Anomaly Josh is a recurring villain, and dimensional double of Josh Foxx. Being a creature that never was, he spent most of his existence wondering who he was, how he came to be, and why he was different from all the people around himself. He found himself accepted by the people of the version of Earth he found himself on in a distant dimension.
His abilities are just as strong as Impetus or Josh, but his control of time is not as fine, sometimes randomly causing an effect if he's severely startled.
This led to him surviving the event that eradicated all human life on that world. All he knew about it was that the event was caused by "Dathien." This led him to hunt the multiverse for the source of Dathien on a quest to destroy him before he could cause this cataclysm...and failing that, destroying the multiverse in order to take him down.
Anomaly Josh's theme song is Machinae Supremacy's "Tempus Fugit," which recounts his story, by coincidence. (Seriously! His background was written before the song was heard!)
His role as "The Could Have Been King" had a different theme; "Extirpation" by Dismantled.
History[]
Who am I..?[]
The creature woke in an alleyway in the middle of York-2, a huge metropolis, and capital of the United Territories of Columbus. Stories of the bizarre creature began to sweep the city over the following weeks. This creature looked like some sort of dog with huge ears and a tail... and if you saw it, it'd vanish. It was extremely fast.
Over time, this creature became truly aware of his situation. He existed. He was hungry and cold. He was being hunted as a wild animal. He had extraordinary powers, and something on his right arm... it talked to him in his mind and reacted to his thoughts. This item could manipulate rocks, dirt, crystals...
Where did he come from? What was he? He wasn't an animal! He was alive, and intelligent! Eventually, after remaining hidden for some time, he emerged to meet the people of this strange world. After learning that he wasn't a wild animal, he was taken in by a kind elderly couple. They clothed him and cared for him as if he were their child, since they could not have had one of their own. The creature learned that he resembled a fox during this time, and the elderly couple had the last name of Foxx. He took this name as his.
So, I'm unique..?[]
Foxx had only lived with this couple for perhaps a year before they both passed away. After this time, he lived on the streets, taking shelter with whomever would have him in exchange for performing work or good deeds. In the Brookhatten district, he became popular for his good nature and charming demeanor. Being a cute fox creature didn't hurt. But he was still the only one.
Foxx had even put in a request for citizenship with the Board of Immigration, and was waiting for confirmation of his status so that he could get an actual job. He had several employers in Brookhatten asking for his help doing deliveries or other matters needing haste over a long distance due to his abilities. Foxx was just lounging in Park Centre, reading a book, when he realized he suddenly felt uneasy. Something wasn't right. The trees blew...
Why..?[]
He jolted, startled, and found himself suddenly lying on the roof of one of the city's many skyscrapers, disoriented and confused in the darkness of night time. The city... was silent. Empty. Dead. What had happened and where was everyone? Why couldn't he remember what happened? It was so quiet, and he was so alone, but everything felt threatening. He had to travel back and find out what happened.
Traveling back to Park Centre, he rewound time, finding that he'd apparently jumped forward a whole day. Life had been missing from this place for more than 24 hours... Then something strange happened. He felt relative time leap backwards by several minutes, and he saw himself reading his book in the distance. Everyone was here. Foxx hid in some bushes and just observed, watching a hawk fly past in the distance... the swaying trees... it was a perfect noon-time day.
He must have been too distracted to see what had actually happened as he was engulfed in a bright flash, the light seeming to be coherent enough to burn him! But... that was all he knew before he woke up again a night later. It wasn't enough! More! He had to know more! Again! Foxx flung himself backward again, standing on his rooftop and watching the skies. So empty... so alone... so angry.
He went back to the previous noon again and watched as the sky split open, erupting in all-encompassing light! It burned... Foxx winced against the light, fighting his urge to leap forward. An image burned itself into his mind during the time. An image of a dark man, but not human... his...his name is Dathien? He had to fight his instinct... he had to know more! But suddenly he was propelled forward through time to the following night once again.
He didn't make himself jump that time. Something repelled him. Foxx leapt back and forth for relative days watching his world die over and over trying to learn more, only to be repelled from the truth again and again. Driven mad by his attempts, feeling nothing anymore but rage against "Dathien" he began hunting for the destroyer of his world. Eventually in his journey he found a world that had information on him. Vana'diel. He was pure evil. Foxx traveled back in time even further. He would simply unmake the cause of Dathien, and it would be finished!
I won't let myself be alone![]
Kyrien was the cause. Dathien was made from Kyrien. Kyrien became very powerful. Kill him before he becomes powerful, and the world is saved... Foxx appeared before Kyrien, his weapon forming a warhammer from the stone in the area. He charged in with blinding speed while the summoner was still stunned, but...then something really strange happened. Someone that looked like him blurred into existence, ran past him and sheered the hammer in two with something. No! Nonononono... He turned about to face the interloper, calling up a boulder to fling at him, but the annoying other creature was just too fast!
Fine! He'd have to kill him first! He came from... there! Foxx leapt into the air and vanished, as did the mysterious other, leaving Kyrien to continue his path. It had all happened in just a little more than a blink. Foxx found himself face to face with another creature that looked like him in some sort of strange club... but that was as far as he could percieve before the place appeared again...then moved backward, then forward... time shorted in a paradox. He was trapped...seeing it all again and again. Everything that had happened to him. Outside of the paradox anomaly he could be observed materializing over and over with an expression of surprise as he saw what looked like himself.
No. Please. Stop staring at me...[]
At this point he became known to Paragon as "Anomaly Josh" since he looked like Josh and was trapped inside of an anomalous bubble of time. It wasn't really Josh, as far as could be told, but there was no way to be sure yet. DJ Zero, secretly the creator of the whole pocket dimension the club was located in, worked slowly and meticulously to undo the anomaly, but even in his own dimension, paradoxes weren't easy to resolve. Thus in the meantime Anomaly Josh became something of a tourist attraction, with the real Josh charging very small fees to view him. He may as well make a profit off of it if he's going to be trapped in time later, right?
Finally, after months of repeating time and again, the anomaly was broken, releasing Foxx. He resumed his hunt for this other creature fruitlessly. It was as if he knew every tactic he was going to try, and always managed to be somewhere else. The idea came to him one night when he encountered a mysterious, nearly incorporeal form while taking a break on a nearby mountain. It told him of how the other creature and Dathien were both on this world...the one binding tie.
Of course. The idea formed... the world had to be destoryed! It couldn't run from him! He could destroy them, and then everyone would be safe! How? What can he do? The mysterious entity told him of an alien race that existed far away in this time that could help him, and gave him a crystal. They needed hosts to live, and Earth was full of hosts. Perfect! The plan was perfect! He immediately flung himself into the far reaches to find these creatures, the Nictus.
Die, so that I can save you![]
Foxx returned with a multitude of the Nictus... appearing in the middle of Atlas Park. There was another creature that looked like him nearby when he returned, causing another, larger paradox and "crashing" that area of Paragon City. This caused Atlas Park to be replaced with an alternate war-torn version of itself from another dimension instead of completely failing to exist, purely by luck.
It wasn't long after this that the annoying one arrived with others, a few of them also creatures like himself, and a giant robot. They defeated his invasion force despite his efforts and he soon followed, unmade and returned to the void of non-existence he had formed from.
If you don't exist, you can't be hurt![]
He spent an unknown amount of time in that void before realizing something in here still existed. Something was real. The crystal he gained... It had come with him! He remembered the feelings of existing...the horror of knowing he wasn't real. What if he made them not real too? Make it all stop existing. He would never be alone! His world couldn't be destroyed if they didn't exist! He felt a tug, confusion, and then found himself back on Primal Earth, facing the mysterious, formless entity again.
She had brought him back somehow? Oh! She tricked 2 of the other fakes into making it happen! Glorious! Wonderful! There were more like him! This was the happiest day he'd ever known! The ones that didn't exist could exist and work together to make everything stop existing so that it could be safe! The Never Were crowned him their "Could Have Been King" and took their orders from him.
Some of them were just animals, others were smart like him. He kept those close. He needed to be surrounded by smart friends. Over time even the dumber ones were getting smarter. But something unexpected happened. A traveler from another place appeared and helped the annoying one fight them off little by little until he had to intervene himself again. So close! He could feel the void closing in on the universe! He had to stall them a little longer!
He used his power to invade the traveler's ship and battle with the annoying one once more, though he was seriously weakened from exerting himself so much. It was enough! The void was just outside, eating through the ship and unmaking it... but... he was unmade again, and the others went too. Reality still existed and began to recover. How? Why? WHY!? Couldn't they understand that he was trying to save them!? He still has his crystal. He can still save them... He'll save them... save them...