After getting knocked down Tyrell decided that when your panicing it probably IS a good idea to already be on the ground. So he just stayed there a while and listened to other people talk. He piped up when he saw how well armed Link was though.
"I'm allright doc, your potion fixed me up just fine. You got a spare helmet in there? I could really use one."
Fluttershy let the large being gently pet her. The large weight was a bit uncomfortable, but his touch was surprisingly very gentle.....though his gloves felt really dirty. The pastel pony giggled a bit at the thought of Rarity completely freakin' out from having some much grime all over her coifuree from a simple pat of the head.
However that happy thought immediately led to sadness as it reminded the pegasus of her current predicament. She gave a sad sigh. "I miss my friends....." she whispered quietly.
DAMMIT MARK, STOP HOTTING HELPY!!
Henshin Hopeful
Kick Hopper slammed down onto the pavement, looking Fluttershy in the eye. "Don't. You'll lose them soon enough," he said, before he began walking again.
Wakka-wakka-wakka-wakka~
The Crystalline City...
Uncertain of how he should—or indeed, could—respond to that, Sergeant Damballah briefly wondered whether this Shotaro was deranged; what in the primarch's name did managing a store and doing battle with extinct, cybernetically-augmented wildlife from Holy Terra have to do with anything, let alone each other?
He was hesitant to plumb the addled youth for more information, for the words Shotaro had imparted thus far made whatever intelligence he could give seem questionable at best; he was saved from having to answer, however, when something green, angular and of humanoid proportions abruptly dropped out of the air to land next to that mutant horse. Though the creature spoke with a human voice, the Space Marine could not be certain whether it was actually a man clad in some bizarre set of power armour, or some vile xeno that—like many races in the galaxy—happened to share a four-limbed, bipedal body structure with humanity.
In any event, the entity's violent landing and the defeatist bent of the words it had uttered did not sit well with the Salamanders Sergeant; and when it started to move away from the bizarre little group, Damballah took a step towards it.
"Halt. Identify yourself, creature."
It was a command, not a suggestion.
The Danse Macabre Codex
sword of promised halp
Link slowly nodded at Damballah's words. The armoured hulk of a man standing before him was obviously disciplined and intelligent - a soldier, by the looks of it. And though his rigid tone could possibly have been gentler, the young Hero could see that the Sergeant was a reasonable, moral man at heart. He respected that.
Turning to the man, he said, "My name? It's Link. Link of Hyrule."
"I'm a ranch hand by trade, though some have seen fit to call me a Hero... pleasure to meet you, Sir." He almost extended a hand, before realizing that the Space Marine would quite possibly misinterpret the gesture or at the very least frown upon it as an act of frivolity. So he kept his arms by his side.
edited 3rd Oct '11 4:55:53 PM by troydenite
'Being around you guys makes me go "wtf" instead of pondering the ever increasing dread of time' - EchoingSilence, 2023
Henshin Hopeful
Kick Hopper looked up at the massive power armored behemoth, and let out a "feh." A "feh!" "You do not intimidate me, you overgrown ZEC Trooper. Run back to your Emperor like a good little cog."
Wakka-wakka-wakka-wakka~
The Crystalline City...
"Likewise, Link," Sergeant Damballah replied; he would have said more, but at that moment the creature turned to face him and responded.
That was just about the worst possible mistake Yaguruma could have made in this situation.
The ground beneath Damballah's feet all but exploded as the Space Marine suddenly surged into motion, moving with a speed far in excess of what his cumbersome suit of Mark VII plate would indicate. He crossed the (very, very) short distance between himself and this insolent cur in the span of an eyeblink, and the Salamander lashed out with one arm to deliver a brutal backhand to Yaguruma's face at near-blinding speed. He had just barely managed to check his strength at the last moment, reasoning that its slanderous words, while heinous, were a product of its ignorance and thus that the creature should be given at least one chance; as such, the blow simply knocked Yaguruma flat on his ass rather than taking his head clean off as the Space Marine had originally intended.
"Boy, that was not wise," he growled, staring down at Yaguruma's prone form with disgust and cooling fury. "I can live without your respect, but you will stow that defeatist garbage, and you will never commit such blasphemies as to utter the Emperor's holy name in such a flippant and disrespectful tone ever again. Do I make myself clear?"
The Danse Macabre Codex
Fluttershy stared at Kick Hopper, not noticing his voice as Yaguru's. Her eyes started to tear up......and then she started crying.....she then galloped away from the group, crying as she did
, ignorant of Damballah backhanding the offending Rider.
edited 3rd Oct '11 5:24:54 PM by UdtheImp
DAMMIT MARK, STOP HOTTING HELPY!!
Henshin Hopeful
The blow struck Yaguruma, but did not dissuade him, as he stood up, looking at the Space Marine with an impassive expression behind his mask, and began walking away.
edited 3rd Oct '11 5:59:28 PM by Orichalcon
Wakka-wakka-wakka-wakka~
Wild Horse
"Why did you strike at him?" Gunner demanded the Imperial soldier, shocked at his action. She then heaved a sigh of relief as the man escaped the blow through some sort of agility.
"Are you that angry to hit a civilian that showed no hostile intent? Are you even a soldier?" The Gunner asked, a bit angry that a member of the armed service, even one from another world, would attack without warning.
Always be ready to do the unusual and unexpected.
Vampire Hunter
Chun-li began exploring the crystalline city. If everyone was going to ignore her, Chun-li figured she could ignore everyone else. Besides, she was curious about where she was.
Sorry, I'm writing my character out until I return from my vacation.
Wizard Needs Food Badly
Aww, son of a bitch
'Shy started lookin' kinda' sad. Muttered somethin' about missin' her friends. That... sounde bad, i guess. I wouldn't know. Never had any friends. Closest thing I ever had to a freind was Sinclair, and even he ended up with a big bloody hole 'tween his eyes 'cause a'me. I was about to try an' comfort 'er when Grasshopper Man showed up an' delivered some real inspirin' words.
What a dick.
'Shy ran off cryin'. I stood up, givin' Nyu a quick pat and the shoulder an' poitin' at the ground with a grunt. Didn't want the poor girl wanderin' off. Had some business to take care of. I walked behind Grasshopper Man and gave 'em a quick tap on the shoulder. Didn't matter if he turned or not, he'd still see my left hand in front of his face, middle finger raised in the classic salute. Before he could take a swing at me, I ran off after 'Shy.
I knew it was gonna' be a real busy day when I woke up. Just one'a those feelin's, ya' know?
"You have more than enough potential. So tell me what is the one wish that would make your soul gem shine." -Mitt Romney, probably
Shotaro saw Fluttershy run off crying after the rider talked to her. That act caused him to discard the question towards the cat-girl. This was more serious than introductions. He then saw the Marine punch the Rider, with no effect in him. Shotaro than ran after Kick Hopper. "Hey! You jerk! You should apologize to Fluttershy right now!" Shotaro said to him.
Henshin Hopeful
Kick Hopper stopped, not looking back.
"You call yourself a Kamen Rider, do you?"
Wakka-wakka-wakka-wakka~
"Yeah! And I can prove it!" Shotaro said as he gets out his driver. He places it on his waist as it creates the belt. He then gets out the Joker Memory and presses onto it.
JOOOOOOOKER!
He then places it in the driver. Purple waves pulse out of the driver as he pulls the arm, activating it. "HENSHIN!" Shotaro said.
JOOOOOOOKER!
A jagged J shot out of the driver as Shotaro's matted-black armor began to form from the foot up. The J burst into purple lightning, though it was mostly for show. Soon, Kick Hopper was facing the black-bodied, red-eyed Kamen Rider Joker.
"Now... Let me count your crimes!" Shotaro said, pointing to Yaguruma.
The Crystalline City...
Behind his helm, Sergeant Damballah's face was set in a stoic mask which belied the anger welling up within him; he was finding it rather difficult to supress the urge to throttle that creature for its insolence and callous behaviour. Eventually, however, he decided that the cur was simply not worth the effort; if he was going to behave in this manner and strike out on his own, then he would only have himself to blame should he ever come across something beyond his ability to defeat.
At that moment, the Gunner spoke up; and seeing that others had chosen to take that green-armoured thug to task for his attitude, the Space Marine turned to face her.
"I am a loyal servant of the Emperor, beloved by all," he answered, his tone largely calm but tainted by an undercurrent of restrained anger. "For one hundred and seventy-five years have I fought and waged war in His name and that of the Imperium of Man, bringing doom upon the enemies of mankind to keep the trillions who make up her populace safe from the manifold horrors of the galaxy. I am indeed a soldier as you put it, Sister, but I am more than that; I am a protector of mankind, and I have not forgotten, as have some Chapters, that it is our duty to safeguard the people of the Imperium as well as the worlds which compose it. In all my decades of service, I have never once stricken a civilian or member of the Imperial Guard; but that insolent creature is neither a civilian nor, as far as I can ascertain, necessarily human. If we are to escape this place, we must have discipline; I highly doubt that any of us has the power to return to where we had originally been on our own."
The Danse Macabre Codex
Henshin Hopeful
The second Shotaro said his catchphrase, he was kicked into a building.
"Let me tell you something," snarled Kick Hopper. "You are no Rider. The life of a rider ends in the death of your loved ones, of all who you hold deal. And you keep going. You keep going as your friends go. As your respect goes. As your way of life goes. As your sanity goes, until you are left with only the devil, dancing with him in the depths of hell. You are no rider!"
Wakka-wakka-wakka-wakka~
Wild Horse
"...I agree that his personality had something to be desired and his pugilism is rather worrying, but- Wait... he is not human?" Gunner asked the Imperial man, looking a little unsure of herself.
She then winced as she saw Yagurama attempt to kick the other Rider. "...Maybe it was alright for you to strike him... He is rather undisciplined..." She said, looking at the rather unlikable being with disgust.
edited 3rd Oct '11 6:32:35 PM by GreyStar
Always be ready to do the unusual and unexpected.
WHAT HAS SCIENCE WROUGHT
Cletus listened to the lecture Yaguruma was giving, snickering before breaking out laughing.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize the death of your family was an excuse to be a jackass. Let me tell you something skippy: My mother was eaten by cannibals, and my father died of radiation poisoning and you don't see me going all broody. Death happens. It ain't something to get worked up over, and it ain't an excuse to do horrible things."
...and that's terrible.
Shotaro was knocked into a building, causing a crater into the building. Out of the rubble he has heard Kick Hopper's Hannibal Lecture. He weakly got out of the rubble. And chuckled. "Really? Because only one or two of my friends and loved ones went. I still have my respect. My way of life. My sanity. I'm seeming to think it's you who isn't the rider..." Shotaro said.
Shotaro then ran towards Yaguruma, preparing to punch him.
edited 3rd Oct '11 7:29:50 PM by Psyga315
sword of promised halp
A miniature whirlwind suddenly swept between the two combatants, preventing either of them from charging. As soon as it had passed, Link stepped in, allowing the Gale Boomerang to return to his hand. He looked at each of them in turn. "Rider or no Rider, you are going to stop this fight now," he said.
"How is this going to help matters?" He had already seen Damballah's attack on Yaguruma, and though he did not condone the act he could see how Kick Hopper's words would have offended the Salamander. He seemed to see his Emperor as a god. Then Fluttershy had started crying. Of course, both of their actions had immediately sparked the conflict that would have inevitably resulted from such a chain of circumstances, which was exactly why he was trying to prevent it. They didn't need any more antagonistic chemistry in their group, despite his own personal thoughts to the contrary. Perhaps it was his almost instinctual lack of ulterior motives that allowed him to see both sides.
"Please. Talk it out like civilized people if you must argue at all."
edited 3rd Oct '11 7:32:28 PM by troydenite
'Being around you guys makes me go "wtf" instead of pondering the ever increasing dread of time' - EchoingSilence, 2023
Shotaro blocked his eyes from the whirlwind. He then saw Link telling them to settle it like men. Shotaro then pulled out the Gaia Memory, his armor becoming dust in the wind. "Very well, Rinku-san. I have better things to do to begin with. Like finding Fluttershy." Shotaro said as he ran off in the same direction Fluttershy did.
WHAT HAS SCIENCE WROUGHT
Cletus also went after Fluttershy, hoping to get away from Rider Jackass. His tracking skill was much better than others, however, and he soon made his way towards the pony.
"Fluttershy, there you are! You shouldn't wander off like that, this place is dangerous."
Stupid cat hit "send."
edited 3rd Oct '11 7:56:43 PM by Krautman
...and that's terrible.
The room inside was dark. It was a pervasive, creeping, all-consuming darkness, more than just simple blackness. This was the essence of darkness, no dilution by any kind of light. The challengers themselves would feel as if they wherein a void, with no gravity or sense of direction to be found. All that could be seen was a single pinpoint of white light, hovering in what was apparently the center of the room. With a cacophonous noise, the tiny core of energy and light exploded- undoubtedly a big bang, forming a new universe. From the primordial dust and swirling gases arose the stuff of life- space and time, atoms combining into molecules, molecules becoming elements, elements becoming chemicals. Galaxies blossomed into life, rich rivers of majestic suns, nebulae and quasars providing color and life across the cosmos. And, after billions of years, on a single world, a being- small, humanoid, his skin translucent and faintly glowing- looked into the sky, his eyes wide as he watched the beauty of the cosmos unfold before him… and he comprehended it, through some artifice or quirk of fate.
“ THE BEGINNING.” came a voice that was unmistakeably their guide, but now deep, and mighty, sonorous with age and wisdom, providing them with a guide as they watched a race climb upwards through sentience, launching vessels of exploration into the cosmos. “ IN A LONG-AGO ERA, FAR BEYOND ANYONE’S COMPREHENSION, OUR RACE, THE CELESTIALS, WAS BORN.” As they watched the galaxies blossom and dance before their eyes, tiny specks- each one a spacecraft- travelled from world to world, star to star, galaxy to galaxy. As they watched, the vessels became more and more advanced, changing, developing, evolving, becoming little more than shells of energy that carried their passengers.
As billions of years passed, the empire grew and grew, an era of expansion and colonization. It was an empire that was rivalled by none, stretching across the universe, every galaxy colonized. The empire of star-gods was at its zenith and then… the stars began to turn red and bloat, fading and collapsing in on themselves. Billions were lost as supernovae devoured planets, as black holes ravaged the fabric of space-time, as other planets were drowned in barbarism and lost to the empire. In their arrogance, their hubris that they and they alone controlled the universe, they had failed to take the most basic factors into account- entropy.
“ OUR OLD UNIVERSE, THE ONE FROM WHENCE WE HAD COME, WAS ABOUT TO DIE. OUR CIVILIZATION WAS SEEMINGLY AT AN END. EVEN WE COULD NOT REVERSE ENTROPY.” A pause. The galaxies were no longer the shimmering scene of celestial beauty they once were. They were shrivelled, their luminescent white fading into a bruised red. The lights of the universe were slowly fading, dimming into nothingness. The empire was seemingly doomed. “ SO POWERFUL OUR RACE WAS, THOUGH, THAT SOME OF US HAD DISCOVERED A WAY TO PIERCE THE BARRIER BETWEEN UNIVERSES.”
A lone star-god, lines across his skin glowing brightly, regarded the machine before him. The group would realize that the building was identical to the strange shrines that they had seen upon first arriving in the meadow, so long ago. Ascertaining that it was indeed safe for him to begin his sojourn into infinity, he stepped inside, pressed his hands to the crystals that throbbed and hummed with power, and closed his eyes. He was a pioneer. He would go where none of his kind had gone before- to breach the barrier between universes, seeking new refuge for his kind. The Celestials were now at the brink of a new exodus: a way to save their doomed kind. The first settlers of other realities began their experimental seeking new universes to escape to and leave their dying reality behind.
“ THIS NETWORK STILL STANDS TODAY; SPANNING SEVERAL MILLION UNIVERSES, ALTHOUGH OUR RACE HAS LONG SINCE EVOLVED BEYOND THEIR USAGE. I BELIEVE THAT YOU ENCOUNTERED SEVERAL OF THEM WHEN YOU FIRST ARRIVED.
There was a pause, then. It was clear that something heavy was weighing on the heart of their narrator and guide to this strange and beautiful time. After a pause, he continued his explanation.
“AND YET… AND YET, OUR RACE BEGAN TO ARGUE. SOME FELT THAT OUR EMPIRE HAD RUN ITS COURSE, AND WE WERE NOT TO INTERFERE WITH THE AFFAIRS OF OTHER REALITIES. BUT OTHERS FELT OUR DESTINY LAY WITH OUR ABILITY TO TRAVERSE THE SPACES UNTHOUGHT OF BY LESSER RACES.” Indeed, the images that now surrounded the group showed glowing star-beings arguing with one another, debating endlessly about the ethics involved in their new form of transportation. The arguments turned to fights, the fights to battles, the battles to a war. Weapons of unprecedented scale rocked the dying universe, as god fought god- with devices and technologies too strange and terrible to describe. The destruction was total. Weapons of terrifying efficiency and lethality were engineered, used, and destroyed in a lethal cycle. Battles of horrific scale stretched across the dying universe, the red and bloated suns casting the light of the combatants into horrific detail. The screams of murderer and murdered rose and fell in turn, turning the entire universe into a bloodbath, a cauldron of war and bloodshed for billions of years, until what remained of the universe was a burnt-out husk, nearly devoid of any energy whatsoever. The incalculably large numbers of Celestials were a thing of the past. Out of the quintillions of Celestials that once existed, barely a few thousand remained, too weary to even contemplate the notion of war. The war had, in a way, been won by the separatists, for they greatly outnumbered the loyalists. “ THE WAR DEVASTATED BOTH SIDES. SOON THERE WERE HARDLY ANY OF US ABLE CONTINUE THE WAR. WE HAD NO ENERGY LEFT TO STOP OUR KIN FROM COLONIZING THE MULTIVERSE. THE ONES WHO WISHED TO LEAVE, LEFT. BUT WE REMAINED.”
Under the light of a blazing red sun one of the few that still existed as the universe collapsed around it, thousands of glowing humanoids * concentrated, willing themselves off of this planet-such was the march of technology since the war that the need for augmentative technology was no longer needed. Like seeds from a dandelion, they spread across the universes, building colonies and cities, bolstering their numbers with new, artificially created Celestials created from other mortals and even abstract concepts. They looked to a bright future, seeking new suns for their endeavors… while their cousins remained on the few worlds that were still habitable, creating new devices to cheat death and entropy and keep their civilizations alive for a few million years, ever riding the ragged edge of chance and luck.
“FROM THEN ON, WE, THE ONES WHO REMAINED, CALLED OURSELVES THE REMNANTS… AND THEY, WHO SOUGHT REFUGE ELSEWHERE, DOOMED TO WANDER FOREVERMORE, CALLED THEMSELVES THE NOMADS. SOME OF YOU WILL REMEMBER THAT SOME EVENTUALLY GREW BORED WITH THEIR WANDERING EXISTENCE. THEY BEGAN TO TAMPER IN THE AFFAIRS OF OTHER RACES, CREATING STRANGE GAMES FOR THEM TO PARTAKE IN; FOR WHAT REASON I CANNOT SAY. MY KNOWLEDGE OF THE NOMADS ENDS THERE, FOR THE NOMADS ARE A RACE OF LOST CHILDREN; THEY SEEK NEW HOMES AMONG AN UNCARING COSMOS.”
“THIS ONE WORLD IS ALL THAT REMAINS OF OUR HOME UNIVERSE, AND ONLY THREE REMNANTS NOW REMAIN. IN THE LIBRARIUM, TIME PASSES INFINTESSAMALLY SLOWLY, COMPARED TO THE OUTSIDE UNIVERSE. WHILE MANY OF THE FIRST ‘NOMADS’ HAVE LONG SINCE PASSED AWAY, WE, WHO WITNESSED THE WAR, ARE STILL ALIVE. WE ARE THE OLDEST OF OUR KIND, AND WE WILL BE THE LAST.”
The lights flared back to life, revealing their guide, looking older and more wizened than ever before. “I am Yee,” he said. “As one who catalogues all knowledge, I must warn you that a new and dangerous echo from the past has surfaced…”
edited 4th Oct '11 4:56:29 AM by Locoman
"Yeah, so far, the challenges range from shop-keeping to fighting with robotic gorillas." Shotaro said to the Marine. He then noticed Delta petting Fluttershy, as well as the girl with the strawberry color and cat ears.
"Who's that you got there, Delta?" Shotaro asked him, referring to Kaede.