Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners and not me with the exception of original characters. All songs mentioned belong to their respective artists and I am in no way making any money off this. Only this story is mine, nothing else. Please read and review. Helpful reviews welcome, really bad flames shall be ignored and/or deleted. Enjoy
The Twilight Will
By Demonabyss
Chapter 38: Day 416: You Can't Stop Rock and Roll by Twisted Sister
The next morning the group had an early breakfast, mostly leftover meat much to Tammy's pleasure, before they started to set up for the attack. It had surprised the dimensional travelers when a massive heavy metal stage was set up. It was impressive, bearing the image of a fearsome beast with blazing eyes and long curved tusks. The image alone was enough to send chills running down the dimensional traveler's spines. When asked why they were setting up for a show, Eddie demonstrated with his guitar Clementine, causing lightning to strike and fire to erupt with just a few quick chords. It seemed in this world, music was power both figuratively and literally. If a guitar normally used to make noise could blow things up, it made sense that a full on rock show could be used to wage war.
It was also a surprise when geysers of ghostly green glowing people erupted nearby in the desert like landscape. Before they had been glowing piles of rocks, now powerful spirits were flowing out of them like jets on a fountain. Rao had reported that they contained massive spiritual power which was fed into the stage and subsequently into the soldiers. According to Eddie they were fans who had come for the show. In return for their power, Ironheade provided them with music and merchandise through the use of merch booths. The ragtag army was ready to assault Lionwhyte's troop barracks.
However, before they could build some booths to power their stage and in turn their troops, massive flying worms appeared out of the sky. They were flesh colored with narrow, yellow eyes, and ragged, blue gray feathered wings. Each one was the size of a train with a massive, fanged, circular mouth. A few of them landed right on top of the fan geysers, mouth wide open, and began to suck in the fans, eating them and their energy. It was a disgusting sight, especially to Rao and Kumotome. For the spider, she had flashbacks to the eel-like Heartless in the sunken ship that ate souls for their Darkness. For Rao, the very idea of creatures that fed on spiritual energy so literally like giant parasites was horrifying to her. Not to mention, being a spirit herself made her leery of getting anywhere near those things.
The commanders of Ironheade were no less repulsed by the creatures. Lars stood in stunned horror. While he had seen the creatures from a distance, up close they were hard to look at, even more so given what they were doing. "Oh my God …" he said, summing up most of their thoughts.
Eddie reacted in rage. "Get away from those fans! You … you leeches!" he cried out just before a massive surge of pain hit him, forcing him to his hands and knees. Ophelia and Mangus went to him as the others came to see what was happening. "My baaaaaa…" he trailed off just before a pair of talon-like spikes erupted out of his back. He cried out in pain as the talons lengthened and extended into a pair of massive, draconic, demon wings. The pain eased as his skin darkened to dried, blood red with his eyes glowing yellow. The only one not surprised by this was Tammy as she walked towards them as Eddie stood back up, spreading his demon wings for all to see.
"It seems your demon blood as asserted itself," she said calmly, much to the surprise of those of Ironheade. She casually walked around him in her full kitsune form, looking over the wings with an appraising eye. "Very nice, you must have some really potent lineage for it to manifest like this," she commented.
"Demon blood? You're saying he's one of them!? A demon in disguise!" Lita accused while readying her spear on Eddie. While she was ready to attack, Lars held her back as he waited for the kitsune to explain.
The fox snorted. "Don't be stupid. He's a half demon. The demon part of his blood was simply dormant until recently." She then addressed the roadie himself. "I'm guessing you been experience some strange abilities or skills lately, like with that axe on your back?" she said motioning to the Separator. "Very nice by the way, I've rarely seen a demonic weapon as well made as that," she said as she eyed it appraisingly, wondering how it would match up to her own Ninestrike.
Ophelia nodded, remembering what the roadie had told her back at the temple of Ormagöden. "The axe, he used it to kill a number of demon acolytes easily but told me he had never touched an axe before," she stated. The nine-tailed foxed nodded in confirmation.
Eddie was startled by her revelation. "A half demon? But there are no demons where I come from, how could I be a half demon?" he said confused. While there was still a lot he didn't know about his father and nothing about his mother, he was pretty sure they were both human. Then again he had thought he was fully human and that the Ormagöden totem was a belt buckle so what did he know?
Roxas spoke up then. "You said that you came to this world because of a belt buckle your dad left you. Take it from me, doors go both ways if you know how to open them … or have a major skeleton key or two," he said with a grin as he summoned Two Become One and Twilight Blaze. "In any case, we have more immediate concerns," he said motioning to the barracks where enemy forces were gathered as a massive warning bell was sounded.
"He's right," Lars said nodding. "Demon or not, you've helped us come this far. Let's use this to our advantage. Everyone, get ready for battle, the enemy is on the field," he ordered as he turned to rally the troops.
"Are you gonna be alright?" Ophelia asked Eddie concerned.
"I'll be fine," he reassured. "Besides, I've kind of always wanted wings. In fact when I was a kid I used to dream about it all the time," he remarked as turned to join the rest of the army. Ophelia looked on sadly, thoughts rushing through her head of the past and present.
With a whoop, the roadie took to the air, flying high above the battlefield easily as the massive demon wings carried him. "Hell yeah! This is awesome!" he cried out as he flew, obviously enjoying himself. "Hey Lars I can see your house from here!" he joked, getting a few chuckles from the head bangers. "From this new vantage point I can totally see what the problem is. A bunch of gross Fan Leeches are eating our fans," he stated seriously.
"We knew that already!" Roxas yelled back.
"Silence ground walker!" he yelled back causing the Nobody's eye to twitch. While he had Flow Motion and Light Wings, he still couldn't fully fly and it irked him that this guy gets a pair of wings out of nowhere and is able to sustain flight so easily. Looking at the roadie's wings however, he noticed a simple, but significant difference between his demon wings and Roxas' Light wings … size. His demon wings were nearly twice the size of Roxas' wings. Before he could think on it more, Eddie gave the command to attack the Leech closest to their stage. Strangely a white light shined around the Leech with a Celtic style sun or star symbol around it on the ground, marking it as a target. Apparently the Metal Gods were giving a slight bit of help to Ironheade, not enough to severely tip the scales in their favor, just enough to make it easier for the army to coordinate itself.
Tamamo-no-Mae broke out in a grin that rivaled the Cheshire Cat's as she raised her two thunder blades. The blades were perpendicular to each other, causing bolts of divine and demonic lightning to arc between them like a Jacob's ladder, quickly and exponentially increasing in power and intensity. She then slammed the twin blades into the ground, sending a shockwave of electricity into the Leech. The creature writhed in pain as it sucked in the lightning along with the Fans. While it was capable of flying through thunder storms, its insides were not so well insulated against the power. "It seems these creatures cannot handle lightning very well," she observed as she charged up another attack.
"In that case," Roxas muttered as he summoned Astral Blast in place of Two Become One and stabbed another of the Leeches with both Keyblades, frying it from the inside out with fire and lightning. The creature screamed in pain for a few moments, unwilling to relinquish its meal before it finally let go and flew off. "Now what?" Roxas asked his comrades.
"Watch this," Eddie grinned as he landed, took the guitar off his back, and played a power chord with lights and pyrotechnics instantly appearing behind him as he played. The flames erupted in escalating intensity and in seconds it was done. The fan geyser surged and around it a framework of steel appeared along with banners showing the Ironheade symbol; a Stonehenge-like H with a sword pointed down through the center. In moments the power of Metal had constructed a Merch Booth over the geyser in the image of Ormagöden. Immediately the Fans were channeled from the Booth to the Stage, empowering it and in turn the troops that emerged from it. Rao could feel the gratefulness of the Fans at being released from the Leech being given merchandise as they flowed into the stage. There was great mystical power in this world and it intrigued the ghostly priestess.
(AN: Ironheade Stage Music: "Battle Hymn/One Shot at Glory" by Judas Priest)
The Headbangers, Razor Girls, and Thunderhogs cheered as they gathered to meet the enemy forces. As the enemy came at them, Roxas, Tammy, Kumotome, and Rao could hear music being played loud and proud from the stage. It was unlike anything they had heard and seemed to surge through them and those around them, giving them confidence, passion, and power. Roxas would swear that both his current Keyblades seemed to flare up in excitement from the sound while Tammy and Kumotome could feel it call to their demonic heritage. For Rao, it solidified her impression that the power on this world was closely tied to music.
They had little time to ponder this as the enemy came in force. Some were head bangers like what they had except they were much more brightly dressed with longer, more styled hair. Others were razor girls who were similarly overdressed and seemed reluctant to fight. There were also large men in black hooded masks, leather pants, no shirts, and spiked leather-gloved fists that were the size of Roxas himself. While they weren't fast, their strength was obvious as one of their punches even pushed Tammy back while she blocked with her blades.
Roxas got into the fight, slashing down the enemy Hairbangers as they made their way to the stronghold. While he had been in large battle before, they had never been as chaotic as this. The closest was when Spargus was invaded by Dark Maker drones and when he had led the assault on the Red Queen's Fortress with Alice, but this was different. Something about this world was different than those he had visited before. His blood was racing but was ginning madly as he fought. He could see it in the other members of Ironheade as they fought as well as their opponents. Everyone had this passion that he couldn't explain. Maybe it was the world, maybe the situation, maybe the company, or even the music, but any or all of these things drove him to fight. He was going to kick ass and nothing was going to stand in his way!
Things got more intense as a loud voice pierced the battlefield. Looking up he had to blink a couple times as he wasn't sure what he was seeing. It was a man in one of the flashiest outfits Roxas had ever seen. Purple pants with tiger stripes, purple snake skin boots, sequined sky-blue short sleeved jacket, pink ascot, a police cap, make up like a geisha from Nippon, and a massive mane of blond hair that was flapping like wings allowing him to hover over the battlefield. "Lionwhyyyyyyyyyttteeee!" he screamed/sang out as he landed and stared to attack the Headbangers with what looked like a mike stand with a spiked flail on the end. Seeing the trouble he was giving the troops, Roxas rushed to intercept him.
Despite his obnoxious looks, Lionwhyte was a decent combatant as he blocked Roxas' Keyblade assault. He sneered at the Nobody. "Lars must be desperate if he's recruiting children to fight his battles for him," he exclaimed as he swung with spiked end of his mike stand.
Roxas jumped over it, landed on the stand, driving the spiked end into the ground, before moving forward and delivering a powerful kick right to Lionwhyte's face. "And the Tainted Coil must be made of morons if they have a talking wig like you as a general," he retorted as he brought his blades up to give the glam rocker the ultimate haircut. Before he could however, the leader of Hair Metal Militia took to the air with his golden mane flapping like wings again. The Nobody still wasn't sure how that was possible, but he had seen weirder things so he decided not to think about it as he summoned Eco Surge and opened fire on him. The enemy general dodged and while Roxas was firing, he too took fire from Groupies looking to protect their master. Things became even worse when he heard a whistling sound that he recognized. Looking up, his fears were confirmed. "INCOMING!" he yelled out as a massive artillery shell collided with the battlefield and creating a large crater in its place.
Lars frowned at the battle and immediately took charge. "We have to break their defenses. Edward, you go after Lionwhyte and keep him off our troops. You're the only one who can chase after him right now," he ordered the roadie.
"I'm on it," he called back as he took to the air after poodle-haired general.
He then turned to the Nobody, "Roxas, I need you to get past their forces and take out that cannon. We won't be able to take down the barracks with it raining down fire on us."
The Nobody nodded. "Got it," he said before running up on the side a nearby Merch Booth and started to glide over the battlefield. While he may not be able to fly … yet, he could still make good time. Once behind enemy lines, he dropped to the ground and dashed forward for the outer wall where the cannon was situated. Operating it was a Bouncer who was hitting a large slab to launch the bombs. "Enough with the artillery already," he cried out as he attacked.
"Just doing my job," the Bouncer retorted as he moved to defend against Roxas. While he was physically stronger than the Keyblade user, he was also slower, allowing the Nobody to attack and get away easily. Seeing the cannon operator was being attacked; several squads of what looked like leather bound women in heels with leather straps around their shins and their arms bound behind them came from within the barracks. Their faces were hidden by nine blades arranged like a sideways bear trap, each blade easily a meter long. Right behind them was what looked like a nun in red leather dress, high heels, and vestments. She was nine feet tall, though six feet of that were her legs, with her arms being nearly as long with foot-long clawed pointer fingers. Instead of a face was a massive deformed zipper that acted as her mouth similar to the Dusk Nobodies, though hers was far less uniform and more twisted, like someone attempted to make a zipper but didn't care that the teeth were too large to close properly.
Seeing the Soul Kissers along with the Battle Nun approach him along with the enemy bouncer, Roxas immediately tried to draw on more Nothingness in order to launch several Void Spheres. What happened instead was that something took that power and drew on a lot more. Roxas lurched as he recognized the feeling from whenever he tried to summon Lesser Nobodies. Something REALLY wanted to manifest and he had a good idea as to what. His theory was proven true as two squads of Lesser Nobodies appeared, one made up of distinctly female Nobodies and the other male.
The female Nobodies were a little shorter than him, nicely shaped, and colored various shades of purple and white. They had light lavender boots with long pointed toes and dark purple pants. Their torso was white with a pale purple Nobody emblem covering their stomach, stretching up so that the cross was just under their chest area with the top point extending to their neck. Their arms were white with spiked elbows and three-fingered clawed hands. They also had purple trim on the upper part of their boots and pants. Like all lesser Nobodies they had no face and instead had only a wide sharp-toothed grin along with a watch cap the same dark purple as their pants covering their heads and where their eyes would normally be with a few strands or lavender hair sticking out the front. The most distinctive thing about these Nobodies were the large headphones they wore that had two energy strands colored a dark pink and purple mix, similar to cords, extend from them and come together into one that made a long energy tail of sorts with the Nobody cross at the end of it. They also had disks made of the same energy being held above their hands. Overall the Echoes looked like twisted DJs.
The other Lesser Nobodies were more masculine as well as being more mechanical in appearance. They were about the size of a Dragoon Nobody in white bodysuit with armor shaped similar to car parts. They had large metal boots with small thrusters and bladed metal wheels on the sides. They had large clawed gauntlets that were similar, also sporting the same bladed wheels. Their torsos had pointed armor with large shoulder mounted thrusters. Their head were completely covered by an arrow shaped helmet that sported the Nobody emblem. Out of their backs were six pipes like those on a hotrod. These Riders were powerful and made for high speed combat.
Needing no more encouragement, Roxas gave the order. "Attack! Don't let them near the cannon!" he called out. Immediately the Nobodies responded. The Riders dashed forward, all four wheels spinning madly with the ones on their arms extending to resemble saw blades as they went after the Soul Kissers. The Echoes formed a defensive line around the cannon controls and holding their disks in front of them like shields. Seeing the cannon defended, Roxas went after the Battle Nun as she posed the biggest threat.
The Bouncer attempted to attack the Echoes. His massive fist collided with a pair of energy disks held by one of the lesser Nobodies. There was a minor shockwave of energy that pushed him back as he struck. Shaking his head, he moved forward to attack again, only this time the Echo he had punched attacked first. It launched its disks at the Bouncer and in mid-air the disks formed a large fist that was an exact duplicate of his hand right before it hit. The large man was stunned by the attack as he knocked hard into the wall and thus didn't notice that same Echo reform its disks and presented the disks to the each of the Echoes at its sides. Those Echoes held their disks parallel to the first's as several bolts of Nothingness arced between them. Those Echoes then did the same thing, passing the spark down the line each way like a strange game of telephone. Before he knew it, the Bouncer was under a bombardment of energy duplicates of his own fist being thrown by the squad of Echoes.
Seeing a large explosion where the artillery cannon was situated along with the lack of cannon balls raining down on them; Lars knew that Roxas had reached his objective. The Ironheade leader turned to the large, black kitsune who was throwing around Bouncers around left and right with her tails. "Lady Tammy, I need you to lead a charge and break through their line so we can get to the gates," he said pointing to the large black gates.
Normally the kitsune wouldn't take orders from a human, but in this case she could see the logic of his command given the battle. Nodding in agreement, she brought her two lightning blades together at the tips in front of her and dashed forward, cutting an electric path through enemy lines towards the massive gate. As she charged through, the Headbangers, Razor Girls, and Thunderhogs followed her path of destruction, taking out any stragglers as they reached the gates of Battersmith. Wasting no time she shifted to her halfway form, jammed her swords in between where the gates met and proceeded to forcibly pry the thing open.
High above, Lionwhyte was dealing with Eddy who kept hounding him and not letting him get near the troops. The poodle-haired general scowled as the unrefined swine along with that unknown demon ripped open the doors to his barracks and to the path to his Pleasure Tower. Even worse was the state of his troops. Many were dead, including the cannon operator and the demons sent to help him, while some had simply given up or surrendered. The Hairbangers and Glamhogs had stayed due to greed while the Groupies did so out of fear. Those reasons fell short when pitted against the ferocity and destructiveness of their Ironheade counterparts backed up by Roxas and Tamamo-no-Mae. He was especially angry at the lackluster performance of his bouncers who were now lying on the ground injured and out of commission in front of him. "Bah, I should have known better than to hire guards whose HANDS are bigger than their BRAINS," he snarked at them. "You're all fired! Every fat, worthless one of you!" he declared before flying off.
The Bouncers slowly got up, looking depressed as Lionwhyte flew away, obviously feeling betrayed. Behind them, Tammy readied her weapons to take them out quickly before Lars called out to her. "Wait Tammy, they are no longer working for Lionwhyte. They are no longer our enemies," he stated clearly. "Our real enemy is through there. Let's move forward," he ordered.
As they went forward, Eddie changed back to normal with a shudder, feeling weird as it happened. "Huh, looks like I'm back to normal," he commented as he looked himself over.
The kitsune snorted at Lars, but did as he said. Given that she too had once been shown mercy, she was willing to give the large humans the benefit of a doubt … for now. Turning to Eddie she explained what was going on. "Your demon blood has only just awakened and will probably only reappear during massive battles where it will be most needed. In time you might be able to use it when you choose, but for now it sleeps," she explained as the roadie nodded. Looking over she saw Roxas come down with two groups of new Lesser Nobodies. "Looks like you got some back up. What kind of Nobodies do we have here?" she asked curiously as she looked at the two groups.
"Echoes and Riders," he said motioning to each group before looking ahead. There was a large tunnel leading to Lionwhyte's Pleasure Tower, though the sides and ground were littered with ballista bolts and the remains of those who attempted to get through, various animals, and vehicles. The tunnel itself was lined with stone spikes with only a few shafts of light piercing the darkness. All and all it looked like a battleground or graveyard more than an entrance tunnel.
In front of them was a black tower with what looked like a horned, red-eyed, metal skull on the top. Lars stepped forward cautiously, however when he passed a certain point, the skull quickly rose up, split vertically to form a crossbow, aimed and fired a bolt at the Ironheade leader. Reacting quickly, both Roxas, with the use of Sun Tale, and Tamamo-no-Mae attempted to Power Slash the projectile back at the crossbow. Surprisingly one of the Bouncers dashed and tackled him out of the way, to which Lars gave a silent thanks. This proved to be a good thing as the bolt was almost not reflected back at the tower even with their combined brush work. Unfortunately it seemed to do little damage. Snorting at the lack of destruction, Roxas brought out Eco Surge in Peacemaker mode and opened fire. The orbs of charged particles collided with the outer armor of the tower and again did little damage. Getting frustrated he switched to Super Nova mode and launched at the base of the tower. Everyone save Roxas and Tammy were pushed back by the blast. When the smoke cleared, the tower still stood, albeit with some damage. Roxas whistled. "Okay, I'm impressed. Whoever built those things knew what they were doing," he commented.
Ophelia nodded. "They were made to resist all types of long range attack including their own bolts and most types of explosives. The best way to destroy them is to get close, but that's the tricky part," she said motioning to the graveyard in front of them.
Before anyone could comment, they all heard footsteps coming from the tunnel. In front of them were three guys in dark leather vests and pants, fu Manchu mustaches, bandanas, and carrying massive boxes on their backs, nearly a story tall. Lita immediately brandished her spear. "Stop right there! If you can make it through the Cleave alive, then you must work for General Lionwhyte," she accused.
Ophelia snorted as she stepped forward, shaking her head. "Oh, knock it off Lita. They work with me," she explained as she went up to one of them and rapped on the boxes. From the top emerged a Razor Girl who jumped down and hugged her in thanks.
"Nicely done," Roxas commented. "But how did they get through without being skewered?"
Eddie looked thoughtful as he looked the newcomers over. "Yeah, let me guess. You guys are really great at hauling stuff. You hang out in the shadows; you only wear black, and really hard to see from far away?" The newcomers looked at each other and nodded, knowing when one of their own was in front of them. Everyone else was just confused. "My friends, these are Roadies, and they're here just in the nick of time. I have an idea of how they can get use through this canyon, but first they're gonna need some monster amps."
"You mean," Ophelia spoke hesitantly, "like those of the Screaming Wall."
Lars nodded, starting to get the idea. "All right then. Edward, you, Roxas, Ophelia, and the Roadies will head to the screaming wall to get what we need. Lita, Tammy, and I will stay here to hold this position and see what supplies we can salvage from these barracks. We don't need to be losing ground at this point," he ordered to which they agreed, though Lita and Tammy did so with reluctance as neither of them really liked or trusted the other.
-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-
Taking a few Thunderhogs along with the Druid Plow, the group made their way to the shoreline where the Screaming Wall was located. It was a much shorter and safer trip than the previous one as the Tick choppers didn't appeared to attack them. During the drive, Roxas got to see more of this world's beauty. They passed by the Razor Fields which were called that due to the Razorfire Boars that claimed it as their territory. The boars themselves were huge and looked like merging of a feral warthog with a motorcycle. Apparently it was where the Razor Girls got their long-range weapons from, gutting the boars and turning their corpses into powerful rifles.
Near the fields was another landmark carved into the side of a mountain depicting five beautiful women each bearing a musical instrument with reverence. It looked like a shrine to ancient versions of the Razor Girls, wearing armor and horned helmets. There were many landmarks through this world that Roxas noticed. 'If I ever get time, I'm might do some sightseeing,' he thought as he rode on a Thunderhog listening to the music blaring out from Eddie's hotrod. This was truly an odd but incredible world as much of it seemed tied to Heavy Metal music which he was quickly growing to like. He had also noticed that metal seemed to be fused into almost all manner of life on this world from what he had seen of the local flora and fauna. Bear like creatures with literal steel traps for jaws, drum cymbals growing like leaves on nearby plants, large porcupines with steel quills, trees with pipes for branches, and elk with aspects of dragons and large metallic horns were just a few of what he had seen.
They disembarked near the shoreline. On one side he could see what looked like a huge car engine, the size of a three story building, with pistons of similar size sticking out of the water around it. To his right however was what they had come for and had caused him to do a double take. The right had a massive cliff side that was made up of/covered in nothing but sound amps in all sizes. Shaking his head at the sight he turned to see a couple of the Bouncers had come with them. "Why are they here?" he asked Eddie and Ophelia.
"They're sorry for what they did and want to help out. Seems they were forced into servitude just like the Headbangers," Ophelia explained. Roxas nodded as he had seen how one of them had helped saved Lars, so he would refrain from judgment for the time being. "In any case, watch out for rockslides … and seagulls."
That second warning confused both the Roadie and the Nobody. "Seagulls?" they asked in stereo. They shook it off and started on the trail.
The Bouncers came up behind them. "Uh … Mr. Riggs, Mr. Roxas, we just wanted to … uh thank you for this … opportunity," one of them said hesitantly. "We just want to help," the other explained.
Eddie just gave a kind smile and waved it off. "No problem." Seemed they weren't bad guys, they just needed a purpose.
Getting closer, Roxas was about to understand why Ophelia had warned about seagulls. First off they were at least twice the size of standard seagulls he had seen on other worlds. Second was what happened when one of them got to close to the Screaming Wall, squawking away as it did so. The sound of the bird was caught by one of the amps, causing a chain reaction as the sound was amplified and picked up by the other amps and so on, creating a powerful feedback loop. In less than a couple of seconds, the feedback loop hit a crescendo and sent out a blast of pure sound and vibration in a visible air wave. It hit the cliff side they were walking along, causing massive vibration and friction, turning the rock into boiling magma in seconds. On the other side were a few Hairbangers that were attempting to rush them, only to burst into flames when the magma appeared. Roxas just laughed along with the other members of Ironheade that were with them. "Idiots," Roxas stated plainly.
"That's what you get when you walk on hot lava," a Head banger crowed.
"Especially with that much hairspray on," another added causing everyone to laugh more as they waited for the lava to cool.
Once it cooled the group moved forward. "See that, no problem," Eddie said as they continued on. Apparently Lionwhyte had expected this and had stationed some of his men to keep watch. As the Hairbangers and Groupies attacked, the poodle-haired general himself flew over, seeming to mock them. Since this wasn't a full fledged stage battle, Eddie was unable to take flight to attack the bastard. "Kick some ass!" he yelled as he pointed at the enemy using his pointer and pinky fingers, also known as throwing the devil horns. Roxas decided he would ask about that later. Right now he had sell-outs to slaughter.
The melee didn't last long with him, the lesser Nobodies, and the Thunderhog to provide support for the Headbangers and Bouncers. The continued on until getting to another river of magma caused by the feedback blasts of the Screaming Wall. Above them, Lionwhyte spoke down to them, figuratively and literally. "Oh there you are," he said as he seemed to address the Bouncers specifically. "Look, I'm sorry for firing you boys and implying that had a weight problem," he said unconvincingly.
One of the Bouncers snorted at the statement. "Muscle is heavier than fat, you know!"
The flying general seemed to ignore the comment. "Come back now and all is forgiven. I got everyone slimming NEW UNIFORMS!" he said as if talking to a child.
The Bouncers just snarled at him. "We don't care! We're bouncers for Ironheade now!" one declared.
The massive haired general just shrugged, showing that he didn't really care if they came back or not. "Hmp, suit yourselves. But I have to warn you, don't come any father, or you'll find out why they call it the SCREAMING WALL," he said before flying away. As he did, Roxas had an open shot and fired at him using Eco Surge in Blaster mode, hitting him right in the ass, causing him to emit a high pitched scream and all of Ironheade to laugh. Lionwhyte turned and glared at the Nobody as he held the smoking Keygun with a grin.
"THAT'S why they call it the Screaming Wall," he said with a grin. The flying general just scowled and went higher to avoid being humiliated again.
Eddie chuckled at the sight. "Just ignore him boys, move out!" The group moved forward, being blocked by another group of Hair Metal Militia, this time with Bouncers sporting the different uniforms the general had mentioned. With sequin covered hands, silk scarves, and zebra stripped pants, the Glamfists were a little hard to look it. "Lay waste!" the roadie ordered. With them in a group, Eddie pulled out his guitar and strung a quick solo. Like before, light and fire erupted behind him like a miniature stage. When it was done a blast erupted from him, hitting everyone in the area. Ironheade and the Nobodies were unaffected. The Hair Metal Militia on the other hand was taken out quickly by the Facemelter solo. Per its name, their faces melted right off their skulls, causing them to scream in pain as they fell over dead. It was gruesome and awesome at the same time. "Bet you wish you wore a bib, cause now you got face all over your shirt," he mocked as the group pressed forward.
The group finally came to the Screaming Wall. As Eddie went up to rig up some amps for the Roadies, Roxas scanned the area with Compass as he gazed up at the sight. He had seen some wild things, but even Dark Wonderland would have a hard time topping something like this. Even now that he was so close and not in the direct path of the feedback blasts, he was weary of getting blasted by them. This place was majestic, unique, and held great power. He would definitely have to explore this world more when he got a chance. He then noticed something in the distance in front of the Screaming Wall on a stretch of beach. It looked like a small tower or statue with a red orb on the top. It was hard to see from this distance, but he'd have a better chance once they left with the amps.
Eddie was able to outfit the Roadies with the amps, making them look like mobile sound towers. The burly guys had no problems moving the massive sound systems. Unfortunately the gulls were attracted to the amps they were carrying and swarmed the Roadies, causing the amps to pick up the sounds and start their feedback loops. Seeing the problem, Eddie jumped up on top of one of them and slammed a note on his guitar. "Get lost birds!" he ordered as a blast of pure sound erupted from the amps. "Everybody hear that? That was feedback, very dangerous. Not to be toyed with," he warned which everyone could agree to.
Up ahead, a squad of Glamfists charged at them. Seeing an opportunity to show off some more, Eddie directed his fellow Roadies towards them. When the massive shiny fisted fighters got close, he released another blast of feedback. The Glamfists were thrown back by the power of pure sound. The battle was joined as the Bouncers, Headbangers, and Nobodies swarmed them. Despite their size, they were taken out quickly as Razor Girl reinforcements appeared along with the Tour Bus to haul the Roadies and Amps.
As soon as the mission ended, Roxas felt a strange warm wash over him for a moment. It had felt like there had been a bunch of candles or lighters shined around him. It was similar to when people got the goosebumps, only with a wave of heat instead of the shivers. 'Guess that was what the Guardian and Eddie meant by Fire Tributes,' he thought. After everything was being loaded up, Roxas went to Eddie and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey Eddie, I got a question," he said as he pointed to the strange statue he had seen earlier. "What is that?"
Looking at what he was pointing at, Eddie realized what it was. "Follow me, I'll show you." Roxas and the lesser Nobodies followed him down. Getting a closer look at the thing, it looked like a bat-winged, stone creature that had been forcefully bound in leather straps with a large red ball in its mouth. In his hand, the Chaos Tear reacted, showing an image of a sharp toothed beast with flaming eyes and massive curved tusks. "This thing is a Bound Serpent. They're scattered all around the land. Watch this," he said as he took Clementine, his guitar, and strummed a power chord; causing an eruption of fire where the red ball was. It popped out like a cork out of a champagne bottle, undoing the straps and releasing the creature. Immediately the creature unfurled its wings and let out a small burst of flame. Now that it was released, Roxas got a good look at it. It looked like a winged serpent roaring to the sky while perched on a rune engraved pillar. Like before there was a wave of warmth, though it was far lesser then when they had completed the mission. "Cool huh?" Eddie asked with a grin.
Before he could answer, Rao chimed in. "Lord Roxas, this statue is some kind of spiritual conduit. It's channeling the power of a massive creature far greater than anything I have ever felt, even Yami, though this is only a very small fraction of that power," she explained, much to Roxas' astonishment.
Eddie chuckled. "That would be Ormagöden. These things collect his power," the roadie explained. That made the dimension travelers curious about who or what Ormagöden was.
The greater Nobody looked thoughtful for a moment before turning back to the spirit in Compass. "Rao, where is that spiritual power being channeled to?"
The spirit was silent for a moment. "From what I can tell, it's being focused into the humans of this world, though why I am currently uncertain," the priestess spirit said confused.
After a moment of silence, Roxas asked another. "So if we release more of these things, the humans of this world and Ironheade by extension will become more powerful?"
"Correct Lord Roxas."
"In that case," he said as he turned to the Riders and Echoes standing by. "Go over the land. Find each and every Bound Serpent you can and release them. Once you're done or if you run into problems, report back immediately, got it?" he asked, expecting the usual telepathic response from them. What he got surprised both him and his companions.
"Release … every Bound Serpent …Got it," the Echoes replied in unison, using his own voice to speak to him. With that, each of the Echoes jumped on the back of a Rider who leaned forward and put all their wheels on the ground, standing on them like living skateboards. Immediately they revved up and dispersed going in different directions to hunt down the spiritual relics.
Once they were gone, Eddie gave a shudder. "No offence man … but your minions are kinda creepy," he said wearily.
Roxas just shrugged. "You aren't the first to say so." He then turned to head towards the bus. "Let's head back to Battersmith. It'll be dark soon and I'd rather be at camp then on the road around here," he said, thinking to yesterday when the Tick Choppers attacked. "By the way … who or what is Ormagöden?" he asked curiously. If this thing was even more powerful than Yami, then he definitely wanted to know about it.
The roadie just chuckled. "Dude, do I have a story for you," he said as they got into the Druid Plow and followed the bus back to camp.
-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-XIII-
Far away from Ironheade in the area known locally as the Infinite Mire, a Dark Corridor opened up in the swamp, depositing a worn Riku in the form of Xehanort's Heartless, Ansem. The Mire was a swamp that was covered in shadows, even in the middle of the day, as well as a green mist that clung to everything. The trees appeared dead and menacing and the plants in general were twisted. All metal, be it on the ground, in the plants, or part of the few creatures that lived in the area was anywhere from a dark gray to pitch black. The entire area was marinated in feelings of depression, rage, and twisted dementia.
Riku held his head as the Darkness within twisted and writhed inside as another being forced him to stand. Before he only had to deal with the Darkness from Ansem, but this new … entity was far above Ansem in power and corruption. He could feel its desire to destroy everything and blanket it all in Darkness and ruin. It was also cold and ruthless, far more malevolent than Ansem had ever been, and was using his body like a puppet to head deeper into the swamp. The Keyblade user tried to resist, but it was in vain as he put on foot in front of the other like a toy robot. "Where … are you … taking me?" he wheezed out as he could barely control his own voice and mouth under the pressure this entity was exerting on him.
The entity replied in a voice that was neither male nor female, but was dark, metallic, and oozed corruption and death. [Entity Roxas has destroyed previous vessel code named Empty Death. New vessel required to complete directive.]
"Wha … what directive?" he asked, though he had a terrible feeling he already had an idea.
[Destruction of all Light and Nothingness and the infinite expansion of Darkness.] Riku's eyes widened slightly despite being under this thing's control. This thing was far worse than Xehanort ever was. Xehanort merely wanted to control Kingdom Hearts, but this …THING wanted to completely destroy everything and make it all just like the Realm of Darkness. That was its ultimate purpose, to destroy anything and everything in any way possible.
"I … won't … let you," he declared as he tried to resist only to find it fruitless.
[Cooperation of entity Riku not required,] it replied coldly. [Vessel Ansem Seeker of Darkness insufficient for directive. Vessel ineffective against entity Roxas,] it stated as it forcefully brought up memories of his most recent battle against the Greater Nobody on the top of the snow covered mountain. While they had not finished the fight, it was clear from watching the memories that Roxas had the advantage the whole time. Even when he had transformed into Ansem's upgraded mode, the Nobody had still been able to match it and would have surpassed it had he transformed into that Wraith form earlier. Roxas was simply too powerful and adaptable for Ansem to compete. [New vessel required. Will obtain new vessel and power enhancement at destination,] it said as they went deeper and deeper into the dark side of the continent.
Their destination? A black lake inside a mountain with a skull entrance occupied by the spirit of a long dead goddess.
Journal Entry
Lesser Nobodies
Echos: These are some of the most adaptable and smartest Lesser Nobodies there are. Made from the souls of those who wrote and lived through music, their understanding of orders and directions is much higher than most other Lesser Nobodies. Although not physically powerful, Echoes have the unique ability to copy any attack, action, or sound around them and then replay it when they wish, hence their name. However, if an attack is too powerful and or too large then it may require multiple Echoes in order for it to be copied. There is also a limit to how many attacks and or actions they can copy at a time. Strangely, there seems to be no such limit on sounds and they tend to copy anything and everything they hear. Whether this is an automatic function or they do this for some weird simulated pleasure is unknown. They can also pass on what they've copied to one another through their disks, allowing a group to utilize the same copied item from just one of them. They are also unique in that they are currently the only type of Lesser Nobody that can communicate to normal people via replaying clips of sounds and words stung together like an edited recording. (AN: Think Soundwave from Transformers Prime) Caution is recommended as Echoes can learn from what they copy, making them more dangerous than they appear, especially over time.
Riders: These vehicle like Nobodies are made from those who home was the road. Able to travel at great speeds, Riders are excellent at covering ground. These Nobodies are excellent for hit and run tactics with their primary weapons being their saw like wheels. While relatively strong and durable, Riders do not do well in enclosed spaces and are better suited for wide area and or high speed combat. (AN: I based these off of the old PS2 game Kinetica)
Ninjas: Born from the souls of fallen or disgraced warriors, Ninjas are similar to Assassins in that they are made to attack swiftly and with surprise. However, unlike Assassins which do so by swimming through solid matter, Ninjas do so through stealth and agility along with their ability to cling to any surface. Quick and silent, Ninjas are excellent for reconnaissance, surprise attacks, or retrieval missions. In terms of attacking power, they are about equal to Samurai, though are less durable and more agile. Overall, Ninjas make great scouts and hunters.
Mikos: These are the healers and shamans of the Lesser Nobodies. As the result of priestesses and holy women who have fallen to the Darkness, Mikos specialized in healing and warding, able to restore the health of allies or cast powerful barriers and spells in an area. Though physically weak, Mikos can turn a tide of battle quickly by healing more powerful fighters and providing support through various status changing spells. It should be noted that while Mikos can heal others, they cannot heal themselves and thus tend to travel in groups to negate this problem.
Story Ideas:
One Piece / Portal – At the end of Portal 2, Chell hits the button and switches GLaDOS with Wheatley, putting her back in charge before the whole facility blows up. But what if she didn't? What if she decided the Aperture needed to be destroyed and let it blow sky high? With an explosion that powerful combined with portals, I could see Chell getting sent to any number of places. One idea is to have her land in the One Piece world with powers based on the portal gun, or the "Portal-Portal" devil fruit if you prefer. How will the Straw Hats and Marines deal with a mute who can pop up literally anywhere and has a strategic mind to boot? Throw in Wheatley and GLaDOS and you've got fun times for all.
Harry Potter / Accel World – What if Harry Potter was Silver Crow instead of Haruyuki Arita? How will the Wizarding World handle someone who can think and react faster than anyone in the Accel World? How will the players deal with the avatar of a wizard in Brain Burst? This could be interesting, especially with Voldemort's Horcrux in Harry's head along with Occlumency and Legilimency.