cal-Mark 74, Phil was known to be excellent in combat, while really just being a chill dude. He was often seeing wearing sunglasses, a tropical shirt, and his hair slicked back. The other one was his best friend, Buffalo. Cal-Mark 75, Buffalo was known throughout the division for not talking. His tongue was ripped out while being tortured in an enemy camp when he was young while on a mission for the Nurbles. He was also scarred and burned under his armor. He wore less conventional Cal-Mark armor, instead wearing dark blue, thinner padding. It was less sci-fi and more like a ninja. He was known for being the top stealth operative as well as an excellent martial artist and sharpshooter.

These two were best friends and did a lot to help against fighting Clan Cash in Jolt City. It was around a few hours into the battle when Buffalo notified Phil of the fight in the middle of the city between Cook and R-Force. “You think they need help?” Phil asked. Buffalo nodded and Phil shrugged, “If you want to help them, let’s do it.” They ran over and Phil started using his double pistols on Cook as Buffalo set up a sniper rifle on a nearby roof, some dark blue cloth flowing in the wind. His helmet was much more unique than the rest of the division as it was much more tight-fitting to his head and was more like a large hood, where the eyes would show being covered up in black-tinted goggles. He didn’t show a single bit of skin. He had many different knives concealed on his body where he would use in combat if he was disarmed.

He knew that Cook must be brainwashed and it would take a large jolt of pain to really knock him out of the trance. While R-Force kept fighting and fighting, he set up his aim. Cook was fighting Mud and Geode who were doing a good job of blocking his attacks. Spruce and Specter were also doing their own against Cook and numerous Clan Cash members who were helping Cook. Specter seemed to be using the powers of some spirit as he ripped through the soldiers. Spruce countered Cook’s shield attacks with the wooden one, each time the wood reforming when it was chipped off.

Phil led Cook over to an open area where Buffalo let off a large round, firing straight into Cook’s calf, where a muscle spasm buckled his leg. Cook fell to his knees, pain jolting through his body in waves. It managed to snap him out of it as he looked around, dazed and confused. He looked at his uniform, disgusted. He ripped off the patch on his arm and took off the leather wrap on the shield. “What’s going on?” He asked, ignoring the blood flowing out of his leg.

“Cache is trying to open a portal to the Sacrificed Realm!” CJ shouted. They looked behind them, seeing the dark portal in the alley the height of a tall building. They could even hear the screams of banshees beyond the portal. Cookie looked at his team. He knew what he had to do.

“Take care of my son Cook.” He said to Cook, who was still confused. It clicked in Cook’s head as Cookie ran to the landed modeship that they came in on. Cook tried to stop him but the ship took off and flew straight into the portal, exploding as it went careening into the other realm. The portal was closed. Cookie was gone. Cache, Blade, and the rest of Clan Cash retreated as Cache put in place Plan B.

(Author’s Note: Cook’s classic suit on R-Force as well as his suit brainwashed by Clan Cache is basically Captain America’s suit except when he was on R-Force it was all black with purple accents like the Purple Sheep with the shield just having nothing on it and just his silver shield. He also had the R-Force emblems which was a purple circle with black outlining with a large white R in the center.

On Clan Cache, he had green accents instead of purple and had Clan Cache emblems which was just a money symbol with an X over it and his shield also had a leather wrap around the silver shield that was just green and black circles all the way to the center)

### Megatropolis:

Things were fine for a few weeks. Cache and his men had disappeared and the galaxy mourned Cookie’s death as Jolt City was cleaned up. However, Cache still had one last plan. It was a normal day on Rousseau. That’s right. Rousseau. Him and Blade made a secret plan, Blade running off into the more swampy parts of Farbree, living in an old cabin for the rest of his life.

Cache on the other hand pulled out all the stops as he and his men managed to go on a secret transport to Rousseau. He managed to get there, with a high-tech orb that landed outside Megatropolis. It was going to be his last plan before either dying or locked up in the Block for good.

Him and his remaining Clan slowly manned the Expander Orb.This machine could expand and get smaller, changing sizes by the press of a button. It was capable of a lot of destruction and that’s just what it was going to do.

Cache rolled into Megatropolis and started destroying buildings. He immediately rolled toward the core. The core was a district of the city home to the Assembly War memorial with the names of all the soldiers and civilians who died. Many famous historical buildings like museums, shops, and theaters. Megamalls and the like. Most importantly was the senate hall. The senate hall was always in session as meetings deciding the smaller and larger squabbles throughout the galaxy were always in session.

The Expander Orb rolled down the streets and ripped up the buildings and memorial in the core. It almost made it to the senate hall when the Rousseau Guard put a stop to it. The Rousseau Guard were the military that defended the city as well as keeping the nature reservers and villages throughout the planet in peace.

They took their shots at the orb, denting the weak metal. Within an hour, the Rousseau Guard made short work of the Orb, apprehending Cache and his men, keeping them in custody until they can be decided their fate.

### The Third Block:

One of the biggest decisions for the senate to ever make was what do with Cache and his brainwashed Clan. The other nations never really cared much about him, writing him off as just a terrorist in the Dakota system. However, this was different. He messed with the whole galaxy when he messed with their homeworld. He killed a few thousand people with just his rampage in the core. It was terrible. So they wanted to make sure they couldn’t do it again.

Umu represented the Yellow Confederacy and offered to take his Clan members and help with their rehabilitation. The rest of the senate were deciding what to do with the matter of Cache himself.

With a mass funding project from every nation, including the smaller ones like the Skurbles, X-Zurbles, and Yellow Confederacy. They all collectively funded the construction of one giant space station. The Final Block. It would be the size of a small moon. A large, matte black cube orbiting the Farber star.

This would be the third and final Block, construction being completed in the matter of the next decade or two. It would be able to keep up to one billion prisoners, prisoners being sent in from all over the galaxy. The most famous parts were the SuperMax prisoners and the residential district. The SuperMax prisoners consisted of Lil Biggie, Prinko, Davis, and Cache. Cache was kept on life support as he was to be kept unconscious at all times. Another member of the SuperMax district is Umu, who was found out to be conspiring with Cache. Umu was apprehended and thrown in the space station after being put on trial before the senate.

On the other hand, there was the residential district. The upper layer of this space station was the size of a giant linear city, a simple slice of the humongous space station. It was the residential district where the few million guards and staff of the space station would live.

Putting in charge of the Block, the warden of the Final Block would be Cook, who was cured of his brainwashing and agreeing to join the Nurble nation again as long as he could stay on R-Force as well as not participate in the secret plans the Nurbles take part of.

By the end of this, the galaxy was doing pretty well. R-Force was made up of this list at the time: Cook (Leader), CJ (Who now led the Rurbles), Spruce and Specter (Who returned to the Sanctuary, Spruce leading the Forest Warriors), Vineage, Rose, Buffalo and Phil (Joining R-Force as special ops), Boxtop (Woodchip was unfortunately killed by Cash), Mud, and Geode. Orange retired from R-Force to go and assist as a co-operator of the Shiny Academy in Jolt City with Rootbeer.

## The Next Century or Two:

The galaxy was a pretty safe place to be for a while. While Cache had a backup plan in place, it wouldn’t come into fruition for a long time.

* When it came to nations, there was a pretty nice list of nations still ruling different parts of the galaxy. At this time, here is an updated list of nations: There were the Nurbles of course. They were led by the esteemed Princo who was reinstated as leader after Prinko. This time, he promised to not be such a pushover. The Nurbles were probably the most extensive nation, having territory on Farber, Farboo, Farbree, Farbree II, Anderson, Farbore, Cabín and more.
* Then there were the Rurbles. As you already know, they were the most successful offshoot of the Nurbles, being the rare ones who succeed in their revolution. They were led by CJ who held onto the Cook’s shield while he ran the Block in space. The Rurbles also were extensive, sharing most of the planets that the Nurbles had with them.
* Next were the Shnurbles. Slowly but surely, the planet Grossbart became more and more polluted. You would mistake it for a gas giant from space with how polluted the atmosphere was. This was why the rich lived in floating sky cities above the clouds where they would live and profit off of the working class and slaves living on the surface and even below the surface. The true gem of the Shnurbles was the Grossbart Jungle, the largest forested area in the whole galaxy. Other than that, the Shnurbles were one of the richest nations, being led by Afro Jr. He wasn’t exactly a saint, but he did his best to try to take down the infrastructure in the Shnurbles that was built on slavery, hoping to one day not have them be so reliable on it.
* The Hurbles. Known for their clean planet, built with large cities. They were known for how they invested more in quality over quantity when it came to their military divisions, opposite to the Nurbles who had the largest army in the galaxy. They were also home to the Hurble Infection. While the first wave of this terrible plague has ended at this point, this is still a deadly disease that a few people get every year or so.
* The X-Zurbles. Their reach over Irving has expanded, now completely sharing the whole planet with the Skurbles. Both of these nations are relatively peaceful and have an alliance known as the Irving Pact. The X-Zurbles’ capitol cities are Shrick on Irving, and the city of Passeatle on the planet Martin. Martin was a relatively icy planet with a few warmer places. It was in the same system as Rousseau, at the core of the galaxy.
* The Skurbles. Also part of the Irving Pact, they live on Irving, however unlike the X-Zurbles, the Skurbles only live there, not having a home planet of their own. Their capitol city is Jung and this city is much bigger and more advanced than Shrick.
* The Yellow Confederacy. Their reign stretched over the planet of Farboo, having two major cities. These cities were their capitol of Yellowton as well as Kingo City, which they use as a major economic hub. Its still a pretty depressing place, but it is booming with money. The confederacy is led by Supreme Leader Gold after Umu was apprehended and locked in prison. While Gold might tell the public and the senate that he is trying to reform the Confederacy to be less Cache-loyalist, he is just as loyal to Cache as Umu was.
* The Rousseau Government is commanded by all the nations together, deciding decisions made for the planet. There is a leader on Rousseau who is elected by the citizens of Megatropolis and the other small towns on the planet. There were never really any important leaders, however, the leader of the Rousseau is the representative for the planet in the senate, as well as being in control of the Rousseau Guard. The Guard are the military and police of the planet, being some of the best trained and equipped soldiers you would see in the whole galaxy at this point.
* While its not a nation and doesn’t have a representative in the senate, Clan Cash is still a group at this time, their remnants still being made up of brainwashed soldiers or simply just Cache loyalists. They secretly have close ties with the Yellow Confederacy as well as old members of House Cash, including people like Squiggle Cash. They are led by a soldier known as Gary, who makes sure their group doesn’t die out.
* Finally, there are the Forest Warriors. Under Spruce’s leadership, the warriors do have a representative in the senate, being Spruce, and they do voice their opinions on decisions throughout the galaxy. They live in the secret safe haven in the Yardigan Jungle known as the Sanctuary. The Sanctuary is obscured by magic, making it unable to be seen from satellites and such.

Technology was also popping off during this time. Mostly Vibratech. Development started on these weapons by the Hurbles but really finished by Cache. Clan Cash is what mostly carried it in knife form. They are weapons that are usually just thin metal cylinders that can be turned on to create an energy field that works as a good weapon. While the technology isn’t exactly fine-tuned, its still good for what it is. Works as a modern-day alternative to traditional blades and melee weapons. Vibrashields and blades are the most used technology when it comes to this type of thing.

While guns with conventional ammunition like bullets are still the most widely used type of ammunition. However, it was around this time that light cannons were used more and more. While more conventionally just used for cosmic battle where bullets wouldn’t work, it was engineered into handheld weapons. However the most used weapon was the hybrid. A gun that can switch to three modes. Bullets, blasts, and stuns. This is the most used weapon these days and so on.

Around this time is the rise of organized crime in the Dakota system. For example, the biggest group was the organized group known as the Guild. The Guild was made up of other crime guilds all based in the criminal underworld and black market of the system. It was made of the Bounty Hunters Guild, Gamblers Guild, Pirates Guild, Gangs Guild, Smugglers Guild, and other odds and ends. They all worked together to keep crime on the down-low. There were multiple big names in it such as Lil Biggie, Dirty, Captain Kiwi, Dread. Captain Chuck, Daryll Smith, Falcore the Terrible, Rodrick Braska, Manuel Canyón, and Copernicus Jewel.

The Rurbles started and finished construction of a space station during this time known as Capsule. To combat the threat that Shuttle was, they created Capsule. It’s main purpose was to be a space station to preserve life as it had all the parameters necessary to be a life-supporting space station. Its alternative purpose was to be a stronger station than Shuttle. The Rurbles were too good-hearted to ever use it but it was a public project that was meant to scare the Nurbles into not using Shuttle ever again. And it worked. Princo never used Shuttle again.

### A Second Wave:

Tragedy struck when the Hurble Infection started to once again circulate on a mass level throughout Green. It quickly spread to the other planets in the Jaquelyn system, and then the rest of the galaxy.

One of the most famous decisions in history was the senate meeting regarding this second major wave of the infection. Here is the recording:

The senate sat in the circular hall, all in their respective seats. General Scar got up to his stand, wearing a medical mask as to prevent any spread. He cleared his throat, “I think we all want to know what to do about this disease. There is still no cure and we don’t know what to do.  With funding from the more wealthy nations such as the Shnurbles and Nurbles, we might be able to engineer a vaccine.” He stated, echoing throughout the hall.

Afro Jr stood up and announced, “The Shnurbles will be more than happy to help. We are all in this together.” He said, Scar thanking him.

Princo on the other hand looked around, nervous. “After careful consideration, the Nurbles have decided differently. I have talked it through multiple times with the nations of the Dakota system and we have decided to close off all travel between our system and the rest of the galaxy. Any ships that do not belong to the Nurbles, Rurbles, or Yellow Confederacy will be promptly destroyed.” The hall went loud as arguing broke out. Some people were angry. Most actually. People accused the Dakota system inhabitants of being cowards but they stood their ground. CJ, Gold, and Princo wouldn’t change their mind.

This decision led to the prosperity of the Dakota system, the disease never entering their planets. On the other hand, the rest of the galaxy suffered. This new strand of the disease spread like wildfire as the Hurbles were quickly wiped out. Scar’s deaths rocked the galaxy as a precession of his body was carried around Rousseau, his body finally being buried alongside his siblings, Lauren, Afro, and Nurble.

The X-Zurbles and Skurbles were the next to fall. The X-Zurbles on Martin were wiped out as the inhabitants on Irving became refugees, some being able to slip into the Dakota system under the guidance of Marshmallow who pulled some favors with his old friends in the Vest division. The Skurbles died out quickly alongside any X-Zurbles who couldn’t escape Irving.

Next to go was the Shnurbles. When it hit the planet of Grossbart, it boomed. They easily had the largest population and it spread through them quickly. Afro Jr panicked and went to drastic conclusions. He, with the other upper class in the sky cities, bombed the surface to smithereens as they stayed alive up there. It wasn’t long until they ran out of power with the lower classes and slaves not producing any power. Their sky cities crashed to the ground, killing them all. The only other lifeform on the planet being animals, mostly Spibles as not much else could survive in the polluted air.

Finally, Rousseau was hit hard. They didn’t have much of a leader as their representative had died. Instead, the Rousseau Guard’s general, General Jim, became the makeshift leader. He tried making things peaceful but it quickly degraded as the once bustling city of Megatropolis became a ghost town as people didn’t dare leave their home. Why not leave? They were less scared of the disease than they were scared of the Rousseau Guard. They had become a brutalistic police force that patrolled the core of Megatropolis shooting anyone down who they saw outside. They called it a preventative measure. Others would call it murder.

A movement broke out in the city as two factions arised being the Rousseau Guard, led by General Jim. The other side were the Infectists. Their message was to cooperate peacefully and try to make a cure instead of fighting. Unfortunately, no side really won this war as the disease wiped them all out. All of them except General Jim who went missing after deserting his men. Buildings fell because of the abandonment. It devolved into a ghost town, cobwebs and real webs coating buildings as Spibles reclaimed the land that was once theirs.

A safe haven for a while was actually an old location returning to significance. The Right Tyre was used as a safe place, closed off. The inhabitants of it managed to fight off any people trying to dock there and in theory, this kept the disease out. To this day, they stand there.

But if we go back a little bit, let’s talk about what the Dakota system was up to while the galaxy suffered and died out. They created the Dakota Pact, an alliance that, in theory, was supposed to keep them from destroying themselves while the galaxy died out.

This lasted for a good while. Of course there were tensions and disagreements but things were relatively fine. Even Supreme Leader Gold kept things good for a while. Meanwhile, the Block was doing great. With prisoners like Lil Biggie, Cache, Umu, Davis, and Prinko all locked up, there was no way for them to do anything harmful.

A building was constructed for the leader of the Nurbles to live. It was known as the Mayor’s Mansion. It was built right at the border of the New Nurblania city limits as to not be close to the hustle and bustle. It was built on a large, circular hill. There was a long, marble stairway up the mansion. At the back of the hill, there was a cliff face with a waterfall careening down it. This waterfall was connected to a water system creek that went throughout the mansion estate. Surrounding the front curve of the bottom of the hill is the Memorial Gardens. These surround the mansion’s hill. The creek runs through them. These gardens are open to the public as they have detailed, life-sized statues of each and every significant figure of all time, plaques depicting their life.

This hill was also home to the newest secret of the Nurbles. Area 38. A giant underground warehouse behind the waterfall on the hill. There were many research projects here including the attempt to drill into Bobo’s skull, the giant bone hanging above the floor, almost menacingly. There was also numerous new technologies being developed, all overseen by Dr. Bot. A man by the name of Warper was being experimented on against his will to be turned into a shiny. TP and Stomper were both held in freezing environments to keep them asleep as powers and chemicals were pumped into them, turning them into superhumans. The chemicals had been DNA harvested to TP’s superhuman nemesis known as Evilman. He had passed away because of all the mutations in his DNA only 400 years into his life. However, the compound they were pumping Stomper and TP with was modified and perfected. TP would be a short-term weapon who would only have powers for 24 hours if released from hibernation while Stomper would possess them eternally.  Blueprints littered the floor, one of them being the blueprints for a mech suit known as H.E.R.B.I.E. The biggest thing here was a giant ape-like Titan similar to Bobo being kept frozen for later use. This Titan was one of Bobo’s relatives, however unlike Bobo’s gorilla-like form, this was more similar to a baboon with big sharp teeth.

Another major city was set up on Farbore as well known as Jewlion. It was run and funded by a man named Copernicus Jewel. It was a Rurble city and was known for its dark purple cyberpunk vibe as well as its heavy legalization of gambling, the city basically being a giant strip of casinos, shops, and hotels.

A new senate hall was built as well as a new scrimmage league for the Dakota system. This senate and league would be based on representatives from cities that surpassed a hundred thousand population. So any city that could claim that could participate in the senate, regardless of their nation. This also applied to the scrimmage league, a giant stadium being built in New Nurblania for the championship every year. The scrimmage season lasted three fourths of the year through winter, autumn, and summer while spring was the off-season and was reserved for the gladiator battles.

Gladiators were something before even scrimmage as they have lasted all the way to the modern day. There were the minor leagues which were in each town and then there was the major leagues in the arena. It didn’t have some championship and instead just had the champion of each town challenge whoever was the champion of the arena at the time. Rules were that they could only have their armor cover their head, torso and above the knees. But you had to have a helmet cover your head. There usually was a themed armor for the person as well as you have to keep your identity a secret. Under the stadium was the Champion’s Hall. It held the armor of all the fallen gladiators in the arena with all their stupid themed names like Flowing Killer from Cabín or The Prowler of Rurgbago. A million credits per match with the champion at the end of the season getting two million. Most of them were good people and did it for money to support their family. But overall, it could really screw some people up. You could yield in the arena if your opponent wanted to show mercy but if you don’t take the chance the first time, then you can’t get the chance again. Hard shit.

This was all over the course of a few centuries as the galaxy changed drastically. This was what led from the past to the present. The present is the era of history that is the most recent events. And that is what we will talk of from here on.

## Keyboard City:

Remember Keyboard Outpost? Well it slowly grew until it became a great city at the base of a mountain on Farbore. It was great. However, there were some people who disagreed with who was running it. That was none other than Mikey. He was top one thousand and also the one who instigated the Battle of 1:00. He wasn’t a perfect leader but he ran it well, being a kind leader who learned from his mistakes, trying to be less hot-headed.

He had a political rival. His own second-in-command was a fellow Top One Thousand member. At this time there was only around two hundred Top One Thousand members left, but they were still around, don’t mistake it. His second-in-command was named Merrick. Cal-Mark 911, he was known throughout the division as an innovative soldier who lost both his chip and his eye storming Davis’ compound. He was known as a patriot who fought for the Nurbles. As he stormed Davis’ compound, he was shot in the head, somehow surviving. However, the bullet ripped out his eye as well as destroying his brain chip.

So when he committed treason and violently took over the capitol building, it was very unexpected. Merrick quickly convinced the other Cal-Marks and rebels to kick out Mikey. Mikey was expelled from the city and forced out into the vast Carpton Jungle. Mikey had a few loyalists with him. He and about fifty of his men managed to make a small, secret encampment out in the jungle where they survived off of the land for the time being. Communications over the entire area were jammed and they could just barely get out a signal to call for help.

Help came. Help went. A squadron of fighters came and dropped Cal-Mark paratroopers on the city. With Merrick’s tactics, these troops were easily fought. Help stopped coming as Blueberry realized it was useless to waste life on a tiny little rebellion in Keyboard City.

For now, Keyboard City was an independent nation that claimed to not associate with the Nurbles. For a while, Merrick actually commanded his own good country. A makeshift wall was built around the city borders, keeping out his opposers as well as the beasts of the jungle.

Mikey and his men camped out there for weeks until they managed to get out another signal. Blueberry and Mikey managed to have a face-to-face conversation over hologram.

“Mikey. We have told you before that we are fine with Keyboard City being independent.” He said to him, almost annoyed.

Mikey gestured to his arm, “They broke my arm. I’m in a sling. They’re going to starve us out here!” He said. “I understand that you don’t want aggressions but they’re not good people. Merrick is a traitor. A Cal-Mark!” Mikey was begging for Blueberry to take pity.

Blueberry took a second to respond. He seemed to be taking it in. It troubled him that a Cal-Mark could defect so badly. “We can send a good force for you to control. But this is the last time. I’ll dispatch a few thousand soldiers to your location.”

Mikey thanked him and hung up the call. He turned around to look at his men. “Go out hunting. We will need food until the reinforcements get here so I want food by tomorrow morning.” He said, sending out his men.

### Ruby:

At the same time, Merrick sat in his office with his head advisor of this rebellion. That advisor? None other than Squiggle Cash. Squiggle saw a rebellion like this as a great way to gain power. He had just sent out a hunting party. Not to hunt for food but to hunt down Mikey and the other loyalists.

The party went out to find the loyalists and set up camp in some trees, waiting for people to pass under them. And that it did. It was a few hours later that the Mikey’s hunters passed by. They were quickly shot down, only one making a run for it and running out into the jungle. They got in their camouflage hovervan and drove after him, making a lot of noise as they did so. This survivor was Mikey’s right hand man, a soldier known as Forter. He was Cal-Mark 44, Top One Thousand.

He ran through the foliage and darted under branches as he heard the van hot on his tracks. It was about ten minutes of running when he heard something different. A roar. The noise had stirred a nearby beast. Ruby. A Nemean Lion. The same lion that was on Farboo. While they didn’t know it yet, the two Nemean Lions that lived on Farboo, Ruby and Remi, were transported by smugglers to Farbore, hoping to profit. Their transport was attacked and Remi and the ship he was in was blown up. Ruby’s ship crash landed in this jungle, the crew perishing, but her thriving.

Ruby knocked the hovervan to the side, snapping the neck of the driver and sending the other ones flying out. Forter managed to keep running as he heard their screams behind him as the lion ripped them to guts.

He made it back to camp and informed Mikey of the attack, as well as Ruby. Mikey started to get an idea. He knew how to take down Merrick.

### The Walls Come Down:

Nowadays, we see this event as a famous image of the Nurbles’ neverending fervor for victory and valor. The image of Keyboard City’s walls falling down as Mikey led his army of Cal-Marks against the city. Flying in behind Mikey was a man who just couldn’t resist the heat of battle. Blueberry flew in, blasting at Merrick’s soldiers who were fighting back against Mikey and Blueberry’s forces.

The battle lasted a long time as Mikey and Blueberry shouted to each other over the loud blasts going off ever few seconds. “I’m going to go after Merrick! He’s probably in his office!” Mikey shouted.

Blueberry nodded and shouted back, “Good idea! I’m going to that building up there!” He said, pointing to a tall building. “Squiggle Cash is up there, firing missiles down on us. I’ll apprehend him.” He said. These words sealed his fate.

Mikey and Forter stormed the city hall and beat Merrick over the head, throwing cuffs on him. As they managed to get him to a transport to the Block, the battle still raged in the city streets.

Meanwhile, Blueberry and a few of his men went to the top floor of Squiggle’s building. This building’s top floor was a giant warehouse with missiles and artillery storage. The lights were out with it being pitch black. All they could hear was Squiggle laughing and taunting them, his voice echoing. He slowly picked off Blueberry’s men in the dark. He almost got Blueberry but the lights flicked on as Blueberry saw Squiggle. He hit him on the head but noticed what he was holding.

“I don’t think so Blueberry. You kill me. I let go of this button and this place goes boom.” He said. Blueberry didn’t know what to do. This was a warehouse full of artillery. If it exploded, there was no way he could survive. But he knew that he couldn’t let Squiggle escape. He lunged forward, trying to grab the button but Squiggle let go.

The whole upper building blew up, vaporizing both Squiggle and Blueberry. The building tipped over and slowly fell. The modeship that was taking Merrick away was hit by the explosion and fell to the ground. Merrick was jostled around inside as the ship crashed to the ground.

The rest of the battle was focused around the ship on the ground as the Cal-Marks tried getting to it to apprehend him while the rebels tried to save Merrick. It all ended with the rebels being fought off and Mikey and Forter managing to take back the city.

### Blueberry’s Impact:

The whole Dakota system was truly shook by the news that the infamous general known as Blueberry was dead. There was mixed emotions as he was somewhat responsible for the deaths of thousands of people. Throughout his career, he had struck both fear and admiration in the hearts of all who crossed him. While he did bad things in life, most of it wasn’t his fault. From this, he did go to the Holy Realm after death.

“This is Baby Blue with Intergalactic News. We stand here at the wreckage of Artillery Tower in Keyboard City. This is also the grave of the heroic figure known as Blueberry. He bravely tried to stop the terrorist known as Squiggle Cash but was blown up in the scuffle. We here at Keyboard City all mourn him.”

As they had made such a big impact and this event going down in history, Blueberry, Mikey, Forter, Merrick, and Squiggle Cash all got a statue in the Memorial Gardens of New Nurblania. Not to mention Mikey constructing giant statues of both himself and Blueberry outside the steps of city hall. Mikey was elected to be mayor of the city afterwards as he was the one who commanded the attack to take the city back.

Merrick was taken to the Block. To this day, this might have been the time that the most prisoners were in the SuperMax district of the Block. Prinko, Davis, Cache, Merrick, Umu, and Lil Biggie. All prisoners of the SuperMax district of the Block. If Squiggle Cash didn’t blow up with Blueberry, he would be there too.

The biggest impact that came of this was the finding that the Clipper was found in the wreckage, not even a speck being different, its Urblazium structure not wavering in the explosion. The Clipper was temporarily stored in Area 38 until a new general could be chosen to lead the Cal-Mark division…

## The Yellow War:

The Yellow Confederacy was struggling. It was definitely not a great place to live as Supreme Leader Gold was oppressive and authoritarian. Gold and the rest of the government wanted to make a move, as they wanted to know who was being stored in the Block. The inhabitants of the SuperMax district are classified, and because of this, nobody really knew that Umu or anyone in there was alive. To the public’s knowledge, all of those numerous war criminals were privately executed. The Yellow Confederacy wanted to find out who was in the Block and they were going to do anything they could to find out.

We join our story in a military compound in the middle of a desert on Farboo. It was dark and musty in a cold dungeon. There were five Cal-Marks tied up. Blood littered the floor as Gold had a large ax. Accompanying him was some of his top soldiers, most of them being Clan Cash. By now, the Clan had mostly dispersed and most joined the Yellow Confederacy in hopes of somehow taking it over.

These Cal-Marks were captured and being tortured to figure out who was in the Block. One of them was Forter. His shirt was off and he was laying on the floor, trying to stay conscious. They were being beaten, some until death.

Forter watched from the floor as the next Cal-Mark started to be interrogated. “What’s in the Block?” Asked Gold, chopping off one of the soldier’s fingers.

The Cal-Mark cried out, “I don’t know, I swear! I’m not stationed there!” He shouted and begged for mercy.

“You see, that’s what we keep hearing but frankly, I’m tired of it.” Gold said as he nonchalantly beheaded the Cal-Mark. Gold turned around to look at Forter. He was the last one. Forter knew that if he didn’t get out of here, he was going to join the ranks of the Holy Urbles. They picked him up and shoved him against the wall. Gold berated him, “Look. I don’t want any more blood on my hands. Just tell me what I want to know and we can get this over with.”

Forter nodded his head and shrugged, his nose broken and bleeding already. “No, yeah. I get you.” He said. With that, he elbowed the Clan Cash members holding him down and kicked Gold in the nose so hard that it broke. Forter made a mad dash towards the exit as he ran out of the compound. He was pursued by the Yellow Confederacy’s signature special operatives. The Dust Troopers.

Dust Troopers are known for their training in the desert as their uniforms master the technology needed to camouflage into the desert. They are trained and equipped to navigate and fight within sandy environments, even skilled navigators in sandstorms and dust storms. None of their skin is showing, mostly just sandy colored pads and cloth with some sandy goggles covering their eyes. These goggles are equipped with heat vision, night vision, and crude x-ray vision.

These operatives were sent after Forter. Forter almost got to the front gates of the compound but they were closed. The Dust Troopers almost got him but a modeship flew by overhead, a marksman shooting the operatives. When the glare got out of his face, Forter recognized the marksman immediately. Buffalo was holding a large rifle while Phil dropped a rope ladder. “Climb up!” With Buffalo covering him, Forter made the climb up to the modeship as the Dust Troopers shot at him.

He managed to get in where he sat down in a seat. Phil got back in the cockpit and flew out of there. The side door shut behind them as Forter stared at them. “Wait, you guys are those Cal-Marks that joined R-Force! You guys are celebrities.” He exclaimed.

“No shit,” Phil retorted from the cockpit. “And before you ask why we came to save you of all people, just don’t. Remember Task Force 37? Well us three are Task Force 38!” He shouted over the loud engine of the modeship.

Task Force 38. The replacement for the extinct Task Force 37. Forter shouted back, “Replacing them? I feel like that might be a little bit in bad taste, don’t you think?” He shouted. Phil shrugged and said it’s not his place to question Princo’s wishes.

Task Force 38 was a mistake on Princo’s part. While none of them knew it, Forter was right when he asked if it was in bad taste. One day they would pay. But not today. On Forter’s return to Area 38, he was debriefed and interrogated on his abduction and new team. He said he didn’t say anything but he didn’t know what the other Cal-Marks said while he was unconscious. He guessed nothing because they didn’t kill him earlier but they shouldn’t take chances.

### Block Battle:

Cook was simply in his luxurious office in the Residential District of the Block when he got a visit from some friends. Buffalo, Forter, Phil, and CJ all showed up at the Block’s main hangar. Cook walked into the hangar with open arms, “Ahh, old friends! How are you, my boy?” Cook gave CJ a big bear hug, as Cook might as well been CJ’s only family left, similar to an uncle.

“I’m good, Uncle Cook. Me and my friends are here to just ask some questions about this place.” He said.

“Of course, kid. Anything you want to know, I’ll tell ya’.” They said as they went up to his office in an elevator. Buffalo pretended to stay behind in the ship while he really headed to the bathroom. When he got there, he started unscrewing a vent and getting into it as he started climbing upwards to try to get to SuperMax.

You see, CJ and Task Force 38 were here to ask Cook about the Supermax District as well as see for themselves. Buffalo would make his way up there while CJ would shoot his shot with his uncle.

“So we wanted to know about SuperMax. Who’s in there?” He asked. Cook went dead silent, going still and rigid in his comfortable office seat. He seemed uncomfortable, realizing what his ol’ nephew was asking.

He gulped and opened his mouth, “Well I don’t know if I’m really allowed to tell you that stuff. Maybe ask Princo.” He said, about to stand up and lead them out.

“Please. This is a matter of war. We know there’s people up there that the Yellow Confederacy want. Gold isn’t going to stop until he can get that information so you might as well tell us so we can know what we’re dealing with.”

Cook sighed, “Fine. Look, there’s things we’re dealing with here that would make the public go into a frenzy if they found out. There’s some high class individuals up there. Biggie. Merrick. Even people like Prinko or Davis. But if there’s one person I would guess they want up there… well I would assume its Umu.” He said, his voice trembling. His eyes darted around, fearing someone was listening. Fearing that Princo was listening..

CJ was surprised. He knew they might want someone, but he assumed it might just be some random high-level comrade of theirs. Part of him was outraged that the Nurbles would keep this a secret when the Block was supposed to be an intergalactic prison, not just a Nurble one. Why would they keep it a secret in the first place? CJ was hopeful to find out all of these questions, but he knew that he had to get Buffalo out of there. CJ didn’t even know the full extent of who was in this prison (Cache), but he knew that if Buffalo was caught in the SuperMax district, he would be shot on sight.

Meanwhile, Buffalo crawled through the vents, gazing down the long hallway of SuperMax prisoners and seeing a few. Due to his point of view, he luckily couldn’t even see Cache and only saw people like Umu and Davis.

Umu was about to call out to him and alert the guards when the whole space station shook. Everyone was confused. At least they were confused until the alarms went off. The Block was under attack.

Cal-Marks rushed to the hangars as they dispatched their fighter squadrons. Leading this was mainly head of fleet operations at the Block, Cane. Cane was leader of Cane Squadron and was an excellent pilot. He led the soldiers out to defend the onslaught that had arrived.

The thing that had arrived? About three carrier ships, adorned with the Yellow Confederacy’s banner. An onslaught of a battle ensued as CJ and Task Force 38 tried to leave the area before being caught up in it. Unfortunately, they couldn’t. However, it wasn’t as bad as CJ had thought considering he had a yacht and could easily fight and send out his yacht’s personal squadron known as Junior Squadron.

The fight went on for hours as Supreme Leader Gold commanded from the bridge in his carrier ship. They had somehow found out who was here in the Block. They must have interrogated or hacked a system and found information as they were deadset on breaking in. Or at least they would be if it wasn’t for the Nurbles coming in.

For the first time in ages, the S.S. Abby arrived. A mothership started to destroy these carrier ships, Gold having to use his jumper engine to get away in time. In the end, the Block was fine. But Cook was outraged.

#### Cook’s Purge:

Cook got on a call with Princo. He was angry. He never liked how Princo always liked keeping these war criminals alive but he knew he couldn’t just do it himself. But now. Now was different. “How could you let this happen? If they had gotten Umu out, they could have gotten Cache too!” He said, his face practically red by now, despite hinhj8i99o9s dark green skin.

“I understand, Cook. I do. But this isn’t up for discussion.” Princo said, calmly. He had always been a calm man who wanted to be humble and kind so he didn’t turn out like his father. But Cook simply hung up. He took an elevator up to the SuperMax district and demanded a guard give him a shotgun. The guard complied and gave him the weapon.

He went down the hallway and started with Prinko. He opened his cell with his handprint and walked in. “What’s the matter now?” Prinko smirked. That smirk quickly went away as he saw the double barrel in his face. Cook shot it. His brains decorated the wall. The rest of the SuperMax prisoners quickly got an idea of what was going on.

Next it was Davis. He begged for his life. Cook liked that. He hit him with the but of the shotgun and then shot him right in the chest, letting any life still in him just bleed out. He kept walking past Lil Biggie and Merrick’s cells as he didn’t think they were quite deserving of the same fate as the others. They could rot in prison for all he cared. He went straight to Umu’s cell. Not a word came out as Umu just tried to tackle Cook. He couldn’t, though. His brains decorated the wall as well. Finally, Cook opened Cache’s cell, unplugging his tranquilizer and waking him up. Cache’s body was old and withered, his hair white, contrasting with his pink skin.

“Come to finally let me go?” Cache asked. Cook grimaced, at him as he started to beat him into submission. Cache simply cackled maniacally as he did so.

“Stop laughing you son of a bitch!” He said as he aimed the gun and let off a shot. Cache was dead, his smile forever stuck on his face as he bled out from the open wound in his chest. Cook didn’t know what he had done. Princo kept these men alive because he knew that the Sacrificed Realm was real. He knew it was a small chance that they could do any harm down there, but it would be better for them to rot in jail than potentially cause harm down there. And now? Well now Cook had let Cache’s plan come to fruition.

#### Out in the Bayou:

Blade sat in his cabin in the bayou of Farbree. He was boiling some coffee on the kettle when he remembered to do his daily chore. His hair was long and gray and his old, snug Clan Cash uniform was tattered and dirty.

His daily chore? Check the other realm. Check to see if Cache was finally dead. He did this every day. Every. Single. Day. His undying loyalty to Cache compelled him to do this. When Cache finally died, he would give up his body to switch places with Cache’s soul. Blade would go to the Sacrificed Realm while Cache would live on in Blade’s body.

And unfortunately for everyone else, today was the day that he would check for the last time. He opened a window to the Sacrificed Realm to peer into the village of lost souls. And there he was. Cache Cash. He was playing a game of cards with Kingo and Squiggle Cash. He was winning. Blade called out to him. Cache looked over and grinned, “Finally.” No other words were exchanged as they both reached through and locked hands as their souls switched.

Just like that, Cache was in Blade’s body in the bayou and Blade was in his own body down in the Sacrificed Realm. This was Cache’s last chance to do something. He didn’t have some backup plan after this. This was his endgame.

### Forter, A Fugitive:

Forter was debriefed in Area 38. Dr. Bot showed him the new technology that they had been working on along other things. It was a holographic wrap that went around your body, able to pass you off with different clothes, voice, and even face and hair. They would use the identity of a squadron leader they captured at the Block Battle. His name was Gary and it turns out he was pretty close to Gold, being his main sparring partner.

With this identity, Forter changed. His usual look was just Blueberry’s base facial structure but with his own facial hair and hairstyling as well as different tattoos. However, this technology made his skin turn green and a bright yellow flight suit was projected over his usual Cal-Mark armor. “Perfect.” He said through a fake voice that he assumed must have been Gary’s.

With that, they took his old ship and had a staged crash landing on Farboo where the Yellow Confederacy would bring Gary to Gold. And it worked perfectly. Before long, Forter was in Gold’s office, talking to him like an old friend.

The tension was there, but to Forter, he was doing a good job of playing himself off as Gary. “Good to see you again, old friend. I thought we lost you out there.” Gold said, almost tearing up. Forter was surprised. How could an oppressive leader like this actually have emotions.

“Good to see you too, sir.” He replied, stone cold. Gold stared back at him, confused. His eyebrow raised and then a smirk appeared on his face.

“What the hell happened to you, you old bastard? Let’s fight. Like old times.” He chuckled, pressing a button on his desk. The desk and all the furniture in the large office suddenly sank or retracted into the wall or floor. Coming down from the ceiling were two platforms holding two vibrablades. Forter wasn’t exactly skilled with one but he knew his way around the tech.

They both took their weapons and got ready to fight. It was about ten minutes of dueling when Gold told him to stop. “So… how’d you get all the way back to Farboo? The Block orbits Farbore.” He said, almost ominously.

Forter was somewhat confused. He thought he’d done a good job of putting up a fight. “My jumper engine still had some juice. Managed to hop through to Farboo.” He said. While this happened, Gold paced around and locked the door to his office and rubbing the butt of his gun in its holster. Forter plugged a chip into his holocomputer and started downloading whatever he could.

“Hmm. Gary doesn’t know how to even fucking use a vibrablade. He always refused to use them. Said they were ‘too modern’. So all I’m gonna ask you is who the fucking hell is standing in my office.” He said. When Forter looked up from the computer, he saw Gold pointing the pistol right at him.

“Well shit.” Forter said as he ducked behind the desk. He took out a gun and started shooting back. He knew he couldn’t get out of this through the door. He saw the large window facing the city behind the desk and got an idea. But first…

Forter got up and ed over the desk. He kicked the gun out of Gold’s hand and kicked him in the nose, breaking it as it was healing. “Goddammit you little shit!” He shouted as he tried getting up from the floor. Forter shot out the window and jumped out. It was a long fall but he recovered fast. He couldn’t get caught. He couldn’t.

He ran down an alley. He saw alarms go off at the Block Capitol Building and he jumped into a dumpster, turning off his disguise. It snaked off of him, showing his real gear. He took off the Cal-Mark armor, not wanting it to give him away. He was hyperventilating, trying to communicate with the cloaked carrier ship monitoring him. He realized that the Yellow Confederacy must have initiated a jammer around the whole planet because he wasn’t getting any signal out of it.

“What the hell are you doing in there?” Forter heard a voice outside the dumpster. He looked up to see the face of a blue-skinned man. He was so used to seeing Cal-Marks, he thought he was one. He didn’t see many blue-skinned people in Nurble cities that weren’t Cal-Mark. This guy… well he wasn’t. I mean all of them were different in their own way but this guy was really different. He held out his hand, “Daryll Smith.” He said. Forter took it, hesitantly, and shook his hand. “Looks like you’re in a bind.”

“You have no idea,” Forter said. They went on to meet each other and introduce themselves. Turns out Daryll wasn’t exactly liked by the Confederacy either. He was a prominent member of the Dakota system’s crime guild. He was one of the best known in the Smugglers Guild. He ran a crew on his custom ship, The Centennial Vulture. It was a custom ship built of three modeships in a triangle formation. The smaller one in the middle can detach. He ran a crew of around twenty people. He offered to get Forter off planet for money. “Five million? Where the fuck am I supposed to get five million?” He shouted as they played cards in the Vulture.

Daryll shrugged, “To be honest I don’t really care how you get it. But its that or I hand you over. But if you get it for me, I bring you to the Yardigan Jungle. Hell what I know you’re doing there but you do you.” Daryll knew that Forter had no choice. He was dead if he didn’t get that money for him.

“Hand me over? The Confederacy wants you too.” Forter said, trying to get out of this. He knew that the Confederacy would easily just take them both and throw them on some torture rack a mile underground Yellowton.

Daryll just giggled, “You think I’m giving you to those fuckwads? They’re barely offering shit for you compared to the Guild. I’m not even talking the Bounty Hunters Guild prices. There’s this one guy paying top dollar to kill off you and your buds.” Daryll sipped some of his drink as he explained. Forter was confused. His buds? Did he mean the government? R-Force? Or he could mean… no. Nobody could know about that yet.

Forter didn’t have that money on hand but he knew where he could get it. “I don’t have that kind of money. But I can get something thats worth it.” Forter explained as the ship started to take off.

#### The Fruits of the Gaslands:

Forter knew that the Gaslands were dangerous, especially considering how much the Titans had gotten used to it over the centuries. But now they were doing exactly whatever they want down there. Area 37’s computers weren’t wiped and the intel down there was worth a damn lot.

So they flew down there into the Gaslands and prayed for the best. Flying through it was risky, the brown fog obscuring pretty much any and all vision out the main cockpit window. Roars could be heard throughout the place, echoes and rumbles scaring the passengers of the Vulture.

Through Forter’s guidance, they managed to reach Area 37. They saw through the fog the dark silhouettes of the tall paddocks connected to the main facility. As they entered, they saw the different labs as well as the main monitoring room. Forter flipped on the power to the monitor room where all the computers turned on, none of them being holograms because of their old tech. There were still operable cameras that monitored the paddocks. It was ominous seeing them as they were dark and eerie. Their labels glitching on the screen.

Bobo. His paddock was the largets, the size of a large forest, walls reaching the clouds. Then there were more. Two other main paddocks that held the other large beasts. The second one was also tall, home to the Titan known as Batty, built for flying and perching. But an ominous hole was in the top, the metal ripped open with gas flooding through and claw marks throughout. Whatever was here wasn’t here anymore. Forter watched the camera as he saw Daryll and his men enter a paddock. It was labeled QS. Queen Spible. He saw webs covering the paddock, the walls reaching into the air, tall as can be. He thought it was fine. He did. But then he saw that the monitor said there was a large lifeform in there. The Queen.

Forter and the few men with him ran to this paddock to save them as he also downloaded intel and research about the base. If they could get out of here alive with that intel, they would be able to sell it for much more than five million.

Daryll and his men were armed. But not for this. Acid venom dripped from the ceiling as it dropped forty meters to meet them. They were bewildered at it. It had been seen before at the Assembly War or the Battle for the Tree but other than that, it was a rare sight. All they could do was run. They broke right out of the building as it chased. Its kin ran right with it as they all fought their best to get to the ship.

They got to the Vulture and started to take off. Forter and Daryll shot up the engine and tried lifting off. The Queen shot webs and tried to drag them down. She would have done it too if it wasn’t for a beast biting into her leg and engaging in a fight. This beast was known as Polar. Nicknamed because of its thick, white fur and its jagged teeth. It was basically what we would call a polar bear but the size of a Titan. As the Vulture and the rest of the crew got away, the two beasts battled it out. They got into the air and just hovered there and watched. The commotion attracted a third titan. A giant, blue-scaled serpent a mile long known as Apple. Apple and Polar teamed up on the Queen but she managed to kill Polar and Apple slithered away in defeat.

“Goddamnit. We didn’t get shit from there!” Daryll shouted at Forter, pulling out his gun and pointing it in his face.

“Think again.” Forter said. He forgot to grab the intel chip from the monitor room but there was something even better. He gestured to the Queen’s venom on his boot. There was enough to fill a few vials or two. It would go for a lot of money, which pleased Daryll. With that, they took Forter to the Yardigan Jungle and dropped him off in the Yardigan Jungle. Daryll gave Forter the hoverjeep they had on board and sent him off into the jungle.

While he pocketed a two of the three vials of venom, he took one and called Supreme Leader Gold. “I believe I have what you’re looking for. Go to these coordinates. The fugitive is there and this vial is the key to stopping him…”

#### Sanctitude Broken:

Forter was driving through the jungle when he met up with some Click-Clacks. They had saddles and appeared to belong to the people he was looking for. The animals were friendly, guiding him through their tunnels. He knew that if he wanted to find the Sanctuary, he would need the animals’ help. For an hour or two, he was just underground with these Click-Clacks, but then they surfaced in the circular village that was the Sanctuary.

There was a large, circular wall of  shrubbery that surrounded the village and obscured it from prying eyes. Forter met up with Spruce and Specter. They welcomed him, Spruce being familiar as he kept contact with the outside world. He told them of his predicament as they promised him safe travel off-planet. A few hours into his welcome, a wooden armor-clad soldier ran through the foliage wall shouting. There were intruders on the horizon. Outside the Sanctuary was a grassy plateau before it became jungle again, and this plateau would be the home of a battle.

Giant hover tanks and other vehicles flew in quickly, an army of Yellow Confederate soldiers. On one of the hover vehicles was Supreme Leader Gold and Daryll Smith. Gold handed a dart gun with a scope on it to his head soldier who was exe-Clan Cash. They had a dart with the acid venom of the Queen Spible. They knew of the Forest Warriors and they knew what they had at their disposal. A Phoenix. The battle went on and the Phoenix was released. It went down as it was sniped, the only weakness it had was ancient Spible venom, being one of their ancient enemies.

Eventually, the Nurbles arrived with the S.S. Abby, releasing smaller ships to join the battle with infantry and air squadrons. It ended with Supreme Leader Gold dying to Spruce’s sword and the Yellow Confederate soldiers either dying or apprehended and sent to the Block. Forter got off-planet and back to his home with his brothers in Task Force 38. Specter and Spruce got back to work cleaning up the plateau around the Sanctuary. Eventually, they decided to leave the wreckages of machines to be grown over by the grass and plants, to symbolize that nature always will reclaim.

### Reclamation:

Cache took Blade’s old beat-up modeship and managed to ride to Farboo where he docked in Kingo City. Things were… different. To say the least. Back when he was here last, the place was even more depressing than it was now. He was disgusted with the changes put in place.

He had heard of Gold’s death and the numerous Clan Cash members fighting for dominance of the nation. However when he climbed the steps of the capitol up the Block, he was met with guards. When they saw his tattered Clan Cash uniform that belonged to Blade, they were confused. Luckily, when he met Clan Cash guards, they realized this was the backup plan that their great leader had talked of when he allowed himself to be apprehended back in his rampage in Megatropolis. And just like that, he was in power in Blade’s body.

He knew he had to get back at the galaxy. Things were different as he hadn’t been around for a few hundred years now. However, he knew what he had to do. He had to start planning.

#### Titan Gathering:

He took a trip to the Gaslands. He knew the dangers but he knew that this was the best way to do things. With the might of Clan Cash and the Yellow Confederacy, he set up base at Area 37, even doing research on Polar’s corpse already rotting from the days prior. He entered the Queen Spibles paddock and asked for help.

Time and time again, your people make me promises. Promises you don’t keep. The young man. Wintral. That psychopath. Kingo. You never succeed. You can never give me what you promise. Why should I help you now? You’re probably the worst of all of them. Why should I help you now?

Cache chucked. He knew that this spible was smarter than others. “The same reason you always help. You and your offspring get to cause destruction.” He explained. Just like that, she was on his side. He asked her of the locations of other Titans. He would need one or two more to go along with his plan. She explained that the two best candidates would be Apple and Batty. At first, Cache wasn’t happy with this and explained that he wanted Bobo.

However, when they took a trip out further into the Gaslands, he quickly realized Bobo wasn’t an option. He had long been dead, his skeletal remains rotting in the sand, the skull missing. He settled for the other two that the Queen recommended. To capture Batty, they engineered a large electrified net that would take it down if it tried to fly away.

They took a trip to Nurblania, its remains still there, the fog obscuring it from most maps. The once great Pringle Tower stood there, a large hole in the top. Its floors had been hollowed out making it a large hollow pillar. Batty’s domain. They made a loud noise which spooked it from its home which they then netted it and put it and the Queen on a carrier ship, sedated.

Apple was harder to find. There was a sandy plateau that she had been spotted at a few days before by scanners but it was a long shot that she was still there. When they got there, they found Titan blood, indicating a fight of some kind had occurred here after all. After doing extensive research on the beast’s tracks, they found it hidden at an overpass. There was a long fight but eventually the beast was sedated in the mouth and put on a transport.

### Riots:

It was the Scrimmage League Championship of the year. Rurbago versus New Nurblania. Things were going well with CJ getting some well-earned rest from the havoc involving the war had caused. Usually, halftime consisted of some kind of announcement each year from one of the nations involving celebrity news, advances in technology, or political announcements. This year wasn’t any different.

Rising from the battlefield was Princo on a platform. He looked nervous. Cook was on his flank with the shield, borrowing it from CJ. Cal-Mark guards were next to him as well. They were anticipating a negative reaction. “Hello patrons of the Dakota system.” He shouted. The crowd shouted back. “After numerous requests from some of my top officers, I have decided to share some news with you that might shine some light on this war that has been going on. For some time, we have let the public assume that villains of the past were executed upon their apprehension. This was not true. Until recent times, they were in the SuperMax district of the Block. Luckily, due to quick action from our great Block warden, they are now dead. But this was the main reason that this was happening.” He explained the ordeal to the crowd. Things were silent. And then they weren’t.

People were outraged. Angry. Within the course of a few minutes, the mock battlefield was stormed by civilians rioting and causing havoc in the stadium. This disarray quickly broke out across New Nurblania. A modeship had to fly above the stadium to get Princo off the platform so he wouldn’t be harmed on the ground.

Havoc in New Nurblania was great for Cache’s plans as it meant that their would be enough turmoil there for him to attack somewhere else. R City. The capitol of the Rurble nation would be perfect for some chaos. While it is guarded, its definitely not the most secure place in the system. It had never seen war and was mainly built for civilian convenience with its giant, glass sky bridges between buildings, nature and plant life being built into every building with its ecocentric vibe.

For a temporary time as most of the civilians rioted throughout New Nurblania for a few days, Cal-Marks were dispatched. You see, in most Nurble cities, there are usually a police force of Cal-Marks but they aren’t in full military garb. Most don’t even carry guns on them usually just having their riot gear, riot shield, electrobaton, and a stun gun. They didn’t usually have much lethal force at their disposal. However, Princo replaced them temporarily with actual Cal-Mark soldiers roaming the streets and putting down any violent riots, strikes, and rebellions.

“What else?” Cache asked himself. He looked across the holonet to see what has happened recently that he could take advantage of. Then he saw the headline. Nemean Lion on Farbore! A Nemean Lion. Near Keyboard City. If he could lead it there, it would be another city that would fall to his destruction. Perfect.

#### Princo’s Outburst:

He was under a lot of stress. Equal to a human, he appeared and acted like he was in his last fifties. He never wanted to be like the leaders before him. His father. His brother. Davis. All of them were tyrants that did horrible things. His goal in life was to be a good leader. Not to go down in history as a terrible person, but as someone who was loved by the people. These riots. This would make him look bad.

And to him, at least, it was all Cook’s fault. Area 38. The last few years, it had basically become his main home, always overseeing Bot’s stupid inventions that would surely bring the galaxy to its death. Cook walked in to the bunker, looking at all the inventions. Bobo’s Skull. The prototype kinetic suits. The mech suit. A bare bones skeleton of some humanoid robot. Odd things. Bot’s things.

“Look, Princo, I’m sorry. I just wanted to make things right, it wasn’t supposed to end like tha-” Cook quickly tried to apologize to the leader, who he did still somewhat admire, despite the fact that he left those people alive.

“Shut your damn mouth, Cook!” He shouted, echoing around the huge bunker under the Mayor’s Mansion and the Memorial Gardens. His personal Cal-Mark guards were confused and surprised. Everyone went quiet, even the large drills and equipment that was pounding away. All of these workers stopped and stared. “I am done. I am done being ‘Mr. Nice Guy’. I have done my best. I have been humble. I have been good. I have avoided violence. But its hard. All this power. And doing nothing with it. I am tired of being pushed around. And its gonna stop. Step out of line again, Cook, I dare you. If you do… then you’ll be in the Block. Not as the damn warden.”

Cook was shook. He had never, not once, seen Princo have such an outburst like this. He almost felt bad, despite knowing what he did was right. “Well… I’m sorry, sir. I won’t let it happen again.”

### Cache’s Attacks:

So Cache started the attacks. He lured Ruby out of her cave with a modeship and flew to Keyboard City. Mikey as the mayor led the soldiers of Keyboard city against the beast, fighting until the very end, Mikey fighting for his city. Ruby fought against them, multiple buildings falling throughout the battle.

Meanwhile in New Nurblania the riots kicked off with secret Clan Cash members instigating more and more violent actions as the night went on.

R City. A group of carrier ships flew over the city, releasing three titanic beasts from its bay doors. As the monsters dropped into the city and started havoc. They had never seen such chaos in one city as Apple slithered through the city streets and Batty perched on the rooftops as the Queen crawled throughout it.

R-Force was dispatched to the area as the city was evacuated, buildings falling over. They did their best to keep the beasts in a contained area of a city but they were fighting back hard. Cache and his men made a makeshift base out of a circle of their carrier ship a few miles out from city limits.

Dr. Bot recommended they used one of their experiments to fight back against it with Princo agreeing. They sent in the most recent Shiny, and one of the best ones, Warper. He had the power to teleport anywhere he could see. He was also wearing the new prototype kinetic suit. They are suits that wrap around your body that can deflect most bullets and blasts. At this time, however, they were very weak against explosions which would eventually lead to Warper’s tragic demise.

He warped throughout the city, fighting back against the beasts. They caused a lot of death as people and soldiers were swept up in their wake. Warper met R-Force at a chokepoint where they were fighting the Queen Spible. “Hey guys! Good to meet my new coworkers!” He shouted.

CJ and Cook looked at each other, puzzled. They were co-leading the group and weren’t expecting another member. “Are you from HQ?” Cook shouted over the noise.

Warper shook his head, “Nope. Special assignment from Area 38! I’m one of your new men. Good to work with you!” He said before warping away. He was a great member to add to the team. Vineage was swinging around with Rose after the Queen as she scaled skyscrapers. Vineage managed to cut into her leg, making a deep cut through it, almost cutting it clean off. As a couple in marriage and in battle, they did great against the Queen. Batty wasn’t as large as a threat. This beast wasn’t exactly a threat as it just wanted out of here. Unfortunately, if it left city limits, it would get shocked from the inside as Cache and his men implanted a chip in its neck.

Batty was just panicking as Mud, Geode, and Boxtop went after it, trying to calm it down. Finally there was Apple. While it didn’t have the same talking methods of the Queen Spible, it was easily the mots dangerous of the three. Fully stretched, the serpent was over four kilometers long. The diameter of its body was over seven meters. She was a tough one as her pearlescent, blue scales were almost impenetrable. There were many hard materials in the galaxy, the hardest being Urblazium. However, right below that on the scale was materials like Titan bone, Erzanium, and Apple’s scales.

Warper, however, had an idea. He grabbed a bunch of grenades and bombs and put them on his body as he warped into Apple’s maw as it continued to slither around, destroying and killing hundreds. As Warper stood in there, his suit wrapped around him, protecting him from the corrosive saliva of the snake. He let go of all the bombs and grenades, letting them trigger in the mouth as he warped out. Apple not only had them in her mouth but also swallowed a few, destroying her from the inside, her body going limp.

Warper teleported next to Cook and CJ were gazing in awe at their new teammate. But as he got back, he looked down to his belt to see one grenade he forgot to drop. It not only was on his belt but also was triggered. He knew of the dangers of these kinetic suits and how a usually small explosion can become a large one when coming into contact with these body suits. He went up in a flurry of flames as Cook blocked CJ from the inferno with his shield.

When the flames died down, they saw Warper standing there. Flesh and skin hanging from his bones. He was shaking. Somehow still alive. “Well I did it.” He said, flopping to the ground with a splat, as any remaining blood puddled on the ground, his flesh singing.

CJ was young too but Warper was very young. Just a graduate from Shiny HQ in Jolt City when he was taken and experimented in Area 38. It was traumatizing. He was just a kid. Barely nineteen. I still remember. I didn’t see the explosion from behind the shield but I could hear it. A scream. A shout. He was in agony as his skin and hair singed. That stupid suit. While the explosion would have effected his torso and hips as it was on his belt, this suit wrapped him in a blazing inferno that stung and singed his flesh and hair as he cried out. He was content with it. He wanted to die for R-Force. But I just don’t think either of us had thought it would be so soon.

Apple was dead. Cal-Marks rolled in with large tanks, taking down both Batty and the Queen Spible with humongous electrified nets. It was over. R City was no longer in danger. Now it was time for Cache.

Cook led a Cal-Mark army on the circle of carrier ships that acted as Cache’s base. They fought back hard, peeking out from behind crates and such, doing their best to fend off the Cal-Marks. However, R-Force managed to break through their defenses. Wielding the Clipper in his hand, Cook stormed towards Cache. Cache cowered there. For the first time in a long while, he was scared. He didn’t have a plan. He was about to die.

Before he could even bargain for his life, Cook pulled the trigger, sending a bullet into his cranium. Cache was dead. For good.

## Next Few Decades:

The next few decades went by. Princo promised the public he would be more open about potentially harmful secrets to the galaxy. Due to the dangers of the kinetic suits, they were discontinued as the galaxy mourned Warper as a young savior to R City.

Cities were cleaned up as Ruby was finally captured by the Nurble government. Because of the need for a containment center for these monsters, the Yellow Confederacy and the Nurbles reawakened Area 37 a containment center for these dangerous beasts. Batty, the Queen, and Ruby were all put here as they were too dangerous to be left in their respective areas.

Speaking of the Yellow Confederacy, they started their reform as they did their best to try to be less oppressive. A progressive young woman by the name of Sunny had political power already in place to take control as the new Supreme Leader of the nation with a strong alliance with the Nurbles.

Just like before, the Dakota  Pact was back to normal with all three nations living together in harmony for the safety and financial gains it brings with it.

Meanwhile, Princo and his board of advisors like Dr. Bot, Cook, and Admiral Cherry, they all decided to announce the new protector of the galaxy against threats like terrorist groups. Deep in the bunker known as Area 38 was a man suspended in a tank. He had lime skin and bright red, glowing eyes. Stomper. He was briefed on how it had been hundreds of years. That he was now a superhuman. That he was basically a god. They had created a potential monster. However, luckily, the Stomper would be a good defender of the galaxy. Strong, handsome, and a veteran. He was the ultimate power. Tests were done on him as it was discovered his strength could break Urblazium and just a second of his eyebeams on Urblazium could melt it. He was a fluke. A one in trillions chance. But he was there. And he was perfect.

Things were good. Peaceful. All was well in the galaxy. Projects were announced as the nations of the Dakota Pact announced slowly but surely the expansion of their empires. With the new strength of the galaxy, they started the recolonization of the once abandoned planets. The town in the Rurble Town crater once again inhabited by the Rurbles. Rurbago, Enton, and Nurble City were all once again colonized on Farber. Research started booming on the anatomy and biology of beasts at Area 37 as they tried working on a solution to the Gaslands, maybe one day getting rid of the deadly fog.

Princo’s health was deteriorating over the next few decades. He did well and won the public’s favor once again over time as he did good things for the Dakota system. He set up more colonization efforts for the other planets. Farbore, Farber, and Farbree all had new towns set up on them as he funded more colonization.

Now that the Nurble military was falling behind a little bit compared to basic terrorist organizations, the cloning facilities on the Farboo oceans was moved. A large facility was built in the South Pole of Farbore. The freezing tundra had a large mountain where a giant door was built into. This giant bunker was known as the Vault. It was a giant facility, much larger than Area 38 as it went a whole kilometer down into the Earth. It could make much more Cal-Marks than the ocean facilities on Farber or Farboo ever could.

Princo and his research team started talks of exploration in the rest of the galaxy, thinking that maybe they could start recolonization soon on the planet Green of the Jaquelyn system. However, this wasn’t to be finished in his lifetime as Princo started to get sick.

However, before his health deteriorated to a point of no return, he started one last project. From New Nurblania, he did something bad. Most people would say evil. From hospitals, he gathered around a thousand babies. Kidnapped. He raised them in secret, Cal-Marks helping him with this project. It would be known as Project Trig. This would be a secret division known as the Shadow Division with the Shadowtroopers. They would wear lightweight Cal-Mark armor the color of pitch black, inky darkness with crimson, bloody red visors.

Leading them was the most promising of this group of young cadets. He went by the name of Commander Chrome. Unlike Cal-Marks, the Shadow Division would only go by their number, prohibited from having a name. Chrome was a rare case, with the privilege of leading them. Chrome had an undying loyalty to Princo, almost having a father-son relationship between the two as he would do anything for Princo and the Nurble nation.

Now why have this whole division in the first place? To man a space station. Capsule and Shuttle were great but Capsule was mainly just a threat but it wasn’t meant to actually be used all that much. And Shuttle didn’t have a jump engine so it could basically just stay in the Farboo orbit. So they started a new space station known as Triangle.

Triangle started construction in deep space. What was Deep Space? It wasn’t just a term, but it was actually a region of the galaxy. It was a place where there was nothing. Just inky blackness with blinking stars all around. And it wasn’t just a part of space between systems which was basically everywhere but an actual part of the galaxy that had a rare phenomenon where there barely were any systems at all. It was a place that no communication went to. Jumper engines wouldn’t work as there weren’t any jump routes. There wasn’t any planet in sight. Perfect for the construction of something secret.

It was a large and black pyramid-shaped space station bigger than Shuttle but not as large as Capsule. It would not be a war station and didn’t have many offensive powers except for its large ray that could destroy planets like Shuttle. However, it was mainly based on defense with a technology nicknamed the “Bug Zapper”. Ships could come near but giant red streaks of electricity would protrude from the station and vaporize them. For now, it was secretly in Deep Space, but maybe it would one day be used….

Around the age of 854, Princo succumbed to organ failure as his lungs deteriorated very badly. The estimated seventy billion inhabitants of the system mourned the death of Princo as his body was buried in the Memorial Gardens with a large statue of him with floating stone sculptures of the moons and planets of the system orbiting around his head. A true honor.

### Shadows of R-Force:

Around the same time in these next few decades, a predicament happened with R-Force. The team for this mission consisted of Cook, Geode, Cyborg, Mud, Vineage, Rose, Banana (Piloting their custom ship at the time), and a new recruit by the name of Shadow.

Shadow was powerful. He could use a super dash ability which worked as a form of super speed for a short second. He could also go into some sort of ghost form where he would turn invisible and not be able to be touched as he could wander wherever he wanted.

He was powerful and a good addition to R-Force. However, he was quiet. Seemed to brood. You see, he had a vengeance against R-Force as he had both acquired and lost something because of the team. When Cache attacked Jolt City and attempted to open the portal, a young Shadow was hit by a magical blast from the portal giving him his powers and mutating his blood. However, as R-Force fought against Cache, they destroyed the side of an apartment building, killing Shadow’s family. He was put into foster care but quickly moved to Shiny Academy as an orphan when his foster parents noticed his abilities.

Shadow wanted to make them pay so he became top of his class and infiltrated the team.

The mission they were to go on was to investigate an old temple on Rousseau. It was a temple honoring the old leader known as Mitchell. She led a cult dating back to ancient times of the Zimmerman Empire where she was a top advisor for the emperess. She helped in controlling and oppressing people as she grew her cult. The cult was to the Sacrificed Realm as they wanted to somehow corrupt the Existent Plane one day with the Sacrificed Realm’s power. It didn’t work as Mitchell and her people had to flee to Mitchell Temple where they sacrificed five cultists as Zimmerman’s soldiers followed them up the mountain to the temple. The sacrifice apparently allowed Mitchell to turn into a beam of purple light that disappeared into the temple. Theories state that this was her dying but nobody truly knows. The cult dwindled out, only a few cultist elders stationed throughout the galaxy in the modern day.

They were tasked with investigating it with their signature and classic R-Ship which was a much larger modeship with rooms for each of the members. Banana piloted it as they flew to the temple.

When they arrived at the temple, Shadow saw his chance to strike. As the rest of the team removed their flight suits and hung them up in their lockers, Shadow went invisible. He struck Cook who reacted towards him with the shield. A fight initiated as they couldn’t see or touch their opponent. Not to mention that pretty much every shiny alive has super strength as a base power. They fought for a while with Shadow having the upper hand. Finally, he uncloaked to get a good punch at Cyborg’s enlarged cybernetic head. Before he could, he was struck by the front end of the R-Ship only leaving a bloody smear as his body was practically turned into mist of blood and guts. It smeared and stained the front of the ship. Because of this outcome of the mission, it was canceled and the whole idea of being a classic superhero team was put away and it was turned back into a government team. The ship was locked up in storage in a warehouse connected to Area 38. Shadow’s blood still remained dried on it.

### Buffalo’s Mission:

During these decades, Forter, Phil, and Buffalo came more into the public light as war heroes as members of R-Force and Task Force 38. This led to Buffalo being invited to Dr. Bot’s office. It was a large room built in Area 38 that was positioned inside the wall above everything so he could look at all of it. It was dark and musty.

When Buffalo entered, he noticed the sprawl of blueprints. The plans. While they concerned him, he also knew better than to ask questions about Bot’s endeavors. One that really peaked his interest was what Bot had planned for the bone of Bobo’s skull once they could figure out how to melt it down. A blueprint depicted a concept called Bonetroopers that would have armor coated in a thin layer of titan bone padding, making them practically sem-indestructible with the armor on. While this plan never went through, it did make for interesting concepts.

In the dark room, Bot sat in a hovering office chair, looking out through the wide window overlooking the giant bunker that was Area 38. It was such a large bunker that it was about a whole square kilometer of hollowed out earth under the Memorial Gardens and Mayor’s Mansion.

“Ah, good to see you, Buffalo.” He said, still not facing Buffalo. Buffalo stood there in his sleek ninja padding, not making a sound which confused him on how Bot knew he was there. He simply nodded and sat down. “Well you’ve been climbing the ranks lately and me and my cohorts deemed it necessary that you go on a mission for us. We want a sample of the Hurble Infection. We believe there might be living strands of it on the Right Tyre space station. You’l be sent there with a team of Cal-Marks to go get a sample. Be careful.” He quickly briefed Buffalo on the mission. Buffalo nodded and exited the room.

Buffalo was an interesting character. Silent. Strong. Innovative. He, like the rest of the Top One Thousand had an undying loyalty to the Nurble nation due to his chip, however, he was also a kind soul and often challenged some of the more inhumane orders he would be given. He was kind. He often tended to his garden at his home in the New Nurblania outskirts. He wrote poetry and often visited childrens’ hospitals throughout the Dakota system and gave out gifts and charity money. A good man of few words.

He and twenty Cal-Marks flew out of the system, the first time in a long time. Upon leaving the belt of asteroids at the edge of the system, a warning blipped on their holocomputer of the ship asking them if what they were doing beyond the confines of the asteroid belt was really worth it. They carried on.

They arrived at the Right Tyre, seeing how decrepit it looked. In fact, the whole Rousseau system was eerie with how abandoned it felt. The space stations as well as the planets like Rousseau and Martin were devoid of life for all they knew and were not going to be homes to life for a long time. Eerie stuff.

They docked at the station and entered, noting how the stations’s oxygenerators were still running despite all the time that had passed. Buffalo led the charge through the hallways. It was a few minutes in when they came across something unexpected. Spibles. They were somehow here. They looked disgusting. Large green cysts that glowed on their backs. The Spibles had created some kind of symbiotic relationship with the disease as it didn’t affect them. These Spibles almost killed one of Buffalo’s men but he put a stop to it with a throwing knife.

They kept going ahead when they came across the cafeteria. The lights were on and the doors barricaded. As they moved aside the furniture and machinery blocking the door, they came across a shocking discovery. Urbles. They were thin and sickly but there were about fifty people in the large cafeteria staring at Buffalo and the Cal-Marks. The room was turned into a large living quarters with the oxygenerator moved to the center of the room as well as a water recycler. Plants grew in dirt beds in the corners as people slept in tents with the tables and desks of the cafeteria all gone from the room. They had been living here for the last few centuries. Amazing.

They tried making peace with them and it worked. They happily gave them a sample of the infection from a Spible and sent them on their way with little questions. They didn’t seem curious at all about the outside world. Buffalo offered them supplies and they happily took it as Buffalo left.

However as they left the cafeteria and were going to leave the building, one of the Cal-Marks on the mission made an offer. “If Bot was here, he would order us to terminate this station. It may be one of the only surviving locations where the infection still is. We must get rid of it.” He said, showing the detonators he had. Buffalo thought for a second and eventually shook his head no. He confiscated the detonators as their ship took off.

Buffalo, in an act of disappointment in his brother for even insinuating that they would kill the residents of the station, ejected the soldier from the airlock with no objections from the others.

Upon their return, they gave the briefcase with the vials of the infection to Bot as he started work on large containers for a gaseous form of the infection for warfare. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea after all…

## Election Season:

### Campaigning:

Now things were great and all but the Nurbles needed a new leader. Princo didn’t have any heirs so they once more tried democracy, hoping that this time they wouldn’t end up with another Davis.

Many people wanted to run to be leader of such a great country but there was one person that was destined for this from his beginning. Cook. He announced that he was going to run for president and how Princo’s old advisors announced how the election would work. While all Nurbles would count for two votes, any citizens of the Yellow Confederacy and the Rurbles could send their vote for leader of the Nurbles.

Other people that considered or were encouraged to run were people like Rootbeer or Ghost. Ghost and Rootbeer were still alive and kicking as they commanded Shiny HQ with Orange. Rootbeer didn’t aspire to lead and Ghost thought it wouldn’t be a good idea to have their leader in a life support suit.

So instead, someone rose to run that wasn’t exactly expected. Someone of a group of people that are oppressed and overlooked for a long time. Mikey. While he wasn’t exactly your main idea of a president, he promised that he would represent his group that had been oppressed. What group is that? The Cal-Marks of course. Let me explain. While its overlooked in history, it should be more payed attention to that the Cal-Marks couldn’t exactly choose what they wanted to do in life. They were bred for war and that is what they would do until they could retire. If you deserted, then you were deemed a traitor. Mikey wanted to change that.

They started the running, doing their best to get celebrities and political leaders on their sides. At this time, the biggest cities of the system was Jewlion (Farbore), Lan Dejo (Farboo), New Nurblania (Fabore), R City (Farbore), Carpville (Farbore), Cash Cove (Farbree), Razor Beach (Cabín), Rurble Town (Farboo), Nurble City (Farber), Crakoa (Farboo), Rurbago (Farber), Stolton (Farbore), Fort Matthews (Farber), Jolt City (Farbore), Keyboard City (Farbore), Grape Bay (Farber), Kingo City (Farboo), Yellowton (Farboo), and Enton (Farber). These were the biggest cities of the Dakota system. They were the most populated and what the two candidates wanted to campaign to the most.

However, some of those cities you might not recognize the names of. To shed some light on the lesser known ones, lets do a tour of the ones not mentioned before in history as well as the old ones we’ve mentioned. Jewlion, nicknamed the “Amethyst City” is a long strip of casinos and hotels where gambling ruled and a tycoon named Copernicus Jewel ran with all his money. Lan Dejo, for example, was a city in the prairies of Farboo built where the old Shiny academy tower used to be before the purge. New Nurblania was the Nurble capitol being the biggest city in the Dakota system and known for its cyberpunk ways and multiple layers of the silver city. R City was the Rurble capitol and was known for large sky bridges from building to building and the nature built in to every building weaving in and out with an eco punk vibe. Carpville was built in Farbore’s north pole region as it was a large city known for its fishing business and how it was home to a tourist attraction known simply as “The Furnace”. A large, water-tower shaped building in the core of the city that was a large furnace that hadn’t been extinguished since the city was built. It symbolized the Nurbles’ neverending heart. Cash Cove was a coastal city of Farbree named after Cash where scum and villainy took hold. Its technically a Nurble town but it might as well be no man’s land. Razor Beach was the biggest city on Cabín and was a tropical resort city as well as home to the largest existing Tortuga sanctuary. Rurble Town, of course, was once the great city in a mountain valley. Now it was still a city, but it is built into a giant crater from when Shuttle attacked it and was known for its mining industry. Nurble City was the first Nurble city. A basic, run-of-the-mill town on Farber. Crakoa was a new one. It was built inside a giant, winding canyon formed by a river at the bottom. Buildings were built on bridges from side to side as well as houses and buildings down on the waterfront. It winded forever and ever and was nicknamed “The Crack”. Rurbago was the old capitol of the Rurbles and their first city. Its old-fashioned and known for its historic districts as well as their continuous use of Click-Clacks for travel. Stolton was a farming town on Farbore, which sums it up pretty well. Fort Matthews, as the name says, was a town built around an old fort used to be the closest settlement to Rurbago back in its revolution. Jolt City was the old Jolt base and is known for its subway and monorail lines as well as being home to the giant S-shaped building that was the Shiny academy. Keyboard City, built in the jungles of Farbore was the old Keyboard outpost and evolved to be a large metropolis in the jungle where Merrick rebelled and Blueberry died. Grape Bay was the famous coastal town where Roper slaughtered the civilians on the beach and let their blood run into the ocean. Kingo City was the city built around the first Block and is named after King Kingo. Its a pretty depressing and gray downtown district that blends into nice suburbs. Yellowton is a large city in the deserts of Farboo. Known for how it uses both streets and canals to get water around as well as for travel. Similar to the Dubai of Earth. Finally, Enton was the home to the terrorist known as Cyclops and had grown over time to become a big city. Not much to say about it except for the large power plant known as Power Plant Alpha that still ran to this day.

Sunny quickly supported Mikey as a candidate as she was all for the rights of these military slaves. CJ was too, but he felt that he must endorse Cook as Cook wanted for freedom for all as well. Not to mention, Cook was basically CJ’s adopted father after Cookie died.

Cook and Mikey both definitely had their own references. Mikey has served as a member of the Top One Thousand in the military as well as serving as a political leader already as mayor of Keyboard City. Cook on the other hand was a war hero for both the Rurbles and the Nurbles. He was also older than Mikey with more experience and less blunders in his military career. Not to mention he had been the warden of the Block for the last century or two, responsible for the sudden execution of war criminals in the SuperMax, as well as killing Cache once in the Block, and another time at the end of the Yellow War.

To put it simply, neither candidate were not suited for the job. However, both wanted the position very badly, and to be fair, neither of them didn’t deserve such a career so it would be interesting to see what lengths they would go to to win this election.

#### Runningmates:

One key idea that the whole nation had in mind was who would be the new leader of the Cal-Mark division after Blueberry’s untimely demise and who would wield the ancient blade that was the Clipper. That is where running mates came in. Whoever won would have their running mate become the new general of the Cal-Mark division.

This was an important decision as whoever led them would wield one of the strongest blades ever made. While Cook didn’t know it, Mikey got Buffalo as his running mate and Cook got a lesser known member of the Top One Thousand. A good soldier and a good man, his name was Dart and had been one of Cook’s personal bodyguards and SuperMax guard at the Block. Dart was charismatic and kind and would work great as a running mate.

So it went on. Buffalo was a celebrity though and would be hard to beat considering his prowess. Not to mention, Mikey was much more of a recent hero as he had previous saves at Keyboard City against Merrick and Cache’s attack with Ruby. Time would tell.

#### Debates:

Cook’s first visit was a speech at the Vault so he could try to get at least some Cal-Mark votes as he knew that most of them would be voting for Mikey. This visit did do well as most of them were inspired by Cook and knew him from the history they were taught in their education hours of training. They didn’t know much of Mikey as he wasn’t exactly in the curriculum yet.

The first real debate was at New Nurblania right outside the Memorial Gardens. A large stage was set up as a crowd of millions of civilians were there in person as billions more watched from Intergalactic News with Baby Blue covering the event.

“People of the Dakota System. Me and my electoral rival here are both good options. However, I do have some things to say. For too long, the Nurble nation has been held to a degree of perfection when it really has been oppressive and cruel. I will change that, giving much more freedoms to the Cal-Mark division members as well as more freedoms to civilians. I am for freedom.” An uproar went up in the crowd at Mikey’s speech, most of the security there (Being Cal-Marks) also clapping.

Cook gulped. He had a reveal for the crowd but he didn’t want to look like he was undermining Cal-Mark freedom. “I agree with everything that Mikey has said as well as investing in more defense from terrorist threats. Three young and promising cadets from Shiny HQ in Jolt City have been training and handpicked by me, Orange, Rootbeer, and Ghost (Who have all endorsed me by the way). Anyways, meet Ratchet, Static, and Bloodstain, the newest members of R-Force!” He shouted as three people came out from behind the curtain. People shouted in glee as this reveal was amazing, easily outdoing Mikey’s freedom speech. Cook smirked.

Ratchet walked out, having no clothes. However, this was because he was made of metal. Smooth metal skin with no genitals or anything at the moment. Like a living, metal mannequin. Static had yellow sparks in her eyes as her electricity controlling powers raged inside her. Finally there was Bloodstain. The obvious leader of the trio as he had a sleek, ninja suit with dark crimson undertones. There was no helmet but it was very similar to Buffalo’s outfit beside that. His power was to control blood inside people with ease and even keeping blood in from a wound. True powerhouses. This was good for Cook. Mikey was angry. So he did his backup plan.

Later in the debate, a sniper was set up in a modeship that was flying by. As the red dot sight appeared on Cook’s forehead, Mikey staged an attempted assassination as he jumped in the way, taking a bullet in the chest. It showed how good of a person he was as he was rushed to the hospital.

People were suspicious but most believed this stunt. Cook knew he couldn’t prove this was a staged event and instead resorted to getting dirt on him. This information came from Dart himself. Dart knew Mikey in the Top One Thousand, however, he also knew that he was a fraud. He wasn’t Top One Thousand. Way back when the battles of Rurbago were occurring, Mikey was one of the two thousand Cal-Marks in the three thousand bunch that weren’t picked to be the Top One Thousand. However, he was 1,001. When Roper died at Grape Bay, he was integrated and told the public that he was originally Top One Thousand as well. Dart knew Roper back in the day and knew that Mikey’s claimed Cal-Mark number was actually Roper’s to begin with.

When this was revealed to the public, he did get a lot of hate from people and eventually he lost the election. Instead, he got a promotion from protector of Keyboard City to the new warden of the Block in Cook’s absence. Being the new warden, he became a part of the president’s board of directors. This board consisted of Cherry (Cosmic Admiral), Bot (Head Advisor/R&D), Mikey (Block Warden), Dart (Cal-Mark Division General), Rootbeer (Shiny Division Head), and lesser known Rodrick Tanking (Naval Admiral) with Cook as the president himself.

He initiated many new laws promoting freedoms and rights as well as free and optional surgeries for Cal-Mark chip removals, which many ended up getting. Things were going good. Around this time, some people started a political group promoting freedom and even possible breakaway from the Nurble nation. Things were just small ideas right now but a young man named Louis Donut led this small group. Time would tell what it would lead to.

## An Age of Heroes:

Superheroes. Popular in the media as they were not only true heroes but actual celebrities within the media. These superheroes? R-Force. This was an age of reform for R-Force as plans were put in place for a future team without the oldies in the organization.

However, over the coming years, one member of the team slowly let the fame and power go to his head as he realized just how much he could do with it. A meeting between the team was the first reveal to how he was going rogue. Stomper walked in to see the rest of R-Force standing there as the meeting began. Not much was happening, just updates on certain outposts but then Stomper spoke up.

“Hey. Um, look, I know I’m new here but I’ve just had a few questions.” He asked. CJ (The leader now that Cook retired to be president) permitted the questions hesitantly. “Well to be honest, I’ve just been confused with a few of the members of this team. Look, I could take on everyone here single handedly but at least most of you guys have powers. What’s with the trio over there?” He asked referring to Task Force 38 who stood there on hologram. They were stunned and offended as Stomper would make such a remark. “I’m just saying, what are they really bringing to the team here?”

Phil was about to speak up when CJ remarked, “Actually we are gonna have to cut this meeting short. Stomper, we need you on patrol of New Nurblania. So get out there.” He said, trying to calm people down before an argument broke out. Stomper sighed and nodded as he flew out there. He felt like he was being underutilized. He could be doing so much more for the Nurbles. Conquering the Yellow Confederacy and the Rurbles. Sweeping the system of crime. But no. He would just be on patrol.

He was in a residential district of New Nurblania when he noticed things going on in an alley. A large drug trade between the Orange Gang and some other people. He swooped down to see them and he grinned. They pulled out their guns and pointed at him, threatening him. As they pointed at him, their leader closed a brief case with some vials in it and ran off. He had aqua skin and a large green vest. Dirty. Dirty was the second-hand-man of the Orange Gang with Lil Biggie in prison and was running things for a while. He was feared but in this moment, he feared Stomper. As he got away, Stomper initiated a large fight with them, ripping people apart with his bare hands and lasering people’s heads in. He didn’t give two shits about collateral damage as he destroyed houses as bullets whizzed by.

He was about to finish it when some of the gang members injected themselves with a purple vial of liquid. Their muscles bulged as the serum went through. One-Eye. It managed to be kept off the market but the intense steroid had easily distributed itself after all this time since the days of Cyclops. But even with this drug, he ripped right through them.

He was caught on traffic cameras doing all this which was shown to Cook and CJ. They were worried they knew that they had to get rid of him somehow. They were in Area 38 reviewing the footage when Bot spoke up. “I have an idea. There’s a large lifeform on the Grossbart planet. The old cave cities that the slaves resided in have been overtaken. Spibles. There’s a queen. In those caves, there resides the king. We send him there to collect research. Let’s hope it gets him.” It was their best bet. It was one of the strongest monsters they knew and if anything could destroy it, it could.

Stomper got the message and was thrilled to finally something fun for once. He flew through space at top speed to reach Grossbart. When he reached it, he wasn’t surprised. Somehow, it looked better than before. The once brown planet was actually somewhat green now that the smoggy brown atmosphere had dissipated. The surface on the other hand was a different story. Chaos. Broken buildings with animals and plants poking through the cracks. Giant wrecks of once great sky cities that careened to the ground. Things weren’t great here but they were still better than before when it came to wildlife.

He went to one of the giant cave entrances that entered to the huge cities underground when he noticed something. Skeletons. Dead people decayed in piles. Burned. He didn’t know what happened here, but he didn’t want to find out. Behind him, one giant eye opened up. Then another. Then all eight. Eight large green eyes gazed down at him from the shadows as it fell from the ceiling. The King Spible. To compare from what we would know better of, the Queen Spible is still huge but compared to spiders on our world, she was a black widow compared to a tarantula when it came to the King. He was ginormous as he got into a battle with Stomper.

Stomper just smiled as he beat the living shit out of the beast, ripping most of its legs off and tearing out its fangs. As he left, the King Spible was still alive as it was crippled and bleeding, its kin that it commanded patching up its wounds with webs. He left the planet, knowing that they sent him here to die.  Stomper deserved to die. He was a monster. Even before he got powers, he was a little weasel of a man.

He was only put in the tank that gave him his powers because he was “knocked out” when Blueberry and his men stormed Nurblania General Hospital. He was really just playing dead as he didn’t want to die. He watched as the men he was in charge of were killed. He even had the chance to kill Blueberry and end the carnage while he was distracted, but Stomper was just so scared of him that he didn’t want to risk moving.

When he arrived back at R-Force tower in R City he called a meeting. “We need to talk.” Was the only reason he gave as he initiated a fight.

### Unlimited Power:

He was the strongest person in the universe. All of history, he was the strongest. One in trillions. The first person to show up on hologram was Buffalo who was surprised to see the whole meeting room destroyed in an angry fit. Stomper didn’t think about this as Buffalo immediately hung up and notified the rest of the team to not show up. Instead, they took shelter in Area 38.

But after a few minutes of waiting, Stomper knew they weren’t coming. He knew exactly where they were. He flew to Area 38 and flew right through the waterfall where R-Force members gazed at him. Like a god coming to say hello. But he was no god. He was a devil.

“You sent me there to die. But you have no idea just how much power I possess. You’re all dead.” A fight broke out as he went for CJ first. CJ had the shield which he blocked a punch with. But then… the shield dented in. Pure Urblazium. Indestructible. A large dent created with this man’s punch. He was actually scared now. The rest of R-Force did their best to fight as he just was confused why they were trying so hard. He was about to laser Vineage when the shield was thrown at him. His head moved and the laser skimmed around the whole bunker. A bit of it hit Bobo’s skull which immediately melted right through, a puddle of liquid titan bone culminating on the floor. His lasers also skimmed Ratchet’s ankle. He cried out in pain. That wasn’t supposed to be possible. When he turned metal, he was pure Urblazium as well. How did his whole ankle get deformed after being under the laser’s pressure for less than a second.

It was now that a new shiny ran in. One of Bloodstain’s friends from HQ, Voltage, ran by. He had superspeed and grabbed the whole team in his arms as he ran to R City, Stomper hot on his trail. They got to these city streets where people were being evacuated as the true fight was about to occur. Nobody was getting out of this on Stomper’s watch. Mud and Geode tried doing their best to fight him but it just annoyed Stomper. “To make things clear, I am going to demonstrate my power for just a sec. Stop fighting or it’ll be you next.” Within a millisecond he grabbed Mud by the leg and (At super speed) dragged him across the ground all around the world quickly, face-down. He was mutilated when he came back, just a bit of skin and bones when he came back to R City. “Done fighting now?” Stomper asked, genuinely thinking they’d stop.

But it made them more angry that they killed Mud just like that without any remorse. More and more fighting occurred as Vineage and Rose teamed up against him. Geode tried making a wall to keep him away but it just trapped Vineage on the other side with Stomper. Alone. Rose cried out as Stomper grabbed Vineage by the shoulders.

He quickly but surely sent a laser straight into Vineage’s face, going straight through the hardened leaf mask he had worn all his life. Dead. Rose’s husband. She was the only one to ever see his face and now it was gone. Stomper just smirked as everyone stopped fighting and gazed at him as a long-time R-Force member was mutilated. Fighting broke out again soon after.

CJ tried fighting with his shield again but Stomper grabbed it, fed up. He took the shield and just broke it in half over his knee. Everyone was shocked. How was that possible? The shield pieces lay on the ground as he then flew over at lightning speed to Boxtop and ripped the metal shell from his body, bashing his skull in, killing him instantly. People kept fighting him, even if there was no chance of victory.

But this time… a punch hit Stomper square in the face. A man wrapped in white and yellowed cloths had done it, knocking a few teeth out. He was ripped and muscular. TP. He had been in one of those tanks too. His powers were only temporary but it’d be enough to fight Stomper. Within a few minutes, Stomper was down. His skull was dented in and had severe brain damage, practically permanently to just sleep or act like a toddler. He wouldn’t be a threat anymore. Just another resident of SuperMax in the Block.

TP was praised by the team as he was back in the limelight as people praised this new mystery “copycat” of the old TP who managed to kill the power tyrant that was Stomper. Good riddance.

### The New Team:

Vineage, Boxtop, and Mud were mourned by all as they were buried under their statues in the Memorial Gardens. True heroes against Stomper as they were slaughtered by him. Most people then retired from R-Force after this. The team after people retired was just Bloodstain (Leader), Static, Ratchet (Who now had a deformed ankle), and TP (Who was still a mystery man to the public). Luckily, Bloodstain had friends to pick from at the Shiny HQ.

He picked from some of the nearly graduated cadets at the place as they were almost ready to start helping in the real world anyway. These were their names:

* Voltage: Helping against Stomper, Voltage was around only 24 as he joined R-Force, ready to help the people of the Dakota System against evil with his superspeed.
* Windspeed: Only a 15 year-old, Windspeed had the power to control wind and air as he flew threw the air. While not biological, he was practically Voltage’s younger brother as Voltage took him under his win at the academy
* Hydron: Brother to Pyro, he and his brother had opposite powers and were known as the elemental twins back at the academy. While they’d never done it before, at their full power they could turn into pure water and fire. Hydron could create and control water as he could fly around on it and swim through the seas.
* Pyro: Able to control and create fire, Pyro could fly with it and tear through his enemies. He was much more by-the-book than his brother as he had an undying loyalty to the Nurble nation and would never do anything to betray it.
* Quake: Similar to Geode’s powers, Quake could control rocks and minerals while also making earthquakes in the ground. She was a true powerhouse on the team.
* Prism: Able to control most forms of energy through light and take the light from the area around him to create large lasers to fight against enemies of the Dakota system. She is admired by many and known to be very attractive to the media.
* Polarity: Last but not least, Polarity could control anything magnetic, mostly things that were metal. She could shape them and reform them into blades or bullets, being extremely powerful against beings who didn’t possess powers as well.’

So with Bloodstain leading and TP guiding them with his experience, they were the new R-Force, being the protectors of the Dakota system. They kept things in check as well as making people feel safe. Luckily for them, it wouldn’t be long until a new threat arose against them.

## The Golden Age of Piracy:

### Missing Cargo:

This chapter all starts on one ship. A normal Rurble cargo ship, a carrier ship model, it was transporting food and goods on a trade route to Farbore coming from Farber. Led by a man in the cosmic navy known as Captain Crisp, he was a good dude. He kept things in line along with his second-in-command, security chief on board, Rodrigo. There was only about thirty members of security. Even with the immense size of a carrier ship, it wasn’t all that important to have security when you were just carrying cargo.

However, today was different. Crisp was in the bridge when one of the people on his navigation team told him there was something about to jump into their area. Crisp was confused considering not many ships used cargo routes like these except carriers and… well… pirates.

Pirates had been a problem recently in the system as there hadn’t been many large problems and criminal organizations took it as a sign that they could up their game. Some big names in piracy around this time were Captain Kiwi and Captain Chuck. They were both big pirate lords known for their brutality. Kiwi was known for his gnarly, green beard and skin that he never shaved. Chuck on the other hand was known for more planet-based piracy with Chuck and his crew terrorizing the people of Carpville and the rest of the North Pole of Farbore. Chuck and his crew were better known for their signature fur coats, mouth covers, and goggles covering all their skin and obscuring any recognition.

Kiwi on the other hand liked to intercept ships in space and kill the crews and take the cargo. Exactly what happened to Crisp. A large, yellow carrier ship with golden stripes jumped in from jump space as Crisp gazed out the bridge window. Kiwi’s yacht. A warship that he used to intercept and destroy cargo ships. “All hands on deck!” Crisp shouted as multiple fighter ships ejected from Kiwi’s ship with the intent to board Crisp’s ship.

When they entered the docking bay, Crisp greeted them with fear. He reasoned and negotiated to just hand over the cargo and not kill them. The pirates agreed after contacting Kiwi and he agreed. However, it wasn’t to be. Rodrigo shouted out and disregarded Crisp’s negotiations. Him and the rest of the security crew armed themselves and a fight broke out in the cargo bay. Eventually, all of the people on Crisp’s ship were slaughtered except for Crisp himself, who was taken prisoner.

Crisp and his crew were just one of many victims of piracy and crime and it was up to R-Force to put a stop to it. Little did they know, the problem was much larger than just some pirates…

### Phillip Pringle:

TP wasn’t some copycat. He had survived the Orb attack and was given powers just like Stomper. Only problem was that his were temporary and wore off after a few hours. After that, he was back to being a government-hating vigilante who wanted to fight crime.

He was given the new name of Phillip Pringle opposed to his old name of John. He took over his company and made changes, disappointed in all the corporate greed that his megacompany had been doing in his absence. He had an even larger skyscraper than the old Pringle Tower in Nurblania. In New Nurblania, he had a giant, sleek, black skyscraper that glowed red at night along all the other glowing lights of the cyberpunk city.

He became the old trillionaire self he once was by day, and beating up criminals by night. With the return of TP, he was immediately put on the targets of both criminals and police. Unlike the rest of R-Force, TP refused to register with the government organization. Instead, he kept the vigilante lifestyle of beating up criminals in New Nurblania.

He had multiple encounters with R-Force and police who tried to apprehend him but he also managed to get away. One time he was apprehended and almost thrown in the Block by the police chief of New Nurblania, Chief Bundar, but he managed to escape from his holding cell in time before they transported and unmasked him.

His main rival was the crimelord known as Dirty. We’ve talked about him already but he was basically doing Lil Biggie’s job while Biggie was in the Block. However, around this time, Biggie managed to get out of the Block when the SuperMax had a planned power outage and he slipped away. They flew after him and his men but they jumped away before they could get him. So then we fade in with TP stalking a drug deal down by the harbor’s docks of New Nurblania.

Dirty and Lil Biggie were doing a drug deal with a smaller gang as they traded the One-Eye serum that had been blowing up on the market as of late. TP was about to intervene when he noticed that Lil Biggie got on a hologram call with some other people. Slowly but surely, the bodies of Daryll Smith, Copernicus Jewel, Captain Kiwi, Captain Chuck, and a man with a cape and golden armor popped up via hologram. The Guild leaders. Daryll Smith was the smuggler leader. Copernicus Jewel was gambling. Chuck and Kiwi were pirate leaders. Biggie and Dirty must have been the gang guild leaders and the golden-clad man must have led the Bounty Hunter guild. They were talking about some kind of plan. They wanted to have their own nation with the capitol being Cash Cove. TP rolled his eyes at this. Cash Cove was a town set up on Farbree rising in population as a decrepit old seaside town full of scum and villainy. It used to be one of Clan Cash’s bases but now it was just a crime town.

TP started recording the conversation but then one of Biggie’s men saw him in the rafters of this warehouse.

This could be bad if it ended with them teaming up. If the Guild managed to unionize together and be one force, they could rival actual nations such as the Yellow Confederacy. TP called in backup in the form of Windspeed and Voltage who helped him. While Voltage stayed behind to fight off Dirty and  the goons who took the One-Eye steroid, TP got on his ship and flew after Biggie who was escaping. Windspeed flew alongside him as they chased them.

Biggie was almost to the atmosphere when TP caught up. But by then, it was too late. Uncloaking from the sky was the yacht belonging to Kiwi. Almost like a car, TP’s ship skidded in the air as a pull beam started its process of bringing Windspeed and TP into their clutches as Biggie’s ship landed in Kiwi’s docking bay.

While Voltage beat up Dirty to death below them, TP and Windspeed were captured by the biggest pirate lord in the galaxy. Just. Like. That.

#### Prisoners Aboard:

The golden yacht held a large brig where hallways of cells were designed to hold entire crews if they mutiny. In these cells, only a few were full. Most notably, Captain Crisp, TP, and Windspeed. They were being beaten and bruised, particularly TP and Crisp.

Windspeed on the other hand was taken to the captain’s bridge. “Argh, my boy. You are young. Still have choices to make. Don’t waste your life with the government. I have friends who can take good care of you. Or… you can join me on this ship. If not… you and your friends can be thrown out the airlock.” Windspeed was scared. Still young. Just barely a fifteen year-old, he didn’t know what to do and he didn’t want his friends to die. So he agreed and joined them in fear.

Meanwhile, Prism, Polarity, Bloodstain, and Ratchet went out to space to look for their friends. Ratchet was still dealing with his leg. You see, he could turn back into a regular Urble with his usual bald head and tuxedo he wears. However, any damage he takes from when he is Urblazium translates over. There was no blood, but his bones reshaped and skin dipped in where his ankle melted causing it to be gnarly and deformed. He was dealing with how to walk during this but he tried not to focus on it.

They found the yacht in its full glory drifting in space. Battle ensued as Kiwi tried to take them capture too but they managed to board the ship and get TP and Crisp out of their cells. They recognized Crisp as the captain that went missing and asked him what was going on. He told them of how the pirates had been more bold and were taking out many cargo ships from all nations recently. Terrible stuff.

After a fight on the ship, they managed to get Windspeed off too but they had to retreat due to both Kiwi’s crew and the Orange Gang onboard were too much for them to handle. They got back to R City and informed the government of their findings, as well as TP telling them of the meeting he witnessed.

### The Amethyst City:

Jewlion. A gambler’s paradise. It came alive at night as the sky glowed purple with lights and the gamblers hit the tables. All of it was run by Copernicus Jewel. A tycoon who left his old family ways of fuel harvesting and offered to build a large gambling city for the Rurbles. CJ didn’t see any harm in it and let the “Amethyst City” be built.

CJ was paying a visit as he got into Copernicus’s head office. "CJ, my friend. What’s the visit for?” He asked, nonchalant.

CJ smirked, knowing he wasn’t gonna get much information out of Jewel but there was no point in not trying, “Well actually I just wanted to ask you what you knew about the Guild. They’ve been a problem lately and I knew that there is a gambling subdivision of it.” He asked, trying to act like he knew all about it.

Copernicus narrowed his eyes. “I think its best you leave, CJ. Wouldn’t want you to get held up in evening traffic.” He said as CJ got the message and left the room. He knew he was part of it. He peeked through the door crack and saw Copernicus get on the same meeting that TP saw him get on. The same people. Except this time it was different. They were happy. Something they were up to was working. Unionization. He heard Copernicus say the name of the golden-clad man. “Dread. How is the Bounty Hunters Guild receiving this news?” Dread went on to answer but it left CJ stunned. He was a Rurble but he knew of the tragic story of Task Force 37. He knew Dread. And when the man spoke up, his voice was indistinguishable. It was him. He wore golden-plated Cal-Mark armor with a unique helmet. He wore a jetpack and had an array of weapons. He wore a cape over his shoulder that appeared to look like the pelt of a Nemean Lion. Let’s hope its just the looks, CJ thought.

As he started recording the conversation, he noticed two men walking down the hall towards him. The men wore tuxedos and sunglasses. The Jewlion police force. A private army belonging to Copernicus who refused to use Cal-Marks as a police force so he could control them all on his own. CJ’s bodyguards reached for their weapons but were shot first by the tuxedo men. CJ booked it down the hall and to the stairs where he broke through the doors and got into his hovervan. A chase ensued as he drove down the strip with modeships following in the sky. Civilians just looked on in awe as the president was being chased down by the literal police of the city.

CJ managed to get away in time where he broke the news to Cook and Sunny about the Guild’s plan to make their own nation and become a threat to the whole galaxy. A warning went out across Dakota as people grew aware of the threat that the Guild posed. It all culminated with Cal-Marks storming Jewel Tower in Jewlion trying to apprehend Copernicus. However, he was gone by the time he got there.

### Finale:

The final battle of this era culminated above Farbree. Stationed in its atmosphere was the Guild’s whole fleet with Kiwi’s yacht leading. Behind it was many carriers and other ships to fight against whatever threat the Dakota Pact might throw at them. It would prove to be a strenuous battle as the fleets soon started coming in.

Meanwhile, Lil Biggie was leading the Orange Gang against the Cal-Mark police down in New Nurblania and were doing a good job against them and police chief Bundar. Bundar was even killed as they stormed the streets. TP was going to fight them when Copernicus released their final play. Getting it off of auction on the black market, a true beastly warrior. Ancient. They released it in the Memorial Gardens where TP was fighting but TP wasn’t any match for it. An Immortal.

Immortals are the beings of the Holy Realm. Just as the Hatred monsters are what fight for the Sacrificed Realm with their putrid ooze bodies, an Immortal were the guards of thee Holy Realm with their armor resembling the gear of the Urble and Zimmerman Empire with the royal guards. Inside the suit, it was just a golden mist with a humanoid form. The armor itself was thin yet hard. Gold and navy accents on the white metal armor with intricate designs. The face is obscured and there is nothing there. TP battled this beast until the end of the battle, keeping it busy. This particular Immortal was one that was ancient and sent from the Holy Realm itself as a scout millenia ago. It got lost and captured and was sold to the highest bidder.

However, the funny part is that the Guild had no true idea of how big of a fleet would be coming. Both the S.S. Aaron and the S.S. Abby were sent out to attack them. All five top Rurble squadrons as well as Sword and Shield were sent out as the battle ensued. Things were done within hours as the Guild Union fell and the leaders were apprehended. Jewel, Kiwi, Daryll, and Lil Biggie were apprehended. Dirty was dead and Chuck and Dread managed to get away. Dread even took the Centennial Vulture for himself from Daryll who was being taken to the Block.

At the end of the day, the Guild was seen as a joke by the whole criminal underworld as it fell apart and was left for the other lower crime lords to put it back together. While people did want to interview them, it was too much of a hassle to get people into the SuperMax as these crimelords were put away. The Guild fell just like that as Dread got away to figure out what he would do next. Next to the crimelords was also the Immortal fighting TP, getting its own cell as it had already been corrupted by the Guild’s views and no longer fought for the Holy Realm and for good.

## Rebellion:

Unrest in the Dakota system. There was a growing belief that Cook had been hardened by the leadership position he was in. Funded by the separation group led by Louis Donut, a psychologist named Caleb Sharkie published a two hundred page essay about the history of Nurble atrocities and his theory called the Nurble Effect. It stated that something about being in the position of leadership leading the Nurbles always corrupts absolutely. Starting back with Urble. He fought for good but he did bad things to fight against the Armored Urbles. Then Nurble. Nurble also started out with hope and peace but got corrupted by grief for the Zurbles and hatred for his brothers so he instigated World War Tuesday. Next was Kingo who I don’t think needs any more explaining than this book has already done. Prinko, who followed in his father’s footsteps and did terrible atrocities. Princo managed to stay by the book except when you realize his excessive lying and setups to future atrocities with his blatant ignorance to what his projects would do. Not to mention lying to the public as well as his hunt for Cache and his threats to use Shuttle at Jeff’s Pond. Another “Nurble” leader was Davis who, like Kingo, doesn’t need an explanation. Finally, there’s Cook, which will be explained in the coming pages.

So, with the growing unrest and protests all around the system, some things just keep getting worse and worse. Cook is trying his best to not give in to the voices panging in his head. The voices that just keep saying You can do what you fucking want. You’re the damn Nurble president. Pull the fucking trigger! It was hard. Protest upon protest. The supposedly sound-proof walls of the mayoral mansion couldn’t keep out the sounds of the mobs of civilians in the Memorial Gardens. Signs and chants, they all demanded more freedoms for people. Specifically, a lot of people wanted more rights for Cal-Marks and for them to have mandatory chip removal surgeries.

All of this is exposition to the buildup we are getting to now. The next subchapter will be about a map and technically takes place a long time ago. So bare with me.

### The Map:

#### An Heirloom:

Cannons went off outside the castle’s walls. A young boy hides under his bed. The prince of the Armored Urbles. It was the great city known as Slabvalia. The capitol of the Armored Urbles’ empire. A great city nestled in some snowy mountain ranges. But tonight… tonight was the end. Riding in on Click-Clacks and marching on foot was the Urble Empire.

The prince was hiding and scared as fires burned down the city outside and cannons boomed. Swords clashed as the soldiers of the Urble Empire with their white and gold armor clashed against the silver armor of the Armored Urbles.

The door to the prince’s room opened, being his uncle Blackberry. “Ratchetous, we need to get you out of here. The Urbles are closing in. Your father, my brother, ArmƟr. He is fighting those barbarians outside. We must get you to the mines. ArmƟr has a plan.” As he picked up the young boy who was only around six or seven, he ran down the hallways of the castle. It was a few minutes of winding around when he ran into a Urble royal guard who tried to slash at Blackberry who was holding the boy. His uncle dropped him and unsheathed his sword. After a short duel, he slayed the Urble soldier and picked the boy back up.

They were running through the courtyard when they saw them. ArmƟr and Urble themselves. ArmƟr wore his thick armor with his shield and sword, the Clipper. Urble wore a thick version of the white, gold, and navy accented armor that the rest of his men did with an intricate design protruding from the helmet like antlers. “Old friend, ArmƟr… end this madness at once and the bloodshed shall end,” Urble propositioned as he sheathed his sword. They were both atop their Click-Clacks as they talked. Ratchetous and Blackberry hid behind a pillar as they talked. Fires blazed outside the castle and people screamed as the battle raged on.

ArmƟr almost seemed to consider it before he said, “You want to mine these Playgrondi mountains dry of Urblazium. You want to eradicate our culture and prophecies. Greed and fear is what guides you, not peace.” He said, pointing the Clipper at Urble.

Urble just shook his head. “So be it then…” he said as they kept dueling. At the same time, an arrow flew into the courtyard from outside and struck Blackberry in the chest.

Blackberry fell to the ground, dropping Ratchetous. He knew he was going to die, the arrow lodged in his heart. “Here. Quickly, take the parchment, unroll it.” He said to the boy. After it was unrolled, he took it back and scribbled a map of the Playgrondi mountains. “I don’t know who and I don’t know when. But this map. It will be the key to it all. To finding us once more. Now go!” He rolled the map back up and handed it to the young prince who raced outside. He saw that his father had disappeared along with the rest of the remaining soldiers. They had gone up to the main mine entrance. His father had looked frantically for him but it was all for none as it was already about to happen. Dynamite blew up the entrance as they sealed themselves underground. The boy watched all of this, the map in a bag around his shoulder. He just sat there for hours gazing at the mountainside.

Eventually he was found by Urble royal soldiers and was taken back to the capitol city that would one day by Megatropolis. All of the survivors from Slabvalia were taken to the city’s gem. Well the real gem was the palace but other than that was the scrimmage arena. The prince was thrown in there to fight. Click-Clacks and other beasts. Not to mention other people. But finally, he was made to fight the city’s greatest warrior That was their punishment. Until they earned enough money in the arena to buy their freedom, they would rot there, fighting beasts and gladiators. He bought his freedom and bought a small lodge a few kilometers outside the city. He managed to get a small farm where he started a family as well as a job of growing food to sell in the city market. Life was good.

He still didn’t know what the map was for but he passed it down the generations of people. The bloodline went through many people. One was even second-in-command to Blueberry in during World War Tuesday. Finally, it landed with Ratchet. He knew he had Armored Urble blood but he didn’t know what the map was for. But when he got reminded of his Urblazium body and how it could still be destroyed, he remembered what the map resembled. The Playgrondi Mountains. Rousseau.

#### The Tombs’ Puzzle:

Ratchet broke into both the homes of Dart and CJ. He knew he needed the gear. The Clipper and the shield. When he got into CJ’s home, he only found one half. That’ll work, he thought. The rest of it was with Cook after it was broke in half.

He took the weapons and flew to Rousseau, turning off the tracker that the ship would usually have on, setting a course for the Playgrondi mountains. He returned to both the shield’s tomb and the sword’s. When he put the shield and sword back on their respective statues and twisted them, nothing happened.

Until he flew to the third location where he found an opened temple built inside a skull. The location was hidden. The skull was impressive. Nestled into the actual side of the mountains, it was a skull belonging to a parkomis. Ancient. Gigantic. He walked up the steps where an entrance had opened. He walked down the steps. He heard noises. People. He walked down there and saw it. A huge cavern with hanging houses and a large stone palace hanging from the ceiling with more buildings below. There were tunnels leading to other villages. This is where the Armored Urbles had been living all this time.

He was jumped by soldiers. They did their very best to fight him but Ratchet turned into Urblazium. They recognized it. ArmƟr. His ability. They bowed to him after they realized he must have come in through the parkomis skull temple entrance. He was brought to the palace. “You’re home… you’re finally damn home.” A man said.

After it was explained to him, they revealed that ArmƟr had died centuries ago. Around the time Hatred entered the Existent Plane. Replacing him was the new king, King Grieves. He was kind-hearted like ArmƟr but had more fervor. He possessed the last of the Urblazium from the Playgrondi mountains which could only be melted in the magma pit at the bottom of the city. He used it just as plating on his weapon which was a war hammer that doubled as an ax on the other side. The Armored Urbles had been using magic, similar to the Forest Warriors, instead of technology this whole time. Through mining, they had made an underground nation of a around seventy million strong. It was paradise for them. Confusing for Ratchet. Apparently if their magic truly worked, then Ratchet was the upholder of some prophecy. To lead an army and bring freedom to the galaxy on the back of some dragon titan known as Wunc.

It confused Ratchet but he went along with it. He stayed there for a few days where he learned of their culture and even learned how to use Grieves’ hammer. It was great. He was with his people. He felt like he belonged. But he knew that he would be given hell if he didn’t return soon with those artifacts. He tried explaining it to the AU but they were just as confused as he was. The last thing they showed him was the pit at the center of the cavern. Their own gladiatorial games. Down there they held an ancient spible. Not a king or a queen or anything but it was still one of the last of its kind.

They called it the Playgrondi Spible as it was a beast. It had never talked to them telepathically. But Ratchet was different. You. It seemed to somehow telepathically chuckle. I haven’t seen someone like you in a long, long time… and I…. I’m going to have you… It kept on chuckling as it just gazed up at it, brown fur covering its seven red eyes, one of them missing.

He didn’t like the sound of that but he left the city nonetheless. He left the city and took his modeship out. As he was flying over the old core of Megatropolis, a missile suddenly came out from the wreckage and hit him down.

#### General of Rousseau:

Ratchet woke up from his sleep with a man standing over him. What he thought was a man. It sure looked like one but whatever it was looked weird. Old, battered armor with a freshly shined jetpack and cape. The cape was tattered but he got the message. Rousseau Guard. The helmet was much better than the rest of the armor as it was still in good shape after all the years. The old respirator in the helmet sprang to life as the thing spoke, “Where do you keep the food on that rust bucket?” It said, pointing to the wrecked ship.

Ratchet sat up, noticing that his weapons were gone from his person. He frantically looked around, “Where’s my stuff?” He asked, angrily. A pain panged in his stomach as he tried to move. Shrapnel.

The man chuckled, “Those stupid ass medieval weapons? Where you come from anyway? Everyone around here was dead. I thought at least.” He asked. Then it snapped in his mind. “Oh.” He seemed to grin under the helmet. “Fucking Nurbles. About time you showed up. Really coulda used your help in this shit show, “ He said as he threw the Clipper to the side as he went back to rummaging through his stuff as Ratchet took it all in.

He tried processing what just happened as the adrenaline lessened and his gut started to swell with pain. He then remembered what would happen if a non military ship was destroyed. “You idiot!” He shouted as he threw a rock at the armored man. The armor bounced right off as his shoulder plate dented in. He turned around.

“What the fuck man? You know how hard that is to buff out around here? Now where’s your damn food?” He removed his helmet, revealing long flowing hair and a beard. He had a crazy look in his eye with weird bits of stuff in his beard as well as what appeared to be blood.

It unsettled Ratchet but he kept explaining. “There’s bound to be a Nurble squadron about to lock us both up in the Block with my ship blown up. They’ll court marshal me for putting those artifacts in danger and they’re bound to research and interrogate you until you’re floating in a tank a mile underground. You’re a dead man.” He said.

The man turned around. “I don’t give two shits. If you don’t have food, then I guess you’re screwed, buddy.” He said, licking the chapped lips around his scruffy beard. “I am the fucking General of Rousseau. General Jimothy Targoff of the Rousseau Guard. I rule this place. And I’ll eat whatever the hell I need. I’m already used to the taste of Urble. This sword of yours will be good to chop you up.” He said about to walk over to him. General Jim. That’s where he went after the faction battles at the fall of Megatropolis.

As if the general by himself wasn’t bad enough, a thud rang out behind him as Ratchet turned his head around to see a large Spible, about the size of a hovervan. Its legs had been ripped off in places and some of its eyes were gone and replaced by metal and cybernetic parts. It was the general’s little pet. Probably helped him when it came to cannibalizing any other survivors in the wasteland. “Meet Danoga. He always likes eating those pesty organs after I eat all the meat.” Jim said as he stroked the thing’s thorax. Ratchet quickly ripped out the shrapnel and then turned into Urblazium. “What the hell just happened?” Both the Spible and the general jumped back in surprise. “Whatever the hell it is, I’m getting rid of it.” He took out a rifle and the spible reared up as it charged Ratchet. The pain had dissipated now that he was metal and they got to fighting. Ratchet grabbed the sword and shield and then ran away. A chase ensued as it ended up in the old senate hall with all the seats torn up. They jumped around from seat to seat where eventually Ratchet layed down on his back and pointed the Clipper upwards. The cyborg spible jumped right onto it, skewering it through the middle. “Danoga, no!” A shout rang out as the general had his suit back on.  Ratchet had to admit, he did look badass with his body suit but he was a cannibal.

A zoom went through the sky as they looked up through the hole that used to be a roof. Three fighter ships followed by a modeship designed to carry Cal-Marks. “You’re screwed now you fucking cannibal!” Ratchet said as the fighters circled around and landed. The general just stood there, frozen in shock as the Cal-Marks entered the senate hall. They shouted at him to put his hands up and such as they also hit Ratchet over the head and stunned him. As they were about to throw him in the modeship to take them both back to the Dakota system, a giant piece of the neighboring mountains suddenly fell to the ground. A roar rang out. Armored Urbles flooded out. They were being chased. They were running from it. That Playgrondi Spible. It had never once tried to escape. Always content. But now… it wanted him. It wanted Ratchet. Led by Grieves, Armored Urble soldiers tried fighting it but it was too large.

By the end of it, the fighter ships killed it easily. And the Armored Urbles? Grieves was stunned as well as anyone who defended him. The man once known as General Jimothy Targoff II of the Rousseau Guard, 38th Battalion. Well he was dead. Had a heart attack when he froze up like that. When they all got back to the Dakota System…. Well its horrific.

### Cook’s Genocide:

He woke up in his lavish bedroom. Cold sweats. He usually was muscular and in shape but his veins were throbbing with purple color. A deep purple. He went to the bathroom and threw up. Things were weird. He thought he had some kind of sickness. His personal doctors knew about it but they couldn’t diagnose it. He went into the bathroom and looked at his eyes in the mirror. Further this time. The veins of his eyes were slowly getting purple from the pupil out. Cook didn’t know what was wrong. He was stressing more. Paranoia. Borderline hallucinations. Strange urges. Violence. A feeling of power.

While he didn’t know it, it was the Sacrificed Urbles’ last chance at trying to break through. The village of lost souls was aloof with people trying to cook up ideas. Kingo had been trying to change down there. Make up for his sins. But when his old friend Cache arrived, he got back to thinking. Cache and Blade got up to an idea cooking.While Kingo and everyone else started constructing a giant cannon that would shoot ooze to break a hole in the ceiling, Cache and Blade needed someone on the other side to weaken it up. So Blade constantly sat in his hut with his roommate, Umu. Umu kept him focused while Blade tried to take control of a vessel. Cook. It had been months of sitting there and keeping focus. If they broke it, then they would just have to start over. So they’d been slowly corrupting him. So that’s what was happening. It’d be at least four years of focus to gain complete control but they could influence him.

So he threw up all the shit and got dressed. Cook went out to his office where he had a bunch of notifications. He read it through. His violent urges got to him and he made up his mind. Cut to a press conference and the public announcement went out, “Ratchet is forgiven for his misdeed and the weapons were returned to their owners. However, the people found there. Ratchet is being fined but the Armored Urbles? They’re an enemy. A threat. Their king? Grieves? Little more than a terrorist. They were enemies back then, they are an enemy now! They’ve been illegally occupying Rousseau without our knowledge for millenia now. Grieves and other prisoners are being executed. Already have, actually. And the Armored Urbles of those caverns? I’ve sent advisors, Bot and Dart, along with a battalion of Cal-Marks to go and take care of them. Thank you, good citizens.” He walked off stage. People were outraged. Some cheered. They were mixed.

Grieves and the other prisoners were released from their SuperMax cells via an airlock. Dead. Grieves, well, one of his final wishes was for his hammer to be passed to what could be the last Armored Urble after what Cook was going to do. The hammer could be thrown and summoned back with a snap. Not coming back like it flies back but it would just reappear in the hand. It was great. But Ratchet was outraged. He just found his family. His people. Something to explain his fucked up life. But now, well I’ll explain what Dart and Bot were up to.

Dart was hesitant. He was under orders and the Clipper would be taken away from him if he disobeyed the orders he was given. He didn’t like it. It was wrong what they were about to do. Bot had mapped out the whole place. Any  cave entrance. He had sealed it. Then he set up his contraption at the Parkomis temple skull. It sealed the entrance, airtight. It would then start sucking out all the oxygen. All of it. It would take a while but he would suffocate every last one of them. A huge facility was built around the skull, tubes going in and out of the eyeholes and such. Huge facility. Called it Area 39. However, it wasn’t going to stop the fact that they were committing mass genocide within a few hours. Dart went around the back of the facility and threw up into some bushes. Bot just looked through the clear airtight seal and watched some people running up to it and bang on it. Bot didn’t take pleasure in it. Didn’t revel. However he also didn’t dislike it. He didn’t feel bad. A different breed of psychopath compared to all the others. Everyone down in the Sacrificed Realm hated Bot. Under all those brains and cleverness, he was a manipulator from the very beginning. Kingo thought he controlled him but it wasn’t anything like that. Bot threw Kingo under the bus as he claimed he forced him to do it. Kingo didn’t force it but it also wasn’t even out of fear. He did it because he played the right move. Got more power in the end for more time. He helped design all those Cal-Marks and he included backup systems in all of them so that he could secretly control them as well. Every one of his projects had backups. The leaders thought they could control him and thought they could do what they want. But everything has been his. Area 37, 38, and 39. Shuttle. Triangle. The Cal-Marks. Shadow Division.  His other projects like the mech or robots. All his. Nothing was up to the leaders. He ran it all. And he knew that if he died, he would get it even worse down there in the realm. So he prolonged his life any way he could. Following orders did the trick. He was the one who let the Cal-Marks betray Davis when his loyalists protected him at the capitol. He simply saw what direction it was going and knew there was no point in not letting him go down. As long as it meant he lived on. Prinko? Well he convinced Squiggle Cash to give him info on Cache if he asked for it. He knew Prinko was looking for a way to take better control. So he let him. Same type of stuff with every last one of them. He knew a rebellion was coming in Keyboard City but he knew if he played it right, he could kill off Blueberry. An orchestrator.

Anyways, Cook was now controversial. Perfect for a certain separation group. This was the last straw and a perfect reason to rebel.

#### Riot Police Brutality:

Riots everywhere. People were against Cook. Rumour was that he even had the psychologist author that wrote the Nurble Effect had gone missing. Hadn’t been seen for weeks and the last time he was on traffic cams showing him entering his apartment with Cal-Mark police entering soon after and carrying out a large bag. Caleb Sharkie was either dead, or locked in a SuperMax cell. It used to be for people who were physically dangerous but these days it was anyone who Cook deemed dangerous to his career.

Cook was getting fed up. More and more deranged. When people started rioting outside and started desecrating the Memorial Gardens outside his house… well it was enough. Riot police. Cal-Mark police were different than Cal-Mark soldiers. Didn’t really have much armor like police of other nations but riot police were much, much different. Even heavier and thicker armor than military stuff. Big vibratech riot shields as well as stun guns, electrobatons, and vibrablades. They were watching the riots, preventing anyone from going up the stairs to the top of the hill. However, Dart had returned and was overseeing it all. It made him sick that people were so against the government. He was always for it. He didn’t give two shits about Cal-Mark rights. He thought that fighting for such a great cause was enough rights. A privilege even. So when Cook finally let the shouts get to him, he was overboard. He snapped and told Dart he had permission to fire if things got worse.

And worse they got. A rock was thrown and hit one of the riot police straight in the white visor of their helmet. The whole gear was white with blue stripes, alternative to military who had blue armor with white accents and regular police who had blue with white accents but no armor. But when it hit that helmet, he shot out. Guns started going off as more people threw punches. Baby Blue had been reporting at the scene and when an automatic rifle went off, he was caught in the neck. A celebrity injured at a riot. Big news. People ran while the riot police stormed through the crowd as they fought through them. Stuns. Then batons. Then electricity. And then bullets. People started dying out there as Dart facilitated it all. People were fed up with it.

When Phillip Pringle announced his opinion of being against the brutality, the government outed him as TP and as John Pringle. They now had a reason to arrest him, Pringle trying to sue them for breaking the contract he had with R-Force as a government team but the Nurbles didn’t care. Pringle was locked up in SuperMax of the Block while someone else was left to pick up the pieces of his company…

### The Turbles:

It started in a resort town on Cabín. Louis Donut knew that people agreed with him, especially the more liberal population of the tropical resort planet. They all agreed. Within days, the declaration went out. At least when it came to what the whole population agreed with, Cabín was independent under the nation of the Turbles. Donut was warned by the Nurble government. They along with the Rurbles had a stake with Cabín. Cook was giving them a thirty day limit to knock off this stupid rebellion or there would be war. In the mean time, the rebels waited. Donut knew that the Yellow Confederacy and the Rurbles both needed to make public announcements. Everyone suspected them to both support the Nurbles in fear of breaking the Dakota Pact but Donut knew that CJ sympathized. The Rurbles won their rebellion. Why couldn’t they? Their town was renamed to Turbton and became the capitol of the rebellion.

At the next senate meeting for all the major cities, the three national leaders made their decisions. The Confederacy supported the Nurbles, of course. CJ though… he chose the Turbles. An alliance was made and the pact was disbanded. The next thing to happen was what plunged the system into war.

But they needed someone to do it first. Donut took a private flight to Farbree. Cash Cove. He moseyed into a saloon called Tiny’s. He broke through the doors with the cheers of many scum and criminals all drinking and playing cards. He’d obviously been here before. “Tiny! Where is the old bastard?” He asked the bartender.

The bartender who appeared to be named Tiny responded, “Hell if I know. I think he was bringing in some bounty. Some poor guy that the Nurbles wanted. I don’t think he’s-” Right as he was saying it, the saloon doors swung open and a golden boot stepped through. Dread. “Speak of the devil.”

“That stupid smuggler brought in a million credits. Drinks on me all day!” He shouted. Everyone cheered once again as Donut started up a conversation.

The conversation started off good as the old friends caught up. All those rumors about Dread had been true. Every last one. That cape? Real Nemean. He used it to block damn bullets. Before the Guild fell, he led the Bounty Hunters Guild. He had a wide array of unique weapons. And yeah. He still held his main goal of killing the people who wronged him. Cook and Task Force 38. His replacements and the ones who killed his brothers. His team. Donut was going to use that. To get him to join the rebellion. “Look man. We met back then in Carpville. You had just started out. I helped you get on your feet. Got you contacts int he Guild. So c’mon. I need your help. And you get your damn goals if you go along with it.” He said to him.

Dread had his helmet off. A beard and such. Long and scraggly. But he had a look in his eyes. He took a swig of his drink and responded, “I tried making my own nation. It left me as one of the galaxy’s most wanted.”

“Exactly! We take down the Nurbles, with the Rurbles help I might add, and you don’t have that bounty. Not to mention you get some pretty good shots at your four main targets. We need someone to snipe Cook.” He said. Dread seemed to debate it in his head for a moment. Finally, he made up his mind. He would do it. CJ went out to tell his men to start the ship while Dread finished his drink. Before Dread left, the saloon doors opened once more.

A long fur coat dragged across the ground. The face of the man was obscured but everyone in the bar knew who he was. Captain Chuck of the Pirate Guild. The only other urble who wasn’t apprehended after the Guild War. “You son of a bitch traitor. Finally found you.” He held a gun out and pointed it at Dread. His voice was muffled a bit and his eyes were obscured by the reflective blue goggles but he took his bandana down only to show his red skin with a bit of stubble around his mouth. “I have fifty men surrounding this bar. That’s a fraction of what I have left over from the war. You left us to pick up the pieces of the Guild and now you must pa-”, cutting off his stupid monologue was CJ shooting him in the back of the head with a blaster pistol. His men outside were taken care of by Rurble soldiers. Chuck was dead and Dread was free to help.

#### Assassination:

The usual spot, the Memorial Gardens, just outside New Nurblania’s urban core. A conference with the people. Cook was talking about his usual things these days. Terrorist this. Traitors that. Lots of security around him. Modeships even circling overhead with trained snipers overseeing the whole crowd. Cook was a target and the government knew it. The press conference was over how they were traitors and how this would end with war if they didn’t surrender.

Over a kilometer away in a skyscraper at the urban outskirts, an open window had Dread. He had cleaned himself up by buzzing his hair to being bald as well as trimming his beard down to a thin stubble. It would grow back in time but if he was joining this rebellion, he might as well look the part. “I have received much backlash from my decision on disposing of the Armored Urbles illegally residing on Rousseau for all this time. However, I want you all to know that it was in the galaxy’s best interest that our ancient enemies are now gone.” He was droning on and on about how what he did was right and why the rebellion is not going to last.

Dread was simply waiting for his queue to take the shot. He had a clean shot on him with his rifle, the model being made for this kind of thing. He usually had many weapons on him, but with his acquired ship bein the Centennial Vulture, he had a whole room on it dedicated to an armor of different rare weapons of many expenses.

Buffalo was patrolling on the outskirts of the Memorial Gardens. He knew he had to keep his boss safe at all costs so when he saw a faint glint in the building that Dread was in, he couldn’t risk it. He started booking it over to the building and going up the steps.

Meanwhile, Dread got the order. He lined up his shot. He was about to kill a war hero and a war criminal in one shot. He pulled the trigger tighter and tighter. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. He pulled the trigger down as the bullet went through the barrel and then the silencer. It sailed through the air for around two seconds before it collided with the forehead of Cook. He crumpled to the ground as the crowd screamed in fear. As the crowd dispersed, the whole area went on lockdown as Cook’s body lay there on stage as Dart started barking orders at his men to start sweeping the area.

Meanwhile, the door to the room Dread was in broke down. Standing there, still and silent, was Buffalo. He gazed at Dread who stared back. He was in the middle of putting his rifle back in its case. “This wasn’t part of the plan.” He immediately drew his gun but Buffalo had already dashed over to him where he kicked the glock out of his hand. Dread went to his secondary weapon, being a whole concealed machete built into the leg armor of his suit. He took it out and hacked into Buffalo’s leg. It hurt like hell but Buffalo headbutted Dread and shoved him to the ground.

It was a long struggle as Buffalo couldn’t call for backup or even send a tiny signal out. He did his best to fight but it ended with Dread on top of him. Buffalo was skilled but Dread was the original. Buffalo was a knockoff. Dread sat on Buffalo’s stomach as he raised the machete and brought it down to his neck, sinking it in by the tip of the blade instead of chopping with the broadside. Truly tragic. Buffalo was a good man despite his loyalty to the Nurbles. He had no control over his own mind and if it wasn’t for the control chips, then he would have been fine. However, he did try to kill Dread… and that was his own mistake.

Buffalo made the first sounds he had made in years. Choking on his own blood, he gurgled and gagged. “What? Can’t talk? Got a damn frog in your throat? Oh right. You lost that privilege working for those damn oppressors.” He taunted him as he sank the blade deeper. Buffalo was dead within a minute. Dread reveled in it. Two out of his four targets down within an hour. Blood pooled on the ground as Dread took Buffalo’s ankle dagger as a trophy. He simply walked out of the building, passing multiple squads of riot police. He wasn’t in armor and he wasn’t recognizable so he simply just walked out of the area.

He returned to Turbton where people were having festivals for the death of Cook. Down with the tyrant. Little did they know that the deaths of Cook would lead to many, many more.

### Enton:

They planned an attack on the town of Enton. They had multiple rebel sympathizers there who snuck them in as undercover civilians just walking around markets and streets and such. When the order came in, they removed the disguises and broke out their weapons, and started shooting.

The other part of the plan? Frosting Squadron. The top squadron of the Turbles, led by ace pilot, Frosty. He led the squadron of twenty fighters over the city as they dropped bombs on it, bombarding the Cal-Mark barracks the most. Civilians were unfortunately killed but if it meant the freedom of their nation, then the Turbles would do it.

Temporarily living on Cabín in Turbton was CJ who was overseeing the battle with Donut. The battle was going well as their undercover ground forces managed to take out any police Cal-Marks and the bombardment was going to plan. Then the wrench came. Throwing a wrench in their plan was a military base in the hills above Enton where Power Plant Alpha also resided. Leading the base was a Cal-Mark pilot known as Aqua. They weren’t Top One Thousand but some of the big names when it came to squadrons in this battle would be Cornflower, Aqua, and Turquoise, all leading their own squadrons respectively.

Aqua squadron took off from the military base to go give aid to the people of Enton. “Shit, we got a problem here, commander. Looks like Aqua is here like we thought.” Frosty said into his coms.

Donut responded, “Don’t worry Frosting-1, we’re going to send in Tomato squadron to help. Hang in there until we arrive.” Frosting-1 was Frosty as he was the leader of Frosting squadron. A few minutes later, Tomato squadron arrived led by Tomato-1 otherwise known as the biggest hotshot in the rebellion, Tommy Tomato.

“Looks like you could use some help.” He said as he flew in, taking out two Aqua squadron ships that were on Frosty’s tail. He shot them down and laughed as he did so.

The battle went on as more help arrived in the form of both ground forces and air forces…

#### Reinforcements:

Reinforcements arrived in many forms. R-Force was one of them or what used to be R-Force. After the Rurble/Nurble breakup, the joint government team was disbanded as well. The team broke up as some sympathized with the rebellion. Voltage, Windspeed, and Prism all respectively joined the rebellion on Cabín as Voltage showed up at the battle to help the rebellion as he fought off ground forces as he zoomed around.

Meanwhile, Turquoise squadron led by Turquoise as well as ground forces led by Bot came in. Why Bot? He had some new tech to show off. Just a prototype, but it would do well. Guarded by many hovertanks and such, they had a large generator that they set up in the center of the town where they set up base for the battle. Bot activated it and it shot a huge beam into the sky that hit a high point and started spreading out as it made a huge dome around the city with a weird, glowing blue field of view. While the members of the rebellion didn’t know it, it was an EMP field. They were keeping the rebels in as any of them that tried to retreat through it would get their ship turned off and plummeted to the ground.

The rebel squadrons soon realized this as their ships started going down as they tried to maneuver through the dome-shaped EMP field. They would have to destroy the generator. However, they also noticed a certain blaze of fire flying through the sky. Pyro. He remained loyal to Dart, who was the new leader of the Nurble nation as he dispatched Pyro to the battle. Pyro was flying up to ships and just blasting fire straight into the cockpit. He was eventually shot down and injured and had to sit out for the rest of the fight but he did a lot of damage. Also going down in a fiery blaze was Turquoise who hit the ground and was removed from his ship, bloody and burned. He survived but he was gravely injured.

FInally, they destroyed the EMP generator as they retreated from the battle with a successful bombardment of the town. While they did retreat, it was counted as a Turble win because they achieved what they wen there to do with far less casualties than the Nurbles.

### Next Few Battles:

You see, with Cook dead, the ritual intended to corrupt him was ended. Cook himself ended up in the Holy Realm despite his genocide. While it was a lengthy trial in the afterlife to see where he would go, it was decided that he was under the influence of the Sacrificed Urbles and it didn’t truly account to his intentions.

Meanwhile, Blade started the ritual over. Dart was an even better target as his mind was weaker and more influenceable. Dart started getting the same symptoms and sickness as Cook as he oversaw the Area 38. He had left his high-rise apartment for an apartment built into Area 38. He didn’t want to be absent in case any new inventions went haywire. He walked out into the warehouse where he met with Bot. “I heard about your loss at Enton. What the hell happened?” He said, quiet and first and then shouting at Bot.

Bot just stood there, not flinching. Dart didn’t know it but Bot could have him killed on the spot. He didn’t, but he definitely could. “They destroyed the generator. Not a big deal, sir. We have other ways of fighting them. For example, we’re planning an attack soon. Razor Beach is out main target. We’re going to try to sneak our navy onto Cabín and attack from the ocean. In the meantime, we think they are planning on attacking once more.” He replied.

Dart hesitantly agreed that it wasn’t a big deal as he walked over to a giant, red mech suit. “So is it ready?” He asked, gazing up at it. Bot nodded as Dart entered it. H.E.R.B.I.E. It was a goliath of a suit as it had two robotic hands that could turn into a laser cannon and a jackhammer hand respectively. It could unsheathe a giant vibrablade that would stand in for the Clipper.

Dart’s suit from now on would be what he stayed in for the rest of his life even if he didn’t know it… it would first be used at Fort Matthews however, they would have their attack before that.

#### Razor Beach:

Razor Beach was the biggest city on Cabín known for its obvious flaws. You see, its a beautiful and iconic city but it is very much socially separated between the slums where citizens are forced to live in poverty working for the low-paying fishing industry as there is an obvious invisible wall between this side of the city and the resort and political side always with sunny beaches and resorts. This social class wall is one of the things the Turbles were working to eliminate once they won their freedom.

It was also home to the largest Tortuga sanctuary after the one on Irving was destroyed. It would be a good target and a great victory for the Nurbles if they could secure it. It was a nice sunny day when the warships were spotted on the horizon. The Nurble navy started bombarding the beaches as Turble military did their best to fight back.

Leading this attack was Phil and Forter, both enraged by the death of their close friend and brother. Their main goal was to slaughter Dread, but they would need the weaponry to do it. So when they got to the beach and started their slaughter, they were seen both using good weaponry like spearshots, firing the light blasts and searing through Turble armor.

They spotted Dread sniping people on the top of a hotel and knew they had to get up to him. It was a struggle but Phil got up there and managed to tackle him off the whole building. They tumbled down but survived. Phil almost got a shot off with his spearshot but Dread blocked it with his Nemean cape. CJ then showed up, clad with half of the shield. Before Cook died, both him and CJ fashioned technology onto their half of the shield with vibrotech. While half of the tattered shield was Urblazium, the rest of the circle would be filled in with vibrotech when activated.

CJ and Dread worked together to duel against the two remaining members of Task Force 38. And that’s what they did. Within short time, they managed to dispose of the two, knocking them unconscious.

Meanwhile, the Rurble navy (The strongest aquatic navy in the system) showed up and started to attack. Aqua squadron was with them on the aircraft carriers as they dealt damage to each other’s warships.

Donut meanwhile went down the stairs of a building to the underwater glass dome that was the sanctuary. He released the Tortugas who started aiding the Turbles in their fight against the Nurble warships. Eventually, they won the battle, killing many Nurbles and destroying their ships. A brutal loss for the Nurbles once more.

That night was the true main event in history that is talked about this day. The battle was brutal but the night was the celebration of their win. Donut declared Razor Beach as the new capitol of the rebellion rather than the smaller town of Turbton. However, Donut, CJ, and Dread stood on stage with the two operatives tied up on their knees.

Dread wanted them both dead while CJ and Donut didn’t think so. Ratchet, Voltage, Winspeed, and Prism all didn’t necessarily want them dead either as they were old friends and colleagues. They knew they were just doing this because it was their orders and they understood the hatred towards Dread for killing Buffalo. The people and soldiers of the rebellion wanted them dead.

“I propose a vote. Between me, CJ, Donut, Voltage, Prism, Windpspeed, and Ratchet, that leaves no room for a tie.” Dread spoke up. He really just wanted to get this all over with but he would let the rebel leaders make their choice. It was sick. Making the hostages’ old friends vote on which one of them died. However, it was the only thing that the people would approve of.

CJ, Voltage, Windspeed, and Ratchet voted for Phil to live. Before the other three even voted, it wasn’t even mattering. Forter sat there on his knees tied up. Tears started forming on his eyes. He whispered something under his breath. Dread noticed and told him to speak up. “I said you’re a bastard.” Dread raised an eyebrow, interested in what Forter had to say. “You act like just because Cook killed your men when you were sent in to hunt him down that any replacements for you must die. Like its some righteous path you go down. As if we aren’t just like you. We read your damn file. You had a family and you abandoned them for your bullshit spiritual mission. Well we have families too. You should know we have to keep it a secret. I do. Phil does. Buffalo would have eventually had one if it wasn’t for you killing him in cold blood. You’re a bastard!” A gunshot rang out. Dread was scowling. Forter’s words went in one ear and out the other. He had lost the vote and was doomed to die. Phil started crying as his one other best friend was slaughtered. They threw him in a dungeon to rot for the rest of the war.

#### Task Force 39:

With Task Force 38 being all but dead or missing, Dart needed a replacement. He was running out of members of the Top One Thousand. So instead of every member being one, only one was Top One Thousand. He ordered this soldier to gather the cream of the crop of Cal-Mark cadets over at the Vault down in the south pole of Farbore.

The team then consisted of the following: Wheeler (Cal-Mark 475), the leader of the team was equipped with a suit that had spinning wheels that could act as modes of transportation as well as discs to throw or saw blades to cut with. They were great weapons that could slide up his body due to the suit from his feet to his wrists to being held in his hands. Second-In-Command on the team was Franklin (Cal-Mark 138,204) who really didn’t have anything special except for a large blaster he carried around. The special thing about this blaster was the newest advancement in technology. A9 tech.

Taking a quick detour, A9 technology was in the works for a century now and had finally been perfected. You see, it was a sort of blast that was capable of disintegrating the enemy with one hit if shot in the center of the body. Or it could even vaporize small structures. These rounds in a blaster was a dangerous combo that really made Franklin hard to beat.

Next was Boxer (Cal-Mark 2,008,979,231) who was equipped uniquely with large gauntlets capable of storing up kinetic energy with each hit and redistributing it with buttons on the inside so after a few hits, the one that released the energy would send the target flying. Next was Breaker (Cal-Mark 1,282, 761, 801) who was equipped with the same kinetic technology that Breaker had in the form of a modern warhammer that could store and release kinetic energy. The difference with this one was that Breaker was very skilled with the warhammer and by slinging it into the ground or walls, he could fling himself into the air and use the hammer as a good form of transport. Finally, there was Breaker’s best friend, Cracker (Cal-Mark 1,282,761,802) who had a giant scythe with the blade being lined with A9 tech so when his blade swept through the enemy or an object, he could disintegrate it.

This was the replacement to Task Force 38. They were the strongest team yet and would be seen alongside the H.E.R.B.I.E. suit in the next battle…

#### Fort Matthews:

The next battle was the Rurble attack of Fort Matthews. They came in by storm, mostly consisting of infantry and hovertanks. They came in quick, breaking through outer defenses and taking it to the small town’s streets. It was a very classic-looking battle with sandbags and barbed wire quickly littering the city.

This battle was also where HERBIE and Task Force 39 were first seen and deployed on the battlefield. HERBIE was a match for the Rurble forces for a short amount of time, being a large mech suit capable of grabbing hovertanks by their long barrels and tossing them away. However, the tide quickly turned when the traitors of R-Force turned up. Voltage ran circles around Dart in the HERBIE suit and Prism sending lasers at him.

Dart had trained in the suit before but not actually been in battle. He smirked as he turned his robotic hand into a laser cannon but when the laser fired, Prism bended it using her powers so it shot back up his suit into his arm. Without the suit, it would have killed Dart but the suit took most of the blast. However, he retreated the battle and returned to Area 38 with the flight capabilities of the mech suit.

When the suit was opened, his arm was gone and his right half of his body was charred. Bot and his proteges Dr. Tape and Haywire scrambled to make the HERBIE suit work as a life support mech. From then on, Dart was doomed to be locked in that suit for the rest of his life or he could quickly die. He wasn’t exactly complaining with all that power but it messed with his head even more than before, resenting the rebellion more and more.

Fort Matthews was very damaged but the Rurble forces conquered it and added it to the increasing list of Turble cities. They celebrated as the old Nurble citizens were either forced to join the ranks of the rebellion citizens or be banished.

#### Third Battle of Rurbago:

The next battle of the war started with CJ making a trip to Rurbago. In the center of Rurbago, taking up four city blocks was a walled off military base where troops trained. CJ was visiting it and during his visit, they noticed fighter ships flying by. Nurble ships. They were scouting the area.

CJ sent ships after them but this just initiated the true attack. HERBIE didn’t arrive for this battle but Task Force 39 sure did. They fought and fought as Rurbago buildings started to get destroyed. The most important point of this battle was when two important members on both sides were critically injured. Franklin of the task force was practically mutilated and Voltage got teamed up on by the rest of the team and had every bone in his legs broken mainly by Breaker and Boxer.

After the battle, they were both “fixed”. Franklin was turned into a cyborg with a built in A9 arm cannon and excellent vision for shooting. Voltage on the other hand was given a choice. He had super fast healing abilities but even after that, running again could really mess him up and make things worse. His other choice was give up his powers and become a symbol for the rebellion. Their plan was to hijack tv stations and play war ads depicting the Nurbles as evil.

Voltage agreed to this and become the poster child of the rebellion opting for a different outfit with a trench coat and military garb. He knew he was better utilized here to get sympathizers for the rebellion.

However, speaking of sympathizers. It was around this time that Dart and the Nurble government started cracking down on anyone suspected of sympathizing or aiding the rebellion. Many peoples’ doors were knocked on as they were either interrogated, tortured, or jettisoned into space to be disposed of. Terrible stuff. Dark days.

Speaking of the Dart however, he went into a rage after finding out about the loss at Rurbago, threatening to kill Bot. It was on this day however that he realized something. He didn’t control shit. Bot did. He had pointed his laser arm at Bot and was surprised when Bot just pressed a button and turned the cannon off. Bot really put it into perspective. Dart hadn’t been leader for that long and hadn’t realized yet that Bot ran the show. He always had ever since Kingo. While he isn’t talked about enough, Bot is probably the most cold-hearted and evil person throughout Urble history. Bot intimidated Dart by briefly turning off his life support and showing him that he had finished his construction of his savage androids he called Cal-Droids. (They’ll be important later)

(Author’s Note: There have been multiple notable cyborgs throughout this lore and I want to shed some light on their designs. I took inspiration from many different cyborg characters in popular culture. Starting off with Cyborg himself, I picture Lobot from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Then there is Haywire who I picture looking like Machine Head from Invincible. Finally, there’s Franklin who I now picture being somewhat of a mix between Cyborg from DC and Echo from the Bad Batch.

Also a little side thing, I heavily picture Windspeed with the Invincible outfit only with blonde long hair coming out the top. Also I think Voltage looks Kid Flash from DC. Just his outfit mainly, otherwise I think he’s got brown spiky hair out the top. After his injury though, he switches to a more brutalistic outfit with a trench coat, black goggles, and some automatic rifles. Kinda looking more like Gambit from X-Men.)

### Yellow Campaign:

#### Yellowton Invasion:

Next was the Yellow Campaign which consisted of a few battles within cities of the Yellow Confederacy. Hovervehicles rolled through the desert to be met with the shining oasis of a city known as Yellowton.

Yellowton had a large suburban outskirts with the core being very sleek and urban (Picture the core of the city like Dubai). It also made use of canals throughout the city for water access in the desert. The suburbs were gone through first. This also happened to be the main first time that only Turble forces were used in battle. They swept through suburban streets and ordered civilians to stay inside. Many didn’t but that just ended with their deaths.

Donut actually was present as they set up a temporary base in a cul-de-sac. Things were going well and the invasion of Yellowton kept going at a slow pace for the next few days. Donut proved his worth as a general as he managed to fend off hoards of oncoming enemies led by their top general. This whole time, Sunny had been debating surrendering to the rebellion for a while now as she believed they were fighting for a good cause.

However, with pressure from Dart and Bot, she used some of the Yellow Confederacy’s most unique technology specially designed for their military. Their specialized Dust Troopers were most utilized in storms when vision is obscured which was useful considering Clan Cache remnants liked to hide out in the Confederacy’s deserts where sandstorms were frequent. They had a way to artificially cause sandstorms and spawned one in the neighborhood that the rebellion were using as a base.

Dust Troopers quickly moved in and started dispatching Turble soldiers. Donut and the rest of his men had to start retreating from the suburbs as the push into the urban core as well as the Dust Troopers’ assault really made the Yellowton Invasion impossible at the time.

After the Yellowton Invasion, one of the most iconic ads that Voltage made was created in a hologram chamber where he could pretend to be in the war. It showed him in a van with desert armor and goggles with his trench coat blowing in the end. It showed explosions and suffering around him. “Don’t let the Nurbles win this. Show them they can’t get away with it. I slipped up once and I lost my speed. Don’t slip up too.”

(Author’s Note: Dust Troopers’ armor inspired by the idea of a mix between regular soldier armor as well as Rey’s scavenger goggles and wrap from The Force Awakens as well as the New California Republic Rangers helmets and stuff from Fallout: New Vegas.)

#### Kingo Trenches:

While most of the territory the Confederacy covered was arid and sandy, the gray brutalistic sprawl of Kingo City was surrounded by flat fields and rolling hills. Perfect for a campaign outside the city.

For the first time in a major battle since World War Tuesday, trench warfare was utilized with rows upon rows of trenches with No Man’s Land in the middle being set up in the miles of fields surrounding the city. Nobody could survive No Man’s Land except shinies or members from Task Force 39 or HERBIE. They were practically untouched out there and free to fight amongst themselves.

The most major part of the Kingo trench warfare was the abnormal use of jetpack troopers as they could fly short distances over the battlefield. However the most important part was when an old friend showed up. Dread was the commander of this battle, often being in the trenches by himself commanding the soldiers.

As HERBIE fought against the forces consisting of Shinies like Windspeed and Prism, Task Force 39 as well as the Nurble loyalist members of R-Force. Windspeed and Prism were outmatched. At least they would have been. The ground split as Geode, veteran member of R-Force arrived.

“DART!” He shouted at dirt as large chunks of rock and boulders started forming around him, turning him into what looked like a mech made of rocks. His powers held him together as his and Dart’s suits faces were only a few inches away from each other, the fighting slowing around them. “This is enough.  I don’t agree with the rebellion getting rid of our great nation but it sure as hell isn’t in good faith to be slaughtering all these people.”

Geode and the rest of the people watching expected Dart to try to reason with him. Instead, “Suit yourself.” The words intimidatingly left Dart’s mouth as a mounted gun deployed from his shoulder and fired an A9 missile. It collided with Geode, breaking rocks off his body. He tried to get ready to fight by replacing the missing rocks but was caught in a spot missing defense when HERBIE’s laser fired and killed Geode.

This day turned most of R-Force to the rebellion’s side, only Pyro staying behind and being loyal to the cause. Meanwhile, Baby Blue had been having troubles with his conscience. He couldn’t continue being a news anchor and celebrity for the warmongers that were slaughtering people. When he voiced this publicly… well things didn’t go right for him.

It was a red carpet event where Baby Blue had been doing interviews for a documentary he had been working on when Cal-Mark soldiers broke into the event. Baby Blue was brutally beaten on the red carpet and apprehended where he was transferred to the Block. The actual Block. Baby Blue was harmless and yet he was locked up in the SuperMax alongside TP, Stomper, Jewel, Lil Biggie, Daryll Smith, and Captain Kiwi. People who were actual threats. Not where BB should have been. But he was.

### Nurbles Falling:

#### Battle for the Vault:

The Nurbles were faltering in the war, pulling out their bigger options in battles like HERBIE and Task Force 39. They brought out another one when Voltage and an army of soldiers and vehicles attacked in the antarctic cold of the southern continent of Farbore’s southern continent. They attacked the Vault, which was the new, mile-down into the ground compound that was responsible for making clones for the Cal-Mark Division.

At this time, there was a

#### Minor Battles:

The next two battles were pretty minor considering the rest of the magnitude of the war but they consisted of dogfights over Stolton and riots in Carpville.

## Turble Adjustment Era:

### Alberto Canyón:

Picture this: You live in a city where its not exactly big and you’re not exactly feared. But then one day, you get the news you’ve been counting on. Those idiots thought they could take on the governments of the Dakota system and they payed for it. You always thought the idea of a unionized Guild was stupid anyway. Why have a board of leaders when there could be one? Finally, you basically have the unchallenged ability to take control of the criminal underworld once and for all. So you work and you work and you work and eventually you run your city. You want to go for more but there’s a problem. The government. They’re the strongest they’ve  ever been and they are just waiting for someone dare make a move in the criminal underworld so they can be snatched up and thrown in the Block. But once again, you hit it big and get lucky. The government falls. While they fight a pointless war, you start expanding your empire as they fall to the ground. And replacing them? A weak, inexperienced government who don’t know how to run a nation. Perfect.

That was the mindset of a young man, only in his mid-twenties, known as Alberto Canyón. He grew up rich in Rurble Town under his father’s guides, eventually being set up to lead the family business. His father was Daniel Canyón and he was known for his extensive fuel business in Rurble Town as well as his old ties to the slave trade with the Shnurbles. They were rich. But when Alberto’s father fell, he started what he always wanted to do. A crime syndicate. He joined the lower ranks of the Guild and slowly climbed and climbed until he controlled a city. Not Rurble Town. Crakoa. Nobody payed attention to it and he knew his way around. A beautiful city built into a canyon. He controlled it all.

After the people that he considered idiots, Copernicus Jewel, Lil Biggie, Kiwi, Daryll Smith, Chuck, and Dread all attempted to combine the Guild into a unified force, he was the one that decided it was his job to put it all back together, under his leadership of course. One combined

#### Gladiator Syndrome:

Cabín’s Hope. Not just an idea but a name. A name of a person.