Hallucinogen_NA

"Well," Moonscribe said, looking carefully around at them all and then settling on Essex. "I think it would be an excellent idea for you to accompany Vern on this mission, Essex. Wait. . . do I have any way of knowing that? If not, please do tell me your name so I have an excuse. . ."

"At any rate, I really should remain here. It seems foolish for the leader of a Resistance movement to come in person on a simple rescue mission. Besides, I am here through my Disciple, and he is really not that effective in combat. . ."

". . . Uh. . ." Hal muttered, turning to Essex.

He blushed a little. "Um, I know I could just find something to do by myself. . . and I could, I swear! But, uh. . ."

". . . you want to do something with me?" he finished, blushing further.

"I'm not gross!" Schizo's finger squeaked as it sprouted legs and ran off. "Waaah! Nobody loves me!"

Schizo himself, for a moment, appeared to have been cut in two across the waist by Experiment's attack, but. . .

"Sucker," Schizo cackled, having split himself to avoid the attack but still very much alive. . . although it was pretty clear, as Schizo's torso sent a wave of telekinetic force at Experiment and his legs kept firing thorns towards Nox, that being cut in half would not have killed him anyway.

"Hey! Don't dis television!" Schizo yelled as he was irradiated. Other than being sent backwards a bit, though, he seemed unharmed.

Except that part of his shoulder was now missing. "Hey, cool!" Schizo laughed, looking over where his shoulder had been. "But now it's not symmetrical. . ."

Schizo conjured a thorn and sliced off one of his long purple fingers with it, rainbow-colored blood dropping to the ground and hitting it with a hiss. "There. Fixed," he cackled, tossing the finger aside. Thorns were suddenly shooting from his other hand in Nox's general direction. . . although he didn't seem to much care who they hit. . .

I got this, Hal, said the Phantasm, manifesting in the path of the blinding powder. After all, I don't have eyes. But I'm not bitter! Seriously! The thing with the Rularuu Overseer. . . all lies and exaggeration!

"Of course," Moonscribe said. He raised his hands and began to type on thin air, as though he had an invisible keyboard floating before him.

He finished typing, and frowned. "Hmm. Unable to compile?"

"Ah, but of course," he laughed politely, typing again, "I seem to have used a slash instead of a backslash. Most embarrassing. But yes, the coordinates are sent. SENECA should have them already."

". . . I guess," Hal sighed, still looking longingly in the direction Essex had left. "I'll just go wherever I'm needed. . ."

"Then allow me to accompany you as well, please," Reginald said. "I am sure I can be of some assistance. . ."

"Good idea, Reggie!" the Oracle spoke up from Reginald's back. "She's a pretty cute android, maybe you can. . ."

"I am NOT going to ask her out!" Reginald returned irritably. "She's a ROBOT!"

Seeing Hal glare at him, Reginald quickly added, ". . . Not that that's a bad thing. . . I suppose."

A wind blew over the desolate landscape of western America, and Hallucinogen was nearly outrunning it, speeding invisible into the distance, ever further toward Oranbegan territory.

"They found us again," he muttered as he ran and leaped over ghost towns and destroyed buildings. "They always find us, no matter how far we go, or where we hide. What's even the point? Maybe we should just give up."

"Yeah, good idea!" Schizo cackled in his head. "I LIKE the way you're thinking, Hal!"

Hal chuckled to himself. "Thanks, Schizo. You've made me realize that I can't give up now. Not if YOU think I should. Thanks for being there for me."

". . . You suck," Schizo grumbled.

A Spectral Terror answers Kreigg at the door. :P

Hal arrives dressed as a ghost, with a long, tattered white cloak and glowing eyes, since he can look like whatever the heck he wants anyway.

. . . Dunno if he can do this in game, but I'll try. XD

Trick or Treat!

"And the Rikti shall fall before us as they crumple beneath our mighty paws, and their swords shall break, their lasers jam, their very lives abandon them as. . ."

A great and powerful voice began speaking these words, and continued, the sound strengthening the mind and spirits of Pete and General Hammond's soldiers. And Queen Etta herself stepped behind them, holding her scepter high, her words seeming to form a tangible wall of force around them all. She was a mere cat, but it seemed meaningless to point that out, as her glorious speech struck new hope and courage into all who listened.

"HAVE NO FEAR!" yelled Super Roby as he shot up beside her. "SUPER ROBY IS HERE! MEW!"

"Whatever," Pyewacket's voice sighed. A holographic image of the lazy mastermind appeared beside his emissary, a massive assault bot.

"Yay! Let's play a game," Sir Darktail said, bounding out of nowhere to stand beside the others. "The Rikti can be the toys!" He drew his huge sword, almost bigger than he was.

"Perhaps we can have a spot of tea after," Lord Biggie said, stomping up behind Darktail.

"BWAHAHAHAHA!" Maria declared as she manifested herself in a flash of rather feeble darkness with low-budget SFX. "I have arrived, to cleanse this land of. . . whatever we're fighting!"

"We are here to assist you, humans," Queen Etta said, though her speech seemed to go on without her. "The alien scum will never know what hit them. Knights of Queen Etta. . . prepare for battle."

As war raged on all fronts, and heroes and Rikti alike fought and fell, some things were left forgotten. No one even gave a second thought to a little building in a corner of Steel Canyon with a sign that read "PARAGON HOME FOR SUPERPOWERED PETS".

Certainly not the six cats who were assembled outside. After all, such signs were just stupid human devices, and were supremely uninteresting.

A thin chocolate lynx-point Siamese cat wearing an ornate crown and carrying a magnificent scepter strode back and forth on her hind legs, as though she ruled the other cats and was giving a motivational speech for their benefit.

And that was exactly what Queen Henrietta Maria II, more commonly known as Queen Etta, was doing. "Felines of this general area, unite!" she declared in a grand, majestic tone, her words so powerful and moving they seemed almost magical. "Even as we speak, the foul creatures known as the Rikti attack relentlessly. This is a battle for the survival of the very Earth we stand on. Not just a battle for humans, but also. . . a battle for cats. For if all the humans are wiped out. . . whoever shall serve us dinner?"

"No dinner?!?" Super Roby exclaimed, collapsing under his paws of steel, his blue cape flying in the wind. "But. . . but. . ." The bluepoint Siamese looked horrified. And also completely brainless. Both were true.

"How horrible," Pyewacket muttered darkly as he floated in the air, levitated by a jetpack, as the sealpoint Siamese was so fat it was dubious that he could move without it.

"Yes, there will be no one to feed us!" Queen Etta continued, gesturing dramatically with her scepter. "And thus we will have to find our OWN food! Which takes LONGER."

"Then what are we waiting for?" said Lord Biggie calmly and poilitely, as he said everything. The huge chocolate-point Siamese adjusted his top hat and dusted his trousers as he stood at attention.

"Hmmmm!" said a tiny lilac-point Siamese in a loud, piercing voice, grinning maliciously. "Excellent! I shall demonstrate to these foolish Rikti what I, the almighty Maria, am truly capable of! For I am evil and wicked and bad and other synonyms I cannot think of!"

"Well then," said Queen Etta, turning to a graceful, powerful looking blue lynx-point Siamese standing clad in what appeared to be full plate armor and carrying a huge sword, though none of it seemed to be weighing him down. "Sir Darktail, you are the leader of the Knights of Queen Etta, a name which is beyond retort as it contains mine. What say you?"

"Uh, hum," Sir Darktail replied, his voice cheerful and calm. "What color do these toys--Uh, I mean Rikti--bleed?"

Queen Etta considered. "I am not sure I know. Perhaps you can find out, today."

"YAAAAAY!" Darktail yelled, and leaped into the air, managing somehow to flip twice, twirl his huge sword around his head and brandish it in a majestic pose all before he hit the ground, landing perfectly on his hind legs. The armor did not even creak. It was as though it was not even there. . .

"Then it is settled!" Queen Etta declared. "Today, we fight! For the Paragon Home for Superpowered Pets, and yea, even for the world! And for all those who sit in sorrow, wondering whenever dinner shall be served."

". . . I don't have any idea about strategy," Hal sighed. "I just. . . If this base isn't going to be safe much longer. . . what about. . ."

He was clearly unable to finish. Moonscribe now spoke up.

"While your strategy sounds primarily, ah, sound, Pharaoh, Hallucinogen has a point. If this base is destroyed, we will not really have a chance. It seems that either its protection must be accounted for, or that a new base of operations must be found."

"And I would recommend finding a new base as soon as possible, regardless of what happens to this one. Perhaps you have played those little real-time strategy games on a computer? Do consider what happens when your only base is destroyed. This is a large-scale war, and our focus should be on expanding our forces just as much as defending ourselves and striking at the enemy. Indeed, I would advise not doing the latter at all unless we are well prepared. Every warrior, every life is crucial. They have thousands, maybe millions, and we have, what? Perhaps thirty? Less? The enemy is much too strong to be taken out by a few strikes. We must fight a defensive battle. Perhaps a losing battle. But better to lose slowly and have a chance to turn it around with a stroke of good fortune, than to go out all at once in a blaze of glory. After all. . . blazes of glory are really very overrated. It is not dying for one's country, that is truly admirable. It is living for it."

Moonscribe folded his hands. "But of course, that is all just my opinion, and you are free to disagree."

* * * * * *

Though Kreigg might not know it, one of his acquaintances was considering his place in this war at that very moment.

Truth Mountainbreeze sat on his messy, decrepit bed in a house of similar nature. His hair was long and blond, his clothes bright and with swirls painted on them in vegetable goo.

"It's far out, isn't it, Devil?" the hippie said as he reclined. "The Rikti are invading, and the world's in horrible danger! Just like we. . ."

But he did not seem nearly as confident as he wanted to be.

"Look!" he said abruptly, still apparently talking to thin air. "I don't want the human race wiped out! I wanna fight for freedom, the freedom to be good OR evil as you choose! Especially if you choose evil! How can I further the cause of darkness and corruption . . . if there's nothing left to darken or corrupt?"

". . . I mean. . . the Rikti are probably all evil. I . . . I don't want evil to conquer all. . . balance, man. . . peace, love, ultimate power, baby. . ."

"Wh, what?!? Eternal agony and boundless torment?!? Uh, I didn't mean it, Devil! I'll be good! Uh, I mean bad!"

". . .Yeah, baby. Evil conquer all. The Devil's work be done. I'm all over it," he sighed.

". . . It is a mantra, a Law I place upon myself," Moonscribe said to Truefeather, inclining his head once at Conductor as he appeared. "I recited it for Hallucinogen's benefit. He need not use it unless he needs to. . ."

". . . Okay. . ." Hal said dejectedly. "I could try it. . ."

"You see, my Laws do not affect reality, only perception," Moonscribe continued. "I feel the same things, the same emotions, but with the Laws, I can ensure that none perceive them as such, including myself. And thus be free of their drawbacks, which would interfere with my way of life. As I believe I have mentioned to you before. I do not know if you remember."

Reginald glanced over at them, and raised an eyebrow. He had a feeling this was not a new argument. . .

((Okay, I'm using my NPC more than my actual characters. *fix*))

"Oh," Moonscribe said. "If you wish further allies. . . I do believe I have located one."

"There appears to be an interesting life form in rather rapid motion over near Oranbegan territory. I can barely sense it at all. It appears to exist outside the laws of reality. A little like yourself, Mr. Zero. . ."

"However, I was able to sense it, because quite honestly I have been looking for it for years. I am finally convinced it is him, the hero who exists solely because he wishes to. . . Hallucinogen."

((Anyone who has a Disciple, feel free to bring them. Whoever doesn't want to can be assumed to be too busy at the time.))

"I do hope I may be of assistance in some way?" Moonscribe said calmly from a corner near Dr. West.

It might well take a second for anyone to realize that he had only just arrived, and had not been there all along. He was not one for flashy entrances. He still looked fairly unobtrusive, clad in a simple deep blue robe and glasses, with black hair and a thin frame.

"Hmm. Where did you come from?" Reginald said, peering curiously at the hero.

"Oh, uh, hi guys. . ." Brightflame said tentatively beside Moonscribe. He was dressed in a spandex hero costume with flame patterns on it most kindly described as "typical". He had little to distinguish himself from the thousands of heroes that lived in Paragon.

But it made a great deal of sense. After all. . . the Disciples of the Moon were of no real importance.

". . . Look, someone make up their mind," Hallucinogen sighed, still looking longingly at the doorway Essex had gone through. ". . . This is hard enough for me already. Just tell me where to go."

The Oracle looked worriedly at Hallucinogen, appearing on the stone tablet again. "Oh. . . honey. . ."

"Hahahahaha," Reginald laughed, smiling at Hallucinogen. It was most uncharacteristic of him. . .

"I'm sure you two have a great destiny together. But only if you fight for it. Nothing is worth having if you will not fight to preserve it. . . Dr. West," the bounty hunter said, turning. "I would like permission to accompany Hallucinogen on whatever task you send him on. . . Unless, of course, I am needed elsewhere."

"There is no love," Moonscribe muttered, "only the desire to protect those you care for."

Hallucinogen could have sworn that Moonscribe had directed that at him. Then again, a second later he barely remembered it, and must surely have imagined it, though its shadow lingered in his mind.

Hallucinogen stood for a second, his hand still reaching out after Essex as she left.

He dropped it reluctantly. "What can I do?" he muttered to Dr. West.

Deep Tide had already disappeared into the innermost workings of the laboratory. He was one of the more skilled at maintaining the shielding and defense systems. Since it had been pretty much all he ever did in between undersea expeditions. . .

* * * * * *

An interesting message would soon reach Dr. West's central computer.

To--Repliforce Paragon

Subject: Rikti invasion

I have sent Hallucinogen to assist you, but the Disciples here will be happy to assist you should you need it. Many of us are busy elsewhere, but Brightflame and myself are free, and there may be others among us able to offer what help you may need.

I do hope you are doing well, and that you are enjoying the weather, which is quite pleasant lately. The sun reflects quite nicely off the Rikti assault drones, I find. It is calming when engaging them. But I digress.

Do take care.

--Moonscribe

"Yes, excellent," Moonscribe said calmly, speaking for the first time in a while. "I do believe you are correct, Pharaoh. . . But it is unlikely to be as simple as merely walking up to his door and declaring, 'Do come and purchase some Girl Scout cookies.'"

"Although, as an acquaintance of mine would have said, that would be most diverting."

((Ugh, I suppose I should do something. XP))

"Tiresome, tiresome," Moonscribe said, sighing theatrically. He got to his feet and struck a key in the air. Instantly he was on the other side of the room, the dark blast hitting the wall instead.

"Enough of this already," he said with an air of impatience, and dark clouds began to gather at the ceiling. . .

"Learn to play, you newb," Hal muttered, staggering to his feet and firing a blast of light at the Dark Servant. . .

"Oh, hey loser," Schizo said, spotting Nox. He shot forward towards him, his hands outstretched, bursts of his essence spreading before him in a sickening shade of fuchsia, designed to convince Nox he was being attacked by his worst fears. . .

". . .What are you talking about?" Hal said irritably. "I wasn't talking about you! Moonscribe is driving me crazy. . ."

"You do know I can hear you," Moonscribe remarked.

"Yes," Hal said without turning, "and I also know that you'll know what I say whether you hear or not!"

"I'm sorry, sir," Hal said. "My Phantasm seems to have eaten it. Please speak with him."

There was another flash of light, and Hal was replaced by three other figures . . . a little girl dressed in pink armor, a tall security droid with an assault rifle, and a hero in red armor and a flowing cape.

The phantom Essex, Solid Shot and Experiment all attacked with shrieks, gunfire and spines, and the Phantasm came up from behind, raining light on the crazed tutor.

Meanwhile, Hal had leaped off into the distance, his speed masking his presence nearly as much as his radiation. . .

((Ohyeah, another post CoT thing. After that, his Phantom Army no longer includes himself. The two Hals are replaced by random people he knows and likes.))

* * * * * *

"Very well," Moonscribe said. "Oh, and hello, Pharaoh," he said to Kefetasura as he appeared. "Do accompany us."

He walked to the kitchen purposefully, clearly knowing exactly where it was. . .

((You realize that almost no one posts anywhere on the weekends, and particularily not me and Essex.

. . .What? Coincidence, TOTAL coincidence.

Aaaaanyways, though, I wouldn't mind but wait for people to actually start posting SOMEWHERE before you do so.))

"Hmm?" Moonscribe said, and a gleam shone for an instant under his hood where his eyes would be, moonlight reflected off unseen glasses. "Oh, do not concern yourself with me, Pharaoh. I am really of no importance."

"Uh. . ." Hal said, considering, "I like video games. . . I guess. . . and what do you mean, rude?"

"Oh, my apologies," Moonscribe said, bowing to them all again. "Yes, yes, I have never seen any of you before. Calm down, Experiment--I mean Pharaoh."

He really almost seemed to enjoy it.

((Well, if they're all here. . . why not! ))

"Essex!" Hallucinogen exclaimed, running to her at once. "Are you all right? The Rikti, they're. . . Oh, uh, hi, Dr. West. . ."

"I suppose. . ." a small, deep blue android a ways down the table said, completely covered in a force field and floating off the ground rather than sitting, "that I. . . am glad. . . to see you as well. . . Hallucinogen. . ."

". . .Do you HAVE to talk like that, Deep Tide?" Hal sighed in exasperation.

"Awwww, feeling left out, dear?" the Oracle said to Reginald.

"Haha," Reginald chuckled. "Silly to worry about such things, when we all walk the same path, and stand beneath the same sky."

"You mean something like, we're all on the same side," said the Oracle, laughing as well.

Moonscribe treated the hug as though it was a handshake. "Certainly not," he said. "All the Disciples are fully willing and indeed volunteered themselves in the first place. . ."

"As to your second question, I know who is here, in a sense. . . but when you bind yourself by the laws of our world, you must follow them. And I really have no idea what my excuse is for knowing any of you, so please provide me with one. We must avoid awkward questions." He turned to the others. . .