Were they like that?
...
Suddenly, the lights in the room flashed on.
Chris: Whoa, hello.
It was a large and metallic room, about as large as a gymnasium, full of wires, weird computers, dim lighting, like an X-Files episode gone wrong.
At the center was an orb, roughly the size of a beachball. It glowed in an indefinite color...totally obtuse, like a black hole.
Lance: ...Could that be the generator Central talked about?
Justin: You think they'd really leave it unguarded like that?
JC: I don't know...Lou's many things, but he isn't stupid.
Joey: So what do we do?
Justin: Between the four of you plus my naturally superior strength, I think we can maim it pretty well.
Chris: Good to see everything back to normal with you.
Justin: I know! I feel so much more giddy and superior to everyone else again, this must be a good sign:)!
But as they approached the sphere, a voice spoke out from the orb.
"So...you have arrived. Not that it will do you any good."
JC: WHOA!
Justin: It's talking! And yet after all we've been through, we're still surprised.
"The Five Who Are One...I've always had doubts...but here you are, albeit totally powerless. Lou did his work well."
Chris: Alright, if this is some kind of joke, it isn't funny! Well, naturally, 'cause I'm not the one telling it, but still...!
"So many have tried...so few remain. It becomes a sport, it does."
Joey: What?
"You...'artists.' Not just artists, all of humanity. All of you...dreamers. You don't realize that it is your capacity to dream that makes you the easiest targets of all. You are crude and simple, your desires naked for the world to grasp, to taint. Every day another falls prey to me. And you are all too blind to understand, or you just ignore it."
Lance: What are you?
"I am The Corpulence."
Lance: You? The head of the Corpulence is this...ball?
"I am pain. I am obsolesence. I am doubt. I am absolution. I am the final stage of humanity. Your end and your destruction. The most powerful emotion. The darkest, also the most corrupt. Beyond fear, beyond shame, beyond guilt, beyond even hatred itself."
Chris: Despair.
"You humans live your lives based on ambition. Aesthetical pleasure. Satisfaction. Hunger. Your very existence is placed on the fulfulling of these ambitions. How foolish. Your ambitions, your longing for complacency, your 'dreams'...these are the very roots of hopelessness, wretchedness, self-doubt...which in turn leads to corruption. Corruption of the spirit, corruption of the soul. It is always the same."
Justin: That's not true! Lots of people go through their lives with their dreams fulfilled, they never became corrupt.
"Are you sure?"
Justin: ...!
"It's always the same. You younger ones...so adamant in your faith. So hopeful. Sooner or later, you will see. There is no absolution. There is no such thing as a fulfilled dream."
Justin: That's just your point of...you know, why the heck am I even arguing with this thing, anyway!? It's the bad guy! Can we kill it now?
But as the guys approached the orb, they felt a sudden force, and they were blasted fiercely back into the farthest corners of the room, gasping for breath. As cool as they are, at the moment the guys were still all normal people, and the Corpulence was the gathering of pure dark energy...
A door behind the Corpulence opened and Lou stepped out.
Lou: Gee, that was neat.
Chris: You!
Lou: You guys, why don't you just give up now? Sure we're the bad guys and all, but wouldn't it be so much better to work for us than against? You'd live longer, too.
JC: We'll...never...
Lou: It's your own grave you're digging. It's not like you five were so gifted in the first place, even with your name intact.
Guys: ...!
Lou: All you had was an image. An image that I helped give to you, that little girls wanted to buy. You were sugar-coated and plastic, anyone could see it. You think you fulfilled yourselves, fulfilled your dreams? You just fulfilled an image I created.
Chris: No...!
Lou: Don't you see? I made you. I made you into what you were. In the end, you're no different from any other boyband that I made. You were a product. You weren't *NSYNC. I was *NSYNC.
Infuriated, the guys tried to stand and lunge at Lou, but Lou blasted them with his own dark force and they flew back against the wall.
Lou: You're just toys.
The Corpulence, however, was apprehensive.
Corpulence: Something's wrong. I can feel it...these particular ones...they have stronger spirits than others.
Indeed, even as it spoke, to Lou's surprise the guys were getting up.
Lou: What...!?
Lance: It'll take more than that...
Corpulence: ...
The dark orb pulsed again, and Justin, Chris, Joey, Lance, and JC were once again blasted painfully to the floor. Seconds later, the were struggling to stand again.
Joey: Not...yet...
Annoyed, Lou delivered a blast of his own at them. Moments later they were back up, walking towards Lou and the orb, unconscious to their own pain.
Corpulence: ...!
Lou: What...what are you doing!? Can't you see that there's no way you can win!? What are you doing! It doesn't make any sense!
Chris: Doesn't make sense? Well...let's see...the world is being attacked by revenants. That green ball Corpulence thingie is the one maintaining the Revenants. We're trying to destroy the Corpulence so the revenants will be stopped. Makes sense to me.
Lou: You think you're smart!? I have your name! You can't do anything!
Joey: We don't need our names to be who we are.
Corpulence: ...
The dark orb began to pulse again, but this time, it's almost as if it's growing. It contorted and distorted itself, swirling in different directions, until it grew into an armored figure, huge, dark, and foreboding, a twisted and grotesque imitation of anthropian structure. A single red eye blinked furiously at them.
Guys: !!!
Corpulence: I can feel it...I can feel your shine, almost as if it never left you in the first place! You five...you really are dangerous to me. Too dangerous...I'll not take any chances. You will die NOW!!!
It thrusted its arm forwards and from its fingertips lanced missiles of pure darkness, enveloping the guys and resulting in a huge explosion.
Lou: YES! They'll never...what the...!
The guys were surrounded in a sphere of white light, unharmed. They had joined hands and created this force field all by themselves.
Corpulence: ...Interesting...!
Lou: How can this...I took your name! Your power! You're supposed to be mine! How can this be!
Justin: Dang, fat homie, you gonna give yo'selves a heart attack.
JC: We were never yours. You never even took our names...took us a while to figure that out, but we finally did. It was all in our own heads.
Chris: As long as we had our doubts about ourselvers, we could never progress, grow stronger. We were quote-unquote in despair!
Joey: But now it's different. We know us and we know what we're capable of...and we plan to use it.
Lance: Get ready to take on the real us!
Lou was getting more and more nervous, but the Corpulence looked amuzed.
Once again, the microphones appeared in the guys' hands.
JC: Alright guys...let's get *NSYNC!
Corpulence/Lou: !!!
"*NSYNC Digital Star Power, Get Down!"
Cue tunes of "Bye Bye Bye"
Billions of tiny shining stars surrounded the guys and flashed into a blinding brilliance, seeming to form one huge star. The light receded and *Justin, *Chris, *Joey, *Lance, and *JC stepped forward, still basking in the great light.
"*NSYNC is here!"
Lou: Impossible...this is impossible!
The being known as the Corpulence growled, no doubt angered, then launched a huge spear of glowing ember straight at the team.
*Justin: *NSYNC Holy Glaciation!
*Justin pointed his finger towards the heavens and a pale light glowed briefly, then shot forward in devastating frigidity, freezing all that it touched, including the spear, and exploding it in a burst of frost. Lou sceeched and dodged the exploding icicles.
Corpulence: ...Unprecedented! Not only have you regained your powers, they are even many times stronger than before. This will be interesting.
The huge armored figure pointed its tentacle-like arms and shot forth another stream of dark missiles.
*Joey: *NSYNC Apocalyptic Flare!
A large ring of fire surrounded *Joey and then separated into dozens of smaller fireballs, which grew larger, seeming to draw energy from the atmosphere itself, then at *Joey's command the fire-boulders launched themselves towards the dark missiles like meteors. The force from *Joey's attack overwhelmed the Corpulence's and even struck the creature back in burning righteousness.
Lou: ...Sire, maybe you'd better back down...
Corpulence: Never! I refuse to accept this...!
*Chris: *NSYNC Raging Dragon!
*Chris lept high into the air and unleashed from his fingertips an enormous white serpentine dragon, which swirled around and around the Corpulence repeatedly, creating a thunderous tornado where it stands.
*Corpulence: AAAARRRGH!
The raging storm picked up the creature and ripped it straight through the ceiling, depositing it outside.
*Chris: Let's go! After it!
**************************************************************
They all felt the shuddering. Some formidable power was at work, even if they couldn't tell what it was.
*Nick: ...What is that!?
*AJ: I can't tell really, it's like a clash of enormous energy.
Leighanne, who moments before was at full power, seemed to falter and waver.
Leighanne: AAARG...What's...going on!?
*Brian: ...Something's disrupting with her balance of power...!
*Kevin: The generator must have been damaged.
*Howie: ...*NSYNC?
The looked at one another in wonder.
**************************************************************
Outside the Pearlman Estate...resume tunes of "Bye Bye Bye"(Only because it's such a cool song)
The battle raged on ouside, the Corpulence hurling blast after blast of negative energy, but *NSYNC was barely fazed. The soldiers and the scouts looked on and some even tried to help their master, striking out at the *NSYNCers, but they might as well have been rabbits going after a tiger.
Coruplence: How is this possible!? Why won't you die!
*Lance: *NSYNC Titan's Grave!
*Lance once agains struck at the earth with his fists, and this time the effects were even more astounding; The very land trembled and pulsed, jutting out rocks and boulders to attack the dark creature, opening a huge gap to swallow it whole. Unfortunately it flew out barely in time before the chasm closed on itself.
Corpulence: How can this be! I am darkness! I am your doom! You can't defeat me!
*Justin: ...Yo, someone's got an extreme case o' denial.
*JC: *NSYNC Plasma Shockwave!
*JC gathered an huge bolt of lightning in his hand, feeling the force grow, then released it, forcing the lightning to dance in all directions, splitting apart all that it touched...in this case all the static energy was aimed at the Corpulence.
Corpulence: NOOOOOOO!!!
It was too much. The dark figure collapsed onto the ground, still convulsing from the shocks. Lou came from inside the mansion and stood next to it.
Corpulence: Nooo...Pearlman, help me...lend me some of your energy...
For a split second *NSYNC was sure he was gonna do just that. But to their immense astonishment Lou started to laugh.
Lou: Oh, sire, why would I want to do that?
No one was more stunned than the figure on the ground.
Corpulence: ...What...!?? I...I granted you power! I gave you all that you have! All your power, your wealth...
Lou: Yes, in exchange for access to the human world, you had to. Oh, master, you spend all your time dwelling in the sins and evils of other when you never really looked into the soul of the one closest to you.
The red eye of the Corpulence started to shake. It was afraid. The semblance of pure despair was afraid.
Corpulence: ...but...
Lou: Don't forget, it was I who summoned you into the corporeal worl, I who gave you your form...and now I guess I should take it back.
The great dark figure tried in vain to escape.
Corpulence: NO!...Lou, I command you, stay away...!
But the fat man stretched his hands to the Corpulence, and before the quintet's horrified eyes, the Corpulence melted and was absorbed into Lou...they seemed to meld and become one. In moments the Corpulence was no more...but Lou became a cross between his old self and the twisted form that it once took on. They could feel the darkness pulsing from his, far greater than even the Corpulence could emanate.
*Justin: Okay, all together now: Ewww.
*Chris: Before we get back to being serious, I have to say that I would not have thought it possible for Lou to become even more disgusting than he already is, I guess I was wrong. Dang.
*Joey: First Lou double-crosses us and takes our name, then he double-crosses his own master and takes his power...and yet I'm still surprised...
The being that was Lou cackled once then sent a house-sized ball of black flame straight at the guys, who blocked it with their auras, but just barely.
*Lance: Guys, he's fat...I mean immense! He's so much stronger...this battle's far from over.
*JC: Well we're not about to go down like this; Let's show this guy what we can do!
Chapter 10: "No Strings Attached"
(This is it...)
