"Of course, Satsuki-sama."
Gordon looked around at the newly greyscaled world. Well... this was new.
"What the hell?" he asked. "What... what's happening? Where are we? We're almost... disconnected."
"Oh, dear. The toad, the monkey, and the dog have all screwed up."
The Mighty Pen
Jack's head whirled as he tried to take in his strange new perspective. He had done many things, but walking on thin air was not one of them, much less upside down. He had to make a mighty effort to stop his head from spinning and his stomach protested somewhat against the new world, but he managed to stay upright, whatever upright meant here, and kept his sword up in a guard position. At least he was no longer in danger of looking up at the hole in the sky. Even so, this place was taking a toll on him, finally. He felt as though he could almost hear the mad laughter of his inner demon, who he had thought vanquished long ago. Even worse...he thought he saw, for the blink of an eye, a black spot upon one hand, the prelude to the horrific infection he had suffered once at Aku's hands. It was only an illusion brought on by the evil here. Or so he told himself. He looked around, trying to see anything that could be of help to them or an enemy they might fight.
"What is this place?" he murmured.
A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent upon arriving. -Lao Tzu
I'm Back Bitches (not really)
The Doctor babbles randomly about the possible science and how this could work and only form around certain people.
To Be Updated when I'm not Lazy
Bitch pills
Rey glanced around a moment, chuckling. "The television's reception just went cocked."
Easing back into life one step at a time
Flandre flew down next to Ravage and frowned. She looked over all the downed figured and said "I dunno. The doctor lady was acting weird and they tried to help her. Then they all fell down."
A pulse of shadow energy pulsed out from Icarax.
ENOUGH!
edited 26th May '11 10:20:57 PM by biomechtraveler
"Why did this happen?"
sword of promised halp
Link looked around for a moment.
"This... was it... a test of some kind? Of our loyalties?"
"Or was it something else?"
All this twisting and turning... it's the Forest Temple all over again....
Fortunately, he was used to strange, unusual perspectives by now, and so was able to keep his head.
"Link...can't you hear me... Link, it's me...Link...." The voice of his mother echoed in the back of his head.
He closed his eyes for a moment, sorrowful.
"I'm...sorry...Mother...."
edited 26th May '11 11:02:07 PM by troydenite
'Being around you guys makes me go "wtf" instead of pondering the ever increasing dread of time' - EchoingSilence, 2023
Icarax struggled for a moment.
"This is like the kind of illusions Teridax likes to throw..... they seem real until you stop believing in them...."
Let us go, nomad and we will repay our debt and thanks when we finish this challenge.
sword of promised halp
"No." Link shook his head.
"This is more than an illusion, Icarax. This part, at least, is real."
He readied his blade, preparing for what was to follow, and walked in behind Jack.
edited 26th May '11 11:27:01 PM by troydenite
'Being around you guys makes me go "wtf" instead of pondering the ever increasing dread of time' - EchoingSilence, 2023
"Yours?" Bolas replied, with a measure of amusement. "She did not carry your signature, nor did you control her. She was not yours. If I had wished to STEAL her I would have used a very different spell besides."
"But if you seek to punish me, it would be impolite to at least introduce myself before you inevitably fail. I am Nicol Bolas, Elder Dragon and God-Emperor. Combating, defeating, and outliving all of my kin was but the first of my great deeds. I have traveled the Multiverse for longer than most any civilization can comprehend existing, and commanded fear and respect on any world. I have merged together five different planes into a single entity merely to make it more convenient to harvest their power. Toying with minds is but a pass-time for me. I can guarantee I have personally experienced anguishes worse than you can muster a thousand times over the span of my life, remember each and every one of them, and they mean nothing to me now."
"If you seek to break me, you will find it impossible. But I invite you to try. Let us do battle."
As a telepathic message, it would be instantly relayed, but Bolas had provided the time
to let it sink in anyway. He honestly doubted the creature would care and he acknowledged that it may already know this. But some things had to be done simply for effect.
This challenge indeed was shaping up to be quite the event for him. An exercise such as the one it was providing him was always welcome for a being with his vast talent and always looking to use it.
edited 27th May '11 12:13:30 AM by SOCR
How can you be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all?
Bitch pills
Rey continued towards where the group had fallen, still humming slightly. He examined the prone bodies a moment, then went to Gordon's side, reaching down and carefully removing the scientist's glasses, then moved to Jack's side, putting the spectacles over his eyes instead. He then sat down, rocking himself and smiling proudly, as though he'd just acheived something of epic proportions.
Easing back into life one step at a time
"What happened to them?"
"Yup. That tasted purple."
Bitch pills
Rey shrugged faintly. "Naptime." He grinned. "When they wake up, John and Dave won't be able to see so they'll be safe from the pretty things up in the sky."
Easing back into life one step at a time
"You are within the good doctor's mind," a dry, familiar voice rasped from somewhere behind those challengers assembled within this strange, greyscaled world.
Were they to turn around, they would see Dr. Langley sitting on thin air a short distance away, naked and curled up into a fetal ball; smoky tendrils whirled and whorled about her, forming a barrier of ethereal thorns which seemed to prick at her every few seconds, and if they were to listen intently the challengers might hear the faint, choral harmonies of a well-known piece of classical music echoing about her person.
"This isn't right," she muttered to herself, shrinking further as the music swelled as though it were causing her intense pain. "None of it is...!"
The shadowy space in which Bolas found himself seemed to explode with sardonic laughter. BOLD WORDS INDEED, DRAGON; WERE I A LESSER BEING, I MIGHT BE TEMPTED TO MAKE YOU EAT THEM. BUT I DIGRESS—A SUITABLY IRONIC PUNISHMENT ALREADY SPRINGS TO MIND...
An intense white light flared into existence somewhere far above the Elder Dragon, and the sound of howling wind and rustling scales might reach his ears. Concealed within the heart of that blinding ivory radiance, something was moving...something very big.
AS I RECALL, YOU GAINED A GOOD DEAL OF YOUR POWER WHEN YOU KILLED AND CONSUMED A DEMONIC LEVIATHAN IN ONE OF THE EARLIEST DUELS BETWEEN YOUR KIND, the voice continued, casually and conversationally. HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHAT THAT MIGHT HAVE FELT LIKE—TO HAVE THE FLESH TORN FROM YOUR BONES, YOUR MUSCLES RIPPED APART AND YOUR ORGANS TORN OPEN—AND ALL THE WHILE YOU ARE STILL CONSCIOUS, STILL COGNIZANT OF THE PAIN YET POWERLESS TO AVERT YOUR FATE? NOT A PLEASANT EXPERIENCE, BY ANY STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION.
The light vanished then, revealing the shimmering, silver-scaled form of a great, serpentine wyrm. This argent dragon was equal in size to Bolas, though markedly different in that it had no limbs other than a pair of long, muscular arms which terminated in two vicious, four-fingered hands, whose golden talons gleamed in the darkness. It flew lazily in a circle some distance overhead, supported seemingly by nothing, and it tilted its head slightly to one side in order to regard Bolas with one of its cruel, pupiless golden orbs. Two great brown ram's horns curled outward from either side of the wyrm's saurian skull, above which grew a pair of straight antlers seemingly hewn from solid gold, and two long silver whiskers sprouted from the tip of its snout into a pair of long streamers which seemed to move of their own volition.
WELL-MET, NICOL BOLAS, it spoke directly into the planeswalker's mind, its telepathic voice at once noble and arrogant. "I AM ARKLENZIDATH THE HARROWER, MASTER OF WYRMS AND FIRSTBORN AMONG THE MOTHER'S CHILDREN. LONG HAVE I SOUGHT TO TEST MYSELF IN BATTLE AGAINST A WORTHY FOE; A PITY THAT I CANNOT FACE YOU IN YOUR PRIME, FOR THEN THE CONFLICT WOULD TRULY HAVE BEEN GREAT. THAT SAID, EVEN WEAKENED AS YOU ARE YOU SHOULD PROVIDE A STIMULATING CHALLENGE; I LOOK FORWARD TO FEASTING ON YOUR ENTRAILS AND SUPPING THE MARROW FROM YOUR BONES.
NOW NOW, BOYS, the first voice said somewhat sardonically, PLAY NICE.
Ravage peered at Mysterio, one optic twitching faintly as he took in the wrestler's antics. The Predacon knelt down beside Jack, removed the glasses from his face and gave the samurai as gentle a slap as he could manage—which, considering his large size and mechanical nature, was still quite painful. The Danse Macabre Codex
Bitch pills
Rey chuckled a little at Ravage. "Nice to know you won't hit a man with glasses." He formed O-shapes by putting his thumbs and forefingers together, then held them roughly over the area that his eyes would be, still watching him.
Easing back into life one step at a time
"Do you really think that's going to stop him?"
edited 27th May '11 11:15:52 AM by Deadbeatloser22
"Yup. That tasted purple."
The Mighty Pen
"What have you done to her?" Jack demanded of the mysterious voice, looking around in a vain search for something to fight. "Why are we here?"
A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent upon arriving. -Lao Tzu
I'm Back Bitches (not really)
"Her mind... So dark, so cold. What did you do?"
To Be Updated when I'm not Lazy
"I have done nothing," the voice replied, its tone mocking. "Everything you see before you is a product of the good doctor's own psyche, the night terrors she keeps locked away in the deepest recesses of her mind. The chaos and madness of the past few hours has broken those locks, however, and given the spectres of her past free reign; tangible now, they seek vengeance upon her for the crime of trying to forget them."
A whirlwind of blue dust formed behind Dr. Langley's tortured mental form, the dust assembling and connecting itself together into a shape which most of the champions might find familiar.
"Hello, 'old friends'," Dis Baba said sardonically. "Miss me?"
Frowning, Ravage tossed the glasses aside without a care for where they might land and used two of his fingers to pry open the lids of Jack's left eye. The Predacon waved one hand before the samurai, rumbling in irritation when his action provoked no response.
"Well, they aren't dead," he said at length, "but they don't react to external stimuli; it's almost as though their minds have been removed from their bodies."
The Danse Macabre Codex
I'm Back Bitches (not really)
"You nomadic... You do NOT use Dis or ANY of my friends to taunt me or any of us!"
To Be Updated when I'm not Lazy
Bitch pills
Rey got up, walking over to pick up the glasses, coming back and sitting in his old spot, grinning a little. "I told you, the reception got knocked out of balance. They're channel surfing."
Easing back into life one step at a time
The Mighty Pen
"You!" Jack exclaimed. "We had thought you dead, your body used by one of our captors as a vessel with which to speak. Is that the case now...or were you always in league with them?"
Then he realized what Dis Baba had said.
"Very well, if that is what is happening, explain how we may stop it. And what do you mean by spectres of the past?"
A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent upon arriving. -Lao Tzu
"Of course, Satsuki-sama."
Things were happying fairly quickly. Langley's mental form, curled into a ball, Dis Baba's sudden appearance...
"Dis Baba?" Gordon asked. "How did you get here. How can we bring Doctor Langley back?"
"Oh, dear. The toad, the monkey, and the dog have all screwed up."
Bolas' spells had no discernable effect—and less than an instant after casting them, the Elder Dragon would suddenly find that a shroud had fallen over his senses; beyond his own body and the mana which coursed through it, he could see, hear, and feel absolutely nothing save for an all-emcompassing darkness. Then two flickering red lights flared into existence a short distance from his face, and beneath them a crimson, crescent gash tore its way into existence, bending upward at the corners in rough approximation of a malevolent grin.
YOU DISAPPOINT ME, WORM, it seemed to say, its distorted and flanged words echoing and reverberating from everywhere. TWICE NOW YOU'VE TRIED TO CLAIM WHAT IS MINE—AND IF THERE IS ONE THING I DESPISE MORE THAN THIEVES, IT IS THIEVES FOOLISH ENOUGH TO REPEAT THEIR CRIMES. HOW SHALL I PUNISH YOU, I WONDER...
As the challengers directed their attacks at the space directly in front of Dr. Langley, the woman's eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she suddenly collapsed, like a marionette whose strings had just been cut all at once. The very instant that she hit the grass-covered ground, those who had valiantly attacked the invisible strangler would suddenly feel as though the world had turned upside down—and then suddenly everything froze and went monochrome. Spriggan, Jack, Kimimaro, Link, Gordon and the rest would find that they still had colour and were able to move, but—from their perspective—they were standing upside down thirty feet up in the air, supported seemingly by nothing and looking up at the frozen, greyscale figures of their fellow challengers, those who had not acted directly in Dr.Langley's defense...
Ravage, having opted to follow that strange silhouette for a bit longer after Jack had turned back, gave up when he heard the sound of gunfire and turned back, loping off towards the clearing at all speed. He skidded to a halt when he arrived, blinking in bemusement at the large group which had gathered about Dr. Langley. Was this an intervention or something, as the humans sometimes called it?
His puzzlement quickly turned to alarm, however, when every member of that gathering suddenly went limp and collapsed.
"Primus!" he swore, dashing over to try and rouse the unconscious challengers. "What happened?!"
The Danse Macabre Codex