New Beginning 23: One for the Record Books

[Celadon's Penultimate]

Nano wrote

"Ummm, excuse me? Did I hear the word detonated? As in, 'Detonation has already occurred'? That detonation?" the one calling himself Aaron asked.

And 'detonated' was precisely what young Nano heard over Marv's K.A.R.M.A. PA system. In the distance, and fast spreading, was a legion of robots nearly matching that just seen on Earth with the first Technari invasion. And numbers seemed to be building fast.

As heavily armed drones and planes and hover-pods went out and about Cykosha, the Kethencian manor itself would be besieged by ten menacing mechs, each easily 15 or 20 stories tall. Each raising a hand bearing some hateful weapon--a plasma cannon, a wrecking-ball flail, an energy sword, a razor net--they would barrage the manor full force. Difficult as they were to acquire, whatever chips and scraps they knocked off were sucked up into extradimensional portals in their chests, perhaps to be salvaged for whatever magic potential they possessed.

Great thunderous crashes could be heard at every side. The towering pillars throughout the manor were tested for their might with the hateful rumblings of some otherworldly earthquake. Out the windows, smaller mechs could be seen in the yonder, launching plasma rays and warp-pulse cannons and mini-grav bombs and shock grenades this way and that. All the better for them if citizens might get caught in the crossfire.

A boom shocked the Penultimate from his stunned disbelief, when he perceived it to be less than 100 feet away. Just in time, he noticed a group of partygoers outside, attempting to escape across the courtyard, back inside for shelter. A robotic whirring noise came to his ears, and he saw the mechanical feet that stomped after them. His form grew into The Black Wulf, and he stormed out through the crowded masses. Bounding through the window, he would knock the citizens out of the way, and instead take the brunt of the mech's foot himself.

To his fortune, he'd handled worse attacks, by better men, and survived. That in mind, he reared up, knocked the mech back, and leaped atop its burly metal frame. And as he ripped out the mechanical man's metal and plastic innards, he sprang tendrils from his back to antagonize a few other bots, until he was done with the first. When that one had been shredded up to his liking, he would bound off into the fray with ferocity renewed.

[The Narrator]

"Who were they calling goofy!" Narrator mumbled to himself as the others
scrambled to prepare for the oncoming attack.

 "I guess I should follow this Aaron while he's still in an amensiac state.
  Hopefully we can get to PU and find a way to save everyone.  "

Narrator flies off towards Aaron, following close behind.....

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

There was a dreadful crash as Ammon punted another robot clear into the sky, only three more to peel around the corner and start lighting up the entire street with gunfire. The mummy dived into a nearby shop as the laser bored holes into the street. All around him was the sweet smell of burning amber.

The orbital bombardment had caused everything to take on a amber haze as pieces of the city were melted, evaporated, and blown into the air. Not finding Munch in the buffet area, they had gotten the idea that he might have joined the party goers in scattering into the city. The fight, thank Horus, had been centered on the mansion where the boss of this city lived. As you moved away from that, and away from the party, you started getting less mechanical monsters to deal with.

As the three hovering death drones burst through the window Ammon reflected that less that a lot was still way too many. He grabbed the nearest thing, a grandfather clock taller than he was, and chucked it at the sideways. The heavy clock scythed them out of the air and scattered their parts across the clock shop floor. There was silence, for the moment. Enough time to catch his breath. He set the mead on the ground and rested himself on it, turning to the little goblin perched on his shoulder. "Would he go back to the bakery?"

Gob nodded, then shook his head no, then after a moment's indecision started nodding again.

"That doesn't give me anything." Ammon pleaded.

"Maybe bakey...maybe somewhere else." The little guy said, stamping his foot. "Check bakery."

"All right, check bakery." Ammon said, hefting the keg back up onto his shoulder. "Should be somewhere around here, right?"

[Philote]

Knight steps through the opposite door of the Guardian's room and finds himself in a very familiar location. The room where the Red Eye had been locked away isn't quite how he left it, having been repaired since the battle, but the place is still impossible to not recognize. Already in the room, a blue cube is standing and slowly dissipating, revealing Vault and Miss Shield standing inside.

"Phi was nice enough to move the outer door into place before he got distracted. Let's get this ordeal underway, I think I'm going to be called away for combat before too long."

The Guardian has followed through silently behind Knight.

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

I stare down the initial fleet hanging in space, surrounding the spot where my planet had existed a few moments before. I sweep my eyes over each ship, taking advantage of the small moment before combat starts to read my enemies. The outer ring of my iris swirls as it locates the main philotes of each individual ship while the inner ring begins to decode their data. The quantity of ships was present, but not quite the quality. It seemed like the big guns were being held in reserve while our powers where being whittled down now that their power dampeners had been taken out of commission.

I start off combat, summoning two SPL nodes from within myself and splitting them between my palms. I put a spark of energy within them and they begin to write the philotic structure of the two legendary beasts of which I'm summoning. Two golden dragonborn rise as I reprint the data of Gilgamesh. On my right, a humanoid stands, covered in shining scales that have grown into the form of strong plate armor. This creature shines with an inspiring brilliance, appearing as a combination of a majestic dragon and a righteous paladin (A Dragadin if you will). On my left, nothing but the remains of a feral beast can be seen. The creature writhes in fury and its once perfect armor is now stretched and torn beyond what it could bear. The flames of conflict pour out from this creature's wounds, but the pain only serves to drive its fury harder. These two creatures represent the epitomes of Gilgamesh's two birth domains brought to their fullest.

I take the source SPL node for Gilgamesh and feed its data into my Core. My energy wings take on a draconic appearance and golden scales spread across my body. Even my eyes change to that of a dragon's with my two data rings being overlaid above. With the data merging done, I return Halo to what now was my claws and the three of us, Dragadin, Feral, and Phi-Gilgameshs, spread out to cut through the invading forces.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Knight stared around the area. "Are we truly here? What sort of ordeal?"

[Marvelous Miscreant]

Marv sprinted down the halls of his fortress. To say that things had gotten out of hand would be an understatement. Robots were storming the city, party guests were in danger and KARMA seemed to be offline. It was a complete disaster.

Marv grimaced as he powered up a flight of stairs and emerged on the battlements overlooking the city. Fires burned everywhere, illuminating the amber smoke that choked the cities skies and cast the city in an awful orange glow. Bright streaks of energy flashed in between the buildings accompanied by screams of terror and distant explosions.

Marv gasped in horror, he felt like he'd just been punched in the stomach. Everything he'd built, everything he'd worked for...in flames.

"No....." he managed to gasp

Marv's mind reeled. He had to do something, anything.

But all he could manage was to stare in horror.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

In the midst of the chaos, masses scattered about in confusion and terror, two hulking robotic giants entered Marv's house through a hole in the wall. One was familiar with red eyes, but it was a surprise to see the other one converted to the side of evil. Nevertheless, here the two stood before Marv, as though they had been comrades all along.

"Megatron, you take the left wing. I'll take the right." it was Optimus Prime, "We'll regroup around the other side, where Bumblebee and Starscream will herald the Terminators."

"And what about the Weather Modulator?" the Decepticon replied, "Hard-Drive said that we would have it by now!"

"Within the hour, Megatron. Within the hour. Have patience. This is just a small part of the objective. The smallest fraction, even."

Megatron smirks. The two Transformers exchange an affirming nod, and tromp through the crowds, off to their missions.

[Marvelous Miscreant]

"...get out"

The sound was barely a whisper as it escaped Marv's throat. He was shaking visibly, his eyes glued to a distant point in space.

"Get out."

The floor rumbled slightly.

"GET OUT OF MY HOME!"

Marv's eyes flashed red. Something deep inside him, snapped. Maroon, rocky skin formed about his hands and sharp spines erupted from his shoulders. Dark smoke poured from his mouth, pooling at his feet. Scarlet lights flashed in the murk of the smoke illuminating Marv's face from below and giving it a hollowed appearance. A hateful smile flashed on Marv's face.

With lightning speed he moved, dashing forward. His right arm extended towards Megatron. A massive sharp crystal spine exploded from his palm, impaling the Transformer in the chest at an angle and piercing the ceiling above him. Marv's head then snapped to face Optimus, a crimson beam of fire and lighting flared from his eyes. The beam's heat melted the amber and glass walls and engulfed Optimus. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed Megatron's body across the room, retracting the spine as he did.

"Who's next?" he growled.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

"You heard him, Master Hard-Drive!" called a chipper voice, hidden in the midst of the rushing crowds, "Might I confront the Miscreant now?"

Hard-Drive's staticky sigh emerged from the wrist communicator of one Irken GIR unit, "Fine. Have your go at him. But only because I really dislike you, and want to see you perish."

"Yahoo!"

And off the robotic little cretin scampered through the stampeding masses. Clanky robotic feet clattered across the courtyard grounds, the sound of his approach drowned out by the firing of hateful plasma cannons, laser fire and the despairing screams of bruised and battered bystanders.

His trek was clunky, but swift. Such was the meaning of an upgrade within the Technari ranks. Intelligence upgrade, physical upgrade, weapons and tools upgrades, new and cutting-edge hardware and software upgrades. Gir had much for which to thank the Technari, and their leader, Motherboard Prime. And this would be the perfect opportunity to express that gratitude.

The Miscreant now in sight, he slapped the red panel newly built into his chest, and it began to glow. He hurtled himself over a bit of broken wall to face the indignant Miscreant. He chuckled a bit to himself. Zim wouldn't think he was so marvelous...

"Hey, you!" called the nasally robot voice to the Miscreant, as the panel's red glow shifted, spread out into a red anti-quartz aura across Gir's body, "00011011101001110101, BEE-YOTCH!!!"

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Vault was in a bad place.

He hated mind control. It was loathsome, a total violation of your victims being, ands he'd gone through this violation multiple times. Enough to know what it felt like when it was winning, and despite Shields protection and the strange resistance he felt interfering with the signal he could tell it was. Mostly because killing everyone in this weird dark hallway was starting to look like a really good idea. He knew that thought wasn't his, but at the same time it seemed like the best option. Kill these guys (it would be easy, all he had to do was blink at them and they'd be his, he would be able to do whatever he wanted at that point), head back through the door Shields had mentioned, and then give that Phi guy she'd mentioned a piece of his mind. He couldn't be that tough, in fact he was probably a pushover. He should do all that.

That's what the loud, oh so charismatic voice in his head was telling him to do. Then there was another one, being rapidly drowned out. One that was panicked, and angry, but was talking with him instead of at him and it sounded more like his. Together they were planning.

This one was saying that he had to find a way out of this. He must have some stupid power that he could use to throw that other smug prick out of his head if he'd just rub two brain cells together and think.

"Okay, so I'm a computer right now. Maybe turn into something organic? Like a Pokemon?" he asked the voice.

Was he crazy?. First of all, video game characters. The control would probably work, and if it didn't even the weakest of them was a walking terror and he'd still be able to blink at them. He had to use a different one. One so stupid he'd never that the opportunity to use it.

"Not that one, I'm not good at that one and it always comes out stupid." Vault pleaded.

Stupid, he reminded himself, was good right now. He had a combination that would cripple his most dangerous abilities if it didn't shuck the technopathy.

It sound like you're discussing a way to subvert the Technari influence. Why not just give in and let them lead you to a glorious collective utopia? came a third, electronic voice.

"Shut up Airi, I don't need an app talking down to me!"
Shut up Airi, he doesn't need an app talking down to him!

--------

Outside of is headspace, as Knight ran his hand along the stone wall of the chamber, Vault slowly raised up both his hands. They glowed. "I call upon the stars, and the twelve animals bound to me at birth." he said shakily, tracing one hand through the air. He drew a pair of wavy horizontal lines, with other vertical lines tracing down from them. Between the vertical ones he traced the letter Z.

"Through this I bring out these animals within." He said, and with his other hand traced a large, sloppy oval laying on it's side. Within this oval he poked, filling it with tiny dots. Around it, he drew more wavy lines.

"The Animal Glyphs." he said, the two glyphs combining and plunging into his chest. Immediately he began to grow, his skin becoming leathery like sandpaper. He pushed Shields away and he dropped to all fours. The claws on his gauntlet and normal hand began elongated, becoming sharp and sickle shaped. As he continued to grow his mouth began to widen, and tangled matted fur began to sprout from his hide. Knight ran over beides Shields, and could only stare up as the monster before him became as large as Earthshaker.

Vault finally stopped growing. The monster that stood before them let it's mouth flop open. Its completely toothless mouth.

"The world largest filter feeding fish: The Whale Shark. Natures listless layabout: The three toed sloth! I have combined my spirit animals into the most useless combination possible!" Is what Vault would have said, if either of these creature were capable of sound. Instead he just stood there, mouth agape. Its eyes were on either side of its head. It still had cat ears. It stall had the giant gauntlet, which had grown to accommodate his new size. Unable to muster the energy to support its great weight, it ever so slowly laid down upon the ground.

On the bright side, however, it had worked. There was no pressure in his now totally organic brain anymore. He wished he had some way to tell them that, but he could not. Knight entered his vision from around the side, and waved urgently. "Mr. Vaultboy? Are you still in there? Blink twice for 'yes'".

Vault sat there like a lump for 15 seconds closing his eyes once, then another 15 seconds before closing them again. Knight pondered this for a second, before walking back around the front of him and shaking his head at Shields. "I think he might be okay. So, whats the next step?"

(I figured, y'know, so long as everyone else is transforming.)

[Celadon's Penultimate]

@Dryad: As the meek and defenseless scattered to find escape and refuge from the robotic onslaught, a vague airy whisper trilled through the air. Whether it would reach the ears of its intended target or not, none could say.

Still, small though it was, the staticky voice would persist through the thick psychic space of the Miscreant's party hall and courtyard and manor.

"URGENT: Ms. Suzu, please notify your mistress to attend to the Homeworld. Forces are afoot, claiming to hail from the ranks of the Technari, have arrived at our gates. We took them for weaklings at the outset, but with armor and weapons coated in nectar from the magic-negating moly plant, we shall require your assistance, post haste. Apologies if this relay cuts short; they seem to have shocking proficiency for detecting and putting out sources of magic--"

The relay cuts short, just as predicted.

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

Suzu catches the message and states, "Mistress, I just got told that the others may need help. The enemies appear to have the capability to cancel out magic, so we'll likely be needing to use special abilities and unique abilities. Ki-based martial arts will likely be useful as well."

She pauses before continuing, "I have also received a message that the other maids are having some fun and that your nieces, Suzue and Aria, would like to join. The Head Maid though has sent a message that Aria's not allowed out right now and Suzue has her permission as well as the Head's. What do you want to do?"

I smile widely as I take in the scene before me, "We'll watch a little longer to take stock of the situation. It is quite a good thing that Head Maid's communication system that you maids use is not magic, but do tell them to be careful not to overuse it and be detected by the enemy on accident. Ah, yes, and please do tell Suzue that she can, by all means, come to the party."

================================

A few seconds later in the streets, a portal opens and a teenage girl wearing a black seifuku and her hair in a ponytail steps out with three maids behind her. They quickly look around and draw weapons to strike at any who attacks.

(Yes, this is Suzue appearing. As a note, she is second-in-line to become Head of the Shigemoto Household, but isn't as powerful as Suzu's mistress, Wen Mei)

[Celadon's Penultimate]

Left and right, the Penultimate bounded as Wulf to rip robots limb from limb. Everything he wished he could do to them, from the previous Technari invasion, he would do, and then some.

Any in physical range were snatched up in hateful jaws, clawed apart, stomped on, swiped aside by a hard-whipping tail. Any who met his gaze would be caught up in the tractor beam that his line of sight had become, and would be slung about with every turn of his attention. Any hairs dislodged from his body by snatching Technari hands, would be yanked up by his angry subconscious, and shot out like lethal-precise robot-homing hair-darts, hyper-charged to tachyon speed.

With breath changed into anti-metal poison, and drool from his voracious jaws made a wicked rusting agent, his bite was relentless. Bots dared not even cross his shadow, lest they be snatched into the Darkforce dimension, by the monstrous shadow-nasties he’d allowed to lurk in the shade of his wake.

And those who might have the audacity to pull his ears or tail, would be met with a devastating sonic burst, his own yelp of pain changed into a weapon in and of itself.

Though, to the enemy robots’ fortune, a distraction was soon on its way.

“Penultimate! Come in! Calling the Penultimate!” came the urgent cry across that band of spectrum he realized as one of Techne’s myriad secure lines, “We could use some help here!

In the fun of decimating the robot menace, he had forgotten just how far they could have spread, and he cursed himself for it. He would have to leave right immediately.

“ARRGH!!!” he chomped off the head of an android, and spat it out, before shifting back into human form, floating above the fray, “You chumps better count yourself lucky for now. My home needs me. But TRUST, I WILL be back. Until then, you raggedy rust-buckets.”

He disappeared from Cykosha, leaving a human-sized Penultimate-shaped energy nova in his wake, enough to take out everything within a 100-ft radius.

To the Penultimate’s keen sense of irony, he would be greeted by a similar assault of energy, barely a millisecond into his return to Keladon air space.

That, of course, was easy enough to recover from, to his fortune. Though, the sight below--of hulking AT-AT Walkers and Transformers and Terminators and various other drones and droids harassing his poor citizens--it would take a little minute to recoup from that. Then, at once, he remembered himself again, and hurtled himself down into the fray, body alight with psychic power and light and fire and electricity. The brawling on Cykosha was for fun. Now, it was time to really let out some anger.

[The Narrator]

The Narrator used various levels of awareness to survey the scene.  

 It looks like coordinated chaos,  he thought to himself.  He walked through the hordes of enemies, all who went towards in with violent actions rusted as he turned his aura into a temporal warp.  

 I just wonder if any of this is affecting the places I've been.  Too much is going on here locally for me to view other dimensions & realities.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Hearing the explosions shaking the walls from the outside, and having nothing better to do at the moment, Vault decides to use his X-ray vision to see what exactly is happening outside. He slowly puts his head at the correct angle to let at least one of his eyes see outside.

What he see's is a full scale invasion the likes of which even Earth didn't get, and he realizes for the first time that unleashing an ancient evil monster and then having it out with it in the middle of all this might not be the best idea. Panicking he tries to tell Knight and Shields, only to realize that neither of these animals were capable of making the sound necessary. Not a problem, not a problem, if he could just stand up and give them some sort of sign. He starts to stand up, and realizing very quickly that he can not because he slapped together the weight of worlds biggest fish and the muscles of the worlds laziest animal. Suddenly he gets an idea, and calls out to the spider twig thing on Knights arm.

"Listen, hey, you can't let them break the seal or whatever. If he does, all it's going to do is make a bad situation worse. It's robot hell up there, everything is on fire, he should focus on cleaning that up before he does this." he thinks at the spider really loudly.

There's no reply for a few long seconds, then...

Hey kid.

Knight brings his wrist up to his face.

Vault says do your best, he's pulling for you.

Vault pictures a rude gesture in his head and sends with all his might.

And that he's sure everything will work out for the best.

[Philote]

Miss Shields looks to Knight to see if Vault was truly alright and seeing him unconcerned, she recomposes herself and brings herself over to the seal.

"I'll work on this lock with the Guardian, just be ready to do what you have to do when it finally comes off."

The Guardian takes up his place opposite from her on the other side of the seal and they both face their palms towards the magic. A collection of gems grows out of the guardians body, one for each domain taught by the school and with one large yellow one coming out of his chest representing Protection. Miss Shield rises into the air and her blue energy begins to surround her, forming a golem-like construct with a hexagonal plate texture. The energy in the seal begins to ebb and flow and two different magical components begin to form and pull apart as if the Guardian and Miss Shield were two opposing magnets. The process is slow and the seal seems to resist being pulled apart.

Behind Knight and Vault, a bright light emits out from the hall's main door. The doors are thrown open and a figure walks in. "Billy! Care to explain yourself?"

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Knight instantly dives behind Vault's hulking form as he begins the long, slow process of turning of standing up. Knight calls out from behind Vault, clearly scrambling. "What have I, uh, Knight von Dark....Darkevil! What is Knight von Darkevil obliged to share with you? Even now my evil plan to, to, to, totototo SUBVERT THIS MONSTER TO MY DARK WILL is coming to fruition. Soon I will use its power to....uh....steal....um......the SUN! Yes! I'm going to steal the sun! You are clearly mistaken, stranger, I have no idea who this Billy Bishop you speak of is. Come no closer, for even now my loyal clawbeast stirs to rend you to pieces."

Having spouted off the biggest, least convincing crock of bull anyone in the room had ever heard in the entirety of their lives, shaking his head the entire time to Shields and the Guardian, Billy Bishop now frantically made hurry up gestures at them with his hands.

[Philote]

Zauber strides in and gives a wave to Miss Shield who continues her work. "Is that any way to greet an old friend? Besides, I didn't even say your last name. I don't remember you being such a bad liar."

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

He slowly pokes his head out from behind Vault, who had actually worked up the strength to raise a paw. "Isn't that just evidence that I'm not who you think I am?" He says, but at this point even he's not buying it. "Look, I have a mask and everything." He says weakly, pointing to it. "I'm clearly just some nefarious wizard who's about to be destroyed by his own hubris."

[The Narrator]

 *Narrator continues to survey the ensuing chaos...*

"I have to act now before...." he says before he disappears.

He looks up and around before smiling.
" I didn't expect to see you guys....  Why am I here?" He is surrounded by several people,
all heroes from the land of Gude and the city of Run O'Mill.

[characters here:Gude, magically world where magic & fantastic creatures
run wild.

Lite & Shade, twin wiZards. Lite is a weather & light manipulator. Shade is
an umbra & terra kinetic.  Both have the ability to utiliE magic, and
together they can increase their abilites. They are a couple of centuries
old, but look in their late 40s. Lite generally wears white clothing, shade
wears darker clothing.

Run O'Mill: a common city where characters bombarded by a radioactive
chemical explosion cosmic tornado gained super powers.

Average-Man: Roy Guy, a man who is average in all ways. 40, balding, and
has the ability to touch things and make them average.

The Nerd: Sheldon Guy, super intellect. Able to engineer items the he
thinks of, and able to summon a legion of nerds to his side"

Songstress: Anita Turner, ability of the siren song, sonic screams and
other sound based powers.]

"Well we need you, something bad is happening cross dimensionally, these
creatures begin raining in destroying everything and apparently looking for
you. We've just now been able to summon you," Lite said.

"Apparently there's been a block up hindering communications to you. We've
tried Shade & Lites magics combined with my tech and efforts proved
futile." Sheldon said hurriedly.

"Well where are the others?" Narrator asked.

Shade responded, "Kitty, Shaza & Valdio are holding the lines with the
others, even the residents of Iville have been leading us a hand."

"And our team is all over the city trying to protect the citizens"
Songstress added.

"This is wild.  Someone must want us reality benders distracted and
separated.  The land of Gude and it's dimension as well as this place are
dear to me and I refuse to see them crumble."

He made a fist which began to glow, "let's take these fools out.  We need a
plan."


They all began to plan quickly, hoping to restore order to the areas.




--