#oh yeah. the purple and blue cloud in the center of the first image is actually the ship's translator and linguist

[junipershouse]

communication in multi-species living spaces

it's relatively easy to learn a language. what is harder is learning to speak a language. this barrier becomes even more insurmountable when you do not have the anatomical parts to produce a sound used in a language, or don't have the organs to interpret the medium of that language. then, miscommunication isn't simply a case of miscommunication - it's a case of incompatibility. for example. rrikrik is a kkariko, and soh is a ki. kkariko communicate auditorily, using a specialized organ to produce noise alongside their exoskeleton teeth and antennae noises. ki communicate using low frequency waves, and their antennae organ is poised specifically to interpret said waves. kkariko lack any sort of organ to sense low-frequency waves, and ki physically cannot make the noises required to speak kkariko languages. so how can rrikrik and soh communicate?

this is an issue which affects almost every single multi-species living space in the universe. especially more political or industrial spaces, where communication is incredibly important. a lot of time and energy has been invested into figuring out ways that species with drastically different anatomy can still communicate clearly with each other. there are three methods used in tandem among multi-species living environments to ease communication. press keep reading to learn more about them! :3

the first method: common lingua franca and assistive devices

most sophant species already have hundreds, if not thousands, of languages and dialects spoken within their own species populations. in many cases, a couple of languages may emerge as "lingua franca" among the population, typically due to complex political situations. this lingua franca is often expressed in multi-species environments too.

just because somebody cannot speak a language doesn't mean they can't learn it. there are also plenty of assistive devices used by / fore example, referring back to rrikrik and soh - rrikrik could use a technological device designed to pick up low frequency waves to hear what soh is saying, and soh could use a specialist voice synth program containing a kkariko noise library to communicate in a kkariko language.

this is obviously the most labor-intensive method of communication for all involved. however, it's the most reliable and often the most personable. it feels good to be able to communicate with your friends in a language they understand, and

the second method: universal sign communication

universal sign communication (USC) is a constructed language developed in the founding age of the ICDCI by a cross-species team of linguists. the goal of USC as a language was to level the playing field by offering up a universal language with a low theoretical accessibility barrier.

USC as a lexicon relies on simplistic movements of limbs, with movements designed to be replicated by those with varying body anatomy. due to this, USC has a "less is more" ethos and relies on the stringing together of movements as opposed to fine motor control and expressiveness, with one sign or movement meaning multiple things depending on context. the only thing that a person needs to be able to communicate in USC is a moderately flexible body and potentially one limb. although some individuals without conventional limbs will simply perform the USC signs with their whole body instead. USC can be modified as a vocabulary to accommodate other more static body plans if needed, too.

this is the most common option when it comes to communicating in a work environment. USC is relatively easy to learn, is easy to understand, and doesn't require any technology. it can also be used in environments where other forms of communication are impossible. almost every cosmonaut knows at least rudimentary USC, and its required to work and live in many astral communities just because of how convenient it is in that environment. USC also has a pictographic "written" form which acts as diagrams in performing the specific signs.

of course, USC is largely inaccessible for those who lack visual senses. whilst there has been an attempt to "translate" USC into a spoken language, it sort of defeats the purpose of Universal Sign Communication. there has been discussion about developing a sort of spoken USC but it's a much more complicated feat due to the diversity of sounds vs the diversity of gestures and movements.

another pitfall of USC is the nature of its vocabulary. because USC was a language designed to be used in a professional environment, its vocab is often limited to professional topics. its easy to tell somebody what a certain lever does using USC, and even ask them how they are and if they rested well, but its significantly harder to chat about that piece of media you just love using USC. and forget about making jokes. some linguists have expanded the USC vocabulary with more casual gestures and signs, but these signs are often considered "non essential" for learners and seen as optional side studies for those more invested.

USC can also be easily misunderstood, especially by beginners. those communicating in USC are reminded to sign slowly and with intent.

the third method: received speakers.

received speakers are a specialized "memetic-will hybrid" device. "will" is a catch-all term for a grouping of energies exerted by beings onto the complex structure of energies/concepts referred to colloquially as "reality". memetic in this context refers to an idea or concept, translated into language, which can be brought into the consciousness of a being with behavioural changes apparent. this is a very basic description of both terms.

received speakers work by utilizing the memetic affect and will-energy together. the material that the received speaker made of is a sink and an amplifier of will-energy, a conductor of it. (the material used is a potentially-biological "fossil" alloy, found only in a few places.) before use, received speakers need to be calibrated to the specific will-energy of their user. after that, the received speaker will pick up on their user's will-energy and their user's will-energy only. however, a received speaker with no intentionality is useless. intentionality is built with memetic conditioning. the goal of the conditioning is to fix ideas in the consciousness of the user. these ideas are: 1: when the user communicates with a recipient, their intention with their words is transferred to the received speaker. 2: received speakers are able to send the intentionality of the communication between each other using will-energy waves. 3: despite the difference in language, the intention of the words are carried over perfectly to the recipient and they will understand the communication as it was intended. 4: likewise, the user will understand the recipient's communication with the same level of intentionality.

if both will-energy calibration and memetic conditioning are successful, then the received speaker will allow individuals with vastly different languages to communicate as if speaking the exact same dialect of the exact same language. they'll sense the communication almost instantly, and it'll be in their own voice, which can be a bit confusing to get used to. sarcasm and double-truth does not translate well using received speaker, which can be a good thing if you feel as if the individual you are communicating with is untrustworthy, but can be difficult when trying to tell a joke.

there are some issues with received speakers. first of all, they're single person use. you can't swap received speakers, or borrow them, or use one which has been used by another in the past. this is because calibration is very difficult to reverse. it's a very specialized task to reverse the calibration, and it takes a lot of time and energy. so once you've calibrated your received speaker, that's it. this also means that received speakers are a unrenewable resource. there is only so much material to make them, and there are more important things to use it for. for this reason, received speakers are often only provided to certain individuals. rrikrik was given one, as was some of the individuals they work with, but most of their crewmates do not use them.

different beings have different will-energy fields. even with the amplification that received speakers provide, some individuals just won't have the will-energy to broadcast their intention. some individuals also have high resistance to will-energy, and won't be able to receive the intention and often not be able to complete the calibration process. there is also the issue of memetic resistance. memetic resistance can be developed, but some people are just naturally resistant. for example, the sadum species is known for their memetic resistance. this makes sadum immune to cognitive diseases and other harmful things which spread via memetic transferral, but it also makes them immune to received speakers.

received speakers can also be very dangerous. if the memetic conditioning is replaced with a different sort of memetic conditioning, then a received speaker can be used to essentially brainwash or kill people.

#sci fi #alien species #speculative biology #alien biology #worldbuilding #xenobiology #oc #been working on this for ages orz... sorry if its confusing! the stuff with real energy/will energy is very difficult to describe #inspired by stuff that aconite @ / wolfsbane and thistle said about universal “translators” and sign language in this setting :3 #pls go follow them their worldbuilding is awesome and always an inspiration #oh yeah. the purple and blue cloud in the center of the first image is actually the ship's translator and linguist #theyre a gaseous based lifeform... in very early stages of development. and their name is sadly not writeable #and the other qoosai is epowi who manages food and materials on the ship

[jasperwhitcock]

02. DISTRACTIONS

i’ve decided to continue with the au of bella as a vampire & edward as a human inspired by a post from @bellasredchevy, so here’s another installment (you can read the first chapter here). if anyone has thoughts on if it’d be more preferable for me to post this fanfic on wattpad/fanfiction.net/another website rather than posting it on tumblr, let me know :-) if not, i’ll continue to post here & figure out some tag to make it easier to find!

The boys had left for a hunting trip, so I found myself falling victim to what Alice liked to call a “sleepover”. It was a ridiculous name for this kind of occasion. An unfortunate part of what we were consequently lost us the ability to sleep and thus, dream. I had found this to be something I considered an advantage when I was first changed. I had so much extra time I could devote to reading! Unfortunately, the excitement didn’t last very long. I still enjoyed the benefits of all the ample time, but I did miss the creativity of my subconscious that allowed me to live in other worlds unrestricted by the more sentient, aware parts of my mind. I missed escapism.

I even missed the nightmares at times. I had been such a vivid dreamer.

Additionally, it was even further ridiculous to refer to this as a sleepover when we spent every night together. Without the sleep and the ‘over’ aspect of spending the night away from home, this was definitely the worst sleepover I’d been to in the course of my existence.

Although, as a bonding time amongst the women of the Olympic Coven, with the exception of some of Alice’s ideas for activities, I enjoyed this kind of night very much. I’d have gone with the boys to hunt if I had any intention of returning to school tomorrow. I’d owe them an explanation when they returned as for the tension that filled the car as we drove home from school. I hated to be the center of attention, so I was appreciative when Alice and Rosalie agreed to keep the horrific encounter a secret for now. I didn’t want the scrutiny of their concern nor the dramatics of the situation.

I was lucky that they had plans with Carlisle. Rosalie was able to convince Emmett and Jasper to begin their night early by allowing us to drop them off at the hospital – much to the dismay of my bulkier brother who had spent his day eagerly anticipating our rematch. My other sister easily dismissed their suspicion of our motives. Nobody questioned Alice twice. I was glad to have more time to mull over what to say to Carlisle. As much as I wanted his guidance, if I could put off growing the audience to my moment of weakness for another couple of hours, I’d gladly take the distraction of Alice braiding my hair into a long plait down my back while she blasted music in the garage where Rosalie worked.

Typically when we had nights like these, we each selected an activity to do together. Alice made the choice  – unfortunately for me – to sort through all of our closets and rid them of items she no longer deemed wearable. With the exception of a few favorites, we rarely wore the same things twice, so it seemed like a waste of time. That is until I realized that this was all just a ruse to chastise me for the items of clothing she stocked in my closet that I didn’t wear. My small, voyeuristic sister was pleased with Rosalie and Esme, creating a nice, substantial pile of clothing to donate, whereas my closet ended up acquiring even more clothing than before. I was far too moody to care to protest.

Esme arranged for the four of us to paint together while some french movie played in the background. As an added challenge, she had Alice describe a vision to us, and we all attempted to capture the image on our canvases. Rosalie simply wanted our company as she continued her ongoing project of restoring yet another classic car that she’d eventually gift as an item for a charity auction. My activity of choice usually was the same: I’d select a book for us to read, and we’d have a book club to conclude the night once we’d all finished.

Tonight, however, I wasn’t feeling entirely up for it. Although I definitely wouldn’t mind the fictional escape away from Forks, I didn’t have it in me to sincerely participate in the conversation that would follow.

I wanted to move beyond the events of this afternoon already. As much as it disconcerted me, I didn’t want to be so severely consumed. I was growing irritated with the feelings of disappointment that preoccupied me. I had taken my ease in this life for granted.

Although I knew it wasn’t his fault, I found myself becoming frustrated with the Masen kid. When I began to see eyes materializing in the green brush strokes of the trees of my painting, I unintentionally destroyed my canvas. Something about the perplexity in his shockingly perceptive irises and the intelligence that marked his thick eyebrows when they pulled together was inexplicably haunting me. The irony of feeling haunted when I was the undead creature was not lost on me.

“I’ll grab you another one, dear,” Esme soothed, exchanging worried glances with Rosalie and Alice before disappearing to bring me another large square of coarse, woven white fabric to vandalize.

When the lyrics of the song Alice sang along to as Esme handed Rosalie the tools she needed began to creep into my head and develop new meanings I didn’t want to hear, I abruptly sprang from the driver's seat of Rose’s convertible and ran from the garage. I wanted to unravel in peace.

I stopped when I reached the large, grey stones of the riverbank.

The forest was peaceful. It was nearly dawn; a pale, purple-grey tinted light cloaked the scenery before me, the orange and pink hues of the morning sun that should fade into the navy-black of the night sky were hidden behind a thick layer of rain clouds. The water of the river flowed sinuously by as some birds sang far in the distance. The greenery was enveloped in the fallen rain of the night, droplets of water clinging stunningly to every blade of grass, every needle of pine of the lush vegetation like crystals and diamonds. A cold mist intimately caressed the river, enveloping the landscape in a fresh haze. I could now see the vision Alice described a few hours prior come to life. Here I stood now, quietly, amongst the skyline of trees in daybreak.

I closed my eyes to the muted beauty of this morning, indifferent to the ephemerality of the moment. How many mornings had I seen like this? They were all already cemented in my infallible mind. I breathed in, the cold air whistling deliciously down my throat. On my tongue I could taste the minty, rain-kissed evergreens, the warm streams of blood pumping the tiny, fluttering heartbeats of the smallest animals, the earthy, sweet brooks leading back to the river. The wind softly stroked the sparkling spring water, and as I focused on the faint whisper of an insect’s fluttering wings, I heard the lithe, recognizable stride of my adopted mother approaching. With her came new scents and sounds – white gardenia, freshly baked bread, honey, peach blossoms, a whisper of lush silk, a hiss of air, a gentle nuzzling of fast footsteps on glossy moss.

She arrived by my side but said nothing, joining me in my silent reverie.

“You have nothing to say?” I asked after we stood there for some time, Esme watching what I assumed was the faint hint of the sun rising beyond the clouds, lifting the overcast view into lighter shades of blue-grey. I could feel the slight difference in temperature against my skin.

“Is there something you wish for me to say, sweetheart?” Esme asked gently.

I finally opened my eyes, turning to meet her topaz eyes full of love and patience.

“Not really,” I half-smiled, feeling guilty.

Her beautiful mouth widened into a smile, lighting up her heart-shaped face. She seemed to find some humor in my honesty, letting out a peal of laughter that frightened some distant creatures into silence at the unexpected sound of bells. Her caramel-colored waves of hair shook lightly with the motion.

“Oh, my Bella.” Instantaneously, I was enveloped in her warm, velvet arms. “It is absolutely valid to feel such despondency, but we must celebrate that we are not mourning the loss of another life! For that, I am very proud of you. And I’ve been so relieved that in this life you’ve never had to grieve the mistakes that even I have made...but we would never feel differently towards you if you had. Nor do we feel differently that you’re experiencing a struggle much more strenuous than before.”

She paused before continuing more fervently, “it makes you no less strong, and you will have the strength to resist...I believe that with all my heart. Please don’t feel so disappointed with yourself. You must give yourself some credit and patience and forgiveness. It pains me to see you so cheerless!”

“I’m sorry I seem so...down,” I sighed, resting my head dejectedly on her shoulder. “I guess, to be frank, it just...sucks to feel like I don’t have the super sense of self control that I thought I did. I’m beginning to feel bad for Jasper now,” I snorted bitterly.

She laughed again at my colloquial choice of words.

“Perhaps you owe him an apology. You and your brother have given him an awful lot of trouble for how he struggles,” my mother accused me teasingly, stroking my hair just as my sisters had. The comfort was nice, but I also felt irrationally remorseful to have any need for it.

“Yeah, maybe I do,” I frowned, thinking of having to put aside my pride.

She pulled away to hold me at arm’s length, cautiously studying my face.

After a moment, she pulled me against her again in another embrace.

“I will leave you alone now. It seems you would benefit from some more time by yourself to think without your sisters’ futile attempts to distract you.”

I could tell she was smiling from the way the words left her mouth. “But I won’t allow you to wallow in pity forever.”

Esme released me from the hug and reappeared four yards away from me, the expression on her perfect face stern. “So take the time you need to process how you’re feeling. But only be alone if you need to be. Don’t let yourself be lonely. That’s very important...You know where we will be.”

With that, she was gone.

I couldn’t understand why I was so inconsolable. Of course, I valued her words and the sentiment. My family’s understanding and support were wonderful to have, but I couldn’t shake the upheaval the boy’s blood had wreaked on my thoughts. It seemed to me a cruel joke, that after all these years of so naturally adjusting to this life, I now experienced the true, macabre consequences of this form. Would I have traded the ease that had accompanied me until now if it meant I’d never have experienced a magnetism as strong as the sweet scent that lingered just beneath the Masen boy’s frail skin? Would I have chosen to struggle more the entirety of my existence if it meant I’d have avoided the ferocity of that moment in my suddenly not so banal biology class? Maybe I would have.

This must be some kind of punishment from some god somewhere. Why else would I experience such effortlessness only to be met with an unendurable, unassailable call to reject everything good about my existence? I never gave much thought to religion in either of my lives. I suppose that after I’d been changed, it’d seem like a far more interesting subject because what could be the implications of an existence such as mine? Did my being a monster provide more validity to the existence of a god? If mythological evil creatures plagued the earth, then couldn’t a supernatural deity who created the universe exist as well? Or did my being a monster provide evidence that there was no god – because who could create such a despicable creature?

It had been far more evocative a topic to Carlisle who had spent much of his life after his transformation pondering these questions, but in all truthfulness, it never bothered me much. I adjusted well to this life. I understood why I was changed and didn’t long for my humanity the way some of my other family members did. Of course, I hated the risk I posed to human life, but my conscience felt clear as my record remained clean. I never endured any self loathing for what I was.

Only now did I question myself. Only now did I wrestle with the ramifications of my immortality. Only now did I feel in its entirety – I had experienced strong desires for human blood before but never like this – the true shame of lusting for the end to someone’s precious life. Only now did I truly feel like the monster I was.

I was finally recognizing the wrongness within me.

I was mistaken to feel resentful and angry with the human boy. He did not make me this way. I had always been this way. I had just been blind to the fact for all these years. I had been naive.

He was entirely innocent and deserving of the life he would live. One where his future would not be stolen in a high school biology classroom as his body emptied. One where he would graduate and go on to better schools. One where he would have a successful job in something he was interested in that provided him with purpose. One where he would meet someone smart and kind. One where he would marry, have a family, and grow old surrounded by his progeny.

I suddenly experienced a strange sensation. A feeling I hadn’t felt in years – jealousy. Though I’d never envied a human before, I envied the possibilities this boy had. I never mourned the choices that were no longer available to me. I graduated countless times. I held countless jobs. I felt fulfilled in providing to the world with our philanthropy and loving my family. In that, I found purpose. I didn’t care to have children.

But did I care to experience romantic love?

I loved romance, but I never minded that it was unattainable to me beyond the pages of a novel. I’d met other vampires, but were the odds in my favor to find a soulmate amongst such a rare kind? I didn’t think so, and I was fine with that. I was happy in my solitude. At times, I was the odd one out in my coupled-off family, but I had often felt like the odd one out in my previous life. It wasn’t a new experience, so I never cared. But in thinking of this human boy’s life, free of monsters, free of me, I came to the realization that unlike myself, he could have anyone he wanted. He was not bound by anything other than maybe his own inhibitions. He had the luxury of choice in every aspect of his life but also in love. He had simply the luxury of love itself.

Why were these thoughts coming to me now? I had so much time to ponder my existence, and suddenly this encounter had me incomprehensibly considering inessential things.

I take back my previous feelings about the boy’s innocence. He is stupid and culpable. He’s inspiring stupidity in me.

He’s very fortunate that I have a conscience. I could just as easily murder him in irritation of the havoc his existence is inflicting on my life.

I refocused my thoughts on the scenery before me, longing for the previous morning where I watched the verdant motion of the trees outside the car window after Emmett’s silly destruction of the novel I still had yet to fix. Somehow, it seemed like a long time ago.

In that memory, I eventually found a small moment of peace again.

No painted eyes could haunt me here.

And yet, I was left with a sense of uneasiness, feeling as if my life thus far had been a long exposition, and I had just encountered the inciting incident. I was feeling – though I’d been irrevocably altered once before – as if something would soon change me forever.

we all know stubborn bella wouldn’t yeet herself to alaska like edward’s dramatic ass. hope y’all enjoy hehe <3

#twilight fanfiction #twilight renaissance #twilight au #twilight saga #the twilight saga #bella swan #edward cullen #jasperwhitcock #esme cullen #alice cullen #rosalie hale #vampire #equinoxjw

[naruwitch]

Code Geass: Paladins of Voltron Chapter 13: Return to the Balmera

After several more hours of traveling, the Balmera was at last in sight. Other than Shirley, the other Paladins took a moment to take in the view of the planet. A planet that they were told wasn't a planet at all, but a giant petrified animal, that made itself a home for other creatures as well.

"We'll be arriving at the Balmera soon," Allura announced, "Liberating these Balmerans from Zarkon's grasp will not be easy."

"So, what's the plan? We go in there and just—Pow, pow, pow!" Rivalz said as he imitated shooting noises with his hands in gun form, "—And free the prisoners?"

"What was that noise?" Kallen asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Laser guns!" Rivals smirked back.

"No, Rivalz, I think you mean—" Milly made sounds that sounded like a giant cannon, even making hand motions to demonstrate it locking into place, "—Pow!"

"No offense, Milly, but sounded like fireworks to me," Rivalz argued.

"Technically, they're more like—ba-choo, ba-choo, ba-choo!" Rai said, making his own handgun and 'shooting' with it.

"Okay, enough with the bad sound effects!" Lelouch chastised with a frown.

"Yeah… besides, it's more like— blam, blam, blam!" Suzaku said, crouching down as if he were holding a sniper rifle and targeting his foe.

"Suzaku…" Lelouch groaned as the other Paladins protested in agreement that that was not what a gun sounded like.

"Paladins, focus," Allura said with a sigh.

"Besides," C.C. spoke up, "you might want to rethink that strategy. It'd be foolish to start shooting at the Galra once we enter."

"C.C.'s right," Shirley agreed, as a picture of the Balmera's heat signature appeared before them, "this Balmera thing, it's, like, alive. And from what we've seen, it doesn't look very good."

"Yes," Coran agreed as the screen showed the brighter colors slowly giving way to darker, colder ones, "it's an atrocity what the Galra have been doing to this grand beast. Stealing its Crystals," another screen of the Balmera's current surface appeared next to it, "its very life force, without ever performing the energy rejuvenation ceremonies to heal it." Another image showed two figures, Alteans they assumed, with hands outstretched and surrounded by a circle, and arrows being directed towards a large Crystal in between them.

"After seeing Shay's people enslaved, it made me realize how bad Zarkon really is," Shirley said with a frown. "And we're the only ones who can stop him."

"C.C. and Shirley are right, going in guns blazing is the last thing we want to do," The Black Paladin said. "Not only will it alert the enemy of our arrival sooner, but it would simply hurt the Balmera as well. What we need to do is try and draw as many troops as we can up to the surface where we can fight them in the open air."

"Wait, I know!" Rivalz exclaimed, "If we attack all of this big mining stuff on the surface, the Galra troops will have to come out to defend it. Then we beat them up, head down to the tunnels, and Voltron saves the day!"

"Okay, but will we know how many are left in the tunnels?" Kallen asked.

"We can track the Galra and the Balmerans using Biothermal Life Indicator Point Technology," Allura said. She pulled up a hologram of a small device that looked like a miniature version of the Castleship.

"Oh, B.L.I.P. Tech!" Rai said, leaning in closer. At Allura's confused stare Rai awkwardly looked at the Princess and clarified, "...It's an acronym."

"One of you will need to fly around the Balmera and drop sensors into the shafts on each side," Allura continued as the device flew further in front of her. The screen then spread out to show a map of intricate tunnels and vein systems that it picked up, "Then we'll be able to see where the Galra and the Balmerans are. There are already sensors built into your suits."

"I can do it," Rai volunteered immediately, "I just modified Zerith with the invisible maze's cloaking ability. I should be able to fly around unnoticed. Plus, I'll have Rover with me as well to help out," he smirked at the robot helper that beeped excitedly.

"Zerith?" Shirley asked, confused.

"My Lion," Rai said with a smile.

"Oh! That's pretty!" Shirley commented.

"Thanks!"

"Okay, first you know how to reprogram Galra tech, now you can make your Lion invisible? Are you sure you're not an alien, Rai?" Milly asked with a teasing grin.

Rai shrugged, "I don't know. It's like I said, these things are easy for me… maybe it's something to do with my Geass?"

Lelouch glanced at C.C., who simply shrugged. She wasn't the one who gave Rai his Geass, so she didn't know.

"That's their main power generator," Coran said, pulling up the surface again, this time with a large structure in the center. "If you take that down, it will severely weaken their defenses."

"The three of us will stay in cloud cover and give tactical support," Allura said, pulling up a model of the Castle, some areas being pointed out next to it with Altean writing. "With the Castle's defenses weakened from Sendak's Crystal, we won't be of much help to you."

"Very well, I'll take out the power generator," Lelouch said, "Rai, get those sensors to the shafts. The rest of you will take out these big mining rigs around the area. Any objections?"

The rest of the Paladins shook their heads and agreed to the strategy.

"Yeah!" Milly jumped in the air, "Okay, let's do this! Let's go kick some alien butt!"

The Balmera's gravity pulled the Castleship into its atmosphere as the Paladins made their way to their respective Lions.

"You think the Balmerans will have a parade for us after we've freed everybody?" Rivalz asked as he settled in Blue. He had yet to come up with a name for her but promised he would soon. He had already thrown a few names her way, but all had been shot down. Rivalz didn't mind too much; it was her name after all.

Kallen's face showed up on his dashboard, Aka's cockpit in the background, "It's not about the glory, Rivalz. It's about freeing prisoners from Zarkon."

"No, I know. I know. But still. When they—" Rivalz didn't finish his sentence as he and the Blue Lion launched off into the atmosphere with the rest of the Lions. As they descended, the pillars surrounding the power generator started firing rapidly at the Lions. One even launched an attack that looked like a flying windmill blade that they had to maneuver around to avoid.

"This is it. Get your heads in the game," Lelouch ordered. "Remember, the Balmera is a living creature. Make sure you pinpoint only the Galra installations and not its surface."

Rai, Rover, and Zerith promptly broke off from the rest of the group and started flying low, closer to the ground.

"Initiating cloak," the Green Paladin said, as Zerith disappeared from view. The other Lions could still pinpoint where they were, but the Galra certainly wouldn't be able to. At each mining shaft he flew over, a B.L.I.P. device was dropped in and activated at the bottom.

As the installations continued to fire at them, Suzaku expertly maneuvered the Purple Lion up and around every strike like a pro. He shot back with blasts of his own from his Lion's tail. He noticed Rivalz, and Milly quickly followed his example as they took up his flanks.

As he flew, Suzaku noticed how much easier it felt to fly his Lion, compared to even the Lancelot. It was like he and the Lion were one being instead of just pilot and machine. It was so much more than that. He could feel it.

'I need to remember to find a name for you too,' Suzaku added mentally as they shot down another tower.

Shirley, on the other hand, had gone in closer to the ground, and her Lion was simply smashing into each tower, causing them to collapse.

Lelouch grit his teeth as he examined the base. He knew shooting at full power was out of the question, but his Lion was not quite bulky enough to just smash through either, "How do I take this thing down?"

He blinked as he felt the Black Lion brush against his mind as a screen showed up in front of him, "What's that?" he asked as the Lion elaborated. It was a picture of the Lion's head, and a pair of blades that seemed to extend from its jaw, "Jaw blade?" he questioned before smirking almost evilly, pushing the thrusters down, "Okay! Let's do this!"

The Black Lion growled as the blade formed around her jaw. With the weapon in place, she and Lelouch easily sliced through the generator's foundation like a hot knife through butter. It wasn't long until nearly the entire generator was destroyed.

"All sensors delivered," Rai confirmed just as he dropped the last one.

From inside the Castle of Lions, a screen appeared, showing all of the underground tunnels of the Balmera. They'd now easily be able to track any movements and guide the Paladins through without a hitch.

The biggest cannon was still giving them trouble. Team Voltron wouldn't be able to start the rescue until it was dismantled. After a couple more blasts, Kallen and Aka managed to get in close, as the Red Lion opened its maw, and outshot a pillar of pure fire that melted right through the cannon's support beam.

"Whoa! Did you guys just see that?!" Kallen exclaimed, a giant grin on her face, "I got fire powers!"

"Hey! I want that!" Rivalz whined.

"That is so awesome, Kallen!" Milly cried, a matching grin on her face.

The praises were short-lived, though, as the cannon suddenly shuddered and wobbled. It began to tip down towards the surface. The very thing that they didn't want to happen!

"Oh, no!" Rivalz shouted.

Before it could connect, however, Shirley managed to get under it in the Orange Lion and try to push it back up, "We can't let this thing hurt the Balmera!"

"I'm coming!" Suzaku shouted as he flew overhead. His Lion opened its mouth too, but instead of anything firing out of it, it started sucking wind and debris into it. Almost like-

"A black hole!" Suzaku said as the suction began to slow the descent gradually.

"Cool, Suzaku!" Milly exclaimed.

It wasn't enough, though; the structure was still falling too fast.

"We need to try something else!" Suzaku yelled, strain in his voice.

"I think my Lion knows what to do!" Rivalz said as he and the Blue Lion flew in closer. It opened its jaws too, and while everyone expected the tower to go up in flames, a blast of crisp white ice hit it instead, freezing it entirely in place and halting the crash.

"Ha-aw, snap! These rays are super cool, just like me!" Rivalz cheered.

"Well done, everyone!" Lelouch said, as the Lions all perched on top of the frozen cannon. However, as they looked across the Balmera's surface, they were perplexed to see that no ships were coming up to attack them.

"Something's wrong," Suzaku said, "Where are all the troops? They're not coming to the surface."

"He's right," Shirley said, as her face popped up on everyone's dashboards, "Last time I was here, I remember seeing a whole army of Galra down in the mines."

"We've located a hangar full of Galra fighters just below the surface," Allura informed them from the Castle, "Someone has to take those out before they can launch."

Lelouch grit his teeth. They were being lured down. It was obviously a trap. But… "We don't have a choice," he muttered. "Alright, we'll split into three teams. Suzaku, Kallen, and Rivalz will hit the hangar. Shirley, you, Rai, and Rover head to the prison to rescue Shay and the other Balmerans. Milly and I will track down the Galra soldiers. Any objections?"

"Nope!"

"Ten-four!"

"Nada!"

"You got it!"

"Leave it to us!"

"Let's do this!" Came the shouts as the Lions bounded off the tower and towards the tunnels.

o~o

Back at the Galran headquarters, Commander Prorok was waiting. It had been several varga since he'd contacted those bounty hunters that claimed to have the Blue Lion. They never arrived at their meeting point. This could only mean one of two things. They had either been caught by the other Paladins, or they had decided to keep the Blue Lion for themselves.

Whatever the case, it wasn't a completely lost cause. Thanks to their hailing, Prorok now knew where the Paladins were going. It was now merely a matter of when to strike them.

"Commander Prorok," Thace said, as he approached his superior, "we have word from the troops on Balmera X-95 Vox. The informants were right. Voltron is there."

"Excellent," Prorok smiled smugly, "Everything is going according to plan."

"How do you wish to proceed?" his subordinate asked, "Should we inform Emperor Zarkon?"

"Contact Subcommander Ylvik," Prorok ordered, turning to meet Thace's eye, "His fleet is awaiting my command. Tell him it's time to attack. I will update the Emperor."

o~o

The Black Lion landed with a bang at the bottom of the shaft. Fortunately, there had been no Galra fighters occupying it, so Lelouch had managed to land without too much trouble. Unfortunately, the cave tunnels were too small for the Lion to navigate due to its enormous size. But there was no need to worry as there was a way around this hiccup.

Lelouch's pilot chair slowly pulled back with him, still seated. It hit the back wall of the cockpit and then lowered into the Lion's chest. Inside was a speeder; all the Lions had one. As Lelouch's seat clicked into it, the Black Lion's chest opened and set him free. As the speeder departed, the Lion's particle barrier rose up, effectively securing it until Lelouch could return.

o~o

Inside another tunnel, Rivalz, Suzaku, and Kallen slowly crept up in their speeders to a ledge that quickly showed the hanger full of Galra fighters that Allura had mentioned earlier. They were quite surprised to see how only a few sentries were guarding them.

"The entire hangar's only being guarded by a few sentries?" Rivalz said, voicing everyone's question.

"We can take them! Let's go!" Kallen said as she pulled out her Bayard and was about to storm in before Suzaku grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"Whoa, whoa! Kallen!" Suzaku hissed, "Do you not remember all that stuff about this Balmera thing being a sensitive animal?"

Kallen stopped struggling against Suzaku's grip, "Oh. Right," she said, feeling embarrassed.

"Yeah, I think going and blowing things up like psychos is the last thing we want to do right now," Rivalz agreed.

"Well, do either of you have a better idea?" Kallen snapped impatiently.

"I do actually," Rivalz said as he pointed to the other end of the gorge, "We sneak into the control room to shut down the bay doors. That'll trap the ships in."

"That—!" Kallen stopped herself as she processed Rivalz's words, as Suzaku smiled in agreement, "...Actually... is a better idea."

"Come on!" Suzaku said as he started sneaking across one of the catwalks, connecting the two sides together. Kallen and Rivalz were right behind him. They were reasonably narrow, so they had to move slowly and pray that none of the sentries spotted them doing so.

o~o

In another tunnel, Shirley and Rai, with Rover hovering in Rai's speeder with him, were struggling to locate Shay and her family. Despite the Orange Paladin's previous visit, it didn't mean she was suddenly a tunnel expert.

"Allura, Coran, w-what's our location?" Shirley asked, "All these tunnels look the same. I can't remember where the prison is."

"You're on the right path," Coran assured them as he looked at their map in the Castle. "Turn right at the next tunnel. Once you get there, you'll have to disable the energy doors."

"Be careful, though," C.C. added, "it's heavily guarded."

o~o

"No, no, over here more!" Kallen whispered as Suzaku was about to cut through the control room's ceiling.

"Calm down, Kallen, I know what I'm doing," the Purple Paladin said in an exasperated tone, as he plunged his katana through and cut a circular hole through. Below them, a single sentry was operating the controls. He didn't have time to react when he looked up to see what the noise was as the ceiling hole came crashing down with Suzaku on top of it, crushing it below. Kallen and Rivalz joined him a moment later.

"Alright, you two keep an eye out for guards," Rivalz said as he approached the control panel, "I'll see if I can find a way to shut the hangar doors."

Kallen and Suzaku both moved to the side to look out the bay windows. So far, it seemed their presence had gone unnoticed. The few sentries that were down below made no move or gesture to signify that they knew the Paladins were there.

Rivalz eyes lingered over different parts of the panel. Screens were showing the status of multiple base functions, a box with a Galran symbol on it, and a few other things. There were some buttons near the bottom of the screen that Rivalz pushed in a couple of patterns, but nothing happened or worked.

"Ah!" he finally groaned in defeat, "I don't know what I'm doing here. It's all Galra gibberish."

"Let me see," Suzaku said as he and Kallen came closer to try and help.

Just like with the Blue Paladin, they didn't understand what most of the text meant; the box near the upper center caught Suzaku's eye, though.

"Hmmm…" he hummed. He turned to the sentry that was now destroyed. He took out his Bayard again and sliced off the downed sentry's arm.

"What are you doing?" Kallen asked, confused.

"Let me try something," he said, as he placed the sentry hand over the symbol and box. It glowed red when he did it, and a buzzing sound filled the room as the hanger doors above slowly creaked shut.

"Nice thinking, Suzaku!" Rivalz cheered as Kallen nodded in agreement.

One task down, two to go.

o~o

Following Coran's directions, Shirley and Rai turned right at the next tunnel intersection. They were able to spot the prison doors about halfway down. As they approached, sentries started shooting at the two speeders, forcing them to stop. The Paladins and drone exited their rides and ducked behind the speeders for cover.

Shirley whipped out her bow and fired two consecutive shots at the robots, ultimately destroying both of them.

Despite the small victory, an uneasy feeling bubbled up in the Orange Paladin's chest.

"Shirley, that was way too easy," Rai said, voicing her exact thoughts, "I don't have a good feeling about this."

"Neither do I, Rai, but Shay's still in there!" Shirley argued.

Rai sighed as the three of them approached the energy doors.

"Do your thing Rover," Rai said as the drone beeped happily and scanned the control board. The energy barrier went down immediately. No bombs went off; no army was waiting for them on the other side. Rai was right; this was too easy.

They took the chance, though, and sprinted down the tunnel. Off to the side, they thought they heard a troop of sentries approaching, but the steps quickly faded. After turning another corner, Shirley finally spotted it. It was a cell door with some familiar faces on the other side. Rai had Rover scan the console here as well, and the doors opened to reveal Shay's mother, father, grandmother, and her brother Rax… but Shay wasn't there.

The Balmerans present looked up as the door opened, surprised delight on their faces.

"Shirley, you have returned," Shay's father exclaimed as he, his wife, and his mother, stood up to greet her.

"I promised I would be back," Shirley smiled as she grasped his hand. She turned around, hand outstretched, "This is Rai. He's one of my friends I told you about."

"Nice to meet you," he greeted with a smile. Rover clicked a greeting as well, "Oh, and this is Rover. Don't worry; he's with us too."

Shirley looked around the cell but then realized something.

"Where's Shay?" she asked urgently.

"Our life may not have been perfect, but our family was whole," Rax retorted and glared at the two Paladins. "Your arrival has left us imprisoned and torn apart. As soon as your attack started, they took her away to the core of the Balmera. For all we know, she could be gone for good."

Shirley gasped at this information as Rai grimaced, "This isn't good," he muttered.

"Paladins, are you there?" Allura asked urgently, as she Coran and C.C, saw the Galra forces converging at a point, "The Galra troops are moving down the tunnels. It looks like they're going down toward the center."

"They must be headed to the core of the Balmera," Shirley said, "That's where they're holding Shay."

o~o

Lelouch grit his teeth in frustration as he rode on his speeder. "They're drawing us into an ambush," he said objectively, "but we don't have a choice if we want to save Shay. We have to follow. Everyone, start heading to the core. We'll need to be together to get through this firefight."

o~o

"Copy that," Kallen's voice sounded as she and her team left the control room now that the launch doors were sealed, "we're on our way!"

Behind her, Suzaku quickly slashed through the control board to prevent anyone from trying to open the doors again. As the trio ran out, and the doors closed, Rivalz fired his Bayard at the control pad, effectively locking it behind them.

o~o

Milly gasped, and her speeder screeched to a halt as it almost crashed into what she thought was a dead-end of the tunnel. After she stopped and popped out of it, she saw that there wasn't a dead-end, but that the tunnel was simply narrow enough that she couldn't bring her speeder through.

"Looks like you're in an area where the tunnels are too narrow for your speeder," Allura informed her.

"Yeah, I see that," Milly said, stepping through the small gap, "proceeding on foot."

Milly had been walking for a couple of minutes when she spotted lights that were moving ahead of her. She jumped to the side, hiding from view, "There's someone here," she whispered urgently.

"Looking into it," Allura replied.

As the shadows crept closer and closer, Milly bit her lip before she jumped out and ran, raising her kusarigama Bayard to attack.

"Milly, no! Those are Balmerans!" Allura cried out just in time. Milly stopped short and lowered her weapon. Three young Balmeran children were standing in front of her. One of them was carrying a small lamp.

Milly sighed in relief that they weren't sentries. She looked up with a smile and waved to the children.

Suddenly, the ground underneath her began to quake, and a loud, high-pitched groan echoed through the tunnel. Small rocks, dust, and debris began to fall around them.

The three children gasped and turned to run in the other direction, but one of them tripped and fell. Above them, a large slab of stone shook loose and began to fall. Acting fast, Milly sprinted to the trio, using her jetpack for more momentum, and snatched the fallen child just as the slab crashed to the ground behind them. She set the Balmeran down next to her friends, who promptly hugged her close to them. Milly turned to view the damage behind her. She was completely blocked off from her speeder.

"Don't worry," she assured the children, "everything's going to be okay."

o~o

"Everyone," Milly's voice buzzed through the comms, "be careful. The Balmera is very unstable."

Kallen, Suzaku, and Rivalz almost didn't have time to start worrying about that. When they turned a corner, they were ambushed by a small platoon of sentries that were guarding a door. Rivalz and Kallen tumbled to the left, and Suzaku took shelter to the right of a battlecruiser output of the wall. As the laser shots zoomed past them, the ground vibrated again, and the pained echoes of the Balmera could be heard from all over the tunnels.

"Their shooting is destroying the Balmera. We gotta do something!" Kallen shouted over the noise.

"Well, we can't shoot back!" Rivalz said, "That'll just make it worse!"

They had to think of a plan, fast. The ground started shaking again as stone and rock tumbled down around them from the Balmera's pained screams.

Suzaku looked around, by the sentries and his teammates. Then he spotted a ladder behind Kallen. If the two of them climbed up to the upper level, they would have the advantage of higher ground. With Rivalz distracting them below, it would be easy!

"Kallen!" He whispered, urgently pointing behind her.

The Red Paladin shot him a confused stare before glancing behind and spotting the ladder. Making an 'o' with her mouth, she then smiled and gave a thumbs-up, realizing what the Purple Paladin had in mind.

As Suzaku scrambled to the other side with her, Rivalz leaped out and waved his hands in the air right in front of the platoon, "Na-na na-na boo-boo!"

As the sentries started firing at him again, he crouched down to the ground with his shield activated, hoping to block most of the shot from hitting the Balmera wall behind him. Some still made it to the other side, though. He gritted his teeth and endured it as Kallen and Suzaku ran across the upper level. Once they were on top of them, they leaped down and quickly finished them off with their weapons, Kallen blowing the last one up with her gauntlet.

"I love this thing!" she whispered with a smirk. She and Suzaku glanced back to check on Rivalz, who flashed them a smile and a thumbs up.

o~o

Rai and Shirley ran until they came across a closed door. According to Allura's directions, the core was on the other side. They would find Shay there.

"Okay, this should be it," Rai muttered as he directed Rover to unlock it. "Be ready, we don't know what's on the other side."

Shirley nodded and gulped, readying her bow to shoot. Despite being scared, she put on the bravest face she could as Rover beeped that he was finished.

Rai raised his hand with three fingers. Once his finger hit one, the two rushed in as the door opened, weapons drawn and prepared to fight. They came to an abrupt stop, though when no enemies came to greet them. There was only one occupant in the room, dangling in chains from the ceiling.

"Shay!" Shirley shouted in relief, "You're alive!"

The Balmera was hanging from the ceiling by her wrists and had a muzzle wrapped around her mouth. Upon spotting Shirley and Rai, she started struggling against her restraints, shaking her head furiously to try and dislodge the muzzle.

Aiming as carefully as she could, Shirley fired an arrow at the chains holding her up. As the Balmeran fell, Rai rushed to catch her from underneath. With a blast from his jetpack, Rai caught Shay bridle style, and slowly lowered them to the ground. Once there, Shirley started working trying to undue the muzzle, but it was clasped super tight. As the Orange Paladin assisted her friend, Rai looked around in disbelief. They were the only ones there. There were no guards, sentries, or even Rover's fellow droids. Nothing.

'Something's wrong,' he thought, eyes scanning around them.

"Where are the Galra?" Lelouch demanded as he ran in through another entrance, the other Paladins following from another. "If this is an ambush, they should be here waiting for us."

They got their answer as the doors they had moments ago run through, slammed shut and locked behind them.

"Not an ambush," Suzaku said, "more like a trap!"

"Whatever it is, keep your guard up!" Kallen shouted.

"The Galra, they gained knowledge that you would return to the Balmera," Shay said once Shirley removed the muzzle. The other Paladins joined her at the bottom.

"What? How?!" Rivalz asked.

"I know not," Shay answered with remorse, bowing her head, "But they set this trap just for you. I was the bait."

"Who could have possibly known that we were heading here to save Shay?" Rai asked incredulously.

Lelouch grit his teeth, already knowing who, but Milly beat him to the punch, "Rolo! Those liars must have told Zarkon!"

"It likely happened when they had the Blue Lion, to negotiate its trade," Lelouch said with a frown, "and we were foolish not to question them of such an action!" Lelouch mentally kicked himself for overlooking something so obvious.

"We need to get out here, fast!" Shirley said, looking around at the closed doors.

"Rai, can Rover hack the doors and get us out?" Suzaku asked the Green Paladin.

"If he was on the other side, he could. There are no control panels to do that here!" he answered. Rover beeped sadly, tilting downward as if ashamed.

"Wait! We have a giant Castleship hovering in the sky," Rivalz said, before contacting the said ship, "Allura, can you please come get us?"

"How do you expect her to do that, genius?" Kallen demanded.

"I don't know; maybe they got teleporters or something. Like from Star Trek." Rivalz suggested.

o~o

"We're quite occupied at the moment," Allura informed them urgently and grunted as another shot from a Galra fighter hit the ship's shields. There were over a dozen of them surrounding the Castle, "We're completely surrounded by Galra ships, and we're taking heavy fire!"

The shots were coming from every direction, giving the ship no place to maneuver. Alarms started blaring, and the screens in front of the ship's occupants turned red with warnings of malfunction.

"Princess, our particle barrier won't last much longer!" Coran informed her urgently.

"Do you have any other forms of attacking besides the Lions?" C.C. asked, holding onto one of the control tables as another blast rocked the ship.

"We do, but I'm not sure how long they'll last," Allura informed the immortal.

"It's better than nothing!" she countered as she made her way to another screen that popped up by the princess. A targeting system appeared in front, and C.C. grasped the two control sticks that appeared in front of her. She pressed down on the handles and started firing back at the fleet intensely. Despite managing to take a few ships down, more continued to pour in.

"Paladins, you need to get out of there as soon as you can!" Allura cried out.

o~o

"This is it! We're going to die in here. I can say bye-bye to that parade," Rivalz lamented as he sagged down. Everyone shot him unimpressed looks.

"Everyone focus!" Lelouch ordered, "Allura, we'll get there as soon as we can!"

"Perhaps my people can help us get out," Shay suggested. She walked towards the core of the Balmera and placed a hand lightly on top of it. "This is how we communicate. The Balmera senses our vibrations and sends a message to those in the tunnels."

"Are you sure someone will be able to hear your... hand from all the way down here?" Kallen asked skeptically.

"The Balmera will deliver the message," Shay reassured them as she closed her eyes in concentration. Her hand started to glow, and the Balmera groaned around them. The Paladins watched mesmerized. Shay stood still, not moving a muscle from the core.

o~o

Elsewhere on the Balmera, Shay's family was making their way back to their home inside. Their faces were sad and solemn, believing that a member of their family was gone forever despite was Shirley said.

The four suddenly stopped as the Balmera groaned. Rax bent down, placing his hand on the ground.

"It's a message from Shay!" he exclaimed, shocked.

"She's alive!" her father rejoiced as his wife and mother smiled at the news.

"The Paladins of Voltron went to the core of the Balmera to save Shay... and now they are all trapped," Rax informed them, eyes narrowing.

"Then we are all doomed," his father mourned, looking down in despair.

"This is all my fault," Rax said, standing up, guilt swelling in his chest, "I conspired against them, and because of my actions, Shay was imprisoned. The orange female was right. If we ever hope to be free, we must take action."

"But how can we rise up against our Galra overlords?" his father asked.

"What choice do we have?" Rax asked, "They have stolen all of the crystals from our Balmera. Our lives are worthless to them now."

"But Balmerans have never fought." his father countered.

"You taught me that without family, we have nothing," Rax argued, a fire of rebellion blazing in his eyes. "The Galra have taken Shay. How can we do nothing while the Paladins sacrifice everything to save us? We must do our part!"

o~o

Prorok kneeled before Zarkon, smirking at the knowledge that his plan was working out. The Emperor would no doubt be pleased with him for his efforts. Within the next few varga, Voltron would be within the Galra's grasp at last.

"Lord Zarkon, I have news to report. News that will likely please you, my Emperor."

"Proceed," Zarkon commanded, no emotion on his ancient face.

"I have the Voltron Paladins trapped on a Balmera in the Javeeno star system," the commander informed him, with a proud grin. "I've ordered a fleet to capture the Lions and destroy the Altean Castle."

To Prorok's surprise, though, the Emperor was far from pleased with his report, and scowled contemptibly, "You fool! You dare make plans without informing me?"

"Forgive me, Emperor…" Prorok shrank back in fear, "...but I saw an opportunity, and I took it for the glory of the Galra Empire."

"I suspect that you are seeking your own glory, Prorok," Zarkon growled, "But you do not realize Voltron's power." He knew that there were only a few that knew Voltron's full potential. Not even the Altean Princess did, much less the new Paladins…

o~o

As the Castle continued to be fired upon, a dozen Galra fighters broke off from the formation and began to descend towards the Balmera.

"They're heading down into the tunnels!" Coran gasped, "They're going to steal the Lions!"

"Paladins, the Lions are in danger! You must get back to them immediately!" Allura called out desperately.

On C.C.'s targeting scanner, a small alert popped up, directing them to the cause of it in the distance.

"Something's locked onto us!" she informed them as they spotted a large Galra cruiser with an ion cannon affixed on top.

o~o

"Paladins, do you copy?" Allura asked, "There's a battlecruiser locked onto us. If it fires with its ion cannon, I don't know if we can survive."

"We're trying, Allura," Shirley replied anxiously.

"Yeah, Shay's pressing her hand against the wall, which apparently sends vibrations to the other rock people," Rivalz tried explaining, "who vibrate back or something? Hand talking? I guess the answer to your question is, 'Yes, we copy.'"

"Shay, are you sure the Balmera is sending your message?" Suzaku asked urgently.

As Shay began focusing harder, her family appeared behind one of the doors. They pressed their hands against the wall surface, causing it to glow blue. The wall suddenly constricted, knocking the door off its hinges.

The Paladins and Shay all jumped and turned to where the door had been initially. As the dust settled, Shay's family stood in the doorway to greet them.

"Rax!" Shay exclaimed, happily.

"We must make haste!" Rax replied urgently, "We know a shortcut through the tunnels."

"Princess, stand by," Lelouch called out to the Castle, "we're on our way up!"

o~o

Lelouch and his speeder had scrambled back to the Black Lion just in time. Two Galra ships were using tracker beams to try and drag it out.

"Paladins, hurry! They're taking off with the Lions!" Allura said.

Gritting his teeth, Lelouch thrust the speeder forward. A small opening was made in the particle barrier, and the Black Paladin disappeared back inside his Lion. With a roar, the Black Lion broke free of the tractor beams and zoomed out of the Balmera tunnel.

"Paladins report! Did everyone make it to their Lions?" Lelouch asked as he hovered above the mines.

He got his answers as the six other Lions promptly burst from the tunnels and joined him on the surface in formation.

"Come on, Lelouch. Who you think you're dealing with? A bunch of amateurs—" Rivalz didn't finish his sentence as he and the Blue Lion ran headfirst into what remained of one of the Galra structures, which the other six Lions easily avoided.

"You really want me to answer that, Rivalz?" Lelouch smirked in amusement despite the situation.

"No," the Blue Paladin groaned.

The Lions quickly regrouped as the Galra fleet started firing furiously at them. The Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow Lions fired shots of their own while the Orange Lion tore through them with its armor and powerful jaws. The Purple Lion followed suit, sucking in every aircraft it could and tearing the wings off and destroying them. Finally, the mighty Black Lion sliced through several fighters with its jaw blade in effect. It was like a hot knife through butter!

The fleet was getting obliterated every second they continued to fight. Balls of fire rained down from the sky.

As another wave came flying at them, Kallen and Rivalz put their Lions attacks together to wipe them out. Kallen melting half of them as Rivalz froze the rest completely.

Shirley grabbed another fighter in the Orange Lion's maw and proceeded to ram into four more before tossing the stack away as it exploded in a fiery inferno.

From above her, though, she didn't have time to dodge as three more began firing at her.

"Shirley, watch out!" Rai cried as he and Zerith flew to cover her, the shots having little effect against the Green Lion's shield on its back.

"I'm coming!" Lelouch shouted as he and the Black Lion zoomed overhead and sliced through the three assailants. They blew up quickly.

"Phew! Thanks, boys!" Shirley said with a smile.

Milly and Suzaku charged another five Galra fighters from above. They seemed ready to dive-bomb them.

Milly thrust the control of the Yellow Lion forward, intending to take them out with one shot. To her surprise, however, when the Yellow Lion opened its mouth, it didn't shoot a blast of energy, but a tiny ball of light… which moments later expanded to illuminate the battlefield, blinding everyone but the Paladins, whose visors came down automatically to protect their vision.

"Woah!" Milly exclaimed in shocked excitement, "Did you guys just see that?!"

"Nice, Milly!" Suzaku complimented as he sucked the five fighters towards them, and chomped down on them at once. They blew up as he tossed them aside.

Despite the Paladins' growing success, the Castle was still facing a threat from the Galra warship. The ion cannon began to charge up, ready to fire.

"It's charging its ion cannon!" Coran exclaimed in fear.

"Divert all shields to the bow!" Allura ordered.

"That'll leave the rest of the ship completely vulnerable!" Coran argued.

"Leave that to me!" C.C. said, still at blaster controls.

As the shields converged in front of the ship, it met the blast of the ion cannon head-on. Allura grit her teeth as the blast pressed against the shield. It began to fizzle out, losing power fast.

"Paladins, I need you immediately! Five more ticks, and we're finished!"

"Very well!" Lelouch shouted, "Team, let's form Voltron!"

"Yes/Yeah!" the rest of the team screamed out as the Lions roared and converged.

Within moments the giant juggernaut appeared before them and emerged from the clouds and headed straight for the Galra warship. It slammed into the bottom of the ship. As the Paladins screamed, Voltron shoved the ship upwards, diverting the cannon blast away from the Castle of Lions in the knick of time.

"Right, now is our chance, Princess!" Coran proclaimed.

"Full power on the blasters!" Allura ordered as the holographic image lined up with the target, "Lock onto target. Fire!"

At Allura's command, the Castle unleashed a sizeable blue beam of energy straight at the Galra ship. Voltron flew out of the way just as the shot hit the ship, straight through the helm. Within moments the warship exploded in a fiery inferno, taking out whatever remained of its Galra fighters with it.

"Yes!"

"Woo-hoo!"

"Whoop-whoop!"

"Nice shot, Princess!"

"Yeah!"

"Yeah! The Parade's back on!"

Lelouch simply smirked victoriously from the Black Lion, watching the firework show.

The day was theirs.

o~o

"The Galra fleet and all Sentries on the Balmera have been defeated!" a communications officer reported to the throne room.

Prorok's face fell at the news. That wasn't possible. He was sure he could obtain Voltron!

"No!" the commander gasped, "How could this be? Lord Zarkon, I will do all that I can to recapture Voltron for the Galra!"

"Silence, Prorok!" Zarkon thundered, causing the commander to flinch away, "I have plans that you can not comprehend."

o~o

Voltron touched down lightly on the Balmera's surface, the Castleship preparing to settle just behind them.

"Mission accomplished!" Kallen grinned as she leaned back in Aka's pilot chair. She hadn't felt this pumped since her first official mission with Ohgi's old group before Lelouch/Zero had come in to play.

"And just in the tick of time," Allura agreed, "The Castle's defenses are battered and will need to fully recharge."

Allura spoke too soon, though, as the Castle's proximity alarms blared to life. Something was approaching the Balmera's atmosphere. Fast.

"There's an unknown object incoming!" Coran said as a massive fireball could be seen from the ship's bridge, "It's about to crash into the Balmera!"

Lelouch silently cursed as the object crashed into the surface. As the dust cleared, a familiar-looking black coffin-like ship could be seen in the distance.

"What the heck?!" Rivalz exclaimed.

"What is that?!" Milly asked.

Additional noises of confusion could be heard from the other Paladins as well.

"...Trouble." Lelouch spat, teeth grinding in his jaw. The battle wasn't over. It had only just begun.

#Fanfiction #AU #Voltron #Code Geass #lelouch lamperouge #c.c. #kallen kozuki #suzaku kururugi #rivalz cardemonde #milly ashford #shirley fenette #rai (lost colors) #princess allura #coran #balmera #galra empire

[chojin-cu-chulain]

Power Rangers Morphinverse Thunder Chapter 2

Power Rangers Thunder Chapter 2 The Mutiny part 2 Written by Justin Best

As Lord Zedd was laughing Finster, Squatt and Babboo teleported to the outside of the moon palace. Finster said cheerfully “We’re done my lord. The Dark Zords are finished and ready when you are”.

Lord smirked and said, “Excellent now to show my new Rangers the Zords they will use to conquer Earth”. Then Zedd fired a laser into the sky that turned into a screen showing various images.

Zedd then called out “Farkas Bulkmeier you will be the Red Dark Ranger with the power to control fire and wield the Dark Swords the Red Dragon Dark Zord is yours to command. Randall McCullens you will be the Green Dark Ranger with power of illusions your weapon will be the Dark Mace and the Green Lion Dark Zord shall be yours”

Zedd continued “Eugene Skullovich you shall become the Blue Dark Ranger with mastery over the forces of gravity and the power of the Dark Nunchcks you shall command the Blue Unicorn Dark Zord. Laurie Sanchez you are now the Yellow Dark Ranger with the power to manipulate time your weapon will be the Dark Whip and you shall pilot the Yellow Griffin Dark Zord

“And finally, Cindy O’Hanlon you shall be the Pink Dark Ranger able to control the power of wind your weapon will be the Dark Spear and you will have the power of the Pink Phoenix Dark Zord on your side. Not only that but each of you is equip with the Dark Daggers and Dark Sabers which can combine to form the Dark Blasters”.  

Zedd continued “That’s not all you five can also combine your powers to create the Dark Energy Orb attack that can finish off any of you opponents. and when your Zords combine they can become the monstrous Dark Megazord the ultimate weapon of evil” Lord Zedd concluded.

Jason called out to the Dark Rangers “Don’t listen to him you guys”. Tommy agreed “Lord Zedd’s just using you. Once he destroys the world, he’ll destroy you too.” The Dark Rangers just laughed, and Randy said, “Yeah right Lord Zedd has promised us unlimited power once we destroy you and Angel Grove”.

Then Lord Zedd fired a beam at the Rangers’ forcefield and ordered “Now my Dark Ranger show these teenage has beens the true power of Lord Zedd and destroy them”. Bulk replied, “With pleasure my lord”. Then the Dark Rangers started punching and kicking at the former Rangers.

The former Rangers punched and kicked back to defend themselves. Billy called out to the Dark Rangers “Come on you guys you gotta fight it”. Zack agreed “Don’t let Lord Zedd control you”. Bulk retorted “Enough words nothing can save you now”.

The Dark Rangers and the former Dino Rangers kept fighting each other until Jason Billy and Zack flipped Bulk Randy and Skull over them, while Trini and Kim grabbed Laurie and Cindy by their arms and spun them around knocking all the Dark Rangers into each other.

Jason called out “Quick you guys the Morphers”. The other Rangers agreed, and they took the morphers off the Dark Rangers. “What are you doing give those back at once or I’ll crush you into moon dust” Zedd cried out while Tommy snuck up to him and took the dark power crystal causing the Dark Rangers to demorph.

Zedd cried out “No give that back at once. You fools have no idea what you’re doing”. Tommy retorted “We’re taking our powers back you creep”. Zack agreed you may have taken our Ranger powers”. Jason added “But you can’t take away why Zordon chose us in the first place”.

Zedd growled “Maybe not but I still have Zordon’s Command Center trapped in a electron field. Your misfit of a mentor can’t help you now”. Billy retorted “Maybe not but it’s our turn to help him”. Then the Rangers teleported away with Bulk and the others”.

The Rangers reappeared in Angel Grove and turned on their communicators. Jason called out “Zordon answer us. Are you and Alpha okay?”. Zordon replied “We are fine for the time being, but the electron field is rapidly compressing and soon it will destroy the Command Center and us within it”.

Jason asked, “We took Zedd’s dark power crystal will that be able to help?” Zordon replied “Perhaps if you were to throw it at the base of the forcefield it should short it out”. The Rangers agreed and teleported to the outside of the Command Center.

Trini cried out “Oh no”. Billy added “We don’t have much time the forcefield’s getting smaller”. The Rangers hurried over to the forcefield and Tommy threw the dark power crystal at the bottom of the forcefield with all his strength causing the field to dissipate and breaking the crystal into five pieces.

The Rangers cheered. Zack said, “All right”. Trini added “We did it”. Inside the Command Center Alpha cheered “They did it Zordon the Rangers destroyed the forcefield”. Zordon said “Ranger take the remains of the dark power crystal with you. There may still be chance to restore your powers”. The Rangers picked up the pieces of the dark power crystal and walked back inside the Command Center.

Inside Jason asked, “Is it true Zordon?”. Zack added “Yeah can you really restore our powers?”. Zordon answered “Yes but first we must summon Quagmire”. Then Quagmire appeared and said “Say my name and I appear now what brings Quagmire here?”

Zordon explained “Quagmire Lord Zedd has used magical candles and the dark power crystal to drain the Rangers’ powers and turn them into the evil Dark Ranger powers. The Rangers defeated Zedd’s Rangers, and took the dark power crystal but were forced to destroy to rescue myself and Alpha from Zedd’s electron field”

Zordon continued “So now we must perform the ritual the Eltarian purification ritual”. Quagmire agreed “Aye and to do it without a doubt you need my help to let you out”. Then Quagmire and Alpha pulled out their purple crystals and put them into the console which began the process of releasing Zordon.

Once Zordon was freed from his time warp Zack asked, “Wait the Eltarian purification ritual?”. Trini added “What’s that?”. Alpha explained “It’s and ancient Eltarian ritual that can be used to turn magic that has been corrupted into evil magic back into good magic, but it was requires large amounts of good magic to work”.

Billy replied, “So we can turn our powers back to good and use them again”. Quagmire agreed “Billy you are right. Together we’ll bring your powers back to light”. And with that everyone left the Command Center for the outside.

Once outside Zordon explained “Now Ranger we must all sit in a circle and begin meditating”. Kim asked “Meditate?”. Zordon explained yes we must focus on our positive qualities like courage, hope, justice, love, wisdom, and honor then we can feed them into the remains of the dark power crystal and turn them into a force of good magic”.

Tommy said, “We’ll we don’t have many other options”. The other Rangers agreed, and they began the process of meditation. Red energy came from Jason into the crystal shards followed by green energy from Zack, blue from Billy, yellow from Trini, pink from Kim, and white from Tommy, Zordon, and Quagmire.

Then clouds began to darken the sky over where they were meditating and thunder and lighting came from the clouds and struck the remains of the dark power crystal merging with the positive energy being created by the Rangers, Zordon, and Quagmire.

When the lighting cleared the Rangers opened their eyes, and where the remains of the dark power crystal were now there were five crystal orbs. One red, the others green blue yellow and pink. The orbs then flew to the Rangers. The red orb to Jason, and the others to Zack, Billy, Trini, and Kim.

The Rangers looked at the new power crystals as Zordon explained “Congratulations Rangers behold the Thunder power crystals. With them you will now be able to morph into the Thunder Power Rangers, now you can take the powers and weapons Zedd created for darkness and evil and us them for light and good”.

Billy said, “Far out”. Kim asked “But Zordon what about Tommy?”. Zordon explained “I’m afraid Tommy’s powers were diluted amongst the other Ranger powers to initially turn them into the Dark Ranger powers we must find another source of power for Tommy if he is to remain a Ranger”.

Tommy said “Aww man it was great while it lasted. I just wish there was something I could still do”. Jason assured “Him hey we found a way to bring back your powers before we’ll find a way to bring them back again”. Zordon said “Now Rangers we must return to the Command Center so that I may return to my time warp”, and with that the Rangers, and their allies walked back into the Command Center.

Back on the moon Zedd was furious. He yelled “So those meddlesome Rangers were able to take their powers back and convert them back to good. Well I guess I just have to send Pipebrain after them some more”. Pipebrain appeared in Angel Grove and said “Don’t worry my evilness. I crushed those Rangers once I can do it again”.

At the Command Center the alarms went off. The viewing globe once again showed Pipebrain rampaging Angel Grove. Kim said “Great not that tin head again”. Zordon replied “I’m afraid so Rangers. Now that you have taken back your powers Zedd is now more determined to destroy you and Angel Grove”.

Zordon added “He also sent another squadron of Z Putties to assist Pipebrain”. Zack said “Don’t worry Zordon we’ll cream those clay brains”. Jason agreed “You guys just finish reprogramming the zords”. Zordon replied “Good luck and may the power protect you” as the Rangers teleported off.

Back at the road rally Bulk and his friends woke up. Bulk said, “Did someone get the license on that truck”. Randy said “Man what happened”, Laurie agreed “Yeah I just remember a bunch of monsters, and some guy in some weird leather outfit”.

Skull added, “Yeah and I think the Rangers were there too bu they didn’t have their costumes” Cindy agreed “Yeah I remember now, but I don’t remember what they looked like”. Then Bulk had an idea “No but I remember what they sounded like. Maybe we can use that to find out who they really are and then we’ll be famous”. The other agreed cheerfully.

Meanwhile the Rangers appeared in Angel Grove. Pipebrain gloated “Well Rangers I guess you must really like losing because I’m going crush you even harder now”. Jason retorted “It’s you whose getting crushed lame brain”.

Pipebrain got angry and yelled “It’s Pipebrain you power pipsqueaks”. Then a swarm of Z Putties appeared and Pipebrain ordered “Z Putties destroy these rotten Rangers”. Then the Rangers, and The Z Putties began punching and kicking each other.

Zach did a hip-hop routine while punching, kicking and evading Z Putties. Billy and Kim did cartwheels to evade Z Putties and kick them. Trini used karate chops, and roundhouse kicks on the Z Putties. While Jason rammed into Z putties and knocked them into each other.

Pipebrain said “Well well you dealt with them now you have to deal with me”. Pipebrain then launched out more of his tentacles at the Rangers which grabbed onto them and lifted them up into the air. Then Pipebrain turned one of his tentacles into a pointed tip, and launched at the Rangers saying “This will really drive the point in”.

Jason called out “Come on you guys we got new powers lets use them”. The Rangers agreed, and they summoned their new morphers, and inserted the keys from the morphers on their left arms into the ones on their right arms.

Zack called out “Lion”, Kim called out “Phoenix”, Billy called out “Unicorn”, Trini called out “Grifiin”, and finally Jason called out “Dragon”. Then the Rangers were covered in red green blue yellow and pink light transforming them into the Thunder Rangers.

The Rangers caused Pipebrain’s tentacles to explode freeing them. The Rangers teleported and began posing. Jason called out “Red Thunder Ranger”. Zack called out “Green Thunder Ranger”, Billy called out “Blue Thunder Ranger”, Trini called out “Yellow Thunder Ranger”, and finally Kim called out “Pink Thunder Ranger”. Then the Rangers all called out together “Power Rangers Thunder”.

Pipebrain yelled out “So you think some fancy new costumes will help you beat me?”. Jason retorted “No but this will”. Then the Rangers leaped into action. Kim did a cartwheel and started punching and kicking some Z Putties before jumping on one and saying, “Take that you clay brains”.

Zack called out “Thunder staff” and summoned a red staff that he used to hit some Z putties that were swinging swords at him while saying, “Have a nice trip” as he launched one. Billy was punching and kicking some more Z Putties as he did a backflip and said, “You’re going to get a kick out of this”. While Trini called out “Thunder staff” and started hitting some other Z Putties with her Thunder staff.

At the moon palace Zedd was watching and yelled “So those Rangers defeated my putties like they were made from Play Doh. Well we’ll just see how they handle this”. Lord Zedd then teleported to Angel Grove and yelled “You think my monster are tough Rangers? How about this”.

Lord Zedd raised his arms and covered himself in green flames which then formed his red and silver muscle like suit. Zack called out “Oh man”. Billy added “He changed”. Zedd replied “Yes Rangers with the Power of dark magic I can summon my own suit of powered armor that is far more powerful than your pitiful suits”.

Jason retorted “We’ll see about that. You guys handle Zedd I’ll deal with Pipebrain”. The other Rangers said “Right” and summoned their Thunder staffs. Pipebrain then grabbed Jason with one of his tentacles and threw him.

Jason said, “All right you overgrown roto rooter I’m gonna make scrap out of you”. Pipebrain retorted “Bring it on Ranger”, and the two of them proceeded to punch and kick each other until Pipebrain struck Jason with one of his tentacles and launched him into some boxes.

Meanwhile Zedd summoned his silver Z staff and proceeded to hit the Rangers with it. Lord Zedd then gloated “Give up Rangers. You can’t possible stop me”. Zack retorted “Wanna bet” as the Rangers hit Zedd one at a time with their own staffs.

Jason got up and said, “Time to cut you down to size” as he summoned his Thunder dagger, and Thunder saber and slashed, and stabbed at Pipebrain. But Pipebrain grabbed Jason’s Thunder dagger, grabbed Jason with his tentacle, and threw Jason around.

Jason said “Gotta get my weapons back”. Then Jason put his hands together which caused the Thunder dagger, and Thunder saber to come back to him. Jason then freed himself by slicing Pipebrains tentacle.

Jason then said “You’re going to get a charge out of this” as lighting appeared and struck Pipebrain. Then Jason said, “How about a hot foot” and shot fire from his weapons that knocked back Pipebrain.

Zedd then fired lightning bolts from his staff that caused explosions around the Rangers. Zedd then gloated “What’s the matter Rangers can’t take the heat?”. Zack then retorted “All right Zedd you might hit hard but we’ll hit harder”.

Zack then called out “Illusion power” shooting out a green mist that covered Zedd. Zedd cried out “All right you bothersome Rangers come on out right now”. Then the Rangers came out and hit Zedd with their staffs but when Zedd hit back with his staff it was as if the Rangers didn’t exist. Zedd cried out “How this can’t be”.

Then Billy called out “Gravity power” and fired a whirlwind of blue energy that sent Zedd into the air. Zedd cried out “Get me down this instant”. Billy quipped “All right if you ask” and sent Zedd back down to Earth enough force to hurt him.

Next Trini said, “Time power”. Zedd called out “What are you going to do now?”. Then time started reversing to before Zack, and Billy hit him with their powers causing Zedd to once again be hit by the Rangers attacks.

Finally, Kim said, “Wind power” and a pink whirlwind appeared, and Kim quipped “This will blow you way Zedd” as the whirlwind threw Zedd with enough force to cause him to demorph. Lord Zedd got back up and cried out “Okay Rangers you may have beat me this time, but I’ll be back”, and teleported away.

The Rangers regrouped as Pipebrain started sparking as his eye, and the mouth on his tentacle opened releasing blue flames that materialized as the captured children. Jason cheered “All right Zordon we rescued the children from Pipebrain”.

At the moon palace Zedd was watching the Rangers and said “The Rangers haven’t defeated me yet” as he summoned another silver orb and threw it to Pipebrain who threw it on the ground and once again grew into a giant. Pipebrain kicked at the Rangers knocking them back and tried to hit them with his tentacle. Zack said, “Oh man this guy is tough”.

Zordon then said, “Jason we have finished reprogramming Zedd’s Dark Zords into the Thunder Zords use your Dragon Thunderzord to fight Pipebrain”. Jason pulled out his Thunder saber and yelled out Dragon Thunderzord Power”.

Just then a giant red robot dragon appeared in the sky. Jason said, “Oh man that’s awesome”. Zack agreed “Cool man”. Jason then combined his Thunder saber and Thunder dagger into his Thunder blaster and fired out an energy rope that tied to the Dragon Thunderzord pulling Jason onto it.

Jason called out “Okay Dragon Thunderzord it’s time trash this trophy” as he jumped into the cockpit. Pipebrain retorted “I’d like to see you try Ranger”. The Dragon Thunderzord flew around slashing Pipebrain with its claws.

Pipebrain mocked “Is that the best you got” then fired some lasers at the Red Dragon Thunderzord but the Dragon Thunderzord evaded it. Then the Dragon Thunderzord started breathing fire on Pipebrain. Zordon then said, “Jason your Thunderzord has a warrior mode use it”. Jason agreed “Convert to warrior mode”. The Dragon Thunderzord then folded itself transforming into a humanoid robot warrior.

Billy said, “That’s amazing”. Zack said, “Come on guys we got our own Thunderzords let’s use them”. Zack called out “Lion Thunderzord Power”, Kim said “Phoenix Thunderzord Power”, Billy yelled “Unicorn Thunderzord Power”, and finally Trini went “Griffin Thunderzord Power”

One by one a green robot lion, a pink robot phoenix, a blue robot unicorn, and a yellow robot griffin appeared. The Rangers formed their Thunder blasters and use them jump on the Thunderzords and jumped into their cockpits. The Rangers then called out “Thunderzord Assault team Power up”.

Jason called out “All right Pipebrain I’m going to pummel you. You second place prize”. Pipebrain retorted “You may have been lucky this far, but your luck has run out”. Zordon said “Jason when your Thunderzord is in warrior mode it can follow what ever movements you make”. Jason replied “All right time to try this out”.

The Dragon Thunderzord and Pipebrain then charged at each other and started punching and kicking each other. The Dragon Thunderzord started karate chopping Pipebrain as Jason yelled “Take that, and this and that”. Then the Dragon Thunderzord kicked Pipebrain knocking him on the ground.

Jason cheered “All right we got him”. Then Pipebrain’s eye opened back up, and he got up and mocked “That’s what you think Ranger” and wrapped the Dragon Thunderzord with his tentacle. Then Pipebrain mocked “Here’s something shocking” and put his hand to his tentacle electrocuting the Dragon Thunderzord

Jason then called out “It’s time for some Thunder staff power”. Then the Dragon Thunderzord summoned its Thunder staff and sliced Pipebrains tentacle freeing itself and knocking Pipebrain on the ground.

The Dragon Thunderzord then start slashing and stabbing Pipebrain with its Thunder Staff. Then the Dragon Thunderzord used its staff a pole to kick Pipebrain. Jason called out “Time to finish this”. The Dragon Thunderzord then spun its hand around so fast it caused the Thunder staff to charge with red energy. The Dragon Thunderzord then slashed at Pipebrain causing him to spark and explode.

The Rangers cheered as Jason said. “All right we got him”. On the moon Zedd was watching and retorted “That’s what you think Rangers. But let’s see how you do against a supercharged Pipebrain”. Lord Zedd then fired more electricity at the road rally trophy bringing it back to life as an already giant blue Pipebrain.

Billy called out “Oh no Zedd brought back Pipebrain”. Trini added “And he’s more powerful than ever”. Pipebrain then began rampaging across Angel Grove. Pipebrain then mocked “What are you Rangers doing to do now?”.

Zordon then said “Rangers now is the time to combine your Zords into the might Thunder Megazord”. The Rangers agreed “Right Thunder Megazord Power now”. Then the Thunderzords became armor that merged with the Dragon Thunderzord forming the Thunder Megazord.

Pipebrain mocked “Let’s see what you got Rangers”.Jason retorted “All right scrap face we will”. Then the Thunder Megazord and Pipebrain charged at each other and started punching each other. The Thunder Megazord then knocked down Pipebrain.

Jason called out “Okay guys it’s time for the Power Sword”. The other Rangers agreed “Right”. Then they all said, “Thunder Sword Power now”. Then the Thunder Megazord pulled out it’s sword and charged it with yellow energy. The Rangers called out “Take this” as the Thunder Megazord slashed Pipebrain causing him to glow and explode.

At the moon palace Zedd was furious he yelled out “You fools. You Miserable fools. I had the perfect plan to destroy the Rangers and you ruined it”. Zedd continued “Perhaps I should have just left that jar floating in space”

Squatt “Please oh Rotten one anything but that”. Babboo agreed “I’m sure we’ll get the Rangers next time”. Zedd screamed and said, “Who’s tentacle do I have to clip to get some halfway decent minions in this galaxy”.

At the Command Center Zordon said “Congratulations Rangers not only did you find a way to make your powers stronger than ever, but you have proven that even without your powers you are still warriors of justice and goodness”. Jason replied “Thanks Zordon”.

Zack asked, “Is there anyway to give Tommy some new powers”. Zordon replied “I’m afraid not Rangers at this time I’m afraid Tommy may never be a Ranger again”. Tommy replied “Hey it’s okay guys like Zordon said this whole experience taught us we didn’t need the cosmic power to be heroes”.

Tommy continued “Besides I guess the choice is made for me. I guess I’m going back to Crossworld City”. Jason said, “We’re going to miss you bro”. Tommy replied “Hey I’m going to miss you guys too. But hey we’ll still be friends, and maybe something will work out for me in Crossworld City”.

The Rangers then put their hands together and yelled “Power Rangers”. Then Zack said “Hey you guys the road rally’s still going. We gotta get back”. Tommy agreed “Yeah sorry Zordon we still have to finish that”. The Rangers then teleported off.

At the road rally the trophy returned to its original state in its original position as Principal Caplan said, “Oh well there it is”. Then the first team arrived at the finish line followed by more teams until finally the Rangers team appeared.

The Rangers pulled off their helmets as Zack said, “Aww man I can’t believe we lost”. Jason assured him “Hey if this taught us anything it’s that it doesn’t matter if you lose as long as you keep trying”. Billy agreed “You can say that again”.

Just then Bulk’s team appeared driving backwards. They took of their helmets as Bulk cheered “All right losers you’re looking at this year’s winners”. The Rangers laughed and Randy asked, “What’s so funny”. Zack replied you guys came in last”. Bulk and his friends realized what happened and screamed in despair.

The End.

#Power Rangers #Dairanger #fanfiction

[shewhowantsmouseears]

Welcome to Spookyville! Chapter 3

Notes: As always, big thanks to my editors Drucilla and BlueShifted, both of which were rather creeped out by this chapter. I feel so proud.

Not much to say this time around, but I feel I do need to assure you that just because I put a character through hell, it doesn't mean I don't love them. If anything, it shows how much I love them! (Which is why it's probably a godsend to the rest of the world that I don't date.)

The song featured is from a classic Donald cartoon!

Summary: When Minnie learns that Mickey's secretary has a crush, she decides to become Minnie the MatchMaker! How could it possibly go wr-ALL THE WAYS.

The next tale in our absurd collection takes place after one of Minnie's latest wild goose chases around Spookyville – this is not a metaphor, she created a flock of magic wild geese to chase down the Mayor. It failed, as usual, but they sure left their marks, especially on the seats of the trousers of the Mayor's poor associates. Minnie never cried over her failures too long anymore – to her, it meant something new to learn, like how the Mayor was horribly allergic to goose down. Oh well, his head would stop swelling eventually, and then he'd surely forgive her.

She flounced back to her home on the hill, stopping every now and then to brush some feathers from her dress, making small-talk with her smaller familiars. As they discussed how to improve the next plan, it was Chip who remarked, “Say, did you guys notice that Donald got distracted mid-way through the day?”

“I saw that too!” Dale replied, sitting comfortably on Minnie's shoulder. “Wasn't that the oddest thing?”

“Why, I didn't see that,” Minnie said, surprised by this new information. “I was too busy watching the Mayor... was Donald really that distracted?”

“I swear it!” Chip saluted, always loyal to his lunatic. “I think it was when we were passing the Boo-tique-”

“That's a terrible pun!” Dale groaned.

“Spookyville is 99% terrible puns! And 1% outdated Halloween memes!”

Minnie let them bicker about nonsense as she threw open her front door, terribly curious. “Boys, I need to find out what happened! This could be crucial to my next idea! The Mayor's difficult to get alone, but if I can get rid of his friends, he'll be an easy, adorable target! Now, let me see...” Once her chipmunks hopped off, she began to dig into her closet, tossing magical tools over her shoulder. “Something in here should let me see what got Donald's attention... Enchanted Elixirs, Bewitching Brews, my personalized lockpicking kit...a-ha!” Satisfied, Minnie popped back up holding a remote control in her fingers. “I got this last year for Witchmas! The Clock-Clicker! I tell it a memory, and it'll play it back!”

“That is incredibly convenient,” Chip quipped.

“And to think we almost returned it for a coffee-maker!” Dale added.

Minnie spun around, pointing the clicker in the air and pressing several buttons before uttering the right spell.

“It happened today, a little past ten,

I saw my Mayor, I know exactly when,

Right around the Boo-tique, an eye was caught,

So be a dear and just tell me what!”

The remote glowed white, before shooting out a stream of fluffy clouds that formed a television screen, replaying the day's events. There went Minnie, happily skipping down the street, while citizens and mayors alike ran screaming from the flock of untamed animals she had released to nip at his heels. “Looks like a normal day so far,” Minnie commented as she watched, waiting for the turn around the corner.

“Wait for it...” Chip held his breath, before pointing. “There, right there, pause it!”

Click! Minnie froze the screen, and then leaned in – true enough, Donald had suddenly turned his head to the left, his attention caught elsewhere, instead of on the rabid goose trying to bite down on his tail-feathers. “Why, Chip, you're right! I wonder what made him look!” A few more experimental button-presses allowed her to zoom in past the flurry of white feathers and destroyed street pavement.

Right in front of the Boo-tique, gazing at the windows and ignoring the rampant chaos behind her, stood a young lady duck with her eyes glued to the dresses inside. She was definitely a pretty thing, decked in blues of all types and tints. Silhouettes of tiny mice poked around her hat, held together by a sparkling purple band, and her hands were comfortably resting in a fluffy periwinkle muffler. Her dressed appeared to glitter and gleam with every movement she made, which is perhaps what snagged Donald's eyes in the first place, though it was the rest of her that kept him looking.

Cute as it was, if he had managed to pay more attention to the danger than the dame, he wouldn't have been run over by the geese and the witch herself seconds later, making his back into the world's weirdest runway. Minnie clapped her hands together, intrigued and giddy. “Why, this is perfect! He's got a crush on this nice girl! We should set them up!”

“That's awfully nice of you to suggest, mistress!” Chip said.

“So how are you going to ruin it, mistress?” Dale said.

“If we get them together,” Minnie explained, turning off the image, “Then Donald will spend more time with her and less time with the Mayor! That means his defenses will have a big gap, and my plans to make him mine will increase by 30%!” Warning – trying to attempt this math will make you go cross-eyed. “If there's anyone who knows anything about love, it's Minnie Mouse, Matchmaker Master!” She stuck her fingers in her mouth, whistling for her broom.

“Not that we don't doubt your abilities in the slightest,” Chip easily lied, “But how are you going to do it?”

“Yeah, mistress, your magic is all about winning over the Mayor! … Or killing him. The comedic narrative makes it kind of hard to tell what your aim is,” Dale tried to reason as best he could. “Can it really be used to make someone else fall in love?”

“I won't know unless I try!” Minnie announced, yanking her broom over once it was within reach. “You boys stay here and get rid of the goose pen, I don't think we'll be needing that anymore. Maybe love lions would do better...” She then waved a hand, that would wait another day. “For now, my aim is one Donald Duck! Wish me luck!” She sat atop her broom and flew out the window, humming merrily along the way.

The chipmunks silently agreed that someone else probably needed that luck much, much more.

~*~

At the Mayor's office, Mickey had avoided a visit to the hospital thanks to a magical epi-pen, which is the same as a regular epi-pen, except it's magical. With Minnie's threat over for the day, he could get to work. He shuffled his papers, trying to remember the day's agenda before Minnie decided to... you know, he really had no idea what that last plan would have succeeded in doing, it was perhaps best not to dwell on it. “Okay, guys, where were we?”

“It was just about lunch-time!” Goofy said as he pulled out a tray of triple-decker sandwiches from his hat. “That is if your throat still isn't swelled up... also, what's the difference between the geese that chased us and Donald's distant cousins?”

“We don't have time to deal with existential fourth-wall breaking,” Donald said after clearing his throat, flipping open his notebook. “After your lunch, you need to look over the newest forms concerning donations at the local blood bank. Then you have a meeting with the democratic skeleton society, Dem Bones - ”

“That pun's so bad we should be sued over it.”

“That's your 3'clock appointment. After that, I have to be caught in a magical pink lasso... wait.” Donald paused, not remembering when he wrote that in the schedule – because he hadn't, it was happening right now, thanks to an open window. All three heads swiveled around to see who was on the other end, and take a fair guess.

“Hiii!” Minnie chirped outside, waving the other end of the lasso about as she sat on her broom. “I just need to borrow Donald for a little while! Thanks, bye!” With a click of her heels, the broom sped off, taking Donald with it with a loud “WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK!”

Mickey blinked at the now empty space in his office. He supposed the reasonable, rational, nice thing to do would be to follow them and make sure nothing happened to his secretary. Then again, he did have a lot of paperwork to get to, and without Donald around, he wouldn't be given more of it. He took a sandwich and thought as he chewed. “You know... he is pretty powerful, I'm sure he can take care of himself. Plus, it'd be nice not to be the center of attention this chapter.”

Goofy poured a fresh cup of tea out of his hat. “And it's got nothin' to do with how popular his new show is, right?”

“What did we just say about the fourth wall?”

~*~

Donald was finally released with an unceremonious THUD about ten blocks later, landing on his head while still tied up. Minnie jumped off her broom and began to brush Donald down. “There there, we can't have you looking like rubbish for your big date.”

Donald's eyes swam, confused on several levels. “My big what? … Oh, no, if you're in love with me now, I will take out my pen and stick it in my jugular.”

“First, ew. Second, rude. Third, it's not with me, silly!” Minnie adjusted his hat, and then began to untie him. “I'm going to get you a date with that cute girl you were staring at!”

Once Donald was free, he rubbed his raw wrists before actually hearing what had been said. “What? Seriously? … What's the catch?” He pointed at her face, immediately and rightfully suspicious. “Anything involving you never ends well. The last thing I need is a Minnie-sized migraine. If you'll excuse me...” He tugged on his jacket, turning on his heel, ready to go. “I can land dates on my own just fine.”

“Oh, really?” Minnie asked, genuinely sincere. “When was the last time you were on a date?”

Donald froze in place, and the longer he took to answer, the more obvious it became what the answer was. “It... might have been... a while...” he mumbled, each word taking more effort to say than the last.  “... Oh, boy, I'm actually going to go along with this, aren't I?”

“It'll be easy, with me at your side!” Minnie skipped to his side, taking him by the arm and dragging him along. “A girl that fashionable is probably going to hit the shoe store next. It probably has a pun about soles and souls.”

“Hang on, hang on!” But no matter how hard Donald tried to use his feet as brakes, Minnie proved that her petite body had way more strength than he could ever account for. “I don't even know her name, or what type of monster she is! She could be a witch, or a mummy, or a werewolf... I need to make sure so I don't offend her!”

“Oh, those things don't matter!” Minnie put a hand above her eyes as if that would somehow help her peering prowess. “Just be yourself! Except more charming, suave, and debonair. And try to speak in a more natural voice. And stop frowning. Basically, just be anyone but yourself.” Donald had no time to be insulted when Minnie suddenly squealed, “There she is!” And then shoved Donald face-first into a patch of thorny bushes. “Here, hide so we can plan!”

“WHY IS EVERY MINUTE WITH YOU SOMEHOW FILLED WITH PAIN?!”

Minnie ducked in next to him, not getting pricked by the bushes because they knew better. “See, there she is!” She pointed ahead, and there stood the lady in question, leaving the shoe store with a pair of new purple heels on her feet, trying them out with a little tap-tap-tap on the sidewalk.

Donald managed to rip the thorns out of his face, blinking hard so he could see past the pain. “She is pretty cute... I can't even guess what type of monster she'd be. What makes you think someone that gorgeous would want a regular guy like me?” He waited. Waited. Waited.  “...This is the part where you say I'm great.”

“Oh, sorry, I thought that was a rhetorical question.” Minnie shrugged it off, and with a wave of her hands, poofed up a bouquet of red roses. “Anyway, here you go! What girl doesn't love flowers? Aside from the ones who are allergic. But love is a risk worth taking!”

Donald took the flowers, but hesitated. “These... aren't going to explode, or turn carnivorous, or spray laughing gas, or-”

“Less asking me and more asking her out!” Minnie pushed Donald out of the bush, whispering so the other girl hopefully wouldn't hear. “Just walk across the street, and introduce yourself! You can do it!”

Donald glanced back at her, then at the girl who was deciding whether to go next, cupping her chin in adorable thought. He drew a breath – maybe it really could be as simple as all that! He smoothed down his jacket, cleared his throat, and then stepped forward into the street. “Hi-”

We pause this story for a brief safety lesson that is important for all ages. Whether you live in normal society or a world infested with Halloween creatures, you should always look both ways before crossing the street. That way, you will hopefully avoid being hit with an eighteen-wheeler, which Donald did not.

Minnie patiently waited until the last gigantic bone-crushing wheel had ran itself over Donald's mangled body before hopping over and inspecting the damage. “Aw, the flowers got crushed! We better think of something else to win her over.”

“I can't feel my legs.”

“C'mon, she's on the move!” Minnie grabbed Donald by the wrist, ignoring the sickening sound of his liquefied organs as she tried to find where the young lady had gone off to. “Faint heart never won the fair lady! And fainting doesn't count!”

~*~

Later on, the reluctant duo was in the Spookyville library, having spotted the young lady flipping through some texts in a corner. Minnie and Donald poked their heads around the corner, and then Minnie began to shove book after book into Donald's arms. “Okay, plan B. The Meet Cute!”

“Dare I ask?”

“It's the standard cliche for all romance movies! You create a scenario where the love interests meet, bonding over a shared experience, like dropping your books in front of her! She'll pick them up, glance at the titles, and start a conversation! Hollywood would be bankrupt without that trope!”

Once again, this sounded like a sane idea... in theory. However, Minnie's over-eager excitement decided that Donald needed to have many, many books to make this work. Donald wound up with an armful, a stackful, an eyeful – he could no longer see in front of his face. “Please tell me that me being injured isn't going to be the running gag of this chapter. It's already the running gag of my life.”

“Don't be such a downer, and go be the cutest meet that has ever met!” Minnie lightly pushed his shoulders, forcing Donald to walk forward, the tower of books beginning to wobble. Donald gulped loudly, trying to walk very slowly so he could avoid certain doom. Every so often he tried to glance around his pile to at least make sure he was headed in the right direction, but even this proved to be difficult. Inch by inch, scoot by scoot, he didn't dare go any faster. How was he supposed to drop these books naturally, by the way...?

Minnie was running out of patience. This was taking way too long! By the time he got over there, the young lady would be finished with her book and out the door! Clearly Donald needed her assistance. She slid out her wand from her pointy hat, and flicked it towards the carpet underneath his feet. All it would take is one gentle tug, and he'd have his meet cute, followed by date cute, then wedding cute, then Mayor in handcuffs and chained in Minnie's basement cute!

Donald let out a startled “WAK!” as he felt the carpet underneath his feet move, and it was not one gentle tug at all! It was a hard pull, and he was so surprised that he threw all the books up in shock – he let out a longer “WAAAAAK!” and scrambled to catch each and every single one before they could fall, even if it meant catching by with his feet, beak, tail, hat, etc. By some miracle, he managed to retrieve every single fallen book, and sighed with relief at the avoidance of his usual fate.

This relief lasted for three seconds, as when Minnie had tugged the carpet, it had also wound up tugging under the very large, heavy bookshelves which thudded against one another until they had a domino disaster. As much as Donald would have loved to move out of the way, all of his limbs being preoccupied with books prevented him from moving a single inch. The last thing he saw was the young lady quietly leaving – and then he was smashed flat. Minnie clicked her tongue – that wasn't very cute at all! She flounced over to the pile of crushed bookshelves, knowing no librarian with any will to live would think of shushing her, and managed to find Donald's hand. “Honestly, Donald, being loud in a library isn't going to win anyone over! Let's try something else.”

“I think my lung is punctured.”

“Don't be such a crybaby.” With both of her hands holding his, she dragged out the nearly-dead Donald from underneath and headed off. Third time was the charm, and tended to be the last time a plan failed before either a serious of hilarious quick-timed montages, or a success!

~*~

Lunch had passed, and it was almost dinner-time for residents of Spookyville, which was probably why Donald's stomach was rumbling. That, or all the blood his wounded organs were spilling was starting to pile up in there. The young lady was now at the florist, thoughtfully rubbing some rose petals between her fingers as the sun was starting to set. She did not see Donald and Minnie hiding in the nearby alleyway. Minnie's latest plan involved a large wooden guitar, which she strapped to Donald's back before sliding it into his arms. “There! Now you can serenade her, and win her heart with a song!”

Donald plucked a few strings with his fingers. “But I don't know any love songs.”

“Just sing from the heart! It'll come through! True love is understood in all languages, even the tone-deaf!”

Donald was understandably reluctant to give it a try, “hmm”ing out loud as he weighed his options. Mostly he was trying to figure out how this plan would wind up with him in need of a full-body cast, and for once he couldn't connect it. This plan, dumb as it was, did seem to be harmless. “Maybe you used up all your crazy for the day. This might actually do the job!”

Minnie clapped her hands before pointing away. “Go get her, future best man at my wedding!”

The secretary took a deep breath before walking out into the dimming sunlight. Looked left – looked right – nothing to run him over, nothing to fall on top of him, and with a glance behind him, Minnie was doing nothing except shaking a pair of suddenly summoned maracas to go with the song. So far, so good! Donald looked towards the young lady, who had moved on to picking up a few daisies, and found inspiration. He lightly began to strum, making the words up as he went along.

“Daisy, Daisy, you're the one,

That gets me captivated...”

The young lady paused before turning towards the song, eyebrows raised, intrigued by what she was hearing. Donald felt his heart skip a beat, seeing those pretty eyes meet his own, and he faltered before picking up the beat again. Things were going his way! Maybe Minnie wasn't so bad after all! He owed her one!

“Every time you look at me,

I get so addlepated...”

Except you and I both know the road to a bad place is paved with good intentions, and Minnie had nothing but good intentions on her mind. The song was good – but it could be better! Like if it was louder! Yes, if it could be heard all over the world, the young lady would swoon! Or go deaf and never hear Donald's natural voice, which would also work. With a wave of her wand, the maracas vanished, and she replaced them with six-foot-tall speakers. They just needed to be plugged into the guitar – which Minnie forgot at first was not an electric guitar. Oh well, things would work out.

She clicked the plugs for the speakers together, making sure they weren't just full of electricity, but super, super, SUPER charged with electricity. She skipped over to Donald -

“And when I'm riding along the street,

Everybody that I meet...”

“Here you go, Donald!” And jabbed the plugs into his back -

“Says 'there goes that guy,

that's crazy over Daisy MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAE'!”

Which wound up sending hundreds upon thousands of electric volts throughout his body, frying his feathers and turning him into delicious roast duck, then burnt duck, then sizzling, crackling, blackened duck. He landed on his back, mouth open, perhaps far past the point of being able to scream anymore. Minnie leaned over his comatose body, pouting. “Oh, Donald, I don't think she's into heavy metal! Your music taste leaves a lot to be desired.” She tossed the plugs aside, finished with the current scheme. “Oh well. Onto the next idea!”

“NO!” Donald yelled, suddenly able to find the strength to stand up and grab Minnie by the front of her dress. “NO MORE IDEAS! Each one of your stupid ideas gets me closer to death! I just saw a bright light and I'm pretty sure I had Walt waving at me from the other side! NO MORE! I'M OUT! I'M DONE! FINISHED! KAPUT! WHATEVER WILL GET THROUGH THOSE BIG EARS OF YOURS!”

Minnie blinked back at him, his smell reminding her to toss out the old chicken fried rice in her fridge. “But you can't stop now, Donald! Your true love is waiting for you! How will she ever know how you feel if you don't go for it?”

“I CAN'T DATE HER IF I'M DEAD!”

“Now that's just quitter talk. Besides, I know necromancy!”

Donald dropped Minnie like a hot potato, convinced that she took “help him or die trying” quite literally. “Go back to stalking the Mayor! Shoot, I'll gift-wrap him for you if that'll get you to stop helping me! I don't ever want you helping me again! Not now, not ever, now get lost!”

Minnie went quiet, her face seeming to shrink. Her eyes ducked down, almost hidden by her hat, and her hands folded together. She didn't say anything right away, save for a few timid sniffles, before -

“AND YOU, NARRATOR! QUIT TRYING TO DRUM UP SYMPATHY!”

Donald was so caught up in yelling at everyone in sight, and those beyond, he nearly missed the feeling of someone tapping his shoulder. He would've yelled at them too, if that person didn't happen to be the young lady! “Pardon me,” she asked, “But what in the world is going on here? Is it my imagination, or have you two been following me all day?”

“Yes” said Minnie at the exact time Donald said “no”. Minnie then clamped Donald's beak with her hands, bright and peppy again. “My dear friend here wanted to be your boyfriend, so I've been trying to help him come up with ideas on how to win your heart! Isn't that right, Donald?” She made him nod.

The girl raised an eyebrow, turning her head towards Donald. “If that's the case... why didn't you just ask me on a date?”

Stating the simple solution had never hurt a man's soul more severely than it did for Donald right then and there. He buried his face in his hands, grumbling this and that. Minnie tilted her head back in thought – huh, maybe they could've just done that at the start. But what fun would that have been? The young lady held back a chuckle, and offered her hand to Donald. “My name's Daisy.”

Donald lowered his hands slowly in shock. He glanced at Minnie, who gave two thumbs up, before steadily taking Daisy's hand to shake it. “I'm, um... I'm Donald Duck! It's nice to meet you, Daisy.”

“Looks like my work here is done!” Minnie declared proudly, whistling for her broom.

“You literally did nothing,” Donald said under his breath.

“Invite me to the wedding so I can catch the bouquet!” Minnie cheered as she took a seat and began to ride off. Why, she did such a nice thing today! It made her feel good. She deserved a reward for all her hard work – a hot bath, a few chocolates, and then watching the Mayor through the hidden security cameras she placed all over his house.

Relieved to be rid of the nuisance at last, Donald adjusted his hat and linked arms with Daisy, happy to be with a sane woman for the first time all day. “Hey, the day's still young! Why don't we grab a bite to eat?” Maybe he could ask her what type of monster she was, after he told her he was a warlock.

“I had the exact same idea,” Daisy said with a girly giggle, but instead of sharing Donald's embrace, she calmly lifted his arm and rolled up his sleeve. “Bon appetite!” And then sunk her vampire fangs right into his flesh.

As it turned out, Donald did still have enough nerve cells alive that could allow him to scream his lungs out.

#disney #fanfic #welcome to spookyville #mickey mouse #minnie mouse #donald duck #daisy duck

[whitstanwilhelm]

Home, Sweet Home

“This child… His future is marred by a terrible darkness.” A wheeze came. “A black cloud looms over his spirit, tainted by it, waiting to consume him. To consume life… all life.” A sinister viridian glow spread across the room.  The seer’s corrupted eyes bore into the infant. “Death will never relent, remaining beside him as a haunting companion that will never leave his side. Anguish and torment will blanket his soul… swaddling and rocking him into the cradle of the deep. If you have any mercy in your heart Soren Sungrave, it would be better for him to die now.” “Death will follow him all his life.”

“Whitty! I finished it! Come and see!” she scampered off to her room with her brother in tow. “Look!... Look!” “Okay, okay. Calm down. You know you shouldn’t be running around and getting all exci-” words were cut short as his sapphire eyes settled down to the floor. He knelt, inspecting the emblems drawn on the wooden flooring as Clarissa bounced up and down on the ball of her feet clapping excitedly. “I did it! I copied the book perfectly this time! Watch!” He knew what it was but a sense of disbelief filled his mind. “This circle won’t do anything. Help me clean this powder up befo-” “Don’t touch it!” she squeaked. “It works! I drew it exactly like the book and it works!” Whitstan shook his head, “You’re telling me you can use magic now? Without a tutor? Without a mage to teach you or a scroll to cast?” “Just watch! It helps focus la…. late… laten mana!” “Latent. LatENT. Okay fine.” He corrected her and relented. A part of him couldn’t help thinking how cute his little sister was when she was energetic. A solemn expression came over him while he wondered how long it would last this time. The teen entertained his little sister for a moment and watched her kneel next to the circle. At the center was a storybook. “Watch carefully!” she exclaimed holding her hands aloft in front of her. A few deep breaths and nothing. “Clara…” Whitstan started. The arcane dust was about to seep into the floor and they couldn’t afford to lose a single ounce of it. Their father was still out on his trade routes along the seven kingdoms. They had to make due with whatever money and marketable materials were left until his return. A soft white glow began to emanate from her hands while his eyes widened with shock. The storybook shook. Was he seeing things right? Another shake. Then another. An uneven lift-off then a quick rebalancing took place while the book levitated. He glanced back to his sister. She shot her eyes open, the softest golden hue escaped her irises. The image was so brief and faint Whitstan was unsure if what he saw was even accurate. A quick thud sounded as the glowing light faded, knocking some of the dense dust into the air. “See? The symbols help me focus my mana from my hands to the book!” “So… they’re magic runes?” uncertainty continued to creep into his mind. A shake of the head came as if he was trying to dispel the fog that loomed over it. He wondered what made him ask such an obvious question he already knew the answer to. “That was… amazing Clara. I didn’t think anyone as young as you could control your mana like that… and you didn’t even need to chant anything… I thought most casters had to prepare spells in advance or invoke incantations...” A meek series of coughs escaped her as she hunched over slightly. A worried expression wore on his features while he looked to Clarissa. It was her turn to shake her head and give a forced smile, “I’m fine… it’s nothing! I promise. I’ve been doing better ever since papa brought that yucky medicine home.” A sigh escaped his lips “Okay...” An awkward silence fell over them for a long moment. “Okay! Now that I can use this, I can test out the orb!” “What… orb?” he looked to her inquisitively. “This one!” Clarissa dove under her bed, her raven black hair flying every which way before wiggling out. “You’re going to get your dress dirty, don’t go rolling around on the ground while you’re wearing white…” Whitstan chastised while grimacing at the thought of having to handwash the dress with bleach. “Look!” she shouted again, though this time her brother’s worried expression wouldn’t go away. She held out a clear orb with what looked to be a tarnished bronze base casted into the shape of dragons holding the sphere in place. It looked like an old heirloom left over in an attic that some crazy grandma would use to pretend she can scry. The kind that would deprive the paranoid or desperate desolates of the few copper coins they had left to their name. “Where’d you get that… we can’t afford to waste money on junk Clara… where did you even get that?” “It’s not junk! I got it from the old lady by the market that trades coins from different places! It’s supposed to tell what kind of magic you’re good at.” “You mean magical affinity?- Anyway when did you even get a chance to get that and what how much did you spend?” “She gave it to me the last time you took me to the market… you know…” she explained, “When you were talking with that one girl at that one fish stand. The elf. Do you like her more than me because she’s like you?” she said with an overtly jealous tone, narrowed eyes and a slight pout of her lower lip. “Uhhhh, so what does the orb do again?” he quickly veered the subject back to the item. “So. someone can touch the orb and it will draw their mana es… essence. She said if turns blue, it’s frost or water magic, if it’s violet it’s arcane magic, if it’s red, it’s fire, if it’s like a bluish-green color… t...tea?” “Teal.” “Yeah, that. It’s nature magic. Dark purple means shadow. And if it’s bright green it’s bad stuff. But if it turns gold or yellow, that means Holy! You can heal people!” she exclaimed hopefully, “...maybe even...” she looked down sheepishly. “So how does it work?” “Just watch.” Clarissa stated as she replaced the book at the center of her markings with the orb. She took the kneeling posture that was taken just prior to her previous spell, holding her hands out like before. After a few moments the orb began to glow a murky white color. “Okay, it’s ready…” she explained before putting her hands on the bauble, concentrating all-the-while. “I just have to push press some of my mana into…” she started to ramble. Whitstan watched as she focused on the orb sharply while the murky substance that resembled a cloudy liquid began to change colors. It seemed to lighten until the hues shifted into lighter shades of gray. Slowly a gold-color substance began to shift and take over the orb. Then another color, and another, until the colors melded into a blackness. Nothing could be seen in the orb except an empty dark, not even a reflection from the glass. Clara seemed to stare into it deeper and deeper, seemingly mesmerized by the orb. “Clara?...” he softly called to her. There was no response. “Clara.” this time it was more of a command to get her attention to no avail. “Clara!” he shouted. She jumped a bit, her hands jolting off the orb as she jerked her eyes to her brother, “Whitty… what’s wrong?” “You… were zoning out there.” he explained as he glanced back to the orb which was now a clear glass sphere again. “It changed to black… and it looked like you were… stuck staring at it.” “Oh… it must not have worked…” she replied with a discouraged tone. “Oh, I know! Why don’t you try it. Then we can tell if it’s broken or not!” “Uh… I don’t know how to do it like you did.” Whitstan commented frankly. “I can cast the spell like before and all you have to do is touch it. Try it Whitty!” Clarissa encouraged him. And like before, her hands shifted out to reveal a murky haze in the orb in shades of white. Slowly but surely, albeit reluctantly, he moved his hand toward the sphere. Something felt off as his hand touched the cold glass. He could feel the cloud inside phase around and take on a different form. The orb began to shift colors again except it remained murky and clouded, nothing but the color of ash and shale. Hues of grey shifted about and a low humming could be heard. Quickly the humming transitioned into a light ringing but it grew louder by the second. The ringing stung at the ears for a moment as it heightened to the point where it felt sharp and persisted a few seconds as they winced. Before they could regain their bearings the ringing abruptly stopped and the glass cracked in all directions from Whitstan’s hand. The orb returned to a clear state but was shattered. The glow of the arcane dust and magic were no more. “Huh…” they both sounded out at the exact same time as they fiddled with their ears. “I guess it’s broke-” she started. Clarissa couldn’t get the words out before she erupted into a violent coughing fit. Whitstan immediately moved to her side and helped her on the bed as she coughed and choked until blood began dripping from her mouth. He quickly reached into the nightstand next to her bed to grab one of several handkerchiefs, simultaneously wiping and covering her mouth while she coughed into it. He watched her helplessly. He should have been used to it by now. He should have known the medicine wouldn’t have made any difference. Slowly, her fair skin turned pale and he was once again reminded of the frailty of human life. She was sick. She could leave the world at any moment. Even if she could be healed… how long would she have? A few decades at best and a few years at worst? He would live for centuries, perhaps even a millenia. Yet here she was, someone he cherished and loved sat there dying since she had been born. Slowly. Dying painfully in his arms. But… She was a fighter. Everyone had said she wouldn’t last the first year yet here she was. Then every year, the physicians and healers of Lordaeron would say the same thing. ‘She won’t last the winter.’ In her, he saw the true frailty of humans, yes, but he also saw their resiliency. Though he wasn’t her brother by blood it didn’t matter to him. He cared for her as a sister in spite of that, because he chose to. This was their home. He would always be there for her and take care of her as long as she drew breath.Her eyes turned red and teared up from the force of her constant coughing. As her fit calmed slowly she breathed in sharply through her partially clogged nose. “I’m sorry Whitty…” she spoke weakly, “I… I thought I was getting better.” Finally she had come to terms with it and admitted she wasn’t any healthier than before the medicine. “It’s okay… Clara... I’m here…” Whitstan softly spoke to her, rubbing her back gently as he held her. “I’ll always be here for you.” “...Promise?” “I promise.”

Whitstan looked down from the front gates of the Ruins of Lordaeron out to Brill. Blight permeated what was once his home like a choking mist. He had spent the better part of the day fighting off Alliance attackers with the other undead and Horde allies. He had to buy enough time for the Forsaken civilians to escape. He returned to his home to see it marred by a green mist killing everything it touched. His knuckles turned white from the tight grip on his blades as his eyes settled across the field. Sure, his hometown was destroyed again and again; this time it was poisoned to stop the Alliance. But that’s not why his chest felt like a sword had been plunged into it. His sapphire orbs shifted to where Brill once was. Or what was left of it. Where his sister was buried. The tattered Alliance banners and broken war machines of the humans made his blood boil. It wasn’t enough that he had lost what was once his home to the Scourge, and now this blight. They desecrated the town his sister was laid to rest. The voices of the Draenei, Humans and Ren’dorei echoed in his mind, ‘For the Alliance!’ They shouted the mantra again and again like drones as they attacked the city while citizens ran for safety. The irony of their attack was not lost on Whitstan. While condemning an act of war as unlawful, dishonorable and atrocious due to civilian casualties they acted the same in retaliation while spouting hypocrisy of honor and that same old tired phrase that filled him with rage. Thanks to the SI:7 agents attacking unarmed civilians within Undercity he knew now for certain that if they had not bought time for the non-combatants to escape, they would have met the same fate as the ones who died in Darnassus. At least the Kal’dorei had plenty of time to evacuate beforehand whether it was on the drawn-out attack that was stalled again and again or while the army marched a considerably vast distance. At least when the Queen ordered Teldrassil burned, they had the opportunity to evacuate leading up to those events. They had the gall to speak of honor. Of justice. Of mercy. He stared at the blue flags waving in the distance. The voices started to seep in again. ‘Kill them all. Make them all suffer like she did. Like you suffered.’ His supernatural echo carried his undead voice across the ramparts as he spoke softly but dryly. “Alliance… all of you… so proud and honorable. Spit words out like ‘justice’, ‘righteousness’, ‘honor’ and the ‘light’ as if any of that makes you any better than the Scarlet Crusade. You call us dishonorable, call us cowards.” “To quote an old ‘friend’... You speak of justice… of cowardice... I will show you the justice of the grave. The true meaning of fear.”

[deepseacritter]

Every Dog Has His Day

For those who want to read here…

Characters: CC-3636 | Wolffe, CT-7567 | Rex, CC-2224 | Cody, Sinker

Summary: Wolffe gets his revenge.

Sinker knew his commander, and could tell when Wolffe was having an off day. The clone walked a certain way when he was agitated, with his feet hitting the ground harder than usual, hands clenched into fists that were about ready to take a swing at anyone who so much as looked at him the wrong way. Cody joked that the Wolfpack could probably smell the change in their commander’s mood as well. Wolffe had not appreciated that comment, but General Koon thought there might actually be some truth there. The Force was in all things, and given the strong bonds of the Pack, perhaps they truly were sensing what Wolffe was feeling.

Things were not going well so far. The mess hall ran out of caf at breakfast and lunch. Some of the troopers from the 501st had occupied the firing range longer than expected, and the new shinies were late arriving from Kamino, which meant the rest of the day’s schedule was shot. To top it all off, someone had also “borrowed” Wolffe’s datapad and returned it full of questionable holovids…Sinker suspected it was Cody. The commanders were currently inside the barracks, having a rather loud discussion about it.  

The door to the barracks flew open and Wolffe stormed out muttering a stream of curses. Sinker quickly shot to his right and flattened himself against the wall to get out of the way. The commander would never take his anger out on any member of the Pack, but it was still a good idea to give the man some space when he was upset. Wolffe had clearly lost the argument (not that there was any real proof Cody did anything), and Sinker could just feel the anger emanating from Wolffe as he passed and headed towards the officer’s lounge. Yes, today was definitely an off day.

———-

Rex was catching up on some field reports in the officer’s lounge when Wolffe made a rather loud entrance. The commander looked agitated, and cursed as he smashed his helmet on the table and threw himself into one of the lounge chairs. Rex guessed he had recently crossed paths with Cody, and not wishing to listen to another tirade, simply greeted his brother by name and went back to his reports.

Wolffe rocked his chair back and stared at the ceiling for a good hour before speaking. “Hey, Rex. Do you remember those training rocket launchers we used back on Kamino?”

Odd question, but of course he remembered them. During a weapons session one of his batch mates was messing around and accidentally fired the rocket launcher across the room. The non-lethal blank hit Rex square in the gut and sent him flying. He was what…maybe four or five at the time? The hit to his small body broke three ribs, and he had massive bruising for months.

“Yeah, I remember those. Reminiscing on our youthful training days?”

“I wonder if I’d be able to get my hands on one. Maybe have one shipped in with the next batch of shinies.”

Rex put his data pad down and looked over at Wolffe, who was still apparently contemplating the ceiling. “Vod, we have plenty of rocket launchers on base right now. What do you want a training launcher for?”

Wolffe leaned further back in the chair and rested his hands behind his head. “Might be fun.”

Might be fun? That was doubtful. Nothing about Wolffe screamed “fun.” Cody, on the other hand…ah, that was it.

“Listen, Wolffe…as temping as it may be to fire a rocket at Cody, that’s a sure way to see yourself decommissioned.”

Wolffe turned a scarred face to Rex, his cybernetic eye glowing. “I’m not an idiot, Rex. I don’t like Cody, but I don’t hate him enough to do that. Not yet anyway.”

“So then why the training launcher?”

“I just want one.” The commander abruptly straightened his chair and stood. “Forget about it. Wishful thinking.” He was out the door before Rex could respond.

———-

Sinker sat at a far console in the command center, watching the daily GAR newsfeed. On days like this, when nothing was happening on base and they weren’t deploying, the command center was the best place to be if you wanted a nice, quiet space. Perhaps he would take a quick nap…

The clone jumped when his comm panel suddenly sounded, disrupting the tranquility of the dark room.

“Sinker, do you have an updated ETA for those shinies?” Wolff’s voice echoed through the mostly empty room.

Update…he had seen a notice somewhere recently. Quickly scrolling through fleet notifications, he found it.

“Yes, sir. They’re now scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning.”

“They haven’t left Kamino yet. Good.”

Sinker wasn’t sure how to respond. How was that good? It wasn’t good a couple hours ago, when you were ranting about the schedule. Silence was the better option.

“Meet me in the armory in five. I have some questions about the requisition form you filled out.”

Requisition form? He hadn’t filed any reqs recently, and Wolffe never made errors with paperwork, so it had to be something else…something that couldn’t be spoken about in the open command center.

“On my way, sir.” Sinker closed the newsfeed he had been watching and headed out the door, wondering what Wolffe had in store.

———

Wolffe had repeated his request, and Sinker still couldn’t believe it.

“A training rocket launcher? I just…Wolffe…that’s an unusual request.”

“Can you make it happen? Our best chance is to get one with this next batch of shinies coming in tomorrow.”

Sinker eyed the commander, and considered asking him if it was a joke…again. No, clearly Wolffe wasn’t joking at all. He wanted a kriffing training launcher, and wouldn’t say exactly why.

“I know one of the training sergeants who might be able to pull some strings. I need a good reason to give him though. Something plausible.”

Wolffe closed his eyes and furrowed his brow in thought. Plausible. After several moments he had an idea…

“Tell him I want it for some training exercises. I want to test these new clones myself, observe how they react to a more realistic battlefield conditions. No better way than to actually shoot at them, right?”

Shooting at shinies. If it had been any other commander, it would have never worked…but Wolffe? It would be an easy sell. The story fit with what other clones outside the 104th thought he would be like.  

“I can work with that. No guarantees, though.”

“Do what you have to do, Sinker. Just get me that launcher.”

Sinker couldn’t help but shake his head as he left the armory. What the hell was Wolffe up to?

———-

The transport from Kamino arrived just after morning muster. Sinker had the clones fall in, and nodded to Wolffe. The commander gave a cursory inspection and speech to the shinies, sent them off to the mess hall, then headed towards central command. It was going to be a good day.

At the officers’ meeting, General Kenobi announced the dates for battalion inspections, and the 104th had a week to prepare. That was plenty of time to really polish up their armor and acclimate the new clones to the rest of the Wolfpack. The 212th would be the first in line for inspection in two days. General Kenobi had mentioned at least four times how important image was, so the pressure was on Cody to have all his men looking their best. Seeing Cody sweat a little at the news made Wolffe happy, and kriffing hells if his good mood didn’t last for the next two days.

———-

From his vantage point, Wolffe could see Cody clearly. The 212th commander was speaking with his top platoon, and giving their armor one final check. Hells they all looked so clean, with the white plastoid shining like new. All the orange paint had been touched up as well. It was almost a shame…almost.

Five minutes to inspection. Wolffe shouldered the training rocket launcher and aimed at Cody. Four minutes. He exhaled slowly, and calmly pulled the trigger. The round hit Cody center mass, exploding everywhere. He never saw it coming. As the cloud started to settle, Wolffe quickly made his escape, barely suppressing his laughter.

———-

The clones in the 212th had been knocked flat in a flash of color. Cody was still on his back, staring at the sky as several of the clones that had been standing near him were stumbling to their feet. They were all trying to process what had just happened.

As he sat up, Cody took several seconds to realize that the colors he was seeing weren’t from the blast, but from the hideous paint that was now covering himself and a good portion of his men. It was like someone had taken all the colors from a drunk night at 79’s, added some glitter, and then threw it up all over the 212th. This is not happening. Not now.

“I swear to kriffing hells, I’m going to get the piece of rankweed who did this…”

Cody scrambled to his feet, still not totally comprehending the situation, as the rest of the 212th snapped to attention. It was too late to do anything; the generals had arrived for inspection.

———-

Obi-wan looked as shocked as Cody felt, and was quite lost for words. Skywalker surveyed the slightly disoriented clones, shaking his head with a grin.

“Well, I must say Master, I’m not a fan of your battalion’s new colors.”

“Anakin…”

“I mean, it does make a statement. Just not sure if you needed so much glitter.”

Plo chuckled as he booted the remnants of the paint round that hit Cody. “Oh, I’m not sure about that. I think the glitter is a fine addition to the armor. It catches the sunlight nicely. Perhaps it’s the color combination that’s a bit distracting.”

“Ah, yes. The green, blue, gold, red, and purple do seem to clash a bit with the original orange paint.”  

Obi-wan was getting a headache. “Unbelievable.” He marched up to the clone at front and center.

“Commander Cody, perhaps you would care to explain yourself.”

———-

Wolffe had hidden the training launcher and returned to watch as Kenobi thoroughly chewed out Cody. Cody, who was covered in every single blasted color the supply room had, plus some extras Wolffe was able to scrounge up. Cody, who would now be stuck scrubbing his armor clear for hours. Cody, who would likely be given extra duty to make up for this inspection fiasco. Cody, who completely and utterly deserved what he got.

It was glorious.

#wolffe #cody #clone shenanigans #my wolffe gets revenge #cody is a little shit #and deserves it

[falloutdelmarvaau]

Fallout: Delmarva (Chapter 3)

Mission: Armed and Unsteady

I’m not sure how long we walk for before we finally reach the settlement. The first thing I see is a gigantic metal gate; I stare at it in awe as it seems to stretch towards the heavens. Garnet pushes a few buttons on a control panel beside the door, causing a handprint scanner to flip out of the wall. She places her right hand on the scanner and watches patiently as a horizontal strip of green light moves back and forth beneath it. Next, an eye scanner flips out directly in front of her. She uses her gem powers to remove her visor, revealing three – three– eyes. Her rightmost eye is blue, her leftmost eye is red, and the one above them is purple. She scans her purple eye, tolerating the horizontal strip of red light coming from the device. Finally, everything flips back into the wall, and the heavy double gates swing open. Garnet turns to me, smiles, and says, “Welcome to New Beach City.”

As I step through the gates, the first things I notice are the buildings. They look really, really old; most of them were probably built before the Great War. And yet, somehow, these buildings are still standing, albeit with the occasional cracked stone or piece of duct tape. “Wow,” I breath. “This place looks like it’s weathered well.”

“Not really,” Garnet replies. “It took a lot of effort to rebuild the city after the bombs fell. But it was very much worth it.” As if to emphasize her point, a few people stick their heads out of some doors and windows. As we round a corner, we see some more people chatting in a central area. There are both men and women with a variety of skin tones, most of whom are wearing hardier garments than a standard Vault-Tec jumpsuit.

On top of this, I can’t help but notice that some of the women look rather… odd, to say the least. They have skin colors that branch outside of the normal skin-tone range to cover the full spectrum of visible colors. More importantly, however, these strange women, like Garnet, have gems on various places on their bodies; some on the arms, some on the legs, some on the torsos, some replacing eyes, etc.

My curiosity gets the better of me. I ask, “Are those more gems?”

“Yes,” Garnet replies. “A fair portion of New Beach City’s residents are gems. In fact, the person who I’m about to take you to see is a gem. Now, come along.” As she speaks, we approach the front of a building with a sign that reads Ass Kicker’s Arms and Ammo. As Garnet pushes the door open, she calls out, “Peridot! Are you in?”

“Uh, yeah, I’m in!” a flustered voice calls back. The sound of hurried footsteps quickly invades my ears. There’s frantic scampering followed by a couple of crashes that have me worried. In spite of this, the gem whom Garnet had been addressing soon makes her way down the stairs and takes her place behind the counter, safe and sound.

Peridot is quite a bit shorter than Garnet; I’d say she’s about the hieght of human child. Her skin is green, and her yellow hair is styled like a triangle. She wears a T-shirt with a green-skinned, large-headed, humanoid alien on it, not unlike what one might see in Cold-War-era comic books. Her pants are brown, and each of the front pockets is adorned with a golden star. Her black eyes are hidden behind a yellow, pointy visor. Her small, green, triangular gem is centered in the middle of her forehead.

“Oh, a new human!” Peridot squeaks. “Um, hi. How may I help you?”

Before I can answer, Garnet tells her, “I found this defenseless human wandering through the Delmarva Wasteland. She needs a weapon.”

“Uh, yes!” I agree. “Give me the strongest one you’ve got!”

“I wouldn’t recommend that,” Garnet contradicts me.

“What?” I blurt out. “Why not?”

“I know that most Vault-Tec officials train their residents how to handle firearms,” Garnet explains, “but that knowledge doesn’t prepare them for what combat will really be like, and sometimes a powerful weapon can be too much for someone to handle. Trust me; I’ve seen it happen time and time again. So, Peridot, get our new friend here a good beginner’s pistol. Hopefully, that will be enough to help her survive.”

“Right! Yes! Right away!” Peridot snaps to attention. She begins frantically searching the shelves for something that matches Garnet’s description, her arms flailing wildly as she goes.

“She’s excitable,” I mutter to Garnet.

“She just wants to show that she’s prepared,” Garnet explains. “She’s always been obsessed with having things under control.”

“Aha! Found it!” Peridot suddenly shouts. She runs back to the counter with a small pistol in her hand. Slapping it down on the hardwood surface, she turns to me and adds, “It’s a Smith & Wesson .32 double action revolver: small, decent power, an oldie but a goodie. It comes pre-loaded and, since you’re a newcomer, I’m willing to throw in 20 more bullets at no extra charge. That’ll be 110 caps.”

My jaw falls open again. Caps? What the heck are caps? I was never told anything about caps! I give Garnet a desperate look, hoping for an explanation. “Let me guess,” she says, “You don’t have any caps on you.”

“I...” I don’t want to admit that I don’t know what they are, but I have to say something, so I just answer, “I do not.”

Garnet gives me a knowing smile. “Don’t worry; most newcomers to the surface don’t know about caps, either,” she explains. “Caps are the semi-official currency of the Wasteland. Settlements all across the continent exchange them for goods and services. Observe.” Both of her gems glow for a moment, and suddenly 110 small, round, shiny objects appear; they seem to grow out of the light from her gems before taking on a form of their own. The caps are then placed in an unceremonious pile on the counter. Garnet picks up the gun and the bullets and hands them to me, completing the transaction.

“Thank you,” I tell them, putting everything into my bag. “Both of you.”

“No problem,” Peridot replies. “Just doing my job.”

“And now comes the tricky part,” Garnet says to me. “You’re gonna need to learn how to use that gun. Fortunately, I know a gem that has been working with projectile weapons since before mankind invented guns. I’ll take you to her.”

“Have a nice day!” Peridot chirps as we leave her shop.

“You, too!” I wave goodbye as we leave.

* * *

It doesn’t take long to arrive at our next destination. Garnet leads me to a small, rectangular area that she calls a boot camp. The first thing I notice when we get there is a group of children, all of whom are running laps around the camp. I can hear a female voice chanting, “Hup, two, three, four! Keep it up, two, three, four! Hup, two, three, four! Keep it up, two, three, four!”

“Who is that?” I ask Garnet, unable to see who’s talking past the cloud of dust that the children are raising up. “I can’t see anything.”

“Just watch,” Garnet replies patiently.

“All right, children, that’s enough for today,” the voice says. The children stop running. As the cloud of dust dissipates, I realize that their instructor is another gem. This gem is tall, thin, and white, with lanky limbs, blue eyes, and a pointy nose. Her gem, like Peridot’s is in the middle of her forehead, but this gem is round and white. Her peach hair is as pointy as her nose, sticking out behind her like the cone on a nuclear missile. She’s wearing a blue jacket with spiked shoulder pads, blue yoga pants, and pinkish combat boots.

“You all did excellent work, today,” the gem praises the children. “Now, remember, tomorrow is hand-to-hand combat day, so make sure you all bring your sparring equipment. Your homework for today is to write a five-paragraph essay detailing the deathclaw mating dance and why you should never interrupt it. Is everything clear?”

“Yes, Miss Pearl!” all of the students answer at once. My ears perk up again. Pearl: that’s another one of the names that the Overseer gave me. This is another one of the gems that I need to befriend. But how can I get close to a teacher? None of my old teachers ever wanted anything to do with me; they said I was too weird.

“Good,” Pearl addresses the children. “Class dismissed.” As the students leave the boot camp, I slowly inch my way over to Pearl. I can feel my skin growing slick with sweat. Will she be able to sense my inadequacies? Will she reject me outright? I hope not, because I need the weapons training.

“Um, hi,” I mutter. This catches Pearl’s attention; she turns around to face me and Garnet.

“Oh, hello there,” Pearl cheerfully greats me. “Garnet, who’s your new friend?”

“This is Angelica,” Garnet answers. “She’s here to receive basic weapons training.”

“I brought my own gun,” I add, pulling my new gun out of my bag and showing it to her.

Pearl squints at me, as if scrutinizing me. This does nothing to calm my racing nerves. However, it only lasts for a second before she replies with, “Of course. I’d be happy to help you. Just step into the boot camp training area, and we can begin.”

I feel a little more at ease as I step forward, but I’m still a bit nervous. I’ve had basic firearms training, and I’m not technically the worst shot in Vault 26, but my performance is nothing to brag about. I have serious doubts about my ability to actually use this gun correctly. Given my abysmal hand-eye coordination skills, I’ll probably shoot myself in the foot while trying to reload it.

Pearl’s gem lights up with a fantastic glow, brighter than what I’ve seen from either of Garnet’s gems. To my surprise, the light that projects from it forms a holographic image of Pearl, complete with the pointy nose. The holographic image turns to me and, in a mechanical voice, asks, “Do you wish to engage in combat?”

“Initiate Firearm Training Mode,” Pearl quickly tells the hologram.

Static briefly flickers across the holographic image before it confirms, “Firearm Training Mode: activated. Level 1: ready.”

Pearl summons what looks like a long, fancy spear from her gem and tosses it to the hologram. Turning to me, she explains, “All you have to do is shoot it once in a vital area. This can mean shooting it in the head or anywhere on the torso. Good luck!”

Then, to my great surprise, the spear starts shooting lasers! One of them hits my left arm, and I can’t help but let out a “Yeouch!” as it singes my skin. I start running to dodge the rest of the lasers, circling the hologram while trying to figure out how the hell I’m supposed to defeat it. My arm doesn’t seem to be badly hurt, but I’m not sure how much good it will do me. Thankfully, I’m right-handed.

I manage to maneuver my injured arm enough so that I can access my Pip-Boy. Temporarily transferring my gun to my left hand, I use my right hand to scroll through my Pip-Boy’s options until I hit the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System, or V.A.T.S. The application senses that I’m in combat and automatically shows me the parts of the hologram that I’m most likely to hit. According to V.A.T.S., if I aim for the hologram’s right arm to make it drop the spear, I will be 95 percent likely to actually succeed. I like those odds, so I put my gun back in my right hand, take aim, and fire.

Miracle of miracles: I actually hit my target. The hologram’s right arm flickers a bit before vanishing from existence, causing the spear to fall harmlessly to the ground. As the hologram bends over to pick up the spear in its left hand, I check my V.A.T.S. again. This time, it shows me a spot on the torso that I have a guaranteed chance at hitting. Again, I take my aim. And, again, I fire.

The holograph flickers as the bullet lodges in its side. Without moving its body, it turns it head to face me and says, “Defeat: accepted. Challenger wins! Do you wish to duel again?”

I frown. That was already kind of an enormous effort for me; I’m not sure if I can last another round. Fortunately, Pearl seems to sense this, because she says, “Actually, it’s getting kind of late. How about we pick up your training tomorrow?”

I smile, “Thank you.”

As Pearl’s gem reabsorbs the hologram, she comes over to look at the singed skin on my arm. “The damage doesn’t look that bad,” she assured me. “But it would probably still be best to have our resident healer take a look at it. He’s out at the moment, but he should be back home tonight.”

“Okay,” I reply.

She smiles at me. “You did good work,” she says. It’s clear in her voice that she’s said this many times to many different students, but it somehow still sounds genuine. It especially sounds genuine when she adds, “Most of my pupils don’t pick up the basics that quickly.”

I smile, “Thank you.” I haven’t known Pearl long, but I can tell that this is the start of a beautiful friendship. My Overseer will be so proud.

#su au #Steven universe au #fallout au #fallout: delmarva au #new beach city #Garnet #Peridot #Pearl #Angelica Miller #Holopearl #Smith & Wesson

[readingclubstuck]

Section 6 image descriptions

Page descriptions for all pages with flashing images under the cut. Contains the first major flash! Trigger warnings by page are [link: here].

2471: ==>

There is a flashing cut movement as Dave pulls out and slices with the katana, decapitating the Jigsaw doll’s head so it falls into the blender. Dave freezes at the end of the cut and his sunglasses glint.

2479: ==>

Dave captchalogues the box, going into a ready stance, and throws his hands out and jumps up above the refrigerator, dodging as the shurikens fly into it. The words “DUDE DODGE!” flash.

Narration: First you captchalogue the BOX (5) again, while adeptly avoiding the SHURIKEN trap, which you yourself set only moments ago.

2488: Dave goes into a ready stance, then there is a flashing cut movement as Dave slices the puppet with his katana, freezing again at the end stance. The puppet flies into the sink with the tip of its nose cut off. The tip of its nose remains in place and gently floats down onto the skateboard.

2513: Dave: Burst out of the puppet pile like "the one".

Panel 1 is a series of katana flashes in every direction. Panel 2: Dave brandishes his katana, shouting, with one leg up, surrounded by sliced-up puppet parts. The background flashes in grey stripes.

2534: ==> 

In a flash of blue swooshes and red sparks, a hammer with springs on both its heads and a slimer like John’s shirt on top appears. A counter indicates it cost 10 build grist and 16 shale.

2535: ==>

John holds up the hammer above his head. He has a look of intense victory on his face. The background flashes shades of green.

Narration: You got the POGO HAMMER.

2537: John: Attack the nearest imp to test pogo hammer's strength.

John, shouting, bounces the hammer from side to side with BOING sound effects. Going faster and faster, he then uses the momentum to flip himself, and smashes downward onto the imp, bouncing himself in one direction and the pogo ride in the other, and destroying the imp. there is a flash of green and a large BOING sound effect.

Narration: You get a vicious rhythmic bouncing combo going and easily slay the imp in one blow.

You and the POGO RIDE are catapulted sky-high in the process.

2540: ==>

Rose’s cursor with a bed rushes to cover the hole in the ceiling she made by dropping the safe, and catches John, who drops his hammer and apparently is knocked unconscious.

In a small transparent gif, the words “SWEET CATCH!” flash in green.

2543: Rose: Pester John.

Rose clicks on the bed with her cursor while John types on the PDA with one finger, holding it up in the air with the other hand. The bed flashes red every time Rose clicks.

EB: hey, that was a pretty, uh... EB: nice... EB: uh... TT: Sweet catch? EB: ... save. EB: oh, yeah. EB: that. EB: this is pretty comfy. EB: why don't you just like, EB: carry the bed around with me on it? EB: up to the gate up there! TT: I can't interact with you directly, or anything that you are touching, if it will result in moving you. TT: See? EB: oh. EB: lame! TT: The game probably regards that as a kind of cheating. TT: In a way, thieving you of your free will as an adventurer, and the need to advance by your own skill and ingenuity. TT: The server player is just a facilitator. EB: well, ok. EB: all that scurrying around kind of wore me out, i think i'm going to rest here for a bit. EB: rose, can you keep the imps at bay? like, drop some stuff on them if they sneak too close. TT: No, you should pick up your hammer and defend yourself. EB: what, come on! TT: I have no idea what the hell Dave is up to, or if he's any closer to recovering the game. TT: There's some stuff I'd like to try, in case he doesn't come through. EB: oh alright. EB: i'm just gonna rest my eyes here a second though.

2546: Rose: Captchalogue Sburb Server CD.

[Panel 1] Rose ejects her server CD while the game is running, which seems irresponsible.

[Panel 2] Rose stands in the mausoleum, still surrounded by her things and Jaspers,  where sparks seem to have made it inside and fire is visible outside the window. Rose captchalogues the server CD.

Narration: You eject the disk and captchalogue the SERVER CD.

2547: Rose: Message John the Captcha code.

[Panel 1] Rose turns over the captchalogue card. There are no visible words or numbers.

[Panel 2] Rose facepalms with a SLAP while the light of the flames flickers on her face.

Narration: Oh God damn it.

2548: ==>

The generator vibrates agitatedly in the rain behind the mausoleum. Fire has nearly reached it and takes up the entire background. Tiny meteors continue to rain down everywhere.

2550: Rose slaps her other hand to her face, her expression becoming even more agitated. The text “FACEPALM x2 COMBO!” appears, with the ‘x2’ in yellow and the rest in lilac.

2551: [S] John: Wake up.

In a light blue and white sky background, various clouds float forward, turning into Dad’s head, a cake, fruit gushers, a jester head, the slimer on John’s shirt, Harry Anderson, and then, prominently, the mysterious silhouette of a girl. Then the Sburb spirograph flashes over a tie-dye background and a pumpkin, and John sits up on his bed and shakes his head. There is a message on his PDA.

2565: [S] Dave: Ascend to the highest point of the building.

 Dave holds the note from bro in his hands saying ‘bro. roof. bring cal. WHERE DOING THIS MAN. WHERE MAKING IT HAPEN” and then crushes it in his hand, determinedly looking upward. He captchalogues all the puppets with "PUPPET PILE" (6) (meeting a collision with the nunchucks, then settling on “MUPPET BUTTOCK MOUND”(0)) and flashsteps around, finally ascending into the air with the words “ACROBATIC FUCKING PIROUETTE”.  He takes Li’l Cal over his shoulder, and his hand approaches his katana’s handle, then a series of cuts, and Dave brandishes the sword. The picture zooms in on Li’l Cal’s face.

Dave kicks open the door to the hallway, which opens in a flash of yellow light. Dave enters the hallway and turns toward the stairs. His foot is shown ascending. The stairs are seen in Dave’s sunglasses as he ascends, and after a moment he moves side to side to the beat, then stops. The picture then focuses on Li’l Cal’s face, bouncing with Dave’s movement.

Dave faces the entrance to the roof, which shows the city skyline and the burning sun, which flashes with a lens flare as it crosses the horizon. Dave stands in the hallway with the sun reflected in his glasses.

Dave puts Li’l Cal down on the roof and turns to the cityscape, where meteors are falling. In the distance, a building crumbles to the ground. Back to Dave, and Bro’s silhouette appears, then flashsteps to the other side of Dave, takes Li’l Cal, and disappears again. A small red exclamation point appears above Dave’s head as he notices Bro’s presence.

Dave goes to the center of the roof and readies his katana. The picture zooms out, then flashes and says “PSYCHE” in green. It shows a girl in a cheerful garden for a moment, then the words “OH WAIT” flash in orange, then “2x DOUBLE PSYCHEOUT COMBO”, with ‘2x’ in yellow and the rest in purple. The page turns to the traveller who directed John, standing in a room surrounded by cans, with the half-eaten etiquette book at his feet, a plant nearby, and a moldy old pumpkin in the corner.

#holy fuck #rcs posts #readingclubstuck #section 6