Leftover Levels Up - Part II: Old/New Friends & Foes

- This story takes place immediately after the events of "Leftover Levels Up - Part I: Entering The Multiverse" - https://blog.reedsy.com/short-story/41d2fe/

   "It really is beautiful, isn't it?" Lenny Overature said weakly, as he and a now unarmored Leftover watched the sunset in the sky above them. Tears rolled down Lenny's face as he silently lamented this being the last sunset he would ever see.

   "Please hang in there, this doesn't have to be your last sunset!" Leftover pleaded, despite knowing that his optimism was unfounded. His multiverse counterpart was growing weaker by the second, and would soon pass on from this world.

   "At least I got to take in one more, with a kindred spirit no less." Lenny smiled. "Thank you for being with me in my final moments, me from another world. Tell my allies that I believe in them, and I am proud of all that they've done. I would tell them myself, but-"

   "Lenny, wait!" Leftover cried out, but it was too late. He had already died.

   "I'll stop the Hugh of this world, I promise your majesty. Rest in peace kindred spirit, I will save your kingdom from his wicked ways."

   "Good, because we will need all the help we can get now." A sweet feminine voice chimed in.

   Leftover looked up and observed a beautiful woman in a black dress, a slightly overweight man, and a massive orc.

   "Anti-Hero? Willy? Hypnorc?"

  "That's us." The man who was this world's version of Willy replied somberly. "Thank you for being with our king for his final moments. We tried to get here as soon as he called for help, but we couldn't even make it to say goodbye."

   "King Lenny!" Hypnorc sobbed, as Anti-Hero and Willy embraced the orc and joined him in mourning.

  Leftover shed a few tears for the display of grief before him. He wondered if his own allies back home would cry for him if he were to die.

   After the party had let their emotions out, Anti-Hero approached Leftover and put his hand into her hands.

   "There is a prophecy that a man in a silhouette form would come and free us from tyranny. I never thought that the man in the prophecy would be another version of our king!" Anti-Hero said in amazement.  

   "You can tell that I am also Lenny Overature?" Leftover asked in a surprised tone.

   "Yes, even without your features, you have the essence of our fallen king." Hypnorc replied with reverence. "So, silhouette of King Lenny, will you help us?"

   "I will help you, but please call me Leftover from here on out. There is a Hugh in my world that is also ruining things, and I was sent here to complete a challege that will make me stronger for my mission of stopping him. However, I never imagined the challenge would be stopping another version of Hugh."

   "There is a Hugh tormenting your world as well?" Anti-Hero exclaimed.

   "Not quite the same way as your Hugh, but yes. Now I hate to do this, but your Hugh said reinforcements were on their way. We should take your king's body and hide him in the woods. Once we take back your kingdom, we can give him a proper send-off."

   "I agree Leftover, let's do that." Hypnorc replied as he gently picked up Lenny's body. "While we find a suitable place to temporarily lay our king to rest, we will answer any questions you may have about this world, and our enemies."

*****

   While the party found a cave deep in the forest to temporarily lay Lenny's body in, Hypnorc, Willy and Anti-Hero told Leftover about the dangers they would soon be facing.

   "So let me get this straight, the Hugh of this world has his own versions of Kirk, Serenity, Janet and Nostrel that act as his guards and minions?"

   "That's right Leftover." Hypnorc replied. "And each of them have been experimented on willingly by Hugh's alien goons that he summons from his home planet. He can get them here in UFOs within minutes, and what may take them days to accomplish on their ships only takes minutes in our time."

   "Experiments?" Leftover asked, despite being afraid to know the answer.  "What exactly are they doing to Hugh's allies?"

   "Modifications." Anti-Hero said in disgust. "They mutate their bodies to augment their abilities. We were barely able to take out Hugh's allies Dirk, Doug, Mirk, Tam, and Jirk after Hugh's brethren did their work on them, and they weren't even as strong as Hugh's remaining four."

   "That's pretty twisted." Leftover responded, suddenly feeling less evil compared to this Hugh. He wondered if the Hugh back home had these kind of capabilities. All the more reason for him to take out both of them.

   "They are powerful, but we've been getting stronger too. And now that we've got the hero from the prophecy here, I think we've got our best shot at taking back Prosperity." Willy said optimistically. "So knowing all of this, will you still help us, Leftover?"

   "So our enemy is a wannabe king with four pawns he optimized to function like queens? If all of you are anything like the versions that exist in my world, I think we'll be just fine. Let our group of kings be victorious against Hugh and his group of fakes!"

*****

   Leftover, Hypnorc, Anti-Hero and Willy emerged from the forest, and approached the royal castle of Prosperity. Although the castle and woods were exactly the same as their counterparts back home, Leftover didn't know if the inside would have any surprises in store, especially with Hugh's corruption at work. Before they could enter and find out, a somewhat familar pair were outside awaiting the party. Kirk and Serenity smirked sinisterly at those they considered uninvited guests, despite their status of being exactly that. They would have looked much like they did back in Leftover's world, but this version of Kirk had six arms, while Serenity had eight legs.

   "You are no longer welcome here intruders, this castle now belongs to Master Hugh." Kirk said triumphantly.

   "Leave now or face the consequences." Serenity said in a voice that lacked the sweetness of the version Leftover had heard of back home. "Return to the woods where animals like you belong."

   "Ha ha ha ha, have you looked at yourselves lately?" Leftover mocked. "I am guessing your master's little alien friends made you ugly before taking you back to their leader?"

   "You dare mock our upgrades?" Kirk answered angrily. "Hugh's brethren have made us an even greater force to be reckoned with! I now have four arms I can wield metal words with, while I can create more by having two additional arms to use for writing in my journal. And my wife Serenity can rest two of her legs at a time while dancing with the other six. As long as she's dancing she's untouchable, and having the option to constantly switch out which legs she dances with allows her to dance all night. No matter which of you comes at us, even if all of you do, none of you can win against our combined power!"

   "Leftover, I think you and the others should go ahead into the castle while I engage these two." Willy offered. "I think my powers of turning into a worm and turning those I touch into worms will make me the best opponent for them."

   "Are you sure Willy? You have an amazing power, but your counterpart from my world faced these very same opponents and barely escaped their wrath, even without the same advantages these two have through their cursed modifications (in "A Bad Day To Be Tango Instructors...." - https://theprose.com/post/463611/a-bad-day-to-be-tango-instructors)."

   "I'll find a way, I swear it. These two are full of themselves, and will make a mistake at some point. And once they do, I'll exploit it!"

   "Willy will get the job done, you can count on him." Anti-Hero said in support.

   "I second that." Hypnorc added. "Our best option for dealing with these two, along with the others ahead, is to divide and conquer. Willy will win against these two. I am so confident of the outcome that I see no need to use my hypnosis ability to convince you boss."

   "Very well, you know your world and our enemies better than I do." Leftover remarked. "I will trust this freaky couple to you Willy. Win this and meet us inside, as we will no doubt need your talents there as well."

   "Thank you sir, I won't let you down!" Willy gushed as he offered a salute. Leftover and his remaining new allies smiled and nodded as they ran ahead into the castle.

   "You're going to regret staying behind to tango with us." Serenity said menacingly. "My love and I will crush you like the worm that you are, while the rest of our friends destroy the rest of your group of invaders within the castle."

   "The only invaders that will be destroyed today are you and the rest of Hugh's group." Willy said confidently. "I'm ready to face you both, so let's dance!"

To be continued....