Old vs New

	Things had been slow as of late for Tom. Work was boring, Kandy was busy with a manga thing, and he couldn’t get a hold of Jay or Fiction. It was a Saturday, and that meant Tom didn’t have to work unless they called him in. He was sitting on his couch, channel surfing, when an idea came to him. He turned off the TV and tossed the remote aside as he got up off the couch. The fox man stood there for a moment, thinking, and he seemed to make his mind up about something.
	Lights bloomed on his fingertips, and he started to swish his hands about through the air, drawing complex magical symbols. A circle formed under his feet and his ears twitched, energy swelling up within him. Dimension hopping magic was usually best cast with a strict guideline for where you were going and how long you were going to be there, but Tom felt restricting one’s self in such a way was lame. As a sorcerer that favored Evocation, he was more about the magic itself than what you had to do with it to get the best results. With a randomized destination and no time limit, Tom drew the last symbol to complete the spell.
	The circle spun rapidly and swallowed him up, throwing him across the multiverse. He flew past alternate reality after alternate reality. Different timelines, dimensions, he saw glimpses of it all. He had no idea where he was going to land, but that was the fun of it. As he sailed through the metaphysical stars, he saw a rift that led into a lobby-esque area at the end of his path. It was like a straight road, and this rift was the wall he was gonna crash through. Tom braced himself, and broke through the image like a window in more ways than one. He felt himself burst through glass upon impact with the rift, and he came out the other side in a roll, shards of cosmos-tinted glass scattered across the floor of where he ended up. ‘This is what happens when you aren’t neat and specific with a travel spell, I guess…’ He thought, looking around.
	The place was a large lobby/living room area. There were couches in various spots in the room, a large TV on the far end, DVD and Game towers near the TV, and a single reclining chair with a gold plaque on the side of it. He couldn’t make out the writing due to distance. “… Uh… Wow. Where the hell am I?”

	“You’re in the FFU, daemon. Figured the Big Blue Bird of Chaos would tell his underlings where he was sending them. Then again, maybe not. Who knows with that guy?” A voice said. Tom turned to the source, and saw… himself. Well, not exactly himself. The man in front of Tom had the same face, same hair, same fox bits, but there was something definitely different about him. Tom’s ear’s flickered, a sign of his Magic Sense kicking in. He took a step back, wincing a little. The other man’s magical power was massive. Was this version of him a full-blood? It would certainly explain it. The power that was billowing off him was at least on par with Tom’s mother.
“FFU? What is this, a university, or a company?” Tom asked.
“Wow, you really don’t know. Well, I might as well explain before I send you back to The Warp,” the other man said, cracking his knuckles. “The FFU is an establishment for Authors and their creations to live their lives in the company of like individuals. And as long as we’re explaining things, I’ll explain who your master sent you after. My name is Thomas Domenico Matthews, Evocation Archsage of the North American Magical Society, Author, and Colonel-Commissar of The Imperium of Man.”
	Tom paled. He’d landed in one of those weird multiversal realities where everything was like something out of a bad fanfiction. If that Evocation Archsage bit was any indication of this Tom’s power, he could safely say he was screwed. “N-Now hold on a sec… I’m not a servant of Tzeentch. Most of the time anyway… I have three Imperium armies, and only one Chaos one. I-I’m just from a different reality, I swear!”

	The other Tom scoffed. He held a hand up, sparks running down a metal arm. “A likely story. I’ve been fooled by that before. Not this time. Now, I’ll make this quick…” He pointed at Tom, and his ears twitched. “Zeus Bolt!” At the simple calling out, a massive bolt of lightning ripped through the air from the metal fingertip. Tom instinctively threw up a quick Ward of Resist Shock, and the bolt spider veined against the ethereal shielding.
“Jesus, dude, what the hell!” Tom cried, lowering his ward after the bolt had been effectively blocked. Other Tom rose an eyebrow, like he was surprised the spell didn’t hit home. Without a word, the other man held his hand up and a ball of fire formed. From this ball, swords made of pure fire started to shoot out, aimed in the general area of Tom. He yelped and threw up a Ward of Resist Fire, any blade that would have hit him striking the ward with a sizzle.
“You’re rather defensive. Why haven’t you cast any offensive spells? Or are you just a magic meat shield?” Other Tom asked, the big fireball vanishing.
“You’re the one who started attacking me!” Tom cried again. He was starting to hate this place.
Other Tom sighed, and pointed at Tom. “It isn’t as fun if you just block everything.” He said, sparks running down his metal arm again.

	“Fun? You think this is fun?” Tom scowled, dispelling the Ward. “Fine! Have it your way!” He conjured up a sword made of purple energy, and formed a Ward against Magic on his other arm as a shield. He ran forward, shield raised. Other Tom fired off a bigger bolt of lightning than before, and it struck the shield, ricocheting into the ceiling of the room, probably going through five or six rooms above them. The ward shattered, and Tom swung his sword in a diagonal slash coming up from the right. He grazed the other man’s chest, who started laughing.

	“There we go! Like that!” Other Tom pulled what looked like a fancy pen, and it turned into a longsword in a brief flash of light. He moved in, swinging wildly. Tom brought his own sword up to block, but the sword cut through his and to his chest, scoring a hit. The man yelled out in pain, and stumbled back, gripping the wound as his sword fizzled away. Other Tom moved in again, a disturbing killing intent in his eyes. Tom threw up a Wall of Force as quick as he could, to delay the psychopath. He wouldn’t be getting through that any time soon.
	‘Okay, gotta think. Wall of Force won’t last long if that sword of his can cut through Bound Blade…’ Tom began to think while the other him tried to get past the wall. While he thought, the man used a little healing magic to take care of the wound for now. He’d need to go see Fic later about it. ‘Can’t use lightning magic. If I read his energy right, he’s got a resistance to arcane lightning, and can pretty much bend it to his will. Fire’s an option, but with him going melee now, it’ll be hard to stay out of range… Come on, Tom! This is a life or death battle! Like you write about! Like you simulate all the time! THINK!’ He screwed his eyes shut, lost in his thoughts. He was snapped out of it when he heard a shattering. “Now you’re done for!” Other Tom proclaimed. He brought his sword up to cleave Tom in half, and the man panicked.

	He made a fist and brought it up, thrusting it out and opening it, fanning his fingers. “Ghost Touch!” There was a faint glow to his hand, and the same glow wrapped around Other Tom’s arms. The glow constricted, and Other Tom dropped the sword, falling to his knees with a pained scream. Tom had created the sensation of broken bones and tearing muscles, in both arms. He smirked a bit, thankful that Ghost Touch worked here. He was done, now. Life out danger, Tom closed his hand a bit, and fanned his fingers again. “Lingering Ghost Touch.” At the new invocation, the broken arm sensation stayed, and a new sensation joined it. The Other Tom now experienced the sensation of getting scratched behind the ears, and began to purr like a motor boat. The sensations would last for an hour, so Tom was safe to relax his hand. After disabling the insane version of himself, Tom stepped over to where he entered this place and used his teleport spell.
	Tom returned home with a flop, as he fell into his bed on his back. His phone went off suddenly and he pulled it out. It was a text from Kandy. The man unlocked his phone to reply. ‘Hey, you free tonight?’ the text said. Tom smiled, and fired off a reply with ‘Yeah. Crazy day. Could use some quality time with my pretty kitty :3’. The phone was quiet for some time, and it went off again. ‘Okay. Be over in a bit, handsome ’ the new text said.
	The man chuckled a bit and minimized the text app. He opened up the call app and clicked Fic’s number.  He waited a moment, and Fic picked up. “Yello?”
“Hey, dude, gonna need ya to look at somethin’ tomorrow.”
“I’m not looking at more elf porn.” Fic said.
“No, it’s not porn this time. It’s somethin’ medical.”
“Oh. Then yeah, I’ll take a look. Why not now, though?”
“Kandy’s coming over in a bit. I took a healing spell to it earlier, but it’s not an end-all solution.”
“Alright, seeya tomorrow then.”
“Seeya.” Tom hung up, and locked his phone. He sighed and closed his eyes, waiting and listening for Kandy’s bike to roll up to the house.