The detective sighed as everyone insisted he arrest the thugs, once he was done giving the talking car a bewildered look. "Look, you have any idea how much paperwork a simple assault charge takes? If we arrested every random thug looking for a fight, I'd have to lock up half the city. We don't have the time or cell space to do that. I have more important things to be doing, like tracking down this guy my bosses are so instinent I find." He kicked the thug lightly. "Get up."
The thug got up,and the detective extended a hand. The thug withdrew the contents of his pocket and placed them in his hand.
"I'm sorry, officer, I-"
"And I don't have time for this. Run. Don't do it again, or next time you won't be able to walk away."
The man ran, and he pocketed the cash.
"It'll go to a fund I support." He said before anyone could start accusing him of corruption. "I don't keep it. Now, I need to find this jackass who came from....wherever you all came from and thought it'd be funny to rob a local shop and knock out the owner. Do what you want, but don't cause trouble. Oh, and talking car, unless you want a repeat of this in about a minute, I'd switch your form or whatever. This is Yakuza and gang territory. Police ain't exactly welcome here unless they got a reason to be here."
He looked over at Kashira. "Ok. Your friend was last spotted walking away from the store with a couple of Yakuza guys. From what we can tell, they were taking him somewhere. somewhere he asked to be taken. You have any idea if he might know any local Yakuza bosses or something?"
The nerd withered for a moment under her intense glare.
"Oh, er, that's, erm, a great name. I'm Takai."
He faltered again, trying to find his mental footing. Small talk, they always said to start with small talk.
"So....you, erm, been bartending long?"
The man continued to sway, muttering one last word.
"....monsters...."
Then he fell facefirst into the table. One of the girls that had been with him bowed to the Kid.
"I'm sorry, it must have been my fault. I'm new, I must have did something he didn't like."
Meanwhile, the man who wanted his sandwich stood up as Sabrina started leaving, pulling something out of his pocket.
"Miss!" He would wait for her to turn, then show her a giant wad of money in his hand. "Do you see this, in my hand? This is one million Yen, in cash! And there's more where that came from! This cash says I get to have whatever I want! Name your price, I will pay it, whatever it is!"
"You could say that."
Qrow would find that his opponent had placed himself directly in the path of the weapon, hands and stance spread, clearly aiming to block any attempt to bypass him and grab it. However, the glance caught Taiga's attention.
"What's wrong? You ain't standing there pissing yourself at the thought of fighting without your weapon, are ya? Screw weapons. You think you're such a tough guy, you come at me. One on one, man to man. Or ya can get down on your hands and knees and beg for them to end it, save yourself a lot of pain. What's it going to be?"
The old man's words reply was killed before he began as the blue haired robot appeared. His mouth opened and closed wordlessly as he gazed in awe. On being told to take the money, he slowly reached forward and grabbed it. Then he suddenly scrambled out of his seat. knocking it over in his haste, and started running down the street at speeds even he had not known he could reach. As he ran, the climbers would be able to hear him.
"EVERYONE, EVERYONE, YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS! YOU HAVE TO VISIT THIS SHRINE!"
As he gained distance, Zazy walked over to KOS-MOS.
"Was that truly necessary?" He asked. "Your impersonation of a god may well have turned that man into a raving madman."
Vampire Hunter
Sabrina, Club
Sabrina stopped as she walked back to the door, before she turned back, walking towards him before sitting down in a free chair at the table.
"One million yen, and you are willing to pay it for a grilled tuna fish sandwich," Sabrina had to admit the offer was tempting since they needed that money to get out of this place, but it was obvious that this guy had an ulterior motive. "With that sort of money you could go to the most expensive restaurant in Kamurocho and bother them with a tuna fish order, so why do you choose this place?"
"Of all the restaurants in Kamurocho you could spend your million on, you decide to go to this one and demand tuna fish," Sabrina stated quite bluntly, crossing her arms. "You could go to the restaurant with the best damn tuna fish in Kamurocho, but you come here waving your million around and demand tuna fish."
"No, you don't want tuna fish," Sabrina answered for him, shaking her head. "What you want is for us to dance for your amusement with your cash."
"Order something on the menu or leave, I do not care," Sabrina gave her ultimatum. "However, if you continue to pester the paying customers here with your attempts to get us to dance for your cash, then we will make you leave."
Sabrina stood up from her chair before walking over to the Kid, pointing at the man who ordered tuna fish. Her message was obvious... If he continued to disturb the customers, the Kid was allowed to throw him out.
Wizard Needs Food Badly
Yang - Club Elise
"Actually, it's Xiao Long," Yang said to the nerd, setting down the glass she had 'cleaned'. Picking up a new one in her right hand, she started to clean the already-spotless drinking vessel with a towel as she spoke. "And I've been a bartender for about... ten minutes?"She looked over at what sort of crap the other people were having to put up with, and sighed.
"Look I don't deal with customers directly, if you want to have something go find a table and have the waitress take your order. G Ot it?"
KITT - Streets
"Very well then, Detective," KITT replied to the Detective.Tanimura had done him quite the favor by revealing the current situation in the city. If the police were unwelcome and the ones who were here were so focused on other goals that they did not wish to busy themselves with handling other things, that gave them a healthy amount of leeway in future actions. And if these thugs had no respect for the local law enforcement, he didn't need to worry about trying to blend in with a law enforcement vehicle. That meant that the only language the local thugs understood - aside from Japanese - was power. Considering the average height of an adult Japanese male and the basic human psychological reactions to having to look up at something, the choice was quite clear.
Without having to be told twice to change, KITT shifted out of the vintage pursuit vehicle mode and into that of a large pick-up truck
◊. The wheelchair in the trunk was now in the truck bed itself, and the additional space allowed for both rows in the vehicle to comfortably accomodate three people each.
"We will be on our way then. If any other residents of the Tower would like to accompany me please enter now." Both of the doors on the passenger side opened.
Anti-Gnosis Weapon
The Shrine
Although she didn't vocalize any objection to 2B's interruption, the black-clad android (or perhaps 042, depending on circumstance) would quickly receive a ping and connection request from a nebulously defined "KOS-MOS" before the shrine's first believer had left. Supposing the YoRHa Unit or her companion Pod accepted, they would be met with a simple audio recording, which said:
Greetings, Unidentified Mechanical Lifeform. The methods we are employing adhere to the principle that one must spend currency to acquire more currency. Our returning of this man's money can be thought of within such a framework as an investment in marketing and advertisement. Additionally, collecting money from believers on the basis of a fabricated threat rather than their uncoerced contribution to our cause would set a potentially dangerous precedent.
"He is not a madman," the still-seated gynoid serenely countered her towering, caped comrade after the topic of discussion had disappeared from sight, "He is simply experiencing the sensation known as spiritual awe. Furthermore, can you name a successful religion which lacks an explicit and specific divinity to rally around? Thus far, this cult has lacked consistent tenets and even a name, so My arrival was entirely necessary. It is unsurprising that you have made so little progress towards your goal with so half-hearted an approach, Zasalamel."
Having made her case, KOS-MOS returned to facing ahead and peering down the way, though this didn't prevent her from making another suggestion to the man in the white vestments. "As Our shrine guardian, please continue to remain on standby, and ward off any believers from coming too close to My person via the application of force and threats of divine wrath. However, do not smite any visitors unless they become violently aggressive. Our shrine is a place of peace."
Wisdom dispensed, the blunette briefly lifted Sumireko's hat to pair some pats on the girl's head with quiet words of encouragement such as "great job", "keep up the good work", and "I knew you could do it".
GM of AGOG S4: Frontiers RP; Sub-GM of TABA, SOTR, & UUA RPs
A dogged fellow, aren't we?
2B - Shrine
2B didn't seem particularly satisfied with Sumireko's vague explanation. Before she could ask further, she had to step out of the way so that the local who had been attending the shrine could scramble away in awe. The android turned to watch him go, frowning as her confusion deepened.
Meanwhile, Pod-042 received the contact ping and swiftly replied. "Acknowledged, KOS-MOS. I am Tactical Support Unit Pod 042. My support assignment is YorHa No. 2 Type B. For brevity, designation may be truncated to 2B."
As he replied, he passed the message along to 2B, who turned back to give KOS-MOS another measuring look. The concept of "marketing and advertisement" was somewhat outside her realm of expertise, but she could grasp the basic idea. There was something about this whole situation that left her uneasy, though. "Isn't it dangerous to pretend to be a god? The humans might turn on you if they find out you're tricking them."
The Kid's gaze didn't leave the woman, obviously still skeptical about her apparent goal. Another large part of him was wondering just how she was doing it, since she seemed to be doing nothing more than staring at the man. But then, with the things he had seen and experienced so far it didn't sound even close to impossible.
There was a heavy thud, and the young soldier jerked around to spot the man face down against the table. Quickly reaching out to check the man's pulse, he relaxed when he found it stable and strong. He glanced back at Lucifer, no longer suspicious. "That's a handy trick you've got."
Grabbing the unconscious man, The Kid hefted him out of his seat and up onto his shoulder with ease. Stepping back away from the table to give himself some space, the teen looked at the apologetic girl. "Don't be sorry, Miss. It wasn't your fault. Drunk fools don't need an excuse to act like this. I'll toss him outside for ya." Then he began to move towards the entrance.
edited 27th Oct '17 6:43:21 AM by Alleydodger
Did you know this section has a character limit?
Qrow - Arena
"I was just thinkin' that this weapons fight was seeing a lack of weapons."
Ruby would be asking for her money back.
"But if I've gotta come at you..."
Qrow broke out into a sprint, but not towards Taiga. He ran towards one of the mesh walls of the arena, and ran up the metal fencing for a few steps, before leaping off. He flew towards Taiga, fist cocked back, aiming to punch him square in the face with both the power of his arm and the momentum of his flight.
If Qrow knew the martial arts of this world, he would know that this was a variation of the Superman Punch. But Qrow lived in a world without DC Comics, and thus knew it as a way to put more power into a punch.
Lizard Metabolism
Baron, Just Watching Everything (not) Burn, Elise
The nerd was doing predictably badly. Oh well, he was on his own. Their group handled the drunk - with Kid ready to literally throw him out after Lucy made him fall asleep - and the Tuna Fish Guy received a scolding from Sabrina. If he continued to cause trouble, Kid would likely be able to handle that one too.
...man, was The Blacker Baron feeling useless. It really seemed like there wasn't anything to do for him here. Thus, he elected to stay by the door, waiting for prospective clients to come over.
How do lizards fly?
What tension she had was finally dispersed as KOSMOS spoke like a normal person, relieving her of just a little worry about whether or not she was actually a god. She could rest easy, knowing that why was she getting headpats
Yes indeed, the Native God of their little alley had de-hatted her and was now showering praises upon her barren head. Unthinkable! Moreover, Sumireko was a practically a grown woman with all the crap she's gone through! She reached up to take her hat back and shoved it back on her head, blushing even more heavily.
She had to carefully think her words out, considering who she was talking to, but she ended up saying "I appreciate it, but you don't have to treat me like a kid" in the most dignified manner the situation allowed.
"It has its uses. There is so much more I could do with my music but this is already much more than that man deserves." Shrugging her shoulders derisively with the pride of one that thought herself higher than the naked apes, the fallen angel glanced towards Sabrina and the man who wanted an entire tuna with a particularly malevolent glint in her eye that was subsumed by high quality sloth, lazily ambling about the place while she looked for her next victim. "I hope you people can handle a braggart like him though." It was clear she wasn't going to intervene since this was survival of the fittest and those who couldn't fulfill their roles should flounder by themselves.
The Mighty Pen
Kashira Lavellan - Street - The Threat Remains
Kashira shook her head slightly at the detective and answered in a low murmur.
"No. He wouldn't know anyone here, but he knows how power works. To get what you want, the shortest route is by ignoring any and all laws, customs, and people that stand in your way and criminals would have the most experience in doing so. I'd guess this was his way of getting an introduction to the local gang boss and proving his worth, but I could be wrong. He's a...difficult person to know."
Turning back to the talking aravel, she rapped her staff lightly on the ground a couple times.
"If you'd answer my question, first, please?" she reminded him...her...it? "What is it you mean to do?"
A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent upon arriving. -Lao Tzu
KITT - Streets Near Entrance
"I am here due to circumstances beyond my control, at the behest of someone beyond normal scientific comprehension, for a reason beyond explanation," KITT said to Kashira. "More specifically, the Locksmith from the Tower requires a certain quantity of yen. At the moment I am attempting to gather information while protecting my passengers."The hood of his truck frame lit up like a screen, bringing up an array of images and words - not unlike a dossier - expanding on the limited information he could gather so far on Kamurocho. Which mostly just included images of the few places he drove by and a picture of Detective Tanimura. "As you can see, my current data set is limited."
His passenger door slightly moved again, is if waving. "Now would you care for a lift?"
"Greetings, Climber, and welcome to the Tower. You have been chosen to climb this tower, conquer its challenges and reach the top, where you will be rewarded with whatever your heart desires. I shall answer any and all questions you have to the best of my ability, for it is my purpose to guide you to the top." The blind man stated in a slow but rehearsed tone, obviously clear that he was extremely familiar with saying the words by now to the new group of people that had been dragged into the stone construct.
"You have been chosen by the Ruler, who sits at the top of The Tower, choosing and challenging people from all across the Multiverse to climb. As for why you are chosen, I do not know, beyond the fact that the Ruler sees in you the potential to reach the top. None are chosen that can not climb all the way." Continuing the explanations in a way to try to curb as much overall questions as possible that he's heard all too much, the orator continued.
"On every floor of the tower, there is a locked door and a black and gold gate. It is my job to interpret the lock and figure out what Key is required to ascend to the next floor. It can tangible or intangible, items of great significance or something with no worth to anyone but you. Next, you Climbers walk through the black and gold gates and search for the Key in the world beyond the gates. Passing through the black and gold gates will take you to a different world, chosen by the Ruler to test your abilities. You may enter a feral world where monsters stalk the lands, or an advanced civilization, or a blasted wasteland where survival will be a challenge in itself." "Take as an example, the door over there." The Locksmith indicated the door adorned with the yen symbol and a number still very close to ten million.
"The door of this floor demands that you gather in total 10 million yen, the local currency of the world beyond the black and gold gates, and deposit them in the lock. When the sum is met, you may proceed to the next floor. The world itself is a moderately advanced human civilization, and the gates will deposit you in the entertainment district of one of the world's largest cities. The Challenge of this floor is to seek your fortune in this unknown land, in a city locked in conflict between criminal forces and those who would forge a justice from the lawlessness." With that all said, the sightless elder then settled back down.
Uzume Tennobushi-Tower
What the hell?
The orange haired girl's first thought as she came to was this. The first thing she noticed was human beings. Actual living human beings. Were they CPU's as well? Or were all of them monsters? Right, that had to be it. I mean, who'd believe in getting a wish from an old man in a tower?
She already reached for her megaphone, until she heard the multiverse part.
She wasn't a stranger to the concept. Heck, the idea of sending a distress call to another dimension was something she's been kicking around, if she knew how to do it. But to be pulled into something like this... heck, there may be more of a credence to that wish thing after all.
And even if there the slightest chance this is true, she'll take it. She's got people to save, and nothing was going to get in her way of doing just that.
Getting the details for this challenge, It seems to be gathering money. Should be easy enough. Just got to put some elbow grease into it. Plus entertainment... Perhaps she could actually have fun and do work and do all the things a CPU would normally do. Maybe she'd grab a some coffee and-
Focus, Uzume. Work first.
Anyways, it sounds like this old man was asking them to prepare for a scrap, with the conflict and all. The more he talked, the less Uzume was suspicious and the more she was hyped.
"So, all I have to do is climb this, and get anything I want, right?" She finally spoke up.
"Junko Enoshima"-Tower
"Huh?"
The blond girl looked around, she was glad she said that at a high pitch. If it was lower, this would be hard to pull off.
True, she was no stranger to people randomly waking up in a place they weren't before. After all, she helped set up such a thing. But for now, It doesn't seem like there were any stuffed bears, there was no amnesia, and it didn't seem like this old man wanted the people here to start killing one another. This was actually a valid concern for her, which spoke volumes about the shape of the world she left.
She left... well, she was just with her class, about to rest. Kirigiri was going to keep watch, and she was just about to talk to Naegi.
And now she's here, with four other people. And pretty sure at least one of them has an itchy trigger finger.
As she listened to the Old Man's explanation, she made a decision to keep her disguise up for now. The element of surprise could come in handy.
Now, how to justify why a Fashionista would be a good idea for a tower climbing?
And they ask her to get money. Well, that's one way to do so. She was kicking herself for her... impact on the economy.
"Wait, wait, wait. So you brought me, as you claim, from an entire other dimension, just to have me- no, wait, people from other dimensions, including me, to make you money? This is a scam and a half if I ever saw one!"
In reality, she was already coming up with ways of making said money. The most obvious one was trying to be a fashion model. It can't be that hard, right? Not that she ever tried it before, but if all she had to do was make and pose for outfits, and have the power of Photochop take care of the rest, she'd do well right? The alternative was mercenary work. If it was a modern city (and not in ruins), there should be more than a few jobs around. And she knew she'd be good at that. Might cause more than a few questions though.
She then wondered the Yen value of Monocoins.
edited 31st Oct '17 8:16:18 PM by Boomer75
Calamity is a housewife
The thing about VR in this day and age is that it’s indistinguishable from real life. Every asset and programmed sensation we experience in the virtual world feels no different to our brains than real-world experiences.
Apply this to gaming and you’d run into inevitable controversy; as the number of addicts would rise. Admittedly, I was... or still am... one of these addicts. I’d be the first to declare how preferable the virtual world was to the real world, and even though I had paid for that mindset already with the SAO incident, two years spent trapped in a video game apparently weren't enough to eliminate my sense of wonder. Lethal as it may have been, the world of SAO was true in my eyes, everything I’d experienced in there... all the people I’d met... they were all real, and there were things I cherished too.
The feeling of being forcibly returned to SAO was bittersweet.
Was I trapped again? Last I remember, I’d turned in for the night without my Nervegear on my head.
I looked at my hands, seeing the black fingerless gloves I had worn in SAO, and my gaze followed up my arm to find the familiar sleeve of my Blackwyrm coat. I felt a noticeable weight on my torso, prompting me to feel my chest, finding a breastplate wrapped around it. I reached my hand over my shoulder, and of course, there were two swords sheathed on my back. Somehow, they felt heavier than I’d remembered. All evidence on my person pointed to SAO.
Being trapped in the death game once again meant I was in danger. Then again, there was someone I needed to find, whom I had an inkling was still here in the game. The mere chance to look for her; that rekindled my determination, quashed my fears. Actually, perhaps my only fear was failing her. That would explain my eagerness to go back into the death game.
An old man then recited his rehearsed lines to me and a few other folk. My first thought was that he was a quest-giver, forcing this ‘Tower climbing’ quest on me. His descriptions sounded far too similar to how SAO’s floors worked... and adding to the confusion, the innards of this ‘Tower’ were not like any area I’d seen in SAO.
Leave it to the gaming addict to remember every inch of an MMORPG by heart.
The concept of the Multiverse being used in a quest in SAO was new to me, and this ‘Ruler’ didn’t sound like any NPC I was familiar with. Furthermore, what sort of quest required me to collect Japanese yen? Shouldn’t it have been in Col? The possibility of this being a dream had occurred to me, but everything around me felt too real. In other words, my brain was taking in too much information to be considered asleep. And yet, if this was really SAO, the details were all mixed up. Next to me was a redhead with waist-length pigtails, dressed rather trendily in a dress shirt and skirt I wouldn’t expect to find in SAO. Yet another inconsistency to pick at, but not now.
The quest-giver had previously asked for questions, and while the redhead rather excitedly asked for confirmation of the spectrum of her rewards, I obliged the old man my own obvious ones.
“Am I... where is this ‘Tower’ exactly? Don’t you mean Col instead of yen? And uh... I am in Sword Art Online, right?”
Kazuto Kirigaya was not one for subtlety.
Colliseum Bleachers
Guts is still alive and watching the fight yo.
edited 1st Nov '17 12:47:35 AM by LatverianBadger
"Shake the dust." - Anis Mojgani
"The Tower resides in the area between various dimensions, separated from native universes and yet standing at a crossroad of sorts to many such worlds." The quest giver stated succinctly, turning his head towards the sound of the people talking. "And like I said, I am not the one who have brought you here... that would be the Ruler. I am simply but a Climber like you and the others save that I had tried to cheat the game in the past... and am now stuck here to guide newcomers as punishment."
The weight of the world wore down on the man, the jadedness making his presence even more frail seeming. "And yes, so long as you can reach the top of the Tower... the Ruler shall grant you any one wish. Naturally, it won't be easy... and very few have reached the final level." Pausing for a second before turning to the second Black Swordsman, the guide shook his head. "I mean Japanese yen. The current challenge takes place in a red light district." With those calming words, the old man stopped elaborating.
edited 1st Nov '17 7:37:16 AM by Makaioh
Samus Aran- Tower
This wasn't where she landed her ship last night. Samus realized she was in a stone hall of sorts, alongside a small group of equally confused people. They looked more like children than adults, and they were certainly not equipped for the kind of fighting she was used to. As soon as the blacksmith spoke, she had her cannon trained on him, but as she listened, she let her weapon power down and relaxed slightly.
So this tower was a crossroad of universes, and a "Ruler" called people to climb it and test themselves in different worlds. The entire concept would not have interested her if the prize didn't exist. What did "whatever your heart desires" encompass? Did this Ruler have the power to grant any wish without restrictions? Samus didn't care about proving herself by climbing the tower, but the thought of being able to eradicate the space pirates in a single move was more than enough motivation to start.
The other three were still asking questions as she thought about the current challenge to reach the next floor. Collecting 10 million in any form of currency seemed like an uphill struggle, but if this city was as corrupt as many of the other heavily populated areas she'd visited, there'd be a number of things to do for money. Some of them were a little less legal than others, but then again, bounty hunting wasn't the cleanest job in the first place.
"10 million yen to get past the lock." She spoke for the first time since her arrival, her voice altered by the helmet of her suit. "Understood." Samus walked towards the door with the unfamiliar symbol on it, and then turned to look at the three still standing around, clearly waiting for them to join her when they were ready. If they were from different universes and brought here by the Ruler, then they should be capable of holding their own despite their appearances.
Calamity is a housewife
Kirito, The Tower
As I received my answers, I only found more questions. The claim that the Tower resided between universes, as a link between different worlds, was fantastical enough to support the thought that I'd been brought into a VR simulation against my will. And when the old man clarified that, yes, he meant Japanese yen, I scratched my head, befuddled.
Okay, maybe this wasn't SAO. But how does that explain my equipment being here?
It was then that I noticed a rather crucial detail. In any Virtual Reality video game, you'd turn your attention to the upper left-hand corner of your vision to see some sort of User Interface; a health bar, for starters. And so I did just that, only to find no such thing. My vision was clear of any and all UI elements.
For my second test, I traced my finger across the empty space in front of me, expecting the menu to pop out, from which I could access my status, equipment, items and other such game elements. Instead, my finger cut through empty space and I looked like a fool as I stood there, staring into the ether for a full two seconds.
I put my hands on my hips and sighed. This was too insane, and not much of a pleasant morning. If this wasn't SAO, then I wouldn't even be able to find her here anyway. I was tempted to just lie down defeated, maybe drift off to sleep and wake back up in my room.
But I was never one to back down from a challenge. If I was decreed to climb this tower and take on each of its challenges in order to get home, I'd do it, and I'd survive. Just like everyone I knew survived SAO.
A towering figure decked in sci-fi gear approached the gate the old man spoke of, yet another piece of evidence against this being SAO. He was obviously waiting for us to get a move on.
On the day when we were trapped in SAO, I was offered a place in a guild, and I had rejected the offer to play the VRMMO I'd spent countless hours beta testing as a solo player. Not the case here, I didn't even know what was in store for me, except for the gates before me leading to a 'red light district' (and I didn't even know which part of Japan it'd be in). Probably for the best if I stuck to a team for now.
An uneasiness gripped my chest as I made that conclusion, but despite my fears, I knew I had to force myself to carry on this path. I no longer had the confidence I once had traversing Aincrad, this was completely new territory for me.
Before I left, I asked the old man one more question.
"When I reach the top, after I get my reward from the Ruler, will he send me back home after that?"
edited 2nd Nov '17 1:27:52 AM by LatverianBadger
"Shake the dust." - Anis Mojgani
Uzume- Tower
One wish? And all she had to do is get to the top of the tower? No sweat. They brought a goddess along after all.
Though, noticing the hand motions the boy near her was doing, she did need to test out something. Not that she expected it to work. After all, she is in another world, so in theory that means she should be-
And then a power symbol appeared above her. She dispersed it, she had no need to transform now, but... huh. Seems like this place was a crossroad after all. Though... she did feel a bit of fatigue after doing that. Was that normal?
Anyways, it looks like people were already gearing up to go, and Uzume was all ears.
"Alright then, you made a good choice bringing me here. You won't regret it!"
With that, Uzume rushed off to join the armored person at the gate.
"Junko"- Tower
"Oh, it's a Ponzi scheme. Great. Once I find this Ruler, I'm giving him a piece of my mind." The girl retorted.
So, a real red light district. As in civilization. That's... something. She swore in her head if anyone tried anything, she might be losing some of that money to bail. Or bribery, depending on how corrupt it is. Though that did bring up a question. Her sister always was a stickler for rules, after that unorganized mess.
"And how does one cheat climbing up a tower? Shouldn't that be... Uncheatable?"
Looks also like there's another solider in the group, or someone with that kind of demenor. Lot's of armor... she knew more than a few people who would have loved to see how it ticked. A boy, around her age, that's dumbfounded by his own finger motions, who mentioned something about some sort of MMO? She's played her fair share of games, mostly in the FPS field, but she's by no means a Junkie. There was also one more girl, who looked a bit younger than her and is that a power symbol above her head?
She'll have to ask later. For now, she joined the group.
"So, um... are we going to introduce ourselves and all that?" She asked.
edited 2nd Nov '17 4:24:48 PM by Boomer75
Veronica, Batting Center
Majima wasn't to know, but the darkness really wasn't a problem for Veronica at all. She'd been custom-built for sneaking around in shadows, and her eyes adapted to the change with ease. The cloning trick, now that was another thing entirely. She turned warily as the dark figures circled her, raising her knives to parry incoming attacks.
Switching to a longer blade might throw him off, and allow her to strike several at once before he could recover... but she still had the same problem as before: she couldn't do anything that might kill or seriously injure him without making things a lot more complicated. This put something of a limit on the options available to her. Choosing purely at random, she flung one knife at the leg of one clone. Darting forwards she ducked and weaved low to avoid the shadowy blades, and aimed a swift punch at another's gut.
Samus Aran- Tower
She took the time waiting for the rest of the Tower's "Challengers" to observe them from behind her visor. The black haired boy had a pair of blades and light armor, but by the way he'd been swiping at the air, she thought he might also have a holographic display of sorts. Was it not functioning, or was it just invisible to her? His last question did make her think though. Would they be able to go home once they reached the top, or were they stuck here?
The red headed girl had an interesting device on her glove, and a symbol had briefly appeared over her head, but that wasn't much to make a guess from. Some kind of hacker, maybe? And the blonde skeptic didn't really have any identifiable weapon, though she did have even more questions. Right, introductions...
"...Fair enough. My name is Samus Aran, a bounty hunter." That sounded like a reasonable amount of information to give.
"Yes, when you get to the top of the tower, you will be sent home after you state your wish. If you find any floor that catches your fancy, you might even postpone your climbing and simply go native as many others were wont to do in this place, such as those who live in a world terrorized with monsters or survivors of a nuclear apocalypse- they as particular examples choose to simply enjoy a life without those hazards."
Pausing in his introduction of how the Tower worked, the man simply raised a withered and bony finger to point to his blindfold. "I shan't tell you the sordid details of how I cheated in particular but my punishment is that I am to be blinded and immortal, forever guiding the next generation of Climbers. Please do not follow in this old man's footsteps."
edited 3rd Nov '17 9:54:31 AM by Makaioh
The man who wanted the fish simply reached into his wallet and withdrew another stack of billls.
"Fine. 2 million yen. If that is not enough, then I demand you summon your manager."
The Kid would have no trouble removing the man from the building and dumping him on the street. As he came back in, he might notice a large group of customers in suits were becoming quite loud, clearly disturbing nearby customers. Said men, three in total, had pins on tht identfied them as Yakuza members.
Over at the bar, the nerd looked down at the counter in shame.
"I'm pathatic, arn't I?"
Zazy had clearly had enough of this nonsense. He shook his head at the group.
"Enough of this. I shall take my leave, before I become entangled in what you are about to reap"
With that, Zazy departed in the direction of the portal entrance.
Taiga grinned as he saw his opponent run up the cage and understood what he was aiming to do. As his opponent leaped, he planted himself and extended his hands wide. With one hand, he would aim to catch the extended fist as it came down. With the other, he would try to grab the man out of midair.
Assuming this worked as intended, he would attenpt to slam the man on the ground and pin him down, before resuming his attempts to pound Crow's face in.
"Shit." The cop said as he scratched his head. "That doesen't give us much to start with. There's only one major Yakuza clan in the area, the Tojo Clan, but that clan has dozens of major clans under them, the largest being the Majima clan, who's building that mega mall over where West Park used to be, and then hundreds of minor clans below them, and countless bosses he could have went to see."
The shadow clone vanishes on being struck. Another moved in to strike. But before it could reach him, a random voice rang out.
"Boss! Boss!"
Almost as if on cue, the emerency lights kicked on. The shadow clones came to a halt, and then vanished, and Majima turned, silently glaring at the random goon, who was holding a cell phone.
"They want an update on the job!"
Majima failed to move for a few seconds. Then he sheathed his knife, and started walking toward the goon, picking up a bat as he did so. The goon, apparently forgetting his self preservation today, failed to see the danger until Majima picked up a baseball and swatted it at the goons head, directly hitting him. He spent a good minute wacking away at the idiot goon on the ground, yelling about not interrupting him, only pausing to smash the cell phone. Then he rose up, sighing as he threw the bat away.
"Damn it. Now this fool has gone and ruined the mood. And I was having such a good time too."
He turned to face Veronica.
"Well, guess we're done now. Good fight. Who knows, maybe we'll get another chance to go at it without interruptions. What say we go find blondie, settle the deal?"
edited 3rd Nov '17 2:43:44 PM by Meanken
Calamity is a housewife
Kirito, Tower
And there was my answer. With all this information in mind, my only course of action now was to follow along and see what happens.
The old man's state was evidence enough for me that I shouldn't try to cheat the system. That was never the best way to play a game, anyway.
"Thanks. Take care."
I finally went to join the rest of the group gathering at the gate, where introductions were being given. Being part of a new team... I did consider that the wisest thing to do in this situation, but the prospect still ached, somehow. Figments of the past invaded my thoughts, and I quickly shook them away.
With my mind back in the present, I noticed that I was having a slightly harder time walking than I did in the real world or in SAO. It didn't take long to figure out what it was. My swords and armor weighed down on me, more than usual. It was as if I'd been taken into the virtual world with my real body, the one that wasn't suited for combat. Dispelling that worrying thought, I reached the gate and considered what name I should give to them. I gave the thought all of a second.
"My name's Kirito. I've had my fair share of adventures, so you can count on me if things get hairy."
I wasn't in the best state of mind to be sociable. But if everything the old man said was true, I'd finish this impromptu quest.
Because at the end, I'd be taking Asuna home.
"Shake the dust." - Anis Mojgani
Still, her eyes darted between the two of them, until...honestly the first thought that came to her head was "Gothic Lolita", but then Sumireko recognized her as one of her fellow strugglers. Unlike Ms. Blue here, she was certain of that.
Then that answered a question: if she was in on this, why the HELL was she trying to out her in the middle of talking to this old man?
Going a little red-faced, Sumireko kept on her best Official Shrine Representative voice and looked over to the white-black woman, and said "Sometimes our money is better spent elsewhere, that's all. W-We've got reasons to invest in the future, not the present."