In the Neverending Tower, Highemperor is - hey, what's this? A force screen is set up around his desk? I can't get through! Dangit! ARGH! My omnipotent power is being undermined! Noooooooooo!
Highemp: *munching* Care for a donut?
Sure. *munch* Mmm. . . thanks. *goes off elsewhere, probably to bother Gebohq*
Highemp: *whispers crazily to himself as he hunches over his computer in his cramped cubicle* Very interesting. I'm cataloguing all the most powerful, the most evil, and the most pure of heart and hungry of stomach throughout the entire OmNicron. I've discovered that all these things can be found in NeS. Let's update my list.
-----
Highemp's List
MOST POWERFUL
donuts - this is the primal hunger at the core of all living things
Editorship - The position of Editor over all the OmNicron.
MOST EVIL
Darkside 3000 - Darkside from the year 3000, appearing on page 50, according to JK the White's FSotNeS (Future Script of the NeS)
High Imp - Ruler of the Tenth Hell, more evil than Jar Jar Binks, Matthew Pate, Bill Gates, or even *gasp* Gettle's Keyboarding Teacher.
MOST PURE OF HEART AND HUNGRY OF STOMACH
Gebohq - Hands down. Well, for the hungry of stomach part, anyway, which of course is all that counts
-----
Highemp: Hmmm. . . now this can be worked to my advantage, I simply know it can.
-----
In the wherever-Geb-and-MZZT-are. . .
Maeve: *vomits*
Geb: Yes! She's awake! Maeve, are you alright?
Maeve: ... Stop leaning over me, that's why I vomited in the first place.
Geb: Oh.
Suddenly a portal opens, and through it, Highemp's face can be seen.
Highemp: Hear me, ye heroes that yet remain. I yet live. And though the others yet live under Darkside's spell, there is yet hope for them. And yet-
MZZT: Shaddap with the yet's already!
Geb: Highemp! *rushes to hug Highemp through the portal, and he (Highemp) comes crashing down through the portal in a most undignified manner*
Highemp: *picking himself and dusting himself off* *dryly* Thanks, Geb. That's all I needed right now. My grand entrance SPOILED thanks to your-
Maeve: *vomits again* *on Highemp's shoes* *on purpose*
Highemp: *glare*
Geb: Alright, enough, people, let us keep the peace.
MZZT: Okay, fine. Let's get going to save the heroes. I know how to cure them.
Highemp: Yes, but there is a quicker way. The evil pies - which are in fact, purely feel-good pies, as you know, MZZT - can be counteracted by doughnuts*!
-----
*This was the importance to the plot of the correct spelling of doughnut by Geb earlier.
-----
Geb: Whee! That's great!
Suddenly a golden sheen can be seen coming from the sky - or ceiling, if they're inside; I'm too lazy to check - and two figures appear, both winged in haloes of light, grand and epic they are, when-
*CRASH*
TLTE: Oof.
Absolver: *crashing into Maeve* Oops. Sorry, mate.
Geb: Absolver! *runs to hug him but is stopped by Highemp*
Highemp: You can't just go around hugging people all day, Geb. It slows us down.
Geb: Hey, bucko, YOU'RE the one who said I was most pure of heart.
Absolver: Sup, mate?
TLTE: Kindly shut up, man, while I explain our mission to these mere mortals.
Highemp: *bristling* I am no mere mortal, and you'd best remember that.
TLTE: Da, Da, whatever. Anyway, ol' Saint Pete told us what we had to do, and that's to-
Highemp: Stop the coming Zero Hour?
TLTE: Well, I was gonna say stop Darkside and TFFE, THEN stop Zero Hour, but yeah.
Absolver: Hey, how'd ya know?
Highemp: I know many things. As I said, I am no mere mortal.
TLTE: *whispers to Highemp* You might wanna tone down the seriousness bit just a tad. Or you'll get stuck with someone like Absolver.
Highemp: Huh?
TLTE: Nothing. Forget it.
Geb: Anyhow, we need to get to Stonehenge. Galrek should have everyone gathered by now.
TLTE: No problem, I'll teleport us there. What's the use of cool angelic powers if you don't get to use them?
-----
Two seconds later, the entire group appears miles in the sky above Stonehenge.
Highemp: *to TLTE, watching Geb, MZZT, Absolver, and Maeve fall* Perhaps it might be wise to remember that not everyone can fly.
TLTE: Right. *dives down to catch them*
Highemp: *sigh* Why are the dumb ones always the ones chosen by destiny?
Because it's always funnier when the dumb ones are the ones chosen by destiny.
Highemp: No one asked you. *zooms down to the ground, where the others have made it quite safely, thanks to TLTE's timely catch*
Well, the others except Absolver. He slammed into the ground and went six feet under.
Geb: He's dead?
MZZT: Again?
Maeve: Good riddance.
No, I mean he went six feet under. The ground. You know? Underground?
Highemp: NOW do you see what I mean, Narrator?
Yeah, yeah, rub it in, why doncha?
Highemp: *smirk* I was.
Dr. Dormouse: *poking head above ground from hole Absolver made* Oh, hallo. You'll never believe what I just found!
MZZT: Absolver, dead as a doornail?
TLTE: *holds breath*
Dormouse: No.
Highemp: An anti-Euclidean geometrical pattern detailing the intricacies of the universe?
Dormouse: Well, yes, but that's not what I was talking about.
Geb: Donuts?
Everyone turns to look at Geb.
Geb: Hey, just asking.
Dr. Dormouse: Actually, that's exactly what I found.
Geb: Yes! Score one for ol' Geb!
Maeve: Considering you've had 49 pages of trying, that's not too good.
Geb: Hush you.
Everyone descends into the hole, where they discover a huge complex in the center of the ancient underground city Dormouse discovered. The buildings and towers are crafted entirely out of brick, stone, and dirt, yet have held up throughout the eons thanks to incredibly advanced plot-hole-stabiliziation technology (PHS tech). A pattern traced in plotlines is woven through the air up into the aboveground Stonehenge area itself.
Galrek has rounded up Antestarr and JK the White, and they are waiting with Dr. Dormouse and a very black and bruised Absolver.
Geb: You should be dead!
Absolver: I AM dead. That's why I can't die.
Highemp: 'It is given once to a man to die, twice to be judged, and no more.'
*smacks Highemp on the head for bringing a religious quote into the story*
Highemp: Sorry.
There is also an ancient bakery just beyond the plotline pattern, filled with doughnuts.
Maeve: So what is all this?
JK the White: Behold the great realm and druidic city Doughnutdelf.
Maeve: Riiiight. And that means what?
Highemp: The ancient druids of Britannia were wise beyond measure. They knew that doughnuts - not donuts, mind you, but DOUGHNUTS - were the ultimate force in the universe. Thus they built the world's finest bakery here, and constructed this plotline pattern with their PHS technology to make a universal Weave by which no one could ever surpass their doughnuts, and they would conquer all time and space.
MZZT: If what you say is true, then why DIDN'T they conquer all time and space?
JK the White: Well, two kids came along and tossed the baker in the oven.
Galrek: Two kids?
Antestarr: *lazily* Surely you've heard of the story "Hansel and Gretel"? Based on fact, though the druids did NOT eat children, so don't worry.
Maeve: *huffily* I wasn't.
Dr. Dormouse: But do you understand that scientific significance of this? A non-Euclidean geometry governs the cosmos! Why-
As he rants on, everyone ignores him.
Geb: So my instincts to gather at Stonehenge were right on the money.
Highemp: As they say, follow your stomach. Now, all that remains is to USE these doughnuts to cure the other heroes!
------------------
Quest on epic adventures or duel at the
High Citadel!
[This message has been edited by Highemperor (edited September 25, 2003).]
Visit my all-new website, the [url=http://com3.runboard.com/blazaruscitadel]Lazarus Citadel[/url!