Marko Man in: End of the World

So I wanted to write a festive little story, and I did... based on the End of the World.

Don't look at me like that... Christmas is every year, but the world only ends like, every six years or so. The end of the world is a much rarer event, so I think it should be celebrated as such.

Anyway, here's a small End of the World story. Helped me relieve some stress from this month... this month of December really hit me hard. It's not as epic as it could have been, but it's still rather entertaining. Hope you enjoy.

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“Black clouds are always a bad sign,” Marko said to himself, “but black clouds with a face on it while being surrounded by fire can really only mean one thing... end of the world.”

The black cloud with the fire surrounding it was moving in Marko’s direction as he was walking towards the mall to do some last minute Christmas shopping. The face looked in Marko’s direction, and it seemed to smile at him.

“I might need some back up for this.”

Marko pulled out his phone, only to find that he wasn’t getting any service.

“Perfect. No service. This end of the world stuff is serious. Fine. I’ll handle it on my own.”

The fire increased the temperature and the brightness of the area, and this made a whole bunch of people come out of their houses to see what was going on. They saw Marko Man, and they looked up in fear, having never seen anything like that before. Marko looked around, seeing all the people, and he definitely didn’t need them to be there in the line of fire and distracting him.

"Whoa whoa whoa, does anyone else here got superpowers?"

Marko didn't get a response.

"Okay, then chill the fuck out, I got this. Everyone get out of here, get out of harms way and be safe.”

People started to run in the opposite direction of the flaming black cloud. The eyes of the cloud looked, seeing all the fleeing people, and as though it didn’t approve of the evacuation, the cloud shot a fireball down towards the street.

“Oh no you don’t! Bazooka Blast!”

Marko fired off the Bazooka Blast to combat the fireball from the sky. The two blasts connected and canceled each other out. Marko continued to look in the sky, and the flaming black cloud let out a slow, angry roar. As it roared, black specs started to fall from the cloud to the ground. They were falling fast, and there were a lot of them, but Marko wasn’t too sure what the black specs were about, so he ran forward to investigate. It didn’t take much running for Marko to see a bunch of black figures in the street, rising up from the black puddles in the ground that the black specs from the sky made.

“We are the Minions of Doom,” one of the black figures said. “The time is now. This is the end.”

“Yeah, the end of you!” Marko said. “Bazooka Blast!”

Marko launched the Bazooka Blast at the Minion of Doom that claimed the end was here, and the blast connected in an explosion, destroying that minion and hurting a few other minions as well. Through the smoke, the minions charged through to attack Marko. He didn’t anticipate their aggressive move, so he ended up on defense at first, defending against a whole bunch of punches and kicks. He was on defense for a few seconds, and then a few more, then he got a little mad that he was on defense for so long.

“Mega Kick!”

Marko dodged three consecutive attacks and countered with a Mega Kick that hit four minions. From there, he pushed forward and kept attacking with his own punches, hitting every minion that he saw. He did have to dodge a few punches, but he continued his attack, countering missed punches with Mega Kicks. He continued to attacks with punches to the faces of the minions, then he dodged a fireball with a Blaze Dash, hitting one minion and knocking him into two more. Marko turned around, having to dodge attacks from four minions at one, and he used another Blaze Dash to get away, but one minion stuck his foot out and managed to trip Marko, making him hit the ground. Before the minions could take advantage, he spun on his back with his feet out, sweep kicking whatever minions were in the circle, then he sprung up on his feet using his hands, and when he was airborne, he connected a Mega Kick. Once his feet were back on the ground, he fired a Bazooka Blast, with an explosion that managed to create a bit of space. Marko ran into the smoke, emerging from the other side and went on a rampage, connecting Mega Kick after Mega Kick, hitting one minion with each kick but taking down about four or five since he would knock minions into other minions. Marko kept attacking with these Mega Kicks until he got blasted from behind with a fireball, which knocked him to the ground. He ended up on his stomach first, but quickly got to his back as minions tried to jump on top of him. Marko used his feet to kick minions off of him as they tried to jump on top of him. After seven kicks, a bunch of minions tried to jump on top of him.

“Bazooka Blast!”

Marko fired the Bazooka Blast and it hit the airborne minions, with an explosion to keep him out of sight for a moment. He rolled to one side before getting up, and he noticed that there were minions that were trying to attack him, but they simply couldn’t see him.

“I’m over here!” Marko said. “Mega Kick!”

Marko connected three Mega Kicks, taking down a bunch of minions with those attacks. Marko continued to attack, punching minions in the face, kicking minions in the stomach, blasting minions with Megodokens, and charging into minions with Blaze Dashes. Marko was on a roll for a good minute until one of the minions managed to hit him in the back of his head. He stumbled forward, and was barely able to dodge a punch, which was followed up by a kick in a different direction, which was also dodged. He immediately Blaze Dashed into a minion, then he turned around and fired a Bazooka Blast in the direction from which he came. After the explosion he turned around, dodged one punch and countered with a punch, Mega Kick combo, knocking that minion into a few more minions, and following up with a Bazooka Blast. He ran into the smoke of that explosion, but other minions ran into the smoke as well, and Marko was met with a bunch of minions. Regardless, he attacked, throwing punches and kicks at the minions, back on a hot streak and taking down minions by the pound.

Marko soon noticed a fireball from behind and he dodged it. After that fireball, many more fireballs were launched in his direction, and he had to dodge them all as well. He found himself in an infinite loop of fireball dodging, then he just Blaze Dashed out of the line of fire.

“Bazooka Blast!”

Marko launched yet another Bazooka Blast, and it connected with yet another explosion. Marko wanted to continue his attack, but he also needed to catch his breath. Finding himself on the sidewalk, he looked into the street, and he saw that the minions were started to disappear in puffs of smoke that were going up to the sky. Confused, Marko took a few steps into the street to get a better view of the flaming black cloud in the sky.

"Marko Man..." the cloud bellowed in a loud, low tone, "Accept this... The is today... The end is here... The end is now!"

"Yeah, well, the end is just gonna have to get pass me first," Marko said with a very confident yet determined look on his face.

"You cannot stop this... I can rain down hell upon you for free... you can do nothing..."

"Wanna bet?"

The black cloud launched a huge fireball at Marko, much bigger than the fireball that it fired earlier. Marko charged up a Bazooka Blast, knowing that the standard blast would work. The fireball came closer, and Marko could feel the heat coming from it.

"Bazooka Blast!"

Marko shot the Bazooka Blast at the fireball, and when they collided, they both canceled each other out.

"You can not stop me..."

"Prove it!"

To respond to Marko's dare, the black cloud started to rain down a bunch of fireballs down towards Marko.

"Fuck."

Marko started to back up, just to get out of the way of the fireballs, but he knew that he had to find a way to stop them from falling, and as it stood, he didn't have anyway to do so. Marko kept walking backwards, seeing the fireballs hit the ground, destroying cars and setting the streets and houses and yards on fire.

"Bazooka Blast!"

Marko fired the Bazooka Blast up at the black cloud out of desperation, hoping that it would be able to do something. The Bazooka Blast flew up, and it was only getting pelted with fireballs from the cloud until it no longer existed.

The rain of fire was starting to get closer to Marko due to his standing still to launch the Bazooka Blast and the clouds intent to engulf Marko with fire. It didn't take long before Marko was dodging the fireballs that fell from the sky, and he didn't really have much a plan beyond that. He saw more houses catching fire, more trees getting smoked, and more clouds getting smoked, and that's when he snapped.

"FINAL BAZOOKA BEAM!"

Marko found himself under the cloud at this point, so he simply launched his most powerful attack straight up. The Final Bazooka Beam kept fireballs from hitting him, and it also went clear through the black cloud. Marko wasn't one hundred percent sure if that was a good thing, since it was just a cloud, but the fireballs stopped falling, and many of the fireballs disappeared as they fell before they hit the ground. Marko stopped his attack, looking up into the sky and seeing the sky clear up. It looked like it was clearing up at first, but the black matter of the cloud was all swirling up into one point. Once all of the black cloud was in the concentrated single point, it started to fall down to the ground.

Marko watched it fall. He noticed that the falling black thing had a small fire on top of it, and that it was falling at a speed similar to that of a free falling human. It was also turning out to have a human form as well. Soon, the black spec landed on its feet with a small boom, cracking the ground just a little bit, and it did turn out to have a human form. It was all black, had fire for hair and eyes the same color as the fire.

"Looks like I have formidable opposition to the end on my hands. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Deathcloud, and I am here to bring about the end of the world."

"Yeah? Under whose authority?"

"The authority of my own. You silly humans seem to think that the end was coming today. Well here I am to bring it, and a mere mortal such as yourself is in no position to stop me. So move aside, or I will make sure your soul burns for all eternity!"

"Oh... you're one of those types..."

"What... what type?"

"You know, I always thought that the end of the world would come about one of three ways... either a human pressing a button that launches every nuke my accident, a huuuuge natural disaster that just simply couldn't be stopped, or something dealing with judgment by God himself. I would have never thought that the world would end via some asshole such as yourself. You simply want to end the world for the sake of pain, chaos, despair, and your own enjoyment because you have nothing else better to do. I've seen your type a thousand times over, so fuck you, the world shall not be ending today!"

A bright orange smile grew on the face of Deathcloud.

"And you're the heroic type that's willing to put his life on the line for silly humans, regardless of their ability to not give a fuck about how many times you've save their lives."

"All day."

"Well not today. Today, you meet your end, along with the rest of this planet. And for you... I've got a special treat for your soul... before I let it burn for all eternity, I'll let you watch as I end every life on this planet in a blaze!"

"Okay. Go for it."

"I will!"

Deathcloud charged at Marko, throwing a punch when he was close enough. Marko dodged it and hit him with a Mega Kick, which sent Deathcloud flying for a bit, but he landed on his feet. He turned around and shot a fireball at Marko, which he easily dodged. Deathcloud shot three more fireballs, and Marko managed to dodge all of them. One they were past him, he jogged towards Deathcloud. Deathcloud ran at Marko too, and when they met, Marko threw a punch. Deathcloud dodged the punch and started his offense with a barrage of punches and kicks. Marko was blocking every attack, and he soon countered with a Mega Kick, but Deathcloud dodged it with a jump.

Marko looked up, seeing Deathcloud shoot a fireball down at him. Marko dodged in the direction that Deathcloud was going to land, and he jumped at him with a Mega Kick, but Deathcloud blocked the attack. When Marko and Deathcloud landed, Deathcloud shot a fireball, while Marko immediately countered with a Megodoken, and the two blasts collided into nothingness.

"All right, this warm up is over," Deathcloud declared. "Time to get serious!"

The size of the fire hair that Deathcloud had suddenly double, and with the rise in temperature of an area that was already on fire, Marko realized that his power increased.

"So you're really gonna go through with this..." Marko said. "Fine. Turbo Charge!"

Marko used Turbo Charge, and he was surrounded by a blue aura as his power and natural speed increased. Deathcloud may have been ready to end the world, but Marko was definitely ready to stop the end from happening. A smile grew on Marko’s face, and Deathcloud wasn’t exactly a fan of the smile. Deathcloud was just about to run at Marko, but Marko started walking towards Deathcloud, which threw him off a bit. Marko’s walk was calm and collected, and Deathcloud had no idea why he was walking towards him. Deathcloud gritted his teeth in anger, feeling as though Marko was just way too confident considering the situation, so he charged at Marko and threw a punch. Marko dodged the punch and Mega Kicked Deathcloud, sending him flying. Deathcloud landed on his feet, but when he turned around, Marko was already in his face, hitting him with punches and kicks all over his body. Twenty hits connected before Marko finished his combo with a Mega Kick, which sent Deathcloud flying once again, but this time, Deathcloud took off flying into the air, going up. He looked down at Marko and started to shoot rapid fireballs down at Marko.

“The bastard can fly,” Marko said, dodging the fireballs. “Just great.”

Marko was dodging the fireballs, then he ran real quickly to get out of the line of fire. Deathcloud saw him move, and he kept redirecting his attack, trying to hit Marko, but he kept moving in an unpredictable zigzag pattern. Deathcloud saw that he wasn’t going to be able to hit Marko, so he stopped firing the rapid fireballs, only to shoot a huge fireball down at him.

“Blaze Dash!”

Marko avoided the attack with a Blaze Dash, clearing the attack with more than enough room to spare. Deathcloud kept his eye on Marko, and he dived down at Marko. He went for a flying punch, but Marko dodged it and Deathcloud kept flying. He went for a flying kick, and Marko dodged that as well. Deathcloud went back into the air and fired a fireball, and Marko dodged it. Deathcloud flew down at Marko once again, and this time he kept punching at him, but Marko was blocking every punch. Deathcloud increased his altitude just a bit and switched his offense to kicks, and Marko was still blocking every attack. While his defense wasn’t failing him, he still wanted to be able to counter attack, soon, he decide to duck under a kick and force a jump after the dodge. He went for a punch, but Deathcloud grabbed Marko’s fist and flew up high into the air. Marko tried to punch him with his free hand, but Deathcloud was able to move so that punch either didn’t hit or was simply ineffective. Soon, he started to swing Marko around by his fist, around and around, in a circle, moving faster and faster. As he spun, the hand that was holding Marko started to heat up, and soon it was on fire, and it was burning Marko’s fist. Marko felt the burn and he started yelling in pain, which only added to Deathcloud’s delight. After a few seconds of spinning with a flaming hand, he finally released Marko towards the ground, and Marko hit the ground, landing on his side in the middle of a crater.

“Now you’re dead!” Deathcloud said. “HA!”

Deathcloud shot a huge fireball into the crater. When the fireball hit the crater, it exploded. Fortunately, Marko was able to quickly get up and Blaze Dash out of the crater to avoid direct contact, but the explosion was still able to hit Marko and it knocked him into a tree that was on fire, causing Marko’s back to catch fire for a moment. He quickly dropped to the ground and rolled around to put the fire out. He was able to put the fire out, but Deathcloud flew towards him, pick him up, put him on his feet, and started to punch him in his face with fists of fire. Twenty punches connected before Deathcloud finished his combo with a huge fireball, sending Marko down the street. Marko landed on his back, and for a moment, he didn’t move.

“There. That should be it.”

Marko slowly started to get up, much to Deathcloud’s surprise. Marko looked at Deathcloud, kind of mad that he let him do the damage that he done. Most of his body felt like it had a minor burn at worst, and his right hand definitely had a serious burn. He could feel the pain, but he was the only one here to combat Deathcloud, and he just knew that if Deathcloud won, he could bring about the end of the world.

“Not gonna let you win,” Marko said. “You’re gonna have to do more than that.”

“Have I not given you a preview of the eternal pain you’re looking to experience?” Deathcloud asked.

“I’ll heal.”

“Implying that you’re gonna win... such a silly man.”

A smile grew on Deathcloud’s face, as he was sure that he was going to win.

“Imply? Okay, let me make it clear. You. Won’t. Win.”

The smile disappeared, and Deathcloud immediately fired a fireball out of anger of Marko’s statement. Marko dodged the fireball by diving to his right, then he quickly got up. He saw Deathcloud, Deathcloud saw that he missed, and Deathcloud charged at Marko. Marko decided to charge back. Both Deathcloud and Marko threw punches, and their fists collided. Marko ended up bouncing back, and Deathcloud decided to charge at his advantage. Once he was within range, Deathcloud barraged Marko with punches that were on fire. Marko blocked a few of punches but soon realized that he had to dodge these punches. It didn’t take Deathcloud long before he went to shoot a fireball at close range at Marko, but Marko was quick enough to dodge the fireball. Marko backed off, and Deathcloud kept shooting fireball. Marko continued to dodge the fireballs. Marko might have backed off at first, but he kept moving forward as Deathcloud shot fireballs at him, and it didn’t seem like Deathcloud noticed his progress. Soon, Marko dodged a fireball, and he connected a double kick that knocked Deathcloud into the air. Marko jumped up and connected three punches before he landed, and he finished up with an uppercut that kept him in the air for a moment longer, then finished with a Mega Kick. It sent Deathcloud flying, but he landed on his feet.

“Blaze Dash!”

Marko used Blaze Dash as an offensive attack for the first time against Deathcloud, and he ran into Deathcloud, knocking him into the air.

“Bazooka Blast!”

Marko immediately launched a Bazooka Blast at Deathcloud, and the attack connected, sending him high into the air before he hit the ground on his back. The series of attacks hit him harder and hurt him a whole lot more than he thought Marko was capable of doing, so when he got up off the ground, he was angry.

“I don’t know how you’re capable of such power, but it will not save you from the end!”

“Yeah. Sure it won’t.”

“Mocking me? Fine! Expediting your death right about NOW! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Deathcloud’s body caught on fire. He also grew in size, and the temperature in the area was going into areas of unbearable, even for Marko Man. This meant that his power was increasing, and Marko was fully aware of the danger he was in. Suddenly, a portion of the street erupted with a geyser of fire, then two more geysers of fire appeared.

“So his power is starting to tear the world apart or something?” Marko said. “Aww hell no...”

Marko allowed his anger for this situation to swell up. From Deathcloud’s threat to the world and the damage he had already caused, to the extreme heat, the burn on his hand, and the flaming geysers that were starting to grow common, Marko had more than enough fuel for his anger.

“RRRRRAAAAAGGGGGEEEEE!”

Marko used Rage, and now his anger was becoming his power. His blue aura returned, only now it was bigger and brighter, and his power was increasing to contend with the power of Deathcloud. Deathcloud looked at Marko, seeing the new development, and was still surprised that Marko was capable of generating so much power. He was still confident that in his current form he would be able to take Marko down and continue his tour to destroy the planet.

The two warriors looked at each other, and Marko made a very quick move to go for the first attack. He threw a punch to Deathcloud’s face, and it connected, but Deathcloud didn’t move much. Marko backed off to dodge a punch from Deathcloud, then he charged forward once again to attack with a barrage of punches. Deathcloud was able to punch Marko in the middle of his punches, knocking him back. Marko was still on his feet, so Deathcloud fired a fireball at Marko. He dodged the attack by jumping towards Deathcloud, and he attacked with a Mega Kick to his head. Deathcloud dodged the attack and kicked Marko in his stomach as he landed, leaving him doubled over. He punched Marko into the air, then he jumped up and punched him again, back down to the ground. When Deathcloud landed, Marko was beginning to get up, but Deathcloud created a flaming geyser right under him, blasting him into the air and doing even more damage to him. As Marko was in the air, Deathcloud flew up to his level and launched a fire beam at Marko. The attack connected and sent Marko flying far away.

Deathcloud flew to follow Marko’s flying body. When Marko hit the ground, he almost immediately got up and jumped at Deathcloud, much to his surprise, and he almost hit a Mega Kick, but Deathcloud was able to dodge it at the last second. As Marko missed and started to land, he turned around and shot a Megodoken at Deathcloud, which he dodged. He dived down towards Marko, shooting a few fireballs on his way down. Marko dodged the fireballs, with every movement putting him closer to Deathcloud. When Deathcloud was close enough, he jumped up and went for a Mega Kick. The attack connected, knocking Deathcloud to the ground, but he got up quick enough to avoid the stomp attempt from Marko.

With Deathcloud on his feet, he tried to attack Marko with a punch, but he weaved the punch and retaliated with a right hook that caught Deathcloud off guard. He followed that up with an immediate Bazooka Blast, which connected and sent Deathcloud flying. Deathcloud was able to land on his feet, but Marko charged at him, not wanting to give Deathcloud a chance to breath. As Marko ran, Deathcloud made another fire geyser, and it hit Marko, knocking him up into the air. Deathcloud quickly took to the air to attack Marko, but he was able to recover and he countered a missed kick from Deathcloud with a Mega Kick of his own that knocked Deathcloud to the ground. Deathcloud landed on his feet, and he launched a fire beam that hit Marko before he could land. The fire beam sent Marko flying, and he hit the ground, so Deathcloud flew at Marko’s downed body.

Marko stayed on the ground as Deathcloud charged. When Deathcloud was in range, he tried to attack Marko, but he rolled to avoid the attack and got up. Deathcloud landed and turned around, only to get hit with a Blaze Dash. The attack knocked Deathcloud into the air, so Marko ran to jump and attack him. When he attacked, Deathcloud recovered, flew higher into the air, and he blasted Marko to the ground with a fireball. When Marko landed, Deathcloud landed, and he made a fire geyser, but Marko was able to roll and dodge this one. He got up and Blaze Dash pass Deathcloud, which prompted him to turn around. This let Marko connect ten rapid punches, and he followed it up with ten rapid kicks. After the kicks, Marko knocked Deathcloud into the air with a hard uppercut, then he jumped and knocked him higher into the air with a kick. After the kick, Marko landed and kept Deathcloud in the air with a double kick, then one more kick that knocked him higher into the air. Marko jumped at Deathcloud, but Deathcloud recovered. Deathcloud went for a punch, but Marko dodged the punch and countered with a Mega Kick that knocked Deathcloud to the ground, and he immediately followed up the Mega Kick with a Bazooka Blast. The attack connected, and Deathcloud was left on the ground, felling pain from all of Marko’s attacks.

Deathcloud got up, only to see Marko charging at him once more. He made a flaming geyser pop up, but Marko was able to dodge it, as though he knew when Deathcloud was going to make a fire geyser pop up. Marko went for a flying Mega Kick, but Deathcloud dodged it by taking off into the air, where he felt safe.

“That’s it!” Deathcloud yelled. “You shall delay the inevitable no more!”

Deathcloud held his hands into the air, and a big fireball appeared.

“I shall destroy this planet in one shot!”

The fireball got bigger.

“I wanted to go on tour and torment everybody...”

The fireball got even bigger.

“But fuck that! It gets destroyed now!”

The fireball got even bigger than it already was.

“And don’t think I forgot about your special treatment asshole!”

The fireball got even bigger than that.

“Fuck you,” Marko said, getting ready to charge up an attack to combat this huge fireball “Final...”

“Still trying to stop me? Don’t you know? Your own people caused this! This is what they wanted to see!”

“Bazooka...”

“Whatever! DIE! ARMAGEDDON NOVA!”

“BEAM!”

Deathcloud tossed the huge fireball down at Marko and the Earth, and Marko launched his Final Bazooka Beam at the blast. The Final Bazooka Beam collided with the Armageddon Nova, and at first there was a stalemate, until the Armageddon Nova proved to be stronger. Marko simply added a huge boost of power into the Final Bazooka Beam, and suddenly, he was pushing the Armageddon Nova back at Deathcloud.

“What? No! Impossible! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

The Final Bazooka Beam shoved the Armageddon Nova back in the direction from which it came, and Deathcloud had no chance of escaping it. He put his hands on the Armageddon Nova blast, hoping to be able to push it back and save himself, but the blast was being pushed too fast by the Final Bazooka Beam, and it was able to burn off his hands. The attack continued to burn off the rest of his arms before their was a huge explosion that could be felt around the world. The light was blinding, and the explosion was huge, practically destroying everything in the immediate area. The last thing Marko heard before all of the light went to black was a feint voice that said, “Thank you Marko Man.”

**********

Marko woke up. He found himself laying in a hospital bed. He sat up, looked around, and saw nobody in the room with him.

"Uhh... hello?"

Marko looked for someone to answer, and a nurse came through the door.

"Oh good!" she said. "You're awake!"

Marko was completely confused because the last thing he remembered was an explosion and some voice thanking him.

"Did I die or something?"

"Nope," the nurse replied. "You were found unconscious in an area where people were sure that you should have died. But after the explosion that you were in, everything went back to normal. The streets, the cars, the houses... everything. Not even a hint of fire. People went back, and they found you lying in the street, so EMT's brought you here. We ran tests on you and you were perfectly fine."

"Really? No burns?"

"Nothing."

Marko held up the hand that Deathcloud burned in the fight. No pain. No scars. No scabs. The hand was just fine.

"Wow."

"Yeah. A huge miracle."

"A huge miracle indeed."