Awesome Land!: A Rebooted Story

[Myrdraxxis]

It occurred to Azzi that no one had bothered to plan for when they all found the Scrolls of Science. Where exactly were they supposed to meet up? It sorta seemed like Aurora didn’t really expect them to succeed.

Azzi considered this as he shuffled around the border of Groovy Land. He was pretty sure this was where tey were supposed to meet up when they got their Scroll. But he hadn't found anyone else yet.

“They gave their lives ensuring the success of the mission.” He practiced his line again for the umpteenth time. “Havoc Squad will be missed.” …maybe.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was beginning to get a little monotonous. Swing sword, kill boar, loot body. Rinse and repeat ad infinitum. Corr had lost track of how many of the creatures he had slaughtered by now. Surely this was some sort of crime? Some kind of…boar genocide?

The others around didn’t seem to care, throwing themselves at the forest creatures with reckless enthusiasm. Somehow there always seemed to be enough boars around, despite the fact that this killing had been going on since Corr had arrived here.

With a tired swing Corr dispatched his current foe.

And nearly had a heart attack when he was suddenly bathed in a bright golden light. Once the light dissipated and Corr regained control of his breathing, he felt another figure approach behind him.

“Congrats!” A boisterous voice exclaimed, punctuated by a bone-rattling clap on the back.

“W-what the hell was that?” Corr asked. His companion chuckled.

“You leveled up of course.” His companion was the large armored figure that had only hours ago been intent upon turning Corr into paste. Apparently telling someone to ‘fuck off’ was a sign of respect in this crazy world because Fribanasaur the Slayer had quickly become his newest friend.

“I did what now?”

“You leveled up. It means you are now slightly stronger than you were before. Keep it up and you might make it to my level one day.” Fribanasaur –Corr had taken to mentally calling him Frib for short- boasted.

Well….it was starting to make sense now. There was a reason these people were waging war on everything that moved.

“Okay..so why do I need to level up?”

“To get better gear and go on more dangerous quests!” Frib said matter-of-factly.

“….why?” Corr had to ask. That seemed to stump Frib for a moment.

“Be-because. That’s what we do.”

Well. Okay then.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“No.”

“It’s not that bad, Vin. Trust me I do this all the time.”

“That explains a lot, actually.”

“Hey!”

Vin and his new companion, Eddie Auditorium the assassin, were currently standing on the edge of a rather tall building. Eddie had taken Vin under his wing and begun to show Vin the finer points of being an assassin after the Shadow being assured him that his job was something quite similar. That said, it turned out there were some major differences between being a Shadow Hunter-turned commando and an Assassin.

Namely, jumping off of tall buildings into small carts of hay.

“What purpose does that even serve?” Vin had to ask. Eddie scoffed.

“Well for one, it proves your bravery and willingness to go to any lengths to do your job. Also, it makes it easier to sneak up on targets.” The pseudo-Italian assassin explained.

Vin didn’t look convinced. Eddie sighed loudly.

“Look Vin. There’s a reason I decided to help train you.” He said. “I need your help.”

“With what?” Vin asked.

“I’m on a…mission of sorts. You see, things have not been going well in our country. The Assassin order used to be strong here, hunting down corruption and tyranny and keeping the peace from the shadows.” He explained. “Then the new Empress took power and things began to go wrong. The dreaded Squirrel Plague struck, and thousands began to die.”

“Wait, squirrel plague-“

“Then the Assassins began to die off. The regime no longer found appreciation for our services. Soon there were only a handful of us left. Which was when something of great importance was stolen from us.”

Eddie paused. After a long moment Vin realized he was actually waiting for him to ask, rather than just making a dramatic pause.

“What was it?”

“The Assassin’s Bead.” Eddie said in a dead serious tone. “It is a rallying symbol for us. Without it we cannot hope to truly regain our former numbers. That is why I need your help. To retrieve it.”

Vin sighed. “Okay…fine. I…I guess I can give this a try.” He turned to the ledge and exhaled loudly. He jumped.

There was a brief silence followed by a loud crack and the sound of snapping timber. “Aaaaaagh!”

Eddie peered over the edge. “No see, you did it wrong.” He called down. “You have dive into it. Like an eagle. Otherwise it won’t work.”

“All of my hate Eddie!”

[Monika]

"Actually, that's exactly what we have to do," Zayden replied. "For this ritual to take place, all of our thoughts have to be synchronized. I find music to be the quickest way to accomplish this." As the group held hands, a sheet of paper appeared in front of both Aurora and Blanche. "The paper you see before you displays the lyrics to a song shared with me by the Immortal of Metal: Nickelback's Rockstar."

Once Zayden had announced the song's title, its instrumental began to worm its way into Aurora's and Blanche's heads. "Assuming my illusion magic worked, you all should be hearing the background music to the song right now. You'll all catch on to the tune soon enough. Sing along once you're ready. I'll start."

And as the beautiful, melodic sounds of an acoustic guitar played inside everyone's minds, Zayden began to sing:

"I'm through with standin' in lines to clubs I'll never get in
It's like the bottom of the ninth and I'm never gonna win
This life hasn't turned out
Quite the way I want it to be

I want a brand new house on an episode of Cribs
And a bathroom I can play baseball in
And a king size tub
Big enough for ten plus me"

As he sang in that heavenly, enchanting voice of his, a faint glow could be seen emanating from Aurora and Blanche...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Is there anything preventing you from treating this new Immortal the same way the previous Immortal treated you?" Artemis asked. "When a mentor takes on a pupil, he does not merely pass on a wealth of knowledge relating to some particular subject. Indirectly, he passes the student-teacher relationship onto that pupil with the expectation that the pupil will one day take on a student as well. In this way the cycle continues. I am not typically one for fate or mysticism, but I am sure that Theska's death means that you are ready for the responsibilities of the mentor. Practically speaking, I do not think that a man as powerful as he was would have died unless he thought you were capable of handling things without him."

Artemis looked toward Ollie, who was apparently still moshing away in the crowd. Smirking ever so slightly, Artemis turned to Knox and said, "Believe it or not, Knox, you already know everything you need to know about taking her on as your student and raising her to be an effective Immortal of Light. I do not need to use my Telepathy to be certain of that." She pointed to Knox's pocket watch. "And if you should ever forget, just take a trip back through time and seek guidance from your old teacher. I'm sure it wouldn't be the first time you've made such a journey."

[Mizagium]

If she hadn't started to glow, Blanche was about ready to find her own way out of this insane ice-tunnel. Also, Zayden's voice, man. Reluctantly, she grumbled:

I'll need a, a credit card that's got no limit
And a big black jet with a bedroom in it
Gonna join the mile high club
At thirty-seven thousand feet

I want a new tour bus full of old guitars
My own star on Hollywood Boulevard
Somewhere between Cher and
James Dean is fine for me

-

Knox had to laugh. "Maybe not, but I'm trying to keep that kind of time meddling to a minimum. It's sort of what I'm trying to enforce now: minimal messing with the Timestream. I don't know how well that's going to go, considering we have...three time travelers existing in the present, each from a distinct apocalyptic future. Also, one ruined timeline refugee." He shrugged. "But thank you, Artemis."

He watched Ollie mosh. "And whatever you need from me to make this Council of Immortals work, you'll have it."

-

Sarah appeared in the foyer of the Really Cool Palace and had to shake her head to stop the room from spinning. Portal travel was always tricky. She almost didn’t notice the dressed-up lady lounging on the nearest sofa, shoes kicked off, a drink in one hand, and what appeared to be a harlequin romance novel in the other. She peered at Sarah over the top of her book. “My, my. Sarah Mambutoo O’Malley.”

Sarah’s grin was so wide it was stupid. “Aunt Julia!” Her aunt jumped up at once and the two women embraced each other tightly. “It’s so good to see you again!”

“It has been too long, my dear,” Julia replied. “And I apologize for that. Now, come; sit and tell me what I’ve missed these last few years.”

Sarah told her everything she could remember about that last…period of time. About her journey into Awesome Land to recover the stolen True Sword and her subsequent imprisonment in the Veral Dimension by Leon; about the War of Four Kings and her return home (detailing her brief romance with Cha Cha Watsrobe only at Julia’s insistence); of her contrived return to Awesome Land and the resulting chase across the world to recover the Four Orbs, culminating in their battle with Seth; of the return of Aurora Veralice and the conflict that arose; and then of the last few pages and Johnny’s journey into Random World.

“I thought you seemed different,” Julia remarked when Sarah finished. “You seemed older, but not just physically. You have that…air about you. You’ve become quite the young lady in my absence. I suppose I’ll have to tell your mother when she returns, huh?”

“It might help lessen the blow of the murder trial,” she said, her grin fading slightly.

“Oh, don’t you worry about that ol’ thing. I’m sure we can scrape together the funds to pay that nasty Veralice man. And we’ll work on that speech together; so chin up, hm?”

“Thank you. But now it’s my turn: Where have you been?”

“Oh,” Julia waved her hand back and forth, as if searching for the right words. The Thundercougerfalconbirds must have taken that as a sign she needed a refill because her drink was instantly replaced with a fresh one. “Uh, thank you, boys, but I wasn’t finished with that one! Mercy me. Where was I? Oh, here and there. Then and later. You know.”

Sarah frowned. “No, I don’t. You left so suddenly, we didn’t know what happened to you or where you went. Mom said you were fine, but…”

Julia sighed. “I suppose I figured your mother would tell you, but I don’t know why. She always tried to keep our family business away from you little’uns.”

“Please, Aunt Julia.”

“Well, alright. But don’t go telling you mother I can’t keep a secret.” She set the drink and the trashy novel aside and looked seriously at Sarah. “I was away looking for my sister.”

“Sister? You mean my mom?”

“No, dear, our other sister, Allie. You see, Allie was the youngest and never quite got the attention she thought she deserved. So, when she was a teenager, she ran away with some young musician. We were worried, of course, but she did eventually write to us, telling us she was okay. That must have been right around when you two were born – when she wrote, I mean. She was gone a few years before then. So, we let her be. But a few years ago…I had a bad dream; a nightmare. Something awful had happened to Allie – I couldn’t remember what – but it shook me to my soul. Frannie didn’t exactly believe my dream, but she didn’t exactly stop me when I left.”

“Did you find her?”

“No.” Julia reclined in her seat and folded her arms. “I searched all over the universe but I couldn’t find hide or hair of our dear baby sister. I haven’t given up hope yet, but I figured it was time to see Frannie again, although I imagine she’s out at Incrediland for the same reasons. So, I suppose I’ll rest here until she returns.”

“What about Aunt Allie?”

Julia thought for a minute before replying. “Allie is…spirited. She knows how to disappear, so it’s entirely possible that she just doesn’t want to be found at this time.”

“But your dream – “

“Might have been just that.”

Sarah didn’t like it. People don’t just go off on a universe-wide search on a dream. Well…maybe that wasn’t true. She’d met enough odd people that she amended her though to normal people don’t just go off to search the universe based on a dream. Maybe Aunt Julia was one of those people. She’d never settled down or had kids or shown any interest in leading a “normal” life. And yet there was something in the way she spoke that betrayed a deep concern for her lost sister.

“Well, enough about all that.” And just like that, she was her cheerful, gossipy self. “Let’s talk about that handsome young man who came a’calling on you earlier.”

Sarah grimaced. This wasn’t going to be fun.

[Monika]

Compelled by Zayden and Blanche's harmony, Aurora, too, eventually chimed in:

"I'm gonna trade this life
For fortune and fame
I'd even cut my hair
And change my name..."

Now that all three were singing, the glow around Aurora and Blanche intensified, illuminating the ice tunnel enough to reveal that it now bore a growing number of cracks and fissures along its interior. An electric guitar and heavy drums kicked in, and the illusory background music could now be heard by all within the tunnel as Aurora, Blanche and Zayden all broke into the chorus:

"'Cause we all just wanna be big rockstars
And live in hilltop houses, drivin' fifteen cars
The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap
We'll all stay skinny 'cause we just won't eat

And we'll hang out in the coolest bars
In the VIP with the movie stars
Every good gold digger's gonna wind up there
Every Playboy bunny with her bleach blond hair

And well, hey, hey, I wanna be a rockstar
Hey, hey, I wanna be a rockstar!"

The last syllable was punctuated by the explosion of the ice tunnel, which sent razor-like shards of ice flying outward in every direction. Instead of crashing down upon the group and crushing them under its pressure, the entire ocean of Special Land parted before them, probably in awe of their glorious choral trio. The glow around Aurora and Blanche reduced its level to 'faint visibility' to avoid blinding any unfortunate passersby.

"The synchronization is complete," Zayden declared. "That little ritual has condensed the innate magical properties of rock music plus some of my own Lord of Illusion abilities into your very beings. The power has manifested itself as the glow you see around each other. According to an independent study conducted by the now defunct C.O.M.A.S, my power is somewhere near that of an Immortal. Stated simply, for the time being you both are more-or-less 'Demigoddesses of Illusion'. You both have access to my ultimate technique - the Reality Breaker."

Zayden pointed at Leon, who was making no effort to hide his complete displeasure for what had just happened in front of his very eyes. "Reality...Break!" he shouted. Immediately, the floor under Leon's feet was a set of large, slimy, ravenous tentacles. Tentacles that had now ensnared him. And were touching him in ways he did not want to be touched. Zayden smiled and explained to Aurora and Blanche, "The Reality Breaker goes beyond merely manipulating matter. It can turn reality itself into an illusion. The sand that once sat below Leon's feet was never there at all, in effect. It was always the tentacles you see before you."

"Zayden, I swear to Seraphina I'm gonna-" Leon was unable to finish the sentence before one tentacley appendage slapped itself over his mouth.

"There are a few limitations to the technique since I can't share all of my strength with you, but the power that you now possess should be more than enough to accomplish your mission. Anything and everything you see before you can be made to have always or never been. For example," he nodded to Blanche, "You can make it so you were always wearing a more...conservative outfit. If you so desired, even the laws of physics themselves could become an illusion to you. Not even the Scroll of Science would be able to stop you." Zayden looked down at his wrist (a watch may or may not have been there) and added, "Speaking of which, you should probably go find it soon. The power I've shared with you will only stay for so long. My suggestion would be to track the person who has the Scroll and make it so that he never had it. Perhaps replace his Scroll with a hat or something. And then have the real thing appear with you."

"GRRGBRGKBGFHGRBGHL!" came Leon's garbled screams, muffled by an angry tentacle.

"Does anyone have any questions?" Zayden asked.

Aurora was too busy illusioning more of the ocean floor into tentacles to mess with her older brother to answer.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Artemis nodded. "Thank you for your assistance, Knox. The first thing we need, of course, is to gather all of the Immortals together. There are seven of us, unless you include our elemental counterparts, in which case there are fourteen. Whom do you think our membership should be composed of?"

[Mizagium]

Knox poked at the edge of the quiet bubble Artemis had conjured around them, rippling the fabric. "Heh. Well, Immortals are Immortals, right? If there's going to be a council, then we should include everyone - unless they have their own council." He thought about that for a moment. "Actually...aren't we different kinds of ideas? We're like Abstract concepts and they're more...Concrete?" He scratched at his head. "It's a little fuzzy, but we could have a Abstract Council and a Concrete Council. We are kind of dealing with different kinds of issues."

-----

Blanche followed Zayden's advice and made it so she had never been wearing the revealing outfit. In fact, she had always been wearing an outfit that was something between both a stylized pirate and ninja.

"Questions? Uh well...that voice of yours...are you sure you aren't a - well, I've heard some people mention a Force. And I think that Goldbez is a part of it. Are you...no, it doesn't matter. Come on, Empress. Let's get us a Scroll."

[Monika]

Zayden raised an eyebrow for a moment before shrugging off Blanche's comment and smiling. "Well, if you two ever need me..." He handed Aurora and Blanche a cell phone-like device - the same type of gadget Leon had used mere moments before. "Just give me a call. I'll be right over. Good luck, and farewell." With a single wave goodbye, Zayden disappeared just as flashily as he had been summoned.

"That guy was dreamy," Aurora mentioned rather offhandedly. After a brief pause, she grimaced in confusion. "Did...I just say that out loud? You've got some pretty friends, Leon. I mean, pretty interesting friends." Shaking her head in an effort to clear her thoughts, she pointed at her brother (still being molested by tentacles) and said "You know what? I'm going to let you off easily since you did technically help us. I'll catch you once I'm done with this quest. Reality Break!" And just like that, she made it so that Leon had always been back in the Second Imperial Tower, away from causing harm.

"Now I suppose we just have to find where that head guard went and illusion the Scroll away...And I know just how we're going to do that." A devilish smile worked its way onto Aurora's face as she turned toward the Special Land guards that had been left there to ensure that Aurora, Blanche and Vanguard all perished in a way that was completely plausible. Unfortunately for them, it looked like the exact opposite was happening.

"H-Hello, Lady Aurora. How m-may we be of assistance to you, Y-Your Majesty?" The guards all stammered while trying to appease her; she had just tortured and done away with international criminal and enemy-to-many Leon Veralice as if he were a mere toy. If she were willing to do that to her brother, there was no doubt in their minds that she wouldn't hesitate to do it to them.

"Take us inside Special Land and lead us to the guard who has the Scroll of Science. And do so immediately, please."

"Of course, Lady Aurora. To Special Land!"

And so the guards all walked (the ocean was still parted) their way to Special Land, Aurora and company not too far behind.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Perhaps we should group them all together, first. Then we may have a proper discourse to decide whether to have one or two councils," Artemis suggested. "We will also need a facility for our council to use during meetings. This facility would preferably be in a neutral area, not affiliated with the large powers such as Awesome Land or Really Cool Land. This will aid in preserving the impartial, unbiased atmosphere in which our council should have its discussions. Do you know of such a building, Knox?"

[Mizagium]

"I don't anticipate much of a fight," Blanche said to Aurora as they marched. "But then, maybe that's a good idea, huh? If we decide there won't be a fight, then there won't be. That's how that works, right?"

She glanced at the ocean. "Reality Break!" A cubic foot of water turned into solid jade, petrifying the sea life that happened to be swimming through. "Cool."

-----

Knox crossed his arms. "Random World is a good start, although Stan and Theska and I had some...dealings with Zais there. Actually, Zais might still be maintaining his empire there. Wow, we really need to do something about him." He huffed, returning from his digression. "Super Land." The words left his mouth even before he had the thought fully formed. At Artemis' questioning look, he ad-libbed, "We could put the flying land back up where it belongs - well, where it's been for a while. I think it actually was cursed to float there or something, but whatever. We could restore it to floating island status and make our Immortal Council there. Since all the inhabitants either emigrated out (or perished) it's really just a big mess. Aurora might actually thank us for cleaning it up. Plus, we get the added bonus have having a base that literally above the world."

He grinned sheepishly. "Whatdaya think?"

[Myrdraxxis]

“I’ll admit Commander, your story is a bit farfetched, but I’ve seen stranger things before.” Captain Sanderson said after Gree had finished his tale.

Which had, of course, been utter bullshit.

“Commander” Gree had told them that he was from a pre-space flight race that had begun to experiment with the effects of Element Negative One, and that had somehow propelled Gree across space and into the Ariadne. Gree was pretty sure they’d never let him leave this medbay again if he talked about even a fraction of the insanity that was Awesome Land.

“I’m still a little overwhelmed to be honest.” Gree replied. Sanderson nodded.

“No doubt. As it stands, our ship is on a priority mission for the Council, so I’m afraid we won’t be able to deal with your situation until it’s completed.” Sanderson explained. Gree fought the urge to sigh. Just then the door the medbay opened yet again, this time admitting the strangest-looking creature Gree had ever seen.

“Captain, I heard that our guest has woken up.” The alien said. It’s mouth was flanked by a pair of mandibles that moved when he spoke, revealing a row of sharp teeth, and an oddly flanged voice.

“Yes, I was going to tell you earlier but you looked buys.”

“Just some minor calibrations to my gun, captain.” The alien said.

Gree looked at Anderson expectantly.

                                                                Who’s this?
                                                               /
                                          Investigate - ( ) - I should go.
                                                               \
                                                                 What’s with the talking raptor?

“Who’s the talking bird?” Gree asked bluntly. Then immediately felt like slapping himself. Sanderson fought a smile while the alien in question just gave him a bemused look.

“This is Nyles.” Sanderson introduced. “He’s a turrettian.”

Sanderson had given Gree a quick rundown on how things worked out here in the wider galaxy, and apparently the turrettians were a major military force.

“And a council Ghost.” Nyles added. Ah, so one of this famous council’s super agents. Lovely.

“Nyles is here to-“

Captain we have a problem. a voice said from overhead, in the comms. Sanderson frowned.

“We’ll have to cut this short, Commander.” Sanderson turned and quickly exited the room, Nyles hot on his heels. Gree glanced around for a moment before following after them. He kinda wanted to be out of this medbay already.

The ship was smaller than he expected. He quickly found the captain and Nyles standing before a large monitor, watching a scene of utter chaos.

“The ground forces didn’t stand a chance.” Nyles observed.

“Joker, can we get a clear picture of what’s attacking them?” the captain asked.

”Negative, sir. That was the only transmission we got, and our sensors can’t get through to the colony.” again, the voice over the comm spoke.

“We’re going to have to send a team down there, this mission is too important. Now more than ever.” Nyles said. Sanderson grunted an acknowledgment.

“Don’t you have soldiers?” Gree asked. Sanderson turned to him as if just realizing he was there.

“This is a new ship, and we barely were outfitted before this mission came up. We have a skeleton crew with on a couple of marines on board.”

“We’d need someone to lead the ground team. Someone with considerable military experience.” Nyles said. Sanderson and Nyles shared a look and slowly turned to Gree.

He got a sinking feeling in his stomach.

Oh boy…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Taler wasn’t sure where he was anymore. He and the other soldiers –who he still knew nothing about- had been fighting these supposed enemies for hours now.

Somehow there always seemed to be enough weapons and ammo to keep the fight going but as far as Taler could tell they’d barely made any progress towards this hospital.

Probably because the other soldiers seemed to think that proper fighting doctrine meant firing wildly from the hip on full auto while occasionally throwing a grenade for good measure.

It was doing as much harm as good. Taler had, on three separate occasions, watched a soldier throw a grenade, only to have it bounce back in his face and explode.

“Morons.” Taler muttered.

“Hey! Do you hear that?” a soldier near him called over. Taler paused. He did hear something actually. A faint whistling sound that was getting steadily louder. He thought it was an airstrike but there was also the sound of….barking?

“Oh shit!” the soldier said. “They’re launching a dog strike! Take cover!”

Taler, almost fearfully, looked upwards. “A….dog….strike?”

He could see missiles streaking towards their position. Except they weren’t missiles.

They were dogs.

Angry, angry dogs.

“This…will not end well.” Taler said. His world exploded in a flurry of shrapnel, fur, teeth and terror.

[Calefrun]

"We're... we're boarding them." Albert was standing by the canon he had been operating, preparing to move to the enemy ship as soon as it was within boarding distance.

"Damn right we are!" Gabe yelled as he punched his open palm. "I told you this new captain was great, Al! We're taking the fight right to them!"

Al sighed. "We'll be lucky if this thing holds together long enough for us to get to them. And even then, based on what we've seen of their ship I'm willing to bet they're better armed than we are. I don't see this e-" He suddenly stopped talking and looked around. "...Where's Rick?" Gabe started looking around too, then wordlessly pointed towards the ship's bow. Al looked in that direction, and in disbelief he quickly removed and cleaned his glasses before looking again.

At the prow of the Black Swan stood Rick, now wearing an overcoat which was flapping about in the space-breeze. He was just standing there, twirling his laser pistols around his index fingers.

"Rick?" Al called, "What are you doing up there?" Rick turned his head to look at his childhood friends, and both Al and Gabe saw an expression they had never seen Rick show in all the time that they had known each other. He looked excited. His eyes were open wide, and his mouth was forming a big, toothy grin. Usually it was rare to see him so much as smirk.

"What am I doing?" he yelled back, "I'm getting ready for the fun to start!"

[Nel]

The Black Swan docked on the rear of the attacking ship and Captain Danielle led her crew onto the ship killing any crew in their path. She led the charge as they made their way the bridge to confront the captain of the ship.

[Monika]

After a few minutes of walking through the parted seas of Special Land, Aurora and Blanche were led to an enormous marble castle. Its most glaring detail was not its size or extravagance, however. On the front of the castle was a long red banner that displayed in bright gold letters: 'PROPERTY OF GRAND IMPERATRIX LAURINE'. Clearly no one had bothered to remove it in the six months and three days since Awesome Land's mini-crisis.

"Hmph. Remind me to have that changed later," Aurora said to no one in particular. Then, after a moment of consideration, she corrected herself. "Actually, I can just change it now, can't I? Reality Break!" The gaudy red banner Laurine had put up was instantly replaced with a much more beautiful dark blue banner that read 'Imperial Castle of Grand Imperatrix Aurora Veralice' in golden, cursive writing. "Much better."

One of the escorts turned to Aurora and said, "The main guard should be within your new castle, Your Majesty. Ever since former Queen Crider moved out after being deposed, he has been the only one to go inside. I believe he fancies himself as the interim King of Special Land now that we've gotten rid of that governor Laurine appointed."

Aurora nodded. "Mr. Interim King will be dethroned soon enough. Let's go!"

And so they easily made their way through the doors of the non-gated, unlocked, completely defenseless castle. There weren't many signs of damage, so it appeared that the castle had always been that way.

"No wonder you guys succumbed so easily," Aurora remarked as she stepped inside the castle's interior.

"Very funny, Empress." Sure enough, the head guard was standing in the center of the castle's main floor, which was, for whatever reason, entirely white. The walls, ceiling, floor...Together they formed a fairly eerie atmosphere. "So I take it that you didn't die after my little Physics Flash, hmm?"

"I'm afraid not."

"And seeing the way you've tamed my guards over there - great job by the way, guys-"

"Y-You're welcome, Boss," the guards (trembling in fear) replied, stepping as far away from Aurora, Blanche and their leader as possible. There was no telling what was going to happen next.

"-I'm guessing that you've got some trick up your sleeve that would nullify the powers of my Scroll of Science."

"I'm afraid so," Aurora affirmed. "Now, shall we avoid the battling and skip straight to the part where you hand it over?"

"I suppose I don't have a choice." The guard took the final Scroll of Science from his robe pocket and held it out.

Aurora turned to her first mate and asked "Would you like to do the honors, Blanche? As the person who dealt with the most during this journey, I think you should be the collector of the Scroll."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Ha. I like that idea, arrogant as it may be," Artemis replied. "Super Land it is. And now we just have to decide how we'll split up the other Immortals." She crossed her arms behind her back and began to pace around their little space bubble. "There are twelve other Immortals that need to be on this council. Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Metal, Wood, Lightning, Order, Chaos, Darkness, Knowledge and Light. Tracking them down will be no easy task. And even then, convincing them to be on this council will be a great feat."

She stopped pacing and pointed toward Ollie. "It would only make sense to split the work evenly and find six of them each. You've already gotten one, so that means you would have to find five more." Artemis sighed. "Which five do you feel are most within your capabilities to handle? You mentioned that a couple of them have tried to kill you in the past, so I can understand if you do not wish to take care of those specific Immortals. I have personal reasons for not wanting to deal with Zais..."

[Mizagium]

Blanche looked like she was about to say something smart to the guard holding the Scroll, but just couldn’t find the right words. “It’s just…too easy.” She snatched it up before he changed his mind and looked it over thoroughly. Not that she knew what she was looking for anyway.

“Seems legit. Here, Empress.” She handed the Scroll to Aurora. “So are we through here? I’m really…I don’t even know. I’m just really.”

-

“Well,” Knox’s eyes wandered over to Ollie. “I got Light right there.” He stuck out his tongue. “So that’s one. I know Bill Nye, so there’s that. We go way back. So do I and Zais, but I don’t think I’ll be able to stop myself from doing something stupid, so no thanks. Weirdly enough, I think I can handle Karzem. I actually do know the Humors…er, Fire and Air and that whole group, at least in passing. Vespi – Fire – I would consider to be on good terms with me, so her and…I think she’s traveling with Quolot right now. So that’s Light, Knowledge, Chaos, Fire, Air, and…oh…let’s say Order.

“Okay with you?”

-

Captain Danielle was only able to board the Monstrosity because Captain Uggo was so…fascinated is a good word…by the sight of her cutting down what appeared to be her own crew. The Monstrosity had no crew to speak of (if anyone would bother to pay attention) as the AI “Sally” took care of most ship functions.

More than a little confused and off-put, Captain Uggo drew his plasma cutlass and plasma pistols and went out to confront the invading crew. He slashed at the first invaded, who dodged, but he whirled on one of his peg-legs, briefly activating the rocket boost, and sent him careening into space forever. A couple crew actually stopped upon seeing that. After he spaced a few more they actually turned and fled back onto their own ship, narrowly avoiding being cut down but their own captain (mostly).

Face to face with Captain Danielle, Uggo said, “Not too late, you know. I’m offering you a chance to surrender with your dignity intact.”

“Ugggggooooooo! I’m huuuuuungryyyy!”

He grimaced. “In a moment, darling! I’m dealing with some invading pirates.”

“Well make sure they don’t mess up my carpets.”

“Yes dear.”

At least one of them would leave with their dignity intact.

-

Unknown, the Distant Abyss

All of the universe was but a very large book for Gaar Noble to read at his leisure. Once upon a time he had been known as the hero, Nebula. Shortly before that, he had been born a failure and put away forever. Out there in the far reaches of space, beyond the reach of any known civilization – the gaps between galaxies – Nebula spread his form thin across existence.

And he studied.

FORD had deemed him a failure, but they had been wrong. Gaar saw that which was hidden from most. He could see the microscopic world hidden from normal eyes. He could see the macrocscopic world, too grand for the comprehension of the layman.

Gaar Noble could see everything…and he was lonely.

The Cosmic Crusaders had literally been the only friends he had ever had. To see them disband like that had filled him with such sorrow as to drive him away from civilization completely. But out in the Abyss, he found no comfort, only concern. Something was happening to the cosmic forces. The energies were shifting erratically. Alone, the variations seemed insignificant, but when viewed together – the Star Force, the Lunar Force, the Dark Force, and the Planetary Force – the data suggested a fundamental shift in the way the universe ordered itself.

And then…avatars of the Star Force and the Lunar force came together, joined by a third presence that did not register among the cosmic web, but one he recognized nonetheless. Pulsar. Pulsar, Moon Blade, and Starburst were together again.

Perhaps…this was the time. Nebula contracted his essence – and raced across the universe.

-

“Secret” Far Out Research and Development (FORD) Facility, the Stations

Moon Blade put down another robo-guard with a quick decapitation before turning towards Pulsar, who was frantically pounding away at a terminal. “ETA on that download?”

“You want to come over here and try?” she snapped.

“Er…” He whirled around and slashed apart another guard.

“Ever heard of a 7th level holographic encryption sequence with fourth dimensional locks?”

“You made that up,” he protested, slinging his blades through the air, cutting through an entire squad. “Those aren’t real words.”

“I didn’t think so either.” She threw her hands up theatrically. “But there they are!”

“Can you do it?” Something exploded off in the distance. A series of smaller explosions followed and more alarms joined the already blaring chorus. They were all going to have permanent hearing damage, he just knew it.

Pulsar grumbled, punching (literally) the keyboards a few times. “Yeah, just…keep holding them off. I’m not used to working like this.” On their previous adventures, Daar Lorra had typically maintained the ship, hacking and providing support from a distance. Fieldwork…was new. The fifth level broke away, revealing a wall of text in strange symbols. “What in the…? NO FAIR!”

“Problem?”

“They’ve coded it in Ancient Awesome Glyphs.”

“I don’t know what that means!”

“It’s an ancient Earth language. Because it’s dead and pretty much forgotten about, some coders have taken to encrypting data in it.”

Moon Blade saw Starburst flying down the hall towards him, leaving a trail of fire in her wake. “Can you do it?”

“I…I don’t know.”

Starburst crossed the threshold and shouted, “Moon Blade! The door locks!” She stayed to shove the double doors closed and melt them together while Moon Blade activated the lock sequence before breaking the panel off the wall. With the room clear, everyone took a moment to breath.

“You’ve got time, Pulsar. Get it done.”

“Uh, you might want to hurry,” Starburst offered, scratching her flaming head. Something shook the entire space station, it felt like. The shockwaves caused the electricity to flicker (and Pulsar to swear). “They, uh. Ahem. They have an earthshaker.”

The earthshaker drove a massive fist into the melted and locked doors, denting them severely.

“Who keeps an earthshaker on a station?” Pulsar mused, still typing away. “He’s going to bring the whole thing down.”

Boom. Boom. Boom. With each blow, the doors bent a little more.

“Maybe that’s what they want,” Starburst thought, zooming about the room, looking for another exit. “It is a secret facility, after all.”

The next blow did the job, ripping the doors from their hinges. A massive figure, twice as tall as any of them and impossibly muscular shoved his way through. He wore a simple white jacket with too-long sleeves, implying he had only just been awakened from stasis. The name tag read: Cedric.

The monster raised his massive fists over his head – Moon Blade and Starburst could almost see the Planetary Energies being gathered – before slamming them onto the floor. Metal and wires ripped apart like wet paper, the glass separating them from the vacuum cracked. Pulsar’s terminal escaped relatively unscathed, but any further damage to the facility was likely to undo all the work she had done.

“DO SOMETHING!”

Starburst lobbed some cosmic fire into the earthshaker’s face as Moon Blade leaped at him, spinning his blades in the air, aiming for his throat. But when the beast lashed out in pain from the fire, a stray blow smacked Moon Blade out of the air and drove him into the wall, where he stuck in a dent.

“Sam!” Pulsar and Starburst yelled in tandem as the latter charged, sweeping the earthshaker off its feet and carrying him down the hall.

“Come on, come on,” Pulsar pleaded with the terminal. “Oh you’ve got to be kidding me.” Level seven was basically a combination of all previous six encryption levels. “What is this, some cheesy sci-fi story?”

“Leaning on the fourth wall is not like you, Pulsar.” Nebula suddenly phased through the station wall, assumed a solid form, and glanced around. “My. What a mess. Good to see you again, Daar Lorra.”

“Gaar! What are you - ?” Down the hall, Starburst screamed as the earthshaker hurled her back into the room where they were. She smashed into some computers (thankfully not connected to Pulsar’s terminal) and didn’t get back up. “Earthshaker!”

“Allow me.” Nebula assumed a gaseous form and drifted forward, right into the path of the earthshaker. When the monster crossed the threshold, Nebula phased into the monster – and it stopped. The thing was clearly strong enough to at least attempt to resist Nebula’s control, but not for long. It went rigid, then screamed, and fell over. Nebula reappeared, appearing to step out of the thing’s head. “Not much intelligence in there,” he muttered. “Simple animal instincts. Mostly rage.” He looked around as Moon Blade and Starburst picked themselves up. “He didn’t like this place.”

“Can’t imagine why,” Pulsar said. “Ah! Got it! Data transfer to the ship complete! Let’s get out of – “

“FACILITY REACTOR CRITICAL. PLEASE EVACUATE IN AN ORDERLY FASHION.”

“Here.”

The race to the ship was quite the scene, full of yelling and explosions and alarms. But they made and were well clear of the FORD Facility when it exploded. Setting a course for Earth, Daar Lorra pulled the data up and the four Cruaders began to review it…

[Monika]

Aurora put the Scroll in her pocket and shrugged. "I guess so. Back to Groovy Land to meet up with everyone else. Hopefully they've gotten their own Scrolls by now...Hopefully." As she turned to exit the castle, she couldn't shake the feeling that what Blanche said had some merit to it. "That was too easy," Aurora muttered.

"Of course it was easy!" the guard leader exclaimed. "Everything is easy to the great and powerful Awesome Land."

Aurora spun back around and magically lifted the guard into the air. "And what's that supposed to mean, huh?!"

"As long as that nation continues to be exchanged from one corrupt, dark-hearted, iron-fisted tyrant to the next, we smaller countries will never stand a chance, will we?"

"Hmph." Aurora let the guard fall to the ground. "Let's go, Blanche. Dark Energy us back to Groovy Land."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Artemis took a pad of paper and a pen from her robe pocket and wrote a few things down. "Then that leaves me with Water, Metal, Lightning, Earth, Wood and..." She gave an uncharacteristically deep sigh. "Darkness. If I weren't determined to establish this council properly, I would consider leaving him outside this organization." She replaced the pen and paper and lifted up her robe sleeves. "But I've never been one to take shortcuts."

She expanded the diameter of their space bubble to give herself a little more pacing room. "My final request is unrelated to the formation of this council, but I would ask you to hear it out anyway. It may take a while for you to address, so only agree to it if you have time to spare."

[Mizagium]

Knox was eager to get moving with the council business (as well as some Time Keeper business), but something in the way Artemis said that...

"Let's hear it, Artemis. I'll work it into my schedule somewhere, I promise." He successfully resisted the urge to make a "time" joke. He was only allowed a few of those, so he was going to save them."

-----

Skeptically, Blanche cloaked herself and Aurora in Dark Energy, teleporting them from beneath the waves to Groovy Land. Something about her ninja-ness prevented her head from asploding at the sight of the psychedelic hills.

She was, however, momentarily transfixed so that Stella almost tackled her with a glomp. Almost. Blanche managed to DO A BACKFLIP and land safely out of the way.

"Aww, Blanche is no fun today," Stella pouted, digging into the multicolored hills with a spade she had procured (probably from a migrant gardener). As it happens, the dirt of Groovy Land was just as psychedelic as the grass or whatever covered the ground around there.

"We'll play later, Stella. Right now we have important things to do."

But Stella wasn't listening. "Imagine if I buried that Dark Solider here! He could have been the Champion of Clowns!"

[Monika]

"Thank you, Knox. You may not know this, but I am a dimension traveling scholar. I like to spend my time going from place to place, learning as much about various subjects as possible. Occasionally, I publish my findings in research papers and books, such as this one." Artemis carefully opened a portal within the space bubble and removed from it a moderately thick book entitled 'Elementary Mathemagic: 3^rd Edition by Artemis'.

After handing it to Knox, she said, "During one of my travels, I came across an organization whose members were practicing something called 'Focus'. I watched them in secret for some time and from what I observed, it appears that Focus is a sort of magical martial art which employs localized temporal manipulation to achieve its effects. I do not have many details, but I am aware of your relationship with the organization as well as your degree of skill in the art." She stopped to take a deep breath before continuing.

"I find myself being far too indirect. Stated simply, I want to spar against you, Knox. I would like for you to teach me everything you know about Focus - bar those things that only the Immortal of Time could do. There are few things in life that pain me more than an incomplete set of knowledge. I would be honored to learn from you, if you would be so inclined." Artemis concluded her request with a slight, respectful bow before looking up into Knox's eyes and awaiting a response.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Stella, if you would be so kind as to hand me the Scroll of Science you collected?" Aurora asked. "As Blanche said, we have important business to take care of. You can...plant soldiers once we're finished, okay?" Did I really just say 'plant soldiers'? I can't stay around these people much longer... Aurora thought.

[Mizagium]

Knox blinked, both at Artemis's request and at her bowing. "You want to learn...how to Focus?" He'd been doing his best to forget his time with Organization XXI that it never occurred to him someone would actually want to have his powerset. Could he even teach her? Everyone theoretically possessed the ability, but...he frowned. It seemed as if Ara had only recruited those particularly adept at it.

"Ah...ok. Sure. Let's get this Council up and going and I have some Time Keeper business to attend to, but...yeah. I would...yeah. I'll teach you."

-

Stella cartwheeled over to Aurora, but remained on her hands. "Weeeeeell since Pretty Lady asked so nicely." She casually kicked off a shoe and reached into her pants pocket with it. After rooting around for a few moments, she presented the Scroll to Aurora, grasped between her first two toes.

"And this little piggie went all the way to the smokehouse cuz piggies are delicious."

[Nel]

Captain Daneille stopped cutting down the (imaginary) crew of the Monstrosity as she noticed a figure coming towards her. She her cutlass and shouted to him.

"So you must be the captain who thinks he can attack my ship whenever he pleases?! How dare you!!" she almost screamed as she began walking towards him with her cutlass readied to strike and rage in every step.

"Surrender now or I WILL END YOU!!"

[Calefrun]

Zento reached into his pocket and pulled out the Scroll he had collected earlier. He tossed it towards Aurora. "Are we done running errands now?"

Cale suddenly clutched at his heart. "I'm not sure why, but I feel like somehow, somewhere, I just did something really ballsy." Zento kicked him in the shin.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Before Captain Uggo could respond, the entire ship lurched and an explosion could be heard from the side of the ship. Al, Gabe, and most of the other crew members looked over the side. A large hole could be seen in the hull, and space was rapidly pouring into the ship.

A short distance away, Rick was rappelling down the side of the ship with a rope around his waist, preparing to plant another set of explosives. He looked up, and saw the rest of his crew staring at him in shock. "'Sup?"

[Nel]

Captain Danielle immediately forgot her previous rage in light of the new events. With the space rapidly pouring into ship it would soon become one with space. They had to get off this ship and back to the Black Swan.

"Everyone back to the ship!" she shouted to her crew but stopped the guy who had planted the explosives.

"You! Plant more explosives then get back to the ship as fast as you can!" then she went back to the Black Swan to prepare to disembark from the Monstrosity.

[Mizagium]

But Captain Uggo was upon Rick like a spider-monkey...but in space! Before the lad had a chance to plant another set of explosives, Uggo activated his rocket-peg-legs and zoomed towards the demolition man, severing the rope that held him with his plasma cutlass. Not wishing to space the young man, Uggo spun about and ROCKET KICKED him towards Captain Danielle, so that he crashed into her.

Moderately satisfied, Uggo flew around to the hull breach. "Sally, secure the areas around this breach. We don't have the resources to fix it here."

"Aye captain."

"And take us into port, but not here. We need to find some materials."