Existentialism of Adaptation

by **Chellizard** July 18th 2013, 2:16 am

>/ . . .

>/ . . .

>/ WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

>/ Zexirix-Craft has reached maximum atmospheric pressure!

>/ Warning!

Flashing lights, blaring alarms, and generic green font that flashed to red was accompanied by a distressed mechanic voice.

A ship was crashing. Right into an innocent planet's atmosphere. It had been resting, dormant, waiting for many years for it's protector. Twenty-five years, to be exact. Hyper-sleep kept the ship's cargo from withering away into cosmic dust, but even this creature could find a way to adapt to the void that was Space. The cargo had white skin, as pure as snow. Long tendrils branched from it's head and curved down along it's back. No definite markings of sex, save for mounds of flesh on it's chest, marked this being as 'female.' She slept alone, dreaming of the world she had been prepared for just as her ship had breached the atmosphere of her selected planet.

Earth.

Such a popular Planet in the Milky Way Galaxy. It was nestled snugly in a line of planets, it's Star, the Sun, keeping green house gases plentiful, and life even more so. The view was missed, however, as the pod began it's crushing decent toward Earth's surface.

A ship so simple, so small, it almost went undetected by NASA, and the United States' government. News spread quickly that a 'Meteor' was soon to land in the Gulf of Mexico just outside of Corpus Christie. A lush, lively city with a bustling four-hundred-sixty-nine thousand population- give or take a few.

The Ship, a Zerixix-Craft, was crashed, barely making any impact among the large open blue. Plunging deep into the waters, the craft began to scan and recognize the environment. It took a solid minute, but the time was spent waking it's precious cargo from the hyper-sleep.

The small vacuum of space, with limited oxygen, was soon filled with gasps. The gasps were a mistake, and used up half the oxygen in a matter of seconds. Flashing lights and blaring alarms finally pierced the cargo's precious ear drums, jolting them to take in their surroundings.

"I'm... here--- running out of oxygen?"

Her voice sounded foreign to her, as if she was hearing it for the first time; really for the first time. Taking softer, slower breaths gave her just that quicker moment to think.

Glancing down at herself, she noticed her stark white skin. Blinking, she thought of what she looked like in her 'training' days. Uzma Williams.

Not a moment later and she became a bit shorter, and her features started to change. One drawback: no clothes.

Swallowing she looked up. The water was not that deep. Not here, at least. The continental shelf, from what she learned in "junior high" science class, could stretch for miles before plunging into the abyss. It seemed her ship had landed in the perfect spot. But, it was nudged in too deep for her to activate it's thrusters. Thus, she would have to swim to land. Nude, and embarrassed.

"Open hatch," a command that came so easily as if she had been trained for this subconsciously.

Ironically enough, she had been.

Another warning flashed across the screen, and with the oxygen depleting, a balled up mocha colored fist slammed onto the emergency release button.

Water flooded into the single seated cabin, two if the bodies cramped into the seat, and Uzma took her last breath.

The pressure crushed her chest, and she winced in pain, losing her breath. She was maybe twenty to thirty feet from the surface, but the sudden crushing pressure sent her into a state of shock. It only took a few moments, and willful endurance for her to overcome this watery obstacle.

Letting her mouth open, she drew in a breath. A very wet one, but a pair of gills that sprouted on the sides of her neck, just below her ear lobes gave her way to breathe successfully.

Sighing, she spoke to herself, her words muffled against the waters.

"Thank goodness..."

Still a bit taken aback by the sudden blow to her chest, she blinked to adjust her eyes to the water and kicked off the ground to swim. Nearing the surface, she decided swimming beneath the swells would keep her better hidden from view, and prevent any boats of investigating her.

She needed clothes, fast.

Kicking her legs, she made it to shore not too long after her crash, and that was around sun down.

The beach was inviting, and surprisingly empty where she had ventured onto.

"Okay... okay.. Clothes..." she said, laying belly down in the water with her neck plunged.

She was still 'new' to her abilities, and this was the first test to see if she could handle them.

Braving the seemingly vacant beach, she peeled herself from the waters and made a dash up the sandy beach, long hair swaying behind her half shaved head. Her hair style was odd, but it matched her tendril pattern in her 'human' form.

A lone convenient stand was stoic on the beach, shutters snapped down and locked. Hissing in distaste, she thought back to her 'hoodlum' days and thought of ways she could break in. Growing up in a 'tough' environment gave her this edge, even if it was all just a dream.

With the sun dipping down to call it a night, Uzma had found a stray piece of metal in the sand. It was a bobby pin, ironic enough. Jimmying it into the lock, she fiddled with it long enough, and almost called it quits when she heard voices nearing her portion of the beach.

She was no longer alone.

by Bliss July 19th 2013, 5:14 am

"It's a beach party! Who could ask for more." Elaine belted out an off re-imagining of Oingo Boingo's Dead Man Party minus any other lyrics. A steady hand directed a pistol to carve out small inlets into the walls of the sandcastle she constructed upon the dunes overlooking the half populated beach. Dressed down to a pair of shorts with her cowgirl hat casting shade on the white tank top covering her swimsuit, Elaine continued on while Amethyst continued drawing a number of inscriptions into the sand. "Why can't you dress like a normal person?"

While not of the current era of swimming regalia, Amethyst still managed to turn heads with her oddly antique swimsuit running with a corset strung up from her torso to her chest and bloomers going down to her knees. She tucked her hat away to keep it from collecting the vast amount of sand the wind already blew around. "This style is coming back, and anyways, it will probably help Imena acclimate better with a new surroundings."

"The Imena who tried to stab you with an electric prong when she thought an evil scientist replaced you with a robot?"

"In her defense, that is a perfectly feasible thing that could happen."

"Oh..." Elaine spotted an approach beyond the comprehension of Ame and her theories. "Or the Imena who is dressed like a normal person on a beach."

Clad in a blue bikini with a wrap around her hips, Imena put the two girls from this time period into a temporal relapse. "What are you two doing up here?"

"Trust me, this look will put that one out of date pretty soon."

"Don't get too close to the water. You'll drown." Before anyone could relay a response to Elaine, the sun kissed beach gave light to an oddity of a woman shooting across the sand.

"We should check that out. Too odd for me." Amethyst picked up her carrying bag and grabbed her handing rods. Nothing really needed a good dowsing, but she liked to make sure she kept them in her possession.

Joining her while stepping across all of her well placed markings and runes, Elaine started to walk towards the beachfront store. "I'm not even going to make the obvious comment."

"Oh, Elaine..." Imena watched in discomfort as Elaine scattered the careful markings under the weight of the oddly worn cowgirl boots.

"Wow." All Ame could muster up, after all, her summonings just scattered to any wind willing to carry it.

A tense silence permeated down the line as Elaine led the troop to the store. Glances from on lookers ranged differently according to which girl they viewed first: Elaine's boots, Ame's entirety of fashion, and Imena's new found sense of style all enamored onlookers, but even the misplaced boots and well worn bikini could not steal focus from the Victorian suit worn by one of the girls who could not claim to have come from that time period.

"Door's locked." Elaine rattled the handles to further cement her conclusion. "Whose turn is it to break in?"

"Well, you scattered my runes, so I don't know why you would care for magic now." Withholding a magical way of turning the lock would probably bare no effect on the group given their specialty and abilities, but it made Ame feel special.

"What ev." Elaine stepped back and pressed forward, disappearing behind the door and coming to on the other side of the commercial metal door. "Now where is the-" Before Elaine could turn the lock to let the others in, an energetic force grabbed her from behind. Kicking against the entity only put her in a worse situation as the being pulled her into the darkness of the store.

"Is she refusing to let us in now?" Tired of Elaine's games, Ame began to draw a symbol just above the door.

As Ame took her time with the calligraphy, Imena pressed an odd key into the door. A jolt of electricity forced the key to turn and the door to slide open. "Sorry love, you were taking a little too long."

"Magic is important too!" The opening of the door placed the lightest of straws upon the back of a beleaguered camel.

"Of course it is."

"I'm a crucial part of this team too!"

"No one said you weren't."

Flustered and unable to find Elaine, Ame began to search the store. While she placed her key back into the small bag around her shoulder, the eerie force wrapped around Imena's neck and pulled her back into the back of the store. "Elaine..." Rustling came from the clothing racks. "If you're not Elaine, just know that I have magic. And, it is important." When Ame turned to make sure her not so subtle opinion made it to Imena, no Imena could be found. "Imena?"

Not alone in the store, Ame heard a creaking from the door on the other side of the store. Pulling a flask from her carry bag, Ame prepared for the door to burst forth whatever may come.

by **Chellizard** July 20th 2013, 1:37 pm

With shoulders tensed and pressed to the outside wall of the concession stand, Uzma listened. Three distinct voices gave Uzma the impression that the three voices were comfortable around one another, but also that they were not just 'friends.' Perhaps they were not even friends, but simple colleagues that had to stick together more than not for business. But, that was a wide cast net, and Uzma needed to reel it back in and rationalize her situation.

Clothes.

That was step one, and hearing footsteps inside of the building gave her reason to believe the three had gotten the door open. Inching around the building, she walked on nimble toes to stay as silent as possible. A few people were walking down to this side of the beach, but they were far enough off not to catch sight of Uzma's embarrassing situation.

An itch in her throat almost made her cough, but she slipped into the store and grabbed the first thing that could be used as clothing: an apron.

A generic "Kiss the Cook" logo was scrawled across the bosom of the apron, and it was accompanied with the dramatization of a muscled man. She almost laughed, but with her backside still nude, she searched for something else. A rack had a bikini. Sighing with relief, she snatched the closest one and slid into the bottoms, and slid into the top.

Being dark skinned helped with blending in, and she was careful not to make too much noise, but it seemed she must have made too much, or it was the other noise she heard. A voice soon followed, and Uzma was found out.

Cursing under her breath, she dropped the apron to the floor and stepped around the clothing racks and held up her hands.

"Easy now, tiger," starting, she had to contain her laughter.

"I'm sure your "magic" is important, but I'm a friendly," her statement was accompanied with airquotes and a wonderful eye roll.

Another noise came from the door at the back of the shop and Uzma blinked, raising a brow while glancing toward the exit.

She could leave now, and better stick herself into this world, but something made her stay.

She had no idea what it was, but there was something keeping her here.

by Bliss July 20th 2013, 9:42 pm

"What are you doing here?" Still brandishing her flask like a weapon, Ame looked back to the door it took three special abilities to open. "And, don't ask the obvious question of why I'm here." Diverting the attention from the unfolding situation, a rumbling through the floorboards demanded Ame's attention. "Okay, Imena, can one of you find out what that was?" The replies stayed quiet because Imena already found the source.

A glimpsing breath of air came back to Imena's lungs as the grip over her neck allowed her to take a short gasp for air. The grip tightened back to punish her for her earlier display of electric power. Splitting her attention between hopeless escape and an awareness of her settings, Imena took into view the spiraling stairs turning from sea air kissed wood to stone. A door shrouded in red mist parted and Imena found herself looking up from the floor. No longer aided by the shadows, Imena could lay eyes on her assailant. Shadows swirling around her hand took some attention from the purple and black gown she dressed in, coal black hair dropping down around her shoulders. "Who are you?"

"You can just call me Triumvirate." Stepping from a dais in the middle of the room, an identical woman stepped forward. Fine lines of pitch black wires tethered the imposing woman to her identical impression across the room. Her face shown a calm control over not just her demeanor, but the demeanor of the two replicants standing at adjacent corners of the room. The haphazardness grip of the woman standing over Imena steadied and grabbed her to bring her to face the woman anchoring the trio. "I think you'll be the one I take."

"I think something came from the back of the store." Bringing up the comment more as a means of moving others to look rather than move herself, Ame began to slowly move towards locating some kind of light switch. She lowered her flask from the position of threat probably more dangerous to Amethyst than anyone else in the room. Sparks of electricity jolted around the bottle and gave a guiding light to the dark storefront. "I came with two other people, but they must have ditched me to go do good knows what."

by **Chellizard** August 7th 2013, 5:29 am

"I could ask yo-" starting she cut herself off when the flask wielding 'magic' lady kept on talking. Uzma heard another noise, but kept her attention on the woman in front of her. The very vintage bathing suit had Uzma curious about this girl's origin. Was she from this world? Was she an outsider like herself? Or, did she simply like the fashion?

She'll never really know. Not now, at least.

"Who are you trying to talk to, lady? It's just me and you," pointing out the obvious, she lowered her hands. Rolling the yellow polka dotted bikini's strap into a more comfortable position, she then brushed a hand back over her wet hair.

"I think something did, too," agreeing with the stranger was likely the best thing to do. "If you want, I can go ahead?" acting as if she knew this place inside and out, she turned around and looked by the cash register for a flash light. Bingo! she thought, her hands grasping a black handled flash light. Flicking the switch it came on, bringing more light to the inside of the store. Now she had a weapon to use if this lady decided to go rogue on her.

"I'm Uzma, by the way," she said, stepping toward the door to the back of the store. Jiggling the handle, it was locked. "It's locked?" she asked, looking over toward the Vintage woman.

"There should be a key in here somewhere..." she though aloud, turning to rummage near the cash register again. The obvious place to look.

by Bliss August 11th 2013, 4:32 am

A little further in the dark, Ame moved her hands along the wooden walls of the surf shop. Anyone wanting to make a good flow would put some switch by the door, but only the owner of the shop would know which door he regularly used to come and go, and with the influx of multiple places of entrance of egress, Ame figured she would invest a couple of minutes in this endeavor.

And, then she felt her finger wrap around a plastic fixture jolting out from a plate screwed into the wall. The light clicking of the switchboard rang back and forth as Ame tried her patience waiting for the lights to make their appearance. While they never showed up, she did pass the time her companion spent diligently searching for a key to remedy the situation of the locked door. "Locked door?"

Creeping from under the floor boards of the shop, turmoil seeped with a vicious viscosity aiming to cement Uzma to the floor. The thickness swelling around allowed her to move her feet, but with a false sense of constraint that would tether her to the ground. Fixating its prey in a forward position, a figure began to form from behind Uzma. Taking a rough human outline, but dripping as it came into being, a blade began to form along the creature's right arm.

"I can get that lock." Without a care in the world, or an awareness for her surroundings, Ame began to chalk up several runes along the door. "You see- it's all about getting the runes just right before I perform the perfect incantation." She closed up the final circle and turned back to see the horrible action unfolding before her eyes. "Look out!" Her hand brushed against the door knob, but failed to open the escape. Stuck between a mystery and an enigma, Ame chose the option where she looked on in shock without actually assisting.

Then she grabbed her flask.

by **Chellizard** August 13th 2013, 7:42 am

"Yeah, the door, it's locked. Try it yourself," sassing back to the other girl, Uzma rolled her eyes and continued her search.

The slender beam from her flashlight was giving her little to no help. It was enough to find a key to the cash register, but that was it. Using the key, though, she opened the drawer and fished out the key to the door. She found it really odd that the door key was hidden in the cash register, but it was empty save for a roll of quarters and a few dollar bills. Nothing out of the ordinary here. Not in the cash register, at least.

She had no idea there was a looming, oozing, black creature hovering over her and weighing her feet down.

"I found the key," triumphant with her find, despite the bizarre place of hiding the key had been in, she turned around.

Well, she tried to turn around.

"What the heck...? Why can't I..." startled, she looked down with her flashlight to guide her vision.

She saw a thick puddle of ooze wrapping around of her feet. It wasn't until Ame, the other girl, cried out that Uzma wrenched her head enough to see behind of her.

A second of panic was all she had, and all she took. Natural instincts took over after that.

Squeezing her eyes shut, a slender, but bright and iridescent shield formed around of Uzma like a second skin. The bladed arm bounced off of her, and she realized she had survived the attack. Slowly opening her eyes, she gasped and turned around, backing into the cash register. The drawer slid shut and a loud 'ding!' resonated the shop. The monster attacked again. It knew what it's purpose was.

Uzma rose her arms in defense and then swung back, a fist aiming for the creatures face. She had no idea how much damage she would do, but she was aiming to open a can of whoop ass.

"Get. Offa. Me!" she said, her voice becoming quite ghetto, if that was a proper way to describe her tone.

"I said, get offa me!" grunting, she thrust her head forward and smashed her shielded skull directly into the monster's apparent head.

The dripping monster fell into a puddle and bled into the floor boards.

"Mind explaining to me what the hell that was?" she asked, her chest heaving and heart racing. She could see her pulse, and feel it in her face. This moment was more real to her than anything else. Even more real than her first moments waking up in that space capsule.

Despite Uzma cracking skulls with her own, the shield slowly faded, and the room became dark again. Seconds ticked by, and while Uzma caught her breath, the entity began to seep back through the floor boards. This time, it was after Ame. Uzma, not paying attention, looked up to see it forming it's blade. Reaching for the nearest object, her flash light, she flung it across the room while letting out a cry of alarm.

Uzma hoped Ame could dodge.

by Bliss August 15th 2013, 10:29 pm

"How would I know!" As the flashlight flew towards Ame, a cold draft began to pour in from the cracks in the baseboards. "I don't think its done with what it came for." Scrying the intentions of whatever this creature was laid outside of the realm of expertise Ame could divine with her own base knowledge. If given a few moments of clarity she could attempt to find the origin the beast came from, but her efforts strayed towards the self preservation at the moment. Uzma narrowly escaped the first round of disaster, but Ame now gained some clarity on what took her partners. With Uzma standing in the clear, the bellowing in the boards began to rupture towards Ame.

Why would anyone usher danger towards Ame in hopes she could do something physical? The thought came to her mind as the voluptuous density ascended towards her figure. Before the force could swallow her into the gaping grasp of oblivion, Ame chucked her flask against the mounting beast. Lighting coursed around the cask as a tendril grabbed Ame's ankles from the floorboards. "Spark of radium!" A flicker of light shot from her fingers and caught the edge of the flask. Turning to face the door, Ame gazed to the lock and muttered, "Not with a bang, but with a whisper." The door gave way as the flask exploded; Ame found herself tumbling through the open doorway and down a few stairs before she caught herself.

The bumbling mass regrew from its setback. "Drive back darkness!" She sealed the doorway to keep the angry mass from erupting through the doorway and accosting Ame, but what could be said for the beast in relation to Uzma no longer rested in Ame's hands.

by **Chellizard** August 15th 2013, 11:14 pm

The flashlight proved almost useless, and it hit the wall, then fell to the floor with a thud. Rolling off to the left, the light flickered off, making the inky darkness of the shop even darker, if possible. "You're the one that's apparently magical, dude. You should know about these things!" barked Uzma, her stress levels rising while the cold draft snaked around of her bare feet and up her legs. It gave her goose pimples, her hair standing on end.

"Oh. My. Gawd. Now you're speakin gibberish!" clicking her tongue against the back of her teeth as she complained.

Not even moments after Ame had struck down the beast that was after her, had she unlocked, opened, and stepped through the door. She stepped forward, but the door slammed shut after Ame, leaving her alone. With eyes wide, and the darkness now feeling more real than moments ago, she looked around and stood with shaking knees. This was no time to be afraid, but she could't help herself. Her human instincts were embedded deep into her subconscious, and she was experiencing a fight or flight situation. Fight was the obvious answer, due to her gifts, but flight was what she wanted to do more than anything.

She couldn't fly, though. Well, she had no idea she could fly. That was something she would have to learn for herself. She was new to her powers, and that was part of her process. Learn them on her own. Not before becoming the Aegis. She would have to fit in like the other Super Heroes, shield her identity. If she even had one, that is.

While her mind was racing of whether to stay or go, the monster decided to seep back through the floor boards. With blade forming, it was lurking closer. She could smell it. It was like burnt coconut and kerosene. Pushing the smells aside, she tuned her eyes to her best ability, attempting to see better. Her environmental adaption allowed her eyes to refract more light in the darkness, giving her the ability to see better without the light. Her opponent, the monster, was darker than the room. She had to use her peripheral's to get a better view. But, her lack of control on her power proved pointless.

The monster had reached her and stabbed her through the gut. Coughing up blood, an electric blue color, she stared up at the creature as it pulled the blade out. She staggered and dropped to one knee. A growl of dominance passed the creature's ghoulish jowls, it's form looming over Uzma's wounded person.

"Ascend..." she muttered, her body becoming enveloped with the thin iridescent shield that had covered her moments earlier. The light then seeped into her skin, and the mocha became bright white. Black lines traced along her form, and she no longer resembled an average human being.

Her hand became coated with the iridescent light; cosmic energy. A blade formed, and her grip became firm around the hilt. Swinging it with a bit of anger behind the attack, she slashed the monster in half. All of this happened in roughly five seconds or less. As the ghoul fell into a puddle of it's own demise, she felt a bit accomplished. Then she realized her capabilities. Glancing at her hands, they became the normal mocha color, and then she dashed for the door. The stab wound was no more than a scratch now. Ascending to her alien form had reverted the damage, but she still hurt. Coughing, smoke passed her lips.

"Weird... HEY! Open this door!" she said, reaching it and pounding it with both fists.

by Bliss August 16th 2013, 6:28 am

With blatant disregard for the safety of anyone in the direct vicinity, Ame reached into her bag while the creature berated her wards. She could hear the yelling of the other woman in the next room, but she knew the safest approach would come with planning out her next moves in the safety of the spiraling corridor she inhabited. Oddly enough, it took her the full moment of pulling out a potion to truly begin to question just why a spiral staircase existed in a surf shop and why did it bear such an odd resemblance. Surely no run of the mill beach owner would decorate an off portion of the shop in such a Gothic decor. This surely must be the work of...

Tentacles!

Shooting through the ward and grabbing hold of Ame's torso, the creature pulled her violently towards the closure. While the creature only succeeded in puncturing the doorway, the success Ame thought that would bring faded as she impacted against the hard surface. Pressure swole up all around her body as the force of the creature tried to rip her through the door. Her flask rolled along the edge of the stairs and chased the darkness into the crevices of the stone. Prying herself from the grip took more strength than Ame could swell up, or for that matter even imagine possessing.

Within her hips she could feel the pressure start to work against the bone. She began to let out a plea to the emptiness to release her from the crushing doom starting to take hold of her. Now she could no longer even know in which direction to work against; the fulcrum demanded her core, but she could only muster a little fight in her legs. Just as all seemed lost, the weight of death released from her body and she fell roughly to the floor. Still writing with life, the detached tentacle wallowed into the darkness with a purpose.

Before Ame could begin to pick up her flask and follow, a bold voice shouted from the other side. Whatever transpired out there, the magnificence of the display surely belonged to Uzma. "Just a minute." As Ame turned back to the tentacle she only gazed into the abyss. A dark feeling came over her as though something, anything, sought to jump to attack her. Feeling uneasy putting her back to the stairs, Ame took a breath and released her ward. "I think we have to go downstairs. And, you may need to carry me."

by **Chellizard** August 21st 2013, 3:50 am

While Ame was being tentacle harassed, Uzma had been fighting off her own demon. Uzma had no idea, of course. She couldn't hear anything passed her own shouting. How selfish of her.

The door creaked open, and the bit of light from Ame's flask illuminated the doorway. The light had almost stung Uzma's eyes, but she managed to blink away the brightness. Raising a brow, she stepped through and looked down to the girl. Uzma, being clad in her bikini, found it odd that she would be asked to carry the stranger.

"What? Did you get tired hiding behind this door-- woah." she finally noticed that the stairs spiraled downward.

Why were there stairs like this in a Surf Shop on the beach of-- wherever they were. Looking down to the girl, Uzma took the few stairs down to stand next to her. "What happened to you? You look like you got stuck in a blender..." she commented, offering to put her arm around of Amethyst.

"I never got your name," she said, heaving a small grunt from the pain in her abdomen. She had been hurt, too, but she would manage.

With her arm around of Amethyst's shoulders, Uzma made the trek down the stairs. She had grabbed the flask and passed it to Ame as they walked. She was careful to move quietly, and slowly. She wasn't going to trip and further hurt this woman. That would be a shame.

by Bliss August 27th 2013, 4:45 am

Putting up her new friend for a ride down the stairs felt odd, but the pressure it alleviated in her side made it all the worth it. "That arm thing kept trying to pull me through a wall. It probably would've broken my pelvis if you hadn't demolished it." Each step kept pounding as her weight shifted, keeping her stuck in a constant state of breathlessness. "How'd you learn how to do that kind of stuff anyways." Whether the beast broke one of her ribs or merely reorganized the order in which her bones took shape in, Ame soldiered through. "I'm Ame. The Aberrant Apothecary." Anything within these walls would only hold a troubled encounter and Ame kept her hand against her bag to give herself some means of defending herself and her companion from any interlopers seeking to start something.

Darkness wrapped around the slow descent of the spiraling stairs, dipping into the shadows chased away by Ame's lighting. The floor evened off and ran its course against the stone of a deadend. Ame knocked to the thudding sound of a solid wall. With the knuckles impacting against the graven stone, Ame could feel the slow vibration of the force make a slow twitch down into her hips. A small hairline fracture would certainly need some tending to, or possible she could die in a few mintues and none of this would matter. The thought entered her head, but she shook it off and beat the blunt side of her fist against the wall. Nothing sounded hollow about any of her exploratory findings, but something needed to happen to move on.

While Ame kept herself busy with the canvasing of the solid structures, the darkness waited impatiently. Sharp stands of shadow leaped from the walls to wrap up Uzma. Taking form from behind the sneak attack stood the mad incarnation of Triumvirate in all of her chaotic air. "You need the key." Holding the truth from her adversaries, the mad sovereign would try to choke Uzma before she assaulted Ame. Her shadows would wrap around Uzma to keep her in a more docile state, but shadows grew more slowly as the creature drew more power to attempt to assault Ame from behind.

In preparation for her arrival, runic markings began to glow against the back wall. Slowly the wall materialized beyond itself and a large chamber opened behind Ame. Long strands of dark energy ran along the ground and tethered themselves to Madness. The two conflicting forms of Triumvirate awaited the confrontation standing at their doorway while Elaine and Imena struggled with the shadowy wrappings keeping them bound back to back. The severity of the situation caused a pulse to press against the fracture in Ame's hip again. A pain soaked in adrenaline and prepared for one conflict to end this mess.

by **Chellizard** September 15th 2013, 12:35 am

Uzma found this girl to be a little more heavy than she appeared, but this was no time to get onto her about her weight, or her lack of help. After all, she did almost suffer a major fracture to her pelvic region. "It's not a big deal, really," she said, keeping as much of Amethyst's weight off of her own feet. Uzma could tell she was having a hard time as it were. "How did I learn to do that? Oh, uh, well. You see," she started and coughed to clear her throat. "I just do, I guess." She was not about to blow her 'cover' just yet. Even though it was kind of hard not to. They had both been through this, and obviously Amethyst was not afraid of these things. At least, not openly.

"Ah. Amethyst. That's some rare jewel right? Or something. I'm Uzma, The -uh- ... I got nothing," she scoffed and stopped once they reached the base of the stairs.

She kept her arm around of Ame in a relaxed manner, but was really just doing it like she were some form of crutch for the girl. Uzma paid close attention to her, watching as she beat on the wall to listen for any sounds. The echo of her beating fist did strike something in Uzma's head. A thought stirred, and she realized that a hidden room was beyond this door-less wall. But, that was not the only thing behind of it.

Impatient, their enemy came forth. Well, not forth. Their enemy took a cheap shot and came from behind. Uzma's grip was lost on Amethyst and as such, the girl would likely slump into the wall. The inky shadows wrapped around of Uzma's form, lifting her from the floor. Twisting, curling, and tightening around of her arms and legs to subdue her. She cried out, but with a fierce resistance while she thrashed. Gasping, she felt a tendril wrap around of her throat and yank her head back, pulling harshly around of her trachea.

Uzma had one chance to keep Amethyst from becoming a rag doll for this crazy entity that just kept on attacking them. At least this one talked.

"Protect," she commanded, and a thin shield formed around of Amethyst from head to toe, like a second skin. It expanded and forced the tendrils back. They lashed, slashed, and beat to attempt and get to Amethyst. There was no use.

The shield was like a bubble, weightless, and it even kept Amethyst's own form just a bit lighter.

"What... is this?" curiosity was laced into Triumvirate's chaotic tone.

Uzma was having trouble fighting back her ascendance. It would be horrible if people knew what she looked like outside of her 'human' form. Struggling still, she kicked and squirmed as the wall broke away and revealed two more Triumvirate's, and two other girls. The other voices from earlier on the beach. Wonderful.

Coughing, Uzma spoke. "You...'ve... pissed... off... the... wrong... bitch!" arching still, she thrashed harder against the crazy lady.

by Bliss September 17th 2013, 1:40 am

"Is it a brick?"

"Yeah."

"Okay my turn." Elaine sank into the back of Imena. Neither girl had any way of breaking apart from the strict bindings holding them together and merely hoped for rescue to come while the archaic creature holding them prisoner argued among itself.

"Is it big?" The skin along Imena's upper shoulder turned flush red from the constriction of the bindings, but she continued on with the game.

"Yes." A short affirmation came as Elaine held her head pointing to the middle of the room.

"Ominous looking?"

"Very."

"Is it that doomsday device?"

"Yes." An alter in the middle of the room drew the attention of the duo in their frivolous game. Any understanding of the setting surpassed them, but any attemtps at picking between good and evil sided on the side of evil.

"Oh, I've got a good one now." Elaine drew her second consecutive turn to no real objection since Imena long since exhausted the small details around her.

In between the falling and the head hitting, Ame managed to mutter off a small incantation. A shielding ward separated her from the tendrils seeking to strangle her from the wall. She quickly scrambled to her feet to feel a bubble form around her. Whatever powers her new found friend possessed would come in handy-- were her new friend not being strangled at the moment.

"Is it in any way helpful to this situation?"

"Anyway? I'd say if it was anyway, then yes."

A line of bright light shot out from Ame's fingers to try and pry the grasping tendrils from around Uzma. Ame took off into the new room holding the other members of Triumvirate and her two disposed partners. Splitting her attention between the two different pairings, Ame readied her flask and prepared for stage one of her plan.

"Is it something we can use to escape?"

"Yes."

The flask flew and impacted in a gust of flame near the exterior Triumvirate witch. Flesh melted into a thick black substance. Her face retained the muscular motion, but the viscosity of deep wound shored up its faltering lines.

"Is it something we can use right now?"

"Not from the looks of it."

Ame drew first blood, but the retaliation struck back. Dark limbs climbed out from under Ame's feet and grasped to secure her to the ground as the central witch held a fiery resolve within her hand. Quickly the fiery resolve grew into a microcosm of a cataclysm.

"Oh, Ame isn't trying to be a hero is she?"

"Trying yes, but it isn't so good. But she has a black lady with her."

"Oh, that's fun."

"Yeah, I hope neither one of them dies."

With a twisted smile the ball of fire flew out of the witch's hand. It flew with a strength sucking the oxygen from the air with a bursting gust. Ame struggled to free her ankles from the grasp and started to try and remember a prepared incantation to divert the blast. She began to feel mental feedback drawing her psychic power. She needed to think through these actions more, but as the fire blast neared her, she began to realize she may never get the chance.

As the intensity of the heat arrived, Ame felt merely the burst of wind blow her hair back. She felt the comfort of the shield bestowed by Uzma dissipate, but knew she remained untouched.

by **Chellizard** September 17th 2013, 6:44 pm

The tendril's were cast away from Uzma after Ame sent a bright light toward her. The tendrils were only subdued long enough for Uzma to breathe and position her hand between them, and her throat. It gave her that needed inch to regain proper oxygen levels. She breathed in deeply, and kept her eyes on Ame as she ran into the room. The shield would not break unless Uzma decided for it, to, or until Uzma ascended. But, the time was nearing.

"You'll pay for that," barked the chaotic witch just after Ame destroyed one of her replicas.

However, the one still standing in the room grabbed Ame by the ankles, forcing her to stand still. Uzma focused all of the energy she could to keep the shield up against the fire ball that the witch threw toward Amethyst. However, Uzma felt as if she was about to reach her breaking point. The tendrils were cutting off circulation to her feet, her hands, and constricting around of her abdomen. She felt the wound from earlier writhe in pain, a throbbing feeling stabbing through her solar plexus. She let out a grunt in protest, and kept her hand and all of her strength against the tendril aiming to choke her to death.

Uzma's eyes closed, so she missed Ame being saved by the shield, but the shield dissipated. There was no way Uzma could hold on in her feeble human form any longer. There was just no way. She did not even have to command her body this time. First, her skin became stark white and lines crawled across her flesh. Dark black lines that caused heavy contrast to her skin. Her eyes became a brighter green, and instead of hair and ears, she had tendrils that attached to her spinal column. Her skin was now extremely tough. The tendrils were barely a tickle now. Uzma did not possess an insane amount of strength, no. But, she did have the full use of her extraterrestrial gifts.

Coating her fists in the cosmic energy, she ripped the tendrils off of her. She then turned, a ball of the energy forming in her hand, and she pushed it into the Triumvirate replica's face. The ball expanded and forced this being into a puddle of sticky black ooze like the other. All Uzma could think about was the Wizard of Oz.

"Serves you right," she said, stepping away from the puddle and into the room.

Now to take down the other one. Still wearing the yellow bikini, she felt a little silly, but she did not care. She was ready to kick some more ass.

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