NPF Avatars: Pain and Amazement

[Mesden]

The calm world they were in faded and broke around them. Raiden slowly faded from view as a black void surrounded her. Off in the distance she heard a small wail. Another sound came, this time in the form of a cry.

She turned to look and saw all of the souls she had a connection to. Every traumatic experiance ever witnessed by any being ever hit. Screams, wails, crying, pain, yells, howls. Everywhere she turned. The color in her skin and eyes faded.

She kept turning, looking for a way out. Still all she saw were tortured beings wailing, calling for her help. She snapped.

She lashed out at everything that came near her. All of the sounds and figures, all of the horror, everything there. She quickly stopped and looked around. All of these souls she had attacked were still there. Realization hit her.

"This isn't real. This is another plane. A plane of fear. All things I have witnessed are coming back. I must stop this."

Her mouth opened and with the all too familiar universal encoding she covered herself in sigils.

"There, now I can't hear them. All to do left is get back to my world."

She placed her hand on whatever surface she stood upon and grasped. A bright light escaped the gasped surface. She placed her other hand in the crack and began to rip. Pulling apart this form of reality and passing into her own.

"Damn, tired. I have to find the real Raiden still."

Even in her own universe she was tired. She continuead her way through this realm to find Raiden.

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

**Flashbackiness**
Rhiya awoke groggily and tried to sit up while still being carried.

“Uoargh, my head. What happened? No… don’t tell me,” Rhiya added when her hand – which had travelled up to stop her head from rolling off – brushed against something hard and… toothy.

“…I did, didn’t I?” the thermometer whizzing around her head fluctuated dangerously, before dropping to a relieved (everybody else was relieved, at least) 0.

Pyros dropped her in front of a large door, but had to steady her a bit before hopping off to his own rune-designated placeyness. Rhiya – swaying unsteadily – looked up blearily, squinting.

“Gah. I can’t read this while I’ve got RFS hangover. Open up, you stupid door!”

The door didn’t budge.

Rhiya, growling under her breath, twitched a shoulder, popped a couple of neck joints, and shook herself all over.
Pointed horns sprouted like wildfire over her back. Those feathered wings shed all its featheriness, sprouting glowing spikes and webbing joined themselves inbetween those large ‘fingers’.

Soon, all trace of huma-Rhiya disappeared, replaced by a hellish Chaos Diamond dragon that turned baleful – and groggy – eyes down onto the tiny door now eclipsed by her massive hulking shadow.

Claws slammed into the sides of the framework of the runic door, getting a decent grip.
“Hr--!”
The stone framework gave way easily, revealing the tunnel behind. Rhiya tossed the frame over her shoulder (it flew for half a mile before landing on a poor unfortunate NPF soul) and returned to her original form, before stumbling inside.

**END!**

Rhiya’s subconscious writhed uncomfortably, even though all of her external senses told her she was back in her familiar hunting grounds.

She was gradually becoming accustomed and waking up a bit more, but for the moment she was still pretty vulnerable. RFS Raging takes a lot out of her. Fortunately, all the gore had fallen off in the previous transformation, so Rhiya didn’t have to contend with having to explain about that particular collar-bone armband.

It took her a while to register what Raiden said, and she squinted at him, a little off-kilter. To her, the whole building was tilted at a weird angle and it took most of her effort not to lose her footing on the slanted rooftop. She was in no condition to do much except for a graceful swoon – which she performed with a little less grace and more of a controlled collapse.
Putting one hand out on both sides, she steadied the ground around her and looked up again, briefly waited for the world to stop spinning, and opened her mouth.

“Emm… ahh… I really don’t have the time for idle talk, Raiden, so if you don’t mind, I’ll be… er… moving on now.”

Steadying the world once more, she managed to get up again, only to find the silhouette of Raiden looming over her cinematically. Rhiya’s thermometer rose up to a narked 15.

“Can’t have you doing that, Rhiya. I’ve been told to restrain you.”

“…But I haven’t even TOUCHED Thadius in the past 10 hectic minutes or so!”

“It’s not that. I just can’t let you get to Mashirosen.”

RFS: 50 and steady.

Rhiya was feeling a little better, now that she’s more ‘filled up’ on anger.
“Righto then. I have no choice but to do this in the least painful way as possible.”

There was a soft snikt noise, echoed by a second. Twin chaos and reverse-chaos blades glowed menacingly as Rhiya brought them forward in a combat stance. She was ready to fight.

[Truce]

Fear...

Yes. That was what he felt, even as he made his way through the dimly lit tunnel. He was afraid of the opponent that they would have to confront, of what the opponent might do to not just him but everybody else as well. He held no delusions about Raiden, after all. That man was a true god, unlike the pretender that had been Baal, and he could control not just electricity but the very fabric of reality itself, if he so chose.

The draconic side of him still tucked away inside was proof enough of that.

He had gotten stronger since Christmas. A lot stronger. However, that didn't mean he was strong enough to compete against a god, and no matter how much he could prepared for a battle like this (and he had, believe me, he had) he wasn't sure he would ever be.

Still. He had his duty and, more importantly, he had his friends. He couldn't let them down. He wouldn't let them down.

Before he knew it, Ecurt had come to the end of the tunnel. Suddenly, he found himself standing within an a memory of the past. He wasn't sure why it had brought Fenris and him here, but now he was back in Santa Claus' throne room, or at least the likeness of it. It had been just as they left it too, with the corpses of Twinky and his minions still littering the ground, and the hole left from the Moon Speaker was there just like he had remembered it.

However, he had never recalled Raiden being the one sitting upon the throne and at that time the thunder god had still been a friend, not a foe.

"You know, Fenris," he said, glancing back at his partner. "I never once had the intention of dying again. However, if I do, you must run. Find POS. If you're lucky, he might have the router prepared by then. Then, maybe, you'll stand a chance in a fight against a god."

Taking a step forward towards the thunder god, Ecurt drew the P-Cane and attached it to Gleipnir. Abruptly breaking into a run at Raiden, Ecurt gained as much speed as he could before throwing the makeshift javelin at Raiden's head. Skidding to a stop, Ecurt then fell into a stance and awaited the response to his attack.

[Arhra]

If patience was a virtue, it was quite probable that they'd refuse to let Arhra into hell for fear of her taking over right now. Either the catgirl accessories, the sailor fuku, her recent massive sugar intake or some unholy combination of the three seemed to be making it as difficult for her to stand still as a squirrel jumped up on caffiene.

It seemed it had also done strange and terrible things to her attention span. After her suggesiton of everyone entering the same door, she'd been cooking up a number of half-baked schemes, intending to fully bake any that seemed promising. Her jumping from plan to plan had just been beginning to settle on one idea that seemed like it had the maximum possible amount of insane genius, unexpectedness and insult to Raiden, only to find most of the NPF'ers had already gone in.

Sure... go into what obviously some sort of trap. Raiden was far too obvious. Likely it was meant to delay them or something. Well, they said an ambush was only an ambush if only one side was aware of it. That seemed vaguely applicable to the situation. Arhra went in.

The summoner found herself in a waiting room, totally devoid of life save for a receptionist seated at her desk and POS reading a magazine in one of the corners of the room. That was fine, she knew how to handle situations like this.

She sauntered over to the receptionist's desk, seeming suspiciously happy. The receptionist's uncaring eyes slid over the summoner, lingering on her attire, before evidently coming to a conclusion.

"You must be Raiden Fangirl Club President. You're early. Take a number and Mr Raiden will see you shortly." The receptionist turned back to her game of Solitare. Arhra stopped dead at hearing this, the sheer abhorrance of the thought momentarily crashing her precarious mental equilibirum. She idly noticed the next ticket on the ticket dispenser had switched to one numbered 3.

Arhra briefly considered simply smashing the receptionist's head into the monitor and storming into the office of "Mr. Raiden", but that lacked sufficient violence. One hand beginning to crackle with magical power again, she smiled cheerfully, "I think you'll find your number is about to come up actually..." Arhra raised her hand, now clenched into a fist and then -

Sugar rush... over.

Feelings of invinciblity... gone.

- She slumped. The mental and physical fatigue of going so far as to summon the past had been held back by the candy but that burst of energy was over. Refilling your mana didn't mean you weren't still tired after all. The weariness caught up to her with a vengeance, doing the equivalent of sneaking up behind her and clubbing her in the back of the head with a cosh. Arhra, inwardly cursing her devious fatigue, swayed and muttered, "After I have a nap." Then the summoner practically collapsed into a chair, limbs akimbo and she seemed to instantly fall into a nigh comatose doze.

[POS Industries]

"I think you'll find your number is about to come up actually..."

POS looked up from the shame to the history of the printed word that he had been skimming over to see a rather lovely young woman in a sailor fuku charging up what could only be a delightfully destructive magic attack. Oh sure, he could have done away with the receptionist himself several minutes ago, and with gusto, but why mess up yet another set of new clothes? His only regret was that there was no popcorn. Oh wait, he thought, I might have some in the duffel...

"After I have a nap."

And then there she was, about 2 chairs down, passed out and snoring loudly. POS cursed mentally and stared at her for a moment, trying to figure out if there was any point in waking her. Yeah, she's pretty zonked. Guess it's back to "Plan A". What number are we on? Still 1? Ugh. Well, let's see what else we have here... Ashton Kutcher and Brittany Murphy broke up? But they seemed so perfectly vapid together! How could.... oh, screw this.

Tossing the magazine aside, POS got out of his chair and moved briskly to the receptionist's desk, casting a quick glance at the sleeping summoner as he passed. "Excuse me," he said firmly.

"Is there a problem, sir?" the receptionist asked, nasally as ever.

"Yes, actually. I'm in kind of a hurry and need to see Mister Raiden as soon as possible."

"I understand, Mr. O'Sheehan," the receptionist responded, "But he is very busy at the..."

"It's O'Sullivan, you manifested halfwit," POS growled, through with these games. "Heart!"

The beam shot from his ring and struck the receptionist, but the energy crackled and faded around her rather than enveloping her in its usual warm aura. Pedro's eyes widened for a split second, and he took a step back from the desk. Very slowly, very carefully. "That... was new."

But the receptionist did change. A faint smirk had emerged. It was, at this point, even developing into a grin. The cold, unfeeling glaze that had annoyed him so had faded, replaced by a very definate spark in her eyes. He didn't like this, not one bit. He had to--

"I think, Pedro," the receptionist chuckled, "that 'Mr. Raiden' will see you now."

Yes, the voice was still nasally, but the inflection was different, and just hearing it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. The games weren't over, after all.

POS just didn't know the rules yet.

[Fenris]

"I understand, Ecurt," Fenris said, nodding back to his partner.

Slowly but surely fear spread all over Fenris' mind and body. He was facing a god in battle. He was merely a hobo in pink plushie armor.

"Aw, horseshit."

Watching Ecurt charge Raiden, Fenris decided that he probably should as well. Ecurt's words were echoing throughout his head.

"By the way, I hope you haven't lost the longknife I gave you earlier."

Fenris drew the longknife and bullrushed the throne, stabbing at Raiden's stomach, and then promptly flying away due to the electrical current that ran up and down the longknife. He slammed into the back wall, but it didn't hurt him. The plushie armor had protected him from certainly breaking his spine.

"God damnit..."

[PyrosNine]

Pyros laughed. "This is the best Raiden could come up with? Not only is his ability to destroy things as feeble as a baby koala, but his skill in Runes is as sucky as ever. I do have to give him points for use of a few runes I'll admit I've not seen, but I can guess there's a fairly good reason involving my dislike of certain types of travel."

Pyros ignored what was before him, though he knew it could hurt him here. If he were to drag it back home, of course, it'd be torn apart and not by his hands. Raiden was ducking in and out of the rules, close enough to get an angry glance from the higher higher ups, and yet distant enough to avoid their version of Heat-vision.

He did have to admire the place though, as it brought back fond memories of his former home. It had been so small, and only because of it was he able to enjoy living in cardboard boxes so much. Raiden and him had invented 3,000 different card, board, and strategy games between themselves to pass the time, and talked of many things. At one point there was some problems with being stuck in a sword with fellow male god and being without women for a great many years, but that was resolved with Raiden being tightly bound to the corner, and Pyros curled up in the fetal position in the other corner.

Being a shapeshifter can suck. But there were more important matters to get to now.

"Alright Puppet, out of my way. I've business with the big man, and I've no time to dilly dally." Pyros didn't even bother moving his sword from his shoulder.

[Truce]

Ecurt realized one important thing as Fenris ran past him: Fenris hadn't been around in the fight against William.

That meant that he didn't know what the Uber Longknife could do. More importantly, he didn't know some of the things that Raiden could do. Hell, not even he knew completely what Raiden could do.

As Fenris went flying into the back wall, Ecurt shook his sighed in relief, glad that at least the armor protect him. "Fenris, the longknife can extend! Just....just...focus with it in your mind." While he would normally worry someone using metal swords against the thunder god, he was now sure that Fenris would be sufficiently safe. Now, if only the case would be the same for him.

[The Wizard Who Did It]

The Wizard looked up at his name as he walked in, with Charon on his head. The runes stated something along the line of, The Wizard Who Twiddy, and then Charon. As he passed through the hallway, he could not help but be impressed by the intense magic at work here. It illuminated his mind, gave him a type of euphoria. What he sensed was power, power in one of its most concentrated form. The ability to create. And he knew before the adventure was over that he would see it in its other most concentrated form. As he neared the end of the passage, the Wizard saw Raiden.

The Wizard stood in shock as Raiden spoke to him. Is this real, or an illusion? If it was real, than that means that Raiden must have wanted to meet the Wizard. Generally, those reasons could either be for recruitment or some other purpose. Even so, it could be an illusion if that was given. It would need to be important enough to be done personally if this was real. The Wizard had a feeling that if this was going to be of such importance, Raiden would have planned how he was going to spell out The Wizard's name beforehand. His conclusion was an illusion.

Not only that, but he remembered a lesson from Raiden a long time ago. Raiden was trying to teach the Wizard how to handle thousands of projectiles at once. Many times he got hit, but he slowly got better. Eventually, he could dodge almost all of the attacks. Suddenly, Raiden told him that there would be a few more projectiles, but they would be illusions. The Wizard got hit more than ever before, and Raiden got mad at him. He told him that when faced in such a situation in real life, treat all obstacles as real. Even if some may be an illusion, only ignore them if you know that they pose no threat. It took a little while, but by the end of the day the Wizard had trained himself to do it. He knew this training could be used against him, and it was another factor he took in. In the end, he still believed the person in front of him was an illusion.

The Wizard sighed, and shot his hand out. The television was turned off. His other hand shot out. A fireball went toward Raiden.

“Mentor, what do you want?”

[Fenris]

"It can what?" Fenris asked, getting up from the floor.

His mind then processed exactly what Ecurt had said. Focusing his will onto the knife, he extended it to approximately the length of his knapsack. Holding the knife/sword horizontally, Fenris dashed and hid behind the Thumpmobile, using his not-so-keen sense of hearing to try to detect Raiden.

"I see you."

Fenris turned, and saw out of the side view mirror, that Raiden was standing directly behind the Thumpmobile.

Thinking fast, Fenris yelled "Now, Ecurt!" and when the distracted god turned to find Ecurt, Fenris ran away from Raiden, ending up crouching next to Ecurt.

"Nice knife, any tips to kill this guy?"