At Intervals: the MMFRPG Reboot

Somewhere in southern Florida, there’s a girl standing in a parking lot. She’s holding a duffel bag full of cheap pagers, which is important, and wearing a jacket that’s about five years out of fashion, which isn't. In her other hand there’s a clipboard, but that’s neither here nor there. The year is 1988, making severe overtures on finishing autumn. Robocop came out a little more than a year and four months ago, and she still likes to think she’s the only one who understands the anti-corporate message.

Her name is Aki. She’s an immigrant (legal), she refuses to accept that punk is dead (incorrect), and she’s been eighteen for several months now but still can’t really see the point in it. She’s also becoming impatient. There are three reasons for this; the first is that it’s 3 AM and she knows her father’s going to assume she was seeing her boyfriend, of whom he disapproves. She knows this because she picked him specifically to be disapproved of.

The second has to do with the smell of the place, a sort of fermented cocktail of hobos and sun-dried piss sprayed half way up a decorative palm tree. The final and most important reason is bound up with the people milling around and the entire reason for being here, and can be roughly represented by the twenty-foot chalk circle and assorted veve they just spent twenty badly-coordinated minutes trying to draw. They ‘ve told her they’re going to do magic, that they’ll perform a ritual that’ll break down unspecified barriers and change unmentioned laws and do all other kinds of fancy bullshit. And while she’s admitted she’s no expert, and while she has no doubt they’re completely serious about it, and while she guesses violating reality in a shitty parking lot is kind of cool, she’s becoming painfully aware they forgot to mention how much fucking around was involved.

Kneeling in the chalk next to her is her best friend, mumbling something to herself and shifting uncomfortably, trying to get a feel for whatever’s coming next. Her name is Rasberyl, Beryl for when she doesn’t want to sound stupid, and this was at least partially her idea. Because she’s the closest, this also means it’s her fault.

Shifting the duffel bag onto her shoulder, she reaches forward and jams the clipboard into an unprotected shoulder with a sort of practiced teenage casualness. A few of the pagers clatter dangerously, and Beryl looks up with the slightly affronted look she always has when she’s been thinking, and a few of the others around the piss-lot glance over at the noise, but by this point she’s beyond caring. It’s already an hour’s walk.

“You have no fucking idea what you’re doing, do you?”

Situated at the chalk circle's apex, which was the apex because it had been marked as such with some tape and that was the way she knew this worked, another girl fusses with a zippo over a can of coffee grounds and incense, white powder smudging around the knees of her jeans. An offering. She knows she needs to make one, and that what it is doesn't matter so much as what it means. She's offering the universe a trade; the universe she's in, of course, not the universe, since there is no the universe.

She knows that, and she also knows what she's doing, in spite of the lip Aki's giving her. It's the lighter's fault. It's making her look like an amateur. Vindictive things, lighters; never wanted to work when they needed to, and when they did, the wind was always a half-step behind, just in case you thought you'd conquered it.

She'd have asked Aki to help her with it, given she's the one who uses these things more often than "never", but a pinch to her pride makes that a un-option. Besides, she rationalizes with a miffed sigh, it would probably weaken the ritual if she didn't do this part, and then where would they be?

"I do, just give it a minute. This is harder than it- Ha!" Beryl murmurs, face lighting up as the pathetically triumphant flicker of sparks lights the contents of the can. Another half-minute of shielding the top from whichever trouble-making breezes might be roaming the parking lot at three in the morning, and Beryl sets the can back down, satisfied that the universe is satisfied.

She's done this before, she tells herself in her head. The tricky bit's over. They wouldn't even be at this part if she hadn't done it all right. That's what she tells herself, anyway. Her pulse quickens as she focuses on the steady stream of numbers and coordinates a bespectacled woman is reading aloud from the paper spilling out of the machine behind the circle. Her eyes squeeze shut, the data she's being fed turns to descriptions. She can see them; most of them, anyway, and those she can't see are clear ideas. She knows the sort she's getting, at least in general terms. They're from all over, and she needs to grab them all at once.

This is the tricky bit, no matter what she told herself. It's like catching six different fish in six different oceans with one net; all at once. Only she can't catch any of the other fish, because if she does, she'll be kidnapping even more people, and this is already something she's sure won't go over well.

She feels it. The pulse of progress. The slow intake of ideas as she matches her breath with theirs...and ideas become oxygen. She exhales, and the circle shudders. Everyone feels it. Most of them see it, as if she just dragged her nails across an invisible chalkboard, and a tiny section of the world was trying to politely tell her to knock it the hell off.

Breathe in...breathe out...in...out...

It doesn't take any words. She doesn't gesture or chant, although that's what the world expected she'd do. But it's too busy reeling from whatever it is she's doing to correct her form.

Suddenly, slowly, light splinters out of thin air about fifty feet from the circle, in the direction she'd told them to watch. She can't stop now. This is where it all comes together. She's thrown away her net, unraveling it into about a dozen precise fishing lines. The lines aren't precisely "real", but she still feels a tug. They're not happy with this. Some of them might even be aware they're being summoned.

The light cracks the world, for just an instant, and by the time they appear, accompanied by a soft fwoosh of bleak morning air, the universe has repaired Beryl's inconsiderate rip.

She knows it's done. She can hear them behind her. Everyone else has seen them already, since her back's still turned to the circle. She gets to her feet, dusting most of the chalk from her knees, then stuffing her hands in her jacket pockets once she realizes they're covered in dusty residue and she doesn't know what else to do with them. She's certainly not going to wave. That would make her look stupid.

She turns to face them, and now the diverse and utterly bizarre group can see her. She's good at speaking to crowds when she hasn't just kidnapped them, so she tries to convince herself that this can't be much harder. She swallows dryly, glad she's flanked by others who look more imposing than she knows she doesn't. That ought to discourage a fight breaking out. Hopefully.

As the newcomers get their bearings, they see another small group standing about fifty feet in front of them, about as diverse as they themselves: Three tall men at the front, one burly and leather-jacketed, the other two slender and sporting strange devices at their hips; a woman with red hair handling a large wrench in the back; what seems to be some sort of vaguely-humanoid rabbit standing off to one side; and three teenage girls. There might be others, but these are the ones they can see. Two of the girls are standing a slightly safer distance away from the newcomers, while the third has just turned around to face them.

She's slender and small-framed, maybe about five-foot-two, and looks about seventeen (in as much as teenage years are possible to be accurately differentiated). She's wearing a navy blue jacket and jeans, both housing a surprise in the back: A small hole near her waistband for a spindly, pink tail, and presumably a larger one at her shoulder blades for a pair of small wings. Her hair is similarly pink, cropped in a short, prim sort of bob, partially swept behind a short pair of gently-curved horns. Her face is young with a clear complexion, honest eyes and pointed ears.

"I'm sure you're all wondering what's going on." Beryl begins, her soft voice crisp and leveled, but she's put as much empathy into it as possible. Her throat clears quietly as she pauses just long enough to hope this comes out right.

"I'll get right to the point, since I know you're-" she pauses for a split second, about to say "busy", but deciding to change mid-sentence. "probably confused. We need your help, so you've been recruited for the greater good. The fate of all your universes is at stake here."

Greater good. She'd certainly never expected to be giving a speech like this. "Recruited" sounded a lot better than "kidnapped", though, so there was that. Maybe this was how Sixes had felt before.

Maybe, if these new "recruits" agreed to help, she'd get a chance to ask her someday.

At Intervals: The MMFRPG's Final Chapter

edited 2nd May '13 2:33:02 AM by DoctorThunder

A third teenage girl sits perched on the bonnet of a beaten-up, ostensibly red car, homework languoring in her lap as her gaze lies fixed upon the chalk circle. She is sixteen years old, but in a complicated inversion of old-fashioned feminine protocol, she admits to seventeen and a half. The bright butterfly pattern on her tight leggings shows that she is either completely unaware of her appearance or at the very pinnacle of current fashion, an impression cemented by the tent-like T-shirt draped over her body. The body in question is toned and vaguely muscular. Her face is round and suntanned, and her eyes are blue and round. Her light brown hair breaks the pattern by being in a ponytail, which probably doesn’t count as any particular shape. Three out of five of the equations on the visible page of her notebook are incorrect. She’s planning on asking her friend about that, once they’re done with the ritual summoning. She is not looking forward to either of those things.

Her name is May, and she is starting to wonder whether anything will happen when Beryl stands up. She wishes she could jump through the portal back the other way, but having asked beforehand whether that would be possible, she knows she cannot. She wishes that she at least didn’t have to study for her math test next Friday, but she suppresses the thought before she finds herself tempted to follow through on it.

She wishes she didn’t feel so hypocritical right now, but that bridge was burned a long time ago.

She blinks at the exact moment the transition happens, and when she opens her eyes, the parking lot is full of people. May puts her textbooks aside as Beryl gets to her feet, eyes shifting from the circle to the cluster of faces as she searches for any sign of anger. They have a right to be angry, and that makes it even harder to sit still as she waits for her friend to address them. It occurs to her that she should probably be helping now that the magic stuff is over with, but before she can finish that thought, Beryl starts to speak. She slides off the bonnet of the car, and then hovers in front of it, sneakered feet scuffing the bitumen. She reminds herself once again that this is not the time to feel bad about herself, and continues feeling bad about herself anyway. Maybe if she manages that well enough, the multiverse will throw her a bone and fix everything.

Anyway here's Blackwall

Harry Dresden, Professional Wizard, was in for a bad day.

Namely, he had woken up in a strange place—not unusual—when the last thing he remembered was trying to get back home through a Nevernever portal to dodge some hitmen. And now there was this. He looked around at the massive crowd assembled before him—he assumed they were faeries, nothing else could be that varied in shape. Dresden raised a hand and stepped forward, stopping short at the edge of the circle. Circles had power, but this one's was spent. He smudged a break in it, just to be sure.

Dresden checked himself. Staff, wand, ring, bracelet, duster. All in order.

He stepped forward. Raised a hand.

"Hey, hi, nice to meet you. Harry Dresden, Wizard. Call me paranoid, but I don't exactly believe people when they forcibly summon me, you know?"

An older girl stood off to one side, softly humming an eerily harmonic tune as she made adjustments to the device hanging from her shoulders. Her long hair, an uncertain shade between strawberry blonde and ginger, was tied back in a rough ponytail that was already letting a few loose strands slip free. Beneath the unruly fringe a pair of large round-framed spectacles sat on a rounded face with green eyes. She wore a green windcheater over a white t-shirt, jeans and sneakers, the simple clothing covering a curvy, but fit, figure. A leather toolbelt completed the ensemble, the twenty-something fishing a series of inscrutable-looking tools out with deft, calloused hands.

Agatha Heterodyne didn’t seem to mind the stale odours wafting through the parking lot. This was partially because the majority of her attention was focused on the task at hand, the dozens of little last-minute calibrations and tweaks. It was also partially because, unlike a few of her companions, she was actually pleased to be here. It had been a long while since she’d had a chance to perform a field test, and even longer since they’d attempted something on this scale. An exciting night, all told… especially for the unfortunate souls they were about to recruit. That thought was enough to take some of the edge off of Agatha’s growing buzz, even as she shook her head and forced herself to stop worrying. What they were doing still didn’t sit completely right with her, but the past year had made it abundantly clear that this was necessary.

Thankfully, she was distracted from her musings as the device let out a beep and a triumphant “Hah!” sounded through the urine-scented air. The ritual was about to begin in earnest, and Agatha turned her attention to her equipment.

Three sensors were mounted on tripods at key points around the circle. Each was a glass tube, 32 inches long and one inch wide, filled with hair-thin filaments of metal shaped into intricate sextuple-helices. Each filament softly glowed with a unique wavelength, most of which defied the usual electromagnetic spectrum, pumping data down carefully placed lengths of cable. These fed into the machine’s centerpiece, strapped to her waist and hips; a conglomeration of boxy plastic units, vacuum tubes, loops of exposed wire and whirring clusters of clockwork. It was the culmination of a year’s research. It looked like the result of an electrical engineer’s fevered nightmare. However, despite appearances, it worked.

The tubes were like windsocks, Agatha had attempted to explain to the others, passively indicating the direction, speed and strength of the medium flowing around them. Only instead of air, the medium they were sampling was the fabric of the universe itself. And “direction”, “speed” and “strength” were rather gross simplifications of over 500 quantum variables that were themselves gross simplifications of the inner workings of the vast esoteric construction that they had called home for the past year.

Ok, so they were only a little like windsocks. She was still working on the whole “layman’s terms” thing.

The important part was the data they collected was just enough to peek behind the curtain and catch a vague glimpse of what was going on backstage. A small printer build into the machine's upper face chattered as it spat out a roll of paper inscribed with long strings of numbers and notations. She relayed them to Beryl as quickly as they appeared. It was just enough to give her friend some direction, so that she wasn’t groping quite so blindly as she ripped a hole in the universe and dragged their new recruits through. She fell silent as the last few digits scrolled out of the slot, turning her gaze up to watch as the portal opened with a split-second burst of light.

By the time the dust had settled, both metaphorically and literally, Agatha’s attention had returned to her machines. She couldn’t help it - while the new arrivals were potentially fascinating, her sensors had recorded every nanosecond of the city's quantum innards as it repaired Beryl's rupture. This was the good stuff, the data that would help perfect her calculations, refine the party’s brute-force techniques into something more subtle.

Maybe with this data, she could figure out how to actually do something about this war.

edited 2nd May '13 6:54:52 AM by Gaunt88

Near the front of the group, a man of some height in a black suit stood, the clothing on his back more collected than anything else about him. In contrast to this suit, with the workings for shoes and such decoarating it as one might commonly expect, a scar disrupted the clean image of his face while green cat eyes scanned the room with a natural sharpness only belonging to someone either very practiced or very angry.

The Boss was neither. Sure, the fact that he was in an old looking and shitty smelling parking lot with a group of people didn't help matters, but to tell himself the truth, he had just woken up, and the look he gave was one of a tired confusion. He'd simply tell himself he was a little groggy and shut it off... if not for the fact he could tell that was not it. For one, one didn't simply think up a place like this just after readying themself for another day at the office. Maybe if you started off the day with a blunt or something, but the Boss didn't really abuse the narcotics he enjoyed from time to time. It helped that his public occupation required him to be fairly clean.

When his eyes turned to the girl, or just to the assembled crowd behind him, the Boss' honest first thought was that half of these people had been or would be doing the whole 'cosplaying' deal. However, since the girl had been the one to address the crowd, he looked at her the most, and regardless of how much he wanted to seek a logical explanation... it wasn't happening. Not with her.

A familiar weight in his hand became recognizeable as the Boss moved within sight of the girl, or as within sight as he could in this group. The Grave Digger, a shotgun with three barrels aligned in a triangular fashion and styled in a classic wooden sort of way, came up about halfway to the girl's

chest, dropping back down as the Boss made himself known with a yawn, looking down at her with his oddly glowing cat eyes.

"Get on with it, then." While his facial expression might suggest anger or confusion, the tone was neutral for the moment, although the Boss didn't think it'd stay that way no matter what he heard from her.

edited 2nd May '13 11:10:52 AM by InfiniteParagon

"You lost, Dio. You lost for one simple reason - you were using charcoal." - Hank Hill

A bit away from the others, the ground exploded into a blue/white flash of energy as the next...'hero' or such appeared. She was standing woozily, using her staff/axe to remaing standing as she swayed back and forth.

“Owwwiee...Stern...don't do magic...huh?” Her blue and black twin tails drooped as she looked around. Her eyes got huge as she took in the surroundings.

“Wha? Whut? Who?” Her head snapped back and forth as she tried take it all in.

Then she overheard the apparent exposition girl saying stuff and tried to listen in. Levi the Slasher was confused as to what was happening, as a light gust of wind blew her cape around.

Organized Canine Bureau Special Agent Dobermaxx aka Polgas was in the front seat of his customized Porsche 959 (known to OCB personnel as the Thunderdog) after OCB intelligence informed him of a shootout takin place in downtown Makati between Philippine National Police officers and armed Islamist terrorists of the Abu Sayyaf Group. The verified intel said the armed cell planned to hijack a G4S armored car in order to obtain P1.5 million, which is enough to further bankroll the terrorist group's activities for a few years.

"Thunderdog! Lock onto the suspect vehicle as soon as your sensors can confirm their presence!" The Golden Retriever dog/OCB agent ordered the AI.

"Roger, sir!" came the reply from the AI, which locked onto the fleeing Toyota HiAce Super Grandia van after the Thunderdog drove past two PNP Toyota Corollas, already burning wrecks on the side of the road.

The Thunderdog drove with a speed of 200 km/hr, already starting to catch up with the fleeing van when the side doors opened up, revealing armed ASG terrorists with handheld automatic grenade launchers.

"Thunderdog! Evasive manuevers!" Dobermaxx gave his instructions when the AI assisted him in dodging the incoming HE grenades. So far, most of them blew up after hitting the asphalt on the side with one or two of them destroying a parked Ford Expedition and a Subaru Forester. The Thunderdog still drove at high speed to avoid the incoming grenades.

These bastards! Dobermaxx didn't like what they were doing, so he increased the speed of Thunderdog to catch up with the van. The occupants began to lob smoke grenades, disorienting the agent's vision.

"Proceeding to drive via AI mode, sir." The AI said, Dobermaxx's vision being clouded by colored smoke as the armed terrorists loaded their AGLs with smoke rounds. They then emptied the contents of their weapons straight at Thunderdog.

"I'm taking over driving! Stand down!" Dobermaxx shouted as he tried to pull the handbrake to avoid being killed by the incoming grenade.

The smoke grenades detonated near the Thunderdog, which further blinded both the driver and the AI. This covered the appearance of a portal that sent him to another location.

---

The Thunderdog appeared on the streets of "another city", still slowing down with the Thunderdog's handbrake. While it traveled through the portal, the car began to lose momentum.

"I'm going to slow it down! Hold on!" The AI told Dobermaxx as it used all of its power to slow down the custom Porshe 959 before someone could get hurt.

Aki and everyone else would see that the Thunderdog was slowing down while the sports car swerved a bit from left to right due to the smoke grenade attack as it made its approach to the parking lot.

Come on! Come on!

The OCB agent held onto the handbrake with the AI still reducing the car's speed. In a few minutes, the Thnderdog would come to an eventual stop.

Good thing my seat belt's on.

This was the last thing Dobermaxx thought of before his forehead was leaning on the yoke steering wheel. Everyone near the streets would see white smoke coming from the tires since the car had come to a complete full stop.

If anyone would try to open the doors/trunk of Thunderdog, he/she would see that no keyholes are present.

It's done for now since I need to be in bed. I'll reply tomorrow morning, Philippine time.

edited 2nd May '13 4:22:58 PM by Ominae

"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"

Tenten hated zombies, especially zombies that just wouldn’t die a second time. The rocky, barren battlefield was covered in weapons, burn marks, gouges, and the bodies of a few unlucky shinobi that were on her side. Yet the waves and waves of the undead ninja kept coming, with their empty black eyes and cracked paper-mache skin. It felt like her long range division had been at it for days, hurling projectiles and explosives and all five elements worth of jutsu to keep the enemy at bay. The whole war idea sounded exciting at first, but in the space of a day, it had lost its glamor.

Tenten ducked away from the front lines for a moment, realizing that she was running out of weapons to use. Not wanting to get blindsided if a zombie slipped by someone, she retreated back into the tree line before dropping her guard. She started mindlessly refilling her half empty scroll, replacing her supply of knives and shuriken. She could feel an odd pulling sensation in her center, but she wrote it off as being a sign of her lack of chakra. As she ignored it, the feeling intensified. Just as Tenten was strapping her scroll back into place, she disappeared in a burst of smoke, leaving nothing but a few kunai embedded in the ground.

With another small burst of smoke and a cut off yell, Tenten was dropped onto the parking lot asphalt. Taking a few moments to adjust to the sudden bright sunlight and mildly offensive smell of the area, she attempted to make sense of what just happened. She was surrounded by strange people in even stranger clothing, some not entirely human looking. And was that a robot? There was a chalk circle a few feet away she assumed was some type of summoning method. How did they manage to reverse summon her without a contract? The ones closest to her seemed to be as unprepared as she was, at least. Maybe it was a group trap… The horned girl with pink hair turned form the circle to speak, and Tenten pulled out a knife, holding it in a reverse grip. It was better to be prepared in this situation, and a man in a suit already had a metal device in his hand that looked suspiciously like a modified handheld cannon. She would investigate the interesting weapon later. And that guy in front of her just called himself a wizard. Things were getting weird again, not that she wasn’t used to that at home, but this was weird even by her standards. She was starting to believe that this was not an elaborate illusion after all, but she would continue to play along with them until she figured this entire thing out.

“Our universes?” she asked. “Just how many are there? And how did you drag us all here in the first place? ”

edited 2nd May '13 10:48:22 AM by ScorpioRat

"And you're sure that you don't want me to come with you."

"Jack, it's just a routine patrol. I can handle it by myself- and I know that you have a biology test tomorrow."

"It's a quiz, Arcee. And besides, Mr. Smith probably is going to cancel it anyways, what with-"

"Arcee is right, Jack." That is Ratchet; the red and white robot taps cinderblock sized fingers over an enormous computer terminal, and beneath him alien machinery hums to life, gears and pistons and more exotic technology besides become a ballet of shifting parts. "Not only is Arcee an accomplished scout on her own, but Mrs. Darby has informed me of the importance of your academic future-"

"Oh, come on," says the black-haired boy, rolling his eyes for dramatic effect but smiling nonetheless. "I knew that she'd rub off on you, Ratch."

"Jack, I'll be fine." She kneels down and looks him in the eye. "I've been doing this for years, OK? 'Bee will take you and Miko home. I won't be gone more than an hour." Even as she says this, the yellow and black muscle car pulls up in the central hanger, gull doors sliding open as it beeps in a musical parody of impatience.

"Groundbridge ready." says Ratchet. He is bathed in ethereal green light as the portal opens, a glowing green circle of light set to the outskirts of Carson City. This is the ground bridge, their very own crime against the laws of physics, is one of their only weapons against an enemy that vastly outnumbers them. Arcee crouches down, flexes her body, and transforms. Legs shift and retract, arms fold together and compress, her entire body collapses in on itself as armor plates and gears lock together.

Where there was once a robot, there is now a motorbike, a high-powered model that wouldn't look out of place in a magazine for rich twentysomethings with grotesquely high credit cards. She kicks her engine into gear and moves towards the portal, and before she can come to a full stop she realizes that something is very wrong. Ratchet is working on something else now, and Optimus Prime is distracted by something at the main terminal, and only she can see that the portal has been replaced by something else, no no no no no... ______________________________

That was five minutes ago.

Now, she was somewhere else. At least Arcee was sure that she wasn't in Carson City. For one thing, she was certain that palm trees hadn't been planted en masse in the middle of Nevada. And everything seemed... off... the buildings slightly blockier than she was used to; the cars in the parking lot seemed a few decades out of date.

Of course, she knew that something was very wrong the moment she saw the group of people standing around her like an angry mob who had suddenly lost all direction (although, of course, that's probably exactly what they were, after a fashion).

Even though the Autobot had only been on Earth for a couple of years (and only really been acquainted with humans for two of them) she was certain that she knew what humans looked like. For instance, humans had two legs, two arms, and a head, like Cybertronians. They were made of organic... stuff, unlike Cybertronians. The thing at the back, a black-and-white mammalian creature was not a human. It didn't even seem to give off any tangible energy readings. In front of it were a few comparatively normal-looking human girls, and then another human... with a tail and wings.

Yes, something was very wrong.

Time for camoflauge.

With a thought, the air above the driverless motorcycle shimmered like a hot stretch of road, then solidified into a driver- a woman dressed in a black driving suit, her face obscured by a thick black helmet. The holomatter avatar should keep any suspicion at bay; she could even send it a short distance away from her physical body to keep the disguise up.

Then the winged girl started to speak. Recruited for the greater good. The fate of universes at stake. And they were the only ones who could stop it? Today was suddenly going to get a lot more irritating than she had hoped. Arcee muttered a single word, loud enough for anyone nearby to hear it.

"Scrap."

edited 2nd May '13 8:45:05 AM by Locoman

Green Dolphin Street Prison, Florida

It was just another quiet day out in the recreation area outdoors. She'd heard someone mention that it was Tuesday, but Foo Fighters could never figure out how that mattered at all. Here, Tuesday was no different from Thursday or Sunday. What she could tell you about today was that it was going to rain later. It was the kind of rain you didn't even need to look at the skies to be able to tell. It was the kind you could feel in the air and almost smell. An oddly comforting feeling for her, because rain was just water delivery from the sky.

Lately, She'd been getting annoyed because of the rain. It wasn't the rain's fault though, it was the guards. They always made everyone return to the prison when it started to rain, for "health and safety reasons" they always said. Everyone knew they didn't give a shit about the prisoner's health and safety though, just their own. They didn't want to stand out in the rain while watching them. Looks like F.F. was going to be disappointed again today.

Thats alright though, because she was hanging out by the benches with her two friends, Jolyne and Hermes. Had just finished up explaining to her the importance of shoes. "Ohhhh so thats why humans always wear them. Man you guys are a paranoid species." She said with a smirk. Jolyne gave a chuckle and pointed out "Yeah well, its part of being human. If you want to blend in, you're going to have to deal with it." She had a point, F.F. needed to blend in if she wanted to continue helping Jolyne. She'd just have to put up with the weird things humans did. The Stand was proud to say she was getting the hang of it. Now she was only getting a few confused looks at the lunch table.

"And don't forget, shoes are a fashion statement, so you can never have too many." Hermes chimed in, leaning over the back of the bench F.F. and Jolyne were sitting on. "Yeah yeah gotta look good and all that." F.F. monotoned as she grabbed her cup and started sucking on the straw to get her watery goodness. Fashion was something she was sure she'd never understand, nor want to. Her thoughts were interrupted by the familiar sound of a straw sucking up air, meaning that her cup was empty. She sprung up to her feet and announced "Going to get a refill."

F.F. trekked across the black top as she made her way to where the water fountain was. She's done this plenty of times, and knew who to stay away from and who would leave her alone. She approached the fountain with a slight smile on her face, glad that there was always a source of water not too far away. That was something the humans got right. As she reached out to the fountain, everything suddenly went white.

---

F.F. appeared in the parking lot with her hand outstretched, having had no time to react yet. The change of scenery took a moment to sink in as her hand shot back to her body. She looked around in a confused daze, registering that this crowd was not the crowd she was just surrounded by. This was not the prison yard at all, but a parking lot somewhere. These buildings were unfamiliar to her, but then again she'd never left the prison grounds before.

She was starting to get annoyed, pulled to a strange place, surrounded by strangers, and no water. That was when a pink-haired girl with horns, wings, and a pink tail started to speak up. Something about the fate of universes, as if she knew what that meant. "What the hell are you talking about?" She asked in an irritated tone.

Sveta stood on a balcony overlooking Belinsk. It had been five days since her coronation. Five days, and she was already missing the others, especially Matthew...

She smiled as a breeze passed through from the direction of the ocean, her long braids dancing slowly in the wind as the scent of the ocean greeted the nose of the Queen of Morgal. She listened contently to the seemingly ever present sounds of the muscisians in the central plaza below. The city was still recovering from the damage done by the Grave Eclipse and the monsters it spawned, but the days following the end of the Eclipse had been peaceful...

Sveta appeared among the others, a look of utter confusion on her face. "What in the name of Jupiter just ha-" She stopped short as the strong scent occupying the air filled her nose as suddenly as a punch in the face. She immediately clapped her hands over her face, trying to block out the smell that so brutally offended her bestial sense of smell.

Batou stood near the front of the group, arms folded across his chest, waiting patiently. Patience had always been one of his relative strong suits, but the year spent in this dreadful city had honed his patience even further. There was only so much they could do other than wait when there was realistically no escaping.

That didn't mean they'd just sat there and moped, though, as evidenced by the confusing mish-mash of chalk circles and kludged electronic contraptions that normally would've given him a heart attack

. Agatha and Beryl did most of the work, but they all chipped in somehow to bring things to this point. Even a snowball's chance in hell was better than totally resigning to being stuck here, and keeping busy kept the boredom from driving you insane.

He had to hand it to them, though. If someone had told him a year or so ago that this kind of thing was possible, he'd have thought they were crazy. But Beryl and Agatha had whipped this together over the course of a year, constantly researching and refining, and it was finally happening. Not that he entirely understood what was happening; They'd tried to explain it to him, and he eventually resigned himself to letting them tell him how he could help. The premise was simple enough- they were messing with the fabric of reality to let them open a gap large enough for just long enough to pull in some help- but the actual mechanics of it made his head spin.

It was still slow going, as Aki pointed out, but they'd waited almost a year by this point; Even a few hours was just a drop in the bucket. Now we just gotta hope these people are at least somewhat understanding, Batou thought to himself.

Things finally started to kick off, and as things start to glow and the machine started to buzz and hum, Batou remembered just how bizarrely blissfully ignorant and oblivious the rest of the city was. There was a demon-girl, a talking rabbit, a cyborg, a man with laser swords and what may as well have been a mad scientist (among other more ordinary individuals) collected in a parking lot drawing chalk circles with an obnoxious-looking machine, and not a damn soul could be assed to even notice. Although that was very well a blessing as strange as it was. Batou didn't want to think what things would've been like if the city's denizens acted like normal people and actually got suspicious. Heavens knew what they'd have thought of Beryl alone.

Just as quickly as the action had started there was a woosh and it was all over. An assortment of people now stood in the circle before them, almost as if not more varied than their own group. Batou adjusted his cap bearing the Marines' logo as Beryl turned to face and address them. Batou would've blinked when he saw the car appear, but lacking eyelids he settled for a quick look of surprised disbelief. Most of the actual people looked confused; Some of them had dawning looks growing on their faces. One of them was carrying what looked like the heaviest shotgun he'd ever seen, which worried him slightly, but the man seemed indifferent currently. That was the best they could hope for.

Batou nodded in their direction, hoping to at least show they weren't going to try to screw them over anymore than they already had, and hoping that they wouldn't need to subdue any of the "new arrivals".

Funny how it'd come full circle. Desperate times called for desperate measures, though, and times were certainly getting desperate.

---

It had started out as a normal enough day. Asha had just got off her regular early morning patrol shift, and after clocking out

she was on her way to meet some friends for lunch. When she woke up the vast majority of the city was still asleep, but by now everything was in full spring and the streets were bustling with activity. Sometimes she wondered how they actually had the numbers to keep track of everything. She stepped out of the guard house and into the busy street, and was on her way.

And then she felt it. She stopped dead in her tracks as she felt a tug, barely noticeable at first, and then significantly more so. It was a feeling she hadn't felt in several decades: The pull of being summoned to another location. She panicked as her mind raced, and the mere second it took for everything to happen seemed to drag on for hours. She'd was certain that she'd made sure this kind of thing shouldn't be possible anymore, and yet it seemed to be exactly what was happening.

Her vision cut out in a flash, and a moment later she was standing somewhere else entirely, surrounded by other people she didn't recognize. It only took a fraction of a second for her to regain her composure, and her face settled into an annoyed frown as she stepped off to one side of the "group" she didn't ask to be a part of. She noticed they were standing in a large circle, with a group of people off to one side. She relaxed ever-so-slightly, relieved that she hadn't been summoned alone, although that only raised further questions.

A teenage girl with horns, small wings and a tail turned to address them. She looked to be some kind of demon, and appeared to be the one who had summoned them. She then explained that they had been "recruited" to help some greater good against something that threatened "all of their universes". Asha raised an eyebrow at this. All of our universes? Does she mean the planes? Or something... bigger? She was also intrigued by the fact that not only had a demon summoned them, but that she seemed to be speaking for the group at large despite looking no older than a teenage human.

A tall burly man told the girl to get on with it, and Asha nodded. "Go on, I'm listening," she said, a slight bit of annoyance in her voice.

In the back of her mind Asha wondered why today couldn't have just gone on and continued being like any other day. She suspected it wasn't going to get much better, just based on what little the demon girl had already said.

The life of a Support bot was a difficult one. So many lands, airs, and arts see Supports as mediocre bots that just happen to have healing gear equipped because they can't do anything else. It was that kind of arrogance he's come to expect from Machina Kali◊ standing off to one side. Well, you couldn't say she was standing so much as floating with some mummy bandage wrappings around most of her legs and extending out from there to the ground to hold her afloat, no doubt some magic involved. Medicball's needle shaped arm glowed pink with energy, shooting bursts of energy that left a small heart shaped burst at the tip of the gun. The energy flowed into Yuuka's battered and bleeding body, sealing the wounds and suppressing pain. "She will be all right, but next time maybe you should follow regulations and not bring a fully powered Kamui Staff to a union battle." "Its her fault, anyone else would have managed to dodge it. Now finish your job and get out of here."

Medicball looked carefully at Yuuka, scanning her body. She was recovering but still knocked out, she needed to be taken to better facilities to speed this up. He knew Kali wouldn't like being asked, but he didn't particularly care for her attitude about this either. Medicball settled onto the ground and opened up his cockpit. "Get her on board and I'll take her to the hospital." Kali sighed.. and that was the last thing Medicball saw before everything blurred out. Everything blurred back into focus, a completely different setting. He took a few milliseconds to evaluate his systems with diagnostic tests which all tested fine, though his communications with Medical Command had been completely severed along with every other communication from public radio to unreadable private streams of data. Even the emergency Union lines were completely absent. He ran a battery of tests on his communications equipment but all came up as no problem leading only to the conclusion that he was no longer in a Cosmic Ark controlled solar system.

With that established, his mind went back to its normal processing order, taking in the new circumstances and looking out around him, a crowd of unknown entities. As he was evaluating them, one standing in front of the group he was in the middle of spoke, and she spoke of universal threats and being recruited... from multiple universes Her appearance was that of a cute little pink-haired girl with horns, wings, and a pink tail. She'd fit in well at the Ark, unique. But more importantly, she spoke of multi-dimensional threats and being drafted. Medicball raised his shock cannon into the air, like one would do in a high school. "The Demon Force? Forces of Chaos? I'm already familiar with that group of multi-dimensional conquerors."

edited 2nd May '13 9:33:18 AM by stephanreiken

Midnight- that most special time when the forces of dark were to reach their zenith. With the beautiful moon floating overhead, a lithe figure could be seen standing inside the school building. Why the figure was able to stand in the property without fear of being apprehended was due to his nature- that of a Devil. A reincarnated entity of the night, Kiba Yuuto belonged to two worlds: one human and modern and the other a more fantastical reflection, composed of the many myths and legends that man had believed in the past. Within this modern school was a deeper level, one where Devils were the real power behind the scene.

As it was now the bewitching hour,his household were out and about doing their jobs of interest- namely fulfilling their contracts with humans. The rest of the Rias Group had been summoned by their patrons, leaving the blonde young man waiting for his turn. At last he felt the tug of magic- though the feel was off this time. Instinctively reaching out and grabbing the clothed Demon Sword, Kiba was suddenly whisked off into a new frontier with a bang.

---

When his vision readjusted, he found himself in the midst of a sizable throng and inside what appeared to be a chalk circle. Rather impressed that someone had taken the time to draw out an old fashioned summoning circle, the boy's mood turned for the worst when the scent of urine assaulted his nostrils. Wincing slightly and turning about to regard the... Devil(?) who appeared to be responsible for his summoning, the boy refrained from asking questions due to the fact others had beaten him to the punch. Still, wherever he was wasn't Japan... The air, buildings, and even the sky was different.

edited 2nd May '13 9:37:27 PM by GreyStar

Always be ready to do the unusual and unexpected.

Gotham City

The two of them were deeply drawn into the fight, and if one where to watch the ongoing battle from the sidelines; it was apparent that the Dark Knight was spending no time in taking down the Joker.

" Come on Bat-sy! " the Joker egged on egotistically as he reared back his right arm, making a long crow bar slip from under his sleeve and right into his grasp.

" This ends now Joker! " the Batman yelled back as he reared back his right fist, readying himself to punch the Joker into the next block.

As they both swung forward, something weird happened.

His fist was starting to fade away right as the Joker's arm came at it, then his left arm, leaving him vulnerable to the full might of the crowbar.

That one Miami place

A few seconds passed by, but no metallic 'bang' came from the crow bar cracking the his skull, but rather; he was standing in the midst of a group of some odd looking figures. Some where suited up for war, while others just looked like they where pulled straight from a TV show.

From this, the Batman looked at his hands; which where back to its original place, and without wasting a second, he called to the Batcave.

" Batman to cave. " he said as he started to slowly back away from the group, not with fear, but that he wanted to keep a safe distance from the new people. In the event that one of them attacked him, he needed room to dodge.

"Bzzzzzzzzzzzz"

It was apparent to Batman that the cave was out of reach, which was impossible. The cave was NEVER out of reach.

If everything was normal, the Satellites would've bounced the private channel all over these walls streets like a superheated electron, but it was apparent that not everything normal anymore.

Neither where these people.

Suddenly, like the words flipped a switch in his mind, making his attention come down to the girl in front of the girl. If what she was saying was true, then she was the reason that he was in this... strange place.

Meaning she knew how to send him back.

edited 2nd May '13 11:13:01 AM by JohnStatham

If you pretend to feel a certain way, the feeling can become genuine all by accident. Hei (Darker Than Black)

This was all so confusing to her, not even that long ago, she had been fleeing from her former home under the cover of the night with her sister and a strange man in a hood and robe, and now she was in this strange place surrounded by people and things she had never seen before. She pinched her nose to keep the foul smell from toying with her senses as she looked around, taking in the sights. Strange men and women surrounded her, along with a few things she couldn't quite identify, the one she could seemed to be a young demon-girl, so at least something was familiar about this place.

When she heard what the girl had to say, she was rather perplexed but elected to remain silent, she was in no real rush to get back home, seeing as she had no home to go back to. So instead, Luci stayed where she had appeared, observing what was happening. She needed to be cautious, after all, she wasn't sure she could trust ANYONE in the group.

"I am nature's weapon. You are unfit to carry on your species, and I shall ensure that you do not do so!" - Charles Darwin, XCOM Sniper

While drifting through unconsciousness, Axel heard a voice calling out to him. Someone familiar...

Who was it?

'Axel'

How did they know his name?

'Its me, Ro-'

Axel started suddenly, finding himself surrounded by strange and unusual beings. Those of which seemed to be equally confused as he himself was feeling.

"Talk about a rude awakening..." he said, sitting up on the hard, gritty asphalt. He took a moment to let his vision settle before standing upright. He noticed the girl with the clipboard and immediately fell silent. '"Just where am I? What is this place?"'

A tiger doesn't lose sleep, over the opinions of sheep.

"Alright, kids!" Grunkle Stan said, walking through the halls of the Mystery Shack in a sleeveless shirt, shorts and sandals. "Who dressed up the TV in all those girly colors?" He waved his newspaper around, managing to hold a cup filled with coffe on the other hand. "How am I supposed to watch Babies Fight when there's a sticker of a pony right on the middle of the screen?"

"Why are you even asking me who did it?" Dipper said, looking up from the couch, where he was reading the mysterious book he had found the day he came to Gravity Falls. "It's so obvious that the one responsible for that is Mabel. It's practically written on the wall!"

Grunkle Stan narrowed his eyes, gritting his teeth and stomping his foot. "Mabel! What did I tell you?! My TV is not one of those vampires from your preteen novels!"

"Vampires really changed with the times, right?" Dipper said, putting the book down and frowning. "Seems like it was only yesterday when they were still, you know... creepy."

"Eh, I blame the government." Grunkle Stan said, pointing his newspaper at Dipper. "I'm telling you, kid, it's all part of their plan to make sure nobody realises the president is a reptile! First, they give us cute vampires, and then, they're going to give us something weird, like pigmen!"

The door was busted open as Soos stumbled into the house, his head having been mysteriously replaced with Waddles, the Mystery Shack's pig. "AAAAAH!" Grunkle Stan yelled. "It's already started! Shut off the pantry doors! Get the mustard gas!" He threw the newspaper and the coffee into the air as he ran away, leaving Soos to quietly grab Waddles as his head popped out of his shirt.

"Dude, mustard gas?" Soos said, pointing at where Grunkle Stan stood. "Is it Father's Day yet?"

---

"Coming, Grunkle Stan..." Mabel muttered, still sleeping on the ground of the Miami city, surrounded by the others. She reached for her blanket, but when all her hands found were the wet concrete, she sat up, frowning. "Oh no, not again! Alright, gnomes, where are you guys? I told you, it's only romantic when misunderstood vampires do it—"

She then noticed all the people surrounding her- and the fact she was already wearing her clothes, down to a fantabulous pink sweater with a rainbow- which made the little girl jump up, only to look at everything around her... with wonder. "Oh my goooosh!" She said, her hands in her cheeks as her jaw dropped to the floor. "Look at all these people! Wait, did I eat too much smile dip again?"

Mabel pinched herself. Silence. "Yes, I didn't!" She said, celebrating, as she walked over to the nearest pretty thing. "Look at that! It's a pretty robot! I've never seen a pretty robot. Most of my brother's dolls- sorry, action figures- always look like there's a dog biting their butt. Oh, but you're so pretty! And so shiny! What's your secret, huh, girl friend?"

Then, someone told her that she had been brought there to save the universe. "Wait, are you telling me that the fate of the universe is in my hands?" Mabel jumped into the air. "Yes!" When she landed, she started doing a little dance, waving her arms around. "Go Mabel! It's your birthday! Go Mabel! You have to save the universe!... Wait, I have to save the universe? But how? I only have things normal girls would have. You know, a beautiful hand-made sweater, a scrapbook..." She pulled out a hookshot from somewhere under her sweater. "... and a hookshot. You know, girl stuff."

edited 2nd May '13 1:10:33 PM by Stratofarius

The thing about being a statue is not that it was torturous or anything. Being a statue was boring and that was the problem. She had to not only keep herself entertained, but also keep herself from going insane from the boredom. However, it gave her a lot of time to think. Needless to say her thoughts were interrupted as she was brought to the parking lot. Perhaps she did go insane, but she felt the stone start to crack around her body, eventually breaking off and releasing her from the Cyclops's spell. She redgained her breath and looked around. She first noticed the summoning circle... It was pretty obviously a summoning circle. And then she spotted it... an obvious demon. She looked young, about 17.

To the others, she looked to be an androgynous blonde, blue-eyed man in a blue robe, hood, and cape, but that was the disguise she walked into the castle with. She had to disguise herself as a man to not be hunted down as a witch. She did not mean any harm with her magic, but the villagers of Wallachia would kill her if they found out.

Sypha had wanted to blast the demon with fire just for summoning someone of the Church like her here, but it did free her from the Cyclops spell and the summoning did appear to have been random if the others here with her were any indication. She shall let the demon live for now.

One of the ones brought here, a self-proclaimed wizard named Harry Dresdan, made sure to mess up the circle. It was a bit too late, but she could not fault him for doing so.

"While I do thank you for freeing me from the Cyclops' spell, you should perhaps explain yourself in more detail," Sypha told Beryl in a tone that suggested that Sypha was not at all trustful of the demon but also not stupid like a greenhorn Crusader. "Namely why we should trust you?"

edited 2nd May '13 1:18:27 PM by GameGuruGG

Wizard Needs Food Badly

Along the roads of Southern Florida, amidst the crumbled, stench-ridden buildings of the Sunshine State, a being was walking down the road. The being attracted looks, for a number of reasons. He was dressed in a hodgepodge of any 80's clothing that could be found: Yellow dotted shorts over zebra print pants over rainbow stockings, and a bright blue coat over a bright leather jacket over a plaid top over an Iron Maiden t-shirt. His hands were in his pockets. His feet were crammed in boots much too small. His head was covered by a horrifying toupee, a white headband, a pair of sunglasses and a false beard. But no disguise the being could conjure up would ever conceal the fact that his head was big, reptilian and silver, with gleaming red eyes and huge pointy glow-in-the-dark teeth.

There was a loud cracking sound off in the distance. The being turned sharply around. He was near enough to see a faint spot of light in the distance, through a gap in the houses. His mouth split into a terrifying grin. It sounded like trouble. And whenever there was trouble, or loud noises, or big shiny things going off far away, it was time for action. Quickly, the being waddled into the nearest phone booth, to change into his alter ego. He secured the door shut, and promptly vanished. The many clothes he wore fell into a crumpled heap on the ground. Seconds later, the being reappeared crouched on top of the booth in all his dreadful splendour. A fearsome biomechanical hominid of black and silver, with clawed hands and taloned feet, with a ragged black cape billowing on his back. Vezon, the Spirit of Anarchy, the Mad Piraka, the Hater of Human Alcohol, portalled onto the next building, and scurried across the rooftops. This was a covert operation, that had to be done in complete silence. But that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy a good singsong.

"All the world was gay.

Swinging on its way.

Things were looking brighter day by day. (La-la la le lay li lo)

Nothing ever wrong,

Life was just a song,

'Till I found the Spear of Fus-ion. (And nooooooooow...)

I'm going cuckoo, woo-woo!

Here comes the choo-choo, woo-woo!

I'm so gooney, looney tuney, te'ched in the head...

Please pass the ketchup,

I think I'll go to bed! Hoo!

Am I the screwball, woo woo?

Throw me the 8-ball, woo woo!

Once I knew a thing or two, but now I'm a buffer-roo. Hinky dinky parley, voo woo! (Ha ha ha HA!)"

Quickly, Vezon flattened himself on a rooftop. Right, that was enough singing for now. Wouldn't want this adventure getting bogged down in musical numbers, after all. Vezon wriggled along on his belly, until he could just see over the edge of the roof, but no one else could see him. Seemed like something very interesting was happening down there. A new gathering of hero folk and villain folk. From what he could see, there was a human on a motor cycle, a small and adorable human, a grizzled human with a long coat, a human with pointy ears and a MARVELOUS CAPE...

Hmf. A new abundance of humans, it seemed. Still, this should provide some interest...

edited 2nd May '13 1:54:05 PM by LizardOfAus

Skyworld

As Pit raced across the dim black void that was the "Launch Pad", as he had taken to calling it, he saw the majestic doors open. The soft breeze felt nice under his feathery wings, as they stretched out. A soft blue glow engulfed them and he was soaring through the air.

"It's nice to stretch your wings every now and again, isn't it, Pit?" asked the sing-songy voice of Palutena, the goddess of light and who Pit was sworn to protect and serve.

"Definitely!" came Pit's loud and proud reply, doing a quick spin before beginning to accelerate. "So what's the mission?"

"Nothing. I just thought you'd like to get out and have some fresh air."

"Uhhh... Sur—" Pit was cut off by an enormous portal opening up right in front of him, pulling him towards it. "Whaaaaa?!"

"Pit!" was Palutena's cry before the portal consumed the angel and disappeared.

---

1980s Florida

The angel shook his head as he pushed himself off the ground. He didn't hear anything that had been said and was in a slight daze.

"Ugh... Where am I...?"

"Evii is right though" -Saturn "I didn't know you were a bitch Evii." -Lior Val

Flanking Batou on the right, Travis stood in a manner almost completely to the older, bulkier cyborg. With his hands firmly grasped on his loose-hanging belt, yellow aviator shades, and a haircut that brought a certain 'Jackass' to mind, the 31 year old otaku looked rather lax for what should be considered a serious occasion.

At least, that's what it seemed from his outward appearance. In actuality, he was being the most vigilant he'd ever been in his life. Hanging from his belt were several strange devices looking akin to handles or hilts of some kind. He kept his itchy fingers ready in case one of the newbies decided that trans-universal kidnapping rubbed them the wrong way. Which, was probably inevitable.

Nonetheless, if(once) trouble did pop up, he promised his allies he'd be as non-lethal as he possibly could. Unless they summoned some kind of abomination or something. Then he'd show off what he could really do. The operation went off without much of a hitch though. The new arrivals looked kinda weird(of course, that wasn't saying much considering their actual group), but not too dangerous...

...Except for the sketchy motherfucker in front. A badass if Travis ever saw one. He didn't even think they made shotguns like that. Anywhere.

Regardless, he didn't seem pissed at the moment. Still a little confused from wherever they brought him from. Hopefully he'd stay like that until they explained what was going on. And, hopefully after that, he still wouldn't feel like shooting someone in the face.

All in all, Travis could tell it'd be one hell of a night.

edited 2nd May '13 3:51:36 PM by lightdarkhero250

I'm a ghost, you didn't see me.

Axel made his way over to Beryl, passing by the disarray of strange characters. "Excuse me, miss. I would like to know where I am, exactly. And also, how I got here." said Axel in a sharpish tone. "And furthermore, how I can get back." he added, yanking off his hood of his jacket, revealing his crimson red hair.

A tiger doesn't lose sleep, over the opinions of sheep.

"Blood for blood!"

"Ash and bone!"

"Come to Axe!"

Soon, victory would be at hand. Axe readied his ax, preparing to turn another soul into the primal essences of the universe, in order to send it back to the Ancient where it would be reformed to fight again in the endless battle. Yet before the blow could strike - "Time's pendulum stops!"

Just when it seemed another life would be taken by his hands, Axe stood frozen in time, watching the man with no face swoop in to steal the glory. Puny time man would need to learn a lesson. Axe counted the seconds as he waited for the spell to end and for him to be returned to the flow of time. The purple sphere eventually disappeared - had he counted properly he'd have realized it ended far too soon to be normal - and Axe prepared to swing.

---

"Axe is baaaaaa....ck?" Axe stopped. There was no familiar face he could see. There was no familiar location he could see. He was certainly no longer in the woods; he was in what looked like a big clearing of some sort in a city, surrounded by people he had never met before.

"Axe not where Axe was," the out-of-place red Oglodi said, confused about what had happened. "WHERE IS AXE?" he loudly shouted after the girl greeted them, hoping someone knew.

Death City

A bloody figure was running through the streets of Death City, looking at every turn for a quick escape. He turned into a dark alley and ran down there as fast as he could before he hit a wall. Finding himself at a dead end, he looked up the wall and started to scale up the wall and reach the roof. However, he heard a voice in the back of him and he started to scale it as fast as he can.

"No you don't...!", that voice said to him as he scaled the wall. The voice came from a young blonde girl wearing a long black trench-coat and a school uniform. She carried a big red and black colored scythe in her left shoulder. She twirled the scythe so that she was holding it with both hand and she jumped up at him. She reached up to his height and motioned to slash his body in half.

"Your soul is....!" she shouted at him and begun to slash at him. The person on the wall shut his eyes, knowing what was coming. But then, before the scythe hit his body, both she and the scythe began to fade away. She blinked as her vision begun to turn dark, then darker, then darker, until her vision became all black. Her intended target opened his eyes to see he didn't die, and grinning ear to ear, dropped to the ground, ran out of the alley and into the night.

---

80s Florida

Maka was woke up by the blazing heat and terrible stench of the air. She sat up from the asphalt, her vision all a blur to her. She rubbed her eyes and her vision started to focus again. She found herself in a parking lot, with a whole host of others that she's never seen before. She got up and picked up her scythe, skipping back some and getting ready for battle.

"Okay! Who are you people? Where did you take us?" she said to all of the people there. She then turned her head to the scythe. "Soul, are you seeing this?" she asked to the weapon.

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