Black Heart: Chapter 5

[rcblazer]

One of the monster's tentacles still flailing wildly at Violet zipping around overhead stops and turns to stone in an attempt to block the shot, but the Stinger shatters the stone tentacle and knocks the dreamer into the air, right into Violet's flurry of attacks! Violet lands several punches, kicks, and Scorch Kicks that hit the dreamer directly in the eye! One of Violet's punches goes right through the eye, destroying it and covering her arm in slime!

Dreamer Condition: Broken

"Eww, gross!" Violet says, stopping her attack and cringing, looking for something to wipe her arm off with. The beast continues to flail its remaining tentacles, knocking Violet away, but leaving itself wide open to attack!

Buttercup, Felicia, and Quintin attack Dreamer
Attack: Wind-Uppercut/Crushing Prism/Reflection
Defense: Not Necessary

"Let's finish him off!" Buttercup shouts, flying directly at what remains of the monster, which has not yet tried to transform. Felicia makes sure it doesn't by casting a spell on it that holds the demon in place and compresses its body in an attempt to break it further than Violet's assault had started. Buttercup winds up her arm until it starts to emit a bright green light and strikes the dreamer with such force that it collapses in on itself within the magic prism. Curled into a ball and being further compressed by Felicia's spell, Quintin runs in and stabs the beast with Reflection. A brilliant flash of light temporarily blinds everyone as the monstrous tentacles are ground to a pulp by the prism.

Almost immediately, everyone wakes up back in the Black Heart dimension right where they had fallen asleep previously! The dreamer is still right where it was when they first saw it, but it doesn't say anything or attack. Instead, it collapses to the floor and rapidly decomposes until only a pile of ash remains!

Dreamer Condition: Destroyed

"We're free!" Bubbles is the first to say, still hugging Timo closely. Bubbles smiles brightly as she looks over Timo. "Hey, your burns are gone!" She exclaims.

"Yeah, I feel better too." Buttercup replies, rubbing her arm where she was injured in the dreamscape.

"My arm's no longer covered in eyeball goop!" Violet says with a relieved sigh.

"Now that the dreamer is slain, it's hold over us in the nightmare it created has been broken, as though we simply awakened from a dream ourselves." Felicia explains.

"Since a dream can't hurt us under normal conditions, without the demon, any injuries taken in a dream are just that; like they never happened." Blossom says with a nod.

"Exactly. Come, we've wasted enough time here." Quintin says.

Felicia smiles and points at a sign that has appeared. "I think your guide is trying to tell us where to go next."

"Hey wait, how come Blackheart didn't help us deal with that thing?" Buttercup asks.

"She probably couldn't. The dreamer trapped us in its own reality outside of the Black Heart realm. It was probably her evil half's attempt at getting rid of us without our Blackheart being able to help out." Violet shrugs.

"It is a good thing Blackheart had not interfered; had she destroyed the demon herself while we were still trapped in the nightmare, there would have been no escape." Quintin says, looking around at something apparently only he can see. "Your friend put up a shield to protect us and the demon in case her evil half had just that in mind. I can still see the particles of that spell as it dissipates."

"We gotta keep following the signs." Violet says, pointing the way. "The evil Blackheart can't be far now!"

[rulerofice]

Timo makes a sigh of relief as he follows the way shown by the sign. Seeing Dark Timo like that had rendered him completely defenseless even if it was only in a dream.

Bubbles noticed Timo relaxing. "It'll be over soon, Timo."

"Yeah." Timo said. "I hope so, because I still can't feel him in any way or the seal."

Bubbles saddened. "I think I know already, but what are you going to do if he's already out?"

"You know the answer." Timo said. "There's no way I can leave him inside Blackheart's mind. He'd corrupt it in due time, just like mine."

Bubbles put her head on Timo's hand. "I truly hope he's sealed away. Angel's seal is of ultimate light. No darkness should get through it." Bubbles was referring to Viletown's Angel.

"No visible one." Timo said.

[blossomgb]

'You've been in a dream that was inside Blackheart's head', Steve commented. 'I'm getting confused myself, but this again is in a way a dream. See if you can feel it when we're out of here'.
Steve and Blossom looked round to make sure everybody was alright. There didn't seem to be any injuries. Angel went over to Hank.
'Well done', she said. 'Sorry I shouted'.
Buttercup leaned over to Blossom. 'I think somebody is after your job', she commented.
Angel came back to join them and they followed the sign.
'I'm a bit worried actually', Steve remarked.
'That's the understatement of the decade', Blossom replied. 'Why?'
'Evil Blackheart is a part of Blackheart, the same way that Evil Timo is probably a part of Timo. So if we kill her, what would happen to the good Blackheart - who we're stuck inside right now.'
Blossom nods. 'But if this too is a dream, we could break out of it?'
'A dream, yes. Death, I don't know'. Steve comments. He spots his Duranium sword on the floor near where he lay. 'Glad to have this back', he comments.
'Can I carry it Daddy', Angel asks him. Blossom looks at them both for a minute.
'Why not', she says. 'Then you can use your trusty stick again', she adds with a grin.

Cheers,

Blossomgb

[Puff Hunter]

"No need to apologize, kid," Hack tells Angel with a shrug. "You didn't hurt me and you didn't make a mistake."

He looks at the sign. "If killing the Voidbringer's dark side would kill the rest of her, I can't imagine she'd be helping us like this. That Black Heart thing she made must have been the key to separating her two sides safely." He nods in Timo's direction. "Maybe you guys can use it to get rid of Timo's worse half once this is over."

[rulerofice]

"That might not be a bad idea at all, if Black Heart truly has that kind of power." Timo said. "And I agree. I don't think Blackheart would let us do this if it meant putting all of us in danger, let alone herself." Timo looked at Violet. "She'd have told us that. Isn't that right, Violet?"

[rcblazer]

"Ever since we started going after the Shadow Souls, Blackheart's been telling me about how she intended to use the Black Heart as a 'cure' for her evil side." Violet replies, thinking about it for a second. "I probably should have asked her what that entails, since I never would have guessed it would be this. I'm no good at science or psychology, but I'm guessing that since we're in a dimension that reflects Blackheart's very thoughts, taking down her evil self will be kinda like performing a lobotomy on a much larger scale."

Following the signs, the group hears music and voices singing.

[glow=blue,2,300]Keep running
I have to
Move forward
There might be
A way out
Freedom is calling me

Keep riding
I try to
Stay focused
I still see
Memories
That don't belong to me

Leave this world
I long to
Bid farewell
My vision
Is failing
Darkness embraces me

A clearing
Surrounded
Stay hidden
Stop breathing
Why don't they
Kill you instead of me?

I'm going insane
I'm going insa~~ane
I am going insa~~aaane
Aaaaaaaaaaaah
Aaaaaaaaaaaah
I'm going insa~~~~ane![/glow]
"The song... it's about our search for Evil Blackheart!" Violet says, listening closely. "What do you suppose the line 'Why don't they kill you instead of me?' means?"

"The song makes it sound like she's trying to get away from us." Blossom comments.

"That's good right? That means she's runnin' scared, knowing we're here to finish this." Buttercup says.

"Hey look!" Violet says, pointing at the clearing mentioned in the song. An army of red knights have formed a circle around the clearing, their weapons drawn and pointed at the lone figure in the center.

"Very well... no more running or hiding!" The figure says in Blackheart's evil voice! "It is clear that I must fight for my freedom. So be it!"

Blackheart attacks Red Knights
Attack: Waking Nightmare
Defense: Nightmare

Blackheart's glowing blue eye shifts to green as the red knights all begin to disappear! A new voice begins to sing as she turns to the others.

[glow=yellow,2,300]We want some entertainment
So take the gun
Fall into your tent
And forget the sun!

This is Black Heart
You are here to die
This is your last date
Even if you cry.

This is Black Heart
You are here to die
This is your last date
EVEN IF YOU CRY![/glow]
Blackheart attacks Everyone
Attack: Shadow Gun
Defense: None

"You will NOT have the satisfaction of destroying ME!" Blackheart shouts, aiming the gun at the heroes and opening fire! The gun fires a spread of skull shaped balls of shadow energy that hit and knock everyone down! Although no one is injured, Blackheart grins widely and crushes the gun in her hand. "Now the fun begins..."

[blossomgb]

'That wasn't very nice', Steve thought as he got up again. 'Nor was what Violet just said. If we kill this Blackheart, what will the effect on the other Blackheart be?'
'Owww', he said he rose. 'I'll feel that tomorrow'.
Angel looked at him him for a second before turning invisible. She had been trained to take this thing on and now was her chance. Evil Blackheart needed to see what she was doing and she saw everything though her right, or 'evil' eye. Blocking it made her mad, what would hurting it do? She flew towards the eye and kicked it there. Evil Brackheart twisted and moaned as Angel flew away, invisible so nobody knew where she was. The effect of this on Evil Blackheart was instantaneous as she stepped back, her evil eye blinded.
There was not a sound as Angel flew back to the group. 'It's that eye. Blind her', she stated.
'It's not that simple surely', Blossom said.
'It'll be easier than killing her', Buttercup stated.
'True', Steve remarked. 'She'll still be complete.'

Cheers,

Blossomgb

[rulerofice]

Timo slowly opened his eyes and slowly got up. "What was that attack? I don't feel any different. At least I don't think so. And yet... why do I feel like we're in big trouble? Bigger than we think."

[rcblazer]

Clutching her eye in pain, Evil Blackheart grins widely. With her other hand, Blackheart pulls her hair back to reveal her other eye, which is identical to her right eye! "You forget, I may be Blackheart, but I am NOT her physical body! I am what I want to be here!" Blackheart shouts in her evil voice, the eye glowing green...

Blackheart Incites Chaos

Angel attacks Timo
Attack: Kick
Defense: Invisible

Timo attacks Buttercup
Attack: Ice Staff
Defense: Parry

Steve attacks Blossom
Attack: Haymaker
Defense: Block

Blossom attacks Bubbles
Attack: Roundhouse
Defense: Spin

Felicia attacks Hack
Attack: Thunder Ring
Defense: Magic Shield

Hack attacks Violet
Attack: Rifle Shot
Defense: Magical Immunity

Bubbles attacks Quintin
Attack: Laser Eyebeam
Defense: Duck

Quintin attacks Felicia
Attack: Reflection
Defense: Parry

Buttercup attacks Angel
Attack: Punch
Defense: Block

Violet attacks Steve
Attack: Scorch Kick
Defense: Duck

"You want entertainment do you? Here you go!" Blackheart says with a laugh as the heroes suddenly turn on each other against their own will! Angel flies at Timo and kicks him in the face right before taking Buttercup's fist to her own body! Buttercup is thanked by Timo for attacking his attacker by attacking her with an ice staff!

Angel Condition: Bruised

Timo Condition: Bruised

Buttercup Condition: Scratched

As the chaos continues, Steve feels his arm draw back and punch Blossom as hard as possible! Blossom reacts to the hit by rolling with the punch and kicking Bubbles in the back of the head as she fires her eye lasers at Quintin, who is attempting to break Felicia's magic shield with his sword! Felicia ignores Quintin as she fires a spell at Hack that does nothing to him as he aims his rifle at Violet and opens fire on her! Violet's shoulder is grazed by the gunshot as she flies at Steve and strikes him in the face with a fiery kick!

Blossom Condition: Bruised

Bubbles Condition: Battered

Quintin Condition: Bruised - Burn

Felicia Condition: Fine

Hack Condition: Fine

Violet Condition: Scratched

Steve Condition: Bruised - Burn

"Your minds are mere playthings to me in this world!" The evil Blackheart shouts, her wide grin never leaving her face. Her hand moves from her right eye and blinks it a few times as both eyes glow green.

Blackheart attacks Hack
Attack: Insanity
Defense: Insanity

Looking at Hack, her grin lowers into a disappointed frown. "It seems the only one I can ever trust is myself; a lesson you shall learn this day!" She says, her face returning to a sadistic grin as Hack disappears from the group. To Hack, he hasn't actually gone anywhere, but the others suddenly appear to turn against him as Blackheart vanishes!

Steve attacks Hack
Attack: Laser Eyebeam
Defense: Block

Blossom attacks Hack
Attack: Ice Breath
Defense: Flight

Bubbles attacks Hack
Attack: Kick
Defense: Fast Flight

Buttercup attacks Hack
Attack: Fury Charge
Defense: Deflect

Timo Attacks Hack
Attack: Ice Beam
Defense: Spin

Angel attacks Hack
Attack: Trip
Defense: Invisible

Violet attacks Hack
Attack: Combination Punch
Defense: Block

Quintin attacks Hack
Attack: Reflection
Defense: Parry

Felicia attacks Hack
Attack: Crushing Prism
Defense: Magic Shield

[blossomgb]

Hack vanishes as Blossom, Steve and Angel were coming to terms with what happened to them.
'I didn't want to hit you', Steve nearly cried. 'I tried not to, but something forced my arm.'
'I know', Blossom replied. 'Are you alright Angel?'
'I didn't mean to....', she began, her voice shaky too.
'I know, Angel. She set us all against each other',Blossom said to the rest of the group.Blackheart sniggered above them. 'Felicia, can you sort out some sort of shield', she asked Felicia.
'I'll try', Felicia says, and a golden glow surrounds them. 'I'll heal you too', she adds. The golden glow around them all heals their wounds and bruises and they seem to relax in the glow. Buttercup was counting people and she realized something.
'Where's Hack', she shouted. 'What have you done to him?'.

Cheers,

Blossomgb

[Puff Hunter]

"Hey, it's not my fault you're a lousy negotiator," Hack says. "If I let you destroy every world but mine, I'd be a real disadvantage if you broke your word and tried to destroy mine." He watches as the group turns against him. "Oh my. This won't end well."

Okay, this is either real or an illusion. If it's real, there's nothing I can do. I can't hit them all in time, unless I turn the gun up to max and make a massive explosion, but that would be suicide anyway. And if it's an illusion,... she's trying to provoke a response. But what? Does she want me to fight back, run away, or surrender? All I can do is take a wait-and-see approach.

Hack holsters his gun and stands firm. "Bring it!"

[rulerofice]

Timo was trying to put his ice staff away, but couldn't seem to let go of it. "I... can't control myself. Those shots... we took are forcing us to obey her."

As much force as he could muster, he couldn't make his ice staff disappear nor drop to the ground. "We are in big trouble. Blackheart just made us all enemies to each other.

In his mind, Timo thought of something. "He wouldn't let anyone take control of his body like this. He'd be furious. I can't feel him, but if he is still inside me and feels this power, he's very angry right now."

[rcblazer]

Blackheart sneers at Timo. "Something wrong? No... she didn't, did she?" She laughs loudly. "Little Miss Goody Good did! She used the Black Heart to extract and banish your darkside! I suppose she did this as a form of payment for my own assassination, but it is I who will get rid of YOU!"

Blackheart attacks Felicia
Attack: Curse of Mageblood
Defense: Insanity

"I can't have you spoiling the fun with your spells." Blackheart says to Felicia, casting some kind of spell of her own at the Silver Queen.

Felicia Condition: Fine - Curse

Blackheart Incites Chaos

Blossom attacks Angel
Attack: Punch
Defense: Duck

Bubbles attacks Steve
Attack: Headbutt
Defense: Flight

Buttercup attacks Violet
Attack: Super Knee
Defense: Duck

Steve attacks Timo
Attack: Kick
Defense: Block

Timo attacks Blossom
Attack: Ice Beam
Defense: Spin

Angel attacks Bubbles
Attack: Haymaker
Defense: Invisible

Quintin attacks Buttercup
Attack: Reflection
Defense: Jump

Felicia attacks Quintin
Attack: Flame Spark
Defense: Magic Shield

Violet attacks Felicia
Attack: Haymaker
Defense: Swift Flight

"Now then, let's try this again!" Blackheart says with a sadistic grin as the remaining heroes continue to attack one another! Blossom ends up punching her own daughter as she is hit by Timo firing an Ice Beam at her! Angel goes invisible right as her mother hits her and slams her fist into Bubbles' stomach as Bubbles is forced to headbutt Steve, who reacts by kicking the ice staff out of Timo's hand, ceasing his attack on Blossom, but not before freezing her solid!

Angel Condition: Battered

Blossom Condition: Battered - Frozen

Bubbles Condition: Beat Up

Steve Condition: Beat Up - Burn

Buttercup flies at Violet as she charges at Felicia and knocks her down with a hard punch, driving her knee into Violet's chest in response! Felicia seems to cause further injury to herself when she casts a spell at Quintin, likely a result of the curse put on her by Blackheart. Quintin jumps over the fire spell cast at him by Felicia and swings his sword at Buttercup, leaving a bloody cut on her back!

Violet Condition: Beat Up

Felicia Condition: Bloody - Curse

Quintin Condition: Battered - Burn

Buttercup Condition: Bloody

Meanwhile, Hack is still dealing with the situation he has been isolated in. Having chosen to holster his weapons and stand his ground, Hack is hit by every attack being thrown at him by the other heroes! He quickly learns that the lasers, ice attacks, and magic spells have no effect on him and are mere illusory, but the physical strikes by the others definitely feel real! Bubbles, Buttercup, Angel, Violet, and Quintin all mercilessly pound on Hack to the point where he is knocked away from them and headed into a crash landing!

As he flies out of control through the air, several faces and images rapidly flash across his vision, which he is able to recognize as Dick Hardley, Princess Morbucks, Ninja, Dark Bubbles, Felicia, Iris, Motrax, the Angel of Viletown, and Jazenok Blackskull. An unfamiliar voice begins to talk into his ear. "Hack, what happened? Respond! Hack? HAAAAAAACK!" It shouts just as his vision turns to static and the words "MISSION FAILED" appear with the options to "Continue" or "Exit".

Hack Condition: WTF?

[rulerofice]

"No!!" Timo shouts. "Blossom!" Timo looked at Steve. "I'm so sorry, but no matter what I try, I can't stop myself." He then looked at Blossom. "Now that Blossom's frozen, she's highly vulnerable."

Timo's mind raced. "If we can't stop this we'll be all dead... and Blossom's the first to go if anyone attacks her now." Timo suddenly paled as he got a very bad idea. "There might be one way I can avoid this at least and... possibly help you all. Give my body to Dark Timo. He if anyone can resist this attack."

Everyone looked at Timo with the expression "No way!!" on their faces.

"Well, I'm out of ideas." Timo said. "If anyone has anything better I'll hear it, but you better think of one quick, before..." Timo trailed off as he glimpsed at frozen Blossom, fearing someone might attack her... and break her to pieces.

[blossomgb]

'I know', Steve said to Timo. 'These are mind games, on a large scale.'
He thought for a moment. Evil Blackheart was half a mind, admittedly the bad half. We, however, were eight minds, all functioning individually. Would be nine once Blossom thawed out. So if the minds could be combined, then theoretically Evil Blackheart ouldn't have a chance.
'Separate all of you. Get far arway from each other', he yelled. 'Angel, chuck that sword away!'
Angel did so and the bruised, battered and burnt group separated.
'Why', Felicla shouted back at him.
'So if this goes wrong then we have time to assume defensive positions.'
Steve looked up at Evil Blackheart, who was watching the show with none to well hidden glee. 'You think that'll work do you', she smiled, then wickedly grinned back at them all. Steve ignored this. He remembered the way he had defeated Sorrowblood in the Death Lands years ago.
'Focus your minds completely on something that makes you feel happy and safe', he shouted. Bubbles and Timo thought about their wedding. Angel thought about a cat she wanted - she would call it Ignatz, or Iggy for short,, Quintin thought about Adventures in his past, Felicia thought about her Father and happy times when she was a child. Steve meanwhile got two ampules of Chemical X, put one into Blossom's mouth and poured the other over her. She began to come to as the ice melted and Steve put his coat around her for extra warmth. He was thinking of an old Lennon-McCartney song that they both loved, and began to sing it out loud.

'I want her everywhere and if she's beside me
I know I need never care.
But to love her is to need her everywhere
Knowing that love is to share...'

Above them, Evil Blackheart wondered what was going on. She tried casting Chaos, but it now did nothing. Blossom joined in the song....

'Each one believing that love never dies
Watching her eyes and hoping I'm always there'

Steve then thought about the Black Heart that was currently outside this world and gripped the pendant inside his coat. Blossom then guessed what he was doing as her mind joined with his. Above them, the Black Heart started to appear. Evil Blackheart moved away, but her eyes were on the Black Heart as the rest of the group focussed on the vision in their minds. Their minds were still closed off to Chaos as they were all now completely calm and focussed. Hack reappeared among them and also thought about the Black Heart. Above them. it became solid...


Cheers,

Blossomgb


Facts: Craig and Lauren's cat Iggy died two weeks ago of a virus called FIP. (Feline Infectious Peritonitis). Just wanted to get her in the story.

The song is a Beatles one: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8THouU576WY