[COLLAPSE="Enter: Ashley"]---{Diamond City}---
Diamond City was restless. men, women, and children rushing to and fro' in a hurry that would make even New York City seem like a lazy town. aside the bustle of the city, however, a haunted mansion on the other side of town was surprisingly quiet...
It was not only quiet, however. it was also nearly empty. no man, no woman, no children, no pets, not even the usual infestation of cockroaches that usually comes with a house in this condition. the only inhabitants were many a book in the library, wherein the house's only two sentient inhabitants currently were...
A young girl was browsing through the library's oldest tomes, in search of something. she wore a red dress with an orange scarf. if one were to examine her person, one would find a small staff with a red orb on it's tip. she also had brunette hair, which was currently more frizzy and unkempt than usual. she had been up for 3 days and 3 nights straight searching through old spellbooks...
"Damn it, it's not in this one either." she hissed. she was clenching her teeth tightly and looked on the verge of throwing the book at the nearest window. "Red!" she called. a small, demon-like being approached, with a tired yawn of "Yes, miss Ashley?".
"Find me that old book on reincarnation..." Ashley told the little demon, who was already half-asleep and clearly looked like he didn't want to see another book again for at least 3 more months.
Still, he responded with "Right away, miss!". he was clearly a loyal demon.
Ashley continued to murmur to herself. "If there IS something not unlike the spell i'm looking for, then this library must be hiding it from me.
three full days have passed and still-".
"Found it, miss Ashley!" the demon interrupted, laying down a rather dusty book in front of her.
Ashley quickly blew the dust off, blowing it right into the red demon's face, and the title read '
Incantations of Reincarnation'. she opened it up and flipped to the table of contents. "If there's anything on reviving a member of the smashfan tribe, it's certainly not out of the question that it would date back to it's founding in the early years of the Smashboards dimension..."
"But miss Ashley," the demon interrupted again. "That book dates back to 1892. Smashboards was only founded in 2000."
Ashley was quick to correct him. "The Smashboards
website was founded in 2000. the website only served to link the connection to the dimension of Smashboards. not to mention, it wasn't until 2009 that the dimension became accessible to users of the website..." Ashley then took out her staff and whacked the demon in the head, then proceeded to read through the table of contents.
"Nothing else i've tried so far has worked..." Ashley brooded.
"Miss Ashley, i do have to ask. why do we continue to do this anyway? isn't Xiroey powerful enough to defend Smashboards on his own now that he's a moderator?" the demon interrupted yet again. for such a loyal companion, he seemed to have so many questions. but given the subject at hand, it wouldn't be too surprising.
"Combat prowess has little to do with moderator abilities." Ashley responded "Xiroey is a mod on the website, yes. but here in the dimension, he's no more powerful than the next legendary pokemon. you should know that by now, Red."
"Xiroey and his team have done well to defend the denizens of the many worlds." she continued. "better than any other living users could have, in fact." it was apparent that Ashley felt the tide of the war was turned too much by evil. "But if this works, we could have a chance at rebuilding what we've lost so long ago..."
"Across all these linked dimensions, Smashboards has all the heroes it deserves." she semi-quoted "But to bring them together as an army of peacekeepers, that is what it needs right now... and if this works, we can do just that..." upon finishing her speech, Ashley finally came across something she think might help. "Ah, here we go." she said, then explained what she'd found. "This incantation is used to activate a ceremony used by ancient smashfan tribe members to grant a continue to one of their own after they had passed..."
"Do you think we'll have to do it twice? y'know, since he's a composite soul of himself and that Sparchuckus guy?" Red queried.
"...Y'know," Ashley said to him. "For someone from the netherworld, you sure have a lot of questions about the supernatural..."[/COLLAPSE]
[COLLAPSE="The Ritual"]The two then prepared a space in the living room for the ceremony. Red drew an outline of a Bob-Omb encased in a Smart Bomb on the floor while Ashley set up 6 differently-colored glowsticks around it. then, they lined the summoning circle with pixie stix powder. in the center of the circle, they put a bottle of diet coke.
"Thie ancient smashfans had the oddest reincarnation ceremony..." Red said.
"Well, most of them were teenagers." Ashley replied. "Like plenty of smashboards' other users..."
At last, the summoning circle was ready. Ashley held the cap to the diet coke in her hand, with 3 pieces of Mentos fixated to it. "A-are you s-s-sure about this m-miss Ashley?" Red shuddered. "I-i mean, if this thing EXPLODES IN OUR FACES..." Red was fretful the spell would go wrong. "A-a-and what if this requires a sacrifice? what if I lose my entire body and you lose your arm?! I DON'T WANT TO WALK AROUND IN DEATH ROW ARMOR FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!!"
Ashley was indifferent. "I never should have let you watch Full-Metal Alchemist..." she muttered...
Ashley proceeded to the center of the summoning circle and picked up the bottle of diet coke. "Chorus..." she commanded.
"Right away, miss Ashley!" Red hurried, fetching a tape player. he turned the tape on, which began playing the tribal chanting from Hooked On A Feeling.
then, Ashley recited the incantation...
"
You've lived well and soul was pure,
but you were destined for much more
than mortal lifespan would allow,
you are needed even now,
so we ask you, please come back.
even though it's clearly hax,
resurrect our fallen friend.
smashfan666, RISE AGAIN!!"
As fast as she could, Ashley put the mentos-cap on the diet coke and screwed it tightly, placed it back in the summoning circle, and ran out as fast as she could. no sooner than she stepped out of the summoning circle, the diet coke bottle began to quake and shake...
From the center, the pixie stix powder started to glow brightly until the entire summoning circle was lit up. a raging wind blew around the room, as summoning circles are want to do. from there, the glowsticks illuminated with light and each shot a beam of their color to the cap of the diet coke. Ashley looked on with hope, while Red shielded his eyes from the brightness. the entire room was then illuminated with each of the colors of the glowsticks one by one. first, a hellish red. then, an annoying orange. then, a sickly yellow. then, an eerie green. then, a skylike blue. and finally, a deep purple. then the colors looped like that for a while at a rate that got faster each loop, until it finally reached seizure-inducing levels.
Ashley yelled over the raging wind "How long is this process?!"
to which Red snarked "YOU'RE the expert, not me!"
The raging wind began to die down, and a bright ray of light shot up from the cap of the diet coke bottle as it began to levitate upward. the ray began to illuminate the bottle, and finally, it exploded in a bright flash...[/COLLAPSE]
[COLLAPSE="Return of a Hero"]After the light from the explosion faded, the summoning circle was in shambles. the glowsticks were knocked down, and the whole room was covered in fizzy mentos-coke...
When Ashley came to, the first thing she noticed was the destroyed room. "...Guess this is something better done outside."
Red was stuck behind a tribal mask that once hung from the wall. "Called it..." he sang, dizzily.
In the center of the summoning circle, there were 2 things. one a half-empty bottle of diet coke, and the other a user with the avatar of what appeared to be the body of a grey equine in armor with a curved horn and a mane that looked like a thick, black smog.
"It... it actually worked..." Ashley hummed to herself. Ashley and Red stared at the user for a solid 30 seconds before he began to wake up.
"Uuuuuggghh... where am I?" the user spoke. "H...how long have I been dead?" the user got up and examined his surroundings. "...and what in the BLUE HELL happened in HERE?!" upon seeing the now-colorless glowsticks on bent-over candleholders, he now knew EXACTLY what in the blue hell happened...
"...My smashboards ancestors' reincarnation ritual..." he said. then, the figure took notice to Ashley and Red. "...You..." he began to walk closer to them. "I'm impressed..." Ashley was the first to interact with the figure with the equine avatar.
"I have to admit, so am I. that spell chews up a TON of resources." she said, gesturing to a pile of empty pixie stix wrappers the size of a grand piano. "If it hadn't worked when it did, I'd have to wait a whole 3 months just to get more together..."
"Y-you... ARE smashfan666, right? the legendary smashboards hero of old?" Red said.
the user cast a glance at the small demon. "...Yes." he responded, and turned his gaze back to the young girl "And judging from the miniature demon and the fact that you even knew how my tribe's reincarnation ceremony is set up, I'm guessing you must be Ashley."
the young witch could only nod and confirm his suspicions.
"Since you went through the trouble of bringing me back, this must be something pretty important..."
+BGM: the beginning planetoid music from Super Mario Galaxy+
"Smashfan..." Ashley began. "Years ago, you played a vital part in the great war by defeating Zalgo, ushering in a new age for smashboards. your friends Xiroey and Mari have taken up your sword in the defense of the dimensions, but they need your help now moreso than ever. so far, they have done well in protecting the denizens of the worlds from the tyranny of evil forces. but without the help of an army, I fear their efforts now may be in vain in the future... a new band of evil, known only as the Dark Ones, has formed, and their influence is quickly spreading across the whole of smashboards and the dimensions... Impact now takes up the role the old forum fighter union once did, but they are not sufficient in number to stand a chance against this menace. but there are heroes across the dimensions that would be up to the task, we need only unite them in a new fighting force to assist Xiroey and Mari."
smashfan was stunned. "Much really HAS changed..."
"This may be our most desperate hour..." Ashley continued "We must band together the greatest warriors smashboards has seen since all those years ago... it may be the last hope we have left..."
smashfan paused for a minute to take it all in... soon he made his decision... "...I'm in."
"Then let's do this." said Ashley "For our friends, for master hand, for the people of smashboards..."
"And most of all..." smashfan put in "FOR SCIENCE!!"
Ashley was confused by smashfan's random spout. "...what?"
"Just let's do this, then."
NEWCOMER!
Smashfan666 joined your team!
NEWCOMER!
Ashley joined your team!
The two knew their mission, to unite a band of heroes from across the dimensions and track down Xiroey and Mari to help them defeat the Dark Ones. they set out ASAP, leaving Red behind.
"...f**k my life." the little demon mumbled to himself as the two rushed out the door, leaving him to clean up.[/COLLAPSE]
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I've decided i'll stick around for at least one more story. the point after that is unclear...
