A Game of Gods: Infinities

Saucy Jane's, Vagabond District, Riverrock
"I'm sure it wasn't your fault. It's the fault of no-one but the per- the animal that did it. And you can help me hunt him down like the animal they are."
Was actually an animal, or was she just insulting the person who did it?
"I know this has got to be really hard for you, but can you remember anything about whoever killed your... friend? What they looked like?"
Johnny had no idea how to go about this. He didn't watch many police procedurals, and he was pretty sure they were totally incorrect anyway.

edited 13th Apr '14 2:26:21 PM by GeekCodeRed

"I have a better idea." Edward said, flexing his arms. "The people who designed this probably didn't have an alchemist like me in mind. Which means that I can just open up these walls, see what the security measures are- if there are any mechanical ones- and manually activate them. And if that doesn't work, I'll just open a way for us."

Brushing some dust off his gloves, Edward clapped his hands and touched the wall the unlit braziers were in, trying to transmutate part of the stone wall into a door he could open, the gears and widgets that ran the security measures hopefully hiding behind them.

The Marked Ninja just nodded at Sabrina's question, quietly pulling out a knife from his belt and crawling towards the noise, making no sound at all. He raised his finger to the group, a motion that told them to stay put, as he made his way towards the source of the ghostly music...

Owain looked around, wondering where the music was coming from.

"How strange, these sounds," Owain remarked, "I see no band playing, yet my ears hear it all the same."

He looked in no particular direction and asked out loud, "What phantom musicians are we in the presence of?"

Pride looked up at the screaming samurai— really, if he hadn't yelled, it was possible the homunculus would not have noticed him— and just smiled. Underneath him, the eye and mouths of his shadow appeared, as a giant maw formed with him in the middle, attempting to chow down on the falling samurai as Selim neatly jumped out of the way, knowing all well that humans couldn't just change directions in mid-air. Not unless they could fly, and from what he knew of this samurai, he was no flyer.

Unfortunately, he jumped right into the way of the tyrannosaurus.

Pride's instincts told him to run, run as fast as he could. His regenerative abilities weren't as good as before, and he wouldn't survive this. At first, he was face to face with certain death. But, just like always, Pride remembered about the part he was playing. Underneath the demon there was a scared little boy. And at one point, he'd have to retreat back to playing the little boy, whilst still giving them reasons for his enemies to keep him alive. A plan formed in his head, and in those few seconds that rested between him and the giant beast, Pride decided to go ahead with the plan.

He jumped, but he jumped at the wrong time and in the wrong direction. When Tethrasur's jaws closed down, they found meat, ripping into Pride's weak little arm. Of course, just like the samurai, the boy couldn't change directions in mid-air and continued to jump back, so the sound of flesh being split apart echoed through the air as, like a butcher's knife, the beast's teeth severed off his left arm. Pride, for the first time in his 'demon' persona, widened his eyes. He fell to the ground, crawling to his knees, and reached for the spot where his arm would be. Blood leaked from it, and the occasional red spark, as the regeneration started what would be a slow, slow proccess. But that didn't matter.

Pride screamed. And screamed. And screamed.

The shadows screamed with him, just like when the elf had burned them with his spells. They twisted and flickered, as images losing focus, and then they all exploded, going into their separate ways, some shadows heading into the dark alleyways, some hiding in the shadow of other beings around him. Tears began to well up in Pride's eyes as his shadow returned to, and he gritted his teeth, looking back at the nearest person- which happened to be Jack- with heavy breathing. " My arm. " He whispered, the tears streaming down his cheeks, giving the whole scene a look of perfect panic. " Mr. Jack, w-what happened to my arm? "

And just like that, Pride doubled over, his head hitting the ground as his eyes took on a vague gaze. He was still breathing, alright, but if you looked at him from afar, you could swear the boy was dead.

Luigi landed on the most heroic pose he could muster, which ended up being him on one knee with a fist pointed at the air, just like his brother. "No a-need to a-thank me, lady!" He practically yelled to Samus, putting a grin on his face and a hand on his suspender. "Why, this is a-nothing, for it's a-me, Lui—"

The plumber's eyes went wide as he heard the sound of a jet of acid being sent his way. Instinctively jumping, Luigi did his best to dodge the jet, but a part of it got on his pants. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOW!" Luigi yelled, covering his behind once he landed, jumping from side to side, dragging his behind on the floor as it burned, no longer caring that he looked like a stooge.

edited 14th Apr '14 11:46:01 AM by Stratofarius

Samus wasn't particularly paying attention to luigi's stance, unfortunately for the poor plumber, being focused on the fight.

Samus, as the unfortunate other lizard was in the midst of discovering, had been fighting groups on her own for years and years; one of the earliest lessons you learn, particularly when said enemies have projectile capabilites, is to never truly take your attention off of the others. As such, by the time the lizard spat acid at her, she was already moving.

She wasn't able to escape the spray completely, her energy levels decreasing even as she attempted to roll out of its way. She hissed, diluted levels of pain erupting along her side.

She morphed back into human form after she was clear, crouched and skidding slightly on the groun. She stood and locked her cold eyes and visor onto the beast for what she intended to be the ending blow on this one. Her cannon glowed again with built up energy, and locked onto the center of its body.

"Launching super missile" she steely (and decently loudly) warned her allies before another one of the said projectiles was launched, homing in on its center of mass (unless an ally was that close and failed to move after the warning; just a charge beam shot for her then).

edited 14th Apr '14 5:31:06 PM by tvtropesnoob

Sabrina

"Well, it's likely an old radio, but then, why would a radio be playing now of all times?" Sabrina asked and looked over at Owain, who looked very medieval in dress which prompted Sabrina to try to explain. "Well, a radio is... umm... it's a device that plays music."

Chun-Li

"Wait!" Chun-Li yelled to Edward, wanting him to stop. "While this place might not expect someone with your particular skills, it would expect someone with Nana Karas' magical skills, which seem to have few limitations."

"I'm sure Nana Karas could probably destroy a simple wall easy if she wanted to," Chun-Li warned Edward as she walked towards the back of the room where Edward was at. "So the security might expect us to destroy the wa—"

She felt the faint breeze against her bare skin and narrowed her eyes towards the back of the room, "Do you feel that?"

edited 17th Apr '14 12:33:08 PM by GameGuruGG

Xigbar nodded at the Turian, a wicked grin forming on his face as he replied, "Can do! While you're at it, can ya see if he knows anything about that crazy woman from before too? 'Cause this whole thing reeks of conspiracies. And I know a conspiracy when I see one."

Ranmaru was too focused on staying alive to notice the shaman's transformation or anything that followed. Only when Tethrasur bit Pride's arm off and the shadows disappeared did he stop performing kata after kata to keep them away. Instead, he wearily walked up to Pride, sword held at the ready.
“I do believe we need to dispose of him, Milord Jack,” he said, nodding at the boy's body.

Sayaka, Temple

Panting, the magical let fall the blade in her hands. The dented, scratched edge hit the ground with a clatter and evaporated into nothingness. A weary smile lingered on Sayaka's face, she was breathing too heavily right now to form words from that.

serves you creeps right.

Her legs wobbled, causing her to collapse into an unsightly sitting position to make up for the loss of balance. She managed to maneuver herself against a wall, resting against the hard rock to view her handiwork: a few dead lizards...

seriously?

She was a bit disappointed. She was quite sure she had dished out quite a number on the little skittlers(is that even a word?). Yet now as she looked, she saw her blades sticking harmlessly out of the ground like many a needle in a pin cushion. The swords began to disappear one by one.

But before the last one vanished, her hand was around it. There was one last place this sword needed to be.

With a determined swing, Sayaka sent the sword flying at the last Digester standing.

"Not until we know for certain that this is a demon in human form and not a child posessed," Jack answered Ranmaru, moving to stand between Selim's fallen body and the enraged dinosaur. Turning his back to the transformed shaman, he touched the point of his sword to the child's brow. He could see flesh and bone reknitting, albeit slowly, at the stump of Selim's arm, and that told him this was not a human child, at least not right now. The demonic influence was still controlling his body. And he doubted whether a child, however strong-willed or pure of spirit, had the fortitude to resist domination of the mind by such a thing.

"You are far too powerful to be overcome by the damage we have done," he said, looking down at the little body. "I know you are still there. I know you will not answer. But you will not have another chance to harm anyone. And if you have indeed taken a child prisoner, you will not keep what you have taken."

Without averting his gaze or taking his sword away from their fallen enemy, Jack again spoke to those behind him, hoping that the shaman wouldn't simply ignore him and attempt to finish the boy off.

"Enough! It is not resisting. We must discover why, and how this demon came within our midst. Only then can we discover who unleashed it against us and why. Only then will your dead be at peace. Have you a way to bind such things, to render them harmless?"

He was all too aware of the fearful price that the village had paid for his failure here.

Owain stared at Sabrina for a few seconds, attempting to process what she just said. "A device... that plays music?" Owain inquired, "How is such a thing possible? It must surely be of considerable and noticeable size if it seeks to properly play every instrument necessary to a piece, would it not?"

Though there were more pressing matters at hand, Yosuke couldn't help but notice the music - recognized that piece from somewhere, maybe from a game soundtrack - and of course, couldn't help but be amused by Owain's amazement at the concept of a radio. Then again, it wasn't really surprising. The guy looked like he was pulled out of some sort of fantasy world with knights and princesses and sorcerers and stuff.

He couldn't help himself.

"It's possible, Owain, and they aren't as big as you think. Not sure how to explain to you how it's done, but it's not too uncommon of a thing where I'm from," he briefly took his MP 3 player to show Owain.

After some slight hesitation, he also removed his headphones and offered them to Owain, "Promise not to break these, and I'll let you try them out. Just in case you still can't believe it."

He looked back at Yee a second to basically nonverbally say "I'm still listening", though he figured this might get lost in translation.

Sabrina

"You can put it back on, umm..." Sabrina stopped as she did not remember his name, but dug through her pocket to pull out A pink and white Pokédex,◊ which looked somewhat more advanced than Yosuke's MP3 Player.

"This can serve as a demo," Sabrina said to Owain. "This and his MP3 Player use something called a speaker capable of reproducing any sound that has been recorded for it."

"Like this will reproduce words," Sabrina pointed the device at Dusknoir, which scanned him as any Pokédex would.

"Dusknoir. The Gripper Pokémon. This feared Pokémon is said to travel to worlds unknown. Some even believe that it takes lost spirits along with it," The device said clearly. Yes, the Pokédex was functioning properly.

"As you can see, it can be... err, useful," Sabrina concluded to Owain, as she put the Pokédex away into her pocket again.

edited 17th Apr '14 12:33:45 PM by GameGuruGG

Dusknoir looked over, while still waiting for Yee to formulate a response. "A Pokedex.. I have not seen one of those in a very long time." Not since Dusknoir was in the future. There were no humans in the region he wandered in, they were an incredibly rare sight as they populated places across the oceans. Thats why the last time he saw humans was in the Future that never was, well, other than Groyvle's trainer but he is a Pokemon now. They often had Pokedexes though human tech became a rarity as humans had difficulty surviving in a paralyzed world.

Owain regarded Yosuke's MP 3 player and his headphones with a look of skepticism. Before he could give his word, he looked over at Sabrina and her Pokedex's demonstration.

As he heard the device give a response, he took a step back and looked at it in awe and astonishment. He mumbled out, "What manner of sorcery is this...?"

Looking back over at Yosuke he quickly told him, "You have my word, Yosuke, no harm shall befall your listening outlets while in my possession."

He curiously took the headphones and put them on. Backwards, incidentally, but he wouldn't have noticed. He was too busy being blown away by the new concept of mobile music. Literally, as he was a bit over-dramatically leaning back from Yosuke.

"This is a symphonic piece, Yosuke!" he exclaimed, "Alongside a rather strange percussion line, but still.. this is incredible! Never in my lifetime would I have thought music could be listened to outside the public practitioner and a concert hall!"

The Doctor, Temple

The Doctor nods as Saren calls him over. "You know I'm more than just your personal mind-reader you know. But if you're just going to call me over to do whatever job you want, maybe we can get a Doctor-whistle. Hmm I wonder? Would a Doctor-calling whistle make the sound of the TARDIS or the sound of someone yelling help in a distressed tone. Or maybe it can go EX-TERM-I-NATE!"

He chuckles. At least for once I can get to do something. Savior of the universe and every planet on it about...37 times is absolutely useless in multiversal scenarios involving guns and magic...oh yes magic is a thing. Almost forgot, what with the last me saying oh it's the magic of words! Good ol 10 couldn't deal to admit there were things he couldn't explain. Good thing the vanity issues are gone.

As he's thinking this to himself, he walks up to the Landwyrm and prepares to try and read and examine its mind.

Riverrock—Vagabond District, Saucy Jane's

Again Evening Mist did not respond right away.

“He was short,” she began at length, speaking slowly and softly. “He barely came up to my waist. I thought he was a child at first, hidden underneath that heavy cloak he wore.” She swallowed. “He brushed past me on the street corner, stole my coin purse. I shouted for him to stop and come back with my gold; that man happened to be walking by, and he heard my shouts and gave chase.”

She lowered her head, folding her hands in her lap, almost shrinking in on herself. “I ran after the two of them, but I couldn’t keep up; little bastard was fast. Eventually the thief turned down a dark alley, and the man followed him in.

“I was still halfway up the street when I heard him scream. It was an awful, horrible sound, like a man dying in agony…”

She fell silent then, her face screwing up with revulsion, eyes moistening with unshed tears. Her next words were strained. “I came to the alley mouth. I looked in, and I saw what was happening… gods, but it was horrible!”

Evening Mist turned to face Johnny then, her gaze one of absolute horror. “He was crouching over the man’s body like a beast. He was gnawing at his throat, do you understand? He’d ripped it out with his teeth!” She averted her gaze. “There was so much blood…”

Eastern Passage

The two remaining shocker lizards backed away from Fluttershy, still puffed up and hissing like a pair of intimidated cats. They did not seem capable of speech, lacking both the intelligence and the necessary vocal cords, but if she were at all able to interpret the moods and sounds of animals the Pegasus might discern a glimmer of meaning from their animalistic rasping.

“Hungry,” they seemed to say. “Want food. Big One want food. Cold One hurt us if we not feed Big One…”

Meanwhile, Sazh could only watch as the final Digester was first skewered through the side by Sayaka’s flung sword, then struck head-on by Samus’ super missile, getting all but vaporized by the ensuing explosion.

He stared at the smoking, hemispherical crater where the monster had been standing a moment ago, then glanced at the two women. “Overkill, much?”

Western Passage

The landwyrm let out a gagging rasp as it slammed into the ground, eyes bulging within their sockets and fanged jaws working soundlessly as Saren squeezed its organs with his telekinetic grasp. That the creature was in considerable pain was plain to see, and as Grey further ensnared it with shackles of conjured ice, it seemed clear that the monster wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon.

“You will pay,” the monster croaked, its words barely above a whisper, one eye rolling to fix Saren with a murderous glare. “Do you hear? You will pay for thisss indignity, all of you; the pain you put me through now isss asss nothing compared to what will be done to you…”

The rest of its threats died away as the Doctor made contact with its mind. To the Doctor, it would be immediately apparent that the landwyrm was a wretched and evil thing; its mind contained no positive emotion of any sort, just a seething resentment and animosity towards all other life. Scattered memories were on full display, recollections of cruelty and malice towards those weaker than itself, and reluctant kowtowing to those who could crush it with ease. Even now its thoughts turned toward a dark chamber somewhere far below, and how the vast and terrible thing that lurked there would lay waste to these wretched mammals…

Once Saren reached the point where Sazh had been interrupted in his reading, he would find that the next legible entry read as follows:

Though Edward was successfully able to transmute a portion of the passage wall into a door with his alchemy, he would find that it opened onto nothing; there were no discernable mechanisms to be seen on the other side of this newly-formed door, just a wall of earth—

Which suddenly blew open, scattering clods of dirt and rock everywhere, as a hideous, skeletal thing◊ exploded out of the wall and lunged at Edward!

“A Mohrg!” Nana Karas exclaimed. “Watch out for its tongue; you’ll be paralyzed if it touches you!”

The undead horror reached for Edward with surprising speed, trying to grappled him with its hands and the disgusting, wormlike appendages attached to them. Its “tongue” swayed back and forth like a charmed cobra, the sharp teeth which ringed the appendage’s lamprey-like orifice flexing and gleaming with ichor, before striking at his face.

Throughout the chamber, floor tiles shattered and went flying as three more of the grotesque abominations crawled out of the ground. One threw back its head, the wormlike tongue letting out a shrill, ear-splitting trill—and then a chorus of moans and groans filled the air as almost a dozen mouldering zombies wrapped in tattered lengths of gauze clawed their way free of the earth as well. Rising to their feet, the moaning figures shambled towards the Champions en masse, bumping into one another in their haste to get at the living.

Eyes narrowing, Nana Karas thrust her hand towards the largest concentration of zombies. “Fireball!”

A pea-sized bead of energy shot from her fingers, hurtling through the air until it reached a point just above the shambling horrors; then it exploded, engulfing half a dozen of the zombies in a raging ball of fire and reducing them to ashes. Half of the creatures had been wiped out in a single stroke, but this was only a temporary reprieve; more zombies were already beginning to dig themselves free of the ground, and the four Mohrgs had been completely unharmed.

“Target the Mohrgs!” she cried.

Swallowing the severed limb with relish, the transformed figure of Tethrasur cast a baleful eye on the wounded form of Pride. The tyrannosaurus flared its nostrils, an angry rumble building deep within its chest as it bared serrated teeth gleaming with blood, and it began to take half a step towards the Homunculus, clearly intending to finish the job… only for Jack to put himself between them.

The towering dinosaur drew back half a pace, blinking in bewilderment; but as it listened to what Jack had to say, its eyes narrowed and it bellowed furiously, stamping on the ground in clear agitation. The tyrannosaur gestured with its muzzle towards the lizardfolk corpses lying scattered about, snarling as it jerked its head back toward Selim. Tethrasur may not have been able to talk in his transfigured state, but his intent seemed clear enough; innocents had died because of this creature, men and women and children slaughtered in senseless violence.

“Oh…”

The voice came from the mouth of the alleyway. Where the Champions to look there, they would see Shinuaq’tan and several of his guards coming towards them, his head slowly turning from side to side as he took in the carnage. His milky eyes were wide as if with shock and grief.

“Such death,” he whispered, voice hoarse with repressed emotion. “Such horror…”

The venerable chieftain came to a half, looking down at the body of a lizardfolk child; the poor thing had been practically pulled limb from limb, and its eyes were wide in death with fear and terror. Slowly, and with clear difficulty, he lowered himself to his knees and cradled the corpse in his arms.

“You did not deserve this,” he whispered, staring into the child’s lifeless eyes. “You should have been able to live and grow old, to know what it is to love and be loved. Now you will never get the chance…”

Hanging his head in sorrow, Shinuaq’tan gently reached up and closed the child’s eyelids. Silence reigned for a long moment, a crowd of onlookers gathering in quiet shock. The chieftain’s face was a study in grief.

Then his expression hardened.

“You have brought a terrible evil into my lands, Samurai Jack.” His words were low and cold. “And because of that, dozens of my people are now dead.” Those milky white orbs opened, fixing the samurai with an arctic stare. “Whether you were complicit in this atrocity or not, whether you were willing players or unwitting pawns, I do not know… but it does not matter. Such a monstrous and heinous crime cannot be forgiven.” He gently lay the child on the ground and stood up, folding his arms within the voluminous folds of his robes.

“Restrain them,” he said, “and spread the word. The gauntlet has been cast; our people must make ready for war.”

edited 19th Apr '14 3:34:21 PM by SullenFrog

Jack understood all too well what grief could do to a man. In the throes of despair, a person could do terrible things. It was all too easy to give in to evil. And truly, such fearful slaughter demanded action. It was ill fortune that the only enemy visible was the city of Riverrock. If only they had a little more time!

"Bind me if you will," he said to the chieftain, "but bind this creature first." He pointed down at Selim's body. "It is responsible for this atrocity and we must discover why, and who its master is. For my part, I must believe that this is meant to incite the very war you now declare. Yes, we are at fault. We did not see the danger in time, and for that, we can never truly atone. But you must see that this demon is not human work. If they could summon such powerful evil, why would they reveal it to you now instead of unleashing it upon you only when war came? Why would they strike here, in the midst of your gathered strength, yet slay only those close at hand, not chieftains or shamans?" His voice grew quiet.

"The dead cannot return. But you will dishonor their memory by using this tragedy as an excuse for war without knowing the truth behind it. Please, think upon what I have said. I would speak with you again, later today, when we have all had time to reflect."

For the first time in a long, long time, Ranmaru's face actually showed what the young man felt; that is, he was completely shocked. For a few moments, he didn't do anything but stare at Jack with disbelief.
“Milord Jack... you will throw your honour away like that?” he asked. “Simply let yourself be captured? What madness is this?”
He turned and looked suspiciously at Shinuaq’tan before backing away slowly. “I will not let myself be bound and the ones that will try are as good as dead,” he said, his Noudachi held threateningly in its usual opening stance.

Saucy Jane's, Vagabond District, Riverrock
Holy shit. That was... that was horrible. It turned Johnny's stomach just listening to it. Fortunately, his experiences in the past few days had strengthened it, so he wasn't spewing yet.
But still: Short, heavily cloaked, out at night, ripping a person's throat open with their teeth... A midget vampire? It seemed ridiculous, but then again: talking yellow and pink winged midget horse.
"So, because of the cloak, you couldn't see anything else about... it?"

He wanted to comfort her, to reassure her, but he didn't know how. She was jumpy, very protective of her personal space, which was a natural thing after what had happened.

"Look, we're gonna catch this bastard. And trust me, they won't see the light of day or the dark of night ever again. It wasn't your fault, this wasn't the first time this thing killed someone. It would've killed him anyway."

Sayaka

"Woah."

The sheer destructive power Samus possessed impressed the Magical girl. This woman literally had super missiles stocked up....wherever she stocked them. Guess that inventory list from last night wasn't all for show. Sayaka promised herself to never forget that pissing Samus off was a very bad idea.

The smoke rose up from the crater, dissipated into the air and silence seemed to have settled apart from the two shocker lizards Fluttershy was still entertaining. Sayaka sat down, causing the ground to produce a small puff of dirt and dust in response. She had half a mind to kill the little creeps rasping away at Fluttershy but thought better of it.

After all, that pony was armed with a plasma cannon or whatever it was. Sayaka seriously doubted the reality of that statement but guessed that finding out now was not a good idea. She didn't want trouble from the Pegasus, she was too tired for that. Too tired indeed; not a moment later Sayaka's magical girl outfit burst apart in a shower of blue to be replaced by her normal maid clothes.

This was also when Sayaka doubled over in a coughing fit; her throat became so suddenly itchy she was caught unprepared. When she removed her hand from her mouth she was alarmed to see that she had coughed up something not entirely healthy. She quickly tried to get rid of it by wiping her hand across the ground, then across her apron when she realised how dirty the ground was.

"so..."

Her voice was oddly raspy, recovering from the coughing. She cleared her throat and tried again.

"So, what do we do now?"

Fluttershy had always been able to understand animals almost perfectly. Every squeek, every chitter, hoot, tweet, growl, roar, hiss, gesture, it was as clear to her as two ponies having a normal conversation. Despite either the dialect and/or the stunted speech skills from living in a far harsher environment, the pegasus was able to understand the gist of what the lizards were saying.

And from what they were saying, it sounded like these creatures were being exploited by somepony for some nefarious purpose.....

"Who is this Cold One and why do they want you to feed the Big One?" the pony asked the lizards, easing off the STARE very slightly. At this point the others would actually noticed the pony actually in the middle of.......interrogating the shocker lizards.

Yee; Common Corridor

"The answer to your question is simple, Dusknoir. Entropy is the End in all its forms. Even your universe must die someday, just as ours did. And will not Time and Space also die with it? Though I have the mastery in the Tesseract, Omega has sealed off the world on which the Tesseract stands. Without his permission, none may leave or enter - and even if they did, it is likely that they would be destroyed just like us. I doubt even Arceus Itself would be able to aid you."

Yee's brow creased.

"Still, I did not lie when I mentioned hope. During the War, we Loyalists created a superweapon known as Sifuri. A device that would destroy our Separatist enemies by taking apart their very essences thousands, maybe millions at a time. Horrible, perhaps. Excruciatingly painful. But we thought not of mercy in those days."

He looked like he was about to say more. Then he checked himself.

"The weapon was lost before it could be deployed. Maybe the war would have ended with less bloodshed had we used it, maybe not. It is not my place to say. Sifuri became a legend, thrown into the mists of hearsay and happenstance. Even I was skeptical of its existence. But legends often turn out to have a grain of truth to them. My brother Suh told me that Sifuri was not annihilated, merely scattered. The pieces can be retrieved and rebuilt. Omega is still part-Celestial. Sifuri might be able to destroy that part of him, or at least weaken him enough for us to strike the killing blow."

His gnarled hand tightened, then relaxed.

"As I mentioned, we cannot leave this planet, but that is not the end of the matter. The burden does not fall on your shoulders alone. Suh has dispatched another group of beings like yourselves, the Seekers, to find it. You could say that the fate of the Multiverse hinges on their success. Our fates do, no doubt."

He gave a wry smile.

"But I have seen enough of reality to know that a ray of light, however small, is cause for celebration. So do not give u-"

The music began. Yee gave a start - then his jaw set. The tune did not bode well. For one thing, he had not sanctioned it. The Remnant looked around grimly.

"Be careful," he warned. "We may have intruders."

Kyoko; River Ziggurat

"Almost, but not quite. Should try aiming sometimes. Might end up killing some of your precious civilians if this goes on."

The wall of neon-red diamonds melted away, sparking with the last hints of the shocker lizards' blast. Smirking, Kyoko stepped out and prodded one of the skewered reptiles with her foot. In contrast to the other Magical Girl, she looked very satisfied.

"As for doing something, rookie? Well, seeing as there's two of these geckoes left and I'm feeling generous enough to share, how's about we slice and dice them for a bit? Maybe make a nice stir-fry, add some chop suey, I dunno. Anything but chatting to them. Hell, they aren't even talking back."

Giving Fluttershy a sly glance, the redhead clicked her spear back together, spun it, and cracked her knuckles.

"Ya game?"

Link; Village of Threshold

The shadows were on him before he had a chance to wheel around. Claws raked across his back, tore at his neck, pressed his chainmail into the flesh beneath. With a yell of incensed pain, Link ripped them asunder with a backhand slash - then a renewed assault from the front tore the Hylian Shield clean off its straps and forced him to his knees. The darkness ate at the light of the Master Sword like an enroaching tide.

It enveloped him. There was nothing save the stench of blood and bowels, the sickening sound of limbs and torsos and entrails splattering the ground like rain. The thing was killing them. It was using his innocent charge to slaughter more innocents. Innocence, stained and shattered, screamed at him.

Mr. Link, you said you'd protect me.

Mr. Link, you lied to me.

Mr. Link, help me.

Help me!

Help meaagggh

The revulsion hemmed in on him like a filth-caked blanket, rose in his throat like bile. He screamed. The shadows tore as he pulled his blade through them in a great circle, like a saw through raw flesh. His life energy burned, flame-red. The stranglehold broke.

And just as he looked up, a great beast stepped forwards and tore Selim's arm clean from its shoulder. The boy tumbled, sobbed, fell lifeless.

He didn't know if he moved or screamed or made a sound. Only that when he was in possession of himself again, he found himself shaking, staring at the corpse. Oblivious to all else. His left hand trembled at the hilt of his (somehow sheathed) blade, almost as if he was a hair's breadth away from freeing it and charging Tethrasur head-on. He didn't know. He didn't know.

He'd always protected them. He'd always saved them. He was the Legendary Hero.

The words, both real and imagined, slurred and blended into an unintelligible mass. The beast in him pawed and snapped at the walls of his mind. The human fell to its knees.

For the first time in his life, death was not just on his hands. It was in his heart, too.

edited 24th Apr '14 6:32:53 AM by troydenite

Common Corridor

Yosuke listened intently to Yee as he talked about Sifuri, leaning slightly on the wall with his arms crossed. The adrenaline rush from the fight with Omega had started to die down a bit - and he was still pretty much sleep-deprived from the last few days. Entropy - depressing. Not fun to think about even if he’d probably be long dead before his universe died.

Still though, this Sifuri thing. There was hope there. There was a way to fight, a way out. Even if it did sound cruel… Just like that bastard deserves... No, but the fact stood that Omega needed to die. If not as just punishment, then for the danger he presented.

And then the bad news; it was just as he feared. They were all stuck here, meant only to be flung around by Omega’s whims. His jaw clenched and his grip tightened, knuckles turning white as his fingers dug into his arms. They were victims in this, ultimately. They could rebel all they wanted, fight back, but in the end they were still trapped, their only real hope resting on this other group actually out finding Sifuri.

God, he hated feeling trapped.

And then he noticed Yee’s alarm at the music. Apparently, it wasn’t part of this place.

“Heh, thought that was all just part of this place or someone dreamed it up or whatever,” He said, taking his headphones back from Owain before readying his own knives, taking up stance a few steps behind the Marked Ninja,“Guess not, huh?”

edited 24th Apr '14 9:29:11 AM by Motree

Chun-Li

"Just make sure the Zombies don't attack me!" Chun-Li as she began firing Kikokens at the Mohrg attacking Edward, hopefully not hitting Edward in the process. She hoped some of the others would be able to keep the Zombies and Mohrgs off of her back until she can make sure Edward was alright. She hoped her chi attacks would be effective against the Mohrgs though.

Sabrina

"Alakazam, Go," Sabrina once more released Alakazam from its Pokeball, having all the confirmation she needed, and then told the Pokemon. "Be ready for battle."

Sabrina had found the story interesting... They were captives of Omega and could only be saved by this Sifuri thing which these Seekers were finding. It, at least, explained a lot of things about the situation.

edited 24th Apr '14 6:24:18 PM by GameGuruGG