"We have a new independent group joining us." The Cure said, his voice ringing in the heads of all of the chunk representatives. "Please welcome Harry Dresden and the Fellowship of Magic to the Battleworld."

The newest group would find they had fallen asleep suddenly during the course of whatever it was they were doing. They would wake up to find themselves in a room. This may be a room that was pulled from their home reality, or a room simply built to the tastes of its new occupants. Harry would find a note in his hands that said the following.

Greetings. Right now, I am sure you have questions. What happened? Who is responsible for this? If you are outside or near a window, you may have already noticed the changes outside. Suffice it to say, you are no longer on your world. Now, you are in MY world. You are far from the only ones I have brought here, however. Should you wish answers, then you should exit via the door in front of you and walk down the hallway. All questions you have shall be addressed there.

At the moment he finished the note, the door would open for him. They would emerge to find themselves in a white hallway, with many other doors lining it, each door being marked with the name of the group inside and the name of their chosen rep. (Again, whoever had the note in his or her hand on waking up.) Said hallway would only lead one way, and lead them to the Common Room.

They would emerge to find themselves in a non-descript room. Blank white walls stood on all sides of them, with only a giant round table in the center stopping it from looking like a white void. In the center of said table stood a rotating globe, with the map of the new world on it, each land clearly marked with the name of the land and the name of their chosen representative (That is, the one who received the note) under it. Above it, in gigantic letters, was the name of the world, Battleworld. To the side, they would see the host of Battleworld appear as if from out of thin air, a colossal 20 foot tall being with red skin, large claws on his hands, rotting teeth, and pitch black eyes. He sat in a gigantic iron throne, and would wave the new members of the Battleworld over to him as they appeared.

edited 29th Nov '15 4:48:23 AM by Meanken

Nora - Common Room

"Awww, are you saying you don't trust me? Honestly, I'm not really surprised," Nora shook her head with a smile, then shrugged. "Alright, I won't ask for you to return this one. Maybe. We'll see how it goes."

Lune - Forest, New Hell

"..."

For a moment Lune considered explaining to him that what she'd said was meant to be taken as an insult, but what he asked... it could actually work, depending on how the following hours went by. Either way, it was probably better to just play along for the time being.

"Not right now," the green-haired devil finally replied, glancing back at New Hell. "I may have something later, but it'll take me some time to set it up. If you want I can let you know once it's ready."

Bond - Outworld

Bond pulled the invisible Aston Martin into a small alley near the Arena, keeping it out of the way of public. Judging by the steady stream of people, he still had time before the execution began, so he waited. His plan wouldn't work unless the Princess was in the arena.

The Cure had announced something about a reward while he had been driving. Apparently, that was a thing. That could potentially be an exit strategy, calling out for a portal to be made.

Common Room: Panicked Realizations

Suddenly Misaki remembered why Amber looked familiar: she saw her at the shrine the day of the embassy bombings. She was talking with BK-201 before they vanished.

Misaki cursed under her breath. "That girl isn't one of us." she explained, "She's UB-001: the leader of a Contractor organization called the Evening Primrose. They claim to be advocates for Contractor civil rights, but they're wanted for various acts of terrorism throughout the city: specifically the bombings of the American, British, and Chinese embassies. Codename Amber is one of the most dangerous criminals in Tokyo.

"...and the Cure just made her our delegate."

The Cure's Throne: One Last Question

Amber sneezed; maybe someone was talking about her!

"Dracula? Huh. Wonder what he's up to...

"Anyway! I've got a solid idea for what I want. There's just one last thing I need to know: it's about PANDORA and their puppet masters."

Amber's face darkened to prove this question was the most important.

"I know they have a weapon to destroy the Gate, and every Contractor and Doll along with it. I know you're interested in a good fight, so I need to ask: have you disabled it? My friends and I won't fight the other groups if we need to prevent our own extinction."

Across the room, the little Specter stretched as far as it could towards the throne.

Huangmobile: You Have Arrived

It wasn't long before the van rolled to a stop once again. The apartment complex had seen better days: most people with two Yen to rub together wouldn't live anywhere near the Gate. But least the building's radio tower was intact!

Mao turned to the Doll. "Yin, where's the target?"

"Room 606."

"Is there anyone else with him?"

"Yes. He's sleeping. Hida is stealing from him."

"Your guy's pretty damn classy." Huang joked.

Mao was more focused on the job. "Is there anyone else on that floor?"

"No. The elevator's broken. There's two people walking up the stairway—!"

"What is it?"

"...My line's been cut."

Mao bolted to his feet. "What?!"

"There's only one kind of person that can see a Doll's Specter." Huang grunted. "And they're the only ones that can destroy them."

He clenched the steering wheel tighter. "Contractors. This job just went straight to fuckin' Hell."

Castlevania Hallway: Don't Fear the Reaper (Or His Vampire Overlord)

"Sounds fair." Hei agreed. "Can't say you'll be able to roam everywhere, but we'll need you to move quickly. I'll tell the others you're with us.

"Healing Death might be a problem. My world doesn't have anything like him, so I don't even know where to start. Unless you've got any ideas, we'll have to hope another world knows how to treat talking skeletons.

"Regardless, if Death really is the only one who can sense it, we'll need to make his protection our top priority. He'll need escorts at all times to ensure he's not ambushed and replaced. Hopefully he won't be our only tracker, so we can deploy other search parties and keep him in reserve till he's ready."

Iacon Council Chambers: Explaining the Inexplicable

"That's part of the problem." April sighed. "We don't know much about the place. Actually one of the terms is—"

She scanned the back side of the paper. "—'to procure observational equipment for any and all expedition, construction, and maintenance workhands, and to provide unlimited access to the feed from said devices for research purposes.' Basically the gits in lab coats want to watch you work so we can learn more about what's inside the Gate."

She fished something else out of her coat: a manila envelope with "CLASSIFIED" stamped in big red letters on it. She opened it and skipped to the file she was looking for.

"Now what we do know about the Gate is that it becomes less predictable the further in you get. The molecules or particles or whatever move at a frequency that makes our videos all fuzzy. Not sure if you lot work like cameras though, so you might not need to worry about feeling light-headed.

"More importantly, the Gate likes to play with physics. Special portals start popping up about three kilometers from the center. These portals pick you up and drop you off somewhere else entirely, and not always the right-side up. We've got reports of researchers walking on water and sideways on skyscrapers. Really weird shit.

"But these portals don't change. They're static gateways that safely transport matter. You can think of Hell's Gate as a giant maze: it's tricky and confusing, but easy to navigate if you know the way."

Without warning, April started patting July on the head. "And Dolls like this boy can guide you straight through!"

Dracula, On Route to the Throne Room of Castlevania

"Agreed, on the condition that Death must have final approval of his own escorts, since the demon may try to hide as one of them," Dracula added to the stipulation. "I know he would like to have his own two underlings as his escorts, but they will not be able to enter the Common Room so they won't be able to instantly jump to another chunk."

"If that is all, I can summon an Axe Armor to escort you back to the Common Room," Dracula said to Hei. "I shall be in the Common Room momentarily once I can get the papers from Santa Destroy in order."

In reality, he wanted to be alone as Death learned about things that had happened during the fight with the hunters, especially in regards to SONG HQ since it had disappeared with Edge for Cairo. Sabine's mission to Edge had likely failed, but the mission to raid SONG HQ for technology and people may have succeeded.

Sypha, Santa Destroy Resort

Sypha remained silent as she listened to Lady. She wasn't sure how to argue with Lady on this, but she still doubted herself and her allies on their ability to stop this demon. It was around this time that Trevor actually reached the room, about ready to pull out the Vampire Killer because of the damage to the door when he heard Sypha's voice.

"Fine, I shall stay," Sypha said, not particularly happy about it since she would rather be alone. "But we need to be cautious in case the demon invades our group again."

Trevor smiled slightly... Sypha was wary to trust anyone, but Lady had talked her out of hiding.

"Do you know how long it took me to get here by walking?" Trevor said in a somewhat joking manner. It did take him a few hours to get here, though Sypha had spent most of the time rearranging furniture to free Lady.

"Are you two okay?" Trevor asked Sypha and Lady. "Dante is in the Cure's realm, trying to recruit help and warn people of this demon."

"The demon... we couldn't do a damn thing against it, and it only fled when Dante appeared in his true form," Trevor explained disappointedly. "We are supposed to recruit the UAA to help with this demon."

Trevor intentionally left what Hei was doing out since telling them that he is recruiting Dracula for this demon hunt as this was a currently delicate situation.

edited 29th Nov '15 4:21:24 PM by GameGuruGG

"Look, I'm a reasonable guy, you seem like a reasonable girl, I'm sure we can work something out." Dante said to Nora. "I just don't wanna be under some kinda unconditional favor deal here with people I don't know, you know?"

The Cure turned to look at the leaning Specter, grinning madly. "I have disabled it. I know they can hear me, so this message is to be passed on to your masters" He said to the specter. "Should you attempt to waste your time fixing the device, you will find that it will fail. Should you attempt to rebuild it, or otherwise strive to get around my restrictions? Well then I'll just blow up half of your land and move on. Should you wish to achieve the desired outcome, you should look into more...conventional methods."

He turned back to Amber. "Now then. Are you ready to make your request?"

"Then we are done here." Vergil said, abruptly turning around and beginning to walk away.

The sounds of cheers coming from the stands would signal a beginning to the event as the last of the people filed in. Inside the arena, Shao Kahn stood and spoke, his voice augmented by magic so it boomed across the arena and outside of it.

"People of Outworld! You are here today to witness the death of the former princess of Outworld, Kitana! She has betrayed Outworld! Her sympathies and reluctance to kill in my name have slowed down our konquests for too long! Now, in this new land, we can no longer afford to be slowed down by weakness such as hers!"

The crowd cheered at this. "But some among you ask, who will take her seat at my right hand? I introduce to you the new princess of Outworld, Princess Meleena!" The cheering got even louder. Inside the arena, Meleena walked onto the arena grounds, twirling her blades as she waved at the people and approached Kitana, who glared at the woman.

"Sister. I've been waiting to meet you." Meleena said as she leaned down to look at Kitana, a sadistic gleam in her eyes.

"Sister?" Kitana asked in disgust. "You are no sister of mine!"

"Aww, that hurts." She said as she took off her mask, revealing her rows of gigantic teeth. "But that's ok, it won't matter what you think in a moment. How will you taste, I wonder?"

"Foul, disgusting monster!" Kitana yelled as she was grabbed by Meleena. "I will see you and Shao Kahn dead!"

Lady nodded at Trevor as she finished with her gun, happy that she had something to focus on now. "Ok, that's a good idea. I've spoken to the UAA people yesterday, they're the ones that set me up with the room. I have an idea of where we should start asking for whoever's in charge before we go running across the city to the main building. Follow me."

Moving with newfound purpose, Lady quickly approached the front desk of the resort, stopping in front of the receptionist. "Hi there, I've been hired by the UAA for a job. Can't say what it is, you know how these things go, but I have something very important related to the job to talk to a representative of the UAA about, and this is urgent enough to where I'd prefer not to have to waste a half hour driving to the building if I can avoid it. Is anyone from the UAA here now that I can speak to?"

edited 29th Nov '15 4:50:37 PM by Meanken

Hell’s Gate Tokyo Huangmobile

Tom stretched as he stepped out of the van, looking up at the decrepit building. “Yeah, the classy ones never talk to us, that’s for sure.” He said, turning to face Huang. “But it also makes our jobs a lot easier. If we find him robbing some guy blind, we can make him choose between the money or the police.” He leaned into the driver’s side window with a relaxed smile. “When you do our job right, you get to notch your bedpost by the kneecaps that stay in one piece.”

As the news of the Contractors unfolded, Shizuo's eyes flicked from Mao up to Yin. “So… more psychics?” Shizuo guessed from context. “It’s a big floor. What are the chances that Hibachi is doing something to piss them off specifically?”

Room 606

Hibachi’s dreams of gold and jewels fell flat as the Meteor Shard stared up at him, and the side of his mouth clicked in disappointment. “Man, that’s not hot at all.” He said, removing the glass disc from his padding. He held it up to the light before moving it in front of his face, peering into its distorted surface with one eye closed as he tried to figure out why someone would lock it away. “What is this thing anyway?” Hibachi asked just a touch too loudly, as he stopped on the warped visage of Wei’s sleeping face.

edited 29th Nov '15 7:59:55 PM by Uncandescent

Above Mitakihara, westbound

"Uh...there sounds good." Kyoko managed to point over at the top of the Mirai Building. It was among the tallest buildings in Mitakihara - from there Kyoko could look over a wide area to try to spot any sign of unusual activity.

Common Room

"Well that's, uh..." Akihiko trailed off, dumbfounded. Amber was a ruthless terrorist ringleader? It didn't exactly jive with any of his impression of her so far. Just goes to show that you can't trust appearances, I guess.

"I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't that," he tried again, then after a thoughtful pause, "At least you've got us now, though. You know, to be a go-between, since it looks like you're going to have to work together now. Not that I'm saying it's good to work with terrorists, or anything! But, er... Yeah."

Minako listened studiously to Dante's outline of the creature, grinning in good humor at his coffee quip and nodding every now and then to make clear she was paying attention. Internally, she cursed herself for not thinking to pull out her phone and record what he was saying from the beginning. Well, it's too late now!

She blinked in wide-eyed realization when he mentioned he didn't know her name, however. Didn't I tell him, though? Don't I usually do that first thing...? "Oh my goodness, you're right! Sorry, I completely forgot! Nice to meet you, Dante; I'm Minako Arisato, Leader of SEES! We got here yesterday afternoon-ish - geez! Fellowship of Magic? Cure sure does like adding new people!"

Just as she finished the obligatory introduction, both she and the Demon Hunter were interrupted by Dracula's bride and a devil respectively. She'd dialed it back a bit while taking in Dante's explanation, but upon being complimented on her baking in particular, the brunette's pizzazz began zipping to vivacious highs once more. "Aw, there's no need for an apology!" she insisted, attempting to take both of Lisa's hands into her own in a cordial gesture of togetherness, "You just didn't know, that's all! And I'm so glad to hear you liked those! I baked 'em myself, y'know! They're made with an ingredient that I think might not have been discovered in most of the world in your time period, though."

Yet, as she was looking at the blonde Lady, she suddenly caught sight of Junpei behind her, standing some feet away with his mouth hanging open like a stunned fish, which reminded her...

"Ah, right!" she turned her head so she could see the founder of Devil May Cry out of the corner of her eye, "Red Co- Dante, before I forget to ask, could you repeat that part about the thing's magic attack again? I think I missed part of it!"

Yes, she had definitely been too distracted by the room's many distractions to have fully gotten what he'd said and had filled in the gaps with familiar words the fit the context. Junpei was surely slack-jawed at the sight of Nora's outrageous curves and not because he'd just heard the Demon Hunter say "Garudyne". Yes, that was absolutely it, because there was no way whatsoever this shapeshifter was or could possibly be using the abilities of a Persona. Haha, of course not! That would be completely insane!

edited 29th Nov '15 8:38:31 PM by darksidevoid

"Fellowship of Magic?" Dante said out loud when the next group was announced. "Why do these guys sound like they just walked right out of a fantasy novel? Er, right, anyway, like I said, when he threw the magic attack at me, he held out his hand, yelled "Garudyne", and then I got hit with a blast of wind and knocked into the water. Not sure what language that word's from, sure as hell ain't English. Might be a hint as to where this thing comes from if we can identify what language it's using for its magic attacks."

Bamboo Forest - Brikkfist and Mokou

Mokou was a bit surprised to see the green monster survive the fireball and charge at her with his weird backpack thing. The white-haired girl kicked off the ground and started flying back away from the Ork. She swerved to avoid his swing and rose up into the air. Her hands lifted into the air and bolts of flames started to rain down on Brikkfist, making sure to bar his path towards her.

Underground - Kaguya

The princess descended the stairs, idly wondering why this hall was completely gray while the throne room had been so vibrant and full of life. The more or less immediately received her answer as she opened the door at the bottom and beheld the line of coffins. If was almost a morbid mockery how each were distinguished with a rainbow of hearts. She had obviously taken a wrong turn somewhere, so without lingering she turned and made her way back up the stairs.

When the immortal got back to the door to the throne room, she instead continued past it and further down the hall. She entered into a hallway of striking lighting, with heavy shadows being cast from the brightly lit stained glass windows. This was much better. The lunarian casually strolled down the hall, in search of any native or something interesting..

Bamboo Forest - Spiritia

The looming figured all fell to the side, hitting the ground with a light thud. A closer look in better lighting could tell the woman that these were merely scarecrows created out of bamboo stalks and grass. Floating out from behind these scarecrows were three young girls in frilly white dresses. Each one had translucent insect like wings on their backs and all three were floating a few feet off of the ground. "We're not children! We're fairies, show some respect human!" one of the little girls demanded. The other two seemed to almost cower away from Spiritia as they hid behind their bold friend. "We are too guardians. We scare off lost humans like you all the time." One of them interjected.

Bamboo Forest/Santa Destroy Border

Reisen blinked in surprise as a man came running past them out of the forest and more or less started hugging the pavement. She let out an exasperated sigh and planted her hand to her face. "Some things never change." She complained. The lunar rabbit walked over to the policeman and knelt down to his level. "You might want to let your people know to not just go wandering in there. People get lost in there all the time." she instructed him.

Common Room

She tried very hard, but Minako really couldn't help the look of shocked horror that her expression morphed into at the half-demon's words, nor the almost-screeched exclamation that she strangled into a sound akin to vinyl spinning without a needle before the curse could fully escape her throat.

"FU-uuuuuuuuuuuuuh..." The Fool closed her mouth and formed a rather shaky smile, then continued, "I, uh, I think I might know somebody who knows where that comes from, actually! I kinda sorta left him back in my room, though... Tell you what, Dante! Why don't me and you go talk to him for a minute and see if he can give us any insight into all this? And we can have Junpei over here on village crier duty to tell anybody who shows up what the deal is with the whole 'gather a team to fight it' thing until we get back!"

"Huh?" Junpei responded distantly to his name as if through a haze, "Yeah, right..."

Dante noted the half finished curse that almost escaped the energetic girl's lips, but decided not to comment on it. Apparently the dude sitting in her room was going to give him some kind of an explanation, so no reason to press her for one when he was gonna get one is a few minutes.

"Sure kid, I'm in. Lead on." He glanced at Junpei for a moment, noticing the boy's distant look, and started waving his hand in front of the kid's face before he started walking. "Hey, buddy, you ok? You gonna be alright on crier duty?"

Common Room: Shroeder's Back From the Dead!

Surprisingly, the biggest response to the Cure's message came from a physicist caught up in his fruitless work.

"WHAT?!"

Dr. Shroeder marched across the room straight to the Cure's throne.

"How could you do this?! I've spent years designing the Saturn Ring and you decide to shut it down at the drop of a hat? Do you have any idea how many man hours were put into that machine?"

"Do you have any idea how many Contractors and Dolls it would've killed?" Amber replied.

Shroeder turned to the girl with a frown. "All of them, of course. 14,681 individuals worldwide according to the latest Astronomics report. And that's a small number compared to what would've happened if the Contractors tampered with it like they did in South America!"

"Well now it's out of the picture for both sides, isn't it?" Amber smirked. "Oh, and word of advice, Dr. Shroeder: I wouldn't leave this room by yourself. There's a lot of good people here and you've just confessed to attempting genocide. Can't imagine what would happen to you if someone caught you alone."

Amber didn't need to look intimidating, her words filled Shroeder with more fear than he could handle. Without waiting for a response, the terrified doctor scuttled back to his work station and tried his best to forget the world.

Misaki was halfway to the throne when Shroeder confessed his crime. She stood frozen in place for what felt like days, then she snapped her hand to her earpiece and called Horai.

"Director, it's Kirihara. Did you hear what the Cure just said? What the hell is going on?"

No one answered.

HGT Outside the Apartment Complex: Gear Up and Move Out!

"Can't say for sure," answered Mao, "but it might complicate things. Especially if your guy gets caught stealing."

Huang stepped out of the van and walked to the back doors. "The sooner we get him out, the better."

He searched the far back for something he could use; in situations like this, the Syndicate liked to leave their agents a toy or two. Sure enough, inside the indent for a spare Huang found a 10mm pistol, a silencer, and a small box of ammunition.

With the gun assembled Huang stuffed the weapon in his coat and fast-walked into the complex. Yin and Mao soon followed.

HGT Apartment 606: !

Suddenly the sleeping patient's eyes sprung open.

"Who the hell are you?!"

Hell’s Gate Tokyo Apartment Complex

Before the team crossed the threshold of the building, Yin would find a hand on her shoulder, gentle but very firm. “Whoa whoa whoa, hold on a second.” Shizuo said, deep tone laced with genuine concern for the preteen. “You’re not coming with us. Even if there weren’t psychics running around, Hibachi is a major tool bag.” He looked down to Mao. “And… you’re a cat.”

Tom made a similar concerned beeline toward Huang, falling in step beside him. “Remember what I said about the kneecaps?” Tom said, attempting to keep his tone noncombative yet firm as he repeatedly glanced at the spot in Huang’s coat where he’d stuffed the weapon. “In my experience, whatever situation we find in there will just get worse if you’re waving that thing around.” The debt collector looked past Huang toward the Kongs. “Back me up here, yeah?”

Room 606

Hibachi started, nearly dropping the Shard. He quickly slipped it into the box, then slipped the box behind his back. “Oh man, you’re finally awake!” He said to Wei excitedly, taking a shot in the dark. “They sent me to check on you. You got messed up pretty bad in the, uh, accident.” Hibachi said, hoping the man was on enough morphine not to ask too many questions.

Common Room

"Hwah?!" The hatted boy snapped out of it and stared at his questioner with wide eyes. "Yeah, I'm good!" he replied a little too fervently, "It's all good! I got everything's under control here, man! Hakuna matata!"

"Alright! We're counting on you, Junpei! Now, my dear Inferno man, onward!" The Leader planted a shoe on the table with a declarative finger pointed toward the hall and a fully revived sense that things were still on track. Humming and otherwise vibrating with a tune she was beginning to compose at just that time, she led the man in the red coat down the corridor, pausing to offer an appreciative nod and a "Nice name!" as they passed Devil May Cry's own door. Before the pair reached their supposed destination, however, which was an easily visible, glowing blue door just a handful of steps down the way, the brunette stopped again across from the new door that was labelled Harry Dresden and Fellowship of Magic.

"Hmmmmmm..." Sticking a hand into her breast pocket while she waited for no announced reason, The Wildcard finally started reading over the gift her newest friend in Mitakihara had left her. "Huh!" she noted after a couple beats, "I guess he's actually from Shinjuku after all! So... Ikebukuro? Very interesting..."

Akihiko, meanwhile, was totally oblivious to anything going on beyond Schroder's meltdown and the revelation about the real purpose of his work. Not conscious of moving at all, he suddenly found himself a ways away from the stone-still cop, having run over to the leader of Evening Primrose, and trying (and failing) to grip her by the arms.

"Hey! What is he talking about, Amber?" he demanded desperately, "What the hell's a Saturn Ring? Astronomics? What does South America have to do with anything? PANDORA! He said he was with something called PANDORA! What are they, a government agency? Tell me! I..." the champion trailed off, shoulders sagging as he gritted his teeth, "I don't understand what... why... how could anyone...?"

"...I thought he was a good man," he said at last, locking a pair of confused gray eyes full of remorse with the blonde's, and then fell silent.

edited 30th Nov '15 10:19:02 AM by darksidevoid

Kimmy could only look in shock as Cranky went off on her. Had she said something wrong? Used some monkey racial slur she wasn't aware of? The guilt of upsetting the old ape was quickly of overtaken by anger as Cranky continued on without stop however. Even if she was in the wrong, there is no excuse for treating people so horridly. She may have been unintentionally insensitive, but he was being out right mean on purpose.

Her own face turned red at the old apes comments. Her eyes began tearing up again under a furrowed brow. Her hands were quivering fists before grabbing her flute of the table and holding it for comfort. Just when it seemed like she was about to pop, she turned her chin up and closed her eyes.

"Hmmph."

She pushed up her glasses and began doing her best professional impression, though could not help coming off passive aggressive.

"If I have said something to offend you, then let me retract that statement. You are not adorable. My supervisor is busy right now so you will just have to deal with me. While I am flattered you would think me in charge, my job is closer to a secretarial position, and I assure you I am quite qualified. You are here for the Battleworld Coverage Network? You were asking alot of questions but I don't think any of them had to deal with any official business. If you are just going to waste time then I am going to have to ask you to leave, I am a very busy woman."

Oh, this jerk was so going in her blog tonight. When Kopaka made his way over, Kimmy was still trying to put on airs of faux professionalism.

"Nope, no problem here. We are both adults and can handle this in civilized manner. Unless of course being called an adult or civilized makes the monkey want to be mean again."

The sudden drop in temperature caught the young girl off guard and seemed to distract her completely from the situation, acting like her usual self.

"My god it got chilly. Did the Cure turn up the AC? Actually I don't think this place has an AC, or ventilation for that matter. Makes you wonder where the air is coming from. So why is it so cold? Oh, what if it's ghost!? I read places with ghosts have cold spots like this, and I heard someone died in here. What if they are still here haunting the Cure, oh that would be spooky."

From across the room Sylvia kept an eye on the Kimmy, seeing if she had to get involved. She turned back to Minna.

"Ofcourse, I would be a happy to answer all your questions. Actually, if you are from Folkestone Air Base, I am glad that I was able to catch you. There is some business of my own I would like to discuss as well. Shall we continue on to one of the private meeting rooms?"

As she gestured the young military woman toward one of the rooms, she took a glance back at the devil hunter. The more she thought about it, the more the idea seemed like an opportunity. Sure there was getting a potential threat out of the way, but it provided more opportunities then just that. For starters, being able to spy on chosen warriors abilities from different chunks. It was also a cheap way to cur favor, get some contacts within other groups.

Then there was the demon. The Cure has proven beneficial in his own way. If this demon could be reasoned with, or simply directed toward her enemies, that could something. His ability to mimic people opened up all sorts of opportunities as well. Like if UAA assassins were to openly kill some of Santa Destroy's competitors, only for it to be revealed that it was this demon, leaving Santa Destroy innocent. It might even be worth keeping this demon around.

Minna came first however. The devil hunter party wasn't currently urgent. They didn't know where the demon was and the devil hunter was being lead away by the brownie girl, probably for more baked goods or some bull shit. She can add the hunting party to the list of things she wanted Henry to take care of for her...where was he actually?

Jeane had returned to the couch in her new clothes and was currently drying out the last dampness from her hair. She had been dead a couple years, and before that fighting in the middle of the desert. That shower was bliss. Henry had been passing the time watching what appeared on the television with increasing appall.

"Alright, I am willing to let all the super heroes having ridiculous cartoony fashion sense slide, but why did these girls feel it necessary to change into the costume in the middle of battle!? It just doesn't make any sense. Were they trying to give the monster a show with all that dancing they were doing while changing?"

"Its a magical girl anime. They just do that. Some asshole apparently thought it was a cool idea, so all the other assholes copying him just followed suit."

"Magical girl anime? You mean there are more like this?"

"Alot more. Hell, the one you are watching has already been going on for five years."

"You mean there are enough Travises in the world to keep this thing on the air that long?Actually, you seem to know alot about this anime stuff..."

"Spending any amount of time with Travis and this stuff just kind of rubs off onto you. I wouldn't say I am fan though."

Henry winced as the another message from the cure rang in his head.

"Harry and the Fellowship of Magic...is that the one with the nerdy looking wizard travailing to the volcano to destroy the some piece of jewelry?"

"What? I have no idea what you are talking about."

Meanwhile, the receptionist at the front desk smiled at Lady.

"Just a moment."

The receptionist picked a phone and made a call. From what Lady could hear from the conversation, it was obvious she was Talking to the UAA. After she hung up, the receptionist turned to Lady and smiled.

"It seems a representative can meet with you shortly. Will this be a lunch meeting at our restaurant? If you need privacy, we can lend you the staffs meeting room."

Margret was putting the final touches on her make up. She had dressed herself in a gothic lolita inspired ensemble, much like the outfit she wore the day prior. Her closet was blessed with many different dresses, though admittedly all of the same gothic lolita aesthetic, but she chose specifically this one. If the fates aligned to allow her to face her killer again, she wanted that woman to have no doubts about who stood before her. When she was satisfied with her looks, she grabbed her cell off the charger and dialed a number.

"Hello, it is I, Margret Moonlight. I wanted to inform the association that I am not dead, so to please refrain from giving away my ranking number or closing my accounts. You can not kill death. No, I will be assisting the neighboring castle and it's lord. Yes I still would like to continue with the UAA. No, I don't see the conflict of interest, the UAA is primary cause of deaths in Santa Destroy. Oh, is that so? And I missed the whole killing spree? How tragic. What of the star gazer? I would be very crossed if I found someone had stolen that performance right out from under me. Have Sylvia call me back then so we can work something out.

While I have you on the phone, can I arrange a body clean up and a delivery? A waitress, I will forward you the location when the deed is done. However, I would like her head delivered somewhere. There is a new killer in town, a short black haired woman who carries an armory of guns on her person, I would like this head to be sent to her. I would like the silver platter, and a note with it reading The Reaper always comes to collect. Yes, make the font as extravagantly as possible. Wonderful. Au revoir."

She hung up. Satisfied with her appearance, she made her way to the living area to reunite with the countess.

"Enjoying your self? Seen anything of interest?"

edited 30th Nov '15 12:19:40 AM by ImmortalNeet

Bamboo Forest

Huh? Ya kin fly?

-As the 'umie rises, Brikkfist's rokkit flares up, carrying him higher, only to be brought down by fireballs smashing into him.-

Stop dat!

-Brikkfist tries again, this time swatting at the fireballs that get too close, the pain only fueling his rage.-

Mitakihara Library - West Branch - Mio, Lynnette and Yoshika

"Yes, several," Mio said, nodding. "We Witches use it for a number of combat purposes, so any further explanation of these powers are classified."

It was a difficult act, trying to balance making the Lieutenant understand what kind of world they were from while not informing the other party about their combat capabilities. If magic did not exist in this world, that would be the Witches' ace in the hole against the advanced technology of this territory...and for all the goodwill shown thus far, the two factions were not allies just yet.

Castlevania - Witches' Coven - Gertrud and Erica

The two Strike Witches turned on their engines, and for a moment a large magic circle glowed under the Striker Units as they prepared to take off.

"Thank you for all your help, Head Witch," Getrud said. "We will be looking forward to hearing from you soon. We hope you keep safe until we meet again."

"Bye for now!" Erica said with a big smile on her face.

With a roar from the arcane engines and a burst of magic, the two Witches were up and away, heading back southeast towards Iacon and Folkestone.

Skies of Iacon - Gertrud and Erica

"Calling Metroplex Air Control, this Flight Lieutenant Barkhorn and Flying Officer Hartmann from Folkestone Air Base, passing through Iacon airspace en route to Folkestone Air Base from Castlevania, returning from a peaceful diplomatic mission."

Common Room - Private Meeting Room - Minna

"Lead the way."

Minna followed Sylvia into the private meeting room. Minna was unsure what "business" they had in mind, but it would be most discourteous not to hear Sylvia out. Whatever it was, it was best to keep it between the two of them instead of discussing it openly in the Common Room. Too much was going in there already.

The meeting room was austere, but the furniture practical. Minna sat down on one side of the table, and waited for Sylvia to take a seat and make her proposition.

edited 30th Nov '15 3:42:05 AM by Lemurian

"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to burst into people's homes uninvited?"

The deep, yet light-hearted voice came from behind Kaguya, and it belonged to the silhouette of a horned being that came clomping over, looming over her as it drew closer.

Scorch found a comfortable little sitting room, housing a fireplace, a bookshelf, a rack of fire-stoking implements, a comfy armchair, and a dining table that was ringed by four chairs and decorated with a golden flower in a pot. Through a little door was the kitchen, with all the usual amenities: a fridge, a sink, a cupboard, a stove, and a little waste bin. There was a note on the counter that said "Howdy! Help yourself to anything you want!" Checking the fridge would reveal several unopened containers of snails.

Sev passed through a corridor lined with a lengthy carpet, pull-string lamps and the occasional golden flower. The second door, incidentally, was locked and labelled 'Room Under Renovations'. The third door was beside a wide mirror, and Sev opened it to find a little bedroom. There was a desk by the door, with a lamp and an opened journal on top. The current page said nothing but "Nice day today!" Past the desk was a king-sized bed, above which was a framed macaroni artwork of a flower, signed with childish handwriting saying "For King Dad!". Other features of the room were a clothes drawer, a bureau containing a Santa Claus outfit, and a trophy in the corner for Number 1 Nose-Nuzzle Champs '98.

Outside, Boss found nothing but a few large piles of leaves, and a walkway that lead through a few rows of towers. For some reason, the idea of a cosy little home, in the middle of this dull, grey field of castle towers, was enough to fill him with determination.

This ride was a somewhat longer trip down, and reached a somewhat more interesting corridor. The walls here were made of deep blue sheet metal, and the floor was silver steel marked in little ovals like fish scales. At waist height on the wall was a thin line of pulsating little lights, stretching across the wall, and beneath it was a row of panelling, partially ripped away to reveal a zig-zagging mass of cables. The corridor hooked around to the left, beside an inky black void where cybernetic pillars stood with flashing red lights atop them.

Fixer briefly passed through a shadowy room with an incredibly high ceiling. There was little else going for the room, aside from a wide space in the middle that was circled by blue glowing lines, or the constant hum of computer systems all around. Leaving this room, Fixer found himself on a platform over a great drop, with white light shining through the mist below. To his right, a walkway over the expanse, passing by more flashing pillars, and metal plated walls marked by ridges, and lines of pulsing little red lights.

To his immediate right, there was yet another elevator. [Note: This next part is included to save time, but is marked as a spoiler in case Fixer doesn't decide to go this way] Checking the elevator would reveal that it was another short ride, down to a small room where pathways intersected. The walls and floors were marked in pretty shapes by lines that were reminiscent of circuit boards. On either side of the elevator was a dark doorway with a glowing red light above it. In front of the elevator was a door to the outside, where a hot wind was rolling through.

edited 30th Nov '15 4:15:57 AM by LizardOfAus

Before he left to follow along, Dante quickly reached into his coat and handed Nora a buisness card with "Devil May Cry" written on the top. "Ok, sorry, gotta go handle this, call me at this number with the details, or you can just come on down later and swing by my door." Then he quickly sprinted off to catch up.

Hearing her comment about his room name, Dante laughed. "Thanks kid. You have no idea how long it took me to come up with a decent name for the place. Funny story behind how I got the name too, but I'll tell you about that another time."

Dante then scratched his head as they stopped outside the newest door to appear. "Hey, everything alright there? What's up?"

"I'll take a private room, thanks. Could use some food right about now. These two will be joining me as well, they're with me." She said as she motioned to Sypha and Trevor."

Mitakihara, Warehouse Assault

Did I hear SCREAMS, bro? I think I did too, my brother. Shall we provoke some more? I think we shall.

From beneath the RX-07s' wheels came a strange whistling sound. Then, the wheels pivoted until they were completely horizontal, soft blue light emitted by the former hubcab.

Everyone loves a SPIN! Everyone loves an AIR SHOW! LET'S GIVE 'EM BOTH!

Here, the black Decepticon veered towards its twin, as if he intended to drive him off the road... only for the white vehicle to bounce into the air and hover. The black car now hovered upward in an arch over the white one, entering a full revolution in the air. As it did this, the black car gave another burst from its miniguns, aiming high and low at the pair of Autobots. A small black tube clicked its way out of the front fender, immediately followed by a pair of fist-sized rockets aimed approximately in Bulkhead's direction.

Pair of showoffs. A Prime, sneaking around... I can work with that. I can more than work with that...

Lockdown spun around, weaving through debris and crates until he had another open space to work with. Targeting reticules locked on Optimus. The EMP device swiveled to point. For the first time since the encounter began, the Hunter opened his external speakers.

Hey Prime... Relax.

It loosed a crackling discharge, aimed straight at the Prime. Then its owner whirled back around, blasting another shot from its sniper-cannon.

It'll all be over soon...

Will make a post for Ravage, the Constructicons, and any others following this one.

edited 30th Nov '15 8:22:49 AM by Colonial1.1

Mitakihara, The Big Cat Snooze

Ravage nodded wearily, optic covers narrowed to slits.

In theory. Neutral is not the easy option. People get unhappy if you don't pick a side at the right time... Or never pick one at all. Just don't try to call yourself "above" those with conviction to fight.

Tired as he was, the Decepticon's gurgling growl was as full-throated as it had been before.

Can't stand snooty selfish trash like them.

He looked like he was about to say more, but then the sound of a distant explosion echoed across the city. Then a second and third. Ravage's optics flew open with a flare of light, ears flattening against his head.

Oh slag, this was not on the briefing...

Commons Corridor

"Well, getting the info from the guy I mentioned might actually take a little while, depending on how much he knows and how much of what he knows he can tell us," Minako admitted, pulling out her phone and typing in Izaya's contact info as she spoke, "I figured we might as well say hello to the new people before we miss them, since they're probably going to come out soon. You know, let them know how deep they're in it, warn them not to get themselves immediately vaporized by Cure, tell them there's an evil body-snatcher somewhere out there, that sort of thing. Plus, I don't know that there are really any magic types around right now, aside from Khan's guy, so if these guys are magic types, maybe we can get them working on tracking down our mystery monster with some voodoo, or something."

"Anyway," she finished with a shrug, handing the business card over to the Demon Hunter, "Take this, in case you ever need an information broker. I met this dude in Mitakihara, but I guess he's probably from Ikebukuro and went over to check out the situation. Seemed like a decent enough guy."

"Sure." Dante said as he took the card and put it into his coat. Then he slapped himself in the forehead. "Oh, why didn't I think of....hang on a second, be right back!"

Dante quickly went sprinting down the hallway, entering his office. A few moments later he emerged and walked back over, holding a large pizza box. He opened it, took a slice, then held it out to Minako. "Want some pizza? I figure I should be neighborly, offer the new guy a few slices as a welcoming gift. Surprisingly good for magically generated pizza."