Enter The Arena As Your Avatar -- The Spinoff!

"Oh, don't worry about it."

Pietro looks around at the various buildings as well, making a mental note to ask Seras about Abraham Van Helsing later. Eventually, he points to a random inn.

"There's bound to be at least one empty room in there. Unless you'd rather perform our seance in a big fancy mansion or a haunted-looking house. You know, somewhere that'll really set the mood for a spirit-contacting ritual."

Edited by IchigoMontoya on Nov 28th 2020 at 3:21:38 AM

"I would be up for that, but it'd take us too much time to find such a place.", she smirks as she starts walking towards the inn.

"That's a shame. If things went sideways and evil spirits showed up, it would've been the perfect chance for you to bite me and turn me into a vampire."

Chuckling, Pietro follows alongside Seras towards the inn. Once they've reached said inn, he goes inside before entering the first room he comes across.

"Huh... cozy place for a ritual, if you ask me."

He sits down upon the nearest couch and waits for her to join him.

Estraole - Four Klicks West of Imperial Outpost

A Spartan◊ was in a dead sprint, his breath labored. He continued deeper into the forest before him, dodging and weaving through a torrent of blaster fire.

This is where the fun begins

"These guys really don't want to give up."

Joshua muttered to himself, the weight of his armor and gunlance were starting to take their toll. His eyes landed on the motion tracker on his HUD, it only seemed his assailants increased in number.

The roaring of speeder engines quickly filled his ears, the imperials were closing in around him.

I really wish I had a lighter weapon right about now.

He thought to himself, sprinting right through a thin tree in his path, shattering its base into splinters. His bad situation however would soon turn worse, several contacts appearing on his motion tracker. Not a moment after, crimson red blades jumped from the forest trees.

One Sith Warrior stood directly in the Spartan's path, while the rest moved to encircle him, keeping up with his forward pace, and taking full advantage of their increased agility. The Sith in front of him rushed forward, poised to run Joshua through.

The Spartan turned his full sprint into a slide, dropping quickly enough to avoid the lightsaber and bring his opponent down. The Sith raised his lightsaber, but the Spartan swiftly brought down his fist hard into the warrior's face; bending their mask and killing them.

Joshua quickly rose to his feet, drawing the gunlance from his back. This looked like the Spartan's final stand, surrounded by Sith. Intervention may be necessary.

Vague Hub Centralis

In the dead of night, Charlie◊ and Erma are standing by a conspicuously-placed bright red phone booth.◊

Erma scratches her head.

"I promise I'm not crazy, Erma. At some point between midnight and 6 AM... they'll come. I'm positive. Just stick it out with me a bit longer?"

Erma makes an 'OK' hand sign.

Estraole, West of Imperial Outpost

"Ach, zhere you are."

Medic approaches! He seems completely unconcerned with Joshua's situation.

Edited by KiriK on Nov 28th 2020 at 5:49:56 AM

Estraole

At-chee!

A young woman with pink hair and wide black eyes sneezes at nothing, earning herself absolutely no reaction whatsoever from the man who's standing next to her. The lady, who's wearing goth clothes, is hovering around in the air, whereas her companion, a tall man whose face is cloaked by the shadow of his tall hat, remain sitting.

... Hello? At-chee?! I just sneezed! The polite thing to say to a lady would be to say "bless you"!

"... The polite thing?"

Duh!

".... I don't care much being polite."

Urgh! What a chauvinist! I don't even know why-Well I don't know why I stick you but I know why I'm leaving! She pick up a tiny purple umbrella as she speaks!

"Sure. "

I really am leaving. She says, as she levitate away. Or begin to.

"Like the last times?"

Yes. But permanent!

"... Like the last times then. Take care. We don't know where we are."

Take care your-oh you were nice on that one well IM STILL LEAVING! THERE'S NO MORE WE!!!!!!!!!!!! Takecaretoo! She hurriedly flies off...

...

And arrive close to the site of the attack.

Oh muh sword! Oh muh silence! Get a gripe! She says, floating by. When she notice the attack, she frowns and approach closer. What are those people... Heh, maybe if I save that guy, he'll tell me where I am.

She float next to the closest sith lord, coat her umbrella in a black metal-like sheen and attempts to whack him away with it. The blow pack surprising strength, enough that it ought to send him flying if he's hit!

Seras snickers.

"Without any souls consumed you wouldn't be able to harm evil spirits as a vampire.", she says, motioning to her vampiric arm. "You need stuff like this, or you'd only be able to perform physical feats, and that doesn't work well on spirits. You're not thinking you'd get to keep those Chaos powers of yours when you transition, are you?"

She smiles as she enters the room.

"I'd probably only turn you into a vampire if it were the only way I could save your life. Trust me, you're better off as you are now."

She puts the Ouija board on the floor, then looks at Pietro as he sits on the couch.

"... I take it you've never done something like this before?", she asks, smirking amusedly. "We have to sit on the floor, on our knees and facing each other, with the board in the middle, and we're not allowed to use a table. Sir Integra told me all the steps before I came back. Anyhow, since you'll have to get back up, could you look around for some candles? We'll need some to properly perform this ceremony."

At exactly two seconds after midnight, suddenly the phone in the phone booth starts to ring. Charlie, who might've heard what a phone booth's phone sounds like in the past, should immediately realize that something weird is going on, because its ring does not sound like it comes from a phone booth, but rather from an old office phone.

The phone will keep ringing until one of them picks up. Even if they wait for minutes on end, the phone won't stop ringing.

Edited by DevilPsyco on Nov 28th 2020 at 12:51:49 PM

"I told you!"

Erma shrugs. Maybe it's just a coincidence...?

"Erma, you're literally the daughter of a horror novelist and the ghost from The Ring. You don't get to say it's just a coincidence."

The two sit there. For a bit.

Erma realizes there's definitely something sus when the phone doesn't stop ringing after a minute. I thought you said it would receive automatically?

"... Maybe I was wrong." Charlie takes the phone and holds it up to her ear. "H-hello?"

Edited by KiriK on Nov 28th 2020 at 5:55:59 AM

When Seras explains how the ritual works, Pietro looks comically unamused.

"You know, that would've been really helpful to know before I started getting settled in, police girl."

Sighing, he rises from the couch, then quickly dashes about the room to gather some candles.

"I would've preferred to lighten up our little seance with a few scented candles, but these'll have to do."

Edited by IchigoMontoya on Nov 28th 2020 at 4:14:32 AM

Estraole, West of Imperial Outpost

A blue ball of slime appeared out of nowhere, looking at Joshua and the Medic and all the Imperials. In a cloud of black smoke, its form changed. Rimuru Tempest!

The blue haired humanoid looked around at everything, nodding his head as he seemingly was talking to himself.

"Uh-huh... Yeah.... Oh, okay. Alright"

He drew his sword out of its scabbard, leveling it at one of the Sith Lords, a purple flame englulfing the blade.

"These guys seem like they'll actually be a challenge!"

Vs. Alatreon — Divine Essence

Megan downed the potion swiftly, and...

"Huh... Tastes like... Is that mango, what the hell...?"

She dropped her gun and stumbled back as the transformation took hold, only unlike last time she managed to stay upright.

Megan's fingernails elongated and became talons. Her hands grew thicker. Dark blue scales flared out from under her skin. Draconic clawed feet erupted out of her footwear, shredding it.

A pair of draconic wings sprouted from her back. Then another with more vertical size sprouted just beneath it. Light poured from her eyes as her very skin became turned a deep, dark blue, like the bottom of an ocean. A tail sprouted from her back and split into three, ending in bladed tips like those of Derak.

And with her borrowed might, she could sense Alatreon's power. She could sense its immediate condition, too, like she had maxed out the Scoutfly level or something.

   "Ah, damnit... I need to do something about that...,""    Megan mumbled as she took a moment to gaze down at her poor, shredded, drakehide boots.

She promptly, almost instinctively, reached for her gun and her tails shot out to coil around it, letting her carry it while keeping her hands free. Then...    "This claw of mine burns bright with fury! Its bright wrath signals your end! SHINING TALONS!"   

And with that badass attack call-out/throwback, she delivered a downwards claw swipe that projected divine energy turned Dragon energy, launching Sword Beam-like cutting waves at Alatreon.

Blast

Whiteshock casts powder on impact, then triggers a big explosion for big damage. Unfortunately, despite the vicious power of the attacks this round, it's not enough to stop Alatreon from rising.

It runs to the center of the battlefield and snarls as everything goes silent. Only the wind, and intense heat and pressure. Reyna shouts something, but it's barely (if at all) audible.

"Seven...!" She chugs a Mega Potion, and Wide-Range spreads the healing effect to the rest of the party. "... Four...!"

Varik is about to try another attack as Alatreon heads to the middle of the battlefield, but then notices Reyna's reaction to this, feels the heat and pressure, and then realizes.

"Shit, this is that attack!"

He quickly gobbles up another Brain Food Lunch, getting both forms of his stamina much higher up, and then prepares for what's to come as Wide-Range takes effect as well. He ate so fast that it's a miracle he didn't choke on his food.

"What can I say? You're too fast for me.", she giggles. She then ponders aloud.

"I dunno, if we summon an evil spirit by accident, it might turn the scented candles into 'horrendously-smelling candles'.", she jokes.

Once he brings the candles to her, of which there are seven, he'll be able to see Seras putting a pen and blank paper down next to her.

The phone keeps ringing a little more as they wait, until Charlie picks up. Then, for a very brief moment as she says hello, static. After which... she'll hear this.

The Spartan briefly looked at the Medic, recognizing him. That certainly boosted Joshua's spirits, although his lack of concern didn't sit well with Joshua. He sighed, swinging his gunlance in a wide arc, flourishing the behemoth of a weapon. One of the Sith Warriors rushed forth, raising his red blade to deflect an oncoming shell.

Once the sith had gotten close enough, Joshua lunged forward, impaling the Sith.

In his vulnerable position, the other Sith rose their crimson sabers, ready to rush forth. That was, until one of them was thrown backward by a stern blow by the umbrella. That was enough to split the attention of the Sith, four of the warriors turning their blades toward the woman and rushing forward. They hoped to overwhelm her with raw number.

Another four turned to face the slime turned man, rushing him with a war cry, attempting the same tactic as they had used with the female.

Only two other Sith remained in the current group, and they kept their focus on the Spartan. The pair ran forward, flourishing their blades.

Joshua let out a scream of his own, using the impaled sith on his gunlance as a projectile, throwing it at one of the two to temporarily deter his path. He dropped his gunlance, barely managing to dodge out of the way of the first saber. He countered with a stern elbow to the temple of the warrior, following it up by immediately grasping the assailant by their throat.

The Spartan laid into the Sith, punch after punch to his head, until finally, he dropped the warrior to the floor. Although that didn't save him from the lightsaber piercing through his stomach.

Joshua let out a guttural screech of pain, pulling himself off of the lightsaber, and swinging around with a mean hook, throwing the sith to the ground. He quickly followed this up by stomping the Sith's head, swiftly snapping the neck.

Charlie's hand shudders at first. When the Black Speech kicks in, her eyes suddenly turn into ghastly black orbs.

Erma raises a hand, pointing at Charlie with one finger. Are you okay...? That's kinda my thing.

Medic simply keeps his Medigun up Joshua's ass.

Wait that's not the same Medigun

oh no

Kritz Charge: 20%

Edited by KiriK on Nov 28th 2020 at 6:32:40 AM

Rimuru kept his sword pointed at the Sith. Holding it with one hand as his other one came up, a blue circle with a series of complex drawings in its center appeared in his palm.

Icicle Lance!

Three fairly large spikes of Ice shot out at one of the Sith to his left, if it hit, it would tear straight through the Sith's flesh.

After the spell was finished, he morphed back into his slime form, quickly shooting himself behind one of the other ones, forming his body back into humanoid shape, and using his burning sword to try and cleave another one in half.

Extra Skill! Dark Flame Strike!

The woman point her finger forwards like a gun and "shoot" four wisps-like ghosts like projectiles. They mean to directly cross their bodies. If it succeeds, then they'll get caught with a sudden case of the feel bad and may end up falling depressed and negative in a blink, to the point where even being born will feel like a mistake.

If it works, the woman just... well, laughs.

Horo-horo-horo-horo-horo-horo!

If it doesn't work or is dodged, she frowns and dodge the blades, looking a bit annoyed. Hey! You better go one at a time, or I'll tell! She point, and shoot a fast ghost projectile at the group. If it hit the ground, it'll cause a pretty potent ectoplasmic explosion!

Perona! notice the rest of the party showing up and look confused. Oh! More folks!

Chuckling at Seras' joke, Pietro sits down on the floor across from her.

"So... my badass vampire friend and I are about to perform a ritual with an Ouija board to see if Rin's still alive or not. Again, as far as things that've happened in this crazy-ass world go, this is probably one of the more normal ones."

He lets out a heavy sigh, and looks down at the board.

"I just hope we don't go from looking for her to recovering her corpse..."

Edited by IchigoMontoya on Nov 28th 2020 at 4:34:05 AM

"I hope so too.", Seras says. She then takes the candles and positions them around them. Pip half-manifests out of Seras' vampiric arm◊, grabbing the pen and staying near the paper.

"Since what the spirit we'll get will answer with will be spelled out by the letter, Pip will write down what it says so that we won't get confused.", Seras says as she lights the candles.

"Now we'll need to put our hands on our respective edge of the planchette. I only have one hand, so I can only do it with one."

"Not too much 'and-touching, eh?", Pip jokes, to which Seras teasingly sticks her tongue out at him. She then places her normal hand on the underside of the planchette. She moves it around a little before Pietro gets to put his hands on it too.

"A quick test. Sir Integra said the board is quite old, so it should be best to see if it works well. Looks like it does, so once you put your hands on it, we can get started."

Erma may now be close enough to hear the disturbing sounds coming from the phone. But not close enough to make out what exactly the sounds are saying. If she can pry it out of Charlie's hand, however...

Charlotte is frozen in place. Erma waves a hand in front of her, pokes her... nothing.

She then jumps into the phone and emerges from the receiver, pushing the phone and Charlotte away from each other. While she's there... she hears a bit of it.

Meanwhile, Charlie's eyes stay in their ghost-monster state, but she collapses in the booth, slumping against the inner wall.

The wound caused by the lightsaber on the Spartan healed, a pleasant feeling of reinvigoration washing over Joshua. He took a deep breath, kneeling over and grasping his gunlance. He raised it from the ground and was about to turn it onto the groups of sith that had beset his new companions, until the roaring of speeders grew deafening, and Imperial soldiers began to come through the wooded trees.

"Never easy is it?"

He raised his gunlance, chuckling to himself. He prepared a shell, and aimed it for a few stacked up speeders, exploding them and taking out four imperials. The hail of blaster fire began, pegging into the shields of the Spartan's armor.

Perona's wisp-like projectiles passed right through the Sith, but the overwhelming negative feelings only seemed to strengthen their resolve. The sadness turned to sheer rage and fear, enveloped by the dark side. Although their buff is cut short by the ectoplasmic blast, sending them flying, scattered.

They were dazed long enough for a follow up attack, but the woman would have to act quickly.

The sith warrior managed to slash right through the icy projectiles, continuing his charge and raising his blade and swinging downward, only for Rimuru to have swiftly moved out of the way and behind one of the warriors.

The sith swung around, but not soon enough, cleaved in twain, his body falling apart, the wound cauterized by the fiery blade.

By the time Erma gets the phone pried loose, the call suddenly ends, the line going dead.

From the bit that she'd been able to hear while inside the phone though, she'll be able to make out three words.

'When you sleep'.

... Ominous.

Sporacles rolls off of Alatreon when it gets moving. Given the others' reactions, he presumes something big is coming, and hunkers behind a rock.

"..."

Aw? Why you mad b-oh right my powers. Perona raises two fingers, and a wall of wailing ghosts attempts to erupt from underneath. They burn, but do not physical damage. One can pass through without damage to their body but it's like it burns the... spirit, or inner-body. Either way, it's not pleasant and damaging.

Horo-horo-horo!

Nodding to Seras, Pietro takes a deep breath before placing both of his hands on the planchette.

"Okay... here goes nothing, police girl."

He briefly glances at Pip and greets him with a smirk.

"Nice of you to drop in, man. Don't worry, I promise that this seance won't end with anything happening between me and Seras."

Edited by IchigoMontoya on Nov 28th 2020 at 5:00:38 AM