ic Pavo's Response (IC)

[Poncho]

(Golden Star)

 

As his grip on the creature failed, as the creature disappeared, Michael seemed as surprised as anything at the efficiency that Baz had displayed.

 

"Uh...wow. Good Job Buzz." he said, clearly a bit surprised at how easily Baz had wiped up both of their foes whille Michael was flailing uselessly at the armorred one; it'd only taken Baz one shot to take him out. 

 

"You're as increidble as always Buzz, you took them out like they were nothing." he said cheerfully. "I wish I was as good as you were at handlig all this stuff." he said with a cheerful smile.

[Supercape]

Gamma Buzz

 

Wait... I actually did that?

 

Well of course I did. I am the amazing Gamma Buzz!

 

Yes... but... I really did that?

 

Baltazar shook his head clear of the circular thoughts. "Well of course!" he said to Michael, chest puffed. "I am the amazing Gamma Buzz, and cockroach luck is just one of my many amazing cockroach powers!"

 

"I mean, it may have been blind luck, not cockroach luck, but don't tell the others..." he added, with a shifty glance sideways and a cockroach finger to cockroach lips. "shhh!"
 

"But now we got to work out what to with the thingy that does stuff, right? Any ideas?"

[Poncho]

(Golden Star Post)

 

"We should try to find the girl, I think. Yeah she ran off, but they're hunting her, right? He mentioned his boss was going after her." He said to Bazz.

"Uh, you're good to go, right? We need to go after her and try to find her, especially if their boss is after them; these two were difficult enough, I'm not excited to see what whoever is in charge of them is going to have up their sleeve."

If anything he was dreading it. He could barely keep up with these two, but he was going to have to fight someone stronger now? Baz didn't seem to have any troubles with it. For awhile he'd assumed that Baz's demeanor was a fake; he's thought he was confident at first, then he thought it might be hiding insecurities. Then, now, after this, after watching Baz for longer, he was pretty sure it'd wrapped back around; Baz acted like he was confident to hide insecurities, but in the end he was competent, capable, and easily able to handle just about anything.

 

He needed to be more like Baz.

[Supercape]

Gamma Buzz

 

"I am sure we can handle it!" said Gamma Buzz, giving a pair of thumbs up. "It is almost certain that we may be able to defeat the boss. After all, you have your laser shuriken, right? Ker-pow! Zap!"

 

He squatted on his haunches, and sniffed. 

 

"You know, I think I can smell her with my amazing cockroach-nose. Can probably track her, too, find out where she went."

 

He cast a gaze up to Michael. "I got a feeling we are biting off more than we can chew. But, what are we going to do? Spit out the meat just cos' we the going got tough? We can do this! What's the worst that could happen?"

 

Baltazar Botez could think of plenty of horrible things that could happen. He just chose not to think about them. 

 

Instead, nose to the ground, he started sniffing out the girl and scuttling along the trail. 

[Poncho]

(GM Post)

 

So Baz put his nose to the ground and started moving. Michael helped a few more people around the area before moving on, and then the two were off. It wasn't that hard to track the girl; she had a scent about her that Baz could remember from her almost smackign into him, and the power of the Umbra Star almost seemed to give off it's own odor, but it was hard to say what it smelled like. Semi-sweet, semi-burnt. It smelled similar to the Tauros that Baz had been given by Zoe, but just a tinge different, like two candles of the same type made by different manufacturers. 

 

So the nose led them on, as they dipped into an alley and out the other side. A few more blocks over; the crawling bug and the shiny golden boy following him drawing attention, they finally found what they wanted.

 

A brick building on a street corner bore a sign for Rocket Records, a well known alternative record store featuring bootlegs, foriegn and local bands, and an vinyl collection. The store was tucked away on the second floor of the building, but normally had a large sign pointing to the entrance with a neon display of a spinning vinyl. 

 

Said display had been ripped down, tearing the stairs from the building. As the two approached, a section of the brick wall went flying and a teenager got hurled out of it; the teenager from before, who had stopped the truck, then yelled at Baz and fled, falling through the air. But she'd lost her powers, she wasn't in a Sentry uniform anymore.

 

"...This was far too much effort." a voice complained to itself. A red skinned creature in a clinging bodysuit was standing in the demolished record store. He was so slender and slight that they were actively andogynous, and unlike the two previous creatures, he didn't have giant clawed hands. He looked almost normal if not for the tight ponytail of blue hair and the red, scaled skin. He had a crystal similar to the Tauros one, but in the yellow of Scutum, in his hand.

 

"I apologize, creatures of this dimension, for you being caught up in this wild frennac chase. "I also apologize for this damage. Can I be allowed to leave now?" he asked, not taking a threatening pose at all, even at Baz and Michael. 

[Poncho]

(Golden Star)

 

Michael caught the girl before she flew too far, wrapping her in his cape to avoid falling brick and glass as he took a hold of the teen and floated back down to stay close to Baz. He floated a little bit away to lay her down on a bench, since she wasn't awake, before turning his attention back to the man on the second floor and Baz. He looked at Baz and frowned. He didn't want to let this guy go, not at all. But did Baz? He didn't think he could take this guy alone- or rather, he knew he couldn't, given how much trouble he had with just his bodyguards-, but he didn't want to drag Baz into a fight that he didn't want to take. He needed to keep Baz safe as much as anyone.

 

"...You just want to leave? You're friends didn't want to just Leave."

[Supercape]

Gamma Buzz

 

"Um. Only if you are telling the truth. And, um, don't lie about it!" said Baz, waving a finger at the (presumably) alien figure. 

 

He looked at Michael and shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "I got the feeling like we are deciding who should have a nuclear missile! Who do we trust?"

 

He looked back at the alien, eyes scrutinising the beast. "Why should we believe you? Seems everybody wants these crystals, and everybody is saying trust me, don't trust the others! It's not much to go on, is it?"

[Poncho]

(Golden Star)

 

"Buzz, there's no way we can let this guy leave, right? Remember what Z- Taurus said? He and his boss have been hunting her and her friends for like years." Michael said to Buzz. "He beat this girl up and took her powers too."

 

"Those powers are not theirs. They are taken from the Umbra Star, which is Empress Sola's by right. Enoch stealing the jewel doomed our land to darkness and suffocation. If we were given the stone back, we would cease bothering this land."

 

"We were told that if you got the stone back, your entire world would turn into a dark dimension." Michael argued

 

"That wouldn't be your problem even so." The slender being from a different dimension retorted. "You should stay in your world, and we would like to stay in ours; it is only the actions of a traitorous weasel that has driven us to invade others. Our land was a paradise before he stole the Star, even if we did have to purge some dissidents."

 

Michael grit his teeth.

 

"Buzz this guy is clearly full of crap!" he yelled as he put down the girl.

 

"Be quiet, I can clearly tell between you and the Magister you're the brute force. I'm having a conversation with the respectable individual in control of Taurus, not his attack dog."

 

With a flash of light, Michael went from on the ground to flying towards the elfin creature, swinging a fist. The entire area was enveloped in dust and debris as the building shattered and spewed rock and dust everywhere, but when it cleared the slender creature was standing on the swinging display of a vinyl record and Michael had missed his punch.

 

"Unfortunate. I was hoping this wouldn't result in violence, but I don't have much choice."

"Shut up! Putting on a facade of this upper crust stuff while you're talking about executing dissidents and being the crap out of people to steal their powers doesn't make you justified!"

 

"Power makes one justified, and I have more power than you."

[Supercape]

Gamma Buzz

 

"Power makes you... what? Okey dokey, that seals it! I got it now. Yer a villain!"

 

Gamma Buzz hopped to a wall, hopped again, and landed a good twenty feet from the villain (for such was what he most assuredly was). 

 

"I don't know about the girl, or about the crystal. Or much about anything. But nobody good says things like Power makes you justified. That's Hitler, Stalin, and Miss Chitaz from second grade, all rolled into one!"

 

With a flash, he unleashed a burst of bright green light, illuminating the street for a fraction of a second. 

[Poncho]

(GM Post)

 

"Argh! Is this your Power!?" Pavo asked in fury, raging at Buzz as he grabbed his own eyes; was he as weak to the light as Snowfall was, but just better able to deal with it? "What of Our Umbra Star have you stolen to exude such burning light? Corona Australis? Corona Borealis?" he snarled. "Fine, Magister! I'll handle your attack dog first!" He said to Buzz, still considering him the much more dangerous threat before leaping into the air back at Michael, smashing into the destroyed record store again. It splintered under the force of the two superhumans slamming into each other, and even blinded, Pavo hit a hard punch directly into Michael's chest. For a moment it looked like he'd been crushed in an instant; the sound of something snapped in his chest. But then it was like it hadn't happened, and the floor gave out as they hit each other, sending them falling down to the first floor of the building as the building crashed down around them.

[Poncho]

(Golden Star Post)

 

It hurt really bad when Pavo hit him. He thought he felt his ribs pierce his lungs. But then he was okay again. He didn't understand how that kept happening; how he would get hit so hard, and then he'd just be fine. What was going on with him now? What was happening to him, well, ever? He grit his teeth as the store collapsed on top of him and Pavo from the force of the blows, his elbows and knees slamming into the red skinned creature's hands. He didn't feel like he was getting anywhere; the guy might have been blind, but he was tough as nails and as skilled a combatant as he'd had to fight. This guy could give Shooting Star a run for her money at this point.

 

He pulled back his elbow and swung forward, forgoing defense to swing it hard into the elfin creature's face, and it snapped like a bolt of fire, crushing the bridge of Pavo's face and sending him flying out of the rubble of the building. He caught himself on the ground and landed standing up afterwards, but Michael followed him out of the rubble as it continued collapsing behind him.

"I'm really starting to feel it now." he said, clenching his fist at Pavo. "I'm not an Attack Dog, I'm Golden Star, and if you're going to threaten my friends I'm going to beat you down."

[Supercape]

Gamma Buzz

 

"Lighten up!" replied Baz. 

 

He leaned around Pavo and gave a wink to Michael. "Get it? Light-en up! Pretty awesome, right? And you totally aren't seeing tumble weed blow through a dusty wild west ghost town!"

 

He turned back to Pavo and started glowing green, at the same time cracking his cockroach-knuckles. 

 

"Right then mister villain. You ain't seen nothing yet! Mainly because I just blinded you with my amazing cockroach-radiation. Hmmm. Well then, you ain't felt nothing yet! Getta loada this!"

 

Gamma Buzz hopped up to the man, pulled back his fist, and let loose a whopper of a cockroach-punch!

[Poncho]

(Golden Star Post)

 

"Your feeble spells won't work on me, Magister!" Pavo declared as Baz hit him, he stepped back but wiped his mouth clean of any of the blue blood that filled his veins, standing between the two heroes. 

 

"You may be a Master Mage here, and you may be using the power of multiple facets of the Umbra Star, but I am Empress Sola's most loyal soldier, and I will not falter here!" he declared. When Michael rushed at him to take another swing, he dodged, moving with inhuman grace to duck under the bunch from the glowing boy and continuing to, even blinded, stare down the two teens. 

 

"I will not falter." he declared confidently. Michael, frustarted and glaring, continued to float around the elf in a tight circle, keeping his focus on him.

 

"You're going back home in a bag like those other two." The enraged paragon said, keeping his arms up.

[Supercape]

Gamma Buzz

 

"Master Mage? Isn't that some kinda grand wizard hocus pocus title? We aren't magicians, ya bozo, just magic!"

 

"And if we go home, it won't be in a bag. It will be in a five star stretch limo full of dancing girls and champagne. Even though I don't drink champagne. And we totally can imagine enough money to buy that. And, er. And the limo will be made of 24 carat gold studded with diamonds as big as your fist. So there!"

 

With a mighty spring, Gamma jumped over the villains head, and stamped down with both feet as he did so...

[Poncho]

(GM Post)

 

"...What!? Yes!? The Master Mage is the most powerful magical wizard in the world, dedicated to protecting the world from magical threats. What do you mean you aren't the Master Mage? Are you just a disciple? They granted you use of the Umbra Star?" Pavo asked in confusion, and then as he swung around, trying to keep track of Bazz and whatever he was saying while blinded, The Cockroach Kid stomped him hard, leaving a bruise on his skin as he flailed. He looked a little paler after the hit too, slowly being worn down by Buzz's radioactivity. He snarled angrily.

 

"I got you now, kid!" he screamed, leaping at Buzz. Whatever veneer of civility he had at the start of this was rapidly disintegrating as he was being forced to reckon with a thing that had not happened to him, ever; that he was losing, at all, was baffling, and an insult to his very existence. "I won't let two idiot children beat me! I am the second strongest being in my universe! I am Sola's most powerful servant!"

[Poncho]

(Golden Star Post)

 

"Shut up shut up shut up!" Michael yelled, grabbing the alien snake's wrist with both hands before he got near Buzz. "This is giving me a headache! Buzz! He thinks you're the Mage because you have Tauros' crystal! I think! I don't think they actually know anything about us!" he brought his elbow forward and cracked the slender creature in the nose with the point of his elbow, but as before he was only barely harmed, even with Buzz's help. It was like trying to fistfight a tank; even blinded and enraged, he was just so difficult to take down. But Michael had already lost his patience at all the insanity going on, so he shifted his feet and tossed the alien away as he started glowing brighter and brighter. He clenched his fist, then threw it out, and a half dozen spinning shuriken of energy left his hand, impacting in the alien's chest before exploding into miniature stars and dissipating in an instant.

 

The entire street lit up like a firework display had just gone off in the middle of it as snow melted around the group, turning to slush and water and running into the draininge. The lightbulbs and windows near the explosions shattered and the shockwave pushed everything back from where Pavo had landed when the small shuriken impacted him. The entire area was covered in smoke, but when it slowly dissipated, Pavo was still standing, though he had several painful looking burns on his chest and was bleeding from his mouth and wounds.

"...How much punishment can this guy take..." Michael asked in awe as the creature from a different dimension stumbled but stayed standing, even under the barrage of punches, kicks and energy that was ripping through his body.

[Supercape]

Gamma Buzz

 

 “Woohoo! Laser Shuriken! I KNEW you could do it!” said Gamma Buzz, hopping excitedly from foot to foot and punching the air.

 

"Your Kung Fu is really pathetic, that’s what they say in the movies, right? Lets show him how you really do it. HI YAAAA!”

 

Gamma Buzz knew plenty of Kung Fu in his dreams. The reality however was that he knew no kung fu at all. But! Cockroach agility counted for a lot. And in this case, allowed him to perform a spinning high kick straight at the face.

 

“Take that, villain!”

[Poncho]

(GM Post)

 

A line of dark blue blood leaked from between Pavo's lips as he fell over from the kick. He was bruised and battered and burnt but he was still not staying down, slamming his fist into the ground.

"I won't let you win! I will take this victory for my Queen, no matter how many insects come up against me! I am Pavo, the greatest of the Dark Commanders, and I will not lose to some brats! Even if I can't see, or you try to sicken me, or you explode me, I'm going to win." He snarled, standing up again, his eyes still blinded from the light, burnt and unable to perceive. He fought back his sickness and stood prepared, baring razor sharp teeth. He clenched the crystal in his hand and summoned a wall of golden light in front of him, summoning the same shield that had protected the girl from the truck before; a shining golden shield with the symbol of Scutum between them. "Even if I have to use the power of the Umbra Star to do it!"

[Poncho]

(Golden Star Post)

 

"...He's still got more left in him?" Michael asked, almost distraught. "How much energy does this guy have? It's like fighting a generator." He needed a new plan. He couldn't punch through this guy, he couldn't blast him down. He looked at Baz, then at the shield, then at the gem Baz was holding.

"...Okay. New plan. Buzz." he turned to him and held out his hands, summoning a burning orb of sunlight from his chest that floated between his hands as he presented it to Buzz. "...Let me give you this. Blast him with both of our energy, and maybe get rid of him once and for all. Just beating on him forever doesn't seem like it's going to work anytime soon."

[Supercape]

Gamma Buzz

 

"Lets rock! GAMMA BUZZ, BABY!"

 

With a backflip that landed him twenty feet away, Gamma inhaled through his cockroach-lungs (a very complicated anatomy, that), and pushed his face forward, the features contorted in effort and concentration. 

 

Two brilliant beams of white-green scorching energy burst from his eyes, so powerful that the air around them distorted with heat. The beams screeched into Pavo, burning, pulsating...

 

Gamma'ing!

 

It was, indeed, Gamma Buzz, Baby. 

 

 

[Poncho]

(GM Post)

 

The pair of beams hit the shield and it warped inward like a plastic sheet. It hung hard in the air, the beams caught in the shield, but the windows of the buildings nearby exploded outwards, and the shield shifted backwards, Pavo along with it.

 

"Hold! Hold! BY THE MIGHT OF ASTERIM, HOLD!" the elfin creature screamed, forcing more of his own power into the shield. He was refusing to back down, the power of the Scutum, a fragment of the might of Asterim, and Pavo, the strongest of the

 

But it was more than just the two Teenagers, as strong as they were. The pink crystal that Bazz was holding was helping too, and with an explosive burst of light, added it's own effort into Buzz's eye beams, increasing in size and power. White, Green, and Pink light blasted the intersection and then crashed directly into the barrier, and it shattered into a million pieces and crashed directly into Pavo, overwhelming him with brilliant light. It twisted up, and the only darkness in it was Pavo himself, a single, human sized blot of darkness that sizzled and was slowly disintegrating, before being wrapped in layers of darkness like the other creatures before him and disappeared. The light of Baz's beams disappeared into space, leaving a trail that shot through Freedom's skies; a nearby airplane got a great look at the bolt of energy as it flew into space.

 

There was a twinkling sound as the Scutum crystal dropped directly in front of Baz, smoking slightly.

[Poncho]

(Golden Star)

 

"...I think you did it." Michael said, in sheer surprise as he watched the beam disappear into the atmosphere. "That was incredible Buzz. I don't think I could have broken that barrier if I tried. But hey, that's the power of team work, ain't it?" he said with pure surprise. He clapped Baz on the shoulder. "That was incredible, dude!" he cheered. "You're so awesome Buzz!" he said with more enthusiasm.

 

"You showed that guy what for!"

[Supercape]

Gamma Buzz

 

"Yeah we totally did it, hombre! Blasting him with laser shuriken, too. I knew you had it in you!"

 

Buzz cracked his knuckles. 

 

"But. What the hell was all of that? Space warp factor infinity? Who was that guy, and where did he come from. And what kind of spatial anomaly just happened. See? I do pay attention in class sometimes. Spatial anomaly. See. Clever words, huh? I mean, I don't know what it actually means. But I can still say it. Seriously. What the hell?"

 

"And what is the crystal and what do we do with it? And now, I don't have a Cockroach-orifice we can stick it in."

[Poncho]

(GM Post)

 

"That Crystal....is mine. You can...step off...bug boy." 

 

It was the girl it had been taken from before; the one who had first yelled at Buzz, who had stopped the truck, who had been hunted down by Pavo in the first place, and had her Crystal stolen. She was battered and bruised but had gotten up from where Michael had put her down and was making her way towards the crystal now.

 

"It...picked me. I'm Sentry Scutum. It's...mine." she glared at Buzz and Michael both like she was willing to throw down with them to get it back, raising her fists.

 

"Woah woah woah, let's calm down!" 

 

Zoe had reappeared too, clearly having been following the conflict from afar without her powers. She interspaced herself- all six foot plus linebacker frame of her- between Buzz and Michael and the other girl.

 

"Sally. These two aren't...they aren't with those bad guys, okay?"

 

"Zoe? What are you doing here?" 

 

"I...uh. Well. Look. I asked them to help. I know you don't really hang out with me and my friends. But I asked them to help me, and this all happened."

 

"So they're your friends?"

"I..uh..well. Sort of? I mean we're not exactly friends friends." Zoe said. Sally was clearly not really friends with Zoe- or likely the other Starblights-, and she looked a little frustrated.

 

"...Just give me back my Crystal. Then I'm going my own way."  Sally said, apaprently agreeing that getting into any further fist fights would be a bad idea, given the destruction that was already going on. 

 

Zoe turned to the other two.

 

"Just...please give her the Crystal back." she looked a combination of ashamed and uncomfortable. "She goes to school with me. She's not..." her voice went a lot quieter. "She's not nice to me or my friends. Just...let her have the Crystal. I don't think it's worth getting into a fight with her." she explained.

 

"And I'll explain everything again if you need it, just...let's get her to leave first, please."

[Poncho]

(Golden Star)

 

"I think he was from another dimension. Your blast, my energy, and that energy from Zoe's crystal must have done enough to blast through his barrier. I think he must have gone back to wherever he started, same way his friends did when you KO'd them." he noted. "As for the Crystal..." he looked down at the Crystal and was about to pick it up when the scene exploded, and he was trapped listening to Sally and Zoe; he wasn't sure why Sally was being such a jerk, but he understood Zoe just wanted them gone and he could understand why.

 

Michael picked up the crystal with a frown, turning it over in his hands. He mostly understood what was going on after the first explanation, he thought, but he didn't want to have to try and explain it, because he might have it wrong, so he nodded at Zoe. 

 

"Okay." he said carefully, looking at Buzz. If Buzz was okay ith it, he was going to hand this Crystal over to Sally and get her gone; he could see immediately she was not someone he wanted to deal with for much longer.