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[b]Just another Halloween night[/b]
[b]Arc:[/b] Golden (Black)

Everyone started to gather in the living room before heading out. Cecily had dressed up as Sally from the Nightmare before Christmas, David as Iron Knight, and Maddison as a grim reaper; complete with scythe.

"Iron Knight, again? I thought we were going to match this year!" Cecily shook her head.

"Hey, it was a gift, and I don't even have to wash it. How neat is that?" David said with a grin, idly playing with his fake helmet.

"...gross.." A certain someone mumbled.

Passing by house to house, the Jones family happily interacted with other passing families, complimenting each other, or asking about each others' costumes. Some notable costumes, at least for David, were a Darth Vader and Tie Pilot; with lights and sounds. Eventually, they found a group of kids with giant-colorful lollipops. Maddison rushed over to meet them.

"Wow, where did you get those!" She giddily asked. 

"A lady dressed up as a witch! She's way over there, by the park!" They answered, and vaguely pointed off to the distance.

Well, it wasn't like they needed to hit every house as soon as possible. The Jones' casually made their way over to see a group of kids already crowding the 'witch' and her cart. Of whom was already passing out the huge lollipops they had seen. Other adults were casually watching at a distance.

David and Cecily followed Maddison in closer and the witch stopped them. "No adults. My candy is only for children with big imaginations!"

Cecily smiled at him with a raised brow. 'Oh is that right?' she must have been thinking, and he smiled back.

Like the others, the both of them decided to stand back until Maddie got her chance. Looking around, he noticed a knight with impressively reflective 'armor', and in that reflection, he noticed the witch didn't appear. Blinking, he did a double take and looked over the crowd and back again. The kids, the candy cart, and himself could be clearly seen. David looked to the witch this time, and she noticed his gaze.

"That's it, no more candy!" She shouted and started to wave the kids away, then quickly started to turn her cart away.

"What's up?" Cecily asked as David suddenly stepped forward.

"I, uh, keep an eye on Maddie." David stammered out, giving out a shrug as he began to pick up his pace.

Even with her cart she was pretty fast, and David wasn't exactly out of shape. Bringing himself to a full run she nearly lost him turning around a block, luckily he saw her enter a house. The house itself struck him as strange, it was built wider than the others in the neighborhood, even seeming to be pointer at certain points. 

'Was this always here?' He wondered, then shook his head. 'No, this is definitely not a house from here.'

Trying the door, he was surprised to see that it wasn't locked. Obviously, he was being led in, but perhaps changing into Terra would be premature. The inside struck him as very 'haunted' looking. Cobwebs, strange paintings and faded wallpaper made up the interior. Aside from looking abandoned, the entire first floor seemed normal enough. Though, it was here he began to regret taking the likeness of Knight for tonight, doorways began to feel tighter and tighter each time, and it wasn't the donuts or candy. Venturing upstairs, he found one particular door, mostly white, seemingly made of fog. A gush of air rushed by as he passed through.

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"David! David!" Cecily shouted as she attempted to follow David's path, while Maddison followed behind her, lollipop in hand, and a plastic clinking from her scythe hitting the ground.

"Ooohh.. is this." Maddie quickly looked around them, and then whispered. "A superhero thing?"

"Who knows.."

After a little more walking around, trying to trace David's path, they eventually found someone in an Iron Knight costume, and they called out again.

"David?"

"Dad?"

The figure suddenly turned towards them, waved, and casually walked over to them.

"What happened?" Cecily asked, and David replied with a noncommittal shrug.

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Sometime later, the family, or rather, Cecily, had decided enough trick or treating had been had. Maddison's pumpkin bucket was nearly overflowing with various sweets. Despite protesting on her part, even though she had yet to finish the earlier lollipop; she even attempted to get her dad to argue some point for her, but he was silent through the entire exchange. Just watching.

Yet this bothered Cecily, throughout all their time with their child, David had been the one to coddle her. Especially when it came to treats. For the last hour he had acted oddly, quiet, stiff, and his eyes would look glassy occasionally. She waited until they were alone together in the bedroom, before he had a chance to take off his costume.

"Are you feeling okay?" She asked, and he nodded with a smile. Cecily dived towards the bed, reaching for the shotgun underneath, pumped it, and unloaded a shell into 'David'. 

"Agh!" The man grunted, but still stood straight as an arrow. The 'armored' parts of the costume were apparently bullet resistant, meaning this was the original costume, but without the original man. She pumped it again, another one, one shell staggered him, and the other put him down. Without making another sound 'David' collapsed and faded away with a soft pained-moan, and his costume fell apart like loosely assembled legos. 

"M-Mom!" Maddison stood in the doorway shocked, but there was no time.

"Stay home, it's a superhero thing!" Cecily shouted as she sprinted out the door, loading the shotgun at the same time.

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David woke up, with a strange pain in his chest and his head, he was feeling slightly sluggish too. His thoughts were foggy, just realizing his condition was enough to make him tired all over again. He wasn't sure how long, but he realized he was trapped in some kind of chamber, and he saw that 'witch' right outside.

Occasionally, his vision would fade, then be replaced with something else. A park, with kids all just standing around, sometimes just standing on one of the sets, some of them just sitting surrounded by toys.

"W-where are we?" He stumbled towards a nearby boy, with no response. David winced as he struggled to keep going, and turned him around. The boy's face was pale, his eyes were glazed over, as if staring at some far off sight.

His hand rushed to his head as his vision changed again, back to the chamber, and the witch. She pulled a kid into view, and placed a hand over his head. Her fingers began to glow as the kid turned paler, just like the boy from his dream.

"What's going on?" David shouted as loud as he could muster. "What are you doing to the kids?"

"Oh?" The witch turned around, surprised. "Ah, of course you can see it. You are, after all, a guardian of the planet. Terra Firma, was it?"

David banged a fist on the glass. "What are you doing!" He demanded, determination slowly filling him with energy, but not enough.

"[i]Only kids with imagination[/i]. I said that. You see, I feed off imagination, the pure creative willpower found in young humans. Adults usually taste bad, but you, you have a pure source of power I can feed off. Your connection to Gaia perhaps?" She put a finger to her chin.

"Ngh, maybe I'm just lucky.."

"Ohh, could be!"

A clock somewhere began to chime. From where he was he couldn't see it.

"Ah, it's time! I'll see you later!" She gleefully shouted and disappeared somewhere, a distant cackling followed her out. Leaving him alone. David tried to break out on his own again, to no avail, then tried to call out Gaia's power. But it wasn't coming. 

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"Oh my god..."

"What is that.."

"Someone call someone!"

Random bystanders were watching as a giant pumpkin emerged, taking the place of a former house. Kids were also coming out of nearby houses, with listless eyes, marching towards it, parents and other adults tried to stop them. Someone on top of the pumpkin started shouting and laughing.

"Yes, yes, come! Ride with me to a world of dreams!" She cackled. Very much like a proper witch now, Cecilia thought. She also thought about shooting her, but she was very much out of range. Besides, she was a doctor, not a soldier.

"Get a hold of yourselves!"

"Go back home!"

Other parents were shouting. She recognized some of the kids now, they were also at the cart with the lollipops. No doubt the same was happening to Maddie. Cecily thought about rushing back, she even took an absent minded step towards their home, to try to force her back inside. However, from watching the other parents, she knew that whatever was happening wouldn't be stopped there. Kids began to walk in, overpowering the adults trying to save them, vines began to rise from somewhere forcing back the adults, and even drawing more kids in.

"You meddling adults, look at how they're always trying to stop you!"

No time to stand around, she continued to sprint towards the pumpkin. More than a few vines tried to stop her, but her shotgun proved too much, and she made it into its giant maw. A few minutes later and the pumpkin began to sink into the ground, with no trace it had even been there. If the cops or anyone else had been called, they would never make it.

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"-ear me, get down!" A voice shouted, David realized he had been about to doze off, but tried to obey. For some reason he knew he could trust it, and dropped to the ground.  With a loud bang, the glass around him shattered, and he felt his mind clear up. The fog began to lift, both literal and figuratively. 

"David! David are you okay!" Cecily ran over to him, and looked him over. Checking his eyes, his pulse, and other key points before trying to help him up.

"Heh.. and [i]I'm[/i] supposed to be the hero.." He managed a weak smile, before taking Cecily's hand. The floor shook, like an elevator going down, and the walls began to rumble. David braced himself by holding onto Cecily.

"David, can you do it? You need to save the kids!"

"Yeah.." He took a breath in, and motioned for her to stand back. A bright light covered the area, a warm wind rushed around them, ribbons of energy danced around, then gathered and coiled around him.

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The giant pumpkin was almost halfway down, parents were yelling at each other, some had even brought out their own firearms, but nothing was working, and suddenly the pumpkin shuddered. Suddenly, quicker than it was sinking, it began to rise. The ground exploded outwards as the pumpkin flew up, with Terra Firma underneath.

"I knew it was too good to risk. I should have killed you, Terra!" The witch had taken to the sky, circling around the pumpkin. 

[color=ed1c24]"Your mistake, was messing with my family!"[/color] He shouted back as he set the pumpkin back down, kids began to rush out, followed by a certain woman shortly after. She gave him a thumbs up.

"Damn you!" The witches' hand shook, her whole body began to shudder, and then her image distorted. It was a strange shape, not at all like the form from before, and he began to wonder if she was at all what she seemed. Instead of skin, neither rubber nor leather, she now had a carapace of some kind, along with strange features all over her head down to her back.

She rushed forward, and he met her charge. Their fists collided, a blast of wind escaped from in between their clash, setting off several car alarms, and David realized that this fight had to move. Disengaging briefly, he slammed his fist to the ground, and the earth they were standing on suddenly shot up. Despite no longer having human facial features, he could tell this creature was surprised, so he grabbed it, and flung it towards some under-construction buildings a little ways off.

He briefly laughed at his good fortune, had those buildings been completed, traffic would get a hundred times worse in front of the neighborhood. Now the project might be scrapped. [i]'Christmas came early.'[/i] David swooped down after the creature, attempting to punch it as it rose back up again, but it rolled, and slashed him from behind with its limbs. 

[color=ed1c24]"Gah!"[/color] A small shower of embers escaped from his backside, David turned and delivered a solid punch as the creature came closer, sending it reeling back several steps. Another punch, but it dodged by bending back, all the way. Caught in the motion of his own punch, the creature rushed forward, and coiled itself around his head and neck. However, David easily broke free, wrenching its arms free he threw it to the ground. With a powerful thud that sent steel girders crashing around him. He tried to deliver another punch while it was grounded, but it rolled away again. As more and more of the building crashed down, dust and debris began to scatter and rise, obscuring it from him. David lost it.

Needing a solution, he remembered a move from watching a certain cartoon with Maddie, and clapped his hands as hard as he could. The resulting gust cleared the air, but he still couldn't find it. The buildings had been thoroughly demolished, no more metal falling, no more metals clinging and clanging, but now there was laughter. 

The creature suddenly appeared in front of him, but before he could do anything, another appeared from its side, then another, and another. "What can you do? How will you fight me when I am dozens, hundreds?" It kept laughing and he spun to try to keep track of the copies.

[i]'I've seen this before, they're all illusions..'[/i] David thought, but a copy from behind slashed at his back, another at his side, more from the front. The copies began a dance of death around him, each slashing him as they passed by, some giving him a good kick or wrenching his body a certain way. [color=ed1c24]"Agh!"[/color] David was pushed back, onto the ground, as he tried to get up he was attacked furiously again. The crest on his chest, his power core, began to pulse throughout his body; the sound of a heartbeat began to drum and echo throughout the area.

'This again?'

[color=ed1c24]"I won't let you!"[/color] David pounded his hand on the ground, even as he was slashed from behind. The ground began to shake and rumble, and the copies all fell over, stumbling over each other trying to reach David. He shot his hand up, as if reaching for the sky, grasping at air, then he balled his fist and brought it back down. The night sky was clear moments ago, but clouds quickly gathered, and giant streaks of lightning crashed onto the dozens of creatures. 

"Aaaahhh!"

"AAAAHH!" 

They all screamed, except for one, it shot some kind of yellow-green blast at David before lifting off, flying away faster than David could, and he knew it. He quickly flung his other arm at it, lightning crackled and danced around his arm before lunging towards the fleeing creatures' back. It screamed and flailed mid-air before dispersing, fading in a show of oddly shaped particles exploding outwards. The copies, whom were writing in pain on the floor, simply faded.

[color=ed1c24]"Hooah.."[/color] David 'breathed' out.

"That was cool!" A voice shouted. David turned to see who it was. Maddison was cheering, jumping from the side of their van, while Cecily leaned on the gun.

"You were [i]my[/i] hero, always will be." She said.

David gave a thumbs up.


[hider=Note]
Haha, another half baked post. I barely made it this time, maybe i missed if our timezones are completely different. Anyways I had to do this, Terra Firma really is a hero for all [s]seasons [/s]holidays.
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