As she sees Jo has handled this better than expected, Cat goes on. “Before leaving this world, A-Tron was able to delete every back-up file of Epoch Blaze, as well as lock the fiend out of everything so that the body he has now is the only one left. Though the evil droid was able to delete A-Tron from his programming, Epoch is a highly paranoid individual these days. It’s been seven generations since James Crimson was crowned king, and the sixth has just suffered a swift destruction at the hands of Blaze. The king’s seven children were scattered across the world, but have all gradually found themselves together again, and ready to take back the world from the evil machine. I must admit, though, that when you see the speakers for today, not only will you have to refrain from attacking them, you will understand why I didn’t bother with meeting the other siblings, since they all look basically identical to the original heroes of Storyboard XII, and I didn’t want to confuse the reader with who’s who.”
Having made this all as clear as possible, Duplica takes the kids on a little hike to catch up with her targets. Seeing them from a distance, Elf instantly realizes why his mother took time to explain all of this. Once everyone is together, the introductions are made.
“Kids, this is Ron, his sister Milleni, their brother Patrick and Ron’s girlfriend Ata.”
“Ata,” Kammy repeats, “that sounds like the name of Epoch’s daughter from way back when, during the first era we visited.”
Standing as proudly as possible, the girl in question confirms this quite confidently. “I just so happen to be the one and the same, thank you!”
This sends chills of fear down many of the kids’ spines. Gigi points and asks, “So, let me understand; you’re Ron, as in short for A-Tron and you’re the daughter of this world’s worst enemy? Now, I get why Mom told us not to attack you!”
Holding up his hands to make his defense case, Ron smiles and says, “Hang on now. I’m not the same A-Tron. My dad is, or was, the King of Ruyngard. For whatever reason, my older siblings and I all happen to look like the original team that set out to look for the Sacred Blade. I just happened to get the short end of the stick and look like the traitor of the group. Rowan, the oldest, got the obvious privilege while Patrick is the only new face, having been deemed the Patriarch of our world, I guess. Don’t ask me what’s going on with all this.”
Duplica smiles and explains, “Our Patriarch should have explained by now how your storyboard got started. Your generation was the System Director’s way of saying you guys are finally ready to be considered an alternate version of his SG’s from Storyboard XI. Rowan is James Scott, Aaron is A.J. Scar, Pac is Packy Derm the Creature, Patrick is Patriarch, Deadra is Amy Scott, Milleni is Missy Millennia and you are AB. I’m sure you’ll meet your XI counterparts soon enough.”
“Lady Duplica, say that more slowly please!” Faye begs while trying to write this stuff down.
“So,” Kammy addresses Ata, “what made you change your mind?”
“Hm?” is the response.
Kam rewords her question. “What made you leave the bad guys?”
“Oh!” Ata giggles loudly. “Well, you see, I’m still thinking about it. I have no problem saying this directly because at any time I decide to go back, Daddy will forgive me as long as I bring some vital information with me. I’ll contact him wirelessly, he’ll teleport and then digitize me to safety and all of you will die painful deaths. If, however, after thinking it all through, I decide that Ron isn’t so crazy for accusing my father of being such a bad dude, then I can’t go and be evil, now can I? I’d be a total jerk! So, I’m traveling with them and learning from them to see which side I agree with more, Epoch Blaze or the Golden Seven.”
Kammy doesn’t know how to handle this. Faye, however, sees this as an opportunity to care for a hurting soul. “Ata, dear, why did you even leave your dad’s side in the first place? Surely, such a wonderful person would not have caused you to even consider such a switch, right?”
Thank you for thinking of us readers .
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