Katherine Pryde gasped, waking up suddenly. The fear and memories of pain were to he understandable. She'd just sent off her best friend and only surviving comrade to negate her entire life, then gotten blasted thru the chest by a multi-phased energy blast, courtesy of the Nimrod Sentinel.
The surprise to her was waking up at all, since she remembered losing her life pretty plainly. Now, here she was, in a.. teenager's bedroom?
She looked around, seeing the lack of any sign of the Nightmare Reality Xaiver's Dream had led to, for whatever reason. Then she saw two things that freaked her beyond all ability to remain silent or composed. First, she was a teenager again, and a VERY unstylish one at that! Second, the gear in her personal possessions included a symbol she'd not seen in any public form (outside of rebel graffiti) in over ten years.. the symbol of the X-Men.
"What In God's Name IS This?!?" She'd have screamed out a bit more, but Rogue's less publicised talents include deadly accuracy with thrown pillows. By the time she got loose, people were asking questions, and the Confusion was more or less universal.
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Scene: Marvelverse, alternate Excalibur reality
Cat snarled, then blinked.. Odd, she could think again! She looked around, seeking her friend and companion Illyana, but this.. this wasn't Limbo.
She was Alone!
She sobbed and snarled, the catgirl Kitty Pryde was a mean ol' ninja and part-demon, bt she still loved.. and she needed someone, anyone!
She ran thru a wall, leaving the alley she was in, and entering the kitchen of a Chinese resturant. In fact, she weas the only caucasian here. This was idly noticed, but Cat was still running mostly on instinct after years of non-humanity. Took some getting used to, being a person again. She sensed.. Her but not-her, and something foul, like the demons of recent experience, in the next chamber.
She didn't know OR care why, but she sensed the thing about to possess this other-Cat. That was really the final straw, as Cat saw red and her claws came out. She pased thru and clawed the air, as far as any of the squabbling members of Excalibur could see, unwittingly phasing in Astral. The end result was Ogun vaguely becoming visible, with a gaping void where his 'throat' was, pulsing out the last glow of his life essence, before the 'Deathless One' proved his title a trifle.. unearned, fading into a well-deserved Oblivion.
Before the shocked team could stand, the overstressed part-demon fainted, falling into--and merging with--the 'native' Kitty. This showed from the lack of a second Pryde, the addition of all those Cat-traits in Kitty, and the pole-axed expression as she took in all the memories of Cat, before and after her unfortunate demonising by Belasco.
Dinner and arguments fully shredded, Peter Wisdom simply stood up, helping the stunned and adjusting love of his life (at that point at least) to her feet. "..love, don't take this the wrong way, but--is there anything too stupid to possibly happen to this lot?" He was shaken, but kinda glad that fool mouth of his had been overlooked in the chaos, as they all hustled out to relate/find out what the hell happened in there.
"Not that I know of, 'cept maybe boredom." was the murmured reply.
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Scene: Marvelverse, Alternative Limbo
It was lost. It knew it had been summoned by the Pain, several times in fact, but it was still in its Mate-search mode. And it was Lost.
This was a real first for the Bakeneko. The Ghost Cat, in its myriad facets, normally was the expression of the feline imperative in the minds of the people, in its home, but this Realm was nowhere near its prowling grounds, and this facet was cut off from other cat-spirits. It needed a host, and soon, or it would be rendered into nothing!
It raced thru a unfamiliar palace, there were signs of combat everywhere, a fight that had just reached its climax. There was a girl, powerful beyond even her own comprehension, and a demon-man, just returning to its power and body.. and.. a Host!
It had to hurry, it could feel the rigged nature of this place trying to impose on the Host, if it did, Bakeneklo would be lost. Besides, this was a female, this was the reason he'd been diverted from the Call!
Forgetting entirely about the Call before (much to the later relief of Ranma Saotome), Bakeneko dove into the one named Cat, just as the forces of Limbo attempted to debase her cat aspect into a like-nature demoness.
The reuslts were interesting. While Cat wqas indeed rendered a felinoid with somewhat animalistic traits, her mind and will were her own. Her attack on Belasco proved the other salient change Bakeneko had provided.
To paraphrase: The Neko-Ken is a nearly-unbeatable technique, as long as the Cat doesn't wreck your fight in the beginning. The Neko-ken in a catgal-demon warmistress is flat out ridiculous. Belasco barely teleported away alive. (and there was much rejoicing.)
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Scene: Marvelverse, non-super Dimension (the one where the self-insert Marvel crew exist.)
Katheryne 'Kitty' Prideman was put out. She'd always known her face and name were the models for her bosses at Marvel to make that Shadowcat character and all the versions thereof--but did they have to be so cruel?
She'd sat back and been a good intern during it all. The origiunal run wasn't all that bad, and Ogun's little number had helped her namesake grow as a character.. but those later guys! Phasing Re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere? Soul ripped out and left having to hare after it? Pissed on by the FBI and hunted by a mountain-sized Phalanx, whatever the fuck that was? These guys were tripping! She'd gone so far as to put in writing that she'd never want a x-title of ANY kind again, not even as a X-mas gift, but they all tut-tutted her.
As she grumped to herself, the now-middle-aged lady named Katheryne Prydeman felt something flowing by.. in some sense.. then *bounce* and splash onto, no *into* her! then the deluge of memories and talents and powers poured in and in and..
She didn't die, she thought, and that was good. Then she grinned, a grin as cold and merciless as Ming in his worst mood.
But, Jehovah or whoever cares, I am gonna have words with these jerkoffs! With that, Kitty Pryde (now and forevermore) went forth into the Marvel Offices to deal great ruination on the staff thereof..
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Scene: Nerimaverse, Furinkan High School
Akane was walking to lunch, in hopes of getting some answers, wanting to talk with the people or person responsible for the persecution of all those implicated with Magic. Something was off on all these folks, but Gos and those like him needed protection and answers first.
As she formed that intent most clearly, there was a instant of empathy with someone she had no clue even existed. It was written off as a sudden chill.
Ranma saw the shudder, but just overlooked it. as said shudder showed in the chest, he felt it in his best interest to NOT ever acknowledge seeing it. After all--he liked his lungs, preferably on the inside.
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(Posted Thu, 10 Jun 2004 08:06)
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