The Hordes Arrive

[TheBlackSoul]

((This takes place after Death of a God, assuming everything turns out right over the course of events in that RP.))

The Dojo had seen many invasions before this one. It had gotten past being developed, being taken over by rogue groups, and even being teleported to another world. All because of the strong wills of its residents, no matter how varied they may be.

But it had never before seen an invasion like this.

The sun had just risen over the Dojo. It seemed it would be a fairly normal day. Oh no, not this time.

Somewhere, on the outskirts of the evergreen glades, the telltale whoosh of a portal could be heard. However, this was not your typical Dojodian portal. This was a portal belonging to an outside force.

Its blue spiral had appeared out of nowhere, and expanded at a rapid rate. Soon, it was looked large enough to allow a full-grown dragon through it. Which it would.

Now, what sort of civilized being needs a portal that large? As it would turn out, that question was quickly answered.

Quickly, something leaped out of the portal, landing hard enough to shake the ground beneath its feet. Its eyes were closed now, but were open in a split second. Mechanical whirring echoed throughout the forest as the creature stood up to its full height.

The entire beast, a 50 foot long monstrosity of flesh and metal, was terrifying to behold. It had 6, batlike wings decorating its back, with a sawtoothed ridge running down its spine to the base of its whiplike tail. It opened and closed its whale-like jaws several times, as if the being was waking up from a nap. Its mechanical arms, not being in usage, hung underneath its body, but they were far from limp.

The portal did not close after the creature entered, as one more creature lept through. This too was a cyborg creature, but it was much smaller, at around 5 feet tall, and walked almost perfectly upright on two, long legs, each mechanical from ankle down. Techically, it walked on its toes, but each foot was a round disc with four flaps coming of of it at each angle. This one carried a strange device in one of his 3-fingered hands.

The larger beast, after a few looks around, focused his attention on the smaller one.

"What do I call this place again, Lackey?" he asked with a rumbling voice.

"They call it the Blackstar Dojo, M'Lord. 'Tis a fine area, I've heard. Plenty of enviromental variety, two major cities, and even several moons to expand to if the main world gets too crowded. Prime real estate!" answered the smaller beast, the Lackey.

"I'm not here to inspect the real estate," stated the larger creature, "Do you think we can call this world another base?"

"Well, the enviromental conditions are something to be desired-it rains everything but rain here-but I'd say we'd fit right in." came the response.

"But, M'Lord, you think we're ready to abandon Hell's Desert?"

"Hell's Desert has outlived its usefulness. Do you remember how different the forces on that world are from the standard?" snapped the larger creature. At this point, his wings began to flap, with the first and third pairs pumping down first, followed by the second pair, lifting the massive creature off the ground.

"I'm going to find us a temporary base the forces can call home until the place is-'added to the list', as we say."

"So, you want me to-" began the Lackey.

"That's right. Commence the invasion." answered the larger creature, and then he took off completely, heading towards some large mountains in the distance. The lackey turned and faced the portal, and leaped back into it. As soon as he went past, it vanished without a trace.
------------------------

One week passed with nothing seen or heard of the two creatures. Of course, it wouldn't stay that way.

This time, the portal opened up in the middle of the Central Plains, near the boundry between them and the Southern Frontier. And also this time, it was simply gargantuan.

Despite its size, only the Lackey entered through it at first. After some looking around, he faced the portal, and motioned with his hand as if calling something over. Then he backed up.

Which he was.

First, hordes upon hordes of long legged, sprawling, turtle-like creatures came through, marching in formation. Along with them came 6 more, similar to the Lackey in appearance, except with longer legs and two large jets on their backs, flying over the other beasts.

After these came a wave of massive monstrosities borne upon 2 thick legs, sides glimmering with what seemed like missile launchers.

Finally, there came 2 groups of whale/serpents, blue scaled, with 3 jets along each side.

After all of this, the Lackey pushed a button on the device he was carrying, and the portal closed.

Shortly after that, the sound of beating wings signaled the arrival of the largest beast, the one whom was referred to as "M'Lord".

Gazing upon the forces in front of him, he smiled wryly.

~Like the arrangement, M'Lord? 500 swarmers, 50 battlers, 30 submars, and our 6 assimilators. And this is only the starting force.~ mindspoke the Lackey to his leader.

~Very nice,~ The leader responed, ~What's more, I've found a suitable home for the backup forces. A large mountain, up in the ice-lands of this world. All it needs are the burrowers to hollow it out.~

~Sounds good to me. Shall we get this show on the road?~ asked the Lackey.

~The invasion begins now, comrades! This world belongs to-the DARAGONS!~ he roared to his forces before him.

The forces roared in determination and challenge, and then they spread out in all directions from the starting point. The swarmers, the small turtle-like beasts, broke up into groups of 20, sometimes accompanied by a battler, the heavily armed beasts. The serpentine submars headed southwards, and the 6 assimilators darted eastwards.

The leader grabbed his lackey, and flew north.

~We need to find another system of transportation for me, M'Lord.~ spoke the Lackey.

~Deal with it.~ was all the leader said.

((Standard RPG rules apply to the Daragon invasion. Except for the Leader and the Lackey, all daragons are NPCs.))

[Cirrial]

501 sat in a chair at the semicircular table of the meeting room. Everyone present was anxious and staring at the screens along the straight side of the table.

501 quietly mumbled to himself, making sounds not unlike some unwieldly combination of several bird cries. He couldn't stop wringing his hands. "Problem one. Invasion force. If they find us, even the new defense systems won't hold them off for long. Problem two. Being here so long without contact means we're now... sqreawk... according to certain, unchanged Floating Arm laws... mreekahkah... concerning durations of stay... zooon... that we're, in a sense, invading the planet. And if we so much as step foot on the surface again, we're to be regarded as a full-scale invasion."

NIDS's solemn voice rang out. "Unless we prove our benevolent intentions to the native sophonts. And if you don't stop this invasion force, there won't be many of them left to support Maratix on the matter of our comparatively peaceful nature if a full Alliance enquiry takes place."

501 nodded. "Well, then. I don't think, in the eyes of the Floating Arm, we can possibly fall any lower right now, after the scandals, the wars, the boycotts, the general animosity. I'm beginning to fear for the future of the alliance itself. It's not just us, is it, it's the whole damn alliance..."

Ak-tse, staring at the table, looks up, his eyes slowly fading to green. "Well, there's been so many invasions of this place, I say it's time we do something other than watch from the sidelines! I say we attack! I say we bring the full force of Maratix or at least part of it onto this world, and we demonstrate to those invading how weak and pathetic they truely are!"

501 stares at Ak-tse. "Wow. I haven't heard you say anything like that since, well, ever."

"Desperate times, 501. We can't afford ANY of our projects to be compromised right now. Especially not this one."

Announcements sound throughout the complex. Suddenly, Ka-tzu, one of the more well-known saa-kru around the station, bursts into the room. Before he can say anything, Ak-tse yells to him. "Yes, you can fly a ship! Everyone can! It's war now! War against the invaders!"

501 waits as everyone else runs out of the meeting room, a mixture of apprehension and excitement running through the personnel in the station. I sure as the five feathers hope we're doing the right thing this time... And it's strange to be the rational one. Ak-tse's usually the rational one! Oh well. Perhaps it IS time for some changes!

He strides towards the door and walks firmly into it. Reeling, he opens the door, and continues striding out.

[LordPsycho]

((Guess I'll do this how I'd like to see DP come out of the DoaG, and we can figure out how to get him there in that RP))

DP was sitting in his study, drinking tea. It annoyed him that this was now a neccesity rather than a pleasantry, but it was still an enjoyable past time.

It was then, as is always the case, that the space-time anomily alarms started blaring.

"You'd think being mortal would cease these constant interruptions on my time!" He exclaimed, setting down his tea and rushing over to the control console that was spinning out of his wall.

"Who needs a portal that big?" DP wonders aloud, finally getting a good look at the readout.

He was midway through executing the Invasion response plan when it simply disappeared - everything. There was no evidence that anything crossed - it was as if it was a non event.

DP knew better. He picked up a red phone marked "PWEC".

"Yes, this is Dau'Pay. I want all forces on full alert. I want you to respond immediately to any abnormal space-time readings. Yes, with Invasion response plan Alpha. Good Day."

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

It was one week later when the alarmed blared again. He didn't dare go to the console this time - he had already set up for the PWEC to make the neccesary contacts last time. He instead went to his weapons cabinet.

Opening it up, He started gather equipment, sorely missing his magic sheath. He did have zero-space pockets, but it just wasn't the same. He strapped on Ben the Flamethrower to his back, put on his armband, loaded up some immortal-trapping pellets onto a belt he had made to hold them, gathered some charms he made before his brush with death, put on his Guantlet of Unknown Quality, and then sat looking at the Sanity Blade. Though his Guantlet would let him handle it safely, he couldn't risk any part of it touching any exposed part of him. Now that he was mortal, it would affect him just as it would affect anyone else.

He then started pressing some buttons on his armband, opening up a portal to the Space station - the best place he knew to set up a Counter-Invasion force from.

[Blackstar Foundation]

DP enters some numbers onto their armband, and a Warp Portal to The CSS appears in front of them.

[Coolpikaaa]

The CSS lay in horrific disrepair.

Large amounts of space junk; parts of the station, orbited the gloomy looking craft.On the inside, it appeared as if everyone had left, lights flickered on and off, and dimly lit emergency LEDs lead the way to the long since empty docking bay.

The hydroponics bay had started to overgrow, shoots sprouting out of a half-open door.Nearby at the Bridge, flickering consoles decorated the dark room with a view of the dojo below.

A portal opened up.

"Daaaaaiissyyy, Daaaiiisssyy givvve meee-"Jack the AI stopped his lonely song over the PA system.Something new had popped up."Hello? Is any one out there?"

-coolpikaaa

[Kazumaru]

((Guten morgen, comrades. I'll do a real joining post later, as it is currently four fourty six in the morning, and I'm not at home. But, since I'm already here and clearly German, I have a few questions. Numero uno: Given that the CSS is damaged heavily, I take it this is after Clans, and thus, after BoaS? If so, I can probably throw Markus into this. Finally. And have him horribly maimed. Yay!

Number the second: Jack <3))

[Cirrial]

Sector 1A, The Marasphere

The whole process was alarmingly quick. The individual leaders - corporate executives, military commanders, and those buried deeper in the tangled web that were Maratix affairs - had reached a consensus within an hour.

The main chamber of sector 1A, a room the size of a small sports stadium, was now full with the forces Maratix could spare from the countless other conflicts they had found themselves wrapped up in. Which, unfortunately for 501 and Ak-tse, was a significantly smaller force than they were hoping for, consisting of just twenty sophonts or thereabout. Soldiers from mainly three species, the saa-kru, the keynain and the keletians, all stood silently in the various varities of Maratix powered armour.

Among them were a handful of Maratix robots, mostly worker drones retooled and trained. A sign of the less-than-desirable times that currently plagued not just Maratix but the Floating Arm alliance as a whole.

The primary vector clamp of the Marasphere, a triangular structure the size of a large house, hung empty along the massive wall of sector 1A. At the other side of the room, countless turrets and cameras were trained onto it, just in case anyone tried to punch into the Marasphere from the other side without permission.

With a mighty hum and whirr, the vector clamp swirls and opens, a triangular portal growing inside it. The assembled sophonts all charge towards it, running into the blue fury of the storm that is a large Bluespace portal, thunder and lightning flying from the edges of the vector clamp.

Station Zero

Ak-tse holds up his three-digited hand. "Three... two... o-"

The Station Zero vector clamp seems to buckle and groan, before its spokes flail around wildly, as a blue film appears suddenly and violently inside it. Compared to Maratix's main vector clamp, the Station Zero clamp is much smaller. Ordinarily, moving from such a large vector clamp to such a relatively small one was never a wise idea, but there were no other options. Not now, at least.

A stream of individuals charges out of the blue film, expanding like a bubble, and most of them fall to the floor with force, their powered armours' shields flashing in protest.

501 looks to the vector clamp, which, after spewing forth the soldiers, sparks as its spokes twitch and hang limply. "I didn't think that was such a wise idea... Oh well, we'll have to fix that another time."

The new arrivals are lead off to Station Zero's meeting room, and 501 stops to think. "Ak-tse, are you really sure charging in with just a few sophonts is all that smart? I'm beginning to have... doubts. I already said we don't know how advanced the technology the invaders possess is, and we can't immediately assume that we have the upper hand. I mean, they already have the advantage of numbers. We're spread thin, Ak. Very, very thin on the toast that is the universe."

Ak-tse nods, his eyes a grim puce, and points over to one of the Maratix robots. One of the specific, unique Maratix robots.

501 had originally recognised it as just a saa-kru in powered armour, but the way its eyes glowed and twitching, almost mechanical way it moved...

"Oh, no. No, no no. No, I'm not going to allow this. Not after what happened last time. That... that thing is broken, Ak-tse. And if it isn't now, it doesn't take a lot to break it!"

Ak-tse places a claw underneath his mandibles. "There have been adjustments. In the event of a malfunction we can deactivate it remotely. There won't be a repeat of... what happened last time."

501 slowly points to the saa-kru-droid, then to Ak-tse, and clenches his hands. His voice becomes very cold and bitter. "Then for your sake, Ak-tse, it won't. And if it does, I'll see to it your name goes on the same list as Ser-tza's name did years ago." He strides away, his fists shaking.

Ak-tse's mandibles flail in protest, his eyes turn amber and he holds up a claw, but 501 is already gone before he can say anything. He issues a command to a patiently waiting robotic drone. "Do nothing until tomorrow. We're still gathering intel from the satellites. We can't afford any hasty decisions." Much more quietly, he adds "We've made too many of those now already."

[LordPsycho]

DP walks through the portal, which closes as soon as he leaves.

"Hello? Is any one out there?" the onboard AI called out.

"You know what to do." DP called into his own armband.

---------------------------------------
DP's armband A.I., simply known as Alfred, looked a little how you'd expect a butler to look. He definately looked odd approaching Jack in the realm of cyperspace.

"OH HAI, New Friend!" Jack cheerfully called as the butler moved toward him.

"I'm initiating directive over ride sequence." Alfred said

"What?" Jack answered back."Who-?"

"Sequence 001100010010011110100001101101110011"

((For those who can't read Binary - I'll also give it to you in Hexadecimal: 0x3127A1B73 - bonus points if you can tell the (un)pop culture reference))

"Oh, that sequence." Jack said, almost disappointed, "Relinquishing command of all Station functions." he continued, almost robotic like.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
"The Station is now under your command, Lord Dau'Pay" Alfred spoke over the command center.

"Good. Meet me in the bridge, and start accessing all counter-invasion forces mobilizing. I expect a conference when I get to the bridge." DP said, setting off for the Space Station Bridge.

[Kazumaru]

((Finally, someone ELSE enters KAIN! !))

"... offline." a voice finished. The voice had a certain arrogant quality to it, a superiority.

Kazumaru's eyes slid open, revealing the shimmering silver surface, looking somewhat like a pool of mercury. "What?" he asked, his speech slow and somewhat strained, as he rubbed his eyes and attempted to wake up.

"Jack's offline-- Well, not quite, but he's relinquished control. There's some butler outside talking to him."

"Oh. Sentinel... outside? But Jack's a--"

"Yeah, shut up. Outside of the bar. Melissa, Greg and I were playing darts, Jack was just outside staring at the skybox... Oh, also, the world's being invaded."

"Ugh..." Kazumaru grumbled, getting up to make some coffee. "It's too early for this stuff... Tabernac."

"Early? It's thir--"

"Yeah yeah. Whatever. Find the invaders soon. First, though, do you know if the events on the station are connected to this invasion?"

"Of course not. Locked out."

Kazumaru poured himself a mug of coffee. "Alright. Where's Markus?"

"The cheese eating surrender monkey is out in that old shack, probably eating cheese or surrendering." Sentinel said, in a rather indignant tone.

Kazumaru raised an eyebrow as he sipped his coffee, not entirely sure when he decided to make Sentinel hate the French. "Alrght, then... uhh, I guess I'll go get him. He got a journalist gig, didn't he?"

"Cheese ea--"

"Don't say it, just... don't." Kazumaru said, already on his way out the door.

((Why yes, Kazumaru sleeps fully clothed... Well, as fully clothed as Kazumaru ever is.))

Markus sighed, laying in a bed of unknown origin staring through the non-roof of the shack at the sky above. It looked similar to home, but off by a bit. Strange things crossed the sky once in a while, and there were no jet trails he could see.

The shack, too, was odd. Made of some sort of wood, except for the trap door over in the corner. He really hadn't cared enough to figure out what that was for. The bed seemed to mold to his body. Comfortable, yes, but a bit gross.

Markus sighed once more, closing his eyes and letting his thoughts drift to home. To his mom and his dad. His boss. His coworkers. His neighbours. Surely, somebody must--

A loud knock on the door derailed his thoughts, like a train hitting a section of broken track, causing many injuries and a few mental scars.

"Ce qui?" he asked.

The door opened, and the weird guy in the top hat stood in the door frame, holding a mug of coffee. Or... something that smelled like coffee.

~I've got a story for you. Invasion: Blackstar, by Markus DeVane.~

"Guerre?" Markus' eyes were wide open now, and he sat up with a start.

~Not nessecarily war, but some sort of invasion. Ever rode a motorbike?~

"Oui..." Markus said, hesitantly. There were only a few places this could go, none of them good.

Kazumaru sipped his coffee. ~Excellent. I'll show you to the bike, after you get some clothes on.~

Markus looked at Kazumaru for a few seconds. "Pourriez-vous au moins vous tenir dehors?" He said, finally.

"Oh, uh, right." Kazumaru stepped out the door, closed it behind him, and leaned against the wall.

Meanwhile, in the psuedouniverse/cyberspace jiggy of KAIN...

The door of the salloon opened, and Sentinel, Greg, and Melissa stepped out, the last two with their weapons drawn.

The gears that made up the right half of Sentinel's head moved, now accompanied by whirring sounds. "You." he said, the Gordon Freeman half-mask's mouth moving as he spoke. "Who are you?" he gestured at the butler.

Greg's reaper cloak blew in the non-existant wind, purely for dramatic effect, as his red, glowing eyes stared out of the hood.

Melissa took a small step forward, attempting to look tough, rather than cute. And failing. Badly.

((Long post is long.))

[Swix]

One week ago...

A female creature had been a little bit too close to the giant portal when it opened up for her own comfort, her bat-like ears twitched nervously as they just managed to pick up the conversation. Well, not exactly, even with her animal DNA enhanced hearing she was too far away to get anything but mumbling. She knew enough to follow her instincts though, and they told her to hide and keep an eye on this thing. Which she did, everyday for the next week.
_____________________________________________________________
A little after the second opening, near the edge of Dojopolis...

The same female landed at the outskirts of the town, panting for breath. She'd flown over here as fast as she could but now her wing-arms and chest burned so much she could barely make a sound.

The thing clothed all in black, holding a building wall for support whilst she gasped happened to be called Tina, a genetically engineered super scout who'd escaped before the scientists could mess too much with her brain. Though they'd still done plenty of damage without that, as Tina now found once she began to kill, she started to enjoy it. She'd never done that before when she was fully human.

They'd messed around with her genetics pretty badly too, as she was more animal than human now. Large bat ears crowned the top of her head, their edges lined with a snakes hood that she could 'fan out' and close at will, both of these features meant that she no longer had any hair. Her arms had been transformed into batlike wing-arms, where an extra bone continued out from her wrist, giving her the ability to fly. She had a prehensile snake like tail, and she was missing her top two canines. Well, she wasn't really 'missing' them, they'd been changed into fangs and now rested on the roof of her mouth. If she needed to, Tina could stick to almost any surface thanks to the gecko DNA that had transformed her hands, legs and feet. She had the ability to echo-locate as well, a soldier that could move in pitch darkness and still give accurate reports was almost perfect. They just hadn't considered the possibility of her and the others escaping.

"We're *pant* being *pant* invaded *pant* again" the ex-human told everyone who walked past, although she wasn't sure if any of them had heard. A lot of people walked off with nonchalant looks on their faces or comments about it happening before, and of course it was nowhere near as bad as when the place had started nonexisting. But still... somebody should take some notice, surely?

[Cirrial]

It could be tomorrow. It could still be today.

Deep underground, such distinctions were vague at best.

And so from the familiar, dilapidated shack across the street from Kazumaru's lab, the Maratix forces erupt forth. Marching two aside, the hexapoid saa-kru, the vulpine keletians, the avian keynain, the assorted robots of varying symmetries, all in the blue shimmer of powered Maratix armour, march onto the street. All twenty of them.

Leading them is 501, inexplicably wearing a black, flowing cape. If not for his face being a constant emotionless mask, he'd be wearing a grim, determined expression.

Held in 501's arms and in the arms of those following him are warp rifles, the technological successor to the once common ion pistol.

The sound of metal clunking onto asphalt echoes in unison as the small milita moves out, solemn, past an extremely bewildered Markus and a casually interested Kazumaru. "Mon Dieu! Ce qui sont ces monstres?!"

One of the keynain marching breaks out of the formation and walks up to Markus, who begins to back quickly away. "Species identified as human, a component species of the Floating Arm alliance. Continue, human." And with that, the anthropoid avian sprints up to the back of the marching formation.

As the assorted individuals march further away, 501 peers over the horizon, over the gentle gradient of the Central Plains.

He stops to a dead halt. Behind him, the small squad of Maratix soldiers fans out to either side of him, assuming defensive stances and aiming rifles, kneeling, or, in the case of the saa-kru, squatting.

501 stops, and slowly raises his hands to his beak in quiet horror.

"In the name of Kairn... how many of them ARE THERE?!"

The hundreds of turtle-like swarmers, the smaller groups of much larger well-armed levithans. The Maratix squad, twenty one members in total, all stared in a mixture of awe and terror.

One keletian slowly turned their head to 501. "Sir, I would normally ask for permission to speak, but... are you insane?!"

501's head swivels to the keletian. "Quite possibly, but that's neither here nor there!" He raises his arms to the skies. From the backs of his forearms, two lancing blue blades of energy spring forth.

He looks behind him, and notices the twenty soldiers behind him have already begun to slowly creep back. "Oh, COME ON! You call yourselves soldiers?!"

One of the robots raises a manipulating claw. "Actually, I don't. In fact, I don't even know where I am. Where's this faulty ship you wanted fixed?"

501 slaps his hands across his face. "Oh, for the love of... Right. If we charge down there, we'll be slaughtered, right? So we'll have to use some kind of tactics. Like, say, uh, a gorilla. Gorilla tactics. Y'know. Using cover, stealth, moving about a lot, ambushes, all that kind of thing."

One of the keynain chirps shrilly and bitterly. "Guerilla tactics. They're called guerilla tactics. Why are you in charge again?"

"Okay, okay, people, I know I'm somewhat new at this war business, but please, I know what I'm doing!"

He turns back to face the horde, part of which has now broken off and is marching alarmingly quickly towards 501 and the Maratix militia.

A worker robot raises a tendril. "Retreat?"

501 nods slowly. "Like the dickens."

The assembled Maratix group runs back the way they marched, towards Kaz's lab. 501 yells to Kaz, about half a mile away, hands cupped into a conical shape and his voicebox set on "Max Volume And Then Some".

"Hey, labguy! If you value your life, set up some fences or turrets! THEY'RE COMING!" The group picks up speed and sprints, as one, in a controlled yet still quite panicked manner.

[Kazumaru]

Kazumaru and Markus stared, dumbfounded, at the group that just walked past them.

"Hey, labguy! If you value your life, set up some fences or turrets! THEY'RE COMING!"

As if by command, chainlink fencing sprung up from the ground around the Lab property, and several of Sentinel's guns came into view.

"Huh." Kazumaru said. "Forgot about that junk. Hey, what about a sword? Ever used one of those?"

"Non?" Markus said, still rather in awe.

"Gun?"

"Non."

"Gravity gun?"

"Non..."

"Railcannon?"

"Non."

"Knightmare Frame?"

"Non."

"Liquid knuckles?"

"Non!"

"Bundy stunner?"

"Nein." Markus switched to German, to relieve the repetitious repetition.

"Strider?!"

"NEIN!"

"DEFRIBULATOR!?"

"NEIN! NEIN!"

"Hockey stick?"

"Ja."

"Powered ar-- Oh, goody." Kazumaru said. Before Markus could respond, Kazumaru had ran off to the lab, returning a few minutes later holding a glowing hockey stick.

Kazumaru offered it to Markus. Markus reached out to grab it, before falling to the ground, all his muscles tensing as electricity flowed through his body.

"Oh right." Kazumaru said. "You're mortal. Forgot about that... Uhh." Kazumaru waved his hand over the shaft of the stick, leaving only the blade and a part of the other end glowing. "Hooray for enchanted weaponry!" he said, dropping the stick by Markus. "Feel free to use it when the convulsions stop, I guess..."

The Spirit pulled out a gauntlet with a fourty-two inch blade attached to it-- The weapon he referred to as a "Pata." He slipped it onto his left hand, letting the tip rest on the ground.

((Yay, Markus has a tazer-enchanted hockey stick!))

[TheBlackSoul]

The Leader Daragon strode through the cave at the top of the mountain now known as simply "Daragon Mountain." His lackey, unusually, wasn't at his side today-and that was the reason he was unusually active.

The Lackey had the important job of communicating with the hordes out on the field, but he had forgotten to tell the leader where he went to do so.

Around the leader, groups of lemon-shaped burrower daragons carved away at the stone with pick-ax like armblades and a pair of serrated knife-arms, in the process of hollowing out the mountain to host the off-duty forces. As of now, the only light was thown by flaming piles of sticks.

One burrower poked his head out of a hole in the floor, hearing the footsteps of his leader and wondering what he was doing.

"Good day, M'Lord." he called out, with the typical cheerful demanor of a burrower, "Having a bad day?"

"No. Have any of you seen the Lackey around?" responded the leader. Most of the burrowers shook their heads.

As if responding to his title, the Lackey suddenly appeared out of the shadows to the leader's right.

"*Huff* You *puff* called, M'Lord?" he asked.

"How goes the beginning force, Lackey?"

"As of yet, no one's made a move to actually begin the invasion. Most of them are just scouting, trying to find more about the place.
"They've gotten the names of some of the regions-The plains where the forces first entered are referred to as the Central Plains, the area where we're currently camping out is the Arctic Tundra. The major cities are Dojopolis and Psychotopia, and the forest where you and I first entered is known as the Evergreen Glades."

~M'Lord! We've encountered a resistance force!~ came a telepathic message.

"Hold on a second, Lackey." said the Leader.

~What makes this force up, how many of them are there, and who am I talking to?~

~Um, you happen to be speaking to Annam, the current FiC of the Submars, to put first things first. Now, this force seems to be made of various species, and they are 21 members strong.~

~21?! That's just plain laughable. Nothing we can't take care of. You do happen to be a Submar, right?~

~Correct, M'Lord.~

~You could probably take down those suckers single-handidly. Use your Sonic Emitter.~

~Alrighty, M'Lord. And the forces?~

~Tell them to halt.~

After that, the telepathic conversation stopped. The leader focused his attention back on his Aid.

"Anything else, Lackey?"

"The assimilators have been the busiest members of the forces so far. They say that this place has been invaded numerous times. The majority of those times, the invaders were fought off. I'm getting the thought that perhaps we could get repelled, too."

The leader snarled.

"Well, this place hasn't seen a Daragon invasion! Don't worry too much about that, Lackey."

"And finally, I've been informed that there are multiple...'immortals' that inhabit this realm."

"You mean, like gods? Right."

"That's what I said. Do you think it's true?"

"Not likely. But if it is, we'll discuss such matters later."

The Lackey nodded.

"M'Lord? When are we going to get the heaters installed? It's freezing in here!" pointed out a burrower.

"When you've finished making the rooms." answered the leader. He then proceeded back to the finished main chamber, his quarters.
-------------------

"I'll handle this, comrades." Annam, the submar daragon, informed the army below him.

"Capt'n! Shall we assist you?" called out another submar to Annam's right.

"No." came the response. With that, Annam flew after the fleeing Maratix forces, the stange device mounted on his chin glowing quite menacingly...

[Swix]

Tina took a deep breath, almost recovered. Well, as recovered as she thought she was ever going to be after that flight.

"The godssss damn you all!" she muttered, glaring at them with her deep brown eyes. That is, until a group of creatures she'd never seen before came marching out towards the place she'd just flown from. "At leasssst ssssomeone issss doing ssssomething" she muttered again, peeling herself off the wall and moving further into the street. That force was definitely far too small to take on the group she'd heard ((I'm assuming Kaz and 501 are in Dojopolis? If not, tell me and I'll edit ))

Tina found herself almost marching into a leather clad human female, whose eyes were mismatched. One was green whilst the other was brown, and she had short brown hair. The human smiled at the ex-human, stopping Tinas collision course with the hand not burdened by her ancient book.

"Hi" said Karen, owner of the shop 'Karens Magical Oddities' a little further inside the city. Tina looked up at her.

"Oh... "she remarked forlornly "hello"

"What's the matter?"

"Well, there'ssss thissss army marching that I've heard, but no-one sssseemssss to want to lissssten. Everyone issss either going off on their own or eksssspecting otherssss to take care of it becausssse of it happening before"

"Well, don't worry about it" Karen told her, trying and failing to be reassuring "we've survived before. I'm sure it won't be any different this time... Although I've never taken part in any of these sort of things"

"But I ssssaw the portal they came through before, I jusssst didn't tell anyone about it" Tina replied, obviously feeling guilty "If I'd ssssaid ssssomething earlier we could have been more prepared, I jusssst wassssn't ssssure what or who to tell"

"Weeell... there might be something I can do to help you there..." Karen told the creature, before 501s voice voice nearly deafened everyone "Uh oh"

Tina had been momentarily mesmerised by a buildings sudden transformation into a fort before turning to look at the source of the voices direction.

"I knew I sssshould have ssssaid ssssomething earlier" she said, backing away "what'ssss your name? I'm Tina"

"Karen"

[Cirrial]

((Kaz's lab is halfway between Dojopolis and Psychotopia, as far as I'm aware. The Maratix forces are somewhere around the Central Plains. 501 just shouted to Kaz and can barely see Kaz's lab a fair distance away.))

501 screeches to a halt, barely holding himself on the ground, as the lab seems to sprout defenses.

"Huh. Mental note. Never tick off labguy." He holds his hands in the air and the squad stops. "Wait, wait, wait, what are we doing? We're Maratix! We don't just run in the face of suicidal odds! We prove that odds are odds are odds, and we emerge triumphant when it makes least sense!"

The assorted squad all cheers. "Now, who's with me!" The cheer dies down. "...Ah, come on. Come ooooon. Please? For, ummm... NIDS?" A few of the robots perk up. "And, um, for Kairn and Keles and Keo-te-ka! Why they all start with the same letter, I'll never know, but for the homeworlds! Not just for the Marasphere, not just for Maratix, but for the alliance! FOR THE FLOATING ARM!"

There are much louder cheers as every soldier thrusts an arm into the skies. "NOW LET'S GO GET THEM!" 501 charges zealously across the plains, his black cape billowing behind him, while the twenty soldiers watch him.

They all, as one, remember they should be following, and begin to charge with 501, yelling excitedly and with warp rifles poised to fire.

They all slow to another halt when the serpentine form of Annam flies into focus. 501 yells to the squad in Alliance-Standard-Three, a composite language designed to be translated as quickly as possible by autotranslators.

The visors in each soldier's armour, and 501's own cybernetic eyes, scrutinise the swift submar. 501 stares at the glowing sonic emitter.

Personal experience... glowy equals not good. Oh, five feathers. Five feathers indeed!

"<FIRE!>"

In almost perfect synchronisation, the soldiers scatter, and shoot at the rapid Annam. From the shiny black rifles erupts crackling, erratic cyan beams that seem to emanate otherness. The sound adds to the effect, with an accompanying cacophony of crackling and whining and screaming and screeching, the howl of the voids and the voids in the voids...

Even those who had used the weapons countless times before cringe and clamp their hands onto the rifles, fighting the urge to instead clamp them to their ears or antennae. Some of the worker robots scream involuntarily, dropping their warp rifles to the grass, scorching it to various shades of unreal colours before fading to a charred black.

The darting, noisy cyan beams of the warp rifles all focus onto one point, the point that Annam was occupying at the time they were fired. If even one beam hit it'd cause some damage. Flesh and metal were both matter, and matter did not get in the way of a focused beam of warp energy.

If, however, Annam would be hit by all twenty one rifles at the same time, then survival would be an impossibility, as the combined unstable energies would drag him across several hundred parallel universes, ripping him to shreds upon shreds, and scattering him across the ether.