Phaemer Village Peacekeepers (story)

Phaemer Village Peacekeepers is...

Plot
After his friend dies in 1998 from a drug overdose, Evan decides to get a real job. While searching for a place to go and fill out an application, he suddenly finds himself being abducted by Phaelites from Phaeleel itself after witnessing too much during a conflict between an early Phaletori and Chancellor Remus Givionil, the predecessor to Chancellor Avori Namolil, while Remus was visiting the SCALLOP base of Evansville under the supervision of Darius Philippine. In 2021, reforms were put in place to protect the rights of Phexos whose projects were abandoned. There were "sanctioned" Phexo types, and then there were "outcast" types.

The sanctioned types included Centhuen Prototypes (like Ciem), Vampires (like Wayne the Vampire), Emwaults (like Emeraldon and the Sapphire King), Plant-Men (like Botan), True Centhuens, Leapers (like Jackrabbit and Meerkat), and Amphibioids (like Becky Ryba and Anarteq). All other types had become forbidden for further creation in labs, and there were some questions as to the rights of these outcast types of Phexos that already existed. During the continuing Phaeleel-Metheel War, which had taken a dramatic turn with the defeat of the Hebbleskin Gang and the nation of Netheel on Earth by the Sodality of Gerosha, King Morzhuk of Metheel grew nervous that the Hebbleskin Gang would lose more than just Arfaas. He also grew concerned about whether or not the Hebbleskins would be able to locate the Grand Ultimates' Ruby for him via their truce with Affadidah—or if the Icy Finger would claim it first.

A band of Meethlites working for Morzhuk attacked the village of Phaemer, several miles outside the splendorous city of Dephinapolis—named in honor of Dephinol Wilmarik. However, the city had become a sanctuary city for rejected Phexo varieties. It was the home of a spice farmer named Bart Chippen, who had earned the nickname "Bolte Chipotle" by the natives because even his skin and sweat generated hot sauce. Bolte was also skilled in the use of a variety of weapons. When the village was attacked, Bolte lost everything—except his pride. He went into hiding in another town, working at a restaurant specializing in spicy food. The angry Major Demerin Gosmerid, furious that the rejected types hadn't been rounded up and executed, ordered his men to not stop at driving the Meethlite intruders out of town. Instead, suspected homes of those sympathetic to the oucasted Phexo varieties were also destroyed. Several were rounded up and shot, and the town was decimated in the hopes that none would testify that Gosmerid was a bigger threat to Phaemer than the Meethlites were.

However, Avori never lost faith that reforms could be made to protect these Phexos' rights. Gosmerid wanted Chipotle captured, but his men failed to achieve that goal. They did report one other escapee—the half-woman, half-parakeet known as Keet Kabo. Keet witnessed her entire family being murdered by Gosmerid, as well as hearing him speak of sympathizing with the Phaletori's plans to beat the Hebbleskins at their own game and rule the universe—before the Icy Finger managed. Keet was driven to life in the streets of Dephinapolis. However, she never lost sight of her true self and faith, no matter how much street scum she had to deal with. She attempted to make some friends, in the hopes of finding a way to reach Chancellor Avori and gain his favor. Her dream was to gain a position in the local military unit—and use her influence to expose Gosmerid and have justice done.

Some time went by. Morzhuk was defeated by the Sodality of Gerosha after he attacked their base in Houston and tried to steal the Grand Ultimates' Ruby. His final death at the hands of Extirpon not only resulted in an end to the Phaeleel-Metheel War, but also a desire by the Phaletori and what was left of the Hebbleskins to join forces and start the war anew. Gosmerid, mad with lust for power and glory, started turning his men towards Phaletori sympathy. He viewed the current powers that were as weak, lazy, and timid—undeserving of their roles as rulers. In 2025, Keet eventually borrowed some clothes from a friend, and attempted to get an interview. Gosmerid and his men quickly did a background search and determined that she had borrowed the clothes. He used a twisting of the law to argue that Keet was feloniously lying by wearing the friend's clothing, and had the friend arrested by his troops, especially after he points out that her stated home address in Phaemer technically no longer exists. He attempted to have Keet arrested as well; but Avori walked in on the interview that Gosmerid interrupted and scolded Gosmerid. Avori then threatened to have Gosmerid court-martialed, leading to a furious Gosmerid trying to abduct the chancellor. Keet intervened, using her instincts to protect the chancellor. She helped him escape notice so he could fleet to safety and announce to all still-loyal units that Gosmerid and his company had gone rogue.

To keep Gosmerid's troops from finding the chancellor, she used her own escape as a distraction. She eventually fled to the streets, and found a catacomb to hide in. While down there, she ran into a defecting stone-man Meethexo (similar to Rockpapsci) named Titus Rothermahl, often nicknamed "the Socratic" by his acquaintances for the fact that he looked like a statue of Socrates. Keet looked for away to touch base with Avori again, so she could discuss what could be done as a response to the rogue Gosmerid and his men—and about the approach of the Phaletori that were returning to Phaeleel after suffering defeats from the Sodality on Earth. Socratic and Keet quickly became good friends; but they decided that they had to find Chipotle and get his help if they were to stop Gosmerid. While hiding from Gosmerid's troops, Avori stumbles across and accidentally awakens Evan. Evan nearly blows their cover given his ignorance of how serious the situation is—and his cluelessness about the fact that he's not in 1998 anymore. An experiment is performed on him once the two are to safety, and he is found to be able to retain untold volumes of information regarding history. However, his attitude and preferred pop culture references all seem to be firmly set in 1990s American culture. The lab testers mock him for his anachronistic style of fashion and his blast-from-the-past demeanor, nicknaming him "Time Capsule."

Avori informs Time Capsule of Keet's situation, and of the need to locate Chipotle in order to form a "Peacekeeper" force to stop Gosmerid. They eventually meet up at a parlor, where a part-jackal "Jake Semical" has adopted the stage name of "Jake Semicolon" and decides to work as the DJ. He takes a quick break and introduces himself to Avori and Keet, at the same time becoming familiar with Time Capsule. However, Gosmerid sends some True Centhuen thugs to terrorize the parlor and capture Keet. Chipotle, who happened to be present but in hiding, reveals himself and comes to Keet's aid. Time Capsule's clumsiness oddly proves useful in distracting the thugs. Semicolon attempts to protect the chancellor while the other four chase the thugs out of the parlor. An impatient Gosmerid sends a missile to destroy the parlor.

Time Capsule, Keet Kabo, Jake Semicolon, Bolte Chipotle, and Socratic all work together to help the injured chancellor escape the rubble alive. He unofficially declares them to be his "Peacekeepers of Phaemer Village." The Peacekeepers decide to hijack one of the Centhuens' ships and stalk Gosmerid to learn what he's really after. They fight several battles, only to learn that Gosmerid's real plan is to nuke Dephinapolis and use Desulon's lab to turn back time. If successful, he can replace the Grand Ultimate's Ruby with a fake and secure it for himself before Hea Pang and Hester's locket destroy the actual ruby in order to keep it out of Morzhuk's hands. Realizing they cannot allow Gosmerid to mess with history, the team makes it their goal to destroy Desulon's time machine and get him to safety. However, Gosmerid is still able to salvage enough from Desulon's lab to build his nuke and secures a lesser Marlquaanite ruby to make himself into a terrifying winged creature — similar to Eqquibus. The Peacekeepers discover which ship in the distracting fleet Gosmerid sends to terrorize the city with which one contains the nuke and which one contains Gosmerid. Socratic steals the nuclear nin-chyo from the bomb, endangering himself with radiation exposure but feeling confident his stone-like essence will provide some shield against its effects. He's unable, however, to disable the bomb entirely. A whole neighborhood near the bridge where Keet used to live is bombed and destroyed—minus the radiation.

As the different Peacekeepers are separated on different parts of the ship fighting different battles, Time Capsule takes advantage of a disarmed Gosmerid to debate with him. However, Gosmerid remains wholly unconvinced by Time Capsule's arguments against messing with history. He is about to have Evan killed by breaking his neck, but Keet intervenes in time and begins fighting Gosmerid in hand-to-hand combat. Time Capsule attempts to find a weapon. Chipotle blinds and then cuts up several of Gosmerid's men after Semicolon hijacks the speaker system to deafen and confuse them with his music. Realizing that he's losing the fight, and that ships are on the way to take his main one out, Gosmerid launches into space in the hopes of generating a Zeran hole that will send him to Earth.

He hopes to meet up with the Phaletori there and regroup. However, Keet and Semicolon manage to subdue him and cuff him to a bar out of reach of the control panel. Time Capsule accidentally hits the self-destruct sequence, resulting in the Peacekeepers all fighting the remaining troops to secure a way to an escape pod before the ship self-destructs. They manage to escape with only a few minutes to spare, each in separate pods. The ship explodes with Gosmerid on it, and the shrapnel gets sent through the Zeran hole and damages some Phaletori vessels on the other side. This delays the arrival of the Phaletori, forcing them to remain on Earth a little bit longer in spite the Sodality putting pressure on them to leave. A confused Phaletori general inquires as to how the Sodality could have known and intercepted. They discover that the Sodality of Gerosha wasn't involved and couldn't have known—that Phaeleel must have formed its own Sodality while the Geroshans were back on Earth.

Avori discovers that Socratic survived, with only minor illness as a consequence for his exposure to nin-chyo. He is treated for it, and sent to regroup with his teammates. The Peacekeepers are put in charge of helping rebuild the village of Phaemer, ensuring it remains as a sanctuary for the otherwise-undesired types of Phexos in Phaelite society. A Meethlite commander is sent to welcome the Peacekeepers for delaying the Phaletori—which he fears will try to rekindle the war that the Sodality went to such lengths to end. They are allowed to visit Metheel, where they are deputized as Peacekeepers for the twin planets before returning to their village to continue assisting its reconstruction. They realize that as the Phaletori continue plotting their return to Phaeleel, it's only a matter of time before the Peacekeepers are needed again. Time Capsule is offered a chance to return to Earth, but declines on the grounds that he'd be no closer to being at home on 2020s Earth than he is at the moment with his new friends.

Characters

 * Keet Kabo, a human parakeet with a knack for leadership.


 * Evan Manicotti / Time Capsule; a man transported from 1998 to 2025, along with a lot of his possessions.
 * throwing stars, rocket scooter, vast history knowledge (but especially the 90s), taser, slammers
 * bit of a clown
 * smarter than he lets on

- twin machete
 * Bartholomew Chippen / Bolte Chipotle, a Phexo with spicy skin


 * Titus Rahmerthal / The Socratic; concussion cannon - made of stone


 * Jake Semical / Jackal Semicolon; Uzi - Gymnast and DJ- jackal laugh - Skilled sniper


 * Chancellor Avori Namolil, of the Phaeleel high council


 * Major. Demerin Gosmerid, rogue military leader