"I think our way of getting around the world was shutting down. Teensies are known for creating pathways to the different places in our universe. Luckily, the Longest Shortcut was available, but yeah. I guess that explains why the King(s) were so panicky" added the Magician, peering at the bunch of people he assumed were lunatics. He'd never been in a 'crossover' before, but his spell of convenience had dumped him there. "Let's go then, shall we?"

Inspirational quote against powerful image of nature.

-End of Prologue-

As the confused and slightly concerned group of characters gathered round, discussing what their next course of action should be, a few droplets of rain fell down upon their meeting. As the rain picked up, anyone with a keen sense of sight could easily see that the drops were in fact tiny 0s and 1s. Anyone familiar with this hubworld would realize quite quickly that this... Isn't right... One by one they fell, turning from a drizzle to a downpour, and darkening the artificial sky with polygonal clouds. As each one hits the ground, the surrounding ground textures flicker, revealing a purple and black checkerboard *

pattern for a split second.

As the group of heroes, villains, and side-characters looks for shelter, they notice an abandoned ice cream parlor across the street. While not too large on the inside, it would offer protection from the rain and some quiet to plot their next move. On the other hand, the group does have a car in their possession, though even smaller on the inside than the shop in question. The options present themselves rather apparently to them as the rain picks up, and it looks as though they have few options, as even though the city has many towering buildings, many of them are more than likely safely locked up.

-Arc One: The Impending Unknown-

I am DJ, GM, DM, and probably other important sounding acronyms as well.

-Eddie's Car-

The rains started to come down. Xylia knew they Eddie couldn't drive in this mess of a storm, even if he did come from a game series about driving automobiles that don't belong to them in the first place. Suddenly, she notices an ice cream parlor.

"Guys? You wanna stop for ice cream? With the rains coming down, it poses our best option at this point." Xylia replied.

Just floating around...

-Eddie's Car-

The rain was immense, too much for Eddie. Turning to Xylia, he said "Yes, I could go for Ice Cream. C'mon guys, let's get inside!"

"I could go for ice cream," Nani concurred, not wanting her handgun/pistol to get too wet, and ice cream sounded nice right about now. As she ran for the ice cream parlor she voiced her only concern, "You think they'll take Reichsmarks as payment? Or maybe bromides?"

Avatar from: http://x0whitelily0x.livejournal.com/5953.html N: 5 F, 0/40 S

"I hope they have sausage flavour" added The Magician, his magic causing a bubble around him to keep off the rain. His hat got wet, but simply boinged every now and then; obviously made of some water resistant material. The day he let his dreadlocks get wet would be the day he could no longer use magic.

Inspirational quote against powerful image of nature.

"Hmm..." Twystar said, noticing for a split second the odd nature of the rain, before shrugging it off. "Ice cream it is." He was the first to hop out of the vehicle and run over to the open store.

The inside of the ice cream shop, for those who entered, was mercifully dry. While not exactly warm, it certainly beat standing outside in the digital deluge.

A few flavors of ice cream still remained, sitting in their refrigerated containers behind the counter. No one stood next to them, ready to serve however. It appeared the initial observation had been spot on, no one was here, much like the rest of Gameland at the time...

I am DJ, GM, DM, and probably other important sounding acronyms as well.

-Ice Cream Parlor-

Xylia entered the ice cream parlor first. "Hello? Anyone here? We're trying to keep dry from this storm!"

Just floating around...

The Magician went behind the counter, checking whether anyone was really around. He thought about it for all of two minutes, then pulled up a stool, got behind the counter and took up the ice cream scoop. "What flavour did you all want?" he asked.

Inspirational quote against powerful image of nature.

Last post for tonight.

"I'll take a cookies and cream!" Xylia said.

Just floating around...

Blackwatch watched the rain for a second before noticing that it was composed of ones and zeros. He shivered remembering how Nani had mentioned all the characters from her game vanishing and then there was the fact that there were so few people in Game Central. By the programmers could this be where they had gone? He shook the thought out of his head; better to think of the job at hand.

Cautiously he approached the ice cream parlor weary of anything jumping out where the other game characters had gone if all or any of them were game characters. When he entered he let his shoulders relax. He made sure to keep at least an arm's length between him and others. If one of them was a virus he didn't want to wind up corrupted or programers' forbid absorbed.

It comes. The corrupter comes. Don't let it touch the tower lest all reality crumble.

The Pikmin had simply waited while the others talked. Being unable to talk to them themselves, the Pikmin didn't really have anything to add to the conversation. When it started to 'rain' the Pikmin looked up at the sky, most reaching out their hands for a moment, as if to confirm that it was really raining.

The others pointed out the ice cream shop, and agreed to go take cover there. The Pikmin followed, most of them immediately rushing inside; only the blue Pikmin stayed outside for a few moments, trying to enjoy the rain, but then decided to hurry inside as well, as they quickly discovered that this 'rain' was not water.

The Pikmin milled about a bit, wondering what to do now. In normal times, they would follow Olimar, but obviously that wasn't an option right now. As they were deciding, there was mention of ice cream. They all perked up, and ran over to the counter, hopping up and down in excitement. It was possible that ice cream might upgrade them, but regardless, it was delicious.

You are reading this.

"I'll take three scoops of orange sherbet." Twystar said. "Say, has anyone noticed anything weird about the rain, or is just me?"

The Magician started by scooping up the cookie and cream flavour, putting a few scoops into a bowl and handing it over to it's requester. He followed the same with the orange, and then the entire ice cream counter seemed to lose all appearance, becoming just a garbled mess of pixels. The chair the Magician was on became immaterial and he fell through the counter just as it solidified again, with him stuck inside it. With remarkable aplomb, the Magician drummed his fingers on the floor.

"I guess there's no ice cream" he explained, as the ice creams he had served already became dull and grey; no colours or textures applied anymore.

Inspirational quote against powerful image of nature.

Before the ice cream faded...

Xylia accepted her ice cream. "Thanks!" she said. Taking a bite out of it, she could taste the sweet stuff for about five seconds before the flavor faded away. "Um... You don't think this stuff ran past the expiration date?"

Just floating around...

Twystar 'pressed' a button on the hologram interface of his computer watches, and a red beam scanned the formerly-orange flavored game object in from of him. "Let's see what the Splore Dex has to say about this phenomenon..."

Unfortunately, it wouldn't be that easy. "404, Splore Dex Page Not Found?! Awww..."

The Pikmin stopped hopping up and down as the counter flickered and the magician fell through it. Most of them drooped in disappointment, though the red one with a bulb ran over to the magician, then motioned to the two purples to follow.

Working together, the three Pikmin attempted to help the magician get back up.

You are reading this.

Nani was about to ask if they might happen to have green tea flavored ice cream, but then everything pixelated and became gray. It was hardly reassuring after all of the incongruities that she'd noticed at the Berlin Grand Theater. So if everyone was disappearing, and physical things were reverting to base coding, did that mean that the fate of the gaming world(s) were in the hands of the characters here? Being from a game where a ragtag band of misfits always saved the world from demonic invasion of some sort, Nani was more aware of such concepts than some. Granted she was used to a ragtag band of musical theater performing misfits who piloted steam powered robots, but it was applicable.

She looked over at Xylia and shrugged, "Maybe it does. I'd say if it's gray and flavorless, it's probably gone bad..."

"What's a Splore Dex?" she asked when the strange monkey scientist (or whatever he was) attempted to use a gadget, "Um.. do you happen to know anything about steam power?"

Avatar from: http://x0whitelily0x.livejournal.com/5953.html N: 5 F, 0/40 S

The Magician struggled a bit and allowed himself to be pulled out by the little creatures. There was a hole where he had been, but pixels shimmered into existence and remade the ice cream stand. A moment later it was set on fire. Not by a glitch, but by the Magician lobbing a fireball at it in retribution. "I'm going to go off ice cream if this keeps on" he muttered, doffing his hat to the pikmin in thanks.

Inspirational quote against powerful image of nature.

After seeing what was going on with the ice cream, Eddie realized something was up.

Calling everyone to attention, the gangster spoke out....

"Okay guys, it seems we are all stuck in a strange and alien dimension for whatever reason. We all have our theories on the how and why, but for now, that doesn't matter. What does matter is our safety and survival. We need order. We need a leader. I'm willing to lead this posse, but I also am a democratic individual. So, let's put it to a vote. Who else is willing to volunteer for the position of leader?"

edited 24th Nov '12 10:08:47 PM by PaulieRomanov

Twystar turned to Nani in mock shock. "Do I know anything about steam power?!" His face turned normal again. "I'll have you know the Gabywr Empire is renowned across the galaxy for it's steampunk machinery." He then remembered her other question. "As for the SploreDex, it's this galactic encyclopedia with info on literally everything. But it seems to be non-operational right now, unfortunately."

Twystar was about to volunteer for leader in his typical slightly-self-centered fashion, when a terrible realization dawned on him. "Everyone back away from the Magician! Quick!"

Everyone having done so, mostly out of surprise, Twystar explained himself. "Okay, Magician guy? I'm not saying you're doing it on purpose, but so far everything that has gone all wonky are things you've touched or used magic on. The weird rain started falling after you changed the wind, and you were the one who served the ice cream from the counter, not to mention the floor giving way beneath you." The alien astronaut was genuinely worried as to what this could mean. "You'd better explain yourself, or have a good reason why you can't."

Sorry if this ruins everyone's (or even BigDaddyP's) plans, it just seemed like something my character would notice.

edited 25th Nov '12 2:49:49 AM by iTroper

Eddie spoke out "Guys, guys, calm down. I'm sure if the Magician is causing these glitches, he's not doing it on purpose. This whole place is seriously fucked up. None of us know how we got here or even exactly where we are. Maybe this place is affecting his magic?"

"You've never heard of a coincidence, then?" replied the Magician, looking mournfully at the ice cream counter. The kicker was they had had sausage ice cream. "But at the same time, you might be right that my magic may have inadvertently caused the weird rain. It is an extremely concentrated form of arcane schematics, and here it seems to have turned into a way that affects literal space. However, with so many different characters, and so many different pixels, I'm surprised this place isn't glitching to Livid Dead. What we're doing right now is unnatural, so if I'm to blame for everything, why does that shift the blame from any of your shoulders?" admonished the Magician, huffing to himself and walking out the store.

"Oh, and for that, I can have ice cream, you can't" added the Magician as an afterthought, and a cone materialised in his hand. He ate his sausage ice cream outside in his version of a sulk.

edited 25th Nov '12 6:06:36 AM by BigDaddyP

Inspirational quote against powerful image of nature.

"We're not in some alien world we're in Game Central. What makes you qualified to be leader?"

He turned his attention to Twystar, "How does anyone know you didn't do that and blamed the magician?"

"Not that I believe you Magician. What were you muttering about unnatural?"

It comes. The corrupter comes. Don't let it touch the tower lest all reality crumble.