For the Children

Story
The group is traveling through a forest trail.

Ian: Surprised that Antonio didn’t come with us.

Sakura: He wasn’t up to traveling. Besides, I explained that he couldn’t come along.

John: Didn’t want any conflicts with your ex?

Sakura: It’s not like that! We were just, uh, in different places in the relationship. And there were the bounty hunters. (Then, they see a large castle part of a big city.) Yes! Finally a town! Now I can shower and sleep in a bed!

Vector: And with all the money we made at the Gold Saucer, we can stay in style, in the most expensive hotel possible! Let’s rock and roll! (The group is heading towards the city, when John turns back, seeing Gwen shaking.)

John: Gwen? What’s wrong?

Gwen: (Barely a whisper) It’s here. My hometown. The orphanage where, (She shudders, unable to continue. She falls to her knees, and John bends down to comfort her.)

Chopper: Gwen? Are you okay?

John: You guys go ahead into the city. We’ll camp out here.

Logan: Are you sure? (John looks at Gwen, who is shaking. Then, Kai turns around, standing behind Gwen. Logan’s tone becomes annoyed.) Well, if she says so.

John: Go on. We’ll be fine. (The group continues into the city, leaving John, Gwen and Kai on the path.)

John, Gwen and Kai are sitting on stumps around a campfire, cooking some birds that Kai shot. They are in silence, when Gwen stirs.

Gwen: That town. In it is an orphanage, where Alviss and I grew up. We were just kids, yet inseparable. Then, he came and adopted me.

John: Zombozo.

Gwen: The fact he wanted to adopt me, made me happier than I ever was before. And yet, the only time I’ve been happy is being in this group. (She goes to bite into her bird, when a blue blur goes by, and she bites into air. She looks at the spot, seeing the bird gone.) What the?!

John: Did you sense that too? (Kai nods, as John starts to take a bite of his bird, his leg sticking out. The blue blur comes by, as John moves his arm. XLR8 trips on his leg, and goes crashing into a tree.) Sweet. XLR8.

Child: Now! (John turns, seeing two kids swinging on vines. One of them was a boy with a runny nose, while the other was a girl. John slaps down the Omnitrix, though he looks no different. The kids’ feet hit John’s head, getting stuck.)

Girl: Huh?! What is he?! Speedy! (XLR8 gets up, and dashes at John. John raises his arm, stretching a purple slime arm. He catches XLR8, and his body melts, into Sludge Blob’s form.)

Sludge Blob: I sensed you guys a while ago. Though I didn’t expect kids. Omnitrix! Capture mode! (The Omnitrix fires a yellow beam of light, capturing XLR8.)

Girl: Hey! We needed him!

Boy: You took our friend. (Kai pulls the kids out of Sludge Blob’s head, as he reverts.)

John: Sorry. How about you join us for dinner? There’s plenty to go around, right? (Kai nods, nocking her arrow.)

The kids devour their birds, as if they’ve never eaten before. Once they’re done, they lay back, content.

John: Alright, what are your guys names?

Girl: I’m Moegi, and this is Udon. We’re orphans, who have to live on the streets.

Gwen: What? What about the orphanage?

Udon: It closed down. Several years ago, a guy named Patrick came and took over the town with soldiers, making himself the king. He demanded that large taxes be paid, and when the orphanage couldn’t pay, he simply destroyed it.

Gwen: That’s horrible!

Moegi: The town is no better off. All the gil is at that castle, and no one can afford to pay anymore. (John is in deep thought, when he gets an idea.)

John: Have you ever of the tale of Robin Hood? (Everyone looks at him, as if never hearing about it.) Well, Robin Hood was famous for being a defender of the common person, stealing from the rich and giving the money to the poor. Though I’ll go a step further. We’re going to take out this King Patrick.

Moegi and Udon: Really?!

John: Yeah. Gwen, Kai, find the others, and alert them of the situation. I’ll need some help for this plan to work. You’re familiar enough with them to track them, right Gwen?

Gwen: Uh, yeah. I think I can do it.

John: Then let’s go. (Slaps down Omnitrix.)

XLR8: XLR8!

Udon and Moegi: Whoa! Cool!

XLR8: Hop on, kids. (The two climb onto XLR8’s back, and he dashes off.)

They arrive at an abandoned building, where a boy with spiky brown hair and goggles was waiting.

Boy: Finally! You guys were gone longer than you were supposed to.

Moegi: Sorry, Konohamaru. But we met this amazing person!

Udon: He says that he’ll help take the town back.

Konohamaru: Oh, really? And where is this guy?

XLR8: He is right here. (XLR8 hits the Omnitrix, reverting.)

John: Tell your friends. Tomorrow, we will remove Patrick from power. End Scene

In the town square the next day, people are gathered, going about their lives. Forever Knights are scattered all over the place, keeping the peace.

XLR8: Greetings Townspeople! (Everyone turns, seeing XLR8 on a podium.) I am John Spacewalker. I’ve come to tell you that your days of living in fear of His Majesty are over. I have come to free you from this life, by stopping His Majesty!

Forever Knight: Put thou hands up, scoundrel! (XLR8 sees the Forever Knights pointing blasters at him.)

XLR8: Knights of the king, tell His Majesty to raise the gate, fill the moat, and seal all doors and windows of the castle. For tonight, I will break into the castle, steal all of the gil, and return it to these fine people. Know that I will not be stopped. Goodbye.

XLR8 then dashes off, running past the Forever Knights, knocking them over. They regroup and chase after him. They then find Vector smashing stands with his bat.

Vector: Finally! Someone I can smash in. I’ve been looking for a fight. Let’s rock and roll! (Vector swings his bat, sending a Knight flying. The Knights fire their blasters at him, and he spins his bat, reflecting some of them, though he gets hit in the shoulder. The Knights then dogpile him, pinning him to the ground.) End Scene

That night, at the castle, Vector is sitting in a cell in the dungeon. Then, John and Sakura teleport in next to him.

Vector: Surely there was a way to get in here without me having to be captured.

John: They would’ve at least doubled the guards on the parameter. Breaking in would be too risky. This needs to be a covert operation to start. Which means, no being loud, either of you.

Sakura: Why choose us if you think we’ll be loud?

John: Do you think that the others will be able to carry the gil through the castle? (John fires a mana disk, destroying the lock.) Come on. Let’s go.

They are walking through the castle, where they encounter no guards.

Vector: Where is everyone?

Sakura: They don’t think that we can make in here, so they have everyone watching from the wall. (They hide around a corner, where they see two guards in front of a door.) Do we take them out?

John: No. Like I said, covert. (Slaps down Omnitrix.)

The Knights are standing guard, when another Knight approaches them.

Knight: I’m here to relieve thou. My partner shall be in soon. (The guard Knights nod, and they walk off. The Knight then turns into Sludge Blob.)

Sludge Blob: Coast is clear. (Sakura and Vector come around the corner.)

Vector: Can we break down the door at least?

Sludge Blob: I’ll open it. (Sludge Blob slides underneath the door, and opens it from the other side.) Come on in.

Sakura and Vector enter the room, and their draws drop. Inside the room is a mountain of gil, stacked almost to the ceiling. Sludge Blob reverts.

Vector: If I had that much gil, I’d become a king too.

John: He didn’t have this gil, he stole it from the people. We are going to return it all.

Vector: All of it?!

John: You have your winnings from the Saucer. No need to be greedy. Let’s get to work. (Slaps down Omnitrix.)

Ditto: Ditto!

Ditto splits into 20 clones, and they all start to load the gil into sacks. It is slow going, and it takes 3 clones to carry one full bag of gil. Ditto continues to split as they need to get more gil. Sakura and Vector are able to carry two at a time, getting them in position to take out of the castle. Then, a roar is heard. Out of the pile of gil, comes a mechanical dragon.

Ditto 6: A dragon!

Ditto 14: Move! Move! (The dragon robot reaches forward, grabbing a Ditto.)

Ditto 2: Ah! Help me!

Vector: Finally! Something to fight! (Vector breathes fire at the dragon robot, but it breathes fire back at them, negating it. Sakura charges to punch it, but the dragon swings its tail, knocking her back.)

Ditto 5: I’ve got an idea. A totally ultimate idea. (Ditto hits the Omnitrix. All the Dittos transform.)

Ultimate Dittos: We are the Ultimate Ditto!

Ultimate Ditto 2 fires his quills, which pierce the dragon’s hand, causing it to drop him. The Ultimate Dittos curl up and roll, rolling up the dragon, their quills tearing through its body. They all open up and punch their way through the dragon, destroying it.

Ultimate Ditto 1: Now, let’s keep going. You guys keep loading the gil. I’m going to take on the King. (He hits the Omnitrix.)

XLR8: XLR8! (XLR8 dashes off.)

Vector: What if the watch times out?

Ultimate Ditto 17: It won’t. With him gone, we can’t revert until we’re all together again, at least not separately.

XLR8 arrives in the King Patrick’s chambers.

XLR8: Good evening, Your Majesty.

Patrick: So. You are the scoundrel that dared to challenge me. Knights, kill him.

Forever Knights appear, firing blasters at them. XLR8 dashes through the room, knocking all the Knights down to the ground. He then appears in front of Patrick, spinning and slamming him with his tail. Patrick flies into a wall, and XLR8 grabs him.

XLR8: The gil will be returned to the people. And you are going to disappear.

Patrick: And do you plan on making me?

XLR8: No. (His visor goes down.) I’m just going to throw you out.

XLR8 starts to spin, creating a vortex, trapping Patrick. The vortex breaks through a window, and launches Patrick out of it. Patrick falls, screaming, as he falls towards a crocodile infested waters. He hits the water, as the crocodiles attack and devour him.

Forever Knights are firing at the Ultimate Ditto clones, Sakura and Vector, who were carrying the sacks of gil. Ultimate Ditto 12 fires quills at them, hitting them and causing them to fall asleep. Vector breaks the chain keeping the gate open, and it falls open, with Gwen, Logan, Kai, Ian and Chopper in Heavy Point waiting for them. The Ultimate Dittos drive the Knights off, when XLR8 dashes in, knocking out the remaining Knights.

Ultimate Ditto 5: All done.

XLR8: Now, to rejoin together. (The Ultimate Ditto clones merge back together, and Ultimate Ditto approaches XLR8. Their Omnitrixs fire beams of green light, and Ultimate Ditto is turned into light, being absorbed into XLR8’s Omnitrix. XLR8 then reverts.)

John: The king is dead, and the gil will be returned to the poor! Let us shower them with gil.

Characters

 * John Spacewalker
 * Kai
 * Vector
 * Ian
 * Chopper
 * Gwen
 * Sakura
 * Logan
 * Moegi
 * Udon
 * Konohamaru

Villains

 * Forever Knights
 * King Patrick (death)

By John

 * Sludge Blob (x2)
 * XLR8 (x3) (main alien)
 * Ditto
 * Ultimate Ditto (first re-appearance)

By Moegi and Udon

 * XLR8 (first re-appearance)

Trivia

 * It's revealed that Sludge Blob can change his appearance upon transformation.
 * They arrive in Gwen's hometown.
 * Ultimate Ditto is the first Ultimate form to appear in the series.