FFR: The Phantom Challenge

[GamerShadow]

Re: FFR: The Phantom Challenge



I just noticed, your avatar features two banhammers clashing against one another. Although the ones I had in mind are not similar to those, the concept is still the same. xD

[MrShasherax]

Re: FFR: The Phantom Challenge

You should send me your drawings of your envisioning.

[GamerShadow]

Re: FFR: The Phantom Challenge

Chapter 12:

Engler coughed up blood, which pattered silently on the unforgiving ash. The last few minutes had by far been some of the most torturous he had experienced to date, and Shashakiro had proven to be much more than Engler could handle. Various punctures and lacerations sapped Engler’s body of both blood and strength, and he was once again finding it challenging to continue fighting, let alone keeping up with his nearly invincible opponent. He breathed deeply, inward, outward. Inward. He removed an arrow that had impaled his arm, and tried his best to cover up the wound as soon as the blood began to spill. “This is no good,” he thought to himself. Outward. “I’m dead if he attacks again, and I don’t know if he just wants to play with me some more, or if he wants to outright kill me.” Inward.

“Well now, Engler,” A confident Shashakiro broke through his half-dead opponent’s thoughts for one last taunt, “How does it feel? To be defeated by a legend? To soon be killed by the closest thing to a god that you will ever see in your life? It must feel pretty good, or bad, in your case.”

Engler spat with a painful effort as his abdominal muscles scorched in pain. He cursed Shashakiro under his breath. “Shut up, cretin,” he hatefully replied, “You will die, and I will make sure that you do so.”

Shashakiro laughed at this ridiculous response, making sure that Engler heard him. “In case you didn’t notice,” he jeered, “You are all but dead. You peaked long ago, and your power flatlined not too long ago. You have nothing left. Just give up.”

Engler spotted something in the distance out of the corner of his eye. He knew at once who the person was from the smoke that was rising from the being. Quickly, Engler formulated a plan to stall Shashakiro. Although he didn’t know it at the time, Engler would not have to wait long.

“So Shashakrio,” Engler grinned and began to bluff, “You think I have no power left? You don’t think that I have a trick up my sleeve?”

Shashakiro gave Engler a focused but slightly concerned look. It told him that he was ready for a trap of some sort, but he didn’t know what to be ready for. Engler pressed forward with his bluff, and decided to raise the stakes a little by backing his words with actions. “Well then, Shashakiro, let me show you why I will destroy this pitiful world.” Engler began to strain his muscles as he feigned bringing out the power he didn’t have at the moment. Instead, he created a gigantic harmless aura of indigo light that swirled around itself and shot up towards the sky.

Unbelievably, Shashakiro bought it. His reaction was to simply move backward and enter a defensive stance. He waited for Engler’s ultimate technique to present itself; his focus and alertness never faltering. His hands were placed over the satchel that carried his arrows, and his feet were spread apart and ready to move at the slightest sign of attack.

Suddenly, a figure jumped on Shashakiro from behind, and made him stagger. Shashakiro could see a blade that was just inches from his throat, which sent him into a gigantic adrenaline rush. He slammed the body into the ground with an unbelievable force, and the figure’s head exploded with blood. However, by this time, two more bodies had jumped onto Shashakiro. At once, he figured it out. Hackers, and lots of them.

Shashakiro tossed any nearby hacker onto the ground, and threw arrows into their heads and necks, but there seemed to be no end to the swarm of blades and bodies. Eventually, Shashakiro was pinned to the ground by a group of eight hackers. They struggled to keep him on the ground as he thrashed about, putting his best effort in escaping. More and more hackers joined in on the effort. At last, a miniature army of twenty hackers had managed to pin Shashakiro to the ground.

One of the hackers put his blade to Shash’s throat. The tip rested on Shash’s skin, craving fresh blood. The other hackers looked on, eager to see the end of the legend. Shashakiro started to sweat in his life-threatening situation, and attempted once more to escape, but it was of no use. The hacker raised its blade, preparing for the final strike, His pupils dilating with the desire to kill. His grin grew wider and wider as the blade continued to rise into the air.

Then the blade plunged, and as predicted, blood splashed everywhere. A white beam of light upward with Shashakiro in it, and carried him upward into the heavens. The eye and tooth of the Otaku Oni Dragon fell onto the ground with a soft pat, and was halfway buried by the ash and soil. Engler heard the piercing of skin from nearby, and realized what had happened. He roared with laughter, and wore a wicked grin on his face.

Blazze strode over to Engler, and helped him up. “That takes care of that scum. Are you sure you’re up for the invasion as planned?”

Engler was able to support himself, and he let go of Blazze and spat on the ground. The spit burned holes in the ash and soil before it ceased sizzling and disappeared from sight. “The invasion continues as planned. I’ll simply catch up to you when I feel I am ready. I trust you won’t screw anything up, Blazze.”

“You’re not going to lead the charge?” Blazze questioned, “What will you be doing between now and then?”

Engler eyed the Otaku Oni Dragon pendant lying on the ground. He shuffled over with a small bit of difficulty, as his right leg was all but dead, and picked the barely visible object up. After pocketing the valuable item, he merely responded, “You’ll see. Lead the main forces to The Garbage Bin, while their army is still in Chit Chat.”

Blazze hadn’t expected Engler to know the whereabouts of the TGB Army. With a raised eyebrow, he responded. “Of course, Engler. They will be there within three days.”

“Excellent.” Engler wrapped up the conversation as he transfigured himself into a pool of shadows. The nearly perfect indigo circle oozed into the ground, and disappeared from sight. Blazze was left alone with the hackers who were now lined up in a straight line.

“You heard him.” Blazze commanded the hackers, “Begin the march to the Garbage Bin immediately.” He ignited his entire body, and headed for the unknown location in which the main forces were being kept in an inferno of speed.

The Garbage Bin was experiencing quite a wonderful day. The sun, although intense and focused, was shining with a seldom seen radiance, which painted an unusual whitish-blue color on the skies, which was clear as glass. The air was oddly still, however, but the denizens of The Garbage Bin didn’t seem to mind. Their minds were more focused on the fact that many of their friends and sometimes family were off fighting in the distant land of Chit Chat. Most wondered if they would ever see them again, and some started rumors about how some ridiculous monster must have consumed the entire army with one massive gulp, or how Specforces snapped and gunned down the entire army.

The latter of these rumors was in reality not a rumor but a joke started by Squeek. Squeek was not a normal citizen to TGB, although he did sometimes when he wanted a good laugh. He had been summoned by Omegitranos, who requested a second person to assist him in keeping The Garbage Bin in order whilst Specforces and the army were away. His experience in TGB was none too thrilling this time around, and the lack of people didn’t help the cause. Mostly, Squeek would hang around with Omega and have heated debates about wavedashing and whether or not it was a glitch. Once or twice a day, they would find madmatt and windsurfer, and together, the group would all joke around and have a good time. They would split up at about midnight, and Squeek would crash at Omega’s place before repeating the bittersweet process all over again the next day.

The rather monotonous loop was broken four days later as Squeek took a random glance towards the fields that surrounded The Garbage Bin. He was shocked to see an enormous army slowly approaching the outer area of The Garbage Bin. At once, Squeek turned around, and rushed through the town. Repeatedly, he shouted at the top of his lungs, “We’re under attack! Gather your weapons! All must fight!”

Omega, who was not with Squeek at the time, heard the message being shouted through the town, and instantly gathered his weapons, and also rushed through the Garbage Bin, informing anybody and everybody he possibly could of the incoming attack. “Prepare defenses! Anything that can be used to stall them must be used! We have to hold them off until the army returns!” Omega decided to add those words to the message being shouted. They had to do whatever they could to prevent the opposing army from capturing The Garbage Bin.

Within ten minutes, the remaining citizens had lined up in a perfect row; all of them had their best battle gear with them. Most of them did not have any real armor or weapons, but they did the best they could. A few people did not even arm themselves, as they did not rely on weapons or armor to fight.

Squeek and Omega hastily surveyed the crowd to see if there were any people of note present. The first ones that they picked up on were Turboyoshi and Telvanni_guard, the latter of which was wearing his heaviest armor, and carrying his finest Halberd Axe. He had fought in a few previous wars; but none of them were really full-scale conflicts, but rather, they were rebellions or riots that had escalated into full-blown battles. Still, any experience at all at this point was invaluable, and all who had any sort of experience would fight.

Another retired soldier of note was fido123, who had merely brought an arrow holster, which was filled the the brim with arrows of all different colors and shades. Omega knew that fido would be very useful indeed, as his latent power was shooting objects at ridiculously high velocities using nothing but his mind.

The cursory survey of the crowd generated no more results. Squeek and Omega began to inform the quickly created Militia of their situation.

“As you already know,” Squeek started, “we are about to be attacked. By a force much larger than ours. And when I say much larger…”

Omega picked up from where Squeek purposely dropped off, “We mean larger. We mean that our group of eleven hundred will be taking on a force of two hundred thousand strong.”

Disbelief attempted to sweep over the crowd and shut down their confidence, but the speech that Omega gave next easily brushed aside the pesky emotion. “Soldiers, comrades, fellow members of the now official TGB Militia. We have gathered to defend the land that is ours. We are the protectors of the final frontier. We are the guardians of the only remaining light that shines even now in the darkness that has swept all other foreign lands. We are the ones that will drive back the scum. We are the TGB MILITIA!” Omega raised his right fist into the air as he roared the last sentence, and with him followed the rest of the group.

Squeek and Omega led the troops silently over to The Proving Grounds, which was the thinned out pass that served as the only pathway into The Garbage Bin. They had the soldiers line up as one army, and they blocked off the entire pass. On either side of the lines were mountains for as far as the eye could see. And in front stood the massive force of two hundred thousand, all of them armed to the teeth, all of them ready to kill.

Omega shot his left arm into the air, and summoned his banhammer, while Squeek followed suit. Silently, they stood their ground, ready to clash to the death. It was do or die, and every cell in every organ in every body of every soldier knew. This was the beginning of the end.

[DarkManticoreX2]

Re: FFR: The Phantom Challenge

poor Shash.

He was too young ;_;

[Crashfan3]

Re: FFR: The Phantom Challenge

Hackers + win?

No no no, NOOOO no no no no...

[Tokzic]

Re: FFR: The Phantom Challenge

i should totally ban evade at a crucial point and save the world

[GamerShadow]

Re: FFR: The Phantom Challenge

Good news: I have learned how to convert Word files into PDF format, and I have installed the necessary programs required for the conversion. This means that I can now revise the entire story once I am done writing it, and put it up on the internet for download. =)

There'll be a ton of extras, like character profiles, credits, concepts and ideas, maybe some concept sketches, and notes from the author. =D

Also, I am going to write as much of Chapter 13 today as possible.

[DarkManticoreX2]

Re: FFR: The Phantom Challenge

TwilightxShade (4:25:40 PM): could you post in the thread so I don't double post?

[GamerShadow]

Re: FFR: The Phantom Challenge

Chapter 13:

“God damn it Cbr, who let you lead us back to TGB? You’ve never even been there.” Reaper complained loudly while taking another look around, hoping that there was a way out. Forest for as far as the eye could see. Small rays of light broke through the nearly impenetrable canopy of the thick, wooded area that the group sent to bring Tokzic to TGB had gotten lost in. It provided what little light the group had to work with, as everything else was nearly pitch black. It was unusually quiet for such a day as this. The branches did not shake, and when something fell from the trees and thumped the ground, there was no response from anything. The absence of any other life instilled an eerie atmosphere on the group, and they had been traveling for at least a day now.

“Well, the woods appeared to be a shortcut. I thought I could see the other side, but I guess I was wrong.” Cbr bashfully replied, lowering his head and staring at the ground, hoping that the answer to the group’s problem would simply pop up in his face.

“Cbr,” Afrobean pointed out, “You do realize that the road from Chit Chat to The Garbage Bin is completely straight?”

“Hence why you were complaining for sixteen hours straight yesterday.” Seth added with an annoyed tone of voice, “You kept annoying us with your talk of the boring landscape. Next time, just don’t talk and the trip will be faster.”

A twig obnoxiously snapped from a dying tree nearby, and silently hit the ground with an inaudible pat. Reaper, who was the first one to hear the twig, seemed to almost dislike the strangeness of it. “That’s strange,” Reaper thought to himself, “Even if the tree is almost dead, the branches should not fall unless weight is put on it, seeing as there is no wind in this forest.” Nobody else seemed to notice or care, so Reaper shrugged, disregarded the sign, and caught up to the group and moved on.

An argument, a black eye in Carbo and Cbr’s faces, and ten minutes later, another branch snapped. This time, however, there was a shake in the bush that sat below. Reaper immediately turned and showed his claws to the nothingness around him, displaying to anything that might be watching that he wasn’t about to be caught off guard. His throat vibrated and projected a low and menacing growl. But nothing came out of the bush, and nothing appeared behind the group, or even to the side. Reaper was not about to be ambushed though, so he slowly advanced on the bush, and stopped, making all still. Everybody else who was carrying Tokzic’s body stopped and watched, with their eyes fixed on Reaper.

With a mighty shout, Reaper tore up the bush with his claws, leaving a pile of green rags on the ground. His scaly tail thumped the ground as he saw what was hiding behind the bush. Nothing. He groaned, and said nothing more as he rejoined the group, which continued to traverse the forest, searching for a way out. Reaper continued to listen for unusual sounds, not saying anything. He was not about to let the group be ambushed and killed. His shoulders tensed, and his breathing became heavier than normal.

“Yo, Reaper,” Seth placed a hand on Reaper’s shoulder to try to ease his tension, but it only caused him to whirl around with a roar, which made Seth jump in fright, and hit a tree branch nearby. Seth came crashing down to the ground, rubbing his head, but he quickly realized that he wasn’t the only one to fall. Beside him was a spammer, who was lying on the floor, gripping its head.

Immediately, branches and bushes started to shake and create a cacophony of nonsense. Out from the shrubbery leaped a group of hackers, all of them wielding extra sharp blades, and a group of spammers, who spat an unknown substance onto the ground near them that reeked of unimaginable horrors. Carbo, who had been carrying Tokzic thus far, stealthily hid the body in a nearby bush, and stuck a rock near it, for future reference. He took his time, and crawled his way around the whole battle scene, remembering to not come into contact with any bushes, sticks, trees, or shrubbery for fear of being found and most likely killed.

Afrobean, who along with the others were trapped, revealed his Disco Mace, and began to swing it over his head. He begins to back up while spinning the weapon over his head, and finds himself back to back with SethSquall, who had lowered his goggles over his eyes. Adjacent from them were Reaper and Cbr, who were also armed with whatever they had and ready to fight.

“Let’s crush them,” Afrobean spoke to the others without turning his head as the hackers began to make their move.

Seth leaped up onto a tree branch, and with a flick from his right wrist, tore open a dimensional portal above the canopy which sucked up the majority of the leaves on the trees. Light suddenly flooded the area in which the group was fighting. Reaper also leapt up into a tree, and located an unsuspecting hacker. He catapulted himself off of the branch he was on, and clawed through the back of the hacker, which fell to the ground and collapsed in a pool of blood. Reaper then found himself face to face with a spammer, which began to gather up the biggest wad of spit that Reaper would ever see in his life. Reaper leaned backward, and bounced off of the branch. He deftly landed on the ground upright, and jumped again as the spammer spat at the spot where Reaper just was. The ground began to hiss and melt, turning the small area that was effected into a tiny puddle of goo.

Afrobean swung his Disco Mace violently, smacking a spammer in the face, which resulted in the entire head snapping off of the neck and being thrown high into the air. The body then crumpled like an empty bag of chips and ate dirt and drank blood. The Disco Mace, which hadn’t lost any momentum from the kill, made another half a revolution, and smacked a blade out of a hacker’s hand. The blade flew in a perfectly straight path, and dug into the flesh of a nearby tree. Cbr was on a branch which extended from a point merely inches from the blade when it hit the tree, and had to stop for a moment to register what had just happened. His surprised expression reflected back at him from the smooth, flat surface of the blade. Finally, he jumped out of the tree, and found himself face to face with a hacker.

The hacker grinned, showing its yellow, brown, and black teeth, and raised it’s blade towards Cbr. Without moving, Cbr switched his eyes from brown to a deep red to a navy blue to an ink black. He looked into the hacker’s eyes, and slightly constricted his pupils, which could not be seen from the hacker’s point of view. Immediately, the hacker dropped the blade, and gripped its throat. Its eyes grew wide with horror, and it began to fall onto the ground, rolling around in the dirt. Within twenty seconds, the hacker had completely ceased movement. Cbr then switched his eyes to grey, and dilated his pupils slightly. A tiny, invisible portion of life force was extracted from the hacker’s body, and was transferred to Cbr, who smiled and turned around, shifting his eyes back to normal. He jumped up onto a branch and scouted out his next target. He spotted Seth struggling with a hacker, and immediately switched his eyes to blue, and drained away some confidence from the hacker. As a result, Seth shoved the hacker off of him, and rended his opponent open with an upward hand motion. The hacker immediately died as it was sucked into itself, which ended up closing the portal for Seth. He grinned, and then dashed as he created two rifts, one in front of him, and one behind a hacker who was combating Reaper.

The hacker’s blade clashed with Reaper’s claws numerous times, releasing a loud clang every time the collisions occurred. The hacker and a nearby spammer were giving Reaper a tough time, challenging him to make all the right moves, otherwise he’d either be chopped to bits or eaten alive by acid. Reaper was ducking, weaving, and hopping, under the blade, over the spit. He finally saw an opening in the hacker’s wave of attacks, and stabbed it clear in the stomach, which caused it to bend over and die painfully.

Seth came flying out of the portal that Reaper had just noticed, with his fist out in front of his body. He skidded on the ground, which tore up some grass, and he noticed the spammer on a nearby branch, getting ready to fire another glob of goo. He rended a hole both in front and in back of the spammer, which spat the goo into the portal, which came out from the other side. The glob burned through the spammer’s head, and killed it in seconds.

Reaper spotted another hacker who was trying to assassinate Cbr, who was staring down a spammer, and stealing its life force. With a mighty roar, Reaper’s claws met the hacker’s back. He flung the hacker up into the air, and smacked it with his thick, scaled tail, which sent the vile hacker rocketing off to the distant land where Reaper had sent the miserable creature.

Carbo noticed a lone hacker sitting on the ground, trying to make himself disappear from the situation. Carbo grinned, and picked up a pebble from the ground, the dirt getting stuck in between his fingernails. He gently tosses the pebble above the hacker’s head, and increases it’s size tenfold, turning it into a decent sized rock. This causes the rock to smash the hacker’s head, which luckily for the group, kills it.

Reaper, Seth, Afro, Carbo, and Cbr all regroup, and survey the landscape. Quite a few branches are broken, and lay on the ground. The blade from before is still wedged in the tree bark, and it is reflecting light from the sun onto the ground. Leaves lay scattered on the dirt floor, and Seth’s skid marks remain.

“Well,” Seth suggested while wiping dirt and leaves off his clothes, “I think that’s that. Let’s get Tokzic and get back to TGB.”

“We should hurry,” Reaper added, “If we have been attacked, then that means that others are on the way. We have to get back to TGB and stop them.”

“Especially because the army won’t be back for another day or so, if I am correct.” Noted Afrobean.

Carbo walked over to the area where Tokzic had been hidden, and picked up the body. He brushed off the leaves that had gathered on Tokzic’s clothing, and carried him over to where the group was. “Well, guys, I think we are all set. Let’s start moving now, I want to make it back to TGB by nightfall.” He begins to look for the way out, and finds the road that connects TGB to Chit Chat. “Perfect,” He thinks out loud while pointing to the road for the group to see.

“Manti,” Guido asks, looking a bit worried, “What happened to you?”

Manti struggled to sit up. He barely managed to do so, and has to inhale before he can speak again. “What happened to me isn’t important. It’s what has happened to Engler.”

“Engler?” Guido could not believe that Engler would do something like this, and he was not about to believe it either, “Engler wouldn’t do something like this. I know him well. He’s not the type that could do something like this.”

Manti’s expression did not change, and he gave Guido everything he knew. “Engler has been possessed, Guido. It’s not Engler doing the deeds, it’s what has taken over his body. It’s the Phantom Challenge that supposedly was sealed up long ago. He told me himself before beating me up like this.” Manti pointed to himself, and continued, “Shashakiro came just as I was about to be finished off. He gave me the time to escape, so that I could tell you what had happened. But now, he’s dead. He’s been killed by that monster, and he can’t be brought back.”

Guido was speechless. To think that a warrior as legendary and powerful as Shashakiro could fall in battle was impossible. Guido said nothing for quite a while, contemplating on what should be done next. After a minute or so of deep thought, he spoke. “Manti, you are going to go with Jurs and travel to The Garbage Bin as quickly as possible. You’re going to have to fly her there, but she will help you recover enough so that you can accomplish this task. Do you understand?”

Jurs sat a foot or so away from Guido and Manti, and she did not like where this was going. “Do I have to, Guido? Why can’t yo-”

Guido stared at Jurs with cold, hard eyes. “This is not the time to be disobeying orders. You are going to TGB with Manti. Do I make myself clear?”

Jurs did not expect this type of behavior from Guido. It was not like him to be this commanding, which meant that the situation must be serious. “Very well then,” Jurs affirmed, “I will go with Manti.”

“Good. I have a certain little errand to run before I can get back to you two, but I will be back. I promise.” Guido powers up his mech, and activates his jet thruster boots, and flies away, leaving Jurs and Manti alone under a sky blacker than any amount of corruption.

“Well,” Manti coughed before talking, “I guess we should get started.”

GamerShadow stood before the gigantic arch. He knew that this was the place, and that this was the time. He had waited for this for so long, and now he was finally getting the chance. The chance at revenge. “I know you’re here.” He called out angrily, clenching his fists, “You can’t hide. I know all there is to know about you.”

Silently, a dark figure appeared across the hall. It sat in the chair that rested opposite to the arch under which GamerShadow was standing. Slowly, the figure stood. It began to take steps that seemed to slow time with each impact on the hard, stone floor. The figure had its arms crossed, and it apparently was unhappy that it had an unexpected guest.

“Hurry the hell up,” GamerShadow spat, “You know you don’t the time for these luxuries. And neither do I.”

Finally, the figure stood less than twenty feet away. GamerShadow surfaced all of his hate, his anger, and prepared to face down the very thing that had ruined everything.

“Engler, or should I say, Phantom Challenge.”

[MrShasherax]

Re: FFR: The Phantom Challenge

Haven't had the chance to read 12 and 13 yet, but...Shash died. :'(

[SethSquall]

Re: FFR: The Phantom Challenge

Epicness.

[GamerShadow]

Re: FFR: The Phantom Challenge

Three day bump. I don't want this going to the second page due to a bunch of people who can't keep related poems in one topic instead of five.

Chapter 14 is about halfway done. This one is really long compared to the others (this time I mean it, I haven't even gotten to the TGB Militia vs n00b army part yet and it's 2.5 pages) (Average Chapter Length thus far is about 3 pages). I have New Englands for indoor track tomorrow, so this will be finished on Saturday, guaranteed.

[Engler]

Re: FFR: The Phantom Challenge

Your ass is mine, GamerShadow >:].

[rshadow8888]

Re: FFR: The Phantom Challenge

I should totally like give engler a power boost or something mid fight

[GamerShadow]

Re: FFR: The Phantom Challenge

Chapter 14 has now hit 3 and 1/4 pages. Still only halfway through GS vs Engler. I expect a good six pages or so before I am within sight of the end of the Chapter. Oh my god this thing is long. X(

Edit: My mom saw me writing the story, and now she's all anal retentive about the incomplete unfinished draft being stolen. If you do see anybody stealing the story, let me know.