The five of us appear at the Chili Con Carnival through another time portal with tired but determined looks on our faces. I have more energy than ever now, but I'm still mentally worn out from all this nonstop fighting. At least it's finally ending here.
I take out my remaining weapon, the crab king's scepter, and use it to heal and boost everyone before we head into the carnival.
Let's fucking finish this, you ginger asshole!
"Come one, come all, to the greatest spectacle in history! Witness the struggle of man versus scientific abomination!" Tenorman announces and the ground starts to shake as the iconic carnival background music continues to play.
"What is this crap?"
"Welcome to my Chili Con Carnival!" The doors are sealed and even more gingerbots are summoned which the 5 of us beat up again like all the others that stood in our way. Some of Mephesto's experiments are next, but they meet the same fate.
I don't even bother having T.K. merge with them and just use my crab claw scepter to literally tear them apart. The others still have their superhero gear with Toolshed even having an upgraded arsenal (that he uses to the fullest per my suggestions) so they're fine for now.
More gingerbots and many-assed animals continue pouring in and we defeat wave after wave of them with all of us getting as pissed off as Tenorman is right now. I'm this close to just busting down the door myself when someone else does that for me from the other side. It isn't anyone in Team Stan though.
Prototype Z-1 in his human disguise form walks in with a look on his face that rivals Tweek when he's 2 seconds away from having a nervous breakdown.
He has messy black hair which is covered up by a chullo hat (the same kind of hat Craig wears only black instead of blue), a dark gray jacket with the same bright red, diamond-shaped print he has in his robot form, only moved over towards where his heart would be if he were actually human, and some black pants and shoes.
Unlike the other gingerbots who have human disguises, this guy looks like a quote unquote 'normal' kid instead of a ginger kid with red hair, pale skin, and tons of freckles. This disguise also won't be destroyed after one swing of a baseball bat or one well-timed jump from a South Parker like they're goombas or something.
Instead, if the fan series I mentioned before is anything to go by, then this disguise form has a time limit which automatically recharges once depleted.
How long it is, I don't know, but he'll be free from Tenorman's control by the time it runs out. That's a promise.
"Uhhh, are you guys okay? I heard lots of noise coming from here so I figured I should investigate. Are you guys after Scott Tenorman too?"
"Yeah, are you another time child or something."
"Time child? Umm, I don't think so. I'm just here looking for my friends. I'm Zenon by the way."
Very clever, Tenorman. Unfortunately for you, I saw a South Park fan series that involves you pretty much doing the same thing (only under slightly different circumstances), and even if I didn't, T.K. would pick up on the fact that this guy is an android instantly with his scanners. His human form even looks the same as his OC counterpart in my old reality!
"No, NO! Why are all my enemies showing up now? No matter, none of you will leave this carnival alive!" And Tenorman now does his best to convince them to trust Zenon by playing the 'enemy of my enemy' card. A good strategy if you think about it; too bad it's being played against the worst possible opponent he can have.
I decided to just play along for now and have T.K. begin to break him free from Tenorman's influence and control while traversing the carnival alongside Team Stan and the undercover android.
In other words, on the surface, I'm playing the game like I'm supposed to be (no reckless 'speedrunning' like back in TynaCorp) and will keep doing so until the final battle, while behind the scenes, I'm countering the butterfly effect (if not using it to my utmost advantage) that has grown since I first began.
We all continued to go through the carnival, destroying any enemies in our path while I made small talk with Zenon who looked like he's about to pass out from nervousness.
Looks like Tenorman gave the guy human emotions too in order to blend in better; thanks for making this a hundred times easier, Tenorman. Taking advantage of his now human-like mentality, I decided to try easing him into the idea of truly thinking for himself as there isn't any love interest to help him with that this time around.
"It's okay to be nervous, dude. I know feelings can be tough sometimes, but you should really consider trusting them. Stay true to yourself and do what you think is right, not anyone else."
"W-What do you mean?"
"Everyone's free to make their own decisions. Naturally, some decisions and views will conflict with each other as different people have different opinions on what is right, but I can tell that you're a good person with a good heart inside, so you should do what your gut tells you to.
Bad people may try to influence you to do bad things, things you don't want to do and feel awful doing both before and after said deeds are done. You should try to avoid that at all costs as doing things like that will tear you apart on the inside."
Instead of complete nervousness, he starts to look at me with interest and a spark of realization as I continue talking and T.K. slowly but surely cuts his mechanical ties with Tenorman while I work on cutting his emotional ties with the ginger boss.
"If something inside yourself is telling you not to do something, then you shouldn't do it as you will only feel sadness and regret after doing it. Just believe in yourself and do what you think is right. Trust me on this, it's how I got this far in the first place."
I can tell he feels pretty conflicted at this point and so decided to give him some space to process what I said. There are still plenty of enemies in our path after all, so it's not like I'm getting bored here.
There are also a bunch of rides and stuff at this carnival (Tenorman really went all-out when building this place), but anytime I go on one, I'm ambushed by dozens of gingerbots from start to finish. This extra thrill would honestly be enjoyable if they didn't destroy any rides I went on while I'm in the middle of riding them.
"Damn dude, this guy really loves chili." Stan comments.
"You must have really fucked him up, Cartman." Kyle adds in.
"Shut up, you guyz!" It should be pretty obvious who said that line. Come to think of it, the majority of the team's dialogue throughout this adventure (that doesn't involve me, of course) has been dialogue said by them in the game. Just another sign that the butterfly effect hasn't spiraled everything completely out of control just yet.
Tenorman's prototype was a complete surprise, but other than that, events mostly played out the same. We went through the areas in order, we fought all the bosses, and the enemies mostly stayed the same. However, this game isn't quite over yet, so I probably shouldn't be jinxing it right now.
Anyway, we continue making our way through hordes of gingerbots with me personally protecting Zenon who isn't fighting at all throughout these final few levels. Cartman complains about it once or twice, but I get him to back off.
We eventually head on over to a giant airship that takes us over to Tenorman's throne room (because of course he has one) and while Team Stan fights off more gingerbots, I'm sitting at the back with Zenon.
"Are emotions ever confusing to you?" He asks as the fight goes on in the background.
"All the time, dude. I never intended to fall in love, yet I've done it with a girl that was trying to wipe out all of humanity. I knew about it too before I even met her, yet it still happened!" I leave out the fact that she was actually a sentient A.I. like Zenon as to not scare him.
"Emotions are supposed to be confusing. That's why I told you to just trust your instincts and do what you think is right. It may go against the beliefs of others, but that's to be expected since it's your opinions and not theirs. It's okay, I trust that you'll do what you think is the right thing when we get to Tenorman."
He looks shocked at the little reveal I dropped/implied, and that shock quickly turns to fear, but I give him a kindhearted smile and pat his back as we start to descend and dock at our final destination.
"Hang on, you guyz. What's that?" Cartman suddenly asks.
"Huh?"
"It's a strange noise... very wet... very slurpy..."
"The hell are you-"
"Oh, I know. It's the sound of DOVAH SUCKING UP TO THE GODDAMN PACIFIST!"
"Fuck off, Cartman. I already carried your fat ass through most of this ga- adventure."
"He's got a point, dude- on your right!"
*BAM* *BANG* *BAM*
"Nobody asked you, jew. Ugh, fucking ENOUGH with these already, Tenorman!"
"Hang on, we're going down!"
"Who's even controlling this thing?"
"I think it's a self-driving ship."
"Okay, first of all, that's not a thing. And no, those floating platforms from the future don't count 'cause they're fucking platforms, not ships. Second, even if it was, which it isn't, Tenorman could've just crashed us into the lava or whatever the hell is below us halfway through the trip."
"Maybe he didn't bother with that since he knows Dovah could fly us all over instead? This way, he can ambush us with wave after wave of gingerbots. I mean, this ship went like one mile an hour the entire way, right?"
"Shut up, jew. We're here."
The 6 of us then head over to Tenorman's throne (because of course there's a throne in the fucking throne room) where the game's final boss has a massive grin on his face despite being backed into a corner. Zenon is standing behind the rest of us and anyone with half a brain can tell he looks extremely nervous and conflicted at the moment. Good thing Team Stan isn't paying attention to him right now.
"Hey, get your lazy ass down here and fight us like a man!" Cartman screams at his half brother who only smirks at the demand.
"Oh, but that doesn't sound like fun!"
"Come on Tenorman, it's over! There's nowhere else to run!" Stan declares.
"MMFF! Mff mfmm mff mmfmfm!" The muffled Kenny adds on.
"Ah, but I've saved the best surprise for last, hahaha! Kill them!" Blue laser beams then leave Zenon's eyes... but they aren't aimed at us.
A time portal opens up and defends Tenorman just as the lasers are about to hit him.
"WHAT?!? NO! YOU STUPID ROBOT, YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO KILL THEM!"
"What?" Team Stan turns around to stare at Zenon and I.
"He isn't your puppet anymore, Tenorman, and he never will be again!" I declare.
Scott then pulls out a controller and clicks a few buttons, but they do nothing.
"NO! WHY AREN'T CONTROLS RESPONDING?! WHAT DID YOU DO?"
"He freed me, Tenorman! I'm my own person now! Well, I'm not technically a person, but I'm not under your control anymore!"
"Curse you, Eric! But it's not over yet; Prototype Z-1 will still be the end of ALL OF YOU!!!"
"Because of the bomb in him?" I ask.
"BECAUSE OF THE BO- okay, when and how?"
"I disabled that thing hours ago. Same with the shut-down remote you made. There's no way I wasn't checking for those after watching the Android Saga in Dragon Ball. You're done, Tenorman."
The ginger screams in rage and a time portal suddenly appears under Team Stan that whisks the four away before disappearing. Zenon and I then look up to see Tenorman go through another one before that one disappears too.
"Looks like he doesn't want us around for his last stand, but that's okay. They'll be just fine without us. Thank you, dude. I know that must have been hard for you."
"It's okay. You saved my life; I'm the one who should be thanking you!" He retorts enthusiastically.
"Lets just call it even. So, what do you want to do now? You can go do your own thing if you want or tag along with me when I leave."
"Tag along with you?"
"Yeah, I'm from a completely different timeline and came here to help the other guys stop Tenorman while getting a few things for myself. I guess a little backstory is needed."
I give Zenon a brief explanation of who I am and what I'm doing and he offers to hop along for the ride which I'm nothing less than thrilled about. It's always good to have someone watching your back after all.
(("Scoff."))
'Huh? You say something, T.K?'
(("It's only your imagination."))
... Anyway, I have T.K. track down where the rest of the crew is and head over with Zenon to help them finish Tenorman for good. When we get there, Team Stan is looking worse for wear while running from an endless swarm of gingerbots along with waves of fire from giant flamethrowers (a canon addition to the Tenormech 2.0), more giant robot arms, and missiles from Tenorman's newest giant mech.
The one the Tenorman in my timeline made can't compare to it, but then again, the me before I was forced to leave that timeline can't compare to the current me either.
"You ready, dude?" I smile at Zenon and he smiles right back at me.
"Let's go!" I use all my buffs on both of us as we explode in energy and bust right through the arena wall once I lock on to Team Stan's coordinates (I had T.K. secretly put trackers on them when we started our adventure just in case).
"WHAT?! NO, NOT NOW! HOW DID YOU FIND US???" We don't bother giving him an answer as Zenon tears through his mech's left and right leg before I bring them over to myself with telekinesis and repeatedly slam them into the mech's stomach like baseball bats breaking a pinata.
The Tenormech's tenorchest falls apart and the giant robot begins to malfunction as Zenon flies behind it and fires his eye beams through the thing; eye beams which are now boosted with Unholy Combustion.
Yeah, Tenorman figured out how to give Zenon most of the various classes and powers I displayed during our first fight (excluding the fart ones although a time core is a good enough replacement).
With how brazenly I've been throwing my energy around this entire time, I'm not surprised in the slightest that he managed to acquire some and equip Zenon with it. If the member berries can make those Pseudo-Netherborn soldiers with Kenny's energy and some modern-day tech during the Nahkriin War, then Tenorman with technology from over 500 years into the future should be able to do something similar with my energy and Zenon.
It really helped that I oh so graciously displayed every power in my arsenal (at the time) and let out plenty of magical energy for the ginger prototype to analyze and collect during our first fight. Honestly, I'd be disappointed if Tenorman couldn't pull this off.
The massive mech begins to fall over, but Zenon catches it and holds it in midair while I send a giant fireball at it to destroy its body.
The head is still functioning though and Tenorman threatens to break the Xbox hard drive as the mech's head floats in the air, thrusters barely keeping the thing from crashing into the ground below.
"BACK OFF OR I SWEAR I'LL-"
"I'll take that, thanks."
'WHAT?! NOOOO!!!" I teleport right next to him and swipe the hard drive before teleporting out and taking it to Team Stan.
After dropping the hard drive off at where Team Stan is, Zenon and I fly to either side of Tenorman and he charges more blue eye laser beams while I form another massive ball of purple flames.
We both launch our attacks which sandwich Tenorman and cause his mech to explode, killing the ginger once and for all, and we both high five before flying back down to where the others are celebrating.
"Dude, let's go home and play Arkham City... except for Kyle, you stay here." Kyle glares at the fatass as the two of us land in front of the team.
"Well that was one hell of an adventure, but it's time to say goodbye. We've got other shit to take care of in other timelines now."
"Oh. Well thanks for helping, dude."
"Mf mmf mfffmfmf mff!"
"No problem and no Kenny, that's fucking gross. Cya." Zenon and I wave goodbye as I power up a timefart and prepare to head into another adventure with my brand new partner.
?????'s POV:
"Holy shit... this is way worse than we thought!"
"You can say that again, dude. We better head back to base; we need to warn the others! If that guy keeps growing like this, who knows how much damage he will cause in the future!"
"And the past and present too!"
"..."
"...What?"
"Now to be fair, grunt number three, grunt number two does have a point there." Oh... fuck.
"Y'know, even if I didn't have T.K. here to pick up on you through scanners and shit, with how loud you were being-"
"ALRIGHT, I GET IT! WE'RE NEW AT THIS, OKAY?" I yell at the Dovahkiin guy.
"Got it. Also, I'll be taking those time cores, thanks."