Enter The Arena As Your Avatar -- The Spinoff!

Bunker

Zero teleports back into the bunker with the others, giving a polite bow. "Pleasure to have worked with you."

As he teleports off, Luna says, "I'll continue studying Cittufeni from a safe distance. He may prove... inspiring. Until next time."

She leaves as well, leaving only Gero in the room with the hologram.

Gero offers his two cents. "If you ever lose control of him, there's no one more qualified than me to put him in his place. I am still a more powerful fighter, and I know all his combat abilities like the back of my hand."

Tom's Diner

Ursaluna groans as the water barrage hammers away at the peat moss covering his coat.

Masaru stares at Nitori. "Well, that's new. Unless Akira was a mech pilot the whole time."

The big bear-beast shrugs off the gunfire even in the face of its amplifications. He jumps into the air and slams down forelegs-first, creating an eruption of cascading peat (which is basically gross icky dirt) forceful enough to blow away Nitori's mech and the gunslinger lady!

Masaru narrows his eyes. "Neat trick. My turn...!" He raises a fist, gathering energy...

WORLDBREAKER'S WRATH: 1/2

The ranger holds his big iron at the ready, but he also casts a runic spell of some kind with his free hand, causing the ethereal face of an elven man to appear behind him. "I need a rundown on this thing."

"As you wish. I will analyze its arcane properties now."

Lourent Oasis

Zenitsu notices the Space Channel duo. "D-dance energy? What on Earth is-"

FWOOSH

In a gust of wind, Lilligant is suddenly upon him, about to smash his skull in with a leg drop, until Sub-Zero intercepts her with a jump kick to knock her away!

"Are you a warrior?" he asks Zenitsu.

"Not really..."

"Then stay your tongue and avoid drawing its attention. This creature will not hesitate to kill you if you are defenseless."

Domain of Dust and Desolation - Monster Hunter Rise

Edited by KiriK on Oct 24th 2022 at 6:58:16 AM

Poke

Tom's Diner

The woman is launched into the air, but as she is being flung yet another floral rune appears beneath her feet, and with a kick she boosts herself off it and towards the bear, her weapon disappearing and replaced with a saber that she attempts to wedge into the skin of the bear.◊

Lourent

Seeing the flower person attack a nearby man he had not noticed, the Terrarian acted quickly, running towards the Lilligant and reached into his satchel. From the leather sack, the knight drew the most primitive of all weapons: Three fragmentation grenades, all of which he promptly threw at the flower with no regard for anyone else in proximity, not even himself.

Lourent

Want me to explain, or do you rather see it for yourself?

Ulala pulls her Tension Blaster out, and starts to shoot rhytmically at Lilligant.

Chu! Chu! Chu!

Meanwhile, Blippi waves his hand at Zenitsu, inviting him to follow him to the backlines.

Onyxis

Even under the cover of the shadow of something broken, The Hollow Knight cannot deny the presence of another. They turn to face Rhea, to see her with their empty eyes, and understand if she is friend or foe.

Even now, it cannot shake an unpleasant half-feeling that comes with looking at humans and those that share such a likeness. So completely unlike any creature of The Hollow Knight's home world, with exposed and hairless flesh and terribly uncanny eyes.

But to show that feeling- or indeed, to feel it at all, would be wrong of it, it knows despite supposedly being unable to know.

So The Hollow Knight buries those feelings, and indeed, all feelings that it has, as far deep as they can, though shadow can scarcely be called capable of obscuring them.

The place where their left arm once was aches with a phantom pain that they bury just as well.

And staring at Rhea, the holes in its "mask" like unblinking eyes, The Hollow Knight does not stir, does not flinch. If it had not moved a moment ago, she might even mistake them for a statue.

Extensive Medicine at the Mychars Hotel

Nia's healing was that prodigious when she was years out of practice! As she is now, the only wounds she cannot heal are extensive brain damage.

As long as a body has an intact head, she can heal it, assuming the lack of functioning organs hasn't damaged the subject's brain beyond repair yet, of course.

...Though it isn't a quick process.

It... kind of takes her a hot second to recognize the gelatin as remains, but she can't really think of anything else it could be, gives healing it a shot and, whaddaya know!

Knowing this, it takes her no time at all to try and heal the second lot of splattered gunk she runs into.

Nia does not try and heal Mell unless someone specifically asks her to, and at this point that is a bit farfetched.

She isn't a doctor or anything. She doesn't like leaving people for dead, but there are tons of people here that take way more priority.

All in all, she does her best, which is rather a bit better than most people could say. It's practically guaranteed she won't be able to save some people by virtue of it not being exactly trivial for her to bring people back from the dead, wasting valuable time that she doesn't have.

But then again, she's basically doing Necromancy Lite here, so I don't think it would all too unreasonable to cut her some slack.

Edited by Whoma on Oct 24th 2022 at 6:24:01 AM

Tom's Diner

Sundown raises his revolver once more, yelling out to Masaru "I'll cover for you!"

Sundown points his revolver, and decides that due to how large the target is, its time to fan the hammer.

Brushfire

This hail of five out of six bullets, oddly enough, somewhat lowers the bears attack attributes.

Edited by ReynTheLord on Oct 25th 2022 at 6:42:26 AM

Azura, not seeing Cain, angrily hit the ground, cracking it, and begin to run after the pearl girls at superhuman speed, hands stretched out like a zombie's.

Grrrr! I'll get you Audio, meanie! She also threatens, well, Audio.

...

Yuji's eyes widen. whoah whoah whoah hey stop! He makes a break for the fight, to try to save the day. Being that he is limited to punching though, he has to back off quickly when he sees live grenades, covering his face with his arms and wincing at the explosions. Damn it, you guys are crazy! You're not meant to throw grenades where you are! i think

A bit rattled, he still goes on the frontlines, albeit at a slower pace, as if unsure who he should target by now: as far as he knows, they're both homicidal out of the blue.

Heh I'll just target the first to attack me, good thinkin' Yuji!

...

The Strip stood as a jewel of what America could best do, and for many hapless citizens, it was a glimpse at a life of luxury and glitz they could use to escape the madness of the looming End. By its glitzy entrails, few gained the fortunes to fulfill their desires, and many more ultimately lost everything to the slot machines or card games they thought would save them from mediocrity.

However, the world had a funny way to make sure losers and winners were on the same footing: In October 23rd 2077, money became irrelevant, as radioactive fire cleansed the Earth of its filth. Through the quick thinking of Mister House, however, the Strip and even much of the Mojave was saved from annihilation. Kept preserved, the Strip was re-opened by a resurrected Mister House as a beacon of civilization. A light in the errant wastes. Where, as the genius hoped, a new and better space-faring civilization would rebuild itself over the rotted corpse of its predecessor.

But though the Strip had survived the war to end it all, it soon found out that humans would wage war no matter what. And unlike what Einstein predicted, this particular war was fought with guns aplenty: New Vegas, and the desert it inhabited, were both targeted by powerful neighbors. The New California Republic and Caesar's Legion, who sought to capture the Dam and the city for their own ends. Victorious over the Legion, the NCR then embroiled itself in conflicts, drained dry of resources by the opportunistic House, who was in the midst of a brilliant plan to kick both nations out of his desert: all he'd need was the Platinum Chip, a valuable trinket that hid powerful hardware, the likes of which he could have used to effortlessly repel the nukes sent to the Mojave. And power up a robotic army to wipe out both enemies.

But the Legion, House and the NCR alike had forgotten something. On a nameless corner of the Mojave, out of a town that would have been long forgotten by history, emerged The Maw. Absolutely raw, untamed brutality that dwelled in the edge of sanity. All-engulfing corruption and chaos to topple the scant few lights of Vegas and crush them. Almost a personification of the Wasteland, summoned as a last resort to prevent itself from being tamed. Or as a mocking reminder of what really was Humanity now, destroying all traces of civilization it found, almost mocking them for forgetting what humans were, stripped of civilization, and what they should stay at.

The Maw destroyed Vegas, chased the NCR, ate Caesar and destroyed his Legion, ate Mr House, ate Benny, drove a fist through Ulysses's heart, vaporized Big MT, burned down Zion, burned down everything he could see. Until he was satisfied, and though each kill made him happier than the last, he'd never be satisfied, always yearning for more and more depravity.

An unstoppable threat, the perfect Killing Machine, humanity unbound by weak empathy or civilization. A man who dedicated himself to killing, until he transcended past that title, into The Maw.

Depravity which he was eager to test on the group.

They'd barely realize they're standing in the middle of the ravaged Strip, in front of the burning ruins of a mighty Casino, before something fly their way. There, safely above the burning wreckage of the city, with blocky shadows and red beams of light, the gods could observe from glossy seats the sight of a mini-nuke coming crashing down upon the group, a few seconds from hitting Green right in the face.

For now, they'll have to deal with it!

'''CALIFORNIAN MAN WAKE UP, DEVOUR THE MEN, AND THE WOMEN, AND THE CHILDREN!'''

"Only if you give me 20% of what's left for my contribution," he says with a smirk.

"Ah, come on, Vegeta uses... something. I don't know what that green and purple shit is but it's definitely not a Super Saiyan form."

"Okay, secret time, I can't go any further than the first level. It's just never worked out for me, at least as I am. My thing is more 'overwhelm the target with broken techs and varied move combos'. If I'm seriously fighting and not just throwing my weight around at some punks."

He rolls on to his back, making a fist at the sky.

"Honestly though, no matter how strong your form is, it can't mitigate the damage of me teleporting a sword into your brain, right?"

Alika and Amoeboi are easily healed, dazed and unaware of what's happening. No brain no pain or something? Peter is healed as well, huffing against the wall.

Peter Thor is saved with a bit more difficulty.

Katarina... looks more like splattered ground beef than a person. There's no brain in there.

Edited by Rbade on Oct 24th 2022 at 6:30:54 AM

Pantheon

Upon spotting the mini-nuke arriving in The Strip, both Reploids exclaim, "Oh, dear Inafune!"

They both attempt to fly away before it was too late. What kind of foe would have the manpower to own one of those things? A God?!

Beet blinks a few times and snaps her fingers, pointing and admitting his point. We did good, right? All these guys also did good, but we gave them the means. Heyyougothetapbytheway?

When he speaks out, she shrugs. I haven't even got stage one or whatever. I don't like Super Saiyan, she thinks about what he says, but decides to skim over it a little. The Saiyans murdered across the universe even before Frieza came over, and they had absolute fun doing so, she says, looking up at the sky. And they clung unto this legend of a super murderer amongst them, rabid even by their standards, of such phenomenal power that he blew up the planet he was on. Because Saiyans don't care about winning or losing, they like their kicks, they want a challenge they can power through whenever they want.

Anyway, Frieza do them in. A bad thing, of course, but a lot of the folks on that planet had genocides under their belt, so fuck them. Super Saiyan is a legend left buried, until it isn't because Kakarot brought it back from the dead fighting Frieza! And sure, he was fighting for his life, but he gave everyone else the means to reach it! Vegeta was still a maniac when he got it! And you had actual children unlocking it! And now every Saiyan I've met has it! And this bloody legend, told by genocidal maniacs to genocidal maniacs, is everywhere! It's so frustrating!

... Sorry, I ramble, she says, calming down slightly, after flaring her grey aura. Huh, you do you. I think it's good to be smart about fighting. She mumbles, staring down her can of Hetap, if she got one: she broke it in half while ranting.

"Fuck yeah I have Hetap!" he says, tossing her a can.

"That's not how I see it, but do what makes you happy I guess. Or rather, specc into the techs that work for you."

He gives her another one when she breaks the first.

"In my view at least. Well, the idea of the Super Saiyan definitely has cultural connotations. But that's not what the form is. It's just something our bodies can do - a part of us. You don't have to like it for what it's associated with, but it's... inherently neutral. A potential weapon, like a sword or spell: or a body part like my spleen. This does not apply to the Legendary Super Saiyan variant, which is too inherently destructive to regard as neutral without measures taken to mitigate it."

Oca rubs the inside of his ear with his knuckle.

Beet ponders, hesitates, debates. Fair point, but I don't like it in general. Besides, I feel like I'd be making my dignified ancestors happy if I were to use it. And I want to get strong by my own means.

Imagine being punked by someone who doesn't even use Super Saiyan 1 when you're using... I don't know, level three? That'd be humiliating. I want to get that strong off that, not just because I can transform when I want to blast through the fight.

Though you're sm-...? Beet looks up, and frowns. Yo, behi-

THINK FAST FAGFACE! Zelerie appears behind Oca and attempts to drive his head into the ground, blasting Beet away with her sheer force as she attempts to drag him across the island face first, almost splitting it in two, before attempting to throw Oca and blast him into the air with a strong punch, shearing the nearby trees of their leaves and eventually ripping them out of the ground!

I'm going to kill you for real this time, Ocass! Gahahahahaha! Zelerie gloats, floating over the ground. You big fat wuss!

Beet gets up from the spot she was stuck in and spit some dirt out, surprised at the violence of the interruption. Peh!

Japantown

Denji runs away from the current area, trying to see what else where is in this fucked up place...

"Ah, spite. A respectable motive."

"Like I said, it's just a tool. Some people can suck ass at using them, or use what they do have with extraordinary expertise. I like to think I'm getting pretty cracked with the Kai-o-ken."

Oca then proceeds to fucking ghost Zelerie, blipping around using his t.p. and leaning against a tree before putting a hand to his mouth.

"Zzzzelerie, girl~! It's been too long!" he says with a snrrrk. "You come to pay your child support?"

Gor's Cathedral

"What no I eat fine! I'm just cautious-"

Simon immediately heard the commotion and followed Azura as the silent ones came pouring in. Simon whistled as he followed behind Azura, as people started to flood in. Once she started talking about how Gor would save them all the man tried to stifle back a groan and looked to the strange insectoids holding their nymphs close to their chest. He had a moment of, relatability to the current refugees. He wished he could feel as safe as they did in their parent's arms. That warmth, that certainty, that trust. He looked to Azura as they seemed hesitant to let the followers near them. Coming through the doors were a few spear men and riflemen of the Silent Ones, who quickly walked to their kin and seemed to immediately assume a sort of barrier, watching the doors as if awaiting something. Simon would comment, looking to the masses of the arena members coming inside, all the while the sky was an especially solid shade of purple.

"...So community work that's great. Is there tax cutoffs for that? I mean if there is untold violence and abstractness like that daily... That explains the gold horde behind us."

Just Outside Hub Centralis, Astill border

As some people flee into hub centralis, A blue and yellow blur rocket jumps then slides out of there, jumping and sliding to gain momentum. While most people See a horde of monstrosities, V1 sees something else. Fuel. Blood

V1 eventually reaches the lines of the warpstorm and the malformed people and possibly occasional daemon, throws a few coins into the air in and around them, fires off the railcannon, and starts just generally shooting up the area, soaking up that sweet blood

Children

Natacha got rammed by Azura, leaving her on the ground. Rafles chase after her.

GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF, YOU GIRL!

Pantheon

Holy mother o-

Ms. Grey tries to run, but she got blown away by the explosion... Or at least it seems so, since she can't be seen anywhere...

Japantown

Denji could notice a girl with pink hair and sunglasses standing within a booth, talking with her fans.

...And remember to follow me in all of my social networks, and buy my NFT's! Coming soon!

On The Way Out of Japantown

Denji walks up, more confused than anything. He's learnt a bit not to be so blindly horny, so he's cautious. He does ask though, raising his hand, now in human form "What's a NFT? Is that some kind of Disease?"

He isnt malicious. He Genuinely has no clue what the fuck a NFT is. He is from the 90's after all.

Edited by ReynTheLord on Oct 24th 2022 at 9:56:37 AM

Japantown

Good question.

In layman's terms... An NFT is as if you have an original work of art, but digital.

She shows a picture on her tablet: a photo of a city in the night, with the phrase "Dare to light your own dreams."

I'll start to sell those to get a little of silver. Anyways, what's your name, blondie?

Edited by BombonBombin on Oct 24th 2022 at 11:05:55 AM

Nightcity Fucking Tanks

Denji freezes up before saying, trying to keep his horniness in check in an area of actual potential danger, "Denji. So... They're images you keep on a computer. Haven't really used them myself save for some american video games. Heard one beat a chess champion though... Might be on my way though. Have fun selling your NF Ts I guess."

Denji begins to walk away, further into hub centralis

Edited by ReynTheLord on Oct 24th 2022 at 10:24:54 AM

Tom's Diner

Nitori hits the jump jets and her mech clears over the wave of gross dirt.

"Hah! It'll take more than that to match Kappa ingenuity!" she boasts. She then presses a button as a target reticle appears over the big bear. "Taste this, Aerial Blaster Barrage!"

The missile ports on the front of Nitori's mech then open up and fire a barrage of 8 missiles targeting Ursaluna. They're not terribly huge but quickly home in on their target to explode into high pressure water again. Someone might think she's intentionally using water against a part ground type but Kappa just like using water projectiles. She then runs out of jump jet momentum and lands back on the ground with a thud.

Hub Centralis

The Warp's acknowledged existence has caused some strange creatures from a certain world to appear in the area.

Mark is busy fending one of them, yet his prior experience in dealing with them makes it akin to a training exercise. The creature resembles a slimy-crusty humanoid but upon closer inspection, it appears to be made of nothing but human noses.

The Nasal Amalgamate begins contorting and compressing inwards as Mark kicks up dust to smokescreen for his next attack.

"A..aaaaAaaa...aaaaaaaAaaaaa"

auditory depiction

Every single nose the body consists of suddenly sneezes. Letting out an absurdly powerful shockwave punch that sends Mark directly in Denji's line of sight... And through some buildings. The nose thing sneezes to leap and crash on Mark, sneezing repeatedly to increase each stomp's force as it creates a larger and larger crater around whilst Mark is blocking.

Edited by BoniniBanana on Oct 25th 2022 at 7:28:54 PM

Japantown

Felicity waves her hand at Denji.

May the good luck be with you. Hope our dreams cross ways again soon.

What a sympathic boy.

Her thoughts train is interrupted by a voice:

Nina!

Um, er... I'm not Ni-er... I don't know anybody with that name. Security! Escort them! To the backstage.

Two members of Felicity's staff take Luna and Simón to the back of the booth, where Felicity appears, taking her wig off... She's actually Nina.

What are you doing here? I thought you left FelicityForNow behind!

And you are selling NFT's now? How cringey!

Nina sighs. "Yeah, I have a lot to explain. But guess what? I meet Denji, the Chainsaw Man!

Chainsaw... Man?

...

Flashback to Luna's dream.

"... Quanxi, from the Chainsaw Man manga..."

...

"...I should have asked for his autograph..."

...So, what you told me about the Arena... It's true?

"...What are you talking about?"

...Oh, right.

"Anyways, I suddenly appeared in this new world, bigger than it seems, and with a lot of new people... Far from my home, my friends, my family... And I felt overwhelmed. So I took again my FelicityForNow persona, to meet new people without risking myself to fail... And because I don't have money, I started to sell NFT's of my images..."

But now we are here, and we'll never leave you alone again.

"Thank you, guys. Oh, I almost forgot: is this video real?"

Nina shows Luna and Simón a video on her tablet: is the moment when Luna was shielding against Adam Smasher 's shots, but she was hit by Courier 6, and threwn through the wall by Adam. With vine boom sounds and female laughs all around the place. Eerily familiar laughs.

So... That's what happened...

Luna swipes Nina's tablet. Lemme see who uploaded that. FabAndChic? ... Ámbar!

A notification sounds. Nina takes her tablet back.

"Talking about the devil... She commented on my latest image."

"I never liked your images. Are so chock-full of glurge I wanna puke on them! But now I know you are in the Arena too. And when I find you and your little friends, specially that Luna, you will fall again! XOXO, A."

I can't believe Ámbar is still... That way.

"Simón, people like her doesn't change, ever. But is she and her skating possum here too? We need to do something."

Yeah... But what?

"What else? I know a new place where we can talk about this. But before..."

She wears again the pink wig, and appears again in the booth.

Sorry, guys, but the meet and greet is over. Bye!

C'mon guys, roll!

The three friends carry the booth and roll as fast as they can, fleeing from Felicity's fans while "Yakety Sax" is heard in the background.

Edited by BombonBombin on Oct 25th 2022 at 9:23:29 AM

I'm going to shove your head up your ass, manass! You'll wish that would kill you but it won't, because I know just how I'll do it!

Hey! You! Why'd you attack him for? Say Beet, rising to her feet and shaking the dust and dirt out of her hair. Wait you're... she eyes Zelerie's tail-belt, and her eyes widen slightly. A Saiyan...

Fuck off. Zelerie says with disinterest in her tone, raising her hand so as to prepare to blast Beet.

...

Somewhere above the church, a large beacon of light glows. It's nature is like the Warp, a violation of reality, but a good one. Meteorika and the rest watch in silent awe, as do incoming people seeking shelters. Some of them elsewhere in town glance at their own shelters, then shake their heads and leave them. Or do not eve enter them.

For that light feels warm and comforting, and it shines over Hub Centralis, for people outside to see and find refuge in. They'd only need to think about being transported there to be teleported to the church.

Edited by Bolded1 on Oct 25th 2022 at 7:01:56 PM

EV Office

Bugface absent-mindedly grabs a container of isopropyl alcohol and a napkin, then soaks the napkin and begins cleaning Aki's stump. A robot arm drops off a basket with electrodes connected to a circuit and a measuring device.

"Interesting... So, I'm mostly concerned with the gun devil - you said even parts of it can be very powerful, right? What could someone do with them?"

Meanwhile, at the reception, the cubic lattice is still facepalming.

"Yeah, we know. We've had people come here before and investigate, so..."

He gets poked by the Lorentz attractor, who points at an image invisible to all non-avatars. As a reaction, he rests his chin on his hand for a second. Then, he turns the image around for Eve and Daiakuma to see. It's a blueprint of a hospital, filled with high-tech equipment and even a mechanism to lower the building into the ground. Eve will probably recognize it.

"Say, Eve, didn't Exotic help design this building for you?"

Off-universe

There's quite a bit more activity to be seen inside the SS Nomad than usual. Over 30% of the ship is focused on a single high-priority project, and it's preparing a mass evac out of Hub Centralis and off-world to the nearest planet - a yet to be named basaltic desert planet. Plans are made for organic habitats, railguns, warp escort ships, you name it... A lot of the local engineers would've preferred evacuation to another universe, but unfortunately, matter compatibility checks take too much time for an emergency escape.

In the skies above Centralis, along with all the recently arriving spaceships, a swarm of mechs fly patrol. They all know that an aircraft density this high will lead to logistical problems, and one of them has commissioned the construction of emergency landing places as a new project. He and a group of other engineers is already at work building above the water surrounding the city, using inter-universal structural supports to aid against the raging seas.

Other engineers are placing foundations for inter-universal structural supports wherever it doesn't obstruct anything. They aren't sure what exactly they will use them for, but they do know that it's absolutely necessary.

Yet more engineers are simply scouting the city, making marks of all kinds on public buildings, gathering places, traffic flow...

One of them, piloting a blue and white constructor mech nearly identical to Icarus's, lands in front of the Church of Gor - but can't enter safely, due to all of the people flooding in.

"Excuse me? Who's responsible for this building? We may have to evacuate this planet and, uhh..."

He looks around awkwardly.

Kids

Audio is still sitting on top of the wall. He lets out a raspy laugh.

   SORRY. NOT SORRY.   

Edited by StepexNo2 on Oct 25th 2022 at 7:12:11 PM

"She's just a little wacky," he says, before teleporting behind Zel and trying to hit her with a combo of a patronizing hug and a fucking suplex.

"Zeeeel, be nice to the new girl. Er, relatively new."