Awesome Land IV: Rise of the Grand Imperatrix

[Mizagium]

"Aurora," Johnny said. "Laurine took over. Both Awesome Land and you. We've been trying to take her down for the last 20 pages or so, and she's too damn tricky!"

"We need your help," Sarah said. "Also Leon's, but we don't know where he is."

[Monika]

"Laurine...That..." Aurora sighed and shook her head, deciding against commenting on just how horrible Laurine is. "Hold on for a moment. I'm going to call Guardian Alastor." Aurora pressed her badge and spoke. "Alastor? Alastor, are you there?"

"Aurora, is that you?" he said in a voice laden with both physical and emotional pain.

"Alastor, what's the matter with you?" she asked in a worried tone.

"Laurine...forced me to hand you over to her so she could control you. Threw me out of the window..." came Alastor's almost whispered sentences.

Aurora stepped to the tower window and looked down. With her uncanny eyesight, surely enough she was able to see Alastor all the way at the bottom of the tower, clutching his chest in pain. "Hmm...I've had it with her. I'm going to kill her right here and right now!" Aurora began dashing at hyper speed to the top floor of the tower, but Alastor stopped her before she could go.

"You can't just go by yourself! Allow me to help!" Alastor coughed up blood down below.

"You must be out of your mind!" Aurora yelled.

"No! It's in the job description. I have to serve the Imperatrix no matter what..." he whispered.

"I have some of Leon's friends with me and-" Aurora stopped for a moment to think. "Where is Leon?" she asked.

"Ask the other Guardians. Last I saw he was complaining during community service. I've been stuck in my laboratory for weeks now as per Laurine's orders, so I wouldn't know. Now, if you'll just allow me to serve my duty to you and-"

"You're fired, Alastor. You no longer owe the empire...or me...anything. Good-bye." Aurora hung up the badge and pressed it again, this time contacting Guardian Lex. "Lex, are you there?" she asked.

"Glad to hear your voice again. I'd started to think you'd never leave Comaville. How was it there?" Lex laughed.

"Not the time, Lex. Do you have any idea where Leon is?" she demanded.

"You don't plan on hurting him, do you?" Lex laughed half heartedly. Aurora remained silent, prompting him to continue.

"I'll take that as a no, then. He's here with me, recuperating from his most recent injury involving a god of Darkness. He should be healed any time now." Lex explained.

"Where is he recuperating?"

"Oh, you know...*deliberately muffled sounds as if he's trying to obscure wherever Leon is*"

"You took him WHERE?!" Aurora screamed, but before she could go on a long tirade against Lex, he and Leon had already teleported there. Leon was on one knee, holding his staff-sword and katana with a grin on his face.

"Hey, guess who's here and isn't going to be punished!" came Lex's less-than-subtle entrance announcement.

"But, you can't just take-" Aurora began.

Leon cleared his throat and forced himself up with his staff-sword. "Listen, Aurora. Do you want to sit here punishing people or do you want to go and fight Laurine? Lex has told me all about the war and we have to conclude it now. We can't do that if you're busy ranting." Leon laughed.

"But-"

"What did I just say? Aren't you supposed to listen to your brother?" Leon taunted her. She pouted for a brief moment before smiling and she, Lex and Leon approached the staircase heading to the final floor of the tower.

"You guys ready?" Leon asked, falling to his knees again.

[Mizagium]

"Do you have any idea what just happened?" Sarah whispered to Johnny.

"Nope."

"Good. Me either." Sarah walked up behind Aurora. "Soooo... I take it we're going to fight Laurine?"

[Monika]

"If you all are up for it. She is no ordinary woman." Aurora warned them, her eyes shining from under her hooded robe. "Do you honestly think that I, Aurora Veralice the Grand Imperatrix, would allow just any normal woman to serve as my second in command?!" she yelled. She believed they were underestimating the situation, and was probably right.

"Well, judging from the way you've run the country so far..." Leon muttered under his breath. Aurora scowled at him and magically threw him against a tower wall.

[Myrdraxxis]

I'm ready!" Zais said, popping up outta nowhere...and sporting a black eye. "So who are we fighting?"


"Laurine you twit." Durzo said, jumping out of...nowhere.

[Mizagium]

Carter was already sneaking around.

~~~~~

"Zais?" Johnny recognized that voice anywhere. "Don't you have...an empire to run? Darkness to rule? Puppies to kick?"

[Razgat]

Cybele was still following Carter, and Galiana was following them.

[Myrdraxxis]

Zais shrugged. "Well probably...but I'm bored. And I have every faith in my new general to keep my empire from collapsing!"


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Random World!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Sindri and other various RW characters stared at their new general with various degrees of doubt. "Err...are you sure that Zais put you in charge here?" Sidri asked.

"Of course I'm sure! Don't worry everything will be fine. Kupo!"

[Mizagium]

Carter continued to sneak.

Johnny and Sarah waited for Aurora to lead.

Jace, Sherri, and Crass were still fighting the remnants of the Imperial army.

Bill Nye was drinking a pina colada.

the Ridleys were circling Laurine's tower, waiting.

[thecheat]

PLOT TWIST NARRATOR APPEARS AND PISSES ON YOUR CRAPPY STORY AND NOW HE'S GONE BECAUSE IT IS NOT WORTHY

[Moniko]

I half lol'd

[Myrdraxxis]

Zais waited with the others, happily munching away at a bowl of rice crispy cereal. "Oh rice crispies. Only you, can I truly talk to."

[Monika]

Aurora smiled weakly at the group but shook her head and sighed, tears coming to her eyes. "You guys...Thanks, but...You're underestimating Laurine's capabilities. She is, - was - after all, my second in command. Do you think I would choose a weakling to be my Vice-Imperatrix?" Aurora asked, clearly rhetorically.

"Well, judging from the way you've ruled my old empire thus far, I'd say- " Leon began, but before he could finish the sentence he was magically thrown against the tower wall. Aurora scowled at him disdainfully before continuing.

"Do you all insist on fighting? Laurine is a master at martial arts and a skilled apothecary...That is to say, she can make a poison with just about any effect she desires." Aurora explained. "Not only that, but she is an esteemed actress..." That might explain why I couldn't see through her facade... she thought.

"As an actress, she could easily fool you into believing she's had a change of heart or something. Don't fall for it. Her last, but perhaps most dangerous characteristic, is her mastery of political science and foreign studies, which is why I chose her as my second in command. If she's in a bind, you can count on her to turn all of Awesome Land - as well as any countries she's taken over in my absence - against us. Do you all still insist on fighting her? I'll understand if you don't..."

Leon sat in front of the wall, clutching his head and muttering something about Aurora under his breath.

[Myrdraxxis]

Zais shrugged. "I'd probably kill her even if she did have a change of heart."

[Mizagium]

Johnny facepalmed. "Yeah, probably."

"We'll fight," Sarah insisted.

[Razgat]

Just then, a figure slowly began to walk in. They were wearing sunglasses and holding a giant bazooka with JUSTICE written on the side. They shouldered the weapon and stood in an epic pose before raising up their hand for a thumbs up and saying. "I got this."

It was Cow-girl with her justice milk bazooka.

[Myrdraxxis]

"Oh hell..." Zais said with a grimace.

[Monika]

Aurora smiled again as more tears came to her eyes. Without another word, she ascended the steps to the final floor of the tower, company following. Moments later, she arrived at the floor. It was a large, stone circular arena type area with a spiked iron fence surrounding it, ensuring that the only method of escape was back down the stairs. Of course, this was all unnecessary considering that the final floor was 9002 stories above ground level anyway. Better to be safe than sorry, I guess.

Aurora stared around and, instead of seeing Laurine, she saw only a large stage, complete with lighting and curtains. A row of chairs appeared behind the group as the stairway sealed itself. Now there was no escape. An anti-teleportation spell had been put around the area, too. The designer of the tower (Laurine) wasn't going to let her prey escape at any cost.

"Where are you?!" Aurora yelled to the stage.

"Sit down!" came a voice from nowhere. Aurora sighed and, along with the rest of the group, sat down.

"Hahahaha! Welcome to the first annual production of Death of a former Empress, written by the lovely Laurine and to be performed by her wonderful troupe of actors!" came the ever familiar sing song voice of Laurine. The curtains on the stage moved themselves and a light turned on. Upon the stage stood a performer remarkably similar to Aurora in appearance.

"Once upon a time, there was a little girl. Her name was Aurora Veralice." came Laurine's narration. The girl on the stage waved at the group of protagonists.

"She believed that she was capable of ruling an empire..." A bunch of stage hands put up cardboard cutouts and canvases to make a realistic scene of Awesome Land on the stage. The girl stood directly in front of a giant cardboard tower.

"...but didn't feel the need to do it herself. She appointed a bunch of helpers to strengthen her weaknesses." More actors appeared on the stage. One looked like Alastor, another like Tyras, then Taenas, Walter and Lex. They all stood next to the Aurora actress.

"All of them loved Aurora so much and would do anything for her. This is because Aurora never did anything wrong to them." The Aurora actress handed all of the actors flowers and cupcake props.

"But there was one helper who stood in the shadows, whom Aurora had deeply affected years before." An actress dressed in all black appeared in front of the tower behind the Aurora actress. "Unbeknownst to Aurora, this helper was secretly orchestrating her downfall. One by one, some helpers died..." One at a time, the Taenas actor, Walter actor and Tyras actor died.

"One of them just disappeared." The Lex actor went off stage. "One of her loyal helpers even joined the one plotting against her!" The Alastor actor moved away from the Aurora actress and next to the actress in black, hidden in shadows.

"And so, without anyone to help her, Aurora fell!" The Aurora actress fell to the stage floor. "This left the secret plotter and her assistant free to take over!" The darkly clad actress and the Alastor actor stood in the middle of the stage now, in front of the tower prop.

"Days turned into weeks and the empire was ruled by the plotter. Some people, however, didn't like the way she ruled..." A bunch of extras appeared on stage and started yelling at the dark actress. "They decided to make their own city!" The scenery shifted to that of Dynasty City, and the extras stood there, holding hands and smiling.

"But they all died at the hands of the plotter!" The extras fell to the floor and the dark actress appeared in the center. "A few managed to survive somehow, and they decided to go to the empire and oppose the plotter." Actors representing the entire group of protagonists (Leon, Zais, Cybele, etc) appeared in the center stage as the scenery shifted to Awesome Land again.

"The survivors went up to the plotter's tower to confront her..." The scenery shifted to the inside of a room that looked remarkably similar to the previous floor of the tower. The dark actress walked on stage. Suddenly, the entire stage and actors disappeared, leaving only the dark actress facing the protagonists.

Another voice that sounded similarly to a little girl's voice called out "Hey? Where's the ending!?"

"Hm? What's that? The play has no ending, you say?" the actress said. She removed her hood to reveal herself as the one, the only, PFG. No, not really. It was Laurine. She had been using a voice throwing technique to separate her narration from her body.

"Rest assured, this play does have an ending..." At lightspeed, Laurine dashed toward Leon and Aurora, grabbing them both by their collars and tossing them straight into the spiked fence, which happened to be electric as well. The two shocked siblings fell to the ground as a smile appeared on Laurine's face. With the same velocity, Laurine returned to her original position, lifting up her robe sleeves to reveal her clawed hands.

"...And I suppose you all are ready to see it!"

[Myrdraxxis]

"Does this mean its finally time for some ass-kicking?" Zais asked, summoning his scythe.

[Bruce Leroy]

MGF and the Gears popped out from no where. "Hey guys. Cans we fight too?"