Rifts : Chaos Chronicles

[Jay 2K Winger]

Simon takes the Rift-sealing device and steps through Chris' gateway. He pulls his parka's hood up as the cold winds on the top of the mountain hit him. Once the others come through, he pauses. "So who should work the device? Like Bronson said, it may take some time for it to close the Rift."

He knows that he's got the best small-scale offensive abilities of their group-- Luigi's hurricane-summoning ability is a bit too broad-scale-- but he's also the one of their group who knows the most about the Rifts, and almost doesn't want to pass up the chance of seeing another one get sealed so he can collect data...

[Mytical]

Bronson says. "If we can all go, I will. Everybody else just keep those ... things off of me. If only a couple can go, then the one who can reflect attacks will defend, and you will close the Rift."

[Chanlin]

Chris nods toward the wormhole, "I don't have to go, so if everyone wants to go before me we will see how many people can get through before I run out of power. With any luck we will all get through."

[Kristev]

Upon learning that the snow itself is alive, Luigi takes off his scarf, then re-wraps it around his nose and mouth to prevent inhaling any.

"All right," Luigi remarked. "Best of luck to us all. Best not to ingest any of the snow. Possibility of toxic impact."

He steps into the portal, then comes out, and steps just a little bit ahead, cautiously and carefully.

"So you're trying to study the Rifts. I can tell you the Rifts appear to respond to psychic energy," Luigi informed Simon. "Since they also respond to dreams, this should not be a surprise. I'm just not quite sure how. Don't ask." Suddenly, Luigi snapped his fingers. "Brainwaves. If it's internal to external, external to internal, or both directions, we don't know, but brainwaves, especially those of the subconscious level. I wonder how Alpha waves would phase the Rift. Those are mostly used consciously, but are great for bio-feedback. Beta waves handle thought and concentration. Gamma waves are useful in meditation. Delta waves may be best. They're found at the deepest levels of sleep. Maybe it works on the Theta wave. We know next to nothing about that one. If you want to study the Rifts, brain waves may a good place to start."

He watches the snow men carefully.

"By the way, I advise against being so eth . . . so ra . . ." Luigi snaps his fingers. "So geocentric. This evolutionary pattern is unnatural to us, but I'm sure to them, it's perfectly ordinary and we're what doesn't belong. Perhaps they're only hostile because they don't know where they are."

[Mytical]

Everybody but Chris is through, and surprisingly there has not been any real drain on the energy. For some reason everybody's crystals seem to have more energy then when they arrived..which has NEVER happened before.

Bronson nods. "Just keep em away from me. I'll seal the Rift."

Sure enough the snowmen start closing in, more and more forming to close in on the group.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Simon looks at Luigi at this. "I had considered that brainwaves have an effect on controlling Rifts, with an appropriate focus," and he taps at the Shard in his eye, "but that still doesn't tell me how they're formed. Controlling them and closing them is fine, but what I'm after is stopping them from forming in the first place."

On the mountaintop, he regards the snowmen, and-- while pulling his winter outfit's scarf up around his face-- says, "Lost and confused they may be, but this may just be emergent behavior. At any rate, we have to defend our world, and not worry about another. One world at a time."

While Bronson works on closing the Rift, Simon's Shard glows brighter as he starts to fire off pulses of telekinetic force to discorporate the snowmen. As he's channeling his Shard's power a lot more for this, his body seems to be glowing under his outfit, a blue glow filling his skin.

[Mytical]

Each pulse he fires seems to energize, not drain his shard. More, the pulses seem to be getting more powerful with each shot. His Rift sight shows something that has never happened before..the energy from the mountain is funneling into the shards.

[Kristev]

"Perhaps it's multi-directional," Luigi suggested. "If active brainwaves have an impact on them, maybe negating nearby brain waves, or blocking them, will weaken the Rifts. Perhaps even close them."

[Jay 2K Winger]

Simon pauses as he feels his Shard topping itself off like that. The glow in his hands and feet is getting brighter, to the point where even his clothing is starting to do it as well. He can feel the energy tingling across his nerves as he fires another pulse at a lunging snowman.

"This Rift," he says aloud. "It's ... topping off my Shard." He concentrates and releases an omnidirectional pulse of telekinetics to push as much snow away as he can, then turns to look at the Rift itself, trying to see what might be causing this.

[Mytical]

Bronson nods "Good theory, but um..can we save the philosophy till after the Rift is closed and the snow men who want to chew our heads off are handled? I only need twenty more minutes."

A few of the snowmen start throwing ice shards (razor sharp) toward the group.

Also, the burst emitted is much stronger then it should be..clearing out a wide cone in front of you. Then a bit of pain shoots through you..your body is not use to this much power, it is going to be harder and harder to use your ability..or control it. As for your Rift sight, the energy is pouring from the rift to the snow, and from the snow to the shards.

[Kristev]

Luigi will counter the ice shards with his reflection power, turning the ice shards back at the snow men, or as many of the shards as he can.

[Mytical]

Something strange happens..it not only pushes back all the shards, but the snow in front of you..and the snowman in that direction.

[Kristev]

"Something's wrong," Luigi remarks, "it's never been this powerful before. You're right about the Rift."

[Jay 2K Winger]

Simon nods, wincing and rubbing at his eye-socket. "Keep it as simple as you can," he says, firing another small pulse to clear off more snowmen. As he uses more of his abilities, he can feel the energy building up in the Shard, grimacing as he wonders what he'll need to do to bleed all that extra energy off. As the ice-shards start flying, he is instinctively folding a telekinetic barrier around himself and then expanding it outward to block others from reaching the rest of the team.

[Mytical]

Bronson yells "DONE!" as the Rift slams shut. Only to unleash a powerful energy bust, that slams into everybody (even those not on the mountain). Every shard glows with energy, lit up like a christmas tree. The flow of extra energy disappears..and the snow suddenly becomes normal..the snowmen disperse..but there is still a giant mountain and snow in the middle of a desert.