InterLUDE: A Quest of Rings
By Xenomorph666
Disclaimer: I own only Perfection and Wraith.
DigitalMan and K2 are © My close friend.
Everything else is copyrighted to their correct owner.
Universe: Spliced-Verse
Burning Intolerance
"What the?" Pietro gawked as he and the others followed Wheeler out of the crypt. The scene that was so shocking was a riot that seemed to be lead by the FOH.
"LOOK! IT'S THE GOVERNMENT MUTIES!" A FOH member shouted. "And two traitors!"
The group swarmed away from a house that had been previously been their target. As soon as they left it Wheeler could see two small faces come to the window, both covered in sparse red fur. Once again Wheeler felt the fire inside grow.
"Oh man, we better run." Pietro gulped.
"No." Wheeler gritted.
"What?" Pietro shrieked.
"Those kids will be their targets again if we leave." Wheeler said.
"He's right." Arcade frowned. "I'll get inside and contact the Joes."
"Get going then." Pyro smiled, "We'll keep'em busy, right Mr. Match?"
"Right." Wheeler turned to smile at Pyro, expecting to work as a team with him, only to see Pyro talking to a matchbook. "Ugh, I should have known."
"Yes, you should have..." Pietro said, "But I can't help but notice we're surrounded now!"
Sure enough as soon as Arcade broke away they were completely surrounded by the angry mob. Shouts and slurs filled the air, some aimed at Wheeler, but most were aimed at Pietro and Pyro. The three quickly found themselves back to back as the crowd closed in.
"You know Pietro, I always wondered if your sister's protection ever extended to you..." Pyro gulped as his matches blew out from the crowd of people yelling.
"Only sometimes..." Pietro gulped. "I don't think this is one."
Then someone threw a brick and hit Pyro in the nose. He crumpled to the ground and only Pietro's reflexes kept him from being descended on by the angry mob.
"Ok, THAT IS IT!" Wheeler fully grasped his rage and aimed his ring to the air. "ARISE..." A beam of read light shot twenty feet in to the air and condensed into a solid form. "AGNI!" The form crystallized into a flaming female with several swords sheathed to her back. For few seconds the crowd froze and their eyes were diverted up.
"Whose the fire girl?" Pyro perked up through his bloody nose.
"That's what I'd like to know." Wheeler said, slightly confused.
"Injustice..." Agni spoke, it's voice a feminine but familiar tone to Wheeler. "BEGONE!" The flaming Agni dove towards the crowd which immediately dispersed and ran off in fear.
Soon after the crowd ran off Pyro and Pietro were busy ogling the flaming woman, each for their own reason. While Wheeler had some serious questions for it. However, before Wheeler could even ask a question a loud clapping came from down the street and Wheeler paled when he saw who it was.
"Nice..." Duke Nukem was wearing his ring and it was glowing. "I guess when you get yours back, we get ours back. I figured as much." Wheeler however was not worried about the ring, instead his was terrified of the even more mutated Duke Nukem. He no longer looked like a living rock, instead he looked like a smaller, yellow and orange haired Hulk. "Oh, like the new look? A new friend whipped up a partial cure to my mutation, it gets rid of the worst parts but keeps the parts I like."
"You have got to be kidding me." Pietro blinked. "He's STILL a walking copyright infringement!"
"Shut it squeaker!" Duke bellowed. "I'm DUKE-FREAKING-NUKEM, THEY'RE THE INFRINGEMENTS!"
"YOUR NAME IS AN INFRINGEMENT!" Arcade yelled from the house.
"Shut up!" Duke shouted and aimed his ring at the house. "GAMMA RADITION!" A concentrated blast of energy flew at the house only to be stopped by a solid red wall of flame that came straight from Wheeler's ring.
"I am really getting sick of you and your bullying..." Wheeler growled. "Agni..."
The flaming form wasted no time and returned to the ring and the wall of flame changed to flaming pillar that quickly returned to the ring. Duke merely shot an odd glance to Wheeler who had a confident smile as he held his ring to his side.
"Oh, I get it..." Duke smiled. "On three."
"One..." Wheeler smiled.
"Two..." Duke smiled in return.
"Three!" Wheeler shouted.
"GAMMA RADIATION!" Duke aimed and fired the destructive beam at Wheeler.
"AGNI RELEASE!" Wheeler shouted, this time the flaming form that came from Wheeler's ring was a giant red dragon that flew through and dispersed the gamma radiation right before slamming into Duke Nukem and sending him flying into the distance like a cartoon character.
"What the?" Pyro blinked. "What happened to the fire girl?"
"Now I get it..." Pietro snapped his fingers. "It responds to your need when you release it, but it has to return and concentrate it's power to take another form."
"Hey guys, they're sending a chopper for us..." Arcade called from the house. "You guys want some Kool-Aid?"
"Sounds good to me." Wheeler smiled.
"Is it fire flavored?" Pyro asked as he pinched his nose.
"Fire flavored?" Pietro blinked.
"Isn't that what red is?" Pyro asked.
"My head hurts..." Pietro groaned.
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Back at Hope Island Ma-ti and Larry were deep inside one of Larry's visions.
"Who are all these people?" Ma-ti asked.
"People who heard Perfection's plea for help, they weren't even directly asked, they just heard... and came." Larry said. "That one's name is Bucky O'Hare, he's General Jack O'Niel and I think that one is called Lion-O."
"I hope they'll make it through..." Ma-ti sighed.
"Here it comes." Larry said as the vision resumed from it's previous pause.
The world swirled in fantastic heat and soon Jean ascended above everyone with a black flaming pheonix surrounding her. At the base Ma-ti could see himself pleading with the psychic and eventually he saw the flash of his ring, and seconds later his body burst into flames.
"I don't know how to interpret this." Ma-ti admitted. "For anything to have that much power..."
"I know, it's frightening." Larry agreed.
"Who is that?" Ma-ti asked as he nodded to a young man in odd black clothing, with almost clown like shoes and light brown hair. He had an odd key-shaped weapon and another boy fought by his side. The other boy also had a key shaped weapon, but it was more intimidating and seemed to contrast his platinum white hair.
"I don't know, but they seem important." Larry admitted, "And they seem to be trying to stop you too..."
Ma-ti absentmindedly ran his hands down the side of the weapon. He thought it was funny that the young man wielded it like a blade, yet it was perfectly blunt. Then it occurred to Ma-ti that nothing in the vision should have substance and he looked up into the eyes of the young man.
"Hi!" The voice said before the vision fell away and Larry and Ma-ti found themselves back in Ma-ti's new room.
"I think we need to tell someone..." Larry admitted, Splinter has no clue, neither do the Joes."
"Let's try Kezqua, he's pretty good with visions." Ma-ti said.
"He'll freak out if he knows." Larry advised. "We need a more neutral party."
"Can't go to Wraith..." Ma-ti said. "And Spaz is with Wheeler."
"Actually he got stuck back at the club." Larry said. "Something about giant killer pizza monsters, the turtles were helping him."
"Then maybe we should talk to him." Ma-ti said.
"He's our best bet." Larry admitted.
As the two teens left out the door a voice echoed. "Don't worry, we will find a way or my name isn't Sora!"