ic Student Assessment Group C (IC)

[Poncho]

(GM Post)

 

"I don't know what that means." Dr. Zero said. The real Dr. Zero had died in an accident in 1955. Even if this machine did have a perfect knowledge of what Dr. Zero's brain would know at the moment of his death, the movie that Spore was referencing was decades after his death. "You children with your new slang...can't you put more effort into actually being effective or useful instead of finding new ways to butcher the english language." he denounced Spore as he dodged out of the way of her attack.

 

Meanwhile...

 

Tom continued to be rather...slow. As Jack and Mz. Grue leaped at him, Jack slicing into his weird, marshy body, and Mz. Grue attempting to grapple him, he continued to move a few seconds later than he was supposed to. Jack sliced at him, and then after a few seconds, raised an arm to defend himself. Mz. Grue garbbed at him, and after a few seconds, he put his mitts up on her wrists and pushed them away.

 

"G...eee.....t ....aa....w....a....y." Then he slammed his massive hands together, sending a wave of pressure and force outwards and down the stairs, cracking the air like a bolt of lightning; tipping more polic cars and sending the cops flying as the heroes were forced to deal with the pressure wave.

[Jack]

Jack felt the force of the thunderclap strike him squarely in the chest, causing him to take a step back. The impact was like a sledgehammer, momentarily knocking the wind from his lungs. Despite his massive size and icy armor, the blow had enough power to make even him stagger.

 

Through the haze of pain and rage, Jack's keen eyes caught something odd. Tom seemed to be moving in slow motion, his reactions delayed as if he were underwater. Jack's mind raced, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. Was this some strange effect of the thunderclap? Or perhaps another hero's power at work? He had no way of knowing what this meant, and in the heat of battle, there was no time to ponder it further.

 

The pain from the thunderous strike made Jack's anger flare anew. It was like throwing gasoline on an already raging inferno. The bear spirit within him roared its fury, urging him to strike back, to crush the one who dared harm him. Jack's massive form trembled with barely contained rage, frost crackling across his fur.

 

Without conscious thought, Jack lashed out reflexively with his claws. His massive paw, tipped with razor-sharp icicles, sliced through the air towards Tom's seemingly slow-moving form. The attack was pure instinct, driven by pain and fury rather than strategy. Jack's claws glinted in the dim light as they arced towards their target, promising cold vengeance for the thunderous blow he had endured.

 

Edited October 10 by Jack

[Spacefurry]

Seraphim

 

Seraphim breathed a sigh of relief as Cole started to come to.

“Well, I’d have to say they do look like the old photos they use in the documentaries.”

She agreed before a sudden shockwave hit her, and slammed her into the same car King Cole had hit. Her head spun and she felt unsteady for a moment, but something told her she couldn’t afford to sit there.

“Ooooouch.”

She groaned and it took an effort of will, but Seraphim shook her head to clear the haze. She felt the warmth of her light and felt like she could think again. Her body still ached, but it wasn’t that bad.

 

Seraphim began to glow and shimmering wings of light appeared at her back. In an instant she was airborne. Another orb of light formed in her hand and she slung it between the villains with, perhaps, more than a little anger than she intended. It was only afterwards she realized her classmates might be caught in the effect and she swore as the flash went off.

“Son of a-“

[Tiffany Korta]

Mz Grue

 

You'd think it would be easy to grasp onto a figure as big as Cyprus, but Daphne was finding it harder than expected. It might be because she was a little too tall and had to adjust to keep him in sight whilst trying to get a solid hold of the guy. It was more frustrating as she was pretty sure she'd done this many times before, much more successfully when she was older. If only she could remember how this all worked!

 

"Oh poo!" was how she managed to express these feelings.

 

All the while taking a stance against possible counterattacks.

[Poncho]

(GM Post)

 

Tom yelled in frustration once more as he was beset on all sides, blinded by Seraphim's shining light. He might not have been feeling the attacks being pushed at him; he was fighting off both Jack and Mz. Grue in a physical sense quite easily, but he was definitely blind at the moment. Doctor Zero, meanwhile frowned, turned his attention back to Seraphim.

"You really are the most troublesome of this group, aren't you? Healing, disrupting...you really must go." he decided, shooting another blast of ice at the inheritor of The Light, but it went wide.

[Supercape]

Spore

 

Despite the aches and pains, and being smashed about the room, Spore was having fun. This was like the best virtual reality game ever!

 

And it was the right place, right time, to try out some of the spore powers she had been practicing!

 

She took a huge breath in, felt the fungus tickle her lung tissue, and breathe out - 

 

- a mist of yellow-grey vapours flew from her tongue, like an ocean spray. 

 

This was not an attempt to dampen Doctor Zero's spirits, or dehydrate her body. Each droplet contained a potent neural mycotoxin, that - hopefully, could shut down Doctor Zero's nervous system. 

 

"Think you are cool?" she said. "Take a load of this!"

[Poncho]

(GM Post)

 

The giant Cyprus wasn't having too much issue handling Mz. Grue and Jackson. Even blinded, it seemed like he was a furious as could be and almost impossible to take down with physical blows; each strike seemed to only be making him even angrier But the wave of spores wafted over Cyprus and Dr. Zero.

 

The Giant didn't even flinch, continuing to roar and scream; if it was actually affecting him, his super human constitution and toughness were keeping it almost impossible to deal with.

 

Dr. Zero was a different sort, as he snarled angrily.

 

"Stop with...y..our....tri..." he couldn't even finish his statement as the mycotoxin entered his bloodstream, and he stumbled, then went down, paralyzed by the Fungo-spores from the Fungus Superhero. His eyes were lashing around back and forth, but his body couldn't move.

 

This meant nothing to the giant Cyprus, who, blind as a bat, swing out violently at Mz. Grue, but he only hit a pillar of the bank, exploding it into powder as he roared, his eyes starting to work again.

[Jack]

Jack's attention was caught by Spore's attack and it's effectiveness in paralysing one of the bad guys. Jack and Daphne were having little luck in doing much to the giant Cyprus. He had an idea to try and take advantage of the situation and try something new. He let out a breathy growl and slammed his claws down into the concrete. Ice formed around his claws over the ground and spread out towards Tom's Cyprus forming a thick icy line as it surrounded the giant villain and started growing upwards to entrap him.

[Spacefurry]

Seraphim

 

Seraphim was glad that her flash attack hadn’t hindered her teammates. Dr Zero seemed to be incapacitated by a cloud Spore had exhaled. She suddered involuntarily.

She seemed like a nice girl, but…

 

Seraphim shook her head.

“No time for that kind of thinking.”

She chided herself and turned her attention to the giant Tom that was still active.

 

Still airborne, she moved for a better line of sight and aimed a hand at the villain.

“It’s time you saw the light of.. your, ah errors…”

‘Geez that sounded stupid.’

She cringed, even as bright light flared and a beam of brilliance cut through the air to slam into the man with surprising solidity.

[Tiffany Korta]

Mz Grue

 

After a few minutes of trying to grapple with the swamp beast, Daphne decided on a slight change of tact. Obviously, the fact that she towered even over Tom made it difficult to get a good grip on the foe, so she shrunk back down to her normal height. But as she did, she made her body denser, making it more difficult to move if he managed to get a hold of her.

 

Initially, the plan seemed to be working, but whilst her smaller form allowed her to get a solid hold his strength meant she just couldn't keep the hold for very long, let alone be able to do anything beyond that.

 

"Well, this isn't going according to my plan!" Hopefully, the others were having a better go at things.

[Supercape]

Spore

 

Spore spun her head left and right to try an assess the carnage across the danger room. It was impossible, she thought, pure chaos! Perhaps this was what a fight was about, too much happening too quickly to process. Reflexive - that's what things needed to be. And, this was the training to build those reflexes. 

 

All this whipped through her head in a second, providing a buffer to the chaos. "Ride the chaos!" she told herself. 

 

She threw a barrage of spores at Tom. Maybe they would hit, maybe not, maybe he would fall asleep, maybe not. Whatever happened, she would keep on fighting!

Edited December 16 by Supercape

[Poncho]

(Count as King Cole III)

 

Renee finally had gotten her breath back after being violently knocked unconscious in a single hit, mostly thanks to Seraphim's assistance. But she struggled to her feet and breathed out slowly, forcing herself back to normal with a grin on her face.

 

"Thanks, Seraphim." the King grinned, brushing herself off. "Now then! Let us continue our engagement with these rapscallions! They shall come to know that their time has passed, and our time has come! That's the truth of the matter, that's the end of the line!" she called.

 

Meanwhile, Tom Cyprus was continuing his rampage; he was waylaid directly by Spore's spores, wading through them like they barely affected him. He had a few bruises, but he was barely slowing down, and without Dr. Zero to give him orders, he seemed to have lost even the barest amount of restraint in his actions, he was swinging wildly with haymakers, destroying the bank more than he was coming anywhere near hitting the students attempting to corral him. He crushed another pillar with a wild swing, sending shattered marble and plaster flying through the air of the simulator.

 

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" he screamed, wordless, meaningless, simply emotional.

[Jack]

Jack narrowed his eyes, studying Tom intently as the swamp creature continued his rampage. The bear spirit within him growled, urging caution. The way Tom thrashed about nagged at Jack's subconscious, triggering an odd sensation he couldn't quite place. His mystical abilities prickled, sending faint signals through his thoughts.

 

As Tom lumbered forward, crushing everything in his path, realization dawned on Jack. The swamp beast was powerful, no doubt, able to shrug off their attacks like they were nothing more than pesky mosquito bites. But that strength came at a cost. Tom was slow, his movements ponderous and clumsy.

 

A broken pillar crashed to the ground at Jack's feet, sending up a cloud of dust and debris. Without hesitation, the giant teen reached down and grasped the pillar in his massive hands. The stone was cold against his skin, but Jack barely noticed. His focus was entirely on Tom.

 

With a grunt of effort, Jack hefted the pillar like a colossal baseball bat. The muscles in his arms and shoulders bulged with the strain, but he held it steady. Lost in his fury, Tom appeared oblivious to the lethal threat looming before him.

 

Jack took a step forward, planting his feet firmly. He drew in a deep breath, frost misting from his nostrils. Then, with a roar that shook the very foundations of the bank, he swung the pillar in a wide arc directly at Tom's hulking form. The stone whistled through the air, a makeshift weapon in the hands of a furious ice bear. Jack poured all his strength into the blow, determined to stop Tom's rampage once and for all.

 

 

[Spacefurry]

Seraphim

 

Seraphim watched as the massive, damp villian just steamrolled through everything they threw at him. When Jack’s baseball swung the solid pillar and the man shrugged it off she decide she had to try something, but what else did she have?

 

As she stared at him is a mix of awe and horror something like an idea came to her. Maybe she couldn’t stop him out right, but maybe she could slow him down enough for one of the others to.

 

Steeling herself, Seraphim flew up to within spitting distance of the swamp thing and stopped in midair. Spreading her arms out the young hero flared into brilliant light. She’d done this before, no problem, but she needed more. Screwing her eyes closed she pushed the light out harder, like straining a muscle she didn’t excersise enough.

 

The temperature of the air around her began to jump by leaps and bounds until she hung there like a tiny star. A girl shaped mass of burning light, threatening to ignite and flammable materials that happened to be too close.

 

Seraphim could feel the heat threatening to exceed her grasp as she strained to pull it back before it reached out too far. Sweat rolled down her face and her whole body began to tremble from the effort.

[Tiffany Korta]

Mz Grue

 

Taking a moment to center herself Daphne metaphorically kicked herself, she was trying to meet Might with Might when she had a whole bundle of other tricks to play with! She suddenly recalled that Tom Cyprus was more a force of nature than a man, strong but not the sharpest moss in the swamp kingdom!

 

She couldn't actually mind controlling anyone, not that she'd ever want to, but she could use her telepathy to plan the idea into that big head and try and cause conflict.

 

Tom so stupid, Tom cannot beat puny humans. to the best of her abilities, she tried to keep the tone and inclination of what she'd heard of the villain, trying to make it sound like this was a dissenting voice in his mossy brain.

 

Or at least that was the plan!

[Poncho]

(GM Post)

 

Tom shuddered as he continued to weather the storm. It seemed like this was never ending, that Tom was as immovable, as unstoppable as the swamp he was born from. Seraphim's light dried him out, turning his mossy green exterior into a cracked, parched grey and brown, like the ground after rain. He was still struggling, fighting, holding off Jack physically, swinging wildly through the air at the heroes.

 

Then Daphne got into his mind, or what was there; more of a bundle of primal thoughts than a real mind. But those thoughts made it easy to sink into. And Tom roared as he heard himself telling himself that he could not beat them. 

 

"TOM CRUSH YOU!" he screamed, but he couldn't even tell who he was screaming at. He swung wildly, back and forth, trying to find the source of the voice, but utterly unable to determine it.

 

Until one of his massive, swinging fists seemed to discover what was infuriating him, and he swing one of his big fists directly into his own face.

 

He shattered like mud, his head crumpling into clods of dirt and debris as his massive body fell to the ground and slumped over. He wasn't dead though; Tom Cyprus could not die, he would always come back from the Swamp, but he was absolutely disabled or now. 

 

There was silence right now, between the passed out Doctor Zero and the clump of slowly melting and falling apart bundle of moss, dirt, and swamp water that had been Tom Cyprus slowly flowed down the stairs around the feet of the students.

[Spacefurry]

Seraphim

 

Seraphim held the light as tightly as she could as she felt the heat radiate from her. Suddenly the massive walking swamp thing began flailing around until it unfathomably seemed to punch itself.

Even as it crumbled Seraphim held on. It wasn’t until only a puddled mass of dirt and organic materials oozed down the steps that she finally released the light… and collapsed to the ground herself.

 

Seraphim managed herself to her hands and knees, panting heavily as sweat chilled her skin. She felt like she wanted to throw up, but she held it back as she attempted to get her feet under her and stand.

She stumbled as she stood before finding her balance again.

“Is… is everyone… okay?”

She stammered between breaths.

[Supercape]

Spore

 

"Yeah, nothing a few asprin wont fix," said Spore, massaging her shoulder. "And... phew... that felt close."

 

She looked around the carnage. "That happened so fast, like a blur. And yet kinda slow, too? Wow. Its going to be replaying in my head for days, but I guess thats the point, right? What did we do right, what did we do wrong?"

 

She smiled. "But we won! Go us!"

[Poncho]

(King Cole III)

 

"Grooooosssssss." King Cole whined as she managed to get up just fast enough to not get sludge in her face and on her clothes. "He's all...stinky and smelly." she whined.

 

"But I'm okay! Only a minor concussion I think, which really that's what unlocked my grandfather's magic abilities so hey, maybe I'm suddenly about to become a magical genius!" she said with a grin before suddenly turning around and hugging Sarah.

 

"Good job Sarah-Phim! You saved my life! Or my brain! One of the two!" she said happily. "And everyone else did great too! Jack is so tough, Daphne is so smart, Harper is so...poisony! Victory is us!"

[Jack]

Jack felt his muscles gradually unwind as the tension of battle ebbed away. The sight of Tom crumbling into muddy pieces brought an immense wave of relief washing over him. His bear form's muzzle twitched in what passed for a smile, though the expression probably looked more fearsome than friendly.

 

The ice coating on his massive frame began to crack and slough off as his body responded to the calming of his battle rage. His bones shifted with familiar discomfort, muscles contracting and reforming as he shrank back to his human self. The transition always felt like stretching after a long nap - uncomfortable but not quite painful. Ice crystals shattered against the pavement as his massive bear form melted away, leaving behind his usual towering but decidedly more human frame. He rolled his broad shoulders, working out the lingering tension from the transformation, which left him standing in his basketball shorts and sleeveless hoodie, wisps of frost still curling off his skin.

 

"If anyvone needs healing, I can help." His thick Russian accent carried across the room as he pulled moisture from the air, forming a small swirling sphere of water around his right hand. The liquid glowed with a soft blue light, ready to mend whatever injuries his teammates had sustained.

 

King Cole's enthusiastic praise made him duck his head slightly, shoulders hunching in embarrassment. "Vas nothing special. Just doing vhat needed to be done, da?" He wasn't used to compliments, especially not such energetic ones. "Everyone fought vell together."

[Tiffany Korta]

Mz Grue

Daphne returned to normal and joined the other, feeling a little bummed that she hadn't figured out how to win earlier.

 

"I should have known to do that, I've done this kind of thing lots of times before! Kinda sorta, things are always more complicated than that..." she looked a little awkward and scratched the back of her head

 

"I blame all those fake digital psychic shadows, all taste kind of fuzzy to me!"

[Poncho]

(GM Post)

 

The room slowly started to fade and return to normal, blank hexagonal walls. The fake people, places, and things reverted to wire frames and digital outlines before collapsing into nothingness, even Tom Cyprus' legendary stink seemed to fade away and leave the room more or less the exact same way the kids had entered it. If maybe they were a bit more beat up than they had been before.

 

"Well, that wasn't a complete failure. Remember to be willing to stretch your powers and try unconventional means. You could have spent hours attempting to beat Tom down, but a quick thinking use of her powers lead to Mz. Grue defeating an opponent that would have been too dangerous to attempt to try to subdue with conventional physical damage. Meanwhile, Seraphim did well in using her powers to keep him distracted, as well as helping her allies. Spore, you did well in distracting the weaker individuals and subduing Doctor Zero. Jack; your resilience is impressive and your willingness to attempt new strategies was an excellent example of lateral thinking." the gruff voice finally began talking, evaluating their performance. "...King Cole. You...did not help very much, and while still on the scene you referred to your allies by their real names. You need more training." the voice finished as the door opened.

 

"You are all free to go."