Fountain Fresh

[Larfleeze]

"Nononononononononono." he muttered, scrabbling at the pure, white, empty, very, very, way too empty, surface of the ground. 

"Nononononononononononono!!" he began, his muttering becoming creening. "It should be here, it needs to be here. It. Needs. To be here!" he said, scratching at the white. His claws dug into the floor of the Nexus. "It's underneath. Someone just... poured white stuff on it. It's all there. It's just buried. That's it. We bury things all the time, right Ophidian?"

There was no answer. 

"Aah!" he cried, not used at all, to there being no answer, "Please! Don't leave me!" he cried, driving his hands further and further into the floor. Soon, he had dug a pit nearby the fountain deeper than he was tall, and was showing no signs of stopping. 

---

“My name is Omni. This is not the world you know. This is the Omniverse. You interest me, so I have made you part of it. The Omniverse is a place that reflects the wishes of those who are part of it. But! There are rules. I will explain them only once, so listen carefully.” 

Omni hands him a glimmering orb. It's beautiful, Larfleeze accepts it instantly. It's his now, and no one else can have it. 

“This is Omnilium. It’s what ties the Omniverse together. Without it, you are nothing. With it, anything you desire can be yours. But you will need more than this. If you desire it enough, you will find it. You will find that using it comes naturally. Just think of what you desire most."

Desire... most? Is that supposed to be a joke? He desires everything! How can he pick any one thing?

“You will not be alone in the Omniverse. There are others. Of course, they, too desire Omnilium. Do not fear death. For as long as you interest me, you will be reborn. "

Larfleeze fears nothing. He has no room left, for fear. He hasn't feared death for even longer than that. 

“That’s all you need to know right now. You’ll figure out the rest soon enough. I’ll be watching … and waiting.” 

---

"Where is it where is it WHERE IS IT?!" he howls. A small crowd had begun to form around his pit, now nearly five times deeper than he was tall. His claws had begun to bleed, in his desperate scrabbling. 

"Uh, sir?"

His head turns towards the one who dared to speak, a humanoid, in white armor. 

"Where is it!?"

"What are you talking about-"

"YOU STOLE IT! YOU MUST HAVE!" Larfleeze screamed, turning towards the edge of the pit and making a quick leap upwards, in a moment in front of the trooper. 

"I didn't take anything!"

"Liar! Thief!" the alien accused, before pushing the soldier over, and sitting on his chest, "You must have... or one of you must have!"

The crowd, mostly travelers, very quickly dispersed. Most people had enough common sense to be wary of colorful characters screaming in the Nexus.

"It was all here. It all used to be here, I used to have so, soooo much. And now it's all gone. Someone must have taken it!" Larfleeze explained, nearly hyperventilating, "It can't be all gone!"

"Sir, get off of me right now!"

"I've never been without it." Larfleeze whispered, horrified, "I can't even remember the time before it, and now... it's gone."

"Look, you're a Prime- just summon it back, whatever it is, and get off of me!" the stormtrooper said, moving past angry into fear. Larfleeze wasn't a light-weight, and the creature's full weight was on the armored chest. 

"Summon?"

"The Omnilium- Omni took you away from wherever you are, that's all! It's all still there, probably, you just need to... oof, summon it here, with Omnilium!"

"Omnilium..." Larfleeze whispered, "The pretty rainbow thing?"

"Yes! Yes! Now get off!"

"You want me... to use it? If I use it... my belongings will come back?"

"Sure!" the stormtrooper pleaded. 

Larfleeze took a step off of the stormtrooper, and began walking away from the fountain, away from the coughing man, away from everyone else. When he decided he was alone enough, he looked at his hands. That rainbow stuff... it was still there, he could tell. Inside him. He wanted it to come forward, and it did, responding to his desires. 

It was a lot like using the Orange Light, in a way. Taking your wants, and needs, and giving them shape according to the intensity and focus.

A good ten minutes passed, as in the alien's hands the rainbow energy swirled and pulsed. 

When he opened his eyes once more, he was greeted by hissing. He reached out in an instant, and fell over as he clutched the Orange Central Power Battery to his chest as tight as he could. The warmth of the Orange Light wafted over him, and for the first time since coming to this terrifying place, he felt safe. 

He had thought Omni crazy, to suggest there was something he could desire most. But now he understood. Without the Central Power Battery, he was nothing, owned nothing. So much of what he was and what he had was inside it. More than any other treasure, it was the most important.

"Ophidian?" he whispered. The Embodiment trapped inside the lantern hissed expectantly, and Larfleeze sighed with relief. The Orange Light was safe, it was his. "You're Mine." he whispered. 

He didn't move. 

Time passed without signal or remark within the Nexus. No lowering sun marked the nightfall, no rising moons. The wildlife of the Forbidden Forest of Weeds' did not screech in the morning. 

Larfleeze wasn't sure how long he laid there. 

"...You can't be dead. You'd have vanished by now." Larfleeze cracked one eye open, glaring at the being who dared approach him. 

"Go away! You can't have this! It's mine!" he growled, wrapping all four limbs around the Battery. 

"Is it valuable?" the man grinned, interested. 

"No! Yes! Go away!"

"Kill the bastard and take it. I think it might really be solid gold." 

"Aye-aye, Captain." another of the pirates moved closer, only to be stopped when Larfleeze whipped out with one arm; grabbing the man's chest and pulling him into, against, and through the floor of the Nexus. The other pirates watched in horror as Larfleeze ground the pirate into the floor, and then pulled his arm back, wrapping it protectively around the Battery once more. 

"...Use your pistols." the captain advised, pulling his own gun free. 

"You're thieves?" Larfleeze asked, deadly quiet. 

"Aye. Pirates, if it wasn't obvious mate."

"Oh." Larfleeze moved his hand, before plunging it into the aperture on the front of the Central Power Battery. The Battery exploded with Orange Light, and all five of the remaining people took a step back as pure greed wafted up into the air. Larfleeze closed his eyes, focusing on the sensation of the Ophidian inside. Reaching in, grabbing the snake, he began to forcefully yank the Embodiment of Avarice from its container. 

The Ophidian hissed and screeched angrily as it was pulled from its cage, the energies keeping it trapped still trying to pull it back in. 

"Shut up." Larfleeze mumbled, before bringing the Embodiment into contact with the pirate he had murdered. 

The pirates watched in horror as their dead comrades' body began to glow orange. Rising from the floor, and knitting itself back together. They watched their comrade regain his normal shape, but now, he was transparent, and glowing, and wearing a strange symbol on his clothes. 

Larfleeze let go of the Ophidian, and with an audible snap, the serpent was pulled back into its container. Hissing loudly in complaint, Larfleeze turned the Battery to face the other way, before looking at his newly-created Construct Lantern. 

"...You're not sentient, are you?" he asked, surprised. 

The Construct Lantern pirate looked back at him, the face devoid of emotion, devoid even, somehow, of greed. 

"Agh! I hate this world!" Larfleeze snarled, "First Omni steals my everything, and now when I take someone's life I only barely get the shape?! What kind of bargain goods are you selling here Omni!?" 

"You- you devil, you made him into a ghost!"

Larfleeze turned his head to the pirates, before standing up, holding the Battery under his right arm, he reached out with his left. The form of the Construct Lantern pirate coalesced, collapsing in on itself, until it took on a new shape.

The newly-forged ring floated over to his finger, slipping itself on easily. 

Larfleeze looked to the thieves, and smiled. "...I guess you guys can become the start of my new collection."

One of the pirates turned tail and ran. 

Larfleeze took a step, and lifted into the air, a golden glow surrounding him. His outfit, before a simple pale grey bodysuit, had morphed into the proper orange and black uniform of Agent Orange, the Beast of Okaara. He flew after the one who was running, before diving down on him, crashing with his full weight into the pirate. Reaching down, he pressed his Power Ring into the back of the skull of the pirate. The man screamed as orange light began to course over him. 

The others started running as well, all heading in different directions. 

Larfleeze frowned, the orange light was trying to dig into the man- take hold inside his deeper self, and take him over. But it wasn't working. The rules were different now, somehow. 

"...I guess I need to properly take your life, before I can use it for myself, huh?" he asked, before driving his claws into the man's neck. He pulled his hand free easily, and the pirate slumped over. The orange light began finally doing its proper work, converting the pirate into another Construct Lantern. 

"Follow them." Larfleeze ordered. 

The Construct Lantern pulsed gold with renewed purpose, and lifted into the air, following after his fleeing former comrades. 

"...My hoard is gone, isn't it, Ophidian?" he said to his snake.

"Hssssssss"

"You're right. You're right." Larfleeze said, "...We'll have to get started on a new one."

---

"Shit!" one of four remaining pirates screamed. The woman was running at full-tilt for a gate, any gate, to get away from the glowing orange ghost of her murdered crewmate flying after her, "I don't want to die here!" she cried, pulling her pistol as the ghost drew closer. 

She raised the gun, and fired, clipping the thing in the shoulder. To her surprise, it was pretty darn effective. She had thought it would just pass through them, but with a shattering noise, the orange ghost's arm went flying off. Not that it deterred the creature any.

She made to reload the flintlock, only for the ghost to reach her, grabbing her shoulder, the same shoulder she had shot on him. 

"Come- come on Jim, there's no need for this, there's still some of you in there, right?"

Jim the Construct Lantern said nothing, before rising into the air, its grip tight on her shoulder, the pirate went flying up with it. 

"Let! Me! Go!" she shouted, abandoning the spent pistol and pulling free a sword, before jerking it into the creature. The rest of it destabilized and shattered, and the pirate grinned in triumph, before realizing she was a good forty feet from the ground. 

---

Larfleeze watched as his Construct Lantern shattered, and sighed. "Not very strong." he said to himself, "Not as useful as they once were, I don't think... there's something wrong with them, isn't there, Ophidian?"

"Hssss"

"I think the people aren't... full people." Larfleeze said, "They're lesser, somehow. They don't have enough of that- Omnilium, stuff, inside them."

"Hss"

"I don't care how they taste." the Orange Lantern flew over to the fresh corpse of the third pirate, pressing the ring into her forehead. She too, rose and became a Construct Lantern. He raised his ring to bring the first he assimilated, Jim, back out, only to realize that he'd need at least another hour to regain structure. These were different rules than he was used to, he decided.

"...Attack the leader of the thieves!" Larfleeze commanded his new Construct Lantern, who flew off after the one who had been the first to threaten him, the captain. "I'll have to take care of the others myself."

[Larfleeze]

The Claw of Orange Light formed from the Power Ring, and swung across the blank battlefield, grabbing a fleeing pirate, and flinging the poor thief into the air. Larfleeze didn't bother with the body, yet. According to what he could sense from his Ring, Construct Lanterns followed utterly different rules, in this world. He could only create three of them at a time, and should one be destroyed, it would take an hour for him to bring out another. 

As it was, he had destroyed one to shape his Power Ring, and another had been destroyed killing Delilah. Now, Construct Lantern Delilah was the only one still kicking. Literally. He watched, with some amusement, as his zombie fiercely kicked at the pirate captain's head, knocking him over and pushing him into the ground, knocking away sword and pistol. 

There had been six pirates to begin with. He assimilated three, CL Delilah was beating one, and he had just launched one through the air... The alien quickly counted on his fingers. "That leaves just one. Now... where is he?" 

"Hsss!"

"Hm?" he turned his head, and saw the remaining pirate running for one of the gates. "Hey! You're not allowed to get away!" standing up, he winced as he lost concentration in his larger construct, the glowing orange hand of the Claw shivering, then shattering and disappearing, "Ergh! Darn it! You belong to me now thief! You're not allowed to run away!" he leaped into the air, flying after him, but was distracted by glancing back at Delilah still kicking her former captain. Turning away, he hovered above the groaning captain. "You can stop now, Construct Lantern." he ordered, and the glowing image of the pirate stopped kicking, hovering nearby, emotionless. 

"You... you killed all of them!" the captain murmured, horrified, "You turned my daughter into this- this- ghoul!" he said, gesturing wildly to the Construct that had been beating him. 

"She's a Construct Lantern now." Larfleeze said, "Just like you will be!" holding out his ring, a tendril of orange energy snaked out, before taking the man by the foot, and lifting him into the air, "Stop squirmin'!"

"Let me go! I won't become one of your filthy orange lantern-bearers! My name is Captain Thul! I would have been the scourge of Costa Del Sol, someday! How dare you, monster! I'll defy you, I'll defy you from beyond the grave!"

"Really?"

"A'course! I swear it on me life!" 

"Well, I don't need a Construct Lantern that won't do as I say." Larfleeze said. "I guess you're just going to stay dead." he slammed the captain into the floor, before going over and sniffing the body, "Now... let's see... how much you're worth." reaching out, he placed his hand on the corpse and concentrated. Soon enough, it began to break up into Omnilium, pooling into rainbow light, and flowing into him. Hovering over to the other one he had killed, he debated the worth of another Construct Lantern- he could only have three out at once, after all, and more raw Omnilium. 

"You're worth more to me... not Orange." he decided, and transformed the second into Omnilium as well. 

"Now! Time to chase the one that got away!" Larfleeze announced to no one in particular, lifting from the floor and heading for the gate. "Follow me!" he shouted back, and CL Delilah took off after him.

The gate that the last of the pirates disappeared into was one in the shape of two twisting palm trees reaching up into the sky. Larfleeze paused outside it for only a moment, before heading in. 

He had decided, after all, that the pirate was his. Nothing would stop him from claiming the man's life. Besides, he thought, it might be safer for his Battery inside. It had to be better than lying in the middle of the empty white void forever. At least on Okaara he had a Goddamn cave. 

As he pushed through the gate and into the Vasty Deeps, he smiled, realizing that he didn't much miss the cave. It was his. But it was gone, now. And... none of it was worth much, anymore, was it? Omnilium was so much more valuable than simple gold! And the most valuable, most desired treasure of his was already here, in the crook of his arm. 

Maybe the Omniverse would be a welcome change. 

He didn't need a cave to store Omnilium, after all.