Xeonphon, eat your heart out

[SkyeFire]

(This one's been bouncing around in my head for a while. It kept insisting on coming out as a story fragment, which promptly ballooned out of control. So I snipped out just the relevant bit, pasted here)
Thats not going to happen, Akio, she said flatly. One way or another, this obscene dance of yours *ends.* *Here.* She gave him the kind of smile that would have had a sensible man running for cover. Are you ready?
Oh, if we *must,* Ohtori sighed again. Come, then, if you insist. I will indulge you your childish, futile need for another duel. That is, he added condescendingly, if you can make it past my servants the Million Swords.
The air vibrated, and from the castle overhead a sudden dark cloud emerged, boiling towards us like a biblical plague of locusts.
My turn.
I reached up and pulled down my goggles, drawing Ohtoris eye. Well then, I called in my best Loony Voice, Ill see your Million Swords, and raise you my (system play) TEN THOUSAND FISTS!
From Ohtoris perspective, it must have looked as if our entire end of the platform had exploded in a giant burst of smoke from which Utena erupted a moment later, surrounded by me. *Lots* of me. If I ever make it back to Konoha, Im going to have to thank Naruto for inspiring this particular song power.
The Million Swords descended on us, blocking out the well, not the *sun,* but we were definitely fighting in the shade now.
SONG: Ten Thousand Fists
BAND: Disturbed
ALBUM: Ten Thousand Fists
Power: Imagine Narutos Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, Doug-style. No ones entirely certain if the song is limited to only ten thousand total clones (some suggest five thousand, given Dougs subconsciouss sense of humor and the fact that each clone has two fists), since the clones only appear within his metagifts normal effective radius, which is insufficient space for so many normally-sized males. Instead, the song produces as many clones as Doug wants, or has strength to maintain, up to the 30-meter volume limit, continuously replacing terminated clones.
The clones themselves are relatively fragile and disposable, although they usually take more than a single normal knockout punch to terminate. By reducing the number of clones and expending more energy and concentration, Doug can create clones that are more solid and capable of taking damage, as well as dishing it out. To most sensory systems, including mage-sight, the clones are hard to distinguish from Doug himself, and this difficulty scales directly with the solidity of any given clone.
Each clone carries a diminished variant of Dougs personal Improbability Field, which varies in strength with the amount of effort Doug is putting into maintaining each clone. At maximum solidity, a clones IF can achieve parity with Dougs.
Personality-wise, the clones can be well, theyre *Doug.* While arguments about whos the original vs whos the clone are rare, the clones *can* be argumentative, fractious, and downright loose cannon (Just like their dad, Hexe has been known to snark) at times. The more solid a clone is, the more likely it is to act as its own person. Serious combat situations tend to reduce this tendency towards excessive individuality, but there is always an element of unpredictability.
No one knows if Doug has ever been able to henge his clones, or duplicate the (in)famous Harem no Jutsu of the Rodaime Hokage. However, at least one enemy on the receiving end of this song-power has been reported as requiring intense psychological therapy, including tranquilizers, after being carried off the battlefield in a fetal position babbling unstoppably about too many Loons.

Survival
Survival
One More G*dd*mn Day
When I know what I want
And what I want will be considered tonight
Considered tonight
Just Another Day
When all that I want will
Mark me as a sinner tonight
I'm a sinner tonight
Yeah
People can no longer cover their eyes
If this disturbs you
Then walk away
You will remember
The night you were struck by the sight of
Ten Thousand Fists In The Air
Power unrestrained
Dead on the mark
Is what we will deliver tonight
Deliver tonight
Pleasure fused with pain
This triumph of the soul
Will make you shiver tonight
Make you shiver tonight
Yeah
People can no longer cover their eyes
If this disturbs you
Then walk away
You will remember
The night you were struck by the sight of
Ten Thousand Fists In The Air
We are the ones that will open your mind
Leave the weak and the haunted behind (x4)
People can no longer cover their eyes
If this disturbs you
Then walk away
You will remember
The night you were struck by the sight of
Ten Thousand Fists In The Air

[itsune9tl]

---

No ones entirely certain if the song is limited to only ten thousand total clones (some suggest five thousand, given Dougs subconsciouss sense of humor and the fact that each clone has two fists)

---

---

The night you were struck by the sight of
Ten Thousand Fists In The Air

---

Ten thousand clones. Subconscious thought is that the 10,000 people are holding only one fist in the air each, in salute like an army, or as if at a rally or demonstration.
The AOE is spread out, as each of the clones has it's own "Field", as long as the clones stay with in range of doug's or another clone's AOE.
Talk about your Army of One...

[SkyeFire]

The "one fist per clone" thing might only apply if Doug saw the album cover art. All in all, it seemed simplest to leave that part rather vague.
As for making ten thousand clones that 'daisy chain' the AOE... I really toyed with that idea, but it seemed to go way too munchkin, way too fast. I mean, do you *realize* how much square meterage ten thousand clones could cover if each had an effective radius of ~30m? Even if we cut that in half to assume that each clone has to be within another clone's AOE, that's still... fudging for overlap losses, I'd say around 5 *million* square meters. That's a *solid square* of Dougs roughly 2.2km on a side.
(Wow. I think Hexe just passed out.)

[itsune9tl]

---

That's a *solid square* of Dougs roughly 2.2km on a side.

---

Talk about your army of one.
Yes and their all tied into Doug's mana pool, and loosely at least to his brain. So not only is Doug going to suffer from mana burnout, when the song is done, from making all those clones, he is also going to feel the burrn form all of the other songs that his clones decide to play. He also has to deal with the memories, from the reintegration of all those seperate viewpoints.

---

(Wow. I think Hexe just passed out.)

---

I imagine his wife would be freaking out as well.

[DHBirr]

---

I imagine his wife would be freaking out as well.

---

I brought this line up once before, in a different context, but...
"Do you suppose our wife will agree that you can't have too much of a good thing?"
-- All These Earths, F.M. Busby
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Big Brother is watching you.  And damn, you are so bloody BORING.

[Bob Schroeck]

Okay, while the scene sadly won't work in its context -- I have a radically different interpretation of the Million Swords -- there is both giggle and combat value to this song. Rather than go for the square-mile-plus of solid Doug, I think I'd rather limit it to his normal area of effect. And I think I'd like to expand on an idea -- that Doug can trade off numbers for durability, all the way down to a single clone who might well be several times tougher than Doug himself is...

-- Bob
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The Internet Is For Norns.