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"Really? Cool." And maybe my POV as the man in the field might be of help, too, Barry thought. Having been beat to the showers (and being a gentleman), he decides to make use of the microwave, heating up something with plenty of meat and fat, and then nuking something high carb to share.
Barry decided to throw this out, though he was pretty sure he knew what the answer would be. "Y'know…despite my fire power—no pun intended—being on random at the moment, I still have a thing regarding computers and security systems. Maybe I can give our stuff the once-over?"
"Wow…all that happened was that I got a bit confused," Blaze admitted, regarding Pulse's situation. "Still, it sounds like we got lucky against Tophat, unless all he wanted to do was drive us away. Hard to predict what 'crazy' wants as far as goals or endgame, after all."
Barry listened to the discussion, and was a little surprised at the mention of Tophat. The last time he heard of him was just after his first mission with these folks (assuming they were talking about the guy behind the girl with the big cats). The idea that the snakes were specialized for them was a little disturbing. How did he know they, specifically, were coming? Or did he have an army of snakes? The thought disturbed him, but he also had another problem… "Um…I'm not sure if this is the time to bring this up, but when I tried to flame on…I turned into a tornado instead."
"One thing at a time," Blaze suggested, "Assuming of course we can predict what I might change into next time. Check wall first, that can't be too hard." He was kind of concerned. Why did he change into "Air Boy" instead of "Torchy"? What was going on here?
In an effort to alleviate potential panic, Blaze (or Windy, or Airboy or whatever), settled to the ground, and turned back to his uniformed human self. He hoped that would help things out, but he also worried about what might happen the next time he tried to transform.
Well this looked different. He wasn't exactly sure what he was looking at. ::Um…guys?:: He sent. ::I think I've found something significant here. My best guess is that it's some sort of…roof made out of scrap metal. Not sure exactly what it's covering, but it looks to be about 30 feet off the ground.::
::Right, pulling back…:: Blaze pulled back closer to his struggling group, but stayed ahead and above, wary of any extreme tree movement that might indicate another attack.
::Oy, there's a break in the trees about a klik ahead,:: He sent to the others. ::I could go forward for a closer look.::
::Great, we're in the equivalent of Florida,:: Blaze (currently Scirocco?) sent to the group. ::Flat as far as the eye can see. At least I can provide some early warning, now that we have an idea of what to look for. They had come to perform a mission. Now he was worried that they might not make it out of here alive. If he had still been Torchy McTorchface, he might've been able to set some of the trees ablaze (even though he didn't want to really start a forest fire) to form a barrier. What a time for him to suddenly change elements! He didn't even know that was possible…
Blaze kept his elevated position. ::I'll see if I can find us some high ground. Maybe at least that can give us some better options than being on their level in the open, right?::
"Ack…sonova…" Okay, focus you airhead, he thought. Pulse is blinding one, and I've managed to hurt the other. So…
::You two back off, I'll try and draw their fire,:: Blaze sent. He proceeded forward about 10 meters toward the big snake on the left, formed up another ball of air, and shot it toward the the large reptile, wondering if he'd have been more effective on these things if he were still on fire.
Oh, like I'm gonna start complaining :D Do what you need to do, man. When you're ready for us, I think it's safe to say we'll be here.
::On my way,:: Blaze sent back. ::C'mon Pulse…say something. Insult me. Call me an airhead—it'd be appropriate right now. Anything…
I'm sorry. I'll get something in this afternoon, during my lunch break.
"Dammit! Who knew something so big could move so fast," Barry complained. "Now where'd you go?
"God I'm hoping I'm going in the right direction," he said, trying to pursue from above.
::This bastard's picking us off one at a time,:: Barry sent, regretting being Captain Obvious. He wasn't sure how much effect this "wind blast" was having, and it seemed that he was able to use his abilities in a similar enough manner to when he was on fire. He focussed, and threw his focussed blast. Normally this meant his flame was more like a cutting torch. He had no idea what it'd be like here.
"PULSE!" He was of a definite mind to pursue, assuming he could get a bead. Even if he could only guess, he'd see what his air version of the exploding fireball was like.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" was his rather undignified response (what do you want? He wasn't expecting a HUGE F-ING SNAKE now, was he?}. Barry didn't even think. He just put his hands out like he usually did when he wanted to shoot fire at something. This time however, instead of shooting fire, he'd shoot…something (what does an air person shoot, anyway?)
::Whatever it is, it's BIG:: Blaze sent, ::not to mention strong! It's like it's moving trees aside on its way here, whatever it is. I could try and get a closer look…:: Of course, the idea of getting close to whatever was doing that wasn't exactly filling him with eager youthful curiosity. More like "OMG" and "WTF" and other things yelling at him to avoid this.
::Sounds like I should see if I can still fly or not,:: Blaze/Zephyr(?) sent. ::Here does nothin'!::
And suddenly his new vantage point gave him a view of the jungle below…
"Um…fairly recently,He answered, hesitantly. "I…um…I've been practicing changing my flame color lately…y'know, so I could disguise my power set? But this…what the hell, man!? "I don't FEEL any different. I'm just…airy and windy and…I'm really sort of out of sorts at the moment."
::What do you mean,:: Blaze asked back. ::This is just the usual "Torchy McTorchface" trans—:: He paused for a moment, suddenly realizing something was different. He looked down at himself and his eyes went wide. "What the—HOW DID I DO THIS?!?"
"Okay, I'm gonna see what's what upstairs," Blaze said. "Maybe I'll get lucky and someone will do something dumb…I mean, besides me. "En Fuego!"
"So now that we're here, should I begin some aerial recon," Blaze asked. "Not that I'm too confident that I'll see anything below the canopy, but who knows?"
"Glad…I only had something light to eat," Blaze commented as he eventually got his legs to stop being like Jell-o long enough to follow. "Hope there's an in-flight dinner, though…more than a bag of peanuts, y'know?"
"Ah, the perils and pitfalls of PR management," Blaze mused. "I'm good with Team Cancer for now, guys. It's makes me feel a bit oogie, but that'll probably give us motivation to come up with a better name years down the road—let's just avoid calling ourselves the Thunderbolts, though."
No need. I'm voting "fire fighter" too.
"I'm kind of with Violet and Pulse on the 'stay or go' thing," Blaze interjected. "A home isn't a place, in my opinion. It's the people you're with. I'd like to stick with the people in this room…but probably not here."
For now, I think he'll settle on "Torchy McTorchface" as he's not very good at coming up with superhero names. When he starts…changing, it'll become even more of a problem, of course.
With regard to Blaze, I realize his name will have to be changed, but I was sort of pondering the idea that he doesn't know that he can change into 3 other elemental states yet. If we need him to look different, I was thinking he would spend his time practicing changing his flame color…and maybe he accidentally stumbles on his alternate states? Just an idea—I just think it'd add some drama/comedy if he can't control which elemental state he enters at first. Just a thought.
"Well, DisneyLAND is a different story—I've been there," Barry admitted as much. "I was only four at the time, though. And unfortunately the day was cut short after I got sick on the Teacup ride…"
"Y'know," Barry pondered, "I've never been to Disney World or Universal Studios before. Hell…I've never been to Florida, period." For that reason alone, he drops his name into the hat.
Blaze is relieved to hear that his mother was okay. Of course, that also meant that there were 2 years or so of stories to catch up on regarding her and anything else that had happened in his family. That, and he also had to do some serious research and learning on the state of the internet and computers in general. The time jump meant that some of his skills might be outdated—can't have that!
Spent many days either organizing or clearing out junk from my place in preparation for my condo complex's upcoming fumigation. I can almost see a light at the end of the tunnel. Does anyone need anything from me, or have I missed anything serious?
How did you want to give it a test drive? Play the character as you rebuilt him?
Wow, you've been a busy cat, haven't you? Nice build BTW. Mind if I give it a test drive? It'll be interesting to see how he starts discovering that he's more than just fire.
It would be cheaper and easier to simply by a +1/4 Variable Special Effects on Blaze's powers. Then he could become an elemental, choosing an Element each time. The only problem I see with that are the permutations on explaining some of his other powers—like the damage shield, for example. Still, it's definitely food for thought.
Thinking of ways to expand Blaze, I came up with a strange idea: Multiforming into a different element—like going from fire to water, or air or earth (sandblasting, anyone?). Multiform is a bit tricky, but if nothing else it could provide some humor when he's first learning and can't control which one he turns into… BLAZE: "En Fuego!"
For the record, I don't have too many ideas as far as retooling Blaze; he's fairly straightforward. Maybe some sort of fire suppression/absorption thing?
Blaze, in all of this confusion, really only wanted the answer to one question: How was his Mom? It didn't really come up very often. After all, she's a grown woman, a registered nurse and all that, but he hadn't expected to go missing for 3 years (and of course she had no clue about the whole "Blaze" thing), so that was something that refused to leave the top of his mind no matter what he or anyone else said.
Blaze's eyes bugged out. "Three…YEARS!?" He reverted to flesh and blood, the look on his face as if someone just punched him. "Oh sweet Jesus…Mom! I…I need a phone…I gotta make a call." The quaver in his voice notwithstanding, he really needed to call her, even though he had no idea what to tell her.
"This is freakin' nuts, you realize," Blaze said in disbelief. "Nuts!" But it looked like that was the direction folks were going, right into the mist made of swirling blood and who-knows-what. He really didn't want to follow them. Who's to say if this wannabe Cenobite reject wasn't luring them into the Blender dimension, or worse? He dropped the fire extinguisher and resumed his fiery state. If he was doing this, he wasn't going as flesh and blood. He was going as fire. "Fine, let's all be nuts." And he flew into the Hellraiser portal.
At the mention of the kitties, Blaze took a step toward the other lava cat, took aim (as well as anyone can aim a fire extinguisher anyway), and let loose with more CO2 goodness. "I always did prefer doggies anyway," he said as he blasted away.
I think KO'ing that first cat was my move, currently. I could be wrong though…
::I don't know anything about getting inside, really, but perhaps we might be able to prevent them from doing that again AND maybe put a fly in the ointment, so to speak,:: Blaze offered, confidence buoyed by getting something right. ::If there was some way of turning the bank's fire suppression system back on, that could put the kibosh on Lava Boy's antics, and it might throw a monkey wrench into whatever else they're doing.:: It sounded crazy, but his last idea was kind of crazy too.
Oh crap, he thought whatcanidowhatcanido!? He saw the fire extinguisher nearby, but realized that, if he touched it, it'd likely explode in his current state. If he transitioned to flesh and blood, he'd be vulnerable… Aw, screw it. He transitioned to flesh and blood, grabbed up the fire extinguisher, and opened up on the lava cat threatening Pulse. If he had time—and thought for a moment it would help, he would've uttered a prayer.
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