NPF Avatars: A story of Seals, Tears, and Betrayal

[PhoenixFlame]

"Glad you should ask, Mauve..." Phoenix grinned impishly, pressing a now apparrent bright red holopad button that had appeared on her hand-device. A large door labeled "Pod 5" swung open near the mechlab entrance. The object laying within would stun any of her fellow weapontry-freaks, but Mauve may have asked what it was.

A 30 foot tall humanoid monstrosity lay inside the bay, nay, not humanoid, for it's dark midnight-purple armor was very angular, giving a triangular feel to the mech, primarially used for deflecting piercing attacks. In the monstrosity's right hand lay a long particle-projection cannon, and in the left, a boxlike pod with four barrels set inside. Both of the weapons completely obscured the hands, and over the shoulder on the right lay even more weapontry. A long barreled railgun, and centrally mounted pair of antennae. On the left shoulder lay a box that may have seemed to be a missle launcher.

"My pride and joy, the H.W. Altan." Phoenix grinned, in an almost girlish squeal. "Unfortuantely..." She sighed, "Phoenixbot is the only one with sufficient reflexes to pilot it to it's maximum efficiency, and only when I'm co-piloting for her."

Phoenix glanced at Mauve's Pulse Particle Projector, and sighed, shaking her head, "No, no... That won't do. Put that back. I have something in mind that you may like..."

Phoenix walked away toward the Mechlab's weapons locker, and, after pressing a few buttons, opened the door. The entire locker seemed to be about 15 times bigger than was feasibly possible, but seemed to accomodate several massive weapons with ease. Phoenix whistled to herself as she plucked a fairly large rifle-looking object off of the shelf and thrust it into Mauve's hand.

"This, my friend, is a PSG." Phoenix said, with a wry smile.

"PSG?" Mauve asked, looking baffled at Phoenix's wreckless use of TLA's. (Three Letter Acryonyms)

"Phased Shockwave Generator. I hear the Teladi and Paranid were working on them, so we jumped into their sectors and I took a look around. Promising tech that, and I gave it a few modifications. You see, when fired, the PSG emits a wave of excited particles, ripping apart anything in front of the barrel in a wide burst with extreme predjudice. Despite the name, there really isn't any sound or recoil, the stuff in front of you just sort of disentigrates in a cloud of shiny blue rings." Phoenix explained, patting the top of the rifle as she clicked on the saftey and popped the cartridge in.

"Shall we go to the firing range?"

[Darth SS]

A very blood Darth was limping beside Mesden. At long last, his respawn kicked in. His voice dropped back down an octave. With a sigh he reloaded his revolver, and thanked his lucky stars that his clothes had been tricked into humming along with his soundtrack. In a wierd way, he liked it. When his soundtrack ran out of songs, they had agreed to sing Great Big Sea.


"So, Mesden, I can undoubtedly land a shot right in his head if you want. The problem here is that my P90 lacks the firepower to kill him, as does my revolver. Can you, like, enchant them or something? I just need one bullet, and for someone to give me an opening."

[mauve]

Mauve's eyes widened as Phoenix explained the function of the large weapon she had been given.

"I do believe that I am in love," Mauve said dreamily, cradling the weapon in her arms. "Such destruction! Oh, beautiful PSG, never leave me!"

Happily, the ex-mage followed Phoenix to the firing range. Under the Technomage's instruction, Mauve took aim and squeezed the trigger. A silent wave of shiny blue doom enveloped the targets in front of her, disentigrating them instantly, just as promised. Mauve rested the barrel of the rifle against her shoulder and whistled in appreciation as the blue rings eventually fizzled away into nothing. Then she took the gun in both hands and held it out in front of her, and regarded it witih a grin.

"You have earned my seal of approval, PSG," she said. "You must join me in my quest to... um... disentigrate... stuff."

"Thanks!" she told Phoenix. "I think this gun and I shall get along splendidly."

[Bailey]

Newb railed against the walls of his soft and comfortable prison. He stopped when it became clear to him that he was only improving the blanket's ability to hold people captive.

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Dogboy looked up from where he rested within Newb's mind. Itemist was still in the pilot seat, so what was this odd presence he felt? As he looked around, he smelled a new persona, one that he had not come across in some time. "FootWarrior? What're you doing here? Thought you went with Deflector 'n' SpongeWizard after the prism blade." The new persona grinned and ran a hand through his long hair. "Ah, 'tis truth indeed that I did do that, but I have discovered something rather interesting of great import and decided that I would come along to check up on the wellbeing of Itemist. Deflector and SpongeWizard can get along fine on their own; they need not my assistance. After all, all any of us need is one copilot. A second merely confuses things most of the time." "So you wanted to confuse us?" "No no, as I said, I seek only to enlighten myself. I will of course endeavor to assist in whatever you seek now to accomplish, but if you wish to keep control over this body, I will not attempt to wrest the same from you." "If you say..." "I do indeed say so. And as you know, I would not go back on my word without advance warning. So, what are you trying to do now?" "Worldsaving again, but mostly prisonbreaking right now. Arhra got us stuck inside Itemist's blanket." "I might be able to help... What resources does this body possess?" "Not much. We had a gun, but Arhra took it. We have some chocolate, but I'm allergic to it. Also, this body has a curse on it right now." "What type of curse? Some detrimental attributes can be rather fortuitous under the correct circumstances." "We're an anth- an anthromo- We're a great big bunny, and it gets worse when we use small words." "An anthromorphic rabbit? It gets worse on monosyllables?" "Yeah, that's what Itemist said. He said it gets better on polly something." "Pollysyllables." "Yeah, those." "I may have an idea..."

[POS Industries]

"...and it kinda smelled like bacon," POS finished the story he had been telling Arhra, who now wore what may be a permanent look of horror upon her face and was even paler than usual, as the two of them entered the Mech Lab. Looking around the massive laboratory, Pedro's attention was caught by a flash of blue light from the direction of what appeared to be a firing range, and so he made his way toward it to find Phoenix and a rather theify looking Mauve.

"Ah, I see you finally got the Phased Shockwave Generator prototype working," he said as he approached the duo, "Quite a nasty bit of weaponry, isn't it?"

POS could tell the Mauve agreed by how tightly she was hugging her new toy, and so he turned to address Phoenix. "The RoboHobo construction is coming along smoothly. The pilot's neural modifications have been installed and he is resting.... comfortably. I suppose now is as good a time as any to see what other bits-o-fun we come up with, yes?"

[Arhra]

Arhra had been feeling like something was subtly wrong with the universe. Everything was ever so slightly off. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but even her clothes felt slightly different. It had started with an odd sensation shortly after she'd started talking to POS. Trying to figure it out, she listened to POS's fascinating ancedote.

"...and it kinda smelled like bacon," Quite a story, very good if you felt like traumatizing some children. Then what was different clicked. She was ever so slightly shorter. Perhaps half an inch or so. She paled, a look of horror crossing her face. She'd just remembered what POS had said when she'd first felt something odd.

"Anyway, now that I think about it, you actually do seem to be a good deal shorter than you were before..."

No, it couldn't be! Wasn't she short enough? Why did the universe hate her so?! She'd show it who was the microscopic... Arhra calmed herself, not without difficulty. She would need to test if she was right.

Clearing her throat uncertainly, Arhra spoke, "I believe I may have just discovered what effect the chaos blast had upon me. I'll need to check though." With a grim resignation, she finished, "Somebody call me short."

OOC: And the inverse is also true - saying she's tall makes her taller.

[POS Industries]

POS turned as Arhra cleared her throat behind him and listened as she addressed the group. "I believe I may have just discovered what effect the chaos blast had upon me. I'll need to check though," she said grimly and moreso with resignation, "Somebody call me short."

"Okeedokee artichokee," Rei's voice chimed in excitedly, "You're short! But that's okay. Everybody's special in their own unique way. For you, it's being littler than everybody else, but that's what makes you you. Due to your decreased height, you never have to worry about stuff like hitting your head on things or getting in people's way at movie theaters because you're short and that's great! Isn't that right, everyone? Isn't it just hunky-dory that she's tiny?"

As much as everyone would have liked to respond to Rei's unique pep-talk skills, they were a bit speechless at the current sight of Arhra, now a fraction of her previous size, standing stark naked in the pile of her clothes that, much to the surprise of all, had not changed size along with their former wearer.

[Bailey]

They weren't able to stare for long though, as the blanket felt that it was needed and twisted itself to cover her private bits, dumping Newb onto the floor in the process. Having been shrunk by the rabbitification, Newb was probably the only one currently shorter than Arhra. This could be considered fortunate, owing to what was about to take place next. "Explain abuse! Belief being taller, larger protect against wrathfullness? Bigger Arhra, smaller Newbie, process thinking ability withstand resultant anger?" Newb stopped. He was now more human than fit in with his plan. He started using smaller words again. "Just because you're bigger than me doesn't mean that you can abuse me however pleases you. Your comparatively massive height gives you a feeling of security, is that it? Well, just because you're bigger doesn't mean I'm going to let you push me around! I've come across a new persona, see, and with this new rabbitness, I think that it may be even stronger." Newb, apparently oblivious to the fact that the 10'*10' blanket was now leaving Arhra's feet bare, curled in on himself and began to change, his coat fading away, along with his bag, the remainder of his clothes turning white, except for his belt which grew and became knotted instead of buckled. His shoes also changed, becoming much more like cleats. And owing to his large foot size, this made them quite formiddable indeed. He uncurled, curled the other way, gripped his shoes in his hands, pulled them off, sprang to his feet, and weilded his shoes menacingly. "Bringit."

[The Wizard Who Did It]

The Wizard felt an odd tingling, like something wasn’t right. He thought it might have to do with having his eternal companions forcefully ripped from his body, so he thought nothing of it. He decided to walk forward, and took one step, and then the other. He then quickly found out that he seemed to be missing a leg. He fell toward his face, and quickly caught himself before he hit the ground. He felt his four hands crush the daisies and mix them with the blood flooding the area. Wait… four hands? The Wizard looked down… One… Two… Three… Four… The Wizard then got off the ground, and decided that the chaos magic had done more than turn the Light Wizard into a psycho.

He then decided to study what his new body allowed him to do. He had a strong urge to do something. He had no idea what it was, but it felt natural, somehow. Like it should come easy. The Wizard decided to just let the body do what it wanted to do, and the world changed around him. The world around him was not shown in color. Or normal color. The world around him was bright, and some things were brighter than others. The Wizard knew he had entered the Ethereal world, but knew not what to do with it. In the distance, he saw two bright lights. The glow was intense, even blinding. He knew one of them must be the Goddess, Mesden. The other was obviously a powerful enemy. The Wizard, now in his Ethereal Filcher form, began to approach the group.
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The Light Wizard stared up at the girl as she walked away. He wanted to respond, but the pain in his arm was too intense. He rarely got hurt, and was not used to the screaming torture running through his body. He didn’t even pay attention to or care about the explosion that occurred a few seconds after. Instead, he concentrated for a few seconds, feeling the sudden rush of pure magical energies flowing through his veins. His skin patched itself, his bones mended, the blood vanished. There was no sign that anything had happened to the White Cloaked One. Just a bit of weariness, a trace of fatigue, a small loss of his power.

The Light Wizard got up and stared at the girl. He then decided that she wasn’t worth the trouble, and noticed the Evil Asshole and the Goddess ready to fight the Mod Guy. With a slight push of his feet, he seemed to glide toward them, and noticed another guy joining the couple. He said something about how he wanted someone to enchant his weapon, something about how he could kill the Mod. The Light Wizard just smiled, and walked relatively slowly to the Forumite.

He didn’t say a word, but his movement spoke his intent. He hovered his hand over the gun, and kept it there for a few seconds. His hand began to tickle, and sparks came down upon the weapon. It glowed white hot, but didn’t melt. Didn’t even burn the man, Darth as he was called. Suddenly, a flash of light, and the weapon looked just the same as it did before.

“That should be what you need, Good sir,” although his tone was polite, there was some type of mockery mixed in there as well. Almost a “You needed my help to do this, you poor thing”, type of mockery.
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The Dark Wizard felt stunned and confused through their voyage. Why did I just call her dear? Why does she care so much about keeping me calm? Why does she want me to stick around? For someone that had never had doubt in his life, questions such as these sent a shiver down his spine. Why does she care so much about me seeing these… sick things? Doesn’t she understand what this is? Doesn’t she see this is proof that they must be killed, exterminated? As they approached their destination, the Wizard saw the soul of the foe they were about to face. It burned brightly, showing his power. Rather than fearing it, though, he smiled. He did not think of the power that this being had that could destroy him, he thought about the challenge that that power would bring.

The Dark Wizard entered the real world, and listened to the Goddess’ preparation speech. He sighed a little, and then spoke to her, “Mesden, I think you should understand that I love very little.”

“He speaks the truth.”

The Dark Wizard quickly glanced toward the Light Wizard. He chuckled a bit, and said slowly and calmly, “I forgot that something as unwanted as you also came out of the Soul Goddess’ kindness.”

The Light Wizard glided toward the Dark Wizard with the speed that the Wizards were known for. His hands shot up, grasping the cloak right around the Dark Wizard’s neck. He send with a type of manic glee, “I forgot that something as stupid as you even existed.”

The Dark Wizard merely smiled back. Like a flash of lightning, his fist shot out at the Light Wizard’s face. With a sickening crack, his fist stopped an inch in front of his nose. The Dark Wizard used his other hand to get the Light Wizard hands off his collar, and nursed his injured hand. He wanted to curse, he wanted to hurt the Light Wizard right now. However, all he uttered were hurried and loud quacks, like some type of duck.

“Quack, quack, quack. QUACK!”

The Dark Wizard, for another time today, was confused. He quickly healed his hand, and stood dumbfounded at what just happened. A second later, he noticed his… comrade, charging at him with his chaos spear. The Dark Wizard bent his legs, and shot into the air as the spear passed through where he once was. He landed on the pole arm, and threw a fire ball at his enemies face. It hit the target, but had very little effect. His hair was a little charred, and there was a scorch mark on his nose. In a second, the damage was gone. The Dark Wizard smiled again and looked down at his foe.

“I forgot that we were part of the same mold.”

“We are? Wow, I didn‘t think I was that bad!”

The Dark Wizard grinned, as he has wont to do nowadays. He reached into his cloak and threw his order axe at the foe. The butt end of the chaos spear came up to block the axe. With a beat of his wings, the Dark Wizard landed on the ground away from the Light Wizard. He felt like he needed to do something. Like someone asked him to do it. It also felt important, but he didn’t know what. The Light Wizard charged again, and the Dark Wizard caught the weapon while moving to the side.

“Um, I think we should kill that Mod guy over there.”

He pointed in the true enemies direction, and noticed that he was charging his massive cannon, aimed at the two Wizards. Suddenly, the cannon fired. Energy shot from the cannon, tearing up the ground, quickly heading toward them. The two Wizards pushed off each other, and barely avoided the shot. The Light Wizard stuck his spear in the ground to slow down, and quickly hasted and increased the magic of the Dark Wizard. The Dark Wizard came down with his axe upon the dead soil beneath him, sending shockwaves through the Earth. Rocky spikes erupted from the ground, tearing into the area around the Moderator. The spikes slowly swirled around him, like tentacles ready to entrap their prey. They seemed to descend upon the Moderator quickly, ready to spear him, kill him if possible.
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The Real Wizard entered reality just in time to see the Dark Wizard’s attempt to kill the Moderator.

[PhoenixFlame]

"Hey, Pe-chan!" Rei said after finishing her poetic torment of Arhra, "What about me?"

Pedro sighed, "No Rei, I doubt you can do anything."

"Well..." Phoenix interrupted, "I have a cunning plan."

"More cunning than a Fox with a diploma from the University of Cunning?" Raven chimed in over the intercomm alongside Rei.

Phoenix sighed.

"You walked into that one, Phoe-chan!" Rei chuckled.

"So I did. As I was saying..." Phoenix continued, an exasperated tone in her voice now, "I believe I have a plan in which to incorporate Rei into the grand scheme of things."

"Oh?" Pedro asked without much interest, as Pedro often does.

"Of course. I have some spare parts from the PX-R project, for repairs and replacements, and it's just ever so slightly possible to assemble a shell and download Rei's conciousness into it." Phoenix grinned wryly, pointing over to a secluded corner of the mech lab. "Care to take a look?"