Endgame

[Atariangamer]

     This is it, you think stepping onto the last teleporter, this has to be it. You could feel it radiating from the mines. After all you've been through, you could use the hope of actually finishing them off. It has been a long road, trying to grab what nutrients you could while avoiding the flemoids. You recall the night you had to spend in the vent system, getting little sleep as you tried to scrub the hard slime from your armor. You rematerialize in the early ventures into the mines. Supports and cart tracks make a line-of-sight to the newer tunnels impossible. You reload your large Zorcher, and creep around the metal. You hear a slight gurgle, and with a flick of your wrist the Bootspoon is in your hand. You turn around to scan your unprotected flank, then whip around to catch a Communus across the head. The blow is too much, and the creature is scattered, zorch slowly dissolving the remaining residue. You finally reach the teleportation center, and it seems to be unoccupied. You glance to the ceiling, and gaze in horror at an unconscious Kixx hanging by mere threads of goop. You take aim and fire. You didn't think about what was next, however. As he falls, you rush underneath him. He awakens just before you catch him. A few words are exchanged, but cut short by a long cry from within the walls. The Kixx rushes to the controls to select the destination for you, and you slide along the walls, listening for the source. The noise gets very loud, then silence. The teleporter tech looks at you with a hint of fear, then continues scoping out the teleporter node closest to the center. You turn back to the wall, and hear not organic squishing, but rushing metal. You dive out of the way as a mine cart explodes through the wall. The tech catches your attention and gives you the all clear signal, so you rush to the teleporter. A large cracking noise stops you, and you turn around. You and the tech's eyes both turn to the hole in the wall, and the large crack extending up the wall and across the ceiling. You start to move, but the crack widens. You turn and yell at the tech to follow you, and then dive through the entrance. The Kixx Tech follows you out seconds later, and you feel the seismic activity following the collapse of the Teleportation Center. You tell the Tech to find the emergency tunnel to the Hangars and to prep your ship for takeoff. He runs off to a painted rock wall, and slides it sideways to reveal the sheltered rail system that would be your ride to safety. You slide the panel back, and place an electro-marker on it, so you can find your way back after you take out the central chamber. You dart from cleft to cleft, zorching the occasional flemoid, pressing on till you see the doorway "Central Operations/Volcanic Research". Bingo.

      They were housing all their supplies, communications, and geological studies in one large chamber in the mines. You feel a bit down on energy, so you place your Extractor a shimmering rock and wait. The rock stops glowing, and a few crystals form in the clear chamber. You swallow them with a swig from your canteen, and feel strong enough to take on anything. You climb the stairs, and press on the keypad. The door slowly opens, and you walk into the huge Operation Center. The glass balloon ceiling had fallen, making every step a crunching sound. You pass the locked infirmary, and hear the words "The Sky is Down". You dont dare open the door, the vacuum would kill anyone not in proper equipment. You walk up to the large supercomputer in the center, and start your work. You start to arrange the satellite array in a dimensional pattern you learned from the manual on your Zorcher. You tell it to time delay a radio signal on the frequency specified by the Universal Teleportation, Red Book standard. Hopefully a simple signal will mimic the Zorcher's phasing power. For safety, you set it to the old Amplitude Modulation signal with a variety of modulation to ensure the planetwide zorch wave would work. You step back, and watch as the diagrams and codeblocks aligned and started processing your instructions. Satisfied, you turn around...and walk into a wall of slime. Your late night buffing with Anti-Slime canisters pays off, and you pull right away. An eye slowly morphs from the mire, then another. A nose, if you could call it that, protrudes from the wall, and starts to fill. Oh great, you think, what am I gonna do now? It flings the built up congestion, and a large ball flies across the room and smacks into the concrete. It cracks, and the slime starts to corrode into the mineral rich rock behind it. From your hiding place, you notice a Communus rise from the goo. You take a mental snapshot, and try to make it priority to give this to the Gerban scientists. They would like to know how flemoids are formed. You rummage in your pack, and your hand hits what feels like a camcorder. You pull it out, and the Phasing Zorcher comes into the dull light. You place a few charges through the membrane, and sling it around toward the Flembrane. As it starts to fade, it throws out one more wad. You quickly switch to your Propulsor, and launch a probe into it. It slows, glows red, then explodes across the room. With a deep 'SKREEE', the wall disappears, and a few survivors rush out from behind the slime, trailing their own goopy chains. You notice the warnings now emitting from the supercomputer, and rally them all to make the final push for freedom.

     As you run behind them, the mine walls slowly break apart, and slime oozes from every crack. Dang, this whole place must be full of slime, you think in amazement. You and the others hop onto the railcart and begin the slow ride across the terrain to the Hangars. You focus on the controls, trying to gain even 20mph with it. You hear a flemoid battle cry, and see a large blob coming up the tracks behind the cart. You throw the tech at the controls, and toss everyone a Zorcher. You and the band fight it off while the tech increases the speeds. 40mph, 50mph, 60mph...and the flem keeping up every step of the way. You see the sunbeams shining into the tunnel: the Bazoikan sunrise. You tell the tech to stop the cart and for everyone to abandon it. Everyone jumps for a running start as the cart comes to a stop. The flem overtakes it in a matter of seconds, but that small delay was worth it. You and the others run for the open loading ramp, which the Kixx had waiting for you. You yell at everyone to strap in, and start to light the engines and warm up the antigrav. As the process starts to pull away from the slight gravity, the craft jerks to a stop. You look outside and see the flem hanging on for dear life to keep you from taking the survivors away. You turn the abort knob and shift it to manual, taking the control away from the botched flight plan. You crank the engines to the max and pray for it to be enough. Gotta...break...free...when all of a sudden with a loud *SNAP*, the ship rockets out of the atmosphere and aligns with the Chex Space Station. You glance at your watch and check the time. Showtime. You run to the rear observation deck and peer out at the orange planet. Slowly, 10 red dots interconnect and scan the surface, then phase into several waves of pure energy. With a white flash, the planet collapses inwards as the internal structure vanishes due to a lack of flemoids. Man, that was a timebomb waiting to go off. You rush past the Station and jettison the large transport addition, and blast the afterburners of the fighter to speed towards home. A tight-beam transmission congratulates you, encrypted by the Commander herself. You, however, just cant wait to get some of that good home cooking. As you fly over the surface of Ralston, you see your favorite diner and decide to land there. You walk into the street and the door locks behind you. The diner is empty, but is open. As you step inside, you are grabbed from behind by some unknown entity. You slash at it with the Bootspoon, and it releases. Oh no, you think, not again.

- - - - - - - - - - -
ENDGAME
by Atariangamer

(A sequel to Pregame
in a similar style)

[TheMasterOfBattle]

his is it, you think stepping onto the last teleporter, this has to be it. You could feel it radiating from the mines. After all you've been through, you could use the hope of actually finishing them off. It has been a long road, trying to grab what nutrients you could while avoiding the flemoids. You recall the night you had to spend in the vent system, getting little sleep as you tried to scrub the hard slime from your armor. You rematerialize in the early ventures into the mines. Supports and cart tracks make a line-of-sight to the newer tunnels impossible. You reload your large Zorcher, and creep around the metal. You hear a slight gurgle, and with a flick of your wrist the Bootspoon is in your hand. You turn around to scan your unprotected flank, then whip around to catch a Communus across the head. The blow is too much, and the creature is scattered, zorch slowly dissolving the remaining residue. You finally reach the teleportation center, and it seems to be unoccupied. You glance to the ceiling, and gaze in horror at an unconscious Kixx hanging by mere threads of goop. You take aim and fire. You didn't think about what was next, however. As he falls, you rush underneath him. He awakens just before you catch him. A few words are exchanged, but cut short by a long cry from within the walls. The Kixx rushes to the controls to select the destination for you, and you slide along the walls, listening for the source. The noise gets very loud, then silence. The teleporter tech looks at you with a hint of fear, then continues scoping out the teleporter node closest to the center. You turn back to the wall, and hear not organic squishing, but rushing metal. You dive out of the way as a mine cart explodes through the wall. The tech catches your attention and gives you the all clear signal, so you rush to the teleporter. A large cracking noise stops you, and you turn around. You and the tech's eyes both turn to the hole in the wall, and the large crack extending up the wall and across the ceiling. You start to move, but the crack widens. You turn and yell at the tech to follow you, and then dive through the entrance. The Kixx Tech follows you out seconds later, and you feel the seismic activity following the collapse of the Teleportation Center. You tell the Tech to find the emergency tunnel to the Hangars and to prep your ship for takeoff. He runs off to a painted rock wall, and slides it sideways to reveal the sheltered rail system that would be your ride to safety. You slide the panel back, and place an electro-marker on it, so you can find your way back after you take out the central chamber. You dart from cleft to cleft, zorching the occasional flemoid, pressing on till you see the doorway "Central Operations/Volcanic Research". Bingo. They were housing all their supplies, communications, and geological studies in one large chamber in the mines. You feel a bit down on energy, so you place your Extractor a shimmering rock and wait. The rock stops glowing, and a few crystals form in the clear chamber. You swallow them with a swig from your canteen, and feel strong enough to take on anything. You climb the stairs, and press on the keypad. The door slowly opens, and you walk into the huge Operation Center. The glass balloon ceiling had fallen, making every step a crunching sound. You pass the locked infirmary, and hear the words "The Sky is Down". You dont dare open the door, the vacuum would kill anyone not in proper equipment. You walk up to the large supercomputer in the center, and start your work. You start to arrange the satellite array in a dimensional pattern you learned from the manual on your Zorcher. You tell it to time delay a radio signal on the frequency specified by the Universal Teleportation, Red Book standard. Hopefully a simple signal will mimic the Zorcher's phasing power. For safety, you set it to the old Amplitude Modulation signal with a variety of modulation to ensure the planetwide zorch wave would work. You step back, and watch as the diagrams and codeblocks aligned and started processing your instructions. Satisfied, you turn around...and walk into a wall of slime. Your late night buffing with Anti-Slime canisters pays off, and you pull right away. An eye slowly morphs from the mire, then another. A nose, if you could call it that, protrudes from the wall, and starts to fill. Oh great, you think, what am I gonna do now? It flings the built up congestion, and a large ball flies across the room and smacks into the concrete. It cracks, and the slime starts to corrode into the mineral rich rock behind it. From your hiding place, you notice a Communus rise from the goo. You take a mental snapshot, and try to make it priority to give this to the Gerban scientists. They would like to know how flemoids are formed. You rummage in your pack, and your hand hits what feels like a camcorder. You pull it out, and the Phasing Zorcher comes into the dull light. You place a few charges through the membrane, and sling it around toward the Flembrane. As it starts to fade, it throws out one more wad. You quickly switch to your Propulsor, and launch a probe into it. It slows, glows red, then explodes across the room. With a deep 'SKREEE', the wall disappears, and a few survivors rush out from behind the slime, trailing their own goopy chains. You notice the warnings now emitting from the supercomputer, and rally them all to make the final push for freedom. As you run behind them, the mine walls slowly break apart, and slime oozes from every crack. Dang, this whole place must be full of slime, you think in amazement. You and the others hop onto the railcart and begin the slow ride across the terrain to the Hangars. You focus on the controls, trying to gain even 20mph with it. You hear a flemoid battle cry, and see a large blob coming up the tracks behind the cart. You throw the tech at the controls, and toss everyone a Zorcher. You and the band fight it off while the tech increases the speeds. 40mph, 50mph, 60mph...and the flem keeping up every step of the way. You see the sunbeams shining into the tunnel: the Bazoikan sunrise. You tell the tech to stop the cart and for everyone to abandon it. Everyone jumps for a running start as the cart comes to a stop. The flem overtakes it in a matter of seconds, but that small delay was worth it. You and the others run for the open loading ramp, which the Kixx had waiting for you. You yell at everyone to strap in, and start to light the engines and warm up the antigrav. As the process starts to pull away from the slight gravity, the craft jerks to a stop. You look outside and see the flem hanging on for dear life to keep you from taking the survivors away. You turn the abort knob and shift it to manual, taking the control away from the botched flight plan. You crank the engines to the max and pray for it to be enough. Gotta...break...free...when all of a sudden with a loud *SNAP*, the ship rockets out of the atmosphere and aligns with the Chex Space Station. You glance at your watch and check the time. Showtime. You run to the rear observation deck and peer out at the orange planet. Slowly, 10 red dots interconnect and scan the surface, then phase into several waves of pure energy. With a white flash, the planet collapses inwards as the internal structure vanishes due to a lack of flemoids. Man, that was a timebomb waiting to go off. You rush past the Station and jettison the large transport addition, and blast the afterburners of the fighter to speed towards home. A tight-beam transmission congratulates you, encrypted by the Commander herself. You, however, just cant wait to get some of that good home cooking. As you fly over the surface of Ralston, you see your favorite diner and decide to land there. You walk into the street and the door locks behind you. The diner is empty, but is open. As you step inside, you are grabbed from behind by some unknown entity. You slash at it with the Bootspoon, and it releases. Oh no, you think, not again.

- - - - - - - - - - -
ENDGAME
by Atariangamer

(A sequel to Pregame
in a similar style)

IT'S A WALL A TEXT!

Nice job atarian, breaking it into a few paragraphs helps the eyes though and makes it easier to read.

[The Green Avenger]

Yes, dividing into paragraphs would be nice.  (BTW, because of the lack on indentation on forums, double spacing is a good policy for paragraph divisions.)  Still, I think this is an interesting view.  The electro-marker and the extractor were interesting, I would have to say.  I think I might be able to jury rig something like that using fragglescript.

[The Slimeinator]

- - - - - - - - - - -
ENDGAME
by Atariangamer

(A sequel to Pregame
in a similar style)

Win.

[Atariangamer]

Broken, I think...Better?

and thnx for the Wins. ^^

[Kuwabara]

Nice!  I liked that electro-marker touch there.  Only true CQ fans know exactly where that is!

[matthias720]

An the award for most enjoyable fanfic goes to...Atariangamer!

[Atariangamer]

Thnx, guys!

I want you to notice a few things...
the "glass balloon" and "the sky is down" is a reference to the Andrew Benson song.
the "electro-marker" was me scrambling for a term, and my mind came across "electro sapper"...
there are generic fighters, then additions that turn them into larger transport ships. thats how he could carry passengers.

oh, and TGA is working on some coding to make the extractor work, and i'm thinking about making a version of E1M5 to match some of my descriptions.

[Manny Cav]

WIN.

Also the story. It is rather clunky, though, even at this point. I didn't get a few things, though, like the electro-marker thing that Kuwabara mentioned, and I also don't get Chexter eating rock crystals, if I read that right.

[The Green Avenger]

He extracted minerals from a rich vein in the mines.  Remember, as this is a Chex based universe, vitamins and minerals are health sources.

[Manny Cav]

Eh, I still ain't gettin' it. I'll I've got to go by for food sources are the vegetables, fruits, and breakfasts scattered around. It all looks like normal food to me.

[Atariangamer]

Electro-Marker was just something I made up, instead of a map and marking its place, he just placed a little box on the wall. Then when he looks at his computer map, or whatever, it points back to that spot so he doesn't get lost.

The extractor thing is like this: They arent mining for gold, they're trying to get minerals and vitamins out for use in other products. The rocks get processed for these minerals, especially the glowing veins found in a few spots on the original E1M5. Chexter has a small device called the "Extractor" that can process the glowing veins for pure vitamins, and since he's a Chexonian, these have tremendous effects on them.

And the main reason, its just a fanfic. I can take a slight bit of liberty in my writing, I should think...

...and clunky in what way, Cav? If its too long I can pull some stuff out (especially since the first release was just called A WALL OF TEXT.)

[Manny Cav]

And the main reason, its just a fanfic. I can take a slight bit of liberty in my writing, I should think...

Oh, yes, that's one of the best parts of writing fan-fiction. I just said that I didn't understand the concept or know where it came form.

...and clunky in what way, Cav? If its too long I can pull some stuff out (especially since the first release was just called A WALL OF TEXT.)

Clunky in that the paragraphs are just plain large. Pulling stuff out wouldn't be a complete solution.

[Atariangamer]

...i'm looking, but I dont see any places to cut it...suggestions?

[Manny Cav]

Eh, not really. It's just big.