[AU] Urth Adventures

Southern Gondwana

Iron Fist set at a bar in St.Giskard, he had been thinking over and over about the fight he had with Scorpionok. Weeks had gone by he had yet to return to Gondwana… at least not yet. He got up and walked out the door when he heard his radio scanner go off, it sounded like intense screaming and destruction coming from Astrania. He quickly ran across the water at full speed towards the coast, as Iron Fist got closer he notice a large army moving through the forest near the shore. He went into his stealth mode and noticed Scorpionok had 3 Crystals around his knock now, “Noo no no no… this this… this can’t be oh man this is going to be bad” Just as he was preparing to run a group of True Believers surrounded him along with Scorpionok and his new henchman Etrigan. Scorpionok had blessed Etriganwith new powers to control time and magic, giving him unimaginable power and giving him a new nickname ‘Black Death’. Scorpionok grabbed Iron Fist by the head squeezing on it, Iron Fist screamed in pain “When I’m done you will be alive to see the destruction of your world, The end is near Iron Fist. I hope they remember you for your sacrifice” Scorpionok says before dropping him to the ground, badly injured Iron Fist ran off through the forest before collapsing.

When he awoke he was inside a laboratory strapped to a bed, a women walked up to him “Iron Fist we are not your enemies, I’m Agent Nogard apart of a special unit from Kuthernburg called Agents of Urth. We are aware of the impending destruction, we have a idea to bring together a group of amazing people, to see if you all could become something of a family. So that when Urth is in danger you all could fight the battle that we could not win.” She walked around table grabbing the keys and unlocking him, “You wouldn’t know any other beings would you?” Nogard said to Iron Fist. He looked up and thought to himself, he turned around and spoke “The Hellraisers…”

A young man sat on the edge of an apartment buildings’ roof, drumming the heels of his bright green sneakers against the faded bricks of the tenth floor. Bobbing his head to the smooth tones coming through his headphones, he peered down at the cluttered street below his perch and watched the residents of this shady portion of the city go about their day. He waved to Mr. Marenzo wheeling his fruit cart down the way as the guitars kicked in, and gave a salute to Mrs. Hanala and her son during the drum solo. The beat of the track, tapped out on the heavy skating pads across his knees, faded out as police sirens faded up in the distance, which soon gave way to another synthpop melody that sent the young mans’ head nodding enthusiastically.

The man jerked, the vibrations from the dinky cell phone at his side interrupting his musical rapture. The cell was retrieved by his black-gloved hand and flipped open, replacing the headphones against his ear.

“Yeah, who’s calling? … Look, man, I’ve barely had two days to myself. I just wanna take it easy and help out the folks around here. … No, I’m not gonna tell you where I am this week. … I don’t care. I know you’re probably gonna just ping the phone. I just bought this one too, like a third of what you pay me goes into burners. … I’m not going to do that unless you double the usual. We agreed to a week between jobs, so you’re gonna have to pay up if you need me that bad. … Fine, give me a day and I’ll be there.”

A resigned tsk accompanied the phone from his hand and over the side of the building to shatter against the sidewalk. With a glance at the compass built into his watch, the young man stood and downed the last of the can of sports drink he had next to him. His oversized duffel bag slung over his shoulder, he conjured a shining translucent umbrella with a flick of his wrist, and stepped off the rooftop to float slowly to the ground.

(Hellraisers/Fortuna/Cel Joint Post)

Sitoria meditated in some trees surrounded by animals, she got a weird feeling that someone was around. She touched the ground connecting as one with Urth to feel the surroundings, she felt the footsteps but could not tell who they where. Sitoria created a branch barrier around herself and sent a pack of wolves to sniff out the mysterious figures.

Hiding uptop a hill a few kilometers away, Maia looked down at where the metas she was told about were believed to be. Through the scope of her rifle, she looked for any signs that might point her toward her target. Although she could not see anything, she still sensed that something was off. Not wanting to take any chances, she went invisible and used her levitation to get her just over tree level. From there, she continued watching. . . and waiting. Sitoria was determined to figure out who could be disturbing a goddess , “These ratchet humans, on this ignorant planet” She created a large supercell over the area, the winds kicked up and the trees blew. It started to thunderstorm with no rain, she used the trees to create a bigger version of herself. Inside the large tree cocoon she looked around looking for the unknown individual.

From where she floated, Maia watched in both in horror and awe at all of this taking place right in front of her. Hesitating a little too long for her liking, she was unsure on either backing off and reporting to HQ or taking the first shot. As the sky continued to grow dark, Maia finally decided and fired one, hard-hitting energy blast at the immense figure before relocating.

Taking the hit, Sitoria grew angry even though the trunks absorbed the energy. The storm grew more intense until the lighting started to strike the figure constantly, Sitoria arose out the figure and into the clouds disappearing. On the ground the team noticed the storm and knew something was wrong, they rushed to where the extreme lighting was and searched around. Aperture flew up with her special armor on lookin around, “Show yourself” she said.

Seeing that her opponents were beginning to closing in on her, Maia realized she was running out of options. Putting up her energy armor in case of she was actually spotted, she took another shot, this time at the woman in armor before jumping back into cover within the forest. Aperture got hit in her armor falling to the ground “Ouch that hurt” she chuckled while laying on the ground next to the rest of the Hellraisers “I’m okay!” She said while laughing. Sitoria watched her sister fall and followed the energy trace with her lighting, she seemed to have just fell out of the clouds, her swords with bolts around them full of energy. “Show yourself!!” She screamed as she landing on the ground running through the forest alongside her wolves. Suddenly emerging as if from nothing, Maia popped out of hiding and began taking shots at the wolves at point-blank range. She did her best to take out as many of the beasts as she could before turning her aim back at Aperture. Eidolon quickly perceived the situation, and quickly turned invisible. She ran to where Maia was and put her remaining knife to her neck, returning visible. “Drop the weapon” she whispered. “Or else.”

“Try me,” Maia replied with a grin. Before her new opponent could react, Maia kicked in her bullet time ability, reached up with her free hand, grabbed Eidolon’s arm and pulled it away from her neck, giving Maia enough time to move out of the way. Seeing her opportunity, she stepped out of arms reach and fire an energy blast at Eidolon, aiming at her legs. “Now how about you drop the weapon,” Maia mocked, “or else.”

Aperture watched Eidolon closely from the Corner Of her eye as she flew to Sitoria who had caused a rather destructive storm to form, Sitoria had never fully understood the extent of powers that only got more enhanced by the Crystal Of life. She flew towards Maia throwing a series of lightning bolts at her. Sensing the danger, however, Maia attempted to jump to the left to dodge the lightning bolts, but she did not escape unharmed as one bolt tore across her leg. The pain caught Maia off guard, forcing her to go invisible to give her time to recover, turning back only to take a few potshots at Sitoria in retaliation.

“Fight me, human!” Sitoria screamed. She whistled and more animals started to charge through the forest, the lighting bolts zapped all across the forest. Eidolon quickly began sneaking to where Sitoria was, before freezing when Maia turned invisible. She looked around and tried to think where Maia was now. Then not too far ahead of them, Maia popped into view, raising her rifle once again and taking out another handful of the animals before disappearing once again to relocate, keeping her opponents always guessing.

Telrusi decided he had enough of the cat and mouse game, he ran through the trees using the wind created a large blanket of fire over the trees attempting to knock her down. Sitoria created a large tornado in hopes of sucking Maia into it, “She’s a human Sitoria! You can’t just go full angel on her, you’re going to kill her!!” Aperture screamed, “Here you have the Guardian Of Life & Death the two greatest combination ever needed she deserves whatever she gets” Sitoria says as she guides the tornado through the forest, Telrusi flew up next to her “Don’t, she’s injured she will reappear soon.”

Just then Maia, battered and exhausted, stumbled out from behind a tree, activating her energy armor and keeping her rifle pointed at her opponents. “Alright, alright, you don’t have to throw tornadoes at me!” she shouted at them as she slowly began walking forward. “I would like to call a cease-fire for the time being so that I can figure out why you’re on Fortunan soil. That means no giant tree monsters, no pack of wolves, and no more tornadoes. Do we have a deal?”

Aperture stepped forward “sure let me introduce us, I’m Aperture I’m a Simorian Angel, God of Portals And 5 Realms, that’s my sister who you seem to have pissed off Sitoria Godess Of Life And protector of the Crystal Of Life I guess you can say Mother Urth is what your old stories name her. Then you have Telrusi Guardian Of Death, Kai the Merman And Eidolon our Assassin. We mean you or your nation no Harm, we are attempting to retrieve the Crystal Of Magic to get it someplace safe away from Scorpionok who is well on his way to destroy your planet.”

“Lovely, just what I need,” Maia mumbled under her breath. “Alright,” she shouted for the group to hear this time, “well that’s great and all, but you’re still on Fortunan soil. Is this Crystal of Magic here in Fortuna or no?”

“Yes specifically in this area, my sister was trying to meditate before she was attacked. We just need a little more time and we will be off your land” Aperture replies. Maia went silent as she thought over everything she was just told. Her training had taught her to do anything to protect the homeland at any cost, but this situation was like none she was trained for. She had no idea what this magical crystal did, but it sounded dangerous. Then again, her superiors probably want to get their hands on it as well.

“Alright,” Maia answered, “I’ll let you find this crystal, but I have one request. You will be under my watch until you have completed your mission. After that, you better leave Fortuna forever, you got that?” Aperture looked at Maia, “I give you my word and I hope to hand the crystal into the protective care of your government in hopes that they don’t abuse its raw power. I hope if you feel that it will be abuse you will hide it forever one crystal is all it takes to destroy your world”

Maia shook her head in agreement. “You have my promise.”

Aperture altered the area around them creating a illusion for everyone to see, it showed Scorpionok and her home world something not even the rest of Hellraisers have seen “The entire time I knew him he always had this goal to destroy living worlds, to level half the universe in revenge for the destruction of his home planet. If he gets all the Crystals he could do it with twitch of a eye, I know this because I am the daughter of Scorpionok” she proceeded to show her as a baby being carried by Scorpionok from her home planet before he destroyed it. As she showed them the events Scorpionok using the crystals was able to send a message that everyone could see “The end is near urthlings, when I’m done only a little of humanity will exist, perfectly balanced with the rest of the universe as it should be, And Humanity will remember how you all failed to save them. For now I am in Celannica and with only two crystal left your time has seemed to go down…” Aperture started to scream as she felled to the ground from being manipulated by Scorpionok.

As if on cue, a dual pair of attack helicopters suddenly appeared over the horizon. Following a short delay of identifying the metas, the helicopters immediately fired upon the threat as several soldiers from the Greater Ardlian State slowly began to make their way to the battlefield. Just as Sitoria looked up and prepared to form another supercell two unknown figures came bursting through the clouds talking into one of the helicopters before hitting the ground, “Velgez attack!” Fannel screamed as they started to battle the soldiers “Run! Get the crystal” Fannel said as he powered up. Aperture noticed Kai was hit and pushed him through a portal back into duelland,the rest of the Hellraisers ran into the forest towards the crystal location with Maia.

Zeda, Celannica

Iron Fist sat inside a aircraft alongside 3 of the agencies most specially trained agents, Agent Ebo, Agent Black And Agent Jessica. “These people are not what you think nor are they as easy to take on, we are only supposed to help the Hellraisers. Let’s not go out there and get killed” Iron Fist said to the Agents, Black looked at him “Look kid, we are the best of the best I’m sure whatever it is we can handle ourselves now get ready we are touchdown on 2 minutes”. The plane touchdown in the center of the city, the four walked out and onto what was a busy street “What the hell happen here…” Ebo said looking around. When he turned around a group of True believers enhanced with powers from the Crystals charged towards them, Ebo webbed towards them shooting one with his webs. The other 3 waited for them to get closer to go hand to hand, just as Jessica was attempting to charge the True Believers Scorpionok jumped off a building landing next to her, he quickly grabbed her head and used the Ultimate crystal to cause her to see her passed life.

“Something is on your mind women, something disturbing hunts you” Scorpionok says before he kicks her into a building. Agent Black shoots his plasma blasters at Scorpionok as Iron Fist charges from behind hitting him before shooting his canon at him. Agent Black and Iron Fist Both began attacking Scorpionok at the same time Scorpionok charged black and grabbed Iron Fist tossing both of them into the crowd of True Believers. Ebo noticed Jessica injured and started to loose control, his silencer form started to show more and more “Yo… You… You son of bi*ch how dare you!” He says as he charges Scorpionok webbing his legs causing him to fall, he lands on him and starts punching him repeatedly in the face. A group of True Believers seeing there master down ran and tackled Ebo hitting him repeatedly, “Where is the Subject! And where is my crystal!!” Scorpionok screamed as he started to get angry.

Iron Fist looked up and noticed the crystals started glowing and spinning around Scorpionok neck, “Oh boy oh boy, this isn’t good I think we should run” Iron Fist said to Agent Black. “Etrigan find the crystal! Or Level the city!” Scorpionok started to turn the Sky a dark orange, he then charged down towards Ebo when Jessica struck him with electricity from the light poles, she then ran towards him and started fighting with her swords.

Scorpionok swung and missed she cut him on his chest, Jessica thens jumped off assuming she caused some sort of damage. Scorpionok grew angry and charged at her when Iron Fist jumped in the way of Scorpionok punch. The two started fighting Iron Fist getting a few good punches before Scorpionok slammed him into the ground and started punching him.

Jessica used her blades and started cutting at his legs while iron Fist punched him, Ebo swung and webbed his arms together while Iron Fist punched him into the ground. Scorpionok laid motionless as the group started fighting off the True Believers, after a few minutes Scorpionok stood up and looked around. “Well I’ll be hot damn ! You bastards mange to knock me right off my feet” he chuckled a little as he walked towards them, “Oh shit” ebo said as he attempted to web Scorpionok feet together but to no avail. The group still fighting off the true believers needed to think of a plan quick.

The team quickly sprung into action as the citizens screamed, Ebo climbed a building and looked down at the True Believers. “Let’s do this !” He jumps off the building falling down towards the ground, Ebo quickly shoots a web swinging down kicking several of them before landing on his feet. The true believers charged Ebo in formation making for easing pickings, after finishing them off he grabbed Jessica tossing her into the air. Using the electricity from the electric lines she started to fly threw the air landing into a crowd of true believers creating a large explosion.

Iron Fist and Agent blacked teamed up drawing Scorpionok away from the other two, Scorpionok looked up “You’re strong… but I could snap my fingers… and you’d all cease to exist.” The two hero’s looked at each other still trying to process the true danger they were in, “Bring it!” They screamed as they charged Scorpionok.

(*Previously on Urth Adventures: http://forum.theeastpacific.com/single/?p=10038560&t=7010784)

As Celaeno absorbed the mutation while Windrider sized up her abilities, there was another meta watching this take place. Spook, who had exited the tunnel Ketch had escaped from to observe the mutation being lifted up by Windrider and chased after by Celaeno, had crouched hidden in a nearby glade. As Celaeno finished sucking the life out of the mutation, Spook saw her grab the backpack it was holding onto and watched Celaeno sling it over her shoulder. He surmised that the backpack must be of importance, and would need to remove the thing from her person. A mind blast should do the trick. He mentally prepared to unleash a strong one, as he was unsure how Celaeno would respond to it.

Spook was able to get the mind blast off on Celaeno, and he broke cover to go after the backpack in her grasp. However, the blast didn’t really do too much to the meta, as her brain was fairly addled at this point, and on overdrive from the recent energy meal. It did cause that inhibitor collar’s influence to be negated a bit. Because of this, thoughts rushed through Cel’s brain, causing her to become confused. In her confusion, she got tunnel vision, and relied on her primal rage to survive. She had to take on who she imagined was the source of this pain! She lashed out at Windrider with an energy blast. The blast struck Windrider, hurting him and causing him to sink closer to the ground. In an incredible feat of discipline, Windrider was able to launch a lightning bolt at Celaeno, who took the hit and was jolted with electricity. The circuitry of the inhibitor collar was completely fried, and she was no longer inhibited by conflicting thoughts in her mind, becoming completely and wholly enraged. Celaeno sensed something near her, someone, rather, and looked down. There was a man, crouched below and looking in concentration up at her. The meta must have been hostile, because Cel could see he was looking at her like her captors had once looked at her; a caged and visious animal, frothing and snapping at the bit. So when she saw the meta pull out a gun, she knew he must be eliminated too.

Celaeno, knowing she was going to be attacked from above and below, flew back to the ground, and was able to successfully evade the fire of Spook while in the air. Celaeno sent some shots of her own both up at Windrider and down at Spook. Her “spraying and praying” means of returning fire was even able to get some energy shots off on both heroes, slugging the two of them. However, once on the ground, Spook had a much easier target to hit, and was able to break Celaeno’s energy bubble shield with some well-placed shots of his weapon, before she could flee behind cover. Windrider, ever the tactician, attempted a marvelous and powerful feat, by flying up and gaining control of the Arctic wind patterns. Sub-freezing air flowed through the lower atmosphere into the environment below, forcing Spook and Celaeno to have to deal with the biting cold. However, due to being focused on preventing himself from being frozen, staying afloat, and keeping the entire Urth-wide weather system from failing, Windrider couldn’t really do much else for the time being.

Spook and Celaeno were feeling the cold, slowing their thoughts and actions. Spook changed his target to Windrider, projecting a mind blast in his direction. The mind blast paid off, and Windrider could feel his senses and thoughts being obliterated. His own cold resistance started to suffer as he worked to get Spook out of his mind. Meanwhile, Celaeno went invisible, but due to the cold, Celaeno constantly shivered, causing enough disturbance in the air and environment to render the stealthiness not terribly useful. That being said, she was able to get around Spook to drain his energy, as he was preoccupied with assaulting Windrider’s mind. Unfortunately, as she went to drain Spook’s energy, he was able to notice the disturbance, and smacked her away from him with his gun. The cold permeated the field around the two metas, making them even colder.

Annoyed, Windrider used his electrokinesis to increase the electrical impulses in his brain, helping to shut out the telepathic assault. Windrider took advantage of the frigid air, creating a combination of softball-sized hail and sleet to pummel the two metas as he closed off the funnel above. Just as he channeled his powers, a jet stream brought along both shearing winds and tons of ice to form hail. Windrider manipulated it to not form softball-sized hail, but volleyball-sized hail, sending it down below. Celaeno channeled her raw emotions to conjure a shield abover her head, boosting its strength to offer more protection from the deluge of hail. However, Celaeno was not quick enough to get away from all the massive hail raining down, but her shield protected her from most of it. That being said, the sheer size of the hail meant that her shield was badly damaged. Spook, slowed considerably by the frigid air, was not able to dodge out of the way of the large hail. He got pummeled by it. Celaeno used this to her advantage, blasting him with energy blasts. The twin attacks of being pummeled by the hail, and being hit by Celaeno’s energy blast caused Spook to lose consciousness. The final blast from Celaeno sent him flying into the air, landing hundreds of feet away from them.

Celaeno turned her attention to Windrider, and focused her energy shield into a large blast, firing it at Windrider. He tried to move out of the way, but got hit by the blast, impacting his durability and causing him to fall, stabilizing just barely above the top of the compound, as Celaeno and Winrider squared off for the final confrontation.

Windrider flew above the cloud cover into the warmth of the sunlight. Looking down at his blizzard he made, he smiled, and once again, his eyes blazed white with power behind his shades as he intensified the blizzard into near-apocalyptic devastation of stinging, sleeting ice and blinding snow, while keeping it localized to maybe a mile radius. He did regret the destruction of the surrounding jungle and what wildlife that got caught in the area though, but it is a small regret. The snow and ice became packed together, and visibility became near null for a mile around the compound.

Reaching the top of the compound, Celaeno stopped her chase of Windrider as he disappeared above the clouds. As the intense snow storm started to kick in, it caused her to lose all sense of direction in the blinding white. She created a force field bubble around her to protect herself from the apocalytpic conditions around her. With a small defense put up, she fired a large energy beam in the direction she last saw Windrider. She didn’t really care if she hit him or not, but figured the attack would be worth a shot, at least to keep the meta on his toes. The energy required to fire a energy blast like that left her shield in tatters, and again she was buffeted by the frigid conditions.

The blast inexplicably hit a large piece of hail on the way up, transferring the momentum to launch the hail directly into Windrider. In the frostiest of ironies, the hail hit Windrider in the chest. Wounded from the two fights he was previously involved in, he fell hundreds of feet before being able to stabilize himself in the middle of the storm. He and Cel couldn’t see or hear well, and Windrider was clinging to consciousness, while Celaeno lost perception and was sluggish from the intense cold penetrating her body.

With the intense storm making fighting more difficult and the fact she didn’t know where Windrider was anymore, Celeano attempted to make her way down off the compound and into a safe area to weather out the storm. She focused whatever energy she has left to put up a force bubble to protect her until she found shelter. She felt lighter without the collar on anymore, and also without the weight on her shoulders… wait, there was a backpack on her shoulders. She felt her back, but only felt the straps, the rest of the backpack had been shredded in the fight. Shrugging her shoulders, Celaeno removed the straps and searched for shelter.

Windrider once again rose above the storm, carefully keeping the worst of the sleet/hail/snow away from him as he did. He kept the intensity of the storm going, blanketing the ground in several feet of snow in a matter of minutes as he let himself drift above the clouds in the warmth of the sun, resting and recuperating from the fight. The other meta was likely unable to bother him, but he was in no condition to pursue. Hopefully Gabriel Cherub could intercept her, wherever that demon went…

[hr]

Inexplicably to Gabriel Cherub, “Sable” turned his gun onto the demon and fired at him. With the element of surprise on his side, the attack caught Cherub unawares. His reaction time was slowed because of holding onto Ketch, and, though he got his staff into a blocking position, was absolutely riddled with dark-energy bullets. Cherub lost control of his staff’s whip, and Ketch was set free, who immediately tried to get away.

Cherub, while being hit with Eclipse’s bullets, launched his staff’s whip at the gun, knocking it out of the villain’s hands. Muttering a brief Strataric curse to himself, his voice clearly different than it had been as “Sable”, Eclipse quickly ran to Ketch and grabbed hold of the scientist, opening up a portal and jumped through. Cherub though, regained the use of the whip feature on his staff and grabbed onto Ketch again, preventing him from completely entering the portal with Eclipse.

Cherub took his whip and his superior strength, and pulled the two of them back out of the portal, sending Ketch tumbling and Eclipse stumbling. Taking advantage of the situation, Cherub launched his staff against the ground, causing tendrils to shoot out and wrap around Eclipse’s legs. Eclipse effortlessly phased through this paltry entrapment, surprising Cherub. Quickly rolling away from the ensnaring tendrils, the Stratarian scrambled to his feet and launched a dark energy blast at the surprised Cherub, knocking the demon back and causing him to hit a tree. Seizing the opportunity, Eclipse cloaked. A sinister, deliberate laugh echoed around the clearing.

Seconds crept slowly by as the invisible villain stalked his prey. After circling behind Cherub, Eclipse decloaked and fired another blast. Cherub heard the noise and readied himself just as the blast laid him prone on the ground. Cringing with pain, Cherub got up and jumped high, into the canopy. Anticipating this, a black film slid over Eclpse’s eyes as he shimmered out of vision, however, and his infrared vision followed the demon in the canopy closely. Noticing Doctor Ketch scrambling away, Eclipse carefully but quickly rushed over to Ketch. While still invisible, he created a portal and jumped through it, grabbing Ketch as he jumped. This was all done before Gabriel Cherub could jump down and stop them. The portal closed, and Cherub was left reaching for thin air, scratching his head over where to go and what to do.

Cherub heard a helicopter whirring in the distance, and decided that instead of trying to follow Eclipse… wherever he went… he would follow the helicopter. He noticed a glimmer on the ground, and recognized it as the gun that was carried by the meta he just faced. He picked it up and took a cursory look at it, then stowed it and ran towards the direction of the helicopter.

(Joint Post, Rico, Furni, Zuk, Fortuna)
Aperture opened the door to a underground temple, “light it up” She said to Telrusi who lit a series of rails up into a spiraling flame to the bottom. Before the Hellraisers could do anything, Telarusi fell feet first, hitting the ground, and began to be dragged backwards, away from the temple, back into the darkness of the forest.

Yautja swiftly and strongly pulled his hands back and forth, as if he was holding onto an invisible rope. He turned to the excited hellhounds by his side and reassured them, “I know you are hungry, and soon, we will have another meta you can take bites out of.”

She looked at Maia “gosh you can’t fly that’s a long way” she says as she grabs her falling straight to the bottom with everyone else except Sitoria. She opened a door and noticed the room lit up in purple. “We’re here” She says as she walks towards the crystal, she picks it up and puts it in a special orb like container “Here, you take this and get as far as way as possible, I fear something might go down on our way back up. Is there anywhere special you want me to portal you to ?” She says to Maia.

“Oh uhm, alright,” Maia muttered as she took the crystal. “If you can create a portal to Destino City, I can take it to my division’s research facility. Will that work?” Aperture looks at her “As long as it is put up somewhere safe and sealed where Scorpionok can’t get it, remember the promise you must not let that crystal fall in the wrong hands or it could mean the destruction of your planet or even the extermination of half of your race. If I may recommend you should study it, maybe you could harness it for peace. But as you wished I will not interfere it was a pleasure meeting you I hope to see you again one day Maia.” Apertures then created a portal to the doorstep of the facility.

Meanwhile Sitoria flew after Yautja, her energy grew stronger as she got near Telrusi being the opposite of death drew them closer. She sent a pack of wolves to sniff out Telrusi in hopes they could smell him. Telrusi looked in more of confusion than fear at Yautja “Wh… Who are you?”

Finished dragging the meta to him, Yautja lifted him off the ground, suspending Telarusi upside down in mid air. “A nightmare, a shadow, but it does not matter. I’m here to collect on a bounty put on your head, and the only reason you are alive is because I was paid to keep you alive,” The man responded, his deep voice muffled somewhat by the mask he wore. The hellhounds at his side were practically frothing; they were snarling and tying to tear into the meta. Yautja chuckled, and said to Telarusi, "you’re coming with me, and if you try anything, I’ll sic my pets on you.” Suddenly the hellhounds’ ears perked up, and they looked off into the distance and barked, which also got Yautja’s attention. “You must have some others chasing after you. Not surprising of course. Let’s deal with them,” Yautja said first to Telarusi, then to his hounds. The hounds took off in the opposite direction, and, before Telarusi could react, Yautja reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled out a sticker. He put it against the meta’s head and pressed. It quickly disappeared beneath his skin. Yautja suddenly dropped Telarusi, and the meta tumbled to the ground. Yautja adopted a fighting stance, and said to the meta, “your friends are quite destructive, and I can’t have them following me and laying waste to everything in their path. The thing I put in your head is a chi-blocking sticker, of arcane origin. It’s going to completely negate your powers for a few hours, but… it does take a little bit of time to take effect. So, you have until then to try to defeat me. I figure if your friends come in while you’re fighting me, it’ll be more fair.

Yautja curled his hands up and turned them palm-up, gesturing with a “show me your moves” motion. His he was poised and ready, with sword drawn and free hand holding onto another item. A pack of twelve wolves rushed towards Yautja, and Telrusi took the opportunity to do a spin kick, lifting himself of the ground and flying in the air. Seeing the imminent threat the wolves faced and wanting to remove them from the fight before they could circle the meta hunter, he threw his held item onto the ground in front of the pack. Black viscous tar erupted from the small pouch, enveloping the wolves’ and trapping most of them. However, a few of them jumped over the pit and avoided it, and continued charging at Yautja. Yautja dodged the leaping attack of one, and his nearby hellhound intercepted the other wolf, and the two went off against each other, as the remaining wolves and hellhounds joined in the fray.

Yautja looked overhead as a large cloud appeared. The forest seemed to collapse upon itself, and with her large staff Sitoria burst through the clouds hitting the ground. “Oh you messed up now” Telrusi screamed. He felt his power increasing, “So this is the bond of life and death, I like it let’s see what I can do” he turned into his death form and charged “Sitoria lift!” He screamed as she lifted a large chunk of ground and throwing it, Telrusi proceeded to fall into the hole the ground made. Desiring to take out one of the senses of the metas, Yautja lifted his sword up slightly and cast a spell. thgirb enihs he mumbled at his sword, as it began to glow. He called out loud and the sword erupted in bright light, blinding Sitora! Telarusi was able to avoid being blinded.

Telarusi jumped out of the hole and made a move to grab one of the hellhounds nearby. Before he could grasp the beast, he watched its form appear to become incorporeal and get pulled towards Yautja, like a leaf in the wind. The other hellhound did the same, leaving the nearby wolves and Telarusi confused. The hellhounds became smaller and smaller, as they were sucked into Yautja’s snuff box he held out in his free hand. “This is not a fight for you,” he whispered as he closed the box. Yautja turned to the nearby metas, and all of a sudden rushed towards Telarusi. Unfortunately the meta was able to sidestep Yautja’s outstretched hand, and pushed Yautja into the tar pit he had previously created. He tried to struggle out of it, but was stuck in the pit, momentarily.

Yautja allowed a small laugh to escape his mask. “Looks like the blocker hasn’t taken your fabled strength, Telarusi. But, it will take your other powers soon enough. We will see how long you can hold out.” While he was saying this, Yautja reached onto his belt, and pulled out a small grappling hook. He wound it up, threw it at a nearby tree, pulled himself out of the tar, and landed away from the muck. He held his sword out again, ready to face the blinded Sitora and Telarusi, who felt his powers beginning to fade as the chi blocker did its work.

“You are a fool, and the price you pay is death. I do not need my eyes when I feel your very existence in my presence your life and soul I feel its presence” Sitoria screamed as she lifted lava out of the Urth, lighting started to kick up and winds increased tenfold. Telrusi held on to a tree trying not to be blown away. Yautja struggled against the gale-force winds, trying to get footing in the wind. Sitoria voice got deeper as the storm increased ”I will not spare your life and when your soul leaves I will be sure to send it to hell!!” She sent a very strong wind across the forest floor knocking down trees and spreading the lava. Telrusi stood up and turned into flames using his powers he jumped lit the large waves of wind on fire sending them towards Yautja. Telarusi had successfully turned into his flame being, but he really had struggled to change and to maintain it. This form likely would not last long, as long as the chi-blocker was still embedded in the meta. Yautja pulled out a small knife from his belt, and then opened up his arms, allowing his surface area to increase. He was immediately picked up by the wind and thrown backwards. Contorting himself to turn around in the air, he slashed in front of him with his knife. All of a sudden, a small tear in the air formed a few feet in front of him, and he flew right into the rift! Yautja avoided the lava and flames by jumping through the rift, but some of it followed through the rift before it closed, singing his cloak and damaging his boots as he moved through the rift in space.

Surrounded by complete darkness, Yautja focused intently on the chi of the metas surrounding him. If he did not focus while in this other plane of being, he would be lost forever, unable to find the ability to return to Urth. He felt the chi of Sitoria, which flowed with the fury of a thousand suns. He used her chi as a foothold, and searched for a fainter one, one that struggled against constraints, like a caged animal fighting to be released. He found it, floating nearby him, that was Telarusi’s chi. Yautja did something he should take care not to do again, he let himself get enveloped by the darkness. All of a sudden, he felt like he was being swallowed by this break in space, and was being sent down a never-ending abyss. He contorted himself again, and focused hard on the caged chi. Yautja again took his knife and slashed in front of him, and returned to physical space. He used his momentum from falling down the abyss to carry the bounty hunter with a great deal of force, carrying him through the rift he created on a straight path to Telarusi! He used his strength to smack Telarusi with the pommel of his sword, knocking the meta off the wave of flames. Telarsui got hit hard on the right shoulder with the pommel, and tumbled down to the ground.

Yautja jumped from the wave of flame, and landed away from the pooling lava. He took out a small vial from his belt, and dashed over to Sitoria. “I took your sight away, now let’s go for your hearing,” he called out to the meta. He was going to take that vial and smash it on Sitoria’s head, releasing whatever liquid, and possibly creatures, were inside. Telrusi fell towards the ground hitting it hard, for brief second everything in Sitoria Head felled silently and motionless. Aperture and the crew where still a few miles behind but she felt the energy coming from here sister, More tears felled from Sitoria eyes “No… Noooooo!!” She screamed as the sky’s started to change different colors from her rage, she lifted the roots from a tree grabbing Yautja feet attempting to bring him to the ground. The forest floor started to fill up with animals rushing towards his area, she faced towards him her eyes seeming to change colors constantly. She lit bright as a the stars before smiling and sending a barrage of lighting hurling towards him, she pulls her sword out and charges towards him.

Yautja expertly dodged the lightning, it seemingly passing right through him as he weaved around. It was only a matter of time before Sitoria would be completely incapacitated. The appearance of Aperture was a wrinkle, but her rage made her reckless. A direct charge at him would be catastrophic for her. So, as she charged at Yautja, he pulled out a small item from his pouch and threw it in front of her. Like with the wolves before, dark viscous material exploded from it, trapping Aperture in the material. Yautja knew that it wouldn’t hold Aperture for long, so he strode to the fallen Telarusi, channelling a teleportation spell to transport the fire-being.

Suddenly, a group of hooded figures came into the fray. What is it now? Yautja thought frustratingly. Telarusi had all sorts of allies and friends, and these people threw yet another wrench in Yautja’s plans. He turned to face these newcomers, drew his sword, and dashed to the figure in the middle. Just as he was about to strike the figure, he hit a transparent wall. He grunted in pain as he stepped back, but not too far, before he felt another hard object behind him. He moved his hands to his sides, but was again repelled by a wall. He was trapped! “What sorcery is this?” He yelled out to the hooded figures. “A anti-magic countermeasure spell we conjured before revealing ourselves. The stronger the magic user, the stronger the wall that surrounds you. We are here for Telarusi; we need him to save the world.”

The figures moved around the trapped bounty hunter as Yautja called out, “You can’t keep this up forever, and I can dissipate it with a spell of my own.” The hooded figure who had talked previously lifted his hood off his head and replied, “I know, you possess some incredible magic. I would liken it to either incredible meta abilities, or magical artifacts, or maybe both. You possess many artifacts, from what I can tell, but none could make you inherently this powerful, and your spells are extremely powerful too. So, something is augmenting your abilities. A crystal, perhaps?”

Yautja stared at this man, white-faced with blond hair, and did not say anything, and instead reached into his pocket. The blond-haired man recognized they had interacted for too long, turned to his other figures, and said to them, “my fellow Followers, we must hurry, our spell will not hold him for long.” He got onto his knees and began to chant, as the rest of his followers hoisted up Telarsui and led him close to the man. “Lay him down here, and I will begin the transportation spell. By Om, we shall save the world.”

Telarusi was laid out in front of him as the man began to chant. The others promptly joined in, and the ground beneath Telarusi began to glow. The light enveloped the meta, and it spread out to envelop the others. By this time, Yautja had been able to free himself of his transparent prison, and he dashed over to grab his prey before whatever was going to happen would happen. Before he could lay a hand on Telarusi, the glowing light surrounding the group dissipated, taking them all with it! Yautja was left grasping at thin air, thoroughly frustrated. He rummaged through his pack, searching for an artifact that would sense the magic that transported the figures, but out of the corner of his eye he saw the trapped Aperture freed. “This is too much, I will get Telarusi another time,” Yautja said to no one in particular, and he pulled out his sword, mumbled a spell, swung the sword, and stepped through a rift that had opened up, disappearing in it before Aperture could get to him. Aperture quickly made a portal and Directed the rest of the team in, “we must kill Scorpionok” she says only to arrive to see chaos in Zelda.

(OOC: Just a small post to set up everything.)

Celannica, Military base 50 miles north of Zeda

“What do you mean out capital is under attack!” The Overlord slammed both of her fists down at the news of an undetected invading force suddenly attacking Celannica’s prized capital city. She was the only Field Marshall present in the Empire as the other two were sent overseas and thus left her in charge of running its internal affairs.

“Tell me everything about the situation, and give me the name of the bastard who dares to attack us now!” The Overlord ordered one of her subordinates.

”The attack is being spearheaded by a meta called Scorpionok. According to our sources, he seems to be the leader of a powerful army of devoted followers-” A shaking subordinate rapidly began.

“Why are they so ‘powerful’ that they’re a problem to us!?” The Overlord demanded.

“They’re being powered by crystals, Ma’am!”

Before the Overlord could react to the news, somebody else interjected with," We just received word that more metas are arriving in Zeda, Ma’am!"

"That’s it! I want every unit near Zeda to defend and wipe off these scum off of our fatherland! And I don’t care if they’re on a mission right now, I want these demons and metas off of our land or we will risk decades worth of our work if they find out anything about our plans! Also, make sure to either capture or destroy these troublesome crystals in current possession by this Scorpionok.”

With that said, the Overlord than gave the go for some of their projects to be unleashed on the unwanted foreigners while giving orders to not allow the teleportation crystal near Zeda to fall into enemy hands.

[hr]
Gulf of Gondwana

Inside an airplane flying over Astrania, a calm Yuki was meditating over the events that transpired last week when she felt a familiar presence tugging at her from below: The Crystal of Death along with numerous souls being diminished by its power. Wasting no time to act, Yuki softly blew onto the surface of the plane in order to freeze it, and manifesting an ice spear in hand, she thrust it down the icey area and created a hole. Jumping through it, she positioned herself in the sky and dove straight into the cool gulf waters head on. Only barely hanging onto her breath, she shook off the stinging pain of landing into the hard waters and immediately began to swim to Celannica to reclaim back her stolen Crystal. However, she failed to noticed that somebody else had watched the whole incident unfold, and with a different objective in mind, He began to hollow her on a small boat toward Celannica.

The Ruler of the Sea
Modern day

The rain was like a blanket that temporarily smothered the whole land. The people were not afraid of or even disturbed by the rain. They had grown accustomed to it. Unfortunately there was only so much that could be done in the rain. The hawkers packed their shops up, put their merchandise in boxes and headed home. People were driving from work an returning to their families, if they had those. The rugby match was well underway and the players would rather have bathed in the mud like pigs than concede a potential victory to a few drops falling from the sky. In all, it was a pretty normal day in the Oan Isles. Rain. Rain and more rain. Typical, Mikaere thought to himself.

He held his whale bone fishing hook in his hand. It was the source of his power and the symbol of his authority. He looked over the city, the people, the land and the seas that were part of his realm. He was the Rangitanga-ta-i-Moana (Ruler of the Sea) therefore he was in charge of a vast realm composed of various island nations that spanned the southern Pacific. While the position offered him power, status and wealth, he would never enjoy it. He would attend meetings, kiss babies, give speeches and listen to his colleagues drone on about the water, economy and other abstract issues or his subjects complain about a burst water pipe or leaking roofs. He would be expected to be wise, patient and benevolent.

“It must get exhausting”. He turned around and saw his sister, Rāhera, standing in the door frame leading to his office. “May I come inside?”

“Of course”, he replied hastily and went around his desk and pulled out a chair for her, “I forgot my manners. I was deep in thought and didn’t hear you come inside. I didn’t realise you were standing at the door. Please take a seat”.

She bowed and sat down, graciously forgiving him, “It is alright my Lord. I can understand that one may drift and contemplate and that is alright”.

He circled behind the desk and sat down, folding his palms and wearing a smile, trying to enthusiastically receive here visit. She giggled, knowing that while he tried to seem alert and enthusiastic, he was actually tired, putting on an act to seem to be more fine than he was. “It’s okay to get a bit worn out. You are the Emperor of the South Pacific after all”.

“Sometimes I wish I could forget”, he replied in feigned exasperation.

“Unfortunately we just have to get to it”. She opened the file that she was carrying and began giving him a list of all the work he had to do, as she has been doing for the past 4 years since their father died and the crown passed on to Mikaere. She had promised her father to watch over him. And she has zealously guarded him ever since, ever by his side even at personal cost and sacrifice to herself. Just smile, she would tell herself, marching on to support this young man upon whose narrow shoulders and wet ears, rule of half an ocean was placed.

“If I may speak freely”, she asked.

“Of course my sister,” he gladly acquiesced.

“I’ve known you long enough to know when you’re taking strain. I can tell that things have been difficult for you lately. Why not take a break?” She suggested.

“Oh dear sister, where would I be without you?” He replied, “Everytime I try to rest and think about myself there is a new threat to deal with, a country that needs aid, a war to fight or a diplomatic dinner to attend, Rāhera”.

“Oh Mikaere, I wish there was something I could do”.

“Thank you my sister, but there is nothing that can be done”.

“Mikaere, my Lord, I don’t want to be forward, but why do you have Maui’s fishhook?”

He looked at her, startled, like a child who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He mumbled, “I… I… I…”

She stood up and held his trembling hands. “You need to put it away”.

“You’re right”, he replied. “I can’t though. Please put it away for me”.

She nodded and carefully covered the hook in a cloth and carried it to the Vaults. She ordered the guards to open, so they did, and entered the Vaults, an underground space where objects of importance, value or power were placed for safe keeping deep beneath the Royal Palace. It was like a tomb, with relics sitting like every sentinels of the past, when the Rangitangas, the Emperor’s of the South Pacific, would run around with supernatural weapons battling every foe. While Maui’s fishhook was a tempting weapon to use, there was a reason it was locked in the Vaults. If Mikaere is thinking of using this thing… She stopped herself at the thought and put the hook bar on its pedestal. She ordered the guards to keep it locked and let no one in, not even the Emperor, her brother, Mikaere. This thing is dangerous, she said to herself, It must be locked away.