Chirico was for the first time in awhile, surprised. To see a planet formed from so many conflicting chunks was highly unusual, but it reminded him of Monad somewhat.
Was this somehow formed with ancient Overman technology?
Duty First
And so, the Captain comfortably takes a seat, lying back against the chair with his legs on the table. Beneath the purple tinted lenses of his gasmask, a curious pair of eyes looks about the place. A holographic projection of a planet. Probably here. Some...named locations. As expected of a map. The spatial anomaly, the chairs and the tables. Not to mention how dark this place is.
My, my. This is quite the odd place, thought the Captain.
Meanwhile, back within Outpost 341, Lieutenant-Colonel Baites S. is adressing the base via the PA.
This is Lieutenant Colonel Slajavic, under authority of the Captain. All personnel are to head to Hangar 3 through 5, for a general report and adress from Senator Yvel regarding the current situation as well as a general headcount. Supervisors as well as respective platoon commanders are to perform headcounts of their respective divisions.
~Mic static~
With a sigh, he swivels on his chair round from the intercom, towards his work table, one of the few dash of colour in his rather drab office, taking a look at the note the Captain left him.
Out for a walk. Be back soon. Love, the Captain.
Among the bustle and hustle of gasmasked men and women in various designs, hurrying towards one of the less cramped and more spacious area of the Outpost, is a rather small figure, clad in a petty officer's garb and hugging a dossier close to her chest, walking in the opposite direction of the crowd.
She arrives in an almost immaculate room, filled with machineries and equipments, spic and clean in appearance, where a pale man dressed in lab coat, a pair of goggles and latex gloves are ordering similarly dressed personnel around.
A hand balled to the mouth. 'Ahem. Father?'
With a sigh, the man turns.
'I told you, call me Head Researcher Slivac in the laboratory, Lieutenant Slivac. What is it?'
She eyes the bundle of paper she is holding against her chest, flipping through them. 'The data as well as the comm station confirmed your suspicion. We are no longer in Helghan.'
'...'. He sighs, and puts a hand against his face.
'Autarch, damn it.'
On one of the derelict service platforms, used to service the giant metal ships and machines of war that would cross the stars, sits an elderly man that might as well be sitting on a porch, regaling stories to children and nephews.
Legs dangling from the platform, a thick white and yellow engineering suit, a bushy beard similar to one jolly old man dressed in red, and a few empty bottles of alcoholic beverage, the old man looks across the constantly foggy, cloudy, windy horizon that coats the skies of the area surrounding the outpost.
A bottle against his mouth, bottoms up, and a burp.
And the man sighs.
'This is gonna be a long year.'
всегда верен
Axton was bored. So very bored. The big moment had finally come. Handsome Jack was dead, and they were ready to launch the attack on the Hyperion space station and push them off Pandora once and for all. Unluckily for Axton, he had really crappy luck today apparently. it had been decided that one person needed to stay behind in order to play guard duty in case Hyperion tried to attack Sanctuary while they were gone. Straws had been drawn, and guess who lost?
Axton was about to fall asleep when suddenly he felt the ground shaking. He got up and cheered.
"Yes, they're attacking! I'm going to get to blow something up today after all!"
He quickly grabbed his gun and ran out, only to find something completely unexpected.
"Uhh...when did we land? I didn't even know we could do that." he said to no one in particular, completely confused now. Then an orb....thing came and popped out some letter. He opened it up and read it, then said a single word that was probably being repeated throughout all the various cities that had been ported to this new world.
"Shit."
Inside the city hall that the value hunters had turned into their HQ, 3 people sat. Axton, of course, Tannis, who lived in the building and was most likely to be able to explain what the hell had happened, Scooter, who was the guy in charge of keeping the city running. Not that they were the only ones who came, but they were the only ones let in.
"There is a 82.6 percent probability that the message is a trap." Tannis said.
"I would welcome a trap right now. Traps make sense." Axton said. "Why are we on the ground again anyway?"
"Er, I don't know, man. I gotta take a look see and see what's up."
"Ok, you do that. I haven't be able to get in touch with the rest of the guys, so looks like I'll have to head to this meeting thing. With any luck, I'll be able to find the guy who screwed with our city and shoot him repeatedly in the face. Any objections?" They shook their heads no, and Axton clicked the button.
Landing in the big room, Axton looked around, and eventually found his chair.
"Those are some big ass chairs" Axton said, looking at some of the larger chairs in the room as he waited for things to happen.
edited 26th Mar '15 5:24:56 PM by Meanken
Angel Island, Master Emerald Shrine - Five Minutes Before Relocation
"So let me see if I understand this correctly," a red echidna questioned to his blue, spiky friend. "You just came here to hang out with me for a day. And this doesn't have anything to do with Eggman, the Chaos Emeralds, or Extreme Gear racing?"
The blue hedgehog smiled at the echidna, and shrugged his shoulders. "Knuckles, you've known me for about five-six years now. Do you honestly think I need a reason to visit a friend? Especially when you hardly ever come visit us anymore?"
Knuckles squinted suspiciously at the hedgehog. "You're trying to dodge Amy for a day, aren't you?"
The hedgehog, in mock surprise, responded. "How did you know?" His joke finished, he chuckled for a second, and continued. "Seriously, though. Amy's gotten on one of her, 'Marry me right now, Sonic' kicks lately, so I figured I'd smash two Buzzbombers with one spinball here. Besides, it's not like she can get here as long as this place is still in the air, right?"
As if on cue, Sonic spotted a small plane flying past the mountains and toward the shrine. But he wasn't expecting his li'l bro to join him today, and he certainly didn't expect to see that Tails brought company. The shouting of Sonic's name that echoed from the plane served only to confirm his suspicions. The pilot and passenger leaped off the plane, hand in hand, with the pilot's trademark tails ensuring a smooth, safe landing before the shrine. The plane, on the other hand, continued on a pre-programmed flight path to a safe landing area.
Sonic couldn't even greet his orange, fox friend before he was caught in the windpipe-closing glomp of a pink hedgehog. "SO-NIC! I knew I'd find you here! Do you know how much I've missed you since last week?!" He couldn't even wheeze out a request for her to let go.
Knuckles looked on in amusement, chuckling at the whole affair. To him, this was karma at work. Sonic was still his friend, though, and he had genuinely been planning on keeping Knuckles company for the day (even if it was a means to elude Amy). After a few seconds of watching Sonic struggle to breathe, he decided to step in. "Hey, Amy. You might want to let Sonic go for a sec. He's starting to turn more blue than normal."
In response, Amy loosened her grip around the blue hedgehog. Once Sonic had finally caught his breath, he turned to his fox friend. "Tails, I thought you said you had some work to do back in the Mystic Ruins? And why'd you bring Amy here?" To this, Tails blushed and sheepishly tilted his head to the ground.
Amy answered for Tails, "If you've gotta know, I asked him to take me here."
Before Sonic could ask how she managed to convince him, Tails could only mumble "I don't wanna talk about it." Sonic's expression immediately brightened, hoping to cheer Tails up. He wanted to make it clear that despite Tails bringing in the last person he was hoping to see, he wasn't offended and he certainly didn't think any less of his li'l bro. It didn't take long for Tails to be cheered up, either.
As the quartet laughed about the incident and started to reminisce about past adventures, a fifth person poked her head from off of the edge of the island. The thief-turned-secret agent, Rouge the Bat had come in search of the jewel that kept Angel Island aloft. Oh, Knuckles, you've made it far too easy this time. With the four friends' backs turned and the echidna too distracted to notice anything, Rouge climbed up the cliff, silently approached the shrine, hoisted the Master Emerald off of its pedestal, and flew off into the mountains with the intention of sending Knuckles on a wild goose chase around the island once he sensed that the Emerald was gone.
About a minute after Rouge made her escape, the island began to quake. Knuckles turned to the shrine and saw that the Master Emerald was no longer resting in the shrine. Before anyone could act on this information, however, they collapsed, unable to withstand the quake.
Eventually, the ground had ceased to shake, and an unfamiliar horizon awaited everyone on the island.
edited 26th Mar '15 6:10:46 PM by TrashJack
Melior, the Royal Capital of Crimea
All was quiet in the early hours of the morning, the sun creeping over the castle walls to shine through to the Royal Bedroom. Her Majesty Queen Elincia Ridell Crimea stirred awake, smiling at the gentle sun bathing her room in warm light just as it warmed her country outside. She was looking forward to what the day had in store. Ike had arrived the night before, too late for the two of them to have a proper chat. But these few minutes before she summoned the servants, she just wanted to enjoy the morning sunlight. She put on a thick robe of silk and fur, and went out on the sheltered balcony outside.
It was then that she approached by a most curious contraption. The appearance of the mechanical ball had her utterly stunned at first, and made her think that she was still asleep and dreaming. But then it revealed a letter. Queen Elincia read the letter. Then she read it again. Then she pinched her arm, to make sure she was not asleep. And then, very calmly, she called for her servants. Her maids entered, with today's clothes and morning cup of tea.
"Good morning. I need to talk to Geoffrey and Lucia immediately. And call Count Fayre. And Lord Ike. And do not make a fuss."
It was an ordinary spring day in Melior, the sun shining down on the majestic castle town. The clock had barely struck ten, and the streets of the town were full of the hustle and bustle of city life. Traders hawked their wares in the marketplace, the farmers having delivered their fresh produce in the early hours of the morning. A few mages in their distinctive long and colourful cloaks wandered here and there, though most of them were shut inside their workshops and libraries with their tomes and magic circles. A few magic students were capitalizing on the sunny weather by finding spots in one of the many parks, putting their homework aside until the evening like students are wont to do.
In the marketplace, inns, taverns and on the streetcorners, a rumour was spreading, however. A name was on everyone's lips: Ike. According to the guard on duty last night, two riders had arrived just before the gates had closed: a big warrior with blue hair and a mage with dark green hair. The guard had served in the war under Queen Elincia, and swore that he had recognized Lord Ike and his advisor even in the weak light of the lantern.
The rumour spread like wildfire through-out the town, with people claiming to have seen the legendary mercenary with their own eyes in the street or in the common room of their inn. The few blue-haired men visiting the city would suddenly find themselves under close scrutiny as the people searched for the celebrity.
In this commotion, few paid heed to a lone knight that stormed through the gate, spurring his horse to reach the castle as fast as possible.
The main character of the rumours himself thought little of what was going on in the city. Lord Ike, champion of the goddess, legendary general of the Crimean Liberation Army and leader of the Greil Mercenaries was practising his sword form under the admiring gaze of knights, courtiers and servants alike. The women swooned as the mercenary swung a training sword meant for two handed combat with one hand as easily as if it was shortsword, his heavy muscled frame moving lithely and quickly. A few confident knights had requested to spar with him, but had to give up quickly, incapable of keeping up with his strength and speed even when coming at him three at a time. In the shadows, veterans from the previous wars boasted of fighting under Lord Ike, exaggerating both their general and their own merits.
In time, he finished his training and the onlookers dispersed, although a few lingered to catch a glimpse of him washing the sweat of his torso. It was at this time that a mage, small of stature and garbed in black, approached Ike. Very few of Ike's admirers recognized Soren, Ike's closest friend and master strategist, beyond as the magician who had arrived with him. Soren delivered a message, then the two left together.
Ike entered one of the Queen's sitting rooms to find that a select council of the Queen's closest advisers was gathering.
Her Majesty Queen Elincia Ridell Crimea sat upright at the end of a polished table of dark wood, flanked by her dear friends and allies. General Geoffrey of Delbray, supreme commander of the Royal Knights, and his older sister Lucia, commander of the information network, stood studying a map of Crimea, the resemblance in their light blue hair and proud bearing clear. Then there was Lord Bastian, the Count of Fayre, a high-ranking minister, clad in lavish robes and with his hair neatly done as always.
They all looked up as the door opened to allow Ike and Soren, and Elincia gave him a warm smile and a welcome.
"Ike, it's good to see you. My apologies for disturbing you, but we have received troubling news."
"No, it's no problem. What's happening?"
"Queen Elincia has received a letter. Something extraordinary is happening."
Ike read the letter, and frowned. What it described sounded like madness.
"Is this the truth?"
Geoffrey invited Ike over to look at the map. A line had been chalked in on the map, not far north of the closest village to Melinor.
"Are you familiar with the area here indicated, Lord Ike?"
"Uh, somewhat. It's mostly hills and fruit farms, right? Orchards and some forest?"
"Yes, that's a good summary of it. According to our scouts...the land has changed."
Soren frowned. He did not like to have potentially serious matters clad in uncertain terms. He raised his voice.
"Changed how? Flooded? Drought? Avalanche?"
"No, it has been replaced. The known hills, farms and forests have disappeared, and replaced with completely unknown fields and meadows. A wholly new road, black and with line markings, makes its way through this landscape, heading further north."
The council became quiet at the thought of a whole swathe of Crimea disappearing over night. The silence was broken by a knock on the door. The Queen bid the servant enter, and a page came and delivered a letter to Bastian.
"Oh dear. It is not only the north. To the east, it seems the road to my lands now end up on the coast."
A gasp went through the assembled persons.
"That is madness!" Geoffrey spoke up. "To the east, there is no sea before the east coast of Daein!"
"Nevertheless, my most trusted servant confirms that there now is a long coastline to a salt-water sea. He even bottled some of it as well as a sample of the beach to confirm it. He's nothing if not thorough."
"The north and east...that leaves the south and west."
The persons present felt a shadow of dread creep into their hearts. A large detachment of the Royal Knights had been dispatched south to take part in a practise with the Begnion Holy Guard, while the Greil Mercenaries were operating along of the coast in West Crimea.
Soren was the first to break the silence.
"We have to assume that the letter is telling the truth, and that Her Majesty has to go to this meeting."
Elincia nodded.
"I am willing to go there, if it will keep my people safe."
Geoffrey objected.
"We can not expose Her Majesty to such a danger so willingly! There is no telling what will happen if she accepts the invitation!"
Soren shook his head.
"Whoever is reponsible has the powers to transfer all of Melior to a different world. If they had any intention of causing Her Majesty harm, I dare say they would have done so already."
Ike joined in, to break off the general before an argument started up.
"I agree with Soren, accepting the offer is the only way we will know anything for sure. Not accepting will put Elincia in danger any which way. As for Elincia's safety at the meeting...I will go there with her."
Lucia looked surprised.
"How will you accomplish that?"
"...well, I was planning on just pushing the button together with her."
The Queen and her advisers all went up to the bedroom balcony together, where the metal sphere was waiting for a reply. Someone had covered it with a table cloth to keep prying eyes away, but that only served to accentuate the strange spectacle.
"Bastian, Geoffrey, Lucia, I leave the kingdom to you. Ensure that the available food is kept safe and secure, and keep the panic at a minimum. Tell them I shall address the people once I return."
Her Majesty's loyal retainers bowed, the responsibility lying heavily on their shoulders. Ike, meanwhile, was talking to his friend.
"Soren, this situation might get dangerous fast. Prepare for defending the castle, and call in as many favours as we can. We've got some friends in the city, after all."
Soren nodded. He was likely to do so without Ike telling him.
Together, Queen Elincia and Ike put their fingers on the button and carefully pushed it.
The two reappeared in the meeting room, fighting the nausea. A niggling nostalgic feeling of being in a room not meant for normal people had wormed its way into Ike's mind. It was like he was back in the Celestial Tower, the site of their battle with the Goddess a few years ago.
"Ike, these seats are ours, it seems."
"...they were expecting me too?"
"Yes, it seems like it."
Ike held the chair for Elincia, then sat down himself. He had to close his eyes for a few seconds to get used to the strange perspective the seat gave. One by one, he saw other representatives, glad in a variety of strange garments.
All he hoped for at this point was that someone was going to say something that would make sense of this situation.
Join us in our quest to play all RPG video games! Moving on to disc 2 of Grandia!
Problem Child
Iacon: Omega Hangar - 5 minutes before relocation
Optimus Prime looked at his ship from the hangar's viewport. It was a woefully destitute machine, easily older than he was. Perhaps even millions of years, by the scoring on the hull, and the sheer amount of leakages it had sprung. He had no idea why a vessel of such little value was being stored away from the spaceport, and by the Metroplex command centre, no less. Ratchet had not been particularly forthcoming with explanations of any sort. Or topic, for that matter. He'd have to work on that.
Still, he had a ship, a rank and a mission. It's just that the ship looked like it had come out of some cybervender's bargain box, his rank was an unearned formality and his mission would be spending orbital cycles away from Cybertron taking part in manual labour. Prime wasn't bitter. Irked, maybe. Yes, irked. That was a good word, he decided.
Ratchet entered the viewing station, walking over to Optimus.
"Give me another megacycle or two, and we'll have the ship ready to fly out to wherever they point us," the old medic bot reported, with his trademark amount of enthusiasm. That being none at all.
There was a loud crash from down by the ship's landing gear, and the whole ship came crashing down on one side.
"Make that three megacycles," corrected Ratchet, not even bothering to scowl.
Optimus peered down at the cause of the commotion, seeing that his two other workers, Bulkhead and Bumblebee, had managed to completely destroy the port-side landing gear. Optimus sighed, and motioned with his head for Ratchet to follow him, heading down a gravlift to the hangar deck.
"It wasn't me," Bumblebee insisted, after seeing Prime walking in their direction. "I take no responsibility for this!"
"Oh yeah?" responded Bulkhead, "I sure wasn't the one blasting my stingers at that nanite nest on the landing gear."
"I'm pretty sure you beating it with your wrecking ball did more than my stingers," screamed Bumblebee.
"It was already coming down, you could see it," said Bulkhead. "I just wanted to make sure we got the nanites before everything went to scrap."
"Both of you, that's enough," interrupted Optimus. "We have space bridges to fix, and we can't afford delay. Ultra Magnus personally assigned me to this mission, and nothing is going to keep me from—"
An enormous cyberquake rocked through the hanger bay, the ceiling cracking away, support beams crashing down, sparks flying. The bots struggled to hold to their footing. Optimus could see that the ceiling was nanokliks away from collapsing and crushing the four of them.
"Autobots!" he shouted. "Get under the ship, it's our best chance!"
They rushed for cover, underneath the reinforced plating of their ship, as the entire ceiling came down, crumbling and rolling down the angle of the now-slanted ship. The four bots spent a moment, regaining their senses as the cyberquake abated.
"Everyone in one piece?" asked Prime, brushing dust and rubble from himself.
"Looks like it," said Ratchet, looking up at the ship. "If anything, I'd say having this ship with half its landing gear wrecked on this misplaced angle probably gave us more protection than it would have."
"That was me," said Bumblebee, grinning. "I take full responsibility for this."
The four bots emerged to the surface of Iacon. Or what there was of Iacon they could see. The four of them spent a moment, gaping at their surroundings. It was as if the central hub of Iacon had been ripped from the surface of Cybertron, and deposited somewhere completely different. Alien.
"What on Cybertron happened here?" asked Bulkhead, the first to break the silence.
"I don't think we are on Cybertron," replied Optimus, wide-eyed. "It's as if... the Metroplex and everything around it was... transwarped. And took us along with it."
"How is this anything approaching possible?" asked Ratchet, in a tone that almost sounded like he was demanding the sky cough up the answers, stat.
"Prime?" said Bumblebee. "What's that zipping around your face? Is it another nanite? I thought we squashed them all."
Optimus focused his optics on the tiny metal sphere, floating back and forth in front of him. He almost swatted it away on reflex, but it opened up, depositing an even tinier roll of some strange, thin, fibrous material. He gently reached out to pluck the roll from the sphere, unfurling it with a bit of effort.
"What is it?" asked Ratchet. Optimus squinted at the writing. It was Cybertronian, definitely. His frown deepened the more he read it. He looked at his crew for a moment, before responding.
"It's a message. From whoever did this."
"This?" asked Bulkhead.
"Whoever tore us from Cybertron and brought us here. They're offering explanation, but they only want to speak to our leader. This sphere has some sort of transwarp device."
"Well," said Ratchet, "What are you waiting for? Use it."
"Me?" stammered Optimus, blinking. "I'm not our leader. We need to get this sphere to Ultra Magnus and the Council. Besides, we have no idea whether we can trust this source. The Elite Guard can handle this."
"The Elite Guard?" scoffed Ratchet. "I don't see any Elite Guard on the streets controlling the situation. I don't see any addresses from the Magnus. And you know why? It's because they have no idea what to say. We're working blind here, Prime. Autobots across this sector are no doubt in a state of total panic. That sphere sought you out. Leader or not, you need to find out what this whole mess is about!"
Prime sighed, reaching out and taking the sphere in his palm, closing his hand around it. "No. It's over our heads. We need to take this straight to the top, get this sphere to the Elite Guard and then we need to get down on the streets and rescue any Autobots that weren't as lucky as us."
Ratchet looked away, but nodded. Bumblebee and Bulkhead exchanged looks.
"Autobots," commanded Optimus, "transform and r—"
His enormous fist around the sphere accidentally depressed the teleportation button, and the Prime vanished in a flash of light, much to the distress of the other three.
He was flying. Falling. Flipping. And... sitting? Optimus took a moment to regather himself, his new location slowly registering. He realised just what he'd done. And now he was stuck in this small empty room. Wait... not empty. He peered down at the other occupants of the table around him. They were fractions of his size. And they looked just as confused and nervous as he as.
"Oh," he piped, softly.
What if there’s no better word than just not saying anything?
The Southwest Commonwealth, 2281. Five minutes before relocation.
The Big Empty sleeps. It's a fitful, tumultuous sleep, but it's a sleep deep enough to spare the rest of the world from its nightmares. The wind blows mournfully through the great bowl-shaped crater, through heaps of rubble and the sagging hulks of abandoned laboratories and research facilities. It's as if even the air wants to leave this wretched place as quickly as possible. In a happier time, it was once the Big Mountain Research Facility- a place where questions were answered, problems solved, and dreams given life. The wind blows past the silent meteorological research facility, over the corrugated roof of the lightwave dynamics laboratory, and eventually winds its way into the great illuminated geodesic dome that lies at the very nucleus of the Crater. Two hundred years after the world burned in nuclear fire, the last survivors of Big Mountain still persist.
And sometimes, the Big Empty stirs in its sleep...
Sometimes, to Klein, it seems like Doctor Mobius stormed out of the Dome only yesterday. After all, Klein has a lot of memories floating around in his glass bowl. Tricky things, memories; the important ones seem to slither out of his grasp whenever he tries to nail them down. Maybe Mobius did leave just yesterday. Maybe he left two centuries ago, right after the Great Static caused all that unpleasantness. Or maybe the good Doctor has just popped out to the X-2 transmitter center for his afternoon Mentat break. No, Klein realizes, that's not right.
Anyway, there's no use focussing on the past. Not when there's Science to be done.
Klein turns his attention back to his work. Around him, the other four Think Tanks calculate, study, and experiment in private, isolated universes of their own. It's not that they don't like one another; they're men (and a woman, Klein admits) of Science- or brains of Science, anyway, and brains of Science need to work together. It's just that his... his... er... cauliflowers? call leagues? ... the other brains in the facility hold strong opinions about things, and Klein doesn't like opinions. Well, he thinks to himself, that's not entirely true. He likes opinions, when they're his opinions. Dr. Klein is brilliant, they had told him. Only Dr. Klein could manage such a prestigious institution like the Think Tank. Dr. Klein always makes the right decisions. That was what they told him, wasn't it?
It would be nice if he could remember who "they" were.
So the members of the Think Tank don't always get along. As a result, they'll sometimes spend days locked in their work, pausing only for the occasional Mentats dosage or a recharge session. And As head of Logistical Operations, it's Klein's job to make sure that his cauliflowers are directing their efforts down the proper venues.
Right now, Dr. 8 is building a new sonic cascade defense mechanism for the Dome, Dr. Dala hums to herself as she remotely monitors the production of a new Saturnite alloy over at the Z-45 plant, Dr. Borous examines the DNA molecules of some particulary nasty flesh-eating bacterium, and Dr. O is... breaking a computer terminal. "I'm DISSECTING and REVERSE-ENGINEERING it!" snaps Dr. O, just as one of the robotic manipulator arms tears a cathode ray tube in half with apparent gusto.
If Dr. Klein had working eyelids, he would have rolled them, but with circumstances being what they are he merely contemptuously flickers his biogel and and gets ready to deliver a tongue-lashing... well, a speaker-lashing, or something... but before he can even rouse a fraction of his neurons to assemble a snide reply Dr. Dala cuts in.
"Klein", she murmurs, "the seismographs in the Z-45 facility are picking up some kind of compressional stress. In less than-" Dala gets cut off as the round beneath starts to shake. For a moment, Klein hesitates. Did that gloomy fellow find what he was looking for? Was it underneath Big Mountain this whole time? It was something important, something about hope...
Now the other seismographs across the facility are going wild. Long-dormant alarms and sensors scream electronically at one another, other, more esoteric devices chatter in alarm as they detect a sudden inexplicable loss from beyond the crater. The great Dome itself violently shudders before the ancient earthquake prevention mechanisms kick in. Dr. 8 starts to wail in distress as the noise grows, and over the cacaphony Klein thinks he hears Borous screaming to himself about Communist treachery, and then, and then...
The Dome fell silent once again. The five members of the Think Tank exchanged electronic glances, as if daring each other to take responsibility for what had just happened.
"Dr. O," snarled Borous from across the room. ""I always KNEW that you were a no-good filthy RED SYMPATHIZER. That was a SUBTERRANEAN ATTACK, wasn't it?! Even now, CHINESE INVADERS must be-"
"Me?!" said O indignantly, flaring his monitors and glaring back at his fellow Think Tank. "Why don't you ask Dala? She was the one who picked up the tectonic movement in the first place. Isn't that right, Dala?"
"I would do no such thing. Why, to accuse me of jeopardizing my precious Lobotomites-"
-"SWARMING across AMERICAN SOIL, broadcasting their reprehensible PROPAGANDA-"
"ENOUGH!" thundered Klein. "THINK TANK, WE HAVE EXPERIENCED A SEISMOLOGICAL DISTURBANCE OF HITHERTO UNFORSEEN PROPORTIONS. HAVE YOU SECOND-PLACE SCIENCE FAIR CONTESTANTS EVEN CONSIDERED THE POSSIBILITY OF MOBIUS SPEARHEADING THIS TECTONIC ASSAULT?"
"^&*%*&*&(#(*#)(@#(*)%)@#(*"!!! exclaimed 8, frantically communicating with his own terminal. Ghostly reflections of numbers flickered across his monitors as he ran diagnostics, trying to ascertain just what had happened to the facility.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 'MOBIUS IS GONE'? said Klein, his monitors twitching with confusion. SOMEONE DEVOTED TO THE DESTRUCTION OF SCIENCE DOES NOT SIMPLY DISAPPEAR FROM THE GREATEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE EVER BUILT."
"That's not all." said Dala, turning her monitors toward the dark screen that hung over the Dome's atrium. "The Dome's external sensors are detecting a two hundred percent decrease in robo-scorpulosity."
"THEN THAT MEANS THAT..." began Klein, before 0 cut in from across the room.
"How do we know that this isn't just some trick of Mobius's?" said 0, floating toward the Dome's transmission screen. "News flash, Klein; his junky machines can disassemble themselves whenever they feel like, right?" One of his monitors twitched as he recalled one of his less successful reverse-engineering attempts on the infernal machines. "Not that I ever figured that little trick out."
"WE'LL FIND OUT SOON." Normally, Mobius would be calling in right about now, screaming his gibberish threats and insults. The Think Tank waited; had they had lungs, they would have hardly dared to draw breath. If Mobius was gone, then they could leave the Dome, and if they could leave the Dome, well...
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then, nothing continued to happen.
"He's gone," murmured 0. "The earthquake; it must have-"
"Or rather, I think we're the one's who've gone. The readouts at the X-2 transmitter seem to confirm that the entire Crater has been pushed into some kind of pocket universe. With my doctorate in quantum-onics, I can ascertain that there are most definitely... quantum mechanics at work here. Quantum mechanics beyond even the most advanced science of our very Crater."
"We have BOLDLY TRAVELLED to where NO BRAIN HAS EVER GONE BEFORE!" Borous interjected, unhelpfully.
"THEN IF THERE IS NO MORE MOBIUS, AND BY EXTENSION NO MORE INTELLIGENCE-CONSUMING ROBO-SCORPIONS, THEN WE CAN FINALLY LEAVE THE STEELY CONFINES OF OUR METAL PRISON! THINK TANK, PREPARE TO-"
Klein was cut off by the sudden and inexplicable appearance of some kind of... robotical machine. Smaller than his chassis, and hovering with a sort of smug whine that Klein wasn't at all sure he liked. Ignoring Dr. 0's indignant sputtering for a moment, he turned back to the visitor.
"A VISITOR from BEYOND BIG MOUNTAIN!" Borous gabbled to himself. "What STRANGE TRANSMISSIONS does it bring from this PARALLEL POCKET UNIVERSE?!"
"It-it's it's opening up. There's something inside... I don't really like where this is going... oh, it's just paper. Well, that's a relief, I suppose..."
"Paper? I didn't know anyone still wrote on paper. With soft malleable hands and crude writing implements..."
"#$%^^&@!^*&&*(#&@*(&(#@&?"
"THINK TANK, I AM TRYING TO IGNORE ALL OF YOU AT THE SAME TIME SO THAT I CAN READ THIS APPALINGLY CRUDE MESSAGE. IT IS A TAXING JOB. DO NOT MAKE IT ANY MORE DIFFICULT."
It only took 3.89 seconds to ascertain the message's meaning. It was an interesting offer. One could not do Science if they were dead, of course. Klein's biogel was buzzing now, of course. For the first time in two hundred years, Dr. Klein had places to go, people other than the Think Tank to see, and, yes, Science to do. His decision was obvious right from the get go. Science always came first. Especially the kinds of Science that involved testing. Oh yes, what wonderful tests the Think Tank could conduct here!
"THINK TANK! he announced as he turned toward the inviting red button. "I SHALL MEET WITH OUR MYSTERIOUS KIDNAPPER! MAINTAIN YOUR POSITIONS WITHIN THE DOME."
"AND, ER, KEEP DR. BOROUS AWAY FROM THE MENTATS UNTIL HE CALMS DOWN A BIT."
He tapped the button gingerly with one monitor.
"STAY BACK, YOU ORGANISMS!" bellowed Klein in barely veiled disgust as he materialized onto a large Tesla coil and took stock of his surroundings. There were... organisms sitting at this room, a room which seemed happy to flagrantly violate everything Klein believed about the nature of space-time and reality in general. Borous's experiments had confirmed Klein's suspicions that organisms were messy, messy things- especially the ones who hadn't been turned into quiet, obedient Lobotomites. How long would it be before one of the wretched things decided to excrete all over everything? "YOU ARE NOW IN THE PRESENCE OF DR. KLEIN, CHIEF HEAD RESEARCHER AND IDEA-OLOGIST OF BIG MOUNTAIN!"
"AND I WILL THANK YOU TO NOT EXCRETE IN MY PRESENCE." he quickly added.
edited 26th Mar '15 7:13:17 PM by Locoman
Duty First
The Captain watches as beings teleported in, and taking their seats. Men and women, beings of indeterminate origins, a giant robot, and brain in a jar. And seems like more are coming. This will be interesting.
Underneath the mask, the Captain smiles.
Moving the leg off the table and into the space beneath the chair, hands on the table, he pushes and stood up. Taking the rim of his magnificent, unnecessarily tall Officer's cap, he tips the hat off to the other occupants of the room.
Why, hello there, ladies, gents, and...lents. I am Captain, and it is good to...meet you all.
всегда верен
MORKARDAR, Heart of the Red Keeper's Domain, Five Minutes Before Relocation
"We shall cast you back into the shadows, Keeper!"
The proud lord's declaration was was met with cheers from his faithful comrades as they marched through the dark, dank tunnels, the blessings of truth and righteousness upon them as they charged the subterranean fortress. Unfortunately for them, this was far from enough. Battle cries and roars of defiance quickly turned to shrieks and screams as the party met with the dungeon lord's defenses. Spikes burst from the ground and impaled an unlucky dwarf. A blast of lightning from a dark alcove hit a fairy in midair, filling the hall with blue light. An elven archer ran screaming through the corridors, set aflame by an errant fireball. Before long, the heroic adventurers and defenders of holiness and light had descended to a panicked rout, fleeing in all directions as the Keeper's forces devastated them. Their leader, clad in gleaming armor, raised his sword and cried out to rally his troops;
"Do not give in to fear, my friends! In the name of all that is good, we must-"
Before he could launch into an insufferably self-righteous speech he was met with the slight inconvenience of his head flying from his shoulders, having taken a scythe to the neck from behind. The Horned Reaper shook his head in disgust before charging in pursuit of the retreating heroes, seeking to wet his blade as much as possible before the fight was done.
From his omnipresent vantage point, the Keeper watched with satisfaction. Things were shaping up nicely. A ravaged battalion of foes fleeing in terror before your dark majesty was just the thing to start the day with. But as always, other matters demanded the Keeper's attention. A new mineshaft needed organizing to reach the gold seams to the East, the trolls were complaining about a funny smell in their rooms, a warlock and a vampire had come to blows over dinner and needed disciplining, a new batch of prisoners were to be moved into Torture Chamber C... if the Keeper had currently been in possession of hands, it would have rubbed them gleefully in anticipation of the day's work.
This led to considerable consternation when the world began to shake and tremble. This was no mere earthquake - something felt different. Sleeping minions fell from their beds as shrieks, yells, hisses, bellows, roars and gurgles of dismay emanated from every corner of the dungeon. Great piles of treasure were flung around and scattered, tomes of dark magic were flung from their shelves, food was thrown from tables and torches from their braziers. One especially unlucky Orc lost his balance next to a pit of scorpions, while elsewhere a troll fell onto his own red-hot anvil face-first.
Before the Keeper had time to react to this, a metal sphere appeared flying through the corridors, coming to a stop beneath his gaze. He read the letter it contained with bafflement. What force could have pulled his dungeon from the earth itself and moved it to another world?
Groans and calls for help came from every dark corridor. Tiny imps scurried throughout to restore order as best they could, helping the fallen to their feet, tidying and cleaning with frantic efficiency. Several found themselves lifted into the air with dark magic and flung before the giant, pulsating crystal that was the Dungeon's heart. They prostrated themselves on the floor before the heart, shaking. An inhuman voice boomed forth;
"DON'T GROVEL! I do not have time for grovelling at the moment! Speak to me of my dungeon, has this quake caused undue damage?"
"Things is stable now, oh mighty evil one, but something's wrong! Lots is wrong!"
"All tunnels on our borders is cut off, milord! They's all blocked up with rocks an' dirt!"
"Except the ones to the West, your malevolence. Those are filling in with water! Saltwater!"
"WHAT?!"
"I-I said those are-"
" I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME, CUR! "
The Imps cowered once more. Whatever had caused this move, action had to be taken.
I shall collapse the Western tunnels myself, and order floodgates from the workshops. You will restore the damage done by this quake as much as possible, and wall off the tunnels for now. Begone from my sight!
As the Imps scurried off to follow their master's orders, the Keeper pondered each bizarre development. Something monumental was happening, and the Keeper had a sneaking suspicion that he was out of his depth... As he considered his next move the Horned Reaper, unharmed by the chaos, entered the heart chamber and beheld it grimly.
"Orders?"
'"My presence has been... requested elsewhere. You are in command until my return. I feel we shall soon be called to battle, so rally all my minions still at fighting strength. We may need every creature we can spare, so restrain your bloodlust for now. If my suspicions are true, you shall soon have foes to spare."
The demon gave a curt nod and left the room. The Keeper considered how best proceed. Lacking a physical body, he would by necessity need to inhabit one to answer this summons. Coalescing his essence into a suitable shape
◊, the Red Keeper stepped forwards and touched the sphere....
...to find himself sitting in a room that seemed to defy all laws of gods and men, surrounded by strange figures.
"WHO HAS DARED TO SUMMON ME?"
edited 26th Mar '15 7:27:41 PM by Vox
Angel Island, Master Emerald Shine - Welcome to Battleworld
Once the quakes had ceased and everyone was back on their feet, Knuckles took a second look at the Master Emerald's altar to confirm whether it had truly gone missing. Unfortunately, it indeed was missing, and was likely stolen. Enraged by this development, he began screaming incoherently and punching at one of the seven columns that surrounded the altar.
The others, not blinded by rage, noticed that not only was Angel Island no longer in the air, they saw a desert just beyond the shrine. Within that desert lay a large crater, and within that crater lay a technological fortress. As far as Sonic was concerned, that could only mean one thing.
"Heh. Guess Eggman got started with his next evil scheme a bit early this time," the blue hedgehog joked. "Whaddaya say we go pay him a visit?"
As Sonic was stretching his legs in preparation of assaulting the fortress that he believed belonged to his arch-enemy, Doctor Ivo Robotnik (better known as "Doctor Eggman"), Tails noticed a metal ball hovering above the group. It soon descended in front of the two-tailed fox, and Tails called out to Sonic to get his attention. "Hey, Sonic! Check this out!"
Sonic turned to see what Tails had mentioned, as the sphere opened, revealing a yellow, rolled up letter. As Tails grabbed and unraveled it, Sonic began to guess at its contents. "Let me guess: 'Guess what, Sonic Heroes? I've taken the Master Emerald from your stupid echidna friend, and am using it to power my latest superweapon! Do you think you have what it takes to stop me? Sincerely, Doctor Eggman. P.S. Neener-neener-neener!'" That last part got Amy to crack up laughing (considering that Eggman, despite being a genius, was so immature that he actually might take the time to write "Neener-neener-neener"), but while Knuckles had managed to calm back down to coherency and not going on a rampage, he was still far too steamed for one of Sonic's jokes (especially since he really didn't appreciate being called "stupid", even though Sonic was doing so in-character as Eggman).
Tails, having finished silently reading the letter, interrupted the group's mirth. "Well, this seems a bit too formal to be something he wrote. Not to mention that he'd know you've teleported at least once before, albeit with the help of a fake Chaos Emerald." Tails began to explain the contents of the letter. "Apparently, there's going to be a meeting between various 'leaders', and that the sphere will teleport you there. It also says that some of us should stay behind to keep an eye on the island, and that if nobody here goes, we'll die within a week."
Knuckles interjected, saying "So send me. It's my island, my Emerald has been stolen, and whoever's responsible for this can taste my fists!" Tails, however, was not so sure that Knuckles should be Angel Island's representative. Even discounting Knuckles' threat, which if acted upon could spell dire consequences for the island and the group, he was the island's guardian, and would probably care for it better than anyone he could leave behind. Besides, as Tails had already mentioned earlier, Sonic had already teleported once before, and Knuckles, to his recollection, had not.
Before Tails could respond to Knuckles' suggestion, however, Sonic had already grasped the device and pressed the button. Before he vanished, he gave a thumbs-up to his friends and shouted, "I'll be back soon, guys!"
Angel Island, Red Mountain - The Escape
Rouge had also been caught in the quake, and was resting her wings in the Red Mountain range when Angel Island was taken to Battleworld. Luckily, she was unharmed and her prize was still intact. Once the quake had settled, she was ready to take flight with the Master Emerald once again. Her flight path had taken her off of Angel Island entirely, with her wings taking her to the outskirts of Sanctuary.
The Meeting - Sonic and the Secret Wars
Sonic had found himself teleported to a strange, physics-defying room. Normally, he had no problem with the feeling of being on a bumpy roller coaster (indeed, he usually lived that feeling), and the teleportation itself seemed to only minimally nauseate him. If anything, he chalked it up to the plateful of chili dogs (complete with mustard and onions) he ate before going to visit Knuckles. Despite his stomach churning, he was able to keep his lunch down. Whatever this teleportation method was, though, it wasn't Chaos Control.
If there was one thing he enjoyed about this experience, though, it was the fact that he was sitting in a chair that, despite being very comfortable, was also in no danger of being shredded by his long quills. Not to mention that, with his ego, he relished the fact that it read "Sonic the Hedgehog" on its back. He pondered to himself whether he'd be allowed to take it with him.
Putting those thoughts aside, he saw an eclectic collection of characters and a holographic projection of a strange world before him. With some of those people introducing themselves, he decided to do the same.
"So, this is new. I'm Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog! You might have heard of me. I'm only the fastest thing alive." Clearly, he was not the humblest thing alive.
Another concern popped in his head, which he soon also vocalized.
"By the way, any of you guys seen a 'Doctor Eggman' around here? Also goes by the name of 'Doctor Robotnik'? He's got something that belongs to a friend of mine, and I've been meaning to kick his butt over it for a while now."
edited 26th Mar '15 7:42:54 PM by TrashJack
So looked like a bunch of weirdos were popping into the room here. In addition to the normal people, a gigantic robot had appeared, which Axton immediately declared to be awesome. There was some brain in a jar thing. Didn't Tannis say she was experimenting on brains at some point? He hoped this wasn't the result. Seemed like an ass too, assuming everyone would know him. Think tank, was he talking about the toilet? Seemed like it, considering he then mentioned excrement. Then a weird demon looking thing popped in. Ok, now shit was just getting weird. By that point, Axton barely reacted to a talking animal appearing. But he could not help but laugh at mention of Eggman.
"Hahaha, oh god, there's some dude running around calling himself Eggman? That's gotta be the stupidest name I've heard in a while. I'm Axton, by the way. What's up?
Problem Child
Prime could only really stare, bewildered. Of all the small organics around the table, none of them seemed to have the slightest clue of what was going on. He turned his optics to the holographic planet, leaning forward and scrutinising it carefully. It wasn't Cybertron, that much was certain. He leaned back upright, looking down at the others assembled.
"Does... anyone here have any idea where we are?"
What if there’s no better word than just not saying anything?
Duty First
Now, someone is finally talking, that does not involve threats involving excreta, or other means of vaporization. Pleasant. The Captain lays back on his chair, foot on the table, hands out and gives a lazy shrug.
Sadly, I have no idea myself! At least, we have seats though.
всегда верен
Calamity is a housewife
Illyria Castle, a week after the Cradle Incident (is it too late to mention you mispelled Illyria Strat?)
Illyria Castle bustled as always.
Knights performing their rounds of security, officers conversing and transferring notes and papers around. The only sign that anything might've been different was the zone of the Castle surrounded by a barrier, restricted off to the people. This was the location of the lightning rod, the one capable of dispelling the tremendous power of St. Elmo's Fire every thirteen years. Currently, it was in rubble, reduced to ashes after the week before, having brought a finale to the Cradle Incident.
Now, the remaining Conclave's whereabouts remained unknown, as did Justice's body and Elphelt Valentine. Ramlethal Valentine was to go on a private trial for her actions. She almost had to request it even, amongst the vanishing of the turmoil, her new-found comrades nearly forgot that she still had to answer for conspiring with the Conclave, though of course her sentence would be lenient, she still needed to save her sister in the future. This in mind, Ramlethal had been undergoing trial in a court of law, but was not in the vicinity of the Castle.
Sol Badguy and Sin Kiske had left the castle to continue their bounty hunting escapades, and perhaps to investigate Elphelt's whereabouts on their own.
All seemed normal, until...
The earthquake hit. Ky had not been forewarned of any seismic activity beforehand, and so was caught completely unawares, as was everyone else. A knight panicked as he addressed him.
"Your Majesty! We have to get you to a bunker!"
Ky frowned. He wasn't sure if he even needed to give this next order, it just seemed like a no-brainer to someone like him.
"Get everyone else to safety as well. I need to ensure - agh!"
A sudden surge of tremors pushed Ky off his feet.
"Ky! We don't have the time for this! Just get your ass in gear and move!"
Leo Whitefang was as sheer and demanding as ever.
"Wait...the earthquake...your Majesty, it's stopped!"
"Ngh...yes, it seems to have ceased..."
"What the hell was that all about? Who was on seismograph duty?! Why hadn't I heard of this?! I swear, someone's getting fired today, and if I can't find out who's responsible I...!"
"Leo, calm yourself. I'm receiving a transmission."
Ky tapped his fingers to his ear. The magic comm flickered to life as it projected the voice of one of the knights at the border of the castle, around the town.
What she said...wasn't encouraging.
"Your Majesty...something terrible has happened!"
Private Quarters, Meeting Room, fifteen minutes later
"Leo, I want you to address the people. I've already ordered a gathering of the staff and knights in the Royal Court."
"And you?"
"I'm going to this meeting."
"Wh-what? I...no, dammit, you're right. I don't like this, I don't like this at all. But the meeting's our one and only chance to get the answers we're looking for."
"Dr. Paradigm, do you think you could analyze the situation at hand? Take a look at the seismographs we keep at the surveillance area. I've already given you the authority."
"You needn't order me to do so, I was already about to. This confounds me as well, and I will have it looked into on the double."
"Dizzy, see if you can contact Sol and Sin. We might benefit from their assistance."
"Yes, you're right."
Leo looked puzzled.
"The bounty hunters?"
Ky responded.
"We need to know if there's absolutely no way for us to contact the outside world. Everything past the capital town has disappeared. We need to know if there is still a chance we can remain in contact with our allies."
"Doubtful."
Ky frowned, worried at what has become of the rest of Illyria. But for now, he'd leave the Castle in the hands of those before him. Leo Whitefang, Second King and trusted comrade-in-arms since the Crusades. Dr. Paradigm, intellectual, philosopher and the best man (that is to say, Gear) on the job to find out what's going on...
...and Dizzy, his wife and closest, dearest friend.
He wished them all safety, and approached the metal sphere.
The Meeting
Upon pressing the button, Ky felt like he was tumbling. No, twirling. Or was he in fact, 'swirling'...?
Whatever it was, Ky felt sick when it was done. Luckily enough, he was already seated on a chair. When he'd regained his bearings, he saw each and every one of the chairs before him had names labelled on the back. He checked behind his own.
Ky Kiske
("Whoever brought us here knows who we are. But on that note...")
Ky looked again at the occupants of the meeting room, baffled. Particularly, at the giant towering Autobot know as Optimus Prime.
("Who are these people?")
"Shake the dust." - Anis Mojgani
feeling blue
It was a typical day in the Human Village, people chatting in the streets, others buying and selling things, some were just passing by. One of those was the famous magician of black and white, Marisa Kirisame, who had just decided to make a trip to the village in order to see if there was anything interesting going on. As such, she had left her weapon, the mini-hakkero, back at her home, after all, the youkai wandering near the village were all small fry that wouldn't need such power to be used on them.
As she observed everyone walking around, someone stook out with a white pair of rabbit ears coming out of her head. The moon rabbit was carrying a bag full of medicine, as usual, she was trying to gather funds for her master.
"Hey, Udonge!" said Marisa, waving at the moon rabbit as she approached her.
She turned around, with a very inexpressive look "Oh, Marisa. What do you want?"
"Eh, I was just wondering what stuff you're carrying around this time. Anything interesting?" she asked, with a most curious look to her face as she was eyeing the bag with eyes full of desire.
Reisen wasn't amused "Nothing for you to steal, witch." she bluntly said, not wanting to deal with the kleptomaniac's antics.
"Hey, I don't steal! I just-"
As she was going to finish, Marisa's speech was interrupted by the booming sound of a drum being played as loudly as possible, which definitely caught the witch and the rabbit's attention as they noticed a crowd of humans and youkai alike to form. Without saying anything to each other, both of them went to join the crowd to find the reason for all the commotion.
Surrounded by people, there were two girls. The drum tsukumogami, Raiko, fiercely hitting the drum she was sitting on with the drum mallets attached to her shoes; the other was the rokurokubi, Sekibanki, who was quietly standing next to Raiko, holding her ears so as to not be turned deaf by the loud sounds of the drums.
Eventually Raiko stopped once there was a large gathering of people "Human and youkai! Don't leave the village! We aren't in Gensokyo anymore!" she announced.
Such an announcement was obviously met with confusion and a bit of panic as the people on the crowd began to look at each other trying to understand if anybody else had any idea of what was going on.
"Not in Gensokyo...?" Reisen said, her eyes going wide open.
"It's true." said Sekibanki, her tone was calm and very collected "I felt something was amiss and decided to investigate. The village is not in Gensokyo anymore. The Bamboo Forest of the Lost, the Hakurei Shrine, the Forest of Magic... They have all completely disappeared."
With that, panic ensued. The villagers all began talking to each other in a panic, wondering what to do and how that could've happened, the voices of hundred of beings talking at once was far too much for anybody to be able to understand even a single word of what was being said. With the kind of youkai Sekibanki was, there was no doubt that she had scouted the place using her removable head and copies of it.
"So I can't return home anymore?!" said Reisen, managing to keep her cool, but clearly she was holding back some panic herself.
"An incident... And just when I left my mini-hakkero at home too." said Marisa, letting out an annoyed grunt.
The Hieda house, the biggest building in the entirety of the Human Village. It was a place that oozed tradition to the point of feeling outdated. There were many house-servants around to keep the place in a good shape, as well as a large vegetable garden. In there, the owner, Hieda no Akyuu, was currently holding a conversation in her room with Toyosatomimi no Miko, who had arrived just moments ago.
"Thank you for your information about Senkai, Ms.Toyosatomimi. This is certainly going to be of use for the Gensokyo Chronicles." said Akyuu, as she was writting down some notes.
"It was no problem. Being part of Gensokyo's history is quite the honor." said Miko, with a pleased smile that soon switched over to a more curious expression "However... Surely you heard the loud drumming outside?"
"That must've been the tsukumogami, Ms.Horikawa. She plays concerts in the village from time to time." Akyuu answered, looking fairly unconcerned.
"That didn't sound like music though. It's just the same beat, over and over again. It sounds more like... A warning."
As if on cue, someone barged right into the room looking very much nervous. That one being Marisa, who began panting as soon as she arrived, clearly a sign she had rushed over to the place.
"Akyuu! It's another incident!" said Marisa, pausing to catch her breath "The Human Village... We're not in Gensokyo anymore!"
"Excuse me?!" said Miko, her eyes widening as she let out a small gasp
"We've been relocated?!" said Akyuu, looking just as surprised "Could this be the work of Ms.Yakumo...?"
Suddenly something crashed through the room's window, startling all three of them and making them jump. It started hovering right in front of Akyuu and both Miko and Marisa seemed ready to destroy it, before it opened up, revealing a small letter.
"... Clearly not." said Akyuu, as she recovered from the scare. Seeing as the letter seemed to be directed at her she picked it up and began reading it.
"What does it say?" asked Miko
"Yeah! Don't leave us in the dark!" said Marisa, her curiosity being palpable.
"... It seems somebody has brought us to another world. The reasons for it, I don't know, but they're likely going to be answered in a meeting that somebody has to go as our representative." explained Akyuu, calmly.
"Well, I'll do it then! We gotta bring the village back to it's place as soon as possible. Leave that to me!" said Marisa.
"Let me handle it, witch. It seems like a diplomatic meeting and I already have experience with those." said Miko.
"Indeed, it would be wise of us to allow Ms.Toyosatomimi to take charge. While I'm usually the one the humans usually look for when trouble arises, if the meeting ends in fighting, I would likely not survive." Akyuu sighed, then directing her gaze at Marisa "You and I should keep the village stable, Marisa. You were once the representant of the humans in the religious war from back then, so you certainly have some influence, as small as it may be."
"Hmph... All right. I don't have my mini-hakkero with me anyway. I can't go into a fight like this." said Marisa folding her arms and looking to the side, disappointed.
"Very well, it is decided." said Miko, directing herself to Akyuu "Where is the meeting going to be held?"
"That little ball has a button under it, pressing it should bring you there." said Akyuu, pointing at the metallic ball "Be careful, Ms.Toyosatomimi, we're in completely uncharted territory now."
"Yeah, come back in one piece will ya?" said Marisa, smirking at Miko in spite of the situation.
"I think I should be the least of your concerns." said Miko, letting out a small smile of her own as she pressed the button "I will return shortly, mark my words."
And with that, Miko vanished in the middle of the room, leaving Marisa and Akyuu by themselves.
"Well then, now we should focus on keeping the village calm..." said Akyuu as she organized some papers on her desk, then glancing at the broken window "... And then fix the mess caused by that ball."
Miko soon found herself in the most peculiar of places she began looking around at the immense room she was in and all it's occupants, though by far the one who drawed the most attention from him was the giant metal creature present there.
"That thing... It looks like one of the creations of the kappa..." she thought.
Looking back at the scenary around her, it was clearly not a normal room. She wasn't too surprised by it, as the place she herself lived in was far from being normal itself and much further away from following the laws of physics.
Miko kept herself calm and just decided to wait until the meeting started, making sure to make use of her enchanced auditory senses to not let a single word that may be said slip by.
Problem Child
Prime's frown deepened, but he knew there was little use in demanding answers from the organics around him. He couldn't help but stare at them all. So small. So fleshy. What kind of weird vehicles must they turn into? He looked to Miko, the most recent of arrivals. She didn't seem any more aware than the rest of them, but she was keeping quiet. He wondered if these creatures were also chosen as leaders. It stood to reason they'd be in the same lot as him, with their own homes in danger. This could be the best chance to start cooperating. If it weren't for the fact that Optimus was one of the least qualified Autobots to handle this kind of interspecies contact. He did his best to ignore the rather menacing looking dark organic with the booming voice. He'd cross that space-bridge when he reached it.
What if there’s no better word than just not saying anything?
Duty First
And so it has gotten awkwardly quiet again. Just like most meetings in the base go, really. The giant robot man has gone silent, the most recent arrival looks like she can blend in one of those odd tales he heard about the Vektan Orient district, and the rather rugged young man seems to have gone quiet again.
Sigh.
A hand inside the coat, and voila! A steaming mug of tea! A straw into the mug, and into the port, and voila! A steaming mug of tea that's drinkable!
Siiiip.
Hmm....that map, on second thought might indicate where we are...and is that Outpost 341 the Captain sees on the map? Yes. It. Is! Time to see who might be our neighbour then.
Siiiip.
всегда верен
feeling blue
The silence was ruling over the room, clearly nobody had any idea of what was going on and were as lost as Miko herself was. Someone had to say something in order for them to begin discussing what was going on and it seemed Miko herself would have to do that. She looked at the giant planet hovering in front of her and then she began floating and went closer to the planet. She touched it and found out it was intangible, probably just an illusion. She examined it throughly from different angles while flying, trying to find anything recognizable in it
"Definitely not the outside world, and definitely not Gensokyo..." she thought, before looking over all those that were present "Very well, I assume all of you here are the supposed leaders of each location in this strange world? I believe some introductions are in order, starting with myself. I am Toyosatomimi no Miko, or just Miko, for your convenience."
Miko was keeping her cool, she was always one to try and take charge of things and this was no exception. Floating above the table probably made her look a bit more impressive even more so coupled with her majestic cape, though she was still fairly low in height compared to say, Optimus.
edited 26th Mar '15 10:06:06 PM by FullMoon
Minutes Before Battleworld
The stage was all set perfectly. Axis was now within the Eart hSphere, and was something that neither the Titans, nor the AEUG could ignore for long. Their mere presence was going to alter the course of the war between the two factions, and it was going to change to Haman's liking. This conflict had become so vitriolic that, despite the Neo Zeon entrance, it was unlikely that the two factions would take their focus away from each other until one of the two was wiped out. Then the leftovers would be simple enough to clean up, leaving the Earth in Zeon's control.
Haman reclined in her seat in the mansion, pleased at how everything was turning out. The regent of the Zabi family only had to kick back and wait to be contacted by one of the two factions. In her hand she swirled a glass of red wine for a moment, taking a slow, deep breath as she let the moment sink in. The years leading up to this, it was all going to pay off. The wine barely had the chance to reach her lips before the door to the lounge was thrown open wit ha cry of "Lady Haman!"
Haman sat up right and turned her steely gaze to the soldier that burst into the room. The soldier came to a complete halt, immediately flinging himself into a salute to avoid her ire. "Lady Haman, there is a...situation that has suddenly come up." He blurted out.
Haman pulled herself from her seat, setting her glass of wine on the end table as she walked to the door. She let out a silent sigh, lamenting the loss of her evening. As she passed the soldier, she motioned for him to follow her. He stumbled for a moment before jogging to catch up with her. "What is it? Have the Titans or AEUG contacted us?"
The grown man, losing all of his nerve, did the best he could to look anywhere but at her. No body liked having to deliver bad news after all. "No, nothing like that. Its a bit more dire. Our watchmen were looking out of Axis when they noticed..."
Glemy Toto walked the halls of the Netype Research Facility on the outer rim of Axis. While not a researcher himself, he has always been an ally of their progress and developments, lending whatever aid he could. It usually came down to sums of money, but anything he could do to aid the understanding of the next stage in human evolution. SO caught up in his own thoughts, the young man did not even hear the pitter-patter of feet running up behind him.
"Glemy Glemy Glemy Glemy!" Came the cries of Elpeo Puru as she nearly bowled over the young man, causing him to trip and stumble. The young girl let out a laugh at his embarrassment and ran circles around her, clearly excited about something.
Glemy ran a hand over his face and cleared his throat as he tried to regain his composure. He fixed Puru with a stern glare as he scolded "Elpeop Puru! Cease this unladylike behavior right now. This is not how a soldier of Zeon should carry herself." Glemy was always strict with manners and behavior, not that it ever worked on Puru.
Puru groaned in boredom before grabbing his wrist and pulling him down the hallway. "Shut up about that junk, you have to see this!" She said, yanking on the blond haired young man to follow her down the hall.
When Puru finally stopped pulling him, Glemy found himself in front of a window. The view out into space was pleasent, but nothing to get excited about like this. "Elpeo Puru, if this is one of your jokes I promise you I will..." Glemy trailed off as he took another look. Aside from space, the window had a good view of Earth, or at least what was supposed to be Earth. One look at the surface proved that it was not Earth though. The geography was completely wrong. There was no Africa, no Australia, no Europe, nothing but unrecognizable landmasses.
Haman stormed into the control room for the movement of Axis. There were many operators running about as they tried to understand what had happened. Not only was the Earth completely different, there was not a single Colony in sight, if in orbit at all. Haman fixed the monitor showing the new planet Axis was orbiting with a furious glare. This could mean that everything was ruined.
It was then that something floated its way through the door. A strange metallic orb swooped right up to Haman and stopped in front of her, delivering its letter. The Newtype woman took the letter and read it over carefully. Her teeth grit together as the letter crumpled in her fist, but she made sure to keep a calm, if fierce expression on her face in front of her people. She looked to the floating ball in contemplation for a few moments.
After thinking it over, Haman turned to Mashymre Cello and pointed at him. "I have been called away to a sudden meeting it seems. While I am gone I want more information about this new planet. Halt all production until we are able to find new sources of minerals." She ordered.
Mashymre, for his part, was trying to play the role of the dutiful soldier as he always had. He was just as bewildered by all of this as anyone and did not understand what was going on. Never the less though, he saluted when given his orders and barked out "Yes ma'am!" He could only watch as Haman Karn pressed the button on the small machine and disappeared right in front of them.
Meeting Room
The experience of the method of transportation was definitely not pleasant. Haman braced herself on the chair that she suddenly found herself sitting in once her consciousness caught up with her. She recovered quickly enough, fairly used to feeling strain on her mind. She looked around the room, noticing some very interesting things. For once, this room felt odd to look around in. As if panning her vision sideways somehow warped the space in front of her, to give a clear view of all angles possible. It was somewhat dizzying to think of.
Another thing she noticed was that she was not alone in this room. There were other people in seats, a floating brain in a gar, and what looked like a red and blue Mobile Suit inside of the room. So these were the other leaders pulled into this meeting. Haman took a moment to size the others up before her gaze shift over to the center of the room. She took in the large hologram of the planet, showing the geography of the whole planet.
Haman sat back in her seat, embroidered with her name oddly enough. Her arms crossed as one leg crossed over the other as she took a deep breath. As she 'felt' the room around her she remarked "This joke is in poor taste."
The Maid
Riksville, Pre-Transportation
"Well, ain't this been a good season. Can't keep the people of Mar Sara down, not for long I recon" says Jim Raynor, the legendary outlaw and Terran Hero as he looks from the hills leading to Mount Jacobs at the progress in rebuilding Riksville. After the Zerg infestation was dealt with and Kerrigan regained control of the Swarm people had started to flock to Mar Sara... to the hot, arid planet, with its bountiful resources and its distance from the mess that is the center of the galaxy. A simpler life, for those willing to defend it.
Twice now, Jim Raynor had started out in Mar Sara... once they took down Mengsk he owed it to the old red rock to come back, at least for a while, and see that things were in order. A good number of his fleet, the Raynor Raiders felt likewise... many good men at his side had set out with him from this very Riksville when he rebelled.
"Indeed, Sir. Let us hope this is the last time we got to rebuild Riksville" says Matt Horner, his trusted right hand man from the bridge of the Hyperion, talking through a communicator "Still, there is much more to do yet"
"Ain't you right there... I spent as much time as I could on these fields and soon we got to part to a new battlefield. Right out of one problem and landing into another... at least Valerian has got things under control in Korhal. I can't imagine the headache if after we finally toppled Mengst a guy like me was supposed to take the reins there" says Jim, grimacing a little at the sheer thought.
"Indeed, though I can only hope we could have adapted to the situation, much as I may dislike to say it, Prince Valerian has been of the utmost importance in keeping peace and control in Terran space... and we'll need his presence and cunning on our side if we're to help deal with those Hybrids" replies the cool, gentlemanly voice of Matt.
"Indeed... is the crew all waiting?" asks Jim, walking over to his Vulture, revving up the old machine.
"They are, Sir. After doing their work around the galaxy they are all now in the Hyperion to catch on the trip back to the fleet" replies Matt... just as something utterly strange started to happen "Wait... Sir, we're... what is going on?"
"Holy Molly..." Jim says, eyes open wide as he sees it happening... how the horizon up to a certain point simply shifts... vanishes and disappears to be replaced with... quite a different scenery. The mountains were there, backwater station, there, Riksville there, the canyons... but beyond... Sea. So much water as far as eye could see.
And then, a single, metallic sphere coming down to him...
"Well, I'll be damned..." says Jim, taking and reading the letter before he, with grim determination, drives down the mountainside, towards the Hyperion.
Hyperion Bridge, some while later
"Unbelievable... to transport an entire chunk of Mar Sara and everyone on it?" says Matt, a serious look on his face.
"Now, now, Matt... we've seen the Protoss transport those Colossus and even Motherships right into mid air and Zerg create monsters the size of small moons. And we don't even know what their daddies, the Xel'Naga are capable of doing" says Jim, as pieces of metal are assembled around his body.
"Technically, I imagine it is possible... though the sheer means of it remains quite enigmatic... as well, such a flawless teleportation... I didn't feel a thing until my reading suddenly went crazy" says the young scientist, Stetmann.
"Yeah, I imagine it's quite an exciting predicament for you, Stetmann. Then again, if you can figure out what happened and how to go back, I'll be most grateful. You can poke your devices into as many things around as you like" says Jim smiling.
"So mon, you're going right into the one who did this to us?" asks the raspy voice of Spectre Gabriel Tosh "Right as they want and ask? Something is right fishy about all that"
"Not like there's much choice, Tosh" replies Jim "If I don't go, we don't learn a thing and there's a pretty clear threat giving us a week to live. Dunno about you, but I'd like to learn more about that"
"The situation is unpredictable, but I'd say that odds are Raynor isn't in too much danger. If they are advanced enough to transport us here without any warning, then most likely they could have killed us all just as easy" says Nova Terra, the strongest Ghost around and agent of Valerian. Since Mengsk Senior had been eviscerated by Kerrigan, Valerian saw it fit to give Nova another of those memory wipes to ensue things went smooth between Jim and her. They hadn't met in the best of situations a few times now... and Jim knew very well the danger that Nova could pose. The Ghost herself didn't complain and indeed welcomed the wipe... so neatly had she been shaped to be a weapon of the system over the years.
"There is that too... well, in the meantime you all know what to do. Secure the borders, care for the population and start establishing a proper base of operations. We'll need to make more robust the barracks of the Mar Sara Colonial Militia and get some bunkers down" says Jim, preparing himself to push the button.
"Just be careful out there, Jimbo, you hear me?" asks Rory Swann, the oldest member of the gang around.
"Don't worry, Rory... I'm not exactly going empty handed" says Jim, taking a single step in his custom black marine armor, rifle held in one hand and a cocky smile on his face as he presses the button... and is then transported to the strangeness beyond...
Gathering
Quite a few people... and some not quite people... all talking and seeming as confused as one would expect. Jim takes a step on his armor
◊, letting the skull painted visor go up once he makes sure the air around is breathable and then stands by the seat with his name on it... leaning on the armrest "Well howdy there. I take it the ringmaster of this circus has not shown himself yet?"
Calamity is a housewife
The Meeting
Ky witnessed a bulky, giant of a man enter the meeting room, much the same way he did. Teleportation. It only took Ky a few minutes of gathering his thoughts to suspect that none of these people were from where Ky called home, and this man was no different, seeming to be wearing some sort of Black-Tech armor that would've stood out where he came from and be confiscated rather swiftly.
The man's visor went up, revealing his head, the proportions of which didn't seem to match up with his gigantic armored body.
("I suspect this man is much smaller than his armor...I wonder how he can move around so easily in that?")
"No, they haven't. I suppose we'll have to wait and see...perhaps for all the leaders to show up. I see empty chairs amongst us..."
Ky addressed Raynor, briefly forgetting to introduce himself. He stood up from his seat to give a slight bow, with his palm at his breast. These people were fellow leaders after all.
"Where are my manners? My name is Ky Kiske."
"Shake the dust." - Anis Mojgani
Problem Child
Optimus looked over at Ky and Rayner. He considered standing politely to introduce himself, but their necks would be craning as it was with him sitting. Regardless, now was the time to make his presence felt. Clearing his vocal capacitors with a cough, he spoke up.
"Hello. My name is Optimus Prime, of the planet Cybertron," he started, hoping he wasn't coming off as too rigid. He was not the ideal spokesman for his kind, though he supposed it could have been worse. The sphere could have gone to Sentinel, after all.
"I take it you organics have found yourselves... er... displaced?"
What if there’s no better word than just not saying anything?
Eternal Princess
Santa Destroy - No More Heroes Motel, 5 mins before relocation
"What!? That's some serious bull shit! That one attack took out half my health! Cheap ass fucking boss!"
The otaku leaned closer to the television, gritting his teeth as he furiously mashed the buttons on his controller.
"Yeah, there we go! Not so hard now, are you?"
The room filled with the sound of digital explosions as a pixilated hero began defeating its adversary. The young man playing the vidoe game was a professional killer. Travis Touchdown, ranked 11 in the United Assassins Association. The room he played in was heavily decorated with figurines of cute moe girls and giant robots and posters of much of the same. If his victims could see him now...
"Wait, what? Ah, not now!"
The room beneath his feet began to shake. The earth quake didn't come so much as shock as it did an inconvenience. You come to expect these sorts of things living in California. Travis got up from his chair and slid toward the tv, pinning the thing to the wall with his foot to keep it from toppling over during the commotion, all the while he kept mashing the buttons on his controller. He all but ignored what was happening, keeping a singular focus on his digital enemy. It was only when the game froze, the image becoming distorted and the console releasing a high pitch noise, did Travis finally take his eyes off the screen.
"What!? No, no, no, no! God damn piece of shit!"
Travis gave the television a kick and the thing shut off. He stayed where he was, riding out the rest of the earth quake on his back. When things settled he got up to assess the damage. The place was always a mess, so not much changed there. Seeing his precious figurines and models thrown about really pissed him off though. He stepped around the mess to the kitchen to grab a beer then worked his way back to his chair. After that little upset he wasn't feeling up for any thing. Fate had other plans however.
After a few moments, the robotic ball crashed through his window and hovered in the room. Travis leaped from his chair, his beam katana springing to life. He stood in a stand off with the thing for a few minutes before it opened, revealing the letter in side.
"The fuck is this?"
He took the letter from the contraption and silently read it.
"THE FUCK IS THIS!? Is this for real?"
The letter read like so much bull shit, not the least of it was assuming Travis a leader. The part about dying in one week if he didn't comply almost sounded like a challenge, and part of him wanted to blow off this mysterious host just to see what he would do.
Still, Travis could not help but feel that he should follow through with the letter's orders. If what it said was true, it would give him the chance to play the hero. The premise sounded almost like it was taken straight from an anime. Even if he didn't want to play nice, it would take him straight to the source so he could deal this host right then and there. But truthfully, Travis just really wanted to press the button.
The meeting
Travis was on all four barfing his guts out. With no bathrooms or trash cans, he had to leave his mess on the floor near his apparent assigned seating. Wiping his mouth clean, he got up and sat down.
"Can't say I am one for talking. Ever play an eroge? Two hours of text and still no glimpse of ass? Who gots time for that shit. How about we skip all the small talk and skip straight to the important stuff, or better yet the action."
Travis eyed the rest of those gathered. As he looked over each one, his stern expression softened before becoming something of a stupid grin. Space marines, giant robots, anthropomorphic animals, most these guys looked like they walked straight out of a video game or manga. Best of all, there was a real life moe girl floating in the middle of the room. Travis angled himself in his seat in a not so subtle attempt to look up her skirt.
edited 27th Mar '15 2:10:42 AM by ImmortalNeet
How do you kill that which has no life?
Moriya Shrine
"Ah." Kanako murmured. The letter, the relocation, the tone of the letter... what hubris.
"So, you attending then?" Her co-deity piped up from across the room.
"Naturally. How could I not?"
"Well, try to pay attention to the others and not just talk their ears off. We don't need to make the conversation with Tenma more awkward than it is already going to be."
As she finished the sentence, the third of the divine trio, Sanae, walked in.
"You two have been so easy-going about this..." said Sanae, looking out the window at the sea that was most certainly not there before.
"We're gods. It would be unseemly if we appear panicked." replied Kanako, before gesturing at the metal ball. "I shall be off then. Take care of Miss Shameimaru when she arrives."
Sanae sighed. "Got it."
With a wave and the press of a button, Kanako disappeared.
Somewhere else on Youkai mountain
"So, like, what do you see?" Hatate asked. Beside her, Momiji sat on a rock, eyes seemingly unmoving. That was ultimately an illusion though. Momiji's telegnosis meant that she was actually seeing a great deal.
"Nothing familiar, I'm afraid. In any direction," The white wolf tengu beside her replied. "There's a very pretty castle to the immediate north though, if you want to write an article... and a significantly less pretty one to the east. I guess it's more of a fortress or citadel or stronghold."
"Alright, hang on..." said Hatate, typing in the words on her phone. "How about south and west?"
"There's a small town on top of a hill to the south, and a really big city to the west. Lots of really tall buidlings there, like Miss Yasaka has told us of the Outside World."
Hatate smiled despite the circumstances, she was getting several good pictures for her article now. She'd have to check with Momiji if they were of the right places though. "You can, like, see further than that, right?"
"Yeah, but there's so much. I've yet to sort it all out. Much bigger than Gensokyo, this world."
"Mhm. Thanks for helping me out." said Hatate. "So... which of these, like, pictures are correct?"
Momiji took one look at the screen, before pointing at the pictures that represented Melior, the Citadel of Anm, Starling City and Twilight Town. She saw some pictures that did not belong, like some shots of Fuyuki, the city north of Melior, and Iriliya Castle, beyond the sea. With her ability, she was compiling an idea of what was to be found in the world. There were five great bodies of water, and youkai mountain was now adjacent to the biggest of them.
"No problem. Those two there," she said, gesturing at Fuyuki and Iriliya. "Don't belong, they're even further away."
"Ah, ok."
"I'm going to have to report this all to Lord Tenma anyway. I should be going." she muttered, getting up on her feet. "Farewell then."
"Mhm. I'll get started on my article. See ya." The two parted, each one intent on finishing their assignment, self-imposed or otherwise.
Gathering
Kanako stepped into the meeting room. She eyed the room. She eyed her seat. She eyed the others present.
How grand.
Without saying anything, she sat down on her seat. Answers would be forthcoming, no doubt.
"Well, hello there Miss Miko. I trust you are well?" she said, giving a little wave.
edited 27th Mar '15 3:29:33 AM by joergenjetsam
Conception is sin Birth is pain Life is toil Death is inevitable
Discussion thread.
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Lips smacking against one another. Stomach flaps stirring. Greasy skin rubbing against greasy skin. Decrepit old teeth forming a smile. The Cure stands at the edge of his masterpiece. He stands at the edge of a new world. Although, it would be easier to describe what the Cure had created as a chunk of rock with open spaces. The Cure wasn't a creative being. The Cure wasn't even sure what creativity was. But he was sure of one thing.
He enjoyed a good battle.
Kuvira contemplated the view from her room at the 'palace' in Zaofu. It felt weird, to return to her home after three years. Everything was pretty much the same- Suyin hadn't even moved those plants she hated so much. The matriarch of the Metal Clan was so... complacent. Perhaps this is what led to Kuvira's victory. Yes, here she stood, in her old home, but in a new context. Before, she was just a normal police chief, nothing more. Today, she is the Great Uniter. The one who will bring peace to the entire Earth Empire.
Yet something feels inherently wrong. Brushing her lips, Kuvira glares at her reflection on the window, trying to stare past the hardened stare and at her troops down below, relocating the citizens of Zaofu to new locations. She tries to look past the determined gaze of the Great Uniter, the image she built to herself, staring right back at her. It feels rightful, yes, but something deep within Kuvira's stomach rumbles, a warning that something bad might happen. And then, it hits her. Literally.
"Kuvira?"
The soft voice of her husband, Bataar Jr, cannot take her grasp away from something just outside the borders of her city. It is a calm afternoon out there, the sun setting just outside the horizon, yet she knows that something is wrong, something in this idyllic visage is just wrong-
"Suyin and her family have been relocated to the underground cells." Bataar Jr reported with a coldness not befitting someone who had just announced the arrest of their own father and mother.
"Hm." Kuvira replies, absentmindedly. She feels her husband's hand upon her shoulder, and she turns around, but her eyes, her eyes remain stuck to the borders, ready, fingers twitching, something's coming, something's right around her back, ready to stab her, she can't look away, can't let it—
"It's all fine now." Bataar Jr whispers, caressing her hand, and Kuvira's eyes slowly meet her husband's. "Zaofu is now truly ours."
She takes a deep breath. Perhaps it was all a big mistake. Perhaps she was just imagining things, a consequence of a victory not only over Zaofu and the last strands of the Earth Kingdom, but also the Avatar. Yes, Kuvira can allow herself the chance to look away for a moment, nothing bad is going to happen, and the sudden earthquake that throws Kuvira and Bataar Jr to the ground promptly prove her wrong. Right in front of her eyes, the plants that Suyin hated so much fall to the ground and break spectacularly, everything around them shaking and shaking. She can barely hear Bataar Jr's screams as he drags her under a table, having learned how to do with things like this when he was a kid and his brothers were discovering earthbending, but Kuvira can't stop cussing at herself.
Not even when the shaking stops does she take a moment to contemplate what has truly happened there. It's only after Bataar Jr's rapid breathing adopts a rhythm that Kuvira finds something to take her out of that self-imposed trance. She crawls out from behind the table, and meekly stumbles towards the window. Her eyes widen, her jaw almost droops to the floor. It's only natural considering what they're seeing with their own eyes.
"Since when..." Kuvira breathed out, turning around to stare at Bataar Jr's equally surprised (and somewhat frightened) eyes. "... did Zaofu border on a sea?"
The first few seconds of surprise lead to pandemonium in the streets of Zaofu. Unbeknownst to them, many other cities and locations were now going through the same reaction. For Zaofu had become a part in the Cure's puzzle, and he couldn't be more satisfied.
Before Kuvira could order the domes of Zaofu to be closed, a robotic ball would fly towards her, coming from the sky. It entered her room, and before she could try to metalbend it away, opened up, revealing a letter written in yellow rolled up paper. Also unbeknownst to her, many of the leaders of the neighboring areas would be receiving the same letter, also written in yellow rolled up paper, in their own languages.
Those that pressed the button would feel a tingling traveling from their fingers all the way up to their brains, after which they would suddenly be thrown into and out of darkness, as if they were on a rather bumpy roller coaster going through an awfully designed loop de loop. The feeling of being suddenly shaken around would last only a few seconds, before they would feel as if they had been thrown on a vat of cold water, at which point they would then suddenly appear in a round metallic room, illuminated by a set of ceiling lights spread around the outer rim of the room.
There were no doors or windows, but what was there was a gigantic round table, with approximately thirty seats spread around said table. Some of them seemed designed for humans, but some were designed for much bigger people. At that point, people would start noticing that the room was quite expansive. So expansive, you couldn't see the ceiling. You could theoretically fit someone five times the size of a normal human in there. And there was quite a space between the chairs and the outer rim of the room- enough space for one to fit in a car, or two cars, or maybe even a truck without anything attached to it.
Each one of the leaders who pressed the button on the round ball would find themselves transported to a chair designed for them, with their name on the back. Despite the size of the room, somehow- perhaps through a way that broke the laws of physics so hard Isaac Newton would come back to life, have a heart attack and then roll around in his newly dug grave- everyone could see each other, even if they were sitting at opposite ends of the table. Everything about this room screamed 'weird'...
... and don't get me even started on the fact that on the middle of the table was a holographic projection of a world. A planet floating calmly in space, oblivious to the fact it had been created from chunks of other worlds. Their world.
Battleworld.
edited 26th Mar '15 4:33:49 PM by Stratofarius