|
Post by frankthetriviaman on Jul 28, 2022 20:55:59 GMT -5
Chapter One: Tozzengers Tozzemble
On the outskirts of a city in Washington, there is an abandoned warehouse that appears to be just that: devoid of life. But if one were to look closer, it is clear that much activity is going on at this decrepit site.
Patrolling outside the compound is a strange humanoid figure. A cross between a human and a cactus, with a "69" emblazoned on what would be the back of its head, it dutifully protects the site, for within in work that for all intents and purposes must not be interfered with.
"The Mastermind is closing in on his breakthrough; I shall be his right hand when he achieves his ultimate goal" it said to himself as it continued on its patrol. No one would get past it, and anyone who did wouldn't get very far.
Within the warehouse a madman was hard at work. From a distance he seemed to be an ordinary middle aged man, but step a little closer and it becomes clear that he was very, very modified. No less than 70 percent of his boy was now mechanical as he literally steadily shed away his humanity in order to achieve the closest thing possible to immortality. On his left forearm, a "49" was visible. The Mastermind of the Toz program was hard at work, piecing together what would become his next masterpiece.
"My ultimate goal is almost at hand... once you are complete, you will show that pathetic excuse of a Toz, Toz76, what true power is. Don't worry though, you will certainly be a much deserved improvement over some of my... less interesting experiments" and he looked over to a table with what appeared to be smashed meat all over it. A metal band that said "17" on it sat in the middle of it, partially covered in meat bits and stinking of beef juice. "Oh Toz17, what a mistake you were. That was the last time I make a Toz during a drunken stupor... but at least you helped me relieve some stress" he grinned as he admired the meat covered hammer that was also on the table. Then, Toz49 looked over to what appeared to be an incubation unit, where there was a giant egg with a "68" on it. "You on the other hand, I have high hopes for. I hope you prove to be more useful than those pathetic excuses for existence" he said in admiration of the egg. Just before leaving the room, he went over to a machine that looked like an ATM, only it had an unusual screen on it and seemed to be capable of speaking some sort of language in beeps. A large "9" was visible on its side. He held up a bucket to it, "come on Nine, give me today's payment" he said before the machine opened some sort of small door and a quantity of nickels and dimes poured out. "Note to self: go to coin counter later" he said to himself before turning around.
Soon after, he walked over to another room, where within there was a man in his mid forties who essentially looked like a less attractive version of Benedict Cumberbatch was at work, surrounded by all sorts of scientific drawings and data. Below his left ear, a "74" was visible. "So, any progress on the final piece of the puzzle, Toztor Strange?" Toz49 asked.
"Hardly; what you are asking for is technically impossible. But I will do whatever I can to make progress since you are capable of inventing pretty much anything I can figure out" Toz74 explained.
"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. I will wait as long as necessary to figure out this key part of the plan... and then, not even time will be my enemy" The Mastermind grinned with satisfaction.
"By the way, have you dispatched "him" on his next assignment?" Toz74 asked.
"Yes; he will do a good job of keeping one of my more annoying opponents at bay" Toz49 observed. "Oh, and I have more good news. Check out who I bought back from some smartphone game development company; can you believe one of my creations was wasting his potential testing stupid phone apps?" Toz49 said, as he pointed to a cage, where within there was a being that looked remarkably like the one known as Toz76... but was clearly a zombie, with "18" carved into the forehead.
"And I already know what I want to do with Tozombie" Toz49 said with a grin as he thought about how he planned to use this tool.
.........
Seattle, Washington:
"Halt, fiend! You will never endanger the innocent as long as I am around!" A young woman in her late twenties wearing something straight out of a comic book was staring down what essentially looked like a cyborg humanoid turtle. Were it not for her gloved hands, people would have noticed a "26" on the back of her left thumb. She stared down her opponent, who was clearly not a being of human intelligence. The thing was shooting electric bolts into the air, and of note was the big "72" visible on the shell on its back. It let out a scream As it proceeded to shoot electric bolts at the woman, who manifested flaming rocks and threw them at the thing in turn. "You'll never escape Crash and Burn! After all, your plan is about to come crashing down!" And then they charged at each other and came to blows.
Substantially farther away, in a regular old house a normal human woman was going about their day. No one would think anything much of her appearance. Indeed, the only detail of note was the "27" visible on her inner right arm, just above the elbow. She was getting breakfast together as she was watching the news coverage of the fight. The newscaster that was speaking though was rather hard to understand, since he was only speaking in incoherent cadences. A "13" was visible on his left neck, just below the joint of his jaw.
"Good lord 13, learn to speak English already" Toz27 said as she sighed and went about her day. along a windowsill, Toz27 placed a cracker with some sort of soft food on it, then called out "hey 65! Time to eat!" He said. Then from the living room a black speck flew in and seemed to buzz out a "thank you" before going to enjoy its meal. If one were to have a microscope, they probably would have made out the "65" on the left wing of Toz65. Likewise, Toz27 then took some scrambled eggs and put it on a small plate, then put it on her kitchen table, which just so happened to have a scaled down table and chair on it. "Breakfast, Little Toz!" she called out.
Coming running in from the living room was a small, 12 inch tall figure that looked exactly like Toz27 in every other way. Of note was the rather large for her size of a "39" that was present on the little figure's stomach that was visible until Toz39 finished putting her shirt on and came to the table.
"Thank you" Toz 39 said as she picked up her to scale fork and knife and prepared to dig in. Just then, the doorbell rang and Toz27 went to go answer it. When she opened the door, she smiled in relief, "Frank, thank goodness you came. Were you able to find the others?" She asked as the one called Frank came in.
Rather unremarkable in appearance, Frank took off his coat and once in the kitchen, sat down with the others. On the back of his left hand was a "59" and he looked serious as he took out his notebook. "It wasn't easy, but I was able to track down 58. He's going to be our key to stopping 49" Frank began.
"Are you sure you found 58?" Toz27 asked.
"Yea; he's here... thing is since he's inhabiting my mind right now only I can see him" Frank explained as he looked over to an area of the kitchen that really didn't have anyone there. But to Frank, he saw a figure that looked just like an ordinary 21 year old man, with a "58" hovering above his head. Toz58 nodded in agreement; he more than anyone wanted revenge on Toz49. After all, he didn't exist anymore, and it wasn't fair that he couldn't even interact with the world anymore... and not even the mercy of death was attainable since he was literally just a sentient thought.
"But you told me you found Toz420!" Toz27 said in shock.
"I did, but when I did they were totally baked; utterly worthless to our cause. They can rot in the park for all I care" Frank grumbled; he had no time to worry about something there was nothing that could be done for.
"Well, at least he was easy to get here" Toz27 explained. She indicated the ghost that was currently half awake on the couch in the living room. On the ghost's jacket was a "38" on the left upper chest area.
"Yea... you all just do whatever, I'll go along with whatever it is you want to do" the ghost managed to say before going into a sleeping state once again.
"I guess this goes without say, but I wasn't able to do anything about the Tozzes in prison" Frank explained.
......
"Do I have to keep telling you! Buzz off!" The human in the jail cell explained; visibly covered in mechanical parts, there was a "2" visible on its left side. Next to the cyborg was a typical bedsheet ghost with a "4" visible in what would be its chest/stomach area.
"I'm not asking for much! I just want to be your friend!" The ghost said in a friendly tone.
"Just go away, you're creeping me out!" Toz2 said in response
.........
In Brenark Asylum, a human with what looked like its hands removed was sitting in a cell. "I'm warning all of you now- once I get my mechanical hands back you'll all pay for how you've treated me!" The figure screamed.
"Can it, Toz5! You're not getting out for another 20 years!" A guard said in rebuttle as Toz5 only growled.
.........
"And technically that includes 21; even I can't get her out of a time loop. And I don't even know how to get to the 8th or 9th dimension so that rules out 43 and 44" Frank finished.
"And I confirmed that, Ironically enough, 7 is dead; she never should have clicked that button so fast. RIP, friend" Toz27 sighed as she brought in a Dell computer and set it up on the table. A "19" was visible on top of the computer screen, and on the screen itself a computer generated farmer was visible.
"I'm still busy dealing with the worms, but I'll help you out anyway I can" the farmer assured as it used a pitchfork to deal with yet another computer worm.
"luckily this one was was easy enough to come by since it was owned by my cousin" Toz27 explained as a robotic humanoid walked in, with a Zero visible in the center of its chest.
"Oh, the glorified calculator" Frank quipped.
"I'm sure I can still be of use to this cause" Toz0 assured as it stood their stoically, unable to feel emotion.
"Though, I think 49 is making progress in his goals; look" Frank explained as he took a coffee can out of his backpack and poured out the contents. It was a fist sized rock broken into 6 pieces, but when put together a "12" was visible.
"Darn it; would've made a valuable asset" Toz27 said as she told the others come to the television. "We should put this to a vote as far as who we can turn to to help us" Toz27 explained, then proceeded to press play. The first commercial was for a theater's live show, and what was about to debut that week,
"Coming soon, Tugboateo Montague and Eyeliet Capulet in... The Taming of the Shrew! Abridged version Monday through Friday, full show Saturday and Sunday"
"No; they're too full of themselves. No help to the cause" 39 pointed out as the others agreed. Then the next commercial began.
"She always sees through to the truth and no plaintiff or defendant is capable of hiding anything from her. Next Thursday at four, the newest episode of Stone Cold Justice"
"Honestly Toz3 freaks me out" Frank said as the others nodded; they couldn't even talk to Toz3 without trembling.
"Hi, I'm Zisot, and I'm here to tell you about the latest product from Practical Pesticides. Now environmentally friendly, no pest can stand a chance, and plant life will remain unharmed"
"15 is bound by the Asimov laws; it'll probably only helpful against Toz69" Toz27 explained as the others agreed to put Toz15 under consideration.
"Next Wednesday at nine- on latest episode of "My Family Makes my Life Hell," has Donald's younger brother finally gone too far?"
"I do NOT want anything to do with Toz23!" Frank said in anger as the others said "all right! All right!" and they moved on to the next commercial.
"Hi Everybody! I'm the Blade and I'm here to tell you all about Cutco's latest product, the combination Knife rack and sharpener" the android said in the commercial
"Once again, the 3 Asimov laws could be a problem for him; I mean he could probably destroy 68" 27 proposed. The others agreed to the proposal about Toz29
"While we're on the topic of Toz's that won't be of much help- I wouldn't bother with 14- a ghost that can't interact with the physical world won't really help us. Let him focus on that audition I say" Frank said.
"And add Toz8 to that list; ever since Tozzie Bear tried to go up Everest on that pogo stick no one has seen him" 27 pointed out.
"And I have no patience for The Wise Fool's rhyming nonsense so let's stay away from Toz20" 39 added.
"Hey, what about that 35 fellow... they're bound to be powerful enough to stop 49" Toz38 chimed in at last.
"NO!" All the others screamed in terror, save for Toz0.
"You couldn't pay us to go near Toz35; I can only hope they are just as disgusted by 49 and on our side indirectly" Frank said as the others nodded.
"Hey, I know we trapped her in that vault for a reason- but maybe The Spicy One has exactly the power we need to stop 49 and his cronies in one go" Toz19 proposed
"Hell no; if Toz47 ever got out... I don't think me or any of the male Tozzes would be able to retain our sense of reason" Frank gulped as he refused to go along with that idea.
"Ok, clearly, this isn't going anywhere- which Tozzes are definite no's as far as we are concerned? I don't want to waste time on fools errands" Toz39 said rather impatiently
Frank thought it over before stating "Toz6 for sure; nobody has even seen Seattle's Finest in ages. And Toz48; I think I have an idea of where he is but I have no idea how we're going to bring him down to earth. But I imagine he would be sympathetic to us if given a chance. 45... I mean, Laura Collins... just no on her, I don't want to pointlessly endanger her. And Toz22, we can forget about- nothing we say will convince her to stop with her gaming live streams to help us stop 49" Frank concluded.
"And if I can add to that" Toz27 continued, "Metalhead is still hanging from the Queensboro Bridge in New York City and still hasn't figured out a way down"
"Can confirm that" The New Yorker Frank agreed with a nod.
"And Toz24 is in Australia still, and I do not want to waste time going to another continent for the sake of one Toz; especially since almost all the Tozzes are in the Washington State area oddly enough. And Toz73 made it clear they weren't interested in helping us. Toz30... literally a lump of sentient sausage meat, nothing they can help us with. And Toz62, forget it- she's more interested in her sentient fruit movie than helping us. And while we know its somewhere in the Salish Sea... unless one of you has an idea, I wouldn't even know where to begin to find Toz41" Toz27 finished.
"Not that Cyber Diver would be much help but I get what you are saying." Toz39 replied. "And let's add Toz36 to that list. She may be more approachable than Toz47 but Miss Seattle is just a beauty pageant contestant. And Toz63 we have no idea where "Broken Dreams" manifests; ugh, what is up with these non-tangible ones? Uh, no offense 58!" Toz39 called out.
"He says none taken" Frank assured.
"But anyway, Toz32 too; I've no patience for Great White Snark's... uh, snarkiness. Plus its comatose anyway, and we are NOT making space for a 90s computer when we already got Toz19. And Toz67... we can't even talk specifics about, so how could we even clearly communicate with them is beyond me" Toz39 finished.
"Hey... what about Teen Cringe Incarnate, Toz60" Toz38 chimed in yet again. The shuttering from the others was all 38 needed to see to realize they were outvoted.
Then, at that moment, there was a knocking at the door, and Toz27 went to answer it. upon opening the door the figure stepped in "sorry I'm late; traffic" the young woman said.
"Uh, do we know you?" Frank asked in confusion.
"Huh? Oops, sorry; FORM NUMBER 15!" She screamed, before morphing into a German man in his early thirties. A "57" was seen on his right forearm
"Ah; Heinz, it is good to see you made it" Toz27 said to Toz57.
"I may be a freak now- but I will do what I can to stop others from ending up like us" Toz57 said as the others signaled their agreement.
"At least those two found a way to embrace their modifications" Frank pointed out at the others, who immediately knew what Frank was referring to
.........
In a war-torn country in the aftermath of a savage battle, two individuals where hard at work. One had one claw coming out of his back, and a "10" was visible on his upper left back. The other, had two claws coming out of his back, and an "11" was visible on his upper right chest. They were using their claws to pick up and remove rubble to help people who were trapped under debris. Bystanders stood by nervously, awaiting what would happen. Then at last, the individuals were freed from the rubble, who were pulled out by medics. The bystanders cheered the heroes.
"Oh, thank you Toz10 and Toz11; we are in your debt" one said.
"Think nothing of it; that monster who changed us may have intended us to be weapons, but we will prove that we are more than that" Toz11 said proudly to the cheers of the crowd.
.........
"Well is anyone at least sympathetic to our cause?" Toz27 asked.
"I did manage to make contact with some of our fellow Tozzes" Frank explained. "However..."
.........
"Sorry Frank; but as it is I have no conscious control over my powers and I don't want to be a danger to the rest of you" Toz64 explained.
"I understand; but if you change your mind, you know where to find us" Frank assured the one nicknamed Calm Before the Storm
.........
"I am 100 percent with the rest of you; but until I get out of this taffy puller there really isn't anything I can do" Toz16 explained; her body being pulled like taffy because she was bound by cartoon physics; at least her head maintained her formed shape"
"I think I may have an idea; give me a couple days and I will come back" Frank assured the "Tozmanian Devil"
.........
"I agree we need to stop 49; but I've got a lot of welding to catch up on and I really don't want to fight if I don't have to" Toz1 confessed; as he wiped his brow the "1" above his left eye was visible
"Fair enough; but this one fight is the most important fight of all and I hope you consider that" Frank explained, knowing what The Torch was dealing with
.........
"Sorry, but the new Star Trek movie is coming out and I wouldn't miss it for anything. And not to mention.... gah!"
"Oh my God! Toz40 are you ok?!" Frank is shocked as "The Red Shirt" was suddenly hit by a falling tree branch. Wearing a tank top today, the "40" on his right shoulder was visible
"Don't worry, I've had worse. I'll be fine in a couple days" Toz40 assured, before going into a lecture on how Kirk was a better character than Picard
.........
"I mean I could offer my help, but what is "victory?" Even if we defeat Toz49 have we truly won?" Philosopher Zeno asked. Of note, there was a "42" behind his right ear
"You know what, forget it. I don't have time for this Toz42" Frank said in defeat before leaving Toz42 in his room.
.........
"I'm busy with my business Frank; plus I don't think my abilities will be of any real use. However, I am on your side and if there's anything I can help with, just come back to me" Bloody Mary the Candy Woman offered. A "66" was observable on her left wrist
"Well, thank you for being upfront with me" Frank said before going to leave.
"Wait... Sugar, Spice, or Everything nice?" Toz66 offered as she picked up the free samples.
"Uh... I'll just stick with Reese's and Hershey's" Frank said, knowing where that candy came from
.........
"I would be more than happy to help you... but there is little I can do until I free myself from this rift between dimensions" The Bronze Mage said, as Frank spoke into a puddle in the middle of a park, the only way to communicate with Toz28
"I understand; and rest assured I have been trying to come up with logic that can allow you to exist in this reality" Frank assured before leaving, and Toz28 demanifested from the puddle
.........
"There's nothing I can do to help you I'm afraid; I'm just a judge... and I need to get back at Toz3" The Judge grumbled.
"Just get over it Toz31; for crying out loud you don't NEED a television show!" Frank pointed out, but Toz31 wouldn't listen.
.........
"I sympathize with you Frank. But I most focus on my true mission: stopping Karens all over the country" The large, muscular figure feared as The Anti-Karen explained. a "55" visible on his upper right arm.
"While we do need you... I must concede you are fighting a noble fight. Once things calm down though, you know where to find us" Frank assured, as Toz55 nodded before teleporting to a WalMart in Pennsylvania to deal with a crazy customer.
.........
"And we can forget about Toz61; Grammar Police is too focused on its mission to help with ours" Frank pointed out.
"What about me? I can help!" A voice said, taking everyone by surprise. They looked in the direction, which was a bag of trash sitting next to the trash can in the kitchen. A face of sorts was present, formed from impressions in the plastic.
"We're flattered Toz33, but what can you do, exactly?" Toz27 asked.
"Uh... moral support? And Trash Talk has great sponsors so I can bring in a lot of funding" The one called Trash explained.
"Ok, fair enough" Frank said.
"While we are on the topic of stopping Toz49, I would like to propose a second objective when we are done with him: finding and stopping Toz56 before she hurts someone else" Toz39 proposed
"Agreed" The assembled Tozzes said together
"Oh, and we don't have to worry about Toz37; apparently it fell down the garbage disposal so... RIP" Toz27 explained
"Great; so we're running out of options, aren't we?" Toz57 grumbled.
"It gets worse; last I heard, Toz34 was in Virginia" Frank explained.
.........
1,000 Eyes was minding her own business at home when suddenly... a cyborg crashed through her wall!
"What the hell?!" 1,000 Eyes said in shock
"Must break records... MUST BREAK RECORDS!!" He kept repeating as he made his way to Eyes' room
"Hey! What are you doing!?" Eyes said as she tried to stop Toz34. Then, the horror: Toz34 began destroying 1,000 Eyes heavy metal albums!
"NOOOOOO!!!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?!?" 1,000 Eyes shrieked in terror.
"Vinyl is evil! VINYL IS EVIL!!!" Toz34 screamed.
.........
"Yea, I don't think we'll be getting any help from him" Toz27 admitted.
"And just putting this out there- last time I tried to recruit Toz52 I blacked out and found myself in a weird position when I regained my senses so I don't want to get NEAR The Party Animal" Frank said.
"Very well" Toz27 conceded. "And I have to admit... my recruiting didn't go that well either"
.........
"Once you have comprehended my nature, I shall assist you" the voice said from the "abstract being of physical nature" known as Toz51 explained.
"But what is a "Number of the Diesel" even supposed to be?!" Toz27 asked.
"I cannot say... for that would be cheating" Toz51 replied.
"Ugh, forget it" Toz27 sighed.
.........
"I want to help you, really, I do. But I am a shoe-in for the next Mel Brooks movie and I am not missing my chance" the literal walking blur said as Toz27 struggled to maintain eye contact.
"You may be the most offensive being on the planet, but I'm glad you at least have a sense of decency" Toz27 said in relief
.........
"Sorry, but I can't risk going back to Seattle; I specifically came to Arizona so I could get away from the rain. Water messes with my metal parts after all" The Big One explained, a big "46" visible on his upper back.
"Well, thank you for being honest with me, Toz46" Toz27 replied, disappointed.
.........
"Wait until I am converted to solar panels and then I will get back to you; but I agree, Toz49 is an *sshole and we got to stop him" Old King Coal explained, and he worked on his conversion from coal fired to solar powered.
"Good to hear Toz75; we look forward to working with you" Toz27 said, realizing that at least this Toz did want to help
.........
"Well, I know phase one of our plan anyway" Frank said
"You do?" The others said in shock.
"Yes" Frank said as he pulled a picture out of a sculpture outside of the Seattle Art Museum. "We are going to destroy Toz53; one of Toz49's primary sources of income" Frank explained.
"Wait... aren't we waiting on one more Toz?" Toz39 asked.
"Yes... Toz76 should be here soon" Frank said
.........
"For the love of... GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Toz76 screamed; The Hamster Dance had been stuck in her head on a constant loop for hours now because she was the current host of Toz54, the Earworm
.........
"All right, looks like we have to help Toz76" Frank said. So while everyone else proceeded to dance and move in ways that would seem unusual to pretty much everyone else, Frank was gesturing his arms towards the front door and began chanting.
"Gods above and demons below Hear my voice and see my glow Where there is trouble and doubt I bring forth my friend with a mighty shout In exchange for the price of four banana splits, Bring forth my friend, Toz76!"
Just then, there was a bright glow, and in that moment, the greatest Toz of them all, Toz76, at last appeared.
"Ah! What the?! Oh, hey Frank, how's it going?" Toz76 said as she realized where she was.
"Good; we're going through with it; ready to go?" Frank asked.
"Normally I'd say yes... but Toz54..." Toz76 began, before she began humming the Hamster Dance. "Uh oh. Everyone! Get the Garlic, the monkey wrench and the garbage bags! We got a 54 situation here!" Frank shouted. All the assembled Tozzes realized what was happening and proceeded to do so; the first order of business was getting the Earworm out of Toz76's head
|
|
|
Post by Toz76 on Jul 29, 2022 1:43:15 GMT -5
CHAPTER 2: The Tozicity Of Our City, Of Our City
"I actually kind of like the hamster dance... it makes me nostalgic..." Toz76 muttered as the other Tozzes sprang into action.
Frank and Toz57 began beating on pots and pans, drowning out the rhythm of the hamster dance in Toz76's head. It didn't take long for Toz54 to vanish.
"We need a more permanent solution for that one," Toz27 laughed.
"Um, guys... she's still humming the hamster dance," Frank said, concern evident in his voice.
"Oh, don't worry, now it's just stuck in my head the old-fashioned way," Toz76 explained.
"That's a relief," Toz39 chimed in.
Now that the initial pandemonium had cleared, the assembled Tozzes were able to get a better look at the Queen Of The Seventh Dimension, Toz76. Her hair was braided in elaborate patterns, and she was wearing an elaborate purple dress with complex patterns woven into the fabric. Frank briefly tried to make sense of the patterns, but they gave him a headache if he looked too long. The Toze, the mystical energy that the scientists in charge of the Toz program had harnessed to create the Tozzes, was billowing around Toz76 like a purple smoke cloud. A few of the Tozzes ran their hands through the Toze experimentally. It wasn't quite solid, but it certainly wasn't a liquid or gas, either. It was almost soft to the touch, like a pillow you could reach inside, and it drifted through the air in complex motions that the eye struggled to follow.
Toz76 took a seat on the sofa next to Toz38. "So, I'm guessing you didn't summon me for a friendly chat."
The other Tozzes instinctively looked to Frank to take the lead.
"Do you remember Toz49?" Frank asked.
"How could I forget?" Toz76 grimaced.
"We think he's gone rouge, and is trying to continue the Toz program in secret. He's working with some of the other Tozzes, like the cactus and Toztor Strange."
Toz76 raised her eyebrows. "What's the source on this?"
"Toz65 confirms it. He flew by the old warehouse the other day and spotted Toz49 through a window. Luckily, his stealthy nature-"
"Being a fly," Toz39 interjected.
"-yes, being a fly... enabled him to observe without being seen. He's building something. What, we don't know, and engineering is not 65's strong suit. But we know it can't be good. We all remember his other creations."
Every Toz in the room shuddered involuntarily.
"I know we all agreed to go our separate ways after "the banana incident", but I fear it takes a Toz to stop a Toz, and Toz49 is the most ruthless one of all."
Toz76 nodded gravely. "Thing is, my powers on this plane are limited. I can't intervene directly without direct cause. If you want my help on this mission, I'm gonna need hard proof."
The other Tozzes turned to each other. "We can manage that. It might take some time, though."
"That's fine, I can manage the 7th Dimension from here for a few days." Toz76 shrugged. She leaned back in the couch, yawning.
"I guess... we need a plan?" Toz39 asked.
"Let's get to work, then." Toz27 decided.
As the other Tozzes returned to the kitchen, Toz38 stirred from her slumber.
"Hey, 76." 38 said. "Want some weed?"
"Sativa or Indica?" Toz76 asked.
"It's a hybrid. The best ghost kush this side of the pearly gates."
"Sweet, I'll take some."
Toz38 conjured up a spectral bong as the two Tozzes began chatting about their respective adventures.
*************************************
OtZ OTZ oZt zot OTZ oZt TZO OTz ozT Otz TZO zot TOz oTZ OTZ Otz zot Toz otz OZT ToZ ZTo
Toz ozT TZo ZOt tZo
***************************************
Laura Collins was having a bad day.
Every day was a bad day, really. But today, the universe just seemed determined to deliver that extra little kick to the groin. Some jackass in a Chevy had sideswiped her on Aurora Avenue, her good parking spot had been taken, and her boss chewed her out for misfiling an important piece of evidence.
But now she was home, in her cozy Edmonds one-bedroom house, with a lovely view of the Puget Sound out her living room window. Laura Collins switched on the TV, and was immediately greeted by the sight of Toz3's courtroom drama.
"Shit!" Laura switched the channel, and found herself watching a pesticide commercial featuring Toz15. Channel after channel, with nothing but Toz.
"Christ, do people in Seattle have no other interests? I miss the 90s."
Laura switched off the TV and headed to the kitchen. She pulled out a bottle of vodka from a cabinet and two shot glasses. She stared at the bottle as she filled both glasses to the brim. The bottle was labeled "Toz45- 90 Proof Authentic Russian Vodka". She had shoplifted it from a nearby Albertson's. On particularly bad days, she liked to have a couple shots of the drink that ruined her life while she daydreamed about taking the manufacturers to court and winning back her legal right to the title of Toz45.
She took the first shot, then grimaced. This was the drink that had ruined her life, and it wasn't even good vodka! She stared at the oddly smooth patch of skin on the back of her hand. That was where the "45" tattoo had been before they lost the lawsuit and had to cancel the Toz45 project entirely.
"I could have been... a goddamn god among men..."
Laura sighed and drained the second shot glass.
**********************************
In a tall building in downtown Seattle, Terence walked nervously into the rented conference room. Around the table were six men he hadn't seen in years, not since... well, since Toz49 ruined everything.
"Terence, good to have you with us," Brian O'Neil said. Brian O'Neil was one of the lead designers of the Toz program. "The Benefactor will be here soon.
The Benefactor. Tiana Olivia Zimmerman. The mysterious billionaire heiress and socialite who had invested so much of her own money into the Toz project. It was sometimes said that the program was named in her honor, although anyone who knew about the Toze could debunk that easily. She had rarely visited the facility in person, and Terence had only seen her twice before. Secretly, the tall woman with the greying hair and the hard-to-place accent terrified him.
Zimmerman entered the room, and it seemed to almost grow colder as she did. She stood at the head of the table and made prolonged eye contact with everyone in the room for several seconds each, letting an uncomfortable silence fill the room. This was how she traditionally began meetings. Terrence didn't understand that particular power play, but it's not like he was gonna say anything in protest.
"I apologize for my lateness, everyone. I got cot in traffic. Such squaller out there in this city, overflowing trash baygs blocking the sidewalks." She said this as if she was personally blaming everyone in the room for the squalor, or "squaller" as she pronounced it.
"You can guess why I have gathered you here. It is about Toz49. His ayg must not be allowed to hatch."
"His what?" Terence blurted without thinking.
"Toz68. The ayg," Zimmerman said.
"Do you mean 'egg'?" Terence asked.
"Are you mawking me?" Zimmerman asked, in a cold voice that made Terence's breath catch in his throat.
"No ma'am."
"Good. I will not tolerate such behavior."
Terence sank back in his chair. Retirement had been so relaxing, spending time with the wife in a big house on Whidbey Island, not having to manage containment of dozens of Tozzes, rushing from emergency to emergency. He never should have taken that call. Now he was being sucked back into the world of Toz, whether he wanted to be or not.
*****************************************
The sniper crouched in the catwalk, still as a rock, watching the scene below with a keen eye.
"Alright, take five, and action!"
"Who glued legos to the floor of my bedroom?"
"Haha! I got you good, Donald!"
"Argh! You annoying little brat!"
The sniper ignored the cliched sitcom antics and bad acting going on on the soundstage and focused on the actor playing the little brother. On his calf, hidden by his jeans, the sniper knew the number "23" would be found.
"And cut! That was great, let's do one more take and then we'll move on to the next scene."
The sniper did a quick check to make sure everything was in place. Silencer? Check. Escape route? Check. The plan was foolproof.
"Alright, take six, and action!"
"Who glued legos to the floor of my bedroom?"
"Haha! I got you goo-"
The sniper pulled the trigger.
Screams rang out on set as Toz23 collapsed, bleeding from the head. The sniper paid no mind, crouching and inching along the catwalk to the skylight where their escape route was. The escape route took them out onto the roof, in through a different skylight leading to a supply closet, and out through the visitor entrance to the getaway car in the parking lot. In the supply closet, the sniper paused long enough to disassemble the gun, hiding it in a case labeled "1000 Flies Pest Control", and strolling out without anyone even noticing. When the sniper was safely in the car, they pulled out a note with a string of numbers on it, from 0 all the way to 76. The sniper pulled out a pencil and crossed out the number 23.
"One down... a shit-ton to go," the sniper sighed as they pulled out of the parking lot onto the open road.
|
|
|
Post by frankthetriviaman on Jul 31, 2022 17:01:10 GMT -5
Chapter Three: It's a Toz, Toz, Toz, Toz World
At Toz27's home, Toz76 suddenly felt some pain as she grabbed part of herself and grunted in mild agony.
"Toz? What's wrong?" Frank asked, concerned, as the others came into the room following behind.
"It would seem... that one of our others has been killed. I cannot be certain of which one, but whenever one of us dies, I feel a deep disturbance in the Toze, since the 76 of us are the only ones with Toze present within us, I can sense whenever it dissipates" Toz76 explained.
"Do you think it was 49?" Toz33 asked.
"Doubt it... but I fear this is only the beginning of what is to come" Toz76 said grimly.
.........
Meeting in a park, Toz42 came up to Toz20. Philosopher Zeno was in need of some wisdom and came to the Wise Fool for advice. "I feel as though I just can't make a breakthrough in my work. I feel as though I've almost figured out the Meaning of Life but it still eludes me. What say you, Toz20? Toz42 asked.
Toz20 thought about it for a while; Toz42's attention briefly focused on the "20" that was in front of Toz20's left ear. After some pondering, Toz20 then said:
"I can see you've been doing lots of thinkin' and honestly that makes you no chickin' Crazy as it may to find truth out there At least you didn't forget your underwear Don't trust your eyes for they aren't final For it is your thought that is key to this trial Daring to ponder truth in life You'd probably have better luck find a wife But you see, the answer is quite near Give it time and you see its crystal clear So maybe its time for our talk to wrap, For I must continue my practice for battle rap Your work shall not be in vain, Giving up would be harder to explain Be happy that your work has meaning and value, For perceiving failure will only make you feel blue"
Toz42 heard the rhyming nonsense that came from Toz20, and while unsure at first, he suddenly had realization. "I see! I get it now! Thank you Toz20! I now know the truth. Without any doubt, the meaning of life is-!"
Then, a shot rang out, and went though Toz42... said shot continuing through and hitting Toz20. No one actually heard the shot since the rifle had been silenced, but The Sniper was pleased... a complete chance opportunity and he had taken down two Tozzes with only one bullet. As with before, he made a quick, silent getaway and marked off two more numbers from his list.
"I'd best lay low for a little while... can't push my luck especially since I can't afford to lose my invisibility" he thought to himself before turning into an abandoned street and finding the perfect place to keep his head down for a few hours.
.........
In the walk in fridge of an abandoned restaurant, the space was empty except for the presence of a huge pile of sausage meat. Within the meat there seemed to be almost a sculpted, but crude, human head, and a "30" on the crate that it was sitting on top of.
"Toz1 won't find me here. I have to be careful not to expose myself to any heat sources or... wait, what's that?" Toz30 asked itself as it heard a noise. To its shock, the door to its fridge was pulled open, and it made out a figure, that pushed another figure into the space. Toz30 had trouble making out the figure until it got closer, and he saw not only the "18" on its forehead, but the fact that he was literally looking at a walking corpse.
"Oh, its only you, Toz18" Toz30 sighed in relief. It was calm for a few seconds when suddenly Toz30 was scared, "TOZ18?!?! NO!! WAIT!!" Finally comprehending what was about to happen.
From a distance, Toz49 admired how perfectly it had gone, as Toz18 ripped Toz30 apart and consumed the sentient sausage meat.
"I don't like dwelling on my accidents, failures and mistakes... and you were certainly one of them. Now I can sleep just a little bit better at night knowing that you have been taken care of" Toz49 thought, waiting until Toz18 finished its "meal" before Toz49 took the specially make helmet, put it over Toz18's head and guided it like a dog on a leash to their next location.
.........
"So, we're all clear on the plan then?" Frank asked.
"Yea; Toz65 is going to go get more evidence of Toz49's plans. Frank, you're taking Toz39 and you're going to help Toz16 get out of that Taffy Puller. Even though Toz58 can't really help he's also going with you be default since, well, obvious reasons. Toz57 is going with Toz27 to destroy Toz53. Toz0 and Toz19 are going to try and see if there is anything on the internet that can help us get an inside look at Toz49's digital footprint, and Toz33's going to secure us some funding for future plans.
Just then, Toz76 made loud shouts in agony again, causing Frank to run in once more. "Toz?! Has another one of us been killed?"
"Another one? No, its another thr... ugh! No, four! Four of us!" She said as she once again found herself hurting from the pain of Toze being disturbed on this plane.
"We have to find that evidence and fast! This isn't about using you for the sake of your abilities Toz, but now I think you understand: we need to stop 49 before things get any more out of hand" Frank explained.
Toz76 nodded before she was held by Toz38 in an attempt to ease the discomfort of what was going on
......
In some apartment, a 90s computer with a little dust on it and a "32" on the side of its monitor was suddenly stirred from its sleep as the AI became aware of its surroundings. "Huh, hey jerk! What do you think you're do..." The AI stopped as it suddenly registered fear. "No.... no! Why are you here?!" Great White Snark said in terror.
The being, with a noticeable "35" around its neck, raised its hand and declared, "put simply, I'm getting back at you for all the things you've said about me... at last" before producing some sort of blunt instrument and proceeding to smash the hard drive.
"NO! Stop! Pleeeeaaaaassseeeeee..." Toz32 managed to say before the screen went blank, and the being destroyed the monitor purely out of spite.
"Now... I can move on with my life" Toz35 observed as they left the room, the mangled remains of the computer abandoned once again.
.........
"All right, it is time. Tozengers, move out!" Frank said to the Tozzes that were about to leave the house. Only for everyone to look at him.
"Tozengers? Really Frank?" Toz27 asked.
"Yea, not your best work" Toz39 agreed. "That has got to be the worst team name I have ever heard. Well, a close second after that racist sports team name" Toz57 admitted.
"Look, it doesn't matter what we are called! Plus remember when we tried Ingenious Daredevils Intelligently Overcoming The Supervillains?" Frank pointed out.
"I thought that was a good name" Toz57 shrugged.
"Yea, but..." Toz39 began.
"CAN WE JUST GO PLEASE!?" Frank boomed before the team finally left the house... it was the beginning of the end for Toz49 and the... Tozengers... would make sure that nobody would ever fall victim to The Mastermind's cruel experiments ever again.
|
|
|
Post by Toz76 on Jul 31, 2022 19:41:26 GMT -5
CHAPTER FOUR: WHO LET THE TOZ OUT?
The Tozzengers left the house together and split up. Toz65, the fly, took to the skies, heading towards the lab where Toz49 was known to be working out of. Toz27 and Toz57 headed on foot towards the light rail station, heading downtown to the Seattle Art Museum to find Toz53. Frank and Toz39 also headed for the light rail, going to the same stop. The taffy puller Toz16 was trapped in was rumored to be somewhere at Pike Place Market, and it was as good a place as any to start the search. The other members of the Tozzengers stayed at the house, working on their own parts of the plan. The only problem was Toz39. The doll-sized Toz, after some grumbling, agreed to sit in Frank's backpack, but protested vehemently.
"Don't jostle the backpack too much," Toz27 advised Frank as they took a seat on the crowded light rail. "She hates that."
"I'll do my best," Frank promised.
After some thought, Toz57 had decided to use form 47, a form he was reasonably confident their enemies wouldn't recognize. Toz57 was now in the form of a short old lady, and had changed clothes to complete the look.
"Alright, SAM and Pike Place are only a few blocks from each other, so if one of our teams runs into trouble, we can text someone on the other team for backup." Toz27 said.
"You know Seattle way better than I do." Frank said. "What if I get lost?"
"Your phone has a map app, right? You'll be fine." Toz27 said. "Just... don't get lost in Pike Place Market. I swear that building doesn't obey Euclidean geometry. It's really easy to get confused."
Frank nodded. "Toz39 can help me find my way, right?"
"Dude, I'm a foot tall," came a muffled voice from inside the backpack. "I never leave the house. I haven't actually been there before."
Frank suddenly felt nervous.
*****************
In the lab, Toz49 was unhappy. He may have been 70% mechanical, but those organic parts were hurting too.
"Toztor Strange! Explain what just happened!" the mad scientist ordered.
"It appears to be some sort of extradimensional mental backlash effect. I felt it too, and I think the cactus was affected as well." Toztor Strange said. "It's similar to what happened when we destroyed that meatball, but much more intense. I'm guessing at least three Tozzes just died."
Toz49 scowled with what was left of his face. "So one Toz dying hurts all the Tozzes? That is an inconvenience."
"The mechanical ones don't seem to be as affected." Toztor Strange chimed in. "I suspect because machines don't have nerve endings to feel pain."
"Hence why it's even more important that we get my conversion to machine done as fast as possible. If the other Tozzes are dying, it could prove to be a hindrance to my plans. And see if we can pinpoint a location for some of my creations. We should try to capture as many as possible so we can keep them here for study and keep them alive long enough for my conversion to be complete."
"Yes, boss." Toztor Strange said.
Toz49 laughed maniacally, not noticing the fly buzzing around the room above him. The Tozzes dying is an unforeseen setback, but perhaps one that can be used to his advantage...
***********************
Toz27 and Toz57 stood outside the doors, having run into an unexpected roadblock.
"So, our intel suggests that Toz53 is on display outside of the Museum, but there's no sculptures out here but Hammering Man. And I don't think that's our target." Toz57 said.
Toz27 did a quick google search. "Aha! Toz53 was moved last month to a new location."
"What new location?"
"To Gasworks Park... crap. That's on the other side of Lake Union. We'll be so far away if Frank and Toz39 run into trouble at Pike Place."
Toz57 shrugged. "It's a tourist trap. What's the worst that could happen to them?"
**********************
Frank made his way through the crowds at Pike Place Market. The sights and smells were overwhelming, and Frank had no idea where to even start looking. Toz58 was trying to help guide him, but as a sentient thought, there was only so much he could do.
Suddenly, Frank heard screaming from somewhere near him. A young man who was lying on the ground in terror, backing away from a woman who was dressed as... well, Frank wasn't quite sure what she was dressed as. It was like... Sailor Moon, but unnecessarily sexualized? That's weird. And then he saw the "60" on the woman's ankle and realized.
"Oh crap! It's Toz60! Teen Cringe Incarnate!"
"So what? She's a Toz, maybe she can help us!" Toz39 said from inside the backpack.
"I doubt it! Toz60 revels in chaos. And the last thing we need are my cringy OCs coming to life and terrorizing Pike Place Market. We need to do something, fast!"
Toz60 looked up from the man she was terrorizing, a creepy grin appearing on her face. "I sense... another Toz..."
***********************
Laura Collins was out for a walk along the beach. The ocean waves crashing against the shore calmed her, helped sooth her agitated nerves. She wasn't sure how much more of this she could take.
"Laura..."
"Who said that?"
Laura whirled around in terror, trying to identify the source of the mysterious voice. A few passers-by looked at her with bafflement, before continuing on their way. Laura couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched, though. The world suddenly seemed darker than before. There were clouds in the previously bright summer sky.
"You're imagining things, Laura." She muttered to herself. But at the same time, she kept constantly looking over her shoulder for the entire rest of the walk home.
*********************
"That's all for today, fellow gamers! I've been Toz22, and thank you for watching my stream!"
Toz22, the 6.94201312... dimensional being turned twitch streamer, shut off her computer. "Another successful stream," she laughed. "Now, time to check my hookup apps..."
Toz22 was interrupted from her lewd train of thought by a sharp knock at the door. She ignored it, assuming it was just a package, but then the knock came again.
"Fine, I'm coming, keep your pants on... or don't..." Toz22 muttered as she headed to her front door. She pulled it open... and recoiled in fear.
Doctor Terrence Agnew. One of the men in charge of the Toz program. Not the worst one, to be sure, but still... Toz22 had flashbacks to her time in the lab, living in a small cage surrounded by the other Tozzes, the invasive tests, the painful procedures, the rejection when they found out she wasn't a true 7-dimensional being, and then... the banana incident...
"Toz22." Terrence said simply. "We need your help."
"Get Toz76 to do it. Your precious perfect Toz. You made it very clear that I was a failure." Toz22 snapped.
"Toz76 is AWOL. We suspect she's still in the 7th dimension. And what we need you for is urgent. It concerns Toz49."
Toz22 took interest at that. She resented all the scientists who had worked to create the Tozzes, but she resented the man who had become Toz49 worst of all.
"I'm listening. But remember, I don't belong to you anymore. You can't force me to do anything I don't want to do."
Terrence nodded. "Of course, Toz22. Now then. Come with me. The Benefactor would like to speak with you herself."
|
|
|
Post by frankthetriviaman on Aug 1, 2022 23:46:47 GMT -5
Chapter Five: Citizen Toz
Frank and Toz39 bolted down Virginia street and then turned into and made a dash down Upper Post Alley. Reaching Stewart Street they made a hard right and bolted towards the North Arcade. Finding themselves on Pike Place, Frank looked around and was certain that they had lost Toz60. But then, Frank felt a pang and stumbled.
"Frank, what's wrong?" Toz39 asked?
"It's one of my abilities; I can sense concentrations of Toze since whenever one is near I feel a sudden, sharp pain, remember?" Frank explained.
"But ambient Toze levels are hardly enough to affect you... and I think because of Toz76 you were fine back at the house" Toz39 said.
"That and most of us who were there had relatively low levels of Toze. Damn that 49; testing exposure levels just to see "what would happen" to us" Frank muttered.
"Wait, if there isn't a local deposit, then that means..." Toz39 began, as Frank turned around and to his shock, saw the "Sailor Moon character" steadily approaching him.
"Cr*p! She's onto us!" Frank said as he continued down Pike place and did a sharp turn onto Pine Street. He almost felt tempted to go down Post Alley, but decided against it and instead went down another path and ended up behind the First & Pine Building. He kept moving down this alley, until he saw an unusual shape in the distance... something that Frank had recognized from days prior. "Is that... a Taffy Puller?" Frank asked, getting closer, before recognizing that something... or rather, someone, was stuck in it.
"Frank? Frank! Is that you?" The person called from the puller.
"Toz16! Oh, thank goodness, finally found you. Who moved you though? This isn't where I found you a few days ago" Frank said in confusion.
"I'm just as confused as you are; all I know is I fell asleep and when I came to I was here, behind this shop" Toz16 explained.
"Wait, we went down the length of Post Alley, so that means..." Frank realized as he poked his head out and realized, "We're behind Sweetie's Candy! Well that answers that question" Frank said in observation.
"So if you're here, you figured out a way to get me out of here?" Toz16 asked.
"Yea, I do. 39, you know what to do" Frank said as 39 was taken out of the backpack and used her small stature to essentially infiltrate the taffy puller and begin unsticking her from the components.
"It's... it's working!" Toz16 said as she felt her body getting ungummed from the puller
"I found you..." voice said in an almost mocking, sing-songy type way. Frank turned around, and Toz16 looked in the direction, and they were shocked. There she was... Toz60, Teen Cringe Incarnate.
"Toz60, this is not a good time, leave us alone" Frank said sternly.
"Awww... but humiliating you with your long repressed fan characters is so much fun" she said with a grin. "Now, let's see what you came up with when you were a hormonally crazy teen" She said as she seemed to enter a telepathic state and tried to read Frank's mind.
"NO! PLEASE! Don't take me back to those days! I don't want to be reminded of my cringe creations like... like... wait, did I ever create cringey fan characters to begin with?" Frank said in realization.
"HA! You can't fool me! You may have deeply repressed your memories, but all I'll have to do is dig deep within your subconscious and once I find those characters I can't wait to relish in... in..." Toz60 suddenly raised an eyebrow and was taken aback. "Hey, wait a minute! You... you... you never created fan characters?" she said, confused.
Frank thought long and hard about it and then realization hit him, "That's right! I never really did that because that wasn't a concept I ever learned about! I mean, like a lot of kids I would fantasize about interacting with my favorite characters, but original fan characters, not a thing for me" Frank shrugged.
"You're kidding, right? Haven't you ever heard of DEVIANTART?!" Toz60 said in disbelief.
"... not until I was like 20" Frank said as he thought back to his college days.
"So... not even creating an original Sonic the Hedgehog character which is literally just sonic with different color fur? I mean everybody does that" Toz60 said, now getting desperate for something to latch on to.
"Oh... that. I mean I've heard of that but I always thought it was just weird" Frank said while raising an eyebrow.
Toz60 was taken aback... she had never met such a... boring target before. So she switched tactics, "well, how about fanfiction? Bet you wrote some... wait, those characters are... reasonable? I mean, bland characterization, but nothing crazy or particularly humiliating" Toz60 grumbled. But then, Toz60 finally found something, and grinned. "Oh... so there was something after all" Toz60 grinned as she began her metamorphosis.
All the while, Toz39 had undone a number of knots and gotten a lot of things unstuck, and just like that... Toz16 sprang out of the puller and regained her proper body shape. "Finally! Thanks 39!" She said gleefully.
"Anytime" 39 said as she pulled herself out of the puller and brushed herself down. Then they refocused attention on what Frank was currently dealing with.
"Frank? What's going on?" Toz16 asked. Then they saw what happened. Toz60 was no longer a sailor moon character... now, she looked like... a surprisingly normal 16-17 year old girl. Pretty and with what some would consider a "nice body" but nothing exaggerated like some hormonally raging teenage boys come up with.
"Wh... what is she supposed to be?" Toz39 asked, confused.
Frank thought back to his teen days and tried to make sense of what Toz60 had turned into, when suddenly, it occurred to him what happened. "Oh, now I remember. So this is what she would have looked like in real life" Frank said in realization.
"Who?" Toz39 asked in confusion.
"Well I'm painfully shy when it comes to dating so there was a time I wondered what my ideal girl would have looked and been liked... but I'm pretty sure this doesn't quite count for Toz60's abilities" Frank observed.
"She's a fictional character you created so... works for me" Toz60 said. "So, feeling humiliated at your long suppressed memory coming out to the public?" Toz60 asked
Frank was silent for a bit before shaking his head and stating rather bluntly "no, not particularly"
Toz60's face dropped, "What? Why?!" She said in utter disbelief.
"Admittedly if I was still 16-17, I'd be going crazy right about now at her coming to life. But I am not 16-17, I am in my late twenties. There's four reasons you can't embarrass me right now: 1- she isn't a character I linger on anymore, I have moved on. 2- You aren't acting anything like how I imagined her so the dissonance is strong enough to disillusion me. 3- I've come to understand how people are complicated and flawed, so I understand the idea of the "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" Is unrealistic, and I shouldn't set ideals too high. And 4- the big one... in case you haven't realized there is now a substantial age gap between me and "her" so she would be more of a little sister at this point anyway. I got nothing to be embarrassed about because I learned from it, and moved on. So there is nothing you can physically take the form of that could possibly embarrass me" Frank finished.
"GAAAAHHHH!!!" A humiliated Toz60 said as she fell to her knees in defeat. "Curses! My one weakness: Emotional maturity!" She said as she somewhat got stuck between crying and blubbering.
"Uh... what now?" Toz16 asked.
"Let's go back to the house; everyone will be glad to see you" Frank proposed as Toz39 got back to the backpack and the three of them left.
"You haven't seen the last of me!" Toz60 said before going back to her crying.
.........
Toz76 and Toz38 were enjoying their down time in the living room when suddenly there was frantic knocking at the door. Toz76 noticed this first and went to unlock the door. To her surprise, The Red Shirt came running in and practically stumbled in. "Oh thank you! Thank you! 76? What are you doing here? Where is Mere Mortal?" The Red Shirt asked in confusion.
"Toz40? is everything ok?" Toz76 asked in confusion.
"Well, you know how way back when you charmed this house so that any Toz that is inside is invisible and undetectable to anyone who wishes harm upon us?" Toz40 asked.
"Yea; I did that as a housewarming gift for Toz27 so she could live a normal life without fear of Toz49 interfering; why?" Toz76 asked.
"I knew this was the only place I could be safe... I was waiting in line to get the movie tickets, when I saw them!" "Who? Toz49's cronies?" Toz76 asked.
"No... Toz35! They're in this city!" Toz40 said with a tremble.
Toz76 helped Toz40 up and onto the chair, "all right, well, calm down and we can figure this out once everyone is back. Toz35 doesn't act without cause so maybe it was just a coincidence" 76 assured.
"I hope you're right" Toz40 said as he tried to regain his nerve
.........
Elsewhere, a long-closed bank was suddenly entered by the being with the "35" around their neck. Going down the stairs to the basement, Toz35 came to the vault door and proceeded to open it. The door opened, and revealed the resident within- a 24 year old woman, who had a "47" on her left calf and was described as having the "world's spiciest looks." She looked at Toz35 and with a grin asked, "So, have you come to set me free?"
"Actually, I've come to deal with you. You see... I never was a fan of femme fatales, and unfortunately, you fit the trope to a T, and I cannot allow that" Toz35 said as they began manifesting something.
Toz47's face fell as she suddenly realized what was happening. "No, wait!" but it was too late; Toz35 "dealt with her" and it only took a few seconds to do so.
"Ok, now that I have dealt with her, I feel satisfied" Toz35 said; they had dealt with the two Tozzes that gave them the most grief, and now they could move on.
.........
Frank, Toz16 and Toz39 were on their way back to the house, when they stumbled across another of their own. They saw Toz50 sitting on a sidewalk, looking dejected.
"Toz50? What's wrong?" Toz16 asked, concerned.
"I... didn't get the part" Toz50 sighed.
"Bummer" Toz39 said in response
"Sorry to hear that" Toz16 replied.
"Why don't you come back to the house with us? Clear your head while you think about what you want to do next"
"Ok... thanks everyone, you're the best" Toz50 said as they smiled... at least, everyone thought Toz50 smiled, it was hard to tell since he was blurred in real life.
|
|
|
Post by Toz76 on Aug 2, 2022 2:42:20 GMT -5
CHAPTER SIX: I Tozzed A Man In Reno
Toz22 entered the penthouse and looked around with awe. This was her first, and honestly probably last, time inside an honest-to-goodness penthouse, and she wanted to make it count. Terrence followed behind her, curious in her own right to get a look at the place the legendary "Benefactor" lived.
The penthouse was a modern rich person's wet dream. White carpet, white walls, massive windows letting in natural light and a view of the Seattle skyline, and three balconies. Why three balconies? Toz22 asked herself. Wouldn't it make more sense to just have one big balcony?"
The Benefactor was seated on a blue sofa in the middle of the main room, reading a book, which she set down as the duo entered. "Ah, Toz22. You have come."
"What is this about?" Toz22 asked. Damn, the woman who paid for the Toz program is kind of a milf, she thought but didn't say out loud.
"We need someone to help us apprehend Toz49. Your powers, while not as "complete" as Toz76, cud be invaluable in ar attempts to-"
"Stop right there. If I'm going to help you, big if, I refuse to be compared to that holier-than-thou bitch 76. Just because she can access that extra .06 dimensions doesn't mean she's better than me!"
The Benefactor rolled her eyes. "Very well, Toz22. Now then, I have an offer for you. I have devised a way to give you the extra power you believe you ot to have."
"Do you mean "ought" to have?" Toz22 asked.
"If I do not mention your Toz inferiority complex, you will not mawk my accent." The Benefactor said.
"Fine, fine." Toz22 said.
In the corner of the room, Terence stood, listening, trying to figure out if his name was spelled with one R or two.
The Benefactor continued. "Once you bring proof that Toz49 is dead, I will teach you how to achieve ultimate control over the Tozerverse. You will become the most powerful Toz in existence."
Toz22 had to admit, she was tempted. "Alright... tell me what I have to do."
*******************************
As Frank, Toz16, Toz39, and Toz50 walked up to their doorstep, they all suddenly doubled over in pain at once.
"Another Toz dead? That's like the sixth one today?" Frank said.
"This is bad. Toz49 must know we're out to get him, and is killing off Tozzes to stop us. We need to act fast." Toz39 said.
*********************************
Toz ozT TZo ZOt zot OZT ToZ zot OTZ Ozt OZT tOz oTZ
*********************************
At his evil lair, Toz49 was just as confused as everyone else. "What the hell just happened?"
"Another Toz must have died, sir." Toztor Strange said.
"Another one? What, are there multiple anti-toz serial killers running around? What the hell?" Toz49 complained. "Get someone on this. Send the zombie out, we need to find whoever is doing this and put a stop to it."
********************************
The sniper shuddered suddenly, nearly dropping her gun. She knew the feeling well, the feeling that came from killing a toz, but she hadn't pulled the trigger yet. Another Toz must have died somewhere. How strange. She'd have to check her list to see if she could figure out which one it was.
In her sights was a ghostly woman nervously floating through an abandoned alleyway. The number 6 was faintly visible on her forehead. Normal bullets wouldn't work on ghosts, but the sniper had done her research, and by simply killing some bullets with unfinished business on the mortal plane, it was easy to get ghost ammo that could kill an ethereal being like "Seattle's Finest".
The sniper curled her finger around the trigger. The number "56" was faintly visible on her knuckle as she fired.
And just like that, Toz6 was dead.
TOZ TOZ TOZ TOZ A-TOZZING TOZ TOZ TOZ TOZ TOZ TOZ AND I AIN'T TOZZED THE TOZ TOZ SINCE TOZ TOZ TOZ TOZ TOZ TOZ TOZ TOZTOZ TOZ TOZ TOZ TOZ TOZ TOZ TOZ TOZ
**************************
Toz35 strode down the street in the international district, mentally congratulating themself on a job well done. The Tozzes they'd set out to kill were gone, and Toz35 could finally be at peace.
Or could they? As Toz35 stopped to look at their reflection in the mirror, memories of a certain day, a certain "banana incident", came into their head.
----------------------
SOME YEARS AGO
The various Tozzes were in their cages in a long, dark room. Two cages were stacked on top of each other, all along both walls of the room, stretching on from 0 to 76. The cages weren't terrible, they had solid floors at least, and a private cubicle in the back with a flush toilet, but the Tozzes still didn't like living there. They made the best of it, though.
A few cages were empty, of course. Cage 45 was empty, since poor Laura had been forcibly kicked out of the program after that incident. And of course, cage 49, which Toz49 refused to occupy no matter how hard the other scientists on the program argued for it. And Toz76 was with the researchers doing some sort of seven-dimensional experiment, so she wasn't in her cage, either.
On this particular day, the Tozzes were in a better mood than usual. Toz21 had smuggled a piece of bacon from the dining hall, and thanks to their powers, all the Tozzes that could eat had an extra slice of bacon for dinner.
"They say turning one slice of bacon into two slices of bacon is a lame power, but I get a lot of use out of it!" Toz21 laughed.
Toz35 was playing chess with one of the neighboring Tozzes, Toz33. "Trash" couldn't really move the pieces, but by telling Toz35 where to move, the two could play pretty well through the cage bars. Toz35 had won two games so far, and Toz33 had won one, but this latest match was heavily in Toz33's favor, especially since Toz35 had just blundered a bishop.
Suddenly, an explosion rippled through the room. Yellow smoke billowed from the door, smelling strangely of bananas. As the smoke filtered into the cages, each Toz suddenly heard a voice in their heads. The words they heard the day of the banana incident have never left the minds of any of the Tozzes that heard it. For Toz35, the message was simple.
"Stop denying your nature, 35. You are meant to destroy..."
Suddenly, an alarm began to blare.
"What's going o?" Toz7 asked.
"No idea!" Toz48 yelled.
"WARNING!" boomed an automated voice over the speakers. "Critical breach in *static*oz containment field. Toz49 has initiated a reactor meltdown. Please evacuate immediately."
The Tozzes suddenly realized they were all locked into their cages. They couldn't evacuate! And even if they could, many of them had never known life outside of the Toz program. Where would they go? What would they do?
Suddenly, every single cage door swung open. The yellow fog that had filled the room began dissipating, and with it the ominous voices that filled the heads of the Tozzes. In the open door, framed in ominous shadow by the blaring red alarm lights, stood Toz76.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Toz76 yelled, summoning purple energy in her hand. "Run!"
-------------------------------------------
PRESENT DAY
Toz35 constantly reflected on the events of that day, the "banana incident" that had led to all the Tozzes gaining their freedom. Most of them had been pretty successful in the wider world, but the fact that they existed at all was the fault of those mad scientists and their hubris. And one in particular, the cruelest one of all, the one who had caused the reactor meltdown and forced the Tozzes to flee in the first place... Toz49.
Toz35 thought about the voice in their head they'd heard that day. Maybe it was true. Maybe they were meant to destroy. But not wantonly. No, there's only one more life Toz35 wanted to destroy. The life of the man who had made them like this in the first place. Toz49 must die.
|
|
|
Post by frankthetriviaman on Aug 2, 2022 21:48:03 GMT -5
Chapter Seven- Star Toz: The Original SeriesToz27 and Toz57 had made their way to Gasworks Park. They had checked by the Stone Sculpture and the Play Barn, there was no sign of Toz53. So they walked towards the amphitheater Lawn and they didn't find the sculpture there either. They looked through the gasworks structure and couldn't find it there either. They made their way back to the East Meadow and still, no sign of Toz53. Finally, they made their way towards Kite Hill and not too far off from the Sundial, they at last found it... the "Ugliest Sculpture" that was used by Toz53 to make money in some sort of unusual side hustle. "So... how do we destroy it?" Toz57 asked. "Remember that idea I've been telling you about? Just follow my lead and the people around us will not suspect a thing" Toz27 assured. Some people were admiring Toz53, others were just passing it by. Just then, Toz27, now in an artist smock, and Toz57, looking like a rather "stuck in her ways" old lady, then started acting in a really unusual way. "Grandmother, here it is, my masterpiece! Do you not see, this is who I am and who I am meant to be!" Toz27 said, all the while overacting and emotional. "Now look here missy!" Toz57 said in a very serious tone, "Art has no place in your life! You will never earn a good living with paint and clay! You must go to the Albers School of Business and Economics at Seattle University if you are to earn a good living and support a family!" Toz57 said with great sternness. "I do not need a spouse and children! All I need is a my hands and tools and I can share my soul with the world! Look at how I have breathed life into my visions and how the world admires it so!" Toz27 continued. "Poppycock! Art is nothing more than a frivolous hobby! Once a starving artist, always a starving artist! Go to business school or so help me I will never acknowledge you again!" Toz57 warned sternly. "Are you suggesting I must choose between family and my passions?!" Toz27 said, aghast. "I am not suggesting, I am TELLING!" Toz57 said, now portraying great anger. "Fine! If you cannot recognize my genius, then I guess no one can!" Toz27 said as she began to shed tears. Then, the shocking part: Toz27 took a sledgehammer (that they planted in just the right place earlier) and began destroying Toz53! Smash! Smash! With every swing the ugly sculpture took more and more damage, until it was nothing more than a pile of rubble. "If I am not to be an artist, then I have no reason for my work to exist! I shall cast off my very identity, and go to the Albers School as you say" and Toz27 dramatically tore off her artist smock and revealed a suit and tie underneath. "I shall become a corporate drone for the rest of my life, never to add color to this dreary, dreary world again!" And then Toz27 fell to her knees and submitted to "grandma" as Toz57 gave a smug grin and nodded with approval. The observers were not sure of what to make of what was just seen, until the two then stood side by side and bowed, "Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you have enjoyed our performance art piece, The Death of Creativity and we hope that you will not follow the same path I did. Do not stifle the imagination- let it grow and add color to this world. Thank you" The onlookers then applauded the performance as then Toz27 took down the sign for Toz53 and replaced it with an ad for the Seattle Art Museum. The two then began heading towards Northlake Way so they could begin making the journey back to the house. "Nice touch falling to the knees" Toz57 said once the two were not near anyone. "Good call suggesting turning my pain from Toz53's destruction into a part of the performance" Toz27 added. "But... will people still see a destroyed statue as art?" Toz57 asked. "Dude... this is Seattle. We literally have an art instillation In Magnuson Park that is just the fintails from submarines sitting in the middle of it" Toz27 pointed out "Well... that's just one example" Toz57 rebutted "We literally have a giant popsicle at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Blanchard Street" Toz27 continued "Well... maybe the artist likes Frozen treats" Toz57 said "We literally have a museum called the Official Bad Art Museum of Art" Toz27 continued "Ok, now you're just being pedantic. For crying out loud art is subjective" Toz57 pointed out. "Did I forget to mention we literally have a troll sculpture under a bridge?" Toz27 said "To be fair the Fremont Troll is actually pretty popular" Toz57 pointed out. "And I don't even know what the heck this is" Toz27 said indignantly "Ok, ok I get it! Can we stop ranting about the art in this city before we get on someone's bad side" Toz57 said as he got nervous. "Fine. Let's get back to the house so we can plan the next step" Toz27 agreed. "Let's get some burgers on the way back; think we can all use some lunch at this point" Toz57 suggested "8 oz Burger and Co or Giddy Up Burgers?" Toz27 said with a grin ......... SEVERAL YEARS AGO Dr. Randall Masters was standing in an observation area, surrounded by colleagues and assistants. "The time has come, fellow scholars. Today, we find out just what this "Toze" is capable of" he said as they observed the test subject. It was a humanoid robot, yet to be animated. "Is the device in place? Good, prepare to expose the target to... 10 Randalls of Toze" he ordered. "Think its ridiculous you named the unit of measurement after yourself but whatever" an assistant said before pressing some buttons into a terminal The device was aimed at the target, and began buzzing. Then, a beam of brilliant purple energy flied towards and hit the target. The very air around the robot seemed to vibrate as the energy merged with the matter, and once everything was settled, Dr. Masters used a speaker to communicate with the target, "are you awake?" He asked. Silence at first, but then, the robot began to move and acknowledged the presence. "Yes... I am. Can I help you with something?" The subject, known as Toz0, The Prototype, asked. "I am going to ask you a series of questions and you must answer them" Dr. Masters said before reading a series of complicated math equations. Toz0 got each and everyone of them correct. "Success! All we had to do was build the physical shell and the Toze did the rest of the work! We now have a self-aware robot capable of solving extremely complicated math equations" Dr. Masters said in delight. "I think we just created a glorified calculator" an assistant pointed out. Dr. Masters was about to unleash a tirade, until he paused and it hit him like a ton of bricks. "Damn it! You are right! All right, let's move on to human trials next; I want to see what happens when we change the target" he ordered. THREE WEEKS LATER "H-hey, this is safe, right?" The 33 year old human male said as he stood where he was ordered to stand. "Just relax and leave the rest to us" Dr. Masters assured. "Right, Toze level: 5 Randalls. Focus the beam on his hands" he directed as the assistants were hard at work at the terminal. The machine buzzed once again and the last thing the man remembered was a beam of purple light striking his hands; a weird sensation flowing through him before fainting. He came to a while later, now wearing an orange jumpsuit with "Toz1" on the back as well as in small letters on his upper left chest. "What the? What have you done to me?!" He said in anger. "You are being observed for testing. Now, let's see what happened when-" "B*llsh*t! Let me go know or I'll... what the hell?!" He said in shock as he realized he was generating flames from his hands. "Fire generation from the hands; most interesting. Let's see what happens when we introduce more than one component next time" Dr. Masters proposed. Toz1, The Torch, had been a promising success. THE NEXT DAY A 30 year old office worker was placed in the target area, along with it was a photocopier. "So, I'm NOT using the copier?" He asked in confusion "Just wait there until further instructions are given" Dr. Masters ordered. "Ok, now set the beam to hit both... 20 Randalls of Toze" he said as the assistants stuck to the procedure. The beam hit both and painful yelling was heard as a most unusual sight took place: the two items seem to both glow brightly, effectively blinding all observers until it at last subsided. When everything subsided, it was a most shocking result: The human was there, but parts of him were now mechanical; a cyborg had been created. But Dr. Masters had a theory. The cyborg came to a little while later, now in a similar jumpsuit that said "Toz2" on it. In front of him was a series of small items. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!" He screamed, understandably freaked out by his transformation. "Toz2! You will follow my directions right now or face serious consequences!" Dr. Masters ordered. Some time later, Toz2 was obediently handling the different items on the table. It seemed that whatever he touched, he was capable of making duplicates of. A most unusual power indeed; but no doubt useful going forward. "I want to try focusing on specific body parts again; lets also get a woman this time" Dr. Masters explained. Toz2, The Deuce, was another success THE NEXT DAY A 38 year old woman was standing in the target area. The usual routine was followed as Dr. Masters ordered "12 Randalls, to the head" he stated as the woman tried to ask questions but to no avail. The impact of the purple beam knocked her out cold. After being changed into her Toz3 jumpsuit, the researchers were disappointed to see she didn't have laser vision or telekinesis. But, they found themselves becoming rather intimidated whenever she stared at them. It seemed that her gaze had itself become a weapon, and while not as good as prior results, Dr. Masters realized he now had an effective means of keeping the other Tozzes in line. THE NEXT DAY "A Bedsheet? Really? I thought we were on human trials?" A fellow researcher said as they looked over calculations for the next experiment. "It will all make sense soon enough" Dr. Masters assured as right on cue he gave the command: "Hit the whole target; 50 Randalls of Toze" he said, curious about a relatively large dose of Toze on an inanimate object. The ensuing result... was interesting to say the least. The sheet had come to life, but not as what was expected; a "Bedsheet ghost" had been created, with a noticeable "4" in the center. "Ah, how convenient" Dr. Masters said, observing the result. "It would seem that the Toze is capable of creating sapient life out of "nothing;" a most magnificent breakthrough as far as Dr. Masters was concerned. But there was a very big concern: they weren't sure how they would contain Toz4, the Bedsheet Ghost. ONE WEEK LATER "Ok, the hands have been constructed exactly according to the specifications; are you sure this fusion test will work again?" An assistant asked. "Based on prior results, I think I now know enough to control the result I want to create. Is the target in place?" Dr. Masters asked. "Of course. Awaiting your instructions" a fellow researcher said as the 24 year old male stood their nervous; he was ordered not to move from his position in front of the two fancy gloves... though they seemed to be more like gauntlets. "All right; focus on the hands and the gloves... Toze level of 30 Randalls" he ordered. Right on schedule the device fired the beam of Toze, and a fusion reaction did take place. After the obligatory fainting and the target changed into a jumpsuit that said "Toz5" the subject was understandably freaked out when his hands were replaced by mechanical look alikes... however, it was an interesting trade off. Now capable of shooting lightning out of his hands, Toz5 thought it was cool to have superpowers. But it came at the cost of his freedom. Dr. Masters was thrilled though at the success of Toz5, Electric Boogalive. After this initial round of testing, Dr Masters compiled several reports with his results. "This has been an outstanding success, everyone. Now if you excuse me, I am going to report to our benefactors so that we may secure the resources we need to continue testing" Dr. Masters explained before taking his leave with several copies of the reports. "What? But I thought Dr Masters was... was the mastermind of this project?" One of Dr. Masters colleagues said in confusion. "I do recall him mentioning there are other parties involved with our work... perhaps there is a bigger picture we aren't aware of?" An assistant pointed out. "Regardless, I look forward to working with Dr. Masters; if what he says is true we're going to accomplish some pretty amazing things!" Another colleague said in delight" ......... By now, just about all of the Tozengers had returned home, Frank and the others surprised to see that Toz40 was now present at the house. "If you ask me, I don't think we are on Toz35's Radar; the only ones they had a problem with were The Spicy One and Great White Snark, so I see no cause for alarm on that front" Frank assured. Then, at that moment, Toz27 and Toz57 came in with lunch, "Hey everyone! We got lunch!" Toz27 said while Toz57 changed back to his default form. "Aw, sweet! Hey someone make an offering so I can eat one too!" Toz38 said as they realized what was going on. "Always love trying new places. So, this "Giddy Up Burger" any good?" The New Yorker Frank asked out of curiosity.
|
|
|
Post by Toz76 on Aug 3, 2022 2:01:14 GMT -5
CHAPTER EIGHT: TOZZING SADDLES
The night fell over Seattle. That didn't mean the city went silent, of course. Bars across the I-5 corridor were just getting started, and thousands of people would be out partying until well after midnight... those who weren't staying home getting high, of course.
One particular party was ramping up in an apartment in the Capitol Hill area. Music was blaring, people were drinking, and things were beginning to get wild.
One particular party guest, decked out in a punk-inspired outfit, with the number "52" tattooed on their midriff, was keeping a close eye on the number of party guests in the room. Toz52 was confident that there would be more than 100 guests at this party, which meant they'd get a chance to use their powers to the fullest extent. This party was just getting started.
*********************
The "Tozzengers" spent the afternoon at home, making plans based on the intel Toz68 had gathered and the combined abilities of the assembled members. Toz16, grateful to finally be free from the taffy puller, was practically bouncing off the walls. The other Tozzes left her unattended in the basement for 15 minutes and returned to find she'd painted a mural of a tunnel onto the wall, which she could run in and out of easily. When Frank tried, he only ended up smacking facefirst into the wall.
As the sun began to set, Toz39 had bad news.
"I think our plan to destroy Toz53 has backfired."
The others crowded around the laptop screen, where a story on a lifestyle blog was on display.
"Spontaneous performance-art piece in Gasworks Park draws praise", the headline read. The article described the elaborate speech Toz27 and Toz57 had made before smashing the statue, and was accompanied by a picture of the two of them in action.
"I think we might have made the sculpture worth even more money." Toz27 said.
"And we didn't even destroy it... not fully, anyway. We'd have felt it if we did. So there's still a sculpture out there for Toz49 to use to raise money," Toz57 added.
"And worst of all, there's your picture, right there in full color," Toz40 added. "So 49 will know you were behind this. And we know from the fly that he's already hunting for the person who's been killing Tozzes... what if he assumes that was you?"
"You mean... Toz49 might come attack us? Here? He wouldn't dare!" Toz27 glanced around her home, terrified.
"Well, hope for the best, prepare for the worst," Toz39 said. "If he is gonna come here, or send one of his minions, we can prepare for it. Set traps and stuff."
"Good idea." Frank nodded. "Should we wake up 76?"
The assembled Tozzes glanced at the couch, where Toz76 and Toz38 were asleep, smelling strongly of weed.
"Let's let her sleep it off. We may be the less powerful Tozzes, but we can still handle it!" Toz39 said.
And so, the Tozzengers began to prepare.
****************************
In a coffeehouse somewhere, Toz56, the sniper, was taking a break from murdering Tozzes to relax with a scone and twitter. She came across the blog featuring Toz27 pretty fast.
"Well well well... the mere mortal... I had a feeling you'd be hard to find. I guess I've found one of my next targets...
***************************
Laura Collins had also read the blog post.
"Oh look, it's 27. At least she got to be a Toz. Ugh."
Laura Collins had deliberately not kept in touch with anyone else from the Toz program, but she saw Tozzes everywhere she looked. And she hated it. Even the "weak" tozzes, like 27, were targets of her resentment.
Laura stood from her dining room table and turned to see that her wall was gone. In its place was an inky blackness that seemed to whisper at her, pulling her in. Laura backed away in terror, but the table was in her way.
"Laura... you want to show the Tozzes that they were wrong to reject you. The power you seek is within your grasp... simply step into the unknown."
Laura was justifiably apprehensive. "Who are you? What are you?"
"I am what lies between the end and the beginning. I am the contradiction that clarifies. I am the song in the heart of a serial killer. I am what you have been seeking your whole life, without even knowing it. Your true life begins when you step into the shadow."
"Speak in riddles much?" Laura muttered. But despite her fear, she found herself taking one step, then another, until her body was consumed by the darkness.
The blackness retreated, and suddenly, Laura's dining room was empty, with no evidence that anything unnatural had happened except an unexplained smell of bananas.
****************************
SOMEWHERE AFTER "SEVERAL YEARS AGO" BUT BEFORE "SOME YEARS AGO"
Doctor Randall Masters was in a meeting.
With him were a couple other researchers, Terrence Agnew and Brian O'Neill. Across the table from the three of them were Tiana Zimmerman and Samuel Fesconi. Masters had met Zimmerman (or "The Benefactor", as she inexplicably insisted on calling herself) before. Zimmerman was funding the whole thing. Fesconi was new, though. Fesconi was an experienced researcher from the University of Washington who had joined the project due to his interest in interdimensional science.
"Doctor Masters, your work with the Tozzes has been exemplary so far, but I question the, ah... relevance of some of these tests." Fesconi said. "Take Toz12, for example. It appears to be a rock."
"Ah, yes, but it has been infused with 7.8 Randalls of Toze."
"Which had little to no effect on the rock one way or another." Fesconi said.
"True, we were experimenting with smaller doses of Toze on inanimate objects and it seemed rather fruitless." Masters conceded.
Terence chimed in. "Although, preliminary studies suggest it has a slightly lower density than typical rocks of similar material, which could prove relevant in rock-skipping or-"
A withering glare from Fesconi shut him up.
Fesconi continued. "Or, let's consider Toz11. Toz10 covered the exact same concept as Toz11. Why did you feel the need to do the same thing but with two metal claws instead of one?"
"I take full responsibility for that one, sir. After seeing that Toz10 could still walk normally despite having a 50-pound metal claw embedded in her head, I was curious if there was a limit to the number of claws one could embed in the human skull where the Toz dosage would still allow the host to control the claws independently and counteract the weight."
"Fair enough, I suppose I can see the logic in that," Fesconi conceded. "That said, I'm going to preemptively reject your proposed concept labeled "Toz5000XL". I mean, really?"
Masters nodded. "Fair enough."
"But the one I really wanted to talk to you about was the goddamn meatball." Fesconi said.
"Oh, don't get me started on the meatball," Masters said, a hint of genuine anger in his voice. "That was researcher Kyle Vince's idea of a joke. Total waste of Toze, and of food. Vince is in a holding cell on level 3."
"Great. I have a test I want done, and Kyle Vince will make the ideal test subject." Fesconi slid a folder to Masters, labeled "Toz zombie".
"Toz zombie... I bet we can come up with a snappier name." Masters muttered as he opened the folder and began rifling through it. "Oh... oh, god."
"Is there a problem, Masters?" Fesconi asked.
"You're asking me to kill a dude and use Toze to try to revive him? I realize we're doing some questionable stuff here, but there are ethical lines that shouldn't be crossed. Vince is a young dude with his whole life ahead of him... he has a family!"
"Look, Masters, you can't make an omelet without desecrating the corpses of a few chicken fetuses," Fesconi said. "Do what the proposal suggests, and whatever happens to Vince's body, label the result "Toz18" and store it with the others. I'm going to take a more hands-on role in this lab going forward. I want to pivot from frivolous use of this "Toze" to really testing its limits. The ultimate goal is to create someone who has mastery of extra spatial dimensions, and I want that to be our target going forward. Toze is a seven-dimensional substance, after all. Controlling the seventh dimension means the things we can do with Toze will become limitless. That power is something we should be taking a lot more seriously, doctor. Now, back to work."
Terence and Masters shared an uneasy look as Fesconi and Zimmerman left.
Fesconi is a madman, Masters thought to himself. Having more of him around can only end badly.
**********************
PRESENT DAY
Toz18 was sat in its cell, playing one of those crappy match-3 games that shows you an ad every 20 seconds, when the cell door was slid open by Toz49.
"Good evening, Toz18. I have a job for you..."
|
|
|
Post by frankthetriviaman on Aug 7, 2022 19:16:22 GMT -5
Chapter Nine: American Toz
THE TOZ PROJECT
Dr. Masters was practically giddy with excitement for his next test: he had compiled a number of things that were associated with Seattle, Washington and had placed them in the target area.
"A grunge record, a cup of coffee, a liter of rainwater... where is this going?" researcher Kyle Vince said as he observed the menagerie of assorted items.
"Now that I know the Toze is capable of not only merging items, but creating life from nothing, I simply must know what happens when we involve a number of inanimate objects at the same time" Dr. Masters said as he went over the final checklist. "All right, general target area... 60 Randalls of Toze" Masters said as the test began.
After the obligatory firing of the beam, blinding light and settling dust, Dr. Masters stared intently at the result: it appeared to be some sort of human, but it was as if a modern art sculpture had been brought to life, but there was an ethereal nature about it.
"That's it?" Researcher Terrence Agnew said with a raised eyebrow.
"Wait for it..." Dr. Masters said as it observed the being to be moving. Then, grunge music began playing from no discernable source, and it began raining... but the water droplets were round.
An assistant was ordered into the testing area with a beaker to collect a sample. Upon her return Masters took the beaker and smelled the result... before drinking it.
"Coffee... a ghost that makes it rain coffee. Agnew... file this one under "inconclusive" for now; not sure whether to call it a success or not" Masters said with a sigh before taking out a flask.
"As you wish" Agnew acknowledged before preparing the file for Toz6, who came to be known as "Seattle's Finest"
ONE WEEK LATER
"Hey, I won't lie, I'm starting to feel really jittery here; what exactly is the point of this?" The 25 year old woman said as she was made to finish her third cup of particularly strong coffee in a relatively short amount of time, and the caffeine was hitting her like crazy.
"Uh... this coffee isn't from the last one, is it?" Researcher Brain O'Neill said; he was concerned that the coffee may have lingering Toze in it and didn't want it to affect the experiment.
"Don't worry, its just Maxwell House" Masters assured.
"BLASPHEMY! We're on the outskirts of Seattle and you make F***ing MAXWELL HOUSE!" Seattle born researcher Jessica Rimford said in disgust.
"Were YOU going to drive an hour both ways for that coffee?" Masters said with a raised eyebrow.
"...point taken" Rimford conceded in defeat.
"Masters, the target has finished ingesting the third cup" Agnew called from the observation window.
"Target the whole body... 55 Randalls of Toze" Masters said as the usual process began. The target stood there, practically on the verge of just running off in some random direction when the beam struck her.
After the dust had settled, it was clear that the woman's physical appearance hadn't really changed. "Uh... was something supposed to happen?" Rimford said in confusion.
"Wait for it..." Masters said as suddenly, a series of balls at varying speeds were thrown at the woman, who proceeded to dodge them all effortlessly. Not even a 90 mph fastball baseball was capable of hitting her.
"Wh... what the?" Agnew said in shock.
"I mean she is a gymnast so this result was to be expected" Agnew pointed out.
"But her reflexes were clearly unnaturally increased at least fifty-fold. I can't think of a practical use for us just yet, but at least we know that ingestion of substances prior to exposure can influence the result. And I'm sure we can find some way to benefit us" Masters said with conclusion. Toz7 was therefore considered a success. However...
"When I find the person who decided to call Toz7 "The 3WhiStoRia" I swear I will force a Carolina Reaper down your throat! What kind of stupid f***ing name is that?" Dr. Masters said in anger.
FIVE DAYS LATER
"What the hell is this?! Who authorized an experiment without my approval? And why were 75 Randalls of Toze used!? You know we can only charge about 30 Randalls a day to the machine so there better be a damn good reason over two days worth of Toze was just expended!" Dr. Masters fumed in anger.
"Well, we started with a 30 year old man who has a particularly great skill with pogo sticks. Then, we made him wear a bear costume and..." Vince explained about the resulting creation. It was a humanoid bear, hopping around and doing crazy tricks on a pogo stick. After the finale of the routine, even Masters couldn't help but applaud.
"Ok, ok, I admit, that's pretty cool. But just so you know I'm only letting this slide because our work can get pretty boring and we need the entertainment. Just be glad that Toz8 is considered a success for that reason" Masters pointed out.
"I... I understand" Researcher Vince said with a sigh of relief, realizing he cut it particularly close there. The resulting Toz8, or "Tozzie Bear" proved to be a much needed source of entertainment for the researchers during down time.
"Note to self: find new name for Tozzie Bear. Didn't realize he was German born and his sense of humor... well, much to be desired" Masters said into a voice recorder before going to get a drink.
THREE DAYS LATER
"So this ATM will do... what, exactly?" Masters said, confused by what Agnew had planned here.
"Ok, so hear me out- unlimited funding, thanks to the Toze itself" Agnew said as the final preparations were made. The ATM had an advanced computer CPU placed next to it; the theory being that it would be more likely to gain sentience if there was something that would allow for such intelligence to exist; and they didn't want to expend a human subject just yet.
"Exposure level... 70 Randalls" Agnew stated before the same routine happened for the ninth time. Upon the settling of the dust, the ATM looked aesthetically different, and a large "9" was emblazoned on the side. Agnew and Masters approached, and once within two feet of the ATM the device said, "welcome, may I help you?"
Masters, now interested, stated clearly "60 US Dollars please" to the ATM.
"Please insert 20 acorns and/or rubber bands into the relevant slot" as a hatch opened, indicating what the device wanted.
"Wait, what?" Masters said in confusion. Agnew thought it over when it hit him, "Now that I think about it; I did see a rubber band and an acorn inside the machine when I checked it to make sure nothing was inside that wasn't supposed to be there. They were innocuous items so I didn't think much of them" Agnew admitted.
"Nevermind that now; get me that rubber band ball I've been making in my spare time!" Agnew ordered as an assistant went to Agnew's desk and brought the item in question. It was inserted into the slot in question, which then closed and the ATM began buzzing.
"Extra Rubber bands detected; bonus money awarded" and then, another hatch opened up... but much to the surprise of all observing, a number of coin rolls emerged.
"Hey! What came out!?" O'Brien called out.
"Looks like... 85 dollars worth of dimes" Agnew said as he finished counting.
"So it only dispenses dimes? Well, free money is free money, so I'll call this a success. Now once we've got an adequate amount of rolls, send an assistant to the bank for cash" Masters ordered. Toz9, "A Dime A Dozen" as it came to be known, would prove useful in the long run.
.........
NINE DAYS LATER
"Really? We're going for claws again?" Agnew said in confusion.
"Trust me on this; if I'm right we will be one step closer to understanding the true nature of the Toze" Masters said as he reviewed his notes, Toz10 had been successfully bonded to a metal claw that came out of her head and back, and 70 Randalls was enough to affect her in such a way that she wasn't off balance and any other potential affects on her body were mitigated.
"Meaning, if we up the dosage, then just maybe..." Masters said before transitioning directly into the test. The last test had involved a 29 year old man of particularly muscular build. Now, that man's identical twin was a target, and next to him was a weird looking apparatus, identical in nature to the first one, but now it had 2 claws.
"Exposure level... 120 Randalls of Toze" Masters ordered. Everyone shuttered, this was the first test to go over 100 Randalls and it was four days worth of Toze, so a lot was riding on this experiment. After obligatory build up, firing and dust settling... Masters smiled as he realized the test was a success. The human target successfully bonded to the apparatus and was controlling the claws with no issue.
"Excellent; ok, we can reunite him with his brother now; they will be useful in time. Toz10 and Toz11 are hereby considered successes" Masters said while filing out some papers.
THE NEXT DAY
"Why was a moderately sized rock only exposed to... 7.8 Randalls of Toze?" Agnew said in confusion.
"It was supposed to be 10 Randalls but at the last second assistant Gulder sneezed and he messed up the targeting a little bit at his console" Masters said as they observed the rock in question.
"What was this test for, exactly?" Agnew said in confusion.
"Part of it was to determine the lowest level of Toze necessary for inanimate objects to gain sentience. I wouldn't consider this test a success per se... but, this was valuable insight as far as the sentience gaining aspect of the Toze, so we'll consider that to be valuable information" Masters concluded"
"Fair enough" Agnew said as both researchers wrote notes in their respective clip boards
............
The Tozzengers got together and began making a plan. "All right, even with the protective charm around the house, we still need to have our bases covered and ensure fail-safes are in place against any hostile forces that may threaten us" Frank said as the others nodded.
"Good thing tinkering is a hobby of mine; got all sorts of parts and tools in the basement" Toz27 explained to make the premise of what they were about to do more believable.
"Right, so these traps should be easy to disarm on our end, mainly so that when allies come, we can let them in without issue, but if hostile forces come they will have a hard time on their end disabling the traps and be more likely to set them off" Frank continued.
"I can heal from just about anything so I'm willing to be the guinea pig for the traps if need be" Toz40 said, raising his hand.
"As sad as that is I can't deny that it is also a useful ability in this particular context" Toz57 observed.
"right, so let's do this" Toz27 said as she began outlining some plans.
............
Toz56 was grinning with pleasure for the next target she was about to go after. "Toz27 would be a pain in the neck to find; but it doesn't matter. No matter where she goes, I come after her. It will not be hard at all, to completely follow any path she takes; I will find her in the end, just because I want to. Not to mention, even if hiding in a house I will her in any location. Whether it takes me a day or a hour I will find her. And nothing can be done to-"
Just then, she was cut off as a metal hand grabbed her shoulder and spun her around, Toz56 was shocked. "Hey! What are you... GAH! TOZ61?!" She said in terror at the robocop-ripoff look alike
"For committing the crimes of an incorrect verb form, a split infinitive, ending a sentence with a preposition, a dangling participle AND the incorrect use of articles, I am taking you in" He said in a monotone voice.
"But... but... but hour starts with a consonant! I'm supposed to use "a"! She pointed out in desperation, trying to get him to let her off the hook.
"True, but "hour" sounds like it starts with a vowel, so you must use "an." Where you are going, you will learn all this and more. Don't worry, your grammar shall be fixed and you will be a productive member of society in no time" Toz61 continued.
"NO! NO! NO! Please! Surely me and you can work something out!" Toz56 screamed, now desperate?
"Me and you?" Toz61 asked quizzingly, as Toz56 realized she only made the situation worse.
"F***! I mean, You and I! YOU AND I!" she kept saying, but it was too late; they both disappeared as they teleported somewhere else. Nobody knows where Toz61 takes his targets; all that is known is that when the target reappears a month later, they are completely incapable of speaking slang and incorrect grammar. While fortunately they don't become "grammar nazis," they still only speak in "perfect" grammar, no matter how hard they try otherwise.
............
Toz49 had dispatched Toz18 to a location that would help further his goals. He was making some preparations himself to head out and follow not too far behind, when at that moment, Toz74 came in and had "presents" for 49. "Check it out; found this one not too far from the airport; must've been visiting from Australia" he said as he threw an unconscious Australian woman on the floor. Then, he pulled in a deactivated humanoid android with a "29" on the back of its head, "Swiped this from a Cutco public event when no one was looking" he continued.
Toz49 grinned, "Splendid work, Toztor Strange. Now we have Toz24 and Toz29 captured. Now, I must go catch up to Toz18" Toz49 said as he donned clothes that hid his mechanical parts quite well and left the facility.
............
In her apartment, Toz3 was minding her own business when suddenly... thudding was heard on her door.
"What the? Who is that?" She said in confusion as she got up from her chair and went to open it. When she opened the door... she had to take a few steps back as the person on the other side lunged at her! "What do you think you are doing?!" She said in anger as she tried to use her stare to stop the person. But then, when his face made contact with hers... the man was not affected at all.
Toz3 suddenly looked scared as she recognized the "18" on the forehead. "You!? But, how?" She said in shock as Toz18 kept coming after her; his mental capacities too low to be affected by her gaze. She ran to the other side of her apartment. She thought quickly, then had an idea. She opened her window and waited for Toz18 to start running for her again. Taking her rotating office chair from her desk by the window she rammed it at Toz18 in such a way that he tripped onto the chair. She rapidly turned the chair around on its wheels, ran the distance that was left from this point in the floor to the window, and with all her might, flung the chair forward and essentially dumped Toz18 out the window. Toz18 fell the nine stories to the pavement below. He crashed with a thud; but as it was late at night, there was no one around and thus no one saw what happened. Except for one individual who walked up to Toz 18, who was struggling to get back on its feet from the disorientation.
"Somehow I knew Toz18 wouldn't be the best choice for this plan" Toz49 sighed in defeat. "Well, back to the drawing board, I guess" he said as he began trying to help Toz18 back to his feet.
............
Walking through a park, was a woman in jeans and a plain gray sweatshirt. If she took her hood down, one would see an attractive blond haired 17-18 year old girl, not even noticing the "60" on her ankle. (NOTE: A different form from when we last saw her) Normally, she'd be humiliating people by turning into their long forgotten teen cringe fan character creations and delighting in the embarrassment of her targets. But ever since her encounter with Toz59, or Frank, she had just completely lost her drive and was now wandering aimlessly through said park.
"Stupid Toz59... just you wait! I'll find a way to get back at you if its last thing I do!" She muttered to herself; unable to accept the fact that somebody straight up hadn't created any characters she could humiliate him with. She kept walking though the night; trying figure out her next move.
|
|
|
Post by Toz76 on Aug 8, 2022 2:47:37 GMT -5
Chapter 10: Catch-Tozzytwo
THE TOZ PROGRAM, WAY BACK WHEN
"Systems check!" Randall Masters ordered.
"Toze influx barometer online and calibrated!" Jessica Rimford said.
"Toze containment field stabilized!" Terrence Agnew said.
"Quantam irregularities purged!" Brian O'Neil said.
A dozen or so other researchers obediently sounded off. Ever since their colleague, Kyle Vince, had been turned into Toz18, the Tozombie, everyone was on their best behavior.
Samuel Fesconi had come to personally oversee this test. Weeks of calculations had been done, a perfect test subject had been located, and the machine had been charged for nearly three weeks to get enough Toze for the test.
The test subject, a teen of 17, had drank some of the Toze-infused coffee from Toz6 and was sitting cross-legged on the pad, unaware of what was coming.
"Found that kid in the foster system," Masters said to Fesconi. "No one's gonna come looking."
"Good thinking, Masters." Fesconi nodded.
"Alright, everything's ready! 700 Randalls, on my mark!"
Everyone in the lab tensed, ready to start collecting data.
"Go!"
Purple energy poured into the room. The teen screamed in pain.
Terrence Agnew looked apprehensive. "We're hurting him, sir!"
Masters didn't care. He could feel it in the air. Something was different this time.
"Don't you dare stop! Give it everything we've got!"
Somewhere in the lab, a bulb burst, shattered by the surge of energy. Masters clenched the railing with both hands, peering at his creation. "More! MORE!"
Finally, the familiar sound of the machine powering down was heard.
"That's all 700 Randalls, sir." Rimford said. Her face was clearly filled with uncertainty about what they'd just done.
The room was still filled with a purple smoke. It was impossible to see inside the chamber.
"Alright... let's see how Toz22 turned out." Randall said.
*************************************
PRESENT DAY
Toz22 soared through the night sky, using carefully controlled blasts of Toze to control her flight. Well, technically, Toze was 7-dimensional, and what she was shooting out of her hands was only 6.94201312... dimensional, but who gives a flying f- about those leftover .06 dimensions anyway? It was good enough for her. Good enough that she could warp reality at a whim, step into the fourth dimension and then step out basically anywhere on earth she chose, slow down and speed up time around her, whatever she felt like doing. And now, that power was being directed towards one singular goal... the destruction of Toz49.
Toz22 remembered her time in the custody of the researchers even less fondly than most. Trying to transition while being imprisoned by a bunch of mad scientists wasn't easy. And all the invasive tests they'd run on her, the ways they'd beat her when she tried to escape, the fury that had been directed at her when they realized she wasn't truly 7-dimensional...
Toz49 is going to pay for what he did, Toz22 thought to herself as she descended upon his lair.
***************************************
Otz ozT zot TZO ozT tOZ zot OTz oTZ Ozt OZT oTZ tOz oTZ zot OZT oZt zot otZ ozT Otz ZTo
toZ ozT tOZ Ozt Otz zot OTZ zot Ozt ozT tOz OZT oZt otZ zot otZ ozT Otz zot OtZ TOz oTZ OTZ Toz oTZ zot Toz ozT TZo ZTo
***************************************
THE PAST AGAIN
The purple haze cleared, and the scientists saw that where the teen had once been, a glowing purple entity was hovering in the air some six feet above the floor, staring at its hands in what seemed like awe.
"Toz22? How are you feeling?" Masters said via the intercom.
"I feel... powerful... I've transcended the limits of what is possible... I don't have to play by society's rules anymore..."
"Ah, shit, it's got delusions of grandeur." Masters said.
"Heaven forbid someone have delusions of grandeur..." Rimford muttered.
Toz22 shot a beam of purple energy at the chamber wall, and it dissolved like it was nothing. The still corporeal entity floated out of the cage.
"I'm gonna go become the lord and master of all reality now, okay? Peace out, bye!" Toz22 said.
"Stop him!" Fesconi yelled.
Toz22 was floating towards the exit. But as Terrence Agnew quickly realized, multi-dimensional entities are still vulnerable to crowbars to the head.
"Holy shit... I was not expecting that to work." Terrence muttered, staring at the unconscious form of Toz22. With unconsciousness, the purple energy field had dissipated, leaving just a normal-looking, even vulnerable-looking, teenager.
"Get a Toze dampener on him and put him with the others." Masters said. "Once he wakes up, we'll see just what a 7-dimensional being can do..."
***************************
PRESENT DAY
The Tozzengers had set up their traps, and now all they could do was wait. Frank (Toz59) wanted to catch forty winks, or at least five or six winks if it came to that, but Toz58 in his head was becoming annoying and keeping him awake.
"Maybe we should just call it a night..." Toz27 muttered, yawning. "Those Tozzes that don't need sleep can wake us if there's an emergency.
"Awww, I was just starting to feel awake!" Toz76 muttered.
"27 has a point..." Toz16 said. "If 49 hasn't tried to attack yet, maybe he won't-"
But at that moment, they heard a sound on the pavement outside. The sound of metallic footsteps. Distinctive metallic footsteps.
"Toz49... he's here."
*****************************
OH GREAT ANOTHER JUMP INTO THE PAST? THIS STORY IS ALREADY SO HARD TO FOLLOW WITH A BILLION CHARACTERS NAMED TOZ AND NOW YOU'RE JUMPING IN TIME TOO? WHAT NEXT, WANNA HAVE A CHARACTER BE REVEALED TO BE A FUTURE VERSION OF A DIFFERENT CHARACTER? JUST MAKE IT THAT LITTLE EXTRA BIT HARDER TO FOLLOW? I MEAN JESUS CHRIST I EXPECTED BETTER FROM THE QUALITY WRITING AT 3WSR BUT NOW I'M WISHING I SPENT MY MONEY ON TICKETS TO THOR, LOVE AND THUN
Toz22 woke up in a cage, dazed and confused.
"Oh hey, you're awake. Welcome to whatever hell this is!" Said a voice from above her.
Toz22 looked up, realizing that a second cage was on top of the cage she was in, and a woman in her 30s was standing in the cage above her looking down.
"What is this place?"
"Who the hell knows? They're doing tests on us, something to do with "Toz"? Anyway, want a slice of bacon? I have plenty."
Toz22 stood uneasily. "It's all coming back to me... They zapped me with purple stuff, and suddely I could see the world as if it was 2-d and I was looking from above... it was like the structures of the universe were laid bare to me... I want out!"
The woman in the cage above, sighed sympathetically. "I'm afraid that's not happening anytime soon."
Toz22 waved her hands around, trying to recapture a trace of the power she'd briefly felt earlier. "Why isn't it working?"
"That ankle-bracelet on you? It's full of some sort of energy dampener. Deactivates whatever powers they've given you."
"Why don't you have one?" Toz22 asked.
"Because my power is useless." The woman laughed. "I can create an exact duplicate of something, an infinite number of times, with no repercussions... but only if that something is bacon. What are your powers?"
Toz22 sighed. "They were awesome..."
**************************
PRESENT DAY
The party was kicking into high gear. Toz52 had begun releasing her special chemical not too long ago, and now everyone in the party was in a daze, partying like it was the last night of their lives. Toz52, meanwhile, took a seat in the center of the room, poured herself a beer, and watched around her as the party got more and more wild.
Unfortunately for her, that was exactly what Toztor Strange was looking for. Wearing a gas mask so the party chemical wouldn't affect him, he entered the party, seeking out the one person who wasn't partying hard and having a really, really good time.
"Toz52... you're coming with me!" Toztor Strange said, grabbing her by the forearm.
"Not on your life!" Toz52 said. "Partiers! This man is committing a massive party foul! Stop him!"
"Oh please." Toztor Strange scoffed. "Your chemical has absolutely scrambled their minds. I saw like three different couples boning in plain view on the way in. These people are too far gone to help you."
"That's what you think... you don't know the other effect my powers have." Toz52 laughed.
Toztor Strange frowned. "You're bluffing." But then a hand grabbed his shoulder, and the brain surgeon suddenly realized he might be wildly outnumbered.
**************************
IN THE PAST... AGAIN... SORRY
Toz22 sat in a small room, looking like an interrogation room out of all the shitty cop shows she'd ever seen. Who do these mad scientists think they're fooling, she thought. That mirror is clearly one of those two-way mirrors, and there are creeps in labcoats watching me.
As it happens, Toz22 was right, although while Masters was wearing a lab coat, Fesconi was not. Masters spoke into an intercom.
"Alright, Toz22, we want to start with something easy. Reach into the fourth dimension for us and get us a 4-d cube."
Toz22 rolled her eyes, but did as she was told. Her hand disappeared in a puff of purple smoke, and when it reappeared she was holding a red object that seemed to defy logic to look at.
"Jesus, that hurts to look at. Put it back, please."
"Nah, I don't want to yet." Toz22 said. "Ooh, I wonder what a 4-d sphere looks like?"
"Mister, you will cooperate with us, or we will be forced to discipline you."
"DON'T CALL ME MISTER!"
The two-way glass shattered. Fesconi and Masters took cover behind a desk.
"Alright, we'll do this the hard way." Fesconi muttered, loading a tranquilizer pistol and taking aim. He took one shot, and got Toz22 right in the neck.
When Toz22 awoke, she was in a very different place. Her arms and legs were restrained by metal bars, and a scientist in medical scrubs was holding a scalpel in one hand and what appeared to be a piece of her lung in the other.
"Shit, she's awake! The Toze in her body must have counteracted the anesthetic! Get more in here, stat!"
"What the FUCK are you doing to me!" Toz22 writhed on the operating table, purple energy flowing over her chest, sealing her open incisions and repairing her internal organs. Toz22 was unable to break through the restraints, but could raise her head up enough to see a table with what looked like a stomach, a kidney, and part of a spinal cord on it.
Were they dissecting me?
"No, no, no!" Masters yelled, running in. "He's not supposed to be awake for this! Put him back to sleep, stat!"
Toz22 resisted as long as she could. But soon she was back under again, and her unconscious dreams were full of masked men slicing her apart bit by bit and eating her alive.
**************************
PRESENT DAY
Toz56 awoke in a back alley somewhere, with the busted remains of a robotic head between her thighs.
"Grammar Police... fuck me, ACAB but especially this thing. I'm gonna start splitting my infinitives out of spite."
Toz56 stood, her legs still shaky, and crossed the number 61 off her list. "That dimension of infinite apostrophes... god, that was worse than hell. What kind of asshole is so pedantic about grammar, anyway? I'd hate to meet someone who unironically acts as a grammar cop. If you can understand each other, who cares if it's not the Queen's bloody English?"
The one they call "The Vaudevillian" pulled out her phone and checked her location.
"Damn, Oak Harbor? I'm so far away from Seattle... okay, not that far, but the ferry doesn't operate this time of night and I don't know a bus route that gets me all the way through Deception Pass. I guess killing Toz27 will have to wait... I wonder if there are any other Tozzes nearby..."
****************
THE PAST (LAST TIME THIS CHAPTER I PROMISE)
Toz22 was strapped into a chair, gagged, bound, and dosed with some sort of drug that made her sleepy. The last round of tests had been even worse than usual, and she just wanted to fight, but they were getting used to her escape attempts. She had been shaved bald, and dozens of electrodes were stuck to her shaved head.
Fesconi and Masters entered the room.
"Ah, Mister Toz22. How are you feeling?"
"Mmph mmm-mmph!!!" Toz22 yelled through the gag.
"Oh, right, you want to be a girl now or whatever." Fesconi rolled his eyes. "That's not why we're here. We're here because you've been decieving us."
"I don't think you intentionally tried to, I think you were as in the dark about this as we were-" Masters began, but Fesconi cut him off.
"You can't access the 7th dimension, can you?" Fesconi accused.
Toz22 screamed some more obscenities through the gag.
"We did some tests on that 7-dimensional cube you gave us. Turns out, it doesn't exist in 7 dimensions, but in roughly 6.94 dimensions."
"The exact number is 6.9420131294201312 repeating, which is an interesting number because of its relationship to-"
Once again, Fesconi cut Masters off. "So we did some test on your blood samples, trying to force them into higher spatial dimensions. Once again, there was a hard limit. 6.94. Not seven dimensions. Which means this purple shit you've been producing? It's not Toze. It's rubbish."
"I mean, it is still higher dimensional, so there's probably still some use, but-"
Fesconi interrupted again, having clearly become the bad cop in this conversation. "We have spent weeks studying you, trying to recreate our success, and all this time you haven't even been what we thought you were. You're of no further use to us. We're strapping that power inhibitor back on, permanently, and leaving you in the cage."
Toz22 screamed through the gag, and began squirming, trying in vain to escape. Anything but the power inhibitor."
Masters scowled. "Don't make this difficult, Toz22."
"Mmph mmm!" Toz22 yelled.
Masters sighed. "It brings me no pleasure to do this, Toz22." He paused to consider. "Okay, it brings me a little pleasure."
He pulled a switch on the wall, and thousands of volts of electricity flowed through the electrodes. Toz22 screamed and screamed until she could scream no more.
**************************
PRESENT DAY
The Tozzengers listened in fear as Toz49 paced outside their front door.
"I know you're in there, Tozzes... why don't you save me the trouble and come out here!"
The Tozzes all shivered. With the possible exception of the banana incident, their experiences with this man had been the darkest part of their collective lives, and hearing that voice again after so many years was terrifying.
Suddenly, there was a flash of brilliant purple outside.
"What was that?" Frank asked. The footsteps had stopped, replaced with the sound of a struggle.
Toz39 peered out of an upstairs window. "Someone with a ton of purple energy is fighting Toz49 outside on the front lawn!"
"It must be Toz76!" Toz57 exclaimed.
"How? I'm right here." Toz76 said. "I mean, I guess it could be me through time travel or alternate realities or something, but that seems highly unlikely and frankly lame."
"Oh yeah." Toz57 said. "Then it must be... 22?"
"I thought we said we weren't going to recruit 22?" Toz27 said to Frank, pointedly.
"I guess she came to us..." Frank said.
*********
Outside, Toz49 felt real fear for the first time in a long time. Toz22 had him down on the ground, and was powering up a purple-energy filled punch to the face.
"Do you remember me, Toz49? Do you remember what you did to me? Because I remember it. Every second of it. And now, it's time for you to pay..."
|
|
|
Post by frankthetriviaman on Aug 28, 2022 22:03:59 GMT -5
Chapter Eleven: Star Toz III: The Search for Toz
But Toz49 grinned and raised his mechanical left hand and held it up to Toz22's chest area. "Unlike you... I don't need a charge"
Toz22 suddenly felt a sharp pain as she flew back several yards, barely landing on her feet. Toz49 laughed, "Oh, poor Toz22... how do you fight someone who knows you, who understands you... who created you? I know your abilities and weaknesses even better than you know yourself. It's sad, isn't it? All this power, useless against the very being who- gah!"
Toz49 raised his arm quickly to deflect a blow from Toz22, "This isn't a movie, d*ck! I'm not just going to stand here doing nothing while you monologue!" Toz22 said as she resumed her attacks. So much anger and hated towards the man who was responsible for so much of her suffering. The one who treated her like... like... like a thing.
The Tozzengers watched from the sidelines, trying to figure out what they wanted to do in this most recent development. Most of them were looking rather nervous.
"Well, does anyone have any ideas? Frank?" Toz57 asked.
Frank was looking rather anxious as he tried to calm himself. He looked at his left arm, and saw it... within his blood veins, the lines of purple, ethereal energy beginning to pulse, almost like something was in him, trying to get out. With his right hand he grabbed his forearm and began deep breathing, "NO! I can't. I can't... not at a time like this. I will do it my way" he said, as be began calmly thinking about it.
"This is our only chance, Frank! You gotta get close so I can hop to him" Toz58 said.
"Are you sure about this? Once 49 is your host there's no telling what can happen" Frank explained.
"I have nothing to lose... or rather, I am nothing. Therefore, allowing me to get to our intended goal anyway means you are losing nothing, yet at the same time, you are accomplishing something" Toz58 assured.
"...That has got to be the weirdest motivational speech I have ever heard, but ok- I understand" Frank assured as he decided he needed to make a bold move here.
22 and 49 kept exchanging blows, determined to take the edge over each other. But 22 was healing from 49's blows, while 49 was absorbing 22's energy. And every time the energy was absorbed, the metal parts of Toz49 seemed to emit a purple glow.
Toz22 had to stop for a second to process what was going on... then she looked horrified. "It can't be. 49, you monster! Your mechanical parts, you've upgraded them to that material" she said, beginning to tremble.
"How observant. Indeed you are correct, my mechanical components are made out of Zenovite! The material that can absorb and store Toze... the very energy you are so dependent on" 49 said with a grin. 22 began trembling, "no... then, my attacks..." she said in realization.
"Oh, how brilliant you are! You're only powering me up!" 49 said with a sadistic grin before going into a laugh.
"Really? But it still can't protect you from THIS!" a voice shouted.
"From wha..." 49 began before he found his head enveloped in a purple sphere of energy; and his eyes and ears became flooded with debilitating visual and auditory illusions.
"What the, but who?" 22 said before seeing the figure approaching her. The figure's hand was glowing brightly and it was clear that he was in pain, trying to calm himself down as the glow in his hand ceased, and the 59 was visible again.
"It has been a long time... I'm sorry for not reaching out sooner, but I fully intended to respect your wishes regarding your live streams" Toz59 assured.
Toz22 sighed in relief, recognizing the Toz that in many ways served a sort of big brother role to a lot of other Tozzes. "If it weren't for you I don't think I would have mentally held together when we were trapped like that. But, are you sure your body was able to handle that?" 22 asked in concern.
"I did what I could handle. But we know the truth" Frank explained before looking back at the house, "my purpose is to be the reservoir of Toz from which the true Toz, Toz76, draws from when on this plane of existence" Frank said to himself; few knew the full extent of his backstory, and he preferred to keep it that way. But he shook his head out of that and explained, "I need you to trust me on this... I can make 49 easier to deal with... hopefully" 59 explained.
"Do what you have to do... but I don't think your window will be open much longer" 22 said as Frank realized what was going on. Frank, not wasting a second, came up to 49 and grabbed him by what would be his collar. 49 was just beginning to push through the visual hallucinations when he recognized the person.
"You! What are you..." Toz49 managed to say before Toz59 headbutted him, stumbling back after accomplishing his goal.
"You are the key to maintaining 76's power's on this plane! So its very simple, I will take care of you and... GAH! What is this?!" He said in agony, as he felt like something was gnawing at his mind. He looked around, and seem to see someone throw a punch at him. But instead of feeling physical pain, he felt a brief loss of focus.
"Toz58?! But... how..." 49 said in disbelief.
"Don't underestimate my will! You will never hurt anyone ever again if I have anything to say about it!" 58 said as he continued his assault on 49.
49 raised himself to his feet and looked at Frank, "YOU! If it hadn't been for you... for you..." He began, like he was trying to say something, but couldn't complete the thought. But then, "If it hadn't been for Cotton Eye Joe, I'd have been married a long time ago! Where did you come from, where did you go, where did you come from Cotton eye Joe!"
Frank raised an eyebrow in confusion while 49 covered his mouth in shock, trying to figure out what happened. "No... you have got to be kidding me!"
Frank then realized, "So I guess he's got a moral standard too" he deduced
On Toz 49's mental plane, 58 suddenly realized he wasn't alone, as another figure was present, a 54 on her shoulder. "Don't worry... this time on your side, because of you know who" she explained.
"Make him fall asleep so I can do something too" a voice said, 54 and 58 turned around and saw what appeared to be a man in a black suit appear, a "63" on his jacket pocket.
"But, why?" 58 asked in confusion.
"Same reason as the two of you... him" he said, indicating his hatred for 49.
Back in the physical world, 49 could not believe that he was now host to 3 of his creations at the same time, and it was driving him bonkers... and he couldn't stop singing Cotton Eye Joe either.
"That's it! Shell Shocker! It's your turn!" 49 screamed as he was forced to make a hasty retreat. Frank and 22 turned around to see the large, humanoid cyborg turtle thing, Toz72 appear.
"Uh... where's Toz26 when we need her?" Toz22 said as her knees began to tremble.
"Don't worry, we aren't alone" Frank said, as the line of Tozzengers stood behind them. But this seemed to galvanize 22. "No... I can't allow this to happen. Frank, this one is on me. Leave Shell Shocker to me" Toz22 said, now gaining some confidence.
"What will you do?" Frank asked.
"Hold out long enough for 26 to hopefully show up" 22 said as she flew forward and struck Toz72 with a beam of Toze. The next stage of battle had begun, except...
"GAHHHH!!!" All the assembled Tozzes screamed in pain as they felt that sensation again. "You have got to be kidding me; who this time?!" Toz 39 said in disbelief.
"Guys? Look..." Toz27 said in shock as she showed a news article of the body of a humanoid bear thing being found on mount Everest with a pogo stick nearby.
"You have got to be kidding me... Toz8 too? Well, rest in peace Tozzie Bear" Toz50 said as the others nodded. The assembled Tozzengers formulated a plan to help 22 while she fought 72.
"Damn it; 49 reduced his intelligence so he can't be reasoned with; better hope my Toze is stronger than his lightning" 22 said to herself as 72 growled in aggression
|
|
|
Post by Toz76 on Sept 18, 2022 3:58:05 GMT -5
Chapter Twelve: No Tozness Like S̶̡͚͓̈́͋̇͑̐̽̍̈͌̅̿͋̒̕̚͝C̷̢̮͓̩̭̻̣̳̼̝̟̠̫̦͓̝̻̰͉̲͍͉̣͈̺̪̹̥̫̙̞͙̳̒̈́̈̒͑̈̈̎̈́̈́͐̑̓̿̕̚͜͝Ȟ̷̥͈̜͔̝̜̥̺͕̲̰̖̣͓̩̗͕̭̠̣̉̐̀̊̅͋̀̋̀͜N̵̢̢̢̢̨̡̢̩̮̫̣͈͚̭͙̮̘̩̘̪̫̠͈̲̮̘̗̖̪͆̌͑̈̔̒͒̓̈́̓̓̈́̓͘̚͝͝ͅͅÖ̷̼̜͙́̈́̓͗͒̀̀̈́̾̾͘Z̴̡̡̧̹̥͉͕̘̩̤͇̙̗̘̘̅̀̓͗̑̔̀̆̽̆́͛̓̌̐̀͛͆̔̽͂̾̔̋̓͋̿͘͝͝ͅͅ ̸̧̥̣̣̻͑͌̆̊͌́͛͘͝B̴̧̨̡̧̖̖̘̹̖̬̼̘̱̬̖̭̗͕͓͓̼̘̹͙͇͙̥̜̰͔̜̗͓̥̌͂̑̊̑̆̈́̐͗̀̑͆̒͋͒́͗̋͆̒͜͜͝͠Ù̴̡̧̩̜̱͍̟̣̲̯̼̼̟̳̥̠̺̣͈̋̾̒͒̽̂̊̾̽̃̏͆̏͂̔̆̚͘̚Ş̵̢̛̳̗̝̼͔̱̮̥̭̩͍͍̫̤̹͓͎̤͈̥̜̖͓̭̮̥̪͖̪̥͇́̇͊̾̑̇͐͌̾̌̌̔̏̓̊͘̚̚ͅI̴̢̨̧̘̞̫̭̤̞̹̜̼̤̮̙̺͇̠̣̅̆͋̄͂̉̀͘͜ͅN̸̨̧̧̨̡̡͚͎̪͕̬̝͎͕͕̹̬͚͇̖̑̊̌͑̎̚ͅͅE̸̡̨̡̛̛̻̬͙̟̦͓̜̦͓̼͎̟͔̻̫̱̤̣͎͍͒̊̉͊̊̀͋̇̅̿̅̾̊̊́͆̓͗̋̋̈́̾͑̐̃̀̈́͘̚͘̚͝͠͝͝S̵̺͕͙̪̫̤͖̭͚̭͇̮͓̜̐̎̌́̓̊̒̽͛͊̍̒͂̽̌͘͘͜͝͠͝S̷̢̢̧̡̧̥̠̳͎̠͕̗̫̰̯̥̠͚̥͔͚̱̙̮̤̺̼̱̈́̓͛̀
The Shocker was powerful, but Toz22 found it not a particularly difficult opponent. Levitating into the air, Toz22 used her powers to catapult the Shell Shocker into the air, sending him flying into Portage Bay. The Shell Shocker suddenly found his electricity-based weapons useless, and despite being part turtle, the lowered intelligence coupled with the asymmetrical arms meant it had no idea how to swim to shore, so it just kept flailing, barely keeping itself afloat.
"That should buy us some time." Frank said.
Toz49, meanwhile, was incapacitated, but not for long.
"I created you, mental constructs, and I can uncreate you!"
Toz49 pressed a few buttons on a keypad on one of his cyborg arms, and suddenly, a record scratch echoed throughout the neighborhood. A young woman suddenly appeared on the pavement, in the fetal position, with the number 54 on her shoulder. She rocked back in forth in terror at suddenly being made real, humming "Cotton Eye Joe" to herself.
Another key press, and suddenly Toz58 was lying next to 54, no longer a mental construct but a real person at last. But he didn't have time to celebrate, because Toz49 charged at him, and he just barely avoided being impaled by long, arachnid-like metal legs.
One last key press, and Toz63 appeared on the sidewalk, kneeling, his black trilby pulled low. But strangely, the being known as Broken Dreams was smiling, and laughing maniacally.
"You just made your biggest mistake, 49." Toz63 said with a laugh. "Before, I just had power over dreams... now, I can turn all of reality into chaotic dream logic, just to stop you!"
Suddenly, the whole neighborhood began warping, changing, as the sky began changing colors rapidly.
Inside the house, the Tozzengers who had stayed inside were confused and disconcerted by the way the house was suddenly transforming.
"I don't remember all these extra rooms being here before, do you?" Toz27 asked.
"I definitely don't remember the massive terraced garden in our backyard... or the stegosaurus." Toz39 said.
Outside, Frank was worried.
"Toz63's powers should only affect a couple of acres, but still. I had no idea he was this powerful!"
"Just be glad he's on our side." Toz22 quipped.
Frank guided the newly "real" Toz54 and Toz58 into the house, while Toz22 stayed behind to monitor the fight between Toz63 and Toz49.
At first, it looked like Toz63 had the upper hand, but Toz49 adjusted to the dream logic very quickly, and began ignoring the crazy creations to just focus on targeting 63.
"You may be powerful, but I am still your master!" Toz49 boomed.
*****************************************************
Tiana Zimmerman, the "Benefactor" was monitoring the chaos with the other surviving Toz scientists and researchers from a safe remote location. She was puffing on a cigarette, deeply interested in what was going on.
"49 is even more powerful than we thought..." Terrence Agnew muttered.
"I can't believe we used to work with him..." Brian O'Neill said, his voice full of contempt.
"What I don't understand is why Toz76 isn't acting?" Terrence said. "She's powerful enough that she could just destroy Toz49 instantly.
"There is much you do not know, Terrence." Zimmerman said.
"And you do know?" Terrence asked.
"I know far more abawt what is to unfold than you. Even Toz49 is just a small pawn in a bigger puzzle." The Benefactor said. "76 will act, when it is time, and nawt before."
*******************************************************
At the abandoned warehouse, no one had checked on Toz68, the egg, in some time. This was unfortunate, as the egg was suddenly changing, slowly growing and changing color. It had entered the final phase of its incubation, and hatching soon was inevitable.
*********************************************************
Laura Collins, the one that would have been Toz45 were it not for a copyright dispute, was adrift in an inky blackness. But strangely, she wasn't scared. In fact, she was weirdly excited. Her body surged with an energy she had never felt in her life. Not a Toz energy, but something subtly different.
"Welcome to my domain. The dimension of potential energy. The antithesis of everything the Toze stands for. Welcome to the the Schnozerverse".
Laura was amazed. "What is this stuff?"
"It is the anti-Toz. The energy that clouds the minds of dreamers. It is my power made manifest. You may call it... the SCHNOZ."
Laura couldn't help but giggle. "Isn't that just slang for nose?"
The entire dimension suddenly seethed with anger.
"I don't have to grant you a fraction of my ultimate power, you know. Acting directly is very much not in my nature. I can send you back to your tedious, mortal life, tortured by the thought that you were denied a shot at ultimate power not once, but twice."
Laura immediately regretted her remark. "Sorry. Can you teach me the ways of the Schnoz?"
"All who do not create already know and live the way of the Schnoz. I will simply give you the ability to make our will manifest on this pathetic facsimile you view as reality."
"Do it. I'm ready."
The blackness began flowing into Laura, seeping through her pores as she felt her body heat up from the inside. She closed her eyes in agony, and when she opened them, they had both become solid yellow. Her entire body radiated unfathomable power.
"I am the will of the Schnoz made manifest," the Schnoz-empowered Laura declared. "I shall render this universe stagnant and unchanging, and all will bow before me as they should."
*******************************************************
After several hours of flailing, Toz72, the Shell Shocker, managed to get to shore outside Ivar's Salmon House. But he didn't have time to "Keep Clam" for long, because of who was standing on the roof of the beloved Pacific Northwest seafood restaurant waiting for him.
"Well well well, if it isn't my old nemesis," Toz26 said. "Looks like it's time for you to... crash and burn!"
|
|
|
Post by frankthetriviaman on Dec 9, 2022 20:28:09 GMT -5
Chapter Thirteen: No Toz like the Present
THE TOZ PROGRAM
Dr. Masters had arranged for a 33 year old man with physical injuries to be subjected to the next test. He was sitting in front of the machine and everyone was getting ready.
"Right, so the purpose of this test is to explore potential value as a means of healing for the Toze. As you can see the man before us has severe physical injuries to his jaw, and we can confirm that damage to the larynx has removed his ability to speak. Target 50 Randalls with focus to the jaw and neck" Masters said as he worked from his computer.
"Dr. Masters, given the unpredictability of the results we have seen thus far, are you sure this will work?" Rimford asked with concern.
"Based on the results of Toz 2,5, 10 and 11 we know that fusions can successfully and safely take place; the question is now one of what happens when only one element in a damaged state is present" Masters explained.
"But he could also gain weird powers" Agnew reminded him
"A risk I'm willing to take. We've only got a little over a dozen tests in so far and there is still so much we don't know. In the name of science I will do what needs to be done" Masters declared.
"Like... kidnapping innocents?" O'Neill deadpanned
Masters said nothing as he then redirected focus back to the test at hand. The beam fired and struck on target! Everyone waited and watched for the cloud to disperse and see the end result. Masters was growing agitated with the one step that never got any easier until at last... they saw that the target's physical injuries were no longer physical, and the scans indicated no damage to the body was lingering.
"My goodness... this could change medicine forever! Success! Toz13, thank you for your contributions!" Masters said into the intercom.
"Ugga matuga!" Toz13 said as he raised his thumb up, then covered his mouth in shock.
"What the?" Masters said in confusion as the joy he felt suddenly dispersed.
"What just happened?" Rimford asked as she reviewed the data.
"I'm not seeing anything on the biometric scans" Agnew indicated.
"Hubadabupapa? Kregga kagga? Muda? Kadeka manega secaga bubada matigava!" Toz13 said, now utterly confused by what he was saying.
"Is... he just speaking... garbled nonsense?" O'Neill said in confusion.
"Eh, could probably pass for a basic cable news host" Masters quipped, promptly followed by laughter among the team "Chalk up the results as inconclusive, but promising" Masters said as they began wrapping up this test.
SIX DAYS LATER
"The costume is perfect; now we'll see if aesthetic elements can influence the result of a Toze exposure" Masters said as he observed the 29 year old man who was wearing a theater-level quality ghost costume.
"I don't get it; what exactly am I doing here?" The individual said as he just kept standing on the one spot.
"Target the whole body... 150 Randalls of Toze" Dr Masters said as the beam fired and hit the target. After the dust had settled, everyone present suddenly felt shaken by what they were seeing.
"I... I don't believe it" Masters said in shock. Now before them was a genuine ghost, and one with a menacing grin that made them feel uneasy.
"What? Did something go wrong?" The now Toz14 asked.
"No... something went RIGHT!" Masters said joyously. For once, an anticipated result had gone exactly as planned, and a major breakthrough had been made in the understanding of the Toze. But Toz14 wasn't celebrating.
"What? What is this!? What have you done to me?! Change me back now! I didn't agree to this!" Toz14 said as he began freaking out. "Why can't I touch anything?! Did you turn me into a real ghost?!" He said as he continued to have a meltdown.
"Enough of your complaints Toz14! You just helped make a major scientific breakthrough, you should be happy!" Masters said, not wanting his moment ruined. "Contain him the way we contained Toz4 and Toz6" he ordered as he began brainstorming
.........
SEVEN DAYS LATER
"Right, now that we can expand upon what we learned about the Toze from the sentience focused and unliving animation experiments, I think this gives me the confidence to say I know what to expect with this result" he said as he observed the latest target- a large metal humanoid thing... a robot, as some would call it.
"Expose to 180 Randalls of Toze, whole body. If my theory is correct..." Masters said, before getting startled by thunder. He sighed as he remembered the storm from last night, "And can we please get that hole in the roof fixed; seriously it could interfere with the experiments" Masters sighed before proceeding. And then, against all odds, it actually happened. By some unbelievable miracle, as the robot was getting hit by the beam of Toz, it was struck by lightning! The readings on the monitors were going haywire as the assembled team tried to make sense of what they were observing.
After things had calmed down, Masters tried to interact with the Toz15 instance. "Hello... can you understand me?" There was silence for a few seconds before the unexpected.
"Yes... I can understand you" The robot said.
"Tell me, what is your name?" Masters asked.
"My name is... Zisot. And I... I want to experience love! There is a whole world out there and I can't wait to see it!" Toz15 said as it seemed to express a level of awareness not present in Toz0, who was good for interaction and could comprehend what was happening before it, but lacked understanding of "self" as Rimford described it.
"It would seem that the lighting must have "supercharged" its capabilities in some capacity; this isn't' just some cleverbot nonsense, this is true artificial intelligence" Rimford concluded.
"Not to mention despite just being "born" less than a minute ago, its clearly no infant; its intelligence is at least on the level of an older child" Agnew added
Masters was positively delighted; two major breakthroughs in a row, and he was all to eager to get the next test going.
FOUR DAYS LATER
A 20 year old human female who had a love for Looney Tunes cartoons and other cartoons of the period was standing on the target area; just off the target area four projectors were, well, projecting, material that was relevant to the test onto the target. One was a cartoon with Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, one was with Wile E Coyote and Road Runner, one was that Looney Tunes short with Daffy Duck and Tazmanian Devil, and the last one was the 90s Jim Carrey Movie "The Mask"
"Well, I can't argue that it doesn't belong" Agnew admitted.
"What theory are we looking at this time Dr Masters?" Rimford asked.
"To see the influence of mental state and intangible elements can affect the final result of a Toze exposure" Dr Masters explained
"Still can't believe you got someone to go along willingly with this for once" Vince observed.
"Too easy; convinced her that I could give her the powers of her favorite characters and she went right along with it... no, she isn't dumb I've found, just a bit on the gullible side" Masters explained. "Right, now... 200 Randalls of Toze to the whole body" Masters ordered.
The beam hit the target straight on, and there was screaming for a time. It wasn't until after everything settled that Masters finally interacted with the now Toz16.
"Well... how do you feel?" Masters said.
"I'm not seeing any observable differences physically or on the readings" Rimford replied.
"Mind if I try something?" Agnew asked, prompting a nod from Masters. Agnew took a baseball and headed to the testing area. He threw it with great force at Toz16's stomach area. Much to everyone's shock, the ball went into the stomach, making a cavity as it continued to travel, and poked it way through to Toz16's back. It went back a couple feet, before the ball suddenly sprang back towards Agnew, flying back towards the researcher as he caught the ball with both hands. Everyone was amazed... it was as if the woman now had what the internet called "Toon Force" powers.
"Sweet! From now on, I'm the Tozmanian Devil!" She said excitedly as she began running around the room in a comical fashion a la road runner.
"So it is true, mental state and intangible elements can affect the final result. But then why doesn't air cause problems? I will have to look into this further at some point" Masters said to himself. But this was no time for that; they called a place and arranged for catering the next day to celebrate their results.
THE NEXT DAY, AFTER 7 PM
There was food, music and booze and the whole team was having a great time. Vince had by now had at least 6 beers and Masters had at least a glass of champagne and 3 glasses of wine so neither were in the clearest of minds. But Vince had somehow found himself in the observation area and was looking over the instruments, somewhat giddy with everything going on.
"You know... you know what we should do?" Vince said to himself as an idea seemed to come to him. "Let... let's get a whole bunch of meatball meat, and see what happens when we blast it! Who cares what till prove, let's just have fun with it!" He said as he went upstairs to get a tray of the appetizer meatballs. He lumped them together into a great big mound, then called Masters down for the grand moment.
"Ch-check it out, man! This is gonna be a riot!" He said as he made the final touches.
"Ah, what the heck! I just gotta see what happens; it could be anything!" Masters said in an unusually joyful way Vince hit the button and the pile of cooked beef, pork, veal and spices was bombarded with Toze, the two of them laughing the entire time. But before they could figure out what happened to the result, they passed out
......
The next morning Masters woke up with a splitting headache, and tried to figure out what the hell was going on around him.
"Wait? Did... did we do a test last night?" Masters asked in confusion. It took several minutes of getting his bearings, and it was only after Vince had come to his senses that Masters finally understood what happened.
"YOU DID AN UNAUTHORIZED TEST WITH TOZE?!?!" He screamed in anger
"But... but you said it was ok last night!" A now frightened Vince said, trembling.
"Any test where alcohol is involved is NOT a valid test! Even an assistant should have that much common sense!" Masters fumed as he observed the latest result. Toz17 had gained sentience all right... but it was little more than constantly singing "On Top of Spaghetti" on a loop.
"Well, I suppose as long as we didn't waste that much Toze... HOW THE HELL DID 215 RANDALLS GET USED AND THE RESULTS WERE SO ABYSMAL?!?!" Randalls said in fury. Masters ordered Vince detained in a holding cell like the other Tozzes while he processed what happened. "That's it... no more alcohol on the premises... and no more testing in drunken stupors" Masters muttered to himself. "What a waste of a week's worth of Toze" He muttered; it would be at least four days before they could resume ANY form of testing. But then, the phone rang.
"Hello? Oh, yes! Of course! Very promising results these past few weeks and... what? Suspend ALL testing until further notice?" Masters said in disbelief. He just sighed and acknowledged
.........
ONE MONTH LATER
"Ok, the body has been removed from the stretcher, and is now lying in the target area" Masters said with some trembling in his voice; the mood was far more somber in here compared to previous rounds of testing.
"Right; so in an expansion of testing with regard to the live-giving aspects of the Toze, we shall see what happens when a cadaver is exposed to Toze. Granted the meatball went nowhere so lets see what happens when... raw meat is tested" Fesconi stated.
"How does this help towards the ultimate goal?" Rimford asked.
"The higher ups are yet to decide if they want the final product to be derived from a living being or inanimate object; this test will conclusively show if inanimate objects are worth considering going forward" Fesconi explained.
"Beam set to 250 Randalls as instructed" Agnew called out as he looked at the monitors.
"All right, now for the moment of truth: begin testing!" Fesconi ordered.
The cadaver was blasted with the biggest amount of Toze yet. It almost seemed to glow as the beam made contact. Even after the test had technically ended, they continued to watch the body for a number of minutes.
"That's odd... no pulse or heatbeat... yet there seems to be breathing present" O'Neill said as he looked at the biometric scans.
"What?" Everyone said in disbelief. They looked at the body to see it rising up, and it was standing there. It seemed to walk, or rather, shamble, a few steps at a time, but didn't really accomplish anything.
"Did... did we just make a zombie?" Agnew said in shock.
"You were right Masters... the circumstances can dictate the result. That was valuable insight after all. And this proves it- the desired result will need to stem from a living being; preferably human, since I don't want to take a chance with animal intelligence" Fesconi said.
"As you wish" Masters said.
"That said... the idea of intelligence being created out of nothing is of interest to me for other reasons. I have an old dell that will be useful in that regard, so we shall reconvene in a couple days to test the next object" Fesconi stated.
"Everything will be ready to go" Masters assured as Fesconi took his leave. They then looked over at Toz18, Tozombie as it would go on to be known. Masters had been uncomfortable about this test, but couldn't help but observe, "We are truly making amazing breakthroughs"
.........
Toz74 managed to pull away from the one who grabbed him, but was starting to sweat nervously. This didn't make any sense. "I witnessed the testing myself; 52's aromatic chemical only causes a euphoric daze and makes people feel good; since when did it increase vulnerability to suggestion?" He thought to himself. One thing did work to his advantage though- because they were in a daze the people chasing him had rather sluggish movements and were moving like they were in a pool of molasses. The brain surgeon could do the occasional punch and kick, but the mob was clearly closing in on him. Then Toztor Strange thought for a second, "Wait a minute, if Toz52's abilities can evolve, I wonder..." he thought to himself. He took in the crowd, and observed everything around him. He concentrated on what he wanted to do, until... his eyes glowed the color of Toze! Among the whole crowd, they suddenly stopped moving, then one by one began falling to the ground. After the last person had fallen, he felt like he had just endured a very intense workout, but now it was just him and Toz52.
"What.... what did you do?" Toz52 asked, now trembling. "Same as you... my abilities seem to have evolved. In this case, I jacked their melatonin levels way up, essentially forcing them all to go to sleep" Toztor Strange said with a grin. "Admittedly it will be a long time before I can do anything like that again, but at least I have you now" he said menacingly as he approached Toz52.
"Stay back, I'm warning you!" she said, now beginning to tremble, her chemical useless.
"LEAVE HER ALONE!" A voice boomed.
"What?" Toztor Strange said as he suddenly found himself engulfed in an enormous fireball. Panicking and in pain, he began running away, outside of the apartment, seeing the park down the street, and a pond in it. He desperately began making his way towards it to dunk himself in before it was too late.
Toz52 was confused to, until she saw the man in his late thirties walk in, his hands smoking from what just happened. As it turned out, her savior was someone who had no desire to be a hero to begin with... Toz1
"Darren... how?" Toz52 said in confusion.
"As it happened I was just coming off a job that ran late. It's in the area, and honestly I could tell your signature from a mile away, Audrey" the man who just wanted to be a welder explained.
In a move that wasn't too characteristic of her, she didn't secrete her chemical as he walked over to him and embraced him like he was family.
"Not going to lie, that got pretty scary. Thanks for the help... cousin" she managed to say.
"Well, I'll get out of your hair so you can go enjoy another party" Toz1 said, deciding it was best not to "ruin her image" as some would say.
.........
Toz49 and Toz63 were exchanging blows. Having learned from the Tozz22 fight, 63 was relying on projectiles and channeling his powers through object and physics manipulation to get the edge.
"I'll stop you if its the last thing I do!" Toz63 said as he practically willed existence itself around his thoughts.
"I AM YOUR MASTER!" 49 boomed.
"You're anything but!" 63 said as he continued his assault.
"Please! You couldn't stop me if you had an army!" The mastermind taunted.
"Then how about a MONKEY!" A voice boomed.
"Huh?" Masters said in confusion before getting crushed under the weight of a 20 foot tall primate. Said primate then leaped off and landed next to Toz63. A "43" was on his furry back, while a smaller, 4 foot tall primate leaped off of him, and landed next to 63. A "44" was on his furry back.
"The Giant Monkey Man and Little Monkey Man? Why did you come here?" He asked in confusion.
"Same reason as the rest of you. 43 here will help you out" 44 assured.
"What about you then?" 63 asked.
"Truth be told I actually have an extremely important message that has to be given to Frank and 76 as soon as possible. That house, right?" 44 asked.
"Yea; don't worry, the two of us got this" 63 said as 44 lined up beside him.
"You mean three of us!" a female voice said as Toz16 bounced in on the action, now wearing a campy superhero costume.
"You'll take that risk Tozmanian Devil?" 63 asked.
"Eh, I can basically say "no" to damage thanks to toon force so I'm good" Toz16 shrugged.
"OP much..." Toz49 muttered as he still struggled to get his bearings once again.
"You created me this way; lie in the bed you made" 16 shot back.
"But you WANTED this! You should join me!" 49 pointed out
"Admittedly yes... but I will NEVER forgive you for all the experiments that followed!" 16 said, shuttering at the thought of them
"I... will... make... you... all... my... PETS!!!" 49 snarled as he prepared his next attack.
"HOOOOLLLLLD EVERYTHING!!!" A voice thundered.
"What NOW!?" 49 boomed.
Off in the distance, but approaching dramatically was a very, VERY angry Virginian. "Which one of you is that *sshole Randall Masters?" She asked rather angrily. The assembled group pointed at the mostly mechanical being.
"What about it?" 49 sneered.
"Not what I expected, but whatever" the Virginian shrugged before going back to her stare. "Anyway, name's 1,000 Eyes. I understand you created a being that likes to destroy vinyl" she stated.
"Ah yes, one of my more loose cannon experiments. Got a problem with that?" 49 shot back.
"Yea... a BIG problem. You're about to find out why I'm called 1,000 Eyes, jerk. EYES POWER #129!" She screamed before blinking; now her eyes looked red with gray squiggly lines going around the iris. What appeared to be laser beams shot from her eyes and landed on Masters. But he felt no pain; instead he looked and saw that about half of his body was covered in a layer of vinyl"
"Vinyl vision? That's an unusually specific power" 49 observed.
"So is whatever THAT is" 1,000 Eyes said, pointing to Toz16 who was currently acting a la The Mask
"So you've made part of me out of Vinyl, big whoop! Like that'll do anything!" Masters muttered. But then his still organic face went pale, "Wait, I'm covered in VINYL!?" He realized.
"Vinyl is evil! VINYL IS EVIL!" A voice shouted as Toz34 swooped in and began tearing Toz49 apart!
"Oh, and one more thing... I happen to currently possess one of your Tozzes. Behold, the number of the diesel!" 1,000 Eyes declared as a "physical being of abstract nature" manifested before them.
"What does that one do again?" Toz16 asked in confusion as Toz51 began taking form
"Honestly, no idea. I just know its powerful" 1,000 Eyes said with a shrug.
Meanwhile, Toz49 was trying to fight back, when it suddenly hit him; he was being overwhelmed by a character who had more or less been a one-off joke from chapter one and hadn't been seen since, and he metaphorically face palmed. "GAH! Of all the things that could be used to defeat me, I'm being defeated by a BRICK GAG!?" He fumed.
Toz16 suddenly reached into her pocket and pulled out a cologne bottle labeled "Toz52 juice" and launched it right at masters with a comically oversized slingshot. Masters suddenly found himself trying to fight off the euphoric daze as 63 shouted "Attack!" and the assembled Tozzes began running for 49. 49 was alternating between seconds of focus and seconds of daze, but even the Tozzengers knew this alone would not stop him
And as it turns out, that wasn't the only brick gag that was going to ruin Masters' Day
.........
At his secret base, a meteor crashed into the roof and impacted with an enormous force! Windows and glass shattered, and worst of all... the egg's integrity was compromised, jeopardizing what the final result would be.
But within the impact crater was no meteor, but a young boy. A "48" behind his left calf, the seven year old probably stayed seven years old after all this time due to complicated reasons that aren't worth explaining. But all he could say as he looked around was "Dad? Daddy, where are you?" As he tried to figure out where he had landed.
Inside the label of his shirt written in sharpie, was the boy's name... TIMMY MASTERS
|
|
|
Post by Toz76 on Dec 13, 2022 5:53:11 GMT -5
Chapter 14: National Tozture
Toz49 was doing his best, but he knew he couldn't hold out forever against these foes. In desperation, he pressed a button on his wrist, and his robotic body suddenly shrank into a little ball and rolled away.
"Crap! He's getting away!" Toz16 yelled.
Toz49 in tiny marble form hid under a parked car a few blocks over as the group searched.
"So many Tozzes banding up against me at once..." he muttered. "Where did they all come from? I'll have to check the Toz Tracker."
***********
WELCOME TO TOZNET 3.0. RETURNING USERS PLEASE LOG IN
USERNAME: RMASTERS49 PASSWORD: ********************************
PASSWORD ACCEPTED! WELCOME TO TOZNET, TOZ49. WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO DO?
>>open file toz_tracker.tgc
OPENING FILE... Toz49 briefly marveled at how incredible a machine this was, able to give relatively accurate information on almost every Toz. Of course, some were glitchy, especially 73 and 76, but for the most part, it was pretty handy, and served as a decent recap for him.
"The power of the Tozvengers is only growing," 49 muttered to himeself. "They've got 0, 12, 16, 19, 22, 27, 33, 34, 38, 39, 40, 43, 44, 50, 54, 57, 58, 59, 63, and 65. There's some heavy hitters in there. But there's no way that many Tozzes in one place will be able to get along forever... their own infighting will destroy them soon enough, and I'll be able to continue my plans uninterrupted..."
**************************************************************
With the hunt for the marble unsuccessful, the Tozvengers and their new allies regrouped in Toz27's living room. The virginian carried the partially-manifested Toz51, curious as to what she had stumbled into. Toz34 was kept in check by Toz63, who created a dream dimension of a world without vinyl that allowed the Record Breaker to rest.
Frank went to check on Toz54, Toz58, and Toz63. Being suddenly forced from the mental world into the real world couldn't have been fun, and Frank felt it was his duty to make sure they were adjusting alright.
"Oh, I'm amazing," Toz63 said, waving its hands lazily. "I had no idea my powers would still work in the physical world... with practice I could become the most powerful Toz of all."
"It's weird having a real body, and real legs..." Toz58 said, stumbling over his words as he adjusted to the use of real vocal chords, "but this is what I've always wanted. I'm so glad I'm finally real again after all this time..."
Toz54 said nothing, but curled up into the fetal position and began loudly humming an off-key rendition of "La Cucaracha".
"Okay, that one is going to have some trouble adjusting... at least I won't have that Eiffel 65 song running through my head every day." Frank muttered to himself.
Toz27 was in the basement checking on the non-mobile Tozzes when she noticed that Toz0's lights were flashing in a strange pattern.
"Toz0, is everything okay?"
Toz0 nodded. "I am receiving a very puzzling transmission from an unknown source. It is a string of numbers, but I believe it can be converted using ASCII codes to create a readable message. Give me one moment."
Toz0 began whirring, and suddenly a slot on his chest opened and a piece of paper began rolling out.
"Since when did the robot have a printer built in?" Toz27 wondered aloud.
Soon, the group had gathered around the printed message.
The group stared in confused frustration.
"Well, this is gibberish." Toz22 said.
"No, wait, I recognize this." Toz39 said. "This is that code Toz73 made, remember? That cryptogram that he made so the Tozzes could communicate without the scientists knowing?"
"Yeah, but none of us actually learned it," Toz57 pointed out.
"I did!" Toz39 complained. "I mean, I forget how it works now, but let me think... I know Toz73 made it so that each string of three letters means a different letter, number, punctuation mark, whatever... and I am pretty sure the lowercase "zot" represents a space between words, since it's all over the place... the capitals definitely matter, OTZ is not the same letter as otz... there's a pattern to which strings represent which letters, something about alphabetical order being part of how it works... okay, I think I remember enough to decode it. Could someone who's not 12 inches tall fetch me a pencil and paper?"
As Toz27 ran off to get a pencil for Toz39, Frank sighed. "So we have to decode some code made by a Toz now? This could take ages!"
The Little Monkey Man, Toz44, approached him. "Then while the others work, I must tell you something. As you know, I rule over the eighth dimension."
Frank sighed. "Yeah, I've always wondered, how does that even work? Toze is 7-dimensional, how could Toze give you powers beyond the seventh dimension?"
"Because it's convenient for the plot."
"For the what?" Frank asked.
"You'd understand if you saw the eighth dimension like I do." Toz44 scoffed. "Anyway, to us in the 8th dimension, we can see the Toze, the 7th dimension, flowing through reality like a... wait, you mere three-dimensional types wouldn't know what those are... like a river."
Frank nodded as if he understood.
"We can see the Toze linking the seventh dimension to the third dimension through you in the Toz program. But there's always been something else in the seventh dimension, a sort of anti-Toze. It's like... if Toze is purple, this stuff is... yellow? Does that make sense? This dimension has colors, right? I can't remember."
"I know what yellow and purple are, yes." Frank said.
"Well, this anti-Toze has always been there, but lately, it's been growing. It's been spreading throughout the seventh dimension. Every time a Toz dies, more and more of the anti-Toze appears. It's not dangerous enough to threaten lower dimensions yet, but Toz49's actions also seem to be making it stronger for some reason we don't fully understand. Defeating Toz49 will definitely help, but we believe only a being with complete and total mastery over the Toze and the seventh dimension can fix this problem once and for all."
"You mean... Toz76? But all she's done since I got here is sit on a couch, get stoned, and sleep!" Frank exclaimed. "How can 'Achilles in her tent' over there be our only hope?"
"I do not know, and I do not have enough time in this dimension to explain how I know it will work," Toz44 said. "But trust me, as long as you encourage her to take action, she will be ready when the time comes. Now, if you'll excuse me, I don't have much time before I have to return to my dimension, and I want to help with the codebreaking."
Frank stood in confused silence as the monkey man bounded off to the other end of the room, where the Tozvengers were loudly arguing over whether "OZT" was an A or an I.
*****************
Toz73 lay in bed in a hotel room, listening to the waterfall roaring somewhere outside his window.
"I hope the other tozzes are able to decode my message..." she said aloud. "I wish I didn't have to resort to all this secrecy and sneaking around, but it's the only way to stay safe from them."
*****************
As Toz60 wandered angrily through the park, she saw a figure lying on a park bench. Somehow, deep down, she knew that this figure was important... exactly seven times as important as her.
The figure looked up as she approached. "Hllo," it said. "U got dveed?"
"What? How are you talking like that?"
"I am tozz. I snoke th good kush."
Toz60's eyes widened. "Wait a minute... you're the prank the lab techs played on Toz49 when he made that cactus, aren't you! You're Toz420!"
"Thass rite baybee... canon at lasd."
Toz60 suddenly got a mischevious grin on her face. "You know, the two of us together could totally pull an epic prank on Toz59."
Toz420 shrugged its inexplicably mispelled sholders. "Id ont play prenks n e morr. I snork dveed an typ bad fur cumedic affect."
"Trust me, those skills of yours are perfect for this prank. I'm gonna get my revenge on Frank for his resistance to teen cring!" Toz60 grimaced. "I meant to say cringe. I hope those typos of yours aren't contagious..."
|
|
|
Post by frankthetriviaman on Dec 31, 2022 0:29:41 GMT -5
Chapter 15: - --- --.. / .. -. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. .The assembled Tozzes must have taken over an hour to crack the coded message before them. But, once Frank had observed a couple key clues, the others were able to put the pieces together. "Wait... if the first word is only a single letter, that must mean it has to be "I" or "A" right? So if we consider that... if this is a message I think we can reasonably assume this letter is being written in first person. Therefore, if we make that first letter I... " I want to... no, not quite... I need to... no, that's not it either. I...I... have to... no, then those two would be the same. But I have an... yes, that's it! "I have an" fits if we look at the pattern. And then these last five symbols, no doubt a signature. And who else would send a message in this form, but Toz73!" "That's it! I think you're onto something!" Toz22 declared. "So that's... nine of the letters figured out. But this word just before Toz73... a five letter word where the second letter is O... what words would you sign off on before a name?" she continued. "Love... from... regards... no, its gotta be five letters" Toz40 pointed out. "I like that thinking; let's follow that idea of yours" Toz58 said aloud before taking a second, and it hit him. "YOURS!" Toz58 said in realization. "Ah ha! Now we are getting somewhere!" Toz44 realized, as more of the alphabet became clearer. One by one, context clues and patterns revealed the letters, until, at last, the message was readable: TESTING, TESING. CAN YOU HEAR ME? I HAVE AN IDEA OF HOW TO DESTROY TOZ49 FOR GOOD.ARE YOU INTERESTED? IF YES, MEET ME AT SNOQUALMIE FALLS TOMORROW AT NOON. YOURS TOZ73 PS BEWARE THE SCHNOZ The assembled Tozzes were surprised... as far as they recalled Toz73 hadn't been particularly interested in stopping 49 before... something must have happened recently that caused a change of heart. "If this is the case... Frank, should you be the one who goes?" Toz50 proposed. "I'm not sure. On the one hand, I think I'm the one who has the best bet of getting him to work with us. But on the other I need to focus on getting 76 to finally be more proactive. There's only so much I can do... also, for some strange reason, I feel like I am unfairly taking away too much from 76. Like, this whole thing is supposed to be about her, like, if this was a story she should be the rightful main character and I am unfairly stealing her spotlight." Frank said, rubbing his arm as he admitted how awkward he had been feeling. "Frank... that's a weird thing to say even by our standards" Toz33 pointed out. "And I'm a talking pile of garbage" "And I'm a walking censor bar, but this "Story" isn't about me either" Toz50 pointed out. "Hey wait, what about that Schnoz warning?" 38 pointed out "I think that might be specifically for 76" 19 theorized "Guys, focus!" Frank insisted. "Look- if we are going to accomplish anything, we need to be methodical about this. I'll talk to Toz76 more tonight and best case scenario, she'll finally start becoming more proactive in all of this... and I can atone for my sin of stealing the "focus" from her" Frank added under his breath. "It's getting late everyone; best if we turn in for the night" Toz65 proposed. "I'll keep watch since I'm more of a night person anyway" Toz63 said. "I'll see Toz43 and Toz44 off since its almost time for them to return to their dimensions" Frank said. "As much as I want to stick around longer, circumstances prevent it" The Little Monkey Man explained. "Actually, I have an announcement to make myself" Toz58 said, standing up. "I... I'm going to leave the team" Toz58 explained, to the shock of everyone. "But, why?" Toz39 asked in confusion. "Well, my whole shtick was the fact that I was a sentient thought that didn't exist. But now I do exist and, well, I don't exactly have any powers or anything. So there's nothing meaningful I can contribute to the team at this point. I think I would just get in the way." 58 continued. "No way. You were hit with like 400 Randalls, you've got to have something going on" Toz27 argued. "You were hit with 200 and you don't have anything going on" Toz58 pointed out. "Technically yes, I am just a mere mortal- but I was the exception, not the rule, remember? I don't entirely remember what they said the reason was but sure, the Toze didn't give me any special abilities, but I'll still do what I need to do" 27 stated. "Yea, but... I still want to go back to...her" Toz58 said, clearly longing for something at this point. "I... I understand. After everything that you went through, you deserve that much" Frank pointed out as the others nodded, realizing the full of extent of Toz58's trauma now. Most everybody went to rooms to turn in; 58 left and began making his way to an apartment building in an unspecified part of Seattle... in part because after Frank messed up the Pike's place market post he doesn't trust himself to specify a part of Seattle where this apartment building would make sense Frank meanwhile, accompanied Toz44, and both joined Toz43, who had been keeping watch the whole time. "Everything calm. No idea why nobody noticed everything that happened tonight, but then again a lot of things we do don't make sense" The Giant Monkey Man observed. "Eh, better that way anyway" Frank deadpanned. "So, its time for us to depart. Remember Frank, once 76 takes action, everything will be ok" 44 assured as the two beasts returned to their respective planes. "Till next time, Monkey men" Frank said as he saw them phase out of this dimension. Then they popped back in. "Oops, wrong way; friendly advice- never go to the first dimension; total nothingness is too much even for us" 44 shuttered as 43 nodded in agreement, before they phased out of the dimension again. "Noted" Frank said, even though he had not trans-dimensional powers of the type. Frank turned back to the house, when he got a call on his phone. "Who is calling me at this hour?" He began as he picked up the phone. "Hello?" "You'll pay for what you did to me tonight" The voice on the other end said angrily. Frank shuttered before replying, "you'll never succeed Randall... you know that" "Oh, but I will. And YOU are going to help me!" Toz49 said menacingly. "There is nothing you can say that will convince me to fight for you" Frank replied sternly. "True. But there is something I can say that will prevent you from coming after me for a good, long while" 49 pointed out. Frank just raised an eyebrow before he heard spoken over the phone "Toz59... Code 3...W...S...R!" He declared. Frank went pale as he heard that alphanumeric combination, dropping his phone as he realized what was about to happen. "MASTERS!!! YOU D*MN BAS- GGAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!" Frank screamed in agony as his whole body filled with pain. He looked at his arms to see his veins beginning to glow that bright purple energy, before all over his body, said energy began to sprout from his body and encase him in a coating akin to the venom or carnage symbiotes "NO!! NO!! NOT AGAIN!! NOT... RAAAAHHHHH!!!!" was all Frank managed to say before he was fully encased in the coating. Gone was the human known as Toz59/Frank. Now, there was an 18 foot tall humanoid thing, composed of the mysterious purple energy, but it had taken a physical form. Instead of feet, the legs ended in large, round "stumps" and while the arms had hands and the hands had fingers, they had no discernable features. And the head had been replaced by a round, featureless structure, where there were indents in the place where the eyes would be, and a "Banana" shaped indent below them, representing where the mouth would be; kind of like if one made a crude head out of play doh. The thing let out more roars before running off into the night. Ironically enough, Frank and his physical body were fine; its just "Frank" had been forced into a state akin to hibernation, while the being that was now here was a separate "intelligence" all together. If it could even be called that; much like a werewolf, this form was a "beast" and lacked human intelligence. And there was only one being that could stop this... this force now possessing Frank ......... The next morning, everyone awoke, confused by the disappearance of Frank. Mere Mortal got started on breakfast as Toz76 joined the others in watching TV. They were flipping though the channels, until they came to KOMO-TV on channel 4, where Lee Stoll was reporting in with breaking news. "And this just breaking, a giant purple thing has been causing great disruptions on top of the Space Needle. No one is sure what is going on or what this thing is; all that is known is that it seems to be walking in a circle on top of the space needle screaming every so often, like its trying to get something or someone's attention" Everyone was shocked with what was going on... no one more so than Toz76. Who suddenly stood up and clenched her fists. "Everyone- you guys handle the Toz73 thing. I'll deal with Frank" 76 declared. "THAT is Frank?!" Toz16 said in shock. "Let's just say... there's a reason only a few of us know the full extent of the experiment he went through" Toz76 sighed before getting ready to go deal with the "code 3WSR" form of Frank. "Ok... so which of us will go to 73 then?" Toz19 asked. "I'd suggest 16, 40, and 57. Unless 22 also wants to go" 33 proposed as the assembled group began deciding ......... THE NECESSARY PLOT EXPOSITION THAT EXPLAINS THIS EXPLOSIVE DEVELOPMENT Dr Randall Masters was becoming very pleased with progress in recent months. Not only had he increased his mechanical parts from 12 percent of his body to 18 percent of his body, the ensuing experiment, he was absolutely certain, would made Toze experimentation so much easier going forward. "This isn't funny man, let me go!" The New Yorker in his early twenties said from his restraints. "Silence! Scientific breakthroughs are the cornerstone of civilization and must come at any and all costs!" Masters declared. "As a scientist myself I fundamentally disagree there..." Frank muttered. "As much as I'd love to have a debate on ethics with out... I won't" Dr Masters quipped as final preparations were made. "We waited many weeks for this test... you sure this will work?" Agnew asked. "Ever since we learned that the Toze is easier stored in biological matter than inorganic matter, it is clear that if we are to make any progress towards the ultimate goals, we must develop a conduit for Toze that can increase the capacity and output of our machine a thousand fold! Once we have the biological conduit, charging the instrument will be so much faster and more efficient. I look forward to this experiment!" Masters said in delight. The one called "Frank" kept yelling to be let go, but his plea fell on deaf ears. "All systems ready" Rimford called out. "All right. Blast our Toz59 with... THREE THOUSAND RANDALLS OF TOZE!" He declared in excitement. The machine let out a mighty roar that drowned out its targets cries of agony as the purple energy was absorbed into his flesh. Hours later... they saw the newly created Toz59 had turned out exactly as predicted; 60 tests in and they had finally figured out how to control the results of Toze exposures. Toz59 was now standing upright; the blast of Toze had destroyed the restraints. All over his body, from his veins a bright purple glow was seen, and it was at least a good 20 minutes before the glow at last subsided. "Reading indicate Toze exposure worked as intended... congratulations Dr. Masters, our new "Toze conduit" will make testing much more efficient; an important stepping stone to the final goal" Fesconi said, satisfied. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME!?" Toz59 declared as he observed the glow in his arms slowly subside. "Have we made the necessary modifications to the machine?" Fesconi asked Masters. "Of course" Masters grinned, before bringing up an image on screen of some sort of chair with straps and wires, that were linked to the machine. "Forget 30 Randalls a day... now we'll get to charge 3 HUNDRED Randalls a day! The possibilities are limitless!" Masters declared before laughing with pleasure at what he had accomplished. ......... WELL THAT WAS A BIT OF A DOWNER; LETS END ON A POSITIVE NOTE The night that Toz58 left the Tozzengers... or Tozvengers, they hadn't decided which sounded better yet, he made his way to the one person he wanted to see more than anyone else. He had kept his distance for the time being because he had been afraid of hurting her in his past form. But now, he was for all intents and purposes, "normal" and free to live his life again. Coming to the apartment in question. He knocked a few times and hoped she was still up. To his delight, he heard walking behind the door and the person came and opened it. On the other side of the door was a lovely young woman his age; though hidden under her clothes, there was a tattoo of a "36" on her left hip. "It's so late... who is it at this hour?" She said, but opening the door, she suddenly was so surprised she almost fell off her own feet. "Oh my God! Alan?" She said as tears began to form. "Yes Cindy... I'm back to normal. I'm sorry this took so long to figure out, but I could never forgive myself if you got hurt by getting involved" he began. Toz58 walked in as the two felt each other (Appropriately!) for the first time in a very long time. "So... what was it like? Being well, you know, nothing?" Toz36 asked. "Let's just say... I hope no one else ever has to go through something like that ever again" Toz58 explained. After closing her door, the two finally allowed themselves to tearfully embrace after being apart for so long.
|
|
|
Post by Toz76 on Dec 31, 2022 4:27:17 GMT -5
Chapter 16: Achilles In Her Toze
Toz76 flew into the sky, heading towards the Space Needle. It's an iconic Seattle landmark, albeit a bit overrated and touristy, especially after they took out the revolving restaurant, but still not somewhere you would want a giant Toze-influenced monster to be.
Shortly behind her followed Toz22, who was flying in much the same way, using Toze blasts to control her velocity. She was pissed, and she wanted answers. "76!"
Toz76 whirled around in midair to face her. "What? What do you want, 22?"
"I want to know why you just sat around doing nothing, getting stoned with the weed ghost instead of helping us fight Toz49! You're the most powerful one of all of us, and you haven't done jack shit this entire time! You don't deserve your powers!"
Toz76 sighed. "You're right. I don't deserve my powers."
Toz22, who was hoping for a shouting match, had not expected this. "Wait, what?"
Toz76 sighed. "I'm just some random person from a town near Seattle that was accidentally given godlike power over the seventh dimension by a mad scientist. I'm no one special. It could have happened to anyone. All I've managed to do with this power is harm others. That's why I spend all my time in the seventh dimension, making stuff out of pure creative Toze energy and not interfering. Because if I try to interfere, I'll just make things worse."
Toz22 stubbornly tried to continue resenting Toz76. "But... you set all the other Tozzes free the day of the banana incident! That wasn't making things worse! That was what gave 27 and Frank and me and all the others the chance to live normal lives! Stop this bullshit pity party!"
"True, but I also unleashed all the evil and destructive Tozzes out onto the world. Seattle's Finest, the Party Animal, Teen Cringe Incarnate, 35..." Toz76 shuddered. "And worst of all, Toz49 being as powerful as he is was my fault."
"How was it your fault?"
Toz76 sighed. "It would take too long to explain right now. Suffice to say, on the day of the banana incident, something happened. Toz49 got exposed to an extra 5000 Randalls of Toze. He was already power-mad and crazy before, but he's the only one who got Tozzed twice. I think that's part of why he's so dangerous and difficult to predict. And that happened because I tried to fight him."
"But you didn't do that on purpose-" Toz22 pointed out.
"But I still did it, didn't I? I tried to defeat the man who was experimenting on us, and all I did was make him stronger." Toz76 sighed. "I didn't want to risk making that mistake again. So I refused to act. But now... Frank is in trouble. And once again, it's my fault. So... I gotta go figure out how to depower his monster form and bring my friend back."
Toz76 turned away. "This could get dangerous. You don't have to come with." And she flew off towards the Space Needle.
Like all Tozzes, when the "banana incident" had occured and all the Tozzes were set free, Toz22 had heard a mysterious voice in her head, a voice that played on her fears and insecurities. "You'll never be as good as 76," the voice had said. "No matter how hard you try, you'll always be lesser." But for the first time in years, Toz22 tried to look past what the voice had told her, and she flew after Toz76, to lend whatever help she could.
********************
Snoqualmie is a city about a half-hour's drive east of Seattle. It's perhaps best known for being where many exterior scenes of the show Twin Peaks were filmed, but is also notable for a large railroad museum and a beautiful waterfall, the aptly named Snoqualmie Falls. (There's also like an old-person golf tournament that happens there every year if you're into golfers over 50.)
Toz22, the "Mere Mortal", drove the car, with Toz57, "Heinz the Variety Man", in the passenger seat, currently in the form of a young man in a suit. In the back seat, Toz40, the "Red Shirt" with an incredible healing factor, and Toz16, the "Tozmanian Devil" with cartoon physics powers, looked anxiously out the windows as the car approached the falls.
"I feel bad leaving 39 behind." Toz27 muttered. "But the others can keep "Little Toz" safe, right?"
"39 is tough, she'll be fine without you for a few hours." Toz40 said reassuringly.
Toz16, who was still getting used to life outside the taffy puller, extended her neck to in between the driver and passenger seats. "Ooh, I haven't been here in years. Can we stop for ice cream after? There's a great ice cream place down the street from the railroad museum."
"If we have time." Toz57 said. "Whatever Toz73 has to say to us takes priority."
"Right, right." Toz16 said. "Sorry, I'm just excited to be able to actually do stuff again. Do you know what it's like to be stuck in a taffy puller for months?"
"Painful?" Toz40 said.
"No, actually, it was kinda relaxing, like a deep-tissue massage. But it was so boring! I couldn't see or hear anything because my eyes and ears were being stretched by the taffy puller, so all I could do was write music in my head. Ooh, that reminds me, does anyone have a harmonica or something?"
The other Tozzes in the car winced at the description.
"Sorry, I don't have one." Toz27 said.
"Oh well, I think I saw an instrument store when we drove through Issaquah. I'll just stretch my arm and grab it." Toz16 said.
"Cartoon physics are pretty stomach-churning when it's happening to a normal human being." Toz40 said, averting their gaze.
****************************************
Toz56, the Vaudevillan, the sniper who wants to kill all the other Tozzes, was standing on the deck of one of the famous Washington State Ferries, a cigarette in hand, studying the water. To the untrained eye, she was just a normal passenger on a smoke break, but in truth she had another goal in mind. Somewhere below the waves was Toz41, the "Cyber Diver", a sophisticated diving robot with the minor design flaw of not being waterproof at all. Though probably rusted beyond recognition, Toz56 knew her mission wouldn't be complete until she was sure Toz41 had been destroyed once and for all... even if it meant searching the entire Salish Sea. And if she happened to find a certain "building near water that wasn't a restaurant" on her journey, so much the better...
****************************************
At Toz27's house, the Tozzes were watching the news intently as Frank's "Code 3WSR" form continued its King Kong impression on the Space Needle. But there was also one person among them who wasn't a Toz, the individual known as "1,000 Eyes".
Toz39 walked over to 1,000 Eyes. "Are you going to stay any longer?"
"I probably shouldn't," Eyes said. "Remember what Frank said earlier about if this was a story? Well, I get the feeling I've got my own story to be in, where my eye powers can get the focus they deserve. And this story has too many characters as it is..." She gestured around the room and laughed. "But I do think you should have this."
Eyes held out a large bundle wrapped in a bedsheet.
"I'm a foot tall, I can't hold that," Toz39 said.
"Oh, right, sorry." Eyes set the bundle down. "That's Toz51, the "Number of the Diesel". I'm not sure exactly what it is, but when it was trapped in one of my 1,000 Eyes, it granted me super-strength when I used it... the strength of a locomotive. Maybe you can use it in your fight against that robot guy?"
Toz39 smiled. "This is a huge help. If nothing else, it's another Toz safe here in this house. It's charmed so that no one who wishes a Toz harm can find it... incidentally, that's how we knew you're trustworthy."
Eyes headed for the door, before turning back to say one last thing. "And if you ever need me for anything, call my butler, Jenkins. I'll tell him to help anyone who calls him and says they're a 'toz'."
And with that, Eyes was gone. Toz39 scratched her head in confusion. "She has a butler?"
******************************
Toz76 and Toz22 reached the Space Needle, and observed the situation from a safe distance.
"Well, "Code 3WSR Frank" hasn't hurt anyone, that's good." Toz76 said. "Which means he's probably waiting for another Toz to show up."
"What does "Code 3WSR" mean, anyway?" Toz22 asked.
"3000 Wild, Surging Randalls? 3 Weird Silly Roommates? Flee When Schnoz Rises... Wait, that's just gibberish." Toz76 shook her head. "Let's focus on what's important. Toz59 is like a... Toze battery. Frank stores power that I can draw from on this plane. He's the reason I'm as powerful as I am. Without him, I'm still powerful, but I'm like a cell phone that's not plugged in... wait, no, that's a bad analogy, it's more like a cell phone that's permanently at 3% charge... or, wait, I'm sorry, I've confused myself."
"76, are you alright?" Toz22 asked. "You're not still stoned from last night, are you?"
"No, I'm totally sober, I'm just having trouble focusing for some reason." Toz76 shook her head. "Weird. Anyway, what I was trying to say was that Frank and I, our powers are linked somehow. Without him, I would only be as powerful as, well, as you, no offense. And since our powers are linked, maybe that means if I use enough of my power, it will tire him out and he'll go back to normal."
"Okay... so how would you do that?" Toz22 asked.
"I need to do something awesome, a display of my ultimate powers of creation. Something that will use enough of my power reserves to tire out Frank, but still leave me with enough juice to fight 49. Maybe... ooh, I know."
Toz76 landed on the roof of the Seattle Children's Museum, a block from the Space Needle.
"Why are there two giant spider statues on the roof of this building?" Toz22 asked, landing next to her.
"So that people in the space needle can see them, probably." Toz76 said with a shrug. "Seattle's a weird place, babe. Don't worry about it."
"Did you just call me babe?" Toz22 asked.
"Don't read into it. I call lots of people babe. It's like "dude" or "bro" to me." Toz76 said, as her eyes turned a pale purple and she began summoning something.
"What are you summoning?" Toz22 asked.
"A character from a story Frank and I made up a long time ago. He's an evil wizard called "The Bronze Mage" with all kinds of crazy powers. It's the perfect thing to summon to weaken Frank."
Toz76 clapped, and suddenly, in a flash of purple, a figure appeared on the roof between them. But something was wrong.
"Uh, this isn't an evil wizard..." Toz22 said. "This is the real Bronze Mage, Toz28. She was trapped in a rift between dimensions because her sci-fi and fantasy sides clashed. I guess you brought her back."
"No wonder that was so easy..." Toz76 muttered. "I didn't 'create' anything, I just brought something someone else created into this world. That definitely wasn't enough to depower Frank. Oh well, at least he didn't notice so I can try aga-"
Toz76's sentence was cut off at the last syllable by a massive purple beast. Frank had sensed the Toze-powered summon and leapt from the top of the Space Needle all the way to the neighboring roof and landed squarely on top of Toz76. Frank raised a purple fist and prepared to punch Toz76's face in.
To the side, Toz22 tried to drag the semi-conscious Toz28 to relative safety under one of the spiders. Toz28 began to stir. "What... where am I?"
Toz76 stared into the indents where the Frank-beast's eyes would be. "Frank, if you're in there, resist. You don't have to do this. We're friends, remember?"
The Frank-Beast growled something that Toz76 couldn't quite understand and swung its fist.
"Toze shield!" Toz summoned a wall of Toze and used it to block Frank's fist inches from her face. The Frank-beast howled in pain. Toz76 took this opportunity to scramble to her feet and back away, keeping the Toz shield between her and Frank.
"Just need to create something so that I can depower Frank... something original and new that doesn't already exist... but what? Ugh, think, you stupid defective brain, think!"
As Toz22 watched the fight anxiously, a thought bubbled up in her subconscious. "Toz76 said she is only as powerful as she is because of her link with Frank. If you turned one of the Tozzes into a "Toze battery" like Frank, you could finally have the power you deserve!"
"No, I'm not gonna do that, that's all kinds of evil!" Toz22 said aloud, shaking the thought from her head. But her gaze lingered on the powerless form of Toz28 for just a second too long... and the mysterious message from the banana incident crossed her mind again.
"You'll never be as good as 76. No matter how hard you try, you'll always be lesser."
"No, no, no... not like this... I will resist this!"
********************
Toz49 finally returned to his base to lick his wounds, watched from a safe distance by Toz65. "Well, that went horribly," he muttered. "I need to wait until the Tozzes are divided to strike... hmmm... maybe I can find a way to speed that process along..."
But he was distracted by a voice... the voice of a son he hadn't heard in years...
"Dad? Daddy, where are you?"
|
|
|
Post by frankthetriviaman on Mar 30, 2023 17:59:13 GMT -5
Chapter 17: Tozas the Toz Engine
Toz49 shuttered as he heard that voice. It... it couldn't be. The very reason he Tozzed himself in the first place. He peaked around the corner and saw the little boy just sort of shuffling around that area... but he also noticed.
"Gah! The egg! It has been compromised!" He thought to himself, seeing the cracks in the shell. "Well, that's an anti-climactic end to that plot point" he muttered to himself, concluding the shock of the crash landing damaged the egg. Then he shook his head and thought for a moment. "Timmy... little Timmy is back!" He said, gleeful for the first time in who knows how long. "I cannot risk losing him again. Wait, I should first..." he said, first making sure he was in a humanoid form... then he grabbed a nearby overcoat.
Finally, the confused Toz48 heard footsteps and turned around and finally saw Toz49. "Daddy!" Timmy said as he ran over to Toz49. Dr Masters may have been effectively insane at this point, but there was just enough of him still intact to recognize little Timmy. But why hadn't he aged? Eh, Toze exposure did all sorts of things, no need to overthink it.
"My little Toz48, you've finally returned! For now, let's get you comfortable in your room, if you're a good boy I'll get you something from that toy store you love" he said
"Ok Dad" Toz48 said as he followed the Mastermind to a room that was a bit more comfortable than the others. "By the way Dad... why are you wearing a coat inside?"
"Oh, just a bit chilly... I'll go put some coal in the furnace after this" Toz4 said as he left Timmy in the room. "Now, everything is just as you left it..." Toz49 began.
A few minutes later, Toz49 went to put coal in the furnace. But to his confusion, Toz49 did not see as much coal as he could have sworn was in the furnace earlier this week. "What the? I know it was fine on Monday..." then he looked in the corner and saw... a stomach, with one of its openings slowly but mindlessly devouring the coal and coal dust in the area.
"Oh... right... Toz75+b... even I can't figure you out" before he sighed and a flamethrower attachment suddenly emerged from his arm. "Well, unless something happens that makes you interesting or relevant, time to eliminate yet another mistake" Toz49 said as he got the weapon warmed up, no pun intended.
.........
Toz22 had taken advantage of the confusion of the action around her to get Toz28 off the roof and inside the relative safety of the museum.
"No... I won't fall for it! You can't make me hurt her" she stated sternly. She was resisting the voice that was tempting her, but then, something broke her concentration. Someone was singing a song
"You can only be you..."
"Huh?" Toz22 said in confusion looking up. She looked up and saw the pop-up exhibit in the lobby. It seemed to be about the musical history of the children's television show, Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends. Perhaps it was an introduction to a temporary exhibit that was deeper in the museum? Anyway, she went up to the screen playing an assortment of music from the show.
"What?" She said, curious where this was going.
"But, I don't want to be me" Toz22 said, then jumped a little when she realized the other character in the clip said the same thing as her at the same time. She listened, and some of the lines were standing out at her.
"There's nothing that you need to rearrange, If you ask me, you're completely bona-fide!" The song came to at the end. Toz22 thought about what she had just heard, and it helped her realize something.
"Maybe... maybe I've been looking at things the wrong way? What if... what if I'm not meant to compare myself to others? Maybe in life, what I'm supposed to do is just look at me, for me" Toz22 thought, as if she was having an epiphany. "Of course... my worth isn't based on comparing myself to others! But... is it all right to just be me?" Toz22 thought to herself.
Then, at that moment, the next song in the video started, "I can only be me, It's who I'm really meant to be, And now I'm happy, I am who I am, I'll be the best me that I can" .......... "Be who you are and go far, go far"
"Well, this may have been awkward and cheesy as hell... but the engines in this video do have a point, I should just be happy to be who I am. I can't change who I am, and I can't be like 76, but there's nothing wrong about that" 22 said in realization.
Around that time, Toz28 was finally coming to, "Hey... you got some water on you?" The Bronze Mage asked.
"Uh, no. Let me see if there's a vending machine around here" Toz22 said as she started walking around the lobby.
.........
Toz76 was still struggling with Code 3WSR Toz59, trying to think of something original to create.
"Think Toz, THINK! Something that can use just enough power to depower Frank and... wait, if its something that Frank has an emotional connection to, it may make him wake up. Now what's something that Frank would truly appreciate?" 76 thought to herself as she kept blocking the behemoth's attacks. Then, a lightbulb went off in her head. "I got it!" She realized, as she seemed to open up some sort of portal and teleport elsewhere in Seattle, to the brief confusion of Toz59. The monster seemed to "sniff" the air for a bit, before it locked onto Toz's location; now quite a distance away, but now the monster could sense 76's Toze presence. It leaped onto the street, and began running in a direction.
.........
Within the Interbay neighborhood of Seattle is a trainyard over 80 acres in size. The Balmer Yard has 41 parallel tracks and is owned by the BNSF railway, and as it just so happens for the purposes of our story, it is currently empty of any trains or freight cars at the moment.
Toz came up to a nice, long stretch of track and began picturing something in her head. "Good thing standard gauge is the same in the US and the UK" Toz thought to herself. "Inanimate objects take way less Toze to create than living things so I've got a lot of work to do... well, time to get started." Toz said as something began manifesting on the tracks. Then, in a flash, a steam engine appeared on the tracks. But not just any steam engine, an LB&SCR E2, though with extended side tanks. It was blue with red stripes, and had a yellow 1 on the side. If you were to put a face on the front, it would look like it was taken straight out of the books he was from. Then behind the E2 he manifested two coaches. They were beige in color, and while the first could hold passengers, the second could hold passengers, baggage and the conductor. "Good thing I'm not making them sentient; that's not necessary" she thought.
Then, she put about 100 feet away from this train, and started creating a second engine. Another blue engine with red stripes, but this one was a tender engine, a Furness Railway K2 with some modifications to the cab, and a "2" on the tender. Then behind this engine, she created 4 freight cars filled with coal, "eh, he doesn't really have something he's most associated with" she observed.
Putting more space, he then began conjuring the next creation, an LMS Stanier Class 5 "Black Five" tender engine; this one was green in color, and had a "3" on the tender. And behind this one, she conjured 4 refrigerated boxcars and a BR 20 Ton Brake van. "Eh, I'll not do the fish itself today" she quipped.
Then She conjured a big blue tender engine, a LNER Gresley that looked like it could have been a A1 or A3, but something was off about it, like it was actually a prototype for the class, an A0 you could say. There was a 4 on the tender. Then she conjured 4 Southern Railway Maunsell Coaches with green paint; 3 were composites and 1 was a brake coach. "Now that I think about it... why is an LNER pulling SR coaches?" She thought aloud, before shrugging.
Next, she conjured a L&YR Class 28, but with modifications. Namely, a fowler tender, 2-6-0 wheels instead of 0-6-0 wheels, and a "lack of the sandboxes over the front splashers" according to a direct Wikipedia quote. The engine was red and had a 5 on the tender. Then behind it, he put 4 tar wagons.
"Yea, its not what happened... but the branch line coaches were basically the first two without names and I gotta do something unique" she thought to herself.
Then she did another tank engine, this one with 4 wheels, small and green, an Avonside 0-4-0ST with the same green as the Black Five, but this one had a 6 on the side. Behind this one, he put two SE&CR Diagram 960 PMV mail wagons with a different shade of red than the 5 engine. And another BR 20 Ton Brake van was put at the end.
Next, she conjured an GER Class C53 with brown paint, and a yellow 7. Then behind the tram she created a GER Wisbech and Upwell Tramway 4-wheel coach, a Furness Railway 2nd class coach and a perfect copy of GER Wisbech and Upwell Tramway luggage van No. 9
"Victoria and Elsie don't get enough love" She thought before going to the next creation: A dark green tank engine with "GWR" on the sides; a GWR 5700 Class, then two GWR auto coaches were conjured behind it. "Ah, what the heck" Toz said, and then also conjured three GWR Diagram F16 double-ended Slip Coaches behind the auto coaches. "Man, the die hard fans would be going absolutely crazy right now if they could see this now" Toz thought.
.........
Toz59 was running through the Seattle streets towards Balmer Yard. But something was changing... the monster's appearance now had an appearance almost like melting candle wax and patches of Toze were steadily evaporating off its body.
And Frank? From his perspective, he was beginning to stir, but only barely. "Huh... where am I" Frank thought, but he was too groggy to figure out anything
.........
76 continued by creating two Caledonian Railway 812 class tender engines. On one he put a nine on the tender and on the other a ten. But instead of the names, he put "57646" on one and "57647" on the other. "Nobody's gonna get it but whatever" she shrugged. But since she couldn't decide between the tv or books, she made the 9 BR black and the 10 Caledonian blue. She then conjured seven assorted freight cars, and at the end put a GWR 16 ton brake van. "And the funny part is those vans were actually called Toads" 76 thought to herself.
Next, she conjured another dark green tank engine, same shade of green as the 5700; a GWR 1400 class, with the number 11. Two more auto-coaches were conjured for this one.
"What's next? I could do the GNR G3... wait, was she 4-2-2 or 2-2-4? and did the tender have six or eight wheels? Eh, I'll skip her for now. Oh, I know!" Toz said
Then, Toz conjured a green BR class 101, a green BR class 28, a green BR class 35, a black BR class 04 with side plates and one Black BR class 08; all diesel engines.
"Eh, I'll just do the one; it got lazy after they kept reusing the class 8 for diesel engines" Toz thought to himself. "Oh! Can't forget them!" Toz realized as he conjured a pair of yellow Bagnall 0-4-0ST tank engines, pulling freight cars of china clay.
............
The Purple monster had reached a breaking point. Suddenly, the chest/stomach area began melting faster than the rest of the monster, and a normal human fell out of the beast. Frank finally became aware enough to register what was going on around him and was shocked to see what was in front of him. The purple beast kept running good distance, until it effectively melted into a pile of goo, disappearing with a scream. "Huh? Oh, thank God, I'm back to normal" Frank said in relief, before looking at the purple mess before him. "Better absorb that... last thing we need is more Toze exposure accidentally creating more Tozzes" Frank muttered as his hands began glowing, and he began absorbing the Toze, occasionally yelping in pain as it finally disappeared from the physical plane.
"I guess being a reservoir of Toz has its perks" Frank thought as some sort of portal opened near him. "I take it you figured out a way to defeat this thing?" Frank asked.
"Yes, but not what you're thinking; want to see what I pulled off?" Toz asked.
"Ok, not sure what you are planning to show me but... IS THAT WHAT I THINK IT IS?!" Frank said in shock as he stepped into the train yard.
.........
16, 40, 27 and 57 had parked their car and were heading towards the location. They looked around for Toz73, who called out for them when they stepped into the place.
"Glad you guys were able to make it" 73 said in relief.
"49 can't be allowed to proceed with his plans; we're hoping what you found out will help us stop him"
"I know we had our differences... but even I can no longer ignore 49's monstrosity. Let's get right to the point" he said as he took out a file folder
"Agh!" Toz 40 said as he accidentally cut himself on something sharp.
"You ok 40?" 73 asked in concern.
"It's ok, I'm gonna recover pretty fast" 40 assured as the wound already started healing
"Rapid healing factors are pretty stomach-churning when it's happening in real life." Toz16 said, averting her gaze. .............
Frank was admiring Toz's handywork. "Man, this is awesome; but, did you use too much power to pull this off?" Frank asked.
"Surprisingly, I barely broke 8 percent; I'm still fine" Toz explained, while Frank still took in everything. "To be honest... part of me wants to continue" Toz admitted as Frank continued admiring
"Hey wait a minute... now that I think about it, isn't it weird an LNER engine is pulling SR coaches?" Frank observed.
"That's what I said!" Toz stated in agreement.
.........
Now, one would think a bunch of really old British steam engines and rolling stock suddenly manifesting in a Seattle train yard would be a major news story... but in an era where news is largely informed by what's trending and viral, literally nobody noticed this because the news was currently occupied by the latest viral story.
"And this just breaking, this adorable video of 13 abandoned kittens ambushing a man on the side of the road is going viral right now" the newscaster said as everybody awwed at the cuteness
|
|
|
Post by Toz76 on Mar 30, 2023 23:46:31 GMT -5
Chapter 18: Toz Quixote
Toz73 opened the folder to reveal a long note written in the Toz code.
"Oh god, more of this stuff?" Toz27 complained.
"Don't worry, I'll just translate it for you." Toz73 said. "Writing out the coded messages was getting annoying, anyway."
The papers turned out to be a precise document of all of Toz49's mechanical augmentations.
"Where did you get this? This is incredible!" Toz16 exclaimed.
"Let's just say I had some help from a frien," Toz73 said.
"Wait, you don't mean-" Toz16 began, but Toz73 cut her off.
"These schematics don't reveal any obvious weaknesses," Toz40 said. "I don't know how much use they'll be."
"Actually, there is one weakness," Toz73 said. "Right there, on the left elbow. A wire that isn't as insulated as the rest. A powerful enough surge of electricity would disable his robotic augmentations. Maybe even kill him."
"Well, that's something, but we still need a way to cause an electrical surge." Toz57 pointed out. "What, are we just gonna wait until 49 gets struck by lightning on the elbow?"
"We don't need to," Toz73 said, grinning. He flipped the technical document over to reveal another message: "OTz TOz oTZ oZt OTZ TOz OzT zot OTZ ToZ TZO Ozt tOZ oZT"
"Ohhhhh... that's really clever, actually," Toz57 said.
"I don't get it, what does it say?" Toz16 said, confused.
But before anyone could answer, the scene changed.
*******************************
Toz49 may have recently been reunited with his son, but that was no reason to stop. The plan would continue, come heck or high water. Although... what was the plan again? His head ached. Something wasn't right. The feeling passed as quickly as it came, but Randall Masters still felt like something fundamentally had changed.
He got on the phone and called Toz74, Toztor Strange.
"74? Where the flip are you?"
Toztor Strange, who was currently trying to dry off his pondwater-soaked clothes in a gas station bathroom, answered the call. "Sorry, boss, 52 and 1 ganged up on me. I'm just a brain surgeon with mild mental powers, I couldn't take the heavy hitters out."
"I knew you'd be useless, you gosh-darn assface." Toz49 sighed. "Plan B it is then. Get back to the lair as soon as possible, there's been a development."
Toz49 hung up and headed down into the basement. In a cage, salivating and moaning vaguely, was Toz18, the Tozombie.
"Kyle Vince..." Toz49 said, memories of their time on the Toz project coming back to him. "You were a good researcher... and the meatball thing was funny, even if it did waste a lot of Toze. But now is your time to redeem yourself. Obey your Masters, Toz18... go to the home of Toz27 and kill every Toz there."
*********************
Frank and Toz76 stood in the cab of the E2, staring at the controls.
"This might be a bad idea," Frank said.
"Come on, we'll go slow and only go a few meters. I'll let you be the driver!" Toz76 said, materializing a shovel from some Toze.
"Oh, alright." Frank laughed. "Now, where's the brakes?"
"Up there, I think?" Toz pointed.
"And the reverser?"
"I think it's that long one there."
"And the whistle?"
Toz reached up and gave it a pull. A "peep peep" echoed across the empty yard.
"Alright, let's do this," Frank said. "Signals are green, we're good to go. Toz, start shoveling!"
***************
Terrence Agnew (or was it Terence? So hard to remember these days) lit a cigarette and leaned over the balcony, watching the sun set. Another day had gone by, and no progress had been made on stopping Toz49.
Randall Masters had been a normal man once. A good scientist, too. What went wrong?
Brian O'Neill joined him on the balcony.
"Do you think there's a hell, Terrence?" Brian asked, lighting a cigarette of his own.
"That's a weird question," Terrence answered.
"I've always been a nonbeliever," Brian continued, more talking to the sunset than to Terrence. "But I've been reflecting on my life lately. We did some pretty henious shit in the Toz program. Toz58, the kids we experimented on, poor Vince..."
Terrence nodded. "We were too busy finding out whether we could that we didn't stop to consider whether we should. Tale as old as time for scientists like us."
"But when I think about the weight of what we did... the lives we ruined, the horrible experiments... if there is a hell, we've bought and paid for an express ticket there, Terrence."
Terrence nodded grimly. "Kind of hard for God to forgive some of this stuff."
There was a brief silence.
"What's the deal with Zimmerman anyway?" Terrence asked after a while. "The Benefactor, I mean."
"I don't know. I don't think she's as evil as Masters or Fesconi, but there's something shady going on with her..." Brian said.
Terrence laughed. "Fesconi. Now there's a name I haven't heard in a while. If anyone's in hell, he is."
"Good riddance, too," Brian said, taking another drag from the cigarette.
***********************
In a house in Edmonds, cracks in reality were forming. Temporal portals, breaks in continuity, and true failures of cohesion. The implications of what had begun were far-reaching and devastating, but that's not the focus right now. One such temporal portal stretched from that dining room all the way back to 1935, where it sucked in a woman who'd been caught in a time loop for some time. Toz21 appeared on the floor of the dining room, in a massive pile of bacon.
"Oh thank god I'm free of that time loop, that was terrible," Toz21 said. "Where am I?"
Suddenly, there was a voice from behind her. "You!"
Toz21 turned to see Laura Collins, formerly Toz45. But she wasn't Laura anymore. Her skin was pale and cracked, and her eyes glowed a sickly yellow. Also, she was levitating a couple feet off the ground.
"Laura? What happened?"
And suddenly the room wasn't. Toz21 screamed, scrambled to her feet, and ran as reality collapsed around her. She suddenly tripped over nothing and materialized on the street outside Laura's house. The house was mostly gone. In its place, a strange yellow goop, that... there's no verb in the English language that accurately describes it's motion, so I'll make some up. It flimpoated and girgorated towards Toz21, who once again scrambled to her feet, having a peak horror movie heroine moment.
"What is that stuff??" Toz21 said. "It's like Toze, but... wrong!"
Laura laughed. "I am the female orgasm in reverse. I am the culmination of broken dishes. I am where all stories that do not end end. What has been set in motion was always inevitable."
Toz21 stopped running for a second to process that gibberish. "What?"
"I am the wrath of the Wertyui made manifest. I am the inevitable result of decay. I am the source of Character Purgatory. I am the avatar of Schnoz on Earth, and it is time for the author to give up on her creation."
Toz21 decided to stop questioning it and just run until she found another Toz.
******************
Toz60 and Toz420 peered over a fence, watching as Toz and Frank attempted to drive a steam train.
"Frank..." Toz60 laughed. "You humiliated me before with your rejection of cringe, and now here you are playing with choo choo trains from a baby show. If this is not cringe, I don't know what is. Now, I'll take my revenge and make Frank experience a level of cringe heretofore never seen on this earth!
Toz420 looked apprehensive, but mostly just looked stoned. "FraNk isnt evil or anithin", he sed, "hes just some guy. Chill out, toz6o, hav sum wed."
"Oh, shut up, you. It's time for our rematch, Frang. I mean Grank. I mean, goddamn it Toz420, I hat yur typo powers!" Toz60 attempted an evil laugh, but only said the word "loo" out loud.
|
|
|
Post by frankthetriviaman on Apr 29, 2023 19:01:34 GMT -5
Chapter Nineteen: Toz and Order: SVU
(NOTE: the following are all real laws in Washington State and Seattle; I couldn't make this up even if I wanted to; though some may be an urban legend, full disclaimer)
Toz60 could not take it anymore and screamed in frustration. "AGGHHH!! Giv me de dishtank! The Fishbank! THE FISH TANK!" Toz60 screamed. Toz420 obliged and handed Toz 60 the rather large fish tank that was going to be a part of their "epic prank" and Toz60 dropped her face into the cold water of the tank, as if to give her a shock. After shaking her head and breathing a couple times, she sighed, "Ah, much better" she said in relief.
"Come on, man- when are we doing the prank? Do you have any idea how awkward it was carrying this on the bus we took over here?" Toz420 said.
And then in that moment, because it was plot convenient, a policeman from the Seattle Police Department appeared, "Excuse me, ladies, did you say you brought a fish tank onto a bus?" The officer inquired.
"Yea, what about it?" Toz60 asked, annoyed by this interruption to her plans.
"Ah ha! You're going to have to accompany me to the station!" The officer said as he went to arrest her.
"What?! Why?" Toz60 said in disbelief.
"Don't you know? It is illegal in Seattle to bring a fish tank onto a bus, because the sound of sloshing water can disturb the other passengers" the officer explained.
"Oh come on!" Toz60 said in annoyance. Toz420 tried to help the situation by reaching into her pocket and pulling out some candy "Hey, I've got 20 lollipops with your name on them if you let her go" Toz420 offered.
"Ah ha! Now I can arrest you to, for in Washington lollipops are banned!" The officer explained as now he had to take in both of them
"For real, man?" 420 said in disbelief.
"Isn't that one an urban legend?" 60 said with a raised eyebrow.
"Not sure... but it pops up on lots of weird laws websites so if it does, its got to be real in some way; and it makes this plot funnier" the officer shrugged.
"Look, can't we be reasonable adults here and... ah-choo!" Toz60 said with a sneeze, followed by a shiver.
"You're not helping your case, don't you know its illegal in Washington to be in public with the common cold" The officer said.
"What? No! I'm not sick, that was just a sneeze and the water in my fish tank was cold" 60 said back.
"Your fish tank? So you confess!" The officer said in realization
"Chill out, 60. I mean he's not like that one rude guy on the bus who bumped into me and made me spit out my water" 420 pointed out.
"Ah ha! It is illegal in Washington to spit on a bus; the judge is going to have a field day with the two of you!"
"Hey don't mess with us! My...my... my father is a really well off lawyer in a prestigious firm and my mother is a well connected socialite that knows all the judges, you'll be fired if you're not careful!" Toz60 said, pointing at the officer.
"Dude, your Dad runs a car wash and your mom is a barista at Starbucks" 420 pointed out.
"Shut up!" 60 said in reply
"Pretending to have rich parents? That's also illegal! Man, the judge is going to mop the floor with the two of you, I can't wait!" The officer said, writing more notes on the situation.
"Wait! Wait! If you let us go... we were gonna have a barbecue later! look at this sweet meat we brought today; you can join us if you let us go!" Toz 420 offered, showing the burgers, hot dogs and chicken parts.
"Uh, yea! After all barbecues aren't illegal in Washington" Toz60 pointed out.
"Correct; however, buying meat on Sunday IS illegal in Washington, so that's a hard pass" the officer said, now breaking out the cuffs.
"Well, if there's no time for you to cook tonight" A voice said as a guy in a bigfoot costume approached the three of them, "Then come on down to the Cryptid Grill! The meat's always fresh and so is the fun!" The guy said.
"Oh my God! I HATE BIGFOOT! I AM TIRED OF EVERYBODY OBSESSING OVER THAT STUPID URBAN LEGEND! THERE'S NO EVIDENCE HE'S REAL AND EVERYONE WHO CLAIMS THEY ENCOUNTER ONE CAN NEVER BACK UP THEIR CLAIMS! GET THE F*** OUT OF HERE YOU B******! DON'T EVER LET ME SEE THAT STUPID BIGFOOT EVER AGAIN! I MEAN IT!" she screamed; Toz60 went off on the bigfoot costume guy for about five minutes before said bigfoot began running away in tears. But the officer had seen everything.
"Another crime! You can not harass sasquatch in Washington State! Man, I can't believe I can finally arrest someone for that one!" The officer said in amazement.
"Wait, at least let us pull off the harmless prank on that guy! We bought everything we needed today, from the fish tank and the bowling pins to the horse saddle and the mattress..." 420 began
"It's illegal to buy a mattress on Sunday in Washington!" The officer said as the two were handcuffed and led away by the officer.
"WHY DOES WASHINGTON HAVE SUCH STUPID LAWS!?!?" Toz60 screamed in disbelief.
"Could be worse" a voice said, as the three heard a voice. "In New York it's illegal to talk in an elevator and in Rhode Island it's illegal to throw pickle juice onto a trolley. Oh yea, and in some states it's illegal to walk around with an ice cream cone in your back pocket on a Sunday. Then again, that was a technique horse thieves used to steal horses by luring them away from their owners so that one actually makes some sense" the voice went on. They all looked up to see Frank, looking at them from over the fence. "Hey Toz60, what are you doing here? And... what's with the fish tank and mattress?" Frank said with a raised eyebrow.
"Sorry citizen, but I have to take these two away!" The officer said as the two were taken away, prompting Frank to shrug and turn back to the E2, "You were right Toz, there was another one around here! Yea, 60 and 420, but I think they were doing something illegal with a fish tank. No, a FISH TANK!" Frank said on the walk back to the engine. The two had some fun, going backward and forward for a little while, before they left, never to return to Balmer Yard for the rest of the story... and nobody heard of all the engines that suddenly appeared there because they were still on the "kitten ambush" story.
.........
Toz60 and 420 were now in an interrogation room, but before anything could happen, someone popped in and said that "their lawyer is here"
"We have a lawyer?" Toz60 said in confusion, when suddenly, in walked... Toz3!
"Aunt Gladys?" Toz60 said in disbelief
"Hey, you're that stone cold judge lady from tv" 420 said in realization
"Well, I play a judge on tv, but I really am a lawyer. What I don't understand is what sort of trouble did you get yourself into now?" 3 said with a sigh
"I swear it wasn't my powers! Quite frankly I've been so emotional as of late I haven't been able to concentrate properly to transform at all" 60 admitted.
"That doesn't answer my question" 3 said, now doing her signature stare.
"I... I broke some stupid laws. No, I mean the stupid laws" 60 explained, emphasizing the stupid.
"I see. Well, the good news for you is that 31 is the judge that's going to preside over this case, so I can argue that this case is frivolous and not worth pursuing" Toz3 explained.
"Hey wait a second... then why are we doing this?" 420 said in a moment of realization.
"I'll be honest with you" 3 whispered, "both me and 31 read our horoscopes the other day and it said "Do something interesting in the story of your life or a sniper will strike you down" so... yeah, we're going through with this" 3 admitted.
"Wow, that's weird" 60 said in disbelief
"I know, usually horoscopes are something encouraging... and not so specific" 3 observed
"No, I mean... I had the same horoscope. Are you a Sagittarius too?" 60 asked in amazement
.........
At Toz27's house, everyone was getting familiar with Toz28, who Toz22 had brought here after the incident at the museum. Then, at that moment, the door opened, and those assembled watched as Frank and Toz walked in.
"Frank, glad to see you back to your senses and... why are the two of you covered in soot?" 39 said in confusion
"Uh... not important" Frank said, quickly changing the subject. "Now, I suppose I owe you all an explanation" Frank said, as those around him gathered. By now, 27's group had returned from their meeting with 73, allowing everyone to get caught up at once so we don't have to write the same scene twice
(10 minutes later)
"...basically, whenever Toz49 says "Toz 59, Code 3WSR" at a specific tone of voice, he basically triggers a berserker mode in me; all of the Toze stored inside me gets unleashed at once and uses my body as a host. Only thing that stops him from transforming me all the time is the fact that in that form I'm not conscious and the being that is in control can't discriminate friend and foe, so Masters is just as in danger as the rest of us. I'm just glad I'm back to normal."
"Look look look" Toz63 said, jumping in. "I get it, you're back to normal and all that but, I think it's time we finally have some answers for what is going on with all this. Just what exactly IS Toze?" 63 said, wanting some answers about what made them all so different.
"Yea, and will our changes be permanent?" A big, hulking man Frank had not seen in a while asked.
"Well, I can piece together some... wait, Toz55? What about your Anti-Karen crusade?" Frank said in confusion
"Honestly I needed a break, i've dealt with about 1600 in a row without a good rest so I need a breather. Guess no one mentioned it, but a few of us came here while you were on a rampage" 55 explained.
Frank looked up and saw, besides 55, 3 additional new faces: Toz66 the Candy Woman, Toz46 the Big One, and Toz26, Crash and Burn
"Someone destroyed my shop and I'm worried they will come after me next; figured I'd come here and lay low for a while with the protective charm and all" 66 explained
"Farmer in the Dell emailed me about everything that's been happening as of late; realized I can't just let my fear of rain stop me from confronting my past anymore so I came here as fast as I could to help you guys" 46 informed.
"After my last fight with Shell Shocker It occurred to me that he would never be truly stopped until we deal with 49; at this point I don't know if I can do it alone so I did the only thing I could think of and came here since I heard through my sister a lot of you were here" 26 explained.
"Sister?" Frank asked in confusion.
"I was a full size human before that experiment fused me with an action figure, remember?" 39 pointed out.
"Oh, right, very true. Still, disgusting of them... "Let's see what happens when we fuse a human and an action figure; will the figure come to life or the human become small" Frank said, remembering the stories he had heard.
"Well, at least I'm not made of plastic" 39 said in relief.
"Ah hem" 63 said.
"Right, right, sorry, we're off track. Anyway, I do remember a good deal of the conversations I overheard from the scientists who ran the program; from what the scientists figured out, they called it a most peculiar energy that exists both inside and outside this plane of reality, or dimension. Unlike our 3 dimensional reality, they said this Toze appears to be seven dimensional, allowing to transcend physical existence itself. But most peculiar, when a person or thing is given a direct exposure to concentrated Toze it results in said target taking on unusual traits. The working theory was it was a result of trying to contain a 7 dimensional energy in a 3 dimensional physicality. The fact that we all had different results as a consequence of exposure was a reflection of the randomness of the Toze... yet Masters must have cracked a pattern because by the time they came to me they could control the final result.
"Wait, but why living things? He could have used inanimate objects and harmed no one, so why mostly humans?" 57 asked in confusion.
"It's... weird. I couldn't understand the super sciency bits because its outside my field, but gist I was able to pick up was about there's something about the nature of Toze itself. It... it stores better in biological material than in inanimate material. Again, I don't understand how it works, but that was the reason they prioritized human experimentation over inanimate object exposure." Frank continued.
"Well, one person here has more experience with Toze than any of us" 40 pointed out
"Can we get answers already? I mean, I don't want to rush things, but I'd like the couch back so I can sleep" 38 said.
Everyone then looked at 76, "Well, be honest with us... did Masters get any of that right?" 27 asked.
Before 76 could talk, Toz16's phone started ringing. "Hello? Oh, sorry, you guys listen to 76, I need to take this. Helga, is it really you?!" 16 said as she left for another room
the group once again turned to 76, hoping for even the smallest bit of insight into just what was blasted into their bodies .........
21 ran as fast as she could, and she had finally lost the blob that 45 had become. She stopped and thought about her next move. Fortunately there were two things in her favor; both the Sniper and 49 were nowhere in the area, meaning no one was around who wanted to kill her, which would have sucked since she only just got a chance to shine. So she did the only thing she could think of, "when I find a phone, I'll reach out to cousin and see if she's still in the area. Man, I hope she didn't change her number" 21 said to herself.
.........
|
|
|
Post by Toz76 on May 18, 2023 23:19:04 GMT -5
Chapter 20: Doctor Schnozlove, or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Toz
Toz76 sat before the assembled Tozzes, as they waited for an explanation.
"You want a clear explanation of what the Toze is and how it works?" Toz76 began at last. "It's pretty straightforward, but you aren't going to like the answer."
"Why not?" Toz27 asked.
So Toz76 began a story.
"A long time ago, there were two warring forces. Call them gods and devils, heroes and villains, Teachers and Cubii, Tozzes and Wertyui, the point is that there was a mighty force of good and a mighty force of evil. The forces of evil had many advantages and underhanded tactics, but the side of good had one thing that the side of evil lacked: storytelling. They channeled this raw creative energy to create the Toze, an energy that could be harnessed to create any result, so long as that result would make an entertaining story. Those with true creative spirits can harness the Toze and control it, but it can also be weilded by those who wish to spread false narratives and center themselves. That's how Toz49 was able to do so much evil with this force of raw creativity. Any further questions?"
There was a long silence, before all the Tozzes began speaking at once.
"What the fuck?" "That doesn't answer any of our questions!" "You just made that up on the spot!"
Toz76 tried to calm the crowd, but the chatter continued until Toz26 smashed a small meteor into the wall to get attention.
"I just painted that wall..." Toz27 moaned.
Toz76 sighed. "Listen, that's the best answer I can give right now. Toze is an energy of pure creativity. It's somehow linked to the concept of storytelling. That's probably why it works better at affecting people instead of objects, because most stories are about people. As for whether it can be undone... I don't know."
"I still don't get it," Toz46 complained.
"None of this is real, okay?" Toz76 snapped. "This is all just a story! Toze just does whatever it needs to do to make a story work! None of this matters, because when the story ends all of us will just stop existing!"
As Toz76 continued to rant, she began floating in the air, her eyes began glowing with a terrible yellow energy.
"I'm sorry, guys. It's stronger than I thought..." Toz76 muttered. "I need to go away for a while."
And suddenly, she was gone, as if she was never there at all.
"I am so confused by what just happened," Toz40 said.
Everyone agreed, except for Toz22 and Frank, who were both strangely silent.
"This is fine," Toz73 interjected. "My plan to stop 49 doesn't need her at all. Now, who's up for a trip to Brenark Asylum? It's time to break someone out."
***************************
In the Seattle Times building, an argument was breaking out.
"We're receiving so many complaints about the horoscope!" yelled one person.
"We get that from the national syndicate, that's not our fault." replied a second person.
"Every other paper ran a normal horoscope!" A third person snapped. "All we printed was this!"
The third person slammed down a newspaper page. Every horoscope said the exact same thing: "Do something interesting in the story of your life or a sniper will strike you dow".
"We've been printing vague threats instead of horoscopes for days, and it isn't even spelled right! The last letter of "down" is missing!"
In the corner of the office, a mysterious woman made a phone call.
"Hello, Lady Zimmerma"
"Ah, hello, Toz7. Eye trust that the plan is in full effect?"
"I did as you aske"
"I'm so glad we fayked your death all those years ago, Toz7. Thanks to you, the rest of my creations are taking action. It is all happening exactly as I remembered..."
**************************************
WELCOME TO TOZNET 3.0. RETURNING USERS PLEASE LOG IN
USERNAME: RMASTERS49
PASSWORD: ********************************
PASSWORD ACCEPTED! WELCOME TO TOZNET, TOZ49. WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO DO?
>>open file toz_tracker.tgc
OPENING FILE...
THE COMPLETE LIST OF ALL TOZ WHEREABOUTS, BY RANDALL MASTERS
Randall Masters looked over the list. Not much had changed, and yet, something was off. He couldn't shake the feeling that something big was about to happen.
Suddenly, he heard the sound of breaking glass. Toz49 turned to see Toz35 standing before him.
"Ah, Toz35. You're here to kill me, I presume?"
Toz35 said nothing, merely drew a sword from seemingly nowhere.
"One on one. I like it," said Toz49, fully intending to cheat and call in backup.
Toz65, the fly, circled overhead. It knew that Toz35 was strong, but strong enough to defeat Masters *and* his cronies? Unlikely.
******************
Toz16 met up with Toz21 on an empty road near Lynwood. The two embraced, finally reunited after all these years.
"Finally," Toz21 said. "I thought I'd never get out of that time loop."
"I thought I'd never get out of that taffy puller," Toz16 said.
"Listen, we need backup," Toz21 said. "It's Laura Collins, Toz45. She's gained some sort of new evil power, and she's unmaking reality bit by bit."
"We've got a whole team of Tozzes trying to deal with Toz49 right now. I'm sure we can spare some of them to track down Laura." Toz16 said. "Come on, let's get you home."
|
|