Open New World Guardians

((Signup/OOC thread here))





"Are you suuuuure this is the right place?"
Two individuals stood in the darkness of an abandoned tunnel, and you could guess what it used to be for when you saw the train rails which reached as far as you could see.
"I can assure you this is the place I assigned for our meeting, Bonnie, you shouldn't worry." Said one of them, a tall man wearing a black long coat and a wide fedora hat, casting a shadow over his face. He carried a flash light in one hand, a beam of light emitting from it, and a black suitcase in the other. "I gave him an important task, but you know we can trust Nomski, right?"
"Well, yeah", said Bonnie, a short girl with long, black hair, an innocent-looking face and impressive figure. "but he's slooooow!"
"Have patience, girly." The man said, and a smile could be spotted in the shadowed face.

Suddenly, one could hear the sound of a vehicle, coming closer closer, and soon two lights could be seen in the distant darkness. These lights turned out to be what looked like a tractor moving on rails, dragging behind it a big, metallic, completely isolated container sitting on top of a trailer. The tractor stopped besides the man and Bonnie, and a man climbed out.

Clearly, this man had seen better days. He was overweight, (but impressively muscular either way) his hair and bushy moustache were grey, and made him look kind of like a humanoid walrus without tusks. He also donned a black ushanka, which was decorated with a golden star.
"Dobry den", he said raising his hand as a greeting, "I kept you waitin' now didn't I?"
"You did, but don't worry, Nomski." The man in the coat answered, and looked at the container. "And this is it, I suppose?"
He inspected the container, and found a lock at one side, he sighed.
"Something this important is guarded by a simple lock that about anyone can break open with force? It's a bit disappointing."
He opened his suitcase and took a small sledge hammer out of it, handed it to Nomski, and said "Mind doing me the pleasure?"

Soon enough, enough, the broken lock was thrown into the ground, and the doors slowly creaked open. Inside was ten tanks, with glass in the front that was meant to be seen through, but you were unable to do so due to them being fogged up, and tubes connecting to a big panel on the wall.
"Cryogenics, it looks like" the coated man said quietly, and went in, followed by Bonnie and Nomski.
"Look at this 'ere", Nomski said, pointing at a paper stuck to one of the tanks.
"04-Idiopathy, 07-Pandemic," he read out loudly, "There's plenty of information on these papers, so they'll come handy."
The coated man was busy studying the panel, and a few clicks suggested he pushed some buttons.
"You're gonna activate them here, Penda?" Bonnie said, looking at him with a puzzling look, "Why don't you wait until we get to the base?"
"What's important with the ruined is to remember the beauty that once was", Penda said, "these poor things have never tasted life before, so I think it will be a useful experience."

Soon, ten tanks slowly opened, filling the container with a cold fog.

((Okay, you can begin posting now :D))

"Unnnh?"

Slow breaths at first. In...and out. In again...then out. Then quicker, the body warming, slowly, ever so slowly, but warming. The slightest of movements at first; a finger twitching, then the arms loosening slowly from the place they coiled around the chest. Black curls wrapped the small girl's form, like a blanket, and contrasted with white skin. Her yellowed eyes gazed, half-lidded, out at the fog and the figures she could barely make out in it.

Pandemic shifted and reached out one of her slender legs, slowly, carefully, and placed it on the ground. The other soon followed, and the small girl sat, shivering and nude, perched on the side of her tank. She swirled her hair around her to shield her nakedness and keep her warm, blinking dully.

"Where...?" She whispered, voice soft and almost dusty, like she had never used it before.

(( :V I assume they'd be nekkid but correct me if I am wrong.))

((i shall assume nakedness, also))

Her awakening was not as peaceful as the tiny girl two tanks next to her.

A quick, violent gasp escaped from between her lips. It was not the savorful sweet first breaths of life. The next noise was a sound between a scream and a gurgle as she realized that she was both naked and in the presence of other people.

Who the hell was she? She needed an answer. She was no longer Arlonda, something was different about her. Raising an arm, she noticed the pale blue tint to her once-tanned yellow skin. Definitely not Arlonda.

Staying inside her own tank, arms covering her small bust and pelvic area, she spluttered, "Who am I?! Where am I?!"

Long dark brown hair splayed out underneath her, and for some reason, the mere fact she had it disgusted her. Her light brown eyes were focused on the three people observing the other tanks opening, though they flickered to the tiny raven-haired girl sitting up on her own tank every now-and-then.

((i plan for her to shave her head a little later on, when a bathroom-with-razor scene may be available))

One pair of golden yellow eyes opens slowly, taking in the dim light inside the container, reflecting and refracting through the fog that rolled out from his chamber. He looked down to find himself fully in the nude. Half of him said that that was not right. The other half found nothing wrong with this. He inhaled slowly, savoring the air, ignoring the cold that wrapped around his body, and chilled his skin. He saw three figures, barely more than silhouettes, one, smaller than the other two, and one with grey hair covering his upper lip and head. He didn't know who these people were. He didn't even know who he was. He heard a sound close by, and slowly swivelled his head towards the sound. He breathed slowly. He was calm, and not in any panic. Life had begun, and every aspect of it fascinated him.

A slight whoosh.

The inaudible hum of fog.

And the slight sound of bare, young feet hitting the floor.

Blaise, eyes still closed, breathed deeply and exhaled loudly, stretching a bit. His dark red hair, flat as always, clung close to his head in the foggy room, and his nose wrinkled slightly at the familiar smell of the chemicals. The boy yawned loudly, scratching his head and finally opening his eyes.

Also, as little more than a reflex, a concealing coat of relatively cool, dark-red fire sprang to life around his lower body, mostly succeeding at keeping what needed to be kept private, private. He giggled quietly to himself; there were other kids in the room, and they were all naked. They had to be actually naked when they came out of these tanks. Giggles again.

But now it was time to get some information. Blaise walked through the fog, rubbing his eye with a closed fist. He arrived at a monster of a man, looked like one of those bristly seals with the big teeth. What were those called again? Ah, yes, sea lions.

"Hey, you! Who're you and why are you in here?" the ten-year-old said confidently, oblivious to the man's size and his eyes alight.

Blaise had an idea. Breathing in sharply, the boy snapped his fingers loudly, and suddenly his entire body burst alight with dancing flames. It was quite an alarming sight to those not used to it, and Blaise liked taking advantage of that.

He giggled again.

Visum's first ever sensation was the smell of chemicals, and fire.

His eyes opened to the sight of a boy, quite a bit larger than he was, giggling while having his entire body in flames.

"What kind of person laughs while being on fire? A lunatic?

Hopping lightly from his now empty capsule, he calmly glanced around and took in where he was and who he was in the presence of.

"So, I'm in some abandoned railroad station or something, and there are seven other people with me. Four are children, all older than me, and the others all look..rather unsavoury. Let's see what this firemans going to do first."

Just as he completed that thought, Visum had a lapse in his mind and he could see a very blurred image of a large mansion, with what looked him outside it.

(OOC: On the uncreativity of his power, that was planned out)

Zephyr opened his eyes wide. After realizing he was in no immediate danger, he slowly let his eyelids drift down and cover his eyes, giving him a half awake look. He casually looked down and realized that he was completely naked. He let out a scream and jumped out of his tank, expecting to land on the ground, but instead he sailed up to the ceiling of the chamber, where he bounced off and landed on top of one of the tanks that had already been vacated.

After recovering from the initial shock of flight, Zephyr seemed a bit depressed. What was he, a superhero clone? And of course that rose the obvious question. Who was he? Clinging to the top of the tank he looked around. He saw three adults, one female, and a boy slightly older than him alight with flames in front of them, laughing. He also saw many other kids, some still in their tanks, and some out and about. Zephyr blinked a few times to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Did all of these children have special powers? What about the adults? All of the questions spinning around his head made him feel tired, so he simple lay there on top of the tank.

It was perhaps appropriate that 04-Idiopathy's first experience with the world was through feeling.

At first it was nothing, just a cold that reached deep into her bones and heart and liver. Numbness. The coldness vanished, seeping from her flesh and misting outside, buffeting her with a cool breeze. Her legs gave from underneath her.

A hard, flat surface struck one side of her body all at once, her arm and her hip and her leg. Warm. Everything was getting warmer. Something tickled the back of her nose and an acrid stench made itself known to her. A giggle, speech, still distant as her ears thawed...

There was a tight feeling in her mouth and throat. Her lungs burned. Her throat cleared itself with violent coughs interspersed with harsh gasps of air, a fit that lasted several seconds and tore at her throat.

04-Idiopathy's eyes opened, black replaced by pale greyish-blue and, to one side, bright orange. She pushed herself up, stood, bare feet against metal that was still warmer than her skin. Shivers ran through her body. She moved closer to the flaming boy for warmth, but she cocked her head when she remembered (Remembered? She had no memory but she had knowledge, so surely she must have learned.) what fire felt like when it actually touched someone, the feeling of intense heat. The boy didn't act as though he felt it. Perhaps she was numb, like 04-Idiopathy still was. Her lips stretched into a grin. She didn't move otherwise, just stared at his face and concentrated.

She made the boy feel heat first, because that's what she remembered (what she was feeling right now), but she increased the feeling and, with a furrowed brow, added the sensation of actually burning into the mix, trying to spread it around his skin.

Blaise looked expectantly at the humongous man, waiting for an answer. Echo of a smile still on his face, the boy heard slight footsteps behind him, but ignored the sound; there were others in here, of course, so it wasn't an outstanding development. He giggled again.

Blaise's brow furrowed, sending his straight hair down over the tops of his eyes; he felt really warm. Blaise knew what warmth was, and could feel it, but generally he was pretty sure that he was impervious to its ill effects and this was getting uncomfortable enough to bother him.

It was really starting to get annoying and he wasn't entirely sure wh–

His eyes widened.

His jaw dropped open.

And Blaise screamed.

He was in pain and he didn't know why and he wanted it to stop but he didn't know what was happening to make it happen and oh god it hurt. Out of pure fear his flames ebbed away, but the feeling was still there and it hurt and why?

Still screaming, Blaise fell backwards onto whoever it was that was behind him, tears running down his cheeks uncontrollably.

"You thought something like this was gonna happen, right?" Nomski, the big, moustached man, asked, looking at the much smaller (at least in comparison) coat-wearing Penda.
"Hand a gun to monkey and it will find out how to fire it. Hand supernatural powers to a bunch of children and they will learn how to cause chaos, it's obvious if you ask me." Penda answered, lifting his fedora to scratch the back of his head.
"Still, I'll take care of them for now, you can take Bonnie with you and continue driving. Call Lono and say that we're on our way."
Nomski looked a bit concerned, but eventually began dragging away with Bonnie, who had been staring at all the shining buttons on the panel up to now.

He opened his suitcase again and took out several bathrobes. "I've worked with children before, not the superhuman kind, but still."
Even so, he seemed to turn more insecure about the whole situation, especially with one of them screaming for all it's worth.
"Calm down for a second, and you know what to do."
He handed one of the bathrobes to a small, pale girl whom he sat relatively close to. He then took another one, rolled it together, and walked over to another girl with short, black hair and lightly hit her over the head with it, saying with a soft, yet scolding voice: "You wouldn't mind stopping that, now would you? Can't you see he's in pain."

((And in case you wondered Kusa, if you have a bunch of children with supernatural powers, it's pretty clear who's responsible when one is staring at another))

(( And also the mischievous grin. ))

The boy screamed, and 04-Idiopathy jumped. She felt a twinge of recognition - yes, people often screamed when in pain - but screaming was still unfamiliar to her. It felt that way, at least. She watched the flames vanish and felt the warmth also disappear, but she was still warmer than she had been.

The boy stepped back and fell on 04-Idiopathy. Her arms reached out to catch him for a moment, but she dropped him and stepped back instead. Although it wasn't her intention, this was a small mercy; when he fell and when she caught him, the pain would intensify. Even when his head was on the floor near her foot, the burning was still stronger than it had been when the boy was actually on fire. But nothing was as bad as when she touched him.

The fog was mostly gone now, she noted, and she could clearly see the tears and snot running down the boy's face. So when she heard the footsteps, she ignored it until she felt something soft hit her head.

Surprised, she looked up.

"You wouldn't mind stopping that, now would you?" a man asked. "Can't you see he's in pain."

04-Idiopathy snickered, but cut off her power. "But it's fun! And funny." She beamed up at the man. "That's the point."

She bounded off without taking the robe, caught sight of some shining buttons, and walked up to the panel. "Huh," she said, pressing a random button.

The pain still lingered, nearly as powerful as it was before, but it faded fairly quickly. The thirty seconds it would take to fully disappear might feel like forever, though, especially the first five.

( >:C )

Seething pain.

Burning agony.

It didn't seem like it would ever end. Blaise's eyes boiled over with tears. His body didn't seem to have anything wrong with it, but it didn't matter he could still feel the pain. This pain was entirely alien to him, he had no idea what was causing it or what it meant was wrong. Blaise curled up into the fetal position, hair slick with sweat. That was a strange feeling too, but Blaise was too focused on the pain to notice.

The boy had stopped screaming by now, and was whimpering quietly. The feeling... Blaise wasn't sure, but the feeling seemed to be ebbing slightly. It still hurt like nothing he could think of, but it was ever-so-slightly less painful than before. Blaise's eyes were pressed together, and he waited for it to stop.

And waited.

And waited...

Until it seemed to be okay. Blaise still breathed heavily, occasionally the air catching in his throat with a choking sound, but he was okay. Traumatized, but okay. He wiped his eyes with a balled fist, pouting sadly. What had just happened...?

He saw a smaller man the other one, holding some sort of garment. Blaise snatched it out of his hand and wrapped it around himself sloppily, covering his face with his arms and hunching over, sniffling and snorting.

Zephyr watched the boy on the ground go from a flaming, laughing ball of happiness to a screaming, crying helpless child with horror. He saw the girl near him seemingly induce pain upon him without even toughing him. Then he saw one of the males began to hand out clothing and he realized that he could now feel a bit more comfortable.

As the man frowned as the pain inflicting girl bolted away Zephyr slowly descended to a few feet above the floor and snatched a robe from the man, wrapping it around himself quickly, and then lowering himself the rest of the way to the ground. Though he was slightly annoyed by his power, he did admit it was useful. He relaxed into a sitting position in front of the man, feeling no fear. He then looked over at the sniffling kid beside him.

"Hey," he asked as he bent over him slightly, "Are you OK now?"

Blaise seemed to ignore the boy for a moment, head still on his knees, but the sat up a bit, wiping an arm across his nose. His brow was furrowed, and there was a note of anger still in his voice as he answered:

"Yeah, I guess. That little... gonna kick her... complete idiot..." He punched his palm angrily and sighed heavily out of his nose. "So, you can, umm, fly? That's cool, I guess." His voice was still a tad shaky.

"So I guess you kinda saw what I can do already, huh?" Blaise asked, looking at the boy closely for the first time. He was thin, but not scrawny, and he also had red hair. Kinda interesting, Blaise thought.

Pandemic took the bathrobe without a word, having watched the fire-boy burst into flames, then fall over and cry in pain. She had lost interest partway through that display, and was now staring at her toes. So everyone had powers...? The small girl wiggled her fingers a bit, wondering what hers were. Nothing happened, though. She frowned.

She got to her feet and wandered in a small circle, staring at her toes again. Such an odd feeling, the pressure of the ground on her feet. She jumped up and down a bit, making her hair bounce. That was sort of fun, but she got bored of it rather fast. She started to walk a bit faster, then broke into a run. She liked this one, it mas nice. But then...

Pandemic stumbled over her own two feet and fell to the ground with a whump, skinning one of her knees in the process. She squealed in pain and sat up, hugging her leg.

Shifter watched the entire burning event with mute curiosity. He wondered what it was like to burn, but did not voice the thought. The flaming boy seemed as though he was in pain. He walked to him once things had calmed a little, and he had begun conversing with another one of the children. "I sure did," he said to the boy, "And it was pretty cool." He was being honest. He somewhat felt that his was somehow not as great, and not as useful, though he had only a vague sense of what it was.

Zephyr found the deep voice coming from the child that had just walked over a bit disconcerting, but he brushed the thought aside. He could probably send sonic-booms out of his mouth, as it seemed that all of the children in the room had some sort of power.

"Yeah I agree with..." Zephyr did not now the other child's name, so indicated him, "Him." He then turned his attention to the newer boy, and realized he was still naked, "I think you should grab a bathrobe," he felt embarrassed as he talked, "To, um, cover up?"

~~~~~~~~

Darkness... That's all I knew for the longest time. I was surrounded by a world of nothing. There was no warmth, no comfort... nothing... Who was I? Where did I come from? Is there anything else out there? Questions flooded my mind, but there were no answers. This was my universe, a universe that only consisted of me, devoid of anything else. I was alone...

I don't want to be alone...

Do not worry, you are not alone

I suddenly heard a feminine voice, surrounding me, all around. I looked everywhere, but at first, there was still nothing.

Huh? Who's there?

Then suddenly, light... bright light... swirled all around me. When all I knew was darkness, the light was blinding. Pure whiteness, slowly dimming as I grew used to the light. Spots of darkness, spots of light, soon coming into focus, swirling all around me, dimming and molding together to create a kind of swirling, grayish fog. It was warm, embracing, encompassing... With light came vision, and I could see my body for the first time. The legs, arms, head I could sense connected to myself were all there. But in addition, there was something else, someone else... I could suddenly see two bright red objects, staring back at me, penetrating through the fog, then, the silhouette of a head surrounding the red lights. I smiled widely in anticipation as the figure came closer, the warm fog hiding it no longer. She was huge, amazing, a beautiful silver dragon. I trembled a little bit, but mostly I stared at her, fascinated.

Wow... who are you.

Fear not, Sarah. I am your sister. I am here for you... I will always be here for you...

A dragon's forepaw reached up into the fog, sitting itself just underneath me, its lighter-gray palm facing up. I smiled back, sitting down in it, feeling its leathery texture.

Sarah... is that my name?

It was to be your name. But now, we are together... we are one. We will only have one name... Starlight...

Starlight... I like it... I'm glad... I finally have a sister.

I am happy as well

The difference in our forms, our sizes, meant absolutely nothing to me. I had no sense of reference, no idea that sisters were normally of the same species, of the same origin. What did matter was that I could feel her with me, her energy flowing through me, that we could connect on every level. But one question still lingered...

Where are we though, Sister?

Wherever we want to be. We will shape our world to our liking.

Then suddenly, the fog surrounding us began to clear, remaining with only a small aura surrounding the dragon. But rather than the darkness that I had been trapped in for eternity, what surrounded the two of us was a beautiful island landscape, surrounded by water. The ground was covered in green grass, with a few trees scattered around, except for just near the water, which appeared more sandy. The sky was a light blue color, with puffy white clouds lining it, and a brilliant, bright yellow circle shining down upon us. I could also finally see the entirety of my sister for the first time, as she lay down in the grass, and lowered me down to the ground. I took my very first steps, off of her paw, looking around the island, grinning widely as I could feel the grass and dirt under my feet.

Wow... it's amazing! Did you make this, sister?

We made it, together. This is our new home. It was your desire for a home that made this possible.

I walked over to the dragon and sat down, smiling and leaning back against her chest. Her long tail curled around my, on top of my legs. I took a deep breath and relaxed. It was like paradise. I finally had a sister and a home. But then, suddenly, my world began to fade away, my sister included.

Sister... what's happening? I don't understand... I'm scared...

You have been summoned into the real world. It's time for you to explore this world and discover its secrets.

But I don't want to go... I want to stay here with you.

We will always be together, Sarah. But it is not time for me yet. You must lead the way, sister. I will be here for you when you need me. And together, soon the real world will ours as well. But remember, patience. Your survival must be valued above all else, for our dream to become a reality.

That's when I woke up, and discovered the real world for the first time...

========

The fluid in the tank labeled "01" was quickly draining. Within the tank, a girl resided, who had been suspended within the fluid and attached to a number of cords and wires, providing her oxygen and sustenance, but now, her weight caused her feet to lower and touch the ground of the tank. Her reddish eyes shot open, and the cords quickly detached from her form. The glass panel of the tank opened up, and the girl crouched down, taking a deep breath, her lungs filling with oxygen unaided. She began to look around. There were others around her as well. They were all larger than she was, but to varying degrees. One appeared to be on fire, and the heat and light easily drew her attention. The young girl could feel a similar power within her, and she began to smile, whispering a single word, "Sister..." Her body began to glow as well, an eerie, silvery mist beginning to surround her body. She stood up and walked out, toward the flaming boy, though she didn't get very close, remaining about 15 feet away. There, she just stood still and watched. The screaming didn't make any sense to her, so she just ignored it.

((I'm late =P))

Air. Finally air.

Not one of my best days, thought Phobos. Wrong move. A terrible pain spread over his head, making him bite his lip. No, not a good day. He needed something to distract himself from the pain. But first, getting up.

Before even opening his eyes, he touched around. Smooth metal parts were around him, and he felt cold. Feeling himself naked, he gave another deep breath, which hurt his lungs. But he continued. He laid there for a minute, making sure everything was okay. Well, his head still hurt, and he was a bit numb on his legs, but he could work that out.

With only the strength of his arms, Phobos pushed himself to a sitting position, and finally opened his eyes. He could barely look over the tank, but took a quick look around. He saw... no, he felt people around him. A handful of them, maybe one or two more. They all appeared blurred and fuzzy, yet they were unmistakably there. What he saw, indeed, was metal. Polished metal, everywhere. Some of it appeared to be other tanks, and he felt other people inside.

Tombs, caskets everywhere, they're already in, bury them alive- Phobos shook his head. He was used to that sickening voice that awakened sometimes, but couldn't get rid of it, at least permanently. Deep breathing, one last time, he stumbled over the edge of the tank and pulled off a smile. Who knew, maybe the other people were as in a bad condition as himself. Maybe he could do something about it.

06-Shrink slowly stood up out of the tank, realizing her questions would go unanswered since the other screaming children were probably more of a problem. She turned her head around to the man handing out bathrobes and snatched one from him, throwing it over her body frantically. She payed no heed to the boy aflame, but instead to the tiny girl that was hugging her knees close to herself. The squeal was pitiful and seemed to pluck a string in her heart, causing Shrink to wander close to the small girl.

"Are you alright, dear?" she asked, cautiously kneeling down to the girl with the skinned knee's level.