Internet - The planet where the story takes place. It is comparable to Earth.
Runouw's Forum - A city on the Internet
- Board Index - Streets
- Forums - Areas of the Forum, like Chinatown in New York City.
- Topics - Buildings
- Posts - Rooms
THE LEGENDARY TWELVE REUNITED
Three shadowy figures stood on top of a hill overlooking the forums. They were but silhouettes against the sullen night. They were unmoving; only their clothes rustled in the wind. They were silent for at over hour, merely surveying the forums below. At last, one said, "It is time. Let us go."
Chapter 1
"Spambots? Again? Come on…why can't they come up with something original?"
Brandobrawl looked at the ten spambots approaching the small band of fighters, consisting of Zunar, GalaxyMario, zebtrestalala, 24murph, and himself. They were standing in the Board Index of the forums, which had been evacuated due to the arrival of the spambots.
"Quit your whining, brando!" said GalaxyMario. "Let's just get this over with, shall we?"
"Agreed," said 24murph.
Zebtrestalala looked up to the sun and stood there for a few seconds, as though he was soaking in the light. Suddenly, a laser beam shot down from the sky and hit two of the spambots, incinerating them. Meanwhile, two spambots closed in on brandobrawl. He grinned, closed his eyes, and then simply clapped his hands. When he reopened his eyes, the spambots were no more than balls of scrap metal. 24murph looked at two approaching spambots and pulled out a handgun. As the spambots were about to fire a sort of blaster at him, he slowed down time, and then, moving at normal speed, walked up to the nearly frozen spambots and fired a bullet into each of their heads. "Not so mighty now, are ya?" said 24murph, as time returned to normal speed. At that moment, Zunar launched himself forward at two more spambots, shooting water out of his palms as he neared. The spambots froze and starting spewing electricity, and then shut down, fried. GalaxyMario charged the last two spambots, the skin on his right arm thinning until it finally vanished, revealing an impressive sword underneath that was connected to his collarbone. He leaped into the air and swung, decapitating both spambots in one stroke. Within a matter of a minute, the threat had been handled, with nearly no harm done to the forums and no casualties.
"Well done!" cried Buffooner, as the Board Index vanished. Brando, zebtrestalala, Zunar, and GalaxyMario were now standing in a completely bare white room, tarnished only by the presence of a door, through which Buffooner entered.
"You have passed the simulated test with flying colors!" continued Buff.
"Flying colors," said zebtrestalala. "In a plain white room. Ironic, isn't it?"
"Yes," said Buff, clearly irritated by the unnecessary interruption. "Now, pending the approval of the current members of the Legendary Twelve and Avolerators, you will become members of the New Legends!"
"All right!" said GalaxyMario, extending his hands to the others in congratulation. However, he failed miserably by tripping over brandobrawl's shoe. This was met by laughter from the others.
"You may be a good fighter, but you sure are clumsy," said brandobrawl, still chuckling. Once he recovered, he said, "Hey Buff, I thought you said that you were gonna come up with something new for the simulation! Spambots? Come on…you need to get an imagination!"
"Oh shut up, brando," said Buff. "I could easily vote against your induction into the club…"
Brandobrawl's smile immediately turned into a scowl. "You know, brando," Buff added, a smile growing on his face, "I like you better with that face…anyway, recruits dismissed!"
The recruits slowly filed out of the room into the Great Hall of the Legendary Twelve temple, followed by Buffooner, who proceeded to go up to his room. His room was of a decent size: A queen bed, a desk, a bookshelf, a set of drawers, a closet, a bathroom, and various other small items lying about, plus plenty of room to spare. He was in a fairly good mood that day. This is probably the first day that I've been in a good mood since MIC died two years ago, reflected Buff as he put on a coat and grabbed his shotgun just as alucardx60 appeared in the doorway.
"Ready to go to the Tavern?" he asked.
"Yep," Buff replied. "Let's go."
Chapter 2
"Order up, folks!"
Alucardx60 was going around Niklaw's Tavern taking orders from eager customers, while Buffooner was busy pouring drinks and passing on orders to the kitchen. The place was hopping tonight, he thought, as he went to grab a jug of cranberry juice to use to make a drink. Cranberry juice. MIC's favorite drink. Buff could not help but wince every time he needed some for a drink.
At a nearby table, Avolerators, blablob, samgamereviews, bowsersbane, and 3.14 were all engrossed in a game of Texas Hold 'Em. "All right, all right, I need to see the blinds," said Avolerators, while gracefully dealing out two cards to each of the players. Blablob and bowsersbane threw a blue coin and two blue coins in respectively. "All right, place your bets…"
Buffooner did not notice the arrival of the five strangers over all the racket in the Tavern. They were all fairly tall and dressed casually, and easily blended in with everybody else. The only distinction between them and the regulars was that they had cowboy hats on. They walked over to the bar, and one of them rang a little bell put there so that customers could get the attention of bartenders.
"Oh, hello," said Buff, putting down a glass and a soapy rag. "What can I get you?"
"We'll all take a beer, please," said the man who had rung the bell.
"Well, we got lots of beers. You boys got a preference?"
"Nah, we'll take anything you got," said a second man, looking around the Tavern.
"All right," said Buff, vanishing beneath the top of the counter. In a moment, he reappeared, holding five bottles of beer. "I don't think I've seen you boys here before. Are you new to the forums?"
The man who had rung the bell took a sip of his beer. Buff noted that he was likely the leader of the group. "Good beer, thanks. Yeah, we're just visitors…"
One of the strangers walked over to the poker table. "All right, flip your cards!" said Avo, as the players turned over their cards. "Hmm…blablob's got a pair of kings…looks like he wins!"
"Thank you, thank you," said blablob, sweeping the mix of red, blue, and yellow coins into his growing stash. "I truly do appreciate your money. Deal 'em up!"
"Can I join?" asked the newcomer, and when Avolerators approved he pulled up a chair. "I haven't played Hold 'Em in a while," he continued, "but I'll see what I can do." He took out a collection of coins and put them on the table.
"All right, sam is big blind, bowsersbane little blind. Let's see it, folks." He dealt out the cards. "All right, folks, place your bets."
3.14 was first. He lifted up the cards just enough for him to see them. He looked at the pot, then threw his cards across the table. "I fold," he said.
The newcomer was next. He looked at his cards and said, "Well, can't say much for this hand, but I'll call." He threw in two blue coins.
Blablob and Avolerators looked at each other. This guy was not at all familiar with the art of maintaining what is commonly known as a "poker face," their looks indicated to each other. "Hmm…" blablob said, taking a large drink from a flask of whiskey. "I raise." He put forth an impressive amount of money. Bowsersbane whistled in awe, and 3.14 said, "That's a whole lotta dough right there."
"Man, I've got to have enough money for SMG2!" said bowsersbane. "There's no way I can go in on this!" He pushed his cards to Avolerators.
Samgamereviews wove a coin between his fingers as he thought. Finally, he said, "Yeah, all right," matching blablob.
"Stranger, call or fold?" said Avo. "And you got a name?"
"Stranger is fine," he said, "And I'll call for the hell of it." He put in nearly everything he had to match blablob.
Avo just stared at the stranger, but after a tap on the shoulder from blablob snapped him back to reality, he dealt the flop. "OK, we appear to have a 3 of clubs, a 9 of hearts, and an 8 of spades. Maybe straight potential, but not much really. Bets, folks?"
The stranger drummed his fingers on the table. "I'll check."
Blablob took another swig of whiskey and then hit the table a little hard with his fist. "Check."
Sam nodded. "Me too."
"Oh, come on guys!" said Avo. "You make it so boring. But all right. Here's the turn." He put another card face down in the pile and then put the next one down face up. "That, my friends, looks like the king of diamonds. Good for anybody who's got a king…so let's see them bets, folks!"
"Check," said the stranger.
"Hmm…" said blablob, draining what was left of the beer. "Well, boys, they say that the way you play poker can tell you a lot about a person. I'm all in." And he pushed in all of his coins. "Hey Buff! Can I get another whiskey over here? I'm gonna need something to celebrate my victory with!"
This got the attention of some of the customers at nearby tables. Several people, including megamario126, aznchau4ever, Ayrayen, and the stranger's four companions moved over to the table to watch the hand play out.
Samgamereviews slid his cards across the table. "No way I'm going all-in on that, man!"
Avolerators picked up the cards and then turned to the stranger as Buffooner brought blablob another whiskey. "Your move," said Avo.
The stranger removed his hat for a moment and then put it back on. Blablob took a very large sip of his whiskey, and then said, "Come on, man, we don't got all day!"
The stranger hesitated, but finally said, "All right. I'm in."
Now the entire tavern was crowding the table. "OK then, flip over your cards."
Blablob flipped over his cards first. Two kings. Three of a kind. That would be almost impossible to beat. A murmur went through the crowd; somebody mumbled "blablob's got it in the bag," and several people went up to blablob and patted him on the back. Blablob just smiled and took another large swig of whiskey. "Well, stranger, what you got under there?" said blablob, slamming the flask down on the table.
The stranger flipped over his cards. Pocket aces. The crowd was silenced. Blablob still had the advantage, but an ace would win it for the stranger.
"Hey Suyo," said an observing fourinone. "I bet you ten blue coins that blab wins."
"Pshht," said Suyo. "You Americans don't know how to bet. Just to show you what I mean, I accept."
"All right folks. Here's the river." Avo put a card face down and then took another. He went to flip it, then stopped just as the crowd was drawing in its breath. "Sorry…dramatic pause," said Avo, flipping over the card. An ace. "Three aces beat three kings…the stranger wins!"
The crowd burst into applause. Everybody was cheering, except fourinone, who grumbled incoherently as he handed Suyo ten blue coins. Blablob just sat there, a look of complete shock on his face. After a minute, he quickly drained the entire flask of whiskey and then stood up.
"You, stranger," said blablob, grabbing onto the table to maintain his balance. "How much did you pay Avo, huh?"
The crowd went suddenly silent. "Excuse me?" said the stranger.
Avolerators went up to blablob. "Hey, cool it, man. You're drunk. Why don't you just go back to the temple and sleep it off?"
"Sure, Avo, sure," said blablob, and then suddenly he punched the stranger in the face with full force. He was thrown into a table, which toppled over. The stranger then flipped over the overturned table and landed on Hyper Sonic sitting in a chair, and knocked both of them over. The crowd quickly moved away from the action.
"Sorry," the stranger muttered, getting back up. He then picked up Hyper Sonic's chair and threw it at blablob, who was sent reeling.
"Oh!" said blablob. "The stranger wants a fight, eh? Well well, we'll just have to give it to him!" He picked up a beer bottle and threw it at the stranger. There was a cry and then the stranger's hands went immediately up to his face. When he pulled them back, they were covered in blood.
"Buff, grab your shotgun!" said fourinone.
"Now you've asked for it!" said the stranger, leaping into the air and roundhouse kicking blablob in the chest. Blablob was thrown over the bar and into Buffooner, who was reaching for his shotgun. In the process, the gun went off and nearly hit Avolerators.
"Hey!" cried Avo. "Watch where you aim-" but he was interrupted by a sudden need to duck due to a flying wine glass, courtesy of blablob.
"All right then," said blablob. "Take this!" He then created a force field and threw it towards the stranger.
"Oh!" said the stranger, "you're one of the Legendary Twelve, huh? Well, I've got a surprise for you!" And as the force field was about to hit him, he threw his arms forward and stopped it. Blablob started to turn red as he tried to push the force field forward, but the stranger kept pushing back, until finally blablob gave way. His own force field slammed him into the bar, and he slumped down, too weak to respond.
"Come on!" said the leader of the strangers, approaching his bloodied companion. "Let's get out of here fast!" And just as Superyoshi charged out of the Private Employee Room with a BFG9000, the strangers slammed the door of the Tavern behind them.
Chapter 3
"My gawd!" cried Niklaw. "What the bloody hell happened to my bar?"
Niklaw had just entered the Tavern, which was still a mess two hours after the disastrous events following the poker game. Buffooner and alucardx60 were busy sweeping the broken glass off the floor. They had cleared out the Tavern shortly after the strangers left, Avolerators escorting blablob home.
"Long story," began alucard-
"Wait!" said Niklaw, red in the face. "Don't tell me. I've been testing out my psychic powers…and I do believe…yes! Blablob went on one of his bloody drunken rages again, didn't he? Am I right, or am I right?"
Buffooner let out an exasperated sigh. "Yes, Niklaw, he did. I'm sorry about that…"
"YOU'RE SORRY?" cried Niklaw. "Oh, well if that's the case, I'll just go right on home. I mean, it's all good if you're sorry, Buff."
"Calm down Niklaw…" said alucard.
"Calm down! This is at least the third or fourth time he's done this! I can't have him destroying my bar every other day! I'm sorry, but as a member of the police on the forums, I think I'm gonna have to arrest him!" Niklaw finally collapsed in one of the few upright chairs.
"Jesus, Niklaw," said Buff. "It's not like…"
"Not like what? I've let him off several times now, but if I keep doing that just because he's a member of the Legendary Twelve, the users will think we're bloody damn corrupt!"
Buff and alucard looked at each other. Niklaw had a point. Buff said, "You can't arrest him Niklaw, you just can't…"
Niklaw stood up and swiftly walked over to Buff. "You see this?" he said, holding up something. "This is a moderator badge. This says that I can do whatever the bloody hell I want! If I wasn't so nice, blablob would already be in jail!"
Silence. There was no response to that. Alucard finally said, "I guess…well, he's really not gonna be happy about it, but it's better than going to jail…we'll send him to rehab, I guess."
Niklaw stared at alucard. "I've cut him enough breaks, but all right. I'm gonna give him one last chance. He goes to rehab and I don't send him to jail, but if he does anything, any bloody thing at all, like this again, I will personally see to it that he shares a cell with Raymond1996!" And with that he turned around and walked out of the Tavern, slamming the door behind him. Buff and alucard just stared at the door for a moment, as though waiting to make sure that Niklaw was really gone, before breaking the silence.
"Sheesh," said alucard. "Somebody's got a temper."
"Yeah, tell me about it," said Buff. He went back to sweeping. That good mood he was in earlier was sure gone now.
"So…" said alucard. "What's been going on, Buff?"
"Well, you know, a lot of the usual stuff in the forums, not much new. And you?"
"Same. How are those new recruits coming along?"
"Pretty good," said Buff, picking up a fallen chair. "They really have mastered their powers. 24murph knows how to utilize his ability to slow down time to make it most effective…he was taking on two spambots in the simulation earlier today. One moment they were approaching him, but within an instant they were both collapsed on the ground. Zunar used his abilities with water to fry some more spambots…his power is a lot like mine. Zebtrestalala controlled the sunlight to form a laser, killing two more spambots. GalaxyMario decapitated two more with his sword arm…that's pretty sweet. And brandobrawl killed two using alchemy…he's a piece of work…did I tell you how he found out about his powers?"
"No," said alucard, who was now cleaning up the broken glassware behind the bar, "I don't believe you did."
"Well," said Buff, chuckling a bit, "you know the band Coldplay?"
"Yeah," said alucard. "Brando never stops talking about them."
"Well, he was at one of their concerts, and he went to applaud after one of their songs. As soon as he started clapping, Johnny Buckland's guitar turned into a bass!"
"Really?" said alucard, smiling. "That's not a trick you see everyday."
"No," said Buff. "Anyway, this is almost all cleaned up. Why don't you head back to the temple? I'll finish up," said Buff.
"You sure, Buff?"
"Yeah. I'll catch up with you later."
"All right," said alucard, grabbing his jacket and leaving. Buffooner finished cleaning up the Tavern and then followed suit about fifteen minutes later. It was snowing outside, the first snow of the year. The streets were covered with a fine sheet of white snow. Buffooner put his hands in his pockets to keep them warm; he had foolishly not brought gloves with him. At one point, he saw a man sitting on a curb. As he approached, Buff saw that it was a homeless man, poorly dressed for the weather. He was tossing a small stone up in the air and catching it. He looked up at Buffooner and smiled as he passed. Buffooner felt bad that the man was in such a poor state, but at the same time he didn't want to make the man feel bad by offering food or clothing, and he wasn't complaining. Buff walked on.
There was something odd about that man though, thought Buffooner as he neared the temple. He thought about it for a while, and then figured it out: he had never seen a homeless man on the forums before.
Chapter 4
"I'm Lrmaster132, and this is a special report by Runouw.com News."
Megamario126 was making breakfast for himself and a tranquilized blablob. He had not reacted well to being informed that he was being sent to rehab, to put it mildly. Megamario was taking him to rehab after breakfast. He had turned on the television to distract blablob while he cooked.
"Another event took place last night that has increased the growing dislike of the forums towards the Legendary Twelve and New Legends. At Niklaw's Tavern, a drunken blablob initiated a brawl with a guest to the forums. The result is shown in these photos."
Megamario looked up from what he was doing. Photos? Buff and alucard had made sure that nobody had taken any photos; they had tried to quiet the situation as much as possible. Yet there they were on the television screen: The stranger's bloodied face, the Tavern completely ransacked, the tug-of-war with blablob's force field. Unbelievable. The media just gets everywhere these days.
"We now talk to a prominent member in the community, Ridder. Ridder, how do you feel about the increasing amount of trouble that the Legendary Twelve have caused within the forums?"
"Well, you know, I'm really good friends with many of the members…and they really worked wonders rebuilding this forum after that energy wave demolished it a few years ago, but now they've caused nothing but trouble. I'm very grateful for all that they've done for the forums, but I think they either need to maintain a low profile from now on or they need to leave. It's just gotten to the point where they're hurting more than helping."
Megamario could not believe his ears. "All right," he said, "I think it's time to change the channel." He flipped it to ESPN. "Much better." He continued cooking; he was making an egg omelet, but was more focused on what he had just heard. The users hate us, he thought. What happened? We're supposed to be here for the forums, and we mean no harm. Are we really hurting the forums?
"Hey MM, blablob," said aznchau4ever, walking into the kitchen.
"Oh, hey," said blablob, a little confused as a side effect of the tranquilizers.
"Hey azn," said megamario. "What's up? You want some of this omelet I'm making?"
"Nah, thanks." He sat down at the kitchen table next to blablob. "Didja see the news?" he asked.
"Yeah. Pretty brutal, huh?" He flipped the omelet. It smelled very good. Blablob and azn sat silently watching the TV as megamario finished making the omelet. He then served blablob and then sat down to eat. Mmm. Tasty. My compliments to the chef, he thought, as he finished his meal in silence. In a few minutes he cleared his and blablob's plates and bid azn goodbye, and then left with blablob for the train station.
The monorail ran above the forums, above the tops of the skyscrapers housing the various forums. This enabled the construction of the most direct routes from Point A to Point B, and therefore allowed for faster travel. Runouw's Forum was a big place, and therefore it was often advantageous to travel via the monorail. Megamario and blablob entered a thin but tall building and took an elevator up to the station. The forum's rehabilitation facility was located near the Serious Discussion part of the forums, and so the two boarded the train that went to that forum. Train rides in the forums were always breathtaking; because the monorail was above the city, you could see the entire skyline and look down and the city below through the windows. An impressive spectacle. However, both megamario and blablob were tired from the previous night's events, not to mention that the latter was tranquilized, and soon they both dozed off. They didn't notice a man with a cowboy hat on and dressed in a trench coat sitting across from them…
Several hours later, megamario was back on the monorail riding the train home. Blablob was in the rehabilitation facility, and all was good. He was dozing again…
He woke up. It was now dark out, and the train appeared to be empty. He was groggy, and took a moment to figure out where he was. Finally, he realized that he must have fallen asleep and been on the train for some time. Most everybody was at home now; the working day was over. He saw that the train was conveniently approaching his station, and prepare to get off. However, to his great surprise, the train did not slow down, as it always does, upon approaching the station. Instead, it zoomed past it. Great, thought megamario. Just my luck.
"Sorry you missed your station. Here, let me help you out of the train."
Megamario turned towards the sound, but was suddenly hit by a sudden force in the nose, as though he had been kicked. He was thrown backwards and hit his head on a chair. He was bleeding, but stood up. He nervously scanned the train for the assailant, but there was nobody there. "Where are you?" he cried.
"I'm right here," said the voice. Megamario turned, and standing there was the man with a cowboy hat on. "You're a little high up, don't you think? Why don't I help you get back down to the ground?" he said. Suddenly, megamario was thrown by an invisible force through one of the train's windows. He barely managed to grab on to the frame with his weaker hand. He looked down. Big drop. Probably 1,000 feet. The cowboy hat leaned out the window and looked at megamario, who was barely clinging onto the fast moving train.
"Maybe you'll hit the ground so hard that they won't recognize you," said the man, whose face was spreading into a devilish grin. Megamario suddenly felt an enormous pressure on his left hand. He heard several cracking noises as his hand broke, and he let go. He was falling fast; the city was getting nearer and nearer and the train farther and farther. Come on, he thought. Come on. A spire on the top of a building grew rapidly closer. Come on, thought MM, looking at the spire. That baby will impale me. He shut his eyes as the spire grew closer and closer.
"Yes!" he cried, as he finally transformed into Super Megamario just before he was impaled. All right, time for some revenge. He flew up to the train, which once again appeared to be unoccupied. He crashed in through another window. "All right!" he cried. "I know you're here! So why don't you just show yourself and fight like a man!"
"OK," said a voice, and then megamario was kicked from behind. He quickly jumped up and flew out of a window. The man and the cowboy hat stood still, attempting to register his opponent's next move, but suddenly was tackled as megamario slammed through the roof above. "All right, mister," said megamario standing over his fallen opponent. "Time to show who's boss!" He then punched his adversary in the face, but was suddenly thrown back by an unsee force. The man in the cowboy hat got up and instantly returned the favor with a kick to the groin.
"Oh that was a cheap shot," said megamario. Soon an intense martial arts battle ensued, in which every attack from either side was deflected by the other. Megamario tried every trick in the book, but could not land a punch nor a kick.
"You fight well," said megamario's opponent.
"As do you," said megamario, forming a ball of electricity and throwing it his assailant. But as it was about to hit him, the man in the cowboy hat vanished, and the electricity ball hit the back of the train. The lights flickered and the car shook, and megamario was thrown to the floor.
He got to his feet and looked around. "Hello?" said megamario. He felt the monorail pick up speed. "Uh oh," he said as he rushed to the front and looked out the window. "Oh s**t," he said. At that precise moment, the monorail careened off the track as it rounded a curve for which it was going too fast. Megamario grabbed on to a pole as the train flew down into the city. He shut his eyes, and after a moment was suddenly was thrown into the back wall of the train as it came to a sudden stop. He panted for air as smoke filled up the car. He slowly crawled out a broken window and fell into the Board Index. He sat there catching his breath for a moment, and then staggered to his feet. A crowd was gathered at the base of the nearest building. He walked over and looked up. The Level Designer Building appeared to have a new roof. A monorail car lay where the top floors of the building once existed, spurting fire and smoke out of all of its windows and those of the building below.
Chapter 5
"Damn crowd is getting bigger."
3.14 moved away from the window. He was standing in the main hall of the TLT Temple with the rest of the members and recruits, excluding blablob. A crowd of picketers had gathered outside of the temple bearing signs saying, "TLT begone!" and "The Legendary Troublemakers."
"There must be at least 100 users out there," said bowsersbane. "I don't like it."
"I can't believe it," said Avolerators. "We've done so much for them, and now they want to kick us out?"
Megamario126 sat in a chair facing away from the rest of the group. This is all my fault, he thought. If I hadn't gone back up to that stupid train, this would never have happened.
"More users joining," said bowsersbane. "There might be 125 now. And I think I see Suyo among them."
There was silence. GalaxyMario starting tapping his feet on the ground. "Quit it, will ya?" said Hyper Sonic. "It's annoying."
"Sorry," said GalaxyMario. More silence. Which was suddenly interrupted by a newsflash on the television.
"This is Lrmaster132, and I'm standing outside the temple of the Legendary Twelve. A crowd has gathered outside to protest the disturbances caused by the TLT, and is asking them to leave the forums…"
Buffooner went over to the television and shut it off. "God, he gets so annoying…"
A cheer was now running through the crowd. "Go away! Go away! Go away!" Bowsersbane moved towards the window again. He peeked through the closed blinds, only to see a stone coming straight towards him. He jumped back as the stone crashed through the window, sending broken glass everywhere.
"All right!" said Ayrayen. "That's enough! I'm gonna go out there…"
"You're not going anywhere, Ayrayen," said Buff. "You're only gonna make things worse."
"Well gee, thanks for the vote of confidence," said a dejected Ayrayen, sinking back into his chair.
"Well, what do we do?" asked zebtrestalala.
"We eat, drink, breathe…" said samgamereviews.
"You know, I just love it when you get all sarcastic like that," said MetaRL123. "It really makes me just so happy."
"Why thank you," said samgamereviews. "I try every now and again."
"No seriously guys," said Zunar. "What are we going to do?"
"Well," said Buffooner, "We have two options. We either stay and cause more disruption, or we leave."
"But where would we go?" asked alucardx60.
"We've dispersed before," replied Buff. "We could do it again."
"That's ridiculous!" said brandobrawl. "I'm not leaving these forums." He paused. "I was excited about becoming part of the New Legends. I was going to be a hero! But instead, you've made me an outcast! I'm sorry, but this is not what I signed up for. I'm leaving!"
"Wait, brando!" called 24murph, but it was too late. Brandobrawl was already out the door. Bowsersbane watched as the crowd outside became suddenly silent as brando approached. He could not hear what brando said, but after a moment he made his way into the crowd and the protests began again.
"Damn!" cried Buffooner. "Everything is going wrong!"
Megamario126 turned around to face his companions for the first time. He was nearly crying. "Guys, I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't know this was gonna happen. I had no idea…"
"Calm down MM," said alucardx60. "This isn't your fault. But now we've got to make a plan. Should we stay or should we go?"
"Heh," said 24murph. "The Clash."
"What?" said samgamereviews.
"You know," said 24murph. "The song by the Clash. Should I Stay or Should I Go."
Everybody just stared at him. "Sorry. Comedic relief. Continue."
"Look," said Hyper Sonic. "If we stay here, things aren't going to get better. We should just leave, and then slowly trickle back in a while once things have cooled off."
"I don't know," said 3.14. "Look at brando…he just kind of walked out and now he seems to be on the good side of the forums again."
"Yeah," said Ayrayen, "but he's not officially a member of the TLT. They might not treat us the same way."
The chanting outside was getting louder. More people must have joined the crowd, thought Buffooner. It was giving him a headache. Make it stop, he thought. Make it stop.
"All right," said Buffooner. "I agree with Hyper Sonic. If you're staying, stay, but we're leaving."
There were murmurs of agreement. "Nobody is staying?" asked Avolerators.
"No," said zebtrestalala. "We're all in this together. The Legendary Twelve cannot function unless they stick together."
"Any objection?" asked Buffooner. He was met with silence. "All right," he said. "Let's go."
Chapter 6
"Just a small town girl…living in a lonely world!"
"Murph," said Ayrayen. "The singing. It's gotta stop."
"Sorry," said 24murph, as Ayrayen dozed off. The two of them were in 24murph's modified Ferrari F40 with Buffooner and Avolerators. They were a leading a group of three other vehicles containing the other members of the Legendary Twelve and the new recruits. Ayrayen had suggested that they head to a town where he had lived during the hiatus of the Legendary Twelve preceding the encounter with TheBetterGamer. The town was nine hours from the forums, and the TLT had driven seven.
"Man, I just love Journey," said 24murph. "What about you guys, huh?"
"Journey's fine, murph, except in two cases," said Buffooner. "A. You're singing along with it and B. You're blasting it really loud when I'm trying to sleep."
"Oh," said 24murph. "I'll turn it down." He turned a knob and the music softened.
They drove on for about twenty minutes. The windows were wide open and 24murph was working his engine to the max. "Man, this is just the way to drive, you know what I mean?"
"Shut up murph!" said Avolerators. "Jesus, you can be the most obnoxious…"
Suddenly Ayrayen sat bolt upright. He looked around. Neither Buffooner or Avolerators were there, and besides the road in front of him and the car that he was in, he was entirely surrounded by whiteness. 24murph appeared to be completely calm. "Murph?" said Ayrayen. "Murph!"
The driver turned around. "Oh my god," said Ayrayen. It was not 24murph. It was…it was…
"I am Runouw," said the man, turning back to watch the road.
Ayrayen stared in shock at the driver. "You're…you're Runouw? But…but what are you doing here? And what happened to Buff and Avo and murph? And why is it all white outside?"
"All in good time, Ayrayen. I have something important I must tell you now." Runouw paused, then continued, "When I built the forums, I created a weapon of incredible power to be used to fend off the worst kind of attack."
"Like R's Army?" said Ayrayen.
"No…much worse. I cannot even speak of it. Anyway, it is a weapon that in the wrong hands could mean the destruction of not only the forums, but the entire universe. It has come to my attention that a group of five visitors have cleverly infiltrated the forums and driven out the TLT. This group has done so to drive out the only defense that the forums had in order to gain easy access to this weapon. Though I have hidden it, if it is found, you nor anybody else will have long to live. That is why you must return to the forums."
"But how do I know where to find the weapon?" asked Ayrayen, but suddenly a blinding flash of light engulfed the car…
Suddenly, Ayrayen sat bolt upright. Buffooner, Avo, and 24murph were all in the car, and the scenery outside was back to normal. Ayrayen was confused, but then realized that what he had just seen was a vision.
"Guys," said Ayrayen. "We have to go back."
Buffooner shifted his position. "No, no, no," he murmured, "No more cookies…I've had more than enough…"
"Buffooner!" said Ayrayen, pushing him to wake him up.
"Huh, what is it?" asked Avolerators, who had also been sleeping.
"We've got to go back," said Ayrayen.
"Back in the U.S.S.R.," sang 24murph. "Don't know how lucky you are…"
"Murph! Stop singing!" cried Ayrayen. "We've got to turn around. We've got to go back to the forums!"
There was a sudden silence. "What?" said Buff.
"We've fallen for a trap," said Ayrayen. "Those five guys at the Tavern…they're after a secret weapon Runouw created that could destroy the universe. They planned the bar fight and the incident on the monorail to drive us out of the forums so that they would not have to deal with us to get it!"
"What are you talking about?" said Avolerators.
"I just had a vision! Runouw told me…we must get back to the forums!"
Buff, Avo, and 24murph all looked at each other, the latter doing so through a mirror. "You can't be serious," said 24murph. "This baby's already got so much mileage on it…"
"Oh, quit your whining, murph," said Buff. "It's just a damn car."
"Hey, this baby will depreciate, you know!"
"Shut it!" said Avolerators, and both Buff and 24murph fell silent. "Thank you. Now, are you sure, Ayrayen?"
"Positive."
"I don't know about this," said Buff.
"Look," said Ayrayen. "It's like this. Either we don't go back and risk the destruction of the universe, or we go back and risk getting yelled at by a bunch of people who don't like us. I think the latter is much more enticing."
"You've got a point," said Avo.
"And besides, it'll give us a purpose of some kind," said Ayrayen. "Right now, we're pretty much just driving somewhere because we have nowhere else to go."
"All right," said Buff. "Avo, call the others on your cell phone. Murph, turn this baby around!"
"You got it, boss," said 24murph, turning the wheel rapidly to the left as the car skidded to a stop. "All right, let's do this!" he said, slamming his foot on the gas pedal.
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The four cars came to a stop in front of the Legendary Twelve Temple. Doors opened, doors slammed shut. Fifteen people walked up the steps of the temple. An ambush. Surrounded by at least 1000 spambots, with the additional weapon of surprise. It was useless to fight. Fifteen people were handcuffed and taken into a mysterious underground building found beneath the intersection two streets in the Programming forum…
Chapter 7
"Welcome to the show, gentleman! I'm your host, EvilVillain123."
"EvilVillain123?" whispered samgamereviews to megamario126. "I wonder what his personality is."
"Yeah, really," said megamario. "I think he's the guy who attacked me on the train."
The Legendary Twelve, Avolerators, and the new recruits were standing against a wall in a room that they had never seen before. Blablob and brandobrawl had also been taken captive. The five strangers from the incident in the Tavern, one of which was apparently named the very original and inconspicuous EvilVillain123, were also present in the room.
"Who are you, why are you holding us captive, and what do you want?" said Ayrayen.
"Ah," said EvilVillain123. "About that. You see…we are a secret organization known as SPAM. We come from another city on the Internet."
"SPAM?" said Buffooner, incredulously. "Very subtle."
"Society of Persecution And Murder."
"Oh, lovely," said Hyper Sonic.
"This is a large organization made up of the five founders and our members, appropriately named SPAMbots. I am the primary founder. On my far left is DestructoMan666. On my near left is BadGuy359. On my near right is DeathBringer908 and on my far right is SwineFlu000. Four of us have special powers, like yourselves. I have the power to become invisible and to also cause something to happen without performing the activity necessary to cause it, but I can only do one thing at once and for only so long, and I must be in close proximity to whatever I am affecting. For example," he paused, as Ayrayen started to choke, "I can choke Ayrayen without grabbing and squeezing his throat." Suddenly, Ayrayen stopped choking, and he fell to his knees, panting.
EvilVillain123 continued, "DestructoMan666 has super-strength, similar to you, 3.14. DeathBringer can counteract and even disable any other powers, as he demonstrated in Niklaw's Tavern a few nights ago. You'll notice that none of your powers work right now because of him. BadGuy359 is the mastermind of the group; while he has no special powers like yourselves, he organizes everything. So, he created the plan to drive you out of the forums so that we could invade them with no resistance. And SwineFlu000 can control people's minds. For example, he made Ayrayen hallucinate that a man named Runouw, who you believe to be the builder of this city, needed you all to return to the forums so that we could capture you."
"Why have you captured us?" asked blablob.
"So that we could be sure that you wouldn't get in our way. Driving you out gave us the opportunity to take over the forums, but it didn't guarantee that you wouldn't return and disrupt our plans. Keeping you captive will."
"Your plans?" said GalaxyMario. "What plans?"
"Good question. You see, we invaded the forums because buried beneath Forum 23, where you now stand, was something that would give us control over the world." EvilVillain123 paused, then continued. "Several centuries ago, a nuclear war erupted, threatening to destroy the planet. Just weeks before the planet would have been destroyed, a brilliant scientist named Dr. Reynolds created something that restored the Internet to its original state, which he called 'Runouw'.
"Runouw?" said Avolerators incredulously. "The Runouw?"
"Yes," said EvilVillain123, "the Runouw. Now, Runouw remains in existence to this day, maintaing the necessary conditions for the Internet to survive. If it were to be destroyed, so would the planet. Also, whoever has possession of Runouw can control the Internet. The one thing the possessor can't make Runouw do is make it destroy the Internet, as that contradicts its purpose, unless he or she destroys Runouw. In order to prevent it from coming under the control of a single person, Dr. Reynolds hid it very well so that nobody would find it. He even built the forums over it to hide it, and named it Runouw's Forums. It went undiscovered for several centuries, until, using the record we found in the remains of Dr. Reynolds lab, we traced it to under Forum 23."
There was a silence, as the captives exchanged glances, unsure of the validity of EvilVillain's story. "So what is Runouw?" asked an unconvinced aznchau4ever.
EvilVillain123 held out his hand. "This," he said. On the tip of his index finger was an item resembling a microchip.
"That?" said MetaRL123 in disbelief. "That is Runouw? That maintains the Internet? That gives its possessor control of the Internet? No way!"
"I can prove it, if you wish," said EvilVillain123. He looked at Runouw. "Runouw, kill MetaRL123."
And before any of the captives could object, MetaRL123 slumped to the ground, his life extinguished.
Chapter 8
"I can't believe he killed Meta!"
Avolerators was still kneeling at MetaRL123's side fifteen minutes after his death. Avo was trembling, and had been crying before.
"I know that you're sad, Avo," said Buffooner. "We all are. But right now, you would be most useful by helping us determine how to get out of here."
"Well, what did he say?" reflected aznchau4ever. "One of them - DeathBringer908 was it?"
"Yep," said Hyper Sonic.
"Yeah, he's stripped us of our powers, which we can regain if we get far enough away from him, but that won't help us here. Our captors are in another room making plans, so only SpamBots are guarding us."
"Right," said Ayrayen, "but did you forget the part about us having bombs implanted in our stomachs that will go off if we attempt to exit this room?"
"This is like some weird combination of Saw and Watchmen," said 24murph. "Only, there's no soundtrack."
"You are just obsessed with music, dude," said samgamereviews.
"Ahem," said azn, causing murph and sam to stop their conversation. "Now, as Ayrayen said, we can't leave this room without exploding. So, there must be some kind of sensor which will pick us up if we try to leave the room. The sensor then instructs the bombs to blow up. So, if we could just deactivate the sensor, we can escape."
"Now that's what I call thinking," said blablob. "The sensor is the obviously in the doorway, since that is the only way out of the room without breaking through walls, and none of us can do that without our powers."
"Good," said brandobrawl, "but that doesn't help us figure out how to break the sensor."
"If we could just get a hold of one of the SpamBots weapons…" said megamario126.
"I think I could arrange that," interjected Zunar. "If these SpamBots are as dumb as the droids in Star Wars." He then went to the doorway and whistled loud enough for two nearby SpamBots to hear. They turned around and started walking towards the prisoners. "OK," said Zunar. "There are sixteen of us and two of them. I think we can take them on, but we have to try to limit the amount of noise we make so that we don't alert the attention of EvilVillain and the gang."
"Right," said Buff. He and Zunar positioned themselves against the wall on the left and right of the doorway. The SpamBots then rounded the corner of the doorway and entered the room.
"What do you -" began one, but before it could finish, Buff and Zunar tackled the SpamBots. Most of the others followed suit while Zebtrestalala, GalaxyMario, bowsersbane, and 3.14 wrenched the weapons from them. Within a minute, the SpamBots were decapitated and four of the captives were armed with semi-automatic handguns.
"Right," said Buffooner. "On the count of three, you four fire those guns at the doorway. Presumably one of you will knock out the sensor."
"Hey Buff," said alucardx60. "I hate to point this out, but that will definitely attract the attention of our captors."
"It's the only option available to us," he replied. "However, for that reason, we will need to get out of here quickly. Everybody was blindfolded when we were brought it, right?" Everyone nodded. "OK, so we have no idea how to get out of here. So, we'll split up and hope for the best. Half of us will go left and half will go right. With any luck, we'll all make it out."
"What about Meta?" asked Avo.
"We leave him here. We can't carry him because that will slow us down."
Avo wanted to protest, but he knew that Buff was right. He just sighed. "OK," said Buff. "One, two, three!"
Zeb, GM, bowsersbane, and 3.14 opened fire on the doorway, which was soon riddled with bullets. Buff walked forward and examined the doorway, finding the destroyed sensor at the top. "Sensor's destroyed, move quickly! Alternate left and right. Let's go!"
The captives quickly filed out of the room as an alarm began to sound in Forum 23. Blablob, the last one to leave the room, said to himself, "They heard us."
Chapter 9
Coming soon.
