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W Y R M
Filling a Plot-Hole
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Part 4
Pfhorophobia!
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<FRED>
Five months had passed in the interrim, Fred-time. Only six minutes had
passed according to Standard, but Fred had a large time dialation factor.
The outer hull of the _Marathon_ was nearing completion, and most of the
systems were well on their way to being repaired.
After they repaired the _Marathon_, Wyrm-k planned to complete her.
This included installing, connecting, conditioning, and integrating all
systems, a five-year job, but it would breeze by compared to the rest of
the universe.
However, a few days ago, he detected that the plot-hole was about to
discharge its potential again, and the discharge would be large. He warned
his Anima, but before he could explain, she was trampled by fleeing
Animates. The discharge had occured, and what had come through scared him.
It was a Pfhor battleship, of all things. It made perfect sense, given
their fixation on "Marathon", but that meant that Wyrm-chan was in trouble.
Even with the MANTIS variable armor, it would be tough going, if it was
fully armed and charged. Wyrm-chan was wearing one, and would soon activate
it, but it was nowhere near fully armed or charged.
That meant that he would have to hurry. Just basic armament; any more
would cost his team time that they just didn't have.
***
<IN A MICROVERSE NOT FIVE MINUTES FROM HERE...>
"MIKE LOADER NO BAKA!" *WHAM!* Wyrm-chan screamed as she MALLETed the
said Mysterious Trenchcoated Figure to the ground. "Things were bad enough
when we had the Animates! Now thanks to to your bumbling, the Pfhor have
been brought into the Revengewar too! BAKABAKABAKABAKABAKABAKABAKA!!"
*WHAM-WHAM- WHAM-WHAM-WHAM-WHAM-WHAM!*
Eddie winced in sympathy. The MikeLoaderOkonomiyaki groaned and
mumbled, "I didn't think it would do that."
*WHAM!* "MORON! It's a PLOT-HOLE! A HOLE IN THE PLOT!" Wyrm-chan
railed, "You leave it open long enough, and ANYTHING will come through!"
No sooner had the words left her mouth that a cascade of shimmerings
figures appeared out of nowhere and solidified into thin, green creatures
wearing masks and battle armor of differing colors. They carried glowing
staves and chittered as they rushed Animates and authors alike.
"DEFEND YOURSELF!" shouted Wyrm-chan, "THEY THINK HUMANS ARE A WASTE OF
SKIN; THEY WON'T HESITATE TO KILL YOU!"
Ranma used his Tenshin Amaguriken to take out one of them, the Pfhor's
yellow guts spurting out of its body and spraying him. "Yuck!" he yelped,
as another of the purples snuck up behind him.
"Ranma! Look out!" cried Akane, as she turned away from a green Pfhor.
A mistake, as its staff glowed as the Fighter struck down. She was hit in
the back, and a powerful concussion blast tore through her. Her chest
exploded in a spray of red.
"AKAN--!" Ranma began to scream, as the purple brought his own flashing
staff down on his head, which blew apart. Both bodies fell dead.
"NOOOOOOO! SHISHI HOUKOUDAN!" Ryouga yelled, and let off a burst of
depression-charged ki right into the green's face. It exploded messily.
Pfhor are more fragile than humans, but they make up for it by carrying big
sticks.
"You kill Shampoo's husband! Shampoo kill YOU!" Shampoo screamed and
charged the purple Pfhor. Her mind was so clouded by hate for this creature
that she failed to notice that a red Pfhor had targeted her and charged its
staff. It swung, and the staff let loose a glowing ball of plasma that
raced toward Shampoo.
It struck her in the side. She screamed as she was charbroiled and fell
dead.
The beginning carnage brought Wyrm-chan to her senses. It also enraged
her. "GET OUTTA HERE! THESE ARE JUST THE SMALL-FRY! THE WORST IS YET TO
COME!" she yelled to the humans, and then ran herself, concentrating on the
command prama that would activate the Pfhor-Antidote. She reached into
herself and cried: "MANTIS!!!"
The air crackled around her, and the shimmering metalic-blue sweatshirt
turned black and started to flow around her. Within seconds, she was
wearing a full cybersuit battle armor. She reached into a subspace pocket
and pulled out her .44-G Magnum Mega Class "HandCannon". "JUST VID IT!" she
shouted, and began firing.
A Vidgirl, Wyrm-chan was a near-expert in surviving a melee with an
overwhelming number of Pfhor. Of course, that was just a VR simulation, and
being realistic, she knew to not take stupid chances when her life was
really on the line. In the game, you could reincarnate with no real
penalty. This was real life; once she was dead, she was dead. Reincarnation
is a miracle, never mind a penalty.
It meant that she felt in no way restricted to cannon "Marathon"
weapons. All her real weapons were souped-up, and when diving into melee,
she carried a full arsenel with all the energy her shields could carry.
Unfortunately, she wasn't expecting Pfhor, so her shields were only
minimally charged and packed only the pistol and some clips. "What I
wouldn't give to have my machine rifle..."
Padibast, Sailor Moon and Jadeite also dove in. Padibast yelled a
battle-cry and pulled out her Big Gun (tm) from wherever catgirls store all
that stuff, and sprayed the Pfhor with depleated uranium and explosive
rounds. Yellow blood splayed everywhere. Sailor Moon and Jadeite made a
great team, as Coldfyre Wave-charged tiaras ripped through the Pfhor lines.
"NAITO SABAASU! SANJO!" shouted Sabre White as she and her Knight
Sabres jumped into the melee. After fighting boomers, Pfhor were easy stuff
if taken on one at a time. However, the Phfor were attacking en-masse,
which meant that a couple of the green attackers got a piece of each of the
Knight Sabres while she was occupied with blowing away a Pfhor. They
endured, however, and many Pfhor were consigned to oblivion.
Mike Loader himself was _pissed_. All of his plans were being destroyed
by not only the MONForce, but also by these 'Pfhor' things. Not only that,
they were a common enemy; the Pfhor would sooner kill him than join him. He
pulled out his sawed-off shotgun (which he had purchased earlier from a
pawn shop with absolutely no background check whatsoever) and his .44
Magnum (ditto). "You Pfhor-guys is gonna die, homes!" he bellowed and
started making carnage.
Only Skywise held back. 'Wyrm said there would be no killing! On the
other hand, the couldn't foresee these "Pfhor" coming through the 'hole.
Then again, Wyrm-chan dove right into combat!'
"Dammit, Skywise! Don't just sit there like a dunce!" Wyrm-chan shouted
as she blew a Pfhor's head off. "The Pfhor don't give a flying fig that
you're a pacifist; they'll kill you just the same! This is a fight for
survival! Either leave, or dig in! OH, SHIT!" This last one was said as a
staff-bolt flew past her nose. Wyrm-chan turned on its shooter and
bodyslammed it powerfully, breaking its fragile body in half.
Skywise chose to leave. The savagery that the others were tearing into
the Pfhor was mind-numbing. This is not what he wanted.
Wyrm-chan took out the blue Pfhor this way, and some of the red. They
were most dangerous. She then put her pistol away and fell back on her
fists. She had to save the ammo for the Hunters. The armor enhanced her
already Ryouga-like strength, allowing her to punch straight through the
green Pfhor and take out the purple Pfhor before they could hit her with
their staves.
But there was still Pfhor of all colors beaming in. A blue hit her with
a bolt. The shield turned the blast, draining a bit. Growling, Wyrm-chan
ground out, "Aw, you BITCH!" and lept clear over the other Pfhor's head and
onto the blue's hill. She then pummeled it with a Tenshin Amaguriken-like
technique, wasting it. Wyrm-chan turned back to the melee, the number of
Pfhor swelling.
Then things got worse...
***
<FRED>
Eight months later, the _Marathon_'s systems were still below what he
would go in with. Wyrm-k at least the CFB Cannons (1) and the secondary
deflector shields online before he would face a Pfhor battleship.
But that was still eleven months in the future. Wyrm-chan needed help
about now (things got confusing working with a time dialation).
Fortunately, he had now locked onto Wyrm-chan's signal from Fred. Help was
on the way.
(1) CFB Cannons: Converging Fusion Beam Cannons. Impulse-fusion mass-energy
cannons. In terms of power, equivelent to a shock-cannon cannon.
***
<THIS PLACE AGAIN...>
The TME flared again, and armored figures emerged into the melee. Some
wore light body armor, while others wore massive powered armors. Troopers
and Hunters. The Troopers chittered and began firing grenades into the
valley that had become the arena. As the reactions of the authors were
better than that of the Pfhor, the grenades got their comrades instead of
their intended targets.
The Hunters only roared carnally and began spraying them with plasma bolts.
Wyrm-chan pulled out her pistol again and began shooting. "Padibast!
Hit the armored guys! They're deadlier!" As she spoke, she sent three
troopers to their oblivion. It was then that her pistol decided to run out
of ammo. "DAMN!" She ditched the pistol into the subspace pocket and tore
through the remaining Fighters to the garden shed where the humans were
holed up.
As she neared the shed, Wyrm-chan heard the distinctive staticy sound
of something beaming in from behind it. She looked around the wall and
found that a cache of her favorite tools of carnage with ammo and other
necessities:
Two (2) arm-mounted MEC Blades (2)
One (1) additional .44-G Magnum Mega Class
(50) .44-G Magnum clips (x24)
One (1) AR-75B Mark II Battle Rifle (with integral 20mm
Plasma-Thermite grenade launcher)
(15) AR-75B Mk II Rifle clips (x312)
(8) AR-75B Mk II Plasma-Thermite grenade pack (x24)
One (1) Hermes-Class Fusion Cannon
(25) Fusion batteries
One (1) SPNKR-XPA SSM/TPT Launcher
(8) SPNKR Missle clips (x24)
(4) Plasma torpedoes
Two (2) Remington WSTE-M7 Combat Shotguns
(80) Shotgun shells (x2)
One (1) KKV-8 10mm MacroFlachette Gun
(15) KKV-8 MacroFlachette clips
Two (2) x9 Energy Recharge Cannisters
Four (4) x6 Energy Recharge Cannisters
Six (6) x3 Energy Recharge Cannisters
Twelve (12) x2 Energy Recharge Cannisters
Twenty-Four (24) x1 Energy Recharge Cannisters
Seven (7) Supershield Biobus Chip Enhancements
An insane grin spread across Wyrm-chan's face. "o/~ CARNAGE TIME!!!! o/~"
(2) MEC Blade: Matter-to-Energy Converter Blade. Sometimes called a
"Tau-Blade". MEC Blades are M/E conversion fields shaped by EM fields into
blades of varying length. They will cut through absolutely ANY solid matter
it comes in contact with and use the resulting energy to charge its
host-suit. Typical melee MEC blades are 18 inches long, 2 inches at the
base and tapering to a point.
***
Padibast continued spewing large amounts of ammo at the Pfhor Troopers
and Hunters, trying to advance, but they were so vicious with their attacks
that she was forced back. She used her monomolecular sword to fend off the
Fighters, but the plasma bolts from the Hunters and the rain of grenades
from the Troopers kept her dodging and not firing. She was confident that
her bikini armor would protect her, but why take chances?
(Wyrm-chan popped open the integral CD player on her hip and inserted
Pink Floyd. She interfaced with the strategically-set external speakers
that had been placed around Loader's reality and cranked the volume all the
way up.)
<<"Run Like Hell", Pink Floyd>>
Suddenly, "Run Like Hell" by Pink Floyd began blaring through the air
from external speakers that happened to be set up throughout the plain. A
volley of four metal pillbottles tore through the air at the Hunters. The
Plasma-Thermite grenades exploded, forcing the hunter back a bit, and then
causing the Hunter itself to explode.
A shimmering figure came tearing out from the direction where the
grenades came, screaming a battle-cry of "WAAAA-HOOOOOO!" Through the
static, Padibast could barely make out the figure of Wyrm-chan's MANTIS
armor carrying an automatic rifle of some sort. A grenade hit the
shimmering Wyrm-chan, who shrugged it off as if it were nothing. She then
let loose with a volley of her own, laughing like a maniac.
"C'MON, PFHOR-BOY! LET'S GET IT ON!" Wyrm-chan challenged, and put the
rifle away. With a *snap-hiss*, two glowing blue-white blades extended from
her gleaves, and then she pounced onto the Trooper. With a swing of her
blade, the Pfhor was decapitated. The other Troopers and the Hunters turned
their attentions toward her.
"SAILOR MOON KICK!" Moon yelled and emasculated one of the Fighters. It
screeched and fell chittering and clutching at himself. Moon winced in
sympathy.
Jadeite flipped up, tumbling over the blue Fighter and avoiding its
bolt (which slammed into another of its kind), and thrust his outstreached
palms toward the creature and yelled, "HAMMER-PUSH!" The Pfhor screamed and
was slammed forward like a baseball and ruptured as it landed on one of its
camrades.
Sailor Moon charged up her tiara and threw it. "MOON TIARA ACTION!"
"COLDFYRE WAVE!" Jadeite complemented her, and released his blast of
cold onto the spinning disk. Several Fighters were annihilated. Jadeite
shook his head. "Y'know, this is cool, but this one-at-a-time shit is for
the birds."
Moon kicked another Pfhor's ass and turned to him. "And how do you plan
to solve that?"
"Like THIS!" Jadeite shouted, and gathered white glowing energy around
him. His eyes snapped open, which glowed white. He threw his arms outward
and thundered:
"GRAND-SLAM!!"
***KAAAA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM***
"jesus crist..." Sailor Moon whispered, awed beyond capacity for
rational thought. The Pfhor in the field were...gone! So was the top few
layers of the field. So was the hill behind the field.
Jadeite smiled smugly. "Can you say...'Personal Reflex Cannon'? Knew
you could!"
"Where's Padibast and temporarily allied Revenging Characters?" She
meant Mike Loader and the Knight Sabres.
Jadeite's smug looked suddenly looked shocked. "Oopsie!" he squeeked.
A shape moving at a pretty good clip straight down landed in the center
of the field. It was Padibast in her armor. She had a very annoyed look on
her face. "Goddess! I'da thought you'd warn a body before releasing your
Energy-Blasts from HELL!"
"Yeah!" shouted Mike, waving his arm. He was being carried by a flying
Sylia, who's armor had been severely dented and carboned by the battle.
They settled to the ground along with the remaining Knight Sabres, Priss
and Nene. Linna had gotten a little too daring. Died a Vidmaster's death,
as Wyrm-chan would say.
"Sorry."
"RYAAAAHHHHH!!!!" came Wyrm-chan's roar from the melee, and she slashed
through the far side of the mob. The Pfhor fire followed her, and she
planted herself. The supershield absorbed the damage, and she armed the
plasma torpedo on rocket launcher. It roared, tearing through the air and
striking a green Hunter in the middle of the mob.
It exploded picturesquely, and the hot plasma-charged shockwave
slammed into the others. Bodies of Pfhor went flying, spraying everyone in
the field with yellow blood.
"EEEEEEWWWWW!!" Sailor Moon icked, trying to brush the vile stuff off.
"Ugh!" Jadeite frowned, idly picking off Pfhor guts.
"GROSS!" Padibast shrieked, shuddering at the time she would have to
take cleaning her fur.
"Ickickick!" Nene yelped, running around with a severed Pfhor head in
her hand.
"Bleah!" Wyrm-chan retched. She toggled the supershield off and the
static around her faded. She pulled off her helmet and gave a wry grin.
"Little carnage never hurt anybody."
MONForce and the Revenging Characters looked around. The field was a
mess, and the plot-hole was still open wide. Mike looked to Wyrm-chan and
said, "I've been thinking; this plot-hole is just too dangerous for my
purpouses, and there are better ways to get to Fred. Collapse it."
Wyrm-chan nodded and tossed the collapser into the open mouth of the
plot-hole. The mouth turned from pitch black to incandecent white, and then
imploded into a point, vanishing. A whirlwind was created from the
resulting vacuum rarified space.
The Pfhor ship just hung in the air, a thousand meters high. "C'mon. We
gotta find a more secure area. This is going to be a long fight."
"There's the bunker," Mike volunteered. "That's where the rest of them
went. It's in the catacombs below the garden shed."
***
---------------------
-wyrm/dm(AKA Tom Jefferys; Time Lord for Hire, "Have TARDIS; Will Travel.")
<wyrm@mail.utexas.edu> <JEFFERYSTR@rascal.guilford.edu>
Member of the AFSS {MOUNTAIN DEW ROCKS!!} Vidboi (Marathon Pfhreak)
Depraived Kawaii Thing of the First Order, Martin
=<SIG>= Wyrm-chan @_@ H-Wyrm @_@ Ten @_@ Chibi-Usa @_@ Azusa =</SIG>=
=<^_^>= R1/2#_#BGC#_#Sailor Moon#_#Dr Who#_#Star Trek#_#Monty Python =</^_^>=
Currently operating at <wyrm@middle.of.nowhere.void> for the time being
"I gotta lot of great ideas! Trouble is, most of them suck."
Childras, the <wyrm@mail.utexas.edu> Mailbox Deamon
Still trapped in Eternal Crystal and loving it!