~Parksville~
~Day Two

"Oh, my wife and I couldn't care less about that. Where else would you stay, the military camp? I wouldn't let my worst enemy, let alone a young person, stay there with the - " David realized he was about to start ranting again, and stopped himself. "Well. As long as we have space, you and Volt are more than welcome here."

~

Figaro hadn't noticed the second dog until now. Letting out a pathetic mrrraaow, he bolted from the room, heading for the Kingsleys' bedroom to hide under their bed.

Figaro hadn't noticed Candy before now because the little corgi had followed her humans into another room. But soon they returned, the dog at their heels.

The twins noticed Jenny and Volt now, and rushed to her side. "I'm Ivy, and she's Holly," one burst out breathlessly. "We're friends with Grace. Want to be friends too?"

Dan and Angie, meanwhile, smiled at this but turned to David. "I'm sorry, but we're exhausted from the trip down here." He gestured to Grace, who was nearly asleep on her feet, leaning into her mother's side. "Sleep sounds wonderful right now, and if it's all right with you, we can catch up on everything in the morning. We hate to inconvenience you - why, I'm sure I could sleep right here." He collapsed onto the nearest chair with a grin.

Dan wondered if Jenny and Volt had picked up on the fact that his poison ivy was gone. Right now he was too tired to worry much about it; the girl and her dog had proven trustworthy companions on their journey.

((OOC: So, it's been forever since I've posted. Sorry, Lady A and Mountie. ))

Day 2
Arida - The Convent

Laney looked at Riah after Xandria had left. "I don't think it's such a great idea for her to go alone," she said. "I'll go try to catch up with here."

Riah frowned. "No, I'll go. You looked like you were going to fall asleep on your feet earlier. Get some rest, Laney. I'll go catch Xandria."

Giving in, Laney nodded, "Just don't do anything stupid."

Riah grinned and opened the door, stepping out into the light rain. As she closed the door she stuck her head back in, "I won't. Don't worry 'bout me."

Day 2: Burg
Industrial District

A sudden burst of flames engulfed three police vehicles as terrified cops and military personal retreated behind another barrier of defense. Barely discernible through the toxic smoke and bellowing flames was the outline of a large thing. This thing had currently taken the form of a large sludge like mass with two red eyes that stared down its meager opponents. Several long tendrils of solid sludge erupted from the larger mass and swept away the second barrier of defense that had been constructed to contain the beast.

"We need back-up! HEAVY back-up!! Like.. like.. bombs, aircraft, jets... THAT kind of back-up! No, I'm not joking!! This is a CODE RED..." Before the officer could finish, a river of sludge swept over his car and the entire block he was positioned at.

The sludge creature poured over third block of the industrial district as it moved towards the large exhaust chimneys nearby. As the creature neared its target, it suddenly stopped at let out with a gurgling cry of pain as an explosion burst out from the side of the creature. A second later, Darkrider emerged from the hole in the creatures side and sped through the dilapidated blocks the thing had already trudged through.

The Sludge quickly turned around and began chasing the silly man that had caused it pain. Darkrider led the thing back to the edge of the industrial district before disappearing into one of the many shadows. A few seconds later, the masked vigilante reappeared atop what was left of one of the business offices. This is going to be tough.... Darkrider thought as the huge mass of the creature came barreling towards him with its red eyes gleaming with hate.

Before the Sludge could engulf the building with its gapping maw, Darksider boosted the engines of his Hyper-bike and sped off the buildings roof and over the head of the monster. Landing with a hard thud on the roof of adjacent building, Darkrider turned the bike around and fired four consecutive shots out of the plasma canons located on the front sides of the Hyper-bike. Unfortunately, the shots merely burned through the garbage that made up the creature and were soon filled in with more slime.

"Regeneration, eh? Well, you have to have a weakness of some kind..." Malcom thought as he revved the engine again before riding into a nearby shadow. A few seconds later, Darkrider reappeared down on the street. "HEY! YOU! OVER HEAR YOU BIG LUG!" Malcom shouted.

With a sickening gurgle that almost sounded like a laugh, the Sludge turned around to face his oppenent. Within a minute the creature had reconfigured itself to the form of a giant bipedal thing with tendril arms. Letting out a hideous below, the Sludge shot multiple slime tentacles at the pathetic human that was causing it so much grief. Darkrider quickly drove off to the left, narrowly avoiding the tendrils, only to have them double back knock the vigilante off his bike.

With a sound that could have been a chuckle, but sounded more like rocks sliding against pavement, the Sludge advanced on the downed human. Once the creature was only a few giant steps away, Darkrider raised his right hand and made a shoving motion towards the wretch. Instead being pushed backwards as anything solid would have been, the Sludge exploded backwards. Pieces and chunks of the creature flying over the wrecked industrial district.

---------

"You sure made a mess of things...." a familiar female voice said behind Malcom. As the billionaire/vigilante turned around, he knew who to expect... Selena. Granted, Malcom wasn't expecting to see the feisty young woman dressed in a black jumpsuit. "You forgot your mask." Malcom replied dryly.

Selena gave a light laugh and shrugged. "I don't see the point of one. No one around here knows who I am. So why bother?"

"You may need one soon enough..." Malcom said as he retrieved his Hyper-bike, eyeing the pulsating pieces of the Sludge that were scatterred about. "This thing ain't dead and I think it's about to reform... again. Since you're here, you might as well help."

"What do I need to do?" Selena said warily eyeing the pieces of industrial slime that were slowly wiggling their way to each other in the middle of the road. "Harming it any normal way doesn't seem to bother it. Since it's made of industrial waste, it's constantly feeding and regenerating. Perhaps we could try and wash it away..." Malcom said before getting cut off by the deafening bellow of an angry monster that was now 80% reformed.

"Draw it to the water tower and I'll take it from there!" Selena shouted over the noise to Darkrider before vanishing into the skeletal remains of a building.

If one could have seen Malcom's face under his mask, they would have seen the vigilante give a smirking smile at Selena as the redhead bounded off to the water tower. Darkrider waited long enough for the Sludge to get its bearings again before shooting at the thing and then barreling past it towards the water tower.

The Sludge gave a snarl at Darkrider as the human sped past before reconfiguring itself into a giant snake-like thing and giving chase. A few minutes later, the Sludge was at the appointed spot for the ambush... but had changed forms again. Instead of being a large snake-like creature, the Sludge had reformed into a living sea of slime with two bulbous red eyes.

"Its too low to the ground! I can't hit it and be sure to wash it away!!" Selena shouted down to Darkrider from her location on the top of the tower.

With a nod, Darkrider fired the Hyper-bike engines and sped towards the creature. After catching the beasts attention, Malcom began using the shadows around the area to appear and reappear to confuse and agitate the Sludge. When this was not getting the desired effect, Darkrider began shooting at the creature... this, got the desired effect.

The Sludge, both agitated and quite angry, let out with a earth shaking roar as it transformed into a towering, bipedal beast reminiscent of a dinosaur. "O.K.... NOW!" Malcom shouted to Selena as the creature glared down at the vigilante. With the grinding noise of metal on metal and the unmistakable sound of rushing water, a torrent of liquid hit the Sludge in the back. With a cry of pain, the creature turned to face its new opponent.... only to be hit with another torrent of water.

As the thing began to obviously decompose, Darkrider and Selena began tag teaming their attacks on the Sludge. Darkrider would teleport from one place to another drawing the creatures attention while Selena would control the torrents of water, occasionally letting two or more hit the Sludge at the same time. It only took a few minutes for the creature to decompose to less than half its original size and with each dosing of water, it shrunk even more.

With a somewhat pitiful moan, the Sludge made one last attempt to kill Darkrider... but was resoundingly stopped by a final torrent of water. As the remains of the Sludge washed into the bay, a small portion (no bigger than a house cat) slid off deep into the remains of the industrial district....

For the past hour, Josh had watched the arival of men and equipment to the street below him. Even as he watched, a group of humvees stopped at the fourth baricade set up down the street. All of them had 50. cal machine guns on top, and from his position, Josh could even make out a few shoulder mounted rocket launchers dispersed among the police and military forces that were seting up baricades up and down the block. His head jerked around at a gurgling roar from several blocks down. A huge wave of Sludge swept over an entire block in the distance. men started running and shouting down below as the Sludge came closer. Screams came from the blocks as it swept over them. Gunfire could now be heard as the forces in place tried to stop it. As it got closer, Josh could make out two boulbus red eyes in the massive wave of Sludge, pearing this way and that, as tendril come out of the main body and swept aside the puny little people that tried to stop it. He was just about to move away to avoide being swept up with the rest of the people down in the streets, when the side of the Sludge exploded and something raced through the hole. Josh caught a glimpse of a man in black on some sort of highly advanced motercycle.
The Sludge turned away from those in fron of it to chase this new pest. Luckly for them, none of those on the street decidedto keep shooting at it once it turned away from them. Josh followed them for some reason that he couldn't quite explain. The best he could put it was that he was curious. The man wasprobably not Government or he would have showed up with the police and military forces trying to stop the Sludge. But the list of people who had access to tech of that level were few and far between. from the look of it, the man in black wanted to avoid any more causalties then there had already been, so Josh figured that the man was probably some sort of vigilante type person. And that made him somebody that Josh wanted to know better.
The two were fast, faster then he was. Luckly, the Sludge was so big, that Josh could have follwed it from across the district.
After alot of running and several transformations of the Sludge, caught up to the pair, which had now been joined by another. A woman this time, who also possessed powers, judging from the way that she was blasting water at the Sludge from a nearby water tower. The way that the man in black was poping in and out of shadows that were by no means connected also suggested that he possessed powers to some degree or another. After several minutes of water blasting into it from various sides, the Sludge was reduced to dirty water that was swept out to sea and out of sight.
Josh watched from his position behind an air conditioner on the roof across from the water tower, wondering what the the next action of the two vigilantes would be.

Day 2:
Industrial District

"Well, that went better than I expected... Your idea actually paid off." Selena said playfully as he hopped down from the water tower and landed in a crouched position. "We probably need to leave now, though. Doesn't look like we're going to get a friendly thanks for our troubles." the red haired girl continued with a nod down the street at the approaching military units: fully armed and ready for combat.

"Hop on and we'll get out of here. It'll be easier than running." Malcom said as he gestured to the back of his Hyper-bike.

"Can two people go through your portal-things?" Selena asked hesitant to possibly get herself stuck or scrabbled in an on-between world... or wherever Darkrider went to when he used the shadows.

"It'll be fine. Just get on." Once Selena was sitting securely behind Darkrider, the vigilante revved the engine and headed for the nearest shadow. "... besides, the worst thing it could do is scrabble your atoms a bit." Malcom said over his shoulder a second before the pair disappeared into the shadows.

Burg: Day 2
Industrial District

The two vigilantes talked for a bit and then one looked over at the group of soldiers that had just shown up at the far end of the street. The woman jumped on the other's motercycle and the two took off. Josh would have at least tried to follow and figure out which way they were headed in, if they had not driven directly into the shadows cast by a wall and not appeared on the other side.
Josh turned and headed off across the rooftops, not wanting to stick around and find out what the military was planning to do.

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

Back at his apartment, Josh Hunter sat at his small table and thought over what had happened. Whoever the man in black and his accomplice had been, had access to tech and recources far beyond that of any normal citizen. The military force showing up and the duo's response to it proved his earlier hypothesis that they were not government people.
The only others with the recources to design and build something like that bike could be counted in the single digits, which narrowed the list down alot. Of that list, there was only one or two people who would take the time help the citizens of the city with anything more then a donation or two to a soup kitchen. On second thought, Josh narrowed that nomber down to one, as he had recently heard that the second person had been caught doing business with some cartel or another.
A thought came to him. If he could figure out that much with his limited recources, then the government probably could as well.
That was, if it wasn't totally full of paper pushing bureaucrats. Even if it was though that would only slow down the process before somebody figured it out.
He decided he would head over to Malcom Lawrence's manor early the next day. It wasn't like he could go shoot him an email or something after all the damage from the supernova. For all he knew, all the computers over there had been knocked out. Even if they hadn't he still wanted to see if he could get a look at the guy, figure out why he did the things he did.
It wouldn't hurt if he could join the guy's group either. Somebody needed to help out the little guy and from what he had seen so far, the government wasn't doing a whole lot.

Day 2, Sunset, Parksville, Kingsley’s house

Volt exhaled after Figaro left. He didn’t want any trouble. He soon had other things to think about. The two girls from earlier had come back. "I'm Ivy, and she's Holly," one burst out breathlessly. "We're friends with Grace. Want to be friends too?"

Jenny yawned. “Sure, but right now I need to go to bed.” She turned to Lauryn. “Where do me and Volt sleep?”

Day 1, Arenico, Diabolis, empty parking lot

José looked at the dead dog who had been his friend. “I guess the stress made you snap. I wish it didn’t have to be this way.” He walked up to the body and placed his paw on it. “We’ll miss you Ed.” Suddenly long brown hairs sprang up and grabbed the Chihuahua. Before he even had a chance to scream they had grabbed his muzzle. Some other dogs rushed forward to help, but the small dog was gone before they even got close. Everyone froze. The Terrier had begun to breath again. He slowly opened his eyes. Wobbling slightly, he rose to his feet. “Let me be the first to say that dying is painful, and I don’t want to do that again.”

~Day Two~
~Parksville~

David glanced at his wife, standing in the kitchen doorway. She stepped forward, clasping her hands together. "How about we put the little girls together in Michelle's room? The grown-ups can have Josiah's, and Jenny and Volt can sleep in here; the couch is very comfortable. I think we have just enough blankets - "

Someone rapped three times soundly on the door, then opened it. Two tired-looking young adults in rumpled clothing entered, the young man blinking his eyes as if startled by the light - and the number of people inside.

"Uh ... hi, guys," Josiah said.

Day 2, Sunset, Parksville, Kingsley’s house

Jenny had just started to move towards the offered couch when someone knocked on the door. She and Volt were startled when two strangers opened the door and entered. ”Did no one remember to lock the door?” Jenny thought. At first she froze, then she tried to casually move into a defensive positions she had learned in self-defense class. Volt had moved in front of her, ready to defend her but not growling yet. Especially when the man greeted them as if they knew at least some of those present. They waited to see how the others would react.

Day 1, Arenico, Diabolis, Sturgeon Family Apartment

“Ok, let’s try this again,” Harry sighed. For the fifteenth time he sprinkled some pepper over Flame’s nose and stepped back.

“Ah-Ah-AAAAHHHH-CHOOOOO!!!” For the fifteenth time the lizard sneezed onto the tile floor, which, although it didn’t burn, had accumulated heavy scorch marks from 14 sneezes that he would have to clean up before his parents got home. Make that 15, as his sneeze released a small fireball no bigger than a match's flame.

“Well, that’s your smallest one yet, a couple more times and I think you’ll have gotten it down."

“This is st-st-stupid!” Flame yelled. “Flame needs to get better at breathing fire, and y-y-you say I need to not breath fire at all!”

“No, you need to learn to control your fire so you don’t make it when you don’t want to. Once you can do that we can talk about what to do with your fire. Now hold still, and get ready.”

After three more tries the skink managed to sneeze without so much as a spark, and after three more tries to make sure he could do it repeatedly, they finally stopped.

“Very good Flame, told ya you could do it. I’ll go get you some food.”

Flame perked up. ”Can Flame have some f-f-fish?”

“Sorry, we don’t have any. We still have some greens though that we got for you the other day, I’ll go get them.”

Almost before the boy had left his lizard started grumbling. He HATED greens, even though they were an important part of his diet, and how could they not have fish? They must be hiding them in the fridge. Maybe he could open the door? He crawled up to the counter next to the fridge and stretched out to grab the handle. He pushed, but nothing happened. He pushed harder, and pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed and...

“I’m back, hope you’re... WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

The sudden return of his human startled Flame so much that he lost his grip on the handle and started falling. He desperately flailed his limbs as if that could somehow stop his fall, and more importantly, the end of his fall. Then the oddest thing happened. He did stop falling. As he continued to swing his appendages wildly he stayed aloft. Panicking, he looked up to Harry who was staring wide-eyed.

“Flame, you’ve grown WINGS!”

~Day Two~
~Parksville~

Having his mother run up and throw her arms around him, sobbing and crying their names over and over again, with his father gently tugging on her to let them more into the room, Josiah completely expected.

Seeing their living room filled with the Baxters, Norwoods, two dogs and a strange girl, not so much.

"Wow, there's a lot of people here," Josiah said - with some difficulty, as Lauryn still had her arms tightly wrapped around his throat.

"Well, we had some extra space, and we figured it was better they stay here than at some government camp," David replied, smiling slightly.

Lauryn finally let go of Josiah, and immediately moved to hug Michelle. "Are you both all right? I was so worried!"

Michelle returned her mother's hug, more tightly than usual. She hadn't realized until now how much she had missed both of her parents. "Siah said you would be worrying. That's why he made us come straight home."

She let go with one hand to wave at the room full of people that, while she couldn't see, she could sense through a number of different ways. "Hey there. I'm Michelle, and this is my brother, Josiah. And, uh, please don't tell me I just introduced myself to a bunch of people who already know me."

— Day 2, Evening —
Parksville
Gina Norwood emerged from the back of the house just before Josiah and Michelle rapped on the door. “That was easier than I expected,” she was saying. “The twins and Grace were exhausted – “

She stopped in mid-sentence as the door opened, thrilled to see Josiah and Michelle arrive safely home. She quietly watched while David and Lauryn greeted their children, feeling a little embarrassed about eavesdropping on the happy reunion. It was like she was spying on a private moment.

Michelle, as it happened, was right; the Kingsley twins did already know many of the people in the room. Both the Norwoods and Baxters were friends of the family and had watched Michelle and her brother grow up over the last few years.

Gina was confident Michelle would recognize her voice; she spoke primarily to let the young woman know who was there. “Welcome home! I’m glad you’re both safe. Most of us you already know – my husband Brandon and our twins are here, along with Dan Baxter and his family.”

Angie Baxter added her greetings. “Right now Grace, Holly, and Ivy are in your bedroom, Michelle, but we’ll be glad to move them once they fall asleep. Dan’s back there right now, reading them a story.” She chuckled. “They’re probably already asleep, Dan included. We’re not as young as we used to be.”

She gestured to her new friends. “And this is Jenny and her dog Volt. We met them on our way down here from the national park.”

Day 2: Arida: Near the Convent

Xandria quickly made her way through the buildings, finally finding herself on the edge of the orchards that surrounded the convent. Why on earth there were orchards in the middle of the town, she would never know, but at this particular moment, she was quite glad for them. She knew in a few moments they would be safe, unseen in the woods, especially with the starless night. She was quite thankful for the cloud cover, and slowly began winding her way through the trees. Somewhere, back here, was a small gate that could get her into the convent. She'd seen it before; now, she had to find it.

Xandria had slowed down considerably once she entered the woods, since the very advantage of the woods (that they were dark, and thus she was less likely to be seen) also meant she couldn't see anything, either. She looked down through the darkness at the little boy that was with her. He was holding her hand with an iron grip, tentatively picking his way through the trees. A light mist began to fall.

"Xandri, I'm scared," he whispered. Xandria nodded, swallowing her own fear as best she could.

"It'll be alright, we'll be there soon," she replied as cheerfully as she could. "The sisters will have warm food and cookies waiting for us."

He nodded. "Carry me, please." Xandria stopped and leaned down to get him, then groaned as she picked him up.

"What's wrong, Xandri?"

"Just...been walking all day. My legs hurt, that's all." She smiled. "Come on, let's get there before it starts raining much more, k?"

"K."

Day 1
Judicia, Erbaine
Laramie's House
Previous Post

Laramie's eyes widened. "That's wonderful! I can't believe the Doctor thought that far ahead. And to think we wrote him off as crazy." She shook her head, but her spirits lifted a little. The news that one person at least was prepared for this chaos had kick-started her brain. If--when Ben came home, they'd repair the house, figure out a plan for food and water, start learning how to live with this new reality the supernova had given them. And they would make it. Even if the city's power grid was blown for good, well, people had lived without electricity before.

She shifted, forgetting for a moment Liam's hands still resting on her shoulders. An uneasy feeling ran down her spine as she remembered his strange lack of any pain after cutting his hands half open...and with that, his last sentence finally registered.

Laramie's eyebrows drew together. "Save me from what, Liam?" She lifted her chin, willing a strength into her voice that she did not feel. "We're not dead yet. We'll pick up the pieces and survive, just like always. Dr. Dreyman just made it a little easier." She gave him a bit of a smile. "Ben and I will go tomorrow and stock up on whatever supplies he has, don't worry."

Day 2, Sunset, Parksville, Kingsley's house

Jenny and Volt relaxed. They were just the Kingsley's kids, everything was fine.

"Hi," said Jenny as she stepped forward, "glad to meet you two." From watching Michelle she guessed that she was blind. Volt didn't notice this and just stepped up to sniff the guests.

"So, is the couch still availible?" Jenny asked.

Day 1, Arenico, Diabolis, empty parking lot

To say that the pack was stunned would be an understatement. A couple of them fainted, and most of the others were slowly backing away.

"You don't need to be afraid," said the terrier, still a little shaky from his death. Although, he was pretty sure he hadn't actually died and had kept a little life force, but it had been fading fast, and he hated the feeling. "As your alpha I won't hurt you as long as you follow orders. Sit." All the dogs obeyed right away (those that hadn't fainted anyway). "Thank you. And now I have an announcement. You all know I am the alpha of this pack now." As he said this he shifted to José's form, sparks flying between his ears. Several more dogs fainted. "What you don't know," he continued while shifting to Samson's form, "is that I am also Alpha of the T.o.T. Both packs must work together if we are to survive this chaos." He proceeded to give out orders in regards to gathering food. "Finally, we will all meet tomorrow in the basement of the Blue Tortoise at 9:00 AM, both packs. You have your orders, dismissed."

All but one left. Sally the Beagle walked up to him. "Can I ask you a couple questions Ed or Samson or whoever it is you are?"

General took a glance at the sun. "I have a little time."

"So when you touch someone you absorb them and can make yourself look and sound like them?"

"If they're alive and I touch them long enough, not to mention I get all their memories," he added.

Sally widened her eyes in surprise. "Wow, so you pretty much become all those people in one?"

General though about it. He certainly knew everything they knew, did that make him them? No, he doesn't think or act like them, he still thinks and acts like General. Why had she asked anyway? Unless...

"I guess in a sense it does."

"So," she said moving closer, "if I were to be assimilated I would be part of the alpha too?" The cogs in General's brain were whirring hard. Gaining a new form and set of memories without a struggle would be great, however...

"Yes, but not yet."

"Why not?" she asked puzzled.

"You saw how I could come back to life when someone touched me. That won't work forever if people are too scared to touch me. I need someone as a backup in case something happens to me."

Sally lowered her head. "I guess, but what if something happens to me first?"

"Tell you what, you can be my personal bodyguard, and if you are ever mortally wounded, I'll assimilate you."

A smile formed on her face. "Thank you sir, I can see you have the wisdom of multiple people as well. One last question. What shall I call you? Alpha?"

He answered after a few seconds. "No, call me Legion."