Enter The Arena As Your Avatar -- The Spinoff!

Andi looks at it, and turns to face Nebby.

"Nebby teleport us in there."

Nebby lets out an enthusiastic sound as they, along with Andi and Lillie, flicker and then vanish, appearing an instant later within the Jarl's longhouse. Nebby, of course, being 13 feet tall (with a wingspan just as considerable), takes up... quite a bit of space. Still, they fit comfortably enough, all things considered.

Wrustoiz hoists his blade high still, but only for a few moments as he stood there in silent contemplation. He lowers his blade, muttering to himself for a moment.

   "You did not come here to discuss philosophy, and it's a waste of time. For my escape, I had to wait for the slightest lapse in security, and it came when I was about to be transferred. I stole an Imperial fighter, but I've long left it behind."   

His gaze looks to the forested area to his right, taking a deep breath in silent contemplation. He slowly steps away from Ben, his eyes carrying the ever-so-slight hint of fear. With his eyes locked to the forest, he continues to speak

   "I have nothing to offer or give you beyond my word Jedi, but I will not be returning to the others with you. Not yet."   

He gives Ben a quick glance,

   "I will find you when the time is right, but for now you must leave. After the first group of my trackers had been dispatched, Laxin has sent his deadliest apprentice and her assassins to hunt me. They're hot on my trail, and are heavily trained in such tracking techniques."   

Turning back to the forest, he continues to speak

   "Your presence serves as only a distraction and an added danger to the rest of them, leave now before they arrive and catch your scent. I will stay behind until you're far enough away. You must trust me, Ben."   

Edited by KrampusTheTherapist on Oct 11th 2021 at 6:36:16 AM

Ochimo shrugs and walks in after them.

"Well, is it warmer in here?"

He makes finger guns at...

"What are they, anyways? Some kind of cosmic bat?"

Lillie looks at Nebby, and then back to Ochimo.

"This is Nebby. Me and Andi... take care of them. I guess you could call them our friend?"

Andi nods slightly. "That. Doesn't quite cut it. But it's the best word I can think of too."

Lillie laughs, though only slightly, facing Andi. "In a certain sense, I guess we're kind of their parents? We did raise them..."

Andi keeps on smiling. In fact, she's been smiling for... most of the time she's been here, her face almost completely unflinching. It's a bit weird. "Sort of. Maybe."

Lillie shakes her head. "You're right, that comparison doesn't quite fit either."

She turns back to face Ochimo "To answer your question, though, Nebby is a Pokemon called Lunala."

"Legends call them 'the beast that calls the moon', back home, they're. A big deal. A part of our culture", Andi adds, "Nebby was the one that brought us here. They can travel between universes. It's. Just one of the many neat things they can do."

"They aren't the only one... but the ones that do exist are spread across the cosmos. So you could say they're a rare sight. We're lucky to have met them."

Lillie raises a hand, and Nebby lowers their head to meet it. Lillie pets them.

"Wait a minute", Andi signs as this happens, looking directly at Ochimo.

Lillie, who isn't facing Andi, doesn't pause or anything, it isn't like Andi is talking.

...

"We forgot to ask. Who. Even are you actually."

Ben listens carefully as Wrustoiz explains, looking noticeably surprised at the hint of fear in the Sith Lord's eyes. After a moment or two, he shuts off his lightsaber and hooks it to his belt.

"I take it the assassin in question is that woman from Laxin's assault on the city. The one with the purple lightsaber."

He nods to Wrustoiz.

"...Okay. I'll tell the others about your situation as soon as I make it back. If Sovereign and Master Zeloai decide to mount another rescue mission, hopefully it won't go nearly as abysmally," he says. "And Wrustoiz? I never thought I'd find myself saying this to a Sith, of all people, but... good luck."

With that, he begins running back to where he parked his speeder bike, occasionally glancing back at Wrustoiz's position.

"Cool beans. 'Pokemon', huh? Can't say I've heard of those."

He shrugs.

"I'm just some guy. I'm sure I had a real name and story some time long ago, but I'm just... Ochimo, now."

"Spent... what, three million years as a spirit in a tomb, a couple thousand more just wandering around, and the last few here?"

Andi and Lillie exchange glances.

Because. Dang. That's a long time.

"Are you. OK", Andi signs, mildly concerned.

"That... in no way sounds pleasant.", Lillie says with a concerned head tilt. "What happened to you?"

Kali 'Wonder Girl' Holiday

She was confused for a second when Katarina was kneeling down and asks to bring some games and said that she'll share the omurice that her neighbor made yet she doesn't have a room yet so she could need something to eat right now, trying to think if the magic academy student could have a room in the hotel. She usually plays iRacing and FPS games yet she needs some sort of a place to live so she decides to have precise ideas on finding a room, giving its own perspective being a bit too insecure for her own mind. Then the Roush driver simply chuckled and pulls out her right hand as if she was accepting the offer from Katarina.

"Sure thing, but I kinda need a sim racing rig and a setup to have you play so you gonna find me a room." She accepted, trying to have a new place to stay so she could live in Hub Centralis being decent for her own thoughts.

"... Dunno!" he says. "I feel fine, at least."

"Dinky lil' brain doesn't remember all that. All I know is 1. I'm the Ochimo. Of fire. Name unknown, possibly also 'Ochimo'. 2. I used to work for / be bound to some guy called the Opawang who something something chaos daemons apocalypse dark power blah blah blah. 3. He got wrecked by some alien super hero guys, and then I got wrecked so hard it broke the geas so I'm just. Chilling, now."

"The hotel has free rooms! This is the Arena, ninety percent of the buildings just sort of exist without an owner there's nothing stopping you from just moving in just BRING GAMES PLEASE!"

Hand shakey shakey shakey shake!

Wrustoiz raises his blade toward the trees, and a dark presence begins to set in around the forest. As Ben continues deeper into the wooded area, the unmistakable noise of lightsabers igniting echoes quietly to his location.

As he turned to catch his last glimpse of Wrustoiz through the dense foliage, an invisible assailant ignites a red double-bladed saber and leaps toward him. The sith lord quickly raises a defense, easily dispatching the Sith Assassin just as Ben loses view.

He reaches his speeder unimpeded, the sounds of lightsaber strikes and clashes echoing quietly, but more than that, the darkness surrounding the forest began to grow in strength. Ben should leave while he still could, or both him and Wrustoiz would perish.

Skies of Estraole

The sky darkens, casting a long and massive shadow like a brooding storm cloud across the mountainous region. A dark presence, grander than the physical shadow that accompanies it. An absolutely gargantuan Imperial Fleet storms across the region, fighters◊ swarming around the area like a legion of locusts. The fleet, mostly comprised of dreadnoughts◊ stormed forward.

The high fire-power dreadnoughts were positioned to the front, but shortly behind them were the destroyers◊. The number of the fleet consisted of at least a thousand ships strong, but even all of their combined power paled in comparison to the flagship ahead of all of them.

Not only was it brightly colored, but it stretched for well over ten whole miles in length. The ship eclipsed everything around it in terms of its size. The Grip◊

The Grip - Bridge

Laxin◊ paces about the bridge, his footsteps echoing briefly across the massive room. His eyes are to the glass observation area, freshly repaired after Laxin's original encounter with an unseen force that had blown it open only a few days prior.

This same attacker was the one he was tracking, whatever ship this was wouldn't escape him for much longer. A concentrated expression develops on his face beneath his helmet. This ship's evasiveness had confused Laxin, but he had a plan.

He stepped up to the central command console and opened a fleet-wide holo communication.

   "We are closing in on the signal, begin transferring power from engines to frontal shields. If the accuracy of the signal's position is correct, the Isotope cruisers will cut them off in a matter of moments."   

Skies of Estraole

From an opposite angle, a Peculiar Dreadnought◊ appears. The ship is made of jet-black metal, but more importantly than that, all of the visible electronic components are glowing orange. At the front of the cruiser, a large beam weapon of some sort has been built into the hull. Glowing blue light pours out from it, and after a few moments, a dozen more of the cruisers pour out onto the scene.

The two of them exchange another glance.

"Well. If. As long as you feel alright. Then it's probably fine."

Lillie gives a nervous smile. "I'm not really sure what to say about all of that."

Nebby tilts their head in concern. It's a gesture remarkably similar to the one Lillie did only a few moments ago.

Arale giggles. "I don't actually know my way around! I just knew a hotter place was this-a-way!"

Ah, of course. She's an 'idiot god'-type character.

Estraole Skies

The Yamato is floating through the air.

"SAMUS!"

Samus is, unfortunately, still rolling around in her Morph Ball. "mmmmngh... what"

"THE EMPIRE FOUND US!"

"... shit"

Samus pops up into her full humanoid stature. "To the bridge! We fire the main cannons as the enemy approaches, but that probably won't last long before we have to fight them ourselves!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Mega Man X salutes and starts dashing down the halls, accompanied by a number of nameless, faceless grunts.

Edited by KiriK on Oct 11th 2021 at 10:18:34 AM

The Yamato appears in view, surrounded by two separate Imperial fleets. The first consisted of the Grip and the typical Imperial Navy forces, whilst the latter consisted of these new cruisers. The Yamato and its inhabitants were certainly expecting the first fleet, but the presence of the new dreadnoughts could throw the crew into slight disarray.

Both fleets come to a brief standstill surrounding the Yamato, even the fighters remain steadily surrounding their respective fleets, flying in circles. The dark presence of Laxin looms over the soon-to-be battlefield for all those who can feel it. It was like a massive pair of eyes, piercing through the metal of the ship to observe all within.

The calm before the storm is soon to end, however, the Yamato should be picking up an increase in energy readings from both fleets.

The Grip - Bridge

Laxin continues to bark orders from the central console,

   "All ships full power to frontal shields, Isotope-5 Cruisers begin charging beam weapons. Fire them synchronously upon charging, directed at engines. Fighters move to pressure the exterior, blast us a hole."   

He pauses for a moment, observing as the ships begin to obey his orders.

   "I will make it clear again if I did not before, we are not destroying this ship. Cripple it, and our boarding part will do the rest. On that note, boarding parties prepare, you will be following my ship."   

Laxin turns to exit the bridge, giving a gesture to a nearby officer who moves to the central command console in his stead.

"Dunno if there's anything to say, hah. I'm fine, you're fine, so what does it matter?"

He hops a foot or two into the air and leans back, floating with his hands behind his head.

"I guess I AM curious as to if I was ever human. Either I always was a spirit or I became a spirit, but hell if I can tell the difference right now."

"Well"

Andi signs

"...Who knows. For all you know. You could have been secretly evil. That's how the story goes, right? You lose your memory, making the moment you regain it super bad because you were super evil before and are now going to commit crimes? Am I-"

"Yes", Lillie nods, "Yes you are."

Andi looks down, still smiling awkwardly. "Oops."

"The enemy is deploying shields and readying weaponry!"

"In that case, to prevent major damage to the Yamato..."

Samus rises from her officer's chair. "We'll have to one-up them... and invite them in!"

"... What do you mean?"

"Activate the Covenant Energy Shields! Leave an Achilles Gap on the top deck! That will force the enemies to attack from above if they want to inflict damage - and that will put them right in the line of our cannons!"

Dr. McNinja and Thel 'Vadam start pulling levers and pressing buttons to set things up in accordance with Samus's instruction.

(Achilles Gap: made-up term referring to a weak point in an otherwise-invincible defense where the weak point must exist for the rest of the defense to function)

"Oh, no, I was doing evil the whole time, at least as far back as I can remember." he says with a chuckle. "Well, for most of that I was bound to the Opawang's will, so I don't know if you can really say I, me, was evil. I guess I'm just saying the bigger surprise would be myself turning to have been a plainly decent fellow at the start of it all."

Upon reaching his speeder bike, Ben climbs onto the vehicle and fires up the engine before speeding away from the forest. As his bike streaks across the land, he can't help but notice the Sith fleet darkening the skies of Estraole.

"By the Force... Did an entire Republic fleet find its way here just to challenge Laxin?"

Edited by IchigoMontoya on Oct 11th 2021 at 9:21:52 AM

Andi looks up.

"Huh. That was. Weirdly. Predictable."

She looks at Nebby, who seems... concerned about something.

Poking Nebby to get their attention, Andi signs "Is something wrong?"

Nebby shrugs. They don't know, it's just... a feeling. Of course, they have no real way of expressing that sentiment... Andi somehow gets it, though.

"Well if something goes horribly wrong somewhere or we're about to. I don't know get destroyed by a giant laser. Tell me about it first."

Lillie seems moderately concerned. "Is that... something we can expect?"

Andi smiles at Lillie. "Don't worry. If you die, apparently this place will magically bring you back. Maybe. I haven't tested. For. Obvious reasons."

This does not help.

Observing Ben from a distance, Angel ponders something.

A moment later, she ponders no longer, and teleports closer, standing near, but not in, his intended path.

Edited by Whoma on Oct 11th 2021 at 9:19:19 AM

Ben almost immediately slams the brakes on his bike, clearly surprised to see Angel. After a moment or two, he shakes his head.

"This is some kind of dark side trick or spice dream, isn't it? Angel was captured by the Empire before she could escape with everyone else..."

Ochimo raises a finger.

"You'd think so, but one of the guys who wrecked me did in fact test it on himself. Madlad, that one."

"Never got his name. Or forgot. One or the other, at least. Probably the latter, given that I've chatted with him a couple times afterwards."

The Grip - Bridge

The officer that had replaced Laxin at the central command console stood at attention, carefully observing the fleet's status and the energy readings of the Yamato before him. He didn't entirely understand what he was looking at, but he was merely a placeholder for the real replacement.

The door to the bridge swings open, an Admiral◊ walking in with a confident strut. She quickly makes her way to the command console, giving the officer a snide stare before he scurries off.

Observing the ever-constant data flow, Admiral Pola speaks into the still open fleet-wide holo communication. Clearing her throat, she stares at the energy readings pouring out from the Yamato.

The covenant shields go up and the full attack of both fleets is blocked, prompting a wide-eyed look from the Admiral. Swiftly turning her attention to the Yamato, she identifies the Achilles Gap. She ponders for a moment, before barking out orders.

"Direct fighters to the gap in the energy shield, draw their fire. One destroyer and a squadron of bombers will follow suit, drop your payloads on the same zone, we must clear an entry for Lord Laxin."

Fury Class Interceptor - Laxin's Personal Ship

Laxin moves to the pilot's chair of his ship, taking a seat. He quickly does his preflight check and activates the ship. It flies into the air, hovering for a brief moment. In a flash, it shoots out of the hangar, followed by several troop transports◊ at a similar speed.

Skies of Estraole

The standard fighters do as they are old, hundreds of them swarming toward the opening in the shield to deal as much damage as they could. They weren't fully equipped to deal massive damage to powerful ship hulls, but enough of them together could prove to be a challenge.

As Pola had phrased, they were but a distraction. A squadron of Bombers◊ came shortly after, followed by a Terminus-class destroyer ship. These ships attempted to drop explosive payloads straight into the gap, hoping to blow a hole big enough for the boarding party.

Andi gives a thumbs up at Lillie.

"I... uh, don't really want to die, though.", Lillie responds.

Andi's expression turns completely serious.

"Of course. If anyone tries to hurt you, I will kill them."

She wishes she could put more emphasis on that.

"Just... don't be too quick about that, please?"

Andi nods. "Yeah. Killing people is bad. I just. You are worth more. Than everything else. That exists. So."

Lillie laughs "I understand. Don't go trying to hurt someone who hasn't done that much wrong... and don't get over your head."

Andi resumes her relentless smile. "I won't."

Angel blinks.

"I'm sorry, so sorry- I didn't- I didn't tell anyone about that, did I? They kicked me off the ship. I- er, wasn't imprisoned, sorry., she says, gesturing exaggeratedly to emphasize her point. "This happens so often, argh, I need to get in the habit of just telling people that I did something!"

Angel takes a deep breath. "OK, to prove that it's me..."

She briefly splits into Pyra and Mythra, putting herself back together before giving two thumbs-up.

"Alright, OK, sorry. I've just- really got to talk to you. It's important, I swear."

And it is. Very important. She's seen this level of importance a trillion, trillion times, but the importance is no less than before. Sometimes the universe has to send a little care to the little things within it.

Well, it doesn't, but that's something she's good at, isn't it?

Edited by Whoma on Oct 11th 2021 at 9:46:06 AM

Explosions ravage the top of the ship, but the same lasers that blew a hole in the Grip's bridge now fire at every fighter and bomber in range.

In the middle of the ship, an area is cleared away - not quite an opening in the deck, but a spot of barren surface where there is no weaponry left.

Ben lets out a sigh when Angel reveals that she was never in Imperial captivity, but nonetheless nods to her.

"It's fine, Angel. I was afraid that you were being tortured or maybe the Sith were invading your mind, but it's fine. I imagine the others will pleased to learn that you're alright," he assures. "Now, what is it you need to tell me? If it's that Wrustoiz didn't betray us and lure us onto the Grip as part of a trap, I actually learned that not too long ago."