Enter The Arena As Your Avatar -- The Spinoff!

"I wouldn't mind you fixing it, but... well, that would require a lot of research into how Flesh Eaters work to prevent screwing it up. And no, it isn't as simple as literally eating flesh, but I don't know the specifics - I just know that they're a sort-of mutated Blade."

"Well, I figure 'normal' doesn't involve trying to straight-up murder someone for slighting you," she remarks, staring at Oxa and ZJ's tussle. "Of course I'd take any chance to pick a fight, but not to the death over something petty."

"I mean, I am a genius and a bio-specialist. Give me a year or two. If all else fails we can probably copy and paste your memories into a laptop or something."

"Nah, they're just playing! ZJ jest... jest has teeth like that. They're tough enough to take play like that. ZJ wouldn't hurt... wouldn't kill any of us. Wouldn't hurt anyone who ain't Oxa or an enemy."

Oxa manages to pick up ZJ by the neck and places him on Xoeur's head. The game begins anew.

"Got it, cool, cool." Zenobia is just nodding to everything, like she's not sure what to say next.

"That's everyone. Giree sometimes hangs out too, but he doesn't live here."

Ceres slooowly closes the door to the kids' room before slipping downstairs.

"Sooo... You can just crash here if you want, or I can drop you off somewhere for now. Hub Centralis, I guess?"

"Well, if that's the city where we met, then yeah, I guess that'd be a good hangout spot." Zenobia shrugs again.

"Kk."

*bawoop!*

"Fuckin uh... here's a cell phone. Here's a button to teleport between here and my house. And heeeeeeeeere's some Hetap. Ok? Ok."

"..."

Zenobia stares at the Hetap that has just been forced into her hand. She stares for a good five seconds.

Oh well. Pop, hisssssssss chug chug chug.

Oca nods sagely.

"... See ya!"

And off he goes to sow more chaos.

Page One tries to resist, but finds himself surprised when his jaw get opened more and more, in spite of his effort to keep it closed. He does trash about, but yet to no avail!

When 21 saves him, he actually bothers to growl out a "thanks", having felt threatened, and realize that his size is actually more of a bother than anything else. As a result, he decides to slimmer down and adopt a hybrid form of a kind. While he keeps the scales, teeth, claws and lizard-like appearance, he's back to a (very) tall human size and keep his hair and pants.

This seems more suited for you. Page One is then struck by the lightning and raise his arms to shield himself, though even he can't attack through those projectiles and he's pushed back.

Edited by Bolded1 on Jul 22nd 2021 at 8:18:40 PM

The Grip - Bridge

The woman who had cleared their shuttle for landing enters the bridge, accompanied by a small guard detail. She turns to look at them as the door begins to shut behind her,

"I tell you every time this is unnecessary, I need no guards."

The duo ignores her, the door leading into the bridge shutting in her face. With a frustrated look on the admiral's face, she turns around, her look shifting to one of fear. Darth Laxin had been looming behind her, the Sith Lord leaning deeply into her face. Her breathing is shallow as the Dark Lord gives her a silent and cold stare.

She opens her mouth to speak, swallowing her fear for the briefest of moments, but Laxin interrupts before she can.

   "I hope you didn't come here just to express frustration at your guard detail, Admiral."   

Admiral Pola gulps,

"No my Lord, our forces have captured prisoners. The rebels. They were aided by Reyna it seems, as she arrived on the same shuttle. Your newly ordered HK units have arrived as well, they are on their way to the primary railway now."

Laxin steps away from Pola, giving her back the courtesy of personal space, turning to move to the center of the absolutely massive bridge. At its center was an absolutely massive control center, helmed by none but Laxin himself.

The massive view panel gave Laxin and everyone onboard the bridge, a massive field of vision to look out at the ground below and skies ahead, at least a hundred scattered officers were stationed on terminals on the walls of the bridge.

Pola was still frozen in fear, Laxin reaching the massive control terminal and raising his hand to press a button. As he lowers his hand, an odd presence strikes him, a quiet echo through the force. This presence quickly dims to nothing, helped by the presence of Aqua, who Laxin recognizes.

The power he had felt at Whiterun, the massive beam, it was certainly from whoever this was. The presence of Angel as well draws his notice, but he does not share the same recognition for her as he does Aqua. The presence of the two drew his absolute attention, the Sith Lord pulling up a holographic video from the hangar.

He stares intently at the screen, resting his hands on the terminal and leaning forward. Aqua in particular drawing his eyes. As Ben pushes her forward, the Darth centers his attention on the disguised Jedi behind her.

Through the force, Ben could feel it, the eyes of the Dark Lord staring right at him, but he wasn't anywhere to be seen within the hangar. Laxin pushes a button on the display.

As the group continues forward, a loud alarm blares for a few moments, grabbing the attention of everyone within the hangar, all Imperials stopping whatever they were up to, bringing the hangar to complete silence. The only thing that hadn't stopped moving, was the HK units, who waltzed by the group a few moments later paying zero attention to them.

Sovereign does as the rest of the Imperials did and stopped moving, and as should everyone else. A few moments of silence pass, before the unmistakable voice of Laxin rings through the hangar.

   "The prisoner escort in hangar nineteen, bring me the defiant blue-haired one. The rest can rot on the detention deck."   

Laxin's voice dissipated, the same alarm replaying again, and the Imperials returning to their duties. It seems their disguises had fooled even Laxin for now, Sovereign letting out a deep exhale before continuing forward.

"Guess we dodged a bullet."

"Not quite."

Zeloai replied quietly, the group nearing the massive door at the end of the hangar. Once they reach it, the door slowly opens, revealing a massive, endless stretch of railway. As the group entered, one platform zoomed by from a parallel hallway. There was a single small console right at the edge of the room, Sovereign walking up to it and reading the screen.

"I think we've found our method of transportation. This is an interconnected railway, spreading across the entirety of the ship. Looks like this is how we get around, although or platform is missing."

He taps the console, navigating a quick menu before pressing a button, a few moments later a massive platform with rails zooms to the edge of the room. At the center of the platform was another console, prompting Sovereign to step onto the platform, leading the rest onto it.

As for Reyna, a probe droid◊ flies up to her, a holographic image of Lord Ranus◊ appearing.

"Why are you here hunter, beyond the obvious?"

Edited by KrampusTheTherapist on Jul 23rd 2021 at 2:40:41 AM

Ben can't help but grin at how well Aqua was doing at pretending to be defiant. His grin quickly fades, however, as an intense sense of dread begins to fill him. Although he couldn't see him, he all but felt the menacing gaze of Darth Laxin himself boring into him. The Sith Lord might as well have been a nexu, stalking his prey from the shadows while waiting for the opportune moment to pounce. And Ben couldn't help feeling as though his attempt to throw off the HKs just now was the moment Laxin had been anticipating.

"Ben, you fool! Had you simply ignored those droids, Laxin wouldn't have noticed something was amiss."

He begins reciting the Jedi Code in his head, doing everything in his power to maintain his composure. Unfortunately, Laxin's announcement only serves to render his efforts futile.

"He knows. He must know. And all because you panicked over a few blasted droids like a coward..."

By the time the group has reached the platform, Ben's breathing is noticeably heavier than usual. He looks to the others.

"Okay... now what the kriff are we supposed to do? We can't just bring her to Laxin to be tortured or killed."

His gaze flickers to Aqua, and he offers her a sympathetic look.

"I suspect my ploy just now made Laxin realize we weren't actually Sith warriors or Imperial military. Sorry for bringing you to his attention and, well, compromising this entire mission."

Edited by IchigoMontoya on Jul 22nd 2021 at 10:59:24 AM

As the crescent sword beam heads towards Viche and Courne, Viche's Scouter finishes giving Courne all the energy stored up within it. Courne's eyes fly open and, with a burst of energy, powers up and swiftly gets back on one knee, blasting the powerful sword beam away with a Ki blast of his own, his attack powered up thanks to him having transformed into his lightning-clad SSJ 2 form.

"Heh, who knew you could be so dependable?", Courne smirks as he looks back at Viche, then looking momentarily surprised when Viche is staring at him. After another quick smirk he takes off Viche's Scouter and gives it back to him.

"Thanks for that."

He then rockets towards the Zekenator, attempting to use his heightened speed and power to catch his enemy off guard, aiming to deliver a powerful gut punch to the Zekenator.

"W-wait, you idiot, your chest wound-", Viche starts, but he knows that it wouldn't get through to Courne in time. As such, he powers up too and flies after him, trying to launch a bunch of Ki blasts the Zekenator's way. They're moreso meant as a distraction than an actual attack though, seeing as they aren't very powerful blasts.

Edited by DevilPsyco on Jul 22nd 2021 at 8:13:26 PM

Angel doesn't seem to change her composure... at all. It's almost like she didn't even hear the announcement, which is weird.

It seems to... take her a moment.

"He might not know even now. We can salvage this yet... I think."

...Could they really, though?

She suspects the answer is no, but it can surprise even her sometimes just how effective bullshitting is at getting you places you're not supposed to be, so who knows?

Maybe they just needed a good place to hide... like a trash compactor. Wait, no, maybe not a trash compactor.

Pseudo's Base

Wanda◊ remains slumped against one of the training room's walls, replaying her recent venture into the dream world in her mind.

"Was I really that close to having my body taken over by a Nightfolk? Could it have been the one I saw running into the forest? Why didn't I feel like I was becoming a Nightfolk myself? Do Botar and Helryx know that one of their people has apparently been living in that place?"

As she goes over the journey and all the questions she had, her fingers briefly glow with her signature crimson aura. Oh, how she'd missed being able to use her magic there. It certainly would've saved her a lot of trouble if she were able to fight her way through the Nightfolk and that winged monster.

Hub Centralis, Mall

Loki◊ is currently wandering through the Hub Centralis' mall, twirling a dagger in one hand as he looks around at the various stores.

Pseudo's Base

There's a knock on the door, after which it's opened by Trinuma, one of the Order members she hasn't really had as much interaction with.

"Wanda Maximoff. Have you rested well?", he asks. "And if so, would you be ready for some brief scans?"

Hub Centralis

Right outside the mall, something swiftly lands from up above. The cloaked being◊ that lives in a cave and has been working towards something, if his experiments are anything to go by.

A pair of demonic wings retract into his cloak, disappearing completely, after which the cloaked being slowly and somewhat ominously enters the shopping mall. With his hood concealing his face, it's unclear what he's looking at as he wanders.

Omega

Roth decided to chance it, staying in the fight but not showing his full hand just yet. He rolled over onto his back, focused his mana and his aim, and invoked...

   "[Storm-Boosted Maximized Magic: Chaos Lightning!]"   

The resulting crackling energy at the head of his mace seemed to pull in the arc of lightning that would have hit him, as well as some of the lightning in the surrounding storm. He could not contain all of the power, and some of it ran through his body, zapping him good, but he managed to trap the rest and unleash it in a singular bolt of lightning that seemed to zig and zag at impossible speed and precision, homing in on The Zekenator like an Omega Beam!

KiriK

Aqua listens to Laxin's voice, taking a long, deep sigh. "Well... We gotta do what we gotta do. You'll get everyone in deeper trouble if we don't comply. Better to lose a few and let the others pass forward."

—

"It depends," Reyna replies with a shrug. "I'm here to take another look at the Elder Dragons, if that's what you mean by 'the obvious'."

The Zekenator endures the gatling fire and avoids the Chaos Lightning as he dashes around in bursts of electricity, until Courne manages to nail him with a punch, causing him to get zippity-zappitied as well. Going skidding back on all fours, he plants his sword into the ground as Pandoria bwips up to his side, detaching the hilt-wand from it.

With a twirl, the Blade unleashes catastrophic lightning all over the field while The Zekenator crouches down, clutching his head as if trying to draw out more power from the Eye of Shining Justice. Evidently, he succeeds, as Pandoria reattaches the weapon's hilt and he immediately grips it with both hands, chanting in perfect unison with Pandoria...    "Supeeer   rrsonic..." raising it aloft...    "Thunde   rbolt..." before charging forth and vanishing entirely.

Nearly-invisible strikes of both sword and lightning streak through, aiming to tear up the opponents, until The Zekenator and Pandoria reappear on the opposite side of the arena, finishing their attack callout with    "SLA   SH!" and a final lightning-blade rips through the space where they were standing, erupting into a dazzling electric blast the likes of which can be seen from across the map!

Afterwards, however, The Zekenator holds his finished slashing pose for a few seconds... and suddenly falls flat on his face, the power from his Eye of Shining Justice depleted, its light fading.

Edited by KiriK on Jul 22nd 2021 at 3:45:13 AM

With Viche and Courne both airborne, the field being electrified for a moment doesn't hinder them. Courne grins as he holds his hands together, aiming on taking advantage of his success by planning a big Gallick Gun attack. Purple energy sparks from his hands.

"Hold on-", Viche says, noticing before Courne that something is amiss when the Zekenator and Pandoria start chanting in unison. Any real warrior would know that that's never a good thing.

Viche tries to interrupt by firing a blast at the Zekenator, but he's already vanished by the time the blast gets to his former location.

"What?", Courne asks, looking around while still charging his attack... for about a second, after which both he and Viche get slashed up real bad by the Zekenator's strikes, stunning them and ensuring that they both get struck by the Zekenator's and Pandoria's finishing electric blast.

Right before the two get hit though, Courne tries to act. He can't move out of the way in time, and he definitely has too little time to counterattack due to his stunned state. As such, he takes the only action available to him, repaying Viche for earlier by sending the energy he'd charged up towards him, powering up him enough to ensure his survival a fraction of a second before the two get hit and are sent flying off of the island and into the water.

Courne drops out of his transformed state, now back in his base form as the two Saiyans sink into the water. It's unclear whether or not they're conscious or out cold, only that, thanks to Courne's quick thinking, they both survived, even though they're hurt enough that the parts of the water above them color red.

Megumin X is sent blasting off by the final strike! Wheeeeeee!

What? The force of impact? Bah, she'll be fine.

Her train of thought well and truly disrupted by the sound of Trinuma knocking on the door, Wanda bolts upright.

"Sorry, I've just been thinking about, well... pretty much everything that's happened lately," she says, rising to her feet. "But yeah, I'm more than ready."

Catching sight of the hooded figure's ominous entrance, Loki turns to regard the newcomer with a raised eyebrow. He puts his dagger away and saunters over to him, smiling his usual smile.

"Ah, you can never go wrong with the classic hood and black cloak. I do hope you're not plotting anything one might consider nefarious," he remarks.

Page One coats himself in Haki and bunker down, testing his endurance and durability against the onslaught of attacks. He's tossed around and soon default to being a ragdoll, with the Haki seemingly flaking off his skin with every successful attack, but he hold on!

The last blow effectively break through and hurl him off his feet too, covering him in heavy wounds and burns... But still, after laying low for about ten seconds, he manages to struggle his way to his feet, with a furious snarl on his face.

You're dead! Page One immediately leaps at the Zekenator, with swifttess surprising for one brought to near-defeat, and raise a clawed hand...

Edited by Bolded1 on Jul 22nd 2021 at 11:02:38 AM

"Oh, no need to apologize! I was asked to check up on you. If you were not ready, I would have told Toa Helryx to wait a while longer."

He then nods.

"If you are ready though, then I will bring you to the others.", he says, moving back so that Wanda can leave the training room.

"Botar was first tasked with this instead, but Ninten was worried that him warping in unannounced is probably the last thing you need right now.", he notes.

The being turns to Loki... which is honestly only visible because he fully turns instead of just turning his head.

"Plotting? Perhaps. Nefarious? No.", he says, either having no self-preservation by just admitting that he may be plotting something, or just not caring. ... Or he's being honest and he may be plotting something, but it's genuinely not something evil.

"Now, I don't come outside often, so I don't know this place very well. Would you help me out? There is something that I seek...", he says, sounding serious.

Wanda can't help but let out a goodnatured chuckle, cracking her knuckles as she stretches.

"Good choice. I can usually handle Botar and his... unique way of saying hello, but after what happened in there? I probably might've attacked him on instinct."

She proceeds to walk out of the training room.

"Either you still have much to learn about scheming, or Thor and I actually won't need to worry about whatever the Hel you've got planned," Loki replies, drumming his fingers against the pommel of Nightbane.

"Now, what's this about needing me to help you locate something?" he inquires.

Edited by IchigoMontoya on Jul 22nd 2021 at 2:20:07 AM

Once she's left the room, Trinuma begins to walk towards the main monitor room.

"I suppose me coming instead was beneficial to both you and him then.", he says.

He then looks down at Wanda, considering that he's 9 feet tall (which, compared to Botar, honestly isn't that noteworthy) and tilts his head. He doesn't actually say anything, but he does visibly appear to be curious about something.

"I am not usually the scheming type, so I figure it may be a bit of both."

He then nods.

"Ah, yes. That which I seek..."

He suddenly approaches a bit more, standing RIGHT in front of Loki now.

"What I want you to help me find is..."

A dramatic pause.

"A fish."

Wanda follows alongside Trinuma as she makes her way towards the main monitor room. Realizing that he appeared to be wondering about something, she fixes him with a curious look.

"Something on your mind?"

Taking a step back, Loki stares at the figure as if he'd just thrown back his hood to reveal Thanos' purple countenance.

"I beg your pardon... a fish? And here I thought you'd ask me to locate some magic sword that was once wielded by a great warrior to defeat an unspeakable evil," he replies, still admittedly a bit weirded out. "Nonetheless, I suppose there'd be no harm in helping you obtain... a fish."

Edited by IchigoMontoya on Jul 22nd 2021 at 2:49:10 AM

"Simple curiosity.", he admits. "I have heard much of your powers and I have seen you in action a good number of times. I believe this may be the first time we have spoken in person though."

The being suddenly laughs.

"I know, it's a bit weird, but I need some fish bones for my experiments, and I didn't realize I ran out of those because the dog that lives in my cave ate my reserves. Then I tried to fish for some because my cave is near a stream, but apparently this world has no wildlife because I didn't find anything. I tried again with one of the bigger bodies of water here and-well, let's not go into detail about what I found down there.", he rambles a bit. "So I didn't see much other choice. I asked a friend of mine to go in my stead but he didn't feel like it and I need those bones today, so here I am."

Beat

"Nah, if I wanted a magic sword I'd conjure one up.", he casually says without answering the obvious question of why he doesn't just conjure up fish bones.

"Ah, thank you! You have my gratitude, mister... erm..."

A brief pause.

"... Loki, I'm going to guess?", he asks with an awkward shrug. His tone and use of the word 'mister' implies that the being is still pretty young. Though that does not explain how he was able to guess Loki's identity.

Edited by DevilPsyco on Jul 22nd 2021 at 11:54:55 AM