The Unlikely

[shadow_claw]

"What the-" Holding her towel in place with one hand, Mina cracked her door open. To her surprise, a man was actually there. She slammed the door shut, opening it up a good two minutes later in her usual outfit. Minus shoes, that is. A comfortable pair of jeans and a tank top made it simple to change into. Upon opening the door again, she rose an eyebrow at Zeke. "Okay, I want answers. How the Hell did you get in my house and what kind of crisis? Fallout? Zombies? Please tell me it's something cool. You know, for complete and total chaos." Like usual, she was lighthearted. Her green eyes sparkled with amusement even when in an obviously tense moment. The woman put her hands on her hips and arched an eyebrow at the man.

[SUP3RSPAWN3R]

Carter nodded slowly, not really understanding, but just going along with it. Well, this was quite possibly the weirdest thing that had ever happened to him. That and that dream where he was god... "Well, I guess I have no choice." He said looking at the glowing red line slowly appearing on he door. "But how exactly am I going to be any help to this militia of yours? Those "Eons" have a bloody spaceship that's at least a mile long. And what do we have, magic or something?" He looked at the door again, it was beginning to cave in under the heat of the cutting torch.

 

 

[padfoot]

Zeke looked nervously at the top of the stairs. The red line meant the Eon's on the other side did not have a demo crew to blow the upper section of the house. Good, that meant they had a bit longer. He looked at the man, "Yeah. the future your going to get to is one that belongs to the Eons. You can help becasue like me, you have weird powers too. I'm not going to get into detail but trust me that I know", he said quickly, They really didn't have time for discussion. Zeke quickly ripped a hole in space-time that would take them to Alpha Zeke's camp, "If you just step in that doorway Alpha Zeke will explain more", he said.

 

Zeke blushed when Mina stepped out of the bathroom. He didn't know she was in the shower. He bit back the urge to apologize, "Invaders from the stars believe it or not", he said leaning against the door jam, "And I got in here by displacing your door in space so it was no longer a part of your house. I'm a time traveler...amongst other things and take a seat. I have a lot to explain.

 

~Teen Zeke then went on to explain what was going on in the future (Above post) and that he needed Mina to come with him to the future.~

 

Before Carter could do anything, Zeke realized they were no longer alone in the room. He whirled around at the war cry of a Eon. Two strange looking Eon's were at the opposite end of the room. One was staring at them with wild eyes. It's face illuminated by the flickering flames coming from his melted fists. It seemed to flicker like a candle in the wind, like it was having trouble existing. the second was much smaller, about the size of a small child. It floated a few feet off the floor with its long, spindly arms loosely outstretched to either side. It's legs dangled uselessly below it. This tiny Eon spoke the first English Zeke had ever heard an Eon speak: "You know how long we have been chasing you pests? Finally we figured it out: Follow the Shepard, you find the sheep", It said in a small voice that was sharp like glass breaking. Flickery next to the Floaty Eon suddenly erupted with rage and hurled a fireball at the two. Zeke tried to dodge but it happened too fast. If only he had learned how to use his powers more before embarking on such a dangerous retrieval, he might have thought to freeze time. The fireball collided with his shoulder and exploded into a ball of heat. Zeke's right arm was blown off at the elbow, the flesh cauterized and his right side was horrendously burned. Zeke was thrown backwards into Carter and they both tumbled through the now unstable portal.

 

((Sorry for the god mode. It's for plot stuff. Red Zeke and Carter are now laying in the campsite Alpha Zeke and the others made))

Edited February 10, 2014 by padfoot

[shadow_claw]

Mina took all this surprisingly well. She braided her still-wet hair as he explained everything as if Zeke was telling her some story. As he stopped speaking, she turned and grinned at him. "Hell, you had me at crisis! I don't really have anything. I'm exactly going to miss...wait!" The tall woman bolted, pushing past Zeke and darted up the steps. Not more than half a minute later did she return with a backpack around her shoulders. "Camping bag. I was going to go this weekend. If that's it kiddo, let's get rolling."

[SUP3RSPAWN3R]

Carter had barely any time to jump out of the way before Zeke got blasted. The other man slammed into him, knocking him through the portal just before the door slammed shut. Breathing heavily, he stood up, straightening out his clothes. Well, that settles it. Even god dreams were mundane next to this. "Ok, you didn't tell me they could shoot fireballs. Actually, you didn't tell me much about these Eons at all. I mean, what do they want with humans? And why don't they just destroy the planet instead of targeting random people like me? I don't have any special powers, unless you count that fact that I always seem to just find what I want, even if it wasn't there before. Come to think of it that is really odd." He looked around the camp a bit, some other people were there as well, strangers. But why did they seem so familiar...?

[ChildeRolande]

Upon realizing where they'd crashed, Pooch perked up immediately, throwing Wyrm off of her as she scrambled to look over the edge of the truck. She'd never seen forests before, and hearing the calls of dozens of new species was enough to send her bounding onto the ground before sprinting into the darkness of the woods.

Twenty minutes later she re-emerged, an enormous great horned owl balanced on one shoulder, her arms loaded with dry kindling. Wyrm bounded behind her in triumph, several squirrels hung limply from his jaws. She dumped her pile of wood into the center of the clearing, causing the owl to rustle its' feathers in irritation at being disturbed. "Oi" she said, cocking a blonde eyebrow and gesturing to the unconscious girl propped against the truck "Is Navi gonna uh... live an' all? Cause I needa know how we're gonna split the food..." She motioned to the small cluster of squirrels in Wyrms' mouth as she settled to her knees to start the small campfire.

Edited February 11, 2014 by ChildeRolande

[padfoot]

Pain. Searing pain was all Teen Zeke could feel. He barely registered what Carter was saying over the sounds of his screams. He didn't want this, he wanted to just be normal. Why did he have to be so important?

 

Zeke bolted to his feet and ran towards his alternate self bleeding on the ground. He couldn't touch him so he just kinda hovered. For the first time, He had no idea what to do.

 

He saw himself hovering above him and swiped at him to pull him closer. Alpha Zeke dodged to avoid breaking Time and Space. He sputtered, blood dotted the front of his shirt, "Get Mina. I couldn't get to her. They are going to find her", he said softly.

 

Zeke smiled and clapped his hands together. She was a lot easier to convince than Carter was. He snapped open a portal, "Alright, step on through and we-", he was gone. No poof or warning. Just gone

 

Zeke paled as his past self died on the pine straw with one final, ragged breath. Mina? Who was Mina? He sat back and took out his book, not wanting to look at himself. He found her. The Imposter. Rounded up on the day of the invasion. He slapped it shut and rose from the ground. He hoped one of the others would take care of the body. He still wasn't sure if he was safe to touch. Instead, he faced this Carter character. From his memories of his former self, this guy was powerful. Right now all that mattered was get that the other Guardian to safety, "You. Tell me exactly what happened", he said, his face emotionless.

Edited February 11, 2014 by padfoot

[shadow_claw]

Green eyes going wide in alarm, Mina waved a hand in the area where Zeke had once been. What just happened?! She stood there, confused and slightly scared now. But she didn't have to dwell on it. All at once, chaos erupted outside. That's it, running was the only option. Namina dove through the portal, hitting the ground with a thud as she fell through to the other side. "Oh goddamn that hurt..." Once the woman had sat up, she realized she wasn't alone. There was a little girl with a massive dog and an owl, an unconscious woman leaning against the wreckage of a car, and, well, the car wreck. "Well...that happened." She glanced around herself and frowned slightly. "So this is the future huh? A lot more...green than I expected."

[ChildeRolande]

Pooch bit her lip, drawn to the small area of the clearing by a commotion, she sat on her haunches, watching quietly as Zeke spoke to a copy of himself in its final moments. Pooch didn't pretend to understand what was going on, but she gave Wyrm a solemn nudge as she watched what appeared to be a slightly younger version of her best human friend sputter out a final breath. Wyrm strode silently to the side and began digging, his enormous paws hefting out huge chunks of earth. It would be a small grave, but Pooch supposed that they could do their best to make it a suitable memorial.

Suddenly, there was a buzzing in the air, and Pooch jumped in fright as a woman plopped down next to her in the dirt, sending her new owl friend (whos name she'd learned was Cyrus) into hysterics. Pooch leaned forward, poking the womans' long hair before raising an eyebrow "Yer real, right?" she asked with a hint of skepticism "I've never seen a newbie appear who didn't have a Zeke with 'em...."

[lycrawaterz14]

Navi jerked awake and her eyes had wisps around them. Her chest raised up and she started to cry again. "ZeeeeeEEEKE!" She screamed, sobbing. Her eyes gradually returned to normal. "I was... And you died! And..." She was just crying.

[shadow_claw]

Mina glanced around herself, pinching her arm at Pooch's question. Yup. She was real. She grinned down at the girl and chuckled. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm real." She answered. Her smile faded at the mention of Zeke. "Was that the guy with the weird hair? He was there one moment and then...poof. Gone without a word. I'm Namina, but call me Mina. Full names are too fancy." As Mina glanced around, she noticed with surprise the body of Zeke. Without a word, she walked up the the body and knelt beside it. "He...died? But I saw him thirty seconds ago with a different shirt on..." This was all too confusing for her.

[SUP3RSPAWN3R]

"Alright, so I was having a normal day, when this massive spaceship appeared, it dropped these pod things which were full of those Eons, they started to tear the neighborhood place apart when, umm, the other you appeared. He knocked me out of the way and told me to find someplace to talk. I went into the basement and he gave me a lecture on what was going on, then more of those aliens came through the door. One was all spaghetti-like and could talk and the other was all flickery and threw fireballs, I got knocked through the portal and here I am." He took a breath, having run out of breath while talking so rapidly. If Alpha Zeke had been paying close enough attention, he would have noticed queer little things happening as Carter talked. Rocks moving across the ground. Things turning slightly different colors, a cup becoming a mouse. Not very interesting, but strange enough to catch a wandering eye.

[psyshock]

Stuff was happening pretty fast. The same Zeke that had brought Ethan back not too long ago now appeared and died, that would make the second Zeke he saw die. He had still yet to ask what would happen to the other Zeke's when they died and he figured that after the new people calmed down would be a good time to ask. He placed charms on the new comers, and also on Pooch's new friends. "Welcome to the future Mina, I'm Ethan and I will be your lucky charm in this crazy place."

 

He listened to Carter's story, unsure of what to make of it. There weren't any Eons attacking when he got picked up that he knew of, but he could have just gotten lucky and missed when the Eons showed up. With control over probability and luck you could never be too sure about those things. Strange things were happening as Carter spoke which at least provided Ethan with something to take his mind off of all that was happening.

[RavenWolf1010]

((Recap please? That'd be awesome. ))

[ChildeRolande]

Pooch smiled thinly, sharp teeth peeking over the edges of her lip. "Yeah, its all kinda confusin' at first, but we tend to die a lot around here... especially zeke." She drawled with a nod.

With a forlorn look at the young Zekes' body she added, "You should go check in with our Zeke, though. He looks like this" she said, pointing to the body "'Cept still breathin' and all." At this, Cyrus flapped his large brown wings, nipping at the young girls' ear and, with a grumble, Pooch stood up, brushing the dirt from her clothes. "Cyrus is getting testy, and you seem a li'l shook up, so I'll go tend to the fire situation while you get acquainted." With a final smile she turned, leaving Mina with Ethan, and arguing quietly with the enormous bird perched precariously on her tiny shoulder.

 

About ten minutes later, flames danced merrily from the small fire, and thoroughly content, the small girl and her dog lay next to it, listening to the sounds of the new wildlife. Scrambling to find some way to prepare their food, Pooch had, in the end given up; instead thrusting their meager catch on Raven instead. Of course, Pooch thought, the others most likely didn't trust her when it came to preparing meals... growing up post apocalyptically feral meant she'd just as well throw everything into the fire and eat it, burned or not.

[shadow_claw]

Mina managed to tear her eyes from the body after a little while. She had gone somewhat pale, but her naturally darker skin made "pale" a thing that couldn't really happen to her. "Lucky Charm huh? So all of ya have crazy powers? Hell, I'm just...me. Nothin' special unless you like impressions." she remarked. Yeah, impressions weren't all that cool. Just sorta funny in tense times.

[padfoot]

The moment the portal swirling in Mina's room shut, Flickery and Floaty appeared. Flickery screeched and charged after Mina, slamming into the wall as the portal snapped shut. The Eon streaked in frustration and slammed it's flaming fist through the wall. Floaty's eyes began to glow and it's long arms began to twitch. After a few seconds and a trickle of blood escaping from the corner of it's eye, it returned to normal, "Nothing. You killed him before I could get a lock you zklut, Now we are going to get it". Flickery screeched and clicked in response, "I know we got one of them but we need them alive. Otherwise we will never exist". Flickery, looking like a guilty dog, said something that could only be an apology before they both vanished.

 

Zeke only listened to Carter's story. Taking it all in. This was a bad turn. His alternate selves were his life line. They answered questions about the future and past and trickled down useful information. Thats the reason he was such a good leader, there were multiple versions of himself running around to support him. He did a quick calculation in his head. There were two left: and alternate Teenage self and an alternate old self. He flinched when Navi started screaming he recomposed himself and whirled around, "Raven, We need food. Pooch, run around and see if you can figure out where we are. Ethan, catch our new members up and check up on Navi, she is hurt", he finished giving instructions and began to walk into the forest. After a few feet, he vanished.

[ChildeRolande]

Hearing Zekes' command, Pooch jumped up, snapping a sardonic salute before shaking Cyrus off of her shoulder and following him into the woods, leapfrogging over Wyrm to disappear amongst the brush.

 

Marching quietly through the forest, Pooch scanned the treetops for signs of anything unusual; an attempt that was honestly, quite fruitless considering the fact that she'd never seen trees before. Or owls. Or..... any form of wildlife in these parts, to be fair. Prancing between the trees with childlike determination, she stopped to study every rock, insect and animal, scribbling down their locations with the nub of a crayon she'd produced from her bag. She was so focused on her scribblings in fact, that she shrieked with surprise when she stepped into nothingness, bare feet plummeting through the empty air where a nest of pine needles had existed just a moment before.

Bouncing off the side of the precipice, she frantically clutched at the air above her, struggling to hold on to a branch, a root, anything. Unfortunately, the cliffside was completely bare. Tumbling head over heels in the darkness of the night, she struggled to whistle around a mouthful of gravel in an attempt to call some form of aid from the surrounding forest. She could hear Wyrm to her left, wailing like a banshee as he slid backwards on all fours, leaving deep gouges in the earth. She felt the minds of dozens of animals flash past; in burrows, hunting, closing in on their prey, her mind flicked through all of these experiences in what was almost a vicarious version of her own life flashing before her eyes. Finally, kicking up one last puff of dust, Pooch tumbled to a stop on some sort of plateau, Wyrm landing squarely on her back before bouncing off again, his fur full of dust.

Coughing, she sat up, carefully moving her limbs to make sure nothing was broken. Luckily, she'd only attained a faceful of scratches and a sprained wrist and, rubbing the gravel and dust from her cheeks, she turned her head to look far above her at the cliff face jutting skyward, obscuring the moon with its craggy tip. Peeping over the edge of the plateau, which she now realized was a thin trail leading along the side of the cliff, she stared down into what seemed to be a bottomless abyss.

Huffing a sigh of frustration, Pooch sat back as Cyrus fluttered down beside her, giving her a look of reproach at her lack of ability in flight. She opened her mouth to tell him off, hand already posed in a rude gesture when she stopped, listening. There was something in the dark. A lot of somethings, actually.....

Twitching one ear, she listened. There was a cacophony of hissing, and something far under that; almost supersonic in its' pitch.

Scowling, Pooch pulled the whistle from her now filthy and gravel-pocked bag; blowing three short, loud bursts before stuffing the whistle back into the bag and folding her arms, waiting. From the darkness, she could hear the quiet shuffling of a thousand scaly bodies, winding through the night to her location.

Snakes. Adders, Rattlers, copperheads...even rat snakes slithered towards her to wait patiently, tongues flicking in curiosity.

From their collective voices, she heard a distant answer to her unspoken question; the metalskins, the not-humans had cut this out of the Earth long ago, searching for materials to further their victory, leaving the pit for the scalyskins and leatherwings to overrun. Pursing her lips, she questioned the snakes further, before unfolding her arms, one snake splitting apart from the rest to wind luxuriously ahead of her, guiding her along the plateau and into a dark, cool chamber beneath the earth. Following the sounds of its scales along the ground, Pooch guided herself with one hand along the wall, allowing the snake to lead her for what seemed like eternity. She was growing tired when suddenly, she hit something with her chest which sent her sprawling into the dust.

Something large.

And made of steel.

Pooch grinned, her needle-like teeth glinting in the dark.

Edited February 11, 2014 by ChildeRolande

[psyshock]

Ethan moved closer to Navi to check her wounds as he spoke to Mina, motioning Carter to come closer to the group. "As far as I know you have to have some sort of power or else Zeke wouldn't have gone out of his way to grab you. I control probability and luck. Normally you would have been taken to a place we call Sanctuary but that place was kind of destroyed by the Eons so now we're on the run. Do any of you actually know any first aid?" he then asked, straying from his explanation. If they didn't, he obviously would just start grabbing at whatever things they had for injuries and hope he was doing the right thing. That method worked for him most of the time.

[lycrawaterz14]

Navi was still trembling, a lot of it just shock. She didn't feel good, and was terrified.

[shadow_claw]

Scratching the back of her head in thought, Mina shrugged. Powers? As wicked awesome as it was, there wasn't anything that came to mind involving her. She was a college student, not a super-human. The feeling came back to her legs once the realization that Zeke wasn't actually dead sank in and allowed her to stand yet again. Namina slowly climbed to her feet and gravitated to where most of the group was located. So the chick was Navi, huh? She seemed to be pretty badly hurt, too. "I've had to take care of cuts and dislocations before, but that's it." The woman paused, sliding the large bag from her shoulders and shuffling through it. After a little while, a first-aid kit appeared. A small one, but it was all she had. "If this helps, then my all means, use it. I've got a bottle I' water in here somewhere too..." Mina trailed off as she continued to shuffle through her bag. It had to be in here somewhere!

[SUP3RSPAWN3R]

Carter thought about what the other man said. Powers? How would he know if he had powers? All he could do was somehow find whatever he was thinking about at the time. Maybe he could also control luck? He closed his eyes, concentrating on a small plastic cup, filled with water. When he opened them again, a cup just like the one he imagined was sitting right next to him. "Hey, look at that! I made a cup! Don't know if that's any use, but at least I can do battle against the salt demons of something-or-another." To the other Guardians, the cup would have just appeared, accompanied by a sort of anti-flash, like they blinked in just the moment the object had come into being. "I wonder if it works for anything else.." He said, beginning to think of all the options he had with his newly discovered powers.

[ChildeRolande]

Pooch blundered in the dark, feeling her way around the large, metal object until she felt something small and leathery dislodge from the ceiling to flap quietly behind her, twisting its' large claws in her hair to cling there. It whispered in her ear and, by listening to its' screeches, she learned of the tunnels' layout.

What had once been a bustling hub of activity, full of humming electricity was now abandoned in the void of the underground; its' technologies still lying hidden in the dark.

Carefully, carefully, Pooch climbed to the top of the large steel thing she'd run into, and by listening to the quiet whispers of the bat she learned that it was known as THE CAT. Beyond THE CAT lay twisting spires of metal, hiding ships, generators, and miles of ventilation.

With a purr of excitement, Pooch fumbled her way to the scoop of the soft leather chair which sat atop THE CAT and, closing her eyes as her new leatherwing friend did, turned the small metal key.

A deep rumble.

Pooch fumbled again, frantic in the night and pulled a lever, driving some unseen attachment into the ceiling overhead. With a shriek, Pooch jumped, landing crookedly in the blackness of the cave and ran, feet kicking up dust in her wake. The ceiling was crumbling now, driving heavy crusts of rock onto Pooch as well as her leather winged friend. Frantic, Pooch sprinted as far as she could, driving her legs as far and as quickly as they could carry her. Finally, seeing the twinkle of the stars outside, she dove, skidding to the edge of the plateau as the last of the dust and rock settled behind her.

Rolling over, she let out a sigh, stroking her fingers through the soft fur of her new friend, whom whispered quietly that his name was Hollan. She stood up, gazing with weary eyes at the cliff face far overhead and, with a whisper of a whine, began the rough journey to the top; Wyrm and Cyrus by her side.

[psyshock]

Ethan couldn't help but laugh when Mina said she had a bottle of water and Carter produced a cup of water. Water was literally the thing they needed to worry about the least. "We've got plenty of water right now, but seeing how you can make your own water I guess that will just make what we have last longer. I'm sure both of you will eventually figure out what exactly it is you can do."

 

Ethan finished with a flip of his coin, which he pocketed, taking the first aid kit from Mina he opened it, inspecting the contents. He didn't exactly know what everything did so he grabbed some random packages. If the newcomers were watching closely they would have noticed the gold flecks in his eyes glow as he did so. "This might sting I guess," he wiped the wounds that hadn't been attended to yet before patching them up.

Edited February 13, 2014 by psyshock

[shadow_claw]

Mina's head spun as there was a flash. She grinned widely at Carter's apparent new power and chuckled under her breath. "Hot damn, now that's cool!" She remarked. The woman shoved everything else back inside her bag and zipped it up. Everything but her tactical knife. That and its sheath was clipped onto her belt. Tossing her backpack to the side, Mina stopped to think about her power. Could she blow things up? A few seconds of staring at a rock with nothing happening made her scowl. Nope. No spontaneous combustion. "So, we're basically a post-apocalyptic Justice League?" She asked after a while. A grin appeared on her face at a thought. She placed a hand on her forehead and feigned a swoon. "Save me Superman!." Mina's voice altered to that of a distressed woman's, the raw fear in her voice surprisingly convincing. From where she had allowed herself to 'faint', the black-haired woman burst into laughter. "I really should've gotten into theater before modern society ended."