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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Sept 25, 2017 19:40:33 GMT -5
It was a good thing the NES had stopped back at the Summer Snow apartment before venturing out, considering not only could Evan and Swift arm themselves with the elemental soul crystals they needed to properly rid themselves of the worm creatures, but Natalie's phone had been there waiting for her. They hadn't even thought about it beforehand, but communication would've been pretty awkward without it, especially with Natalie being completely new to the island, so it was great that someone had been nice enough to retrieve it from their home dimension for her. (COUGHDANGTIMEANGELCOUGH)
Once they were properly equipped, they had each ventured out to cover different sections of the island, spending the day searching for any remaining creatures. With Patrick and Ace covering the eastern region, Swift opted to head south towards the Rainforest while Natalie did an aerial search to the north. In the meantime, Evan searched westward and found very little, something he had anticipated, in all fairness. He had long since figured out that the worms didn't like rock, and out west there was almost nothing but rocks and sand.
As such, after a day's worth of hunting, with night quickly falling upon the island, Evan headed back towards the city, taking a detour through the woods to double-check for any stragglers. Sure enough, not only did he find a few more worms to cut down, but he also found a rather... disturbing sight...
Cocoons. Just as Kendall said. Large, membranous, rust-red cocoons plastered within the hollow of a tree, the curled-up worms just barely visible through the slightly transparent shell. Needless to say, Evan wasn't keen on the idea of letting these monsters mature into something worse than what they already were and took it upon himself to strike them with a carefully directed lightning bolt from his electric soul crystal-powered keyblade. That was all it took to destroy the delicate cocoons in one quick, albeit messy burst.
But even though the cocoons had been dealt with and the tree had been unharmed, the puff of red, dusty particles that erupted from the fractured shells and quickly rose into the air didn't sit well with him either. He had put enough distance between himself and the nest to avoid breathing any of the particles in, but still... "That... probably wasn't the smartest thing I could've done right now."
But hey, what else could he do? Hopeful as he was, determined as he was, he had to be honest with himself. He still didn't have much of a clue what he was doing. All he knew for sure was that these things had to die, lest they consume both the island and eventually his home universe.
Evan looked to the sky as the puff of dust scattered into the atmosphere. The red cloud obscured all light in the sky, creating a pitch-black night. The only source of light Evan could rely on was his phone.
With a sigh, Evan sat down on a rock and turned his attention on the aforementioned device in his hand. He pulled up the memo he had started earlier that day...
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-- paramountKeymaster [PK] added popcornFairy [PF] to board LAND OF DIMENSIONS AND CLASHES --
-- paramountKeymaster [PK] opened memo on board LAND OF DIMENSIONS AND CLASHES at [12:21] --
PK: Sooooo... I'm willing to assume that most of you out there are familiar with the angry snake creatures that were falling out of the sky and eating everything this morning. ._.
PK: If you are... please tell me you're willing to do something about it.
PK: Because Swift and I are for sure, but it'll be nice to know that there are plenty of folks out there willing to pitch in.
PK: I don't know what exactly they are. At least not as I type this.
PK: But I do know that they will consume this island entirely if we don't stop them.
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Post by DanteMGalileo on Sept 25, 2017 19:52:30 GMT -5
Meanwhile, miles and dimensions away from all the chaos...
A young man lazed about on a chair, apparently sunning himself. Several bags were nearby. Apparently, it was splurge day. Nothin' like a long day of shoppin' to reward several days of doing absolutely nothing.
Arti cracked open an eye upon hearing his phone go off. "Who dares interrupt my slumber? I was having a nice nap..."
-- paramountKeymaster [PK] added popcornFairy [PF] to board LAND OF DIMENSIONS AND CLASHES --
-- paramountKeymaster [PK] opened memo on board LAND OF DIMENSIONS AND CLASHES at [12:21] --
PK: Sooooo... I'm willing to assume that most of you out there are familiar with the angry snake creatures that were falling out of the sky and eating everything this morning. ._.
PK: If you are... please tell me you're willing to do something about it.
PK: Because Swift and I are for sure, but it'll be nice to know that there are plenty of folks out there willing to pitch in.
PK: I don't know what exactly they are. At least not as I type this.
PK: But I do know that they will consume this island entirely if we don't stop them.
...
Man, I am so high right now, Arti thought as he adjusted his glasses... And the message was still there.
... Well, that can't be good.
-- wolfenRegent [WR] responded to memo on board LAND OF DIMENSIONS AND CLASHES at [12:30] --
WR: yo ev is that you
WR: man what the hell is going on
WR: also whos the new chick
WR: ev
WR: you alive
WR: what are there a bunch of killer goats on there or something
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Sept 25, 2017 20:02:07 GMT -5
Evan sighed –well, it was more like a pant– as he stared at his phone. The desert heat was one thing. The horde of wyrms he had just flamed to death was another.
PK: Goats? I just said SNAKE-things, Arti.
PK: As in three-foot, limbless creatures with razor-sharp teeth and enormous appetites that were just falling out of that red cloud currently occupying the entire sky. T_T
PK: Pardon the long wait for my response. I just had to deal with a pretty hefty swarm of them.
PK: And the "new chick" (BTW, congrats on getting the gender right) is my friend Nat. She's visiting for a while to help us deal with these creatures. Be nice to her.
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Post by DanteMGalileo on Sept 25, 2017 20:07:51 GMT -5
Oh.
Well, that explained why he wasn't getting a tan. And the very pretty red colour of the sky. And why the shopkeepers all seemed to be more terrified of him than usual.
WR: well that explains a lot
WR: so you didnt think of inviting me to the party earlier
WR: rude
WR: i would have brought fireworks and perhaps a few molotov cocktails
WR: but they have a weakness
WR: should i get the alchemitor out
WR: ps is your friend single and into short messy haired freaky guys
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Sept 25, 2017 20:15:13 GMT -5
Ugh...
PK: Okay... in that order...
PK: I was kinda busy trying not to get eaten and/or preventing them from eating anyone else.
PK: They are vulnerable to fire. Anything else either does nothing or just causes them to divide into two separate entities.
PK: If you feel like you could whip something up to help, sure.
PK: And I'm pretty sure Nat is grey asexual. She clearly doesn't have any intent to form a romantic relationship with anyone.
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Post by DanteMGalileo on Sept 25, 2017 20:22:27 GMT -5
Tee hee hee.
WR: okay im gonna make some sweet gear
WR: burn baby burn
WR: i wonder if puttin that tramps record in would do anything
WR: ill be there when i get there
WR: ill be hot
WR: well hotter than usual
WR: so fire and
WR: anything else i need to know?
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Sept 25, 2017 20:29:07 GMT -5
Evan couldn't help but scowl slightly.
PK: I didn't really understand half of that, but if you try anything funny with Nat, I will lock your hands to your butt.
PK: More to the point, though, I can't say I know a whole lot about these things.
PK: They're red, they're angry, they look like duel-ended snakes, they only die if they're completely incinerated, they eat anything organic, and they apparently cocoon themselves once they've eaten enough.
-- ATTEMPTING TO RECONNECT --
Evan did a double-take upon discovering, much to his irritation, that his phone's connection had been severed in the middle of him typing another entry. At first he just assumed that it was a result of spotty reception out in the desert, but even after hopping aboard his broomstick and flying around in search of a hotspot for several minutes... he found nothing.
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Post by DanteMGalileo on Sept 25, 2017 20:38:29 GMT -5
WR: so bring lots of firepower
WR: literally
WR: okay ill be over in a couple hours on sir herbert of pineapple on a stick
WR: thats the vespa i stole and got to fly
WR: ev
WR: you there
Well, that's concerning.
WR: oh wait its one of our regularly scheduled near apocalyptic events
WR: and im wondering why the wifi is out
WR: well nothin to it but to do it
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Sept 25, 2017 21:11:00 GMT -5
" RRRRRRRRRRGH...!!!" Evan didn't even receive Arti's last few entries. Pesterchum couldn't exactly update with the LTE having vanished entirely. For the next few hours, when he wasn't fighting or tracking down more wyrms, Evan was consistently checking his phone to see if it had even a single bar. And every single time he did, he was disappointed to find that his phone still had no reception no matter where he went. --------------------------- And several hours later, in the middle of the forest, with the last light of day fading away, Evan once again stared solemnly at the empty top left corner of his phone, a clear sign that there still was nothing to connect to. All he could do was reread his and Arti's conversation, hoping he wasn't the only one who had seen it, pondering whether or not he was the only one having this problem... or if perhaps the cloud was interfering with the signal. God, what a week this was going to be... With a heavy sigh, he promptly captchalogued the device and looked through the canopy and to the sky. He loathed to admit it, considering how optimistic he had been just a few short hours ago... but he really, honestly had no idea what was doing. That much was obvious. To be fair, it was safe to assume that no one did. These creatures had come out of nowhere, after all, and if there really was someone out there who DID know what they were, they sure as heck hadn't said anything about it yet. Or maybe they had and he just didn't know about it on account of crappy reception. Whatever the case, all Evan knew right then and there was that they were vicious, they were consuming the island, and with that cloud still hanging over their heads, it was possible that more were on their way. His eyes focused on a bright star in the night sky as he anxiously pondered to himself. He knew they could kill these things; they had killed plenty during the initial invasion, and it couldn't be too hard to teach others how to do it. It was just a matter of exterminating them in their entirety. How many of those creatures were still out there? What sort of transformations were they undergoing? What would it take to get rid of them all? How much damage would they inflict in the meantime? How were they going to get rid of that cloud that had and would likely soon resume dropping these monsters onto the island? ........................... Wait... Where did that star come from? The red cloud had blocked out all light from the sky, hadn't it? The longer he studied this lone source of light, the more Evan realized that it was getting... bigger... Oh. Something was descending upon the island. Great, because they didn't have ENOUGH things dropping from the sky that day! Well, at least this new arrival seemed different than the thread things that the cloud dropped. Evan could only hope that was the case as he braced himself for when the falling light made impact. Still, this was awkwardly bad timing. The people on the island already had enough unexplained anomalies to deal with, and if this was another unfortunate soul drawn to the island's unpredictable gravity, they were going to have a LOT on their plate right off the bat. Unless... this was the support that Kendall alluded to earlier. Oh dear God, please let that be the case...Evan watched the falling star in silence, blinking in surprise when, partway through its descent, it appeared to split into two pieces. One half falling northward while the other half... didn't seem to move in any given direction. From his perspective, it only seemed to be getting bigger and bigger... Almost as if... it... was... on a direct... trajectory... towards... "  " CRAAAAAAAAAAAASH........................... ...................................................... ................................................................................. A large, smoking crater had formed in the middle of the woods, the trees parted and the earth hollowed out where the impact had occurred. Pieces of scrap metal in varying sizes were littered about, most of them in the crater, some propelled far from it. Equally scattered about were puddles of what appeared to be orange goo, splattered haphazardly on just about everything in and around the scene. |
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Post by DanteMGalileo on Sept 28, 2017 20:09:23 GMT -5
WR: well that took a long time to make
WR: glad i alchemized these beards in the past
WR: my chin was gettin cold
The young man jumped through what appeared to be a brick wall, carrying a red frying pan with what appeared to be an egg stuck on it. Of course, this wasn't an ordinary wall...
Arti arrived in what appeared to be a forest. "Good ol' woods."
...
"Tho somethin' feels wrong."
WR: okay ev im here
WR: some shit went down huh
WR: even someone like me can tell
WR: uh
WR: is it the sewage festival here
WR: because i smell something funny
WR: also i got fiery weapons
WR: couldnt get the big flamethrower to work
WR: ev
WR: if youre not dead please say something
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ThePopcornFairy
Poster On Dah Wall
Slightly Used and Mostly Confused
Posts: 223
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Post by ThePopcornFairy on Sept 28, 2017 20:42:01 GMT -5
"Whoa."
On the other side of the crater, a sandy-haired young man in a yellow shirt and purple pants was staring at Arti, his big purple eyes mostly blank and a can of Mountain Dew in his hand. For the longest time, he just stood there in silence, unmoving, barely blinking. He didn't seem confused. He didn't seem surprised. He just seemed... to be there.
"That's not something you see every day, huh?" he eventually, casually offered. After pausing to take a sip of his drink, he looked around and continued, "Whatcha make of this, Doc? We got like... a big ol' hole in the ground... pieces of a big metal type thing... and what's this stuff, orange Jell-O?"
Suddenly excited by his own suggestion, the young man crouched down to touch some of the gooey substance, only to instantly recoil with a sharp cry of pain and wave his hand in a desperate attempt to cool it off. "KYAAA!!! OWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!!! AIE-CHI-WHUA-WHUA, THAT SMARTS!!!"
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Post by DanteMGalileo on Sept 28, 2017 21:00:10 GMT -5
...
WR: hey ev theres this kid here that doesnt seem very bright
WR: makes me look like a genius
WR: also theres this big giant crater with orange gunk
Arti was barely resisting the urge to facepalm. "Uh, lesson no 1, kid. Don't touch anything that you don't know. Touch cats, high voltage, and spaghetti. Not... whatever this is..."
He shifted to going through his captchalogue cards. "You'd BETTER know how to use whatever's on this, 'cuz I have no clue what's even on these damn cards!"
Voosh! Card ninja comin' at you, Eric! I'd be more concerned about whatever's next to you.
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ThePopcornFairy
Poster On Dah Wall
Slightly Used and Mostly Confused
Posts: 223
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Post by ThePopcornFairy on Sept 28, 2017 21:17:47 GMT -5
"YIPE!!!" Eric jumped back a step when Arti flung something at him. Reflexively, he pulled his lukky mop out from behind his back, swung it like a baseball bat, and knocked the projectile right back at Arti, smacking the young man in the head with it.
Eric didn't seem shocked by any of this. He just looked upset that Arti had thrown something at him. "Hey, man, that's not cool..."
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Sept 28, 2017 21:37:40 GMT -5
Antics aside, upon closer inspection, the cause behind Eric's initial discomfort from the orange sludge became clear, as the objects that had been coated in the stuff –from the trees to the grass to the rocks to the metallic wreckage– were rapidly dissolving upon contact. The air was filled with a soft yet distinct sizzling sound as the potent Hollywood acid ate away at anything and everything it had immersed. There was even a sharp, burning smell accompanying it, layered beneath a pungent, moldy smell.
This all stopped when, quite suddenly, the mounds of slime sprung to life and started slithering into the crater. Little by little, every last drop of the substance congregated at the bottom of the hole, merging together into a single gelatinous mass. As it reformed, the blob started to slowly but surely mold itself into a distinct shape. It stretched itself longways, it compressed itself inward, it sculpted sections of itself into detailed, recognizable features...
...until finally the orange slime settled into the shape of a young man.
"GUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHH...!!!"
Almost immediately after taking form, the slime creature jolted awake, opening his wide, eye-shaped indents and mouth-shaped hollow. He remained where he was, though, lying on the ground in the hole as he caught his breath and tensely yet shakily came down from his fit of panic, his voice airy and barely audible. "What the heck...? Whaaaaaaaaaat the heck...?"
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Post by DanteMGalileo on Sept 30, 2017 17:55:25 GMT -5
THWACK!
With that, the card's content, a baseball bat with flame patterns, came out of its tiny container and nailed Arti in the head, knocking him to the ground, eyes swirling and pegacorns circling around his head. "Ow."
Of course, within three seconds, he was back up on his feet like nothing had happened. "Good thing I'm Dante M. Arti, otherwise that could have actually hurt."
Oh, right. The orange goo... now shaped like a human. Electric boogaloo. Arti instantly grabbed his frying pan, pointing it at the entity. "BACK OFF BUB I'VE HOT FIREPOWER AND I SURE AS HELL AIN'T AFRAID TO USE IT!"
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"
