(NOTE: The original idea for a newbie thread is not mine.)

OOC: This is a newbie thread. The purpose of this thread is to allow those who are unsure how to participate in an rp thread some opportunity to practice. The beginning is fairly generic and merely sets the scene, it is up to anyone posting to the thread afterwards to carry on the story, the person making the post may end up never making another post to this particular thread, they may but don't expect them to do so.

Start posting and enjoy.

IC: The lush green forest sat in silence. Only the occasional tweet of a bird gave any sign that life even existed in the emerald green wonderland.

It felt like the sort of place a great adventure could start...

Riku had slowly recovered from the Terran's magick and she got to her feet. She glared at Eclipse. "Idiot. You're as bad as me, letting yourself be controlled by an old spirit who obviously doesn't know any better. Your fight is with me because I bested you last time and I can surely do it again!" She said. She held out her hand and wielded fire in it.

"Got any bright ideas on HOW to stop 'em, gunhead?" snapped Taffy, mentally returning to her old self. "You can't rush in there without knowing what's going on."

Max bopped Taffy over the ehad with the palm of his hand. ""You idjit! I know that!" he said.

The Overlander blinked as he adjusted his specs and took a breath.

"Your'e very cocky for the way you fought this possesed soul." he said to Riku as he walked in range of Eclipse.

"I am not here to best him like a dueling craze, I am here to make sure no damage is done harm to the forest we are near. ..or anyone in general." he said as he took a breath.

Alex's ears raising as he heard the Overlanders sentence.

The Overlander took another quick breath as his hand engulfed in a neon magic.

No damage is done to the forest? Alex thought to himself, repeating the Overlanders words. This was most surprising. Although he appreciated any persons help in protecting the forest, this person was an Overlander(!). Although he had some good experiences with them and some of them who he was with were good people, especially Gavin, who had jumped in the way and took the attack aimed at Alex, and Lena and Riku (although he wasnt sure if they were proper Overlanders, he thought they were distinctly different from them), Alex had held a lot of bad experiences with Overlanders in the past, especially those who cared about the forest. All they were usually cared about in were destroying and paving a road through its charred remains as some sort of transport link to other Overlander settlements, or hurting Mobians, like the crazed Assassin.

And then there was the Overlanders magical capability. Most of them, or at least the people he had encountered had no such power and thus they would bring guns (again, Lena and Riku were exceptions, but Alex wasnt too sure if they were Overlanders in the first place), and this made him wonder if he really was a true Overlander, or something else instead.

Dont make any judgement until youre sure. Alex said, restraining a small desire to jump in and do something. He wasnt completely sure just what was affecting Eclipse and he didnt know who the Overlander was, and so, now, it would be best to stay back, and find out just what was going on.

Lunaril stepped down slowly from the collapsed tractor. He smiled as he saw the overlander without his precious robes on.

"heh, so you're a mortal human... i've already had a run in with one of your kind... and he got off easily compared to what i'm going to do to you!"

Lunaril raised both palms straight into the air and channeled more magic.

"Tempi Ixnia!"

The tractor gained a glowing blue outline and it began to shudder. The whole tractor raised form the ground and became airborn in a matter of seconds.

Lunaril's eyes flickered a sharp bright white flicker for a moment after raising the tractor, bright enough for all to see. He concnetrated further, "Garda Tempi!"

In a flicker of magical sparks and swirls, the entire Tractor began to orbit Eclipse's body, making his hair and ears sway from the breeze the massive object created.

Lunaril chuckled and then dashed forward at the overlander, he had an entire tractor for a shield now.

The group at the barn witnessed the whole ordeal witb an unsettled feeling.

-----------

Eclipse felt an incredible cold set in within the darness.

"Circus bel Dae!" he chanted as the neon green magical energy in his hand concentrated into a bolt of magic that hit the tractor - making the heavy machine fall either on or near Eclipse or as he was now, Lunaril.

"You haven't dealt with me..." he muttered angrily as he charged up more raw neon energies.

"Salos temnts!" he chanted as a large bolt of neon magic was sent towards Eclipse.

He prepared himself once more with a focus of raw energies in both of his hands.

"You've possesed whoever previous was in that body."

"Get out." he demanded as he shot one of his raw energies at the bat - a disc of energy this time.

Riku stepped back and put away her sword. If Eclipse was being controlled by this evil figure, she wondered if she could go into his mind and help him free himself. She shrugged and sat against the fence and closed her eyes.

Riku awoke and found herself standing in a dark and cold place. She looked around and sighed. "Is this Eclipse' mind? Seems to be indicitive of his dilemma but I need to help him now," She said.

OOC: Some wonderful posts being made here people, very wel thought out ones, thank you all for taking an interest in this little endavour of mine, i'll try to wrap it up so others can have a turn ;P

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IC:
Riku walked amidst the darkness, a cold chill came over her as she ventured through what she thought was a forwards direction, it was difficult to tell when all you could see was black, save for a few odd light blue flickers here and there.

She scratched her head as she stopped for a moment to devise a course of action. As she looked around she noticed something luminescent in the distance. She sprinted towards it, even though she was running quite fast, strangely the object in the distance seemed to constantly be approaching her slowly. Seeing this was the case, Riku just walked, the distant object approaching at the same speed as it was during her running.

When she got close enough, she saw that is was a very odd staircase composed of empty light blue stairs of light, forming just frameworks which, after running her hand along one, Riku found were solid steps.

Riku found the very bottom one and bega to climb up. As she did, stair at the bottom faded in a blink of white light. Riku noticed this and hastened her flight up the stairs.

As she spiralled to the very top along the stairs, she saw hanging down from the ceiling a black portal with light blue swirling amongst it. It looked very menacing, but as she looked down, she saw her stairs were still fading... and not replacing. Riku took her chances and jumped up into the portal.

Riku came straight up out of a pool of what felt like water... only without any temperature change. What was more weird, was when she walked along it and came up to land, she was perfectly dry. This realm was really starting to disorient if not distress Riku.

As she continued walking she saw something else in the distance, this time something oddly familiar. It appeared to be Eclipse, suspended by binds of shadow and light blue magic coils. Despite knowing it didn't matter how fast you ran in this realm, Riku still burst out into a sprint.

-----------

Lunaril felt a strange feeling within himself and winced at a feeling of inner pain. He flinched, and through dumb luck, in this manner dodged the magical projectiles from the stranger, although his own magical shield just went down.

"What in the blazes...." tempered Lunaril, feeling strong pain from within. He looked up to see something most peculiar, but it wasn't the magic-wielding overlander... it was the fact that the overlander girl with the sword was stationary in a zombie-like trance.

Lunaril cursed under his breath and readied some more magic into his palms.

Riku came to a stop and stared at the suspended Eclipse. He looked to be in obvious pain and had a depressed look on his face. She crouched down to look at his face. "Eclipse? Can you hear me?" She asked.

The Overlander turned to the defenseless Riku. "Eugh..." he muttered as his hands sprinted with neon green energy. "Sargon Kran!" he said as once more a magical barrier sourrounded him and Riku. Leaving the bat out.

He quickly sprinted a pulse of energy in his finers as he smirked.

"Chos tos Neir!" he yelled as the same pulse that had formerly stunned Riku swarmed at the bat.

"The stun wave should hit him...." he thought meekly as he took a quick breath.

Taffy rubbed her head where she had been smacked, glaring hotly at Max. "Do that again if you don't wanna have kids," she growled, the fur of her tail spiking out to twice its former size.

She turned back to the battle, which seemed to have simmered down quite a bit now that Riku had mysteriously gone into a trance, leaving Eclipse and the Overlander at odds and evenly matched, somehow. "Back to the point, if Eclipse is being taken over by something else, then we've got to stop him before he hurts himself more than he has. He is not in good shape, and if this keeps up he'll end up dead."

"So what are YOU gonna do 'bout it, Miss Bossy?" sneered Max.

"Watch me," snarled Taffy as she started running out into the field.

Alex held out an arm after the raccoon. "Wait, Taffy! We shouldn't run into it before we know-"

But Taffy had stopped listening. She was headed straight for Eclipse. I have no idea what I'm going up against, she thought as her feet pounded the dry grass beneath her feet. But if I can just hold him down, maybe he'll get back to normal faster. Better than sitting around bickering with Mister Musclehead back there.

At that moment, the Overlander had just finished another incantation that sense a wave of energy rippling through the air at Eclipse. Taffy felt danger flowing out of it, but far less than the danger she was directly throwing herself at in the form of Eclipse's possessed body. She pumped her legs and arms harder. I've got to help him. He tries so hard to help us-

And that was when she leapt forward, her arms outstretched as she tackled Eclipse from the side, sending them both tumbling through the grass and out of the way of the magical blast sent at them. They stopped rolling, and Eclipse broke free of Taffy's grasp and thrust her away. "Oh, it's you," said Eclipse condescendingly as he looked down at Taffy where she sat on her rear, looking up at him. "The so-called leader. You really have a way of butting into the business of others, don't you?"

"Eclipse, snap out of it!" yelled Taffy, then she had to catch her breath from that sprint, her chest heaving with gasps of air.

"Oh, so that's your motivation," sneered Eclipse, showing his fangs in a cruel smile as he raised a hand to point the palm at her. "But it's hopeless. Your wonderful light back in the girl's mind gave me the power to take over this body."

"I said snap out of-"

Eclipse snapped his fingers before he uttered an incantation, and a glowing comet of light formed just above his palm. "The boy cannot hear you. Get that through your thick, sentimental skull! I am Lunaril, and that will be the last name you ever hear spoken."

So someone else DID take over his body! thought Taffy in strange relief. Good thing it wasn' "Nice name, Loony. Did you think of that one by yourself, or did you just have a mother with a bad sense of humor?"

Lunaril ignored her, kept the palm pointing at Taffy as he turned to face the Overlander and Riku. "If you want your 'friend' unharmed, I suggest you stop plumbing my mind this instant," he threatened as the blaze of light in his hand grew stronger. "If you release the boy, I'll send this spell flying right through your leader's head. And then how will you explain to Eclipse that you killed his friend to save him?" He laughed out loud. "Oh, the irony of that alone would almost be worth it!"

And why does he keep calling me the leader? thought Taffy. I HATE the whole damsel-in-distress shtick. If I ever get the chance, I'm gonna kick this Loony guy where it counts, TWICE!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, er, barn:

Susie had gotten bored and had fallen asleep on the hay. She was snoring quietly again, leaning up against the wall upside down in what had to be an extremely uncomfortable position, yet it didn't seem to bother her in the least. Not even the noise from outside could make her jump.

(OOC note, Susie can be woken up by people deliberately trying to, but it will take direct effort)

OOC: Wow, Tergonaut, you are amazing. I was particularly stunned at how well you played my character in that last post, and the way you made him react to Taffy, i dont think even i could have made that go so smoothly, you really have some talent there.

Also, you must be able to read minds, i was actually planning on flying over to Taffy and using her as a bargaining chip anyway! WOWZERS! poor Taffy

Thanks again Tergonaut, that was extremely well done, and a great way to twist the story.

I'm sorry to everyone for not making a post myself, but i've been trapped in the hustle and bustle of juggling preperation for my mid-year exams (next week ) and working on a flash animation with two friends for a competition we're entering that closes on 6th June. So yeah, i apologise people, even when i have gotten a moment at my computer i've been too brain dead to think of anything to write!

Well, i'll write something now at least so that i dont look bad ;P
---------------------------------------------

IC:
Within the depths of Eclipse, Lunaril's voice echoed into streams of sound that flowed straight into Riku's current embodiment. She could hear him quite clearly, every detail.

"If you release the boy, I'll send this spell flying right through your leader's head. And then how will you explain to Eclipse that you killed his friend to save him?" He laughed out loud. "Oh, the irony of that alone would almost be worth it!"

Eclipse tilted his head toward Riku with great pain. He couldn't hear what was happening, the shadow bindings had cut off all of Eclipse's methods of viewing the happenings outside. However, he could clearly see Riku's worried expression. Eclipse jerked his head back into place, wincing in pain.

"Nice name, Loony. Did you think of that one by yourself, or did you just have a mother with a bad sense of humor?" Taffy's apparent comment made the Overlander Mage curse lightly. Another person had come, to fight or help but let alone it still meant that that person...that female. The voice sounded femmine enough. THis female had endangered herself.

The Overlander turned his glance to Taffy's behavior in to getting on the field in which Lunaril had been using for target practice. He raised a eyebrow and spoke. "Hey, fur! Either your crazy comming out here, or you got a death wish." but before he could comment any longer, another fur raced out on the field.

"Hey, girly!" a voice called out in which caused Taffy to roll her eyes for that momment. Max.

"You gots'a death wish or sumthin?" he crankily retorted as he withdrew his futuristic blaster he had gotten from Riku earlier in the day.
"Eclipse is'all possesed and this just gonna make his enity either psycotic or amused by you comming out here as a live target." he said with a slight hint of compassion. He turned to the Bat and then to the Overlander. The red hedgehog taking a quick breath.

"What a day...." he mumbuled under his breath. "First Caine disappears, then I get mouthy wit Riku, and now this...shizit.." Max thought mentally, him irritated for the momment. "What a day this has become...." he mumbuled under his breath again.

Riku growled at Lunaril's warning. She was about to rip Eclipse free but reconsidered it. She then remembered her sword and sent a mental message to Lena to grab it. She then turned to Eclipse. "We'll get you free Eclipse. Just wait," She said. She smirked. "And when you are free, I'll give this evil entity the beatdown he so deserves," She said.

Lena received the mental message from Riku and she looked at the sword. It seemed to have the same powers as the Everblade, which she pulled out. Eclipse had his attention toward the others for the moment and she began to sneak over in an attempt to stop Eclipse.

Alex rolled his eyes and sighed inwardly. First he had failed to stop Taffy from running into the situation and now being caught as a hostage, and then, Max had just ran into the situation, although at least he was armed. What that gun would do against two people who were throwing magical blasts and causing explosions each way would actually do was unknown. He sighed again.

"Not good, not good..." he mumbled, as the others within the barn came to look at the situation and gave a momentary glance towards Alex, before nodding in agreement.

"Not looking good, chana." Bucky said, his arms folded against her chest as she too looked on at the situation. "Any ideas?"

"Not a one." Alex replied curtly, frowning as he looked to the ground and knelt down slightly, feeling the ground. "Just need to be... ready, in case."

"In case of what?" asked one of the others.

"Anything." Alex once again replied, closing his eyes and keeping them shut for a short while.

OOC: Thanks, Eclipse. I have a lot better grip of villain characters than I do of main characters at this point, honestly, it seems easier to come up with villain dialogue than it does to come up with heroic dialogue at times. I actually feel bad that I haven't featured some of the other characters more prominently in my posts, seeing as how all of the characters have proven to be complex individuals with very interesting experiences and backgrounds, and abilities that could be all too useful in a situation like this.

In fact, I've gotten some ideas for what to do next based purely on what I know individual characters are (or could be) capable of.

BTW, I found this kinda humorous, hope you'll excuse my silliness:

Quote:

---

"Not looking good, chana." Bucky said, his arms folded against her chest as she too looked on at the situation.

---

Note the "his arms" part. The only male mentioned previous to this incident was...gasp...Alex! You dirty bunny, you! 😛

Okay, I'm done being silly for now.

IC:
Alex opened his eyes, feeling helpless once again. So far, he had been unable to help time and time again, only contributing what he felt was a miniscule amount to the group. Taffy was good at taking the initiative, Eclipse had his magic, Riku had her powers, and what did that leave him? He didn't even have his bow to help him in this situation. How could he hope to stand up against the evil force that had taken over Eclipse's body?

As he watched, he saw that Lunaril's eyes were still off of Taffy, who was walking on her hands and feet with her legs toward the bat. A brief glimmer of hope punctuated his desperation as he realized what she was trying to do. She's going to trip him up! Way to go!

But then Lunaril turned back to Taffy, his grin reflecting moonlight even at the distance that Alex could see him. Even though he looked battered, he held himself like he didn't feel his hurt wing. "Nice try, woman, but you won't work as a bargaining chip unless you're helpless."

The book at Lunaril's belt swung free, levitating open next to him as he uttered another incantation and used his other hand to gesture it at Taffy. The ground underneath her glowed with a blue circle of arcane translucent runes, and Taffy suddenly started to float in mid-air! "What on Mobius is going on?" shouted Taffy angrily as she thrashed at Lunaril, only to find that she was just a few inches too short of him.

"Gravity magic, of course. You're now helpless, unable to move by your own free will," explained Lunaril calmly as Taffy tried to move through the air but ended up looking like she was trying to doggie-paddle. "With nothing to hold you down, you can't avoid my magic attack even if you wanted to. Do you hear that, girl? If you don't get out of my mind this instant, I'll blast your vermin friend!"

Gravity magic holding her up? There's got to be something I can do! thought Alex as he saw Taffy stop struggling, her feet unable to reach the ground to push her out of danger's way.

OOC: And I leave it there since the library doesn't give more than an hour to do stuff per day. Hope this gives you some ideas to work with!

OOC: Terg, I have only one thing to say about that... XD!!!

IC: Though Alex had started to approach the situation with a rationality and careful consideration of what to do given the circumstances, now, at this point, he began to let instinct take over. He didn't know how well he would be able to do, but he had to try, just like the overs were. He did have a slight plan in mind though, but he had o start subconsciously guessing himself if it would actually work.

"Whatever." Alex muttered quietly to himself, as he began charging towards Taffy and Eclipse, but more specifically, the rune area holding Taffy. He was planning on jumping through there and grabbing onto Taffy, hoping that even though the spell kept the wearer floating in the air it would only maybe push him up from the ground a little bit more, and that his momentum would be enough to carry him through and out.

He also began hoping that Lunaril wouldn't be able to see thw swiftly moving rabbit as his attention was also placed on Max, Riku and the strange Overlander, and also that the spell rune didn't instantly trap anyone that was over it. If he jumped through it without landing on it then hopefully he would be alright... as Alex had seen and of limited experience of Eclipse's magic, was that these specific spells only had really an effect on a target if they were touching the ground. He hoped that this was the case, and that he would be able to rescue Taffy.

Even though it was a pretty foolish thing to try, Lena jumped at Eclipse and swung her sword at him, hoping to wound him and free Taffy for the moment.

Riku heard Lunaril's second demand and smirked. "What's to stop me from taking control of Eclipse right now? I may not have some of my powers but I still know all the magick I learned from A.J," She said. "I don't even care what you do to Taffy so it doesn't matter to me if you kill her or not," She said.

OOC: Yes! I was expecting someone to pick up on the whole Taffy floating thing, I was originally thinking of having increased gravity to hold her into place but then I was like, "Naw, I really want to give others the opportunity to show their stuff. Besides, it'd be cooler if he used reverse gravity!" I hope it wasn't too heavy a hint or anything, I don't want to insult anybody's intelligence.

IC:
Taffy really wasn't in the mood to hear random insults from Max. "You can be a real jerk sometimes, you know that?" she managed before she flipped over by an accidental loss of balance. She flipped upright again, but her cheeks burned out of embarrassment at the lack of dignity her current position gave her. I'd give him a tongue-lashing if I could just sit still for a moment longer! she thought angrily, but then she saw him dashing forward at Lunaril, and she could see what he was doing. What the, he can't be serious...

Lunaril noticed Lena coming at him and he bit off a cold, maniacal laugh. "You fool! Your friend's life ends NOW!" It took little more than a thought to send the power-packed comet flying at Taffy, aimed directly for her chest.

But then Alex leapt forward, yelled "Gotcha!" as he grabbed Taffy in mid-air and tumbled out of the glowing magic circle. The rabbit and raccoon both rolled as they hit the ground. The comet exploded harmlessly against a boulder standing by the forest.

Lunaril's eyes were wide with anger, but he cried out in surprise as Max slammed his fist against the side of the bat's head. He fell down to the ground, his head ringing as he struggled to get up, but the feeling of cold steel against his neck made him pause as he looked up to see Lena's confident smile alongside Max's scowl and pistol. "This ends now. Let the bat go," growled Max, deliberately making the gun click to show it was ready to fire.

"Never," rasped Lunaril, his crescent eyes blazing with unholy wrath. "Even if you beat me back this time, the boy will always be mine until my will swallows his." He coughed, a drop of blood emerging from the corner of his mouth. "You are only delaying...the inevitable."

Taffy started pushing herself up to her feet when she looked up and saw Alex standing above her, offering a hand to her with a smile. "Need a lift?"

"Already had one," joked Taffy, though she took the offered hand and allowed Alex to pull her up to her feet. She started to walk off toward Lunaril, but she stopped after a few steps and looked back at Alex, brushing some of her hair out of her eyes. "Alex? Thanks. You just saved my life."

She immediately turned and started walking off very professionally. She was deliberately avoiding his reaction, and that was the last she would say about what had just happened if she could help it. Really bothers me that I couldn't get him myself, she thought, her independent streak reasserting itself. If I had just been a little faster, I might've taken Loony there down myself. If it hadn't been for Alex and Max...

OOC: And there you are. I wanted to involve some of the others into this, but I also don't want to drag this part longer than Eclipse had intended for his character's sake. I'll try to involve everyone more as we go along, we've got a lot of interesting characters all mixed up together here after all and I want to see all the plot twists I know you guys are planning.

Great job everyone, keep it cookin'.

Oh, and if anyone every catches me doing a blooper, it's fair game. 😛

EDIT: Changed things around a little, shouldn't affect things too terribly.

OOC: Ignore

OOC: Ooooh, sorry for the little disappearance folks! Didn't wanna ruin your fun! xD

IC:

Karya had fallen asleep as well, right before Riku and co. had come back from their little mind adventure. With Eckli snuggled up beside her, she snoozed contentedly, so tired that not even a train wreck could wake her. This caused Zephron the chuckle a little at his friend's tiredness, his arms folded. The bat had decided that a little sleep would be good for him as well, especially since he was wounded from Kohle's ambush a day or two ago. Jim had given him some more bandages, in which he had changed and re-dressed his wounds.

Zeph sighed, leaning against the wooden beam of the barn. He wondered...just what was going on out there?

Alex nodded at Taffy's thanks, pleased with how the woman felt and glad that she was safe. He could see slightly though that something bothered her as she turned around, but he wasn't going to press forth and ask questions. Instead, he turned to look at Lunaril and the situation concerning him.

Riku grabbed the magical webbing that held Eclipse but she was unable to free him. She looked at him. "Come on Eclipse. I can't do this alone. I need your help and I'm sure that Lunaril guy might be showing up soon," She said.

OOC: Okay, people, we've lost some info but the thread's still here. Please post ASAP so we can know who is still participating in this thread. Even if you want to discontinue this RP, post and let us know so we don't wait on you.

Still want to continue the RP so I'm still in it...

OOC: Eclipse here, still interested in the campaign. oh and by the way, before anything serious happened to Forest of the future, i went to the liberty of backing up the 2 most recent pages (they were all that remained at the time). i will make my own post later, for now here is the most recent 2 pages before the hack-attack.

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tornadot
Free as the Wind
Posts: 2980
(5/24/05 4:42 pm)
Reply &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Re: And now for a brief humorous interlude... Riku had slowly recovered from the Terran's magick and she got to her feet. She glared at Eclipse. "Idiot. You're as bad as me, letting yourself be controlled by an old spirit who obviously doesn't know any better. Your fight is with me because I bested you last time and I can surely do it again!" She said. She held out her hand and wielded fire in it.

Mike1204
HUZZAH!
Posts: 1213
(5/24/05 6:30 pm)
Reply
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Re: And now for a brief humorous interlude... "Got any bright ideas on HOW to stop 'em, gunhead?" snapped Taffy, mentally returning to her old self. "You can't rush in there without knowing what's going on."

Max bopped Taffy over the ehad with the palm of his hand. ""You idjit! I know that!" he said.

__________________

The Overlander blinked as he adjusted his specs and took a breath.

"Your'e very cocky for the way you fought this possesed soul." he said to Riku as he walked in range of Eclipse.

"I am not here to best him like a dueling craze, I am here to make sure no damage is done harm to the forest we are near. ..or anyone in general." he said as he took a breath.

Alex's ears raising as he heard the Overlanders sentence.

The Overlander took another quick breath as his hand engulfed in a neon magic.

Pachamac
HQ Forumer

Posts: 1019
(5/25/05 6:50 am)
Reply &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Re: And now for a brief humorous interlude... No damage is done to the forest? Alex thought to himself, repeating the Overlanders words. This was most surprising. Although he appreciated any persons help in protecting the forest, this person was an Overlander(!). Although he had some good experiences with them and some of them who he was with were good people, especially Gavin, who had jumped in the way and took the attack aimed at Alex, and Lena and Riku (although he wasnt sure if they were proper Overlanders, he thought they were distinctly different from them), Alex had held a lot of bad experiences with Overlanders in the past, especially those who cared about the forest. All they were usually cared about in were destroying and paving a road through its charred remains as some sort of transport link to other Overlander settlements, or hurting Mobians, like the crazed Assassin.

And then there was the Overlanders magical capability. Most of them, or at least the people he had encountered had no such power and thus they would bring guns (again, Lena and Riku were exceptions, but Alex wasnt too sure if they were Overlanders in the first place), and this made him wonder if he really was a true Overlander, or something else instead.

Dont make any judgement until youre sure. Alex said, restraining a small desire to jump in and do something. He wasnt completely sure just what was affecting Eclipse and he didnt know who the Overlander was, and so, now, it would be best to stay back, and find out just what was going on.

Eclipse James
Net Navi

Posts: 147
(5/25/05 7:23 am)
Reply &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp 'lectric collision Lunaril stepped down slowly from the collapsed tractor. He smiled as he saw the overlander without his precious robes on.

"heh, so you're a mortal human... i've already had a run in with one of your kind... and he got off easily compared to what i'm going to do to you!"

Lunaril raised both palms straight into the air and channeled more magic.

"Tempi Ixnia!"

The tractor gained a glowing blue outline and it began to shudder. The whole tractor raised form the ground and became airborn in a matter of seconds.

Lunaril's eyes flickered a sharp bright white flicker for a moment after raising the tractor, bright enough for all to see. He concnetrated further, "Garda Tempi!"

In a flicker of magical sparks and swirls, the entire Tractor began to orbit Eclipse's body, making his hair and ears sway from the breeze the massive object created.

Lunaril chuckled and then dashed forward at the overlander, he had an entire tractor for a shield now.

The group at the barn witnessed the whole ordeal witb an unsettled feeling.

-----------

Eclipse felt an incredible cold set in within the darness.

Mike1204
HUZZAH!
Posts: 1217
(5/25/05 7:58 am)
Reply
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Re: 'lectric collision "Circus bel Dae!" he chanted as the neon green magical energy in his hand concentrated into a bolt of magic that hit the tractor - making the heavy machine fall either on or near Eclipse or as he was now, Lunaril.

"You haven't dealt with me..." he muttered angrily as he charged up more raw neon energies.

"Salos temnts!" he chanted as a large bolt of neon magic was sent towards Eclipse.

He prepared himself once more with a focus of raw energies in both of his hands.

"You've possesed whoever previous was in that body."

"Get out." he demanded as he shot one of his raw energies at the bat - a disc of energy this time.

tornadot
Free as the Wind
Posts: 2981
(5/25/05 11:08 am)
Reply &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Re: 'lectric collision Riku stepped back and put away her sword. If Eclipse was being controlled by this evil figure, she wondered if she could go into his mind and help him free himself. She shrugged and sat against the fence and closed her eyes.

Riku awoke and found herself standing in a dark and cold place. She looked around and sighed. "Is this Eclipse' mind? Seems to be indicitive of his dilemma but I need to help him now," She said.

Eclipse James
Net Navi

Posts: 148
(5/25/05 11:43 am)
Reply &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Re: 'lectric collision OOC: Some wonderful posts being made here people, very wel thought out ones, thank you all for taking an interest in this little endavour of mine, i'll try to wrap it up so others can have a turn ;P

-----------
IC:
Riku walked amidst the darkness, a cold chill came over her as she ventured through what she thought was a forwards direction, it was difficult to tell when all you could see was black, save for a few odd light blue flickers here and there.

She scratched her head as she stopped for a moment to devise a course of action. As she looked around she noticed something luminescent in the distance. She sprinted towards it, even though she was running quite fast, strangely the object in the distance seemed to constantly be approaching her slowly. Seeing this was the case, Riku just walked, the distant object approaching at the same speed as it was during her running.

When she got close enough, she saw that is was a very odd staircase composed of empty light blue stairs of light, forming just frameworks which, after running her hand along one, Riku found were solid steps.

Riku found the very bottom one and bega to climb up. As she did, stair at the bottom faded in a blink of white light. Riku noticed this and hastened her flight up the stairs.

As she spiralled to the very top along the stairs, she saw hanging down from the ceiling a black portal with light blue swirling amongst it. It looked very menacing, but as she looked down, she saw her stairs were still fading... and not replacing. Riku took her chances and jumped up into the portal.

Riku came straight up out of a pool of what felt like water... only without any temperature change. What was more weird, was when she walked along it and came up to land, she was perfectly dry. This realm was really starting to disorient if not distress Riku.

As she continued walking she saw something else in the distance, this time something oddly familiar. It appeared to be Eclipse, suspended by binds of shadow and light blue magic coils. Despite knowing it didn't matter how fast you ran in this realm, Riku still burst out into a sprint.

-----------

Lunaril felt a strange feeling within himself and winced at a feeling of inner pain. He flinched, and through dumb luck, in this manner dodged the magical projectiles from the stranger, although his own magical shield just went down.

"What in the blazes...." tempered Lunaril, feeling strong pain from within. He looked up to see something most peculiar, but it wasn't the magic-wielding overlander... it was the fact that the overlander girl with the sword was stationary in a zombie-like trance.

Lunaril cursed under his breath and readied some more magic into his palms.

tornadot
Free as the Wind
Posts: 2983
(5/25/05 12:16 pm)
Reply
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Re: 'lectric collision Riku came to a stop and stared at the suspended Eclipse. He looked to be in obvious pain and had a depressed look on his face. She crouched down to look at his face. "Eclipse? Can you hear me?" She asked.

Mike1204
HUZZAH!
Posts: 1219
(5/25/05 3:56 pm)
Reply &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Soon, we shall have our Revenge. The Overlander turned to the defenseless Riku. "Eugh..." he muttered as his hands sprinted with neon green energy. "Sargon Kran!" he said as once more a magical barrier sourrounded him and Riku. Leaving the bat out.

He quickly sprinted a pulse of energy in his finers as he smirked.

"Chos tos Neir!" he yelled as the same pulse that had formerly stunned Riku swarmed at the bat.

"The stun wave should hit him...." he thought meekly as he took a quick breath.

Tergonaut
Superhero

Posts: 1709
(5/26/05 9:41 pm)
Reply &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Oh great, more blastyness... Taffy rubbed her head where she had been smacked, glaring hotly at Max. "Do that again if you don't wanna have kids," she growled, the fur of her tail spiking out to twice its former size.

She turned back to the battle, which seemed to have simmered down quite a bit now that Riku had mysteriously gone into a trance, leaving Eclipse and the Overlander at odds and evenly matched, somehow. "Back to the point, if Eclipse is being taken over by something else, then we've got to stop him before he hurts himself more than he has. He is not in good shape, and if this keeps up he'll end up dead."

"So what are YOU gonna do 'bout it, Miss Bossy?" sneered Max.

"Watch me," snarled Taffy as she started running out into the field.

Alex held out an arm after the raccoon. "Wait, Taffy! We shouldn't run into it before we know-"

But Taffy had stopped listening. She was headed straight for Eclipse. I have no idea what I'm going up against, she thought as her feet pounded the dry grass beneath her feet. But if I can just hold him down, maybe he'll get back to normal faster. Better than sitting around bickering with Mister Musclehead back there.

At that moment, the Overlander had just finished another incantation that sense a wave of energy rippling through the air at Eclipse. Taffy felt danger flowing out of it, but far less than the danger she was directly throwing herself at in the form of Eclipse's possessed body. She pumped her legs and arms harder. I've got to help him. He tries so hard to help us-

And that was when she leapt forward, her arms outstretched as she tackled Eclipse from the side, sending them both tumbling through the grass and out of the way of the magical blast sent at them. They stopped rolling, and Eclipse broke free of Taffy's grasp and thrust her away. "Oh, it's you," said Eclipse condescendingly as he looked down at Taffy where she sat on her rear, looking up at him. "The so-called leader. You really have a way of butting into the business of others, don't you?"

"Eclipse, snap out of it!" yelled Taffy, then she had to catch her breath from that sprint, her chest heaving with gasps of air.

"Oh, so that's your motivation," sneered Eclipse, showing his fangs in a cruel smile as he raised a hand to point the palm at her. "But it's hopeless. Your wonderful light back in the girl's mind gave me the power to take over this body."

"I said snap out of-"

Eclipse snapped his fingers before he uttered an incantation, and a glowing comet of light formed just above his palm. "The boy cannot hear you. Get that through your thick, sentimental skull! I am Lunaril, and that will be the last name you ever hear spoken."

So someone else DID take over his body! thought Taffy in strange relief. Good thing it wasn' "Nice name, Loony. Did you think of that one by yourself, or did you just have a mother with a bad sense of humor?"

Lunaril ignored her, kept the palm pointing at Taffy as he turned to face the Overlander and Riku. "If you want your 'friend' unharmed, I suggest you stop plumbing my mind this instant," he threatened as the blaze of light in his hand grew stronger. "If you release the boy, I'll send this spell flying right through your leader's head. And then how will you explain to Eclipse that you killed his friend to save him?" He laughed out loud. "Oh, the irony of that alone would almost be worth it!"

And why does he keep calling me the leader? thought Taffy. I HATE the whole damsel-in-distress shtick. If I ever get the chance, I'm gonna kick this Loony guy where it counts, TWICE!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, er, barn:

Susie had gotten bored and had fallen asleep on the hay. She was snoring quietly again, leaning up against the wall upside down in what had to be an extremely uncomfortable position, yet it didn't seem to bother her in the least. Not even the noise from outside could make her jump.

(OOC note, Susie can be woken up by people deliberately trying to, but it will take direct effort)

Eclipse James
Net Navi

Posts: 149
(5/27/05 3:58 am)
Reply &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Re: Oh great, more blastyness... OOC: Wow, Tergonaut, you are amazing. I was particularly stunned at how well you played my character in that last post, and the way you made him react to Taffy, i dont think even i could have made that go so smoothly, you really have some talent there.

Also, you must be able to read minds, i was actually planning on flying over to Taffy and using her as a bargaining chip anyway! WOWZERS! poor Taffy

Thanks again Tergonaut, that was extremely well done, and a great way to twist the story.

I'm sorry to everyone for not making a post myself, but i've been trapped in the hustle and bustle of juggling preperation for my mid-year exams (next week ) and working on a flash animation with two friends for a competition we're entering that closes on 6th June. So yeah, i apologise people, even when i have gotten a moment at my computer i've been too brain dead to think of anything to write!

Well, i'll write something now at least so that i dont look bad ;P
---------------------------------------------

IC:
Within the depths of Eclipse, Lunaril's voice echoed into streams of sound that flowed straight into Riku's current embodiment. She could hear him quite clearly, every detail.

"If you release the boy, I'll send this spell flying right through your leader's head. And then how will you explain to Eclipse that you killed his friend to save him?" He laughed out loud. "Oh, the irony of that alone would almost be worth it!"

Eclipse tilted his head toward Riku with great pain. He couldn't hear what was happening, the shadow bindings had cut off all of Eclipse's methods of viewing the happenings outside. However, he could clearly see Riku's worried expression. Eclipse jerked his head back into place, wincing in pain.

Edited by: Eclipse James at: 5/27/05 4:01 am
Mike1204
HUZZAH!
Posts: 1229
(5/27/05 4:18 am)
Reply
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Re: Oh great, more blastyness... "Nice name, Loony. Did you think of that one by yourself, or did you just have a mother with a bad sense of humor?" Taffy's apparent comment made the Overlander Mage curse lightly. Another person had come, to fight or help but let alone it still meant that that person...that female. The voice sounded femmine enough. THis female had endangered herself.

The Overlander turned his glance to Taffy's behavior in to getting on the field in which Lunaril had been using for target practice. He raised a eyebrow and spoke. "Hey, fur! Either your crazy comming out here, or you got a death wish." but before he could comment any longer, another fur raced out on the field.

"Hey, girly!" a voice called out in which caused Taffy to roll her eyes for that momment. Max.

"You gots'a death wish or sumthin?" he crankily retorted as he withdrew his futuristic blaster he had gotten from Riku earlier in the day.
"Eclipse is'all possesed and this just gonna make his enity either psycotic or amused by you comming out here as a live target." he said with a slight hint of compassion. He turned to the Bat and then to the Overlander. The red hedgehog taking a quick breath.

"What a day...." he mumbuled under his breath. "First Caine disappears, then I get mouthy wit Riku, and now this...shizit.." Max thought mentally, him irritated for the momment. "What a day this has become...." he mumbuled under his breath again.

Edited by: Mike1204 at: 5/27/05 5:55 am
tornadot
Free as the Wind
Posts: 2988
(5/27/05 11:08 am)
Reply &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Re: Oh great, more blastyness... Riku growled at Lunaril's warning. She was about to rip Eclipse free but reconsidered it. She then remembered her sword and sent a mental message to Lena to grab it. She then turned to Eclipse. "We'll get you free Eclipse. Just wait," She said. She smirked. "And when you are free, I'll give this evil entity the beatdown he so deserves," She said.

Lena received the mental message from Riku and she looked at the sword. It seemed to have the same powers as the Everblade, which she pulled out. Eclipse had his attention toward the others for the moment and she began to sneak over in an attempt to stop Eclipse.

Pachamac
HQ Forumer

Posts: 1020
(5/27/05 11:41 am)
Reply &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Re: Oh great, more blastyness... Alex rolled his eyes and sighed inwardly. First he had failed to stop Taffy from running into the situation and now being caught as a hostage, and then, Max had just ran into the situation, although at least he was armed. What that gun would do against two people who were throwing magical blasts and causing explosions each way would actually do was unknown. He sighed again.

"Not good, not good..." he mumbled, as the others within the barn came to look at the situation and gave a momentary glance towards Alex, before nodding in agreement.

"Not looking good, chana." Bucky said, his arms folded against her chest as she too looked on at the situation. "Any ideas?"

"Not a one." Alex replied curtly, frowning as he looked to the ground and knelt down slightly, feeling the ground. "Just need to be... ready, in case."

"In case of what?" asked one of the others.

"Anything." Alex once again replied, closing his eyes and keeping them shut for a short while.

Edited by: Pachamac at: 5/28/05 4:48 am
Tergonaut
Superhero

Posts: 1712
(5/27/05 5:58 pm)
Reply &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp A daring ploy... OOC: Thanks, Eclipse. I have a lot better grip of villain characters than I do of main characters at this point, honestly, it seems easier to come up with villain dialogue than it does to come up with heroic dialogue at times. I actually feel bad that I haven't featured some of the other characters more prominently in my posts, seeing as how all of the characters have proven to be complex individuals with very interesting experiences and backgrounds, and abilities that could be all too useful in a situation like this.

In fact, I've gotten some ideas for what to do next based purely on what I know individual characters are (or could be) capable of.

BTW, I found this kinda humorous, hope you'll excuse my silliness:

Quote:"Not looking good, chana." Bucky said, his arms folded against her chest as she too looked on at the situation.

Note the "his arms" part. The only male mentioned previous to this incident was...gasp...Alex! You dirty bunny, you! 😛

Okay, I'm done being silly for now.

IC:
Alex opened his eyes, feeling helpless once again. So far, he had been unable to help time and time again, only contributing what he felt was a miniscule amount to the group. Taffy was good at taking the initiative, Eclipse had his magic, Riku had her powers, and what did that leave him? He didn't even have his bow to help him in this situation. How could he hope to stand up against the evil force that had taken over Eclipse's body?

As he watched, he saw that Lunaril's eyes were still off of Taffy, who was walking on her hands and feet with her legs toward the bat. A brief glimmer of hope punctuated his desperation as he realized what she was trying to do. She's going to trip him up! Way to go!

But then Lunaril turned back to Taffy, his grin reflecting moonlight even at the distance that Alex could see him. Even though he looked battered, he held himself like he didn't feel his hurt wing. "Nice try, woman, but you won't work as a bargaining chip unless you're helpless."

The book at Lunaril's belt swung free, levitating open next to him as he uttered another incantation and used his other hand to gesture it at Taffy. The ground underneath her glowed with a blue circle of arcane translucent runes, and Taffy suddenly started to float in mid-air! "What on Mobius is going on?" shouted Taffy angrily as she thrashed at Lunaril, only to find that she was just a few inches too short of him.

"Gravity magic, of course. You're now helpless, unable to move by your own free will," explained Lunaril calmly as Taffy tried to move through the air but ended up looking like she was trying to doggie-paddle. "With nothing to hold you down, you can't avoid my magic attack even if you wanted to. Do you hear that, girl? If you don't get out of my mind this instant, I'll blast your vermin friend!"

Gravity magic holding her up? There's got to be something I can do! thought Alex as he saw Taffy stop struggling, her feet unable to reach the ground to push her out of danger's way.

OOC: And I leave it there since the library doesn't give more than an hour to do stuff per day. Hope this gives you some ideas to work with!

Pachamac
HQ Forumer

Posts: 1021
(5/28/05 4:46 am)
Reply &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Re: A daring ploy... OOC: Terg, I have only one thing to say about that... XD!!!

IC: Though Alex had started to approach the situation with a rationality and careful consideration of what to do given the circumstances, now, at this point, he began to let instinct take over. He didn't know how well he would be able to do, but he had to try, just like the overs were. He did have a slight plan in mind though, but he had o start subconsciously guessing himself if it would actually work.

"Whatever." Alex muttered quietly to himself, as he began charging towards Taffy and Eclipse, but more specifically, the rune area holding Taffy. He was planning on jumping through there and grabbing onto Taffy, hoping that even though the spell kept the wearer floating in the air it would only maybe push him up from the ground a little bit more, and that his momentum would be enough to carry him through and out.

He also began hoping that Lunaril wouldn't be able to see thw swiftly moving rabbit as his attention was also placed on Max, Riku and the strange Overlander, and also that the spell rune didn't instantly trap anyone that was over it. If he jumped through it without landing on it then hopefully he would be alright... as Alex had seen and of limited experience of Eclipse's magic, was that these specific spells only had really an effect on a target if they were touching the ground. He hoped that this was the case, and that he would be able to rescue Taffy.

tornadot
Free as the Wind
Posts: 2989
(5/28/05 6:39 pm)
Reply &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Re: A daring ploy... Even though it was a pretty foolish thing to try, Lena jumped at Eclipse and swung her sword at him, hoping to wound him and free Taffy for the moment.

Riku heard Lunaril's second demand and smirked. "What's to stop me from taking control of Eclipse right now? I may not have some of my powers but I still know all the magick I learned from A.J," She said. "I don't even care what you do to Taffy so it doesn't matter to me if you kill her or not," She said.

Tergonaut
Superhero

Posts: 1713
(5/28/05 11:28 pm)
Reply &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp YES!! And other news. OOC: Yes! I was expecting someone to pick up on the whole Taffy floating thing, I was originally thinking of having increased gravity to hold her into place but then I was like, "Naw, I really want to give others the opportunity to show their stuff. Besides, it'd be cooler if he used reverse gravity!" I hope it wasn't too heavy a hint or anything, I don't want to insult anybody's intelligence.

IC:
Taffy really wasn't in the mood to hear random insults from Max. "You can be a real jerk sometimes, you know that?" she managed before she flipped over by an accidental loss of balance. She flipped upright again, but her cheeks burned out of embarrassment at the lack of dignity her current position gave her. I'd give him a tongue-lashing if I could just sit still for a moment longer! she thought angrily, but then she saw him dashing forward at Lunaril, and she could see what he was doing. What the, he can't be serious...

Lunaril noticed Lena coming at him and he bit off a cold, maniacal laugh. "You fool! Your friend's life ends NOW!" It took little more than a thought to send the power-packed comet flying at Taffy, aimed directly for her chest.

But then Alex leapt forward, yelled "Gotcha!" as he grabbed Taffy in mid-air and tumbled out of the glowing magic circle. The rabbit and raccoon both rolled as they hit the ground. The comet exploded harmlessly against a boulder standing by the forest.

Lunaril's eyes were wide with anger, but he cried out in surprise as Max slammed his fist against the side of the bat's head. He fell down to the ground, his head ringing as he struggled to get up, but the feeling of cold steel against his neck made him pause as he looked up to see Lena's confident smile alongside Max's scowl and pistol. "This ends now. Let the bat go," growled Max, deliberately making the gun click to show it was ready to fire.

"Never," rasped Lunaril, his crescent eyes blazing with unholy wrath. "Even if you beat me back this time, the boy will always be mine until my will swallows his." He coughed, a drop of blood emerging from the corner of his mouth. "You are only delaying...the inevitable."

Taffy started pushing herself up to her feet when she looked up and saw Alex standing above her, offering a hand to her with a smile. "Need a lift?"

"Already had one," joked Taffy, though she took the offered hand and allowed Alex to pull her up to her feet. She started to walk off toward Lunaril, but she stopped after a few steps and looked back at Alex, brushing some of her hair out of her eyes. "Alex? Thanks. You just saved my life."

She immediately turned and started walking off very professionally. She was deliberately avoiding his reaction, and that was the last she would say about what had just happened if she could help it. Really bothers me that I couldn't get him myself, she thought, her independent streak reasserting itself. If I had just been a little faster, I might've taken Loony there down myself. If it hadn't been for Alex and Max...

OOC: And there you are. I wanted to involve some of the others into this, but I also don't want to drag this part longer than Eclipse had intended for his character's sake. I'll try to involve everyone more as we go along, we've got a lot of interesting characters all mixed up together here after all and I want to see all the plot twists I know you guys are planning.

Great job everyone, keep it cookin'.

Oh, and if anyone every catches me doing a blooper, it's fair game. 😛

EDIT: Changed things around a little, shouldn't affect things too terribly.

Edited by: Tergonaut at: 5/30/05 4:00 pm
Mike1204
HUZZAH!
Posts: 1231
(5/29/05 12:14 am)
Reply
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Re: YES!! And other news. OOC: Ignore

Edited by: Mike1204 at: 5/30/05 2:56 pm
Shadow Lady
NO!! Pie are ROUND,
CORNBREAD is square!!
Posts: 1253
(5/29/05 12:56 pm)
Reply
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Re: YES!! And other news. OOC: Ooooh, sorry for the little disappearance folks! Didn't wanna ruin your fun! xD

IC:

Karya had fallen asleep as well, right before Riku and co. had come back from their little mind adventure. With Eckli snuggled up beside her, she snoozed contentedly, so tired that not even a train wreck could wake her. This caused Zephron the chuckle a little at his friend's tiredness, his arms folded. The bat had decided that a little sleep would be good for him as well, especially since he was wounded from Kohle's ambush a day or two ago. Jim had given him some more bandages, in which he had changed and re-dressed his wounds.

Zeph sighed, leaning against the wooden beam of the barn. He wondered...just what was going on out there?

Pachamac
HQ Forumer

Posts: 1028
(5/30/05 12:54 pm)
Reply &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Re: YES!! And other news. Alex nodded at Taffy's thanks, pleased with how the woman felt and glad that she was safe. He could see slightly though that something bothered her as she turned around, but he wasn't going to press forth and ask questions. Instead, he turned to look at Lunaril and the situation concerning him.

tornadot
Free as the Wind
Posts: 2994
(5/30/05 4:49 pm)
Reply
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Re: YES!! And other news. Riku grabbed the magical webbing that held Eclipse but she was unable to free him. She looked at him. "Come on Eclipse. I can't do this alone. I need your help and I'm sure that Lunaril guy might be showing up soon," She said.
Eclipse looked up at her, looking slightly groggy and she smirked. She tried again to rip him free but a mysterious jolt hit her and she let them go. She rubbed her hands and sighed. "Lunaril's doing," She muttered.

Edited by: tornadot at: 5/31/05 6:02 pm

OOC: Okay, we've got Torn, Jimmy, and moi. I think Pachamac is still on vacation, don't know what happened to the others. I'll be honest, this thread was kinda crowded as it was, so maybe it's nice that the hack culled the herd, so to speak.

Thanks James for the posts, that really helps get a better picture of what happened earlier. Really 'preciate it.

I'm going to take a little liberty here and try to kick this back up.

IC:
Taffy joined Max, Lena, and Alex around Lunaril's fallen body. His glowing eyes radiated his indignant temperament. "Fools...all of you are fools. It is only a matter of time before I come back, and you cannot stop me because to do so, you would have to harm the boy." His eyes flashed dangerously at Taffy, to her surprise. "And you won't let yourself do that."

He coughed, then laid back onto the ground, his eyes closed. "Only a matter of time..."

Deep within Eclipse's unconsciousness, Riku stood glaring at the lines of power that entangled Eclipse's spirit. But then their blue glow dissipated, and the lines faded away, releasing Eclipse. Riku caught Eclipse in her arms. "Hey, are you okay?"

Eclipse's eyes slowly opened halfway, their regular yellow color showing through. "Is, is it over? He nearly had me that time...don't know how much longer I can hold off..."

Riku supported Eclipse in her strong arms, frighteningly strong all of a sudden inside of Eclipse's mind. "Look, don't worry about that now. The important thing is that you held him off for now, and now we can both wake up. The others will be waiting."

"Others?" asked Eclipse, dazed. "Oh, right..."

The darkness that had surrounded them was suddenly replaced by light, and the two were lifted up and vanished, leaving only a sparkling mist behind them.

Taffy blinked twice, trying to shake the afterimages of Lunaril from her mind. For that brief moment, she could see the real Lunaril, and it left a chill that ran down her spine and into her tail, poofing it out.

Then Eclipse opened his eyes, which were now his usual warm yellow, and Taffy snapped out of her fear. "Eclipse! You're okay!"

Max and Alex lifted Eclipse onto their shoulders and helped him back toward the house. Taffy took the liberty of examining Eclipse's body as they went, her medical instincts taking back over. Riku stood up from where she had fallen, and she looked a little miffed at not being noticed even as she began to join the others.

"If the threat is gone, then so am I," muttered the Overlander mage as his cloak swept around him, his steps taking him into the woods.

The stars above twinkled down on the little farmhouse as everyone settled down for a good night's rest.

***

With the dawning of the sun, light blazed through the open windows of the barn. And with that light also came the smell of sizzling bacon, eggs and pancakes.

"Wake up, sleepyheads!" called out Jim through the barn door with a chuckle. "I've got plenty of vittles for all y'all, better come while it's hot!"

OOC: And that's that for now, I'd introduce Cipher back into things but I want to get a better gauge of who's still in this RP or not. If you want to continue for now, go get some breakfast. ^^

OOC: I'm definitely still in this. ^^ It's good to see this continuing, as I was getting a bit worried. There's quite a lot of people so far that aren't continuing it though, which is a shame... and most of them control Midnight's group. Perhaps I should contact some of them and see if they're willing to continue it?

I think Shadow Lady would still do this, but she's on vacation for the time being and is back sometime like the 8th-10th, or something. Not sure.

And thanks Eclipse for the posts. ^^ Very helpful and extremely appreciative.

IC:
Some of the group moved to follow Jim to where he had made breakfast, and Alex followed them in wonder and surprise, curious as to what the strange smell would have been. He saw a wide assortment of food's prepared but none of them anything that he recognised, and he wasn't sure of them. He frowned slightly, and then moved back, letting the thers be able to sample the food.

Eclipse woke up and yawned loudly, stretching his arms as he did so. His vision took a moment to gain clarity, and as soon as he could see with detail, he discovered he was lying on a haystack that had a bedsheet over it.

He scratched his head as his mind settled on a thought... how had he got here? what happened? where has he been? Eclipse sat upright and massaged his temples, trying to remember...

"I remember... Light... and Dark.." he spoke softly, to himself, a habit he had.

As he tried to remember, he found that he had no recent memories at all, just black... and pain... a lot of pain. Eclipse thought to himself for a moment, "i should at least be able to remember what i did in that dark place while i was sleeping last ni-" Eclipse stopped. It just occurred to him that during his sleep, he hadn't been in that dark place that he usually appears in, he had slept peacefully!

At first he was overjoyed, his face breaking out into an effortless smile and a small burst of innocent laughter coming over him, but that soon faded as a dark thought crossed his mind... What if it only SEEMED like a peaceful night of sleep because he cant remember any of it? did he have amnesia? Was his mind deteriorating? was he... dying?

Panic came over the blue bat and his ears drooped down, and his eyes widened with silent fear. The more he thought about it, the more it upset him, so he tried his best to think about other things instead, focus on his senses, what could he hear? Snoring, and chirping birds outside, ok good. What could he see? well, that was obvious, what could he smell...? smell... smell....

Eclipse sniffed the air a few times and caught the scent of what smelled like food... there were pancakes... definitely pancakes... and some kind of meat... it was... bacon!

Deciding to focus on the simple things of his current situation, Eclipse decided to follow the scent. It led him out of the barn and into the farmhouse. As he stepped in, he saw that a few of the others were already inside, eating at a large table, and someone Eclipse was un-familiar with was working at what looked like a kitchen, cooking... constantly... but he appeared to be happy doing it.

Upon walking in, those that were eating at the table shot him a glance and resumed eating, some of them stared at him for a moment and slowly resumed eating. Eclipse was a little unsettled by this but decided not to let it stop him from going to the table and getting something to eat.

"Good Morning"

Eclipse yelped and fell back a few steps, the sudden greeting had surprised him. As he turned to his side, he saw Alex standing beside the table, but not actually sitting down.

"whoah gees..." Eclipse patted his heart, "g-good morning to you too Alex."

Alex smiled, "heh, sorry to startle you."

"ah... it's ok. Say uhhmm... you eaten yet?"

Alex crinkled his nose and looked back at the table, "no, not yet."

Eclipse went to sit down, and soon as he landed on the chair, he was greeted by a large plate of 10 pancakes, 3 rashers of bacon, 2 eggs (sunny-side up), 2 slices of buttered toast, 2 slices of french toast and half of an orange.

Eclipse blinked a few times upon seeing the enormous load of food placed in front of him and looked up at the man who handed it to him. From the look of his clothes, he was obviously the owner of the farm, he was a horse and he gave Eclipse a friendly smile as he landed the plate in front of him.

"Well, fancy that! don't see many blue bats 'round these parts!" remarked the farmer.

Eclipse gave a nervous smile.

"Name's Jim!" he extended a hand.

Eclipse grabbed his hand and Jim shook it heartily, causing Eclipse to rock a bit in his chair.

"What's yer name fella?"

Eclipse shook his head a bit after regaining his balance on his chair, "oh, uhmm, i'm Eclipse"

Jim bowed down a bit, "Well Eclipse, you just get t'eatin', yer gonna need your strength if y'all gonna keep travellin'! Oh, and if yer still hungry just let me know and i'll getcha s'more!"

With that, Jim turned back to the kitchen and happily resumed cooking. Eclipse found him most odd, but still found him to be a nice person... kinda the impression that Eclipse presumed people got of himself.

Eclipse looked back at Alex and waved to him again. Alex reluctantly walked toward the table, obviously uncomfortable with the scenery.

Upon taking two steps into the kitchen, Alex found a large plate with equal portions of food to Eclipse placed into his hands by Jim, before he could even reach the table!

"I-" began Alex, but he was interrupted by Jim.

"Here ya go! now you just take this 'ere and sit yerself down alright?"

"err.. i-"

Jim walked Alex to a seat, Alex nervously walked with him and then was seated next to Eclipse.

"You enjoy yer' breakfast, and don't go worryin' 'bout gettin' no seconds, there's plenty ta go 'round!"

"oh.. well-"

Jim turned back to the kitchen before Alex could finish. Alex sighed to himself and looked over at Eclipse, who was shovelling an entire pancake into his mouth with his fork. Alex was trying to mimic the way that Eclipse was eating, thinking it to be the 'correct way' but instead found himself yanking the pancake back out of his mouth and coughing for a bit.

Eclipse swallowed and looked over at him, "you alright?"

Alex nodded and took a drink of the orange juice that Jim had left him while he was coughing.

Eclipse looked back down at his plate and then looked at Alex again. "Alex? what happened last night?"

Alex spurted a bit of his orange juice back into his glass as he was drinking it. He withdrew his glass and wiped his mouth with the serviette that Jim dangled in front of him a split-second after he had just choked a bit, Alex wondered how Jim did that...

After wiping his mouth, Alex looked over at Eclipse, "last night huh?"

Eclipse nodded, placing his fork down beside his food, he wasn't finished eating...

Lena was hungry and eager to eat but when she looked back at Riku, she noticed that Riku didn't seem so eager.

Riku leaned against the fence and grumbled. She was still annoyed no one had paid her any mind when she had awakened, even though she had risked her life to enter Eclipse's mind to help save him. She swept her hair to the side. While the others went for food like ravenous vultures, she often did not need to eat much, especially not much since she had sucked some blood from Eclipse when he was out of it, controlled by the other being. "Riku, aren't you coming?" Lena asked and Riku waved her off.

Max stood aganist the wall of the farmhouse as he smirked. Riku looked at him for a momment, but ignored his smirk. The crimson-red hedgehog then spoke. "Not hungray either, mate?" Max asked, it seemed the more he talked the more of his Downundian accent had become obvious. "or do you not wish to stand aside and be ignored?" he added to the question as he scratched his neck.

(OOC: Short Post, I guess. Anyway - I'll stick around. I've been convinced.)

OOC: Mike who are you addressing? I'm guessing it could be Riku but I just want to be sure...

Before the conversation between Eclipse and Alex:

Susie got to the breakfast table first, and after deftly wrapping a napkin around her neck and clutching her fork and knife in her hands, she waited only long enough for Jim to place the plate of food in front of her before she attacked the food with gusto.

"Good *slurp* eats *snarf*," she mumbled appreciatively through the mouthfuls that she stuffed one after another into her mouth. Her white and orange-ringed tail was fully up in the air, the very tip of it wagging crazily with a mind of its own. The black fur of her muzzle became stained with syrup and grease as she gorged herself.

This was honestly quite disgusting to see, but any glutton would have been divided between congratulating her and trying to stop her from eating all the food before they did.

She was already on her second plate by the time that Alex and Eclipse had sat down. There was no glance from her mismatched steel and hazel eyes, no noticing of either of the two as she dove into the second plate, relishing the steaming fluffy pancakes with sweet maple syrup, sizzling peppered bacon, scrambled eggs with a touch of fresh home-made cheese, and topping it off with plentiful swigs of straight-from-the-tree orange juice.

"You must be a growin' girl," commented Jim with a cheerful chuckle as he dropped off another napkin by her plate as he proceeded back to the kitchen proper.

(OOC: And just for the record, that was my attempt to emulate Brian Jacques' fine writing style when it comes to describing food. If you have suddenly desired to eat any of these things, then I have succeeded)

Present moment:

Taffy, on the other hand, stumbled in with her eyes clamped shut, pulling up a chair next to Eclipse. Her mind was barely conscious, and it was more instinct than anything else that brought her hand to start dividing the food on her plate into portions that she could actually eat. She grumbled something about "good food" as she slowly and methodically ate.

Taffy was NOT a morning person.

OOC: If you want Taffy to get involved in the conversation, go right ahead. She'll be more than...more than grumpy to tell her viewpoint on what happened. 😛

EDIT: Whoa, Torn and Mike managed to sneak in there while I was posting! Doesn't affect things much though, so it's all good.

Riku shrugged and looked at Max. "I'm fine. I already ate something earlier and I usually don't have to eat much. I'm still sort of annoyed though that they ignored me after Eclipse woke up, I was the one who risked her life to save him!" She said, grumbling to herself.

"I'm fine. I already ate something earlier and I usually don't have to eat much. I'm still sort of annoyed though that they ignored me after Eclipse woke up, I was the one who risked her life to save him!" Max heard and nodded. He admitted he had tried to help earlier...but, that was only because of Taffy - the moron that she is had jumped into the fray. Max shrugged the thought off. "Who do you think got all the credit then?" the red hedgehog asked - chewing on a peice of wheat. He wasn't that hungry himself. But the food smelled good.

What happened earlier er, well Alex looked either side of him, from Eclipse and then to his other side, wondering if anyone would be able to explain what happened instead of him, but he sighed and momentarily looked down, before back up again. It would be best to tell Eclipse what had happened, rather then leave him in the blank of it all, though he didnt quite understand what had really happened through it all. He would try his best to explain it all, and besides, it kept him busy rather then trying to eat the food that was given before him.

Your body was being controlled by Lunaril. Alex admitted, not holding anything back. I dont know how, but you were. What immediately happened Im not so sure about as I was in the barn while you were outside, but I think you started a fight on Lena, I could be mistaken. (or was it Riku? Darn my memory) Anyway, Lunaril was creating a fight and a lot of damage was being caused, until a Overlander stepped in from out of nowhere. I think he was from the Forest, but he joined in the fight against Lunaril as well, and he was a Magic user.

Eclipses eyes widened at this point, at the mention of another magic user. Although he had already met other magic users such as Lena and Riku, it was still surprising.

Your battle carried on for a while, until Taffy decided to step in, wasnt that right? Alex spoke out, looking past Eclipse and to taffy who was seated on the other side of the blue Bat, her eyes half open and not looking particularly good. Alexs eyes and facial expression turned slightly to concern and surprise at her, but he didnt speak up again, instead waiting for a response and her view to what had happened next.

Riku looked away and growled. "Who do you think got the credit? Taffy of course! Makes me wonder why I even bother," Riku said, folding her arms.

Taffy looked up through her tangled bangs at Alex, then at Eclipse next to her. "Yeah, like jumping in really helped out," she snorted sarcastically. "Look, Eclipse, long story short, that Loony guy took over your body again, and we somehow beat him back. You woke back up after that happened, but we got you into the barn and you fell right back to sleep as soon as you hit the hay."

She had deliberately avoided explaining what had happened with her. He doesn't need to know that I made a fool of myself, she thought angrily as she sipped some of her orange juice. But I don't want anybody thinking I'm a hero, either. I did something so stupid I'm surprised I'm not dead right now.

She placed the glass down on the table and looked back up. "Besides, I think now'd be a good time to explain what it is you've been trying to tell us ever since we got together, Eclipse," said Taffy, softening her tone and voice. "If there's anything we can do to get that freak out of your body, then we'll have to hear everything you know first."

"Taffy, bah!" Max spat. "The 'coon has basically been annoying me from day one - and she does something out of the blue like trying to save Eclipse? I mean you and the Overlander Mage did all the work!" the red hedgehog said.

He defintally had a firey attitude to go with that temper. But you know what they say about redheads.

Riku grumbled. "Well she may get away with it because she's the self appointed leader but I'm going to ask her about it. You're welcome to come and get your two cents in," She said, walking toward the barn. She brushed right by Lena, knocking Lena to the ground and not even giving her a second thought.

"And I will." he replied dashing after her. Intent on dealing with his two cents. He jsut ran by Lena as he joined Riku's side.

Eclipse blinked as Taffy finished speaking, then slapped his head. "Oh, right! i'm sorry, how could i forget?"

Eclipse looked down by his side to reach for the grimoire, but it wasn't with him. He looked back up at Taffy and Alex and his ears drooped down as he made a nervous smile, "uhh... i think i left it in the barn, i'll be right back!"

Eclipse stood up and walked out of the kitchen, "Alex, make sure no-one eats my food kay?"

Alex looked over at Eclipse's plate, he hadn't eaten much of it. Taffy swiped a pancake and gave Alex a sneaky grin and a chuckle. Alex frowned a bit and then attempted eating his own meal.

----------

Eclipse dashed to the front door and grabbed the door-handle. As soon as he opened the door, the first thing he saw was Riku standing tall and menacing looking.

He stumbled back and yelped as he almost bumped into Riku, she looked quite scary, not evil-possessed kinda scary, but just the 'i'm angry!' kinda scary that easily frightened Eclipse.

Riku glanced at Eclipse and stepped inside, allowing Max to follow behind her. Eclipse nervously gulped, "uh... Riku? you okay?"

This food is so weird Alex commented, as he looked down at the plate and tried eating another type of food, but found the taste of the sausage not to his liking. His mouth bulged up as soon as he put the food in his mouth, and then he slowly opened it with an unimpressed expression and took out the munched sausage and put it back on the plate. Huh he slightly muttered, relaxing slightly and trying to get to terms with everything that had happened and of what he should do.

He was already too far away. He had come out to here, in the barn and the wheat field after chasing after Eclipse and Caine (where had he gone to? He wondered) and found that events had spiralled out of control and forced him to remain in the area longer then he expected. He had only meant to lead the way to the exit of the forest for the group, but he had found himself involved in their troubles and problems like Lenas and Eclipses and finding them as friends. But his home was in the forest, and he wasnt sure of what the direction of the group would be, but he had found himself believing most probably that after all this here had settled, he would depart ways and leave back for his home in the forest.

He couldnt abandon it, it was his home and there were already too many threats involving it at the moment. The threats from the nearby Overlander city was a constant, but there was also other matters as well, such as the crazed Overlander assassin that had tried to kill him and his allies before and he also half suspected that the strange being who kidnapped Wraith might be somewhere in there as well. He couldnt leave it, especially just to venture into a world that was unfamiliar and confusing, as Alexs stare settled on the strange food before him.

The rat, Alex thought to himself, taking another sip of his drink. He found himself comfortable with this out of all the things offered to him, as it was the easiest to digest. Ill wait until I hear what he says and what his explanations are, and to make sure that Taffy and everyone else are alright. And then, after that Ill make my decision for sure.

((OOC: I will be going on Vacation very soon. So I'll say this now - Max will be a NPC for the momment - I know you guys would know how to control him by now.))

Riku walked right past Eclipse, a little too miffed to hear anything he said and she spotted Taffy. "Taffy, I would like to have a word with you," She said. Lena suddenly ran up in front of Riku and put her hands on her hips. "Riku, can't you settle down? Why are you so angry?" She asked. Riku looked at Lena and glared at her. "Get out of my way and I won't hurt you too bad," She said.

Alex's eyes widened in surprise as his large ears picked up the speaking that Riku had commented on to Lena. Something was definitely wrong... he would have been able to accept and handle Riku just wanting to talk to Taffy, which seemed harmless enough, but her comment back to Lena was harsh and suggested a cold and dangerous feeling.

"Get out of my way and I won't hurt you too bad,"

Nothing good was bound to come out of this. Alex frowned slightly and wondered what was going on with her... could what had happened before when the group first met her, her evil nature, be surfacing again? But that was impossible, they had defeated A.J... so what the heck was affecting her?

Alex decided to stay quiet for the time being to see what would happen, but would be ready to move at any moment's notice.

OOC: Brief revisor of James's last post - I think you've handled things pretty well, James, and I like the creative touch with someone swiping Eclipse's food, but honestly Susie would be the thief for the job. Heaven knows she's already eaten twice as much as the rest of the party. 😛 No foul, just a suggestion.

IC:
Taffy looked up at Riku with a raised eyebrow, her blue eyes brightening with clarity. Never know what to think about her...first she attacks us, then she risks her life for us, then she's angry at us again. This had better be good.

"It's all right, Lena," said Taffy as she pushed back her chair and got up, brushing off the front of her blue tank top. Her eyes matched Riku's intense glare. "It looks like it can't wait until after breakfast."

"It's not just her, either," interjected Max, a similarly intense expression on his face.

"Fine, whatever," grunted Taffy as she rested one hand casually on the back of her chair, letting her tail freely swing slowly behind her, back and forth, nice and easy. "So what's the big deal?"

At the back of her mind, the raven-haired raccoon felt danger building up from Riku and Max. It wasn't anything big, but it was there, and it felt more subdued. But it was there.

"The big deal is you, Ms Self Appointed Leader! I'm getting quite tired of you hogging the glory when others had to risk their lives. All you did was flop around and look like an idiot," She said, folding her arms. There were a bunch more things she wanted to go over but she also didn't feel that eager. Her anger was higher than ever before and her head seem to feel cloudy. She almost found it hard to think straight and she sighed.

Taffy was shocked, stunned by what Riku accused her of. But then her face twisted up angrily, her eyes narrowing, her tail's fur rising up and spreading out in all directions. "Are you serious? Are you whining because every PSYCHO we come across thinks I'm the leader? Well guess what, I'm not! If you want, you can have the position yourself!"

"Well you just seem to take the lead. Ever think maybe there was someone more qualified to take the lead?! And why would I want to lead a group where one of your own members is ready to go psycho and turn on you?" She said, looking at Eclipse. She turned back to Taffy and just glared at her.