Confluence of Fates

Soulstealer gives Reyna an arrogant look, before looking at Tinkaton and getting grazed by the hammer. He snarls only to get blasted by Fire Blast...

Only to not look affected at all. Sorry but his fire immunity is intrinsic. His tail twitches, trying to swat the kinsect down as he color shifts into red again. He raises his forelimbs up and smashes them down, causing an explosion of heat and bioenergy around him before emerging and chasing Rayne.

He breathes in and spits out unusual black flames at Rayne, sweeping them to the side in case Reyna or Terapagos try to interfere. These flames don't burn but instead attack them in a more insidious manner, dealing both magic and physical damage.

Mechilogue

Monica sighed in relief as her Vincent touched down, the actuators complaining about the long drop but not breaking.

"Well, I'm glad that's over with. Though frankly I have no idea who or what that was." she says over the Knightmare's outside speakers.

Edited by shroobot3000 on Apr 25th 2024 at 12:23:10 PM

Onyxis, Esche, Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex

Wanda◊ is sitting at a bench in the Pizzaplex's Fazcade, sipping on a cherry-flavored Fizzy Faz as she observes the various arcade machines.

Pietro◊, meanwhile, is busy tossing skee balls, dashing up the ramp to catch and dunk them into the thousand point slot each time, then dashing back before anyone can wonder why the hell he's suddenly racking up such a high score.

"Hope you were paying attention, Tommy, because that's how you beat this game."

Fallen Planet Mira, New Los Angeles, Residential District

Within the house he'd claimed as his base of operations, Jason Todd◊ is gearing up for his upcoming mission in the basement he'd converted into both a computer room and an armory. In addition to his regular arsenal, he makes sure to pack an AK-47 for this trip. Whether or not Gunter was actually in cahoots with Kenjaku, something told him he was going to need plenty of firepower for the battles to come.

Since the Katana who'd been slain by the body-snatching bastard was now one of his zombies, would she be considered enough of a magical threat that the All-Blades would be effective against her? Just to be safe, he grabs a pair of shoto short swords off his wall of weapons and hangs them from his utility belt before turning his attention to a syringe filled with green liquid resting beside his computer.

"Kethric's supposed to be Kenjaku's toughest lackey, Kenjaku was able to fight Killer Moth's huge bug monster form by himself and not become moth food... Yeah, I'm gonna need a trick that packs enough of a punch up my sleeve when things start going downhill."

Without hesitation, Jason snatches up the syringe and stashes it in his jacket. Hopefully, he wouldn't have to wait too long for the call to action.

Onyxis, Esche, Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex

Tommy's watching Pietro carefully and excitedly, finding it funny that Pietro's blatantly cheating. Wanda would probably be angry if she were to catch Tommy cheating like this, but hey, he'd be able to avoid a stern talking to by just telling her his Uncle P showed him how to do it. He loves his uncle, but when it comes to angry moms, it's everyone for themselves.

"At this rate we can clean this place out of tickets and prices in a week.", he says, amused. "Unless they find out and kick us out."

Kind of a thrilling thought that does little to discourage him.

Billy, meanwhile, is off walking on his own a bit, though he's not very far away from Wanda. If anything were to happen Wanda'd sense it right away anyway. He'd decided to go off on his own because he needed a break from meditating all the time, especially when Tommy would continue to run around and make noise whenever he trained.

But that training has paid off, because he manages to faintly sense a familiar presence about a minute of walking away from his current spot.

"Ooh, Ninten's here.", Billy says to himself, smirking mischievously. He wonders if he could sneak up on him and surprise him. It'd probably be pretty funny if it worked. So he starts walking over there. Wanda'd be able to sense that he's fine on his own and would probably also sense Ninten once Billy's close enough to him, so he figures it's okay.

-

Speaking of Ninten, he's playing one of the arcades to get his mind off of things. Specifically the arcade 'Plushtrap Chaser', currently going through a chase scene. As such, he is completely focused on the game in question. He's got no idea that Billy's sneaking up on him.

However, despite what would normally be the obvious outcome of this, it never gets to Billy startling him and causing him to lose the game. Instead, seemingly for no reason at all, the arcade briefly glows for a moment, after which the game itself speeds up insanely.

"What the-", Ninten yelps as he tries to steer his character in this increased speed, but it's no use. The character keeps tripping over obstacles on the floor and ends up caught by the Plushtrap Chaser.

Without really thinking, Ninten angrily kicks the machine and shouts.

"Piece of @#$%& game!"

He then takes a moment to breathe out a bit before hearing a soft bump behind him. He looks and sees a startled Billy, who backed off against a different arcade machine. Realizing he scared him Ninten immediately snaps out of his anger, turning to the kid and crouching.

"H-hey, Billy. Sorry you had to see that, I'm just... a little stressed. I don't usually kick arcade machines."

"... do you usually cuss?", Billy asks. Ninten awkwardly smiles, then figures out how to get rid of the tenseness. He glances around a bit as if making sure nobody else is around, then puts his hand next to his face and whispers with a smirk.

"Not around friends. And especially not around my mom or sisters. So try not to do the same, okay? If Wanda hears you swearing and learns it came from me she's gonna whoop my butt."

That gets Billy to laugh a little. Mission accomplished.

Pietro smirks as he reaches out and tousles his nephew's hair.

"There's an easy solution for that: don't get caught," he says. "Besides, we're probably way too fast for any of these cameras to catch, and if anyone does, it'll probably just be those robots who shove maps in your face."

-

Wanda, hoping Pietro and Tommy weren't cooking a scheme that could potentially get them kicked out of the Pizzaplex, briefly thinks back to when she had found the Darkhold in Monty's Gator Golf. Her train of thought is swiftly derailed, however, by the sound of Ninten yelling at the Plushtrap Chaser game. Tossing out her empty Fizzy Faz can, she teleports to the aforementioned arcade cabinet in time to hear what Ninten was saying to Billy.

"What's going to make me whoop your butt?" she asks, stepping into view of both her son and Ninten.

Somewhere in a street of Hub Centralis, Gunter seethe (and cope) at the dimming presences of Beruka and Corrin. Doubtlessly, they'd been shopping for means to counter his mind magic. And doubtlessly, she'd convinced him to side against his own father. How could the boy trust Beruka, when she had failed to save him from Kashimo's blows? Quite troubling -yet amusing- how often hormones seemed to triumph over common sense and experience. He failed to understand what Corrin found in Beruka that would make her a suitable mate.

Gunter had perhaps known that flame himself long ago - The oblivious happiness and warmth that encouraged one to happily discard any precaution, as to live something satisfying and exciting instead of living a safe yet sterile life.

But little did they know, Gunter's help was unconditional. And besides that, he knew Kenjaku was gunning for them. Calling it quit would doom them to die, simple as that. And because Gunter would not allow them, then he was going to need to get them to take off these silly rings. And, if Beruka would not go his way, then he'd make her go his way and apply his threats.

He truly hadn't wanted to but it was really like having to take care of a pet and punishing it after it damage some furniture. It was working on a lower level of intelligence and couldn't understand what it was doing wrong - until it was taught so.

As Gunter began to leave, his eyes spotted a particularly recognizable figure. One he'd seen in Corrin and Beruka's memories.

It was that of Lucina, the princess of Ylisse, one of the founding Shepherds, slayer of Grima REX, and a woman who had led quite an extraordinary career through the Arena. And though she hadn't kept up with the recent developments, it was because she was back to living a sort of low-key life, helping Anna with her shop and keeping an eye out for the cult of Loptous.

Gunter thought of recruiting her but discarded that. He still needed to keep a tight core of followers under his thumb and Lucina wouldn't fit. Thus, he left with her none the wiser, the young woman not really standing out in a crowd of Hub Centralis. Hardly no one notice her vanishing in an alley, being difficult to follow even with her blue hair and long flowing cape.

She jump over a wooden fence, after looking behind her, and continue going for a little while until she sees Morgan, the young man appearing to be relaxing. Lucina could greet him casually, but she think that he's probably on the lookout himself, so there's no use in giving him a scare.

Hello, Morgan. She greets.

"Maybe if they see how fast we are they'll stop trying to do that.", Tommy suggests completely seriously. He then takes the tickets that Pietro 'won' and smirks.

"I wonder how much we can get for all of this."

-

Startled, Ninten stands back up immediately, back to smiling awkwardly (and slightly nervously).

"O-oh... uh... I... I told him to be gentle with the machines. I, uh, ended up kicking one because I got angry. And, y'know, it wouldn't be good for Billy to replicate that, haha."

While Ninten and Wanda talk, Billy notices the game is still sped up. Sensing something for just the briefest of moments, he goes to inspect the arcade and finds that a back panel is loose, probably from when Ninten kicked it. ... which, if that's how it happened, means Ninten has one mean kick.

Billy then notices a weirdly shaped... something peeking out and he carefully sticks in his hand to take it out. Looking it over, it looks like a fancy engraved rock.

"Whoa, this thing looks neat.", he says with a smile, pocketing it. He doesn't know it yet due to being behind the machine, but once he takes the rock out, the game returns to its normal speed.

Upon hearing his name, Morgan turns to look, expression shifting to surprise when he sees who it is.

"Lucina, hey!", he says, looking both excited and also slightly nervous, probably due to them being on acceptable terms, but not good ones. Granted, Lucina told him she'd come visit him sometimes and Anna had later told Morgan (after he'd expressed some doubt) that Lucina meant what she said. But a part of him clearly still didn't expect something to come out of that. Another part of him is probably figuring Lucina's just here to talk to Anna and Jake.

Either way, the thought that she might be here to visit him does make him happy, because it means there may still be some chance of friendship here. But he's ready to be disappointed any minute now.

"Huh, you came alone?", Morgan asks as he looks around. Clearly he'd expect Lucina to bring a few people along if they were here for business with Anna, and him asking that is him subtly testing the waters to find out if his suspicions are true or not.

Pietro also looks over the tickets he and Tommy have racked up from using their powers to dominate the skee ball game.

"I'm thinking we're looking at the really big prizes here, Tommy."

-

Wanda puts her hands on her hips, clearly not buying Ninten's response.

"Oh, really? I hope you're not teaching him any words he's too young for."

Out of the corner of her eye, she notices Billy pocketing something he found behind the Plushtrap Chaser machine.

Edited by IchigoMontoya on Apr 25th 2024 at 4:51:43 AM

Confluence of Fates

Reyna just lets Soulstealer do its thing while her Kinsect does its thing, flying in a loop to avoid the tail slam before sneaking in another bite.

When the black fire beam comes her way, she dodge-rolls through it.

Mission: Pursue the Giant Monster

The world around them shifts. They've moved from Skyrim to the main map.

As they travel in no particular direction, they see it. A row of dorsal spines peek out of the waves up ahead. Albaz and the Explorers, watching down from above, can see the monster's silhouette in the water.

The crew of the Kirov-class cruiser broadcasts the info they have over a speaker. "Those spines glowed blue before it unleashed the attack that defeated the other MUTO and wiped out the Black Hole fleet. Keep your distance and exercise extreme caution."

"I wonder if something ahead has gotten its attention," Malzeno notes.

"Yeah! Oh, we should show Mom and Billy! ... without telling them we cheated.", Tommy says. He turns and finds Wanda's no longer sitting on the bench.

"Uncle P, Mom's gone."

—

Cue nervous sweating.

"Hey now, I've got little sisters, I'd never purposely swear around kids."

Technically this is not a lie.

Billy then comes back out from behind the machine, just listening at first but then looking at the machine for a moment and-

"Hey, it's normal again."

Ninten turns to look too and sees that Billy's right.

"Huh... guess my kick did the trick. ... don't kick machines it's not nice and if they break it costs a lot to pay them back.", he says, the latter bit to Billy but it's not like Wanda can't hear him given that he's still right in front of her. Regardless, Ninten's unintentional rhyme and then following it up with that makes Billy chuckle a little.

"Anyhow-", Ninten says, quickly wanting to change the subject. "This place is pretty bonkers big, huh?"

"Yeah, it's awesome! Most people can't see everything in a single day. Oh, we can show you all the cool stuff here!", Billy says as he excitedly grabs Ninten's arm. He then looks at Wanda.

"Mom, can Ninten come with us?"

"Oh-uh... that is...", Ninten suddenly says, strangely hesitant. Billy catches that 'cause he looks back at him, confused.

"You don't want to?"

"O-of course I do, but...", Ninten says, quickly trying to find a way to say what he wants to say without making Billy think he doesn't want to spend time with him and Tommy.

"Well, I'm... not really gonna be very fun to be around for a while."

"Why not? Did something happen?"

"I, eh... I got in a nasty fight with a really good friend a few days ago. ... we're not friends anymore. So I'm gonna be a little sad for a while."

"Oh... is that why you were angry at the machine? Because you don't kick the machines when you lose to us."

"Pretty much, yeah...", Ninten says, glancing away as his smile falters for a moment. It's very brief and very subtle, and Billy wouldn't really understand the significance even if he did spot it, but Wanda'll be able to catch an almost depressed look on his face during that moment. It's clear that right now his smile, energy, maybe even his nervous reaction from just now are mostly for show.

"So yeah, I don't wanna bum you guys out and ruin your day!", Ninten says, smiling again when he looks at Billy and pats his head. "You should go have fun without me, okay?"

Mission: Pursue the Giant Monster

With Skullgreymon mostly having followed the vehicles to keep track of Godzilla (and thus making it harder for those people to spot it and Etemon), it perks up for a moment when Godzilla's dorsal spines show themselves.

   "Finally somethin's happening. I'm so bored I would've began singing already if it didn't mean the two of us would sink to the bottom of the ocean. And if I wanted a salty bath I'd just walk up to the haters!"   , Etemon says.

Edited by DevilPsyco on Apr 25th 2024 at 2:13:31 PM

Katakuri sees the parasites coming and decide that it'd be best to avoid fistcuffs, even with his fruit. Raising his arm, he use his powers to open up a thin line down the length of his arm, letting mochi fall out of it along with the pointy half of a great trident-like weapon, which Katakuri grabs and extract from his body; That's Mogura, a three-pronged weapon. And one he's going to have to clean up before he store it in his body again.

Katakuri take a step forward, cracking the ground as he bends his legs slightly and keep his spear close to his hip. He slide his right foot forward, using his perceptive haki not to peer into the future right now, but to predict the basic movements of the beasts coming at him and the others, wanting to deduce where they'll go immediately. He make himself a big target by readying his stance, especially since he's also as tall as a lamppost. Literally.

This one's going for me, the left one's going for you and the right one is coming for you. He says, precise message depending on what he sees. He can only gues who they'll attack but he can still try to make some guesswork based on direction, even if that kind of Observation Haki can only predict movements.

The man readies himself and plunge his trident towards the head of the nearest of the beast, elongating his forearm by transforming it to mochi, giving his already-lengthy weapon extra vicious reach as he attempts to perform a simple but vicious stab. If successful, or even if not, he then reach back and strike again, needing little time to do so.

He strike not where they are, but where they will be.

...

DNC

Kana's skin is like armored plates, which is very useful due to the threat she's faced by. Yet, long painful lines are raked across Kana's side, the dragon letting out a grunt of pain. Having braced herself for the impact, she isn't badly hurt or surprised, but she does quickly wench her long neck away.

Having to fight while accounting for her passengers, Kana is reliant on them to strike back nonetheless - her body was still awkward for aerial battles, after all. But as she reared her head back seemingly to dodge an attack, the "jaws" on Kana's face closed up over her orb face before she suddenly slammed her head towards the enemy's snout, looking to both hit and bite it.

Should that happen, Kana attempts to keep the beast's head in her snout as she finds herself moving downwards towards a nearby building. Perhaps due to damage, perhaps due to being distracted, she can't correct her flight route : but she can try to use the beast's body as a cushion for the others, transforming the tips of her deer-like feet into clawed hands and grabbing at the flying monster's body to try to hold it up as a shield.

And it being alive or not didn't matter too much to Kana.

...

Lucina look around and sees no one, apparently in surprise at being alone. Huh, you're right. I guess it's because I wanted to see you, per our... agreement? She says, tilting her head to the side. Agreement sounded too formal for her taste, she realized.

Don't worry, I haven't forgotten it. I'll still bid greetings to Anna and Jake but it's good to see you. Lucina says, looking for somewhere she could sit. She also ponder if they won't be noticed... well, it might be awkward to try and head inside to make space to talk.

I've got myself settled; I cannot imagine what it is like to have to constantly move around. How are you holding up?

...

Xander smiles warmly at Pucci and gladly follow him, raising his hand as if to tell the crowd not to make too much noise. He respected the devotion of the people inside, even if it was a different faith than his own.

Greetings, father Pucci. And forgive my noisy entrance.

Although granted, despite having the blood of the dragons in him, he'd come to doubt in it a little. The Dragons were long gone, everyone knew that - they'd shed their bodies and embraced a higher form of existence, leaving Nohr behind them. And while some said that they still kept watch from the clouds, the recent experiences had left Xander dubious of the Creators's exact keeping-up with the latest events.

But he'd noticed an increase in worship. Nohrians were persuaded that the visitors had been sent by the Creators themselves to save Nohr, and while it was far from Xander to tell people exactly what to do, he felt a slight tinge of bitterness at knowing that the gods truly had stayed silent on that one. Why, having been in the castle, he could even remember that voice that had forbade them from leaving.

He didn't like the feelings it gave him, that men and women alike could be pulled into different realities and manipulated at the whims of greater beings.

Still, Xander kept that tucked away as he nodded at Pucci, folding his arms. He immediately noticed something wrong with the priest but kept it to himself. And in his offense, it's not like it was particularly hard to notice.

The kingdom goes as it should, don't worry. I won't lie and say that there isn't much at stake at any given moment, Xander says. The grudge between our countries is ancestral, and generations have lived through the Blight. I am lucky to be heralding an era of peace and cooperation - but there are certain aspects of Nohr that I must reform or modify for the future generations. And past mistakes of my father to undo if I want the world to trust Nohr again.

Xander himself has had to recheck some stereotypes in fact. For he had expected to eventually lead a bloody invasion of Hoshido, not cooperate fully with it. And was it agreeable to avoid useless death and bloodshed? Yes. But the King couldn't pretend to be above his own people in bias and stereotypes. It was a miracle he wasn't rabid and frothing at the mouth with what he had learned of the Dawn Country.

Perhaps knowing Corrin was always from that country gave him something of a small fondness for it? A suspicion its inhabitants were not inherently lazy, fat and treacherous? Perhaps.

But don't worry. There's nothing imminent for me to handle, Xander says. As a knight and as a man, it would reflect poorly upon my honor to deny your request considering what you've done for Nohr. If you need anything from me, be assured that you have my full attention.

Edited by Bolded1 on Apr 25th 2024 at 2:19:32 PM

Morgan looks even more surprised now, but then he smiles, expression so brightly that if you told anyone not knowing about his history that he was one of Grima's enforcers they wouldn't believe you one bit.

He notices Lucina looking around and connects the dots on why.

"It's alright, I'm pretty used to it. Oh, wait a moment, I'll go grab you a chair."

He quickly runs inside to do so, and a few seconds later Anna pops out.

"I was wondering what had him so energetic. Greetings, Lucina!", she welcomes her.

Hello,Anna! Lucina greets, less "guarded" than with others, to the point of approaching the young woman for a hug. They'd both been through a lot together by this point, so Lucina felt like she could let her guard down. As much as she could with Samsara and the likes.

My apologies, perhaps I should've saluted you first! Lucina says, nodding. How have you been faring?

Anna doesn't hesitate to hug her back.

"Hey, it's okay. Gotta be professional with customers, but you're a friend.", she chuckles with one of her trademark winks.

"We've been doing relatively well. We've made some profits again, I haven't seen any signs of cultists yet. And even Jeritza's doing okay... ish."

Jake pops out now too.

"He's had a few moments where he had a tough time keeping himself from giving in to his impulses. But surprisingly Morgan's had the most success in calming him down again each time. They get along well, and Jeritza never complains about the work we ask him to do."

Jake then moves to the side because Morgan's already back.

"Found one!", he says, putting the chair down next to where he was sitting. He only brought one chair so he doesn't seem to mind sitting on the ground.

Good to know! I haven't seen any activity of theirs in town but to be blunt, I do not expect them to be out in the open. Lucina said. Jeritza was doing fine? Huh! They seemed to be handling themselves fine! She still goes to greet Jake, since he was there through thick and thin.

I've set myself up - I've thought of going to Corrin and Beruka's house but I did not want to disturb them. I've been at a... "flat". Which is surprisingly not flat, actually. Small but adequate is how I'd describe it. It wasn't like Dawnguard, but.. not a lot of places were like that.

Lucina sees Morgan coming back and giggles slightly seeing him with only one chair. Thank you! But there's no need to sit on the ground! You can grab a chair fo yourself if you want too.

"Just say we're better at skee ball than we thought."

Pietro looks in the same direction when Tommy points out that Wanda isn't on the bench anymore.

"Well, she probably didn't go very far. Maybe she followed Billy to another part of the arcade."

-

Wanda, quickly realizing that Ninten was only putting up an energetic front, offers him a sympathetic look.

"If you ever want to talk about this, well... you know where me and Pietro live."

Albaz- Mission: Pursue the Giant Monster

Despite seeing only the creature's silhouette, Albaz mumbles in horror, "   What on Earth is that?   "

Even though he's among the strongest fighters on the Abyss continent, Albaz is completely mortified at the thought of fighting that gigantic beast lurking under the waves. Surely, this beast can defeat the greatest fighters in Albaz's homeworld.

"A 'flat'? What a funny name for a building.", Anna giggles. "Before we eventually finish things up here I gotta see what that looks like."

Morgan, meanwhile, just sits down on the ground.

"It's okay, I usually sit on the ground."

Looking back to when he'd infiltrated Fort Dawnguard, he did indeed almost always sit on the ground whenever he'd sit down somewhere. Either that or on a table, even when Female Morgan (most likely) did just sit down on chairs. The only time he'd ever sat down in a chair was when everyone was eating together, and maybe that was just because it was expected of him to do the same. Actually, even in the Nohr mission, when they were in Corrin's dimensional castle, he always went off to sit or lie down on the grass.

Slightly weird quirk, but not necessarily in a bad way.

"I'll be leaving you two to talk now. If you need anything, the store's just a step away.", Anna says before going back inside too. Morgan waits for Lucina to sit down. Once she does and Anna's gone inside, Morgan starts talking.

"Hey, Lucina?", he says, suddenly looking insecure. "... thanks that you're still willing to talk to me at all. Outside of when it's necessary, I mean."

"I'm gonna go look.", Tommy says, and before Pietro can comment he's off. And he took all the tickets with him too. Let's hope he doesn't lose any along the way with how fast he's going.

Thankfully there's no Ken present here for him to collide with or make a scene with.

-

"Huh? I-I mean, thanks, Wanda.", Ninten says. "But I think I'll be okay. It'll just take a little while. Claus was a really good friend."

"Claus? Isn't that one of the other twins you said you were friends with?", Billy asks.

"Someone's got a good memory.", Ninten says, laughing again. With the knowledge that Wanda has now of how Ninten's feeling, it's worrying that she genuinely won't be able to tell from sight or sound that he's making himself look more chipper than he is, presumably to not worry Billy. The only indicator is that his eyes aren't as sparkling as usual, but that's such a subtle thing that you'd have to be consciously looking for it to notice it.

"There you are! Hey Ninten!", Tommy shouts as he suddenly arrives, startling both Billy and Ninten for a moment. The former is about to complain, but then his eyes go wide and starry when he sees how many tickets Tommy's holding.

"WHOAAAA! How'd you get that many tickets!?"

"Uncle P and I are super good at skee ball!"

"That really is a lot. What're you gonna buy with them?", Ninten asks. His eyes are sparkling just a little, implying he's genuinely impressed.

"Dunno yet. I haven't looked at the prices."

"I wanna buy something with them too!", Billy protests.

"Get your own tickets then.", Tommy responds as he sticks out his tongue. Billy looks sulky until he's suddenly given some tickets by Ninten.

"Here you go. It's not as much as what Tommy has, but I wasn't planning on using them anyway."

"Thanks!", Billy says, happy again and giving Ninten a hug. Ninten looks at Tommy.

"And you shouldn't be mean to your brother."

"Whatever you say, second Mom.", Tommy jokingly groans, which gets a genuine-sounding laugh out of Ninten. Seems like being around the Maximoffs is doing him some good.

"I'm starting to think not ever introducing you two to my sisters would be for the best. Your sense of humor is disturbingly similar to theirs."

"That's good 'cause we don't wanna play with girls!", Tommy says.

"They can't handle our superpowers anyway.", Billy says. Ninten chuckles over-the-top evilly, clearly having some fun.

"Oh, you'd be surprised. I can teleport and even then I can't get away from them when they're trying to get my attention for something."

He then smirks deviously.

"I did tell them about you two, y'know? And they're curious. Told them about this Pizzaplex too. They even asked me to bring them with me today."

The two kids look comically mortified.

"... t-they're not here, right?"

Ninten trollishly smiles and shrugs.

"They may very well be. Who knows... you might've ran past them, Tommy. They might be on their way to me right now."

The twins immediately grab Wanda's sleeves.

"Mom we gotta leave the arcade!"

Ninten starts to laugh again.

And she looks akin to him as well! A test..?

Pallia’s surprise was short lived, for shortly after came Erin springing at him. He moved quick, lashing his hand out to grapple onto the Bloodfiend’s throat midair and throw her at the approaching Futsunushi with the intent of knocking the latter out of the sky and giving Erin a taste of the Persona’s powerful Brave Charge attack.

Which, ironically, might’ve saved her life.

For it got her away from what came next; Pallia’s eyes flew open in abject panic when an arrow of flame shot at him, engulfing him immediately and then the area surrounding him and the area surrounding that.

"Fuck—WATCH OUT!" Lily screamed from a distance as she lunged for Haru, the blazing wall of fiery death expanding at a blink’s pace towards them. She didn’t doubt—due to his own fire-based powers—that he didn’t have some kind of immunity to flame, but against that?

Lily needed to move fast if she was going to lessen the blow of the attack in their direction, and she needed to be perfect.

INNATE SKILL: ABSORB ELEMENT — FLAME

INNATE SKILL: ABSORB ELEMENT — FLAME

INNATE SKILL: ABSORB ELEMENT — FLAME

INNATE SKILL: ABSORB ELEMENT — FLAME

INNATE SKILL: ABSORB ELEMENT — FLAME

INNATE SKILL: ABSORB ELEMENT — FLAME

…

When all was finished, the city block was no more. Where once had stood a towering bank, and then a pile of rubble, now was nothing; the buildings immediately surrounded had been reduced to ashen towers, black and foreboding against the blue sky. The slightest touch and they would crumble, and even now bits of them fell away in the breeze.

Charred and limbless, the gorebeast lay on its side, yet somehow still produced noise. It was a weak, weezing sound, a faint help, help…

But Lily was more concerned about herself than anything else. Her own flesh bubbled and popped, the blood in her arms racing to the surface and boiling. Red and black and ruined, she was rendered speechless at the pain. Her fingers twitched.

Lining her forearms, three glowing ember sigils dotted each, stretching from the wrists to the elbows, but scarcely noticeable amidst the burns or the hurt that clouded her mind, reducing judgement and just about blinding her with pain. She panted heavily. Then her thoughts switched elsewhere—Sammy! Where is—

"Ohhhhhh fuck…" The boy stagged away, half-burnt and lacking an arm almost entirely. The splintered bone jutted out of where the flesh ended halfway down the bicep of his left arm, the rest of it burned to cinders. His shirt dangled loosely, half-razed, and a pinkness visible within his damaged side expanded and contracted weakly with each heavy grasp. In his right hand, the halfspear he’d stolen from Pallia clattered to the ground moments before he did.

Lily staggered over to her peer, heavy breaths racking her body as she reached for him, tried to focus enough to execute a minor restoration Simple Skill but could not relax her mind, spirit, nor body enough to do so. The disciple looked up, eyes wide with terror, at the settling black smoke that lingered from Fuga’s blast.

There’s no way, there’s no way, there’s no way…

From within the thick black veil she saw Pallia’s silhouette step forwards. The gladiator stood, his entire body seared and dark as the clouds surrounding him. Lily’s jaw hung agape. He stood with clutched fists, the somehow spotless golden trident still glimmering in his left hand. There were empty sockets where his eyes had been, for they’d melted in the flames. Still, he looked directly at Sukuna. He couldn’t have survived that, Lily thought with a panic, he couldn’t have survived that, he couldn’t!

And indeed he hadn’t.

"…I have failed Lord Kain. You saw to that. Both of you," Pallia hissed, addressing Erin with the last sentence. "I am already dead. All I can offer him now is death in his name, and a parting gift: your lives."

But it made no sense, for if he was dead, how was he alive? Then she looked closer, and saw the energy radiating off of him, deep and dark and reeking of evil and utterly forbidden and she knew.

FORBIDDEN SKILL: DELAY DEATH — 60

"Sixty seconds. Sixty seconds in which to kill you. I shall not die without pleasing my master Kain!" He roared, lunging forwards at Sukuna and driving his trident at the man’s very heart.

…

He felt the rumble underfoot, followed the panicked cries and pointed fingers to the distant pillar of fire growing from the horizon, taller even than the buildings between them. He knew instantly: the kids.

Throwing his coffee to the side and rising from the table, Cardell disappeared in an instant, speeding off to the aid of his pupils. On the other side of the table, a very visibly confused Liam wondered if their conversation was really that boring.

…

Just outside Fuga’s range, Luna’s Flash raised a cry of confusion and disarray from the duo of low-intelligence cultists, the heavier of the two beginning to wildly swing his club every which way, unable to see or distinguish friend from foe.

"Dimwit!" His partner howled after a particularly close scrape. "Watch where you swing that!"

"I’M GONNA—WHEN I FINDS YA, I’M GONNA GUT YA!"

Elsewhere, the gorepriest avoided the Mutant Child’s shockwave by simply hopping into the air. Debris, torn from the street by the attack, was kicked back in the Mutant Child’s direction as he airily laughed through his throathole.

Hub Centralis

Now's my change! At full speed!

Luna creates a rainbow-colored sphere around her body. She then quickly charges towards the three goons while their disoriented due to her useing Flash.

Luna used Dazzling Gleam!

Pietro wastes no time dashing after Tommy, hoping his nephew doesn't drop any tickets along the way.

-

"If you say so..."

Before Wanda can say anything further, Tommy arrives on the scene with Pietro not too far behind.

"Is Tommy right, Pietro? Are you two great at playing skee ball?"

"You bet! Beating the high score was easier than I thought."

Cue Tommy and Billy grabbing her sleeves when Ninten jokingly threatens to introduce them to his sisters. Chuckling lightly, she pats both of her sons on their heads.

"Boys, boys! He's not actually going to make you spend time with them."

Pietro flashes a good-natured smirk at Ninten.

"Come on, man, are you gonna keep doing this to my nephews every freaking time you see them?"

Centralis

"grk-"

Erin lets out a pained gasp as she's cut in two. Just before she can fall apart...

BLAM

Haru, his skin half-charred from the flames, had pulled out a pistol and fired a HP Bullet at Erin, who gasps as her body pulls itself together. She staggers back as she returns to normal, her hammer turned to slag from the flames. Luckily, she could get another one, but not right now.

"B-bleugh... I've gotta rest... Can't yet..."

She takes another swig from her flash and gets back into a fighting stance.

Haru nods and steps forward.

"Well then~... In my tens of thousands of years of being alive, I haven't seen anything like this... Well, not the way you're doing it, at least. Only 60 seconds? Seems quite tame... I've been returned to life, again and again, just to fight for something that long since passed. Even now, that same thing keeps me going."

He grins, holding up one hand as he summons a sword◊ and reverts to his old gear.

"But if you're functionally immortal for 60 seconds, that means I can go all out~."

Haru speeds forward, his blade slicing out and dealing an interesting mix of damage- physical cuts, mental 'whispering', a sort of physical-and-mental decay, and lifespan. That is, it shortens one's remaining lifespan- (this isn't how it works in canon but fuckit) -while the eyes on his suit seem to slowly worm their way into the minds of anyone who stares at them for too long, driving them to insanity. Thankfully, this won't effect his allies.

Pursuit

Croque's eyes widen as she sees just the spines peeking out of the water.

"Holy fuck. If that thing spots us, I'm calling in the Titanslayer..."

She continues to speed along otherwise, however.

Big G

Maxi notices something through his binoculars: some spikes emerging from the sea. And not just this: the others can see the silhouette of a giant lizard beneath the waters.

It could be...?

Let's hope it don't step on the main Arena...

...Or the Peninsula.

Hub Centralis

The Mutant Child just swats away the debris flying at him.

Suddenly, he hears a loud explosion, and smells a familiar aroma:

Fire.

Smoke.

Pollution.

Just like he likes it.

The Child breathes deeply, absorbing all of the smoke left by the fire, and he began to grow slowly, reaching a height similar to a 5-floor building.

Mission: Pursue the Giant Monster

Now that the King of the Monsters was surfacing, the Mad Angler-class U-801 and her now deployed marine MS escort get a much clearer look at him.

"Fucking hell, he's huge." one of the Capule pilots mutters as they and the U-801 decelerate to keep a safe distance. They also get closer to the surface in case they need to deploy the Doga team or seaplanes to continue following him on land.

The captain once again has them transmit to the Belkans (and others on the same frequency) the now clearer sonar scan of Godzilla's form.

It was a good thing Xander mentioned the grudge between the two ancient countries. They navigated a small set of halls before he came to a specific door, reaching for the doorknob and swiping at it but falling an inch short. He frowned and got it on the second try, and led Xander into a room crowded with books, pressed thickly together and piled high on the desk in the middle, behind which the priest took a seat. On the other side were two wooden chairs.

   "Granted, it’s not a particularly…kingly seat,"    He admitted abashedly, wishing he had been able to provide more regal accommodations,    "but it’s comfortable all the same."   

Most of the books between them had their titles printed on the spine, and Xander might’ve caught a quick glance at a few before the priest scooped them up and moved them off the desk: Nohr: A Comprehensive History; The Old Kings; Rattrap: the Maester’s Guide on How to Prepare for Ratmen; Arcane Afflictions vol. 14; and, finally, Warrior of Shar: the Saga of Ketheric Thorm. He’d been deep in his research, it seemed. On the desk was a curious device, a black metal base with a “sweeping” rod and a wire that connected to a speaker. This too he moved, though with care.

   "I asked for your presence because I’ve happened upon an opportunity. One that may be beneficial to your kingdom, and not only maintaining, but strengthening its peace with Hoshido."    Pucci leaned in and planted both elbows on the desk. His tone dropped.    "Corrin is in danger. Now, admittedly, I don’t know much of Hoshido’s view of him, but given the young Prince was born there, their people likely have some attachment, right?"   

Mithilheim

"Oh, we'll see who's the naive one once this is over."

Gritting his digital teeth, Icarus leaps up into the air to avoid getting rushed by the viscera and hovers two meters above the ground, then picks up Kiose onto his shoulders - should the kid not protest.

"Come on, I'll keep you safe."

He goes airborne once more and fires a couple of shots from his wrist-embedded handgun. His current body is unfit for combat, so that's all he can do for now before landing on a nearby rooftop and offloading the boy, but it'll have to do.

The creatures can burrow into the ground, Icarus messages Nil. Probably a vast tunnel system to explore. Also, they're potentially a hivemind, judging by the timing of these creatures showing up to attack us. Oh also, once you're ready, please give me an address where I can send all my research data so I don't distract you constantly!

"I'm calling in a small fleet of fighter jets! Once I give a signal, take cover, alright?", the robot announces from on top of the roof.

A slightly modified construction robot is flying in formation with the jets - though before arriving at the town, it splits off and lands in the forest. Icarus has a map of the area, and an overhead flight such as this one is a great opportunity to estimate the spread of these... beings. Due to how easy it is to draw a line between them and the naturally occuring fauna, they couldn't possibly be native.

Once it lands, the robot takes great care not to knock over any trees, but instead deploys a drone swarm, mounting wildlife cameras on trees, taking soil and tree bark samples, digging holes for animals to fall into, and placing wildlife nets. Icarus has his fair share of supplies, but once the Rhodes Island squad arrives, there'll likely still be a lot for them to do.