From: Karnivax <varanus@nospam.com> Subject: [PW!] Omega Date: Sunday, October 10, 1999 5:54 AM Sorry it took so long...but the Vorge saga is finally coming to its close here. This story starts out with Lordlocke's most recent contribution...edited for spelling and consistency and what-not...forgive me for being finicky and obsessive-compulsive, Gads. ^_^ --OMEGA-- Part 1 by Lordlocke and Karnivax A small distance away, in a heavily-forested area, Gads's head was whirling. Things were looking dire, with only himself, Doppler, and a few cultists standing. Even with an entire legion of assistants that had just charged on to the scene, Vorge was effortlessly shrugging off their bullets while Protopticon tore the strike force apart. Even Mewtwo himself seemed to have a stake in this, but without his powers he did not contribute much to the battle. Somehow, the chain of events lead to Gads finding himself a short distance from the main fight and watching the results going on within. However, despite the current situation, Gads's worry was not on Vorge. It was not that Vorge was not a threat. Certainly, he was the one that had to eventually go down in the long run. However, as something far more important to Gads's immediate situation, Protopticon had seemed to disappear after Vorge had muttered an order to it, probably to eliminate the remaining soldiers. And knowing even the little he did about the half-dinosaur, half-Ditto, Gads knew who it was bent on "eliminating" first. Namely, himself, Gads Trisan. _So...what now?_ Gads thought towards his alter-ego. Thankfully, Gads was outside the dampening field's range, so he was able to consult with...himself. He had to do something. Even a head-on assault against Vorge was more than he was doing at that point. _Well, with that psionic dampener up, Vorge's psychic powers are down, right?_ _Right._ _And since when did you rely on psychic powers to fight? Sure, you have them *now*, but for the past thirteen years, fists were enough._ _You're *right*! Vorge just gave himself a handicap against myself and Mara. He's good with the mental mumbo-jumbo, but let's see how good he is at defending himself from physical assaults. All I have to do is get over there, and he's as good as *gone*!_ _Or sssoo you think, human. Too bad you will never get to sssee him again. Or at leassst until you belong to him._ A voice echoed in Gads's head. Out of nowhere, down slammed Protopticon, right in front of Gads, tagging him lightly with a claw swipe in the process. "Thisss time, you are *mine*! There isss no one to interfere. No alliesss to sssave you." Gads, surprising both himself and Protopticon, smirked. "Well, I sssee that sssomething isss wrong with you thisss time, Protopticon." Gads chuckled. He even got the lisp down perfectly. It was Protopticon's turn to smirk. "You would do well to ssspeak to your future commanding officer with ressspect." With that, the hybrid launched a tail whip at the Dojo trainer, who backflipped away from it. "So, a different threat, eh? Well, I have a few new tricks too..." Gads concentrated for a moment. The tell-tale glow of psychic energy returned to his hands. "Ssso, I evaluated your worth asss a prize incorrectly!" Protopticon scoffed, noticing that Gads's powers were strictly rudimentary. "It isss time for a little culling of the weak, I think..." The hybrid aimed his plasma cannon at Gads and fired. Gads jumped out of the way once again, and took a moment to punch Protopticon in the jaw. Instead of just stunning the modified dinosaur for a second like last time, the blow caused Protopticon's head to snap back, allowing Gads to land another blow before being forced to dodge a massive claw swipe. "Grrr. Ssso, you ssseem to ussse your psssychic powersss more freely now. Let usss sssee how you fare when I do the sssame." Protopticon quickly charged up a Psybeam, and fired it off at Gads. "AAACK!" Gads made a move to dodge, but found his mobility limited by the forest around him. _Nowhere to go...gotta try something..._ _Remember about how to deal with a powerful attack?_ Gads's alter-ego queried. _...Don't *stop* it! *Move* it!!!_ Gads made a desperate backhand motion in the direction of the Psybeam, his fists now glowing a bright blue. The aura around Gads's hands caught the beam just before it could hit him, sending the blast off course at a forty-five degree angle, forcing it to pass by Gads and continue toward the massive melee in progress. "Your psssychic abilitiesss ssseem primarily defensssive," Protopticon analyzed. "That isss your failing. It isss over for you, boy. You can hit me with all of the physssical attacksss you can mussster...and I will ssstill come out on top." "Over my dead body." "Asss you wisssh, insssect..." "So you think. You never should of left the side of the 'mother hen.' Now, I'll show you why it's not a good idea to screw with the Fighting Dojo *or* it's members." "Bold wordsss, primate," Protopticon snorted. "But you have not the ssskill to back them up." And while Gads and Protopticon began a standoff, back in the main battle Mara got up. After taking a moment to remove the green Ditto from her chest, blushing red in the process, she looked around. No Gads...no Monk-chan...wait! There he was, peeling himself off of the ground, eyeing Vorge evilly. "Monk-chan! Over here!" The Mankey, once identifying the source of the voice, ran over to Mara. "Man key?" "No, I don't know where Gads is. I don't see Protopticon either...is that Mewtwo over there?!" Indeed, Mara looked to where the nigh-omnipotent Pokémon was currently being brought down to its hands and knees. "What could be doing *that* to such a powerful..." Mara's question was answered when a Psybeam, flying out of nowhere, entered the dampening field and dissipated almost instantly. "What the...? A psychic attack...just...disappearing? Something's up." Mara took notice of what was going on. Vorge was wailing upon Doppler, who was doing the best he could to defend himself against the strength of Vorge, but failing without his psychic abilities to back him up. It seemed Mewtwo could not even *stand*, let alone float like he normally did... "Psychic attacks...are useless?" Mara's frown became a grin. "So...basically, that means that the physically strong and the skilled will succeed." Mara looked down at the claws on her hands. "Worth a shot...strong Pokémon like Vorge, and skilled fighters like myself and Monk-chan are at the advantage. If Gads were here as well, this would be over in a snap." Mara took a moment to build her courage. "But I'm the better martial artist! I can do this. Come on, Monk-chan! We're going to fight a giant! At least until Mewtwo is back up." "MAN KEY!" Monk-chan just stared at Mara. "Mewtwo's one of the good guys, Monk-chan. As for Vorge, this time we have an advantage. No psychic attacks. Just don't stop moving, and we'll be fine!" "Man key!" Monk-chan nodded, and the pair started to work their way toward the massive Vorge, hoping that they could at least help stall until the psionic dampening field was out of action, and Mewtwo would once again be able to fight. By that time the psionic dampening field had about ninety seconds of life left. Vorge was more than holding his own against Mewtwo, who did not even have enough time to use his Recover move, and the relief forces that had swarmed in, who were quickly getting squashed into a bloody paste by Vorge's tremendous fists. Aerie was getting Seth as far away from the battlefield as possible, while Slasher the Persian was scurrying around the edge of the battlefield with the MissingNo ball in his mouth. The splinter of Doppler's former army was contemplating an immediate retreat. Doppler and Silly Putty, who for the moment were free from Vorge's wrath, simply waited for the dampening field to go down. Mara and Monk-chan were anticipating their chance to strike. And outside the field, it appeared that Protopticon was ready to gain the upper hand over Gads. After landing a mighty roundhouse kick that struck Gads in his right side, Protopticon started quickly gathering energy. _I have ssseen Proteusss perform thisss move before...what did he call it? Ah, yesss...the 'Machinegun Psssybeam.' Well, I believe I ssshall put a new variation on what wasss already a variation on a technique..._ Gads saw the Machinegun Psybeam coming. He covertly gathered energy of his own, and was ready at a moment's notice to use the psychic barrier technique that had saved him from the attack once before. However, Panopticon had learned from Proteus's earlier mistakes. Proteus had fired the Psybeams *directly* at Gads, and the barrier had easily blocked most of the blasts. _But what if the attack ssstruck the boy from a different angle?_ Protopticon thought, as he had finally gathered sufficient psi energy into his hands. Gads immediately put up the psychic barrier in front of him. "Hit me with your best shot, Ditzilla," he taunted. Protopticon then slammed his glowing fists into the ground. And the Psybeams did not fly at Gads this time. Instead, the storm of Psybeams erupted from the ground right below Gads like a psionic volcano. The surprised Gads was struck by four Psybeams and blown nearly ten feet into the air before falling outside the eruption's range. "You have grossssly underessstimated me, boy," Protopticon snarled, as he picked up the incapacitated Gads by the scruff of the neck. "Now feel the sssting of your ignorance!" Protopticon carried Gads back over to the Psybeam geyser and leaned Gads back into it. The Dojo member shouted at a surprising decibel level as Psybeam after Psybeam rammed into his back. By the time the barrage ended, Gads was still alive, but he was hardly in fighting condition. Protopticon casually tossed the boy aside and turned to deal with the relief forces that were assailing Vorge. "Thessse humansss are becoming bothersssome..." "Hold it, chopperface!" a voice shouted from behind Protopticon. "Don't go away mad!" --OMEGA-- Part 2 by Lordlocke and Karnivax Protopticon whirled around, and standing behind him was a group he knew all too well. It was Kyle and Jessica, along with the free-roaming Pokémon that always accompanied them. Phoo the Cockroach was sitting atop Jessica's shoulder. "...Thisss development wasss highly improbable..." Protopticon stammered, somewhat in disbelief that reinforcements had appeared out of nowhere. "Well, this day's just full of surprises!" Torrasque responded. "Rush the raptor!!!" Espio the Charizard shouted. Torrasque handed Cathode the Pikachu to Kyle, then Torrasque, Espio, and Thanatos the Gengar blitzed Protopticon all at once. Espio lambasted Protopticon with a laser-like beam of fire, Torrasque proceeded to Slash through the vital cables that Protopticon's body was swathed in, and Thanatos smashed his illusionary - yet surprisingly solid - guitar over Protopticon's head. The Ditto-saur had already used most of his energy on the Machinegun Psybeam attack, and fell down quickly before the might of the three Pokémon. The Pokémon trio attacked him relentlessly, not even giving him the chance for a single counterstrike. The team made it a point to destroy all of Protopticon's projectile weapons first. "That's taken care of," Kyle noted. "Now where's this 'master' of his?" He looked over at his girlfriend, who had gone bug-eyed. "Jessica, you feeling all right?" Jessica grabbed Kyle's head and turned it so it was facing the main battle. And so Kyle's first question was answered when he noticed the gigantic purple saurian that was running Mewtwo and a human strike force ragged. "Jeez...I...I sure hope that white thing with the purple tail is the master..." Kyle stammered. "That's *Mewtwo*!" Jessica cried. As a resident of Cerulean, she had heard all about the inhabitants of the Underground Dungeon. "And he's getting the crap kicked out of him!" Thirty seconds or so remained of the psionic dampening field. Vorge quickly formulated plans for what he would do to be ready for when the field went down. Though he wanted Mewtwo alive, Vorge did not want the feline regaining his powers before being subjugated. So Vorge picked up the bloody Mewtwo by his tail and bellowed in his ears, "For a while I wondered what this strange cord is that seemingly connects the back of your head with your upper back. But now I believe I have ascertained its purpose. It is an external part of a vessel for transporting psi from your brain to the rest of your body, is it not? Such a flawed design...were that vessel entirely internal, it would not be nearly as vulnerable." With that, Vorge raised one giant claw and cut through the cord that was sticking out of Mewtwo's head. A spark of psi fell from one of the severed ends. Then Vorge slammed Mewtwo to the ground and kicked the feline Pokémon into what remained of the relief forces. It was around that time that Mara and Monk-chan attacked. Mara slashed Vorge's left heel with the claws on her hands...and scraped off all of one scale from Vorge's reptilian skin. Mara glanced at the claws after using them, and found that they were now completely bent out of shape. Monk-chan's scratching attacks did even less. "Admirable...but ultimately futile," Vorge boomed. He knocked both Mara and the Mankey clear out of the unmarked arena with a wide tailwhip. "Now, where was I? Blast this organic body and its weak memory..." At that moment, Vorge at last took notice of Kyle and Jessica's team. No one else posed any current threat to Vorge - or so he thought - so the possessed Nidoking stomped Kyle's way. The psionic dampening field dropped at last, but there was not much anyone could do, even with the field down. Vorge had been correct about Mewtwo's external psi vessel and its importance. Doppler and Silly Putty could hardly even make a move without Vorge telepathically noticing and intervening. Slasher was not quite sure yet how to activate the MissingNo ball, or even how to aim it properly. Kyle - whose father knew much about scientific activity on his home of Cinnabar Island - knew about Mewtwo and his legendary power. He recognized that Mewtwo had the best hope of winning the battle, but with that strange cord of his severed, Mewtwo was not of much use. Unless... While he was still outside of Vorge's long reach, Kyle pulled his roll of duct tape out of his backpack and sprinted at full speed around the lumbering Vorge. Vorge had no intent of simply splattering Kyle; he wanted the boy who had meddled in so many of his plans to die a slow and agonizing death. That was, until Vorge telepathically picked up Kyle's plan. Vorge started charging up for a psi-blast in both hands...but he did not aim his hands at Kyle. Instead, he pointed one in the direction of Jessica, Cathode, and Phoo, and the other at the three Pokémon that had at last knocked out the thrashing Protopticon. "Do not step any closer to Mewtwo," Vorge warned Kyle, "or your companions will be vaporized." Vorge did not seriously view Mewtwo as a threat any more; even if Kyle succeeded in what he was planning, there was little doubt in Vorge's mind that Mewtwo would be too worn out to continue fighting. Kyle stopped in his tracks, then looked back at his friends. Torrasque whispered something to Phoo, then winked at Kyle. Torrasque, Cathode, Espio, Thanatos, and Phoo all stood close by Jessica, and Vorge decided he would need only one blast. Vorge decided to focus his telepathy on Torrasque's thoughts. "So...your Scyther friend thinks he can deflect my shot," a laughing Vorge informed Kyle. "But consider this, boy. If he fails to deflect it, and he undoubtedly will, all of your friends will be dust." Torrasque winked again. Kyle had no idea what the Scyther was really planning, but he decided he would have to trust Torrasque on this one. Kyle resumed his run toward Mewtwo. "Have it your way, infidel!" Vorge roared. Just as Kyle reached Mewtwo, Vorge let the psionic beam fly. And mere milliseconds before it could hit, Phoo teleported himself and the other intended targets twenty feet away from the blast. The team was treated to a nice light show as the psi-blast exploded. "What...?!" And so Kyle was able to duct-tape Mewtwo's psi vessel back together, thus putting the cord-like organ in a good position to start healing and reconnecting the two pieces enough to allow psi to flow through the vessel once again. "Kitty, I sure hope you remember what I did for you next time you get the urge for human blood on your hands..." Kyle said to the rapidly Recovering omni-cat. The first thing that Mewtwo did once his massive power was surging through him again was give Kyle a psionically-assisted backhand to the face. "Never...*ever*...call me that," the feline snarled. Vorge's tail nailed Mewtwo in the side mere milliseconds after the white cat backhanded Kyle. Mewtwo's head bashed into a tree, but he managed to stay conscious. It was not until Vorge slammed Mewtwo with one fist a few moments later that Mewtwo was stunned. With the feline out of the way temporarily, Vorge quickly decided to dispense with Jessica, Phoo, and the four nearby Pokémon. Much faster than Phoo could gather energy for another mass teleport, Vorge gathered energy for another psi-blast. This psi-blast was such that it could home in on targets' minds...even if the group tried to dodge the blast, it would catch them in due time. Torrasque decided he would have to make good - *very* good - on his earlier claim. "Everyone duck behind me!" he shouted, as he jumped out in front of the group. "I'm going to try and deflect this shot!" "And what if you *fail*?" Espio queried. "Well...judging by the size of his earlier blast...our deaths should be quick and painless!" Torrasque nervously responded. "Great...we're putting our lives in the hands of a Pokémon that doesn't even have hands," Espio snorted, as he curled up into a scaly ball and took Phoo, Jessica, and Cathode literally under his wings. A nervous puff of smoke rose from his nares. Thanatos pulled out his guitar and played R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World As We Know It." Vorge snickered at Torrasque's bravado, then finally launched the relatively low-power psi-blast in the Scyther's direction. Torrasque stood with his left blade back as the lumbering psi-blast flew lazily toward him. And as soon as the blast was within range, Torrasque Slashed at the cohesive psionic beam with all of his might... ...and knocked it back about five feet. Espio opened his eyes briefly. "Holy crap...'Rasque just might do it!" Torrasque charged and Slashed again, knocking the blast closer to its source. Considerable amounts of psi hit Torrasque each time he swung at the beam, but he kept going on. On the third Slash, Torrasque found that his left arm was starting to come loose, so he continued Slashing with his right. His body felt as if it were gradually being torn apart at the seams, and the scales on his skin were quickly burning away. Still he advanced onward, quickly pushing the psi-blast back. Torrasque's own deterioration seemed immaterial to him at that point; he knew that the lives of many others outweighed his one. It was very rare to see Pokémon sacrifice themselves for others; most Pokémon, when faced with life-threatening situations, let animal instincts get the best of them and looked out solely for their own well-being. But Torrasque's brain, being an uneven blend of human and Scyther brain cells, had no such instincts. Torrasque could rely only on his embryonic humanity. If Vorge had one fault at that point, it was emotion. Having transferred himself into an organic body, Vorge was starting to experience emotions for the first time...namely surprise. So shocked was Vorge by Torrasque's deflecting of the psi-blast that it did not occur to the Nidoking to augment the blast with his other hand. And finally, after seven straight Slashes, the psi-blast was returned to sender. Torrasque deflected the blast upward on the last Slash, and the psi-blast struck Vorge right in the face. The purple beast covered its face with its hands and shouted, "My eyes...my eyes!!!" Vorge stumbled around blindly, shooting weak psi shots every which way. Torrasque, looking unsteady, simply stood in one place. When Mewtwo stood again, his eyes lit up as he finally saw his chance to dispense a little retribution. He hovered into the air and flew at Vorge like a bullet, landing an earthshaking punch on Vorge's giant snout. As Vorge reeled, Mewtwo hammered the Nidoking in the chest with a flying kick, knocking Vorge over on to his back. He then grabbed Vorge by the tail, lifted the tremendous beast over his head, spun him around a few times, and then slammed Vorge to the ground with a force that would have registered rather high on the Richter scale of any nearby seismologists. Mewtwo hovered a few feet above Vorge and prepared to unleash what was possibly the most powerful attack in all of Pokédom: Psychic. "I must say, I am loath to annihilate a being with powers such as yours..." Mewtwo told Vorge. "Fortunately, such moments pass quickly. Prepare to meet whichever silicon deity you worship." But before Mewtwo could fire the Psychic attack, he was interrupted by the shout of another feline: "Purrrsiannn!" Mewtwo actually sweatdropped. The Psychic attack was never fired. Slasher slammed the MissingNo ball on the ground next to Vorge, then everyone who could ran for cover as the spheroid opened and unleashed its fearsome wrath upon the fallen Nidoking. Blinding, psychedelic waves of energy erupted from the ball, then meandered and danced about in the sky before violently crashing into Vorge and slowly tearing through his armored hide by disintegrating the very atoms of its being. Vorge's last words: "So...this...this is what...pain feels like..." The second that the Nidoking started to shrink back down to normal - showing that Vorge had been removed - Slasher carefully closed the veritable Pandora's Box that was the MissingNo ball. When the Nidoking returned to normal, closer inspection revealed that even with several holes having been blasted in its hide, the hardy Nidoking was clinging to life. Kyle quickly threw an empty Pokéball at the creature...and caught it effortlessly. "Cool! Free Pokémon!" Kyle exclaimed. "I'm up to twelve!" Everyone who was not currently incapacitated let out a collective sigh of relief. The first thing Gads asked when Mara helped him to his feet was, "Where'd Protop go?" Mara looked all around the battlefield, and the only answer she could offer was, "I...I don't know...he must have escaped or teleported away somewhere along the line." Gads sneered angrily. "I'll fix that tin-plated lizard *some* day..." Jessica got up from under the shelter of Espio's wings and started to approach Torrasque, who had not budged from the spot he had been standing in ever since deflecting Vorge's projectile. "Torrasque...that was incredible!" Jessica praised. "You did it! We're -" Before Jessica could finish her sentence, Torrasque fell to his knees, then slumped flat against the ground. "TORRASQUE!!!" Kyle shouted, forgetting all about the malice he had bore toward Torrasque back on Indigo Plateau. He sprinted at full speed over to where the Scyther lay fallen. He rolled Torrasque over on to his back, and found that somewhere along the line, the psi-blast had gotten close enough to Torrasque to blow a sizeable hole in his chest. He was bleeding everywhere. "Holy shit...we have to get you to a Pokécenter now! Espio, get over -" "No...don't bother...the wound's t - too severe. It...it's (ungh) all over for me," Torrasque weakly interrupted. "And c - considering that I made you want to (urk) k - kill me earlier...I wouldn't...I wouldn't say this is (ungh) any big l - loss for you..." "Don't talk like that, Torrasque..." Kyle responded. "We've been best friends for six years. What I did in Indigo was out of rage...you know how I can be...and your life was in no danger. Something dark inside of me wanted to kill you...but it was a fleeting impulse that I wouldn't let myself act upon. "If what I did in Indigo forfeited our entire friendship for you...let me give you my heartfelt apology while I still can...I'm sorry, Torrasque. I'm sorry I couldn't have been a better trainer for you." Torrasque grinned slightly, finally recognizing the bond he shared with Kyle clearly. "Kyle...I didn't (ungh) even know the m - meaning of the word f - f - friend until I met you. If you hadn't t - trained me as well as you (urk) did...if you...if you hadn't (ack) taught me about selflessness and what-not...I probably would've just run like hell and l - let Jessica and the (urk) others get t - toasted a few minutes ago." He tried to laugh, but it came out as a cough instead. "You...you're the b - best trainer a Pokémon like m - me (ungh) could ask for." Kyle was surprised to receive the sudden compliment. He was unsure of how to respond. "T - t - take good care of (ungh) Cathode for me," Torrasque went on, his voice growing ever weaker. "T - tell Atropos I'll love her always...and tell Jessica that I hope...I hope she (ack) finds where the k - kids went...with her g - g - genes in them, I...I know they'll t - turn out fine..." Torrasque then closed his eyes. "I'll miss all of you g - guys...but who knows...m - maybe I'll get l - lucky and (urk) be r - reincarnated...m - maybe I'll be back s - some day..." "I think your current incarnation will be pretty much impossible to top," Kyle added with tears in his eyes, but his comment fell on deaf tympana. Torrasque had already passed on. ::goes into Icy mode:: So, what do you think? --K * A * R * N * I * V * A * X-- "We're living in an age where lemonade is made with artificial ingredients and furniture polish is made with real lemons." -Alfred E. Neuman -- Posted via Talkway - http://www.talkway.com Exchange ideas on practically anything (tm).