World Tree MUSH

Raven was furious. And... Well... Cruel. As she was, like this. All of that darkness, that wickedness, all that she had worked so hard to contain... Thanks to Temulin shifting the balance, had finally been unleashed. It wasn't her fault, though. After all, the dark knight had no way to know just how dangerous Raven truly was.

The blood red raven had traveled through the vines... Until she'd found a suitable place. A small city. She'd flown over it. Searching, looking... Then she'd seen it. A small car lot... She'd glided down to it.

"Err... Hello, young lady, can I-- AHHHH!" One look at her glowing red eyes had made the salesman back off. 

Only to RUN as she began picking up the vessels and... Lobbing them. She laughed as her dark magic began to seap out from her body, sucking in... and then throwing out in different directions, the destruction. For now it was just property damage but... well... As the darkness spread and the screams filled the air... it was only a matter of time before 'property damage' changed to 'casaulties'. "All will suffer... All will feel the pain... the suffering... All will fear the rise of the envoy..." she said coldly.

This world was... Well it was by some futuristic. It had AI, Hover vehicles, had managed to claw it's way out of a war between humanity and its artificial children into a place of relative stability. What drew the Raven here was unclear. Maybe the mountains of still mourned for dead. Maybe the emotional unrest. Maybe it just happened to be the closest metaphysically to where she had been.

Ordis would get a call from an agency that had somehow gotten hold of Star Wolf and through them hired Ash for a seriesof jobs. Ordis felt horror at the images being shown. This world was unsettlign enough what with the robots everywhere intermingled with people. This? THis wasan unfortunately familiar person to the poor Cephelon.

"Operator..." Ordis's voice was tight. "Raven's here."

"Little busy now Ordis." Ash was squared off against three gangers trying to take a briefcase that had... Something of value he was supposed to ferry to a specific location. This was not that much of a problem for the Tenno due to his warframe, but Ash hated being distracted when dealing with undknowns.

Then Ordis piped in footage of Raven doing... somethign violent. Raven with her robes blood red as she was clearly enraged and not at all acting herself.

"Cal our contractor, tell them this takes priority. I don't give a care if they want to file-"

"Operator," Ordis interrupted Ash's instructions. "Your employer wants you to divert to take care of the situation."

As Ash jumped, lept, ran, and bounced from building to building, "Lethal force?"

"Best judgement and discretion has been given. Sole paramiter is threat neutrelization." Ordis's voice was carefully neutral. "Lander inbound to your location."

* * *

"Raven would perhaps feel the weird duel preasence of Ash and his warframe as his feet hit ground near the car lot she was starting to... rennovate. "Hey Raven. New look, not sure I' m a fan. Mind coming with me try talking about what's eating you?" Ash's voice was cal and his hands were away from his weapons. However Raven could seanse apprehension, confusion... Fear.

Anna is rushing towards the commotion at top speed, one hand holding Spiral down, her legs glowing with pale blue light as she exceeds the speed limit in the town.

"-- absolutely the last place you should be going!" Spiral is shouting. "Just stick with helping people out --"

Anna shakes her head. "The people closest to the epicenter are the ones who need help the most!"

Spiral groans. "Well, okay, but just stick to helping people get away, all right?" she says. "I don't want you to ..." She sees Raven. "... aw, crap," she mutters. "This is not good."

"Yeah, no shit!" says Anna.

Both of their minds are full of worry and concern, Anna's mostly for Raven and Spiral's mostly for Anna. But as Anna comes up next to Ash's Warframe, she is filled with determination. "Any idea what set this off?" she says quietly.

    So this is what a world without pokemon looks like!, a mundane, simple place, no magic, just super advanced technology!, it was incredibly nifty to say the least. He had been gawking at the 'cars', now, cars were not something unknown to him, but even just normal, every day cars were a bit of an oddity back where he was, let alone hover and fancy ones!. Then there is the by now kind of familiar noise of conflict and mayhem nearby, "Why do I always pick the worst places to visit." he mumbles, hearing the news flashes of mayhem by a random 'girl' destroying a car plot and attacking the city, rushing in that direction. 

    Given that he is on foot, it is a bit hard for him to catch up much with the others, really should get a riding pokemon one of these days. He finally comes to a halt, panting for breath, noticing a bunch of familiar figures, the main one being the apparent source of the destruction. "R-Raven?" he mumbles outloud. "What..." he adds, moving a bit closer to the others, "Why is she acting like this?" he asks, reaching for his belt of pokeballs.

Raven glanced towards Ash and then... "Ah. Of course. The moment the raven flies, the insects come forth. I'm afraid this look is permanent. I've finally accepted what I am. The envoy of the end... Heh. You should appreciate that of all people, Ash. You of all people understand the need to destroy the unworthy." She took a step forward, a rather cruel grin on her lips.

"I can feel your fear. All of it. It brings me power. So pathetic. The lost and powerful Tenno who doesn't even know who he is any more. Who doesn't know WHAT he was. But you know... I've seen it. And you know what's even more pathetic? Even YOU know you're not capable of seeing your powers. Of accepting them. I've heard from your past self. Ordis showed me everything. Everything he's hiding from you. Because you can't handle it. Because you're a pathetic idiot who would get himself killed the moment he tried using them. Who would end up getting everyone else around you killed because you aren't capable of controlling your power." Her eyes narrowed as she flew up over them.

"Even now you think that you can 'save' me. I feel it. But there's nothing to save. This is who I am. This is *what* I am. And I've had it with you pesky annoyances." She held out her hands as four cars came SLAMMING down at Ash, to crush him... And then her eyes turned to Anna.

"Ugh. If it's not the annoying little *child*. You know you've done nothing but hold everyone else back? You claim to want to be some protector, guardian, but what have you ACTUALLY done? Hurt me. Put other people in danger. Annoyed your little... toy. Wasted my time again and again. And even now, after all the help so many people have given you? What have you done? Nothing."

She sighed. "None of you understand, do you? You're nothing but PETTY ANNOYANCES!" More cars were lifted and... Then rained down on Anna. "AND I HAVE HAD MY FILL OF YOUR STUPIDITY!"

And then, for the moment... Satisfied... Her eyes fell on luke. "Ah. If it's not my old training partner. I do hope you understand that I'm not going to hold back this time. So why don't you get out of here before I get madder." MErcy?

And then a wall of darkness formed behind Luke, trapping him in. "Oh... Seems it's too late." The laughter that came from her was... a bit too... Demonic as her four eyes narrowed on him.

"No clue," Ash's voice was tight when he glanced to Anna then to Luke. "I was here on a job on the other side of the continent and got a call from my current employer to deal with this..." He huffed, "Least they're not demanding lethal force. They just want the problem to go away." His breath was slow as his attention focused on Raven. "Ordis?"

"Emergancy servces are cordoningoff the area, prioritizing containment over confrontation." Ordis then made a glitched annoyed tone. "These... Machines... Are attempting to be helpful."

Ash stepped forward, putting an arm out to try warning Anna and Luke back. "Fear is the tool of a coward." Ash's tone was level as hs warframe stared at the demonic sorceress. "Cruelty the tool of one who needs to constantly reassure themselves they are in control." 

Within his transferrence pod Ash twitched as his frame seemed to barely need to move to evade Raven's thrown projectiles Funny thing is his fear LESSENED the moment that happened, as if the situation was turning into something he understood. "Ordis?!"

"Operator I-" Ordis sounded guilty, remorseful almost.

"Not that," Ash interrupted tersly. "Raven's stalling. IF she were as all powerful as she's claiming she'd have crushed us by now. She's in there...."

"You're falling into the same trap the Orokin had Raven." ash stated as he again faced Raven, his hands still empty. "Let's say you win. You're right. I don't think you are, but let's just say you do. What Next?"

Anna holds Raven's gaze. "Do you even know how many people have helped me, or are you just guessing?" she says. There's bravado in her voice, but ... Raven was right. She is afraid.

Spiral growls. "Anna! That's not true!" she exclaims. "You helped the people from that pirate attack just fine!"

"Yeah," whispers Anna, tearing off her Star Gem pendant and getting ready to toss it away. "It's not true." A pale blue light surrounds her body.

But only half her body at a time. Raven's words stung.

And then the cars begin raining down, and the light vanishes. Anna runs, one hand holding down Spiral (who holds onto the pendant for her), doing her best to evade the falling cars, only her legs glowing. Every now and then, the glow flickers, and she nearly stumbles.

Her goal: Luke. If he can't deal with the darkness on his own, she needs to get him out of here.

    Luke just stands there, listening to the back and forth between Raven, Ash and Anna, blinking a few times at the cruel tone from the same person he was training with not that even a moment ago. "Raven!, what is the point of doing this?, what are you trying to prove?" he calls outloud. He does not even seem to care about the fake 'mercy' or the wall of darkness forming behind him. He IS a bit startled by the situation, but for better or worse, he cares more about helping Raven than being actually scared... if only because he has no real clue WHAT is going on beyond maybe 'anger' or whatnot. 

    The explanation from Ash gets a nod, "I am not going to run away." he says up at the demon infused Raven, grabbing one of his pokeballs, a bit unsure what is the best option. Since he does just wants to stop Raven, he ends up selecting Dynamo, who materializes right next to Ash, snarling and growling up at Raven.

Raven sighed. "And pointless, empty words are the tools of a fool. But you are right... I am not thinking things through." And with those words, she lifted her riht hand. "Azeroth, metrion, zinthos!" A dome of black enveloped them. "Goodbye" Waves of darkness enveloped them, circling around them, like a blender of black energy. Smashing them up against the walls, into objects and... All over the place. the power, the force, the destruction... But still...

Despite the power, there was still some measure of control. Some small amount of restraint. Even anna, without her extra abilities, would find herself surviving just fine even if she took the full brunt of it... just in a LOT of pain. And surrounded in rubble.

Raven chuckled softly. "Prove? Point? Of what would be the need? I am strong. You are all weak. You have made me SUFFER through your idiocy. Through your insecurity. Through your pathetic mortal LIVES! Do you have ANY idea how PAINFUL it has been to LISTEN to you WHINE and MOAN as if your useless existance MATTERED?! How much I HATED pretending I CARED about any of you?!" She yelled, before... Her magic would attempt to grip them and then toss them up, only to slam them into the ground.

>> GAME >> Raven spends an Edge for: Raven going red and causing all kinds of destruction.

This is the point Ash drew his sword. He raised it high, and for just a moment it seemed t odrink in any light that remained before he stabbed it into the pavement. His shields were rapidly chipping away at the whirlwind of objects flying around.

"Operator get out of there!" Ordis pleaded as Ash's shields depleted and the frame's outer armor started to wear down..

"No Ordis. I have to stand my-" Just then a sign hit Ash's warframe in the face, causing Ash's body in thetransferrence pod to react as if he'd gotten slapped with a phone book. "I run, that's just going t oegg her on. She wants to show she's the big bad wolf, to make me cower in fear."

Raven would feel fear from both frame and Tenno leaving. Even now. Even at the epicenter of a magical hailstorm of debris Ash stared at her.

"Operator this is madness!" Ordis wailed just beofore Ash's warframe was bodily lifted, and then slammed face first into the ground. He would struggle, but he would get back to hisfeet. Ash would receave alerts over this that and the other. His warframe was breathing heavy as he leaned on his sword to stand. "That.... all you got?"

Anna boggles at the wave of darkness. She's just ... there's no way to dodge, no way to escape. Her and Spiral's fear hit their peak, and both of them scream as the darkness hits them -- Spiral's is suddenly cut off, and Anna's doesn't sound particularly feminine.

When it passes, Spiral is twitching lightly on the ground in her starfish form. Anna has collapsed onto her hands and knees, panting with her eyes closed. Between them, the Star Gem lies on the pavement, cracked; its light is quickly fading to blackness.

"... sh ... shit ..." Anna gasps softly. Yeah, her voice has gone all the way through 'androgynous' and into 'just plain weird' again.

    Luke lets out a startled noise as the energy dome forms and begins to approach him and the others, trapped like a rat in a trap!. He looks at the others in a bit of panic, adn seems unsure of what to say!. 

    Dynamo roars loudly as the dome forms, looking around rapidly, at the others, and seeing no way out, it does what comes naturally, try to keep Luke safe. The big, round cat pounces on Luke, settling on it and snarling as energy builds up around it's fur, the energy launching around it and Luke turning into a green dome around the two, the energy clashing with each of the dark energy 'blades' and debris, tossing it and Luke around like a ball.

    As the attack ends, and the pair are slammed down to the ground, the green field shatters, revealing the pair mostly unscathed, and Dynamo standing up over Luke, growling a challenge at Raven, only to flop down and breathe heavily. Whatever it did, certainly took a lot of energy, and not something likely to be used often.

>> GAME >> Luke Gray spends an Edge for: Dynamo uses Protect to keep Luke safe from Raven's attack!

Raven narrowed her eyes as the darkness... finally stopped. Then... 

"Ah, of course. It's not danger to yourself that scares you. You're like who I pretended to be... You're scared of other people being hurt. Well then... Shall we up the ante, then?" Her right hand waved...

And then Anna, with spiral were yanked from the rubble... And pulled to Raven. 

"You believe you can fix me. Even 'save' me. That this... isn't me. But this is me... Now allow me to settle all your doubts and unleash your true fear." And then three pieces of rebarb were torn from the rubble and lanced forward to impale Anna...

Only to stop a few cintimeters from her stomach, chest and head. Raven's left hand was out now as well, white magic enveloping the rebarb and her hand.

"What? NO! Stop this! They are NOT our friends! We do not have friends! We are the envoy of the end! The herald of destruction! They make us weak!" The dark and light seemed to struggle, as the rebarb were tossed aside... Anna fell to the ground as Raven stumbled back, gripping her head, light and black magic as... Her cloak on her left side began to turn white...

"No!" she yelled. The darkness around them melted... Only for a blast of darkness to erupt again a moment later. And Red!raven to stand there, triumphant, her four eyes glowing red. "Now... Where was I?"

To be perfectly blunt? Ash's frame was not all tht badly damaged. IT wouldn't take long to repair. Ash's frame took a step, and then fell on its face like a marionette with its strings cut. 

Just because it wasn't BADLY damaged ddn't mean it was the right tool for the moment. Plus there was a yield sign sticking out of his frame's knee, which made moving kinda difficult. Granted there werne't any of the icky messy bits associated with such since this was a tool of war rather tha na normal person, but it left Ash with few options. None of them good.

As Raven held rebar at Anna's stomach Ash stepped out in the open, breathing heavily from the run. There was no panick in him as he stared at Raven. 

Then as his pace slowed as somethin caught his eye. "Raven. You think I do this because in the wider scheme it matters? Or is Easy? Or that I want to be right? Or that I want to 'Fix' you?" Ash's voice was the same, but there was a weight there. Some subtle shift of how he spoke, maybe a twist of inflection or accent. Whatever it was gave the impression of age, that there were many years and lifetimes being focused like a lens through a young body. 

He knelt down t othe ground, his hand palming Anna's blackened gem before he rose to hisfeet and resumed his slow limp towards Raven. She'd know better than most Ash would have felt every hurt, every injury, and every bit of suffering she had inflicted on his Warframe. His body might physically be find, but his brain was still recovering from the experiance so hadn't quite caught up to trivialities like 'oh I'm not connected to something that is experiancing pain from everywhere all at once.'

"I'm doing this because it's Kind. Youv'e seen in my head, at least a little." He inched closer. "Youv'e seen the oceans of blood and mountains of bodies I've made in a war I barely remember to save people who didn't give a damned about me or anyone else but themselves." 

Another faltering step. "I'm tryng to help beause THAT? is who /I/ Am." And then with every bit of strength he had he threw the cracked and darkened gem to Anna.

    Perhaps unscathed was too big of a term, Luke did feel some of the trashing around, but still, was in quite good condition, even if he was being pinned down by a big round fluffy tiger thing growling towards Raven. He nudges the over protective pokemon off him, taking stock of the current situation, Anna being captured, and Ash struggling to move towards Raven, talking about some personal, deep experience that he didn't quite have. Given the lack of options around, he gets up, and rushes to assist Ash back on his feet, surprised to see... well, 'him' there, rather than one of those warframe things. "Ash!, be careful!". Behind him, a tired cat walks up to his side, "Lean on me." he offers, helping Ash be steady, with a bit of assistance of Dynamo as well.

Anna's discarded Star Gem turns completely black as she gets lifted up. Fear is now the only thing going through her on mind, or that of the barely-conscious Spiral.

... until the rebar stops.

A lance of hope stabs through the fear, and Anna bursts out laughing. Mostly it's relief, too. "Y-y'know, Red," she says, "you are not selling us on the whole 'this is actually the real me' thing!"

The gem turns blue again, glowing brightly as Ash throws it to Anna, who ... tries to catch it, fumbles it, and drops it. "... oh well," she says. "Thanks, Ash, but I wasn't gonna use it anyway."

And with that, she draws her magical energy into herself, and the gem simply disintegrates. She's surrounded by swirling blue light, every inch of her glowing at once. The fear isn't dominant anymore. She's full of hope, for her victory. She's full of determination, that she might make her victory by her own hand. She's full of worry for Raven, with a side of happiness for the time they'd spent together, even the rocky parts.

And then the light shatters. Her hair has turned cobalt blue, and she's wearing a sky-blue dress with lime-green and white trim, and lots of heart emblems. Plus blue and white gloves and boots, which also have heart-emblems.

"Niiiiiiiice!" she says, her voice back to its usual level of slightly-androgynous. Oh, and now she's also feeling pure elation at her transformation. She grins up at Red Raven, and smacks her fist into her palm. "So ... final warning. Need me to knock some sense into you?"

>> SUMMARY[Anna Freeman] >> Anna transforms. Gets ready to punch Red Raven with the power of friendship.

Raven growled as Ash came closer. "I will kill you!" she screamed. The rebarb gained itself... Only to stop as the sheer, over whelming hope and excitement hit the girl. It was something for the real raven to latch onto. Well. To be fair this was the real raven. But the NICE raven. She stumbled backwards, before.... 

"ENOUGH! YOU WILL ALL FALL!" And once again, the dome of darkness... Except... this time... There were cracks at it, as the eruptions, the waves of darkness shot through the air all around... And in the center, raven... Not surrounded in darkness, focusing...

Vulnerable.

Ash had pitched forward from te throw, his body still behaving like it'd gotten pelted by a debris hailstorm when Luke got to him. As he wobbled back to his feet he saw Anna, and smiled.

He straightened then, his brain getting the memo about his body. "Raven. The lady gave you fair warning. I've been far more restrained than you were with me." There was this flexing from his hands. Raven might sense the floodgates open between Here and Void as Ash's hands opened and aimed at her shield. A torret of void energy, pulsing in every wavelength, every magic, every... Thing that could be considered energy was in that beam. He poured everything he had into it, burning emotion away. Pain? Gone. All that was left was intent and action as a beam as wide as his head slammed against the cracked shield of black.

>> GAME >> Ash spends an Edge for: ash='I cast the spell! I wanna cast a spell!' *sigh* 'what are you targeting?' 'I'mma shoot the darkness!'

    Luke can notice that Dynamo is not quite doing so hot, and while thankfully things seem a bit... better, they are far from over, his attention going from Anna, to Ash's words. There is another moment of panic as he dome returns and Ash begins to attack. He takes one moment to think, this must be dark... if so, there is only one thing Dynamo has that should be effective. "Come on Dynamo, Signal Beam!." calls. 

    The electric cat nods and shakes a bit, growling again as energy builds up in a glowing orb in front of the somewhat unsteady pokemon, "Come on, do this and I'll get you all the snacks you can eat." says Luke as encouragement. Just as soon as those words come out, the electric pokemon growls loudly, and a rainbow beam emerges from the orb, following Ash's aim at the dark walls approaching them!

Anna stumbles back from the assault, crossing her arms in front of her face. An invisible shield flickers with light as it hits her, brightest around her dress. "... oh right!"

She grins at Red Raven. "Arright, Red!" she says, holding her hands in front of herself as a glow appears between them. "Better clench those teeth!" The glow intensifies, and then starts wobbling. "Whoa! Okay, there you go!" She makes a throwing towards Raven which half looks as though she's lost her grip, and the energy collapses into a narrow beam that launches unsteadily towards Raven! It's nowhere near enough to seriously harm her, or even particularly injure her. But it does pack a punch nonetheless.

>> GAME >> Anna Freeman spends an Edge for: Initial transformation "beginner's luck"

Raven was focusing on the barrier. However... The blast made it crack, marks flashing across it... Weakening it... Then the next beam of power hits the cage and it SHATTERS! She SCREAMS, dark energy writhing across her. She was at her most powerful like this... But... Also her most vulnerable. Then as it exploded, her body erupted with dark energy...

And then the narrow beam of energy hit her. And while it wasn't powerful... Raven... Wasn't ready for it. She fell back, rolling on the ground and... She ended up laying face up... And the red drained from her clothing, leaving her... In her normal blue. She looked... Well... unconscious. And hurt. But she was alive and no longer destroying things.

They'd stopped her. They'd done it...

Ash would wobble as the shiell crumbled. His head ached, but he'd managed to somehow not get hit by anything too... well... He'd gotten thorugh a lot better than his Warframe had. Maybe Raven had been fighting to divert more than the pebbles and other small bits of debris that wouldn't have left him crippled.

"Ordis, can you get the lander here for pickup? Get Raven in the somatics char and my warframe..." He paused. "How bad is it?"

"A day at worst Operator, minimal damage. No outstanding contracts are due in that time." Ordis caused Ash's lander as well as several small drones to lift his warframe and Raven's unconcious body.

He smiled at Anna and held his fist out to her. "Anna... you're amazing." 

Then he'd turn to Luke. "Thanks for having my back. All this... emotional warfare." A heavy sigh, "I just couldn't figure out how to take her on without her mentally lumping me with everyone else who's anted to kill her for every little slip. Thanks. Gonna try getting some rest then set her down so we can talk when she'sawake."

    Dynamo just flops back on the ground, resting as it was clear the inmediate threat was over, just laying there and watching Ash and Luke talk a bit. Of course, Luke quickly gets back to helping Ash back on his feet, nodding a few times, "It's the least i would do, wish I was able to help more... I met Raven, she was nice... btu I don't really know much about all that other stuff." he says softly. He glances back at the unconscious Raven and Anna, "I hope she will be fine."

Anna staggers forward. "Whew!" She shakes her head and laughs, giving Ash a fistbump. With ... slightly too much force. "Thanks!" she says, and pats Luke's shoulder. "Hey, hey, you did fine!

Spiral twitches on the ground, then transforms into her cat-form again. "... wow," she says. "You did it!"

Anna grins. "I did it!" she says. "Uh ... oh right, the Star Gem just disintegrated."

Spiral nods, and finds the leftover necklace. "Well. Nicely done all around!"

Anna smiles and nods. "Yeah, uh. Let's hurry over to the Mushroom Kingdom. There is exactly a negative a million chance that Peach isn't gonna want to hear about this."

Raven wasn't moving. She just laid there, even as her body was lifted. She was damaged but... Azarathian meditation. She was in a coma now, her body recovering.

Deep inside, however, she fought a battle with her own emotions... A battle that, thanks to her friends... She would now win.