The end

[Doubble Dutch]

Well, I've decided to turn my wits [okay wit, okay, halfwit] to writing something. We are now taking bets as to how long my attention span will last before this withers n dies and -Oooh look! A butterfly!


Prolouge:

Marik put down the glass he was cleaning and looked up as the potential customers entered. They were new to the town, and Veldt didn't get many tourists, in fact, it had hardly any permanent residents. Nothing of any note had ever happened in Veldt in the entire history of Carrotus. Unfortunately that was about to change.

The girl who entered was tall, taller than anyone Maril had seen anyway, not that he'd had much expereince. She was also beautiful, no, scratch that, stunning. Every rabbit present had their gaze locked on her as she strode toward the bar; she was wearing shorts and a neat shirt that were arranged somehow as to give the impression she was barely wearing anything at all, she had long hair halfway down her back and she was red. Not just red, like many other rabbits in town, but blood red; her fur shone like a fresh cut, even her eyes gleamed like two bright rubies. Following close behind her was a short, unremarkable shellian. Both sat down at the bar and ordered a drink.

Despite himself Marik was insatiably curious, a character picked up from a lifetime of living somewhere everyone knew your name, family business and good deal of your personal life. He leaned over to the couple and enquired of their names and business in the sleepy community. The change in the rabbits demeanour was startling. For a second she gave the shelian a panicked, pleading look which he pretended he couldn't see, before finaly stammering "Uh, Red. Red err... Bloodrabbit. Yes, because of, of, the fur. Yes." The shelian nonchalantly stared at him over the bartop. "And you're looking at Sheldon Langsam. Me and my partner are here selling security devices, for personal and home protection." Mentally Marik snorted. Of course, expect a shelian to be big in defence, though lord knew what she was doing with him. A body like that already had two somewhat inerberated patrons arguing over who was going to buy her a drink.

Marik's thoughts were interrupted by Red staring with total focus and attention at a spot about three feet behind the back of his head, in the manner of a recovering alcoholic who has just seen a bottle of vodka in the gutter. He turned to see the object of her focus, which turned out to be the rather large and somewhat rusty sword resting above the bar behind him. It had been there ever since Marik could remember, possibly longer than the tavern itself and was coated with a thick layer of dust, grime and what you had to hope was rust. Only one thing bothered Marik about it, and that was the fact that he wasn't quite sure if it was there yesterday. "You like it huh?" He enquired. Red blinked before asking him in a voice that turned his insides to jelly if she could just look at it for a bit. Well, you couldn't refuse a request like that, and besides, the fight in the corner had become quite lively now, and the town hadn't seen any sort of punch up for over 15 years when there was a small dispute over the ownership of the town's first television set.

Red stood outside the tavern listening to the brawl now raging within. She smiled. She loved it when people fought over her, and they always did, sooner or later. She gave the sword an experimental wave, it cut through the air with a quiet humm and shed its small load of dust. Now it looked far more malevolent; a piece of crudely molded steel with one singular purpose in existance, and that was, if not to end a life, to make it a lot less pleasant for the liver. It wasn't shiny, sharp or showwy, it just sat firmly in Red's grip as if it were embedded in rock, glaring out at the world like a hole into a darker, much less plesant existance. Red grinned evilly. "About time! Lets do this!"


* On Shellian... *

Schrock stared at the two suitcases at his feet, they represented a depressingly small amount of luggage for someone planning on not only moving house, but moving planets as well. Nearby his mother fussed over Erst, as usual. And as usual Erst's biggest worry was his shell. Neither of them had wanted to go to carrotus, but as mother has said; 'there was so much oppourtunity there'; she'd meant well, as usual, but there were some things she just didn't get. Sighing he managed to pry Erst away from a tearful embrace and they made their way to the ticket office. They got the usual odd looks given to those who'd never met Erst before, but since nearly all the shellians heading to carrotus were doing so against their will and/or better judgement and were thus making some attempt at disguising themselves, Erst's unique look got surprisingly little attention.

As the ship lifted off carrying its cargo of mostly unwilling emmigrants Shrock sighed. If he knew just how bad things were going to get, he would've stayed hime, as it was he wasn't
to keen anyway...

[Strato]

This is the end
Beautiful friend.
This is the end
My only friend, the end.

Looks interesting. Rabbits and turtles united? What horrors await us?

[Doubble Dutch]

Oooh look! Early writers enthusiasm; how long can I keep it up?


*Chapter 1: Threads*

It wasn't anywhere, it wasn't even nowhere. Time and space had little meaning here, this was often not the case, many entities that claimed to be outside of time still needed time to say it in after all. But here was different, it was nothing, but lead to everywhere, a split second of nothingness that could traverse the universe, and time too if conditions were right.

The entity stretched, if that could be used to describe something without a body in any respect. Likewise its purring to itself was little more than an emission of microwave radiaition. Nonetheless, it was pleased. They had arrived, everyone it had spent years years working out the small details, a little push here, an alteration there, now it could emerge, and it would be strong

* * *


Jazz struggled through the wreckage of the small town trying not to look at anything that would further disturb him, if that were possible. Whatever had happened here, it didn't deserve the title of 'riot' that he had been told would be awaiting him. It didn't even deserve the ttle of 'battle; this was far worse. He had been in plenty of fights, skirmishes, battles and even slaughters, but this was madness, perhaps atrocity was the word to be used here. Things like this were just not seen It was as if the entire town had gone homicidal at once; half of the squad that had arrived had stayed at the edge of the small settlement, too horrified to continue further. Most of the survivours had been captured, barely three dozen from a community of over four hundred, and each one had had to be sedated or beaten unconsious. Now all that was left was the wreckage, and the bodies. A lot of them were small, far too small to have ended like this.

Nobody had expected anything like this; Veldt as far as anyone knew was just a small collection of buildings along on of the many traveling paths that connected the various bigger communities; one among hundreds Then someone had called in the army, and then there was this. What should be done now, Jazz mused, would be to have the entire place burned to the ground and declared unholy. He sat down on the remains of a small truck. It had once been quite a respectable truck, before it had been blown up, looted and set on fire. Amongst the charred, twisted metal barely visible was the legend 'Langsam defensive equipemnt' Jazz sighed, for the first time in a long time, he had absolutely no idea what to do.


*Elsewhere...*

Schrock sat down heavily on the park bench. Geez, what a day; nothing but waiting, then standing in line, more waiting, customs, further waiting... And for what? It was cold and getting dark and here they were sitting outside of some hostel a million, no, no, lets see, 17.6 light years from home. He'd never felt more displaced than he did right now. Well at least nobody seemed to be paying them any attention; that was a good thing in Shrock's books. Even Erst wasn't being noticed, at least not more than usual. But everything was so, so different And there was too much to do, find proper accomodation for one, jobs for another, there were hardly any turtles here, and those that there were were hardly helpful, and for some reason he had the terrible feeling that life was out to get him.

His somewhat gloomy mood was interrupted by Erst's return. He was,as usual in a cheerful mood; it took a lot to upset Erst, he had some kind of antibodies to depression. If anything marked him as adopted it was that, Schrock's entire family had a definite if not exactly mean, then blue streak. He was humming, a tuneless cheerful melody that would sit in your head and annoy you the whole evening.

"Hey Schrock! Isn't this place great! I met these two really great rabbits and we went to this place called 'The Pink (-) Cat' and there was free food, well, not really meal food, but snacks there! Isn't that great?" Schrock considered this. Erst had a horrible habit of trying to fit in, even though he didn't, but his one success was an uncanny ability to make friends, if not very many of them. He watched his brother sit down and start polishing his shell. And now they were here so he could fit in someplace he belonged and everyone would be happy and there would be little pink birdies and butterflies and-

"Pink (-) Cat?" What kind of place is that? Erst looked up, his face a mask of recolection and eagerness 'Well, I don't really know, one of those party places, only the only people dancing were these girls on the stage, everyone else was just sitting there cheering. I think its some kind of theatre, like the travelling circus back home, but in one place!" Schrock tried to piece the scene together in his mind. "Ah, and um, these girls, not wearing anything right?" Erst gave him a look that Schrock had leanred meant 'Yes, why?' and he sighed. Typical Erst, nice guy, eager as anything, but there were some things he just didn't get, no matter how hard you hammered them into his head. "Look, rabbits view clothing different here; don;t ask me about it, but apparently nudity is both shocking and entertaining." He got another Look as Erst ran this through his mind. "But..but we're not wearing anything, nor are some of the rabbits here, even the king only wears bracelets-" Schrock snapped "Look! I don't make the rules OK? Rabbits are just plain nuts! Who knows why they do anything?"

Schrock watched his brother quietly walk back outside. He shouldn't have been so snappy, but (-)! This place, these people, this whole dam day was getting to him. Outside it started to rain gently. People hurried indoors to stay dry and mumbled about the lousy weather.

They may have been more grateful if they'd known the world would end in just under a week.

[Strato]

Well, I hope the initial work ethic burst lasts enough for the story to gain momentum, becuase I like what I'm reading.

[KRSplat]

KEEP GOING

its really good

[Coppertop]

Anything I say will just be a repeat of others. Oh what the heck. Keep it up DD.

[Doubble Dutch]

Oooh, I am *wired* tonigh; its 3am and I've consumed much coffee, sugar and cruddy late night B-Movies Now you know what I do waiting for 'Sone of Dracula' to end and 'The Bride of Frankenstein' to begin.


*Chapter 2: Affairs of state*

Amil was deep in concentration, fine tuning her soccer skills. She was now quite passable, because, although she had no talent whatsoever, she'd had a lot of time to practice. Nearby her three friends Alice, Sidera and Andil were engrossed in a game of Step, Shellian checkers. Of course she'd rather have been anywhere but the shelian quarter of the city, but she simply didn't have the cash to go anywhere else, and she was not[/] squatting. Besides it had its advantages, [i[nobody here showed any interest in soccer, a game that involved both speed and dexterity, so she was left pretty much alone. Okay, maybe 'friends' was too intimate a term for the three shellions present, but at least [she was pretty sure] they would be slightly upset by her death.

She graduly became aware of an intense staring at the back of her neck, much like what little children do before they ask one of the 'dreaded questions' [Such as "Mommy, what are those two dogs doing?'] It was another Shellion; she continued her practice, aware that she was still being stared at. "What's that?" "Its a soccer ball, you've probbably never heard of it. You gotta hit the ball with any part of your body except your feet, even your head- oof!" The Shelian continued to stare as Amil gingerly rubbed her nose. 'Ummm, but you face Doesn't that hurt?' 'Rrrgh! Thats not what I meant to do!' growled Amil as the blood started to flow. SHe tottered over to her 'friends' to borrow a hankercheif 'Stupid twit! Probbably only one shellian soccer fan and he ends up here!" Andil handed her a tissue. 'He's a rabbit' she said calmly.

Amil scowled. That was shellians for you. Probbably some big insult back in turtle land. They could've at least used the local slang, they *did* live here after all.


* * *

Spaz stood to attention as the Queen approached. He knew the routine now, but the sight of the Queen always unerved him, when somebody's thrown you through a stained glass window just for eating their pet budgie, its hard to ever be at ease around them. Besides, it had got out of its cage, what did she expect? Okay, maybe the door needed jiggling but- 'SPAZ JACKRABBIT!' the harsh voice cut through his idle thoughts like a diamond sawblade. He stood sharply to attention, performing a salute that nearly knocked him unconsious. The queen towered over him, and around him too; she was a woman built for... built for... well, just built really. 'I hope you will be taking this duty as seriously as always?' Spazz nodded vigourusly, but not so vigourusly as to slobber anywhere [One can only face having one's tounge slammed in a door a few times.] Admiral Ducat was already approaching, wearing the hunted, worried expression of anyone that had to spend long periods of time around the queen- without earmuffs. 'We will be discussing state business, most likely for the next hour or so. As susual I want NO interruptions no matter WHAT you hear or WHAT the reason! You've done a good job so far and I hope I can trust you with important missions like these?' Again Spaz nodded vigourusly. 'Very well, do your duty' Admiral Ducat gave Spaz a harried, almost pleading look as the door shut slowly behind him.

There are very few magical doorways in the multiverse, but most of those that are remain undiscovered due to the fact that they do not sparkle or shimmer in any way. Knowing this one could have eaily belived one such doorway was being guarded by Spaz. Before the Queen walked through it you could have sharpened axes on her glare but the instant she passed through she seemed to shrink and deflate. No such transformation overcame Admiral Ducat however, who was about as deflated already as one could get without being a balloon. He turned a worried face to the Queen. 'Your majesty! We can't keep this up! Somebody's bound to find out sooner or later, surely even that redheaded dolt suspects something?' The Queens reply, when it came, was unusually quiet and measured. 'Roland please, Spaz Jackrabbit wouldn't know if it was teusday or thursday and please, call me Emalia.' The admiral sighed and sat down on a bed. This was one of the forgotten rooms of the castle, a guest room maybe? Or for some royal personage no longer resident or living? Who knew? But it had been tidied up quite recently and showed signs of having been lived in, or at least used often in the recent past. The bed creaked and sagged as the Queen sat down on it her sheer weight deforming it and pulling Roland towrds her, much like a massive star would a planet. He paused. 'I didn't know you were called Emalia.' This time it was the Queen who sighed. She put an broad arm over the admiral's shoulders. 'I don't know, I've been 'The Queen' so long I've completely forgotten, but I like the sound of it, don't you?'

After that, neither said anything for a long, long time.


* * *

Outside Spaz was busy making his way through a large sandwich; nobody said gaurds had to go hungry after all. Besides, those two always took longer than an hour. Whatever they were discussing must be real important and Spaz felt a twinge of pride at having a hand in such important matters. Noticing a small stone had fallen from the ceiling he tossed it idly out of a window. There was a hollow "thock" as it colided with something down below.

The entity stood over the unconsious rabbit, if that word could be used, and let loose a small quip of excited ultraviolet. Perfect! The stone had fallen three stories and rather improbbably had caused a major concussion. And it had seen it! Wonderful! Everything was going to plot...

[Doubble Dutch]

Once again its late at night and I have been locked outside in the cold. I'm gonna post this then knock manically on the door again.


*Chapter 3: Employment*

Tier rustled the page of his magazine and stared at the headline 'Long live the king! Shell ends corrupt governemnt!' Dear lord! This thing was almost a decade old! He stared at his surrounds, they had the usual sickening limey green colorscheme seen in government buildings everywhere. Once it had been bright and fresh and efficient, but as usual it had become grimy and rundown. There were a lot of other shellions here, slouching around, and even a few rabbits. Say what you will about politics, lazyness was universal. The clock ticked over to 11:00 and a smartly dressed clerk walked over to the main display board and tacked up a small list of new jobs avalible. Erst was of course, the only one to eagerly hop up and examine the list, Schrock followed behind, so far none of the jobs had required their particular skills of waiting tables and general culinary expertise. Erst waved a small sheet of paper under his nose. 'Look! There's a vacancy at the palace! For a waiter! The Queens head waiter was knocked out cold and quit! One of us can-" Schrock cut him off cold with a stare. "NO No way in hell Erst, , that (-) rockheap is a nuthouse, and I won't have anything to do with it."

A small yellow rabbit scurried in and pinned something to the board, Schrock glanced at it then ripped it off. He stopped the rabbit before she got to the door. 'Excuse me miss, do I read this right? Two vacancies?" The rabbit nodded. "Well be tending bar?" Another nod "And this 'Peace Tavern, it has, had, and will have any connection with famous people, living or dead, legends or anybody by the name of Jacrabbit?" The rabbit stared. "Err, generally we're pretty lucky if we get customers that can pay in cash.' Schrock smiled. Excellent, you have your turtles madam. The rabbit looked perplexed. 'You want to be hired? Actually hired? To work in the peace tavern? I mean, as a job?' Schrock considered this. 'I'm going to regret it, but surely not as much as I would going to work in that (-) castle. Give me the details and we'll talk salaries.' Erst followed his brother and the rabbit; she was the same one he'd seen yesterday evening. Small world.


* * *

The entity blinked. Or would have done had it any eyelids. It examined the turtles mind in annoyance. Yes, it figured; a poison to stories. So its plan had failed, no matter, it had been working on this for so long, and in so many ways, they couldn't resist it now, they were it. All it had to do was wait, and, as usual, nudge things a bit.

* * *

Larrock Scwartz looked gloomily at his fries before tossing them absentmindedly into the trash can. His aim was perfect, it always was; sometimes the trashcan moved to ensure this. If you'd told him that there were starving children who would die for that, he'd reply that he knew Larrock knew a lot. They had no nutritional value either, at least, not for anyone with enough to eat. He knew this as well. (-)! He'd spent too long here; what was it? Fourty? Fifty years? Far, far too long. He sipped absentmindedly at his soda. This had no nutritional value either, but the patrons at the surrounding tables were consuming theirs with gusto. Larrock knew this, and knew why, and hated it. There was a whimper next to him and he turned to see what could easily have been mistaken for some comic paradoy on the odd couple. The two rabbits watching him with awe couldn't be more different, one was blue, short and almost as wide as tall, the other was almost twice her size, and a quarter of her width. Larrock could see that there was one simalarity, they were both starving to death. It wouldn't take long, a few months at most, they were probbably aware of the fact, just blanking it out like so many people did. The thin one was clutching a battered copy of a small book Larrock had learned to dread.

She coughed surreptiously. 'Dr L Schwartz? I've been following your diet plan for eight months now, and Amy is just about to start! I can't thank you enough for what you've done! Could you please, Pleeeeaaase sign my copy?' Larrock cringed inwardly, but pulled a sleek black pen from his pocket and wrote a brief crisp message on the inside cover. It was 'Staying slim with Willpower' another one of his many publishing efforts. 'Whats your name? Cindy? With a 'y' right? Okay.' He watched the two toddle away in awe. It was entirely possible they'd live of course, but Larrock still shuddered at the though, then hated himself for thinking it. He got up, this was just too much; he'd started this resturant; it had been one of his first and at the time, finest actions, but he hated the very sight of the place now.

Outside the night air was cooler; he could relax. The two rabbits from earlier were leaving also, having been unlikely to purchase any of what passed for food inside. In the dark, in the alleyway Larrock looked like the stereotypical serial killer. He hadn't meant to,it was just that bodies had a mind of their own, and some things went with the job. As it was he looked more raven than rabbit; impossibly slick black fur on such a narrow frame, neat and natty black suit and snazzy black sunglasses. Larrock liked black, he-

There was a gleam in the darkness.

Larrock pulled it out; it had been half burried in the days trash but he could see it- There was a dul clatter as the pair of golden scalesfell from his hands, tinkling onto the ground in a way that suggested they were a lot heavier than they looked. Technically gold would have deformed, hit the ground with a thunk like plasticine, but this wasn't gold, not exactly anyway. No. No. No, this couldn't be happening now Larrock paled and took a step backward. But he knew what he had to do, a small part of him had no choice. He picked up the scales and shoved them in his shirt pocket, badly tearing the lining, not that it mattered anyway.

"They're pretty, lucky you found them huh?" Larrock whirled around to face the two rabbits from earlier. The scales were the old fashioned balance type; two dishes, one crossbar, to weigh one thing aginst another, they were exquisitely crafted. He clutched for a respone 'Uh, yeah. Look, Cindy; about the diet; I think you're lacking in iron, you might want to have a decent steak when you get home, its an... an error in the diet sometimes." He left the two rabbits standing there and headed to his car. Like him it was sleek and black, capable of exceeding any speedlimit you could set, including what the odometer could show. It unlocked itself, it always did. The lights went on automatically, as usual, a small dent in the paintwork caused by a hurried commuter healed itself, leaving nothing but a smooth black finnish.

Larrock was right, the rabbit wouldn't live to see the new year.

They probbably didn't have good odds of seeing next month either.

[Doubble Dutch]

I'd just like to take this time to say thankyou to Coppertop for all her moderating; its a very undervalued job.


*Chapter 4: Cause and effect*

Perhaps the single most famous tavern both on Carrotus itsekf and offworld is the War Tavern; a building that has been around for so long it has achieved two capital letters in its name, and edifice synonymous with succes and the telling of tall tales. Practically since the day of its construction it has been a gathering place for the big names and heroes of Carrotus and surrounding space. Built several hundred years ago to celebrate the acesnsion of King Fitzwick Earlong, it was actually the second of two buildings at opposite ends of the town, sppositely named the War and Peace Taverns, the second being dedicated to the king's wife Estania. Perhaps it was her ensuing coup attempt, trial and execution that first tarnished the Peace Tavern's name, but it has never gained the popularity of its sister construction.

There are certain places that practially cry out for people to get riotusly drunk and start singing in a loud, obtrusive manner. These places usually have large, roaring fires, lots of happy people talking loudly and order their liquor in large tankards, Then there are the places people go when all they want to do is consume a large amount of alchohol [preferably in the form of drink rather than industrial solvents] and try to forget the miseries of life. This was such a place; it was dank, dismal dark and you could practically feel the rising damp soaking up out of the floor. There wasn't much conversation here, most of what there was was spoken in a low, depressed tone. There was only one exception to the gloom as Erst bustled behind the bar serving drinks to anyone who slouched their way up to the bar. He was also attempting conversation too, in the utterly oblivious manner of someone who either had no idea where they are, or has been paid to be cheerful.

Amidst the smoke and grime Lori sat morosely. In deference to her dislike of aquiring virulent diseases, her barstool had been covered with newspaper. She'd seen a lot recently she'd rather forget, and the turpentine content of the Peace Tavern's drinks made that a welcome possiblity. There was someone new at the bar this week; apparently someone had decided to put money before personal hygeine and replace Stadt as barkeep. She wondered if Stadt had really retired, or whether he'd just decided to invest more time in one of his other 'business' ventures. It really was a pity, he was quite a nice guy, although possibly some of this had to do with the fact that Lori always paid, and always with money. She turned to the patron next to her, who as far as she could tell had been drinking continuously for the past four hours. It was amazing he was still living.

Having herself consumed just over four litres of what was technically paint stripper, Lori's attempt at communication was mostly jibberish but eventually she managed to stammer out a sentence in what could pass for english Her neighbour looked at her through an impressive pair of sunglasses. "Wi niggh? Oh bloody hell! I [i]am (-) aren't i? Nevermind, it'll all be the same in a few days time anyway. You...you got the right idea! I say, find a place with good...god, fod n booze and have a good time! Whoo! Whats the time? Oh bugger this, better sober up." Through the rising haze of drink Lori watched him shudder, spit out a large quantity of clear flamable smelling liquid and straightened up. He then walked unusually steadily out the door and into the night. Lori stared at her glass, there was something wrong with it, and that was the fact that it was currently empty. She ordered another round.

Outside Vernon Klase was having a bad day. He was no longer drunk and it would be a matter of miniutes before his big meeting. He didn't know what it was about, but it was the first time they'd wanted to talk to him since...since, well since he could remember, and that probbably wasn't a good thing. He ducked into the disused alley where he knew they'd be waiting, and, as expected, there they were. The two contacts they'd sent lurked evily at its end, bith such a drab shade of brown that they were almost background. They leered as he approached them. 'Right, so what 'ave we here then? Vern Klase huh? You been spending too much time up here; starting to get ideas I think" the words were spat, the disgust in their speaker's voice evident with every sylable. "Pers'nally I can't see why they've got some low ranking rat like you to do this; but it aint my job to argue you sign for this, 'n be at the meeting point on time and this could mean quite a promotion." The second figure sneered "Yeah, I'd give my right arm for an oppourtunity like this; well, someone's right arm anyway." Vernon looked helplessley at the small package being handed to him, it was small, ractangular and not very heavy, but in his hands it suddenly seemd a lot bigger, and more menacing. He gulped and signed his name on the clipboard. Beurocracy, even here.

The first figure stared at the signature. "Nah, not Vern buddy; your real name." Vernon shuddered; what he wrote next wasn't Vernon Klase, it was a lot longer. Another snort. "Your signature, signature!" Vernon shuddered again and wrote something a lot shorter; one rune, basicaly oval in shape, but obsurdly complicated. There was a hiss as it was finnished and the paper and clipboard dissapeared. The two figures nodded, a signal form one professional to another and blended into the darkness. Vernon stood with the package clutched tightly in his hands as it began to rain. It was going to be a long, cold, dark, night.

[Doubble Dutch]

Bah, schoolwork is piling up. What say I abandon this? Nobody's reading it. [Actually, even Nobody hasn't bothered, he's bathing his cat]


*Chapter 5: Loaction, location, location*

The lake glistened dully in the moonlight. And it glistened; in a way no water should. Its banks were a jungle of life, twisted winding weeds choking the few straggly trees that remained. Nearby a chainsaw rang out signalling another proud forest denizen was becoming a sheet of newsprint and a chair. The rabbits liked wood, they even ate it on occasion. Wit stood by the lakeside, idly dipping a shoetip into the water, which bleached and corroded the leather as he watched. Wit smiled warmly; now *this* was a sight to see; as the sun rose the air glowed orange, and the lake shone like a thousand pearls, and like a pearl, an irritant and lifeless. Wit had had a lot of names over the years; he never could keep just one, besides, it helped with the passports. Sometimes he'd been Mark Darcon, Gunter Weiss or Andy Dull; nonody noticed Wit, he was just that kind of guy. He was, at the current time, a rather tall and gaunt rabbit, his fur the colour of dirty snow, eyes bright red and focused at a point about three feet behind the back of your skull. He wore a worn out business suit and some glasses held together with so much sellotape they'd withstand a direct hit by a tank. He had a quiet, slightly nervous disposition that made him easy to pass over. He sat in the background, janitor, graveyard shift security, small, unoticeable jobs involving day to day running of various enterprises, usually of a scientific or industrial bent. This had been his most recent; he'd barely been there two weeks, yet he'd done so much! There had been the leaky valve for one thing...

And the rabbits never cleaned up, or said they were sorry, that was so much fun Even after they did something horribly, terribly wrong, they'd just walk away, and act like it never happened! All you had to do was prod here, twist there, and they'd let it all go wrong and, this was the important bit, make it worse in a thousand little way, they made up themselves! Wit smiled, it would be great just to drop a match, just to see... so perfect...

There was something in the weeds. Wit stopped his musing and walked over to it. It was a small, silver crown. As he touched it it tarnished. He put it on, it turned pitch black, and gleamed with a purple sheen no metal could have. Wit straightened up, there was work to do; the biggest job of all. It was about time too, but he had to hurry, the others would be there already.

* * *

Jazz walked aimlessly down the corridor, humming tunelessly under his breath. It figured, it just figured You get home after a hard day of blasting turtles, blowing up their villages and crushing their industry, and they're all out of carrot soup! On carrotus for chrissake! Why did all the bad things happen to him? His deeply philosophical line of reasoning was shattered by the Queen ambling down the same corridor, as absentmindedly as he was. She was singing, and in a bright pink dress. Windows craked as she passed by, and Jazz' filling popped out when she hit a high note. She was, Jazz noticed, attempting to hop and skip, though this was having a rather detrimental effect on the floor. SHe stopped dead when she saw Jazz. 'What are you staring at? Can't I be cheerful if I like?" She stormed past, her footfalls causing bits of masonry to fall a story below. Jazz realised he was crouched in a corner, hell, it was either that or become a bightly colored stain on the stonework. Jazz quietly tiptoed the other way, evidently this was some kind of middlea aged woman thing, and you just didn't mess with that stuff, some things men were not meant to know.

[Strato]

I'm reading it. I read ALL!!!

But the thing is, commenting after every singly post just dosen't seem to...to...uhm, well my brain fell asleep on me. So I'll reply again later.

[Coppertop]

I read it too. I just don't say anything. After a while all my comments seem generic - "yay another chapter keep writing plz". Nice chapter, by the way.

[Strato]

Yeah, that's what I meant. The things I can come up with eventually just sound sarcastic they're so overdone.

[Doubble Dutch]

I'm sorry, its just hard to tell if anyone's actually paying attention, I mean the 'how fast can you type the alphabet' topic is six times as watched as this, so its self evident that this isn't even as interesting as a typing competition.

[Strato]

I copy and paste what you write into a text document. That way I don't have to check here and everything is in one place, so I don't have to keep coming back and re-read bits.

[KRSplat]

This >> Typing competition

I've read everything you posted ASAP :)

But I don't consider myself much of a writing critique so I refrain from saying a lot.

[Doubble Dutch]

Really? I'll be. Its probbably paranoia from my old english teacher Mrs Heratten; whenever you made a speech, or submitted an essay, or when she looked over your work, she'd just go all quiet and *stare* thne she'd either pass you, or fail you so hard your children would flunk.

Eh, I forgot to tack some of this onto chap 5, so I added some more and made a new chap. [Though 5 was a bit short...]


*Chapter 6: Rest*

The entitiy purred, a long flash of microwaves. This was simply delicious, all the parts clicking together like a little clock, each turing another, and being turned in turn. It was only a matter of time, it was gaining strength, and the ability to warp reality around itself. All that was needed was to nourish it a bit more, give it what it needed and set it loose. Some nudging would be needed, especially when dealing with *them* but it was almost inevitable now. It could afford to take a break; manifesting yourself took it out of you. Not that it felt tired of course, it had nothing to feel tired with, just...dimminished

* * *

Schrock lay down and pulled the sheets up over his shell. Apparently it was more traditional to sleep inside one's shell, but if you did that you woke up smelling like body odour. Erst managed to get away with it though, hell; lord knew what he'd done with the inside of his shell, it was probbably velvet lined or something. He'd read that somewhere; custom shell modifications, you could have them amour plated and everything. Ah the rush of tecnology. Somewhere in the darkness Erst curled into his customary sleeping position, you could hear his spine creak, that couldn't be good for it. He only did it because he'd heard that what 'normal' turtles did; you had to hand it to him, he went to some incredible lengths to fit in, for as long as Schrock could remember, there wasn't a single day he could remember where Erst hadn't been polishing and touching up his shell every spare moment, even here, surrounded by all this... this... rabitidity. If mother had thought this would settle him down, she was very, very wrong.

Schrock lay back and listened to the rain on the roof... and the constant drip drips leaking through to the floor. The rising damp here was only being kept at bay by the faliing damp from above. It had started raining as soon as they'd left work, but as they had neither clothing nor belongings to get soaked it hadn't really been that bad. It was fun to see the rabbits rushing around though, usually either getting terribly muddy in the puddles, or even running straight into or through things in their path. Work. Ah, at least something was going right. It was a proper job at least; the accounts had been in terrible shape, it seems few people actually paid in cash, and he'd been forced to start up a seperate roster for teeth, which, having a dentist for a neighbour back home he fixed zt 25 gold coins fresh, of two silver stale. Dear lord! These rabbits were amazing! Hadn't they heard of decimalized currency? Or notes...? Schrock graduly fell asleep amid his thoughts.


* * *

Erst lay half asleep listening to the rain; the drips made a briliant mathematical series, he could almost see the prime numbers emerge; 1,2,3,5... of course he always counted primes to get to sleep, because, because, well, he always had. It had taken him a few years to get from 23 to 197, which always sent him off to dreamland, but he was, if anything patient, if a bit slow in the brainpower department. Things were going very well, they hadn't been here two days and they'd already got jobs and accomodation, you couldn't beat that, and everyone was so friendly; they weren't even giving him the looks he got back home, well, except for the turtles here. It seemed that the rabbits didn't even notice him! Wonderful!


* * *

Typical! Why now? Why now? Just when he was getting used to the place? (-)! It wasn't fair! Vernon hurried through the pouring rain, heading toward carrotus castle. He had a long way to go; several oceans, three forests a dozen towns and innumerable pastures lay between him and his goal a few hundred kilometers away. It didn't matter, not to Vernon of course, but it would mean traveling without pause for rest for at least a day, and Vernon had got to like sleep; sometimes he spent weeks napping. [Not because he needed to, but because he could.] And now this had happened. He was going to have to go all the way to the capital, where else. Showoffs; it didn't have to be the grandest most obvious place, it could as easily be some out of the way village, or a bare hilltop, not all this fuss and pompery. And what did they need him for anyway?

Muttering Vernon strode into the storm.


* * *

It would be stupid to say the world slept; worlds never sleep; parts of them might get darkk regularly, but just as much was bathed in light at the same time. Even worlds of darkness, far out in space and coated with chocking ammonia clouds spun gently and turned themselves over [and in some cases harboured the sleeping seeds of comatose life, dreaming of warmer times] Even in the deepest night the air buzzed with activity. bugs and birds and plants and the odd nocturnal rabbit in the towns. But maybe the world did sleep, when it thought nobody would notice, or perhaps it was just a spirit of calm, like the silence before a storm, that blanketed the world.

Carrotus sped through space at a little over three thousand kilometers a second, as it had since it first congealed from the solar mist; a small green jewel against the blackness of space. If you had the right eyes, and specail training, you might perhaps discern something emerging from it, trailing behind it like comet dust, black on black as somethin fled the world.

And others gathered.

.

[Coppertop]

Ooooh. Nice last line. Now I want to read more.

[Doubble Dutch]

*Chapter 7: Dawn*


The next day dawned brightly. Considering that not an hour before sunrise there had been pouring rain, it was quite an improvement. All around there was the smell of drying rain, that fresh feeling you only get after a storm has passed. The sun shone brightly in an almost cloudless sky, the whole world seemed refreshed, like it had emerged from a brisk shower. All in all, things were looking to be pretty good.

Schrock slurped lazily at his breakfast. It was his own time saving invention, pond scum and coffee, although the way these rabbits made coffe it was hard to tell the difference. He'd become hooked on the stuff as a kid and now he was no good without a cup [or bowlful] of the stuff inside him. [And there's nothing worse than a slow turtle.] The fact that he was using a straw usually didn't strike people so much as efficient as just plain weird. As usual Erst was up and ready; he didn't so much sleep as lie down and shut his eyes. On the other hand, the closest he got to excited was slight eagerness.

He sat in the early morning sun, warming his shell. Despite all the rumours and the fact that it was 'common knowledge' on carrotus; turtles weren't actually cold blooded. While they didn't produce their own heat very efficiently, metabolism produced waste warmth, and the turtles were large enough that they could keep any warmth they produced. Of course, cold is cold is cold, and it helped to get a little assist in the mornings. There was a slurp as he finnished the last of his breakfast and became aware of someone standing next to him.

She was another shellian, no surprise in this district. [The rabbits had an amusing tendency to not be able to distinguish male from female shell markings; it was almost comical that the rabbits blithely seemed to think that all turtles that emiigrated were male, unless wearing clothing stating otherwise.] Interestingly her shell had a large crack down the front that had knitted together; not many turtles survived something capable of doing that. 'Hey, you're new in town right? You arrived with the rabbit right? The weird guy?' she gestured toward Erst who was engrossed with several others in some kind of card game across the street. This seemed to rattle the newcomer, as expected. 'Brother? A rabbit He looks nothing like you!' 'Oh yes, adopted of course. 'Yes, yes, he's my brother. And I'd appreciate it if you stayed away from the rabbit comments; he tries to be a normal turtle, but he's just not all there OK?' Schrock watched her walk off, muttering and reflected how ironic it was that the rabbits had been no troubble at all, whereas his own species was probbably going to be their biggest obstacle toward settling in.

You had to face it, life was a b(-); and one with PMS at that. There was a shelian curse for things like this 'Why do I live in such interesting times?' It was becomming ever more appropriate.


* * *

Jazz stared dumbly into his cereal He was never his best before his third cup of coffee [Rabits have to get their speed from somewhere Groggily he ate a spoonful. Carrot flavoured. It figured. You could never get a decent non-orange snack around here, for once it'd be nice not to have a diet intractibly linked to root vegetables. It was about that time Spaz bounded in, full of his usual energy and entusiasm; he went straight from asleep to running on all cylinders. [Just out of curiousity him and Lori had kept him awake for four days straight. There wasn't any change per se; but he did start claiming to be a hummingbird, which put an end to things pretty quickly.] Spaz had interesting breakfasts, quite apart from the fact that to him meals were more a restraint than proper eating habits, he had yet to master the concepts of 'diet' and 'appropriate foods' Currently he was dining on half a roast ham, a bowl of strawberry icecream, and a jar of pickles. Mixed together. It thus took Jazz some time, especially in his early morning state to notice anything amiss.

He watched Spaz for some time before bothering to mention anything; with Spaz you could never tell. 'Hey bro? Err, new pet?' Spaz looked up from the difficult task of attempting to swallow without chewing and looked blank for a moment. Jazz subtly motioned toward the large red bird on his shoulder, which was currently attempting to see if Spaz's ear and a rasher of bacon were simalar. Spaz looked at it, then went back to eating. 'Yea! Her name's Kira! She's a present from the queen for me doing err... stuff!' Jazz thought this over stuff? What on earth would Spaz possibly be doing that he got a...a... Jazz thought this over as well; he was sure he'd seen or read something about these birds before. 'Hey! Is that a Goshawk?' Lori bounded in, looking remarkably worse for wear, no wonder considering what had happend. She ran over and petted the bird. 'Lori, I don't think thats such a good id-'

'Aaagh!'

Jazz ran what he knew through his head. The Carrotus Goshawk, close relative to the Carrotus Wowhawk, bred by the royalty especially for falconing, and indeed bred so sucessfully that they were for all intents and purposes about as kind and gentle as a rottweiler with PMS No wonder Spaz had been given one, the queen was evidently trying to remove one annoyance from the castle, the question was, which one? The bird itself was roughly a third Spaz's size, it was a wonder he could support it without falling over; as it was its claws were dug in so hard there were blood spatters, not that you'd notice more red on red fur. It was rather eagle shaped, with a cruel hooked beak and eyes that stared at the world with two things in mind, food or pain, possibly both. It was female from what he could tell and probbably quite old, at least a decade. Apparently they got more obtuse and evilminded as they aged. Bleaurgh. He gently pushed Lori, still staring at her bloodied hand, out the door. 'You really want to see the medics about that, its gonna need stitches for sure. There was a flutter as yet another small bid banged against one of the castles many windows. It was always gross when they knocked themselves out, especially if they landed on your food. There was a shark shriek, the sound of wings and Kira perched once again on Spaz, a few ruffled feathers falling from her beak.

Jazz sighed, on second thought given Lori's needle phobia, perhaps it was better if he accompanied her to surgery. Hopefully the rest of the day wouldn't be so... interesting.


.

[Philip1992]

Very good. Please write more.

[Doubble Dutch]

Boy am I depressed today, and I have no idea why. Its really annoying. Oh well, it gives me time to work on my emo look. 'Nuther chapter too. [Sorry BB]



*Chapter 8: Snarkfor*

It was midmorning when the truck pulled up to the diner, driving not only as if it owned the road, but also as if everything else on it was mere distraction. Given the nature of things, that could well be the case. It slid demurely into the diner's small parking lot and occupied two disabled parks. Nobody would mind; the roading system on Carrotus was woefully underdeveloped and rabbits' view on parks was one of benign neglect. The truck istelf was a brilliant, gleaming red like a freshly polished aplle. It looked as if it had been bought yesterday, despite its make and model delcaring that it must be all of 75 years old, at least. Two character emerged, a rabbit and turtle and headed toward the diner. 'Hey, you left the lights on.' remarked Sheldon offhandedly. Red stared at the truck and waved her hand. The lights went out. The truck was still unlocked, this didn't matter as there was no fuel in the tank, and anyone attempting to steal it would be in for a nasty surprise.

Red had changed her attire for the day; you had to dress up for special occasions after all. She'd decided to go with a red leather jacket and pants, and rose colored sunglasses. Red of course believed in never comprimizing vision, thus anyone looking out from the specially designed lenses saw the world in perfect color. Anyone looking in saw nothing but two pools of red. Sheldon hadn't done anything to change, he never did, he always looked perfectly... perfectly... shellian.

The owner looked up as they entered; she'd owned amd run the Snarkfor cafe ['If you don't eat here, we'll both starve!'] for over thirty years and business had been brisk that morning. Snarkfor itself [Once the location of a fanatical cult of shoe worsippers] had never been a very large town, despite lying on oe of Carrotus' most busy roadways. Shuttles had rendered what little trafficthere was obsolete, and rabbits themselves had never had much desire to move around, at least by car, thus 'brisk' business had consisted of half a dozen orders in the last two hours. These two looked interesting, and Andrea liked interesing; cafe owning was dull work and last years 3'600 piece jigsaw was almost done.

The new arrivals sat down at one of the larger tables, talked a bit, and then the turtle got up to make an order. He took his time. 'Excuse me? We'd like a oooh, lets see... how about two coffees and a savoury roll?" Dear lord he even talked slow! "Sure thing hon, expecting more visitors? Only its gonna be a bit lonely at that table if you aint." The shellian paused 'Oh yes, I'd say hmmm... 4 others, they should be here soon. We've got a lot of work to do, and such precious little time to do it in.' With that he took his order and went back to his table. Its often believed that rabbits have super hearing, at least by anyone who wasn't themselves a rabbit, however, in Andrea's case, this was more or less true, curiousity had honed her skills to razor sharp, and the two characters were having just the kind of conversation you could get really interested in.

'The others are coming, not more than an hour or two away I'd say.' 'Yea, but so's it (-), why does it have to interfere all the time?' 'We'll be fine, we've done this before, we'll do it again, its all just a matter of patience and duty.' 'Well I hope so, I've been looking forward to this.'

[Doubble Dutch]

Ah, last day of winter break *sigh* Oh well...



*Chapter 9: Summer days*

Erst wandered aimlessly down the street, his mind retracing the route he took the previous day. As he was now working permanently he'd committed it to memory. Occasionally he dodged obstacles that weren't there, or blundered into ones that had been placed there overnight. Slightly behind him and moving much more agilely was Schrock, who was watching where he was going. He moved a lot faster than you'd expect from a shelian.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!"

The rabbit grabbed a hold of Schrock's shell and spun him round. "(-) shelian! What the hell is wrong with you? I don't know why we didn't just dispose of you all when we had the chance!" Schrock frowned and pretended not to hear, but the rabbit didn't let go. And then Erst was there. 'Excuse me, we have to get to work, can you please let him go?' The rabbit squinted. "Hmm... no. What say I stand here and do nothing? Its not like you could be in a hurry now is it?" Schrock watched with deepening dread as Erst thought this over. He had no sense of sarcasm. "Actually, yes, we are in a hurry, our job starts in a quarter of an hour." The rabbit sneered 'Oh yes? And what would you do if I punched you right now shellfrog?" Erst considered this "I don't know, you haven't done it yet." The rabbits fist was already moving when Erst replied. There was a sickening *crrk* as it collided. The rabbit clutched his hand to his chest. "F* F* F*! Imma *kill you for that! I'll KILL you."

But Erst and Schrock had moved on. Erst kept staring at the front of his shell "That wasn't very nice, he's scratched it, look!" "Shutupshutupshutup! You want we get into trouble? Don't answer that, lets just get going"

* * *

The dirty green truck slowly chugged its way up the narrow road, leaving the occasional speck and spatter of leaked oil or discarded wrapper in its wake. Its engine was poorly tuned, belching black smoke, its windows were crusted with grime. A dandelion was sprouting out of a crack in one of its mirrors and its approach could be heard a mile away. It somewhat unsteadily turned into the parking lot before utterly collapsing slowly like a melting glacier, parts bending, breaking or just falling off leaving little more than a heap of scrap metal. Anyone who had seen it arrive would've been surprised that it hadn’t happened sooner. Nevertheless a figure emerged from the wreckage, pushing aside a door that immediately fell off its hinges, and marched into a the cafe ahead.

The owner looked up as he entered, bringing with him several candy wrappers that had blown in with the wind, they skittered across the floor before hiding under a table. He calmly walked over to the only occupied table in the joint and sat down. Meanwhile there was a gasp and a crunch from the bar; the owner had discovered a cockroach under a saucer that had suddenly grown a lovely crop of mould. Wit watched a small shape scurry out from under a bench and into a corner. Wit snapped his fingers and the cockroach crawled out and across the floor. He picked it up and stroked it gently. 'Sometimes I just love life, I don't know what people have against them. So, how long till the big event?"

Outside the sun shone, birds chirped and people went about their business. It looked as if it was going to be an unusually pleasant day.

[Doubble Dutch]

Hmmmn, its so tempting to see if I can sneak swearwords into this mass of text... do you think the admins are watching?


*Chapter 10: Decadence*


Despite being early morning the peace tavern was already crowded, or at least busy since its customers weren't the type to crowd anywhere. Very few of them were drinking, yet several were unconscious. They busied themselves gambling, arguing or just sitting around morosely As Schrock entered a knife whizzed past his head and thunked into the wall opposite. He didn't bother to duck, people never bothered to aim. Schrock knew the place never officially closed as such, it merely got quieter around dawn, the yellow rabbit that had hired them was serving at the bar, but as soon as they entered she removed her apron and tossed it to Erst. Schrock couldn't blame her, this place could grow on you, or at least it was damp enough to make something grow on you.

He busied himself behind the bar, there was a surprising amount to be done, nobody seemed to have kept any records about anything, inventory, customers, payment, you name it. He'd even found an arm in a container of spirits on his first shift and he was quite sure there were many more such surprises lying around the place, probably deposited as payment for booze. At least he'd managed to clear a small corner of junk and assorted objects, if there was one thing Schrock liked it was a decent amount of order. If only the world took a bit of time to get itself organized, there'd be so much less trouble around the place than there was, that was his firm opinion.

He looked briefly up from his sorting as the yellow rabbit entered, approached a pile of garbage and deftly removed a dusty jacket and backpack from it "No, no, doesn't make much difference, they look like small piles of compost whether or not you're wearing them. The rabbit didn't even flicker. "Yeah well some of us have so wear clothing and this is the best I can afford. My aunt moved to shellian solely so she could walk down the street nude." This gave Schrock pause for thought. "She moved there yet you can't afford clothing that's not sprouting weeds? How does that work? "Simple she went to carrotus castle and snuck jalapeño peppers into the queen's breakfast." "Ah." Schrock knew about the deportations, the rabbits dealt with their worst criminal elements by simply shipping them elsewhere. Or executing them. Those that were 'unpatriotic' were deported to shellion, apparently a very fitting destination. What happened of course was the creation of Rabbits Against Rabbits, or RAR, perhaps the only organization in existence whose members were all banned, according to their own charter, from joining.

The rabbit stared at him for a while, as if trying to make up her mind about something. "You- your brother, the guy out front; what exactly is with him? The whole shell thing and all that? Major weird going on there." Schrock was quite surprised. "You noticed? I'll be; I didn't think any of the rabbits had picked it up. Yeah, you'll just have to put it down to him being a bit... odd. He tries his hardest, it's complicated." The rabbit nodded. "My brother eats q-tips, so I get your point. If you're going to be fiddling with stuff al day, try not to wake me up huh? I get too little sleep as it is." Schrock looked around. Ah yes, someone had stuffed a pile of blankets and a pillow into a corner, when really they should have had them quarantined and incinerated.

The rabbit sniffed. "You really don't like this place do you? I can tell by the way you try to avoid touching things." "Yes, I want to live thankyou. Anyway, since we're going to be working together, and sharing living quarters it appears, just out of curiosity, what's your name? I mean, according to this lump of paperwork you don't even have a contract here." The yellow rabbit stiffened. "Yes, well, I'm the daughter of the proprietor, so you're not going to find any paperwork." Hmmm, procrastination, Schrock was interested. "And the name?" "Mumblemumble" "I'm sorry, didn't quite catch that." The rabbit practically growled the response. "Trixxie, its Trixie, short for Trixxibelle, you ever mention it again and so help me I'll cut out your tonge." "Hey, don't worry about it; you won't believe what my name means in shellian, some mothers must want revenge for all the crud we put them through. Suffice to say Erst was named after the shelian word for a hive of bees, and he got the better deal."

Schrock sat back and tried to work out who R. and S. were, they were the only people mentioned on this payment slip. After a while he heard the sound of someone being strangled or drowning in cough syrup, eventually he realized it was snoring. Out front he could just discern Erst's ever cheerful voice as he handed out booze, accepted the occasional payment and dragged people outside when they couldn't stand anymore. For the first time since he'd arrived he felt he finally had someplace where he felt at home. It was musty, dark and fetid.

It also had a rabbit in it, but hey, nothing's perfect.

.

[Coppertop]

Are they watching? Hehe.

[Doubble Dutch]

A special short chapter for the admins, (WA)

Uhh.. 'cept you CT. Heh heh. [No hard feelings? Right? huh? Nooo! Not the face!]


*Chapter 11: Best laid plans*

Spaz moved at his usual pace down the hallway, that is, his body drifted along and his legs flailed about in all directions under him, making him look rather like some strange blimp. The fact that he had, on his shoulder a bird almost as large as he was only added to the effect. "Hiya Admiral um... Hi!" The admiral, who had been staring absent mindedly out of a window gave a sharp yell and jumped a foot in the air. "By the saints! Jackrabbit! Didn't your mother ever tell you not to sneak up on people? I nearly had a heart attack!" Spaz considered this, his mother had told him a lot of things, usually about staying away from sharp objects, or to go to his kennel for the afternoon. The admiral seemed to have something on his mind, he was trying to compose himself. "Did you happen to see Em- the Queen on your way up here? She's late." he twiddled his fingers nervously as Spaz hummed a short ditty under his breath and looked around vaugely for something to consume. Finally there was a dull rhythmic thudding that heralded the Queens appraoch long before the door of the hallway burst open, wrenched from its hinges and the royal rabbit strode in.

The Queen looked about her in her usual manner, which was basically an utter disdain of anything and everything in the world, but especially those parts of it unfortunate enough to be rabbit shaped. "Well, at least you both showed up! Come on, we're late enough as it is. Spaz, I can trust you won't screw this up?" Spaz nodded eagerly and attempted a proud salute, which was rather something to see as his body was made naturally to slouch. The two rabbits followed the Queens lead to the waiting ship that would take them halfway across Carrotus. Halfway there they bumped into Lori, who had acquired a bandaged hand. Spaz had to balance himself as Kira let out a shriek and darted forward. Spaz watched as Lori darted rapidly across the courtyard. The Queen snorted "What on earth is the matter with that girl? Spaz, call that pet of yours back, I do not want it wandering around doing lord knows what!"

Spaz called Kira back, she was always darting after small moving things, and she seemed awfully fond of Lori, it was a pity he had to go on a mission, those two would get along like a house on fire. But duty called, today was very important; the Queen planned to be out till nearly next morning, discussing all sort of.. of... Spaz paused in mid thought; he'd never actually been told what it was they'd be discussing, probably because it was secret and important. He realized he was standing alone, the Queen and admiral had moved off together toward the waiting craft. Drat! He was supposed to be the sole guard! Why couldn't people stay still and be guarded?

The admiral paled as Spaz approached. "Are you sure about this? I know he's no Einstein, but he's bound to suspect something!" The Queen smiled. "Lets not have any of this Roland, we've got a day together and I can easily distract that red twit, what do you think the bird is for? Lets just try and enjoy this." The admiral continued fidgeting, this was incredibly risky, and he'd spent his life trying to avoid risks, it was how he'd managed to be both a member of the most aggressive and oft used army in the galaxy and middle aged. Eagles may soar, but weasels didn't get sucked into jet engines.

[Wide attack removal. The admins are omnipresent. At times. - FQuist]

[Doubble Dutch]

Can't take a joke eh FQ? I shall have to sneak more subtle attacks in then, ones so subtle nobody will be able to spot them. [And he won't tattle.]


*Chapter 12: Uncertainty*

For the fifth time that morning a car drove slowly up the almost deserted road. It moved slowly, but managed to look as if it were on the prowl, and that it could move a hell of a lot faster if it wanted to. Finally, spotting what it wanted it eazed its way into the parking lot, slotted neatly into a park at the first try and immediately purred to a halt. To anyone watching it would have seemed as if the car owned the parking lot, and that anyone entering it had just hope that it didn't take a dislike to them. After a somewhat protracted pause, a rabbit emerged from the vehicle and made his way to the cafe opposite. He was built as sleekly as the car, and built was indeed the appropriate word, nothing natural could look that good. There was however the tiniest, almost undetectable reluctance about the rabbit's personage.

Andrea looked up as the rabbit entered, another for the gathering at table three apparently, and a handsome one at that. Andrea realized she'd been tidying her hair subconsiously. The newcomer didn't even notice her and made his way to the table that was now almost entirely occupied. As he walked away she realized she was suddenly rather pekish. And yet, where she was sure she'd stacked a couple of preheated pies just a few miniutes ago there was nothing but empty benchtop. She checked the refigerator, nothing there either, even the cold store was empty. She'd been robbed. For a moment she stared at the group chatting aimlessly at the table, could they have...? No, there was no possible way...

Andrea left the counter to report to the police.

* * *

Red stretched expansively causing the other group members to shift backwards somewhat uncomfortably, bringing a wry smile to her lips. "Right, so thats three, where's the other guy? Mr Impressive? The big man? The one I hear these stupid bunnies blather on about all the time? Huh! Typical management, all powerful blah blah blah and can't even turn up to breakfast in time!" She trailed off noticing the expressions on the faces of her compatriots. "He's right behind me isn't he?" She turned round, the air was reassuringly empty. When she turned back the seat opposite was occupied.

He wasn't as she'd expected; she'd been hoping for something more impressive, a flowing black robe perhaps, or someone with cold evil eyes you just couldn't look into, something... something solid Instead she was facing... was facing... something. Addmittedly he was wearing black, but it was a dull black, like you'd find on an old grease rag. He wasn't particularly tall or particularly ominious, or particularly... anything Red struggled to make out his appearance, to find some definite feature she could describe, but failed totally. It figured of course, he was an absolute expert at blending into the foreground. She hated him already for it.

"Okay, now we're all here we can get going! Lets blow this joint!" Red almost jumped out of her chair in eagerness, then was jerked back down by the grip of a small but firm hand. She turned to look at Sheldon who returned a sombre gaze. "Not yet, we've still got one more to wait for, patience, we've waited long enough for this day, a few more miniutes cannot hurt." She scowled "Oh God no?! Why can't we do this ourselves for once? Why do we need that dolt? What do they actually do? Sheldon tried reassurance. "Its just the way things are, nothing can actually stop this." Red scowled, screwing her face up like someone eating a pickled lemon "It is interfering! Why can't things be simple?"

Larrock coughed nervously. "I-it? You mean its trying to stop this?" There was a definite quaver in his voice. Red stared at him. "Brother, are you not feeling well? You certainly don't seem to be especially eager about our great work ahead..." Larrock almost chocked "No! no! I- I'm just not feeling to well. I mean, why are we doing this? When it really comes down to it?" The group stared at him in amazement until he sank into his seat with an apologetic expression.

"What kind of stupid question is that? That sod had better turn up soon or there's going to be troubble!"


.

[Doubble Dutch]

Hmmn, the server won't let me post anything near a long reply; I am going to try anyway.

*Chapter 13: Luck*

Schrock looked up, then around then finally realized the clock in the corner suggesting it was sometime near 4am probably wasn't working that well. He paused in his almost endless task of cataloguing things for a midmorning snack. He'd brought an asparagus and watercress sandwich; it had taken him ages to find fresh asparagus here, and he'd had to get the cress from out of a ditch, but good food was good food. It was while he was about halfway through it that Erst appeared, lugging various small and large items. For some reason people liked to pay him, or at least give him stuff so he'd go away. He was smiling even more hugely than usual. "Look at all this neat stuff we got for accounts! And you know the best bit? I got given this as a tip!

Schrock glanced at what Erst was holding. As it turned out it was a rather impressive sword. Schrock hated it instantly; there were some things that looked larger than life, and they were usually useless, dangerous or both. This sword was like that; the blade was unblemished steel but shone like a beam of solidified light. He could see the wicked edge and decorated pommel without a second glance. He shuddered inwardly and went to snatch it off Erst.

"OW!"

"Gosh, that’s sharp! We'd better be careful with it."

Scrock sat nursing his cut hand whilst Erst carefully stood it in the far corner of the room. Scrock gave it a glance of sheer ice cold malice; he could've sworn he hadn't touched the blade when it lashed out at him. "Erst, who the hell gave you this? It looks like it cost a fortune. First thing we do is pawn it for some real cash; maybe then we'll be able to stay somewhere decent in this dump." There was an audible 'Oomf' as Erst sat down heavily on some miscellaneous junk, some unsorted pay sheet, a few blankets and Trixi; neither of them noticed this.

* * *

The entity scowled, or would have if it had had a face. What actually happened was a harsh burst of x-rays that knocked out three satellites orbiting in geosynchronous orbit around Carrotus. [This was explained at the time as a solar flare] At least now it had arrived; it lay around the planet like an invisible fog. Now that it was occupying this set of dimensions, and now that it was so close, it could hear, feel the millions of tiny lives below it. Most of them were nothing, a mere whisper against the world, but together they flowed together, along with the few bright spots it had chosen, all rushing as one according to plan. Except for that (-) turtle; he was a poison to stories and would have to be dealt with, a real pity too, it had had such a lovely place for him.

It made what was not a movement, but more an effort. The thread twisted; now that it was coming together it had some real power, even so the actual efects it could muster were minimal. Three people mysteriously found themselves deciding that their lunch was over and they'd had enough. So they left early. And met other people, who then didn't visit that shop in town, and... The effect spread like a subtle ripple in spacetime, curved, and aimed at its target...

[superjwren329]

This story is as good as mine! Even better I may add! You are quite talented!

Keep up the good work! This story...is greatness...

ALL HAIL DOUBBLE DUTCH!

:-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

[CrimiClown]

Message from DD!

She says that she can't post for some strange reason, so she'll post as soon as she finds out what's wrong.

[Alex]

heard that too, she can't post in this tread, and she can't edit her own posts

(it appears to me she isn't logged in or something, but she says she is.. strange.)

[Doubble Dutch]

Apparently the board won't let people quick reply more than a certain number of times per page, which, when you think about it makes sense.
Everyone will have to reread chapter 13 as I managed to fix it, and now it's much longer.



*Chapter 14: Arrival*

The sun was halfway up the sky, but here the airs was still cold and crisp; on the shady side of rocks were little mounds of snow and in places where the shadows stayed, away from the sun, there were icicles and snowdrifts. The streams ran with the promise, if not of ice, then of hypothermia. This was the high mountains; and they straddled the skyline like a series of large stone dominoes, immovable and ancient, sharp against the sky. The landscape curled downward from them, into lush valleys full of forests and meadows; from this vantage point it was as if you could see the whole world, spread out below like some glorious tapestry, basking in the heat of summer, bathing in the brisk promise of a new day.

Spaz looked at the view and yawned; at first it was entrancing, after an hour, amazing, two hours interesting, after three hours he had a look, now he was bored out of his skull. Apparently he had the whole day to sit here and stand guard, but there was nothing much left to do; he'd tried throwing snowballs at Kira, but it's hard to hit someone perched on your shoulders, and after a while she ate them. He'd already run through the sandwiches he'd packed, and a rather conspicuous and multicolored pile of feathers hinted that both he and Kira had managed to waste an hour or so tracking down numerous snacks, which had rather depleted the local birdlife; that which hadn't left at the appearance of the Goshawk had rather rapidly been plucked in mid-flight. But there was nothing left to do! And he had to stay put; it was very important; he'd been given strict instructions and this was a matter of national, nay, planetary security.

He sat down and twiddled his finger, then toes, then ears. He sighed and looked at the view again, still majestic. On the other hand; nobody would notice he was gone, would they? The Queen and Admiral hadn't emerged from their cabin all day. Deep down Spaz felt sorry for him; even five minutes with the Queen was enough to make most people crack. Well, that was settled then; nobody would notice if he went off for a brisk stroll, not too far away of course, merely to scout out the local terrain, in case it harbored enemy forces or unclaimed snacks. With a brief whoop of joy, Spaz tumbled down the nearest hillside. He came to a stop about a minute later.

* * *

It was almost midday when the lone character plodded sedately up the winding road toward the cafe, dragging their feet and mumbling to themselves all the while. Vernon stared at the three police ships outside, barely acknowledging their existence; he was already distracted almost to the point of walking into stationary objects. Inside about a dozen officers were clustered around a table, attempting to interview the occupants all at once. Vernon remembered his time in the Carrotus civil defense; there had never been much to do, even when there was a war on; what the police had t go through was probably solid paperwork from one donut break to the next. Still, he was here and this was the time, and those were the people, so he'd better not wait for everyone to be finished. He strode over to the group at the table; even before he'd entered the room all their eyes had been fixed upon him.

Red beamed as Vernon approached and took an officer's chair without asking. "About bloody time to! What the hell kept you? (-)! Lets blow this joint!" An officer stood up and put a hand on her shoulder. "Uh... Mam, there's still the matter of- hnnk!" He fell backwards slowly, like a felled tree, not bending at the knees, or slumping, just falling over in one smooth movement. His compatriots reached for their weapons, but somehow one must have caught in a piece of fabric, as it went off, rather messily removing the face of the officer in front of it. After that things moved in a blur; the officers backed away, drew weapons and somehow managed to trip over, one shot himself in the chest, another fell over a chair and didn't move after that, red dealt with the other four with one smooth sweep.

There was almost utter silence, followed by the sound of running footsteps as the cafe owner fled to the strong room out back, probably to call for backup. Red wiped the blood off her blade with the hem of her top, briefly treating the room to a sight many rabbits went to sleazy bars and paid good money for. Nobody noticed much except for Larrock, who had an expression of fascinated horror on his face. All six figures were standing now looking resolutely to the east. Wit was the first to speak 'Aah, its a great day for it; we've been away too long." Red snorted "To f(-) with the small talk, lets ride!"

Outside the cafe were five hoverboards. They had not been there that morning; each was different and had a sleek, purposeful air to it, like a freshly polished shotgun. They seemed to purr without making a sound, almost sparking with a buildup of potential.

Overhead a fresh wind brought clouds to the formerly blue sky. They rushed overhead like a white river, steadily turning toward grey, darkening the world below and bringing an almost palatable chill tot he air.

A storm was on the way.

.

[Doubble Dutch]

Gosh, I'm going to have to speed up posting if I want to get this all done before I leave. Oh well, just a small one today, larger ones to come!


*Chapter 15: Above it all*

Captain-Luteniant Will DeSchmitt awoke to a sharp prod in the stomach. Standing over him was Captain Barnes, with his usual expression of scorn and contempt. "Sleeping on the job again are we? What if those (-) reptiles were to mount an invasion hmmn? Would we have to explain to the Queen that the reason she was now in a slave camp was because one of our officers wanted a brief kip?" Will scowled "Oh come off it captain, nothing ever happens here, in case you don't remember, the war is over. We won, I think." "Aye! But you can't trust those (-)ed shells; you know as well as I do that there are still pockets of resistance! The fact that they won't accept benevolent Rabbit rules just goes to show how ignorant they are." Will decided not to get into another argument; the Captain was a devout royalist and imperialist who could yell loud enough to be heard halfway across the ship, even when the engines were at full power. He changed the subject before he got another lecture. "But sir, surely the first thing the radar and scanner screens will do when they detect something is to bleep sir. It’s what they're designed to do. Its quite loud, and I assure you it has a sufficient awakening capability." "Nevertheless, we must remain eternally vigilant!"

Will sighed and went back to examining the screens. Purgatory would be like this; it was after all, where all the inept, stupid, dangerous or unlucky officers were sent. He himself was only here because the Field Marshall had conducted a surprise debriefing at the same time his daughter was... on the base. It was slightly worrying that all of Carrotus' orbital defenses were under the control of people you normally wouldn't give metal cutlery; but on the other hand the actual amount of power they had was deceptively little, they would warn of an attack, notify the proper authorities who would then go about doing the actual defending, or, as was increasingly the case with the bored and underutilized army, offending.

*bleep-bleep!*

Blast! Notify...scan...right. Another bloody asteroid. Will went back to his chartroom. It was of course one of only 14 the system's computers would allow past the firewall, but even an online discussion of stamp collecting was edge-of-your-seat excitement compared to an average day on the orbital station.

.

[Alex]

leaving, what you mean leaving? (not going down that road again, are we?)

nice story so far :)

[Doubble Dutch]

I have therapy over summer, remember?


*Chapter 16: Divisions*

Red hopped onto her hoverboard and felt it take her weight easily, but then again it would have taken a truck full of lead piping with just as little protest. Her compatriots were already astride theirs, except for... "Hey! Lar'! You gonna waste the whole day or what? Get your rear into gear, we've got a job to do here!" Larrock was staring at his hoverboard as if it was some sort of three eyed blob that had materialized in his living room. The rest of the group stared at him impatiently, except for Vernon who wore his usual worried frown. After a pause just short enough to avoid someone else butting in Larrock spoke. "I... I'm not going." The rest of the group didn't appear to hear this, he may as well have said he was going to sprout wings and fly. He tried again. "I'm not going to do this, you can't make me go through with it, you'll have to go on without me."

This time they heard him, there was an ominous silence, not threatening exactly, but once the novelty wore off somebody was going to pay. Red looked at him in the way you would stare at someone in a superman costume standing at the edge of a cliff. "Not going? You can't just not go! We've always gone out! The four of us! Time and time again!" By the end of the sentence her voice was a mixture of disbelief and anger. Larrock backed up under the heat of her glare, trying not to meet anyone's eyes. "I... I don't care, I like things the way they are, I don't see why they have to change I-"

It was a silent blast, a beam of negative lightning that caused the entire parking lot to darken momentarily. When the light flooded back Larrock was crumpled in a heap surrounded by charred and smoldering asphalt. Wit prodded the body with his foot. "Told ya he spent too much time down here, he's gone native." Red scowled "Well now what? We can't do anything without him now! Thanks a lot big guy! We could've at least threatened him into going!" "Incorrect. We do not require him, we will continue, assumption will take his place." Sheldon stared at the robed figure and beamed. "Yes! I knew I'd be going places with this crowd! How’s that Red? we're finally team mates!" Red smiled wanly as Sheldon jumped onto his hoverboard and kicked the now unneeded spare one into the bushes.

Moments later the group was zooming down the road at high speed.

* * *

Schrock opened the door and stepped out into the alleyway, it was greasy, dimly lit and full of junk, all in all, if it weren't for the lack of roof, he wouldn't be able to tell if he were outside or not. He was dying for a cigarette. He reached into his shell and removed the packet of tobacco from the spot just behind his neck where he kept it, took out a pinch, and ate it. It wasn't good for him of course, you'd probbably get throat cancer or something, but then again people did dangerous things like skydive for a little fun too, and what was perfect health except the slowest possible way to die?

He heard the blow coming just seconds before it smashed into his shell knocking him flat. There was a growl from somewhere above him and a familiar voice said "I don't like to be made fun of shell rat!" Schrock managed to turn himself around to see three rather large and ugly rabbits [even by rabbit standards] standing over him. One of them was the one he had bumped into that morning. All three were brandishing rather old, rather ilegal, but definitely rather lethal plasma pulse blasters. They also appeared to be in various states of insobriety, which lent a menacing edge to one of them pointing the weapon at his head.

There was a click and a swish and the alleyway filled with yells.

.

[n0]

Look! Look! Nobody reads your story! Can't wait to see how it all pans out!

[Coppertop]

Haha. CT reads your story too. Sorry for the lack of comments from this direction, I've been enjoying the read.

[Doubble Dutch]

It seems strange to me that we reply so easily to stupid little threads such as 'the stupid game' yet LMATs and stories are left to languish and moulder. Human nature I guess.

[Alex]

modern society? low attention span?

anyway, its good :)

[AzulAtomDragon]

I think you don't get many posts on this thread because people are afraid of spamming you. >_>

Or maybe not. I really can't speak for everyone, now can I? >.<

Never-the-less, this story rocks! Please keep it up! ^_^

[Coppertop]

It's difficult to come up with original comments. I feel parrot-like after a while. However, I know it's important to encourage writers.

[Doubble Dutch]

I think it's because the comments aren't constructive; most comments are, as said, along the lines of 'w00t great chapter!' What I'm after is criticism, what I did right, what I did wrong, how I can improve things and such. I'd do comments like that but I don't feel qualified to critique other's writing.


*Chapter 17: Contrasts*

The gun lay in two pieces, neatly cut in half, one still being held by the rather surprised rabbit that had hefted it. Erst had moved fast, and silently, there was a brief pause as the group considered their next move. Erst didn't give them long enough, a deceptively slow kick caused the first rabbit to double over, the second was taken out by a sold punch to the jaw, and the third, unexpectedly, was downed just before firing by Trixi smashing a large old, and rather heavy bottle over his head. She then bent down and rifled through their pockets.

Schrock stared at the scene while everything settled into place. He wasn't quite used to this level of excitement and therefore his mind took that much longer to accept what had just happened. He ate another cigarette. "Erst, I think you can keep that sword for the time being and umm, Tr- uh, what do they call you anyway?" Trixi looked up from the wallet she was leafing through with the look of someone who's been caught stealing from the cookie jar. "Wha-? Um, mostly 'Hey you' or 'Rabbit' I don't think I get addressed personally much." Schrock sighed. "Right, well, whatever. Err, what are you doing to him now?" Trixi didn't look up from where she was crouched over the prone figure. "If he doesn't have enough cash or credit cards to make this worthwhile then at least I can take something the dentists will pay good money for, and if you're giving me some sort of look stop it now; I've got to pay my bills like anyone else."

Schrock turned away and went back inside, deep down he knew that sooner or later something like this would happen again, you just couldn't trust this place, as soon as you found something enjoyable it'd dump so much crud on you, you could sell yourself as fertilizer. He went back to the accounts, accounts were easy, they just sat back and got worked out, no arguments or difficulties whatsoever. Outside Trixi continued her pilfering. "Okay, what do we have here Mr... Quist... Dear lord! Does nobody carry cash these days? Okay then, open wide, this is really gonna hurt..."

* * *

Marco sat back and sipped his coffee; it was stone cold, figured. Maybe there was a donut left- no, apparently there wasn't. He sat back again and twiddled his fingers. (-), there was never anything to do in the afternoons. He looked out the window at his partner who was lying half asleep under a tree. Technically it wasn't any way to catch criminals, but then again, there were none to catch this far from civilization. To compensate they'd been given a large patch of countryside to patrol, but that still didn't change anything. He stepped out of the car and headed toward his prone partner, he could amuse himself by placing various items of vegetation upon her sleeping person and taking a picture; he averaged about two a month, and they always got a giggle on the precinct, Sidera mustn't mind, otherwise why would she let him do it so often? The roads out here were terrible, potholes everywhere he mused, picking himself up from a sprawled position. They really sh- (*!)

Marco picked himself up from the muddy ditch he'd flung himself into and watched the hoverboards zoom into the distance. Sidera was up and looking around wildly, Marco yelled at her to get into the car; there was no way they'd been doing the legal limit, they didn't look like they had licenses and they'd tried to run him down, which was a big mistake. The years of active duty were burned away under the adrenalin and he executed a perfect flying leap into the car, suffering only a nicked ear. Sidera was already in and buckled up, and seconds later they were speeding after the group, sirens blaring.

Wit looked disdainfully at the fresh green countryside and spat, where it landed the grass died. "Geez, all this waiting and planning and stuff and all we get to do is ride a few hundred miles? It's never as spectacular as you imagine, I mean, there's all the fun afterwards; but I wish the actual duty was more impressive!" There was a blaring behind them as a police car started to gain on them; Red gave the others an almost pleading look. "Please can I handle this one? Please?" Wit grunted "Why? You've had your fun, let me handle this!" There was a pause, then the pursuing car started to cruise to a halt, its siren spluttering to a slow halt; various pieces fell off of it, the windscreen cracked and its two occupants sprawled onto the road, unconscious. Red scowled "You guys have all the fun!"

[Coppertop]

Ok ... criticism. I'd suggest line breaks each time someone new speaks, or something new happens; it helps break up the paragraph blocks and makes it easier to keep track of what's going on. I'd also suggest adding more detail into your writing. For example:
Marco picked himself up from the muddy ditch he'd flung himself into and watched the hoverboards zoom into the distance.
Your sentence is very clear and straightforward, but lacks a lot of detail. Try this.

Marco picked himself up painfully from the muddy, overgrown ditch he'd flung himself into, and brushed dirt and water from his fur. He looked up, watching the hoverboards flash into the distance, kicking up clouds of dust and disappearing rapidly.
You can also make your chapters look a lot longer that way.
I would also watch your paragraph transitions. (I'm picking on this chapter in particular because it's the only one on my page.) It's not clear on how Marco ended up in the ditch, nor how he ended up on his face earlier. It doesn't have to be anything extended, something as brief as "a flash of reflected sunlight caught Marco's eye and he reflexively threw himself to the side. The whine of high-performance hover-craft momentarily deafened him." Otherwise, your audience ends up confused. You've explained how Marco ended up in the ditch, but what happened? Where did the hoverboards come from? And etc.

Ok, I'm done for now. And BTW, feel free to criticize other people's work, in the nicest way possible of course.

[n0]

In contrast to CT, I like the way you use less words the faster things happen. Like you go into detail about the lazy afternoon the cops were having, then *snap* something happens and he subconsciously throws himself to the ground. It is good imagery. I use that tactic myself, breaking the rules poetically.

[Coppertop]

Personal preference ;) I like detail. Not everyone's cup of tea I know.

[n0]

I like detail as well, but I belive that the amount of detail you should recive should be proportional to the speed of the action. I like how, in this last chapter, DD takes her time and explains what is on the cops mind, and would have continued to keep doing that if out of nowhere something came zipping by that the cop instinctivly jumped out of the way from without thinking. The amount of detail regulates the speed of the story.

[Doubble Dutch]

Mmmn, that's good comments! [Conflicting, but good anyway[ I shall see what I can do!



*Chapter 18: A gathering storm*

Jazz looked up from cleaning his gun and sniffed. "Huh, doesn't smell like rain, looks like it's gonna be pretty wet pretty soon though." Scratch the plans for spending the afternoon in the country with Eva then; pity too; he'd been planning it for all of three days, given his limited attention span it was practically a record. He wandered around until he found Eva, sunning herself in one of the more private courtyards. "Hey Eva; sad to say the afternoon stroll is off, you'd better get inside too, looks like it's going to get pretty wet around here sooner or later. [The palace, being as it was several thousand years old, had developed eroded channels which often led to water appearing in interesting places not just during, but up to several weeks [i]after heavy rain. There were miniature stalactites in the north tower, a permanent pond in the west wing and a temporary stream would cross the great hall, complete with fish. Granted, being made of old stone also meant that during rain the ceiling leaked almost everywhere and thus servants often got rooms with a view, and mildew.]

* * *

Trixi stared at the pile of... stuff in the corner. What it had been originally was hard to tell; years of being buried under yet more stuff, combined with a leaky water pipe had rusted and rotted them together into a strange musty mass. She poked it cautiously with a finger and regretted it instantly. "Dear Lord! Why did you have to dig up this stuff? I was happier not knowing what we had back here!" It was true; some interesting things had been dug up as Schrock chipped away at years of accumulated junk. A surprising amount had turned out to be valuable; this had been piled into a small but glittery pile in one corner, hidden rather well by the somewhat larger pile of stuff that could be pawned for something. A much, much larger pile of absolute trash had been repeatedly taken out back and burnt. [Setting fire to the neighboring building at one point, but it was easily put out, and the rabbits didn't seem to care much about smoking things around this district.]

The back room now had a surprising amount of empty space, unfortunately it exposed a floor, and in places walls, that hadn't been cleaned for quite possibly generations. Schrock knew there'd be weeks worth of work ahead, none of which he had technically been hired to do. Still it was good to have something to preoccupy oneself. Trixi had had to be shifted from her makeshift bed, but this was quite easy, she was light and hadn't woken up. [She'd been put on the junk pile and almost burnt though; fortunately she'd got up to go to the bathroom in time.]

Schrock looked up, and up, and up, at the small patch of sky visible between the two buildings he was between; anything was better than looking at the dreary graffiti stained walls around him, and noticed that it had rather quickly got cloudy. Turtles were supposed to like water, but, like most species, they disliked rain, it was cold and would slow them down, and it was very hard to dry oneself out when one has a shell on. [Contrary to popular belief, Shellian's shells were not removable; they were living tissue, though nerveless, and fused to their spines. This meant that the first yoga center to open on Shellian was out of business in six weeks.] Schrock sighed, well; at least it would be a bonus to be inside for once.

* * *

Spaz pulled himself up from the assemblage of undergrowth he had accreted about his person during his brief tumble downhill and looked up apprehensively at the small building perched very far above him, clinging to the cliff face above. That was were he was supposed to be standing guard; perhaps he could get back up before anybody noticed he was missing? There was a flutter as Kira cut a neck breaking dive into a sudden swoop, to land almost soundlessly on a nearby bush. She looked around almost apprehensively, then stared straight ahead with a glare powerful enough to melt lead. Spaz followed her gaze; he looked at the sky for a long, long time. Finally he spoke "Oooh! Pretty!"

The view from the mountain was quite impressive; on one side was clear blue sky; but a storm was moving across the land, far, far faster than wind could possibly move it. The clouds were a deep bruised blue color and were piling up into a gigantic front, miles into the atmosphere in their eagerness to fill the sky.

The riders were coming, and they bought the storm.

.

[Doubble Dutch]

Ah, the worst chapter I have ever written methinks, please forgive me.


*Chapter 19: A little on theology*

A cold wind was blowing off the hills toward the sea. From the top of the hill the entire city sat out below, a multicolor smear across the green landscape. And in the center lay the palace, its gigantic and slightly unkempt stone towers, surrounded by the broad expanse of its even more unkempt gardens. The palace was old; small trees sprouted on old rooftops and whole ecosystems had developed over the centuries; the lower dungeons were said to be permanently flood and the source of many a royal fish dinner, whilst the upper turrets had three species of birds named after them. The group of demons looked upon the scene dismissively.

"Pretty isn't it?" said Sheldon looking at the vista. Wit smiled "You know; I helped found that city, a real work of art; especially the west quarter." Red snorted "Whatever, lets do this. Angel boy, the book, and do it properly!" Everyone turned to Vernon who wilted under their combined gaze. He couldn't believe that he of all people was doing this. He should feel proud; this was his big day after all; there were thousands of demons who'd only dreamt of doing this, and here he was, with the big four no less, well, the big three and the new guy, about to perform the greatest role a third level like him could ever hope to aspire to. Yet he really liked this place; it had good food, good drink and people you could ignore; just as he was settling in they had to pull this on him. The gaze was much harsher now; it wasn't only the hilltop group watching him now; he looked up at the sky at the ranks of waiting demons, wingtip to wingtip, and behind them... the others. Feeling like he was made of lead putty he stepped forward and removed the book from its bag.

Red scowled and looked around the landscape; looking deeper than mere matter, searching for... It. It would attempt to interfere, It had made plans, she could tell, and it wouldn't just accept defeat. It was good at warping the world around itself. But It was probably too late; all that was needed was the incantation and the final ride, then it would all be over. Red smiled; her teeth were notably more pointed now as she eased herself into a more comfortable, more ready position.

Contrary to popular belief, there are no differences between angels and demons, or at least only those like the differences between terrorists and freedom fighters. All of them were created unique, individual spirit beings, winged or wingless one, two, three or seven legged any shape or form under the sun, or any sun. Of course they could change form, but usually only for fun or to scare mortals, or more easily manipulate them. The demon Archenteron for example was rather more a small fluffy pink canid than the maggot encrusted seven foot beast he preferred to appear as. But Vernon was one of the classic breed, and as he stepped forward his clothes dissolved into a black satin robe [As a demon only black would do] and two large, very unaerodynamic wings seemed to sprout from his back. [What they had actually done was slip sideways into the normal dimensions of reality, needing neither mass nor energy demons could do as they wished.]

The glare was almost unbearable now; everyone was waiting for him, waiting for his part to be done in line with the ways of things. The book was solid iron, it gleamed a dull grey in the fresh summer day. He opened it at random, it was the right page nonetheless, it couldn't be anything otherwise. The words under his gaze writhed on the page and fought his mind with their annoyance at being read; there was probably enough power in the book to destroy a small star. This thought didn't comfort him one bit. He turned to the waiting group. "I don't have to do the name thing do I?" The look they returned told him that yes, he would. He took a deep breath and began.

Every demon or angel had some real name; for the lucky ones it was something rather random, a unique sound to befit their unique form, something like Aztaln Others were named after either virtues or vices. The big four, Famine, War, Pestilence and Death had been the originals though two of them had been removed; Famine just previously but Pestilence had quit with the advent of hospitals. But there were others; Impartiality, Deviancy and, he looked at Sheldon Prejudice, but there were very many demons out there. You could take another name, but your real name stuck with you for eternity. Vernon cleared his throat and began. "I... *sigh* I, Sexual Acts involving Pineapples speak with the authority of He who rules the world unto..."

Around him the clouds massed and the temperature fell. It was the beginning of the end.

[Alex]

I cen see you're puttign a lot of effort in this, I will read all of it later when I have time *evil*

[Doubble Dutch]

*Chapter 20: Inversion, reversion, subversion*

Captain-Luteniant Will DeSchmitt stared in annoyance at his monitor as his game of 3D minesweeper was interrupted by a notification from the defense array, there was an electromagnetic disturbance on Carrotus- and it was close to the palace. From the form and intensity it was a severe storm. That was a surprise; the (-) array had actually found something useful for once. Odd that the weather systems hadn’t picked anything up though. He sent out an alert to civil defense; they could handle any possible casualties; there was nothing anyone could do about a storm except try and repair any damage afterwards. Besides, he brought down a menu, the Queen was miles away at a summer retreat discussing military matters.

* * *

Trixi looked out of the window, this was more difficult than it sounded as the only window was a small shuttered affair near the roof, just big enough to poke a head through. (This could be done as it had no glass.) At the current moment Trixi was coming to terms with the fact that it is easier to poke a head through a small aperture than pull it back. Finally she succeeded in extricating herself, falling backwards over the pile of miscellaneous junk she'd climbed for the view. She landed in a heap at the feet of a sarcastic turtle.

"Well, I see someone's having fun. The sky look any different up there or have the laws of perspective remained unaltered?" Trixi snorted. "Yeah? You really got to check this out; I think there's a fire or something!" She rushed outside, gradually followed by the two turtles. A number of rabbits were wandering the streets looking at the sky; it was no longer a normal storm.

The sky was almost as dark as dusk with brooding grey clouds, broken by the occasional flash of lightning. A cold wind whipped at the world, blowing from all directions and seeming to blow straight through people, chilling them to the bone, there was even the occasional snowflake. In the distance, toward the castle a section of the sky flamed orange and red, like a spilt sunset, a pillar of color. Betwixt the clouds there strange flashes of purple energy sparked, in some odd way they seemed to make the world darker when they flashed. The sky burned.

Schrock looked up open mouthed at the scene while the townsfolk rushed about him. "Dear Lord, that's not normal." Trixi s grabbed his arm and tugged him out of his daze. "Quick! They say the palace is on fire! We've got to help!" Groups of rabbits were already grabbing buckets and various other containers in desperation and trying to form into bucket chains. The houses of Carrotus were, despite the rabbits high technology, mainly wood and thatch, fire spread quickly and was everyone's problem. Turtles on the other hand rarely saw and rather feared flames. But Erst was already grabbing a bucket and joining the exodus toward the palace. Schrock reluctantly joined him. Trixi dashed past, stopping at a water butt to fill a pail she'd pilfered from outside a florists shop. When she saw what it was filled with, and what had been splashed liberally over her in her rush, she screamed and dropped the pail in shock, splattering her with even more blood.

Schrock stared at the red puddle, then at the well, he ignored the ducking and dashing rabbits and made his way to a tap, the liquid it produced came in a trickle, viscous and red, Shrock stared at it with growing unease.

"Oh Shelt" he said.

[n0]

... and all hell breaks loose. literary.

[Doubble Dutch]

Not yet, not yet; Derby and Fquist haven't arrived yet... ;)


*Chapter 21: heating up*

Spaz stared at the column of color with a frown on his face. Maybe this was a natural phenim- phenonom- thing for this time of year, and maybe it wasn't, but Kira was worried and nervous, squawking discontentedly and preening her wings. If he hadn't got such an important job to do sheer curiosity would've almost drawn him to the spot. As it was he felt a strange compulsion to be there, like he'd forgotten his birthday party again. On the other hand it could take hours to get back up to the lodge and-

Suddenly Spaz noticed that the ground was no longer beneath his feet where it usually was. Nor was it at the end of his nose, or above his head. It was, in fact, rapidly falling beneath him as the landscape unfolded around him. A quiet flapping noise alerted him to the fact that he was now beneath Kira and that she was, with difficulty dragging him higher and higher into the air. In this situation most people would either panic or admire the view. Spaz had seen enough view already, and as he was normally half panicked anyway, he spent most of his time trying to pick a feather out of his teeth. "What a great idea Kira! We'll be back in no time! They won't even know we're- hey, wait! we're passing it! No! Down! Down! Wait! Go back! Help! Rabbitnap!"

* * *

Below the rapidly rising rabbit the Queen was coughing and spluttering while Admiral Ducat stared at the spilt carrot juice, prodding it with his finger. "I...I... what?" The Queen spat angrily, splattering the wall with red. "Somebody is going to hang for this! When I find out who-!" She strode across the room and kicked the door, it bent slightly, then flew off of its hinges. Spaz had disappeared. "SPAZZ JACKRABBIT! If you don't have a (-) good reason for-" A yell from above caught her attention. Curses! "ADMIRAL! We are going to sort this out NOW She strode toward the ship they'd arrived in. The admiral followed hurriedly. "Emalia! Wait! Get dressed first!"

* * *

Jazz sneezed. This was because a drop of water propelled by the wind had lodged itself right up his nose. He was not to know it, but this was the first sneeze caused by a drop of water for exactly 78 years on Carrotus. Such are the strange ways of fate. He stared at the darkening sky through the barred window. The palace was terrible with draughts when it got windy. What made it worse was that his fear of clothing [He'd got tangled in a sweater at age three and never fully recovered.] meant that he hated wrapping up warm. There was only one place to be at a time like this and that was near a nice hot fire with a cup of hot coca. [But not too close, there was nothing worse than singed fur.] Eva bustled past. "Man, the weather took a turn for the worst fast huh? They even say there are some lightning fires downtown. Good thing someone alerted the civil defense forces."

Jazz noticed Lori, hand still bandaged from the morning's events heading outside on a hoverboard, her good hand already had a pail of water. "Aww geez Lori, we can let the civvies deal with this; after all []iI[/i] don't go rushing around every time there's a burglary or an assault. These people know what they're doing and-" but it was too late, in a canary yellow flash she was out the door. Jazz sighed. "Always, always rushing off! Just because she's the only one not to have defeated an evil mastermind and thud save the galaxy, she thinks she has something to prove!"

* * *

Vernon a.k.a Sexual act involving pineapples was standing several feet above the ground. This was not to say he was in any manner floating or flying; but he was, quite literally standing there. The fact that he was standing on nothing but thin air seemed to have escaped the notice of the laws of physics for the time being. Vernon had no time to notice this as he had is full concentration on the Book, but his whole being radiated with dread. There are many theories about what spell or incantation would bring about the apocalypse, but what was really needed was an invitation. Currently a small part of Carrotus had been made a living hell; soon the rest of it would arrive.


.

[n0]

No, I actually meant literaly, seeing as there are massive amounts of demons and storms and fires and... well...

I was not implying that you were bypassing the filter.

Uh... Critisim...

The Queen and The Admiral are still a bit confusing... a bit more than I think you were aiming for. Are they doppleganger angels? Both of them? One of them? Does the king know about the "meetings"? Their meetings are implied to be something more, but are they something more or "something MORE" or AM I JUST THINKING TOO HARD???

[Doubble Dutch]

They're something more; I don't knowa bout the king at all, he's neglectful and that's why she's doing this I'd say.

There aren't *too* many demons and such, yet.



*Chapter 22: Ring of fire*

[i]The entity drifted through the world, wrapping itself around trees, gushing through streams, feeling its form undulate and disperse among the many, many novel toys there were here. The exceptionally perceptive may have seen It as a faint silver mist, or a golden sparkle as It shifted through reality, but little else. This was not just due to the fact that It was moving at a speed of almost 500 meters per second, but also because the entire planet had become surrounded by several miles of stormclouds. From space it looked like a dirty snowball. The entity was enjoying Itself; it wasn't very often It had the energy to become physically manifest, but It could feel the energy of the thread moving through It, not needing any interference but twisting reality around itself now. It wasn't a strong thread, it had not run very often, but it was gaining power rapidly now; when this loop was over it would be etched into perpetuity forever, it could repeat as often as it wished, and the energy it gave would never truly die.

Officers Sidera and Marco stomped grumpily toward the pillar of orange flame that seemed to be coming from somewhere near the city. Despite the panic that was increasingly evident around them they walked, what had happened to their cars, combined with the long dusty walk and finally the light drizzle that had stuck their uniforms to them till the chafed, covered them with mud and chilled them to the bone, had filled them in equal measure with a desire to see someone else suffer for a change, and the attitude to make sure they did. They hadn't been walking an hour before they reached the roadblock.

Technically the road into the city was totally unobstructed, if you didn't count a number of molten, blazing wrecks scattered around the countryside. It was just that a ten foot wall of flickering purple flames cut right across it. They were thin and insubstantial, the road could be seen to continue right through them, yet they seemed to radiate a solidness that went beyond the usual mutual electron cloud repulsions that defined ordinary matter. Several patrol vehicles were parked at the roadside and their drivers were absentmindedly drinking coffee and arguing with themselves. Marco approached the closest one and demanded to be told what was going on.

The cadet he confronted looked as if he was seriously considering quitting right then and there and starting up carrot farming. [The government heavily subsidized the industry and made sure 'unfortunate circumstances' occurred to those planets foolish enough to try and compete with their monopoly on the trade.] He stuttered when he spoke and was trying to drink two cups of coffee and a cigarette. "Well sir, as far as I can tell sir, this wall of flames sir, it appeared all at once sir, and, and anything that tries to cross it sir, gets burned to a crisp and frozen sir." Sidera frowned. "Burned to a crisp and frozen, I see, so I can make a good baked Alaska then?" Another rabbit, this one wearing a lab coat interjected. "Yes, haha, sorry, equipment failure you see, the temperature is about 720 degrees, but we were getting readings of 230 below, we’ll sort it out any moment now." It doesn't go around the city, or even the main road sir, it just encircles a few square miles of empty land. We think this may be the turtle's doing."

This was a perfect opportunity to vent. "So- I suppose nobody's tried to fly over this then? They're only ten frelling feet high!" Another officer answered this. "He tried sir, got burned to a cinder like the rest of them, nothing up to space can go over the spot without becoming a deep fried icicle." He stared mournfully at one of the smoking wrecks. "Poor No'; he wouldn't have taken al those risks if he'd been named proper, he was a good guy." Sidera led him away, patting him on the back while Marco stood stock still and open mouthed. "What the [i]hell is going on here?

He shook his head, for a moment there he'd heard a faint silvery voice whisper 'It is!'

[n0]

Whoa! Cameo!

Uh... as for the Admrial and the Queen, they just don't seem to have a role yet. Unless their entire role was to get spaz where he was so he could get rabbitnapped by kia and SAVE THE WORLD!!!

Oh, and you forgot something in this chapter.

.

[Doubble Dutch]

Oh? Really? Do tell.

And yeah,the Queen is a side story mostly.

[Coppertop]

Adds depth to the story. Makes it feel like the characters have individual lives that may or may not affect the story. So there. :P

Is It what/who I think it is ...?

[Doubble Dutch]

Yes, yes indeed It is!

Hmmn; I'm going to try to be the 666th viewer of my own thread


*Chapter 23: We all fall down*

Schrock stood staring at the burning purple wall. A few rabbits had chucked 'water' at it, some had foolishly tried to leap it, their charred remains and eerily dismembered bodies scattered the ground. Most of the rabbits had fled when the water had turned, others were running around aimlessly screaming about an invasion. Then there were the frogs.

Not the good kind of frog that Schrock had seen around, especially on Shellion, the ones that you could tell to buzz of when they annoyed you, usually by trying to sell you shoddy merchandise. These were small, croaky and annoying; they had crawled out of what was once water and were hopping all over the place. Schrock took a step back and squished one, they only added to the general chaos. He turned to his brother who was examining one curiously. "Right! That does it! That does it! Didn't I say I had a bad idea about this? You, me, Trixi, we're going to the spaceport and getting the nearest shuttle outta here!

Erst didn't move, a strange expression had crossed his face. "No."

"No? NO? Whaddya mean no?" shrieked Schrock. "This place is going to hell in a handbasket and you want to stay to look at the pretty lights? Whatever this is, we've got to get as far away as possi-" Trixi walked up and put a hand on his shoulder. "There is no way out, the spaceport is blocked and I just heard some sort of attack fleet is up there, they're being shot out of the sky as we speak. We're trapped."

Erst was still staring at the wall. "We've got to stop it, it's up to us." He pulled out the sword he'd been given earlier, Schrock hadn't noticed he'd been carrying it, but now there was no ignoring it; it glowed a sharp blue along its edge; a faint corona several inches away from where the blade actually ended. Schrock's eyes opened wide with horror. "Oh no.. OH no! No, no, no, NO! You can't be serious! Erst!" With a smooth movement Erst brought the sword around as smoothly as if he'd been practicing all his life. It cut a neat chunk out of the flames as if they were mere images painted on a canvas that had been snipped away. In a flash Erst stepped through the gap onto the other side.

Schrock swore. "Shelt! What next" He was answered with a pitiful wail from Trixi, who was rushing about spasmodically "Gaah! It itches! Help!" Schrock rushed over and tried to scratch whatever it was that had her so antagonized. He soon found out what. Lice, hundreds of them, smattered through her fur like grains of sand. "Dear Lord! See what happens when you don't shower? Fur is disgusting!" Still itching like made Trixi stumbled through the gap, and almost immediately collapsed with relief. The lice fell of of her like dust.

Schrock stared up at the sky and it almost seemed to stare back, black ad malevolent. "Very well, two down, but I'm not following them, you hear me? And nothing is going to change my mind!" There was a flash of lightning and a peal of thunder and an angry buzz; the cloud of flies practically shoved Schrock through the gap, just as it burned into nothingness. Schrock stood staring at the wall of flames, this time from the other side, spitting out the bugs that had flown into his open mouth. Trixi, fresh from dusting bugs out of her hair patted him on the back. "That'll teach you to have a big mouth huh?" She laughed, it sounded like a hyena coughing. "C'mon, lets get to the bottom of this!" She dashed off, following Erst who was striding purposefully toward some indecipherable destination.

Schrock stormed after them, cursing all the while. "Stupid, stupid Erst! (-) bloody rabbit! Stupid frelling me! (-)! If I ever survive this Erst, I'm going to strangle you with that bloody doe's ears!"

* * *

Spaz had given up on trying to break free; not because doing so would make him plummet a hundred feet to a very probable messy end, but rather because the more he struggled the tighter Kira dug her claws in, and his arms were already numb. [He had a fear of going numb ever since he'd fallen asleep on his tounge.] Down below him was some sort of purple ring, and Kira was heading straight towards it, loosing altitude as she went. There was a flash and a boom as some craft or other soared ahead of them, then mysteriously burst into flame and plunged to Carrotus. For a second there was a purple ringed hole in the air, which Kira darted through, making ground contact a few seconds later. This was simply a matter of lowering herself until Spaz could stand and folding her wings. She then adopted her standard perching position and preened herself.

Spaz was exceedingly annoyed at the entire situation and was about to draw his blaster and rather forcefully explain this when he found a penny on the grass. [Sometimes a short attention span can be very useful]

* * *

Lori had seen the purple flames a mile off, but she rushed forward anyway; if it wasn't a fire it was some sort of emergency; and people were dying, some mysterious field had already killed every single cow on the planet, and that spoke of some sort of mass invasion. Whatever it was she had no means of contacting Jazz, or anyone else for that matter; but the swarms of bugs would probably alert them, not to mention the sudden almost darkness and mass panic.

The tip of her nose tingled, she went to scratch it and yelped when she did; there was a blister on it, and on her hands too; someone had put a chemical weapon into the atmosphere! A mixture of fear, enthusiasm and pride filled her as she realized the true horror of what could be happening. There was no doubting it now; this was some sort of attack; time for a true Jackrabbit to prove herself! A small part of her mind brought to her attention the sheer scale of what was happening; this was occurring over hundreds of miles, possibly over the entire planet; there was no way in hell that she'd be able to do anything at all without major reinforcements; she brushed it aside lightly, Jackrabbits were never ones to pay heed to common sense at the best of times, besides, did Jazz spend his time worrying about a galactic armada? He'd've laughed at a mere planetwide attack! Without even stopping Lori removed her blaster and urged her hoverboard onward, the things were piteously slow in her opinion and-

There was a brief purple flash, the smell of tin and a sharp crackling sound; Lori was tossed off of her board with a jerk. Out of the corner of her eye she saw it immediately burst into flames and became a melted fused lump. There was a faint sparkle of blue and purple a stabbing wave of pain, then a feeling of hitting a brick wall at high speed. Lori fell carrotusward, and blacked out.

[n0]

Oh HECK yes!!!

I love the biblical plauges in this one, the imagrery there is great! This isn't science, this is spiritual!

And we have four "Heros" inside the flame, five if you count Kia. Great stuff. Can't wait to see how it wraps up!

[Doubble Dutch]

Yeah; I love those hard hitters; balistic missiles from God I call 'em. [There are seven in this story, how many can YOU find?


*Chapter 24: Emergency! Well, not really*

Captain-Luteniant Will DeSchmitt dashed between monitors ignoring the constant hail of verbal abuse from his captain, besides, most of it wasn't directed at him. Reports were coming in from the planet's surface of all sorts of improbable mayhem; rivers of blood, darkness at midday; bugs, strange deaths... The captain said it was probably mass panic; that there was some sort of attack occurring. Will had to agree; the entire planet was shrouded in thick grey clouds, worse even than Medivo; Carrotus never looked like that.

As it was this called for a high level rapid response; but everything was going wrong; none of the ground systems were responding; the cloud cover or an electrical disturbance seemed to be blocking transmission, and any attempts to deploy ships into the atmosphere resulted in loss of contact, despite being the early warning system and communications hub, they were utterly helpless.

Helplessness is not a feeling military personnel are used to, and when it occurs it tends to cause very, very rash decisions.

* * *

Wit smiled beatifically, though currently it looked more like a yawning cesspit; his body had melted and bloated as he'd wrapped himself around the world, chocking the atmosphere with poisons and polluting the land and its inhabitants. It had taken a lot of energy and Pollution was tired. But it had been worth it; Pestilence had never done such a beautiful job, that's why he'd been defeated, in the end. Pestilence was, after all, just a small part of pollution, surely?

He stared at the Book, with its Reader, hovering in the sky. The invitation was almost complete, his part was over, for now; t least until they rode out, then the real would begin! Death had been doing Its work, and would continue to do so. It was worrying in fact, Death took care of everyone, even immortals could be... diminished. "Hey 'Red!' Your turn huh? C'mon, get a move on! We haven't got all day! Red turned and stared at him. "It is not my time yet." Wit snarled, his true nature was showing more and more through what had been his disguise for so long. "Not your time!? What the hell are you on about? Take over! Do your thing! You've been waiting for this for ages!"

Red's face was expressionless; unusual for her, but the situation was serious, and something was nagging at her mind, it was going far too well. But it had gone well before... She turned to Sheldon who had started, in some strange way, to flicker. "I can't do anything yet, I'm not in control; for that I need a little... disturbance. Why do you think I keep him around?"

Sheldon shut his eyes, but still saw, and spread himself around the world like Pollution just had...

* * *

Will stared at his screen in horror. "Sir? SIR?" Captain Barnes was yelling at an underling about organizing a rescue fleet, it was hard to be heard over the din. "SIR!" The captain turned. "What? This had better be bloody important!" Will pointed to the monitor, which showed messages being sent to all ship under sector 7G; all ships were being armed, and not just light weaponry; all possible warheads were being activated, armed and aimed.

Imagine a world like a living being, easy to do perhaps. Now imagine civilization in the same way; imagine everything else as black, but the lines of communication, structures cities, power stations, the lot, all lit up and pulsing with energy as people go about their business. At night it dims, but never stops, fed from the generators, a coruscating web entangling the world.

Now see a new presence, a different color, see it spread through the network like water soaking into a sponge. As it spreads see it suck power from one place, and put it into another, see the web subtly alter as the entity switches, alters, fiddles with the entire network.

All over Carrotus panic broke out as alarms rang, missiles armed and silos opened. Rabbits typed ineffectively at dead keyboards, banged helplessly at doors that had locked themselves, tried to remove ruses that had blown themselves, tried in vain to do anything to stop the vast military leviathan awakening.

But awake it did, there was nothing they could do. And it knew what it was created for, it longed to be told what to do. It was after all, just a very big, very advanced sword, and in the fabric of reality something reached out for it and took control.

.

[n0]

And all hell breaks loose... again...

[Doubble Dutch]

Nonsense!



*Chapter 25: Threads*

Lori groaned and sat up. Her head felt like it had been split in two, and that was a real possibility, she could taste blood in her mouth and a tentative touch revealed that her face was splattered with it. There was the smell of burnt fur and a dull ache in her left leg; it had been rather badly burnt, but the damage was mainly cosmetic. Indeed a brief checkover showed just how lucky she had been; apart from feeling like hell, nothing was broken, torn or missing and she'd narrowly missed hitting a rather nasty pile of rock by mere inches. She groaned from exhaustion and relief. "Somebody up there must like me." she said bitterly.

It was about then she noticed the dull flickering quality of the light and the quiet crackling noise that had been in the background all the while. For the first time since awakening she took a proper look at her surroundings. She relaxed and drew her blaster, slightly singed but still working. She was in hell, ho-hum; no doubt Devan was here somewhere.

* * *

Schrock didn't bother to stare; he didn't bother to gape, or to ask himself how, or why; he'd had far too many shocks already, his system had overloaded and all he could do was dully analyze what was happening. Whereas he had, just a few minutes earlier been standing on the green grass and relatively familiar buildings of Carrotus, now the ground beneath his feet was charred and rock hard, cracked and blistered by the ever present heat, the air was bone dry, oven hot and tasted of sulfur and tin. Overhead the sky was sheer darkness. Not the tame cold darkness of the night sky; but a hot, old darkness, not lit by any star, giving a sense of age, and infinity and endless heat. Yet there was light; a strange, flickering, worn out light. It came from nowhere and everywhere, as if trapped in this horrid place. And yet, in some unexplainable way, this was Carrotus; out of the corner of his eye, at the edge of his vision Schrock saw flashes of green and blue.

And he felt great. His mind was currently curled up in a corner sobbing to itself, but his body was, quite literally, doing cartwheels. The heat had done wonders the air was strangely invigorating, and it was beautify quiet, no noise at all except the sounds of three beings trudging ever onward in the desolate landscape, following Erst's determined stride, heading who knew where.

After a while he became aware that he was being watched; with surprising stealth a rather short red rabbit had managed to appear beside him. Looking slightly unkempt and more than a bit unusual, especially as he had a bird almost his size perched upon his shoulder, the rabbit had fixed him with a piercing glare of good natured curiosity. After a few minutes of walking in tandem their gazes matched [And despite Schrock stubbing his toes multiple times upon various unseen rocs.] Schrock decided to break the impasse "So; would you mind if I asked who, where why and how?" The strange rabbit stared at him for a few minutes as the question was digested, before speaking. "I'm Spaz, and I'm here because I was rabbitnapped by this stupid dingbat!" He glared at the bird, which preened itself and pretended not to have heard.

Schrock nodded, recognizing a kindred spirit. "I got dragged here by two nitwits whom I only followed because one was my brother, frankly I'd rather have colon surgery than be here right now, but what can I do? Nobody ever listens!" They walked on further. "Yeah, brother's suck; Jazz always took all the cake!" An irrelevant tangent perhaps, but it summed both of their feelings nicely.

* * *

Lori trudged slightly dazedly through the strange landscape panting with the heat, not knowing where she was going, or why. Any sensible person would have sat down, cooled off and thought about where thy were going. And Lori had always been sensible; one brother a lunatic, the other a mercenary [Whose claim to fame was inventing the nonlethal suicide bomb.] while she'd gone to law school and got a degree. And what had happened? Jazz had become a galactic hero and married a princess. Spaz, admittedly was still a lunatic, but he got free room and board, and was head of the guard for chrissake!

None of this had anything to do with the situation in hand of course, but for some strange reason Lori couldn't get her thoughts in order; every time she tried to settle her mind and think things through another memory arose from the depths and bedeviled any attempt at reasoning. It was amazing how every log table had one incorrect entry randomly placed in it, so that copyright fraud could be more easily detected. Or what about her third birthday party, where she'd got stuck in the air conditioning vents for a week? Or...

Her random wandering had led her to a small craggy rise, over which she could see a small group of people walking determinedly onwards. Closer inspection revealed one of them to be Spaz, chatting idly to a turtle. Lori also recognized the dammed bird that had given her the bandaged hand and thought of saving Spaz the effort of roasting it. [He'd be bound to take a bite out of it eventually, it'd taken enough out of him.] In the end she decided to join them; they were probably very stupidly heading into a trap from which they'd need rescuing, and she was just the brave, capable girl needed to do so. After all, Spaz had had his chance.

A brief ramble, followed by a prolonged tumble down a scree slope and a bit of fast limping bought her level with Spaz and his companion who seemed rather depressed in her opinion. He directed her to the front of the group; apparently his brother was leading the expedition, yet they had no idea where they were going. For a brief moment Lori's sensibilities ganged up on her to point out that she and several others had by coincidence managed to band together and were all heading into what was most likely certain death or at least severe inconvenience, but Kira took care of the situation by letting out a gleeful shriek and lunging for her throat. Spaz watched the situation with glee. "Awww! She remembers you!"

After disentangling herself from he psychotic bird Lori approached the two leading figures, a somewhat frazzled rabbit and a surprisingly large tur- Lori paused, then looked twice; she'd spent her life around makeup, ever since she'd broken into her father's mascara. [The family didn't like to talk about it.] and had developed quite a sharp eye when it came to disguises, appearances, cosmetics and enhancement, indeed since she'd managed to stockpile a rather large hoard of treasure during her adventures she'd had chance to try a number of procedures herself. [Of course she'd never admit this, no matter what the papers said.]

What was standing in front of her was a rabbit that had somehow accrued such an air of turtlity that you'd hardly notice; the fur was cut short and his ears folded tightly over his head as to be barely distinguishable, he wore a large [and very realistic] fiberglass shell and held a long, sharp looking sword that flared an disturbing shade of fluorescent blue. Lori smiled and held out a hand. "Sol that's your brother back there is it?" The rabbit turned and fixed here with a simple, determined gaze, the kind she'd seen on Spaz when he wanted the last biscuit. "Oh yes, he's all mad for some reason." Lori sniffed; the air here was getting on her nerves. "Well, err I can really see the family resemblance. Say, where are we going anyway?" The rabbit turned away and continued striding forward, he took exceptionally large steps, so you had to jog slightly to keep up. "Oh I'm adopted, we're going to save the world I think. My name's Erst!"

Lori smiled wickedly and pulled out her blaster. i]This was more like it! This was what she'd been born to do; battered, bloody, but determined Lori strode forth with the same confidence as the leader. Because she was heading into battle of course, she was highly stung enough that a sudden pat on the back would have made her wet herself.

* * *

It would be stupid to say it had broken loose, or was going to, or was; hell didn't work like that. It wasn't a reservoir of evil any more than heaven was a font of goodness, true evil and destruction lay in the world, waiting to be used. Hell was simply leaking into a small part of the multiverse, and that took time. But it was almost complete, almost. It rode the thread watching the characters move together, so perfectly calculated, in meticulous detail. It giggled to Itself gleefully, this was what it had worked for, it had made an ending, now to watch Its plans unfold!

And of course the thread demanded certain things, they had to be done correctly, clichés were, after all, simply events that had burned themselves so deeply into the fabric of existence that they drew other events to mimic them, to repeat them, over and over. They were small threads in the tapestry of life. And thus, so it was that at the very instant the group rounded the last hill, was the same instant Vernon finished his chant, a moment of perfect balance that demanded the inevitable event,

all hell broke loose.

.

[n0]

And all hell breaks loose, officially.

[Doubble Dutch]

Hallo, it's me again, posting for 'DD' I hope to post a chapter a day if I can get online so as not to spam. Anyway...


*Chapter 26: Confrontation*

Officer Marco dragged himself to his feet and dusted himself off; next to him Sidera yelled something incomprehensible. The sheer deafening tone of the white noise around him made talking impossible; the world was a landscape of screeching noise and flickering flame. Out of the corner of his vision he saw a wall of wind, a pressure wave of sound blasting across the landscape. The barrier still stood, flaming higher and more fiercely than ever, but somehow, something had escaped, the sky overhead had turned a sickening blood red, punctuated with clouds the color of infected bruises. As he watched more and more of the horizon was consumed by the strange aspiration. Around him rabbits were fleeing in every direction, screaming silently against the noise, scattering like ants from a hemorrhaged anthill, the flimsy wrecks that had scattered the barrier were being flung into the air like children's playthings and the landscape buckled and twisted like a writhing snake. Yet somehow, something was missing; something about the situation told him he should have been burned to a cinder or similarly eliminated, yet here he was.

He looked over again at Sidera who was steadying herself against a stripped tree. She'd been nearly stripped herself; the day’s events and the recent blast had rendered her once neat uniform [The pride and joy of the little neat freak] little more than soaked tatters. Marco dimly realized that he had to resemble something similar. For a brief moment the two rabbits locked gazes; they weren't going to live through this, both of them knew, they were young, they were rabbits and they were doomed. Simultaneously both officers dove into a nearby ditch out of the wind and did something that cannot be printed here.

* * *

Will DeSchmitt looked on in horror; he'd stopped trying to pull the fuses from his computer minutes earlier and now simply stood in that numb daze that people adopt when their brain is convinced that whatever is happening can't possibly be real. His logic centers had shut down entirely and he merely stood, gently swaying as his comrades ran blindly around him, hammering on sparking keyboards, smashing on closed doors till their hands bled or simply kneeled down and prayed. Then something else caught his attention; the planet below him which had been shrouded in cloud, now sported a bright spot that pulsed and grew as he watched it; a burning red blister growing across the entire world. He sat down heavily, missing his chair but not noticing; it was official then, the apocalypse was here.

* * *

The group leant into the screeching wind that had arisen from nowhere to blast them from all directions. The landscape had changed as soon as they'd climbed the hill; in some strange way the sky had opened, and staring down upon them without seeing were row upon row upon row of... things.

No two were alike; in some strange way they packed the sky, like one of those crazy pictures by Escher, where if you looked hard enough, ever little gap was just another creature. Some had wings, some didn't, some had three eyes, or five, or none, there were claws and talons and limbs and tails, but in some strange way, all the creatures seemed to be waiting. Like an army headed out to march. thought Lori. And there, directly below them, just a few feet from where the group now stood were the generals.

Like the things above, they were hard to describe; one was a rabbit shaped pile of slime, glistening in an unnatural way, breathing noxious fumes into the air. Another was a tall blood soaked figure, teeth of bullets and draped with weaponry. A third flickered in and out of focus, first a rabbit, then a bird, a hint of turtle, then something else entirely. There was a winged and robed creature also, with only the fifth, a grey rabbit in a black cowl, looking anything near normal.

The red creature, vaguely rabbit-like in appearance, strode forth and looked at the intruders disdainfully. When it spoke it was in a voice like a machine gun, words spattered out in short sharp bursts, making war on the ears. "So; these are the vermin It sends against us?" It looked at Erst, who was standing, sword raised and glowing, with a strange look in his eyes. "Ah, and this must be your leader, no? We're a little too late aren't we?" It turned back to its comrades, held its arms up expansively and boomed. "Brethren! Now is the time to ride out! Let us finish this rabble, and take this world!"

The sky itself spoke back, a million voices raised in approval, squawking, screeching, howling and shouting back. Lori wet herself, Kira shrieked and Schrock cupped his hands over his ears. [Or what passed for them on a turtle.] "Great! Can you do that again? I can still hear a little out of this ear!"

.

[superjwren329]

O_O;

This...is...good...

Man, I really like this...Heheh...

[Coppertop]

It ... mwahahaha

[superjwren329]

Huh? What...?

Joshua:....I think the above poster is crazy...

superjwren329: I'd run if I was you. See that thing in the distance? That's Coppertop weilding some sharp object...

Joshua: Waaaaaaaaahhhhh!!! RUN AWAY!!!

Okay...On another note, Yes. This story is quite good, but, I should expect that. I just don't see how come...it's so poplular...Oh, well...

[Doubble Dutch]

Because there's always the possibility that its central characters will die, everyone likes to see that.


*Chapter 27: One on one*

War strode forward, brandishing her sword with unstoppable force. She met Lori halfway, who kicked her legs from underneath her and aimed a volley of blaster fire at her head. War dodged, rolled and got up smiling. "At last! Someone to play with!" A second later her sword split the ground where Lori had stood leaving a deep gouge in the earth. Lori spun around and whacked the demon in the face with her ponytail; always a favorite move of hers.

Spaz charged wildly at the flickering demon in front of him, who immediately focused into the form of Devan Shell, complete with raygun. The two beings ducked and dodged wildly, with Kira flapping and screeching at the edge of the fray. But no matter how fast Spaz shot, or dodged or kicked, the demon stayed two steps ahead of him. He'd tire eventually, something the demon didn't have to worry about.

Schrock grabbed Trixi's arm and tried to drag her behind a rock, he may as well have tried to drag the rock in front of her, she shook him off and dashed towards the cowed figure. Wit blocked her path before she was even halfway there, about the same time she realized she had absolutely nothing to fight with. Wit sneered, an action that split his face from ear to ear, coughed, and spat. A thin stream of sticky brown sludge hissed toward Trixi.

Trixi dodged to the left but some of the stream of liquid still managed to hit her, splattering against her chest, just under her arm. She screamed, hit the ground and rolled to a halt. For a second she lay still before making a sudden attempt to get up. She staggered a few steps as if her leg was numb then went down on both knees. Still she struggled forward in jerky, hesitant steps as the toxin took hold. It worked surprisingly fast and in mere seconds half her body was seemingly paralyzed.

Schrock ran over to where Trixi lay, still jerkily dragging herself forward on her stomach. She stared briefly up at him before shuddering to a standstill. "Ig foom to ubuggin." she said slurring her words, already one of her legs was beginning to twitch. Schrock tried to pull her upright, and almost succeeded; the rabbit was surprisingly light, little more than skin and bone under the fur. Her head lolled listlessly on her shoulders as she struggled to focus. "I knew this would happen, you stupid, stupid lop-eared twatt!" Trixi giggled quietly in reply and was still. Schrock could feel her body still moving, but they were the sharp, uncontrolled spasms that were the only real sign that a living being has crossed the mysterious threshold that turned them into just so much lukewarm worm food.

Schrock's mind did a quick calculation about odds of survival, ways to die and the sum of the situation then sprang into action. Schrock hurled himself toward Sheldon with surprising speed for a turtle, screaming as loud as possible out of sheer terror and rage and the knowledge that when you're going to die, you should at least go out impressively. Sheldon, while a demon, and a powerful one at that, was not a good fighter and was taken utterly off guard, He went down flailing beneath a hail of blows. The advantage didn't last long however, and Schrock was rapidly picked up and tossed against Spaz like a rag doll, stunning them both. Then Sheldon simply picked Spaz up, and smacked him against a rock. He shuddered and was still.

Schrock grabbed Spaz's now useless blaster and flung himself down the slope as a piercing cry was let out by Kira. The wowhawk pounced on Sheldon and carried him, still flailing, high into the air, where eventually he stunned the bird and broke free. And fell, down, down, down; he'd been very high up, and made quite a mess upon impact, like a rather more colorful broken egg. Oblivious to this Schrock had turned to face Wit, holding the blaster the wrong way around and upside down, while his mind screamed at him to flee. But there wasn't anywhere to flee to.

It soared over the scene, watching it unfold perfectly, watching Its champion advance, sword raised to defend against the demons below. The thread had reached its peak and events flowed with it like water through a millrace. All it would take would be a few more minutes and everything would unfold, like a flower going from bud to bloom.

Then Erst stared at his opponent, lowered his sword and asked "Why?"

[Doubble Dutch]

Whew! Only *counts* three more posts to go!


*Chapter 28: Revelation*

Thee figure in front of Erst did not move. It also had a sword, one as thin and insubstantial as mist, yet somehow composed of the very essence of sharpness, a blade honed to such and edge that now it was nothing but edge. The figure held it at arm's length, ready to strike, but didn't make a move. When it spoke it was with a voice devoid of all life, empty and flat and toneless, like a sound that had been baked in a desert, flung into the cold depths of space, and spoken through a lead wall. "I cannot say." Erst stared at the figure, who was indistinct, at first glance it was simply a grey rabbit with nothing special to define them, but on closer examination the featurelessness was itself a feature, the entity in front of him was like a mask, or a painting, little more than a picture or costume to display to the world. He looked once more at the fighting going on around him, then back at his opponent. "You've lost one of your party, are you not going to help them?" Again, the dead voice. "No, it is not my fight; it is yours, and your companions. But you will raise your hand against me and we shall spar, everyone loves a good story." Erst turned away from the figure and headed towards Wit. "No. If you won't fight I've got to save my broth-"

It was like walking into a wall of burning ice. Erst froze where he stood as the air turned to treacle. And it hit his mind too, with the force of a sledgehammer. Erst found himself turning, not against his will, but his will itself shifting, making him raise his sword which now flashed with rainbow colors, then burst into flame, a cold fire that made it shine like a beacon. Struggling, Erst forced himself to face away again, pivoting around the sword that seemed nailed to the air. The figure, now behind him, grinned grimly. "Ah, yes, fighting it are we? Such is life, so short and all struggle. You can't possibly win, yet you try anyway, how strange."

Erst staggered forward against the massive force, each step seeming to take hours, his limbs seemingly made of lead. But if there was one thing Erst was, it was stubborn; he had spent his life stubbornly persevering no matter what, and simple sheer force wasn't about to change that. He struggled onward to where his brother was desperately trying to learn how to shoot a blaster.

Then the distance between them grew and the world went gold.

Erst stood in a beam of light, like those shown in paintings of haven, immersed in its golden glows, weightless and spinning gently. For a second everything was still. He could still see the outside world, just inches away, and yet somehow further than light could travel in a billion years. There was no sound and everything had a strange, muffled feel to it. Then came the voice.

It was wordless, purr thought; arriving directly in the brain. It flowed like a melody, burning through the brain, sparking with energy. It have a mental smile and wave, something not seen, but felt like someone pulling a face behind your back, but pleasant. Erst felt as if he was being watched, and he was a good judge of this in a world where people often stared at him for no particular reason. He felt a presence all around him, through him, intangible but somehow even more real than the vents outside this strange golden parcel of reality. The voice trilled inside his head, made of a billion fragments, devoid of any detail, like a waterfall, twisting and turning and whipping away to mist as it spoke, its words inscribing themselves on his mind.

You must turn and fight, it is the only way.

Erst didn't need to reply; whatever it was, somehow he knew it could simply pluck the thoughts from his mind. He wasn't going to fight the strange rabbit, his brother was in danger and needed his help, there were demons after him and they'd ruined a perfectly nice planet, just when he was getting settled too.

But this is their leader, your opponent! Defeat it and all will be well! You will be a hero, your companions will be saved, you'll get the girl, fame, recognition! Your life will be perfect!

Erst thought this over, it didn't take long. Who the heck was he talking to? His life was fine the way it was, at least, until a few hours ago when things started to go insane. People were dying and here was someone chatting about it as nonchalantly as if it were their favorite chapter in a book! He pivoted in nothing and demanded to know who or what he was talking to.

There was a laugh again, a tinkling like a thousand silver bells. Me? I...am. There was a pause as It thought this over. I am the one behind the words, I have no shape, no form, no name, no designation; when the universe became, I shunned the classes of mind. I am neither conscious or not, not demon, nor angel, nor mortal nor spirit. I shape the world. There was another pause, then a burst of the silvery laughter. Haha! Man, what a load of garbage huh? It's all true mind you, but doesn't it sound stupid? Remember, there is no spoon! Erst frowned. He had no idea what the being was talking about, but he was getting a general impression he didn't like, the voice talked down to him as if it were explaining things to an unusually stubborn child.

The air sparkled more brightly and each individual spark began to whirl together, melting, fusing and growing, like a golden galaxy gone nova. I suppose you want something better than gibberish hmmn? Very well. The sparks formed a bright pillar that dazzled the eyes, slowly cooling to a warm coppery glow. I love this form, I've used it often, mostly in visions of course, or when I've needed to nudge things along. As the glow faded Erst could make out someone standing next to him, a rabbit, about his height, but shining all over, like metal, but glowing from within. It was female, and exceedingly attractive, at least by rabbit standards, with a cheerful face, shoulder length hair and wearing a long flowing dress that seemed to float in the air and sparkle like diamond. The rabbit turned to him and spoke without opening her mouth. Like it? A bit flashy perhaps, but fun! At this the rabbit twirled, like a disco ball, sending thousands or shards of light whirling in all directions. If you want to address me in this form, you may call me Miss- no, no, just plain Coppertop will do. Now I expect you'll be wanting to save your friends now?

Erst gathered his wits, the rabbit was certainly impressive indeed. "But I'm still stuck, I can't get to Schrock." The rabbit shook her head. Silly! You can't reach your brother, the, it- well, you have no choice, don't you understand, this is the way it has to be, you fight the leader, you win, everyone lives happily ever after! And then Erst knew. Knowledge just appeared in his mind, as if it had always been there. He saw the thread, a knot of space-time that drew events into itself, made the universe repeat the same sequence over and over. It wasn't just a story, it made stories. And it had been guided here, prodded and pushed gently, slowly gaining energy, slowly bending the world to its will, sharing its energy with all who participated. Erst could see it flowing through the landscape, protecting, manipulating, driving its characters. And he was the hero, the full force of the thread pulsed through him, centered on the sword in his grasp. And there was no escape, if he fought it, the thread would break his arms, and he'd still have to fight. The rabbit gave him an appraising stare. Now you understand? Good. I have spent years setting this up, feeding it as it feeds me, now go fulfill your destiny, go and fight!

Erst turned and brought the sword across in a wide arc. Stories want ends, they don’t care what kind.


.

[n0]

Haha... Very nice. "It."

Haha.

[Doubble Dutch]

I personally think that's a bit grammatically incorrect, but there you go.


*Chapter 28: Severance*

For a moment the rabbit stared at Erst in shock, split in two like a cartoon character cut in half, then split into a thousand fragments that were sucked into the sword with a shrill wail. At the same time the cowled figure, who had been watching wordlessly, bought his sword down across Erst's blade, which flared, then dulled, nothing more than an ordinary sword. There was a brief *crack* and the circle of light vanished, an invisible wall of pressure and sound knocked everyone but Erst and the mysterious figure over. For a few seconds there was utter silence.

The figure spoke. "Well done, far better than I expected." Erst looked around, the sky was blue, the strange things above had gone, the noise had gone, the heat had gone. "All things come to an end, congratulations, you've won." The figure walked over to the body of Red, lying face down in the dust, swung his blade right through it, causing her form to shiver and vanish. Erst looked on in open mouthed shock as this process was repeated on the other two demons, who had also succumbed. "Do not look so surprised, they were nothing but spirits, but I am Death, all come to me eventually, even them." Death turned and strode past Spaz and Kira to the sprawled figure of Trixi. As he passed he pointed at the bird. "I shouldn't worry, it's only a broken wing and concussion. Now, as for this one I-"

Schrock seemed to materialize in front of the figure, looking exceedingly annoyed, even for him. "Now hold on one minute there! I Whoever you think you are, you just back off before I do something I regret okay?" Death smiled coldly. "I am Azrael, the shadow of creation, the alpha and omega, then end of worlds. You defy me mortal?" Shcrock stood his ground. "(-) straight I do! You and you 'Look at me I'm so big' gibberish! So you think you can just pop by and take who you want huh? Well I quite frankly am sick of all this, this... idiocy! So you're not getting this one, no matter what you say Mr Azrael, so why don't you just toddle off to whatever realm dimension or enchanted cesspit it is you come from, huh?"

Death smiled, then wavered, two gigantic wings sprouted from its back, windows into sheer darkness, black as midnight on a cloudy day at new moon. The robe became as insubstantial as mist and the visage beneath it became very unpleasant. "I suspect you are not impressed by these theatrics. Many have defied me turtle, but it is not necessary, I do not have a claim on this one anymore."

Schrock smiled triumphantly, and a little nervously. "Glad you saw reason. I've seen enough death today, thankyou!"

Death grinned and turned away. "Indeed. You mortals are strange, always giving your lives for some cause or such, even to another. Besides, you were going to live an unusually long time anyway, as it works out now, you and the rabbit will die around the time your brother does, good day... and see you later."

Scrock's grin disappeared as fast as Death did. "Hey... wait! Whaddya mean were? Wait, no! I never said anything about going 50/50! Where did- wait- come back!"

* * *

And across the planet disaster abated, the skies cleared, storms dissipated and things returned rapidly to normal, leaving little more than a few smoking wrecks and befuddled rabbits in their wake. And above the world too, rabbits found their systems suddenly responsive, locked doors sprang open, blown fuses popped out of their sockets as the military computers of Carrotus topped planning Armageddon and went back to calmly monitoring Carrotus' space for possible threats. All over the planet, and above it rabbits erupted into relieved cheers, then went off to consume large amounts of alcohol, especially those who hadn't done so in a long time.


.

[n0]

Shweet. Is that the last chapter or is there an epilogue or something?

[Coppertop]

I swear that's the most creative way I've ever been used in a story.

[Doubble Dutch]

1.) Yeah, there's one last chapter to go, I shall post it forwith.

2.) Really? I'll tell DD that. She says you've always struck her as an omnipotent pandimensional entity, and I must admit, you certainly have the aura of someone who rules with a copper fist, but with dignity.


*Chapter 30: The final curtain*

Trixi opened her eyes and groaned. Dimly she heard a voice next to her. "Oh shutup and quit complaining, you haven’t just lost half a lifetime so you could at least do some work around here!" Slowly Trixi became aware of the ground moving beneath her, not far beneath her either, as Schrock dragged her across the landscape. "Hey, what happened? Where is everyone?" Schrock growled. "They've all gone off to see if everyone's alright! Nevermind me, having to drag a stupid rabbit all the way back, *noooo!* All I'll say is you'd better start doing your share of the walking or I'm leaving your lousy, long eared butt out here to find its own way back!" Trixi groaned. “Buddy, the way I feel right now, I don’t wanna take anything from anyone.” She smiled. “Besides, I feel all weak at the knees, just get a good grip and- Hey! Not there! No hey! Aaah! Stop! Let go! Put me down this instant! Okay! Okay! I take it back! Help!”

* * *

Erst handed the rabbit across the counter a very, very large drink. It smelt funny, and he wasn't sure what was in it, apparently it was his employer’s special moonshine known popularly as 'suicider' wherever its consumers toppled backwards onto the floor. This was her third; she'd requested it as soon as they'd arrived back at the tavern. On Lori's shoulder sat Kira, muzzily trying to attack her drink and her, with about equal success. In the corner Spaz was winning large sums of money by doing unsanitary things with his tongue. All in all everyone was at least mildly happy and so long as the drink kept flowing, would stay that way.

* * *

Jazz tried to stand upright and ignore the ringing in his ears. He'd quite lost track of the conversation about the time his hearing had vanished. It seemed to be revolving around the recent storm, trouble with the military and civil defence, but mostly about his personal deficiencies as a rabbit. The Queen was being quite exuberant, knocking several holes in the wall, and throwing many priceless antiques in his general direction. Finally, after what seemed like hours she wound up, and with plaster and small rocks still falling from the ceiling and bouncing off the floor, stormed out. Before she left she managed to get an iron grip on the admiral, who had been dragged along for the ride. "You are very lucky the dungeons are flooded! If it weren't for my daughter I'd have you personally flogged! Now me and the admiral are going to have a long and thorough discussion about this terrible breach in our defences, and after the day I've had, I had better not be disturbed!"

Jazz watched the poor admiral being dragged down the hallway, to disappear behind a door that closed with a bang loud enough to break one of its hinges. He turned to Eva who had hastily been trying to remove the more valuable or delicate items from the reach of her mother. "Wow, did you see the expression on his face?" Eva nodded. "Poor guy, from what I've heard, we almost blew ourselves up, he's going to get utterly drilled about this, and there's no telling what she'll do to him if she thinks he's in any way responsible." Jazz sighed and absentmindedly picked a piece of crockery out of his hair. "Well, I know I haven't heard the last of this, not by a long shot, but I'm glad I'm not in his boots, that's for sure!"

* * *

Larrock looked blankly up at the sky. Everything hurt, even his fur, which he didn't think was anatomically possible. It had stopped it then. He was going to live. Of course, he'd obviously been demoted; he'd spent some time 'testing' all his systems, and from what he could tell, he'd been demoted to mortality.

He perked up. Well, that was that then, all he had was his financial and publishing empire, his looks, his charm and only fifty, maybe sixty years left to enjoy it. He got up and brushed himself off. To hell with the job, first thing to do was to dump the restaurants and buy a mansion or something. And get a new outfit! Something in white! It’d be great to wear another color for once! He paused, then searched for his cellphone, maybe Cindy was free tonight...

* * *

And so, for as long as it was possible in the ever changing universe, for as many people as we're concerned with, as well as anyone could possibly hope to, everyone lived happily ever after.

.


DD has sent a quarter of another story she's been working on, so I'll have to type up and post that sometime. (She's written a lot, apparently they have a lot of spare time.)