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Dashpoint

Chapter One: Between Gods and Monsters

"Come on, M! Let's go!"

A seventeen-year-old Dash Parr was amid a panic. There were a few supers still alive, but not in any better a situation. Those who lived were either on the run or worse: hopeless. Dash and Meta Girl were the last of the Council of Supers after the Cataclysm. Scarred, bruised and half dead, Dash and Meta Girl, or M for short, waddled towards the Quantum Accelerator. Neither superhero knew exactly what it does but time travel was a possibility in theory.

"Dash..." Meta Girl gazed upon the battered warrior, limping towards the machine.

"No time for that now, M. We've got a world to save!" Dash sprinted towards M normally but was careful enough not to grant her further harm. The girl looked like she had seen far too many battles. Dash had set her on a chair before he began inspecting the area for instructions.

"But how do we know this is safe?"

"We don't. But we have to try!" Dash began entering a sequence of keystrokes, looking for the proper function for time travel.

"How do you stay so positive?" M asked. For a brief moment, Dash paused.

"Because if we give up now, then everyone will give up," Dash stated somberly. "And if everyone gives up, then... every sacrifice that was made will be..."

Everyone died in the Cataclysm. It wasn't an ordinary war spurred by an assassination, nor was it a terrorist attack on a hospital. This was a war. A war that enslaved the world with a bleeding wound; a war that brought eternal darkness upon the skies. A war that should have never been.

"I think this is it," Dash says, pulling on a lever.

And with that, what sounded like an engine started. A low humming ignited the room with curiosity, lights flickering from the machine. On what appears to be a stepping platform, brilliant rays of light were emanating in a vacillating blobs and soon, it opened what appeared to be a portal. The room was then engulfed in spectacular colors, a bursting sound filling the destroyed building was joyous music to their ears. Hope was not about to surrender just yet.

"I think it's working! You ready, M! M?..." Dash turned around to see a blade protruding from Meta Girl's stomach. "Oh God..."

"You thought you could get away that easily, Dashy-boy?" A menacing voice cackled in the air. And when the owner of that voice stepped out from the shadows, Dash's body began surging with rage.

"I'll kill you for this!" Dash sped towards his foe and attempted to punch his head off, but he merely dodged. At least he was fast enough to catch Meta Girl before she fell to the ground.

"Too slow, Dash! But what do I expect from you? Everything you know... I know."

"You may have my face, you may perverse my name and you can read my thoughts and steal stuff faster than me and-..."

"You talk too much."

"And no matter how hard you try, you won't know everything I know and that's because you lack a heart!"

"Oh, there it is! The most overused cliche vomited out of every superhero! How original," the villain declared mockingly.

"I will beat you, Counter Dash! And when I do, I'll tear your soul out!" He was everything Dash was, but in the reverse. He countered him in every way. While Dash embodied the red flames of virtue and bravery, Counter Dash held a banner in the blackest of pits where only demons dwell.

"Well, that's a bold claim. You'll have to catch me first!" Counter Dash ran into the portal, disappearing before Dash could even react. As he laid Meta Girl up and prepared to run, she grabbed his hand, surprising Dash.

"M! Oh, thank God you're okay!" Dash embraced M who merely gave him a reassuring smile. Sitting her up against a desk.

"Dash..."

"Just rest now, M. I'll send a distress beacon for the Resistance but I'll look for the med-..." Dash was a second away from looking for supplies when Meta Girl clutched his hand. "M?"

"Go, Dash. Just go. Stop him. Stop him from making this future a reality."

Dash paused, tormented by this decision. But he relented and stood up, triggering the beacon. "All right. But promise you'll stay alive until I get back."

"I promise. As long as you promise me something."

"Anything."

"Promise me you'll save this reality. You'll save it from the war between gods and monsters. Promise me you'll do all that and come back."

"That's a little bit more than something."

"Shut up, stupid." Meta Girl smiled.

Before he took that final step into the portal, Dash looked back at Meta Girl and gave her a warm but sad smile. "I'll be back in a Dash."

And with that, he sped off seconds before the portal closes. Meta Girl just stared as if she were staring upon the endless country plains. She felt herself getting tired, her visions slowly blurring. The air was cool around and she felt... peaceful. And with what seems to be her final drawing breath, she whispers...

"Run, Dash... run..."

Darkness...

"Come on, come on! Where are you, you damn copycat!" Dash ran faster than he could his entire life. His fastest recorded speed happened with his fight against a mind controlled Meta Girl. She was Meta Man's daughter but she also inherited her mother's power, a magic user. This made her easily the most powerful superhero in the world that even Dash's father, Mr. Incredible, would look like a frog in comparison to a crocodile. Fortunately for him and the rest of the world, she had a calm temperament and was infinitely selfless. And Dash was her best friend.

Meta Girl was the MVP for the Resistance during the Cataclysm due to her raw strength and superior abilities. Very few were capable of actually taking her on seriously but Dash knew her well enough to stop her mind controlled rampage. That, and Meta Girl had enough resilience to avoid seriously injuring Dash but because Meta Girl was also insanely fast with superior stamina and durability, Dash had to double his efforts, running at the speed of light and generated enough firepower to knock out Meta Girl, though he did end up breaking his hand in the process. And because of this kind of power, she was briefly used against the Resistance and that was more than enough to wipe out cities with little effort. More than half of their allies were killed because of this.

"I'm going to destroy you!" Dash shouted and he felt his eyes burning. The light grew brighter and brighter until he couldn't see anymore but he didn't stop running. For a while, it was just violent echoes in terrible ululations before he started hearing faint voices. A conversation? No... it was... an argument? Wait, no, it's... many conversations... and the voices were becoming familiar, he thought.

"Vy?" Dash recognized his sister's voice. "Mom? Dad?"

And he burst into through the light and entered darkness. Or... a diner.

"What..." Dash's vision was slowly recovering. As he gathered his senses, the voices were getting louder. And then he heard his own. "That's... where we had my birthday. But this isn't my birthday..."

And he was right. It was the fight with the Underminer. Where it all began.

Where it all ended.

To be continued

AN: If you haven't seen the Incredibles 2 yet, then be prepared for potential spoilers.