- Issue #73 – Give Thanks
- Issue #74 – Bit Part Bad Guys
- Issue #75 – Kaiju for Christmas
- Issue #76 – Silicon Soul, Adamantine Will
- Issue #77 – Date Night
- Issue #78 – Delved Too Deep (Une Mascarade Brisée Part 1)
- Issue #79 – Tome of Secrets (Une Mascarade Brisée Part 2)
- Descendants Special #7 – The Curtain Rises
- Issue #80 – Bitter Work
- Issue #81 – Kin, Speed and Ducks
- Issue #82 – What To Do With Your Downtime
- Issue #83 – Avalon Rises
- Issue #84 – Darkness Falling
- Descendants Annual #7 – First Frost
Kaiju For Christmas (Part 5)
Emily Chamberlain was the woman who taught her daughter all about showing people the ‘sunshine side’ of her personality. She went through life with a smile and kind words for virtually everyone she met. Some of the people who knew her best would typically describe her as ‘a little off, but sweet’. Her hobbies included making and printing out collages of adorable kittens from the internet, baking cookies and reading romance novels.
Majestrix was also the woman who taught her daughter everything she knew from her time as one of the founding members of the Marine Special Combat Engineering Force, including how to draw and throw a knife so that it split an apple at fifteen paces. Her day job involved using heavy machinery to tear even heavier machinery into spare parts. The people who really knew her would typically describe her as ‘smarter than she acts’. Her other hobbies included making dubiously legal homemade explosives, going on survival trips in the Arizona desert, and working on her giant mecha to make it even more of a walking engine of destruction.
She was one of the very few people whose idea of fun included being blasted and knocked around by various powered crazies while riding inside a titanium cage. As far as she knew, she was the only person living to be in that situation while being confronted by a robotic tyrannosaur more than twice the size of her mecha, which was also infected by an alien parasite.
That Wrex had torn off one of the Queen’s Gambit’s arms was somewhat immaterial to her, aside from the many, many alarms going off around her. The important bit was that her maneuver and sacrifice of an arm had put her inside the creature’s reach. The size difference meant that she was facing the thing’s underbelly.
And she had another arm at her disposal—one with a huge gun.
Still ignoring all of the alerts still telling her (as if she hadn’t noticed) that her arm was off, she set fire control for her primary weapon and set the arming distance for the anti-tank shell in the chamber to its maximum range. The last thing she wanted was for it to explode right next to her.
Wrex jerked its head, throwing the severed arm aside. It knew the enemy was dangerously close and tried to regain its balance to back away. Majestrix moved to follow, her smaller machine able to easily keep up with the ponderous and heavily damaged Wrex.
“Now if I was the one building this…” Majestrix murmured to herself as she watched her targeting reticule sweep across Wrex’s undercarriage. She stopped it on a likely spot. “There.” She flipped the safety latch off the trigger. “Here. We. Go.”
The cannon arm was almost flush against Wrex when it fired and the tungsten-jacketed shell punched through the flowbeast’s flesh and through the armored hide beneath it with ease. It found ts mark; tearing into and through the fuel cell power plant at the core of Rex the Wrecker.
The breached cell spewed water and hydrogen, the later of which was touched off by internal sparks to become a jet of largely harmless flame.
Wrex’s host’s internal sensors started spamming it with alerts. Primary power was lost and could not be restarted. The auxiliary battery was coming on line with only about five minutes of power. Water was spreading inside the chassis, shorting out subsystems in the right, rear leg in particular. All weapons were offline and attempts at rebooting them were failing.
It had been wrong about its new world. There were greater predators around, and one had mortally wounded its host. A flowbeast instinctively knew when its host was beyond saving, when it was time to move on to another.
Myriad eyes opened up along Rex the Wrecker’s belly, surrounding the gaping hole where the shell had torn into it. All of them focused on the Queen’s Gambit, which had stopped following the critically damaged robot. Though badly damaged, it was still both formidable and salvageable.
Wrex began to withdraw from its stricken host, extending dark pseudopods towards it new one. It found its reach blocked by a screen of psychokinetic force.
Zero descended from the sky to interpose herself between the screen and her mother’s mecha. “Are you okay in there?” She asked her mother over the comms. “That was amazing and everything, but that looked really dangerous!”
“It’s nothing a few days in the shop won’t fix.” Majestrix assured her. As she spoke, she was busy dismissing and consolidating the various alerts and errors messages she was getting. “…Unfortunately, I’m going to need the Rook‘s sky-crane to get it out of here. Walking stabilizers are shot, jump jets are depleted—I probably won’t be able to walk ten more feet without tipping over.”
Meanwhile, Zero was watching through her screen as what appeared to be a giant, evil starfish made of leather and orange eyes was unfolding itself from the hulk of Rex the Wrecker. “Um… mom?” She was too worried to worry about that bit of information getting out over the comm, “You should really punch out then.”
One of the starfish’s arms hammered down on her screen and the feedback almost made her drop it.
“Now.”
“That’s probably a good idea.” said Majestrix. “Just be careful, okay?”
“Promise.”
Majestrix gave one more concerned look at her screen, which gave her a view of her daughter facing down the gigantic flowbeast. There wasn’t much more she could do to help, and though she didn’t like it, she also knew that the best thing she could do was get clear so Zero could truly cut loose with her powers.
She reached down and found the emergency evac lever mounted in a recess on the side of the pilot’s seat. When she pulled it, explosive bolts went off at key points on the Queen’s Gambit’s torso. The shoulders and chest plate fell away to expose the internal reenforced pilot’s pod. A second later, JATO rockets ignited, sending the pod up and away from the mecha’s body.
Zero made sure the pod was away before dismissing her psychokinetic shield and dodging the next blow instead of blocking it. The massive starfish arm smashed into the road, crushing asphalt beneath its bulk.
Seeing and opening, Wrex opened a mouth on the end of another of its pseudopods and thrust it at the flying heroine with a bellow of, “Terror!”
Instead of dodging or blocking, Zero focused on her power; the internal rather than external. Heat wicked out of the air into her at a rate she rarely allowed in a normal battle. Instead of a wide area of light snow like she sometimes caused, the air immediately around her became freezing fog, ice crystals forming and falling in a tingling rain every time she breathed out.
The tooth-lined pseudopod snapped out at her, but it too had the heat energy inside it forcibly removed. Where muscles tried to flex or teeth tried to gnash, the tip of the pseudopod froze and shattered.
Wrex let out a screech and recoiled. Primal fear, ingrained into it by generations of living in faerie clawed at its mind. Cold. Danger.
Even though it knew it was in the world of Mankinds, what served as its hindbrain was screaming at it that something from the Air and Darkness had come, that nothing but death and pain and slavery lay in the direction of that deathly cold.
The choice became fight or flight and Wrex, even in the throes of fear, refused to flee. Opening dozens of mouths, it shrieked in just as many voices as it formed from its flesh claws, hammers, spears, blades—any kind of weapon it could muster.
Zero didn’t move from where she hang in air. Her senses picked up the ancient flowbeast’s heat. She didn’t know what might happen if she purposefully pulled the heat out of an entire living thing, so she instead pulled it from the air around it. Ferns of frost began to grow thick across Wrex’s hide, like the armor of some arctic beast, slowing its movements to the point that she barely needed to move to evade its attacks.
Snow began to fall out of thin air, and a chill wind rolled out in all directions as the temperature in a very small area suddenly plunged into the triple digits below zero.
When it was over, Zero dropped to the broken roadway, chest heaving from the effort. “General?” She wheezed.
“I saw it through the drones, Zero. Excellent work.” the voice of General Pratt came back.
She nodded even though he couldn’t see her. “Thank you, sir. You might want to send something really big to pick it up.” She took a moment to catch her breath. “And refrigerated.”
With that, she promptly sat down on the road and tried not to fall asleep. She knew she probably should be helping Zero Point tend to the civilians, but she was just so tired. Not only that, but she still had Christmas shopping to get to that day.
Maybe, she decided while listening to the sound of the Rook approaching in the sky, no one would mind if she took a little nap.
***
“Eyewitness reports are conflicted as to the nature of the gigantic, unidentified creature that wreaked havoc along the I-19 corridor north of Windy Mesa earlier today. We’ve heard everything from a gigantic dinosaur to a mass of tentacles. By the time News 2 arrived on the scene, the creature has been sealed inside a frost cocoon by apparently visiting prelate, Zero.
Five hours after the start of the incident, I-19 remains closed along the affected stretch as the military’s Superhuman Intervention Unit continues to clean up the site…”
General Pratt muted the news feed from Arizona as one of his ROCIC subordinates, Robert Aimes entered his office.
Aimes was officially the public relations liaison for the ROCIC, but really, he was in charge of the various cover-ups the government had put in place regarding prelates and the magical world. He wouldn’t have made the cut if he were part of the military half of the ROCIC; slight and portly with a baby face despite his beard. “General.” He said with an incline of his head.
Pratt didn’t look up from his screen. The news report was showing an aerial shot from earlier in the day of the creature as it had appeared, rimed in ice. “What story are you going to put out for this one?”
Aimes slid into the seat across the desk from the General. “We’re waiting to review the footage being put online to see what the world is going to know before we make any moves. The Live Metal people have already been paid off and some engineers had been deployed to both scrub down and repair their robot.”
The General folded his hands on the desk in front of him. “These ‘crossovers’ are too unpredictable. Eventually, one is going to appear in full view of a few thousand palmtops and we won’t be able to claim they escaped from a lab or were publicity stunts.”
A distressed laugh almost but didn’t quite bubble out of Aimes’s mouth. “Yeah, but what else are we going to do? Tell the general public that there’s a world full of fairytale monsters on the other side of the astral plane and that we’ve collaborated with our allies to allow some of them to live among ordinary citizens as if they were protomorphs? Considering the continuing fallout from Braddock Island, that won’t go well for descendants. And that’s not getting into magic being ‘real’, or the yellow meteor fragments that make you insane if you touch them.”
“We have Camp Hero for the public relations problem.” said Pratt. “And we won’t have to divulge everything right away. I just want us to be ready because for all we know, there’s something big on the horizon that we won’t be able to cover up. We need to be ready to move on it.”
“General, I can assure you that my people are on top of it: no matter what curveballs this ‘Green World’ might throw at us.”
***
“EM anomaly detected. The doc was right: they can mask heat signatures.” A voice crackled over a comm as its owner watched the darkened Arizona landscape slide by beneath him.
“Makes sense.” the deeper, more refined voice of Simon Talbot. “The data suggests that thirty percent of Faerie predators have some level of infravision and our interviews reveal that these beasts prey on everything—predators included—from ambush.”
“How were we sure this thing was even going to be here?” The armored soldier on the comm turned his attention to the screen before him. Nightvision scopes on the outside of the cloaked transport showed him an emaciated horse huddled in a thicket of sagebrush. It’s coat had a strange pattern; almost as if it had a large, black star on its side.
Talbot chuckled. “We intercepted phones trying to upload ‘prelate battle’ footage. The creature took heavy damage, had pieces torn off it at several points in the fight. But only once did something get torn off in proximity to a suitable organism to serve as a host. I imagine the ‘heroes’ were too preoccupied with their fight to consider—if they even know—that these ‘flowbeasts’ reproduce by budding.”
He was watching the same feeds as his henchman, and as he spoke, the creature feeding off the horse noticed the cloaked transport drawing near. Three eyes, glittering green in the nightvision, opened along the back of the ‘starfish’.
“Now bring me that infant.”
End Issue #75
“This flowbeast as ancient among its kind…”
Was.
According to my new headcanon, flowbeasts are so named for their tendency to drop mad rhymes with formidable cadence.
I doubt it can compare to your imagination, but I offer some flowbeast-related rhyming in honor of your awesome idea.
CG
That is some sublime flow you just put down, my friend.
Mighty Wrexus has many gifts; one of them is the power to inspire lesser beings such as myself.
I confess when I saw the name I did think of Urdnot Wrex from the Mass Effect games. Imagining a kaiju-sized version of him was pretty intimidating, even with the stubby arms.
O_O
I am speechless.
The moment I read your comment, I had to take it as a challenge. I had too much fun in the attempt to pass it up. I’m glad my peasant rhymes did not offend (unless you’re speechless because they did offend, I suppose, but I think you meant it in a good way).
CG
Mighty Wrexus is going to stomp into town
He’ll huff and he’ll puff and he’ll bring this house down
When he cuts loose in this world
and the people gather ’round
Faeries and humans best recognize his crown
He’s the king of the beat,
the sultan of smooth
this flowbeast’s sweet
lyrics make ladies go “oooh”
Mighty Wrexus steps up
and climbs right to the top
with his plasma lances
he’s a bio-tech cop
on patrol in his kingdom
looking out for competition
He will be the strongest
That’s his number one mission
Won’t bond with no punks
or serve any demon
Don’t give him no lip
He’ll crash through that glass ceilin’
That keeps flowbeasts in check
serving Faeries and daoine
So step back and look out
Mighty Rexus is out
he’s loose in your dimension
Can you feel the tension?
When he strikes you will learn
Just what it takes to earn
Freedom when you’re from Faerie
So listen close and hail he
who has merged with the machine
Took a name and stole the scene
Mighty Wrexus is here to stay
Say goodbye to yesterday
cause your world is forever changed.
note: Mighty Wrexus doesn’t drop microphones. He drops Best Buys.
Corrections:
more reminiscent of the Fourth of July then Yuletide.
“then” should be “than” (the first concerns time, the second is comparative)
nearby Greenlee where Juniper’s father, Pete used to work.
comma is unnecessary. Alternatively, another comma after “Pete” might also be correct
She didn’t have as good a sense for all things mechanical like her mother,
“as” should replace “like”
“…but none of the others don’t really say much one way or the other about their sex.”
This is dialogue, so incorrect phrasing/word use may be what you wanted. If not, then there’s a double-negative in need of fixing, and “others” doesn’t have a clear referent. Try “…but none of the others’ names really says much one way or the other about their sex.”
No one saw the green haze staring to form in a far corner.
“staring” is meant to be “starting”, I suspect.
It squelched wetly as if hit the concrete floor,
wrote “if” instead of “it” here.
Preying on fish and plants and the occasional hapless foll who became separated from a larger group and became lost,
Repetition of “become” is unnecessary. “foll” was probably supposed to be “foal”, which is a young horse, unless “foll” was defined previously and I forgot.
Other flowbeasts were usually tamed and forced to bond with other creatures
Again, unnecessary repetition. “other”.
Instinct compelled it to bond with those sentient being it caught,
“being” should be “beings”.
No servant of Maeve of her rivals would stand against it,
second “of” should be “or” here.
interfacing a CPU.
should be “interfacing with a CPU”.
It also flowed into an integrated with the optical sensors,
“an” should be “and”
The creature; a fusion of flesh and steel,
semicolon here should be a comma.
Alarmed has started going off in the building,
“Alarmed” should be “alarms”.
Mighty Wrexus was free to roam the strange new world it tumbled into
should be “the strange new world it had tumbled into” for the appropriate tense.
Eww. Didn’t mommy-flowbeast teach not to stuff your food where your gun is?
First off, I have to say that I absolutely love the phrase: “which looked like the bastard child of a disco ball and a war crime”. It made me happy to read that. This whole storyline makes me happy, really.
Second, this:
Mighty Wrexus is back and he’s stalking the streets
He’s the one mighty flowbeast who cannot be beat
He’s never lost a battle or tasted defeat
Among rhyming combatants he’s considered elite
Bonded to the awesome, a mecha machine
It’s a pure wondrous terror that has to be seen
It’s stride is colossal, it’s metallic sheen
Warns idle bystanders to run and to scream
A walking arsenal holding two plasma lances
With machine guns and missiles, the crowds it entrances
Paired diamond buzzsaws and a railgun tail
So supreme that it’s just too up-gunned to fail
Wielding destruction spectacular and ordnance amazing
Bringing high-tech fury with all weapons blazing
Jump jets for mobility and more tech besides
It’s hard to hold the complete specs in your mind
The automaton serves as a mold for the flesh
And combining their strengths, synergizing they mesh
The powers of Faerie with technological design
Form a being whose greatness is hard to define
Shapeshifter and titan, one amorphous and one forged
Look upon them and let your imagination gorge
The possibilities are endless, the future uncertain
The enemies of Wrexus are soon to be hurtin’
That’s the only real guarantee movin’ forward
But know that whatever goal it’s proceedin’ toward
The behemoth’s relentless, a land-bound leviathan
Just to keep it in sight, you’d have to run a marathon
Now it tastes newfound freedom
The choices of the mighty
Wrexus will feed on the prey
And he’ll frighten the flighty
Experts don’t even know what they’re in for
Unable to see through the flesh to the core
The reactor is charging like a furnace that’s stoked
Unless she moves fast Zero might just get smoked
For the time has come and the battle’s beginning
We’ll have to wait and see who ends up winning
You cannot believe how happy that made me,Curious George.
My pleasure. If you missed it, you can catch part one in the comments of Kaiju for Christmas, chapter 1 as well. I have to pass credit for the inspiration to Vaal (for creating Wrexus) and Mazzon (who suggested that flowbeasts might have a gift for such things). It just kind of clicked in my brain after that.
CG
You’re welcome. It started in part 1 of Descendants 75, if you missed it.
CG
Have I told you recently that you’re amazing, CG? Because you? You’re amazing.
His enjoyment was swiftly crushed when he heard what the party on the other end of the line.
what the party… said?
as the wandered the aisles
as she
All in all, she’s wasted
she’d
on on the back
one on
control schemes The receiver
schemes.
but ‘ranch meant
‘ranch’
a real sick on
sick one
“Didn’t call—why did you call me first?! Did you honestly think that a six story robot T-rex is something you could cover up? Call the police, Terry! Call the FBI—hell, call the army—call anyone that can stop it!”
Haha 😛
Additional typos:
that wouldn’t immediately give away that they older man
“they” should be “the”
Zero Point reported over is comm.
“is” should be “his”
if they lose contract with a beacon
“contract” should be “contact”
Dude had no meaning, but ‘ranch
“ranch” needs a close-quote, and if it’s in quotations “Dude” probably should be too
After a dozen step, Wrex
“step” should be “steps”
What do you gain for terrorizing a bunch of poor,
“for” should probably be “from” here
CG
“Giant cyborg dinosaur.” Zero Point mumbled, “That’s a new one.”
Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, 1991.
I own it :p
Part 3:
Mighty Wrexus is here and he’s revving up fast
He’s prepared and he’s going to let off a blast
Anyone who gets hit by him could breathe their last
They’ll be nothing but memory, stuck in the past
To face Wrexus in battle takes bravery and skill
Few have ever fought it, let alone to a standstill
But when great challenges rise, heroes can be born
Or if they’re there already, they make themselves known
Facing the danger without looking back
They head to the future, no stopping to pack
Bear witness to their fitness to lead in the fight
To never stop or give up on what is right
It’s the will to face down even cyber-beast giants
To confront the unknown but stay strong and defiant
Wrexus isn’t quite creature; not just a machine
He’s a merging of two that has yet to be seen
Shifting flesh coats the armor and the two move as one
Guided by a single will and immovable as stone
A family of heroes has flown off to battle
And this is the thing they’ve committed to fight
A two-in-one being armies fear to tackle
With weapons that burn and cast searing death-light
Now they’re battling a creature
that stretches into the sky
If they win there’s no treasure
If they lose they could die
This is what sets the Descendants apart
To go into a battle and make it look like art
Despite the fact that any one fray
Could be their last one if it’s an unlucky day
Wrexus is armed to the teeth and beyond
It devours whole horses and could drink a pond
It’s not truly malicious, just acting on instinct
But to the unlucky victims the two seem indistinct
They’re running and hiding and fleeing in terror
If you think that you’re safe from Wrexus you’re in error
His collateral damage may be quite severe
So you’d be better off runnin’ from here
It’s a creature from Faerie that’s lived in the wild
Always hiding and scavenging, fearful as a child
For its kind’s been used to assist others and serve them
An abuse that has gotten many hurt or killed
But this flowbeast’s unique, it escaped and lived free
Now it’s in our world seeking new destiny
A fate that will let it live life for itself
Instead of taking orders from some demon or elf
Alloy and Occult come back quick with advice
Pinpointing the weaknesses of flowbeast and device
It might just be enough to give Zero an edge
That she needs to hit Wrex the Wrecker like a sledge-
hammer, and maybe she’ll stop him cold
In his tracks, though this flowbeast is pretty old
He’s a survivor, a shapeshifter wily and clever
If they win, then Zero and her parents can brag forever
That they stopped a foe who could go toe-to-toe with Godzilla
This fight will be bigger than the Thriller in Manila
Cause Wrex supersizes every punch and kick
Delivering force in the tons to make it stick
He’s a fully-armed giant and he came here to eat
And maybe drop some rhymes while he’s shuffling his feet
Along the road, heading to grab some food
Interrupting him makes Zero look a little rude
From Wrex’s perspective he was just sitting down
To eat dinner and get to know his new hometown
I want you to know that I’ve decided Wrex will return after this issue solely thanks to these posts.
Those are glad tidings indeed. It’s been pretty fun to try to keep this going without it getting stale. I think I’ll try to make it through the whole issue that way, but it’s more challenging each time, so we’ll see how it goes. I’m glad I can give at least a little entertainment back in repayment for the fun I’ve had reading the story.
As for Wrex, well…it’s his fault for being awesome. And for putting me in the mood to watch Godzilla movies and play MechWarrior games, some of which are awesome.
CG
Note: If “Queen’s Gambit” is italicized, “Rook” probably should be too, right? They’re both named vehicles, essentially.
typo thread:
unsure of whether she was hurt of not within the bubble
“of” should be “or”
Zero Point sat the screen down
“sat” should be “set”
Winy Mesa’s suburbs
Pretty sure it was “Windy Mesa”…although the idea of calling a town “Whiny Mesa” is kind of funny
as if the air itself as moving slower
“as” should be “was”
otherwise she’d have to retire of the public good.
“of” should be “for
while the Majestrix with full weapons was too heavy
I think “Majestrix” is meant to be “Queen’s Gambit” here
newly knocking Wrex over
“newly” is meant to be “nearly”, I think?
There, in the sky was
Either the comma should be removed, or there should be another one after “sky”
There was where the similarities ended
“There” should be “That”
a long cylinder that resembled by wasn’t
“by” should be “but”
to earth on fire pillars of flame.
“fire” seems unnecessary here
beings… or in this case, robots; and
If you lead in with ellipses, you should follow “robots” with one as well. Either way, following a semicolon with “and” is pretty much always incorrect, so at the very least the semicolon should be changed to a comma to fit the list format for the sentence
Very nice. Love to see our heroes thinking about what, why, and how they’re fighting, instead of just punching away blindly.
Wrex is facing Zero Point, Majestrix and Zero
A family who spend their time off as heroes
Now they’re engaged in a battle of gigantic proportion
Against a flowbeast that came through a magical distortion
A newcomer and stranger, semi-sentient but feral
It thinks like a scavenger, not like a general
Its weaknesses known can now be exploited
And if it’s not quick, Wrexus will be deported
Back to Faerie, or if it is even less lucky
It might just get kicked from here to Kentucky
Or wiped out completely and turned into rubble
The enemy’s waiting to pop its bubble
That feeling of power that once it enjoyed
Now seems fleeting, and the flies which annoyed
it as it tried to feed seem a genuine threat
A foe the likes of which it hasn’t faced yet
With powers strange and abilities uncommon
Flying, forming ice, many fights have they won
Cause while battling something like Wrexus is new
To ZP and Majestrix, the reverse is true too
In a fight like this information could win the day
And given what Occult and Alloy had to say
Zero and her parents are pretty well informed
While Wrexus relies on what its guessed and observed
Which gives the humans a decided advantage
No matter how many weapons and appendages
Wrex may use or grow, its still fighting alone
With no backup, no allies, no buddies, no home
And if it meets with success and starts killing
Then it may find the results far too thrilling
Its fighting good guys who are showing restraint
But if it ever eats a human, they ain’t
Gonna keep playing nice, or so I’d imagine
A Zero done holding back could be frightenin’
Now the Queen’s made a gambit and taken a risk
Suckering Wrexus in close with a trick
But it cost her an arm and a mighty pulse gun
If her follow-up fails then she might need to run
But then again no battle is won without taking chances
And a good tactical mind is worth twelve plasma lances
Majestrix has experience fighting odd things
Striving and improvising and pulling the strings
Weaving the plan to outfox her opponents
Rather than relying on some fancy components
She’s a junkyard queen, used to making do
And with will and determination, powering through
Obstacles unexpected and challenges dangerous
So betting against her is financially hazardous
The battle’s well underway and it’s almost time
To find out who’s the victor and who’s doin’ time
Will we see incarceration or will we see death?
Will one of these fighters exhale that last breath?
Will Wrexus escape to go wander the blue?
Or be sent packing to go hide and lick his wounds?
Or maybe he’ll win this and go on a tear
Until someone else inspires in him some fear
“Love to see our heroes thinking about what, WHY, and how they’re fighting…”
Agreed. The usual plot is for the monster to laugh off all attempts by mundanes to stop it, so they bring in the superheroes to kill it.
Here, the military is perfectly able to nuke the monster from orbit, but the superheroes want to see if they can stop it without any death because life is valuable.
Oh, and awesome work on the rapping.
My god, they keep getting more epic!
I’m trying not to settle for juts repeating myself, which is proving to be a bit of a challenge. Glad to hear the results are entertaining.
typo thread:
Wrex let out a coughing grunt and opened fire with its own machine guns, peppering Zero Point, who had to move his wall to protect himself. Once the way was clear, it opened up on the Queen’s Gambit with its own machine guns.
Repetition of “with its own machine guns” seems odd. Second instance should probably be changed to clarify whether fire is being redirected, or additional guns are beginning to fire.
reached over and pulled over the cover
Should be either “pulled off” or “pulled open”
nasally blare
Should just be “nasal”, I think
surrounded by creatures that were much like its host, only smaller that seemed to creep along the ground on four rubbery feet.
Second “that” is problematic here. Maybe “only smaller, and creeping along the ground on four rubber feet.”
her mind as on the start of
“as” instead of “was”
work with other sentient if they
“sentient” should be plural “sentients” I think
while panels slip open to reveal vents
“slip” should be “slipped”
typo thread:
the later of which was t
“later”->”latter”
Seeing and opening
“and”->”an”
where she hang in air
“hang”->”hung”
The end:
The chronicle of Wrexus now concludes
Gather ’round and listen close all you ladies and dudes
To hear tell of the mighty unstoppable giant
Who refused to lie down placid and compliant
He’s a rebel, an icon, inspiring awe
Harbinger of change with a gigantic craw
He cannot be contained, can rarely be thwarted
It’s a testament to Zero that she and her cohort did
Mighty Wrexus is going, his tale now ends
The machine and flowbeast that were closer than friends
Are permanently parted, sundered forever
This is a sad day, for they’ll reunite never
The glory and majesty of the magic-merged mech
And subtle shapeshifter wrapped around the tech
Fueled by an ambition and powerful reactor
Are beaten, defeated, no longer a factor
They were dangerous, large and in charge in their day
But when you come to a new world there’s a price to pay
Cause you don’t know the rules or understand the dangers
You can like Wrexus’ style but you wouldn’t have wagered
That he’d last in the long haul trapped on an Earth
With superheroes waiting, and a definite dearth
Of magic and things a flowbeast understands
Or recognizes, and no helping hands
To be found among humans, no matter how nice
They might be, from the start Wrexus was on thin ice
The Chronicle of Wrexus is a tale melancholy
How an epic battled spawned from a single flowbeast’s folly
All he wanted was a place that he could roam in freedom
What he found was a new world that didn’t really want or need him
We can only hope and pray that one day Wrexus will return
A little wiser to the rules and regulations we all learn
Living in a world of humans, maybe he’ll become a rapper
If he can twist words like his body then he’d be the best, most dapper
Perhaps go on to an eminently successful career
And send word back home that for flowbeasts who come here
There’s opportunity to be had and no enslaving Faeries
The details are uncertain but I guarantee he’s
Going down in history as a creature unique
The first solo flowbeast to come to earth and seek
His fortune and future and find a new type of host
A synthetic creature inspired by the most
Terrifying predator of a bygone age
A dinosaur too mighty to be securely caged
The relentless king, a mechanical tyrant
The mighty thunder lizard, reborn as a tech giant
One of a kind, the top of the food chain
Now more dangerous than ever, with ordnance to rain
Amalgamating into something as if forged by a wordsmith
A combination of poet and a creature out of myth
This story is over but possibilities remain
Wrexus could one day return, once more bringing the pain
Delivering rhyme and rhythm with its own unique zest
Proving once again that he’s unquestionably the best
Hold your breath and say your prayers to hasten the time
When we’ll witness the return of the flowbeast so sublime
*Applause*
*Standing Ovation*
You sir, are an officer and a gentleman. Just…yes.