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Hey folks!

I know I said I wouldn't do more than 1 story at a time, but I just can't help myself! Maybe I'm crazy! :smt120 Anyway here's Episode I. I probably won't be updating this one as often because it will be a shorter story (about 6 episodes). Without further ado, here we go!

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EXIT: TITAN GIRL, ENTER: THE TITANESS


Episode I - Light in the Darkness

Tammy Jane Kramer, known to the citizens of Huron City, Michigan as Titan Girl, was lost. She opened her eyes and saw only darkness. There didn’t seem to be any floor or ceiling. Nothing solid, no points of reference. She just seemed to be floating. When the Dark Essence entered her young, teenaged body, there was the most excruciating pain she had ever experienced. She remembered screaming to the top of her lungs and then blackness.

“So, this is death. I thought I’d at least see a bright light or something!” the young heroine thought. “Still,” she thought, “at least it’s not the other place! But if I’m not in heaven or hell, then what is this place?” Suddenly, a calming feminine voice said, “Perhaps, I can answer that question for you, T.J.” T.J. was startled, as a shaft of light pierced the darkness. The light spoke, “Please don’t be afraid, I won’t harm you.”

“Are you an…angel?” asked T.J. The light laughed and answered, “No, my child. I am a created being, just like you. I once had a body, very similar to yours when I was your age, but that was many eons ago.” “Wait a minute, you’re the voice that spoke to me during my battle with Malthus, aren’t you?” T.J. inquired. “Yes, T.J., and I couldn’t be more proud of your victory!” the voice answered.

“Victory! What victory, I’m dead aren’t I??” exclaimed T.J. “Oh no, child!” said the voice, “I would never have allowed that to happen to you! Let me explain…” The light changed its form from a shaft of golden light into a tall, shapely woman with long, flowing golden blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. She was dressed in a pure white robe that left her right shoulder bare, and had a gold disc-shaped brooch, that bore the same sun symbol that Titan Girl wore on her chest, that fastened the front and back of the robe together at her left shoulder. A gold sash tied at her waist, cinched the robe and accented her hips. Her skin was flawless and almost seemed to possess a golden glow.

She smiled and introduced herself as L’Drianna. The amazon-like woman went on to explain that she was the last survivor of an expedition from another universe. Somehow her starship and all of its crew were swept through what she called a “cosmic fistula”, a temporary forced joining between two universes. Hers was a universe of energy, light and power, as physical matter had moved on to higher levels of existence. Her starship, outside of her universe, began to destabilize.

The ship came down on a distant world at the far edge of that universe. The crew began to die almost immediately, until the first one of them assimilated into an animal native to that planet. The travelers discovered that they could survive only in a symbiotic relationship with another living creature of whatever universe they were in.

The animals of the planet were not sentient beings, so the People of the Light, as they called themselves, were able to use the bodies of the animals to construct ships to travel to other worlds. They tried as hard as they could to return home, but even with their great power and wisdom, they could not seem to find the universe that they came from among the myriad universes available to them.

The People of the Light would change bodies when the old ones gave out, but had never joined with a sentient being without their consent. Eons passed and the People of the Light grew to be thought of as legends and even worshipped as gods. They did not approve of this practice, but could not deter most beings from it.

The People of the Light grew ancient and wise, but their powerful offspring, controlled by the desires of the flesh, had been left to their own devices. The offspring of these near godlike beings misused their great powers shamefully and too many served the powers of darkness. The People could stand no more and destroyed their wayward offspring to the last living being.

Exceedingly sorrowful for what they felt they had to do; The People decided that it would be better for them to pass into oblivion than to endanger the beings of this universe again by their procreation. They decided that one of their number should remain and pass on their wisdom and power only to beings with the purest of hearts. L’Drianna was chosen from among the 2,000 of The People for her purity, power, courage and wisdom. Though they were immortal, the others bade her farewell, passed “beyond” and were no more.

Over the millennia that passed, L’Drianna moved through the cosmos. She searched planet after planet, seeking the one upon whom she would endow her presence and power. On one particular planet, she had the misfortune to meet one of Malthus’ agents, who upon his return to the Ninth Realm, told his evil master about the golden apparition within the body she shared with a young woman. Malthus attempted on enlist this young woman in order to gain control of the powerful entity that dwelt within her.

Malthus sent an agent, a handsome rogue, to seduce the young lady into joining the ranks of his Master. The young woman, sensing the evil of his intent, shrank from him and he attacked her. L’Drianna empowered the young woman and she slew the minion of Malthus, but the evil Lord found out the information he needed, and began relentlessly pursuing her from planet to planet, galaxy to galaxy, universe to universe.

“Wow!” said T.J. “So this creep Malthus has been stalking you for, how long?” “Child, I have lost count of the universes he has chased me through and the galaxies & domains he’s dogged my heels across!” L’Drianna exclaimed, “But I think my search is finally over!” “Why do you say that, L’Drianna?” T.J. asked. “Because, child, I was drawn to your bloodline. I was about to reveal myself to your mother and offer her the gift I have given you.” L’Drianna answered.

“You knew…my mom??” T.J. asked. “Oh, yes, T.J.!” the powerful entity replied, “I watched her grow up, marry your father and give birth to you! I was about to approach her when the agents of Malthus sabotaged your parents’ car and murdered them. Fortunately, they had left you with your aunt Yolanda for the weekend, otherwise you also would have perished.”

“Malthus murdered my parents??” T.J. screamed through her tears, “And you let him?? How could you??” “T.J., there was nothing I could do!” L’Drianna cried, “The body I shared at that time was too frail to empower without killing her! Do you really think I would have let your mother and father die if I could have prevented it?” “No, I…I’m sorry, of course not, L’Drianna, it’s just that I miss them so much.” T.J. said weeping. L’Drianna floated over to T.J. and embraced her.

In the midst of the darkness, T.J. felt safe and loved in the soft glow of her presence. L’Drianna took T.J.’s face in her hands and wiped away her tears. “There now, child, don’t cry anymore.” She said, kissing T.J.’s forehead, “We will avenge your parents and the innocent souls Malthus has corrupted.” “How is that?” asked T.J., “The Dark Essence has possessed my body and…wait a minute, where the heck are we anyway?” L’Drianna laughed and said, “You know now don’t you?” “Yes, we’re still in my body but the Dark Essence doesn’t know it, right?” T.J. said with a smile.

“Exactly!” L’Drianna said triumphantly, “We are in your brain! As you know 90% of the capacity of the human brain goes unused. We are hiding in that vastness, that’s why it’s so dark here. The Dark Essence occupied only the part that is being used! Malthus thinks he has won, but I have been influencing the decisions of the Dark Essence’s persona who calls herself Eclipse. I have a plan to eradicate the Dark Essence from our body and give Malthus a surprise he’ll never forget! Here’s what we’re going to do…”

*****

Huron City University, Particle Physics Special Projects Lab

Dr. Yolanda Kramer felt like all hope was lost. Tammy Jane/Titan Girl had sacrificed her humanity to save her and her sister, Doris, formerly The Green Devil, from death at the hands of the evil Malthus, Lord of the Ninth Realm (see Enter: Titan Girl). Now, T.J. was the villainous Eclipse, a dark servant of Malthus, made so by the possession of her body by The Dark Essence. Yolanda had sadly pondered these events over the last week and kept her mind from slipping into depression by spending all her time either helping to restore her lab or sharing special moments with her “resurrected” sister, Doris.

Doris had spent most of her time attempting to reacclimatize herself to everyday life, which wasn’t easy with green skin! Doris, or Dee-Dee, as she preferred to be called, hadn’t really shown her face yet in public. If she did go out, most often at night, she usually wore a large wide-brimmed hat, big sunglasses, gloves, knee-length boots and an overcoat long enough to cover her entire body.

Dee-Dee had discovered that there were residual effects from being The Green Devil. The super-strength she possessed was still present. While she was not as strong as Titan Girl, she still had 12 times the strength of the strongest of mortals. Her green skin was incredibly resilient and able to withstand most firearms without penetration. Her power over green energy was still hers to command. She could still fly, even without her wings, which dissolved away when the Dark Essence was drained by Eclipse.

Dee-Dee had decided that if it was necessary, she would fight the dreaded scourge of Eclipse, even if it meant her death. Yolanda at first protested the thought of possibly losing her sister again, but then she thought it a splendid idea. The oath that Titan Girl made Malthus swear was binding for all eternity, that nothing and no one he commanded would ever harm either of them. If this oath was broken, Titan Girl/T.J. would be free!

The two sisters sat in Yolanda Kramer’s office adjacent to the lab discussing strategy. “And you’re absolutely sure that T.J. would be free of this horrible existence if the oath was broken in any way?” asked Yolanda. “100% sure, Yo-Yo!” Dee-Dee replied, “Malthus word is his bond! He may try to trick you into releasing him from it, but he must honor his word! Otherwise, every contract he’s ever tricked, connived or confused someone into would be null and void and he knows it! He’d lose many thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of souls! He would never risk that kind of loss of power and influence, no matter how powerful this entity might be!”

“Good! I was hoping you’d say something like that!” Yolanda said, “Now all we have to do is try to be wherever Eclipse is when she reappears and get in her way each time! If we do that, we’d force her to stop or hurt us! If she harms either one of us, T.J. will be free and so will Titan Girl!” “For the world’s sake, I hope you’re right, Yo-Yo!” said Dee-Dee, “Otherwise we may be in a world of hurt for nothing! You didn’t feel the impact of that girl’s body! Wow! I thought Titan Girl packed a wallop! This chick pulls no punches and she wasn’t trying to hurt me!” Yolanda answered, “Think we’re on the right track, Dee-Dee! I just wish we knew where she’d pop up first!”

*****

The Ninth Realm, Home of Lord Malthus

“ECLIPSE! I SUMMON YOU! APPEAR BEFORE ME!” said Malthus. Eclipse flew into the huge chamber that was Malthus’ throne room. It was a monstrous cavern, illuminated by bright flickering fires that seemed to burn from the stones themselves. The glowing eyes of chittering creatures peered out from dark places between the rocks, stalagmites and stalactites. A river of molten rock flowed around the huge high throne in the center of the room. There were passages that led into dark, foreboding places all around the massive room. Voices could be heard echoing in those places; voices that wailed, screamed, pleaded and begged.

Eclipse landed on the other side of the river of fire, near her new master’s throne. As she landed, she knelt before the throne, her eyes lowered. “I come in answer to your summons my Lord Malthus!” said Eclipse, “What is thy will, my Master?” A huge ball of flame flew into the great chamber and impacted the throne with the sound of a thunderclap. Lord Malthus had arrived. “Rise my child! Look into the eyes of your Master!” he said. “I dare not, my Lord!” she replied, “I am unworthy to gaze upon thy powerful visage!” “Oh, stop that claptrap and stand up girl!” said Malthus laughing, “We save that ‘thee and thou’ nonsense for the mortals!”

Eclipse stood and looked up into Malthus eyes. He was a fearful and wondrous sight to behold. If he were standing, he would have been nearly 8 to 10 feet tall, from his cloven hoofed feet to the top of his ram horned head. His eyes were like the huge red eyes that formed in the lab the day Eclipse was birthed by the Dark Essence, smoldering like coals of fire. From his massive back, huge dark bat-like wings with red tips grew out and spread their awesome shadows against the flickering brightness of the burning stones. His head sported two huge ram-like horns that started at his dusky-skinned forehead and looped around his head and ears to point back out toward his face. His face was colored a dark grey with a coal black Errol Flynn mustache, paired with a dark red goatee type beard that extended 3 to 4 inches from his bottom lip.

His body was covered in a red chain mail armor except for four noticeable places: his wide shoulders, which sported black plate armor coverings with red spikes and a red metal chain connecting them in the front; his chest, which had an articulated black metal breastplate with red metal inserts; his waist, on which he wore a huge leather belt; and his huge hands, on which he wore black and red metal plate mail gauntlets that covered his whole hand.

“So, my dear, how do you like your new home?” Malthus asked. “Oh Master, it’s wondrous!” Eclipse replied, “The tortures, the screams are music to my ears!” Malthus laughed heartily and said, “Yes, my little minion! The suffering of the human soul does inspire one doesn’t it? I have summoned you here to meet she who will instruct you in the ways of combat and terror, so that when you return to the Earth realm you will be invincible!” “Yes my Lord!” she said with glee, “I welcome the chance to learn all about this realm and the secrets of the Dark Essence! I can feel its power coursing through me! Will she teach me this also, my Lord?” “Oh, yes child! Lady DeathRaven will teach you all you need to know!” answered Malthus.

Just then a knock came at the great doors to the massive chamber. “ENTER!” bellowed Malthus. The huge doors swung open and Lady DeathRaven strode toward the throne. “Eclipse, this is your headmistress, Lady DeathRaven!” he said, “My lady, this is your new pupil, Eclipse!”

Lady DeathRaven was a striking woman with long flowing hair, which came almost to her waist and as black as a raven’s wing. Her eyes were like Eclipse’s own, completely black, filled with the Dark Essence. She stood about 5’9” and weighed 135 pounds.

She was dressed in a shiny black PVC leotard, which had a plunging v-shaped neckline. The area exposed by the neckline had sheer black fabric that covered it and extended up to her neck. She wore shimmering opaque tights with no footwear and a black cloak. To her right thigh she had a razor sharp 12 inch machete strapped. It had a handle with sharp gleaming metal spikes extending out of it. The sight of the machete made Eclipse smile. “Now this is a teacher I could learn a lot from!” thought Eclipse.

Lady DeathRaven leaped into the air and somersaulted over the flaming lava moat that surrounded Malthus’ throne. As she landed, DeathRaven noticed how Eclipse was eyeing her weapon. Roxanne DeWitt a.k.a. Lady DeathRaven, smiled and raised her eyebrow. “So, I see you like my little pocket knife, my dear.” she said in a low sultry tone. “Yes my lady, very much! May I touch it?” said Eclipse. “Later, little one!” DeathRaven answered, “Much later! You must stand before you can fly!”

“No I don’t!” Eclipse shot back with a pout, “I can fly now!” Eclipse took flight and circled the throne. “Impressive, but can you fight as well as you fly?” asked DeathRaven. Eclipse stopped her flight and hung in the air. Her eyes smoldered and she replied, “Are you sure you want to find out?” DeathRaven grinned evilly and replied, “Oh absolutely, baby girl! Bring it!”

Eclipse growled and moved at super speed toward DeathRaven, but when she arrived above the spot where she was a split second earlier, she was gone! Eclipse was struck a superhuman blow from behind, and though her force shield protected her from injury, she streaked downward at incredible velocity and impacted the ground with a force that shook the huge cavern. Malthus sat back to enjoy the spectacle unfolding before his throne with a smile.

Eclipse recovered quickly, but not quickly enough! DeathRaven grasped her by the back of the neck and held her in a grip of iron. “Lesson one, little girl: The best way to avoid a blow is not to be there when it arrives!” hissed DeathRaven. The demonic dare doll spun Eclipse at an unbelievable speed and then released her, sending her flying into the cavern ceiling. Eclipse was so completely surprised by the speed of the attack that her shield didn’t even pop on and she slammed into the ceiling of the cavern full force!

As she fell toward the floor, stunned, DeathRaven stepped forward and caught her. “You are powerful, little one, I’ll give you that much, but you are very naïve!” said DeathRaven holding her by the throat, “I will give you the thing you are sadly lacking in right now, training and experience! Unless you still think you don’t need it and we can continue this little exercise!” “No my lady!” choked Eclipse, “Please, I beg you, teach me everything!” DeathRaven smiled and dropped Eclipse on her shiny hosed derriere.

Malthus laughed and said, “Did I not tell you Roxanne? Is she not all I have said she would be?” “Yes my Lord, she has marvelous potential!” admitted DeathRaven, “But she still has much to learn!” “Then proceed by all means, my lady!” replied Malthus, “We have much to do!” “Yes my Lord, immediately!” she responded. “Come with me, baby girl!” said DeathRaven with a sly grin, “We’ve got a whole lot of work to do!” “Will it be as hard as this first lesson?” asked Eclipse, as she stood up. DeathRaven laughed heartily and replied, “Oh no, my young pupil! From now on, it’s gonna get a lot worse!” Eclipse gulped.

TO BE CONTINUED…in Episode II - The Return of Eclipse!

I'm real glad you continued this story. I was wondering what happened to Titan Girl after her last fight. As usual, another brilliantly written chapter. Thoroughly entertaining!

Alright Titian Girl is back!

No excuses, just enjoy!! 8)


Episode II – The Return of Eclipse!

The Ninth Realm, the Domain of Lord Malthus

It had been a harrowing 6 months since Eclipse, formerly Titan Girl, had begun her training under the tutelage of DeathRaven, the lead servant of Lord Malthus, ruler of the Ninth Realm. During this time the young dark servant had learned many types of fighting moves, how to use the power of the Dark Essence to gain advantage in battle and the intricacies of beguiling humans into compromising positions to make them yield up control of their souls and then kill them before they had a chance to be redeemed. Eclipse relished that part of the training.

One day, during the first part of her instruction, DeathRaven took Eclipse to her own domain in the realm. Eclipse was eager to see what Malthus gave his special servants, as she was hoping to become one of them herself. As they entered the vicious dominatrix’ domicile, Eclipse sensed something wasn’t right. Then suddenly, “RRRAWWRRR!” A dark figure leaped from one of the many shadows, and attacked Eclipse. She fought with every ounce of her strength and was gaining an edge against the creature. It tried several times to bite her throat but missed by only a fraction of an inch each time.

The main attack was from her claws. Eclipse had never felt anything so sharp. Eclipse’s own talons were not as razor edged as these. Even though her skin was invulnerable, she could still feel the unbelievable penetrating power of these instruments of pain. The attack lasted for several minutes, with Eclipse always on the defensive. The sleek creature never let up and gave Eclipse no time to breathe, much less mount an offense.

Finally, DeathRaven shouted, “Enough! Gina, come!” The ferocious creature stopped her attack instantly and quickly moved to her mistress’ side. Eclipse could finally catch her breath and see who or what her attacker was. She looked like a sleek beautiful animal. Her hair was red as fire and pulled back into a pony tail that hung down between her shoulder blades as DeathRaven stroked it. She had three small hoop earrings in each ear, one side gold and the other silver. Her eyes were even scarier that Eclipse’s own; dead black with glowing red pupils that seemed to peer into one’s very soul. Her full red lips surrounded a mouth with the sharpest set of fangs she’d ever seen.

She was covered, neck to toe, in a sheer shiny black bodystocking with her private areas barely covered by shiny black PVC material forming two side panels for her breasts and a bikini panty. Around her neck was an iron grey metal collar with a loop for attaching a chain or a leash. On her chest was a red tattoo of a winged serpent which extended from her mid-chest, at the serpent’s head, just below her collarbone, the double curved wings across both breasts, and the winding body, ending below her navel.

“So, Mistress who’s your nasty little friend?” asked Eclipse. DeathRaven laughed and replied, “This is my pet, Gina. I call her my little Death Angel, don’t I my darling?” Gina made a purring sound and rubbed against her thigh as DeathRaven stroked just under her ear. “I didn’t know we were allowed human pets, Mistress.” said Eclipse. “As you will see, many things are allowed for me that are not allowed for others, my young pupil.” she replied. Eclipse smiled and moved near DeathRaven, which caused a deep throaty growl from Death Angel.

“No Gina! Don’t hurt her! Not now, anyway. She’s my new pupil!” explained DeathRaven. “MRRRR??” said Gina. DeathRaven sighed, “I’m teaching her. Do not harm her unless I tell you to. Understand?” Death Angel nodded, rose and slinked toward Eclipse. Gina sniffed her and laid her head in her lap. “Pet her or she may bite you.” DeathRaven whispered. Eclipse smiled and gently stroked her silky red hair. She purred. “I think she likes you! I’m surprised!” said DeathRaven, “She usually doesn’t warm up to people until the second time she attacks them! If they survive the first one that is.”

“She’s adorable when she’s not trying to kill you!” Eclipse replied jokingly. “Oh yes,” DeathRaven agreed, “She can be very…affectionate when she wants to be. Can’t you my sweet?” Death Angel stood from her kneeling position, rubbed her cheek against Eclipse’s, licked her face and went back to DeathRaven, curling up in her lap like a kitten.

Five months had passed since then, as it is measured in the Earth realm. Since that time, Eclipse had not only become a more proficient fighter, but unfortunately, a more proficient dark minion of Malthus. She had lured 20 men into her deadly embrace. Beguiling them with sweet promises and lustful bargains until they succumbed to her charms; then she would lure them to some secluded place and mutilate them with her sharp claws and teeth, feeding herself with their life-force, their flesh and their blood.

DeathRaven was extremely pleased with her progress, but seemed jealous of the growing fondness her pet, Gina, was developing with Eclipse. Death Angel spent many hours, when she was not out hunting her prey, for her mistress’ amusement, affectionately playing with Eclipse. Finally, one day Eclipse came to DeathRaven and asked, “Why does Death Angel look so familiar? It’s almost as if I know her from somewhere.”

Roxanne aka DeathRaven smiled wickedly and called Gina to her. When Gina came to her and knelt beside her, Roxanne said, “Maybe this will jog your memory, Eclipse. Gina, my pet, sing for us.” Gina closed her eyes and sang. It was a song without words, just sound, but it was the most beautiful thing Eclipse had ever heard. Gina’s siren-like song was bewitching, almost lulling one into trance like state. DeathRaven telepathically told Gina to attack Eclipse once her song was done.

Death Angel did what she was told. RAWRRRARWRR! “Gina, stop!” exclaimed Eclipse, as she parried Death Angel’s sharp clawed strikes, “Why are you…It’s you isn’t it, Mistress? You’re testing me!” “Yes, this is your final exam, my dear!” replied Roxanne, “If you can defeat my Death Angel, you will have passed and be ready to return to Earth for our Master. Only she can penetrate your invulnerable skin with her fangs and claws.” “And if I lose?” asked Eclipse. “Then dinner is served! HAHAHAHAHAHA!” laughed DeathRaven.

Gina leapt off Eclipse and began to circle her, licking her fangs. “This is not going to be easy!” she thought, “I must not be prey! I must be the hunter!” Eclipse roared and leapt for Gina. Death Angel was thrown off guard and Eclipse clawed Gina’s chest and abdomen. Gina yowled in pain, backing away from her as she continued to advance.

Then Death Angel disappeared and reappeared behind Eclipse ripping into her back, but catching only the cape in the first strike. The second caught Eclipse, but was not a full strike due to the cape and Eclipse’s lightning fast reaction. Eclipse was hurt and bleeding, but didn’t let on that she was injured too badly.

Unfortunately, Gina smelled blood and this spurred her the more. Gina, using the wall as a springboard, tried to fall on Eclipse intending to rend her throat out, but Eclipse vanished just as her claws reached her. Death Angel growled scenting the air for Eclipse, but detected nothing. Suddenly, Eclipse fell from above directly onto Gina and rent her back deeply from her neck to her rounded derriere.

Gina screamed in pain; a sound that was unfamiliar to DeathRaven except when she punished Gina for misbehaving. Roxanne smiled and thought, “Yes, very good! Bring the battle to her! Make her fight your fight, just like I taught you!” Eclipse’s claw strike had hurt Death Angel to the point where she became angry and desperate. Gina began teleporting randomly trying to attack from several fronts.

Fortunately, Eclipse still remembered her training and sensed where Gina would appear and had her offense ready. Death Angel would appear from behind, Eclipse would respond with a back kick, knocking the wind out of Gina making her teleport and try again. Every time Gina would appear somewhere, Eclipse would be waiting with a kick, punch, head butt or claw strike. Finally, Gina was beaten and exhausted. Eclipse fell on her and sank her sharp teeth into her throat, tasting her blood. Gina yowled and then whimpered looking over at DeathRaven.

“Eclipse! That’s enough! You’ve won, baby girl! Congratulations!” praised DeathRaven. Eclipse licked Gina’s throat wound closed and stood up from her. She held out her hand to Gina and at first she cringed, fearing that Eclipse still meant her harm. Then Eclipse smiled and pulled Gina to her feet. Death Angel rubbed her cheek against Eclipse’s face, and then ran to her mistress. “Excellently done, my dear! You’re the first to pass the final exam!” Roxanne said walking toward her, “Most of my other pupils just end up feeding my little Angel!” “I can see why!” said Eclipse, “Gina’s hard to fight mostly because of her intimidating appearance and ferocity! She just doesn’t let up! But I finally figured out that you can’t let her hunt you, you’ll never win that way. You have to hunt her!”

“Exactly! You must always make your opponent fight your fight, never fight theirs!” replied Roxanne, “Now that you’ve tasted her, you know exactly who my little Angel of Death is, don’t you?” “Yes, she is, was Gina McBright.” Eclipse said, “The one was called the White Angel.” “Yes, my young pu…graduate!” said Roxanne, “She really pissed me off in the Earth realm and then ended up some kind of superheroine like Titan Girl!” Eclipse hissed loudly, “Don’t ever say that name in my presence!” “Hey, watch who you’re speaking to in that tone, little girl!” DeathRaven growled, “I am proud of you, but that doesn’t give you the right to take liberties! Remember, I taught you everything you know, not everything I know!”

Eclipse held her head down and said, “I’m sorry, Mistress. I meant no disrespect; I just can’t stand to hear that name anymore!” “I suppose I can understand that” said Roxanne, “It took a while to get used to DeathRaven or even Lady DeathRaven! I was used to Roxy or Roxanne! Anyway, Gina always thought she was such a diva that I was glad when she was dead. Then the Order decided to make her the White Angel. To make a long story short, I ended up in the hands of Malthus who gave me the Dark Essence, taught me to use it and gave me the means to get revenge on Gina once and for all!”

Roxanne continued, “Once I defeated her in combat, I filled her with Dark Essence and she became my slave.” “But how did she become an animal?” asked Eclipse. “Oh, that was the fun part!” said DeathRaven, “When we finally got back to the Ninth Realm, I tortured her for weeks on into months. Oh, the screams, the shrieks of pain and anguish, you should have heard them! It makes me tingle all over just to think of it! By the time I was finished with her, the personality that was Gina McBright was gone. She was a snarling, bloodthirsty beast! A fact that I exploited to the full. I began feeding her Malthus’ undesirables and training her to not only obey me, but to love me, to yearn for me when I was gone from her and to obey only my commands. Now she’s my faithful pet, aren’t you baby?” Gina held onto her leg, rubbing her cheek on her thigh, purring.

“Whoa! Remind me never to piss you off, OK?” asked Eclipse. “Not a problem, kid.” Roxanne replied with smile, “Come with me, my young friend, and let’s go see the Master. He’s got a lot of things planned for you to do on Earth!” As they turned to leave, Gina whined and picked up a chain from the ground. Eclipse said, “Aww, that’s so cute! I think she wants to come with us! Should we take her?” “Why not?” said Roxanne, “The Master hasn’t seen her for a long time! Come on, baby, come to Mommy! That’s my good girl!” Death Angel ran to her with glee and brought the chain with her. Lady DeathRaven attached the chain to her collar and the three of them walked through the dark foreboding corridors of the Ninth Realm toward the Throne Room of Malthus.

*****

Earth Realm, Huron City, MI

Dr. Yolanda Kramer was nervously pacing back and forth in the living room of her suburban home. Her sister, Doris “Dee-Dee” Kramer, had watched her for the last hour, pacing and biting her nails. Finally, Dee-Dee could stand it no longer. “Yo-Yo, would you please sit down! You’re gonna wear a groove in the floor and you’re driving me bonkers!” Dee-Dee said, “You pacing back and forth giving yourself an ulcer isn’t going to bring Eclipse back any faster, NOW SIT!” Yolanda sat down, but was uneasy and still bit her nails. “That evil girl should have been back by now, shouldn’t she? I mean, how long does it take to formulate a plan to conquer one planet?” said Yolanda.

“It depends on how Malthus wants it done, Yo-Yo!” replied Dee-Dee, “He may be training Eclipse in how to use the Dark Essence. It’s not an easy thing to master.” “Besides that, he may have had HER training Eclipse!” Dee-Dee said almost visibly trembling. “Who’s HER, Dee-Dee?” asked Yolanda. “Only the scariest female I ever met in the last 30 years, Yo-Yo.” answered Dee-Dee, “Her name is…Lady DeathRaven, and she’s Malthus top agent. They say she’s forgotten more ways to torture souls than most beings will ever know. I was being trained by her once. She put me though literal hell. Then, came the final exam.”

“She’s got a pet.” Dee-Dee continued, “She used to be human but you couldn’t tell by watching her. I think DeathRaven tortured the humanity out of her and turned her into a beast, her own pet beast.” “My God, that’s horrible!” gasped Yolanda. “Not as terrible as that thing’s claws and teeth.” said Dee-Dee, “The final was to survive the attack of this she-devil. I didn’t.” “I don’t understand Dee-Dee. “Yolanda said, “You’re here talking to me now. What happened?” “Well, this pet demon of hers attacked me.” Dee-Dee explained, “I have never felt anything so sharp in this world or any other than her claws and fangs. She snarled and growled and teleported all around me, grinning and ripping me to shreds! She killed me and then DeathRaven let her feed on me!”

Dee-Dee continued, “Malthus decided to give me another chance, so he drained some other poor soul and gave me their blood, thank God it was the same type, and restored me to life! After that I gave Lady DeathRaven and that pet of hers a wide berth! I didn’t want to be anywhere near that thing ever again!” “Wow! That’s incredible!” remarked Yolanda, “So you think Eclipse might be getting her training from that woman?” “Probably so, Yo-Yo.” replied Dee-Dee, “The ones that Malthus thinks are the best, he sends to her. But no one I‘ve ever heard of has ever passed the final exam! Eclipse may be dead!” “No, I don’t think so, Dee-Dee!” replied Yolanda, “It takes a special kind of evil to desire to claw, kill and devour you own aunt! If anybody can survive that woman’s training, it’s Eclipse!”

Suddenly a voice from the shadows at the end of the room spoke. “Thank you so much for the vote of confidence, dear auntie! I’m truly touched!” Than they heard the laugh. It was Eclipse. She stepped from the shadows holding a chain in her hand. “Doris, I brought someone to see you, someone you should remember!” said Eclipse gleefully, “Come on Gina, say hello!” Gina stepped into the light and Dee-Dee screamed, “THAT’S IT! THAT’S THE THING THAT KILLED ME!” Gina, seeing how terrified Dee-Dee was, licked her lips and grinned widely showing her razor sharp teeth.

“Relax, Dee-Dee! She can’t hurt you or don’t you remember that, Auntie Dum-Dum?” said Eclipse sarcastically. “What are you doing here, Eclipse?” asked Yolanda. “Now that’s the Auntie Yo I remember, always right to the point!” Eclipse joked. “I am not your Auntie Yo, T.J. is my niece and…” “DON’T EVER SAY THAT NAME IN MY PRESENCE!! I AM ECLIPSE NOW AND SHE IS DEAD!!” Eclipse shouted, her eyes smoldering. “Well, that struck a nerve didn’t it, Dee-Dee?” said Yolanda. “Y…Yeah, it sure did!” Doris answered, her eyes still transfixed on the sharp mocking smile of Death Angel.

“Could it be you can’t stand her name because Tammy Jane isn’t quite gone? That there’s some of her left in that body you stole?” asked Yolanda mockingly. Eclipse was enraged. Her eyes smoldered and nearly glowed red, but calmed after a moment and she replied softly, “You are very fortunate that neither I nor my little friend here can harm you or I’d be ripping your throat out right now!” “Oh yes, the promise! Well, don’t let that stop you!” Yolanda said, “Here I am, come and get it, sweetheart!” Yolanda grabbed a letter opener and cut her arm with it, letting the blood ooze down toward her wrist. “Don’t you want it?” she taunted, “Rich, red, warm blood? Come on, you know you want it! Come and get it, baby!” Eclipse looked at he blood flowing down Yolanda’s arm, but resisted the temptation.

Gina, however, was a different matter. She lurched forward grabbing for her arm. Eclipse shouted, “NO GINA!” She stopped in her tracks and lowered her head. Eclipse had never shouted at her before, her feelings were hurt. Eclipse walked over to Death Angel’s side, took her in her arms and stroked her shiny red hair. “Now see what you made me do? You made me yell at her!” said Eclipse. As Eclipse consoled her she said, “I’m sorry sweet girl, but you were going to hurt the bad lady and we can’t do that, but I’ll find someone for you eat! Yes, I will!” She looked at Yolanda and smiled wickedly and said, “That was very good Yolanda! You almost pulled it off! But that will cost you someone you hold dear. For instance…”

Eclipse waved her hand and a young man appeared before them. “What the heck…Professor Kramer? How did I get here?” the man asked. “TOBY! Run! Get out of here now!” shouted Yolanda. Her warning came too late and she and Dee-Dee were too far away to reach him before Eclipse said, “Gina, KILL!” Death Angel gleefully pounced on the young man and tore him to pieces, draining his blood and his life-force from him. Gina slinked back to Eclipse licking her claws clean, purring gloriously. Yolanda wept bitterly on Dee-Dee’s shoulder. Eclipse was overjoyed at seeing Yolanda’s sorrow.

“That’s what happens when you tease, auntie!” she said giggling, “Save up your tears, Yolanda, you’ll need them! By the time I and my Mistress’s pet here are finished, you two will be the only humans left alive in this entire city! Once that’s done, and the world sees the decimated bodies of the entire population of Huron City, the spineless fools governing this world will gladly capitulate and I will subjugate this entire planet for my Master! We shall rule this realm forever! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”


TO BE CONTINUED…in Episode III – A Glimmer of Hope

Great Work Pics! Can't wait to see the next installment!

Awesome use of Gina in your story...It's rare to see heroines get their @$$ handed to them...Love the direction this story is taking

Here's the next episode! Been working on Tales of The Cat and other writing! Enjoy! 8)


Episode III – A Glimmer of Hope

At the Suburban Home of Yolanda Kramer

Eclipse and Death Angel had left by the time the Huron City Police arrived. The forensics team was taking pictures of the decimated corpse of Toby Wright, the young man Death Angel had ripped apart. Yolanda was still beside herself with guilt over Toby’s death when the officer in charge came over to speak to her again. “Dr. Kramer, we’ve got your statement about what happened, are you sure there’s nothing you want to add?” Lt. Exley asked.

“No, Lieutenant.” replied Yolanda, “You have my account of what happened. Why are you asking that again?” Lt. Exley scratched his head and said, “Well Doc, this isn’t the only victim we’ve seen tonight. In fact, he’s the 14th guy we’ve turned up in the past 12 hours!” “You’ve had 14 people mauled like this in the past 12 hours?” asked Yolanda incredulously, “I thought Toby was an isolated incident!” “No Doc, it wasn’t.” said Exley, “And you know something else? There’s a deliberate pattern. All the victims were fairly young, male and on our list of people to watch.”

“People to watch? What do you mean Lieutenant?” asked Yolanda. “Well, suppose I can trust your discretion, Doctor.” said Exley, “When a person allegedly commits a crime and is acquitted by virtue of some kind of technicality or someone refuses to testify or by some kind of intimidation that causes the case to be dismissed, we usually watch the person pretty carefully when they come to our area.” “Toby was being watched?” asked Yolanda, “Why?” “I guess there’s no harm in telling you now.” replied Exley, “Toby allegedly “date raped” several girls on a college campus in Iowa. They had all the evidence they needed but none of the victims would press charges. The talk was his parents, one being a state senator, bought the girls off somehow, but it couldn’t be proven.”

“I never would have thought that of him.” said Yolanda sadly, “Toby always seemed so nice and proper.” “Yeah, he was a very intelligent, smooth talking guy.” said Exley, “The kind of guy you’d trust with your daughter, niece or someone like that. I was even told that one of his alleged victims disappeared and hasn’t been seen since she decided to testify against him. She’s missing, presumed dead, but there was no direct evidence linking him to the disappearance, so they had to let him go.” Yolanda asked, “The other victims were similar to Toby in the same way?” “Yeah, they were all alleged perpetrators of crimes that had escaped justice by manipulating the system.” explained the Lieutenant, “I know it’s not a great thing to think about, but maybe this creature you described is out to do a little vigilante justice! Who knows, right? We’ll be in touch. Good night, Doc.”

After the police had taken the body, cleaned up and left, Dee-Dee came out from her hiding place in the attic and talked with Yolanda about the conversation with Lt. Exley. “All the men killed by DeathRaven’s pet and Eclipse were on this list?” asked Dee-Dee. “Without exception, according to Exley.” answered Yolanda, “It’s too specific to be a coincidence, Dee-Dee. Something strange is going on here.” “You mean besides the fact that people in Huron City are being torn to shreds by a demon from the pit of hell that looks remarkably similar to our niece?” replied Dee-Dee with a note of sarcasm, “Not to mention a she-beast with an unquenchable thirst for human blood? Please do tell!”

“What I mean, Dee-Dee, is that this ravenous pair seems to be killing those that have committed acts that the justice system hasn’t been able to punish them for!” said Yolanda, “I think Eclipse and this pet she has with her are being controlled by something else. Why else would they only be slaughtering those who had escaped justice?” “You have a point, Yo-Yo, but what could possibly be influencing them to…” The two sisters looked at each other and said the same thing simultaneously, “T.J.!!” “She’s alive in there somewhere, Dee-Dee!” exclaimed Yolanda, “It’s the only explanation! You said it yourself; these two would be killing anyone they came in contact with otherwise, right?”

“Yeah, that beast of hers is absolutely merciless and quite without restraint, Yo-Yo!” said Dee-Dee, “There’s no way this could be anything else! But how could this be happening? How could Eclipse not know she’s being influenced?” “Metaphysics and psychology isn’t my area, but I suspect that T.J. is still somehow present in Eclipse’s subconscious or unconscious mind and from there she’s directing this behavior!” explained Yolanda, “My question is, how could T.J. know about Toby, when I didn’t know? How would she know the histories of these men or anyone else for that matter? There’s something else going on here too, Dee-Dee!”

“Putting those questions aside, at least we know she’s alive!” said Dee-Dee happily, “My concern is, how do we help her get rid of Eclipse?” “Now that we know for a certainty that T.J. is still in there, she’ll find a way to get us a message!” replied Yolanda, “Then we’ll know how to help her!”

*****

Elsewhere, within the mind of Eclipse…

Tammy Jane (T.J.) Kramer was having a hard time with the carnage she was seeing through Eclipse’s dark eyes. She knew that L’Drianna’s powerful mind could detect evil and discern it from sin, but it was still hard to watch the sharp teeth and claws of Eclipse and Death Angel tear even these evil men to screaming shreds. L’Drianna could see how the scenes of violence were affecting T.J., so she put her to “sleep”, a restful state of unconsciousness where she wouldn’t have to experience such sights, for a while at least.

L’Drianna awakened T.J. when the killer duo decided to rest after bloating their bellies with human flesh and blood. “T.J., wake up dear!” said L’Drianna. “Hmmm? Oh, Hi L’Drianna.” said T.J. with a yawn, “What’s going on?” “They’re both asleep.” she replied, “A good time to formulate strategy, bringing us closer to our goal.” “Has Auntie Yo figured out what we’re doing yet?” asked T.J. “Yes! She and your Aunt Dee-Dee have reasoned it out, with a little help from the police lieutenant.” said L’Drianna, “Now we have to get them a message.” “How can we?” T.J. asked, “Won’t Malthus or DeathRaven be watching Eclipse? If they see her contact Auntie Yo or Auntie Dee-Dee directly, our plan goes up in smoke!”

“Well, we’ll have to do it by telepathic contact, T.J.” explained L’Drianna, “But we’ll need to be careful. We don’t want Eclipse to pick up our conversation.” “She can do that?” T.J. inquired. “If we’re not careful, yes.” said L’Drianna, “The thought transmission is coming from inside your head, remember. So we’ve got to be very careful while sending and receiving. That’s why we should do it now while she’s still asleep. Here, take my hand, T.J.” T.J. reached out and took L’Drianna’s hand as she directed and felt a strange sensation. As if her mind was being connected to a telephone line. She felt a surge of power then closed her eyes. “Now, concentrate on your Aunt Yolanda.” advised L’Drianna, “Can you see her?”

“Yes, yes I can!” said T.J., “She’s asleep too!” “Shhhh! Not so loud. Eclipse may hear you.” she said, “Lower your voice just a little. We don’t want her waking up yet.” “Oops. Sorry, I just got a little excited.” said T.J. sheepishly. L’Drianna smiled and said, “It’s OK, T.J. Let’s try again.” Again, L’Drianna made the connection to Yolanda’s mind and said, “OK T.J., you’re on!” “Auntie Yo, can you hear me?” said T.J. softly. Yolanda Kramer was deep in REM sleep and suddenly saw an image of T.J. dressed as Titan Girl in her dream state. “Hmmm, I’m dreaming of T.J. again.” said Yolanda, “That’s funny. I was in the lab a minute ago, now I’m here, wherever here is!” “This isn’t part of your dream, Auntie Yo, I’m really here!” said T.J., “I’m sending a telepathic transmission from deep inside my brain where Eclipse doesn’t know I am.”

Yolanda Kramer rushed to the image of Titan Girl and hugged her tightly. “Oh, my precious T.J.!” Yolanda exclaimed, “I thought I’d lost you again!” “Shhhh! Auntie Yo, not so loud.” said T.J., “I don’t know if Eclipse can hear you or not, but we can’t afford to take the chance.” “Don’t worry about your aunt, T.J.” said L’Drianna, “Eclipse will only hear you transmitting out, but she would have to be conscious for her to hear the transmission coming in.” “Who was that?” asked Yolanda, “Is there someone with you?” “Oh, right. You don’t know about her yet.” said T.J., “Auntie Yo, this is L’Drianna. She’s the entity that Malthus is after. She saved my life and more than that, she knew Mom and Dad, too.”

L’Drianna appeared, introduced herself and gave Professor Kramer a brief synopsis of what had been happening to her, T.J. and the influence she held over Eclipse. L’Drianna also gave Dr. Kramer a quick outline of the plan and what part needed to be played by her and Doris. When L’Drianna completed her explanation, she asked if there were any questions about it. “No, I think I understand what part we play in this.” replied Yolanda, “I just hope everything works like you planned!” “Oh, it will! Malthus is nothing if not predictable.” said L’Drianna with a chuckle, “He’s been chasing me for a few millennia now. I know him like a book, chapter and verse. He’ll do everything I’ve said. That’s how I knew what to make him swear and to have T.J. bind him to it. His minions are too undisciplined and the Dark Essence is too strong in Eclipse not to hurt one of you.”

“Besides that, Doris has a little secret she hasn’t told you about yet, but it’s coming.” L’Drianna said smiling, “Be patient with her. We’ve got to go now, Yolanda. Say good-bye, T.J.” “Good-bye, T.J.” parroted T.J. laughing. She hugged her aunt and her image faded away. Yolanda woke up and told Dee-Dee about T.J. and L’Drianna’s dream visit. “Do you think it will really work, Yo-Yo?” asked Dee-Dee. “Yes, I think if there’s anyone that knows Malthus, it’s L’Drianna.” answered Yolanda, “We need to be ready when our opportunity presents itself. According to L’Drianna, it should be soon.” “We’ll be ready, that much is certain.” replied Dee-Dee.

“One other thing, Dee-Dee.” said Yolanda. “What’s that?” she replied. “L’Drianna mentioned that you’re holding out on me!” said Yolanda with a wry grin. “What do you mean?” asked Dee-Dee sheepishly biting her lip. “Oh, now I know it’s true!” said Yolanda laughing, “You always bite your lip when you’re hiding something! Spill it, sister!” “OK, OK! You’ve got me!” said Dee-Dee, “I wanted to make a surprise out of it for you, but since you found me out, wait here!” Dee-Dee went up to her room and Yolanda waited for about 3 to 5 minutes. After this, Yolanda called up to Dee-Dee asking, “Hey sis, when are you coming down?”

Suddenly the lights began to flicker and a cold wind blew through the room. Yolanda heard a sinister female laugh begin to echo through the house. She was frightened. Then a green glow erupted in the middle of the living room where she was standing. It coalesced into a shapely female form. The woman’s body was partially transparent, but seemed to be dressed in a green long sleeve leotard and sheer shimmering green hose. She wore a green hood and cloak, green gloves, and a green utility belt with glowing bright green inserts. The mask that covered her face was a very dark green that covered her entire face except her grinning mouth and her eerily glowing eyes.

“Who…Who are you?” stuttered Yolanda. The figure floating in front of her smiled wickedly and replied in a low tone, “Do not fear me, Yolanda Kramer. I am the Green Ghost. I do not harm the good. I destroy the evil that the good may live in peace.” The Green Ghost giggled, “I’m also your sister, Dee-Dee!” “DEE-DEE?” Yolanda shouted, “You almost scared me out of a year’s growth!” “Whaddya mean ‘almost’, Yo-Yo!” said Dee-Dee floating to the floor and removing her hood and mask, “I scared the bejabbers outta you and you know it!” “OK, so you got me!” said Yolanda sitting down on the couch, “What’s all this for?”

“I should think it would be obvious, sis!” replied Dee-Dee, “I’m going to use these powers I still have to try to make up for some of the wrongs I’ve done. I’m going to help T.J. get her body back!” “Where did you get the costume and how did you become transparent like that?” asked Yolanda. “The costume came courtesy of your sorority sister, Julia Wesstrom.” said Dee-Dee, “I think you may want to talk to her more often. She may be holding out on you too! The transparent thing came from the costume itself, or more specifically, the belt. By channeling my green energy through it, I can not only become transparent, I can become immaterial and even invisible!” “Wow! Show me!” said Yolanda.

Dee-Dee concentrated slightly and became transparent. Dee-Dee said, “Now, try to touch me.” Yolanda put out her hand and it passed right through Dee-Dee’s already transparent body! “That’s not all, Yo-Yo!” she said with a big smile, “Watch this!” Dee-Dee concentrated again and the green inserts in the belt flashed. Suddenly, instead of the green skinned sister she knew and loved, there stood a human skinned Caucasian young woman! Dee-Dee’s hair was cut short and auburn colored as it had been when she was younger; her eyes still a beautiful shade of green. She wore a black clingy top with purple trim and a see through panel on the chest. The belt that was the same type The Green Ghost wore was now a light purple, nearly fuchsia color with glowing green inserts. The outfit also had a tight black skirt with a mid-thigh slit, sheer pinkish-fuchsia hose and short purple-fuchsia boots.

Dee-Dee giggled and said, “Cool, huh?” Yolanda was speechless. She walked over to her sister and hugged her tightly. Yolanda released the embrace and asked, “Is this a hologram or something?” “Yeah, Julia told me it would only function as long as I wore the belt.” answered Dee-Dee, “Think it’ll fool everybody enough for me to go out in daylight?” “I’ll say!” said Yolanda, “Now, I see what L’Drianna was talking about! Dee-Dee, it’s time for you and The Green Ghost to come out of hiding! You will indeed be instrumental in T.J. recovering her body!” “I’ll do anything that’s necessary to save our niece!” replied Dee-Dee. “OK, here’s the plot, sis.” said Yolanda grinning, “You’re gonna love this!”

*****

Somewhere else in Huron City…

Death Angel woke up hungry, as always. She silently crept over to where Eclipse was resting and snuggled up next to her, rubbing her sleek hosed legs against Eclipse’s own, purring. Eclipse stirred and said, “Go way, I fed you already.” She turned over and dozed off again. Death Angel pouted and slinked over to the couple they had killed not more than 3 hours earlier. Rodney and Karen Bingham had been suspected of murdering Rodney’s rich uncle, Hollingwood Markham, founder of the Markham Foods Stores chain.

The police had all the evidence they needed and people ready to testify that Rodney and Karen had been plotting to kill Mr. Markham for the past 2 years when suddenly, not only did the witnesses disappear, but the police evidence also disappeared. There was talk of payoffs and corrupt cops on the inside, but no proof. The case was dismissed and the investigation closed. The Binghams got everything they ever wanted, the houses, the cars, the jewelry, the cash and controlling interest in Markham Foods.

Tonight, they got something else. L’Drianna had guided Eclipse and Death Angel to the Bingham Estate. The evil of what they had done seemed to call out especially loud to her. The couple had just finished having another wild party, in celebration of their ill-gotten inheritance and they were passed out on the large California King in their bedroom, still fully dressed. Rodney and Karen never heard them coming. Suddenly, they were pounced upon by two sleek, sinister figures and were torn to shreds, their blood and life-force drained. After she and Death Angel had fed sufficiently, Eclipse decided to take a nap. The drained, ripped up bodies were carelessly tossed onto the floor and Eclipse motioned for Death Angel to join her on the large bed. She chose instead to curl up on the floor next to the fireplace; its bright blaze seemed to make her feel at home.

Death Angel clawed at Karen’s shredded corpse, looking for someplace that might be hiding some blood she may have missed while feeding, but there was none. She went over to Rodney’s clawed and lifeless body and found the same thing. Death Angel padded back to the bed, crawled over to Eclipse and gently nuzzled her neck near her ear, uttering a soft purring growl. Eclipse rolled over and looked into her eerie black eyes and said, “You hungry again, pretty girl?” said Eclipse, stroking her silky red hair. Death Angel nodded and licked her face. “OK, OK!” said Eclipse giggling, her cheeks tickled by the licking, “Come on Gina, there’s gotta be somebody around here you can eat!”

If Gina had a tail, it would have wagged furiously as she followed Eclipse out the door of the estate’s master suite, into the hallway and down the double winding staircase to the main floor. The servant’s quarters were just off the kitchen where the chauffeur, Murray Cavendish and the maid, his wife, Antonia, lay sleeping. The domestic couple aided the Binghams in the murder of Mr. Markham and helped to slowly poison him and make it look like an accidental overdose of prescribed medicine.

The murderous minions of Malthus silently crept into the bedroom where the couple lay blissfully unaware that this was their last night on the planet. Gina licked her lips in anticipation of the kill. They each chose their intended prey. Gina seemed to prefer the ladies, although she would have been happy with anyone as long as they were living and full of rich, warm, red blood. Eclipse took Mr. Cavendish and she too was filled excitement at the prospect of slaying this man. She nodded at Gina and they pounced simultaneously.

Unlike with the Binghams, the two sharp-clawed sirens did not puncture their larynxes with claws when they attacked, to silence their screams. No one was left alive in the house to hear them. Gina swiftly ripped into Antonia Cavendish, making the kill quickly and began feeding. Eclipse was not as ravenous as Death Angel and decided to kill Murray Cavendish more slowly. She raked her claws on him and relished every scream and plea for his life. Eclipse laughed when he offered money, jewels, anything to save his life. She decided it would be more fun to strangle him, so she placed his neck between her sleek, black shimmering thighs and slowly, inexorably squeezed the life out of him as she watched with hellish glee.

Gina looked up from her feeding and watched the last few seconds of Murray’s life as he struggled for breath. She looked at him quizzically, shrugged her shoulders as he expired, and went back to her meal. Eclipse giggled at Gina’s reaction and removed her powerful legs from Murray’s neck. She then straddled him, sank her sharp teeth into his carotid artery and fed herself on the large mouthfuls of thick, red blood she coaxed from the torn vessel. When they both finished their grisly repast, the two left the estate, Eclipse setting the manor house ablaze with a stream of hellfire before leaving. The deadly duo stopped to watch as the gas line exploded before taking flight into the twilight sky before daybreak.

Eclipse closed her eyes and took in a deep breath through her nostrils and said, “Ahhhhh! I do love the smell of destruction in the morning!” Death Angel smiled and purred, rubbing her face on Eclipse’s cheek. “Yes, my sweet girl!” she said stroking Gina’s fiery silken locks, “This is only the beginning! Soon the whole city will feed our hunger and fall subject to our will! No one will stop the rule of Malthus over the realm of Earth!” Eclipse took up Death Angel in her arms and shot skyward heading for downtown Huron City, laughing the sinister laugh that chilled the blood of her aunts, an omen of the evil to come.


TO BE CONTINUED…in Episode IV – Immortal Combat!

Great update Pics!

As promised, here's the next installment. It's a little long, but there's a lot going on! Besides I couldn't post for a while. I got bored! Enjoy! 8)

*****

Episode IV – Immortal Combat!

Night gave way to day in Huron City as Eclipse and Death Angel landed in Huron City Park. People fled in several directions, recognizing the deadly denizens of the Ninth Realm from the descriptions given over the TV and radio news. Only two people didn’t escape, Tim “Bugsy” Gilmore, a wannabe gangster, and his pal, Derek “Moochie” Maronie. Bugsy and Moochie usually hung out around the park fountain in the early morning, because the cops were rarely seen at that time and most of the time they only snatched purses or did light muggings, always getting away before the police could arrive.

Bugsy and Moochie had upgraded themselves recently, however, when, unknown to the police and public at large, they killed an elderly couple and buried them in the flower beds somewhere in the park, near the zoo. Bugsy took great pleasure in beating old man Simpson to death while Moochie cheered him on, holding his wife, Elsie. Moochie then decided to see how far he could turn the old lady’s neck until it broke. It didn’t go too far. The reason for this was simply to gain a rep in the area with the local underworld population. Since old man Simpson was well liked, even among the criminal set, Bugsy’s “big idea” backfired. He and Moochie were blacklisted and not allowed to join anyone’s organization.

This particular morning they had stalked a young woman on her way to work and were just about to grab her when Eclipse and Death Angel leapt out from nowhere and pounced on them. Death Angel did her usual quick shredding kill and fed voraciously on Moochie. Eclipse decided to toy with Bugsy and let him run around a small area of the park as she teleported around him striking him with her razored claws and laughing devilishly. After playing with her prey for nearly 30 minutes, Eclipse cuffed Bugsy to the ground, fell on him and mauled him savagely. She smiled evilly and sat on his abdomen with Bugsy whispering pleas for mercy. Eclipse placed the shiny black hosed ball of her foot under Bugsy’s chin, while also pulling on his arms, increasing the force very slowly until she heard the vertebra in his neck begin to snap, crackle and pop. After he was dead Eclipse tore out his throat and drained him of blood and life-force.

After Eclipse had gorged herself on Bugsy, she torched his and Moochie’s mangled corpses and decided to rest in the beautiful park setting. Death Angel snuggled up close to her and purring softly, also rested. Some time passed and Death Angel woke first, looked at Eclipse and smiled admiring the young woman’s nubile body sheathed in her silky smooth garments. It was then that Gina decided to reveal a startling secret to her partner in crime.

Gina moved her sensuously dangerous mouth close to Eclipse’s ear and whispered, “Wake up, Eclipse.” Eclipse turned to Death Angel, her black eyes wide and her sharp toothed mouth agape in complete shock. “Gina, you can speak???” exclaimed Eclipse. “Of course I can!” said Gina, matter-of-factly, “Can’t you?” Eclipse replied, “Yeah, but you’re not supposed to be able to! Lady DeathRaven said she tortured away your humanity a long time ago!”

Gina laughed loudly and said, “Oh, she tells everybody that! I don’t dissuade her from it because it makes me the least likely to be plotting anything against her or Malthus. Besides, I hadn’t found anyone worth revealing my secret to…’til now!” “I don’t understand.” said Eclipse quizzically, “Why the animal behavior? The acting like a pet?” “How else was I going to stop her from torturing me, my dear?” asked Gina, “Besides, I had been brought around to her way of thinking after the first week, but I knew she wouldn’t believe me because she hated me so. That’s why I became her loyal pet!”

“So why tell me, Gina?” asked Eclipse. “Can’t you guess?” said Death Angel with a sharp, sweet smile. “Ummm, nope.” Eclipse answered. Gina pressed her cheek to Eclipse’s and replied, “Because I love you, my dear Eclipse. I want you to be by my side…to rule this realm with me, forever!” “Whoa! Wait a minute here!” exclaimed Eclipse backing away from Death Angel, “We’re softening these mortals up for the Master to rule here, not us!” Gina laughed heartily again and responded, “Silly girl! You still haven’t guessed the Master’s limitation have you? Let me ask you a question. Why do you think Malthus employs so many minions? If he’s so powerful, why would he need them?”

“Well, he’s not omniscient or omnipresent. He needs us to be in places he can’t be, right?” said Eclipse. “A clever answer!” Gina purred, “But only half right!” Gina looked deep into Eclipse’s black eyes and said, “Malthus cannot physically leave the Ninth Realm! With all his much vaunted power, he is bound to his own realm!” “That’s not true!” Eclipse exclaimed, “He fought Titan Girl to a standstill and threatened the lives of her family!” Gina shook her head and responded, “No no, honey! I didn’t say he was powerless! His presence is most powerful in and out of the realm, but he himself cannot physically leave the realm! Therefore, his power is decreased.”

Gina continued, “Ever since I became DeathRaven’s ‘pet’, I’ve been observing how things work in the realms. In order for one to lay claim to a realm, one must either occupy it physically or have a representative sworn to your service to occupy it for you after the inhabitants of the realm have surrendered it. Lady DeathRaven is sworn to his service and will rule this realm for him. You and I are the deadliest creatures on this world! Together we can destroy DeathRaven and rule this realm!” “But what of Malthus??” said Eclipse, “Won’t he come to destroy us himself after he realizes what we’ve done?” “His eyes, his face, maybe even a hand, “explained Gina, “But never his full power! We can turn back any assault he could possibly mount! As you said, Titan Girl fought him to a standstill! When my power is joined with yours and the Dark Essence within us both combines, we can do anything!”

“OK Gina, say we are as powerful together as you say, we can’t be powerful enough to hold this realm by ourselves, can we?” said Eclipse, “I mean even if we took the Earth realm, Malthus’ minions would swarm and overwhelm us! Then we’d both be dead!” Gina smiled sweetly and stroked Eclipse’s ebony tresses saying, “My dear girl, don’t you think I’ve thought of that? We have our own army!” “Really? Where is it?” asked Eclipse with a look of deep consternation. Gina answered, “Most of the hundreds, unto thousands of people I’ve supposedly killed and devoured over the decades that I’ve been DeathRaven’s pet, I’ve secretly revived and hidden in another place I call a ‘pocket realm’. Here I’ve trained them, took care of them and made them loyal to me alone. With this, my Death Horde, we can indeed take this realm and hold it indefinitely! Well, what do you say?”

“Suppose I refuse to be part of this little scheme of yours?” asked Eclipse. “Then, my tasty young friend, unhappily, I’ll have to devour you!” answered Gina. Eclipse’s eyes smoldered with anger as she said, “Not likely, my sharp-clawed pal! Remember I kicked your tail but good! If I can do it once, I can do it again!” Death Angel laughed out loud and nearly cried as she said, “You really think you beat me, don’t you my darling? I let you win, sweetheart! I told you, I love you! You’re the only person who treated me like a friend as well as a pet!” “But I had you!” said Eclipse, “I even bit your throat!” “Oh yes!” said Gina closing her eyes, remembering the moment, “That was the best part, the part I enjoyed most of all! The feeling of your soft, warm lips on my neck, made it all worthwhile!” “I don’t believe you, Gina!” said Eclipse defiantly, “I know when I’ve defeated someone! You were helpless!”

Gina frowned and glowered at Eclipse and said, “Well then, my little power princess, would you care to try again?” “Gina, you’re my friend.” said Eclipse, “I don’t want to hurt you!” “Oh, dear one, don’t worry…you won’t!” replied Gina beginning to circle Eclipse. “Alrighty then, let’s do this!” exclaimed Eclipse. Both of the sharp-clawed hellcats grinned widely showing their sharp teeth and fangs. Death Angel made the first move by teleporting behind Eclipse, attempting to rend her back with her talons. As in their last fight, Eclipse detected the energy of her materialization before Gina’s curvaceous body took shape. Eclipse plunged her claws into the space where she was to appear, but she wasn’t hurt by the strike in the least. Gina remained immaterial except for her claws and her teeth. Gina smiled and struck deep with her claws in Eclipse’s chest. Eclipse screamed in unbelievable agony.

For the next five minutes, Gina teleported around Eclipse, clawing and biting her repeatedly with no reprisal by Eclipse having any effect. Eclipse was worn down by the savage onslaught of Death Angel. She finally fell to the ground. Gina pounced on her and brought her fangs to within inches of her carotid artery. “So, still think you can beat me?” Gina whispered softly. “No, I can’t.” Eclipse answered weakly, “Go on, and kill me then. Get it over with.” Gina’s face changed to one of sorrow and a tear formed in her eye. “I don’t want to kill you, baby girl!” said Gina, “I just wanted you to know what and who you’re dealing with! I have more power than even DeathRaven knows, watch this!” Gina’s red pupils glowed with an unearthly light as she stood up, pointed both of her clawed hands at Eclipse and said, “T’obel shihkeh domiral!” Instantly, Eclipse’s body and uniform were restored as they were before the altercation, from her sleek black lycra-like top and short cape, right down to her sheer shimmering black hosed legs.

“Wow! You are powerful, my friend!” exclaimed Eclipse. “So ya wanna join up?” asked Gina, grinning from the compliment. “Hell yeah! With my might and your magic, we can’t lose!” said Eclipse, “Put ‘er there, partner!” Gina grabbed her extended hand and pulled her close. Gina wrapped her arms around Eclipse and kissed her, trying to give her a frencher. Eclipse hauled off and decked Death Angel. “You may be my friend and a more skilled fighter than I am, but I don’t play for that team, Gina!” Eclipse shouted, “Don’t ever try that again! Otherwise, you’re gonna have to kill me!” “OK OK, I get it!” Gina said rubbing her jaw, “Sorry. Maybe you’ll change your mind later! I did, but Lady DeathRaven tortured me into being her love slave. I still like men, but it doesn’t bother me as much as it used to when she first started forcing herself on me. Come my young partner, we’ve got a lot of planning to do!”

*****

Meanwhile, deep within the recesses of Eclipse’s mind…

L’Drianna and T.J. had been listening to every word that Gina and Eclipse had been saying about the intended invasion of the Earth realm. “L’Drianna, will this change the plans that you had in mind to free my body?” asked T.J. nervously, “I mean, now we have Malthus minions coming from one side, and Death Angel’s from the other! What can we do??” L’Drianna smiled and replied, “Simple, T.J.! We’ll just let one force of evil eliminate the other and the shambles that’s left over will be easier to defeat! This doesn’t change our plans too much, except now we know who to influence to help us!” T.J. nodded, “You mean Eclipse, right?” “No, T.J. Our benefactor will be Malthus himself!” answered L’Drianna with a sly smile. “What!!” shouted T.J., “Oh, I gotta hear this one!”

“OK, first, we’ve got to get Eclipse and Death Angel back to the Ninth Realm.” said L’Drianna, “After that the plan is pretty simple: When you as Titan Girl absorbed the Dark Essence, it created a new personality calling herself Eclipse. Eclipse then took in all of your Aunt Dee-Dee’s Dark Essence as well. That’s enough to possess two beings in one body. That’s another reason why Eclipse is so powerful! I’ve studied the Dark Essence over the centuries that Malthus has pursued my power and I found an inherent weakness in it.”

“The power of the Dark Essence can be converted to light!” said L’Drianna, “All things come from the Creator, the Maker of all things. He is pure light and power in its purest form, so even in the darkest of dark there is still the potential of light!” “I think I understand.” said T.J., “That even in a totally evil entity like the Dark Essence, you’ve found a way to change that power into light energy, retake my body and defeat Malthus?” “A simple explanation of a much more complex process, but yes that’s it exactly!” replied L’Drianna, “The transforming of the dark energy to light will require a change in your body as Titan Girl. Once this is done, you won’t be Titan Girl any more.” “Will I still be T.J.?” she asked.

“Oh yes, dear!” replied L’Drianna, “But only when you aren’t powered-up in superheroine form. You’ll change from normal human form to…well, you’ll see!” “Aw, come on!” complained T.J., “You can’t leave me hanging like this!” “If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise!” said L’Drianna with a wink, “Trust me, you’ll love it! I guarantee it! Now, when Eclipse rests later on, we’ve got to contact your aunts and let them know of an ever so slight change of plan.”

*****

In the Ninth Realm, Stronghold of Malthus…

Eclipse and Death Angel responded to a summons from Malthus himself that was not relayed through Lady DeathRaven. Eclipse thought it rather odd, but paid it no mind, after all a summons from Malthus must be obeyed no matter how it came! When the deadly duo arrived, Malthus greeted them and ordered the minion to shut and bolt the huge doors securely. “My lord, what has happened?” asked Eclipse, “Where is Lady DeathRaven?” Malthus said, “My dear, I believe Lady DeathRaven is plotting against me! I have noticed that many of the souls I send to her to be tortured or turned to my service are nowhere to be found in the Realm. I believe she may be building an army to come against my plan to seize the Earth realm and usurp it for herself. Do you know of any part of this?” “No, my lord.” said Eclipse, “I know nothing of a plot by Lady DeathRaven to take what is rightfully yours! Who would dare?”

“DeathRaven would dare anything!” Malthus thundered, “I have noticed an attitude change in her of late. Questioning my edicts, countering my commands, she’s up to something! Eclipse, I want you to watch her and if you detect that what I suspect is true, KILL HER!” “ME??” exclaimed Eclipse, “But she is my Mistress, my mentor, my friend…” “Who taught you that my will is to be obeyed above all!” shouted Malthus, “Now go, and do what your Master has ordered!” Eclipse bowed and said sadly, “Yes, my Master!” She and Death Angel departed the Throne Room.

When they were out of earshot, Death Angel roared with laughter, saying, “Oh, this is just too priceless! Malthus thinks that DeathRaven is plotting to overthrow him, DeathRaven thinks she is going to be replaced by you, and we are privy to everything that transpires between them! This really is just too perfect!” “Gina, I get the feeling we’re missing something here!” said Eclipse sitting down on a large rock, her sleek hosed legs under her. “Missing what, sweetie?” Death Angel asked, “This is the single most absolute perfect time to set them at each other’s throats, while we take over the realm of Earth! All we have to do is set a match to an already poured out trail of gasoline and watch it erupt into a raging inferno! After the smoke clears, you, I and my army of ghouls, The Death Horde, will have total control of the Earth realm! Our claim will be undisputable and no one will be able to wrest it from us, my darling Eclipse, NO ONE!”

“All this plotting and scheming is making my head hurt!” said Eclipse, “I’m gonna get about 40 winks. Can we do this a little later?” “Sure, babes. Want some company?” asked Gina, waggling her eyebrows up and down. “No, that’s OK, Gina.” answered Eclipse. “You know, you really should give us a chance, baby!” said Gina, “You might really enjoy it!” “Sorry, Gina!” she replied with a smile, “I like guys too much!” “Party pooper!” said Gina pouting, “I’ll just go find Roxy then, I ‘m sure she’ll find some way to amuse us!” “I’m certain of that!” said Eclipse with a smile, “Wake me in an hour, my ‘pet’?” “Yes, ‘Mistress’!” replied Gina, blowing her a kiss.

T.J. came to L’Drianna and asked, “Is she asleep yet?” “Yes, she is!” answered L’Drianna, “Now we can signal your aunts and advise them of the revised plan.” “Giving Eclipse that headache was a stroke of genius!” complimented T.J., “That really made her want to rest!” “Thank you, T.J.!” replied the beautiful entity, “Now let’s talk to Yolanda!” L’Drianna took T.J.’s hand and concentrated, her powerful mind reaching beyond the Ninth Realm and into the Realm of Earth. She located Yolanda who was in her lab, busily preparing for her and Dee-Dee’s part in the plan to save Earth and free T.J. from the grip of the Dark Essence.

Suddenly, her mind was swept into a dream-like state by the power of L’Drianna’s thought transmission. The lovely physicist was shocked to see T.J. and L’Drianna standing before her. “What the…T.J.! L’Drianna!” Yolanda remarked with a smile, “Where did you come from??” T.J. rushed over to hug her aunt. “Sorry to barge in on your mind like this, Yolanda, but we needed to give you and your sister some new information!” explained L’Drianna. “Nonsense! There’s no need to apologize!” said Yolanda holding T.J. tightly and kissing her forehead, “Each time you visit is a joy to my heart to see you both safe! How is this possible though? I’m not asleep, or am I?” L’Drianna laughed and said, “No Yolanda, you’re just in a temporary dream-state. Kind of like a daydream.” “Oh, I see.” said Yolanda, “Well, what’s up?”

L’Drianna quickly explained the deception of Death Angel, the existence of the Death Horde and the suspicion of Malthus against DeathRaven. “Whoa, this is almost like a prime-time soap opera or something!” remarked Yolanda, “This will make it easier for you to carry out your plan, won’t it?” “Yes, indeed!” said L’Drianna, “All we need to do is be with Malthus at the right time and he’ll give us what we need! You and Dee-Dee will have a more dangerous role, however, than you did before! Especially you, Yolanda, because you are still mortal and you have no special powers! Are you sure about this?” “Absolutely! Dee-Dee and I are both ready to do our part! We’ll be fine!” answered Yolanda, “Just take care of our precious T.J., we’ll do the rest!” L’Drianna smiled and nodded. “Be careful, Auntie Yo, I’ll see you soon!” said T.J. kissing her aunt’s cheek.

The visit from L’Drianna and T.J. ended as abruptly as it had begun, with a sudden awaking by Professor Kramer. She hurried to the phone to call Dee-Dee and relay the news. After listening to Yolanda explain the revised plan, Dee-Dee said, “I wondered why I had been sensing an increase in demonic energy lately! That ‘pocket realm’ Death Angel’s been putting her forces into must be very close to Earth. I’m sensing a great deal of demonic force very close to us here!” “Can you determine where they’ll come through to our realm, Dee-Dee?” asked Yolanda. “I think so, why?” she replied. “Because, I think we can at least delay, if not stop, the Death Horde from invading the Earth Realm!” declared Yolanda.

“Holy cow! How can we do that, Yo-Yo?” asked Dee-Dee. “With a little invention that Julia Wesstrom and I have been working on for the last couple of months or so.” explained Yolanda, “If it works like we expect it to, it should collapse and /or at least temporarily seal any portal attempting to form from outside this realm and hold it closed.” “Wow! That’s great, Yo-Yo!” exclaimed Dee-Dee, “We can hold them off indefinitely with something like that!” “Well, not exactly!” said Yolanda sadly. “Why not?” asked Dee-Dee. “Two reasons: One, we haven’t tested it yet; and Two, we haven’t found a source stable enough to power it!” said Yolanda. “Great! We’ve got the perfect weapon, but no power source!” said Dee-Dee, “Are you pretty sure It’ll work with the right source?” “The theory is sound and every simulation we can run says it will.” Yolanda declared, “Why? It’s a moot point unless we find a stable source of energy!” “I’ve got an idea!” said Dee-Dee.

*****

Meanwhile, in the Ninth Realm…

Death Angel crept stealthily closer to Eclipse planning to awaken her from her cat-nap with a kiss, but Eclipse awoke just as she drew close enough to hear her breathing. “Aha! Caught ya!” said Eclipse with a laugh. “Rats!” said Gina in frustration, “I’ll get you my pretty and your little dog too!” Eclipse laughed, but only shortly. “Gina, I’ve had an inspiration while sleeping!” said Eclipse, “I know how we can play one side of this little game against the other and still come out on top!” “On top? Ooooh, tell me more!” said Gina wiggling her eyebrows up and down. “Will you get your mind out of the gutter for 5 minutes, I’m serious!” replied Eclipse.

“Okay, Okay! I’m sorry! Go on.” said Gina apologetically. “Thank you! Geez, Gina! We’re gonna have to get you fixed!” said Eclipse with a wry grin, “Anyway, here’s the idea. First, we tell Malthus that DeathRaven does indeed have a plan to not only take the Earth Realm for her own, but she also plans to overthrow and destroy him here! At the same time, we tell DeathRaven that Malthus intends to eliminate her as her popularity and influence threatens his position with the minions. Got me so far?” “Marvelous so far, sweetie!” replied Gina, “Keep going!”

Eclipse continued, “OK, once we’ve got them ready to go at each other, I’ll tell Malthus that I need his power to combat the DeathRaven threat and ask him to energize me like he did when Titan Girl absorbed his power and threw it back at him!” Gina raised an eyebrow and said, “I don’t understand. Why ask for his power?” Eclipse showed her most wicked smile and replied, “Because, girlfriend, when he wants to stop, I’ll keep going and take it all! When he’s completely drained, you can attack and kill him!” “ARE YOU CRAZY!!” exclaimed Death Angel, “Kill Malthus??” “Why not?” said Eclipse, “He’ll be so weak, I could probably take him, but if I touch him, he may pull the energy he needs back into himself and kill us both! Those fangs and claws of yours can kill immortals, right? Use them! Kill Malthus and we’ll rule the 9th Realm and the Earth Realm together!”

Gina thought for a moment and replied, “What about DeathRaven? She’ll try to wrest both realms from us the moment she sees what we’re really up to!” “Gina, my friend.” said Eclipse, “In order for this to work, you’ll have to…tell DeathRaven your secret.” Gina had a look of shock on her face. “It’s the only way she’ll buy our story long enough to destroy both her and Malthus!” explained Eclipse, “The shock of you speaking to her and luring her to Malthus chamber will throw her off guard. Charm her as only you know how, and bring her to me! I’ll do the rest! With Malthus’ power and mine combined, I’ll be more than a match for her! With both of them gone, we will be invincible!”

“Wow! You need to take these naps more often, kiddo!” said Gina. “So, you in?” asked Eclipse. “You’re kidding, right? Of course I’m in, you silly goose!” Gina replied with a laugh, “Besides, you can’t do this without me!” “Too true, babes! Too true!” said Eclipse smiling, “Alright, here’s how you draw DeathRaven in…”

Later, as Eclipse instructed her, Death Angel snuggled in her mistress’ lap. As Lady DeathRaven stroked her neck, suddenly Gina said, “Mmmm, that’s nice, but a little lower.” DeathRaven replied, “OK that’s…HUH?? YOU CAN SPEAK??” “Of course I can, Roxy darling!” she answered. DeathRaven smiled and said, “Why haven’t you spoken before now?” “And have you torture me for another 6 months? I don’t think so, girlfriend!” Gina answered with a smile. Roxy laughed and replied, “Yeah, I guess I didn’t give you much choice did I?” “No, you didn’t.” said Gina, “Besides, I kinda enjoyed being your ‘pet’! But now we have important things to talk about!” “Really? Like what?” asked Roxy. “Like the plan Malthus has to replace you…with Eclipse!” answered Gina.

*****

Meanwhile, back in the Earth Realm…

“NO! I won’t do it, Dee-Dee!” shouted Yolanda Kramer, “I won’t risk losing you again!” “C’mon Yo-Yo, you know it’s the only way!” retorted Dee-Dee Kramer aka The Green Ghost, “I’m the logical solution to your power problem with the portal sealer!” “But Dee-Dee, this thing’s untested!” Yolanda argued, “It could kill you!” “Yo-Yo, I think I’m still immortal!” said Dee-Dee, “That part of me is still in tact, along with my ability to manipulate green energy, left over from when I was The Green Devil! Besides, even if it does kill me, I would still be giving my life doing something for the whole of mankind! That’s something worth dying for! So, you gonna hook me up to this thing or do I do it myself?” “Alright, alright! I’ll do it!” Yolanda conceded, “From my readings, it looks like your green energy is stable enough to power the generator, but I’m still not comfortable with this, Dee-Dee! What if I can’t shut it down in time? What if it takes too much out of you at one time? What if…?”

“Yo-Yo, would you shush!!” said Dee-Dee hugging her sister, “Mom always said you were a worry-wart!” Yolanda released her sister with tears streaming down her cheeks and said, “I just don’t want to lose you again! I just got you back, sis!” Dee-Dee looked into Yolanda’s tear-filled eyes and said, “I’m not worried! I have faith in you, babe! Besides, if by some chance I did die, I’d rather you remember me this way than the way I died before, a senseless suicide! We’ll both make it through this, Yo-Yo, the two of us…together! Now, let’s test this puppy!” Yolanda gave Dee-Dee one more hug and said, “OK sis, let’s do this!”

Dee-Dee changed into her Green Ghost persona and stepped into the power grid area. Yolanda snapped the power couplings to her wrists, grasped her by both hands and asked, “Are you sure about this? There’s still time to back out!” “Not a chance! The Green Ghost is ready to go!” said Dee-Dee defiantly. Yolanda let go of her hands and walked over to the control console. She entered her access codes and initiated the powering-up sequence. As the sequence began, The Green Ghost drew upon the green energy within her and around her, channeling it into the couplings on her wrists. The machine came to full power in half the time it took in the simulations. The power control program indicated that the levels were stable enough to activate the unit. As Yolanda prepared to activate the machine, Dee-Dee shouted, “Yo-Yo!” Yolanda turned quickly toward her sister. “I love you!” said The Green Ghost, with a brave smile. “I love you too, sis!” Yolanda answered, as she threw the switch.

*****

In the Ninth Realm…

As Death Angel related her plan to Lady DeathRaven, Eclipse went to Malthus and began spinning her web to trap Malthus. After telling him about the plot hatched by DeathRaven, Eclipse told Malthus the only solution was to combine the power of the Dark Essence from Malthus with her own doubled dose and this would allow her to destroy DeathRaven and thwart her plans. “I suppose you’re right, my dear.” said Malthus, “Our powers combined would be more than a match for DeathRaven and her little pet! Step forward, child!” Eclipse approached the throne and knelt before Malthus. He laid aside his trident and pointed his hands toward Eclipse. The thick red bolts of red energy poured from Malthus huge gauntlet covered hands.

Eclipse’s normally black aura began to glow bright red. She stood and spread her arms, drinking in the seemingly boundless energy provided by Malthus. After about 5 minutes of bombarding Eclipse’s young teenaged body with his energy, she was obscured from Malthus view altogether. The aura began to grow larger and brighter. Malthus actually began feeling weak and tried to stop the energy from flowing out of him, but it continued emptying from his massive body. Malthus finally pulled his hands back toward his chest and the energy flow stopped. During the energy endowment, Malthus had stood to his hoofed feet, but now slumped down to the throne. Malthus watched in amazement as the large, brightly glowing red aura finally stopped and standing before him was another person.

The humanoid female stood between 6 and 7 feet tall with long jet black hair and had Eclipse’s same black eyes. She wore the black Titan Girl-like uniform which fit her large sleek powerful frame like a second skin. Her fingers were tipped with the same black razor sharp claws and her wicked smile showed the sharp teeth Eclipse had used to dispatch so many of her victims. “Are you alright, my lord?” said the new Eclipse with a much more grown-up voice. “Yes, I’m just a little fatigued from the transfer.” said Malthus, “This transformation is quite a surprise, though! You look magnificent!” “Thank you, my liege!” said Eclipse, doing a slight pirouette, “I thought you’d like it!” “You knew this would happen, my dear?” said Malthus, raising an eyebrow.

“Not exactly like this, my lord, but something similar to it.” explained Eclipse, “I knew my young body couldn’t absorb your power without adapting in some way to it! Now I am invincible!” “Not quite, young one!” bellowed Malthus, “I am still your master! You dare not raise your hand against me!” “Oh no, great one I would never do that!” said Eclipse, “Besides, if I did what would keep you from simply absorbing the energy back in to your body if should launch an attack against you?” Eclipse showed an evil smile and said, “That’s why I enlisted a little help! GINA, NOW!!”

Suddenly from the shadows, Death Angel roared like a panther and fell on Malthus great neck. Malthus let out a deep cry of pain as Gina’s claws and teeth ripped into him. The plan seemed to be working flawlessly. “ECLIPSE!!” Eclipse quickly turned toward where the voice came from. Lady DeathRaven strode toward Eclipse, her whip in one hand, her foot long spike-handled machete in the other. “Well well, look at you!” said DeathRaven, smiling cruelly, “You sure sprouted, didn’tcha? So squirt, you think you’re invincible now, do you?” “I know I am!” said Eclipse confidently. “Alright, baby-girl! Let’s test that theory shall we?” said DeathRaven, “Just remember that one thing I told you ‘graduation day’.” “What’s that?” replied Eclipse striking a ready stance. “I taught you everything you know, not everything I know!” answered DeathRaven. Without more words the battle began.

*****

Meanwhile, back on Earth…

Yolanda Kramer said a prayer within herself for the first time since she left Catholic school. The scanning equipment which was part of the portal-sealing device was working perfectly. The machine detected a small portal attempting to open near Huron City, just on the outskirts. From the way it read, an insignificant imp was forming a doorway between a netherworld region and Earth in an attempt to collect souls for its master. Yolanda focused the energy on the forming portal. It began to collapse on itself at once and destroyed the body of the imp, crushing it into brackish goo in the ectoplasmic grip of spiritual energy that smashed the portal closed. “It works! It works!” shouted Yolanda, jumping up and down.

She turned to look at Dee-Dee, in her guise as the Green Ghost, and asked, “Are you OK, sis?” “Never better, Yo-Yo!” replied the Ghost, “Anymore forming?” “No, not yet!” she replied, “That was a small one, but it was a successful test of the machine’s ability to close the portal!” “Great! Do we need to keep the power going constantly or what?” asked Dee-Dee. “No, I don’t think so!” Yolanda replied, “Just keep it up a couple more minutes so I can charge the storage batteries then you can rest until we need to shut another one!” “OK, Yo-Yo!” she answered, “See, I told you it would be alright!” Yolanda smiled and checked the battery levels. Another 2 minutes and 45 seconds and the batteries would be completely charged. The stored energy of the battery system would hold enough power to run the scans for more than a week and close small portals, like the one that had just been handled, for about 2 or 3 days, but for large scale ones, she would need the Green Ghost to directly energize the machine.

*****

In the Ninth Realm…

Eclipse roared and flew toward Lady DeathRaven at incredible speed. The devilish dominatrix was amazingly caught off guard and had the wind knocked out of her. Before DeathRaven could recover, Eclipse pinned her to the ground and began clawing for all she was worth. She knew that if DeathRaven got the chance she could still possibly kill her. DeathRaven was impressed with the way Eclipse was using the battle techniques she had been taught and tried to find a way to stop or at least slow her down, otherwise she might be Eclipse’s next meal.

At the same time Death Angel pressed home her advantage over Malthus and thought she was gaining ground against him. Gina had to constantly teleport from position to position all around Malthus to keep him from seizing her and resting enough to regain his strength. Unfortunately for Gina, Malthus had much more stamina than either Gina or Eclipse had bargained for. Gina was running out of steam. Finally, Malthus grabbed her by the left leg and slammed her to the ground. Malthus quickly planted his massive cloven hoofed foot on Gina’s chest. He swiftly snatched up his trident and shoved it under Gina’s chin. “HOW DARE YOU ATTACK THE PERSONAGE OF THE LORD OF THE NINTH REALM!” said Malthus, “NOW YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR TREACHERY, BEAST-GIRL!” Just then Gina shouted, “Wait, my lord! Stay your hand, I beg you!”

“What?? You speak??” asked Malthus, “What sorcery is this??” “My sorcery, my LORD!!” shouted Gina hurling a magic bolt toward Malthus’ eyes. The giant demon lord cried out and was temporarily blinded and flailed his trident around trying to strike Gina. Although Malthus’ attack was ineffective, the defense he setup from the whirling trident made it impossible to get close enough to mount an attack with her claws and teeth. Because the trident could cause her harm even while immaterial, Gina backed off to a safe distance and tried lobbing magic bolts at Malthus. His demonic hearing was excellent however and he deflected each one with consummate skill.

“My vision clears, little one!” said Malthus with an evil grin, “Soon I’ll barbecue your carcass and feast on your flesh!” “I knew this wouldn’t work!” Gina thought, “He’s too powerful! Eclipse and her big ideas!”

In another part of the vast chamber, Eclipse and DeathRaven were locked in combat to the death. DeathRaven had succeeded in stopping Eclipse’s mighty clawing onslaught, but not before Eclipse succeeded in shredding most of DeathRaven’s uniform. The two were now facing each other in a test of strength, one that DeathRaven was losing. Twice, Eclipse had come close to sinking her fangs into DeathRaven’s throat, but just missed by mere centimeters. Suddenly, DeathRaven released a massive kick to Eclipse’s groin and then another. The impacts loosened her grip enough to allow DeathRaven to flip away and retrieve her machete. Eclipse laughed and said, “That pig-sticker won’t do you any good, Roxy! My shield is more than enough to stop it!” “Once again, you assume too much, little girl!” replied DeathRaven. Eclipse was incensed at being called “little girl”.

She ran at DeathRaven full tilt, claws extended, her energy shield full on. DeathRaven easily side-stepped the emotional attack. That’s when Eclipse knew she had made a mistake in underestimating her one-time teacher. She felt the mistake in her abdomen as she watched the foot long blade of the spike handled weapon sink into her body. The pain was so intense she couldn’t even scream. Roxy withdrew the deadly blade and plunged it in again right up to the hilt, all the time staring into Eclipse’s wide black eyes. She turned it, enjoying the tortured anguish on the woman’s face. DeathRaven leaned in close and kissed Eclipse on the cheek and said, “I’m sorry it had to end this way, kid. You were my greatest student, but I’m the best! Goodbye, little girl!” Eclipse gasped, fell to the floor and lay still, her eyes still open in shock. Roxy pulled out the blade of the machete and wiped the blood off with Eclipse’s cape.

Lady DeathRaven looked toward the conflict between Gina and Malthus, snatched up her whip and raced to aid Death Angel. Gone unnoticed by Roxy, the body of Eclipse began to glow…

TO BE CONTINUED…in Episode V - The Rising of The Titaness!

Great update Pics, glad to see your back :-)

Indeed, it's good to see you back and in rare form. What an awesome update. Deeply layered and dark. I love it and can't wait for more.

Hey all:

Forgot to put this pic on of Eclipse after her transformation. See you soon! 8)

Here's the next installment:

*****

Episode V – The Rising of The Titaness

“L’Drianna!” exclaimed T.J., “How did that blade get through the shield?? Was it enchanted or something??” “Yes, it was T.J.” explained the beautiful amazon-like entity, “But it still wouldn’t have been able to get past the shield without a little help!” T.J. looked at L’Drianna and smiled. She winked at her and said, “I think it’s time we took back your body, don’t you?” “Eclipse is finally dead?” asked T.J. “Oh yes, quite so!” said L’Drianna, “Her personality is completely erased from the Dark Essence. I’m surprised that DeathRaven didn’t try to absorb the Dark Essence she carried, but I think she’s more worried about Death Angel then gaining more power! Besides, I’d just have to stop her anyway! You ready to kick some demonic butt, kid?” “Never readier! Let’s do this!” replied T.J.

L’Drianna closed her eyes and concentrated. She reached out into the Dark Essence and touched its basic structure, looking for the tiniest part of the light that resided within. She found it and began re-shaping the Dark Essence, converting it to the Essence of Light. The environment that she and T.J. were in was suddenly flooded with bright light. A feeling of joy and power flooded every part of the muscular body that Eclipse had become. Her body began to glow brighter and brighter until it distracted the demonic combatants at the other end of the cavernous Throne Room of Malthus. Malthus, DeathRaven and Death Angel were both mesmerized and repulsed by the illumination coming from Eclipse’s body as it floated from the ground and was set on its feet. Malthus exclaimed, “NO! IT CANNOT BE! IT CANNOT BE!!” Suddenly, there was a brilliant flash that lit every corner of the cavern, driving away every shadow.

When his eyes cleared, Malthus looked where Eclipse had been standing. His mouth fell open in shock and awe. There stood a woman built like a professional bodybuilder, not freakish by any means, but covered with shapely, well defined muscle. She wore a costume just like Titan Girl’s, except she wore a fuchsia colored mask that covered her entire face, from her forehead to her chin, but had openings for her lovely sparkling blue eyes, her nose and sensuous mouth. The short cape that Titan Girl wore was changed also, to one that hung down to the back of the woman’s knees. She was crowned with the most beautiful mane of golden hair any of them had ever seen, that reached just below her shoulders.

Pure energy rippled across her gorgeously muscled body as she stood glaring at the 3 villains, her gloved hands on her hips. The very air around her sparkled, glistening with points of golden light. Malthus finally recognized who she was. “The Entity.” he whispered. “Yes, evil one!” said the vision of loveliness, “But you may call me The Titaness! It’s time you paid for chasing me throughout the cosmos for the last 1000 years…with interest!” Malthus gulped. This was the first time DeathRaven had ever seen fear on Malthus face in all the years she’d served him.

“Ladies, a moment, if you please.” Malthus said. The two deadly minions approached him. “I’m willing to overlook this little attack against me and the treachery you showed!” he said, “We must combine our forces if we are to survive this Titaness person!” “Well, that’s awfully magnanimous of you Malthus!” said Death Angel smiling, “But I don’t think she mentioned me or Roxy in this payback thing! She wants you, not us! So I think I’m gonna do a Snagglepuss and exit stage left! You comin’ Rox?” Roxy thought for a split second that if Malthus was this nervous, it might be time to make like a tree and leave! “I’m all with that, baby girl!” replied DeathRaven, “Seeya, Malthus!” “I’LL GET YOU BOTH FOR THIS, I SWEAR IT!!” shouted Malthus.

The evil duo took off for the huge door at super speed, but ran into a force field unlike anything they had ever experienced. The Titaness smiled and said, “Just where do you two think you’re going? When I’m finished with him, I’ll settle up with you! But just to make sure…” The Titaness moved over to the wicked pair at blinding speed, grabbed them both by the back of neck and lifted them in the air, so that their hosed feet dangled. Roxy quickly grabbed her machete from her thigh and stabbed The Titaness in the face. Roxy looked in horror as The Titaness grasped the enchanted blade in her teeth and snapped it off! The Titaness spit out the razor sharp piece of magic metal and said with a smile, “You know, you two look tired. You could use a little nap!” The mighty blonde heroine slammed their heads together knocking them out cold. The Titaness looked at Malthus and her eyes smoldered. “Sic ‘em, L’Drianna!” said T.J. internally.

The Titaness dropped the two KO’d villainesses to the stone floor and walked toward Malthus. Malthus grabbed his trident and whirled it around him, stopping in a battle ready stance. The Titaness stopped about 10 feet from him, raised both hands in the air over her head, placing the base of her thumbs together. She drew them apart in a straight line and a wide beam of energy formed between them. When she had drawn it out to a little over arms width, she took away her left hand and in her right appeared a broadsword with a glowing golden blade. She twirled the large weapon around her body and took her own stance, holding the sword over her head in one hand and giving Malthus the Matrix bring-it-on sign with the other. Malthus gave her the finger in return and attacked.

Malthus swung the head of the trident directly at The Titaness’ neck, attempting to decapitate her with its sharp edge. The Titaness deftly blocked the attack and her golden sword came crashing down on Malthus’ armored shoulder. The armor kept him from being cut, but the impact nearly made him drop the trident. Malthus whirled the wicked looking polearm around his body, continuing to strike at the pink pantyhosed powerhouse without success.

After over 17 ineffective blows struck by Malthus, The Titaness finally shouted, “Enough of this! Here’s one for T.J.’s parents!” She started wielding the golden blade with such speed and force that Malthus could barely see it move. When she finally struck, Malthus raised the trident to block the blow and she sheared the deadly demonic instrument in two! Malthus was in deep shock. He summoned all the power he had left and fired a massive bolt of hellfire at The Titaness, point blank. She held out her hands, caught it, rolled it into a ball and said “I think this is yours!”

The Titaness threw the hellfire ball back at Malthus. She knew the hellfire ball wouldn’t harm him, but she threw it with such force that Malthus was knocked off his hoofed feet and crashed into his throne. The top of it snapped clean off and Malthus fell to the ground so hard he made a butt shaped impression in it. The vibration awoke Death Angel from her impact induced “nap”. She shook DeathRaven saying, “Roxy, wake up! Wake up!” DeathRaven moaned and stirred. “Ohhhh! My head!” said Roxy, still groggy, “Gina, you’ve got a real hard noggin, sweetheart!” “Me? Uh,uh! That was all you, baby!” said Gina, “Look, let’s argue about this later. Right now, we’ve gotta get outta here!” “How? She’s got the door blocked?” asked Roxy. Gina smiled and replied, “Then we’ll make our own!” Death Angel raised her clawed hands and said, “Mik’tar rochen drik’hal!”

Immediately a mystic portal opened before them. “Where does this go?” asked DeathRaven. Death Angel smiled and said, “You’ll see! Come on!” The Titaness had just grabbed Malthus by the front of his chest plate and was about to knock his block off, when she saw the portal. “Hey you!” she shouted, “Come back here!” Death Angel blew her a kiss, grabbed DeathRaven’s hand and they jumped through the portal. It closed almost instantly. “Well, it looks like they’ve escaped you…’pinky’!” said Malthus laughing.

“Perhaps, but you won’t!” she replied raising a glowing fist. “Not so fast, Titaness!” said Malthus quickly, “You must know what they’ll do next, don’t you?” “What do you mean??” she asked angrily, “Talk or I’ll smash your head open like a bad pumpkin!” “Three words: The Earth Realm.” said Malthus. “Great Creator, the Death Horde!!” exclaimed The Titaness. “Exactly!” said Malthus, “Now you must ask yourself: Do I stay and kick Malthus’ butt all over his own Throne Room or Do I go and save the Earth Realm from two of the most evil villainesses in the universe? Decisions, decisions!”

“I’ll postpone this little exercise for a while, Malthus!” said The Titaness, tossing Malthus to the ground, “But I swear by all that’s holy, I’ll see you again!” “When next we meet, Titaness, I will be at full power!” said Malthus, standing up and looking at her with red smoldering eyes, “Then we’ll see how powerful you really are!” “I look forward to it!” she answered, “Until then, here’s a kiss to build a dream on!” The Titaness kissed her fuchsia gloved hand and blew forcefully across it, the sudden powerful wind propelling Malthus screaming into the far wall of the cavern, embedding him into it. “A CURSE ON YOU, TITANESS!!” shouted Malthus, attempting to free himself from the deep impression in the wall. The Titaness waved and took flight, smashing through the door leading to the dank hallways of the 9th Realm.

Meanwhile, in Death Angel’s “pocket realm”…

“…and all these troops are those I fed you? Fantastic!” said DeathRaven. “Not all of them, Roxy dear.” explained Death Angel, “Many were just lost souls I collected in and around different realms or those I killed on my little hunts I did by myself.” Under a purple sky with a bright yellow moon, The Death Horde had been assembled in a great plain in the small realm. There were hundreds of thousands of the zombie-like troops. Most were reanimated corpses armed with the crudest of weapons; knives, clubs, machetes and swords. The larger ones, whose flesh and muscle were still mostly intact, carried special weapons, a mixture of high technology and sorcery. They fired mystic bolts of spiritual energy designed to disrupt not only flesh and bone, but strike down souls and spirits as well. The horde marched in formation, passing in review before the two femme fatales.

When the review was finished, Death Angel stood on a high platform and addressed the troops in a loud voice. “Hear me, my minions of darkness! Today you march upon the realm of Earth to invade, enslave and quench your thirst for blood and your hunger for flesh! Gorge yourselves, my slaves! Torture, pillage and slay humans to the content of your black hearts! All that I command is that you do not completely devour them all! Save some to be subjugated and turned, so that we may increase our ranks and take over other realms! One great day, we shall rule all realms! One day we will rule the universe!!” The black armored soldiers of Death Angel cheered, their jaws slavering brackish spittle at the thought of the grisly feast that awaited them.

“Nice speech!” said DeathRaven. “Thanks, Roxy!” replied Death Angel, “I’ve been working on that one for a little while now!” “So, what’s next, oh fearless leader?” said Roxy with a smile. “Now we wait another few minutes.” Gina answered, “There’s a point of convergence when this realm and Earth are in direct alignment. That will make it easier to keep the portal open so that all my troops may enter the realm at once.”

“I have to say, you make a better evil mastermind than you did a White Angel!” said Roxy. Gina glared at her for a moment, then burst out laughing and said, “You know, I guess you’re right! Besides, we could never be friends otherwise!” Roxy looked into Gina’s black eyes and asked, “Just friends?” “More than friends.” replied Gina. Roxy moved to embrace her, but Gina stopped her and said, “Please Roxy, not in front of the zombies!” “Well, when baby?” asked Roxy licking her lips, “You know how impatient I am!” “Later, Roxy sweetheart, later!” Gina purred with a wicked smile.

In the Earth Realm…

The portal alert klaxon began to blare as the sensor picked up a tremendous increase in energy approaching the Earth Realm. Dr. Yolanda Kramer and her sister, Dee-Dee, who was secretly The Green Ghost, Huron City’s newest crime fighter, rushed to the screen of the control console on the portal-sealing device. “Wow! Look at the power reading!” said Dee-Dee, “It’s off the freakin’ scale!” “My God! Can we seal something that massive?” said Yolanda. “There’s only one way to find out!” said Dee-Dee. Dee-Dee touched her power belt and in a flash of light became The Green Ghost. The Ghost quickly flew over to the power grid area and attached the power couplings to her wrists. “Let’s go, Yo-Yo!” she said. “OK, here goes!” said Yolanda.

As the machine hummed to life, Yolanda noticed something strange. The power frequency was somehow different. The wavelength…it was light…pink light! Yolanda quickly shut down the sealing sequence. “Dee-Dee, it’s her, it’s T.J.!” she cried, “She coming back! She’s alive!” Just as Dr. Kramer spoke those words, there was a bright flash of pinkish light and a portal opened. A fuchsia and pink figure streaked out of the opening, circled and landed right in front of the Kramer sisters. They were taken aback by the awesome and powerful figure that strode toward them. “That’s not T.J.!” shouted The Green Ghost, assuming a fighting stance. “No, no Dee-Dee, relax!” said Yolanda, “That’s L’Drianna, the entity that shares T.J.’s body!”

“Greetings, Yolanda!” said The Titaness, “I’m glad you remember what I look like! I’d hate to fight Dee-Dee like this! You look awesome!” “Thanks, so do you!” said The Ghost. “We haven’t met officially Dee-Dee, my name is L’Drianna, but you may call me The Titaness.” she said extending her hand. The Green Ghost shook her hand firmly and said, “The name is certainly appropriate! If you’re half as strong as you look, the crime in this city’ll be non-existent before long!” “With both of us around, evildoers won’t stand a chance!” said The Titaness with a grin, “But I know somebody that I think wants to say hello!” The Titaness bowed her head and there was a flash of pink light. Where once stood the mighty Titaness, now stood Tammy Jane Kramer, alive and well!

T.J. burst into tears and ran to her aunts. No words could convey their joy. They just held one another for the space of 15 minutes, weeping and laughing. Suddenly, the portal-sealer energy indicator went off again. This time it was deadly serious. The convergence of Death Angel’s realm and Earth was complete. She was opening a portal…a big one! Yolanda shouted, “Dee-Dee, into the power grid, quick!” The Green Ghost jumped into the grid and re-attached the power couplings. Dr. Kramer punched the activator switch and said, “Pray girls, pray this works! If it doesn’t were stewed!” “Not necessarily, Auntie Yo.” said T.J. softly.

The machine’s energy beam slammed into the area where the portal was to form. The energy was collapsing it just as it had before with the others. Dr. Kramer looked confident. Suddenly, a surge of power began to cause feedback on the beam. The sealing effect began to de-stabilize. The portal began forming again. “Yolanda, I can’t hold this any longer!” said The Green Ghost, “The feedback is…too…much!” Just then the portal-sealer began to shake violently and then it went silent. The portal began to open again and now the machine was completely inert. “Well, T.J. whatever’s coming, it’s on its way and there’s nothing we can do to stop it!” said Yolanda sadly.

“I can do something, Auntie Yo!” said T.J., “But to do it, I need TITAN POWER!” At the utterance of those two words, energy rippled across T.J.’s teenage body, then in a flash of light appeared The Titaness! “Let’s do this!” said The Titaness, “Yolanda, you and The Green Ghost try to get this machine going again! I’m going to destroy as many as I can and try to keep the Horde from fully entering the Earth Realm. Ghost, if any get past me, it’ll be your job to destroy them! You game?” “You got it, Titaness!” she replied, “Good luck!” The Titaness smiled and answered, “To us all, Green Ghost, to us all!”

TO BE CONCLUDED…in Episode VI - A New Heroine, A New Threat!

Sweet update Pics!

Here it is! The Conclusion! Enjoy! 8)

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Episode VI - A New Heroine, A New Threat


Outside the metropolitan area of Huron City, The Titaness, the city’s and the Earth Realm’s newest champion, awaited the attack of The Death Horde. The army of undead corpses was massing at the mystic rift that would form the huge portal between the realm of Death Angel and the Earth. The Green Ghost and Dr. Yolanda Kramer were desperately trying to find the cause of the breakdown in the portal sealer and repair it before it was too late for the Earth Realm. The Titaness could only watch as the portal grew in size. The portal was not yet complete, but a few zombies, eager to taste human flesh, crawled through the aperture that was already open.

As they emerged the few reanimated corpses received a nasty surprise as The Titaness lopped off their heads with her Golden Light broadsword. Unfortunately, the fissure was growing wider and wider every second. Even with her super speed, The Titaness was having a little difficulty keeping up with the ever increasing number of zombies encroaching on the Earth Realm. “Ghost, I could use some assistance here!” called out the pink hose clad powerhouse, “Now would be a good time!!” “OK, here I come!” shouted The Green Ghost taking flight. The Ghost arrived in a split second and began firing bolts of green concussive energy trying to match The Titaness’ nova-hot solar eyebeams, plasma bolts and stellar energy blasts. They were making a dent in the Horde’s forces, but more just kept pouring through the ever widening portal and a very few were getting through!

While the green and pink duo were battling the decomposing denizens of Death Angel, Dr. Kramer was growing more and more frustrated by the moment, trying to fix the portal sealer. The machine appeared to be fine. The circuitry was undamaged, the conduits were intact and the batteries were still carrying 85% of their charge. There didn’t seem to be a reason why the system shouldn’t be functioning normally. She didn’t understand it at all. Until by some miracle, she actually got the scanner screen to flicker. Then it was clear what was happening. Just then, Yolanda realized that she wasn’t alone. She whirled around and facing her were two Horde soldiers. They licked what was left of their lips with their decaying tongues and slowly advanced toward her. Yolanda screamed.

*****

Meanwhile, back in the 9th Realm…

Malthus had managed to free himself from the deep crevasse created by the impact of his massive body with the far wall of his Throne Room. He could feel his Dark Essence regaining its strength. He would be at full power in about an hour. He roared with anger at his near defeat by The Titaness and swore he would never rest until he made her pay! He repaired his throne with a wave of one hand and sat upon it, deep in thought. “Most of my minions are still loyal.” he thought, “Lady DeathRaven’s betrayal hasn’t affected them too much. Besides, I can destroy them easily if they’re not! But whom can I trust to send after The Titaness? She is too powerful for any one of my minions to take on alone!”

“How I wish I could leave this cursed realm!” he thought aloud, “But the laws of the realms are most explicit! I can’t leave here to take my revenge on her personally without jeopardizing my hold on this realm and I can’t trust anyone to reign here in my stead even if I could somehow get out of here!” “Why don’t you let me take care of things for you, big brother?” said a sultry female voice. “Who the…Durlaxa!” said Malthus with a grin, “My little sister! Well, this is a surprise!” The demoness stepped from the shadows with a big smile on her face.

She stood between 7 and 8 feet tall. Her skin was a light purple, if fact just about everything about her and on her was a shade of purple. Her ram like horns in her head, curved around her ears, like Malthus own, were a dark purple. Her eyes were fully black, a sign of the powerful possession of the Dark Essence, and slanted on a diagonal. Her ears were pointed and pronounced, with a single gold earring adorning the lobe of her right. Her mouth, framed by full deep purple sticked lips, sported sharp fangs on the upper and lower jaw. Her long silky purple hair was put into a long braid which flowed down across her right shoulder, the tip ending at a point just above her navel. Her shapely, well-muscled bodybuilder physique was covered in a material that looked like sheer shimmering purple silk, from a purple metal ring about her neck to the tips of her shiny polished purple toenails.

Her private areas were covered by a purple chain mail bikini, her waist by a silken purple sash. Her wrists sported gauntlets that looked like wrought iron but in a magically charged purple metal. Her hands had thick, sharp, two-inch purple claws which she used often to torture whoever would have the misfortune to bestride her path. She had large bat-like wings, like her brother Malthus, but, of course, light purple with dark purple trim. The most significant difference in Durlaxa from her brother was her tail. The males in Malthus’ family didn’t inherit that trait, probably because their mother had one, but not their father. Durlaxa’s tail was a thick muscular appendage, light purple with dark purple spots.

“So dear sister, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?” asked Malthus suspiciously. “A girl can’t come to visit her favorite sibling without a reason?” asked Durlaxa with a wicked smile. “Ah, I see!” said Malthus, “So you just came to visit because you care so much for me and you missed me. Is that it?” “Sarcasm does not become you brother!” said Durlaxa feigning hurt feelings. “So you didn’t come to see if I’d been killed or weakened so you could finish me off and steal my realm?” asked Malthus. “Now Malthus, would I do that to you, my favorite brother?” said Durlaxa. “In a New York minute, you sadist!” replied Malthus, “You were always trying to murder me when we were kids!” “Oh, that’s harsh, brother dear!” said Durlaxa, “Father always set us against each other! He wanted to keep you on your toes!”

“Yeah, that’s why I killed the old bastard as soon as I was strong enough!” said Malthus laughing, “Funny, he didn’t seem to expect that one!” Durlaxa laughed as well and said, “Yes. The lecherous old fart didn’t expect his eldest to slice his head off with a trident edge!” “Enough reminiscing!” said Malthus, “Why are you really here, Durlaxa?” “To help you and to give you what you want, dear brother!” she replied. “And what is that?” he asked raising an eyebrow. Durlaxa smiled, baring her fangs and answered, “2 things, Malthy: One, The Titaness’ head on a platter and two…me!” Malthus erupted in peals of laughter. With tears in his eyes, he said, “The head of my enemy I could use, but what, by the fires of Perdition, would I want you for?”

“Oh come now, Malthy! Stop pretending! You’ve always wanted me!” said Durlaxa slinking toward him, “Why not indulge yourself, finally?” “DURLAXA! Are you insane?” shouted Malthus, “Hmmm…let me rephrase that…How insane have you become? You’re my sister, for Satan’s sake! What would Mother say?” “Probably not a whole helluva lot.” said Durlaxa grinning, “Father was her brother too!” “NO WAY!” shouted Malthus, “She told you this?” “Sure did! About a month ago!” she replied. Malthus sat back on his throne, looking Durlaxa up and down, as she stood provocatively before him. “Alright, let’s say I like this deal.” said Malthus, “What do you want out of this, sister dear?” “You marry me and I become Queen of the 9th Realm and rule by your side!” said Durlaxa with a smile, “And you get someone you can trust to go after this Titaness and bring you her head. In addition, you get to…exercise your husbandly prerogatives anytime you want!” “Anytime?” asked Malthus with a wide grin. “Anytime.” she said straddling his hips on the throne, “So what do you say brother dearest? We got a deal or what?”

“I still don’t know if I trust you.” said Malthus. “Well, I don’t know if I trust you either.” replied Durlaxa, putting her silken covered arms about Malthus neck, “That’s what makes it…interesting. Don’t you think?” Before Malthus could answer, Durlaxa kissed him with more passion than Malthus had ever felt from any of his 12,000 concubines. When she was finished, Malthus looked deeply into her black eyes and said, “I didn’t know you felt this way.” “Didn’t you?” she asked softly. He smiled widely and said, “You drive a hard bargain, Durlaxa!” “Actually, I was hoping by the way your codpiece is rising, that you’d be doing the…hard driving!” she said sucking his earlobe gently. “OK, we’ve got a deal…my Queen!” said Malthus with a smile. Durlaxa smiled back and kissed him again, thinking, “That was easier than I thought! Now, I’ve got him right where I want him! Soon, I’ll have control of this realm, but I won’t be bound to it like he is! Then I can conquer the Earth Realm and seize the secret of The Titaness’ power! With that, I will indeed be a goddess! I’ll be worshipped and feared by all, including my dear husband!”

*****

Back on Earth…

Yolanda Kramer was frightened out of her mind. She backed away from the terrifying reanimated corpses that were advancing toward her. Then suddenly, she ran out of room. With uncharacteristic speed, one of the zombies reached out and seized her by the arm and pulled her closer. Yolanda screamed for help, but none came. The undead creature smiled through its rotting lips and opened its maw widely to close its jaws around her throat. Yolanda fought the creature using every self defense move she learned at the courses she had taken at Huron City University, but her strength was paltry compared to the zombie’s. She closed her eyes and waited for the pain of its bite and the release of her soul.

It never came. She did sense the zombie’s body stiffen and she opened her eyes. The creature’s deadly widening maw was gone…along with the rest of its head. The other one had also been decapitated, its body lying a few feet from where her attacker’s body had now fallen. She looked up to see The Titaness flying back to the melee at high speed. Yolanda heard a telepathic message which said, “Yolanda, didn’t your mother ever tell you not to talk to strange men?” “Very funny, Titaness!” said Yolanda, “And thanks!” “Hey, we’ve got a war to fight here!” she replied, “We need all the help we can get! Any luck with the machine yet?” “I think I’ve found the problem, yes!” said Yolanda telepathically, “But I’ve reached an impasse!” “What is it?” asked The Titaness. “The interference isn’t of a scientific nature, its magic!” said Yolanda, “I can’t counteract magic with science!” “You’re right!” said The Titaness, “Hold on, I’ve got an idea!”

While fighting the Death Horde off, The Titaness had been trying to think of a way to buy them some time to repair the portal sealer. Yolanda had found the source of the interference. Now, she and The Green Ghost had to find a way to keep the nightmarish creatures at bay until Yolanda could finish the repairs and seal the portal. The Titaness could think of only one way, but it meant going to the other side of the portal being formed by Death Angel, it meant risking everything, by being trapped in the Death Realm…forever!

“Ghost! Can you hold the fort here for a while?” asked The Titaness. “I guess so!!” she shouted over noise of battle, “Why? Where are you going?” The Titaness smiled and pointed to the portal. “No, Titaness, don’t!” pleaded The Green Ghost, “You’ll be trapped if it closes and you’re over there!” “I know! But if I don’t Yolanda can’t fix the sealer!” replied The Titaness, “Don’t worry! I’ll get back before it collapses completely!” “Can you erect a force field around the portal to completely cover it until I get back?” “I’ll do my best!” said The Green Ghost, “Good luck and Godspeed!” “You too, Ghost!” said The Titaness, “It’s been a great honor fighting by your side!” “Ditto, kid!” said The Ghost, “Seeya when I seeya!” “You got it!” said The Titaness taking flight.

The Titaness shot upward and went as high as the troposphere. Then she streaked downward at such great speed, she created a sonic boom. The loud sound disoriented the hellish creatures enough to catch them of guard. The Titaness continued her supersonic decent toward the portal. At the last second, The Titaness created a huge curve shaped field of pink energy, like the front of a snow plow, and as she flew, she literally scooped up all the Horde soldiers in her line of flight, and then vanished with them into the portal! The Green Ghost destroyed the few stragglers that were left and erected the green energy force-field bubble the Titaness had asked for. The Horde fought and pushed against the field, but couldn’t breach it. The battle against the Horde had almost exhausted The Green Ghost, but she knew she couldn’t let up. The Death Horde would swarm through the portal and overwhelm the city and eventually, the world.

*****

In the Death Realm, the pocket realm of Death Angel…

Death Angel and Lady DeathRaven watched with awe as The Titaness dragged a multitude of the Horde back through the portal with her. She clapped her hands together with such force that the resulting shockwave knocked the entire phalanx to the ground. She then proceeded to wipe the plain with the remaining forces of the Death Horde until there were no more of them left standing. The Titaness was near exhaustion. That was when Death Angel decided to attack. She leapt onto The Titaness from behind, clawing at her with bestial fury. To Gina’s surprise, her razor sharp claws didn’t even put so much as a scratch on her skin or even her costume.

Desperate to do something to kill The Titaness, Gina tried to sink her terribly sharp fangs into her, but it did no good. Gina then tried to utter an incantation, but The Titaness grabbed her by the throat, held her up in the air and as her eyes smoldered, smiled and said, “Bad kitty!” The Titaness tossed Gina through the air with such force that when she landed, her head got stuck in a sand dune. Death Angel was rendered unconscious. At that moment, the magical interference with the portal sealer ceased. Yolanda started the power-up sequence, knowing all the while that if the portal were to seal, The Titaness might be trapped in the Death Realm, possibly never to return.

Lady DeathRaven screamed and attacked using her whip, swiftly wrapping it around The Titaness' throat, cutting of her air supply. The Titaness choked and fell to her knees. Roxy smiled and ran toward her wrapping the thick bullwhip around her lovely neck twice more. Roxy put her black shimmering foot on The Titaness’ back and pulled on the whip, tightening it more every second. Roxy laughed as she pressed her foot deeper into her back, continuing to pull on the whip until she heard The Titaness finally stop breathing. Roxy turned her prey over and took the whip from her neck expecting to see deep marks and lacerations from the torturous death she had inflicted upon The Titaness, but there were none!

The Titaness eyes popped open and she smiled. “Oh @#*&!” said Roxy as The Titaness seized her and flew upwards. The Titaness looked down at where Death Angel still lay unconscious with her head stuck in the sand like an ostrich. “You two seem so fond of each other.” said The Titaness, “You should be wonderful company for one another throughout eternity!” The Titaness streaked toward the ground at incredible speed. Roxy shrieked, “I’LL GET YOU FOR THIS, TITANESS! I SWEAR IT!” “Get in line, sweetie! Malthus is in front of you on that one!” replied The Titaness, as she rammed Lady DeathRaven’s head into the sand dune right beside Death Angel. The Titaness looked up and noticed that the portal was nearly sealed and rocketed toward the shrinking opening.

*****

Meanwhile, back on Earth…

Yolanda was biting her nails watching the portal grow smaller every second. When the sealer’s energy beam slammed into the portal, the remaining Horde soldiers that were on the Earth side of the portal were squashed like bugs on a windshield. The Green Ghost immediately dropped the force bubble and flew back to Yolanda’s side to check on The Titaness’ progress. There was no sign for many minutes and the portal was nearly sealed. Then suddenly, a streak of fuchsia and pink burst forth from the portal just as it sealed shut. The Green Ghost and Dr. Yolanda Kramer jumped up and down cheering and gave each other a high five. The crisis was averted and the realm of Earth was safe…for the moment.

A few hours later, Robyne “Scoop” Reynolds was on the TV screens of Huron City replaying the footage from Titan Girl’s seeming demise (the tape edited to keep T.J.’s secret), which got her the job at WHCN as their newest field reporter, and the new footage shot from a safe distance during the thwarted Horde Invasion. Also on the screen was The Titaness answering questions from the press and making men swoon with her uncannily gorgeous features. Robyne had to tell Greg, her cameraman, to stop focusing on her legs and frame his shot on her head, several times. The Titaness seemed to have that effect on men.

At the end of the conference, Robyne asked a last question. “Titaness, now that it’s all over, will you be staying on here or moving on?” “Huron City seems like a nice place to settle.” said The Titaness, “I’ve roamed this universe for too long. I think I’ll stick around for a couple hundred years or so, then who knows?” The crowd laughed. The Titaness rose into the air as the crowd cheered. She waved to them and then turned into a streak of fuchsia and pink disappearing into the distance. “And there you have it citizens of Huron City!” said Reynolds in her closing remarks, “We may have lost a fine young champion in Titan Girl, but the Earth gained a cosmic protector in The Titaness! This is Robyne Reynolds! Good night, Huron City! Sweet Dreams! Back to you Becky and Steve in the studio!”

Yolanda turned off the large screen TV in the living room of her suburban home and said, “Well, I sure am glad that’s over!” Dee-Dee and T.J. both said “Amen!” in unison. They all thought that Robyne Reynolds would want to break the story of Titan Girl/The Titaness’ secret identity, but the clever newshound told them that the city needs it’s heroines with their identities intact. Although she expected all the juicy exclusive stuff for herself, to which T.J. agreed. Yolanda asked T.J., “So do you think you’re going to like being a superheroine?” “Yeah, do you think it’ll be as easy as it looks on TV or in the comic books?” asked Dee-Dee. “Well, it’s gonna play havoc with my social life!” said T.J. with a chuckle, “I mean, how am I gonna explain to Rocky where I’ve been for the last couple of months without lying to him?”

“Hey kid, that’s nothing!” said Dee-Dee, “How’d you like to have to explain that you’re back from the dead?” The trio of Kramer women began to laugh. “Well, we’ll cross those bridges as we get to ‘em!” said Yolanda, “The most important thing is we’re together and that’s how we’ll get through it all, together!” “Truer words were never spoken, Yo-Yo!” said Dee-Dee. “Hear, hear!” chimed in T.J. “Hey, who’s for ice cream, my treat!” said Yolanda. “Let’s go!” said Dee-Dee and T.J. in unison. As they all piled in to Yolanda’s car and headed down the driveway, they were oblivious to a pair of slanted black eyes that watched them drive down the street; A pair of eyes that before long would seek to see them all writhing in terrible, torturous pain; A pair of eyes that wanted to see their lives come to a pitiful screaming finish. Eyes belonging to Durlaxa, The Purple Demon, Queen of the 9th Realm. One battle for the Earth Realm had been won. The war had just begun.

THE END

Sorry. I forgot to post this pic when I finished the story. Enjoy! 8)

Great story Pics!

Once again, BrVO sir! =D> =D> A thoroughly entertaining story from start to finish. You're plot and character development and attention to details are second to none!

Amazing conclusion to an amazing story - Bravo, indeed!!!

My thanks to all the readers of this story. I may write more of the adventures of The Titaness, if there is enough demand. Let me know what you think. I enjoyed watching this one unfold as much as you readers!

Special thanks to phoxy_brown for allowing me to develop his creations of the netherworld 9th realm, its ruler Malthus, Roxanne DeWitt, Lady DeathRaven and Gina McBright, once the White Angel, now Death Angel!

Thanks Phox! You da man!! \:D/

Seeya! 8)