Morticon and Azure Mind-Battle

Morticon and Azure mind-battled on the weekend of July 24-25. The two eager opponents decided on a whim to hold it that weekend, and went at it a few minutes later. Over the course of two days, the battle lasted seven hours.

Unlike most of Morticon’s minions’ battles of the past, this one did not have much physical fighting. Azure’s army of foxes were greeted by an inviting, peaceful field. Exploring, the foxes encountered a group of nonanthropomorphic, multicolored wallabies, who sniffed curiously at the foxes and nibbled on greens. Heading further back to find the sources of the marsupials, the foxes encountered a series of rusty cages arranged in a twisted, misshapen sort of appearance. Finding little of interest, the foxes headed even further back.

Their exploring took them to an Australian Outback type of setting, with a small, squat, long abandoned building in the middle of it all, probably something from Morticon’s twisted childhood. Entering, the foxes found desks and things in disarray and decayed, with a foxhole where an elevator underground should be. Jumping, the foxes found themselves falling forever. At some point during the fall, an extra fox appeared and tried to join the group, but the Azurefoxes were not fooled. The whole group was suddenly dumped back in the field, and went to inspect the building again. The only clue they could find was a note saying to check the cages.

Doubling back, the extra fox helped encourage others to enter the open cages, but only one other was brave enough to do it. Morticon immediately pressed his evilness into this fox, whilst the ones outside remained unaware. He released the fox, and the group returned to Azure’s core, a giant metallic-and-crystal sphere in the middle of space. The evil fox made its way deeper into the core, seeking out Azure’s very being.

Meanwhile, Morticon’s side of the battlefield turned to an inky, featureless black. Azure sent more foxes to investigate, at which point the wallaby finally made his appearance as a sort of Cheshire cat. Grinning, the wallaby informed the foxes they had already lost. As he said this, a portal opened above his head, revealing a tube. The tube originated from a dreamworld Morticon created many years ago in his lab to assist with cloning the Ainas and Soras.

As the tube emitted a bright light, several Azurefoxes slipped past into Morticon’s dream-world. Out of the tube came the evil half of Morticon’s cloned soul, and it made a beeline for the evil fox deep inside Azure’s core. The fox functioned as a tracking beacon of sorts. Once the soul arrived inside, it sought out Azure’s own soul.

In Morticon’s dream-world, the foxes were busy dismantling the very machine that created the cloned soul. They found the good half of the soul and freed it. After some playing and talking, the good soul decided it would hang around in wait. The next time Morticon entered the dream-world to repair the machine, the good part of his soul would surprise him by entering his body. The theory was that Morticon’s evil would be negated and he would be made good.

While that was going on, the cloned evil soul made its way into Azure’s instinct, and was forced to evade a giant, nonanthropomorphic fox on a chain, which represented Azure’s restraints on his instinctual desires. Plunging off the edge of the forest surrounding the instinct-fox, the evil soul had to fight its way through rampaging emotions and thoughts, many of them positive. Gathering the negative emotions into a sort of shield, the soul made its way into a bright crystal-like room, which he realized too late was a trap.

Azure’s true soul and a faux soul were waiting to do the evil in. After a brief exchange, the faux-soul-turned-knight charged at Morticon with a lance on a cheetah, who hopped right towards it in a game of chicken. At the last moment, Morticon used the innate abilities of wallabies to change his path, sidestepping the knight and leaving the real Azure open and vulnerable. The evil soul then pounced onto Azure and began to shred him apart, replacing all the goodness, kindness, and curiosity with pure evil! The knight had, meanwhile, turned around and charged for Morticon’s soul again! Piercing it with the lance, the knight left a crystal of pure hope inside, which the wallaby could could not dislodge. Rolling onto Azure, the darkness merged. Perhaps one day the crystal of hope will shine through and melt the evil away, but until then Azure appears to be a changed fox. Morticon was then pronounced the winner. The wallaby was not able to enjoy his victory, as he had collapsed in a coma. Aina and Kelketek took him home, thus ending the match.

If you ask this reporter, the game was actually a tie. With Morticon becoming good, and Azure becoming evil, both sides won.