So, first.. I'm happy with this one.

And although the goal is to simply bring us all more or less together for this one, I got to have a ton of fun with it. I hit most if not all of the active roleplayers for the mission as well as touching on a few key NPC's as well, from Becky's Knob Goblins to a few pirates. I'll have a bit more to say on my favorite parts, and some less than perfect reactions, at end comments.

 
Cyber Sunset shuffled through a handful of encryptic (meaning both encrypted and cryptic) papers, totally absorbed in what he was doing. Obvious to the insanity raging around him in the caves of the Fifth Column. He shuffled through papers, some of which were barely encrypted, or not at all. Those tended to be the less interesting bits of information, but you never knew what strange cases would turn up in a city like Honorburg. The real gems would be the encoded items; those would most likely have what he was after. The computer systems were quite honestly too advanced for most of the Column's members, most of whom weren't even familiar with such futuristic high technology concepts such as "keyboads," "logging in," or intercommunications between computers. Sunset swiped several papers, documents, and tools from the hideout, figuring to crack them in a safer location. He could hear mass hysteria in the background, but that didn't surprise him; Aleena and Dash were probably raising all kinds of trouble for the Column. It'd keep them off Cyber's back while he snuck out of the hideout so he could meet them later, elsewhere.

Undeterred, Cyber Sunset ignored it, and the subsequent flashing lights, as he began to make his way to the hideout's exit, convinced after his scuffle with them that Aleena and Dash could hold their own and escape to meet him.

Unfortunately, as he tried to dodge the attention of the soldiers he hadn't seen on the way in, he realized they seemed to be looking for something.. the thought occurred to Cyber that it might be him they were looking for, but that notion seemed impossible.

It seemed far less impossible when, barely a half minute later, one of the guards yelled, "Here he iz! I have, how you say, founded him!"

Cyber Sunset turned to see a soldier from Prance with two cyborg looking werewolves behind him, and more pouring in to help deal with the others.

... That might be a bad sign.

 
* - * - *

 
Sir Fumblies worked his way through the strange and futuristic city, able to keep up his pace despite the oddness of the city. After adjusting to the relative primitiveness of the Kingdom of Loathing, the robust half-orc was taken a bit aback. They had vehicles similar to bitchin meat cars, but they didn't seem to run on meat fumes. And they seemed almost common in the city.

There were people everywhere. The population seemed more densely packed than Fumblies home region of the aptly Faraway Lands. There were also thugs everywhere, which the general population seemed desperate to avoid. Some were dressed quite ordinary, while others had on pseudo military suits, or what looked like some kind of modern, cutting edge armor. A few of them got in the way of Sir Fumblies and his army but those situations usually ended up badly for Fumblies's would be opponents.

They barely slowed Fumblies down, although he nearly tripping over the curbs a few times did. "How long until we get there?"

"If we keep on pace, eventually," Bones said.

Fumblies looked around. "Gotta be a way to get there a little quicker.. hmm."

He spotted what looked to be this city's transportation system.

 
* - * - *

 
While Fumblies plotted, Aleena wasn't too surprised when they took her to the dark room of dark summoning rights to summon the dark beast.. and it turned out to be an exceptionally well hit room. She was even less surprised to see the other three princesses, the ones they'd come to save, being held behind a magical barrier of some kind, a glowing green rock that kept each of the princesses far more sedate than even Aleena. Still, there had to be a way to overcome this magic, Aleena decided. If she could just get her cysuit working!

Meanwhile, Dash continued to be engaged in battle, clearly in trouble. The singular mage holding Aleena seemed to be the biggest threat of them all. Fortunately, after swatting Dash away with some air magic, he'd turned his attention back towards shuffling Aleena off into the distance. Unfortunately, the Fifth Column enemies, and a few other familiar faces Dash couldn't quite place, seemed determined as Hey Daze to keep Dash separated from Aleena for long enough for whatever plan they'd hatched to be carried out.

They swarmed Dash, pushing him back and looking for that killing blow on "the Dashing Rogue."

Easier said than done, even with their futuristic laser guns and high tech gear.

Dash parried another set of attacks, fighting back with lethal efficiently, but they continued to push him backwards, probably hoping to trap him between two enemy groups.. this looked hopeless!

"We've got him on the run!" one of the Fifth Column soldiers called out, right before Dash dropped him into unconsciousness with a powerful blow from the hilt of Dash's longsword. Unfortunately, his point still stood; Dash was in trouble and there was no way to..

No!

Dash realized he didn't have time to dwell on the odds. Unless Aleena was free from whatever was keeping her from fighting, she was helpless, and if Dash had to fight through an army then.. he realized he had to get to work.

 
* - * - *

 
"Where are the rest of you?!" A commander, flanked by nearly a dozen soldiers and a couple unholy hunchbacked golems, yelled out at Cyber Sunset, ruining his plans to simply walk out of the hideout and get away.

"Ahh, that way," Cyber Sunset said, pointing away from himself. Hey, if the "We belong here" line could work, why not this?

"Thank you very much," the commander said as he started leading his troops down that direction.

"Yeah, goodluck," Cyber said, not able to believe his luck.

"Oh, and take this one prisoner, Boris," the commander casually ordered his Russian first in command.

Dammit!

 
* - * - *

 
Katlana and Jake helped Cattaras, Zanther, Becky and her four Knob Goblins fight their way out, only to find the final door locked. Katlana didn't look like she was holding up too well, and Jake seemed to be developing a cough as well.

"Can I make an ice key?!" Becky asked, confused. "I don't wanna be stuck here forever!"

"Yeah, how would the pizza delivery guy get in?!" Becky's Knob Goblin Red asked, worried. About his pizza. Which he wasn't gonna get.

"Ya okay, Kat?" Jake asked, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"I'll be fine, I just.." Kat paused.. "Just gotta.. ahh.. aaahhh!"

"She's gonna sneeze, get some cover!" Jake called out, and the others obeyed, jumping under the nearest cover. Kat's sneezes had won a few fights, but had some serious blast to it.

This sneeze was powerful enough to blast the door off its hinges. "Sorry," she said. "Got the sniffles. Think I'm coming own with the flu."

"Yeah, energy powers make being sick kinda risky," Jake said, fighting the urge to cough. "I'm not feeling so well either, so I think dat we're gonna letchya two get on with your fun, while we go get some soup and sleep."

Cattaras raised an eyebrow.

"Actual sleep!" Jake said, waving his hands defensively. Wolf nodded, nudging them.

"Kay, we're going, we're going," Katlana and Jake said, setting off their own way. Zanther Wolf turned and trotted off, then turned back as if to wonder why they weren't rushing to keep with.

"He's right," Cattaras said. "From the sound of that intel, Dash and his elf need someone to pull their fat out of the fire before they botch this mission."

The others rushed to keep up. Knowing where the fight was would make it easier to get there quicker, but that still left ground to cover.

 
* - * - *

 
"It's not far!" one of the Goblins Sir Fumblies had sent ahead as a scout reported upon returning. Fortunately, the city's "trolley" had taken them within six blocks of where they needed to be in good time. They'd been walking double time but Fumblies found it wise to send one of the quicker Knob Goblins ahead to find out what was going on. He said, "But there's sounds of a fight."

"Then I guess we'd better hurry," Fumblies said. "I doubt they could be faring well in the Column's own hideout."

"Yeah!" Becky's voice called out. "We gotta hurry and save our buddies!"

"Yes Becky, that is what I just said, so let's get going," Fumblies said. He started to walk but a split second later suddenly made a face, spinning around. "Becky?! Where did you come from!"

 
He turned to see not just Becky and her Knob Goblins, but also Cattaras Whiteclaw, and a strange looking Wolf. How did she always show up like that? Fumblies wondered.

"Oh, hello, Cattaras."

Cattaras gave him a silent nod. "Enough small talk. Let us proceed to business."

"Indeed," Fumblies said, turning to lead them and silently cursing his luck.

 
* - * - *

 
Seeing a fight as unimportant and unwise, Cyber Sunset instead turned his attention towards getting to Dash and Aleena. He needed to make sure they knew this thing was going to hell and to organize a proper escape plan with the two.

"Guess I'm a bit late," Sunset said as he twisted through the winding corridors of the underground hideout, only to encounter Dash about to be mobbed. "Might as well dig in!"

Dash deflected a shot but found himself up against a bunker wall. Before Dash could even size up the odds for the best route of escape, a now familiar green light distracted the attackers, and gave Sebastian Dash a renewed sense of confidence. "Nice of you to show up now that I've thinned the numbers down."

"Looks like it's still a bit too tough for you to handle on your own," Sunset replied. "So obviously I wasn't that late."

Dash ducked under another attack. "Let's see what you got, then!"

"More than you got!" Sunset grunted as one of the clubs slammed a club across his neck. The damage was already healing as Sunset launched out with his sword, taking another thug down.

"That looked painful," Dash said.

"I heal fast," explained Cyber Sunset.

 
* - * - *

 
"Why are you doing this?!" Aleena demanded to know as she was roughly pushed into the middle of the summoning circle. The three princesses, eyes unfocused from the magic, were pushed into the circle with her. Bright bands of energy started circling around them. Aleena took note that one of the princesses was a blond, the other a brunette, and the final had flaming red locks.

"For the most obvious reason, 'princess,'" the mage answered with a sneer. "Using your very own royal lifeblood, I shall summon forth a powerful army of demons who shall do the bidding of The Triangle of Barbs, of which I am a member. In exchange, we shall leave this city in tatters so that the Fifth Column may aid us in control of it. Together, we shall bring forth a new empire of greatness to the very world itself, combining the ancient rules to which we the Triangle of Barbs conform, with the righteous military discipline of the Fifth Column which nearly conquered the world only mere decades earlier."

The other princesses seemed to stir to consciousness. "What's going on now?" the blond princess asked, groggily.

"I don't think we're going to like the answer," the brunette noted.

"I say we fight our way out!" the redhead said, ready for a fight. Then the energy around them intensified. "Oops, nevermind... wha?!"

"Hey!"

"What's going on?!"

The three princesses had been in fine dresses, although they had clearly been through the wringer. Suddenly, however, those dresses slipped off the princesses... even their high heeled shoes dissolved, leaving them in their undergarments. Those, too, seemed to dissolve off their bodies.

Aleena felt her suit driven into her body, retracting, as her outfit turned into smoke, refusing to respond to her commands for it to materialize.

"My apologies, but your modesty is a small sacrifice to summon forth the great beast," the mage said, smiling evilly and inhumanely at the four women inside of the energy prison.

Aleena looked at the other princesses, now as naked as Aleena. They were still in shock. At least they were in good shape, she had to admit.

 
* - * - *

 
Even working together against the threat, the odds were stacked up against Dash and Sunset when giant mutant bears, armor clad knights, and element wielding mutants.

"They gotta be pretty serious about us to hire so much outside help," Cyber said, proud of the fact. "Then again, that's probably more my reputation than yours." He and Dash continued to battle, but the enemies seemed determined to force them back, if they couldn't take the heroes out directly. "I'm known as invincible in these parts."

"They're just going to force us out if they can't kill or capture us," Dash noted grimly.

"Yeah, no kidding."

"We need-" Dash started to say when the doors burst down! Sir Fumblies burst in, with the Black Paladin and Becky Joy right behind him! Her four Knob Goblins were with her as usual.

"You're barely in and you already need help?" Fumblies called, shaking his head. "I better get a raise out of this."

"Fumblies!" Dash called out. "Good.. you brought backup."

"Yeah," Fumblies said. "A lot of backup."

"Yay, everyone's here to get beat up by me!" Becky said as she blasted through the surprised Fifth Column and allies. "I mean not my buddies, and not you KOKOL guys, either!"

The others poured in, too. Cattaras rushed in next with a loud roar, followed by Zanther Wolf, Vixen and Catrina Whiteclaw. Backing them up were Fahari and Todd Blackpaws. Even the Jester King of Beasts was here! Finally, Coconuts and Captain Morgan, backed up by a half dozen pirates, entered.

"Dash, m'lad, good to see you!" the Captain called out. "We'd gotten ill wind of the situation, so me'n yer furry friends keelhauled our arses over.. only t' find the others on their way in as well. Davey Jones be watchin' out for you tonight, I'd reckon."

"You're in trouble now," Dash called out, leading the charge against the enemy!

 
* - * - *

 
The four figures, not a stitch of clothing between them, looked from one to another. At least the energy bands around them provided a semblance of privacy for the moment. If only barely.

"What's going to happen now?" the blond princess asked.

"They'll try to drain our life force," the brunette answered, her face pale. She reached down, grabbing at her dress, but the magic was still affecting it; it just slid out of her hands.

"Then we need to do something about it!" Aleena turned and kicked at the barrier with her bare foot, but it had little effect.. other than to cause Aleena to let out a frustrated, pained grunt. The redheaded princess put her hand on Aleena's shoulder.

"I don't think that's going to work," the redhead said. They could already feel the field starting to suck the life force out of them.

"Would seem that way," Aleena answered, dejected. "But we can't just sit around here hoping to be rescued."

"So what should we do?" the brunette asked.

"If you two have inherent magic, maybe we could use that?" Aleena proposed.

"They do," the brunette said, indicating the other two. "But they're not able to use their abilities, the same way I'm unable to use my tricks in order to escape, either."

Aleena raised her eyebrow. "'Tricks?'"

"She's been trained as a shadow monk, which is exactly like being a ninja even so she claims otherwise," the blond princess explained, amused by it.

"It's quite different," the brunette princess answered with a sneer. "It would enable me to use a static charge of energy to stun opponents, or even attack the shield itself. But much like their magics, useless due to that damnable mage's.. whatever it is he's.." The brunette stumbled forward, suddenly dizzy. The redhead and blond caught her, but looked to be suffering as well.

"Whatever we're doing, we need to do it soon!" said the redhead, anxious to get free so she could pick a fight with the arrogant Triangle of Barbs mage.

"Take each other's hands!" Aleena suggested. "Maybe if we focus, we can use our inner spirit to fight off this spell."

The others seemed unsure. "Are you sure?" the blond asked.

"I don't really want my last minutes on this world to be spent naked in a circle holding hands like some naked hippie," the brunette said. "No offense. Maybe if there were a few nice princes in here."

"Agreed," the redhead said, although she subtle sized up the other women. "Besides, if all we're too busy trying to slow the spell down, we're just delaying the inevitable. We need some way to fight it."

"I have friends who are no doubt fighting their way in to help us," Aleena said. The growing strain on her, sapping her energy, started to make her irritable and short tempered, but she valiantly fought to maintain her composure. "If this has even a chance of keeping us alive that long.."

The redhead took Aleena's hand, then the brunette's. "She's right. If we can focus our inner spirit, moxie, and magical abilities, maybe we can even break the spell. Overwhelm it."

"Like a ragin' meat car when you try to push it to nearly twice its speed limit with some kind of whacky spell," the brunette said with a smile. She took the redhead's hand and the blond's.

"Hey," the blond said, letting Aleena take her hand to complete the circle. "That only happened once! And I was young. And it was a 'kooky' spell, not a whacky spell."

"Clear your mind, ladies," Aleena said, wishing she had time to hear the rest of that tale. "And focus on fighting off the magic."

 
* - * - *

 
Excited to be among so many allies, Becky rushed to the front of the battle, throwing out one magic ice attack after another! One of the Tzui sorceresses tried to teleport in to attack Becky only to fall to a double team fireball attack by Becky's Knob Goblin assistants, Red and Green!

"She's really hyper today," Fahari noted to Vixen. They were further in the back, anxious to get in on the action themselves.

Vixen grinned. "Yeah, she gets like that sometimes.."

Either way, she was ripping through most of the enemies! Zanther Wolf and Sebastian Dash rushed headlong into the fight, with Dash being eager to get to Aleena, and Zanther wanting to keep Becky safe. Even Cattaras wasn't quite as quick into the midst of the fight as them.. although he wasn't far behind. He tore into the enemies with his bare claws, dropping a Tzui ink master with a ferocious kick to the head, while another met his fate at the end of Dash's sword.

"Keep going!" Dash rallied! "We've got to get to Aleena as soon as possible. I don't care if we have to go through the whole army to get to them!"

Fumblies walked past Dash. Between issuing orders and blasting the enemies with his own magic, he pointed out, "I'd say we're the army this time."

"Yeah, Becky's big army!" Becky called out. "Eep!" A sniper tried to shoot Becky from a distance, but she threw up an ice shield just in time. "Phew, that was close."

A horrific laugh caught everyone's attention as the Jester King of Beasts slid past Becky and Dash, coming to a halt between two of the bigger looking Column brutes. He casually croaked his head to the side, giving his long, grey fingernail a lick. "Sooo, where's a guy get an easy lay in this city? Kinda getting tired of your moms, boys."

The two turned, shocked by his annoying voice and casual insults, and then swung their maces overhead. Naturally, the maces went through the insubstantial body of the Jester King, and the two blasted each other into unconsciousness. The Jester floated away with an obnoxious laugh, looking for more victims to annoy.

"How many of them are there?!" Goblina asked as she, Red, Green and Darson flanked Becky to keep her safe.

"Um.. lemme count," Becky said, stopping fighting to count. "One.. two.. three.. two.. three.. four.. I'd say a whole lot!"

"Yeah, I'd say about that," Red said, smashing an enemy soldier with a rival hard-as-a-rock breadstick.. then stopping to chomp on the breadstick.

"Hey, you all better get out of my way!" Becky said, as she went back to attacking them. The enemies started to dodge Becky's attacks, but it was so disorganized, it made them easy pray for Dash's or Cyber Sunset's swords, or Zanther's or Cattaras's claws.

"Come on, ya slackers!" Coconuts called out as the Black Paladin and Fahari fought by her side. True and odd sight, that. "Don't be luggin' yer arses now!"

"Aye, ma'am!" all of the pirates and Knob Goblins called out in unison, redoubling their efforts. As they fought, the brutes tore through the enemies, and although the Knob Goblins and pirates started to take damage from the well trained enemies, being forced to fall back more often, Sunset, Dash, Aleena, Wolf and Cattaras lead a devastating charge. Catrina mostly watched, but was willing to show she could still be deadly when her twin katana when required.

Cyber Sunset was teleporting around like mad. Sometimes he'd teleport into a darkened corner or a room, wedging himself into a corner by using his legs and an arm to keep himself wedged as he picked and blasted his targets with energy or plasma darts. Other times, he'd teleport deep into the fight to help Dash trip up one of the brutes, or help Sir Fumblies deal with a particularly quick opponent.

Becky's supply of energy seemed limitless, so it was no surprise it was her who broke through into the summoning chamber.. Although she needed Dash and Cattaras to keep her focused at times.

Unfortunately, that means she was the first to run into the small fire breathing dragon and its keepers, the powerful Circle of Mage sorceresses, too!

 
* - * - *

 
Aleena's muscles felt fatigued after barely a couple minutes and it was clear that the others were faring worse than she. The field smelled like burning oxygen and tinfoil. An ominous scent, to be sure. It seemed like the energies of the force field were dulling until Aleena realized it was her own vision starting to fade on her.

The spell hadn't just disrobed them; it sought to strip them of first their dignity, then their very life force. The blond and brunette fell to their bare knees, leaning against each other for support, pupils unfocused. The redhead was still focused, holding Aleena's hands, but slumping against her. It might be an adorable scene under other circumstances. Her breasts were slightly smaller than Aleena's, and both were a fair size smaller than the more top heavy brunette and blond, Aleena couldn't help but notice. Due mostly to the fact all four of their chests were heaving with effort and exhaustion. What that meant to her, Aleena told herself, is the taller, more athletically built redhead would be the one to turn to in a fight for help.

"Keep strong," Aleena said. As unlikely as it seemed, she could feel the magic struggling to overcome their efforts to resist it.. and almost failing. A minute later, the redheaded princess slumped against Aleena, nearly taking Aleena off balance. As Aleena tried to formulate a secondary plan, the air around them took a distinct chill.. then shattered like glass exploding!

Aleena looked up to see Becky Joy smiling, with a shocked looking Sebastian Dash and a winged wolf standing behind her. Behind them stood Cattaras and Sir Fumblies, both of whom had their eyes averted from the princesses and Aleena.

Becky tilted her head, innocently asking, "Did I miss some'fin fun?!"

"Fools!" the mage yelled, tending to his wounded dragon. "You've only come in time to see the rising of my ultimate weapon!"

He cackled and then laughed loud and evil, as black mists poured forth from the summoning circle and started to take shape in the middle of the room.

The shape was very, very large and equally ominous.

These things are always a tough one, and I did this one all myself. (Although Katlana being a bit under the weather and having a supersneeze was Audrey's idea.) Even so, I'm really happy with all the action I fit into this one, with it being pushed out just 8 days after the last bit, and the next piece (part III) hitting just 5 days or so after.

I quite like the part where Fumblies notices Becky is suddenly with him.. although Cyber Sunset didn't 'get' the idea of Sunset passing on a fight as 'uninteresting and unimportant.' Heh..

I also had a lot of fun with the poor princesses section, and was glad to get in a lil cameo from lower-ranking vote-getters Fahari and Vixen.

 
Onwards! Next up, I bring it all together in part III, with some extra fun twists, and a little help from Cattaras's handler Mitch!