NPF Avatars IV, Chapter XIII: Fire Three!

[mauve]

"My pleasure," growled Mauve, rolling up her sleeves. "Nobody sets fire to an asbestos couch-fort on MY watch and gets away with it. Especially not if I'm trying to hide in said asbestos couch-fort."

A table-sized chunk of ice formed over the magmagator's head at Mauve's command. It hovered there for a brief moment, as though contemplating whether it should obey the laws of gravity that afternoon or not. Eventually it gave in to the power of science and plummeted down to smash into the creature's skull. Mauve prepared to cast the spell again and again in rapid succession. Why? Because hitting a giant magmagator in the noggin with chunks of ice might be funny to watch. That's why.

[mammothtank]

MT ducked as a green flame whooshed over her head. She had forgotten that, given this particular band's usual combat style (the use of complete and utter absurdity to attack), no one would be likely to need the kind of support she had had in mind to lend.

Whipping around, she watched as Fenris was ejected from what looked like an enormous, animated couch. Without missing a beat, MT yanked a Hermes Shoes from her bag and whipped it at the hobo. Instead of colliding with her, it vanished mid-flight, and the air around Fenris began to blur and brighten as her time sped up.

"Have fun with tha-AAAAARRRGH!"

Unfortunately, MT hadn't noticed a gator successfully sneak up behind her and blast her with a bright red blaze. The intense pain knocked her off her feet... at which point it stopped.

Buh? Why am I not on fire? The curtain...? No, maybe I'm just - She looked down... and did a take. Is... is my chest bigger? Indeed it was... and her arms were more shapely, her waist was a little smaller, her - "What the hell?!"

Jumping to her feet, MT reached back and drew her sword... which she promptly dropped in a pool of magma. "WHOOPS~" Panicking, she bid a hasty retreat in the safest-looking direction she could find.

[Arhra]

Nikose had nobly flung himself in the path of the Caryatid's attack, protecting Flare who had then nobly flung herself into the lava to get away. The lamia flung a line and a handful of molten rock at the Caryatid before diving beneath the surface. The Caryatid, still selecting a new weapon, whipped her free hand up, catching the missile, not even looking at where it had come from.

"What you don't understand is that this is my dominion." the Caryatid said silkily, expression abstracted. She brought her hand up, the lava cupped in it, turning her burning gaze to it from the array of weapons before her. The lava stirred, thin whips of it rising up and waving aimlessly before stabbing to the center and pulling back beneath the surface.

Around her, Flare felt the molten rock stir. In this crucible, tentacular lengths of magma lunged at her from below, seeking to entwine her and drag her to the bottom.

The Caryatid, unfortunately, seemed to be a graduate of the War Bastard College of Tactics. Flare wasn't the only fish she had to fry. Nikose had been left pinned to the ground, Flare abandoning him for what she thought was the relative safety of lava. But, he hadn't been taken out of the picture. He'd free himself soon enough. Unless evil-minded fiery women intervened, of course.

The hooked knife she'd been wielding before in one hand and a long stiletto in the other, the Caryatid slithered towards her foe. It looked like she was planning to play a little pin the knife on the Nikose.

Mauve then dropped a large amount of water on her. It spilled onto onto the Caryatid's serpent tail like the heaviest rain known to man, great waves of steam suddenly hissing forth. The Caryatid vanished in dense fog, the cloud washing out to engulf Nikose and anyone else nearby in warm vapour. Nikose could see a shape emerging from the mist, someing towards him.

"I am not so easily defeated." the Caryatid purred, stabbing down at him with the needle-like blade.

Meanwhile, the asbestos couch was proving to be less fire-proof than the brouchure stated and cushion fort evictions were looking to become a common occurance. Fenrietta was the first to go, unceremoniously tossed out and landing on a magmagator. The couchmates were busy unloading their arsenal on the magmagator that had damaged the fort, ice spells being a crowd favourite.

The magmagator, not liking being battered to death with ice, drew in a breath, releasing a gout of strange emerald flame at the next chunk of frozen water. The fire washed over it and something fell to the ground; something slimy, squamous and reptilian. The odd creature scurried away, trying to get away from the heat.

Mammoth was also nearby, looking hot with a unwilling makeover from a magmagator. Just having dropped her sword into a pool of liquid fire, it looked like the couchmates might be having an intruder join the couch. Another eviction could be coming up.

* * *

Hydra caught up with Arhra, finding her quarry in the middle of a pitched battle with half a dozen magmators.

"You're stupid! You're all stupid!" Arhra was yelling, hating the magmagators for not being more of a challenge. One undermined her spiel, jaws gaping in a roar, and Arhra appeared burnt where flame would have gone. "Stupid and dead!" she added, as she clubbed that one with a big rock. For their part, the magmagators were somewhat freaked out by this yelling madwoman.

Hydra's own opinion was it wasn't nearly as one sided as Arhra was making it out to be. The magmagators hadn't been sure what to make of the shouting lady they were up against, the first one or two attacking alone and being quickly dispatched. Now they seemed to be getting to ready to attack as one. That much varied flame couldn't possibly be good for one's health.

But it didn't come to pass. "Go away and don't come back till you're some ungodly monster!" Arhra roared, lashing out with another strand of barely controlled magic. It sliced through the surviving magmagators, their bodies wavering and vanishing.

Hydra ran in, having been about to make her own contribution. "Arhra, are you al-UFT!" The subject of the question had just tackled her. Hydra suddenly found herself fighting Arhra, a pale hand gripping one of Hydra's throat in a stranglehold. Rolling about in the dust, Hydra's extra arms gave her an advantage in fending Arhra off, but she couldn't budge that vice grip and could feel a weakness overcoming her: Arhra was draining her energy.

"Stop trying to hit me and hit me!" The chaotic being shouted. She was looking dangerously crazy with eyes virtually devoid of any thought but violence and the violet flames still dancing on top of her head. Hydra made a connection and rolled, trying to flatten Arhra into the ash laden ground. Ash billowing up as Arhra struggled, Hydra's greater bulk practically smothering her. A few seconds and she suddenly went limp, releasing her chokehold.

The dusty and dishevelled pair untangled, standing again and looking at each other cautiously. "I... sorry." Arhra said, looking genuinely ashamed, the rage inducing flame gone.

"That's alright." Hydra said magnamiously, a hand massaging her choked throat.

She slugged Arhra in the face.

Taken completely off guard by the sucker punch, Arhra was knocked to the floor. "Oooo, starting to get spunky are we?" Arhra muttered, climbing back to her feet.

The two then became aware of something wavering and unvanishing in the nearby area. Something big. "Well then." Arhra said, a little too quickly, "With that settled, we should get out of here." Hydra nodded hasty agreement. The pair left at a trot, heading for the Caryatid. Rather, they were heading for the convenient, concealing fog cloud the Caryatid was in.

[Flarecobra]

<Oh fuck....why do tentacles ALWAYS have to go for me!?> I thought, as I pushed my body with all my might agenst the lava. Feeling a slight flow upward, I went up, and found myself in another lava pool, and right next to me, was the lavarock-like tail of the Carytid.

Taking a second to shake the cooling lava out of my hair, I drug myself out of the pit, while thinking to myself <This is going to REALLY mess with my next shed.....> Looking around, I saw the vanes, and started to do a shift change, taking cover as best as I could. "Ok....lets hope you can get this done..." I said, as my blue eyes changed to red-gold, and firey wings appeared, while my legs were reforming from my lamia tail.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

Hawk was on fire! No really, she was completely engulfed by golden flame. That last magmadile had nearly had her, jumping out unforseen from the lava like that but Hawk had shot upwards and barely avoided being eaten, blasting a gale downwards to send the creature back to where it belonged.

But she hadn't managed to avoid the golden flames the vile lizard had spat at her, the flames catching the tips of her wings and quickly spreading to engulf Hawk entirely. Of course, it was because of Hawk herself that the flames had spread, noticing as she had how the warmth from the normally dangerous element was in fact a fuzzy kind of happy feeling rather than the usual "OMG my nerve endings have just burnt away" kind of pain gotten from normal fire. She had consequentially formed an air sphere around here and shrank it to a small point around here, drawing the flames across her entire body, thus spreading the joyus feeling and evenly distributing it throughout her system.

Now, sailing at the top of the cavern, Hawk gracefully soared, too happy to engage in battle and looking like some newly born again pheonix wreathed in fire.

[Arhra]

"I think it's gaining on us!" Arhra yelled to Hydra, glancing back over her shoulder.

Arhra had a bad track record with accidentally empowering monsters. Her most recent case had been when she'd told several magmagators, "Go away and don't come back till you're some ungodly monster!" a matter of minutes ago. Evidentally they'd decided to do just that.

Chasing them was a single warped beast, towering over them and fearsome in mien. Scales were a brilliant crimson, speckled with black, it was centaur-like in appearance. Four strong, reptilian legs propelling it along at great speed and it posessed a humanoid torso with two arms. The crocodilan head was heavy, jaws massive and eyes tiny and greedy, while two long tails whipped around in its wake. Grotesquely, the limbs and tails all ended in slavering jaws, burning drool oozing from them. A similar, toothy mouth was set in it's torso.

Not really wanting to fight her own screw-up when she supposedly was meant to be doing important things about the Caryatid, Arhra (and Hydra) had boldly run away, plunging into the fog cloud. Little did they know the Caryatid knew they were coming.

* * *

Enemies all around her, the Caryatid decided to set the world on fire. The part of it in her immediate area, at least. The vanes on her back unfolded, spreading like wings. Her face composed in concentration, vapour jetted out along the blackened metal ridge of her spine, lava-like flesh of her serpentine half pulsing in one great contraction, feeding chaos-tainted flame through unfiltered. Polychromatic flames spewed out in two great wings of fire.

* * *

It seemed the stars had aligned against Flare, treacherous yellow flames licking at her, making her feel the foreign sensation of burning. They came with the double whammy of solid, grey flames, giving her the equally foreign sensation of fire that could harm you through blunt trauma.

* * *

Yellow and beige seemed to be the colours for Nikose, those flames washing over him while he remained pinned to the ground. What was it with him and losing his clothes?

* * *

Hydra found piercing green suddenly washing over her out of the sudden glow in the fog ahead of her. It was possibly the greenest thing she'd ever seen: a lurid emerald, brightening towards pale brillance at its center. Hydra was dismayed to find it seemed to think she was made of tar soaked kindling. She convulsed as transmuting flame engulfed her, hands shifting to claws and her scales thickening.

* * *

Arhra found herself hit in the face by leaden flames, blended into a dull indigo flame. She fell over with fire crawling over her body, the composite flame seeming to be very clingy. It treated her to the unique privilege of being battered and feeling like she was on fire. Trying to move, she could barely even lift herself from the ground, the unnatural weight of the flames dragging her down. Arhra paused for a few seconds, panting for breath. Given time to reflect on pain, she came to the conclusion that she also felt exhausted.

The abominable abomination Arhra had accidentally created loomed out of the fog, looking angry and hungry. Arhra struggled to get up again, and this time, she managed to stagger to her feet. Checking if she was less on fire, Arhra was surprised to find the real reason was that her muscles seemed to have grown slightly in the past minute.

She looked around in confusion, spotting plain leaden flame clumping on the ground nearby and then a convenient piece of random debris, slowly expanding as indigo flame played over it. Oh, I think I get it. Arhra thought. Growth plus weights means burliness. This is perfectly logical! Unfortunately, being weighed down made it perfectly logical for the fused magmagator to easily catch and eat her. As the beast lunged at her, Arhra awkwardly tried to jump to the side and fell over again.

Then something huge and scaly, dying emerald flames clinging to it, pounced the towering abomination and knocked it to the ground. Arhra gaped a little as the two titans struggled. The newcomer was Hydra, the intensely green fire she'd been set aflame by magnifying her reptilian nature. The flames had burned away most recognisably human features, which was fortunate, for it also had burned away her clothes (into lizards!). What remained was a giant, serpentine monster, nine heads swaying on long necks and spitting poison, snake tressed, and her six arms, now tipped with wicked claws, ripping at her enemy's flesh.

Hydrazilla vs Abomigator... FIGHT!

Arhra just hoped they wouldn't crush her while they were rolling around locked in mortal combat like that.

OOC: Randomly generated flames are fun, no? Getting lizard twice for Hydra made this hard to resist. Having the effects mix or not is purely your choice (some are a lot trickier to think how they'd combine anyway). Incidentally, for future cases, they're much less likely to mix if something's already on fire and gets hit by something else.

Since Lumaes appears to have dropped out, feel free to miraculously find the Staff of Gender Inversion, couch-people. It's stuck in the crevice of the couch. Don't you hate it how things always manage to end up in there?

[Flarecobra]

I winced and grunted with pain, more from the grey flames then the burning ones, as I can handle burning, though I knew it was hurting me. Then, about 10 seconds later, I felt it. The Phoenix Soul had awakened fully, and took over. As firey wings formed, I saw a shield of fire form, blocking the yellow flame, but the grey one punched though. Finally taking flight, And taking a moment to light myself of fire to help heal up, I became engulfed in another pair of flames, one a blue/white, the other a blazing red. I didn't remain long in them, diving and then suddonly swerving to avoid a dark fire. In the back of my mind I was curious about it, but for now, there were some vents that needed denting. The Vents! Damage them, and it'll hurt her! I called out, my voice sounding a bit echoey, as I formed a pair of longswords out of my flames. " Ok, you're not the only one that can play with fire." I said, before slashing in with a speedy attack. It wasn't ment to deal damage, but to draw attention. After the attack, I started on some evasive manuvers to avoid fire.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

Flying around the room above the battle, Hawk hadn't a care in the world. It was always good to be happy and happy she was, gently gliding on the impressive thermals the room offered, completely oblivious to the battle below.

Or at least, she was until she flew too close to the caryatid and a nasty looking violet flame struck the golden hawk. The effect was... interesting to say the least, as the two opposing effects fought against each other for control of Hawks mental state. Happiness or violence? Happiness or violence? Hawk was screeching in pain as the universe battled to make up its mind about just what exactly should now happen, as she writhed around amidst the gold-violet ball of heat that had now completely consumed her and was somehow managing to keep her airborne without the need for wings. Eventually the universe made up its mind and decided to simply fuck the whole situation and start again from scratch.

The flames merged into a single white ball of fire, the writhing of Hawk stopped and then the whole thing exploded, tiny balls of fire shooting out and away from Hawk, who was now levitating in mid air, wings outstreched and apparantly back to normal. And in more ways than he immediately knew, as it seems that when the forces of Fate and Order decide to start over, they really start over, even going so far as to return Hawk to his usual gender.

The testosterone was back in full force and his mind was cleared as he focused his attention upon the caryatid. Seeing Flare move to intercept the abomination Hawk swept in, gales already building strength as he moved into an attack position. He began directing the winds towards the caryatid hoping to both disperse her fire attacks and hopefully cool and freeze her with the intense winds. It was a long shot but it wasn't like he had anything better to do.

(OOC: Seeing as we can once again reclaim our genders I figure you won't mind if I find some way of doing it. I could of used the staff, but this was more interesting.)

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

[OOC: Arhra's re-recruited me and said that I could be caught in fire....]

A section in the lava pits suddenly boiled very rapidly. It bubbled, bulged, raising a small mound of the molten rock.

Then the bulge cracked open, and anybody that spied through the darkness permeating down through the cracks would see into the very depths of the Underworld - death's abode - itself.

Out of the pits of Death, a creature clawed and crawled its way upward. As fingers touched the air, a rifle materialized in its hand. Screaming could be heard above the roar of Rhiya's grand re-entrance.

Rhiya spilled out onto a warm, rocky outcrop, still yelling abuse at whatever was down there as the cracks closed on the temporary breach of the Planes.
"...SONOVATITAN BASTARD! DON'T YOU DARE DO THAT TO ME AGAIN!" Rhiya finished. Before the last crack sealed shut, a skeletal limb flashed up, flipping Rhiya the bird with its bony digits.

Rhiya dusted herself off a bit, looked around, tossed the gun into the lava and waved at the others.
"Sorry. Been having trouble with Hades/death," Rhiya managed before...

Two magmagators that had escaped the attention of being slaughtered by everybody else focused on Rhiya. They'd been impressed by the confused succubus' grand re-entrance, and they wondered if this newcomer would also be flammable.

Burning, crimson flames washed over Rhiya just as the grey wash of heavy flames were spat out of the respective gator's mouths. Rhiya's expression turned from surprise and shock into that of pain and agony as her body was assailed by the combined products, causing... interesting things to happen.

Writhing around, Rhiya's body changed, sprouting a magma-like tail, wings shedding their feathers and then disappearing altogether, limbs shortening.

It looked evidently like Rhiya had just turned into a magmagator.

...if it weren't for the fact that she wasn't burning like the others. However, suddenly everybody that could see here and still wasn't inside the thick mist that obscured everything were suddenly and inexplicably drawn towards the sexy beast that was Rhiya.

Suddenly, Rhiya realised she was a mimigator, something very similar to a normal alligator save for the fact that it can mimic any kind of gator. And as a mimigator, she was stuck in magmagator mimic form. Rhiya opened her mouth to voice her protest and pain, but all that came out was a dull throbbing groan.

The two magmagators were suddenly found themselves [i]very[i] interested in the newcomer that had suddenly become a very sexy version of their own kind. They slithered up to the confused Rhiyagator, tails thumping excitedly.

This was not going to bode well for Rhiya's grand entrance.

[OOC: I'll finish up what happens to Rhiya in the next post. Basically, Sexy and Leaden combined to form Sexy Rhiyagator - all the males would go for her, however, all the females of ANY race will instantly become jealous and try to bludgeon her to death]

[phil_]

Phil was less enamored with her fireproof couch fort now that it had a hole burned through the floor. Ice spells had put out the flames, but the damage was already done. Deciding that the couch fort’s day was done, Phil yelled, “Everybody tuck and roll,” and dismissed the floundering steed. Now exposed to the still upset magmagator, Phil had to think fast and come up with a plan. Ok, um, random plan go! Whenever a DC character is up against unbeatable odds, he spins really fast and babbles about molecules. “Plan initiate! If I can excite the heat particles in my sphere of gravity, maybe I can neutralize the gator’s, uh, AT Field, yeah.” And so, Phil spun in a circle and tripped over the Gender Inversion staff that had clattered to the ground when she dismissed the couch fort. “Huh. Wonder how that got there,” Phil mused, patting the dust off her bruised behind as she stood up.

Ok, so that didn’t work. Let’s spin the wheel of silliness again. Phil visualized a giant, multi-colored wheel spinning at breakneck speed against the backdrop of the cosmos. It unnaturally lurched to a halt, an arrow pointing to “Copy Other Posters.” Ok, so when everyone else is in trouble, they have a flashback. I guess I’ll try that. “Plan B, Initiate!” Phil blurted again, before scrunching her eyes and grinding her index fingers into her temples.

… It was a sunny afternoon and Phil was doing seventy in a thirty-five zone. As the trees whizzed by, he couldn’t help but imagine how much cooler it would be if he were driving a robot. “I think the worst robot of all would be a Gundam,” he said to himself, navigating the winding road more by memory than sight. “Durn gas guzzler would eat me out of house and home. Not that an Eva’s much better. It’s just as likely to eat my home. Ha ha ha ha!” SCREECH! Phil’s car rose on two wheels as he swerved to avoid an oncoming motorist. “Now, an LFO would be great. No berserk mode, runs on batteries that last super-long as long as I keep the rocket use to a minimum, it transforms, and its method of making complex gestures is explained, unlike most humanoid mechs. A Terminus series 606 would be best. Just awesome enough to not be embarrassing, and just Fisher Price enough to suit me. Maybe in a nice blue, with white trim. Though, a Blade Lyger wouldn’t be bad either.” KER-KRIZZASH! Phil slammed on the brakes; his tires squealing as burning rubber perfumed the air. “Oh carp, whaddid I hit whaddid I hit whaddid I hit!?” Phil gasped as he stepped out the car. “Pyros! Oh no!” Just to be clear, it wasn’t the Pyros who used to be Pyros9 and who repeatedly featured guys named Phil meeting horrible fates in his flashbacks. It was a completely different Pyros who he knew from somewhere else and ok it’s Pyros. Take that!

...Phil opened her eyes. “Yeah, that was some weird stream I just rode through my consciousness.” Turning around, she was face to face with the magmagator that she’d spurred the couch into attacking (or, as face to face as the two very different heights allowed) and somehow it seemed to know she was responsible. “Ok, screw this. I can be creative later; it’s time to take care of… this. This business, yeah.” Phil bonked the gator on the nose and ran away far enough to yell, “●Summon: Power Suit!” Phil’s body glowed for a second, and in a flash, she finally donned her first trump card: her Chozo Battle Armor that she had painstakingly wrenched from the ether with her mad spriting skillz (and MS Paint). As the arm cannon flashed more and more rapidly, Phil barked, “Nymph, grab the staff and bonk me when you get the chance. Mauve, feel free to tag along slash keep me from dying. Gator… this is called the Spur.” Phil released the trigger, firing a white beam of energy the diameter of a beach ball into the gator’s snoot. His next of kin were notified shortly thereafter.

“Now come on, charge and overwhelm! Whee!” Phil charged towards Flare and the caryatid’s impressive and expensive sword fight, Gina following behind with the Gender Inversion staff clutched to her chest.