FFR: The Phantom Challenge

[GamerShadow]

Notice:

From now on, chapters will be released weekly, on Sundays, at ~8:00PM Eastern. They will be in full unless life decides to intervene; in which case I will have to shift the schedule back or post what I have in parts. I think it's about time I finished this story up; it's been almost six months since I started writing this.

Chapter 17 will be released Sunday, June 15th, 2008 @ 8:00PM Eastern.

[TK_demon]

i just read the engler thread, then i just got done reading this. All of it was so great, I could barely keep my self from laughing. Too bad chunky ruined all the fun. :P

[GamerShadow]

To give you a preview of what is coming up in Chapter 17, I decided to type a short little paragraph or so and post it here. I will start doing this for every chapter, so that you guys aren't completely in the dark. =P

Coming up in Chapter 17:
The Militia is slowing down greatly, but the noobs just never seem to stop coming. Squeek and Omega finally give out and accept defeat as the enemy army begins to advance towards them. Is this the end, or will six unexpected guests, including an unusually powerful fighter, be enough to turn the tide of the battle and save the day?

Find out this Sunday at 8:00PM!

(I am so evil. =P)

[Xception704]

What the ****.

60 words has never hyped me up as much as these have.

Damnit Sunday, hurry up.

p.s. I got chills.

[DarkManticoreX2]

Selling the identity of the mystery person for 100k credits. come one come all.

[GamerShadow]

Manti, that info is priceless. You can't sell it. At least, not for anything less than a OMW AAA, a Crowdpleaser AAA, and Rubix's own rubix cube collection (assuming he has one.) And a pic of synthlight's true face.

Can't you wait 2 chapters or so before spilling the beans?

[DarkManticoreX2]

Nope, Can't wait.








For the next chapter ................

[GamerShadow]

A recap of Chapter 16:

GuidoHunter finally got down to business, attempting to take down Engler once and for all. But his rage turned against him as Engler toyed with the furious mod, and nearly finished him. But Stretchypanda had other plans. She whisked Guido and GamerShadow away before Engler could react, and allowed the two of them to rehabilitate in the Staff Hospital. But GamerShadow wasn't down for the count yet. After de-numbing himself, he left only halfway healed to find Specforces to inform him of the dire situation.
===================
FFR: The Phantom Challenge
Chapter 17:

The sun flared and relentlessly beat down on the TGB Army, taking complete control of the cloudless skies and ruling with an iron fist. Specforces, as well as the numerous war veterans stood sharp and alert, never letting their shoulders droop once. Their perfect posture made them seem like gods to the newer and less experienced recruits, who were completely slouched over like hunchbacks at the time.

Specforces had his mind on other, more pressing issues. He had not heard from a staff member other than Mal and Guido in the last week, and GamerShadow had not returned to update on his search for quite some time. To compound the problem, there was the fact that the path that the Army now tread upon was completely burnt and devoid of any life. Only the Army’s soldiers and the dust moved; everything else remained perfectly still, a painting of a distorted reality.

Tibs and Reaper both sensed the concern that Specforces had, but mentioned nothing about it. They simply marched right behind him in the front row of the unorthodox shape that started as the trademark perfect square, and ended more similar to a blob.

As if possessed, Specforces jutted out his left hand, and everybody in the first six rows stopped on command. The newbies did not realize that the command had been given until they bumped into the rear ends of their comrades, which angered the veterans slightly. A moment passed, and only the wind guarded them from complete and perfect silence. Specforces’s eyebrows furrowed a bit as he called out into the open air, “GamerShadow! I know you are there! Reveal yourself!”

Many soldiers thought that the heat had finally gone to their leader’s head. “There’s nobody here but us,” they whispered to themselves, “what is he doing?” Even Tibs raised an eyebrow at Spec’s strange command. Reaper merely shrugged, and Afrobean began to think of possible reasons for such an outburst.

The confusion was soon put to rest as a small puddle of an unknown indigo substance appeared on the ground, fifteen feet away from Spec’s jungle camo boots. It slowly rose from the ground, and formed into GamerShadow’s body shape before finally shifting back into GamerShadow himself. Before Specforces could speak, however, GamerShadow alerted Specforces of the dire situation. “Specforces,” his tone was rushed and slightly panicked, and his left hand was clenching a small object in his left pocket, turning it, feeling the grooves, “It’s Engler. He’s stronger than ever. It...” GamerShadow mysteriously put emphasis on it, which confused a few of the veterans, “...it told me that he’s going to attack The Garbage Bin.”

Specforces immediately wheeled around in terror, and began to launch orders at the top of his lungs. “Soldiers! Into your emergency transport positions! We make it to TGB by nightfall!” At his command, Reaper roared as he transformed into the Death Dragon. Tibs sprouted wings that spanned fourteen feet, and Specforces sent in a request to have his battalion lifted and brought over to TGB via aircraft, which was readily approved.

Within minutes, the TGB Army had assembled in their transport positions. Tibs was carrying Seth in his transformed feet and hands, and Reaper had about twenty people on his back, ready to ride a somewhat scaly trip to TGB. The remaining personnel were stationed on troop carriers that Specforces had designed earlier in his military career.

“GamerShadow,” Specforces sent him a private thought, due to the carriers making too much noise to speak, “After we touch down, I would like to have a talk. This is important, so “the mission” is temporarily on hold until this is resolved, ok? See you in about an hour or so.”

Reaper, Tibs, and the carriers that were lifting the TGB Army into the sky ascended into the air as one, and flew at maximum speed towards The Garbage Bin. Everybody knew that they had to make it by nightfall to reinforce the Militia, or else all hope would be forever lost.

The afternoon clouds continued to lazily drift by as if nothing new had happened on the bloodied soil below. They cast their comforting shadows on various areas around The Proving Grounds, which was still erupting with violence and conflict, the lives of thousands melting down into nothing but corpses which lay piled to the heavens.

Nobody noticed the inconspicuous beams of pure white light that shot down from the sky during the struggle for the final frontier. They arrived at the rocks which surrounded and shielded The Garbage Bin from harm, and left behind six figures, who surveyed the busy scene below. Five of the figures appeared to be normal citizens of various countries of the FFR world. One glance at them would reveal to many that they were members of rather high status. The other, however, had concealed his true identity with a full-body ninja suit. A satchel rested by his waist, tied by a rather flimsy string to a pitch black waistband which was made for concealing small items.

The first person to speak up was darkshark. His hair was dyed a navy blue near the tips. When viewed from exactly the right angle, the hair appeared to resemble a plethora of fins jutting out of the water at once, like a grand alliance of sea monsters on the hunt for their prey. The rest of his tall, thin body however, was rather bland; he wore a plain white t-shirt with dark blue jeans, and his sneakers appeared to be at least a year old with its torn soles and matted laces.

“This is quite the battle, wouldn’t you all say?” Darkshark initiated the conversation with an obvious question, which he hoped would break the silence that existed between the six members.

“It’s almost depressing to view this sort of event,” another voice responded, “Is violence really the only solution that people can employ?” In his left hand was a rubix cube, which was constantly rotating and shuffling in every which way as the man tinkered with it without looking at it.

“Rubix,” another, deeper voice replied, “are you always this pessimistic, or is it the unbearable heat that is getting to you?”

“No, Hammy.” MrRubix answered, “It is neither of those. The fact that so much time and so many lives are being needlessly consumed is a factor of annoyance to me. Why can’t everybody just make peace and leave one another alone?”

HammyMcSquirrel, who had his hands shoved in his pockets, turned to look at Rubix, who had just solved his cube for the umpteenth time, and was in the process of randomly shuffling it to solve again. Hammy shrugged, and looked at the others, half expecting one of them to answer Rubix’s rhetorical question.

“Either way,” an aggravated DJ_Swabber crossed her arms and tilted her head by a miniscule amount, “We should stop the battle before any more people die.” Her eyebrows were furrowed, and she clearly was itching to get in her fair share of kills for the day.

“Something isn’t right.” Swabber, Rubix, Darkshark, Hammy, and igotrhythm turned towards the ninja-like figure, who was still monitoring the battle intensely. “There shouldn’t be this many people assimilated into this small of an area. This can’t be an unorganized assault; no one country has this many people that are willing to fight.”

Igot gasped as he pointed down towards a lower spire in the chain of mountains, which was located about a quarter of a mile down. “Look! It’s Omega! And I think I see Squeek in there as well! You can tell by the glare from their banhammers!”

The others opened their eyes wide and looked in the direction of igot’s finger. All five of them confirmed his statement; Omega and Squeek were indeed swinging their banhammers violently, and sending countless enemies sailing through the mid-afternoon air. Every second or so, a brilliant glare would blind their eyes, which only supported igot’s proven theory.

“My god igot,” Darkshark gasped, “you’re right. It is them. What in the world are they doing here, and why would they have their banhammers out? I mean, there are a ton of people here, but they can’t be fighting all of them, can they?”

The ninja-like figure once again input his thoughts. “They have to be. If you look closely, the majority of the forces are idle, not fighting. If the forces were split to anything resembling a fifty-fifty, then they would all be fighting. This needs our immediate attention. If we let them fight on their own any longer, then they will surely die.”

Everybody nodded, and jumped down the mountain one at a time until only the figure remained. He looked toward the horizon, and tried to make sense of the situation. “Is this what he was planning?” He thought to himself, “He can’t seriously expect to defeat us with a force this lacking in skill and power. Oh well, I guess I should get this over with.” With cat-like reflexes, agility, and speed, the figure leapt down the spires as if it were his playground, and advanced towards the enemy forces.

Omega and Squeek retreated up to a higher spire, where they had to catch their breath. Squeek’s left knee gave way, and he dropped his banhammer onto the ground. “Omega,” he barely managed to articulate his thoughts as he fell backward onto the stone, “I don’t think I can keep this up any longer. We’ve been smacking their brains out for half the day, and they still don’t stop coming.”

Omega knew that they were trapped like fireflies in a jar at this point. He too was panting heavily, and also dropped his banhammer as the veins in his arm throbbed and the muscles seared with intense fatigue. “I’m not doing so well either, Squeek. But what else can we do? We must have banned over two thousand of these damn noobs, yet they continue to come. This might be it.”

Squeek smiled, and tried to laugh, but only ended up intensifying the pain in his stomach and lungs, which caused him to emit a light, painful groan. “It was nice knowing you, Omega.” He managed to speak before violently coughing and rolling from the sharp pain inflicted on his abdominal region.

The noobs had now reached the base of the spire that Omega and Squeek rested on, and began to climb up the fifty feet of rock that separated the exhausted warriors from their seemingly imminent demise. Omega and Squeek lay on the ground, completely sapped of their strength, and awaiting their ends. Suddenly, a familiar voice called out to them.

“What is this? Nap time? We have work to do guys, we can’t be resting up on the job like this.” The voice belonged to igot, who landed on the spire on which Squeek and Omega rested, along with darkshark and Swabber, who picked up the two exhausted warriors and fled into The Garbage Bin to find a spot for them to rest.

igot now faced the entire hoard of enemies climbing up the spire on his own. He stared them down as he lifted his arms and hands and extended them forwards as far out as they would go. Without warning, visible sound waves shot from igot’s palms, and impacted the rocks and the enemies simultaneously, which caused the rocks to shatter and the noobs to be forced backwards.

Other fighters could hear igot fighting from up to a half a mile away. The timings of the pulses mingled with one another, and created an addictive beat that startled the senses and caused the noobs to lose their will to attack for a brief moment.

Taking advantage of the diminished offensive power of the enemy force, MrRubix allowed the rubix cube in his left hand to levitate around his head, acting as both a projectile reflector and a close range weapon. Even when fighting, MrRubix still continued to solve the rubix cube, turning the sides infinitely with nothing but his mind. His next action was to cut off one of the spires that created the maw which engulfed the Garbage Bin. He began to move it with his mind at high speeds, crushing, stabbing, smacking, and smashing tens of hundreds of noobs within seconds. MrRubix yawned as he scratched the back of his head; the advanced psychokinesis made his head quite itchy at times, and itchy heads only served to annoy him.

Hammy also used the enemy’s lowered guard to turn the tide of battle. He began to dart through the enemy ranks at supersonic speeds, crashing his way through countless enemy units with the force of a train. From a distance, battered bodies flew through the evening air in every which way, sometimes landing on their fellow comrades and killing them as well.

By the time Darkshark and DJ_Swabber were able to join the brawl, there were only a few hundred noobs left. Noticing that their once impregnable mass in numbers had been dwindled to a dot on the surface of the FFR world, they turned around and began to retreat, only to find a lone warrior standing in their way.

“And just where do you think you’re all going?” The man stepped forward, wielding no weapons, and wearing nothing but a muscle shirt, and loose, baggy jeans. “This is The Garbage Bin. When you fight here, you don’t leave, not if you are winning, not if you are being brutally murdered like you are today, and certainly not if you get a little boo boo and have to run home crying.”

Apparently, this didn’t gel too well with the mob of noobs, who outnumbered the man more than two hundred to one. One of them raised their fists high into the air, and shouted in the usual indecipherable language, “pH33r uZ!!!1!1!” The others followed, and soon, all two hundred of the irrelevant obstructions were waving their hands in the air like pansies, shouting phrases that didn’t mean anything like they were the messiah’s words of salvation.

The man smiled and patiently crossed his arms. He stood still, and decided to let the noobs play their little games for a minute or two. Everybody else, who had fought their muscles to the brink of oblivion were watching intently. They didn’t speak a word.

Swabber hopped over to darkshark in the brief moment of silence, and stood next to him as she whispered in his ear, “What is he doing?” She was intent on finding out what was happening down below, but she didn’t wish to interfere with the man who was single-handedly preventing the enemy’s escape.

Darkshark smiled as he answered Swabber’s question without looking at her. “Don’t worry about it. He’ll take care of it. Two hundred to one is nothing for the likes of him.” Darkshark knew that this show was about to be one that could not be missed, and he wasn’t going to let anything pull him away, even for a second. He didn’t dare blink. “Just watch,” he told Swabber, “You aren’t going to see anything like this ever again.”

The man stuffed his hands into his pockets, and chuckled to himself. “You wanted me to fear you, is that it?” He spoke loud enough for everybody to hear, including Squeek and Omega, who were currently sitting down, resting and healing up so that they could resume their normal moderator duties as soon as possible. “Well,” the man continued on, “I don’t do fear. In fact, you’ll be fearing me in a second, understand?”

This caused the noobs to fly into a blind rage. They shouted obscene phrases of all sorts, and gave the man the crudest and least civilized gestures possible. Some were cracking their knuckles in an attempt to get the man scared, while others were flexing their muscles, as if they were showing off.

The man took a step forward, and at once all of the noobs ceased whatever they were doing. A massive aura of power had just been released from its containment, which happened to be the man himself. “By the way,” he lowered himself into a fighting stance worthy of praise by even the most experienced fighters, “the name’s Jimerax, but that’s irrelevant. You’re all going to be dead soon anyway. Oh well, have fun in the Dead Zone!”

===============
A preview of Chapter 18:

Jimerax wipes the floor with the last crowd of noobs as if he were sweeping away dust. But the war for TGB is far from over as the horizon becomes darkened by the bodies of more soldiers than thought possible, one million, by the mysterious ninja-suited man's count.

The TGB Army makes a triumphant return just as the fight begins, but SethSquall doesn't appear to be holding out too well as the noobs begin to overwhelm him with sheer force of numbers. Has the final blow against SethSquall been struck, or will he be able to save himself and the world from death?

[Xception704]

what the ****.

why does seven days seem like a ****ing eternity.

insane work Gamer.

p.s. favorite line rofl.

MrRubix still continued to solve the rubix cube, turning the sides infinitely with nothing but his mind.

[igotrhythm]

Holy crap; you actually included me? I'm honored. Truly I am. I like my attack form too. One of these days I might actually make a role-playing character like that. You're too busy dancing to the beat to realize that the thing being beaten on is you...

[GamerShadow]

Update: Good news and bad news for you all.

The good news is that there is now essentially a 0% chance of me going to Germany, which means more time to write the story.

The bad news is that if this holds true, you will not get the double feature that I had promised, just Chapter 18. Chapter 19 would move to the following Sunday (aka where it was supposed to be), and the story would continue on schedule from there.

So, in order to post something more relevant, I grant you another glimpse at the upcoming story.

Another glimpse:

“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 late Azzuri, sister of the late Forza (That means dead, by the way.)

My question to you all is this: How does that quote, and the Token which authors it relate to the next chapter? Who could possibly have spoken such words, if both Forza and Azzuri are dead? First person to guess correctly will find a nice sum of credits added to their amount on Sunday at 8:05PM. I will not tell you if you guess correctly.

[buizel8888]

I lost this thread for awhile. Lmao

I come back to see it more alive than ever. Nice work GS. Can't wait till Sunday.

[GamerShadow]

Due to unforseen circumstances, I am forced to write Chapter 18 in two parts. The first part will be released on schedule and is about three pages long. The second part will be released tomorrow at 9:00PM Eastern.

Edit: I have added part 2 to this post to make reading easier.
=================================
Chapter 18:

The noobs all roared in unison as they charged at the seemingly arrogant Jimerax in an unorganized fashion. Some tripped over others. A few even ended up killing themselves due to falling and snapping their own necks. Others injured themselves, but foolishly decided to continue charging anyway.

Jimerax remained in his stance for a moment before creating a surge of power. He emitted a massive war cry as his fist flew through its first target, instantly ripping the doomed foe in half. Blood gushed onto the ground, and spattered everywhere as other enemies began to fill their place in. But it was really of no use. Jimerax continued to literally destroy the noobs with just one mighty blow of his fists. Each strike released a colossal burst of energy which shook the ground, the air, and the heavens themselves.

One insect of an enemy attempted to pierce Jimerax’s heart with a dagger from behind, but found it swiped away from its hand in a blur before the plunge was even attempted. The repugnant shell of a body never felt a thing as Jimerax threw the dagger through its head, which shattered into innumerable pieces as it dented the ground with sheer force alone, and left a hole in the victim’s head that made a cave seem claustrophobic.

Jimerax then grabbed the body, crushing its ribcage and spine instantly with his ultimate grip, and roared as he threw it into the group of nearby noobs, which were all impaled on the body as if a javelin were spearheading a herd of cows. The resulting pile of corpses skidded on the ground, leaving behind a thick, crimson streak that could be seen from a hundred feet in the air.

Within thirty five seconds, Jimerax had reduced the remaining enemy count from two hundred to ten. The survivors simply stood together, huddled against one another, as if their combined mass would scare the monster warrior away. This thought, of course, was pure fantasy. If anything, Jimerax was now more ready to kill the remaining enemy forces when they were together. Less work, he figured to himself as he pulled out a small satchel that only contained four grey arrows. He took them out, and aligned them in midair vertically, allowing them to shift into their three dimensional form. They each pointed in a different direction, one left, one right, one down, and one up.

The crowd of noobs simply stared at the display that Jimerax was putting on, much like the TGB Militia. Jimerax then lightly tapped each grey arrow, all of which released a red arrow which floated a few feet forwards before fading into the open air. He grinned upon seeing that his test was a success.

“Now,” Jimerax announced as he shifted into what seemed to be an assassination style stance, “kindly allow me to introduce you to the Wall of Death. You won’t feel a thing, by the way.”

With this comment, the man in the ninja attire raised an eyebrow, but said nothing and continued to watch intently, waiting to see if the supposed “Wall of Death” was going to work. Jimerax emitted a final roar as his hands became blurs, and the four grey arrows immediately began to pour out tens of hundreds, possibly thousands of arrows of all colors. The noobs were carved up into atomic slices as they collapsed onto the ground within a matter of seconds. Once satisfied, Jimerax relaxed himself, and ceased pounding the grey arrows, which he shifted back into their original two dimensional form, and returned into his satchel. For show, Jimerax then turned to those that were watching, and bowed once to all of them, wearing a grin on his face that clearly told them that he was showing off the whole time.

There was silence for a moment or two, but eventually, Jimerax received a pleasant applause which came from all directions, signaling that the crowd loved his performance. Jimerax’s smile turned into a grin as he walked back towards the entrance to The Proving Grounds.

Realizing that they had won the struggle for TGB, the Militia all leapt down the side of the rock maw, and met up by the entrance. They shouted for joy, and began to laugh and congratulate one another. Omega and Squeek both heard the joyous shouting from afar, and gave each other the thumbs up and a high-five. Many of the soldiers began to loudly chat with one another, ignoring the sight of the approaching TGB Army, which was still represented by a speck on the horizon. They laughed and cheered, and began to consider who should be named the most valued warrior when a distinctive voice approached from the maw as well.

“Everyone!” The ninja-suited man raised his arms into the air and demanded the Militia’s attention as he projected his voice so that all could hear, “This war is not over. Do you really think that this was a normal noob attack? The forces were much too organized and large in numbers for it to be so.”

The man in the ninja suit received skeptical looks from all as they turned their backs to him, and continued to chat. They proved unwilling to listen to anything that might suggest that more work was to be had. Immediately, the man grew frustrated, and decided that enough was enough. He tore off his facemask with an angry grunt, and threw it to the ground. “You dare disrespect a moderator? Shame on all of you! I am going to reiterate myself one last time. The war is NOT OVER.”

This caused everybody else to turn around, both in rage and in curiosity, too see if the man in the suit was merely a troll, or just a foolish citizen trying to impersonate a mod. However, everybody was in for a shock when they discovered the man to be...

“Shashakiro?” Fido exclaimed as he put his hands over his mouth, but then removed them in order to talk. “You’re supposed to be dead! How... how are you still alive?”

Nobody else moved or spoke. On Shashakiro’s face was a monstrous line which dashed across his eye and down over his nose. A battle scar. His eyes lowered slightly, and he became rather depressed. “You see,” he spoke in a much calmer tone, one that suggested that he only arrived with bad news to tell, “As you may or may not know, someone has released what is known as The Phantom Challenge. The name may not sound dangerous, but this person is responsible for that gigantic attack on The Proving Grounds. And he only has more forces to deploy, all of which I suspect are on their way already.”

This caused a huge wave of concern to wash over the Militia. Many people began to converse amongst themselves with worried voices and looks on their faces. “More enemies?” “Can we fight them off, after our first battle?” The voices grew louder and more chaotic until Shash finally silenced them by yelling and demanding their attention.

“However,” Shash tried to make himself sound reassuring, “The TGB Army, which was previously retaking Chit Chat, will be here in about ten minutes. In fact, if you look in this direction,” Shash pointed towards the now barely-visible aircraft which held the TGB Army, and Reaper, who was still in his dragon form, “You can see them approaching at full speed. They will assist us in defending the final frontier, our home, just as you have all brilliantly done today. Please rest up and ready yourselves for battle. I will inform you when the enemy forces are approaching. That is all.”

Shash’s efforts were not completely for naught; the Militia headed off and did as they were told. They retreated back onto the maw, and began to prepare themselves, while quietly conversing with one another and pondering to themselves on whether this second force actually existed. Squeek and Omega, now able to stand and walk, slowly but surely began to descend the maw and meet up with the TGB Army, as well as Specforces.

As the night sky began to reach its darkest point, and the moon started its journey up and down its usual arced pathway, the aircraft which carried the TGB Army, as well as Reaper and Tibs, who both transformed back to their human forms upon reaching a safe distance above the ground. Tibs releasedJewpin, who experienced a rather rough landing, and Reaper let everybody off before shifting, so as to avoid being flattened from the immense burden that he would have experienced had common sense not kicked in.

Out of one of the aircraft carriers hopped Specforces and GamerShadow, who had just pocketed a flat, circular, and metallic object. Behind them were the various soldiers of the TGB Army, who all jumped down to the ground and underestimated the drop, causing them all to experience slight pain upon landing.

Coincidentally, the group who had been carrying Tokzic’s body arrived at the Proving Grounds just as the TGB Army finished unloading from their respective rides, and after Spec had finished sending his aircraft back to the base in which they were housed.

Tibs immediately registered that something was wrong; there were now two copies of Reaper, standing side by side. He rubbed his eyes and slapped himself in order to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating, but the two identical figures simply stood there, silent. Tibs became a little unnerved, but also was confused after the two Reapers suddenly flew together as if by magic, and merged back into one.

Reaper slammed his face in his palm as he wrote himself a mental note out loud. “Next time, remember to send yourself a private thought and schedule a meeting point. I nearly pissed myself I got so scared. Damn token, always pulling surprises on me.” He spoke as he noticed Tibs staring at him in a most puzzled manner.

After noticing Reaper looking at him, Tibs felt a bit embarrassed for being caught in the act. He gave Reaper a defensive “What?” as he raised one eyebrow and positioned his left hand at his hip.

Reaper’s expression did not change at all. His mouth remained perfectly level, and his eyes remained still. “You’re hallucinating, kid. Get some water or something.” He replied to Tibs in a fairly monotone voice, making sure to keep his poker face intact.

Tibs was now highly embarrassed, and would have been further reprimanded by Jewp, who was standing less than three feet away, would have noticed the conversation, had Specforces not began the last meeting of the combined forces of the TGB Army, Militia, and the group who had carried back Tokzic, who was just now waking up from his long ban.

“Attention, TGB. No, all of FFR.” He announced with the most serious tone of voice he had ever had to employ in his entire life. “Today, I bear upon you all some very grim news.” People began to give each other worried looks as they wondered what could possibly make their current situation any worse than it already was. However, what Specforces spoke next made people’s spines shiver, and caused goose bumps to run wild throughout the group. “FFR, the end is here.”

More worried looks flew through the crowd as heads swiveled, trying to make sense of the general’s brief yet ominous statement. However, their confusion did not last long, as Specforces had thought ahead and anticipated this type of reaction. He cleared his throat and pressed on with his speech.

“Yes,” He projected his voice so that all could hear, “This battle will most likely be our final one. I say this because we are facing an enemy that outnumbers us so greatly that if I had told anybody before now, you would have laughed and called me crazy.” He straightened his posture as his voice became more serious and dire, and he balled his hands into fists and laid them at his side. “Shashakiro figures that the remaining population of FFR after the Militia’s valiantly fought battle is a little over one million. However, after today, assuming that we survive the struggle, there will be less than two hundred of us left.”

Many people fainted at this statement. Most others gasped and covered their mouths. Most attempted to reassure themselves out loud by speaking, “It’s not true. There’s no way he could be right.” The noise gradually built up, and many of the younger soldiers began to cry. The world truly was coming to an end, and the chaos which gripped the crowd was displaying it quite well.

Specforces, not being one to listen to excess noise, nor being one to tolerate crying in any formal situation, stomped his foot on the ground with excessive power, which created a deafening bang, as he roared, “HOWEVER.” Immediately, everybody ceased moving or speaking. Their heads rotated back in Specforces’s direction, and they said nothing as they listened to what he had to say. Specforces cleared his throat and continued, now pleased that he had acquired everybody’s attention so quickly. “However,” he spoke much more calmly, “That does not mean that we are doomed. Not only do we have the TGB Militia, who have proven themselves more than capable of defending what they love and care for, and not only do we have the TGB Army, which has trained the most experienced noob slayers in existence, but we also have friends from high places, such as Manti, dore, Darkshark, Shashakiro, to name a few. Our forces may not be a million strong, but together, our strength is that of ten million. We have the power to kill the gods themselves, and damn it, if that’s what we have to do then we’ll do it!”

From the side, Shashakiro grinned as he whispered to darkshark, “He still hasn’t lost his touch.” The crowd was cheering at this point. Specforces had managed to refill the morale of his soldiers from zero to maximum, and then some. He suddenly put his hand over his eyebrows and squinted, looking towards the horizon. A black mass spilled over the line that separated the land from the sky, and began to flow down towards the tiny speck that guarded TGB and the freedom of the FFR world.

“They’re here.” He spoke softly, and then in a dynamic 180, shouted, “Men! To your positions! This is the final battle; this is where we prove our worth as a nation, and as a world! We are FFR, and we WILL NOT FALL!”

Fido leapt forward, and took out an Omega Arrow from his previous battle, and shot it off at least a quarter mile into the air. After a minute or so, the arrow detonated in the front of the advancing enemy lines, causing an explosion that engulfed five hundred opposing soldiers, and vacuumed up two hundred more. He grinned as he began to search around in his bag for more Omega Arrows, but found that the bag was completely empty. Now disappointed, he dashed off in order to find more arrows which could amuse him in what he believed to be his last chance to cause carnage.

At this point, all hell broke loose. Soldiers scurried around, trying to find a good place to hold off the enemy forces. Others were still preparing their battle gear. Specforces, however, knew that the discordance would be the source of their downfall. With another stomp of his boot, he forced everybody to stop moving, and began relaying orders by mouth. “You four!” He shouted, “Gather rocks over there and begin launching on my command. Fido! Find Shashakiro, he will be able to lend you his arrows. Tibs, Reaper, Seth, and Afrobean, charge the enemy and give it everything you have! Darkshark, Jewp, Omega, Squeek, and Swabber! Summon your banhammers, and then assist Reaper’s group at the front lines!”

At this point, GamerShadow leapt forward, and caught Specforces’s attention with a noisy cough. Specforces turned and recognized that a change in plans was needed. Thinking on his toes, Specforces nodded and spoke simultaneously. “GamerShadow,” he notified him of his new orders, “You are to locate Blazze upon his arrival, and recover the token that he has stolen. Do I make myself clear?”

GamerShadow nodded and smiled as he quickly dashed off towards higher ground, and began searching for Blazze, who would most likely create a dramatic entrance of some sort.

SethSquall and Afrobean patiently waited for Tibs and Reaper to transform themselves before beginning their mission. As soon as the two half-dragons were finished, the group began to charge the enemy’s front line, which was now a mile away and closing quickly. At this point, Afro whipped out his trusty disco mace, and attached the spherical head onto the durable metal handle. The spikes located inside the head shot out and made themselves known as the handle and head clicked together, linked by an unbreakable chain made from unknown materials.

Once the enemy forces were a quarter of a mile away, the group was finally able to visualize what they were facing. Enemies of all sorts could be seen in formation, ranging from trolls to flamers, noobs to hackers, and spammers of all sorts. However, there was one enemy which alone composed the first few lines of the enemy force.

“Damn furries,” Reaper grunted through his dragon snout as he breathed acidic vapor over a large section of the enemy lines, taking out at least fifty of their men. He then followed up with a swipe through the acid cloud which not only propelled it over to other noobs, but also managed to tear a visible hole in the enemy’s formation, impaling about forty spammers, hackers, and a rather tiny troll on his claws. Now disgusted, Reaper took a moment to shake off the vile corpses before continuing on his relentless assualt.

Tibs followed suit, raining fireballs down on a seperate section of enemies, most of which caught fire and ran around for a minute or two before being completely burned to death. “Useless,” Tibs thought to himself as he tore through an unwary furry’s heart, killing it instantly, “They’re not even good for firewood. What’s the point of having them here if all they do is get in the way?” After clashing claw to metal with a furious hacker numerous times for the laughs before tripping him and stabbing him to death, Tibs checked up on Seth, who hadn’t been feeling too well on the return trip to the Garbage Bin.

SethSquall was holding up for the moment, but he already looked exhausted. He almost appeared to be slacking off, but he was roaring with each transdimensional rift he opened. Nevertheless, even with his reduced energy, the noobs still were not able to touch Seth.

Omega leapt down from nowhere and flattened a group of spammers with his banhammer, which splattered everywhere. He laughed as he swung upwards with a mighty force which sent a full sized troll reeling back into more or less twentysoldiers behind it, crushing them and killing them instantly.

Squeek also joined in on the fun as he spun around in circles, knocking away various bodies. He shouted with excitement as he chanted, “Ban them all!” At the top of his lungs as he took more swings, which came into contact with five to ten bodies on average.

Suddenly, a scream emitted from the middle of the sea of foes. A group of noobs had gathered, along with a hacker and a furry, and were punching Seth from person to person, almost as if he were a punching bag. One fist came into contact with his face as he spun around, only to be slammed again in the arm. An audible snapping noise could be heard as down Seth’s left arm ran red rivulets of blood. Another fist made itself known to Seth’s gut as he doubled over and nearly threw up as the furry slashed him on the face.

After a few minutes of sandbagging Seth, the hacker decided that enough was enough. He readied his blade as various noobs held him in place. Seth was barely conscious at this point, and was trying to escape the grip that the noobs had on him, but it was of no use. None of his limbs were responding, and try as he might, he couldn’t find the energy to create a rift to fall into, or to suck up the hacker with.

Then it came, short, but painful, contradictory to what many had said about finishing blows. A swift strike to the heart by the hacker finished the courageous and valiant struggle of a veteran soldier, one of the might veterans that had fought in many wars past.

Seth stared out past the air, past the battle, past everything. His eyes began to glaze over as he fell to his battered and bloodied knees, signaling the end of his violent and valiant struggle. His life began to reveal itself to him, from beginning to end. Seth saw himself entering the FFR world for the first time, being greeted by various members with enthusiastic smiles and high-fives, one of which included Tibs. All of the emotions that he had felt in the past came rushing back up to the surface for one last gasp of air, one last moment in the light before it was gone forever. He viewed himself joining the ranks of the TGB Army and meeting Specforces for the first time. He could actually feel how nervous he had been, and how long he laughed for when Tibs slipped and fell in front of Spec. He could recall the recent past. Finally recapturing Chit-Chat, carrying Tokzic’s body, and finding the mysterious shrine which had held the Azzuri token since the FFR world’s creation, the token that still remained in his pocket even at his moment of judgment. He remembered all of the damage that had been done to his precious home in the past day, all of the friends and allies that were fighting a hopeless battle.

Breathing became more and more difficult as Seth’s vision began to blur, and everything began to weigh him down, as if his entire body were composed of lead. Tears began to release themselves from their prison and cascade down his cheeks, happy to be free. The darkness began to consume his mind and body as he subconsciously wore his last soft grin, his eyes now unconsciously fixated upon Tibs, who had only just now found out that his partner had fallen.

Tibs watched in horror as Seth inhaled for the final time, and after what felt to be an eternity, collapsed onto the ground, limp. His eyes rolled upward in their sockets, and his lungs relaxed and the air inside escaped, free. His hands, which had previously been clenched into fists, relaxed once again as they hit the ground. Tibs couldn’t believe what he had seen. He shook his head and closed his eyes, and hoped that Seth would wake up and laugh, as if he had been setting up some elaborate joke the whole time. But he didn’t. Seth didn’t wake up; he merely remained on the ground in the same position that he had fallen to. He was an empty vessel, robbed of life and soul.

[Xception704]

oh **** oh **** oh **** oh **** oh ****

p.s. props to me on the "idea"

rofl

[GamerShadow]

Edit: I added part 2 of chapter 18 to the post containing the first part to make reading easier.
==============================
Coming up next time, in Chapter 19:
Tibs enters an inhuman rampage and slays hundreds of invaders with nothing but his rage and his knife sharp claws. He is so enraged at the loss of a friend that he doesn't notice that Seth is... hovering in the air with a blue glow?

On the other front, progress is slow, and the sheer number of enemies is proving to be a formidable challenge for the combined forces of FFR. But things only grow worse as Blazze makes his entrance. Now is the time for GamerShadow to put Spec's plan into action, after sealing each other off, it's a fight to the death. The two appear to be equally matched, each possessing one token, but it appears that both fighters have tricks up their sleeves.

What could happen next? Find out, This Sunday, at 8:00PM Eastern, right here, on FFR!

[igotrhythm]

Well, so much for my cameo appearance.

By the way, it's called the Wall of Doom, but close enough, I guess. Way to bring back the traditional attack form of the barrage of arrows, though.

[buizel8888]

lol you killed off sethsquall

[SethSquall]

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

[GamerShadow]

Thanks for the sticky! I'll work extra hard when writing the story. =)

[DarkManticoreX2]

I love this story, keep writing Gamer.