The Return of the Legendary Twelve
Posted: November 20th, 2009, 12:13 pmAs per fourinone's request, I am posting this here instead of in the Off-Topic forum.
This is a fanfic I wrote about the Legendary Twelve. For those of you who don't know, the Legendary Twelve is a nickname created by alucardx60 for the then-twelve veterans on the site. We created it just for the fun of it, and we certainly don't expect any special privileges on the forums or to be acknowledged by everyone or anything like that. It's just something we do for fun. Anyway, it inspired this story. It works like Runouw's Forum in that the forum is treated as a city, but it is a darker story and not really funny. I hope you all like it!
1
“Put on the noose!”
It was a stormy day, and the rain poured down on the invisible people hiding beneath the black umbrellas. All of the people of Runouw’s Forum had gathered outside the temple of the Legendary Twelve to see the hanging of TheBetterGamer. He had been found guilty of repeatedly vandalizing the Forums.
Superyoshi quietly said to TheBetterGamer, “I’m sorry,” and then said for all to hear, “Do you have any last words, TBG?”
TBG glared at the crowd. “I am innocent! I swear on my life! Kill me, and you kill an innocent man!” Suddenly, his eyes seemed to glow, and he looked very malicious. “Kill me, and you will forever have a curse on your heads! Justice will be done to the murderers!”
A murmur went through the crowd, but was quickly quieted by Superyoshi’s cry, “Pull the lever!”
Fourinone hesitated for a moment, but then pulled a lever that opened the part of the wooden platform TheBetterGamer was standing on, and he fell through. There were several gasps as TheBetterGamer began to slowly choke to death, and a few were crying. In one section of the crowd stood the Legendary Twelve themselves, solemnly watching the scene. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, marioiscool254 turned swiftly around and walked up the steps to the temple.
“MIC!” called Buffooner after him, but he went ignored. Soon, MIC vanished within the confines of the temple. Buffooner started to follow him, but aznchau4ever tapped him on the shoulder.
“Let him go, Buff,” he said. “After all, a hanging is not the most pleasant thing in the world to watch.”
Buffooner stared at where MIC had just vanished for a few seconds longer, but then slowly turned back. TheBetterGamer was still breathing, but a few minutes later he drew his final breath. As he did so, a bolt of lighting streaked across the sky.
2
The temple of the Legendary Twelve was no longer the breathtaking structure that it once was. It had become increasingly decrepit over the three years since TheBetterGamer’s hanging. The members of the Forum had built it for the Legendary Twelve as repayment for all that they had done for the Forum as a place for them to reside. However, since TheBetterGamer’s hanging, the members of the Legendary Twelve had slowly dispersed. Spammers knew better than to attack the forums while the Legendary Twelve were around, so they were no longer a threat, and so the Legendary Twelve were no longer needed. Only a few members remained: alucardx60, marioiscool254, and Buffooner. They had all taken positions as bartenders at Niklaw’s Tavern to pass the time, but their influence in the community was not what it once was.
Buffooner walked up the steps of the temple, thinking about possible ideas to renovate it, to return it to the glory that it once had. He had asked the board three times at the meetings at the Site Discussion forum to fund these renovations, but they respectfully declined, and unfortunately, the pay at Niklaw’s Tavern was not going to be enough to afford the renovations he wanted to make. Not that he was complaining. The reward of Niklaw’s Tavern was not meant to be pay, but rather knowing that you’ve satisfied customers and gotten the chance to socialize with them and catch up on the doings around the forums.
Buffooner passed through the large doors and entered the temple. Inside was a great hall that was equipped with a kitchen, TV, gaming area, swimming pool and hot tub, fireplace and more. On the end of the hall opposite the entrance was a staircase that led to the upper floor, which consisted of an open balcony lining the walls and overlooking the great hall. There were twelve different rooms branching off from the balcony. These belonged to each of the twelve members of the Legendary Twelve, and were where they all slept. Now only three were occupied.
Buffooner went up to his room to grab a shotgun and then started heading towards the exit to go to Niklaw’s Tavern for his shift.
“Hi Buffooner!”
Buffooner stopped at the doorway and turned around, looking for the source of the greeting. He then noticed Avolerators sitting in front of the TV in the gaming area with a controller in his hands.
“Avo? What are you doing here?”
Avolerators turned to look at Buffooner and smiled. “I’m moving in!”
Buffooner stared at Avolerators in disbelief. “What?”
“You said that once my powers developed for a year or so, I would become a member. Well, it’s been that long!” He turned back to his game.
Buffooner clucked his tongue. What Avolerators had said was true. “Yes, but Avo, that is pending the approval of the current members of the Legendary Twelve. You can’t move in until we approve of your membership.”
“But Buff! The Legendary Twelve have scattered across the globe. It will take you forever to track them down! And nobody knows what became of Azn! He just vanished one day! How will you find him?”
Buffooner didn’t respond for a moment. Then he said, “I promise, Avo, that I will contact the others as soon as I can. And if I can’t find Azn, then we’ll just make you a member without his consent.” He walked up to Avo and turned off the TV. “But until then, I should not see you here. Understand?”
Avolerators looked dejected but said, “Yes, Buff.”
“Good. Now I’ll let you know when I hear from the others, all right?”
“OK.”
Avolerators walked slowly out of the temple, sulking, and Buffooner soon followed. The truth was, Buff had kind of gotten used to normal life. He knew that if Avo became a member of the Legendary Twelve he would be forced to get involved again, but he had moved on from that, and was content where he was. He had no interest in rejuvenating the Legendary Twelve. And so he tried to do anything he could to prevent Avolerators from becoming a member.
About fifteen minutes later, he rounded a corner and approached Niklaw’s Tavern. He picked up his pace. Something was wrong. A crowd was gathered outside.
“What happened?” he asked.
Alucardx60 came up to Buffooner and grabbed his shirt collar. “In…inside. Go…go inside,” he stammered, clearly in a state of shock.
Buffooner stepped back from the shaken alucardx60 and then ran inside. The entire tavern was disheveled. Tables were all over the place. Bottles of liquor were spilled all over the floors, along with a lot of broken glass. Buffooner could not believe the state of the tavern. He walked around slowly, observing all of the damage.
Suddenly, he noticed a particular spot on the floor. He began to rapidly approach it, and then knelt down to examine it. An axe was stuck in the wooden floor. Surrounding it was a mix of cranberry juice and blood.
“Oh God,” said Buffooner, standing up with the same look of shock that was on alucardx60’s face. “MIC.”
3
“Come on, alucard. You got to talk to me. Tell me what happened. Were you there?”
They were back at the temple, and alucardx60 was slumped in a chair. Buffooner was tilting a glass of water into alucardx60’s mouth while slapping him to try to get him out of his state of shock.
“I…I was going for my shift. I…I heard noises. Loud. Glass breaking. Things crashing and being knocked over. I…I think…I started running. When I got there…the tavern was as you saw it. There was nobody there.”
Buffooner was clearly expecting more. “That’s all? That’s all you know?”
“Ye…yes…I didn’t see anybody. But I’m pretty sure MIC was in there…he said a little before I left here that he was going in a little early to set up shop.”
Buffooner slumped down into another chair. No clues. No answers. Only an axe in the floor of the tavern. He tried to think of the significance of that, but was struggling. He only knew one thing: He had pulled the axe out of the floorboards and examined it. It had no blood on it, which meant that it was not used against marioiscool254, or was thrown at him but he dodged it. Buffooner thought that perhaps it could be a token, a sort of signature left by the attacker, like the Joker card that the Joker always left in Batman, but he couldn’t connect the tomahawk to anybody. He just sighed.
“Well, you better go clean up the tavern, alucardx60. I’m going to go warn the others and see if they know anything. Let Niklaw and the other mods know about what is going on.”
Buffooner turned to leave. He paused at the door, then left, muttering to himself, “Niklaw’s not gonna be happy about his tavern…”
4
Marioiscool254 woke up in a daze. His right arm was hurting; he seemed to recall that he had been cut there but he didn’t remember. He stood up and looked in front of him. He appeared to be in some sort of prison cell with walls made up of some type of force field. He walked towards the edge of the cell and touched the force field, but was thrown back. No matter, he thought. He tried to do something he’d done all of his life: telekinetically control non-living objects. He simply tried to make a hole in the force field using his mind, but for the first time, the power was failing him. He was frustrated. He took off a shoe and then tried to lift it in the air telekinetically, but couldn’t do it. “Dang!” he exclaimed. He then tried to teleport out of the cell. That didn’t work either.
“I was disappointed too.”
Marioiscool254 turned around. Within a similar cell about ten feet away was 3.14.
“Pi? What are you doing here?”
“Same thing you are. I was attacked. And then I was here.”
“Who attacked you? Do you know? He was masked…I didn’t get to see his face.”
“I don’t know. The same thing happened to me.”
Marioiscool254 sighed. This was not good. “How long have we been here?”
“I must have been here for at least a day now. You were here when I woke up, but you probably were brought in after I was.”
Marioiscool254 said nothing for a minute. Then he said, “So, the force field suppresses our powers?”
3.14 said, “It would appear that way.”
Marioiscool254 examined his cell. Surrounded on all sides by the force field. Barely any room to stand without touching the walls. It looked pretty grim. “Any thoughts on how to get out of this mess?”
“I’ve tried everything I know. No luck. As far as I’m aware, it’s impossible to escape unless somebody on the outside deactivates the force field.”
“We can only hope that Buffooner or alucardx60 figures it out from the mess in the tavern.”
“Tavern?”
“Niklaw’s Tavern. That’s where I was attacked. Still, there is no lead to tell them where we are. So even if they figure out what happened, they won’t know where to look. Where were you attacked?”
“At my house.”
“Oh. So none of the others know about it, then.”
“Probably not.”
Marioiscool254 absentmindedly leaned his fist up against one of the walls and was thrown back again. “Dang!”
5
3.14’s residence looked the same as the tavern. Buffooner scavenged around to see if he could find any leads, but had no success. He found another axe, identical to the one found in the tavern. Some blood too. But no leads. Just an axe in the floor.
He took the axe with him as he left. He then traveled for several days, controlling the air to push him forward to speed up the trip. When he had to cross a body of water, he controlled the water to form a wave that wouldn’t crash, but would just push him to the other shore, at which point the wave would just sink back into the water. Eventually, he came to the home of blablob.
Blablob had built a little house out of the side of a hill and carved out a few windows. A very modest lifestyle. Buffooner saw a glow coming from out from the windows. A good sign. He cautiously approached the house and knocked on the wooden door fitted into a hole in the hill. He saw a shadow come to the door through its tinted window, and then it swung open.
“Buffooner? What are you doing here?”
Buffooner smiled. He was happy to see something not out of the ordinary after the recent events. “Oh, you know. I was blowing things up in the neighborhood. What I usually do.”
Blablob chuckled and ushered Buffooner in. “It’s not much, I know, but I like it. A nice contrast to all the hustle and bustle of the city.”
“It’s very nice, blablob.”
Blablob smiled. “Care for some food? I was just making myself a beef stew, but I can make for two.”
“I’d be obliged.”
“All right then. Beef stew for two, coming right up!”
Blablob went back to cooking and Buffooner took a seat in front of the little fireplace. It had produced the glow that Buffooner had seen through the windows. Blablob was right. The house wasn’t much, but it was certainly cozy.
Blablob came over with two bowls of stew and handed one to Buffooner, who thanked him. “So,” blablob said, “what brings you here really?”
Buffooner took a sip of the stew. “Very good, blablob. Anyway, somebody is hunting us down, blablob. The Legendary Twelve. MIC was attacked at Niklaw’s Tavern and captured, it would seem. The whole place was ransacked, and there was blood on the floor. I visited 3.14’s place to warn him and find out if he knew anything. Same story.”
Blablob looked surprised. “My God! Any leads?”
“Only one.” Buffooner pulled out the axe he had stowed in his pack. “The attacker left one of these at the scenes of both crimes.”
Blablob took the axe and examined it. “Intricate design. This is very valuable. I’ve never seen one quite like this before.” He handed it back to Buffooner. “Well, let’s finish dinner and then we’ll hit the road.”
“Hit the road?”
“You didn’t expect me not to come, did you? I’ll get my stuff together as soon as I finish this stew.”
“Oh. OK.” Buffooner didn’t feel like leaving the warmth of the fireplace. It was raining again outside and it was cold and dark. But the others had to be warned.
Fifteen minutes later, the two set off to find the remaining members of the Legendary Twelve.
6
“My God, it gets really uncomfortable standing for six hours straight!”
Marioiscool254 was complaining about the cell. It was not even large enough to sit down in. “Where are you, anyhow? Come on, show us your face, if you dare!”
3.14 had his face in his palms. “You know you’re not helping us, right?”
“Well, I’m pretty bored. Want to play a game?”
3.14 looked at marioiscoo254. “Are you serious? You are so immature.”
Suddenly, the two heard a commotion in the building. “Here comes someone,” marioiscool254 said.
At that moment, a masked figure came in restraining another with a rope around his neck. The masked figure then flung the other into an open space in the room where 3.14 and marioiscool254 were being held captive, then quickly pressed a button on a nearby control panel. A force field suddenly appeared around the choked figure.
As the masked figure turned to leave, marioiscool254 shouted after him, “Hey! Who are you?”
The masked figure turned back and faced the prisoners. “Don’t you know?” he inquired. And then he turned and left, but not before marioiscool254 and 3.14 noticed that he carried an axe with him.
“Hey, come back!” marioiscool254 called, but it was too late.
“Do you have any idea what he meant, MIC?” asked 3.14.
MIC sighed. “No clue, I’m afraid.” He turned to the new prisoner, who slowly stirred and got to his feet. “Hi bowsersbane,” said MIC kind of lazily.
“Ughhh. Hi guys. I could really use a cold shower and a nice massage right about now.” Bowsersbane rubbed as much of his back as he could reach. He then took in his surroundings. “Well, at least I’ve got company,” he said dryly.
7
Samgamereviews house was the complete opposite of blablob’s. He had built a massive mansion that could be spotted from a mile away. Buffooner and blablob approached the building slowly, weary from their long journey. The house looked quiet and was lighted.
“Look,” said blablob. He pointed to a masked figure silently approaching the mansion. He did not appear to have spotted the pair.
“Oh no,” Buffooner said. “Quick! Get out of his line of vision!”
The two quickly dashed behind a wall of the mansion and stood straight up against it. Buffooner slowly shuffled to the corner and peeked his head around. The masked figure was scaling the mansion. He stopped in front of a window and then pulled out an axe.
“The axe in the floorboards,” Buffooner muttered. “That’s our culprit.”
“And he’s about to attack sam!” said blablob. “Come on, we’ve got to do something!” He took a step around the corner.
“Wait!” said Buffooner, pulling blablob back. “Wait till he breaks into the mansion. We don’t want to lose the element of surprise.”
Blablob stepped back cautiously around the corner of the mansion. He hadn’t been noticed. Suddenly, the pair heard a window break, and Buffooner saw the assailant go through.
“Now!” he exclaimed, taking the axe he had and smashing the nearest window. “Come on!”
The two dashed into the mansion through the window and ran through the building. “We’ve got to find a staircase,” said Buffooner, panting. “I think he broke in on the third floor.”
“Here!” cried blablob, turning to run up the staircase. Buffooner quickly followed suit. They heard noises from above, which got louder as they got closer and closer. When they reached the room where the fight was taking place, Buffooner motioned blablob to stop. Buffooner looked through the peephole of the door. The masked figure was throwing what appeared to be balls of pure energy at various things in the room. Samgamereviews was nowhere to be seen.
“He must be using his invisibility powers,” whispered Buffooner to blablob. The latter nodded in agreement. Buffooner continued to watch the battle through the peephole. Suddenly, as the masked figure hurled another ball of energy, there was a muffled cry and samgamereviews suddenly came into view, his power drained from the hit.
“Now!” shouted Buffooner, using his power to control the elements to make the wooden door vanish. Buffooner then quickly created a ball of elements and hurled it at the assailant while blablob created a force field that he also launched towards the assailant. The masked figure was sent flying through the broken window. Buffooner and blablob rushed to the window and saw the figure fleeing from the scene.
“Blablob!” said Buffooner. “Can you follow him? He’ll likely be fleeing to his base of operations. We might be able to get some information. I’ll stay with sam, and then when he is ready we’ll catch up with you.”
“Got it!” said blablob, and he jumped out the window, creating a shield below to protect his fall. He then darted after the masked figure.
Buffooner then rushed over to where samgamereviews lay stirring. “Sam! Are you all right?”
Samgamereviews slowly sat up. “Yeah, I think so. Just got the wind knocked out of me, you know what I mean?” He then tried to stand up, but felt suddenly dizzy and stumbled towards a wall.
“Come on, sam,” said Buffooner, grabbing samgamereviews to support him. “Let’s go downstairs and get you a little food. Then you’ll feel better.”
The two walked slowly down the stairs, Buffooner supporting samgamereviews while leaning against the railing. They then walked over to the kitchen. Samgamereviews slumped down in a chair while Buffooner made a soup. “Here, take this,” he said, handing samgamereviews the soup. “You’ll feel better.”
“Thanks,” samgamereviews responded, shakily taking the soup. He seemed to recover as he ate more of the soup, while Buffooner explained the situation.
“Do you think that you are feeling up the helping? I cannot stay; I must help blablob. But I’m afraid to leave you here alone in case he comes back.”
“I think I can come with you,” said samgamereviews. “Give me a minute to get ready.” He left the kitchen, now able to walk under his own strength.
8
Blablob kept his distance from the masked figure he was trailing, but never let him out of his sight. He had been following the mysterious man through a forest for some time now, and was beginning to grow weary. Finally, he saw the mysterious man stop in the center of a small, open, circular area in the forest. For a few moments, nothing happened; then, in an instant, he was gone. Vanished. No trace of the masked figure. Blablob looked wildly about him for some sign of the assailant, a rustle in the leaves perhaps or the sound of footsteps. But he neither saw nor heard anything. Complete quiet. Complete stillness.
Blablob slowly walked out into the open area. There was no vegetation, only sand. The trees surrounding it were very tall, and he felt puny by comparison. He approached the center of the area and looked down. He felt something hard. He brushed off the sand and discovered a flat stone. He knelt down and saw an inscription in some foreign tongue engraved on the stone. He did not understand what it meant. The only thing he could understand was a small picture of an axe.
He stood up. Great, he thought. Now what? And as if in response to his question, he suddenly felt an enormous pressure and then appeared in a doorway. He looked behind him. There was nothing. Whiteness. Nothingness. A blank canvas. He looked in front of him. There was a poorly lit hallway to which he could see no end. The walls were made of a dark brick and cobwebs were strung across the floor, on the walls, and in the corners where the ceiling met the wall. It was a short, narrow hallway, and blablob was a little scared. For one thing, he was not particularly fond of spiders. He would use a force field to clear the cobwebs down the length of the hallway, but he didn’t want to alert anybody to his presence. So, he slowly began to walk down the hallway, stepping as lightly as possible. He tried to think about something else, but the ominous feeling he was getting was very distracting. My God, he thought. This hallway will never end.
He kept walking and walking, but still there was no end in sight. No sign that he was making any progress. He looked behind him. Now he could no longer see the whiteness, the nothingness that now felt so welcoming. He grimaced, but kept walking. Crunch. He had stepped on a large spider. A little blood spattered on his shoes. Great, he thought. Lovely.
After what felt like days but were really only minutes, blablob saw a light at the end of the hallway. He quickly advanced, but stopped as he reached the end of the hallway. He looked around, and then saw marioiscool254, 3.14, and bowsersbane each surrounded by what appeared to be a force field in a room resembling a dungeon. A prison, blablob supposed. Fortunately, force fields were his specialty.
He advanced out of the hallway towards his companions. “Hey guys!” he said to the unsuspecting prisoners. They all looked up in alarm.
“Look out blablob!” cried 3.14. Blablob turned, only to have a massive energy ball slam him in the face. He was thrown into the wall of the dungeon. He couldn’t get back up. He didn’t have the energy. He saw the same masked figure charge up another energy ball, and knew that he was screwed. He saw the energy ball coming towards him…his life flashed before his eyes…and the energy ball was getting closer…it was inches from his face…
Suddenly, a brilliant light flashed as the energy ball exploded. Blablob shielded his eyes, and was amazed to find himself unharmed.
“Blablob! Quick! Take down the force fields!” Avolerators was shooting electricity out of his fingertips at the masked figure, and blablob took advantage of this opportunity. He concentrated his mind on the force fields enclosing the three prisoners, and after a few seconds they vanished. 3.14, marioiscool254, and bowsersbane all charged at their captor, but as they were all about to reach him, he vanished. The three collided with each other.
“Ow,” said marioiscool254. “Thanks blablob.” The three stood up.
“Hey Avo,” said 3.14. “What are you doing here?”
“Well,” he said a little sheepishly, “I’ve been following blablob and Buffooner, because I heard what happened and was hoping to gain their favor so I could become a member of the Legendary Twelve.”
“Ah,” said bowsersbane. “Well, that display certainly will help your cause.”
Suddenly, the room began to shake. A piece of the roof fell and nearly hit blablob on the head. “Time to go!” he said, starting to run for the hallway with the cobwebs. The others followed, but just as blablob was about to enter a hallway, a giant mass of brick from the ceiling fell right in front of the entrance to the hallway.
“Dang!” said blablob. “How are we going to get out?”
“Allow me,” said marioiscool254 in a very pompous tone. His eyes focused on the mass of brick, and he began to turn red. The others watched, still impressed after all these years, as the mass of brick was tossed off to the side telekinetically. “Go, go, go!” he said, ushering the others to enter the hallway before him.
They charged down the length of the hallway, and in just a minute the white nothingness came into view. Blablob, who was leading, slowed down. “Uh, guys? Do we really want to go into this?”
“Would you rather be crushed to death?” shouted marioiscool254 from the rear. “Hurry up, guys, this hallway is collapsing behind me!”
“All right,” said blablob worriedly. “Geronimo!” he cried, jumping into the nothingness. 3.14, bowsersbane, and Avolerators all followed. As marioiscool254 reached the edge, he paused, and looked back at the rapidly collapsing hallway. “Well,” he said to himself, “Here goes nothing. SO LONG, WORLD!!!” But as he jumped, he felt something grab his leg…
9
3.14 opened his eyes. Everything was brown. He groaned, and slowly rolled over. Ah, he thought. That looks like the sky. Much better.
He slowly got to his feet and found himself in the same circular area that blablob had entered the prison through. He observed his surroundings. Silence. And stillness. Blablob, bowsersbane, and Avolerators stirred and slowly got to their feet.
“We appear to be back in the real world,” said 3.14, not to anybody in particular. He was facing away from the rest of the group, trying to find something, some indication of what to do next.
“Hey guys,” said bowsersbane while cracking his neck. “Where’s MIC?”
They looked around. They had only just noticed his absence. “MIC?” said blablob. “MIC! Where are you?”
The four began to search the surrounding area for marioiscool254, but after fifteen minutes had no luck. They regathered in the central area. “Well, what do we do?” asked Avo.
“I don’t know,” said blablob, shrugging. They just stood there, silent, lost in thought, for a few minutes. That was broken by the sudden appearance of a panting fourinone.
“Four?” said blablob in disbelief. “What are you doing here?”
Fourinone stopped to catch his breath. “The forums…attacked. Massive wave of energy…swept through entire city…lots of damage, lots of casualties….” He was too exhausted to continue.
“Are you serious?” said blablob, in even more disbelief.
“I’m a mod, blablob. I’m not allowed to lie.”
There was silence again. “Well, come on!” said 3.14. “What are we waiting for? We’ve got to get back to the forums!”
“But what about MIC?” asked Avolerators.
“MIC?” asked an utterly confused fourinone, but he went ignored.
“At the moment, it’s more important that we get back to the forums,” said bowsersbane. “And we don’t have the slightest clue we’re MIC is.”
“Agreed,” said blablob. “Come on guys, let’s go.”
10
The forums were completely deserted. A dense smog lay low, covering up the tops of the buildings. Rubble lay in the streets; electricity lines were down, broken glass was everywhere, blocks of broken concrete fallen from the skyscrapers were scattered all over the city. Buffooner and samgamereviews were horrified. Fourinone had found the two and alerted them to the attack on the city, but neither of them were prepared for this. Buffooner tried to say something, but the words wouldn’t come out. He was rendered speechless. Completely and totally speechless. It was like the forums had been nuked.
The two rounded a corner. The temple of the Legendary Twelve was not more than a couple blocks ahead of them, but the smog was so dense that they couldn’t see it. They continued to walk silently, except for the broken glass that crunched beneath their feet.
Gradually, the outline of the temple began to shimmer through the fog. Buffooner and samgamereviews kept walking toward it. They got closer, and now began to see an outline of a gallows in front of the temple. Positioned exactly as it was for TheBetterGamer’s hanging three years earlier. The outline of two shadowy figures appeared, one standing on the gallows and one next to it. Buffooner and samgamereviews kept walking straight.
The shadowy figure next to the gallows turned and made a motion with his hands. As the energy ball approached them, Buffooner made an element ball to counteract it while samgamereviews became invisible and charged forward. A loud noise pierced the eerie silence as the ball of energy collided with the ball of elements and each exploded. Samgamereviews leaped up in mid-air and sent an impressive kick to the unsuspecting assailant’s head. He was thrown back onto the staircase, and samgamereviews foolishly charged the unknown attacker. However, just as he was about to strike the attacker, the latter blasted samgamereviews into Buffooner, sending both of them sprawling to the ground. Both brushed off the broken glass and dust and stood up. The masked figure stood silently on the staircase to the temple, awaiting the next assault.
“You take the left, and I’ll take the right,” said Buffooner to samgamereviews. Samgamereviews shot a bolt of electricity at the masked figure while Buffooner transformed into Super Buffooner and flew towards the adversary. He created a ball of fire and threw it at the still motionless masked figure while samgamereviews rammed right into him. Both attacks appeared to be effective, as the enemy was thrown further back up the steps and was also now on fire. Buffooner then quickly flew to the gallows and used the tomahawk axe to cut the rope choking the gagged figure.
“MIC?” said Buffooner incredulously. But before he could get a response, or find out if marioiscool254 was alive or not, samgamereviews was flung into the wooden pole from which the rope hung and knocked out.
Buffooner turned around to see the masked figure unharmed by the previous attacks. Not even the slightest trace of burn marks on his clothes or his hands. He pulled out his axe identical to the one Buffooner had in his hands. He then leaped forward with incredible distance and swung the axe down on Buffooner, who held up his axe to defend the blow.
An intense duel unfolded, like two sword masters dueling each other to the death. Every time Buffooner tried swinging the axe at a different angle, his opponent was always there to meet it. More than once his opponent nearly decapitated him, and Buffooner realized that he was not going to be able to defeat his opponent. Swing, block, swing, block, avoid decapitation, swing, block. This guy didn’t miss a beat, Buffooner thought. Then, he got an idea. As he swung again at his opponent, he reshaped the metal to curve around the other axe and pierce his opponent in the heart. His opponent stepped back, the lines of his face curved in surprise through the mask. His shirt was stained red. He dropped his axe, and then vanished. Buffooner sighed with relief.
He turned back to the gallows and ran to check on samgamereviews and marioiscool254. Both appeared to be alive but unconscious. He was about to go find help when suddenly he felt an enormous pressure on his back and then was thrown to the ground. He had no energy left. He slowly rose to his knees and looked back. Wham! He was hit again with another energy ball. My God, he thought. This guy just won’t die. Wham! Buffooner couldn’t get back up. He lay facedown on the ground, as energy ball after energy ball pounded his back. He was going to die. There was no mistaking it.
“Hang on, Buff! I brought help!”
From the other side of the staircase charged alucardx60, Ayrayen, megamario126, MetaRL123, and Hyper Sonic. Alucardx60 took to flight and came down on the masked figure and took out a sword.
“This party ends here!” shouted alucardx60, and he engaged the masked figure in battle. Sword vs. axe. Alucardx60 had the advantage. Ayrayen fired his Gemini laser at the masked figure while in battle with the masked figure. The Legendary Twelve appeared to have the upper hand. But then the masked figure split into six different people.
“This is so not good,” said Hyper Sonic, as he launched forward and began to attack one of the masked figures. MetaRL123 grew a metal outer coating and then charged a second masked figure. Megamario126 was attacked by a third masked figure, but fended him off using an electrically-charged ball. A fourth masked figure tackled Ayrayen off the staircase to prevent him from firing at alucardx60’s masked figure. Meanwhile, the last masked figure slowly advanced towards the gallows, where Buffooner, samgamereviews, and marioiscool254 all laid helpless.
The Legendary Twelve were struggling again. Ayrayen was knocked unconscious when the masked figure with whom he was engaged in battle with took his Gemini laser and shot him with it. Hyper Sonic misjudged his aim when engaging a burst of speed meant to ram his opponent and instead went flying over the railing of the staircase, and so he was knocked unconscious. Megamario126 was hit with an energy ball while transforming into Super Megamario, preventing the transformation and knocking him out. Only MetaRL123 and alucardx60 were still in their battles. MetaRL123’s metal coating made his kicks and punches much more effective while also providing increased protection from attack. Alucardx60 happened to be very good at swordsmanship, and had the upper hand over his axe-wielding opponent. Unfortunately, the three free masked figures began to close in on the two remaining of the Legendary Twelve, who were now outnumbered 5 to 2.
“Look out!” cried Buffooner weakly, but he was quickly hit by an energy ball thrown by the sixth masked figure. Buffooner knew he had very little strength left. One more hit and he would probably die. He saw his assailant create another energy ball…
“Hah! Take that!”
Buffooner looked, stunned, as his executioner fell to the ground, dead, a bullet in his head. Fourinone jumped up and down in glee behind Buffooner, but then narrowly avoided an energy ball hurled by one of the other masked figures.
“Jesus, four,” said 3.14, “get out of here before you get yourself killed!”
Bowsersbane, 3.14, Avolerators, and blablob charged the staircase and distracted some of the masked figures while four hid. Blablob placed a force field around the remaining conscious members of the Legendary Twelve, but just as he was about to put one on himself, the masked figure with Ayrayen’s Gemini laser shot him, knocking him unconscious and destroying the protective force fields on the others. Bowsersbane grew spikes and scales and then threw himself into another masked figure. 3.14 punched a third masked figure and sent him sprawling off the staircase using his super-strength. Avolerators stayed with Buffooner and the others near the gallows to protect them.
Suddenly, a deafening noise reverberated throughout the city. Buffooner could vaguely see Ayrayen standing up from where he was knocked unconscious and generated some sort of field throughout the city. It was unbearably loud, and lasted for a full minute. Finally, Ayrayen slumped over unconscious, and the noise stopped.
“Yes!” shouted alucardx60. “Ayrayen has defeated the masked figures!”
Buffooner looked around. Sure enough, all of the masked figures had vanished. He breathed a sigh of relief, only to get a sudden funny feeling. He looked up.
“Um, guys? Why do you think there is an airplane flying over the forums?”
The airplane flew closer to the temple, and as it was directly above dropped a bomb right on the staircase, sending all of the remaining conscious Legendary Twelve flying, with the exception of Avolerators and Buffooner, who remained at the gallows. A masked figure then jumped out of the airplane and landed directly in front of the gallows.
“Oh no,” said Avolerators, stepping back. The masked figure shot an energy ball at Buffooner, who was knocked out, and then one at Avolerators, who was thrown to the ground. The masked figure then turned back to the gallows and picked up marioiscool254. He hung up a new rope and then placed the noose around marioiscool254’s neck. What he didn’t notice was a massive piece of concrete being raised above his head. However, just as marioiscool254 was about to telekinetically release the concrete on the masked figure, he dodged the concrete and then fired up a massive energy ball to throw at marioiscool254.
“You will now die!” shouted the masked figure, and he let go of the energy ball.
“NOOOOOOOO!” screamed Avolerators, diving in front of marioiscool254 to take the hit. His body was blasted backwards, and he fell on the gallows, dead.
11
The masked figure chuckled at Avolerators’s pitiful heroic attempts. He knew that marioiscool254 did not have the strength in him to try what he did again, so there was no need to kill him now. He scaled the temple, and upon reaching the top, snapped his fingers. All of the Legendary Twelve present and living woke up.
“Gentlemen. I have summoned you here for your execution. You have fought valiantly, and I commend your efforts, but they are, ultimately futile. The first execution is going to be that of marioiscool254.”
The Legendary Twelve were too weak to do anything to prevent this. They just looked at the masked figured blankly. Only marioiscool254 spoke.
“TBG, you don’t have to do this, you know.”
Murmurs of shock ran through the defeated group of heroes. “Him?” said blablob. “TBG? Impossible!”
"Not necessarily," said Buffooner. "His axe is a tomahawk. Remember a week before TBG's execution, a new guy named Tomahawk345 appeared in the forums but vanished when TBG was executed? They're probably one and the same."
Marioiscool254 hesitated, but then continued. “You see, he was just a week or two away from being eligible for membership in the group. But I didn’t want him in. I liked things just the way they were and didn’t want them to change. I didn’t want anybody else to be let in. So I vandalized the forums and framed TBG for it so that he wouldn't meet the character requirements for membership. I didn’t intend for him to be hanged though. I have never gotten over the guilt. But you can still come back to us, TBG. We welcome you now.”
The man on top of the temple removed his mask and revealed himself to be a reincarnated form of TheBetterGamer. “Yes, I was TBG. But TBG is dead! You killed him! And for that there is no forgiveness! You will all die for your sins! And you, MIC, you will be the first to go!”
But as he pronounced his revenge on top of the temple, a gigantic bolt of lightning struck him, as though the gods had heard his evil intentions and were now striking him down. He was thrown off the top of the temple, and landed on the staircase with a thud. Meanwhile, aznchau4ever and Avolerators now stood atop the temple.
“Hiya!” said aznchau4ever, jumping off the top of the temple and landing in front of TheBetterGamer, who was slowly getting up. Avolerators followed suit.
"Take some of this!" cried Avolerators, shooting electricity out of his fingertips towards the flailing TBG. Meanwhile, aznchau4ever was going around the rest Legendary Twelve and restoring their strength using his powers. Soon, the others joined Avolerators in attacking TBG, whose strength was rapidly depleting. Finally, he fell to the ground. Buffooner stepped forward.
"This is your last chance TBG. If you do not resist, we will let you live. But if you try anything else on us, we'll kill you here and now."
TBG snarled. "I would rather endure the tortures of Hell then walk among you evil scum."
"Um, guys?" said megamario126. "This isn't over yet."
Everybody looked up. "Oh God," cried blablob. A massive wave of energy was rapidly approaching the temple, destroying everything in it's path. "Run, run, run!" cried 3.14 as the wave engulfed the temple and sent its remains flying through the air. Samgamereviews and Hyper Sonic darted ahead with their impressive speed, and Buffooner transformed into Super Buffooner, grabbed fourinone, who had hid behind a building during the battle, and flew swiftly across the forums. But the remaining members of the Legendary Twelve were in trouble. The wave of energy was catching up. TBG began to laugh manically as he watched the Legendary Twelve trying to escape his energy wave in vain, and continued to do so until the wave engulfed him. The others darted across the forums as fast as they could, but they were not moving fast enough.
Suddenly, marioiscool254 stopped. He turned around and faced the ever-closer energy wave, which was at least as wide as the forums.
"MIC!" cried Avolerators. "What are you doing?"
"His energy balls exploded as they met something of equal force. If I can create a wall using the remains of the forums, I might be able to stop it."
"But that's madness! You'll be killed!"
"If I don't do this, we'll all be killed. I got us into this mess, and I'm gonna get us out of it!"
"NO! I won't let you!"
Marioiscool254 gave a weak smile. "Sadly, Avo, it's not up to you whether I do this or not." And suddenly, the remaining buildings and rubble of the city, along with the pavement from the roads and the concrete from the sidewalks, began to form a massive wall between marioiscool254 and Avolerators, blocking each other from view. "NO!" screamed Avo, as the wall grew larger and larger, approaching the size of the energy wave sweeping towards them.
"You cannot stop me now, Avo!" Avo heard marioiscool254 shout. "Save yourself!" And at long last, Avo turned and ran. At that moment, the wave of energy slammed into MIC's telekinetically created wall made of the remains of the forum. Then there was a massive explosion, and all of the Legendary Twelve were thrown into the ground as a massive amount of dust shot over them.
12.
Buffooner kept his body flat to the ground as the dust flew over him. It was unbelievably loud and it stung like heck as it scraped his back. Finally, it past, and he stood up. Whatever had remained of the forum from the first attack was gone now. The energy wave was gone. He ran to help the other members of the Legendary Twelve to their feet and to make sure nobody was hurt. Soon, they were all on their feet and looking back at where the forums once stood, now only a memory.
"Where's MIC?" asked MetaRL123, wiping off the dust that was all over his clothes.
"MIC didn't make it," said Avo. "He sacrificed himself to form a wall using the remains of the forums to explode the energy wave."
There was a stunned silence. The only sound that could be heard was a light breeze blowing the dust around.
After a few minutes, Buffooner spoke, "Does anybody know what happened to TBG?"
"I saw him be engulfed by his own energy wave," volunteered alucardx60. "He knew he wouldn't survive, so he hoped to take us down with him."
"Oh," said samgamereviews. He shuffled his feet anxiously.
"And Azn," asked blablob. "How did you get here?"
“Quite simple” said Avolerators quickly. “When I was killed by TBG’s energy ball intended for MIC, I was brought up to heaven. And as I suspected, azn was up there. He summoned the lightning to strike TBG and then brought us both down.”
“How did you know that azn was up there?” inquired Ayrayen.
“A guess, really. But I knew that nobody was able to find him, and I remembered his famous move during the attack of R’s Army. Force of the Heavens. I figured it was my best shot.” He paused. "Come on guys, I was too young to be dead for real."
A moment of silence. Then aznchau4ever began to laugh. Blablob scowled at Azn, but then softened and started laughing himself. Then, fourinone began to laugh, and like a disease it spread through the remaining members of the group, until they were all laughing hysterically.
Epilogue
Avolerators was made a member of the group the following day. He was the first of what became known as the New Legends.
All of the members of the Legendary Twelve moved back into the temple. They helped to rebuild the forums, and within a matter of a few months the forums were flourishing once more.
Following the restoration of the forums, all of the members gathered for marioiscool254's funeral. The members of the Legendary Twelve wrote a moving speech in memory of him, which was read by Suyo, Niklaw, and fourinone.
Buffooner was finally given the funding he needed to renovate the Legendary Twelve temple.
Meanwhile…somewhere far, far, away
"Dad, can Joey and I go out to play by the river?"
"Yes, son, but be careful of the currents."
"OK, Dad. Joey! My dad said it was OK!"
The two young boys ran out towards the nearby river, dressed in bathing attire and carrying goggles and towels. Soon, they reached the banks of the river, dropped their stuff, and ran into the river.
"Brr," said Joey. "It's cold!" When his companion didn't respond, he said, "Dan? Dan! Can you here me?"
But Dan was frozen still. He wasn't moving a muscle. "Dan, what's wrong?" asked Joey. Dan slowly rose his hand and pointed across the river. "There," he said, not moving his eyes.
Across the river, a small pebble was floating at least three to four feet in the air…
Fin.
EXTRAS
Original Ending
11
The masked figure chuckled at Avolerators’s pitiful heroic attempts. He knew that marioiscool254 did not have the strength in him to try what he did again, so there was no need to kill him now. He scaled the temple, and upon reaching the top, snapped his fingers. All of the Legendary Twelve present and living woke up.
“Gentlemen. I have summoned you here for your execution. You have fought valiantly, and I commend your efforts, but they are, ultimately futile. The first execution is going to be that of marioiscool254.”
The Legendary Twelve were too weak to do anything to prevent this. They just looked at the masked figured blankly. Only marioiscool254 spoke.
“TBG, you don’t have to do this, you know.”
Murmurs of shock ran through the defeated group of heroes. “Him?” said blablob. “TBG? Impossible!”
"Not necessarily," said Buffooner. "His axe is a tomahawk. Remember a week before TBG's execution, a new guy named Tomahawk345 appeared in the forums but vanished when TBG was executed? They're probably one and the same."
Marioiscool254 hesitated, but then continued. “You see, he was just a week or two away from being eligible for membership in the group. But I didn’t want him in. I liked things just the way they were and didn’t want them to change. I didn’t want anybody else to be let in. So I vandalized the forums and framed TBG for it so that he wouldn't meet the character requirements for membership. I didn’t intend for him to be hanged though. I have never gotten over the guilt. But you can still come back to us, TBG. We welcome you now.”
The man on top of the temple removed his mask and revealed himself to be a reincarnated form of TheBetterGamer. “Yes, I was TBG. But TBG is dead! You killed him! And for that there is no forgiveness! You will all die for your sins! And you, MIC, you will be the first to go!”
But as he pronounced his revenge on top of the temple, a gigantic bolt of lightning struck him, as though the gods had heard his evil intentions and were now striking him down. And when the Legendary Twelve looked back at the top of the temple, TheBetterGamer no longer stood there. In his place stood Avolerators and aznchau4ever.
“Hi guys!” said aznchau4ever, jumping off the top of the temple down to where the staircase once was. Avolerators followed suit.
The Legendary Twelve slowly got to their feet. “Azn!” exclaimed Buffooner. “How…how did you get here? And what happened to TBG?”
“Quite simple” said Avolerators. “When I was killed by TBG’s energy ball intended for MIC, I was brought up to heaven. And as I suspected, azn was up there. He summoned the lightning to strike TBG and kill him and then brought us both down.”
“How did you know that azn was up there?” inquired marioiscool254.
“A guess, really. But I knew that nobody was able to find him, and I remembered his famous move during the attack of R’s Army. Force of the Heavens. I figured it was my best shot.” He paused. “Did you really think I sacrificed myself for you, MIC?” Everybody chuckled, except for marioiscool254, who was thoroughly embarrassed.
12. Epilogue
Avolerators was made a member of the group the following day. He was the first of what became known as the New Legends.
Marioiscool254 expressed his intent to leave the group out of shame. However, he was convinced to stay by the rest of the group, saying that they forgave him for his mistake, something that TheBetterGamer would not do when given the opportunity.
All of the members of the Legendary Twelve moved back into the temple. They helped to rebuild the forums, and within a matter of a few months the forums were flourishing once more.
Buffooner was finally given the funding he needed to renovate the Legendary Twelve temple.
Fin.
This is a fanfic I wrote about the Legendary Twelve. For those of you who don't know, the Legendary Twelve is a nickname created by alucardx60 for the then-twelve veterans on the site. We created it just for the fun of it, and we certainly don't expect any special privileges on the forums or to be acknowledged by everyone or anything like that. It's just something we do for fun. Anyway, it inspired this story. It works like Runouw's Forum in that the forum is treated as a city, but it is a darker story and not really funny. I hope you all like it!
1
“Put on the noose!”
It was a stormy day, and the rain poured down on the invisible people hiding beneath the black umbrellas. All of the people of Runouw’s Forum had gathered outside the temple of the Legendary Twelve to see the hanging of TheBetterGamer. He had been found guilty of repeatedly vandalizing the Forums.
Superyoshi quietly said to TheBetterGamer, “I’m sorry,” and then said for all to hear, “Do you have any last words, TBG?”
TBG glared at the crowd. “I am innocent! I swear on my life! Kill me, and you kill an innocent man!” Suddenly, his eyes seemed to glow, and he looked very malicious. “Kill me, and you will forever have a curse on your heads! Justice will be done to the murderers!”
A murmur went through the crowd, but was quickly quieted by Superyoshi’s cry, “Pull the lever!”
Fourinone hesitated for a moment, but then pulled a lever that opened the part of the wooden platform TheBetterGamer was standing on, and he fell through. There were several gasps as TheBetterGamer began to slowly choke to death, and a few were crying. In one section of the crowd stood the Legendary Twelve themselves, solemnly watching the scene. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, marioiscool254 turned swiftly around and walked up the steps to the temple.
“MIC!” called Buffooner after him, but he went ignored. Soon, MIC vanished within the confines of the temple. Buffooner started to follow him, but aznchau4ever tapped him on the shoulder.
“Let him go, Buff,” he said. “After all, a hanging is not the most pleasant thing in the world to watch.”
Buffooner stared at where MIC had just vanished for a few seconds longer, but then slowly turned back. TheBetterGamer was still breathing, but a few minutes later he drew his final breath. As he did so, a bolt of lighting streaked across the sky.
2
The temple of the Legendary Twelve was no longer the breathtaking structure that it once was. It had become increasingly decrepit over the three years since TheBetterGamer’s hanging. The members of the Forum had built it for the Legendary Twelve as repayment for all that they had done for the Forum as a place for them to reside. However, since TheBetterGamer’s hanging, the members of the Legendary Twelve had slowly dispersed. Spammers knew better than to attack the forums while the Legendary Twelve were around, so they were no longer a threat, and so the Legendary Twelve were no longer needed. Only a few members remained: alucardx60, marioiscool254, and Buffooner. They had all taken positions as bartenders at Niklaw’s Tavern to pass the time, but their influence in the community was not what it once was.
Buffooner walked up the steps of the temple, thinking about possible ideas to renovate it, to return it to the glory that it once had. He had asked the board three times at the meetings at the Site Discussion forum to fund these renovations, but they respectfully declined, and unfortunately, the pay at Niklaw’s Tavern was not going to be enough to afford the renovations he wanted to make. Not that he was complaining. The reward of Niklaw’s Tavern was not meant to be pay, but rather knowing that you’ve satisfied customers and gotten the chance to socialize with them and catch up on the doings around the forums.
Buffooner passed through the large doors and entered the temple. Inside was a great hall that was equipped with a kitchen, TV, gaming area, swimming pool and hot tub, fireplace and more. On the end of the hall opposite the entrance was a staircase that led to the upper floor, which consisted of an open balcony lining the walls and overlooking the great hall. There were twelve different rooms branching off from the balcony. These belonged to each of the twelve members of the Legendary Twelve, and were where they all slept. Now only three were occupied.
Buffooner went up to his room to grab a shotgun and then started heading towards the exit to go to Niklaw’s Tavern for his shift.
“Hi Buffooner!”
Buffooner stopped at the doorway and turned around, looking for the source of the greeting. He then noticed Avolerators sitting in front of the TV in the gaming area with a controller in his hands.
“Avo? What are you doing here?”
Avolerators turned to look at Buffooner and smiled. “I’m moving in!”
Buffooner stared at Avolerators in disbelief. “What?”
“You said that once my powers developed for a year or so, I would become a member. Well, it’s been that long!” He turned back to his game.
Buffooner clucked his tongue. What Avolerators had said was true. “Yes, but Avo, that is pending the approval of the current members of the Legendary Twelve. You can’t move in until we approve of your membership.”
“But Buff! The Legendary Twelve have scattered across the globe. It will take you forever to track them down! And nobody knows what became of Azn! He just vanished one day! How will you find him?”
Buffooner didn’t respond for a moment. Then he said, “I promise, Avo, that I will contact the others as soon as I can. And if I can’t find Azn, then we’ll just make you a member without his consent.” He walked up to Avo and turned off the TV. “But until then, I should not see you here. Understand?”
Avolerators looked dejected but said, “Yes, Buff.”
“Good. Now I’ll let you know when I hear from the others, all right?”
“OK.”
Avolerators walked slowly out of the temple, sulking, and Buffooner soon followed. The truth was, Buff had kind of gotten used to normal life. He knew that if Avo became a member of the Legendary Twelve he would be forced to get involved again, but he had moved on from that, and was content where he was. He had no interest in rejuvenating the Legendary Twelve. And so he tried to do anything he could to prevent Avolerators from becoming a member.
About fifteen minutes later, he rounded a corner and approached Niklaw’s Tavern. He picked up his pace. Something was wrong. A crowd was gathered outside.
“What happened?” he asked.
Alucardx60 came up to Buffooner and grabbed his shirt collar. “In…inside. Go…go inside,” he stammered, clearly in a state of shock.
Buffooner stepped back from the shaken alucardx60 and then ran inside. The entire tavern was disheveled. Tables were all over the place. Bottles of liquor were spilled all over the floors, along with a lot of broken glass. Buffooner could not believe the state of the tavern. He walked around slowly, observing all of the damage.
Suddenly, he noticed a particular spot on the floor. He began to rapidly approach it, and then knelt down to examine it. An axe was stuck in the wooden floor. Surrounding it was a mix of cranberry juice and blood.
“Oh God,” said Buffooner, standing up with the same look of shock that was on alucardx60’s face. “MIC.”
3
“Come on, alucard. You got to talk to me. Tell me what happened. Were you there?”
They were back at the temple, and alucardx60 was slumped in a chair. Buffooner was tilting a glass of water into alucardx60’s mouth while slapping him to try to get him out of his state of shock.
“I…I was going for my shift. I…I heard noises. Loud. Glass breaking. Things crashing and being knocked over. I…I think…I started running. When I got there…the tavern was as you saw it. There was nobody there.”
Buffooner was clearly expecting more. “That’s all? That’s all you know?”
“Ye…yes…I didn’t see anybody. But I’m pretty sure MIC was in there…he said a little before I left here that he was going in a little early to set up shop.”
Buffooner slumped down into another chair. No clues. No answers. Only an axe in the floor of the tavern. He tried to think of the significance of that, but was struggling. He only knew one thing: He had pulled the axe out of the floorboards and examined it. It had no blood on it, which meant that it was not used against marioiscool254, or was thrown at him but he dodged it. Buffooner thought that perhaps it could be a token, a sort of signature left by the attacker, like the Joker card that the Joker always left in Batman, but he couldn’t connect the tomahawk to anybody. He just sighed.
“Well, you better go clean up the tavern, alucardx60. I’m going to go warn the others and see if they know anything. Let Niklaw and the other mods know about what is going on.”
Buffooner turned to leave. He paused at the door, then left, muttering to himself, “Niklaw’s not gonna be happy about his tavern…”
4
Marioiscool254 woke up in a daze. His right arm was hurting; he seemed to recall that he had been cut there but he didn’t remember. He stood up and looked in front of him. He appeared to be in some sort of prison cell with walls made up of some type of force field. He walked towards the edge of the cell and touched the force field, but was thrown back. No matter, he thought. He tried to do something he’d done all of his life: telekinetically control non-living objects. He simply tried to make a hole in the force field using his mind, but for the first time, the power was failing him. He was frustrated. He took off a shoe and then tried to lift it in the air telekinetically, but couldn’t do it. “Dang!” he exclaimed. He then tried to teleport out of the cell. That didn’t work either.
“I was disappointed too.”
Marioiscool254 turned around. Within a similar cell about ten feet away was 3.14.
“Pi? What are you doing here?”
“Same thing you are. I was attacked. And then I was here.”
“Who attacked you? Do you know? He was masked…I didn’t get to see his face.”
“I don’t know. The same thing happened to me.”
Marioiscool254 sighed. This was not good. “How long have we been here?”
“I must have been here for at least a day now. You were here when I woke up, but you probably were brought in after I was.”
Marioiscool254 said nothing for a minute. Then he said, “So, the force field suppresses our powers?”
3.14 said, “It would appear that way.”
Marioiscool254 examined his cell. Surrounded on all sides by the force field. Barely any room to stand without touching the walls. It looked pretty grim. “Any thoughts on how to get out of this mess?”
“I’ve tried everything I know. No luck. As far as I’m aware, it’s impossible to escape unless somebody on the outside deactivates the force field.”
“We can only hope that Buffooner or alucardx60 figures it out from the mess in the tavern.”
“Tavern?”
“Niklaw’s Tavern. That’s where I was attacked. Still, there is no lead to tell them where we are. So even if they figure out what happened, they won’t know where to look. Where were you attacked?”
“At my house.”
“Oh. So none of the others know about it, then.”
“Probably not.”
Marioiscool254 absentmindedly leaned his fist up against one of the walls and was thrown back again. “Dang!”
5
3.14’s residence looked the same as the tavern. Buffooner scavenged around to see if he could find any leads, but had no success. He found another axe, identical to the one found in the tavern. Some blood too. But no leads. Just an axe in the floor.
He took the axe with him as he left. He then traveled for several days, controlling the air to push him forward to speed up the trip. When he had to cross a body of water, he controlled the water to form a wave that wouldn’t crash, but would just push him to the other shore, at which point the wave would just sink back into the water. Eventually, he came to the home of blablob.
Blablob had built a little house out of the side of a hill and carved out a few windows. A very modest lifestyle. Buffooner saw a glow coming from out from the windows. A good sign. He cautiously approached the house and knocked on the wooden door fitted into a hole in the hill. He saw a shadow come to the door through its tinted window, and then it swung open.
“Buffooner? What are you doing here?”
Buffooner smiled. He was happy to see something not out of the ordinary after the recent events. “Oh, you know. I was blowing things up in the neighborhood. What I usually do.”
Blablob chuckled and ushered Buffooner in. “It’s not much, I know, but I like it. A nice contrast to all the hustle and bustle of the city.”
“It’s very nice, blablob.”
Blablob smiled. “Care for some food? I was just making myself a beef stew, but I can make for two.”
“I’d be obliged.”
“All right then. Beef stew for two, coming right up!”
Blablob went back to cooking and Buffooner took a seat in front of the little fireplace. It had produced the glow that Buffooner had seen through the windows. Blablob was right. The house wasn’t much, but it was certainly cozy.
Blablob came over with two bowls of stew and handed one to Buffooner, who thanked him. “So,” blablob said, “what brings you here really?”
Buffooner took a sip of the stew. “Very good, blablob. Anyway, somebody is hunting us down, blablob. The Legendary Twelve. MIC was attacked at Niklaw’s Tavern and captured, it would seem. The whole place was ransacked, and there was blood on the floor. I visited 3.14’s place to warn him and find out if he knew anything. Same story.”
Blablob looked surprised. “My God! Any leads?”
“Only one.” Buffooner pulled out the axe he had stowed in his pack. “The attacker left one of these at the scenes of both crimes.”
Blablob took the axe and examined it. “Intricate design. This is very valuable. I’ve never seen one quite like this before.” He handed it back to Buffooner. “Well, let’s finish dinner and then we’ll hit the road.”
“Hit the road?”
“You didn’t expect me not to come, did you? I’ll get my stuff together as soon as I finish this stew.”
“Oh. OK.” Buffooner didn’t feel like leaving the warmth of the fireplace. It was raining again outside and it was cold and dark. But the others had to be warned.
Fifteen minutes later, the two set off to find the remaining members of the Legendary Twelve.
6
“My God, it gets really uncomfortable standing for six hours straight!”
Marioiscool254 was complaining about the cell. It was not even large enough to sit down in. “Where are you, anyhow? Come on, show us your face, if you dare!”
3.14 had his face in his palms. “You know you’re not helping us, right?”
“Well, I’m pretty bored. Want to play a game?”
3.14 looked at marioiscoo254. “Are you serious? You are so immature.”
Suddenly, the two heard a commotion in the building. “Here comes someone,” marioiscool254 said.
At that moment, a masked figure came in restraining another with a rope around his neck. The masked figure then flung the other into an open space in the room where 3.14 and marioiscool254 were being held captive, then quickly pressed a button on a nearby control panel. A force field suddenly appeared around the choked figure.
As the masked figure turned to leave, marioiscool254 shouted after him, “Hey! Who are you?”
The masked figure turned back and faced the prisoners. “Don’t you know?” he inquired. And then he turned and left, but not before marioiscool254 and 3.14 noticed that he carried an axe with him.
“Hey, come back!” marioiscool254 called, but it was too late.
“Do you have any idea what he meant, MIC?” asked 3.14.
MIC sighed. “No clue, I’m afraid.” He turned to the new prisoner, who slowly stirred and got to his feet. “Hi bowsersbane,” said MIC kind of lazily.
“Ughhh. Hi guys. I could really use a cold shower and a nice massage right about now.” Bowsersbane rubbed as much of his back as he could reach. He then took in his surroundings. “Well, at least I’ve got company,” he said dryly.
7
Samgamereviews house was the complete opposite of blablob’s. He had built a massive mansion that could be spotted from a mile away. Buffooner and blablob approached the building slowly, weary from their long journey. The house looked quiet and was lighted.
“Look,” said blablob. He pointed to a masked figure silently approaching the mansion. He did not appear to have spotted the pair.
“Oh no,” Buffooner said. “Quick! Get out of his line of vision!”
The two quickly dashed behind a wall of the mansion and stood straight up against it. Buffooner slowly shuffled to the corner and peeked his head around. The masked figure was scaling the mansion. He stopped in front of a window and then pulled out an axe.
“The axe in the floorboards,” Buffooner muttered. “That’s our culprit.”
“And he’s about to attack sam!” said blablob. “Come on, we’ve got to do something!” He took a step around the corner.
“Wait!” said Buffooner, pulling blablob back. “Wait till he breaks into the mansion. We don’t want to lose the element of surprise.”
Blablob stepped back cautiously around the corner of the mansion. He hadn’t been noticed. Suddenly, the pair heard a window break, and Buffooner saw the assailant go through.
“Now!” he exclaimed, taking the axe he had and smashing the nearest window. “Come on!”
The two dashed into the mansion through the window and ran through the building. “We’ve got to find a staircase,” said Buffooner, panting. “I think he broke in on the third floor.”
“Here!” cried blablob, turning to run up the staircase. Buffooner quickly followed suit. They heard noises from above, which got louder as they got closer and closer. When they reached the room where the fight was taking place, Buffooner motioned blablob to stop. Buffooner looked through the peephole of the door. The masked figure was throwing what appeared to be balls of pure energy at various things in the room. Samgamereviews was nowhere to be seen.
“He must be using his invisibility powers,” whispered Buffooner to blablob. The latter nodded in agreement. Buffooner continued to watch the battle through the peephole. Suddenly, as the masked figure hurled another ball of energy, there was a muffled cry and samgamereviews suddenly came into view, his power drained from the hit.
“Now!” shouted Buffooner, using his power to control the elements to make the wooden door vanish. Buffooner then quickly created a ball of elements and hurled it at the assailant while blablob created a force field that he also launched towards the assailant. The masked figure was sent flying through the broken window. Buffooner and blablob rushed to the window and saw the figure fleeing from the scene.
“Blablob!” said Buffooner. “Can you follow him? He’ll likely be fleeing to his base of operations. We might be able to get some information. I’ll stay with sam, and then when he is ready we’ll catch up with you.”
“Got it!” said blablob, and he jumped out the window, creating a shield below to protect his fall. He then darted after the masked figure.
Buffooner then rushed over to where samgamereviews lay stirring. “Sam! Are you all right?”
Samgamereviews slowly sat up. “Yeah, I think so. Just got the wind knocked out of me, you know what I mean?” He then tried to stand up, but felt suddenly dizzy and stumbled towards a wall.
“Come on, sam,” said Buffooner, grabbing samgamereviews to support him. “Let’s go downstairs and get you a little food. Then you’ll feel better.”
The two walked slowly down the stairs, Buffooner supporting samgamereviews while leaning against the railing. They then walked over to the kitchen. Samgamereviews slumped down in a chair while Buffooner made a soup. “Here, take this,” he said, handing samgamereviews the soup. “You’ll feel better.”
“Thanks,” samgamereviews responded, shakily taking the soup. He seemed to recover as he ate more of the soup, while Buffooner explained the situation.
“Do you think that you are feeling up the helping? I cannot stay; I must help blablob. But I’m afraid to leave you here alone in case he comes back.”
“I think I can come with you,” said samgamereviews. “Give me a minute to get ready.” He left the kitchen, now able to walk under his own strength.
8
Blablob kept his distance from the masked figure he was trailing, but never let him out of his sight. He had been following the mysterious man through a forest for some time now, and was beginning to grow weary. Finally, he saw the mysterious man stop in the center of a small, open, circular area in the forest. For a few moments, nothing happened; then, in an instant, he was gone. Vanished. No trace of the masked figure. Blablob looked wildly about him for some sign of the assailant, a rustle in the leaves perhaps or the sound of footsteps. But he neither saw nor heard anything. Complete quiet. Complete stillness.
Blablob slowly walked out into the open area. There was no vegetation, only sand. The trees surrounding it were very tall, and he felt puny by comparison. He approached the center of the area and looked down. He felt something hard. He brushed off the sand and discovered a flat stone. He knelt down and saw an inscription in some foreign tongue engraved on the stone. He did not understand what it meant. The only thing he could understand was a small picture of an axe.
He stood up. Great, he thought. Now what? And as if in response to his question, he suddenly felt an enormous pressure and then appeared in a doorway. He looked behind him. There was nothing. Whiteness. Nothingness. A blank canvas. He looked in front of him. There was a poorly lit hallway to which he could see no end. The walls were made of a dark brick and cobwebs were strung across the floor, on the walls, and in the corners where the ceiling met the wall. It was a short, narrow hallway, and blablob was a little scared. For one thing, he was not particularly fond of spiders. He would use a force field to clear the cobwebs down the length of the hallway, but he didn’t want to alert anybody to his presence. So, he slowly began to walk down the hallway, stepping as lightly as possible. He tried to think about something else, but the ominous feeling he was getting was very distracting. My God, he thought. This hallway will never end.
He kept walking and walking, but still there was no end in sight. No sign that he was making any progress. He looked behind him. Now he could no longer see the whiteness, the nothingness that now felt so welcoming. He grimaced, but kept walking. Crunch. He had stepped on a large spider. A little blood spattered on his shoes. Great, he thought. Lovely.
After what felt like days but were really only minutes, blablob saw a light at the end of the hallway. He quickly advanced, but stopped as he reached the end of the hallway. He looked around, and then saw marioiscool254, 3.14, and bowsersbane each surrounded by what appeared to be a force field in a room resembling a dungeon. A prison, blablob supposed. Fortunately, force fields were his specialty.
He advanced out of the hallway towards his companions. “Hey guys!” he said to the unsuspecting prisoners. They all looked up in alarm.
“Look out blablob!” cried 3.14. Blablob turned, only to have a massive energy ball slam him in the face. He was thrown into the wall of the dungeon. He couldn’t get back up. He didn’t have the energy. He saw the same masked figure charge up another energy ball, and knew that he was screwed. He saw the energy ball coming towards him…his life flashed before his eyes…and the energy ball was getting closer…it was inches from his face…
Suddenly, a brilliant light flashed as the energy ball exploded. Blablob shielded his eyes, and was amazed to find himself unharmed.
“Blablob! Quick! Take down the force fields!” Avolerators was shooting electricity out of his fingertips at the masked figure, and blablob took advantage of this opportunity. He concentrated his mind on the force fields enclosing the three prisoners, and after a few seconds they vanished. 3.14, marioiscool254, and bowsersbane all charged at their captor, but as they were all about to reach him, he vanished. The three collided with each other.
“Ow,” said marioiscool254. “Thanks blablob.” The three stood up.
“Hey Avo,” said 3.14. “What are you doing here?”
“Well,” he said a little sheepishly, “I’ve been following blablob and Buffooner, because I heard what happened and was hoping to gain their favor so I could become a member of the Legendary Twelve.”
“Ah,” said bowsersbane. “Well, that display certainly will help your cause.”
Suddenly, the room began to shake. A piece of the roof fell and nearly hit blablob on the head. “Time to go!” he said, starting to run for the hallway with the cobwebs. The others followed, but just as blablob was about to enter a hallway, a giant mass of brick from the ceiling fell right in front of the entrance to the hallway.
“Dang!” said blablob. “How are we going to get out?”
“Allow me,” said marioiscool254 in a very pompous tone. His eyes focused on the mass of brick, and he began to turn red. The others watched, still impressed after all these years, as the mass of brick was tossed off to the side telekinetically. “Go, go, go!” he said, ushering the others to enter the hallway before him.
They charged down the length of the hallway, and in just a minute the white nothingness came into view. Blablob, who was leading, slowed down. “Uh, guys? Do we really want to go into this?”
“Would you rather be crushed to death?” shouted marioiscool254 from the rear. “Hurry up, guys, this hallway is collapsing behind me!”
“All right,” said blablob worriedly. “Geronimo!” he cried, jumping into the nothingness. 3.14, bowsersbane, and Avolerators all followed. As marioiscool254 reached the edge, he paused, and looked back at the rapidly collapsing hallway. “Well,” he said to himself, “Here goes nothing. SO LONG, WORLD!!!” But as he jumped, he felt something grab his leg…
9
3.14 opened his eyes. Everything was brown. He groaned, and slowly rolled over. Ah, he thought. That looks like the sky. Much better.
He slowly got to his feet and found himself in the same circular area that blablob had entered the prison through. He observed his surroundings. Silence. And stillness. Blablob, bowsersbane, and Avolerators stirred and slowly got to their feet.
“We appear to be back in the real world,” said 3.14, not to anybody in particular. He was facing away from the rest of the group, trying to find something, some indication of what to do next.
“Hey guys,” said bowsersbane while cracking his neck. “Where’s MIC?”
They looked around. They had only just noticed his absence. “MIC?” said blablob. “MIC! Where are you?”
The four began to search the surrounding area for marioiscool254, but after fifteen minutes had no luck. They regathered in the central area. “Well, what do we do?” asked Avo.
“I don’t know,” said blablob, shrugging. They just stood there, silent, lost in thought, for a few minutes. That was broken by the sudden appearance of a panting fourinone.
“Four?” said blablob in disbelief. “What are you doing here?”
Fourinone stopped to catch his breath. “The forums…attacked. Massive wave of energy…swept through entire city…lots of damage, lots of casualties….” He was too exhausted to continue.
“Are you serious?” said blablob, in even more disbelief.
“I’m a mod, blablob. I’m not allowed to lie.”
There was silence again. “Well, come on!” said 3.14. “What are we waiting for? We’ve got to get back to the forums!”
“But what about MIC?” asked Avolerators.
“MIC?” asked an utterly confused fourinone, but he went ignored.
“At the moment, it’s more important that we get back to the forums,” said bowsersbane. “And we don’t have the slightest clue we’re MIC is.”
“Agreed,” said blablob. “Come on guys, let’s go.”
10
The forums were completely deserted. A dense smog lay low, covering up the tops of the buildings. Rubble lay in the streets; electricity lines were down, broken glass was everywhere, blocks of broken concrete fallen from the skyscrapers were scattered all over the city. Buffooner and samgamereviews were horrified. Fourinone had found the two and alerted them to the attack on the city, but neither of them were prepared for this. Buffooner tried to say something, but the words wouldn’t come out. He was rendered speechless. Completely and totally speechless. It was like the forums had been nuked.
The two rounded a corner. The temple of the Legendary Twelve was not more than a couple blocks ahead of them, but the smog was so dense that they couldn’t see it. They continued to walk silently, except for the broken glass that crunched beneath their feet.
Gradually, the outline of the temple began to shimmer through the fog. Buffooner and samgamereviews kept walking toward it. They got closer, and now began to see an outline of a gallows in front of the temple. Positioned exactly as it was for TheBetterGamer’s hanging three years earlier. The outline of two shadowy figures appeared, one standing on the gallows and one next to it. Buffooner and samgamereviews kept walking straight.
The shadowy figure next to the gallows turned and made a motion with his hands. As the energy ball approached them, Buffooner made an element ball to counteract it while samgamereviews became invisible and charged forward. A loud noise pierced the eerie silence as the ball of energy collided with the ball of elements and each exploded. Samgamereviews leaped up in mid-air and sent an impressive kick to the unsuspecting assailant’s head. He was thrown back onto the staircase, and samgamereviews foolishly charged the unknown attacker. However, just as he was about to strike the attacker, the latter blasted samgamereviews into Buffooner, sending both of them sprawling to the ground. Both brushed off the broken glass and dust and stood up. The masked figure stood silently on the staircase to the temple, awaiting the next assault.
“You take the left, and I’ll take the right,” said Buffooner to samgamereviews. Samgamereviews shot a bolt of electricity at the masked figure while Buffooner transformed into Super Buffooner and flew towards the adversary. He created a ball of fire and threw it at the still motionless masked figure while samgamereviews rammed right into him. Both attacks appeared to be effective, as the enemy was thrown further back up the steps and was also now on fire. Buffooner then quickly flew to the gallows and used the tomahawk axe to cut the rope choking the gagged figure.
“MIC?” said Buffooner incredulously. But before he could get a response, or find out if marioiscool254 was alive or not, samgamereviews was flung into the wooden pole from which the rope hung and knocked out.
Buffooner turned around to see the masked figure unharmed by the previous attacks. Not even the slightest trace of burn marks on his clothes or his hands. He pulled out his axe identical to the one Buffooner had in his hands. He then leaped forward with incredible distance and swung the axe down on Buffooner, who held up his axe to defend the blow.
An intense duel unfolded, like two sword masters dueling each other to the death. Every time Buffooner tried swinging the axe at a different angle, his opponent was always there to meet it. More than once his opponent nearly decapitated him, and Buffooner realized that he was not going to be able to defeat his opponent. Swing, block, swing, block, avoid decapitation, swing, block. This guy didn’t miss a beat, Buffooner thought. Then, he got an idea. As he swung again at his opponent, he reshaped the metal to curve around the other axe and pierce his opponent in the heart. His opponent stepped back, the lines of his face curved in surprise through the mask. His shirt was stained red. He dropped his axe, and then vanished. Buffooner sighed with relief.
He turned back to the gallows and ran to check on samgamereviews and marioiscool254. Both appeared to be alive but unconscious. He was about to go find help when suddenly he felt an enormous pressure on his back and then was thrown to the ground. He had no energy left. He slowly rose to his knees and looked back. Wham! He was hit again with another energy ball. My God, he thought. This guy just won’t die. Wham! Buffooner couldn’t get back up. He lay facedown on the ground, as energy ball after energy ball pounded his back. He was going to die. There was no mistaking it.
“Hang on, Buff! I brought help!”
From the other side of the staircase charged alucardx60, Ayrayen, megamario126, MetaRL123, and Hyper Sonic. Alucardx60 took to flight and came down on the masked figure and took out a sword.
“This party ends here!” shouted alucardx60, and he engaged the masked figure in battle. Sword vs. axe. Alucardx60 had the advantage. Ayrayen fired his Gemini laser at the masked figure while in battle with the masked figure. The Legendary Twelve appeared to have the upper hand. But then the masked figure split into six different people.
“This is so not good,” said Hyper Sonic, as he launched forward and began to attack one of the masked figures. MetaRL123 grew a metal outer coating and then charged a second masked figure. Megamario126 was attacked by a third masked figure, but fended him off using an electrically-charged ball. A fourth masked figure tackled Ayrayen off the staircase to prevent him from firing at alucardx60’s masked figure. Meanwhile, the last masked figure slowly advanced towards the gallows, where Buffooner, samgamereviews, and marioiscool254 all laid helpless.
The Legendary Twelve were struggling again. Ayrayen was knocked unconscious when the masked figure with whom he was engaged in battle with took his Gemini laser and shot him with it. Hyper Sonic misjudged his aim when engaging a burst of speed meant to ram his opponent and instead went flying over the railing of the staircase, and so he was knocked unconscious. Megamario126 was hit with an energy ball while transforming into Super Megamario, preventing the transformation and knocking him out. Only MetaRL123 and alucardx60 were still in their battles. MetaRL123’s metal coating made his kicks and punches much more effective while also providing increased protection from attack. Alucardx60 happened to be very good at swordsmanship, and had the upper hand over his axe-wielding opponent. Unfortunately, the three free masked figures began to close in on the two remaining of the Legendary Twelve, who were now outnumbered 5 to 2.
“Look out!” cried Buffooner weakly, but he was quickly hit by an energy ball thrown by the sixth masked figure. Buffooner knew he had very little strength left. One more hit and he would probably die. He saw his assailant create another energy ball…
“Hah! Take that!”
Buffooner looked, stunned, as his executioner fell to the ground, dead, a bullet in his head. Fourinone jumped up and down in glee behind Buffooner, but then narrowly avoided an energy ball hurled by one of the other masked figures.
“Jesus, four,” said 3.14, “get out of here before you get yourself killed!”
Bowsersbane, 3.14, Avolerators, and blablob charged the staircase and distracted some of the masked figures while four hid. Blablob placed a force field around the remaining conscious members of the Legendary Twelve, but just as he was about to put one on himself, the masked figure with Ayrayen’s Gemini laser shot him, knocking him unconscious and destroying the protective force fields on the others. Bowsersbane grew spikes and scales and then threw himself into another masked figure. 3.14 punched a third masked figure and sent him sprawling off the staircase using his super-strength. Avolerators stayed with Buffooner and the others near the gallows to protect them.
Suddenly, a deafening noise reverberated throughout the city. Buffooner could vaguely see Ayrayen standing up from where he was knocked unconscious and generated some sort of field throughout the city. It was unbearably loud, and lasted for a full minute. Finally, Ayrayen slumped over unconscious, and the noise stopped.
“Yes!” shouted alucardx60. “Ayrayen has defeated the masked figures!”
Buffooner looked around. Sure enough, all of the masked figures had vanished. He breathed a sigh of relief, only to get a sudden funny feeling. He looked up.
“Um, guys? Why do you think there is an airplane flying over the forums?”
The airplane flew closer to the temple, and as it was directly above dropped a bomb right on the staircase, sending all of the remaining conscious Legendary Twelve flying, with the exception of Avolerators and Buffooner, who remained at the gallows. A masked figure then jumped out of the airplane and landed directly in front of the gallows.
“Oh no,” said Avolerators, stepping back. The masked figure shot an energy ball at Buffooner, who was knocked out, and then one at Avolerators, who was thrown to the ground. The masked figure then turned back to the gallows and picked up marioiscool254. He hung up a new rope and then placed the noose around marioiscool254’s neck. What he didn’t notice was a massive piece of concrete being raised above his head. However, just as marioiscool254 was about to telekinetically release the concrete on the masked figure, he dodged the concrete and then fired up a massive energy ball to throw at marioiscool254.
“You will now die!” shouted the masked figure, and he let go of the energy ball.
“NOOOOOOOO!” screamed Avolerators, diving in front of marioiscool254 to take the hit. His body was blasted backwards, and he fell on the gallows, dead.
11
The masked figure chuckled at Avolerators’s pitiful heroic attempts. He knew that marioiscool254 did not have the strength in him to try what he did again, so there was no need to kill him now. He scaled the temple, and upon reaching the top, snapped his fingers. All of the Legendary Twelve present and living woke up.
“Gentlemen. I have summoned you here for your execution. You have fought valiantly, and I commend your efforts, but they are, ultimately futile. The first execution is going to be that of marioiscool254.”
The Legendary Twelve were too weak to do anything to prevent this. They just looked at the masked figured blankly. Only marioiscool254 spoke.
“TBG, you don’t have to do this, you know.”
Murmurs of shock ran through the defeated group of heroes. “Him?” said blablob. “TBG? Impossible!”
"Not necessarily," said Buffooner. "His axe is a tomahawk. Remember a week before TBG's execution, a new guy named Tomahawk345 appeared in the forums but vanished when TBG was executed? They're probably one and the same."
Marioiscool254 hesitated, but then continued. “You see, he was just a week or two away from being eligible for membership in the group. But I didn’t want him in. I liked things just the way they were and didn’t want them to change. I didn’t want anybody else to be let in. So I vandalized the forums and framed TBG for it so that he wouldn't meet the character requirements for membership. I didn’t intend for him to be hanged though. I have never gotten over the guilt. But you can still come back to us, TBG. We welcome you now.”
The man on top of the temple removed his mask and revealed himself to be a reincarnated form of TheBetterGamer. “Yes, I was TBG. But TBG is dead! You killed him! And for that there is no forgiveness! You will all die for your sins! And you, MIC, you will be the first to go!”
But as he pronounced his revenge on top of the temple, a gigantic bolt of lightning struck him, as though the gods had heard his evil intentions and were now striking him down. He was thrown off the top of the temple, and landed on the staircase with a thud. Meanwhile, aznchau4ever and Avolerators now stood atop the temple.
“Hiya!” said aznchau4ever, jumping off the top of the temple and landing in front of TheBetterGamer, who was slowly getting up. Avolerators followed suit.
"Take some of this!" cried Avolerators, shooting electricity out of his fingertips towards the flailing TBG. Meanwhile, aznchau4ever was going around the rest Legendary Twelve and restoring their strength using his powers. Soon, the others joined Avolerators in attacking TBG, whose strength was rapidly depleting. Finally, he fell to the ground. Buffooner stepped forward.
"This is your last chance TBG. If you do not resist, we will let you live. But if you try anything else on us, we'll kill you here and now."
TBG snarled. "I would rather endure the tortures of Hell then walk among you evil scum."
"Um, guys?" said megamario126. "This isn't over yet."
Everybody looked up. "Oh God," cried blablob. A massive wave of energy was rapidly approaching the temple, destroying everything in it's path. "Run, run, run!" cried 3.14 as the wave engulfed the temple and sent its remains flying through the air. Samgamereviews and Hyper Sonic darted ahead with their impressive speed, and Buffooner transformed into Super Buffooner, grabbed fourinone, who had hid behind a building during the battle, and flew swiftly across the forums. But the remaining members of the Legendary Twelve were in trouble. The wave of energy was catching up. TBG began to laugh manically as he watched the Legendary Twelve trying to escape his energy wave in vain, and continued to do so until the wave engulfed him. The others darted across the forums as fast as they could, but they were not moving fast enough.
Suddenly, marioiscool254 stopped. He turned around and faced the ever-closer energy wave, which was at least as wide as the forums.
"MIC!" cried Avolerators. "What are you doing?"
"His energy balls exploded as they met something of equal force. If I can create a wall using the remains of the forums, I might be able to stop it."
"But that's madness! You'll be killed!"
"If I don't do this, we'll all be killed. I got us into this mess, and I'm gonna get us out of it!"
"NO! I won't let you!"
Marioiscool254 gave a weak smile. "Sadly, Avo, it's not up to you whether I do this or not." And suddenly, the remaining buildings and rubble of the city, along with the pavement from the roads and the concrete from the sidewalks, began to form a massive wall between marioiscool254 and Avolerators, blocking each other from view. "NO!" screamed Avo, as the wall grew larger and larger, approaching the size of the energy wave sweeping towards them.
"You cannot stop me now, Avo!" Avo heard marioiscool254 shout. "Save yourself!" And at long last, Avo turned and ran. At that moment, the wave of energy slammed into MIC's telekinetically created wall made of the remains of the forum. Then there was a massive explosion, and all of the Legendary Twelve were thrown into the ground as a massive amount of dust shot over them.
12.
Buffooner kept his body flat to the ground as the dust flew over him. It was unbelievably loud and it stung like heck as it scraped his back. Finally, it past, and he stood up. Whatever had remained of the forum from the first attack was gone now. The energy wave was gone. He ran to help the other members of the Legendary Twelve to their feet and to make sure nobody was hurt. Soon, they were all on their feet and looking back at where the forums once stood, now only a memory.
"Where's MIC?" asked MetaRL123, wiping off the dust that was all over his clothes.
"MIC didn't make it," said Avo. "He sacrificed himself to form a wall using the remains of the forums to explode the energy wave."
There was a stunned silence. The only sound that could be heard was a light breeze blowing the dust around.
After a few minutes, Buffooner spoke, "Does anybody know what happened to TBG?"
"I saw him be engulfed by his own energy wave," volunteered alucardx60. "He knew he wouldn't survive, so he hoped to take us down with him."
"Oh," said samgamereviews. He shuffled his feet anxiously.
"And Azn," asked blablob. "How did you get here?"
“Quite simple” said Avolerators quickly. “When I was killed by TBG’s energy ball intended for MIC, I was brought up to heaven. And as I suspected, azn was up there. He summoned the lightning to strike TBG and then brought us both down.”
“How did you know that azn was up there?” inquired Ayrayen.
“A guess, really. But I knew that nobody was able to find him, and I remembered his famous move during the attack of R’s Army. Force of the Heavens. I figured it was my best shot.” He paused. "Come on guys, I was too young to be dead for real."
A moment of silence. Then aznchau4ever began to laugh. Blablob scowled at Azn, but then softened and started laughing himself. Then, fourinone began to laugh, and like a disease it spread through the remaining members of the group, until they were all laughing hysterically.
Epilogue
Avolerators was made a member of the group the following day. He was the first of what became known as the New Legends.
All of the members of the Legendary Twelve moved back into the temple. They helped to rebuild the forums, and within a matter of a few months the forums were flourishing once more.
Following the restoration of the forums, all of the members gathered for marioiscool254's funeral. The members of the Legendary Twelve wrote a moving speech in memory of him, which was read by Suyo, Niklaw, and fourinone.
Buffooner was finally given the funding he needed to renovate the Legendary Twelve temple.
Meanwhile…somewhere far, far, away
"Dad, can Joey and I go out to play by the river?"
"Yes, son, but be careful of the currents."
"OK, Dad. Joey! My dad said it was OK!"
The two young boys ran out towards the nearby river, dressed in bathing attire and carrying goggles and towels. Soon, they reached the banks of the river, dropped their stuff, and ran into the river.
"Brr," said Joey. "It's cold!" When his companion didn't respond, he said, "Dan? Dan! Can you here me?"
But Dan was frozen still. He wasn't moving a muscle. "Dan, what's wrong?" asked Joey. Dan slowly rose his hand and pointed across the river. "There," he said, not moving his eyes.
Across the river, a small pebble was floating at least three to four feet in the air…
Fin.
EXTRAS
Original Ending
11
The masked figure chuckled at Avolerators’s pitiful heroic attempts. He knew that marioiscool254 did not have the strength in him to try what he did again, so there was no need to kill him now. He scaled the temple, and upon reaching the top, snapped his fingers. All of the Legendary Twelve present and living woke up.
“Gentlemen. I have summoned you here for your execution. You have fought valiantly, and I commend your efforts, but they are, ultimately futile. The first execution is going to be that of marioiscool254.”
The Legendary Twelve were too weak to do anything to prevent this. They just looked at the masked figured blankly. Only marioiscool254 spoke.
“TBG, you don’t have to do this, you know.”
Murmurs of shock ran through the defeated group of heroes. “Him?” said blablob. “TBG? Impossible!”
"Not necessarily," said Buffooner. "His axe is a tomahawk. Remember a week before TBG's execution, a new guy named Tomahawk345 appeared in the forums but vanished when TBG was executed? They're probably one and the same."
Marioiscool254 hesitated, but then continued. “You see, he was just a week or two away from being eligible for membership in the group. But I didn’t want him in. I liked things just the way they were and didn’t want them to change. I didn’t want anybody else to be let in. So I vandalized the forums and framed TBG for it so that he wouldn't meet the character requirements for membership. I didn’t intend for him to be hanged though. I have never gotten over the guilt. But you can still come back to us, TBG. We welcome you now.”
The man on top of the temple removed his mask and revealed himself to be a reincarnated form of TheBetterGamer. “Yes, I was TBG. But TBG is dead! You killed him! And for that there is no forgiveness! You will all die for your sins! And you, MIC, you will be the first to go!”
But as he pronounced his revenge on top of the temple, a gigantic bolt of lightning struck him, as though the gods had heard his evil intentions and were now striking him down. And when the Legendary Twelve looked back at the top of the temple, TheBetterGamer no longer stood there. In his place stood Avolerators and aznchau4ever.
“Hi guys!” said aznchau4ever, jumping off the top of the temple down to where the staircase once was. Avolerators followed suit.
The Legendary Twelve slowly got to their feet. “Azn!” exclaimed Buffooner. “How…how did you get here? And what happened to TBG?”
“Quite simple” said Avolerators. “When I was killed by TBG’s energy ball intended for MIC, I was brought up to heaven. And as I suspected, azn was up there. He summoned the lightning to strike TBG and kill him and then brought us both down.”
“How did you know that azn was up there?” inquired marioiscool254.
“A guess, really. But I knew that nobody was able to find him, and I remembered his famous move during the attack of R’s Army. Force of the Heavens. I figured it was my best shot.” He paused. “Did you really think I sacrificed myself for you, MIC?” Everybody chuckled, except for marioiscool254, who was thoroughly embarrassed.
12. Epilogue
Avolerators was made a member of the group the following day. He was the first of what became known as the New Legends.
Marioiscool254 expressed his intent to leave the group out of shame. However, he was convinced to stay by the rest of the group, saying that they forgave him for his mistake, something that TheBetterGamer would not do when given the opportunity.
All of the members of the Legendary Twelve moved back into the temple. They helped to rebuild the forums, and within a matter of a few months the forums were flourishing once more.
Buffooner was finally given the funding he needed to renovate the Legendary Twelve temple.
Fin.
