Doc Scratch's Big Gambit Part 3: 10 Seconds to oblivion.
//credit to @beepboopstarman for Peligin-Eyed Wayfarer,
and @rock-bird-go-brr for Notos and tAVROS
Onboard the Extant Roamer, Clock Jester's personal airship, a battle is waged between two halves of a whole
just give up. you know shirking is useless.
tHiNgS aRe DiFfErEnT hErE. nO i'M nOt GoInG bAcK! mY fRiEnDs WiLl WiN!
BUT SAY THEY DO, AND THEN FIGURE OUT HOW YOU- HOW WE REALLY ARE
qUaSaR pRoMiSeD tO nEvEr AbAnDoN mE! tAvRoS iS hErE nOw! AlL tHe OtHeRs LiKe Me ToO mUcH, i KnOw It!
fine then... take the gamble on that slab. your outfit won't change
Back with the Incursionists, they're in a place they've never seen, and someone unexpected is here
D-d-doc... i-I'm- Sorry I- didn't return i-immed-dia-tely
notos looks over at damara.
“kid? kid. he’s dead.”
W-what? No... it's impossible...
they don’t say anything. they just pull their claws back into their gauntlets, step over to damara, and carefully reach out for her wrist. they hesitate, but she lets them grab hold of her. they lead her over to the corpse, and gesture at something important - something that was hidden from her view earlier. The two docs are back into one, but that one doesn't have a head. Damara says nothing, just staring, but then starts looking around - the other shoe's gotta drop any minute now, right? But all she sees is the NI and Faba. ARE YOU KIDDING ME. this. FUCKING GUY. faba just doesn’t give up, does he? notos growls, their wings hiking up as they stare at him.
So you defeated Doc Scratch... I wasn't expecting that
Why do you look so happy about it
...
Oh Nebula... You call yourself a scientist yet you never think
Was that supposed to be a burn? Because if so it sucked
Do you remember what Doc Scratch said? He shared much more info than I would've, all things considered
Quasar's running through it in his head as notos snorts.
“like that’s particularly hard. for all your talk, you never say anything actually important. remember how you *conveniently* forgot to tell me about how you accidentally microwaved that can and blew up our floor’s kitchenette?”
...My Master Will Be Here On Schedule
Ah, so you can make logical deductions after all!
Call Command. We need to put a team together
It's useless
Why
You can't prepare for Scratch's Master to arrivebecause
No...
tavros stumbles back, dwarfed by the sheer power and malice radiating off Him. he felt the Breath stutter in time with his lungs, humming with anxiety. an involuntary, stressed trill rose from notos’ throat as their feathers hiked in fear. Faba - no, whoever he is - grows to a massive size, and flexes oversized muscles, rending his lab coat. His skin seems to be stretched tight across him. Regardless he attacks, swiping at Notos with now-sharp hands and blasting Stanley with a Rainbow Beam. notos leaps back, their wings batting at the air. they half-throw damara out of the line of fire and unsheath their claws as they land. Damara seems eager to cling to anyone she can, trying to get SOMETHING in between her and her master. The Wayfarer opens fire — waiting to see if the shots do anything at all before continuing. The shots only seem to reveal more of whatever's underneath Faba's skin while having no effect on his attacks. in her fumbling, damara has found her way over to tavros. the Bronzeblood, for his part, is still absolutely terrified. but still, he takes a deep Breath. the wind coils around his limbs, as if drawn to something under his skin, before rippling out in a gentle wave in time with his exhale. as it travels, it builds him a picture of the entire battlefield, flowing around every combatant and over every bit of terrain.
Don't... we can't escape... I tried... it didn't work... we have no Hope
*Seeing the bullets not do much of anything, it puts away the rifle and pulls out its harpoon — sprinting forward to engage in melee. when tavros responds, he doesn’t turn to look at damara. he’s still staring straight ahead, eyes aglow with Breath’s blue.*
“mAYBE NOT,, bUT WE HAVE TO TRY,,
What happens next is all a bit of a blur
Faba's skin completely is rent off, and HE appears fully. Lord English then unleashes a blast of rainbow energy that defeats everyone there aside from Quasar, Oppy, Damara, Notos, Wayfarer, and Tavros
Wayfarer then recieves a transmission
"Gregorio Fleet to Incursionists: We recieved your distress call"
NIRA's fleet drops out of warp in front of the battle. Lord English looks at it and launches a rainbow beam, decimating portions of NIRA's fleet. It would've been the whole thing had Quasar and Oppy not fused and created a planet out of thin air to block the attack. The planet was destroyed, giving the fleet time to escape. It then flies down to Lord English and fight oneVone
Lord of Time, LORD ENGLISH
Some time ago, Quasar Nebula faced off against the All-Devouring Worm God, Quantuvour. Finishing that battle, he called upon more Convytezynce than ever before, severing the god and creating the new region Mt. Tovos from its body. He would then proceed to create, out of absolutely nothing, enough natural resources to fulfill even the greediest projection of Unova's total consuption many times over for over a million generations, filling Mt. Tovos with them and leaving it for whoever would colonize it (which was revealed to be Unova).
At the time, this had taken every ounce of Quasar's power, and mandated him rest in a crystal cocoon, but now, with dangerous and unprotected training only one such as him could survive, that power had become his baseline - now his usual full effort was at least 3 times that - and with a bond between Oppy and him reaching the heights it had, they could fuse and add even more power
It was still taking everything he had to even score Lord English, and his advantage was fading fast
in the meantime, notos, tavros, amd damara have begun gathering all the wounded in one place, treating those in the most critical conditions as best they can. while notos is keeping an anxious eye on the fight, damara has decided to just fully ignore it as best as possible, throwing her whole focus into her task. The Wayfarer sees all of this, sees the sheer power being thrown around, and pauses for a moment. It takes a deep breath, before throwing off its cloak in one swift motion — bursting forth in a twist of space, revealing a bat the size of a steam locomotive. It stretches, screeches once, and lunges into the air. Lord English, seeing the Wayfarer, briefly stops attacking Quasar to blast Wayfarer with a blast of 15 pool balls that seems to both split its timeline and hit it from every point in said timeline before depositing it on the ground without any lasting effects
Then The Fusion's back! It bombards English with cat face-shaped meteors (meowteors, if you will) before English disintegrates these. It then throws a Door at Lord English, shutting it behind him, before this too explodes as he walks out. The Wayfarer lunges forth once more — waiting for a moment where the Fusion is clear of English, before shouting — a language none here would know, but would translate to `ruin-and-break-and-crumble`
With no mouth that it does not have, it whispers, in a language that does not exist,
Fire and frost boil around it for moments afterwards. Lord English wobbles, but doesn't break. bits of antimatter shaped like stars hit English. English responds by shooting at the fusion with his cane turned gun. The Fusion then closes into melee, attacking with Sagaris and slicing rapidly. Lord English counters by switching his gun back into a cane and attacking. After back-and-forths, English blows The Fusion's head off, only for The Fusion to grow a gun head and blast Lord English in the eyes. Recoiling, he shoots pool ball shots at The Fusion. The Fusion has to back up to avoid them, but then a bunch of duplicates of it charge at English before hitting. English shoots all these down with gun. The Fusion blasts a grid of Convytezynce lasers around English, that move to hit multiple times. English emerges from the net and blasts The Fusion with a rainbow beam, then tackles them and point blank fires at it. The Fusion loses all of its humanoid mass, with only the Convytezynce Core and Anolvordingyd flesh remaining Undeterred, The Fusion uses their flesh to shift around the Convytezynce Core into a massive mass of gossamer wings and tentacles. It then takes to throwing English into big platonic solids composed from pure Convytezynce. English responds by ripping off The Fusion's tentacles and Billiard Hitting it again. The Fusion brings the rest of the solids into English with a enourmous crash. Lord English then beams The Fusion again
Before The Fusion can be destroyed, it is moved out of the way by Twyst, appearing as they do like a magician's abrupt entrance
Twyst begins dancing, dodging several Billiard Hits. But in turn, English counters five hats that all spew military-dressed rabbits armed with rocket launchers with his own firearm. Jokewyld transforms into great concourses of energy, with masks, hats, cards, wands, and more floating throughout it. They then blast English with stars and moons. English rebuttles with more Billiard Hits. Jokewyld traps English in a pocket dimension where moon-shaped masks blast him endlessly, but English blasts his way out of Twyst's pocket, only for, when English tries to grab the Baron, he gets a card, that spews ouch clouds(tm) onto him. Other cards then come flying at him. English swings his cane to hit them out of the air. Jokewyld then sends many arms at English so they can use the tricks up their sleeves - magic wands, mogic fronds, caltrop jacks that spin like pulsars, mobius balls, hired dolls, a ribbon snake eating its own tail, and winged white dwarfs are but a few of the Baron's equipment for tricks
do you really think they'll win? they're fighting the mirthful messiah
tHaT's WhY i -No, We- NeEd To Do ThIs. If ThEy LoSe, We LoSe EvErYtHiNg, AnD tHiS mIgHt Be ThEiR oNlY sHoT
Gamzee lays on the yellow stone slab. A crystal chrysalis forms around them, and starts glowing yellow and white. Within the chrysalis, Gamzee pulls the bomb out of his pocket (that used to be on his chest), sets its detonation time to 00:00, and lays down. Outside, a tremendous bang is heard, and the chrysalis absorbs more and more energy.
Suddenly, it ruptures, and a great glowing symbol shaped like a yellow pair of wings floats forth.
Beneath it stands Gamzee, alive and well, but different - his hair is longer, his face paint more intricate, and he wears an elegant glowing yellow outfit. From his back sprout two bright yellow gossamer wings, each in the shape of half a comedy mask. Gamzee looks around, and grins
THE SAGE OF HOPE HAS RISEN
//Credit tangentialTesseract on DeviantArt for the HopeRage image
i NeEd To FiNd ClOcK jEsTeR
Clock Jester was on deck when Gamzee found him
cLoCk JeStEr! It'S tImE. wHaT i NeEd YoU tO dO iS mOvE tHe EsSeNcE lOoP tO tHe CoOrDiNaTeS i'Ll iNpUt iNtO tHe RoAmEr
Got it. This'll take a lot out of me, so you'll need to fly the Roamer
Gamzee takes off in the Roamer as Clock Jester moves the Essence Loop. Back with the NI, English thinks that he can't shoot the Baron directly, so instead he shoots at the NI. Twyst hurries and gets in the path of the rainbow beam, now in their usual form, but as they push against it, their suit starts to burn
He's starting his process of guaranteeing his victory
notos looks up at her from where they’re binding someone’s wounds.
“hey, you wanna know what i’ve learned through the past few years of knowing these guys?”
they turn back to their patient, their hands shaking slightly despite their bravado.
“it’s that somehow, this team always pulls through. no matter the odds. it’s not over until we *say* it is.”
The rainbow beam gets closer, as the Baron's hat and mask start burning along with their suit
The show... must... go... on...
Out of nowhere, Tavros sees a bright light, mote-size at first, but getting brighter and brighter. Lord English notices it too, and stops beaming. Gamzee smashes into English, knocking out his golden tooth. And right behind him, a steampunk airship towing a giant glowing blue triquetra. tavros laughs disbelievingly. notos just smiles.
“see? there’s always another chance.”
then, taking off from the deck of the Roamer, is a flock of Pokemon. it’s a bit hard to tell at first, but as they near the platform, it becomes immediately obvious that there are four different instances of Sarge the Talonflame, alongside two versions of Esper (who were diligently holding up shaky-but-passable psychic barriers). as they land, the voice of a young boy sounds in the heads of everyone still conscious (and not currently fighting English).*
<is everyone okay over here?>
tHaNkS fElLaS! jUsT nEeD a BiT mOrE tImE
Gamzee goes up to the defeated NI
yOu DoN't HaVe To PlAy By HiS rUlEs. OuR wOrLd Is DiFfErEnT
Somehow, just by him saying this, something happening around the area lifts its effects from the NI
`Green Certainty debuff dispelled!`
tavros Breathes in again, a small smile coming across his face as he exhales and the blue glow dissipates from his eyes. he looks at gamzee, properly looks, and starts.
hAd AnOtHeR ePiPhAnY... i LiKe ThIs OnE mOrE. aNyWaY
Gamzee goes over to Quasar and reaches into his sylladex
Within the Essence Loop, a Clockwork Angel pushes a demon against its borders, breaking into the Negatial Void surrounding the Loop
The Wayfarer pants mid-air, finally having recovered from using such opposites in the same breath, and in ways never meant to be. It takes a deep breath and lunges forward once more — repeating the crackling, fiery tones uttered before, of ruin and breaking and cracking, but only those — stronger, brighter, and more of them. If a distraction is what Gamzee needed he certainly got it. English, while trying to hit the Pokemon, now focuses on Wayfarer.
Gamzee pulls out an arm-mounted Buster - Flash Man's Time Stopper - and points it at English
Gamzee fires. Time stops. 10 seconds to oblivion to save everyone
10. Gamzee pushes English toward the Negatial Void, lining up with the hole the angel made
9. He goes in. Gamzee wheels around
8. He flies to his friends, making sure they're all together.
7. He brings out Biscuits' oven, throwing them all inside
6. He puts the oven on the Extant Roamer
5. Gamzee flies to the Chains of Time, the "treasure", and brings out Clock Jester's anti-JuJu
4. He alchemizes the anti-JuJu with his juggling club, forming a relic crackling with the power of nonexistence
3. He hurls the club at the treasure, fleeing behind it
2. The club connects, and the nonexistant equation Mango found runs
1. Gamzee tells Clock Jester to get out of there, and hides in the oven himself
Clock Jester gets the Extant Raomer out of there
When two JuJus of the same kind connect, existence rends. To mend itself, it erases all it can in the area from spacetime. Fortunately for all of existence, removing the two JuJus was all it took to mend itself as the two JuJus imploded on themselves.
What happened for Lord English won't be for certain discovered, but 2 things could've happened. He could've been shunted back into the Chains of Time, only with no way to leave that loop of time now, or the Negatial Void could've melted him with his power severed,
The Extant Roamer shows up at Pokeworld. Then the oven opens
the moment of quiet is broken when a truly staggering number of people fall out of the oven. the four talonflames and two xatus begin to… bubble, almost. with the truly unsettling sound of crunching bone and shifting flesh, the pokemon start to slowly turn back into their natural forms - four humans, a hawk, and an andalite. notos watches in morbid fascination. tavros, meanwhile, is still helping people out of the oven. All 3 Homstuck trolls suddenly are wrapped in green chains and yanked backward fiercely, but just as soon as they pulled they dissapated harmlessly
Ow... gUeSs ThErE wOuLd StIlL bE a TeEnY eFfEcT
tavros rubs at his head from where he hit it against the oven
Define "win", Astronaut Lost.
They seem much more dishevled than Notos has ever seen them
If your intent was to defeat Lord English, then yes, you won
If your intent was to save Aether Paradise, then no, you very much did not
notos looks conflicted at this, but doesnt speak up. The Wayfarer blurs in a warp of space, before carefully stepping out of the oven vaguely human-shaped and sized. It does a big stretch, sighing a bit as it does so.
notos steps up to her, and places a gentle hand on her shoulder.
...I'm not sure I know how to do that
We can help ya! Plus, you aren't the only one that meanie had enslaved
Well... you did save me many times over, and Quasar's really important to this world ...Though at the same time... I'm not sure I wanna tie myself to anything quite yet
Oh we're not like a formal group or anything - we all have our own journeys, we just help each other out with them!
Wait- really? It's possible to live like that? No expectations, just...
Damara seems unable to find the words
The Baron tries to do their usual fanfare, but staggers
Did I hear that right? You wish to join the Incursionists?
...yeah. We'll see how it goes
Well then Sorceress Released, check your pockets!
Damara checks her pockets, and pulls out a red key with her Aries sign on it
You probably have a matching house at the Alley. ^u^
Oh! Right! Where are my manners
the Baron opens their suit, and a stage door manifests, leading to the Alley, only the way's all dilapitated
...do forgive me, I'll need time to get my waterfowl sorted again
At where they fought English, the Felt Voodoo Doll remains
a shadow of a long-horned troll falls over it
2 green circles light up on the shadow
Kr3333333333333h3h3h3h3h3h3h3h3h3h3h3h3h3!!
