The Adventures of American-man: Dreamworld     by: Paul G. Jutras

 

CHAPTER ONE: DOORWAY OF DOOM

October 31, 3086, a historical team uncovered a weird chest with pictures carved all over the outside. Each were dress in hiking boots, knee high socks, too tight shorts, sleeveless shirts and pit helmets. As one of them broke open the chest a mist rose out and formed into a skull headed demon. Rays shot from its eye socks, transforming the girls skin to plastic. As they fell over, the erotic tight feeling of their skin caused them to orgasm.

On October 31, 1987, A Japanese-American name Chris Jackmarr stood before a American-man comic poster and poised like a super-hero. He wore a tight-fitting stars and stripes shirt with a bright red "A" over a white boarder emblazoned across the chest, a white belt, blue tights and a short red cape. He had a narrow jaw, short brown hair and brown eyes.

In his room, he was preparing for the costume concert.

An Autumn wind blew a book open to the story of a demon. Chris firmly believed in the Lord of the Dead as much as he believed that he would one day make a difference.

"Hey, Chris!" A startling voice turned his attention to the window. "Aren't you ready yet? The girls are waiting!"

As Chris walked to the window, he poked his head out and saw a young man. He was dressed in a leather jacket, a white T-shirt, and jeans. He wore leather boots. "Be right down!"

"Got to go!" screamed Chris as he pass his sister on the stairs without looking back at her.

"It isn't fair, Mama!" Millie complained as she stomped her barefoot. "Chris is going to the party!"

"Will you hush, Millie!" Mrs. Jackmarr held a phone receiver as Millie stormed downstairs. "Your brother is two years older and in the band. He can handle himself."

"Blek!" Chris stuck out his tongue and stepped into a pair of knee-high boots. He picked up a guitar and ran off.

"Surf's up!" Chris leaped from his front door to the back seat of a Cadillac. He landed beside Roberta Chow, who wore a mermaid costume, and looked at Joe and Nancy's fifties outfits in the front seat.

They drove a long, lazy loopy along the shape of the circular driveway. Leaves fell from almost bare trees. "All right, then," said Joe. "We're off to the beach party!"

"Should we be leaving so early?" Nancy ran a comb through her hair and smiled at Joe. As they started down hill, she could see the ocean on the horizon.

"We want to beat the guests and set up, don't we?"

At that moment, in a beach parking lot, a dog's barking drew the attention of a uniformed officer. The policeman stared speechlessly as a figure materialized from out of a rainbow light. When the light died, the officer saw the samurai armor the man was dressed in. "Where's Jackmarr- san," the man announced, his voice harsh to the ear.

"H-Halt or I'll shoot!" The officer stuttered like a rookie as he drew his gun. "I said freeze!"

Transmuting into a tall, fury Sasquatch, Big-Foot's hand snapped the dogs neck like a clamp. The officer fired effortlessly as its other hand outstretched toward him. The officer's screams were down right blood-curtailing. "Ahhhh!"

As a convertible arrived at the parking lot, the music from the radio caused the monster pain. It dropped the officer and fired a force beam from its arm. The explosion knocked the kids and instruments out of the car. "H-Hey!"

"Roberta!" Chris cried out with concern as she fell back into his arms. She felt flushed with pleasure as her fin fused onto her lower torso and made a real mermaid out of her. He failed to notice that his body was glowing. "You okay?"

Roberta just reached down and felt her pussy under her costume. A smile stretched across her face. "Fine."

"Got to get away from here before that thing--." Chris murmured fearfully as he crouched in the creature's shadow.

"--Attacks!" Chris gasped for breath as the creature slammed him onto the beach. With one hand on his throat, the other swept across his face. Blood gushed out of his mouth.

Grabbing the monster by the shoulders, Chris braced his foot and rolled back. The creature was flipped off of him. As Chris sat back up, the creature came from behind and wrapped its arms around his upper torso. He heard the sound of his spine cracking as he gasped "What kind of creature are you?"

"Let's bail!" Joe yelled. Seeing he couldn't reach Chris, he helped the group back to the car. Roberta pleasuring herself as she laid in the car's back seat. He grabbed the gearshift between the seats and put it into drive. "When a game like Demons and Devils comes to life...I'm gone!"

Chris lay on the beach like a broken puppet. A golden halo surrounded his soul as it rose out of his body and into a blinding white light. Big foot looked away to see Joe and the girls roar off. "Hang on to your hats girls!"

Back at home, Mrs. Jackmarr's attention turned from her housework to a crack in the framed photo of her son. Her Japanese heritage told her that it meant an ill omen for a love one. "C-Chris?"

"Hello?" Chris called out as he walked along a bank of iridescent fog. Wearing only a hospital gown, he followed a series of geysers and Greek statues while waited for someone to answer him.

"Huh?" He looked lovingly at a statue as it came to life. She appeared to be young, somewhere in her twenties. She had blue eyes and blonde curls. She was wearing a white tunic and sandals.

"I am Clotho..." the girl cooed in a sweet soothing voice. "You are needed to help save the universe."

"No, no, no!" the boy exclaimed. He ran up a staircase of clouds with his head lowered and shaking back and fourth. "I must be going out of my mind!"

"H-How did you..." Chris stood frozen in place as Clotho appeared ahead of him. She reached up and whipped the tears from his check. "Not to worry! Things aren't that bad! Just come with me! You have nothing to loose!" she sang.

A look of fear froze on Chris' face as he looked around at a void of nothingness." I really am-"He began but couldn't bring himself to finish such a disturbing thought.

"Dead?" she answered for him as she walked around a steaming geyser. "Yes."

"The Fates preordained your death, but you can be reborn." Clotho turned back around. "Listen to the light in your soul and let justice be done."

"Reborn..." Chris asked. "...But how?"

"By entering the body of your descendant." she gave a smile. "It's the only way to avert the crisis ahead."

"You got my attention." Chris nodded. "Let's do it."

"I once made a promise that I'd find my father." Chris stepped beside her. "He's been missing since his ship left for Hong Kong. I want to live to keep that promise."

"Fear not." Clotho gestured ahead with her hands while Chris listened to the trumpets of judgement. "Everything will be alright. And you'll have a chance to keep that promise."

Hesitantly, Chris stepped into the geyser and felt tingly all over. As a mist held him hostage, hands of smoke began to mold his soul as if it was clay. He struggled effortlessly to free himself. "I'm feeling really strange. What's happening to me?"

Then the mist let him go, and Chris disappeared into a tunnel of white light.

 

Chapter 2 NEW GIRL IN TOWN

In the year 3086, a groan came from behind a closed bedroom door. A wooden name plaque read: CHRISTINE

Inside, Chris Jackmarr woke up in bed from a dream like state to find himself tangled in bed sheets. He was wearing an over-size T-shirt and bikini panties. His foot slide up a shaven leg. "Where am I?" he asked.

"AH!" Chris' piercing scream echoed as he looked down at himself. His arms had brushed up against a pair of breasts. "The only explanation that makes sense is it wasn't just a dream." Chris tossed the blankets and looked at a busty body with long, slender legs.

"Clotho-san!" He looked around the room for her and screamed. "Are you here?"

There was a canopied bed against a side window with frilly pink curtains. A full length, free-standing mirror. A full size dresser with a cat shape clock and lava lamp.

Climbing out of bed, his vision focused on the sixteen year old girl in the mirror. She had short brunette hair with the end flipped up. He stared at the long lashes of his brown eyes, which were her brown eyes. "I swear she'll she'll suffer for--!"

He had just touched the cool smooth surface of the glass, when he saw Clotho's reflection step from the portal. "Remember, you were summoned because the universe is about to die!" She interrupted as his head whipped around angrily.

"What'd you do to me?" Chris asked accusingly.

"What does it look like?" Clotho scowled with a frosty glare in her eye. "I told you before! You had to get a new body, and you don't have any idea what it took to do it!"

"I am a man!" Chris screamed angrily. "You didn't say anything about my descendant being female!"

Clotho took a deep breath and her face softened. A slight smile appeared. "I thought I'd explained everything." Her voice became like honey. "Listen, it's the only way to find your father and stop the time demon. The rebels outside the city can help you."

A worried look appeared on Christina's face as he wondered how he'd explain to the rebels that see him as a her as his life became like his favorite Japanese comic as Clotho passed through her like a ghost. He couldn't stop her from stepping into the vortex. "Wait!" he cried.

"If I'm going to spend the rest of my life as a girl," growled Chris to himself. "Then I better see how much my descendant likes to show off."

Hours later, Chris sat down on the end of the bed and pulled on a pair of pantyhose. He was dressed in a long dress which showed a mile of leg and a yard of cleavage. "I'm no good at this stuff."

He stood up and stepped into a pair of three-inch heels. "Damn it!" Chris tried to balance as the shoes caused a pained expression on his face. His stride was at a constant tilt. "How am I suppose to walk in these things?"

"Oh, man," I can barely move. Chris thought as he teetered out of his new apartment and wondered how he'd get down the staircase. Chris blinked. Much to his surprise, and relief, a monorail ran through Christina's building. He climbed aboard and said: "Take me to the city limits."

The Federation Wall station had been constructed right after the third world war. When it was safe to venture out beyond, the monorail station was added to provide access the ruins beyond. Dim light flickered inside the monorail car.

As a vacuum lock door slid open with a loud WHOOSH, Chris pass through Federation city's defense wall for the ruins and scorched earth beyond. "What the hell...?

Chris watched for some signs of life. As he saw a piece of paper blowing in the wind, he realized how frightening silence really was. He'd of felt better if he saw someone. Even the sound of birds would be welcomed. "I think maybe I'm a little over dressed."

As Chris picked a direction, he walked briskly down the street. A paranoia filled his mind with the idea of the time demons eyeing him from the shadows. Just waiting for the right moment to kill him a second time.

A scream startled him and caused him to stop. He saw not the rebels but a horde of monsters tearing a businesswoman's clothes to pieces. Gasping at the horror, he noticed that the victim's breasts were erect and her body was sexless. When her shoes and socks were removed, it could be seen that her toes were fused together like a mannequins.

As a pair carried the naked plastic woman off, the others turned to Chris' direction with toothy grins. "Stop her!" shouted the apparent leader as the monsters transmuted into the form of masked samurai warriors.

Chris started to run as bolts of energy exploded by his feet and crackled about his body. He could feel the earth beneath his feet buckle and obtrude an already slow escape. He stumbled, kicked off his shoes and continued in his stocking feet. "Dumb move, those heels." Chris leapt forward, slid across the hood of a hollowed out hover car and ducked down. The beam stuck a woman dressed as a ballet dancer and froze her in place.

The ballet dancer didn't have time to panic as her skin took on a glossy appearance and a pleasure sensation tingled in her groin. As the tingle rose up, her chest transformed and caused her to feel lightheaded. Her lips became smooth and hard with a painted appearance and her eyes reflected plastic. The samurais turned on the inert woman with building orgasms washing over her, allowing Chris to escape.

Suddenly a pair of arms appeared from nowhere. Before Chris could prevent it, they grabbed his breasts - Christina's breasts from behind. All he could do was let out a quick cry as his breasts harden and his clit moistened with a sensation totally unfamiliar to him. He's body seemed to freeze up as he was pulled back into the alley.

"Quiet!" A young man's voice came in a whisper. Wide-eyed Chris stared as the samurai troop marched pass the alley's entrance in search of their target. The foot troop completely surrounded a duo-cannon mannequin gun tank. "There's little time."

"That was too close." The young man touched a brick wall and opened a secret door. He was dressed in a red T-shirt, black leather jacket and pants. He wore scuffed up boots. "You trying to get caught?"

Beyond the door was a futuristic lab with wall to wall computers and transparent, hover keyboards. A giant video screen hung on the wall over the main console. In the center of room were all the mannequin men and women that the rebels rescued. The rebels felt more solid for the men as the women's clothes each had a built in solid dildo to keep them happy.

"What are you talking about?" Chris sat down cross-legged, removed one shoe removed and rubbed his sore foot. After what he witness outside, he couldn't help but feel sorry for the inert men and women around him.

"Tied feet, pussycat," The man was so preoccupied with Christina's beauty that he didn't hear a word Chris said. The man got down on one knee, cupped Christina's foot in one hand and began to rub gently. A surge of relief flowed through Christina's body with the type of pleasure the dildo girls must of been feeling. "Allow me to make you feel better."

"I don't know why your here." The man stared with sparkling eyes. As the man drew closer, Chris stood up and crossed his arms over his breasts- Christina's breasts. It felt a little strange, but he didn't want the man looking at his new curvaceous body. "The time police should evacuated you."

"So much for friendship." He whispered to himself. Chris first slipped on his descendant's shoe, then watched as the video screen came alive with Mark Driver's image. He wore a pair of coveralls with stripes down both sides, boots and gloves. "Ahoy over in the time lab! Soto, you over there?"

"Yes sir!" The man dressed in leather saluted with one arm across his chest.

"Cadet Soto, report to Sunhill Sodas immediately. Don't tell anyone. Your questions will be answered later." He paused when he spotted Christina. "Chris, is that you? I thought your guardians had you return to the city after our last attempt to protect you?"

Chris bit his lower lip until it hurt. He had no idea who he was talking to, but he obviously knew Christina. Someone who was only a name on a plaque for him. Mark took a deep breath and turned to face Christine's partner. "You're responsible for her, cadet," he ordered. "You've got to get her out of the ruins."

"Come with me and I'm sure Mark will make things clear." Soto said as a platform lowered the two underground. Chris watched artificial lights switch on and a concern look on his new partner's face. "I don't know why I trust you, but I do." Chris replied. "All right, let's go."

The two zipped along a moving sidewalk. Artificial light filled the underground passage as Chris handed Soto an electronic map pad. "Wow! This is like in my favorite comic."

Soto hesitated. His eyes moved up from Christina's shapely legs to her gorgeous face. His eyes looked deeply in Chris', but saw no sign of joking. "What do you mean... trust me?"

Suddenly realizing what he had said, he stammered. "Uh, well..." He wondered how he could explain the face he wasn't really the female rebel Soto work with before.

"Who are you, skirt?" demanded Soto, passion turning to betrayl. "Where is the real Christina Jackmarr?"

Gently, Chris turned and ran his fingers through his hair. Soto stared ready to go for his blaster. More pressing than his need to follow Mark's order was the one to know if he was staring at an earth traitor.

"Why don't we get going and I'll explain everything." Chris stepped off the moving sidewalk and followed the trail shown on the electronic map. They followed a flashing light and low buzz to a ladder that ran up the side wall. "I think that's some kind of silent alarm going off."

"These creatures you're fighting have the ability to time travel. They saw me as a potential threat and tried to destroy me for good." Chris explained. "All the afterlife could do to offer me a second chance and find my missing father is to be reborn in a new body. If this wasn't so serious, I'd say I was living my favorite comic, American-man."

"I-It can't be!" Chris said nervously. He watched as a force beam shot from a figure and hit the museum's female guard. Her knight stick dropped to the floor as he painted fingers separated, her back automatically arched to show off her breasts and a orgasm exploded inside her already sealed pussy. Her fluids splashed inside plastic vagina, keeping her aroused.

Perspiration appeared on Chris' forehead as he came through a trap door and ended up face to face with the same beast, which killed him once before.

"Ho, Ho, Ho!" Big-Foot laughed as he grabbed Chris by the dress and raised him into the air. Chris responded by crescent kicking him in the ribs. "The earth will be ours!"

"Let go!" Chris cried.

He pushed back and tore the dress. Chris dropped to the ground, but managed to land on the palms of his hands. The demon suddenly flanked him as Chris rolled underneath a display case containing a medieval sword. Standing up through the case, he placed one hand on the hilt and the other of the blade. "Damn! I'm beginning to understand. You're part of the problem!"

"What use is that sword against a threat like him!" Soto yelled as he stood puzzled at Christina's actions.

"Let Justice Be Done!" He spoke the phase told to him and watched as Christina's naked body was suddenly bombarded with energy. A strange transformation began.

When the light died down, Chris was too shock at what he was wearing to realize he had become a man again. He gasped as he stared at the rippling muscles which filled out his circus costume. "My Halloween costume? How'd that happen?"

Before American-man could act, he was blown into the air. Big-foot had fired a force beam from his arm and blew up the museum's floor. "Kiyaaa-!"

"American-man!" Soto cried from across the room. He watched as the tile floor cracked beneath American-man's back. The hero's arms and legs flared wildly in the air.

American-man groans as he sat upright and touched his forehead with one hand. Receiving an awful headache from the explosion, he felt like the room was spinning. "Ooooh..."

When the dizziness wore off, American-man regained his feet. He pointed with the first finger of one hand while his other closes into a tight fist and started to glow. "Not so fast, Big-Foot!"

American-man quickly ran toward Big-Foot with his fists glowing. The creature raised its open palm only to have it shattered by the punch. "Noooo!" "Power Punch!"

Big-Foot quickly sidestepped and vanished in a puff of smoke as American-man watched his flying dragon kick catch only air. "Don't know what you are--but you've got to be stopped!"

"Holy Moly!" Soto ran up to him. "How'd you do that?"

"I...I don't know..." American-man stood with a puzzled look on his face.

American-man's puzzled face suddenly turned to horror as he doubled over in pain. Soto watched as the sword blade started to glow and light up the room. When the light died down, "American-man" was gone and Christina Jackmarr stood in his place. A look of shock and confusion fell on Soto's face as he looked at Christina's disappointed face.

"I should of known..." Chris said.

 

American-man Chapter 3 Serve And Protect

Chief officer Johnson took a deep breath before entering the building of the 31st century's world president. The cold metallic building wasn't his favorite place in the city, but it was the one place where Detective Samantha Lightman had to talk to him.

The secret service, which normally stood at attention, was leaning against the wall and talking. "I'm not sure why we do this..."

"Don't you blokes have posts?" Johnson spoke in a British accent. His tall, handsome form towered over the agents as he stood in his traditional trench coat and fedora.

"--On our way!" They said together and took off running.

"How can I help you?" he asked when he walked into the office of President Akane Tsusumi with a smile.

The president motioned for him to take a seat and pulled out a series of folders. As he sat down he looked in the direction of Detective Lightman. The barefoot president was dressed in the armor of a sorcerer while Captain Lightman wore a white blouse with a gray business suit.

"About time you showed, Chief - you ever think to check your E- Mail? My God, you can--!"

Johnson heard plenty to know that he had kept Detective Lightman waiting. He might of heard more, but choose to block out the rest of her little speach and turned his attention to the files on the president's desk.

"I, uh, I suppose you want to know why you're here?" President Tsusumi asked.

"This Mark Driver, he said. "We're to believe he's behind the attack on Federation City yesterday. He's also suppose to have a hideout in the ruins on the outskirts of the city."

"Well," the president said, still watching Johnson as she maneuvered into a more comfortable position, "I think he's innocent."

"We need to bring him in for questioning," Lightman interrupted, looking up from a file. "That's our job."

Just then, the desk intercom came on. "Johnson in?" A computerized voice came over the intercom as a monitor rose out of the president's desk. Johnson sat up. "Put it through.

He looked over an found the female image was wearing a playboy bunny costume and a pair of spike heels. He reached over and turned up the volume.

"You got anything on Driver-san? Some think he's the key behind the deaths and disappearances."

"No information."

Johnson rubbed his temples as the girl interrupted.. "Bloody Hell!" But we're still on his tail," she said. "The Phantom Army was spotted in the ruins."

Johnson thanked the girl and had just turned off the video screen when a man stepped into the room. He had a shiny metallic body that included cloven hoof feet, wings and a fork tail. He also no hair. He held a gun. "Tsusumi-san, I didn't know you had company." he said like a robot.

"Blimy!" Chief Johnson froze, afraid that the wrong move would cause the intruder to shoot. But even as he watched the president duck behind her desk, he realized that the man would most likely kill them anyway.

President Tsusumi had half-risen from behind her desk when the intruder raised the blaster in his hand. "Don't do it!" he snapped.

Automatically Johnson charged toward him. He didn't stop until the knuckles of his fist connected with hard skin of his target. "You just made a b-i-i-i-g mistake, blaggard!"

"Let me up," said the intruder as Chief Johnson pinned his shoulders to the ground. Johnson had to use all his strength to hold down. "You won't get away with this!"

"What the hell are you?" President Tsusumi asked. The eyes of the intruder started glowing.

"I was as human as you before I was hired by my dark master, Demonoid." He saw Johnson look shock when the man spoke in a harden voice and growled. "You and your time police can't stop him. You don't have magic or demon hunters to save you from his wraith."

The creature's eyes lit up like fire. It thrust its arm forward, shoving Johnson off of him. And then it rolled to one side, when Lightman motioned for her gun. "RAAAAGH! Get off!"

"You're crazy!" she told Johnson as the creature dodged her laser blasts. "What were you thinking?"

Cursing, Lightman kept on shooting. The gun blew apart a chair and the president slumped behind the chair to avoid being hit. Johnson heard her shout: "Goddamn gun, couldn't hit the broad side of a barn!"

Then Johnson came up being her, intending on taking the gun away. The sound of an energy discharge brought the secret service running into the office. They were just in time to witness the demon disappearing in a puff of smoke. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." The President replied. "At least we now know who is behind The Phantom Army."

It was the voice of Chief Johnson, and the agent detected a note of fear in it. There was good reason for it. Johnson checked the power level of his gun while Lightman helped the president to her feet.

"You guys can go," President Tasusumi said. "I want to talk with these two a little longer."

"Right."

"I certainly was impressed with your actions today," she said firmly. "How'd you like a chance to follow up the investigation? Check on the disappearances in not only Federation City, but London, Hong Kong, and Tokyo too?"

"I'm listening," Johnson said.

"I mean it, said Tsusumi. "I've learned that Crusher, the most notorious bounty hunter, is here on earth. I'll bet that was him who attacked us, and if things go well - if you manage to bring Driver-san in - you might get another crack at that Demon lord."

"We accept the challenge!" Johnson and Lightman saluted with their arm across their chest.

 

Chapter 4 DEMON ATTACK

"He must of been after the sword." Chris concluded. He was kneeling in front of the spot which Big Foot had vanished. His trembling hands gripped the handle of a magnify glass. He could barely hold it. "We'd better leave."

"Oh...yeah, no kidding." Soto eyed Christina's body. Even though he saw the transformation, he couldn't get over the fact that his girlfriend's body was being possessed by the soul of a twentieth century man.

"Come on." Chris sighed and handed Soto the magnify glass. He took one last look at the twentieth century items, which were now museum pieces. Items which were dug up in the aftermath of the last world war. "I need your help to stop the demons and find my father."

"The Rebel Enforcers have been trying!" Soto stepped beyond a revolving front door. "I've even been labeled as a loose cannon. What more do you want us to do?"

"Whoa!" Chris said, starring out at the city and seeing the monorail track, which ran along the canyon's wall. In the distance of Federation City, skyscrapers surrounded the space-port and predestine foot bridges. Some people who traveled to the HumMech/ Mech factory, indoor ice rink and other shops were scantily clad. Some others were completely covered in clothes of different eras and parts of the world. "What's with the Mardi Gras?"

"You'll get use to the clothing shortage," Soto said. Following the crowd out of the monorail station, Chris turned to Soto and asked, "Er... What exactly happened to Jackmarr-san's family anyway?"

"Vanished when the Phantom Army arrived in town," Soto replied. "Christina was made a ward of the city."

Out of the corner of his eye, Chris spotted the shadow of a winged robot. It's reflection on a glass skyscraper showed the robot gargoyle that attacked the president. "Huh?"

At exactly that moment, Chris felt the tingly sensation of an electrical discharge that caused him to orgasm and freeze solid. A HumMech dressed in black and white battle armor grabbed Chris by the arm, stopping Christine from knocking her to the ground.

Looking pass the officer, Soto saw a truck, towing an anti-gravity coffin in their direction. He knew that it would be Christine's transportation to the factory to be made into a machine. He quickly kicked the remote out of the HumMech's hand used it on her. The robotic woman shorted out, giving Soto time to unfreeze Chris.

"They rebels took off, running to a chain link fence. He held Christina's shoes in one hand as he somersaulted over the fence and landed on his tip toes. "Did you see a demon in that crowd?"

"Fill it up!" Soto told a pair of robot control gas pumps as he walked two bikes from his hiding spot. They started to fill the super-charged motorcycles when his partner turned his head and said: "What demon?"

"He's flying over the city with some kind of wings," Chris told him. "He had horns on his head and a tail." Chris climbed onto the bikes and set a course for their destination. Soto lead the way through the streets and pass a bridge.

"This is no place for jokes, girlie."

Funny how the demons vanished, when they went out of their way to kill me in the past, Chris thought. The two appeared in the costume crowd outside Sunhill Sodas. It was obvious that they were beneath the crowd's notice.

"What the Hell?!" Chris stepped into Sunhill Sodas and saw Nancy's exact double sitting at the bar and talking. Linda was dressed in a white sailor suit mini-blouse with a blue neckerchief and skirt. She wore athletic socks and saddle shoes. Her blonde hair was pulled straight back in a ponytail. "This morning I made it just before the school gate closed."

"What's the matter?" Soto asked.

"Nothing," Chris replied, turning his attention back to his partner. "Just thought I saw someone I knew."

"Good Afternoon." Mark Driver interrupted, bowing slightly. He had the bow returned to him. "I've been waiting."

They made their way toward a table where a brown skin, man name Luke Peters sat in yellow overalls and a green cross patch. He had a white helmet with a green visor hanging on the hook behind him. "Welcome back, Mark." he said jokingly. "Got tired of hunting rabbits on the moon?"

"Cut it out, Luke," Mark said. Chris could only stare wide-eyed as a chocolate malt suddenly raised up and dumped over Linda's head. "But it was Luke who was making fun out the Japanese rabbit myths."

"Linda, you okay?" Luke asked with concern as he took some paper towels and helped clean her up.

"No problem."

"Mark, can you tell me what's going on?" Chris asked.

Mark's mind ran back to the memories which burned most vivid. It was last Halloween, and Mark was part of an historical dig. Wisps of clouds passed over a full moon as a pair of women raised a chest with carvings from the earth.

"What in the world is it?" Mark asked.

"I don't know." One of the woman said. "Looks like the trip was worth missing the Cherry Blossom festival. Better take it back, Mark."

The lid of the chest seemed to open before their eyes. A ghostly skull rose up and petrified Murry as Mark ran fearfully into the desert. He heard the demon say: "Worship me as your new God!"

"This is too weird." Mark thought, turning on his wrist homing device. "I feel like I opened a Pandora's box."

When he later got to Federation City's hospital, Detective Captain Samantha Lightman joined Mark in a blue police woman's uniform. Murry's plastic body was studied along with the female mannequins. "I'm really sorry, captain."

"You don't know how I feel, Driver-san, but D.N.A. testing will soon prove you guilty. I'll see your put in a virtual reality prison for this."

It was at that time a Phantom Army declared war on earth. Ever since, they've chase after the fifteen year old rebel leader through a half-demolished neighborhood with the task of killing him. He remembered how the latest chase to the rebel headquarters went that morning. How glad he was to see the spiked gables and turret tower of the Victorian mansion.

Bright rays shot past Mark's head as he ran breathlessly down the ruined street. A glance over his shoulder confirmed that the masked samurais still dogged his tracks. His feet thundered down the pavement, keeping him out of their range. "Got to go faster!"

An alley entrance was just ahead. Mark quickened his pace and ducked into the shadows. "Can't let them catch me!"

"That's the guy!" screamed the samurai leader, not noticing that Mark's hand opened a secret door. They turned the corner only to find that the alley was empty. "He--He's vanished?"

Minutes later... Mark stepped out of the secret passage. He left a grandfather clock behind and knelt at his family shrine. "Father, could what's happening somehow be related to my escape from the dig site?"

Mark looked over at a trunk covered in cobwebs and dried blood. Big double windows on the first floor shined light down on it. "I've had just about enough of those devil troopers! I wish that Murry and I never found that chest!"

"That's when I called Soto." he said, shrugging his shoulders. Chris got up and moved toward the front door. While Mark was talking, Chris had noticed an eerie fog rolling under the door from outside. "What's going on?"

Before Chris could receive an answer, the door exploded off its hinges and fell forward. "A samurai bolted on top of the door with the faces of his troop leering out of the fog behind him. Chris was pinned under the door. "Bring me Driver-san!"

"Get off!" Chris stood up and knocked the samurai off balance and into the troop. The rebels rushed Mark out of the shop.

"Well now." The Samurai removed his helmet. "Looks like you've got a lot of guts woman!"

"Ah--." Chris leaped up to avoid the demon's sword blade. Seeing how the demon with horns, fork tail and cloven hoofs look at him, he was reminded of why he traveled into the future.

She's fast, the demon thought, feeling Christina's foot collide with the side of his face. "Get out of here!" he ordered as he pointed to a construction zone tower with an exterior glass elevator. Mark and Luke sat on one motocycle while Linda rode off on her moped. "We'll meet there."

"See you at Dr. Brown's lab, then." Luke confirmed.

Decking Christina, the demon sent his opponent through Sunhill Soda's front window. Glass rain down - forming a bed for Chris to fall on. Chris landed next to Soto's motorcycle.

"So whatcha waiting for legs?" Soto plowed his cycle into a demon wearing a death shroud as Chris snap-kicked another in the face. "Let's do it to it. Transform!"

"Let Justice Be Done!" Chris cried, watching the air surround him with electricity and the ground exploded skyward. The muscle mass of his arm increased while his chest flattened and his hair and eye-lashes shortened.

"Let's try it again," American-man snarled. He watched as his sword sliced through the troop leader's waist. The two cried and slapped a high-five. "All right! We did it!"

American-man grabbed Soto by the waist and took off into the air. "Okay. Let's go."

"Watch out!" Soto shouted.

The two became a blur of colors, flying under a flag pole and around several buildings. Finally they flew straight into one of the windows of a building with its top floors still in the girder stage. Soto released American-man's shoulders in a computer room and heard the sound of approaching footsteps. "Company's coming."

 

American-man Chapter 5. Tower of Terror

The door slid into the wall and an armored man rushed into the room. Holding a knife in one hand, he drove the handle end into Soto's chest, while firing wrist missiles at American-man. "I knew that I'd find you..."

As the mini-missiles flew at him, American-man dropped into a crouch, so that they'd sail over his head.

"Cannonball Punch!" American-man retaliated by grabbing hold of his left wrist and pouring on a blast of power until the bounty hunter, Crusher impacted with the wall.

Crusher dropped to the floor, catching himself with the palm of his hands. "Computer...Activate Crusher A-1."

A energy beam suddenly fired from a mounted blaster."I'm in trouble." Chris murmured as his costume shimmered away, being replaced with Christina's dress. His chest enlarged, his waist drew in and his hips rounded as the hair on his legs faded. Watching his hair and nails lengthened, American-man was soon replaced with Christina Jackmarr.

"W-e-l-l, your nothing but a dame in disguise." Crusher snickered, walking over to a console. "I'm not impressed."

"The name's Chris." Chris poised with a horizontal arm behind a vertical one. "Don't forget it."

"Don't mess with me!" The hunter lay down a wall of fire that forced Chris and Soto to dive behind a console. Crusher chuckled as he stood before the console and pressed a button. "Hiding won't do any good!"

Then a small door opened in the floor. Chris jabbed his sword into the door flap, gripping the hilt with one hand. He dangled like a pendulum, loosing his shoes and noticing that Soto was holding onto him. "Let go, you pervert!"

"Now then, who get to die first?" Crusher stood over the trap door and swept a spray of laser fire over their heads.

As Chris slipped they plummeted into darkness. "NNNOOO!" Chris slid together, dropping out of the opened end of a chute and into mid-air. "Look out!"

Chris landed on his back while Soto landed face down. He immediately put his head on Christina's chest. "Ecstasy!"

Chris glanced up with a look of shock. He saw that Soto was laying on him with Soto's face rubbing against his- Christina's - breasts. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Get off me!" Chris cried, thrusting his arm forward and shoving Soto away.

"Don't like this." Chris looked around a circular room with no doors or windows. It was quite obvious that none of the workers had even started in their area of the basement.

Soto moved his arms along the walls, looking for a secret passage. His foot bumped into a flashlight on the floor. "All we really got to do is find a way out!"

"This is nuts!" Chris said, pacing around the room. He could hear the groans of his stocking feet - Christina's stocking feet - walking across the creaking floorboards. "Are you sure you can get us out?"

With flashlight in hand, Soto ran its beam along the room. It was at the far end of the floor that he spotted a large hole amoung the rotten boards. "I believe so..."

"Can you take a look at this?" Soto asked, shooting the beam of light into the hole and along a coffin lid.

"What is it?" Chris got on his knees and peered into the hole. They watched as the wooden lid splintered. A crack began to split down the middle.

The lid of two out of three coffins exploded. Soto watched in horror as a pair of silhouettes rose up through the smoke. "It can't be!"

Chris swiveled his head to Soto. "You see them?"

Soto nodded. "Uh-huh." He couldn't believe his eyes were seeing a male vampire mannequins with ghostly white plastic skin raising out of one coffin while a black female vampire rose from another.

"Crusher's gonna pay for this!" Chris looked up as the vampires rose to the ceiling. Their eyes were blood red and their fang filled mouths let out a hissing sound. "Did you hear that?"

The sound of more wood splintering got their attention. Getting back on their hands and knees, they peaked back down into the hole. A dark, curly hair man appeared wearing a white toga, which left the bow arm bare. He wore metallic bracelets on his wrists, leather boots and held a golden shield. "Good thing Athena's shield was stored when I went to sleep!"

Soto could only stare in shock. "Who the devil - ?"

"Hyaaa!" He flew out of the pit and as high as the vampires in a signal leap. Energy beams fired from tiny slots in his right bracelet and knocked the vampires to the floor. "Zues...guide my aim!"

"Mark!" Chris spoke into his descendant's wrist watch com-link as he watched the air fight. "We've fallen into a trap and need your help!"

"Chris, you're alive!" Chris heard Mark's reply over the com-link. "We're so sorry. It'll take us some time to loose the police and even longer for us to reach you."

"I can't believe this is happening." Chris raised his leg up. When the male vampire got close enough, his foot impacted the vampire's face and sent it sprawling. Its mannequin body shattered upon impact with the floor.

"Too easy!" The Greek man dropped down and used his shield to shatter the female one. He then did a flip and landed in front of Soto and Chris. The two could only stare with puzzled looks on their faces.

"Who are you?" The two asked at the same time. They couldn't hide the bewildered looks on their faces. He got down on one knee and kissed the back of Christina's hand.

"Perseus is thy name." He smiled as Soto looked jealously as his treatment of Christine. He then looked in the direction of the shattered vampire on the cavern floor.

"Ah, who cares?" Chris crouched down, grabbed a wooden beam and climbed into the hole. "We've found our way out!"

"Hey!" The guys followed Chris into the pit. Chris was already making his way along the slippery, wet rocks. An elevator shaft was the only light. "Wait up!"

"Wait up!" Soto repeated as Chris got both a foot and a hand hold in climbing up the circular elevator shaft.

At the same moment, Mark and the others were forced to hide behind a barricade formed from a portion of cut away corner wall. As a laser from Captain Lightman's blaster sliced across Mark's shoulder, he could picture the pleased expression on her face. "That was close."

Joining them was Roberta's futuristic twin, Starshine Chow. She was sixteen years old with raven hair that flowed down to her hips. She was dressed in a Chinese silk shirt and blue denim shorts with the cuffs rolled. She wore metallic mid heel sandals.

"I can't believe I let you talk me into another crazy adventure." Starshine ducked and covered as lasers went whizzing overhead. Mark began checking the power level of his blaster and realized that he had to act. "This is all your fault."

"I hope the others are doing better than we are." Mark lay down a blanket of fire power. The police dropped face down as Starshine led the others from the barricade.

"Move it!" Luke ordered as he led them down a ramp, across and catwalk and then up a staircase.

Back in the elevator shaft, Chris and the others continued climbing. Demons on different floors had opened the elevator doors and opened fire upon them. "Platoon 1 follow me." The leader's clothes tore as he transmuted into a demon. "The rest of you, find me Dr. Brown!"

"Go for it, Chris-san!" Soto said, watching lasers bounce off Perseus' shield as Chris tried to force open the door on the top floor. "Get that door open!"

"Hang in there, Soto-kun."

One stray shot caused the area above Chris to exploded. As he began to fall, he cried out for the powers and prayed he didn't need the sword. "Let Justice Be Done!"

Suddenly, Christina's dress had vanished from his female naked body and the American-man costume began to take its place. In a whirlwind of power he had changed. American-man looped around, grabbing Perseus and Soto as he headed back up the shaft. "Now we fight."

American-man exited the elevator at the same time as the others reached the top of the stairs. In the evening sky they stood on a floor which was mostly girders and spotted ghost like demons. Even the roof above him gave the appearance of a metallic spider web. "I want...my sword!"

"What are you going to do?" asked Crusher, not realizing that American-man had scanned him for the blade. American-man ricochet off a girder, his arms stretched out before him. He directed the force of his blow upward, knocking Crusher to the metal web above them. The others directed their attention to the spirits.

"This is pointless." Chris leapt to the same girder as Crusher, they blocked one another punches. A dart shot out of HumMech glove like a bee stinger and pierced American-man's hide. Flinching back in pain he heard an unfamiliar laugher above him.

"Ha Ha-Ha!" Crusher laughed. "I have more than just sexual instruments built into my body. American-man somersaulted over Crusher, grabbing his sword. Crusher's mini-missiles missed him and blew off samurai's head. "I was looking for that."

Before American-man could do anything a cocoa skin man appeared in a skin suit and white lab coat. "They're not beaten yet." He said, holding a lamp in one hand and rubbing it with the other. "Vickie, get out here."

As Soto watched the smoke raise out of the lamp he couldn't help but recall the fog outside Sunhill Sodas. He couldn't help but wonder whose side they were on. "Now what?"

"Dr. Brown?" Mark ran over scientist and his wife. He could see the smoke encircling the scientist's body like a python. Something's weird about his body, he thought.

"Get them off the roof, Driver-san!" Dr. Brown stretched from the tower to the high school roof. Vickie had channeled her magical powers to make John Brown's body like rubber.

"Hai, sensei Brown," Mark said.

"This way!" Mark turned to confront The Time Police. His Rebel Enforcers had already started to slid down Dr. Brown's back. They were followed by Mrs. Brown.

Realizing something was wrong," Chief Johnson knew what he had to do. "Move out," he ordered, and made a run for it. High school boys in two-piece uniforms with buttons down the shirt joined high school girls in sailor suits in starring in surprise.

"Oh, My!" Linda shielded her eyes as the tower's front and roof exploded. Rubble rained down to the street below. "There goes Brown labs." Dr. Brown stood beside his wife as Vickie congealed into the form of a white humanoid girl.

Her harem outfit included a bra top and turkish trousers. "I hated to do it. But I couldn't let my inventions fall into those monster's hands."

"Linda!" Starshine looked over the edge of the high school roof and pointed to where demons were chasing some girls off the volleyball court. "Hey, girl...Looks like playtime's over."

 

Chapter 6. Doom At Dawn

"What exactly are they doing here?" Starshine asked. She lead the rebels down the high school's fire escape while American-man dropped to the ground in a single bound. "They've always stayed outside of the Federation Wall."

"Try asking them." Linda opened the driver side of a hovor roadster and looked across the roof at Starshine. A gang of samurai storm troopers charged through a screaming crowd - poising as rebels to turn the humans against themselves. One of them had eyed the two. "Where's Driver-san!"

"Hold it!" Captain Lightman reached the bottom of the fire escape as the girls climbed into the hover car and pulled away. The officers carried blasters and Billy clubs.

"You're all under arrest!" Lightman's gun shot streaked across the sky and blew the car over in an explosion. Soto's head darted in the direction of Linda's scream. The upside down car went screeching across the ground with sparks flying from underneath the roof. It slid right into the arms of a transformed demon with the girls trapped inside.

"We have the righta way!" Starshine shouted as the demon's hands caved in the car's hood. Less than a foot from the creature, Perseus frisbeed his shield and cut off its arm at the elbow. Blood gushed out between halves as it screamed in pain. "Kiyaaa!"

"Well Done!" Soto crossed over to the upside down car in a quick stride. There, he paused for a minute and looked back, thanking Perseus. Trying with all his might, Soto grabbed the passenger door with his bare hands and ripped it off its hinges.

He took Linda by the hand and helped her out of the car. "Soto, thank heavens. Where's the others?"

"Right here!" Mark pulled up in an eight passenger hover car.

The push of a button caused its bubble roof to raise. Starshine rose to her feet and brushed herself off. "Now we can get outta here."

"Oh, come on," Starshine said. As the shadow of a giant saucer shaped space ship fell over the city, she looked to the sky. "You can't be serious!"

"I'm not seeing this," she went on. Within a minute, the ship beamed down an equally large robot which looked more like a demon on the outside. Fire streaked out of the Demon bot mouth, setting the town in flames. Alarms sounded a full alert as a laser split one sky- scraper in half. The building toppled to the ground below.

"This is it!" The driver of the Federation mecha thought as he and Demon bot faced off like two boxers in a ring. The Federation mecha used lasers and rockets while the Demon bot used Hellfire. "This time I can't loose!"

At the robot feet, Time Officers and Rebel Enforcers worked feverishly to defend the city in hand to hand combat. "Lighting strike!" American-man leaped back and fired a mystic blast from his sword blade. The saucer's laser struck the ground before American-man's feet. The sizzling mystic beam from American-man's sword blew apart the head of the Demon bot.

"Got it!" American-man cried. First American-man gave Soto a high-five, then Soto gave American-man a high-five. Linda felt her heart leap into her throat. Standing beside American-man, she could see that the other saucers were releasing more Demon bot.

"We've to act quickly before they build-up the body count." American-man zoomed into the air toward one of the Demon bot. As American-man approached the demon bot, its fist launched pass him. American-man's eyes widen at the shock of seeing it impact a skyscraper. The building crumbed down into a cloud of dust. "Holy Geez! What was that?"

"How am I gonna stop all of them?" He watched as the demon bot fist magically replaced itself. American-man stabbed the monstrous machine with his sword, flew up the front, and sent its mystic beam through its circuits. "Lighting Strike!"

"Nuts!" American-man's grim face eyed the other mecha- demons attack on the futuristic city. A city that was starting to look like the ruins beyond Federation Wall.

American-man zigzagged around the skyscrapers, smashing through the hull of one mecha after another. He left a trail of explosions in his wake.

The reddish-orange sky over the city lit up like fireworks. The Federation mecha continued attacking each other with brand new weapons. The Time Police launched its claws like missiles.

"Stop it!" yelled American-man, tearing off the head of the Demonbot. The Federation mecha combined its weapons into a single blast. "You're suppose to protect the people!"

"Ma'am President, Hi! We're in a bit of a sticky wicket here." Chief Johnson spoke on the video-phone. "Our weapons barely have any effect on them."

"Oh boy." Johnson muttered, stepping out of the phone booth. American-man dropped out of the sky and landed in front of a group of storm troopers. American-man had his hands full. The four demons fired plastic at point blank range. Hands moved fast enough to create a wind that would keep it harmlessly away. "Too fast for you, huh?" he grinned.

"Come on and fight!" American-man shouted over his shoulder. The four demons quickly moved and surrounded him. American-man leap straight up as the four demons fired upon them with a spray that could turn them into mannequins.

"Watch it!" Johnson gritted his teeth. "Get any of that stuff on us and we won't be going anywhere for a long time. Chief Johnson watched American-man drop back to the ground.

"Look out!" cried Starshine, seeing Big-Foot's arm firing out a plasticity on several of the town's citizens. Big-Foot aimed a blast of energy into American-man's back. The beam forced American-man to his knees as he cried out in pain.

"Down boy!" Starshine came up behind Big-Foot and clubbed him with a rock. American-man He got to his feet, feeling slightly shaken.

"How is he?" asked Chief Johnson.

"I think he'll be okay...just shaken up a little." Starshine watched as American-man stumbled forward. "Don't think he was hit long enough to for the change to take place. He touched American-man's hand and notice it felt much smoother than normal skin. It took on a surreal tone to it.

American-man looked up to the sky. A two headed winged demon swooped down from above. American-man braced his leg and raised his sword. "No. No way."

"I'm not going to die again!" American-man took off into the air. Tackling the demon, he watched as a beam shot out of the sword and created an energy gate in mid-air.

"Oh, My." Linda watched the gate close up as the demon and American-man vanished inside. "Where did they go?"

 

Chapter 7 SEARCH AND DESTORY

Soto took one look at the rush of chaos within the city and slipped through a vacuum lock door built into Federation Wall. At this point one couldn't tell one side of the wall from the other. He looked to Johnson. "See your, Chief."

Mark had already moved through a sea of rubble and reached the four foot cemetery to the Rebel Enforcers secret headquarters. Luke unlocked the door and let the girls go in first. "I wonder when we first started to think of this "Monster house as home?"

"Hey baby!" Soto called out as he stepped up beside Starshine. "How about a date later?"

"What?" Starshine sat down on a window seat with her legs folded up and her arms wrapped around them. She couldn't believe her ears. "We just lost our best hope in winning this war and you're hitting on me."

"Just who is American-man anyway?" Starshine went on. "Why is he suddenly helping us?"

"You just go make yourself pretty." Soto avoided the question with a quick kiss to the cheek.

"All right." Starshine flashed a crooked smile. She got to her feet and stumbled barefoot to the stairs. The dim hall was illuminated by the incandescent glow of candle shaped electric lights. Soto turned on a holographic music disk player.

A half an hour later, Luke Peter had fixed up all but two of the Rebel Enforcers. Only one was still downstairs. "You're all set." Luke was saying to Mark. "Next."

As in reply, Linda walked over and took a seat in front of Dr. Peter. He treated her burns and injuries from the car wreak that the demons and Detective Lightman caused. Linda purposely tried to avoid eye-contact. Her feelings toward him was loud and clear.

"That's everyone...except Christina." Luke stood up and looked around the room. "Anyone know where she is?"

"I didn't want it to come to this." Soto sat before a dust covered computer. "Christina is American-man She's transformed into some kind of supernatural hunter."

"A supernatural hunter?" Starshine appeared at the top of the stairs. An image of Mark's story about warriors fighting demons filled her head. A story he had told when the demons had first showed up in the city. Luke looked sarcastically and turned toward Perceus. He began to wonder just how many of Mark's old legends might actually be true.

"Okay. Forget it." Soto caught a glimpse of a girl's shimmering plastic skin in the shadows. The rebels had rescued and researched ways of reversing the plastic process for the past year. Being the ladies man that he was, Soto kept as many of the ladies where he could run his hands on their smooth harden skin.

"An odd reading been picked up by the space station." A voice came from the Mark's lips. Some time officers have been dispatched to check on it."

Luke stood before Soto and held up a fully charged blaster. "We won't have a better time to search for American-man."

Hours later, the rebels went racing along the desert in the bubble top hover car. As they neared a western ghost town, they heard the sound of cheers coming from the saloon. "I've heard some towns were repopulated." Mark said.

"Repopulated by the mutants the last world war created," Linda winced.

"It's a place to start." Mark stopped the car and opened the bubble. "Maybe someone seen American-man or Christina."

"What makes you think he's here?" asked Starshine.

"I don't." Mark stood outside nervously. "Anyone knowing him will get us the location...for a price."

As Mark gave the door a push, he and Luke were the first not to believe their eyes. The bar was filled with fully clothed animated cartoon mannequins.

"Well, Mark." Luke spoke in a whisper. "Is this what you expected?"

"No. Not really..."

Moments later, the saloon went from looking like a wax works museum to that of a motion picture. The mannequins just started moving like they were actually alive.

"Uh, huh." Linda's head was spinning. She watched a waitress slither by with a snake tail from the waist down and a try of drinks in her human hands. "I believe you."

"What's going on here?" Perseus watched the two dimensional, talking animals standing between three and four feet tall. Only the human toons were as tall as him. "May I help you?" A pig headed bartender called over to them. He stood behind the bar and cleaned glasses.

"Have you seen either of these people?" Soto's hand slid photos of American-man and Christina Jackmarr across the bar top. "Perhaps we should discuss it in the back room." The bartender looked up from a handful of photos.

"We're not that dumb." Perseus grabbed hold of the bartender's shirt and knocked him unconscious with one blow to the top of the head. Mark looked over his shoulder and saw they had all gotten up from their seats and surrounded them.

"Sweet dreams!" Soto tumbled across a table and threw a dagger between a monster mannequin's eyes. It was quickly pinned to the wall.

"Don't sweat it. These guys are pushovers." Starshine avoided a bear's punch by dropping into a crouch. Grabbing the bear by the wrist and ankle, she flipped it over.

"That's right!" Mark drove his fist across one human toon's jaw as Luke kicked another across a table. Linda screamed as an energy beam fired from a woman's palm and knocked her down. The woman's Arab clothes covered her entire body - including her head and face.

"Where'd she come from?" Linda stuttered, looking up at a non- mannequin vampire. The pale skinned woman had hypnotic eyes and fangs which glistened in the low light. She held of wine glass filled with blood in one hand.

The vampire let out a slow hiss and shot her fist forward. Linda dropped to the floor, seeing the vampire's fist hit a wooden support beam.

"S-S-Sink your fangs into this." Linda tried to sound brave as she thrusts her hand into the vampire's face. The vampire recoiled backwards, dropping her glass to the floor.

"Where did these things come from?" Luke swung his leg in a roundhouse kick against an plastic face. "How do they move? They're mannequins!"

"Run!" Mark raced to the front porch. A ghostlike cry came from the shadows outside. He couldn't tell where it was coming from. Perseus pointed toward the hover car. It was then that Mark saw a demon with razor blades in place of fingers. The creature continued its low, eerie howl as it attacked the car.

"How are we gonna escape now?"

"How indeed?" Starshine broke in.

The two of them turned and stared at her, then listened to the sound of approaching footsteps. "Now what?"

"The game of cat and mouse is over!" Crusher stepped from the shadows with a plastic rifle in hand. "You think your invincible. But I'll win here like I do in the space arena."

"Shall we?" Crusher asked his demonic partner.

"Playtime," the creature growled. The two raced to the front of the saloon and prepared to grab the Greek hero.

"I'm not playing!" Perseus caught hold of Crusher's fist with one hand, while at the same time, swinging his foot into the razor demon's ribs.

"Didn't your mama ever teach you to share?" Soto leaped into the air and headed straight at Crusher and the demon. He separated his legs and drove the sole of his boots into both Crusher and the demon's chest. "Split kick!"

The other rebels moved swiftly to their partner's sides, and saw that the bounty hunter and demon were knocked out cold. A trail of blood ran down from their foreheads.

"You guys okay?" Linda stood with a look of concern. Soto glanced over to the smoking engine. "Guess we'll have to find American-man on foot."

"Maybe not," said Luke, looking off into the desert. "I had my cadet training at a nearby government base. If it's still abandoned, we can use the orbiting satellites to see if he's on the planet."

 

CHAPTER 8 ANIMALS HO!

In the depths of space, far above the earth, American-man soared out of the other end of the dimensional gate and came down like a falling meteor. "Whoooooooaaa!"

"Ah-choo!" American-man stood in a crater and sneezed. He held his finger under his nose. "Somebody keeps talking about me."

The governments of the 2nd dimension thought all it would take was a few bombs to bring world peace. They were wrong. One early evening the bomb went off. Centuries of technology were blown to dust, leaving no trace of survivors in the fortress of that earth's strike force, Wild Animals. From across the dunes of a once-green planet a shocking and unbelievable sight: a truck moves swiftly down a ramp into a large circular complex. "Bring me any survivors."

Inside at a table sat the remaining members of Wild Animals among them was Missy, with her rabbit body of golden brown fur, Zebran with his horse's body of white fur and black stripes. Finally was a set of twins, Myare and Lionheart, with cat-like faces, brown manes, golden fur and tails. Each were dressed in camouflage tank tops and shorts.

"I thank you all for coming to this emergency meeting," Col. Rock Lionheart said. Hearing the sound of intruders above, "Spread out the group," he yelled, rising from the table. From the vent came voices, "We've got them trapped in there."

The Wildanimals ran to a rock tunnel, slimy with veins piercing through the ceiling and walls. They looked horrified as tenacles wrapped around Myare's ankles and pulled her into the darkness beyond them. "Lionheart, help!"

"Myare!" Lionheart screamed, racing forward and seeing her lying in a center of the pool motionless. He quickly dove in and swam over to her.

"Still alive," He cried in relief. She seemed well. He hoisted her up in his arms and carried her out of the pool.

Before they could leave, a large group appeared at the doorway. One of the warriors removed his helmet to reveal a human head inside.

"Drop your weapons!" Jack Clarkdale, the surviving enermy of the Wildanimals, ordered as his troop held up their laser wands."

"Surprise!" Zebran said, appearing from the darkness behind them.

"No!" Jack screamed. "Not this time!" A trap door opened under the group, who fell toward the underground swamp.

"You forget as an ex-member of the Wildanimals I helped to build this fortress," He said. "I hoped the radiation of the bombs would of killed you all!"

The Wildanimals heard Jack's laugher as they traveled along the earth made slide and landed in the swamp. Snakes hissed as the swamp goo stuck to the animal-people's bare feet, slowing them down. Unfortunately for the Wildanimals, Jack Clarkdale was a master tracker. He followed their path through the swamp and to a old cabin.

Missy trudged up beside Col. Lionheart. "What do you think our chances are?"

"Right now. Not good." Lionheart looked back over his shoulder and saw Jack Clarkdale was right on their tail. "They're catching up."

Climbing up into a ventilation shaft, Col. Lionheart knew that the troop would soon follow them into the crawl-space. "Perhaps we should leave them down here." Myare said as Lionheart helped her up.

"We can't - that's what separates the good guys from the bad guys." They rose to the surface. They looked out at a world which needed to start over from the ground up. With Clarkdale captured, a new golden age was about to begin.

"We'll take those," Col. Lionheart said. He held up a gun as the others disarmed the troop.

"I - It can't be." One of the troopers stammered as he spotted American-man a top a nearby sand dune. He removed his helmet and revealed the three dimensional head of Einstein Brown. "After being banished here by my brother, I never expected to see another three dimensional being."

"Who are you?" Zebran turned around, not noticing that the troop had vanished in puffs of black smoke. The pained expression of their faces told that it weren't their idea.

"Ahh...My friends call me American-man." He watched the tiny, animated characters surround him. "I came here through some sort of dimensional doorway."

"Then you're not behind the disappearances?" Col Lionheart scowled. His mind recalled how his friends had vanished in puffs of black smoke. He had no idea that they were in a ghost town on the other side.

"N-No. I'm not." American-man assured the covert team of animals as a shadow crept over him. "In fact I'm investigating disappearances on my own world."

"Oh man!" American-man looked to the sky as the gargoyle like demon emerged from the dimensional portal. "I don't believe this!"

"Believe it!" Missy aimed her blaster and watched its beam reflex off the creature's wings.

"I see you've discovered one of master Demonoid's little secrets." The creature dropped before the group and showed its fangs. "We thought to turn these beings ability to survive torturous pain to an advantage."

"Unfortunately we couldn't convince those we brought over to work for us." The creature snarled. "Not without a little brain-washing anyways. Too bad you'll never live to tell your friends!"

"That's it!" American-man focused a beam of energy from his eyes. The laser vision struck dead center in the creature's chest.

When the smoke cleared, an awful laugher rang in his ears. The gargoyle's silhouette was projected on the smoke around him. "I'm not beaten that easily."

"NNG!" American-man felt pain surge through his body as a stream of fire streaked from the palm of the gargoyle's hand and blew American-man into the air. American-man felt stiff and numb for a second, but quickly shook it off.

"Looks like it's time to pull out the big guns!" American-man landed on the palm of one hand. His head looked toward his opponent.

"Take that!" The gargoyle released a fireball from his mouth as American-man sprang into the air and turned himself around to avoid being hit. "Whoa!"

Landing with his legs apart and his arms over his head, American-man's body quickly formed the letter "X". The front of his body became a wall of energy with a black and white Ying/Yang symbol in its center. "Dragon Balance Blast!"

"AAAAHhhh!" The monster screamed in terror as a wall of energy exploded from American-man's body and tore the creature's body to shreds. Taking a close look at the pieces, he found them to be made of plastic.

"OOooo..." Feeling weakened, American-man collapsed behind a sand dune.

Myare pointed and watched as the demon's remains started to reform.

"Mm...?" Christina's eyes fluttered open and head turned in the direction of the demon remains as he woke up. "Don't worry!" Chris got to his feet and stumbled across the sand. "I never do."

"Who's that?" Lionheart and the others stared at one another with a puzzled look on their faces. Chris poised like a martial artists. He stood with knees and elbows belt and his fingers ridged. He gave the gargoyle a harsh glare as he notice he felt even stiffer as Christina. He moved almost robot like as the demon began to reform.

"Take this!" Chris came forward and snatched the demon by its two necks. It was painful enough that it screamed. Holding both necks with one hand, Chris started to pound on the demon's chest with the other. The two spun around as the demon struggled to break free of Christina. "How dare you...attack this world..."

"...After attacking mine!" Chris shoved the demon back against a sand dune.

"You're a certifiable nut!" The gargoyle's tail swished over and wrapped itself around Christina's ankle. He gave it a yank, dropping Chris onto his back. "I can tear you apart."

Chris looked up at him helplessly. He felt his body functions slow and his eyes fixed on the area straight ahead of him. "Any other time... maybe."

"But not today!" Chris snapped. He couldn't afford to be changed into an inert mannequin. His body creaked as he did a backward somersault and avoided the demon's whip like tail. As it went swinging back, Chris crouched down and ducked out of the way.

Chris whipped his sword out and thrust it at the demon. He watched as the energy exploded from the blade and into the creature's chest. "Lighting Strike!" Both Chris and the demon dropped face down at the same time. Chris listened to the sound of the demon's screams.

"Okay," The demon said, raising back to his feet. "That really hurt."

"Die!" The demon kicked Chris in the head. It already had a hollow sound to it as Christina's body rolled onto its back.

"Back off, pal!" Chris swished the sword back and fourth. He watched as his arms moved slowly in front of the gargoyle's heads. The heads went flying from the body.

The Wildanimals all locked eyes on Chris. They watched as he disappeared into the dimensional portal he created with the mystic Sword of Justice. He carried the beheaded body in one hand. "What happened?!"

"UHhhh!" Chris wailed as he sailed between dimensions. He released the demon into the void of nothingness before it could reform. Streaks of light zoomed pass him from every angle.

"Man!" Chris thought as he stepped out of the portal. He could see a government base on the horizon. Christine's breast had no support with the torn clothes but didn't drop at all. They remained erect as they tightened. "It's scorching!"

Chris started to feel dizzy as he staggered across sand. He headed for the base, loosing his balance. He could almost see the heat vapor rise from the desert. "This female body is becoming a mannequin. Got to keep this stiff legs from making me fall over.

He soon found himself crawling across the sand on his hands and knees. He had removed Christina's stocking and torn away most of her dress. A shadow fell over him. "Is someone approaching me...or is it just a mirage?"

"Chris!" Soto shouted as he ran up to his partner. "You're changing too!"

"I'm all right!" Chris answered, shielding his eyes with his arm. Chris turned at the waist as the others came up behind him. Is this the work of the Phantom Army?" He used Mark's his own body as a crutch. "Weaken one down and then turning them into immobile mannequins?"

"I think so..." Mark said seeing Chris felt exhausted. "Why?"

"Cause the Time Police lack the manpower to handle the supernatural, "Mark replied. "We're going to investigate instead!"

"Now that we've found you..." Luke said, patching her up. "...We can track down the source of the odd readings."

"I've got a bad feeling about this." Linda said as she marched off into the desert. She glanced over at Chris with a look of worry on her face.

 

Chapter 9. ARENA OF DOOM.

As a police starship went to light-speed, the ship of the bounty hunter Crusher approached an orbiting space station. "Coming in on final approach!"

"Permission granted to land." A voice instructed over the radio as Crusher saw that he was surrounded by fighters. The fighters were triangler, two person ships with a laser built into the front.

"Welcome to The Arena of Doom!" One samurai soldier saluted as others stood at attention. Two rolls of soldiers formed a trail from Crusher's ship to the arena's doors.

The cheers of the grotesque audience was heard as Crusher stepped into the area. His first opponent was a barefoot midget with fangs and claws named Jackie Shigemi.

Crusher nodded pleasingly. "After a few fights I'll be ready to rematch those rebels."

"Welcome," A fish-woman's voice boomed at a crowd through a microphone, then said to the fighters: "To a No-holds barred match! Victory is by knock out only!"

Jackie wasted no time. Springing himself forward, he folded his body into a ball and knocked Crusher off his feet. "Strike!"

"You really are a loose cannon." Crusher grabbed a spear from the arena wall as he dropped down behind Jackie.

"Jackie! Don't underestimate me!" He tossed the spear and pinned Jackie's shoulder to the arena's wall.

Crusher lunged at Jackie, his arms reaching toward his throat. The little man quickly had his vibrator fingers crush Jackie windpipe. "That's a fatal mistake!"

"Your time as champion has past!" A female fighter's leg went into a thrust kick. Crusher crouched down and ducked as the leg missed.

Crusher stood his ground, fists poised and blocking Ami Lee's punches and kicks. Crusher slugged her once in the face, forcing her to back away.

She quickly went charging. Being knocked down by the female fighter's punch, Crusher rolled back to his feet. "Nice body," said Crusher.

"Shut up and fight!" Ami kicked her foot across Crusher's face. A look of rage burned in her eyes.

"You're stupid, Ami!" Crusher punched the fighter in the stomach. "Do you honestly think you can beat me?"

"I don't go easy on women!" Crusher's voice echoed beneath his helmet. He kicked his leg straight up into Ami's chin.

Crusher tired to avoid Ami's next move with a backward cartwheel, only to be kicked in back of the spine. "ARRUGH!"

"Mini-Missiles!" Crusher lay on his stomach and pushed the missile switch. They tore up the floor, dropping Ami into an abyss.

"If this' all the arena holds... Crusher stood up and removed his helmet. A raven haired man stood with a white streak down the middle. "...I might as well leave."

"Try usssss on for size!" A pair of two dimensional lizard people dropped down from above. The bottom of their feet collided with the side of Crusher's head.

"Ressst in Peace!" The female: Kim Tokage hissed as her roundhouse kick impacted Crusher's chest.

"Rest in pieces!" Crusher corrected and fired a disintegration beam from his chest plate. He watched the two lizard bodies melt before his eyes.

"I don't...think so!" The male: Akuma Tokage said as the lizard couple's bodies reformed in front of Crusher's eyes."What the--?!"

"HYAH!" Crusher drove his foot into the Akuma's chest and his elbow on top of the Kim's head. The crowd in the stands cheered.

"We have ourselves a winner!" The fishwoman referee shouted to the crowd. "The Notorious Crusher!"

Crusher left the cheering crowd and found himself outside the arena's dressing rooms. The Samauri troop waited to take him to his ship with the troop leader standing ahead of the others. "Follow us!"

Crusher walked down the hall, surrounded by the troop. He didn't notice at first that one of the soldiers held a dagger between the fingers of both hands.

"Yaaa!" The soldier leaped up with a blade in each hand. Crusher cried out as the blades penetrated the back of his armor. He dropped to one knee in pain. "Traitor!" Crusher rolled on his back with a blaster in each hand. The pair of beams fired and hit the soldier in the chest. His heart slowed as it became plastic.

"Yeow!" Crusher screamed as a soldier crouched down behind him. Before Crusher could react, he was jabbed in the neck with a needle.

"You will soon call Demonoid...master," The samauri smiled. "Your skills will serve him well."

"Never!" Crusher cried. He reached behind and grabbed hold of the soldier's head. It took only a quick twist to snap it. Getting to his feet, he saw Akuma and Kim standing behind the troop. One trooper was removing the shackles from the mannequin slaves. He heard the trooper say: "You've lived up to your part of the deal. The master will see you're returned home."

"What deal--?!" Crusher cried as the other soldiers held him in place. He struggled helplessly in their grip.

"They traded the freedom of their souls...for yours!" The troop leader smiled. "Yours is the more valuable prize."

 

Chapter 10 Space ways of Peril

Soto tapped on the computer console in front of him and watched as it lit up. "Everything's coming online!"

A rumbling sound shook the launch bay as an obsolete police starship rocketed skyward. The side of its large rectangler body read: ƒPOLICE in bold, block letters.

"Ship's output power at 100%!" Starshine called out.

"Oh My!" Chris tried to answer the next expected question. One hand moved to his sex as he petted himself. He never felt so horny as a man. "All ship's functions are operating at peak performance."

"Roger," Mark replied. The young leader released a breath and got out of his seat. "To tell you the truth, I wasn't sure we'd get off the ground." He glanced in Starshine's direction. "Set the auto-course to follow the same path as The Time Police. We've got a long night ahead."

Chris shivered. He found his descendant's torn dress uncomfortable. "Well, I'm going to change." He got out of his chair, avoided Soto's stares from across the room, and left the ship's bridge.

"We're wasting our time." Soto sat back in his gunnery chair. "The Phantom army is back on earth."

"I thought we were looking for their saucer base out here?" Linda looked up from the pilot's seat. She had on the sleeveless dress of a Chinese fighter with slits up the sides she changed into back in at the base. She wore tights and sling back sandals.

Five minutes later, the ship's battlement glistened in the star light and a ringed planet could be seen in the distance. Inside, Mark studied a three-dimensional chess board. He watched Luke's face as he made his move.

"Check," he smiled.

"Relax, Soto-kun. We know that the demon saucers are out here." he turned his attention to the monitor. "Their base must be on a planet in this system."

"The saucer is on the other side of the planet." Perseus said as the image of ship circling a planet appeared on the radar screen.

"That's much too big for the saucer." Mark stood behind Perseus and looked over his shoulder. Perseus had cocked his head back and looked up at him.

"Starshine, get on the video-phone and have Chris report to the bridge!" Soto stood up and grinned. Mark had switched the radar image to the overhead monitor.

"Roger!" Starshine reached across the console and picked up a flashlight shaped object. A tiny screen at one end lit up. During there break, she had changed her clothes to a Japanese kimono and wooden thongs.

"OH!" Starshine's hair stood on end and she dropped the comlink as the console before her shorted out. Electrical sparks surrounded her upper body.

"Mark-chan!" Linda grabbed hold of the steering wheel and fought the ship. "Something's taking control!"

"Soto-san!" Starshine brushed the hair from her eyes and composed herself. She was short on breath. "There's an intruder on the crew deck."

In a bed room, Chris laid on his size with his descendant's half-naked body covered with a sheet. He could still speak, but his body was as frozen as those in the time lab. He watched as a human skull passed through the ship's hull. "Oh-My-God!" he thought.

"There's no point in struggling." The ghostly skeleton placed its bony, transparent hands around Christina's throat. Chris would of gasp if he still breathed.

"Hyaaa!" Clotho drove her feet into its invisible body. She felt pain surge up his legs as the creature released its grip. The skull itself faded before her eyes. Chris fell on his back, his plastic body glittering. He eyed Clotho as she stood over her with the sword and Christina's sailor suit, school uniform. "That was close."

"We must be near your father!" She helped Chris to stand before the bathroom door with a wash pail in one hand and the sword in the other. The power of the sword in his hand allowed his fingers to start to twitch. His plastic shell shattered to the floor leaving his flesh and blood self free to move.

"Thanks." Chris said as the door slid into the wall, the tub was the first item to come into view. Christina's naked body crouched on the floor and raised the pail over her head. Cold water splashed down her back.

"Hmmm." Chris stretched out in a tub of hot water and looked toward the ceiling. He practice a few chords on his guitar. "Those creatures are determine to stop me."

"Soto-kun's friends aren't any help." He sighed as he closed his eyes- Christina's eyes.

"Huh?" Chris turned toward the bedroom. As the alarm sounded, he could see the flashing red light that passed through the paper thin bathroom door.

Chris rose out of the tub and caught his descendant's image in the bathroom mirror. Her shimmering eyes caused him to smile.

A few minutes later, Chris hopped down the hall in one shoe. He tried to keep his balance and put his other shoe on. He was wearing a sailor suit mini-blouse and a skirt which barely covered his descendant's panties. "I have to get to my post!"

The clicking sound of high heels against the steel plating of the floor ended when the left heel snapped off. Chris stumbled to his hands and knees. "AH!"

He quickly kicked his shoes off, left them behind, and continued toward the bridge in his barefeet. "Whoever thought up a woman's get up..." Chris muttered under his breath. "They're pure torture. This skirt length is stupid."

Luke stood next to Mark, starring up at the overhead monitor. Mark felt like his mind was on fire. The image on the monitor screen was that of an Emperor Warship. It was cubical in shape with four large blades and a grid front. As an historian, Mark had only seen models of its box fan form.

"An Emperor Warship." Mark smiled in wonderment. "I remember playing with a model of it as a kid." Then he paused. "I never thought that I'd live to see a real one. Especially one outside of a museum."

"I think we're in over our heads on this one," Linda told him, concerned about their survival.

There was a knock on the door. Chris had already stepped half way into the room when he looked up, confused. "You need to see me?"

"Uh...Yes!" Mark walked over as Chris continued to stare up at the giant ship's image. Soto and Linda turned around in their seats. "Do you think you can take it out?"

"Slice and dice time!" Chris headed over toward a silvery chair as Soto stood up and blocked Christina's path. Soto crossed his arms across his chest.

"This isn't a job for a girl." Soto spoke harshly and locked eyes with Chris. One could see the energy sparking between them. "It's too dangerous!"

"Out of my way!" Chris spoke in a tone that indicated he wasn't fooling around. Soto believed him and sidestepped away from the chair.

Chris plopped down in an all purpose chair and pulled back on an arm lever. The chair dropped out of sight as he spoke to the computer. "Star-chan, you have the com!"

The chair angled slightly upward as it traveled along a transparent tube. It traveled at a steady speed along the tracks, then reached the back of a giant bowl cut head.

The chair snapped intoo a normal angel and slid into position at the robot main controls. "Ready for launch!"

The black bowl haircut gave the robot a feminine appearance. It had a single leg strapped to its back and a set of wheels with caterpillar traction instead of feet.

After hooks and cranes finished moving the mecha to the runway, Chris spoke again. "Go!"

"It's not possible!" Chris said as the mecha left the starship and approached the Old Emperor's warship. The single leg had slid down and locked beneath the torso. Its arms had moved away from the body. "How can such a ship exist with being spotted."

Before Chris could react, the warship powered up with the pulling force of a black hole. It took the full power of the mecha's engine to keep from being pulled in. "NO!"

"Chris is in trouble," Starshine shouted. An emergency alert sounded across all the consoles.

Without a word, Mark and Luke hurried off without warning. Soto eyed their backs as they left the bridge, and got up to join them.

"He's wonderful!" Linda stared of lovingly. If anyone looked, one would swear she had cupid hearts in her pupils.

Minutes later, Mark and Luke sat back to back in a fighter with both forward and rear guns and Soto climbed aboard a space cycle handlebar guns. All were dressed in orange space suits. "Ready for launch," Mark told the bridge.

"Go!" Starshine ordered.

The fighter and the motorcycle streaked out of the starship together. "Taking off," Soto confirmed, checking the cycle's instruments. "Coming into visual range," Mark began, addressing the blip on his ships radar screen. His head swivel and looked out the ship's cockpit.

"Attack 'Em!" Soto pulled ahead, pouring on the heat from the guns attached to his handlebars. "Fire!"

"This is it!" Chris thought as the warship's blades turned the mecha into a one arm robot.

"Focus and concentrate." Fire flowed from his eyes as energy crackled around Christina's naked body. "Let Justice Be Done!"

American-man zoomed out of the mecha, just before it exploded. A battle aura surrounded his body and a harden look formed on his face. "I'm going to crush its power source like an egg shell!"

The pull of the black hole started to short out the star ship's controls and filled the air with electricity. As the gravity unit burned out, Starshine Perseus and Linda found themselves floating in the air. "AGH!"

"Shields to minimun power! Perseus swam across the bridge and over to the girls. "They won't hold much longer!"

"Shields are down," Linda corrected. She saw an asteroid on the main screen. "We've got bigger problems!"

"Mark-san!" Starshine grabbed a floating flashlight comlink. The press of a button caused a tiny screen to light up. "This is Main Bridge!"

When nobody replied, Linda floated over to the nearest window. She couldn't see any sign of the speeder and screamed: "Luke!"

"You really do care for him." Starshine removed Linda's ribbon. Linda's loose hair couldn't hide her tears.

"Is it that obvious?" Linda sobbed as Starshine whipped away her tears.

The room suddenly shook as the asteroid penetrated the outer hull. The fire rock started to tear the vessel apart and crush the top of the ship into rubble.

"What In--?" Starshine floated in the air and watched Perseus and Linda's bodies fade away before her very eyes.

"N-No!" Starshine screamed as her body started to demateralize. She watched the atoms of her body break up.

Back at the Emperor Warship, American-man's super strength had stopped the black hole force by stopping the blades. The strain of haulting the force started to cause areas of the ship to explode. Caught in the center of the warship's explosion, American-man was blown into the planet's orbit.

"What the-?" American-man watched as the burning police starship fell toward the planet's surface. Unable to believe his own eyes, he gasped in horror.

"The Rebel Enforcers!" American-man streaked toward the flaming ship. He watched as the ship pass through the atmosphere and crash on the surface.

"Why are they doing this?" American-man dropped to the ground beside the ship's rubble. Areas of the hull was still in flames and there was no sign of survivors.

"What do I..." American-man began when he notice a shadowly figure coming up behind him. Perspiration appeared on American-man's forehead. "Now what?"

 

Chapter 11 ENTER THE DREAMWORLD

"Die!" A huge man with a skull head cried, drawing a six shooter and firing at American-man. The costumed hero was knocked off his feet as the bullet hit him in the face.

"You got guts!" The smoking gun faded away as he looked down at American-man. The costumed hero sat up with his mouth open, showing he had caught the bullet in his teeth. American-man's body began to glow.

"Greetings, American-man." The creature's voice boomed from the demonic barbarian. The Demon Lord stood ten feet tall and had gray pigmented skin. He was dressed in furry Viking shorts, blood red belt and cape. He wore boots which were as ghostly white as his hands. "I am Demonoid. I am Lord of the Dead and will turn my dreamworld into your nightmare!"

"C'mon!" American-man stood his ground, fists poised for defense. He opened his eyes wide and slightly crouched his body. He felt like he was facing the demon legend.

"Yes." Demonoid's voice sounded quite amused at the idea of a fight. "Let's test your power!"

Despite his size, Demonoid proved to be incredibly fast. His echoing howl alerted American-man as his leg went into a roundhouse kick. American-man ducked just in time to avoid being hit. "Playtime's over kiddo!"

"You'll be crying out for mercy!" Demonoid slugged him in the stomach, doubling American-man over. The hollow sockets of Demonoid's eyes pulsed red as smoke rose from the corners of his bloodless lips.

"I want my friends and life back!" American-man escaped the thrust of Demonoid's next blow to the head with a backward roll. "What have you done with them?" American-man jabbed his fist into Demonoid's neck. The Demon Lord gasped for air.

"You can run, but you cannot hide!" Demonoid's voice boomed. Demonoid's eyes and body glowed. American-man ran in the opposite direction, being surrounded by a eerie fog.

Far above the warring planet, the Rebel Enforcers walked down a fashion runway. Linda stared into the computer trenches that lined both sides and saw a humanoid robot that looked like it was made by Dr. Frankenstein. The robot named W-man had a pit helmet, round head and a body which looked like a green park ranger's uniform. The hands which moved along the controls were like pincers. "Oh my!"

"The master is expecting you on the planet." Crusher's voice spoke in a raspy tone. He sat on the ship's throne with his helmet on and starring at his captives.

A pair of monitors showed The Wildanimals in one cage and Dr. John Brown's family in the other. "Do you still think you can escape?" The bounty hunter asked. "Your faith in your champion will be your downfall."

"I don't need his help!" Soto back flipped out the grip of the two guards that were standing on either side of him. He dropped to the floor behind them.

"Rock and Roll!" Luke cried, rapidly releasing several punches into one phantom soldier's chest as Linda thrust her foot straight up into another soldier's chin.

Crusher turned to the Rebel Enforcers. "Come back!"

Watching the rebels disappear out of the room, he couldn't hear Mark shout. Crusher dropped down in front of a sliding glass door and cradled a remote in his hand. With the press of a button, the rebels were hit with knock out gas.

Chris heard a distant voice as he laid face down on a sidewalk. He looked up in see a double decker bus beside her and no sight of the eerie fog. "Go for it girl!"

"A cheerleading outfit?" Chris stood up and saw what his descendant's body was wearing. The cheers of a crowd roared from a nearby gym.

"Catch me if you can!" Roberta passed a basketball to Nancy and dribbled down court. Chris emerged from a doorway, watching the girls moving down the court in their stocking feet. Both girls were dressed in T-shirts and japanese girls' gym shorts. Roberta wore nylons while Nancy had on athletic socks.

"Was Demonoid just a dream?" Chris walked over to the breaches and sat down beside Joe. "This...this is only a dream, I want to wake up!"

Joe put a hand on Christina's shoulder. "It's more complicated than that. We'd be alive if not for you!"

Chris turned his head and stared into the hollow eyes of a mannequin head. The two immediately moved apart from one another. Chris felt his pulse race. The three mannequin glowing eyes burned into his soul.

"This can't be real." Chris said, seeing a tingle in his feet. He looked down to see they were now bare and his toes had fused together once more. "No, not again."

"Yes again." Demonoid stood with Nancy and Roberta on either side. He took the arm off Nancy and scratched his back with it. He then created a portal to Chris' own time in the air and showed mermaid Roberta as a aquarium display figure. Joe and Nancy were still together, but in a store window.

Staying out of range, Chris watched the gym disappear all around him. The girls were finishing transforming to inhuman monsters. "Star-chan and Linda-chan are alive today," Chris said in tears. "Their ancestors must of escaped Big-Foot."

"It's you...who won't escape!" Demonoid's voice boomed as Chris watched a gray prison dress with black horizontal stripes replacing the cheerleader outfit. "I control reality here!"

"HYAAAHHH!" Chris shot his fist into Demonoid's ribs and looked up in surprise. Demonoid looked down, his skull face smiling the best it could.

"Ouch!" Chris stepped back and shook his wrist loosely.

"It's time to finish this." Demonoid swung his arm away from his body and knocked Chris across the room. His breath was knocked out of him upon impact.

Chris sat up and saw a spin around rack of action figures before him. He had realized he was lying in a toy store isle when he saw a shadow on the floor. "Who's there?"

A storage room door opened and Demonoid appeared with a sword in his hand. An eerie glow had surrounded his entire body. "Once your brain's fried... You'll serve me!"

"You'll be nothing but spare parts!" Demonoid's sword swished the air as Chris leaped over the demon lord and avoided the blade. "I'm not beaten that easily!" Chris dropped down behind Demonoid. He held his sword in his left hand, turned around and listened to a metallic clang as their swords collided.

"Now's your chance!" Demonoid stepped back and taunted him. The two faced one another with battle auras surrounding their bodies. "You're mine!" Chris spun around on one leg and kicked Demonoid in the back of the knee cap.

"Pathetic!" As Chris threw a punch, Demonoid suddenly sidestepped, so that Christina's blow struck the storage room door instead. Sabers clashed and Demonoid drove Chris back. Demonoid's eyes gave off an unnatural light as a strange fog engulfed them both. Demonoid vanished within the fog. "Bye!"

Chris found himself on an cobblestone street. As the old world fog lifted, images of an amusement park appeared. He saw a rollercoaster in one dirrection and the midway's dart booth and fish scoop game to the other. "Where'd you go?"

Approaching the park's haunted house, the little kid Chris once was reflected his mind's eye. A chill swepted through him as he read the sign written in wood.

BEWARE HAUNTED HOUSE!

ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Chris walked into the house wide-eyed and frightened. The echoing laugher which surrounded him was more than bone chilling. The moment he stepped into the room the vibrating floor exploded like shattered glass. Chris flapped his arms as he tried to avoid falling into the abyss. "What the--?"

Christina's high pitch scream echoed upward toward the single source of light above him. "Kiyaaaaaa!"

"About time you showed!" Starshine said sarcastically as Chris crashed beside the Rebel Enforcer's cage. He hadn't even noticed that the prison dress had changed back into Christina's school uniform.

"Let Justice Be Done!" Christina's naked body was quickly bombared with mystical energy from the other side.

"Free us from the gates of Hades." Perseus joked as American-man grabbed the bars with his bare hands and pulled them apart.

"Lets rumble." Soto stepped out of the cage and cracked his knuckles.

 

CHAPTER 12 TO CATCH A DEMON

In the depths of underworld, far below the planet's surface, the rebels made their way across a platform and up to a rope bridge. Linda looked down, but all that could be seen was part of an underground river. Dispite the sturdiness of the bridge, Linda had a worried look on her face. "Careful, everyone.

"Enough chit-chat," American-man said. He had already started across when he noticed the hot springs had caused the river to boil. "We've got work to do."

Making it half way, the cavern let out with a rumbling. Geysers, like the type Chris had seen in the Hereafter, erupted on both sides of the bridge. "Hang on!" American-man shouted as he feared the scaling water would prove more harmful to his friends than himself.

The sudden roar of boiling geysers chased Starshine across the bridge. She kicked off her thongs, left them behind and lifted her kimono as he hurried to catch up with the others. "We're gonna die!"

"We're not gonna die!" American-man corrected.

Leaving the bridge behind, the rebels turned a corner on to a tilted floor. The passage which walls, ceiling and floor was all rainbow striped proved almost impossible to follow. "This is almost worst than a maze of mirrors!" Mark complained as they walked into a dead end.

Soto chuckled. He was examining a wall cursorily, then felt air coming through the cracks. With that, he signaled for American-man to step forward. He was sure that there was a way to the other side.

"Look at this," Soto said, giving the wall a shove. "I think there's a way through."

"Step aside," replied American-man. He stared at the wall and ran his hand along it. Finally he came to a weak spot.

Seconds later, the wall spun around and the Rebel Enforcers disappeared. The floor on the other side of the wall was nothing more than a slide. Traversing the dreamworld, the rebels ended up in a cavern opening which over looked a slave mine.

Most of the slaves in the mine were grotesque with rags for clothes and rotting flesh on plastic. Some were complete skeletons. Only the new arrivals looked human. The rebels stared as the mammoth Demonoid stood a top of a giant flat rock, with his whip, and made the slaves move their picks and shovels. "You'll soon abandon all hope for escape!" Demonoid grinned.

"See ya." Luke whispered and backed away. Before he could go anywhere, Soto and Mark each grabbed an arm and prevented Luke from leaving.

American-man putting a finger to his lips pointed to a side tunnel. Entering the cave which would lead down into the mine, the rebels were swollowed up by darkness. "We'll stop him together."

Halfway down the tunnel, Soto and American-man held one another as the metal stripes along the floor began to slid back and fourth like in a funhouse. Along the wall, which Mark used to keep his balance, neon painted monsters appeared almost life like. "American-man, keep going!" Mark fell against the painting of a door. "Don't worry if we can't keep up!"

"Mark, I'm still not clear if there's anything I can do." American-man said worriedly. "Even though Clotho says this is my destiny, the one time I tried...I couldn't. Before I could act, he was able to warp reality and almost over power me."

"Will you two just shut up!" Soto shouted. American-man frowned wondering what his problem was. "What's your problem. Soto sighed. The leather-clad loose cannon moved on down the tunnel. "If we're going to do it, then lets just do it."

The tunnel walls became narrower. The closer in the tunnel got the closer American-man got to Demonoid. The more rapid American-man's heart rate became. He was afraid. The soft sound of digging amist the quietness of the cavern made the shadows on the wall even more eerie. The screams of tortured souls were like that of a banshee.

American-man dropped to the edge of a ski jump shaped ledge. Demonoid and the slaves didn't even notice the rebels presence. It would only take one of them to look up and their sneak attack could be foiled. "This is it!"

Suddenly a stone broke off the ledge. Diving to his stomach, American-man held his breath as he watched it hit the ground. "No." he whispered.

Breathing a sigh of relief, American-man saw nobody was responding. "Okay," he said. "Nobody moves until I give the signal."

Of course, Soto was too tempted to wait. Before anyone could stop him, he was leading the group from the ledge to the cavern floor below. As he fell, he let loose with a battle cry. "It's judgement day!"

American-man had no choice but to join them. As the group landed, they formed a circle to protect their backs. "Release The Time Police!" Soto demanded.

Demonoid drew his sword. American-man was so stunned by the monster's speed and strength that his hesitation brought about the disastrous consequence of being knocked reeling back from the force of the blow. Hitting the wall, he quickly had his breath knocked out of him.

"Your attack is useless!" Demonoid's eyes lit like torch flames while Hell Fire came from his bloodless lips. "Your souls will be mine!"

"Soto, separate the civilian slaves from us," American- man ordered. He dropped to the ground as flames passed over him. "Try to snap the Time Police out of their trance."

"American-man, look!" Soto ignored the order and pointed to where Demonoid's hulking body had teleported behind them. First Demonoid fist glazed the back of American-man's head. Then, Demonoid sent a fist into either side of the head. But American-man had changed since he was first brought to the future. He had grown stronger and could hold onto his powers longer.

With his laugher echoing through a series of underground passages, Demonoid attacked American-man again. He seemed to enjoy watching American-man defend himself. As if it was no more than a game to him. "Demonoid, you won't win as long as my power can cut you down to size!" American-man drove his fist into Demonoid's chest.

Demonoid swung his sword at him. "Give yourself up and I'll go easy on you. I might even let your friends live."

"I'm beyond fear of you," American-man replied without thinking. "I won't let anyone else die! Even if I have to kill you to do it."

Demonoid seemed to know exactly how to stir American-man's emotions. The two swords hit with such force that sparks crackled the air. "You'll never hurt my friends again!"

"You've got to finish him off!" Soto shouted from among the rebels. "It's the only way to save any of us!"

"I - I don't even know if this thing's alive?" American- man froze. It was at that moment he realized what he was going and saying. "I won't judge the life of another living being."

Suddenly Demonoid struck out at American-man with energy bolts from his eye sockets. Like bolts of red lighting, they knocked American-man into the cavern wall.

"American-man, you have to get up!" Mark screamed. He couldn't remember ever feeling so frightened. For once he didn't care who knew it.

"Mark-san!" American-man shouted. He shook off the energy bolt and got to his feet, only to watch Demonoid raise Mark into the air.

"At least I can kill the one who freed me!" Demonoid's voice boomed. He was prepared to rip the tiny man apart.

"Enough!" Stomping his foot, the floor cracked and buckled beneath Demonoid's feet, causing him to drop Mark from Demonoid's grasp.

"Got you!" American-man launched himself at super speed and caught Mark before he could hit the floor.

"I don't know if that was a ruse, but it work," Soto said. "Now I can join the attack!"

"Don't be an idiot!" American-man exclaimed.

Fearing the worst, American-man's power increased beyond measure. As the other rebels held the demon box open, American-man's force blasted Demon back inside it. With Demonoid locked away, the time demons first all changed into inert mannequins, then crumbled to dust.

Sometime later, Chris and the rebels returned to earth. They had to get ready for school and finish preparing their new band incase Demonoid ever returned.

 

THE END.

 

© 2000
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