X-DREAMERS [mission 02: the otherworldly bazaar]

[DuskOfTheStars]

(Ther- ouch! - Bowser)

 

The push on Bowser's shell tilted him. He scrabbled, trying to get purchase on the ground and tilting farther forward. One of his feet managed to get purchase. He grunted and kicked out, managing with thehelp of whatever was pushing him to finally get to his feet. The adrenaline faded, and a dull pain pervaded his body. Bowser growled softly and looked around, catching sight of the ice dragon horror taking a few hits. Good. He rhen spotted two of the pink-skinned elves from earlier. The first time.....

 

Unconsciously, Bowser gritted his teeth. The pain was definitely getting worse. He tensed up, holding still for a few instants, before turning to face the dragon slowly. His body still hurt - from both of the beatdowns. Bowser growled. This was too important. His opponent was likely an eldritch horror! The koopa breathed a quick burst of flame. He then grimaced again, his tail curling in a bit. Bowser stifled a whimper of pain - he was a king. And he was proud and strong.

 

(Enough. - White Kyurem)

 

Blades of light. These people really liked blades. And light. Kyurem screamed. The blades stabbed, hurt, stabbed. More ice magic leaked from Kyurem's wounds.

 

Pain atop the pain of everlasting hunger and incompletion. How... amusing. But they didn't have time to muse. They were fighting - and then a burst of yelling. Kyurem turned to see a familiar group of creatures.

 

...heh, perfect. They'll not separate me. Kyurem was used to pain. It was constant. Not a constant they enjoyed or wanted to prolong - in fact, they sought to end it - but a constant all the same. Despite the leaking ice magic, Kyurem shifted their body forward and shrouded themself in icy mist. A claw extended towards the group. It shook slightly, before steadying. Kyurem's lips curled, and they swiftly directed the icy mist into a wind that burned even as it froze. The magic - the wind - surged towards the group of opponents and away from Kyurem, who involuntarily listed back before unsteadily stepping back. Kyurem lowered themself and brought their wing-arms to their chest, hissing. They wouldn't be beat here. Not when they were getting closer. So much closer.

 

To feeling. To being free. To no longer feeling constant pain.

 

To being whole again.

[hikarinomemori]

[ A biting frozen wind... - Illidan ]

 

Illidan was snapped out of his musings by a sudden chill in the air - and this time, the Demon Hunter couldn't simply ignore it. He was about to move to attack the dragon beast...

 

But then it became unbearably cold. So much so that his muscles felt stiff, his skin felt sore, and he began to shiver. There were times when being a Demon Hunter sucked and this was one of them.

 

He still had to get that attack out, he still had to get a strike in... but the shivering paired with his stiffened muscles made his Eye Beam completely miss the dragon.

 

GODDESS. DAMMIT.

 

He was almost certain he had frostbite now. He hadn't even noticed Xander's terraformed stone shield this time around and was certain that it'd take more than a simple healer's work to warm himself back up again.

 

~~

 

[ Dammit Noreillan. - Oblivionix and Noreillan ]

 

"Do we have to teach this thing another lesson?" Oblivionix sighed. "Just don't know when to quit, does it?"

 

"I'm down for another round..." Noreillan began priming his magic when he felt Oblivionix smack him in the arm.

 

"Oh no ya ain't! That thing's got ice all over it! Your magic ain't gonna do squat against that!" Oblivionix then took aim at the dragon-beast with her rifle...

 

Then Noreillan smacked her back in her arm, throwing off her aim and causing her bullet to miss.

 

"NOREILLAN, WHAT THE HELL?!"

 

"Oops. Sorry - I wasn't aware that'd make your bullets just as ineffective," he snapped back with a smug, sarcastic tone.

 

Oblivionix glared. "Jerk."

 

Noreillan glared back. "Brat."

 

Ah, sibling rivalry.

[Eto]

 [ vincent ; -- add. echo ; -- for. s & p ]

-- status.

dormouse ; wound

demios ; dormant }

for you, the abyss.

--

 

When Pascal hands the pouch back to her, having counted out a sufficient amount of coins, Echo hugs the coinpurse close to her chest and nods her thanks. She stares in surprise, eyes faintly widening as Pascal announces her declaration to the two girls who had just walked into the stall -- friends, perhaps? -- and is just about to voice whether or not that would be wise when she remembers that she is here to guard Master Vincent and not to chat. 

 

With a doubtful glance in the red and white haired girl's direction, wondering if perhaps she is only exaggerating -- for the sake of her stomach, Echo hopes so -- she moves to stand between Vincent's chair and the outside, keeping an eye on their numerous shopping bags as she does so.

 

Vincent, for his part, snickers as he watches the brown-haired boy stumble, looking greatly agitated as he collects himself to the best of his ability only to be stunned once more by his friend's declaration. How undignified. His Elliot would never act in such a way -- but Ellie was made of a better material than this boy, anyways. 

 

He turns his attention away from the small group that has gathered, finding them too noisy -- and young. If Vincent has any experience with teenagers, it is that they are noisy, brutish, and entirely not worthy of his time -- which is why it drives him insane to think that his Elliot actually finds good company with those around his age. 

 

He settles for watching the chef make their ordered meals, completely unfazed by the large order as her limbs work every which way to create what seemed like round pieces of bread. Well, it certainly wasn't his preferred choice of foods, but he's not picky. Lord knows he has spent enough time scrounging for food during assignments from Pandora -- 

 

Wait. 

 

He picks on something certainly interesting, and Vincent turns on the gathered group with an interested smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes.

 

"Echo," he says, and the servant girl leans in close. "Guard the door."

 

She moves to stand by the door, certainly not outwardly posing a threat, but Vincent knows that any order handed down from him she would carry through. 

 

"The organization," he says, breaking into the conversation without giving anyone a chance to respond after the black-haired ... ninja? Doubtful, Vincent analyses, as he scans over her clothing and raises an eyebrow at the amount of fishnet he sees. "What could a group of misfits like you be up to?" 

 

New organizations cropping up is ... mysterious. He is not one to trust easily, nor he is he one to consider the repercussions of his actions onto others, but Pandora's hegemony cannot be interrupted -- not as so long there remains parts of the Abyss to be conquered. Vincent likes to think himself quite knowledgeable of the bazaar and its patrons, simply due to the sheer amount of time he spends here shopping and trapping tourists in small food stalls, as you do. Perhaps he had initially underestimated the group of children he sees before him now. 

[DuskOfTheStars]

(Defusion - Bowser)

 

The police continued to attack. All different shapes and sizes of creatures, attacking the eldritch dragon. Bowser narrowed his eyes, gritting his teeth. He didn't notice he was biting his lip - he noticed the pain in his body better. Darn dragon.

 

This eldritch creature hadn't beat him. They were even staggering, leaking more and more ice magic... ice. Ice doesn't do well against fire. He was a being of flame, hailing from an ashen and volcanic realm. Bowser's lips curved a bit. He felt his fire beginning to spurt up, and opened his jaws. He'd imbue this fireball with magic. No one gave Bowser Koopa a whipping and got away with it.

 

The flame forming within Bowser's mouth turned blue-green as he put magic into it. It cracked, strands spurting out of his mouth. He reared back, before spitting the flame at the dragon. The homing fireball hit its target dead-on. In the chest. The eldritch dragon let out a pained cry.

 

The dragon was suddenly leaking ice magic at a greater rate, strands of firey magic tearing themselves from the dragon and causing yet more ice magic to bleed out. As the blazing magic expelled itself and coalesced, the grey dragon's features morphed. Fur disappeared, leaving skin. Skin darkened from pale grey to a medium-to-dark grey. The wings and arms separated, wings covered in ice and drastically changing shape as the arms shrunk. Their face changed, icing over and mane disappearing to be replaced with ice as the eyes became blank. The tail lost its turbine and became an icy "plug." Ice shot up on the neck. The grey dragon had returned to its former appearance, before it consumed the white dragon, but was still bleeding ice magic.

 

As Bowser watched, the flaming magic became the white stone that the eldritch dragon had absorbed. Lingering magic was sucked into the stone, and there was a flash of white light. When the light died down, an unconscious white-haired human with similar injuries to the grey dragon lay on the ground. They had white eyelashes and eyebrows, very curly hair with two tufts over their head, pulled into a ponytail and facial features that seemed slightly rounder, with fuller lips. The person was clad in white, with grey accents on their coat and boots. Bowser's mouth gaped a bit. He'd been expecting another dragon - that was what he'd seen the icy dragon absorb.

 

 

Moments later, footsteps caught Bowser's attention. He turned and growled, his face contorting as he shifted his body. The grey dragon was running, unsteadily but at full tilt. Curse. That. Grey. Dragon. He made to follow, but a sudden jolt of pain stopped him short. They were getting away...! But he wasn't really in a condition to chase the eldritch ice dragon. Ugh.

Edited December 3, 2018 by DuskOfTheStars

[Mikasa361]

 

Names: Tara Andreassen, Kouji Minamoto (but really it's all Tara)

 

[Players-- None]

[Support-- Guards]

[Status-- Freaking out and dragging a friend by the hand]

 

 

~~Woman Up™ ~~

 

Tara wasn’t sure where to turn. So she decided to turn left. Kouji was dragged along with some difficulty, Tara prayed he wouldn’t have some sort of injuries. It was a tile floor, but one never knew where injuries would come from these days. She made a right at the end of the hall. She thought she could see some dog/fox/thing running off with things, but she wasn’t sure. She just needed to get the D-Tectors and maybe a weapon, and get the heck out of here! She hoped she could find that Pascal girl. That would help her greatly.

 

She made another left, noting there was some noise coming from down the hallway. She prayed to any god out there that it wasn’t anything serious. As she approached the sound, she felt her right arm get tired. That was okay, she was a lefty anyway. Tara switched arms and dragged Kouji with her left. She wished he didn’t get rekt on the electric bars. Then again, at least he was quiet. She kept on going, as she made it to the door the sound was coming from….

 

A pie hit her smack in the face. She shook her head violently to get it off, using her right hand to take her glasses off. Curses. It was a goddamn food fight.

 

As she put her newly-cleaned glasses on her face she took a look around. It was complete and utter chaos.

 

One of the guards was standing on the table holding a gigantic watermelon. She screamed and threw it on the ground, the juices splashing everywhere. Another guard was running around with two cans of whipped cream and spraying them around the perimeter of the room. To Tara’s dismay, he didn’t even make it halfway around the cafeteria, but he grabbed two more from a cart. Behind the cart was one of the cooks, hiding from all the madness. She saw mashed potatoes being catapulted across the room and giggled. Something about mashed potatoes always made her laugh. Another guard punted an entire freaking turkey towards a group of cowering cooks. What in the world was happening? Little did she know, it was just a regular Tuesday here.

 

Someone grabbed a marshmallow gun and started pelting the entire cafeteria. One even hit Tara in the forehead. She stifled a yelp and bolted out of there. Not the place she wanted to be. She didn’t want to get caught in a sea of thanksgiving dinner. Tara ran down the end of the hall and made a left, but to her dismay she saw two guards kissing. They paid no mind, so Tara went right instead. She poked her head in a room and noticed a guard taking a nap in the security room. Going in there would prove useful, maybe she could get a map of the place. But at the same time, it was risky. No thank you.

 

She noticed someone cartwheel past her as she finally made her way to a room that looked promising. The door was ajar, so Tara slipped in. There were weapons, precious items, and the like. This had to be the place. Tara didn’t have to look too far. Much to her relief, both D-Tectors were there. She grabbed them and was ready to run when she saw two figures at the door.

 

Her heart stopped. One was very tall, looking similar to that grape-flavored demon guy she saw. He didn’t have the wings though, or the horns, or the hooves. He had green flames where his eyes would be, and Tara didn’t like it. The other was what looked to be a normal human girl in a colorful witch costume. She threw her hands in the air and fell to her knees. She was caught now.

Edited February 17, 2019 by Mikasa361

[ValidEmotions]

Sora | There's Something About Him...

 

"'Ninja'?" Sora repeated, slightly beneath his breath as he thought about the declared... profession? Talent? Skillset? He wasn't certain. Yuffie was a ninja, too, but the boy couldn't recall exactly where she might have said she came from; except Hollow Bastion. Would she know about Chikako's village or was it another world entirely? "I'm Sor-" he started to introduce himself.  

 

There was movement at the edge of his vision. Quickly shifting his gaze, slightly turning his head, Sora spotted the white-haired girl with the coin purse standing further away. He frowned at her, noting her silence. "Hey, you're welcome to join us. Promise we don't bite," he said, nearly simultaneously to the blond man's interruption. Standing straighter, Sora's face twists further into displeasure as he looked up at him. Misfits? Well, the boy supposed they were. "Why do you care?" Sora interrogated. Something about the man's eyes made his skin crawl.

 

Traveling through multiple worlds had exposed the boy to countless types of characters. The most important thing he had to learn quickly was telling apart who he could trust from those he couldn't. Thing was, the man appeared harmless enough, rude shoving and first-impression bias aside. Still, there was something.... dangerous, about him.  Folding his arms across his chest, Sora tilts his head slightly. "We're not up to much," he started saying, back stiff and shoulders tense. "We're just trying to get some food." How did someone go about testing another person in order to find out their intentions?

 

Suddenly, he was reminded of Hades.

[Mikasa361]

Name: Evonna Durand

 

[Players-- Vincent, Sora, Pascal]

[Support-- Chikako, Echo]

[Status-- Triggered]

 

~Who the hell are you?l~~

 

Evonna glared at the snobby blonde man, Chikako could’ve sworn that there were knives in her eyes. We herself felt rather insulted, considering this man just looked her over and blatantly called the group misfits. She thought he called *her* a misfit with that gesture alone. Chikako suddenly felt very insecure, what was it that made her seem like a “misfit” anyway? Was it her love for fishnets? Was it the fact that she wore her headband on her neck? It was silly, sure, but not enough to classify her as…. no no, it was not even remotely enough. She looked down at the ground, her emerald eyes round with hurt. 

 

Evonna noticed this. She practically spoke through grit teeth, “Alright you pompous little whelp. I don’t know who the hell you think you are, or why you’re prodding in our business, but--” she felt a hand cover her mouth before she had the chance to continue. Chikako seemed rather embarrassed, but she kept it hidden with a smile as she peeked at the man from behind Evonna. 

 

“Evonna, shh, you don’t know what he’s capable of~ You might get us killed~” she said in a sing-songy voice through her teeth. “Anyway, hi, I kinda just met these people, I’m not really sure what’s going on myself. But the boy’s right, we just want food. We don’t want any trouble, do we Evonna?” Evonna grunted and relaxed her stance. “Now Evonna does have a point, what exactly do you want from us? Why is our presence so intriguing to you that you have to block the door? I-I swear we don’t want any trouble.” Chikako did not like this at all. She just wanted to go to whatever base this organization had and get it all over with. She liked Evonna, sure, but she was really freaking out here. It may have been best for them all to get out of there and fast. She didn’t get the best vibes off of this man. Had she been Gaara or one of the other ninjas she knew, she would be able to hold her own. But this man seemed… A little more powerful than he let on. 

 

No, she did not like this. Not the slightest bit. 
 

Edited December 12, 2018 by Mikasa361

[ValidEmotions]

[ Ready Players -- Ray | Anders | Keaton ; Heartless ] 

{ Support -- Leo | Ranulf | Kaden | Selkie | Tsuki ;

Status ; Battle -- Engage }

Consume -- The Heart ; It Calls

--

 

They slammed into the conjured barrier, one thrown upward as it caught the brunt of the rising wall. In the next moment, it vanished into nothing. They pressed on, either unaware of their fallen ally or unbothered by their destruction. That was the working of the worlds, the expectation of this war. They swiped at the barrier, one shrinking into the ground and darting around its edges as light flashed through the air with a sharp cry. The others were destroyed at its searing touch, the one having avoided the attack entirely. It sprang from the ground, within reach of the small human, claws furiously raking. It met its own destruction as the winged creature slammed its wing down into its path, creating an unyielding obstacle that still sparked with electrical energy. 

 

The last was assailed from its side by the strange male being, knocked sideways by a strike and quickly dodging the next as it scurried across the ground. It leapt from below, clawing at the fox-eared man, only to be hit yet again. This one, too, dissipated into nothing, particles that melted into the surrounding darkness of the world. 

 

The group's peace did not last for more than a few seconds as another ring of portals pooled along the ground, completely encircling the strange beings. Where weaker Hearts had fallen, stronger children of Darkness rose up. Neoshadows climbed free of their dark corridors, seven in total, and six Soldiers followed closely behind. Metal clanked as dark bodies jerked or bounced, the armored creatures slightly shorter than their athletic allies. The Neoshadows split apart, four towards the human man and girl with her mighty beast; the remaining three towards the animal-like beings. Each of them leapt, twisting in the air and coming down with nearly simultaneous swipes of their claws. 

 

The Soldiers danced back then forward, remaining out of the way of their allies' initial attack. An opening presents itself and they surge forward, claws swiping at the nearest target. Two rush at the man and girl; the other four lunge for the animal men. In their wake and several feet above the ground, six more Dark Corridors open, spreading their inky blackness through the air. From each of them emerge an Air Soldier, brown wings propelling them through the air and weaving around strings of lanterns in their pursuit to harass the bat-like creature.

 

[ Target -- Neoshadows | Soldiers | Air Soldiers ;

Count -- x7 | x6 | x6 ]

 

[ Status ; Healthy ]

{ Threat Level -- Moderate }

Edited December 3, 2018 by ValidEmotions

[TehUltimateMage]

# Post-Kyurem #

 

"Pumpkin, no! It might still be too dangerous!"

 

The little Ivysaur runs, determined to help out with the aftermath of the battle. Mixed feelings swell within her, and she couldn't help but feel a little guilt from helping put these people in temporary cells in this wing, only for them to be defenseless against the assault from outside of the prison. 

 

Shouts echo through the broken cells. Officers filter in from both directions. "The other one is our target! After it!" The prisoners, some who had already begun escaping, are forgotten about for the moment as the guard force -- barring Pumpkin and a handful of others -- mobilizes out the broken wall to chase Kyurem through the city. 

 

Raine breathes in quick, ragged breaths and -- trying her best not to alert Xander -- discreetly leans against a piece of wall for support. She cursed to herself over how she had relied too much on an amplifier, allowing herself to grow weak when it came to casting without the crutch. Fortunately, she was quick to recover from her momentary exhaustion. That was too close for comfort, and while the culprit still roamed free, Xander's objective was complete. 

 

But before Xander could collect his friend, the bipedal rhinoceros from earlier waddles towards Reshiram's fallen form. He kneels, and picks them up within his hooves to carry them away to another room. 

 

 

# Reshiram #

 

Reshi's holding cell is small and different. Barely five paces deep and two paces wide and blank walls on all sides and a door closed on one end, it feels stuffy and claustrophobic. There is a bed touching the wall on three sides, and a desk placed near it, its arrangement uncannily recalling one of a doctor's office.

 

The officer had left the manakete on the bed after bandaging the worst of their injuries, and other than the camera installed on the ceiling in one corner of the room, it appeared that they were alone. 

[TehUltimateMage]

 

Pascal -- Jeon House

 

Pascal was oblivious to the tension in the air.

 

"Don't worry! Twenty-nine is nothing," she reassures everyone in the room, although no one was ever witness to any of her outlandish claims. "I could demolish forty in my sleep." She struck a fist into her open palm, as if to hammer in her point.

 

When her food arrived, Pascal took the first pancake from the stack, rolled it up, and stuffed it into her mouth. Thin, about the size of her face, crisp, yet soft inside... always filled with surprises in the form of diced vegetables and the occasional piece of seafood. Fresh off the fryer, it burned her mouth with its heat -- but that was fine. It was delicious, and there was nothing a little bit of healing magic or an apple gel can't fix.

 

"Hi, I'm pathcal! I'll have to ask Twilight, of course--" she addressed Chikako directly, speaking through her food with her mouth full -- "but I don't think there should be any problems. I mean like, we let all sorts of unsavory people come and go, though the Gateway does a pretty good job so far at not attracting anyone who's outright evil yet, and she hasn't raised any issues so far."

 

She swallowed her food, then pushed Sora's burrito towards him. With a swift flick of her fork, she sent the second pancake landing neatly on a corner of his plate. She grabbed the third one -- and by now it was painfully apparent that Pascal's method of consuming them was highly unconventional -- and this time finishes the first bite of her roll before continuing. 

 

"The XDRS isn't really an organization, per se. We're way too small for that. But we're here to collect people who've been displaced by space-time anomalies, find the cause of the cracks in the multiverse, and patch them up by putting everything back in its right place. Twi hasn't said anything about running a full recruitment campaign yet, but I think I know why she's holding off on that. Sorta."

 

"So that's what we're up to," Pascal concluded, addressing Vincent as if he were genuinely interested in what they were doing. She took another pancake off the pile -- this time not bothering to roll it -- and gestures with it in her hand before taking a straight bite out of the side. "You're welcome to come and see for yourself, if you have time."

 

 

Edited December 3, 2018 by TehUltimateMage

[Pyrowings]

Light ~ Marketplace

 

To her relief, Qaksh looked like he knew what he was doing, at least. He gladly received the ginormous cherries from the shopkeeper, with Circuitraider offering to carry. Light pouted briefly--I wanted to help...-- before realizing that Circuitraider was telling her instructions on fruit identification. 

 

 "... Try checking for scent. You don't want anything rancid,"  Circuitraider said, and Light looked up and craned her neck, eyes wide and ears perked at the robot's words as she tried to meet her eyes to no success. She knows how other people identifies fruit? That's kinda weird. "And... and getting riper fruit requires being consumed much sooner, if not immediately." 

 

"Wow!" She knows a lot! Light grinned and straightened herself, feeling a rush of excitement from head to toe. She waited for Circuitraider to continue for a few moments before realizing that the robot had became silent. "Where did you learn that?" Her attention was soon drawn back to"Mrs. Pac-Man," though, as Qaksh decided to go and buy more of the oversized fruit--one with a mottled green and white outside, an apple, a strawberry, and a citrus called--Geez, that's a really unimaginative name. Though in that case, why is a strawberry called a "straw" berry? It looks nothing like dried grass or those weird tubes. 

 

 "We're going to see if we can find some meats or grains, since not all of us... um... organics... can subside on fruit alone," Qaksh spoke up, addressing the giant robot. Light spun, ready to scour the lively market and brilliant energy when her attention was caught again by the weird glass ball a stall over, swirling with two ghostly dragons spinning around and around and around. And now that she was looking, there was some sort of thing that they were swirling around, held inside the glass ball.

 

Evidently, when she was zoning out, there was some sort of agreement between the dragon and the robot. There was a few soft clanks, and Light looked back to see Circuit crouched down, and then with a mesmerizing shifting of gears and parts, sank down and shifted, becoming something like one of those car she saw in Empyrean, except with wheels instead of magnetic levitators. Light could barely keep her eyes on how one part moved or another part replaced it! In fact, Circuit almost seemed to become smaller too--Light couldn't imagine how much shifting it would take to fit her entire body into that relatively small car.

"Can I see you do that again sometime?" Light asked. "But yeah, generally fleshy living things need a lot of variety in their diet, so it's important to go and find other sources of food--

 

"Hey, hey!" a voice piped up, yelling. "Food here is a dime a dozen! Come and have a look at my treasures, they'll have value that lasts far, far more than any food you'll ever get!" Light scowled (though anyone looking would have mistaken it for a disgruntled pout) and turned towards the voice--a weird, chubby black beastkin-like thing with a mask on its face holding a bamboo umbrella and sitting in front of a cloth laid out with knickknacks. 

 

"And if you don't have food, you die," I don't know what I needed to point that out, but maybe you stop seeing food as essential if you're surrounded by it...

 

"You have your food now, so spend some time pouring over these fabulous treasures! What about you, oh great and powerful dragon? Or you, beautiful?" the beastkin thing looked towards Qaksh and Circuit. 

[TehUltimateMage]

 

Qaksh -- At the Imp Merchant, who happens to be selling shiny goods

 

"Yes, yes, we're done here," Qak gave a rushed reply. He assumed through her words that the Autobot was growing impatient, even if that was not the case, and hurried to pull the fruit nearer to himself. He watched, quizzical and with his frills extended from curiosity, as she knelt onto the ground and began the transformation. 

 

Metal parts shifted and locked into place, and to the dragon it was nothing short of magical. Impressed, but too shy to ask further questions, he followed her instructions and used his telekinesis to place the oversized fruit into the rear compartment. The... car (as other agents had previously pointed out to him what vehicles were) was as long as he was and had a shiny purple hide, but thankfully was not as towering as the bot's other form.

 

"Thank you," he told the car. "Much appreciated, I mean, I don't know how we could have carried it without your kind offer-- Ah...."

 

Already, the red-haired child had wandered off to look at the next best thing. As it was his duty as an agent to keep newcomers out of trouble and prevent them from getting lost, Qaksh followed her to the next stand, which wasn't really a stand at all but rather a carpet on which sat a bunch of strange items, like how street merchants peddled their wares.

 

The merchant, who was an ape-like creature with a mask that looked like a single piece of paper, beckoned them forward. Now that he was addressed directly, the awkward Magi felt bad if he didn't acknowledge the seller and reciprocate his overly formal greeting. Great and powerful? Compared to any other dragon in Galsreim... he was puny and weak.

 

"I suppose---" the dragon stammered privately to Light and Circuit. Flustered by the whole situation, he forced his bristled scales down and tried to relax.  "I suppose it won't hurt to take a look." 

 

He stretched his neck over and squinted, giving the wares a good look, though he didn't really have the intention of buying anything... at least, not anything big. Some of the crystals seemed familiar, but were not quite like the mana crystals of his world. He observed them, skeptical, but decided to move on. There were some crystals glowing brightly, encased in a glass shell about the size of a human's thumb, and some other raw crystals glowing blue within a geode.

 

Magical goods... He didn't quite need anything, but... 

 

Among the orbs organized in rows by the merchant was something that instantly drew Qaksh's eye. Tucked a few rows back and set on a red cushion was a stone (or could it be considered a solid orb?) that was, curiously, perfectly spherical and perfectly smooth. 

 

"Interested in this one?" Shoot, the merchant saw him looking. Qaksh didn't move to acknowledge them, and the monkey-creature continued, "That one's a very unique find! Very expensive! But for a lustrous dragon, I might consider giving you a special price..."

[Eto]

 [ vincent ; -- add. echo ; -- for. s & p ]

-- status.

dormouse ; wound

demios ; dormant }

for you, the abyss.

--

 

Echo pauses as she stares at Sora, meeting his gaze directly. Had he -- spoken to her? Bypassing her master, and inviting her to join them entirely?

 

The white-haired girl blinks; this was unheard of, not when she is used to Vincent's presence very obviously dominating any conversation the two of them enter. Anything said to her was passed down through him, mostly because everyone knew the tale of the Nightray family and their collection of oddities -- servants and Chains that no one dared to interrupt otherwise, in the house of forever darkness. To think that this boy, with his odd clothing and young, fresh features, would so explicitly ignore decades of carefully constructed rules between the grand houses as to talk to her directly ... she was mystified, to say the least.

 

And enchanted. Without thinking, Echo takes a step forward, but then Vincent speaks and it is the soft, terrifying lull of his voice that snaps her back to the presence. She blinks at the brown-haired boy once more, before breaking her gaze and instead turning her attention back to Vincent. 

 

Vincent chuckles in response to the accusatory tones levied towards him; his face is relaxed, posture unchanged, but there is a dangerous glimmer in his dual-coloured eyes as he regards Sora -- not so much looking at the boy as he is looking down at him. 

 

He is adorable -- his posture guarded, instantly ready to attack, and Vincent wants to reassure him. He will not harm him, not here -- not when any of the gathered group does not pose a threat to anything he would care for, at the moment. His riled up manner reminds him of dear Elliot, when his youngest -- dearest -- brother would get upset at any mistreatment of Leo, and he finds it positively delightful -- how much the boy seems to care. 

 

"Only trying to make friendly conversation," he replies, still keeping his manner lax. "I believe --" 

 

He is interrupted a second later, and Vincent's smiling, pleasant manner briefly gives way to his annoyance at being interrupted. The culprit is revealed to be the blonde-haired girl, her eyes aflame with a passion not unlike her teammate's -- but much brighter, much more quick to anger, and Vincent pauses. He could decapitate her right here, now -- but he supposes that would be awfully hard to clean up, and break a couple rules of the market. He did not want to get arrested today -- not when he is sure the jail is full of cretins and scoundrels. 

 

So he settles for instead leaning back, only the faintest downturn of his eyebrows displaying his turn in mood. "My, aren't you awfully easy to anger?" 

 

He is daring her to speak more -- but it seems the one by her side has more common sense, when she grabs her teammate and abruptly covers her mouth. Vincent raises an eyebrow, interested in the girl's words. 

 

So she had noticed -- his blocking of the door. He didn't think any of the children before him would have been that introspective -- but perhaps he was wrong to have underestimated them, and that peaks his interest even more. But she is a fool -- to mention it so casually. 

 

"So you noticed," he drawls, slow, and takes a look around. He really does not want to cause a scene, not today, when he is sure the news will inevitably make its way back to Gilbert somehow and he will receive a scolding on proper conduct outside of their world, and so Vincent smiles, closes his eyes, and takes a breath. Now, to call Demios or not, that was the question. 

 

He is glad when the other girl -- busy stuffing her face with pancakes, it seems -- speaks up in the silence, giving him the information he had wanted originally. The X-Dreamers? He has not heard of this organization, not really, and briefly Vincent wonders if something as obscure as this would be worth his time. But he is nothing if not interested in the people before him now, and nothing if not slightly threatened at how easily the ninja girl had glimpsed his intentions. If he were to follow her, and if she were to perish in an unfortunate accident -- well, wouldn't that be a shame. 

 

He does not like it when others are able to glimpse his thoughts -- when he does not have the upper hand. In his world, that is a sign of certain death. 

 

"Cracks in the multiverse," he repeats, thinking to himself. He isn't a particularly heroic figure, Vincent believes, because heroes are only so when others have forgotten the sins they've committed, and so he considers this for a brief moment. He has a life back home, in his universe -- with Elliot and Gilbert. Not to mention he is contracted to Pandora, and to defy them would mean certain death -- or at least, a very disappointed Xerxes Break. 

 

Well, he was never one too concerned about what Break was up to. Nodding to himself, Vincent makes a decision. He stands then, sweeping his robe behind him, and extends a hand. Placing it neatly behind him and bowing, just slightly, the blond man smiles at the gathered four before him.

 

"It would be my pleasure," he announces. "Lead the way." 

[ValidEmotions]

[ Ready Players -- Sora | Pascal | Evonna | Vincent ]

{ Support -- Chikako | Echo ;

Status ; Encounter -- Strangers 

Keyblade ; Oathkeeper -- Unarmed }

 

Confrontation -- New Faces ; New Friends

 

'Unsavory' types? Sora thought, staring at Pascal as she spoke. When she shoved the burrito and one of her pancakes upon a plate towards him, Sora glanced again at the white-haired girl. He abruptly remembered that Pascal had ordered food for everyone. "Hey, which one's hers?" he asked beneath the woman's rundown of the X-Dreamers group. When he sorted out what it was, he reached over for the plate, bending slightly to avoid bumping Pascal. Food in hand, he stepped away from the counter and took a few steps towards the unnamed girl. "Here, this is yours." Sora realized he hadn't caught either hers nor the man's name.

 

Sweeping his gaze towards the blond man, the boy frowned faintly. "I don't think we're leaving right this second; we're still eating and I think there's still a little time before the others start to gather at the gate entrance. What's your name?" The question was also directed at the rather quiet girl, his attention returning to her as she briefly glanced at the man. When it seemed like she was done looking at the man, the girl finally came closer and took the offered plate from Sora, almost carefully. For a moment, he wanted to ask if the girl was okay. However, maybe he was misreading her; he wasn't the greatest when it came to body language. 

 

Sora was probably overthinking. Deciding it best to let it go, whatever it was, he instead chose to give her a friendly smile before moving for his own food. Finally free to take a bite out of the burrito, he took a heartbeat to savor the amount of flavor the food had, his shoulders slacking with appreciation. "This is super good," he mumbled beneath his breath and largely to himself. Swallowing, he looked at Pascal and Evonna. "You think anyone went and got the supplies the group needed? Was it only food or were there other things to do?"

 

[ Ready Players -- Circuitraider | Light | Qaksh ]

{ Support -- Entry Voided ;

Status ; Gathering Supplies -- Food ;

Form ; Vehicle | Weapons ; Disengaged | Sensors ; Standby }

 

Assistance -- Organics ; Necessities Required

 

The lid of her trunk thunked shut as her door swung home with a click. The humanoid girl was at last speaking, questioning the Autobot about her knowledge. "I've... been on Earth for some time. The humans are simple creatures to study," she acknowledged. The girl moved away, heading for another vender, leaving the machine and the dragon to follow. The dragon - she still couldn't precisely recall his name, let alone how it might have been pronounced - was sputtering out some sort of gratitude before deciding to change focus. 

 

It wasn't a challenge to see how awkward the beast was, easy to fluster and trip over his own words - maybe even his own feet. Circuitraider watched him, HUD display tracking a variety of his smaller movements. Shifting her attention, she examined the female, tracing the girl's interest to some of the different items on display when the vender began to boast about a stone that the dragon was eyeing. Slowly, her tires rotated, easing her forward in the limited space that she had. The vender nearly sounded like someone she knew. Not his voice, obviously, but the way he strung together his words and held his body. 

 

... Ah, yes.

 

"You do not genuinely have a special price for a dragon. Exactly, how many customers actually fall for such a ruse?" She flickered her headlights, briefly shining the pair of beams upon the masked creature before darkening them again. "You lack convincing body language and possess more of a snide diction than a sincere one. Might I suggest that you utilize a different series of words, phrases, and adopt a different pose?"

 

The vender sounded almost like Starscream when he groveled at Megatron's feet; too gratuitous with the complements. Annoying.

Edited December 28, 2018 by ValidEmotions

[Kiran]

Anders

                           

Allies: Ray, Keaton

Justice: Active

Status: Uninjured / Cat

Anders hissed, somehow managing to be startled that they’d succeeded in making Keaton drop them. His fur puffed up further in offense, despite how the rough landing had been entirely the fault of him and Justice. 

 

They were about to take off away from Keaton and the dark shapes when they spotted two of the kittens fleeing from the safety of the box. As terrified as he was, Anders wasn’t about to let two kittens get lost, and neither was Justice. They were spurred into action, but their paw slipped across the ground as they tried to take their first step. 

 

For a few moments Anders’ paws flew every which way as they struggled to keep upright. Unable to gain any traction against the slick ground they fell, barely managing to avoid faceplanting. What…? Anders took a brief moment to lift his paw in front of his face to examine the greasy substance coating it (and all of his fur, urgh), but Justice urged him onwards. No time. 

 

They pushed themself to their feet, hissing in frustration to see that the kittens had disappeared from view. A blue tail flicked and followed Ranulf behind a stall. As much as Anders hated to leave them, he pushed down Justice’s urging to go after them, now to focus on the situation at hand. Ranulf would likely be able to find them first, and at least they were headed away from the dark creatures attacking them. 

 

The remaining kittens seemed content enough to stay in the box for the moment, and the Heartless ignored it They didn’t know how long that would last, but it let Justice focus on the more pressing concern of the two Heartless attacking Keaton. 

 

Before Anders could even think of stopping Justice he found himself being flung through the air towards the head of one of the Heartless that was attacking Keaton. It was an incredibly stupid choice, given how it looked like those claws could tear them in half in a moment, but Anders went with it, hoping to distract the shadow creature. His claws hooked deep into the Heartless’ neck and shoulders and they yowled as they bit down into strange flesh, strength augmented by Justice’s power. 

 

Edited January 1, 2019 by Zor

[Pyrowings]

Light ~ Marketplace ~ Rock?

The black-furred beastkin merchant's words at least successfully drew the dragon's attention, and at the words, Qaksh's scales stood at end. Light took a step back--Did that make him angry!?--and started sweeping the area for a good escape route before she heard him, very nervously say "I suppose---" and force his scales down. "I suppose it won't hurt to take a look." Oh. Don't assume the worst all the time. Light looked closer at the stuff the imp had, feeling heat rise to her cheeks. The merchant seemed to have a bunch of everything, it seemed: beads, jewels, geodes, decorated tassels, animal statues, pottery, scrolls, seeds, meat, and papers with some sort of unusual scribble on them. Are those like the spell slips Dark Elves and Suju magic uses?

 

"Interested in this one? That one's a very unique find! Very expensive! But for a lustrous dragon, I might consider giving you a special price..."

 

Light looked up to see the merchant picking up a sparkling rainbow--Wait, that's not rainbow, that's just a yellow and grey... That's weird, did I imagine that... Light rubbed her eyes, leaned forward, and craned her neck to peer at the crystal sphere again.  And... She felt something--

 

"You do not genuinely have a special price for a dragon. Exactly, how many customers actually fall for such a ruse?" The beastkind merchant flinched comedically, throwing both arms in the air momentarily as a spotlight shined on him, and Light glanced towards the car-robot as she continued speaking. "You lack convincing body language and possess more of a snide diction than a sincere one. Might I suggest that you utilize a different series of words, phrases, and adopt a different pose?"

 

That paints him in a whole new light.... Light narrowed her eyes, looking all over the merchant. He has his face covered, I should have known something was off from that! 

"AH! You absolutely wound me, fair lady!" The merchant clutched his heart, bowed over, and set the odd stone back, all in one movement. "There is no other gem like this in the entire marketplace, miss!" Now is there? Light straightened and looked intently at the merchant as he continued. "Surely it would be a fine piece for any great and noble dragon to own!" Come on, tell us about the rock! Is there something weird about it, or have you been making stuff up?! But the merchant seemed to be more happy leaving his enigmatic statement hanging in the air. Light looked around, pout on her face as she considered just picking the merchandise up to examine it herself. If only that couldn't have been taken as stealing.

"What's so special about this rock in particular, then?"

 

"This is a treasure! No mere ordinary rock!" the merchant insisted. "Only the finest of jade forms this orb! And not only is this the finest of jades..." The merchant pulled a small lamp out of some pocket, and turned it on. "Behold!" With a flourish, he picked the rock up and pressed it against the light. Light's eyes widened. It wasn't exactly what she had saw before she blinked, but different areas inside the rock was now giving off differently-colored glows, indeed looking something like a rainbow. 

[TehUltimateMage]

Raine -- Marketplace Jail

 

The grey and white dragon shuddered under the barrage of attacks, and Raine saw the first signs of it beginning to change. She had braced herself for another round of fighting, but the dragon appeared to be growing weaker and weaker, fur shrinking back and body falling into a more horizontal stance. She could sense the leaked ice magic everywhere, forming frozen puddles on the ground and clouds of mist, but a different kind of energy came forth and formed into a humanoid figure collapsed onto the ground. 

 

From her limited understanding of the entire situation, their primary objective had been completed. She let herself rest against a wall and look aside to an equally exhausted Xander who was leaning against his sword for support. He had been through a lot today, hadn't he?

 

His expression changed, prompting the healer to follow his gaze toward the remaining police on the scene. She refrained from sighing at their disorganization, but at least they were trying in earnest to secure both parts of the attacking dragon -- even if each move they made only caused more trouble to Xander's group. It was of utmost importance that they get Reshiram back as soon as possible.

 

Answering the king's query on any other agents present, Raine shook her head in the negative. "I don't recall seeing anyone else of note... But I wouldn't be familiar with any new faces. It would be best to ask Natsuki."

 

"Natsuki!" she called. The other agent seemed to have gotten burned as well, but appeared fine enough to walk. "Come here and I'll heal you. Was there anyone else you recognized while we were imprisoned?"

 

She took a few steps towards them, then mentioned to Xander, "The police have confiscated our weapons and some of our belongings. I'm afraid that I wouldn't be able to heal to the peak of my ability until we get our things back, but it should be sufficient for now. That dragon... if it is truly after Reshiram, then the best course of action would be to return to the base. If it does find us, then we can engage it on our own terms."

 

 

"Which means..." She pursed her lips, trying to weigh the disadvantages of all the possible ways they could solve this problem, whether by force or by persuasion. "We'll have to regain custody of them as quickly as possible and retreat."

 

Edited January 14, 2019 by TehUltimateMage

[hikarinomemori]

 

Illidan, Lord of the Illidari
<Status: Injured and cold>
<Location: Marketplace Jail>
<Agents: Xander | Raine | Natsuki | Bowser>
<Other Participants: Oblivionix | Noreillan | Marketplace Police Officers>

 

He'd wanted to attack again, but before he could, the gray dragon separated from Reshiram. That was a relief, though now Reshiram was out like a light...

 

And the gray dragon had gotten away! Elune dammit, nothing went right for him today, it seemed. He could also hear the two Shadowstrider twins arguing away, as well. As much as he wanted to pursue the gray dragon, however, he wasn't sure getting frozen to death would be such a good idea. The Demon Hunter watched as one of the cops took Reshiram away, though, but stopped and shivered as he made a move to follow.

 

Dammit, he was still freezing. He was sure he'd get frostbite now; he needed to warm up. And he needed to find Xander. A biting frozen wind like that was sure to have hurt him, too, but to what extent was unknown to Illidan and he did not like that.

 

"X-X-Xander...? Where are you...? I..." He shivered once more. "...goddess-dammit I'm freezing... I k-k-kind of need to warm up here..." He heard Raine's voice, so maybe Xander was in that direction? Moving was a little hard in this state, but at least he could move in the first place.

 

He started making his way over.

 

~~

 

Nora, Illidari Demon Hunter
<Status: Stable; Confused>
<Location: Marketplace Jail>
<Agents: Tara | Kouji>
<Other Participants: Carol>

 

Carol, Slayer of Miracles
<Status: Stable; Confused>
<Location: Marketplace Jail>
<Agents: Tara | Kouji>
<Other Participants: Nora>

 

This human girl was... very odd. Why was she acting as if one of the Wardens had caught up to her?

 

It was Carol who spoke. "Get up and calm down, it's not like we're the police or anything." Her tone was unusually refined for someone who looked so young. In fact, Carol hardly looked any older than either of the humans in front of them. The two entered the room to find all of the confiscated weapons and possessions. This was good, very good.

 

Nora immediately retrieved his weapons - where Illidan had the green Warglaives of Azzinoth, Nora had a pair of scimitars that resembled amber. Carol, meanwhile, retrieves a rather elaborate harp that was leaning against the corner - this harp was the relic Dur da Bla, and although rather unimposing now, it hid great power.

 

Nora then turned to the two humans. "We could use help here - grab as many things as you can carry. We've got to get all these back to their owners." No sooner than he said that, he proceeded to do so himself, grabbing as many weapons that fell into his sight. Carol began doing the same.

 

Some of these people had very strange weapons... What was this strange little electric thing...?

 

~~

 

 

Rayla, Alolan Prodigy
<Status: In Battle; Injured>
<Location: Kaden's Wares>
<Agents: Keaton | Anders>

<Enemies: Heartless>
<Other Participants: Tsuki | Ranulf | Kaden | Selkie | Leo>

 

Tsuki, The Beast That Calls the Moon
<Status: In Battle; Injured>
<Location: Kaden's Wares>
<Agents: Ray | Keaton | Anders>

<Enemies: Heartless>
<Other Participants: Ranulf | Kaden | Selkie | Leo>

 

Ray was relieved that the shadow creatures seemed to go down easily, but as she was about to celebrate, about nineteen more of them, all looking more powerful, popped up. "OH COME ON!! Just when we beat the last group, too?!"

 

"This could take a while, Rayla..."

 

"Yeah, no joke!!" Ray wasn't used to being attacked so much, poor girl. Good thing there were friends around her that could fight.

 

About twelve of those creatures aimed at her, Tsuki, and the guy near them. Ray was about to move when her feet slid from beneath her - what was this stuff under her?!

 

She managed not to fall on her butt from that, but repositioning herself after sliding meant some of the shadow creatures managed to hit her. Two of the armored ones and one of the unarmored ones all clawed away at her, tearing her clothes and messing up her hair, but other than a few bleeding claw marks, she was fine.

 

Tsuki managed to keep three of the unarmored creatures from getting to Ray and making things worse, but all of the aerial creatures were aimed at the Lunala instead. Needless to say, the damage to Tsuki was a lot worse than the damage to Ray, but seeing her Trainer hurt was bad. Tsuki shook the creatures off and rushed in to attack those hurting Ray, knocking away the two armored ones and striking the unarmored one with Aerial Ace.

 

"...you okay, Rayla?"

 

"I'll be fine... but I hope I stay fine after this mess..."

[Eto]

 [ vincent, preoccupied ; -- add. echo ; -- for. s ]

-- status.

duldee ; locked

noise ; secondary

echo ; -- ?}

zwei, my darling -- i'm sorry.

--

 

Echo looks up, following in tune with Vincent's words as he speaks. The plate in her hands is warm with freshly-cooked food, but she does not want to disturb her master's tirade, nor his excitement. In that case -- is she to eat the pancake?

 

Confused, Echo continues with the plate carefully balanced between her fingers, staring up at the brown-haired boy. Her pale blue eyes follow the movement of his arms as he takes a bite, seemingly speaking to himself, and then Echo sets the plate down on the table next to the brown-haired boy and follows in his example. She takes a pancake between her hands, turning to him, and stares.

 

"Echo is just Echo," she says, introducing herself. "Echo serves Master Vincent." With a glance, she looks at Vincent, who was too busy intimidating the girls to overhear their conversation. "Master doesn't like it when Echo introduces us, but if Master wants to join you then Echo thinks you should know who she is." She steps back then, pausing -- she wants to smile then, to show the boy that she is not a threat, but Vincent does not seem quite willing to open up just yet, so instead she settles for staring at the boy before her -- Sor, was his name? -- and taking a bite of her pancake, slow and careful.

 

"Echo doesn't require food," she points out, after swallowing. "But Echo likes it." 

[Mikasa361]

Name: Tara Andreassen

[Players--Kouji]

[Support--Nora, Carol]

[Status-- Freaking out but less so]

 

~~Oh, okay, we’re safe~~

 

Tara looked up. The girl in the witch costume said they weren’t guards, and she thanked every god and god-like figure in existence. She would’ve been scared out of her mind had it been a guard. She glanced at Kouji, who appeared to be stirring. That was a good sign. The two seemed to be gathering weapons. That was a good idea, so Tara looked at the selection of weapons in the room. There were swords, axes, guns, magical staffs, and all sorts of weapons that could be found anywhere in the multiverse. There was plenty for her to grab and use, but Tara decided to grab a small dagger and a pistol, both with holsters. As best as she could, Tara quickly strapped the holsters onto each of her thighs and made her way back to Kouji. He had opened his eyes. Thank goodness, she thought to herself, we gotta get out of here. "Kouji! We have to get out of here! Can you stand?"

 

Name:  Kouji Minamoto  

[Players-- Tara]

[Support- Nora, Carol]

[Status-- Waking up]

 

~~Rekt~~

 

"Get up and calm down, it's not like we're the police or anything." What.....? Police....?

 

“Kouji! We have to get out of here! Can you stand?" Huh.... Is that Tara....? I forgot what her voice sounded like.

 

Kouji opened his eyes and sat up, looking around the room. He was no longer in his cell. Did Tara manage to break us out? For a second, he was impressed. But he realized just how tired he was. Still, he stood up and noticed Tara with a gun and a knife strapped to her legs. Tara what...? "Tara.... You have weapons? Where--- Oh." Duh. We're in the ing weapons room. "Tara we have Digimon! What the hell are you doing?" Tara glanced at her comrade. 

 

"I might need them. You might wanna grab one too. Just in case some crazy thing happens and we can't summon our Digimon." Kouji blinked. This was far from the Tara he knew- the shy, scared little girl who didn't have a single leader bone in her body. How was she taking initiative? He looked at the vast array of weapons that were around the room. There was a rather fancy looking sword, but it seemed to be twice his height. Maybe a bad idea. He saw a shotgun, but his dumbass had no idea how to use one. He was truly surprised that Tara grabbed a pistol. Who was this girl? He couldn't even recognize her. Tara glanced at him and shyly smiled. There she was. "I uh.... Something happened and the bars disappeared. Um.... I had to drag you around, I'm sorry. I wish I was strong enough to carry you so your clothes wouldn't be dirty." Kouji was only slightly less impressed. While he wasn't impressed with the fact that she didn't break them out, whatever. She dragged his dead weight around, managed to evade some guards, and from what he could tell got their D-Tectors back. Kouji looked back at the weapons. He noticed a very nice looking katana on the table, with a simple yet elegant hilt. He grabbed it and grinned. It was very nice, did it have a scabbard or something?

 

It did. How the hell was the katana separate from its scabbard? He didn't know. Nor did he take any time to think about it. Instead, he sheathed the blade and nodded at Tara, resuming his leadership (?) position. "Let's go." He glanced at the giant elflike creature and the witch girl suspiciously. But they clearly weren't guards. Kouji supposed that, for now, they were allies. 

 

 

 

Name: Evonna Durand

 

[Players-- Vincent, Sora, Pascal]

[Support-- Chikako, Echo]

[Status-- Whatever]

 

~~Fine, I guess I can tolerate him for now.~~

 

 Chikako raised an eyebrow. Unsavory types, hmm? Interesting stuff. She wondered what Pascal meant by this, but she really didn’t feel like asking. She was more interested in the so-called “anomalies” they dealt with. “Anomalies? Putting things back into place?” She leaned back in her seat and let everything process. Yet she didn’t question herself as to why exactly she was joining this organization. It was interesting enough, and full of challenges. She had to give it a shot, yeah?

 

Evonna sighed as she leaned back. She really didn't want to die today. She looked at Chikako, who sighed and faced the lady at the counter. She seemed very unfazed, as if things like this happened all the time. Chikako smiled, saying "I'll have six pajeons two odeng, and two of the red bean fish shaped desserts, please!" She glanced at Evonna. "It's all going on my card." She whipped out her card and presented it to the woman. Evonna was very impressed- but she wasn't sure how much that cost. She quite liked this girl, hopefully Chikako stayed around longer. She wanted to get to know this girl a lot better. Chikako glanced at Echo. "On second thought, can I get two odeng for the girl at the counter, too?" She flashed Echo a huge, beautiful smile. Evonna's heart skipped a beat. She quite liked this girl indeed, she seemed to have such a big heart, although it was probably partially peer pressure. Say that six times fast. 

 

"Say, you sure you wanna pay for it? I got it---"

 

"Nonsense! You're cool, and I think we're gonna be great friends. It's on me this time." Evonna was extremely impressed. She had to take this girl on a date--- GIRL YOU JUST MET HER. But she liked her, and hoped they could at least be best friends. She had a feeling, though, that they'd be very good friends indeed. Evonna then glanced at Vincent. She supposed she'd tolerate him for now. 

Edited February 17, 2019 by Mikasa361

[ValidEmotions]

 

[ Ready Players -- Ray | Anders | Keaton ; Heartless ]

{ Support -- Leo | Ranulf | Kaden | Selkie | Tsuki ;

Status ; Battle -- Engage }

Consume -- The Heart ; It Calls

 

#Keaton | Anders

One of the prey fled, changing shape into something blue and furred. They did not pursue, instead pooling their strength to converge on the wolf-creature and its feline companion. The first two faced retaliation. Claws and teeth. They attempted to get distance, slipping instead and inadvertently avoiding the fire. Almost in unison, their backs struck the grease-covered ground. As the other five converged upon the prey, three Soldiers lost their own footing, metal armor clanking and becoming slick with oil. One Neoshadow and one Soldier managed to avoid the same fate. The Neoshadow sunk into the ground, becoming untouchable as the Soldier surged forward, rapidly striking with wild swipes at the duo. From behind their prey, the Neoshadow resurfaced, leaping up with intent to dig claws into flesh. 

 

#Ray | Leo | Tsuki

The two Soldiers tumbled from the bat's blow, the Neoshadow it attacked being blasting back in its own turn and vanishing upon impact with the ground. The six Air Soldiers continued to harass the bat, circling just above its head, one or two diving down at intervals to strike. Claws and kicks attempted to hit any part of the creature they could. Blue fire raced through the air, slamming into two of the Neoshadows and singing the arm of the third. They regrouped upon the ground, reforming their circle with undulating movements. The three Neoshadows leapt forward first, followed quickly by the Soldiers. 

[ Target -- Neoshadows | Soldiers | Air Soldiers ;

Count -- x6 | x6 | x6 ]

 

[ Status ; Healthy ]

{ Threat Level -- Moderate }

[TehUltimateMage]

Qaksh -- At the Imp Merchant, who happens to be selling shiny goods

 

He nearly fell for it -- how embarrassing! Circuitraider kept having such valid points. Where would the both of them be without her around? He withdrew, lifting his nose up and looking down at the array of objects. He'd almost been had, hadn't he?

 

The energetic imp was not one to give up on a sale, however, and picked up the stone to shine a light through it, revealing a kaleidoscopic display of colors. He was showing Light, but the monkey-like creature almost seemed to hold it out for him to see.

 

The magi dragon leaned in close again, despite the autobot's warning. Under the light, it looked so warm and inviting...

 

He gave into the compulsion...

 

...and licked it.

 

Magic jolted his tongue and his entire body leaped backwards by reflex, accidentally knocking over with his tail a display of books on the other side of the narrow street. His scales stood on end and both his wings and his frills were flared out. His pupils were dilated larger than anyone had ever witnessed, making his normally purple eyes look like infinite pools of darkness. 

 

It took a half a second to unscramble his thoughts enough to form his thought-speak. "That power!" he hissed through a private channel. "B-but Circuitraider is right, I think. He's probably trying to sell us something way over its actual price."

 

He clicked his teeth together a few times, eyes still wide. The logic was sound but the taste of magic lingered -- he wanted more of it, or at least another delectable sample -- and now that he knew what he was looking for, he could sense the stone just radiating life mana. 

Edited January 16, 2019 by TehUltimateMage

[ValidEmotions]

[ Ready Players -- Circuitraider | Light | Qaksh ]

{ Support -- Entry Voided ;

Status ; Gathering Supplies -- Food ;

Form ; Vehicle | Weapons ; Disengaged | Sensors ; Standby }

 

Assistance -- Organics ; Necessities Required

 

If she had optics, she would have either rolled or narrowed them. "I am no lady," she rumbled out, not at all flattered by the merchant's continued attempts at overdone compliments. "A light show? That's what you call special about a stone?" Circuitraider challenged. "You get the same result when light shines through rain, creating a rainbow. You can produce similar effects with any prism and light source; it's primitive science." And yet, the dragon still licked the stone, possessed by a strong reaction when he did so.

 

If it weren't for the fruit in her trunk, she would have transformed but it was too late, anyways. His tail crashed into another vender's wares. "Of course I'm correct." There might have been a touch more indignation to her voice than she intended. "I know someone of this merchant's ilk. A Decepticon who favors the flowery compliments and overly dramatic groveling. He's a wretched machine..." The last comment seemed as if a growl, rumbling through her communications. 

 

Still, the dragon's reaction was curious. "What did it do?" she asked, the words hesitant. 

[TehUltimateMage]

Qaksh -- At the Imp Merchant, who happens to be selling shiny goods

 

"I-I-I don't know if the shopkeep is aware," the Magi dragon answered to the private channel, speaking a mile a minute, "but the closest thing I can compare it to for the non-magic savvy is that the thing tastes fresher than a breath mint -- I don't know, have either of you had breath mints before? But it's cold and somewhat spicy---"

 

Feeling himself fly off topic, he stopped and started again. "Thing has a lot of life mana in it holy Guardian I've never felt charged up like this before I feel like I could circle the planet twice around without stopping and--"

[TehUltimateMage]

Pascal -- Jeon House

 

"Yeah, anomalies!" the white-and-red haired woman echoed Chikako. "I don't know how you got to this market, but you should be familiar with those, right? You gotta have an interesting story, because people've been tossed around like ragdolls through dimensions as of late. Anyone who finds themselves here in this market probably had some sort of multiversal experience beforehand." She looked expectantly at their new guests, eyes gleaming. She knew of Sora and Evonna's appearances -- they were directly caused by Pascal's own meddling on the Gateway -- but what of the others?

 

But Sora cut in right before Pascal was to agree to the polite man's -- Vincent's -- eager suggestion of leaving right away. The keyblade-wielder's words prompted the young woman to stop and chew thoughtfully. “I don’t have a problem taking my food to go, but you’re right, Sora! There’s still some time before we have to meet up with the group at the green gate." She folded the round crepe into four and took a bite from the pointed tip. How many was she in, now? The stack was getting smaller, but still looked significantly tall. She figured that most people would have given up at this point, but Pascal's will was unshakable. There was no turning back, nor did could she harbor any regrets.

 

"My own shopping's done. I have what I need for the communicators and the--" With half a pancake hanging from her mouth, she felt at her breast pocket. Upon realizing the fuse wasn't there, she scrunched her face in concentration and patted herself from top to bottom, searching all of her pouches and compartments two at a time. "Where did I put the... Ah!" 

 

Wiggling her hand out of one of her front pouches, she took the oversized fuse she bought earlier -- keeping it in sight -- and placed it onto the table before continuing with both her food and her speaking. "Anyway, Xander's usually the responsible one who remembers to buy stuff for all of us. And Natsuki's basically our accountant, so between the both of them the food shopping would get done for sure."

 

She shrugged her shoulders. "Nobody really eats at the same time, so I kind of just grab some snacks for myself on the way back. Y'could probably get whatever you want to make for yourself and cook it by yourself. It's pretty casual. Just don't leave stuff lying around the kitchen because the Lumas will clear it away."

 

Pascal closed her eyes and sighed through her food. Those star people were helpful and adorable, but they had a bad habit of messing up her perfectly organized chaos. (She got around that by storing all her foods in her own room and instructing them that that nook of the castle was off-limits.) "Princess Rosalina's servants think they're doing a service by cleaning every corner of the base, but I don't agree at all."