FFR: The Phantom Challenge

[Xception704]

Originally Posted by SethSquall

Such an epic tale that was ever told. Man, I hope this isn't the end of me ;__;

lol you're dead stop posting

xD

[GamerShadow]

This is the first half of Chapter 19, XC weight training took longer than anticipated, so I am readily typing up the rest of the chapter as I post.

Edit: I have added part 2 to this post for the reader's convenience.
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Chapter 19:

Tibs held back the overpowering sadness that overcame him as swiftly as the noobs had overcome his friend. His fists tightened into balls and his muscles all tensed up with power. His mind completely derailed from sanity as it relayed only one message. Destroy. He pent everything up, and emitted a gigantic roar as he leapt forward, and slashed through an unsuspecting noob’s heart, instantly slaying it. He picked up the corpse, and mutilated it before throwing it on top of another nearby enemy, who was flattened under the weight and killed. Tibs then located an open gathering of minions, and within seconds, engulfed them in a molten inferno that towered fifty feet high. He continued to rampage. Tibs felt the pain, the pain of knowing that a part of him had been torn from the inside out, and would never be restored. If he died too he wouldn’t care. It was better than watching the whole world collapse on its knees as Seth had done. It was better than becoming Engler’s toy, his eternal slave, locked in rusted silver shackles that could never be unlocked or destroyed. He didn’t notice that Seth was now hovering in the air until a voice boomed and halted the battle.

“Willpower is the driving force of life. Without a will, only death awaits. Never give up the struggle, because with enough effort, even the gods can be brought down to their knees.” The voice seemed to project itself through the still-limp SethSquall’s throat. Without warning, a gigantic amount of energy congregated at the core of Seth’s body, while a bright blue light began to shine from within Seth’s pocket. The glow intensified as energy continued to meet and unify, until the only object still visible in the immense blue glow was Seth himself.

The light had intensified to the point where it was blinding all who looked into it. Tibs, along with the others began to retreat and meet up with one another to the best of their ability as the power within Seth only intensified. After a minute had passed, the voice rose again, this time, with a hint of SethSquall’s voice. At least, that’s what Tibs had thought he had heard.

“When there’s a will, there’s a way.” Was all that echoed as the light disappeared into Seth’s body for a brief moment as nobody moved. The silence seemed frightening and awkward compared to the chaos that had ruled the battlefield just a tick of the clock ago. Then, an indescribable phenomenon opened its maw, and began to consume everything, from the noobs to the soil to the air itself. Even things thought to have never existed were being consumed by the dark glutton. It even took in the sound waves that it itself created.

Nobody could believe what they were seeing. Had they not retreated back a whole mile to the inside of The Proving Grounds, they would have been obliterated and destroyed by the black hole which now swallowed endless bodies of the enemy. Trolls, flamers, spammers, hackers, noobs, even the furries were being relentlessly pulled into the spiraling black vortex. It never seemed to end, both the power of the vortex, and the flow of bodies entering it. It appeared to all that watched as some sort of contest; last one to give out wins. Everybody eyed the black hole intently, and gasped as it disappeared in an anticlimactic flash of light, turning into nothing. The only two reminders of the events that transpired now were a gigantic crater that must have been at least one hundred feet deep, and Seth’s body, which now hung in midair.

Tibs, who was already in emotional distress, could not tear his eyes away from the sight of his friend, who, being deprived of all life force, turned into dust, which was blown into the wind, never to be seen or recovered. All his mouth could manage to let out was a soft “No”.

Specforces, who was standing nearby, happened to hear Tibs whispering to himself, and turned his head towards him. “What’s up, Tibs? You look like a wreck.” He politely asked with a gentle tone of voice that for him was quite rare to hear coming from his own throat.

Tibs clenched his fists and grinded his teeth against one another. He began to form another well of rage and anger when a thought hit him. That this war was not worth fighting, that everybody was going to die regardless of whether they fought or not. He turned his head to Specforces, and with a quivering voice, replied, “This is pointless. We’re not going to win the war. We’re not going to save the world. We are all going to die. Don’t you realize that?” His voice began to rise as his anger began to return to him.

Specforces foresaw what was happening, and decided to nip the problem by the bud. He tightened his fist, and hooked Tibs straight in the jaw, which caused a small amount of blood to fly out of the unsuspecting victim’s mouth. “Listen up, Tibs,” Specforces switched to his commanding voice once again, as he knew that Tibs was useless as long as he wallowed in his pity, “you haven’t seen anything yet. This is obviously the first time somebody that you gave half an ass about has died in front of your eyes. Well, I’m here to say get the hell over it.”

“Like you could possibly know.” Tibs spat back, not even trying to sound polite to his superior commander.

“I do know,” Specforces further asserted his point, “and I know better than you do. You know why? Because in the other world, I have seen some of my best friends shot down and blown up. That didn’t stop me from bombing the hell outta the enemy. It just made me try harder.”

Tibs seemed to calm down at this statement a bit, and he seemed much more willing to listen. His shoulders relaxed, which Spec easily picked up on. He continued to assure the veteran soldier, and used his famous orator skills to calm the violent storms of hate raging within the young man.

“What I am saying is that don’t let Seth’s death be for nothing.” Specforces continued, “He just took a gigantic chunk out of the enemy army, in exchange for his life. He has given us a chance at victory, and if we don’t seize it now, we will die just as you said. But if we do take it, victory is ours. We just have to try harder.”
Tibs was about to speak when a sudden ear-shattering noise pierced the air with authority. Everybody in the combined forces of FFR turned their heads in the same direction, and all saw the same sight; a colossal piece of the mountain range surrounding The Garbage Bin slide down and crash onto the ground with a second explosion of sound. Specforces immediately thought that GamerShadow had been crushed by the massive piece of the mountain until he saw a small purple streak zip through the air. Now assured, he turned to the forces under his command and shouted, “All out! Everybody attacks at once! Let’s move it!”

More gigantic noises erupted in various areas of the mountains as they trembled and began to collapse as the first section had; the source proved to be a steady barrage of fireballs that were all being emitted from a single source.

“Blazze,” GamerShadow muttered under his breath, “I hope you’re ready, because this is your end.” With that, he summoned a razor sharp shadow tendril from his body and began to rip through the ocean of enemies at a speed that no enemy could comprehend, save for Blazze, who was watching his target intently. He too began to dash through his minions, knocking some of them aside if they obstructed his way, until he was within thirty feet of his opponent. Simultaneously, they leaped into the air, and shot a ring of energy under themselves, one ring was a bloodied crimson fire, the other a vengeful violet which was composed of shadows.

The two fighters landed and turned to face each other as the grass that the rings had landed on began to combust. The raging infernos slowly fused with one another, creating an even stronger barrier that prevented the escape of both of those trapped within.

Immediately, Blazze and GamerShadow began to circle one another, shuffling slowly. Each had their powers already activated and their minds set on their one and only goal, which was being held by their opponent. For a minute, neither spoke, but soon, GamerShadow broke the silence.

“Hello, old buddy,” he spoke harshly and was straight to the point and overly blunt. There was no time for pleasantries, nor was there time for much chit-chat other than the usual taunts and witty retorts. “You have something that I want. Care to give it to me?”

Had the situation been less pressuring on time, Blazze would have laughed. Instead, his eyebrows lowered and fixed themselves in their anger position, and his frown grew as he continued to circle his opponent. “It appears that we are both searching for the same thing. I have no time to talk with the likes of you; give me what I want or suffer the consequences. You have ten seconds to choose.”

GamerShadow had no trouble making the obvious decision. He roared as he leapt at his opponent with his fist thrust forward, ready to strike and ready to fight once again to the death.

Blazze ignited his fist and thrust it at his opponent’s chest, ready to break through the skin and burn everything inside. However, he noticed that GamerShadow’s body glided through both his fist and the body which had thrown the punch itself. Now surprised and thrown off guard, Blazze stood and calmly assessed the situation. It only took a second for him to detect the opposition, whom had snapped a shadow tendril towards his neck, attempting to choke him. A stealthy and speedy response began when Blazze spun to his left and jumped backward a foot or two, and then shot a small blast of fire towards GamerShadow, bringing his strong foot forward for optimal strength and support. GamerShadow, in turn, dived low to the ground while swiftly rolling under the inferno which engulfed the air above, and attempted to extend one of his shadows towards Blazze’s heart, attempting to finish his opponent with one lethal blow.

However, Blazze was ready to attack long before GamerShadow finished his rolling motion, and as a result, easily blasted his opponent with a raging fire blast as he had just come out of his roll. This sent GamerShadow tumbling backwards at an alarming rate towards the ring of shadows and flames which surrounded the two fierce combatants. Luckily, GamerShadow was able to dig his hands into the dirt and stop his own momentum before it carried him into what would have been an untimely doom.

Blazze ginned as GamerShadow rolled away from the fire and sprung upwards, ready to enter the fray once again. However, Blazze pulled a circular brown object from his pocket, and held it out. The object reflected some of the blended crimson and indigo glow being cast by the ring of shadows and flames, which had now doubled in height and thickness.

GamerShadow immediately stopped. His eyes were open wide, his jaw hanged open. “You,” He spoke as if as if he had found a bomb in his closet, “you have one too?”

Blazze grinned as he tossed the token into the air and caught it with his right hand while still focusing on GamerShadow. “Damn straight I have one.” he rolled the token around in his hand, weaving it through his fingers like thread dancing in fabric. He appeared to be contemplating something now, with his free hand on his chin, gently stroking a beard of flames. “I’ve made up my mind,” Blazze announced, “I don’t care what happens to you. I want that token, and I am going to pry it from your cold, dead hands if I have to. Of course,” He slowly brought the token in his possession towards his opponent and suddenly, it began to glow a brilliant mahogany, “that shouldn’t take too long after I use this, now will it?”

At first, only the token glowed, however, GamerShadow noticed that his hands and his legs also shone with the same shade of brown as the token. Immediately, his mind seared with insane amounts of pain and agony. Every bad memory, every nightmare, every moment of despair rose up and began to wreck the fabrics of sanity themselves. GamerShadow shouted with the pain, as he fell to his knees and madly gripped the sides of his head with his hands. His fingers were bent and ready to rip his hairs out by the fistful.

Blazze laughed manically as his continued approach hastened a slight amount. As soon as he was within striking distance of his opponent, an odd phenomenon occurred. The color with which GamerShadow shone shifted from brown to silver, and the yelling ceased. He slowly rose to his feet, his hair now matted and ruffled, wild and unruly, with his hands clenched into fists. Out of nowhere, Blazze experienced a sharp stinging sensation as the hand which gripped the token was stabbed and rendered useless, causing him to drop it onto the soil below. The culprit, an extremely thin tendril of shadows, consumed the token and deposited it into GamerShadow’s hand.

“So Blazze,” GamerShadow’s voice hid nothing; he had never been as ticked as he was now, save for during his fight against Engler, “Do you enjoy making young adults go insane? Is this your way of having fun?” The tendril violently retracted as veins began to appear on his neck, and an overwhelming power began to rise to the surface. “I’ll show you what happens when you mess with my mind, you insect!” His voice grew deeper and more demonic as each word escaped his lips. A tremendous aura made itself known to the world as the ground began to rumble. Pebbles rose into the air as if being levitated, and sections of the ground around the ring of fire and shadow shifted in elevation, creating a chaotic change in scenery for the TGB Army and their noob counterparts.

Blazze retreated backwards several steps as he frantically began to figure out what had happened. Why didn’t Psychosis work? Any normal person would have killed themselves from the insanity, and the boy, up until now, had displayed no extraordinary talents or powers. The change in glow color, however, struck Blazze as odd. Suddenly, it hit him.

“Satori!” He thought out loud as his opponent’s hair began to move on its own, and display a violet hue, “You have it? Of all tokens... damn you!” His fury began to rise to the surface, although it was nowhere near as powerful as that of GamerShadow’s, “Now we play for keeps! Winner lives, loser dies! Show me what you can do, you mortal piece of trash!” Blazze lowered his center of gravity, and began to tense every muscle in his body as he exerted the effort of ten men. Immediately, fires erupted everywhere on his body. They consumed him, engulfed him, and fed off of him. In return, they gave him almost limitless power, and a vast reservoir of energy that was free for him to tap into at any point in time.

The intense heat which was exuding from Blazze’s aura would have been hot enough to melt iron, and had GamerShadow’s sub-zero aura not been protecting him, he would have been incinerated before the last part of the fight even began. The two titans now circled each other with perfect stance and overwhelming power. They both formulated the same plan in their minds. A one strike finish, here and now.

Simultaneously, both Blazze and GamerShadow sparked into motion as they roared with fury. The two reached each other within a tenth of a second, and an epic explosion rocked the world from within the ring as the impact occurred. Both GamerShadow and Blazze had gone for the neck, and hit their target with perfect precision, and were clinging to life by a thread. However, the two still weren’t finished yet. Their eyes shot open as wide as reality would allow as a stab to the heart was exchanged between the two. Nothing was said as massive amounts of blood were coughed up between the two, and both combatants fell to the ground, dead. Their auras disappeared, and their veins concealed themselves within their skin as their last breaths were made for naught.

And then there was the impact.

[buizel8888]

Sorry seth, it looks like ya really are dead. Tis a shame.

Another great chapter. Keep it up GS

[SethSquall]

I went out in an epic way.

I'm not dead, though.

I DON'T CARE I'LL BE BACK.

[GamerShadow]

Announcement:

Due to a 4th of July vacation which took up three days, and the fact that I am in the Grand Tournament (A competitive roleplaying tournament that comes around once every two years. Yes, I roleplay.) I have been unable to work on Chapters 19 and 20. Thus, they will be released Tomorrow, July 7th at 8:00PM Eastern.

I will not allow time restraints to reduce the quality or quantity of my work. I am sorry if the delay annoys you, but it's only 24 hours in this case. You will see about 8 pages worth of new content tomorrow.

Thanks for your support, again. This story has come such a long way since the first chapter. And to think I thought of this while I was banned, too.

[igotrhythm]

Grand Tournament? As it happens, I'm in a roleplaying tournament as well. Only in this case, it's on the Adventure Quest boards and called the Elemental Championships, and it's an annual thing.

I'm planning on playing a living snowman with a katana made of ice and some minor cold-related abilities. Regardless, it's going to be tough. I'm hoping to make it to the finals as the Champion of Ice. I don't expect to win it all, but you either dream big or don't dream at all, right?

[GamerShadow]

Edit: I have added Part 2 of Chapter 19 to part 1's post in order to make the chapter complete and make reading the story easier.

[GamerShadow]

Another Update:

Sorry for teasing you guys with the dates in the first post, but I now have driver's ed and a week long vacation to Cape Cod ahead of me. On top of Cross Country practice. Therefore, I will be posting Chapter 20 tonight at 9:00PM eastern, and I will have the last three Chapters together for the ending soon after my return from Cape Cod.

I have started writing bits and pieces of what is to come, and I can tell you now that you'll be receiving about 15-20 pages worth of content in the final three chapters. The story thus far (Chapter 19) is 67 pages in length. Oh my god that's a lot. ;_;

The end of the story should be quite surprising for you. If anybody can guess what happens in Chapter 23, I'll give you every single credit I own. (Over 80,000!) Simply post your guess here. You have one guess. No editing. (Also, I will not tell you if your guess is right or wrong until I release Chapter 23. Nobody besides me knows the ending to this story.)

[DarkManticoreX2]

So who's going to write teh phantom challenge now that you're dead gamer?

[GamerShadow]

Chapter 20:

On top of GamerShadow lay a massive silver hammer, which shone under the moonlight that viewed the battle from the heavens. The impact of the massive weapon hitting a body so hard caused it to immediately bounce onto the ground upon striking its intended target. On GamerShadow’s back, in crimson lettering read “BANNED”.

Specforces listened for the clang of metal against a thick, tough skull, but only heard a cracking spine. He shuddered to himself as he jotted down a mental note in his head to fix the boy’s physical injuries before the ban wore off. He then raised his right arm into the air, and the faithful warhammer returned to him as if it were a lifetime friend in a brilliant flash of white light. “That takes care of that business,” Specforces muttered to himself, “Now to crush the rest of this pathetic resistance Blazze has put up.”

The battlefield was now under siege by absolute chaos. The crater that had been born from Seth’s sacrifice had slowed down a good number of enemy soldiers, but did not halt their advance. It did, however, make them easy targets for attacks of mass destruction. Specforces returned his banhammer to its resting place in another flash of light, and took out a small, box-shaped radio. He turned it on, and spoke softly into the receptor. “Send the bombers in. All of them. It’s time to bomb the hell outta these maggots once and for all.”

The response came surprisingly swiftly. Seven planes all flew overhead in a V formation, and moments later, the carnage began. Spheres of fire burst everywhere among the enemy ranks, sending out a cacophony of booms which silenced the normal sounds of battle. Massive chunks of dirt and soil were flying every which way, and flaming debris sprinkled the grass and craters, and all who stood upon it. Fires began to spring up like weeds; they consumed the plant life and bodies that happened to be in their way. Even the dead corpses became a tasty feast for the flames, whose appetites had been whetted. Dinner was served.

Specforces smiled as he crossed his arms from on the mountains which formed the Proving Grounds; the enemy forces seemed to be wearing down quite quickly, despite the fact that there were still a good five hundred thousand to be vanquished. He was about to turn around and report back to Omega and Squeek when a horrible chill descended upon the air, and a booming voice made itself known as it boomed through the air.

“Attention, foolish mortals. Your puny resistance has been a thorn in my side for far too long.” The voice was unmistakably deep. All that heard it immediately knew the face and the name behind it. “I brought a friend with me to help crush you all. Have a enjoy!”

Specforces felt a powerful presence above him. He tilted his head upwards, only to find Engler floating nearly fifty feet above him. In his hand was a pendant, the end of which contained some sort of object. The distance between Specforces and Engler prevented him from figuring out what the pendant had on it. However, his question was answered within the next few moments. Dark clouds began to roll in from nowhere as thunder and lightning began to clash against each other in an invisible struggle. The fires on the field were doused by a sudden downpour of droplets which battered the barren soil below, and the air suddenly became heavy and stiff. Soon, the cerulean skies were completely eclipsed by the raging thunderclouds, which brought wrath and fury to the battle at hand.

Without warning, a monstrous object impacted the already beaten ground, releasing a brilliant flash of light which blinded all. Within that moment, a gigantic creature had been summoned. Its body was completely enveloped in dark energy. The hide of the snake-like creature was crimson that had been mixed with obsidian, and shined to perfection. Its wings were also jet black, and they crackled and snapped with electricity with each flap. The creature’s face was also monstrously large. Its eyes glowed the typical red, but were also consumed by darkness. As the creature unwrapped itself, it roared, causing another boom of thunder to emit from the heavens. It took off into the sky, its full body measuring at least four hundred meters in length.

Engler cackled as he yelled his first orders to the legendary beast. “Destroy the mortals and their homes! Let nothing live! Make them suffer!” He crossed his arms as his smile suddenly disappeared. “Now that that’s taken care of,” he thought to himself, “there is another matter of business to attend to. If I am right, Blazze should have left his mark right about... ah! Found it.” The devilish grin returned to its rightful spot on Engler’s face as he instantly vanished into thin air, leaving the skies for the moment.

The flash of lightning caused Manti to have to squint, even from a distance away from the battlefield. Both he and Jurs experienced a sudden dip in the air as he struggled to stay airborne. The flight to the Garbage Bin had been long and wearisome, and to make matters worse, the landing wasn’t going to be easy. In the next few moments, they both witnessed the dragon taking off into the air, its massive body revealing its true length as it began to shot thunderbolts from its wings at the mountains that created The Proving Grounds.

“Jurs,” Manti spoke with a sense of urgency, “I need you to heal me. I know you hate doing favors for others, but this isn’t the time to argue.”

Jurs was taken aback by Manti’s outrageous request. “Why?” She asked, “I’m sure somebody else can ta-"

“That thing you saw was the Otaku Oni Dragon, Jurs.” Manti interrupted her. He was getting annoyed by her lack of understanding, and he attempted to remedy the situation with a bit of background info. “That is a beast with unparalleled strength and power. It can crush entire nations in a matter of hours, and now that Engler has control of it, it is all but invincible.”

“Wait, what?” Jurs was shocked at Manti’s understanding of the situation. “Engler? He isn’t...”

“Not normally, no.” Manti’s speech began to quicken, as the battlefield slowly approached. There wasn’t much time left to talk, but Manti needed to make use of Jurs’s abilities. “However, I fought him myself. He’s been taken over by a strange force, and he tried to kill me. If you don’t believe me, you’re insane.” Manti paused to take a breath. He could now see the individual bodies of the enemy, the noobs, hackers, furries, everything. “If you don’t heal me now, Jurs, then there is nobody that can kill that thing. Engler controls it, and I have to take it down.”

Jurs reviewed the situation at hand, and came to a decision. “Fine,” she said, “but don’t die, ok? I don’t want to hear that my abilities were wasted on a corpse to-be.”

Manti chuckled a bit at this statement. “You got it.” He replied, “Quickly now, there isn’t much time. Tell me when you’re done so that I can drop you off.”

Jurs picked up her staff, and chanted a few words which sounded like gibberish in Manti’s ears. A moment later, and he felt like new. His limbs flared up with strength, and his mind was immediately cleared and refreshed. “Thanks,” he spoke somewhat softly as they began to fly over the enemy ranks. As soon as he reached the ground just before the mountains, he landed.

Jurs hopped off of Manti’s back, and stretched. “You’re welcome, I suppose.” She returned the kindness with a small effort on her part. “Don’t die, you hear me?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Manti took off, and flew straight towards the Otaku Oni Dragon, who had demolished This Looks Shopped with his sonic breath. He rose higher and higher into the air, which felt strangely static. As soon as he was level with the unsuspecting beast, he grabbed it by the tail, and threw it down towards the ground with a massive effort.

The Otaku Oni Dragon had no idea what was happening, and such, was unable to prevent Manti from throwing it. After a second of falling, the dragon stopped itself from hitting the ground, and flew back up into the sky, enraged.

Manti had taken the moment of respite to empower himself. He closed his eyes and thought about his fight against Engler, and how he had been spat upon and called a “dog”. The feeling of being trapped and defeated returned to him, and the pain of his lost Manticore brethren mixed with it to create a brutal rage which burned inside him. This caused the explosion of power which signaled the ascension of the Dark Manticore. He roared with might as his skin and wings were again stained blood red and dark grey. His claws extended, and his mane regained the bloodied look it once had.

The dragon made the first move, as it gnashed its massive fangs in Manti’s direction, and then roared in an attempt to scare the challenger. Manti, however, was not fazed. He sucked in a large breath of air, and roared back at the beast, who endured the ear shattering volume. Then the exchange of blows began as Manti attempted to slash the dragon’s face, but to no avail. The hide which protected the beast from harm was simply too thick to be penetrated by mere claws. He was forced to lean backward just as the dragon resumed its flight movement. It circled around Manti, flapping its wings once every few seconds to create dramatic flashes of lightning which struck at random on the battle below.

Manti monitored the dragon’s movement as he watched it planning for a strike. He made a preemptive dive just as the dragon tried to ram into him, and flew back up. He retracted his claws, which were useless in his current fight, and balled his hands into fists. He punched the dragon across the face as he flew next to it. The dragon roared out of anger as it finished creating a circle around Manti, and attempted to slash him with its claw. The lightning flashed as Manti barely avoided the dragon’s claws, which could rip him in half if enough force was employed.

The dragon attempted another slash, this one upward and aimed at Manti’s face. This time however, Manti was only able to raise his arms in time. The claws tore through a large portion of Manti’s arms, creating a ton of blood which dropped down onto the ground that rested one hundred and fifty feet below. Manti growled as he raised both his fists above his head, and slammed them down with as much force as he could muster on the elbow joint of the limb which had dealt so much damage to him.

The dragon slinked back a bit as it screeched out of agony. A boom of thunder inflicted pain on Manti’s ears, and a flash of lightning narrowly missed frying his back as it collided with the ground below. The constant rain wasn’t helping Manti with his wound, either; it only provided a stinging sensation which made focusing all the more difficult.

Manti followed up on his successful attack with an attempt to uppercut the dragon in the face. The dragon was alert, however, and roared with so much force that Manti was sent spiraling backwards for fifty feet or so. A sudden strike to the back by the dragon’s tail caused Manti to fall out of the sky. He managed to avoid crashing into the ground, but lost a lot of altitude before he could recover from the rough impact. “Man,” Manti thought to himself as he winced in pain, “This thing hits hard. But I can’t stop; I have to kill this thing once and for all!” He flapped his wings violently, and soared back up into the thunderclouds where the Otaku Oni Dragon waited for its prey.

A stream of thunderbolts shot down from the dragon’s wings as Manti continued to ascend into the sky. He was forced to put his ascension on hold for the moment as he watched the thunderbolts drop one by one, and weaved around them according to their approximate location. Surprisingly, Manti’s evasion proved to be highly effective, and as such, was not hit by a single bolt of lightning. He flapped his wings for the umpteenth time, and finally rose back up to the dragon’s altitude.

The thunderclouds were now sitting just below the two beasts. The clear night sky twinkled down on the odd scene as Manti prepared to strike. A sneak maneuver by the dragon nearly caught Manti off guard; the tail pierced the thundercloud at an insane speed. Luckily, Manti proved to be faster; he took off towards the dragon, leaving the tail behind. His own tail made its way into his right hand, as he ducked under another bolt of lightning. He then roared as he approached the dragon’s left eye, and attempted to shove his scorpion tail into the eyeball, hoping to blind the monster with one swift strike.

The dragon tried to stop Manti from striking, but failed. The scorpion tail dug into the creature’s eyeball, causing all sorts of juices to flood out in every which way. Manti, now drenched, quickly injected his venom before the dragon could whip its head back, and pulled his tail back into its original position. Now partially blinded and poisoned, the dragon began to desperately flail around, shooting lightning bolts and sonic booms in random directions. Manti gave it his best at avoiding the merciless attacks, but eventually got caught up in the chaos of it all, and was pounded by various effects before being sent down to the ground.

The ground continued to receive abuse as two more impacts joined the party. One was Manti, who was worn and tired, bloodied and battered. The other was the dragon, who made a much larger mark on the soil as it crashed to the ground and flailed for about a minute, and then stopped. It lay still, not moving a muscle. Manti grunted as he struggled to get up. “Now’s my chance to finish it. I have to make sure it’s dead.” He shuffled over to the dragon, and with an exhausting effort, stabbed it in the heart using his scorpion tail. He then collapsed to the ground, and after returning to his normal state, passed out. A pendant which held an eye impaled on a tooth appeared around Manti’s neck as the dragon gradually faded into nothing once more.

[GamerShadow]

Announcement/Update Time:

The final three chapters (21, 22, and 23) will be up Next Sunday, August 3rd, 2008 at 10:00PM.

If you haven't told me your guess for the ending of the story yet, you can still contact me via PM or AIM (TwilightxShade). Whoever gets it will win all 80,000+ of my credits! The winner will be announced after the final three chapters have been posted. Thanks for all of those who have read the story from the beginning till this point. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

Don't worry, I don't gamble, so It's not going down anytime soon.

[GamerShadow]

Ok, so I lied. I'll be posting the chapters as I finish them, but I want Chapter 23 to be done at 10PM Eastern.

Thus, this is the beginning of the EPIC CONCLUSION to the Phantom Challenge story/series/whatever you want to call it.

Chapter 21:

Engler’s eyes swept from left to right in his airborne position. He was in the midst of a deep search for a certain someone who was crucial to his plan. He rotated his body and visually scrounged through the plethora of bodies, whether they lay in the current dimension or in the dead zone was irrelevant. His patience, although great, was severely worn out at this point, and he began to scowl as his search returned no results.

He suddenly picked up on the faint sound of something crashing to the ground. Such a noise wouldn’t have proved important had he not summoned the Otaku Oni Dragon, whose being was no longer in the current dimension, according to Engler’s ability to sense life forces. He cursed to himself; if things continued in this manner, his plans would not be realized, and he would surely be defeated.

Nearby, a pack of furries dashed and weaved around the FFR Army as Specforces, Jewpin, and Tibs all bumped into each other, their backs colliding at one central point. The six fox-like creatures formed a circle around the three warriors, gradually speeding up in their attempt to confuse the fighters.

“Just a bunch of one trick ponies.” Specforces rotated his banhammer as he searched for an opportunity to attack, “This’ll be cake. Attack on my command.” The force of the wind created from the circular movement of the furry pack threw Jewpin’s hair to one side, a few strands of which obscured his view. Tibs merely scowled with a mixture of hate and disgust at the creatures; their horrifying views and methods would be permanently ended after today.

Jewpin smiled, as he awaited Specforces’s next orders. “These lowlifes think they’re brave,” he thought, “more like foolish. They stand no chance.” He glanced from side to side; the furries had sped up to the point where a cyclone comprised of wind had been born, and prevented anybody inside from escaping the area.

At last, one of the furries leapt from the circle with its claws fully extended, aiming to inflict the first strike upon the group. As soon as it sprang into the air, Specforces emitted his battle cry. “Now!” He yelled as he smashed his banhammer down over his head with a formidable force, which was made evident as the furry’s head impacted the ground and exploded in a wave of blood which entered the cyclone, giving it a reddish tint.

Two foxes and a wolf then focused their efforts on Specforces. They came from three different directions, trying to close him off and overwhelm him. However, their plan failed miserably as Tibs intercepted the strike and impaled the wolf on his left claw. He then slashed one of the fox’s heads off with his right. Finally, he spun counterclockwise, and threw the wolf into the other fox, which send it sprawling back onto the ground. The coup de grace arrived in the form of two hands and claws burrowing into the creature’s heart. Tibs, now heavily bloodstained, spat onto the ground beside the creature as he removed his claws from the corpse.

Another furry, which was spewing incoherent words from its mouth, dashed towards Tibs with its claws extended, trying to strike him where he proved vulnerable. However, the assault never went through, as Jewpin unexpectedly impaled the creature with his Southern Cross, which shocked the dead furry and singed it to a crisp.

Tibs, Specforces, and Jewpin all turned and focused their attention on the last furry., which stood alone. Frightened, the fox-like creature began to dash away on all fours, speedily escaping the three men that it sought to kill just a moment ago.

Specforces shook his head as he pulled his trusty sniper rifle from his back, and brought the scope to his left eye. He raised the gun slightly and fixated the crosshair upon the furry’s head, and deftly pulled the trigger. The bullet penetrated the furry’s head as it dropped to the ground in a crumpled heap just as quickly as it had fled the scene. “They never learn, do they?” Specforces thought out loud as he blew the smoke off the end of the barrel, and returned the rifle to its holster on his back.

“They never learn, do they?” Engler asked himself as he hovered over the remains of a previous struggle. “Such a disappointment to arrive at the scene of the fight, only to find that my most loyal minion has died to some lowlife.” He shrugged while grinning and landed on the ground. He began to walk towards GamerShadow’s body. “Oh well; the boy merely saved me the trouble.” He rolled up his sleeves as his smile grew and reached both of his cheeks.

Just a hundred feet away, Shashakiro spotted Engler standing on the ground. His face twisted, his arm reaching down to something, or someone. At once, Shash sent an urgent private thought to Jimerax, ieat, darkshark, and MrRubix. Shash dashed over towards Engler in an attempt to hold him off from whatever he was doing, as it couldn’t be any good. However, he proved to be too late.

Engler cackled as his indigo aura appeared, and grew to a massive size. It appeared to almost touch the clouds which hung overhead the battle, and radiated actual force, which was the only factor preventing Shashakiro from stopping Engler at this point. At once, every being in the FlashFlashRevolution world felt the same horrible sensation rip through their bodies and minds. It quaked through the soil, boomed through the air, and captured the world’s attention with its ominous energy.

Shashakiro stood and watched as Engler continued to grow in power. He had approached close enough to the twisted terror to perceive his current activity, and saw that his hand was upon the head of a boy. The sensation that coursed through Shashakiro’s body was unreal, and it only continued to increase in intensity as time went on. At last, Engler’s hand removed itself from the boy’s head, and his feet left the ground. He hovered ten feet into the air, and with an air of finality, exploded with power with a booming shout to the heavens, the likes of which had never been experienced or heard in the FFR world before.

Three small, circular objects were sent flying in the same direction at an incredible rate away from Engler. They glowed with a mixture of their individual colors as they sailed through the air. They impacted the dirt, kicking a bit of dust into the air before finally settling rather conspicuously.

Specforces turned his head over his shoulders as his ears picked up on what sounded like bullets coming from behind and hitting the dirt. However, his eyes scolded his ears for lying. It wasn’t bullets that had been shot, it was-

“Tokens?” Specforces questioned as he kneeled down, his eyes on the three objects. He paused for a moment; the objects could very well be a grenade of some sort. However, he also noticed that they were glowing, as was the token in his pocket. He put two and two together, and slowly removed the suspicion from his mind. At last, he seemed to affirm his previous statement using reasoning, and proceeded to pick the tokens. “Where would these come from?” He thought as he looked at their fronts and backs. As he read one of the token’s descriptions, he immediately knew.

“Engler.” He thought to himself, staring out to where he felt the origin of the tokens was, “What have you done?”

Engler continued to exude enormous amounts of power as his voice boomed through the air with a triumphant and victorious mood. Shashakiro stood and witnessed what he felt was the greatest power to emerge from a single entity since himself. From behind, four figures appeared behind him. One tapped him on his right shoulder and spoke, “Is this what you were telling us about before, Shash?”

Without turning his head, he spoke in a trancelike voice, “Yeah, this won’t be easy to deal with, but he’s now the single most powerful being in the world.”

==============================
Coming up, in the EPIC CONCLUSION:

After absorbing his "missing piece" from GamerShadow, Engler rises to a whole new level of power. His plans have almost come to fruition, but first there is the matter of Shash and friends, who are more determined than ever to defeat the evil overlord once and for all. The epic final battle kicks off with a bang. Will Shash be able to defeat Super Phantom Engler once and for all? Or has Engler's increase in power proven to be too much for the heroes?

Do not miss

[GamerShadow]

Chapter 22: Part 1:

“Well, well, well.” Super Phantom Engler smirked as he softly landed on the dirt that separated him from the rest of TGB. His immense negative energy could be sensed from immeasurable distances, even in nearby dimensions such as the Dead Zone. His muscles were now refined to perfection, and were even more massive than before. Even so, his body appeared perfectly natural. The shadow tendrils that manifested his hair now glowed in pride with their own separate aura that put all others to shame.

Shashakiro’s eyebrows lowered as he frowned; he figured that there were very few fighters at this point who could match his opponent. His mind was working at full bore, trying to concoct a plan that could, if executed properly, destroy the new and improved Engler, and save the world from imminent doom.

“You are most certainly correct, Shashakiro,” Engler’s smile took a turn for the confident as his eyebrows rose slightly to complement the look, “There are perhaps five people that are in my league right now, and only two of those five can actually compete with me for more than a minute.” He chuckled to himself with this new amusing thought as he put his hands on his hips in a teasing manner, “In short, you are all screwed. You had multiple chances to finish me off, and you didn’t.”

Jimerax let out a growl in frustration as he tightened his fists and tensed up his biceps. He knew the words that Engler spoke were true. Letting his anger get the best of him for a moment, he sharply retorted, “That doesn’t mean that we can’t finish you here and now. Just because you are more powerful than before doesn’t mean that you are invincible.”

Engler laughed wholeheartedly as he threw his head back and looked up at the sky; hands still at his hips. “Of course,” he began while bringing his head back down to a level position, “It isn’t a game without the challenge, is it?” His voice, although now clearly higher pitched in the audible spectrum, was as menacing and deep as ever. “I’ll tell you guys what.” He leaned forward a bit, almost as if to alert the others of a special secret, as his smirk spread from ear to ear. “I’ll take five of the seven of you on, one by one. I’ll throw the odds in your favor, too; you may decide to fight in whatever order you like. And…” Engler put strain on and emphasized the word “and” to help persuade the others into agreeing to the fight conditions he had planned, “…I’ll even let you switch for another fighter at any time. That way, you can take a break if you get too tired to continue.” He inserted a teasing tone into his voice as he spoke the last sentence. Engler was clearly enjoying himself at this point, and he made no effort to hide the truth.

Shashakiro did not let any of the others who had accompanied him speak. He immediately pounced upon the only opportunity they had been granted to defeat Engler once and for all. “Very well then, Engler,” Shashakiro received startled glances from the others. Darkshark in particular was quite surprised at the seemingly hasty decision, “We accept your fight terms. May we request a few minutes to prepare ourselves? After all, we want to give you the fight of your life. As you said, it isn’t a game without the challenge.”

Engler quietly mused at the interesting point that Shashakiro had unearthed. It didn’t take much time for the thought of a great battle to appear in his mind, and he was almost overcome with glee thinking of the possibilities. “Very well then,” he excitedly granted the request with no hesitation whatsoever, “you have ten minutes to prepare. Once time is up, the first fighter will approach me, and we will begin. I shall be waiting.”

“You won’t be disappointed,” Shashakiro nodded as he and the group jumped up onto a flat mass of land that jutted upwards over the rest of the plains by ten feet or so. He called the other six fighters who had accompanied him to have a quick meeting, and within a minute, everybody was ready to talk.

“Now,” Shashakiro started to lay out his plans and inform everybody of what they were to do, “I have a plan, and I think we can make it work. However, everything needs to go perfectly,” stress was added to this phrase, “but there cannot be any hesitation at all. Do you understand?”

At this point, most everybody thought that Shash had gone off the deep end, but they could not dismiss a plan where a plan was needed most. “Lay it on us,” Darkshark smiled, “we can do whatever you want us to do, no questions asked.”

“Very well then,” Shashakiro pointed to Jimerax, making it clear that time was of the essence, “JX will be the first to fight. I know that you reach your peak power quickly, so you may be able to match Engler blow for blow before he has a chance to fully warm up. Stay in for as long as you can, and only switch when Engler is about to finish you.”

Jimerax nodded, and began to prepare himself mentally for the fight ahead. He also continued to listen to Shashakiro, so he knew what everybody else would be doing.

“Once JX runs out of steam, Ieat will swap in. Engler has not seen you fight yet, so you have the element of surprise.” Ieat nodded and continued to listen. Darkshark and MrRubix raised their eyebrows. They were surprised at the plan’s simplicity. Somehow, it was still effective, and filled them with a sense of confidence. Shashakiro continued to speak; he ignored the group’s silent responses in order to fit his plan within the time limit. “Also, Ieat, your exceptional speed and power should be able to throw him off for a minute or so. I want your appearance to be brief; give him everything you’ve got, and get out of there quickly. I want to keep him on his toes; the less certain he feels, the more unstable his technique should become.”

“Can do.” Ieat smiled as he began to stretch and warm-up in order to prepare for his part in the final battle. “Keep talking, Shashakiro, we only have six minutes left, according to Engler.”

Sure enough, Engler was holding up six fingers, and mouthing the word “six” to the group. He stood on the plains below with his arms crossed. His posture was rather relaxed, and a small grin made itself known. It was apparent that Engler was doing nothing to prepare for the fight; he knew in his mind that he didn’t need to.

“I’ll make an appearance once Ieat has had his fill,” Shashakiro relayed the third phase of the battle plan to the others, “Engler will assume that we are trying to finish him off before we reach our fifth fighter once JX and Ieat fight all out, so he will be expecting a full length endeavor from me.”

MrRubix’s open mouth and wide eyes signaled that he had just experienced an epiphany as he smiled and commented, “Very clever, Shashakiro. The old bait and switch never fails. You’re planning on escaping before you are even warmed up. You’re going to keep him guessing the whole time.”

Shashakiro expected no less from the up and coming warrior. “Precisely,” he affirmed Rubix’s theory as he continued with his plan, “once I give him a taste test, I want MrRubix to enter the fight strong. Force him to adapt to a changing landscape, and lay traps. Once again, I want him to feel uncomfortable the whole way through. He has never fought against you, so you can use that to your advantage as well.”

MrRubix let out a small “heh” before nodding and focusing his mind to tighten his mental control. Meanwhile, Shashakiro laid out the second to last phase of the plan. “Darkshark, you will give Engler everything you have once MrRubix comes back. Hold nothing back; I want to see you use everything you have ever learned and acquired. Give Engler a standard fight in the beginning, though, because he may be prepared for surprises after Rubix is done with him. Lull him back into a false sense of security, and then nail him where it hurts.”

Darkshark liked the idea, and could picture Engler getting owned by a surprise attack in his mind. He began to laugh, but silenced himself in order to hear out the rest of the formula.

“Finally,” Shashakiro resumed, “I will give Engler everything I have. By then, I can only hope that everybody’s sacrifices have not been for nothing. He may be strong, but he is not invincible. He has to have a weakness; everything does. We just have to find it.” Shash looked around at the others. Everybody nodded back at him. “So,” he smiled, “do we have ourselves a plan?” More nods came from the group, and Shash stood up. He looked over at Engler, and shouted in his direction, “We’re ready whenever you are! Your first opponent will be arriving shortly.”

Engler seemed pleased. “You are really in a hurry to die. You still had two minutes left to prepare with, but a deal is a deal. You are ready now, as am I.” He cracked his knuckles as he patiently awaited his first victim. “Now,” he announced, needlessly projecting his voice, “who will be the first to fight?” He lifted his arm, and yawned. A gigantic dome formed from the ground up. It appeared to be composed of powerful shadow energy, and it sealed off the fighters from the rest of the world. Shashakiro looked upwards as the half-sphere of energy met at the center point, closing out the night sky.

A sudden tremor ripped through the earthen soil, acting as a preemptive introduction. Jimerax kneeled on his right knee, with his head down and one of his fists pressed firmly in the soil. He at last stood upright, and eyed Engler with a hateful look of vengeance. “No introductions,” Jimerax roared, “only fighting!” He took off using his right foot as leverage and immediately reached close range.

Engler possessed no answers for his opponent. His stance remained the same, crossed arms, straight knees, and an arrogant smile. His opponent’s first attack came with blinding speed. A fist, which seemingly came from another dimension, rocked the air with a mighty sonic boom capable of deafening the average pair of ears. To Jimerax’s surprise, Engler had already seen the attack coming, and had lazily sidestepped to his right, with his arms still crossed, to boot. He was now standing over the warrior, smiling and awaiting his next move.

Jimerax growled out of annoyance as he forcefully threw his elbow towards the smirking Engler, causing another explosion of sound to emit. Again, Engler had already foreseen the follow up assault, and had leaned back just enough to prevent any harm from coming his way. He then made a preemptive hop backwards as Jimerax lowered himself and attempted to fell Engler with his right leg by spinning counterclockwise. His foot burned the blades of grass upon which it skid to a perfect black tar, causing a miniscule cloud of smoke to escape into the atmosphere, but impacted nothing on its entire one hundred and eighty degree trip.

Engler then waited as Jimerax rolled forwards, and attempted to smash Engler’s lower jaw with a forceful uppercut. The sheer momentum behind the fist caused the black cloud to split in half and fade into the air. Finally, Engler’s arms unfolded as he gripped Jimerax’s fist with his left hand. Now infuriated, Jimerax grabbed his his own fist, making sure to prevent Engler from letting go, and spun clockwise as he flung his opponent with a massive strength. This unorthodox maneuver threw Engler off for only a second; he made a beautiful recovery by flipping himself over and skidding backwards twenty feet on one hand.

However, Jimerax made sure to keep Engler on his toes now that he had found an opening. He leaped forwards and through muscle tension, managed to shove his knee into Engler’s abdominal area, which caused him to recoil for a brief moment. It provided Jimerax a window of opportunity just large enough to send Engler reeling backwards yet again with a fist directly to the face, followed by a muffled sonicboom, which Engler also took. He once again made a flawless recovery as he skidded backwards.

Jimerax noticed that something was horribly wrong. One strike to the face would have killed any normal being, and knocked out any trained warrior. However, Engler’s face did not bear so much as a single scratch on it. It merely taunted its opponent with a wicked grin. Such a feat threw Jimerax off for just a second.

Engler noticed Jimerax attempting to contemplate what had just happened, and why his opponent’s face had not been smashed to pieces with the several blows he had landed on him. Engler’s grin remained the same, but the attitude he exuded became slightly more lighthearted as he wagged his right index finger towards Jimerax. “You’ll have to try harder than that, Jimerax,” Engler teased as he crossed his arms, “I’ll show you what I mean. See if you can keep up.”

In a flash, Engler disappeared. Jimerax couldn’t believe what was happening, and was just realizing that he was out of his league. Without warning, a gigantic impact broke the silence, and an explosion of pain rocked the back of Jimerax’s head. He felt himself catapulting up into the air, and his eyes witnessed Engler appear from nowhere as his back was slammed on by Engler’s right foot, which sent Jimerax down into the ground.

Engler once again vanished, and reappeared on the ground, below the still falling Jimerax. His left knee rocketed upwards, and met his abdomen, causing Jimerax to wince out of sheer pain. Each of Engler’s blows contained incredible force, more so than Jimerax. However, his speed was also unmatched at this point; his abilities far exceeded that of his opponent.

Shash was helpless to assist his comrade; he could only watch as Engler toyed with him by beating him mercilessly across the area that was sealed off by the shadow dome. Even he was worried at this point about the others, and himself. What had he gotten them into? Was it even possible for one person to obtain this much power?

One of his questions would be answered soon, and the answer which he would receive would not be pretty by any means. At long last, Engler slammed Jimerax back first into the ground. At this point, the fighter was barely breathing. Arms were contorted in ways that were never thought possible, ribs were shattered into innumerable pieces, and skin was lacerated and punctured to a bloodied pulp.

Barely able to retain consciousness, Jimerax attempted to flee the scene by logging out. His body transformed into a sphere of pure light, which rebounded off the ground and flashed towards the sky at an incredible rate.

Engler sighed as his left arm came down. His hand balled into a fist, he appeared as if he were banging a gavel on a wooden surface then using an attack. However, a second beam shot down from the sky, impacting the white beam which was Jimerax just inside of the dome. After a rather large explosion, the white beam returned to the ground in the form of Jimerax, who had now ceased to move.

“That’s what he gets for trying to run away when I wanted a fight.” Engler spoke out loud, “Oh well, can’t have him living to get revenge on me some other day.” He shrugged as he brought his hands up to brush his shoulders off.

[u84]

Great story. I just read the whole thing. This is orgasmic!

[buizel8888]

The places you stop at make me hate you.

lol

[u84]

I thought a new one was supposed to come out every Sunday night?

[GamerShadow]

Back from camp, everybody!

Well, I am sorry to say that you didn't get your entire epic conclusion, but rather, half of it. However, I will be diligently working towards the end of the story, and will be releasing the parts that I didn't complete as I finish them.

Thank your for your patience for the infinity +1th time. =)

[morbidangelsuta666]

Haha, awesome story Shadow!

[GamerShadow]

...And now it's the day before school, and I regret to say that I have been caught up in Cross Country and roleplaying. Even though I had ample time to finish this in the last month or so, I didn't. Chapter 22 Part 2 will arrive within the next two hours, and the rest of the story will arrive in the next week. That's an FFR promise. Cross my heart, swear to die, smash a banhammer on my eye. It will be finished.

As for the little guessing contest, I am proud to announce that SethSquall sent in the closest guess of the few people that submitted. You will be recieving your 81,507 credits momentarily.

Also: epic bump. This isn't over until it's over, and that's soon.

Edit: Apparently all of this roleplaying has made me a better writer. I think you'll find that Part 2 and Chapter 23 are going to be more vivid than the rest of the story. =D

[Tokzic]

man am i still not unbanned come on i need to evade death and go on a ridiculous killing spree and then get permabanned