The Last Stand

[Kazumaru]

Sentinel had been half-observing the events, devoting most of his power to running battle simulations. He finally spoke up upon seeing the mushroom cloud in the sky. He played a stock laughter sound effect, and said "You're lucky you got me instead of that wimpy spirit. He'd be shaking in fear right now, if he hadn't frozen.'

Though, I guess I would be too. Y'know, if I could feel pain."

[Maraha]

'What's this?' Maraha* thought as she read the letter that was left in the slave chambers. "Interesting, so that's where those navens ran off to... Better tell the masters."

Maraha did just that, running, flying, leaping all over the place quite frantically. Repeating the message like a broken record player to every EC member she saw. She didn't reach all of them, but she was certain that her message would be spread about like wildfire.

****

"Are we there yet!?" Triste whined loudly, he and Maraha were flying above the area specified. Maraha soon noticed the large ice dome and stopped in mid-air, her shadow danced along the dome. "This is it." At that, she and Triste dived down and crash-landed in the snow, not quite intentionally, of course. As Maraha stood up the snow stuck to her promptly splat onto the floor, her body heat turned it to a cold slush. "Oh, watch out for The Black Soul or Ravana or whoever that ol' Grenman has at his disposal. He's probably mutilating pathetic mannequins of me as we speak..."

"Whatever." Triste stood up and ruffled his large black wings, the snow was a bit more stubborn for him, he was rather cold to begin with, being dead and all. "This is so annoying!" Triste shouted indignantly, Maraha 'shushed' at him, her index finger over her lips. Triste quieted down as the two began to step quietly into the dome. Triste was surprised by the slippery ice and promptly fell on his bottom, but Maraha's claw-like toes helped her grip the ice with a bit more ease.

Her maroon eyes swirled as they became a pure white color, she was going into some bloodthirsty manic high. "The Something of Insanity has arrived, dearies!" She shouted, her fanged grin hidden by the lower half of her helmet. Her words bounced off the walls and echoed for what felt like forever.

(*During this little war/rebellion thing I/my character will be in my/her Dark Knight form unless stated otherwise.)

[Swix]

((Apologies for the long post))

Kheesth had a problem. The Snake Summoner had held her forked tongue since this regime had started, but that wasn't, wouldn't have lasted for very long. Especially as they'd tried to make a slave out of her as well, so every shred of respect she had grudgingly given to HollowEyes after their brief training match had slipped away. Her, one of very few Tezcans to have ever been granted the ability to Summon, a slave? She wasn't going to... well, stand for it. Even now her usually grey-green scales were flushed with a dark red colour, showing a little anger but mainly insult at what had transpired here.

The Tezca wore her silvery cloak, the powder bags that always made their way back to her no matter where they were taken safely tucked away inside. Blue flames to keep the snake warm bobbed around her body in a circle, illuminating the already blue hue that surrounded her and giving her a far more unearthly glow than usual. The alien woman watched in disgust at the spirits antics, she doubted even the true Earth Golem would have managed to make such a fool of himself.

Her four sinewy arms folded about her body, the Tezca watched as one by one the others arrived here. She was fairly new to taking part in a rebellion against a hostile takeover, but she wasn't about to let this outrage continue, and had said such. That's why she now found herself in what would be such a hostile place for one of her species, were it not for the blue fire.

"Dragons, Spirits and Mortals together for a cause. It has been awhile since I have seen this happen. For those of you who do not know, I am Kheesth, Tezca Summoner"
__________________________________________________________________________________
Fade was nowhere to be seen in the Corrupted Cave. She wasn't even in the Corrupted Cave in fact, the cold-blooded assassin had long since left to take a contract in another dimension. The only thing left in Furnaces quarters was a gaping hole under the ground, obviously hurriedly sealed up by both brute force and rock-melting flame, and Evil and Good Swix seemed to have pulled off a vanishing act all their own, no-one knew where they'd gotten to.

The Dark Fire Dragon was in fact far below the ground, in the home Au'Marui had made for his species, glaring simultaneously at his Elders and the Blind Seer who went by the name Coro. The Elders were nearly four times his size and dwarfed him as well as Coro, who was twice his age and almost twice as big. Furnace snorted whilst glaring, Coro annoyed him the most, as he appeared to have a dreamy grin plastered on his reptilian face.

"Furnace we have called you down here to tell you one thing" Inferno, the male Elder, rumbled in his deep voice whilst fixing the younger dragon with his red eyes. The female, Ebony, who lacked the nose horn of her male counterpart but still sported the extra set of horns that grew just beneath her ears, continued in a gentler but nevertheless strong voice.

"You are forbidden from taking part in this conflict"

Furnace's eyes widened. If it wasn't obvious that the two dragons he faced were on a far more powerful scale than he was, he might have tried to fight them then and there. A snarl however graced his now pulled back lips.

"Why?"

He hissed, the words seemed to struggle to get out of his clenched jaw and sharp fangs. This time, both Elders fixed him with a stern look.

"Do not forget the debt we owe Au'Marui, youngling. It is only because of him that we were allowed into this realm. You are forbidden to fight, because you will fight for the ones who overthrew him, and will put yourself and us in danger. We... all of us" Inferno added, noting the younglings snort of discontent "owe him that much"

"Hah! Do you expect to fight then? The Council has the Ruby Dagger, flames will prove entirely useless!"

Furnace retorted, looking demented, his red eyes nearly rolling back into his head. This however, seemed to get nothing but exasperated looks from everyone bar Coro, whose empty eye sockets were 'looking' somewhere to Furnaces left while he still wore that annoying grin.

"We know, Coro has already told us"

"In the darkness comes a light,
For freedom there'll be a fight.
The outcome I cannot foresee,
This makes me so very happy! "

This was the first time the blind Seer had spoken since Furnace had gotten down here, and this terrible poem left him gaping at Coro, who was still staring at a point behind him.

"... I'm leaving"

Furnace eventually said, turning his long body around. He found he was blocked from behind as well, by a female only slightly larger than he was, with a scar along her muzzle that extended horizontally from under an eye to the tip of a nostril. Blaze grinned fiercely at Furnace.

"No, brother. You're not"

[Netdroid9]

I dunno about you, Eve, but I sure as hell don't like sitting on my butt and waiting for the inevitable. Judging by what they did to the citadel, they've got some kind of weapon I don't know about, which means they're probably not going to play nice. So we shouldn't either. If they do come here, they'll come here in their entirety, leaving the cave in the trust of the grunts. They aren't too smart, so I could probably convince them that I'm still in the EC and there was some mixup with the paperwork. It won't last, but I should be able to break the bonds that anchor the cave to Blackstar, leaving them unable to retreat. Who knows, maybe I can get some Battlemonkeys on our side as well.

[Maraha]

Maraha coughed pointedly. "Hello!? I'm kind of an ENEMY!? I can hear you, Net. I've got fairly sensitive hearing, and everything in this place echos... I oughta run back and warn my Masters about your pathetic little plot."

[Netdroid9]

My sincerest apologies, I hadn't noticed your arrival. I suppose millenia of servitude has it's effects on one's hearing, you know. Fortunately, I very much doubt you'll be running back to your masters. Why, then, would you have arrived here without them unless you intended to join us? Whatever the answer, running back to tell them would be pointless. I know them too well to expect them to stay back out of the action and wait for me, and any cronies they leave behind will be comparatively simple to dispatch.

You've already been a good pawn to us, why not step up a rank and become a comrade in our rebellion of sorts? Do you honestly wish to remain slave to these horrors for the rest of your life? Another Cornelius? Maraha Murdering Monday has a sickening appeal I'm sure they'd love, and believe me, they're probably already revamping the Cornie Cloner in anticipation.

[Maraha]

"Ha, maybe I'd be a bit more popular if that were to happen. The Mreat Maraha Mayhem, or something like that, right? I arrived without my Masters because... well, I guess they haven't caught up with me yet, or haven't heard the message... I knew I couldn't trust that stupid cardboard box to spread the word... Anyway! So, I'm guessing that the battle will start when more of my Masters arrive? Because I have this strong itch to gut someone right now..."

Triste, who had long since managed to stand up, went to sidestep away from Maraha but fell again.

[3kul]

Several distinct pangs of attention. Got 'em, thought Little Sister.

"Are we done here?" Noten inquired, noting that the Parasitian had just opened her other eyes again. "Yeah, I've found them, they're about 100km or so from here, in that direction." She pointed with an unwoven bundle of hair as she spoke, grinning widely. ~You listening HollowEyes? They're-~

~About 100km from the Guardian Citadel, correct? Maraha the slave just informed us of this.~ Little Sister couldn't see HollowEyes, but she knew that he was smiling away in his typically smug fashion when he said ~Thanks for confirming that though, saves us a bit of time and effort.~

~Seriously though,~ he quickly added, wanting to keep her attention whilst he could, ~keep your distance. You know how the Council likes to do things, we'll probably be making one hell of an entry and you don't want to be caught up in the aftermath of it.~ Little Sister gritted her teeth and slammed a woven fist into a nearby wall. ~So? What do you expect me to do? Sit here and wait for the rebels to kill themselves?~ ~Surely you can be a little more creative than that.~ HollowEyes replied, in a tone that indicated that he was rolling his eyes and ignoring her obvious outrage. ~You took a slave to use for bait, didn't you? If he's not enough just get Noten to bring you some more. 'Survivors' will make the attack seem more convincing.~ ~Keh, as if I need you to tell me what to do! Get out of my head and start the attack already!~

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

"Well that didn't take so long." Little Sister remarked as she looked at the small group of slaves standing before her, having calmed down a little since her talk with HollowEyes. "Oh, you were expecting me to take longer?" Noten replied, wondering if he'd done something wrong here. "No, no, this is fine."

"So what now, 'Master'?" A young slave inquired angrily, obviously not appreciating being brought out into the freezing cold with little more than a hessian sack for clothing. Little Sister grinned at this slave, grabbing her arm with a woven claw. They were about the same size, but Little Sister was far stronger physically. "Now, my impudent little slave, I have to make you all look the part. Nobody's going to think that you survived our little 'blast' if you turn up with nothing wrong with you." She hurled the child at Noten, who promptly slammed her into the ground. She was instantly rendered unconcious, but that didn't help the other slaves feel any better - they were next.

After beating the small group of slaves to a convincing pulp, Little Sister decided that was enough. "Alright, bring out that other one... What's his name, Kengagu." "Genkaku." Noten corrected her as the worshipper of Paranesia suddenly appeared. "I... What? Where am I?" His eyes were glazed over, as though he'd just been forced back into conciousness before he was actually ready for it. "Who are you?" He said as he stumbled sideways, struggling to focus his eyes on Little Sister. "3 days." Noten said, letting Little Sister know how much of this slave's memory he'd just wiped. Little Sister nodded, ignoring the slave's questions. "You, Genkaku, have been hiding out in the abandoned Guardian Citadel since exactly 3 days ago. You came with hm... Let's say a dozen or so fellow slaves, women and children mostly, and your elderly father."

"But... My father doesn't live on this planet..." He said groggily, wondering what he'd been doing over the past few days. Little Sister gritted her teeth and glared at the dimwitted slave who was barely standing before her. "He's like a father to you, okay?! Anyway, the old man, a woman, her child and a few other slaves who I don't really care to remember came along with you, and you were safe until today, when the Evil Council attacked your hideout." "No! Not the Evil Council!" He shouted, as if he were listening to a terrible story rather than something that had actually happened. "Yes, the Evil Council! It was terrible, they were oh so cruel - told you all to run so that they could hunt you for sport, then they thought that would be boring so they blew the Guardian Citadel up for some reason."

It was a pretty bad story, but Little Sister had never been good with that sort of thing. Genkaku seemed to buy it though. "How terrible! Are the others alright?" Little Sister mocked a concerned face. "Oh, it's pretty bad, they were caught up in the blast, some died but most are badly injured, they'll need immediate medical attention. Also why you're injured, just by the way." Genkaku was now panicking, wondering how and where he'd get the kind of treatment his fellow slaves would need out here. "You're in luck though, there's a hidden base of rebels only 100 short kilometres from here, in that direction! If you can get to them quick enough they can come here and help your friends." Confused and terrified, Genkaku clutched at Little Sister by what he imagined were where her shoulders would have been if she had arms. "What about you? Can't you help us?" Little Sister managed to resist the urge to cut his hands of as she replied in a disturbingly kind manner. "I'd like too, but I'm the just the ghost of a dead little sister. Unlike some of the luckier ones I was killed in the blast."

Genkaku's hands suddenly slipped through Little Sister as she disappeared, leaving him alone with his unconcious slave companions. "My friends... At least, I think that you were my friends, I don't really remember... But don't worry, I'll go get help!" He quickly scooped up Entrails from where she was lying nearby and began to make his way towards the rebel base. He was hurting all over, but he knew that there was no time to take a break, these people were depending on him. Or so he'd been rather cruelly led to believe.

"The 'little sister' comment might have been a bit excessive." Noten said as he and Little Sister watched Genkaku leave from their hiding spot. "Bah, who cares, I managed to convince him and now he's off to bring some rebels back here to help. They won't be able to resist helping somebody who appears right before them and tells them that his friends are dying, especially when he'll be almost dead himself by the time he gets there." Noten didn't seem quite so convinced, and was worried that the plan wasn't as perfect as it should have been. "What if they think it's a trap? Won't they refuse?" Little Sister grinned and shook her head - there was no way that the rebels would say no. "If they do say no then I'd wager all of Hackstar that at least one rebel is going to think that Genkaku could be legit, and wonder 'does this make us as bad as the EC? Sacrificing others for our own gain?' Heh, losers."

"Amazing insight." Noten remarked, impressed that Little Sister had put so much thought into this. "Of course, this is me that we're talking about here." She laughed to herself, greatly amused at the many possibilities that this plan gave her to play with.

[Chronos]

A low minor triad sounded from the Corrupted Cave. The Guivre had rung the three bells he had purchased for Ensichrys and his monstrous plant. He loved the sound of them. They seemed to represent the three of them. The Guivre's was the highest of the three low tones, a G. Ensichrys was in the middle at an E Flat. And Mortracta was the lowest of them, resounding with a menacing low C.

The minor chord was intoxicating. The Guivre's attention, however, was diverted upon Ensichrys entering the room. "Quinam fui id praeclarus sonitus?" ((What is that lovely sound?))

"Haec fui campanae me sumo placeo tu." ((These are bells I obtained/bought to please you.)) The Guivre was happy he had pleased his master. He had been in a good mood since the takeover, always raving about how Order was finally conquering Blackstar.

"Me agere." Ensichrys wondered what to do next. He had become torn. To fight now would create chaos. If he did not fight, there was a greater chance of loss, thus Chaos would surely regain control of Blackstar. There was another time in his past where he chose not to fight. It resulted in the permanent destruction of Order itself in the realm, and thus, the destruction of the realm and the tainting of many others, including this one.

He could not let this happen again. He would fight. But what of the others? What feelings did they harbor about the looming final battle? "Guivre," he said pensively, "veni cum me." ((Come with me.))

The two made their way outside the cave. As the Guivre waited dumbly for his master to say something, he knew what was coming just a split second before the word was spoken.

"Mortracta."

The ground burst and many arthropods and worms went flying from the torn sod. It always unnerved the Guivre how the lonely flower was always closer than one thought she was. Two roots stood pointed above the soil in a very poised manner. What a conceited plant. Ensichrys grabbed one of these to enhance the communication, as did the Guivre, albeit reluctantly.

"Me opporto oppugno cum Namby Pamby Baby Patrol ac insurges?" ((Should I fight with the Namby Pamby Baby Patrol and the Rebels?))

The Guivre twitched at Mortracta's strangely swift response. Apparently she had been thinking about this for a very long time.

"Ymo! Tu cum Me indigeus DECERTO." ((No! You with me must fight to the FINISH.))

The group exchanged little words after that and decided wholeheartedly that this was a battle they could not afford to sit out. The evil trio simultaneously thought the phrase in their heads (in various languages) 'WE FIGHT!' At this, the minor triad of bells rang out boldly from the cave, controlled apparently by no one.

[Fort]

There was a blind summit in the middle of the Artic Tundra, the top flat, expansive, and increadibly painful to look at with the sun reflecting and dancing off the crystaline snow. With a large expansive sound - much akin to what one might hear in a huge vaccum before their head exploded, the EC Mobile HQ "Artic 1" spewed forth from the warp.
"Warp closing in, 8, 7, 6..." came the frayed and digitalised voice of the EC speaker system - still under the effects from the Warp's dimensional regimé; the EC hadn't perefected Warp technolagy like the Psycho had, but it made no matter - they would soon enough.
"I want ground patrols securing a perimiter, aerial surveillance - and a secure warp link between here and the EC cave at all times," he instructed a general assembly of grunts.
Much much later, he received Maraha's message.

[TiChei]

Incedii could not remember much of what had happened in the past few weeks. He was
tired, he knew that much, his eyes surrounded by black rings that contrasted
with his pale skin. He had been walking, something strange had occured. Little
else did his mind let him see or know. But as he watched a cloud rise in the
distance he realised that he was standing in an Artic enviroment.

He looked over his right hand in both shock and fascination. It was blue, and
shaking, he blinked as he realised his whole body was shaking. And looking at
his feet he saw corrupted footprints, they were of a purple colour, and as he
looked behind him he saw a trail of them leading back into the distance. And
for the first time as he returned his gaze infront of him he noticed a massive
structure, a dome, of ice!

His little face suddenly twisted into a frown of tired confusion, what was it
doing here? But then suddenly he forgot even what he was thinking and began to
walk forward, his feet burning corruption into the snow with every step. He
moved towards this structure slowly, wearily, his feet occasionally dragging
in the snow.

After a time he reached the dome and placed his hand on the surface, it was
cold, colder than he was. He noticed that his hand was trembling more
violently now, but he had no idea why. He removed his hand and looked at the
purple impression he had left, and he suddenly looked around fearfully, and
then realising there was no one about began to walk around the side of the
dome, curious as to what lay inside, if anything.

After a time his weary feet came to a halt as he stared at the entrance in
front of him. It dwarfed him but that was no surprise, he was a mere child
after all. He looked down the hallway and with his keen sight figures within
the dome, and with child like happiness he clapped his hands together. Perhaps
they could be his friends? He had few friends...

With a sudden burst of enthusiastic energy he ran with his tiny legs htrough
the entrance into the dome, leaving small purple foot prints on the way. But
he quickly realised that the ground beneath him felt different, and as he
looked down, he saw it was different! And then he promptly slid forward off
his feet and slid on his tiny chest into the legs of a woman wearing black. He
lay still for a few moments before scrambling to his feet and precariously
balanced himself.

He looked up hesitantly to see who it was he had slid into, and he was scared
in case he had hurt them. Tears welled in his eyes suddenly, "I-I-I'm s-sorry!
I-I didn't m-mean t-to bump into y-your legs..." He trailed off on the verge
of tears.

[Sycho Rox]

Deep in the bedrock under the land of the Dojo, a consciousness awoke. It was a psychotic spirit, content to lie under the land of the old Sensei with who it had been comfortable. It was the Spirit of the very rocks themselves, perhaps the very reason for the psychotic nature of the region.

Something is wrong!!, it could feel it. Its old master could not be felt. It felt fear and anger. Who has done this??

It reached a small finger of itself to the surface to remedy this situation.

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

On the edge of the tundra a huge body emerged from the ground. Maybe twenty feet tall and massive. Made of black granite with molten red eyes, it unfolded upwards, sniffed the air, sensing the stench of those who had usurped the rule of the Dojo lands, and it lifted its head and let out a thunderous
ROAR ! ! ! !

[TheBlackSoul]

Ravana, who had been waiting patiently by the door, watched as the scene unfolded in front of him.

Upon Maraha's entry, and her announcement she was one of the enemy, he had to hold back a maniacal laugh-and shortly after that, his own willingness to swing his staff and slice the thing to bits because Net was speaking to her.

Even after he was done, the enigma remained quiet, for because of the paleness of his body, he was nearly invisible against the white backdrop of the dome. The only really noticable features were his black eyes and claws.
===============

A lone figure wandered through the frozen tundra. This one was also a rebel, and judging by the fact her right arm had a cut stretching from the shoulder to the wrist, and the sleeve on said arm was slashed where the cut was, she'd just escaped from the EC. However, she was finding this wasteland where she'd fled was not to her liking.

Tripping over an unseen rock, Elisah got up and angrly brushed snow off her face.

If those idiots didn't take over the Dojo in the first place, I wouldn't be here right now!

The Chinese wind sorceress had been one of the first to have been captured by the EC, where for many long weeks she'd been tortured and forced to tend to their every need. It wasn't long before she had enough of that, but it wasn't until now she had a chance to flee.

When she did escape, something had slashed her right arm. She really didn't get a good look at her attacker, but all she knew was when she had tried to counter with her longsword, it had sliced through empty air.

Fortunatly, whatever it was didn't return, so the rest of her exodus went smoothly.

Knowing what area was safest, she'd arrived her-but not only was her arm seizing up with pain constantly, she kept stumbling over various objects that were hidden by the snow. For obvious reasons, Elisah was thankful she was captured wearing her boots instead of her preferred sandals.

While she was getting the ice crystals off the rest of her body, she noticed some sort of structure through the fog and storm. It looked like some sort of dome. Hopefully, it was a good spot for her to warm up and stitch up the rip in her sleeve.

She walked towards the structure with some difficulty.

[Danikat]

((Sorry for taking so long to post everyone, I've been AFK all day (I even went outside!) but I'll try and catch up.))

[Kazumaru]

Sentinel started arbitrarily pacing back and forth, a behaviour he assumed would look "normal", as Kazumaru had done it constantly before the war. By now, his rambling was probably ignored by the rest of the Insurgency, but he continued none the less.

"Can we even hold them off?" he said. "There's only a few of us here right now, it might be sufficient, but if anyone breaks under the stress and runs away, or collapses, or anything similar, we'd be far less likely to win..."