Enter The Arena As Your Avatar -- The Spinoff!

Nohr

Xander follows after Pucci, since it is Pucci's church and the man seems to be having little difficulties in moving around it, some imprecisions aside. Xander does wonder what sort of violent encounter could've led to this - but then again, Father Pucci's Church had an... interesting philosophy. And he doubted that the man was constantly preaching the good word or tending to his churches.

The King would have to ask but more important matters than simple curiosity were at hand: for there was something Pucci needed help with. And Xander had to guess it meant the situation was dire. Sadly, his words of reassurance to Pucci had been optimistic : the king couldn't afford to throw too many resources at the problem, after all. Not when his army was busy solving problems around the countryside.

Perhaps Pucci sought counsel, magic, food, weaponry or other things, but Xander had a suspicion that the situation was less complex than that given what the priest had seemed to be getting up to. Still, he was going to hear him out first. Haha, it'll fit, don't worry! He says, eyeing the books upon the table. Rats? His mind first jumped to Hoshido's ninjas, as a testament to his earlier pondering about negative stereotypes he'd tied to the Dawn Country, but he realizes that apparently Pucci really was fending off literal menrats.

He also noticed the device, and struggle to make a connection with the books and Pucci. He could still deduce it likely helped the blind man with "reading"?

Your interest in Nohr is laudable. I could give you a few books of our own, if you'd want. Xander says, sitting down. But who was Ketheric Thorm? And who/what was this "Shar" he served?

Corrin was in danger? Xander's eyes widen in slight horror before he realizes what this meant. The other Corrin, the older, wearier one, was in danger? Xander frowned. He was his brother all the same, and he'd help him. Especially since he had been so pathetic at helping this Corrin when he had been suffering in his own home. The poor lad looked like he had experienced a rough journey that the prince would not wish on his younger brother anytime soon.

Corrin is the son of the queen of Hoshido. My father took him away at a young age through trickery, Xander says. It's likely Pucci knew that, given that he'd made some research or had been told this, but it was good to have a little reminder. I know "my" Corrin still consider himself Nohrian, but he's embraced Hoshidan culture. And he's been something of an ambassador for us to Hoshido.

Xander wasn't sure of what Hoshido would think of another, technically unrelated Corrin being saved, but he appreciated Pucci looking out for Nohr's sake. And besides... he had his reasons to be helping him out.

I take it this Ketheric Thorm has to do with it? Xander asked, eyes going over to the books. My army is busy over the country but one of my father's decisions has been useful for once - he's made the Nohrian army as large as he could. And if you need its assistance, I will be able to spare elite squads of my fiercest soldiers to assist you. They are loyal to me, you needn't worry. Pucci could thus change his plans early on. And Xander felt like clarifying this from the get-go would avoid some dead air between the two men, with Pucci finding himself scaling his ambitions back a bit later than he would, with the wind perhaps taken from his sails.

Though perhaps I shouldn't be getting impatient - my apologies, allow me to hear you out.

Blade swings her head to the side as Adam attempts to sneakily blind her. She was expecting a Sword Beam of some kind, so this very down-to-earth trick surprises her somewhat. She smirks.

"Hmph. Dirt? Well, I like a man who can play a little dir-" and before she can finish her sentence, she gets caught in Odio's Armageddon.

"You bastard... in what world is that a sword technique?"

Pledge of Demon

As the wave of hatred washes over her, even as her body is burned and flayed, something in her soul resonates with the Demon King's wrath. Within a fraction of a second, dozens of images flash before her eyes. Faces of those long gone. Bodies strewn about, ripped apart of incinerated by magic. A night parade of a hundred demons. A sword, crying out for vengeance.

"You freaks just can't stand to be on an equal playing field with the likes of us, can you? Even in a tournament like this... you've always gotta make it all about your power. We're nothing, right? We're food. Or bugs to be stepped on. But guess what. Even a bug can sting and kill."

The wave of destruction dissipates, leaving Blade standing, her suit torn to shreds, her body blackened and burned. She stands there with gritted teeth, shaking with uncontained rage, an expression of unspeakable wrath on her face. A harsh light shines from behind one of the lenses of her sunglasses, surrounded by glowing Tron Lines. Hatred emanates from her in billowing clouds that could put a coal-fueled power plant to shame.

   "None of you are safe."   

A's guard-breaking attack seems like it's about to impact when- oh god where did she go

   Grudge Style: There Is No End To Them   

Within fractions of a second, a flurry of tremendous sword slashes imbued with dark energy carve through the battlefield, threatening simultaneously Adam, A, Goemon, and possibly anyone else in the immediate area.

Edited by Arachnos on Apr 26th 2024 at 4:09:36 AM

"Mmmmmmmmaybe.", Ninten smirks with a shrug. But then he laughs.

"But no, they're not actually here. After what happened last time I'm not leaving them out of my sight if, for whatever reason, I do bring them here again."

Ninten's phone then goes off. He quickly takes it out of his pocket and smirks as he looks at who's calling.

"Speak of the devil though..."

Tommy and Billy look unconvinced.

"There's no way your sisters are calling right now."

"Yeah, you're just trying to mess with us!"

Ninten shrugs again, then picks up and puts on the speaker (which it has given that it's a phone given by Pseudo instead of one from Ninten's own time era).

"Ninten here.", he says to it.

"HI 'TEN!" "HI 'TEN!"

The two boys freeze upon hearing the clearly young girly voices coming from the phone and realize Ninten was telling the truth.

"Hey Minnie, hey Mimmie.", Ninten says. "Guess what? I'm with someone you've been wanting to talk to very much."

Tommy and Billy immediately shake their heads no rapidly. Ninten smirks and then... holds the phone up to Pietro.

"It's Pietro! You remember him, right?"

"Yeah!" "Yeah!"

"You saved our lives from that creepy robot a few years ago!"

"Thank you very much, Mr. Pietro!"

Tommy and Billy look at Pietro, both looking awed.

"Wow! You never told us you saved Ninten's sisters!"

"Hey, who was that?"

The look on Tommy's face basically spells out 'oh no I screwed up real bad' and Ninten has to do his best not to chuckle. He did that to himself.

Edited by DevilPsyco on Apr 26th 2024 at 10:47:28 AM

Pietro, deciding to spare his nephews from any more potential teasing from Ninten, gives a quick wave of his hand.

"Oh, that was just a fan. I was telling people how I wiped that Infinity Stone-carrying Ultron from freaking existence before he could destroy everything."

Wanda merely suppresses a chuckle at the whole situation.

Lucina remembers that rent is cheap in HC since it’s a fantasy world. and nods gratefully, having some money for stuff like potions or weapons. Granted, it’d probably be more accurate to say shields.

Thank you! I’ll pass by. Lucina sits on the bench, listening to Morgan. She could get his incomprehension, so she didn’t mind his extra declaration.

Though Lucina hoped her forgiveness was not the result of her learning of their shared blood. A refusal to believe that someone of Naga’s blood could be evil.

It’s alright! I’m just happy about talking to you.

So. Moving aside, how have you been?

School

Save

• Case of Mondays

Pretty uneventful day so far. After having lunch, “Pyra” once again arrives at the club room to practice chords.

That Aerial Rave thing is certainly interesting, though the campus would probably be too cramped for training up on that so any plans for that will have to be at the roof, assuming no one’s up there and students are allowed to use the roof.

Scrawling another logo of The Lily (the flower over a crescent moon) on one of these customisable keyrings and latching it onto the guitar bag, “Pyra” hears the door open again.

| You |

(*deep breaths* Definitely a recurring thing, and an understandable one given that there’s probably other people who may use this room.)

This time around, “Pyra” reorganises themselves and uses the coffee machine to prepare some drinks.

That seems to cheer him right back up again.

"I've been good.", he says. "I've been hauling around a lot of Anna's stuff but it's not really all that difficult."

He smirks happily.

"Oh, I also came up with a more convenient way to catalogue her stock and it's been working out great. It takes about half as long to set up shop now because of it. Anna and Jake were pretty happy about that, and..."

He stops himself.

"Oh, sorry. I tend to get going when I talk about strategic stuff, even if it's for small stuff like this. Most people I've known get tired of it really fast. So you gotta tell me if I start talking too much and get boring 'cause of it."

"Who?" "Who?"

"I'll tell you two later. Wanda and Pietro can't stick around for now, they're having a family day out."

"Family day?"

"Are her kids there too?"

"Not here here. They're playing somewhere in the arcade."

Tommy and Billy sigh in relief. Ninten's on their side after all.

"In the arcade?" "In the arcade?"

"Are they any good at arcade games?"

"Hmmmmmmmmm... decently."

"Are they a match for us?"

"Very doubtful.", Ninten smirks. Minnie and Mimmie laugh from the other side of the phone, which prompts Billy and Tommy to do a complete 180 as they now shoot Ninten a comical glare.

But hey, maybe I'm wrong. If they ever have time to meet up, I guess we can maybe find out. We'll have to see. Anyhow, I gotta bounce. I'll see you this evening at home."

"Bye 'Ten!" "Bye 'Ten!"

"Bye, you too! And remember to stay out of my room."

"Awww! But you have a stereo in your room!"

"We wanna listen to music!"

"Well you should've thought about that before besmirching my favorite baseball with make-up that one time."

"But we cleaned it!"

"Gotta go now. Remember the rules! And also remember that I'll know if you snuck in anyway. Byeeee!"

Ninten turns off the phone before any further protests can happen. He turns back to the Maximoffs only to see the comically insulted boys.

"What'd you mean by that?"

"Are you saying we'd lose to your sisters?"

Ninten shrugs for the third time in about a minute. But that mischievous smile on his face shows he knows exactly what he's doing.

Pietro shakes his head, letting out a deliberately exaggerated sigh.

"Keep messing with my boys like this, Ninten, and I'm so getting Loki to prank you."

"If things do come to that, make sure he doesn't summon an illusion of that fire giant outside of Ninten's house," Wanda chimes in.

"Yeah, please no fire, my Mom'd get a stroke.", Ninten says completely seriously.

"Besides, I'm not messing around. My sisters are the best in town when it comes to arcade games. I can't even compete, and I can cheat with psychic powers. ... not that I would of course. They're so good, they may even be able to deal with Tommy's speed."

"Yeah, right!", Tommy proclaims.

"Hey, if you agree to play against them one day you'll be able to see for yourself."

Tommy crosses his arms and huffs.

"I'll think about it."

"They did laugh at us. I kinda want revenge now."

"Well, let me know if you make up your minds. As for right now, you should probably go trade in your tickets before someone sneaks up on you and steals some of them."

"... oh, right! I forgot about them!", Tommy says despite still physically holding them.

"Mom, Uncle P, we gotta go trade them in!", Billy says.

Lucina remembers that. Morgan's father in another world had the same habit : not specifically on strategy, but on some topic he'd studied recently. To some, it came off as annoying - he'd talk to them about his latest whim's deepest secrets before casually dropping it off and moving to something else as interesting. For some, his effortless ability to just absorb and learn all kind of trivia was insulting to masters of crafts he so easily conquered.

To others, it spoke of a distracted, feeble mind that couldn't focus itself on a matter for long. And it was fortunate that his one interest was strategy or else the kingdom would have somehow lost to a few roving raider.

In fact, it was Miriel who kept him in line most of the time, despite her own tendencies. A fact Lucina found amusing in light of Miriel's own eccentric behavior... especially because that trait was passed down to both of Niagara's children later on!

But to Lucina, it was a delightful trait. And one she was happy to see in Morgan, even if he was in a different world.

I'll tell you, but don't worry. I'm... used to this. And I think it's an agreeable trait, Lucina shrugs. I find that quite interesting to see how these great minds think.

That surprises Morgan even more. But it also makes him very happy. His eyes are practically sparkling.

"I've never been around anyone who thinks of it like that. Even Aunt Aversa pretty much just tolerated it."

...

"Hey, Lucina? If... when you inevitably go fight Mother, am I expected to..."

He isn't able to get the words out of his mouth, but it's obvious what he's trying to ask.

'Am I expected to help defeat her?'

Edited by DevilPsyco on Apr 26th 2024 at 12:26:38 PM

Pietro gives Tommy a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"Hey, hey, if anyone tries stealing our tickets, you and me can just swipe them right back," he says, showing his nephew a little smirk. "They'd never see us coming."

Wanda offers Billy a warm smile.

"Relax, Billy. You'll get your prizes before you can say 'hey, where'd all the main animatronics go?'" she assures.

"Wait, that reminds me. Where did all the animatronics go? I've only seen like three that aren't those regular bots doing tasks around the place."

"Apparently they're gone for a while."

"Yeah, that nagging hippo's the only unique one left."

"Yeah, I ran into that one. I also saw something about the Daycare Attendant returning. And I could swear I briefly caught a glimpse of a rabbit when I warped to another room."

"Why'd you warp to another room?"

"There was a line in front of the elevator. Didn't feel like waiting. Anyhow, I gotta get going too, so you don't have to wait to trade in your tickets."

"Hey, Ninten? Are you feeling better now?", Billy asks, looking concerned.

"Huh? ... oh, yeah, a little, thanks to you guys.", Ninten chuckles as he tousles their hair. Billy chuckles and Tommy tries to save his amazing hairdo by swiping at Ninten's hands, which only makes Ninten chuckle again.

"But yeah, I'm gonna bounce. Later, guys!"

With that Ninten opens a 4th-D Slip portal and goes in. Once he's gone Billy and Tommy look at each other.

"I kinda wanna see what the inside of that portal looks like."

"We should ask him to let us come with him sometime."

"Yeah... oh, the tickets! C'mon, let's go, let's go!", Tommy says to Wanda and Pietro. Both boys are now impatiently pulling on their sleeves.

Lucina's eye almost twitch at the mention of Aversa. But she contain herself. She figured that the woman wouldn't have much of a patience for Morgan but the way he words it imply that she actually... had.

Still, she decide to brush her off.

I know Father and Mother studied strategy both to try to hold a deeper conversation with Robin about it - but they were both left behind when he and Miriel started to talk about it during dinner, she make a scoff that sound amused. Robin never meant to belittle though. He just... enjoyed what he was doing.

When Morgan make his question, Lucina's smile become a more familiar neutral blank face and she hesitates. Because the answer would be no. He might be manipulated by her and the odds were that she'd have been paranoid enough to predict her own blood trying to betray her.

Would you want to?

Edited by Bolded1 on Apr 26th 2024 at 1:32:19 PM

School

Noah walks in to the club room. He'd came to the club room for... he wasn't sure, really. Probably just a quiet space, at least for the most part. And maybe to work on his Magecraft a bit more.

"Oh, hello. I guess someone else is using this room today, huh?"

He glances over at "Pyra", his eyes seeming to scrutinize everything about her before drifting elsewhere- namely, to the coffee machine. He contemplates on grabbing a cup for a moment before leaning against the wall, stretching his arms towards the ceiling.

"Guess I shouldn't be surprised- It's not like just one person can use this room, I suppose."

He smiles slightly, which clashes... weirdly with how stern his gaze was earlier. But his gaze seems softer now. He's probably just a weirdo.

Edited by RainbyPlays on Apr 28th 2024 at 12:20:43 PM

After saying their goodbyes to Ninten, Wanda and Pietro begin ushering Tommy and Billy towards the prize counter.

"Wasn't Bonnie supposed to be the only rabbit animatronic? Didn't think they'd have a Bonnie 2," Pietro muses

"So impatient, boys! I doubt the counter's going to just get up and walk away if we don't get there in time," Wanda says, taking both of her sons' hands in her own.

Edited by IchigoMontoya on Apr 26th 2024 at 4:37:45 AM

Morgan goes silent for a bit, glancing down at the ground. After a short while without talking he eventually decides to answer honestly.

"... I don't know if I'd be able to. But I know we gotta stop Julius. ... I wanna try to help, but when it comes to Mother or Aunt Aversa, I'm not sure if..."

Then, surprisingly, he smiles just a little.

"I'm not all that attached to Grandpa Validar though. He's kinda creepy. And I don't think he really likes me."

The kids start excitedly pulling Wanda along once she grabs their hand.

"Maybe Ninten found a back-up Bonnie. They probably have more than one of each, right?"

"If they did the spares would be performing."

It wouldn't be long before they reach the prize counter. Thankfully it's a S.T.A.F.F.bot that's behind it and not Mr. Hippo.

"HELLO. PLEASE PRESENT YOUR TICKETS AND THE PRIZES YOU CAN CHOOSE WILL BE LIT UP. YOU MAY ALSO CHOOSE TO KEEP YOUR TICKETS AND ADD THEM TO A CUSTOMER CARD. FAZBEAR-LICENSED COSTUMER CARDS CAN ONLY BE ACQUIRED AT THE ENTRANCE."

Tommy puts his massive stack of tickets on the counter first. They get scanned by the system and...

"YOU MAY CHOOSE FROM THESE THREE ITEMS."

Three items are lit up. Tommy stares, dumbfounded.

"Only three? But I have so many!"

"MOST OF THE PRIZES IN THIS CATEGORY AND LOWER HAVE ALREADY BEEN WON. WE HAVE NOT RECEIVED NEW PRIZES SINCE WE RE-OPENED HERE. WE DO NOT KNOW WHY NOTHING NEW IS DELIVERED."

Perhaps because the Pizzaplex is in an entirely different dimension now.

Tommy crosses his arms and sulks for a moment. Then Billy points at something.

"Hey, look up there! I found a rock that looks like that one!"

"Huh?"

Tommy looks and sees a fancy-looking rock with a rooster insignia on it. It's not lit up though.

"When did you get a rock like that one?"

"I found it in the arcade, and finder's keepers.", Billy smirks while showing his off to his brother. Tommy looks at the S.T.A.F.F.bot.

"How many tickets do I need to add to get that rock?"

"ONE HUNDRED."

"Ah, man."

Billy looks at him, then at his rock. He sighs, then suddenly hands over the tickets he got from Ninten. Upon those ones being added, the rock is also lit up.

"Billy? You're giving me your tickets?"

"Yeah. You owe me now though."

"Sweet, thanks!", Tommy says, giving his brother a quick hug before pointing at the rock.

"That one!"

The S.T.A.F.F.bot turns, takes it off of the shelf, then gives it to Tommy.

"THERE YOU GO. COME BACK SOON AND HAVE A FAZ-ERIFIC DAY.", the S.T.A.F.F.bot says as it waves robotically. Tommy turns back to Pietro and Wanda.

"What do you think? These rocks look pretty cool, right?"

Pietro is visibly relieved to find that a S.T.A.F.F.bot was manning the prize counter instead of Glamrock Mr. Hippo.

"I swear, if I would've had to listen to him rant about his 'great buddy Orville'..."

Wanda smirks a little at her brother's relief.

"Maybe this Orville finally got tired of that robot rambling about him and got him to stop."

Once Tommy has selected his prize, Wanda takes a moment to examine the rocks he and Billy now possess.

"A rabbit and a chicken... I can't tell if this is some new souvenir the band is selling or something else."

Pietro shrugs.

"If it was, don't think they'd have rocks with a wolf, a bear, and a gator stamped on them?"

"Maybe they're like a collector's set and someone else already won those. Either way, these ones are ours.", Billy happily says as he stashes his again.

"Yeah. And now... I'm hungry."

"Me too."

"Well, we've got all kinds of food to pick from here, boys," Pietro says. "Take your pick."

"Just don't throw any of it at those robots who get a little too excited about maps," Wanda says.

Well, Validar indeed didn't seem like the grandfatherly type. Lucina had scarcely seen him but he seemed to be the most consumed by Grima's cult. If only because of how gleeful he was in bringing about an end of days that would not benefit him at all.

You might be compromised fighting them. Lucina adds, not disputing his point about Validar. And asking a child to kill their mother is... disagreeable. Even with what said mother is.

...

Sukuna put his hands in his pocket, smoke pouring out of them as he observe the devastation left in his wake. A huge lee carve itself unto his youthful features in grim delight, pleased to see the sycophant be engulfed in the flames of his own folly. He laughs, starting out subdued, breaking out into a much more grim cackle at the familiar smell of charred flesh and the sight of dilapidated, volcanized scenery.

But he stop as the flames subside, not wanting to give the game away too soon. He could always kill whoever was nearby and had seen him, of course, but there were odds of Beruka and Corrin seeing this. So he had to still act as an aloof ally at best - having Idiot fix them too many times was tiring, and relying on the Cursed Spirit for support was almost exhausting.

Seeing Lily crawl out of the wreckage, Sukuna snorts. Overcooked, much? Still, he quietly observe how Haru come to Erin's aid through undignified healing. And assisted healing. How could they both fail to simply heal themselves? Sukuna still take notice of Lily lowering the damage and Haru shoot-healing Erin. For after all, it's them that he'll be hunting and killing next.

Seeing Pallias crawl out of the wreckage get more of a reaction from Sukuna. A delay? How interesting! Seeing the twisted energy that was pouring out of his ruined body like oil from a defective motor made the King of Curses smile.    That one minute is going to go like a second if we have fun. Gambare, gambare.    After doing a Bring It, Sukuna summons Futsunushi and has it step up to block the trident with the tip of its sword... only for said sword to shatter, with the tip of Sukuna's fingers exploding in gore as well.

Then, an invisible force carve a bloody line through the palm of his hand and drive itself through his arm, splitting it in two as Futsunushi's sword get wrecked. Huh? Sukuna stares at his mutilated arm in surprised disdain for a second.    Weak, useless thing!    Even with his Persona having a high resistance to physical damage, Cursed Personas were fragile at their core. And as such, the damage done to Futsunushi destroy it, making Sukuna unable to summon it again for the rest of the fight.

Or the rest of a minute.

As it disappears into black-and-red sparks, Sukuna take over, rushing straight through it and attacking Pallias with his own dismantled arm. The fact it's a ruined mess means that he try to just swing it through the trident by having the weapon's tips merely pierce the air between the two split halves, now being bits of skin, muscles and tendons hanging together loosely in the wind.

And he slam those mutilated halves together at Pallia's chest, applying his Cursed Energy to it to try to give real force to his ridiculously gory slap, with full intent to send his opponent flying

Regardless of how this goes for him, smoke appears from Sukuna's arm as he begins to use Reverse Cursed Technique to undo the damage. The technique will mend flesh and bones together just fine, but in the Arena, it can't be used to undo major damage if the user use an advanced technique at the same time. Meaning that to heal a lost limb, even Satoru Gojo or Sukuna need to stick to regular fighting or basic usage of their energy for a little moment. Nevermind that repairing an arm was costly.

He just wanted to be a dick to Pallia and restore damage he'd finally inflicted to him after a little while.

As his arm heal itself, Sukuna decide to briefly discard Personas to fight Pallia in his preferred form. Lifting his foot, he stomps the ground to make chunks of said ground explode towards Pallia like shrapnel, bits of Cursed Energy floating around them for an extra punch.

Edited by Bolded1 on Apr 26th 2024 at 3:34:25 PM

Well, that's an easy choice to make.

"PIZZA!" "PIZZA!"

"Thanks, Lucina."

He now tries to think of a different subject.

"Hrm... oh! What do you like to do in your free time?", he asks, intrigued. "I've always wondered because you always look so busy, but I was too nervous to ask before."

Smiling, Wanda and Pietro head off to acquire some pizza, presumably with Tommy and Billy not too far behind.

Indeed, they follow quickly.

However, little did they know that something had its eyes on them. Something that would not just let them leave the Pizzaplex in peace when the time was right.

No, there was one thing that had to be done...

"Take a map." , Map Bot says to nobody in particular, after which it begins to follow.

I've dedicated myself to being a knight errant for some time. I use this to wander a world unmarred by the tides of annihilation. Lucina says, after thinking it over for a bit. I've also helped some villages in building houses or tending to crops. Laurent help me - and I read his books as well.

She didn't have that much hobby on the side. Hence why she was so eager to jump in into another fight.

It isn't much.