The effects of the Nightmare King have faded, the battlefield is gone. Stacy is rebooting her systems, and will be online again soon. It's over, it's finally over at last. They've won. They're all alive!

Except that it's not over.

Through the city, a wave of destruction spreads out from where a teenage boy rockets out of what's left of Escherville and floats in the air. A shockwave of air shatters the glass in nearby buildings; the stone foundation that serves as the overlay of Stacy's flesh that most of the city rests on cracks where he passes over it. Eyes and tattoos glowing, long hair whipped around by the winds he's creating, Aang is a force to be reckoned with--and not one to be reasoned with.

This is the Avatar in his full fury, angrier than his comrades have ever seen him, nearly thoughtlessly so.

He's overwhelmed by such senseless rage, the world breaks down around him--at the whims of the elemental forces under his control--stone cracking, water condensing out of the air and freezing over surfaces, wind whipping rubble around in a deadly, gouging tumult, fire crackling through the air.

Aang's voice is many voices, old and young, thousands of them all intermingled, as he cries out:

"WHERE ARE THEY, STACY? WHERE IS THE CREW? ANSWER ME!"

Stacy tries to reason with him. Some of her systems are damaged, she is awake and aware, but her security measures are not back up yet. And even when they are, what then? She can't hold him down forever. In this state, he needs to be calmed, and the AI knows that's something she is incapable of.

So she tries reason. ||Avatar Aang, the original crew is dead. Only refugees from podsleep are awake--||

A building is swallowed up by a sinkhole that appears in the stone.

"YOU'RE LYING!"

He doesn't remember what Leon and the others told him in the dreams, about the original crew being dead. His consciousness had been separated from his body for a very long time, and to have it snap back so suddenly to a physical form at the height of an adrenaline surge, that had been trapped in the Avatar State for more than a year...

A whole year trapped as he had been is enough to unsettle his mind, to make him angry. Now that he's free, everything contained over that time--kept stuffed inside so that he could maintain composure--is bursting free in a frenzied maelstrom of emotion and destruction.

Not that most of the crew will know this--for all they know, if they didn't hear his words, he could be the Nightmare King.

"THEY'RE NOT DEAD! THEY ABANDONED US! THEY LEFT US TO HIM! WHERE ARE THEY?!"

||They are dead. Avatar Aang, you must calm yourself. You have been forced to endure a tremendous physiological and psychological strain--||

She isn't answering the way he wants. She isn't telling him where they are, so Aang reacts by destroying her city. A wave of his arms and there's a blast of air that destroys a temple. He's going to continue until he finds them, finds someone to direct his rage at, or until something manages to calm him down first. The latter is entirely possible, given some time--but at what cost?

Welcome to the Unholy Cathedral at the heart of Escherville. It is here, in this place, that the Nightmare King has made his bid for release.

And he will not be stopped by the likes of you.

More monstrosities pour out of every angle, intent on ending this adventure. These monsters are every bit as horrific as the ones you all faced to get to this point, though you will quickly notice there is something drastically different about them.

Magic does not affect these creatures. At all.

Your spells do nothing. Your prayers are meaningless. The power of your God is useless against them.

No force in heaven or hell can affect them.

Nothing at all Magical can hurt them.

People say that war is hell. This looked it.

Buildings and cars and bodies are scattered like broken toys as far as the eye can see, stretching out toward a dirty horizon. Even the clouds seems streaked with mud and blood, and they're taking it out on everyone below with a constant stream of cold, soaking rain.

The sounds of fighting seem to come from all directions, but at this moment, there's no one else in sight.

A breather. The calm before the storm.

[[OOC: This is for everyone who was involved with "The Lurking Fear". Questions go to Milo or Kaylin.]]

Not much time for rest during emergencies, unfortunately. However, now that part of the crew has had time to regroup, the task won't be as horrible, right? Right? Well, either way the Nightmare King isn't slowing down. It's time to break into Escherville-one way or another.

Though there might be a bit of a bit of resistance along the way. Watch out for more monsters! Have fun!

((OOC: Are you guys ready for some ACTION? Nightmare critters ahoy!))

Elsewhere on this ship, a war was being waged. A war for the hearts and minds, the souls and very sanity of this crew.

A war that Stacy wasn't certain that all would survive, hence why she released you. Replacements would be needed.

But that war is miles away from where you are. Or at least, so it seems. There are no screams of agony to greet you, no monsters trying to claw at you.

But that doesn't mean the Nightmare King can't reach you.

Prior to your arrival here on the Obs deck, reality had been shifted. Constructs of the current crew grew out of nothing. All of them look, sound, feel, behave, and scan as the crew member they're copying. They're as real as you are. And with smiling faces, they await your arrival.

They can't wait to welcome you. To your doom.

Won't you say hi?

[ooc: Nightmare plot is still on, people, and this is the newbie portion. For all current players, as stated above, the Nightmare King made copies of your guys, who are still stuck fighting nightmares elsewhere in the plot. You can tag in as the copy of your character, have them be friendly, get the newbies to let their guard down, and then the real nightmare can begin. Newbies, you can tag in, have fun, and suspect nothing until its too late.]

[Only new characters and Command Staff can start new threads for introductions, to limit the number of threads. Everyone else, just tag in and have the copies of your guys greet the newbies.]

You're the ones who are good enough (or lucky) enough to be close to Escherville. You've had the good fortune to be scooped up and now you need to regroup and get ready to take on the Nightmare King himself. Time to reorganize and gear up as best you can with what you've got. The Nightmare King isn't going to wait for you.

Get moving.

_{((OOC: This is for the various groups/peoples who will be fighting the Nightmare King directly or assisting in that endeavor. If your character was in one of the Challenge from Beyond Groups, tag them in here! Feel free to do some tagging back and forth and enjoy yourselves. Please get tagged in by Tuesday night, March 2nd though, so we can get the Final Fight properly organized. ))}

Nightmare becomes reality....

[roster: leader - Zuko, Matt Olsen, Kate Beckett, Billy Kaplan, Jono Starsmore, Link]

Nightmare becomes reality....

[roster: leader - Claire, Kala, Rein, Sparhawk, Will Vandom]

Nightmare becomes reality....

[roster: leader - Captain Kirk, Ben 10, Daimon, Eddie Bloomberg, Static, Isaac]

Nightmare becomes reality....

[roster: leader - Sokka, Bella, Castiel, Dean Winchester, Rhiow, Pixie]

Nightmare becomes reality....

[roster: leader - Leon Kennedy, Alessa, Buffy, Mai, Mat, Scarlet Witch]

Nightmare becomes reality....

[roster: leader - Roxie, Indiana Jones, Jason Todd, Lafiel, Sheeana, Shadow the Hedgehog]

Nightmare becomes reality....

[roster: leader - Jean Grey, Aeneas, Billy Blin, Vivio, Zelda/Sheik]

Nightmare becomes reality....

[roster: leader - Jo, Arha, Dani Phantom, Nanoha, Sam Winchester, Gauron]

Nightmare becomes reality....

_{[roster: Leader - Terry / Batman II, Allen Gentry Dark Smoke Puncher, Pirogoeth, Ronon]}

It begins. It happens very suddenly. Shadows moving up the hallways where shadows shouldn't be. For a moment, as they all stand where they stand on the ship, the ship--the universe--moves around them, and they're transported somewhere far away. Just for an instant.

On some worlds that were, some versions of Earth, a man tormented by night terrors wrote of it once, wrote of things revealed under the light of a greenish moon: corpses of dead worlds with sores that were cities, charnel winds that brush the pallid stars and make them flicker low. Beyond the worlds vague ghosts of monstrous things; half-seen columns of unsanctifled temples that rest on nameless rocks beneath space and reach up to dizzy vacua above the spheres of light and darkness.

There are pipes, pipes in the darkness, the whine of droning flutes, and far off, the muffled, mad beating of drums.

There's a bright white flash, blinding, and those that have tongues will taste static, and then reality boils and runs and reshapes around them as their nightmares and worst fears become reality.

[roster: Leader - Mal Reynolds, Grim Eyes, Kate Bishop, Kaylee Frye, Princess Projectra, Sawyer]

It begins.

This was the moment the Seer had been waiting for.

Though it was now when the King of Nightmares was at its most dangerous, it was also when it was at its most vulnerable as well.

Now was the time to strike.

He did not have time to search out the crew for specific people. He needed someone--anyone--to act quickly on his behalf. So he sent out his call to only a small handful of crew members. Those who, for one reason or another, were easy to reach out to in the swirling abyss of the ship's psychic landscape.

It begins, he says, I require your assistance.

The Nightmare King had found her, had sent some of his minions to hurt her, and Aang couldn't just sit back. Katara could take on anything--but only when she could actually fight it. Those things...those spirit things could touch without being touched, could hurt without getting hurt.

Except as Aang travels through the spirit world of the ship, he suddenly finds himself in a terrible storm.

It's a trap. He should've known it was a trap, but even if he had, he would have gone anyway, to protect her--just like all the times she ran right into danger to protect him.

( Of course it's a storm. )

Nightmare becomes reality....

_{[roster: Leader - Loren, Dream Girl, Hunter, Red Snout, Renne]}

Nightmare becomes reality....

_{[roster: Leader - Rtas, Jacen Solo, Katara, Kyle Reese, Tim Drake / Robin, Bart Allen / Impulse]}