Page claim.

Well, after three and a half months, I've finally finished another chapter of System of Turbulence. It was a harrowing experience, due to the massive writer's block I've been suffering for the last long while, but I think this one's a lot more satisfactory than some of the other crapajoe I've been writing recently.

Enjoy.

Chapter 13: Playing the Odds

Proteus snickered at the five rabbits as they stared at him in disbelief. “Dun’ tell me you weren’t expecting this. Did you honestly think Lord Devan would jus’ let you waltz right in and try to screw him over again?”
Jazz grinned. “Try, nothing,” he whispered to Spaz and Lori. “Lord Idiot-brain does a pretty good job of screwing himself over without our help.”
They snickered.
Canadian acted as voice for the group, in a fair imitation of the Turbulent Tuf Turtle’s mild, albeit unplaceable, accent. “An’ I s’pose you’ll be the one to try to stop us, right?”
Proteus sneered, as he mimicked Jazz’s speech. “Try, nothin’. You twerps are as good as dead, right here, right now.”
Jazz curled his lip in irritation, and lifted his weapon, apparently having forgotten that it was home to a dead weapon battery. Undauntedly, Spaz and Lori did similarly, and Acid simply smirked at Proteus as his fingers traced along the length of Coppertop’s blaster. “You have to catch us first before you can kill us, you do know that, right?”
“Watch me.”
With that, Proteus disappeared from view, and all five of the rabbits instinctively took a step back. Unfortunately for Acid, the Turbulent appeared directly before the green-furred rabbit, capturing him in a crushing bodylock as he backed up. Acid quickly threw a punch backwards at Proteus, but as soon as it hit, he felt like had just tried to put a dent into a brick wall. He stifled a groan of pain as his knuckles cracked simultaneously, and his fist bounced harmlessly off of Proteus’ steely shell.
By now, more than a few bullets had bounced similarly off of Proteus’ back, but it wasn’t for lack of trying; Jazz’s pulse gun’s battery was long dead, and Spaz’s shotcannon had decided to take that moment to jam, but Lori and Canadian valiantly let fly from their respective blasters, and countless pings rang out through the stone corridor as their bullets ricocheted in every direction off of the metallic shell. Proteus laughed uproariously as they repeatedly failed to even dent his tempered shell, and roughly grabbed Acid’s neck. The struggling rabbit emitted a strangled squeak as Proteus’ fingers closed around his throat, and then a gurgle of pain as the silver turtle lifted him up by the neck and flipped him over an armoured shoulder. Acid’s eyes widened in horror as the tip of the blade fused to Proteus’ shell narrowly missed his crotch, and he quickly stopped struggling, hanging pendulously over Proteus’ murderous blade and clinging for dear life to the hand around his neck.
The rabbits were immediately faced with a stalemate. Judging by the glint off of Proteus’ shell blade from even the limited light within the stone corridor, if any one of them made a wrong move, the Turbulent would not hesitate to split Acid in half. But there was no way to free Acid from his perilous position that they could see.
Proteus smirked darkly at the other four rabbits, backing away slowly from him. “Heh, all outta ideas?” He grinned even more widely as he received no answer from the group.
After a brief, harrowing interval, Lori moved subtly to Jazz, and she spoke so quietly he was forced to tilt one ear toward her to hear what she was saying. “Give me your gun.”
“What? But—”
Lori shot her brother a no-nonsense look, and he went silent. “Give me your gun. Now.”
Jazz, subconsciously trying to convince himself that Lori knew what she was doing, silently handed the pulse gun to her. She took it by the handle atop its length, looked it over, then flipped it into her hand, swinging her arm back and forth once to test its weight as she looked up at Proteus.
The turtle watched Lori carefully, trying to decide whether or not what she was doing was a threat. There was a pained gasp from behind his head as Acid wrenched Proteus’ grip open far enough to take in as much of a breath as he could; then the fingers snapped closed again, like a steel trap, around the green rabbit’s throat.
Then Lori went into action. Pulling her arm back and sighting at Proteus with her other hand, she winged the gun at the large turtle as if it were a boomerang. As she had predicted, Proteus ducked, letting go of Acid to drop him onto his shell blade. However, the flying pulse gun turned out to have a different target; just before Acid was undone right up the middle, the gun hit him in the shoulder, with enough force to knock him askance and cause him to fall over sideways, away from the blade.
Acid landed heavily on his back, rolled, and got to his feet closer to the others as Proteus roared in frustration. The green rabbit was no sooner on his feet than Coppertop’s gun was aimed directly at Proteus’ head. He was breathing heavily, still in the throes of a flood of adrenaline, and his eye twitched as he glared at Proteus.
Proteus crushed the dead pulse gun underfoot with a loud snarl. “Lucky y’got yer friends around t’save yer sorry behind, rabbit, but your luck’s run out this time.”
The reptile clenched his powerful fists, and sneered. “Lord Devan will be mighty pleased with me when I tell him I snapped all of yer necks, one by one.”
Acid pulled the trigger first, out of tension, and the bullet burst out of the barrel with a dull blast. Proteus showed a split second of surprise as the gun flared, and then one steely arm swung up, batting the bullet aside with such force that a small cloud of dust exploded outward from the wall a short distance away as the bullet buried itself in it.
Proteus smirked, as Acid tried furiously to mask the sudden feeling of anxious fear that fell onto him. “Looks like you missed.”
Acid’s fist tightened so greatly around the handle of Coppertop’s blaster that the tendons on his hand showed easily through his fur. His eyes flicked about as he frantically searched for a weak point of any sort, but his attention was drawn away as the Turbulent stepped forward, the superior, victorious grin still on his face.
With each step forth that the giant turtle took, the rabbits moved back just as far. All of their respective minds raced, but nothing came to their desperate minds to destroy Proteus.
Then fortune finally decided to turn to the rabbits, and it bestowed upon them a miracle, in the form of a very familiar voice.
“Hoi! Buckethead!” The taunt rang out from behind the Turbulent, and he stopped in mid-stride. He still had his smug sneer on his face as he pivoted overconfidently on one foot, but the sneer was quickly lost as he found himself faced with Coppertop, holding Acid’s rocket launcher, poised to fire upon Proteus.
The mercenary smirked as Proteus’ expression changed, and his powerful front quickly dissolved upon sight of the weapon. Acid, Canadian, and the Jackrabbits quickly backpedalled to the wall, and Coppertop glanced at them, nodding once before turning her attention back to the turtle.
“Get this.”

The roar echoed through the cavern as the rocket barreled out of the mouth of its launcher, and Proteus was only able to get a few strides before it struck him in the back. The ensuing blast blew all of the rabbits backward, and their eyes and ears were assaulted with the effects of the explosion.
After what seemed like twenty minutes crammed into twenty seconds, the explosion slowly died off, and there was a deathly silence as the rabbits slowly picked themselves up off the stone floor of the cavernous passage. Jazz and Canadian were both slightly dizzy from cracking skulls on the way down, and Spaz was pinned under a slab of rock that had fallen from the wall he had just collided with. It took both Acid and Lori to haul the large stone chunk off of Spaz’s thin body, at which point he realized that he could still move his legs, albeit not without pain.
Coppertop let the rocket launcher slowly drop to the floor, and fell back herself, landing heavily on her tail end and rubbing her forehead ruefully. She found herself fighting off a sudden wave of nausea, which was unusual for her at a time like this. “Urgh… that went well…”
Canadian, who was closest to Coppertop at the moment, nodded to the mercenary, with a dizzy, but comically sage grin on his face. “Indeed. Thermonuclear missiles tend to do a good job on generally anything.”
With a little help from Lori and Acid, Spaz came to his feet, and leaned slightly on his sister for balance as the pain in his legs flared, then faded again. Jazz relied on the wall he had almost slid into as he gradually brought hmself to a standing position, and gingerly rubbed a finger across a patch of missing fur on his shoulder.
A moan of pain was heard from a short distance along the corridor, and Jazz immediately turned his head to look for the source. Cautiously taking one pace in the direction of the sound, he blinked as his hand failed to find his blaster in its usual place. His fingers grabbed helplessly at the air where his gun handle should have been, and he felt himself becoming very edgy, feeling powerless without blaster in hand.
It turned out, soon enough, that it didn’t matter whether he had his blaster ready or not. He found Proteus, on his back and weakly struggling to flip himself over, with his razor-edged shell blade broken off a few feet away. The incapacitated turtle saw Jazz at about the same time, and his expression was one of defeated agony.
Jazz felt his anxiety easily slip away, being replaced with his normal collected coolness as he advanced toward the doomed turtle. The pitiful reptile made one last effort to flip himself over, then looked at Jazz pleadingly. “Please… have mercy… spare me…”
The green-furred hero frowned disdainfully at Proteus. “Show you mercy, just after you were going to try to kill us? What do you think the chances are that I’m just going to let you go?”
Proteus’ eyes filled with fear, and his voice became little more then a terrified squeak. “…Slim to nil?”
Jazz sneered a sneer more evil than he actually wanted, but he was satisfied with the state of the helpless ex-Turbulent. “Bingo.”
Proteus whimpered as Jazz lifted his foot, and made one last sob as the rabbit brought it down onto his neck, crushing his throat and ending his battle-hardened life for good.
Lori slowly made her way over as Jazz removed his foot from the remains of Proteus’ ruined neck, and blinked. “What the eff happened here?”
Jazz shrugged nonchalantly. “Just another routine reptile dispatch. Is everyone ready to go?”
“Pretty much, yeah.”
“Good. Considering that I don’t have a weapon, feel free to lead the way.”
“Righty.”
Before long, the group was on the move once more, two steps closer to ultimately finding and stopping Devan Shell and his Turbulent army before he became too powerful to challenge.
It meant that they were almost out of time.

Wow, at last It's been ages since the last part, but 4I, this time you really wrote a great one. I loved it. Action is always cool.

*can't wait for more*

Yaychappie!

I was gonna ask where I was =D Poor Acid. *shakes head*

stupid power company!!!!11

just at the moment when i read this story the power shut off for 3 hours (not as much as in america for days...) but it suxed. well now ive read it and i can comment it: No Comment! wowyay what a roxing chapter, i kept dreaming about it. This fight taking place in the basement of our school ?!? most of the time dreams are kind ow whacked anyway. <-- this is not to be taken all to serious.
Whatever

-Scatman

If the basement of your school resembles a dark, rocky cavern, then it would probably work just fine, I s'pose.

ive never seen the basement of this school, but i did see the basement of my prevois school. well it was all just a whacked dream.

SoT has finally been revived, again, after another three-month-long delay. I sincerely apologize for the monstrous delay, but there's been so much stuff going on lately that I could hardly keep up without doing any writing, let alone with. That, and there's my writer's block to contend with. But you'll all be happy to know that I finally finished another chapter. So here it is. Enjoy, or I will hurt someone.

Chapter 14: System Failure

Devan swore long, loud, and descriptively as he watched his first and only turtle Turbulent fall, and whirled around to face Vaper, standing stoically behind him, as always. The bespectacled turtle sputtered as he struggled to find something to scream at the rabbit, and after a few failed attempts he simply pointed at the door, his eyes glinting madly. Vaper couldn’t help but notice Devan’s eye twitching, but his inquiry was cut off by another bout of infuriated non-language from Devan. Before the maddened mastermind had a chance to recompose himself, Vaper was gone, out the door and into the twisting corridors of Whitespire.

Coppertop, even despite her renowned endurance, was not faring well. Her stride had been reduced to a stagger at best, and Lori had to support her on a number of occasions. On top of that, her face had taken on a pale tone, visible even through her fur, and her expression in general looked like she had gone several days without sleep.
Finally, Lori stopped, just as the mercenary missed a step and fell forward. Quickly catching her friend before she hit the ground, the gold-furred Jackrabbit sister held Coppertop steady for a few seconds, then lowered her into a sitting position, and crouched before her. “What’s up, CT?”
“I’m sorry, Lori… I can’t keep going like this…”
Lori frowned. To say that Coppertop looked unwell would be an understatement. She was visibly pale and shuddering, and a few beads of sweat were noticeable even through her fur. The mercenary looked absolutely drained, exhausted to the point of pain, and she looked up at Lori with a listless expression.
Jazz appeared beside them. “What’s going on?”
“We need to get Copper out of here, and to a hospital as soon as possible. I don’t know what’s hit her, but… well, look at her.”
Jazz winced, and nodded. “You’re right. It’s probably in her best interests to get some medical attention.”
Lori nodded in response. “I’ll take her back to Carrotus City. It’s the closest place with a decent hospital.”
Jazz raised an eyebrow. “Wait, what? We need your help here!”
“And how else do you propose that Copper gets to Carrotus City? Someone needs to take her there.”
Another voice, somewhat quieter, came from behind Lori. “I’ll take her to Carrotus City.”
Lori quickly pivoted on one heel, and the barrel of Jazz’s blaster was almost pressed against Vaper’s nose. The grey-furred rabbit showed no sign of surprise or shock at the sudden movement, nor was there any indication of fear induced from having the business end of a gun less than an inch away from his face; nevertheless, he did not move, in order to keep from giving her a reason to shoot. There were a few moments of silent tension, as Vaper watched Lori’s finger practically itching to pull the trigger of her brother’s blaster and put a bullet through the Turbulent’s head, before he slowly raised his hands, showing his empty palms.
“I mean you no harm. I have detached myself from Shell, and wish to join your alliance. Your friend needs help; I will take her to a hospital and ensure that she is treated.”
“Oh, is that it?” Lori snarled, tightening her trigger finger as she readied for the kill. “What makes you think we’re going to trust you, after all the crap you’ve made us go through? As far as I see it, you’re only fit to have a hole put through your head. And I’d be more than happy to do the job.”
“Do you really have the time to doubt my intentions?” Vaper asked calmly, not showing the slightest emotion. “Your friend here could be dying. I can get her to the nearest city faster than any of you can. And, if I remember correctly, time is currently against you.”
Jazz took another look at the now unconscious Coppertop, then at Lori. “He’s right… let him take her.”
Lori glared at Jazz for a few moments, then finally pulled the gun away from Vaper’s face. “Fine. I don’t know why I’m saying this, but get going.”
Vaper nodded, and picked Coppertop up, hoisting her limp body over his shoulder. With one more glance at Jazz and Lori, he sped off down the rocky corridor, back in the direction that the rabbits had come.
Lori turned around again, and looked at the floor. “I hope CT’s going to be alright…”
Jazz gently laid a hand on his sister’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Lori. Copper will be just fine.”
Lori looked at her brother incriminatingly. “Tell me again why you wanted Vaper to take her back? He’s been trying to kill us since before we even got into this godforsaken mountain, and now you’re trusting him with her life?”
“Listen, Lori, it was either that or lose two of our own group instead of one. I had to trust him. Besides, he said he isn’t working for Shell anymore…”
“Jazz, I have only one thing to say to you,” Lori muttered. “You are a flaming idiot.”
With that, she strode past him, back to the rest of the group, leaving the temporarily speechless Jazz behind her. It took him a few seconds to follow suit, and he quickly made his way over to Lori.
“What the heck was that all about?” Jazz asked incredulously.
“I’m sorry, I’m just in a state of complete disbelief that you actually trusted him just because he said he’s not working for Shell anymore. If I said I no longer pledged my allegiance to Carrotus, would you believe me?”
“Well, no, but that’s different.”
“How?”
“Because you’re my sister.”
“And therefore, you can read my mind?”
“Okay, fine, I admit it! It was a bad choice!” Jazz whispered harshly to Lori. “Look, failing everything else, we don’t have to worry about having to fight him anymore.”
“I can’t believe this. CT’s life is in jeopardy, and the best point you can make is that we don’t have to fight him anymore.”
She turned around. “I’m going to go after them.”
Before Jazz could stop her, she was gone, leaving only dust in her wake. He could only awkwardly start running as well, as fast as he could, in a desperate bid to catch up to his sister.
“Lori, wait up!”

Blinking a few times in puzzlement, Canadian looked to Acid and Spaz, the only two others remaining. “So… what do we do now?”
“Um… I think pressing onward would be a good plan right about now, I guess,” Acid replied. “No point in just standing around here and waiting for something interesting to happen.”
“This is true,” Canadian agreed. “I just hope there aren’t any more surprises waiting for us…”
Acid frowned. “Well, we’ll deal with those if’n’when they come up. Right now, Devan’s still on the loose. Who’s up for helping to stop him?”
“Count me in,” Canadian replied. Spaz just nodded, and grinned widely.
“Then let’s pick up where we left off,” Acid said, sounding more leader-like than he had thought he could, as he turned to go. Canadian and Spaz were not far behind him when he did.

“No! This can’t be happening!” Devan bellowed as he watched, from deep within the caverns of his mountain lair, his once-loyal Turbulent Vaper tearing out of Whitespire at an impossible speed, with Coppertop lying on his back, unconscious. He forcefully kicked a nearby console, and subsequently roared in a mix of frustration and pain as he only succeeded in injuring his foot against the immovable console.
Pivoting on his uninjured foot, he glared at Tokivi, the only lizard stoically brave enough to stay around Devan when he was mentally capable of ripping any lizard’s head off of his shoulders.
“Tokivi!” Devan screamed, his entire body shaking in frustration. “Get every living lizard and turtle in this mountain, and send them all after those rabbits! All of them! I want those blasted furry intruders killed, right effing now!”
Tokivi made his exit amidst Devan’s frenzied cursing, knowing that this time, there was no room for error. The rabbits must die.

As Tokivi left, Devan made his way into a small side cavern, snarling as if imitating a rabid dog. Waiting for him in this smaller chamber was nothing but a single, heavily-armed ‘Mech, standing almost twice as tall as the turtle, as well as a similarly heavily-armed, spider-like Nakmachine, whose eyes sparked to life as Devan entered.
Wasting no time in climbing into the cockpit of the waiting ‘Mech, Devan cracked his neck loudly. “It never fails. If I want something done properly, I have to do it myself. And it’s about time something got done properly around here.”
With a whir, the deadly ‘Mech came to life, and Devan laughed as he piloted it out into the cavernous corridors of Mount Whitespire, with the Nakmachine close behind.
Three rabbits, against a horde of lizards and turtles, the ferociously predatory Nakmachine, and Devan himself, riding in a customized ‘Mech…
There was no way he could lose this time.

Excuse me while I retrieve my jaw from the floor.

...

Okay, got it ... OMG.
This is one person you won't be hurting. That is phenomenal. Incredible. Pure talent. *falls over*

Thankee kindly, CT. And don't worry, this isn't your last appearance in SoT... you get a good bunch of action later on. >D

Amazing!
This has been my favourite part so far....I wish I was in the story too...
(I know that I said that the previous part was my favourite, but this one is even better!)

That reminds me that I promised to write something err....in September or October last year?

A while ago anyway. You're never on?

(I suppose that was directed to me)

Well...I had some troubles with an important exam which I had to take err...many times before it finally worked three days ago, and in the meantime my internet connection kept on getting slower and slower and I was kinda away...just working on my own websites and checking mail.

I'll try to catch-up Anyway, I'm on one of my messengers at least every second day.

Awesome chappie as always. I suppose the Nakmachine is from Gunbound, yes?

Ha. You are correct.

I was intending to call it something else, but Nakmachine just sounds so cool.

That it does.

However, to sate Softnyx's rampaging copyrights, I'm probably going to change the designs a bit. (read: overkill in the guns department)

Nice!

I have no real introduction for this chapter, other than that I finished it on my vacation. Rejoice.

Chapter 15: Misplaced Mistrust

After some amount of time, Coppertop slowly came to, instantly being welcomed back to consciousness by a sharp twang of pain in the back of her head. She moaned as a few similar twangs took their toll on her senses, and attempted to reach up to rub her aching head. After a few tries, she realized she couldn’t move her arms from their position, and her eyes snapped open, now very alert.
“Ah, you’re awake,” a familiar voice spoke. “Good, good.”
Coppertop was nearly speechless as she painstakingly made the mental connection between the voice and its owner. “What the…? Not you!”
“No need to be alarmed. I’m taking you to Carrotus City, to get you to a hospital. You have not been faring well, and your friends found it in your best interest that you get medical attention for whatever it is that is ailing you.”
“What…? How… No! You’re lying! Let me go!” Coppertop snarled, jerking backward in an attempt to break Vaper’s grip on her arms. She was rewarded with a burning stab of pain as both of her shoulders snapped out of place with a loud crack.
“I would advise against struggling. Even if I weren’t telling you the truth, you would not be able to escape; then, even if you did, you would not get far, judging by your lacklustre state of performance within the mountain. You have one option, and that is to trust me.”
A feeling of nausea shot through the mercenary, partially from the realization that Vaper was right, and partially from the sensation of speed that her taking an express ride on the back of the Turbulent caused.
“And… if I don’t?” Coppertop asked quietly.
“I don’t recall making any indication that you had a choice,” Vaper replied. “In any case, I have been entrusted to this task, and—”
“Wait, what?” Coppertop blurted out, surprised. “You were told to take me to a hospital?”
“Indirectly, yes.”
“By wh—”
“Your friends, back in the mountain.”
Coppertop’s mind raced. Why would her own comrades enlist someone else to escort her, especially this rabbit in particular? Had he not just been trying to kill them less than an hour before? She knew there was a piece of the puzzle still yet to be found, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was.
She glanced at the back of Vaper’s head. What was it that encouraged him to change sides, anyway, especially right when the group was most vulnerable to attack? He could easily have simply swept by and killed her, as well as one or two of the others, and then escape again. Heck, he could just drop her right here, twenty miles from the middle of nowhere, and leave her to die. But instead, he chose to help her.
There was a lot more to Coppertop’s impromptu escort than she had previously believed. It would take her a long time to even begin to figure him out.

“Lori!”
The gold-furred Jackrabbit sister shot a glance behind her. Jazz was gaining on her, but not rapidly.
“Come on, Lori, slow down!”
Lori just turned her attention back to the horizon in front of her, and strained her eyes to find any signs of Vaper. Despite her best efforts, she could not see any indication of the steel-grey rabbit anywhere, nor that she was even going the right way. She hoped, for her friend’s sake, that she was.
The spires of Carrotus Castle were just beginning to appear in the distance when Lori tripped, and fell heavily to the ground. Landing expertly on one shoulder, she rolled once, then planted her foot strongly against the ground, stopping her roll. Bringing herself back to a standing position, she looked up to see Jazz gradually slowing to a stop not far in front of her.
“That looked painful,” Jazz commented blithely. “You alright?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Lori replied, brushing off some dirt that had attached itself to the fur on her side. Without another word, she took up where she had left off, on a beeline toward the towering image of the Castle’s twin spires. Jazz made sure, this time, that he was not far behind.

*continued from last post... dur*



Once inside Carrotus City, Lori wasted no time in asking passers-by if they had seen a grey rabbit, moving super-fast and carrying another grey rabbit with him. Though she was almost positive that Coppertop hadn’t made it this far, especially in the hands of the enemy, she couldn’t help but carry a glimmer of hope that even one rabbit would say he or she saw them. As she had regretfully expected, she was systematically disappointed by the number of apologetic citizens who had not seen the rabbits in question.
Out of the corner of her eye, Lori saw Jazz asking a similar question to others a short distance away. However, he was also being followed by a throng of rabbits who recognized him as the lone adventurer who fought his way through more than two dozen planets crawling with reptilian goons and singlehandedly rescued the Princess from the slimy grip of Devan Shell, not to mention the renowned hero who was originally to be her husband. Jazz did his best to stick to the task at hand, but Lori could see that the fame was going to his head.
While Lori was watching Jazz, she bumped into a white rabbit, who turned from his gaze into a store window only to glance at her.
“Um, sorry about that,” Lori mumbled.
“S’okay,” the rabbit replied, looking back into the window.
“By any chance, have you seen a greyish-furred rabbit go by here lately? On foot, going real fast, carrying another grey rabbit with him?”
“Can’t say I have, sorry,” he answered quietly.
At that moment, a smaller, blue-furred rabbit came bounding up, a wide smile on her face. “Ooo! I have, I have!”
With a new sense of hope, Lori looked at the excited little rabbit. “Really? You’ve seen them?”
“Yee-up, seen ‘em! They go-ed by fast!” the blue rabbit giggled, grinning from ear to ear.
“Which way did they go?” Lori asked, feeling rejuvenated from hearing this good news.
The little rabbit pointed down the road. “They went that-a-way!”
Lori was almost surprised to realize that the direction in which the overexcited rabbit was pointing was, indeed, the way to the Carrotus City Hospital.
“Thank you very much,” Lori said gratefully to the blue rabbit.
“Y’welcome,” she replied, and bounced away again.
Lori turned around. “Come on, Jazz! This isn’t an autograph session! Let’s go!”
Jazz quickly extricated himself from the crowd that had formed around him, and was close behind Lori as she sped off toward the Carrotus City Hospital.

The receptionist behind the front desk of the Carrotus City Hospital nearly fell out of her seat in surprise as the main doors burst open, and Jazz and Lori Jackrabbit practically flew through them, making their way to the front desk in a matter of split seconds. She looked from one to the other, an expression of mild confusion on her face.
“Um, can I help you?”
Jazz nodded quickly as Lori spoke. “Have you seen two grey-furred rabbits come through here? One was carrying the other on his back?”
The receptionist raised an eyebrow. “Actually, yes… they came racing through here about two minutes ago, and just bolted up the stairs at full speed—”
At that moment, a grey blur dashed past the two Jackrabbits, almost knocking Jazz over as it passed. He fell slightly against the front desk as the rabbit in question slowed to a stop, and turned to face them.
Vaper smirked. “Well, I’m glad that you two were finally able to catch up with me. I’ve just delivered your friend Coppertop into the capable hands of a good doctor; hopefully I didn’t give her anything worse than a broken nose.” He snickered.
Lori’s expression was considerably less friendly, and her fingers traced along Jazz’s blaster. She was momentarily startled by the fact that it was not her own, but she quickly remembered that she had been carrying her brother’s weapon for the last while, and wondered why she had involuntarily chosen that moment to forget before turning her attention back to the situation at hand. “That’s not funny, you realize that. First off, I want to know just who in the Queen’s name you think you are, and secondly how you have the cajones to even think of allying with us after all the crap you put us through back at Whitespire.”
“To answer your first question, my name is Vaper. As for the second, it wasn’t a matter of having ‘cajones’ enough to join your side. It was simply due to the fact that I was more than sick and tired of my once-dear Lord Shell treating his greatest achievement ever like sh—”
Vaper glanced to one side to see a mother with her leveret calmly strolling by; other than a quick glance from the young one, the two paid the grey rabbit no heed. Nevertheless, Vaper cleared his throat, and corrected himself. “…ahem… like dirt. Besides, what kind of sensible soldier turns down an ally toward the cause?”
Lori muttered something under her breath, and forced herself to bring her hand away from the gun so close at hand. “I suppose you have a point,” she said through gritted teeth. “Unless this is all part of an intricate ploy, in which case I’ll be using your spine for a backscratcher, there’s really no reason not to trust you, is there?”
“Then it’s settled,” Vaper answered. “I’ll fight alongside you and your group against L… er, Devan Shell, until this whole threat is neutralized. Come, we’d best make haste back to the mountain.”
Vaper sped off, with Jazz and Lori not far behind him, and were out of Carrotus City in less than a few minutes.

About two kilometers away from the city, Jazz came up beside Lori. “You’ll use his spine as a backscratcher? Where the heck did that come from?”
Lori frowned. “I just don’t like him, Jazz. I really don’t.”
They continued in silence.

Awesomely awesome chapter.



About how far from the end would you say you are?

I'd say about six or seven more chapters. Give or take.

He dislocated both shoulders AND broke my nose?! AAAA!

Another top-notch chapter, 4I. *bows*

Not quite dislocated, just a crack, like when you crack your knuckles. It probably still hurt, though.

And thank you.

Ah. Yes, that would hurt.

Random, month-late bit of information, that nobody really cares about anyway:

It was Spaz that broke your nose, CT, with that headbutt from before. Vaper just aggravated the injury.

I'm not in the best of moods at the moment, so I don't have much to say about this chapter. Enjoy or die.

Chapter 16: Worst Case Scenario

Canadian slammed into the hard rock wall as the Nakmachine prepared a second grenade, and the rabbit slid to the floor with a pained grunt. He hardly had time to awkwardly roll out of the way as the spiderlike machine let fly again, and the ensuing blast all but flipped him head over heels. While the Nakmachine reloaded a third time, he put his own weapon to use, sending a cavalcade of rapid blaster shots at his aggressor. The bullets didn’t seem to do much to the Nakmachine, save for angering it even further.
Acid ferociously swung his rocket launcher like a massive red club, and the three turtles he caught in the face were sent flying a short distance. He quickly checked the integrity of the powerful missile within, that he had intended to set loose upon Devan’s ‘Mech before he was attacked by a mob of reptiles. Satisfied with what he saw, he wasted no time in dispatching a few more in the same fashion as before.
Spaz ducked under Devan’s giant, swinging gun, and jumped straight up, right in front of the bespectacled turtle. One foot landed squarely on Devan’s face, and Spaz snickered as he heard a loud, aggravated yelp. The rabbit was about to leap off of Devan’s face when a scaly hand suddenly snared his ankle. The oversized sock on his foot slipped off easily, but Spaz still flipped ungracefully over the back of the ‘Mech, landing hard on his behind.
As Devan turned around, Spaz sprang again. Despite the turtle’s valiant attempt to smash him against one of the ‘Mech’s guns, he skilfully vaulted off of the rollcage in which Devan sat, and caught its “shoulder”, somersaulting over the top of the machine and grabbing hold of its back in a maneuver similar, if not identical, to that which Coppertop had used on him while he was under the effects of Turbulence. Kicking his other sock off, he immediately started wreaking havoc on the electronic component of the war machine, tearing away with his hands, feet, and teeth at any exposed wires he could see.
Devan’s frustrated screaming stopped the other turtles dead in their tracks, and Acid took the opportunity to send one more turtle careening into its partners with a powerful smash from the back end of the rocket launcher. Instantly making an exit out of the wake of the fallen reptile, his only words were “Bombs away!” as he set his devastating RaCO missile loose on the horde. Fortunately for him, he was able to escape the rapidly expanding blast from the rocket this time, as the turtles were all but vaporized.
The Nakmachine’s entire back end, where it had been storing its seemingly endless supply of grenades, erupted into a ball of flame as the shockwave from Acid’s rocket collided with it. It quickly turned around to try to find whatever had caused the explosion, arming the only functional weaponry it had left, which was a single laser based between its eyes. Needing only a moment to consider, Canadian leapt onto its back, and grabbed its head in both hands, holding on tightly as it started to buck like an angered bull. The laser flared once, carving a deep trench into the rock ceiling above, before the Nakmachine finally dislodged the rabbit, throwing him to the hard floor. It turned around quickly as Canadian fell to the floor with a loud thud, and its laser was rapidly charging to fire upon the interloping rabbit. Canadian’s life was only saved by the heavy slab of stone, dislodged by the laser, that fell from the ceiling to crush the Nakmachine under its weight just moments before it fired.
A similar sizable boulder crashed to the ground directly behind Devan, throwing his ‘Mech off balance. It toppled forward, almost in slow motion, taking Spaz with it as it fell. The young Jackrabbit put a generous distance between himself and the ‘Mech as fast as he could by way of a long double jump, and the deadly machine had hardly hit the ground before a third falling rock destroyed its legs, leaving it immobile.
Devan struggled with the non-functional legs of his disabled ‘Mech for a few moments, before looking up to see the barrels of Canadian’s and Spaz’s respective blasters pointed directly at his head, with Acid standing a short distance away, leaning nonchalantly on his rocket launcher. The turtle tried to get his arms and legs free, then smiled weakly at the rabbits. “D’you think, maybe, we could, y’know, talk this over, or something?”
“Oh, and only now he wants to talk it over,” Canadian muttered, to nobody in particular. He scowled at Devan. “How’s about you have a nice, in-depth conversation with the end of my gun?”
“Wait! Wait wait wait!” Devan shrieked, just before Canadian pulled the trigger. “Don’t kill me! There’s something I need to tell you!”
Canadian growled, and lifted the gun away from Devan’s face slowly, his eyes glinting dangerously. “Like what, dirtbag?”
Devan tried once more to pull an arm out of its impromptu trap; failing that, he could only gesture with his head. “Turn around!”
However, Canadian just burst out laughing. Devan was apparently surprised by his reaction, judging by the expression on his face; Spaz and Acid appeared equally nonplussed.
Canadian snickered. “Do you honestly believe we’re going to fall for that trick? Turn our backs on you so you can escape, or shoot us, or something? Ha!”
The façade of amusal quickly fell, revealing the dark leer brought on by throwing one’s victory in one’s enemy’s face. His voice was low, laden with venom, when he spoke. “We’re not simpletons, you scum. Some of us are a little weird, I’ll give you that, but we’re not stupid. It’s unfortunate for you that you didn’t get that beaten into your head before you started trying to destroy Carrotus. And now, at long last, you’re going to die for your mistakes.”
“Though,” Acid interjected, “it is sort of ironic that the great Devan Shell, turtle mastermind, conqueror of two dozen worlds, abductor of Princess Earlong, leader of the greatest army ever to attack Carrotus, et cetera, et cetera, couldn’t think of a better distraction than ‘turn around.’ I would have expected something better.”
Spaz giggled, and nodded enthusiastically.
Devan’s expression of abject fear suddenly disappeared, instantly being replaced by his trademark evil sneer. “Fine, then. Don’t turn around. It’s your funeral.”
Canadian raised an eyebrow skeptically, and turned around just as the deafening roar of the crimson D.A.E.M.O.N. missile igniting, deep inside the tank-like Turbulence Machine, less than a dozen steps away from the rabbit trio, filled the cavern.
Canadian found himself unable to move, as he watched the red missile tear out of the Turbulence Machine in what felt to him like slow motion. It was only Acid’s quick-thinking tackle that pulled him out of the deadly rocket’s trajectory. Time seemed to resume its normal pace as he hit the ground jarringly, but his eyes remained glued to the missile as it continued forward unabated, its outer shell disintegrating and loosing the dark essence within.
Devan hardly had time to gasp in surprise as the black cloud struck him in the face.
The three rabbits stared in something of a state of disbelief as the rollcage of the ‘Mech exploded outward from the glassy black bubble quickly taking hold of Devan, who was curled into a fetal position, teeth clenched tightly, just like all those before himself had when they had been infused with the powerful essence of Turbulence. In this, the turtle was no different than any of his predecessors.
Tokivi, who had been the one to set up the Turbulence Machine behind the rabbit trio in the first place, was similarly compelled to watch the transformation of his superior, and he couldn’t help his jaw hanging loosely in awe at the sight of Devan screaming inaudibly, muted by the bubble surrounding him, in what looked to be immense pain. His glasses slid off of his face, and were immediately ripped apart as soon as they fell away from his head. A few seconds later, he flung his limbs outward, floating helplessly within his spherical prison. Thick bolts of black lightning coursed around, into, and through him, causing him to spasm unpredictably. A spray of blood was ejected from his mouth as his head snapped backward, and evaporated on contact with the inner surface of the bubble.
Suddenly, without warning, the sphere shattered into black shards, and Devan hit the ground as the first of the shards crashed upon the stone floor. All four of the onlookers’ breath was lost as they saw just how much the maniacal turtle had been mutated.
Devan’s scales had turned bone-white, and there were silver and red skewer-like spikes growing at crazy angles out of his arms, which had doubled in quantity. His four hands were twice their original size, fitted with metallic knuckles and lethal claws. His shell had cracked open along the front of his waist, revealing the pale scales underneath, and the back of his shell looked more like a silver, black, and red sea urchin than a carapace of any kind, with dozens upon dozens of two-foot-long spikes jutting out of it. Beneath his soulless, empty eye sockets, his fiendish grin was now comprised of rows of long, sharp teeth, that looked more likely to befit a shark than a turtle. A pair of warped, demonic horns had grown out of his head, not matching each other in their curves and twists.
“Playtime’s over, rabbits,” Devan snarled, his voice a guttural growl, and his frightening sneer only moving a little to admit his words. “You’d best start praying to whatever gods you hold most dear, because you’re on your way to meet them.”

Yaaychappie! Excellent writing as always.

Oooh. *faints*

Yes, Devan has actually become *gasp* SCARY!

*revives* *faints again* Scary. Yes.

This chapter used to be better, but my Palm connection backfired and killed about half of it, so I had to rewrite it. Which sucked more than a black hole.

Anyway.

Chapter 17: Full Circle

Acid was the first to snap out of the shocked trance imposed on the three rabbits by Devan’s radical transmogrification, and hoisted his red rocket launcher onto his shoulder. Without a moment’s hesitation, he aimed at the turtle, and pulled the trigger to let fly the cataclysmic projectile within.
It was only when he heard no roar of the rocket igniting, and felt no recoil of the already heavy rocket launcher, that he realized that he had forgotten to reload his weapon.
After a short procession of curses, Acid pulled his backpack off, and opened it hastily, as Canadian and Spaz did their best to keep Devan busy with their blasters. Thrusting his hand inside his pack, he withdrew a white sphere, roughly the size of a bowling ball, divided into halves by a black ring around its center. He examined it for a moment, then pressed two tiny buttons on opposite sides of the small globe, and shoved it into his rocket launcher as the black ring glowed a bright green, pushing it as far in as he could with his hand. Mounting the weapon on his shoulder again, he took aim at Devan, who was busy holding Spaz six feet above the ground, slowly crushing the life out of him with three of his four hands. Canadian lay on the cold stone floor ten feet away from them, winded and sent flying by a single punch to his midriff.
As Devan heard the deafening sound of Acid’s apocalyptic armament, he spun around, throwing Spaz across the cavern effortlessly. He bared his monstrous fangs as the missile hurtled toward him. For a moment, it looked like the turtle had finally met his end, as the projectile raced forward…
Acid’s expression changed to one of frustration as Devan casually sidestepped the path of the oncoming rocket, then to one of horror as the turtle nonchalantly caught the warhead in one hand, as if it were nothing more than a harmless toy. Easily turning the missile around, he lifted it over his head, and his voice was only barely heard over the howling of the rocket.
“That’s not going to work anymore!”
With that, he hurled the rocket back at Acid, accompanying it with his maniacal laughter. The green rabbit just had barely enough time to dodge out of the way of his own weapon before it slammed into the rock wall, loosing its enormous shockwave. He was flung a generous distance by the explosion, and could only land heavily on his shoulder, rolling along the hard stone surface.
Devan snickered as Acid slid to a halt. “Nice try. Perhaps you’d like to make another attempt at something equally imprudent?”
Acid looked up at the turtle, rubbing his shoulder, his expression cold as steel as he spat a response. “Stop acting so sure of yourself, you maniac. We’ve stopped you before, and we can stop you again.”
Devan only laughed. “Stupid creature. You should stop saying ‘we’ as if you were of any sort of assistance ‘before’. You had nothing to do with my previous defeat. In fact, if I remember correctly, it was all because of the doing of one particular warm-blooded interloper: that arrogant fool Jazz Jackrabbit.”
The turtle pointed to his right with one hand. Before Acid had the chance to follow the path of the pointed finger, three of the spikes on Devan’s outstretched arm were suddenly shot forward, and they embedded themselves deep in the body of none other than Jazz Jackrabbit, who had finally returned with Lori and Vaper, and was now standing in the entrance to the massive cavern. The rabbit hero looked down at himself, watching in shock as the three red blotches on his chest and belly grew with abnormal rapidity, staining his green fur. He slowly fell to his knees, his eyes clouding over, before lifelessly collapsing to the stone floor.
Devan chuckled darkly, his eyeless sockets fixed on the prone, injured Acid, as he lowered his arm. “And now, since there’s no more Jazz Jackrabbit to worry about, I guess there’s no one left who is capable of stopping me, is there?”
Lori could only stare in disbelief at the crumpled body of her brother, as a loud roaring noise began to fill her mind. Her legs felt like rubber, her head was swimming, and her stomach was tying itself into an enormous knot. She slowly looked up at the murderous turtle, her hands shaking uncontrollably and her eyes welling up with tears of hatred and loathing like she had never felt before.
Without warning, she suddenly charged at Devan, as if launched from a cannon. Her gun was raised and spewing forth ammunition as she screamed at the top of her lungs. “You murdereeeeeer—!”
Without even bothering to look in her direction, Devan snared Lori’s gun arm in one of his oversized hands, and her enraged battle cry was quickly changed into a howl of pain as he wrenched her arm backwards, pinning it behind her back. As if perfectly practiced, another ghost-white hand appeared, grabbing her by the top of her head. In one swift, final movement, he flicked his powerful wrist sideways, snapping the Jackrabbit’s neck instantly. Her scream of agony was brutally, unnaturally silenced, and all that was left was a weak gurgle as her limp body fell to the floor. Lori had been effectively dispatched in slightly less than three seconds.
Out of the corner of his eye, Acid saw Spaz stumble backward a few steps, in a state of trauma. It was understandable, of course; he had just watched his brother and sister effortlessly snuffed out by their archrival, and he didn’t even get a chance to help them. The single remaining Jackrabbit’s breathing became irregular as he struggled to keep his already fragile mind from shattering.
With only the slightest sound, Vaper appeared behind Acid, and the latter gave the former only a glance.
“Plan?” Acid whispered.
“Go with the red one – not Spaz – to find the Turbulence Machine, and destroy it. Spaz and I will hold Devan off for as long as possible.”
Acid nodded, and tried to attract as little attention to himself as he could as he subtly shifted over to Canadian, in order to pass on the plan of action.
Vaper moved to Spaz, and whispered something in his ear. The young Jackrabbit looked at the Turbulent in shock, as if something beyond belief had just been shared; then he glared at Devan like a rabid animal, with a venomous snarl to match. As soon as Acid and Canadian departed the cavern, on the hunt for the Turbulence Machine that Tokivi had escaped in while the rabbit trio was busy trying to hold Devan at bay, Spaz attacked.

(One word was edited to something more appropriate. - CT)

(THAT'S CHEATING OMJ - 4I)

The young Jackrabbit sprang at the turtle with a feral roar, his long incisors suddenly accompanied by a row of sharp, gleaming, if not irregular, teeth. His eyes glowed with primal rage, shining furiously as he closed in on the murderer of his brother and sister.
One of Devan’s hands shot forward, and caught Spaz by the face, almost sizeable enough to wrap around the rabbit’s entire head. The turtle snickered as he listened to Spaz’s muffled screaming, and watched his squirming, thrashing body attached to the bottom of his fist. A particularly loud cry of agony escaped the rabbit as Devan gradually began to crush his skull in the iron grip of his bone-white hand. Devan smirked darkly, and drew back one other arm, readying it to throw a punch to Spaz’s midsection strong enough to all but rip the one remaining Jackrabbit’s head right off of his body.
However, he never got the chance to throw the punch at all; there was a loud crunching noise from Devan’s hand, and the turtle yelled in pain, throwing Spaz away like the rabbit had just stung him. In a way, that wasn’t far from the truth; Devan stared at his hand in shocked anger, as his blood began to flow from the fresh wound right in the center of his palm.
Spaz got up slowly, growling audibly, and wiped his mouth with one arm. His large front teeth were stained with Devan’s blood, after he had sank them deep into the softer scales of the turtle’s hand. Spitting disdainfully, he glared vituperatively at the angered turtle before launching his second attack.
Devan swung a massive arm at Spaz as the latter approached, in an attempt to smack the young rabbit away. There was a noise that sounded like a brick hitting ground as the turtle’s forearm collided with the rabbit full force, but Spaz did not go hurtling across the cavern, as Devan had expected. The Jackrabbit clung to the thick arm like a magnet, his arms and legs wrapped tightly around the pale extremity. The expression on Spaz’s face was nearly as comparatively frightening as the rows upon rows of needle-sharp teeth that made up Devan’s furious scowl, and the turtle caught a glimpse of Spaz’s enraged, bloodshot eyes as he shook his arm in frustration, trying to dislodge the aggravating rabbit. Spaz could feel the sharp spikes on Devan’s arm raking across his fur and skin, but they didn’t seem to hurt; instead, they only infuriated him further.
Suddenly, Spaz sprung upright, and planted his feet onto Devan’s closed hand, using the leverage from the flailing limb to virtually catapult him high into the air. Time seemed almost to slow down as Spaz ascended nearly to the ceiling of the cavern, then swiftly resumed its original pace as he began to plummet rapidly back to the ground in a rear-first dive.
However, Devan was ready. A steely fist came up to intercept the rabbit as he approached the hard stone ground, and Spaz let out a grunt of pain as he felt his entire body rattling from the formidable strike. The sheer force of the punch sent him backflipping to the ground, and he landed heavily on his belly as all the air in his lungs left him in a single rush.
Taking only a moment to catch his breath and stem the sudden feeling of nausea building within him, Spaz propped himself up on his hands and knees, and sprang forward, aiming his signature flying kick directly at the cracked midsection of Devan’s shell. The turtle’s four hands were only a fraction of a second too late to stop the rabbit, and the sound of Spaz’s heel cracking the hard shell even further was not dissimilar to a rifle going off.
As Devan powerlessly toppled backwards onto his spike-covered back, Spaz turned to face Vaper, his breath coming in onerous pants through tightly gritted teeth. “What are you waiting for? Aren’t you going to help at all?!”
Vaper chuckled darkly, his crimson eyes glinting ominously. “Oh, you have no idea…”
Spaz raised an eyebrow, not entirely understanding what Vaper meant by this statement, before turning back to look down upon the fallen Devan. However, he didn’t even get a full step before he was shot forward by a vicious strike to the vulnerable small of his back.
As he flew headlong across the cavern, Spaz clearly saw Vaper, standing directly behind where the Jackrabbit had been only a second before, his leg still outstretched despite already having long since laid the single, devious attack.
Spaz crashed to the ground, and rolled uncontrollably into the hard rock wall with a loud thud. With a pained groan, he rose arduously to his knees, and tentatively checked the shoulder he had landed on, which felt as if it had wrenched itself out of place when he had hit the floor. He grimaced clearly as it snapped back into its socket, and a wave of tingling numbness rolled up and down the entire length of his arm. Slowly, laboriously, he got up, and glanced at Vaper, who was now helping the previously incapacitated Devan off of his shell and back to his feet.
Vaper sneered at Spaz. “You look surprised. My, but your brood is so exceptionally gullible. Somehow I’m not astonished that two of you are already dead.”
“But… but how could you?” Spaz stammered. “What happened to that whole ‘detaching yourself from Devan’ idea? I thought you were on our side!”
“Well, you obviously thought wrong,” Vaper snickered. “Betrayal seems to be something I’m particularly good at. Your brother and sister had faith in the same idea you did, and look where they ended up.”
“You… you backstabbing, double-crossing rat scumbag!” Spaz screamed.
Vaper only smirked, and wagged a finger at Spaz, as if reprimanding a naughty child. “Now, now. If my count is accurate, I believe I’m a triple-crosser by this point.”
With that remark, he turned to Devan, and bowed his head respectfully. “What shall you have me do… my lord?”
Devan’s needle-sharp teeth glimmered wickedly as his mouth split into a wide, evil grin. “What shall I have you do? …Simple. I shall have you destroy Spaz Jackrabbit, once and for all. And I shall have the pleasure of watching you remove his head.”
Leering at Spaz, he added, “Whether it is before or after he dies is your choice.”
Spaz backed up slightly, but found himself pressed against the solid rock wall. He could only hold his ground, now, as the stalwart Turbulent moved in for the kill…


Now that the holidays are over, I get to go back to work on things that are actually somewhat sort of partially perhaps kind of important, I guess. Hooray.

Dork.

Is it now a fad to kill cannon characters or something?

4I's been planning this for a while, actually. Awesome as always.

Yay for mad rages. Good stuff, though I can't say I particularly trusted Vaper.
Seemed a little familiar at points? Nah.

Originally Posted by Unknown Rabbit

Seemed a little familiar at points? Nah.

Weh?

He's talking about his Psyde Psychrabbit parody, heh. He killed all the Jackrabbits and then revived them.

Oh. Well, that makes sense.

Sort of.