Eclipse of the Gods

"Great. A 'Test'. I'll let you know that I am fit to go through any test." Daido said as he entered. Boy was he wrong. However, he endured the seering hot pain, a trait he owed to being a Necro-Over, and soon, the test was over.

"So what? We were put through a light show?" Daido asked.

Akuma nearly buckled under the pain, but his face remained dead serious. Once it was over, he got up and noticed he was glowing.

"Clearly," he said, "this is a sign that I have advanced myself. Especially considering how I got here..."

Joker dodged the purple fireball that Akuma fired. "OOOOO.....now THAT'S something you only see in anime and videogames mostly," the Joker commented. The warrior then said he remembered everything. "That's the spirit there, sparky!" the clown cheered.

Next came the mysterious voice, stating to all the Overlords a "test" of the done......

"All we have to do is sit in these pods? Too easy!" Joker said. He hopped right into one - "Huh, kinda prickly!" - and let the chamber to its thing.....

Which was induced white hot searing pain. "SWEET JESUS, IT FEELS LIKE I'M BEING STABBED BY WHITE HOT METAL STAKES IN EVERY CELL OF MY BODY!!!!" the clown screamed. "Nice!"

Soon the test was finished......and Joker leaped out of the pod like a ballerina with an extra swing in his step. "WOO-HOO!! That felt like an simply WONDROUS acid trip without all the acid!! Like a sugar high, caffeine high Red Bull OD, and eletrco-shock therapy all mixed into one joyous unholy concoction!! I feel like I can go 15 rounds with SUPERMAN!!" the villain said, emphasizing by hopping around and punching air doing an exaggerated parody of boxing practice.

"Would you mind a practice duel?" said Akuma. "We shall fight in the most pure of battles: hand-to-hand. I'll hold back if you wish me to. My martial art can be rather lethal at full force."

Joker immediately stopped after hearing Akuma's proposal. "Admittedly, I'm pumped but not THAT pumped," Joker said to Akuma. "Feeling is different from actually being able. When I first saw you, I can tell I wouldn't stand a chance against you without liberal amounts of cheating."

"And to think you hadn't even seen me in a fight..." said Akuma. "You are surprisingly knowledgable for a man as deranged as yourself."

"Well I have been known to have a knack for reading people from just a single glance!" Joker said. "Maybe my luck is just as crazy as I am!" he said, his eye going googly as well. "Not to mention the fact that I have actually seen you before."

"How were you even aware of my existence before we met?" asked Akuma. "Were you a competitor in the World Warrior tournament?"

Joker looked around among his fellow Overlords, checking like he had something to hide.......he then came closer to Akuma. "That, my friend, is my little secret......" the clown said. "A secret that's best left revealed in private......you can find me behind a door with the word 'Arkham' on it......." With that, the clown prince of villain walked away from the rest of the Overlords heading into his own private chambers, labeled a diamond symbol with the name "Arkham" on it◊.....

edited 4th Mar '12 11:14:56 PM by UdtheImp

Dragovich simply fell out his cocoon and onto his knees.
"Sookin syn. Ow."
Is that what Nova Six feels like?
Dragovich felt rejuvenated, refreshed, younger. But also felt tired. Oh so tired.
He hobbled back to his room, and lied down.

After he emerged from his cocoon yet again, Karrag clenched his fist before him. Faint lines purplish energy could be seen on it, pulsating slowly. Slowly, he began to mutter, harsh, sibilant words escaping his skull's lipless mouth as he wondered about his widened perception.

There had been a muffled sound.

"Ah! This looks nice and comfy! Never tried a bed before, maybe I thought to give it an AAAAAAAAARGH!"

A short moment after everyone else came out of their pods, another pod opened, and a familiar round white robot tumbled out.

"*huff* I don't *huff* like beds *huff* anymore *huff*..."

-The Nerubian crashes down, legs twitching at random, the vision bringing back unpleasant memories of that which lurks underneath the dark tunnels of Azjol-Nerub. The pain gone, he stands again, noting his new master has the same sense of discipline as the former one.-

"Oh, hello, Jolly Robot." Daido said to Wheatly. "How are you today?" He asked.

"Hullo! Brilliant! You're all back! For a second I was getting worried we'd be alone forever. We got a little caught behind, innocent mistake, and seemed to accidentally missed the big migration...and you didn't bother to come back for us BUT that's not a problem! Probably an innocent mistake. Anyway, we've just been roaming around, practicing transforming back and forth, honing our abilities and sumsuch. So, how've you lot been?"

"We killed seaweed, Joker played with a seahorse, Dragovich was pissed that we were insane, and we were treated to a light show." Daido said.

Wheatley chuckled. "Blimey! That must've been something to see! Although actually, hang on, Joker doing something with a seahorse isn't really a pleasant image. Oh well! Pity I missed that (we, rather), so, I'll be sticking close next time, and, uh, hopefully contributing something more to this team. Oh! By the way, I finally figured out what this gun is for! Shoots portals apparently! So, uh, that'll be useful! Probably."

"Oh, cool. Oh, if you see this guy named John, tell him that I said hi and thanked him for making that swim of ours fun." Daido said as he decided to go to his dorm.

—

As he got to his dorm, he noticed something isn't right. Someone had been in here. Soon, he saw a green figure◊ attack him. He tried to fend the figure out, but it fired a small green tornado from its hand, knocking Daido back and hitting the door.

" Katsumi Daido... You should be dead..." The figure said as it held up its hand to fire another tornado.

"... And you should be too!" Daido said as he ran to the figure with the Eternal Edge and stabbed it in the chest. He quickly pulled the knife out, along with a green Gaia Memory. The figure soon reverted back into a woman◊. "But... it seems we're not." Daido looked at the woman in pain and smirked. "... Mother."

When the newcomers arrived, Lich's failed attempt at intimidation got nary but a chuckle from the pirate. Akuma, however, looked like quite a kindred spirit to the pirate. He introduced himself with his full name and epithet to the fighter, but the employer interrupted possible conversation.

Inside the pod, he endured, helped by his indomitable will, Conqueror's Haki and just plain physical endurance. The pirate emerged from the ordeal with a triumphant laugh.

"Zehahaha! Well, that damn much more sharp feeling than Devil Fruits. And at the same time... Invigorating."

The foreboding voice of the group's enigmatic employer rang through the Dark Lord's head about two seconds after he had finally managed to ensconce himself on his black throne.

   "Enter,"    it said.    "Enter- survive- and you shall be duly rewarded. Fail the test, however… and you will not be allowed to advance. The last group I gathered, regretfully, failed the test spectacularly. You wonder why I keep that mad fool Optimus Prime chained in the basement? He is a failure, a washout- what little remained of his mind was shattered by the procedure. Pray that      you      succeed where      he      failed. Survive the procedure… and you will find what you desire.”   

With that last, promising statement, the Nomad's presence faded, and the alien feeling withdrew from the room. Sauron did nothing for a moment. His pale lips were pursed into a tight line of serious, almost unnerved consideration, as if he were contemplating Tatu's command with the utmost wariness -

Then the tension went out of his body, and he smiled. He would be given what he desired? Excellent.

What he desired... was dominion and Order. What he desired... was power for the glory of his Master.

He would achieve them. It was not for Tatu's purposes that he was here.

Still smirking softly, the Maia arose with an ominous, enveloping swirl of his tattered cloak, and the very shadows seemed to lengthen and grow around him as he stood. From behind his hood, two bloodshot eyes glinted for the briefest of moments, filled with calculating desire and twisted amusement - then they were gone, as if they had never been there in the first place.

Tar-Mairon, King of Excellence, strode through the doors of his chamber and abruptly turned to the shadowed frame on his left, stopping for a while to observe the black, swirling energies within.

This.... was the beginning of a new era.

With that, he resolutely strode into the chamber, convinced that the challenge put before him would be rather simple.

It only took a few seconds for him to realize how wrong he was.

Pain. Darkness. Light. Light and blades and blood and towers and pain. The agony was excruciating, the bewildering visions sepia blurs on the overexposed, blindingly bright radiance that had surrounded him and taken over his senses. Pleasure. Agony. Indescribable feelings. Unfathomable sights. A black figure, an embryonic entity, floating in the depths of the void, its very essence filled with unthinkable mysteries and eldritch power...

Even one of his stature could not ignore such potent strain for long - and yet he refused to cry out, instead clamping his mouth shut and funneling the red-hot, searing burn all over his body into the depths of his mind, where his darkest plans had been locked away from the rest of the world. He allowed the pain to tear open his subconscious, to bare the thoughts within, to fully display to himself the true extent of his hopes and refire his will -

His Master... his Master was beckoning. He had to create a New World....

A new world...

And with that, the light rushed inwards, and power suffused his very being. He could feel the energy pulsing as it flowed through him, bringing new strength to his bones, filling his very spirit with new might - then the vision ceased.

He was standing in the corridor once again, face even paler than normal and breathing haggard - but he was glowing. Ghostly light flowed through his skin and faintly permeated the darkness of his creased, flowing cloak, as if even his chosen form had become incapable of containing the powers he now wielded. Face breaking out into a wide smile of pure, unadulterated triumph, Sauron clenched his fist, raising it up into the air and extinguishing the light with a vivid gesture - then he instantly donned his unassuming, quiet composure once more, turning around and walking back through the open doors that led to his throne room without the slightest hint of emotion.

Inside, though, he was jubilant. So many new horizons had opened up before him...

So many vistas...

edited 6th Mar '12 3:51:07 AM by troydenite

Kane swung round at the sudden increase of noise and babble, a door had opened and out stumbled beings the like of which Kane will not easily forget.

So there are others..

His train of thought was not broken by their arrival but it did add another variable to the equation.

Who am I?

Where am I?

Who are THEY?

In due time the truth will be revealed to me.

Kane watched in the background as these strange creatures laughed, muttered, spoke, thought and breathed; certainly they were beings of power, they shouted the fact in every move they made.

What business do they have here?

   Greetings overlords...    : It was now that Tatau made his intrusion, his challenge and Kane watched in silence as the overlords glared and for a moment hesitated as door, dark entrances to the void opened before them.

edited 6th Mar '12 11:27:37 PM by biomechtraveler

Dragovich got up, lying down had given him strength.
In fact, he now felt more energetic than he been before he received the "test".
He had not felt this good since before the war.
Getting up, he felt hunger approaching and went to the kitchen to appease it.
He had formed the room into a barracks, in case that they were allowed bring soldiers from the motherland here.
Summoning the relative objects (Odd. That did not feel the same as it had previous.), he found himself wishing for a chef. Cooking had never been a skill of his. Absentmindedly, he attempted to summon a chef. Their employer had however said that summoning people was not a function of the room, and Dragovich had made sure of it.
Imagine his surprise when a chef did appear.
Suddenly, Dragovich felt slightly drained of some energy.
Power. He has given us supernatural power.
Dragovich smiled, and got to work.

After catching a breath after the test, Blackbeard felt something stir within him. It reminded him of when he gained his Devil Fruit. His body was changing to accommodate the power. And he tried to express it the same way he would do with yet another Devil Fruit.

The ethereal light permeating his body concentrated inside his clenched fist. A bright flash trickled through his fingers as he felt something materialise in his grasp.

Bringing his hand to his face he inspected the results. To the pirate's surprise he was holding something that looked like four just different berries... But he recognised one of them. It was a miniature version of a Devil Fruit one of his former companions had found.
It was the Fruit that gave the commander of the Whitebeard Pirates' 3rd division, Diamond Jozu his namesake power - the power of ultimate defence!

Are those really?..
Question flashed in Blackbeard's head before he felt the aura emanating from them. Yes, they really were the Devil Fruits, the aura of the familiar one was the same as when he saw it in his homeworld.

"Zehahahaha! So this is the powers you pay with?" the pirate bellowed to the ceiling, were he presumed their employer to reside. "Thanks! They are just perfect! Zehahaha!"

edited 12th Mar '12 8:57:10 AM by Adannor

Daido's mother looked at him with disgust.

"Daido, you are supposed to be dead!" She said to him.

"So were you. But here we are, alive." Daido said. Suddenly, red lines start pulsating in his right arm. Soon, it fired out, bringing forth a skeleton. Soon, the skeleton was given muscle, and soon flesh. Finally, the clothes the person was wearing before they died. The woman soon got up. She wore the same uniform as Daido, Though she wore it like a jacket as a red shirt was underneath it◊. She looked around, confused, until she saw Daido.

"... Was I dead?" The woman asked.

"Yes. You were..." Daido said, surprised by her appearance. He then looked at his arm. He then recalled the words of what the red man said. "So... This is my power?" Daido said. He then smirked.

"So your saying Joker died?"

"Yeah man, I did! I know, I didn't believe when I saw him!"

"Wut? You shittin' me!"

"No joke man! I think I said something ironic."

"Fergetchu man! Joker's a goddamn immortal!"

"But they never found the body every time, right? But the body was right there!"

"I was there to! Batman was carrying the body out of theater!"

"Theater?"

"Yeah, at Arkham City?"

"Arkham City? Now I KNOW yer shittin' me!"

"I shit you not! It was only an hour ago!"

"Heck man, what're you smoking?! We were only transferred into the asylum an hour ago!"

"......but that happened six months ago......"

"Hold it, I thought Joker got juiced with TITAN an hour ago!"

"What the Heck is TITAN?"

This was but one of many similar conversations going on at the moment when Joker entered his chambers. The clown saw a fairly large group of various muscled thugs of all races, all wearing various prison uniforms and a majority of wearing clown make up and the like. All of them were staring at the clown prince of crime with nervous looks. Some out of shock at seeing some kind of wild animal entering the room. Others as if they were seeing a ghost that just escape right out of Hell........

"Alright......." Joker said with a low growl. "Who are you losers and why are you in my house.......?" His tone was horrifyingly angry, ready to kill them all as they stood......

Many of the mooks paled out of genuine fear.........

..........................

A beat.

"HAH!! Gotcha!" the clown suddenly said, pointing at them all. "HA-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!"

All the criminals immediately went at ease, breathing a giant collective sigh of relief, many wiping away the sweat from their brows and one of mumbling about thankful for wearing dependents.

"Seriously though, I feels so good to be among familiar friends and faces!" he said, walking towards his gang. "Even though I probably don't a hoot about most of your names!" The minions gave a collective chuckle about that little joke. "But anyway, I know you are all wondering.....what's the dealio? Where am I? Why am I standing inside the lovechild of Arkham Asylum and our hideout in Arkham City but with all exits out of the building leading to no where?"

From the confused looks, some of the mooks either did not realize what Joker was saying and/or did not know about that last part.

"Well, old Uncle J have all the answers!" the villain continued. "You see, I have been chosen to be a part of a crack team of other villains hired by a God like being to track down and assassinate other God like beings for some mysterious possibly ulterior motive!"

This really got all the mooks talking, from outright denial to mentioning this being a job for Superman, Sinestro, Felix Faust, or some other super being they were more familiar with crap like this.

"Oh come now, its not really that much of a stretch it is?" Joker asked the crowd, interrupting the rabble. "Heck, considering our own Earth seems to attract aliens, demons, and their grandmas, this IS the next logical step for us, isn't it? But you see, my mysterious employer said me and my fellow ne'er-do-wells are supposed to be each leading an army.......and that's where YOU guys come in! You are MY army......"

"Really?" one mook asked.

"Of course you are!" Joker snapped at them, climbing up on top of conveniently placed chair, raising him above the crowd. "Heck, you remember when I started that fire in Blackgate and had all the prisoners transferred, how many were among the many to work for me?"

At this the mooks started talking, agreeing with him.

"How many of you were there right with me when I was incarcerated in Arkham City, keeping me company and guarding me during while I was sick and prone, hm?"

More and more started seeing it, a few crying out "yeah!" and "right on!"

"And before all of that, can you all remember how much we were feared around Gotham?! How many joined me under my banner, ready to bring hilarity and chaos at my beckon call?!?"

The mooks started chanting "Yeah, Yeah!"

"You all, my dear lovelies, are my ARMY!!" Joker said, pumping his fist into the air. The mooks cheered. "There are all those other villains who would think who have their armies would be superior to ours! There's a medieval Emperor who would probably send out us knight on hrose with swords, but we got the guns to mow them all down! A Russian terrorist with his own group, but we've been around the block a couple of time to deal with anything! And we've even got Sauron of all people from the Lords of the Rings! And we ALL know what happened to him in the movies, right?!"

"YEAH!!" the mooks cheered, with mook adding "I hated those books!"

"SO when come the time I need to call you guys, we're gonna wipe the floor with those other armies, right?!?"

"YEAH!!"

"When we're ready to kick some ass, WE'RE gonna be the ones to take down whatever God type being that's next on the hit list right?!?"

"YEAH!!!"

"Like the Penguin, like Two-Face, like all those other villains both within and without Gotham, we're gonna show them WE'RE the top dogsand that all of them will be our bitches, you feel me?"

"YEAH!!!"

"LOUDER!!"

"YEAH!!!"

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you up in the balcony, a bit louder please?" Joker suddenly whispered.

"YEAH!!!" The mook then chanted Joker's name, as the clown prince of crime himself jumped from the chair, bowing to his cheering mooks. From inside Joker's mind, Discord could see the villain being able to control an actual army.....an army consisting of the lowest filth and dregs of society, a few of whom never had anything higher than a middle school education, that the clown controlled out of respect derived from the clown's own fun loving personality and fear of both their own lives and of their loved ones if they had any..........

The cheering continued until it was interrupted by a single question......

"Wait a minute, I thought you died," a random mook asked. The cheering as immediately silenced.

"Excuse me?" the Joker said. "Did you just say that I died?" he asked, his tone sounded insulted. "Do you who I am? DO YOU KNOW?! I'M THE MOTHER HUGGIN' JOKER, BITCH!! Have you forgotten that I've been through everything?! Eaten by sharks, fell down smoke stacks, even electrocuted while soaking wet!! I'm practically immortal! Nothing can kill me!!" The clown sounded genuinely angry at this point.

"B-B-But my and some of the boys saw you dead, being carried out by Batman!" the mook said, cringing and preparing for the inevitable retaliation.

The clown then suddenly had a confused look on his face. "Batman?" he said. "Who the Hell is Ba - "

The villain suddenly became catatonic, staring into space.......

edited 9th Mar '12 3:45:21 PM by UdtheImp