The Story

The Story is the name of an alternate universe structured as a TV show centered around the Core Four and their quest to defeat Shawn Hughes. The Story is a combination of both fantasy and science-fiction and is one of the most iconic and well-known AU's Zach has ever written.

Season 1
The Story opens with Zachary Ward practicing sword fighting in the woods. Hearing footsteps approaching, he draws his sword at the incoming party only to see it's the King of Sajinima. Zach attempts to run away but is frozen in place by one of Patrick Walmsley's ice bullets. Zach is then brought to prison. Later that night, Patrick opens Zach's jail cell, introducing himself and claiming that he hates his job, knows Zach is innocent, and is here to bust him out. The two escape the prison while being chased by guards as Patrick fends them off with his elemental bullets. The guards manage to catch up to them but before the duo can be caught they are rescued by a cloaked figure. The guards, confused on where the duo went, split up in search of them. The hooded figure introduces himself as the Woodland Wanderer and says he's dedicated to defending the people in the nearby village. He decides to help the duo and says they can live in the village for the time being.

Back at the castle, the King is desperate to catch his presumed attempted murderer and defected head guard and hires a man named Liam Griffin to hunt Zach and Patrick down and bring them to justice. Back at the village, the duo meets a travelling merchant selling magical goods. Zach trades in his family's sword for multiple magical tools and weapons. Liam, along with his robot henchman Shawn Hughes, sends various robotic monsters against the trio which the three defeat. Finally, Liam confronts the three in his mech suit, the B.R.A.V.O. After a difficult fight, the three emerge victorious and Zach uses the golden gauntlet to throw Liam far into the distance.

Season 2
Liam wakes up on the outskirts of the kingdom, with his mechanical eye notably smashed in the landing. He vows to finish off Zach, Patrick and the Wanderer by any means necessary. Meanwhile, Zach and Patrick settle into their lives in the village, helping the community with magic. They meet a girl named Sophie, who the Wanderer reveals to be the reason why he's protecting the people of this specific village. Liam manages to make it back to the village and threatens the trio with a knife, but he is quickly disarmed and tied up. He reveals that with his eye destroyed, he can no longer control his robots and that their programming put Shawn in control as his second-in-command. The four soon learn that Hughes has turned against Liam and intends on wiping out humanity on his own, including his former boss. Liam teams up with the trio, agreeing on a truce in order to save the world.

Meanwhile, the King decides to put a bounty on both Zach and Patrick, leading multiple parties to search for the two fugitives. Our main characters, jokingly dubbed by Zach as the Core Four, set out to find someone called The Oracle, who should be able to tell them how to defeat Shawn. Upon finally reaching the Oracle, he introduces himself as Skyler Chauff and reveals the truth behind Shawn's existence: that he isn't an AI, but rather the soul of a dead man who Liam was able to bring from the dead and simply possesses his robot body. He tells them to find a way to Shawn himself, where he will trap him inside an object. The group sets out for Liam's laboratory to finally confront Shawn face-to-face.

Season 3
As the Core Four journey to the lab, they meet multiple people attempting to claim Zach and Patrick's bounties. They face off against the bounty hunter Luke Hayden, a crew of pirates led by Chase Hayden, Braidlyn Tackett, a girl with the ability to manipulate her own hair, and Nikayla Eastman a knife-wielding psycho obsessed with the Wanderer. They also help some friendly folks such as Lorelei Dean, Joshua Layton, Eric Baker and Sofia Tung. Before they reach the lab, the Wanderer reveals his name to be Sebastian Stadler as a sign of his newfound unlikely friendship with the other three.

Finally, they arrive at the lab, but Shawn was expecting them, emerging with a new robotic body and a large army. Liam immediately runs away. Sebastian attempts a quick attack but has his sword broken in the process. The group continues to try and fend off the army but is losing considerably. However, the the tables are turned when Liam returns in an fixed up B.R.A.V.O. Along with him, Skyler joins the fight along with the travelling merchant who gave Zach his weapons. The merchant introduces himself as Kyle Baxter, a fairy, and gives Sebastian the sword which Zach sold to him. The six of them manage to defeat Shawn and seal him in a stick. The King's guards arrive at the scene, and attempt to arrest Zach and Patrick but Skyler vouches for their innocence, and eventually meets with the King who agrees to lift Zach and Patrick's bounties and pardons the duo.

Season 4
The Story picks up 5 years after the fight with Shawn with Zach and Patrick sharing an apartment together. Since the fight went down the fairies have revealed themselves to the humans but remain living separately by their own choice. The duo soon notice strange happenings, such as random earthquakes and the sky turning a reddish tint. This leads them to believe Shawn may have somehow returned, which, after meeting with Skyler, is confirmed. The two set out to find both Sebastian and Liam. Once Sebastian is found they head to Liam's lab, where Liam shows them his new and improved B.R.A.V.O. Skyler then appears to them, telling them to head to a specific location where Shawn is located, while Skyler sets out to try and gather as many people as possible to fight the incoming threat, including:


 * Kyle Baxter, who is now the ambassador between humans and fairies
 * Eric Baker, who has defected from the royal guard and acts as a sort of vigilante
 * Lorelei Dean, who has mastered the use of her earth-controlling viola
 * Joshua Layton, who has continued to be successful in the underground fighting scene using his mask
 * Sofia Tung, who has mastered her occult abilities and is able to transform her own shadow into objects, including a massive sword
 * Sophie Zielinski, who has acquired alien technology and has created an umbrella with flight capabilities and laser blasters

However, on their way to Shawn's location, the Core Four are attacked by Luke, Chase, Braidlyn and Nikayla, who have teamed up to take down their old rivals now that they are active again. This results in a battle which our main characters nearly lose, but a conversation with Zach gives Braidlyn a change of heart, leading her to turn on her new teammates, allowing the Core Four to get away. Skyler approaches them shortly after and recruits them onto his new team. Finally, Skyler finds and recruits Jaxon and Edward, who have just escape podded to Earth after their ship is blown up by their own enemies.

The Core Four finally arrive at the location, where Shawn greets them. It's revealed that Shawn was able to return thanks to Skyler freeing him. He has spent this time learning how to transform himself into a demon, and does so in front of the four. The ground begins to shake beneath them and a massive crack opens up, with an army of demons emerging from inside. Shawn grows massive in size as his crudely-built robot body transforms into an organic demonic form.

The four seem completely doomed, but, just in time, Skyler emerges with his army of heroes. As the group begins to fight the army of demons, the Core Four quickly begin criticizing Skyler for freeing Shawn. Skyler reveals it was all part of his plan, as 5 years ago Shawn could not be killed due to him not having an organic form. He also explains that he had to wait 5 years to free Shawn so that someone could grow strong enough to actually kill Shawn, that person being Zach. After a long, hard-fought battle, the heroes are eventually able to pin Shawn down, allowing Zach to land the final blow, killing him once and for all.

The group goes out for drinks to celebrate. At the bar, Sebastian chooses to reject Sophie after all this time, claiming she isn't the girl for him. Lorelei and Joshua give their magic items to Zach for safekeeping, as he establishes his goal to open a museum for magic artifacts. Zach then offers Patrick and Braidlyn jobs, which they both accept.

Main Characters

 * Zachary Ward
 * Patrick Walmsley
 * Sebastian Stadler
 * Liam Griffin
 * Shawn Hughes

Trivia

 * Both Zachary and Sebastian have stated The Story to be their favorite of Zach's AUs, with Zach considering it his "magnum opus".