Warped: Multifandom 3.0...ish [ENDED]

[skwerl56767]

   Temple Altercation

 

   The new blue dog had bolted toward the exit, taking advantage of the shock to slash at another Orc, who yelled out. Glail whipped around, trying to keep it in sight, scared and confused. She almost called out to it, but she had barely started to speak before she had to dodge an incoming axe swing. She ducked, stumbled past her attacker, and recovered her composure, her eyes following it. "Wait!!" Her head snapped back to the dragon as he roared out in anger. Previously he been simply standing there, watching the fight escalate, but Ionhazard's abrupt appearance had clearly ruffled his scales.

   "Well? After them!" the dragon snarled. Glail hastily pulled back as he stretched his wings out, reaching both sides of the cavernous room from wingtip to wingtip! "Wake the Golem up! We need to get this monstrosity out of here. Mobilize!"

   "Ahh!" Glail yelled as he beat his wings, something the Orc minions anticipated and steeled themselves against but sent the wolf girl tumbling back on her rear. In a panic she tried to turn the moment of vulnerability into a shift, and transformed - too clumsily for her liking - back into her wolf form, her axe dropping to the floor. One of the Orcs ran out of the room like his rear was on fire while the rest resumed attacking, focused primarily on the three smallest intruders. Glail scrambled to her paws, yiped as one arrow struck her forepaw and another her tail as she turned to flee. The pain almost caused her to fall again, but she pushed through it. "SWIFT! Let's go!" she pleaded to her friend. She snatched her axe up, wrenching it away from two Orcs who had tried to steal it, and high-tailed it to the door where the dog was. Feeling both encouraged and scared, the Axe Orcs pushed their front, their screeches echoing off the stones walls as they chased the trio. The Crossbow Orcs shrank back into the shadows, hoping the giant metal golem didn't see them. Axes were being thrown. Bolts were flying. Her own weapon dulled as she dragged it on the tile with no time to hold it properly. Glail gritted her teeth on its wooden handle, clenching against the pain of the arrowhead in her paw. A loud, metallic rumble shook the air of the room, there was a roar, then a deafening CRASH! as if two gigantic pots fit for giants were smashed together! The laguz smothered the whine in her throat and plastered her ringing ears against her head. Just focus on the other laguz! The laguz! Follow it! Is Swift following? I can't hear!

 

   Multiple Orcs shrieked at the same time as the horrible noise, as they had witnessed what happened. The Crossbow Orcs had fully retreated now, dispersing throughout the rest of the temple to try and cut off escape routes. Ionhazard clamped down on his target, clenching his metal talons in victory. Too easy! The massive purple dragon, rabbit-sized to him, had flown right into his mouth! It attempted to swerve, but the Commander had been quicker, opening his mandibles wide and snapping it up like a lynx with a bird. He felt the dragon squirming, and pressed his teeth tighter into it, snarling. The only problem with his plan now is it would take some visceral "disassembly" to turn the dragon into useful red matter, as it was too big to swallow. Alternatively, he could take it prisoner and give it to Mother Machine, for her "experiments". Decisions, decisions...

   Completely ignorant of the dragon's abilities, and disdainful of the Orcs below, Ionhazard scanned the rest of the temple, wondering what other prey it might hold. He had missed where the girls had gone, and the room was completely vacant of Orcs now, excepting a couple of bodies. So they can defend themselves, he noted, just not very well. Grhm. I'll just keep the dragon until nothing better comes up. He idly remembered how distressed Mother Machine sounded when he said he sent the wolf girls into there, and passively wondered if this dragon was the "Malefor" she had spoken of; but he quickly dismissed the idea. No, he must be someone else, he thought insultingly, grabbing the edges of the temple's new hole and looking it over more thoroughly. She only worries about people who are actually dangerous.

 

   ----------

 

   Burning Lands Village

 

   Neea has simply stared, confounded, at Ren's uncertain answer. So large crowds were like this normally, but only sometimes? And what's a clique? Is that how they identify each other, is with clicks? But no one clicked. Then she looked down at the small item he was holding, and how he was fidgeting with it, making it click repeatedly. A metaphorical light went on in her head. Ohhhh, maybe that's how the groups form, is you click when you want friends! Should I click? I probably should but I feel so silly.

   Ren gestured to the crowd a final time, only vaguely clarifying, “But then again, normally we don’t… Don’t, um. All this.”

   "All of it??" the mech asked. Utakata spoke up, to hopefully explain what that meant, but was abruptly cut off when Ren picked up a call from within the crowd and hustled off toward it. Neea didn't quite hear what it was, but she supposed Ren would actually come back. Now she could only direct her puzzlement to Utakata: "What's a little difficult? To keep people from clicking?" I don't know why that'd be difficult, she second-guessed herself silently, Ren is the only one I've heard clicking.

 

   Before he could respond, one of the shabbily-dressed strangers - clearly part of the village, yet the only one of two who were part of this curious gathering - began to project her voice over the commotion to direct attention to her. Neea's head snapped up and her cameras focused on the being to bring her to full clarity, despite the decent distance between them, which reduced Utakata to a pale blue blur beside her.

   "Apologies for the confusion, everyone," she began, "and welcome to our village. My name is Leigh- my husband Redd is the leader of the village, but he and I share a few of the responsibilities." A bright image suddenly popped up behind her, clearly projected by some unseen lights. A faint sense of familiarity entered the mech's mind. The projector was one of the few technologies she recognized since being here! "I used to use this presentation in the education of our children," the being went on, "but in the past year I've been updating it more and more in the hopes I could teach this in the future. However, this is much more applicable to you all right now, if not to give you a rough idea of where you are and what's going on."

   An explanation?! The excited thought jerked Neea to full attention, making her stand up straighter and perk her tail blades. She refocused her cameras, drinking in every single detail of the hologram by Leigh, and readying to take pictures; lots and lots of pictures. Leigh gestured to the other villager, standing beside some sort of pedestal that the holographic light was coming from, and he tapped it in a very specific spot, causing it to click and the image to change to a planet, one that was mostly blue and green with white swirls over it, and a few discolored patches all localized to one continent on its surface. Neea's eye widened as she took it in. Blue... green... the sky is blue and the plants were green... the swirls must be clouds. She felt both distress and fascination clenching at her engine. I'm so far from home!

 

   Leigh continued, pointedly sweeping her hand to the projection, "This right here is our world, Mul'tilennaya. If Redd can move to the next slide for just one moment..." The image changed to another planet, very similar looking but with no discolored patches, making it look much more beautiful and clean. "This is what it used to look like, and we are approximately.... Here." She pointed to an ambiguous spot near the same continent's western shoreline. "Go back?" she directed the other being, Redd, and the image reverted to the one with discolored patches; the spot Leigh had pointed out was now an ugly brown waste, obscured by vast columns of smoke, the complete opposite of what it had been. Crawling over the land beneath it was what looked like a black welt on the landscape, to its right was a red patch, above was a dark one, a new caldera was in the ocean... it was like the whole face of the planet was changing!

   Leigh explained, "And we're in just about the same place now, but alas.... the terrain is to nobody's liking. That old picture of Mul'tilennaya's map is from a year and a half ago."

   Only 1.5 years?! How long are their years? There's no way!

 

   The image changed again, and again, and again, with a two-second rhythm. Each one depicted a frightening scene: a massive black-blue spire, lording over a strange-looking city; the fury of a storm so dense the picture was mostly fire, sleet, and ruined earth; an army of woody-looking creatures, covered in spines and wielding crudely-carved weapons, screeching and slaying a race of people who looked just like those in front of her. A city writhing with red tentacles and screaming monsters. People walking like zombies under a scarlet canopy. A bright beam of something destroying a tower. They went on and on, with Leigh narrating with them, "About a year ago, malicious beings made their way onto Mul'tilennaya and fought amongst themselves over our territory. The world is now divided into sectors- each ruled by villains from other worlds." Now the slides showed cruel characters, sitting on thrones, walking streets they conquered, and strutting over the fallen in battlefields. Some resembled the species of people who had died, while a few, like a large purple reptilian with fiery eyes, were completely different. Some were beautiful in their own menacing ways, and others screamed danger. "Each sector is vastly different from the next- and it's not guaranteed that travel between sectors is safe."

   "Why this occurred? Someone known only as Professor had invented a machine- one meant for extra-dimensional travel. It seems that this machine is in its beginning stages, as it's been acting up. What's strange is that none of the newcomers in front of me appear to have the same intentions as the sector rulers did a year ago, unless of course I'm a fool." At that, Neea shot a quick, wary glance over the crowd, hoping she was right and yet looking for any signs of malice. "In short, you've all been warped here from your home worlds onto here. And if you need any way of getting home, the best bet you have is looking for Professor, who we have not found yet. I'm only giving you information from our experience in the past year and what we know from scouts. ...Any questions? I understand that that was a lot."

 

   So I can't go back... Neea thought numbly. Thankfully for her conscious, she couldn't linger on the frightening images, as Redd had ended the slides with one depicting a lush landscape dotted with bright spots of color: the ruins she and the others had just come from. The contrast of the happy landscape was almost wrong, though. She averted her eye to the ground, her threads lapsing into a sullen silence. She wanted to ask lots of questions, but she was still looking through the pictures she had taken of each image. Because they were taken by the actual people of this world (Mul'tilennayans?), a good number of them weren't the highest quality, particularly those of the villains Leigh spoke of. The most obscure one was almost just a mess of black and red splotches, with tones of other colors peeking through, though the longer she studied it, the more she felt like the tall smear in the middle was a person, and watching her. She flicked past it, only to be startled again by the cold stare of some furry creature with a long snout and pointed ears, which the photographer had caught stalking him from the shadows.

   What ARE these things? If the natives know where they came from, why can't they get rid of them? I guess the teacher - Professor - knows? But why would the Professor do nothing if it's responsible? Can't it just send us all back? Then, another terrifying thought: Will we have to FIGHT all these things?!

 

   ----------

 

   The ATRS drone, which had been quietly observing the explanation as well, had immediately reopened the channel to its creator when Leigh had mentioned providing an idea of what's going on. Mother Machine was a bit exasperated, but had listened to the audio feed anyway, growing more and more interested. This is just the information she needed! Why send scouts into potential danger when she now knew what to expect on the mainland? The luck was uncanny! She didn't feel deserving of the miracle, though, and she too fell into deep thought when the presentation had finished.

   As the drone hovered on the last of its battery reserves, Mother Machine slowly concluded that she, too, should try to find this "Professor". Not only would he know more information, but he's also in possession of a fully-functioning inter-dimensional quantum tunneling device! It's not functioning 100% properly, so she could offer help to diagnose it and fix it, in exchange for the ability to use it - sparingly, of course - to provide the planet with more resources and perhaps more machines for her! After all, why should she make machines when she could just summon half of them from other universes that they respawn infinitely in? Perhaps the Professor would be willing to annex her a little country for the bots, too; the humans here must be more diplomatic, if they fell to otherworldly influence so easily. Then she could have all the fuel, materials, and children she'd ever want! Lovely, cute, little mechanical children...

   While she was largely thinking of her own benefits, Mother Machine was also considering her strategies for the other villains, too. She may have to make war with all of them, in order to claim as much territory and might as possible so she could locate Professor and gain his trust, to boot. At the same time, it would be less resource- and computationally-intensive if she could maintain a ceasefire with each one.

 

   It was a lot to think about... though Priority 1 would be keeping the ATRS with the group. It had jolted her out of her processes with a few distressed beeps, as its battery power was dipping dangerously low. Two appealing options were immediately present: either convince someone to befriend the drone and keep it, or hack her way into the mech's consciousness and store the ATRS in its head, as she knew there was a cockpit in there... oh, but that's pretty invasive, isn't it? She'd rather they meet in a much sweeter way, and sadly, she lacked an established network to do a subversive hack. Very well, someone will just have to be friends with the drone. Hopefully that someone had a live wire it can feed off of.

   The ATRS drone had sent back a muted, unhappy beep when she ordered it to "find and secure an ally with electricity", but short of having it fly halfway back and drop dead in the ocean anyway, this was its only option. Dejectedly - as much as a small flying camera could - it hovered in closer to the group, searching for anyone who might have the ability to sustain it. Sadly, it didn't really have any leads. Everyone looked strange, but not electrical.

   "Find and secure an ally".... what if the ally found and secured it? Ah hah!

   The drone thought it was being clever, and decided to lift its little wings and dropped straight through the middle of the group to the ground, hitting it with a small plastic clank. Its vision bounced at the impact, and reduced it to staring at someone's shoes, but the drone was confident someone would find it and pick it up.

Edited August 29, 2020 by skwerl56767

[HomeForFlowers]

「 Sector: Five 」
「 Location: Abandoned Castle || Entrance 」
「 Allies: Kaladin, Lelouch 」

「 Other Participants: Kobold 」

「 Persona: Arsène || Standby 」

 

In a delightful change of pace to the monotony of wandering a seemingly empty castle, not one, but two, different people had walked into the entrance hall. If he didn't know any better, Joker would think that he had a magical ability to attract people to him but only in weird, convoluted ways. Whether that was a gift or a curse was debatable, but one thing was certain: both of the strangers were confused and looking to Joker for answers. Joker smirked, his amusement barely concealed underneath his mask.

 

"Well," Joker said, drawing out the "W". "That's the rub, isn't it?" He casually crossed one leg over the other. "I know that we're in a castle, not sure where though. I don't know what a highstorm is, but there is a growing thunderstorm outside. Wouldn't advise going out there right now. You saw how bad it was." Joker nodded towards the lanky, black-haired boy. "Can't say I know how I got here. One moment I was on a train and then poof! Big scary mansion." Joker cocked his head to the side as he stared at the two strangers intently. They both acted like that they had also been unwillingly teleported into the mansion just like him. Either that confusion was genuine or a cheap ploy to hide whatever sinister intention that might have. Joker couldn't rule out the possibility that he was in a Palace especially considering that he had appeared in his Metaverse outfit. Neither of the strangers had masks on so that ruled them out as Persona users. At least that's what Joker thought until he saw a small glowing woman appear next to Kaladin.

 

Joker blinked slowly, listening as she began directing Kaladin to ask questions. Most Personas only spoke on rare occasions such as when they were summoned or established a bond with their user. The girl floating besides Kaladin was smaller than any Persona Joker had seen, but that was fine. Nothing about the castle made sense; he didn't know how he got there, why he was there, who the people were, if the inhabitants were shadows and—oh speak of the devil.

 

One of the lizard creatures Joker had encountered earlier wandered out from the shadows and shyly approached the two men, claws clasped together.

"Back for more?" Joker said, smiling discretely under his mask. In a single fluid motion, he leaped onto the staircase railing and slid down on it, jacket flowing behind him. He neatly landed on his feet and stuff his hands into his pockets as he approached the group. "This is what I ran into before I saw you two." Joker halted beside well-dressed boy. He enthusiastically waved his hand at the creature, hoping that the friendly motion would transcend language barriers. "I'm Joker, by the way," Joker said, glancing at his newfound companions. "A word of warning, I don't think its hostile but it does like shiny things. Might want to hide your buttons. Or money." Money was probably more important.

[TehUltimateMage]

[ Location: Sector six, Dracula's Laharl's Castle ]

 

Laharl praised himself for his excellent plan. While personally beating down intruders was fun, sometimes and Overlord had to practice letting his minions whittle a challenger down bit by bit. He didn't really expect any of his weak vassals to actually be of any use, but it sure was a good source of exercise for the otherwise lazy Prinny Squad.

 

...Actually, this was a terrible plan. Not even three minutes had passed, and he found himself incredibly bored. (How did his old man even deal with sitting on his butt all day long? Letting other people do his dirty work?) The zombie parrot began struggling again in his hand. Because it was disrupting his sulking, Laharl looked around his room and zeroed in on the drawers under the vanity mirror. Cut in quite a classic ornamental style, in sturdy mahogany, the piece of furniture seemed like it belonged to a very distinguished demon with twenty thousand years under their belt. 

 

Well, no matter who was the previous owner, Laharl had now claimed it as his own. He pulled open a drawer, tossed the bird in, then hurriedly slammed it shut. 

 

~~~~~

 

 

 

Success! One of the bombs hit their target head-on! (though the other bomb was dodged through an elaborate series of impressive, super-cool combos which the pirate performed just as planned! Wow!) Though of course, the victory was extremely short-lived.

 

"Uh-oh."

 

The prinny attempted to shield itself from the blast with its flippers but the pink-horned devil was so fast! Before the penguin demon could even move an inch, the point-blank shot had already launched it back the way it came. Amazingly, the black prinny bounced a few times up the next set of stairs before rolling to a halt, clearly knocked out cold for the next five hours. 

 

At the top, on the next floor, another demon was standing in the way. This one appeared to be an older teen girl with her red hair in short pigtails, paired with almost fake-looking demon wings and a skimpy leather outfit decorated with skull accessories. With the heel of her boot, she unceremoniously kicked the fainted prinny out of her sight. 

 

 

"What's the Prince up to now?" The girl rolled her eyes, shouting down at the commotion below. "Having a dance party? This stupid music's stopping me from getting my beauty sleep. I can feel the bass through the rooms of this dingy cardboard castle." Her spade-tipped tail was raised and whipped from side to side, actively expressing her annoyance. 

 

"M-Master Etna!" one of the remaining prinnies stuttered just as it began running away from the two castle-intruders after the fall of their commander. The other prinny, knowing that they were sandwiched between two terrible options, looked as if it was about to fall over like a scared rabbit. "O-Overlord Laharl told us to get rid of these doods, dood!"

 

Etna pretended to think about those words, then immediately glossed over them. She narrowed her eyes, smiling like a pleased cat. "...I'll let him know what a terrible job you're all doing. Meanwhile..." Out of seemingly nowhere the demon pulled out a handgun and, without aiming at anything at all, continuously fired a barrage of bullets at the people and monsters below until she emptied her magazine. She then threw her now useless gun at one of the purple prinnies on the ground, who had fallen down from 'friendly' fire. The weapon bounced off the creature and clattered to the ground. "I'll need you all to shut up! For the next thirty-six hours! So I can get some damn sleep!"

 

With a back kick, Etna knocked a spear off its display rack on the wall and caught it in her hands, stepping into a readied fighting stance.

 

"Don't forget about meeee!" roared the stone dragon. "I'm still relevant!" Wings spread and teeth bared, it rushed at Matt with its claws flexed, aiming to slash at the pirate and pin him to a pillar. 

 

 

~~~

[ battle summary : floor 1 /  floor 1.5 ]

Prinny General knocked out point blank!

Laharl's """loyal""" vassal, Etna, appears!

Etna disregards gun safety and fires on everyone! Prinnies knocked out.

Stone dragon slashes at Matt!

 

Edited September 1, 2020 by TehUltimateMage

[hikarinomemori]

Seto Kaiba
<Status: Injured>
<Active Monster(s): N/A>

 

Hibiki Tachibana
<Status: Stable>
<Gungnir Symphogear: Active>
<Current Song: N/A (not in battle)>

 

Ser Aymeric de Borel
<Status: Stable>

 

Chris Yukine
<Status: Stable>
<Ichaival Symphogear: Inactive>

 

Kirika Akatsuki
<Status: Stable>
<Igalima Symphogear: Inactive>

 

Tovan Khev
<Status: Stable>

 

<Location: Sector 2 - Burning Lands Village>
<People: Riza | Utakata | Renarin | Neea | Peter | Ryo | Doppio | Silver | Weavile | Mòrag | Brighid | Hotaru | Jin | Lloyd | Redd | Leigh>

 

~~

 

Hibiki smiled after Renarin healed her - it was nice of this man to call attention to her wounds, and of Renarin to heal them. "Arigatou, Renarin-denka. Ah, could you heal Kaiba-san, too? He got hit a few times, too..."

 

Tovan looked around, asking Hibiki which one was Kaiba, and bit his lower lip when she pointed him out. "Yeah, he does look like he also needs some healing... Strange, though. It's not like any healing I've seen before." Tovan couldn't help the sigh. "I'm definitely not on Mol'Rihan anymore..."

 

Kaiba glanced at the green ninja toy man and crossed his arms. "Sorry, I don't. I don't even know where that is." He then averted his gaze. "It wouldn't do much good even if I did, though. I don't even know the way back to Domino City from here..."

 

It was at that moment that Redd and Leigh had chosen to speak. Just from what he could gather, Tovan imagined it was something similar to a transporter, but with a far greater range than merely ship-to-planet and vice-versa. Briefly, he thought of the Iconian gateways, but just as quickly, he shook his head and dismissed the idea from his mind.

 

"...speak of the bloody devil. So, just from what I hear, if we find this 'Professor' person, we can find a way back to where we all came from." Kaiba crossed his arms - he had the feeling they were getting into another fine mess.

 

Aymeric, however, saw it as an opportunity to finally be on the front lines, fighting, instead of trapped in that stuffy office they called the Lord Commander's chambers back in Ishgard.

 

The girls - Hibiki, Chris, and Kirika - saw it as yet another "save the world" kind of deal. It seemed they got this a lot. Of course, when the final slide came up, Hibiki and Chris both did a double-take and Kirika nearly choked - all of them recognized one of the malicious beings in the slide as one from their world.

 

Shem-Ha Mephorash.

 

Seeing the girls' reactions made Aymeric take another look, and he almost immediately paled at seeing the image of Gaius van Baelsar - the Black Wolf - among the other malicious beings present.

 

...but regardless of the villainous faces they recognized (or didn't recognize), if there was one thing that they could all agree on, it was that this would not be as easy or simple as finding the Professor and asking for the way home. No, Kaiba still had the rest of his cards to find, Tovan still had two of his guns and his plasma grenades to find, and all six of them figured that those who had fought for control over the sectors would likely fight them, as well.

 

Tovan was snapped out of his thoughts by a loud clattering on the floor, and he looked down. This... This had to be some sort of drone, right? He'd seen similar drones in use around New Romulus. Tentatively, he picked it up and began to examine it.

 

Ultimately, it was Chris who voiced the group's opinion on the world's situation in the way only she could. "...why do I have the feeling we'll have to stop a war or something?"

 

~~

 

Shem-Ha Mephorash
God of Sector 7
<Status: Stable>

 

Millaarc Cranstoun
<Leader: Shem-Ha Mephorash>
<Rank: Noble Red - Vampire Commander>
<Status: Stable; Wary>

 

Vanessa Diodati
<Leader: Shem-Ha Mephorash>
<Rank: Noble Red - Cyborg Commander>
<Status: Stable; Wary>

 

<Location: Sector 7>

 

~~

 

Shem-Ha glanced at the little bat that had perched on her shoulder. "Ah, Millaarc. It's unlike you to seek me out when I'm traveling to Gaius's sector... so speak."

 

"Yeah, the werewolves and the other vampires keep mentioning a couple of guys. So far, neither man has made any move to attack anybody."

 

That was when Vanessa spoke. "Some of the scouts also mention seeing... well, they cannot quite describe the creature, but they do mention that on some subconscious level, it feels... wrong. They cannot quite figure out how or why, however - if it seeks an audience with you..."

 

Shem-Ha dismissively waved her hand. "If it seeks an audience with me, it is more than welcome to try to seek me out. I'd much prefer communication over bloodshed after all... but first, back to these other two who are now in my sector. I do hate to keep Gaius waiting, but I would see if they are friend or foe... personally."

 

"Are you certain, Shem-Ha?! With all due respect, they could be dangerous if they turn out to be foes."

 

"Vanessa. You forget that those who challenge my rule will either ultimately serve me..." Shem-Ha flicked her wrist, activating the Vambrace on her right arm. "...or shine in silver." As if to prove her point, she turned the nearest (small) tree into solid silver metal with her powers.

 

Millaarc flew to Vanessa's side and hid behind her shoulder - she remembered the last time someone had been deemed turned into a silver statue, one of her own vampires who had been a little too free-thinking. Vanessa, however, was the one to speak. "O-Of course... Forgive my lapse in memory."

 

"Good. Vanessa, you're with me while I investigate these two newcomers. Millaarc... I want you to keep an eye on the creature. Do not engage it in battle under any circumstances - if it attacks you, you're to find me."

 

"U-Understood, Shem-Ha." Millaarc took off from Vanessa's shoulder in the direction of the creature, while Vanessa accompanied her god in the direction of the two newcomers.

 

It seemed Gaius van Baelsar would have to wait a bit longer.

 

~~

 

Blixer
<Status: Injured; In Battle>
<Current Song: "Lycanthropy">
<Location: Sector 6 - Inside the castle>
<People: Matt>
<Enemies: Stone Dragon | Etna>

 

~~

 

Blixer smirked when he saw the black penguin thing get sent up the stairs by his blast. Hoo boy, he was having such a good time right now.

 

Of course, that good feeling was squished somewhat when he saw the newcomer - clearly a girl - pull out a gun and start firing away...

 

A bullet hell, here?! Now we're talking! He had experience with these sorts of things, so naturally, he was good at dodging every single bullet this chick had. The other two penguin-creatures hadn't been so lucky, and Blixer couldn't help but laugh as he now hovered in the air. "Aw, man, this just keeps getting better and better."

 

Then he looked at the demon girl, who had obviously tired of the gun, and let out a disappointed sigh. "Aw, c'mon, sweetheart... The party's just getting started! Though... I s'pose we could transition to a new track. Termination Shock's getting stale."

 

And just like that, a new, different song began to play.

 

And with the new song came a change in weaponry; the hand cannon in Blixer's hand dissipated into pink energy before re-forming into a scythe. He flew up, intending to get up close and personal with the new girl...

 

Of course, there was that very likely possibility that he'd severely misjudged his flight trajectory. At this angle, it looked like he was going to miss for sure, but...

 

He heard the loud *clang* of metal on metal.

 

This wouldn't end well...

 

~~

 

<BATTLE SUMMARY:>
<Blixer dodges every single bullet Etna shot.>
<Blixer changes his hand cannon into a scythe.>
<Blixer flies to Etna, but misjudges his trajectory. It won't end well.>

Edited September 10, 2020 by hikarinomemori

[Pachimew]

 

“Arigatou, Renarin-denka. Ah, could you heal Kaiba-san, too? He got hit a few times, too…”

Renarin blinks at the unfamiliar suffix, then glances over at Kaiba with a small wince. “Yes, of course.” He grapples against the urge to apologize for not getting it earlier--things just moved so quickly... 

The man who called for him--who? Did he hear his name?--bites his lower lip when she points him out. “Yeah, he does look like he also needs some healing... Strange, though. It's not like any healing I've seen before.” He lets out a sigh. “I’m definitely not on Mol'Rihan anymore…”

Renarin shakes his head slightly as he lays a hand on Kaiba’s arm, refocusing. Kaiba’s talking to a--thingy--person? What kind of species is that? “Here,” he mumbles to Kaiba, sending a pulse of healing Light. Then, to the other man--“We call it Surgebinding. The Surge of Progression. As far as I can tell, we’ve all been gathered from…” he circles one hand a few times. “Places. Also, uh…” he bites his lip. “I’m--I’m sorry, I don’t believe we’ve been introduced.” Maybe the other girl will introduce herself automatically, and he won’t have to ask?

He doesn’t get a chance to respond before the villagers call for attention and the presentation flickers on.

 

Renarin watches the presentation with no small amount of interest, fascinated more by the process than the information. Lightweaving? No, they don’t have those powers--that dome must be some kind of fabrial that replicates it...Aunt Navani would love a chance to look at it. And frankly, so would he. I wonder what gemstone it uses?

 

Renarin, Glys says in his mind. Listen! People have taken over--Professor! Our vision with the screens, maybe that was them?

 

It’s a wild leap in logic, but they’ve relied on wilder. “Maybe,” Renarin whispers in response. “I wonder how many sectors? Looks like more than nine…” Not Odium’s number. The smallest of reliefs. But all headed by villains? Yikes.

 

Several people jerk at the last image, making Renarin tense up automatically. No, nobody he recognizes...but the others can’t say the same. He opens his mouth--

 

Something clangs loudly on the floor, making him jump. The man whose name he still doesn’t have crouches down and picks it up, and Renarin can’t help leaning in to look at it as he examines it. 

 

One of the other girls mutters something. Renarin glances up at the comment. “Better to stop a war than to fight one.” He’s not sure where he picked up that adage, but it rings true down to his bones. The wars he never fought...yes, better to unify than divide.

[hikarinomemori]

Yubel
<Status: Stable>

 

~~

 

"Aw, look at this sad sight. Is your little conquest falling apart already?"

 

Out of the shadows stepped what could only be described as a demon, wings and all, though this was a demon with a very strong duality thing going. She was feminine on one half of her body, masculine on the other, and the masculine half was more monstrous-looking, even if only slightly. In addition to that, she had two different hair colors, split evenly down the middle, and two different eye colors... if one didn't count the third, vertical eye right smack-dab in the middle of her forehead.

 

"I disappear for a year and this is what happens... Oh well. Not my problem if the entire Dark Order implodes from a little bit of pain and a small dash of suffering."

 

Then there was a very wicked smirk, a chilling but subtle laugh. "Honestly? You had it a long time coming, you scaly old fart."

 

~~

 

 

<YUBEL has arrived.>

Edited September 12, 2020 by hikarinomemori
forgot to color dialogue

[Eto]

 

 

 

〈 a2 〉

〈 sector 5. abandoned castle, balcony 〉

 

A2 blinks in response to Sakura's response, tilting her head slightly. The girl-machine's words are reminiscent of those she'd heard from the machines from her home, the ones that had abandoned their masters and sought for their own kind of peace.

 

A peace that A2 has never agreed with, even if she once-admired their methods. How desperately, hopelessly, they had tried to forge human-like connections, while negating and ignoring the base facts. How much they had tried to struggle against a fate that had already been decided at the time of their conception.

 

It is somewhat annoying, A2 decides, as Sakura reaffirms her statement once more. If Sakura is the type to continue doing so, A2 thinks, then they will not get along very well. 

 

But she has spent a lot of time with androids she had once considered mere annoyances. 

 

"I'm doing nothing of the sort," she replies in response to Sakura's words, a hint of annoyance bleeding into her words -- how easily her temper flares up. "I am A2, battle android."

 

Sakura's admission -- the only "other human"? -- stuns her, and A2 takes a closer look at the other girl. Either Sakura is a completely delusional machine, or this place, this world, perhaps, contains certain truths that she is unwilling to confront. 

 

But she has always been a pessimist. "Not human," A2 replies again, curt, "you're exactly as alone as you were when you just got here. I don't make for good company."

 

Her eyes fly up towards Sakura's ears, strange and long atop her head, and A2 narrows her eyes. Only a machine would adapt something so ridiculous, so close to the humans' appearance but just slightly off, like Simone and her necklace of corpses.

 

However, there are more pressing things to worry about. A2 snaps to attention as Sakura breaks off her words, immediately looking towards the balcony. A2's receptors hadn't picked up anything, but from the way that Sakura's eyes widen A2 is inclined to think she may be telling the truth.

 

"What?" she urges, a hand going towards the broadsword on her back. "Enemies?" 

 

--

 

〈 lelouch vi britannia 〉

〈 sector 5. abandoned castle, entrance 〉

 

As a consensus: he is not impressed with either of his newfound companions.

 

The strange that had responded to him immediately, with a strange emblem upon his forehead -- Lelouch raises his eyebrow, wondering if perhaps the stranger has a kind of ability much unknown like his own Geass -- asks further questions in response to his own, and the black-haired boy cocks his head.

 

"I just asked you a question," he says, incredulously, "why would I know the answer to yours?"

 

Before he can further elaborate, however, Lelouch's attention is stolen by the other stranger in the room. Masked and caped, Lelouch feels instantly on guard -- he of all people should know to distrust people hiding their identities, and so the former Emperor finds himself unimpressed by the newly-introduced Joker's explanation of their immediate surroundings. His energy is infectious and bright, and it tires Lelouch. He wants to retire. His arm stings, and his Knight --

 

Lelouch's gaze snaps to the aforementioned outside, with the growing storm, and his eyes narrow. Lelouch runs a quick mental calculation in his head, weighing the benefits of staying here or running outside to fetch Shinkirou before the storm hit. The chances of piloting his Knightmare successfully out of here are slim, considering the impact of his crash and the status of his arm, but he feels uneasy at leaving it out. Top-quality Knightmares could hardly be damaged by the weather, but he still does not want to leave his escape route potentially in harm's way.

 

Joker's movements draw him out of his thoughts, and Lelouch looks up to find the other boy waving at a small ... creature. 

 

Lelouch blinks. The creature looks like it's hopped out from the video games he used to occasionally see during his childhood, except ... real. 

 

Huh.

 

Well, at the very least Joker's attempt at a joke falls flat, Lelouch thinks with a bit of cynical humour. Deciding to play along, he speaks the truth in a flat, monotone voice.

 

"Don't have money," he says, with a casual shrug and a smirk. "Been homeless for three years now." 

Edited May 5, 2021 by Eto

[Felixr2]

Rita Mordio | Sector 5 - Hellworld (Abandoned Castle, hallway near the entrance)

 

It was far from ideal here. Rita had spent the night in this castle, taking shelter from the storm. How she got here, she had no idea. It's almost like a Warp blastia had sent her here, but there shouldn't be any functioning blastia left in the world. Then again, she showed up here with a Bodhi blastia around her wrist - one that looked identical to the one she used to have, even - and it worked. She was just as concerned by this as she was relieved, but in the end she decided she wouldn't hesitate to use it if she had to.

She kept walking, looking for food. The hunger had started to really kick in. She had searched a large part of the castle with no result, in fact there were very few signs of life in here. The castle appeared to be abandoned - presumably nobody wanted to live in an environment like this. But then why was the castle built in the first place?

 

She didn't have much time to think about that. As she headed towards the exit, preparing to search some food outside, she heard people talking. The one thing she picked up from what they were saying is that, just like her, none of them had any idea where exactly they were or how they got here. That, and she had to be very careful her newly found blastia wouldn't get stolen by goblins.

 

She ventured a little closer to the group and took a good look at them. There were three men, two of them seemed young and slender, one was muscular and looked a bit older, though not by much. At this point she didn't have the luxury of isolating herself, she valued any help she could get.

"Hey!", she shouted at the men to, begrudgingly, draw their attention. "I guess none of you thought to bring any food?"

 

 

 

Nia | Sector 5 - Hellworld (Abandoned Castle, balcony)

 

"Dromarch? Drooomaaaarch?!" This was bad. She'd suddenly woken up in a large, stone building and the stupid tiger was nowhere to be seen. It felt like she'd been searching for hours, but there wasn't a trace of him, she couldn't even sense his presence. In fact, she hadn't seen anyone here. Until now, that is. She stumbled across a balcony, where she heard two women talking.

As Nia got close enough to understand what they were saying, the conversation suddenly went quiet.

"What?", one of the two asked, sounding very on edge. "Enemies?"

Enemies? Did these women have enemies here? There didn't seem to be anyone in the hallway, aside from herse-

 

Oh, fishsticks

 

Running wasn't an option. If she got lost in this building, they'd be sure to find her. She had to convince them she bore no hostility towards them.

She seathed the dagger she was holding, raised her palms to the ceiling and slowly went around the corner, to where she heard the women talking. She saw one woman, hand ready to pull out a sword, standing by what seemed like a doorway to a balcony. That's where the other person must be, then. The woman she did see had long, white hair and was otherwise dressed completely in black. This woman seemed very dangerous, Nia had to be careful.

 

"I'm sorry to startle you guys like this, but I'm not an enemy.", she said, gradually lowering her arms until they were hanging passively by her sides. "The name's Nia, nice to meet you."

Edited September 28, 2020 by Felixr2

[skwerl56767]

   Burning Lands Village

 

   The drone quivered excitedly when it predicted correctly and felt gentle pressure on all sides and distance being put between it and the ground. Someone did pick it up! Who is it? Who is it??

   As the man rotates it in his hands, the drone receives a blurry image of what appears to be a human face. It twitches its wings - a brief lowering then raising - to try and start some form of communication. In being moved it also had a fantastic amount of motion blur and thought it saw someone else looking down at it. Two someones! Better than the drone could've predicted! Except it didn't know what else to do except twitch. It didn't have many motor functions... adjust the camera? Flicker its thrusters? It wasn't sure, and honestly, it wasn't equipped with the CPU to figure it out. It was just meant to fly around streaming video, after all. Somewhere in its folders there was a rogue clip of code that wanted to use a function it didn't have, which was also useless. It didn't have a speaker to beep with, though it could click by computing large formulas. A receiver? It might be able to pair with a receiver, somewhere...

   The drone did a quick hardware scan, and its adapter picked up on a promising signal, right on the person's, uh, person! A few milliseconds later and the drone had paired up, now acting as a communication hub between it, the stranger, and Mother Machine; assuming she wanted to talk to him. At the moment, she was likely busy with something else. Not that the drone knew that, it just didn't feel like finding a friend warranted another interruption.

   It sent a ping to the paired device, ensuring the connection was stable, then sent a full text message as best it could: "3343,!,,!,38". Then, just to be really sure, it sent it three more times. Hopefully the person would understand. It really needed a full charset to work with...

 

   Neea walked a bit closer to the group, taking note of their reactions. Some of the beings found the images on the slides familiar, but no one voiced who or what was recognized. Instead, one of the girls simply said, "...why do I have the feeling we'll have to stop a war or something?"

   “Better to stop a war than to fight one.”Renarin responded. Neea's blast shield flickered, betraying her anxiety. Her planet was already undergoing radical changes when she left; violent, radical changes. Now she had been ejected from that into an entirely different, violent, radical change.

   "Can't you only stop it by fighting?" she asked quietly. "Conquerors don't just leave."

 

   ----------

 

   The Red Forest

 

   Breathtaking.

   It was alive. Not in the same way as when it's Tranquil, but the sense of life was individual, unique. Every leaf, every tree, every struggling blade of grass was alive, and only according to its own volition. Bodies weren't marred or spliced together in a frenzied way. The air smelled clean, like a breeze had just come through. Leaves fell lazily from the high canopy. It just felt... peaceful.

   Immediately he gathered a sense of what the place was like, even while his senses were flooded by the vivid - if rather monochrome - colors. He detected an overwhelming presence, but it was different from the Twisted's, perhaps not quite as aware as it is omnipresent. He detected many lifeforms scattered all around him, out of sight.

   ...He was being watched.

   Creature's head jerked to the side, pinpointing the new presence. It was behind one of the many trees, yet so small it was barely noting. He had felt its eyes on him, though. In fact, now that he was picking up on it, a number of things had seen him, but none had made a move, yet. He breathed in, feeling the web matrix that was his lungs expand with air and aether. There may be enough magic here to defend himself, if necessary. Not that he wanted to... The faceless hood looked down at the grass where he stood, and some of it had already withered and was vainly twisting with nearby strands, trying to turn into something horrible. The Twisted's red stood out against the rest as more of an aura than a color. For a few moments, he felt like just sitting there watching the Twisted spread from him, let it rampage, see what happens... He shook some sense into himself and stomped the cursed grass out, mashing it into dust.

   No. He's not here for that. He's here to see the Ancient. That's final.

 

   With the remaining blades of grass crumpled and only twitching now, Creatures straightened back up and held his hand out, like he was going to stop some unseen object from charging him. Again, he pulled at the energy in the area, knotting and curling strands of energy into a new spell, something to give him a bit better perception. It pulled at the seam of the portal he had closed behind him, letting a few wisps of Twisted come through, but he was able to cast it before it was stressed any further.

   Rather than expending the energy, the spell trapped the energy inside him, supercharging him like a battery. Instantly it lit up his vision with bright tunnels of light weaving throughout the woods, all various colors, sizes, and intensity. He could also "feel" better, receiving mental images and emotional cues on his surroundings, detecting subtle undertones of danger lacing the region. It was a bit overkill for a noncombat situation, but if the ruler here truly was an Ancient, he shouldn't go unprepared.

   As a test, Creature took a step toward the nearest tunnel, and put his hand through it. Its quiet humming intensified as its current diverted through him, giving him a snapshot in time: a human - a child? - confused. Lost. No physical weapons that he could tell. The information was fleeting and took up all of Creature's senses, as though he had become that child for a moment; he pulled his hand out to stay rooted in reality. A quick examination of it told him he wasn't losing the spell too fast, although that meant he would remain a bit more obvious for a while. He turned his now brightly glowing eyes back to the nearest living presence, the small one behind the tree. His heightened perception told him it was an intelligent creature, possibly a flying one as its light tunnel weaved throughout the trees, up off the ground. There was also palatable... stress. No pain. Yet, without touching the tunnel, he could learn nothing else about it.

 

   He debated on which path he should take. He currently wasn't a threat, and he wasn't worried about being attacked anyway; more the consequences of what might happen if he was. The Twisted patch he caused by warping in thankfully seemed contained: it had tried to follow him, but couldn't breach the whole foot of untainted space between him and it, yet he knew that wouldn't last long. Whatever he was going to do, he needed to do it quickly.

   Focusing his purple gaze on the living creature's light tunnel, he approached it, slowly as not to alarm it. He tried to manipulate his aura to something more calming, providing a sense of security to try and convey that he didn't want to hurt anything, yet. He just wanted to ask a few questions.

Edited September 27, 2020 by skwerl56767

[Mikasa361]

[K - Hellworld - Stuck with these lot]

 

Of course, nobody had answers. 

 

"Can't say I know how I got here. One moment I was on a train and then poof! Big scary mansion." Something about this particular sentence confuses him, particularly the first part. On a... Train? What in Damnation is...? He notes that the young man blinks rather slowly while Syl talks, his eyes running over her. Syl seems just as surprised as she is, as she muses, "Unless there's something really interesting over your shoulder, it looks like he can see me."

 

Kaladin nods as he looks once again at the unfamiliar creature, at which the young man asks, "Back for more?" Kaladin tries to ignore the soreness in between his eyebrows, which seem to be drawn to each other as the unfamiliarity of the place really seems to set in. He knows he's not in Roshar, that much is clear. The only thing that would make him question that at this point is the howling of the winds outside. And it seems like in this company I won't be finding out any time soon. 

 

"This is what I ran into before I saw you two." The younger man says after hopping down off the railing and approaching the newcomer. He gives the creature a wave. "I'm Joker, by the way," the masked boy- Joker- finally introduces himself. "A word of warning, I don't think its hostile but it does like shiny things. Might want to hide your buttons. Or money."

 

At least one of them is somewhat cordial.

 

On the other hand. 

 

"I just asked you a question," he responds in a rather doubtful tone "why would I know the answer to yours?" To this, Kaladin grunts in response, refusing to admit that the other man is right. Syl sits down on Kaladin's shoulder and rests her head in her freehand. He doesn't point out that one of those questions was of the man's storming name.

 

"He has a point, you know." In response to his spren, he closes his eyes and rolls them back. Upon opening them, he takes note of the newcomer's posture. That and his eyes, the shock that comes when the man mentions his lack of money and homelessness causes him to glance at Syl. Syl gives a shrug and watches them all interact. 

 

He has to hold his next thought as a young girl makes her way onto the scene, donned in a much more bizarre outfit than the other two people in the room. He's surprised by the fingerless gloves- shouldn't she be almost at the age where she'd need a safeglove? - but he chooses not to focus on it. She seems young, perhaps a bit more immature. Regardless, she shouts in their direction as she gets closer. "Hey! I guess none of you thought to bring any food?"

 

Kaladin is taken aback by the abrasiveness of her question, but he clears his throat. "Unless there's a convenient storage somewhere here, I doubt there's food anywhere here. I take it you've just gotten here too?"

 

Wherever "here" is, he thinks to himself. 

 

"I wonder how long she's been here" Syl chirps, "Must have been just long enough that she didn't get hit by the storm too badly."

 

"She was fortunate," Kaladin mutters back at her, "it's one of the worse highstorms I've seen, if that was how it started."

 

Then he looks down at the strange creature again, noting that it seems rather docile at the moment. The thought crosses his mind that it could be used for food- but even if he were to summon Sylblade and kill it, he doesn't have the proper knives to prepare it, nor does he cook. But before he considers asking if anyone else might have a knife, another voice calls into the corridor. 

 

"I was wondering where all that noise was coming from." A feminine voice, no doubt about it. When he turns to face the voice, he notes a young woman, seemingly not much older than Joker, wearing rather loose clothing, both hands resting in what appears to be one large front pocket. As she gets closer, Kaladin takes note of eerily familiar features on her face- her long two-toned brown waves, the freckles on her face.... Frankly, everything except maybe the shape of her jaw and the amber color of her eyes, she looks almost exactly like... "Seems like the warp is happening again, isn't it..." 

 

Kaladin freezes. 

 

 

 

[U - Sector 2 - A lecture I absolutely didn't ask for]

 

"What's a little difficult? To keep people from clicking?" Neea asks him. Utakata sighs. 

 

"Just... to.... um.... process all these people," he mutters as he goes back to fiddling with the tassel of his pipe. He wants to mention something to Hotaru, but instead the villager lady starts talking. That's when Utakata feels the urge to tune out.

 

It's almost as if he's back in the goddamn Ninja Academy. He manages to half listen- and he gets the gist of it; they're all in an entirely new world, one run by the baddies of other worlds. Something about different sectors. The only way of getting home is finding the jerk who warped them all here. Instead of fully paying attention, he glances at Hotaru (of course she's engrossed in the presentation). But mostly his focus is amongst the group Renarin makes his way to. 

 

Renarin had healed Hibiki and Kaiba, and as the lecture started to end everyone in that group started talking amongst themselves. He gets a few vague snippets, but he's not paying much attention to that either. Is he that tired? He leans forward when something clatters on the ground near them, the man who called for a healer picking it up and examining it. 

 

From what he can see, it's.... Nope. He has no clue what it is. But it looks suspicious. Perhaps that's not something for him to worry about- his focus is finding a small group and seeing if they can get a head start on looking for Professor. He sighs and gets up to go approach the group, looking at Hotaru for a second. "You coming with?" He asks this to Hotaru alone, as Neea had already beaten them to Renarin and company. 

 

"Of course, Master," she says with a smile as she follows Utakata to the group. "I assume we're gonna all split into groups and find Professor.... Going in one large group would be a mess and the sooner we find this person the sooner we can go home." She chirps this, walking with a spring in her step. Utakata doesn't quite understand her enthusiasm, but he chooses not to comment as he stops with the slightly large group in the middle of the village. 

 

"Likely," he responds to her. "I'm not in as much of a rush to go home, but that's not how everyone else feels so might as well find this Professor person and get the hell out of this crazy place." He glances around at the group. "...." He glances at Neea, he'd only caught the tail end of the question. "Iiiiiiiii'm not too sure about conquering. But if we have to stop a war or somethin', so be it." He glances at Hotaru, not sure if anyone heard what he had said to Hotaru. "We should probably try and find Professor before that, though."

 

[M - Sector 2 - The mouth of the Destroyer Ionhazard] 

 

Malefor had never been mortified in his life. But trapped in the mouth of a giant metal Golem, he realizes that embarrassment is arguably the worst feeling he's experienced since his youth. He roared in rage, spitting a fire ball into the giant maw. To no avail, though, as its mouth is clamped shut. 

 

"Aw, look at this sad sight. Is your little conquest falling apart already?" This voice causes Malefor to freeze. His wings unfurl slightly, hoping to appear larger than he actually is. He knows that voice. He knows. 

 

Yubel.

 

Indeed, it's her. Emerging from the shadows, he notices a demon woman- an old rival. One to whom he'd almost lost his entire sector. A familiar scene comes to mind as he glares at the approaching figure.

 

"I disappear for a year and this is what happens... Oh well. Not my problem if the entire Dark Order implodes from a little bit of pain and a small dash of suffering."

 

She smirks, giving a chuckle as she watches Malefor in his very compromising situation. "Honestly? You had it a long time coming, you scaly old fart."

 

Malefor growls in response and sends a small fireball through the teeth and to the ground in front of Yubel. It doesn't hit her, much to his dismay. He knows better than to ask for help from this monster, for the sake of his pride, but also because he knows she would much rather revel in this moment. "You should have remained wherever the gods damned you to," he hisses back at her. 

[Felixr2]

Mòrag, Brighid, Jin & Ryo | Sector 2 - Burning Lands (Lava Village)

 

Ryo, Jin, Mòrag and Brighid all got interrupted in the middle of their conversations. A couple - seemingly inhabitants of the village - had pulled up some sort of projector. The woman, who introduced herself as Leigh, explained the situation they had ended up in. Apparently, they were warped to this planet, Mul'tilennaya, as a result of the experiments of one Professor. This enigmatic inventor had worked on some machine that facilitates extradimensional travel. It seemed the best bet for getting back home was to find this Professor and possbily help them finish the machine. Seeing the state it's in right now, that might take a while.

 

Perhaps they could at least help me contact HQ. Ryo thought to himself. Taskforce Neuron wasn't new to extradimensional communication. After all, communication between HQ on the Ark and officers like himself in the Astral Plane was vital to the success of many missions.

The projector displayed a slideshow of the various areas of the world, and the villains that ruled them. These sector leaders appeared about a year ago, warped into this world the same way the large group of people here had been.

Mòrag and Brighid glanced at each other, nodding in agreement without needing to speak a word. There were no leads on the whereabouts of this Professor, taking out the malevolent sector leaders - or at least looking into possible ways to do so - was the best way to spend time for now. Ryo, elsewhere in the crowd, shared this sentiment, but Jin felt differently. He was mostly concerned with the safety and wellbeing of his new driver, Doppio. If that meant taking on a sector leader or two, so be it, but he wouldn't seek them out at all costs.

 

In the moment that followed, there were some other people considering the possibility of having to fight some of the sector leaders, some that only seemed to think about going home and some who were already distracted again.

Mòrag recognized that there wasn't anyone taking the lead. Redd and Leigh had done their presentation and were open for questions, but they didn't seem to have thought about what to do after that. She decided to step forward to where the presentation was held and take matters into her own hands, Brighid standing by her side. The Special Inquisitor cleared her throat and adressed the crowd.

"Excuse me, I ask that you all please pay attention."

 

She paused, waiting for everyone to go quiet again. 

 

"What we have just learned is that the only way any of us can get back home is with the aid of this elusive Professor. Given the fact that the Professor's whereabouts are unkown, I suggest we split up into groups, each assigned to searching in a specific sector. This will allow us to cover much more ground in a short amount of time. Another point to consider is the threat posed by the sector leaders. It is paramount that each group will be able to face dangerous foes with no casualties. With what low numbers we already have, we cannot afford to suffer any losses. If we take a look at the map" 

 

Mòrag glanced towards Redd, who caught on and pulled up the world map again. 

 

"We see that we are currently in sector 2. One group will investigate here. Additionally, there are five sectors that directly border sector 2. Sector 1 is a small peninsula, with nowhere to travel except back to sector 2, investigating there first would be inefficient. Sector 3 is cut off by a large mountain range, crossing through there is likely a waste of time. This leaves sectors 5, 6 and 7 available for investiagation. I think it wise to start the investigation in these areas. Note that all of these sectors are large enough for us to split into groups inside them, so there is no issue with multiple groups heading to the same sector. The main advantage of splitting up is that smaller groups are more mobile, and can decide on a course of action more quickly. I would advise the groups to consist of anyhwere between three to five people in total."

She threw a quick glance to her blade.

"Brighid and I will be headed for sector 5, but we'll need one or two more people on our team. I urge all of you to form suitable groups among yourselves. I do not know any of you well enough to properly asign those for you. Now then, are there any objections?"

Jin turned and looked at Doppio. "I'm going with you."

[hikarinomemori]

Seto Kaiba
<Status: Stable; Somewhat psyched>
<Active Monster(s): N/A>

 

Hibiki Tachibana
<Status: Stable>
<Gungnir Symphogear: Active>
<Current Song: N/A (not in battle)>

 

Ser Aymeric de Borel
<Status: Stable; Determined>

 

Chris Yukine
<Status: Stable>
<Ichaival Symphogear: Inactive>

 

Kirika Akatsuki
<Status: Stable>
<Igalima Symphogear: Inactive>

 

Tovan Khev
<Status: Stable; Curious>

 

<Location: Sector 2 - Burning Lands Village>
<People: Riza | Utakata | Renarin | Neea | Peter | Ryo | Doppio | Silver | Weavile | Mòrag | Brighid | Hotaru | Jin | Lloyd | Redd | Leigh>

 

~~

 

Kaiba had spared a glance at Renarin when he healed him, giving a small, respectful nod and a short "thanks" when he was done.

 

As Tovan looked over the drone, he glanced back at Renarin. "Ah, right, introductions. I'm Tovan Khev. It's nice to meet you. I'm not going to lie, the very idea of this 'Surgebinding' is very... different to me. Where I'm from, there hasn't been mention of anything remotely close to magic for the better part of four centuries, because pretty much every star empire out there has perfected medical processes and whatnot."

 

Kaiba smirked. "Then how come you couldn't heal Tachibana or me?"

 

Tovan let out an indignant growl. "Dammit, Kaiba, I'm a tactical officer, not a doctor!"

 

It wasn't long after that than Tovan realized his tricorder was getting a signal. Odd - the lack of starships meant that shouldn't have been happening, but...

 

Oh well. Tovan transitioned the drone to one hand and used the other to pull his tricorder out, discovering what appeared to be a string of text, repeated three more times. "W-What the...?" Where was it--

 

Oh. The drone. Of course - it and that larger construct were the only machines around for miles, and the larger one, now that he heard it, was perfectly capable of speech. So it had to be the drone. Tovan looked at it - now that he looked again, its wings were twitching - and smiled a little. "Hello there... I was wondering if you were still operational. I guess that's true, since you're the only candidate of having sent a string of text to my tricorder."

 

He then turned his attention to Mòrag as she spoke, as did most others present (if not everyone else present). When he heard where she planned to go, he paled slightly. "With all due respect, you'll want more than one or two more people with you there, believe me. Every bit of intel I've managed to gather from the sector leaders has basically marked Sector 5 as 'no man's land' - that is to say, even they see it as dangerous there, though I have yet to determine exactly why outside of freak storms and hostiles."

 

That's when Aymeric looked up. "If you don't have any objections, Lady Mòrag, I would like to accompany you to Sector 5. If it's as dangerous as he says it is, you're going to need a few blades."

 

"...and a few dragons. Count me in, too - my Blue-Eyes could use the room to stretch its wings and some targets to practice White Lightning on," Kaiba chimed in.

 

Tovan sighed and shrugged. "I may as well come with you all. There's a reason why I call that particular sector Kalabam - er, that'd be 'Tempest' in your tongue. You'll need someone who can spot a storm brewing quickly... and someone who can shoot from afar." Then he shrugged a little. "That and I've been meaning to track down my missing weapons for a while now."

 

The others looked over the map, as well, before Hibiki chimed in. "Kirika-san and I can go check out that temple on the other side of Sector 2. With luck, maybe there's a few allies waiting for us there..."

 

"Or a sector baddie to dethrone-desu!"

 

Chris simply shrugged. "Ah, well, Looks like that leaves two sectors for me to choose from... So, if anyone's willin' to put up with me, I'm gonna head to Sector 7. That looks like Shem-Ha's turf, and trust me: Shem-Ha is bad news even for other villains."

 

Aymeric glanced at Chris and smiled. "Better that there's someone there who knows what that leader is up to. I agree with the three of them on their respective choices of sector. Now, let us hear where the others all wish to go..."

 

~~

 

Yubel
<Status: Stable>
<People: Malefor | Ionhazard>

 

~~

 

Malefor's reaction does not escape Yubel's notice. A fireball, much like that first day when she'd tried to lay claim to Sector 2 one year prior... though this one missed its mark.

 

That fight a year ago had not ended well for her, but then again... he'd fought a lot harder than he was fighting now. Probably because he hadn't had to deal with a gigantic metal monstrosity.

 

"You should have remained wherever the gods damned you to."

 

Another wicked chuckle escaped her lips. "And miss out on this? Hardly. If you didn't notice, the warp's happened again, and there's more people now..."

 

A wicked grin spread across her lips. "And I think the Dark Order's been around long enough, because these newcomers are heroes. Mul'tilennaya's going to be full of fighting soon... It'll pretty much be war. A war without mercy..."

 

"Only pain."

 

~~

 

Millaarc Cranstoun
<Leader: Shem-Ha Mephorash>
<Rank: Noble Red - Vampire Commander>
<Status: Stable; Wary>

<People: Creature>

 

~~

 

Millaarc watched carefully, trying not to be perceived as a threat. It wasn't easy to remain hidden - it was like this thing had eyes in the back of its head! - but being in her tiny bat form helped a bit. It wasn't long before she heard the alchemic telepathy unique to her and the other two members of Noble Red:

 

We lost track of the other two. Shem-Ha and I are going to rendezvous with your position. Keep an eye on that thing, and remember, do not engage!

 

She couldn't help biting her lower lip, but hey, at least three of them would be better than one if things went sour.

 

Then the creature approached. For a moment, Millaarc felt her heart skip a beat, but then she noticed the stance - it wasn't doing so with an intent to harm, but more so with... curiosity? Intrigue? It wasn't easy to describe, but it gave out the feeling that this creature wanted information, not blood.

 

Slowly, but surely, Millaarc flew out and shapeshifted back into her true form. There were no words yet - she wanted to see how the creature reacted to a shapeshifter.

Edited October 14, 2020 by hikarinomemori

[Swiftphoenix]

 

 

“Heck yeah!” Swift yelled as this time, both of her arrows hit their mark, the first thunking into her target’s shoulder (though it didn’t seem to affect him all that much) and the second burying itself into the Orc’s neck, making him emit a cry of pain. 

 

Detecting a blur of motion from behind her, she whipped around to see two Orcs aiming at her. The first, the one who seemed to be significantly weakened, shot a bolt toward the archer, but all she had to do was sidestep to avoid it. Getting tired, are we? Even as she had the thought, she spied her friend darting away from the fight, and she didn’t want to lose her in the big castle. Snatching a couple of her used arrows up from the floor, she turned at a cry from Glail. "SWIFT! Let's go!" The laguz ran away from Malefor to where the other blue dog was, and Swift noticed Ionhazard reaching out to combat the dragon...

 

And snapping him up in his mouth? Well, that’s definitely unusual. Time to go, I guess. She went to follow her friend, first reaching back into her quiver to check if- 

Wait! It’s gone! Where is it? Stopping short, she yanked at the leather holder until she held it in her hands, rifling through her weapons. “Oh no. No. No no no nonononono!” Darting back, away from Glail and the dog, to where she had made her stand at first, she hauled the fallen Orc up and shoved him aside, blowing her breath out in relief as she spotted and picked up her cherished silver arrow. “Okay. Now we can go,” she said to her allies as she returned to them, not sure if she managed to hide her momentary panic. 

Her father had left that arrow to her, after he’d won it in an archery contest run by none other than the Sheriff himself, which was probably one of the ways Robin had rubbed success in his face. Just another trait he passed down to her. Shaking her head, she started to run down the long hallway. “What’re you waiting for? Let’s go!”

 

---

 

"Sorry, I don't. I don't even know where that is." 

 

He doesn’t know where Ninjago is. Ninjago. The biggest and most widely known country in the whole realm. Dumbstruck, Lloyd simply blinked at the man. “I-” Before he could continue, one of the other men came over and, after a brief pause, did something healing to the one he had been talking to. Interesting. I’ll have to ask Mystake if she’s heard of ‘Surgebinding’. He started to say something to the first man, but he was again interrupted by the villagers, Redd and Leigh, who started some kind of presentation. By the looks on the other’s faces, they recognised some of the ‘sector villains’ who were mentioned and shown, though there were none Lloyd knew. Maybe it would be best to wait and absorb all the new information before asking the man more about where he was from, and why he didn’t know where Ninjago was. I just hope the other ninjas are doing okay without me.

Edited November 15, 2020 by Swiftphoenix

[HomeForFlowers]

「 Sector: Two 」
「 Location: Burning Lands || Lava Village 」
「 Allies: Silver, Weavile, Mòrag, Brighid, Aymeric, Jin, Hotaru, Chris, Kirika, Lloyd, Riza, Utakata, Tovan, Kaiba, Hibiki, Peter, Renarin, Neea 」

「 Other Participants: Redd, Leigh, Drone 」

「 Stand: Locked 」

 

Thankfully, Redd and Leigh were quick to reel in the attention of the rapidly increasing group of strangers gathered on the dock. The murmuring in the crowd died down to hushed whispers as the projector flickered on. Quietly, Doppio sighed in relief. He was more than a little glad that someone finally took charge of the situation. Doppio wasn't sure how much longer he could awkwardly stand at the edge of the dock contemplating whether he should hop back into the fish boat and look for a way to contact Boss on his own and far, far away from the chaos the amassing crowd.

 

As the crowd quieted down, Doppio crossed his arms and listened to Leigh intently. Admittedly, her explanation for what was going on was probably the most helpful one Doppio had heard since arriving. Everyone else had either yelled at him for being confused or was too busy fighting with weird eldritch beings to pay attention to him. Granted, even if someone had explained everything to him earlier, Doppio probably would have forgotten it. He wasn't good at remembering things when he was stressed. His emotions overpowered everything else. Considering how nerve wracking the past few hours had been, chances were the only thing Doppio would be able to remember was how scared he was. Memories aside, Leigh's explanation, while helpful, did bring up more questions than it answered.

 

"Warped from our homes?" Doppio mumbled under his breath. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "So, not everyone here is from Earth? How is that...? Hm." He bit down onto this thumb, eyebrows knitting in concentration. Leigh's explanation was startling but surprisingly not that tough of a pill to swallow. Back home, Stands were not bound by the laws of reality. King Crimson's ability allowed it manipulate time itself and Passione's inner circle had known for years that some Stands had similarly strong abilities. Doppio had never seen a Stand warp reality itself, let alone create or manipulate neighboring dimensions, but he wouldn't be too surprised if they existed. Still, Doppio thought as his gaze swept through the crowd gathering around the projector, it seemed as though an enemy Stand wasn't to blame for this. At least, if Leigh was to be believed.

 

As ridiculous as it might sound, Doppio had an easier time accepting that he had been dragged into another world than he did accepting the idea that someone had invented a reality-warping machine. That level of technology was unprecedented, impossible even. To think that someone who didn't have a Stand could possess such power was as baffling as it was concerning. Doppio knew from experience that there were plenty of people who would kill to have that kind of power, Boss included. Leigh's knowledge on the machine appeared to be limited and Doppio knew he wasn't smart enough to fully understand the implications of such a contraption but, theoretically, if he could locate the machine and its creator and get back into contact with Boss then...!

Doppio buried his face into his hands and groaned. "Ugh, this is all so complicated." He slide his hands down his cheeks as he pursed his lips together and blew a raspberry. The whole situation was frustrating especially since Doppio didn't have Boss's word to rely on, but at the end of the day that didn't matter, did it? His job wasn't to think or make decisions. He was Boss's most trusted confidant because he followed orders and knew when to keep his mouth shut and his goal hadn't changed since he first arrived. First and foremost, Doppio needed to contact Boss. What would happen with the machine and its creator, if anything, would be completely up to Boss after Doppio had informed him of the situation.

 

Of course, before Doppio could ask Leigh about the professor, a robot fell from the sky.

 

Personally, Doppio would have like to say he handled the situation like a champ, but that would be a lie. The harsh sound of metal slamming against molten rock sent Doppio jumping back with a very dignified and manly squeak. Doppio watched in thinly veiled horror as several people gathered around the object and began to examine it. With their hands! Their bare hands! Had none of them ever seen a horror movie before? Rule number one of cheesy horror flicks was to no interact with strange beeping objects that fell out of the sky! Okay, Doppio thought, that probably wasn't the first rule, but it was in the top fifty for sure! In distant dismay, Doppio realized that most of the people around him probably weren't from Earth. Hell, some of them might not even have have cheesy horror movies to watch.

 

Crossing his arms, Doppio shook his head absentmindedly at the tiny drone. He had half a mind to say something about it, but thankfully someone beat him to the punch. Even during the brief conversation Doppio had with Mòrag, he could sense the authoritative aura emanating from her being. It was no surprise that she would be the one to step up and take charge of the situation. She wasn't Boss, but hearing someone give clear, direct orders struck a chord with Doppio. He perked up in interest, turning his head towards Mòrag as she began laying out her plan. The group unanimously decided to follow her plan. Doppio nodded along silently. Good, if they were all in the same boat that would make things smoother. Doppio turned towards the projector and then--

 

"I'm going with you."

 

"Eep!" Doppio took a step back, quickly raising his hands in surrender. "I didn't...! Oh, wait." Doppio blinked rapidly, suddenly remembering himself. Jin had been so quiet that Doppio had nearly forgotten he was standing next to him the entire time. Doppio let out a sigh of relief, dropping his arms back down to his sides. "Right, you said you were going to stick by my side," Doppio said, more to himself than to Jin. Glancing up at his companion, Doppio rubbed the back of his head, smiling sheepishly. "Sorry, I guess the little robot spooked me. You can come with me if you want!"

 

Idly, Doppio wondered what Boss would think about him walking around with who was essentially a complete stranger. Boss likely wouldn't approve, but right now one friendly face was better than none. Sure, technically everyone in the group was a stranger but Doppio would be hesitant to call all of them friendly faces. Jin at least seemed genuine in his words.

 

Turning back to the projector, Doppio glanced between the sectors Mòrag had mentioned.

"All these sectors are kinda scary," Doppio said tapping his lip thoughtfully. "I've been in sector two long enough to know it's not as nice as the projector makes it out to be. Six looks like it got ripped out of a Scooby Doo episode and five..." Doppio shuddered. The image on the projector was grisly enough without him experiencing it firsthand. "Not five. So uh..." Doppio cocked his head to the side. "That leaves sector seven? I think that's our only option. Ahh, but that looks scary too!" Doppio stuck out his tongue. "Phooey." He didn't particularly like the idea of going into the sector filled with death spikes and shrouded by ominous blood-colored clouds, but that seemed like the best option of the three. Besides, it was neighboring two far more inviting sectors, lush with greenery and housing several human-looking buildings. At the very least, Doppio and Jin could try to speedwalk through sector seven and reach one of the nicer looking sectors. Maybe, Doppio thought with sudden, visible excitement, they could even find a phone!

Edited October 19, 2020 by Doctortear

[skwerl56767]

   Burning Lands Village

 

   Neea's attention was diverted when one person from the crowd walked up to the podium, taking center stage, so to speak, and began addressing everyone just as Leigh did earlier. At first, the Sniper model was attentive, but as the woman spoke on she visibly wilted, her stature lowering by a foot.

   "Split up...?" Neea whimpered. Suffice to say, she did not want to split up, at all. She didn't know these people, but she also didn't want to be wandering around alone. The thought of being with a smaller group was wire-wracking enough, never mind that she had to be competent about defending herself. She will not fight. She didn't want to fight. She is not a fighter. She is not a combat model!

   Did she have to go with the others? Couldn't she just stay here, waiting for them to find the Professor person? Then she could just go back to her horrible, scarred planet, with all her friends in camps or, worse, Alkinest... Could... could she just stay here? Like where those living blobs were, but not including those awful aberrations that ran down a mountain just to attack people? She missed her friends though...

   Why don't these people have a spaceship? Why can't they just have a shuttle, and stuff me in it, and send me off to Zirhon? Her thoughts degraded bitterly, Why do I have to go find some alien that no even knows where it is and convince it to send me back through a portal that doesn't even work properly?! Why do all of THESE aliens need MY help? I'm bad at helping! I don't want to help!

 

   She listened to the others as they began discussing where they were headed. The female who spoke up and the one standing next to her - who glowed with a strange, ethereal blue flame, as though she wasn't like the others - were going to the place ravaged by natural disasters; its screenshots were mostly blurs and glows as wind and debris were blown through eruptions and thunderstorms alike. Not even the ground there had looked stable. What they expected to find there, the mech didn't have a clue. Going with them was the tall male in blue, Seto'kaiba, and a third male wearing what looked like brown tactical gear, as it wasn't fancy, but had a number of belts and pockets on it, and in one hand he held what looked like a plastic box with wings and an antenna, and in the other was a small handheld device.

   Seeing moderately-higher tech compared to the others of the species, wearing metal armor or sweeping coats or wielding swords, just threw the poor bot's threads into a muddled frenzy. No one really knew each other, but they were all the same species! How were they from different realities if they were all the same species?

   Speaking of similarity, Tachibanibiki and one of the other females like her, which she called "Kirika-san", decided to go to Sector 2 - a quick reference of her screenshots told Neea that's where they currently were. The temple they were looking at seemed nice... excepting all of the gnarly-looking bipeds guarding it. The third female of the group said she would go to Sector 7 instead, and put a name to the villain there: Shem-Ha. Well, at least someone knew how to deal with one of the villains. The Sniper herself was completely clueless.

 

   She tapped her barrels together nervously as she tried to cue in on the murmurs of the others. She at least wasn't the only shy one, but it didn't really make her feel better. Flicking through the images of each conquered land, none of them really looked appealing, not even the "nice" ones that had sunshine and green plants. The Land of Living Blobs - Sector 1, the natives had called it - taught her that even a nice sector could be invaded by some other, hostile force, and by Gryn, it would be more likely too!

   "I-I don't know, I guess I'll just stay here..." she mumbled indecisively. Not that I really want to...

 

   The ATRS, by contrast, was completely ignorant of what was going on around it, happy that its new friend immediately recognized that it was trying to communicate! Although, he didn't seem to know what was being said. It twitched its wings again at his response, but didn't know what else to do. It could try sending an error code, but it wouldn't have a code until it had an error. It didn't know what symbols other people associated with power, and its charset was tiny; most of its disk space was dedicated to recordings only, and its creator only added what was both expendable and cryptic to its libraries. Being no bigger than a book and mostly motor functions also didn't help.

   The drone tried its hardest to come up with a solution, but a lack of deductive ability was working against it. All it knew was that it needed power. It dug through its own files for a bit, looking for symbols that matched the context of energy, and of course found many logical operators scattered throughout the code. Then it found the return script, which told the drone precisely how many volts it had left. It was a weird, roundabout way to find an obvious solution, but as far as its rudimentary AI was concerned, the idea of telling the person the remaining voltage was straight up genius! Ah... the scouts weren't meant to be too smart, anyway.

   The drone injected an extra line of script that echoed the previous script's result as a percent, then echoed that result at the tricorder: "14%". Then it printed "3343,!,,!,38" again, just to be sure.

 

   ----------

 

   What's This? Your Twisted Seagull is Evolving!

 

   The presence was surprised when Laharl promptly shoved one of its minions into a drawer. It hasn't dealt with such a response before. Was the child somehow immune to the sense of foreboding the Twisted carried everywhere? Perhaps he was foolish, or was somehow prepared for it? The fact that he even touched it was unusual by itself; if the presence hadn't taken control of its creation, it would've lost a valuable opportunity to set up a strategic position.

 

   It released its hold on the seagull and observed as it immediately began thrashing madly in its tiny compartment. It dully considered how to approach Laharl, hearing the thumps of the monster's wings escalate into tearing sounds as it ripped into the wood and began assimilating the pieces into itself. It didn't detect another presence like it; something more similar existed where Creature was, less so in this castle. Perhaps Laharl's secret to calm lay within an object or person, here? It had to make a nest to verify this. The Twisted couldn't explore without a foothold in enemy territory.

   The seagull attacked the drawer more aggressively, now rapidly disassembling itself and incorporating itself into the vanity, instead of the other way around. Shards of wood and, eventually, mirrored glass, found their way into the reassembly of something more heinous than before. The vestigial crab legs on the side of the creature extended out with wooden spikes like multi-jointed legs, drawer pulls reinforced fragile wing bones, and part of the beak sloughed off into the collarbone to make way for a new sheet of reflective, oily glass, now taking up half the face like a mask. Elements of garbage previously obvious in the beast were now obscured by a healthy amount of tough mahogany, and nails reinforced the beaks, claws, and studded the body in a haphazard way. Some of the decorative contours and etching of the original vanity found their way into the bone and feather structures, adding an inappropriate touch of elegance to it all, and a more consistent, polished, red-brown hue. The process ate the entire vanity's middle and buckled it inward. The Twisted monster was now larger - and a bit edgier in more ways than one - than before.

 

   The seagull - if it could even be called that anymore - viciously stabbed at the remaining vanity with its half-nail-beak, trying to chip away more chunks to assimilate, but the Twisted clamped down on its rampant mutation. It had already absorbed most of the unit, and it didn't want to alarm Laharl, not this early. The vanity's remains were now contaminated with a separate instance of Twisted, but it wasn't actively spreading, yet.

   There was a thud as one half of the vanity, now separate from the other, fell to the floor, one of its legs missing. The bird-vanity-garbage-crab whipped around at the noise, incidentally swinging Laharl back into sight.

   Another risk of attack. Not yet!

 

   Instantly the monster's free will was taken from it, causing it to freeze, before another intelligence took over and the bird-thing's stare became more... alive, somehow. The single orange eye had a hint of attention to it. It turned the other side of its face to Laharl, which had an eye socket that shouldn't be able to see anything, before it picked itself up on new, reinforced legs - one a gnarly, overgrown thorn, and the other taken straight from the vanity itself. No longer would it have to crawl, or flap pathetically, mindlessly, to some unforeseen target. It was structured a bit more practically now, and had a nest to boot, thanks to this child!

   The entity controlling the Twisted creature knew how to express gratitude, but didn't have a means yet with this vessel, so it chose to simply sit it back down, mildly, granting Laharl only a dip of the head. Perhaps in the near future, it'll grow enough to be able to speak, but at the moment it'll just have to offer some obedience in return. As long as it was deemed harmless, the Twisted could grow, and that's all it really wanted.

 

   ----------

 

   The Red Grove

 

   Creature had felt that change. It wasn't good. The Twisted was spreading, but not here, like he expected... the bird? It's common for the spread to be caused by one beast running off and contaminating another location, but it wasn't assuring to realize that not even the Sector borders could keep those things contained. Perhaps he should go back, or find the bird and kill it...

   No. The entity he was looking at was moving. It seemed to know it was being watched, just as he knew it was there. Its light tunnel shimmered when it moved, directing his attention more to where it currently was. I am safe, he tried to silently call to it, but his chest clenched painfully at the mere thought. It was a blatant lie. He wasn't safe, and probably won't be safe for eternity. All he could do was hope the Twisted kept its hold off his mind while he tried to communicate with this person.

 

   She finally came out of hiding. The visual alone informed him so much more on her, and gave him a stronger sense of how she felt. At first he was surprised to see what looked like a bat come out, but nearly instantly it morphed upward into a human form, maintaining only the wings, which shifted behind her new shoulders.

   Creature took a precautionary step back. A shapeshifter? I... His thoughts dissolved into a garbled mess, trying to parse the last time he saw a shifter, the last time he saw a bat shifter, and whether she was related to vampires at all. She didn't look like any vampire he'd expect; they didn't keep their wings in human form, and the eye color was natural. Her eyes were red, the reasons why ranging from a curse to mixed blood. That opened the possibility of her being literally anything, which also meant she ranged from being either extremely dangerous, or benign.

 

   He raised his guard and his mind started running, trying to deduce what he was looking at, but there were too many unsolved variables. He knew of cultists who had managed to shapeshift. Both magic- and natural-born hybrids could as well. Shapeshifting was common of druids. She could also be a spirit, elemental, fae, or other nonmortal entity. She could be infused with an essence. Maybe she was blessed. Maybe she was cursed. Maybe she's sharing her body with another entity. Maybe she's even an illusionist, but then the question becomes, was the person the illusion, or the bat?

   A sudden focus entered him, the Twisted playing its strange symbiotic role in calming him down. He remembered that he could just amplify the spell on her and learn more that way. So the first thing he did during that long, awkward pause where the two just stared at each other, is determine if she was going to attack.

   A definite "no". Her guard was up as well, but she wasn't moving. So he tried to inject his appetite into her conscious and see what she'd consider food. Was she a vampire? Was he dealing with a person tainted by blood magic, or something more natural?

   Well.... no? No blood, no aversion to spice nor sunlight... so she must just be a bat shifter? A druid?

 

   This person was a right puzzle for the Twisted mage, and he ended up staring at her for a long time, slowly relaxing. Then it occurred to him that she must be waiting for him to do something. How very... calm, of her. It was as if she was Marked, but he hadn't Marked anyone in at least two decades. Well, the important thing was that no one was dying, yet, although she wasn't the Ancient he was looking for. Maybe she knew the person? He didn't want to pry into her mind too much, because he knew it could be felt.

   Without saying anything, Creature sent images and concepts to the woman - great age, a passing of millenia, forests growing and dying, land shifting, a steady accumulation of wisdom and power, and - more from his own projection - a descent into a hermit's life, shutting out the always-newborn world to try and not go mad from seeing the same, historical mistakes, repeated again and again. He tried not to give her too many ideas that directly correlated to him, but Creature wasn't sure how to describe an Ancient without thinking of himself. As far as he knew, he was the only one... except the one who made the Sectors... but there was a strong sense of secrecy there, and he wasn't certain if he wanted to tread into that territory just yet. He just wanted to find this other Ancient and talk to her as soon as possible.

[hikarinomemori]

Shem-Ha Mephorash
God of Sector 7
<Status: Stable; Wary>

 

Vanessa Diodati
<Leader: Shem-Ha Mephorash>
<Rank: Noble Red - Cyborg Commander>
<Status: Stable; Wary>

 

Millaarc Cranstoun
<Leader: Shem-Ha Mephorash>
<Rank: Noble Red - Vampire Commander>
<Status: Stable; Confused>

 

<Location: Sector 7 - Red Forest>

<People: Creature>

 

~~

 

The creature seemed to convey images to her - a telepath, maybe? - but all that did was serve to confuse Millaarc. She still wasn't sure what to say or do, as she'd been ordered not to fight.

 

But speak of the devil...

 

"Is this that mysterious creature...?"

 

"Yes... that's the one. It matches the reports."

 

Good. Vanessa and Shem-Ha had arrived, and that meant that Millaarc could rest a little easier. "I... I don't think it wants to hurt us, Shem-Ha. It seems more curious than anything."

 

"Does it, now?" Shem-Ha turned her attention to the creature. "I don't suppose it'll surprise us with a voice, will it?"

 

~~

 

Gaius van Baelsar
Legatus of Castrum Multaversum
<Status: Stable; Irritated>

 

Lycus pyr Abito
<Leader: Gaius van Baelsar>
<Rank: Tesserarius (Messenger)>

<Status: Stable; Nervous>

 

<Location: Sector 14 - Castrum Multaversum>

 

~~

 

She was late. He didn't like it when others were late.

 

A trip to Sector 7 was in order. "Tesserarius."

 

Lycus looked at his Legatus. "Y-Yes, Lord van Baelsar?"

 

"Relay to the 4th Cohort that we'll soon depart for Yggdrasil. Shem-Ha has kept me waiting overlong."

 

Lycus gave the Garlean salute to Gaius. "At once, m-my lord!" Gaius was smart to call on the 4th - they were the smallest cohort in the Garlean army, typically called upon to be the Legatus's escort in other sectors. "Ah, permit me to ask, Lord van Baelsar, but... what of the dragon?"

 

"Tell them that they are to continue trying to break it. It will obey us. I have preparations to make."

 

"Y-Yes, Lord van Baelsar. Anything else?"

 

"No. You are dismissed."

 

Lycus quickly left the room, while Gaius brought up a map of Mul'tilennaya on his console, taking note of any territorial changes that had occurred recently--

 

Well. Sector 4 was a goner. A vast swath of the ocean had been filled with whatever vile substance filled Sector 3. Seemed whatever was in there had made its move.

 

He began plotting his course to Sector 7 and contacted another Tesserarius via linkshell, ordering this one to relay to the scouts near the border between Sectors 2 and 3 to pull out and return to the castrum without delay. After getting confirmation that it would be done, he turned to leave and address the 4th Cohort.

 

It was time to behold those sky-scraping pillars once more.

 

~~

 

Tyrael
<Status: Stable>

 

<Location: somewhere in Sector 10>

 

~~

 

God, were his wings sore. Where in the blazes was he, anyway??

 

And how did he have his wings back?! Something strange was at work here... I'm clearly not in the High Heavens anymore...

 

Tyrael looked around, finding himself in a grassy field. Or anywhere in Sanctuary, for that matter! What in the blazes is going on here...?! Hopefully he was in a place that was inhabited - maybe the local people could tell him where he was...?

 

~~

 

Shiva
<Status: Stable but sore>

 

<Location: Sector 5 - Abandoned Castrum>

 

~~

 

His back and head were still sore from how he'd landed on the hard metal floor. I swear, if this is one of Mr. X's crazy simulations...

 

Except, deep down, he knew it wasn't one of those sadistic scenarios created in the maddened subconscious of his boss. After all, he would have heard that commanding tone by now, or Elle's gentle-yet-seductive tone, or even Ash's creepy flirtations.

 

Just one look told Shiva that he was in some sort of metal building, and now he was searching for other people. Literally anybody would do at this point.

 

But then he began to consider: he couldn't hear that grating tone from his boss, nor the voices of his coworkers... had he been separated from them? Could he finally do what he wanted for once? There was only one way to find that out for certain, but he was snapped out of his musings by the sound of chatter down the hallway. Finally, more people, he thought to himself.

 

What on earth was that creature, though?! It was very much unlike anything he'd ever seen before in his life. He did manage to overhear that it liked shiny things - seemed he'd have to hide his spare change, then...

 

"Finally, some living beings... You'll all forgive me if I'm out of the loop on whatever you're talking about." Shiva pressed a hand to his forehead, the attempt at processing what he heard not doing any favors for his headache. What was this 'warp' he heard mentioned...?

Edited November 15, 2020 by hikarinomemori

[skwerl56767]

   The Red Grove

 

   Creature patiently observed the small being he had found, waiting for a response. All he noticed though was that the girl's face slowly creased in confusion.

   This wasn't entirely new. Some people picked up on the signals better than others, but he did notice that as time went on, people became dumber in regards to empathy. It's as if their spirits retreated farther into their material shells, denying that what was now "supernatural" even existed at all. It wasn't like he was being subtle though. Perhaps her condition, for a lack of a proper term at the moment, shielded her from the energy he was giving her. He hadn't tailored the energy to compensate for unpredictable behavior on the primal side, and it could be that the bat part of her was interfering. So, approaching her as a human won't work.

   A brief annoyance tainted the air as the mage stopped sending the message and stared at the girl a bit longer, thinking. Then he felt an incoming energy, timed well with the girl looking just past him at two newcomers.

 

   They were also two girls. After giving them both a once-over, keying in on their words but mostly their strengths, he immediately focused on the the fully-white one. Her light tunnel was almost chaotic, like thousands of living threads all writhing in place, eager to reveal information, yet somehow it all still held together; a stark contrast to a newer tunnel like the boy's he found earlier, which is more subdued, tight, and bright. She had to be the Ancient in this sector.

   Creature dissipated the spell he had activated, causing all the light tunnels to vanish and restore his vision to normal. All three girls were comfortable talking to each other in his presence, which could either be good, meaning he - and therefore the Twisted - was weaker here than he thought, or it was bad, meaning they simply couldn't detect the Twisted. The idea that the white one though, practically glowing in the dim light thanks to a lack of blemishes and dirt, just like the white witches of his time, couldn't sense something was off was actually disturbing to him. He was essentially sick, although it was a magic sickness. Did she not know sick magic? Maybe not... which means she might not be able to help, which means he's wasted his time here.

   Not willing to concede to that idea, the mage pulled at the ether to amplify his ability to plant concepts in their minds; like telepathy, but instead of hearing a voice that isn't your own, it's images, ideas, associations, everything that makes a concept and, by consequence, makes the message he'll send to them undeniable. It might make them uncomfortable at first, but giving them raw intentions was the clearest, most direct way to explain what he needed and why. Words could be manipulated, misunderstood, or just plain insufficient, especially in trying to convey what the Twisted even was. If he could simply push past the foreign aura so they were receptive to his magic, then his explanations will be clear.

 

   After a moment of mental concentration where he appeared to just be standing, nonreactive, he finally straightened himself up and stepped back so all three girls were in his view, and cast to them what they needed to know: that he was a caster, someone whose growth in knowledge and experience translated to raw energy, and that he uses the energy for spells, and that, at a point in time he didn't specify, the energy turned sour and became "sick". It, in turn, made him sick, but more in vein of a curse than a virus or disease. The energy he had before was like ice, still and controlled, but was now much more chaotic and violent. He showed that he used a portal to travel from Sector 3 to here, and that he didn't know where "here" was beyond that it was Sector 7. Then, abruptly, the stream of knowledge turned onto the white girl personally: he conveyed that he knew she was a ruler here, that she too had great power, and that she must also have great age. In a way, this message also left an opening for the other two girls to confirm or deny his assumption. Finally, he projected a more direct question to them: do they know of any way, or anyone, that can cure sick magic?

 

   ----------

 

   Chased to the Treasure Chamber

 

   Glail hurriedly ran after the new blue (hopefully) laguz. The dog eagerly took the lead, traversing the marble halls with confidence and agility, turning corners before Glail could see the Orcs coming down other paths. It seemed so certain that she believed that they would burst out a door or window and be outside again, but as the shadows grew starker against the torchlight, she began to suspect that they were being led deeper into the temple. She wanted to call to the dog and ask where it was going, but she was too short on breath from sprinting, and it was so loud from the thunder of footsteps on stone and the clatter of her, Swift's, and the Orcs' gear as they pursued them. Plus the Orcs were downright noisy! They seemed outraged that the trio had survived this long.

 

   After startling many guards and skipping around more corners, their path finally ended at two giant doors. The guards there, in the middle of just shutting them, were shocked to see three intruders barreling toward them. The dog shot past them with no acknowledgement, charging through the doors and crashing them open. The guard cried outrage as the girls followed. Glail squinted form the room's brightness and kept running, but the ground was suddenly slippery! With a quick flailing correction she skidded upright into the room and spun around, her momentum stopping as her back hit something tall, hard, and bumpy. She glanced at the ground to see what she slipped on.

   Coins? A trail of coins? The laguz's eyes darted around, now lighting up as she realized why the room was so bright and so big.

   A treasure chamber! Great shafts of light poured in through elaborately-traced windows and danced over mountainous piles of gold coins and ingots. Gemstones studded everything, magnificent statues lined the walls, rare and intricate artifacts christened each mound with curious beauty. Tapestries, murals, jewelry, suits of armor and fancy wares, it was immeasurable! The glitter of all the riches dazed her and made her feel faint. What a find!

   Glail wasn't a stranger to wealth. She did have a close friend back home, who was a very rich and important person. Marble and tapestry and statues were all familiar to the laguz, but what really took her aback was just how brazenly all the riches were strewn about! A true dragon's hoard! Did her friend have one of these? Did all royal families have one? Perhaps they were more organized than this. It would be hard to count your coins with all of them in piles, but maybe at that point it doesn't matter anymore!

 

   She lifted herself from the pile of coins she had fallen into, tearing her eyes from the wealth to stay focused on the doorway. The Orcs were piling in and barricading it, all wielding axes, hissing and baring crooked teeth. Their grungy, wooden appearance was a start contrast against the pretty chamber. Their red eyes glittered like the rubies around them, but instead of teasing they were vicious and unyielding. The two girls and their canine friend were blocked in, and the Orcs knew this.

   One Orc in the back gave them a precious moment to breathe, standing tall and roaring out, "Last chance to surrender, humans!" His comrades chuckled and snarled, and chose not to strike just yet, instead holding a defensive line. "Give up now, and maybe Lord Malefor will let you go with your pathetic lives!"

 

   Glail squared off a mean look at the one threatening them, but he didn't seem to care, just grinning at her; so she took a moment to look around and locate her friends instead.

   The blue dog was missing. She didn't have sight of Swift. That wasn't good. There's also the question of what to do next. Two of the Orcs were injured, but there were still nine of them, not counting any guards that might've piled up behind them, eager to join in the chase. None of the nine had arrows. Sadly though, in her adrenaline-infused state, Glail couldn't think of what to do with that information, nor of what else they should do. She believed she could take on nine Orcs, but her wounds from their first scrape still smarted, reminding her that being prudent is best in a fight.

 

   ----------

 

   By the Temple with a Hole in it

   A shrill voice met Ionhazard's microphones and he recoiled, looking down toward the source. Standing there was an unknown human, with a brilliant emo look complete hetereochromia, bat wings, disheveled two-tone hair and skin, and clothes that looked more like they were meant to be confusing instead of practical. There's no way Ionhazard could deny this being reality, now; this was just too laughable to be in a simulation! He couldn't tell if it was a boy or girl, but he really didn't give a carp, either. It was just a variable. The constant was that it was another living thing, brazenly standing below him, ready to be squished, stabbed, or consumed. What puzzled him about the being, though, was less its appearance and more that it was busy talking to the dragon he captured, because he was not a "scaly old fart". It hurt the Commander's pride to be ignored on top of it all, but it was also reduced to an annoyed twinge, considering he valued the person less than a gnat.

   After the Executioner had finished rudely judging the newcomer, he tilted his head, fixing the person in his sights. What he - she? - said at least provided some valuable insight. A Dark Order, here? A form of government? "Imploding" from a bit of pain and suffering? Well, he knew he was the right slayer for the job, although he wouldn't call the pain he inflicted "little". "Imploding" he could certainly take advantage of.

   He felt the dragon struggle between his teeth and clamped down harder, though kept it intact. Strangely, the reptile seemed a lot more annoyed by the human, procuring fire from somewhere and lobbing it at the person. It missed, barely.

   "You should have remained wherever the gods damned you to," the dragon hissed. Ionhazard listened keenly. A rival, or a pesky subordinate?

   "And miss out on this? Hardly." The human smirked. "If you didn't notice, the warp's happened again, and there's more people now... And I think the Dark Order's been around long enough, because these newcomers are heroes. Mul'tilennaya's going to be full of fighting soon... It'll pretty much be war. A war without mercy... Only pain."

   "Could you talk any slower?" Ionhazard grumbled to himself. At least some useful information came out of it. The warp is recurring, the government is dissolving... Mul'tilennaya? That's what they're calling this trashy green planet? That's not part of the Solus system. He tilted his head. That means the Archivist isn't here.... assuming the little speck is correct.

   In reminding himself that this could be a simulation, he stared at the human, studying her composure and rendering. She seemed real enough, enjoying rubbing in every word, grinning at the dragon he had caught. The dragon itself was plenty real, wings and all, and must be important if this person bothered showing up just to talk to it. He couldn't decide if this was another trick, like that blue-haired human that conjured a hologram of him, but something about the gloating definitely spoke more of someone saying "I told you so" and not "I know things you don't". Reinforced by Mother Machine's conviction that this was some kind of multiverse, that meant he really was teleported somewhere else - and her with him, for some reason. It must have happened sometime while hibernating, because when he woke up, he was here: a complete 180 from the dusty, apocalyptic ruins he had gone to sleep in. Him and the other Commanders - but mostly him - had completely wiped out all life surrounding them on Earth. All that radiation and chemicals wouldn't fully break down for another couple decades, at least. That also explained why his timestamps were out of sync.

   "Useful..." he thought aloud. He must focus on getting this information to Mother Machine. Taking Two-Face here might be wise as well.

   With that resolution, four of his tendrils uncoiled from inside his mouth and grasped the dragon by its wings and hind legs, intent on keeping it captured, while he cracked open his jaw and sent the another four straight toward the human.

 

   ----------

 

   [Global

   -The Twisted expands slightly into Sector 1. Its other neighboring sectors successfully repel it, keeping it contained.

   -Sector 12's facility has stabilized. A few of the broken wings and the most salvageable bots in them were repaired. Production is ongoing. A scout has been sent to Sector 11 in search of intelligent forces and resources.]

 

   EDIT 1: adjusted the posts to be more in-character and accounted for a character leaving. Added an Ionhazard post since the discussion he was observing seems to have ended.

Edited January 14, 2021 by skwerl56767

[HomeForFlowers]

「 Sector: Five 」
「 Location: Abandoned Castle || Entrance 」
「 Allies: Kaladin, Rita, Shiva 」

「 Other Participants: Kobold, ??? 」

「 Persona: Arsène || Standby 」

 

 

The castle wasn't as abandoned after all. All it took was one passionate conversation in the middle of the entrance hall and people were popping in left and right like scavengers to a fresh kill. Except, Joker thought seriously, instead of fresh kill it was information. So would that still make them scavengers? Maybe it was more apt to claim that they were more like... sheltered teenagers getting off an airplane after their first solo flight and seeing someone they know standing in the air port after anxiously wandering around for twenty minutes because they didn't know where to go or were to socially inept to ask for directions. No, that was probably too specific of an example and nobody in the hall looked anxious except for the guy with blue Tinkerbell hovering near his shoulder. Taking the "anxious teenagers" analogy to heart, Joker smiled as well he could under a mask and spun towards the newcomers.

 

"Welcome, welcome!" he said, spreading his arms wide open invitingly. "More people who are confused as to what's going on. How delightful! Maybe with so many people here, we can figure out what's going on." Glancing at the younger girl who ask about food, Joker shrugged sympathetically. "Trust me, if we had food I would have loved to have a banquet. If there is one thing that brings people together, it's sitting and having a meal. Preferably, after you do something fun together like committing a crime, but anyway!" Gracefully Joker pivoted on one foot and shot a finger-gun at the newest of the newcomers, a buff man who looked like he came right out of Street Fighter. "We're all in the same uninformed boat, unfortunately," Joker said. "But, I did hear someone mention 'warp' right before you arrived." On Joker's right was a woman, similar in age to him it seemed, that had somehow spooked Kaladin. "You seem to know what's going on. Isn't that right, Miss...?"

 

In usual dramatic fashion, something interrupted the woman before she could speak. There was a clap of thunder outside of the building, close and booming. The whole of the castle began shaking violently. Joker staggered in place as dust and debris began falling down from the ceiling below. Cracks began on the stone walls, the support columns cracking underneath the unstable weight above them. The ceiling suddenly collapsed, stone and furniture covered in cobwebs falling from a hole in the floor above. The hole was thankfully away from Joker or anyone of his companions, but the broken ceiling, Joker soon realized as the rumbling subsided, wasn't the biggest problem. A dust cloud had formed from the stone and wood that had fallen so it was hard to make out what had fallen, but Joker could swear he could see someone, or something, moving within it.

 

 

 

「 Sector: Five 」
「 Location: Abandoned Castle || Entrance 」
「 Allies: Kaladin, Rita, Shiva, Joker 」

「 Enemies: Phaedra, Whelpings 」

「 Other Participants: Kobold, ??? 」

「 Vision: Active || Charged in 3 Rounds 」

 

Slowly, Diluc stood up. Through the dusty haze, he could make out the silhouettes of several people standing some distance away from him. Were there people here? Diluc frowned. Blood was dripping down from a cut right above his right eyebrow, clouding his vision to the point that he had to shut his eye. Exhaustion was already starting to take control. His claymore was starting to feel heavy and it took more effort than it should to maneuver the battlefield, but no. He couldn't stop now, especially if other people were involved. Glancing up, Diluc couldn't see his assailants just yet, but he knew they were coming. The dust would clear up sooner or later and they would find him and the others. Knowing he had only a short reprieve before the battle began, Diluc climbed out of the debris and approached the strangers.

 

"You all need to leave while you can," he said, deadpan. In the not too far distance, the monsters began shrieking. "I can't guarantee your safety when the beasts arrive." Granted, there was a storm outside and once the dragons, at least Diluc assumed they were dragons, entered the castle then most rooms wouldn't be safe, but if the strangers could be evacuated then they needed to take that chance while they still had it.

 

Alas, the chance was quite fleeting. The cries grew even louder as the first of the whelpings began to approach. Diluc snorted, they were fast. He turned his back towards the strangers as he lifted his sword. The light of Diluc's Vision lit up brightly as flames flickered against the surface of his blade. He could try to buy the strangers some time, but that was the best he could do. The small flames dancing on the blade grew into an inferno, covering the blade completely just as the first wave of whelpings emerged from the opening in the ceiling.

 

「 Lysithea von Ordelia 」

「 Sector: Ten 」
「 Location: Field North of Remire Village 」
「 Outsiders: Tyrael 」

「 NPCs: Marionette, Edgar 」

 

"Halt!"

Two stallions donned in armor emerged from the neighboring trees. Their riders, equally shielded in armor, pulled their swords out from their sheathes. The horses circled Tyrael, keeping enough distance to assure their riders could react to a sudden attack. One of the riders lifted her helmet's visor up just a crack and squinted through the opening.

 

"I could have sworn this one was a person," the knight said, glancing at her companion from the corner of her eye. "The Sand Pest hasn't reached this end of the sector. So, do you think—"

"Humans don't have wings," her companion spat. His fist tighten around the pommel of his sword. He pointed the tip of his sword towards Tyrael. "It's just another one of the weird ones. We should take care of it before it finds the village."

 

"I'll be the one to decide that."

A third stallion trotted from the shelter of the trees. Its rider appeared far more distinguished from the knights in their identical armor, dressed in a long, elegant robe fashioned from black and purple silk. She held a staff, fashioned from bone it seemed, in one hand and the reigns of her horse in another. "I do not sense the taint of the plague or the other magics of the otherworldly threats in this one," Lysithea said. She ushered her steed forward several steps towards Tyrael. Her knights readied their weapons in response, just in case the angel-like being before them was not as pacifistic as his appearance let on.

 

"Speak, if you can," Lysithea ordered. "If not, I'll handle this quickly." As though on cue, purple sparks of magic bounced off the tip of the staff as though the magic itself was eager to begin battle.

Edited December 18, 2020 by Doctortear

[Swiftphoenix]

 

Through the halls we go

With blue laguz today

Angering a dragon

Almost-dying all the way, hey! 

Swift thought up an altered rendition of Jingle Bells as she ran behind Glail and the other dog, her mood much improved since they’d left the previous chamber. Following the blue dog as it charged into a new room, she looked up to see... lots and lots of loot! It seemed this was a treasure room; as she looked around in awe, she couldn’t stop herself from tripping into a pile of jewelry. “Oof!” 

 

Scrambling to her feet and back to Glail’s side, she gaped at all the riches. Holy finger lickin’ good, Kentucky fried .

I’ve literally never seen so many expensive thingies in one place! Mentally running the numbers on just the stuff that she could see, she realised she could... she could... “I could buy Regina’s old Evil Queen castle with all this!” she blurted, then added in a murmur, “We’re going to be set for life.” A bang behind them dragged her attention away, and the archer turned to see nine Orcs trapping them in the room. 

 

“Well, that’s not good,” she said, her voice sounding way calmer than she felt. “Think we can take them?” she asked Glail; normally she would have charged straight at the opposing creatures without consultation, but now, tired and bleeding, she took a moment to think strategically (a first for her) and decided running in recklessly wasn’t the best idea. They have numbers, we don’t. They have axes, we have one axe and a couple flying murder sticks. This was going to be a tricky one. “Maybe we should attack from farther away?” she suggested hesitantly to her friend, not wanting to admit what was really going through her mind — she didn’t quite know what to do. 

Edited May 1, 2021 by Swiftphoenix

[Mikasa361]

[M - Sector 2 - Sheer Humiliation]

 

Malefor allows a yell to boom from his throat. The giant, unholy metal creature has wrapped several tentacles- tongues, perhaps?- around his limbs. He sends out a fireball, of course to no avail. Had he been warm blooded, perhaps his face would remain the temperature of said fireball, considering his rather depressing situation. He hopes one of two things at this point- one, that he can manage to fireball these cursed things off of his body and he can somehow ram his way out of there. 

 

Or, a fireball would hit Yubel, and this situation would become humorous. 

 

Instead.

 

The fireball moves out of the giant metal maw as the tongues lash out towards Yubel. And instead of smacking into her, it gets caught in a gust of wind and eventually, to his dismay, fizzles out. 

 

Embarrassing. Was he not supposed to be the Purple Dragon? Was he not supposed to be completely all powerful? Master of Fire, Electricity, Ice, Earth, and more? Years of training and praise had taught him that, of course. The ancestors made him more than aware of his fate- He'd always been meant to bring change to the era. He was meant to be powerful, to bring about a new age. But by the gods, here he is, inside the mouth of a giant metal Destroyer. A Destroyer that doesn't seem even remotely capable of its purpose- bringing about the new age by causing the destruction of the world. Truly, truly, ever so humiliating.

 

Malefor continues to twist his way out- or.... well... try to. Instead, he continues to write around, spitting out insults and the occasional fireball, more consumed in his own emotions than anything else.

 

 

[L - Sector 5 - A New World?]

 

She'd just gotten her head around the fact that no matter how many times she yelled, "ZIP? ALISTER," neither of them would respond. Of course, with as many times as Amanda or her goons managed to interrupt her only connection to her friends and employees, they'd managed to get that connection back within a couple hours or so. 

 

It'd been three days.

 

Lara sighs and taps at her earpiece. It seems that the charge finally died, leaving her stranded. Brilliant, she thinks to herself. Here I am, in this wasteland, and I have no way to get myself out safely. The storms might start again soon, from what she can understand. But from her understanding of how storms work, she may have a few hours left to find some shelter. That's rather helpful, considering how low she is on ammunition for her assault rifle. It's a same she used so much ammo on some strange creatures from only God knows where. It would be more than useful to have those now, knowing that she's completely stranded and can't even contact Zip to arrange for a helicopter home. 

 

She takes note that she's not too far from a small, castle-like building of a structure she'd not familiar with. Raising an eyebrow, Lara walks closer to it. But as she gets closer, she starts hearing some rather loud sounds nearby. Startled, she grabs one of her pistols and whips around to take a look. She blinks when she sees a rather large group, all mingling amongst themselves.

 

Is this a bloody school trip, now? What is this, the bloody Museum of Bizarre History? Well, someone call the Smithsonian.

 

At the front of the group are two young men, neither of which seem nearly close to entering their thirties. Both seem to be bickering about something she clearly missed the context for. Blinking, she moves over to another young man with rather interesting two-colored hair and wearing an old-style military uniform. He's clicking a box of come sort and seems nowhere near interested in the conversation that the other men are having. He looks up before he can accidentally collide with her. Seeming rather surprised, he almost flinches. Lara gives him a quick wave.

 

"Pardon. May I ask if you're familiar with this place? And if not, where you all may be coming from?"

 

[R - Sector 5 - Storms Take Me Now]

 

"Well maybe, just maybe, had you been paying attention, you'd know WHERE WE ARE?"

 

"Oh- right, because I am the Sole Navigator Of Whatever-the-heck they call this place???"

 

"Mul'tilennaya."

 

"LITERALLY ONLY YOU CAN SAY THAT."

 

"No. Only you are incapable of saying it."

 

"I am this close to sending you in a bubble and letting you go to God-knows-where."

 

"I'll pop it!"

 

"Oh, so you want an exploding bubble?"

 

"I will ing--"

 

Oh storm it, here they go again. Renarin does his best to tune out Utakata and Kaiba's shouting. Go figure, he makes an attempt to be friendly with the two, and they find something to argue about for the third time this trip. Glys is being quiet right now- he's not sure why this time. The girl who slapped Utakata- the other one- Hotaru, seems to be just as annoyed by the yelling as Renarin is. She even tries to yell at them to knock it off. Kaiba and Utakata looked at her, looked at each other, and continued. Well, he'd hoped to be friendly with them. But at the moment, he has nobody else to speak with. So here he goes, clicking his box instead.

 

He doesn't notice the person walking towards him right away. He's so focused on keeping his focus off of the fighting that he just barely manages to jolt to a stop when he notices that someone is walking towards him.

 

Oh, storms. 

 

In front of him is a young Veden-appearing (?) woman- seemingly close to Jasnah's age, with a rather.... er.... revealing outfit. He looks away almost immediately before he remembers something Utakata told him about before the second argument. He could just look at her nose. Pretend to make eye contact and not have to worry about her fingerless gloves- storms, he has to remember that not everyone follows Vorin culture here. She'd given him a wave and asked him, "Pardon. May I ask if you're familiar with this place? And if not, where you all may be coming from?"

 

Neither of these answers are ones that Renarin is comfortable giving. He looks away but shakes his head in response. "No, none of us know this place. We think we're lost. I... Take it I can't ask you the same?"

 

"No," the woman responds. "Unfortunately I've only been here a few days."

 

Hotaru chimes in, much to Renarin's relief. "So have we. We're coming from a different area of this planet, one with lots of lava and a tyrant of a ruler. I think.... I think we were intending to go here. It's just a matter of where in this place we need to go. I think we're supposed to be finding a Professor of sorts. You wouldn't have heard of one, have you?"

 

Renarin perks up. 

 

"I know quite a few professors."

 

"Do you know someone who just goes by 'Professor'?"

 

"No."

 

Renarin frowns. This isn't helping at all. But just before he can ask this woman's name, he hears the argument between Utakata and Kaiba start to get even worse. He hears from Utakata, "Well I don't know, if you're just so goddamn smart, why are we still running around here lost? Certainly not a useful skill to have if you don't use it!"

 

He drops his jaw when he hears Kaiba's voice ring out one more scathing insult. 

 

[R - Sector 7 - Yggdrasil]

 

Riza has seen more vibrant places in the military headquarters. She's been more excited to be in a meeting with the Führer than she'd been to be in this place. Yet Hibiki, Kirika, and Chris all seem rather nervous. She looks at the three of them and then back to the giant pillar in the distance. Her eyebrows raise when she takes note of people wandering in select places, performing all sorts of tasks. Now isn't that odd....

 

It would be a lie if Riza said she didn't feel a twinge of uneasiness. She feels something deep in the pit of her stomach- something about this place.... Part of her wonders, briefly, if they're about to jump into a nest of hornets.

 

She glances over to Hibiki. "So. Anything we need to know about the ruler of this place?"

 

 

[Swiftphoenix]

 

Standing beside her companion, an idea suddenly came to Swift, and she reached towards one of her wounds, rubbing some blood onto her hands. “So you think you can take us?” she said, in what she hoped was a menacing voice. “I’d like to see what you can try against shifters who have defeated Death!” She flared out her wings dramatically, raising her clawed fingers in her signature Halloween spooky pose. 

 

Gets Roland every time. “How can you possibly hope to combat the reincarnated?” Hoping that Glail was following her lead, her spirits lifted slightly as she saw a few Orcs jerk in fear and bolt. “Enough of this foolery! Attack them, you cowards!” One of the Orcs shouted at his comrades. Wide-eyed and angered (and a little bit spooked), the creatures charged at the girls, slashing their axes around viciously. 

 

“Come, my ghostly friend. Battle — and victory — awaits!” Before the Orcs reached them, Swift turned to Glail. “We can do this,” she said softly, hoping to reassure her. “We just gotta stick together.”

Then the outlaw jumped away, fixing her attention on their assailants as two missed their strokes, and she simply leaned away to avoid the one of the others. The last hit, if only a glancing slide off her shoulder, only served to make her roll her eyes, and she grabbed two arrows out of her quiver. One she sent directly into the inaccurate Orc’s chest, and the horned creature bellowed loudly as she shot another at the one who had hit Glail. The soldiers fell back, yelling amongst themselves, and she smirked at the look of intimidation in their stances. 

 

“I told you,” she told them with a sigh, then raised her voice while trying to make it seem like she was talking to Glail. “It’s a shame we didn’t summon our undead zombie friends to eat their brains!” She held back laughter, hearing their scandalised shouts when they practically tripped over each other backpedaling out of the room. 

 

Once they were out of sight — and earshot; those guys were super noisy — she let out a huge breath and sank to the floor, tired, but victorious. “We did it.” She smiled up at her friend, who she thought must be similarly exhausted. There was a small clink, and she remembered just what chamber they were in. She looked at the giant piles of riches, then at Glail. Then back at the coins. Then back at Glail. 

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” she said with a mischievous grin. 

[skwerl56767]

   Malefor's Temple: Treasure Room

 

   Glail shot a hopeless glance at her friend, uncertain of how to handle the situation when she was so wounded. Swift didn't look too good herself, but confidence lit up on her face. “So you think you can take us? I’d like to see what you can try against shifters who have defeated Death!”

   Swift's voice rose to a sharp tone. Out from nothing, wings rose up behind her, flaring and reaching for the Orcs! A few that were already looking like they didn't want to be there jumped at the abrupt display. The rest of the changes melted in slower, giving them a good second-long look at her.

   "More than wolf! Witch!!" one shrieked accusingly. Glail, steeling her limbs to keep herself from jumping, suddenly realized what Swift was doing. It might work!

   "We've dealt with worse!" a more confident Orc barked. Glail straightened her posture, and opened her mouth, willing in her fur, snout, paws and fangs. She let air escape her throat as she transformed, hoping it looked horrifying. It was less graceful of a display than the first time she shifted in front of them, but hopefully they weren't paying attention to it. A weird distorted howl came out of her as human yell turned lupine, and she dropped back down on all fours as a large blue wolf once again. The Orcs looked to her as she did her bit, and jumped back when she lunged with aggressive snapping of teeth.

   "Aahh! Aaahhh!" one of the Orcs just booked it out of there!

   "Witches!"

   "They're back! Liches come back!"

 

   It was hard to tell what they thought they were, but before the group could react as a whole three Orcs had already fled. The other Orcs suddenly looked uncertain, forcing themselves to keep eyes on her and Swift.

   "STOP! Idiots! They're not witches!" the lead Orc yelled after his deserters, but to no avail. Glail, bolstered by the results, barked and thrashed her head again like she was going to get one of them. They yelled and backed up, axes now held up more defensively. The lead one roared in frustration, "Enough of this foolery! Attack them, you cowards!"

   "Come, my ghostly friend. Battle — and victory — awaits!” Swift encouraged her. The Orcs, in lower spirits now, reluctantly charged, trying to put on their own front with a battle cry. Glail grinned, having fun with it. "Of course! Vengeance welcomes you!" she added the last to the two Orcs coming for her, attempting to flank her. From the corner of her eye she saw the remaining group head for Swift, but any twinges of worry it caused were snuffed out by Swift becoming a blur! Every axe swing, the Orcs missed! She felt an axe cut behind her shoulder - she felt the impact more than the cut - and yelped, curling around to bite the offender. The Orc yelped as she caught his other arm and swung him around. His companion halfheartedly helped, by missing her. Throwing her assailant hard into a pile of treasure, Glail tossed her head over shoulder to grasp the long handle of her own axe. "That is for the death of my kin!" she growled, half listening to her own feint to give her the energy to fight like it was real. The halfhearted Orc grabbed wildly at her mane to stop her, but she simply threw him off. There were wails all around. An arrow burrowed its point into the Orc she had tossed. Glail pulled her axe off her back in one swift movement. Terrified of being in range, her second attacker turned to flee - just to get cut almost in half, toppling him to the ground. The one that was shot yelled at him, giving the laguz time to finish him off with another swing.

 

   She heard Swift threatening them again, and joined in with something grim she had heard back at home: "That's okay; they can fertilize our forests, once we take them back!"

   "I-I didn't mean it! It was just orders!" the Orc she injured pleaded, backing away from her. Glail kept up the front and approached him, but some of the fake aggression was lost as she was more curious as to what forest the Orcs actually took. They certainly seemed like the conquering type. Luckily, he didn't seem to notice.

   "Go! GO!" one Orc frantically shouted, turning tail. The one Glail wounded gladly followed at the opportunity. It shattered whatever confidence the beasts had left in them; the Orcs finally felt bested! With one casualty and plenty beaten, the few remaining were glad to back off, running for the exit, favoring their injuries. The most confident Orc paused to look at the two shifters, preparing to say something, but Glail snarled and jolted toward him, making him screech. "Back, demon beast!" Still trying to maintain composure, he pointed in warning at them, "We won't forget this! Malefor will have your hides!"

   "As long as we can have his in turn!" Glail barked back. The Orc kept a hard look, until she leaped for him again.

   "Back! BACK! Augh-!" he fell back, scrambled back to his feet, and ran through the cracked doors of the treasure chamber.

 

   Finally! Peace! Quiet!

   Glail stared at the doors, listening to the fading footsteps of the howling tree beasts. After they melted away into silence, she listened a few seconds more for any backup groups or other guards, but it seemed the girls were safe, for now.

   Ignoring her aches and pains, Glail dropped her axe, letting the handle thud on the floor. She looked at Swift. "I don't really want the dragon's hide. I just thought that sounded scary. I like dragons..." she mumbled the last part to herself, simultaneously second-guessing it as the first dragon she ever met certainly didn't like her back. She wasn't counting Ionhazard, she trusted that Swift was right in that he was a row-bot. Shakily laying down in wolf form, causing her injuries to hurt a bit more as they flexed, she heaved a great sigh. "I thought we were going to make friends...!"

   She looked back at the archer at the clink of coins, seeing her casting looks back and forth. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” she asked.

   Glail's nose twitched excitedly. "But isn't it stealing? I mean, they weren't nice... and Iony did rip off their roof... but maybe they were just having a bad day." Even though she was trying to talk herself out of it, she wouldn't object if Swift did grab a handle of coins here and there. There was also the issue of carrying everything.

   She had abruptly reminded herself that Ionhazard did exist. He was certainly big enough to carry the whole room away! Her paw smarted from a previous arrow wound, and she paused to wrangle a long splinter out before switching to a cut on her flank, wincing at the stinging and sharp taste of blood. "Those tree-things were really mean!" she whimpered, adding more loudly to Swift, "What did they think we were? We weren't that scary, were we?"

[Swiftphoenix]

 

“Well, yeah, I mean technically,” Swift said, toeing at a pile of coins, “but, well...” Trailing off, she glanced up at Glail, unsure how her innocent friend would take news of her past. “Look, Glail, you’d be shocked at things I used to do.” She straightened her jacket and poked at a nearby tapestry, deciding to just rip off the Band-Aid. “I’m kind of a kleptomaniac. As in, I steal things. Used to steal things. I mean, I still do, but nowadays it’s more of my boyfriend’s shirts and less of jewelry and coin. Plus, I’m like two weeks behind on rent and I haven’t picked up a side job to cover the-”

She turned back to face Glail, suddenly aware she was rambling, biting her lip. “Right. So, uh, I just think that maybe things like this... I’m more used to them than you? And definitely more used to... how would you say it...” She snapped her fingers a few times, trying to find a more neutral term for crime, “bending the rules. Since I used to steal. A lot.” Clearing her throat, she concluded that she should get to the point. “So, if it makes you uncomfortable, then I’ll just leave all these fabulous riches here.” Or y’know, not tell you I’m taking some so that the theft doesn’t weigh heavily on your pure conscience. With that, she wondered, how did people actually live without being raised as outlaws? That lifestyle sounded so... boring.

 

"Those tree-things were really mean! What did they think we were? We weren't that scary, were we?"

“We were pretty scary, if I do say so myself.” Swift grinned. “I was going for a kind of undead vengeful soul vibe, d’you think I got that across?” Jabbering away to cover the clink of the coins, just in case her friend would try to stop her, she slipped a handful into her quiver, standing to retrieve some of her arrows, then returning to where Glail was sitting and stealthily taking another small handful. “What do you think Metalface is doing right now?”

---

 

 

Don’t give up and leave the grownups behind don’t give up and leave the grownups behind don’t give up and leave the grownups behind.

Peter trudged on behind Renarin as Kaiba and Utakata argued, and sighed at Hotaru’s failed attempts to stop them. Just then, a woman appeared and came up to them; Peter was glad for the distraction. She, Hotaru and Renarin had a short conversation, mostly sharing information amongst themselves with not a lot of helpfulness. Maybe splitting up wasn’t such a good idea. I mean, we haven’t found anything, and things have been... Peter looked over his shoulder. The argument behind them was getting worse, and Peter was almost about to turn around and snap at the two men to sort it out or so help me when Kaiba said-