Percival Phoenix and the Strangers from Afar

[cityship]

From the surface of a small planet, uninhabited by any sentient life and given only a cursory name by a single deep space exploration team before they moved on to chart bigger, more study-worthy phenomena, a signal pulsed forth at intervals. Like the heart of a hibernating animal, it was faint, slow, and unheard. For many years, it waited.

Until one day, by chance, a large ship, itself possessed with a kind of strange, alien life, found itself within range of that heartbeat.

Saturnus IV was a planet that supported life, though none of the sentient variety; animals roamed its forests, plants grew lush and green. But the area that the signal had emanated from was in the middle of one of its largest strips of barren land -- a place where little grew but scrubby alien brush, and little moved but small, unimposing invertebrates.

It was this vast expanse of rock and sandy soil that the away team would be sent to investigate.

[If the current thread consists of more than 3 or 4 people, don't sweat the order too much and just post as it makes sense. Feel free to make up details about the holosimulation setting, like... idk, lizards or alien skeletons.]

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FIRST AWAY TEAM (Anwei, Lash, Sakura, Zouichi)

[cityship]

[Just exploring the planet and tracking down the signal. As they near the source, the brainwashing will slowly come into play and the landscape will shift around them until it becomes a holographic landscape.]

Re: FIRST AWAY TEAM (Anwei, Lash, Sakura, Zouichi)

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Well, at least the ship had let him bring his gun this time. Whether that boded for good or ill remained to be seen, but he'd rather be with it than without it when and if the deux ex machina dinosaurs appeared. And Anwei had proven herself to be a reliable pilot during the last mission. So there was nothing to worry about, right? Right.

Re: FIRST AWAY TEAM (Anwei, Lash, Sakura, Zouichi)

[8wings.livejournal.com]

Anwei carefully maneuvered the shuttle away from Stacy, trying not to let the tension in her neck and jaw translate into sloppy handling of the controls. At least this time there wasn't going to be any negotiating, because there was no one to negotiate with. Just find whatever was outputting the signal, identify it, decide if it should be turned off or brought back, and then leave.

Stacy was a great black-green blot against the stars behind them; ahead of them was the planet, swirled with cloud and with no lights showing on the dark half. They should land with plenty of sunlight, plenty of time to explore. No rush. Really. Everything would be fine. Sure.

Her knuckles were white until she consciously relaxed her grip.

"Everyone tied down?" she asked the cabin at large. "Re-entry can be bumpy; depends on the weather patterns over where we're landing."

[thewunderkind]

"I'm ready, let's go, let's go!" After being turned back into her normal form, Lash had had a lot of things to think about and people she made out with. Being called to a mission would let her concentrate on other things, which she could completely appreciate. The wunderkind had brought weapons with her, a sniper rifle tucked close to her looking almost as large as the girl herself.

The excitement at the fact this looked to be an operation with only three people including herself had made her more looking forward to it. She was that special! This was the greatest thing ever! Sure it was only going to find something, but should monster aliens pop out, she was armed and ready to kick some ass. It had been a while.

So while the ship descended, Lash began to hum a song.

[encourage]

Tied down? Yes. Okay. She thought so. As far as she knew. Sakura probably looked like the least enthusiastic person here, but it was for good reason. She'd never done re-entry in anything other than Sta'c K'ltrrb'txft's deck attachment, and while that was certainly strange enough, this added a level of independent terror she wasn't willing to admit to.

"Yes," was her only reply to Anwei's inquiry.

She was focusing on Lash's humming even as she told herself there was no reason to hold on so securely to her seat. In the end, if they were going to crash and die in a metal-whatever trap from the bowels of the hangar, holding on would do very little to dtave off the inevitable dead part.

She shut the pessimistic thoughts out, and started mentally naming individual nerves in the human nervous system, and the functions they supposedly controlled. Lovely book, that one on nervous systems she'd been reading to go to sleep at 'night.'

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi glanced over at Sakura, noticing her apprehension and reaching over the aisle to touch her shoulder with one hand -- gently, he didn't want to startle her. "We'll be fine," he said. "Trust me. Anwei could pilot one of these things while she was being chased by man-eating dinosaurs."

Joking was good, right? Joking kept your mind off things.

"Besides, at least this way we don't have to worry about the ship sneezing us out into outer space or something."

[8wings.livejournal.com]

"That would be the worst allergic reaction ever," Anwei said, turning the shuttle's nose to point away from the sun. She wanted to land with the light behind her.

"Don't worry, Sakura, I've done this hundreds of times." In the simulator, but no need to mention that. "We'll be on the ground in fifteen minutes."

The upper edges of the atmosphere were starting to thrum against the frame of the shuttle, making it vibrate with a near-subliminal buzz. The diamond-hard stars were starting to soften as the air thickened around them, and the wide curve of the planet slowly swelled as she slowed, braking.

[thewunderkind]

The worries of the ship washing away as they went closer and closer to the planet, Lash fidgeted in her seat, unable to stand in place for long periods of time.

"Don't worry, nothing bad can happen," she said with a very self confident look, before grinning a little. "You know, except the fact if we get attacked by the Ohm, the ship explodes, they forget us in the planet and so on..."

Truthfully, Lash didn't think any of those could happen right now. She was just being a terrible person.

"But I bet this mission is going to be quick, painless, and easy and we'll be back in time for more of that tasteless slop in no time."

[encourage]

Lash's list of potentials did the most to make Sakura stop focusing on what could go wrong, not even because she was listing the impossible, but because she was saying them out loud. Besides, three people trying in various ways to be reassuring was three people more than needed.

She smiled, looking to Zouichi first. "I don't think we'd have to worry about that anyway. If the ship was going to sneeze, with the amount we're talking about it any any given time, we'd have all been spaced a long time ago."

She had no idea what he was talking about when it came to dinosaurs, but given context, they were some kind of predatory species. Belatedly she realized her own response might not make sense. Glancing at Lash, Sakura gave a slight shrug of her shoulders. "The slop's not entirely tasteless. Just mostly."

RESCUE TEAM (Everyone except Lash)

[cityship]

The great expanse of barren soil that had greeted the first away team was now nowhere to be found -- rather, as the rescue team came in for their landing, they'd find themselves approaching a great patch of strange, alien moonscape, completely different from the landscape of the rest of the planet.

Great rock formations loomed up toward the violet sky; three moons circled the sky overhead. And in the distance, ominous grey stormclouds gathered around a massive mountain, striking the earth with brilliant flashes of lightning.

[Feel free to snark and react to the weird surroundings. Anwei, Sakura, and Zouichi will appear at the tail end.]

Re: RESCUE TEAM (Everyone except Lash)

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Upon seeing the surroundings, Howard's even more agitated and baffled as to why Stacy dragged him onto this mission. His set of mission-worthy skills is already limited, but most of them deal with some sort of civilization, not a desolate crater-filled wasteland that looks a little bit like Death Valley but purple-themed. At least Chase is a combatant and That Kid in the Blue looks like he knows his way around that big creepy bug suit of his.

Besides, he's just a tiny bit worried about Zouichi. Even if Zou's totally capable of taking care of himself, that doesn't mean Stacy wouldn't leave without him. Anwei and Sakura, too, and whomever that other chick is that he doesn't know. It hasn't helped his mood.

"Is it storming? Of course it's storming," he mutters, not stepping out of the shuttle until Chase and Jaime go first. "This looks like a great spot to get eaten by subterranean worms or find an evil Mars Rover, guys."

Re: RESCUE TEAM (Everyone except Lash)

[j-y-d.livejournal.com]

"Party doesn't start until the subterranean worms show up." Chase replies back with a casual grin. He's been itching to get off the ship and go planetside, preferably for something dangerous, for a while, just to get the blood moving.
That something has happened to Anwei and some others isn't promising - but as usual, he's pretty sure he can handle it.

Re: RESCUE TEAM (Everyone except Lash)

[azulescarabajo.livejournal.com]

"Just stick close to us and it'll be fine," Jaime reassured Howard. He had to wonder why Howard had been picked for a rescue mission, considering that he didn't seem to have any particular skills or fighting abilities. Still, it was Stacy's call. Not his.

"That's weird. I'm not picking them up on my DNA scanner. But they have to be near by, right? Maybe something on the planet is messing with it." A pause.

"What is this, Star Trek?"

Re: RESCUE TEAM (Everyone except Lash)

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Uh huh," Howard says to Jaime, sounding like he's heard that before. "I'll just hide behind Chase if and when the bad guys come at us. He's big enough cover."

He looks around at the landscape again, squinting at the storm cloud. Knowing their luck, that's exactly where they're headed. "Not necessarily. They could have been whisked out of here, teleported or whatever. For all we know it's Sand People or there's a big green pipe that leads to Candy Koopa somewhere in this wasteland."

He checks the communicator Zouichi gave him back on Epicurea. Nothing. It's not communicating with its other half. And that abandoned shuttle does not look like a good sign. Howard wonders if it's a sixth sense or just general paranoia that gives him a sense of the willies looking at it.

"Either of you guys want to poke your head in the shuttle? Would've been nice if they left a note."

Re: RESCUE TEAM (Everyone except Lash)

[j-y-d.livejournal.com]

Chase slings Truck Stop off his back, just resting the oversized hammer over a shoulder. "Yeah, I'll take a look." he agrees, heading that way without hesitation. "I'll give you an all clear once I check it out if you guys want to look around." Seeing as, even if they left a message of some sort, he wouldn't be able to read it.

"Guessing we might not want to hang out too long though. That storm'll destroy any tracks... single file or no." he adds, in response to the Sand People bit.

Re: RESCUE TEAM (Everyone except Lash)

[azulescarabajo.livejournal.com]

"Go for it. I'll keep an eye out here." Jaime rises into the air, trying to get a better view of. . .whatever this place is.

Re: RESCUE TEAM (Everyone except Lash)

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard follows Chase, rather than be left just standing on the ground like an open target. The shuttle looks fine, at least from the outside. If anything got them, it was after they touched down and probably when they left the shuttle.

What could take down a ninja, a synthetic human, a Living People and whatever Lash was? Either something very fast, or something that didn't attack with physical attacks.

Howard presses an ear to the ground. Nothing. He gets back up. "You see anything in there, Thor?"

LASH, MISTRESS OF EVIL (Everyone, but especially Lash)

[cityship]

[Lash makes her entrance, and Sakura is kidnapped!]

1/2

[thewunderkind]

Lightning cracked in the sky! Thunder boomed! Some random creature in the back spontaneously combusted! Two or three bombs exploded sending out a cloud of liquid smoke! Stolen but completely fitting theme music filled their ears!

The perfect time for someone to make her entrance. So she did, the cape swishing dramatically as her hair, standing at six feet tall, an arm raised to the sky. Those watching her feet closely might have noticed she was wearing hovering boots.



"Ha ha ha ha! Ahahahahaha! Hah ha ha ha---" Oh woops she nearly tripped there, stupid cape.

"--I meant to do that....AHHa ha ha haaaaHAAA!" There we go. Dressed in reds, black and gold, the wunderkind looked...well there honestly wasn't much of a difference than what she usually acted like, apart from the drastic change in wardrobe and height.

"FOOLS! Your defeat brings sweet music to my ears!" Lighting and thunder boomed again. "I, Dr. Lady Deathtruction NEUTRO have personally come to reveal in my most glorious victory! Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaa!" She adjusted her cape and swooshed it on her back again, rising upwards in the air. "Soon, this world will tremble between my minions and my fists! So! Give up now, Percival Phoenix! The battle is already lo--"

2/2

[thewunderkind]

The great doctor looked around at the assembled cast and looked completely confused. The theme music was shut off.

"Wait a minute...you guys aren't Percival! Where the hell is that irritating self-proclaimed hero? Shouldn't he be here? He's always here. He's the one who is supposed to crush my plans! I mean..I'm supposed to crush him! Ha ha ha ha...no really where is he."

[encourage]

Sakura had to break out of her well timed scream early, as the theme music shut off. There was an awkward moment where she cleared her throat, but then? Then she was ready.

"You!" she said, pointing and wobbling a little on her broken heel. Drat, she really needed to figure out a way to send dear Percy after the obviously dastardly shoe-maker who had crafted such shoddy heels. "Dr. Lady Deathtruction NEUTRO™! Take that back. He's not a self-proclaimed hero, he's the real deal! You will never succeed in crushing my darling Percival! Like the phoenix, he will always rise from the ashes of your attempts to crush him and make you pay! A whole bunch!"

Sakura was wagging one finger at the great doctor, the other hand on her hip. "He'll be here any minute, just you wait! He'll have you stopped, and then -- we'll have dinner. A really, really nice dinner, with absolutely no evil anyones doing anything to interrupt us like the last four times!" Though she, too, was concerned. Percy-darling had never missed a cue before in his life. He should be here, making that horrible doctor person pay for whatever horrible deeds she'd obviously done. She knew people didn't just invent names like Dr. Lady Deathtruction NEUTRO™ from nowhere, let alone get them trademarked.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Nuon absconded to his lady's side, ever the loyal retainer. "'Like a phoenix'? HAH! More like a giant chicken!"

"Face it, Duke -- your precious Percival Phoenix has failed you this time. It appears he has sent these..." He paused; his face formed a picture-perfect sneer. "Earthlings in his place. The FOOL! And when he finally shows his face, that is when our Lady will finally crush him under her heel, wings and all!"

Nuon's lips curled into a dastardly smile. "Oh, but don't worry -- when we're done with him, we'll send you a pillow stuffed with his feathers."

[8wings.livejournal.com]

The Blood Queen strode to Doctor Lady's other side, her robo-jackals snapping and whining at the end of their leads. Her eyes flashed like deadly gems, in fact, just like the deadly gems in her gem-crusted headdress. Which was topped with golden figures of snakes – deadly snakes of course.

"Little Daisy," she gloated, her huge smile looking even more deranged than usual, which was quite deranged. "How I've waited to pluck you, petal by petal, limb from limb. While your Percival watches, and screams. Oh but I do think that if he is not here, I can make you scream for two."

She shivered with a perfect frenzy of bloodlust, and her oversized bosom shivered in counterpart, making reflections dance over all their faces from her cantilevered gold-plated brassiere that peeped out (well actually stared out) from under her Egyptian dress.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"What. Why...?"

Howard blinks and rubs his eyes, tilting his head as if emptying his ears. He'd already figured Sakura's gone stupid, but everyone? And where did Anwei gain five cup sizes? Or jackals, for that matter?

"What is Anwei wearing, why is Zouichi making bad jokes, and why is Sideshow Bob slash Mojo Jojo looking for Percy Jackson? Sakura, do you mind explaining this without screaming or using the word 'darling'?"

[azulescarabajo.livejournal.com]

"Is it just me or did we just get trapped in a really terrible movie?" Jaime asked as he shot up into the air, already considering various non-lethal alternatives for this situation, especially since they didn't especially want to go toe-to-toe with their crewmates.