ic (IC) Study Group: Dragon's Hoard

[Poncho]

( @RocketLord @MoonSimply @Huckleberry @The Sailor )

 

Starlight Theater on Michigan street had once been a place of culture. 50 years ago, it held many popular plays. Lauren Hammond once performed there, in an adaptation of Carmilla, staring as the titular Vampiress. But not long after Hammond gave her curtain call, the theater followed not long after. Silver Scream had haunted the theater once, but eventually stopped; the despair of her major starring performance in the theater also being a horror-themed play made the spirit unwilling to stay there for long. Despite that, or rather, because she had been there before, no one had wanted to invest in the theater. That made it the perfect place for a group of disaffected, burnt-out teens to set up shop when the pressures of super-heroing and school life became too much. It had been the same reason that Ashley and Felix had gone to take a look around, unaware of the Starblights, that led to them gaining powers.

 

And now, sitting on the stage was a gem that was the source of a beam of violet energy that shattered the roof and reached into the sky. While the gem was prismatic, it was slowly turning dark as pitch; with each star that fell from the sky to become one of those strange star zombies, one of the facets of the Gem turned black. This was what happened when Magic was twisted to dark purposes; the darkness became self-perpetuating, and given enough time, the Umbra Star would turn into the center of a Netherworld. But the star wasn't the biggest attraction, it was the Dragon.

 

The Dragon was less solid than pure energy, made of a deep, rich purple. It had defined scales, each representing one of the constellations in the sky; it was western in appearance; two forelimbs, two back limbs, and two giant wings, a long, twisting neck, and a tapered snout. It's long tail didn't really end; it twisted and turned and disappeared into the Umbra Star like a tether, attaching the giant dragon to the gem in the center of the stage. There was a form in the very center of it; a human shaped bundle of darkness that was the source of it. And when the dragon opened it's mouth and Draco's voice boomed out of it, it was clear who that human was.

 

"IT DOESN'T MATTER ANYMORE. I've never felt better! This gem is the greatest source of power I could have ever hoped for! I'm going to live up to my name now; I'm going to Eclipse the sun itself!" Then the dragon pulled back it's mouth and roared, loud enough to vibrate the entire theater.

 

This was it's roar of challenge to Spaceman, Torpedo Lass II, Rot, and Puma. Amid the destroyed theater; seats of rotted wood, the collapsed second story boxes, the forgotten, faded posters, there was a Dragon, and there were those who wanted to stop it.

[MoonSimply]

La Puma Negra

 

"You all go direct, I'll see if I can cut around, take her out from behind," Puma spoke as they began to enter the theater, immediately going through to a side door instead of through main entrance of the auditorium where Ashley likely was. Puma would shift from being on her two feet to all fours, jumping over silently and quietly through the debris of the theater's offices and back rooms. The young heroine had a mission, and she was going to fulfill it, going on the hunt now as she went right into her instinctual tendencies. It would take her a bit of time to do so as the building was in a relatively bad state of repair, reminding herself of the bad conditions that she had dealt with in an old church that cost her a whole uniform by the end of the evening, having to trash it for another at her own expense.

 

She'd eventually get up above Ashley, or whatever she was calling herself, up on the rafters and looking down to her, "There you are..."  she spoke with a whisper, black fur hiding her away in the dark, unseen to her knowledge, watching and waiting for a time to strike. Only her eyes seen through the darkness, just barely. As soon as she was distracted, La Puma Negra would strike.

[Poncho]

The Dragon stomped around the stage of the theater with reckless abandon, glowing talons and skin crushing wooden beams underfoot. She was not being subtle at all, and beams of light and fire twisted and curled around the dragon's mouth and nostrils as energy built up around the dark orb in the center of the Dragon's semi-translucent form. She did not see the Puma stalking around her, so engrossed in her own little world where she was stomping and crushing. But as soon as someone became visible to her, the maw of the dragon opened wide and with a roar of heat and fire, a blast of purple plasma left her mouth, carving across the theater, the sky, and the air with a sickening, burning hiss that smelt of ozone as the laser sliced through whatever it was aimed at.

[RocketLord]

Spaceman

 

Go direct. Right. Draw attention and try to keep it on him. Parker already knows how hard Ashley can hit, and now that she is powered up? 

 

He frowns when he sees the dragon, and what sounds like Ashley inside it. "What did you do to yourself?" he mutters, shaking his head. He doesn't expect her to hear it. It doesn't matter.

 

"I'll try to get her attention," he says to Rot and Torpedo Lass, trying to sound more confident than he actually is. "She doesn't like me, so maybe I can keep her focus so you can attack."

 

Setting off from the ground, he flies in and then... heat, fire, purple plasma. A laser beam. Throwing his hands in front of himself, Parker moves to block it. It cuts into him, but his molecules are too dense. IT does not cut through more than his costume, leaving a burnt mark in his arm.

 

"Ashley!" he shouts, as he flies to the side. Draw her fire away from everyone else. Focus it on him. Let Consuelo, Mizuki and Carmen do what they can. "Stop this!" Reach out, try to grab hold. She's like mercury, difficult to get hold of. Difficult to stop. "Calm down, and we'll help you!"

[Huckleberry]

Rot

 

Flying through the hole in the theater ceiling and hugging close to the beam of light (or was it a beam of darkness . .. . . who can really say?) Consuelo had a plan. I'm gonna go straight at that Umber Star thing and just disintegrate it! But then she made an observation. Um, wait . . . . Looks like Parker has Ashley totally restrained. Maybe I should just go for her.

 

Veering off from her original course towards the pan-dimensional gem of reckoning, Rot instead steaks towards the big purple dragon girl, shadows trailing behind her. With Parker "holding" her the way he was, she actually manages to smash right into Ashley-dragon's center of mass in a dark burst of disintegration. The Draconic form of purple light maybe . . . maybe loses a little substance. Dang, not quite the dramatic finish I was going for. Maybe I should've stayed with my first plan of just attacking the crystal. Oh well. 

 

 

Edited February 19 by Huckleberry

[The Sailor]

Torpedo Lass II

 

Torpedo Lass reached the upper decks of the theater, and went to work, throwing a bluish green energy sphere at the Dragon, not sure if it hit, but she was hoping that Rot was doing far more damage to it... something about this dragon told Torpedo Lass she was out of her league.

 

But then she hit it... square in the chest. And it looked like it hurt!

"Well... time to slay the Dragon..."

Edited February 18 by The Sailor

[MoonSimply]

La Puma Negra

 

Puma had been stalking and waiting to strike this draconic creature, ready to strike from the shadows once she found a good opening. With a big thing like this, she knew well enough to avoid the direct line of attack in a fight, especially when that thing could easily take one of them out without much issue. So, like her namesake, she waited up above before pouncing downward with her claws out and shining in the blaze of color and light that was happening below her, slashing out at the creature the best she could while it seemed like it was on the backfoot. Puma only had one shot at this, likely if she missed being the first thing this dragon decided to make a snack of, or whatever it was exactly. This Ashely girl in her mind wasn't going to be talked to unless she beat some sense into her.

[Poncho]

(GM Post)

 

The Dragon stumbled back and forth, caught infinitely in the grasp of Spaceman and battered on all sides from the other students. It's magical body was wakened by Rot, a gaping hole was blasted through it's fame- more magical then physical- by Torpedo Lass, and then Puma sliced through it as well, leaving another tear in it's frame.

 

Then Spaceman felt the ripple in Space as the giant creature trashed against it's bonds, and a rush of magical energy freed it. A lot of things happened quite quickly as the air itself was rent apart and the creature moved. The first was the Dragon's roar.

 

"GEMINI!" it yelled, and the scales that represented the Gemini constellation- the two fish-, glowed a peach-like color.

 

Then Eclipse- not Draco, not Dragonstar, not Ashley-, emerged from the scales of the beast suddenly, and hooked her hands around Rot.

 

"YOU KNOW, GREENIE, I THINK I LIKE YOUR POWERS BETTER THAN THE STONE'S!" She said loudly as her eyes began to glow green and black. She floated out of the Dragon all the way as she kept her hands on Rot's. It was the first time the group had seen her actual suit;

 

It was primarily red and black, and looked strongly like a school uniform, but not the kind the Starblights wore. With it's long pants and sleeves and precise, regimented lines it looked much more like a military uniform. It had an attached cloak that hung off her left shoulder attached with a woven braid to an epaulette, and the Greek letter Alpha was inscribed on the back of the cloak. But as she held a grip on Rot, the red lines on her suit slowly changed and warped; turning green to match Rot's hair. Streaks of green filled the girl's blonde hair as well.

 

"Let me reintroduce myself to you!" She yelled again, laughing in joy at her brand new powers. "I am Eclipse, I am the head of the Alpha Squad of the Shadow Academy, and they gave me that name because I can black out even the sun!" then she grinned evily. "I'm gonna take the annoying caped guy's powers after I'm done with yours."

 

And to make it even worse, the Dragon was still there, and still ready to fight...

[RocketLord]

Spaceman

 

"Rot!" Parker calls out when Ashley, or Eclipse, strikes her and then begins to morph into her...

 

Parker has no idea what the Shadow Academy is, but as Eclipse makes her speech, taking Consuelo's powers into herself, while the dragon's still there, he realizes one thing, at least. It seems like she needs to touch someone to drain their power. He hopes he is right, at least, since that's something he can do something about. 

 

"I don't care what you call yourself, Ashley, but I don't think I got to introduce myself either."

 

They are in a theater. There's things he can use everywhere around them. Reach out, grab hold. Almost instantly, a stone pillar smashes into the back of Eclipse's head. This was another trick he hadn't shown her before, or anyone here for that matter, before.

 

"I'm Spaceman, and I'm not going to let you hurt my friends."

[Huckleberry]

Rot

 

Mercury must be like, in retrograde or something. Truth be told, Consuelo had no idea what Mercury being in retrograde technically meant. What's the deal this year with evil power duplicates of me?

 

Consuelo politely waited for Eclipse to finish her monologue. "So . . . You want my powers, huh? I can't really recommend it, but you seem determined."

 

Consuelo puts her hand on Eclipse's shoulder. "You don't care for that stone either? Don't worry. I got you."

 

Spinning away from the newly-formed power-stealing villain, Rot hurls herself at the blazing Umbral Star. The energy it gives off sears at her, but shadows well up around her body to protect her from harm and she pushes through the dazzling waves of energy until her hands contact the surface of the huge gem.

 

"Alright. Time to take care of this problem once and for all."

 

Dark disintegration shadows fly out of Rot's hands and through the crystal, splitting the thing in half.

 

Holy smokes - that actually worked!

[Poncho]

(GM Post)

 

A metal chair impacts suddenly with Eclipse's head, making her flinch as she turns back towards Spaceman.

 

"Fine, we'll do it your way!" she barks, but she lets go of Rot to do it, which lets the green haired girl fly at the Crystal and swipe it. And...it splits straight down the middle, into two smaller crystals.

 

This seems very useful, at first! Indeed, the Dragon's body starts to stutter and falls apart; reduced to no more than an upper half, it's back legs and tail turned into no more than a barely existent purple mist. It was clearly weakened, letting out an almost pathetic sounding roar as it flapped its wings, no longer able to keep both feet on the ground since it was unbalanced.

 

Meanwhile, the Umbra Star let out a loud, high pitched whine. One half turned as black as onyx, the other a bright white. The Purple line that went from the Dragon to the Stone twisted, cracking into pieces like glass. The blackened half of what had once been the Umbra Star continued to spew darkness and shadow, not just into the sky, but into the entire theater. And something was moving in it. Dark, terrible shapes, as the edges of the world was overlapping with a world of black, evil magic. The influence of Eclipse (and likely FX) had to be purged, and quickly, or something else was going to come through that portal!

[The Sailor]

Torpedo Lass II

 

Mizuki's seen enough of these shenanigans. While her team started to focus on Eclipse, Mizuki knew it was up to her to keep the dragon busy...

 

She crouched to leap, her right hand starting to glow. "Full speed ahead..."

 

She leaps as her fist glows a brilliant sea green, and as she closed with the Dragon she erupted into a furious flurry of punches which seemed to do even more damage to the Dragon causing it to get pummeled it's body quaking from the force of the impacts, then the momentum of her jump makes her land behind the dragon... and she gets ready with a stance like she was starting to charge something up, her hands starting to spark with energy, her eyes glowing with fury. "Shoulda been watching your waterline, pal."

 

Everyone there she came with knew she was getting ready to throw another phosphorescent sphere, but she was getting into it, waiting for just the right moment...

Edited March 1 by The Sailor

[MoonSimply]

La Puma Negra

 

Puma was moving fast, her athletic skills on full display as she, and along with several other of her fellow students battled the giant dragon that was slowly being withered away after multiple attacks upon it, not to mention the crazy lady that thought she was some sort of star incarnate. Whatever was powering her however was not good, able to take from the looks of it people's powers, or at the least use them temporarily in order to do battle with them. It was honestly just annoying her more as there was already enough of a mess on their pate to deal with as she followed after Torpedo Lass. A barrage of strikes would come from her, calling out her attack as she struck with a fury. Torpedo Lass had some serious power behind her to, doing great damage to the dragon.

 

Striking in tandem with Torpedo Lass in order to get the most out from their attacks, La Puma Negra would strike with a quick slashing uppercut, "Cause we're putting a hole in your boat!" she'd taunt alongside her fellow heroine. It wasn't the best quip out there, but it was enough to get the point home.

[Poncho]

(GM POST)

 

The Dragon, almost translucent and shuddering under the barrage of blows, could only roar in annoyance and hatred as it was beaten down. Each blow took a chunk out of it's weakening scaled form, making it more and more thin, with more and more holes. Holes were ripped in it from Mizuki's fists, then carved from Carmen's claws. They didn't regenerate, they just hung raggedly open like strips of cloth in a breeze; places where they would be bleeding if they creature was physical instead of made of energy.

 

But Eclipse was not suffering near as much as she gathered darkness in her hands.

 

"Let's see how this powers works in my hands!" She said with a grin to Rot before she threw it down, and it exploded into draconic shapes of black smoke and green lightning, sizzling the air around it as it rushed around and snapped at Puma, Torpedo Lass, and Spaceman, leaving gouges in the once proud theater as it was further warped and broken.

 

Meanwhile, the Umbral Star continued to twinkle and splinter, small shards of the gem breaking off and floating up into the sky, high above, as shadows made of magic writhed and grew long.

[RocketLord]

Spaceman

 

The draconic shapes passes over and through Parker, as he remains above the ground. Consuelo's powers are scary in the hands of herself, but with Eclipse having taken over the power? Then it's even worse.

 

Consuelo destroyed the stone, Mizuki and Carmen are trying to take down the dragon... he could help, give it that final push, but someone has to deal with Ashley, and Parker is, in some way, fine with being the one to do that for now.

 

What she said about black out the sun gave Parker an idea, anyway...

 

Black dots rise from his body at even greater intensity than before. His cape rising around him, the edges fraying and dissolving into the black crackle as he stares at Eclipse. 

 

He haven't tried something like this before. Closing the distance to something this far away. It takes him a moment, but, it feels natural. 

 

Spaceman has established the connection.

 

"Hey, Eclipse? Let's bring the sunshine."

 

Shining bright light, solar radiation and heat come hurling out all around Eclipse, seemingly from out of nowhere, as Spaceman has closed the distance between them and the sun, opening what is essentially portals to orbit around the sun all around their enemy, catching the solar winds and bringing them here.

[Huckleberry]

Rot

 

Consuelo watches with no small amount of frustration as Eclipse uses her own powers against her friends. A dark will comes over her.

 

"Hahaha haha!" Ripples of darkness coil around Rot and waves of menace and corruption roll through the theater as she laughs the power mimic down.

 

"You pathetic little attempt at a copy."  Even her voice sounds strange and distorted. "You lack the will to wield my power, coward - watch!"

 

The dark aura surrounding Rot intensifies as she streaks towards the battered dragon. Come on, Suelo - if you want to knock the heart out of Eclipse, you gotta make this hit count!

 

She connects with Draco like a comet of annihilation, and, much as the meteorite of old did to the dinosaurs upon striking off the coast of the Yucatan peninsula, nothing alive of Sentry Draco's energy dragon is left when the impact explosion of shadows dissipates.

[The Sailor]

Torpedo Lass II

 

Eclipse's attack seems to weave it's way to Torpedo Lass, TL turns pale as every ounce of her toughness fades from her, and she tumbles to the ground.

 

"You... FREAK! Can't even stand for yourself so you have to copy others?!?"

 

Mizuki was wounded... and now... she's snapped.

 

"GO TO BLAZES!!!" She shouts, throwing a phosphorescent sphere smacking Eclipse directly in the face.

 

Mizuki stood afterward, wiping some blood from her lips. "Hol' up... LET ME COOK." she said, her eyes glowing a stark blue.

Edited March 11 by The Sailor

[MoonSimply]

La Puma Negra

 

If there was one thing that Rot's powers were, it was definitely destructive as her attack alone left deep scars into the surrounding theater, the rays of destructive energy hurtling towards not only Puma but her compatriots as well. She could sense it before it came towards her however, seeing as how this Eclipse woman was making a big scene out of every attack. It would easily be dodged however, La Puma Negra flipping back in a handspring, completely unharmed by the attack. Agility and speed on display, Puma would continue to move away as the draconic beast would finally fall to the might of a combined effort, with Rot finishing it off.

 

Now all that was left was Eclipse herself and Puma wasn't going to let her stand for much longer either. Torpedo Lass would have the first strike on her, nailing their foe right in the face with a hard hit, "Let me at least cook the appetizer!" she'd respond with a less than witty phrase as she darted past Torpedo straight towards Eclipse, moving like a small blur before standing before the villain and slashing with her claws in a typical acrobatic fashion before then feigning a roundhouse kick only to drop low at the last moment to trip her. This is where Puma like, being right in the fray, skirmishing to and fro, but it was clear someone else wanted to take her down more than she did, and Puma would be more than glad to accept such.

[Poncho]

(GM Post)

 

The Dragon distorts and disappears under Rot's touch, the fake Eclipse inside of it also disappearing. The Gemini facet goes dark and cracks in half on the broken crystal; at the same time several other facets shatter; The Furnace, The Ram, The Swan, The Scales, The Bull, and The Scorpion all twist and shatter as the splintered Umbral Star continues to deteriorate under the darkness threatening not to crush it, but rather to transform it, to warp and negatively twist it. 

 

Meanwhile, while Eclipse can handle Rot's energy, it's taking more effort than she was expecting, and it opens her up to getting struck.

 

Solar Radiation washes over her, but while it scorches the suit, she grits her teeth and bares it. But Torpedo Lass' sphere of energy struck her in the face, and her bones shift as she continued to struggle. Then Puma cut her, and she staggered again, knocked flat on her rear by the combined efforts of the Superheroes. 

 

And somehow, while she was resigned to defeat, she could still be petulant.

 

"Yeah...you're going to win. Because it's 4 of you against 1 of me..." she said, high and mighty despite the fact she had been drawing on the power of the soul of a universe for extra energy, despite a broken nose and bruises. "Come on then. Take me out. Paradox will just save me anyway!" she tried to laugh but it didn't sound right through a broken nose, it was twisted and distorted the same way she was corrupting the Umbral Star.

 

Speaking of, the waning abyss was opening wider.

[RocketLord]

Spaceman

 

Spaceman maintains his focus, letting the bursts of solar radiation rain down over Eclipse while the others finally take down the dragon. With Torpedo Lass throwing the blast, he lets go, the blasts of radiation disappearing seconds before the the sphere of energy strikes Eclipse. He looks over his shoulder at Rot, allowing himself the moment to look at her as he listens to her mad cackling. She'll hopefully deal with the growing abyss, since she broke it in the first place, and then, maybe, she will be the next problem, but for now, he turns back to the fight. They need to deal with Eclipse first.

 

As La Puma Negra strikes, slashing and knocking Eclipse down, Parker sees his moment. Decreasing the distance inside his body, he goes solid once more, pushing everything towards strength, then instantly decreases the distance between himself and Eclipse to land heavily on top of her. Striking her into the ground with enough force to crack it, Spaceman quickly opens his fist and grabs hold, pulling Eclipse up and out of the ground, grabbing hold around her and pulling her back up, twisting her around in front of him, quickly moving his arms under her armpits, with his hands behind her head, holding her in place.

 

"No, he won't. Not this time. This time I'm ready for that," Parker says calmly, as he holds her tight, before shouting. "Torpedo Lass! I got her! Hit her with everything you got!"

[Huckleberry]

Rot

 

Rot's outline gradually comes into view as her hungry shadows finish disintegrating the purple energy of the fallen dragon. Eclipse looks shaken, and, it's hard to tell, but it looks like Spaceman may be grappling her too.

 

She turns to the portal that formed when she split the Umbra Star, to make sure it was disappearing, now that Sentry Draco was defeated.

 

What the heck? It's still growing! Maybe FX is still active, or . . . maybe this other Eclipse is the "real" one, even though the dragon version came first . . . Crap, crap, crap! Wait . . . the portal started forming when I split the gem . . . Reverse!

 

Thankful that she'd been practicing the technique, Consuelo "flipped a switch" in her mind to reverse the disintegration she inflicted on the Umbra Star. Shadows formed around the gem and the damage started to repair.

 

Now to deal with Eclipse. She's immune to my disintegration powers, so . . . 

 

Rot may not be strong, but she makes a pretty good bullet. She streaks across the theater and body slams into the restrained Eclipse. The beleaguered super-villain is further staggered by the blow, but somehow manages to avoid being knocked out. 

[The Sailor]

Torpedo Lass II

 

Mizuki moved through the rubble of the once glorious theater, through the damaged ceiling, a leaping shadow into the air, only her blue-green eyes and her right hand balled into a fist could be seen.

 

Then just as quickly as she lept she landed, putting her whole body into a punch that could only be described as violence personified. A burst of green energy exploded from her hand, and it seemed she threw several punches into Eclipse's chest, the force of the blows knocking away what remaining dust was in the area, shards of theater, and other things away in a bluish-green nebula of force that could only be described as "extraordinary".

 

In the end, Mizuki was gasping, still feeling the effects of being drained... but Eclipse... was out cold, face up.

 

Mizuki staggered to her feet. "See you punk... That's 2 L's Claremont just handed your squad."

Edited March 13 by The Sailor

[Poncho]

(GM Post)

 

Grabbed by the Spaceman, slammed into by Rot, and finally crushed by Torpedo Lass, Eclipse maintained a rictus grin through it all. Even when she was finally dropped, unconscious, that grin remained.

 

For a moment there was a pause. Was Paradox really going to suddenly appear and save her? Was whatever Spaceman was planning good enough to stop them from doing it?

 

Moments ticked by.

 

Nothing happened.

 

Meanwhile, in concert, as Rot returned the Gem to a single piece, then Eclipse finally fell, the beam stopped. The splintering edges of the world faded away, returning the group to the theater. The starry sky faded, returning to the middle of the day above them.

 

The Umbral Star rested on the stage; as big as a man's torso, multi-faceted, each representing one of the constellations. Cracks ran through the surface of the object, and a darkness swirled at the bottom of it. But every facet slowly returned. The last 4 to return were the Dragon, the Twins, the Ram, and the Furnace. But eventually, there were only five blank facets; the Swan, the Scales, the Hunter, the Scorpion, and the Bull.

 

Everything was quiet. It was all over. Paradox wasn't going to show up.

[The Sailor]

Torpedo Lass II

 

Mizuki leaned on a rail near the front of the stage of the theater. Still light headed from the experience. What was worse was the flashback... She looked back at Eclipse, and realized during that outburst... she thought she was fighting SeaWolf.

 

She puked. Hard... All that trauma hit her in a moment... then just as quickly faded like the contents of her stomach. After getting her composure and wiping her mouth she looked to the others. "My god... Roll call... everyone good?"

 

She wasn't good though... far from it. Although she remembered there was someone at school on staff that could help... but right now...

 

"Once we reunite with Lawrence's squad... we should see if we should aid in assisting helping any bystanders caught up in all this."

[RocketLord]

Spaceman

 

Parker grits his teeth, holding back against Mizuki's blows as they rain down on Eclipse, making sure she doesn't that she doesn't get to fall away from them, and, then... Nothing. No Paradox. Parker doesn't quite believe it, and he holds on to Eclipse, like he is sure that she will disappear the moment he lets go of her, instead swinging her unconscious form over his shoulder.

 

"I'm fine," he says to Mizuki, once she's ready. "But we can't really leave that star here, if that's what gave the Starblights their powers, and I'm not about to leave Ashley behind for that Paradox guy to come and grab her."

 

Could they move it? He isn't quite sure about actually touching it.