"Moonstar ULTIMATE: Part 2" #20940

[FutureTails21]

The second part of the Moonstar ULTIMATE story arc. Has a decent story, can be soloed. For anyone who haven't done part one, long story short, it's basically an ultimate crossover story but it's mostly about 2 characters named Celeste Moonstar and Sparkle Moonstar hence why the name of the story arc is called Moonstar ULTIMATE. You get to team up with both heroes and villains to fight against a ultimate super villain. Before going against this villain, you're going across alternate dimensions to gather other heroes and villains.

[Kyksie]

"Six of the eight emitters have been installed and tested." The Arachnos tech spoke slowly and carefully. "The remaining two will be fitted by tomorrow at the latest." He faced Black Scorpion, even though Ernesto wasn't really paying attention, eyeing a YouTube video playing on a small screen in his armor. Only the high ranking or the foolish spoke directly to the real leader of Arachnos.

 

Lord Recluse reclined in his chair on a small dais at the end of the conference room, at the very top of the vast steel tower that dominated Grandville. Black Scorpion, Scirocco, Mako and Ghost Widow each had their own corner, several attendants surrounding each. Recluse himself was accompanied by three cats, one on his lap, the others lounging on cushions at his feet. Like their master, they stared intently at the empty air in the center of the chamber, favoring no one.

 

Arbiter Fluffy, Arbiter Blacktail, and Arbiter Snuggles were the sleekest, shiniest cats in all of the Rogue Isles. They were also the most terrified.

 

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It had happened less than three years ago. Project DESTINY was nearing completion; spirits in the vast tower were unusually high. Lord Recluse strode from the command center to his study, gazed at the cats purring serenely along the periphery, then pulled the chair back from his desk. He scanned the piles of paperwork, his coffee mug off to the side... then paused. A glance at the carpet, deep blue pinstripe, then at the cats lounging on the couch, then back at the carpet.

 

A dark oval stain, less than a foot in diameter. A faint smell of ammonia in the air.

 

Recluse stared at the cats again, more intently. Fluffy slept contentedly, Blacktail looked back at him lazily... there. A tiny flash of guilt in Arbiter Fuzzypaws's eyes. Guilt and fear.

 

Most cat owners would merely scold the offending feline; the harsher ones would turn it loose on the streets, a few of the truly heartless would donate it to a Tsoo restaurant. Not Lord Recluse. The ruler of the Rogue Isles held himself to a higher standard; he knew that the only true way to rule was by fear, and that fear must be absolute, with no exceptions for fur and tails. Each and every subject must know that to cross Lord Recluse would not end in imprisonment, torture, or even death; those were for lesser rulers. No, to fall beneath Lord Recluse's feet meant a fate worse than death; he would twist his former foes into a cruel mockery of their former lives, transformed into the very thing they despise.

 

Gripped by the scruff of her neck, Recluse first took Fuzzypaws to Vernon von Grun, who injected her with a huge dose of growth serum derived from the Devouring Earth. Strapped to a bed and force-fed nutrients, she grew four feet in one agonizing week, muscles and tendons screaming in agony. Then, the cybernetic backpack was grafted to her spine, four metal claws fitted with blasters arching above her head. When she was barely able to walk, Fuzzypaws was drafted into the ranks of Arachnos's most feared soldiers, the Crab Spiders. Months of brutal training followed, forced marches, workouts, endless weapon drills, lectures on battlefield tactics and strategy.

 

They final insult came upon graduation, when Fuzzypaws was denied entry into the Crab Spider corps, but instead was turned loose upon the pitiless streets of Mercy Island. Taking the name Spider-Kitty, she fell into the life of a two-bit villain, fighting the Infected, Longbow and other villains for discarded scraps of tuna and bits of string.

 

But she persevered. In the months that followed, Spider-Kitty clawed her way up the ranks of Rogue Isle's villains, working schemes for Mr. Bocor and Peter Themari, then robbing banks in Paragon City, finally taking on odd jobs for Arachnos operatives like Viridian and Shadow Spider. When she reached the highest Security Level, Recluse himself tried to use her to complete Project DESTINY, but she broke away, defeating him in the future and bringing back his bloodstained helm. Recluse gazed at his former pet unflinchingly, an evil grin flowing like mercury. "And it is done."

 

And it was. Beneath the scorching sky, at the feet of the vast statue in Grandville square, Spider-Kitty realized that Arbiter Fuzzypaws was truly gone. Less than a year ago, a fat, lazy bundle of fur had purred for table scraps; today, she was a tall, muscular figure without a speck of fat, scarred by countless battles, hard eyes scanning the concrete square for her next meal.

 

 

And yet, there was no time to curl up and rest. Her phone rang with an urgent growl, a ringtone she reserved for contacts with potentially world-ending scenarios. Kitty listened for a minute, then hung up silently. After purchasing a handful of hotdogs from a terrified street vendor, she leapt into the air and was gone.

 

 

Moonstar ULTIMATE: Part 2

 

1) Spider-Kitty has been contacted by Sonic, an old acquaintance from her garbage diving days back on Mercy. Except that this is Future Sonic... from the future. Celeste and Sparkle have brought back people to help them against Dr. Nova, but we now need to find and resurrect Negative Sonic, who is like Sonic, but negative. "Meow," Spider-Kitty replies, squaring her shoulders.

 

We venture into some caves and rescue Xena the warrior princess, and also Katt Rubyice, winner of the COSMIC CLONE WAR. Then we scoop all of Sonic's body parts and glue them together with paste and chewing gum, and Negative Sonic is reborn! Except he won't help us and wants revenge. Oops.

 

2) Now we need to tunnel into Shadow's empire to capture Negative Sonic. We find the security system and encounter Tails... no, it's Evil Tails... no, it's Evil Tails FROM THE FUTURE! There's also a custom group called the "Corrupted", who have about half a dozen types with varied costumes and powers. There's also some IDF, which feels a bit odd. We destroy Shadow's ship (an Arachnos Flier, which gives Reward Merits when beaten) but Negative Sonic gets away.

 

3) Now there's a world is filled with baddies, time for pummeling. We pummel a bunch of "blacklighters", who are another custom group with costumes and unique powers. We rescue Future Blaze and Future Marine, both catgirls. "Meow!" they smile; but Spider-Kitty continues to scan the horizon, eyes hard and cold. "Meow." is all she says. Negative Sonic is in the back room of City Hall, maybe taking a whiz or something, but he gets away again!

 

4) Negative Sonic is looking for something, what could it be? Off to a forest, where we find Cherry and Sapphire and Sky, catgirls who think I'm their dad? Also they have a crippling catnip addiction or something. Negative Sonic is there and he gets away again. The whole arc would have been shorter if we had just brought along a reliable hedgehog net.

 

5) Now we need to really, really capture Negative Sonic, so we can find other Incarnates willing to fight against THE ENTITY. Wait, what? The entity? Is this like Auntie Entity from Mad Max? Should I bring extra cans of gas along?

 

Spider-Kitty returns to the forest and a horrible sight meets her eyes. It's her... and yet it isn't. A clone of her, spider-claws grafted to it's back, clad in a garish yellow copy of Kitty's party dress, the one she stole from the bargain rack at Wal-Mart so many years ago.

 

 

Their gazes meet, and at once Spider-Kitty sees the pain in her clone's eyes; thrust into existence mere hours ago, the neural interface digging into her spine. "Meow," the clone gasps, bowing her head. Spider Kitty takes a hard breath, takes careful aim, and ends the clone's suffering with a single blaster shot. "Meow." she sighs, thumb white on the trigger.

 

Striding grimly through the dark forest, she frees Cherry, Sky, and Sapphire, young catgirls not yet stained by the struggles ahead. Another clone appears, identical to the first; again, Kitty puts it out of it's misery. Then another. And another. Her eyes become hard, cold slits as kitty corpses pile up. She joins Sonic and Shadow, then the three corner Negative Sonic and finish him off at last, then smash his cloning machine. When they return, Future Sonic is excited about the new allies against the mysterious Entity, but Spider-Kitty has already left for her secret base, to drown her pain in Jack Daniels and sardines.

 

Moonstar ULTIMATE: Part 2 presents a dark, brutal tale of one feline's struggle to defeat an impossible foe without falling to the darkness within. Despite a few minor flaws (no contact bio, a few spelling errors) this tells a compelling story that everyone should play.

 

 

Edited January 14, 2020 by Kyksie