Woot!

[Radium]

Yeah, like saying "he's not a regular, he's dead".

[4I Falcon]

There's that one about the Star Trek security force, who always die a few minutes after being beamed somewhere, being faced off against Stormtroopers, who can't hit the broad side of a planet, creating a paradox... but I can't remember how it goes.

Yay CT! *huggles*

*copies the new stuff into CT4.doc*

[Radium]

There's that one about the Star Trek security force, who always die a few minutes after being beamed somewhere, being faced off against Stormtroopers, who can't hit the broad side of a planet, creating a paradox... but I can't remember how it goes.
I think you got some Starthings mixed up in there.

[Coppertop]

I've already decided to kill one person, but I'm not sure about another one. If I told you any more it would totally spoil the end.
N0: I wouldn't have left you hanging if I could help it, but I haven't finished the next part yet.
4I: Isn't it funny how, as a rule, the bad guys in movies couldn't hit anything if they tried?

[Kaz]

Yeah, good guys always win --. Trying to formulate a story that eventually has it the other way around for a while and actually has it to where you can't predict who will win despite your bias that good guys will win.

[Coppertop]

Hmm, good idea. *writes it down*

[defalcon]

Nice chapter CT. :) And yay, I've got a quote in your sig.

There's that one about the Star Trek security force, who always die a few minutes after being beamed somewhere, being faced off against Stormtroopers, who can't hit the broad side of a planet, creating a paradox... but I can't remember how it goes.
That's hilarious! :D

[4I Falcon]

That's hilarious! :D

Makes me wish I had thought of it first.

[Kaz]

bzzzzt.

[Trafton]

http://www.mediadivide.org/houses.gif

Far left: Someone who got into the picture at the last second.

Second from left: Mother.

Second from right: Me.

Far right: Father.
Salt Lake City? You must be a Mormon house.

~ Traft

[Kaz]

int main()
{
If(Date(LastPost)>=CurrentTime()-7)
{
cout >> "TRAFTON KILLED THE TOPIC >O!" >> endl;
}
return 0;
}

TRAFT KILLED THE TOPIC >O!

[Radium]

All the programming code I know was learned through Kaz's random statements.

[Kaz]

I really should use real functions...

[Violet CLM]

Sasha and N0 materialized, courtesy of Tiger, wings spread and weapons ready.
This isn't too major, but it could be interpreted as saying that the cause of their materialization was Tiger with wings spread and weapons ready. Maybe add a "their"?

Sasha snapped his wings shut and dropped to the groun.
Ground. Could be misread as groin. There are also a few too many masculine pronouns in this area, making it a little difficult to follow the story at times.

Irinn, blade in hand, Justiar hiding, the dead Koriph, Sasha and N0
Ouch. Are Sasha and N0 supposed to be dead or something? Careful.

and proceeded to fire off two red and white rockets in rapid succession. A quick flip and dive maneuver proved them to be seekers.
That looks wrong somehow. Maybe a semi-colon...

He was still swearing as he drew his broadsword. He glanced around for Tephro, and found him standing nearby,
Again, slightly confusing. Maybe replace Tephro's "him" with some other sort of reference, such as "and found the (spanish cat) standing nearby"?

[Radium]

I really should use real functions...
Hehe, I was waiting for that reaction =P.

Unknown, you stole my style of nit-picky 5-20 quote replying.

[defalcon]

Radium, it is hardly your style of replying. View this thread (http://www.jazz2online.com/jcf/showthread.php?t=3296) as a case in point. ;P

[Coppertop]

Yeah, I never had a chance to edit it, Unknown. Thanks for pointing out the mistakes :D Besides the fact that I tend to miss important letters or add more when I'm typing in a hurry. *needs to work on that*

[Radium]

Besides the fact that I tend to miss important letters or add more when I'm typing in a hurry.
Which letters are the important ones?

[4I Falcon]

Either the ones that aren't supposed to be there, or the ones that everyone's attention is drawn to because they're not there at all.

[Radium]

Either the ones that aren't supposed to be there, or the ones that everyone's attention is drawn to because they're not there at all.
Ah. I was thinking more like "E", "k(lowercase)", "Q", ect...

[Kaz]

I claim the 14th page!

[4I Falcon]

No you don't. Stop hallucinating.

*steals page 14, and gives it to CT, just because*

[Kaz]

You guys have more pages than I do becuase you steal ;p.

[n0]

*Claims the page*

[acid]

*Steals the duplicate page, and burns it*

[Kaz]

*Steals the thieves and burns them.

[Kaz]

OMG KAZ, U KIL STORY >OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooo.

[Coppertop]

Only until I get the next part done, which is incredibly difficult to do between a touch of writer's block (which is beginning to wear off) and schoolwork. These teachers are insane.

[Radium]

These teachers are insane.
My physics teacher lets us play with matches in class. Beat that.

[Coppertop]

Double post I know. Sorry. AND a short part. *winces*

Shinyso's head came up sharply as he sensed a great deal of malevolence, directed solely at him. He hesitated for an instant, long enough to discern that he was in immediate danger, and then he ducked and spun, bringing his saber up to block Tephro Charne's blade bare inches from his unprotected neck. The silvery-black rabbit's grin was predatory as he twisted his blade free.
Shinyso winced mentally. He'd been hoping to avoid Tephro, who probably knew it, too.
Tephro's eyes were as cold as ice as he met Shinyso's gaze.
"So nice to see you again, brother."

[Radium]

Nice "part"... only... short. Very short. But it proves Kaz didn't kill the story.

[4I Falcon]

Well, Copper's still got one up on me. I still haven't even started Chappie 25 yet.

[Radium]

Well, Copper's still got one up on me. I still haven't even started Chappie 25 yet.
You could write one sentence and watch all your fans twitch uncomfortably.

[4I Falcon]

All three or four of them?

Oh, but you'll all be pleased to note that I'm happily on my way to finishing Chapter Whatever of SoT. *suspense*

[n0]

Well, I think it is a nice little piece of work. I for one wasn't expecting Shinyso's brother. This should last a while...

[Coppertop]

Yeah, I thought that'd be a surprise =D

[Coppertop]

Okie. More battle.

Elexei Rayden watched the big golden-brown mercenary warily. He knew Jheran by reputation - what Carrotan fighter didn't - but had never met him face to face. The Bloodflame leader's broadsword glittered in the sun as he returned Elexei's salute.
Elexei blinked. He'd almost expected that Rambarath would ignore or disregard his challenge. Instead, it had been accepted.
Great. I am so, incredibly, dumb.
Now all he had to do was survive.
Let's see if I can get out of this without losing any overly-vital parts.
Elexei stood his ground as Jheran advanced, expression menacing. The slender, pale-gold rabbit wondered what would happen if he were to shock the big Bloodflame, and decided against it. He didn't know how many friends Jheran had, and he had issued a semi-formal challenge, no matter how much he wished he hadn't.
Still, that didn't mean he couldn't use his powers at close quarters.
Jheran looked down warily at the slender Elexei, sizing up the bold young warrior. The brilliant blue eyes literally sparked as they fixed on his own, and the gold-furred body was tense with supressed energy as he fearlessly faced the tall Bloodflame (you can tell I like Elexei, hey?) Jheran raised an eyebrow in silent approval of Elexei's hairstyle - eight-inch spikes. Elexei gave him a crooked grin, revealing none of the anxiety he felt. Jheran half-returned it. Then he raised his broadsword.
Elexei discovered quickly that Jheran was strong. Elexei was faster, but his first few attacks were shrugged off easily by the tall Bloodflame. He felt like a mosquito biting a bear. At this point, the bear hadn't even noticed.
Elexei's blades flicked in, once high, once low. THe first was blocked; the second katana's tip simply added another tear to Jheran's jeans. Jheran stepped back and then in again, sword leading. Elexei swatted it aside and came up in a quick attack; Jheran sidestepped neatly, avoiding both katanas and bringing his broadsword back in line for another assault.
Elexei realized then that Jheran was drawing him out, seeing what he could do. The Bloodflame wasn't even trying.
He backed off, raising his katanas in a guard position. Jheran smirked and proceeded to drive Elexei back step by step until ELexei felt the wind-blasted wall at his back.
With a sigh Elexei abandoned his defense to take the offense, sweeping his katanas up in a dazzling display that did absolutely nothing except distract Jheran. He followed up with a long vertical upward slash that would have gutted Jheran completely had it connected, and a cut that could have taken off the Bloodflame's head. Jheran skipped back and gave Elexei a measuring look that was filled with newfound respect.
"You have definite skill," he remakred, remaining just out of range. Elexei blinked. A friendly dialogue while trying to slice each other to ribbons was not that he expected.
"Some," he said, raising a katana defensively. Jheran nodded slowly.
"More than some, kid. Enough that I wonder if you'd consider joining the Bloodflames."
Elexei froze. That was the last thing he had expected to hear. He was not speechless for long, however.
"On what conditions?" Offers like these always had strings attached.
He was not wrong. Jheran paused a fraction of a second before replying.
"Stand down."
"Now?" Elexei said, only slightly incredulous. "With all my friends in danger?"
"Oh, right, them," Jheran remembered. "All right, kill a couple Shellians if you must."
Elexei grinned. "Now we're talking."

[Radium]

Yay! Very well written battle. Puts my "giant monkey vs. king of thieves" to shame.

[acid]

Waitasec, remind me which one is the spy again? *Is amazed by your ability to keep track of so many characters*

Nice battle, it looks like someone might be changing sides...

[4I Falcon]

*knows something everyone else doesn't... there's juxtaposition there if ever there was...*

[Coppertop]

Acid: Justiar.
4I: Shup, you. *hugs*

Some awesome fights with Shinyso vs. Tephro comin' up. *dances around*

[4I Falcon]

*hugs back, yays, dances, and falls down the stairs*

[Coppertop]

*helps 4I up*

Shinyso and Tephro's blades tangled again as Tephro smashed his swordblade against Shinyso's in an effort to jar it out of his grasp. The Shellians had discreetly backed away, leaving as much room as possible between themselves and the battling half-brothers.
Tephro's blade slid free with a harsh metallic grate, and the silvery-black Bloodflame stepped in around Shinyso's guard, blade flickering in at the Ninja's chest and stomach. Shinyso batted Edge out of line and brought his saber in to attack Tephro, who slipped back away from Shinyso with a grin. Shinyso sighed.
We'll be at this all day.
Not if Tephro had his way. The vengeful mercenary threw himself forward abruptly, under Shinyso's blade, and kicked Shinyso's feet out from underneath him. The Ninja caught himself, found his balance, and dove away from Tephro and his deadly blade Edge. He came to his feet to find Tephro already up and circling.
Shinyso launched his attack cautiously - his half-brother was far more skillful and reckless than he remembered. He attacked with his customary speed, and Tephro caught it on Edge as expected. Shinyso twisted his saber free quickly, and brutally smashed it against Tephro's, sending it out of line and clearing the way for Shinyso's blade.
For a moment, it looked like Shinyso would win. His saber flicked in at a startled Tephro's unprotected chest - and was abruptly blocked as Tephro caught it on his wrist - or rather, his metal wristband.
Shinyso pulled his blow hard, reversing his move and backpedalling as Tephro brought Edge back up.
Right back to square one.

Defalcon stared at the sleek red-black lizard who had caused them so much trouble. This was Irinn Hariam?
The lizard's rather large broadsword shone in the light. A quick glance around proved Coppertop and Claw well and truly busy with the antagonistic Shellians; Shinyso was occupied with Tephro Charne; and Elexei seemed to be having a friendly chat with Rambarath (Defalcon didn't stop to wonder why). Sasha and N0 were busily keeping their skins intact, while shredding those of the bodyguards. Tiger was nowhere to be seen.
That left Defalcon to deal with Irinn. He did so in his customary, bold, straightforward manner. He drew both swords, activated them, and attacked.

Acid growled in growing frustration as he tried to get a clear shot at the Shellians. He really wasn't inclined to blow his brother off the face of the map, along with his original targets.
Electrik finally moved out of Acid's sights, leaving a madly twitching Shellian behind. When he was safely out of range, Acid grinned and proceeded to blow a large portion of the ruins into the troposphere, along with a patrol of very startled Shellian soldiers.
Acid congratulated himself once again on being a scientist and a genius.

[Radium]

Yaychappie.

...

*hugs*
*dances*
*hurls self down stairs*

[Coppertop]

*is suspicious*
It just doesn't have the same effect when you do it on purpose.
*shrugs*
*hugs back*

[acid]

Hooray. Just to make sure you're aware, Acid does have a less heavy-duty weapon: his blaster. Oh yeah, and YAYCHAPPIE!!!

*Wonders why CT's sig has lost many of the quotes, and why CT hasn't fixed the vbcode error ([size=1] without a [ /size])*

[Kaz]

it is not an error >O.

Eh, kill time on the story.

[Radium]

Acid does have a less heavy-duty weapon
What fun is that?
*is suspicious*
It just doesn't have the same effect when you do it on purpose.
Or maybe it's just a Foureye thing... lemme test.
*kicks Acid down the handy WT stairwell*

[4I Falcon]

*is inadvertantly used as a cushion for the flying Acid as he is coming up the stairs, and is sent hurtling back down again*

[Coppertop]

Gah. You guys and your stairs.

[4I Falcon]

The staircase is evil, I tell you. EEEEEEEEEVIL.

[Radium]

Or maybe we're all evil and the staircase is the only TRUE goodguy.

[Coppertop]

:lol:

Let's forget the story and contemplate the stairs, hey? =P

[Radium]

Hmm, I can't tell if that's sarcasm or not.

Anyway, the problem seems to be that there is a stairwell in the middle of the room. People tend to fall down it. Clearly, the only logical solution is to move everybody downstairs. Falling up stairs is much less of a threat, unless you're in China. I've always wondered how the Chinese managed to live while hanging onto the bottom of the world.

[Coppertop]

It was sarcasm. I'm way too excited about this battle to forget about it. I'm not sure who I was cheering for here, since I like Shinyso and Tephro equally =P I think Tephro gets the worst of this encounter.

Shinyso fended off another attack, spun, and planted a foot solidly in Tephro's stomach, knocking him away. The younger of the pair went with the blow, absorbing most of the force easily and coming back up with a feral grin. For all his youth, the Bloodflame was Shinyso's equal, and he knew it. So did Shinyso.
Tephro came in again, dodging the serrated disk that Shinyso threw at him. Katana and saber clashed again. Shinyso forced their blades up, caught at Tephro's wrist, and rammed his half-brother in the stomach again, this time with his shoulder, throwing Tephro back against the wall. The Bloodflame's head slammed painfully against the rough stone, and he dropped to one knee, winded and dazed.
Shinyso hesitated, reluctant to kill his half-brother, despite the fact that Tephro had been doing his level best to destroy Shinyso a moment ago.
Tephro staggered to his feet, shaking his head to clear it. His silver-green eyes blazed as he lifted Edge once more. Shinyso eyed him warily. He had a bad feeling about the outcome of this battle.
Tephro dove forward, immobilizing Shinyso's saber with a metal-clad wrist. Shinyso twisted away from Edge - and moved directly into Tephro's next move, as the Bloodflame reversed his grip on his katana and drove the hilt into Shinyso's ribs.
Shinyso gasped. Tephro couldn't know it, but he'd struck the exact place where Sai had impaled Shinyso on Diamondus.
His brother forced Shinyso's blade out and away, but before Tephro could bring Edge in to finish him off, Shinyso's hand shot out and closed around Tephro's right wrist - his sword arm. Tephro twisted free, but the damage was done. He had never executed the killing blow.
Shinyso broke away, and raised his saber again just in time to catch Edge. Tephro aimed a kick at Shinyso's knee, metal-rimmed soles flashing, and Shinyso avoided the blow hastily.
Tephro twisted his blade free and slashed in and across viciously. Shinyso twisted away just before Edge sliced the air where he had just been, and brought his saber around in a crosscut. Teprho ducked and swayed to the side as Shinyso's blade hissed past his ear. At the same time Tephro's katana nicked Shinyso's shoulder; Shinyso shrugged off the minor injury and sliced his own saber down the outside of Tephro's arm, leaving a shallow, glancing cut. The pair broke apart and circled once more, each looking for an opening.

Jheran's head snapped up suddenly and he spun, eyes going unerringly to where Tephro was locked in combat with his half-brother. Neither was winning, but nor were they losing.
Shinyso slammed Tephro back against the wall. Tephro drove a foot into his half-brother's stomach and cast a desperately frantic look at Jheran - he'd gotten himself in too deep, and he knew it.
I've got to get him out of there.
Jheran glanced at Elexei, who looked back guardedly.
"Ah ... wait here," he said offhandedly, and stalked over to help Tephro.

Tephro hissed in frustration as his blade was blocked yet again. He dove in under Shinyso's saber, tried a crosscut, but Shinyso was already there, blocking.
Abruptly another presence overwhelmed Shinyso's senses. He threw himself to the side, came up, blade in hand, and found himself facing two Bloodflames instead of one.
Jheran towered over Shinyso, who sighed mentally. Just when he'd been winning, too.
"I don't want to fight you," he told the Bloodflame leader. Jheran nodded regretfully.
"I know."
Shinyso was quick on his feet, which was probably all that kept him alive. He managed to avoid every attack Jheran threw at him. But he couldn't keep it up forever.
Finally his speed failed him. He ducked a fraction of a second too late, and the flat of Jheran's blade caught him on the side of the head. Shinyso fell to his knees, stunned.
When his vision cleared, the Bloodflames were gone, and Elexei was nowhere to be seen.

Defalcon realized quickly that Irinn's broadsword was for more than show. The lizard General's natural speed and grace transformed the weapon from a clumsy hunk of steel into a deadly instrument. Defalcon had never seen anyone use a broadsword with so much finesse. He had a feeling that he would not come out on top in this fight.
He avoided a thrust quickly, feeling himself tiring. He wondered if Irinn was experiencing the same deadly fatigue, but if he did the General wasn't showing it. He remained coldly calm.
An explosion directly behind Irinn distracted the General long enough for Defalcon to ready himself for the next attack.
It never came - or at least, Irinn's never came. Defalcon didn't expect the sudden blow to the back of his head as one of the bodyguards lashe dout in an attempt to eliminate this threat. He collapsed without a sound.
A second later, Sasha's scimitar ended that dutiful bodyguard's life.

[4I Falcon]

I can't remember who's battling who anymore. Yay!

*hugs*

[Radium]

Ditto! Yay!

*hugs*

[Kaz]

Shame on j00 ;p.

[Coppertop]

Yes. Shame. *shakes head*

Shinyso vs. Tephro
Elexei vs. Jheran (okay, not really)
Defalcon vs. Irinn
CT, Claw, Electrik & Acid vs. whole bunch of Shellians
Kaz vs. heatseekers =D
Sasha and N0 vs. bodyguards.

Tha's it.

[Coppertop]

:mad:Fine, force me to double post.

Justiar watched in horror as the blue rabbit fell, and Irinn turned to retreat. If Irinn escaped, all of this would have been for nothing.
That could not be allowed to happen. Justiar bent and slid his dagger from his boot.
Irinn turned impatiently. "Justiar!"
And Justiar realized then that Irinn still didn't know.
He scuttled over to Irinn's side, and followed the imperious General for a moment. Then he made his final move.
Irinn stiffened as the dagger found his heart. His unreadable eyes found Justiar's as he fell to the ground.
"Justiar?"
"I'm sorry, General," the spy whispered. Irinn sighed, understanding then.
"Ah."
His lithe body went limp. Justiar rose to his feet. He had an order to make.

Short, but sweet.

[n0]

VERY sweet.
And my page.

[4I Falcon]

Awesomeawesome. I'm sure the double posting can be forgiven, CT. ^^

*hugs*

[Kaz]

>), even so, heat seekers should be very fun things to play with. Especially with a reverse polarity bomb right after the enemies' barrage.

[Risp_old]

Or you could set your enemy on fire.

[Kaz]

Yes, but then they're more inclined to attack you.

[Coppertop]

True.

Dyria watched from the bridge of the Outrider as the battle frigates Starstrider and Starfinder carved a path of destruction through the Shellian vessels. Her satisfaction was understandable.
The remaining Talios had been summoned to the bridge. Captain Lyan himself was there, his expression grave. Dyria steeled herself for the worse.
"Pilots, this is going to come as a bit of a shock to you, especially after the battle you've just been through. We don't have enough pilots to replace those lost today, and CASD Command has decided that Talio should be disbanded."
Dyria sighed. She'd almost expected it. Captain Lyan continued.
"Considering the incredible teamwork you demonstrated out there, I think it is likely that, should CASD form a new squadron, you will be their first choices. You don't have to stay with CASD, of course," he added. "You can go freelance, or you can leave for another system, or sign on with someone else. If you do decide to stay, you can request to join another squad. I doubt you'd be refused. Either way, your ships belong to you, to do with as you will." His disgruntled expression lightened a bit. "I don't think I was supposed to tell you that, so don't mention it to CASD Command."
Dyria smiled despite herself. The Captain sighed.
"That's all for now. Dismissed."

Jack Flash watched as Irinn's awesomely disciplined army advanced, an impenetrable wall of shockbots, Shellians, and Imbaras. The occasional gap in the ranks showed where Carrotan snipers had hit their marks.
With a target that big, you couldn't miss if you tried.
Abruptly the entire mervenary band of Bloodflames halted and then befan to retreat. Jack assumed that Jheran Rambarath was pulling out on Irinn. Maybe he'd come to his senses.
Jack turned away from the monitor in disgust. "Where are they?"
"Patience," Firefox counselled serenely, but he, too, was worried. If Irinn had escaped, Carrotus was virtually doomed.
Jack plopped himself down despondently. Firefox watched him, concerned. Jack wasn't normally a worrier - if a situation came up, he didn't waste time agonizing over it. He acted. Thus, to see him so pessimistic worried Firefox.
"Jack?"
"What?"
"We need a plan if they didn't make it."
"I know that," Jack said caustically.
"And?"
"I'm completely out of ideas."
"That makes two of us, then," Firefox said.
"Three," Wizard piped up reluctantly. Jack groaned.
"Perfect. We're doomed."
"Guys, look at this," Phish said, eyes glued to the monitor. Firefox glanced at it briefly, then did a double take. He stood, green eyes widening.
"Jack, I think you'd better see this."
"What?" Jack said, looking up. He joined Firefox after a moment, and they stood silently, savoring the moment.
The Shellian army was in complete disarray. The Imbaras stood placidly, the shockbots milled around confusedly, and the Shellians were stampeding. Gone was the intense discipline, the rigid training. It was every Shellian for himself.
"Incoming call, Jack, Captain," Wizard said, eyes the size of dinner plates.
"Acknowledge," Jack said absently. The face of a nervous-looking red-gold lizard filled the monitor a moment later. Jack instinctively reached for his blaster.
"Testing, testing ... is this thing even on on? ... uh ... oops." The lizard grinned sheepishly. In the background, Jack could hear Copper's voice.
"Nice, Justiar."
"Haha, sorry. Okay. Which one of you is Jack?"
Firefox pointed at Jack, who rolled his eyes. He left his blaster where it was.
"Okay. I'm Justiar, second in command to the late Irinn Hariam."
Jack reached for his blaster again.
"Wait, no, no! You don't understand! I'm a Carrotan agent! I helped Eva get out, and I nailed Irinn!"
Copper's voice, faint in the background: "'S the truth, Jack."
Jack relaxed again. "Where are you?"
"On our way back from Irinn's base. We'll be back in a few minutes."
The screen fuzzed and went back to the now-deserted could-have-been battlefield, where an army had tramped not five minutes ago. Jack sighed happily and fell backwards into his chir. He peered up genially at Firefox.
"Good thing we didn't need that backup plan after all, huh?"
"Jack," Firefox said dryly, "we didn't have a backup plan."
"I know. Like I said, good thing we didn't need it, hey?"
Firefox shook his head bemusedly. "Whatever you say, Jack, whatever you say."
True to her word, Copper and her strike team trooped in a few minutes later, minus one and supporting two. Jack sized up the situation quickly.
"What happened?"
"Shinyso got the flat of Jheran's sword imprinted on his forehead, Defalcon got bushwhacked from behind, and Kaz lost his few remaining tail feathers to a seeker missile when he detonated it."
Kaz grinned loftily. "I'm only a genius."
"Elexei?"
"Gone." She shrugged. "Dunno where. I'd assume with the Bloodflames."
"So, uh, I take it you got Irinn."
Defalcon groaned and staggered over to a chair, which he dropped unceremoniously into. "You tell him, Shinyso," he said. "I was unconscious on the ground."
"I wasn't much better off," Shinyso reminded him. "I was seeing two of everything, and my ears are still ringing."
And so Justiar, silent observer of the whole thing, was pressed into service to tell the tale. His rendition was short and to the point. Phish sighed and commented that he'd never be a favorite at the War Tavern.
Jack picked himself up. "Well, we'd better report to the Queen. Irinn is out of the way, even if we haven't found Jazz."
"Are you sure you want to brave that, Jack?" Kira asked. Tira nodded emphatically beside her twin. Jack grinned.
"With friends like you, I shouldn't be afraid of anything. Especially when you're coming along."
"Ouch," Electrik chortled. Kira winced.
"Ever have the feeling that you might have been better off keeping your mouth closed?"
"All the time," Kaz said sadly.
"'S okay," Firefox said brightly. "Lori can always calm the Queen down, can't you, Lori?"
No answer.
"Lori?"
No answer.
"Guys," Wizard said after a moment, "our problems have just tripled. Lori and Spaz aren't in the Castle."
There was a stunned silence. Firefox finally broke it.
"Much as I hate to admit it, it falls to us to break the news to the Queen. Let's get it over with."

Nearing the end here. *sighs*

[Radium]

Yaychappeh! But... for your next story, I challenge you to write something with less than eight characters.

[Kaz]

Indeed. Hmm, should write something soon... and stop scraping all the notepads >\

[4I Falcon]

One word.

RAWK!

[acid]

Yaychappie. *Has a complete lack of anything else to say*

[n0]

Yaychappie. *Has a complete lack of anything else to say*

[4I Falcon]

OMG DOUBLE POST! *zort*

[Coppertop]

Yo.

[n0]

OMG DOUBLE POST! *zort*Execpt not, as I am not acid, and acid is not me.

[4I Falcon]

Yes, but you obviously think the same way.

Gasp! Could there be a connection between `N0 and Acid? CONSPIRACY!

[Coppertop]

Ehh, unlikely.

This was a tough chapter to write. *sighs*

No one really wanted to go, so they stalled by taking the long way around, outside the Castle. They chattered and frantically tried to figure out what might have happened to the remaining few members of the Jackrabbit trio.
Shinyso could not say later why he turned around, but turn he did. He shook his head and blinked a few times. Then he turned to Jack.
"Uh, I think I'm hallucinating again. At least, I hope I'm hallucinating, because if I'm not, our problems reproduced and had triplets."
"What?" Jack said, turning also. The he sighed. "Oh."
Shinyso had already seen enough of Jheran and Tephro, but apparently the feeling wasn't reciprocated. The pair of Bloodflames stood only a few feet away, and so did Lori.
Justiar didn't pause to ask questions. His hesitant manner gone, a green blaster appeared in his hand, and he fired twice. Tephro hissed as one shot glanced his shoulder. A second later Jheran, too, held a blaster - and Justiar, a look of pained realization on his face, collapsed, shot cleanly through his heart.
Jack's blaster was in his hand, but his line of fire was blocked by Acid. But Nobody was clear. Raising a hand, he sent a sphere of yellow energy spinning towards Jheran. It arrowed towards the startled Bloodflame, who twisted away too late. It speared through his side. Jheran collapsed without a sound. Stricken, Tephro released Lori and fairly flew to his friend's side.
Lori stumbled over to her friends, face ashen. By the time anyone thought to look for Tephro and Jheran, the Bloodflames were gone.

Spaz wandered around aimlessly through Irinn's deserted headquarters, wondering absently how he had gotten there. He twirled around a few times, giggled, and lurched off down a side corridor.
A green light was blinking in a room off to the side. Spaz looked around with exaggerated care, jumped when he saw his shadow, and tiptoed into the room. He was quite proud of himself - he'd only hit the wall once before finding the door.
The room was empty except for a large, refrigerator-like box, which had a large blinking green light on it. Spaz wandered up to it, tripping on his socks and landing on his face only once.
When he finally made it over, the first thing he noticed was a pad with a bunch of buttons on it. He chortled happily. He loved buttons!
He immediately began randomly hitting them, giggling happily all the while.
Abruptly the green light turned blue. Spaz squeaked in terror, ran, and hid behind the door. A moment later, he forgot what had scared him so much, and wandered out to re-investigate the box. Finally he tried the door that was attached to the front of it. With a hiss, it swung open, and Spaz's big brother fell out.
Spaz squealed in joy and proceeded to bounce up and down on Jazz's stomach until the missing hero groaned and opened one eye. When he saw Spaz avidly staring back, he immediately shut it. Spaz giggled and bounced again. Finally Jazz opened both eyes.
"Spaz, get off of me."
Spaz scrambled off and tried to do a jig. Unfortunately he tripped over his socks and did a somersault instead. Jazz shook his head and stood up.
"Let's get out of here. Lead the way, Spaz."
Spaz proceeded to lead his groggy brother in intricately random patterns around the base, becoming more and more lost and confused in the process. Finally he shrugged and stopped moving, spinning in circles instead. Jazz sighed.
"You're lost, aren't you."
Spaz chirped unhappily. Dizzy, he stopped twirling, and clung to his brother for support. Jazz rolled his eyes.
"Now what?"
After about ten minutes of more wandering around, even Spaz had to admit that he didn't know what he was doing. He tripped over his socks, plopped down, and began despondently palying with dust motes. Jazz groaned.
"Ugh ... I'm going back to bed."
A soft beeping at Spaz's belt caused the young Jackrabbit to leap straight up in shock, cracking the top of his head against the underside of Jazz's chin and crossing his eyes. The older of the duo sat down rather suddenly, blinking in surprise.
"Oooh ..."
Spaz had finally found the source of the beeping. Pulling out his commlink, he pressed random buttons until he found the right one. Jazz watched, bemused.
"You mean to say that you had that the entire time we've been wandering around this dump?"
Spaz giggled and shook the comm. Jazz sighed. "Give me that!"
He snatched the commlink hastily from Spaz, who looked horrified, huge tears welling up in his eyes. Jazz groaned. "Oh, no."
Before Spaz started truly bawling, Jazz found a carrot in his backpack and shoved it at him. Spaz immediately began playing with his new toy. Jazz activated the commlink.
"Hello?"
"Who is this?"
"Uh ... Jazz Jackrabbit."
"Jazz! This is Jack!"
"Jack? Jack who?" Jazz said blankly.
"Jack Flash, remember? Buster Tank and his satellite? Ringing any bells?"
"Ooh yeah! That Jack!"
"Ooh yeah, that Jack. Listen, are you okay?"
"Yeah, why? Where am I?"
" ... we were kinda hoping you could tell us that."
"Sorry."
"'S okay, can't be helped. I assume Spaz is there?"
Jazz glanced over at his brother, who was tugging one a sock and eating the carrot at the same time. "Yeah, you could say that."
"Okay. Stay on the line, Wizard's going to try to locate you."

Some comic relief for y'all =D

[n0]

YaY!

Still not quite sure what is going on, with the Chaos mage and the Order mage dissapearing out of thought and storyline, but I'm sure we are getting close to the end.

/YaY!

[Coppertop]

The Order Mage has vanished to the nether regions. No one knows what happened to him, least of all me. The Chaos Mage will return. We have one and a half pages of handwritten story before the dreaded words 'The End'.
*sighs*

[Risp_old]

This one seems to have gone quick.

[4I Falcon]

*jawdrop*

I have a zillion different things to say about this chapter, but I think I'm just going to stand here speechless for a few moments.

Now that that's done...

Nuu! Justiar! *mourns*

Spaz is so adorably stupid. *grin*

Well, that was two, and now I've gone and forgotten the rest of them.

In any case... this is by far the most awesome piece of literary literature I've seen in a long time. RAWK.

EDIT: Right, now I remember.

There will be a sequel to this, right? *prays silently*

The End are not necessarily bad words. I think they're a sign of accomplishment. "Look, a whole story." You rarely get those words in here... stories just sorta... die.

No, E:JF and SoT are not dead. Stop thinking that, all you foos.

*hugs CT*

[acid]

Yaychappie! Just one thing, though, I think Spaz IS able to talk. But I could be wrong, too. Oh well. Yaychappie again.

[defalcon]

Most excellent.

[Kaz]

Eh... must get to writing my story.

[Coppertop]

Yah, Spaz can talk, but I thought it'd be funnier just to have him sqeak a lot. And giggle.

4I: There might be a sequel. I'm considering a story with my latest chars, Benedict and Autumn. And maybe Mehr.

[Coppertop]

Double post, I know *cringes*

Jack sighed in relief. "They're at Irinn's HQ."
"How the deuce did Spaz get there?" Firefox demanded. He gestured vaguely. "I mean, it's like, way over there, and we're over here, so how did he get from here to way over there?"
Jack shrugged happily. "Who cares? We found them!" He grabbed Headcheese and whirled his bewildered sister around, then gave Firefox a monstrous hug. The Captain looked only a little put out.
"What's this, I'm not invited?"
Jack spun around to see a sopping wet Radium standing in the doorway, dripping all over the previously clean floor. The Chaos Mage grinned breezily and tossed the Riveth to the white rabbit.
"Toldja you'd get it back, didn't I?"
"Yeah, thanks!"
Firefox stared. "What happened to you?"
Radium coughed and shifted uncomfortably. "Oh, that ... well, the Castle seems to have moved a few feet to the left .. either that or the danged spell messed up again ... but anyway, I ended up in the moat."
"Good job, Rad," Copper snickered. Radium gave her an icy stare.
"I told you Chaos Magic was unreliable."

Dyria flipped on her commlink. "CASD CSO 1, this is the Zenith on approach vector 3-9-2, requesting permission to land."
"This is CSO Control. You are cleared to land in hangar 21A, Zenith. Welcome home."
Dyria grinned. "Thanks."
Home.
She was home.

Tephro Charne gazed through the twilight at the Bloodflames' camp from the vantage of a hill, his thoughts on Jheran.
Elexei Rayden came up beside him. 'Shall I give the order to attack?"
Tephro glanced behind himself at the tent.
"Wait."
Jheran would be proud.

THE END

[4I Falcon]

*bows* An excellent end to an excellent story. Congratulations on story number four.

EDIT: A grand total of 51.5 pages. CT4.doc is all set and raring to go.

[Coppertop]

Thank you.

[Radium]

*bows* Wot Fouraye said.

[acid]

Very excellent story. I enjoyed it much. <s>WRITE MORE, SLAVE!</s>

[defalcon]

Excellent story. :D
The ending screams for a continuation tho, CT. ;)

[Kaz]

I'll be honest and say I got lost half-way through.

Edit: Truthfully I'm outlining my own story and don't want to read this again so I don't copy yours and come up with my own situations.

[Coppertop]

I'm not sure about the next one (tho I am sure there will be one). Hmm.