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With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

31st December 2012
19:33 GMT -3


"EEYAGH!"

The construct hoses of my flamethrowers sprout holes, fuel spraying in all directions before igniting in an uncontrolled wall of flame! I shut it down at once, sending the fuel into subspace as the tank construct similarly decays and fades.

And then I cough as my chest starts decaying in the same way.
Oooh, nope. That is the last thing you need right now. Burning Ivy was bad enough, but having clumps of fungus trying to chew chunks out of you is seriously bad. And she's probably caught some of that shot as well.

"Buh-grugh."

Rep-repair that. And I'm guess that the armour-. Yep, yep, repair and replace. In fact-.
Thank goodness that Wholeness Rightly Assumed works here. From the sound of it, that growth was hitting your lungs.

By the power of seniphobia, I reject decay!

Owf, that's better! There's a extra layer to my environmental shield now as I channel my poor mental health into a useful output. For a moment I'm reminded of the clicker burrow-guards and really hope that Dox doesn't try inducing that sort of thing to see if the result is a net gain in performance.
Care to explain what 'seniphobia' is? I doubt it's a mispelling of zenophobia... Perhaps some kind of 'fear of infection'?

Or that if he does, he does it in people who aren't him.

"Isley?"
Hopefully she's not badly hurt. If she lets go of the plug...

She's… She doesn't look good. Bark's decaying in several places and her regeneration isn't able to keep up. Looks like she's concentrating on maintaining her hands and arms to ensure that the portal stays blocked, but if I remember the technique she's using correctly then she's feeling like she's got Ebola right now.

I strobe out solid beams of orange light, trying to hit or feel whatever just did that-.
And you probably can't spare the energy to help fix her up, either, with a hostile out there taking great big Nurglypotshots.

"Gary, what was that?"

"All of us."

The concentration of spores is increasing, so I counter by spraying out small quantities of fuel and igniting it.
Best not to go putting all your fuel in one place, now. It looks like they can recognise a big target like that...

"Expand."

"We exist in continuity with our nature and one another. We are one, we are all."
In a great big circle of life?

Ah… Parse that…

"You're part of a gestalt. Not just an energy, there's a higher order mind there."
Not quite an actual avatar, but something like the Parliament of the Green? A crude directing intelligence...

"There can be."

I see… Not a movement in the spore cloud, but a movement of it. As if some sort of wind that I can't feel had blown through it
Ah, more of a collective instinct, then. And that movement sounds bad. Time to unleash the flames again?

"Does it have a name?"

"No."
After all, what need is there for a name for anything in the Grey? If all are one, and one is all, then the loss of one fragment is inconsequential.

Tracking wind… Movement? Density of cloud-.

My constructs abrade and decay into nothing.
Incoming tango!

"All Is Rot!"

Shieldsallaroundlinkedtomytattoos!
Hopefully outputting your essence, not absorbing theirs.

Conks made of black light appear on my shields, the energy-.

Dump, dump the construct, I do not want that inside me.
Then again, it's probably a two-way street in this case...

Compliance.

The construct starts to fail, only for black stands mimicking its outline to remain in place-. Railgun, crumbler, shoot them out!
Oh, that's just not right.

The crumbler detonates early as the spore cloud eats through-.

This is the natural outcome of building anything: it falls apart and is picked over by people who could never imagine its glory. The universe is inhabited by children smashing stained glass windows because they love to hear the sound of shattering-.
Ooof, full-force assault. That's got to be a pure dose of the Anti-life factors in there...

Through it!

Plasmaplasmashoot a hole through and then crumbler again!
Insert your own Kylo Ren memes here... "More!"

Haah. Haah.

Okay, I…

That was disturbing.
And it's still out there, just gathering its strength to attack again...

"Isley, I'm going to try and draw it away."

The leaves and other fripperies are gone, the bark looks like it falling off completely would be a mercy and I can see parts of the interior wood decaying.
Ow. Let's hope she can hold out long enough?

"Aah-hhhngrgh."

"Hang in there."
I half picture her head turning to give you such a look...

I generate a large construct replica of myself, which starts falling apart almost immediately. I try releasing fuel and setting fire to the outer edge, and that… Works a little.

"Over here!"
Yes, give it a bigger target. :p That'll get it's attention...

And fly up and away from the things I can't see and that I'm not sure I can hurt. Okay, physical attacks are just getting destroyed by the spores and there's nothing behind them to hit anyway. I didn't think to ask Queen Hyathis how to use magic to affect fungoids, which is something I should… Fix. That leaves assimilation, but I don't really see anything to assimilate.

I could… Try assimilating it via the spore clouds? I should be able to eat them faster than they eat-
I doubt the spores are complex enough to be capable of being assimilated.

A piece of rotting wood hits the back of my armour. It bounces off and then… Move around me and continues on its way.

-me.
:confused: What even...

And another and another until I'm forced to put a burning shield in the way as a hail of rotting wood slams into me! It's not-. I don't think it's being thrown as a projectile, and the burning-. I can see where they're going through the murk as the broken pieces continue on their way. I can see-.

See.
Uh-oh... We got wormsign.

See the outline of a six-eyed cancerous head, and the hulking mass of a body whose shape I can't fully make out. Then the fires are quashed and I can't see it any longer and that's not reassuring.

"Hello, giant rot creature. I'm the Illustres of the Orange Lantern Corps. Can we talk about this?"
...Matango? Or simply something representing a union of effort...

"You will be consumed. All Exists To Feed Us."

"That's not-."
OL, this is not a rational, sapient being here. This is a natural disaster. You are not going to be able to talk it down...

A hurricane of spores roar past and around me! I try dumping extra fuel out but it's even feeding on the fire! Giant construct me is gone and I'm frantically replacing the shield and burnable fuel as the spores decay through them!

"And what then?!"
And now you're caught in the storm. Looks like it might be all you've got just to not be swept away...

"There is nothing else."

That.. sounds familia-.
...Yes, sounds rather justified...

Warning: low power. Twenty percent remaining.

Marvellous.
Oh, boy. Another wrinkle. Anything else you'd like to drop on him, Murphy? May as well!

"Okay, but did you feel like that-"

"Feed the Gray."

"-yesterday?"
Somehow, I don't think it wants to listen...

Honestly, this is such an OL move... Standing in front of the fungal equivalent of the tarrasque and trying to talk at it until it gives up. And all the while, Ivy is weakening. And now he's running low on charge too. The day just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it? It's going to take something impressive to get out of this sticky wicket...
 
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Yea, you can't convince a primordial force with words.

Because it don't care.

That said, it's a real pity he didn't think to try and bring in The Grey's opposing force. Because The Metal would be really useful right now.
The Silver did not emerge, it was caught and made into an up grade for Hephaestus.
 
Is that from Last Of Us?
No. 'Clickers' is the accepted humanoid-friendly name for the insectoid species that make up the majority of the Orange Lantern Corps and Darkstars. Since they're not humanoid their derangements are different to ours, and 'burrow-guarding' is one of them.
Shouldn't that be seniumphobia then?
No. For example, arachnophobia isn't arachnidophobia.
 
In official art? I doubt it, but in any case, Eris doesn't like it so why would she care how it's pronounced/written? She may be saying it wrong on purpose as well, just to needle the Illustres.
https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/G9VHN9PPW/dragon-ball-z

Look at the official logo there.
Matches what I remember from watching the cartoon during the original run.

It may be supposed to be two words, but the stock footage (and it you know anything about old cartoons, stock cartoon footage gets a lot, and I mean a lot, of air time) had it all as one scrunched together thing. DRAGΘNBALL Z
 
Jet Fighter (part 20)
31st December 2012
19:35 GMT -3


Ah.

So that's what it feels like to have fungus growing out of you.

And-and not… Tech-technically decay-.

Instinctively I reach up with my left hand to remove whatever's obscuring the vision on my left side, only to remember that I'm wearing power armour and-.

Utter rejection.

And there are better ways to get fungus out of your eye socket than pulling it out manually.

"E-huhg."

And out of your face.

Warning: low power. Fifteen percent remaining.

And rings. Assimilate!

"You would feed upon the Gray?"

"It's the circle of life! You feed on rotting wood and animals and other animals feed on you! It doesn't matter to you as long as there are fungi left, because fungi as a class keep existing! You need wood to eat and if you kill all the plants here then that will immediately stop being the case!"

"We must feed!"

"But do you need to eat everything right now?!"

"It may be gone."

"It's been here for billions of years. Why would it go now?"

"It may be gone."

"What is killing the Green right now?" Through the burning spores and smoke I can dimly see… Something. An outline, the occasional hard edge. Parts of it are moving, and I think it's getting closer but given its size I think my sense of scale is being thrown off. "Because it looks like it's you. You're trying to permanently kill the thing the Grey needs to feed off. The Green doesn't care about you eating the occasional plant that was dying anyway, but this will doom you both! And I know-"

"We are doomed anyway. We must fight for every moment."

"-that you feel like it's all inevitable anyway, but that's the result of a spell!"

"No, we are too vast, too old-."

"Everything's being affected. The fungoid told me that he thought that the trees here are edible because of some sort of magic. You feel that too, right?"

"It was different, but that does not matter."

"No! It matters! You've been entranced!"

"Impossible."

"Did you feel like this yesterday?"

"Yesterday..?"

"Or the day before, or the day before?"

"No…"

"What changed, then? The lesser fungoids might just be acting on instinct, but you're more complex than that. Aren't you?"

"It feels like you're lying to protect this growth."

"'This is the natural outcome of building anything: it falls apart and is picked over by people who could never imagine its glory.' That's what you're thinking, isn't it? That's what I felt when my power touched yours."

"It is. Among other things."

"You feel it so deeply that you can't even imagine building anything anymore. You can't see any point. All that's left is grabgrabgrab, to take everything you can in whatever time you have."

"Yes."

"It's lying to you. The Anti-Life is a cynical, miserablist lie. My allies and I are fighting to get it removed. Do you want that?"

"You would try to control me?"

"I would try to remove the control that's already there! Because it's not just you, but you being affected affects everything else. Do you like feeling like this?"

"No."

"Do you want to go back to feeling like you did yesterday?"

"I am not sure that there was a yesterday."

"That's part of what it does. Look, if you back off-." There's a movement in the murk. "For a moment, for a moment! I can help you remember how things are supposed to be, supposed to feel."

"I saw what you did to Gary."

Ah.

"Not like that. With you-. The whole of you, that would make things worse. Earth needs the Grey to exist, and the Grey needs the Earth to exist. Apokolips doesn't, and they're the ones who are making you feel like this."

It doesn't respond immediately, and in the quiet I can hear… Weakened wood breaking, bursting as rotten fibres give up the ghost.

"I'm sorry to have to rush you, but the Green is on the verge of death."

"What do I need to do?"

That sounded different. Not in tone, in the… Presence, behind it.

"Do you remember the area that you and yours used to occupy?"

"Yes."

"Can you call all of your kind who are here, all the fungoids, all the spores, everything, through the opening and return there?"

"Yes."

"Without doing more damage to the Green?"

"… Yes."

"I'm just writing off the things you've already destroyed. If a plant's dead then it's dead."

"Yes. And then?"

"I'll come through with you and try and fix it. If I can't, I'll call in other people better equipped than me. Is that acceptable?"

Spores fall from the air, and I get a oh my that is a big fellow!

"Yes."
 
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31st December 2012
19:35 GMT -3


Ah.

So that's what it feels like to have fungus growing out of you.
And not in the 'bad case of athlete's foot' sense, eh? Still, as long as his brain is unaffected, he should be all right... Until his ring charge runs dry. And then he gets to experience what Cordyceps victims do...

And-and not… Tech-technically decay-.

Instinctively I reach up with my left hand to remove whatever's obscuring the vision on my left side, only to remember that I'm wearing power armour and-.
...Was wearing power armour, I suspect. That or the Avatar-thing he's facing can cause spontaneous transmutation...

Utter rejection.

And there are better ways to get fungus out of your eye socket than pulling it out manually.
...Yeah, that would be the hardest of Nopes. Only a Nurgle cultist would find that enjoyable...

"E-huhg."

And out of your face.
:eek: Noooope.

Warning: low power. Fifteen percent remaining.

And rings. Assimilate!
Talk about racing the clock. On multiple levels, even...

"You would feed upon the Gray?"

"It's the circle of life! You feed on rotting wood and animals and other animals feed on you! It doesn't matter to you as long as there are fungi left, because fungi as a class keep existing! You need wood to eat and if you kill all the plants here then that will immediately stop being the case!"
Ah, pointing out the short-sightedness of 'eat all the things'... Interesting tack.

"We must feed!"

"But do you need to eat everything right now?!"
Give it a day or two, see if you're still in the mood then...

"It may be gone."

"It's been here for billions of years. Why would it go now?"
True, short of the planet exploding, ecological breakdowns are not quick.

"It may be gone."

"What is killing the Green right now?" Through the burning spores and smoke I can dimly see… Something. An outline, the occasional hard edge. Parts of it are moving, and I think it's getting closer but given its size I think my sense of scale is being thrown off. "Because it looks like it's you. You're trying to permanently kill the thing the Grey needs to feed off. The Green doesn't care about you eating the occasional plant that was dying anyway, but this will doom you both! And I know-"
Sadly, it's so full of Anti-Life that its nihilism is off the scale.

"We are doomed anyway. We must fight for every moment."

"-that you feel like it's all inevitable anyway, but that's the result of a spell!"
Not that much of the Grey has the cognitive processes to comprehend magic...

"No, we are too vast, too old-."

"Everything's being affected. The fungoid told me that he thought that the trees here are edible because of some sort of magic. You feel that too, right?"
Like in an old cartoon, where the utterly tantalising scent can literally hook a toon by the nose and pull them along...

"It was different, but that does not matter."

"No! It matters! You've been entranced!"
Because even the Grey can understand that something can be 'not right'.

"Impossible."

"Did you feel like this yesterday?"
To be fair, do fungi of the Grey, even ones complex enough to carry on a philosophical discussion like this, have any sense of time?

"Yesterday..?"

"Or the day before, or the day before?"
Then again, they probably do feel the subtle cycle of 'grow, release spores, cease'.

"No…"

"What changed, then? The lesser fungoids might just be acting on instinct, but you're more complex than that. Aren't you?"
It does seem about as close as the Grey can get to having an Avatar, really.

"It feels like you're lying to protect this growth."

"'This is the natural outcome of building anything: it falls apart and is picked over by people who could never imagine its glory.' That's what you're thinking, isn't it? That's what I felt when my power touched yours."
Wow, it's actually cognizant enough to recognise the possibility of falsehood... Heck, even comprehending the concept of falsehood is a huge step...

"It is. Among other things."

"You feel it so deeply that you can't even imagine building anything anymore. You can't see any point. All that's left is grabgrabgrab, to take everything you can in whatever time you have."
And holy shit, OL's actually getting through to it. Must be acing his Diplomacy rolls hard.

"Yes."

"It's lying to you. The Anti-Life is a cynical, miserablist lie. My allies and I are fighting to get it removed. Do you want that?"
Now the Avatar-thing is starting to realise that this is badwrongnotwant, and not how it should be, isn't it?

"You would try to control me?"

"I would try to remove the control that's already there! Because it's not just you, but you being affected effects everything else. Do you like feeling like this?"
'Me', huh? Interesting shift of perspective.

"No."

"Do you want to go back to feeling like you did yesterday?"
To be fair, 'yesterday' would be a nebulous concept in its newly sophont mind.

"I am not sure that there was a yesterday."

"That's part of what it does. Look, if you back off-." There's a movement in the murk. "For a moment, for a moment! I can help you remember how things are supposed to be, supposed to feel."
Since now it recognises that 'this is not how things should be', eh? Well done, Treebeard.

"I saw what you did to Gary."

Ah.
...Amusing that it uses OL's name for the fungoid...

"Not like that. With you-. The whole of you, that would make things worse. Earth needs the Grey to exist, and the Grey needs the Earth to exist. Apokolips doesn't, and they're the ones who are making you feel like this."

It doesn't respond immediately, and in the quiet I can hear… Weakened wood breaking, bursting as rotten fibres give up the ghost.
Let's hope that's not Ivy going down for the count...

"I'm sorry to have to rush you, but the Green is on the verge of death."

"What do I need to do?"
...And it speaks without nihilism. Impressive.

That sounded different. Not in tone, in the… Presence, behind it.

"Do you remember the area that you and yours used to occupy?"
Since as an Avatar of sorts, it can command and control its Kingdom, its citizens...

"Yes."

"Can you call all of your kind who are here, all the fungoids, all the spores, everything, through the opening and return there?"
Nice. Getting exactly what was needed. Now, will the Grey go along with that?

"Yes."

"Without doing more damage to the Green?"
A fair question, especially if the growths are reluctant to give up their conquests.

"… Yes."

"I'm just writing off the things you've already destroyed. If a plant's dead then it's dead."
Keep what you kill? It's a classic.

"Yes. And then?"

"I'll come through with you and try and fix it. If I can't, I'll call in other people better equipped than me. Is that acceptable?"
Oh, boy. This is gonna get even grosser, isn't it?

Spores fall from the air, and I get a oh my that is a big fellow!

"Yes."
And why do I suddenly get the feeling it's something like Chakravatin Jagganoth?

Hoo boy. I hope he at least gets a chance to recharge before heading into the Grey-realm. Otherwise, this is gonna be chock-full of body horror. :oops: ...Not that it hasn't been so far. I suppose anything involving the Elemental Kingdom of decay is gonna feel icky. Still, if this means the pressure is off the Green, then it counts as a win. Or as close as it'll get while the Anti-Life broadcast is still underway.
 
Does the Grey not remember yesterday because of Anti-Life or because fungus has no concept of time?

Anti-Life.

It makes all you've done and accomplished in the past seem meaningless, so it can also fuck up your sense of time.

People with depression have sometimes reported that they can't keep track of time and what feels like hours were in fact weeks, or what felt like weeks were just days or hours.
 
Ah, pointing out the short-sightedness of 'eat all the things'... Interesting tack.

It's kinda like Ares' deal in the comics on why he won't start a nuclear war.

True, the mass death may empower him, but everyone would die and he'd be deprived of food.

To be fair, do fungi of the Grey, even ones complex enough to carry on a philosophical discussion like this, have any sense of time?

Good point.

Those giants in Tartarus said that time is for mortals, so the Grey may feel the same.

I'm kinda reminded of Gaia from the Iron Druid books.

She basically talked about the dinosaurs like she just saw them last week.
 

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