NPF Avatars: with hardcore finger pointing action!

[Dragonsbane]

Reality tore itself open with a shriek of planar boundaries rubbing together, a disconcerting sound that pulsed multiple times at once in several different and distinct rhythms of horrifying beauty and gut-wrenching hideousness.

Dragonsbane stomped out, an uncharacteristic look of fury on his face. He was swearing in dozens of languages, several of which caused small, nearby objects to explode.

Black flames crackled and hissed between his fingers, coruscating scarlet meteors the size of peas orbiting his hands like a miniature meteor shower. He raised both, pointing them at Raiden, and invoked two swear words that were less heard than felt, roaring into the minds of all who heard them, palpable to more than just the six senses. The veins in Dragonsbane's forearms bulged, huge bubbles traveling beneath the skin...then they exploded, whipping like cords through the air and spraying his blood over the ground.

The effect was a hole punched in reality, black flames eating the air, eating the debris, eating everything in a column of ebon glory from the outstretched palms of Dragonsbane's hands. The meteors shrieking, and grow as they spiraled down the column. They were the size of basketballs when they impacted what remained of Raiden, then they imploded.

All color within a mile abruptly inverted and became its negative, Dragonsbane's eyes shining white as he forced his will upon the magical forces he had summoned, wrestling with his spell to keep the radius from expanding. Raiden's pieces, along with a great deal of debris, god-killing bullets, and a vast amount of more-or-less normal bullets were sucked into a void that manifested at his heart, a portal to absolute, all-consuming nothingness that lasted for only a millisecond before it closed with a hiss...and the colors returned to normal. Raiden was gone, not just physically, but completely and utterly gone.

Dragonsbane fell to his knees, blood drenching his robes. He awkwardly cradled his arms, flayed and in some places skeletal to his elbows, ravaged by exploded veins and arteries, in his lap. He tried to move his fingers, but the nerves and muscles were gone, leaving only bloodied bone and torn ropes of muscle.

[Raiden]

The area seemed quiet and calm. Until Esheth's body started to shake and spazm. It glowed a light blue as slowly, a being of energy seemed to pull itself out from the unconscious woman. He was slightly pissed off.

That was quite a move...too bad I imprinted my energy on all I touch. I just have to leap into the body of those I imprint, and I can manifest myself using their energy. But thanks to you...I'm in this fake body. You know how irritating that is? It's itchy, and barely worth keeping.

After wrenching himself free of the body, he looked over at the others. He was about to attack, when the attack from the Isparalian came down. Several Runes appeared from Raiden's body and went up. Suddenly, a giant barrier appeared, blocking the hail of attacks. A mist like substance came down from the barrier. The shield was absorbing the energy and giving it to Raiden to use later. He turned back to the group.

Now, to finish you while yo-AHHHRG!

Raiden grasped at his head. An order was being sent. When the pain stopped, he looked at the group.

He wants you inside.

In a small flash, he teleporting himself deep inside the temple.

[Dragonsbane]

"Too fast...saw the spell coming..." Dragonsbane's voice was hollow, drained...weak, "He jumped out of his body before it hit..."

"But he was bluffing. He could barely pull enough energy to make an illusory body and a weak shield. Go! Now is our chance! He gets stronger every minute he can draw energy from this place...time is of the essence." his eyes never left the ground as he spoke, although he had looked up to watch the swirling, hazy magical energies perceived as Raiden. Now, he just gazed into the pool of blood spreading around him.

[PhoenixFlame]

Raiden was gone... But he wasn't really gone. No, he was just being a typical RPG final boss. And Dragonsbane was being the typical RPG final-NPC right before the final boss, who is always bleeding to death and in pain, but never actually dies.

Because, as you know, you have several hours to go back and do all the side quests right before the final boss, even though the NPCs urge you to do everything as time is "slipping away."

But, being a Raksha, Phoenix had a certain love for stories, and thrived on dramatics. In particular the tension before battle, and this made her feel euphoric... As if she belonged there.

Punching open the Altan's cockpit, the ice-assumed chaosbeing pointed to Rei and said, "Watch the ship. I've got business to attend to." before leaping down and rushing to Dragonsbane's side. The poor mage was horrifically wounded, but Phoenix instinctively knew what to do... She had to heal him.

She didn't really even know any healing magic, or at least she hadn't before. Regardless, her new body seemed to know what it was doing, as if she'd done it before. Of course she had, but that was a story for another time. Chaos was not easily understood, and NPF was rife with such chaos. With a reflex, Phoenix conjured a small glass orb to her side, one containing Twiddy's higher soul. The real Twiddy, in fact, as she'd earlier won in a game of chance. Sticking one of her clawed fingers into it's blissful dream, despite the fact that her fingers had not been claws a moment before, Phoenix withdrew a strand of silvery gossamer, crucibled from the ambient essence of the NPF via Twiddy's immortal soul.

With this, the creature professing to be Phoenixflame twirled the two fingers of her right hand, spinning the thread into a ball, and running her other across Dragonsbane's skeletal left arm. The thread took, and soon his arm was re-knitted, albeit a strange pale white of fallen snow, with wickedly clawed fingers.

"Shush, Dragonsbane. I shall mend you for a time..." Phoenix smiles at the fallen sorceror, as she forges his new arm from lambent dream and threads of ambient reality.

[mauve]

"What the-- How did-- HEY!" Mauve sputtered, looking down at the carnage below. They were getting all the fun down there, and Mauve was stuck in a low-altitude airship, watching someone else try and blow the bajeezies out of the temple. That didn't fit Mauve's definition of fun or usefulness, whether she was in Mage or Thief form. Even though she knew there was very little she'd be able to do in either shape, Mauve wanted to be down there, where the action was. True, she might not be able to do much at ground zero, but she wouldn't be able to do ANYTHING up here on the ship, save poke around for things she hadn't yet stolen.

Mauve wracked her brains to figure out how to get there without disturbing Ahrha. The woman seemed to be enjoying herself with the airship's uber-destructive weaponry, and Mauve figured she wouldn't give the opportunity up to drop Mauve off at the temple doors.

Then, an idea hit her. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small palm-pilot-like device. Her fingers tapped across the tiny keys.

"SEND PRIVATE MESSAGE?" the device asked. Mauve hit "ENTER."



Meanwhile, in Phil_'s garage, a pattern of lights suddenly flicked on.

From his living room, Phil tilted his head, listening as engines hummed to life from outside. He could go see what it was..... Or, he could just go back to watching live coverage of E3....

On his computer behind him, a message appeared.

"PHIL- XWING IS MINE!!! ~Mauve"



A white-and-orange shape approached the Airship. Mauve clasped her hands together gleefully, recognizing the Chibi X-Wing that Phil had given her, sabotaged, and then taken back. Now it was completely repaired, and in her hands again. Just as it should be. And Phil's garage now had a Chibi X-Wing-shaped hole in the wall.

A few minutes later, Mauve cruised towards the temple in Chibi Rebel Allaince style, blasting the few remaining Gaians with laser cannons and throwing out Star Wars lines.

"Red5, you've turned off your targeting computer!"
"I know!"
BLAM! Gaian demise.
"Just like shootin' womp rats back in Beggar's Canyon!"

Finally, she pulled in towards the temple and landed. Raiden had already disappeared inside by the time she got there. Shrugging, the ex-mage shouldered the PSG and gave the beloved X-wing a hug before jogging up to the rest of the group. She'd catch up to him eventually. That's how these RPGs worked.

[Krylo]

Haeru walked through the Esheth shaped hole in the temple doors, her dual pistols held to either side of her head in the classic ready position. Stepping over Esheth's body she made her way into the temple carefully. Raiden, at this point, was no one to be trifled with. Not to mention whoever was pulling the strings--someone who could control a god was not to be trifled with.

[Bailey]

A shape detached itself from the X-Wing and dropped lightly to the ground, long hair streaming away into the distance as the ears pinpointed the di- "[Five syllable word which has been banned by the Geneva convention]! I hate this new change! Why can't I just do stuff normal?" He sighed and shook his head.

"Come along ninja rabbits, we've got a Raiden for you all to distract, and for me to beat up."

With that, he strode towards the temple, his long hair gleaming li- "[Same Geneva banned word]! Why won't this stop?"

Fine, fine, but the readers can imagine all the embroidery, you can't stop them.

"Just so long as I don't have annoying descriptions buzzing around me."

Newb, currently in Ballistic Bishi Battle Bunny mode, entered the temple.

And behind him, what was swiftly becoming a small, no scratch that, a large army of ninja rabbits followed.

[GARUD]

Garud followed in after, her long hair untouched as she had sufficient rest time. Now seems right to unleash the beast. The demon slayer walked along through the hole, after a very feminin Krylo.

"Raiden, where are you? Come out and play!"

With staff in hand, Garud prepared herself for what was coming.

[mauve]

Mauve raised an eyebrow, looking over the rest of the NPF.

"So THIS is what the chaos blast did to you guys," she said, glad that her ninja mask hid her grin from the others, especially Krylo. "I was wondering." But there was no time to poke fun at the gang's new looks. From what she gathered, Raiden had just avoided getting sucked into nonexistance and decided to move back into the temple. It hadn't been an easy fight for the rest of the NPF, Mauve thought, noting the wounded Dragonsbane and what looked like an unconscious Asheth in a trenchcoat lying just inside the door.

"So what did I miss?" Mauve asked, checking the PSG to make sure it was loaded properly. "Do we know why he's doing all this? Has he said anything useful? I'm afraid I couldn't hear through the speaker system over Ahrha's maniacal laughter."

[Bailey]

BBBB strode up beside Mauve, twirling something in his fingers.

"I too would like to know what I have mi-" He looked down at his hand.

"What am I doing? Anybody know why I suddely have an ammo pa-" He looked over at Mauve who was scratching her head while examining her weapon.

"Uh, sorry?" He handed the ammunition over to her.

It was then that he noticed Mesia.

"Aha! At last! Please, you must help us. We are shattered. I know that the soul we once formed annoyed you, but please, consider our request. Put us back together, please! I know that we have grown since being shattered, but I think that this may turn out alright. If I'm right based on the reactions of the bodies we've been using, three of us should just about form a whole soul. So please, do not allow us to continue in this broken state. Aid us in one way or another, please. Make us each whole apart, or whole together, either one. I beg of you."