Enter The Arena As Your Avatar -- The Spinoff!

Xion nods. "This place was scary, but... It was nice to meet you."

She sits down over her body, and her spiritual form dissolves into light that flows into its heart. The body looks like her for just a moment before all traces of it vanish from the realm. Xion is not gonna stop talking about this to Roxas for the next few hours.

"... it was nice to meet you as well."

Once Xion has left, the winged being descends down to the ground and growls.

"... There's only one way her dormant body would have been safe from all harm in here."

It slightly tilts its head to look behind it a little, at seemingly nothing.

"Temptations of friendship!? Of freedom I'll never know!? Were you testing me!? My loyalty!?", it asks, voice building with rage.

There is no answer. The winged being balls its fists and roars monstrously as it looks up at the dark skies above. Its hair briefly lights aflame with a blue so light that, in a realm such as this, it's almost blinding. It doesn't stay that way for long though. And once it stops roaring, it feels a hand on its shoulder.

It doesn't turn to look. It knows who this is. It knows who's whispering in its ear.

"dͩoͦᶰnͭ'ˡtͦˢ ͤsˢtͥᵍrͪaͭy ͦᶠfʸrͦoͧmͬ ᵍtͦhͣˡe path."

"tͭhͪiͥˢs ͥˢisͭ ͦthͤᶰeͩ oͭnͪlͤyͥ ͬwᵖaͣyͥᶰ."

"rͬeͤmͫeͤmͫᵇbͤeͬrʷ ͪwͣhͭyʸ ͦyͧoͬuͤ'rᶠeͥᵍ ͪhͭeͥᶰrᵍeᶠᵒʳ"

"rͬeͤmͫeͤmͫᵇbͤeͬrʷ ͪwͦhʸoͦ ͧyʷoͤuͬ ͤare"

The winged being snarls, then pulls itself out of the grip of the being that's now standing behind it. It looks down at the ground.

"My decision was final, both then and now. Even if I sometimes doubt, it's too late to stop now."

It glances behind itself now, and whoever was behind the winged being is already gone again. After a long silence, the winged being sits down in the sand in the same position as when it was sitting on top of the tower.

"It would probably be best for her and her friends if we never did meet again..."

Hub Centralis - Paradiso

Minutes may be too long. Nia knows, she's got the numbers running in her head even if she isn't damn well clever enough to really come to a conclusion, but she knows who it is making the sounds, shaking the ship.

It's a mad scramble, she isn't sure what she's more afraid of- what Ana would do if she got to the cargo bay, or what she would do if she got to her. There had been a way, an implication in the way that Ana had spoken about her, and the look in Ana's eyes had been fascinated. A curiosity beyond the scientific, a want without lust.

Nia would shiver, but she's busy. There are bodies, warm beneath her fingertips as they're rushed to evac, dancing ether lights at her beck and call, weaving together wounds like the world's greatest seamstress. Biology at her command, the failure of death undone.

The man she's healing comes to with a cough, trembling and shuddering as his body turns back on from its death, and she moves on. On to the next, as her patient is wheeled away.

Ayona's efforts are the same, but the living will be her subjects instead. Ether falls upon lethal wounds and the pieces grow back together like a long time's rest taken in moments. Under such direct scrutiny, it looks unnatural and almost cancerous, yet for Ayona's veteran existence, that shouldn't be a worry.

This isn't new. None of this is new.

If they wanted to get away, they haven't. Ayona and Ryve both. Stuck in an eerie reflection of the world that shouldn't have been, and faced with a monster that loves to kill.

Though perhaps it would be more accurate to say that she, that Ana, does not believe in killing. That would require a subtraction of value. A loss, of some sort, from the world.

And she has long since made her choice on who the arbiter of value is.

Hub Centralis - Outside

Vera's shields hold. The people inside the transport ships are more than a little grateful to Vera for the help, vocalizing it inversely with screams dying down in a more natural order than the abrupt silencing of voice that could have been. Perhaps she won't notice, maybe it's just... part of the deal of being her.

But, 200 people? It might not strike Vera, hell, in all this death it might not even feel like a consequential thing at all. But Vera's just saved every single one of the 200 people in those transport ships. And they shouldn't soon forget it.

With that little boost of assistance, Icarus and Croque's combined efforts have culminated in a completed evacuation. The radius of destruction on Ana's latest trick was wide, but, she was striking a portion of the city that's already well gone-over. Grimly speaking, it may have even accelerated the cleanup by picking off hard-to-reach subjects.

This section of Hub Centralis is a ghost town now. Silent, lightless, the skies gray with smoke and dark clouds clotting out the sun. A few small, isolated fires still rage, but beyond the Paradiso, there is only cleanup.

At which point, both Icarus and the Paradiso receive a far-off message.

"This is Saiyan Emperor Edelgard aboard the vessel Powershift, ally fleet, can you hear me? I thought you might be in need of a backup plan."

Hub Centralis - Paradiso

Floating over the unharmed Golden Bat, Ana's amused smile matches her squinting golden eyes. After all this fighting, something those eyes seems... agitated. Not just the look she's giving Golden Bat now, but deeper than that, even the golden color of her eyes seems to melt, different hues melding together and drifting apart.

Croque collides with her. A dramatic, highly forceful impact that doesn't seem to move Ana at all. Without her head moving, Ana's gaze slides to meet Croque as maintenance drones scramble past the three of them, patching up the hole that Ana came from.

   "Beyond like heaven, a state where all the world melts into useless background noise, and you become your purpose,"    she says with a wheeze, rolling into a chuckle with her smile held high.

   "Like a dog, chewing on its excrement while rounding up sheep. Fulfilling a part of you that yearns, even if you cannot tell for what."   

Her eyes are still on Croque. Her head turns, just a few degrees, eyelids sliding just a little further open.

   "Hollow Voice."   

One by one, the fingers of her right hand clench into a fist, and she punches for Croque's chest. Not to hurt her, but to punch through, impaling Croque with her entire arm.

If that works, Ana will shake her off- by using her other hand to pry Croque in half, throwing the top half at Golden Bat as a high-speed projectile. Mostly just to pulverize her, rather than any actual hope of harming Golden Bat with something so haphazard.

Though if any of these steps would kill Croque, Ana will just throw her through a wall instead of proceeding with it.

Either way, Ana flies past, crashing through the Paradiso unimpeded by its metal or defenses. Along the way, she tries to catch Golden Bat in a tackle to take him with her. She skips any opportunity to just detonate the ship outright, not like she's in a rush, but because carnage isn't her goal here.

It is a part of it. A giddy consequence, of it. But not what she has come for.

...Then again, neither is this.

Whether she's dropping Golden Bat off at her destination or not, when she arrives, black fog spills out from her entry point. Reality crackles with orange-colored lightning as a rift forms in space and time, from which spills a deluge of Ana's golden light, yet so far harmless.

A crash attracts Nia's attention, as the evacuation of the Paradiso nears half-done. And she watches, back craning like watching a planet's descent upon her head, as Ana's light spills out.

The black fog cuts across corners, light trailing close behind it. The walls of the Hangar Bay seem to melt, obscured and distorted by Ana's increased presence. If the hangar bay has doors, she beckons them shut, and they shut with a crash behind every transport in a near range, recalled back, escape attempts thwarted by inexorable psychic power. The evac of the Paradiso nearly reversed by a single gesture.

There is the faintest sound of a roar, like the high note on an organ pressed and held for far too long.

Some people try and flee, running from the black fog to escape the hangar. Ana keeps the doors shut. Perhaps they would be more frightened, if she had confronted them all herself. But so far, only a select few of these many, many souls have truly seen Ana, rather than the faceless power behind the devastation.

But Nia has.

"That's her. That's Ana," she whispers for only Ayona and Ryve to hear.

and Ana smiles.

Lourent

Marisa is left singed but grinning as she moves out of the beam's way but is caught in an explosion. She looks ready to keep going but stops as Asriel lands.

"That was fun." she says, before frowning and sighing at the reaction and departure of the IF crew. "Guess I got carried away, sorry about that. Haven't been able to just cut loose like that in a while."

"Well, I should be going too I suppose. Hope to see ya again sometime." she says, though part of her hopes she doesn't considering why she's here.

As Eleven talks to her, Sarah shoots out of the ground, aiming for her guts with her fists. It's a quick movement but one that Eleven would likely not have any troubles with deflecting, blocking or dodging, especially with Sarah's condition. So she decides to "skip" forward a little by teleporting herself forward. It isn't like moving forward in time, mind you: she can't accelerate her already lightning-fast movement or skip a few "frames".

She just teleport her fist closer to Eleven's stomach by shifting herself to her right. And if that works, Sarah attempts to make it hurt by twisting her fist in her guts.

With movements that would seem swift and coordinated to the untrained eye, but are a bit like a drunkard winding up for a predictable haymaker to sisters or comparable spectators, Sarah then raises her other fist and try to drive it into the side of Eleven's head. Not to send her flying, but with the intent to nearly take her off her feet and send her stumbling to the side. Hopefully keeping her off-balance enough for Sarah to try to hit her again.

Despite her very weakened state, Sarah's hits are so strong that great cracks spread across the ground at the two Sister's feet, spreading to great portions of the canyon as it shudders with every hit. But it's yet again another example of how addled Sarah is at the moment: unable to control her strength, capable only of throwing crude punches, she can only grunt with each meaty hook, her every cell screaming in pain.

Her muscles fight against the threat of exhaustion with every movement. Her throat is drenched in blood and bile. Her eyes feel heavier than stars. Every second, she needs to find a miracle or push her willpower to even greater heights to stay standing, let alone throw big meaty punches like these ones.

But despite this, despite all this, she's hitting Eleven with everything she has left. And while her pride is at stakes, the situation is different than with the others: she's fighting to live.

If you two could quit yapping whenever you had the upper hand, you'd- Sarah's last punch, if it lands, finally breaks the ground around them, causing the part of the canyon they're both in to crumble and fall down into big chunks of rocks! It's a woman-made landslide, with both contestants actively standing on the falling rocks.

Paradiso - Maintenance Tunnels

Croque's eyes widen for a split moment before her body is punched into- Croque preemptively backs up her Neural Core and abandons her current body.

...

Hollow Voice lets out a long sigh in the duo's newly fabricated body, that pops in near the Paradiso with an annoyed gaze. Warnings blare across all of their systems about the Paradiso's status. They warp into the cargo bay and project a shield around the transports and remaining civilians, which she quickly warps into the ship.

"You will not trap innocents here as your playthings."

Icarus, get the doors open, now! Croque's voice rings through the comm line.

'Croque' starts to amplify her body's MIRAGE systems to disrupt the psychic field holding the ships in place by Ana.

...

Paradiso - Cargo Bay

Ryve and Ayona lock up in shock.

"T-thats..."

"Ryve!"

Ayona yells at Ryve as he seems to shake. He snaps out of it as Ayona gives him a thumbs-up. He nods.

"...we've faced stronger."

Ryve grins as him and Ayona rush back towards each other- fading into golden light...

...but this time, the form taken is Ryve's Ouroboros. A sleek black, with its arms and legs noticeably reinforced and glowing with points of energy. A long, segmented tail is also seen- probably a leftover from Ryve's own tail.

"Someone who throws innocents in danger just because they can. Where have we heard that one before?"

They rush forth, their left arm glowing before they strike forth- the resulting punch enhanced by ether as well as the good-old rocket boosters that are on it.

Meanwhile...

Bridge

"Talulah. Amiya. You two are our best shots for this."

Amiya nods and runs off...

Cargo Bay

...while Talulah is already in the cargo bay.

"You... I will not even bother with an explanation."

Talulah focuses on a spot behind Ana right as Ryve's Ouroboros punches her, making said spot explode into flame with force.

"All I shall say is I regret what I have once done. And unlike me, you have no excuse."

Bridge

"Powershift, this is Nil, tactical overseer of the Paradiso. We've got multiple hull breaches and some sort of destructive god causing more. If anyone can lend us support... now'd be the time."

Nil is focused. Sending orders and making sure nobody goes unaccounted for. He has a few backup plans, but allies help.

Edited by RainbyPlays on Dec 8th 2023 at 8:14:25 AM

Damage Control

After a brief exchange with the Paradiso, Icarus has a plan formed. Not a pretty one, but hey, what matters right now is saving lives.

The cargo ships evacuate the area, and the geostationary ring disassembles itself and moves its components down to the atmosphere, towards Estraole. The ships are rapidly replaced by fighter jets, which assume a stationary position… right outside the Paradiso‘s cargo bay.

Get ready for evac in three…

A cargo ship stops by to mount a droneport of Icarus‘ brand to the outside.

Two…

The fighters start charging up their shots.

One…

A swarm of drones arranges itself around the hatch, just out of splash range of all the shots.

And the fighters fire. Railgun projectiles, precisely weighed and placed to pierce into the most vulnerabe parts of the hatch, completely nullify its ability to remain shut and cause it to tumble off. Drones quickly catch its remains and start shipping them off. The fighters themselves drift out of the way, hoping to give passage to a stream of escaping shuttles.

Go go go, get the civvies out there now!

Except… where exactly is Icarus?

His Explorer has been shipped away. His eyes are far up in the sky, granting him an overview via a set of satellites that constanly orbit eastward. His ears are embedded in every single one of the fighter jets. And his presence is divided between a backup on the local moon, a server stored on a heavily shielded cargo ship, and a capital factory ship that lies somewhere in the orbit of Jupiter. He‘s at the moment very happy to not be limited to a single human body. Which makes him wonder…

Croque, Nil, who else needs evac? Anything valuable on the Paradiso to be salvaged? Like a c-fluid or an originium reactor?

The presence of another party makes him uncertain. Can hear you, if you or someone you know has a method to keep a god of destruction occupied that would be appreciated. We have none.

Green

Green whiffs her punch but quickly hears the mechanical clanking of this Ork's chains and knows fun is about to begin. The moment the ork recoils himself, she goes to her ol' reliable technique of lunging and leaping head first into the giant barreling projectile.

Unfortunately for her she didn't get a head start to build power and goes flying for that wise mystical tree nearby. With how hard she hit the tree, she's stunned but is given a sonar map of the area. Realizing what she hit against, she excitedly scuttles behind the impact. Green presses both of her legs up against the tree before unleashing her strength to bring forth the entire tree to comically slide straight for the Ork.

Poochers

Mona growled at the poachers but Sebastien quickly shushed her. He scoped out the scene, observing sightlines of the guards and the like. He turned to address the others to come up with a plan only to see Luin's suspicious absence.

"Where'd she go?" he asked, making sure to be quiet.

With Papyrus calling out to Chara by name, SPO!Asriel suddenly realizes something and steps forwards. "Wait-"

And they're gone.

"... Darn. Well, I'm gonna go see what else there is to see." Asriel sniffs the air and immediately sneezes because a gust of wind blew sand into his snout. His eyes flash with light as he attempts a more straightforward magical scan...

And detects another Chara.

"You have a good time, and I'm off!" And he's off! Toward the Floating City, to be precise.

Gaismagorm

Scorpion rose from his wounded kneel, seeing the greatly injured Gaismagorm before him. Teeth clenching beneath his mask, he exploded into action against the monstrous beast; the flames across his body erupted so that a bright blaze engulfed him and strengthened his every movement. He reared his arm back and launched his Spear directly at the Majin’s throat, aiming to use it as the “wire” for a burst of explosive flame that would hopefully gravely damage the beast’s neck from within.

The Terrarian, meanwhile, found himself brimming with a purple aura once more—again did the sword in his hands move with a mind of its own, striking faster and harder than in his own control. He lashed out at the Gaismagorm’s back and chopped as many crystals off as he could.

Aurum, Lourent

It was opening week at the most definitely legally distinct Jurassic Frontier park. Things were going blissfully well. Guests were enjoying the dinosaurs, with minimal harassments of the animals themselves, and of course money was rolling in. The two MEN IN SUITS from last time were observing things, standing next to a cardboard cutout velociraptor mongoliensis with a Santa hat on.

"See. I told you it'd be fine." the first guy said, sounding and looking smugly to his balding and minimally described colleague.

"Fine, I suppose you were right." the second guy sighed. "Even that weird Carnotaurus you got has been behaving itself."

"See? I took every precaution. It'd take something absolutely ridiculous to cause an incident-" the first guy began, only for them to hear a loud thud as something crashed into the nearby enclosure wall.

WitchSpring R OST / BGM - Battle (Giant)

Inside its paddock, the Glavenus stumbled back and growled. Its eyes had gained a baleful red glow◊ and it roared out while dragging its tail along the ground, causing the metal to heat up before swinging it at the walls. The walls held but the ground shook from the impact, the Glavenus ignoring the electrified feedback.

"Now, there's no reason to panic." An employee assured a crowd of nervous guests as the Glavenus stepped back, glaring at the walls. "Sometimes the animals get agitated but the walls should hold up."

Of course, with his back to the monster he couldn't see its mouth open to reveal a charging flame attack. That made the crowd panic and start dispersing before the fireball smashed into the reinforced viewing window. It held, just barely, as he was knocked down. But that meant little when the Glavenus soon charged and smashed into it with its side.

After doing so a second time the Glavenus finally broke through, trampling over the poor employee and stumbling out into the open through the wrecked viewing display. People fled in a panic as the Glavenus stood to full height and roared, the two men in suits watching in horror from right across it.

"W-well um..." the first guy began only to see his colleague had already started running. He didn't have much time to process that before in a cruel display of karma, the Glavenus ran at him in a frenzy and chomped him down with its superheated jaws. After that, it turned its glowing red eyes to the crowd...

Yawning Abyss

bro there are no crystals left to cut off

anyway

At fucking last, Majin Gaismagorm howls to the sky and collapses, dying.

Malzeno shrinks down to human form and places a hand on its head. "It's over. To Hell with you."

A single Qurio rises from the corpse. Malzeno raises his sword to strike it down, but it maneuvers past his blade and bites down on him before falling dead. Immediately, red light glows from his veins and eyes. He drops his sword and staggers, clutching his head.

Baiken narrows her eye and snarls, recognizing the fight isn't over yet. Zenitsu groans wearily, Sub-Zero balks, and Miraidon tilts its head quizzically.

"Nrgh...! Gh... hhhhhhh... hhrrrahhh... hrrrrr..."

He screams to the heavens as his hair and clothing turn pitch black, his body lights up with Volcanic Veins, and foul energy explodes out of him, pushing everyone away. "hrrrrrrr   AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"   

Then, he lowers his head to look back at them, eyes blazing orange, and grins, summoning a much different, wave-shaped sword◊ to his hand.

   "You are wounded and weary, while I have acquired an invigorated body of immense strength. Now, who wants to die first?"   

Primordial Malzeno Medley by Lucas Kleffert

—

Possessed Malzeno searches around for a target, until he settles on Altzaira and licks his lips.    "Ah, he was just beginning to grow fond of you. If I strike you down, I can crush his spirit for good!"   

He rakes the ground with his sword, sending a curved wave of black-and-red energy at Altzaira. This is Malzeno's own Dragon Energy, capable of inflicting Dragonblight, which will nullify the "elemental" part of any elemental attacks. Then he flourishes and swings it a few more times, launching more dragon waves in a barrage.

Next, he focuses on Scorpion and Sub-Zero.    "Your fire and ice are the only things that might still give me some trouble. Not for long."   

He collects more Dragon Energy in his hand, then thrusts forward and launches a beam of it at Scorpion, before sweeping the beam toward Sub-Zero.

Zenitsu takes the time to rest while he's not being targeted. Baiken waits for the attacks to stop, then rushes in. A huge advantage she now has is that Possessed Malzeno is in his human form, which means she can combo him. So, she bends over and does a side kick. If it hits, she'll drop down on her side and do a sweep with both legs, use Tatami Gaeshi to kick up a tatami mat from nowhere and knock Possessed Malzeno into the air, wait for him to nearly hit the ground before lashing her flail at him to keep him airborne, then finally lash the flail again, this time opening it up into a grappling hook to yank him into close range and cut him down with a sword slash.

Sub-Zero tries to block the dragon beam with an ice shield, but it smashes through with ease and blows him away. Puffs of black smoke waft off of him, and he tries to shoot a barrage of icicles at Possessed Malzeno, but barely manages to produce more than some cold wind.

Miraidon figures that, human form or not, Malzeno is still a dragon, so it just blasts him with Dragon Pulse.

Poachers

As Marth arrives on the scene, he reports, "Reyna got caught up in a fight with that ginormous wyvern. I don't know how that ended."

As if on cue, the Wyvern Esper lands in the Cauldron. Through speakers, Reyna announces, "Big bastard flew off. Could've chased him, but that might have led me right into reinforcements."

"Smart of you to regroup with us, then."

A drop pod hits the ground in the distance and opens up, revealing it is empty. Reyna gets out of her Fighting Suit, puts her hunter armor back on, and ejects from the Wyvern Esper, which flies to the drop pod on autopilot and kneels down inside. Then, the pod closes up. As it does, it pulls in the earth and rubble around it, encasing itself in a brand-new mountain formation.

"I can call it again if I need to, but we're all moving as one now, yeah?" Reyna whistles for her Palamute, Cowboy, takes her seat on his back, and the quartet heads off after Rime.

Sarah

Eleven isn't expecting Sarah's teleport punch, but after being hit, she grabs Sarah's wrist and slowly, forcibly twists it aside. She catches the second punch outright. No landslide for Sarah.

"Don't get the wrong idea. I'm not actually trying to kill you, so of course I gotta let you catch your breath. But that doesn't mean I'll let you WIN!" She tries to throw Sarah across a sizable portion of Hyrule, all the way into Zora's Domain, and catches up with her just as quick.

Edited by KiriK on Dec 9th 2023 at 1:23:31 PM

IT'S MORBIN TIME

"Oh COME ON just stay dead!" Nitori growled. Great so the big ugly monster seems to have been such a spiteful piece of shit it's now a vengeful spirit or something and possessed Malzeno. Right when she was finally about to breathe a sigh of relief too. She aims her palms at Malzeno and fires a burst of Dragon Element beams at him. She'd rather not hurt him too much but this doesn't seem like a good time to hold back.

Lourent

Toreiru is in that crowd. The sudden shattering of glass grabs his attention, and he quickly draws an alchemy circle into the earth before slamming his hands down near it...

...the very earth below everyone's feet moves, forcing the onlookers back and trapping the Glavenus inside a moderately-sized sinkhole arena of rock.

"This again? Fine!"

He pulls an unusual-looking pistol from his bag (how the hell did he sneak that past security?) and fires a shot. Multiple alchemy circles on the gun activate- one to segment the solid lead block into a slug, and another to cause an explosion to fire. All in all, this is a pistol that fires lead shotgun slugs. Fun.

Yawning Abyss

Haru looks up and grins weakly.

"...not over yet, huh..?"

He sighs in annoyance before transforming again. Draconic wings sprout from his back and scales cover his arms and legs as he takes on his half-dragon form... but this time, he's specifically mimicking Malzeno. He draws a sword and shield in turn- nothing fancy, just his old Fixer equipment, but tempered by some magical means to be much stronger -something Haru actually does know how to fight with, which is only boosted by an influx of memories that Haru attuned to that aren't from himself or his transformed state- something he managed completely on accident.

"So be it. We killed you once already, we'll manage it again."

Haru wreathes himself in Dragon Element-attuned fire and rushes forward behind his shield, before striking out against the now-possessed Malzeno with his sword in an arc.

"And you forgot something. You're fighting against a group that includes someone who can mimic anything."

Yeah, Haru's a bit annoyed that he was ignored despite him being, y'know, tired as hell for a moment. On that note- he's somehow fine now, either a reinvigoration from the transformation, or...

...who knows.

After his strike, he leaps back and keeps his focus on the possessed Malzeno, keeping his shield raised. Haru seems uncharacteristically pissed- though it's all directed to focusing himself.

Slightly Tired Abyss

At last, the beast has been slain. Quintet Magician allows itself to take a moment of rest now, exhausted at this point. Or did you think spamming magic doesn't take energy?

But then Malzeno basically gets Norted, with the magician not being able to do anything but watch helplessly as Malzeno transforms.

Knowing that it's not going to last long enough for a full third phase of this battle with how tired it is and how tapped out its magical reserves are getting, Quintet Magician accepts that it's likely going to perish here even with the advantage of Bound Wand's effect giving it one free resurrection, and as such chooses to simply do as much damage as it still possibly can.

It warps in close and attempts to just launch down a full-on magical nuke attack. Basically its regular five-beam attack, but all converged into one bigger beam.

One may wonder why it doesn't seem bothered at all about the fact that its ally is now its enemy. And that's because it's simply used to an environment where allies can switch sides with the play of a single card.

Morph Moth - Yawning Abyss

Like the rest, Morph Moth is forced back by the possessed Malzeno's shockwave.

Chugging down an E-Tank, Morph Moth groans, "Sorry, but it has to be done. Forgive me..."

With tears in her eyes, Morph Moth charges at Malzeno with her scrap sword and attempts to do a powerful combo on him.

Floating Island

"Get a move on, darlings. I'm dying to see what our world has become." , Mettaton◊ says.

"Please stop it with the puns, I already hear enough of them at home as is.", Chara groans as they float around.

"Sounds like a rather grave situation, dear."

Chara looks like they're about to throw a table (even though they physically can't right now), and Mettaton chuckles. It's his way of payback. After all, Chara's genocidal rampage was the reason he and Alphys ended up here. Even if they've changed their ways, Mettaton is still a little miffed, but he is of course also too much of a showman to just be snide and petty.

So instead he torments Chara with incidental bad jokes and large hams.

"I'm done.", Frisk◊ says as they enter the room with a backpack on.

"A-almost ready too.", Alphys◊ says. "But I'm gonna need help with pushing the crate with all my equipment. It's b-bigger than me."

"Flowey can help with that. Right, Flowey?", Frisk asks, looking over at his pot and seeing Flowey◊ stare off into the distance as if distracted by his thoughts. Frisk tilts their head a little and walks over to Chara.

"Hasn't Flowey been kinda distant lately? I wonder if there's anything on his mind."

"Maybe he's beginning to fully revert.", Chara whispers back, sounding casual but of course being worried about this.

"Well, if you're bored anyway while you're waiting for us, how about you go ask him while I help Alphys pack the last bit of science stuff she has?", Frisk suggests.

Edited by DevilPsyco on Dec 9th 2023 at 1:27:03 PM

Floating City

Papyrus, F!Mettaton, and even Joseph Joestar are hanging out with the others.

"Just so you guys know, I'm going to miss you when you're gone!"

"Are you sure I can't go to your world with you?"

A muffled voice outside cries out, "CHARAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

SPO!Asriel◊ suddenly bursts through the door and gives The Glomp to Chara, using a layer of magic around his arms to touch the ghost.

"Ohhh I missed you I missed you so much I could bring myself back but never you you have no idea how much I-"

Papyrus clears his throat, interrupting him. "Erm, King Asgore lookalike? I think you have the wrong Chara."

"Oh, I know," he casually replies. It still takes him a minute to let go of Chara. "I just... needed to get that out, to a Chara. Am I still Flowey in your world?"

"Uh...huh." Papyrus narrows his eyes and rubs his chin.

Edited by KiriK on Dec 9th 2023 at 6:07:16 AM

Jax leaps into battle with a chuckle, grasping his lamp with both hands and twirling it to his side. He rushes forward at Ozzy with a smile and clocks Ozzy right in the mouth with his lamp for the basic attack. After a few steps back, the Grandmaster at Arms watches as Strut summons and cracks an egg.

"NO!"

He shouts as if Strut has just killed someone very close to him. Jax is not so stricken by grief that he's incapable of noticing the sudden aura change, his gaze moving to Strut and noticing his aura shift. He lets out a contemplative grunt before an idea passes his mind, one he decides to voice.

"Red things are usually bad so I say we beat up the egg cracker first!"

There is most certainly some bias in his decision-making, but who gets targeted first is not up to Jax. Regardless, the wave of energy passes through Jax and gets him good in the gut.

He grunts, but his form does not falter.

18 Damage - Jax.

The second wave comes along and hits Jax again, another grunt of pain passing his lips.

20 Damage - Jax.

"Careful with the magic there kiddos."

His tone is stern but encouraging; Jax takes a deep breath.

Kratos

Kratos had just entered the park out of curiosity when the Glavenus had breached its containment, the rumbling of the ground and the screaming panicked park-goers grabbing the God of War's attention. Unfortunately, security had taken his weapons, well, most of them. No attention was drawn to what appeared to be just a simple ring. It was anything but ordinary as Kratos summons Draupnir, whipping the spear over his shoulder and rushing forward, past the crowd, coming to a stop behind Toreiru.

At first, Kratos mistakes him for the source of the disruption until his eyes go into the pit and observe the rabid Glavenus. His eyes narrow at the beast, deciding it best to wait for the monster to make a move first.

Floating City

Suddenly a tall lady with bird wings and a black outfit just bursts in as well.

"Hey there!" Okuu Black◊ says. "I heard yelling and people bursting in and was wondering what's going on?"

   "Pardon her intruding..."    Yatagarasu added.

Dark Falz Aegis

Dear god this took way too long.

The turrets of the third pylon try firing at the ice ball, but given ice is... really quite dense, it can't break it in time and Cirno scores yet another hit. One of the turrets is dented and clicking, whining loudly before making a 'pop' sound and falling silent. The other two keep firing, despite it being mostly futile. The huge guns just don't fare well against quick targets. The jammed turret seems to be heating its barrel and trying to clear the ice...

The sustained fire of six turrets won't be enough to break a shield made from one of those guns- being attuned to purity, they gain power against the darkness-based Aegis -but there's certainly cracks starting to appear.

Then the fear wave hits, and gets translated to the most logical analogue- scrambling the turret's targeting and making them fire about wildly and at an enhanced rate- each pylon Turns Red from an overclock before burning itself out- for a moment.

When Kado shows up, someone completely different answers. This someone is heard by all three, through some means.

I don't know exactly what it is, but it contains a shard of something very dark. Nothing can get rid of it while it's in there- I'd suggest finding a way to take this thing down.

Yes, very helpful advice, Artemis.

Pylon Stats

P1 0/4 turrets (2 overheated, 2 wrecked. 1 turn until overheat clears.) 3/12 Armor (3 regenerating. 1 turn to regenerate.) Weak spot is exposed. Last Target: Red

P2 0/4 turrets (4 overheated. 1 turn until overheat clears.) 12/12 Armor (12 pristine. 2 have regenerated to full.) Last Target: Red

P3 2/4 turrets (1 jammed, 1 wrecked, 2 active. 1 turn until jamming clears.) 12/12 Armor. Last Target: Cirno

P4 4/4 turrets, 12/12 Armor. Last target: None

P5 4/4 turrets, 12/12 Armor. Last Target: None

P6 4/4 turrets, 12/12 Armor. Last Target: None

Phew.

Floating City

A flash of light momentarily comes from outside, and GT!Chara and Asriel are left slightly disoriented and confused. Then they hear the commotion and both rush into the building, Chara with his DT-energy sword formed, and Asriel with one of his usual sabers. Chara yells out first.

"WHAT'S GOING- oh."

Both come to a sudden stop with a dumbfounded look on their faces. Their weapons instantly dissipate and they sort of just... sigh? Asriel then speaks up next.

"Uh- oops. Did we just interrupt something?"

He glances aside at GT!Chara again.

"Y'know we probably could've handled this better than rushing in with our swords drawn, right?"

"Probably."

Both of them return to staring. Now it makes sense why the teleporter locked on to this area- it had the most magical density (of their world's style of magic, anyway) of anywhere right now.

Floating City

"Maybe in the future, but right now we have to reintegrate Mettaton first.", Frisk says. "The people don't know him yet in this timeline, and we gotta correct that."

"I'm not worried. I'm sure they will love me, and once they do, we can surprise them all with the most fabulous duet humans and monsters will have ever seen~" , Mettaton says, the latter half to F!Mettaton.

Frisk is about to talk to Papyrus and Chara is floating over towards Flowey, but then SPO!Asriel suddenly flies in to glomp Chara, who is, understandably, very surprised, very shocked, and, well, very embarrassed. How is this Asriel even hugging them when they're a ghost!?

"A-Asriel!? What are you... h-how are you... let go of-", he groans in embarrassment. Frisk is confused, but they and Mettaton still snicker. Flowey's snapped out of his thoughts and just looks at this variant of himself, curious.

Once SPO!Asriel lets go of Chara, they dust off their ghost shirt before looking at him.

"I dunno how you even grabbed me when I'm a ghost, but-... but..."

A spark of recognition flashes over his expression as he now stares. Anyone in the room can tell that they know who this specific Asriel is somehow.

   "Yeah, I am. I'm right here."   , Flowey speaks up in Chara's stead to answer his counterpart's question.    "And how do you know my Chara?"   

"THAT'S NOT IMPORTANT!", Chara suddenly shouts. Not in an angry way, more like an embarrassed 'we should move on from this' way. And this piques Mettaton's attention.

"Are you truly Asriel? Darling, sit down a bit, tell us more about yourself!" , he says, already rolling up a chair for SPO!Asriel. "I never had the chance to meet you, you see, I'm curious to know more about you. We were gonna leave in a moment, but we can stick around a little while longer~"

"NO WE SHOULD LEAVE WE SHOULD DEFINITELY LEAVE!"

And now Flowey looks amused too.

   "Y'know what? I'm curious too. If you know about me, you must've been me too at some point. How'd you turn back to normal, hm?"   , he asks SPO!Asriel. Chara looks like they wanna choke both Flowey and Mettaton. Frisk also approaches in curiosity.

"What's going on? I heard screaming-OH! I-is that...", Alphys asks with a gasp, shocked when she sees SPO!Asriel.

"Another Asriel, yeah.", Frisk says with a nod.

The appearance of Okuu Black gets their attention as well, but the group doesn't know her so their reactions aren't quite as shocked.

Then GT!Chara and GT!Asriel walk in and it's right back to shock.

"Another me?"

*You wonder if you'll get this tall too someday

*You wonder why your other self has a beard-IS THAT A HAIR PONYTAIL!?

What do you call a bloody goblin?, Green, Zoobreak, Poachers

——

A Hemogoblin.

Kado listened with intrigue (ARENA REFERENCE) to Chora’s story, sitting by the flames as well. His fingers met in a clutch, elbows resting upon the stranger’s knees. The scene reminded him of his old life, long before he came to this land; sitting with fellow wayfarers by nighttime fires on deserted worlds, exchanging stories. He’d learned much of the Galaxy that way, and missed those days. Days when the most he had to worry about were the odd bandit factions terrorizing an Outer Rim world or a cave-dwelling creature that had been the scourge of entire swathes of land.

Now, there was a threat looming on the horizon, grander than any this world had ever seen, and if he failed to mobilize an army with which to fight it, he doubted this world’s ability to survive.

Upon the woman’s mention of being transformed by “Chaos magic”, Zystak scowled and balled his fists. "Mutants," He snarled. "Agents of Chaos." Kado only sighed and looked to Chora.

"Excuse me a moment," He stood and came within whispering range of the Xenos, his voice dropping low yet still just barely audible to the greenskin. "You told me the orks in your world are unaffected by Chaos, right?" Zystak was silent but his hard look softened somewhat, and Kado continued: "If they were anything like the ones you spoke of, they’d have attacked us by now. These people mean us no harm, all right?"

"Hm." Zystak huffed. Kado smiled.

"Trust me."

With that, Kado returned to the fire, taking relatively the same position as earlier. He was silent for a while, processing Chora’s story, before smirking. "Yes, we have plenty of problems here…some of the biggest yet to come. But…tell me more of this greenskin problem. I think my friend, loathe as he might be to admit it, would be interesting to hear."

It was then that Rime exited the mech. Zystak reached for his weapon but stopped as Kado extended a hand to him. The man gave the newly appeared greenskin a nod and a smile. "I’m Kado. This is Zystak. You’ll have to excuse his behavior, he…doesn’t have fond memories of orks." He introduced himself once more.

——

Green Vs. Green: Dawn of Emerald

"Haha," Mawgrim snortled, watching the tree hurtle straight towards him. "Haha, HAHAHA!" The ork erupted in a bout of excited laughter; his head lurched forwards into the log as an explosion of wood burst across the area. Brown splinters littered the green skin of his face and forehead but if he even noticed them, he didn’t show it. Instead his mind and eyes were razor-sharp set on Green, enjoying the fight more and more with each passing moment. The warboss leapt towards her and raised his mighty axe, bringing it down onto where the human woman stood.

——

Jurassic Place

At the prehistoric zoo, a family of three were in the midst of celebrating their child’s second birthday. A mother and a father, taking turns carrying the baby, stood at the forefront of a crowd before the Glavenus exhibit.

While other civilians among them may have panicked even somewhat by the monster’s erratic motions, the baby (in her father’s arms) only giggled and reached out a clasping hand at the beast. "Dineysaur!" She exclaimed.

The monster’s fireball smashed into the glass, leaving behind a spiderweb of cracks, and it was at this point that the parents began to grow concerned. The baby kept laughing and giggling even as the Glavenus smashed through the glass, and into the open.

"Shit!" The father shouted, ducking to shield his baby from the rain of glass even as she continued to laugh. "Jenna, take Pearl somewhere safe!" He was quick to issue commands to his wife, passing the child over to her.

"But Arad—" Her protests were cut short by the monster’s violent consumption of a park employee, and Jennifer nodded. "Stay safe." She planted a kiss onto the Tenno’s cheek before turning and fleeing in an opposite path of the rest of the crowd.

"I always do…" He muttered even after she’d already left. The man took a breath to steady himself before turning back to the massive beast. "Hey, ugly!" He shouted, just as it dropped into a sinkhole. Arad turned his attention to Kratos and Toreiru, before considering his options.

Umbra wasn’t one of them—he had been waiting outside of the park and, upon his mental order, would join Jennifer ensure their safety. He was left to use only his own weapons (he was allowed to get them through security on account of an early donation to the park ensuring favor), drawing first a bow from which he fired an explosive bolt of energy down at the monster’s back.

——

The Quarry

As the group deliberated amongst themselves of how best to deal with the Poacher below, their problem solved itself—the man’s attention was drawn away, and he (as well as another Poacher from within the hut) rushed towards a mighty explosion near one of the deeper areas of the quarry, distant wingbeats, and a pained roar as a green creature plunged from the sky and into the darkness, with a grayed steel object lodged in its hide.

Well, at least now they knew where Luin was.

But this recently solved issue was soon replaced by another: Khars’Li turned suddenly and swung his blade through empty air, hitting nothing. He hesitated for a moment and sighed. "I thought…Nevermind. It was nothing."

"No, you were right." Whas’Intun quietly hissed, his head whipping about the scene. "There was definitely something here, for just a moment…"

Rime, too, lowered onto his haunches and growled at nothing, highly alert, and likely Mona as well. Fee glanced at those mentioned with deep confusion, tilting her head. "I…don’t get it." She shrugged, but still trusted their judgement and unsheathed her sword, keeping a keen eye for something, anything that moved in the darkness of the falling sun.

Whas’Intun’s eyes shot to his left. He ducked forwards as something cut through the air, whistling past his head, before swiftly changing course towards Amalthus as it attempted to leave a great gash on his cheek with a set of three wicked claws. Immediately this apparent phantasm retreated, whether or not its attack was successful, and disappeared into the shadows.

From the opposite direction stepped a man.

He was tall, with a young face but silver hair, slicked back. Over his eyes and temple ran a faint scar, reaching past his nose and down to the other cheek. On his feet were well-polished leather boots, clicking with each step, and wrapped around his shoulders, flowing down past his torso, was a purple cloak. It seemed almost made of fur, and could easily have been mistaken as such, if not for the wisps of raw darkness flowing from it. He moved with both hands clasped behind his back and a smirk upon his malicious lips—those at the previous battle against Annihilation Nergigante might have recognized him as the man who had shown up near the end, however briefly, and ordered the capture of Lutemis and Landslide.

   "How wonderful. Everyone, gathered in one place…well, save for her, but…she’s all but dead by now anyways."    His words were smug, self-certain. Before another moment had passed Captain Gentos cleared his throat, and the shadows erupted.

Lances of solid darkness shot from all angles at everyone present, threatening to puncture them if not avoided. Some were thinner than others, meaning they’d be less punishing if hit by, but all of them seemed nasty and painful.

"Hey, whoa, back up!" SPO!Asriel's head whips between the Chara he hugged, GT!Asriel and Chara, and Okuu Black so fast you'd worry about his neck snapping.

"You sound like you know me. As in, like, me me. I don't remember meeting this you yet..."

Edited by KiriK on Dec 9th 2023 at 7:12:29 AM