X-DREAMERS [IC - BASE]

[TehUltimateMage]

Pascal - Gateway

 

Cistina had apparently found it too boring to wait around and had begun to jog around the stones. Pascal waited for a couple more seconds, and given that nothing was happening or going to happen, the young woman skipped across the gate to examine each of the rocks again. Then, she circled back to the small stone platform she had installed weeks ago among the flowers. At the time she ripped out part of the meadow to make space for the platform, however the land was already reclaiming the area by growing vines with white flowers onto it.

 

Pascal felt along the surface of the step for a switch and hit it with the tip of her fingers. With a soft whrr a holographic interface appeared, no bigger than an arms' length across. It was no secret to other XDRS agents, who would have seen it any time they were to be send off-world, but it would have been hard to access the warp terminal when there were ten people and two mechas yelling at the same time in the circle and the gate decided to drop two other bodies just as she was about to settle down. Part of her wanted Cistina to deal with it. On the other hand, she had already jumped to her feet.

 

Pascal bounced over behind Evonna, the girl with hair the shade of caramel. "Welcome to the Gateway!" she shouted. "You could have just died in a cross-dimensional ripple but instead we saved you by getting you here!"

 

The terminal Pascal left open at the gateway let out a series of alarmed beeps. The young woman turned her attention to it momentarily to see a flash of light and two familiar agents appear.

 

Stan - Gateway
 
Stan appeared sightly off the ground, his momentum still carrying him forward and making him tumble into the flowered field. He could hear his heart -- that was a thing that hadn't been replaced yet -- his real heart pounding in his ears, and every gasp of air was a blessing. The adrenaline still coursed through his veins and made the fingers of his fleshed hand stiffen around the old cell phone he held. Thank god that old Nokia pulled through again. It never ceased to amaze him. It was an antique, by all means, but it was a heirloom and it worked and through a little tinkering it had been given new life as a handheld teleporter, which meant that it worked. He didn't believe Pascal at first, but that lady was something, alright.

 

It took him a couple minutes to catch enough breaths to speak, even if all he wanted to do was lay on the ground and sink into the earth with his nose in the flowers. The air here was so fresh. It would take at least a few days for his body to clear out the ash from his nostrils. If someone had simply told him about the world he had just visited, he would have never believed that humans would have been able to survive under those kinds of conditions where the ground was blanketed with soot, like piles of black snow. And the powers they had... It was a good thing he couldn't feel any of the breaks in his mechanical arm. He'd have to get himself a major fix after that fight against... those things. They were strange men who had pierced their own eyes and yet could still see, and their similes looked like they stretched ear to ear, erasing any trace of humanity from that face. It gave him nightmares just thinking about it.

 

“I’m getting... too old for this,” Stan huffed between gasps. Despite barely being twenty-seven, he could feel his youth slipping away when comparing himself to all these fantastical children (including the thousand-year-old dragon). Right now, the ground was still a good place to be.

 

 

Edited September 20, 2017 by TehUltimateMage

[Mikasa361]

 

~Edward~

 

Edward had to admit, he’d had much more graceful landings. He also had to admit that he’d had worse. Either way, the pain in his abdomen and his lack of breath said that he wasn’t going to be able to move for a minute. Taking a quick look around, he noticed that this place was completely unfamiliar. How he got here was all the more odd, because when he blacked out he was eating his dinner and having a shouting match with Granny Pinako over their heights, yet again. He was sure that the food he was having was safe... 

 

He saw some people walking around the ring of stones like they knew the place, so once he felt okay enough to get up, he stood up and started walking to them. "Yo, do you know where I am?"

 

 

Edited September 25, 2017 by Mikasa361

[skwerl56767]

   Typheus plodded on, found himself in another dead end, turned the corner, turned another corner, went forward... found that he went backwards? He was looking at Twilight and the red-haired girl, the wall behind them splotched with paint. Fiddlesticks and the boy with headphones were just now passing through the area, the former shooting the paint a grateful look. Yeah, that's where he came from... okay. He turned around and continued back down the invisible corridor, bumping into the wall when Fiddlesticks pushed past him. He let her go ahead to find the walls before he did.

   They turned a corner, then turned another corner, then both turned right; except Typheus second-guessed following his partner and turned around, finding that it opened up left as well. The one boy that had startled Fiddlesticks earlier with his key-sword was proceeding confidently down that corridor, a strange disturbance like wind around him and making the walls glow subtly. Not a bad tactic... he followed, treading carefully so he wouldn't alarm the boy with heavy footsteps, and mused to himself about the boy's question to Duke.

 

   Fiddlesticks, on the other hand unknowingly followed in Twilight's footsteps, and just rounded back to the beginning. As soon as the walls hinted at the loop she paused at the corner, ears flaring in annoyance. Of course she would be the one to fall for the stupid loop...!

   "Alright losers," Nata's voice suddenly projected itself throughout the hall, making her twitch, "I saw that little magic trick one of you just did. Do you lot think I won't kill you if you try anything?"

   Magic trick? Typheus thought in surprise, looking back at Nata. Fiddlesticks shot the blue-haired boy a venomous look at the threat, tensing up for accusations and a fight.

   I'd like to see him try! she thought angrily, switching the glare onto the others still at the beginning. She might be stuck in the stupid maze right now, but rounding the corner was all she needed to lock a missile onto Nata should he try anything funny. "Magic trick"! What was he pulling?!

   Nata had pulled out one of those short blades of his again and was twirling it, ready to finish his threat, but there was suddenly a bright burst of light beside him! Fiddlesticks recoiled and shut her blast shield with startled binary, turrets raised automatically in defense. There were surprised shouts in front of her. Typheus halted mid-step at the flash, cameras frantically readjusting, but only jumped to the ready when there was a sudden roar - if you could call it that!

   He unsheathed his micro-edged blades, pointing them down the corridor even though the walls kept him safe. While he exclaimed with deeper binary Fiddlesticks backed into the wall, eye opened and staring at this... thing in front of her! It was some kind of avian that was pure white and had reptilian attributes, a mixture of fur and feathers covering its body, and its tail looked more like a turbine then a fleshy appendage! She tried backing up further to distance herself, but the invisible walls were complicating things!

 

   The beast reared, then spat out a blue laser from its jaws, straight at the barrier in front of it. The projectile screamed through the air, then bounced off the barrier! The alarm spiked as it hit another wall, bounced off it, then crashed along a far corridor, ricocheting all through the maze. Typheus backed up with an alarmed beep as it shot past him, bounced off the corner, flew over Fiddlesticks - making her appropriately flatten out on the ground - bounced off another corner, nearly hit the dragon as it cried out in surprise, bounced back around, then finally struck a low point just to fly right up into the ceiling! There was an immense crash, huge chunks of debris, dust, and shards of marble tile raining down. Typheus dashed into a nearby corridor, not caring that it was an immediate dead end, huddling in the rightmost corner to avoid falling rock.

   There was a shocked pause. Fiddlesticks looked up from her position. There was another burst of light from the strange white beast, and it... disappeared? The white boy with slitted eyes was in its place!

   “For Pete’s—What part of don’t attack the walls don’t any of you idiots understand?" Nata was the first to recover, immediately reprimanding everyone. He whipped around at the boy first, "Hey you, manakete or whatever you are, could you not try to blow up the building? If this place comes crashing down you’ll kill yourself and everyone else here.”

   "Manakete"? both machines wondered, with Typheus additionally glancing at his partner in curiosity if she caught the last part. Nata switched his glare onto everyone else.

   “Same goes for all of you! Stop breaking stuff! I don’t care how strong you think you are; we’re stronger. If I see any of you pull some stunt like that, we can restrain you. Don’t make this harder than it already is.” He gestured angrily at the new hole in the ceiling.

 

   Fiddlesticks's ears twitched at the claim, not taking it as seriously as she should have, and she looked up at the hole. The maze was annoying her, and she couldn't just break her way through... She looked up at the stairs Duke was perched on, searching for any doors. There weren't any on the landing, but there were two beneath the stairs...

   She stood up, watching Typheus cautiously come out of the corner, studying the debris. She scanned her way back toward him, fixating her gaze on the hole, and her partner looked up at her. He had a pretty good idea of what she was thinking, but he was thinking ahead: if Duke was smart, she would just embarrass herself again.

   He turned away in disinterest, going back to his original position further down the corridor where the key-sword boy was. He gave her final glance to see if she was going to do it... yup.

   Fiddlesticks crouched down low to the floor, a subtle hissing sound coming from her legs as she coiled up the pistons. There was a pause as she verified her trajectory. Then she jumped!

   Two clunks released at the ejection, and she flew threw the hole, completely overestimating the distance! There was an additional thud as she hit her head on the second-floor's ceiling and landed awkwardly outside the hole. Typheus rolled his eye and proceeded, keeping to the right of the boy and out of distance of the gusts around him.

 

   Fiddlesticks picked herself up and immediately scanned her surroundings: an empty room. Probably a good thing, considering the last time she jumped up a floor... She turned and saw a door in the wall, and walked over to it. It was a bit small, but it would do! She opened her retrieval panel and brought out the smaller arms, gripped the handle, and opened it.

   A hallway! Ahah! She could flank Duke if she found her way to him the convenient way! She crouched as low as she could go and squirmed through the frame, just as she learned from being with the human scientists, and found it was easier with the wider doors here. She then stood up in the hall happily and trotted down it, taking an educated guess at where she was going.

Edited September 23, 2017 by skwerl56767

[Pyrowings]

Cistina ~ Gateway

On her 10th lap or so, the air around the tops of the stones seemed to distort again. Cistina slowed herself down before stopping and watched as a girl with something in her hair fell in a sitting position and landed on her rear, followed closely by a blonde boy in a red jacket a ways off. At least neither of them landed on the stone platform. Pascal was messing with the teleportation chart-screen when the two popped up, and for a moment Pascal didn't seem like she was going to do anything. But she looked up, hopped over, and gave a cheerful introduction to the girl, though the girl looked even more annoyed when Pascal did. Hopefully she wouldn't just lash out and would listen to them, no matter how hard to swallow their news might be. I remember thinking like I fell inside the pages of a storybook. I wonder if she likes reading? It might be an easier way to take all this in with that analogy.

 

A few clanks and rustles came from the boy's direction. Cistina looked over and saw that he seemed to have recovered and was currently heading in their direction. When he got close enough, he called out: "Yo, do you know where I am?"

 

"Welcome to the Extra-Dimensional Restoration Squads' base world," Cistina explained, then elaborated with "Ours is an order dedicated to restoring various anomalies in the fabric of the many universes, and you are here because you fell into one of them," Cistina thought for a moment, then added. "Consider this world a crossroad of sorts"

A series of shrill sounds from the Gate made her turn around in time to see two familiar faces appear: a grizzled man and a fox-esque creature with artificial parts, both also looking worst for the wear. The fake eye Xker used was flashing a dead yellow and Stan had collapsed. "Excuse me," Cistina said with a hurried bow to the boy in front of her, then spun around and flew to the two weary agents.

 

"Stan! Xker! How badly are you injured? Should I fly to base to get anything?" 

[DuskOfTheStars]

Xker stumbled onto the earth, mechanical limb twitching from the damage. "Ghh."  One eye - the mechanical eye - was out, and Xker could only see out of aer right eye. Yet the Volt could feel the agent just to aer left as the duo landed back at base. "Damn good thing Stan had that - Cistina?" The Volt's ears pricked body still tense and gun still warm and glowing from battling those... things that pulled on metal - flesh was not supposed to be magnetic last aer checked - and saw with put-out eyes. That was certainly... a trip. The agent whose name Xker had saud was coming, and then asking a question.

 

"Me? Got a bit roughed up." Xker growled. "Probably would be nice if someone not Gladekeeper could look at us, and I think we'll need metal repairs - my bionic limb's damaged, Stan's are I think, and my right eye's not working. Damn monsters are magnetic or something like it, and vicious too. So maybe see which healers are at base right now...." Xker's good eye caught sight of Pascal. "Wonder if Pascal'd be willing to consider taking a look once the rookie's done talking."

[greenglassesgal]

Neku - XDRS Front Hall

Neku had just caught up with Twilight when one of the mechs came plodding behind him. It didn't seem to need to touch the wall--perhaps it had some sort of futuristic scanning function. In any case, he kept to the side and let the mech pass him. With a body practically made of weapons, he figured it was best not to get on its bad side.

 

Speaking of scanning... A niggling gut instinct drew his attention to his pocket: specifically, its contents. After the Game had ended, Neku often kept pins on him out of habit, even though they were useless for everything but impromptu games of Tin Pin Slammer. He was in the RG, after all, and shouldn't have access to the abilities the UG granted him. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that things were different now.

 

He scooped the pins out of his pocket, noting with mild confusion that whatever pins he had before were now replaced with his starter deck. That mystery could wait, however; there were more pressing things on his mind. Plucking out his old Player pin, he closed his eyes, lightly touching a hand to the side of his headphones.

 

Focus.

 

A thrum sounded as his scan activated, soon fading into the familiar layered radio chatter of multiple thought fragments going on at once. So it does work! he thought, tuning his awareness so as to not be mentally deafened by all the voices around him. Unfortunately, just like Reaper walls, Duke's barriers still remained invisible. As he tried to sift through some thoughts, an odd something drew his attention to Duke. It was like Noise, discordant and staticky and blocking out his thoughts, yet not quite the same. 

 

"Alright losers," called Nata, bringing Neku's focus back to reality. "I saw that little magic trick one of you just did. Do you lot think I won’t kill you if you try anything?"

 

Guess he picked up on it too? Magic trick or not, I don't like the look of those blades...

 

Before Nata could make any attempt on anyone's life, a bright white light shone from the other white-haired person in the room, transforming them into some kind of white downy dragon. With a loud snarl, it reared back its head and fired a blue laser directly at the barrier in front of it. One blink later and the laser shot was careening all around the maze, forcing Neku to duck out of the way before it shot straight up towards the ceiling, blasting a hole through it. He stared at it for a while in shock, before glancing back to the dragon, who was human once more.

 

It wasn't long before Nata started shouting again, and he couldn't help but facepalm once more. He just wanted to get over with this--without dying, thank you very much. As luck would have it, the walls of the maze shimmered with blue light, before shattering into pieces.

 

Listening to Duke's monologue, Neku could only think of how much he wanted to punch the guy.

 

[ValidEmotions]

Yusei | XDRS Castle Hallways

 

"Hush?" he repeated, watching the creature. "You don't look like any monster I've encountered before and, usually, your stats would show up by now. Maybe you're not a Duel Monster. Then, what exactly are you?" Yusei asked. Motioning to the creature, he started to turn back the way he had come. "Come on, follow me. Let's get you settled in while we talk. I'll have to inform Twilight about your appearance but, I don't think she'll mind as long as you behave. If you need something to play with, though, I can make something to keep you busy," he explained.

 

Sora | XDRS Front Hall

 

Ducking as something ricochetted off the unseen barriers, Sora flinched when the ceiling suddenly had a new entrance. The bronze Guard Armor leapt and disappeared through the jagged opening, landing who-knew-where. Its silver friend, however, remained in the maze. Glancing back towards Duke, he watched as the blonde seemed to have a bad reaction to all of the damage caused. Then, suddenly, the barriers were gone and the boy was monologuing (again). 

 

Sora's Aero spell ended and his grip tightened on the hilt of his Keyblade. "Hey..." he started, feet propelling him into motion. "Where are Riku and Kairi?" he shouted, bringing his weapon back to prepare an attack.

 

Something slammed into him from the side, causing him to grunt from the impact and hit the ground hard. "Wha-!" His Keyblade slid along the tiled floor before disappearing in sparks of light as his arms were roughly pulled against his back and his wrists bound by something. "H-Hey! What are you doing? Stop!" he shouted as Nata brandished a blade in his face, sparks of purple electricity threatening to strike. "He's part of Organization 13! They're bad guys! And he knows where my friends are!" Sora hollered, wide-eyed.

 

He struggled against the older boy's hold until he eventually gave up, body going limp and head resting against the floor.

 

Circuitraider | Gateway

 

Something wasn't right. 

 

Pressing her back against the building, she lifted her left arm. Instantly, gears spun, plates shifted, and wires twisted until her forearm was replaced with a plasma rifle, a scope perched for her to peer through. Holding the weapon close, she listened first, trying to pick out where her target hid. Barricade had been spotted and engaged by Bumblebee in the Decepticon's pursuit of the Boy. 

 

And yet, she couldn't locate him.

 

Lunging out from behind her cover, she brought her rifle up and aimed at... nothing. Frowning, her combat mask slid away from her face, retreating into her helmet as her forearm returned to normal. Lowering her arm, she glanced about her, sunlight glinting off the dark violet paint of her armor. Once more, gears spun and armor shifted as her bipedal form changed. Within moments, four wheels spun along the street, the Cybertronian replaced with a Lotus Evora that sped down the roads. 

 

"Bumblebee, do you read?" There was no response. 

 

Drifting around a sharp corner, Circuitraider slammed her brakes. Rubber no longer touched black tar. Instead, her tires tore up grass and flowers as she maneuvered around a stone object. Transforming again with a grunt, she pushed off the ground to leap over a stone pillar in an attempt to avoid collision. Landing on her feet, she stumbled back two steps and brought up her rifle, flicking her gaze to and fro as she took in her abruptly-changed surroundings.

 

What she saw surprised her. "Humans?" she questioned, pale blue optics staring at the handful gathered within the circle of stone pillars. Growling faintly with annoyance, she disarmed herself and folded her arms across her chest plate. "Which pile of tin space jumped me here?" she scowled, directing the question more towards the air than the humans as she doubted they would know what she even meant.

 

Looking around for another study of the new area, she continued to frown. "This isn't Earth... Where am I?" Circuitrader inquired.

Edited September 24, 2017 by ValidEmotions
Removed paragraph fonts

[Kiran]

Natsuki [ XDREs Base, Library Entrance ] [ Original Work ] 

 

"Fine, thanks," they said, trying very hard to avoid wincing. It didn't work, but they at least managed to hold back a groan of pain. "I'll survive, anyway. Always do." They looked down at the floor and poked a ball bearing with the tip of their foot; it rolled a short distance before stopped. There were dozens of the things scattered over the floor, and Natsuki wouldn't have been surprised to find more in other places. Usually Duke at least tried to keep his pranks safe, but he didn't seem to be good at thinking things through and he probably somehow forgot that stone floors and skulls didn't mix well. For a moment they considered picking them up by hand, but it would take too long and they were likely to miss some. "We'll have to find a broom, there should be one-" they started, before stopping, narrowing their eyes, and cocking their head slightly to the side. Some kind of loud rumbling had interrupted them, the noise conducting easily through the stone of the castle, but it didn't sound close. "Did you hear that?" they asked, tensing and listening for anything more. 

 

Jowan [ XDREs Base, Main Entrance ] [ Dragon Age: Origins ] 

 

Jowan shivered and trying to avert his eyes when the lighter golem seemed to look at him with its singular, glowing eye, but found himself unable to avert his gaze. It was just so alien; even the metal it was made out of didn't seem to reflect the light the way it should, it was far too complex, and weren't golems supposed to be made out of stone? Fortunately for him, Typheus seemed more interested in getting through the maze than starting a staring contest. 

 

He didn't doubt the pride demon for a moment when he said that he would kill them for attacking Duke, and once again felt that he had made a terrible mistake. It seemed to be a theme for his life. On the bright side, Nata apparently didn't know whom had cast the spell, and he intended to keep it that way. When Nata's gaze passed over him he tried to keep his face blank (or at least however it had been before- he was pretty sure that his expression was some combination of confused, terrified, and 'please get me to a doctor'), but he couldn't help the way his eyes flicked to the sides. 

 

The good news was that Nata couldn't murder him while throwing himself to the floor. The bad news was that he only did that because one white haired boy, whom has seemed almost normal and unassuming among all of the chaos, had turned into something fluffy, large, and completely unrecognizable before firing off some form of magical attack. Jowan fully admitted to letting out a shriek, because whatever anyone said, screaming like a small girl was an appropriate response to shapeshifters destroying stone ceilings with weird blue lights. 

 

Surprisingly enough, Nata didn't end up stabbing the... manakete (he'd never heard of such a thing, though it would make sense if a demon knew more about certain things than he did), despite his earlier threats. Jowan let out a huff of annoyance- so a casting a minor spell was a crime worthy of death threats, but nearly killing everyone in the room wasn't? It was a silly thing to get annoyed with, given the situation, but it bothered him all the same. 

 

He blinked at Duke's words. That... hadn't been what he had been expecting. He had no idea how to respond to that, either, and said, "Jowan," before even thinking. Giving out his name wasn't the best idea, but he supposed that if it kept him from being called 'Mr. Tall and Brooding and Chained' again things could be worse. That, and the 'masochist' comment convinced him more than anything else that he shouldn't have torn open his arm. Someone tried to attack Duke (and honestly, he would have been tempted to take Sora's side if he wasn't so against the idea of being killed with knives and purple lightning- at the very least, Duke deserved to be punched), but Nata stopped the attack before there could be any further violence. Jowan rubbed his temples in an attempt to stave off his building headache, accidentally smearing blood on them in the process. 

[Mikasa361]

~Evonna~

"Welcome to the Gateway! You could have just died in a cross-dimensional ripple but instead we saved you by getting you here!"

 

Evonna let out a few choice words in French, startled by this newcomer who took her out of her stupor. She whipped around, ready to deliver a forceful punch to the face, when she stopped. “Mer--- What the HELL???” In front of her was a young woman with… WHITE HAIR? Damn… I thought I saw some strange colors at the Academy… But white hair is just plain weird. And I think this is her natural color… WHY? And did she have to SCARE ME? Her glare was pretty obviously skewed by confusion.

 

“Where… Am I? What kind of jacked-up place is this?”

 

~Edward~

 

"Welcome to the Extra-Dimensional Restoration Squads' base world," A young woman came to answer his question,  "Ours is an order dedicated to restoring various anomalies in the fabric of the many universes, and you are here because you fell into one of them," She paused, then continued her spiel with, "Consider this world a crossroad of sorts." The two heard some screeching noises, and the woman turned around. "Excuse me," was the last thing she said before she left him in his confusion.

 

Edward shook his head. “What the HELL was she talking about?’ This place is strange… I don’t get it, what is it? Where am I?

 

He decided to walk toward the girl with the white hair, so see if maybe he could get any more than just some random babble.

 

~Lara~

 

Lara noticed the pot on the stove and sighed. Bloody insolent children, refusing to watch over an open flame. She strode over and turned it off, then skulked over to the doorway. Perhaps I can go to the library... I'm in need of a good book today. She casually walked towards the main hall, then froze.

 

WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE THESE PEOPLE DOING?

Edited October 1, 2017 by Mikasa361
y'all are a pain about the font I use. :p

[Coryn02]

((Sorry, Badu and Audrey will have to wait until the morning.))

 

Hush, Child of Void - XDRS Base Castle Hallways

 

At the question 'what are you', Hush stopped what it was doing and stared at Yusei for a moment, before then re-orienting itself properly. The creature particularly liked the idea of having something to play with, but had second thoughts.

 

When the man started walking down the hallway, Hush followed after him, with the strange unsteady gait that characterized his kind.

 

I should try to explain before I get to play again.

 

"Not a monster. My kind are pale ones. Used to be whole, now empty. We remember, and try to become whole again."

 

Hush's attempt at explanation was halting, and only conveyed part of the truth. It racked its head for a moment, finding it difficult to descrive, before getting an idea that might help.

 

"Pen and paper?" Hush floated up to Yusei inquisitively, hoping maybe he could take them to something he could draw on. A notepad, or perhaps a chalkboard.

[TehUltimateMage]

Stan - Gateway

 

"Oh my God, is that a car that can turn into a robot?!" Stan shouted, pointing a finger and forgetting the other thing he was about to say to Cistina.

 

"Oh my gosh, it's a robot that can turn into a car!" Pascal answered, absolutely giddy.

 

"Ahem," With that out of the way, Stan cleared his throat and regained his composure. He was able to sit up now. "Might not hurt to get checked up on, but looks like our injuries are mostly on the mechanical side." He squeezed his eyes shut to fight a slight dizzy spell. "Xker's right, metal limbs and magnets don't get along."

 

He had a feeling, however, that it wasn't magnet magic, considering that his electronics were all still fine. "I gotta report back to Twilight, cause I got good news and bad news. She'd be interested to know what we found out." Without asking whether Cistina and Pascal wanted to hear the good news first or the bad news first, he went on, "Good news: we think we know where the distortion is and it's a lost anchor; bad news: there's some locals who don't want us poking around."

 

Pascal - Gateway

 

The most interesting part of gate duty was by far the people who came along, and even after the big burst from the ripple earlier there were still a good amount of people showing up! Three to be exact. A good number, all three who gave slightly different flavors of the same 'where are we', ranking up there with the usual 'who are you' and the 'what did you do'. She responded to Evonna's dark expression and series of curse words by putting her hands behind her head and rocking on her feet in a relaxed fashion. That other kid who approached was almost just as pissed off as her. Pascal's eyes, however, darted every few moments at the car-turned robot.

 

Today was a good day. She just needed to quickly get off guard duty so she could fix up Xker and take a closer look at all these new mecha.

 

"Hi, I'm Pascal, and this," gesturing to the circle of rocks and the stone platform with a large sweep of her arm, "is the Gateway! Not to be confused with the name of this planet itself, which is also called Gateway, or Gateway to the Starry Skies if you want a mouthful. We're part of a cross-dimensional rescue squad and don't worry, you're not the only new people today! So basically..." Pascal paused for effect, "You're not on your home planet anymore!"

 

"That's Cistina, and that's Stan, and Xker, spelled with an X and a K," she added, introducing the agents on the scene by pointing to them in turn. Stan made a motion with his good hand, which Pascal interpreted as a hello wave.

[skwerl56767]

   [XDRS Main Hall]

 

   Duke was looking less and less comfortable by the minute. "Not my fault," he said in reference to the laser, grimacing at the new scars burned into the walls, making them glow clearly. Typheus shot a glance behind him at the perpetrator, but said nothing. The master of the game then straightened up and cast his eyes around the room, watching the walls as they all suddenly came alive with blue, crisscrossing with fractals and finally shattering harmlessly to the ground. The machine shifted uneasily at the sight. Nice to know he has that kind of power...

   "Well done," Duke congratulated. "You've helped test my hypothesis that challenging newcomers to a battle in headquarters is usually a bad idea. So now that that's done and over with, can we forget the whole 'who are you, I'm going to try and murder you' deal and work on the 'hey Duke, you're so wonderful and original with your ideas, can we be friends' issue?" he proposed. For a moment Typheus wanted to simply roll his eye in exasperation, remembering a few similar moments from his past that thankfully helped him shrug it off, but a few laughs escaped at the last comment. He knew he was bringing attention to himself, not restraining them, but it was honestly cute how naive that human was about the animosity he stirred up; or perhaps he was just trying to be optimistic?

 

   Duke continued down the stairs, continuing his speech by including the robed human in it and mentioning masochism. The word brought a few teasing remarks out of Typheus's memories, and he suddenly straightened up with a start: the barriers! Did Duke take all of them down? Surely he would safeguard the doors, right?

   He swiveled and looked up at the hole Fiddlesticks had disappeared through, both wanting to call her and second-guessing opening his emitters again; chances were good the stone would just bounce the signal back at him, even if he tried to aim it through the hole. He was pretty sure Duke wouldn't appreciate being pounced on by 2000 pounds of metal, and there's no point in agitating Nata or Twilight (with that thought, he took a few steps back when Nata abruptly flung himself onto the key-sword boy, who was still challenging Duke)... He deducted from experience that it would be best to move in closer.

   Typheus walked past the struggle, casually catching the robed man's correction about the nickname, and looking at the struggling boy as his sword vanished into light. The latter was talking about a strange organization, that Duke was part of... the X-Dreamers? Organization 13? They had his friends? Evidence-collection programming kicked in, and immediately Typheus's suspicions spiked. He turned to Duke as he came to a stop down the stairs, looking him up and down. So far, Twilight and Nata were the only ones here who knew Duke, and the boy's claims were so confident it was hard to disregard them; at the same time, he had also been standing, confused, within that circle of stones, so he must also be a stranger? No one else seemed to have a better idea of what was going on more than he did, which made their claims less credible. Which begs the question: what did the boy know about Duke? Should Fiddlesticks really be stopped from flanking him? It might give them the advantage if things turned ugly...

 

   The machine roughly shook his head, trying to suppress his budding aggression. No. They could be as innocent as the scientists, he told himself. Even if this is Organization 13, or X-Dreamers, or whatever they want to call it, it doesn't mean that any evils it has makes all of its members responsible. He wilted at the remembrance of such complications he and the other mechs encountered on Earth. They're being nice so far, stop suspecting things!

   The nagging sensation in his head persisted though, especially with the knowledge of the strange abilities each "human" here seemed to have. In his long train of thought Typheus was semi-detached from his surroundings, until he came back to ask a question:

   "If this is an 'all-inclusive society', then where is everyone else? Unless you're a three-man army, excluding the implied extras?" he asked Duke, looking at Twilight and Nata to include them. "Wouldn't there be others running around in this... 'X-Dreamers'?"

 

-----------------------------------------------

 

   [XDRS Third Floor]

 

   Clunk clunk clunk clunk... her footsteps echoed down the hall. It wasn't exactly quiet, but this floor was pretty barren anyways. The place was still lit by the strange torches, and the introduction of purple runners softened her footfalls, so it was pretty easy to navigate. For a stone-and-mortar castle, its large, cathedral-esque windows made it very bright and open, only emphasizing how comfortably large the halls were; she felt strangely accommodated for.

   Now, the hard part: the trial and error of finding the front gates, Fiddlesticks thought, It will be interesting to see if Duke has any counters to surpri-!

   Skii-THUD! She yelped as her balance was suddenly offset, even with the runner underneath! She had throw her arms out to the sides, gouging the walls with her bayonets to stop her fall, the thud coming from one leg as it ground itself behind her.

   She paused for a moment, waiting for the adrenaline spike to fade. Speaking of surprise... what in Alkinest...? she wondered, looking down. There were many small, shiny spots under her feet. What are those?

 

   Fiddlesticks crouched down to get a better look at the objects, flashing her scanner over them. Small, polished... iron! They were tiny iron balls!

   Ammunition! her thoughts exploded, and immediately she lunged with her retrieval arms, sweeping a decent amount of them into a pile before trying to pick them all up at once. It's hard enough to do with biological arms though, nevertheless mechanical ones, and the little orbs simply fell through, scattering everywhere with loud tinkles. She let out a curious whistle, trying to grab a few that escaped her, but they slipped right through her wrenches!

   They're escaping! her mind said, and she playfully pounced on one rolling gently down the runner. The strike from the wrenches shocked the ball bearing with kinetic energy, making it shoot down the hall, and she pursued it with excited beeps. Tiny ball! Come back! I want to eat you! she laughed in her head, This is fun!

   She chased the ball a bit further, quickly going from a hunter's mindset to that of a kitten's without entirely realizing it. She kept her focus on that ball, completely ignoring the others that she was scattering around her, intent on getting it just for the sake of getting it while also being too entertained by its kinetic responsiveness.

   The ball bearing led her down the length of the hall before bouncing off into a corner, where its speed was killed. She pounced on it right then, and finally had it pinned! She snagged it with a vengeance and threw it up into her retrieval panel, where her grinders grabbed it and turned it into dust with a soft grating sound. It was barely a fraction as useful as if she had eaten that one girl's frying pan instead, but still pretty satisfying!

 

   A few other balls she had scattered to the end of the hall came rolling past her, and she pounced on another one, looking up to keep the others in sight. However, much more than the ball bearings came into view: two startled humanoids, standing in the middle of the hall. She froze up upon making eye contact with the black-haired one, who had been looking down the hall.

   Stupid! I completely dropped my guard! she thought shamefully, looking at the other human, who was blond and wearing completely different attire. She felt like a sore thumb that just clambered around on all fours in front of them, completely undignified from chasing a ball.

   She slowly stood up with her tiny prize in one wrench, ears flattened but not yet holding any aggression. She saw no lightning-knives or cryptic purple auras, and neither of them looked like the man that had created the maze. They were two humans, as far as she could tell, and she was the only one there with them, so she could definitely fend them off, right? She only spotted a sword with the one, but an ordinary sword wouldn't hurt her. Still though, she opted for caution this time, only eying them warily to see what they would do next.

[Pyrowings]

Lightpon ~ XDre Base

As she stood there thinking, a shimmer seemed to appear in the air around the melodramatic Duke. Is that some sort of magic? It would be better to not head into the middle of it... And so decision made, before heading forward, Light looked to her right and noticed that the brown, spiky haired boy was using some sort of magic to light up the walls around him. What kind of spell is that? It looks like silvery streaks are swirling around him-it's actually kind of pretty. 

Suddenly, a snarl came from behind her, and Light whirled around, the start of a summoning spell on her lips. A white furry dragon from who-knows-where was in the room, and for the lack of a better term, freaking out. It screeched--Light flattened her ears and clapped her hands over them--and breathed out a ball of energy that ricocheted around the room, lighting up the walls, before blowing a good-sized hole in the ceiling. When she looked down, though, the furry dragon was nowhere to be found, but there was a boy that was more or less standing at it's spot. She put her hands down and cocked her head. Maybe he was a shapeshifter too? Light stepped forward--He looks so scared, maybe he needs help or something? I should go over and--

 

“For Pete’s—What part of don’t attack the walls don’t any of you idiots understand?” Blue haired Nata barked. Light jumped at the sound.

 

"I-I-I-I didn't put anything c-ca-caustic in my paint this time, promise!" Light stammered. Nata didn't seem to be paying much attention to her, though, and instead turned to face the boy(?) on the floor.

“Could you not try to blow up the building? If this place comes crashing down you’ll kill yourself and everyone else here," Nata glared at everyone else after he spoke, and Light flinched. “Same goes for all of you! Stop breaking stuff! I don’t care how strong you think you are; we’re stronger. If I see any of you pull some stunt like that—we can restrain you. Don’t make this harder than it already is.”

 

"Understood..."

 

Still, after that display, something seems to have changed for Duke. After a few moments, he crosses his arms and concentrates--And the walls glow again. Light put a hand on one and felt that it seemed harder somehow before it shattered into twinkling blue pieces.

"Well done, you've helped test my hypothesis that challenging newcomers to a battle in headquarters is usually a bad idea."

 

"Since when was letting a bunch of people of unknown power into your house and letting them go wild ever a good idea?" Light asked incredulously.

 

 "So now that that's done and over with, can we forget the whole 'who are you, I'm going to try and murder you' deal and work on the 'hey Duke, you're so wonderful and original with your ideas, can we be friends' issue? "Unless you're a masochist, of course, which I think only you are over there, Mr. Tall and Brooding and Chained," Melodramatic Duke glanced over at the guy who attacked the poor wolf-boy.

 

"Jowan," "Tall, Brooding, and Chained" said. Is that his name? Melodramatic Duke continued talking, but after his lengthy speech, the brown-spike haired boy yelled:  "Hey... Where are Riku and Kairi?"

He looked tense--about to attack, but Blue Hair Nata sneaked up behind him and tackled him to the ground, then brandished his sword and sparks in Sora's face. "He's part of Organization 13! They're bad guys! And he knows where my friends are!" Sora yelled. 

 

At this, Light turned to stare at Duke. Do I think he's evil?.... No, unless someone being pretentious marks them as evil. And I'm friends with several of those types of people. Then back at Sora He sounds--and looks so convinced, but... "C-can we all calm down and just talk for a bit? I don't know what's going on right now, and...I don't know about you... But I want to get an idea before.. Before anything happens.... And what kind of a name is "Organization Thirteen?" Did 13 guys just meet up one day and decide "let's be evil" and they couldn't come up with a name?" Even if nobody agreed to her, Light walked closer to the assembled group, Rao zipping around her once before coming back to her shoulder. Should I prepare a summon? No, not right now, not when I really don't know anything. I probably have enough reach just by Phase Shifting away.

Apparently one of the robots had the same thought--Wait where's the other one?-- and came closer. As she watched, it seemed to stop and think for a long while--it shook something back and forth like a head too--before asking: "If this is an 'all-inclusive society', then where is everyone else? Unless you're a three-man army, excluding the implied extras? Wouldn't there be others running around in this... 'X-Dreamers'?"

 

"There was a white-to-red haired lady and a lady in yellow too... Back at the Gate to the Stars or whatever it was called," Light recalled. Blue-haired Nata then spoke up with a much more elaborate explanation, the middle interspersed with an glance towards a woman standing at the door to the end of the hall. Light awkwardly waved as she scanned them, then turned back to listen to Nata.

At the mention of the hole in the ceiling, Light looked over to the shaky looking boy on the ground. He looks even more lost than I am.... With this thought, she walked over, bent down, and offered a hand to him.

 

Cistina ~ Gateway

"Me? Got a bit roughed up. Probably would be nice if someone not Gladekeeper could look at us, and I think we'll need metal repairs - my bionic limb's damaged, Stan's are I think, and my right eye's not working. Damn monsters are magnetic or something like it, and vicious too. So maybe see which healers are at base right now...."

Cistina closed her eyes for a second--bionic limbs were the metallic parts, magnets are... Things that pull other things together? But more importantly, who here at base is--Ah, Badu's here and close by to boot.

 

"So I will go see if Badu is willing to return, and then try to find Yusei--Wait," Cistina paused. Xker seemed to have the same idea, as the golem-canine idly said "Wonder if Pascal'd be willing to consider taking a look once the rookie's done talking."

 

Cistina turned and started to call to Pascal: "Pascal! Shall I take over informing the arrivals? Stan--

Something purple rushed past the group and Cistina broke off as she turned to follow it. What in the world--

 

"Oh my God, is that a car that can turn into a robot?!" Stan shouted..

 

"Oh my gosh, it's a robot that can turn into a car!" Pascal replied(?) giddily. Robot. Right, that was the word she was looking for, though "car"... Cistina watched as the purple robot-car thing that had just transformed into a humanoid figure landed near them--It brought up a fusil attached to its arm and Cistina tensed--but as it looked around, it-she?-seemed more confused than anything. It looked like it was wearing plate armor, except plate wasn't in such a bright color... Hopefully the thing wouldn't start shooting at everyone there.

 

"Humans?" It sounded shocked, and the fusil it had disappeared in a fluid movement of parts into a hand-like structure, which it then crossed."Which pile of tin space jumped me here?"  

 

Cistina was about to reply when an "Ahem" reminded her of the two injured agents beside her. Cistina looked back to see Stan sitting up and say: "Might not hurt to get checked up on, but looks like our injuries are mostly on the mechanical side.“ But he still closed his eyes and grimaced. "Xker's right, metal limbs and magnets don't get along."

 

"Right," Cistina said with a nod. Magnets pull together things made of metal, though some metals are resistant. If I switch Zephros out for a spear made out of another substance and wear leather I can probably head on this mission, but it might be difficult to find something for the former...

"I gotta report back to Twilight, cause I got good news and bad news. She'd be interested to know what we found out. Good news: we think we know where the distortion is and it's a lost anchor; bad news: there's some locals who don't want us poking around." 

 

"Let me take your message to her," Cistina proposed. "You can file a more formal report at a later time; Twilight is presently hosting a group of new arrivals, and it would be best for you and Xker to stay and rest here." Cistina looked to the three new faces that appeared. ”You can help Pascal with the arrivals in the meanwhile."

[ValidEmotions]

Yusei | XDRS Castle Hallways

 

As he walked, Hush answered his question. "Pale one?" he repeated, curious. "Empty... What was removed?" Yusei asked. The creature requested instruments to write with and the young man nodded once. "Yes, in the kitchen. There should be something there," he stated. Passing the room that was still in disarray, Yusei made a mental note to clean it up as soon as he was able to. Returning to the kitchen, he noted that the stove had been turned off and inwardly cringed. He almost forgot about the tea but it looked like someone had gotten to it before he did. Fortunately.

 

Pulling open one of the drawers, he shuffled the contents around in search of what he wanted. There was plenty of paper but, beyond markers and colored pencils in various stages of sharpness, it didn't look like there were any - ah! Finding a black ink pen, he set a memo pad and the pen down on the counter, stepping aside for Hush to come closer. "Alright, here you are. When you are done writing, how about you help me clean up the mess you made?" Yusei suggested.

 

Circuitraider | Gateway

 

She wanted to roll her optics. "Yes, we get it. I'm a robot who can turn into a car. Let's move on now," she muttered, tempted to lean against the stone pillar; it was at the perfect height for her. She listened to the exchange of words between the gathered beings. From how things sounded, only half of the group were familiar with the location and each other. The others, like her, were strangers.

 

"I wonder if you could tell me who's got the plasma rifle here."

 

Immediately, her eyes went to the cyborg creature she had initially passed off as just a dog, a basic companion to the boy beside it and similarly sporting a mechanical limb. "You talk," she commented, surprise lacing her words. "And here I thought you were just a dog with its human boy," she added. Waving almost dismissively, she took a step closer. "I can take your wounded to where they can be looked at," she informed, Prime's doctrine nagging at the back of her mind. 

 

Without awaiting a response, she started to crouch down, moving as if getting onto all fours. However, at the same time, her armor shifted and parts moved. Tires spun into place against the ground as windows sealed into their frames. The driver-side door eased open as she introduced herself, "Call me Circuitraider."

[Kiran]

Natsuki [ XDREs Base, Library Entrance ] [ Original Work ]

 

Really, how did Xander manage to express his disapproval so clearly? He didn't even have ears or a tail to flick. Natsuki shifted uncomfortably under his gaze, but ignored it. How they dealt with pain was their own problem; Xander could scold them if it started affecting anyone else (which it wouldn't, because that would go against the point of bottling everything up). 

 

At the sight of the mech barreling into the hallway, Natsuki's hand shot towards the weapons holstered at their side. Before they could draw either one, they forced themself to stop, clenching and unclenching their fist before dropping it to the side. Stupid! Once they had gotten a decent look at Fiddlesticks it became clear that they wouldn't be able to damage her, with weapons or without. They doubted that a Taser would hurt a robot much even if the barbs were somehow held against it, and handguns were similarly useless. Breathing deeply, they continued to watch the robot and relaxed their shoulders. The robot wasn't doing anything threatening yet, and they wanted to do everything that they could to keep it that way. Xander had the same idea, so they decided that it'd be best if they followed his lead. 

 

They weren't sure what kind of body language the robot would find least threatening, however. Humans tended to react well to raised, exposed hands, while animals usually interpreted the gesture as one trying to make themself look larger. Maintaining eye contact was usually a threatening gesture, but looking away could be seen as a sign of weakness. Avoiding either extreme, they blinked slowly and allowed their gaze to travel around the robot's body instead of maintaining eye contact.

 

The robot was sentient, clearly. Natsuki didn't know much about robots, and never expected to deal with sentient AI in their lifetime, but they could tell that it had been designed to be expressive and human-like. All of its proportions were wrong and it didn't really have a face, sure, but the ears, eye, and body language were all expressive enough. A new recruit from the Gate, then? They'd have expected someone to let Xander and them know if one of the arrivals had started running through the castle, but they hadn't gotten a warning about the explosion either. Something was wrong. 

Edited September 26, 2017 by Zor

[Coryn02]

((Jeez, that took a while. I'm always glad to write for scarf-child, though.))

 

Hush, Child of Void

 

The Nobody nodded at Yusei's request. It would help to clean up the mess it had produced; truth be told, in its amusement, it had not noted the extent of its damage.

 

Hush took the fountain pen and memo pad, but rather than writing, it began to draw.

 

Two emblems (1, 2) were drawn on the bottom, with a circle divided evenly into three parts above them. One had a drawing of a heart inside, another a stick figure, and the last containing what appeared to be a flame.

 

"Heart, body, soul. These make a person." Hush pointed to the three divisions in the circle accordingly with the pen.

 

Then, it scribbled out the heart.

 

"When the heart falls to evil, it becomes a dark one. Most call them... Heartless." 

 

Hush circled the second emblem. "They are dangerous. Do not cross them." This it said with a high degree of seriousness, for it had seen first-hand the cruel savagery they employed.

 

"Soul and body remain. Rarely, they become a pale one. Humans know them as Nobodies."

 

Despite the grave subject matter at hand, Hush couldn't help but chuckle at the irony of the colloquial names. Heartless were made of hearts, and Nobodies all had a body to use.

 

"Pale ones want to have hearts again. We remember, but we do not feel."

 

Now, it set down the memo and pen, its explanation mostly finished.

 

"Home is gone, brothers scattered. I am alone, so I come here."

 

It thought about the World That Never Was, obliterated by the calamity which tore the castle and city to bits. His brethren were lucky to escape, if they did at all.

 

"Help me?" The question came immediately, and without regret. Hush had no doubt it would need the aid of others.

 

Wait... What do I want help with? Do I want to go home, or would I rather be whole again?

Edited September 26, 2017 by Coryn02

[TehUltimateMage]

Twilight - Main Hall

 

Rounding the paint-splattered corner, Twilight quickened her pace now that she was more confident with the wall locations. She was almost at the base of the stairs, barely a half-dozen lengths from Duke. The goal was right there and she could give Duke an order to stop this madness.

 

A blast hit the ceiling. Twilight felt her heart skip a beat at the unexpected explosion and she whipped her head upwards to look at the damage. Oh no...

 

The room descended into absolute pandemonium. Nata barked orders. One of the metal beasts took the chance to wiggle through the hole that was made in the castle, and Duke realized how grave a mistake this prank was. The dissolution of his barriers did nothing to dissolve the tension however, as Nata immediately took the chance to tackle one of the children to the ground, causing Okay the wolf boy to lunge at him over an increasingly big pile of misunderstandings.

 

Unlike the last time at the Gateway, Twilight was quick enough at weaving a spell with her horn. A shimmering light drew a straight line between Nata and the shifter child, forming a pink-tinged barrier to protect the agent from a single direction so that neither could hurt the other. "Nata let him go!" Twilight shouted, urgency coloring her voice.

 

[[MAZE CLEARED...?]]

[ValidEmotions]

Sora | XDRS Front Hall

 

He grimaced when Nata yanked on the chains around his wrists. Looking up towards the older boys, he frowned at their assurance that Duke wasn't who he believed. "That doesn't make any sense..." Sora breathed, trying to shake his head in the awkward position he was forced into. Then he hears the sound of fast footsteps. Glancing, he catches a slight glimpse of the white-haired boy as he turned into a wolf again, charging. "Wait, don't!" Sora shouted, just as a pink glow raced across the tiles of the front hall, separating the wolf from Nata. 

 

Exhaling, he couldn't deny the sensation of relief. 

 

He'd made a mistake and it almost had consequences he couldn't bear. Not really hearing Twilight's urgent cry, Sora twisted to look at Nata. "I'm sorry. I'll leave the guy alone. I thought... I only know villains who can trap people with invisible barriers. I'm just... I'm just trying to find my friends," he apologized, a plea starting to edge his words - much to his dismay. "I didn't mean to make a mess of things!"

 

Yusei | XDRS Kitchen

 

Studying the symbols that Hush drew, Yusei committed them to memory. "You've lost your heart?" he repeated, puzzled. "No emotions... And you want to feel again, like you did before," he continued. Falling silent, he nodded once a few moments later, making a soft hum. "Yes, we'll help you," Yusei answered, looking over at Hush. 

 

"You can stay here as long as you want or need. I'll make sure the other agents are aware of your situation. We'll see your home restored and then, after that, you can decide to return or stay with us to help others. It'll be your choice but you have time to think on it," he explained.

 

Tearing the sheet with the symbols off the pad, he folded the paper into four before stuffing it into his pocket for future reference. "Let's get that mess cleaned up now, and then we'll - "

 

Something rumbled through the hallways, causing the ground to tremble faintly through the soles of his boots. Surprise filled his face as Yusei paused at the commotion. Immediately, he started running to where he was certain the noise originated from. 

 

Lara was standing in the doorway when Yusei came to a halt, looking past her and into the front hall of the castle. It was... well, it was better than he expected honestly. 

 

Nata had a boy pinned and chained on the ground, a glowing barrier separating him from the teeth of a wolf. Beyond them, Twilight stood, her horn glowing to match the barrier. There were other newcomers scattered about ranging from a silver mech to a frightened white-haired being. 

 

Seeing Duke standing over a stranger in chains, Yusei frowned. "I see..." he murmured. Stepping past Lara and into the Hall, Yusei spoke just loud enough for everyone to hear him. "Hello, everyone. My name's Yusei. It seems you all have received Duke's... welcoming, to the XDRS base. Why don't I show all of you around a bit? You can settle in and relax while we sort out your unique situations," he explained. 

 

Looking to the spooked individual, Yusei continued. "I'm certain all of you have questions and they will be answered. Some of you may even be frightened and it's understandable. We're here to help despite... certain appearances," he glanced towards Nata and then Duke before returning to the strangers. "Follow me," he stated, motioning with an open hand.

Edited September 26, 2017 by ValidEmotions

[skwerl56767]

   XDRS Main Hall

   "I suppose so," Typheus said dryly, wings shifting in annoyance of Nata's comment. He was starting to second-guess the evidence he had collected, now that the captive boy looked more distraught than anything. Clearly Organization 13 wasn't a selfless group, and according to Duke's latest comment he wasn't part of any organization anyway. Funny though, how he welcomed them to X-Dreamers just seconds ago... did he just hang out in a shed outside the base or something? His flippancy wasn't very trustworthy...
   The mech prepared to launch a volley of questions at the few people who seemed to know what was going on, but then he picked up a series of clacking behind him, quickly accelerating and coming closer. Ordinarily he would be more concerned, but considering the last two false alarms he simply turned around, casually watching as a wolf gained on Nata. It leaped, teeth bared, and for a split second he considered intervening; there was no point in allowing unnecessary violence.
   Was it really unnecessary though? The sudden thought confused him, making him hesitate. We might be displaced, but that's more reliable than whatever the X-Dreamers is feeding us. He became conflicted, Is this another government-versus-rebellion model?

 

    Thankfully, his hesitance to act wasn't fatal; the wolf slammed right into a sudden barrier that manifested itself! It dropped to the floor, leaving Nata unscathed. The pink tinge of the small wall made it obvious enough who had done it.
   "Nata let him go!" Twilight ordered. Typheus glanced at the blue-haired boy, curious about how he would react, before walking over to the fallen wolf and crouching down to it, retrieval panel open. It was fairly small, so picking it up wasn't a problem; just a bit awkward with the misleading fluff. He didn't trust what the wolf might do next, so he held him close to prevent squirming while also staying relaxed. If he learned anything from Fiddlesticks, it's that sometimes it's better to act friendly than jump to conclusions, and he wasn't going to get any answers if more hostility broke out, so at this point it seemed getting to "tea time" faster was the optimal plan.
   With that recognition he looked around to assess everyone, noting Duke's approach to Jowan, the red-haired girl's gesture to the slit-eyed boy, and the two strangers who knew each other that he had nearly forgotten about, still standing by the entrance as if amused by all of the strife. Things looked to be calming down, for the most part. Although...

 

   The mech looked up and opened his emitters, turning back to the ceiling hole behind him. Maybe if he was lucky he could bounce a signal out to her.
   Fiddlesticks, he called, Fiddlesticks, return ping. The maze is gone. It's not worth it.
   He waited for a few seconds, hearing the arrival of someone else in the hall, and became annoyed by the signal silence. FIDDLESTICKS! Return the ping! Bloody... He suppressed a growl and shut off the emitters. The stone must be absorbing the signal. This isn't good. He turned to Duke to issue a warning, but was interrupted by a new voice:
   "Hello, everyone."
   Typheus turned back around to see the new speaker; another human? The spiky grey hair reminded him of... well, a lot of the guys here, actually... except in that it had four prominent yellow streaks going through it. Other than the somewhat-off design of the jacket and the knee pads, he didn't look that much different from the others.

   "My name's Yusei," the boy continued, "It seems you all have received Duke's... welcoming, to the XDRS base."
   That's about right, Typheus thought, glancing at the mentioned person. It wasn't the best, but I've had worse. He looked at Twilight while Yusei proceeded to offer them a quick tour, noticing that she looked relieved about Yusei's help. It looked like Nata was right; Yusei is one of the more "competent" members here. In looking over the boy's shoulder, he saw another person standing in the hallway, dressed modern but not in the style of many of the others here. She had neither introduced herself nor spoken up in general though, simply keeping an eye on the scene. If naming convention was anything to go by, she must be either Lara or Natsuki. Or Xander, but the probability of that was lower.

   Yusei began to leave, waving for everyone to follow. Keen on more information, Typheus obeyed; the faster "tea time" happened, to sooner he could form a proper judgment of the place and stop his partner from tearing it apart on a whim. Oh, speaking of which...
   Before entering the hallway, the mech stopped and turned around, looking straight at Duke. "Keep your barriers ready," he said cryptically, glancing at Nata and Twilight as well before ducking into the hall. It was a bit awkward at his height, but a heck of a lot more comfortable than the human-only halls of Earth. He then caught up to Yusei - while still holding the wolf - and added to him: "Twilight claimed more information will be given 'over tea'. When will that be happening?"

 

   -------------------------

 

   XDRS Third Floor

 

   Fiddlesticks took an uncertain step back, then her ears perked up and she cocked her head, surprised by the reactions. The black-haired one had the reflexes of a Combat model, but relaxed a lot faster, preventing her from returning the hostility, and the armored one was immediately open to conversation. She wasn't particularly comfortable with the idea though; they didn't seem to know any more about her than she did of them, which opened up opportunities to learn more with acting, but being caught could sour up any affability they had. Telling the truth though wouldn't be half as exciting, and they might lead her back to the beginning anyway. Their openness made hostility a terrible idea. Admitting that she had no clue where she was while planning an attack on another person wouldn't bode well, and saying she knew the place or that someone they knew built her would be stupid. That left... endearment?... It might be worth a shot.
   She looked up and away, putting her turrets behind her like a small child dreaming of summer. "I guess I'm new," she said shyly, hoping enough innocence slipped into her voice, "I've never been up here before. It has lots of..." She paused, examining the ball bearing she held. "Pellets?" She then made eye contact with the armored human, before looking at the ground. "I like the pellets. They're shiny. But it's lonely up here."

[Coryn02]

Hush, Child of Void

 

While it couldn't really express this properly, Hush was glad Yusei had agreed to help it. Something about that, however small, made it feel just a little better about being alone again.

 

Then, it heard something shake the earth. Yusei started running to find out what it was, and Hush followed him into the open room.

 

Many strange people, a horse, and two of something much more inorganic.

 

That, however, was irrelevant, since the hunter was there.

 

Upon seeing him, Hush immediately darted behind Yusei, and hissed at Sora.

 

In Yusei's mind, a voice spoke its concerns.

 

"Hunter and betrayer!"

Edited September 27, 2017 by Coryn02

[Kiran]

Jowan [ XDREs Base, Main Hall ] [ Dragon Age: Origins ] 

 

Oh, Andraste, the remaining golem was talking. Were golems even supposed to talk? Jowan had to admit that it had a point, but he'd rather Typheus stay quiet about it. Not that he didn't want to learn more about the mysterious organization that kidnapped them, but he didn't want to deal with any more of them. The few that he had met were violent, unstable, and strange enough for one day. On the plus side, Nata's rant did give him some valuable information- like how the castle apparently did have a dungeon, and how Nata apparently was either insane or lying. Both seemed likely. An organization couldn't just take control of an entire planet, "small" or not. The very idea was ridiculous; even the Tevinter Imperium never quite managed to conquer all of Thedas, and that was just one continent. 

 

Duke wasn't doing much better in the credibility department. Jowan wasn't quite sure how he expected to convince them that he wasn't part of any organization when his coworker had just been talking about fellow organization members; maybe he just hadn't thought things through. More concerning was how Duke had practically admitted to being possessed, even if he didn't say the word 'demon'. Jowan's heart sped up and his eyes widened in response. "Abominations, things just keep getting better," he said, giving a shaky laugh and running his fingers through his hair. He wasn't sure why Duke's reveal bothered him so much more than the pride demon currently restraining Sora. Maybe it was the casual way that he said it, or how non-obvious it was (weren't most abominations terrifying, murderous monsters?). 

 

"I'm sure you're aware, but you're bleeding. Everything alright there? Are you a criminal? How many people have you murdered? I didn't think Twilight would suddenly take an interest in the slave trade, but I suppose there's a first for everything. Seriously though, you doing okay, buddy? You look like something just burnt your village in front of your eyes or something. Was it you?"

 

The discussion he was having with himself about his chances of surviving if he used blood magic before attempting to flee was brought to a halt. How was one even supposed to respond to something like that? "I- what?" he sputtered. He looked down at his arm as if its state had somehow changed since the last time he saw it, then looked back at Duke, embarrassed. "Oh, thanks, I didn't notice blood all over my arm. Of course I'm not a-" he paused, biting his cheek and looking away. It wasn't like he was going to fool anyone, chained as he was, and the 'apostate' thing was a bit of a giveaway. They'd find out eventually, and he was going to try to do better if he was being given yet another chance that he didn't deserve. "I- but I didn't murder anyone, not successfully." The last of Duke's questions didn't even deserve an answer (not that the others did either), but he found the words spilling out of his mouth anyway. "I don't even have a village to burn down. Not that I would, mind you, just- Maker, I should just stop-" 

 

He was stopped from digging himself even further into a hole by the appearance of someone with absurd hair. Yusei claimed that they were trying to help, but Jowan was feeling less than thrilled by the idea of following someone when following Twilight had brought him into a situation that nearly killed him. "Wait, you can't just show up and expect us to travel deeper into this place just like that."

Edited September 28, 2017 by Zor

[greenglassesgal]

Neku - XDRS Front Hall

 

This mess was just going to get worse and worse, wasn't it?

 

In all honesty, Neku couldn't blame Key Boy for his judgement. Circumstances were pretty shady, and the fact that Nata pulled a knife on the kid didn't help matters. Still, it didn't seem like this X-Dreamers group was the same as Organization 13, whatever that was. Of course, just because he doubted the kid's claims did not mean he didn't want to cause some form of bodily harm to Joshua 2.0 over there. God, did that guy ever shut up? He was half-tempted to use the chaos to do something about it (i.e. punching Duke in the face), but they really didn't need that now. Maybe he could use his ex-dead-person cred to hit up that apparent ghost in Duke's head and get him to annoy him more. Have him constantly spout a bunch of math terms for good measure. That'd put Duke out of commission.

 

... And as if things weren't going downhill enough, the wolf-boy from before decided to lunge at Nata. Thankfully, Twilight managed to resolve that situation before it was too late. Neku felt sympathy for the guy, hearing his apology. As the silver mech scooped up the wolf, Neku approached him.

 

"You heard the talking pony," he said to Nata. "Let him go." Moving on, he turned to the brunette. "Hey. I get where you're coming from. For now, though, I think it'd best to calm down and put a little trust in these guys. It's the only way we're going to get some answers."

 

On cue, a new speaker made himself present. Yusei, as he introduced himself, was standing at a doorway with another woman. Finally. Someone who knows what they're doing. As Yusei beckoned the group to follow him, an odd, white humanoid creature with what looked like a Noise or Reaper sigil on its head peeped out of the doorway, before immediately hissing and darting behind Yusei for safety. It was hard to tell, but it almost seemed to be specifically glaring at Key Boy. Neku glanced back at the kid in question, then back to the newcomers. Wonder what their deal is? he mused, before following along.

[DuskOfTheStars]

Reshiram twitched a bit, hissing when the blue-haired male shouted at them and freezing. The room continued to move, the walls disappeared in blue light as a voice monologued. The pale manakete still knelt, eyes darting up occasionally. Then they heard footsteps. A small red-haired girl bent down, offering a hand. Reshiram eyed her, recoiling a bit, before relaxing. The white dragon watched her face, ttying to figure out what she wanted - before a sudden commotion made them hiss sharply. Reshiram's head whipped around in time to see the blue-haired male from earlier pinning a brown-haired male, and a white canine attacking - and then a purple barrier went up and a steel-creature grabbed the canine. Reshiram was tensed again, a hand working on the ground as another male came in and called for everyone to follow.

 

They looked around warily. The new arrival was trying to reassure them, but they were still nervous. Slowly they got up. They looked around, and followed hesitantly. The Manakete could feel the stone in their pocket, and their right hand hovered near their chest, ready to disappear into the coat and bring the stone out again. Well, clumsily and probably not all that fast about it.

Edited January 12, 2018 by DuskOfTheStars

[Kiran]

Jowan [ XDREs Base, Main Hall ] [ Dragon Age: Origins ] 

 

Jowan flinched as Duke looped his arm around his, but unsurprisingly that didn't deter Duke. When a light tug didn't free him either, he gave up and resigned himself to his fate of being forever trapped. Being locked in a dungeon for weeks (was that how long it had been? had it been months?) hadn't been kind to his already poor physique, and he doubted that any further magic would lead to good things for him. Normally, he would have been terrified to have an abomination (or anyone that he didn't know, really) touch him, but Duke seemed adept at turning fear into confusion. Every time Jowan thought he had figured him out, Duke said or did something to disarm him. What kind of person wasn't bothered by attempted murder? Sane person, he mentally amended, remembering Neria. 

 

He opened his mouth to explain that no, he couldn't just stop bleeding, but Duke interrupted with another of his inane speeches. He had no idea how to respond to it; questions burned in his mind, but for some reason he suspected that he wouldn't be able to get a clear answer. It was probably better to just accept that Duke was likely exaggerating, making stuff up, or mad and move on. He did, however, bristle at the implication that near-death experiences were some kind of requirement to bond with someone. Getting into near death experiences hadn't been good for any of his relationships, unless one counted living under the constant threat of death. In which case... well, he didn't have anything to compare it to, really. There had never been a time in his life where he'd been truly safe.

 

"The demon, you mean," he said, trying to sound angry but unable to disguise the waver of uncertainty in his voice. He couldn't deny now that things really didn't seem to be working the way he was used to. "He's... the Maker. The one who makes things. Or, made things, actually." He shifted; it was surprisingly hard to explain. There were plenty of non-Andrastian regions in he world, but everyone in the Circle was an Andrastian (at least in public, as going against the Chantry in the Circle was ill-advised). "...You've never even heard of him, have you? Andraste, the Black City, Darkspawn, the Fade? Or the Beyond, if you want to call it that?" Duke had to at least know about the Fade, even if he called it a different name. It'd be difficult for a human to somehow not know about it. 

Edited October 1, 2017 by Zor

[TehUltimateMage]

Twilight - Main Hall

 

"Yusei!" Twilight shouted in relief. The young man's timing was excellent. Lara too, showed up. It would only be a matter of time before Xander appeared to enforce his discipline -- although she hated to cause that man trouble.

 

"On behalf of the Squad here I apologize for Duke's behavior and Nata's volatility," Twilight added right after shaking her head to dispel her barrier, ignoring Duke's comment about the execution of her spell. Waving a front hoof in a dismissing motion, she continued, "Neither of them mean you real harm! Our mission isn't to hurt you, even though they are a bit dramatic about it. Nata just doesn't want the room to descend into chaos, right?"

 

She nodded yes, as if answering in his stead.

 

"If you like," she addressed the brown-haired boy, "You can check if any of the agents we have here happen to be your friends? Failing that, we might be able to help you track them down."

 

And then, to everyone again, "That was enough of a detour so, Yusei is right; let's continue on what we were doing." Trotting forth past the duelist, she headed towards the door Lara came out. The water should be ready now, and the table and chairs she could easily rearrange to have a seat for everyone, with the exception of the metallic ones who would probably prefer to stand, and one of which she still had to find -- Too many thoughts were swimming in her mind and she was worrying about all of them. What if they didn't find her hospitable enough? They probably already didn't, considering two of her representatives caused major trouble for all of them. "Let me get the tea ready!"

Edited October 1, 2017 by TehUltimateMage