The Razing of Sunnydale

Written by Tanith 09-18-2002 12:37 AM

Taking a scan of the school once more to make sure there were no further lifesigns besides that of her friends, Tanith turned to look out the broken door. "Hm... it should be dawn in a few hours, but with all this smoke out there, I'm not sure if much sunlight will get through."

Drunkard Kid looked up from where he had been roaming about the room. "I got an idea. I could set off some strong mini-suns up there to give us some light."

"Wouldn't that give our position away?" asked Jaffa with a frown. "It might take away our position of surprise, and put our enemies on alert. And also, while light may put off some of the lesser shaes, it would not harm the more powerful ones much, if at all."

"Not neccessarily," said Tanith thoughtfully. "If we put it up in place before we set it off, they won't be able to track it to us. And besides, none of our stealth features are dependent on darkness." She made a wry face. "In fact, the darkness hinders us as much as it adds to the senses of our foes, as it's their natural environment. And as for the more powerful shadow creatures... they'd realize our presence anyways if we keep running into higher and higher concentrations of the lesser shadows. I don't see how different it would be either way. But at least in this way, it's much more convenient for us."

Jaffa thought for a moment longer, then grudgingly nodded. "I... can see the logic in that."

With a smile, Tanith turned to Drunkard Kid. "So what did you have in mind?"

Written by The Drunkard Kid 09-18-2002 02:05 AM

"Well, a regular sun would be simple. Just a sketch, tie it to a rock and get me a baseball bat and BOOM!, instant noon." Looking around at the slightly doubting expressions, DK continued. "But the stealth part is tricky, not to mention keeping it in the air for a sustained period of time... Anybody have any ideas on those parts?"

Zel-Yeoman looked up from his own thoughts. "It would be simple enough. An overhand throw combined with a simple Levitation charm would easily hold a star of such small stature. But it's arc would be easily trackable to the darkvision of our enemies, and focusing on that many stars would keep me out of the fight."

"Not worth it," Parallax said, vetoing the decision. "Losing a capable fighter and mage in exchange for only slightly weakening our opponents and revealing our presence? I don't believe the gain would be balancing enough."

Drunkard once again glanced at the assembled mob of metahuman mental patie- er, giants, and silently posed his question once more. "So? Any ideas? I could create a little chibi-Jean Grey to hold it up, but that would also reveal our presence to any of our foes that simply track its trajectory. Not to mention it would be sickeningly cute."

Okay, maybe he didn't post it quite so silently.

"Well, while sickeningly cute *does* have its attractions," Tanith began," we really can't go about losing the advantage of surprise." Giving a quick glance at Jaffa, she continued, "We can't afford to underestimate these shadows. Your specialty is art DK... Perhaps you could doodle a Romulan cloaking device onto it or something."

"You know, you might have something there...", Drunkard said, with a thoughtful expression on his face. "Well, except for the part about cute," he quickly ammended, sticking out his tongue at the Captain of the Andromeda. "A cloaking device would be easy enough to draw, and it would make it practically undetectable in flight. I could even add in a little antigrav system, though that'll be a bit delicate. If I make a little remote or something, we could deactivate it and then I could *activate* our little surprise... Yeah, I can see that work..."

With an odd glint in his eye, Drunkard began to sketch in his book as Parallax quietly questioned Tanith as to the wisdom of bringing someone so cheerfully manic on a dangerous mission...

Written by Parallax 09-18-2002 02:27 AM

... Parallax took Tanith to one side and quietly said, "You know I could make this star of his invisible with the Power Ring."

"Yeah," came the reply, "but we'll probably need you for the bigger fight ahead."

Parallax shrugged and started to look ahead while he waited for DK to finish his work. Something caught his eye on the roof - quickly Parallax shone a light from the Ring upwards.

"People ... you might want to turn your attention upwards." He said while still lighting the ceiling.

Through a crack in the roof Shadow Creatures were slithering in and moving along the ceiling like some kind of midnight black demonic spider.

Written by Jaffa 09-18-2002 07:52 AM

As if that was the command they had been waiting for, the creatures were suddenly upon them. They charged at their prey from every direction, making it impossible for them to simply wipe them all out with an area effect attack without harming each other.

Flashes of lightning colored everything etherally blue, as Jaffa blasted the few shadows from his immediate vicinity with electricity. Immediately, several new shadows rose to fill the places of their fallen comrades, but swinging his sword in a wide arc Jaffa drove Eversharp through the quasi-substantial matter of several shades. Where the blade had passed, light shone through the wounds on the shadowy bodies, and luminous cracks crept through the bodies of the shadows. The creatures let out a hollow cry as the magic of Eversharp ate them away.

Despite the surprise, the weak shadowlings were not quite a match for the powerful superhumans of the investigation crew. Though they were many, the tide of battle turned quickly to the favour of the humans. Even Drunkard Kid, with his ticklevision and dairy-based telekinesis, had somehow managed to keep himself in one piece.

Over the sounds of battle, Jaffa yelled a warning. "Quick, seal the exits! This battle is not won if they get away to warn their troops! All our plans would become useless!"

Written by Z-man 09-18-2002 02:30 PM

Z-man was a bit surprised to see all the Sunnydale refugees on the ship, but he could deal. Kasumi was cooking up a storm, and MacGuyver was handing out blankets and the like to them. Sunnydale people were a sturdy lot, so they weren't as panicked as most people would be, but they weren't made of stone.

Z-man released his pokemon and sent half of them to distribute the food, and half to help with the blankets. Serra was moving among them, healing where necessary.

There was one woman, at least in her forties, who seemed especially anxious. Whenever Serra went close to her, she kept asking about her daughter.

Z-man recognized her. She was Joyce Summers, Buffy's mom. She'd always been one of his favorite characters on the show ever since she had hit Spike with that fire ax. Of course she was concerned with her daughter's safety. It must be hard to be the parent of a slayer, much as he imagined it was hard on his own mother when he'd started traveling the multiverse. And here it was even worse, since she knew her daughter was in the thick of things planetside.

Z-man walked to her to try and calm her down. "Are you Joyce Summers?" he asked her, though he knew the answer.

"Is there news about Buffy?" Joyce asked. "Is she safe?"

"There's nothing new I can tell you," Z-man answered. "But I'm sure she's alright. Your daughter is tough, one of the toughest I know. She'll be alright, I have faith in her, and you should, too."

"I have faith in my daughter!" She said, affronted. "That has nothing to do with it!"

"I know, it's only natural to worry," He assured her. "But she'll be alright. I promise."

Joyce seemed to calm down.

"Now,"Z-man said, "I'm gonna have to ask you to go to Rommie's sickbay, I think you might need more medical attention than you realize."

"But I.." Joyce began, but Z-man interrupted.

"It's for the best," He told her. "I will tell you immediately if we learn anything about your daughter."

As one of Rommie's droids led her to sickbay, Z-man talked directly to the computer. "I think she will have a brain tumor that will kill her in about 2 years. Find it and cure it. Then tell Tanith that she needs to keep Buffy alive, if at all possible. Don't make me a liar, please."

Written by Tanith 09-18-2002 09:42 AM 09-18-2002 03:41 PM

When the shadow creatures had attacked them en-mass, Tanith had given a mental command to her gelsuit to handle them. With pinpoint effectors at high-tech speeds, the in-suit AI was fully capable of keeping a fair radius around her free of the creatures.

While the gelsuit held back the assault around her, Tanith instead concentrated on what her meta-senses could tell her about the creatures. She had encountered Grolim-style shadow-sorcery before, and she was now certain that these were not the result of the same. But what were they? ...On a whim, she drew her sword Need from pocketspace.

/Finally remembered me, eh?/ Came the sarcastic mental voice from the sentient sword.

/No need to be sarcastic, Need/ replied Tanith. /What can you sense from these creatures? Are they magic?/

There was a slight pause as Need worked her own brand of magic. /Interesting. They bear a very close resemblance to the deizens of the demiplane of shadow from the D&D worlds. It's just that the controlling power... that doesn't seem to match any kind of binding or summons magic that I've encountered before./ There was another slight pause, and Tanith could sense a bit of... hesitation? ...from the normally blunt sword. /Also, I would venture to say that the control is not a result of technology either... though I'm sure your own technologies can tell you that./

Tanith sent a wave of agreement at the sword. /It seems very likely. So if they're not controlled by magic and not tech, that leaves...... metapowers?/ She sighed mentally. /So this might well be yet another problem caused by a deizen of Earth Prime or its alternates./

Having come to a sort of conclusion about the whole thing, Tanith focused back on the fight again, using her in-suit display to track the progress of her friends. It detected Yeoman not too far off, going through the shadow-beings like a mad ping-pong ball with an Astral Vine enhanced lightsaber. And then there was DK, who had managed to sweep his invisibility cloak over himself, and was largely ignored by the shadows. But if he were to be detected...

/Need, I'm going to drop you off with DK. Can you put up a shield around him?/ Tanith mindspoke quickly to the sword as her mind raced to find a way to get close to the manic artist.

Need sighed. /Ah, dear. You know I don't get along well with male bearers. It's a part of my forging magic.../

/He doesn't have to hold you, Need,/ Tanith reminded her as she tried to catch sight of DK's postion with normal sight. She needed LOS to get close. /I'm sure you can do just as well with out being held by someone./ Before Need could respond again, Tanith focused on the array of shadow-creatures between her and DK and gathered her Will. "Out of the Way!"

At her Word, said creatures were collectively flung away by an unseen force, leaving a temporary clear corridor between her and her target. Without a word, Tanith then translocated herself next to her friend. "Keep hidden, DK," she told him without looking back. "I'm going to put up a shield around you. Don't leave it."

So saying, she mentally raised Need into the air and sank it sharply downwards, burying the tip of the blade into the ground and leaving the sword sticking up into the air. /Try not to draw any energy from the Hellmouth,/ she told Need as she moved off once more, ignoring the mental curses flung her way by the irritated sword, and the mage-shield that sprung up behind her.

As she turned back into the fray, she heard Jaffa yell something about sealing the exits...

***

Exits, eh? That shouldn't be too hard, Tanith thought as she looked around herself. There were a few high ceiling windows almost directly above her. Each had been flung open by the intrusion. Focusing her Will once more, she directed her power at the windows. "Seal." With a loud clang, the windows slammed shut, before transmuting into an opaque, solid piece of steel-like glass (- something she had learned from the old Alchemist sorcerer Senji in Eriondis).

It was then that she received a call from the Andromeda, informing her of Z-man's arrival on the ship and his request that Buffy Summers, who presumably was at the Bronze, would also be rescued quickly. She thought quickly. Perhaps this might be turned to their advantage, especially as the Bronze was on the other side of the town from both the tower and the school.

She patched the communications through her in-suit communicator. "There shouldn't be many shadow creatures at the Bronze, since it's not that important of a place. Beam down a dozen of our... updated rotherothopters to arrange for a beamup signal. Also, see if Serra is up to summoning a few Serra Angels and such to go along with them. Get the people out as soon as possible - that would of course be our priority. But have the units stick around afterwards - cause as much commotion in the area as possible without being caught. Aim for distraction more than trying to destroy as many shadow beings as possible. That should make it easier for the rest of us here."

"Understood," replied Rommie through the comm as the connection closed with a click.

Tanith turned back to the battle once more. They needed to either end this quickly or leave the area - preferably without any shadowy witnesses. Remaining in this now abandoned school served no purpose.

Written by Jaffa 09-18-2002 10:38 AM

Darth Jada paced back and forth in what not so long ago had been Jaffa's office in Sunnydale. Her shades had turned the entire place upside down, and yet there was no trace of the one person her master had ordered her to seize. While she had no great love for Shadowstalker, thanks to their mental link she could not even dream of putting anything less than her full vigour into executing his orders.

As hour after hour, the shadow search parties came to her empty-handed, she could not help but to begin to think her target may have slipped from her grasp. She had, however, managed to capture several mages of great power that had been hiding in the buidling, as well as Jaffa's Ghost assassins. Shades still went patrolling the lower floors and never returned, so Jada hadn't yet abandoned all hope of capturing her master's mirror self.

In the end, things weren't so bad for her. At least for the time being, she didn't have to deal with any version of the man who had imprisoned her in this shadow body.

Little did she know that both Jaffas were much closer than she thought.

Written by Mg_knt 09-18-2002 04:03 PM

*Finally being put back into a body, Mg stood up and tested it out*

Mg:Well this is a nice surprise. I die, come back and put me into a a body as old as I was. I just can't win. Rommie, where is Tanith, Yeoman, and DK?

Rommie: They are planetside investagating the destruction of Sunnydale.

Mg: Destruction of Sunnydale?

Rommie: Apparently, Sunnydale has been invaded by an army of shadowlings.

Mg: They need any help?

Rommie: They might need a distraction as they move about the town.

Mg: Perfect. Something I can provide. Rommie, I need lots of fireworks, about ten high powered spot lights, and some clothes.

*Rommie teleports some clothes into the Mg is in. While Mg is getting dressed, Rommie collects the items requested. Walking out of the room, Mg spots Serra and what looks like Elizabeth but with wings.*

Elizabeth: Mr. Smith your alive.

*She flys over and gives Mg a hug*

Mg: You don't seem to be doing to bad youself.

Elizabeth: Well I died too, but Serra made me this nice body to inhabit while a real one is being finished. Where are you going?

Mg:I have to help the owner of this ship.

Elizabeth: Can I come too...

Mg: It will be dangerous.

Elizabeth: I can't believe you don't put much trust in your own training.

Serra: She is right. She is inhabiting the body of a Serra Angel right now. They are quite a bit tougher then your average human.

Mg:Alright you can come Elizabeth. Just stick by me. And Serra, I am going to need 5 Serra Angels, 6 Defenders of the Realm, and about 20 White Knights and/or Northern Paladins.

Serra: What do you need all that for?

Mg: I am gonna provide a distraction for Tanith's group planetside.

Written by Tanith 09-18-2002 05:48 PM

Serra nodded. "I see. Rommie has already told me of Tanith's request regarding that. I assume you will also be taking on the duty of rescuing the remaining human survivors of that town?"

Written by Mg_knt 09-18-2002 05:56 PM

Mg:"No, what I want to do is draw the bulk of the forces to an entrenched position. Keep that area flooded with light and hopefully keep the shadowlings occupied trying to overrun our postiton. The Serra Angels can be sent out during lulls to search for human survivors, but I am going to be providing a distraction, not a search and rescue operation."

Written by Tanith 09-18-2002 06:14 PM

"Then you will have to wait," Serra responded. "The rescue of the survivors must come first before the shadowlings are alerted to the presence of new intruders in the city. This should not take too long."

Written by Mg_knt 09-18-2002 08:10 PM

Mg:"That isn't a problem, we need just a little time to set up before we can begin operation. Rommie, please find us a spot that is relatively devoid of shadowlings,is defensible, and is cut off from the main force. Bottlenecks would be nice."

Written by Tanith 09-18-2002 07:33 PM

Taking stock of where everyone was, Tanith decided that enough was enough. They were here to rescue innocents and scout the source of the shadows, not to play laser tag in an abandoned building.

Slowly, she made her way over to Parallax, who was hovering slightly above the ground-based shadowlings. With slight application of her sorcery powers, Tanith lifted herself into the air next to him. As she got closer, he turned an inquiring eyebrow at her.

"I think it's time we left. There's no reason for us to remain here," Tanith told him. "Can you use your ring to snag the lot of us and phase us through the walls while keeping us hidden from the shadowlings' senses?"

Written by Jaffa 09-18-2002 09:44 PM

"Sure," Parallax replied. "I'll just..." he paused for a moment to look around. "Where is Jaffa?"

There was no trace of him in sight.

Written by Jaffa 09-18-2002 10:05 PM

Jaffa flew over the charred remains of the Sunnydale suburbs towards his former headquarters. Obviously, he was little more than redundant as a team member. No, he remembered now why he had left in the first place. Let the other wander around saving civilians, he would finish this on his own.

Written by Tanith 09-19-2002 12:48 AM

Tanith looked around as well, and frowned. It was too dark in the room, which was still filled with shadow creatures, to see much. Focusing on her gelsuit, she started to scan for his transmitter signature.

"What in the..." her words trailed off as with a *plink*, a small nanotransmitter appeared before her.

"What happened?" Parallax asked as he blasted off a few more shadow creatures with a wave of his hand.

"I'm checking," Tanith replied as she stared at the transmitter. "He couldn't have just lost it... wait... there's some subvocal recordings on this thing before it lost contact with him..."

"Well?" A few more green blasts.

Tanith sighed in exasperation. "He's decided to go off on his own. He's probably pretty far from here now, from the time index on this thing." She shook her head. "It can't be helped now. Let's get out of this place first, shall we?"

Written by Parallax 09-19-2002 01:29 AM

Parallax waved his fist across horizontally, firing off a wave of green energy which cut down a number of the shadow creatures.

"I," He said as he fired off a swarm of emerald shuriken that homed in on their targets, "am getting quite sick of these things."

Concentrating slightly, he pointed his Power Ring at the far wall and let fly with a blast which blew the far side wall of the Gym to oblivion in a spectacular flash of green light - at least two dozen shadow creatures went with it.

Knowing that more and more would come and that eventually they would be overwhelmed, Parallax turned the Ring on his comrades, enveloping them in an emerald bubble which then promptly turned invisible to the outside world.

The people inside watched as the Shadow Creatures seemed confused at the sudden disapearance of their prey - Parallax put his finger to his lips as a sign to be silent as he walked towards the nearest wall ... and passed straight through it. Yeo and the others looked at each other and shrugged before they too walked right through the wall and out into the night...

Written by Tanith 09-19-2002 10:17 AM

As the phased and invisible group left the gym, Tanith motioned for them to keep moving onward. It wasn't until they were on the street across from the school that she motioned for them to stop. She to a brief glance around, at the still burning rubble of residence buildings in the area, and decided that completely destroying the school would not even appear out of place.

She called up the Andromeda once more. "Rommie, aim your effectors to the group of building across the street from us. No flashy beams or anything. Just effectorize it all."

If the others were startled by her command for orbital bombardment, they did not show it. Within minutes, Sunnydale High School was reduced to a large pile of ashes and rubble by an unseen force, along with all the shadow creatures that had been attracted there by the Hellmouth.

On the communicator, Rommie spoke up again. "The group of survivors have been rescued from the other area of the city. Sensors show no further lifesigns in the city besides your group. Also, Mg is requesting to go down there and help to create a distraction."

"Mg?" Tanith was slightly surprised. "So he's been... restored?"

"He seems to be fine now," answered Rommie, "and eager to contribute to your effort planetside."

"Is he up to it?" Tanith asked. "He has been dead for quite a while. And these creatures do have sheer numbers on their side."

"He believes he is," said Rommie. "And I will be keeping tabs on him if he goes down at any rate, so it should not be too dangerous."

Slowly, Tanith nodded as she acceded to Mg's request. "Very well, but keep a tight lock on him, Rommie. Wouldn't want Z-man to have made that trip in vain. Get him into position right now, but let's hold up on the distraction until we get near the tower."

"Understood. Out." The communications ended.

Tanith turned back to the others with her on the streets of Sunnydale. "I guess we head for the towers now," she said. "You might want to take some time and finish your drawings, DK."

Written by Parallax 09-19-2002 06:21 PM

The TARDIS crew continued their way through Sunnydale, securely under the concealment bubble which rendered them invisible and intangible to all those outside of it.

Slowly they walked through the streets, watching as the Shadow Creatures continued their destruction while blissfully unaware of their presence ... and the Tower got closer and closer...

Written by The Drunkard Kid 09-19-2002 07:37 PM

From out of nowhere, a hand appeared, clenching three sheets of letter paper, each covered in roughly a dozen intricately designed spheres. The hand opened, dropping the sheaf to the ground in a gentle flutter. The sketches rippled for a moment, as if blown by a light breeze, and when the pages hit the ground they were blank.

"Alright, they're on their way up," Drunkard said as he pulled the hood on his cloak back a bit. Now a slightly eerie disembodied face, he turned to where he assumed the rest of the party was standing. In the exposed hand, a small remote of somesort was present, covered in a dozen buttons. "Give the word and I can light up any set of three with a single push. Now, fearless leaders, can you tell this sword to leave me alone? Its giving me some majorly bad vibes."

Tanith appeared surprised at the thought that Drunkard could hear Need. "Since when are you psionic DK?"

"Dairy based Telekinesis and my ticklevision is somewhat telepathic, I think. Not enough to understand what she's saying exactly, but enough to want to kick it. I think you should take it away before it zaps me..." Covering himself once more, the Drunkard Kid vanished from the more mundane fields of sight. The only clue an onlooker would have that he still existed would have been a ghostly whisper carried on the wind.

"Stupid overglorified can opener, we'll see if ticklevision works on sentient swords when we get back to the Andromeda...

Written by Mg_knt 09-19-2002 08:15 PM

Mg:"Alright Rommie. Beam me, Elizabeth, the equipment, and the constructs down to the location I specified."

*In a small truck depot on the outskirts of Sunnydale. About 35 beings appear. Mg points to four knights.*

Mg:"Go hunt down any shadowlings in the area."

*The four knights ride off at a slow pace to make sure they make a minimal amount of noise. Mg points at some angels*

Mg:"Move the spotlights and fireworks to the top of the building. The rest of you seal all entrences to this area."

Elizabeth: You think this will work?

Mg: I hope so.

*Mg puts on a headset.*

Mg:"Rommie, inform Serra that I would like some D'Avent Archers and please synch this single into Tanith's."

Written by Tanith 09-19-2002 09:30 PM

"Err... right." Tanith felt a sweatdrop beginning to form on the back of her head. She adroitly pluck up Need with her sorcery-TK and stuffed the still-cursing sword into her pocket space. "Let's move on, shall we?"

And so they did. Invisible and intangible, they moved through the city. Past the graveyard that still held the hidden TARDIS unit, and closer and closer to the tower. As they walked along, they also noticed the increasing number of shadow creatures in the area. Finally, they reached the base of the tower, where they stopped.

Tanith tuned into the radiotelepathy transmitters she'd distributed among the group. /Show time, DK. Whenever you're ready./ As DK began to pull out the remote, she also connected to Mg's communicator via the Andromeda. /Get ready, Mg. When the skies light up, you can start your diversion. And be careful, 'kay?/

After getting a confirmation from Mg, she closed the channel. The small group watched DK as he took out his remote.

Written by The Drunkard Kid 09-19-2002 10:34 PM

Looking up at where one of the first set of artificial stars were supposed to go, Drunkard gave a quick prayer that he'd done this right and pressed the first button.

Immediately, three white hot orbs flared into existance across Sunnydale. Night turned to Noon in any areas not shaded by buildings, their pure solar energy weakening and disorienting the obsidian legion swarming the town, the weakest ones burning in the unexpected dawn. After a second's hesitation, the Drunkard set off the next round, shrinking the effective range of the Shade infantry even more.

In the distance, a sudden flare of noise and brightly colored lights erupted from the ground. Apparently, Mg had caught the signal and began his diversion. As the surrounding Shades, now enraged with pain from the lights focused on the obvious target and unthinkingly rushed in droves for retribution, the streets around the Tower cleared of the dark minions. Even the tower in front of the party experienced an exodus of shadow creatures, as the lights had penetrated its black depths via the windows scattered along its length.

//I love it when a plan comes together. Remember, we've still got 30 stars on back-up, fearless leaders. Just say the word and I'll REALLY give these guys a tan.//.

After taking a few moments to adjust their vision to the sudden daylight, the team continued on their mission. Far from being calmed by the much emptier streets, the offworlders were more on their guard then ever; the footsoldiers were tricked away, which meant that anything in their would only be stronger and smarter.

Written by Mg_knt 09-19-2002 10:50 PM

Mg:"Signal recieved. We are firing the first volley."

*Several mortor tubes boomed as shells were shot into the sky. Mg watched a mass of black swarm towards his postion. Just as planed the shadowlings hit the bottleneck and were slowed down considerbly. Archers on the rooftop rained down volleys of arrows while Knights and Paladins on the ground cleaned up anthing that tried to get through. Angels were on harresment duty keeping the shadowlings piling on each other as they were driven into the bottleneck*

Mg:"Fire a volley every minute or so. We want to have their rapt attention."

Elizabeth:"Wow, I can't believe this is working."

Mg:"It's very simple. When you put a whole lot of stuff through a very small opening it jams. Same princepale here."

Written by Jaffa 09-19-2002 11:47 PM

Darth Jada watched in the tower as the minisuns lit in the skies. Enraged, she felt the pain as the light came through the windows and burned her form. She wasn't really damaged by it, but the pain was a sensation she had not felt since she had emerged from Shadowstalker's mind in the shade form she now inhabited.

As Mg's fireworks lit the landscape even more, Jada had already pulled herself together. A small force was sent to handle the situation, lead by a group of her more powerful and intelligent wights.

Meanwhile, Jaffa hurried through the hallways of his old tower, towards his former office and inner sanctum. For what he had gathered, the leader of the invaders was there. He had to face the enemy commander on his own, he had no right to endanger his allies because of this.

Written by Tanith 09-19-2002 11:45 PM

Tanith and the group waited for the commotion of the shadow creatures to die down. Then, cautiously, they entered the building.

The ground lobby was fairly empty, merely full of debris and dust. No one wanted to trust the elevator. That left either the stairs... or some alternative method.

Tanith looked up the stairway. It reached upwards into darkness, as no windows shed light onto it. She turned back to the others.

/Okay... I am not liking the looks of this stairway, but we may not have any choice if we're to search the building... Thoughts?/

Written by Yeoman 09-19-2002 11:47 PM

ZY: Well, GL rings allow phasing, let's just go straight up.

Written by The Drunkard Kid 09-20-2002 12:07 AM

"Phasing straight up sounds pretty good to me, but perhaps we should take a moment to scry for any wards or traps..."

Written by Tanith 09-20-2002 01:25 AM

"Right." Tanith looked to her scanner once more. "I'm picking up anomolous readings both near the top of the building... and in what seems like the basement. I guess we either work our way up... or down."

She looked over to Parallax. "Well, since I suppose you'll be doing the transporting... where do you think we should start?"

Written by Jaffa 09-20-2002 01:40 AM

Jaffa oozed out of the air duct near his former office. Unlike most evil overlords, Jada the good fortune that Jaffa had been smart enough to make them too small for any normal humanoids. Not too small for a shapeshifter, though.

A squad of the demonic Shadow Knights stood guard in front of Jada's new command post. As Jaffa dropped his invisibility field in front of them, they drew their dark blades faster than any normal humans could have, and charged at the intruder. Jaffa smiled.

Darth Jada was disturbed by the blue light shining from under her door, and a crackling sound, as if of thunder. She was just about to step out to investigate, when the oaken door was blown to a thousand little pieces.

Surrounded by wild bolts of lightning, Jaffa stepped into the room. "You," he spoke. "You took what was rightfully mine. And I will not stand for it!" Before Jada could react, two burning red beams of energy shot from Jaffa's eyes and hit her.

Written by Parallax 09-20-2002 01:51 AM

Parallax stood pondering for the moment before he finally said, "Well, creatures who are made of Shadows would obviously attempt to shield themselves from light if possible. That line of reasoning would place the source all this down below ground. But this lot are well known for their delusions of grandeur and arrogance ... which would place them at the top."

Tanith crossed her arms and waited, not entirely sure what Parallax was on about.

"So," He continued, "which do you think is more believable? Smart evil or arrogant evil? Smart and we go down, arrogant and we head up..."

Written by Tanith 09-20-2002 09:57 AM

C&C Earth:

Rune and Meta walked calmly along a deserted street in the evening light. They'd finally gotten rid of that melagomaniac, Ganondorf, after they'd gotten what information they could out of the man. And then they'd come onto the PIC... which, luckily, Meta had recognized as from this particular fictional world.

Now, they could almost feel themselves getting closer to the third piece of the Triforce. Or, at least, Rune could feel them being on the right track. At the moment, her eyes were off in the distance as she trailed the past with her clairsentience, to determine just were the previous holder of the ToP went before becoming obscured from scrying.

Rune stopped. Meta looked toward her. "You got something?" he asked.

"I think I know where it went," said Rune calmly.

"Ah. Then we're off to there, then?"

"No."

"No?"

Rune turned a smile to her companion. "It's not exactly an easy place to get to, and it wouldn't be polite of us to just barge in without knocking. So... we're going back to the Andromeda. We can go in the polite way there."

Meta nodded dubiously as a rift gate opened before them. They stepped through, onto the decks of the Andromeda, before it sealed behind them.

Written by Jaffa 09-20-2002 10:30 AM

As a Force push smashed him back to the corridor through the wall, it occured to Jaffa that he had, perhaps, bitten off more than he could chew. This was not the ordinary shade he had assumed it to be.

"Eversharp!" he called, and the medallion on his neck disappeared as the blade appeared in his hand, glowing with faint green light. Just in time, a swing of the blade cut off the shadowy tendrils that had reached for him from every shadow. The mere touch of Eversharp was enough to disintegrate the shadow constructs.

Jaffa charged back into the room.

Written by Tanith 09-20-2002 09:50 AM

Tanith thought about it. Then thought some more. Finally, she spoke up slowly. "Wellll... they *did* have an abnormally heavy smoke cover over the city, presumably to allow them to function in the light. If they'd operated under that assumption... then there'd be no reason not to have their base at the top." She paused, then suddenly looked thoughtful. "Even if Jaffa's not here... is there a map or register somewhere that shows where the main office is in this place?"

The assembled heroes looked around the rubble.

"Is this it?" came Yeoman's voice from one corner of the room as he removed some rubble from against the wall, revealing a map-display on the wall. He squinted at the registry listed on it. "Hm... I think it says here that the managers office is on the top floor..."

Tanith nodded. "That's good enough for me." She turned back to Parallax. "We go up then."

Written by Parallax 09-20-2002 05:24 PM

Parallax pointed his ring upwards and let loose with a huge blast - which made a large hole in the ceiling above and many floors above as well.

Responding to the stares from his companions, he merely shrugged and said "No time for subtlety ... well, no patience for it right now to be more accurate."

A green platform with convenient hand rails along its edges appeared on the floor and Parallax stepped on it. After a bow and a sweep of his arm, the others followed - a green protective bubble appearing over the platform just before it started to rise up through the still smoking holes above...

Written by Mg_knt 09-20-2002 05:46 PM

*An angel lands on the rooftop next to Mg.*

Angel: "Sir, there are several powerful shadow creatures coming this way."

Mg:"I see, get everybody up to the line. We need to hold it. I will be coming too."

*Suddenly arms wrap around Mg from behind and he is lifted in the air*

Mg:"You know I can walk down the stairs under my own power Elizabeth."

Elizabeth:*giggle*"But I think flying is so much fun."

Mg:"That doesn't mean you have to bring me with you."

Elizabeth:"Oh, quit complaining. We are almost to the ground."

Written by Tanith 09-20-2002 08:01 PM

Tanith watched nonplussed as the remaining shadows in the building scrambled to get out of the way of the green bubble that was speeding up the building like a rocket.

Those that were too slow smacked into the top of the bubble with a resounding *thud*, before sliding off its smooth sides. Those who were foolhardy enough to try and attack were either transmuted into pure light or greeted with an enthusiastic "Ra Tilt!" or "Shadow Snap!".

In no time at all, they had reached the top floor. By then, they did not even have to look for the main office. The sound of battle already in progress drew them straight toward Jaffa's main office.

Written by Jaffa 09-20-2002 08:06 PM

The didn't even have to enter the office as the battle came to them: Jaffa came flying through several walls along with sizable chunks of cement and landing in the middle of the party.

Before they had even fully recovered from the shock, it was as if an all-encompassing, living darkness had entered the room. Darth Jada followed Jaffa through the debris.

Written by Jaffa 09-20-2002 08:24 PM

Jaffa shook his head as he got up again. "Well, looks like you made it here, after all," he said. "You do realize that you've just attracted all the shadow hordes in the building here?" He glared at Parallax.

He had barely said that, when the first Shadow Knights barged through the nearest hallway, and shadowlings started pouring from every opening.

Written by Mg_knt 09-20-2002 08:24 PM

*At the the defesive line at the cuo de sac.*

Mg:"Alright, we got reports that a group of very powerful shades are coming this way. I already called for re-enforcements but they are being held back until we really need them. We have to hold this line now."

Angel:"They are in range."

Mg:"All right get in defensive postions, remember we have to hold this line!"

*A fire ball flies across the line crashing into a defensive structure.*

Mg:"I want a shower of arrows on that position now!"

Written by Tanith 09-20-2002 06:55 PM

On the Andromeda:

Humming a merry melody to herself, Rune skipped onto the bridge of her sister's ship. Moving over to the communications panel, she typed in a string of commands.

The main viewscreen, which had been displaying the surface of Buffyverse Earth, suddenly blanked was was replaced by flashing text:




Designated dimension: Escaflowne-#1

Designated planet: Terra Mars

Sending Transmission on secure channel...


.....*.....*.....*.....*.....*.....*.....*.....*.....


Connection established.




The screen flashed again, and a human face appeared onscreen. Rune gave the man onscreen a cheerful smile.

"Ohayo! This is Rune Silverstar calling from the Andromeda Ascendant of PaDT. Can I talk to Mr. Chaos Bringer?"

Written by Yeoman 09-20-2002 07:54 PM

GIR: OKaY!

The screen cuts to CBY reading "The Cat in the Hat to Christine."

CBY: Ah heh... Sorry, about that... We're still getting a lot of things set up here and it was the regular communication's officer's day off.

CBY: So what can I do for you?

Written by Tanith 09-20-2002 08:11 PM

"Ohayo, CB-kun!" Rune smiled brightly at CBY.

Behind her, Meta rolled his eyes. Only Rune would address a former villain with the "-kun" familiar.

Rune continued to address CBY, "Have you seen this lady, CB-kun?" An illusion of Pellica appeared above her outstretched hands.

CBY turned to get a better view of the illusion. "Why yes, she--"

Rune's squeal cut off his words. As he had turned around, she'd been able to get a glimpse of the back of his hand that was holding the book... and the triangular marking upon it.

"Oooh! You have it now!" Grinning, she held up her own hand with the Triforce of Wisdom shining upon it. "I was just looking for the third piece of the Tri-thingy so I could get them together and return it to Hyrule. Wanna help, CB-kun?"

Written by Yeoman 09-20-2002 08:18 PM

CBY *Thinks for a mometn*: Eh, sure, why not. It's slow right now. Ship, trace this transmistion and relocate the dilemma to those dimensional coordinates.

And with the the Dilemma left orbit above Terra-Mars and appeared next to the ANndromeda.

Written by Tanith 09-20-2002 08:31 PM

Rune blinked. "Wow. That was fast, CB-kun. Um... but we have to all go together for all three pieces to be there, and Parallax-kun is on the planet right now." Her eyes glazed for a moment as she used her clairsentience to peer downwards. "Um... I think he's busy fighting some bad guys right now. Maybe we should wait?"

Written by Yeoman 09-20-2002 08:33 PM

CBY: Eh, works for me. Hold one, I need to turn the recorder on. Wouldn't want to miss this.

Written by Parallax 09-20-2002 08:32 PM

Parallax shrugged as the Power Ring flared with green light and a wall of green energy suddenly surrounded the room, blocking off access to any more Shadow Knights.

He squinted in concentration as those outside of the room started attacking the shield ...

Written by Yeoman 09-20-2002 08:36 PM

Zel-Yeo, Okay, everyone, gather round so ya don't get cought in the cross fire....

ZY: Gark Ruhaad!

Written by Jaffa 09-20-2002 08:55 PM

Jaffa waded through the shadow hordes, clearing the way before him with Eversharp. These shadows were much stronger than the weaker shadowlings, but Eversharp's special magic-negating qualities still ct them down easily.

The others, however, had no such luck. The shadow troops were swarming them, and while Tanith's gelsuit and Parallax's ring were protecting them so far, the shadows were still pressing them hard. The sudden strain PArallax felt on his force field signified that wights had also entered the battle, bombarding the heroes' defenses with their spells.

Jaffa knew that as powerful as they were, they would eventually suffer the same fate as the mages he had first fought the shade armies with. His friends would die because of him... unless he could find a way to stop the onslaught. Doubling his efforts, he started making his way towards Darth Jada.

Written by Tanith 09-20-2002

As Rune and CBY watched the fight in fascination from above, another figure also watched, but from the haziness of the shadow realms.

Arcadia frowned in annoyance as the shades that she had been using to look through died a sudden death under the chimera's spirit spell. This really wouldn't do, she thought with a slight trace of irritation. How in the world am I to observe if the shadows that I see through are so unreliable? She frowned at the weakness of the shadow wraiths in the room. Perhaps it was time to add... her own touch.


*****


As Yeoman finished off the last wave of wights with another "Gark Ruhaad!", with help from DK who let loose with a DBZ manga, the dynamics of the fight changed suddenly. With the words "Bakusaitenketsu!!!" and the following *crack* as the ground of the floor the group of heroes stood upon suddenly shattered under the light application of a shadowy finger.

Yeoman's thick golem hide protected him from the impact onto the floor below, which was luck for Drunkard Kid, who'd fallen on top of him. Tanith had barely enough time to use the Will and the Word to soften her own landing, while Parallax was the only one who remained aloft on where a large chunk of the top floor used to be.

He wasn't aloft for long, as an unseen force slammed into him despite the GL bubble. Righting himself, Parallax looked up to see a dark skinned elf with eyes of darkest shadow hovering in the air before him.

On the floor below, similar faceoffs occured. No sooner had Yeo pushed DK off of him and stood up, relighting his lightsaber in the meantime, then a cry of "Expelliarmus!" ripped the lightsaber from his hands. Turning, he was faced by a young man of short silver-blond hair who was perhaps 18 years of age.

Tanith, too, regained her balance just in time to see her own foe. A familiar blond shogun stood before her, an aura of bright chi flaring around him... and then at her.

That left DK facing off with a shadow version of Ryouga Hibiki. He gulped.


*****


In the shadow-realm, Arcadia smiled. Now, she might finally be able to see some fun.

Written by Mg_knt 09-20-2002 09:16 PM

*Arrows showered down on the area the fireball came from. All was silent for a moment.*

Mg:"Awww shi..."

*A large boom came from the area the arrows were fired out and a mass of shadowlings came out. Many were multi-armed carrying blades that crackled with dark magic. The defenders braced themselves to take the on coming wave and were met with a clanging of steel on steel. The White Knights were partially protected from the dark magic by their righteous aura while the Northern Paladins went about destroying as many shadowlings as they can. Mg used up all his mana in the first seconds of the fight picking off the first comers. Elizabeth and all the other Angels were battling some shadowlings that had taken flight.*

Mg:"Rommie, I need those back up troops now."

Rommie:"I am going to teleport you out, Tanith has requested that you be kept safe..."

Mg:"I don't care what Tanith thinks at this point. I am staying here and I want those troops right now!"

Written by Yeoman 09-20-2002 09:26 PM

CBY: Hmmmm.... Yes... That would certainly get at him.

CBY: Krosp. Have a few units beam down in what ever suit we have ready. You can lead them from the command deck.

Krosp *over intercom*: i'll do what I can.

Minutes later The battle was joined by the first Terra-Mars ground mecha to see combat.

Written by Jaffa 09-20-2002 09:20 PM

Jaffa shook the last shadow knights off himself with a wide area effect TK blast and charged at Darth Jada. slashing at her with his sword, he expected the Master Shade to disappear like the rest of her kin. To his surprise, all it got out of her was a horrid scream of rage, and a massive backhand strike that sent Jaffa reeling back.

Shrugging off the damage, Jaffa pointed his sword at Jada. "You can resist the sword, eh? Then eat this!" Channeling his power through the blade, he fired a bolt of lightning straight at Jada's chest.

Jada growled, and strangling coils of Shadow sprung out of her twisting form, pulling Jaffa down.

Written by Parallax 09-21-2002 02:05 AM

Parallax floated before the likewise levitating elf looking quite annoyed. The TK shove had weakened his concentration for a few moments which had meant that the forcefield keeping the rest of the shadow creatures out of the room had weakened severely for a brief instant - almost allowing more of the creatures in.

The elf raised his hands and yellow energy bolts shot out - Parallax instinctively used his Ring to raise a shield ... which the blast passed through like it wasn't even there.

The impact sent Parallax flying into a nearby wall, leaving a sizable dent.

A small green globe appeared in Parallax's hand as he shook his head to clear his vision ... thinking hard to keep the needed room forcefield up.

Blindly throwing the globe near the elf, Parallax slowly hovered down to the floor.

Rayek, the elf, easily saw the globe coming and caught it with his telekinesis. At which point it dissolved and a thick green fog spilled out, unable to be held by the TK hold.

The elf appeared to be momentarily surprised by the fog but soon realised that staying in the blinding mist would not be a good idea. Cautiously he hovered out of the cloud, looking around cautiously for his foe.

Parallax stood on the floor below, an opaque green shield already raised before him. Rayek grinned the grin of certain victory and let loose another yellow energy blast from his hands.

The green shield was suddenly gone, revealing a curved tube behind it - a tube that wasn't green; it was yellow! The energy blast entered the U shaped pipe and flung itself straight back at Rayek ... who was simply too surprised to react in time.

As Rayek hit the ground, Parallax brushed off his hands with a satisfied smile on his face. People never seemed to suspect that he'd use his own natural abilities over the Power Ring ... natural abilities which didn't have a weakness to any colour...

Written by Tanith 09-21-2002 02:35 AM

Tanith eyed Nakago warily as she dodged his ki blast. She could tell that he was an actually human being, instead of a shadow creature, and she was always loathe to inflict fatal damage. A slight mind probe revealed little but that the man was being controlled. Controlled, interestingly enough, by a force similar to her own mental sorcery. But there wasn't enough time for her to puzzle over his mental bindings.

She focused her Will. "Stop."

But he did not stop. Another ki blast arced toward her, barely missing as she twisted out of the way. The force of the projectile sent her careening to the ground. It was immediately followed by another blast, which impacted squarely against the personal shielding that her gelsuit automatically erected in response to her plight. None the less, the force of the blast still pushed her back into the wall behind her with a loud *thump*.

Another blast. This time she was ready for it, and instead translocated behind him, turning on her suit's stealth mode in the meantime. Now I remember, he had that freaky immunity to Chichiri's magic. Somehow, it's been changed so that it protects against my sorcery too.

Nakago was still for a moment, then suddenly spun around towards her, his palm sweeping out an arc of pure ki. Again, she translocated. And ki senses too, I see. That hadn't been one of his usual powers.

But she still had one ace up her sleeve. One that had been with her for so long that most people neglected to make note or remember it. Powerful as Nakago was, he was still no match for an effector. Suddenly, as if a puppet with its strings cut, the blond shogun crumpled to the ground.

Now... to get the information... Using her mental sorcery, Tanith reached into Nakago's mind and tried to find out who or what had bound him thus. She was especially nervous of the possibility that his presence might herald the return of the double she had defeated years ago in Ravenloft. Certainly, the powers at play matched.

Slowly, a coherent image began to form in her connection to Nakago. She could almost see the mastermind in his delusion addled mind.

Then, suddenly, she lost contact. Snapping her eyes open, she was just in time to see Nakago seemingly melt into a puddly of shadow that appeared beneath him. Apparently, whoever controlled him did not want to reveal her (or his) secrets too soon.

So close... and yet so far...

Written by The Drunkard Kid 09-21-2002 11:11 AM

Ohcrapcrapohcrapohcra-

Drunkard quickly found himself overwhelmed by the Lost Boy. In a blur of motion, the bandana'd warrior thrust his umbrella forward with a fraction of his inhuman strength. The force behind the blow sent the comparatively frail outworlder careening into - and through - a desk on the far end of the room. His flight was ended when he slammed into the wall at the far end, cracking the plaster and smashing his head.

Dazed and battered, Drunkard sat against the wall, wondering how he was still in one piece. Even with such a casual blow, he should have been split in half... Apparently, Ryouga was similarly confused, but only for a moment. With a single leap, the fanged boy covered the distance between them and gave another light tap to his chest testing his durability, and embedding him farther into the wall, though he was able to double up over it and protect his skull. In reaction, the ebony Ura wrapped around his torso unwound with a screech and slashed Ryouga across the face, sending him back clutching his wound.

This however, gave Drunkard the moment he needed to regain his senses. Thanking his lucky stars for Ura, he activated the only power that would be of any use at the moment.

Ticklevision. Full blast.

As Ryouga collapsed to the floor guffawing his brains out, writhing and rolling in a humor induced seizure, Drunkard took this time to remove himself from the wall and shake his head in an attempt to clear it. A bad idea when one is suffering a major concussion. Staggering as the world began to spin around, struggling to keep Ryouga within his effective field of vision, DK collected just enough of his thoughts to create an effective plan of action.

Taking a black marker from his coat, the Drunkard Kid sketched a glass of water upon the tiles in front of him. It rippled as he forced his will upon it, gaining a third dimension as he pulled it from the ground. Splashing the Wrecking Crew member with its contents, he felt significantly less threatened as he watched Hibiki reduce to P-chan. After a second thought, he doodled a little hole in the ground, turning it into a gate. With a satisfying kick he knocked his opponent into the portal, dropping him into the middle of a hot spring.

He felt his power lose its target as he allowed the hole to revert into ink and tile once more. He took out his Dragonball Manga again, this time bringing out a senzu bean, which he promptly ate. While its effects would fade as soon as he cancelled his power, or when the week limit ran out, it would last long enough for him to finish the mission and seek competent medical assistence.

Scratching his armor's ears, he voiced his thoughts on the battle. "Embarassing way to win, but effective... Ura, I owe you for the save, but if anyone asks, tell them that I tricked him into walking into that hole, wouldya?" Looking at the pile of clothes and equipment over in the corner, he looked at his armor mischievously. "Hey, I wonder how he'll like the Hinata Inn, anyways..."

Written by Yeoman 09-21-2002 11:08 AM

Zel-Yeo: I'll take Malfoy, this guy's been annoying me for a long time.

With that Zel-Yeo pulled another lightsaber, only to have malfoy knock it from his grasp. At which point he produced another, only for the same thing to happen.

ZY: Oooooooh... So that how you want to play it. Well lets try this.

Zel-Yeo took sprinted towards The Malfoy Shadow with his net-event enhanced speed, slidding passed the Shade. His arm lunged out at Malfoy, then he pulled upwith all his might, incapacitaing the Shade with the mother of all wedgies.

ZY: Eat your heart out lastnameless one....

Written by Jaffa 09-21-2002 11:18 AM

Another blow from one of Darth Jada's shadowy tentacles connected with Jaffa's chin, nearly managing to separate his head from his body.The next one came to the torso, smashing him into a wall, which cracked from the blow. Eversharp fell from Jaffa's hand as his body went limp from the impact.

Jada stepped over the fallen bodies of her underlings, advancing towards her victim. Shadow moved around her like a giagantic black cloak, fluttering in a non-existand wind. "You have no idea," she said, her voice an other-worldly croak, "...how I will enjoy this. The one I really want to kill may be beyond my power to harm, but you... you are not."

Struggling to get up, Jaffa replied with fiery beams of destructive energy from his eyes. Jada laughed as she summoned a shadow sword, and blocked it. "Not quite a lightsabre," she said. "But it'll do for this." She raised the blade to strike a killing blow.

To Jaffa, everything seemed to happen in slow motion. He turned his head to his friends and saw the struggling with Jada's minions - the shadows putting more pressure on them, as they fought some new, stronger opponents. He turned his eyes to the doorway, where more shadows kept pouring in, more and more ominous, powerful wights appearing and starting to chant their dark incantations. Some had already caught up and were bombarding Parallax with yellow bolts of energy. He looked up, where Jada held the shadow sword above her head, ready to strike. Above her, shadowlings poured in through the cracks that had appeared in the ceiling. Despite all their efforts, they were fighting a losing battle. "Eversharp!" he called, and through the psionic connection he shared with the sword, it replied.

"You are finished, Mirror-stalker", Jada hissed. "My master wills it so. In the end, there can be only one." She struck.

Jaffa watched as the shadow sword descended upon him. It seemed to take forever. He gripped Eversharp tighter, knowing that even it would not be enough to break whatever power held Jada together on it's own - obviously Jada wasn't a magical being. He let down all the mental blocks he had set to protect himself from burning himself out with his own power, Jaffa poured all his energy into the sword.

"There..." Jada shouted, her scream turning into a slow, deep bellow in Jaffa's ears.

"will..." Jaffa let down the blocks that usually kept him from exhausting his body's own power reserves. Eversharp glowed brighter, though few would notice it in the heat of battle.

"Be..." Jada's sword was almost uppon Jaffa. Eversharp still absorbed Jaffa's energy.

"Only..." Jaffa's world grew blurry from the edges, as the last of his power left him for the blade.

"One!" Jada screamed horribly, striking her blade down and driving it through Jaffa's chest. At the same moment, Jaffa used his last ounce of strength to drive his own sword up, piercing Darth Jada's shadowlike form. The Dark Force user's scream of rage turned into one of horror, as the sword's energy poured into her, tearing her apart from inside out.

For a moment, the battle paused as everyone's attention turned into the dying scream of the former Sith. luminous cracks spread across her form, bright yellow light eating her shadow mass away. With her last act of malice, Jada extended her shadowy tendrils towards the maimed form of Jaffa, and grabbed him, pulling him closer to herself...

Then, there was a bright flash of light, followed by a black cloud that with a booming sound, explosively spread across the room from where Jada had stood just moments ago. Where the two combatants had just been, there was now nothing.

Eversharp fell to the floor with a loud clatter.

Written by The Watcher

Unforseen Complications

In the smoldering ruins of Sunnydale High some ominous figures in dark robes strode toward where the library once stood. Rising from the darkness, a few weak shades who had remained behind moved to confront the newcomers, only to find themselves dominated by a new master.

"Go and guard the perimter of the school. There must be no interference with our ritual."

Compelled to obey due to the spirit control spell, the shades left to do as they were instructed.

"The First favors us. The presence of these ebon invaders sends mystic reverberations though the fabric of the world. The walls shake. The barriers weaken. At the right place they can be made to crumble."

"Yes, and with this world's defenders occupied by their arrival, no one remains to oppose our will. The ritual shall Open The Way."

"Yes, my brothers. The circle will be completed. What once was shall be again, and what is shall be no more. By the First the Mouth shall be opened. And the Reign of Man undone."

At this the eyeless beings formed a circle and began chanting in an ancient tongue not of man. Dark and potent energies brought by the massive breach of Shadow into the world were gathered and concentrated between them, coelescing in mystic symbols written in the color of a starless night. The air shimmered and rippled under the weight of unseen power. Above storm clouds roiled and thunder roared, as if to protest the blasphemies beneath. And below, under the ruins of the Sunnydale High library, the earth shook and the ground cracked, as all Hell broke loose.

Written by Tanith

In the infirmary of the Andromeda, one Buffy Summers suddenly snapped awake from her light nap after being rescued from the shadowy hell that her town had been turned into. Her mother, who had been dozing off beside her bed, was also startled awake. Serra, who had been working on some of the other Sunnydale refugees, frowned and began to walk toward them.

"Buffy?" Joyce laid a careful hand on her daughter's trembling shoulders.

"Dream... Slayer dream..." Buffy gasped incoherently.

"Slow down Buffy." Neither had realized when Giles, who had just spoken, had also moved up beside the bed. "What did you dream?"

Buffy took a deep breath, and blurted it out. "Someone's opened the Hellmouth."

Giles gasped. "Bloody..."

Serra reached for the intercom.


*****


On the bridge, Rune and Meta were suddenly interrupted from watching the fight between Jaffa and Shadow-Jada by the concerned voice of Rommie. They, too, gasped as she told them of the now open gateway to Hell not too far away from where they're friends (and family) fought.

Rune closed her eyes in thought, or perhaps in Sight. Then, she addressed CBY over the comm channel.

"I'm going down there, CB-kun," she informed him, solemn-toned for once. "I'm going to try and seal that rift with the rift-magicks that Pug-sensei taught me. Could you maybe send some help to keep the other bad people who opened the Hellmouth from interfering?"

Written by Yeoman 09-21-2002 05:39 PM

CBY: As you wish.

CBY: Legionaires, assemble in the transport room. We're going to have some fun after all.

* * *

As the eyeless being focused their attention on the Hellmouth, attempting to make sure it would remain open, several shapes came into existence being them.

CBY: Jo, Ayla, brek their ranks. Cos, Imra, Garth, we'll play cleanup. Let's go Legionaires.

Written by The Watcher 09-22-2002 03:08 AM

The dark ones looked at the new arrivals with an expression of amusement and triumph.

You are too late, humans. Our ritual is complete and The Mouth is opened. Nothing can save you now. The Reign of Man is over.

Below them all could be heard unearthly roars and the sound of brick and metal being shoved aside. Then bursting from the debris came demons of all kinds. Gigantic serpentine shapes took to the air, while slick and leathery tentacles sought to ensnare the Legionaires. More humanoid demons leaped onto the surface and then charged with an inhuman ferocity toward the heroes, a blur of muscle, claws, and teeth. Below, more beings of all shapes and sizes could be seen and heard, ascending upward to stream forth into the world that was once theirs, and would be again.

Written by Mg_knt 09-21-2002 05:50 PM

*The Terra Mars' mecha quickly cleaned up all the shadowlings in the area.*

Mg:"Give CBY thanks for the assist Rommie."

Rommie:"Serra says that some cult has opened the Hellmouth."

Mg:"Oh great just what I needed right now.Is there anything that is needed from me down on the ground?"

Rommie:"I don't know yet, stay at your position and I will ask Rune."

Written by Tanith 09-21-2002 06:14 PM

"Mg-kun?" Rune turned to Rommie in surprise. "Well, if he wants to, can you ask him to help CB-kun distract the bad people who opened the Hellmouth and the demons that are coming out of it? Rift-magic is a tricky thing, and I'm going to need un-interrupted concentration for this."

Seeing Rommie's acknowledgement, Rune opened up a rift to Sunnydale and stepped through. Meta followed on her heels, faithful as always.

As soon as she emerged on the streets of Sunnydale, right next to where the high school had been, Rune took to the skies. Carefully, she positioned herself over the Hellmouth, then closed her eyes and began to chant.

In her mind's eye, she could see the weavings of magic around the Hell-gate. She reached out with her mind and touched the strands of magic. And began to weave.

Written by The Watcher 09-22-2002 03:26 AM

Upon sensing Rune's mystic touch upon the Mouth, the triumph the dark figures had felt quickly turned to astonishment and alarm.

"No! How can this be! No human could have the power to close The Mouth!"

"She must not be allowed to accomplish such blasphemy! The Way must be kept open!"

The dark figures quicly began their own chanting, hoping to use their superior numbers and knowledge of the Hellmouth to interfere with Rune's attempts to close it. Shades quickly moved to help defend their new masters from the heroes, while the demons who had already crossed over turned their attention to the human hovering over the ruins of the school. Two of the great flying serpents began diving toward the teenager, intent on devouring the upstart human who would presume to bar their breathren from Earth.

Written by Z-man 09-21-2002 08:04 PM

Z-man was in the sick bay when Buffy awoke. When Rommie told him Rune and Meta and the others had beamed down, He decided to help. He recalled Houndoom, Jessie, Kadabra, and Chikorita, deciding to give Dragonite and Octillery a rest, so they could continue helping with the refugees. In order to make up for it, he called Renamon.

The yellow fox was a gift from a Digignome he helped long ago, and was almost the exact same as Rika's partner on the 3rd season of the TV show. She had studied with Tanith's Scizor most of her time, other than the time she spent watching TV. She also got some sparring done with his pokemon, but this would be one of her first few actual fights.

"I would love to help," Renamon said. "I've been getting restless."

Z-man teleported her up to the Andromeda and then both of them teleported down to help Rune.

Written by Mg_knt 09-22-2002 09:51 AM

*As the flying serpents closed on Rune, four angels swooped down slicing the serpents. The Serpents dropped from the sky with a thud. One of the angels is wearing a headset.*

Elizabeth:"Mr. Smith, we got the serpents."

Mg:"Good, stay there and protect Rune. Krosp, I am giving you command of the ground forces here. I am going to find where this cult is and slaughter them."

Written by Yeoman 09-22-2002 10:00 AM

CBY: Jo! Run interference for Rune, the rest of you take out those chanting morons, I'll handle the Demons.

With that, CBY sent massive waves of forcelightning towards the demons, his own considerable power enhanced by the triforce. While he could not get every demon, he would thin their ranks considerably.

* * *

Meanwhile in the air the serpents were learning that even a man with only one of a kryptonian's powers at a time is still a formidable opponent. Jo used flash vision to ward them away before tackling them with ulta strength.

Written by Z-man 09-22-2002 11:34 AM

Knowing that he, himself, was a liability in this fight, Z-man set up a defensive teleporting pattern, teleporting at random to demon free locations within his line of sight, he managed to avoid the enemy as much as possible. Kadabra stayed with him, keeping up a constant barrier with his reflect attack.

He couldn't use Houndoom with the minisuns limiting his effectiveness in stealth. Jessie, meanwhile, made himself useful, throwing shadow balls that plowed through the ranks of demons, inflicting more damage on the psychic ones.

Renamon could take any one demon by herself, but this was too many. Z-man pulled his digivice out of his pocket and swept a card through. Renamon glowed with a bright white light, and turned into Taomon. With a call of "Thousand spells," her oversized sleeves began pouring thousands of slips of paper at the demons, each one it hit immediately doubled over in pain and was stuck that way.

"Protect Rune!" Z-man yelled, and Renamon flew next to her, casting a spell to put up a shield. The shield had to be penetrable by magic, of course, in order for Rune to keep trying to close the Hellmouth, but only her allies could physically get through the shield.

That finished, Z-man began taking a more active role, teleporting demon's heads, but not their bodies, around the battlefield. It didn't kill all of them, but it killed enough.

Written by Mg_knt 09-22-2002 11:48 AM

Mg:"Rommie, can you pin point the location of any dimesional manipulation other then Rune?"

Rommie:"Yes, Do you want a teleportation to a location near there."

Mg;"If you would. I would like some binoculars to go with me."

*Rommie teleports Mg to a position about 1000 yards from a warehouse. Mg lifts the binoculars to his eyes.*

Mg:"Looks like two demons doing guard duty. No other ways in that I can see. Rommie, get me the GEP gun loaded with WP rockets."

Written by Tanith 09-21-2002 02:53 PM

Arcadia ignored the unconsciousness that swallowed up the last of the lackies that she had sent forth. They were expendable, after all. But the powers that these five... champions... have shown... now *that* was something she was much more interested in.

*POP*

Magedane suddenly appeared before her in the shadow realm, his hands outstretched in offering. Across his shadowy palms lay five thin slices of shadow, which he had taken from the heroes while they'd been distracted in their fights.

Arcadia smiled a wicked grin as she gathered up the shadow strands into her hands. Why waste such power by killing the wielders, when it could be put to much better use... better for her, anyways.

Her hands clenched around the shadows, and she tilted her head back with eyes closed. Power... many different shades of power... flowed into her from the shadow-fragments.

Oh yess......


*****


In the tower, the four remaining heroes suddenly felt a wave of fatigue swept through them. It was an unnatural fatigue, more like a wave of weakness, or a heavy blanket of numbness upon their minds.

Powers began to falter....

The shadow creatures still in the room pressed even more eagerly against the verdant shield that held them out, sensing the slight weakness in its power...

On the floor, a brown-skinned elf began to stir from the depths of unconsciousness...

While a silver-blond wizard recovered from his humiliation, and looked around for his foe in rage...


*****


Tanith winced as she leaned against a wall. It was hard to think with her energies draining from her, despite the vast reverses of her Quickening. Through her foggy mind, though, she realized that the unnatural fatigue was not the only thing she felt. Slowly, her hands reached up to her neck. She could feel the medallion that Eriond had given her burning against her flesh, giving her a metaphysical anchor on which to focus herself.

It was also a clue. A hint. As she focused her powers, she could sense traces of familiarity on the draining of her energies. Not the draining itself... but the *method* by which it was occuring.

"Our shadows!" She gasped to the others, hoping they were thinking clearly enough to hear her. "We're being drained through our shadows!"

Written by Yeoman 09-21-2002 05:41 PM

Zel-Yeo: Crap! Parallax, flood the room with light! Make it enough to elimnate our shadows!

Written by Parallax 09-21-2002 06:33 PM

Parallax put a hand up to his head as he felt energy start draining from his body - at the same time that the attack on the shield keeping the shadow swarm out seemed to redouble.

Concentrating hard on keeping the shield going strong, he almost didn't hear Tanith cry out ... almost.

Concentrating, with energy still being drained, Parallax turned the ring on himself ... and instantly started to glow with a brilliant green light. Such a glow that not a single shadow belonged to him. Instantly the energy drain stopped and even started to reverse - quickly Parallax thought what he had to do. Floodlights wouldn't help his comrades; they'd only create more shadows and quicken the drain. He shrugged at pointed the Ring at his companions, one at a time - leaving each glowing green ... and without a shadow.

Written by Jaffa 09-22-2002 04:06 AM

Meanwhile, the shadow armies in Sunnudale begun to falter, as they felt their leader disappear from their consciousness. The driving force behind them was now gone, and while the shadows directly under Arcadia's control continued to fight fiercely, the majority of the horde felt their courage suddenly fail.

Some of the weaker shadows fell under the thrall of the Hellmouth demons, and the rest lost much of their will to fight. Some small contingents, led by magic-using wights or powerful Shadow Knights continued to fight with the same fervour, but even they no longer had any great desire to engage the heroes' forces, fighting only to escape with their skins intact.

Sunnydale was in complete chaos, the shadowlings running rampant and uncontrolled, Mg's troops advancing, and Hellmouth demons fighting both heroes and the more powerful shadows alike.

Written by Tanith 09-21-2002 06:45 PM

Arcadia frowned as the flow of energy stopped. Even more as she felt the connection tug at her in return. Her eyes snapped open as she stared at the slices of shadows in her hands, four of which were glowing faintly - and ever more brightly - with green.

Cutting off her draining, she began to examine the fragments with her shadow-sorcery, trying to preserve the pieces from destruction until later... when her victims were along and thought themselves safe.


In the meantime, another mind also sought through the shadow paths. Although Tanith was not as practiced in that aspect of her powers, she was not unknown to it either, especially after her previous experiences in Ravenloft. Reaching out to the tiny piece of herself, she tried to project her awareness through...


Arcadia suddenly gasped as something reached through from one of the shadow-pieces. Her eyes widened as she percieved the projection that emerged from it.

Those...... features......

Memories -- no. Pre-memories ingrained into the depths of her mind sprang forth and crashed over her conscious mind. The five fragments of shadow fell from her hands as she pressed them against her temples. In a flash of green, they disappeared - not that Arcadia noticed in the least.

Finally, the pain passed, and she shakily raised her head once more. Without a backward glance, she retrieved her errant lackies, and began to move off into the shadow.

Her priorities have just changed.

Written by Tanith 09-22-2002 06:21 PM

Floating above the turmoil, oblivious of the conflict that raged around and below her, Rune focused solely on the knot of rift-magicks before her ethereal senses. Strand by careful strand, she sifted through the weavings of magic that opened and maintained the Hellmouth.

The process was not wholly unfamiliar to her. The magicks of the Hellmouth was very reminiscent to the ghostly gateway of the Lifestone of Midkemia, on that fateful day when the Valheru made their bid to return from their untimely exile. Magicks that her Pug-sensei had spent years studying, in sole preparation for the next bid of the Valheru for their freedom...

Then, she felt another tug on the weavings of magic. The black mages who had opened the gate had become aware of her workings, and furiously worked to turn back her progress. She could feel their dark magic tugging on the weavings of her own spells, seeking to untangle its workings and dispell its existence.

Dredging up every bit of knowledge she had learned of rift-magics, she began reweaving her spells. For the first time, she consciously tapped into the temporary addition to her power - the Triforce. She, however, did not use it to boost her power. It mattered little to her that the black mages were channeling more and more energy into trying to stop her efforts. For she had learned from her studies, on Velgarth and the Seleigh Court as well as Midkemia, that the most effective magics... need not be the most powerful.

Instead, she used the Triforce of Wisdom to clarify her thinking, to boost the focus of her mind. Faster and faster, her mental commands weaved the fabric of magic before her. Instead of blocking her countermagics of the black mages with pure power, she stymied them instead with complicated knots and tangles, which tightened with their every effort to untangle them and absorbed their every effort to sever them.

Slowly but steadily... the Hellmouth began to close.

Written by Mg_knt 09-22-2002 08:05 PM

*Mg picks up the GEP gun. Looking into the targeting scope he aims for a spot right between the two demons guarding the door. The launch of the rocket was quiet compared to the launch of modern rockets. The rocket exploded between the two demons throwing white phosphorus around in a ten foot radius. The two demons screamed as the chemical burned their flesh. Both demons convulsed and collasped.*

Mg:"Rommie, I want ten flashbangs, ten explosive grenades, my flack vest, and my M4."

*The items appeared before Mg and he takes a minute to put the grenades on the vest and in pockets.*

Written by Mg_knt 09-23-2002 12:32 AM

*Mg made his way to the door slowly, trying to be as silent as possible. Coming to the side of the door, looking down at the two demons he saw they were in no condition to challenge him. Taking of a flashbang and a grenade. Mg pulled the pin on the flashbang and threw it through the doorway. Next, Mg pulled the pin out of the grenade and threw it through the doorway before the flashbang. Waiting till he heard the double explosions before running into the warehouse. Anything still moving got several rounds from the M4.*

Written by Mg_knt 09-23-2002 08:38 PM

*Mg went through the warehouse using the flashbang, grenade, and clear strategy. Making his way into the basement.*

Rommie:" The rift magic readings are coming from this room."

Mg:"Okay, exchange the M4 for the SAW."

*The small assault rifle disappeared and was replaced by the high caliber machine gun.*

Mg:"Okay, I'm going in."

*Mg kicks in the door. A circle of mages turn to see him. Everything stops for what seems like a minute. Then the rythmic thunk of the SAW as it spit out round after round, Mages fell as the bullets slam into their bodies. In less then a minute all the mages where on the floor. Stepping into the room, Mg noted that it was rather well lit, an oddity for magicians of all sorts. One mage was groaning so Mg rolled him over. The mage was fanged, a vampire, three rounds to the head finished him off though.*

Mg:"Mages in this area are clear. Rune should be having a easier time now."

Written by Tanith 09-23-2002 11:29 PM

Thunder cracked in the air.

It wasn't the weather. Nor the rage of some awesome demon that had emerged from the Hellmouth (though it might well have been).

It was the sound of the Hellmouth closing. The sound of finality.

On the ground, the remaining black mages that had not been already slain by the forces of good howled in rage as their dreams of glory vanished with the gate they had fought to keep open. In rage and anger, they threw themselves once more onto the forces that had shoved into their jaws of victory the taste of bitter defeat.


In the air, Rune floated above it all. A light blue aura surrounded her, concentrating on a triangular marking on her left hand. She was breathing deeply from her exertion - not physical in the least, but certainly mental and metaphysical. Her head was tilted back and her eyes closed, as she took a moment to simply relax.


*****


In The Tower:

The majority of the shadows that had been attacking the small group of heroes had dissapeared along with the mysterious draining force upon them. Those that remained were leaderless and aimless bottom feeders who had lacked the wit to bail out when their leader, Darth Jada, had been eliminated.

It was a simple matter of mopping up said remaining shadows, which didn't take too much effort for the group at all, even in their half-drained states. Soon, the tower and it's surroundings were free of the shadowlings that had infested it earlier.

A quick call to Rommie revealed that the situation of the Hellmouth was being handled. Although there was still the minor problem of the various demons that had escaped the Hellmouth when it had been opened.

And also, there was still the concern over the whereabouts of Jaffa. Scans of the remnant debris of his battle with Darth Jada revealed little but what they'd already suspected. To truly find their missing friend, they needed someone who could track him whereever he was... a clairsentient, like Z-man or Rune.

Written by Yeoman 09-24-2002 01:09 AM

Having been appraised of the situation, CBY used his flight ring communicator to speak to his flag ship.

CBY: Krosp, good job with the Mecha divisions, I can't wait to see what you do with the final versions. For now, have the men patrol the town, and have the ship track on life signs or energy signitures leaving the city.

CBY: If it looks like a hellmouth demon trying to leave the are, use a pinpoint barrage of it's position.

CBY: There, that should keep things mostly contained to the area for now.

Written by Parallax 09-24-2002 05:29 PM

Parallax swept the area where Jaffa had disapeared with a beam from his Power Ring, looking for some trace.

Something was there but it elusively kept all details to itself ...

He turned to Tanith and shrugged his shoulders; "What should we do now? Stay and finished cleaning up or keep moving?"

Written by Tanith 09-24-2002 07:35 PM

"Well, the easiest way to find Jaffa now would to be have a clairsentient search for him," replied Tanith. "That would be either Rune or Z-man, so I guess we should join up with the others at the Hellmouth."

And so they did.

Written by Mg_knt 09-24-2002 08:11 PM

Mg:"Rommie can I get a transport to where Tanith and company are?"

Rommie:"Transporting you to the Hellmouth."

*Mg appears right next to Tanith. He is covered in dirt and blood. He has a few cuts from the close quarters fighting with the shadowlings. He sits down on a piece of rubble."

Mg;"Glad to see you all here and alive."

Written by Z-man 09-24-2002 10:19 PM

"I'll see what I can do to find Jaffa," Z-man replied, after Tanith asked. He then began focusing on Jaffa as hard as he could. "He's... he's... He's in some sort of shadow realm, unconscious. I think I'll be able to teleport him out, but I'd need to go there first, to get line of sight. Shadow realms aren't completely reliable on allowing poeple out, though, so I'd prefer we got a gater in here, to keep it open for long enough to go in and get him out."

Written by Tanith 09-24-2002 11:00 PM

At that, Rune gently floated down next to the group. She rubbed her eyes wearily. "I can open a rift, Z-kun. Just gimme a moment."

With that, she closed her eyes and concentrated. The blue aura flared around her again as a small rift began to enlarge before her. It opened into darkness.

"Well, that didn't help," muttered Tanith.

Rune just smiled as the rift itself seemed to move *backwards*. Soon, Jaffa's unconscious body appeared out of it, and immediately fell to the ground due to gravity.

"Oh right." Tanith peered at Jaffa's unconscious form. "Back to the infirmary again, I guess."

Written by Yeoman 09-24-2002 11:38 PM

CBY: Well, I can't imagine I'll be that useful from here on in. Should we ... deal with the matter of the triforce while Jaffa is in the infermiry?

Written by Mg_knt 09-24-2002 11:57 PM

*Mg watches Jaffa's body appear.*

Mg:"So the prodigal son returns once again."

*Elizabeth lands next to Mg.*

Elizabeth:"You're alive Mr. Smith."

Mg:"Well since there wasn't time for formal introductions. This is Elizabeth."

Written by Tanith 09-25-2002 01:08 AM

Tanith nodded at Elizabeth. "Hello, Elizabeth." Then she turned to Mg. "You can tell me all about it... later. Let's get Jaffa to the infirmary first." Pulling out her communicator, she had Rommie beam Jaffa directly up to the Andromeda's infirmary.

Then, she turned to the others, noting that Rune was all but asleep on her feet.

"Hm... I suppose we can afford to take it slow from here. There's no point in swift actions now. Should we remain here to look for more clues regarding this mysterious shadow threat? Or should we head over to Hyrule first and deal with the triforces?"

Written by Mg_knt 09-25-2002 08:47 PM

Mg:"I say, we head to Hyrule. Not much clue as to who was behind the shadowlings since the leader wasn't captured therefore no chance of interrogation."

*Mg yawns*

Mg:"Plus I am tired and hungry. This body doesn't have any endurance training and it has been awhile since I have eaten."

Written by Tanith 09-28-2002 12:27 PM

And so our heroes in Sunnydale wrapped up their efforts there. Parallax collected his TARDIS. Rune place some extra seals on the Hellmouth just in case. Z-man and a few others searched through Jaffa's tower once more to find the few remaining survivors of Jaffa's mages and returned them to their homeworlds. Tanith called up the multiversal construction companies that worked with PaDT and had them rebuild most of Sunnydale's infrastructure before the day was done.

As always, the rest of the world didn't seem to notice anything while all of this, plus the attack of the past few days, as anything out of the ordinary.

After that, they set course for Hyrule, on which they dropped off the three Triforces at the Temple of Time. With Z-man's help, they made sure that the proper individuals (Link and Zelda?) were present for the drop off. Ganondorf made the mistake of trying for the Triforces again with our heroes present. Needless to say, he won't be a problem for Hyrule anymore. *eg*

Before the heroes could go their separate ways after this latest adventure, CBY invited them to his daughter's birthday party. The Metagaming Plot Device Gods (ie. Posters) also put their foot down about it, so whoever had planned to make up an excuse not to go (or for whom it would've been out of character to go), were forced to agree to attend anyways. (On the flip side, CBY also had to invite *everyone*.)

And so, our heroes went to Terra-Mars for the party in celebration of Christine's first birthday (and the 10,000th post).

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