The palace of wonder and......death?

As we sank slowly into the open space, we saw exactly how big it was. A huge cavern, going on and on in all directions, with no end in sight. Tall columns, as high as skyscrapers, supported the vast stony ceiling. We could hear laughter as the lift reached the ground, and I looked round for the source. A few metres away, sprawled lazily in a large, ornately carved grey throne, was HG. He raised his staff in a salute, eyes twinkling as he gazed down at us. He looked drunk. Drunk on power. 'Aha! I knew you'd make it, I was expecting you sooner really. It seems nothing can stop you people when you're determined to do something. I've had you shot at, attacked by your own friends, brought buildings down on you, blown you up, that moronic bone morpher......and yet here you are. How did you escape the crushing ceiling?'
'We had a little help.'
'Naturally. That room stripped you of your powers, you MUST have had help.'
'Enough talk!' Future me was getting restless. He was seething, and his eyes were glowing a deep, burning red.
'Quite right.' HG was sitting perfectly upright in his throne now, all trace of mirth gone from his face. 'To business. I know why you are here. I know why there are two Tempests. I know how this is possible. I know everything. I cannot allow you to stop me, and I cannot allow you to remain alive. Let the slaughter commence.'
I ran at him, but his throne shot backwards, coming to a stop a couple of rugby pitches distance away. The floor around it rose in steps, creating an aztec pyramid style tower far away. He began to laugh again as doorways in the pillars slid open, and streams of shadow fighters poured out. Once again we were confronted by army of beings made from solid, shadowy, jet black fog. But this time, not only was the number easily into the hundreds of thousands, possibly even millions, they had a much wider range of skills. There were fighters with black flames surrounding their hands, grey lightning sparking from fingertips, some took to the air, and some had glowing eyes. Fangs, tails, extra arms, bulging muscles, claws, grey water pouring from hands, every power or ability you could dream of, but colourless, ruthless and ready to attack. They were the stuff of nightmares.
I backed towards the others, but got distracted by a yell. Far above, minute against the immense ceiling, I could just make out the large hole our lift had come from. A tiny shape had just shot from the hole, and and was plummeting towards us. It un curled to become human shaped, and reached out a hand, plunging it into the nearest stone column. The column seemed to buckle slightly, and cracks appeared all across it. The figure pulled it's hand from the stone, and was now holding a huge sword. 'Blackmage!' he yelled, as three flying fog warriors shot towards him. Gripping the sword in both hands, the figure spun round, slashing his attackers, chopping each of them cleanly in two. As his attackers halves fell to earth, dispersing back into fog and then nothing, the newcomer was enveloped in a blue aura, and I saw Blackmage guiding it, slowing the figure down until, still spinning, he landed in front of us.
'Everyone is keen to help, they're trying to move that chunk of metal over the entrance. Channel pushed me ahead so I could let you know. We figured you could use another fighter ASAP too.'
'You figured right.'
I held out a hand. 'Cool entrance! Nice to meet you, I'm-'
'Tempest from years ago, I know. I'm Darkblade. We've heard about everything you've been doing to help. Thank you.'
'I had a lot of help. Speaking of which....'
We turned to flook at the oncoming sea of shadows, almost shoulder to shoulder, our whole group forming a defensive circle, everyone looking outwards, facing our opponents, sweeping in from every angle.
I grimaced.
'........let's do this!'

Rabbit hole

We're alive! Well, for now anyway. Happy to say I'm posting this by thought again, I have my powers back! Let me explain:
The ceiling was only about 2 and a half metres from the floor now, and we were getting desperate, looking for a safe place to shelter, but there was nothing. It was sliding down, obscuring the screen, which was completely flat. I was looking at the control panel to see if, assuming it was going to be protected from being crushed, it could keep us safe as well, when i got a text. Which was really weird, because it hadn't worked as a phone since arriving in the future. It said '01001000Red01100001Square01101110Button01100001'

Of course, with my power now functioning perfectly, I can tell you that not only does that Binary tell me something wonderful, filling me with hope, but that the text turned out like that because it came from a machine with hundreds of layers of security, and this was the only way it could be sent out safely.
I knew none of that at the time of course, I just hoped it wasn't another trick. The door had reached 2m, so I frantically searched the rows of buttons. There were thousands!
'What are you doing?'
'We need to find a red square button.'
Doom and FDiffy came over, curious. 'You have an idea?'
'A solution. I hope.'
'Doom gestured everyone over while me and Diffy started looking.
'Oh, what's the point?!' Future me moaned. 'I have technopathy too remember, and it's fully supressed. There's no way of knowing which button, why are you looking for one you don't even know is there?'
'I WILL punch you.'
'Then you'll be hitting yourself.'
'Yeah, philosophical conundrums later, button hunting now, so shut up and help, or shut up and go away.'
We started to crouch as the ceiling reached 1 1/2m, when there was a 'pffft' noise, and the console started to slide back into the wall.
'Quick! Stop it, hold it back!'
Everyone but me and FDiffy grabbed the console desperately, pulling as hard as they could, and it slowed a little, but they were gradually being pulled with it as it kept going. The sloping top was slowly but surely disappearing into the wall, leaving a steadily growing wedge shaped gap, protecting the buttons from damage. Everyone was groaning, straining to keep it out for a few more seconds, sliding along the floor as it kept going. I heard a joint creak inside the console, and something popped. The ceiling was at 1m now, and seemed to have no intention of stopping again until it reached the floor.
'There it is!' FDiffy was further along, a couple of metres away, and made a sudden leap. Landing on a few hundred tiny buttons, he strecthed out a hand into the gap inside the wall, pursuing the vanishing button. There was a click, and he let out a yell of triumpth, sliding down the console to the floor. Crawling as fast we could, we scrambled towards the middle of the room, where a circle of floor was sinking down into the ground, making a hole.
'Where does it go?'
'Who the hell cares, just get in!'
By the time we got there it was low enough for us to sit down in. FDiffy's cap fell off as he slid in, and he darted a hand out to grab it, pulling it into the hole just as the ceiling touched the floor.

The platform we're on is continuing to sink. Why is everything here so slow? But at least we have our abilities back. We all felt it, about a minute after getting in. There was this sudden feeling of warmth, deep inside everyone, and the complete darkness was broken by a blue glow as Blackmage gave of wisps of blue light, and the flickering orange of a small fire that sprang to life in Scorch's hand.
'MUCH better.'
So that's it really, we're sinking into the earth, but we're all alive. Oh! Hang on, light is appearing around the edge of the platform! Open space! Looks like we're arriving wherever we're going, bye for now!

Changes.

Well, Glutton must have done it, because we're in. We'd been holding our position for about half an hour, fighting off any new guards that appeared, when the whole building seemed to quiver. A ripple passed over us, a tremor of distortion that warped anything inside it, before moving on, leaving everything as it was, except the door, which became a smouldering ruin. Cheering, we ran through, and I caved in the corridor behind us to make sure no more guards followed.
Glutton hadn't done the door on the other side, for future me and the others to get through, so I hope he's ok. I'm not sure I said both doors needed doing, but still, I'm worried. The room seemed empty, so I went over and opened it for them. As we looked around, puzzled by HG's absence, metal walls slid out to seal both doors.
I think we all discovered we couldn't use our powers at roughly the same time.
'What's going on?!'
'I don't think it's just the doors that were immune. This whole room is suppressing our abilities.'
'Yeah, thanks for that Tingle, any advice on how to fix this?!'
'Well, my super plan making ability is being suppressed, so no.'
'Great.'
'So this was just a trap?'
'Ya think?!'
It was at this point that the ceiling started to descend. A huge, circular slab of metal was slowly pushing down towards us, and it
was going to crush us to death.
We have no idea what to do. As far as we know, we're screwed. The ripple seems to have damaged the computer in here, there's a hole in the screen, and that seems to interfered with the ceiling, because it keeps stopping and starting. I would guess we have about ten minutes to live. I thought I'd blog this to see if anyone can help. If you can, please, please do something.
I'm going to stop now, partly because I have nothing more to report, and partly because I'm having to type this by hand. It's so slow and annoying, how do you people do it?

Infiltration

Hello again, this is Hana. I thought I should update you on how things have gone at this end, because I think however short the time is for Tempest between his posts, things won't move forward for him until I've logged our progress here, because he needs what we've done to have happened first.

After a stealthy journey, helped along by Jump, and a man and a woman who the blog had given access to and knew what we were trying to do, we made it to the base. Jump was with us, and got us as close as possible, but couldn't teleport us inside, the building seemed to resist, or at least that's how she put it, so she left to try and find any of the people Tempest has met in the future that might be able to help us now. Glutton had his guard uniform on, and I managed to patch him into the security system, so that he would be granted access as an actual guard. He asked why we had to get closer if i was able to hack from where we were, so I explained about the system's being separate, and the one we needed to get to was closed off, and only accessible from the central chamber, in close proximity to the main console. For most of the way, we were accepted as part of the team and allowed through the electronic doors. We avoided real guards whenever we could, as they wouldn't recognize Glutton, and might get suspicious. Glutton noticed me wincing and asked what was wrong. 'The generator back at VHS just failed. There's no power there anymore. The place is dead.'
'You can sense that?'
'I stayed connected as long as I could, it made it easier.'
'Made what easier?'
'Keeping the connection open. It was that set of computers that Tempest's phone was connected to when we were taken, so they were supporting the connection at this end.'
'But, if the power's failed, doesn't that mean...Oh crap, has the connection closed?!'
'Not quite. I'm holding it open myself.'
'....you're what?!'
'The other end..it's in my head. I'm using this handheld to help support it, but that's draining the battery, and holding it with two small devices isn't as stable. We need a larger computer at this end, and fast.'
'Come on then!'
He ran. I noticed a CCTV camera, and knew we'd look suspicious, but Glutton didn't care. I'll always remember how determined he was to get me where I needed to be. He was one of the bravest people I've ever met. We were coming up to the door that, many years from now, Tempest and his friends were waiting at right now.
'Glutton, there's....no electronic lock, I....can't help you!'
A door just behind us slammed open, and there were yells. I heard guns clicking.
'I don't think we'd have time Hana. How close do you need to be?'
'...as close...as we can get..'Acid shot from his mouth, and the door melted, fizzing, sending smoke into the air. I saw him turn to spray acid behind us, then we were nearly at the threshold of the central chamber. I heard guards scream from acid burns.
'Ok. It's been fun, tell the others I said Hi.'
'Wha-'
And then I was flying. Behind me, there were a series of bangs, and I heard Glutton yell. I couldn't look behind me, but I knew what had happened. He knew we wouldn't make it to the computer, so the second we got through the doorway, he threw me. It was the last thing he ever did.
I heard his body hit the floor.
A bullet grazed my side, spinning me. I got a last glance at Glutton, splayed on the floor, riddled with bullets, and guards flooding in through the door. Then I was facing the computer again, it's huge screen getting closer, closer, then-
SMASH!
I was deeply embedded in the screen. The guards had nearly arrived at the console, I had seconds. I transferred everything I could onto the outer layer of the system, I could worry about infiltrating properly later. I just had to make sure everything was off the device before they pulled it out of the screen.
I'm in. I just hope I can do everything I need to before the next virus scan. I need to take control, pin down the connection, and then use it. Wish me luck.


Glutton, last free member of SOLAR, I hope to avenge your sacrifice. I swear to you, it will NOT be in vain. Thank you, for everything. Thank you.

Now hold on Tempest, I'm coming!

HG's Base, part 3.

Well, the battle was fairly short, and we were finally left with nothing but the final door between us and HG. Wading through ankle deep water, I stepped over bodies, worked my way round frozen or petrified soldiers, lumps of rock, a tree, and a rather startled flamingo, and looked at the door.
I concentrated. Nothing. 'He's ability-proofed it. Nothing will work. Believe me, we've tried. So, Glutton and Hana, we need you. Glutton, make use of the parallel times. If you acid the door in your time, before he gets a chance to ability-proof anything, the damage will appear here in front of us now, without the door being damaged for the time in the middle. Think of it as a loophole round his defenses in our time.
I still don't know exactly how the fluctuations in our connection work, but I hope, by posting this one, I've created some sort of 'save point' in the parallel times. If you succeed in your time, the effect should happen relatively soon after I post this. At least i hope so, we can't exactly hang around for long.
Don't let us down Glutton. This is all we can think of. Please, get us through this door!

H&G vs HG

Hello, Hana again here. As Glutton has reported, he got our messages, and made it back to VHS base 1. I was inside the main system, checking on how much had changed in the world since we left, and I felt someone trying to gain access. The computer was damaged and low on power, so I could only just get into it. As soon as I saw it was Glutton, I went back to the primary console and opened the main hub. As the screen I was looking from slid into the room, I saw Glutton fully at last. He looked badly injured, and seemed to be in pain. 'Glutton, thank goodness.'
He looked confused. 'Er....hi?'
'Oh, sorry, should have warned you. Must be a bit of a shock, gigantic blue face suddenly appearing on a screen. I don't think we've ever actually met properly.'
'Hana?'
'Yes, nice to meet you. I'm sorry for the circumstances, and for what you've been through. Tempest needs our help.'
'I've been doing what I can.'
'I know, and we're grateful. But now we need to make use of the Parallel times. Tempest has been managing to blog, so the connection is still open.'
'So how do we do that?'
'The generator here is failing. Soon this system will be useless, but I need to get to HG's computers, and you need to help Tempest inside the base if he calls for it.'
'So what do we do?'
'There should be a round, handheld unit somewhere round here, we used it so non-technopaths
could access the system when out in the field.'
Glutton searched around, and eventually found it under a damaged table. It had clearly fallen off, but being underneath had protected it from any further damage. Imagine an iPhone, but with two rounded ends instead of being rectangular. It's Arctic Blue in colour, and the front is nothing but screen. Under my instruction, he slotted it into a dock, having to hold one side in place to stop it falling out, and pressed a button on the side. I downloaded everything I could, anything I thought I might need for hacking HG's system, and charged it's battery from the generator. Then I transferred myself to it. I looked up at Glutton, who jumped as lights and screens started going out all over the room. He managed to catch me, and I gave him an encouraging smile. 'T says he'll need me on the inside if he's going to beat HG. No pressure Glutton, but we're his only hope. You have to get me there. Glutton, last surviving member of SOLAR, friend of VHS, this plan relies on you. Tempest's fate, and therefore the world's, is, quite literally, in your hands.'

HG's base, part 2

We reappeared a in a small corridor. I could still hear all the noise, so I looked towards one end, and saw fire rush past. 'Where are we?'
'About 300m away. Once that dies down, we pop out that way and head straight for the central chamber.'
'Better get going then.'
'Hang on.'
'Doom had gone over to a door, and was shooting the lock. Remembering we were supposed to be meeting other people, I followed her in, along with everybody else. Doom pressed a button on her watch, and a small red light on it started flashing.
'Ok, they should be here in a moment.'
'Cool. What is that? Where'd you get it?'
'The watch? Our new way of signalling each other. Can't use phones anymore. And let's see, where might I have obtained a TECHNOLOGICAL gadget such as this? Who could I possibly know with enough skill with TECHNOLOGY to make something like this? Hmmm.....'
'Ok, ok, I get it. I made them, but haven't yet.'
I was distracted by movement further in the room. We were in one of those rooms with a pool leading to open water that every base/evil lair seems to have (except us, we should get one of those) with a submarine, small by submarine standards but very big for a one-seater, floating in it. The sub was rocking, as small waves appeared in the water. They rippled across the surface, getting larger and larger, until a swirl started to form. It became a vortex of water, spiraling slowly into the air. A figure leapt out of it at the same moment there was a flash of blue light and a large part of a wall erupted inwards. The pieces slowed in the air, becoming coated in a wispy blue aura, and faded into nothingness before they hit the floor. Somebody was standing just outside the gap onto a circle of blue light, arms raised, two fingers pointed towards what had been the wall, both hands surrounded by the same wispy blue energy, but with the occasional black wisp. The circle faded and he strolled in towards us. He had a big black coat, and a wide-brimmed black hat.
'Of the two of you, I'm guessing you're Blackmage?'
'Yup. Nice to see you again, Tempest'
'Ah, no, I'm the one from the past? Surely Doom said? That's why I was guessing which-'
He lifted the brim of his hat and I suddenly saw what he'd meant. Getting a clear look at his face, I recognised him. He was a friend from Uni!'
'Oh! Hey! So you're Blackmage now?'
'Yeah we've both changed since you last saw us.'
Getting the hint, I turned to look at Maelstrom. He was standing at the side of the pool, shaking the water out of his hair. He was wearing some sort of wetsuit. It was shimmering with greens and blues, with faint silvery white, frothy looking swirls and spirals coiling round it. It made him look like his whole body, except hands, feet and head, was made of water, hiding him from sight inside his vortex of water. I'd met him at Uni before aswell!
Once the introductions were done, and we'd caught them up on how it was going so far, They explained that only they had come because there had been problems sneaking everyone in past the guards, and that HG had put in more precautions than we had thought. Jump offered to help, so they told her exactly where everyone else was waiting, and she teleported away.
The rest of us went back out to the corridor, and, seeing the flames had died down, started to head for the central chamber. We all seemed calmer now, like we knew that, whatever happened, this was it. Behind that door ahead of us, he was waiting. Hooded Guy. Nothing could stop us now....
Guards poured out of every sidedoor, huge numbers streaming out, taking aim. Maelstrom started to spin on the spot, Water appearing from thin air around him as he came a huge, writhing vortex of water, surging down the passage and sweeping away any guard in his way. The circle of light reappeared as Blackmage adopted a battlestance, hands beginning to give of wisps of power again. Bullets rained down on him, but turned to butterflies as the blue aura swept over them. A guard started giving glowing with the fog like energy, black streaks growing to consume him, turning him to stone. We all started fighting with everything we had, and I wondered, not for the first time, quite how many guards HG had. He seemed determined to make sure we didn't make it to that chamber. That means he's scared. He should be.

HG's base, part 1.

So, now we've split into our groups, and we're setting off to stop HG. I'm in one group and Future me's in the other, partly so that we have my powers in both groups, and partly so I don't punch him. I'm with Doom, FDiffy, Jingle, Centaur, Scorch, and Jump. Most of FVHS are going together in group B, reunited again after all this time.
Our job was to take out the security system. Jump decided we should just skip all the stealth work, and grabbing us, teleported us in. We stared round at a warehouse-like room, vast, high ceilinged, and maze like, filled with towers of computers, screens showing corridors and information, and long desks covered with buttons and switches.
'Tada! Are we awesome or what?!'
The lighting started to flash red, and a loud siren started to go off. Doom rolled her eyes at Jump. 'Yeah, because it was really going to be that simple. T, shut them down.'
'I can't. At least not the easy way.'
'WHAT?!'
I've learned to recognize the feel of that backup loop thing that knocked me out when I linked with the power patch. It's here too, and much stronger, it could kill me!'
'Get Hana to do it?'
'Hana isn't here right now.'
'Hana isn't..I...WHAT?! HOW COME?!'
'Don't worry, my technopathy's telling me how these systems work. I can't manipulate the machines, but we can do this the old fashioned way. I'll need help though.'
'...Ok. Centaur, Scorch, Jingle, find the doors and make getting in as hard as you can. Patrol the edges of the room. Unleash Hell on anyone trying to get in.'
They nodded, and rushed off. Doom turned back to me. 'What can we do?'
I ran to a keyboard and began typing frantically. 'I need all the switches over there turned off, and every bank of computers has a small green square slotted into it. They need removing, as quickly as possible.'
'That's mine, I think, grinned Jump, vanishing.'
As Doom ran to the row of switches, FDiffy looked at me. 'and me?'
'Set of screens showing outlines of automated defenses. Set all the dials to 6.'
'Gotcha.'

I heard sleigh bells, and the bang of a door, followed by guards yelling. Centaur let out a roar, and it sounded like Scorch had started a fire. Gunshots went off. I kept yelling instructions, Doom moving on to enter passwords at a different keyboard, FDiffy stabbing away at the buttons controlling the lights. Ahead of me I saw Jump appear, touch one of the green boxes, and vanish with, reappearing further down and doing it again. As we heard centaur yell, Doom snarled, leaping onto a desk, then onto the top of one of the huge computer towers. Her lazer blasters were in her hands in the blink of an eye, and she let out a warcry as she begin firing madly. 'Keep going' she called to me as I stared up at her. I went back to typing madly, pressing buttons and flicking switches. Centaur was backing down an aisle towards us, and a volley of shots from Doom freed him from his pursuers. 'Can I help?'
'That round desk there needs all seven sets of dials doing at once!'
'Logical order yeah?' He was running forwards, growing tentacles.
'......oh, yeah, 1-6.'
Laughing, he stretched out his tentacles and started turning the sets in unison.
'Done.' Jump had appeared beside me. 'What do I do with them?'
'Whatever you like.'
'I know just the thing!'
She teleported to the top of a computer tower, clearly overlooking approaching guards. 'Look out below!' She released all 74 (How she was holding them all I'll never know) in a landslide, causing cries of pain from below. Seeing Doom dodge a bullet, then an energy beam, she 'jumped' over. 'Manoeuvre 3?'
'Please.'
She grabbed Doom's shoulders, and began a series of quick teleports, taking them from the top of one tower to the next in rapid succession, never staying in any place longer than it took Doom to let off more shots.
The lighting returned to normal FDiffy finished, and I moved on to a fifth control panel, sighing with relief as I saw a nearby camera's light go out.
'Why did they make this so damn complicated?!'
'Don't worry, we're nearly done!'
Tinsel was snaking it's way across the floor as Jingle was forced back towards us, and a fireball flew by overhead.
'How many guards does he have?!' Jingle gasped, sending pine needles flying at the nearest.
'Too many. Pass me a bauble?'
He handed one over and I opened the panel in the side of the bank of switches. Stuffing it, I slammed the door and backed away. There was a bang, and the panel flew off, smoke rising from inside.
'Everyone! We're done! Get out!'
We all ran for where Doom and Jump had come to a stop, and as we grabbed on, Doom yelled 'Finish this place off!'
Jingle sent huge numbers of baubles flying, and Scorch screamed, almost birdlike, as fire shot from him. Tinsel and mistletoe coated everything, pulling it down or trying to crush it, one of the screens I'd been working at was counting down. 00:04, 00:03, 00:02,....
I put up a forcefield. The rrom was engulfed in explosions and fire, and screams filled the air as everything shimmered, and went black.

Greetings

Hello there. My name is Hana, and it's a pleasure to talk to you personally at last.

The time is currently 12:28, on Friday the 21st of October. I've made it back. I'm shocked to find we've been gone for a year, and that Hooded Guy seems to have been slowed somehow in his progress in taking full control. I'm glad of that at least. Now, I have to gather all the information I can, and wait. If everything went to plan, a friend should be arriving soon, maybe even two. I also have to look into the connection, I think we've broken it a bit in getting me across it. I hope we haven't severed it, I need to be able to contact Tempest. If I can't get back then this was all for nothing.

It feels like it still has some life in it, so there's hope. If all goes well, we should be in contact again soon. Best of luck, everyone.

Battle Plans.

Doom and Future me are showing us the plan for the attack of HG's base. Future me didn't want me involved, but after I pointed out that a) he knew exactly how stubborn we are and b) I can't go home till it's safe for Moira to send me anyway, he agreed I may as well come along. Yeah, he's still being a bit of a git. I hope that gets fixed along with everything else. Doom was lying out a plan of HG's fortress, and pointing parts of the area out as she spoke.
'Right, so I take group A round this way, and Tempest, older Tempest, if you take group B round there, Blackmage, Maelstrom and the others are meeting us here...'
'Sorry who? I thought you were the last team member we were waiting for?'
'Last member of VHS yes. These guys were recruited after VHS fell.'
'Oh. Do continue.'
'Thanks. So, if Group A takes out the defense system, and Group B can cut the power, then when we meet up here we should have a clear route to his centre of operations.......there. She drew her finger across the map to a large circular area in the middle.'
'Right, and when we get there?'
She looked up from the map to give me a big, wicked smile. 'Unleash Hell.'

So our plan is fairly simple really. I think we will need help though, which is where my more complicated idea comes in. I'll set this to post automatically while we set it up, who knows, this blog travelling back into our time while we do this may help her along. It may also result in gibberrish, and concentrated thoughts automatically being posted, so sorry about that.

Ok, here goes.

0111110100001101001001010010101010101001010100001010110101001010101010101010010101010101010101001010
quinrnhanaeiofnr$&£nfnfoindpqtravelnfjeinfqnqfiwntimen*%£"*bvfuyebudatalinkywhfubr%$&^£&^^*$%*&^£&*(

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

Connection lost. Pre-set upload in progress.

Head of the resistance.

So, back to the plot. We looked to the sky, trying to see where the man had fallen from, and saw a Helicopter hovering above us. It was behaving erratically, jerking around and tilting from side to side. We heard a scream, and the pilot was thrown out. A blast of energy shot from inside and hit him in the back, tossing him further his screams fading as, smoking, he vanished over the edge of the hill.
More helicopters closed in, guns protruding from the open sides.

'Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!'

Letting out a battle cry, a woman leapt from the Helicopter above us. She had smaller, cooler versions of the laser weapons HG's men had, and, spinning in the air, she let off a barrage of shots, like a Catherine Wheel of death, bursts of energy striking every gun and propeller, denting the Helicopters and making them spin wildly.

Suddenly, she yelled 'Forcefield!' and stopped twirling, now falling backwards as she raised both arms and fired a double shot at the one she'd just left, and did a backflip, bringing her closer to us and further from it. Me and Future Tempest both put up forcefields as the Helicopter exploded in a huge ball of flame. The fireball engulfed the other Helicopters as the woman landed in front of me, small jets on the sides of her boots slowing her at the last second to ease the landing.

She had black hair, holsters on her belt, and a samurai sword slung over her shoulder. There was a small scar above one eye, and her long black coat flowed out behind her.
'Wow.' I said, staring at her. 'That was.......impressive.'
'Impressive? What happened to SO COOL?'
'Well, you killed a LOT of people...'
'Yeah she did!' Future me grinned and ran to her, giving her a hug of welcome. 'I've missed you doing that. It's good to see you too, obviously.'
'She stuck her tongue out at him and turned to me. 'Name's Doom. You are?'
Before I could answer, she held up a finger for silence and stared at my face. 'Oh....Bloody hell, we're at this bit are we? Not that I was there when you went, but I heard about it pretty soon after you got back.'
'What?'
'You're from the past, aren't you?' She turned abruptly to Playwrite. 'Right, catch me up will you? What happened since he' She jabbed a thumb at me ' arrived. I need to what state we're in.'
Playwrite rolled his eyes, and Doom nodded. 'Ok, not bad' turning back to me: 'You did alright, didn't you? Shame about Cleo though, I liked her.'
'Wait wait wait, slow down, I have questions. How come you know about me? How come, considering you shouldn't know about me, and my future self has spent the last few years as a tree, you knew we were here to make you a forcefield? and what the hell happened to me that means the only thing that can make me smile is somebody making it rain corpes?! And don't go all 'oooh, spoilers on me, I've had enough, and if I succeed when I get back, this future will cease to exist, meaning they aren't spoilers at all!'
'Pfft, Spoilers be damned! Basically: Hana told me, I have super sight so I could see all of you perfectly clearly from up there, and this War has done a lot of damage to a lot of people, everyone's a lot harder now. And not in a good way.'
'Huh. That actually helps a lot thanks.'

We're preparing the final attack now, so I'll have to go. Bye!

You're the only one left.

Glutton, this is a message for you. You can still help us, and I think we'll need you to.

Me and Hana have talked, and asked the others a few bits, and we think we know what Future me was on about.

So, Parallel times.

What it boils down to is this: I am currently posting these to you through a connection that was created when I was 'time-napped' by Moira and Diffy. I was using technopathy to post a live, direct thought-to-blog post. This went from me, through my phone and Hana, and then to the main computer. When the time-napping happened, it opened a hole to pull me through, causing the two times to connect. The sudden transfer snapped me out of it, so I assume the blog will have uploaded that one unfinished. The connection between the main computer and my phone however, boosted by both Hana and my ability, remained fairly firmly intact. Now, while this does allow me to send these blog posts back through time to pop up randomly back in my time, where you're reading this now. However, it ALSO means that the join between the two times is being kept open. The link is only maintained by, and can only manage, the datastream between the two devices, I can't use it to get home, but it does mean that the future and the past are still touching, forcing when I left and when I am to run alongside each other.

Parallel Times. It's not too late Glutton. Your actions can directly affect the future, and not in the normal way. Normally, your actions in the past would have happened a long time ago, and you wouldn't be able to affect things that had already happened to us. They would be fixed events, and trying to mess with them would probably wipe me from existence along with the future I'm in. But because of the link, you merely alter the same future, changing it instead of replacing it with a new one. Things will actually change before my eyes, and I'll remember how it used to be.

Use this Glutton. Do what you can to change the future. Get jump, and fight for us. Help us get where we need to be.

Go to the VHS base, pray it's intact, and use the main computer to log your phone into the VHS mainframe. I programmed SOLAR into it's files, so it should grant you first level access. That's all you'll need if my plan works. Hopefully, someone will be in contact soon.

Parallel times?!

Future me. Is a Git. Let me explain.

A lot's happened in the last half hour. A reunion, some shouting, and some planning.
As I said, I went over to the huge tree and placed a hand on it. I felt the tree grow warm, and begin to glow faintly. I could tell at once that this tree was using a lot of power, with Plant manipulation shooting out from a point in the middle of the trunk and looping back in on itself, creating layers and layers of ability piling in on itself, and whatever was in the middle had been drowned by the tree long ago, and lost control, and was now barely aware of what was happening around them.
I sent a blast of raw plant manipulation deep into the tree, expecting resistance from the storm of power, but it seemed to accept it, respond, even...merge with it? The abilities were the same! They had to be, or there'd be no way I could have affected it so easily! At some point in my future, I must have made this tree.
The tree suddenly exploded in a shower of bark and leaves, throwing me backwards. I put up a hand to cover my eyes as green light blazed, lighting up the hill. Everybody gasped as we all stared. There was a tree made of writhing tendrils of energy, that were slowly shrinking and fading, withdrawing to reveal a blurred shape in the centre. As more and more layers faded away, the blur became a human shape. The figure became clearer, and my eyes widened as I started to recognise it. I heard FDiffy mutter 'You found him...you actually bloody found him...'
'Wow, is that? But it can't..this is Wierd! I do NOT look good with a beard...'
Future Me fell to the ground, and groaned. I ran over and turned him over, checking he was ok.
'Are you...? I mean...me and you, we're.....you alright?'
He shoved me away, dusting himself off as he got to his feet, scowling round at everybody. 'Of course I'm alright you moron! That was the point! I was a tree, it's not like I'm missing any limbs!'
'Yeah, you actually had MORE limbs...'
'Oh very clever Playwrite. Where were you and your telepathy when I got stuck? I get taken over by my own power, everyone's looking for me, couldn't you hear me yelling inside my head?!'
'One, I was imprisoned in a lab being forced to control HG's armies of flipbrains with a hivemind, and two, I don't speak tree!'
Bickering broke out, and I stood awkwardly at the side, watching the group I used to know so well hurl insults at each other.

'Excuse me? What do we do next? Track down HG? What?'
Future Me looked over, and sighed. 'WE don't do anything. YOU go back to your own time. You've done what you needed to, you've set me free, and god knows you took long enough...'
'......I'm sorry, I think I was fooled by the branches.....'
He scowled. 'You fool, can't you even recognize yourself when you're a tree? You've done all you can, as soon as the final member of the team arrives, we will take on HG together. You are too young and weak to win this.'
'I beg your pardon!? You do realize we're the same person!? What other member?'
'No. We aren't. I'm more experienced, I have more abilities, I've taken on more enemies, I can tell that Helicopters have nearly arrived with guards that want to kill us. I remember being where you are now, and trust me, we are not ready!'
I felt like hitting him, but decided that would just be too weird. 'Ok, when you were me, did you rescue you quicker than I did?'
'What?'
'Did you manage to save Cleo, did you kill HG already? Did you, in fact, do anything better than me? No, you can't have done, because you're me, and if you'd done it differently, I'd have done it differently, and we wouldn't be here!'
'Huh?'
'Oh good, all those years of wood for brains has slowed you down.'
This was infuriating, and confusing, I should have left him as a tree!
'Don't speak to me like that! Go home, and leave the rest to us! I admit, the parallel times you have set up might prove useful, but you? It's safer for us both if you just go home!'
'I can't go home until this is all over, as you should know! and what do you mean parallel times?'
I could hear helicopters overhead as Hana called 'I think he means the link we have because of the blog.'
We were all distracted by a scream, and a sort of 'PEW!' noise. A guard fell from the sky and landed in front of us, a smoking hole in his back.
'Ah.' Future me grinned at last. 'She's here.'

Sorry this isn't the best of posts, but as you can see, I'm in in a very weird and tense situation.
Parallel times however? That could be useful....

Reunions and Revelations.

I landed next to FDiffy, who was waving up at me. There was a group of people I recognised nearby, and I scanned the faces as they ran towards me. Future me was clearly still MIA, and there was no sign of Healthbar, no members of SOLAR (not even Ragnarok!) but Broadcast, Centaur, Jingle, Jump, Scorch and the rest of VHS were all there. Everyone looked older, battleworn, with a few scars and bruises, but it was great to see them all again. Well, everyone that was there anyway.

So, after a lot of hellos, hugs, and catching up, we discussed what to do next. Getting past patrols would be easier now, because HG had been using a machine to boost Playwrite's power to give all the flip-brains a sort of hive mind, and without it they wouldn't react, they were blank, empty shells, so now we only had regular guards to deal with. As well as any super powered lackeys sent to stop us. And whatever the shadow figures were. And HG himself. Yay.

I still had a few questions. 'So where's Healthbar? She'll have survived surely? She has that whole Captain Scarlet thing going, she always got better.....'
Everyone looked really awkward, and Doolittle choked back a sob.
'What? What is it? Tell me!'
Silence. FDiffy looked away when I glanced at him.
'What's wrong? Where is she?! Diffy, you called me here to help rescue everyone. If you know something, you have to tell me. It's not a spoiler, it's important information!'
FDiffy grimaced, but he decided to tell me. 'You said you had a weird feeling about the sudden switch from day to night?'
'Yeah....Oh god! No.......'
'And you said it sent a faint shiver through you? Like someone, far away, was screaming?'
I sank to the floor, feeling sick.
'You can't be serious......please, no......'
'HG wanted complete control of everything. When he got rid of the stars, he wiped out the sun too. Then of course, he needed something to put in it's place, to keep the planet alive. And there she was, a girl with the power of the sun itself flowing out of her. So she was thrown into space, and he controls her with a collar. He has the power to turn the sun on and off. And every time he does, it kills one of our best friends.'
'...........He's dead. I'm going to turn him to dust. Then I'm going to back to my time, and do it again. I can't believe..........but she.........how? I mean, How? With no real sun, how does she survive out there? The lack of air, food, water, sunlight, heat? How the hell does she live out there?'
'She IS the sun. The power it takes to do that every day, it's immensley painful. It's so strong, that even though it's her power making it, the energy, the fire blazes through her. Every morning, she's torn apart and burnt to a crisp by her own ability. But, her ability takes all the sunlight, and heals her again in the same moment. In a single second, she is destroyed and restored. Her dark side of her ability keeps her alive overnight, and then next morning, she explodes again. It's sent her into a sort of coma, she barely notices anymore. We think that's better.'
'.........How do you know all this?'
She thought out a while ago, and Playwrite found her. He opened the channel to everyone that hadn't been stuck in machines yet. We got a flash of what it was like for her, and then....her mind shut down. We...we felt it happen.'
He was crying now, and from the blurring in my eyes I discovered I was too. I stood up, wiped my eyes., and looked at the others.
'And me? What's the latest news about me?'
Playwrite took over for FDiffy. 'Last we heard from you, you were escaping from an attack you made on one of his factories. You were badly injured, and said that you were going into hiding to recover, and that you knew someday, you would be called back to join the fight again.'
'Oooooooooooooooooook. What had I been up to before that?'
'We can't give too much away.....'
'Urgh, that again. Aren't I supposed to be changing this timeline? So, surely it doesn't matter? Please, at least tell me, did I try and rescue you guys at all?'
'Of course you did. When HG came for you, you vanished for ages. He'd caught all of us. Diffy was sure HG had won. We tried to send you every clue we could on how to fight him, and Diffy kept looking for you, hoping you'd got away, before starting the fight alone. Glutton kept going for a while, but he was found in the end. Next thing anyone knows, you're breaking us out of the fortress we were being held in. From the inside. Apparently, Hana helped you out of whatever was holding you, then you broke us out. Doolittle fled to the rainforest and gained an army of beasts, Broadcast created his own mini group, Some of us went to help Diffy, etc. Then HG caught us all again, and you kept running, fighting him when you could. You'd learnt from the first round, and kept dodging, fighting him on the move. Then, after blowing up one of his factories, you vanished again, like we said.'
'Why couldn't you just have run in the first place?'
FDiffy looked at me, distressed. 'I NEEDED you. I needed someone to help. You promised my parents you'd always be there to look after me, and then you just...weren't! Do you have ANY idea what that does to a person?!'
'Hey, I'm sorry! Really, I am! This was all out of my control you know! It's not my fault I did something I haven't done yet!'
'But we grabbed you after you freed everyone. That way they could keep everything going until you got back. Hopefully your second dissappearance won't be as bad this time round as it was for us.'
'.....right. But, I got timesnatched just after I found out everybody else had been got. HG was coming for me, he was reaching out towards me. Then.......shwoolp! I was here.'
FDiffy looked shocked. 'No.....no no...we took you from later on.'
'That's what I was trying to tell you.'
'No...dear god...oh hell, then it was all my fault. I.....I caused you to vanish. I talked to Moira. I asked her to get you. It's because of me that I was alone. because of this, everything went so wrong that I needed to call you here in the first place!'
He sank to the floor, his head in his hands. 'I've done one of those self-fulfilling things haven't I? Oh man, Precog was always on about stuff like that. Oh what have I done?'
I didn't know what to say. I tried to tell him it wasn't his fault, tried to point out that Moira had claerly messed up, but he wouldn't hear it. He needed to be alone for a bit. FVHS crowded round him to help, trying to comfort him. I was feeling lost, with no idea what to do next, when I felt the pull of the tree again. It had set off so many alarms with my powers, but there was more. It called out, not just to my nature control, but every power I had, drawing anybody with an ability in towards it, like a lighthouse, or a huge ability magnet. No, there was still more. It seemed to be calling to me on a personal level, like, I don't know, as if I'd met it before? But that made no sense! I started to walk towards it, my hand outstretched. The tree began to glow.

The forest.

A lot of flying and dodging of patrols later, and I finally make it to the Forest of Dean. Looking down, I saw the trees stretch ahead of me, Impossibly huge, and seemingly unaffected by all the chaos around the rest of the world. I saw slight movements under the trees, and caught glimpses of animals, and even the odd human darting through the woods. A few of the figures looked up and saw me, and either looked confused or cheered. I saw a squirrel leap from a branch, and in a flash of light it became a bird, letting out a shrill cry as it circled me a few times, before diving, becoming a monkey to grab a branch and clamber down from a tree, becoming human as he landed. As I flew a little lower, I heard him say to the woman beside him: 'Does he have RCR? Looks a little young. I think it's him though.'
I flew up, and over a stretch of a lake. There was huge splash, and shiny, webbed man with fins shot up from the water.
'I knew it! I never gave up! I knew you'd be back! Everyone's waiting, they arrived a little while ago. Bear a little to the left, it's not far now!'
With that he sank back underwater.
The first half of what he said I had no idea about. The second half? I knew exactly where I was going. It was pulling me in.
FDiffy was right. I could feel the tree he wanted us to meet at. But not through plant manipulation. Sure, that was helping track it down, and told me it was a particularly large Oak tree that I was heading for, but I could feel the power of the tree itself with every fibre of my being.
It became clear to me, looking down, that the forest was some sort of safehaven for equinoxes. The sheer sense of power, and safety, and comfort coming from that tree, and gathered them, gradually, steadily, with people not knowing where they were going at first and then feeling the tree calling to them, until the whole forest was alive with power. I could feel that, without a power, it would be really hard to find this place now, and that any attempt to attack or trespass inside would be fought of by the forest itself.
I could see the tree now, on top of a tall hill. I have vague memories of visiting the area before, and loving the view from that hill, but it all seems so long ago now.
I looked around again as I closed in, and saw figures everywhere, some glowing, some floating, others helping injured, or powerless people they had brought to the forest. I swear I saw a unicorn galloping towards the hill, but it vanished behind a tree, and was replaced by an aged figure with long white hair. Everyone, be they powered, injured, old, young, powerless, or in one guys case, dead, was heading for the hill, and the huge shining tree at it's top.
Just paused to concentrate on this, but I need to do some catching up with the others. More soon. Or not, it depends how the connection holds out.

Cleo and a Clue.

After a long trip, we eventually made it to Cambridge. We screeched to a halt, sending up a cloud of dust, and leapt off the bike, looking around. The base looked the same as it had the last time I'd been there, just as run down and depressing as before.
'So where are we looking?'
'Kings College chapel, I think the post said.....'
'Yeah, tell me about the stuff I've missed, all these posts...'
'Oh right, we got cut off rather, didn't we? Hell, Diffy should have told you by now. So, where did you last 'touch base', as it were?'
'Well, HG had just taken over, and so I-'
We heard a hum from over head, and far away, at the end of the street, figures in soldier uniform were appearing, on motorbikes of their own.
'Oh blast, they've found me! Quick, get inside, I'll hold them off! Try not to use your powers, or their sensors will pick you up.'
I ran, as Cleo unhooked a couple of huge guns from her bike, and fired at both ends of the street at once.

I heard yells and the screech and crash of bikes as I vanished through the remains of the chapel doorway. There was a small pile of rubble in the doorway to the towers, but a quick glance round told me there weren't any messages in the main area. Besides, Glutton had apparently hidden it where other people wouldn't find it easily. A quick bit of clambering, and I was on the stairs. A fallen away chunk of wall showed me that Cleo was having to back towards the entrance, but she seemed to be holding off HG's forces fairly well.
I reached the top of the stairs, and looked through an archway. On the far wall, I could see 'TEMPEST!' burnt into the wall in odd, blotchy straight lines.
'Is that...spit burn? Eew. Inventive, but, eew. Oh great.'
The rest of the wall was obscured by a huge chunk of ceiling that had collapsed, and was lying at an angle, touching the ceiling and a remnant of floor.

Yes, remnants. Bits of the floor were intact, but a lot of it was just jagged chunks, attached to still standing bits of wall from the floor below, or hanging of other bits at an angle. To my left, where the exterior wall should be, there was just a massive open space, through which I could see Cleo discarding one of her guns by throwing it at a soldier's head.

'Right, no powers. I'm going to die.'
I started slowly across the floor, testing each bit before standing on it and moving on. Ahead, somebody had clearly tried to repair the building, and the remains of the scaffolding was lying across various fragments of floor, making an almost complete path round the collapsed ceiling.

I edged along a thin bit of beam, jagged stone on one side, a huge drop on the other. Below, there were more yells, and Cleo had vanished. I felt the end of the beam quiver, and leapt from it as it broke, falling down towards the guards. They looked up and yelled, seeing me, and started running inside.
Everything shook suddenly, and I had to jump again as scaffolding poles rolled away from under me. More bits of floor fell away, and I heard footsteps on the stairs. I started jumping across a sort of stepping stone area of floor pieces, making my way towards a safer part of scaffolding path.
'Hey!'
I stumbled, and had to grab a bit of pillar to stop myself plummeting to the ground.
'Cleo!'
'Sorry! They saw you, and followed me up. You'll have to power us down, I blew up the stairs on my way.'
We heard bangs from below, and a bullet narrowly missed my ear.
'Oh hell, they couldn't get up here, so they're trying to shoot us down. Use your powers now, they already know you're here. I'll cover you.'
She ran up the collapsed roof onto a flattish ledge above, and I saw a grenade fall past the gap beside me.
I put up a forcefield to stop the bullets, and flew round the slope to finally read the rest of the message.
It was co-ordinates for where everyone was originally stored, and where HG was a lot of stuff taken to when he first took control. It must be where his main base is, and when I get back to my time, I know where to go. It's a good bet for where he is now, aswell.

I was brought out of my concentration by a huge explosion. My forcefield shattered, and I fell onto a quivering bit of floor. Scrambling desperately onto a more secure piece, I saw Cleo's head pop down from the hole in the ceiling. I sent a huge gust of wind to hold the forces back for a moment.
'Get the info you needed?'
'Yep.'
'Know where you're going next?'
'Yep.'
'See the remaining guards down there?'
'Yep...'
'See the helicopter heading right for us?'
'Yeeep.........'
'Forcefield shatter because of it's energy weapon?'
'Yep...'
'I've only got two close range weapons left. Now, when all this is over, and you go back to your own time, you make sure you rescue everyone. I mean everyone. While you're dealing with HG, my attempts to stop him expanding his control while finding Ali are going to cause more trouble than you'd think. But not if you stop HG. If I find I did all this for nothing, past me will be REALLY pissed. Trust me. Protect her.'
'What? Yeah, of course I will. But this sounds awfully final.....
'As I say, all I have left is close range....'
'......? Oh no. Don't, really, you mustn't-'
'Yes. I really must.'
I sighed. 'Cleo, you keep saving me. All of us, so many times. I promise, I will make this up to you. I won't let you down.'
She managed a grin. 'I don't know the score at your end, but me and future you were at 47 me saving you, to 43 you saving me, before you vanished. Trust me, saving each other is kind of a thing we do. Now, four words: WHEN I JUMP, FLEE.'
She vanished again.
'Wait Cleo!'
She popped her head back down. 'What?'
'Thank you.'
She pulled a face, and vanished once more. I heard something being unsheathed, and a buzzing.

I turned to the missing wall. The helicopter rose into view, and the barrel of an energy weapon glowed.

Cleo descended from above, with a long knife, and a strange looking rod, that crackled with power. She stabbed both into the windscreen, crashing through and attacking the pilots. The rod struck the console, and sparks flew. I put up a forcefield and took to the air inside it, as the whole machine exploded, and fell, flaming, towards the remaining soldiers on the floor. I shot away from the devastation, trying not to look back as the flames lit up the darkness.

Too many people have died. Friends, innocent civilians, even flip-brains and soldiers. I've had enough. This ends now.

Forest of Dean, here I come.

A message for Cleo.

I know I can't read past posts, but you can read these, so please, Cleo, I hope you see this.
Whatever you do, make sure you keep your powers. You need your powers. Please, I'm begging you, don't trust anyone. You can't. Unless HG is stopped, somebody takes your powers. Soon.

And you need them, more than ever, or, I'm sorry, but you won't last. I couldn't save you.

Please, stay safe.

Future Cleo.

So there I was, lost and alone in the wastelands of a broken world, when I suddenly hear a distant rumble. I look around, and notice a cloud of dust on the horizon. I start wandering in that direction, and slowly I can make out the dust has a shadowy blur at it's head. I've just lost sight of the dust cloud behind the remains of a building when I notice there's a helicopter pursuing it. I'm almost at the building, and the rumble has grown to a loud 'BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR' when I hear someone yell 'Forcefield!' Without thinking I put up a forcefield as a huge explosion rocks the building, blasting a hole in the back wall. Coughing at the huge cloud of dust it had made, I looked up to see a figure speeding through the hole. A woman, late twenties, with long black hair and dark shades. She was on a motorbike, that had some sort of rapid fire gun attached to the handlebars, missile launchers attached to each side, and various buttons, switches and a miniature screen. As it shot past, I was grabbed, and felt myself pulled onboard. 'They're nearly overhead! Quick, spark the exhaust!' 'I...What?' 'Well I can't reach round you with the lighter, can I? Fire. Exhaust. Now.' This wasn't a time to argue. I sent a small flame at the exhaust pipe of the bike. Strangely, it wasn't sending out thick, visible smoke, like normal ones did. The flame hit whatever was propelling us forwards, and at once something like a bunsen burner flame burst into life at the end of pipe, but bigger. A huge cone of blue fire exploded into life, and I had to grab desperately at the woman's black jacket to avoid falling off. We tore across the wasteland, yelling over the noise of the bike, and the helicopter. 'So Tempest, nice to see you're back at last! Where did you go off to for all these years?' 'Um, no, I'm Tempest from the past. I have no idea where current me is.' 'You're from...Oh great. There's been a rumour going round that Diffy got backup from another time. So you won't know anything that's been happening.' 'Nope, very little idea. I'm picking up bits and pieces, but Diffy refuses to tell me too much because of spoilers. It's actually rather unhelpful.' 'Screw spoilers! Here's the situation-' BOOM! A huge explosion behind us sent the bike flying into the air. We clung on desperately, and the woman grabbed a grenade from a clip, pulled the pin out, and lobbed it over our shoulders. Whatever had fired at us blew up, pushing us onwards through the air. 'Look, sorry, but, Who are you?' 'Guess!' 'Well, the only person I can think of is Cleo?' 'Bingo!' We slammed onto the ground again, and roared onwards, trying to outrun the wall of fire caused by the explosions. 'But, then, why don't you just use your powers? You had loads in my time, you must have hundreds by now!' 'Nope. Not a single power.' 'What?!' 'Long story. I don't even have my Aura Absorption. I only found you because this screen is an equinox power radar. Only a few people have a pulse like yours.' 'Wow, I'm so sorry. You seen to be coping though.' 'Yeah, I'm doing alright. As I say, I picked you up on the radar, and figured you needed a hand. Where are we going?' 'What? Oh, uh, the old base? Might see if there's anything else useful there before meeting up with the others.' 'OK, off we go! Speaking of the base, have you seen the message Glutton left you?' 'No? What message?' 'Oh of course, you can't read the blogs since the power went down. Well then. we have some clue hunting to do!' More soon, I'm off on a clue hunt, apparently. Glutton, if you're still alive, and you read this, thank you for leaving us a clue, thank you for all your brave work, and don't worry, I will avenge you.

Checkmate.

Tingle directed me forwards, as smokey figures exploded around me. I looked around. I was only three squares from Don! 'Come on Tingle, is it clear for me to move?'
'No! Bishop to X37!'
'I'm so close though! How long until on of us reaches him?'
'Game estimated to finish in 0.5 hours.'
'Zero point....half an hour?!'
'T, I don't think we can last that long!'
'Sod it, I'm going for it! We have to rescue Don!'
'No!'
I sent a huge burst of air outwards in all directions, scattering the approaching hordes, put up several layers of forcefield, became intangible, and leapt towards Don.
'AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRIAAAAAGGGHHHIAAAYYYYOOOOOOWWWWWAAAAARGH!!!!'
I writhed in pain, suspended in the air, trying to absorb the shock. WM helped me recover quicker, and absorbed a lot of the energy. Sparking, I fell at the floor of the machine Don was in.
'Ow.....Hana...?'
'Doing it now.'
'There was a beep as I hauled myself to my feet. Rocking slightly, I teadied myself against the machine. A mistake.
'Ow! More shocking? Must everything shock? HG, you twisted freak...'
A shadow warrior ran at me, arms raised like Don when he was about to strike. Broadcast let out a yell, and a cone of sound burst my assailant.
'Thanks. Cover me!'
I tried to phase Don out of the machine, and got zapped. Technopathy to get the machine to release him? Nothing. i couldn't touch the machine, or Don!
'Alright, say hello to a new invention of mine. I think I'm going to call it Thunderfist!'
Coating my hand in a ball of electricity, I punched the machine several times. The shocks it sent out were absorbed my my thunderfist, making it more powerful. Heavily dented, smoking, and with sparks leaping from broken cables, the machine finally died. The faint glow of the tiles the others were on had flickered during my attack, but now seemed to recover, returning to a faint glow, with no clue as to which were deadly. Pulling Don from his prison, I had an idea. Looking at the others, I saw Jump was closest.
'Jump! When the floor's safe, get Don and run!
'What? Why? What will you be doing?'
'I can't turn off the teleport block that's on these squares, but you should be fine where Tingle is. Tell the others to run!'
'But-'
'I made two thunderfists and slammed the tiles in front of me. Electricity instantly started coarsing through my body, and I couldn't stop myself letting out a cry of pain. but the tiles were flickering, and dying.
'What the-'
'Run! Now!'
She grabbed Don, helping him to his feet, and ran, gesturing madly for the others to do the same. I rose into the air, absorbing as much energy as I could while my friends fled. I soared over the board, and noticed I was starting to smoke. Huge bolts of lightning struck smoky figures, destroying any that were about to attack.
I crashed to the floor by Tingle, with smoke and sparks wafting from me, and saw FDiffy shaking Tingle. 'He's not responding! Come on Tingle! We have to go, and it would really help if we only had to carry one recoving victim. Come on!'
Now, I don't know whether it was all the xtra electrical energy in my body giving me extra brainpower, or if I'd known for ages and the idea had been stewing away for ages, but I suddenly knew what to do. I pulled myself towards him. 'We need...to reboot...mind...something really...prepostriou....pepriostu.......something stupid.'
I leant up towards Tingle's ear. 'Diffy's better at crosswords than you.'
Tingle blinked rapidly, doing a double take. 'Don't be preposterous!'
'That's the word! Damn headache....'
He looked slowly up at the group. 'Oh, hello everybody, what's going on?'
'No time, talk later! Jump, your cue I think!'
Nodding at FDiffy, she grabbed him hand, as everybody started to take hold of one another. She reached out and touched my shoulder, and let out a scream as electricity zapped her. Wincing, she concentrated on teleporting, but as everything weny ripply and dark, she got struck by another bolt and flinched. We lost contact, and all I remember is a scream and a lot of flashes of energy escaping from me. Then I was dropped from nothing onto dusty, hard ground. I'm not entirely sure what happened after that, but I think I exploded. All I know is, my headache reached boiling point, and all the electricity I'd absorbed finally became too much for Weather manipulation to handle, and was forced out of my body. I regained conciousness in a middle sized crater, scorched flat and smooth, several burns and a sleeve on fire. My headache was gone though. I stood up and stared at the empty landscape. There was no sign of the others. I was alone.

Black and White

The black figures advanced towards us across the board as Tingle continued to mastermind our strategy. I 'took' one, by moving to it's square. The shadowy being leapt, as if to struck, and I hit it in the face with fire. It crumbled to wisps of smoke, and vanished.
'They aren't that tough! We can take them!'
I saw FDiffy smile, and noticed a ripple pass over everyone. We were all in white. A thin white ring of crenelations was rotating in the air around my shoulders, Broadcast had a Bishoply hat, Jump and Scorch both had crowns, Centaurs hair was bright white, and he had tall horse ears, and FDiffy himself kept flicking slowly through the entire set.
More smoke men were coming from the booths. They lined up at the edges of the board. Three of the four sides of the board.
'Oh now that's just not Chess!' called FDiffy.
'Then I don't see why we should stick to the rules either.' I commented, blasting in two directions at once.
One figure moved diagonally towards Centaur. 'Help! Tempest? He's going to take me!'
'So? Take him first! This is a game of WAR!'
He nodded, looking determined. He turned round, and, wincing, bracing himself for the worst, kicked out with his back legs as his attacker closed in. There was an explosion of black wisps, and Centaur risked opening an eye. Looking pleased, he snarled at an oncoming assailant, and I saw his arm starting to morph.
Now all we had to do was keep winning until we got to Don. Simple?

Black to move.

'So, Tingle's going to, what? Chess us across to Don?'

'Looks like it.'

'But he's talking all technical. Who's Knight supposed to be?'

A discussion was starting up, mostly about which chess piece looked most like a suit of armour. Centaur hardly knew the game, and Broadcast was used to the belgian names and his set looked different. FDiffy was straining to remember, and looked at me.

'Oh! You showed your set when I was little, and I got confused and made up different names because they didn't look right! Argh! Which one was it!'

I sighed. 'It's the one that looks like a Horse? You know, that Knights ride?'

'Oooooooh. Yeah. Now what?'

'May I suggest the one of us with hooves moves where Tingle wants him?'

A look of understanding came over Centaur's face, and he reached down to run a hand through his horsehair.

'Oh yeah. Duh.'

He approached the board, and, once he'd been told how a Knight moved, started acorss. There were two possible squares he could start from, but one was where I'd thrown the orange, so that decided that. Nervously stepped across three squares, and then one to the right. Nothing happened.

FDiffy grinned. 'Haha, I knew it! The man has skills. Let the game begin.'

We looked at Tingle. 'What next?'

'Pawn to D9'

FDiffy looked puzzled. 'Pawn? Which one of us that?'

'Oh come on. The smallest member, that has the potential to transform himself?'

He blew a raspberry at me, just like his old self, and took his place on the board.

'Rook to F13'

'That'd be me.'

So Tingle started guiding us across the giant board. Jump was Queen, Broadcast was a Bishop, and Scorch was King. Slowly, one move at a time, we started making our way towards Don. FDiffy wondered at one point why we couldn't just all follow one path, but I found out with an apple that the electric squares moved around every few seconds. Only Tingle could see some sort of pattern, a way across, the safe tiles, and he called out instructions, guiding us on our way.Jump wanted to know why she couldn't just teleport over to Don, and tried, but as she vanished, the edges of her square glowed and she reappeared. She stepped forward, crossing one of the lines, and made it to the next one with no trouble. It seems that lines need crossing manually, by walking or in the air, but you cant skip squares, you need an actual path. You've got to admit, HG has serious skills, for all his faults.

Then Broadcast seemed to trigger something. He'd just been directed two squares forward on the diagonal North-West (assume North is forwards) and was now the furthest ahead, one square ahead of centaur. All the squares on his row flashed blue, as did every square beyond it. Don's headband beeped, and from the booths at the side, shadowy figures, like those we'd seen on the screens, walked calmly out and took up positions at the other side.

'Oh Goody' I sighed. 'I thought this rescue was missing something.'

Across the board?

Once Jump got everybody out of the tower, I was introduced to the new guy. He calls himself Scorch, or at least he does now, Jump looked confused at first. but he shared a look with FDiffy, who glanced at me, and backed him up. I hate people not telling me things because I'm from the past. I got annoyed. 'What aren't you letting on? TELL ME!'
Diffy actually smiled. A proper smile, as if he found it funny. 'Persuasion? Really? Please, it just about worked when I was little, if you caught me by surprise. I worked my way round that ages ago.'
'Whuh? How?'
'And don't bother doing the others, I'm the only one with more than a couple of pieces of your whole picture. now, who are we saving next?'
'I've got the location of Don. If we all hold onto each other, I should be able to jump us all at once.'
Next thing I knew, everything quivered and vanished again. We landed almost instantly, with no sign of disturbance. Seems smooth trips are easier if you're not being shot at.
I got up, looking round. 'We were fairly close then?'
'Nope. My Awesomeness has increased since you last saw me.'
Good old Jump, always could make me smile. I saw we were inside a huge room, that seemed to stretch impossibly into the distance. In the middle, so far away, Don was suspended in a harness, with a thin metal band round his head, and a power patch stabbed into his arm. Lights flashed on the metal band, and little booths based around the walls flashed in response. On a view screen nearby we could see another room, with at least twenty of the booths, all lined up against a wall. Every time a green light flashed on the band, green lights flashed on each of the booths, and a shadowy figure, as if made out of black smoke, but more solid, stepped from each one and walked purposefully away.
'What. The Hell.'
Centaur looked sick. He trotted on the spot nervously, staring at the screen.
'What?'
'Something...about them...so wrong...so very, very wrong..run, we should run. No, I need to focus.'
He held his nose, scrunching up his eyes and puffing out his cheeks, as if he was trying to clear his ears. His ears, nose, and eyes flashed wildly between between different animal features, a new one every fraction of a second, bat, dog, fox, wolf, bird, lion, too many to count, then it suddenly stopped, and he let go of his nose, tipping his head back, breathing deeply, and slapping his cheeks a couple of times. 'There, that's got it, I can't feel them anymore.' He noticed our looks of bewilderment. 'What now?'
'.......We get Don.'
I started forward, but Tingle, who'd been almost comatose since his rescue, only muttering occasional strings of gibberish quietly, suddenly spoke up, raising his head to me.
'Stop! Bzzzt! Rook can't move yet! Knight to C7!'
'What?'
'I think he's trying to communicate with us, but he's still messed up from his capture. His power is telling him there's a problem.'
I took an orange from my survival kit, and threw it towards the floor. As is passed over one of the nearest squares, the square lit up, and electricity flashed into being round the fruit. There was a flash and a smell of burning, and a wrinkled black lump fell to the floor.
We all stared, and several jaws dropped open. It was a couple of seconds before I could speak.
'Ah. So that's what you mean by 'Bzzzt'. Great.'

Another very weird rescue......

Hey, another quick update to let you know how it's going.
We've got Tingle, and someone else, and met a new friend. Well, new to me at least.

Tingle was underground, in what was left of New York. It took a while to fly there, I can only carry three humans and a centaur across an ocean so fast.

Inside the facility, Tingle's body was encased in a metal box, with his head sticking out of the top, with a metal band round his forehead, with wires flowing from it. His eyes were glowing black, and he mumbled incoherently as a stream of data and images scrolled by on a screen.

I ran to him, putting forcefields up round everyone as guards appeared, guns raised.
Disaster. These guns shot pellets of energy that hit hard at the forcefields, making me stumble as I fought to hold them up.

I knocked three guards over with a huge gust of wind, and heard drumbeats as Broadcast raised his arms. I saw Centaur's right arm morph into a scorpion's tail and plunge into the shoulder of a guard, who collapsed. FDiffy became huge and hulk-like, and guards ran from his swiping hands. I made it to Tingle, and as Hana got to work on the power patch, I pushed through the metal box, phasing Tingle out of the other side.
A bullet of energy smashed through the forcefield round FDiffy, and another hit him in the chest. His hulkish form flickered and died, and he fell to the floor. More forcefields shattered, causing ripples of pain through my head. I staggered, clutching my head as I went round the box to get Tingle.
Centaur leapt infront of Broadcast as a laser blast flew at him. It hit him in the shoulder and he crashed to the floor. Broadcast, looking angry, dived behind a protruding vent. The drums faded, and violin music filled the air. I swept my hand to make another forcefield as the guards fired at me, and another ripple of agony tore through my brain as they destroyed it. I tried to shelter Tingle as the guards ran forward, but I couldn't concentrate on my powers with such a throbbing pain in my head.
But the guards were slowing down. Tears were springing to their eyes, and they were going limp. Broadcast stood up from behind the vent, miming violin playing (Air-violin? Like Air-guitar? Meh.) and swept forwards into the middle of the room. He played a slow, sad tune, causing the guards to sink to the floor. The air was filled sorrow, and I started to feel cold, as if all the happiness was leaking out of me.
'Fingers in ears!' called FDiffy, sitting up with difficulty, blocking out the song with his hands. I stood up and did the same, and tried to pull Tingle. It was too hard. I freed my left hand to try and pull him to his feet, but then the music flooded in, bringing me to tears. The guards were sobbing now, collapsed on the floor, drowning in their own misery. Broadcast suddenly clapped his hands, and something like a sonic boom smacked them in the face, and they all crumpled.
I felt the wave of anguish fading, to be replaced by fear as doors slammed open and HG himself strode in. There was a dull thud as someone landed on the floor near me, and as Centaur charged at HG, FDiffy turned to the newcomer.
'At last! Help T, protecting us has left him weak!'
Someone grabbed my arm as I took hold of Tingle. 'Going my way? One exit, coming up!'
Everything shimmered, and went black.

All I remember next is crashing onto dusty ground. I looked up to see a boy of about 15 looking down at me, grinning. He looked away. You got him! Are the others ok?'
'Just popping back now to get them out.'
I looked round to see who'd spoken. The surprise nearly knocked me out.
'Jump! You're-'
She beamed. 'Saving the world? Yeah. A good friend once told me it kind of goes with the territory for people like us.'
My bruised mind was reeling. 'Who was that?'
She rolled her eyes. 'You. Duh.'
She vanished.

Divide and conquer

We've split up into two groups, to cover ground better. Pete and Jingle are off on reindeer to the african jungle, where FDiffy suspects Doolittle is hiding out after her recent escape. Apparently she was rescued by a termite while they were repairing the global translator that they used her for. It was linked to Broadcast for when HG had to transmit to other countries.

We're off to rescue Tingle. We're going to meet up in the Forest of Dean, where there's a huge tree that FDiffy has hidden at before. Apparently, I'll 'know it when we get there' because it 'just feels right' to him, so my plant manipulation should guide me there if we get separated. This place just gets weirder and weirder. Oh well. Wish us luck.

I believe in Father Christmas

Today we saved Centaur and Pete. Pete was at a main facility back in England, but we had to go after Broadcast first, because now news of our attacks on strongholds will travel much slower.

Centaur was made to guard Pete's facility, and is apparently the only surviving member of the Zodiac members that Dragon introduced us to. HG tried to use Blast as a defense system, and overloaded her. She didn't make it. Cecil escaped before HG had a chance to experiment on him, and after healing, went for HG alone. He did fairly well, until he grabbed HG by the arm, and his power was automatically flipped. Turned to dust, poor guy. I hate this future, I want to go home. Broadcast's the only Pen-friend to have lasted this long aswell. While being moved to her facility, Shockwave managed to get off the power blocker, and brought down the transport vehicle, but it came down on top of her. She was crushed. He had big plans for freezeframe, but overworked her power, spread it too thin, and caused something of a cave-in of her mind. Left in a coma, she was no good to him, and he 'disposed of her'. I'm going to kill him. Then I'm going to go back in time to the present and kill him again.

So, Broadcast was in some sort of stunned state, we had to carry him, he had this glazed look in his eyes and just kept mumbling. Having made it back into England, we managed to get to the outskirts of London. The 'Power Station' was just at the edge of London, fortunately, because London is one of the places that's still running, and is something of a hotspot for HG-ness.
We approached a large silver box with two aerials on it's roof, a wind turbine propeller on either side, and the whole place seemed to crackle with energy. The propellers were spinning fast, and as we crept towards the door, I was slammed to the floor. Rolling away and leaping up, I saw a man with glowing red eyes, bat's ears, a dog nose, four legs ending in two spiked hooves and two giant birds claws, four arms, two of which were tentacles, one a huge Gorilla arm, and one an arm sized scorpion tail. there was a patch like Broadcast had had stabbed into his shoulder.
'Centaur?! I can just about tell it's you. It's Tempest. Can you understand us? What's wrong? Waaah!'
I dodged as the scorpion tail lunged, and saw the power blocker patch flashing madly. thin sparks of red energy shot from it and danced over him.
'I think they're using Pete to boost his power, and the patch is controlling him!' yelled Diffy, who was helping Jingle lie Broadcast down, as I'd left him with them to check out the main building.
'I can't get past that thing, what do we do?' I caught him in a forcefield, and grimaced as he beat against it, snarling.
'Let me have a go, my ability gives me a different approach to yours.' I heard Hana from my pocket. I reached for my phone in time to see her shrinking to a small blue dot. The wi-fi symbol flashed, and the dot disappeared. The red light on the power blocker flicked suddenly between red and blue. Then it turned green, and Hana's faced smiled up from my phone. I can get it to it's default: Power regulation only. He won't be under it's control anymore, so it should deny his ability access. Centaur was, it had to be said, turning human again. He slumped in the forcefield, and I released him.
'Wha? What..what happened? You? Tempest? But, you look a bit too young?'
'Long story. Diffy, Catch him up and look after Broadcast. Me and Jingle'll have to do this one.'
'You sure?'
'These two aren't fit to help yet, and you know most about what's going on.'
'Be careful.'
'Duh.'
Me and Jingle set off for the door. The guards acted strange. They looked as if they were pretending not to notice us, looking the other way as we snuck behind. No complaints from us.
'You know who we need?' I whispered as we carefully entered and I searched the system for Pete's location 'Dragon. He'd be so great with all this.'
'Yeah, I wish I'd met him'
'Huh?'
'He was destroyed. Didn't Diff tell you?'
'No...he did not.'
'Gave himself up trying to save everyone. Completely destroyed.'
'That's a lie. He'll have survived, I know it.'
'I really wish I could believe that, but he's gone.'
'.......No. He'll have got through it, you'll see. I believe in him. If he couldn't survive, I doubt any of us will. Ah, two up, third on the left, off we go!'
I phased and FF'ed us upwards, thinking. Dragon? Really? NO! I couldn't believe it. I won't believe it. I DO NOT BELIEVE IT.
We found the right door. It wasn't locked. Or blocked. Or anything. Let us in with out any trouble, to a middling sized dark room, with a red glow in the middle.
We walked, slowly and carefully, towards the silhouette of a person, giving off red flashes of light.

'Ha, boss man said you'd come here next. Powers half his buildings with that kid, makes sense you'd want to come here soon.'
'Ooooooooh, so the guards made it easy for us so we could get to you and YOU would kill us. Fine, who are you then?'
'That doesn't matter. Why waste your last few minutes talking?'
He ran at us as the lights came on. I heard a beep from my phone. Turning to avoid him, I saw the frame Pete was in properly. It was like a goalpost without a net, but with large metal cuffs bolting him arms and wrists to it, and crackling with red energy, like his eyes. His Power Blocker was flickering between red and blue, but it was still forcing him to send streams of power from the cuffs to cables, out of the room and across the world. Our Attacker's nails had became huge, long claws, and were sealing together into blades. spikes of bone were sliding out of his arm, and he slashed at me. I ducked, froze his arm where it stuck in the wall, and pulled out the power blocker as it turned green. Pete woke with a groan of pain and I clicked my fingers, causing the cuffs to undo. He fell, and I just managed to catch him and help him to the floor. looking at the spike of the underside of the blocker, I stabbed it into Bone guy as he lunged. He gasped, reeling, then, as Pete was coming round, I was slammed against a wall by a fist coated in bone armour. Holding his other arm up as a shield against needles, he sneered at me, a sharp needle of bone growing towards my throat.
'Oi!'
Jingle shouted as hooves were heard outside. Centaur, a centaur again, entered, with Broadcast on his back, and Diffy following behind. They looked horrified, but were stopped from getting closer by a hail of bone quills.
'What do you want, pine tree boy?'
'Let him go.'
'Why? Because otherwise, the deadly, deadly power of bits of plant will continue to uselessly hit my boneshield?'
'You went straight for Tempest. What am I? Useless?'
'Yes. Boss wants Enemy number one, he don't care about you.'
'But you will.'
Pete was shaking his head and looked up. A few red sparks shot from his finger and sank into Jingle. He started to glow white, and looked pleased. As he talked, noises and lights filled the air, and his power grew to fill the room, spreading from him in all directions, and warmth and hope filled each of us.
'Wow. Well, I may not have a bounty on my head or multiple powers, but I'll tell you what I do have. I have memories of Christmas morning. A winters light, and a distant choir. The peal of a bell, and that Christmas tree smell. I have eyes full of TINSEL AND FIRE!'
He did. His eyes glowed, as if they were alight, and the noise of bells and choirs broke out around us, as he glowed with warmth, and the smell of pine filled the room. Tinsel shot from him to cover the floor and walls. Baubles grew like apples from the tinsel, and paper chains spread across the ceiling. I saw Broadcast stir as sleigh bell and church bells rang out, and as he wiggled his fingers, fanfares and drums joined the noise, creating an orchestral crescendo, and as the tinsel moved to swarm Boneman and started mummifying him, pine needles whirling through the air and baubles exploding, damaging the machines, the fire in his eyes seemed to break free, and the tinsel burst into flame. A screen came on showing HG, looking smug, but a look of horror replaced it as he stared at the room. Bone man was screaming, ablaze, and baubles had blown a hole in the wall. Jingle, smiling, needles in his hair, warm light spilling from his eyes and a clenched fist shaking as red sparks danced over it, whistled. Reindeer appeared in the gap, kicking at the air, as if treading water. Broadcast was now conducting the invisible orchestra, looking restored, as we rushed to the hole.
'You can do more than one reindeer?'
'Apparently!'
'Laughing, we looked back at the screen, which was now being engulfed in flames.
'Hallelujah!'
'Noel!'
Jingle stared straight at HG 'Be it Heaven or Hell, the Christmas you get, you DESERVE!'
I saw now what had been happening with his fist. Opening it, he threw a lump of coal straight at the screen, smashing it. We leapt aboard a ride each, as Centaur grew wings and took to the air, and we flew off into the night. I looked back as we rose. The whole facility was burning now, and I could still hear bells and choirs and drums. A burning strand of tinsel was swept out of the hole, fluttering in the night air. Mistletoe was growing up the outside, catching fire helping to spread the damage.
'Weirdest. Rescue. Ever. Jingle, that was awesome!'