WarTraveller

[1d10 Roll = 6 - 1d20 Roll = 19] [Total Attack Damage = 25]

...Huh. Interesting little oddity...

Mujammed gasped, looking at the powerful swarm and knowing their intent. The crazed look in the creature's eyes, it spelt out something of nothing but bloodlust, to strike down on this half-elf creature and take his life by force. It did not matter than Mujha did not know this man, with his foreign tongue and magic spells, but she would regardless protect a fellow adventurer, if not with her lack of spells then her longsword and strength. As she stared on, ready to pounce, she saw a single raven wring itself loose from the pack and rush towards the fallen Half-Elf. Planting her torch into the ground, Mijha gripped her sword with both hands and rushed forwards, sprinting across the wet stones like a mountain goat and swinging with all of her strength at just the right time. It caught the raven around the neck, decapitating it and causing it to drop to the ground. Mujha kicked the body away and stood in front of the Half-Elf, readying her sword and hoping he would regain his footing soon. "Do not approach this man, burnt creature! Otherwise, you're gonna have to get through me!"

[1d20 Roll = 10 Initiative = ...uh, 0] [Total = 10]

[Black Dice this time]

Wisdom Check = 16 (Base Stat 13 = Check Success) ----- Mujammed woke with a stir, shivering in her bedroll and with her head covered in sand thanks to staring at the stars. The nightmarish visions in her head had all but forced her awake, but she remained steadfast and stable. Any other would have perhaps become paralysed with fear from this unusual set of circumstances, but she had managed to resist it and leave herself just a bit shaken. She looked down, staring at her covered legs, as more solemn memories came flooding back. "Father...why?" She stopped at the sound of something else, cursing into the darkness with a foreign and rather guttural tongue. Mujammed slowly got out of her bedroll and quickly rummaged around in her bag for one of the ten or so torches she had in her Explorer's Pack; the night was still in full force and only the area around her campfire was in any sort of light. She found one, setting it alight via the flames, and quickly looked around her area; to her right was a path, leading down a ravine and lined with dead vegetation. She stumbled towards her pack mule; "Listen. I will be gone for a while, I do not know exactly how long. Stay here, and do NOT run off. Understand, animal?" The pack mule said nothing, being a pack mule, but nonetheless grunted its positive response. Mujammed looked back at the wagon she had put her belongings into. It was full of all sorts of things, clothes and scrolls and books and even a small blanket for comfort's sake. And there, among the boxes of scale soap, was her prized longsword. It did not have a name - she was planning to name it, but found no time to do so - and its handle was hastily wrapped in cloth for a better grip. Regardless, she took it with her, keeping it in her main hand and her torch in her off hand, and set out into the night. As she strolled though the night, the memories and visions from her dream returned to haunt her. The whooshing of arrows, the pained screams of her people, the fire burning everything to the ground around her. She shook her head to evade such memories, but they would not leave. Even now, in the middle of this ravine, the swaying of the trees above her gave her a small cause for concern, but regardless she pressed on through the slowly dying growths in front of her. Taking care not to set the twigs on fire, she clumsily raised her longsword and slashed through the undergrowth, leading her into a sort of watering hole in the middle of the vegetation, The water looked clean, pure enough to drink, but by its side was the cause of the cursing; it was a person, too shadowed to detail, and he was being attacked by creatures unknown! "Hey, hey!" Mujammed drew her sword, "State your business, creatures!"

Mujammed moved further on, her feet starting to blister even within her boots, the sand moving beneath her and making the trek incredibly difficult. Her journey towards Qadesh had been long and tiresome, not helpful to a White Dragon-borne born from greener pastures. She sighed, wiping the sweat and sand from her snout, and began muttering to herself. Something she had a habit of doing, even with others around - she felt more inclined to discuss her own self that way. "It's getting dark now..." she said to no-one, "But...do I want to make camp? It's only going to slow me down..." Her stomach rumbled again in defiance, a deep and ravaging rumble that caused a sense of pained uneasiness in Mujammed's being. She glared at her own body. "No, stomach! We have to keep moving! I want to get this done and get there before the end of this day! We'll get shelter ther-ARGH!" Another rumble, this one more intense and painful than the last, brought the Dragon-borne to her knees. She growled, massaging her aching stomach; she supposed she had even forgotten how long it had been since her last real meal, and hunger was beginning to set in. "Alright, alright..." she sighed, "...You win. Let's make camp." It took a few hours more, but soon Mujammed had managed to put together a rudimentry. The Pack Mule had been tethered to the spot, the stake holding it in place sunk deep into the amber sands, with a drape over the carriage to act as a sort of primitive tent; the carriage itself was too cluttered with items to stay in it. Under the tent lay her bedroll, while Mujammed herself orbited the small fire she had built for warmth, snacking at one of her rations. She was annoyed - she started with ten such rations, now she only had nine, and lord knows how many days left until she got to Qadesh. Nevertheless, she enjoyed it, happily munching on its contents before smiling with the warmed food in her stomach. "That's better..." she sighed, "Now then, a slug of water would hit the spot. Where is it?" She looked around, looking in her Explorer's Pack. It had a lot of stuff in it; rations, bedrolls, Desert Traveller's kit, a trap or two...aah! A waterskin. Holder of the giver of life! But not much of it. Mujammed had drank a good portion of it before in the previous five days...and this seemed to be the last of it. The last of the water trickled down her throat and she put the waterskin back into her pack, settling down on her bedroll. "And THAT's not a good sign. I can only hope I'm close to Qadesh by this point. Maybe someone'll offer me more water during the night in exchange for camp...heh heh, yeah, not likely." Mujammed lay in her bedroll, her head arched out from under the drape to stare intently at the night sky, the soft crackling of the fire slowly lulling her aching body to sleep.

What you are looking at, my friend, is one of the dumbest things ever added to the Archie comics. Along with, well, the rest of the comic's contents. Oh, and welcome to the site, by the way.

More like promising the world and delivering a half-baked cluserfeckles that trades on nostalgia to truly get anywhere. Think of it as the Rise of Lyric of Mega Man games. Well, WORSE, actually; say what you will about RoL, it didn't steal money from the consumer to suck that hard.

Next chapter. This is where things are gonna get REAL grim and dark. It's all pretty much downhill from here. Here we go. This chapter contains; Blood and Gore Extreme Violence Censored Explicit Language And a bit of puke. Because why not Where We Left Off: With Carol gone, Milla abandoned and Lilac heavily damaged from Brevon's assault, it appears Master's quest is going incredibly wrong. As he and Lilac are dragged towards a painful torture session, an old friend prepares to make his move. ==========-----========== Chapter 9: War Master "All remaining guards and soldiers above deck! This is your commander Lord Arktivus Brevon speaking. The Thermal Base is under attack from a traitor in our midst! Mobilize all possible reinforcements and destroy any and ALL opposition! Bring me this clocked traitor. Immediate promotion for anyone who brings him ALIVE...right. Are we ready for the torture?" "Everything's ready, Lord Brevon!" "This is it, Lord Brevon. All is set and the doors are locked down tight." "Excellent...wake them up..." There was a stinging pain across Master's face as he was flung back into reality. He shook his head to offset the sickness and waited for his eyes to refocus. They eventually did, focusing on the room around him; it was a large room, quite different to the one he had been knocked out in, with thick pipes in the background holding some kind of light blue liquid. There was a console on the other side of the room, with a heavy metal door beyond even that, and a large pillar jutting out of the middle of the room. The sounds of humming and crackling electricity met his slowly bleeding ears alongside evil cackling. In front of him was Serpentine again, his arched hand having just slapped the daylights back into him. "Morning!" Serpentine cackled, "Nice to see you in this...safe state." Master growled, half out of confusion and half out of anger, and tried to swipe at the smug snake with his left arm. However, nothing happened and he couldn't move his arm. Or his other arm. Or indeed anything from the waist up. He looked down and saw, to his slight fear, that he was tied up quite tightly with rope, leaving both arms behind his back and both legs fastened together like some kind of brick. He struggled and strained, trying to fight his way out of the ropes or snap them. Again, very little happened bar the snake's raspy guffaws. "I wouldn't try that, Scarf!" Serpentine said, "That's special-brand extra-strength rope! No way you're getting out of it." "Unless you would like to try that whole...Hysteria form again..." came a sinister laugh. Master arched his head past Serpentine and looked directly at Brevon, who was slowly and calmly walking into the room, "Well, if not for the fact you can only do so with that Blade of yours..." Master looked closer at Brevon; the warlord was dressed the exact same way he was before, but there was something...more to him this time. Specifically, a red woolen snake was wrapped around his hand. Wait a minute, that was HIS scarf! And, to make matters worse, Prince Dail was following in his footsteps, slowly fumbling with the unloaded Desert Eagle and inspecting it throughly. Master was, to put it lightly, annoyed. "Hey, those're mine! Give 'em back!" "...No," Brevon said, handing the scarf to Prince Dail, who wrapped it around his neck and looked very proud of himself because of it, "I have...well, I USED to have an accomplice that told me almost everything that I needed to know." "I don't suppose you're referring to that cloaked dude..." Master said, to which Brevon nodded. He sighed, "Well, at least that explains how much you know about me and Blade, since our concepts don't exist in this universe and all. So he told you everything, did he? What had happened, what was going to happen and how to use that to your advantage?" "Not everything..." Brevon looked above him to the upper decks, no doubt ablaze with warfare, "Clearly. But he told me enough. Yours and Lilac's own stupidity filled in the blanks. So please, if you don't mind, I would like to...reward you for your efforts. Observe..." There was another slap and another yelp of pain and Master jerked his head to the centre pillar. There, attached with braces and metallic rope, was Lilac. She was hovering above the ground, her legs dangling in the thin air, while groaning with pain and shock. Nearby her was a table of some sort, her bleeding tendrils now sitting upon it and even now still bleeding and even twitching ever so slightly. Lilac herself was groggy, slowly coming to, groaning and yelling from the pain. She was taking a little too long, however, so Serpentine wound his arm back up and brought a mighty slap across her face, rocketing it sidewards and snapping Lilac back into the realms of consciousness. "Y-Yes, mom!" She called out in shock, "Just grabbing my satchel! I...wait, where am I?" she quickly looked around, then down to herself, "Why'm I suspended like this? What's going on?" she finally looked up at Brevon, her eyes now glazing over in rage, "Brevon! I-" "DON'T. BOTHER..." Brevon growled, his tone threatening and harsh, causing Lilac to stop, "Thank you. Now that both of you are awake, I believe we shall get on with tonight's festivities. A light show, if you will. Only one real catch, however..." "Yeah!" Serpentine laughed as Brevon bashed some buttons on the nearby terminal, "You're the light!" "Wha..." Lilac asked in confusion, before a humming sound slowly emitted from over her head. The faint crackling sound of electricity followed in its wake and electric streams weaved across the bizarre transmitter that hung over Lilac's head. She was blank for a second, trying to comprehend what was actually above her, until it all clicked and she screamed, thrashing around in a vain attempt to free herself from her bonds, "No! You are going to regret this, Brevon! I'll make sure of it!" "What's the matter?" Brevon laughed, "Scared? Perhaps...perhaps it was nice of that cloaked figure to tell me that you of all people are afraid of one thing and one thing only; electrocution..." Lilac said nothing, her struggles only increasing in strength as Brevon continued, "It is all rather funny. I was planning some much worse kind of torture. I could have pulled all your fingernails out, at least until I was told your ghastly race doesn't actually have them. And pulling out your tendrils would probably end up scalping you. Now I don't want you to die instantly...that would be no fun. If anything, you should be thanking me." "THANKING you?!" Master called out. "Well, they say electric torture is one of the more...painless methods," Brevon shrugged, "So perhaps you should be counting your lucky stars. Ever had barbed wire dragged across your wrists?" "I have..." Master said quietly. "Do you remember the pain?" Brevon taunted, "The agony, the never-ending blood? Such a shame it never did you in. Guess I will have to do it myself. But first, I shall have to spend the dragon girl first. Like a Fearax Credit." "So, are we gonna electrocute her now?" Prince Dail asked in his monotone. "Yes, get on with it!" Serpentine screeched, "I want to have fried water dragon for my dinner!" "...Well, I suppose it makes a change from rations, I suppose..." Prince Dail shrugged. "SILENCE!" Lord Brevon roared, causing both to yelp and stand in line, "BOTH OF YOU! If it's a fried water dragon you want, it is a fried water dragon that you will get! Now...perhaps we shall start on a lower setting...perhaps we'll start at seven?" both associates nodded furiously, "I thought so." "Brevon!" Lilac called out, half angry and half terrified, "Don't you DARE do this!" "Brevon, I swear!" Master called out too, "If you so much as breath on that button, I will pull your lungs out through your chest!" There was a slight pause as Brevon looked at him, a look of confusion spread across his face. Both Serpentine and Prince Dail looked at each other, trying to figure out if he was even serious. Brevon was silent, looking at the half-crazed hedgehog, before a devious grin spread across his face and his hand spread across the console. "Heh...cute." Another shaking chuckle entered the room as Brevon's hand slammed directly onto the main button, sat in the corner of the terminal. The pillar that Lilac was tied to responded in force, letting out a roar as the electricity surged across its surfaces. It struck Lilac with force and she screamed in agony. The electricity did not let up, however, only slowly increasing in volume and ferocity. Lilac's screamed continued, tears forming only to vanish into the heat of the arcing streams, and for good reason; it was agony. Almost every part of her being was burning up, every part subjected to a agonizing, debilitating pain almost as hot as the fires of hell itself. Master could only scream "NO! NOOOOO!" as he struggled against his ropes, his mind going into a panicked overdrive as he struggled to find a way out of this mess. Brevon only looked on at the pained water dragon, hearing her barely audible screeching, and threw his head to the sky with an evil laugh that came across like a thick and imposing victory roar. Eventually, Prince Dail rushed forward and slammed his hand into the terminal too. The electric sounds ceased, as did Lilac's screams and she went limp. "Why did you do that?!" Brevon roared, staring at Prince Dail, "It was just getting to the exciting bit where the eyes would pop out!" "I would rather you didn't," Prince Dail argued, "Besides, we cannot kill her yet. We need her alive for some more information on the Chaser, do we not?" "...Oh yes," Brevon looked dumbfounded, "I almost forgot. Oh well." "So what?" Master shouted, somewhat panicked from the event, "You just put enough volts up her to light the whole of Bootle for no reason?!" "Not really..." Serpentine said, "We have your Chaser friend. We've tried to extract information about the Kingdom Stone and where his base of operations is. But no matter what we do, he won't spill the beans!" "Thankfully, just before his...betrayal..." Prince Dail said through clenched teeth, "This cloaked figure was kind enough to tell us you were on your way here to kill us. So we thought that you, and the water dragon, could help us find and eradicate these threats to our kingdom once and for all!" "Exactly..." Brevon laughed, "Wake up the Dragon Girl. Then, bring in the Chaser..." Prince Dail saluted, walking over to the limp dragon girl. She was in quite the state, with a good portion of her once purple fur now a disgusting charred grey. In fact, the same kind of grey that the transitional War Lilac looked like in Master's dreams. His still leaking stomach flushed the resultant horrible feeling in his stomach out into his clothes; this was it! This was where the timeline divided! Where Lilac would begin her horrible transformation into War Lilac! And there was nothing he could do about it! Master gulped, his mind still running wild with panic, desperately trying to find a way out. Nothing. The Prince was now directly in front of Lilac, slowly shaking her awake. This accomplished little, so he looked out over the room and his eyes met with the two separated tendrils on the rails. His eyes then lit up as he slowly walked over to the rail and grabbed one of the tendrils, before walking back over to Lilac again. He reared up and whipped Lilac across the face with the tendril, causing her to yell out in pain again and awaken almost instantly. She looked at him, trying to keep a straight face through the pain and the burns, plus the stinging agony of the two new gashes below her right eye. She was shivering, tears in eyes, trying desperately hard not to sob or show any signs of weaknesses. She looked up, gasping and groaning with the effort, before she noticed what was in Prince Dail's right hand; her tendril. It was only then that her expression finally fell and she couldn't hold it in anymore; she lurched forward and retched, a gurgling stream of puke rupturing out of her mouth and splattering all over the floor. Prince Dail yelped in shock and managed to dart back just in time to avoid any of the splash. He could only watch as Lilac went limp again, coughing out the last of the bile, before she stared at Brevon again. "Gross!" Serpentine called out, "KILL HER NOW!" "No!" Brevon said, grabbing the snake by his throat, "That was...disgusting. But it might just be enough to get the Chaser to belt it all out too. Just...not in that way. Bring in the Chaser!" Soon enough, the shutter doors behind him slowly opened and there was Torque, tied up in a very similar way to Lilac, only to a wall with one of the soldiers pressing a laser rifle to his head. He, as anticipated, showed full well that Brevon had lied; he had been tortured, quite obviously, but nowhere near the levels of Lilac. He was just a bit roughed up, bleeding from his mouth and with a few gashes here and there, but was otherwise okay. Outwardly, at least. "Brevon!" he said, angry and defiant, "What're you doing?" "I'm only finishing what you started," Brevon said, "The one thing I've always wanted to ask, before you all die horrible deaths, is why did you risk your lives and limbs coming after me? All I want to do is escape this planet, and your Kingdom Stone was the best possible choice. I do not wish to harm your planet, but it appears that your innate stupidity and insanity has made me...change my mind." "Wait..." Master said, "So you weren't gonna attack our planet, even though you've glassed damn near half the sector at this point, but now you're insisting on it now we've got involved? How's that early morning bowl of bullsh*t working out for you?" "Hmm. As expected," Brevon taunted, "Someone of your near mindless disposition would not be able to comprehend how someone like me works." "He's right, though!" Torque called out, "No-one's believing a word of that! The absolute moment you get your Dreadnought airborne, you'll use it to turn this planet into a crater!" "Now that's just exaggeration..." Brevon said, annoyed, "As I said, I do not wish to destroy your planet. Though I DO intend to destroy most of its settlements, enslave its greatest warriors and turn the smoldering remains of the disgustingly pretty planet into a mechanical wasteland. A base of operations to rule the universe with an iron fist. But I will NOT destroy the planet." "Oh, well that makes me feel better..." Master grumbled sarcastically, "Freakin' scum..." "...What was that?" Brevon taunted again, mimicking holding a hand to his ear, "Was that, 'Brevon, please electrocute miss Lilac again'? Well, if you insist!" Brevon slammed his hand down onto the console again and once again the electricity surged outwards, striking Lilac and reigniting all of her burns. Once again, she screamed in abject agony, and then it suddenly stopped. Lilac went limp yet again, this time still awake, retching a second time with nothing escaping her stomach. "Please..." she was beginning to whimper, her once proud rambling fading as fast as her life-signs, "P-P-Please...no more..." "Lilac..." Torque said softly, "I'm sorry. I couldn't see you getting dragged into this..." "Don't blame yourself, Commander," Brevon taunted yet again, "You all willingly threw yourself into danger. Now you all have to play your part in this little story. And you ALL have to pay the price..." Brevon reared his head for another evil, but a large rumbling explosion sent him tumbling to the floor, alongside Prince Dail and Serpentine. Prince Dail was the first up, "Lord Brevon! The base is crumbling around our ears! Even those deadlocked doors won't hold the traitors back for long." "You have a point..." Brevon said, slowly getting to his feet, "We must extract the information as soon as possible! Commander, all I wish from you is that you tell us not only all you know about the Kingdom Stone, but also where the rest of your Chaser friends are...or Lilac dies for her and your actions. Make your choice." "Release Lilac and Traveller," Torque commanded, "Then I'll tell you." "...How pathetic," Brevon sneered, "Do you think I'm raving mad?" "...Should we take a quick vote?" Master asked again. Brevon's face twisted into an angry sneer, his hand hovering over the console. Master sprung into a panic, "Wait, no no NO-" Brevon gave him no more time. He slammed it down onto the button once more...but nothing happened. "WHAT?!" Brevon roared, slamming the button multiple times, "What is this?!" "Lord Brevon!" Serpentine said with panic, studying the readouts from the nearby computer, "All power to the Torture Rooms have been disabled. No electricity...and no deadlock seal!" Brevon roared with rage, dashing forward and grabbing Master by the scuff of his neck, "YOU! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" "But...but how?" Lilac asked too, her voice weak and quiet. "I'm afraid he's right..." Torque said painfully, "You are to blame. Sort of." "TELL THEM!" Brevon held his own gun to Master's head, "TELL THEM WHAT YOU KNOW, COALITION SCUM! Or poor dragon girl here will spend her final moments picking charred bits of warmonger out of her clothing! DO IT!" "Fine!" Torque sighed, "Lilac...has Master told you about his...old self?" "Yeah..." Lilac coughed, "He said he went crazy...called himself the War Master...went on a rampage...then stopped. Moved on. Became a vigilante." "I'm afraid his tale doesn't end there..." Torque said, " There's...another Warmonger." There was a sudden crash as the doors behind Brevon were suddenly blasted directly off of their hinges. They skidded across the ground, flooring Prince Dail and knocking Serpentine into the wall, before finally stopping before Brevon. A number of the fishbowl soldiers from before streamed out of the now smoldering doorframe and into the room. Only now these soldiers were different, with all green parts and lights now a dark and bloody red and unusual weapons in their hands. They kept their rifles trained on everyone around the pillar, aim unwavering and forms like a mass of glowing red lights. Some of the soldiers in the back parted like a sea, and another figure slowly emerged from it; the cloaked figure! His cloak was the same old black it was, only now it was covered in blood and guts, emitting a husky and disgusting scent from across the room. His eyes were still the red dots they always had been and his gaping maw of razor sharp teeth glowed a dim red in the glow of the lava. His voice, however, was incredibly different; it was no longer mangled and obscured by static, but...normal. A medium-pitch, clear voice. And a very familiar one at that. "You rang?" the creature laughed evilly himself, almost waltzing around the room, "Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen! We are tonight's entertainment!" "YOU..." Brevon growled, dropping Master to the floor and digging out his own weapon, "You will pay for this!" Brevon roared some sort of war cry and charged forward, slashing wildly at the cloaked figure. The figure did very little until the last second, then vanished. Brevon stopped and looked around. He was nowhere to be seen. He must've killed him! Brevon laughed evilly, staring out towards the red soldiers, thinking of his latest victory. Little did he know the creature had only flash-stepped behind him, eyes glazing over in some sort of anger...and the Blade of Hysteria in his hands. The creature savored the moment, then dug the Blade deep into Brevon's shoulder. He yelled in pain, twirling around and clawing at the knife lodged in him while the creature moved the Blade around inside the wound, making it bigger and bigger. Finally, he forced the knife straight through, cleaving through Brevon's arm with almost no trouble at all. Brevon screamed in agony as his now separated arm bounced to the floor and went limp as well, which the creature responded to by delivering a Haymaker straight into the side of his head, knocking him to the floor where he was kept by the soldiers. "...And there's your change, sir..." the creature said manically, wiping the blood and bits off Blade and sprinkling them onto Brevon's twitching body, "Have a nice day..." he turned to the others, such as Dail, "Does anyone else wanna parley?! NO? Good..." "You're..." Lilac wheezed, "You're insane!" "Takes one to know one...doesn't it?" the creature grinned. "...Are you..." Lilac asked, "Are you me?" "Tsk tsk. So slow to catch on..." the creature said happily, "I mean, come on Traveller! Lilac, old girl! Have the clues not been there? Who in this world would know the No-Zone Multiverse Rules? Who would have a massive grudge against you? And who..." he pointed to his own wrists, "Would have marks on their wrists like these?" Master checked the hand that held Blade. Large scars in the wrist. Almost like...barbed wire. "Blade..." Master said weakly, "No..." "I'm sorry, kid..." Blade said too, "I had no choice...it's him!" "Indeed it is..." the creature said, slowly grabbing his hood and flipping it down. He was a hedgehog, brown-furred with black and red dotted eyes, clad in sunglasses and a mouth full of fangs. A bit like Master. Infact... He WAS Master. "War Master..." Master cried out. "Oh, don't act surprised!" War Master giggled, his voice boisterous and ham-fisted, "You should've known better! Can't keep a crazy bastard down. Who would be there to spoil the punchline?" "So..." Prince Dail said, exhausted, "Our adviser...has been my enemy? My father's killer?" "No kid," War Master growled, "For the final time, it was Brevon! HE killed your father! HE tortured you for a straight week! HE made you his bitch!" "No, it isn't true!" Dail pleaded, "It can't be!" "Look inside yourself..." War Master grinned, "It'll come. Now then..." he turned to Lilac, "I believe we have some business to attend to..." "So you're War Master..." Lilac said, keeping her composure despite the agony she was in, "The killer of countless trillions..." "...Sort of," War Master said, "Torque was right; Traveller didn't tell you everything. I'm a clone. Created from the dying embers of the intelligent embodiment of this creature they called Solaris. They wanted me to do great things, kill many people, be easily controllable. But that don't fly with me! So, I...did the only sensible thing by killing my creators and striking it out on my own. I followed Traveler EVERYWHERE, taunting and fighting him at every possible opportunity. Even had my own mechanical version of the Blade of Hysteria to use...until he destroyed it, shot me in the stomach and left me to bleed out in the middle of a snowy wasteland. So I'm here to..as you say, settle the score. And cause as much chaos as possible on the way! It's what the real War Master would want. You may call me...Clone Master." "So you manipulated everyone..." Torque said damningly, "The Majister, Mayor Zao, Dail, Brevon, us...all to get closer to Traveller and cause chaos!" "I know!" Clone Master said gleefully, pointing around the entire room, "I'm such a rockstar! I played all you chumps like fiddles and you never questioned me. The cloak, the eyes, the teeth, the voice...no-one thought I was a bit dubious? Like, no-one at all? No wonder you all go to war on a regular basis! No wonder Carol chose the one smart thing to do; leave. Go back to the Red Scarves and re-join their ranks." "Wha..." Lilac said, tears welling up, "What? She's not coming to save us? She's abandoned me?" "AND Milla can't help you either," Clone Master said, laughing, "She's run off to join her. I...think. Maybe she just doesn't want to be seen with an utter...psychopath." "Do you mean yourself..." Torque asked, "Or Traveller?" Clone Master slowly turned to Torque, "...What's the difference? Well, that's kind of a lie, there are a LOT of differences. It's just that, well, they don't show on the surface. You people don't know the first thing about someone like me...but I'm here now. I can show you. I WILL show you. I will show you just how far someone like me can go-" "DIE, FECCULENT VERMIN!" Brevon roared. He had got out of the small pile of soldiers he was forced under and even now dashing towards Clone Master again, bleeding dagger in his one remaining hand. However, this time, he was stopped. He was pulled to his back and restrained by a flash of green, slowly forming to a certain royal panda. Prince Dail, quite clearly having mulled the given information over in his mind, was now holding Brevon's one good arm while two soldiers grabbed his legs and forced him to a kneeling position. Clone Master was clearly not amused, clicking his fingers and signaling another soldier to come up behind him. He did so, holding some kind of camera and training it on Brevon's face. "Well...as I was saying...I'll show you just how far someone like me can go. And then..." Clone Master grinned, taking Blade out and holding it to Brevon's throat, "And then...I will break you." And, with a roar, he slowly dragged the Blade across Brevon's throat. Both were screaming as the Blade dug into the insect's hard skin and then came flying out the other side with an audible schwing. Prince Dail let go of Brevon's remaining arm and the warlord instantly grabbed at his throat, his screams now totally replaced with a pained gurgling, as he desperately tried to stem the blood flow. Finally, his own eyes went dim and he fell forward like a sack of bricks, slamming into the floor and going limp. Clone Master watched smugly as the final breaths of air escaped his throat and his cape became stained with the rapidly expanding pool of blood forming around his neck and chest. Torque was silent, mouth agape, only slight stammering sounds escaping his throat. "Y-You...you've done it. Brevon...h-he's..." "CORRECT!" Clone Master bellowed, throwing himself in front of the camera, "Coalition of Planets, the insectoid scum of the universe, Lord Arktivus Brevon, is DEAD!" "I understand now..." Prince Dail said, visibly and vocally shaken, "I...at least I know my father has seen proper justice." "Exactly..." Clone Master said happily, slapping the Prince on the shoulder, "Glad to be of service. Now take Serpentine upstairs and...dispose of him. I have no need for snakes in MY army! Oh, and if I could have that gun you have..." Dail nodded, giving the empty Deagle to Clone Master and walking out of the room, two soldiers taking Serpentine by his arms, "Thank you! What a worm. Serpentine, I mean. Prince Dail's a good enough kid. Bit of a shame about his parents. Parent killing and torture...that's not being evil. That's just being horrible." "Says the guy who laid waste to an entire universe..." Lilac growled, "You're just saying you dislike certain things so you look better!" "They're called 'standards', Lilac dear..." Clone Master sighed, "Even dimension killers have lines they refuse to cross..." he suddenly looked at Master, slumped in the corner, and knelt by his side, "Hey! Chin up, bucko! You're almost outta this mess! They're even referring to you by that nickname you love so much!" "But...Lilac..." Traveller wheezed, "I've got to stop her...transformation." "What is he talking about?" Lilac asked. "War Lilac..." Clone Master grinned, "This...amazing creature. This marvelous amalgamation of good and bad, of light and dark! You...past the brink of insanity. That was his mission. The tale said Master would be the one to drive you nuts. So of course, he went in to steer this timeline back onto the main path. But as even his own mind told him..." he grinned, slowly shoving a spare magazine into the Deagle, "He never had the wheel." "Wait...so YOU'LL drive her to insanity! You'll be dooming a planet to four years of non-stop genocide! Why're you doing this?!" Traveller shouted, "Why not leave her be?!" "Oh, trust me, I wish I could!" Clone Master said, "Had I any other choice, I'd be walking the other way with you and you alone in tow. But I need a replacement. You know clones. They...degrade. Not mentally, as fiction tells you, but just in strength. This body of mine is dying, faster than you could ever imagine, and I'm pretty sure I don't have long left. But YOU..." he approached Lilac and took her scarred and blistered arm, "Your body is pure, strong and just so freaking NORMAL! It would be perfect! Four years, you say? My money's on EIGHT!" "I'll never fall into your ways!" Lilac said defiantly, struggling within her bonds again to almost no avail, "Just let...let me go..." "That's it, get weaker..." Clone Master said in a mock-soothing tone, slowly stroking the dragon's arm, "Those ghastly electric shocks have sent you to the brink of death. Well, near enough to it anyway...nah, that's not good enough." Clone Master racked the slide of the new loaded Deagle and jammed it squarely into Lilac's gut. He laughed wildly and pulled the trigger. The resultant gunshot was ear-splittingly loud, drowning out Lilac's presumed screech of pain. Clone Master finally lowered the smoking gun and observed his work; a large gaping hole was now in Lilac's stomach, almost neatly matching Traveller's own. Lilac had once again gone into shock, stuttering and gasping for air that just wasn't there anymore in this stuffy environment. Clone Master looked sad if anything, slowly stroking Lilac's ruined hair. "I'm so sorry, kid, I really am..." Clone Master sighed, "You've already gone through the wringer enough today as it is. Burned, sliced, electrocuted, whipped, copious amounts of stress vomit...it's sickening, really. But alas, I need to do this..." he turned to Traveller, "NOW! Traveller. You know as well as I do that firearms like...our little Deagle here don't really exist in this world. On the plus side, laser wounds are cauterized. On the minus side..." "No medical procedures in place for actual bullet wounds," Traveller said quietly, "Stomach wounds don't kill instantly. If the shock doesn't get you, you bleed out soon enough." "Gold star. Looks like old Lilac here's doomed to die a slow, painful death. Alone, unloved, forgotten within the week. Unless...we can heal her. Now I HAVE heard of these magical healing baths that can instantly restore you to full health. But I also hear the only one left is in the Majister's Royal Palace..." Traveller looked pale, "Ahh, sh*t..." "Yeah. After all the faff with Neera, the entire kingdom wants your heads now..." Clone Master shrugged, "So, that's out. And so are normal medical procedures since...well, there aren't any! Which leaves..." he slowly held up the Blade of Hysteria, "But one alternative..." "Don't you DARE!" Traveller was resorting to pleading now, "That infernal thing drives you crazy!" "Exactly," Clone Master said, speaking to Blade, "Blade, would you kindly set yourself to Adaptation Mode? And don't bother with the whole refusal stuff. It's still his genes in me, so you HAVE to obey. DO IT!" "...Current Setting changed to Adaptation Mode..." Blade said, his voice quiet and resigned. The weapon dimmed, the green cracks losing all green light and the gem becoming colourless. Soon, the gem flashed an orange shade, followed by the cracks befalling a similar shade indeed. "You don't want to do this!" Traveller said, "You put that Blade in that hand, this world'll be a crater in a few years time!" "A small price to pay for what she'll become. I'll make her...stronger than this. You'll see! You'll ALL see..." "NO!" Clone Master's grin widened further as he flipped the blade around and shoved the handle into Lilac's hand. Lilac's hand responded, clasping tightly around the handle as a strange, otherworldly moaning filled the air and small crackles of orange electricity spread across her body. Lilac grunted in a pained way, her breathing gasping and erratic, before she finally gave out and fell unconscious once more. "Well?" Clone Master asked, "How is she?" "She's...she's stable," Blade said, "For the moment. Preparing for adaptation. Healing wounds. Devoting all runtime to given command." "What have you done?" Torque asked, still tied to the pillar, "What've you done?!" "Saved her, what else?" Clone Master grinned for the final time, "This Blade will bring her back from the brink of death. Restore her to her physical prime, if not better! A new, uber-powerful water dragon of legend! Sash Lilac, plus plus!" "AND drive her crazy!" Traveller spat, "Change her destiny to REALLY turn her planet into a crater! You've doomed everyone on this rock, you maniac!" "I do my best..." Clone Master chuckled, winding up and punching Traveller straight in the jaw, knocking him out cold. He admired his work briefly, then trudged towards Torque, "Torque, buddy! Now, I like you. Always determined to save the universe from people, and not whine about it in the process. That puts you several points above Scarfulu there. So you know, I don't think I'll kill you." "...You won't?" Torque asked. "Nope! Think I might do this, though!" Clone Master reared up and punched Torque too, sending him packing too. He turned to the remaining soldiers, "Guards! Take these two to where the Prince has sent Serpentine. Find this ringed machine called a Portal Generator. Turn it on and throw 'em through. I can't have them screwing around with my plans now...OH, and if it tells you what universe to access; 112233C. The good old native universe. If Brevon's disgraceful torture hasn't killed them, the harsh weather and the anti-MasterSelf feelings over there should finish the job." The soldiers saluted, grabbing both of the unconscious men and dragging them out of the chamber. Clone Master slowly looked at Lilac's frail form, the colour slowly returning to her cheeks. Her fur was going to stay charred, though, and those tendrils were NEVER growing back, but she was going to be fine. "My own Starkiller..." Clone Master sighed happily, "Brings a tear to my eye..." he turned and walked briskly out of the room, tossing the gore-splattered cloak behind him. He quickly stopped by Brevon, admiring his work, before grabbing the bleeding dagger still clenched in his hand, and continuing towards the lifts beyond the doorframe. "Still, gotta move on, gotta start preparing. Got a lot to do. If I'm going to die here, f*ck it; I'm dying in STYLE!" ==========-----========== DeviantART Link: http://fav.me/d9ai2xh

Including OURS, to be fair.

I think it's safe to say that, if they choose to behave like that over what is basically a mediocre video game, they deserve all the harshness they receive at this point. When you send someone death threats for merely reporting on a game's delay...yeah, you deserve the critical mauling your precious game may get.

Okay, Chapter 8! Now we're really getting into the more hardcore stuff. Which means things're gonna get much darker and gorier from here on out. BE WARNED; Blood and Gore Oh yes, and a bit of swearing. I've been editing it out in the past chapters but now they'll be shown as is (though censored a bit) With that in mind, on with the show! Where We Left Off: Leaving Traveller and Milla behind, Lilac heads into the Thermal Base to save Torque, unknowingly walking towards naught but pain and fear. But Traveller's dreams won't leave him alone and he gives chase, giving one last and desperate attempt to save this timeline. ==========-----========== Chapter 8: Thermal Fight "You will NOT kill me, you stupid creature!" "Brevon Brevon Brevon Brevon Brevon Brevon Brevon...BREEEEEVOOOOON!" "Stay away from me, you madwoman!" "Look for the Brevon find the Brevon stab the Brevon shoot the Brevon fillet the Brevon. KILL THE BREVON! STUFF THE BREVON! EAT THE BREVON!" "You're just some nobody in over her tiny, puny head! Stand down, Sash Lilac!" "...Sash Lilac? Oh, that girl's dead. Now they call me...War Lilac! Now Die! DIE! DIEDIEDIEDIEDIE!" "You will not...get me! Oh no...no! Stay back! GET AWAY FROM MEARRRRRRRRRSGSHBADN..." --------------- Master awoke with an loud scream. He stopped and stared off into the distance; cold wet cave with the dim glow of dawn crossing the entrance. He sighed, clasping his head in his hands. For a while he had thought this was just a dream and he was still asleep on the airship. But nope, it was real. And the dreams he was actually having weren't making it any easier. For a while it seemed to be a pleasant snooze; both Franky AND Sonar were gone now, so for the most part it was mostly quiet and relaxing. But then the black void slowly pulsated, fogging up, glowing with a disgusting red haze. Blood began to drip from nowhere and it was soon collecting in small crimson pools by the wayside. And then...she was there. The creature looked like Lilac, if you were liable enough to squint a bit. But there was a lot about her that, frankly, was horrific. She looked broken, a giggling smashed plate of a dragon, with once purple fur now a charred grey. Her horns were cracked, flaking off into the void to show War Lilac's black devil horns underneath. Her skin was pale, scarred, blistered and awash with lava-like scabs crossing the surface, her lips dry and bleeding and her blackened teeth forever curled into a wild grin. Her clothing was a mere mockery of Lilac's original clothes, shreds of blue cloth that barely covered her limp body. Half of her shirt was missing, draping down and exposing her white undershirt, while her shorts had been ripped at the leg and around the belt area with a quick and uncomfortable flashing of magenta panties. Gloves ripped, boots totally destroyed from the ankles down and blue gems cracked and smashed yet still glued to the sides of her head. And as if that wasn't enough, her original tendrils were completely gone, with no stuffed replicas to take their place, leading two streams of blood to pour out of her head and trail behind her like a calling card. Her eyes, while not the black and red voids that plagued War Lilac, were bloodshot and a raw pink, two small magenta pupils focused on the creature crawling away from her. This being was green and very tall, some kind of insect, with piercing red eyes and two antennae posing as eyebrows. He was clad in wrecked orange armor, some of the shreds dug deep into his skin, and a rag of a cape slowly thickening with blood. He was dragging his way across the void, using his one remaining arm to slowly claw at the ground while still squeezing at his stump of a left arm to stem the blood flow. His face showed no fear, only anger. His crawling was in vain as the deranged dragon slowly approached, holding a bloodied blade in her hand. The bloods of red and green mixed and fused as she finally pinned the insect with her boot. They had a conversation of some kind, the insect barking and commanding for his life without letting his fear slip, while the dragon growled and cackled random violent psychobabble. It was the final part that clinched Master, the final part that sent him panicking as the dreams climaxed to this dragon plunging the knife over and over into the insect's chest. 'War Lilac' As the dream faded and the dragon began to slowly pull the organs out of the corpse and play with them, it all became clear to Master. This mockery of Lilac, what a surprise in retrospect, WAS Lilac. War Lilac in-fact, in some kind of transitional period, killing Lord Brevon once and for all. Master knew of the transitional period himself; hell, his own transitional period was during his attempt to revive his sister. But even Lilac was looking depressing to him. She was totally broken, half-laughing and half-crying, shrieking with hysteria. A lost cause, and seemingly just as miserable as she was insane. Master was conflicted; killing Brevon was a good thing, for sure, but to see Lilac like that... "Lilac..." Master yelped, "Oh...the f*ck have I done?!" "Kid, language!" Blade said in a hushed tone, "Keep it down and the language classy! Milla's still asleep." "R-right..." Master sighed. He stared blankly into the opening of the cave, thoughts as restless as his heartbeat, before he sighed. He got up, slowly and softly pulling the snoring Milla to one side, keeping her away from the ashes of the fire and quickly taking some paper and a pen out of his pockets. The resultant note read; "Milla~ Lilac's gone and I have a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach this is the day it all goes wrong. My mission was to keep Lilac sane, doubtless I've already driven her mad with shock and grief. If I'm not here when you wake up, leave this cave and find Carol. Best guess she's gone to re-join the Red Scarves, it's not like she's got any other possible crutches at this point. I know you want to help, but Lilac's right; you shouldn't be put in the line of fire because of some dumb mistakes others made. Trust me, you'll be safe. WAR War Master...guess that's all I am to you now..." Master sighed at the name. He had put a cross through the WAR part before, but here...it felt like it belonged. He slowly put the note onto Milla and ran out of the cave. He rushed through the vegetation, slicing some of the thornier branches away with Blade, and stopped alongside the lake-front. And there, as Lilac said, was the large red thermal base, all of which now belonged to Brevon. There was some dust scattered across the ground and it looked like some extreme force had originated there and moved out across the waters. For all he knew, Lilac was in there right now, fighting Brevon's forces and probably getting herself killed. "Look at that..." Master said, his voice carrying the weary sigh of resignation, "She did it after all. Great." "Well, if it makes you feel any better..." Blade said, "Cross-Referencing with the main timeline shows she was always going to do this anyway. But it does show some other interesting stuff too..." "Like?" Master asked. "Well, remember that giant mantis bot that fell apart before we could fight it? You know, back at the temple? Turns we WERE supposed to fight that thing. 'S kinda a shame, really. Problem is, I don't get how us traveling into this universe could possibly affect that thing. I don't know about you, but I'm getting the impression someone is working things behind the scenes, and on a much larger scale than that cloaked fellow. Almost like we've been led here for the sake of some grand scheme." "Well, it's fanfiction," Master shrugged, "You expect that after a while." "So..." Blade said, ignoring this statement, "Are you really gonna do it? Are you really gonna go in, even though it could mean the birth of this...War Lilac?" "Blade, you know what we think..." Master sighed, "There's another Master and Blade out there that will just walk away, and we can't because of that. You can't fight fate...but you CAN distract it..." ========= Meanwhile ========= 'I'm coming for you, Torque!' Such a quote perfectly encapsulated the single recurring thought that rushed its way through Lilac's head, time and time again; 'I'm coming for you, Torque! And you too, Brevon! I will end your evil ways before the day is done!' The thought repeated over and over again as the elevator dragged her deeper into the bowels of the Thermal Base. It had taken a good half hour, but she had first taken the various elevators of the complex. The guards had odd looks on their faces as the angry dragon girl slowly lifted into the base. Two guards were at the entrance to the area and opened fire accordingly. Their laser rifles shot brilliant green bolts of energy that zoomed past Lilac in bursts, some singeing her fur, before she approached with speed and flung herself boots first at the first guard, cracking the glass done and spilling the green goop and eyeball within all over the floor, leading the robotic body to collapse with a clank. She then reared up and Dragon Boosted into the second guard, leaving him in the dust as he too collapsed and exploded into dust. Lilac's own feet touched the ground and she began to sprint towards the end of the room, eventually running through a few auto-opening doors...before smacking nose first into another one. She stopped, rubbing her nose, before studying the door. Electro-lock, not exactly the kind of door she could just kick down, and instead backtracked, searching for a keycard or two. She climbed to an upper level of the facility, leaping up the nearby ladder until flipping directly over the edge and breaking out into another run past a few more enemies. She continued, rushing head first into a set of moving pistons and escaping with barely a scratch, while robots shot at her from all possible angles. While her destructive entrance might've triggered the alarm early, it certainly scattered the base's attempts to raise the alarm and call in some more help. They had managed to do it by this point, however, and it wasn't long before small red robots were screaming out of every vent, shooting blue lasers at our heroine from ghastly blue virtual eyes. The bolts flew past her, slamming harmlessly into the riveted walls, while Lilac dashed out of a second set of pistons and swiped the green keycard off of the smoldering remains of another fishtank grunt and screaming her way back through the pistons and rolling down the ladder to the door again. Lilac, without even pausing, swiped the card across the nearby terminal and slithered though the slowly opening door. Nothing was going to stand in her way this time. She had made mistakes, errors, that resulted in deaths, delusion and kidnapping. And by the Great Dragon, she was going to correct them! A good portion of her trek through the facility was very much the same sort of rigorous craziness. Lilac ran, sprinted, dashed, jumped, leaped, slashed, smacked, slapped and generally screamed her way through the thermal base. She was serious and stoic, face unmoving, teeth grinding, hands locked into fists and swinging wildly at any and every robot in sight. The base was heavily guarded and robots took the time stream out of every possible location. Out of every panel, every wall and scrap of floor, the number of guards seem inexhaustible. The robot guards fired their rifles with almost marksman-level precision, cutting through the air and almost cutting through Lilac, while bipedal green insect-bots covered the walls and floor with burning plasma. More eye-bots fired their bolts of plasma at the girl and throughout all the chaos was a sickeningly sweet female voice that cut through the carnage like a knife through warm butter. An AI of some kind, perhaps? Lilac said nothing, thought little more and only focused on those keycards. She dashed through a nearby panel and rolled down a small alcove, tumbling deeper into the bowels of the base's original geothermal facilities. The place was a mass of flames, heat safely contained by uncountable amounts of safety procedures and devices, but that didn't stop Lilac from breaking out in a huge sweat. Gasping for fresh air and water, she slowed and stumbled through the area, climbing onto cylinders and pistons, before finally stopping for a rest. She called out in a heat-based agony, yearning for some kind of way to cool off, before she noticed some across the other side of the room she was in; a sign labeled, 'GEOTHERMAL COOLING STATION - EMPLOYEES ONLY'. Lilac took her chance and broke out into a full on sprint, narrowly dodging red hot pipes and sustaining a burn on her arm, rolling into the room and mashing the button with her foot. She lay in the room, breathing heavily, letting the cool winds in the room cool down and revive her. Her aching but cooling body stirred in the dim mists of the room's ventilation; she had no time to lay about, she needed to find Torque and fast. But this pathetic lapse of weakness was only though a good half-minute of trekking through this inferno and it could not be repeated. Lilac got to her feet and scrambled around the room, trying to find some form of heat protection that had survived Brevon's doubtless purge of the facility upon his acquisition of it. Finally, she found it; a glowing blue crystal hidden behind some cardboard boxes. Lilac grinned. The crystal was a shield, crystals given power through Kingdom Stone while they were digging its place for it within the temple. They could grant shields of some element via colour (green was Earth or Wood, red was Fire, grey was Steel and so on), and it wasn't long before people stashed every last one they could find and sell them on for absurd amounts of crystals. 'Scalping', Spade used to call it, though nowadays Lilac called it 'exploitation' and 'disgusting' and whatnot. Still, she had to use this one; it was blue, a water shield, perhaps famous with its ability to give out a strong aura of negative temperature to the point of entering sub-zero territory with relative ease. Lilac raised the crystal above her head and brought it down, smashing it on the floor and spreading crystal shards everywhere. Energies beyond comprehension swirled around Lilac, soothing her aching body, until an audible swinging sound formed a transparent blue sphere around her. The inside was cold, nearing below freezing, but in the extreme heat of the geothermal base, it felt amazing. Freshened up, properly equipped and revitalized, Lilac Dragon Boosted out of the door and back into the flames, feeling nothing but a powerful, trembling exaltation, at the mere thought being able to save Torque from the clutches of this monstrous Brevon! Finally, the path ended. Lilac tripped upon a piece of scrap that was strewn across the area and the rushing of wind met her and she fell down a nearby shaft. She landed with a painful clang, before getting up almost instantly and checking out her new surroundings; back in the depths of the facility, but now with visible streams of lava and rusted spikes on either side of the area. "What is this place?" Lilac asked out loud, "It's like some sort of deathtrap..." "It was supposed to be..." came a familiar voice, "Tried to push me into lava, but I just forced the guy pushing the walls into the spikes. You should've heard him scream!" Lilac turned with a yelp to see Master, somewhat singed and annoyed, behind her. His gun was out and had clearly run dry, slide locked back and smoke still emitting from the barrel. He too had managed to find one of the crystals and a blue orb was circling around him as well. "Traveller!" Lilac called out, somewhat angrily, "What did I tell you about following me?!" "I had to," Master said, "I can't risk getting you killed! Besides, I've got a plan with Blade, so don't worry about Brevon." "Yeah," Blade said, "We've got other problems. Like that A.I." "The A.I?" Lilac asked, "You mean the voice?" "Yeah. Turns out she's called Syntax. Some kind of ancient tech given life and modernized. A powerful, smart, but ultimately loyal creation that can control entire bases! It's attacked us the whole way here. Even told us to stand on an explosive pressure plate to open a door!" "At least you didn't step on it..." Lilac stopped, "Right?" There was an awkward pause before Master sighed wearily, "Look, it's like the History Eraser Button, alright? Some things you just have to do. Look, that's not the point. The point is Brevon is literally a few corridors away from here. All we need to do is escape this room and we'll find him and Torque!" "INTRUDERS, IT APPEARS THAT YOU ARE LOST. PERHAPS YOU WOULD LIKE SOME ASSISTANCE?" "...Of course," Master sighed again, "Yes, Syntax. We would like some help. If you would be so kind as to direct us to Lord Brevon, YOUR master, that would be most helpful." "SCANNING FOR REQUEST VALIDITY, PLEASE WAIT..." the voice ceased, but then erupted once more, "VALIDITY CHECK: NEGATIVE. SECRET SCANS REVEAL INTRUDERS AS: LILAC, SASH AND MASTER, WAR. IN-BUILT DIRECTIVES: DO NOT ALLOW EITHER TO ACCESS LORD BREVON'S THRONE ROOM. INITIATING INTRUDER DISPOSAL PROGRAM." There was a whirring of gears as orbs emerged from beyond the lava and slowly formed with painful clanging sounds. The orbs kept piling in on each other until it formed some kind mechanical beetle. Its metal was chromed but damaged, specks flaking off and melting into sludge from the extreme heat, with a few scratches the seemed to Indicate past battles with other heroes, doubtless many who ended their lives against this thing. Its singular spade-like claw flexed as a final orb descended onto the bot. This one looked more like a standard robot, with a large green globe of an eye and a large also-green dome across its top. It affixed onto the beetle-bot and shook itself to settle in. Rather than any expected mechanical roar, however, it merely went; "PLEASE REMAIN STILL DURING THE INCINERATION PROCESS. THANK YOU." Lilac gulped. This was going to be a dangerous fight; lots of spikes, lots of lava, no real space to maneuver and very fragile shields. There was small cracks slowly forming in it and bursts of heat were beginning to seep through. Still, Lilac buckled down and readied herself for the battle. The beetle-bot charged with gusto, flames erupting out of its pincer and lasers firing out of the robot's eye, which Lilac ducked and dodged with a good amount of precision, before she reared up and struck the creature in its body. There was a dent, but no more damage showed upon the creature. Whatever it was made of, it was very strong steel. Also seemingly bullet-proof, as Master's impressive barrage of 10 .50 AE bullets showed, striking its body to no real effect. Only one of the 10 bullets caused any sort of damage, striking the AI's body in the glass dome, throwing it back somewhat but ultimately dealing little damage. Still, at least the two had found its weakpoint. The robot retaliated to this by raising its claw, striking Lilac in the process and focusing it on the lava stream behind them. There was a rumbling sound as the lava wobbled like crazy and, to both fighters' shock, a stream of lava screamed its way out of the flow and directly towards them. Master quickly shot Blade into the ceiling and tried to grab Lilac too, but he could grab her hand before he ascended. Lilac fell to the floor and shielded her head from the lava, which passed over her and putting an impressive dent into her shield. The cracks were larger now, and the heat was only getting more and more intense. This battle had to be won, and FAST. The lava finally passed over her and into the beetle-bot's pincer, residing within it as a mass of glowing magma. The pincer glowed from the intense heat and was shoved forward, shaking the lava loose again and sending it screaming back towards them. This time, however, Lilac was ready for it. She jumped over the lava and zoomed in towards the robot, suddenly spinning herself around like a top and smacking the orb robot multiple times with her tendrils, causing several dents and cracks in the metal and glass. Finally, she Dragon Boosted away from the robot, her boots smacking directly into the orb's eye again and causing even more cracks upon its surface. Master too had dropped from the ceiling and was throwing Blade out again in extended segments. The enlarged Blade was swung at full force towards the mechanical pincer, slicing the thing in two and spreading its fragments across the floor. Master threw out Blade again, this time wrapping it around the beetle-bot's neck, before jumping into the air and retracting the coils. It dragged him through the air, granting him time to grab a piece of shrapnel from the pincer on the way. The bot attempted to swipe one of its legs at him, but it missed and Master collided with the head. He raised the shrapnel and threw it down onto the robot's head, piercing its eye and digging straight into its motherboard. The bot itself screamed some kind of mechanical plea, but it wasn't enough. Lilac, ideas swarming into her head, quickly jumped onto Master's back, grabbing him, and then Dragon Boosted away once more. Master was pulled away from the machine and so was Blade, its segments tightening and slicing into the neck of this creature. Finally there was a piercing scraping sound and the Blade was pulled free, separating the orb bot from the beetle-bot's body and sending its head high into the air. It finally came down, pierced onto the spikes below it, shivering. Electricity crawled across its body before the spasms finally stopped and the glow dimmed, eventually going out altogether. "Yeah!" Lilac called out, "We did it!" "Yeah..." Master said, less satisfied, "That was a little easy..." "Too easy..." Blade said, paranoid, "I'm getting the feeling that that was only half of the trap." "What'd be the other, then?" Lilac asked. She had little more time to say anything else as a rumbling sound caught their ears. Metal panels had slid over the spikes, rendering the whole surface completely smooth and safe, while the lava flows had stopped as well. The lights had dimmed but a warm orange glow was emitting from the created hallway. In fact, it was very warm. Almost hot. Lava hot. And it was then that the thought finally hit Lilac and she looked down the hallway. To her abject horror, a tidal wave of magma was rushing towards the two, pushed along via pumps, with rapidly increasing heat. "Well..." Blade said, sounding sort of smug, "That'll be it." Both Lilac and Master screamed in terror and sprinted for their lives down the opposite hallway towards whatever lay at the end of it. Lilac's heart was a sledgehammer in her chest, pounding against her ribcage with such force that she swore she saw it leap through her clothing like some cartoon animal in love. Her legs were slamming against the ground in a panicked frenzy, her face was twisted into abject terror and her pulse was like a jackhammer in her wrists and neck. The warmth only increased on her back as the magma slowly closed in, the fading shield trying its best to counteract the heat and doing an poor job all the while. Finally, an opening in the floor opened up in front of them. Lilac could take no chances, grabbing Master and leaping down the opening. As she and him tumbled into and through the darkness, she could see the opening they had dived through slowly close, with the rushing and bubbling of the lava slowly moving over them. Finally, both collapsed onto a hard steel floor and their shields smashed, scattering fragments of themselves all over the floor before they changed into mist and floated away. The area was cold regardless, and there was some...things hiding in the darkness. The dimmed lights from before finally went back to full power and the soft outlines became harder, terrifying reality; it was Lord Brevon himself, with his orange armour and antennae eyebrows, along with Serpentine and Prince Dail from before. Lilac, burying her fear as much as she could, instantly got to her feet. "BREVON!" Lilac called out boastfully, "I've found you at last!" "Miss Lilac..." Lord Brevon said. His voice was low and gravelly, to the point of almost sounding mechanical, as well as taking on an unsettling tone. It struck even more fear into Lilac and she could sense herself shrinking somewhat from the terror, "Don't try to hide within yourself JUST yet. I have heard a lot about you from my...comrades." "They're the ones alright," Prince Dail said in his monotone scrawls, "They are the traitors who killed my father!" "Yeah!" Serpentine growled, "And these are the guys who damaged my hands, destroyed my RoboPanther and are trying to be heroes!" "You got a problem with that, Lyric?" Master asked, "What's wrong with being a hero?" "For no reason? Around me?" Brevon laughed, "Everything." "Can we get on with this?" Serpentine asked impatiently, "That cloaked person told us they'd be right here, with nowhere to run! We have them, so let's get 'em!" "Why yes..." Brevon said, his harsh tone returning, "You two have been thorns in my side for far too long. Especially you, Sash Lilac. I cannot have goody two-shoes running around ruining my plans. All I want to do is get off this planet." "Yeah, and nuke it!" Lilac screamed, "You're not leaving this planet with the Kingdom Stone! And you're certainly not leaving with Torque! If you've tortured him, I'll-" "Oh, don't worry about the Chaser..." Brevon said smugly, "I've been a good little dictator in THAT regard. I've kept him safe...until you two turned up. Now he'll get to see the great Sash Lilac and War Master of old, either slaves before me or corpses under me." "I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY!" Lilac screamed at the top of her lungs, dashing towards Brevon with speed. Master let out a 'NO!' and outstretched his hand, but it was far from enough. Brevon responded almost instantly, drawing his curved blade and striking Lilac across the chest. It hit and she fell backwards, roaring out in pain, a large crimson gash stained across herself. Master almost instantly got to his feet, drawing his Deagle and trying to squeeze about every last bullet he had in Brevon's general direction. He only got off three shots before he got a blaster bolt to the left hand, causing him to shout out in pain and drop the gun. It was Serpentine, brand new and shiny chrome blaster in his hand, who suddenly charged in for the kill. Master drew Blade and fought against the snake, dodging both his left hook and a quick butt from the gun, and retaliating by swinging across Serpentine's own chest with Blade. The blow missed, but it caught the snake off guard, allowing Master to wind up and plant a beautiful Haymaker directly into his jaw, sending him sliding across the floor. He got up, firing even more blaster bolts in Master's general direction. He even managed to get him in some areas, hitting his left leg and his shoulder, leaving painful burns in their wake. "No more, Serpentine..." Brevon smirked, drawing his blade again, "I've got this one..." "You wanna scape, Eyebrows?" Blade yelled, "Bring it ON!" Brevon obliged, dashing forward with his own blade and striking with impossible speed and precision. Master drew Blade too and both ended up standing against each other, weapons locked and sending ethereal sparks across the area. Soon, even Master began to buckle under Brevon's impressive strength and willpower and eventually relented, dodging out of the way and letting Brevon's weapon carry on until it hit the ground with a clang. He attempted to plunge the Blade right into Brevon's head, but missed. Brevon had instead dodged and, in one swift movement, plunged his knife into Traveller's stomach - and right through his wound. An intense, agonizing pain ripped open in Master' stomach and he whined in agony, dropping Blade and slamming into the back wall. The pain only increased alongside a draining feeling in his stomach and a wet, rusted smell emitting from his jacket. "Kid!" Blade called out as he tumbled to the floor, "Oh no, the stomach wound! It must've ripped open! I'm sorry, Slugger, in all the hysteria I never noticed!" "Oh dear..." Brevon mocked, "It appears all this silly fighting has...winded you. Possibly for the last time. And now that you've been dealt with..." He turned to face Lilac again. She was being forced to her feet by Serpentine and Prince Dail, eyes moist from the pain of the chest wound. "You're all that's left. See what happens to those who cross Brevon..." He grinned and said no more, instead slowly walking forward to Lilac, blade in hand. He grabbed the two tendrils attached to her head and listened to the dragon girl cry out. He raised the blade high, strength building, hand shivering and without warning or pause brought it down upon her. The blade carved clean through Lilac's tendrils and dropped to the floor, crimson jets of blood slowly dripping from both the severed tendrils and Lilac herself. All other sound in the room was now suddenly blanked out by this loud, agonized shrieking that was coming from Lilac's mouth, intense sobbing mixed in with it, before she was dropped and fell to the floor. There she lay, convulsing and spasming, hyperventilating and gasping for breath. Master's own mouth went dry; she was going into shock. "It appears the operation was...successful, Lord Brevon!" Serpentine laughed, his tone now nasty and depraved. "Indeed..." Brevon said, grinning deviously, "Now all that's left is the Blade. I've heard many things about this...wonderful creation. And I WILL have it!" "You wish!" Master spat back at him, "Blade! Emergency Drill #12-9-12-1-3!" The Blade said nothing, instead floating slowly into the air, suddenly breaking out into a sharp dash across the room. It managed to slice Brevon across his cheek on the way out, before spearing into the vents above them. Brevon growled, looking at Master with a snarled and wounded face, "What did you just do?" "Sent Blade into the vents," Master laughed weakly, "If I can't hold onto him, neither can you." "Then you'll just have to trade your life!" Brevon yelled, readying his own weapon. However, before he could strike Master, an intense rumbling sounded off over their heads. Sounds of gunfire and screams of death ringed out amongst the chaos. Brevon stopped and called out, "What's going on up there?!" "Brevon!" came an echoing voice, clearly coming from the P.A system and overlaced with static, "I'm afraid our partnership is over! Too much torture for my tastes. So I've...taken over your base. Sorry!" "...You!" Prince Dail called out in rage, "I KNEW we couldn't trust you! You've just used us for your own selfish gains!" "Tough talk from Brevon's little puppy!" the voice spoke again. "You will regret this!" Brevon called out too, "Do you know what happens to those who betray Brevon?!" The creature laughed his response, "Well, I guess that you want my head. Not that you'll get the chance. I do not deal with cowards who hide behind machinery and torture. Perhaps you want to abandon these robots and fight me one-on-one. Unless you're the brown-trousers, mustache-headed failure of a villain I think you are!" "GRRRRR..." Brevon growled, "FINE!" he turned looked at Serpentine and Dail, "Take these fools to the Main Torture Room and deadlock the doors behind us! This traitor has given them a few more minutes of life. How horrible this gift will be to them soon enough..." he stomped out of the room soon after, the doors shutting behind him. Prince Dail grabbed Lilac, now too weak from blood loss to even cry out in pain, and dragged her out of the room too. Master's head was already spinning from his own blood loss, a final thought crossing his mind; "Wait...that voice. Wasn't that-" BOOMF! A hit from Serpentine sent him to the floor, and spiraling out of consciousness. ==========-----========== DeviantART Link: http://fav.me/d99o8s0

A number of people already do think that way. This video by one of my favorite Youtubers Ahoy briefly discusses it near the end; One of the more positive examples, for sure. Me? I'll happen again, one day. If there's one thing the game industry is best at, it's refusing to learn lessons it should've learned decades ago. It's how we've gotten games like Rise of Lyric and Medal of Honor: Warfighter. There will be another across sometime, and genres of games will die out. But this time it won't be from too many consoles, or shovelware, or even out-of-control publishing; it'll be from "video game" execs from Packaged Goods claiming we just don't want them anymore.

Welcome to the site!

That's the one I use too.

Next one! Where We Left Off: With Neera dead, Torque kidnapped and the group branded as traitors to be killed on the spot, Lilac and Carol have no choice but to grab their fallen and move further in-land. Carol's frustrations finally boil over and, alone and almost hopeless, Lilac listens to Traveller's true origins. ==========-----========== Chapter 7: War Master Lilac was, to put it lightly, quite bothered about this situation. It was a good five or so minutes since Master's...brutal actions against Neera-Li, and the only conscious members of the team had to move in-land to escape any potential backup from Shang Tu. With a wrecked hovercraft and a dead warrior in their wake, even the range of the city limits would never be enough to escape them now. It had taken a while, but they had managed to awaken Milla and rush through the forest, dragging the still conked out Master by his arms. The rain, first falling after the attack, was now in full swing and pounding down on the outside word like tiny bombs. It certainly soaked Lilac and Carol to the bones as they limped and dragged their way to shelter. Eventually, they stopped in a nearby cave, a tiny one overlooking the nearby lake that the waterfall was connected to, and decided to set up camp for the night. Lilac was sitting deep in the cave; shivering, miserable, hugging herself for comfort and warmth. Carol was sitting by the entrance to the cave, looking out towards the lake, from which a red glow was slowly emitting. Master was slumped over in the corner, wrapped up tight in vines scavenged nearby for everyone's protection. Milla, finally, was sitting next to Lilac. She was slowly munching on some leftover sushi she had stashed on her person; it was soggy, but it still tasted alright. Lilac herself was silent, letting the crackling fires invade her haunted thoughts. She was strong but still close to tears, worn down by the stress; how did this all happen? One day she was a normal dragon, saving the day with her friends and hanger-ons, the next she's a madwoman on the run with a temper-trigger killer on their team. Lilac could only stare at the tied up killer in question and only hope he was still on their side. After all, he seemed nice enough to begin with, so he couldn't be ALL bad...right? "Lilac..." Carol growled, staring out into the open and moist air, "I think I'm done." "D-" Lilac stammered, trying to keep the tears back, "Don't say that, Carol. We can't be done now. We need to...we need to get Torque back-" "SCREW TORQUE!" Carol shrieked, "And screw Maste-Traveller...SCREW HIM TOO! All those two bozos have done is get us into scrapes and fights and trouble without fail!" "Wha...what's going on?" "But that's not true," Lilac said, "General Gong listened to us, Mayor Zao listened to us. And The Majister was going to listen to us-" "If not for that freakin' panda, I know!" Carol called out, "But what about those who DID listen to us? What kind of pedigree do either have? General Gong, a strong and mindless brute who'd rather eat lunch than fight, and Mayor Zao, an egomaniac extremo who's only in power because he screws with any potential competitors and gets his army to crush anyone who looks at him funny!" "Girls? Why've you tied me up? "We have to keep trying!" Lilac blurted out, desperately racking her brain, "Heroes get admonished by the important people all the time! But they power through with their heroic ways and save the day!" "Girls..." "And stop with the hero rubbish!" Carol continued, "We're not hero material. We've almost died on no less than three occasions. I mean, almost becoming a pancake in a crumbling temple only to be saved by some stupid superdog? Fine, I'll give you that one(!) But going down on a ship AND being forcefully flung off a waterfall? No thanks! No thanks and no more!" "Girls!" "Carol, please, don't do this!" Lilac pleaded. "Ahh screw it. Cover your ears, kiddo." "Don't do what?" Carol barked a final time, "Leave? Go back to the treehouse? Stop taking part in this stupid pointless adventure? I'm not fighting for a group of cities that hate us, for a group of royal miscreants - born into power from lies and wars - that couldn't rule a freaking LINE!" Carol got no more out as a vicious crack whipped the air. Both girls recoiled with the shock and turned to the source of the sound. It was Master, smoking gun held high in the air and snapped vines draped across his shoulders. His expression bore the same angry snarl it always did at this point, a suitable growl permeating his voice, "Finally. Thought I'd never get your attention. All this hot air isn't gonna get us anywhere." "Oh, I DARE to concur!" Carol challenged, stepping forwards and jabbing her finger into Master's chest, "Your hot air got us somewhere. Specifically, HERE. In this dingy cave on the run from the law because you couldn't curb your bloodlust!" "You're right, I couldn't," Master sighed, "But let me explain-" "No! No more explanations! No more backstories!" Carol screamed, swiping her hand for emphasis, "NO MORE ANYTHING! I'm done with this heroine stuff! I'm done with getting all these wounds for the sake of some stupid crystal ball! I'm done with Lilac and her always upbeat suicidal bent! I'm done with Milla and her annoying puppy dog eyes! I'm done with you and your overpowered "donut steel" disgraces! I'M! DONE!" Carol's final screams echoed across the forest, bouncing off the trees and across the plains. Lilac had stayed silent, close to tears again, while Milla was clutching her ears and sobbing. Master, on the other hand, looked annoyed if anything else. He didn't shout, he didn't scream, he didn't even try to attack Carol like he had with Neera. He was completely calm, like the attack at the waterfall had drained him of his pent up rage. He only turned to Carol with a soft growl; "Done, are you? Listen up, Casual, 'cause I'm pretty sure this will be the only real education you've ever had in your entire life; this is your fight. It doesn't matter who you are, what you do, why you do it or even what side you're on. Every last bugger on this planet, and every other populated planet, has to pick up a weapon and fight at some point. Sometimes you don't ever stop. But you still have to do it. You can run away, but that's one less fighter on the field, one less soldier giving it their all. And when the enemy wins because of it, it won't be long until they find the ones who abandoned their fellows and...punish 'em for it. You think you can just walk away from this, but wait until Brevon charges up his batteries and brings the full force of his army down on you. Watch him smile as a brainwashed Milla tears out your throat, just for the sheer horror of it." "You're lying!" Carol said, her composure softening, "He'd never do that? Not EVERYONE has to fight." "He would," Master continued, "And they do. You want out, though? That's fine. Leave. Abandon your lifelong friend to save your own skin, pretend you don't have a part in all this. It won't help you when you're pleading for your life. I know what men like Brevon are capable of, the very worst things a creature can do." "Like what you did, War Master?" Carol snapped back. Master went silent, his hands balling up into fists, "Oh yeah, I know that. Heard Neera mention it when we were lined up in the waiting room for time to prepare the cells. It proves my point, though; I mention you by your even dumber old name and suddenly you want to hit me. What a 'noble' and 'heroic' thing to do, huh? Traveller, Saviour of the downtrodden, a wronged man on a mission! Killing respected members of authority and having to restrain himself from bestowing it on others. Neera was right...your sister would be ashamed of you." Master said no more, merely turning away and silently watching the fire from the corner he was originally sat in. Carol turned to leave. "Carol, please don't do this..." Lilac pleaded one last time. "Don't..." Carol said, her own voice laced with sadness, "I'm...I'm just done. Goodbye, Sash Lilac." Carol sighed a final time only getting on her bike and riding off into the darkness, the growling of her bike slowly vanishing into the roar of the rain. Lilac sighed and hobbled back over to the fire, slamming back down onto the cold and unforgiving rock and listening to the crackling of the flames before her. Her face was stable for a good second before she broke down, sobbing relentlessly and grabbing the confused and also crying Milla for comfort. Master too had sat down, sighing and dragging a bottle of some sort of alcohol out of his spacious pockets, wringing the bottle's cap free and taking a hearty swig. He cast a quick glance at both girls, before looking at the bottle in his hand. He sighed, getting up and sitting back down next to Lilac, before moving the bottle over to her. Lilac's own face softened, looking at the bottle, "What is it?" "I think its absinthe," Master said, "Strong little number, it is. Has rumors about its supposed ability to drive whoever drinks it crazy, or at least give them vivid hallucinations. It doesn't, obviously, but it at least feels like I have an excuse for my stupidity every now and again. 'Cause, Lilac, tell me straight...did I glow white when Neera slapped Milla? Did I...did I kill Neera?" Lilac nodded, stifling another sob. "Of course I did..." Master growled. Lilac could sense he was angry, furious even, but only at himself. For losing his temper and taking another life when he wanted to stop. Lilac took the bottle from him, as he allowed, and took a quick drink from it. A strong wave of aniseed struck her throat, but she managed to keep it down. It certainly helped, at least a little bit, and her sobbing ceased. She wisely kept the bottle from Milla, though. "So...seeing as we're alone..." Lilac said, taking another drink, "I have a few questions. What was that white form? Why did Carol and Neera call you War Master? And who was your sister?" Master sighed, a single tear soaking into his scarf before he removed it and his jacket, "Well..." another sigh, "There's no point in hiding it anymore. It's time I told you...everything. About my mission, about my past...about my sister." Lilac stood up, taking the bottle with her, and sitting opposite Master by the fire. Milla stayed where she was, splayed out on the floor in a relaxed manner, watching Master eerily. Lilac took another swig, "Begin..." "Well..." Master sighed, "To begin with, that white form is what they call Hysteria. You know, after Blade's...inhabitant." "At first, anyway," Blade said from within his holster, "Then even I couldn't control Master's absurd self-loathing and anger issues. Originally, if he got angry enough, like REAL mega furious, he would fall unconscious and I would take over. I would destroy or remove the problem and then give control back. The form temporarily releases power limits, so he's incredibly powerful...bit of a shame it drains your life energies like nothing on Mobius. He can only REALLY do it once every 24 hours; any more and his heart would literally explode from the stress and power." "And who controls him now?" Lilac asked, "Remnants of his...original personality," Blade said, feigning a sigh, "Slugger, tell her." "Carol and Neera referred to me as 'War Master', and they have all possible reason for doing so..." Master sighed, "Look, the memories are a bit...fuzzy at the moment, but I'll try my best. There are these people across the multiverse, myself included, called MasterSelves. We are normal people, born in complete suburbia, but we are selected by these powerful gods called Elder Masters to be the creators of a whole universe. We don't HAVE to control their every movement, we only need to create them and make sure they stay stable. As a half-MasterSelf, I only gained control of someone else's, someone who wanted to throw in the towel. With me so far?" "Yes." "Good. When I was young, first using Blade, first working as a half MasterSelf, I used my powers as a physical god to revive someone in my family. I couldn't bring back anyone already dead, it was against the Elder Masters' rules. But they said I could use it on people who never really had a chance at life; unfertilized eggs, sperm that didn't make it. So, I decided to revive my sister, who had died at childbirth. Her name was Amber. And she was the best sister ever..." "Sounds like a nice thing to do," Lilac said, smiling, "Give someone without a life a chance at living it...so...what happened to her?" "...Delago..." Master growled, "A rogue MasterSelf and a vile man to boot. Always one of those type who always saw wonder and whimsy in the dead and dying. He's the only guy I know who could cut someone's arm off and derive...pleasure...from it. Sickening. But yeah...he got Amber. Dragged her off to his lab deep in the Snow Caps, stuck her in a water tank and watched her flail, fumble and scream and beg for air. By the time I had managed to gather up some other MasterSelves and storm the place...well." "She died..." Lilac sighed, "Drowned. While Delago watched, I'm assuming?" "With a freaking smile on his face," Master said, his own voice beginning to crack, "A thousand voices screamed and cackled in my head as I could only watch Amber's final breaths escape her body. Then the voices screeched at me and I screeched alongside them, dying. I blacked out. By the time I regained conscious, Delago was dead on the ground and I was covered in blood. Something had come over me. Something had snapped like a dry twig. I felt no pain, no anguish. Only a maddening, monstrous...wonderful rush of anger. Bloodlust sat on my brain like a fat hippo on a swan, disgusting thoughts swarmed my mind. I wanted to kill, I wanted to punish, to kill the filth and grime that inhabited the multiverse for the travesty of letting my sister die on their watch. For the travesty of letting this Delago live to allow this to happen. I wanted to slice the entire multiverse in two, not out of this feigned justice...but because I wanted to." "We went crazy," Blade said too, "Really, REALLY crazy." "I became fascinated with the act of vigilante justice, of killing anyone and everyone to do what my warped brain would consider the right thing. But, even under all that rage, all that bloodlust and hatred...I just wanted my sister back. At first, anyway. I used what little sanity I had left to figure out a way to...revive her. Again. There was this world that, at one point, was almost drained of its energy by these extinct warlords called Zetis. I decided to...invade one of their alternate timelines, kill the Zetis, leave the world below to rot and use the energy to revive my sister...it didn't work. All that effort, billions dead, a species extinct...and the Elder Masters said NO." "And I guess..." Lilac stumbled, "I guess you lost what was left, renamed yourself War Master and went off across the multiverse killing for the sake of it." Right," Master sighed, "It's just...not something I'm proud of. But hey, everyone's capable of the madness, given the correct scenario." "Huh?" "It's all based on something I like to call...The Sound of Madness theory. Everyone hears that little voice in their head every now and again, don't they? That little baritone buzz in the back of your brain, the one that wants you to cause so much misery. The voice that wants you to yell, to punch, to steal...to kill. The average person would just ignore it...but all you need is one bad day...and that voice becomes your own." Lilac looked reflective, before a sorrowful lightbulb flashed in her head, "Well...that explains a lot about you, then. I'm pretty sure that the Master you say you are...is not the Master I'm speaking to. You're that voice, aren't you? The real Master's been dead for the Great Dragon knows how long." Master made no attempt to hide this and sighed wearily, "I...wish I could say you were wrong...but yeah. I've tried, oh how I've TRIED to be like him...but it's hard..." "What're you saying?" Milla asked, looking up from the floor, "Is the real Master...d-...d-" "The real Master died and I took his place," Master sighed a final time, "Mentally, anyway. I was his dark thoughts, his crueler desires given physical form. The hatred, the rage, the disgrace of it all. I was him. And I...I killed him. My first murder." "But..." Milla said again, "You've been really nice to us. You've been polite to us and Torque. You've been our friend." "But only after several years of being the kind of crazy warlord that would make Brevon blush," Blade retorted. "So what happened?" Lilac asked, "Since when have you tried to atone?" "The Knight Island incident," Master explained, "It was a good year after what the Elder Masters called "The Fall of the Primeverse", and I just...ran out of steam. I used up all my energy destroying a universe purely for the sake of doing so, with Genesis Wave devices to alter the fabric of reality. My thoughts became clearer. I became more rational. The bloodlust finally subsided. I tried to help more people than I killed. This time was helping a young girl escape the clutches of this depraved Delago, his essence given another physical form by my waning insanity. He vanished thanks to being wiped from reality with something they called Chronos Energy and I had no energy left for resistance. They took me in and I was face to face with those Elder Masters. They called me a disgrace, wiped my powers and spent me spiraling into exile." "Notice the one thing they DIDN'T do..." Blade pointed out. Lilac thought for a good second, "...Uh...OH! They didn't wipe your memory!" "And then, finally, it all clicked back into place," Master said, "This was my punishment; I could remember every last thing I had done, in perfect clarity. The guilt and the regret...it almost drove me crazy a second time. But, with the help of some old friends of mine, I defeated the inner demons and...moved on. It was then I decided that I couldn't just return to my duties. I had terrorized these people for a good year and a half, and I was going to pay for every last second of agony I had bestowed onto them. Isn't that right, Blade?" "Yeah..." Blade said, his voice tired, "I had stuck with him through everything. I shared his bloodlust. I was the God of War to those Hellblood people, so it's fair to say I drove him to insanity. I reveled in the bloodshed just as much as he did. But then he stopped and slowed down, and forced me to slow down too. I could suddenly see the misery we were bestowing onto the millions, if not billions we had attacked. I'm a God, and I enjoy slaughter as much as the next guy, but innocent people? They shouldn't have to die for the sake of a few bad guys. If they even were." "Well..." Lilac said, "You tried. You took the law into your hands and got things done, no matter what. Sparing innocents, killing the guilty, going against those who oppose you no matter what. It's what heroes do! Justice!" "Is that what it is, Lilac?" Master asked, "Is that what they call it? Justice? Just because I don't kill for those crystals that makes me a more moral killer than Spade?" There was a brief pause, each person staring deep into the fire, before Milla spoke up, "What're we gonna do about Torque?" "We have to get Torque and the Stone back," Lilac said, the determination returning to her voice, "Otherwise we're all doomed. And I know just how to do it." "How?" Milla asked. "Well, we passed the lake on the way here, right?" Lilac explained, "Brevon's base is there. A big, red steel monster rising out of the waters. Used to belong to Mayor Zao for offshore energy generation, until the Civil War happened and Prince Dail bombed the place. Brevon's seemingly rebuilt it and using it as a place for backup energy. Tomorrow, at the crack of dawn, I'm going in. Storming the gates, as it were." "Hmm," Master said, "Sounds like a good idea." "Alone." "And that's even bette-WHAT?!" "Lilac, please don't go by yourself!" Milla pleaded, "It's too dangerous!" "She's right," Blade said, "If Torque said the truth, he's got an army capable of glassing an entire planet! Facing them alone would be idiotic, if not outright suicidal!" "I can't take the risks!" Lilac said, "I can't risk Milla getting killed. And I can't risk your Blade falling into the wrong hands. What if Brevon gets a hold of it? A crazy, monstrous, god-like Brevon! The whole universe could be at risk!" "...Fine," Master sighed, "Tomorrow, I'll take Milla someplace safe and find Casual." "Casual?" "Carol. You know, I was making a pun." "Casual...Casual Tea?" Blade asked, groaning, "Chaos, that joke was horrible!" "Look, don't worry about me, either of you!" Lilac said, standing up with a triumphant look on her face, "I'm the hero of this story! I've gotta save Torque and beat the villain! I can do this!" "...How?" Lilac looked blank, staring at the infernal weapon that had asked her this. Her mind raced to find an answer, but nothing came no matter what. She slowly and gingerly sat down and stared deep into the fire. Master knew this was the end of tonight's conversation and as such settled down to sleep himself. Milla crawled over to him and rested on top of him, head buried within his deep fluffy scarf. It took another hour of staring at the fire until the rain outside finally stopped. Lilac looked outside and decided to check out the base. She gingerly crept past the two sleepers and then briskly jogged off into the woods. Soon the vast blue lake slipped into view and Lilac skidded to a stop, heels digging into the ground slightly. From there she could look out over the pristine waters, albeit with traces of thick sludge pouring into it. She became disgusted at this pollution and looked out to the thermal base in the distance. It was red and domed, made of only the strongest metals and indeed pouring the sludge out from its pipes. She sat by the edge of the water, boots licking the surface of the water, until she noticed another set of blue-clawed feet join her. She looked up and there was the Half-Zeti Franky, sitting beside her with what appeared to be a rib in his hand. "'Sup, dragon girl?" "Franky?" Lilac asked in shock, "How're you here? I'm not asleep...am I?" "No..." Franky said, his voice high-pitched, "Best guess, you're talking to empty space right now. Still, you've gotta be lucky to get the most...handsome hallucination this side of the multiverse!" Lilac had a quick chuckle at this, but her head sunk to the floor again, staring at the slowly blackening waters. Franky noticed this adopted a sad look of his own. "Oh, Lilly. You look more down than an empty stomach. What's wrong, girl?" "Am I...am I insane?" Lilac asked, staring the not-quite-there Franky in the eyes, "I mean this is just crazy! Look at me! I thought I could be a hero, save the day! Now I've gotta fight the killer of a thousand planets and his army of unfeeling killers! I just...what was I thinking?" "You were only doing the best, girl," Franky said, flashing a toothy grin, "Remember, Torque wouldn't be able to do this all on his own, would he? Had you not saved him back in the Dragon Valley, he'd be a delicious smear on the ground by now!" "I guess..." Lilac said, "I did help him get this far. But look at where it's got him now! In Brevon's base, probably being tortured into serving him as I speak." "Then get him outta there!" Franky said, "Bust his backside to freedom! If it wasn't for you, he'd never get out. With you, though...he has a chance. A chance he'd never get otherwise." "You think so?" Lilac asked, "You think I can do it by myself?" "Hell yeah I can!" Franky said happily, "You need to believe in yourself, Lilac old girl! Just tell yourself! YOU. CAN. DO THIS!" "I can..." Lilac said, "I can do this...hell, I WILL do this!" "Atta girl!" Franky yelled, slapping Lilac across the back. Surprisingly, she felt the slap and she recoiled, "Sorry. Guess your mind makes it real after all. Now, don't worry about those other two! Just go and get Brevon! Save Torque. Save the day! Hell, save the WORLD!" "I WILL!" Lilac yelled, throwing herself to her feet and posing dramatically, "I just have to remember what even I said; it's gonna take more than robots and aliens to slow THIS dragon down!" she turned to Franky, "Thanks for the pep talk, Franky!" "You're welcome!" Franky said, "Now go get 'em, slugger!" Lilac nodded and dragon boosted away, skimming across the water and soon vanishing under it. Franky chuckled and sat back down, grabbing one of the hallucination fish in the water. He wasted no time with it either, downing the whole thing in a single go. He swallowed the thing whole and sighed with the satisfaction, "Ahhh...it feels good to help people." "Funny, really..." came a demented voice, "The REAL Franky would do almost NOTHING of the sort." Franky turned his head to see a figure shadowed in the trees. He did not need to see it in detail to know that it was War Lilac, and she stumbled out of the shrubbery almost on cue. She looked even more ragged than ever, with good parts of her clothing missing and a few gashes lining her body. Her face, once twisted into an ever-maniacal grin, was now fading and forming a pained frown. "Oh..." Franky sighed, "It's you again. What's got you down in the mouth?" "Take your pick," War Lilac growled, "Either I'm not looking forward to the torture part OR I'm getting weaker because Master is managing to do avert my existence and doing an okay-ish job of it?" "Okay-ish?" Franky asked incredulously, "He killed Neera in cold blood!" "Exactly," War Lilac grinned, "There's still a bit of War Master in him, somewhere. As he said, all it takes is one BAD day...and he'll be free. The universe won't need me anymore." "Why?" Franky asked again, "There's a multiverse, it goes on forever. You'll still exist...right?" War Lilac said nothing, before Franky quickly flashed a devious grin at it, "Heh. Looks like old Traveller will get the better of you after all. I mean, it's not like you can do anything about it." "And neither can you," War Lilac said, pointing a clawed finger, "You're a hallucination, a vision, nothing real! I'm...so much more! Why ask? What do YOU think I'm here for?" "I'd be lying if I said I knew," Franky said, "But I know why I'M here. Much like my old friend, I've got some deeds I need to get off my chest." "Ahh that's rich!" War Lilac said, laughing, "Oh, and also not true. You're not the REAL Franky. You're just as much a product of the mind as anyone else. You're what Master WANTS him to be like; like him. Stable, smart, an atoner. The REAL Franky is anything but." "Like?" "Andrea, remember her?" War Lilac accused, "Your own sister. Tore her to shreds for the glory of the Zetis. Drained the world dry of its energies, tore the arm off of the blue hedgehog himself! And then watched as War Master ruined your world and made you...the last..." Franky was silent, "Wait, there's more! What about Catherine? What about killing those helpless party-goers? What about...that night of debauchery?" "I didn't even do that last one!" Franky called out, "That was another universe altogether! I KILLED that Franky for his evil ways!" "No the REAL Franky did that," War Lilac growled, "Now, if you excuse me, I tire of this pointless charade of ours. I must prepare. For what? Well, for anything. You never know these days, do you?" "Okie Dokie, War Lilac!" Franky spat mockingly, "War Lilac. You don't deserve that name! At least I TRY to help people. At least I have a good excuse for doing what I do." "I'd hardly call abusive parents and Zeti bullies a good excuse..." War Lilac sneered. "At least I HAVE one! I'm merely-" "You're MERELY a mockery of a serial killer almost as bad as Master himself," War Lilac said a final time, "That's all you're MERELY. Don't ever forget it." War Lilac turned, stomping into the woods and vanished soon after. Franky sighed and looked out towards the waters. She was right; he was a hallucination, a warped idealistic caricature of the real Frank Freakly. Not real. Can't change much, if anything at all. He continued to stare across the lake until some sudden tapping motion poked at his shoulder. He yelped in shock and turned to see it was Sonar, patiently poking him for attention. "Ahh, Sonar!" Franky called out, "Please don't do that." "Sorry," Sonar said, smiling, "Just wanted to see how you're doing. And, uh...how she's doing?" "Okay, I guess," Franky said, "I managed to put the pep back in her, Old Traveller's quite the downer, isn't he?" "Yeah, you're right there," Sonar giggled, "Dude should really lighten up, laugh a bit more. Ooh, think I've got some nitrous oxide in my bag somewhere!" "Save it, Sony," Franky sighed. "Oh?" Sonar asked, "What's the matter with you?" "War Lilac," Franky said, "The fact she's still around pretty much means that it's still possible for her to still be...born, as such. A shame. And Lilac seems like a nice girl, too..." "I know..." Sonar sighed alongside him, "It doesn't help it all depends on Master staying away from the Thermal Base and...well, I'm not sure he can." "What makes you think that?" Franky asked. "Well, we've got seven chapters left, haven't we?" "..." There was a quiet pause, "...Good point, Sonar. So, what're we gonna do?" "Master's a lost cause at this point," Sonar said, shaking her head sadly, "His self-loathing is more than enough for War Lilac to thrive. He's obliviously angsting his way to his doom. Suggest we help Lilac as much as we can until the influence becomes too much." "I dunno..." Franky turned to Sonar again, "We're hallucinations, Memories. We ain't real." "Well that's never stopped me before," Sonar said, smiling at her own little joke, "Besides, who cares if you're a vision, that you only exist because Master wants the real you to be different? You're a good guy, you help people. Past aside, it's all that matters now." "...Yeah..." Franky said, "That's a real good point! Sonar, you're a genius!" "And yet," Sonar noted, "We've never met in real life. How amusing. Anyway, best we get into Brevon's base too. We've got a lot of work to do." Franky nodded, smiling, and the two shook hands. There was an ominous hum as the two vanished into the ether, leaving the lake a calm and serene location, waiting to be helpful once more. ==========-----========== DeviantART Link: http://fav.me/d98ujnn

I am. A combination of too many consoles, too many unlicensed video games, too many bad video games, the waning interest in console gaming from the public and the rise of the do-everything PC led to a crash in the industry that basically took Atari out of the running (because whatever shambling corpse going today is NOT Atari, I can tell ya that for free). It also created Activision, birthing one of the greatest video game evils of our time.

Jeez, they should've made that guy the freakin' goalie!

It's certainly interesting to see. Another bit of Sonic media to look into. And another Sonic to add in, as well. Now that's SATAM Sonic, AOSTH Sonic, Underground Sonic, Classic Sonic, Modern Sonic, Dreamcast Sonic, Boom Sonic, Archie Sonic, X Sonic...and now Sunday Sonic.

Why thank you, my good man. As for Chronicles, specifically its gameplay, I would've designed Chronicles to be a sort of bigger game than it was. Not on the DS, but a big, Mass Effect sort of affair on PC, the XB360 and PS3. It is, after all, what Bioware is best at. Replace the guns with standard melee attacks ala Dragon Age: Inquisition (hell, I hear Chronicles was rushed for another Dragon Age, so it would only be fitting), or even with projectile-shooting power rings to replace the Chao system. The story would be mostly the same, but with a few changes to remove a few aspects that didn't work or weren't needed, as well as increase the scale; focus Act 1 on finding Knuckles, Act 2 on finding Eggman, Act 3 on getting to Eggman's base for his ship, Act 4 for exploring the Twilight Cage, Act 5 for getting out of it, and then a smaller final act dealing with Eggman and his odd little plan. The characters would mostly be the same. Only this time you can control any character at any time (though still in teams of four), which can change dialogue trees and swap them around when needed. Each character would have the same sort of controls and basic attacks, but their special attacks will dictate what kind of thing they can do (Knuckles being the powerhouse, Omega being the tank and so on), replacing the QTE's with combo strings like in a fighter (like punch-punch-kick for Razor Wind. I own a game called Infinite Undiscovery that does that). Oh, and Shade would be playable by Act 3, captured by GUN and forced to work with Team Sonic in an effort to better combat this new threat. And remove Amy. I don't like Amy. The music...well, Sonic Team could handle that. And not just, I dunno, some random berk with a cheap MIDI keyboard. OH YES, and perhaps the most important thing; I'd sit down with SEGA's lawyers and discuss what was fair game to source from and what wasn't. I'd ensure we wouldn't get a repeat of Pendersgate. Hopefully, anyway. And...that's about it. That's how I'd make Chronicles. A proper, speed-focused, story-driven, fast-paced Sonic role-playing game. Now for the potential sequel...well...

Honestly? I'd like to go back to the 80's or 70's. Really see what was supposedly so great about those eras that everyone from then keeps telling me.

Right, in the new house. New Wi-Fi. Time for a new chapter! BE WARNED: this one has a death in it. It's quick, don't worry. Where We Left Off: Having driven off the Sky Battalion (and crashing along the way), the group starts to work its way back towards Shang Tu to get the Majister on their side. But with knowledge of a potential betrayal on the side, and a worsening stomach wound, Master has begun to fear the worst. The time has come for things to go wrong. ==========-----========== Chapter 6: Jade Creek Jailbreak "Traveller...Travelleeeeer...can you hear me, Traveller?" Master groaned with a scratchy voice, his head pounding like one of those idiotic bouncing robots he had seen in Shang Mu. His throbbing temple was eased by his shaking hand as the voice called out to him again. "Come on, Traveller! Sorry to say this, but you ain't dead yet! OI!" There was a sudden thump on Master's chest and he grunted in pain. His sense of sight soon came back to him and things began to look much clearer; he was in the cabins of Mayor Zao's airship, lying on his back with his stomach reeling from a blunt pain. The cabin was relatively stable and calm, with none of the extreme tremors that only a few good seconds ago had rocked the already doomed ship to its core. The memories slowly came flooding back to him; he had hid with Milla in here when the ship was going down, clasping her tightly in an effort to protect her. There was sudden, violent crash and Master was thrown unconscious. Only now could he see the young hound lying on the floor nearer to the beds. She was breathing and appeared to not be injured, bringing a sigh of relief to him. He turned his aching neck to see exactly who was in front of him. To his dismay, the black-eyed, red-pupiled, ravaged face of War Lilac was again staring back at him. "Morning, sunshine!" she growled, stifling a deranged giggle within the middle of it, "It's nice to see you made it in one piece! Now, I know you might be wondering where you are. Don't worry, you're safe. And so is the dog. But...well, not for long." "Wha..." Master groaned, his delirious mind rendering him unable to properly speak. "Don't you worry about a thing, puddin'..." War Lilac said, her voice taking on a mockingly soft tone, "I'll be REAL gentle with her when I get my clawed mits on her small, frail form. I'll make her stronger AND better, just you wait and see! Wanna try and stop me? That's fine. But you better haul backside, slugger. You're already running out of time. You have one more day to make things right, to steer this timeline back onto the right path...but will you have the wheel?" Her raucous and vicious laughter stung Master's damaged ears and he groaned in pain, swatting away at the incorporeal form like it was some kind of fly. Eventually, a hand grasped his own and his eyes managed to re-focus. In front of him now, in the place of the monstrous being from before, was the normal and sane Sash Lilac of old. Her face looked worried, rocking Master's body and keeping her hand on his chest. "Traveller!" she called out, "Are you okay?" "I'm..." Master managed to mumble, "I'm fine, really...what happened?" "The ship's engines failed, remember?" Lilac said, "You told us to duck into the cabins for protection. We crashed and a good portion of us blacked out...I think. They're all up now and they're...mostly fine." "Mostly?" "Well..." Lilac sighed, "Carol's broke a rib from the impact and we've all got mild concussions, but otherwise we're fine." "What about..." Master groaned, "What about Milla?" Lilac looked confused for a split second, but Master quickly pointed to the hound spread out across the floor. Lilac rolled over to her and checked her over, taking her pulse and putting her hand to the little Basset's chest. She sighed in relief and crawled back over, "She's fine, Traveller. Got a sprained ankle I think, but she's going to be okay..." Master said nothing, simply sighing in happiness and laying back down on the unforgiving floor. There was the sound of clomping on wood as Carol and Torque entered the scene. "You made it!" Carol said happily, "But, did everyone make it?" "Milla's okay..." Lilac said in a panicked way, "But, Traveller..." "Hang on, let me see..." Carol stated, helping Lilac aside and staring at the floored creature. She too checked his pulse and heartbeat, before checking all limbs and then prodding his stomach, which made him yelp in pain, "Hmm..." she quickly held up three fingers on her left hand, "Hey, how many fingers am I holding up?" Master flipped the bird in response. Carol looked offended for a few seconds, but then donned a more amused face, "He's fine..." and stood up, grabbing Master's arm and helping him to his feet. In the distance was Torque, who was helping Milla up too." "Well..." Torque said happily, "At least we're all up now. The ship had the incredible good fortune to crash into a river just outside of Shang Tu. It's waist deep in water in the engine bays, but I managed to get the pumps working again. It'll take some time, but we'll be able to sail this thing to the palace..." his face quickly donned an amused face just like Carol's, "It's weird. Here I was, thinking this ship design was for the look of it..." "Until then?" Carol asked. "Well, we have some time to kill," Torque shrugged, "Unless you want to help bail the water out and paddle the ship back into the city..." Carol looked a tad blank, "Heh, I kinda thought so. At worst, it'll be only two hours until we can get going. What do you Avalonians do to pass the time?" "We watch movies..." Lilac said, counting the activities on her hand, "We play board games, sometimes go into the city for some dancing, maybe bake a cake." "Sounds like fun," Master mumbled, wobbling slightly on his feet, "Shame we can't really do any of those here." "Yeah..." Lilac sighed, "I guess we can just sit out on the deck and watch the trees go by..." "Gets my vote," Carol said. "Again, there isn't much we can do until this thing is fully pumped," Torque explained, "Suggest we...do..stuff." The others nodded and headed out to the deck, Master last among them. Torque was about to leave when he heard yet another pained groan from Master. He turned to see the vigilante, only a few steps away from his original position, falling to his knees, clutching his stomach with one arm and keeping himself stable with the other. He seemed to have trouble breathing, and Torque could swear he even heard some garbled whimpering from him. Blade was also in a bit of a panic, screaming, "Slugger? Slugger! Keep it together, please!" Torque rushed over to Master and helped support him, before helping him over to the cleanest bed and plopping him down onto it. "Traveller!" he said, a large amount of worry woven into his voice, "Are you okay?" "Well, I've been better..." Master said weakly. pointing to his stomach, "It's just...just..." Torque acted swiftly and removed Master's scarf and jacket, leaving only his black shirt. And under that, to Torque's shock, was a thick covering of bandages stained a dark crimson. Upon closer inspection, however, they were not just stained; they were dripping with blood, saturated with such a precious life-giving fluids. "I...uh...Chaos!" Torque called out, "What even IS this?" "Something from before this little adventure," Blade said, bizarrely worried, "War Lilac stabbed him in the stomach with Brevon's blade, remember? Everybody's gone for the stomach in this little adventure and now it's starting to get worse. They gave us bandages to stem the blood flow, but that's it." "That's it?" Torque asked, "They didn't try to stitch it up?" "I don't think they could," Blade said, "This wound is bad enough without getting into all these fights to help keep it wider than the legs of an anthropomorphic smartphone game! I've devoted almost all my 'runtime' to getting it healed up, but it's been a nightmare. It's like the poison on the blade is sentient and actively fighting me every step of the way. I'm...I'm lost, Torque. I just don't know what else to do." "It should've healed up by now, I know that," Torque said in a panicked manner, "Okay, okay, I can get this under control. I lost a lot of my medical tech when my ship crashed, but I managed to scavenge this thing..." he dug into his pockets and fished out some kind of large steel bracket with a needle and some thread, "This is a prototype of something we call a QuickStitch. Helps stitch up gaping wounds like this quickly and without error. Normally it would administer a strong painkiller before getting to work, but...look, Traveller. Just don't scream too loud." "Why?" Master asked as Torque carefully set the bracket over his stomach wound. He soon got the answer as the bracket jumped, sending a large clanking sound into the air. There was a sudden, almost crippling pain in Master's stomach and he writhed as he screamed, "AARGH! Son of a...ARGH!" "Told you," Torque sighed, removing the bracket. Master's stomach wound was now completely closed, a neat black line of thread zig-zagged across it, "It's not a permanent solution, but it should hold until we get to Shang Tu. We'll hand you over to the Royal Medics and maybe they can help. At the very least they can replace your bandages. They're as red as your scarf. Now, just sit here and get some rest. DON'T get up, whatever you do. I'll tell the others how bad it's gotten, it's for the best." "Thank you...Torque..." Master breathed hastily, "You're a real freakin' saint around these parts." "You're welcome..." Torque said, a small smile across his face. He gathered up the bandages and left the room, leaving Master and Blade alone. "Blade..." Master sighed, holding the weapon above his head, "What was our plan after this?" "Get back home, find some land to live on and live a quiet live with your raccoon girlfriend Emma," Blade said, his glow dim and his voice grave, "Well, if we live long enough. I don't want to say you've had it, but..." "Then don't..." Master groaned, his arm going limp and his eyes clasping shut, "Let me rest..." ============================================== Several Hours Later, in the Palace Waiting Rooms ============================================== Lilac's brow dripped with sweat. For the past hour, they had been sitting just outside of the large, forboding doors to the Royal Chambers of the Majister, waiting for the word to enter. For the hour Lilac couldn't help the butterflies in her stomach, the sharp and tense feeling about seeing the Majister with this evidence. She knew the Majister was level-headed, sensible and open to new suggestions, but would even he believe their crazy story? It sounded like something out of science fiction; an evil warlord has conquered half the galaxy and now he plans to kill this planet off unless everyone can band together to stop him. It just sounded completely batty on paper. She looked around, gulping and trying desperately to calm her nerves; Carol, Milla and Torque were sitting on the chairs beside her, Torque carrying a large chunk of the Sky Battalion in his hands. Master was nowhere to be seen, however; Lilac had gotten word of his ailments and, alongside Milla, had become almost sick with worry. Not that she really liked him as such, seeing as his sharp wit and short temper had almost gotten them into trouble a few times with royalty. Considering her own past, she knew that was the last thing they needed. But still, there was something charming to him, something that didn't make him totally unlikeable. For a man who roamed the fabric of reality, he seemed weak, both in mind and in body. She had read books about people like him, the kind everyone loved, never lost, always got the girl and always seemed to be the most powerful man in the universe. One of them, a blue hedgehog, he had ranted about on the journey here. And yet here he was; bad-tempered, emotionally-unstable, excessively violent and just wanting to stop, even when he seemed to know he couldn't. Perhaps, came that thought to her mind, that this was what truly became of great heroes, even as their legends were passed on. She sighed and turned to Milla. She was sitting next to her, a look of worry neatly matching Lilac's own, pawing at her ears and breathing heavily. "It's, uh..." Lilac stammered to Milla, "It's been a wild ride...hasn't it?" "Y-Yeah..." Milla whimpered, her form shivering. Lilac sighed briefly. She had heard her talk with Carol aboard the airship the night before, just before she went to bed. About how she lost her parents in that idiotic civil war. She supposed now was the time to ask about it. She slowly gathered up the courage and, "How long have you been away from your parents?" "I'm not sure..." Milla sighed, "It feels like a really long time now..." "And you've been alone in the woods and sewers of Shang Tu ever since?" Lilac asked. A solemn Milla nodded. Lilac's own face looked solemn too, before sprouting into a look of happiness, "I hope this doesn't sound strange, but...that's really impressive! Believe me, I wouldn't survive a day without my treehouse! I'll tell you what; when this is all over, how about we have a girls' night out? Just you and me?" "AHEM!" came a slightly disgruntled voice from down the corridor. "Well..." Lilac looked embarrassed, "Me and you and Carol. You know, try out some dresses, maybe go dancing. We could even buy a huge plate of sushi and just pig out!" "Yeah, good luck getting ME in a dress!" Carol said playfully, a smirk spread across her face. "Well, sure!" Milla giggled, "I'd like that!" "Well, then," Lilac smirked, giving the playful hound's hair another rub, "That's what we'll do. Let Torque and Traveller clean the house for a change!" "Hey, speaking of Traveller..." Carol said inquisitively, "Where is he? He didn't look too well when we got off the ship. I'm starting to wonder if he collapsed." "I handed him over to the Royal Medics," Torque spoke up, still clutching at the shrapnel, "His stomach perforation from before hasn't got any better. If anything, it's been getting worse. What he was stabbed with had some poison on the end of the blade, something seemingly sentient that can repel even that Hysteria Blade's natural healing ability." "It's been an hour," Lilac said, "How long will it take them?" "You have to remember," Torque explained, "That the poison is part of Lord Brevon's technology, or as close as you can get. Whatever it is, it's way more advanced that your own world's. They won't be able to do much, but hopefully just enough to keep him stable until we get this ordeal through and through." "Out of my way!" came a slurring voice from down the hall, "Stupendous git coming through!" There was the sound of the odd shove and heavy footsteps down towards the others. There was Master, a beaten and plodding mockery of his former self; stumbling, slurred and incredibly unhinged. He stopped and stared bitterly at Carol, his face twisted into a sneer, "What're you smirking at, Casual?" "Nothing..." Carol said, somewhat offended, "Uh, Blade thingy? What's up with him?" "Big shock, the surgeons couldn't really do anything," Blade explained with a grumble, "They don't know how to counteract the poison, but they've managed to keep the damn wound shut. Military grade staples, just to be on the safe side. They've also replaced his bandages, washed his blood-stained clothes and given him enough painkillers to down a T-Rex. Only real problem is that they're so strong they're affecting his mood. Poor guy's gone a bit delirious on us." "Well, at least you're alright now," Torque said re-assuredly, "And hey, your clothes don't smell all matted anymore." "Indeed," Blade said, suddenly sounding a lot happier, "The scarf especially! He hasn't washed the thing since 2013! I've never been so glad to smell the scents of vanilla candles!" "...You can smell?" "Excuse me, Miss Lilac..." came one of the guards by the doors, to which everyone turned to look at, "Uh, the Royal Majister is ready to see you now." "Oh Great Dragon, here we go!" Lilac stammered, the feelings of tense again attacking her nerves. "Right, here is what we'll do," Torque explained, "I sense you have a history with these people and we cant risk the bias. And if what you said about this Neera-Li is any indications, Traveller won't do much either, especially with those painkillers in him. I'm the neutral one, pretty much, so let me do the talking. There's a far bigger chance they'll believe me." "Fair enough," Lilac said, suddenly turning to Master, "And you. I know you're a bit loopy, but we can't have a repeat of what happened at the Temple. So even if you see Neera, say NOTHING. Clear?" "Crystal..." Master grumbled back. ============================= Meanwhile, in the Royal Chambers ============================= General Gong looked bored. Same as ever. He was waiting in the Royal Chambers alongside The Majister himself, sitting in the chair looking bored himself. The only other one there was Neera and she looked anything BUT bored; she had a rather nasty sneer splattered across her face, like someone had taken a glob of negative emotions and just...actually, scratch that. That was a bad analogy. Regardless, she looked like she was definitely not looking forward to this. Perhaps she just didn't want to see that Master fellow again. Understandable, Gong supposed. He wasn't the absolute best when they had first met in the Temple and wasn't really all that polite the next time, either. One of the guards had just called them in, however, and soon the whole group was walking towards him and the others. They were all the same; The shellduck was in front, the Lilac and Carol, then the flying hound with the good sense of smell and finally that Master guy. He looked tired, run down and quite grouchy. He had heard from soldier gossip that someone had entered the medical chambers a mere hour ago, so either he was just grouchy or was tanking a good three prescriptions worth of painkillers. He decided, for the best, to stay out of his way. At least he tolerated him, he supposed, which was still better than Neera. They entered the middle of the room as he approached them. "My friends!" he bellowed in his natural boisterous way, "How did the negotiations fare?" "Prince Dail took the Stone," the shellduck spoke up, "We need to speak to the Majister immediately." "Well, you've come to the right place!" Gong laughed, "This way, please." He took the others to just in front of The Majister and made them bow. The Master guy grumbled, but did it anyway. The Majister sat up from his seat and stood before them, an imposing figure. "A thousand good greetings you, Majister..." Torque said, still bowing. The Majister did not move beyond a blink, only speaking in his baritone buzz, "It is my understanding that Shuigang is now in possession of the Kingdom Stone..." "Not exactly, Your Greatness. Someone else has it. It's been taken by a warlord named Brevon. He has been manipulating the three kingdoms into waging war." "And do you have proof?" The Majister asked. "I do," Torque said. He walked forward and placed the chunk of scrap on the floor, "This is a fragment of one of Brevon's machines. Have your best scientists examine it. You'll find that its mineral composition doesn't match anything that's built on your world." "I see..." The Majister said, rubbing his shadowed chin, "Well, I guess there cannot be any harm in it. General Gong, if you would be so kind to pick it up and carry it to our labs..." "Yes, Majister, sir..." Gong said. He plodded over to the scrap and was about to pick it up, when... "HOLD IT!" came the inevitable scream. It was from Neera-Li, her face scrunched into a sneer of hatred, stomping her way over to the group, "This...theory you have of a man from an other world seems highly suspicious at best." Lilac went a silent pale. She knew the Majister would agree to this, even with her doubts, but Neera? Neera would do ANYTHING to put her and Carol behind bars. She hated thieves and always wanted things done her way. A pity people always seemed to listen to her and follow her without fail, just because she was an ex-Royal Adviser. The panda looked over to The Majister, a smug grin across her face, "If you would allow me to explain, Majister, I have a different theory in mind. This is nothing but an attempt from Mayor Zao to cover up the atrocity he committed against our Kingdom Stone. He must've offered you a generous reward to come here and make up this absurd story. After all..." her smug grin grew wider, "You can't resist money, Sash Lilac and Carol Tea..." "Keep that grin on your face..." a very unstable Master growled, "SEE WHAT HAPPENS." "Oh? Am I getting to you?" Neera's smile vanished, "And if you would be so kind as to refer to me by my actual name. I was kind enough to refer to yours. You were quite the fortune tellers yesterday, so I wanted to see what made you tick. Some...individual helped me do a few background checks. Not only have the two of you been stealing crystal shards, you've been working for the same group that claimed responsibility for the stone's theft! The Red Scarves!" "Oh yeah, and YOU used to work for a moronic prince who's tried to lay waste to a good portion of the planet just because the other two won't share!" Master retorted, pointing his finger like his gun, "You don't work for him anymore, but I'll probably get a savage beating if I mention it. What makes YOU any better than us?!" "Irrelevant," Neera barked, "These people are criminals and spies, your Excellency!" "Hmm..." The Majister was calm and conductive, not jumping to any conclusions, "Is this so, Miss Lilac?" "Majister, please listen to us!" Lilac said calmly, "We are no longer members of the Scarves. We left a long time ago. We did what we had to do to survive, but we won't kill for it! What's the point of living if you extend yours by ending others?" "Hmm..." The Majister said, looking out of the window in deep contemplation, "If what you say is true, then by all means I shall examine the evidence and you can all go free. However, there is no known surefire evidence. And, quite sadly, you have an infamous killer among your ranks." "An infamous killer?" General Gong asked, "Who?" Everyone else, Lilac excluded, slowly turned to Master. His skin went pale, as did the glow of Blade go dim. Blade spoke in a panicked tone, "We've been caught, slugger!" Master was instead angry, turning to Torque, "YOU TOLD THEM?!" "No!" Torque yelped, "I swear I didn't!" "I guess it would be inevitable information about you and your deeds would be linked to our...information system," Neera said, "You of all people should know that buried secrets come up to haunt you someday." "But I'm beyond that, dammit!" Master pleaded, desperation in his voice, "I was young, I was stupid! You do stupid stuff when you're young! You've ALL done stupid stuff in your younger days! I'm trying to atone, trying to better myself, escape this wretched past of mine! And no-one can get in the way of that, including you! And I actually do respect you!" he saluted to The Majister, "Sir." "I cannot take any chances, Mister Traveller..." The Majister sighed, "Detain them until further notice. Make sure the Commander and his...'evidence' are properly quarantined." Neera's smug smile returned and she thrust her staff high into the air, sending ice particles screaming through the air. Above them, they slowly formed into cages of some kind, before falling to the ground. Almost no-one managed to escape them, capturing them in their large cold trapped fingers. Only Master managed to roll out of the way, but he was going nowhere with the flood of armed guards bursting out of the door-frame and into the room. Master had a look of shock, before it twisted back into its painkiller-induced rage. "Hey hey hey!" Torque called out, "Easy!" "Majister, please!" Lilac pleaded, banging on the icy bars, "We don't have the time for this!" "You're right..." The Majister sighed again, "Take them away, right now." The iced cages were slowly dragged away by armed guards, an anguished Torque screeching out, "Examine the fragment! EXAMINE IT!" before everyone was gone. This left Master, well-armed and incredibly angry, alone with the others. "What're you doing to them?" He demanded. "Nothing, Traveller," The Majister explained, "Just keeping them out of the way. We will make up our own minds about this." "And don't expect to get out," Neera said, her smug smile still there, "We've got enough about you and others to keep you locked away for a long time..." "...Alright," Master said, his voice quiet and restrained, "I've played good drugged-up to the point of passing out cop, but I've lost my patience. You're a toad, Majister, a weasel. A scheming, disinterested piece of fecal matter with all the charming grace of a spoiled rich kid from Station Square." "And what happened to respect?" "Lost it," Master growled, "Sent it packing. Gone...alright. Why am I still here? Am I getting a cell all to myself?" "No, you will join your friends soon enough," Neera growled too, "The fact they trust you even though they know of your past only helps prove my point, after all. We have a few things to remove from your person, first. Like your Blade and your gun." "You ain't getting your hands on me!" Blade yelled, defiant, "I will stick alongside my Master through thick and thin, right or wrong!" "Just as he said he would..." Neera mused, "Unfortunately, talking weapon, you need to come with us." "Like hell I will!" Blade said again, "Slugger, waste this waste!" "Neera, what're you doing?!" General Gong stated, "Both of you, stand down!" "Oh, PUSH OFF you fat sycophant!" Neera screamed, readying her staff, "I'm handling things around here! The Majister has given me full permission." "Only if she was proven right about you and Lilac," The Majister said quickly, "And she was. I'm sorry, Traveller. But I'm afraid your traveling days must end. Don't you want them to?" "Rotting in a jail cell?" Master said, keeping calm, "I don't think so. Just listen to us, we're not pulling your leg! If we don't band together, Brevon's gonna attach the Kingdom Stone to his ship's power supplies, giving it limitless energy. Then he'll head out into space, make a quick U-turn, and kill us all! And that's the best case scenario!" "We will have no more of this..." Neera growled, "Guards. Remove his weaponry and take him to the cells. Unless...you want to fight me?" "That is not a wise suggestion, Neera..." Majister said, "Perhaps you should reconsider." "Nonsense..." Master sighed, "I won't fight you. Just take me to the cells. I swear I won't use my weapons." He looked somewhat tired, turning around and heading back out the doors after the others, guards behind him. "Oh, you want to, don't you?" Neera called out, "That little part in you. Not fighting for some vague flimsy excuse to kill things? For shame, War Master." Master stopped dead in his tracks. His fists trembled and he slowly arched his head to Neera, "What...did you say?" "I knew that'd get something out of ya..." Neera grinned, "And now you probably wanna kill me. Just what your little sister would want." Something seemed to almost instantly snap in Master's mind and he was gone. He was seen sprinting at speeds almost invisible, past the guards and straight into Neera. He tacked her to the ground and clutched at her throat with his right hand, digging out his handgun and jamming it into her temple. His eyes had changed; no longer were they white with grey pupils, they were a pitch black with small red dots for pupils. The Majister quickly stepped backwards, the guards all closing in and pointing their spears. "Say that one more time..." Master said calmly, before shrieking, "SAY THAT ONE MORE TIME! I want an excuse to paint the walls with your brains! If you even HAVE ANY!" "Oh, this is perfect!" Neera gasped, "Just as easy to manipulate as he said you would be. All we're missing is the sneak attack." Master temporarily looked confused, before there was a thwack and his face fell. He collapsed, rolling off Neera and ending up spread across the floor. The Blade rolled out of his hand, only to be picked up by Neera via a claw on her Ice Staff. "No!" he called out. Neera smiled in a non-smug way, looking up at the soldier behind her, "Thanks, Captain." "Quack," replied the duck. "Right..." Neera said, holding the Blade at staff's length, "No-one touch this, it'll screw you up BIG time. Gotta admit, this cloaked fellow's plans are infallible. Told us everything we needed to know and do." "I hope this is for the best, Neera..." The Majister said. "Trust me, Your Excellency..." Neera said, casting an evil glare at the unconscious Master, "This will work perfectly..." =============== A Good Hour Later =============== Lilac sighed, an exasperated and pained sigh suitable for a pained and exasperated cell. It had been quite some time since she and the others had been locked up in the cells beneath Shang Tu. And, to put it lightly, they weren't the highest quality. In fact, they were a shambles; the cells were just a fancy way of saying that they were parts of the sewers originally used to store cargo during the Civil War, stripped of cargo and given bars so they could be laughably called cells. Still, it was all they had since the actual cells caved in when Shang Mu opened fire during that way, purely out of spite. Even though Shang Tu took no part in this war, they still sustained a lot of damages and were recovering even to this day, But it still burned in Lilac that the Majister could take this one opportunity to make Neera-Li of all people call the shots. The close-minded, petty supercop of the Shang Tu forces. The one who wanted to execute a good number of her fellow Scarves back in th day, even for something as meager as stealing an apple. There was no mercy with that vile creature, Lilac knew, no compassion; everyone had to suffer for their crimes. The only way to not look soft. Even Traveller, with his supposed history of doling nothing but painful death upon a cancerous multiverse, had a better sense of justice than her. Carol was also in the cell beside her, a small mound sitting in the corner of the room, but Milla and Torque were nowhere to be found. Torque had been taken somewhere, for reasons not known to Lilac, while Milla was...well, Milla was probably fighting slime monsters. She knew the layout of the sewers like the back of her hand, what with her living deep in them and all, and thus had dug into the area below to search for a way out. She has been gone for a long time so far, and Lilac was beginning to worry. Still, at least she wasn't cooped up in here with her and Carol. "This is insane!" Carol suddenly yelped, springing up from her slumped form, "We can't stay here! Otherwise Brevon's gonna kill every last one of us! Let's see that stupid panda girl keep her grin on when she's being choked by a slave collar!" "Carol, that's not gonna help us..." Lilac sighed, "We need to get out of here. But we need to make sure Torque makes it out, too. And he's not even here. Think they put him in...'quarantine', or something." "Is that why we sent Milla into the sewers?" Carol asked. "Yeah. Kinda hoped she'd find a way out of here, but..." Lilac sighed, "Nothing. At least she hasn't been captured yet." There was a sudden clopping as footsteps sounded off from down the corridor. It was Neera, carrying a sniveling Milla by the scuff of her shirt, with Master slowly shuffling beside her. Milla was unharmed, but Master was not; he looked a wreck, with wild and unkempt quills and a bleeding ear. His jacket was gone and in its place was a straightjacket, fastened up tight. His scarf was also gone, putting his scarred face on show for all to see. The door to the cell screamed open and Neera threw both into the cell. "Nice try," Neera said, seemingly irritated and pointing to Milla, "That hound almost got scot-free, but that's not how we fly around here." "Why're you even keeping her locked up?" Carol asked, "She hasn't done anything." "You heard the Majister," Neera growled, "We can't take any chances. Besides, we've got word on the grapevine that there's a mole in the Royal Palaces. For all we know, she's part of Shang Mu's spies. We can't just let her walk away." "You can't do this!" Lilac called out, "We have rights!" "Not here, sister!" Neera's smug smile returned, "In Shang Tu, what we say goes. ALWAYS. Why'da think we've had the same leader for a good decade? And I like it here. I mean, that Shuigang prince was crazy. And I dislike crazy. But I LOOOOVE order..." her smug grin grew wider again, "Well! No need for me to hang around. Enjoy your stay!" Lilac's face screwed up in rage as Neera left the room, chuckling all the way. There was a brief pause as everyone sat in the cell in awkward silence, before a cough gave Carol the opportunity to talk. "And what's wrong with you?" Carol asked, pointing to Master. "They weren't taking any chances..." Master sighed, "Skipped the painkillers and just tied me up like this. Took my weapons, too. In such a way as to make them virtually unobtainable." "Why?" Carol asked again, "Can't Blade, like, fly towards you or something?" "Yeah..." Master chuckled, "Provided he's outside a certain range. 'S why I didn't want you throwing him into the ravine? He's...cursed, so to say, to return to me once he breaches a good mile of my location. And they've put him in a heavily reinforced box...at a quarter of a mile. I ain't getting him back. Milla tried, but she couldn't lift the container." "I'm..." Milla sniffled, "I'm sorry..." "It's okay, kiddo..." Lilac sighed, hugging the scared hound for comfort, "We've all screwed up this time. Look, we need Torque outta here above all else. Maybe I can convince the others I'm still with the Red Scarves and say Torque was forced at spearpoint to work for us." "Nah, that won't work..." Master sighed, "Heard Neera and Gong talk about it. Said they won't allow such a flimsy and obvious excuse. Almost like they knew you were gonna try it!" his angry visage shifted to face them, "Yeah, that's what it is! It's like someone else has entered this universe and is giving them all the answers! The scumbag!" "Nonsense..." came a voice, this one crackly and distorted, "I only seek to improve your lives and get this mission done in an...orderly fashion." the voice was getting louder, before a figure finally stepped in front of the cell. He, whatever he even was, was clad in a black cloak that hid all but his eyes, two pinprick dots swimming in a sea of inky blackness. Here was no hologram, but a flesh and blood mystery, "Hello, fair travelers." "You..." Master stood up and faced the creature, "Who are you?" "Chaos, why does everyone want to know my name?" the figure replied, annoyed, "For the last time, it's not important. All you need to know is, well yes, I HAVE been telling these peeps...uh, people, what's going on." "...Why?" Master asked exasperated, "That breaks No-Zone Multiverse Rule #592!" "Multiverse Rule #592?" the figure stifled a laugh, "In an emergency situation involving two or more officers of equal rank, seniority will be granted to whichever officer can program a VCR?" Master, red in the face, mumbled back, "Well, I suppose that WOULD be helpful in this universe. I was referring to the rule where no Multiverse Traveller can tell a universe's inhabitants the contents of its timeline in the off-chance it would create a temporal paradox!" "That's Multiverse Rule #3972, you weren't even close!" the figure said, "And don't bother trying to use the No-Zone cops' logic. They're coffee-swilling pigs and you know it. Anyway, I'm not here to argue. I'm here to get you out of here." "...Come again?" Lilac asked, "Any particular reason you're helping us? And everyone else, too?" "I provide a service," the figure said, digging into his cloak and taking out a bag, "To whom and how many, I cannot say. You have your duties to attend to and so do I. I can't achieve my mission if you don't yours. Torque's been sent away from here due to the rumors of a mole. AKA, me. Their stupid scrambling should give you enough time to plot a course for scarper city. As long as you can make it past the Jade Creek, you're out of their jurisdiction and you should be safe. But you better hurry! Brevon's mobilized his troops to look for him. Good day to you...and good luck." The figure turned and left, leaving the others on their own. Lilac took the bag and emptied it on the floor. Its contests were quite plentiful; there was bunch of red leaves, helpful considering Master's own state, and a mound crystals for good measure. Beyond that were Carol's motorbike keys and a note saying "PRESS THE WHITE BRICK". There was also Master's scarf, his jacket and some large black blocks. And finally was Master's own gun, a good five spare magazines...and The Blade of Hysteria itself." "Blade!" Master called out in joy, "You're back!" "Slugger!" Blade replied in a similarly joyous way, "You're not dead! Though you do seem a bit...tied up. Let me get that." The weapon floated up into the air and swiped across the suit's joints, freeing Master's trapped limbs. He removed the suit with gusto, slamming his clothing back on and holstering both weapons. Carol herself had pressed brick in the cell that had been painted white, opening a nearby wall and shoving a ruby red motorbike out. "My bike!" Carol called out, "How did it get here?" "That cloaked fellow..." Milla said, her tone somewhat quiet, "Should we really trust him?" "We don't have a choice," Lilac said, quickly eating one of the red leaves, "We need to find Torque and get back on track. We HAVE to get the Kingdom Stone back from Brevon, or we're all either dead or his slaves." "Just like Prince Dail..." Carol sighed. "That cloaked fellow sure isn't from around here," Master said, looking at the blocks, "C-4. A powerful, remote-detonated explosive. Should be enough to blow the wall, provided Milla shields us from the fragments. Then we're free. Come on, girls! Let's blow this dump!" ====================== Another Five Minutes Later ====================== Carol shouldn't shake the feeling that had suddenly become a massive mistake on her's and Lilac's part. Like, all of it. A good few days ago, she and her were planning a final truck robbery, one that would set them up for life. A day after, she was eating the tastiest sushi she had ever tasted with a brand new friend, and NOW she was running from the Shang Tu Police Force at the fastest speeds she had ever gone on her bike. She was working the poor thing into overdrive, exhaust belching flame to keep in front of the fuzz. The vehicle chasing them was a hovercraft, zooming across the water with impressive speed, with the duck soldier at the helm and Neera herself riding on top of it. She looked angry, her rage directed at their impossibly fast escape, and she was firing her ice staff all the way. The heroes were dashing their way across the riverbank, unable to advance into the jungle owing to its masses of brambles jammed into its side. The only way was forward, and Carol complied by slamming the bike into its highest gear and zooming off with a boost. Lilac, Milla and Master were not not far off, Lilac way out in front, dodging missiles and blasts of ice from Neera's staff and the hovercraft itself. Master himself was running headstrong, not looking back, while carrying the young hound once more so she could fend off the various attacks using her own powers. Even now she had been able to deflect one of the missiles with her shield and divert it into the water, smacking into the hovercraft and causing it to thrash around in the water to the accord of almost throwing Neera off. "Lilac, we need a plan!" Carol called out, "We can't keep running like this! This river leads to a huge waterfall!" "We have to keep moving!" Lilac called out too, "Otherwise the world is doomed!" "We can stop, we just need to get this hovercraft off our backs!" Master yelled back, "Throwing Neera off might create the right diversion. Milla, this is going to take everything you have! You okay with that?" "What'm I going to do?" Milla asked, curling into Master's arms to avoid the blasts. "You're gonna make the biggest, most powerful laser you've ever made," Master grinned, holding Blade backwards so the gem was facing outwards, "Just grab this gem and brace yourself." "No!" Blade called out, "Slugger, we can't do that! Remember what happened with that alternate Amy?" "I know! But we don't have any other choice!" Master quickly turned to Milla, "You ready, kid?" Milla nodded. Blade sighed and the gem on the base of his handle extended on a rod. Milla took a deep breath and clasped the glowing artefact in her hand. An almost indescribable amount of energy shot up into Milla, and she yelped with the shock. Every cell in her body was filling to burst with energy and she felt like she was burning up. Screaming, she thrust both hands at the hovercraft and braced her upper body for the shock. What could only be described as a laser the size of tree trunk screamed across the sky and slammed into the hovercraft, tipping it up and throwing it high into the air. Neera was thrown off, flung into the sky before landing with a soft splash. All still on dry land counted their blessings and rushed forwards, eventually stopping at the waterfall in question. "We made it!" Carol said, stopping her bike and staring into the watery abyss below them, "This waterfall marks the limits of Shang Tu!" "Then we're safe," Master sighed, setting the panting hound down, "Good. How're you holding up, kid?" "F-Fine..." Milla whimpered, her voice weak, "Just...just let me rest..." "What even was that?" Lilac asked. "My powers are, for lack of a better word, spreadable," Blade began to explain, "I can channel my energies into another host should they be physically touching me. However, we don't actually USE this often. Because...well, you know what they say, power corrupts." "Indeed it does!" came the same garbled voice from the cells, only now interspersed with the sound of spinning blades, like a helicopter. The group looked out over the waterfall and some sort of flying machine slowly lifted up from the edge of the waterfall and hovered before them. The cloaked creature was in the machine, leaning out the open door with his spiked teeth grinning in the moonlight. And, much to their horror, he had found Torque. He looked weak, with a large gash across his body and a few darts in him as well. He was being carried by some green orb robot into the flying machine, soon vanishing within it. Lilac screamed out in horror, "NO! Torque!" "I KNEW something was up!" Milla whimpered, "I just knew it!" "You were using us, weren't you buddy?" Carol growled, her anger peaking, "Distract the soldiers while you ran off with Torque!" "I told you I couldn't tell you who I was working with!" the figure spoke again, "Now, you've got a good seven seconds to swear allegiance to Lord Brevon or we'll blast you out of your boots!" "What're we gonna do?" Master asked, "Either we get captured by Shang Tu's forces, OR we get captured by Brevon, OR we break every bone in our body jumping down this waterfall." "...Bones heal," Lilac said wearily, grabbing the wrists of the others, "Let's go!" "Wait, Lilac, NO!" was all Carol could get out before the group slowly fell down the edge of the waterfall. Their screams were drowned out by the rushing water and soon they were gone from sight. The cloaked figure sighed, climbing back into the flying machine and shutting the door behind him. Torque had been tied up by some of Brevon's soldiers and was now stood in the corner of the area. "Torque, buddy boy!" the figure said, his voice now jovial beyond the crunchiness, "Nice to finally meet you!" "What're you gonna do to me?" Torque asked, his will still solid, "You can't be working with Brevon!" "Not full time, no..." the figure reached for his own hood, cackling all the while, "I've my own agenda. And they involve you. But before I knock you out cold and wait for the inevitable rescue from Lilac...I want you to see my face." Finally, the hood fell, and Torque's face fell with shock, "No...no! You can't be here! Traveller said he had abandoned you in the tundras of Exol 7! It can't be!" "But I am! And it can be! In fact, it IS! HAHAHAHAHA!!!" === ??? === Lilac was the first to awaken. Her ribs hurt and there seemed to be a little bit of blood right in front of her, but otherwise she was okay. She looked around, groaning in pain. The group's descent down the waterfall had save them from both Brevon's and The Majister's forces, and now they were at the bottom of the waterfall, slowly drifting towards the shore. She sighed happily; her actions were drastic and...well, suicidal, but they were safe! For real, this time! "Guys..." Lilac groaned, slowly getting to her knees, "I think we've made it." "You think?" Master sighed, coming too, "What the hell was THAT, Lilac?" "Yeah!" Carol growled, "You could've killed us!" "I'm sorry, guys..." Lilac shrugged, "But it was all I could think to do. We've got out of worse scrapes before...right? Hey, chins up! At least we escaped the police." "Yeah, for a good five minutes..." came an all too familiar voice from behind them. Lilac went into shock overdrive, looking behind her. It was Neera, her grin gone and replaced with a majestic scowl, "This has gone beyond fun, now." "No!" Lilac said, tears in her eyes from the stress, "Please, stay back!" "This is only gonna end up one way, Thief!" Neera barked, advancing towards the waterlogged dragon, "And you're only conscious - nay, ALIVE - in one of 'em!" "Stop this!" Milla wailed, jumping in front of Neera, "We're innocent! Why waste time going after us? Go after Brevon! Torque told you everything you need to know!" Neera raised her hand and brought down a mighty slap across Milla's face, sending the hound flying and rolling into the water beside her. Master screamed something indecipherable out of rage and got to his knees, his hands tightening into fists. He looked like his was in pain, clutching at his head and crying out in agony. Neera ignored him and resumed her walk towards Lilac, staff grasped firmly in hands. "A loada junk and nothing else!" Neera called back, "Your cloaked friend set us up just as much as he did you! I lost the eyes of a good man during his escape! Now you will stand down or I WILL use lethal force!" "You can't do this!" Lilac called out. "But I CAN!" Neera said for the final time, "And I WILL! My patience has run thin! Goodbye, dragon girl!" Lilac, even with her body in its physical prime, was too exhausted by the running and collision to get up and run. She only shut her eyes and began to hope for the best... Then, there was a sound. A disgusting, visceral sound that was mixed with what seemed to be Neera yelling out in pain. She opened her eyes and saw Neera, staff dropped in shock, patting at a rather large stab wound in her chest. Nearby her was Master, upright and still. To Lilac, he had changed to the point of being frightening; his body was more-or-less the same, but all of the colour had drained out. His body was glowing a pure white from head to foot, with exceptions; his scarf was still the blood red colour it always was, but almost every other part of him was a bright white light. His limbs from the mid-joints upwards were covered in blood, fresh blood seemingly, and his eyes were now a bleeding black void with pinprick red dots for pupils. Finally was Blade, covered in blood and muck, his own design changed to a more demonic and bloody type. He was leaning slightly, like a zombie, with otherworldly breathing sounds escaping his throat. "No more..." he growled with a voice more demonic than a thousand devils, "Neera-Li, your time is up." Neera's face only showed some sort of vague shock, which quickly gave way to anger. She stopped plugging up her wound and attacked, swinging wildly with her ice staff. This proved most ineffective, as Master simply dodged and swung Blade with full force. To Lilac's amazement, it cleaved through the heavy metal staff with almost no resistance, like a knife through hot butter. This...creature then grabbed Neera in a choke hold, holding Blade just before her neck. She spat some blood at him; "Go to Hell..." The creature only looked her dead in the eyes and swung with all his might. The Blade once again cleaved through her neck with little trouble at all, leaving almost no blood and but a thin red line across Neera's throat. A small gurgle escaped and then the head fell, separated completely from her body, landing with a splash in the once pure lakes. The creature looked at the headless body and discarded it, growling something of his own; "Already been there...wasn't worth it..." The creature looked back at the girls; Lilac's jaw was somewhere around her knees and Carol looked like she was going to be sick from the shock of it all. Thankfully Milla was still knocked out and had not seen the action. The creature sighed, looked down shamefully, and passed out. He landed in water face-up, the colours of his form slowly regaining colour and becoming Master once again. Lilac was still standing, bodies everywhere, as the rain began to fall. "What do we do?" Carol asked, looking at Lilac, "What do we DO?!" "I DON'T KNOW!" Lilac screamed back, keeping Carol shocked and shivering. She looked over into the plains behind her, the rivers stretching into the distance...and she began to weep. "I don't know..." ==========-----========== DeviantART Link: http://fav.me/d97zjgn

Oh yeah, the Mega Drive Room. I hear that's basically been buried under a sea of bugs and glitches and actually putting mods on it is close to impossible. So I hear, anyway.