Hallucinogen_NA

A figure walked out of a shadow in the drop bay, with a deep blue cloak and a hood that hid its face.

"Ah yes, Pharaohs, Priestesses. Good to see you all. . . although you may well not remember me."

It was Moonscribe's voice, and it certainly appeared to be Moonscribe. Most scanning equipment would be useless on him, but that was hardly anything new. He felt it would be poor manners to break anything that tried. He was among potential allies, after all. . .

If, however, any of the equipment was advanced enough to bypass all senses, perceptions, and indeed the fabric of reality itself, if reality it was. . .

It would be clear that it was not Moonscribe. Though it was not someone else, either. It felt like. . . part of him, though incomplete. . .

"I do hope you are not upset that I am not here in person. This Disciple is me for the majority of intents and purposes. Please do treat it as such. You understand, of course, that secrets must be maintained."

"I don't care, they're not Rikti, they're friends," Hallucinogen said, not sure whether saying so would make any difference. He had never brought guests here himself. . .

He ran into the portal. Reginald followed, muttering something about hopefully not being ejected this time.

((Here, let me help! ))

The Commander sat in his little chamber, exactly like all the other chambers.

He stared at the wall, as though looking through it.

"Commander?" a Resistance soldier said tentatively as he entered.

"Ah yes, Pharaoh," Moonscribe said, turning to the soldier, his face covered by a hood, as always. It was not that he did not trust his men enough to know his face and name, but the Overmagus had ways of getting information from people. No chances could be taken. It was for the good of all. . .

"Sir, Animator is organizing a force to send to Europe as soon as possible. Under his leadership, surely. . ."

"Of course," Moonscribe returned, cutting him off. It was rude, but this was business, and he of course already knew what the soldier was going to say. They were all used to it by now. "I have other news for you. I have located more potential allies."

"Really? That is excellent news, sir!" the soldier said, and he clearly really meant it. Though Moonscribe's secrets within secrets had ensured that no one ever found their main base or discerned the identity of their leader, still they needed men to fight, and they were falling fast.

"Yes, there are two--or one? So hard to divine, sometimes. . . At any rate, they are fighting for their lives even now in the West of this land. And over in Europe. . . Well, do not concern yourselves with that. For I already know who it is, and how to contact them."

To: SENECA

Subject: Overmagus Archlich

We too fight against him, and a resistance movement is already underway. We cannot tell you our base's location or anything else, of course. The mono shield cannot be perfect, and no chances can be taken. That said, I feel you already may know who I am.

Should you trust me, reply with a description of any and all teleportation jamming devices you have in effect on your ship. I can bypass them much faster that way.

Also designate a room of your ship from which you can enter my headquarters.

Should you not trust me, I am sure we can make a difference seperately as well.

--A friend

((And no, those are not exactly emails. In order to control a power that can do virtually anything and not go insane in the process, Moonscribe thrives on computer metaphors. That is only an email in the same sense that Moonscribe cuts and pastes pieces of universal "code" to another location.))

"Here we go. . ." Hal said. Becoming visible again, he ran up to the keypad and typed in the passcode frantically, hoping it hadn't changed. . .

"Interesting," Reginald said as he watched. "This looks like rather advanced technology for this time period. . ."

". . .Dr. West is calling me!" Hallucinogen said, seeming to forget everything he was saying. ". . .Essex! I have to see if she's okay! Follow me! And watch out for the Rikti!"

Hallucinogen vanished, so that it was unclear exactly how they were supposed to follow him. . .

"I have no idea what is going on," Reginald said as he attempted to track Hallucinogen with his sensors, though he seemed to forget where Hallucinogen had been every time he looked away. . .

"Ouch," Schizo said, and then everything went crazy.

Geysers burst out of the ground at random locations, the sky turned purple, the ground laughed and sang the "Star-Spangled Banner" without faltering, and rafflesia flowers rained down on Mr. Stegall as Schizo's essence was dispersed.

Hal had never really gotten used to it. Besides, it was different everytime.

Just the two of us now, eh Hal? the Phantasm said as it appeared beside him.

"Phantasm! You're back!" Hal said, relieved, as the being of light fired at Mr. Stegall, ignoring the rumbling chorus from the ground, which was being accompanied by various rocks and twigs.

"Everyone hates me," Schizo grumbled inside Hal's head. He might not be able to die, but he could sure be put out of the picture for long enough. It usually took at least a day.

"D, darkness. . ." Hal exclaimed as the skull came in his direction. Apparently too afraid to dodge properly, he fell to the ground, now half-visible, his chest glowing black.

"Honestly," Moonscribe said. He did not seem to be anywhere near Blind's zombies as they scattered, Varius having flown into them. He was close enough, though, to levitate one in the air and hurl it back at its master. . .

"Honestly. Whatta bunch of losers," Schizo sighed, watching the chaos. It was good, but it COULD be much better! The end of the world wasn't coming anytime soon if this was the sort of chaos that was accepted!

The madman spat on the ground, and it bubbled for a second. And then a massive geyser formed entirely of saliva burst out of the floor, and flew everywhere, sending random people flying.

"Ugh!" Moonscribe grunted, as the geyser hit him. Schizo's style incorporated TRUE randomness, and his calculations and equations could not predict it, no matter how good they were. "How rude," he said, flying into a wall, the spit geyser coming at Tricolore next. . .

((Oh, are you not remaking your post? I mean, not that I can't understand why you wouldn't but. . . Okay, post coming soon.))

". . .I am NOT a child!" Hallucinogen yelled angrily, jumping up and down and waving his arms wildly. "I'm seven years old! Uh, wait. . . no, that wasn't what I meant!"

"You are only seven years of age?" Reginald said, leaning against a wall. "Impressive."

"But don't you think you're a little young to be in love, dear?" the Oracle said in a motherly tone. "There's plenty of time for that when you're older. . ."

"Dangit, shut UP!" Hal yelled, now appearing to be on the verge of throwing a tantrum. "I am NOT--"

He suddenly seemed to realize how he was acting, and slumped, his face flushed.

". . . Look, I'm calm, okay? Seriously. I'm NOT a child!"

"Yes, I'm sure you're right, dear," said the Oracle patronizingly.

Reginald pushed open the door to the abandoned sewers. . . only to collide with some sort of invisible midget.

"Agh! Sorry!" Hallucinogen exclaimed as he picked himself up.

". . .Who on earth are you?" Reginald asked, drawing his bow, nocking an arrow and aiming it in the direction of Hal's voice in one smooth motion.

". . . Agh! Stupid invisibility AGAIN!" Hal groaned, and his trademark green smoke shortly billowed out, blurring the rest of his features, which seemed to include a gas mask, a small psychadelic cape, and a tail. But it was all illusionary anyway. . . all hallucinations, more accurately.

Reginald sighed, and lowered his bow. "All right. Hallucinogen. I think I've heard of you before. I cannot say what I think of your taste in women. . ."

". . . Is that all anyone CARES about?!?" Hal burst out. "Why is it such a big deal, I like her and she likes me, neither of us are human anyway, why--"

". . . Calm down!" Reginald said sharply.

". . .Sorry. I just. . .heh. Get that a lot. . . But be careful, please, all of you can't go out without being very careful. . . The Rikti. . ."

"Yeah," the Oracle said knowingly. "Too bad, isn't it?"

[ QUOTE ]
Heh...I don't know what to say...except that I feel all waltzy now.

[/ QUOTE ]

. . .I still have NO idea whether that is a compliment, an insult, both, or neither.

It makes me think of your characters. You like it, but you don't like it, so you only SEEM to like it and really don't but you do.

"A good idea," Reginald said, landing and taking off toward the sewer exit. . .

Devious told me to do this on the AK-47 thread, but I am ignoring him. This makes much more sense here!

And I might as well mention. I am a novice composer, and have begun composing what are undoubtedly poorly written piano pieces in MIDI for other people's characters.

And I am NOT taking requests. If I am not already thinking about how to do your character's theme song, I do not know that character well enough to start!

Anyways. . . I shall start with one for Devious. . .Acid Zero's theme.

And I finished this one a while ago, so why not flaunt it? Essex's theme.

More will be coming. . . eventually. . . probably. . . maybe! Leave me alone!

Hallucinogen stopped and sighed. "Ugh. You and your stupid. . . logic! I mean, yeah, you're a detective, okay. Know why I'm NOT? Because I can't THINK when there's lives at stake and criminals at large! That's what I have contacts for, dangit!"

". . . So figure it out and give me the next mission already!"

(( ))

"Ouch," the second Schizo laughed, as one of his halves was cut into ribbons. "Not half bad!" More rainbow-colored chaos blood dropped into the ground, and began to bubble. . .

"But there's more of me where that came from!" the madman cackled, and his body simply reformed out of nowhere from his second half as it turned at Mr. Stegall and fired a volley of thorns from its arms with the force of a cannon. . .

((Dunno if I explained well what he did, but it's supposed to be confusing anyways. . . And yeah, he's getting hurt A LOT. He tends not to show it. ))

"N-no!" Hal exclaimed, trying to back out of the way of the rock. . .

As the missile flew at him. . . Hal's eyes closed for a second.

No. I'm not going to die. I refuse! It's just a stupid pebble. . .

The "stupid pebble" flew at him with the force of a small bus.

I will not be bound by the laws of physics! I do not exist, and yet I am! The soul exists OUTSIDE of reality. You do not need to exist . . . to be!

And the rock simply bounced off Hallucinogen as he opened his eyes, and light shone from them, and from all over his body. He was bruised, but far from dead, and he leaped over the boulder and ran at the golem again, the Phantasm appearing again beside him to support him, light flowing from their outstretched hands.

((He toggled Temporary Invulnerability. And yes, that stuff would make more sense if Crown of Thorns had ended. . . but not much more. ))

"Yeah, yeah," Hal said impatiently, "Maybe he is. Probably there's some complicated story about why he did what he must have done. We can find it out when he's in jail!"

Reginald flew through without another word.

". . . Be careful, dear," the Oracle said as they passed through.

". . . What do you mean? Reginald said. "We are nearly out of danger. . ."

"Uh, yes, right!" the Oracle laughed hastily. "Let's go with that."

* * * * * *

"Pharaoh?"

"What is it now, Moonscribe?"

"Oh. . . there is some small amount of trouble going on outside your little mental sanctuary. . ."

". . .Like what?!? What's going on? Is Essex. . ."

"It is really of no importance, Pharaoh. But I appreciate your concern."

That did it. Turning off his communicator, Hallucinogen tore down the pure white hallway that connected the pieces of his mind and straight through the wall at the end, green smoke covering his bizarre, illusionary form. If there was one thing that made it certain that something was seriously wrong, it was Moonscribe assuring him that there was not.

Hallucinogen laughed as Essex struggled to catch Toy's egg.

"I doubt it works like that," he said, sighing with relief and sounding unusually happy. "But yeah, congrats, Toy. Better you than. . . some. . ."

"I cannot imagine who you might be referring to, Pharaoh," Moonscribe said as he landed beside Toy. "And I congratulate you, Pharaoh, well done."

". . .Uh. . . you mean you actually NEED to ask what that means?!?" Hal said in disbelief. "It's all Linn's fault! Let's get him! Essex, Naga, come on!"

"The Purple Knight always triumphs!" Schizo yelled as he split in two, but not from the sword; it was some sick form of dodging. His two halves stayed seperate, each with its own head, and they both sent bolts of telekinetic force at Mr. Stegall, while jabbering wildly. . .

"Have at you!" "Come on then!" "Just a scratch!" "It's just a flesh wound!" "COME ON, YOU LOSER!"

"Get. . .AWAY!" Hal screamed, and a torrent of searing light and brilliant flashes poured at the advancing golems as Hallucinogen drew on every drop of hope he still had. . .

". . . Th, thanks, Essex. . ." Hal said, sighing and sinking to the ground. "Ugh. . . I'm sorry for. . . whatever it is that I've done now. And I'm not saying you're blaming me!" he added quickly to Essex.

". . . Ugh, I really try to be honest, who the hell decided I should get illusion powers?!?"

". . . What are you two up to?" Hal said, advancing on Experiment and Rich. "I can sense emotions, and yours are worried, impatient, and determined. And not just about finding the ninjas that attacked. . . What's going on?"

((Wahahahaha. XP

. . .Well, Rosie is important enough that Moonscribe might rescue her anyway. It's not that he COULDN'T, it's just that rescuing some guy called Boris on another continent who can't really do anything much is. . . yeah.))

". . .I was NOT!" Hal exclaimed, appalled. "I swear, dangit, Essex, come on, don't you. . . I was just cleaning myself! I'm not some dang voyeuristic. . ."

"Oh dear," Moonscribe said as the missiles approached him.

Half of them veered off in various directions. The directions did not really seem to be random, though. . . they all headed for Morsko, Rosie, or Toy's robots.

The remaining ten, however, hit Moonscribe quite handily.

The light dimmed, and Moonscribe appeared much the same, except his glasses had fallen off. His eyes were now closed, though, so they were still not visible.

"How very humiliating," Moonscribe sighed, as he floated down to retrieve them, the gravity fields affecting Toy vanishing. "I suppose I asked for that."