NSP: Thanks Shade

NSP:no problem! mm-kay, i'll start it if someone else will finish it.
-----------------------------
looking dwon around the blobs of fire he was dropping, shade notices the small group working there way up the plateau, almost to the trio on top of the cliff.
"hmm, better start misdirecting their attention."
as the group draws closer shade begins dropping fire balls and lightning and flashy effects in a pattern designed to fool the trio on top of the cliff into thinking someone was trying to draw their attention to the place where the group was, thus causing them to start attempting to see what was sneaking up on them, but on the wrong side of the plateau.

------------------
you're all a bunch of useless bloody loonies
-arthur from hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy

Before Bob and I start battling, what kind of weapons would the three brothers use?

Laesonthar uses magic, mostly, and when he has to, he uses his sharp claws and teeth, and his tail.

Rashevan tries to mentally attack his target, trying to devour their mind, taking all their memories and knowledge, leaving them an empty shell. However, he can also shapeshift into any creature or monster he wants to.

Lucisanat has formidable magic at his hands as well, and will try to convince the heroes that he is not evil as they perceive it, but is rather trying to bring fulfillment to the multiverse.

------------------
Play epic RPGs such as Dark Exile, or duel in the Interdimensional Arena @ The High Citadel

Everyone, please listen carefully, for what I have to say is of the utmost importance. This may shock you, or even hurt you. I don't know. I'm especially afraid of how this may affect you, Geb. But, I have to say this.

Dark Lancer, Shadowlord, and Highemperor of the Force. . . are all one and the same person.

Since I have five mental disorders and a deep sense of guilt and shame, I was trying to distance myself from them by putting the good parts of me into Highemperor, and the bad into Dark Lancer and Shadowlord. It was a psychological thingy that I was trying to pull off that didn't work. I never originally meant to trick you all. I was just wanted to trick myself. But it didn't work. On me, anyway. But I guess it worked on you.

I'm just tired of the lying, which I know is wrong, and that I shouldn't be doing. Therefore, I am repenting of my sin and confessing it to you all. I hope you will be able to forgive me.

Thank you,
Highemperor/DarkLancer/Shadowlord

------------------
Play epic RPGs such as Dark Exile, or duel in the Interdimensional Arena @ The High Citadel

...I don't know what to say. I mean, even your e-mail addresses were different. I had *no* idea.

I'm not hurt, really, or offended, and I won't pretend to understand your motives, because that would be superficial, so...on with the story, I say...

i don't get it. I never would have guessed. are you seeing a psychologyst? and umm, if you have five personalities, why did we only see three people? you wouldn't happen to be trying to pull a fast one on us would you?

------------------
you're all a bunch of useless bloody loonies
-arthur from hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy

High Emp I'm Sorry but that is very very odd.

No, I am not trying to pull a fast one on you. I don't have five personalities, just five mental disorders. That leads to all sorts of *interesting* psychological ramifications, such as having multiple online identities. And I am seeing both a counselor and a psychiatrist - have been for three years this month.

And of course it's odd, Yoda. I'm a odd person. You generally have to be, when you have five mental disorders. Trust me, being psychotic is not all it's cracked up to be.

Anyways, I must concur with TLTE: On with the story!

------------------
Play epic RPGs such as Dark Exile, or duel in the Interdimensional Arena @ The High Citadel

so... on with it already. I can't do anything. Shade is still dropping crap on the three up on the hill waiting for them to attack. so, somebody get up there and attack!

------------------
you're all a bunch of useless bloody loonies
-arthur from hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy

(NSP: On behalf of Highemperor of the Force, I'm here to say for you all to go post! Get your guys fighting against the "brothers". I would start it off, but honestly, I have been only able to remember a few of the characters you guys have made. If you DO want me to do it, I'd appreciate a little summary-thing of your character either here or in an e-mail to send to gebohq@hotmail.com and I'll give it a shot.

I say this on behalf of Highemperor because i may be some time before he can post himself, so he can't (as of now) say it himself. If you get it started, I'll try and help on the brothers' side. Just reember what Highemperor said about how the heroes and the brothers should be at basically a stalemate whenthe brothers offer to retreat if they kill King Ungarrant. I personally hope to see some of you post--this story gives me good memories of dem old days of Saga...*dazes out, an old man lost in his memories*

------------------
~Geb

Kiyobashi and Bob bounded through the canyon, half sprinting, and half stumbling. Their feet hit rocks and then sprung off of them. But instead of retreating as logic would have dictated, they were running towards danger. Rather recklessly and foolishly… in hindsight.

Adrenaline filled their lungs; their energy seemed boundless, their legs did not ache, and their breath was not labored. Their eyes narrowed to their goal, and anything in their peripheral vision went unseen. Again, in hindsight, this was foolish.

Hidden in fissure in the steep rock walls were small gargoyle-like creatures. Being creatures of limited intelligence, they couldn’t differentiate between two elves and Kiyobashi and Bob. One sprung out of the fissure towards Kiyobashi, talons bared. Suddenly, Kiyobashi’s legs propelled himself off of a large rock, causing the gargoyle to overshoot. Hearing the Gargoyle’s scream of temporary failure, Kiyobashi tucked into a roll, and jacked a shell into his pistol as he somersaulted behind a pointed rock. As soon as he came up from his roll he immediately spun around, and fired a random shot, hoping to at least slow the gargoyles advance.

It worked even better than he had expected. The explosive shell actually hit the gargoyle, on the chest, dead on. The shell shattered the creature with an extended bang.

“There’s something to be said for the Second Amendment,” Bob mumbled. He stopped and searched around, quickly and nervously. His eye- experienced at noticing off-colored and dirty spots, saw a part of the canyon wall, that wasn’t quite the right color. Moments later, the spot literally jumped out at him.

Bob raised the deadly pointed end of the pushbroom to meet the soaring gargoyle. The creature slammed against the point, knocking the pushbroom back against a sturdy boulder. Bob was relieved when the gargoyle shattered, much as the first.

Before Kiyobashi and Bob could even get their bearings, a shadow suddenly covered them, and much else of the canyon. A shadow… of a Brother.
-------------------

Eludiath slunk through the tall grass at the edge of the canyon, his cloaking device on. He knew that anyone with even an obsolete Neural-Network array could easily detect him, but he knew that the enemy was too busy to direct full power into that specified Neural Network.

He also knew that to thrust himself into the heat of the battle would be a mistake. That was what he did wrong last time… when had almost paid for it with his life. Or had he actually paid for it with his life? It would be far more effective, to learn what he could about the brothers from his observation point. He saw the dragon-like form of Laesonthar, soar above the canyon, despite it’s lack of wings. But something was wrong about it… something about the lighting…
---------------

Kiyobashi was not fazed by the gargantuan monster. He raised his magnum, closed one eye, looked through the scope with the other, and pulled the trigger. With a crack the bullet shot towards Laesonthar, hitting the scales where the heart should be. But instead of piercing into the dragon’s flesh, the bullet ricocheted off the red scales harmlessly.

Seconds later, Laesonthar took a deep breath of Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide, and water, and breathed out a deadly plume of arcing fire. Once again, Kiyobashi and Bob rolled to the side, feeling the searing heat on their necks.
---------------

Eludiath suddenly realized it. The lighting. The shadow. The shadow was too deep, to intense, like what it might have looked like from an amateur hologram…

That was it. There was no Dragon there. There was only a Hologram. A mere illusion.

Then, as Eludiath saw the second plume of flame envelop Bob, and a human scream fill the canyon, he knew he was wrong.
---------------------

Flames licked at Bob’s garments. His robe was aflame. Fortunately, he knew just what to do. He had been taught since second grade. He didn’t stop, but he did drop, and he did roll. Bob rolled over and over again, the ground snuffing out the fire. Bob screamed with the pain of 1rst degree burns. Quickly Bob reached inside his Robe and drew out what was one of the many Janitorial devices he kept with him in all times.

A fire extinguisher.

Bob tightened the nozzle on the small extinguisher to it’s maximum. He pulled out the pin, and aimed. Not at himself, but at the gaping mouth of Laesonthar. A long stream of foam arced through the air, and into Laesonthar’s mouth. The monster unconsciously breathed it in.

Instead of getting a breath of mostly oxygen, and a small bit of water vapor and carbon dioxide, he got a mouthful of liquid Carbon Dioxide. The mechanisms in his body normally split up the H20 to create amount of Hydrogen, a flammable chemical, and Oxygen, an element necessary to the creation of fire. But instead he split up the Carbon Dioxide to create Oxygen and Carbon. Instead of a plume of fire being exhaled from Laesonthar’s mouth, a trickle of ash drooled out, pathetically. Laesonthar roared in anguish. Bob ducked into a fissure in the rock wall to avoid reprisal…


------------------
May the Windex be with you
-Janitor Jack (Salk Wars)

seeing laesonthar begin attacking Shade stopped throwing fireballs, and began his dive. remebering a time long ago when he use to strato-dive, Shade begins gaining meteoric speed as he aimed for Laesonthar's unprotected back, grinning delightedly as Laesonthar's flame was put out by Bob, thus further distracting the giant from sensing the approach of Shade, I.E the flaming ball hurtling towards earth.
Shade:"INCOOOOOOMMMMMMMMIIIIIINNNNNNNGGGG!"
and with that, Shade wumped into Laesonthar's back, claws extended, injecting a local petrification agent into him, not to mention causing enormous pain as the flames spread across the Draconian's back, shade leaps off as Laesonthar's back region turns to stone temporarily, causing him to drop like aforementioned stone.
Shade:"hey bob. nice shot."
Bob:"I think you get points for show though."
Shade just grins and slaps Bob on the back heartily, then leaps forward to begin attacking before his petrification poison wears off

------------------
you're all a bunch of useless bloody loonies
-arthur from hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy

(NSP: An extremely short post here, just to establish where I am...)

Kiyobashi snuffed a laugh at Bob's heroics. He got serious quickly, loaded an explosive shell into his pistol.

This will fix this damn Brother-

"Ahem."

Kiyobashi spun-

Luciansat grabbed him roughly but gracefully by his neck, raising him high above his head.

"Good afternoon, hero."

The deceptively beautiful Brother tossed Kiyobashi back ten feet. Hiro landed in a heap.

"Shall we duel?"

Kiyobashi spared one last glance at Shade and Bob, fighting viciously against Laesonthar.

Then, he struggled to his feet, pistol in hand.

"Oh, we shall..."

(NSP: Great post, J-Bob. I was about to protest Eluidath's use of cloaking, until I realized that that was one of the few things he could do. For future reference though, everybody, Eluidath is, at the present, basically an old man who can do holographs. Almost all of his systems are disabled. And his 'systems', by the way, lest anyone should get the wrong idea, are sort of like computer programs without the computer. Intangible computer programs that can affect the world around him. Only right now, they're all out of phase, so he can't really do a thing. Mind you, he's not completely defenseless....)

Eluidath looked on as Bob, Kiyobashi, and Shade fought, risking their lives for strangers. As should he be doing. Eluidath frowned. That stunt back at the gatehouse had thrown his systems even further out of phase, as he knew it would. As it was, he was barely even able to maintain the holographic illusion of invisibility. To even an untrained observer, the patch of rock he was standing on would appear to be shimmering and wobbling badly. Yes, it was best that he merely observe and gain intelligence right now.

Eluidath turned his attention to the task at hand. He was sure that the creatures his companions were fighting were illusions, holographs. Only... He'd never seen anything like them. At full power, he could have easily reproduced the effect, simply project a hologram and make it seem solid by means of a set of force-fields. But that was not how these constructs had been made, he would have seen that. It was strange...no matter what level he scanned at, he could not tell how these things had been made. They radiated heat like normal living things, more so than normal living things, actually. On the ultraviolet and infra-red scales they looked strange, half-formed almost, but it was nothing that couldn't be accounted for in nature. Molecularly, they simply didn't exist. They had no molecules, they....Eluidath couldn't even begin to describe it. They weren't real, that was all he could say.

Eluidath's attention was distracted for a moment. Several elven warriors (elven warriors? This was insane!) Were creeping slowly towards Shade and Bob as they fought the dragon-beast that couldn't be real. Creeping? Why were they creeping? Shouldn't they be rushing in to aid their allies? Something was odd here. They were looking at the humans, not the dragon-beast. They were going to attack the humans. Eluidath couldn't allow that. His companions were having a hard enough time as it was, dealing with the beast.

Eluidath quickly strode over to a spot between the elven warriors and his companions, out of sight of the humans. Once the elves were within ten feet of him, he released the cloaking hologram.

"Halt!" Eluidath called out sharply, as he seemed to shimmer into existence. "What are you doing?"

"Stand aside, old man!" One of the elves, apparently the leader, growled at Eluidath. "Or be cut to pieces in the name of "Rasheaven!"

Eluidath made a motion with his hand, and two black discs swirled into existence before his eyes, like legless sunglasses. They would shield his eyes from any flashes of light in combat. "You would kill an unarmed old man?"

The leader did not reply to Eluidath, but yelled a command at his soldiers. The elven warriors, ten in number, began to charge Eluidath, swords drawn. Eluidath instinctively made as if to knock them away with a simple shockwave, and remembered just in time that he was incapable of that just now. He was not used to this. But one did not need weapons to defeat an enemy, did they?

The lead soldier swung at Eluidath in a clumsy overhand swing, hoping to split his head in two. The elf's eyes widened. Eluidath had caught the blade between his palms, not an inch from his head. The elf did not have long to wait before Eluidath's shoeless foot slammed into his gut, throwing him backwards into two of his fellows. The battle was on.

Eluidath leaped into the air and snapped a kick at the head of the nearest soldier, kicking him again in the shoulder and chest on the way back down. Hitting the ground, he continued his downward movement to a crouch, ducking under a sword that was meant to decapitate him. Planting one hand on the ground, Eluidath slammed into the sword's weilder with both feet, pushing off of the elf to flip back onto his feet.

Eluidath paused for the briefest moment. There were three soldiers within striking range, surrounding him. The one behind him struck out with his sword, and Eluidath spun, kicking the sword away with one foot and bringing the trailing foot up to slam into the warrior's unprotected chin. Eluidath barely had time to twist out of the way of another soldier's sword, slam that soldier's nose into his face with his palm, and spin to meet the next adversary.

Eluidath became a whirling agent of destruction, wizened fists, leathery palms, and aging bare feet slamming into unprotected spots on the elven warriors, knocking swords away, and generally being everywhere at once. Eluidath moved like the wind, striking here, twisting away to strike there, alternately leaping into the air and crouching flat to the ground, and with every motion delivering the chaos of battle to his opponents.

Then, with a flash of motion, it was over. Eluidath stood, steady as a rock, muscles tensed and ready for action, hands before him in a ready stance. The unconcious bodies of elven warriors lay around him, scattered like leaves. Eluidath had been careful not to kill any of them, although he'd had to wound a couple of them fairly severely. He had a suspicion that the elves had not been acting of their own free will, and he wanted to interrogate them when they awakened.

------------------
Read the Bible, it'll scare the hell out of you.

Well, mah am back (at least for now), and, upon reading these last few posts, all I have to say is WOW. You guys are doing really well, establishing both your own characters and understanding those of the brothers.

Krig, I liked the bit with Eluidath pondering the synthegrams!

Shade, I'm glad that your character is being a bit more. . . congenial. . . now.

TLTE and Bob, again, well done.

And of course, thanks to Geb for starting off this slew of posting.

Now to continue!

Lucisanat smiled, deceptively gently, as Kiyobashi rose to his feet, brandishing his pistol. "Are you ready to face me? Come, let us do this dance."

Kiyobashi levelled his pistol at the evil brother. "The only dance you're going to be doing is dying convulsions!"

With that, he fired an explosive shell at the beautiful being, which exploded dead center on his chest. Yet, when the smoke cleared, Lucisanat was still there. "You cannot hurt me," he said, still smiling that same smile, "not in this form."

"I don't care if you're in the form of a turtle!" Kiyobashi retorted, "you're still going down - it's people like you who murdered my family!"

"Ah, yes. . . your family. . ." Lucisanat's golden eyes bored into the detective's, and Kiyobashi felt as if his mind were naked before that impenetrable gaze. Lucisanat continued, "They were all gorgeous, were they not? Mai with the flashing green eyes of her mother, and Koni with the deep brown of her father."

Kiyobashi, through tears, ground out the words, "You. . . filthy. . . scum."

"You do not mean that, and you and I both know it," Lucisanat cut him off. "Then there was Shumi. . . Ah, yes, there never was a woman like her. She was your other half, an interlocking half, that piece of the microcosmic jigsaw that was your marriage. You loved her for who she was, and all her dreams became your own. You took care of her, for she was your all in all."

Kiyobashi slunk to his knees, his gun hand falling to his side. The evil brother had hit the nail on the head. Shumi had been incredible. Perfect for him, as he had been perfect for her. He shook his head. But that was over. Gone. In the past. No matter how much he might wish it otherwise. How DARE this creature even defile her name by speaking it himself!

Kiyobashi raised his pistol, stood up, and looked back at Lucisanat.

And his world fell apart.

There was a circle of light in the air between Lucisanat's hands. A. . . rift, in space-time, for lack of a better term.

Through that rift, he saw once more the dead Shumi, affixed to the wall of his old household with crimson-handled knives.

Time seemed to go in reverse, like a video tape on rewind. He saw Xi-Wan Long take out the knives - though, since this was a reverse view, he was actually sticking them in. He saw the wounds on his beloved wife close up. Eventually, it went on to before the murder.

Shumi was in the kitchen, preparing dinner. Singing that little song that she and Kiyobashi loved so much. She had been preparing the girls' favorite meal and was looking forward to her husband's return from work.

The play of events stopped there, as if someone had hit a "pause" button. Shumi was holding a cooking utensil midway over the pot. One musical note hung in the air.

Kiyobashi stared at his wife, during her last few moments of life, forever transfixed in his memory.

Lucisanat spoke, smiling that same misbegotten smile. "She is your fulfillment. I, as the Fulfiller of All, offer you the chance to become fulfilled. All you must do is step through this door between universes and prevent the death of your family."

Kiyobashi gazed with longing for an eternity at his wife. "And what do you want from me in return?" he asked, without much force.

Lucisanat's smile broadened. "Only that you live happily with your wife and children for the rest of your days."

Kiyobashi stared at the frozen spot of time through the rift, his mind in turmoil, his soul torn. Lucisanat continued, "Think carefully, and choose wisely. The power to turn back time is not one that is offered every day."

TLTE, I want to see what Kiyobashi does. Just so you know, Lucisanat really IS offering Kiyobashi the chance to stop Xi-Wan Long. And he's not requesting anything in return except that he live with Shumi and his children in his universe for the rest of his life. The idea is that he'll be out of the Nexus, unable to cause trouble.

------------------
Play epic RPGs such as Dark Exile, or duel in the Interdimensional Arena @ The High Citadel

hmm, this is going very well. thanks high emp, I thought you'd like that. hmm, I think I know what j-bob will want, staff right? but umm, what about the rest of you? i was thinking long-distance heavy artillery would be best for eluidath since he can easily handle close range, and he is used to having technology around him like a second skin. what do you think? any way, talk to me people, I have to know before the battle is over so I can plan out what to give you.

------------------
I have gone out to find myself. If I should come back before I return, hold me here until I get back.

Ford and Icharich walked along, hiking up the cliff. They saw the thunderous match between the draconian and some champions, and the psychological duel between the deceiver and his victim. They saw Eluidath dispatch a squad of treacherous elves with surprising efficiency.

But weren't there three brothers?

Suddenly, a shadow fell upon them. The pair turned around and saw a monstrous demon, appearing similar to King Ungarrant!

-----

Yoda007 and Ti-Shen were walking along, looking for some place where they could be of assistance, when they heard a creature scurrying up behind them. They turned around to see Icharich scampering up to them. He said, in that funny voice of his, "Help, guys, we ran into Rasheavan! He got Ford and I ran away to find help! Help, help!"

Yoda, being very loving, knelt down and said, "Here, Icharich, let me tend to your wounds, and we'll deal with Rasheavan."

"Wait-" Ti-Shen was cut off when Icharich clawed Yoda deep into his gut. Yoda stumbled back.

"Icha-!"

Icharich expanded into a ghastly monstrocity, with claws, and scales, and horns.

Rasheavan.

"I will devour your minds!"

-----

Ford and Icharich woke up and looked around. Or tried to. They couldn't move, however. They couldn't see, hear, smell, or taste.

But. . .

They could feel.

They felt horror all around them. Horror at being completely and utterly violated, horror at being exposed to a monster.

Horror. . . because their minds and thoughts had been devoured by Rasheavan.

It was with an emotional start that they realized this.

Icharich sensed Rasheavan drawing upon his memory of what he looked like, for some reason.

He sensed conflict. From outside. And a surge of hope went through him. There were others! They were resisting the dizaablon! Maybe they could free the prisoners!

But no. Even if they somehow managed to strike Rasheavan down in combat, how could they possibly free their comrades?

Suddenly, another presence, a powerful presence conflicted in the mind of Rasheavan with Rasheavan himself. A psychic! One with extraordinary power.

Ford and Icharich felt this psychic presence try to free the other minds trapped in here, but he failed. The other minds had no body to return to. They could only hope for Rasheavan's death, so that they would be free to enter the afterlife.

But Ford and Icharich's bodies were still nearby! The psychic succeeded in freeing their minds from the dizaablon's!

-----

Inchaura gasped with concentration as he opened his eyes in time to see Icharich and Ford open theirs. All three smiled. A battle had been fought, and a battle had been won.

Ford and Icharich dashed off to help Yoda007 and Ti-Shen in their struggle versus Rasheavan, and Inchaura headed after them.

Suddenly, he felt piercingly cold. He felt it. Behind him.

A chilling hand rested upon his back.

Inchaura whipped around to stare at this newcomer. To gaze into ruby-red eyes. To look at his best friend who had somehow become his worst enemy.

Shadowlord.

"I see you have been busy, Inchaura," Shadowlord said. "I have come to the conclusion that you were right all along."

Inchaura hesitated. He had not expected anything like this. "What do you mean?"

Shadowlord smiled grimly. "There is wholeness to be found in the world. My master, Lucisanat has given it to me."

"What? Him?" Inchaura was incredulous. "He's just an evil fiend who looks good!"

"No, no, no," Shadowlord reproved him mildly, "he is far more. He is the only thing that can make us whole. We must accept him into our hearts to be fulfilled!"

"No!" Inchaura said, "that cannot be true!"

"Oh, but it is," Shadowlord said, "just look into my mind and heart, and you will know the truth."

Inchaura was terribly tempted, but he knew that Lucisanat could have given Shadowlord the ability to trick even him (Inchaura) into believing that Shadowlord was actually fulfilled. His answer carried a note of finality in it.

"No."

Shadowlord's companiable smile vanished. "Well, then, perhaps you will have to see the light by force."

With that, he launched a psychic attack upon Inchaura. . .

-----

If anyone wants to continue any part of this post, feel free to do so! Or you can start your own thing or continue from another post! Thanks!

------------------
Play epic RPGs such as Dark Exile, or duel in the Interdimensional Arena @ The High Citadel

Shade, I'd prefer to keep the weapons I have now. (I.E. the modified pushbroom, and the Janitorial Tools) Bob wouldn't feel comfortable using anything else.

Also Shade, just a small request. In future posts, could you use the usual IS format.

I mean, capatilize all names, and seperate thoughts, Ideas and dialogue into seperate paragraphs.

Also, they should be in past tense. Serious stories are usually written in past tense, like most books, while humorous ones are set up like a script.

For example instead of this:



The post should look more like this:



Thanks.


------------------
May the Windex be with you
-Janitor Jack (Salk Wars)

Ford glanced over at Inchaura, who had just saved his, and his new friend Icharich, to see that he was being attacked by Shadowlord. (why is he doing that? hes on our side right?)

He didnt have time to answer these questions, for Inchaura was obviously in truoble. He let a small amount of energy into his gun, and fired at Shadowlord, just to stun him. The blast missed him, as he dodged out of the way, hitting the ground at Inchauras feet.

"damn!"

"Ha!" said Shadowlord. "I felt you coming a mile away! now heres a challenge, two primatives, with no psychic ability whatsoever, and my former friend Inchaura. Pardon me for saying so, but you were always weak." with this he laughed.


(NSP: sorry im all out, creative writing class is supposed to inspire you right? well its draining me right now, but oh well. il do some more thursday.)

------------------
may the farce be with you.

okay, i'll try to be a bit more consistent and such. but umm, bob? trust me, it won't be a replacement weapon, just a new toy for bob to use. he uses his broom like a staff anyway, well, staff/pike. that's all i had in mind. just an upgrade from what he's currently got.

------------------
I have gone out to find myself. If I should come back before I return, hold me here until I get back.

heh, forgot to post for shade. since shadowlord popped up, i guess we should all be trying to bring in our character's doubles, huh? i'll see what I can do.
--------------------------------------
Shade took a look around as he felt a familiar presence approaching, ducking as a large rock came flying at him from Laesonthar

:hmm, that feels like...nah. couldn't be. he's back in my universe...isn't he?:

Shade's thoughts were stopped however by another thrown boulder, Shade turns around, activating his Bio-Tech Suit as he spun, but instead of aiming the small weapon on his arm, he braced himself as a larger pair of missile batteries formed on his shoulders

Shade:"throwing rocks? well, i got one hell of a rock thrower."

with that Shade opened fire with a full volley of Neutronium Rockets, super-dense explosives in a small, fast package. the impacts jarred Laesonthar and caused the large boulder to slip, while Laesonthar was stunned by the impact, Shade flipped a small Linear Barrier around him, making the Draconian slower, and less able to attack effectively. Bob quickly recognized this and moved in to begin his own assault, poking sensitive nerve junctions and drawing blood from a dozen small holes.

???:"well, well, well. never would have expected to see you letting someone else do your fighting for you."

Shade turned around to see a familiar and unwelcome face smirking at him

Shade:"figures. I go to play in someone else's universe and you decide to follow along. what's your take in this Shadow?"

Shadow:"why, release from this damn Larval form. or so the shapeshifter says.

------------------
I have gone out to find myself. If I should come back before I return, hold me here until I get back.

Shade, I'm sorry, but you cannot bring in your double right now. Shadowlord was able to come in because he discovered the Nexus on his own and didn't need summoning. Same with Inchaura. Shade and Shadow, however, were "drawn into the [N]exus by portals not of their own generation". Thus, it took Ganelon to summon Shade, and it will take the three brothers to summon the other doubles. Sorry about the mix-up. Thanks!

------------------
Play epic RPGs such as Dark Exile, or duel in the Interdimensional Arena @ The High Citadel

(Thanks for the very interesting setup, Highemp. This should provide a very interesting 'what-if' scenario...It'll be fairly long, though, so I'll do it in two parts.)

Being a Detective, Kiyobashi knew a lot about human nature. Therefore, he understood that human beings, as people, were not natural heroes. You got the occasional patriot, or martyr, but on the whole, people were self-centred. They were callous, traitorous, and greedy.

Part of him-the police officer-warned him that this was a trick, that Luciansat was simply using him to get him out of the way, so that the others were incomplete and could not win without him.

The small part of him begged him and screamed at him not to listen, to feign interest and then lash out at Luciansat again, but another part of him-a part he wasn't proud of, the biased rational part of him that wanted him to just agree and get back to his beloved family-objected.

If he wanted you out of the way, why didn't he simply kill you?

And even in his terribly overburdened state, the point made a lot of sense to Kiyobashi. Why didn't he? Luciansat had proved himself very powerful, more so than any street thug the Detective had ever taken down.

Kiyobashi never thought that Luciansat may have actually believed, in some perverse way, that he was the Fulfiller of All, and that he was giving Hiro his life back as well as furthering his OWN goals, completing the cosmic balance.

And so, his resolution gone, Kiyobashi leaped at the rift, eagerly accepting as Luciansat smiled knowingly and widened the hole to double-door size for him.

Once Kiyobashi had gone through, Luciansat laughed. It was a contented, consciously evil laugh. The demon brother paused for a moment, then stepped through himself.

Gradually, the hole started, ever so slowly, to contract...

----------------

Detective Hiro Kiyobashi landed, in a heap, in his front entry. His senses were reeling, but he could faintly hear the happy laughter of his two daughters down in the study.

Like a man in a dream, his pistol forgotten in his right hand, Kiyobashi stumbled down the hallway. Familiar sights and smells assaulted his consciousness, ones that had disappeared since the murder of his family.

Suddenly, Mai jumped out of the study side-door, in front of Hiro. Her beautiful green eyes reflected Hiro's tearful own, and the Detective noticed distantly that he appeared at least ten years older. He reached out for her instinctively, hugging her close to his chest. She smelled faintly of her mother's perfume. Hiro laughed and sobbed simultaneously.

Mai squealed happily. "MOMMY! DADDY'S HOME EARLY!!!"

She ran down the corridor, into the kitchen. Kiyobashi followed after her, slowly. The kitchen was a mess, as it usually was whenever Shumi tried to cook and manage the children at the same time. Many nights, Hiro would return home, exhausted from work, and yet still had to rouse himself to washing up the dishes with Shumi.

Hiro didn't care. He loved her. Loved her more than anything else in the world.

And there she was.

Fixing his favourite dinner, satay beef with egg noodles. Her hair was a mess, and her brow was thick with perspiration, but to Kiyobashi, she was the reborn incarnation of Aprhodite, Goddess of Love.

With a moan of disbelief, Kiyobashi lunged at her and held her close, the way an exhausted man flops onto his bed. Shumi squealed and hugged him back.

"Hiro, what-"

"Shhh." Tears of relief swept down Hiro's face. Shumi brushed them away, concerned.

"Is something wrong?"

At that moment, Koni and Mai bustled in, joining the two of them in a hug.

"No," Hiro said, in cracked tones. "Everything...everything is right."

They stood there for a long time, hugging, and to Kiyobashi, every moment was a better one. Half-heartedly, he wondered if Luciansat had actually killed him, and he now resided in Heaven, or his idea of it.

Then, he heard it.

A gentle banging at the door, but it sent the worst chill down Hiro's spine, he almost dropped Koni from his arms.

Shumi smiled. "I'll get it-"

"NO!"

She stopped, staring uncomprehendingly.

"No," Hiro stammered, palms open in an honest expression. "I...I think it's for me."

Shumi nodded, and her radiant smile returned. "Kids, start setting the dinner table, please!"

"Sure, mommy."

"OK, mommy."

Kiyobashi turned to the hall-

And nearly died of shock.

Luciansat leant on the wall next to the entry corridor, smiling.

The banging came again, slightly more insistent.

"Knock knock, Hiro..." Luciansat grinned even more broadly. "I wonder who it is???"

Hiro turned to Shumi, but she was carrying on, as if nothing had happened. Luciansat, Kiyobashi realised, must be visible only to me.

"What...what do I do?"

Luciansat laughed. "Well, you've spent countless hours fantasising about it...I'd think you'd jump at the chance to actually DO it!"

Hiro nodded blankly, stumbled to the corridor, and drew his pistol. Still hesitant.

"Come on, Detective...it's only him. Him and you."

Kiyobashi nodded, looked about himself one last time.

He remembered what Long had done to them.

His daughters.

Shumi.

"Not THIS time," Kiyobashi snarled, starting down the hallway.

Not THIS time...

Yoda Reeled back from the blow from Rasheavan and Immediatly went into a healing trance. Suddenly he was borought out of it. He couldn't remember how to heal! In fact he couldn't remember how to do anything! Then it all started coming back he stood up and saw Rasheavan. He stagerd towards the beast with pistol in hand. He pointed the gun and again pulled what seemed to be the trigger. Unfortunatley Rasheavan being much larger than the Goblin was barely even fased by the bullet...

mm-kay, so just ignore the part about shadow popping up. in other words, cut off the second half of the post. i am stumped, and grounded from computer for four weeks, will try to get on everyday, but cannot guarantee it. see ya.

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I have gone out to find myself. If I should come back before I return, hold me here until I get back.

Yoda007 tripped not being able to remember how to walk very well and fell to his knees.

To the Massive beast he said "You Bastard" and fell over knocked out cold.

(sry for lack of creativitness this was all i could think up of for now)

Icarich and ford both saw Yoda succumb, falling forward on to his chest like a limp rag doll.

Icarich's eyes shot to Ford's and they had a burning intensity to them.

"Ford. Help Ti-Shen."

It came from Icarich's mouth, but the voice seemed oddly distant. Completely thrown off by Icarich's determination, Ford simply nodded and ran off to get Ti-Shen, he'd been knocked backwards by Rashevan in the fighting.

"Rashevan!" Screamed Icarich at the towering beast.

Rashevan turned and glowered at Icarich; a mere speck by comparison.

"I've been waiting a long time for this, Chriiah!"

With the final word Icarich raised a hand and a beam of light seared the air from his palm to rashevan's head.

The brother exploded open in a shower of sparks, but quickly reformed again.

"Icarich! Since when could you do That!" Ford yelled from a distance to his left. Ti-Shen was standing, but his face was a blank mask, Rashevan had already gotten to him.

Icarich ignored him and raised his hands in a complicated gesture.

"Shluii!"

An enormous crater erupted around Rashevan causing a thick cloud of debris and dust to fill the air. When the dust cleared Rashevan was kneeling there, but in the more humanoid form he usually took.

"Impossible!" hissed Rashevan coming to his feet.

"I consumed your thoughts, you don't have those powers!" His voice was incredulous.

Icarich drew the maelstaff from his waist and it slid up and around his arm.

"No." Said Icarich grimly "Icarich doesn't have those powers."

(Okay, I'm back Anyway thought I'd leave a cliff hanger, although you've probably figured out what's happening anyway.)

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I created the most popular toilet 3do ever!
http://files.massassi.net/3do/toilet2.zip

(I hope you don't mind the liberties I used here, esp. those concerned with using Ganelon, but I couldn't think of any other way to escape from this without a deus ex machina.)

The huge, insurmountable confrontation that Kiyobashi had expected did not pan out at all as he had predicted.

He was halfway down his hallway, seething with rage, when the front door was kicked down from the outside and Xi-Wan Long, a spectre of evil, charged inside, gun in one hand and an ornamental knife-crimson handled-in the other. He was smoking a cigarette, and it draped from his mouth.

Their eyes caught sight of each other and they stared for quite some time, frozen almost comically.

Then, as if released from some trance, they both moved simultaneously. Long shifted his grip on the knife and threw it at Hiro, catching him on the shoulder. Hiro gasped, and as he tumbled to the ground, fired a single round.

Long grunted, apparently unaffected and did something that would haunt Hiro's memories for the rest of his days. Calmly, he took a deep draw from his cigarette, the smoke jetting out the side of his neck.

It was only then that Hiro saw that his round had been a fatal shot-it'd blown half his neck off. Long mouthed something, but Kiyobashi couldn't make it out. With a final suck at his cigarette, Long flicked it away, coughed once and dropped to the floor.

Dead.

Kiyobashi laughed wildly as his wife and daughters hurried in, shrieking and running back out to call an ambulance.

He had won.

Long was dead, and his family intact. He could now spend the rest of his life with them...

And then Senior Detective Hiro Kiyobashi passed out.

----------------

He woke up five hours later in a local hospital. With no real surprise, Kiyobashi saw Luciansat standing over his hospital bed.

"I take it everything is satisfactory now?"

Hiro nodded slowly.

"Wouldn't the battle be over by now?"

The Brother shook his head.

"Time doesn't matter here. I will be back the same second I left. And now, I must leave you. Congratulations, Detective. With a little help, you pieced your life together again. Such is not an easy task. Your submission here will mean a better multiverse, ultimately."

These words uneased Hiro, somewhere in his mind, but he shrugged off his concern and nodded again.

Luciansat turned and left the room. Kiyobashi felt himself fading out of consciousness when a strong voice tethered him back to the world.

"It's what you really want, isn't it?"

Hiro craned his head to the other side of his bed, and was mildly shocked to see the image of Ganelon.

"What?"

"Most of the other champions aspire to something, an advancement or betterment of their life...but all you want is what was taken from you. That is an admirable quality, contentment."

"Yeah, well..." Hiro smirked. "I'm pretty much there now, aren't I?"

Ganelon returned the grin, albeit more sadly. "Yes. You are."

Kiyobashi cut to the chase. "Look, I know you came here to talk me out of this...but I can't. It's too much. I have everything I want here. I guess..." he looked down, "I guess I'm not enough of a man to turn down paradise for the betterment of someone else."

Ganelon shook his head. "I don't believe that. You're a good man, Hiro. You're just confused, that's all..."

The mage walked to the foot of Kiyobashi's bed, his back turned to Hiro.

"What if I told you I could bring you back here?"

Hiro stared on, uncomprehendingly.

"If you help me defeat the Brothers...after this is all over, you'll be back here, as if nothing had happened."

"You...you can do that?"

"Yes." The answer was strained; obviously, this was against Ganelon's values. "If you can help me...I can help you."

He turned now, looking at Hiro. "You will have no memory of the Nexus, no recollection of me or the other champions...you'll just be back here. Free to spend the rest of your life with your family."

Hiro stared at him for an eternity.

He glanced at the bedside table-Mai and Koni had made him a red-laced card. Inscribed on it was Get well soon, Daddy. Love, Mai and Koni.

With a shaky sigh, Kiyobashi nodded.

"But at the end of this...I will be with my family again."

He said it as a statement, not a question. Ganelon nodded softly.

"I promise."

And then, in a bright flash. Kiyobashi was standing back in the canyon-valley, his family nothing but a painful memory again.

Gritting his teeth with determination, Kiyobashi ran to help Bob and Shade again...

Hmmm, let's see. . . This is all playing out VERY nicely, if I do say so myself. . . And TLTE, your last two posts are SPLENDID! That scenario with Ganelon is fine, in fact, you portrayed his character just about perfectly! (Keep this deal they made in mind for future reference, however.) Shade, remember that Laesonthar, indeed all the Brothers, cannot bleed now, b/c they are merely synthegrams - i.e., no blood. And remember, they ARE pretty powerful, so it shouldn't be this easy for Shade to do all this to the draconian. And Pengun, I have NO IDEA what you're doing with Icharich and Rasheavan, but it'll be interesting to see how it plays out. Just post the second part of that AFTER this post sometime to say what happens BEFORE this post, as I'm too impatient to wait any longer! You also should remember to keep down the power-playing. I think you're doing alright for now, but be careful. Thankee!

And now, onward with ze post! (Boy, I'm starting to sound like Geb. . .)

-----

Down on the battlefield, the elves were waging a losing battle as the Dark King led his foul minions against the castle. The Amber Wizardesses Ektra and Crystalia were doing their best to hold the front line, but were failing against the incredible power of Ungarrant.

-----

Laesonthar, being goaded by Shade, prodded by Bob, and fired upon by the returned-with-a-new-determination Kiyobashi, curled up into something of a ball.

"Yes!" Shade cried. "We've got 'im now!"

Bob wasn't so sure. "Um, Shade. . ."

With a sound that seemed like an inhuman howl, Laesonthar uncurled, hands and arms splaying wide as magical energy as black as night exploded out of him, knocking the three back severely.

-----

Rasheavan had recovered his wits and was again gaining ground on the mysteriously empowered Icharich. Icharich scampered backward, making the demon Brother pay for every inch.

Ford was pulling Ti-Shen out of harm's way as Shadowlord and Inchaura flashed bolts of psychically-generated energy at one another.

-----

Lucisanat stood at the crest of a rise in the rock, letting the sun bask in the light of his glory. He had fulfilled someone today, at the same time removing his meddling presence.

Now, to return to the battle and help his no-doubt struggling Brothers. . .

He looked down. And frowned.

There, recovering from Laesonthar's attack, was Hiro Kiyobashi!

But how-? Ah. Lucisanat should have guessed. Ganelon had promised him something - no doubt the return of his family once he and his Brothers were removed.

He sighed. This would have to be dealt with another way. . . He floated down from the crest, seeming for all the world like a golden god come to bring fire to his primitive creations.

Yes. He smiled. Fire. Deadly fire of his wrath.

-----

Kiyobashi stood up and looked around. Laesonthar seemed renewed, Rasheavan was pushing the others back, and Lucisanat - Blast him! was levitating down to stand by his Brothers.

Finally the three Brothers and and Shadowlord were facing Kiyobashi, Inchaura, and the others.

All were sweating. Breathing heavily.

An impasse. Neither side could overcome the other. A stalemate.

Lucisanat broke the silence. "Come, this is a useless battle. Neither of us can yet conquer."

Ford replied, "Yeah. . . like that's. . . gonna stop us. . . from trying. . ."

Lucisanat smiled and continued, "The driving force behind this battle is our father the Dark King. Antepre Ungarrant. He is the one who wants this attack. Not us.

"If you all can destroy him, we will leave."

Yoda, having been revived, panted, "Just like that?"

"Just like that."

"No way!" Shade retorted. "We can't trust THOSE guys. . ."

"Yes." Kiyobashi's remark turned everyone's heads. "We can trust him. To a degree, at least. When he says he will do something. . . I believe. . . he will do it."

Lucisanat's smile brightened. "Then. . . is it a deal?"

Kiyobashi looked at the others. "If you return Ti-Shen's mind to his body. . . it's a deal."

Lucisanat nodded. "Dear Brother," he said, "please release that one."

"What? No. . ." Rasheavan pouted, but he gave in. Ti-Shen awoke with a gasp.

Icharich spoke up. "It's a deal. If we take out your father, you, and your armies, will leave."

Laesonthar grunted, and the Brothers, along with Shadowlord, vanished.

The champions looked down, to see the Dark King, the Evil Father, engaging the Amber Wizardesses on foot. Winning. By a large margin.

They marched down, wading through the battlefield to face him. Him.

Antepre Ungarrant.

-----

Okay, now it's time to start the fight between King Ungarrant and the champions and Amber Wizardessess. Remember, he's virtually all-powerful and can do practically anything, but his old age keeps him in check. It has decreased his energy levels, his thinking skills, and his physical toughness. Thus, his old age is his only weakness. Thanks.

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Play epic RPGs such as Dark Exile, or duel in the Interdimensional Arena @ The High Citadel

(Okay, this takes place after my last post, but before the last two. Actually, I read back a bit, did anyone else know that Ti-Shen is only a bit taller then tree feet? He's shorter than Icarich!)

"I think you know who I am Rasheavan..."

Icarich growled.

Rasheavan squinted at him, concentrating noticably.

"Yes, you do not belong in that body. It's been awhile hasn't it Kuli?"

"Indeed." Icarich pointing the mlaelstaff on his arm at Rasheavan "If you'd be willing, I'd like a moment before we continue this little duel."

Rashevan smiled "Of course. I'll relish devouring your mind and soul again."

Icarich hesitantly backed away from Rasheavan until he reached where Ford was standing with the prone figures of Yoda and Ti-Shen.

"How are they? Did Rasheavan destroy them?" whispered Icarich to Ford.

Ford reached into their minds, probing for their thoughts.

He shook his head grimly. "No, but there isn't much there, enough to live maybe...but their memories and personalities have been drained. Now do you mind telling me what that was all about?"

"Alright, it's not a long story. I am not Icarich. My name is Kuli, Rasheavan devoured my mind a long time ago, I'm merely borrowing Icarich's body."

Ford glared at him. "You can't just steal someone's body! Icarich must now be trapped inside of Rasheavan because of you, and how did you trick Inchura?"

"Well..." Kuli looked away from Ford "...I sneaked along with Icarich's concious into his body. He's still here though, and he did consent. He's just letting me control."

Ford looked into Icarich's mind and realised that he was indeed there, but seemed to have moved into a lower level of conciousness. It seemed like Icarich was watching and mulling over the events while Kuli was in control. It was unlike anything he had ever seen in someone's mind.

"I see...and you are a mage?"

"Yes, I was a very powerful magic user in my world. But power wanes with age, especially when you have no contact with your body. I'm much weaker than I was. When I felt Icarich's thoughts I wanted to help the battle however I could."

Ford frowned "What about Rasheavan, can you defeat him?"

Kuli looked somber "No, but together..."

"We can destroy him?"

"We can stall him at most...he's far too powerful of a being for the two of us to take, but we can slow him down at least."

"I think that's about enough talking. Come here so I can consume you again!" Rasheavan yelled impatiently.

Kuli whispered harshly to Ford "I'll keep him occupied, you are a healing warrior aren't you? Restore Yoda's thoughts, we may need his healing abilities too."

"I can hold him off myself! And what about Ti-Shen?" Ford still didn't entirely trust Kuli, wether Icarich did or not.

"Fine provide cover fire with your weapon, as for Ti-Shen...I'll think of something."

With that Kuli trotted off towards Rasheavan with the mlaelstaff coiled around one of his lesser arms like a gun.

The battle erupted suddenly with Rashevan turning into a sprawling black creature made up of thousands of blades and claws. It leapt at Kuli who formed a shield of shimmering hot air. The battle went back and forth for some time with neither combatant making much ground. Kuli was barely holding up though, and it was clear that only Ford's occasional support fire was keeping him in the battle.

Ford was fighting his own battle, he had to try and read Yoda's memories from Rasheavan whenever he was distracted and forcefully insert them into Yoda's conciousness.

Quickly it became apparant that Kuli couldn't hold up against Rasheavan's assault and he was forced retreat.

Yoda seemed to be restored, but he was extremely dazed, and Ford was forced to keep any stray fire from hitting him or Ti-Shen, he dragged both to safety.

Rasheavan abruptly stopped his attack and returned to his humanoid form. Kuli desperately needing the break rushed backwards, his body weak from exertion. He realised with a start that he was almost back to back with the other champions, the three brothers had stopped fighting, and were standing together across from the group.

Shade looked at Icarich incredulously "Since when could the little one do that?"

"I'll explain later." replied Ford.

(Okay, long post. I tried to make it line up with HighEmp's as much as I could, but I did make Icarich's power unmysterious. Anyway, at least now he can hold his own in a fight.)

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I created the most popular toilet 3do ever!
http://files.massassi.net/3do/toilet2.zip

hmm, okay. I'll post what I can, when I can. but umm, for now, let's just say shade is trying to catch his breath. as for ungarrant, how about we do something simple. he's nearly all powerful, simply cuz of his age. shade is nearly all powerful when he goes into a rage attack. of course, not quite on par with ungarrant, but umm, shade is sent into a rage by his senses being blocked (both physical and/or metaphysical) and (hint, hint) being dealt near-critical damage. by the time shade is in a rage, everyone will have beat up on ungarrant enough to bring him down to shade's level. then shade can use a merger and the whole group (as one being collectively called...umm...I dunno...Elivar?) can take out ungarrant. afterwards shade will pass out from exertion. that way I am out for the duration of my grounding. please? and I ain't getting all-powerful either. plus this way, we can blend abilities...it took me an hour to figure this out. what do you think? oh and since a lot of you won't reply to my weapons request...I think I have a pretty good idea of what to give you. by the time we get to the distribution time, I'll know precisely what to give each of your characters. thanks! talk to ya later (hopefully tomorrow.) btw, like my sig? i saw it in a dream and liked it.

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I have gone out to find myself. If I should come back before I return, hold me here until I get back.

That sounds fine, Shade. But we need some people to start attacking Ungarrant! Once that's started, Geb or I will post some for Ungarrant to show you what kind of stuff he can do. Remember, you have the two Amber Wizardesses, Ektra and Crystalia, to help!

------------------
Play epic RPGs such as Dark Exile, or duel in the Interdimensional Arena @ The High Citadel

otay! groovy!
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after looking around, shade finally spotted the Ungarrant on his dragon, looping around, dodging blasts of energy from the Decimator Rifle, and dishing out death when possible. Shade turns to Icarich

"we're going to have to talk after this. you have some marvelous magic abilities that should be trained. but not now. I'm going to scout out a knot of gravitic energy. I'm a bit drained from all that activity."

With that said, Shade walked over in one direction, eliciting some surprise from the others as, with nothing but a ripple in the very fabric of space, Shade dissappeared, going after a spot he thought would be particularly thick with the kind of energy he needed.
-------------
shade has two methods of teleportation. one is for himself alone, and the other is for any number of people. the personal teleport simply pulls a section of space to Shade's current location. then releases it, dragging shade along for the ride. this one can go anywhere shade has been or has the spacial coordinates of, barring interdimensional transport (he ain't learned that trick yet...probably gonna be while.) the other method simply generates a matter-hoovering wormhole from point A to point B. this one is limited in distance to spots where coordinates are known, or places within viewing range. (including artificial assistance such as viewing spells, telescopes, scrying, etc...). in other words, the spell for transporting others simply sucks up all intended targets and spits them out in the right order at the wormhole's terminus. sounds fun...no?

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I have gone out to find myself. If I should come back before I return, hold me here until I get back.

hello? something the matter? where'd y'all go?

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I have gone out to find myself. If I should come back before I return, hold me here until I get back.

I'm still recouperating from my last post.

gee, I wonder what happened to everyone else? I've never known for real-life to affect everyone like this at once. ARRGGH! where are y'all at? I can't post till you folks do.

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I have gone out to find myself. If I should come back before I return, hold me here until I get back.

sry haven't been around for awhile and I have absoulutely no idea what to post.

(NSP: I didn't want Kiyobashi and Bob to just coincidentally be the first into the battle again, but I...er...got sick of waiting )

In the confusion that followed the heroes' first true test against the three Brothers, most were wounded, unconscious, or at the very least, a little disoriented.

That said, Bob and Hiro fared the best out of all of them, except maybe Shade. The two of them were relatively unhurt (physically at least), and charged back down the valley toward Ungarrant. The way Kiyobashi saw it, they were the most expendable, out of all of the champions, in that they had no ultra-special ability. If they fell in battle, the others still stood a good chance of victory.

A ridge partially obscured the view of the King and the Amber Wizardesses for the barest of moments, but when Hiro could see them again, he almost wished he hadn't.

Ektra and Crystalia lay still on the battlefield, their eyes closed. Ungarrant's hands glowed with fading energy. It didn't take a rocket scientist to deduce that the Amber Wizardesses had just experienced the full brunt of the Dark King's power. Whether they were unconscious or dead, they were out of it for the time being.

"Wonderful," muttered Kiyobashi. "Just the champions onto the most powerful guy in the multiverse."

"Just because he's all-powerful doesn't mean he's the most powerful."

Kiyobashi nodded. Bob was corrrect.

"Besides..." the Janitor smiled a little, "The odds are in our favour, even without the help of the Wizardesses."

Kiyobashi glanced nervously up the pass. Fortunately, their backup was right on time, hurrying to help them.

"All right." Hiro drew in a deep breath. "Let's give this guy a little trial-by-fire, scope him out for the other champions."

Simultaneously, they started down the final hill, stepping down onto the flat, arena-like plateau. Ungarrant smiled, revealing crooked, hideously old teeth.

"Remember, Hiro...his only weakness is his age..."

"Yeah, well...I'm sure we can find a few more soft spots in that indestructable armour, huh? Find a way around him, Bob. I'll head up the front."

With a quick nod, Bob broke off, sprinting off out of Hiro's peripheral vision.

"King Antepre Ungarrant..."

"You'll forgive me if I don't know your name, little man," rasped Ungarrant. His voice was like steel scraping against tougher steel.

"Well," said Kiyobashi, bowing, "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Senior Detective Hiro Kiyobashi, of the Tokyo State Police, and you...are under arrest!"

King Ungarrant shrieked in derisive laughter. "The Rulers of the multiverse Themselves cannot withold my might, and you seek to confine me on your OWN, little man?"

Kiyobashi gritted his teeth. "That 'little man' thing is getting annoying."

He drew his Officer's sword, which gleamed a silvery-gold in the sunlight.

"I'm going to have to teach you a lesson in manners."

"The only lesson that will be taught today, little man-" Ungarrant's aged hand grasped at a sheath on his back- "Will be a very violent sort. Taught to you and your champion friends."

Then he pulled it out.

An absolutely MASSIVE sword, bigger than any Kiyobashi had ever seen before. Only supernatural strength would be able to wield it effectively.

"But we have talked enough, little man." Ungarrant raised his sword over his head, meaning to either flatten Kiyobashi with it, or bisect him.

"Time to kill y-"

When suddenly Bob leaped at Ungarrant, jamming his makeshift spear into the back of the Dark King's neck.

The reinforced-iron spearhead crushed against Ungarrant's neck, and the shaft snapped like a twig.

Bob's eyes widened almost comically, and Ungarrant turned to face him very slowly.

"I'm sorry, friend. I forgot about you. Perhaps I'll deal with you FIRST-"

And then he swung his sword sideways, intending to decapitate the Janitor. Bob's reflexes, deceptively good for his appearance, bested the King's swing and he ducked, then rolled forward, barely missing his enemy's follow-up strike.

It was Kiyobashi's turn. He raised his sword and, with lightning speed, chopped at the side of Ungarrant's head.

Not surprisingly, the blade bounced off his head with so much force that Hiro had to fight to stay on his feet.

My God, thought Hiro, How the Hell are we meant to kill this guy?

Ungarrant leered at them again.

"My turn."

And then suddenly he was upon them, swinging and striking with such astonishing speed that Hiro found himself almost impressed.

Almost.

Kiyobashi blocked what he could of Ungarrant's swings, but each successful counter shook his sword and himself so violently that he almost coudln't recover in time for the next parry.

Bob was, if anything, worse off; his broom-spear gone, he had nothing at all to defend himself with, save dodging and hoping that the King wouldn't hit him.

"BOB!" Kiyobashi blocked another blow, and staggered backward. "GO! GET HELP! QUICK! GET ANOTHER WEAPON, WHILE YOU'RE AT IT!"

Bob nodded, and sprinted off toward the start of the valley ascent.

Kiyobashi spared one last look at the fallen Amber Wizardesses before continuing his one-sided duel with Ungarrant, thinking silently; What I would give for a little HELP...

nice set up. shade will come in now, but only to get ungarrant's attention with one of his vicious little attacks. oh, after this battle talk to me about that attack thing and i'll hook you up, after all, icarich has shown magic ability, shade is going to teach him some spells to make use of it, if that is acceptible(sp?)
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after noticing Bob running back towards the rest of the group with out a weapon, Shade quickly scanned the battle field for Ungarrant, and spotted him, advancing on the relatively helpless Hiro.

I should get over there now that I've recharged He thinks to himself,

Quickly Teleporting back, Shade manages to land directly behind Ungarrant without arousing his attention

:Hiro, don't react, I am speaking directly into your mind, just hold on, keep him focused on you, call him names and such. I'm about to catch his attention the hard way.:

after sending this quick message, Shade waits for Hiro to comprehend, and soon is rewarded by hearing Hiro shout:

"so, what were god's parents like? weren't they good friends of yours? Old man?
and umm, how exactly does evolution happen? after all, you've seen it haven't you, aged one?"

Shade, grinning at the age-orieented insults, began charging to unleash a burst of pure Energy.

"glac'rosto-krauq'zahj!" with a dumbfounded look on his face, Ungarrant turned around to see who was shouting at him, and recieved the blast of energy square in the chest, the blow tossing him back a foot and denting his armor

Ungarrant:"You will pay for that you little upstart!"

Shade:"bring it on! you can't hurt what you can't hit you blind old BAT[/b]!
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OOC:NEXT! who wants the next shot at him?

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I have gone out to find myself. If I should come back before I return, hold me here until I get back.