- Issue #73 – Give Thanks
- Issue #74 – Bit Part Bad Guys
- Issue #75 – Kaiju for Christmas
- Issue #76 – Silicon Soul, Adamantine Will
- Issue #77 – Date Night
- Issue #78 – Delved Too Deep (Une Mascarade Brisée Part 1)
- Issue #79 – Tome of Secrets (Une Mascarade Brisée Part 2)
- Descendants Special #7 – The Curtain Rises
- Issue #80 – Bitter Work
- Issue #81 – Kin, Speed and Ducks
- Issue #82 – What To Do With Your Downtime
- Issue #83 – Avalon Rises
- Issue #84 – Darkness Falling
- Descendants Annual #7 – First Frost
Even though all of twenty people at best would ever see it over the course of the holiday season, Chamberlain Salvage was decked out for Christmas with strings of colored lights around scrap metal sculptures of a snowman, three Christmas trees, an eight-foot tall penguin, Santa, his sleigh and seven tiny reindeer.
The eighth was in one of the empty hangers that now served as a workshop for the Chamberlains, bedecked in a cloud of sparks more reminiscent of the Fourth of July then Yuletide.
Eighteen year-old Willow Chamberlain, also known as Juniper Taylor, was welding the remains of a badly mangled rake into place as one of a pair of antlers. Meanwhile her mother, Emily, went over the business’s books on her tablet, perched on the open tailgate of an ancient pick-up truck full of scrap metal.
All families have their own traditions.
For the Chamberlains, scrap sculptures were their equivalent of trimming the tree. The finished product was donated to an auction held every January by the volunteer fire department in nearby Greenlee where Juniper’s father, Pete used to work.
The welding torch kicked up sparks twice more before Juniper stepped back to admire her handiwork through the light sensitive port in her welding mask. “How’s it look, mom?” She asked, having to shout to be heard both through the mask and over Elvis singing Blue Christmas over the workshop’s speakers.
It took Emily a moment to realize she was being addressed, thanks more to being caught up in The King’s singing than paying much attention to the business’s profits and costs; she was thinking of hiring an accountant anyway.
“Hmm? Oh, very nice, Wil. I really like how you shaped the eyes and the antlers.” She pursed her lips and gave the sculpture a better look with her keen engineer’s eye. “Are you confident in the seams around the neck though? The head looks pretty heavy and these have to survive being moved around.”
Juniper looked over those same seams. She didn’t have as good a sense for all things mechanical like her mother, but she’d been welding since she was twelve and could tell solid from weak. “I’m sure.” She concluded. “It might not look like it, but it’s all connected on the inside anyway. The neck seams are more like back-up.”
To show her confidence, she extinguished the torch. “Dasher here is ready to join his brothers and sisters.” She announced, flipping up the welder’s mask. Sweat was streaming down hear face, joining the grime of rust and oil and dust, but from beneath it all, her smile was still bright.
Emily cocked her head to the side at the comment, wavy brown locks bouncing. “Huh. I always thought all the reindeer were boys. Which ones would be Dasher’s sisters?”
“Almost definitely Vixen.” Juniper said after some thought. “But you’re right, I don’t know if any of the others are boys or girls. Cupid’s probably a boy, but none of the others don’t really say much one way or the other about their sex.”
“Comet sounds like a male name.” Emily suggested.
Juniper blinked. “Really? I was leaning toward female for that one.”
“The phone calls are done.” announced Juniper’s father as he came around to the wide-open hanger door of the workshop. Even though he’d been in the office most of the day, he looked as if he’d expended just as much energy as his daughter. “Emilo is driving down here tomorrow to take away those I-beams we picked up from the Cranston job, and Harry over in Yellow Creek wants us to clear off some land he just bought.”
“Sounds like more numbers going into the black.” Emily smiled.
Removing her mask completely, Juniper smiled at her father. “Hey, Dad, which of the reindeer do you think are female?”
Having been married to his wife for almost two decades, Pete didn’t even blink at the question. “Vixen of course, then Dancer, and Dasher.”
“Dasher?!” Both women asked.
:What?” He asked, “that wasn’t obvious?” Before the conversation could delve deeper into the genders of any more beloved childhood icons, he continued, “Anyway, I was going to drive into Greenlee and catch the train into Phoenix. If anyone has any last minute shopping to do, you might like to come with.”
Emily shrugged. “I’m pretty much done, plus I’ve got some work to do.” She waved her tablet at him. “How about you, Willow?”
A slight blush of embarrassment tinged Juniper’s face. She always managed to forget someone on her list until the last minute when neither of her parents did. A quick inventory went through her head: Both of her parents were taken care of before she even boarded the plane to Arizona. She’d gotten things for each of her teammates over the past week, plus Kay (who might as well have been part of the team) and JC. Her list had grown significantly while her paycheck from sitting the information desk at the Dayspring Museum hadn’t changed.
All that were left were… and then she realized why she’d taken so long to get the last two presents on her list. “About that…” She said, pulling off her thick, leather welding gloves before unbuckling the apron. “I’m not sure if I’m supposed to get gifts for Malcolm or Jessica. Malcolm’s Jewish and I’m not sure if it’d be rude to buy him a Christmas present or not. And Jess… well she’s Kay’s roommate, not mine but we’ve talked a few times since the party and I kind of want to be friends with her.”
Emily tilted her head again. “I don’t think Malcolm would be offended by a present form his girlfriend. As long as you still respect his traditions, it’s fine to share yours.”
“I’ve got to agree with your mother.” said Pete. “And as for Kay’s roommate, I don’t see the problem. I doubt Kay would be upset and you did say you wanted to be friends with her, right?”
“Yeah.” Juniper said without hesitation. “But the thing is, I’m nervous about making another friend that’s out of the loop about the Descendants and Zero. She lives with Kay, but Kay doesn’t have to run off when danger happens. I’m just not sure if it’s fair to her or to the others to add yet another person who might find out.”
Pete and Emily shared a look. It was a part of being heroes that they had long ago learned to accept: that their chose second vocation invited extraordinary circumstances into their lives. Whether they sought them out, or whether it came looking for them, the unusual was a staple in their lives. Their daughter had grown up with it, but it hadn’t been made clear to her that she had inherited it.
“Sweetie…” Emily started, “If there’s one thing I’ve learned about doing this so long, it’s this: you can’t let it take over your life. If you start blaming your lifesaving and crime-fighting for a lack of a social life, you’re going to be miserable. It’s part of being an adult to maintain a balance and yes, even to make friends who aren’t part of the lifestyle.”
“Your mother’s right.” added Pete. “It’s not healthy to push people away, especially when you don’t want to. Remember what you told us about your friend, Melissa? She didn’t exactly have an easy time because of it, did she? And she wasn’t associating pushing people away with good things on top of it.”
Juniper nodded slowly, considering. “That’s true. I think I’ll get gifts for both of them then.” She blushed again, recalling her dwindling bank account, “But… I think you might have to buy lunch, Dad.”
“No problem at all. Go get changed and I’ll meet you back here in fifteen minutes.”
***
Scattered Lake have started existence as a Mexican army outpost built on one of several small rocky islands in its namesake body of water. Eventually, a trading town sprang up on the lake shore and flourished for a few decades.
Eventually, however, the streams and creeks the fed the lake dried up and over the course of a few years, so too did Scattered Lake. The town and the remains of the fort were left to ruin and decay until being converted into a tourist trap in the mid twentieth century. It never made more money than just enough to justify keeping it open for a few generations of owners, and it was almost unbelievable for its most recent owners when Spectacle In Action, an entertainment consortium, offered them fifty million dollars for a dry lake and rundown buildings.
Within two years, Scattered Lake had become Ultimate Desert Arena at Scattered Lake, the southwest’s most popular battleground for the Live Metal giant robot fighting show. There were spectator seating areas along what had been the lake shore, an elevated judges platform with VIP suites built above the old fort, and two barn-like concrete buildings at the east and west ends of the lake where teams kept and maintained their robots before and after competitions.
The next exhibition was scheduled for Christmas Eve; the long awaited first meeting of the teams Prodigy League and Team Stunlock. As it was the weekend, there was mostly just a skeleton crew on hand at each facility; only there for security and janitorial purposes.
No one was in the east building’s robot maintenance bay where Team Stunlock’s machines were standing at the ready for their next battle. No one saw the green haze staring to form in a far corner.
The cloying, rotting vegetable stench of a swamp wafted into the room, along with a hazy green light. The realm of Faerie drew close to the place, blindly surging along the lines of lost connections awakened not so long ago. For an instant, the Blue and Green worlds harmonized, overlapping one another. In the space of that overlap, the air tore open and something tumbled through.
It squelched wetly as if hit the concrete floor, looking like a leather trash bag full of meat.
For a moment, it sat there, shivering in the rapid change from its native muggy swamp to the climate controlled dryness of the bay. Then it extruded a handful of pseudopods to steady itself and an orange-yellow cat’s eye opened at its center.
This flowbeast as ancient among its kind, having fled into the deepest swamps to avoid being captured and made tame by other creatures of Faerie. Preying on fish and plants and the occasional hapless foll who became separated from a larger group and became lost, it grew large over five hundred years.
Other flowbeasts were usually tamed and forced to bond with other creatures in a symbiotic relationship. That was too balanced for this beast, who had no name. Instinct compelled it to bond with those sentient being it caught, but it never allowed them agency; controlling them until they grew old or reached their breaking point.
Those same instincts were making it cast about the new and unexpected environment it found itself in with its manifold senses, looking for any likely candidates that might present themselves. Instead, it found something far more… intriguing.
There were presences in the room, thinking, but neither sapient nor animal. They had logic and routines, but no drive or true reason. To a flowbeast’s senses, they were alien… and inviting.
Slithering over to the nearest object, the flowbeast touched it with a pseudopod. Unlike the fey, flowbeasts were unaffected by contact with iron or steel; the ancient creature felt only the cool touch of the metal and through contact, was able to learn more of the subject of its attention.
It had never observed anything like it: a golem of steel and other composite materials. Its nerves were woven metal, it’s muscles pumps and energized coils. The thing was in the shape of a living being, but so much more—and that wasn’t even considering the beings unique, empty mind.
Powerful. That was the most important thing. This creature would be a powerful, almost unstoppable host. With it under the flowbeast’s sway, there would be no more need to skulk and stay in the depths of stinking swamps. No servant of Maeve of her rivals would stand against it, no adherent to the sleeping dragons could thwart whatever design it conjured.
Suckers grew along the edges of the flowbeast’s pseudopods and it scaled the golem, scaling its hind leg up to the thick trunk of its body. There, it found a seam that would eventually be welded shut before the competition began, but had been left open for emergency adjustments. It only afforded centimeters of space, but the ancient monster poured itself slowly inside.
There, it found the center of the thing’s nervous system, and fed hair-fine tendrils into it. The same tendrils that could bond a flowbeast to a living being’s nervous system performed much the same interfacing a CPU.
Over the course of a few hours, the flowbeast adapted to the strange patterns of the being’s mind—it’s code. From the comments, it discovered that its new host was built for combat by a civilization and species it never heard of. It also learned the host’s name: Rex the Wrecker.
Rex.
Something about that resonated. Rex was a Good name, somehow superior. Stately. ‘Wrecker’ seemed appropriate too. Combining them gave the flowbeast who had been nameless its first and only sobriquet in five centuries.
It expanded it’s formerly compacted bulk out into the rest of the robot. The flowbeast connected itself along the wiring to every remote part of the golem. Black and gray flesh oozed out of seams and grew into a second skin, shifting to a dark purplish hue that pleased its regal sensibilities. It also flowed into an integrated with the optical sensors, transforming them into clusters of orange eyes.
Start-up routines initialized. The default input channels were changed to accept commands from the flowbeast instead of the piloting rig.
A fresh power core had been installed a day ago and within moments, all systems were reporting in the green.
The creature; a fusion of flesh and steel, flexed and tore away from the scaffolds placed around it by its pit crew. It took one lurching step forward, its taloned foot striking the floor with a ponderous thud.
Ahead of it, the bay’s doors stood closed.
Not for long.
The creature lowered its head and straightened out its tail, making its spine parallel to the ground. Pods emerged from its back, revealing a pair of huge plasma lances. The weapons fired, cutting a hole in the doors within a minute. The circle of iron toppled to the floor, revealing the sparse expanse of Scattered Lake beyond.
With a few more strides, it was running, charging out through the breech it made and into the sunlight. Five stories tall and with more firepower than most tanks, it stomped out into the dry lake bed.
Alarmed has started going off in the building, but they had no meaning to it. What mattered was that it had taken a mighty prize as a host; one that no daoine or goblin could hope to defeat even with magic.
Mighty Wrexus was free to roam the strange new world it tumbled into—and destroy any who challenged it.
“This flowbeast as ancient among its kind…”
Was.
According to my new headcanon, flowbeasts are so named for their tendency to drop mad rhymes with formidable cadence.
I doubt it can compare to your imagination, but I offer some flowbeast-related rhyming in honor of your awesome idea.
CG
That is some sublime flow you just put down, my friend.
Mighty Wrexus has many gifts; one of them is the power to inspire lesser beings such as myself.
I confess when I saw the name I did think of Urdnot Wrex from the Mass Effect games. Imagining a kaiju-sized version of him was pretty intimidating, even with the stubby arms.
O_O
I am speechless.
The moment I read your comment, I had to take it as a challenge. I had too much fun in the attempt to pass it up. I’m glad my peasant rhymes did not offend (unless you’re speechless because they did offend, I suppose, but I think you meant it in a good way).
CG
Mighty Wrexus is going to stomp into town
He’ll huff and he’ll puff and he’ll bring this house down
When he cuts loose in this world
and the people gather ’round
Faeries and humans best recognize his crown
He’s the king of the beat,
the sultan of smooth
this flowbeast’s sweet
lyrics make ladies go “oooh”
Mighty Wrexus steps up
and climbs right to the top
with his plasma lances
he’s a bio-tech cop
on patrol in his kingdom
looking out for competition
He will be the strongest
That’s his number one mission
Won’t bond with no punks
or serve any demon
Don’t give him no lip
He’ll crash through that glass ceilin’
That keeps flowbeasts in check
serving Faeries and daoine
So step back and look out
Mighty Rexus is out
he’s loose in your dimension
Can you feel the tension?
When he strikes you will learn
Just what it takes to earn
Freedom when you’re from Faerie
So listen close and hail he
who has merged with the machine
Took a name and stole the scene
Mighty Wrexus is here to stay
Say goodbye to yesterday
cause your world is forever changed.
note: Mighty Wrexus doesn’t drop microphones. He drops Best Buys.
Corrections:
more reminiscent of the Fourth of July then Yuletide.
“then” should be “than” (the first concerns time, the second is comparative)
nearby Greenlee where Juniper’s father, Pete used to work.
comma is unnecessary. Alternatively, another comma after “Pete” might also be correct
She didn’t have as good a sense for all things mechanical like her mother,
“as” should replace “like”
“…but none of the others don’t really say much one way or the other about their sex.”
This is dialogue, so incorrect phrasing/word use may be what you wanted. If not, then there’s a double-negative in need of fixing, and “others” doesn’t have a clear referent. Try “…but none of the others’ names really says much one way or the other about their sex.”
No one saw the green haze staring to form in a far corner.
“staring” is meant to be “starting”, I suspect.
It squelched wetly as if hit the concrete floor,
wrote “if” instead of “it” here.
Preying on fish and plants and the occasional hapless foll who became separated from a larger group and became lost,
Repetition of “become” is unnecessary. “foll” was probably supposed to be “foal”, which is a young horse, unless “foll” was defined previously and I forgot.
Other flowbeasts were usually tamed and forced to bond with other creatures
Again, unnecessary repetition. “other”.
Instinct compelled it to bond with those sentient being it caught,
“being” should be “beings”.
No servant of Maeve of her rivals would stand against it,
second “of” should be “or” here.
interfacing a CPU.
should be “interfacing with a CPU”.
It also flowed into an integrated with the optical sensors,
“an” should be “and”
The creature; a fusion of flesh and steel,
semicolon here should be a comma.
Alarmed has started going off in the building,
“Alarmed” should be “alarms”.
Mighty Wrexus was free to roam the strange new world it tumbled into
should be “the strange new world it had tumbled into” for the appropriate tense.
Eww. Didn’t mommy-flowbeast teach not to stuff your food where your gun is?
First off, I have to say that I absolutely love the phrase: “which looked like the bastard child of a disco ball and a war crime”. It made me happy to read that. This whole storyline makes me happy, really.
Second, this:
Mighty Wrexus is back and he’s stalking the streets
He’s the one mighty flowbeast who cannot be beat
He’s never lost a battle or tasted defeat
Among rhyming combatants he’s considered elite
Bonded to the awesome, a mecha machine
It’s a pure wondrous terror that has to be seen
It’s stride is colossal, it’s metallic sheen
Warns idle bystanders to run and to scream
A walking arsenal holding two plasma lances
With machine guns and missiles, the crowds it entrances
Paired diamond buzzsaws and a railgun tail
So supreme that it’s just too up-gunned to fail
Wielding destruction spectacular and ordnance amazing
Bringing high-tech fury with all weapons blazing
Jump jets for mobility and more tech besides
It’s hard to hold the complete specs in your mind
The automaton serves as a mold for the flesh
And combining their strengths, synergizing they mesh
The powers of Faerie with technological design
Form a being whose greatness is hard to define
Shapeshifter and titan, one amorphous and one forged
Look upon them and let your imagination gorge
The possibilities are endless, the future uncertain
The enemies of Wrexus are soon to be hurtin’
That’s the only real guarantee movin’ forward
But know that whatever goal it’s proceedin’ toward
The behemoth’s relentless, a land-bound leviathan
Just to keep it in sight, you’d have to run a marathon
Now it tastes newfound freedom
The choices of the mighty
Wrexus will feed on the prey
And he’ll frighten the flighty
Experts don’t even know what they’re in for
Unable to see through the flesh to the core
The reactor is charging like a furnace that’s stoked
Unless she moves fast Zero might just get smoked
For the time has come and the battle’s beginning
We’ll have to wait and see who ends up winning
You cannot believe how happy that made me,Curious George.
My pleasure. If you missed it, you can catch part one in the comments of Kaiju for Christmas, chapter 1 as well. I have to pass credit for the inspiration to Vaal (for creating Wrexus) and Mazzon (who suggested that flowbeasts might have a gift for such things). It just kind of clicked in my brain after that.
CG
You’re welcome. It started in part 1 of Descendants 75, if you missed it.
CG
Have I told you recently that you’re amazing, CG? Because you? You’re amazing.
His enjoyment was swiftly crushed when he heard what the party on the other end of the line.
what the party… said?
as the wandered the aisles
as she
All in all, she’s wasted
she’d
on on the back
one on
control schemes The receiver
schemes.
but ‘ranch meant
‘ranch’
a real sick on
sick one
“Didn’t call—why did you call me first?! Did you honestly think that a six story robot T-rex is something you could cover up? Call the police, Terry! Call the FBI—hell, call the army—call anyone that can stop it!”
Haha 😛
Additional typos:
that wouldn’t immediately give away that they older man
“they” should be “the”
Zero Point reported over is comm.
“is” should be “his”
if they lose contract with a beacon
“contract” should be “contact”
Dude had no meaning, but ‘ranch
“ranch” needs a close-quote, and if it’s in quotations “Dude” probably should be too
After a dozen step, Wrex
“step” should be “steps”
What do you gain for terrorizing a bunch of poor,
“for” should probably be “from” here
CG
“Giant cyborg dinosaur.” Zero Point mumbled, “That’s a new one.”
Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, 1991.
I own it :p
Part 3:
Mighty Wrexus is here and he’s revving up fast
He’s prepared and he’s going to let off a blast
Anyone who gets hit by him could breathe their last
They’ll be nothing but memory, stuck in the past
To face Wrexus in battle takes bravery and skill
Few have ever fought it, let alone to a standstill
But when great challenges rise, heroes can be born
Or if they’re there already, they make themselves known
Facing the danger without looking back
They head to the future, no stopping to pack
Bear witness to their fitness to lead in the fight
To never stop or give up on what is right
It’s the will to face down even cyber-beast giants
To confront the unknown but stay strong and defiant
Wrexus isn’t quite creature; not just a machine
He’s a merging of two that has yet to be seen
Shifting flesh coats the armor and the two move as one
Guided by a single will and immovable as stone
A family of heroes has flown off to battle
And this is the thing they’ve committed to fight
A two-in-one being armies fear to tackle
With weapons that burn and cast searing death-light
Now they’re battling a creature
that stretches into the sky
If they win there’s no treasure
If they lose they could die
This is what sets the Descendants apart
To go into a battle and make it look like art
Despite the fact that any one fray
Could be their last one if it’s an unlucky day
Wrexus is armed to the teeth and beyond
It devours whole horses and could drink a pond
It’s not truly malicious, just acting on instinct
But to the unlucky victims the two seem indistinct
They’re running and hiding and fleeing in terror
If you think that you’re safe from Wrexus you’re in error
His collateral damage may be quite severe
So you’d be better off runnin’ from here
It’s a creature from Faerie that’s lived in the wild
Always hiding and scavenging, fearful as a child
For its kind’s been used to assist others and serve them
An abuse that has gotten many hurt or killed
But this flowbeast’s unique, it escaped and lived free
Now it’s in our world seeking new destiny
A fate that will let it live life for itself
Instead of taking orders from some demon or elf
Alloy and Occult come back quick with advice
Pinpointing the weaknesses of flowbeast and device
It might just be enough to give Zero an edge
That she needs to hit Wrex the Wrecker like a sledge-
hammer, and maybe she’ll stop him cold
In his tracks, though this flowbeast is pretty old
He’s a survivor, a shapeshifter wily and clever
If they win, then Zero and her parents can brag forever
That they stopped a foe who could go toe-to-toe with Godzilla
This fight will be bigger than the Thriller in Manila
Cause Wrex supersizes every punch and kick
Delivering force in the tons to make it stick
He’s a fully-armed giant and he came here to eat
And maybe drop some rhymes while he’s shuffling his feet
Along the road, heading to grab some food
Interrupting him makes Zero look a little rude
From Wrex’s perspective he was just sitting down
To eat dinner and get to know his new hometown
I want you to know that I’ve decided Wrex will return after this issue solely thanks to these posts.
Those are glad tidings indeed. It’s been pretty fun to try to keep this going without it getting stale. I think I’ll try to make it through the whole issue that way, but it’s more challenging each time, so we’ll see how it goes. I’m glad I can give at least a little entertainment back in repayment for the fun I’ve had reading the story.
As for Wrex, well…it’s his fault for being awesome. And for putting me in the mood to watch Godzilla movies and play MechWarrior games, some of which are awesome.
CG
Note: If “Queen’s Gambit” is italicized, “Rook” probably should be too, right? They’re both named vehicles, essentially.
typo thread:
unsure of whether she was hurt of not within the bubble
“of” should be “or”
Zero Point sat the screen down
“sat” should be “set”
Winy Mesa’s suburbs
Pretty sure it was “Windy Mesa”…although the idea of calling a town “Whiny Mesa” is kind of funny
as if the air itself as moving slower
“as” should be “was”
otherwise she’d have to retire of the public good.
“of” should be “for
while the Majestrix with full weapons was too heavy
I think “Majestrix” is meant to be “Queen’s Gambit” here
newly knocking Wrex over
“newly” is meant to be “nearly”, I think?
There, in the sky was
Either the comma should be removed, or there should be another one after “sky”
There was where the similarities ended
“There” should be “That”
a long cylinder that resembled by wasn’t
“by” should be “but”
to earth on fire pillars of flame.
“fire” seems unnecessary here
beings… or in this case, robots; and
If you lead in with ellipses, you should follow “robots” with one as well. Either way, following a semicolon with “and” is pretty much always incorrect, so at the very least the semicolon should be changed to a comma to fit the list format for the sentence
Very nice. Love to see our heroes thinking about what, why, and how they’re fighting, instead of just punching away blindly.
Wrex is facing Zero Point, Majestrix and Zero
A family who spend their time off as heroes
Now they’re engaged in a battle of gigantic proportion
Against a flowbeast that came through a magical distortion
A newcomer and stranger, semi-sentient but feral
It thinks like a scavenger, not like a general
Its weaknesses known can now be exploited
And if it’s not quick, Wrexus will be deported
Back to Faerie, or if it is even less lucky
It might just get kicked from here to Kentucky
Or wiped out completely and turned into rubble
The enemy’s waiting to pop its bubble
That feeling of power that once it enjoyed
Now seems fleeting, and the flies which annoyed
it as it tried to feed seem a genuine threat
A foe the likes of which it hasn’t faced yet
With powers strange and abilities uncommon
Flying, forming ice, many fights have they won
Cause while battling something like Wrexus is new
To ZP and Majestrix, the reverse is true too
In a fight like this information could win the day
And given what Occult and Alloy had to say
Zero and her parents are pretty well informed
While Wrexus relies on what its guessed and observed
Which gives the humans a decided advantage
No matter how many weapons and appendages
Wrex may use or grow, its still fighting alone
With no backup, no allies, no buddies, no home
And if it meets with success and starts killing
Then it may find the results far too thrilling
Its fighting good guys who are showing restraint
But if it ever eats a human, they ain’t
Gonna keep playing nice, or so I’d imagine
A Zero done holding back could be frightenin’
Now the Queen’s made a gambit and taken a risk
Suckering Wrexus in close with a trick
But it cost her an arm and a mighty pulse gun
If her follow-up fails then she might need to run
But then again no battle is won without taking chances
And a good tactical mind is worth twelve plasma lances
Majestrix has experience fighting odd things
Striving and improvising and pulling the strings
Weaving the plan to outfox her opponents
Rather than relying on some fancy components
She’s a junkyard queen, used to making do
And with will and determination, powering through
Obstacles unexpected and challenges dangerous
So betting against her is financially hazardous
The battle’s well underway and it’s almost time
To find out who’s the victor and who’s doin’ time
Will we see incarceration or will we see death?
Will one of these fighters exhale that last breath?
Will Wrexus escape to go wander the blue?
Or be sent packing to go hide and lick his wounds?
Or maybe he’ll win this and go on a tear
Until someone else inspires in him some fear
“Love to see our heroes thinking about what, WHY, and how they’re fighting…”
Agreed. The usual plot is for the monster to laugh off all attempts by mundanes to stop it, so they bring in the superheroes to kill it.
Here, the military is perfectly able to nuke the monster from orbit, but the superheroes want to see if they can stop it without any death because life is valuable.
Oh, and awesome work on the rapping.
My god, they keep getting more epic!
I’m trying not to settle for juts repeating myself, which is proving to be a bit of a challenge. Glad to hear the results are entertaining.
typo thread:
Wrex let out a coughing grunt and opened fire with its own machine guns, peppering Zero Point, who had to move his wall to protect himself. Once the way was clear, it opened up on the Queen’s Gambit with its own machine guns.
Repetition of “with its own machine guns” seems odd. Second instance should probably be changed to clarify whether fire is being redirected, or additional guns are beginning to fire.
reached over and pulled over the cover
Should be either “pulled off” or “pulled open”
nasally blare
Should just be “nasal”, I think
surrounded by creatures that were much like its host, only smaller that seemed to creep along the ground on four rubbery feet.
Second “that” is problematic here. Maybe “only smaller, and creeping along the ground on four rubber feet.”
her mind as on the start of
“as” instead of “was”
work with other sentient if they
“sentient” should be plural “sentients” I think
while panels slip open to reveal vents
“slip” should be “slipped”
typo thread:
the later of which was t
“later”->”latter”
Seeing and opening
“and”->”an”
where she hang in air
“hang”->”hung”
The end:
The chronicle of Wrexus now concludes
Gather ’round and listen close all you ladies and dudes
To hear tell of the mighty unstoppable giant
Who refused to lie down placid and compliant
He’s a rebel, an icon, inspiring awe
Harbinger of change with a gigantic craw
He cannot be contained, can rarely be thwarted
It’s a testament to Zero that she and her cohort did
Mighty Wrexus is going, his tale now ends
The machine and flowbeast that were closer than friends
Are permanently parted, sundered forever
This is a sad day, for they’ll reunite never
The glory and majesty of the magic-merged mech
And subtle shapeshifter wrapped around the tech
Fueled by an ambition and powerful reactor
Are beaten, defeated, no longer a factor
They were dangerous, large and in charge in their day
But when you come to a new world there’s a price to pay
Cause you don’t know the rules or understand the dangers
You can like Wrexus’ style but you wouldn’t have wagered
That he’d last in the long haul trapped on an Earth
With superheroes waiting, and a definite dearth
Of magic and things a flowbeast understands
Or recognizes, and no helping hands
To be found among humans, no matter how nice
They might be, from the start Wrexus was on thin ice
The Chronicle of Wrexus is a tale melancholy
How an epic battled spawned from a single flowbeast’s folly
All he wanted was a place that he could roam in freedom
What he found was a new world that didn’t really want or need him
We can only hope and pray that one day Wrexus will return
A little wiser to the rules and regulations we all learn
Living in a world of humans, maybe he’ll become a rapper
If he can twist words like his body then he’d be the best, most dapper
Perhaps go on to an eminently successful career
And send word back home that for flowbeasts who come here
There’s opportunity to be had and no enslaving Faeries
The details are uncertain but I guarantee he’s
Going down in history as a creature unique
The first solo flowbeast to come to earth and seek
His fortune and future and find a new type of host
A synthetic creature inspired by the most
Terrifying predator of a bygone age
A dinosaur too mighty to be securely caged
The relentless king, a mechanical tyrant
The mighty thunder lizard, reborn as a tech giant
One of a kind, the top of the food chain
Now more dangerous than ever, with ordnance to rain
Amalgamating into something as if forged by a wordsmith
A combination of poet and a creature out of myth
This story is over but possibilities remain
Wrexus could one day return, once more bringing the pain
Delivering rhyme and rhythm with its own unique zest
Proving once again that he’s unquestionably the best
Hold your breath and say your prayers to hasten the time
When we’ll witness the return of the flowbeast so sublime
*Applause*
*Standing Ovation*
You sir, are an officer and a gentleman. Just…yes.