There was silence. Even the swirling, chaotic mass of spacial energies went quiet as Sora took in the younger girl's words. Deep inside the vast and growing sphere, that girl was in some kind of agony. Bubbles felt a stabbing pain deep inside when she focused too hard on her, which made it no less difficult to track the Zoner down.

"Leave. Now." Sora's voice instructed.

Bubbles turned her back upon the escape provided. She stared resiliently into the churning abyss of the unknown, never so sure about such a choice in her life. "No."

"You're not staying here."

"And I'm not leaving you either!" Bubbles shouted, her voice resonating against the walls of Sora's sphere like ripples upon a thick and viscous fluid. "You wouldn't be doing this if everything went the way you hoped it would! I don't really wanna think about what happened down there... b-but I'm not gonna leave you alone so you can keep destroying everything around you just 'cause you're upset!"

"You can't do anything!" the voice boomed "You can't change what's happened!"

Bubbles gulped down a breath "N-No, but I can stop you from making bad things worse. Just let me reach you!"

"STAY AWAY!" Sora's voice screamed, frantic. The open passage swirled shut, sealing her back inside.

Bubbles remembered the searing bolt of red that tore through the swirling haze, repelling the energy if but for a moment. Its force was vicious. Blistering. And reproducible. Her eyes lit up dazzling blue. "I'm coming to get you." she murmured just as two scorching streaks of azure cut a path through the madness before her, a searchlight in the golden darkness.

"It'll make no difference!" Sora's voice warned. The brilliant blue streaks swivelled, repelling the fog of distortion. The voice strained as she tried her best to maintain complete control. "Even if you did find me, Bubbles, you won't be able to-"

A sudden bolt of red sliced sideways through the spacial mire right in front of Bubbles, making her yelp in alarm and cutting off Sora's bossy words. It dissipated, its glaring heat absorbed into the distortion around it. Bubbles dared to venture forward again, her eyes lighting up once again but a second burst of blood-red light sizzled past her nose, thicker and stronger than anything her own eyes could produce. She watched a third pulse streak past, entering the sphere from a barrier edge not far away. She squinted, making out the rippling edge of Sora's reach as, beyond it, a dark shape loomed larger and larger. A fourth bolt, hot and bright and loud, tore its way through the barrier and scorched away into the depths of the sphere, dissipating rapidly even as it forced back rift energy. The dark shape grew bigger still. Bubbles gulped, realising her error of getting too close. She spun and flitted away with a yelp as Sora's omnipresent voice screamed in protest.

Then, with a rainbow of weapon energy surging in all directions from its sleek and polished black body, a giant metal flying machine burst through the barrier. The sound was deafening, the mix of colour disorienting. Bubbles clapped her hands over her ears and let out a squeal of fright - "Uwawawa-NOOO!" - as the mighty Arbalest with wings roared past her, a predatory hawk in swoop with its wings cranked back. With relentless assault of light and sound from its cold and heartless form, it ripped the sphere asunder.

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Bloodsguar Studios member

WE ARE ALL GRIDS

For some reason this is starting to remind me of the ending of the movie X-Men: The Last Stand.

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Wait... they actually built something that can withstand the sphere?! That can't be right!

... Or is it about to be destroyed soon?

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Spirit. In every language in all the Realms, surface and Underdark, in every time and every place, the word has a ring of strength and determination. It is the hero's strength, the mother's resilience, and the poor man's armor. It cannot be broken, and it cannot be taken away. - Drizzt Do'Urden, Ranger of Mielikki

They can utilize electromagnetics, so I'm going with a combination of mass and some kind of EM coating.

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The Life and Times of Shad Staydamind PPG fic; finished. part 1/3
Dual Minds Think Alike PPGD fic, part 2/3; finished (trilogy is on an indefinite hiatus)
Hidden Angels Original, ongoing fiction. (also hiated. Stupid college!)

Buttercup's fist crashed through the splintered glass pane, shattering it and sending shards showering to the floor within the lopsided skyscraper. Blood didn't even flinch, nor did Buttercup as she withdrew her hand, grazed knuckles bleeding from the tiny cuts upon them. Both froze, clinging to the side of the tower as their fight was interrupted by the riptide of pulsing red light and the roar of four mighty engines close by. They watched, both awestruck and trepid, as the black steel eagle with fire at its tail dove headfirst into the swirling, multicoloured abyss as it spat red rage from the cannons near its nose. Blood's jaw dropped at such audacity. Buttercup hoped there was nobody aboard that thing. The outer surface churned and undulated as the huge machine disappeared within. The whole sphere began to contort, lighting up with colours that were not its own. From above, a second machine circled on tilted wing, slowly dipping lower as its sister gutted the lethal phenomenon. Then, more ripples. More malformed palpitations from the misshapen ball of light traveled from one end to the other as the thunderous roaring sound returned. Swooping skyward once more, trailing smoke from its scored and corroded hull but otherwise airworthy, Arbalest climbed up and away on a trail of turbojetted fire.

"They actually went that far..." Blood murmured, pushing Buttercup off her as they both hovered by the side of the tilting tower. "More than that, she didn't destroy it even when it was at the very heart of her power."

Buttercup smirked "Maybe she's not as in control of things as you thought she was." There was a defiance in her tone that made Blood's skin prickle. Buttercup persisted, floating away from the building's edge as Blood snarled behind her back "And you're just sitting there, letting me beat you up again. It's no different than when you tried to take things out on those people in that conference room. You're overconfident! You think that just because you have these powers, you and her, that nothing's gonna get in your way."

"You think?" Blood growled, cracking her knuckles. "Got anything else to add to that opinion?"

Buttercup snickered "Heh, sure. I'm wondering where that terrified, get-there-at-any-cost attitude you had earlier disappeared to. Where is your urgency? Why aren't you trying to get to her like before? I'm not really complaining," she spun back around "I'm quite happy to keep beating your a-"

CRACK

Buttercup reeled back, clutching her face as Blood pulled her knuckles back after striking her flat on the nose. Blood winced, trying her best to hide the fact that it felt as though her entire fist had imploded on impact. Wasting no time, Blood drove her toe into Buttercup's gut again - a strategy she still knew held some viability - and clobbered the grunting, coughing girl over the side of her head with a double-fisted club. Buttercup, stunned, was helpless. Blood pounced at her, grabbing Buttercup's foot and whirling her around as red droplets flew away from the smaller girl's nose. Blood flung her downward, releasing her and watching as Buttercup tumbled toward the street below. Blood looked up at the convulsing sphere as it was tormented by the two black steel vultures orbiting it and unleashing their barrage of light.

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Bloodsguar Studios member

WE ARE ALL GRIDS

*sigh* I guess it was too much to ask that Buttercup not get too cocky during the fight. But now that Blood has some free time, she might start thinking about the most effective way to deal with those two unmanned planes of doom.
Or just go back to the office and kill off everyone there.

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Spirit. In every language in all the Realms, surface and Underdark, in every time and every place, the word has a ring of strength and determination. It is the hero's strength, the mother's resilience, and the poor man's armor. It cannot be broken, and it cannot be taken away. - Drizzt Do'Urden, Ranger of Mielikki

Since when has Buttercup NOT been cocky?

But yeah I'd say she'll go for the planes first. Somehow I have the feeling it won't take as much effort to deal with that instead of the office full of people...and Blossom.

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Buttercup's head throbbed each time her accelerated heart beat and the air rushing against her face made her busted nose sting worse and worse. Fighting the urge to retch from the kick to her stomach, she reopened her eyes to a squint and instinct took over. Her limp body suddenly stiffened and her fall ceased at once, leaving her at a hover. She shook her head and her vision, if not the pain, cleared. She was face down. Staring at asphalt. If she'd waited any longer she'd be picking bitumen out of her teeth. She knew from experience - road tastes bad.

She dropped the remaining foot and a half, landing prone with a grunt before pushing herself up to hands and knees. Her head still spun. She brought a finger to her nose and dabbed the wetness leaking from her nostrils. It didn't feel misaligned but pressing it made her wince. She just had to ignore it. She took a deep breath or two and felt the air rattle in her throat. She coughed, spitting something rather unsightly onto the ground before getting back to her feet. Something clicked in front of her that she didn't notice at first, instead dusting off the dirty shoe tread imprint upon her stomach and resisting further urge to cough. Then a second click, followed by a buzzing sound that increased in pitch. Buttercup glanced up.

Her face fell.

Her fists clenched.

The unwelcome sight of Sorceress before her, staring her down as its twin cannons aimed at her heart, made her glance upwards. There was Blood, high above, flitting her way toward the expanding-yet-assailed spacial distortion. Another smirk twisted its way onto her face. When was the last time Blood played tag? The cannons spun up but Buttercup didn't want to stay still. Eyes on Blood, she tore skyward again as golden flecks of lethal light trailed the emerald corona at her feet. She'd lead it right to her. Tag time.

"I'm it!"

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Bloodsguar Studios member

WE ARE ALL GRIDS

Nothing like a good game of tag to relieve stress.

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And what's home base? The ball of death? Reading back and finding Blood's "I'll gladly fight you forever" line to Blossom and comparing that to the amount of times she crossed paths with Buttercup instead, you'd think she got the wrong girl or something. Then again, Blossom pissed her off the most.

_________________
The Life and Times of Shad Staydamind PPG fic; finished. part 1/3
Dual Minds Think Alike PPGD fic, part 2/3; finished (trilogy is on an indefinite hiatus)
Hidden Angels Original, ongoing fiction. (also hiated. Stupid college!)

Where are the rest of you guys? If you're getting sick of this story, just say so


Bubbles' descent onto the wrecked platform seemed to take forever. When she finally touched down, fragments of the skycrapers and cityscape swirling all around her, she breathed a sigh of relief. She'd gotten used to the metallic smell and the acrid, almost burning sensation in her throat. She found herself glancing around at the chaos surrounding her. Bright flashes still exploded at what seemed like a fair distance, but nothing in a place like this the naked eye couldn't account for much. The huge aircraft had been and gone but the attacks from outside continued. Still the sphere managed to grow, Sora at the heart of it. "Sora... you've gotta stop this."

"Why!?" came the voice again, sounding stronger than before. Bubbles figured she must be close to finding her. "I don't want to stop, YOU want me to stop!" Sora's voice protested "And they won't even if I did! Besides, look around you! There's everything I could ever need in here."

Bubbles made a muddled face "Um... it's all a bit confusing inside this thing."

"Everything that I absorb into this thing, I can reconstitute. Look!"

Bubbles yelped as the air before her swirled, tiny sparkling particles clumping together from out of nothing as a shape formed before her eyes. It grew and took form, Bubbles taking a step backward and gawping at the flawless shape of a sports car. It shone with a glossy red, showroom-new. "You sucked this thing in from off the street?" Bubbles wondered aloud.

"No, of course not. That's boring. I saw this on the cover of a magazine a long time ago - one of the supervisors was reading it on a field training exercise. Jake's supervisor. He liked cars. I can reconstitute anything I want from the matter I absorb." her voice trailed off slightly "Anything I want..."

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Bloodsguar Studios member

WE ARE ALL GRIDS

so did she reconstitute the entire sports car or just the frame? I find it hard to believe she understood the entire workings of the car from a magazine pic.

and just so you know, I check this everyday for updates. We're rooting for you Grids!

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A grain of truth in every lie, a hidden lie in every truth

If you got sick of the world, and made it better to gain some peace of mind, would you be selfish or selfless?

Considering your update format, you really can't expect every single one of them to have something worth commenting on. I doubt length has anything to do with it either. Q.U. himself said earlier in this thread that he tends to refrain from saying anything unless a particular update interests him. And you never know how busy the others are. If it makes you feel any better, I hardly comment much on the webcomic that updates three times a week.

But let's get back to the update at hand. I find Sora's willing isolation saddening and I'm sure there's nothing in that frame. Still, what would she make if she ends up absorbing one of those behemoth bombers out there?

_________________
The Life and Times of Shad Staydamind PPG fic; finished. part 1/3
Dual Minds Think Alike PPGD fic, part 2/3; finished (trilogy is on an indefinite hiatus)
Hidden Angels Original, ongoing fiction. (also hiated. Stupid college!)

If those of us who follwed your stories thought they were bad or in need of improvement, we'd respond as much. Personally, I am looking foward to seeing the finale of this story, and where the Helix Saga goes from here. As far as the lack of response, for myself I often don't find that I have anything notable to post a response about with rare exception.

As far as this latest post goes, she seems to be alluding to the ability to perhaps remake people as well. I may, however, simply be reading too much into it.

It IS a little worrying when you don't seem to be getting much feedback for your fics, but more often than not the lack of feedback is simply because there wasn't much in the latest update that we could comment on (or, someone beat us to the punch and now we're left with nothing more to add). Trust me Grids, none of us are sick of your story. Hell, we'd probably never get sick of it.

Besides, this is the internet, where trolls and forum arsonists dwell. If you're fic was actually getting boring I'm pretty sure someone would've pointed it out already



Likewise, I'm pretty sure she can only reconstruct the outer shell of whatever she reconstitutes. And judging my her tone of voice at the end, i suspect we might see a clone of Toby or Cody in the next update.

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Spirit. In every language in all the Realms, surface and Underdark, in every time and every place, the word has a ring of strength and determination. It is the hero's strength, the mother's resilience, and the poor man's armor. It cannot be broken, and it cannot be taken away. - Drizzt Do'Urden, Ranger of Mielikki

"So this is just a huge collection of disintegrated... stuff?" Bubbles asked.

"At current quantities, the air is 63 parts-per-million atomised surplus. That's the reason your throat's sore. You're breathing in buildings, cars and dead bodies." Bubbles went pale as Sora's pondering continued "I wonder if reconstituted living tissue would change the way it smelt..."

Bubbles squeaked "No, Sora, you will NOT absorb people into this thing!"

"Why?" Sora responded again, "You're in here, right? You're doing nothing but asking annoying questions. Why couldn't I just absorb you like all that metal?"

Bubbles' breath caught in her sore, slightly inflamed throat "Y-You wouldn't."

"Wouldn't I?" Sora's voice dared. Something yanked at Bubbles' neck. Her dirty-red bowtie snapped away from her collar and floated out in front of her. She wanted to reach for it, but the pretty little decoration crumbled and disintegrated before her eyes as though it were eaten by acid. Its tiny, flecked remnants dissipated until they were too small for her to see. But Sora still had control over every molecule. Every atom. And she could reshape them how she wished. "There's no place for me in the world outside this sphere. That's clear to me now." Sora's voice actually giggled, excited at some sort of tantalising prospect "So I'm making my own. One just for me... and the people I love."

"How could anyone else share this with you?" Bubbles asked, not quite understanding. Her uniform felt bare without the big red bow to adorn it. It was certainly her favourite part of the outfit.

"They can't. It's mine. Just mine. Wanna know why?"

"Why?" Bubbles felt herself saying before she had even realised it.

Sora's words resounded "Because they'd never want to share their world with me. It's no different when the roles are reversed, Bubbles, and they only like YOU because you're on their side. So they don't have to try and understand you. All I wanted was a life of freedom, for myself and Cody. I'm making a world for us. Just me and him... together..."

_________________
Bloodsguar Studios member

WE ARE ALL GRIDS

I admit, I've kinda forgotten just how far gone Sora is right now. Heck, I'm actually starting to worry for Bubbles' well being.

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Spirit. In every language in all the Realms, surface and Underdark, in every time and every place, the word has a ring of strength and determination. It is the hero's strength, the mother's resilience, and the poor man's armor. It cannot be broken, and it cannot be taken away. - Drizzt Do'Urden, Ranger of Mielikki

Bring back the dead? Not gonna happen. At worst, trying to bring Cody back will result in a braindead abomination. At best, he'll have amnesia. The absolute worst is Blood barging in right after Bubbles asks what happened under the city.

_________________
The Life and Times of Shad Staydamind PPG fic; finished. part 1/3
Dual Minds Think Alike PPGD fic, part 2/3; finished (trilogy is on an indefinite hiatus)
Hidden Angels Original, ongoing fiction. (also hiated. Stupid college!)

Wait, since when did Sora know how to preform human transmutation?
...I'm sorry, I couldn't resist...



That actually would be interesting. Someone who can infinitely disintegrate you down to your individual atoms against someone who can infinitely regenerate.
... and like Blaze before me, I am suddenly reminded of X-Men: The Last Stand.

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Spirit. In every language in all the Realms, surface and Underdark, in every time and every place, the word has a ring of strength and determination. It is the hero's strength, the mother's resilience, and the poor man's armor. It cannot be broken, and it cannot be taken away. - Drizzt Do'Urden, Ranger of Mielikki

Ha ha, yeah.

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Blood's not gonna get broken down. If all of her vanishes then the entire saga ends unless she can somehow remain sentient even when atomized.

_________________
The Life and Times of Shad Staydamind PPG fic; finished. part 1/3
Dual Minds Think Alike PPGD fic, part 2/3; finished (trilogy is on an indefinite hiatus)
Hidden Angels Original, ongoing fiction. (also hiated. Stupid college!)

To make this clear, Blood's regeneration is granted to her by her genetic code, through DNA. Obviously Deoxyribonucleic acid is made up of molecules, which are made up of atoms. The moment you shred the order of the DNA molecules the information in them (including the regenerative abilities) is lost. As long as one full strand of DNA remains Blood might be able to regenerate back, but if all of her body was to be atomised she should have absolutely no chance of coming back.

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This post is intended for information only. Please do not reply to this message as responses cannot be read or acknowledged due to the stupidity of the user.

That...actually makes sense. Frankly, I half-expected Shadow to have said that.

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Bubbles' breath caught in her throat. Something was amiss "But... Cody's dead, isn't he?"

A growl met her ears. The withered platform on which she stood jolted unstably, wobbling underfoot as Bubbles backed slightly away from what began to form in front of her. Misshapen clumps, clustering together from out of the disembodied matter fragments that practically made up this entire new dimension. Quickly, they pooled in the air before her and from out of the formlessness, Bubbles found herself staring at a horrific sight. She clapped her hands over her mouth as she was leered at with the soulless, empty eye sockets of a dessicated, emaciated corpse. Its hair was patchy and falling out, its skin shriveled upon its bones. It was so malformed that even in its nudity Bubbles couldn't exactly tell if it was male or female. But Sora's voice washed away all doubt, leaving naught but horror for Bubbles behind.

"This is what I reduced him to." came the voice once again. "I tried to save him. That's why I left everything I had behind. I abandoned my life to rescue his. And this is what happened. I saw his life sucked away as he lay in my arms," the voice shuddered and if Bubbles was looking at Sora's face as she spoke, she no doubt would have witnessed her choking back tears. Tears of anger. Hatred. Grief. A horrible mix. Bubbles felt her own throat tightening. "I don't think he even recognised me. H-He was, was just STARING at me! And there was NOTHING I could do before he turned into... into THIS!" she stammered. "And then... he found me."

More clumping, more dissociated matter coalescing and taking form as Sora rearranged a second body to become Exhibit B for Bubbles. Clothes this time formed around the corpse and Bubbles at least felt some relief when the body was that of a normal-seeming human being. No dehydrated flesh, no empty and crumbling eyes, no ghastly scream frozen upon his face. But it was his face that startled Bubbles the most - moreso than that of Cody's ghastly cadaver - and that was because, unlike the boy, she RECOGNISED the second person.

"I know him..." she murmured. He was frozen, floating in the air before her. His eyes were wide and staring, his expression blank. He was rigid, like a mannequin in a clothing store, but there was nothing to indicate how he had died besides a bloodstain down the front of his otherwise undamaged shirt. "He told me and my sisters off when we investigated the cars on the bridge... and the Professor knew him!"

"This man was the only adult who paid attention to me. He cared for me, Bubbles. He's the closest thing I had to a dad."

"W-Who was he, Sora?" Bubbles asked, forgetting the name the Professor had used.

"He was everything when I didn't have Cody." said the voice, softly. "He was the one thing I could look forward to at the end of every day. When I did something good or made the progress all those faceless analysts wanted me to, he'd reward me. When I messed up, he counselled me. When I came running, screaming back to my cot after I just watched one of my best friends die in front of my eyes, he'd hold me tight and let me cry into his chest for as long as I wanted. He made me feel like life wasn't a total mess. He made me feel like I was still wanted as a person, not just as some experiment. He... made me feel..." the voice trailed off, saying nothing further. There was a feeling in those words that Bubbles couldn't describe - one she'd sensed only fleetingly in people older than herself. One day, she hoped, she'd understand what that strange, warm sensation was.

_________________
Bloodsguar Studios member

WE ARE ALL GRIDS

Wait wait, didn't the corpses disintegrate? Either way I'm still betting on her to reconstitute something from living mass. She certainly seems mad or close enough to mad to do it.

_________________
The Life and Times of Shad Staydamind PPG fic; finished. part 1/3
Dual Minds Think Alike PPGD fic, part 2/3; finished (trilogy is on an indefinite hiatus)
Hidden Angels Original, ongoing fiction. (also hiated. Stupid college!)