Hi
Cell thinks for a moment... and continues thinking for a moment. Past a certain point it is obvious they stopped thinking for a bit and it takes them another moment to realize this and formulate a proper response.
"Huh!? Bah, well, from the way I see it, you're all going about this wrong. Sitting around and waiting for trouble to show up? Why not screw around and see how trouble comes to you... maybe even be a little bit of the trouble yourselves... in a purely constructive way, of course."
Cell crosses his arms dramatically. "And, while you're at it... do you have any spare rooms, I don't actually have a place to stay."
An absolutely horrifying monstrosity
◊ is plowing through the entire northern section of the arena like a goddamn freight train, plowing down everything in its path without slowing down. In fact, it is speeding up, slowly becoming larger and becoming more aggressive and swift in its movements as it continues forward.
Edited by Whoma on Apr 21st 2021 at 8:45:23 AM
And it's something quite peculiar / Something shimmering and white.
Fluffy/10
Cyan gives a nod to Walter, before gathering his own two companions up.
"That nightclub is way quiet, and it looks like a lot of people are going there. Safety in numbers, right? So I'll go there. You two?"
"I-I'm with you..."
"All right, big guy, we'll stick together. And Yellow?"
"I would not want that gentleman to wander off on his own. Dark alleyways are not exactly known for their safety."
"Gotcha. We'll meet back here, then. See you in a bit."
With that, each of them heads off, Cyan and Blue joining the group heading towards the nightclub while Yellow enters the alleyway with Walter.
King of the Monsters
"For what it's worth, I did," replies Fu to Oca. "But I don't think we have to worry about that. When was the last time you heard about even the common cold making the rounds in the Arena?"
Something small, gray and squeaky bolts past the science men and into the portal.
"Uh-oh."
—
Silent Nightclub
Inside the nightclub, some uninfected red blood cells are just chilling. Also present is a cell that looks like a red blood cell, but masculine, with the color palette inverted - mostly off-white with black lines running through the clothing and forming the facial features instead of mostly black with off-white details.
Interestingly, the music that was blaring through the streets outside is completely inaudible in here.
The male cell, a neutrophil, sees the people coming in and reacts as a normal white blood cell should. He draws a knife. "No sudden moves. Unidentified foreign bodies. Ally or enemy?"
—
Suspicious Alleyway
Alucard has followed Walter and Yellow into the alleyway. The lights are dimmer here.
"... Hey. The music in the area changed. It sounds like we're about to get into a fight."
The lyrics are in Chinese... something about boredom, loneliness, breaking free... agh, I only learned a few key phrases in case I got sent there on a mission.
He suddenly points his .454 Casull Auto at something on the ground. "Also holy shit RAT"
Indeed, there is a rat.
◊
<Hey! Who're you callin' shit!?>
<Mad Rat... I don't think that's what he meant.>
<T'oh, I know!> He folds his little ratly arms and huffs.
Naturally, none of these noises make any sense to Walter, Alucard, or Yellow. However, aside from the fact that he's a frankenstein'd abomination of a rat with a gaping hole in his chest filled by a cartoon heart that beats in time with the beat of the BGM, Yellow will be able to pick up on a rhythmic, determined power emanating from him akin to that of her friends.
"He's gearing up for war."
Fluffy/10
Cyan carefully raises his hands at the sight of the knife, while Blue sort of hides behind him - rather ineffectually, given how much taller he is than Cyan.
"Woah, uh, ally, please. No need for the weapons. We're just checking the place out."
Yellow puts her arm between the two others, indicating for them to stay back - and hopefully preempting any hasty action from Walter.
"Wait. There is something... Odd about this rat. I suspect it would be unwise to provoke it."
Assuming neither of the others interrupt her, she carefully kneels down to get a closer look at the rat, intentionally letting her new form's lights pulse in the same beat as the rat's heart and the BGM, hopefully indicating to it that her nature somewhat similar to what she assumes is its own.
"Jump if you understand me."
Edited by QuirkyTurtle101 on Apr 22nd 2021 at 5:39:22 PM
"Easy, man, we didn't come here to paint the town pink or spread any new diseases. Okay? Believe it or not, we're actually working on wiping out the infection," Pietro assures the neutrophil, gesturing for him to lower the knife.
He briefly examines the nightclub, wondering why there wasn't any music playing inside.
"Is the virus the reason why everything's so quiet in here? Because it sure doesn't look like you turned this place into a yoga class."
While surprised, both Locke and Seras manage to stay calm at the white blood cell drawing a knife on them.
"We are indeed here to help clear the infection. As such, I can safely say that we are allies.", Locke says, showing a charismatic expression once more.
"Can a virus even mess with sound like this?", Seras wonders after Pietro asks the white blood cell his question.
—
Walter doesn't immediately respond to Yellow and Alucard joining him in examining the alleyway, showing the same calmth and attention to his environment that he used to show back when he was Hellsing's Angel of Death.
He grins.
"I'm not worried. I doubt anything in this area could threaten us."
He then glances down at the rat when Alucard points it out and tilts his head.
"Just a rat. Not exactly a normal-looking one, but a rat all the same."
He moves his fingers a little, the wires beginning to shimmer. Not that coming across a rat would be anything to be wary about, but considering its appearance, he wants to be ready to slice it to bloody pieces at a moment's notice. He looks at Yellow when she gestures for them not to do anything, and as such doesn't move from his position, now curious to see if Yellow is able to 'communicate' with it.
In the year 202X, all is devastation... Soon, any last shred of hope had by the saintliest optimist shall die and decay.
Zamba
Insect Ladies HQ
Gregoria thinks about Cell's words.
...Well, altough we do a bit of patrolling each day, it could be a nice idea to travel through the Arena to fight evil.
...
After hearing Cell asking for a room, the ladies did a team reunion:
We are really going to let him stay?
Of course!
But it's a guy!
And? It's a nice guy! Not every male is mean.
He'll eat my food!
Mukade, carry on. There will be more rats tomorrow.
They ends their reunion.
We let you stay... With a condition.
Gregoria points to a locked door, in front of the ladies' room, in the other side of the sewage channel.
There is another storage room... But the door has been stuck by years! Not even our combined strength will unlock it! If you manage to open it, the room is yours.
Somewhere North of the Arena
A snail is advancing quickly at the same direction of the monster... More quickly than almost all of known snails.
Riding the snail, there are a group of people: two brothers, 3 letters, and their pet dog.
Pipo, there is a huge cat destroying everything.
I know, we must stop him. *Puts on his goggles* Roco, fire the cannonballs!!
The snail spitted 3 cannonballs to the cat head!
Edited by BombonBombin on Apr 22nd 2021 at 11:42:50 AM
Rumors about my death were greatly exaggerated.
Divine Burden
Zoro emerges from the pond, looking pretty annoyed. He's holding a live fish in his mouth, and swallows it before approaching Luna.
Don't drop stuff on my head.
...
A man with a scary golden hook and a noticeably sinister countenance is beholding the giant cat's rampage...
Fallout 2? More like Fallout 2 bad.
Hi
Cell walks up to the door.
"Ok, there's totally a catch to this, but whatever."
Cell violently attempts to open the door, pulling with an easy fraction of his power... or enough to lift a mountain or two.
The cannonballs bounce harmlessly off of the rampaging echdeath, not even slowing it down. It doesn't seem to even notice anything happened.
And it's something quite peculiar / Something shimmering and white.
[PASIO]
Oca sighs.
"All right. If they didn't, at least they're on the inside, where I bet any pathogens would be lost in the metaphor. Hey, there's always a chance someone could bring something from outside."
He shudders to think about the hell that some Nukeverse diseases can inflict. Urgh.
He then notices the small and squeaker zoom past them.
"Did you invite that guy?"
for u, bottompaged newguy
A startled Ika-chan dashes out the bottom of the pond she was staying in, before turning to look at the burning wreck.
"... That's rudder-ly ridiculous, de-geso."
She turns to Luna, a little bit grumpy.
"Did you do this, de-geso?"
Edited by Rbade on Apr 22nd 2021 at 12:17:58 PM
/＼｡｡/＼
King of the Monsters
Metal Wolf dashes side-to-side to avoid the gunfire, retaliating with twin servings of good ol' shotgun as it zig-zags over the field!
"... No."
—
The neutrophil cautiously lowers his knife. "The silence is our doing. For some reason, the virus doesn't like it when there's no music. Infected cells don't come to safe zones like this."
"Okaaaayyy... that runs in direct contrast to everything we currently know about the virus. Music is supposed to cure it."
best answer, if it would make in-character sense to know it, is 'Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Rin doesn't cure herself when she plays music'
—
Mad Rat jumps. He jumps good, rising above the humanoids' heads before landing on his feet.
<I'm not gonna dance for your amusement like some sort of puppet...> he grumbles.
There's a very faint cackling from further down the alleyway, scaring the bejeezus out of Mad Rat, though Alucard merely looks in its direction.
Edited by KiriK on Apr 22nd 2021 at 1:22:56 PM
"He's gearing up for war."
Zamba
Insect Ladies HQ
Around the sewers echoes a loud CRACK!... It's Cell, who managed to open the door... And breaking it by the way. The girls cheers.
Make yourself at home!
Gregoria thinks a moment: [[evil:Becoming the trouble... Maybe.
North Arena
The snail stops advancing because of the shooting recoil.
Pipo, the cannonballs did nothing against it.
One of the letters, the A, talks: Maybe a special attack manage to damage it.
Good idea. Roco, Signal Beam!!
The snail fires from its mouth a psychedelic beam of red and green lights. If hits, could let the cat head confused!
Rumors about my death were greatly exaggerated.
"Since this club's a safe zone, what can you tell us about this virus? I think we're gonna need every last piece of info we can get if we wanna destroy it," Pietro says, leaning against the nearest wall.
Edited by IchigoMontoya on Apr 22nd 2021 at 11:42:56 AM
"I see. That's definitely food for thought...", Locke says as he hears both the neutrophil and Fu talking, pondering himself. "Music is supposed to cure it, but it wants music around..."
"Doesn't Rin play music herself? Maybe it's not weak to her own music.", Seras deduces. She then turns back to the neutrophil.
"So basically, any place that has music coming from it but with it being silent inside is a safe zone for non-infected cells. Are there any other places like that around here?"
—
Walter looks a little less hostile when Mad Rat does as Yellow asks, as that likely means the rat is nothing to worry about.
Upon hearing the faint cackling though, his eyes shift to look at its direction while narrowing, Walter looking like he's ready to kill at a moment's notice.
In the year 202X, all is devastation... Soon, any last shred of hope had by the saintliest optimist shall die and decay.
Hi
Cell takes a look at the door, which he definitely broke.
"Wait, really, that was it? I thought that would be harder."
Cell looks inside the newly opened room.
The cat, of course, is completely unperturbed by the confusion beam, and continues rampaging uninterrupted.
And it's something quite peculiar / Something shimmering and white.
Divine Burden
Crocodile behold the fat cat, and yeet three large swords made out of sand at it, apparently not liking it much.
...
The Hunter skillfully dodge to the side and shoot again, while trying to get closer. They do it once, and start to roll closer.
Fallout 2? More like Fallout 2 bad.
[PASIO]
"I could go in and like... scoop it up if it causes any trouble. ... Blah, they can probably handle a single rat."
"You wanna shut down the portal while they're in there? It's not like they're actively coming back and forth."
/＼｡｡/＼
Zamba
Insect Ladies HQ
From the room, a lot of rats and other vermin got out. Inside the room, there are a lot of things from the former employees of the sewers, an old bed, and even a closed locker.
Northern Arena
Oh brother, what we gonna do?
Everybody get out of Roco!
Everybody hop off the snail's shell. Roco hides inside it, trying to stop the head's advance! In the ground, the group are frightened by the sand swords.
Edited by BombonBombin on Apr 22nd 2021 at 2:28:06 PM
Rumors about my death were greatly exaggerated.
Hi
Cell, beholding this new room, decides to start making it into... a home, he guesses. Fortunately, the power of the enhanced clothes beam turns this into a cakewalk.
Echdeath plows through everything in its way, including anything that Roco does to stop its advance... and then gets hit by the sand swords and instantly vanishes, completely annihilated.
And it's something quite peculiar / Something shimmering and white.
Divine Burden
Die, mortals! Bellows the famous GOKU BLACK as he blast a beam across the Arena, drilling through one of Solitude's smaller towns and completely vaporizing it with a large-scale attack. He himself float above the ruins, and then look down at the repairing ruins.
My quest will be easier if this world can heal itself anew... He chuckles.
...
Crocodile chuckles and cooly take a smoke.
Heh, here's a reality check for ya.
Edited by Bolded1 on Apr 22nd 2021 at 9:30:51 PM
Fallout 2? More like Fallout 2 bad.
Fluffy/10
Cyan lowers his hands once the guard lowers the knife, breathing a quiet sigh of relief.
"Yeah, other safe zones would sure be nice to know about. With the amount of pink around here, we'll need all the safe spots we can get..."
"Uhh... C-Cy?"
"What's on your mind, big guy?"
"D-Do you think they're, uh, maybe weak to our music?"
Cyan lights up like a lightbulb at the suggestion, slowly starting to nod.
"Oh, that's... That's actually not bad! Good thinking, Blue."
With that, he turns to the others, quickly clearing his throat to get their attention.
"Uh, guys? So you know how there's music playing in all the infected areas? And how the infection is weak to music that isn't Rin's own? So... What if we changed the channel, so to speak? If we can figure out where the music is coming from, we could maybe just play our own."
Yellow seems quite pleased with herself, giving a little subdued chuckle as Mad Rat jumps.
"Well, it can certainly understand us. Do we have anyone that understands... Well, rat? It would be convenient to have a translat-"
At the cackle, she instantly cuts herself off, rising to her feet and looking ready to spring into action at a moment's notice.
"Show yourself."
King of the Monsters
Metal Wolf simply dashes away. His dash is faster than the Hunter's roll, so if he really wants to, it's obvious he could prevent them from ever closing the distance while slowly wearing them down.
He fires a few more shotgun blasts as he evades.
"Good point." Fu closes the portal, but keeps the settings locked in so they can reopen it in the same place.
—
The neutrophil addresses Pietro... "I honestly don't know much. It's completely immune to all our attempts to destroy it, even by white blood cells that are specifically engineered against it. Anyone who gets the virus stuck to them becomes the opposite of what they normally are. If you're really here to help, then be warned - wearing one of those faceplates would turn you into an enemy."
... then Blue and Cyan: "... That could work, actually. You may not even need to stop the current music - if you heard it and weren't infected, then it isn't a vector. You can simply play your own song."
Fu's exasperated-sounding voice chimes in. "Guys, please keep in mind that we're not supposed to deal with the virus entirely here and now. That would just result in Rin being mean again, and we can purge it in the push of a button once we're out of here. Our objective is to learn and inform, not search and destroy."
—
Alucard schmooves down the alleyway, encountering a lone cell. This one is male and dressed in a black business suit with a pink tie and outline. He is huddled in the fetal position and laughing like a madman, with papers of some kind scattered on the ground around him.
Alucard, as if anticipating what Yellow might do, holds out an arm to stop her. "I want to see where this goes if we just pretend nothing is wrong."
Mad Rat scurries over and stands on a sheet of paper, seemingly trying to read it...
and failing.
<Why did you even bother?>
<To look useful, duh!>
Edited by KiriK on Apr 22nd 2021 at 2:36:33 PM
"He's gearing up for war."
Zamba
Insect Ladies HQ
Gregoria notices from her room a strange beam. She goes to Cell's room, and finds it neat and tidy.
Oh! What's your secret?
Northern Arena
Are you OK, Roco?
Clara goes to heal the snail. Meanwhile, Pipo and the letters thanks the swords guy.
Thank you for helping us!
Rumors about my death were greatly exaggerated.
[PASIO]
Syana's Lab
"My teleportation is coordinate-based and extra-universal, so even without that portal, now that I have the location I can probably TP there myself."
He nudges Fu.
"They're also trying to figure her psychological issues too, right? Maybe they should find their way to the brain."
Solitude
Emperor Cooler rises up to confront Goku Black. He seems kind of unhappy.
"I has having a nice chat with someone in that town, you know. The fuck's wrong with you?"
/＼｡｡/＼
Simple: When danger is nearby, we search it and fight it. When not, simply we do our base chores and hanging around after that.
Gregoria thinks a moment: Occasionally, our insect powers wear out, and when that happens, we wake in our human homes without explanation, with a strong stomachache, and thinking that our adventures were a dream... Or a nightmare.
Edited by BombonBombin on Apr 21st 2021 at 9:45:41 AM
Rumors about my death were greatly exaggerated.