Enter The Arena As Your Avatar -- The Spinoff!

Xionpost

Frenzy's attack lands on makoto, sending him staggering backwards somewhat. However, he replies in kind, with a flip of the evoker and a yell of "COME FORTH, ORPHEUS!", the same humanoid figure he first summoned appears once more, taking their massive harp off their back, and using it to attempt to bash Frenzy.

This oddly causes a few cuts to form on Makoto's body, as if physically attacking requires a physical cost.

Grom

Arnoldo and the others overheard little of their guide's conversation.

What are they talking about?

Margarita just shrug her shoulders.

...

At the table, Arnoldo makes room at her sides for Francis and Margarita to sit along him. He glances at Grom.

Is he Grom?

So it seems.

HOLY MACARONI-!

Francis does his best to cover Arnoldo's mouth.

Hub Centralis

Maruka walks towards the portal.

Thank you so much, how could I pay you?

...

Meanwhile, Pablo notices a bright light near the fountain...

Edited by BombonBombin on Mar 15th 2024 at 1:21:35 PM

Kirik

Save

• Rising Tension

Now that is a hard question. What was that theory about concepts from worlds transferring to each other again?

"Pyra" opens the pause menu to look for info, organise that info, and organise their thoughts.

Let's scour some of the .txt files...

The UI summons a mouse pointer, pointing to world_transfer.txt.

OK, back to normal.

| You |

(Thanks Interface.)

"There is a theory regarding having different worlds is that media and concepts from a world can transfer themselves in between worlds."

"That means the Calamari Inkantation and its history has transferred itself between worlds, for example mine. People from these destination worlds have also listened to the song and looked into the history to understand its background."

"The song's rich history is what interests me. Exploring the backgrounds of things allows us to better understand the world around us."

("Pyra" was flicking through their All Downloads, but they do have a History playlist with Inkantation in it)

Fallen Planet Mira, Cauldros, Kw'arah Villa

Loki◊ and Sylvie◊ are presently standing atop Kw'arah Villa in the fiery region of Cauldros, gazing out upon the area where Steppenwolf's imposing tower had loomed before Thor and other combatants joined forces to stop him from completely razing the Arena in Darkseid's name.

"Now that I know you two have a way to actually put him down, I just have one question before I agree to anything," Sylvie says. "Killing this Odin won't cause time to break or anything, will it?"

"Oh, no, of course not," Loki assures. "Why, we'll only be doing good by vanquishing him."

"Count me in, then," Sylvie replies, drumming her fingers against the pommel of her sword. "So, what's your plan? Call it a hunch, but I can't see the geezer letting you boys just waltz up and kill him right there."

Loki strokes his chin in a thoughtful manner.

"Hmm... I think it's only fair to assume that someone who made countless people play right into his hands without ever realizing they were being manipulated may be prepared for any and all potential attempts on his life," he says. "Between that and Borson being as powerful as he is cunning, we'll have to approach this matter very, very cautiously. I doubt he'll be foolish enough to give us a second chance if we fail."

Sylvie flashes a wry little smirk.

"High chance of death by cutthroat tyrannical god if we lose. Success dependent on whether or not we can actually outwit the conniving bastard. What the Hel are waiting for?" she remarks.

Edited by IchigoMontoya on Mar 15th 2024 at 1:02:16 AM

Agent 8 silently takes in the exposition. A slight hint of excitement creeps into her voice.

"And, do you...know the history and significance of that song?"

I don't want to sound mean, but Gor could be deceiving them. And you, for all we know, Sarah shrugs. Maybe it's showing you what you wanted to see? I won't jump to any conclusions but I think it's important if we're careful. If Gor had known all along, surely it wouldn't have kept that to itself.

She look up to the sky, dismissing the whole "Roxas" thing. She could see it all the way from Tropique : Artemis's Castle In The Sky. She didn't know if Artemis was aware of the Church or plotted to go there, but if Gor really was evil, they might need people to cover their bases. Or at least, people with abilities that could help them solve cases of mind-control or other cheats.

Maybe Sephiroth or Sora could (if they'd care) but... She wanted to make sure. And Artemis was full of just the right bullshit to wade through that.

I'm gonna fetch a few people on my side. Just in case Gor isn't benevolent. Sarah start floating off the ground. Odin is in the Godworld. Gor should be in the Arena. I'm checking Gor out first, and if they aren't evil, then let's see about Odin. You can come in as well if you want to check out what a church is, but thee might be a fight! THOR, you can hold a secret until then?

I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO RAISE GREAT MJOLNIR AGAINST MY FATHER IN THE COMING BATTLE... BUT I CAN RAISE THESE HANDS! THOR indeed raise these hands. Big meaty ones. I WILL SEE IF THE OTHER ALLFATHERS CAN CONFISCATE THE ITEM FROM MY FATHER. THEIR ASSISTANCE WILL MAKE IT EASIER FOR HIM TO BE BROUGHT TO THE ARENA - AS PENANCE! THOR then hesitate, tapping his chin. ON SECOND THOUGHTS, I WILL WAIT AT THE CITY OF CENTRAL TO CHECK THE CHURCH OUT WITH YOU! I FEAR I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO HOLD MY TONGUE AROUND MY FATHER. AND HE IS USED TO ME SPENDING TIME IN THE ARENA ANYWAY!

Sarah nods. She fully trust THOR not to run to tell Odin. Because if he had been against their plan, he'd have just dismantled all three of them right from the start.

Yeah. Off to see Artemis then. THOR, as a reminder. We are preparing for a hypothetical fight but don't start attacking the workers and believers at the Church unless they do it first, hm? Take care. Sarah leaves Superman-style, flying off at insane speed.

I WILL WAIT FOR YOU AT THE CITY OF CENTRAL! WE MAY GET ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY TO KILL SOMETHING LIKE THE ANTI-SPIRAL, SEPHIROTH! GOODBYE IRIS! GOODBYE SORA! GOODBYE STUPID BIRD! AND GOODBYE SMALLER THOR! THOR bends the knees and jump away, laugh echoing across the world.

Kirik

Save

• Rising Tension

This requires some .txt files, the scene library and maybe even accessing previous saves and presets. Either way, think, “Pyra”, think!

• > Not off the top of my head
• Researching it

| You |

“I don’t exactly remember off the top of my head, but I have documented the history and significance elsewhere.”

This can be explained in two ways: Logging scenes into the Library and saving info into .txt files, or a self-reminder on why a song is put in the History playlist - several sentences on, well, the history and significance of the song.

Grom

Yuki just sort of smiles and takes her seat. She doesn't know what the fuck Minthara and Wyll's problem or deal is and it doesn't involve her so she opts to pay it no mind. Sitting on a big table like this really takes her back. She hums as she stares out into space in reminiscence, failing to notice the whole grot being eaten thing as she instead thinks about that time Sariel smote someone at the dinner table. Good times.

Minira Estraole

"Hope you don't mind if we take the back entrance. Leads directly to the Investigation Team's lab and less of a fuss." the Scrivener Lass says before whistling. A pair of old fashioned and large (enough for a truck to fit through) doors opens up revealing the lab/garage inside. Felynes run back and forth carrying samples and the like between tables or shelves. There's a prominent clear container holding a large black scale on one of the tables.

"Well, this is where I do my work." she says, gesturing to it with a flourish as Percy walks over to a corner and curls up. A Melynx coughs. "Ahem, me and my assistants."

Civil Dispute

Barricade gets fucking knocked for six, sent flying back by the wombo combo.

Right to that police station oh no. He smashes through the front wall, crushing a reception deck underneath. Barricade smirks internally as some generic cops panic shoot him and he grabs one in his big metal hand and points his blaster at him.

"Alright fake stubbie, stand down or this real one gets it." he threatens as he gets up.

Frenzy gets bonked and tumbles back, though still grinning like a maniac as she recovers.

"A HARP? BAH, LEMME SHOW YA A REAL INSTRUMENT!" she says, whipping out an electric guitar from seemingly nowhere only to swing it at Makoto like a mace.

Before Thor can ask any questions about this Artemis person and who these other people Sarah was referring to might be, she flies off with Myth!Thor not too far behind. He exhales a heavy sigh and puts Stormbringer away.

"I should have just remained silent and kept walking after they noticed me. If this visit she has planned ends with the two of them picking a fight with the Church, it undoubtably will complicate matters. Assuming, of course, the other Thor doesn't decide to remain loyal to Odin and sell us out to the decrepit bastard."

He shifts his attention to Iris and Sephiroth.

"Sometimes, Iris, I forget just how much there is you're still unaware of. Anyway, I suppose there'd be no harm in allowing you both to accompany me next time I visit the Church."

"Provided Sarah and the brute refrain from leveling it..."

Thor then casts a glance at Sora, wondering why his voice had suddenly changed.

"So, does anyone wish to tell me who the Hel this Roxas person might be?"

Tropique

"Oh? So then this Gor has to be very powerful too if they have a church dedicated to them.", Iris notes. She then hears what Sora? says, at first caught off guard by his voice.

"Wait, Roxas? He can talk through you? ... is that, like, a Keyblade thing?"

But then Roxas' question actually registers. A church? In her name?

...

Allmother, she hopes not. Because if there was one, it'd definitely be dedicated to her artifacts. Which isn't exactly a good thing.

"I'd be surprised if there was. I haven't done much worthy of worship so far.", she laughs, hiding the uncomfortable thoughts she just had. She then turns to Sarah.

"I do wanna see one for myself. But I'll probably go with Thor.", she notes. Later, hopefully. With some luck Iris would be able to locate and talk to her other friends first.

Then Sarah and THOR leave. The Deliderp just waves as they go despite THOR's way of addressing it. ... to be honest, it probably doesn't even know what he said.

She then turns to Thor.

"Roxas is someone I met a good while back. He had some questions regarding, erm..."

She briefly gestures to the Deliderp's tail-bag to try to convey to Thor she's talking about the staff. Sora will probably think she's just talking about the bird itself.

"This."

A hut somewhere in Skyrim

Greyface◊ wakes up again. He sits upright on the bed as the door to the room opens.

"Looks like you've mostly recovered, huh?", Roy asks as he and Trina◊ enter the room, the latter bringing some soup. "Your sleep schedule is regular again and you at least don't look like you're in constant pain anymore."

"Yeah, I'm feeling better.", he says as he takes the soup Trina gives him.

"I take it that means you'll be leaving soon."

"What, you want me out?", Greyface grins, challenging her.

"No, we just figured you'd want to leave once you have no further use for us."

"..."

His grin turns distrustful.

"Okay, I've been enjoying your 'generous hospitality' and whatever for the past few months, but why does it sound like you know I've been taking advantage of your kindness?"

"You're not exactly subtle about it.", Roy laughs.

"And you are... okay with that?"

"If we weren't, Trina would have killed you a long time ago. She's trained to use knives very effectively."

"Eugh... well, why the heck did you let me stay all this time then?"

"You needed help.", Trina says with little to no emotion to her voice.

"And I'm starting to believe less and less that you two have some 'benign' reason for giving it to me. Putting up with my demands for months? You're either a pair of idiots or you're up to something."

Greyface grins as he gets out of bed.

"That's it, huh? You've got some grand plan in mind and you're planning on using me in some way!"

Trina and Roy glance at each other for a moment, then look back at Greyface.

"Believe what you want, but we helped you recover because we genuinely wanted to help you."

"I graciously choose not to believe that."

"Your problem, not ours.", Trina says. "We just don't want you to die."

Greyface points at her face.

"So you DO need me for something! Well, if you think I'll play your little tool because you helped me recover, think again! Porky Minch is nobody's fool! I have my own business to take care of! First thing I'm doing when I get back on my feet is settle the score with-"

He pauses for a moment, looking conflicted as he thinks about Nesley. There's now silence for about half a minute, after which Roy speaks up.

"It took me some time to fix this up enough to use.", he says as he now puts a paper with blueprints on it down on the bed. Greyface looks at the blueprint.

"My spider mech? ... wait, this is my upgraded version, the one that shifts between my platform, mech and battle suit. How did..."

"We found it among all the wreckage. Same place we found you."

Greyface narrows his eyes.

"No way did a piece of paper survive the explosion of Giegue's mothership. You're lying to me, aren't you?", he asks with a devious yet confrontational grin. "You're hiding something from me. You still think you can use me for whatever you have in mind. Where did you get this? Tell me this instant!"

Roy looks at Greyface, not looking intimidated in the slightest.

"There's nothing or nobody left from that mothership. Do you have the materials or crew to put this robot back together?"

Greyface pauses for a bit. How is he going to put this all back together? He's not good enough at this to do it all completely on his own. Giegue's worker robots tended to do most of the work, even if Greyface would publicly declare otherwise.

"Looks like a no to me. I'll help you then."

"... you?"

"Yes. I'm a bit of a techie. I make and use gadgets all the time."

"Guess I'll help get any materials you two need. Don't ask me to help put that thing together, I'm terrible at building stuff.", Trina says.

"Hold on, you two, I have not decided-"

"Do you have much of a choice? It's either letting us help or going back out there without anything to protect you.", Roy points out. Greyface goes silent for a bit, then points his finger at Roy and glares.

"Alright, you miserable manipulators. I don't know what you two are planning, but I'm keeping my eye on you throughout this entire process, you hear me?"

Roy just chuckles enthusiastically.

"I'm not joking!"

"I know. It's just funny, 'cause I know that by the end of this you won't be throwing accusations around anymore."

Greyface huffs.

"We'll see about that."

Edited by DevilPsyco on Mar 15th 2024 at 12:08:20 PM

Stecasse King - Makai

Peppino's kick had an unfortunate effect on Stecasse King. The tape he placed in his body unravels, causing Stecasse King to freak out in unimaginable ways. As such, he twists and turns in pain.

Stecasse King demands, "What did you do to me?!"

Pious Augustus - Hub Centralis

"   I do not expect any sort of compensation for my good deed for the day. All I ask is that you spread word of my deed to others.   "

Sephiroth sees off THOR and Sarah wordlessly. Sora is now fully engrossed in the discussion of Roxas.

"Roxas is..." Sora puts one hand to his chin and the other to his elbow, a classic thinking pose, as he considers how best to describe it.

"It's complicated. He was created from my empty body when I released my heart a few years ago. So we're like two halves of a whole..." He blushes, glancing away. "Or father and son."

Edited by KiriK on Mar 15th 2024 at 6:36:02 AM

Adam grumbles as he sees Sam rob him of a point, though he then proceeds to smile slightly at seeing his dogged determination. Good going, good going. Landing on the roof, he sees the two Dantes fighting each other and decide he's done enough surprise attacks for this one life.

Looking around, and failing to spot Shez, he decides to get down the house and begin running towards the center to claim more victims.

Good thing he won't go to the north of the town center, where Corrin is squarring off with Makhe, A and Odio. Odio with the Odious attack, but one that Corrin has been cautious for. Using Yato to block the attack, Corrin is surprised by the strength of it nonetheless, sparks flying off from their sword as he struggles, even with his two-hands, to face down the strength behind Odio's attack. And as he feel the ground heat up at his feet, the young man briefly hop while still in the process of blocking the attack.

This will hopefully cause him to be taken out of the way of the pillars of lightning along the way, even if he'll be thrown back a good few feet away. Planting Yato into the ground to decelerate, Corrin attempts to return to Mahke, an apologetic look on his face as he hope that A and Odio will keep each other busy, or be busted up by the lightning.

He attempts to cut Mahke in twain with a STRONG SLASH to the midsection!

Thor simply nods in response to Sora's explanation about Roxas.

"That does sound rather complicated," he replies. "So, to put it simply, you and Roxas are quite literally one in the same."

He immediately picks up on Iris' hint that she was talking about the staff without wanting to tip Sora off.

"Was there any particular reason he was so interested in it?"

Swordnament - A

A quickly dodges away from Odio's attack, and... stabs for Mahke's head to try and steal Corrin's kill, hoping that while Makhe defends against Corrin, an instant-kill headstab will net A the point instead!

Swordnament - Apothea

oh god oh f

Once again, superior senses come in clutch. Apothea dodges Gut's attack and Cardboard/Sawdust's attacks simultaneously with a jump, retaliating against both Guts and the duo with two electrifying swordbeams!

Author's note: Arena motivation is low at the moment. Apologies for the less intricate post.

...

Iris almost feels some sense of deja vu from that explanation. Had Roxas given her the same explanation before? Or is something else going on?

Regardless, it leaves Iris with a question.

"Wait that doesn't mean he's, like, inside your body now, right?", she asks. "Is it some sort of link thing or did you turn into one person again?"

She then turns to Thor.

"He was personally interested in it. It's somewhat of a long story so I'll tell you the rest later."

Code for 'he wanted to see if he could use the staff and I can't continue without having to explain the full thing in front of Sora'.

Tropique

"Like I said, it's complicated." Sora continues the explanation anyway, looking down at his chest. Sephiroth just looks on with vague interest and amusement.

"Roxas did merge back into me to restore my body and memories, but he grew a heart of his own through his own friendships and feelings. That heart stayed dormant within mine without being fully absorbed, and eventually we managed to separate and transfer it to a Replica body so he could live as his own person again. Still, he was born from me, so I guess we're linked."

Minira

Dedede waddles along after the Scrivener Lass, into the lab, without complaint.

"Hail!" He greets the Felynes.

He turns his attention to the black scale. "And what's this?"

Xion

Xion pauses, seeing Barricade and a hostage.

"Let it rain!"

Before he can process what this might mean, a series of tornadoes form all over the area from thin air, one of them snatching up the human cops. She flies into the center of that one and channels more Aero magic to carry the humans away to safety.

The tornadoes are strong enough to batter Barricade and Frenzy with debris as well, but Xion is hovering in place, so as long they can spot her in the storm, she's a sitting duck.

Makai

Peppino grabs the sides of his head. He screams, "I DON'T KNOW I JUST KICKED YOU AS HARD AS I COULD HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHAT WOULD HAPPEN"

Metro

"I see."

Agent 8 turns away. "The Calamari Inkantation saved my life. It means the world to me. I couldn't stand for anyone treating it as just another song."

Edited by KiriK on Mar 15th 2024 at 7:47:52 AM

Stecasse King - Makai

"Yeah! You win! Now head to the next level!"

Powering through his agony, Stecasse King smashes open a portal leading to the next level, which seems to be an exact replica of the Great Barrier Reef.

Edited by josh6243 on Mar 15th 2024 at 5:54:37 AM

"Alright. Let me know if he learned anything that neither of us were aware of," Thor says, offering Iris a slight smile. "Perhaps I'll finally know if Loki's theory regarding it was correct this whole time."

He sits down on the nearest rock while Sora continues talking about Roxas.

"I'm beginning to suspect that when you say 'hearts', you aren't talking about that kind of heart," he says.

Edited by IchigoMontoya on Mar 15th 2024 at 5:55:21 AM

Iris nods to Thor, then hears what Sora says.

"So you turned back into one person, but... you both persisted as yourselves and eventually got to split again..."

Friendship and feelings. Is that the key Iris has been looking for? Could that really be the solution to the frightening possibility of what would happen if she has to become one with the energy in her artifacts again to survive at some point? It... can't be that easy, right? By that logic she should already be safe because she already has friends, and her artifacts have proven she most definitely is not safe yet.

...

Maybe there's some higher level to this that she doesn't understand yet and Sora does? Either that, or she's a special case in this regard and Sora's and Roxas' solution simply won't work for her.

"Yeah, can you tell us more?", Iris asks after Thor talks to Sora too. Maybe if he explains it further she'll have a better understanding of the concept.

Julius' Castle, Throne Room

Wrathful God

Hilda◊ smacks against the ground, letting out a pained grunt. She quickly looks back up as Julius◊ ominously approaches her, expression cold.

   "M-my Lord Julius, a-as your loyal and potent subject, I beg of you to give me another chance!"   

Julius' expression does not change.

   "I gave you one mission, as well as two chances to provide results. Or return with anything useful really. And all you've brought me is confusion on the enemy's capabilities. You speak of yet-unseen abilities that you fail to provide information on."   

   "I-I apologize, I was confronted with some brigand girl, s-she kept me occupied-"   

   "That is not an excuse, Hilda. You have disappointed me."   

Julius reaches Hilda and crouches to be on her eye level, his expression shifting into something twisted.

   "And disappointment warrants consequences."   

Julius covers his hands in foul, divine magic, then suddenly pushes his hand into Hilda's stomach and pulls out her Einherjar card. Hilda gasps in shock and pain, already beginning to feel her body destabilizing a bit.

   "H-hold on, please-"   

   "If you cannot provide me with anything useful, Hilda, then you are less than firewood to me."   

The edges of Hilda's card start to burn a little. She looks terrified.

   "No, wait, I-I can still be of use! I can bring you more children!"   

Julius does not respond. The edges of the card start to look singed.

   "M-maybe I can try to get more information on the enemies! T-there were new faces there! People with green hair have allied themselves with the dragon girl! O-one of them could turn into a dragon herself!"   

Julius' eyes twitch for a moment, and the card stops burning.

   "Oh? You mean to tell me they have another Manakete?"   

Hilda needs a moment to collect her bearings, but she knows Julius isn't going to be patient, so she forces herself to continue speaking.

   "N... not a Manakete. A dragon. A full one. An enormous one, as big as the beasts we were meant to confront, and equally powerful."   

   "..."   

Julius drops the card and Hilda scurries to grab it again. Once she touches it, it's reabsorbed into her body.

   "Now why did you not tell me of this information sooner, dearest Hilda?"   , Julius cruelly asks. Still afraid, Hilda is unable to meet his eyes and keeps her head lowered.

   "D... due to our problems with other dragons, I-I feared you would be..."   

   "Upset? Oh, I am, very much so. But it wouldn't do to give them the ability to use that dragon as a surprise weapon against us, now would it?"   

   "N-no, my lord, I apologize."   

Julius suddenly grabs Hilda's chin and forces her to look into his glowing red eyes. She can see the slitted pupils of the dragon within, the one really pulling the strings.

   "You get to live, Hilda. But your seat is lost. Leave my throne room and await further orders."   

Hilda quickly nods, and the moment Julius lets go of her she gets up and quickly leaves the room. Julius stands back up as well, chuckling eerily to himself.

—

Once far away enough from the throne room, Hilda screams in frustration.

   "My council seat, gone! Those Shepherds... that GIRL... I will have vengeance for this slight against my honor!"   

She starts to think. She has to find a way to get back in Julius' good graces.

A child... she'd have to find an exceptional one and bring it back here.

She starts to speed-walk down the hall as fast as she can without looking like a fool, coming across the returning Oliver◊ and Black Knight◊.

"Oh? Where are you off to in such a hurry?", Oliver chuckles.

   "None of your damn bu-wait, you! Do you have a Sleep Staff!?"   

"Hrm? Well, not on my person, but I surely have one in my collect-"

Hilda grabs Oliver by his collar and continues walking, dragging him along.

   "Then you shall lend it to me, understand!?"   

"Ow-oof-Lady Hilda, must you be this-agh-"

The Black Knight simply watches them leave. He's partly tempted to put a stop to this... but this is an easy chance to get out of babysitting duty and report to the Assassins, so he lets Hilda take Oliver. Whatever she needs that staff for isn't his business anyway.

Edited by DevilPsyco on Mar 15th 2024 at 2:39:49 PM

ARENA SKIES

Sarah felt the wind batter against her tough skin, her hair and coat flailing wildly along her flight as she flew higher and higher, cones of air forming endlessly around her silhouette before vanishing entirely. She felt her ears buzz very briefly as Tropique became more and more of a dot behind her - not that she couldn't still see every strand of white hair on Sephiroth's hair, mind you.

She was concerned about Thor. Really concerned. She hadn't brought this up but he was no stranger to dumb decisions, like when he freed Katre and Troa. But a God was quite the step-up from even them. And it seemed like he was taking the whole business to heart, like he was personally betrayed, somehow. Maybe because another Odin was his dad? Or perhaps because Set had just been that harsh on him?

Either way, it seemed like he was glad to find a shape to mold his torment into. And Sarah would be happy for him if Odin wasn't awesomely powerful and extremely powerful - attributes that, together, had unfortunately gotten the best of Thor once or twice. And while Odin was a fairly merciful god, hence why Sarah only felt some trepidation instead of outright fear...

... Well, she knew Thor would go raring for more. And it wouldn't really solve the issue, would it?

Still, she could get Thor. She knew he was ultimately right to be angry. And that he wasn't wrong to be mad at Odin. She only feared that his fool's errand would cause him further grief and pain. If Gor was using him to fulfill an

Sarah didn't really have a good view of Artemis. Which is a bit unfair to her in fairness : it's kinda hard to control one's evil side come alive, or so Sarah had to guess. But it did cause Sarah to see her as someone who could be presumably unreliable in a fight, given the whole incident. But Sarah had remembered Artemis as generally versatile, with a lot of diverse abilities that brought Sarah to the brink despite her going all-out.

Furthermore, she'd proven herself some more when she managed to do great damage to the God that Sarah had summoned for the sake of training, doing it even with her body at risk due to sheer mana output. That, Sarah could respect. And it seemed like Artemis might have sorted herself out with her Fallen business... maybe, that's half the reason why Sarah was here.

The other half was that Artemis had useful abilities that could be used to spot weirdness. Maybe Iris could do it, or maybe Oca, or maybe Tilra, but Artemis was easier to find. Because there were things that Sarah could easily deduced led to her.

Lke her "Floating Castle in the Sky".

Sarah stops one mile away from it, glancing down at the structure. She'd have maybe been a bit of a troll and would have teleported or forced her way there, but Artemis earning some respect from her and Sarah being kind of distracted means she ultimately decide she'll skip out on that.

Instead, she puts her hands on her hips, tilting her head to the side.

Huh. Here's hoping it won't be shot down over Hub Centralis one day.

Edited by Bolded1 on Mar 15th 2024 at 2:44:29 PM

Ivory and Corrin’s reactions did not go unnoticed by Anna, who cast them a quick glance. "It may be tempting to do something…" She began, in a whisper low enough that none outside of their group could hear. "But Grom’s cruelty is on the lesser end of how greenskins tend to act, believe it or not. He may be bad but I swear to you…there are others worse than him hundredfold." She did not dare speak the name of the "other" in question at this table, though she hoped they’d understand nonetheless. "Trust me. For the sake of her people and the Arena as a whole…best possible scenario is to put him in power over the greenskins, rather than any of the more ruthless warbosses."

As soon as everyone had been seated, his green, meaty sausages wrapped around the weapon and lifted it high into the air, before burying the axehead into the wood before him (damn near taking off a poor guest’s hands while he was at it). Then, Grom erupted from his seat and lifted both arms. His chins quivered as he bellowed out a welcome to all who had come from the Arena across: "YA’VE TRAVELED FAR N’ WIDE N’ LONG, AN’ YA’VE FINALLY COME. DA BESTEST CITY IN ALL DA ARENA—GOBBOTOWN!" There was thunderous applause from the goblins in the room, and hesitant clapping from just about everyone else. The Paunch continued. "NOW…DER’Z A…DA WINNER…ZOG IT, I’M ‘UNGRY! START DA FEAST!!" He howled, pounding his fist on the table and taking his seat again. Baratheon laughed heartily.

Almost immediately, from the dark doors and hallways, bounded forth various serving people, human men and women alike. They delivered exuberant cuts of venison, steak, and poultry with rich sauces poured upon them. There were pies of fruit that steamed as they were set before the guests, and little bowls of spices alongside. Tarts and cheeses both were provided as well in exuberant quality, as though Grom was flexing his wealth to every person here. The servers seemed, frankly, miserable—due likely in no small part to the chains around their ankles that jingled as they walked. Any who dared to come near to Grom wearing that same frown were given a sharp clout on the back of the head to adjust their attitude.

They avoided the goblins entirely; their meals were brought by other goblins, and looked…considerably less appealing than the human meals. Centipedes crawled from rotting fishes on their plate, but they seemed just as happy to receive those meals as the humans did theirs.

Fallen Planet Mira, New Los Angeles

In New Los Angeles, an armed-to-the-teeth figure wearing a distinctive scarlet helmet◊ is currently riding through the streets on a motorcycle as he explores the city. Whatever strange world he'd ended up in, it certainly didn't have Gotham or any other locales he was familiar with. Still, information about this place likely wouldn't be too difficult to come across, so it wasn't likely he was gonna end up stumbling around blindly.

And if there were scumbags here who needed to be put down, who was Jason Todd, the Red Hood himself, to pass up a chance to put some well-deserved bullets in their faces?

Once he reaches NLA's residential district, Red Hood hits the brakes on his bike and parks outside the nearest house. Climbing off the vehicle, he heads inside with plans to make it his base of operations.

Cathedral

Artemis had been sitting atop the peak of the Cathedral, having been contemplating some things in her head. She lifts her head slightly as she senses Sarah approaching- Despite being a good few miles away, (the entire structure is a good 20+ miles tall, and she's sitting at the top of it, so) she waves before pushing herself up to a standing position and deciding to not just teleport Sarah into the Cathedral.

Instead, she crosses the distance in a near-instant, momentarily becoming a streak of golden light as she does so. She comes to a dead stop in front of Sarah.

"Been a bit, huh?"

She leans back a bit, looking like she's laying down despite such a thing not being possible in space. There's a small smile on her face, before she motioned to the hulking Aincrad-looking space structure that was the Cathedral.

"I take it I was hard to find, eh?"

Greenhall

Ivory just nods. When the food is brought out, his jaw just seems to split open completely, scarfing down the food he was given in one whole bite.

Could use some neutron flux, maybe some lava... other than that, pretty good.

Ivory.

Please.

People here don't cook with condensed gravitational forces like you do.

Commander Yammark - Da Green'All

Without any hesitation, Commander Yammark scarfs down the food in front of her. Despite her petite frame, she handles it all with ease. She deserves it after that long quest.