For the Horde!
Ben's expression lightened a bit, looking down at Rex as he was apologizing. So he did have humility. Eve then started to make fun of him and claim he was a copy. He looked at Eve and gently shook his head.
"Eve, stop," he requested. "I'm pretty sure he's being legit. If this was a copy then wouldn't it look like Rex instead of a bug lady?" he pointed out. "In the case of your being able to fight. Let's get you to the Li..." he started to suggest, but trailed off.
Right. He and Eve had gotten Miss Tairee really mad.
He sighed and shook his head, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"I'll protect you. I won't let anything bad happen to you," he insisted.
I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither.
Eve laughed. Typical. Who even expected anything different from her? But to Rex's surprise it wasn't just because Rex had apologized but because she thought... he was a copy? What? Even her boyfriend could see that wasn't the case.
"Yes, listen to Ben" That was a sentence that he had just said alright. "Of course I'm not a copy!"
And honestly, if Eve was stubborn enough to keep thinking Rex was a shapeshifter, so be it. He was still going to tell her what was on his mind.
"I'm sorry I made fun of your height and... your body, and bringing up the cloning thing. I was really angry and I wanted to insult someone to keep it together. I just... I'm tired of us hurting each other all the time"
edited 26th Mar '18 10:27:30 AM by DeisTheAlcano
Snowy
Rean stared at the spot, and then back at Makoto. Makoto stared at the spot too, murmuring something about ‘not meaning to.’
"Makoto—" Rean said, attempting to comfort her, but he was distracted by the sound of gunfire. Makoto ran off, probably to check on whoever might’ve been outside.
Rean tried to get up to follow her out, but his back still hurt so that wasn’t happening anytime soon. He flipped open the cover on Alisa’s ARCUS and looked at the Quartz installed inside. Good, there was one for Tear.
"ARCUS, activate." Rean murmured. A ring of blue light surrounded him as the spell ‘loaded’, and then created an aura of bubbles around him. Any scrapes he might’ve picked up closed, and his back stopped hurting. However, he was still pretty sore. There was more gunfire, but it was probably not the best idea to charge headlong into a new fight.
Sorry, Makoto.. Rean thought, standing back up. What to do now, though? He looked at Alisa’s ARCUS again. The quartz she had in there actually allowed usage of 2 of the arts he had installed in his: Fire Bolt, and the previously used Tear. Alisa also had the use of the revival move Thelas, but that was kind of pointless when no one’s body stayed in place for more than a few seconds. There was also the Golden Sphere attack art, but that affected an area, and he’d probably hit Morty with it as well since he and Ghostfreak were so close together. Oh, And Caboose, who he just noticed was getting used like a weapon.
Metal pylons... Rean thought, looking at the devices on Ghostfreak’s back.
He started up Alisa’s ARCUS again. The same blue ring of light from before appeared, but now when the art charged, fire wrapped around his free hand. Rean gestured forward, shooting a fireball at one of the devices on Ghostfreak’s back.
edited 26th Mar '18 10:16:25 AM by stargirl93
I just want to help!
Cole didn't really look any less alarmed by what Shenhua and Hercules had to say, seeming to just look steadily more alarmed as they spoke. When the pipe in his possession vanished, there was a sharp intake of breath, not quite a gasp, and he remained completely silent for a long moment.
Finally though, he just lowered his head, staring at the bags in his hands, then turned to wander further back into the store. "We have things to collect, Arcade," he said, in a flat tone of voice.
30% Petrify
Chinese Maid, Grocery Store
"Never a dull day, hm?" It seemed the Library was privy to yet another big argument. If she were to bet, Shenhua would type Rex and Miss Tairee as the two most probable shit-stirrers, with Ben being the close third.
"People die normal, tiny goat. They just get up somewhere else, good new, yes? Could demonstrate." She grinned predatorily for a moment before shaking her head for a moment. "So whoever that pipe is, they dead. Probably back with them." Then, Cole went off deeper into the store. "Aiyah. He bothered much by this. Right, though. You want out of action, you need stuff." She addressed Arcade with a nod.
Big Grah
Arcade was worried that he was going to have to fight with Cole, but it turned out that the results were much worse. Cole just seemed broken by the realization that he couldn't go running into the fight. Shenhua just seemed to want to take the time to freak the satyr out, so he decided not to even comment on that, instead trying to chase Cole down.
"Cole?" he called as he followed behind, "look, I know that it's not easy to be unable to protect those you care about..." God, did he know it really well. His attempts at calming Cole down were choked down for a few seconds as he tried to force himself to actually speak.
"But this is only temporary," he continued, "you'll grow and, if you want, you can train yourself up to protect people in our new home. You really should take the time to get used to your new body without trying to force yourself to do what you would before."
edited 26th Mar '18 12:14:12 PM by Skooter910
I say that aloud too sometimes, just: "man, no life."
The maid then explained that while you could die you would end up somewhere else, interesting. But that also meant that he would be able to remember how he died which was quite disturbing a thought at that, the maid then decided to psych him out when she asked he wanted an example of dying.
Hercules was a little startled but was not really feeling threatened by this comment and just shrugged it off and saw that the boy was moving away from them he turned to the maid and gave her a look that can only be described as the: "Not cool" sort of look at her for a brief moment clearly not appreciating this maid's very macabre way of being funny and then follows after the man and then says to him: "Oh jeez I'm sorry if I've freaked out your friend there but I just wasn't prepared to explain my situation to you three when I came in. Because again I was panicking about the whole thing." He said sounding very guilty for doing that and if he had known that this kid was very sensitive about this subject then he wouldn't have brought it up anyway.
"Can I help you two out with whatever it is your doing here?" He asked offering his services to the man and the boy it was the least he could do for them at this point anyway.
I just want to help!
"We're going to be finding somewhere to make a home while we are here," Cole said, still speaking in that rather monotone voice. "There's nothing else to offer so the best there is would be to stay out of the way."
He stopped in one aisle, looking back and forth a moment, before reaching out to pick up what looked like a loaf of wheat bread, holding it up. "This is bread, yes? I think this is something that people usually have in their homes."
30% Petrify
Chinese Maid, Grocery Store
Arcade was trying his best to reassure Cole, but it was obvious that a prospect of protecting hypothetical friends several years into the future was not quite as appealing as protecting your current friends now.
"If you plan eating bread, then yes." Something was off about Cole though, or at least more than usually. Was it the body he was currently inhabiting? "Aiya, Arcade." Shenhua lowered her voice some. "Who this boy that Cole in now? Feels like he too much of not himself now, yes?"
edited 26th Mar '18 2:06:27 PM by FergardStratoavis
Big Grah
Arcade bit his lip, concerned. Consoling people was never his strong-suit. It was why he worked as a researcher and not a doctor back in Freeside. The plants didn't cry when dissected. It didn't help that if he'd started acting like Cole, the best case scenario would have been a firm telling off.
"Uh, yeah, bread's... food," he muttered, taking the bread to put in one of his bags. He was so distracted trying to think of something to say that he almost didn't notice Shenhua trying to talk to him.
Once he noticed, he turned to her and shrugged. "I don't remember what he said the person's name is," he confessed under his breath, "but he mentioned something about having an old god in his head."
I say that aloud too sometimes, just: "man, no life."
Hercules saw that the boy was just doing something else and mentioned something about getting supplies for a house? What? Okay? Obviously he wasn't going to get anywhere with this boy, he could see that the man was trying to make the boy feel better. But wait a minute the man just called the boy: Cole and the maid just referred to him as Arcade so that must mean Herc was with a few familiar faces. "Arcade? Cole? Oh gods, yes, Arcade! Cole! I know you guys! Yes you were at the campsite yesterday evening with me. Oh sorry where are my manners? I'm Hercules, I don't think we properly introduced ourselves back at the campsite." Hercules cried upon now recognising who the boy and man were.
While he didn't spend a lot of time talking to them yesterday evening it was reassuring that he had at least knew who these people were apart from the maid who he was drawing a blank on. Cole as he remembered was that timid boy who was trying out the food and having a conversation with someone in a mirror and Arcade was there giving him some moral support. Hercules couldn't remember the exact details of why they were having a conversation with that person in the mirror but it must have been the sole reason why they were here in this place right now.
I just want to help!
Cole didn't seem to be paying any real attention to the others as they talked, though he did look to Hercules when he spoke, seeming to think it over for a moment. "Oh. You were bigger before. ...well, taller, anyway." But that seemed to be the depth of his concern of it, looking back at the aisles, looking rather blankly around.
Finally though he looked back up at Arcade. "...I don't know what people need in a home. I've never had one." There was no emotion to this, just an empty statement of fact, as he shrugged somewhat, the plastic bags a bit listlessly held at his side.
THE SLORG!
There was a slight crash from a nearby aisle as someone knocked over several cans.
"I need a real weapon!" the teenage voice of Hermione Granger complained as she stormed through the aisle.
"I told you, that wand basically is a weapon! Don't you know who you are?" the older voice of Abraham Lincoln asked as he followed her.
"Am I supposed to know?" Kelsey responded, her tone rhetorical and sarcastic.
"Well, from what I've been told and seen, everybody is someone from their own universe. You're Hermione Granger! One of Harry Potter's friends? Basically became one of the most famous witches in the world?" Calvin asked leading questions, as if that was supposed to enlighten Kelsey. "But maybe you're from the past, so that hasn't happened yet..." the Fanboy thought, almost running into Kelsey at the end of the aisle as she stopped suddenly.
"... You said, we're people from our own universe?" Kelsey asked, quietly. "So when you say, 'wand', 'witch', you're talking about, magic? Real magic?" she went on, her voice raising as she trembled a bit. The lights above started to flicker.
"Uh, yeah? Aren't you from..." Calvin trailed off, taking a half step back. "Oh, you're just a... Oh... Oh no" the Fanboy muttered as he realized the mistake he'd just made.
You are reading this.
someone
Eve | Streets | Denial
Eve looked at Ben and shook her head. "Not if the copies were aware of the day conditions. Otherwise it would be too easy," she pointed out. She looked back at Ben. Maybe she was being too harsh, but this just didn't seem like Rex. Not the Rex that she had known for the past 10 days. She huffed, looking back at Rex.
As he continued to talk, Eve kept getting more and more disbelieving. For Rex to admit that he was wrong about one thing was on the improbable side of belief. More than one thing was completely unbelievable. She just rolled her eyes. "Ben, when have you ever known Rex to apologise for anything? I believe it was him if he came up and demanded an apology from me." She looked at Rex and and huffed a small laugh. "I meant to ask how you knew about that, actually. It's not like I've tried to hide it, but still."
[TOP SECRET]
Arcade was ready to start to try and reason with Cole, when Hercules's introduction made him double take. "Wait... the Hercules?" he asked, "son of Jupiter?" His education was only the Roman part of the story. Still, he was suddenly very uncomfortable staying in the same building as the guy whose main flaw was wrath.
That desire was only heightened by the sudden realization that someone with powers was starting to get angry, which was affecting the lights. No, no more fighting, no more drama, no more battles.
Swiftly, Arcade took a few more loafs of bread and stuffed them into the same bag. "Well, it was nice meeting you, but we have to get going," he said, taking Cole by the hand and leading him to the doors.
I say that aloud too sometimes, just: "man, no life."
Dark Sun, what choices have I...?
...?
Was this a search engine? For games? (In retrospect, I don't know what else I was expecting, but still.) I selected the first and only result and hit enter, and the cabinet morphed and shifted to be larger, to have peripherals, and most obviously to have an actual name and design on it.
"No way." I knew on some level it must have existed for real, since everything did somewhere, but to see it for real..."No way."
I lit up just a touch, and by a touch I mean I had what may have been the hugest and dumbest grin ever made completely genuinely, because it was the real Sailor V console, holy shit!
On the the console were two joysticks, next to each four buttons arranged in a sideways L shape, three pink, one blue. Above them was a simple image explaining what each button did. From left to right, punch, kick, block, and the blue one at the bottom launched a Crescent Boomerang at the expense of a little magic. In the center were two white buttons labeled start and select.
I started up the game, to be greeted with a cute sidescroller and a karaoke rendition of Route Venus blasting on loop into the open air.
Since when did this game have a 2-player mode, actually? I couldn't remember more than one person ever playing on this thing, but then maybe this one was from Crystal. I didn't really remember it all that well, considering I kinda died four episodes into its run and Bugfuck Nowhere, USA isn't known for having internet. Mostly I just remembered thinking the animation needed help.
I glanced at the second set of controls, wondering how that'd play out, what their sprite would be, and so on. Around this point, I happened to look up and...was that Makoto coming inside? This was just a hunch but I had the feeling getting her radio back didn't work out. I quickly turned back to the game and, running through a field area, tested out the controls against some particularly aggressive wildlife. There was probably some combo for Venus's Crescent Beam, right?
i guess you can watch me shitpost i guess
Morty, who was still not entirely used to his new body, wasn't prepared for Ghostfreak's sudden sweep and went toppling over; taking a few seconds to climb back to his feet, he found his balance again and - assuming that Ghostfreak hadn't pulled off anything sneaky in those precious few seconds - leapt at his opponent again in an attempt to put him in a headlock.
Happy Box Hater
Radio Station
After Ghostfreak used Caboose as a conductor to shock Morty, the soldier hadn't really been aware of much. He was definitely still alive and thinking, as much as Caboose could think at least, but the ability to actually move or speak was fried. The voice filter was definitely not coming back from this.
And so the soldier lay on the ground motionless, still conscious, blissfully unaware of what was going on. To anyone who didn't know about him, it would probably look like someone died and left behind armor they acquired in the city.
Why is a yam attacking me?
The Arcade- I Just Came In Here To Think, Thanks
The inside was a little louder due to the game audio, but not to the point where it was difficult to hear. Unlike the one in Shibuya where it was mostly arcade cabinets and crane games, this one had actual tables and shelves of different games beyond digital ones. While Makoto might have been interested in actually looking around at another time, she really just wanted to be left alone for a while to figure out what just happened. And it didn't look very crowded in here at all, so it shouldn't be too hard to find a place to sit.
She passed a larger group of visitors gathered around one of the cabinets, though she had no idea people were still interested in older looking games like that. But then again, retro games were often popular because they were so old due to nostalgia. Makoto mostly ignored them and walked further into the maze of machines and tables. She went by someone she vaguely recognized as Lewis from earlier, but she didn't say a word to him as she sat at an empty table in his peripheral vision, though there was about 20 feet of space between them.
Makoto wasn't left alone for long, and a guy around her age wearing a sweatshirt and a pair of jeans went to sit down across from her. She picked herself up from where she'd been resting her head on the table to look at him. Why was he grinning like that?
"You're really him, right?" the Fanboy asked, barely containing his excitement. Makoto was just confused and annoyed at this point.
"... I really don't feel like talking right now." He was completely undeterred.
"You know, Ryuji Sakamoto. Well I mean, you're probably not him since everyone's all swapped and stuff today, but you're from Persona 5, right?" he asked. Wait, that was what the book she had was called. The book that was somewhere on the ground with her bag now, she reminded herself. That was what her "world" was apparently named here.
"What do you know about where I come from?" she asked him, too curious to resist any longer. "All I've seen is a book from the library about it."
"Oh, it's like... a JRPG in my world. It's part of a series that's getting really popular now! You weren't told that yet?" he asked. She blinked and tried to make sense of what he just said.
"So like a video game? Some kind of sequel?" Her life was part of a game's story in some places? That was... weird. How much did these strangers know about her and her friends? All of this was really suspicious sounding.
"Yeah! Uh... so who are you again?" the Fanboy asked, adjusting his glasses. For some reason, she hesitated to answer. "Ann? Mishima? Morgana? definitely not Futaba... " he trailed off, thinking to himself. She had a feeling that was a backhanded insult, and she crossed her arms.
"Why does it matter so much?" Makoto asked, cutting him off. This was getting even weirder as he talked.
"E-er, I just... I haven't run into many fans of Persona or the Shin Megami Tensei series around here, so meeting someone like you is kinda cool..." the Fanboy admitted.
"Um, that's... nice?" How was she supposed to respond to that?
edited 26th Mar '18 8:05:00 PM by ScorpioRat
For the Horde!
Ben furrowed his brow and shook his head.
"No, this is Rex. I know it's Rex," Ben insisted. "Just listen to yourself. He's been a jerk to us all this time, and now that he realizes how much of a jerk he's been and tries to fix things, you shut him down. You're acting like he was." He crossed his arms. "And we're gonna get nowhere. Speaking of, we have people to protect! Ghostfreak is out there doing who knows what, and hurting who knows who, and as heroes we can't just stand here arguing about who's right and who's lying and what's going on with that!" said Ben.
He clenched his fists. "You guys can argue about this later. People are in trouble, and when people are in trouble, that's when the City Knights move out. Now, City Knights! Move out!" he exclaimed, looking for the radio tower and trying to move in that general direction.
As he walked he looked at Rex.
"I'm tired of us hurting each other too. You sorry about making fun of the City Knights too?" he asked, sounding weary, and almost hopeful.
Ghostfreak snarled and moved to take Morty's grapple, struggling against his grip. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed movement, something hot and bright. He struggled to turn Morty towards the fireball, so that he would be hit with the brunt of the force. While he was distracted, Ghostfreak then summoned as much electrical energy as he could to pump Morty's body with as much purple lightning as he could muster.
"Die! Die! DIE!" he yelled with hatred in his voice, starting to belt out into a cackling laugh as he let out electricity at Morty.
I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither.
Morty bellowed as Rean's fireball hit him smack in the chest, the shock of the impact causing him to momentarily lose grip of his foe as he struggled to pat out the flames on his chest. Memory bubbled up within Morty's mind: the very small part of him that wasn't violently hallucinating vaguely remembered something about "stop, drop, and roll," and so he did so.
In this instance, that meant dropping on Ghostfreak wrestler-style, wincing in agony as more electrical shocks coursed thorugh his body, then, as they grappled, rolling with him through the plate glass window of a nearby building. That building just happened to be the small diner that was currently owned by a group of catgirls - or creatures that had been catgirls until today, at least.
The fight had been rowdy before. Now it was going into overtime.
All the fanservicey cuteness in the world wouldn't mitigate the fact that the catgirls were going to be looking at one hell of a repair bill.
Heedless of the carnage playing out around him, Rick leaned up against a wall and rummaged around in his pockets, producing a handful of unidentifiable coinage. He squinted at them before watching his grandson and Ghostfreak - with Rean and the other combatants not far away - hurtle into the diner. He waved them in the air in the benefit of whoever was interested.
"I bet three of... w-whatever these are... that my grandson takes it." He looked around. "What? It's a Morty fight. You're *urp* allowed to bet on Morty fights."
edited 26th Mar '18 9:31:37 PM by Locoman
THE SLORG!
Whoever the catgirls had been, they'd already scattered into the kitchen to leave out the back door after the city shifting had abruptly put them across the street from a firefight. Many of the patrons had followed suit, until by the time that Morty and Zs'Skayr came crashing into the dining room, only two patrons were still in there, and one of them was an armored horse.
The other one however, was a medieval knight in plate armor, and he was already bracing himself before the pair even came crashing in. His response was to charge forward and, given the movement Morty and Zs'Skayr were on, swing his large warhammer at them like a massively glorified golf club.
Outside, Thomas spotted the situation going on with Yael, such as it was now. "Louie, there! I think those guys are militia!" Thomas said, pointing to the two figures firing at Yael from cover.
"Those jerks?" Louie asked, gritting his teeth.
"Louie! That means the person they're shooting at is probably a bad guy! That could be Ghostfreak!" Thomas explained in frustration, as he grabbed his walkie talkie.
"Oh, right! Okay Swishee, steel wing!" Louie commanded, and the skarmory took flight with a roar.
Yael wasn't paying much attention to the boys, as he instead glanced up at the small ships shooting down at him, then lazily turned to look towards the militia members. "You can't kill me, there's no point to it. There's no point to any of this" Yael commented, and shoved the barrel of his rifle into the crook of his neck and head.
"Ben, I think we spotted him, but- NO!" Thomas yelled into his walkie talkie, as Yael blew his own head apart with a burst of fire, then fell onto his side before vanishing. Swishee landed into the spot just after, slashing one wing into the ground and leaving a deep cut.
The two militia members stopped firing, but now turned their attention on the boys. "Hey! You two hold it there!" one of them yelled as they stepped out of cover.
"Damn, he got away" Louie grumbled, before seeing the fight between Morty and Zs'Skayr go into the diner. "There, Thomas!" the trainer pointed out, before hollering at the militia members, "we're City Knights! Just stay out of our way!"
The battlecruisers that had been in the radio station were following Morty and Zs'Skayr, gathering at the front of the diner along with three other
◊ kinds of
◊ small ships.
◊ The other three kinds outnumbered the battlecruisers at least 2 to 1 each, but were also smaller.
edited 26th Mar '18 10:15:30 PM by FirockFinion
You are reading this.
It seemed the lesson back at the library had stuck to Ben since he pointed out how unreasonable Eve's behavior was. Calling his girlfriend out when she was wrong was a massive step for him. And surprising. To be honest, this day was full of surprises.
"Gotta say, I'm liking the new attitude"
But Eve was really stubborn so she probably needed more concrete proof. Not a problem, Rex could provide some. Starting with how he knew about her past.
"Your friends told me. And would a copy know that Cricket and the rest of my old gang had a way to deal with shapeshifters?"
Finally, a plan that would actually work. Voice-activated nano ink. Fancy talk for a tattoo that showed up by uttering a code phrase, courtesy of nanites. There was no way a shapeshifter could know something like that which is why it was so good at proving Rex's identity or, well, that he knew Cricket's body could do that. After all, he was the one that had come up with such a brilliant idea. He just didn't actually remember doing it because of his amnesia.
"Ink check" he said, looking at his left arm. Nothing changed. "Uh... maybe it was the other one? Ink check" Again, no results. Rex tried repeating the same phrase over and over again, seeing if that damned tattoo showed up anywhere in his arms or legs. "Where the heck did Cricket put hers?"
Unbeknownst to him, every time he said 'Ink check' a weird symbol
◊ kept showing up and disappearing on the side of his neck.
Ben decided he had had enough and that fighting against Ghostfreak was more important. And leaving Eve and Rex to discuss their problems seemed like a good idea—or at least not something he wanted to be part of right now. Although he did want to know if Rex was being serious about not being an asshole anymore.
"Ok, to be fair, you guys are all kids so it's not exactly false to say that it's a kids club" Rex said, noticing that he was kinda backpedaling on the whole thing. "But yeah, sure, whatever forget about it. You do you"
There was something else, too. No matter how powerful Ben thought he was, he could always use a warning.
"And by the way, Ghostfreak has electric powers today. Unless that lobster can do something against that, you might as well butter yourself before getting roasted"
edited 26th Mar '18 10:58:39 PM by DeisTheAlcano
Snowy
Then Rick but with one eye now took out some coins from his pocket and placed a bet on Morty winning the scuffle.
“...No thanks. " Rean said, an uneasy smile crossing his face. Was now really the time for that? But Despite being a Cyclops today, Rick was still Rick. Wait, was this even Rick, or just someone who got turned into (sorta) Rick because of the Day theme? Same kind of went for the giant Morty.
Anyway, Rean turned around to grab Alisa’s bow and then shoved it back into the drawstring bag. He then looked at Caboose’s prone form on the ground. He didn’t want to just leave him here, but that armor he had on looked pretty heavy. Rean knelt down next to Caboose and started charging up Tear again.
"Hey, can you two help me get him out of here? Rean said, addressing Rick and Gon. Maybe 3 people would be enough? Then the spell loaded, and surrounded Caboose with blue bubbles. It probably wouldn’t do anything to the outer armor, but hopefully it would heal whatever was in there. If there was something in there to heal.
edited 26th Mar '18 11:45:53 PM by stargirl93
Hercules then looked at the boy and addressed him: "I understand your concern but I'm really not sure but I have not seen him since that….argument that happened in the Library earlier today. And he could be anywhere and I'm worried about him getting hurt and escaping that fight wasn't a picnic either." Herc continued as he explained when and where he last saw his friend and then much to his surprise the pipe that the boy was holding then vanished.
He then turned to the maid apparently she said something about being brought back: "Being brought back from the dead? You mean we can never die while we are here in the city?" Herc asked the maid the thought of being killed and being brought back to live was not a calming thing to him but if that was the case then death wouldn't be that much of an issue.
"There is some good news about that fight, at the very least Ghostfreak's being kept pretty busy what with everyone fighting him and he didn't look like he was in a fit state to pursue anyone last I checked." Herc explained as he remembered Ghostfreak was pretty much damaged but not to the point where he was dying. He then turned his attention back to the man: "But if nobody can die here, why did that pipe suddenly just disappear from view?"