w00tness!
Gottta love their speech, right Yoda?

I claim this page in the name of nothing.

`N0

@Coppertop
Thanks

I agree with N0B0DY: w00tness!


Eval

correct, N0B0DY is.

Great chappie!

*zombie stare*

MOOOOOORRRRRRREEEEEE.....

YAy, I'm famous!

Gah, if I want this to make more sense, I have to finish reading Conquests *stares at 69 page Word document*.

Wow, three pages already This is more that Conquests or Conquerer had. Cool.
You're welcome, Eval. I figured I'd probably be the only one to say it.
Famous? We'll see ....

Despite the robes, the strange Shadorian moved quickly. He kept up easily, and Copper knew that he would not be the hindrance she had feared. They did not run - no betraying footsteps here. No, they walked quickly enough to keep ahead of any pursuers.
Shethlorn and Rethkir vanished somewhere along the way. Copper realized that she hadn't even told them her name. Their trust was profound.
Halfway down the stairs the Shadorian took over. He knelt and whispered something to another living shadow. It moved away, revealing a smaller, steeper set of stairs.
"Come on," he said urgently. Copper nodded and Claw, Shinyso, Acid, Electrik, Defalcon and Crystal went by. Kaz and KRSplat were slower; nervousness around pools of darkness that moved at will, understood speech and concealed entrances was understandable. They did come though. The shadow (dyzkan) moved to block the entrance again, and Copper realized that it was semi-transparent. She had no time to ponder this odd property of the dyzkan though. She knew that the longer she lingered the slimmer her chances of survival were.
It was not far to the street, and by luck and shadows that moved to conceal them they made it to the Phantom Eclipse unscathed. They passed several creatures - rabbits, one feline Loharian and one Hellantran fire elemental - on the way there, but each time the dyzkan clustered closer around them, hiding them from view.
There was a large raven from Deseka guarding the Eclipse. The Shadorian shook his head to prevent Copper from slaying the creature on the spot. Stepping forward, he grabbed the raven's beak to prevent noise and stared into the shocked bird's beady eyes. After a moment he released the raven, and the dazed guard wandered away to the side of a building. There it remained, blank eyes testifying to its' state of unawareness.
From there it was a simple matter to leave. The ramp extended, courtesy of Evaluator, and they took off to safety.
Several fighters gave chase, but neither got off so much as a shot before the Phantom Eclipse was out of range. A small flagship - little more than a frieghter, really - orbited the smaller, quicker moon, but had only just engaged the tractor beam before the black starship was safely in hyperspace.


Very long part next time, I promise.

You actually were the only one on this board
And: Awesomeness

We're waiting for the very long next chappie


Eval

w00tness.
I'm glad they are off that planet, it was starting to give me the creeps.
`N0

*Shakes fist*
You'd better!

Just getting warmed up I presume?

Yup. Very long next chappie coming up. Another very long next chappie after that.



Once in hyperspace, Copper turned to the Shadorian. He hadn't said anything once they had reached the Phantom Eclipse.
"Well, they won't get us now. Thanks for ... dealing with that Desekan."
"Mind control," the Shadorian said softly. "It's a specialty of mine."
"No wonder the Kiyrenin want to get their hands on you. Though how they'd keep you is beyond me, except if they used those drugs on you, and then you wouldn't do them any good. Well, we'll figure it out one of these days.
"I could probably help you there," the Shadorian said dryly. "I'm Radium. I owe the success of my escape to ...?"
"Coppertop. If you can help, I'd be very glad."
"Okay. First, the Kiyrenin are looking for mages. They drug them so they're neutralized, then brainwash them. By the time the drug wears off, the mage is a devoted Kiyrenin, ready to help catch more mages."
"So why would they want to attack me? I'm not a mage."
"They didn't want you. I'd say they were after your telepathic friend over there," and he nodded at Shinyso. Copper blinked, startled. "I'd never thought about that. Those guys on Kilanphor did concentrate their efforts on you, didn't they?"
"Concentrate on who?" Claw demanded, coming into the cockpit. Copper nodded to him.
"Shinyso. Radium here says they're after mages, so it's a good thing that neither you or I are magically gifted, Claw."
Claw's gaze flickered. "Radium? Well."
"Claw. Some kind of coincidence, I hope."
"I'd say."
"I take it you two know each other?"
"We've met," Claw said tersely. "At the time we were trying to kill each other. We nearly succeeded."
"I'm given to understand that you weren't quite sane at the time," Radium admitted. "In that case, I'll forgive you."
"Your kindness overwhelms me. Mages, huh. Better tell Wild Angel and Ducky to watch out."
"Done," Shinyso said a moment later. He glanced over at Radium curiously. "You're not a true Shadorian, I can tell. What are you?"
"He was a fire elemental when we met," Claw said. Radium winced.
"Another reason why the Kiyrenin want me. I'm a shapeshifter. Comes in handy."
"Mind control, shapeshifting. What other unrevealed abilities do you have?" Copper demanded.
"Quite a few," Radium admitted. "I'm a Chaos Mage, a rather good one. If they could get their hands on me and successfully brainwash me, they'd be unstoppable."
"I see. So now we've got two people they want. Any others I should know about?"
"Electrik and Evaluator," Radium said immediately. "They don't have to be mages, just unusual. Ducky would be sought after as well."
- As long as she stays in the Tavern she'll be safe. - Evaluator commented. - As for me, they'll have quite a job catching someone who can vanish at will. -
"Good point, Eval," Radium agreed. "But Electrik is still a liability."
"Just how do you know this? Their names, who they are," Copper demanded. Radium flashed her a grin and brushed his silver mane out of his eyes.
"Trust me, you don't want to know."
"Right, Chaos Mage. I forgot."
"Don't forget again," Radium said in mock seriousness. Copper snorted and turned away. Evaluator commented, - Sensors show blockage in hyperspace path. The Eclipse is coming out of hyperspace prematurely. Collision prevention programming has been initiated. -
"Flames of Gyron, not now! Can you override? No, no, stupid question. Start calculating an alternative route. Initiate when we come out into realspace."
- Done. Would you like dinner with all that? -
"No, that'll be fine. You're better than a capital ship's AI."
- Excuse me, - Evaluator said indignantly. - I am offended to think that you could even compare me to an AI. -
"My apologies. Time estimate until realspace?"
- Twenty seconds. -
There was a silence. Copper noticed that Radium was no longer a Shadorian; rather, he was now a green and black rabbit with red eyes, much like Claw's. His hair was still long and silver, and he was still clad in his mage robes. He looked pensive and tense. She didn't blame him. His very existance hung in the balance, for she had no doubt he would die before he was captured. He stiffened suddenly.
-danger-
Something was wrong, dreadfully wrong. Her eyes widened and she flung herself into the pilot's seat. Claw reacted immediately, at the gunner's station before she could say anything.
-danger-
The Phantom Eclipse shuddered, then shuddered again. The starlines stretched, then snapped into the normal points of light. Evaluator's message glowed on her screen.
- Program override! Cannot initiate alternate route! -
"I can't believe this," Copper breathed. "This is impossible. How could they get ahead of us, track us?"
They were completely surrounded, boxed in by three capital ships. Fighters were already deploying. THe only way out was - well, extremely dangerous.
Radium spoke up. "They will not shoot to kill. That's their handicap. Take advantage of it."
"I will if I can," Copper and Claw said simultaneously. Copper threw the Eclipse into a dizzying spin, angling down towards the relatively unprotected belly of the ship directly ahead. She pushed it up to full throttle and added laser power to the engines. She didn't dare bleed power from the shields or they would be easy prey for any stray ion blast.
Claw said nothing, merely fired a flare that exploded in the face of a pursuing starfighter. By now no tractor beam could have stopped them; their speed was far too great.
Streaking under the flagship, jinking left and right to avoid turbolaser blasts, the Phantom Eclipse sped by the pursuing starfighters as though they were standing still. A lucky shot impacted with the bow shields, rocking the Eclipse violently, but not stopping them.
With the enemy ships receding rapidly behind them, Copper blew out a long breath. She was about to relaz and release the control stick when -
-danger-
- suddenly the scanners registered three fighters coming out of hyperspace in front of them. Copper dipped the ship's nose, 'diving' beneath them and rolling to throw off any missile locks. Despite that, Claw managed to vape one. Then, with a touch of a button, they entered hyperspace again.
The sense of danger vanished, as did all other outside feelings. Copper felt only her own relief. She turned to face Radium and Shinyso.
"I knew something was wrong," she said slowly. Shinyso raised an eyebrow.
"Perhaps the presence of three capital ships and horde of fighters tipped you off?"
"Ha, ha. No, I mean before then. I knew there was danger before we even came out of hyperspace."
"Yeah, you were in your seat as we dropped into realspace," Radium agreed. "So was Claw."
"I felt it too," Claw admitted.
"It wasn't me," Copper went on. "It came from outside. So what I want to know is, was it you?"
The pair glanced at each other and then back at her. Shinyso shook his head.
"Not me. I can sense when I'm projecting, and besides, I didn't know until we came out of hyperspace."
Radium shrugged. "It may have been me, but certainly not consciously. Things like that can get you in trouble, especially when an assassin droid starts feeling irritation or resignation. I'm shielded against leaks."
"Well, whichever one it was, we owe you our lives."
"You're welcome," Radium and Shinyso said, Shinyso a little before the Chaos Mage. Copper rolled her eyes.
"I can tell you'll be a great pair."
"Where are we headed?" Radium asked in an abrupt subject change. "Vanargala isn't the best choice. Firen would be better, the magic of the Faders will cover my own traces."
No asking how he'd known she intended to go to Vanargala. With a shake of her head, Copper began to reroute to Firen.

Hah! 8022 characters long! Beat that!
Oh wait, I already have ...

Occasionally I get the feeling you just read my stories because they're readable ... then I go and fall down the stairs. Weird, huh?

Nice work, CT! u|=)

If I wanted to read something that is only readable and not interesting, I would open some sort of german book, not this story

Radium is a very interesting char...
And: w00tness!

Eval

Arg, you got to the w00tness before I did!
Ok, well, w00tness. I've been catching up on the last two storys. Finished the first and halfway through the second. You could get paid to do this.

`N0

Yep, I have an awesome cast for this story. Thank you for signing up,

Did I say it wasn't interesting? I didn't say that. Heck, I don't even know what's going to happen next!

On second thought, that's a little scary.

Wow. It's kind of funny that Acid was the one who was really supposed to be in this story, yet just Electrik made an appearance!

Oh, yes, I nearly forgot.

w00tness!

I do not read stories because they are readable. I read them for no good reason because reading entertains me.

Oops. I sound way too serious in this post. Maybe I should add a smilie.

I read them becuase you always leave cliffhangers and foreshadowing as to what would happen to our characters and the plot itself (althought one really isn't established).

W00tness!!! Nice chappies!

Answering any time soon?

Sorry I couldn't get on ICQ defalc, left it on accidently at night =\.

Waiting

This story is reaching past w00tness, CT. It's becoming quite godly, in fact.

You seem to be one of the few and the proud, that can write suspense properly. Good job.

godly w00tness!

*bows* Thank you, thank you ...
Answering: NOW.
Acid: Don't worry, you'll get to be REALLY in it soon.

The Phantom Eclipse set down next to a river. Large, moss and fern-covered boulders half the size of the ship were sunk into the riverbank, while trees crowded against each other nearby. It was a tranquil scene, but Coppertop was not interested in scenery. She had recieved a distress call, and was very warily investigating.
They had dropped Radium off at a small community, at his insistance. Copper felt a bit of relief; Radium's presence was like having a thermal detonater in your hand, never certain if it would go off or not.
Beside her, Shinyso said, "I don't like the looks of this." Defalcon nodded in agreement. KRSplat hefted his silver blaster thoughtfully. Crystal, perched on top of a rock several meters away, was coolly screwing her scope onto her blaster pistol.
Acid blinked. "Nothing here. Let's go." He wheeled around and began heading towards the Eclipse.
The shockingly loud and harsh cry of a bird pierced the air, and Copper froze. Acid stopped and turned.
"Did you hear that?"
"Who didn't?" Electrik grumbled, sticking a finger in his ear.
"Not that. I mean now."
"I don't hear anything," Kaz said after a moment. Copper began backing towards the Eclipse. Claw nodded in realization, and his claws extended in anticipation.
"That's it," Defalcon explained quietly. "Something's wrong. No birds, no insects, nothing. They've all been scared away, and not by that bird, I can guarantee."
"Let's go," Acid said again. "We can make it -"
"No time. Evaluator, seal her up. We've got to fight for it, but they won't get Evaluator and the Eclipse."
"Someone's coming," Defalcon muttered. He drew a blaster and Nightwind, and put his back to a rock. Copper and Shinyso both drew their swords. Electrik said something uncomplimentary under his breath, which no one asked him to repeat, and his already blue fur began to glow brighter. Acid scowled and pulled out a blaster and his RF launcher.
"Well, you're armed and ready," Kaz said, and promptly pulled out his own gun, and began charging a shield.
Crystal aimed and fired, and a sharp cry rent the silence. Defalcon sprayed laser fire acorss the clearing in an arc, probably hitting a lot more people than it sounded like.
Copper moved away from the Eclipse nervously. She knew this was the perfect place for an ambush - boxed in by river, boulders, forest, nowhere to go. She'd fallen for it like an amateur (sp?).
Over a score of Kiyrenin moved from the trees. A few were injured, and one lay unmoving in the ferns. They ganged up on them, ignoring Crystal completely, although she fired on them with deadly accuracy.
Copper realized that Defalcon had three coming after him. they moved in concert, easily blocking his attacks and launching their own. The mercenary drew her seldom-used blaster, aimed hurridly and fired, taking down one of his opponents and evening the odds slightly. Shinyso and Claw also had three on them, but neither tired as easily as Defalcon.
Three for her, too - not as well trained, but a definite danger. She supposed she should be flattered - Acid, Electrik, Kaz and KRSplat dealt with two each. She returned her blaster to her belt and drew Shale, which flared brilliantly without her command. She damped the light irritably - no sense in making herself more of a target - and waited.
One was elite - a tiger-striped rabbit with short, silvery fur and a large broadsword. The other two were clearly less experienced. They hadn't even reached her when Crystal killed one. Then a stray laser caught her in the left shoulder, causing her to cry out and dropping her off the rock.
That left two. Copper knew she'd have had a better chance if she'd gotten her back to a rock, like Defalcon. But Defalcon had only one opponent left, and she wanted room to move.
The rabbit was very strong, stronger than her. He happered through her defense with brute strength alone. The other kept trying to get behind her. If he succeeded, she would be dead.
She barely blocked his blow, and spun to catch the amateur's blade. With a quick twist of her sword, she disarmed him and ran him through. Jerking Shale free, she turned to catch the remaining enemy's sword with hers, deflecting it away from her. The rabbit reversed his grip and brought his broadsword around in an arc. Copper frantically twisted out of the way, but the swordtip caught her leg and tore through cloth, slashing her. Gasping with pain, she danced awkwardly back, favoring her leg. She managed to block another crushing blow, took a step back and found herself ankle deep in the freezing, rapid river. She hadn't even been able to attack him yet.
Slowly the striped rabbit forced her back, until she was knee deep in fast water, the strong current threatening to sweep her off her feet if she lost her balance. Her wound stained the water that flowed around her legs crimson, and the cold was numbing her feet. One stumble, one mispaced step was all it would take.
The gravel beneath her feet shifted, and she slipped, barely bracing her foot against a rock in time. Shale twisted in her fingers and blade clashed on blade, and she blocked another blow.
Suddenly the rabbit staggered forwards, broadsword falling from nerveless fingers to lie glittering on the riverbed. He took a sharp breath and collapsed forward. Copper couldn't move quick enough to get out of the way, and dropped to her knees, water swirling around her waist. Fighting to get to her feet, dashing water and blood out of her eyes, she looked up at Radium, who leaned on a transparent green spear.
"I should have known you'd turn up," she gasped, sheathing her sword. He shrugged.
"I figured you'd get yourself in trouble," he replied obliquely. She finally found her feet and almost fell again as she put weight on her injured leg.
"Whoa, he got you good," Radium said, supporting her until they got to shore.
"Yeah. What's the matter, they kick you out?"
"No, the Kiyrenin did. Came looking for me. I got rid of them and figured that they'd go after you, too. Sorry I took so long."
"Don't worry about it. Thanks for showing up period."
"Hey, you helped me, I helped you. I would have dropped a boulder on them, but I might have gotten you too."
"Thanks for the consideration. They've got no sense of fair play. Three against one."
"Five for me. A gross underestimation of my abilities."
"I guess so." She glanced up as Claw came over, followed by Acid and Defalcon. "We won, huh?"
"Yeah," said Claw grimly. "At a price."
"They took him," Acid said, looking mad enough to spit bullets. "They took Electrik."
"They got Shinyso too," Claw informed her. She froze.
"Shinyso and Electrik? How? Not even that Katarvin captain got Shinyso, and how do you disarm Electrik?"
"Nets," Acid said. "Nets and numbers. Knocked Electrik out, disarmed Shinyso."
"They broke his saber. He went down fighting, but they got him with a net," Defalcon agreed. "I think they got Crystal, too."
"No," Kaz said, landing heavily beside them. "I mean, they got her, but they didn't take her. I've got her." He dipped a wing, and Crystal slid limply off his back.
Copper knelt gingerly beside her. "She's cold, but she's got a pulse," she said. "It was just a glancing blow, enough to knock her down. It was deflected by her shoulder guards. I think she hit her head and blacked out."
Just then, Crystal stirred and groaned. Suddenly she shook her head and sat up.
"We won?"
"Not really. They took Shinyso and Electrik."
Crystal struggled to her feet. Copper turned to Acid.
"I failed to keep your brother safe, Acid. I'm sorry."
"You tried your best," he said. "They would have gotten him eventually."
"They may have him now, but not for long. We'll get him back," she promised, accepting Kaz's assistance as she stood. The slash still bled sluggishly.
Acid nodded. "I know. Thank you."


Ouch. 8128 characters, this time

Originally posted by 4I Falcon
You seem to be one of the few and the proud, that can write suspense properly.

I can write suspence, watch:



I have an important secret to tell you. It's...


Now aren't you dying to know what it is?


EDIT: Ooh, look, another chapter appeared while I was writing this...

not really.

Yep. Nasty, huh? I don't usually hurt myself in my stories (it's easier and more satisfying to hurt other people) but I did today.

WoW, nice work

@Radium: Tell me

Eval

Oh joy, I'm a hero!

Great chapter.

@(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-) Alright, the secret is

lol, he's not telling anybody.

I'm captured? =b
I knew it would happen before it happened. *shedz0rs a tear*

Um, w00tness? Yeah, w00tness.
Keep it up!

`N0

Wow, you really know how to be suspensefullishy!

By the way, I think it's ameteur, but I don't really know...



...THOSE...KIYRENIN...TOOK...MY...BROTHER...

*goes into a bloodthirsty rage*

Sweetness! Blood and mayhem!

And the plot unfolds... I know what's going to happen ^^! Need a huge twist in here to throw me off CT...

and 8128 characters?! Under 10,000 is for the weak!

Originally posted by acid
...THOSE...KIYRENIN...TOOK...MY...BROTHER...

*goes into a bloodthirsty rage*

This is payback for stealing my guns in your Animals story. So nyah.

Originally posted by 4I Falcon
This is payback for stealing my guns in your Animals story. So nyah.

Except this is CTs story, not yours. So nyah hayn.

Originally posted by acid
Except this is CTs story, not yours. So nyah hayn.

Yeah, well, what goes around, comes around.

Nyah nyah nyah poo.

Well, there are some dirrefences!

I AM going to give you your guns back. However, it is essential to the plot that they remain under custody. If you had your weapons, the story would have already ended.

CT, on the other hand, apparently doesn't know what's going to happen next. It also *cough cough* wasn't essential to the plot. CT just wrote it.

So HA!

I'm going to get my guns back!

YAAAAAAY! ^_^

Oh, do I get to blow someone up too?

Not essential? That's what YOU think, buddy
It is, not to worry.
You can't have more than 10000 characters. And my fingers would get so sore you wouldn't have any more story. So there.
If you know what's going to happen, Kaz, you better not tell anyone, or I'll TURN YOU INTO A EVIL KIYRENIN!*evil laughter*
Now, for the next part.

"First we have to find where they're based," Copper said. "If they have more than one base we have to find which one they're in. This will take time, and I must warn you, they might be true Kiyrenin by the the time we get to them."
"If they are I'll drop a building on them," Radium said, straightfaced. Defalcon snickered.
"Better make it a shed," Crystal replied. "We want them back, alive and normal, not as pancake Kiyrenin."
"Good point, Radium conceded. "Okay, shed it is."
"Good. If that doesn't work, I'll land the Eclipse on them. So, anyone know where to find a Kiyrenin base?"
"Find me a Kiyrenin," Radium said, "and I'll tell you."

"You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" Copper said. He shrugged. She should expect to be surprised - he was a Chaos Mage, and therefore had many skills. His age added to that. He wondered if she had figured that out yet. He literally could drop a building on them (of course, it wasn't guaranteed that he'd even get a building in the first place) if he wanted to. He also could find out where the Kiyrenin base was.
First, though, they had to find a live Kiyrenin. He doubted that there were any that were still alive from the ambush. Copper's friends had been very thorough.
So they had to go where the Kiyrenin went. That meant going to places like Shador and falling into more ambushes, or setting some of their own. Nobody was in favor of the first choice, and everone liked the second one. Radium didn't care - all he needed was a second of eye contact. Another of his "specialties".
"They might still be on Kilanphor," he suggested. "Or I could lure them to us."
Copper noded. "I think," she said, "it is time to fly the Assassin again."
"Are you sure?" Claw asked dubiously. "You'll get all kinds of riffraff then, not just the Kiyrenin."
"I'm sure. They're not done with us, remember? We've still got Radium."
"No, I think Claw's right," Radium said thoughtfully. "Besides, going back to the Assassin, a rather conspicuous name all told, might alert them that we're up to something."
"That's true. Okay, maybe once we've caught our Kiyrenin. Got any ideas on how we're going to do that?
"Yeah," Crystal said. "I do."
Her plan was quite simple. She would set her blaster pistol on stun, wait for an enemy - Kiyrenin or not - and stun him. Then it would be up to Radium. If it wasn't a Kiyrenin, they'd keep hunting. If it was, they were done.
A simple, effective plan. It would work.
They hoped.


Kaz, you call me weak, you die. Grr. Just for that I'm giving you a SHORT post.

w00tness. Very w00tness.

*Agrees with N0B0DY * w00tness!

So it is essential


Eval