Bumblebee fell back to the ground, this time pinned beneath the tail of the chopper he downed. He lay dazed for a few moments, before the sounds of sirens perked him up. He shoved the hunk of metal aside as best as he could, rose to his feet and quickly ran for a narrow alley, jumping the fence effortlessly and transforming on the other side, driving out of the alley as an apparently perfectly normal yellow car, merging with traffic as best he could.

But it wouldn't last. He had no driver, and no idea where to go. He needed to find someone he could trust - anyone - and do it fast, or he'd end up on some kind of organic research slab, being cut upon for spare parts. As he drove, he kept an optic open for any Autobots or humans he could recognise.

Optimus sighed with relief as he shut off the communication link with Iacon. He'd made his report, and it had gone about as well as he had expected. Sentinel had immediately accused him of lying about the Decepticon presence, but thankfully Ultra Magnus had given him the benefit of the doubt. They were displeased that an Autobot had been left behind in organic territory, but acknowledged that remaining behind would have spelled disaster for the Autobots. They were curious about the Autobots from Kaon that had been encountered, and were already drawing up plans for an envoy to re-establish contact. They were preparing medical facilities for the arrival of Ratchet and the other wounded.

None of this surprised Prowl. What surprised the Ninja-bot was Optimus announcing that he'd received a message from the Cure.

"So, run this by me again, Optimus," he said, swivelling his chair to face his leader. "You mean to tell me that you want to fight in one of the Cure's interdimensional death-matches?"

"We don't know the enemy, Prowl," said Optimus. "We don't understand the Cure, nor his capabilities or his deeper motives. We need to find allies. People who will stand up to the Cure and fight on behalf of their people. This tournament is a chance for Iacon to show its mettle and show Battleworld that we're a force to be reckoned with, but also to be reasoned with."

"And how will this work, exactly?"

"I guess... I guess I just say 'Cure, this is Optimus Prime, and I'm ready for a portal to your tournament'. Or something to that effect."

The three Autobots let the silence hang in the bridge, as they waited some sort of response.

As the Folkstone air team made their landing, they could see several Autobots approaching to welcome them, among them were Powerglide and Wing Saber

"Now, don't make an idiot of yourself, Powerglide, you can come on a little... strong. Just be professional and this will all go smoothly for us all."

"Powerglide, are you... talking to yourself?" asked Wing Saber.

"Er... perhaps."

Zi-Jin Cheng Border

-Overjoyed at the armed response sent against them, the orks respond to the summation with enthusiasm and gunfire. Choppas raised and shootas blazing, the Citadel's looted cars charge the police, not bothering with doors in their haste to get stuck in.-

Dante laughed as Havoc inquired about employment. "I'm barely even able to pay monthly rent on this place, not to mention repair costs whenever it gets assaulted by demons. Not that I think I'm gonna have to worry about rent now..." Dante leaned forward as he grabbed another slice of pizza. "Look, I can tell you're a fan of the guns, so tell ya what, You can keep em. No charge. Consider it a gift to a friend of my friend here." He said as he motioned toward Hei. " I can always get more. I'll even thrown in a couple of clips of ammo. Not like I need em, and I'll take the heat if Lady notices I jacked a couple of her clips."

He got out of the chair at this point and walked into the back, emerging a few seconds later holding the ammo as he tossed it toward Havoc. "There ya go." Trish just shook her head and walked back to her spot near the back.

Sure enough, a portal promptly opened in front of Prime and the rest, bidding him entry to the Common Room

Meeting Room 2

"It's entirely possible that you're right, of course, especially since you seem to know him much better than I do, but I think you may be underestimating him a bit," Minako countered, picking up the phone the broker had left on the table and flicking it at him like a wand, or else a small, too-blocky baton, "I don't think he'll despair at something as silly as that, because he's an idealist. Ideals are meant to be strived for, not always achieved, even through the course of an entire lifetime."

"In any case, I'm glad to see you enjoying yourself, Izaya-kun!" Shrugging blithely, she returned her lips to their regular, smile-shaped curvature and began perusing the contents of the half-borrowed cell. "Did he say specifically what it was he wanted help with? Things have been shifting around a lot in the past half-hour or so, after all."

edited 5th Feb '16 12:36:54 AM by darksidevoid

"Well, I didn't go into too much detail about your human nature, but I did tell her that you were cloned mandalorian warriors from another universe. If anyone deserves most of the truth, it's her. I also mentioned that there were humans in the other chunks who had never heard of monsters, so we'll see how she adjusts to a clean slate of human interaction."

"Ohhhh myyy STARS!" Mettaton zoomed closer, and slung an extendable arm around Fixer's shoulders. "Gorgeous, you simply MUST tell me all about my beloved surface world. Met any interesting celebrities? Any new advances in entertainment? How about fashion? Music? Culture? How's the weather up there?"

edited 5th Feb '16 3:58:29 AM by LizardOfAus

Mami's Apartment

"Alright...so the bad guys came from...Kaon, aaaaand the robots who helped us were from Iacon...okay..."

Sin said rather slowly, taking it all in. With that aside, he flashed a grin at Yukari as they shook hands. With a brief flourish, he pointed his thumb to his chest.

"Sin Kiske. I'm a bounty hunter who helps those in need!"

The Valentine chimed in next, not nearly as arrogantly.

"Ramlethal Valentine. A pleasure."

Sin piped up once more when introductions were done.

"So now we know that there are definitely hostiles coming from Kaon. Why were they here anyway?"

-

Ramlethal nodded at Madoka's inquiry.

"Yes. We had decided splitting up was the proper course of action to locate the others."

The brief thought that she ran into other hostiles came to her, the fear that things may have not gone so well for her.

"I hope she's alright..."

Her usual stoic disposition had suddenly changed, her eyes narrowing, her gaze turned to the floor, and her shoulders tightening up. She was worried.

New Hell Border

Horada hacked up a lung in the process of catching his breath, and as soon as the phone collided with his head he went scurrying away behind a tree, out of earshot even as he intermittently peeked around the tree to see the others. “What the hell, boss man?! Your mercenaries got every kind of screw loose!”

“Listen. It’s a long story, but they can’t actually kill you.”

“What?”

“If they try, their heads will blow up.”

Horada pumped his fist. “Hell yeah! Time to show them what happens when you mess with—”

“Ohmygodshutup. Ripping off your arm won’t kill you, and you heard what Croc does with body parts.”

Horada peeked around the corner, and imagined Croc’s tongue whipping out to lick bloodied lips. “Fine! Jesus!” Horada said, jerking back into cover. “What do I do, then?”

“Listen up…”

After a few more moments, Horada strolled out from behind the tree and stopped before the pair of Suicide Squadders. “I am very, very sorry.” Horada said, looking anywhere but the two, “and to make up for it, you can tweak one of my body parts.” He looked up, and defensively put up his hands. “But just the arms and legs! And no permanent damage! And not the face!”

Common Room

The heiress was right on all counts, of course, but Celty hadn’t wanted to lose her nerve by hesitating. She didn’t need to be reminded of the cameras burning into her back (though she could stand to forget the sugary sweet pop music), but she had promised herself six months ago that she wouldn’t be afraid of the limelight anymore. Besides, she was hardly even the most conspicuous person in the room for a change!

But then there was the other side of the coin, the one flipping sunny-side up even as her conversation with the diplomat continued. She wasn’t responsible for just herself anymore, or even herself and Shinra. Ikebukuro was effectively an independent nation now; did that make her a state secret? It was an exhausting proposition to think about.

Nevertheless, it factored heavily into how she chose to pen her response to the redhead. Let me put it this way, she tapped out as she knelt down beside Shooter, Shooter’s one of a kind. As she held up her phone, she wrapped her arm around Shooter’s “neck” and began rubbing his front with that arm’s hand, coupled with the lack of verbal intonation making it impossible to tell if she was talking about the motorbike’s species or Shooter as an individual.

But Celty also knew by now that Mitsuru was smart enough to see that she was being overly coy, and the Rider didn’t want to alienate the heiress with her evasiveness. To make up for it, she decided to drop a few more hints. Just between you and me, he’s not possessed. Celty tapped out after getting to her feet. He’s actually a horse. Maybe you’ll get to see it, during the fight.

Celty then glanced at Aigis, her meticulous and mathematically precise signature serving as a fine tool for changing the subject, and a genuine curiosity. Is your friend okay? She asked, reflecting on the headphoned teenager’s odd delivery of her request to join the tourney, while mentally quashing the word ‘alien’ just as hard as she could. She seems a little stiff.

On the other side of the room, Mikado made a choking sound as his worst suspicions were confirmed, even as his parents’ bizarre naming choice paid dividends. He inched into position as to be behind Misaki and Haqua and within clear viewing distance of Akihiko, and began frantically charading in a series of nonsensical throat cutting motions, hand elongations, and arbitrary demarcations of time.

But after a moment, Mikado realized he was vastly overthinking things, and simply started mouthing questions so Akihiko could ask them. “Who are they? Where are they from? How can they catch him?”

Hell’s Gate Tokyo Apartment—First Floor Lobby

Brita was mostly right; the terminology was pretty much going over Shizuo’s head. But his brow furrowed as he put together the gist of it. So… it makes psychics stronger? Why the hell would he steal something like that?

Just then, Hibachi gracefully landed at the bottom of the stairs by tripping and falling into a mop bucket. Undeterred, he picked himself up and sped down the hall, vision fixed behind him for the demonic ten-year-old that was probably going to be haunting his dreams for the next little while. As a consequence, he ran straight into the man who had been haunting his dreams for the last little while, and fell back on his butt. Shizuo turned to face him, which from Hibachi’s perspective looked like a slow-motion replay of the moon from Majora’s Mask fixing him with its terrible, bloody gaze.

“Where the hell have you been?” Shizuo growled, his eyes narrowing as a fresh burst of attention-focusing adrenaline deployed to deal with this latest development.

Hibachi snapped to his feet. “Not getting my ass kicked by a nine-year-old!” Hibachi responded instantly, before he caught himself. “I mean, getting my payment! For you!” He fished out the real Meteor Shard and slapped it into Shizuo’s palm. As soon as he did so, the huckster visibly decompressed as though the Shard had been taking up a fair portion of his body weight. “And before you say anything, I know it’s valuable, cause all these cats can’t stop shaking me down for it.” He jutted his chin toward Brita. “Sup.”

Shizuo raised an eyebrow and turned the circle of glass over in his hand. “All of that for this?” He asked, disbelievingly.

Hell’s Gate Tokyo Garage

Tom’s world shrank down to the overlong barrel of Huang’s gun, and he lifted his hands over his head as he tried fairly unsuccessfully to put on a brave face. “Look, I’m *gulp* obviously missing a lot of context here. But if your bosses are willing to execute you for showing a little kindness to the enemy, maybe they’re not the best people to be working for in the first place.”

Against every ounce of his better judgement, Tom took a step forward and let his arms fall to his sides. “I’ve been paying attention; you aren’t helping the monkeys find their friend because they have anything to pay you with. And if your bosses had asked you to do this, we never would’ve had to get involved, right?” Tom took another step forward, putting him within arm’s length of the gun. “That means the only reason you’re helping them is because it’s the right thing to do. And like it or not, right now, calling a doctor for your boss’s sworn enemies is the right thing to do. It’s either that, or we swoop down on them guns blazing, hoping to catch them with their pants down.” He stole a glance at Yin, and Mao. “Even if they are terrorists, doesn’t that make us no better than they are?”

Tom looked Huang in the eye. “Are we?”

"I see. Hopefully there are more friendlier chunks in here than hostile ones, stars knows that we will need every ally we can get."

Fixer had a uncomfortable face as Mettaton wrapped his arm around his shoulder, though his helmet hid it.

"Well, for entertaintment there are the holomovies and holovids, with different genres like horror, action, musicals, drama, documentary and the like...our Mandalorian celebrity is our respected and honorable leader known as Mandalore, we have our war chants in our language as songs, I'm sure I have one of the songs saved in my datafiles, our fashion we wear is our armor, the humans must have varied fashion sense we don't know about, and the weather is usually clear and sunny, though sometimes it's cloudy and rainy.."

edited 5th Feb '16 1:47:03 PM by Darkomega245

Harley frowned a little at this, but walked up to him, swung her mallet over her head comicly high, then brought the thing down right on Horada's right foot, smashing it hard enough that it would be considerably painful to walk on for the next while, but was not broken.

"That's what you get for being a meany!" Harley turned to the Devils, a look of confusion now having overtaken her. "Er....what were we doing again?"

Gaige, now bored as she waited for the fights to start, looked around for anything interesting going on. She saw a man with glasses and a laptop who appeared to be doing all in his power to remain unnoticed, a sign to her that he had to be doing something interesting. Q would soon find the young nerd behind him, attempting to hop up and peek over his shoulder at the screen of the laptop, giving Q a nice view of her metal arm in the process.

"OMG, that is such an old computer that it's not even funny! That thing stopped being retro like 2500 years ago! Most people use those for scrap metal these days, if there are even any left. So whatyadoing?"

Kapital Kombat

Optics went wide in the splitsecond before the blow struck. The enchanted hammer met its mark, a twisted dent left in Megatron's torso chassis as he lurched back. Optics narrowed again as he saw Shao's arm move. In the moment he had, the Decepticon shifted into a more balanced position, just in time to catch the magic bolt with his shoulder and not the chest. It was a strange pain, burning like plasma yet somehow wounding deeper. Megatron's spark prickled. He would have to have Shockwave examine his systems after the farce wound down. For now...

He snapped the fusion cannon up as Shao Kahn charged, aiming center mass and firing. And again, with more power applied. For the third strike, however, Megatron aimed for the Konqueror's right knee, redirecting enough power for the barrel to glow red-hot and the flash to cause lens flare. He wound up the morningstar until it was a pink-white wheel in the air, then brought it down on Shao Kahn with an overhead strike.

Bow...

______________________________________

Zi-Jen Cheng, Imprisoned.

Overlord cocked his head to one side and then the other with a metal rasp while Yong Fu remained silent. He paused mid-motion to listen, but on the questioner's use of the word "drone," the Decepticon tittered, his optic covers narrowing. As Yong Fu continued, the tittering became a low chuckle, which quickly transitioned to a full-throated laugh hard enough to close his optics.

Oh, ohohohohohoho, drone am I? Haaaahahahahahahahahahahah...

Overlord opened his optics, and this time power crackled visibly within their sockets as he looked directly at where the Capellan interrogator sat. His fractured lips held a smirk, parted just enough to bare teeth. His voice now lowered an octave, carrying a rasping, harder quality that Yong Fu might remember from the audio recordings.

You stopped "asking" when you made your request an order. But are you in a position to even make that order? Your "people" believe in delegation. It's sensible of them. But since they think I'm just an oversized drone, they sent you. One task, and one task only, yours is to question, interrogate, torture, break, and other methods people like me do for diversion. I have a number of things I do for fun and business. You just do one. That's how they do things back home, sparkless, mindless automatons which do one task actual soldiers just don't have the time for. Necessary little things, sure, but not actual people. That's you right now. You command nothing, not respect, not prestige, not fear. Mind your manners, drone, and rephrase your question.

Overlord's remaining hand spun on its wrist, facing palm up in gesture. Deep in the Decepticon's chest cavity, the faint electronic pulse grew louder.

As for your pitiful attempt to cow me... You really thought you could chill the spark of a Warrior five million stellar cycles old-oh wait, no, of course you didn't. You have absolutely no clue what you're doing here. I should be insulted, but it's far too funny watching you and your fleshy hands fumble around. Oh yes. I figured that out. You're another of that species swarming over the continent. But your little chunk has some delusions of grandeur, of connection to some great legacy. All those little names that don't at all match the rest of your vocabulary, all proper nouns. You're just like the old Senate before we wiped them out, clinging to old terms from a long-lost golden age like they were precious heirlooms. They won't put you on our level, nor will they save you. Megatron will win, you will join the hundred other dead races in ash, and I will laugh.

Once more, the amiable pout was back.

Ohh, that's right, you asked what my relation was to Megatron. I didn't think you wanted to know the sordid details of that very personal affair. Silly me.~ Well, if you insist, Emperor Megatron commissioned my chassis's perfect upgrades, gave me the best small arms weapons Kaon could produce, and gave me the most delightful career I could ask for. Oh, and he's a wonderful sparring partner. He's the only one that's ever wrestled me to the ground.~

Overlord sighed.

He owes me a rematch, especially with how tightly he demands my loyalty these past stellar cycles.

edited 5th Feb '16 3:34:21 PM by Colonial1.1

Trevor, DMC Room

"We need to explain how the demon fight," Trevor explained to Hei, as he had his fill of pizza. "You and I are the only two here who actually fought the demon and know its tactics... Dante got blasted into the water by a wind spell called Garudyne. The demon fled when Dante returned in his demon form. Ms. Arisato of SEES appears to have recognized the spell and had helped us to understand what magic might work against this demon. Ms. Arisato's young age and... excitable personality hides a very tactical mind and her group seem to be demon hunters of some sort. She also has powerful forces watching over her which Dante and I had just met."

"The demon seeks to corrupt those that it meets by telling things that a person feels deep down is true and then twisting those dark secrets to corrupt them. The demon prefers to use agents to kill indirectly instead of using its own powers to kill," Trevor explained to the others. "Lady would have been killed by it if this demon killed directly."

Sypha, Hades Portal

Sypha attempted to hit the fallen angel in the side, but could not prevent the fallen angel from hitting her head and knocking her out like Lady was.

Carmilla, Santa Destroy Apartment Complex

"I would love to explore more of this city," Carmilla began joyfully as she followed Margaret, but as soon as she saw the hearse, she quickly changed her mind and attempted to avoid having to enjoy the pleasures of another ride. "It has become afternoon, so I should leave to inform Dracula of what has happened so far."

Salome, Castlevania

"Well, it's not exactly alive, but it isn't an inert building either," Salome attempted to explain to Lovikov about Castlevania. "Castlevania is a Demon Castle... As Lord of the Castle, Lord Dracula controls how the castle may manifest... It is as much a demon as any in Dracula's Army."

edited 6th Feb '16 8:02:34 PM by GameGuruGG

Mami's Apartment

"I happened to overhear that they were supposed to be on a stealth scouting mission but that someone turned it into a search-and-destroy mission instead. They might bill themselves as an orderly military force ready to crush all opposition, but it seems like Kaon has their own problems with discipline in their rank and file," Yukari explained with an apathetic shrug, "The fact that it happened at all makes them look sloppy, if you ask me."

"But yeah, spooky industrial area ruins!" she leaned toward Sayaka and shuddered slightly as she continued elaborating on the harrowing experience, "I mean one minute me and this girl from the place that used to be south of Mitakihara were stumbling over broken concrete on our way North, since that's where this apartment supposedly was, and the next thing I know, I'm standing in this dark hallway with no lights, the other girl vanishes into thin air, and there are these weird skittering sounds coming from everywhere. I stayed as quiet as I could and kept creeping forward until I found a door to get out, but I was in there for maybe thirty minutes tops, and when I stepped outside, it was the middle of today already! How crazy is that?!"

Common Room

"Hm?" Mitsuru stared at the question for a moment, uncomprehending, but then fought to contain a little fit of tittering, dignified giggles. "Oh, no, she's perfectly fine," she replied merrily, "Aigis is a robot, you see."

"That is correct," the robo-girl agreed with a glance up at the brackets, "I am a robot. I am also fine. I will now proceed to seek out my opponent. Please excuse me." Provided a signal of dismissal by a deliberate nod of the Kirijo scion's head, the metallic maiden trotted away in search of the helpful mechanic girl they'd encountered the previous day.

It didn't take her very long to locate her target. Arriving on Q's opposite side, she paid him little mind as she greeted Gaige over the top of his head. "Good evening, Gaige-san. I wish to issue a 'thank you' once more for your provision of the Storage Deck Units. Their utility has proven to be exceptional."

Meanwhile, Akihiko's gaze slid past Misaki and the violette and fixed pensively on a point somewhere behind them. He looked troubled. What the hell are you even doing, kid? I can barely make out anything you're saying.

"Look, Chief, you may be Tokyo PD, but you're not their Tokyo PD. If you and your new best friend there want to send in a freaking platoon against that guy and wade into a jurisdictional minefield while potentially touching off a geopolitical nightmare, you must be out of your damn mind," he said, shaking his head and scanning the room briefly before coming up with his fellow senior executioner over by the signups, "I'll see what I can do. Gimme a sec."

At Aigis' departure, Mitsuru had turned her attention back to Shooter, eyeing him (it?) thoughtfully. "A mount capable of changing its own form? Incredible! I have some experience with riding horses and motorcycles, myself, but I never imagined I would see something that managed to be both at once..." Hesitantly, she reached a hand forward, toward where Celty had apparently been somehow petting the bike earlier. "May I-"

Bzzt! Bzzt!

The redheaded heiress startled and jerked her hand back at the sudden buzzing of her phone. Sighing minutely, she pulled the thing out of her purse, and felt her countenance quickly morphing into a scowl as she saw the caller ID. "Akihiko," she began darkly, "I typically dismiss those spouting claims that technology is sapping our generation's intelligence as fossilized Luddites, but why are you calling me when we're in the same room?"

"Er, it's a long story," he lied and licked his suddenly dry lips, "Look, I've got a Tokyo PD Section Chief here whose people picked up some kind of lead on Blue Coat being in Ike. Can you tell Ryugamine for me?"

"I'm a little too old to play telephone with you, Akihiko," she replied acidically, shooting a quick glance over her shoulder, "Besides which, we already knew that, and Ryugamine is right there. Don't bother me with old news again. Goodbye."

"Wait, what do you mean 'we already knew'?" he demanded, brow knitting, "If we already knew, why didn't you tell me about it?"

"Because you're too close to the case, you blind oaf!"

"I'm what now?!"

"You are the one who attacked the thing instead of retreating for backup! You are the one who decided he needed to be a knight in shining armor and dragged Iori along with him! You are the one who almost got yourself and your comrade killed over a fight that wasn't yours! Don't you dare try to tell me you're not too close to the case!" she ground out tersely, her remaining, white-knuckled fist shaking violently as she wrestled her voice down, "I'll send it momentarily. Good. Bye. Akihiko."

Hanging up before he could say another word, she huffed and hurriedly forwarded him Mikado's message containing the link to the Dollars thread, then stowed the cell away once more. "Men are such idiots," she groused at Celty, pinching the bridge of her nose and hoping she was only feeling the illusion of an oncoming headache.

Face now fixed with a small scowl of his own, Akihiko ignored any reasonableness Mitsuru's assertions may have held and skimmed through the link until he reached the bottom of the page, where people seemed to be (still) providing minute-to-minute updates whenever the 'cross-eyed katana jockey' was spotted. "Well," he admitted gruffly, "Looks like tip central, alright."

edited 5th Feb '16 9:23:35 PM by darksidevoid

Common Room - Gertrud

Gertrud stood quiet as the older warrior sized her up with wary curiosity. She wished she could do the same back, but her eye was trained for Witches and support crew, and this man was none of those. If he was close to anyone, it was the leading officers of High Command, but this man had a sense of toughness to him that easily outshone them.

His query was a legitimate one, and Gertrud saw no reason not to answer it.

"Yes, I'll admit that my favoured position is in the air, not the ground. But I trust my strength, and I have the trust of my unit behind me. I shall give it my all, Ion Rush, and I expect no less from yourself."

Metroplex Runway

Sanya moved forward to meet with the Cybertronians, while the other crewmembers waited for the go-ahead on unloading the plane. While the Orussian Witch took the sight of giant robot humanoids in stride, the lower-ranking soldiers were wide-eyed with surprise and curiosity.

Sanya saluted the approaching Autobots. She spoke in a soft, hushed tone.

"Flying Officer Sanya V. Litvyak...501st Joint Fighter Wing. With greetings from Wing Commander Wilcke of Folkestone."

"Uhm...first of all, I am here as the escort of our communications crew. As a way to bring our two territories closer."

"Second, I have an important report to make. Preferably to a superior officer. Concerning Cybertronian activity on DK Island."

"Oh, yes, I quite agree."

A moment or two of silence followed. Then, echoing around the foyer, the came the clamping of iron feet. Undyne returned, clad in medieval armour plating, with a helmet tucked under her arm.

"Hey guys." She turned to the two clones. "So...first off: Hi. I'm Undyne. Captain of the Royal Guard, but maybe you knew that already. Asgore says you're representing a 'Galactic Republic', huh? Man, that sounds huge."

"...mmm-hm." Metazoan slowly retracted his arm and started checking his nails, in spite of the fact he was wearing gloves. "You Mandalorian types are big on the whole 'warrior' thing, aren't you? War chants and armour and all that. Mind you, this 'hologram media' sounds quite dashing. I'm just surprised you all have time for so many genres in between dancing around tribal campfires chanting 'ooga booga me eat people'."

"wb-pt-METTATON!"

"What? I just call them as I see them, Alphys."

"Mister Fixer, I'm so sorry, he didn't mean that, h-he was just joking about, I mean not that it was joke, b-but he just has a really bad sense of humour." Alphys finished the sentence on gritted teeth, with a glare in Mettaton's direction so pointed it could have pierced his armour plating.

Boss and Scorch looked at the direction the noise was coming, and saw Undyne coming out with her armour ready.

"Heya, name's Scorch." He raised a thumbs up to her a he introduced himself. "And this is our squad leader, 38, though you can also call him Boss if you want...even though your actual boss is kinda like two centimeters near us. I would introduce you to Fixer and Sev, but Fixer is kinda busy saying calculations and the like to the scientist here, and Sev's already seeking a fight already in the tournament.

"Why yes, you heard that right. The Galactic Republic spans millions upon millions of star systems, along with many sentient species forming it and working together for peace, with Coruscant being the capital planet. I'm fairly sure if we actually found Monsterkind by finding you at the planet you are and not in our...current situation, we could had integrated you all to the galaxy, and I believe that Supreme Chancellor Palpatine would be kind enough to give you a seat on the senate. But no matter our situation, even if we are far away from our allies, you can all be sure that Monsterkind, and any friendly chunk here are under the protection of the Galactic Republic as long as we still stand."

"No offense taken...though you should memory wipe your droid regularly, it seems to have some personality quirks already..."

Sergeant Vau would be already attempting to destroy the droid if it were speaking to him that way...

Fixer then turned to Mettaton.

"Do not assume Mandalorians to merely care about just fighting. We also have distinctive cuisine, play different sports such as Meshgeroya or cu'bikad, are great smiths, and we Mandalorians cherish and care about our family above all."

edited 6th Feb '16 10:39:12 PM by Darkomega245

"Fuhuhuh! That's what I like to hear. Good to know we've finally got someone from up top on our side. Here's to many more..." Undyne turned to the portal. "Well, I'm off to beat humans to a pulp in the name of getting along!" she joked, "You guys coming to fight or 'negotiate' too?"

Alphys laughed sheepishly when Fixer suggested getting Mettaton's memory wiped.

"Well then you should have led with that, darling! Honestly, how can I form an opinion on someone if I don't have all the proper information? I make a couple of observations and suddenly I'm the bad guy here..."

"...sorry, Mister Fixer. I could probably try a couple of things, but...I honestly don't think there's a force on earth that can suppress Mettaton's personality."

"You've got that right, gorgeous!"

The endless blue before him was like an old friend whose identity remained illusive to his dying mind. It was only when he strained to hear beyond his own breathing that things seem to fall into place. The Earth is suffused with sound, nothing like the silence of space. Outside the confines of this helmet that has held his existence for so many years he could hear wind, the bending of leaves under its gentle caress. Not just hear, but feel and smell too as fresh oxygen invaded the stale atmosphere he had grown used to and filled his lungs with life. The endless blue before him was sky.

Was this Earth? It was, it had to be! As beautiful as he remembered, it had to be. He tried to stand, but it was an impossible task. The battle had made him broken and years without gravity has left his old bones to weak. He could stand no more than he could wish himself to the moon as a child. The will of the spirit was bound by the rules of reality. So instead mustered his strength to close his fingers and feel dirt in his gloved hand. At least this much he could manage.

When the alien spoke, Vladimir was startled. He was so engrossed with seeing around him for the first time in so long that he had almost forgotten about it...about her. At first he did not recognized the alien, merely staring dumbfounded at what he was seeing. A young girl floating in the air, her hair a strange hue and ears like a rabbit atop her head. It was only thanks to those eyes that he was able to make the connection. He let out a weak chuckle.

"So this is the alien with demon eyes..."

In this state, the alien looked harmless. Was this the same creature that had bent Volk's laser but moments before? It seemed like the two images should be incompatible, but it would appear they were one in the same. He wondered which of the two faces he saw was closer to the real her. Perhaps she was like the moon, which can be light and dark, both faces equally true. If nothing else, it was undeniable the young girl before him was in fact the one who bested him in combat and put him in his current state. He spoke out, but with his equipment broken, the old man's frail voice could only go so far. Perhaps those ears were more than show.

"Yes...you are correct...Humans are a strange mix of cowardice and pride...fear and conviction...It has pushed us to do wondrous things...as well as stride with such blind confidence down the wrong path...please...if you come across more humans...be patient with them..."

With some time to think, he could not help but wonder. This alien, what was she doing on Earth? Or was this not Earth, and an alien planet like he originally thought? But the alien, it knew what he was, what humans were. The introduction of the two aliens who had accompanied this one only further clouded the issue. They appeared human and spoke as if they were the strangers here. His old bones begged him to close his eyes, he felt so tired. It was time to rest now, it was time to die. But so many unanswered questions. Just alittle longer. He will not be able to see them all answered, but perhaps at least one.

"Young miss...if I may ask...is this Earth?"

"Eugh, politics.." Scorch shivered as if in fear. "Don't want nothing to do with that, just wanna see Sev fight or see what the other guys can do, so count me in "Fight" and not negotiate."

"I'll need to see just who can be negotiated and who are the hostiles, and also to give Delta Squad some good first impressions to the others, so yes, the two of us are coming."

Boss and Scorch would then enter the portal along with Undyne and Asgore.

"Well, that's some curious programming..." Fixer said to himself, while crossing his arms.

Is this how normally most entertainment droids act? Hell if I know.

"Anyways, other than your hotel resort, what other kind of entertainment do you show to the people of the Underground?"

MPD HQ

“And you believe this situation has shown itself in our city as well,” the captain replied, more for affirmation than for discovery. The car came to a stop in front of a side door to the complex as Owara answered Nishijima’s inquiry after several moments. “Well, what I’ve been told is that we have been taken away into an entirely new dimension at the whim of some omnipotent being for his own amusement. Stretches the bounds of belief, to be honest, but then... it is not like we have any better explanation at the moment.” He looked out the car window for a moment to see that they had arrived. “Shall we go inside to continue?”

Mami’s Apartment

“OK, wait, hold up, hold up,” Sayaka held up her hand briefly, the break in her speech marked by the sound of a flushing toilet followed by a few seconds of a running shower. “Those guys were supposed to be infiltrating? It hasn’t even been two days since we got here!”

As for what Yukari explained for her absence, though, Sayaka listened intently, her face slowly showing realization. “That...seems really familiar. To us, I mean.”

“Indeed it does, Takeba-san,” Mami added as she reappeared at the hallway entrance. “Did you hear or even feel anything, Takeba-san? Like a whisper or a inexplicable feeling of despair?”

Madoka looked at the saddened Ramlethal for a moment before she tugged on the latter’s sleeve to get her attention. “I think everything will be alright, Ram-san. Kyoko-chan is a very good fighter, and, um...she’s had a lot of fighting experience too. I’m worried about her, too, but I can’t help but think she’ll be OK.”

Mitakihara Streets - “Northern” Ward

“Agh!” A misstep meant Kyoko’s left foot poked through the wooden boards, weakened by both time and Walpurgisnacht damage, causing her to lose her footing. She managed to catch herself on a nearby railing, pulling herself up out of the hole and stopping for a moment to brush her denim shorts off. “Sayaka, you better not have gotten yourself killed…” She looked up and out the broken windows at the streets one story below, which the setting sun had made it easy to notice the yellow car pulling past, looking pretty new for this part of town. “Huh…” Kyoko waited for the car to go past before hopping out the window and landing on the sidewalk, trying to figure out what such a nice car was doing here.

Industrial District -> CR Portal -> Common Room

Homura dropped down to the ground from the nearby roof, taking a peek around to make sure no one else was around before her clothes changed from her Magical Girl outfit to her Mitakihara Middle School uniform. She hadn’t been able to get in contact with Mami, so that meant her time spent in the stands would be shorter than she’d originally planned. Still, even though she had no intention of either going herself or letting any of the others in on it - between what she had learned already about others and the likelihood of others going in, any Magical Girl would expose her moveset for too small a chance at winning the whole thing, and she still had that one supposed wish in the bank - she’d at least get an idea of whether it’d be worth trying to get Mami or Kyoko (Madoka or Sayaka were absolute hell no’s) to come in for the later rounds after she has to leave to take Oriko to her new home and continue working on rebuilding her arsenal one pipe bomb at a time.

And here she thought that it’d all be over once Walpurgisnacht was overcome.

Homura took a deep breath before stepping through the portal to see who and what awaited her on the other side.

edited 7th Feb '16 8:20:07 AM by megarockman

The first shot of the cannon struck true, leaving a large red spot on Shao Kahn's chest where it had struck, burning the skin off of his body. The second shot he moved to block with an arm, leaving an identical mark. As the third charged, Shao Kahn threw his hand out, raising a magic shield. The third shot impacted the shield, and while the force pushed him back a few feet, the shot itself did no damage. Shao Kahn summoned his hammer as Megatron came at him with an overhead blow, blocking the strike by holding the hammer over his head, the stone below his feet cracking and shattering from the force of the two titanic warlords.

"Never..."

Shao Kahn then attempted to use his strength to push the mace off of his hammer and send Megatron backward, and followed up with an attempt to club Megatron right in the face with his hammer.

"That is indeed good news." He said as a plate of food was placed in front of Amber. "I do not know this Hei, but you seem to be a much better selection for representative then him if he was not smart enough to understand the situation. I do not like this any more then he likely does, but hasty actions would only put my own people in danger. For him to not understand that is, frankly, irresponsible."

edited 7th Feb '16 10:52:55 AM by Meanken

"I'm so glad you asked, darling. Wardrobe!"

Mettaton rushed off to the far end, and rode the escalator up. There was the sound of fabric rapidly being fitted, and then Mettaton returned on the escalator down, now wearing a sharp red suit with a yellow tie, and carrying a stack of papers.

"I like to punctuate the day with a few bulletins, keeping my wide-eyed public informed about real events, happening right outside their door, or their neighbour's door, or their great aunt's door for that matter. Newsflashes! Eyewitness reports! Hard hitting documentaries! Getting the mind racing, the heart pumping and the ratings soaring, pausing only to breath at exclusive interviews and live debates."

The robot zoomed off again, heading upstairs, refitting clothes, and returning downstairs in an apron and chef's hat, wielding a wooden spatula.

"Phew! The audience is probably dying for a break after that, so we wind down with a few lifestyle shows, helping the families at home enrich their stale lives with that little bit more dazzle. Cooking, exercise, art, or finding your dream home: if it's in your life, I can help you do it in style!"

Off he went, up and down stairs, and returned in a dark purple outfit with matching bow tie.

"But enough winding down, let's get excited over some healthy competition! Whether it's pitting equally lucky contestants head to head in quiz shows and game shows alike, or providing live commentary to grand sporting events in all four corners of the underground, Mettaton brings the action right to your doorstep. And speaking of action..."

One last trip upstairs for a costume change, and Mettaton returned in a glittering blue dress, speaking in falsetto and occasionally bringing his wrist to his forehead melodramatically.

"MTT Pictures is proud to present the latest TV movie, to enchant families eating in front of the television everywhere. Drama! Suspense! Action! Horror! Comedy! Whimsy! Tragedy! Romance! And show-stopping musical numbers that will stay with you for years to come! Now available on Under Tunes."

Undyne smirked. "Guess there's two kinds of people in the world, huh, Asgore?"

"It would seem so. Now, remember, Undyne, the Cure said he would heal or bring back to life any combatants falling down, so..."

"You really think he could do that?"

"With the kind of power he's holding, I'd say he could do whatever he wanted. So...don't hold anything back?"

"You know I never do." Undyne smiled, and began to fit her helmet on. "All right, time to get into character..."

Four new arrivals entered the common room. At the head of the pack was a fearsome knight, with yellow dots gleaming behind the eyeholes of a helmet like the face of a piranha, with a fin at the top and a red plume coming out the back. The knight came to a halt, and slowly turned her head side to side, surveying the area like a security camera. Then, she stomped onwards, in the direction of the ledger.

Once she was able to enlist, she signed her name in tiny stabs and slashes, ending it in one swift stroke that threatened to tear the paper. After that, she simply let the pen drop, and headed to the nearest shadowy corner of the room to stare menacingly at all the world.

edited 7th Feb '16 12:26:50 PM by LizardOfAus

New Hell Border

The mewling pile of crushed foot that was Horada suppressed his squealing long enough to inch across the clearing on his side, most of his attentions focused on holding his foot in a pain-relieving death grip. With his free hand, he held up the phone to Elucia. “The boss wants to talk to you.” He gasped out.

Meeting Room of the 2

“Quite specific,” Izaya said, but didn’t specify further as his eyes rapidly parsed the message. His face lapsed into an expressionless mask for the duration, until his eyes snapped up to Minako in time with the snapping of the phone. He clapped it between his hands and leaned forward as if in apology. “This is extremely time-sensitive, so I’m going to need to rush out. You’re welcome to come with, of course.” He held up a finger and pressed it into his temple, working it back and forth in a contemplative fashion with his eyes shut. “But if your agenda is truly so guiltless, then you shouldn’t mind if I let Mikado in on your reasoning. After spending so much time making sure Mikado has a life to live out, I need to know that the ideals he decides to follow are chosen by him, rather than you. You understand.”

Minako's phone would be nondescript in its contents, save for a blurry screensaver, a number labeled Office, and several pictures of hissing cat heads photoshopped onto the bodies of politicians shaking hands.

Common Room

In as much as Celty ever had words, at that moment she was at a loss for them. Celty’s visor snapped to face Aigis, not quite able to come up with a response to their blithe admission of her robot-ness. Did them being chunkless make that information more damning, or less? Whatever the case, it succeeded in making Celty feel a little silly for being so defensive.

Celty politely refrained from listening in on Mitsuru’s phone conversation and scanned the room, hyping herself up for the fights to come. At the very least, most of them seemed human enough, though as Aigis had just proved that didn’t mean much. Still, as long as they had the general shape, she could wrap them up tight in a shadowy web without hurting them too badly to leave them squirming and spitting curses into the dirt. It was the most efficient way to take down street punks, and she was pretty sure the same principle would apply here. The most dramatic wrinkle in that plan seemed to be the ten meter tall giant robot stomping around, but really, what were the chances she would be going up against him?

Celty looked back to Mitsuru as she heard the conversation dying down, and was privy to her frustration. Mitsuru would feel a supportive gloved hand on her shoulder, accompanied by a single word on Celty’s phone. Preach. Shooter rolled up to press its front protrusion into Mitsuru’s hand, and Celty stepped back to give them space. Celty gestured toward Shooter’s “saddle” with his free hand as she typed out a new message. You can get on if you want. I promise he doesn’t bite.

Looking to take Mitsuru’s mind off of her relationship(?) issues, Celty followed up with a question that was nagging at the back of her mind. This is also going to seem like an odd question, but— Celty moved the phone closer to Mitsuru’s face to read a smattering of shrunken text, which seemed to be her version of a whisper— are there any aliens here?

Akihiko would find that the Dollars feed had a plethora of up-to-date knowledge, it was true, but the Dollar’s normal atmosphere of civic duty and community outreach was muddled by an undercurrent of deep-set paranoia. For every genuine report of Vergil’s movements, there were seven or eight reports muddying the waters of other people wearing blue, or having coats, or having something that looked pretty much like a sword, or anyone that had legitimately crossed eyes. That Vergil was in the city was clear, but which direction he was moving in or even what he was doing was not.

edited 7th Feb '16 4:38:56 PM by Uncandescent

Carlos

Normally this kind of thing would piss the other party off. Instead he just sighed like an adult having to explain to a child exactly why they couldn't grow up to be James Bond.

I'z not an ogryn, 'umie, he said slowly and patronizingly, even ogryns'd know dat.

He grumbled Why do I always get da stoopid wunz...

By this point I was kind of drooping. I'll admit, this guy's unflappable spirit was kind of tiring me out.

Ogryns iz lots bigger, so dey's more fun ta scrap wif cuz dey don't break so easy. You, on da uvver 'and, ain't big enuff fer a spaice muhreen, ya don't gots a shoota, ya don't gots a zappystikk like dem syker weirdos or me. Yer just a 'umie wif a choppa, an' soon you'z gonna be a dead 'umie. Stands ter reason, dunnit?

"Uh huh." I folded my arms. I tried not to look bemused, but it was difficult.

Alright so, this guy was obviously on the former end of the 'don't take you seriously vs getting really hacked' scale. What the hell, I can roll with that.

I swapped the ham of the performance out for a more real display of what I thought. I sighed at him, shaking my head. "And you", I said just as slowly and doing my best to act like I thought he had less brains than a ghoul. "Don't seem to get the fact that you're armed with only a staff."

While I was still trying to get onion breath here to be open with me, I heard someone else try and jump in on this. "More pre fights taunts? Well, isn't that a treat."

I glanced over at the source of the voice.

You ever had those moments, where you just had a full body freeze, where it feels like the blood in every vein just turns to ice and you can't move? Usually you get that reaction from fear — like the kind you get when you see a giant zombie T-rex jumping out at you. Sometimes though, it happens from good ol pure shock. Like right now.

The source was a clone trooper, some feet away, seemingly poking fun at us, but I couldn't really confirm that beneath his helmet. I numbly took in his features — his armor was mostly white, but his boots and gauntlets were colored blood red, as was his backside. His helmet is what confirmed him as a clone trooper rather than a storm trooper — it was smaller and sharper than the eggheaded version you saw in the original trilogy, with a glowing blue T shaped visor. The red handprint on his facemask marked him as unique in the army. Some kind of commando maybe?

...

I slowly turned my head back to onion breath, trying not to shake. I, I didn't have time for this. I had an oncoming fight to focus on. Keep your thoughts under control, Carlos, keep them under control...do not ask the clone trooper for an autograph, do not ask if he's made out of plastic. Focus on the Ork, focus on the ork. We can ask all about it once we're not dead.

I shakily jerked my hand back towards my sword — my poor mannerisms had crumbled by this point. I felt the blood drain from my face. Shock will do that to you, though the big guy probably thought it meant I was afraid of him. "Call it small, but I actually have one. You're armed with absolutely no weapons, on the other hand."

So they weren't particularly bright. She could work with that.

"I've got you surrounded," she said, channeling her teacher's insufferable haughtiness into her voice into what she presumed was a sense of command befitting Wutai's heir. "Make another move and you'll be dead faster than... er..." she paused, not quite sure how to finish without using the phrase "faster than you can blink". Hardened generals did not use cliches.

"Snipers, anyway," she added. "So start talking."

Barret held his gaze, moving slowly away from the doorway, still facing Kiryu. Offering to "disarm" as a show of good faith would be a bit pointless as far as he was concerned, for obvious reasons. Hopefully he wouldn't have to conduct the entire conversation under the threat of blunt objects.

"Jus' here to talk," he said. "As far as I can see, neither one of us is here for the politics, so maybe we can come to some sorta agreement." For one wild second, he half-expected Tifa to come out from the back and shoo these men out for starting a fight at the bar.

Cloud scratched his neck uneasily, looking away. "I'm a bit lost, to tell the truth. I'm looking for a few friends." He paused, reluctantly making eye contact through tinted shades. "If you're worried about keeping me out of trouble or something, I can handle myself against people like that. Used to be a cop myself." It wasn't entirely a lie. And it was a shorter, more believable explanation than "he could probably put a whole clip in me and I'd probably still shake it off".

"What kind of a name is 'City 17'?" he asked, changing the subject. "This some kind of networked district?"

Tifa frowned, crossing her arms expectantly. "Mind telling me what that was all about?"

edited 8th Feb '16 10:57:36 PM by WonderSquid

Common Room

Dat's cuz I'z a weirdboy, 'umie. We don't needz choppaz... but I'll loot yers anyway as a soovernir after I killz ya!