From: Dinosorceror To: LD4 List Member Subject: [LD4] STORY: The Lava Dome IV Escapades Date: Saturday, September 26, 1998 3:42 PM The Lava Dome IV Chronicles 09-26-98 by Wee-D Will this be the final story that takes advantage of the fact that ever since the Dinosorceror merged the two universes, anything goes? Of course not! As the learned reader is about to discover, since the Dinosorceror was always in Alaska on this “new” Earth, who was there to take his place when he gained his Dinosorcerian powers? This episode hereby flashbacks the first goofy, nameless story board of the Lava Dome IV Mailing List. November 29th, 1995 Warminster, Pennsylvania, US of A, PD of Q There was a modest covering of snow on the ground when the reddish T. rex-morph came home from work. It was an hour long walk, and his claw-sneakers were quite soaked by the time he approached his driveway, just as the sun was setting. "I'm going to steal me a bike one of these days, and go with my bad self," he muttered as a shadow quickly slid across the ground in the dim sunlight. Distracted from his trivial problem, he watched as a triangular spacecraft slowly circled his location, eventually landing roughly in his backyard. Steam rose from where the warm plastimetallic hull of the ship met the icy slush. As if he was in a dream, or fuelled by some writer's imagination, he willingly gave himself up to the stunning event before him. He placed his backpack to the ground, and approached the ship, just as a side panel opened. Thick, black smoke billowed from the interior of the vessel, and an odor of decay permeated the region. He jumped back a foot in horror as a bloodied, reptilian claw grasped the edge of the opening. The creature slowly crawled from the smoking, sputtering craft, and collapsed clumsily on the mushy ground. It was...it looked like a cross between a human and a Parasaurolophus. (Editor's note: I hope I don't have to spell this out.) It reached a claw towards the stunned rex, speaking in English, the long-established Universal Language. "You must stop them," he muttered weakly. The rex raised an eyeridge, and looked down at the creature. He grabbed the outstretched claw, and knelt in front of the dying alien. "Who are Them?" he asked dimly. The alien ignored his sarcastic remark, and removed a pendant from around his neck. "Take this, it is all I have left...the fourth-dimensional quantum lens." He handed it to the rex, who readily accepted and donned the item. "Let me guess...this has an effect on everything except that which is yellow?" the rex asked. The alien gave the rex the intergalactic Moe Eye Poke (tm). As the rex closed his eyes and winced, he continued. "It wil allow you to change the size of anything, including yourself, to an almost limitless degree. Now, before I pass to the next life, I will--" The rex looked down at the alien parasaur. "Oh, you've already done quite enough. My fondest dreams...realized!" The alien looked at the rex puzzled for a moment, but continued. "You are now the new Dinosorceror, my friend. Use your new powers and gifts wisely to fight evil," the alien gurgled as he faded into death. The rex stood upright over the corpse of the alien parasaur. "Oh, don't worry...I promise...heh...heheh...HEh...HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAAA!" *lightning and thunder overhead* --------------------------------- Meanwhile, back in the present... --------------------------------- "Is my tunic straight?" "It looks fine, dear." "Well, then, here we go." The crowd assembled outside the newly-constructed Lava Dome IV Hall O'Justice was...well, less than impressive. The city of Faibanx doesn't have much of a populous to speak of in the first place, and only about ten percent had showed up for the opening gala. Most were there because they heard they could get a free meal. The crowd's muttering rose a bit as a spotlight, manned by Astor from an adjacent building, turned on, illuminating the impressive glass door of the Hall. It opened, and the Dinosorceror stepped out, sporting a satin black tunic with sparkling gold trim. He approached a weathered podium, and smiled at it fondly before adjusting the microphone. "This stand has seen a lot of claws," he said to himself, but the microphone picked it up. "Ahem. Greetings, fellow Fairbanxians. I'm sure you all know I'm the Dinosorceror. I'm sure you know about the fine line of products that Lava Dome IV produces, from the ever-popular Dinosorceror Freeze, to RaptaTape, to CoeloCords. But we at Lava Dome IV Enterprises...well, we want to give something more to the people of the world. Your...well, to be frank, your purchases have made us rather wealthy. So we're putting that money into snazzy spandex uniforms, cool new gadgets, and we're going to be this world's first superheroes!" The crowd made a few coughing sounds, and someone in the back snickered. Dino wasn't sure, but he thought it was Astor. Dino slumped his clawhands on the stand, and sighed roughly. "Okay, and inside every LD4 Hall O'Justice is a Wee-D's, for the finest in fast food. Tonight, all the Kruftyburgers are on the house." The crowd suddenly came to life, and started to push towards the entrance when a bolt of red light shot down from overhead, incinerating a spot just to the left of Dino. He blinked a few times, then saw that a metallic sphere the size of a grapefruit had shot to the ground. As he approached, a deep raspy voice spoke, seemingly coming from everywhere. "This is but a small sample of what is to come, Dinosorceror," the voice thundered, sounding especially sarcastic on Dino's name. "Soon, Lava Dome IV will fall, as will YOU, Dinosorceror!" The usual tyrannical laughter followed, and the sphere glowed red. It seemed to shrink in upon itself, but leaving a sphere of glowing energy in its place. It was like it melted through the ground, and as Dino leaned over the crater, he saw that the sphere just kept falling and falling down further into the Earth. Once the glow and voice had subsided, the crowd collectively shrugged and started towards the entrance again. Helvetica fought the crowd to stand by Dino, holding some measuring instruments. "That's really odd," Helvetica said. Dino was too busy looking at Foofer's spandex zebra superhero outfit to pay too much attention to what Foofs said. After the crowd had had their fill of free Kruftyburgers at the Wee-D's inside the Hall O'Justice, Dino and Astor were sweeping up. "I think I need a bodyguard," Dino mumbled to himself. Astor let his broom handle drop to the floor with a thwack. "Oh, and what am I?" He proceeded to flex his muscles, veins bulging in his thick and pendulous arms. Dino gave him a look. "Oh, _you?_ Yeah, right. Look, it's Godzilla, and he's 30% larger!" he said, pointing. Astor dropped his voguing and immediately started to drool. "Where, where?" "See what I mean? You're as useless as me in situations like that. No, what I need is someone who isn't phased by size. Someone who deals with giant stuff every day." "Shut up and tell me where Godzilla is!" Astor shouted. ----------------------------- Oh, we're going back again... ----------------------------- December 4th, 1995 Warminster, Pennsylvania, US of A, PD of Q The evil rex who had gained the power of the 4-D Lens had wasted no time in using its power for his own evil purposes. He had amassed all the wealth of his neighborhood, reducing his neighbors to microbes in the process. He was sitting in his now gigantic bedroom, counting his money and plotting his next endeavor when a wrinkled, grey-robed figure appeared before him in a flash of light. A moment later, two more similar figures appeared to either side of the first. "You have been found guilty of abusing the power of the Dinosorcerors," the withered parasaur on the left spoke. The rex sneered at them, and grasped for his pendant...but it was gone! The one on the right raised his clawhand, and it dangled from it. Finally, the central aged figure spoke. "We will now right all the wrongs you have performed. And as your punishment...well, just don't do it again." In a few flashes of blue, the rex found himself sitting alone in his bedroom, as if the whole episode had not happened. "Curse you, Dinosorcerors! If it takes the last ounce of my strength, I will destroy you all!" he shouted. "Hey, shut the hell up!" a neighbor yelled from outside his window. ------------------------------------ And back yet again to the present... ------------------------------------ Dino wasn't too enthused about the way things were going at the Hall O'Justice. None of the "superheroes" were called to any sorts of emergencies. Not one robbery, not one fire, not one cat up a tree even. "I guess it's like nuke weapons...just the threat keeps stuff in line," Dino mused to himself. He found himself in the Olde City part of Fairbanx. Most of it was pretty battered, as past LD4 escapades usually laid waste to large sections of the city. The demolition and renovation business was booming in Faibanx. And what an enjoyable business it was to watch! For Dino, anyway -- the cheapest way to level a building was to hire someone who could get big or was big, and smash it down. He stood in front of the old City Hall building. It was just four or five stories tall...now. It had been thirty before certain past events kinda chopped it off. Now the entire block was fenced off, and signs reading STORMFRONT DEMOLITION CO were spaced at regular intervals. Dino smiled widely as a hundred-foot-tall draconian hermaphrodite came around from behind it, wearing little more than a tight-fitting T-shirt and a toolbelt. Hir claws thumped pleasantly on the ground as sie surveyed the building with a cautious eye. Hir employees were scampering around inside the fenced area, taking readings of structural integrity while avoiding hir gigantic tread. Dino assumed that the massive dragon was Stormfront hirself. Dino found himself sitting down on a bench right across the street from the building, eyeing the powerful legs and feet of the obsidian draconian as sie moved around, talking to hir workers below. Hir wings occasionally unfurled a bit, and Dino got the feeling sie was anticipating the demolition as much as he was. Dino's dreamy gaze was interrupted when he heard shouting from the far side of the building. Stormfront looked down, almost annoyed, then fear widened hir eyes. "Back, everyone back!" sie shouted, and Dino had to cover his ears. The backside of the building had already begun to collapse, apparently weakened sufficiently by Stormfront's heavy steps. Sie looked around frantically, trying to account for all hir workers, then saw that one had been hit in the head by a falling brick, and lay unconscious in the wake of the crumbling ediface. "No!" sie shouted, and braced her body against the building. It didn't take well to being grabbed and shaken, and it began to disintegrate in hir grasp...a rain of huge, deadly debris was going to rain down on hir fallen worker regardless! In desperation, she shoved the building away with her chest, pulverizing it. Looking down, hir worker was now safe...but sie gasped as sie realized sie has just sent a deadly rain of debris on the far side, outside the confines of the fenced-in block...right where Dino was sitting. Stormfront couldn't see if anyone on the far side of the building was going to be hurt, but sie called for assistance regardless. "REVANCHE!" Dino was barely conscious that the crumbling remains of a building were about to end his lil' life, when a huge blue toe tipped with a giant black claw seemed to appear from nowhere, filling his vision. After coughing for almost a minute as a cloud of dust rolled over the street, it finally cleared...and he could see what the toe was attached to. The creature that had blocked the deadly rain of debris was a titanic nanotyrannus, with blue and violet scale patterns. Dino could only see hints of her zebra-colored mane from his vantage point. It had only taken a split second to reach such a modest size, but Revanche called upon her magic to grow sufficiently large enough to block the little man on the bench from the collapsing rubble which she effortlessly bounced off her back, sliding back inside the fenced-in area. Still, the effort of attaining that size so fast had left her a bit drained, and she was panting as Stormfront stomped up from behind and dusted off her back and mane. "Oh, my God," Stormfront rumbled. "Has anyone been hurt?" Revanche panted and shook her head as she stared down at the tiny parasaur from high above. She pointed him out to Stormfront, swallowing and taking another breath of air. Stormfront guided Revanche to an upright position. "The City Council is going to hear about this one. I was assured that that building was sound!" After glancing over Revanche again, making sure she wasn't injured, Stormfront turned and lowered hir head, eyeing the parasaur, who for some reason hadn't moved an inch off the bench. Sie did notice that the parasaur's little eyes seemed to widen the closer sie lowered hir muzzle to him. "My God, the poor thing is paralyzed with fear," sie said softly. "Sir, I deeply apologize for this accident. I can assure you that I will personally be taking steps to make sure this never happens again. If there is anything, anything I can do for you, it is yours." The Dinosorceror finally blinked the dust from his eyes. He hadn't heard much of what Stormfront said, except for "taking steps." He stammered, "I..." "Yes?" Stormfront asked. "I..." "Yes?" "I...I want her as my bodyguard," Dino stammered, pointing to one of Revanche's toes. --------------------------------------- No, I promise...no temporal shift here. --------------------------------------- "So what's her name?" Astor asked, looking over the new recruit eagerly. Revanche was wearing a black leather bikini and shorts, but even they left little to the imagination. "She's called Revanche," Dino said as she stood next to him, her arms folded across her chest. "She's got powers and...stuff." Revanche didn't flinch any of her twelve-foot-tall form. "Doesn't speak much, does she?" Jenn asked. Dino just shrugged. "Does it matter? She's almost naked! And she saved my life, and...well, just look at her! She's like a female Lurch." "She's like a cigar store indian," Helvetica chuckled. Revanche gazed in Foofs' direction, and he quickly covered his eyes with his tailfloof. "Stormfront just said she would be my protector from now on. For free! Man, I thought slavery was outlawed. Well, sie said that if it wasn't for me, sie wouldn't have such a lucrative business, so..." "I still fail to see how she saved you," Astor said. "I mean, she's not that big...how could she shield you from that falling building?" Dino smiled. "Revanche, show 'em your stuff." Revanche took a breath, and remained still. Dino nudged her. "C'mon! Get big enough so I can't even see over your toes." Revanche rolled her eyes. "She may be your protector, but she's not your little stompy-toy, wee boy," Jenn mused. Dino grumped. "Well, she _can_ grow. Honest! Stormfront told me that the faster she grows, the faster she runs out of steam. Sie said that if she took her time growing, the sky's the limit!" "Just try and keep her out of my things," Jenn said, turning. "Now...who will I take to the funroom today? Ares, Aladdin, or Jason..." she mumbled as she headed off down the hallway. Dino sighed a bit. "Well, did you find out any more about that thing last night, Foofs?" he asked Helvetica. Foofers shrugged. "Not much more than we already knew. I'm quite certain it was an adaptation of one of our own products." "But...how can that be?" Dino asked. Foofers rolled his eyes. "Maybe because we put Lens chips in every shrink-wrapped product that we sell, you nimrod! Anyone can buy them. But that thing last night...it was definitely seriously mutated." Suddenly, the ground began to rumble. All sorts of biblical end-of-the-world noises could be heard outside. "DINOSORCEROR!" a voice boomed. Everyone ran outside the Hall O'Justice, as did just about everyone else in Faibanx. Another sphere had appeared, but this one was a wee bit bigger--about half a mile wide, and was hovering on the outskirts of town. The image of a T. rex's toothy muzzle appeared on the side. "Ah, there you are, you little microbe," the rex sneered. "I've waited a long, long time to amass this power...and now I can finally have revenge on those who took my power from ME!" Dino shrugged at the giant visage. "And who the hell do you think you are?" "My name, you little flea, is Tyrannix...and I was once a great and powerful Dinosorceror like you, until the Council took my powers from me! Now I shall destroy all you hold dear, and your power shall be mine!" "Well, technically, it's Jenn who's got the power in my household, and--" Tyrannix didn't pay attention. "You tasted the power of my test LensBomb last night, but now you shall witness its full potential! This LensBomb will not stop until it reaches the Earth's core!" "What is it with villains always going for the Earth's core?" Foofers asked. Everyone shrugged. "Farewell, Dinosorceror!" Tyrannix shouted, and did some more stereotypical evil maniacal laughter before the giant LensBomb sphere activated. The silver globe quickly shrank away into a singularity, leaving a giant red globe that fell to the earth...with no impact whatsoever. The terrain it touched simply shrank away into the singularity, so the sphere started to drill a half-mile wide cylinder down into the Earth. "And...this is supposed to hurt me?" Dino asked, when suddenly a violent quake ripped through the city, shattering windows. Astor watched as Revanche scanned for threats, then her eyes started to glow a bit. Dino looked at Revanche, too. "Now, take it nice and slow, Revanche...if you're going to fix tectonics, you're going to have to be nice and big..." Astor rolled his eyes, but was then entranced by the slow growth of the nanotyrannus. Revanche kept her eyes on the Dinosorceror, making sure none of the quakes that rocked the area injured him. Revanche's feet were as big as the Dinosorceror when Jenn shouted, "We've got to find out where Tyrannix is, and stop him!" above the din of the quakes. Astor and Helvetica followed Jenn inside the Hall O'Justice, while Dino stayed quite firmly near Revanche's ever-growing foot. Helvetica and Jenn went to the main computer, which was having a little fit over the earthquakes around it. "Computer, we need to see all the records of LD4 sales over the history of the company, sorted by amount!" Foofers shouted, and the computer started to generate a list. While Jenn and Helvetica's eyes were glued to the screen, awaiting the report, Astor's gaze was in the opposite direction. He could see Revanche's form quite well through the plexiglass-enclosed Hall. The gridwork emphasized her growth as well...one moment, her knee was only four beams high. In another moment, it was well into the ceiling grid. By the time the report was done, Helvetica had to hit Astor to stop him from staring at Revanche's heel-claw, which now hung over the glass ceiling of the Hall like the bow of the Titanic. "Astor, you idiot!" Jenn skreed. "Why didn't you ever tell us about this?" Astor, still a bit in a daze, looked glazedly at the computer display. "According to the computer, 35% of all LD4 shipments have been going to this one address in Pennsylvania!" "Er...der...um, so? So? Sales are good!" Astor stammered, and turned to look up at Revanche's heel-claw again, but it was gone. All he could see now was the dark blue side of one of her toes. "That's _not_ good! You should've known something was up!" Helvetica added. "This explains how Tyrannix got all his Lens material. But how does he know about the Dinosorcerors, and why is he so pissed off at them? We've never even heard of him before!" A huge THOOM shook the Hall O'Justice, and this time everyone looked up to see the toe of Revanche, big as the sky, lift...revealing a vast sole. By the time they ran outside, Revanche had taken several more titanic footsteps towards the crater formed by Tyrannix's LensBomb. Dino was standing just about where he had been, which was now on an elevated section of crumbling concrete beside Revanche's footprint. "What's she doing?" Jenn asked. "Does it matter?" Dino replied. Even as they spoke, they could all see Revanche getting bigger and bigger. She bowed her head and concentrated, and appeared to be using her power up in a final burst of growth. Astor estimated her height to be in the tens of thousands of feet. She stepped carefully outside the town, knowing that her toeclaws were now much taller than any structure built by the microscopic creatures in her tread. She could just make out the Hall O'Justice, a tiny glittering fleck in the grey stretch of city darkened by her shadow. With a few more earth-shaking footsteps, she placed her feet on either side of the now golf-ball sized hole the LensBomb had made. She could even still see a little red dot in the center of it. The dot wasn't the Bomb, though...it was a rising column of magma. She looked around, now able to see the curve of the Earth easily. She grunted, the sound carried for hundreds of miles, as her growth came to a stop. Shaking her muzzle to brush away the clouds, she saw that the column of magma was nearing the surface. She reached down and dug her fingerclaws deep under the base of one of the nearby mountains, and with a small amount of effort, freed it from the Earth, setting it gently (relatively) beside her. Astor walked over to Dino, who was as glued to the spectacle Revanche was providing as much as he was. "Dino?" he asked. "Yes?" he replied quickly. "It's time's like this...that I'm proud to be a member of Lava Dome Four." The others noticed that Revanche's muzzle was grinding and moving oddly. A few moments later, they discovered why. The ground trembled violently again, and a red glow could be seen between Revanche's titanic footclaws. She lowered her muzzle between her knees...and spit. A glob of spittle the likes of which the universe had never seen before detached from Revanche's lips, and fell like a liquid mountain to meet the rising magma. An explosion of spit and steam ensued, and a plume of Revanche's spit spattered across the edge of the city, flooding several homes but luckily not injuring anyone. Revanche stood up to her full unimaginable height as the steam dissipated, and twisted around to reach for the loosened mountain she had placed conveniently nearby. For the past minute, Palanth (who had been awakened by the tremors and naturally assumed LD4 was the source) had been standing behind the Hall O'Justice, trying to get the attention of the smaller reptilians on the other side by roaring and beating his wings, which ordinarily would command a HELL of a lot of respect. "Just what in Paladine's name is going on here, Dinosorceror?" he thundered angrily. As the steam cleared, however, he saw what all the commotion was about. "Well, hello..." he smirked. Revanche looked down at the tiny lump of cooling magma in the lake of spittle between her clawed feet. Smiling, she happily shifted the mountain she had loosened over the little puddle, and then sat down on it happily, proud of her handiwork. "I have to admit," Jenn chrred, "the girl has class." Astor finally turned around, and noticed Palanth looming behind them. "Oh, hey, look who's here!" "Hey, Palanth!" Dino shouted. "See, there was this evil Tyrannix guy, and..." Palanth didn't pay much attention to the people below him now. With a wide grin on his face, he flapped his wings a few times to get airborne, then headed off to Revanche, who noticed his approach with curiousity. Dino pulled up his tunic belt. "Well, that should improve my standing with Palanth a few notches, don't you think? C'mon...let's go pinpoint the location of this Tyrannix joker." Jenn, Dino, Foofers and Astor found the address of Tyrannix, who Dino wasn't suprised to learn lived where he used to in other dimensions. They decided to wait until morning, though, since Revanche was still big...obviously, Palanth was keeping her occupied. It was hard to tell exactly what they were doing in the darkness, however, since even a wriggle of Revanche's toes overpowered all other sounds in the city at her feet. Palanth, who now seemed to be in quite the pleasant mood, offered to fly the five to Pennsylvania. They discovered the ruins of Tyrannix's house, but there was no sign of Tyrannix himself. "So he lives to annoy us another day," Dino sighed, kicking through the ruins of his parallel's home. "I smell something evil around here, though...something I've smelled before." ----------------------------- One more transition, folks... ----------------------------- Tyrannix had taken refuge in his makeshift Fortress of Solitude, somewhere in interior Pennsylvania. "GodDAMN that Dinosorceror! It'll take me another three YEARS to amass enough of his accursed Lens scraps to make another LensBomb that size! I've got to think of another way to get that main Lens from him..." "Perhaps...I can help," a voice came from behind. Tyrannix picked up a gun, and turned to face the intruder. The shadowy figure walked around the dark, dank Fortress. "Somehow, I don't think the name Fortress of Solitude is fitting anymore, since you aren't alone...now." "Who...who are you? Don't move, or I'll shoot!" Tyrannix growled. "Oh, please. I'm a kindred spirit! I'm one who was destroyed by a Dinosorceror, too. You're a brother!" the now evidently feminine voice stated. "And why do I need YOUR help?" Tyrannix spat, dropping his aim. "Because," the slim, three-horned figure said as she stepped into the light. "I'VE got the key to that toe-licker's downfall." ---------- Dinosorceror, Administrator Lava Dome IV Enterprises -----THIS MESSAGE WAS SENT FROM A LAVA DOME FOUR MAILING LIST------ To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE listname in body to listserver@ld4.com To unsubscribe: UNSUBSCRIBE listname in body to listserver@ld4.com Current LD4 lists: LD4 -- Main list GAME -- Online games list Send list mail to: (listname)@ld4.com (e.g. ld4@ld4.com) ------------------------------------------------------------------- ADMIN: dino@ld4.com WEB SITE: www.ld4.com FTP SITE: ftp.ld4.com