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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Mar 15, 2016 20:11:40 GMT -5
It might not have been as populous as the civilizations to the south and east, but there was still a very pleasant and welcoming atmosphere to Igloo Village. A cozy little village at the base of the mountains, where people in parkas and warm weather gear went about their business, whether it be returning from a fishing trip to the lake, relaxing at the hot spring, or simply enjoying the wintery atmosphere with each other. And as night fell upon the island, the stars and the lanterns lining the icy walkways lit up the frozen village and the snowflakes that drifted down from the crystal peaks, casting twinkling light throughout the land.
But as the villagers wandered about, returned to their homes or lounged in the spring's hot water, no one noticed the dark shapes sneaking about in the shadows. Swerving between the igloos. Encompassing the camp with none the wiser. With only the dull glow of the lanterns and the glimmers reflecting off the snow to illuminate the village, everything seemed as peaceful as usual, the darkness just as evident.
Until...
BOOM
All at once, the darkness itself seemed to smash into several igloos, toppling the icy structures to the ground. Simultaneously, hordes of blue-eyed Præt'nos lunged out of the darkness to ambush the unsuspecting bystanders. Almost instinctively, the people ran screaming, many unfortunate enough to find themselves trapped by the shadows that the demons commanded or beneath the collapsed ice of their own homes. The wall of shadows that rose up around the village ensured that no one would get far...
A mighty geyser erupted from the hot spring, the boiling water raining down on the village. Snow and ice melted, the ground turning to slush, igloos collapsing in on themselves. At the center of this jet stream, General Phlegmatic smiled calmly at the display of chaos and panic before him, expertly commanding the water that quickly started to flood the streets.
"Nothing personal, good people! I promise you... this will only hurt for a second!"
It was insane. It was messy. But hey... it was fun.
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Post by ryocker on Mar 15, 2016 21:06:29 GMT -5
The recently named Frosty was currently taking a nap behind one of those home, snoring quietly as everything seemed peaceful as usual...
BEING JOLTED AWAKE AS MONSTERS APPEARED, DESTROYING IGLOOS AND SENDING HOT WATER IN EVERY DIRECTION!!!
A small splash of the hotspring water hit her head, the sprite shivering and shaking as she jolted awake. She slid into the village, looking around as those massive beasts stormed the area. Without warning, one barreled eight toward her, a demonic grin in its eyes.
Her hands gained a light blue glow, the sprite sending one upward as it struck the Praetnos in the neck, the creature stopping for a moment. Judging by the way it gripped at the area between the neck and shoulder, Frosty realized a weakpoint.
With a forward swip, a massive spear of ice crammed itself into the beast's side neck, rendering it a shadowy pile.
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Post by gantzgun74 on Mar 15, 2016 22:06:28 GMT -5
Meanwhile a distance away from the village of Igloos and hidden away in the icy mountains.... The Laboratory of Alphys becomes visible, with the lab having the perfect view of what would appear to be steam and general chaos coming from the direction of the Igloo Village.
-------------------------------
................
"WHAT THE HELL-....?" Undyne was wide-eyed as she looked out the window. Frisk was just as much so. "Wait... I'm... No expert in this kind of stuff but... Alphys.... There shouldn't be STEAM coming from cold places like this right???" Undyne looked so freaking confused, unsure of what to think at the unsure sight from the window.
Frisk was equally unsure. "I know that doesn't look right... What's going on down there-??" Wasn't all of that commotion coming from the general direction of the Village of Igloos? The child checked their map.... Yeah, it was in the right general direction...
.....
But this feeling Frisk was getting from down there....
They were suddenly thankful that this lab was so well hidden up in the mountains....
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Mar 15, 2016 22:38:18 GMT -5
Properly confused, Alphys paused the TV and scurried over to the window to see for herself. Ever curious, Roman followed suit, pressing his paws and nose against the glass as he stared down the mountain.
"Oh... Oh my!" The clouds of steam were indeed billowing from Igloo Village, and judging by the blinding quantity, this was clearly the result of something bigger than the hot spring. Even worse, when they listened closely enough, they could just barely make out sounds of panic. "Th-The village! Something must be... melting the ice!"
"A foe attempting to melt an entire village to the ground!" He might've been jumping to conclusions, given that the cause of the melting snow was as of yet unknown, but obviously Roman wasn't going to take this lying down. "Someone has to save those people! I'll get my battle claws!"
"R-Roman, wait!" As the wolf pup turned to dash away, Alphys caught Roman by the sleeve of his shirt, promptly stopping him. "I-If something is attacking the village... it'll be way too dangerous for you to take it on! And even if that isn't the case, a-at the rate the snow is melting, th-there could very well be an avalanche immanent!"
"Avalanche, phooey!" Roman yanked his arm free. "I could freeze that village back up in no time!"
"Y-You're not powerful enough to refreeze all of that melting ice!"
"I can handle it!"
"I-I don't want you getting hurt!"
"Please?"
The wolf and the lizard turned around in shock when their argument was cut short by the distant sound of... gunshots?
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As the Præt'nos swarmed about, striking down villagers, destroying everything in their way, setting their sights on the sprite that had easily taken down one of their own... two new challengers appeared.
First, a bullet struck a Præt'nos right in the nape of its neck, rendering the demon a writhing, rapidly dissolving mass of shadow. Soon after, Jen leaped into the fray, guns blazing, leather coat whipping in the wind. She shot a few more dead-on before landing in the snow, instantly leaping aside to avoid the shadowy tendrils that lunged at her.
Following suit to some degree, Darien leaned up against the melting remains of an igloo, shooting down two Præt'nos before digging through the snow and slush to free the people trapped beneath. "Get outta here! I've got you covered!"
Wading through the waters, dodging shadows, protecting the fleeing people, shooting for the neck of any Præt'nos they could, Jen and Darien were quickly on top of things. Partway through, Jen looked over her shoulder, instantly making eye contact with the demon in charge.
"Phlegmatic."
"Jennifer."
The general quickly commanded his jet of hot water to launch in her direction. Jen was quick to leap out of the way, only receiving a minor soaking.
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Post by ryocker on Mar 15, 2016 23:11:32 GMT -5
Frosty ducked in panic at the sight of the hot water- seemed ice sprites had a weakness to the stuff. Peaking back up, her hands took on the same icy glow, the sprite making a giant Wall of Ice appear when the general blasted more water around. She wasn't sure what to do- With this much water around, she could only keep her ice up for so long!
She needed extra fire power for the first time in her life- And she had no idea what could possibly do that for her.
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Post by gantzgun74 on Mar 16, 2016 0:14:20 GMT -5
Undyne listened to Alphys talk, but most of it just sounded like smartypants nerd talk to her. All she could hear was what was probably the sound of people screaming... Little knowing that she very likely WAS listening to them. Something was down there hurting innocent people and she couldn't ignore it. Undyne HAD to get down there.
She HAD to do something and she had to do it now.
....
Frisk was the first one to notice the sheer increase of determination in the room. "? Um... Undy-"
UNDYNE LOOKED POSTIVELY LIVID.
"Whatever the case we have to get down there!!!"
Frisk was wide-eyed at this, as they hugged Undyne's leg. "B-But the avalanche-!"
"AVALANCHE, SHMAVALANCHE! I'M GOING! Something is obviously going on and I'm not gonna sit around with my thumb up my ass!" The fish woman took a moment to pick up Frisk gently and put them down... The second following, Undyne continued stomping to the door. "Those people need help... AND I'M THE SPEAR OF JUSTICE DAMMIT!!! I'll skewer anyone that does bad in front of me!"
....
At that moment, it looked like nothing Alphys or Frisk said was going to stop this wild woman on a mission.
.... And really Frisk wasn't sure they blamed her.
Fighting the bad-guys was the closest way Undyne could feel like the olden days, back when she was still a royal guard.
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Mar 16, 2016 9:58:43 GMT -5
"U-Undyne! Wait!"
Alphys knew Undyne well. If there was anyone who could handle this fight, Alphys believed that she could. If anything, she wanted to ensure that the fish warrior was well and truly ready to leap back into action. Thus, Alphys scrambled over to a large storage unit on the other side of the room.
"I-If you're going... you might need this!"
"Wait, if she's going, then why can't I?!" Roman demanded.
Too preoccupied to keep arguing with the child, Alphys opened up one of the unit's larger compartments, unveiling what appeared to be a slightly modified version of Undyne's Royal Guard armor, complete with brand new and improved shoulder pads, gloves, boots and chest plate. Sleek yet jagged. Lightweight yet nigh impenetrable.
"J-Just..." Alphys smiled up at Undyne, worried yet hopeful. "C-Come back safe and sound... you hear me?"
----------
Jen tucked, rolled and leaped back onto her feet, aiming and firing at Phlegmatic's neck. The water general was quick to slink into the shadows and vanish. Knowing him, he would be working behind the scenes for a while. They'd have to coax him back out. Make him believe that he had truly bested them.
For the time being, Jen got back to work evacuating the villagers and defending them from the Præt'nos trying to strike them down.
While he did the same, Darien took note of the rising waters. Through the protective layers of his boots, he could tell that the water was warm. Not hot, but certainly nowhere near freezing temperature. However, that wasn't what concerned him. What really put him on edge was that the snow along the mountainside was still melting. Crumbling.
"Jen! If the ice keeps melting like this, that snowbank's going to collapse and bury this place!"
"We have to get everyone to safety!" Jen insisted, shouting above their shared gunfire. "If we can at least get them out of the way of the snowbank, we can deal with the Præt'nos in full then!"
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Post by ryocker on Mar 16, 2016 10:37:50 GMT -5
A stray Praet'nos lunged toward one of the escaping villagers, an icicle jamming into it neck as Frosty watched. "Snow-bank?" she asked. She stopped the glow in her hands a moment, making a tiny ice sword she slashed at Praet'nos with. Her strikes were weak, but it only took one good hit in the neck. "Giant snow?" She finally set her eyes on the large, curved slope of snow over-looking the village, glaring as she hoofed her thirteen inch body toward it.
Having no time to run the whole way there, she took a deep breath, trying to channel her energy into making an ice wall to stop the incoming snow. During this stunt, she was wide open, and had no way of defending herself while trying to keep the village from getting reduced to a pile of snow and ice.
On the other side of the village, where the Praet'nos were looking for stragglers... a dimensional portal opened, an unfortunate soul being dropped into the fray. A three foot, yellow bodied being with intense upper body shape tumbled out, seemingly confused at what was going on. With no idea what to do, he vacantly stared at everything going on...
...but felt something odd in the air.
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Post by gantzgun74 on Mar 16, 2016 21:54:41 GMT -5
Roman's answer came in the form of Frisk lightly papping his nose with the rolled up newspaper. "Look Roman, I'm sorry but... You don't know this island like we do... This could become VERY dangerous. We should leave it to Undyne, she's the one that has actual combat training." They looks up to Undyne as Alphys spoke her piece... Still, Frisk themself was unsure... Sure Undyne was strong. Sure she had only been growing stronger in recent days... But would she alone be enough?
........ As for Undyne, her eyes were wide upon seeing the armor. Seeing that very familiar armor once more. She walked over to the storage compartment and easily took the helmet off the hook... She looked it over...
.... One could almost swear she was crying.
".... NNNGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAH~!!!!!!!!" She drops the helmet and all but bear-hugs Alphys, the biggest possible smile EVER on her face. "IT'S-!! IT'S MY OLD ARMOR~!!! BUT EVEN BETTER~!! I can't believe you kept it!! That's amazing~!!!!" Undyne then flat out kissed Alphys full on the lips (Eliciting a near squeal from Frisk at the sheer cuteness), before Undyne put the lizard down and gleefully RIPPED THE ARMOR OUT OF THE STORAGE COMPARTMENT. It took Undyne not even seconds to get the armor on, starting with the chainmail leggings, then the knee plates and boots. The chainmail shirt came next, followed by the almost massive looking chest plate that made the normally skinny looking Undyne look like a goddamned TITAN.
When she finished, Frisk found their breath caught in their throat, almost remembering back to the good old days in the Underground when Undyne chased after them in full armor. How nightmarish she looked as she tossed spears left and right.
"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLL YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAH~!!!!! I LOVE IT!!!!!! NOW!!! ONWARD TO THE FIGHT~!!!!! Thanks a ton Alphys~!!! Whoooot~!!!!" She was out the door in seconds, with Frisk and Roman being blown past out of Undyne's sheer energy and glee. She almost looked like one of her own spears jetting out of the lab in a way.
"..... Well I'd say she's happy~."
OH GEE FRISK. YOU THINK?
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Mar 16, 2016 22:22:50 GMT -5
Roman could only whine when Frisk whapped his muzzle with the newspaper, subsequently folding his arms and pouting.
"OOP-! Eheheh...!" Alphys turned red as stop sign (and not the blue kind) when Undyne scooped her into a massive hug. It was hard to tell if her inability to breathe was a result of the tight embrace or just Alphys getting choked up on her emotions. She had been so excited to show Undyne her upgraded armor, knowing how anxious the former head of the Royal Guard was to get back into some action. She would've expressed this joy if not for the sudden kiss that completely stole the words right out of her mouth.
Once Undyne had set her down to put the armor on, Alphys could only stand there and watch, trembling with wide-eyed, sweaty giddiness. Undyne's excitement was contagious enough as it was, but her appreciation was more than enough to send Alphys aflutter. And dang if she didn't wear that armor well. She was going to do great out there. As always.
"YIP!!!" Roman suddenly found himself plowed aside as Undyne bolted out the door, crashing ungracefully into the work desk. Alphys didn't even notice this while she was up high on cloud nine.
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The evacuation process was slow. The Præt'nos just seemed to keep coming, no matter how many bullets Jen and Darien unloaded into their necks. It seemed like they couldn't step away from a villager for five seconds without risking an attempt at their lives.
And based on the rumbles, the snowbank was most definitely going to come crashing down all too soon.
The bursts of hot water erupting from deep underground, not even close to the residential hot spring itself, would make quick work of that.
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Post by DanteMGalileo on Mar 16, 2016 22:47:58 GMT -5
Meanwhile, running roughly present with the chaos...
A pair of teenage boys, one brunette and one blonde, sat in one of the hot springs, piles of clothes folded off to the side, apparently totally oblivious to the fight going on around the village. Then again, it takes a lot to rattle a bounty hunter...
"The water's so nice, you're going to have to drag me out..." said the brunette with a pleasured sigh. "Really, I'm just glad we landed here..."
"Wanna see who can stand the heat the longest?" replied the blonde, looking just as content as his companion. "I think it's one thing humans, angels, and demons can all agree on... hot springs are amazing."
"Heh..." Percy said. "And it's one thing Purgatorio will agree on with the old Earth too, if the books Leanne reads are any indicator..."
"Yeah... Oh man, that hits the spots..." William responded, sinking down a bit further into the hot water.
The two hunters would have been content to remain in their spring, had it not been for-
PWOOOOOSSSSSHHHHHHH!!!!!
THE SUDDEN GEYSER SHOOTING OUT FROM RIGHT NEXT TO THEIR SPRING.
Percy's hand morphed into an axe blade and created a gash in the land next to him, while William's blade had stabbed a pretty big hole in the area near him.
"Sounds like trouble," Percy said, climbing out and morphing his hand back to normal. "Could be dangerous. Let's go!!"
"Yeah," William agreed, climbing out but merely deactivating the blade. "But let's be careful this time. Remember what happened when we had to deal with the Yukemuri wizard? Man, you forgot your c-"
"Please don't remind me," Percy sharply retorted back, slightly red in the face, already fully clothed and throwing on his coat. "And it's not like you were fully clothed either."
"W-W-Well, yeah!! But- OH NEVERMIND!!!" came the blonde's reply, William already throwing on his shirt. "Forget it for now! We've both learned our lesson!!"
"Ready?"
"Ready, partner."
Percy morphed a hand into an axe blade and William summoned the blade again, the two hunters rushing towards the source of the chaos.
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Post by ryocker on Mar 16, 2016 23:06:47 GMT -5
Frosty flopped onto her front, heavily gasping as her attempted barricade stood on one end of the village. She quickly got up, trying to psyche herself up for combat with these invading menaces. Trying to get the gist of her power back, she defaulted to making a lot of them trip by summoning ice, then stabbing their necks with her tiny ice blade. Elsewhere, however...
"Oooh, fresh meat," one of the Praet'nos smiled, approaching the chunky yellow thing. "Yeck, smells like lightning. Your soul's gonna be a grand addition to the ranks!"
SHWAAAACK!!
An intense punch from the uni-browed sprite sent the shadowy demon sailing high into the air, the glare in his eyes apparent. Before any others could try attacking him, their ally landed smack on top of them, the brute's body crackling with electricity as he trudged along. Bits of the snow melted with each step, the brute finally finding what made the air seem so compelling.
On instinct, Frosty looked up, noticing him as well. She ignored the onslaught of oncoming shadow monsters, ducking and slashing through them as the massive newcomer simply swatted them aside. When the pair of them met, it wasn't in anger-
They hugged, the yellow behemoth tossing Frosty into the air as she landed on his head. "Hunter... I'm Perun," he smiled.
"Strong... Frosty," she replied.
The party was about to get started.
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Post by gantzgun74 on Mar 19, 2016 18:37:29 GMT -5
All of the chaos was continuing on with all due haste and confusion, the combatants slamming into each other and attempting to keep each other back-
"HRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!"
Several spears suddenly rained down on the battle field, all of them seemingly aimed at the very evil looking shadow like creatures, slicing through indiscriminately whether it be through the chest, legs, or even right through a subtly placed hand and ripping through the neck. It wasn't like the caster immediately noticed anyway. When the shadows looked up to the hillside... Standing up there? A very broad and intimidating figure wearing dark armor, the helmet almost looking like a black head with gnashing black teeth. ".... I DUNNO WHO THE HELL YOU THINK YOU LOSERS ARE..."
She pointed up into the sky, the sun glinting off the armor. "But here's who the hell I AM~!!! I'M UNDYNE!! The Spear of Justice, here ta RECK YER SHIT!!!!"
A geyser blasted near her but Undyne just grinned and dodged before another one could send her flying. Sliding down the snowbank at high speeds, the girl summoned up even more glowing blue spears and jumped into a large group of shadow monsters surrounding innocent civillians. "YEAAAAH~!!!!!" She landed amidst the crowd....
....
BAM!!!!!! And the blue spears blasted out of the armored figure at high speeds, sending the shadows flying.
Underneath the helmet, Undyne was grinning like a goddamned kid as she turned to the civillians, all shivering in fear. Nodding, she created another spear-
THEN USED IT TO OBLITERATE A SHADOW'S HEAD WITH A POWERFUL THROW. "GET OUTTA HERE!! GO!!!" .... Though intimidated, the people decided to take her word for it and RAN. Smiling widely, she took in the sheer number of creatures still around....
The monster warrior just created another spear..... AND SEVERAL MORE FORMED AROUND HER STANDING SENTRY. "You freaks.... Are in for a WORLD of hurt~." And thus this continued on, with Undyne soundly ripping through the numbers with more blue spears then any one person could ever sanely THINK of carrying.
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Mar 19, 2016 19:00:32 GMT -5
A few Præt'nos went down. Down, but not out. When the muscular sprite gave one of them a mighty uppercut, sending it into the air, its disconnected body dispersed into raw shadow, falling back to earth and reassembling upon merging with the shadows once more. Most who found themselves struck by the glowing spears were likewise only temporarily disrupted, while a few of them were unfortunate enough to take these hits to the neck.
Though she was still hard at work, Jen watched with keen interest as the Præt'nos' numbers were slowly whittled down. She spared a quick glance at Darien, who was sticking with the crowd to ensure that any demons trying to follow them were taken out. "You go on ahead! We've got this covered!"
"Be careful!" Darien called back before turning back around to lead the villagers to safety.
Jen nodded and reloaded, expertly releasing her pistols' empty clips and slamming in news ones like a true action heroine. She then leaped back into the shadowy fray, taking a moment to assess her fellow fighters. The sprites looked interesting; between the large one's strength and the small one's ice powers, they offered a lot in terms of support. Two new guys were charging in from the direction of the hot spring, armed for battle and clearly capable. And the woman in the armor, "Undyne" as she called herself... Well, she had already hit a few Præt'nos' weak spots without even trying. It was safe to say that they had a good team assembled.
"Aim for the nape of the neck!" Jen hollered, immediately following this up with a few masterfully-aimed shots. "And make it quick! This place is gonna be buried if we can't cap their general and keep the snow from melting!"
Hmm... Said general was keeping himself well hidden, observing the battle with fascination. He was well accustomed to Miss Anders's fighting style, but there were those amongst her group with abilities and tactics he was not so accustomed to. Curious as he might have been, Phlegmatic knew that he'd have to figure out some new strategies to deal with these ones.
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Post by DanteMGalileo on Mar 20, 2016 21:29:46 GMT -5
"DEATH BLOW!!"
"Er, smashing time?"
FWASH SMASH BASH!!
A rather fantastical light display lit up the area around the two hunters, Percy having coated his fist-turned-axe blade in a orangey light before slamming it into the neck of one of the nearby Præt'nos's neck, earning a pained scream before it dissolved back into shadow. Next to him, William swung the hard light blade, hitting a Præt'nos's midsection, earning a small scream of pain but nothing enough to vanquish the fiend.
"Dammit... Usually that works on Shaants..." William grunted, holding his defensive stance as Percy jumped over him, striking the shadow creature with the glowing axe hand.
"Aim for anywhere between the neck and the shoulder! It's the unholy cross between a Shaant and a guslaug!!"
KSSSSSSHHHHHH!!!!!!! There went a third Præt'nos to the axe hand.
"Emphasis on unholy."
"Perce, look out behind-"
The warning came too late, as another Præt'nos struck Percy with its claws. "Oh my, such a strong warrior... you'd make an excellent edition to our ranks..."
"Like hell I'd join the ranks of you hellspawn!!" Percy retorted, clenching his torn shirt with his right hand. "I'd rather die!!"
Before that Præt'nos could reply, William lunged forward with the blade, slicing with deadly force to its neck, causing it to scream before losing its physical form.
"Thanks for the cover-up. Hurry, let's get these wankers!!"
"I'm on it, Perce!"
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