The Hanzo Ninja Clan School Of Anything Goes Martial Arts Presents: The Definitive Guide To Building A Monster Toon On A Budget; Volume 3

Raiding For Power And Profit: Part 2

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I would like to thank the player's behind the toons Avenger and No Bueno for their assistance in researching and refining the information in the raids section of this series, as well as those players behind toons that helped create data, like Zombie Ex-Girlfriend and Shinobi. And a special thanks to Justin, who often helps point us in the right direction.

 
In the last chapter, we discussed how to increase your volume of hits on a raid. In this chapter, we will discuss how to increase your damage. More damage per hit increases your efficiency and allows you to grow your toon at a higher power gain per exp ratio. It's essentially a snowball effect.

 
When the game began, there were only really two paths to success in the game. Slow lvl to the point of level camping or spending a ton of money. One way was expensive and only proved one could spend more money. The other is pretty boring and makes me, at least, question the point of playing a game one isn't actually playing........ This is just my opinion of course.

 
But now there is a 3rd way. One that favors the free and budget players, if they are willing to put the time into it. In the 1st chapter, we discussed Supercharges (SC). Supercharges changed the game. While they can be bought in the daily store or Black Market, they can also be won in raids (and occasionally in events). Aside from SC, raids also provide powers, gear, consumables, and provide a source for mining resources like Bux, Crystals, and MP, all of which helps power up your toon. Whether you're a free, budget, or whale player, raids have a lot to offer.

When in a raid, scroll down until you see what the raid boss is strong and weak against. You'll find that it is often weak against one type of damage. You will also find it will be strong against other types. The degree of these strengths and weaknesses will be designated as Low, Medium, or High. Please note, some raids are neither strong nor weak against certain element types. As seen in the Fenrir raid, this raid boss is neither strong nor weak against Tech.

 We do not know what the ratios are for each, but let's assume that Low is anywhere from 1% to 33%, Medium is 34% to 66%, and High is 67% to 99%. So if a raid boss has a Low weakness against Supernatural, any Supernatural damage you do to it will include an additional 1% to 33% damage, based on the ratio assumptions. But for the other damage types shown, there is a reduction.

 
Obviously, the thing to do here is pack as much Supernatural Plus damage and 3X damage in as I can, right? Not exactly. You do want to try and stick to 1 element for your damage as much as possible. But you do not necessarily need a different suit for each raid. I use 1 suit for all my raids. Because of how my toon is setup, my Tech only raid suit is more efficient and does more damage per hit than any suit I can design around a raid boss's weakness. I'm not saying pick Tech. That was just my choice. You could pick any element type, based on your gear selection and personal preferences.

 
Obviously, one of the big things to consider is how much gear you can pack onto your toon. More gear means more damage. That means leveling. Luckily, raids provide the perfect means to balance leveling with power acquisition. At level 1000, you gain a 2nd core. This is huge. A core adds between plus 2 and plus 6 damage to every gear of the same element type. This includes the core itself. So two cores add between plus 4 and plus 12 damage to each gear.

 
The real key lies in element specialization, however. By concentrating skill points into a specialization, you increase what that gear does. My specialization in Tech is over +110%. So if a gear does 30 damage, for me it is doing 63 damage. On top of that, my core now gives a plus damage bonus of 10.5 damage per Tech gear equipped, up from 5. At level 1k+, you get 2 cores. That means I am getting 21 extra damage for every Tech gear I have on. Now that gear that did 30 damage is doing 84 damage.
Not only is my plus damage more than doubling, my other effects are too. My Att bonuses have more than doubled. That means so has my base damage. My odds of X dam has also increased. So have my odds of poison going off and adding damage. It has increased the damage from effects like Drain or Burn. All this adds damage. But the biggest damage modifier is Aura and that's more than doubled for me too, thanks to specialization.

 
This brings me to my next point, residual damage effects in raids. There are 3 types of residual damage, Auras, Poisons, and Stackables. These work a little differently in raids than in normal battles. Stackables act much the same as in regular battles. There's a 30% chance they go off and add damage based on their score to your damage dealt. The odds of poison going off can be increased by increasing the poisons stat score. Unlike with regular battles, this does not take off 10% of the raid boss's life. It is more likely that it does damage based on the poisons stat score. The last residual damage, Aura, doesn't work at all like it does in regular battle, but is one of the biggest keys in doing massive damage.
Remember near the beginning of this chapter we discussed raid boss strengths and weaknesses? Remember how this means the boss has X number of points of resistance against each specific element type? Let's hypothetically say X is 25. This raid boss is reducing our damage by 25%. But Aura does something unexpected here. For every point of Aura, 0.5 points are removed from the boss's resistance. So if you have 50 in Aura for that type of resistance, you have dropped the resistance to 0. You just increased your damage by 33%, from 75% to 100%.

 
But it gets better. What If you're Aura stat is more than double the boss's resistance? What If, instead of 50 Aura, you have 100? The 1st 50 negated the 25 resist. The 2nd 50 now increases your damage by 0.5% per point. So now you are doing 25% more damage for 125%, up from 100%. Due to having a large number of gear thanks to my level, and due to my gear specialization bonuses, I'm running over 800 Aura, more than enough cover any resistance and then multiply my damage.

 
SC, Raids, and Skill Point Specialization has changed the game dramatically, and allowed free and budget players a real path to power that is both fun and rewarding. The specialized raid toon is the toon of the future. If done well, raiding can completely fund your toon and net you a LOT of power.
One more way to add damage to your raid hits is through the Badge Perk: Marauder which does an extra 10 damage in raids at lvl 1, 20 at lvl 2, and 40 at lvl 3.

 
Next chapter, we will be discussing Skill Point allocation.

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A Hanzo Ninja Clan Special: Charge The Wall

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With the onset of raids and Supercharges, the need for level camping to stay competitive is no longer your only option. For free and budget players, the advantages of leveling now outweigh the advantages of level camping.

 
For one thing, higher levels mean more powers, more gear, better careers, and better raid damage. But that's not the only reason to power level. 

You may notice some of the top players pushing the wall. Some of these player's toons don't really need to push the wall to still be competitive with their peers, because they're just that strong. But even after hitting the wall, if you pay attention, you'll discover these players at the wall keep gathering experience points even though they don't count towards leveling once they are at the wall. So why do they do it?

 

Instead of gaining experience points, players at the wall get what is called Super XP, a special currency used in a "secret" store only available to those who have Super XP collected. This special store has some interesting options. Players can trade Super XP for Bux, Crystals, and AMA currencies. 

One can also buy a coupon that adds an additional 5% to any MP purchase you make within a 12 hour period. 

This coupon can be stacked with the coupons from the Badge Perk: High Roller for even more MP.

But, imo, the best thing to purchase there is the powerhouse defense card The Wall. If you're a free or budget player, pushing the wall is a huge boon to your ability to easily acquire more power cheaply. Even untiered, it is a vastly strong card. It sells for 10 MP, so can be used to convert Super XP into MP as well, though, at only 10 MP, this is not an efficient way to gather MP. It is far more valuable to keep. Cost to tier is 40 MP.

 

It's time to stop camping and time to charge the wall.

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SENTINEL EDITORIAL AND FAN-FICTION BONUS

HAPPY QUACKCEMBER 2023!!!

The monthly bonus for Sentinel editorials and Fan-Fiction continues in December with ADDITIONAL AWARDS for the year's best contributors! Yes, at the end of the year, additional awards will be given to those who have made significant or noteworthy contributions for the year.

As it was with last month, ALL SUBMISSIONS TO THE SENTINEL PAGE that have been published will be assessed and given bonus rewards based on merit as follows:

PLATINUM: 7 Strange Fiction cards (only reserved for EXCEPTIONAL submissions)

GOLD: 5 Strange Fiction cards

SILVER: 3 to 4 Strange Fiction cards

BRONZE: 1 to 2 Strange Fiction cards

These rewards go out after the end of each month and are IN ADDITION to the usual Sentinel rewards from Daniel Andrade for published entries.

Here are the categories/prompts:

Category One:
REVIEWS/COMMENTARIES of ad hoc and regular events, including fan-fiction role play, etc.

Category Two:
GAME GUIDES, GEAR TALK, and other editorials about game mechanics.

Category OPEN:
What is your origin story? How did you end up in the Heroes Rising universe? (And any other Fan-Fiction.)

Just post your submissions to the Sentinel page as usual for Categories One and Two. To enter the OPEN CATEGORY post your entries to the Fan-Fiction forum with the following in the title: "FAN-FICTION CONTEST" and the title of your entry. Please also add a link to your entry in the Sentinel page so that we can monitor all entries.

Yours Quackily,
SQ

Continue the Story

Fan-Fiction: Continued Tales of a Visionary

A past vision of a Visionary

The feeling was uncomfortable, but it wasn't painful. Elijah saw fast-moving clouds of grey but nothing else - not a bird, plane, or even the ground. He wasn't quite sure of where he was, only that he felt somewhat disoriented. He tried to turn but everything was the same, seemingly floating along an endless current of grey clouds in an even greyer sky.

He wasn't dead, he was nearly certain of that. Ever since discovering his ability, he had done enough studies on other people with abilities to appreciate that there were others who reported feeling as though they were in another plane of reality, whether it was a mental sensation, or a physical move like teleportation. Elijah tried to close his eyes, but the grey seemed all-encompassing. He began to count, but couldn't make it to six before he lost track of the next number. Thoughts flickered and fluttered.

An aircraft scarcely larger than a large jeep tumbled towards ground, its small engine engulfed in flame. Behind is sped a fierce-looking demon, wings peeled back and amber eyes burning with rage. It shrieked as it was intercepted by a bolt of brilliant fire, shot out from the fists of a man wearing a white top and red trousers. The man immediately raced towards the now downed vessel, then proceeded to tear the roof off. A shorter woman leapt out and ran to a comparably safe location on what was clearly a battlefield.

As Elijah scoped his environment, he realized that it was no ordinary battlefield, but a complete and total warzone. Men, women, creatures, vehicular armaments and giants littered the area haphazardly. He found himself running in the direction of a young woman with a pixie-cut hairstyle, wearing a yellow bodysuit with blue trim, who was generating a large reddish energy shield to protect against a volley of explosive blasts. Without blinking, Elijah shot an energy wave of his own, and was surprised to see that it was a totally unfamiliar colour, shape and style. He thrust his other hand out, to the same effect. The enemy forces retreated, allowing the young woman to draw back her shield momentarily.

"Valina! The prince -" Elijah found himself shouting.

"He's alright!... for now!" the woman shouted back. "But we need to get the others away, he's surrounded on all sides..."

"I'm right behind you! Go!" he called out.

Valina motioned to the other man, the one with the fire-generating ability, and he immediately jumped forwards, trails of fire left in his wake. Valina quickly took flight, flanking the fire-wielding man.

Elijah ran, quicker than he thought he could ever run, but was trailing his allies by some distance. He looked left and right, observing the continuing carnage without pausing his dash. Eventually, he reached the others who were in the midst of a melee.

Valina had engaged a grotesque, extremely large creature. She fired energy beams which drove the creature backwards. It snarled and cursed in a strange language, before opening its mouth wide and emitting a white energy blast. Valina ducked quickly and rolled to her left.

Another large behemoth, slightly taller and stronger-looking, slashed with muscular yet jagged arms, at a young man who wore a navy blue battle suit. This man wielded a pair of short swords, and used both to deflect the brutal swing of the monster. It reared up as if to jump in the sword-wielder's face, then was struck by a barrage of fireballs. It stumbled backwards as the fire-wielding man charged in.

Elijah ran towards the centre of the melee, only to see a man wearing red armour and blue armoured trousers along with a blue cape, reeling under an onslaught of energy beams from a towering figure, its suit fully black and face enclosed by a black helm. Elijah sensed that this was the most evil force in all of existence.

The black-helmed figure turned and fixed his gaze on Elijah. The caped warrior dropped to a knee, trying to catch his breath.

It spoke slowly, sinisterly. "You... You and your warriors are done."

"We will never be done," Elijah said with pride.

"They call you the Visionary," it replied, "But after all these centuries, your end is here. Your vision ends here. Your cycle of renewal will fail today."

It charged, quicker than light. Elijah, transfixed by the words of his assailant, tried to raise an arm.

It was futile. His world went white, then he saw himself falling to ground. He saw sky overhead, but could not move a muscle.

Voices around him.

"Stop him now!"

"We will triumph!"

"Macaia, try and keep him alive!"

Elijah groaned.

He blinked. He saw a fire trail, bright as the sun, as the man in white and red soared above him. Elijah thought, I got us some time.

His vision darkened. He had felt pain, but it was receding.

---

Somewhere in Antarctica, a man, covered in warm blankets, was quickly hauled onto a gurney and taken to a BADGE shuttlecraft. His life signs were faint, but his pulse appeared to be picking back up. On the other end of his comms, a female voice was pleading for someone to talk to her.

--- Visionary

--- ID: 35977

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The Hanzo Ninja Clan School Of Anything Goes Martial Arts Presents: The Definitive Guide To Building A Monster Toon On A Budget

 Volume  2 

Raiding For Power & Profit: 

Part 1

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When this game 1st started, it was very limited in how you gained power. To be competitive, you had to spend a lot of money on MP. MP were slow to acquire and needed to buy MP power cards and gear. The difference between pay-to-win and play-to-win players was so great, that free and budget players really only had one option if they wanted to be competitive, the slow level. Because the majority of players aren't whales, this created an environment where players would level camp, creating congestion at the lower levels and very thin upper levels. The higher and faster a player leveled, the more expensive it got to maintain at a competitive level.
But the nature and environment of the game has changed greatly since those early days. Raids gave players a means to build a strong and competitive toon for little to no money. Raids give players ample opportunity to gain powers, good gear, consumables, Bux, Crystals, and MP. In the case of Shadow Krampus, Skelanimal, and Yeti raids, you can also get the coveted Supercharges (SC) discussed in Chapter 1. There are now free and budget toons successfully charging the upper levels thanks to the advent of raids and SuperChargers. But some folks seem to be able to get more from their raids than others and we're going to discuss how and why.


While most of you know the basics, I can't assume everyone does, and so I will be explaining as though you are new to raids.

Raid rewards can be found near the bottom of the raid screen and relay the odds to acquire a particular

prize. For example, to get the "best" prize in a Shadow Krampus raid, you have a 1% chance if you do 88,888 hit points in damage. Those are not good odds, especially if you have a hard time doing that much damage.  For each 88,888 damage (in this specific case) you'll get another roll at the odds. So, if you do 3X that in damage, you get to roll for that prize 3X. 

Fortunately, that % becomes cumulatively higher each time you multiply it. So the 1st 88,888 damage you do only gives you 1% odds, but provided the raid is successfully completed, the 2nd gives 2% odds, the 3rd gives 3% odds, and on and so on.

 
For a prize that gives 3%, it would be 3%, then 6%, then 9%, etc. You could try to get to 100% but raids just don't have enough hit points to do that for the top prizes.
Now, unless you do manage to create a cumulative rate of 100%, there's no absolute guarantee that you'll land a specific prize. A decent alternative is to aim for a sum of your cumulative rates at over 100%.

By this I mean to add all your roll %'s together. So, 1% + 2% + 3%, etc. At 1% odds, it will take doing the 88,888 damage 14X to get over 100. This won't guarantee getting the prize, but it shifts it heavily in your favor. But that's 1,244,432 damage! And it's still no guarantee. Just because cumulatively it exceeds 100, it's still a 1%, then 2%, then 3% odds all the way up to 14%. You can still get bad rolls on each of those 14 rolls. At 14% and under, the odds are heavily against you on each roll. But with 14 attempts, the odds start to fall in your favor, at this point, to hit at least one of them.

Again, there's no guarantee unless your last roll is better than 99%. So don't be too disappointed if you don't get the specific target prize you're looking for on any one given attempt. You might go 3 raids and not get it. Then again, you might go 10 raids and never miss. As you hit these damage marker goals and your toon becomes stronger and more efficient, you can increase your cumulative damage until your success rate per raid makes you comfortable with your odds.

Personally, I like to do around 16 to 20X the damage it costs per roll. So for me to aim for the leg gear on a particular Krampus raid, it requires between 1.6 million damage and 1,777,760 damage. I almost always get every prize.  Now, for most of you, you might be looking at those numbers and thinking they're a bit overwhelming. Like everything when it comes to building your toon, it's going to take time and effort to get to where you consistently and efficiently can hit those numbers. But there are paths to make it easier. 

Let's discuss them.

It costs 5 energy points to hit a raid 1 time. As a brand new toon, you only have 10 energy points in your energy bank. That's only two hits. But you do get 1 point of energy per minute as long as your energy bank isn't full. So you could come back every 10 minutes and do 2 hits, but this would be ridiculously time consuming. Furthermore, you lose any energy you would have gained while you are afk, after your energy bank is full. So if you're gone for an hour, you just lost 11 attacks.


Luckily, there are ways to increase your energy bank limits. One way is to build your league HQ so that it provides more energy. You can add 10 energy to the energy banks of everyone in your league by building a Cafeteria and increasing the level to 5. This will be costly in Bux, Crystals, and MP. I advise creating utility alt toons whose sole purpose is to gather resources for this purpose. Another way to increase your toon's energy bank is through expending Skill Points, of course.

(If you would like to know more about resource-gathering utility alts, feel free to ask me for an article on the subject, or even to explain it directly.)

HQs have a lot to offer. I have 5 I built mostly for free, though I really only use 2. One, I use for going

to war and the other, I use for growing my toon in the off-season. By using utility alts to build them, I save the resources that my main toon can use for direct growth, like buying gear, power cards, consumables, and tiering of power cards.

 
You now have 20 energy in your bank. You've now doubled your energy bank, but that's still only 4 hits. You're going to need to find a way to increase it further. That's going to require skill points being allotted to your energy stat. The more budgeted your toon is, the more skill points you are going to want to put into energy. BE FOREWARNED THOUGH! Any points you put into energy CANNOT be respec'd should you decide to change course later. I only have 100 skill points in my energy stat. But with my base energy of 10 and my HQ included, my bank goes to 120. This allows me 2 hours before my energy bank is full. Some other players like to go as high as 200 energy or more in their energy bank. I don't advise going higher than 200 tops on your energy bank max though, and we'll discuss why in a bit. Remember, you can't change your mind later and respec those points into other stats.

 
Now, if you have all the time in the world and can sit there all day clicking attack every 5 to 10 minutes, you might be wondering where the value is to adding a bunch of skill points to energy. After all, you'd only be losing energy when you're sleeping. But one of the keys to successful raiding is MP energy refills. These cost 5 MP each time, no matter how much energy is added.

If all you have is 10 to 20 energy in a full energy bank, you're spending 5 MP for a measly 2 to 4 hits. But if your energy bank is at 200, you'll now get 40 hits for that 5 energy. The less MP you want to spend raiding, the more skill points you'll want to put in energy....... up to a point.  

MP energy refills cost 5MP for each refill, up to 200 energy. So, if you have 201 for an energy bank, it will cost you 10 MP, but only 5 for 200. As you level, the number of times you can buy MP energy refills increases. At the Character Level wall, I can currently buy over 130. At 120 energy, that allows me 24 hits X 130 refills for 3,120 attacks from refills alone. At 200, that becomes 40 hits X 130 for 3,900 hits. That's a huge improvement in your overall raid damage no matter how much or how little damage your toon actually does per hit.

 
You might be thinking MPs are too valuable to spend in energy refills, but, through the process of raiding, you can actually net a surplus of MP. MP raid cards and gear can be sold to fund your refills. The legs from a Krampus sell for 80 MP. That's 16 refills. The core from a Skelanimal raid sells for 100 MP. That's 20 refills. Add in all the rest of the prize gear and cards you can sell and financing your raids starts to get more and more reasonable. Personally, each day I raid, I refill over 130X for free just off selling my prizes from raids and from missions, patrols, and climb events.

 

On top of increasing your energy bank, you can also increase the number of hits you can get in by using consumables. There are cons that give you energy directly, like the More-fun Bar gifts your friends send you each day. There are also cons that increase your rate of acquisition like the the Liquid Learning cons. Those cons that increase the rate of acquisition can also be stacked, provided they aren't the same con. So if you put 2 different +100% energy cons on, the 1st will increase your energy acquisition from 1 per 60 seconds to 1 per 30 seconds. The 2nd will increase it from 1 per 30 seconds to 1 per 15 seconds. Using seasonal cons in my stacking, I have gotten energy acquisition rates to 1 per second. That means every 5 seconds I had another hit.  There is also a perk set which will allow you to consume more consumables per day.

 
One last way to gain energy is simply each time you level, your energy bank refills. If your energy bank is at 200, that's 40 free hits each time you level. That extra energy also gets to the next level faster, giving you more energy faster. So, provided you're willing to level, that becomes another resource for energy.

Now, when it comes to raiding for profit, the smaller raids give better equity for energy spent. So start with Yetis and build your way up to Krampus raids. Furthermore, try to get in all the damage you think you'll need for your target prizes. To get all the prizes, you need to do around 1/3rd of the total damage needed to complete the raid. So that you aren't competing with others and falling short, make a raid team with 1 or 2 other friends and don't share until you each get in all the damage that you each want. This buys you the time to comfortably raid.

The next order of business for improving your raiding is increasing your damage. I will be explaining this in our next volume.

Continue the Story

Fan-Fiction: The Day Dew Bee Became A Superhero!

Chapter 1

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It was a regular Wednesday afternoon. Dew Bee was busy with his chores as the Chaos Theory janitor. It wasn't the most prestigious job, but it did get him rubbing elbows with the world's most powerful super team, Chaos Theory. The pay was basically non-existent, but he got other perks like access to the gym. If only he had the power some of his employers had, he could be a hero too, like them! But that hadn't been his fate. No, he was merely a lowly janitor in their meager employ. His only super power was being super ugly. He was so ugly, he had a face even a mother couldn't love.

As he mopped the floor, he daydreamed about what it would be like to be a real hero. Not the kind that risked their lives daily, like fire fighters, disaster rescue volunteers, or law enforcement. Those guys had no powers. More like the kind of heroes who didn't risk their lives saving people because their powers negated any risk. That was more up to Dew Bee's liking. The thought of potential death or maiming is why Dew Bee wasn't out there risking his life to save people already.

But what if he had an Infinity Stone, like Neo, or the strength of entire forests, like Woody? What If he had the money to design hyper advanced tech like Super Rakly or Avenger? What If he had the size of Midgardsormr, or the fighting skill of Heretic? Oh the possibilities! Everyone would know his name! Pretty girls would faint when he walked by, and blush when he smiled at them. Little old ladies would bake him cookies and pies! The guys at the YMCA would give him high fives instead of wedgies. Oh, if only he had the means.......

Punlork was walking down the hall Dew Bee had paused to day dream on.

"Hey, Dew Bee! I was just checking the mail. You got a letter."

"Really????" exclaimed Dew Bee. "No one ever writes me. Is it my birthday?"

"I don't think so, Dew Bee." answered Punlork. "It's from the Sentinel. Maybe they want to interview you about how great it is being behind the scenes at Chaos Theory. You know, without you, this place would fall apart. While we're out there saving the world, you're here making sure we have a comfortable place to come back too."

"Oh yeah!" replied Dew Bee. "This is a glorious job! I can't think of anything better or more fulfilling to do than pick up after you guys."

Dew Bee rolled his eyes a little as Punlork continued on his way, oblivious to the sarcasm in Dew Bee's voice. Putting his mop down for a minute, he turned his attention back to the envelope Punlork had given him. It's probably another rejection letter for one of his freelance articles he kept sending them. He wasn't much of a writer, but if he was going to ever be a hero, he had to start somewhere. Who better to emulate than Superman, and that's how he got his start.

Fumbling a little as he opened it, Dew Bee nervously pulled the letter out and unfolded it.

Dear Mr. Bee,

We are happy to inform you that we have accepted your latest article for inclusion. Along with this message, we have included a check as your payment. Thank you, and we look forward to contributions in the future from you.

~Kravnos~

As he looked at the check enclosed with the message for payment for one of his articles, Dew Bee's eyes bulged out of his head as his jaw dropped to the floor.

"WOOOOOOOOOOO DOGGIE!!!!" he screamed as he danced and ran like a madman out of the Chaos Theory Gym.

Continue the Story

Robert Steele's Top Toon List

Robert Steele here to give you the top 20 toons

1) The Avenger sits on the throne. At his age every 2 Hour’s or so when trying to sleep.

2) Super Rak is number two. Damn Avenger just heard that and ran to the bathroom.

3) Backwood Batman enters the list at #3 . Martial Law seems jealous that he still has wood.

4) The Big Serpent at 4 Do I see envy in Martial Law’s eyes.

5) §ﾚαgα†h⊕☈ ][. Martial Law? Wasn’t he a division one toon? What? He’s in our league?

6) Heretic Just cancelled a trip to Barsealona. Too much of a Spain the ass to get there.

7) JV Moves up after winning gold in division one with some members of Chaos theory. Did someone in his league perk up at the mention of members?

8) Skelly Animal Where is that barking coming from?

9) Damon Who let the dog out? Who! Who!

10) Shinobi He’s been working hard and it’s paying off. A lesson to be learned?

11) The Wizard Closing in on the top 10. He still has some bite.

12) Chainz Unlocks his way onto the list . He’s really been whipped into shape.

13) Woody Why does Martial Law gaze longingly at him?

14) The Gentlemen Are you sure this isn’t just another whiny B**tch list?

15) Night Shadow Hiding out in the top 20. Damn Ninja’s.

16) Painguin 16…F**k Robert Steele.

17) Slayer B.A.S… 17...F**K Painguin… Not in that way get off my leg.

18) Sevon up the list.

19) No Bueno I think maybe you don’t know what that means.

20) Frank the Rabbit Hopping up the list as the new age is catching up to the old guard.

Martial Law missed the top 20. I hear he is all Barse no bite.

Avenger ID# 14779

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HR Slogan Contest!

Win prizes and MPs!



Love Heroes Rising? How would you encapsulate it in a slogan? Or a blurb to shout out what you like about it?

Make it catchy; make it snappy; a one-liner that grabs attention!

All entries will receive a free Strange Fiction card worth 120 MPs (max of 2 per player ID), and selected slogans by Justin will receive ADDITIONAL prizes!

Entries close Nov 19th, 2023!

Post your submissions as comments here.

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SENTINEL EDITORIALS AND FAN-FICTION BONUS

HAPPY NOVEMBER 2023!!!

The month of October was an eventful one. We had a few excellent editorials and all have been rewarded. CONGRATULATIONS!

As it was with last month, ALL SUBMISSIONS TO THE SENTINEL PAGE that have been published will be assessed and given bonus rewards based on merit as follows:

PLATINUM: 7 Strange Fiction cards (only reserved for EXCEPTIONAL submissions)

GOLD: 5 Strange Fiction cards

SILVER: 3 to 4 Strange Fiction cards

BRONZE: 1 to 2 Strange Fiction cards

These rewards go out after the end of each month and are IN ADDITION to the usual Sentinel rewards from Daniel Andrade for published entries.

Here are the categories/prompts:

Category One:
REVIEWS/COMMENTARIES of ad hoc and regular events, including fan-fiction role play, etc.

Category Two:
GAME GUIDES, GEAR TALK, and other editorials about game mechanics.

Category OPEN:
What is your origin story? How did you end up in the Heroes Rising universe? (And any other Fan-Fiction.)

Just post your submissions to the Sentinel page as usual for Categories One and Two. To enter the OPEN CATEGORY post your entries to the Fan-Fiction forum with the following in the title: "FAN-FICTION CONTEST" and the title of your entry. Please also add a link to your entry in the Sentinel page so that we can monitor all entries.

Yours Quackily,
SQ

Continue the Story

LW Round 3 - KHRA Breaking News

(ID: 10898)



It was Chaos Theory doubling up WMD's total to continue their dominance in the leagues' most heralded rivalry, and claim another trophy for their collection. Colony followed through on their promise of delivering the thunder by putting up 174 against Super Freaks and claiming a bronze.

Division 2 turned into a cakewalk for WMD Outlaws who didn't break a sweat against 5th's Guardians, while Brute Squad won the battle of 1-1 sides with a steady victory over 5th's Traffic Cops. Not to be outdone, Fortress of Solitude put up 191 points of their own on their way to another title win in D3, stifling Super Freak Squad in the process. Angels of Sorcery showed no divine mercy to the Angels of Seraphim, and clinched a silver for their efforts.

There would be no upsets or close calls in D4 and D5, with Outlaws Inc claiming the D4 title and Battleborn a silver after convincing wins and Walking Dead and Infected zombifying their opponents on their way to gold and silver respectively in D5. D6 was also rock-chalk with PAIN winning at a canter and Stacked Deck holding serve to get itself a silver.

Bomb Squad secured their legacy as a dominant force with another championship in D7 after beating New Freaks. The FreakyDeak battle of the round saw the Nature variant win a relatively tight one over the Frequent variant. Academic of course, but if ever a division breakdown ended up with all-Freaks, I'd bet the party would last the entire month.

Suffering claimed a D8 title to pair up with big brother (sister?) PAIN, Meat Locker unable to pull the upset this time out. Freak Bux held off MacGregors in a keenly-fought third-place encounter.

The All-Chess-Pieces Bowl narrowly went to King's Gambit over Queen's Mate in Division 9 but the champions are yet again another Bomb Squad group. Aslan, Simba and Lion-O had no answer this time out.

Nine Planets completed a championship run in D10 in style, shutting out HEAT Team 1. SOB Overlord were too strong for Cursed Cats and will take a silver for their efforts.

Two very close contests settled the table in Division 11. Raiders edged Surfers by 3 to claim the title while Scavengers held off Scoundrels by 7 to grab bronze medals for their group.

It was not to be a close contest for the D12 crown as Spirits of the wacky characters thumped Nest of Vipers. Spirits, can consider themselves too as one of the tournament dynasties with their performances. Freak Fraggles - Fractles - overwhelmed Bridge to Nowhere in the other contest.

In Division 13 it was a straightforward procession for Lost Souls in their quest for the title, swamping Dueling Duo. Ivalice Alliance defeated Chuck Norris in the other match, leading to the rare three teams at 1-2 scenario.

Trident Tempest are officially a first-time champ after their win over Pathway Seekers in Division 14. Free City easily took silver after shutting out Spex on the Beach. Clearly, the beach is not the place to be this autumn.

We'll never know if Team Cobra felt a bit nervous at any time on their way to the Division 15 crown, their 5-0 over Kolor Crew going along with previous low-scoring shutout wins. Sextant Knights grabbed bronze by thumping Stepkids.

Sins didn't have to break a sweat after their win over Va Va Voom claimed the title, while the cricket-pun-themed TBHTBW side made Dream Combo's introduction to LW tournament play a bit of a nightmare.

So there you have it. 16 champion teams, the vast majority being legacy victors, the new triumph point awards offering incentives to everyone, and no lasting damage to the Orbital Arena. BADGE should be pleased with their efforts although in the wake of the revelations of Midgard's subjugation, will be putting it well on the back burner.

Congrats to all the participants. Each and every participant helped make the tournament a success. If you'd like to support my continued reporting, please send a gofund--- [audio crackles, then 20 seconds of silence] --- Back to you Samantha.

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LW Round 2 - KHRA Breaking News

ID: 10898



First I suppose I'd like to thank KHRA for offering me a deal to summarize Round 2 of this tournament. The circumstances leading up to this, I'd rather not go into detail on, plus they made me sign an NDA. Oh, sorry, Mr. Director. Oh we're live? Well, think of it as Reality TV Extreme. All the gladiator matches! More alliances than Survivor, more cash exchanging hands than the Millionaire show and more over the top drama than a Housewives episode! Roll intro music!

[10 seconds later]

As you can tell, I'm on a good mix of nanotech and adrenaline boosters, and will sleep very well tonight despite having my carcass mutilated by the WMD crew. They've always been a take no prisoners kind of outfit and tonight was no exception. Colony will be fired up to exert fury in Round 3 for sure. Super Freaks may wonder what they did to get stuck in D1 after CT obliterated them only to deal with Colony.

WMD Outlaws continued their assault in D2, blowing out the 5th's Traffic Cops. Meanwhile the Guardians tried hard to get their first win but fell to the Brute Squad. Something bizarre would have to happen for Guardians to upset Outlaws, no doubt.

In Division 3 the Fortress put up 151 - in rum terms that's known as Overproof, and a strong drink may be needed for their vanquished foes - to cement their claim to another trophy while AoS bounced back to convincingly knock over Super Freak Squad. Similarly, Battle Born in Division 4 took out Aussie Freaks to get back in the win column while Outlaws Incorporatted cruised over SOB Hunter Killer.

No close matches in Division 5; Walking Dead and Infected each strolled to comprehensive victories. Expect more of the same in Round 3 with the former adding to their collection of titles.

PAIN versus Stacked Deck was always going to be the closest matchup among the middle-level divisions and their Round 2 contest saw PAIN emerge on top yet again. They've yet again proved to be one of the elite pound-for-pound sides among all the leagues present and are a lock to win another trophy. SOB's win over the Warehouse will bring joy to that long-enduring franchise.

Freak Frequency couldn't quite achieve their heroic first round total, and fell to the Bomb Squad, in D7. In an all-freak (Freakydeak?) matchup, the Nature variant beat the New variant in comprehensive fashion.

Suffering and SOB Meat Locker continued their path to a winner-take-glory clash in Divison 8, each piling on big numbers against MacGregors and Freak Bux respectively. PAIN's younger brother (sister?) is likely favourites for gold.

In Division 9, there were low scores except for Pride of Lions who channeled their inner Simba/Aslan/Lion-O to put up 101 to vanquish Queen's Mate. Bomb Squad 3 awaits the feline crew in a matchup for gold.

Nine Planets continued their run to glory, brushing aside SOB Overlord, while Cursed Cats threw a massive 161-point score to dominate HEAT Team 1. The Division 10 crown, though, is a lock for 9PO.

Division 11 saw another set of low-scoring results. Raiders and Surfers and it sounds like a clash you'd see in one of those skateboard video games for the NES. Unfortunately for Gangsta Scoundrels and Scavengers, they have 2 wins combined across two rounds. Surely something has to give in their Round 3 clash?

Nest of Vipers and Spirits with the weird characters continued their march to a clash for the D12 crown. Freak Fractles (who I kind of want to call Fraggles) will hope to get off the mark against Bridge to Nowhere in Round 3.

Lost Souls are 2-0 after pummelling Ivalice. It's like the undead from the Nabreus Deadlands rose up and decimated the old kingdom of Nabudis at the height of the Archadian invasion of Dalmasca... you had to be there. Dueling Duo fell to Chuck Norris Approved, denying viewers of a battle of 2-0 sides to settle Division 13. In Divison 14, Trident Tempest continued their winning form, brushing aside Spex on the Beach. Free City bounced back to put aside Pathway Seekers. May be last chance saloon indeed, for the latter.

Cobra is quietly relaxing their way to a Division 15 crown. They may very well claim an unblemished perfect ride to the title, and setting a record for fewest individual wins to clinch. Kolor Krew stands in their way, but on the face of things it looks like another mismatch.

Division 16 is shaping up similarly for the Sins, although they've put up a good number more points on the board in their two shutouts. Can Va Va Voom spoil the party? With the currently low levels of players on both rosters, it's possible things could shift in an instant, but Sins have the advantage of one much higher-level combatant on their roster.

Anyway this is you-know-who, signing off. If they haven't terminated my contract, look for me in a subsequent report. KHRA - All the Heroes, All the Time. Back to you Samantha.

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LW FAN-FICTION: Round 1 - Heard Around the Horn

LW Round 1 - Heard Around the Horn:

[Message overheard from Aflima's comms device - the auto-record functionality possibly accidentally triggered, and diverted to the live feed of KHRA's sports studio. We believe the victim of the beating was undergoing hallucinations at the time and hope he gets the medical attention he needs]

Oh, Dev,... Got drafted as a floater... only to take inhumane levels of beating in the Orbital Arena. Yes it's not my first time duelling among heavyweights but never before has the disparity been as immense. Think of it as a zebra foal being tossed around by hungry crocs. Scratch that, nobody needs that image in their head.



My left eye has almost swelled shut, but I did take a look at the notice board. CT and WMD remain a class of their own and while my current colleagues are certain to hold fort to claim bronze, it will be difficult for myself to maintain footing by the time Round 3 begins.

Elsewhere, I see WMD's Outlaws branch pretty much having as easy a path as you could imagine, to a division title. The 5th Precinct has two teams together but you could take an all-star crew among these two and Brute Squad, and still Outlaws would be expected to dominate.

My right eye is a bit blurry now. I called Burning Daylight Labs to get a tech over here... BADGE med teams are apparently overwhelmed. The Divison 3 scorelines suggest Fortress of Solitude should have a path to another title, with a decent clash for silver in prospect between AoS and SFS.

Division 4 is probably settled after another Outlaws team claimed a low-scoring Round 1 win. SOB and Aussies put up big numbers but are probably in for a world of pain (I'll get to PAIN later) in later rounds.

Can probably speak the same in D5 as Avengers 51 Walking Dead look to march to yet another belt. These middle divisions are as rock chalk as you can get, no matter the format. Infected, despite their loss, would expect to waltz to silver.

Ouch... Shinobi tried to pat me on the back in a show of encouragement but I think it only helped to shift my scapula down a couple of inches. Must remember for Round 2 to pack some kind of nano healing capsules in my belt. Waiting for help is excrusiatingly long. Meanwhile, the D6 scores rolled by and there's PAIN as mentioned... Stacked Deck is historically a quality outfit but I'd imagine they can't stop the PAIN just yet.

Holy tamale, Freak Frequency put up 214 in their first match in D7. Bomb Squad of course the class of the division and will take the trophy at a canter. In D8, Suffering has a strong chance to go undefeated although Meat Locker won't let them go unscathed, I think. D9 is the other Bomb Squad's for the taking and Pride of Lions aren't going to miss out on silver. Wonder if a Champions Cup should be considered for the Pains, Bomb Squads and Walking Deads of this event. They hardly break a sweat in regular tournament play.

Teams are getting crushed at love in D10 and 9Planets... I don't think they're the same people as that 9 Planets crew from that other realm, although they're just as tough on a pound for pound basis... would be expected to continue to fill their trophy cabinet. There's a good SOB squad in that division that may press them a little.

D11 may not have the combined scores for all three rounds even approach that Freak Frequency first round number, as Raiders and Surfers each won while scoring under 10 points. This is the section of the competition where teams are trying to minimize points in order to avoid 'graduating' to the tier where 9Planets and Bomb Squad reside.

Another set of thrashings at love in D12 with Spirits with the weird spelling looking for yet another trophy and Nest of Vipers carrying that SOB banner proud. It can't be easy business for the betting shops though, the teams expected to win are always heavy favourites.

I hear footsteps, I really hope it's the BDL tech and not another CT guy. I like some of the CT guys no problem, but they hit hard and with little mercy... and in this arena I can't outspeed any of them. Arrgh. The D13 scores are up, though. 'Shocking', more zeroes on the board. Lost Souls and Dueling Duo are poised for a clash for all the marbles. Might make for a good contest compared to some of the others here. I think Lost Souls has a longer track record but it's really hard to recall the names and faces of these competitors.

Division 14 has teams actually putting up points. Maybe guys here are enticed more by the new Triumph points than the dreaded XP? And whoa, a tight match between Trident Tempest and Free City... and a wild comeback? Free City were probably favourites as they have previous titles to their names. We may yet have a first-time champ after all? D15 on the other hand is probably Team Cobra's to win without much fuss, the chase for silver may be more interesting.

The last division up for grabs, 16, has both victorious teams putting up 37 in different circumstances. This division is probably going to Sins if only because they have a more well-known trope. That other realm had a bunch of Sins too, although they were definitely much higher level than these folks. These guys are more like micro-Sins... hmm, wonder what Citizen Sin has been up to...

[the audio fades at this point, replaced by some inaudible mumbling and muttering. We believe the defeated warrior was injected with a tranquilizer at this point, and wish him well for the remainder of the tournament]

(ID: 10898)

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Furious Aid

Furious Squirrel #12351

Furious Squirrel piloted his battle dirigible over Atlanta, scouting for potential crimes. With BADGE focused on Lady Echidna, a few local wannabe supervillains had been stirring up trouble. Fortunately, Furious's mere presence sent these rats into hiding. The sight of a high-powered war dirigible in the sky was more than enough to scare them off.


Then the call came in, "Black Alert!" Justin was calling for the top-tier alert for all heroes. This was drop-what-you're-doing and respond or we all die. Only when the world was at its utmost danger would this kind of alert be summoned.


Turning his dirigible to a course for the specified coordinates, Furious pushed her into high gear. Minor villains would have to wait, this was far more important.


"What monster has Lady Echidna brought out of the history books this time?" He wondered to himself.
He was half an hour into his flight when he got a direct call. The BADGE comm system activated.


"Furious, are you there?"
It was Strange Quark.


"This is Furious, what do you need?"


"I got Justin back to the station and the situation is really bad. Midgard has been turned into the real World Serpent that was buried under that arrogant facade. He could kill us all if we don't find a way to stop him."


"Oh crud. What do you need me to do?" Furious had visions of them asking him to take on a nuke and drop it on Midgard's head, though that might just make him angrier.


"I'll be on your ship right away. We have a plan that just might work."
There was a strange blue light and suddenly Strange Quark was on his bridge, still holding his wrist comm where he had been talking to Furious.
"Oh, uh, hi." Furious clicked off his comm.
Quark said, "Good. Okay, here's the plan. I'm going to teleport this ship to Neo Utopia where we are going to pick up our secret weapon." "What secret weapon? My lower cannons are only good for energy weapons, and very specific projectiles on the upper cannons."


"Not that kind of weapon. Just wait, you're gonna love this."


Quark opened a hole in the sky and the dirigible slid right through, moving from the coast of America to the heart of Neo Utopia, hundreds of miles in the wrong direction.


"There, the Hospital helipad." Quark pointed out the window.
Sure enough, the Neo Utopia General Hospital's helicopter pad was clear and several people were standing there, waiting. The Dirigible lowered down enough to let on these passengers. Two men were escorted onboard by a small team of police.


"This place is nice. I could use a ship like this in my operations." Rutkowski, the mafia super-villain looked around at the ship. Private Eye Peyton said, "You wouldn't know what to do with it. This is specialized equipment." "And just what do you know about it, gumshoe?" Rutkowski shot back.


Furious, who had a hand on his steampunk gun, said, "What is going on?"


Quark said, "Midgard is too big. The heroes will never be strong enough to take him down. But, if we are able to slow him down, then we stand a chance." "Dats where we come in. Peyton and I will use our special abilities to slow time down for Midgard..." Peyton said, "While leaving him open for attack. So, the heroes can still take him down while he won't be able to respond."


"Okay, but why use my dirigible for this? Couldn't you just zap them there?" Furious asked Quark.


Quark answered, "Midgard is connected to powers and magics that are deeper than anything I have ever seen. He is not just a morphon hero or even a magic creature like EB, he is something... superior.


If he even thought I was bringing these two in for this, he would smash them before they could use their powers." Peyton said, "We have to see what we're targeting before we can really use our powers. So, it will take a second. By arriving on this dirigible, it will appear you are just joining the battle and he'll not pay special attention to you fast enough." Rutkowski grinned, "We get a good sight of him long enough, and boom, he's frozen and da heroes get to do what da heroes do best."


Furious got the picture. "I see. So, I need to be ready for a fight. Alright, then, you guys go get my cannons loaded and make sure the rayguns are at full power and the cannons are loaded. Normally, I have a few minutes before I get into battle to get my weapons ready. But, I will be arriving in a flash, so I need to be ready now." He pointed at the police.


The police looked confused. Peyton waved at them, "Don't worry, I can show you. I helped Furious out before." Quark said, "I'll give you ten minutes to get ready. We can't wait much longer, a lot of people are in danger from this battle."


Rutkowski said, "Just make sure BADGE takes note of all my generous help."
"Don't worry, I'll make sure you get what's coming to you." Quark said.
"I don't think I like the way you said that."


With Peyton and Rutkowski standing on the bridge, Furious readied his engines. Strange Quark had positioned himself on top of the balloon. The police officers had all been placed in gunner positions on the raygun turrets and in the torpedo bays.


Pulling a pipe down, Furious spoke into it which projected outside. "We're ready!" Quark's voice came through, "Full speed ahead!"


"Hold onto something," Furious informed his guests and then shoved forward on a lever and held the wheel. A fracture in space opened in front of them and the dirigible plowed forward, shifting halfway across the planet in one second. The serene world of Neo Utopia was replaced by a monster battle over a cold ocean. Heroes swarmed around a Midgard that was bigger than anything anyone had ever seen.


"NOW!"


Peyton and Rutkowski both turned black and white as their bodies emitted a strange energy. Peyton held up his left hand while Rutkowski held up his right. Their eyes were glowing white as they took hold of Midgard's position in time. The horrible monster flickered and slowed down, then stopped moving altogether. Peyton spoke through gritting teeth, "TAKE HIM DOWN!" Rutkowski, in a grunt, added, "We can't hold him for long!"


Furious yelled into his command pipe, "ALL WEAPONS FIRE, FIRE, FIRE!"


The raybeams and missiles flew out from his dirigible while the heroes outside followed along with their own powers. Poor, frozen Midgard was now at the mercy of many, many enemies who were open to attack.


"KEEP IT UP!" Furious called out and then pulled a lever that opened up his super ray gun attached to the bottom of the ship. With a hard slam against a button, the main weapon went off and sent a powerful beam right at Midgard's chest.


The massive serpent exploded with a flash of light and a wave of energy that toppled every hero out of the sky, sending the dirigible out of control.


Both Peyton and Rutkowski were tumbled all over the pilot house, while Furious held onto the wheel for dear life. Yanking hard on the steering, Furious was able to stabilize them.


"Anyone hurt?" He asked.


Rutkowski, wincing, said, "Oh, dat's gonna leave a mark."


Peyton asked, "Did we get him?"


"I don't know." Furious slapped his comm, "Justin, Gar, anyone, what's going on?"


Justin said, "Midgard has been taken down. See how you can help, there is a lot of damage and hurt civilians and heroes."
Rutkowski grabbed Furious's comm, "I ain't no nurse, Justin. I want to go home! I did my job!"


"You'll get back home, just let us do our job." Justin cut off the signal.


"Bah! That bloated jerk." Rutkowski muttered.


Peyton said, "I'll check on the police officers, you might want to find a place to land and see what BADGE needs you to do."


"I'll get on it."

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You're Invited...

"♆SOB♆ MONSTER MASH"

This Oct 21st you are invited to attend a live league event!
Simply Cos-Play the season with your Hero or Heroine in the game for League Wars: "All Hallows Cats". 

No, it won't effect your odds to win in a contest of might, but hey why not fight it out in style.
Show up the competition while whooping on them at the same time!

ID:35986

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Heroes Rising Fiction: World Eater Part 10 Finale

 

Gar was surrounded by blue energy for a moment, when he appeared he was incredibly high in the sky, barreling toward a Midgard that defied all expectations. The World Serpent was so huge that clouds were being bisected by his arms as he swung them. His tail stretched across the ground, laying over mountains and into the sea. An entire village had been crushed by his presence.

Heroes swarmed around him, blasting powers and throwing large objects at his head. Midgard, red in the eyes, screeched in sounds that were no language but that of a thrashing beast. He lurched to the side after a massive volley of firepower from several heroes, and then turned and went to slam his enormous forearm across the ground, which would have caused a massive earthquake. Several dozen heroes joined together and emitted a collective barrier made up of ice, psychic, and general power. The arm met the barrier and was deflected.

Gar swooped down and flew along the ground, heading for a team of heroes racing toward Midgard. When Gar saw a giant green fist coming down to meet them, he flew hard and body slammed the first, moving it to the side just far enough to crash into the sea. Gar tumbled through the air for a moment before catching himself.

Landing on solid ground, Gar gathered his wits after that attack. Shinobi raced up to his side.

"Thanks for the save, that was impressive." Shinobi quickly jutted both hands forward and huge chunks of earth flew up and crashed into Midgards abdomen.

The Avenger landed near Gar and held up a hand. Energy came flooding off the side of Midgard. Using his other hand he returned the power as a full-on blast.

"What's the situation?" Gar asked The Avenger as he continued his attack.

The Avenger said, "This battle is... strange to say the least."

"Strange? I'd say this is impossible! LOOK OUT!" Gar quickly grabbed The Avenger and took flight as Midgard swept a hand across the ground, razing trees, buildings, and dozens of heroes at once.

Getting back to his feet, The Avenger said, "Thanks. I can't drain enough energy from Midgard, he is too powerful."

"Why did you call it strange?" Gar asked.

The Avenger was already scanning for his next opportunity to attack. "If I'm not mistaken, it's like he's holding back. This battle is.... I don't know, not as bad as it could be."

Gar watched Midgard knock two dozen heroes out of the sky with one blast of his energy breath. "I'd say this is pretty bad."

"I know energy, Gar, there is something not right about this whole thing."

"Are you saying he isn't as dangerous as he seems?"

The Avenger looked at a reading on a screen in his arm armor. "No, this is still bad. If we don't stop him soon, our numbers won't hold and he'll begin a rampage that could cost millions of innocent lives."

Suddenly, Midgard turned to attack their location, energy from his mouth and both fists pummeling the ground.

"Run!" Gar grabbed The Avenger again and flew away as many other heroes around did the same.

The ground exploded and then was crushed, sending seismic waves that rippled out across the Earth. Towns hundreds of miles away shook and took damage from each land crashing strike.

"I can fly!" The Avenger yelled.

Gar let him go and the cybernetic hero zoomed off under his own power, heading directly for Midgard's face. Landing on a cliff over the ocean, Gar thought how he would approach this battle. To his amazement, another Midgard showed up, a hero grew in size to match that of this world serpent and grabbed the real Midgard by the arms. They struggled against one another, each fighting in an epic wrestling match. Heroes continued to shower the real Midgard with powers and other weapons.

Gar's comm device activated, "Justin to Gar, report!"

"You won't believe this, but someone as big and powerful as Midgard is holding him at bay."

"I know, that is one of the mimic heroes. He can't hold out for long."

"What do we do? Do you have a plan?"

Justin said, "I'm sending help. Tell the heroes to go full throttle when they see the signal."

"What signal?"

"You'll know." Justin's voice channel clicked off.

Gar looked around, not sure what to expect. Suddenly, out of a flash of blue light came a large portal. Furious Squirrels Dirigible flew through with a bright blue hero standing on top, it was Strange Quark. Gar ran to the edge and took flight, gliding up closer to the battle balloon. He had his comm ready for the all-signal, unsure what this could mean.

To his great surprise, he saw two enemies standing inside the pilot house of the balloon, Private Eye Peyton and the gangster Rutkowski. Both were completely black and white and glowing with a bright white aura.

Midgard's body flickered and he lost most of his color. All at once, he froze as if all time had stopped. Gar realized this was it, he pressed the all-signal, "HEROES ATTACK, ATTACK, HIT HIM WITH EVERYTHING, DON'T HOLD BACK!"

The battle dirigible unleashed a massive volley of rockets and energy beams, Quark shot blue energy from the top, and heroes far and wide joined in and pummeled Midgard with everything they had. Gar simply held his position in the sky as he watched this onslaught of pure power. Was Midgard already finished and they were attacking something dead? Could Midgard even die? What happens if this doesn't work?

A blinding explosion erupted from the center of Midgard and everyone was thrown half a mile away in a perfect radius. The Dirigible faltered and nearly fell into the ocean while Strange Quark fell free from it and splashed in the icy cold waters. When the smoke settled, there was no Midgard to be seen, nothing remained of the bewitched monster of legend.

"Gar! Gar! Report!" Justin came through the comm.

Gar, on his back laying on a beach, held his arm up, "I think it worked. Midgard is gone."

"He can't be gone. He was huge."

"I don't know what happened to him. But, it's over."

Justin clicked off the comm channel and pointed at robot 10915. "I want all our damage control teams to that part of the planet on the double. Get me in touch with every world leader in the vicinity of that battle, I know they will all want an update."

"Understood, Director."

Justin clicked his comm again, "Justin to Arx."

"Arx here. That was one hell of a battle."

Justin said, "I know. I want you to lead the damage control teams on the surface. I want you to ensure the locals that we'll everything in our power to help clean up the mess. And, also send out as many agents and heroes as you can spare, I want to know what happened to Midgard."

Arx, sounding fatigued after that battle, answered, "On it, sir."

Justin left Operations and headed down to Dr. Henderson's main laboratory. The station was strangely quiet, since most of the agents and even the training robots were down on the planet. Justin had ordered every available person and robot to join the conflict. The stakes were far too high.

When he got into the lab, he was met by Dr. Henderson and her nurses. They stood around the body of the agent that Nova had unceremoniously returned to them.

"What did you find?" Was his greeting.

Dr. Henderson said, "This man was killed by a strange power, something seeped into every cell of his body and turned it off. I'd say he didn't suffer, but I don't know for certain..."

"I want to know why Nova returned him and what possible advantage we can garner from this."

Dr. Henderson pointed at the dead agent. "His life mattered."

Justin calmed down from his stiff attitude, "I know. I hate to lose anyone. But, if we don't find a way to stop this, he'll not be the last to die. In fact, many died today, most of them innocent bystanders who were caught in the battle zone. So, I want answers, something to find the solution to this problem."

"I did find something. Nova left us a cryptic clue." She turned to a computer monitor and activated it. There was a fleck on a bit of microscope glass. "We found this in his eye. At first, I thought it was nothing. But, it was unusual to find something buried that deep in his eye. So, I had the computer magnify it. What I found was this." She zoomed and enhanced the image.

"A tiny computer chip?" Justin looked at the small device.

"It is hardly enough to hold any data, but there was a single line. A sentence that reads, 'To defeat your enemy, first you must know who they are', and then a series of numbers." The numbers appeared on the screen. "My guess is these are coordinates."

"Where do they lead?"

She said, "That is the strange part. This leads to the middle of the Mariana Trench."

"Looks like we are diving for clues now."

Dr. Henderson asked, "Are you sure we can trust him?"

"No. But, I have to find out what this is about, it is all we have."

Midgard, in his human form, washed up on the shore of a distant, cold beach. His body battered, his face bruised, and no breath coming or going.

A woman knelt down and turned him over so he was facing the sky.

"You fought well, but not well enough. You held back. I don't know why, but I will find out. Now, come with me, my pet. Your job in ending this world has not been completed." As she touched his face he gasped in a great breath and opened his eyes. They remained glowing red and he expressed no emotions.

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Heroes Rising Fiction: World Eater Part 9

 

Before Midgard attacked:

Chase, wearing a lovely red dress, walked with Strange Quark at her side. He wore a blue tuxedo with a golden duck pin where a flower would normally be. Walking behind them was Gar, dressed as normal, but with a bow-tie around his neck at Quarks insistence. They approached the Prague Castle.

Chase took in a great breath and smiled, "I love Prague, the history, the art, the buildings, all so lovely."

Quark smiled, "I love this building, so Gothic."

Gar nodded, "Reminds me of many buildings in Rome."

Pulling out her special BADGE card, Chase said, "We can be tourist later. We have a mission."

Walking onward toward the amazing building, all three were allowed through several check points.

Gar casually said, "I wonder how Justin is doing with Midgard."

Quark replied, "No idea. Nova had a hard enough time getting through to the old world serpent, Justin might not even scratch the surface."

"Why would Justin want to scratch him? Does he itch?" Gar asked.

Quark chuckled at that while Chase said, "He means, Justin doesn't have much of a chance. But, things might be different now. Justin really has proven himself a worthy leader, and Midgard respects strong leadership."

A finely dressed woman approached them, "As you requested, President Pavel is waiting to speak with you in St. Vitus Cathedral." She held out a hand for them to follow.

Chase was amused by this, "I see. We were required to make a case before he decides to meet us in the cathedral? Very accommodating."

The woman said, "President Pavel is aware that if BADGE sends three of their highest ranked officials to meet with him, then he should respond."

A small contingent of security and this nice lady escorted them through the many opulent corridors of the ancient building. Soon, they walked through a set of doors that led into a classical Cathedral sanctuary, where an older gentleman and three security waited for them.

Chase approached and bowed, "Your excellency, I'm honored you have given us your time."

Gar and Quark followed with silent bows.

President Pavel smiled, "I'm honored to have such high ranking members of BADGE paying us a visit. However, I'm aware that no visit from BADGE is without serious cause, and potential risk to my country."

Chase straightened up. "I'm afraid you're correct. There's a great danger here, an object that must be taken to BADGE for safe keeping. However, I'm also afraid that it is currently nestled into an important artifact belonging to the state."

"The Crown of St. Wenceslas," President Pavel said.

Quark asked, "How did you know?"

"So many legends have arisen about that crown that our people have always felt it was abnormal. Then, in recent times, the United Nations sent inspectors to locate unique energy readings. They discovered something odd about the crown, but it was not morphonic, so it was not reported to BADGE. However, when you asked to meet me about a special visit to this cathedral, I had a strong feeling that the crown was the reason. Am I correct?"

"Yes," Chase answered. "I don't want to disfigure such an important artifact, so I ask that you allow us to take it whole. I promise the utmost care will be granted to it, and we will have the finest jewelers on Earth remove the stone in question before returning it. But, at this time, it has to be moved otherwise..."

All three of their BADGE comm units came alive with Justin's pained voice, "To all heroes, Black Alert, I repeat, Black Alert. Please, respond to my location, or the world will end today!"

"What is this?" President Pavel demanded.

Chase had lost the color in her face as she looked up at Gar and Quark. "Black alert... we haven't had one of those since..."

"Jinn," Quark answered.

The President asked, "Are we in danger?"

"I don't think so. The location on this is far from here. We need to go, find out what is happening." Chase said.

Before anyone could respond, a familiar voice asked, "Going so soon?"

Chase took a step back when her eyes fell upon Nova and a team of finely dressed mercenaries, all wielding the anti-morphon guns. "Nova, how..."

"Don't be an idiot, Chase. I was the one who hid the stones, I kept track of them for centuries. Don't you think I know where they all are?"

She took a step forward and readied her magic throwing stars. "I'm willing to take you down, Nova. I know what's at risk."

"You know nothing. The power Lady Echidna wields is far superior to anything you could possibly fathom."

Chase's eyes narrowed on him, "We only know that we must stop her, and we will. You trained us all too well for us to fail."

"Oh, I did, did I? Like this poor fellow." He gave a little wave with a gloved hand and one of his mercs tossed the body of the badge guard that had been one of Lady Echidna's spies. It landed in front of Chase.

"What did you do?" Chase looked down at the broken corpse.

Nova drew in closer to her, no fear in him as she threatened with her blades. "The battle for this world has already begun. Midgard was her fourth beast, a creature she used once and now has access to again."

"Midgard?" Chase frowned.

Quark gasped, "Oh, sweet baby Jesus...the Black Alert!"

Nova laughed, "Better head for the fray, little heroes. The World Serpent will consume all life and he will be nearly unstoppable. That is, unless you want to try and stop me from getting the Eye of the Charybdis." His eyes flashed that bright white light that Chase witnessed during the battle of Fenrir.

Chase stood back, "If you retrieve it and leave without harming anyone, we won't fight."

"You have my word." Nova smiled with the slick grin of a devilish politician.

Chase backed up, "Go."

Nova and his men headed for the secure vault hidden in the Cathedral of St. Vitus where the Crown of St. Wenceslas has been kept safe for centuries.

President Pavel demanded, "You have no right to go there! I protest!"

Chase kept a keen eye on the mercs and Nova as they went about their business. "No, don't interfere. We can't stop him and there aren't heroes left to invite to this fight, they're all trying to save the world from Midgard."

While the President threw out angry words, Chase watched Nova and his men return with the case holding the crown. They casually stepped over the corpse he had deposited and left the building. Nova remained for one moment to give his parting shot.

"Chase, let Justin know that if BADGE continues to fight us, it will only end the same way for all the agents as it did for that one on the ground. Only a flicker of light in his eye before death befell him." With that he left.

"I DEMAND YOU SEND A TEAM OF BADGE AGENTS AFTER THAT ARTIFACT. IT IS A PRECIOUS RELIC OF PRAGUE!" President Pavel bellowed at Chase.

Quark said, "Trust me, sir, if she hadn't let him go, we would all be dead. Besides, who can we send? The world is about to end and I don't even have a stiff drink to bolster myself before heading in to fight against the biggest badass in BADGE."

Chase walked over and knelt next to the man on the ground.

Gar said, "Should we go to the fight? If it is that bad, we need to help."

They waited while Chase simply looked at the man.

Quark said, "Chase, I can zap us all there right now, we need to go. It is a full black alert."

Gar, growing impatient, said, "Chase, what are you doing?"

She said, "Didn't you find that last word from Nova a little odd?" Reaching down she pried open the eyelids of the dead man.

"Do you see something?" President Pavel asked.

She nodded, "There is something in his right eye, like a fleck of sand. But, it is embedded. Quark, we need to get him back to the station now. If the real Nova is sending us another message, we need to decipher it right away."

"On it. Gar, you ready?"

Gar nodded.

Quark waved his hand and Gar was sent away to the fight with Midgard. Then, Quark and Chase vanished in a flash with the corpse.

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