IceHeart

Target Earth! [A Monster Marathon]

Just got to think a bit more about the next post. A few different things in mind so I gotta decide on which route to go for.

Target Earth! [A Monster Marathon]

Coral City - Unknown Location

---

The monsters were spreading, searching for something, searching for what was being concealed from the world for its own protection. A lone individual stood in front of door, a massive, titanium door that had no way of being opened from the outside; there was no keypad, no sensors, no lock to pick or code to crack, the only way to open it was from the inside making it the perfect lock box. The door was specially designed that way in case its location was ever compromised, designed to keep intruders out at all costs.

The lone individual outside was a...secretary of sorts. It was their job to transmit any messages from inside to the proper channels. They did not know what was inside, only that there was a who, and that someone would occasionally send them text messages and instructions. The man on duty sat at a desk with a computer that was connected to a special, encrypted server designed to be untraceable. Of course often there wasn't much to do, so like any sane person, they had sneaked in some games on a thumb drive to pass the time. Just as they got to a very important jump on an extremely hard level, their phone rang and the character on screen plummeted to their death. They groaned at the interruption and looked at the phone to see a single line of text.

ACTIVATE SAPPHIRE PROTOCOL

The secretary did a double take since he couldn't believe his eyes. Sapphire protocol hadn't been activated in almost a decade. Heck, he didn't even know what it referred to in the first place. All he knew, was that Sapphire protocol was only be be activated in times of crisis. With a sigh, he closed down his program and went to the proper access point to get in touch with his superiors. Sapphire protocol it was.

Coral City - Non-discript Office Building

---

It was just a normal day in the office, sure there were reports of strange muffin creatures forcing citizens to get diabetes but the office was no where close to the epicenter of the chaos, with those weirdos on the case, Suzanna Delilah Everest would have nothing to worry about in the office. Suzanna went about her work, putting together papers, checking figures of all varieties, even colleagues, and using the ever sputtering copy machine like a good white-collar worker should. The work was monotonous at times, but Suzanna enjoyed the mundanity of it all. Some colleagues looked a little stressed by the reports but Suzanna didn't let it bother her in the least.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket, her first thought being a request from her boss but when she saw the single line of text sent to her, she went as white as a sheet.

"Oh shoot, oh CRAP! No no NO this can't be happening after all this time. I'll just delete and pretend I didn't see it. Maybe it was an accident..."

With the press of a button the message was deleted...but only for about five seconds before another popped in its place. With a groan she deleted that one too, but now it took only two seconds for the next to appear. After five deletes in a row then her phone started to ring.

"NO! Please just let those guys take care of it! I really, really don't want to go back into that world!"

She cursed a few times and tried to shut down the calls, but they kept on coming until she finally broke down and answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Blast it Suzanna don't try to ignore the Sapphire Protocol you boring twat!"

Suzanna cringed as she recognized the voice on the other end and quickly found her way to an empty storage room in the building.

"Well you won't be able to stay on the sidelines this time honey bunches."

Suzanna's eyebrow twitched in annoyance at the lame nickname.

"It was completely fine the last time something showed up, why the heck do you need me now! I was really enjoying living a mundane and ordinary life these past years! Surely those Federal Department of Normality guys have it under control!"

"They were fine when it was just one monster to fight but the enemy has changed tactics and are going full recon mode with these muffins! The Federal Department of Normality is understaffed right now cause it has been so long since the last real crisis, that they almost got defunded! They're doing their best but we need to contain the situation before they can narrow down Omega Point's location! If they find that out they'll send their absolute best to take it out for sure!"

Suzanna grimaced at the mention of Omega Point, the secret location that only the select few had any knowledge about. Omega Point was a location so secret because it was so integral to the defense of the entire planet from extraterrestrial threats. Admittedly it didn't do jack squat against the homebrew types of threats but usually there was enough information about those to counter those annoyances, it was the alien kind that was so hard to understand and counter.

"Look, I know you've wanted to live a normal life for so long, and you've had a good run, but the aliens out there don't care and we need you back in action. You still owe a great debt you know and we expect you to keep up your end of the bargain."

"Fine, I know, I know. I wouldn't ever let anything happen to them, that was my oath, my pledge, and I am bound to it for eternity."

"Nice to see you can still wax poetically, now hop to it before those muffin tops spread like polluted yeast throughout the bread of Coral City!"

Suzanna rolled her eyes at the metaphor and turned off her phone. Now she just had to convince her co-workers that she was suddenly sick and had to take the rest of the day off, certainly easier than having to explain she was leaving to fight angry muffins blowing their tops all over the city. This was going to be a pain, in all forms of the word.

Coral City - SeaShell Bakery

---

Meanwhile the Duchess was continuing her factory spewing and the poor trapped humans were reaching dangerous levels of sugar overdose as they were forced to eat all manner of sweet morsel. The Duchess grinned as she tapped into her sweet network as the muffin men scattered throughout the city to spread joy to all its inhabitants, and narrow down the location of the barrier producer. On a table was a spread of hard candies ranging from fruit flavored to root beer. She peered over the candies and noticed that a few of them were already cracked apart.

"I see the resistance has already started. Well, it always takes a few batches to get everything just right."

Several more of the candies cracked or split open, as the matching muffin man on patrol was defeated by one of the 'heroes' trying to save the city. The candies were connected to the muffin men and the also to the Duchess Confectionary, like a transmitter of sorts, feeding her telemetry data to be sent back to the ship. As soon as a muffin man was defeated, the connecting candy broke, shed off from her connection so she wouldn't be getting any 'blank' data. From the data coming back, she was already starting to get a clearer picture of which direction the barrier device might be. If she had a bit more time, she could really make some progress and come that much closer to taking a vacation to explore all the delicacies in the world to find out which sweets were truly the pinnacle of confectionism.

"Once I have enough pieces of pie, I'll soon be able to see the whole picture. Oh wait for me world! It won't belong before I can send everyone to heaven with the greatest sweets ever conceived by humanity! Oh imagine the pleasure of everyone coming together for a slice of cake. I've heard that a perfect cake is a lie but if that is true I shall create that cake and make it the truth! Oh what fun! In the meantime I'll just have to make sure this town gets my very best!"

With that she returned her full attention to the ovens to bake something, extra special just for Coral City to enjoy.

Target Earth! [A Monster Marathon]

<Snipped quote by mantou>
Speaking of fighting, @IceHeart can I assume the muffin men are free to use? I was thinking of having some burst onto the scene.

@Gentlemanvaultboy

Aye the Muffin Men are free to use as you please. They're mostly trying to scout out the area, and force feed people some delicious, sugary muffins. Just don't underestimate their equipment.

Target Earth! [A Monster Marathon]

Coral City - SeaShell Bakery

---

SeaShell Bakery was not exactly old but not exactly new either. It had been around for a quite a few years but certainly not in a historical sense. The best part about the bakery was its location, with a view to Coral's marvelous beaches but far enough away that it wasn't in too much danger when a hurricane or heavy storm came in. Close enough to attract the beach crowd but far enough away to snag others as well.

The store front was quite modest, but like its name had plenty of sea decorations plastered on to make a variety of patterns and even ocean scenery. Seashell fish and octopi dotted the exterior and even some preserved seaweed was used to make a more convincing, ocean floor scene. The inside of the shop had various larger seashells on display and a few actual photos of colorful fish and ocean sunsets to add to the ambiance. It was a cozy place with plenty of breads, cakes, and ice creams to choose from, among other confections.

A somewhat hefty man was minding the registrar as other staff members worked in the back on special orders and other treats. A tourist was currently being served as they made their order at the counter.

"I'll have one fruit tart to go, a mint-chocolate ice cream cone, in a cup, and one dark-roast coffee."

"Coming right up sir!"

As the man behind the counter turned to pick up the man's requests, the tourist couldn't help but ask about some rumors.

"Say, I heard there was some monster attack just outside the city limits, kinda freaked my wife out a bit. Got the scoop on what really happened?" Of course he said scoop as the man scooped out some ice cream into a cup, no doubt the word on his mind at the time.

"Well I don't know too much considered it never got close to the city, but it was taken care of before there was too much damage so I don't think there is anything to worry about. Here are your items sir."

"Thanks, I'll have the ice cream here before I have to get back to the family. Well at least whatever it was happened outside the city so the authorities must be doing something right." With that said, the man retreated to a window table next to the picture of a clown fish hiding in some coral and took a spoon to his ice cream cup. Suddenly there was a bright light that momentarily blinded everyone in the area. When the moment had past, the man behind the counter had to blink a few times as one of the most colorful individuals he had ever laid his eyes on was in front of his counter.

It appeared to be a beautiful young woman, with pearl smooth white skin, but aside from that everything else was extremely colorful, especially her hair which had every swirl of the rainbow. He had seen a lot of interesting people in his time, but this lady certainly took the cake...perhaps literally.

"Yes, what a marvelous establishment, I can smell the confections currently being produced in the kitchen. Such a thrilling scent, I think I'll just gobble whatever comes out of the oven first."

"I see, so you want something freshly baked? I think a rhubarb pie should be ready in just a minute." The man tried to keep a straight face as he tried to figure out just how this woman had managed to make her dress look like a moving gingerbread house. Whoever had made it was a genius with a needle and thread.

"Oh, that sounds just divine, and of course I will happily devour it but I think I want everything here."

"Everything?" The man asked not sure what exactly everything entailed. As he watched he saw the woman do something completely crazy. She plucked a peppermint earring off of her ear and popped it into her mouth and immediately a new peppermint sprouted in its place. The man had to shake his head, wondering if it had been some kind of hallucination.

"The crap is with this lady, she's tracked in a trail of mud or something on the ground!" A customer complained as they were trying to head out, when suddenly a coil of hair exploded from her head and pinned the customer to the door, the icing quickly hardening into a thick shell.

"Oh I appear to be leaking chocolate syrup in anticipation of my meal, how this simpleton could mistake such beauty for mud is beyond me." She turned and smiled at the rest of the customers who were staring at this stranger, wide-eyed in bewilderment at what just happened.

"The heck are you lady? What did you just do?" The man behind the counter could tell something was very, very wrong and had started to back up toward the kitchen to make his escape.

"Oh nothing much, just spreading my joy of sweets to all who cross me. So like I was saying I'll need everything in this store, I'll also need to make use of your kitchen. Unlike you pâtissiers I have the ability to spread the joy of sweets to everyone in the city so I believe I will be the new chef in charge. Don't worry, you'll soon be able to taste by confections, but I need to make sure everyone can have a sample first."

Suddenly everyone in the building panicked as he leapt over the counter with hardly any effort at all. They tried to make a break for the emergency side exit but before they could reach it, it too, was covered in instantly hardened frosting.

"Sorry but I want this delivery service to be a surprise. You'll all have to stay here for a bit or you'll spoil it for everyone!"

She licked her lips in anticipation as she quickly covered all the windows in icing and headed to the back of the bakery.

---

Every sweet and pastry puff had been eaten by the monster who was currently working every oven to their max potential, her mastery of confections greatly speeding up the process as she sang a certain song to the terrified employees who were all stuck in place by her powers.

As she sang, from out of the ovens kept appearing small muffin men, who quickly grew to human size and for each one, she would outfit them with various candy weapons. Candy cane staffs, rock candy clubs, jawbreaker shields, and a piece of candy from her dress that she implanted into each of their bodies.

"Alright by sweet little muffin men, spread the joy of sweets to the city while your search for that shield generator thing, the sooner we get this done, the sooner the world's sweets will all be mine to tastes and share as I please! Everyone will be so thankful once they have unlimited access to my sweets! Toffees and pastries, tarts and pies, hot chocolates and shakes, baklava and licorice, everything under the sun anytime, anywhere! Ha ha ha ha! Time to change the song up a bit my little tarts!"

"Do you know, my muffin men? My muffin men. My muffin men. Do you know my muffin men, as they travel down your lane!"
"Soon you'll know, my muffin men. My muffin men. My muffin men. Soon you'll know, my muffin men, as they fill your lanes with cake!"

The muffin men were soon pouring out of the SeaShell Bakery as they started to run all over the city to locate the shield generator.

Target Earth! [A Monster Marathon]

Lots of stuff was going on, so I really didn't have time to think of a good npc, maybe by the next monster break.

Target Earth! [A Monster Marathon]

When will gingerbread lady monster land on Earth?

@mantou

By next post most likely, though she will be taking a much less direct approach than the previous monster.

I wanna know too cause I'm trying to picture her but my imagination is stopping me.

@WindsOfFate

Well she's very human by comparison to the last monster, so something like this but with a much heavier dessert motif. Replace the clothing with heavily decorated gingerbread, add a lot of different swirling colors to the hair, and a lot of different candy pieces and you'll at least have an idea of what she looks like.

Target Earth! [A Monster Marathon]

Alien Ship
One Week Later

---

The Head Monsternancer looked proudly at his newest creation, recently 'hatched' from its tube. This time they were giving the monster about a day to acclimate on the ship before sending it down to start operations. At the moment they were waiting for just the right moment for transport as they had a very specific target in mind for the monster to start their mission.

The monster was quite a bit smaller than the previous one, about the size of an average human female actually. In fact, the monster looked almost identical to a human female. The monster was only about 5'8" with pale, white-creme colored skin, red-hot eyes, rainbow-swirled hair that looked like it had come out of a frosting tube, and a dazzling gingerbread dress lined with white and red frosting, with various hard candies such as peppermints and butterscotch stuck on like scale armor. If she were ugly one might think about the candy house witch from Hansel and Gretel.

The monster was bizarre to look at, at least to the commander who had a troubled expression on her face as the human looking monster smiled back.

"So tell me Head Monsternancer. What was this monster based on again?"

"Thank you for having some interest commander!" Replied the way too chipper scientist. "This creation is based off of what humans call 'sweets', in particular we had some preserved cake to use as a base. The humans have a great preoccupation with creating more and more elaborate treats to dazzle their taste buds, despite the obvious downsides of ingesting large amounts of minerals and substances their bodies do not need. These sweets often have a negative effect on the human body but their addictions to the tastes always has them coming back for more!"

"So essentially we will just one of their culture's most pervasive vices against them."

"Precisely commander! As the art of cooking, uses many useful facets of science in order to achieve their desired results, along with the variety of sweets fashioned by humankind, the amount of combinations and versatility of the monster are nearly endless! There should be many more applications that can be used than with our previous monster!"

Suddenly the monster was right before them before they even realized it as if it had suddenly slinked over in complete silence. She stared at the two, looking them all over with a hungry expression, its eyes alight with a fire to consume whatever it could get a hand on.

"Do you have any sweets on you?"

It asked suddenly, to the point that the commander almost opened fire on the creature, but thankfully realized it had no hostile intentions in mind.

"What is this creature babbling about?"

The commander said as she glared at the human-like creature.

"Well, soon after it was released it quickly devoured every other sweets sample we had on board. The creature seems to have a voracious appetite for anything that has sugar in it. It has also requested a kitchen to work in, but we have denied that request as I am sure its talents will be more more useful on Earth."

"Yes, please! Send me to Earth as quickly as possible! I must sample every delicacy on the planet, and then I will share my love to all the people in the world! Everyone must know of the beauty, bounty, and scrumptiousness of Earth's boundless cornucopia of desserts!"

The commander nearly recoiled as the monster started to salivate some kind of syrup at the thought of all the delicious desserts on Earth. It was high time to get this monster on the ground and off the ship before it could gunk up the ship!

"Hurry up and move this creature to the laser transporter! It's time to break open this barrier once-and-for-all!"

As the creature moved away, a trail of chocolate syrup could be seen on the floor when it had been.

"Make sure to call a cleaning crew to wipe away all traces of this thing from my ship!"

Dragon Ball: Shattered Worlds

I'm GMing my own role play so no can do.

Target Earth! [A Monster Marathon]

I almost don't want to send out the next monster since all your characters are having such a nice pow-wow. Well it will be a time skip when it does happen cause the ship's got to recharge the laser transporter enough to bust through the barrier. That way who can keep going for a bit without any in RP interference.

Dragon Ball: Shattered Worlds

Frankly if this is going to survive, you really need to have a co-GM who can move the plot along since your prior one has left. This snail's pace is really draining my remaining enthusiasm.