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Champions of RASP 3

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DD: **\ I'm gonna prototype Remosprite with my Zekrom Dragonborn.
ED: † Who's Remosprite? †
DD: **\ Well, the bat's name was Remolino, so...
ED: † Oh, I get it! †
ED: † Good choice of name, very fitting. †
ED: † Wait WHAT? Zekrom Dragonborn?! †
DD: **\ you didn't notice earlier?
DD: **\ Go look, idiota! I'll meet you up there.
-- diligentDiviner [DD] is now an idle chum! --

Chris moved the camera up to Juan's room and took a closer look at the statue. He noticed that the armor had been modified with the big black wings and mitt-like arm protrusions of the Dragon of Ideals. It even had a slimmed version of the Electric-typed Legend's spiked-and-blue striped tail. The helmet had even been modified to include Zekrom's thunderbolt crest. The Californian teen then recalled that Juan had played Pokemon White, while Chris had chosen Black. The pair had met only a few years ago in an online battle, and had quickly forged a friendship after a hard-fought battle between opposing sides of Legend Pairs.

DD: **\ You like it?
ED: † ... like it? No. †
DD: **\ :'-(
ED: † I FRIKKIN' LOVE IT! :-D †
DD: **\ :-O :-D Yay!
ED: † Let's prototype your sprite into... †
DD: **\ Remokromsprite!
ED: † XD †

Smiling, Chris dragged the statue into the ghostly bat, and watched as it began to change. The sprite grew arms and a humanoid head. Then the Zekrom-themed Dragonplate armor coalesced upon it: The mitt-like gauntlets, a crested and horned helmet with gaps for the bat ears, and a cuirass with slots for the wings. The sprite then grew a second pair of wings, the dark (now dark brown) wings of the powerful Legendary 'Mon.

DD: **\ Look's cool, huh?
ED: † Yeah it does! †
ED: † Dude, I can see something coming through your door. †
DD: **\ Looks really sunburnt.

Juan pulled out his warhammer and rushed downstairs. The creature was small, and looked vicious, with large ears, small wings and clawed fingers. The imp knocked over a vase and smirked. "Hey! Get outta my house!" the now-angry Mexican ordered, before bringing the hammer down on the beast. The imp squeaked and dodged. "Hold still!"

As he watched Juan beat up what he was calling a Clay Imp, Chris pulled a pack of Skittles from his Pouch Sylladex and eats it like he's watching a movie. He also noticed that his friend was fairly muscular, and his tan lightning bolt T-shirt and pants did nothing to hide how strong the tanned boy looked and clearly was judging by how hard and fast his blows were.

Eventually the critter fell down, dead. Its body morphed into strange, brown and grey gem-shaped constructs. Juan dropped the hammer and touched the objects, which vanished with a dull flash.

DD: **\ What were those things?
ED: † According to the walkthrough, it's called Grist. We need for building... I dunno what exactly... †
ED: † I'll read the walkthrough some more. †
ED: † You see if the sprite has any info we can use. †
DD:**\ Okay...
-- ED is idle--

Chris clicked out of the window, where Juan was walking outside and conversing with his Sprite as it gestured in response, back to the walkthrough, examining it. Unfortunately, the author ended her explanation rather strangely. Pushing back from the desk, Aden wandered out toward his home's shrine to the major Kemetic deities in the patio. Kneeling before the ibis-headed Thoth statuette, he prayed for the god's wisdom and assistance.

...

"Thank you for your time, Lord Djehuti." Chris finished up his prayer and stood up, nodding in respect to the other statues before exiting the shrine. Glancing out into the yard, he noticed the wild albino gator he had affectionately named Sippy giving a rasping yawn as he sunned himself on the shore. A he watched, the crocodilian appeared to flicker and spark with green energy.

Chris simply smiled at the familiar action, as it simply meant that the reptile was aware that he was being stared at, and returned  to his computer, where a connection was waiting to be made, and a message was waiting.

DD: **\ Anything?
DD: **\ Just lemme know when you're ready!
ED: † I'm ready. †
ED: † The walkthrough just cut off. It was weird. †
DD: **\ I think Remokrom has some info.
DD: **\ we had a chat and he explained a lot of stuff to me!
DD: **\ I recorded it. Here, watch this vid.
--diligentDreamer sent La_exposición.mp4--
ED: † Okay... †

Chris clicked on the file and opened it, retrieving the candy he had set aside earlier as he watched.

On the screen was Remokromsprite. Juan appeared to be using his phone's camera, since he wasn't visible.

"This place is The Medium." The sprite began. "Specifically, an Incipisphere. Beyond The Seven Gates floating above your house up there," here the Sprite pointed upward, where a series of tan-colored circular patterns rotated in place, leading up to the blue-tinted sun. "At the center of this Incipisphere, lies Skaia, a well of creative potential. I can't tell you exactly what that means though..." he added with a shrug.

"Can't or won't?" Juan's voice asked with a hint of suspicion.

"Los dos." The sprite replied with a sigh. "Lo siento."

"It's okay, Remo. Not your fault. Probably some estupido rule of this place stoppin' ya. Go on."

"Okay... well, Skaia is defended by Prospit, el Reino de la Luz, while Derse, el Reino de la Oscuridad, is on the offensive." In the palm of the sprite's hands, the bluish glow of Illusion magic manifested. Remo held his hands a short distance apart and between them appeared another bubble of energy that shaped itself into a three-by-three chessboard. On it where two chess kings, one white and one black, where locked in a stale mate, making the only moves that kings CAN make in such a situation. "In Skaia's core the two forces are locked in a perpetual check... at least, until you arrived here."

"Huh?"

"You remember my Kernel sprite form splitting? Well, the kernel bits carried information. One to a spire on Derse, and to another to one to Prospit. Two Spires each, above the Queen's throne, transmit the data all around the Medium, affecting the entire game, and that?" Remo gave a smirk as he spoke. In his hands, the image of a bat's ears and wings hovered over the two kings, and the board began to grow and zoom out. The kings grew wings and ears. Pieces materialized on each side and approached. The board soon transformed into a perspectively massive cube. "That's when the game REALLY begins! A war between Prospit and Derse. But..." Here, he frowned and sighed sadly. "Prospit is unfortunately destined to loose, no matter what."

"Then... ¿Que es el punto of this game if we're only going to lose?"

"The battle isn't the focus of the game." Remo explained. "Your focus is on The Ultimate Riddle."

"You mean like, "What walks on four legs in the morning"?"

Remo simply shrugged. "Can't tell. That's for you to find out. For now, though, your only goal is to get through the first gate by building up your house, and getting your friend into the Incipisphere."

"Okay... gracias, amigo..." The camera turned around to show Juan's face. "Buenos suerte Chris!" he said with a faint smile before the video ended.

Chris sighed and cracked his knuckles in preparation. "Okay, I'm ready..." with that, he briefly read over the Connection Ready message, and tapped Enter.

DD: **\ Hehehehe...
DD: **\ VENGANZA!
DD: **\ Poke~

The instant Chris read the Spanish word for revenge, he leaned to the side and look at his heads former position to see the cursor floating where his head had been a moment earlier. Smirking, he readjusted himself and typed back.

ED: † That probably would've worked... †
ED: † If my glasses weren't reflective. †
ED: † {sticks tongue out} †
DD: **\ Nyahh!

Juan's cursor began randomly picking stuff up. first the Dragonborn statue, then his bed, then a few scattered books which were dropped on the bed.

DD: **\ Dios mio you're skinny!
ED: † I know... †
DD: **\ You could hide behind a flagpole! lol
ED: † Gasp! How'd you know my secret? †
DD: **\ Hahaha!
ED: † {laughs} What about you, hombre? †
ED: † You're built like a frikkin' truck! †
ED: † You have a beautiful voice, btw †
DD: **\ Thank you! ^_^
ED: † I'm gonna try to start building. †
ED: † You got... 200 Build Grist... Should be enough to start off! †
ED: † According to the walkthrough, building by duplication is easier... †
ED: † So... †

Chris used the cursor to "select" the entirety of Juan's house's basic appearance, then duplicated it onto the main house. It materialized instantly, doubling the house's height. Grinning, Chris quickly added a ladder by dragging a section of empty space to the roof, where the First Gate waited patiently.

ED: † Done! †
DD: **\ Wait...
ED: † What? †
DD: **\ Before I go through it, I think I should bring you into the session.
ED: † Okay... †
DD: **\ Just gonna move a few things in your living room...
DD: **\ Then drop these here...
DD: **\ There!
ED: † Okay, switching to phone, hold on... †
-- experimentalDeity [ED] ceased pestering diligentDiviner [DD] --

Chris picked up his iPhone, which was held in a protective case emblazoned with a shining Gold Ankh from his favorite game, Sphinx and the Rise of Apophis, the long-desired sequel to The Cursed Mummy. The life hieroglyph was superimposed onto a swirling blue background. Smiling at the logo, Chris walked into his living room, where his couch had been moved back to make room for the Alchemiter, lathe, and Cruxtruder. Chris promptly opened his pesterchum app.

-- experimentalDeity [ED] began pestering diligentDiviner [DD]
ED: † Okay, I see 'em. †
DD: **\ kk, just open the crux-thingy and lets get started!

Chris tapped his chin in thought as he gazed at the third device's lid. "Now what can I use to open you... I know! That mace!" he commented aloud, rushing back to his room and throwing open his closet.

Inside, behind the teen's nicer clothing, was a smaller version of the armor that the statue wore. But instead of the brilliant bronze color the six-foot Khajiit had on, this custom set was the usual dull brown color of the in-game set, and sized for Chris' five-foot-six beanpole of a body. Hanging next to the suit were four bone weapons: a bow and quiver full of arrows, an axe, a sword in its sheath, and a mace, the last of which was grabbed by the brunet. "Here you are!"

Chris ran back to the living room, and brought the club down on the lid with a thunk. It popped off quickly, and the boy released the weapon on instinct, startled by the sudden flashing appearance of the Sprite.

ED: † Gah! †
ED: † Damn seizure ball... †
ED: † My eyes... ow... †
DD: **\ Haha!
DD: **\ Ahora tú sabe mi dolor!
ED: † I get it... †
ED: † Looks like I have two minutes and 16 seconds to do stuff. †
ED: † Card please! †
DD: **\ Prototype the sprite first... get that outta the way...
DD: **\ And is that an alligator on your porch?!

Chris looked to see that Sippy had moved into the porch and was apparently sunning himself in a warm spot.

ED: † That's Sippy, the albino gator that lives in the lagoon out back. †
ED: † I don't own him though, its illegal. †
ED: † He's fairly harmless so long as he's left alone. †
DD:**\ Okay... if you say so...
ED: † Anywho... I'm gonna give it my statue! †
DD: **\ Tú serio?
ED: † Yep! I was thinking about using that elemental doll thing on my bookstand, but then I thought about how your sprite said your pet bat prototyping affected the Session and went †
ED: † "Wait I KNOW all of S'hawn's weaknesses! What he's deathly allergic to, what he's afraid of, and all the kinks of his armor!" †
ED: † "I know exactly how to kill him! I don't know how to kill an Elemental." †
DD: **\ Good thinking; go ahead!

Chris smiled and coaxed the flashing ball into his room, and from there until it contacted with the statue, absorbing it. With a flash, it transformed into floating cat's head in a Dragonscale helm, all in aquamarine.

ED: † Meet Shawnsprite! †
DD: **\ Hola Shawnsprite! Como estás?

The ball flashed, speaking in a strange, accented tongue far too quickly for either human to understand.

DD: **\ Let's avoid talking to it for now...
ED: † HIM, and agreed. †
DD: **\ Oh, sorry. Here's the card.

A punched sky blue card, matching those in Chris' Pouch modus, materialized and dropped into Chris' hand. Briefly, he recalled that Chris' card was forest green, matching his Pack modus. Glancing out the window, he saw a meteor streaking across the sky.

ED: † Looks like a harp. †
DD:**\ Put it in and find out!
DD:**\ You only gotta minute!
ED: † Eep!
ED: † And I see the meteor! †
DD: **\ RAPIDAMENTE!!

Waisting no further time, Chris grabbed his aquamarine cruxite and carved it into a totem, before plopping it onto the Alchemiter.

An aqua-colored artifact materialized: A Greek lyre... which Chris had no idea how to play.

ED: † I DUNNO HOW TO PLAY A LYRE! †
DD: **\ Play... I dunno, Camptown Rangers or something!
ED: † Worth a shot... †

Chris sighed and set the phone aside, grabbing the instrument. Giving a quick strum across the strings to find their notes, he glanced at the timer.
0:30

The boy began to play the familiar tune slowly and carefully.

0:20

After he got comfortable, he started to sing. "Camptown ladies sing this song, doo da, doo da...

:10

"... I went down South with my hat caved in, doo da, doo da... I came back north with a pocket full of tin... oh, de doo da day!"

Five seconds. The lyre began to glow. Four seconds. The house began to shake as the fiery ball of death came closer. Three seconds. The lines of the house seemed to glow. Two seconds. Light shone through the windows. One second. Just before the meteor hit, the room seemed to pulse massively, and Chris collapsed unconscious.
----
Chris snapped awake in a familiar room. It looked like his bedroom, except everything was golden. Even the walls looked to be gold plated with an intricate pattern of aquamarine. In each of the walls was a window. The only other difference was that in place of S'hawn's statue was an ornate statue of the falcon-headed sun god Ra, a was scepter in his right hand, and an ankh in his left.

Chris ignored the familiar object in favor of the window next to it. Walking to it, he stared out over the yellow city. Seized by an urge, Chris grinned and allowed himself to tumble over the edge...and begin to fly through the streets. Ivory-colored people watched him in awe, muttering "Our Champion is awake... The Rogue has risen, we have our Space!" and cheering in glee. Chris grinned at the praise and flew straight for the large golden chain at an incredible speed. Upon reaching it, he paused and looked away from the glowing blue object he recognized from Juan's video as Skaia. Out in the darkness, an aquamarine light suddenly shone. A bolt of energy shot from the point into the Psuedo-Sun, which responded by sending pulsations toward the object, which slowly began to grow.

Grinning at the beam, he turned and looked up at the chain to the larger city-world, and raced up along it. The brunet zipped over plazas, walkways, and what looked like small cathedrals dedicated to that "Champion" the passing Carapacians had mentioned in awe as they stared at the flying teenager in golden yellow clothes. Soon, he saw two tall golden towers, both of which were topped by an orb, but only one of those was illuminated and seemed to contain the image of a bat, while the other remained dull.

Chris slowly landed in a courtyard in front of the two spires where he gazed up at a yellow marble statue of a king and queen, he holding a scepter, she with a ring on her finger. "Wow..." he looked at a plaque embedded into the effigy's base. It read "Our Rulers-Long May They Reign." in flowing cursive. nearby, a long red carpet stretched into the nearby castle that sat between the Towers. Curious, Chris gently flew over it, keeping his body upright.

As he entered the castle, he noticed that the guards stationed at the doors bowed their heads at him. "Am I... someone important here?" he asked aloud.

"Yes you very much are, young man." A calm female voice replied, startling Chris, who whipped around to see the speaker and dropped to his feet. It was the queen in the sculpture, though this person was the same ivory skinned species as the other inhabitants, wore gorgeous clothing in tints of blue, green and pink. From her back sprouted large bat wings, and her head had ears of  a similar origin. "Welcome to Prospit, Kingdom of Light."

"Um... I'm honored to be in your presence, Your Majesty." Chris bowed clumsily.

The White Queen chuckled lightly. "There is no need to bow, Champion." She commented with a pleasant smile as the brunet stood. "For here, you are very important to my people, on an equal level as I, perhaps even higher. I'm sure you noticed how my subjects gazed upon you with awe and respect during your flight?"

"I was wondering about that..."

"There is a legend about you and your Derse Dreamer friend."

"Derse?"

"The Kingdom of Darkness." she explained. "When your friend slumbers, his dreams manifest into a physical body in a room similar to the one you awoke in so long ago, on the moon of the dark kingdom."

"Oh..."

"As I was saying, there is a legend. It is said that Prospit waits for he who will unite his consorts and bring us all to a new world in the clouds."

"And you think this person is... me?" Chris sounded incredulous. "Besides..." Chris looked up at the massive partly-cloudy sky blue orb of Skaia high above. "This place looks pretty high in the clouds to me..."

The Queen chuckled behind her hand. "I suppose you will understand soon enough..." she commented sweetly. "But I suggest you take a closer look at those clouds later. It's time to wake up."

"Wait wha-?" The teen was interrupted by the Queen tapping his head lightly, after which he collapsed unconscious on the soft ruby red carpet, with the last thing his brain registering was a cloud obscuring Skaia's star-like core.
Translations:
Remolino: Eddy
Djehuti: The Egyptian name for the god Thoth
Sippy: A First Guardian alligator named for the American alligator's scientific name
La_exposición.mp4: The_exposition.mp4
Los dos... lo siento.: Both... I'm sorry.
el Reino de la Luz: the Kingdom of Light
el Reino de la Oscuridad: the Kingdom of Darkness
¿Que es el punto...: What is the point...
VENGANZA!: REVENGE!
Ahora tú sabe mi dolor: Now you know my pain!
Tú serio?: [Are] You serious?
Hola Shawnsprite! Como estás?: Hello Shawnsprite! How are you?
RAPIDAMENTE!: Hurry! (literally "rapidly!")

And now, the actual description
Chris is a Neo-Kemetic. He worships the Egyptian deities like Ra, Isis, Bastet, Thoth, etc (there's not enough room for all the minors (let's be serious, they have one for everything but ice and you'd probs need a shrine the size of Rhode Island if you wanted one for all of them), but dear Bes has a shrine as well). Juan however is a non-practicing Catholic; most of his family up to his grandparent's generation is the same, though Juan still does the Father-Son-Holy Ghost crossing himself thing Catholics do when they passes a Catholic church and prays occasionally.

You may be wondering, "MM, why didn't Juan's previous chapter mention that his Dragonborn armor mannequin was Zekrom themed?" Well, that answer is actually twofold. The IRL answer to that is that I slightly alter writing styles between Chris and Juan. The former's is far more descriptive than the latter's.

The in-character answer is that Chris notices a lot more stuff, but he didn't really pay attention to what the statue looks like, beyond "Hey, that's the Argonian-styled Dragonplate set I FedEx'd to Juan for his birthday a couple years ago! I wonder if I can pick it up." during his fiddling around with Juan's stuff, and only really noticed it when it was directly pointed out. Juan however is mildly depressed due to an... incident early in life (you'll find out what this incident is later in the story). This coupled with the loss of his pet puts a cloud over Juan's mind, and as a consequence, he isn't as observant.

No, Chris does not legally own the First Guardian 'gator. That's MAJORLY illegal in California unless you have a permit. And even then, you need to be a zoo to get one anyway. His family doesn't bother the gator, and it doesn't bother them. Though it did once save Chris from drowning, for which the family is grateful.

Sphinx and the Rise of Apophis is the title I'd LIKE the sequel to Cursed Mummy to have... Oh, if only... Anywho, in this universe, SATCM did great enough to get the sequel it deserved, and the fandom is massive, rivaling Portal's in size and relative stability.

The Khajiit's Dragonscale armor was made from the scales of Legendary Dragons, giving it a bronze color similar to Dwarven. Chris' is standard Dragonscale. Both Chris and Juan each have a long range weapon. Chris uses arrows, while Juan's fairly good at throwing knives.

The statue of Ra in the Prospit room represents Ra's three aspects: The ram Khnum as the the setting sun, The scarab Khepri as the rising sun, and Ra himself as the noonday sun.
© 2014 - 2024 experimentalDeity
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