Hallucinogen_NA

Hallucinogen walked nervously over to the table and took egg number 5.

Moonscribe followed suit, taking egg number 21.

"I don't really like this. . ." Hal muttered to himself as they left for the beach.

"Now, now, Pharaoh," Moonscribe said with a knowing smile on his face. "This shall be fun."

". . . You're cheating!" Hal said irritably. "I just KNOW it!"

"Oh, honestly," Moonscribe said calmly. "I am not allowed to cheat. I simply find the outcome. . . amusing."

"Dangit!" Hal said irritably. "You aren't supposed to KNOW the outcome!"

"The outcome of what?" Moonscribe returned as they left, Hal carrying his carefully, Moonscribe's orbiting his head.

"It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fiiiiiiiiiine!" Schizo sang happily. "Take it, Hal-chan!"

"Stop it, dangit!" Hal exclaimed, and then noticed the black dots in the distance. "What are those. . .?"

"I'll just see if I can't sense their thoughts or something," Schizo said casually. "They shouldn't notice, long as they don't have psychic powers themselves. . ."

"I'll use my radar," Hal muttered, waves of radiation sweeping out from him, so that he could sense what sort of beings approached. . .

"Skiiiiiies of blue, and clouds of white!" Schizo sang as he and Hal walked across the deserted city. It was out in the middle of nowhere, and the best place Hal had found to hide from the Triumvirate. He had no idea where it was. . . but he didn't think the Overmagus's troops did either, yet.

"The blessed days!" Schizo continued, as they walked under the bleak, searing sun, alone in the desolate wasteland. "The dark, sacred nights! And I think to myselllllllf. . . what a wonderful world!"

". . .Please stop," Hal muttered, tears forming in his eyes.

((Bah! I keep not posting because I don't HAVE to and I have a billion other threads. . . sorry. . . ))

((Well, if you need a suggestion.

How about. . . all technology that Archlich does not control is forbidden? ))

((Long, long, long! And awesome entry, Essex. ))

"Ooooh, Hal-chan! Do wake up! I'm pining away without you! Look, I made you some--"

ZAP

A blast of brilliant light shot through the air as Hallucinogen opened his eyes. He looked like a perfectly normal boy at first, if only three and a half feet tall, but then green smoke billowed out everywhere, and hardly anything could be seen through the lurid haze. . . wild yellow hair, and a gas mask. . . a cape with dizzying patterns, maybe a tail. . . but nothing was clearly visible.

Hal's hands stopped glowing, but his hands and teeth were clenched. "DON'T. . .DO. . .THAT," he said, livid.

"Bah," said Schizophrenias, picking himself up off the ground where he had been thrown when Hal had blasted him. "Honestly, some people can't take a joke!"

Schizo was tall and thin, dressed in lurid purple with a tattered cape. He wore a straitjacket and a blindfold with barbed wire wrapped around it, and purple lights played over his body at random intervals. He grinned horribly as he stood up, or rather floated, since he was not remotely human and was not comfortable standing too much. Clearly his blindfold did not restrict his vision, as he looked pointedly at Hallucinogen. . .

"A joke," Hallucinogen said. "That's what you call it, is it. A joke."

"Yup!" Schizo said, leering at him. "S'what I call it."

"You don't even CARE, you monster," Hal said, advancing. "She could be out there somewhere, alone and scared and cold. . . For all I know, she doesn't ever remember. . . that the world was not always. . . whatever you would call Overmagus Archlich's nightmare."

"Yeah, that's right, does he have a name for it?" Schizo said, frowning. He raised an index finger. "ARCHLICHTOPIA."

"You. . ." Hal growled.

"LICHLAND," Schizo continued. "THE MU REPUBLIC. . ."

ZAP

Schizo flew into the wall, Hal advancing on him furiously.

"I hate you."

"And I hate you!" Schizo returned. "Now that we've got that settled, you can stop attacking me. I seem to remember someone decided we needed to get along. . ."

". . .We're the same person. We HAVE to live with each other. I'm not taking it back," Hal muttered.

"That's the spirit, Hal-chan!" Schizo cackled. "So fine. We'll go find her. I know it's all you think about. . ."

". . . I'm not taking YOU," Hal said darkly.

"Whyever not?" Schizo said in mock surprise. "You know how I feel about her, don't you?"

"That," Hal said, turning away, "is EXACTLY why you're not coming."

"Oh come on now!" Schizo laughed. "You can't really go without me! We're buddies, Hal-chan!" He slapped Hal companionably on the back. The effect was less companionable, however, given that he drove a thorn into Hal's back in the process.

Hal screamed in pain, and shuddered as his muscles seized up from the poison.

"Whoops!" Schizo said, shrugging. "Oh well. You can just heal it with that radiation junk of yours. Well, anyway, time's a wasting! I'm going whether you like it or not. You better hope I don't find her first!"

Hal glared at him and staggered to his feet.

"It will be an EPIC QUEST!" Schizo said as he flung open the door to the abandoned shack they were hiding in, as though expecting radiant sunlight to pour in, but seeming satisfied with the baleful glare that ensued instead. "For FAME! FORTUNE! And TRUE LOVE! And then we all die horribly."

". . .Do we have any leads on where they went?" Hal said immediately. "I don't have a good head for this stuff. . . can you, I dunno, review the clues or something? I didn't find squat, I just followed that Archlich guy and fought the ninjas. . ."

"I suppose. . ." Reginald said, as he floated in front of the portal, the gas creeping closer and chaos breaking loose, yet still calm as always, "this is my destiny. . . in a way. . ."

"Reggie. . . go through already," the Oracle sighed.

And Reginald flew through without further hesitation.

". . .Good morning to you too, Toy," Hal sighed, facepalming.

"Um, if you don't mind my asking. . ." Hal said in the direction of Toy's voice, ". . . where the heck are you?!?"

Hallucinogen tried not to snicker as Kefetasura "inadvertantly" spilled his tea all over Moonscribe.

"Oh, no apologies are necessary," Moonscribe returned, smiling slightly pointedly at Kefetasura. "I am convinced it was an accident." His robe seemed to simply absorb the hot liquid in a few seconds.

"And the judgement is going well enough, but I am merely the secretary. I am of little importance, as I have said often." He folded his hands calmly.

((Well, I like them cooked, but they're just. . . I dunno. . . TOO sweet maybe. . .

And yes, I am using my own personal tastes to determine what Hal likes. ))

"Oh, thanks!" Hal said, beaming. He didn't really like blueberries, but was determined to eat them anyway. He didn't hate them either. . .

He took the plate from Essex and took it to the table to sit down, trying not to be depressed as she said. . . he just had difficulty thinking of anything else at times like this, other than how Essex lacked several of the senses of a normal human. It just seemed so unfair. . .

"So, demon," Moonscribe said casually, walking over to Kefetasura, "how have you been? I do hope you have not devoured TOO many innocent souls. See, they have places to be. . ."

"I suppose it is about time someone actually attacked me," Reginald said, dodging negative energy blasts flying everywhere. "If not directly. . ." He scanned the area, trying to find a target, but the Rikti Magi's spell was too difficult for his sensors to break. . .

"They're getting away!" the Oracle said, looking as though she was watching an exciting film. "Oooh, I don't like this part. . ."

". . . Mommy, I don't understand. What are the alien people doing?" Reginald muttered under his breath.

"I'll tell you when you're older," the Oracle replied.

"Oh, my apologies. . ." Moonscribe said, frowning at Rosalind. "I suppose you are. . .an Ancestor? Dear me, everyone is so difficult to classify these days. . ."

"So, what are you making, Essex?" Hal said, stepping forward. "It smells good. . ."

". . . Uh, I don't know if you would know though. . ." he muttered, his face falling ever so slightly.

Bah! You've just insulted all of us! You know we all do the same thing. Or I do anyway.

"Oh, uh, hi everyone," said a voice out of nowhere. "Oops, dangit! I'm invisible again and forgot. . ."

Green smake billowed out, and Hallucinogen appeared in the doorway. "Yeah. . . good morning, Essex, Helper, Acid, uh, everyone else. . ."

"Indeed," said Moonscribe, who was suddenly standing behind him. "Pharaoh, Pharaoh, Pharaoh, Pharaoh, Priestess, Pharaoh, Priestess, Pharaoh, Pharaoh. . . good morning."

Hal jumped. "Moonscribe, quit that!"

"And Pharaoh, of course," Moonscribe said to Hallucinogen. "I do hope you slept well."

((I also like this thread. It's just trying to do something that's very difficult.

This should be a good guideline: We're complete morons. Treat us as such.

See, it just isn't the same from the other side. . . it's awfully hard to know what's feasible, and I myself often opt to do nothing for fear of having my character do something out of line.

Which has nothing to do with your skill, but more to do with the basic nature of a thread like this.))

((With thanks to Essex and Khell for permission to use their characters and proofreading. ))

PART THREE

The old man was still leaning against the wall as Hallucinogen tore into the Talos Island station. The rest of the station, however, was empty.

“Isn’t there ANYONE here?!?” Hal yelled frantically. “Oh, uh, hello. . .” he said, spotting the old man.

“Hello, sonny,” the man said. “What are you–”

“No time, no time!” Hal said frantically. “Have you seen a little android girl here? Please, tell me!”

“. . .Oh, yeah,” the man said. “Just before you got here, she left. She went thattaway.” He pointed unhelpfully.

“That’s her! Thanks!” Hal yelled, running off in the direction the old man pointed.

“But I didn’t even. . . Ah well,” the man sighed as Hal tore off into the distance. “Guess there’s only so many little android gals a city can hold, eh?”

* * * * * *

“I can sense her energy,” Hallucinogen said as he ran up to an abandoned building. “She went here. I just KNOW it.”

Radiation poured from his body, hiding him from view. Anyone close enough to see him would be affected and hallucinate, so that they thought they hadn’t seen anything.

“I’m coming, Essex,” he said as he stepped carefully inside. . .

* * * * * *

“So, Lord Nemesis has the little robot girl tied up inside then?” said a cheerful, articulate voice as Hal crept through the entrance. “Can’t imagine what he wants her for. I thought. . .”

“There’s something here,” said a cold, calculated voice that brimmed with sinister cunning. “I do believe it is Hallucinogen.”

“Wha. . .? Hallucinogen?!?” another voice said. “Wh, Why would he come here? I heard he defeated Lord Nemesis himself in combat once, he’s. . .”

“Honestly,” sighed the cold voice. “The whole POINT is to get Hallucinogen to come here. He won’t care if it’s a trap if we have the girl.”

So then, this was a plot of Nemesis! Hal’s eyes narrowed, and red flames leapt up in them. Why Essex? If they had just taken ANYTHING else. . .

Well, it didn’t matter. The soldiers were right, of course. If Essex was in danger, he didn’t care. . . and besides, the number of Nemesis’s traps he had sprung. . . the mastermind’s greatest weakness was that his soldiers simply did not have the skill to match their leader’s brilliance.

“He, he’s going to come here? He’s supposed to?!?” the first soldier said, as Hallucinogen crept into the center of the room, unseen. “We can’t beat him! I heard he defeated Ghost Widow with only two other heroes to help him!”

“I heard. . .”

“Look,” the cold voice said, and Hallucinogen saw now it was coming from one of the Fake Nemesis, Nemesis’s suits of armor that acted on their own. Or at least he assumed it was a fake. There was no way to tell if the real Nemesis was inside or not, but it seemed unlikely that Nemesis would simply stride into an abandoned warehouse and risk his own destruction with a simple ambush. “I am sure those stories are terribly exaggerated. And have you noticed Lord Nemesis and Ghost Widow being dead?”

“Well, Ghost Widow is already. . .”

“Silence.”

And then the room was filled with blinding light.

Surprise, the Phantasm said, appearing as the light faded and sending the soldiers flying every which way. The Fake Nemesis seemed unimpressed, and did not budge.

“Dispatch the Jaegers,” it said coldly, taking a huge, ornate staff from its back. “Have them sweep the entire room, he is here somewhere.”

“Specifically, here,” said a voice from behind the Fake, and beams of light tore into the robot’s back, sending it to the ground.

“Target acquired,” said six voices in perfect synchronization, and flames and gunfire flew everywhere.

“I hate Jaegers,” Hal said as the Phantasm covered him, blasting the small bronze robots with waves of light.

A blast of force sent him flying into a wall. “Lord Nemesis is not going to allow you to escape this time, Hallucinogen,” the Fake Nemesis said as it raised its staff for another blast.

“What does he WANT with me?” Hal groaned, trying to get up, only to be sent flying again.


Honestly, the Phantasm said, flying at the Fake and blasting at it with light, but the robot had already deployed a force field, and the blasts all bounced off. Will the real Lord Nemesis please stand up? Sheesh.

Hallucinogen infused himself with radiation, and got to his feet. The Fake Nemesis was distracted now. His invisibility wouldn’t work on a mindless robot, but it would have trouble seeing him if he was simply going ridiculously fast. In a flash of light, he was behind the Fake.

“That is not your concern,” the Fake said as it blasted the Phantasm with another swing of its staff. “You will find out soon enough.”

Suckers, the Phantasm said as it vanished, forced to reform by the Fake Nemesis’s force blasts and more fire from the Jaegers, who had recovered and were advancing. . .

“Well put,” Hal said as a massive electromagnetic pulse swept through the room from his body. The robots’ sensors went wild, and they stood still, helpless. . .

“And that’s for wasting my time,” Hallucinogen said as the Fake Nemesis went flying into the Jaegers from a blast of light, and subsequently exploded, taking all the Jaegers with it. Hallucinogen rushed off through the rest of the building, gasping for breath. That had worn him out. . . but he couldn’t waste another second. After all, Essex. . .

* * * * * *

Was currently in a cave in Croatoa, healing Solid Shot with a wave of nanites, although she had almost missed.

“Solid,” Essex murmured, frowning worriedly. “Are you sure Hal-chan is okay?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about him,” the tall, armored security droid said as he mowed down a whole unit of Nemesis soldiers with a storm of gunfire. “He’ll be fiiiiiiine.”

“I can’t help but worry,” the pink-armored android said. “I’ve tried and tried to call him. . .”

“Must be something wrong with his communicator,” Solid returned, shooting a soldier as it tried to escape. “Anyway. If he’s REALLY worried, he’ll just go to Dr West’s lab. I’m sure someone there will be able to tell him where we are.”

“Okay. . .” said Essex, clearly not convinced.

“But you know what DOES bug me,” Solid said, as a unit of Jaegers scuttled in, only to explode immediately as they were engulfed in a flamethrower. “Why the heck does Nemesis want to take over Croatoa anyway? And Maxwell Christopher was acting REALLY strange. I swear, I’ve been doing this for years, and there just ISN’T any such thing as a TPS report.”

He shrugged. “Oh well. Let’s just go find the leader. I can’t wait to ‘arrest’ him.”

* * * * * *

Hallucinogen stepped into the last room in the building. In the middle, apparently tied to a chair, was a small figure. . .

“Essex!” Hallucinogen yelled as he ran up to the figure in the chair. . .

And two glowing red orbs appeared on either side, and slammed into his face. He crumpled, and fell to the floor, bleeding.

“Pathetic,” said the red and black android as she stood over him, the glow fading from its hands. Zealstorm walked forward, taking care to step on Hallucinogen’s hands and back as she walked over him. “You are so very predictable, liebchen.”

Hal could just hear a cold voice speaking from the shadows as his vision faded.

“Take the money and go. Being in your presence disgusts me.”

There was a rustling of papers. “Is this all, Lord Nemesis?” Zealstorm said coldly.

“It is the amount we agreed on,” the voice returned. “You cannot simply. . .”

“I did not realize I would have to spare the fool’s life,” said Zealstorm as everything went dark. “At least a hundred more.”

((Bah! Sacrilege! The Angel averts her eyes!

I mean, uh. . .

. . .That sucks. ))

"You finding anything, Essex?" Hal said.

((. . .No, I couldn't think of anything else to say! Shut up! ))

MWAHAHAHAHAHA

You don't have to.

Sacrilege! You must remake him immediately on Protector, where he can team with Essex and Hal!

Do I enjoy reading detail? It depends.

Honestly, it's not the sort of question I can answer straight. Some great posts are only a sentence or two, and some go into great detail. As I said: It depends, on the post, and its role in the thread, and the poster, and. . .

I guess this isn't really an answer is it.

What I mean, I suppose, is that both in-depth description and elegance have their own place. I certainly enjoy reading detailed posts, but only if they are placed appropriately and are well written. . . as with any kind of post.

I generally I like your posting style, but sadly I cannot get past formatting. A single misspelled word in an otherwise brilliant post can ruin it for me. I still look back at posts of my own and wince, because I did something like use the same exact phrase at two points in the post. Or something. I consider this my problem, but.

So, I would work on spelling and grammar first and foremost. I get the impression that you do not really favor combat in your posting style, and honestly I see no reason why you should worry too much about it. Plenty of interest is possible without the use of combat. I just don't really know how to do that, haha. All my drama scenes happen in some sort of battle. . .

As Rosie walked up the stairs, the ball simply vanished from her mouth, for it had never really been there in the first place.

"Can't a guy get any rest?" Hal exclaimed, the back of his shirt now resting in Rosie's jaws instead. "I can tell you one thing. I won't be using THAT illusion to mark my place again. . ."