"Good luck!" The spetsnaz operator waved goodbye Lucy as she went off to the skies, along with the other spetsnaz soldiers and the Officer.
To cut a long journey short, the duo would eventually arrive to the Garbage, not finding anything of interest in the journey to the north....well, excluding a horribly mutated pig
◊ in the far distance being sent to the air by some kind of force, the mutant pig squealing and desperately attempting to save itself....before suddenly exploding into gory chunks, blood and pieces of flesh falling down to the ground.
That was pretty interesting.
Anyways, they would eventually find a small checkpoint in the north,
the checkpoint was guarded by stalkers wearing red and black gear,
compared to other stalkers,
◊ they seemed to carry themselves with a military-like aura. In the air, she could make out what seemed like 4 neutral stalkers walking to the road to the Duty checkpoint.
"E-equipment? Uh, you mean like toys right? Erm, I don't thin this place-"
Just before Andriy could finish, the Major of the Ukrainian forces in the Zone slowly approached the conversation taking place, the serviceman looking worried as Degtyarev noticed one of the soldiers snoozing while they were supposed to be guarding the area. He seemed pretty disappointed.
"Private, care to tell me what happened to him, and what does our new visitor wants?"
Andriy looked very worried because he got into trouble. "Erm...he got..drunk when I told him not to drink, sir. And she uh...she's looking for equipment, sir. But maybe she means like toy-"
"Private, take him out of here, please. I'll have some of the Spetsnaz operators in the bridge replace you two, and you swap spots with them. We need far much prepared soldiers to guard this anomaly. Now move."
"Uhhhh, y-yes sir!" The clueless private quickly grabbed his drunken friend by his arms and dragged him away to one of the building, leaving only Homura and Major Degtyarev. The Major had a feeling that considering she came out of this portal, she was more dangerous than she seemed.
"To answer your question, yes, there is a trader up to the north in the village populated by stalkers, who has plenty of gear, like guns and armor. While we normally would not allow entrance to Chernobyl....well, I shall make an exception, since we are no longer in Ukraine, and we'd rather be as pleasant as possible to visitors and neighbors in the area, since blindly obeying laws to shoots trespassers on sight won't save us, despite what some of the lieutenants say."
"But before you can pass, let me warm you that the Zone is a extremely dangerous place. So hopefully, you are prepared to deal with either mutants, radiation, and bandits. I also hope that you have good intentions, and don't mean to cause harm to us or others with the gear you buy."
Did you know this section has a character limit?
Arkos - Parallels and Plots; Royal Box, Colosseum, Castlevania
Okay, so Dracula knew them. Or at least, had heard of them. In fact, he had heard of them in quite a bit of detail. Jaune was unsure if anyone had referred to Pyrrha as invicible while they had been here, but that was her nickname: The Invincible Girl.
Jaune would've argued the whole "genius tactician" thing (he did have a head for strategy, but he was pretty sure if he ever lead an army he'd end up like General Lagune: missing an important detail and getting a lot of people killed), but he was silenced by Dracula's next words.
If this was any other comparison, he might have objected to it. But Jaune could understand directing your anger at the death of a loved one towards a person you had no hope of defeating. Cinder Fall wasn't quite a god, but she'd killed both Ozpin and Pyrrha, and had magic at her fingertips. The best he could ever hope for was Cinder getting distracted and him managing a lucky shot.
Still, it chilled him to his core that someone as evil as this could have started out like him. That the possibility existed that he could walk the same path.
Pyrrha picked up on this commentary too, but she didn't let herself ruminate on it. Jaune was a good person, admittedly one willing to break the law in non-harmful ways, but a good person.
No, what she picked up on was difference. Dracula singling Jaune out specifically, and then switching the subject to the fact that he and Death existed in some form in other worlds. He was leading them to a conclusion there, and Pyrrha reached it with commendable speed.
"There's a version of Jaune in your world, isn't there?" Pyrrha asked, much to Jaune's shock.
Renora - Transformers: Pretty Weird, Honestly; Stands, Colosseum, Castlevania
Both teens gave Trevor a slight nod, conveying their understanding of his orders. It was going to be a little awkward that they'd have to throw these bottles before they could pull their own weapons, but they'd deal with it.
Link was fighting well, and taking it more seriously this time. Death's ability to conjure scythes was a surprise, one Nora believed Ruby would go gaga over if this wasn't a bad guy.
The boy had then proceeded to turn into a monster.
"Did you know he could do that?" Nora asked, turning to Trevor, a slight sarcastic edge to her question.
"I believe it may have something to do with the mask that he put on." Ren commented. "His ability to change is likely limited to the number of masks her carries."
They do have medals for almost, and they're called silver!
"Unfortunately, you would be incorrect." Lady said to Weiss. "The girl doesn't seem willing to admit she made any kind of mistake. She's too young and irrsponsible to be trusted with a task like this. Not to mention, she doesn't seem to be willing to kill, and that's not something I'm going to force anyone to do, least of all children. But it does make any potental recruitment to a "Hunt and Kill" team....problematic.
At that moment, no less then 4 people stepped inside the room, three of them asking for Dante.
"Nero, take over for me."
She then stepped away to the newcomers, first the samurai.
"You want in, you're in, welcome to the team." Then she turned to the others. "Sounds like you're looking for Dante. Unfortunately, he's not in the office at the moment. May I ask what your business with him is?"
Meanwhile, over at the projector, Nero clicked a button, and a map of Battleworld as a whole appeared.
"Er, ok, so, now I think it's time for us to figure out where each of us is going. Way we see it, we're each going to take an area, go in, and investigate, look around for this guy. Lady wants us all working in pairs, at the very least, and given what that shapeshifting jackass he's working with can do, three to a group may not be a bad idea. better safe then sorry. Once someone gets visual confirmation of Vergil, Lady wants to be called. Don't try to be a hero and 1V1 him. He spots you, pull back. Oh, and there's no need to check this Hells Gate place, apparently some government person came by not long ago and promised they'd be keeping an eye put for him, he apparently said hi to their cops by killing a dozen of em, so they're not happy."
"Oh, and I got this sheet, Lady wants all of your contact info so we can coordinate movements. If you don't have a cell phone or something, tell us and we'll get you some cheap flip phone."
He paused a second to take in that information, before responding to Igor's question.
"Ren Amamiya."
He turned, about to leave, but turned his head back toward Igor for a moment.
"I might take you up on that offer for your services. But right now, I'm fine. If I do need it, I'll be back again."
With that, he made his way to the door and exited.
Makoto desummoned her persona, and made her way back to the table, looking ever so slightly flustered.
"Well, there are a few caviots. For one, we can't actually use our personas in the real world, usually we can only use these outfits in a special location, not accessible to normal people. Even if we could, I can't very well drive around on something like that without drawing attention. Not to mention it requires energy to keep her summoned for any major amount of time, if I just went driving around long distances with her, I'd just tire myself out to the point where I woulden't even be able to summon her."
It was at that moment that Joker exited the Velvet Prison, and on seeing him in a new outfit, both Morgana and Yusuke jumped out of their chairs.
"Joker!"
"Is something amiss? Why are you in your thieves outfit?"
He looked down, having honestly forgotten it was on. "Oh. Misunderstanding. Don't worry, I'm fine. I miss anything?"
"One of the new people got challenged to a fight by Queen, and got totally dominated!"
He looked around the room, figuring out quickly enough which annoyed looking teenager was the likely victim. He shook his head.
"Don't judge a book by its cover. And where's......"
He then caught sight of Minako by the front door, and started making his way over there slowly.
Balthier slowly rose out of his chair. "Well, looks like it's time for the leading man to make his debut to this city. The rest of you stay here, don't exit until you get my signal."
With that, he pressed a button, and a ramp would descend from the ship. Balthier would slowly come down said ramp, hands up in the air in the most non-threatening manner he could manage.
"Now, no need to be alarmed. We come in peace. We just landed here to pay a visit to your fine looking city. Didn't mean to startle anyone, but we didn't exactly see an aerodrome or anywhere official we could land our craft. I'm the captain, name's Balthier."
The Grand Re-Vizier
The Samurai was quite pleased with how easy it was to convince the woman who seemed to be in charge that he should join their hunt. Before he left to join in the briefing, he turned to the currently cat-shaped creature.
"I too was once in animal form. If you require any assistance or the use of my thumbs, I will be happy to help."
He moved over and listened to Nero's explanation. The tactics advised seemed sound. He was more than confident of his ability to duel this 'Vergil' alone if it was required, but the shapeshifter and his powers were far more dangerous. The swordsman might have allies of his own as well. Still, if the chance presented itself-
"I do not have one of these 'phones' but I know of their purpose. I would be quite pleased to be able to speak over such a distance."
Vampire Hunter
B.B. Hood, Lady's Armory
"We met kitty over here in Genosha yesterday," B.B. Hood said to the others while point to Mao, considering it unimportant. Afterwards she shook her head at Samurai Jack when he mention not having a cellphone and pulled out her own cellphone from her basket.
"Thankfully, I bought this in Genosha when I was there," B.B. Hood showed the cellphone off to Nero. "So we go into random chunks hoping we find him, and if we do we call Lady who calls everyone else because this guy's only going to stay down if we all throw everything at him?"
"Got it," B.B. Hood nodded to Nero.
Alucard & Lisa, Sugar Hill, Manhattan
Alucard looked over at the others as well as Lisa, and knew that other than Balthier, only Lisa and himself could pass as human. Thus Alucard stood up and waited out of sight beside Balthier. If push came to shove, he could always teleport himself onto the top of the craft and jump over the crowd with Lisa in his arms.
Wizard Needs Food Badly
Luna Nova, Meeting Room: Strategies, Seduction, Stealth and Sight Seeing
Nishijima's neck seemed to creak as he inched his head in Professor Lukic's direction. He studied the crone for a few age-long moments, masking his contempt for the hag's arrogance with a thinner mask of etiquette. 'Witches are supposed to be feared, not the other way around?' That was a foolish thing to say, and Lukic deserved to know it.
When the second hand of his watch ticked for a third time, the Research Director replied. His calm and even tone paced with a heartbeat at rest:
"I doubt, Shao Kahn, fears children."
That was all. No elaboration, no gruesome hypotheticals, just a soft reminder that the collection of Luna Nova's adult witches hardly extended farther than this room.
With the point made, Nishijima sat quietly as Diana made her deductions. The magic word—"logistics"—brought a small smile to his face. The girl had the right idea; not bad.
When the star pupil had removed her map of Battleworld and made her conclusion, Nishijima praised her reasoning...or he would have, had Tsuchi not raised her voice.
"Sorry Diana, but I have to disagree. Foolishness is one thing, but judging by what you've said, it seems to me like you're using the wrong word: if Shao Kahn were to attack Luna Nova, that wouldn't mean he's a fool, that would mean he's desperate. Desperation leads people to do dangerous and horrible things."
The girl smiled and shrugged in an attempt to lighten the critical tone. "I really like what you're getting at, though! Shao Kahn's in a similar problem as most emperors through our world's history; the more territory that falls under his rule, the larger the border. At some point he'll have his hands full just keeping a defense, assuming he's not dealing with rebellious subjects like you said. It's not easy keeping an empire together!
"Though I'm not sure that viewing Shao Kahn as a modern warmonger's really helpful. Full-scale invasions might be a little too costly for him right now, especially if the Galactic Empire gave him a good fight the day before yesterday. For now, he might just settle on raids and scavenging at the borders, maybe to test the military strength of the chunks around him. Uncle Eric's mentioned how much the map changes from day to day; raiding new neighbors who wouldn't expect it could be pretty profitable. I'm glad to hear you have a magic forest to protect you; hopefully Shao Kahn doesn't have aircraft, or flamethrowers, or...Uncle Eric, what's the name of that chemical the Americans used to kill the Vietnam jungles?"
"Agent Orange." the Research Director chuckled. "Eating away at flora sounds costly as well, but my niece makes a fair point, Miss Cavendish: striking at Luna Nova with a surmountable force would suggest desperation, not necessarily foolishness. A warlord with starving soldiers does not remain a warlord for long; he must provide spoils to keep his forces content, and distract them from problems at home.
"My advice is to avoid contact with Outworld; not because I know Shao Kahn can successfully invade this academy, but because I know it will invite him to try. I have no doubt that witches can spark fear in the hearts of the ignorant, but that does not change the fact that Shao Kahn recognizes no other powers but his own. Presenting Luna Nova as a formidable military force—an image like the Minotaur standing outside your portal—will only present a challenge; Bowser was a monster that rivaled Shao Kahn in size and strength, and you can see what became of the Koopa Kingdom. In the other extreme, choosing not to bluff and presenting Luna Nova as a peaceful institution of learning—an image like you, Headmistress Holbrooke—will only present an easy target. Either way, it doesn't matter if Outworld can win or not; war will come to Luna Nova."
A twinge of sadness crossed Nishijima's stern gaze as he added: "...and war has casualties."
Breaking away from the grizzly subject, Nishijima turned to Diana's request.
"I have some information on his potential military equipment—remnants of the Galactic Empire's invasion, which Dr. Schroeder obtained along with an extensive report on their vehicles and weaponry—but PANDORA lacks an interest in spying on any state, let alone hostile forces that would inevitably retaliate. My apologies, Miss Cavendish, but before I provide anything more on that front, I need confirmation from Headmistress Holbrooke that Luna Nova wishes to join our fellowship."
Badcock's thinly-veiled fangasm bought her a strange look from the Research Director; part concern, part disturbed, and just a tiny hint of disgust.
"...I can try." he answered hesitantly. "Though I'm afraid I don't know what those actors look like. The Count has an ash pale complexion, long white hair, a mustache and thin beard at his chin, and large pointed ears, like a bat's. He wears mostly black clothing, and a cloak. I believe he also wears a white ruffled collar, the kind that was fashionable in the eighteenth century Europe.
"He's also happily married." Nishijima added as a slightly upbeat (but entirely intentional) afterthought.
"The only other vampire documented in the Common Room was female. I cannot say if there are other male vampires in Dracula's service. I also can't comment on their libidos, but in the very real possibility that these vampires are more carnivorous than romantic, I would suggest that..." Nishijima swallowed the bile that shot up his throat. "you don't tempt them."
For the sake of diplomacy, he prayed that the other male vampires were also happily married.
Tsuchi winced at the names Badcock offered. Who the hell named their kid Lin-Lin? Thankfully, something much more interesting happened to get her mind off of the apparent rasci—oh, wait no, still there.
"Finally." the girl muttered. The ninja wannabe had been hugging the wall so long she was starting to wonder if this was some weird form of punishment. Like a detention where the professors didn't have to look at the students.
Watching the performance stirred a mixture of pity and prideful cultural anger in the young Contractor, though she said nothing before Marianne justu'd out of the room.
"Was that racist?" Tsuchi asked her uncle.
"I...choose to view it as an appreciation of Japanese culture." Nishijima replied, unsure if he really believed his own words.
Nishijima said nothing regarding Zi-Jin Cheng, though he took Finnelan's agreement to avoid contact with a mine's worth of salt. The Luddite wants nothing to do with a state with advanced technology; in other news, water is wet!
Nishijima basked in the approval of Archades. They loved it, just as planned.
"That's a difficult thing to answer, Headmistress." the Research Director mused, shuffling through the different outfits he'd seen in the empire's capital. "If I had to make a guess, I might say something like sixteenth century European aristocracy. There's some variety in colors, but most are soft. I do recall a popularity in frills and puffed sleeves. Full plate armor is also commonplace with their military. Needless to say, I doubt they have heard of things like cell phones or television, but their innovative use of magic makes those devices superfluous."
And then Croix joined the discussion. Truth be told, Nishijima had been expecting Miss Taggart to hold little interest in Outworld, Castlevania, Former Hell, or even Zi-Jin Cheng since he had little to entice her with, but now he had her.
"Of course, Croix." he smiled. "Archades is home to a variety of intelligent species, though humans are the dominant population in numbers and political influence. It hosts an impressive armada of air ships, some of which rival the city's sky scrapers in size. While the present Emperor—Lord Gramis—is fond of imperialist expansion, his son and the city's Cure-appointed delegate—Lord Vayne Carudas Solidor—is a far more even-tempered and approachable. He also just happens to have a deep appreciation for research and education, which is why I suspect he'd be interested in allying with Luna Nova."
The Research Director had more to say, and the quiet smile he gave Croix stated as much, but he suddenly turned his eyes back to Holbrooke.
"So, Headmistress Holbrooke: have you reached a conclusion? I would be delighted to continue our discussion, but I would first appreciate a more solid commitment to a partnership. Something in writing; otherwise the bureaucrats back home would have my head."
Edited by TheodoreHastings on Jan 5th 2019 at 3:41:10 AM
"We are." Tatsu stated as he crossed his arms, a smirk pushing his lips upward as she watched the girl's reaction. "The part where I attacked a televised military parade and publicly declared war on them over the broadcast was a big part of it too."
The young captain met Amber's playful gaze with an unflinching expression, one eyebrow raising in question. Alfred's gaze was completely blank and unreadable when it met the girl's, giving nothing away, while Mono's eyes were hidden behind his fringe. The Professor squirmed slightly, looking unsure of what to make of the profiling. At her words, Tatsu lifted a hand and pointed at the older man at the table and said, "Well, not all of them. The Professor here was there as well. But he wasn't a combatant, and he helped build this ship, so he's our prisoner now."
"I wouldn't know how many have exactly. I haven't asked." The teen answered Amber's question, his expression turning a touch disapproving. It might not have been much, but he found the girl's questioning odd. Why would it matter to her enough to ask? "But some have, and the ones who are willing to guard are willing to kill. We've all seen death before, and we're willing to kill to protect what we have."
"I have." Mono stated quietly but firmly, tilting his head enough to reveal a single pale eye from between his fringe. The look in it was flat and expressionless, in the sense that the androgyne seemed to hold no regrets or negative thoughts about the fact.
The animal-woman spoke of mythical and fantastical creatures and beings as if they were real, and at this point anything was possible really. So casually calling themselves monsters was another strange thing for Delfi, but it didn't affect her in the end.
The wheelchair-bound young woman nodded at Yomi's question, reaching down to her sides to turn and wheel herself towards the portal.
For a moment the world disappeared, and then she was somewhere else. Closing her eyes against the sudden brightness, Delfi brought a hand up to shield them from the sun and took her first look at the place called 'Sakura Dungeon'. Immediately she found that the name and appearance were almost complete opposites of each other. They had appeared in a thriving garden, full of vibrant green grass and bright blooming flowers of various colours. Hedges and archways framed the area surrounding them, and white stone pathways went in various directions throughout the area. The sky above was a bright blue, touched by a scattering of clouds. It was a beautiful place.
The surroundings only held her attention for so long, however, as the blonde spotted people. Or monsters, it seemed. The fox-woman hadn't been lying, with a number of strange and shocking beings that looked almost human scattered around the area and going about their business. What they wore, and seem to choose not to wear, was almost as shocking to Delfi as their inhuman features themselves. Over there, one woman danced about in an outfit that would have made a prostitute blush. While another woman with ears and a tail similar to the woman beside her had squeezed herself into a top and skirt that showed off far too much.
The wheelchair-bound woman's composure fractured as her eyes grew wide and her face began to turn red. She glanced about, unsure of where to put her eyes. Eventually she spotted two decently dressed women sitting together and drinking something. With an internal sigh of relief at spotting something normal, Delfi drew on her electricity and felt the world shift and grow sharp. She was curious to see what she could glean from these people, and if Yomi had been telling the truth. She stared for a moment, before her eyes bulged and her blush grew brighter.
Shocked and affronted her head jerked about, and yet the more she looked the more flustered and aggravated she grew; Her face utterly scandalized and gobsmacked. "What- why- what kind of perverted place is this?!"
Lucy - The Zone
After a few minutes of flying (and Lucy trying not to lose her lunch when looking at some of the... 'sights'), the duo finally started to see traced of people again.
"Happy, go down over there," Lucy said.
"Aye sir!" Happy relied, making sure not to drop Lucy this time around.
A few moments later they had landed a short distance away from both the base and the 'neutral'-looking S.T.A.L.K.E.R.s, hiding behind a tree for the landing. Lucy shook her shoulders and stretched her legs for a moment, and then headed out, marching in the direction of the checkpoint. She tried to make it look like she had just happened to be walking from a relatively-different direction from the others, yet still close enough that their paths could reasonably converge a ways before the Duty checkpoint.
"Some weather we've been having, huh?" she said when she got close, trying to put a gruff and tough inflection into her voice.
Sakura Dungeon Portal
Ceri leaned over, put a comforting hand on Delfi's shoulder, and looked her in the eyes with a defeated expression.
"You get used to it."
Vampire Hunter
Death, Castlevania Coliseum
"I figure anyone brought to Battleworld as a resident of one of the Chunkless Rooms is going to have the ability to fight even the strongest foes," Trevor explained to the two. "Despite being a mere child, Link would have to be as skilled a warrior as any of us for him to interest the Cure."
"But if you mean his mask transformations specifically, no," Trevor admitted to the two. "I only knew of his holy arrows."
"Those bottles are holy water and should burn Death if they hit him, but I've got a limited supply with me here," Trevor lowered his voice in an attempt to keep Death from hearing.
Meanwhile, Death was thrown for a bit of a loop when Link transformed into some sort of rock being. In fact, most of the fight went according to plan as Link dodged Death's scythes with Tatl's help and he was able to get close enough to actually seize Death's Scythe from his hand... but that is when things flew in an unexpected direction, or rather, that is when Death flew in an unexpected direction.
Death let Link have his large scythe and flew backwards from the might of the Goron's fist. The fist hit the back wall of the coliseum where it broke apart the wall. Unfortunately, there was no wall meat in that wall.
"Clever," Death made sure there was distance between him and Link now before he began summoning small scythes to hit Link again. Death had a plan of his own, but he need to wait for the right moment while keeping as far out of the range of that fist as possible.
Dracula, Castlevania Stands
"My goal?" Dracula asked Mirajane. "I defied God and waged war against humanity on my world... That much Belmont must have said is true, but this world has a beneficial god who brought me my wife back."
"If he wants battles on his Battleworld, then I shall give him battles as you see with Death's fight down there," Dracula explained to them. "But I am not into territory like Shao Khan of Outworld, and I do not believe it would as easy to wage war against humanity here especially when weakened and with so many hunters on the planet."
"Nor do I have any reason to wage war with humanity as the reason for that is back with me," Dracula noted to the others. "I won't say that I am anything but a villain, but I know a beneficial situation when I see it."
"I have a suspicion," Dracula narrowed her eyes at Pyrrha. "A hunch, you could say."
"One, at least, supported from a legendary figure from my world being here," Dracula added, nodding as he turned away. "I only know about her second-hand from one of my vampiric allies back home, but if you are truly interested, go to Chaldea and look up a woman by the name of Joan of Arc... That place apparently knows of two Draculas."
Dracula laughed at the absurdity.
Morrigan & Lilith, Common Room to Sakura Dungeon
Lilith decided to dance with Ceri, or at least try to. She wasn't quite sure what Ceri was doing was a dance, but hey, it is not like she could do anything else but wait for Yomi to finish. And finish they did as Yomi left for Sakura Dungeon with Delfi and Moira in tow. The two succubi followed them.
"I was just having—" Morrigan stopped a bit when Delfi spoke up about how perverted this place was. Well, this was going to be interesting.
Wizard Needs Food Badly
Eternal Princess
Reisen nodded.
"I see Alucard and Grant was able to find you guys."
There was an even neutrality in her voice. On one hand, she was actually quite glad to hear they were able to achieve their objective after their departure. On the other, those jerks left her at the mercy of those afro twins! They just walked away while the Souls Sistas forced fed her ice cream, sushi, and chili all in the same bite! She had a such a stomach ache afterwards that she had to sit out an entire war!
Petty reasons aside, deep down she was actually conflicted on how to feel about this. She knew it wasn't their fault and didn't blame them for it. But still, it was because she was out helping those two travel to some foreign land that she wasn't at the Bamboo forest when it mattered. She didn't run away this time, but some how it still felt like she had abandoned Eientei somehow, even if it was on the princess' orders.
Reisen seemed to be deep in thought before suddenly staring at Sypha with a serious determined look. Conviction burned deepl in those red eyes. They were the eyes of a woman who would not be swayed from her path. Though there was only so much that look could do when she was still in a lunch lady outfit. Putting down her wooden mallet she was using to make mochi, she spoke out in a calm and even voice.
"You and your group are the hero types right? So you have a plan to go after the Cure. I want in."
She was going to try to use the UAA's offer of wishes to bring them back. But it looks like that offer dried up. It was doubtful there was any other groups looking give away their wishes. There was nothing left to her but to take on the Cure. She had no illusion of his power, but it didn't matter. This was the only path afforded to her now. He already took everything from her, there was nothing else to lose. But if she could just do one impossible task...she supposed that's all the princess ever asked for.
"Yeah, that guy's a jerk. Some one really needs to show him a lesson."
Reisen turned to the Japanese witch who said that. The Japanese girl had said it so non-nonchalantly that it felt like it was undercutting lunar rabbit's serious intentions. To make matters worse, like an after thought after swallowing down some more Mochi, Akko turned to the other two.
"Hey, count me in!"
Reisen could only stare on incredulous, as if silently saying ''are you kidding me?"
The Finnish girl in glasses, still trying to catch her breath after all that running trying to chase down the tour, quickly tried to interject.
"*gasp* *gasp* Akko! Didn't *gasp* Diana and Akihiko *gasp* say not to *gasp* antagonize the Cure."
"Hm? Hmm...But guy is such a big jerk! Besides, we aren't going after the Cure, we are helping Reisen here go after the cure."
"*Gasp* I don't think that really makes a...GAH!"
The sudden appearance of a short German girl
◊ caused Lotte to jump with surprise. More accurately, the girl had been standing there a short while, her presence not making an impact due to how silent she was. Sypha might have recognized her as one of the witches in the Cafeteria, the one working on the little bot.
She was already trying to figure out a way to kill their jailer, might as well compare notes if they were doing this. She held up blue prints for the groups to see. It displayed a large spherical space station shooting a massive laser to destroy Battleworld and the Cure on it.
Reisen's unamused look didn't let up.
"Isn't this the same...from yesterday..."
Lotte looked on with a concern look.
"That looks dangerous, besides I don't think we have the budget for something like this."
Akko looked on as well, unable but to also find fault with the design.
"That's so ugly! If we are going to topple some big evil demon jerk, shouldn't we look more heroic while doing it!?"
As if expecting this, Constanze nodded and turned the page of the blue print to show off its second form. A giant robot capable of using its giant drill to pierce straight through the dwarf planet and anything the Cure throws at them. Shining Star Armageddon Attack!. This seemed to please Akko.
"Now that's what I am talking about!"
The two seemed to be of one mind and they clasped hands. Reisen and Lotte also seemed to be of one mind as they looked on with clear reservation about what the two were trying to do.
"This just doesn't seem practical at all..."
"I think there might be a fatal flaw with the plan of trying to destroy Battleworld just to get at the cure..."
How do you kill that which has no life?
CXZ - Checkpoint
Homura stood attentively but otherwise quietly as the superior officer personally took charge, biting her tongue at the apparent underestimation of her age by Andriy. Well, that does solve a good chunk of the potential problems she had to consider in this quest. Most importantly, her guess had been right and it did seem like she’d be able to collect weapons from here. The mention of mutants, radiation, and bandits elicited only a small nod of understanding. The money thing would still be an issue, though.
"I appreciate the opportunity, as well as the warning. You are easier to get along with than some others I have encountered so far in this world, at least.” Never mind that she was referring to her own part — no need to advertise dissension to someone who appears not to be able to do much about it at this point anyway. Homura looked askance to the area beyond the checkpoint. “Two questions, if I may: first, how far is it from here? Second, is cash the only for payment accepted?" It wouldn't be the first time she would have had to do a job for something she needed
The 4 Loners looked over as Lucy and Happy approached them, they seemed surprised at the fact they are looking at a female stalker, though they seemed to take it easier compared to the rookie stalkers in the village. Considering their gear, and the way they carried themselves, these stalkers had some time in the Zone like the trio of stalkers they worked together with.
"Huh, that's a new one."One of the stalkers wearing 
◊ a combat vest said.
"Well damn." A stalker wearing a darker variant of the sunrise suit with pouches said
◊
"Now this is a weird ass anomaly. What you think, Shovel?" A stalker wearing a makeshift suit with the vest being that of a exoskeleton
◊ asked what seemed to be the leader of the group, who wore a SEVA suit.
"Guess the Zone just surprised us with something new." The leader commented before turning to Lucy. "The weather, well...nothing new, really, though there are reports of a blowout coming soon, so you best be careful, fellow stalker. Anyways, you headed for Rostok, right? Want to come with us? We'll be safer that way from any mutants or bandits in the way than travelling alone."
Degtyarev nodded and gave a small smile as Homura thanked him for allowing him here, as well for warning her...though the comment about being nicer than others in this world worried him, would the neighbors of the Zone be downright hostile to the Military forces here?
Shaking off that thought, the Major then answered Homura's question.
"For the first question, the trader is not far from here actually, just head to the road to the north and you'll find a small village populated by Stalkers. They will show you where it is, it's not that hard to miss, as the trader lives in a underground bunker very close to the village. As for the second question, while the main source of income are rubles, Sidorovich also accepts other sources like dollars or euros. I also heard he sells valuable gear in exchange of artifacts or performing jobs for him."
Delfi glanced slowly down at the hand on her shoulder, following in up to stare back at Ceri with a haunted and scarred expression. Her eyes slowly moved over to where Yomi stood, and then back to the girl before her, and in a strained voice said, "But...what...why?"
"Touched by the darkness..."
Ozen chuckled. "I guess you could say that's true. At least, something like darkness."
A bit later, she stared at the yellow-brown giant that Link had turned into, and there was only one word that could come into her mind: Why?
Why hadn't this boy pulled out this trump card of a transformation immediately, instead of saving it for something like this? There better be a good reason, otherwise her little internal worries about his survival should've just been completely avoided.
Ozen, for lack of a better response, sighed and rested her face in her palms.
She was brought back up, even if it was just a tiny amount, by Dracula and his explaining. With him, there was something she could understand.
"I guess that's something that everyone has in common. Even if some would argue otherwise, we're all warlike people, and that red bastard must've chosen us for that. But, tell me...why continue your feud with Belmont, aside from merely getting rid of a vulnerability?" She smiled. "You could just don a disguise and fight those who'd make for an entertaining killing, if that's what you really wanted."
Usually, when something explodes, it stays exploded. That was a law of physics or something, one that Utsuho could remember all but the name of as it was outside of her wheelhouse.
The big difference is that this thing was still floating like nothing had happened when she was done! If it breaks the laws of physics, it must be special.
There was some bird-like part of her brain, befitting her origin, that nudged her in a certain direction. She wanted to know about this thing, but more importantly, she wanted to take it back home.
How? With science.
Utsuho gathered a few bits here and there; pebbles, worn bolts and rusted bullet casings. In a minute, one arm was full of tiny things. The other one started tossing.
From a careful distance, she threw out piece by piece, trying to demarcate exactly where the explody part of this thing started. Then, once that happened, she'd go around and do it to every other side she could get to.
The first, and foremost concern of this Komeiji wasn't lying with all the death around her, it was right there with the giant worm that threatened to crush her! She lifted herself out of the way immediately, floating off to the right and hopefully above the ground-pound radius of the titanic tube thing.
From up there, she did two things: one, she tried to scrutinize its mind deeply and pervasively, no matter how simple it was, as every thought it had would give her a forewarning. Two...she used her weak arms to smack it with her umbrella.
She wasn't in the best state for tactical thought.
Edited by wikkit on Jan 7th 2019 at 8:18:03 AM
Vampire Hunter
Sypha, Luna Nova
"My group are hero types, but the Cure is a godlike entity in this realm, so we need to be very cautious if Reisen here is going to go against him," Sypha smirked, accepting Akko's little loophole. "However... A few ground rules. We are not to discuss any of this in the Common Room."
"That is the realm in which the Cure is king where no one can fight back against him," Sypha gave her stipulations. "I do not even know if he is listening in on us right now... But let us assume he isn't since otherwise there would be no safe place to plan."
"Basically, if Reisen aims to dethrone a god, she best not miss," Sypha frowned with an utterly serious expression on her face. "A direct confrontation with the Cure will go very badly for her."
"And destroying the planet is pointless since that doesn't stop the Cure from just building another one," Sypha added as she shook her head at Constanze's plans. "Do you all understand?"
Felicia & Talbain, Facility X-394
Felicia nodded as she kept an eye on the tree creature... and bolted away from the creature as fast as she could in the attempt to grab the laughing and crying woman and bring her to a safe spot. She at least hoped that if the tree creature followed, one of the other creatures would try to attack it.
Talbain growled loudly and continued trying to punch away the rock worms, but instead at just the tree, he tried to aim his attacks at the other anomalies as well, hoping that at least some of the anomalies could be taken down. However, he felt this might be becoming a losing battle.
Wizard Needs Food Badly
Eyes widening greatly at the very familiar aesthetics of the architectural style lining up the place, Nitocris would lean up against the wall and press her cheek against the stone as well sniff the earth to find that it was exactly as she had remembered of ye olden times somehow despite being in a giant tower filled to the brim with spiritual beings. "How is this possible?"
Murmuring a bit in a daze, the pharaoh would then snap out of her trip down memory lane after realizing just how weird she was being and coughing slightly before obediently returning to Hiriko's side and remembering it wasn't her exact Egypt (even if it was stupidly similar). "O-of course, you are more experienced after all."
Due to Egyptians being a part of a culture and time period where people WEREN'T prudes, she easily went for the eye popping skinship that was hand-holding without reserve, her hair extensions that connected her to the Egyptian afterlife twitching to and fro like actual ears inquisitively. "Now then, shall we?"
Nagi simply remained mum at Dante's horrible pun, a bit too polite to point out just how bad and poorly made the joke was. When she realized the Monokubs were actually robots though, the avid nerd girl jumped to attention with her arms splayed outwards and spine straightened, mouth crooked in a sort of ^ shape that slowly wriggled into the form of an anticipatory smile.
"O-oh, that makes it much better! You seem so lifelike that I didn't think you were mechanical at first... more like Prinnies..." Taking a few wobbly steps on over to where the bears were, the girl leaned down to look at them with twitchy fingers. "H-how did you get made... is that a trade secret?"
"Glad you liked it! I made it myself in the Chaldea kitchens with ingredients purloi- properly traded for from various time periods!" Switching words at the last moment with the smoothness of butter and no awkwardness at the least due to his ability to lie on a dime without any sort of mental fluctuations, Astolfo simply flashed a thumbs up at the little dude enjoying his offering.
One out of two was still an F but also better than nothing at least. And it seemed like the chocolate hater wanted to change tacks and ask for what was fun, a question that the Rider of Black echoed as well. "Yeah, is there anything you do for fun down here other than talk to literal dummies? Excitement is the spice of life after all!"
"Yeah, that would do it. Thank you for your troubles." Narrowing his eyes after seeing the less than honorable conduct shown in the PDA, Lancer would then remove his considerable bulk from in front of the entrance into the facility proper to allow for safe passage.
Meanwhile deeper within Chaldea, Da Vinci simply smile and nodded before waiting for a pair of Chibi Nobus to run in with a treasure chest full of sparkling Spanish doubloons and myriad other jeweled baubles before hefting the thing up with strength that no mortal woman would probably be able to muster.
"Here you are boys, come on over and take it off my hands, will you?" Anyone with actual knowledge of how heavy gold and treasure chest were would probably not fall into the trap of trying to lug away such an object without proper preparation too, though the Renaissance woman was aiming for a bit of havoc and thus attempted to bamboozle the bandits into thinking it was less heavy than it looked for... certain reasons.
Mulling over the gracious offer with a slightly narrowed and knowing look while wondering if the offer was to get a preview of what they could REALLY do, Ahri wordlessly asked for her band's opinion before getting it back in return of grim resolution and in one particular case (guess who that came from), amused anticipation. "You'd be surprised at how far an artist would go for their work, my good man. Perform your method- whichever way the coin lands we shall still go forward either way. What is life without a bit of risk taking?"
"Miss Demon Archer, I don't feel so good..." Face whitening once more, Okita gagged before flopping down. Unlike her earlier bouts of sickness though, she was now actively fading away as her form grew ephemeral and see through, with sparkles drifting away from the main body to dissipate. A fact that Nobunaga was rather attempting to fix by fruitlessly trying to grab at said sparkles and fling it back towards the biggest clump.
And then Nobunaga yelped as she found herself get magnetically drawn towards the fading Saber, her own body being eaten into a state where she was less a solid and more fine sand being blown apart. Weirdly enough there wasn't an actual complete erasure from current space but an intermingling of sorts as the fragments locked onto each other and swirled about before a soft glow occurred and a more solid form grew out from the meeting point.
Now back in actual view once more, the newest Servant seemed to be some sort of fusion of the prior two that held the colors and of Nobunaga and the overall somewhat serious and strict appearance of Okita while wearing a rather stylized outfit a few degrees less formal than her predecessors.
◊ Quietly sitting in her seat as though nothing was wrong, the newcomer was at the very least polite enough to let people finish their conversations without interrupting via interjections of any sort.
Castlevania, Colosseum: "I CAME IN LIKE A WREEEEEEEEEEEEECKING BAAAAAAAAALL!!!"
Link's hand tingled as his Goron fist crushed the stone wall where Death had been a blink earlier. He tried to swing his newly-acquired weapon at the reaper, only to watch it float safely away and summon more scythes to counter attack.
Five of them now, still no taller than two feet, now with smaller fifteen inch blades. Too bad this time the scythes were up against a creature who ate rocks for nourishment; Death had as much chance of harming the Goron with little blades as one might have poking people with toothpicks. Link used his free hand to swat away two of the incoming scythes hurtling towards his face and chest, side-stepped one that flew close to his right ribs, blocked another spinning to his naval with the blade of Death's scythe, and narrowly missed a blade that trimmed a few hairs off his white beard.
The Goron hero flexed his muscles as he grabbed the handle of Death's scythe and tried to break it. He wanted to take the evil thing out of the picture; no scythe, no reaping, and no deflecting his light arrows. The monster would be left with nothing but those tiny butter knives to fight with, and this fight would be that much closer to ending. So with as much strength as he could muster, Link roared and broke the scythe's blade from its handle!
...except he didn't, and only grew frustrated as the stupid thing refused to bend, let alone break. What the heck was this thing made of, anyway? Not even Zubora and Gabora could make something strong enough to withstand a Goron's strength! Not fair!
Meanwhile, Tatl broke away from the battle for a split second to study the new window Link had made. Looks like this arena wasn't made of especially thick stone; there were rooms just a foot and a half away!
"You'd think a place where people fight to the death wouldn't be so hollow..." the fairy thought aloud.
Hollow? You mean he could break it in more than one place? Wow, that usually didn't happen...
It gave Link an idea.
Without warning, the Goron hurled Death's scythe towards the other end of the arena, hopefully just out of his opponent's reach to keep the weapon flying for as long as possible. Where it landed didn't matter to Link, so long as Death was busy retrieving his weapon of choice. He'd need a few seconds to get this right.
As soon as the scythe left his fingers, the Goron rolled back into a ball and began spinning...in place.
5...
"Wait, what're you doing?"
The dirt flew around him as Link's weight buried its way into the ground a few inches.
4...
"That's not going to work!"
After another second, the rolling the rock creature began changing color; an orange aura coated him as Link picked up speed.
3...
"He's too fast, he'll just dodge it!"
The orange aura had completely consumed the Goron and peaked a foot above it in an almond shape.
2...
"Stop!"
By the fourth second, the aura had shifted into a finer point, stretched evenly on the top and bottom to form a sharpened wheel.
1...
"...well if you're sold on it, aim a little more to the left."
The Goron adjusted course, and...
BLAST OFF!!!
If Death left him uninterrupted, Link would launch from the edge of the arena rushing towards the reaper at an unmaneuverable 40 mph. Out of his shell stuck giant spikes that could shred through a Dodongo's hide, hurtling at Death and Link's real target: the stone wall behind the reaper.
Should Death avoid the obvious attack, Link would smash into the wall in an attempt to break through to the room beyond, the impact resonating through the walls even up to the stands.
...of course, should Death seize his scythe with time to spare, and should he decide not play the Waiting Game and strike Link mid-charge up, the Goron would fumble out of the roll and fall flat on his face, with Tatl dealing out a well-deserved "I told you so!"
Red Sprite, Dining Hall: Surrounded By Fellow Murderous Criminals! Yaaaay!
Despite what should've been the normal reaction from a girl in her early teens, Amber found the fact she was speaking with murderers a huge relief!
"I'm glad to hear you're willing to do what you must to survive. It's a shame you have to, but life's unfair and we all have to manage with the hand we're dealt. I ask because there's some youngsters on this planet who don't understand that; thanks for humoring me."
She shifted a little in her seat, either trying to get more comfortable or squirming out of nerves. Given what she next, it was likely the latter:
"I've killed people too. So have the friends I'm willing to bring here to support the crew. Since our powers are usually destructive in nature, Contractors are often recruited as saboteurs and assassins. We initially lack the same level of empathy that normal people have, so that dulls the moral edge of taking human lives. I say 'initially' to make a point that we change, which is a point that the Syndicate fails to understand."
Well, now seemed as good of a time as any. Time to drop the bomb.
"I should mention something about myself before you decide to let me join your crew: the crimes against humanity that the Syndicate has tagged me with...they're not fabricated. The truth is, the Saturn Ring in PANDORA isn't the first weapon the Syndicate's used to wipe us all out. They tried the same trick five years ago, at Heaven's Gate. There was only one way we could stop it from killing us, and it essentially involved reversing the blast outside Heaven's Gate instead of in it. The result was a massive shell around a two-thousand kilometer chunk of South America. All the Contractors were pushed out of the area, and that's the last anyone's ever seen of it. Heaven's Gate and the land in the blast radius still exist, but nobody can get in or out. For all intents and purposes, everything and everyone within the Heaven's Gate zone is dead to the world."
She stared Tatsu down with the stern and unfaltering eyes of a rebel leader; a look the young Captain might've seen in the mirror.
"What I'm saying is this: I'm charged with murdering over a hundred million people, and as far as anyone knows or cares, I'm guilty. But because of what my friends and I did, Heaven's Gate is now impenetrable, and the Contractor race is one step closer to security. Now that the sun spot cycle has come around again, the Syndicate's prepared to try the same attack on Hell's Gate. My friends and I came to Tokyo to stop them a second time, and I was prepared to repeat history to ensure that Contractors could never go extinct because humans decide we're not worth the trouble. Had the Cure not abducted us, I was prepared to wipe Japan off the map the same way my friends and I did in South America—essentially killing a hundred and twenty-five million people in the process."
She let out a deep exhale, feeling lighter now that the secret was out.
"Had history gone its normal course, I believe a middle-ground could be reached for Hell's Gate, but Heaven's Gate was beyond saving. There's only one Contractor with the power to stop a Saturn Ring, and she can't be in two places at once; we had to keep this war at a single front. So in the end, I regret that so many people were caught inside the blast, but...I did what I had to. In order for Contractors to survive."
Devil May Cry, Lady's Armory: Have You Seen This Pain in the Ass?
"He knows Hei." Yin whispered in response to Lady's question.
Huang raised a hand horizontally above his head. "'Bout this high, black hair, gloomy look in the eye. Sometimes wearin' a black coat and a kabuki mask like the dramatic lil' shit he is. He also goes by the Black Reaper, and his Messier code: BK-201. Yin here met your Dante pal the day we all got stuck here. Thought he might know where to..."
Huang's voice tapered off at the sound of "Hell's Gate place." His already grumpy face smoldered with the mention of cops. He had to make a conscious effort to clench his free hand in anger, and not Yin's.
"...y'know what? Change of plans. Mind if we lend a hand huntin' this freak down?"
"Wait, what?!" Mao objected. "Why?"
"Because I fuckin' said so, that's why!" the old man shot back. "The contact ain't here, and I don't feel like waitin' around just to knock Hei's teeth in. So we're gonna make ourselves useful and go freak huntin'!"
Maria groaned at the thought; Dmitri just rolled his eyes.
Meanwhile, Mao's fur bristled at the samurai's invitation to help a poor widdle thumbless kitty cat. Oh, he's been in this situation before? How fortunate he wasn't still stuck in it! It was hard to accept pity from normal people, let alone people who pretended to know what its was like to be trapped in the body of a house pet for eight goddamn years. And this coming from a guy in a kimono with just a faint understanding of what a phone is!
Turning his frustration at Huang onto Jack, Mao leered at the samurai, his voice bleeding with sarcasm:
"Well if you require any assistance operating a phone, I would be happy to help. It's the least I can do, since you're letting me use your thumbs."
Huang snorted; it wasn't every day he saw the furball get miffed like this—no matter how many times he was called a freak.
"I don't need a phone, but I'm gonna need a firearm." the old man said to Lady with a glance at the displays. "Mind if I borrow one of yours?"
The answer would have to wait, as two of the younger-looking hunters disintegrated and reintegrated into an entirely new person as if nothing disturbing had just happened.
Maria scooched her seat away from the new Servant as Dmitri stared at her...new outfit.
"Does uhhh...that happened often?" he asked.
Edited by TheodoreHastings on Jan 8th 2019 at 1:50:24 AM
CXZ - Checkpoint -> Interior
“Stalkers?” The way he said it they seemed to be some people specific to the Zone, but Homura couldn’t help but repeat it before she realized doing so probably gave away her ignorance of just what she was walking into. It would be up to Degtyarev to decide whether this was a sign of a girl who really was much more than she appeared to just walk in without preparation, or just one in over her head.
Well, rubles would have been really hard to come by in Mitakihara. Dollars as well — even the Americans used Japanese yen. And at any rate, it wasn’t at all certain Homura’s own bank account would have been able to purchase what she would want, assuming it was even accepted. Mere rumors of accepting favors or items were not such a solid ground to go on, but with the prospect of adding to her current stockpile of arms it was enough to push on. “I suppose I’ll have to inquire within, then,” she concluded. She took one step towards the interior before looking back one more time at the Major. “If it eases your mind, Major, I fight to protect. I suppose it is the same for you. It would be best if these don’t ever find themselves at cross purposes.” Any requests for clarification would go unanswered as she proceeded along the road he had directed her.
Anti-Gnosis Weapon
Velvet Room
By the time the mask came off, Minako had already started to process the implications of the pejorative yous the policewoman was throwing at the mysterious stranger. Her pupils began to dilate, her mouth slowly hung open, she took an involuntarily step backward, and, with her hands shaking, subconsciously reached for the Velvet Room door. But then she saw his face. His eyes.
She paused.
He threw himself on the floor before her, lowering his head to the ground. She blinked, drew her hand down from where she had reflexively brought it up into a defensive stance, swallowed thickly, and clamped her mouth shut into a thin, straight line. Then she squeezed her eyes shut and took in a very deep breath in through her nose. When she opened her eyes and let it out, her lips had curved into a small but fragile smile.
Settling herself down on her knees, she shimmied forward until she was just in front of the fallen man, then leaned down, hooked her hands under his armpits and began to haul him up with one long grunt of strain. "Hmmmmmmmgggh!" She continued until he was at least in a stable kneeling position, then brought her hands lower to his back and pulled him into a tight hug.
"You've been having a tough few days, huh, Hei?," she whispered gently, settling her chin on his shoulder and bringing one of her palms up to stroke and cradle the back of his head, "Trusting people is hard sometimes, isn't it? I understand. And I'm a little scared, but I'll be alright. Because we're friends! You're my friend who loves to look at the stars in the night sky, who knows what it's like to be Pollux! So... so I'll be okay! You'll be okay, too! Everything is going to be okay, Hei!"
Huh? That's funny... She was supposed to be comforting him, so why was her voice trembling so much? And why did her cheeks feel wet all of the sudden? The ponytailed girl sniffed loudly.
THOU ART I... AND I AM THOU...
The Fool froze in place, staring straight at the floor past her friend's back.
.........Eh?
THOU HAST ESTABLISHED A NEW BOND...
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?!
THOU SHALT BE BLESSED WHEN CREATING PERSONAS OF THE STRENGTH ARCANA...
B-B-But! But he's The Hermit, not The Strength! What?! WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!
Naturally, at this point she was in no condition to notice the leader of the Phantom Thieves coming up behind her.
GM of AGOG S4: Frontiers RP; Sub-GM of TABA, SOTR, & UUA RPs
Lucy - Das Zone
"Sure thing, that would be great! Yep, just heading to Rostok, that's where this road leads after all right?" Lucy said to the S.T.A.L.K.E.R.s. That was... easier than she expected. Clearly it was just because she was so charismatic and had such magnificent oration skills that she could get a group of random men she met in a wasteland to accept her as one of their own so readily.
"I sure could go for a tuna break," Happy added, sounding exhausted as he trumped along beside her, patting his belly with his paws.
"So anyway...." she continued. "I'm Lucy. Just got here from out of town and thought I'd see the sights around this place. I'm a... mercenary, you could say, but now I'm all about learning how to be a S.T.A.L.K.E.R."
Mirajane - Castlevania
"At least you're honest about it," Mirajane shrugged. She decided not to ask any follow-ups about just why his wife was elsewhere, since from what she could infer from Trevor earlier, it was probably something of a sore spot.
"You'd be surprised," she added. "There's at least two of everyone. More, even. But traveling between all of the worlds where these duplicates exist requires considerable magical energy, and actually transporting parts of them even more so. That the Cure can do it and bring pieces from dozens of worlds here is... definitely something, tehehe."
She hadn't been one of the ones who went to Edolas herself, of course, but Lisanna and the others had told her all about it. It was odd that the other Mirajane was a nice sweet person just like her, considering everyone else was supposedly the complete opposite of their Earthland counterparts, though....
Hiriko - Sakura Dungeon Egypt
Hiriko stood bolt-upright, trying to downplay it by acting like she was merely stretching some of the muscles on her back. She had just held out her arm, that was what you were supposed to do normally, right? But the Pharaoh had gone straight for... her hand. It was surprising just how forward the seemingly-timid woman could be.
Entering the pyramid, torches lit up the entryway
◊. Smooth and polished stones lined the floors, walls, and ceiling, while some of the stones were arranged in the center like a walkway leading up to the stairway. Large statues stood to either side of the room and the stairs, as did columns that were covered from floor-to-ceiling in hieroglyphics.
Going up the stairs and through the doors lead to a magnificent and grand throne room, one that matched the styling of the antechamber.
One that was completely devoid of people.
Save for the genie polishing the throne with a rag. She turned and looked at the newcomers with a stern gaze.
"I... Is Miss Anubis not here?" Hiriko asked.
"She's out," the genie said sharply. "Did you really think she just sat around here all day waiting for people? She went to the milk baths for the day, and she prefers not to be interrupted. I can write down a message for her when she gets back."
Sakura Dungeon Gardens
"Why what?" Yomi asked Delfi with a knowing smile.
"Morrigan, dear, I'm so glad you and your sister could take the time to visit as well," she added to the succubi. "Though were you saying something?"
Degtyarev stayed quiet as he saw her head off to the Zone, wondering what she meant by that. Maybe he should explore this...world to not only have good relationship with his neighbors, but to also know what to expect of this world
As she headed off, she would find that the Major was right, as there was a village not far from the checkpoint. The village had plenty of people in there, some walking around, some sitting in a campfire.
◊
Her presence would be noticed by A stalker standing guard near the entrance,
◊ he looked somewhat surprised at the arrival of Homura, though his gas mask hid it. Seems like another weird girl like the girl with her mutant cat and the other girl with bird wings. Why the hell did the Zone get super weird lately?
"You new here?" The stalker asked.
As Utsuho threw the objects she, was carryinf, she would find that the result was the same, no matter which direction, the shockwave coming from the center, and then calming down and disappearing like nothing happening....
Until she threw some objects that were clumped.
Utsuho would suddenly find that some of the trash that was thrown suddenly staying in the air instead of falling down, the bolts, bullet cases and pebbles twisting, glowing a bright blue color, and taking the shape of a round object, the distortion changing the object until...
A small flash happened, the pieces of trash changing into a stone shaped object
with glowing blue dots. The artifact would slowly float gently down the ground...unless she were to snatch it.
Kowalski nodded to Lancer as a sign of thanks for letting them pass, the Dutyers moving out to the land, ready to deal with the bandit scum.
Salkers were known for being sharp minded, cautious and suspicious of any dangers that might happen to them, considering the dangers of the Zone.
Bandits, despite their ruthlessness and cruelty...not so much.
Boris and his goons looked amazed by the treasure chest, god damn they are fucking millionaires with this shit now! All they need is to get this thing from her arms together and...
"I got it, I got it!" Artur quickly rushed to grab the chest from the Mona Lisa's hold, not smart enough to realize how much of a bad idea is to grab a heavy chest by himself.
"ARTUR, BYLAT, DON'T-" Boris warning was too late, as the treasure landed at his chest, finding himself in a bad spot, unable to get the treasure off him due to the heavy weight of it, the stupid bandit lying on the ground while having a hard time to breathe.
"Aw....fuck...help me guys.." Artur gasped as he begged for help from his fellow bandits.
"You idiot, we we're supposed to carry this thing toge-"
"BANDIT SCUM, STOP RIGHT THERE OR WE WILL SHOOT!"
The trio would slowly turn around to see...3 Duty stalkers quickly running to them, guns pointed at them.
"Oh shit... Boss what do we do?!" Vladimir exclaimed.
"RUN FOR IT, THE JIG IS UP!"
Boris and Vladimir quickly rushed away, the bandits quickly taking their guns out and firing at the duty stalkers, the dutyers crouching to avoid getting hit. The bandits ran away, taking any direction in this place to not only get the hell out, but to also avoid getting killed by the no fun brigade.
"What...GUYS, DON'T LEAVE ME HERE YOU SONS OF BITCHES!" Arthur screamed futily at his friends leaving him for dead.
Kowalski looked over at the incapacitated bandit who got screwed over by his greed, giving a small chuckle at seeing the scum being screwed over.
"Private Slutsky, stay with this bandit scum, make sure he doesn't try anything funny with her or anybody in this place. We'll chase the other bandits down."
"Yes, sir!" Slutsky nodded, as the two duty stalkers sprinted off to chase the bandits, leaving him only with the bandit struggling to get the chest off him and the Mona Lisa.
He looked somewhat weirded out at seeing what looked like the Mona Lisa, but his military-like traiming shook off the confusion.
"You okay, ma'am?"
"Name's Shovel." The leader of the group introduced himself, before letting his other group members speak.
"Anatoli." The combat vest stalker said.
"Name's Yuri." The sunrise suit stalker said.
"I'm Fiodor. Nice to meet you." The makeshift suit stalker introduced himself, befire Shovel spoke once again.
"Well, you could learn some tips on the way with us. Having more knowledge of the Zone will help you survive longer in the Zone. It's nice to see for once a merc that's willing to learn from stalkers. Most think just because they were former special forces, military or police forces they don't need help from others."
Eventually, they would arrive at the checkpoint, the dutyers keeping watch at the checkpoint, and the group would reach the gate, as Shovel approached the gate guard.
"We wish to enter Rostok."
"You know the price. 1000 rubles." The warrant officer informed Shovel.
"Yeah, yeah.." Shovel sighed, before taking out his PDA, pressing some buttons before putting the device on his pockets.
"Alright, you're free to pass. Careful of any mutants up the road." The warrant officer informed the group, though he gave a curious glance to Lucy and Happy...especially at Happy.
The group would then leave the checkpoint up to the road to Rostok, heading for the abandoned factory.
Edited by Darkomega245 on Jan 10th 2019 at 3:05:29 AM
With the demons slain, the group would naturally continue to progress. Every so often, they would encounter a lone enemy, but they would have no problems slaying them. Perhaps if the enemy was smart enough to unite against them, they may be threatened, but it would seem this was not the case.
Soon, they would find themselves in a large cave
, with larger waterfalls in the back that were creating a small river of water running through the center of the cave. Next to said cave was a half dozen small beasts
in the size of a ball, and indeed, as they looked, one of them moved not by walking, but by literally rolling himself to the river for a drink.
"Those would be our targets." Vergil said, not looking impressed. "The tome made them sound much more impressive then they are in person."
The next 5 minutes would pass in a confusing blur. Agreement was given to anyone who needed a gun, with the stern warning that Lady expected them back or otherwise expected to be paid for them when all was said and done. Discussion was had about each and every area, however briefly, some discarded from the investigation list due to already knowing of the threat or it otherwise being decided that the owners were friendly to one or another of their number and for who a simple phone call would suffice to give a warning. By the end, there were 5 areas, and 4 groups which had been assembled to search them. A first assignment was given to each, and agreement that the 5th area would go to whichever group was finished first.
By the end of this, Lady was packing up her computer and gear.
"Right. Once again everyone, thank you for agreeing to assist in this mission. Now, it's about time to move out. Make your final preparations, get with your partners, and get moving."
Over by Yang and Ruby, Nero would approach them, holding his sword, which he seemed to be exaiming to check and make sure the engine component on the grip that injected oil into the thing and superheated it was working correctly.
"Alright, so it looks like I'm gonna be with you two. Don't feel bad if you can't keep up, I'm pretty tough."
If the unique looking sword did not draw their attention, (That is, Yang, because who are we kidding with Ruby) Nero's glowing demon arm probably would.
The Velvet Room, Entrance: My Castor
As a young man approached the scene, Misaki stepped around the Fool and entered the Velvet Room proper, signaling Joker to follow her.
She didn't need sharp instincts to know these two needed to be left alone.
Minako could feel Hei's muscles clench at her touch, bracing for the final stroke that would end the Reaper. Yet when the Fool tried to lift him into a kneeling position, Hei shot his head up in shock.
This made no sense. He tried to murder her. No matter what the reason, you can't just forgive someone for doing that. She should be terrified. She should be furious! She should've slammed that door the moment he removed the mask! She should've ordered the deity to deliver the divine punishment he goddamn deserves!
He had grabbed her by the neck! He was ready to choke the life out of her when she least expected it! Sitting on a hill, watching the night sky, holding her as she lay fast asleep paying her price—
No. No, don't go there. This wasn't the same. There was no jungle clearing, no rain puddles, no fresh corpses. No falling stars. This wasn't the same. They weren't the same.
...but that didn't mean there wasn't a resemblance.
"I...had a little sister." he replied, wrapping his arms around Minako to return the embrace. "She was my best friend when we were kids. Always smiling, always optimistic..." he chuckled. "Always too quick forgive. She was the most important person in the world to me, even after she became a Contractor. I gave up everything when she changed; parents, home, any chance of having a normal life. I told myself that if I could keep her safe, then it'd all be worth it."
Minako could feel the fingers resting on her shoulder tremble; the water pooling in Hei's eyes would be noticed by him alone.
"...Pai is my Castor. She would've been around your age."
As if to answer, the soft blue glow returned. More confused than startled, Hei wiped his eyes and rose to his feet, lifting up Minako as he did.
"Do you mind if I ask what that glow is?"
HGT Portal: Drumroll, Please!
Goro nodded, and sent the text message. As he waited for a confirmation, he studied the globe in the center of the Common Room, and offered K/DA a few details about Shinjuku. Distractions helped calm his nerves.
When his phone buzzed with a new message, the frowning man nodded, and invited the pop stars to follow him through the portal.
On the other side, K/DA would find a residential neighborhood-turned-warzone. Out of the six buildings in immediate view, two were destroyed beyond recognition; one had been burned down to its foundations, the other had been crushed by something that must've been removed earlier. A loop of chain-link fences funneled any visitors (or invaders, judging by the carnage) into an opening five feet wide, making the first impression akin more to a prison than a suburb.
Facing Goro and the pop stars stood a mechanical figure with a pistol at its side. The thing looked like it barely had enough parts to move, let alone be a real threat—something like an anorexic Terminator, with a somehow even more disturbing face
—but it certainly wasn't alone. Seven other machines just like it were spread out within twenty feet of the fence, and those were just the clearly visible ones.
As K/DA approached the figure, it held up a skeletal hand:
"Halt." it ordered in a heavily-synthesized monotone. "Please state name and purpose of visit."
Devil May Cry, Lady's Armory: Prepare the Team-Building Exercises!
Huang hung up the phone. Now that the King of the Underground was in the loop about this cop-killing freak, they wouldn't have to trek back there for the third time in eighteen hours.
"So you're really a samurai?" the old man grunted at Jack. "Whole Bushido thing and all?"
He chuckled, but not because he found this funny. Quite the contrary, this was a terrible match-up, and he had half a mind to tell the broad in charge just that. How the hell was he supposed to cover a guy who fought with a fucking sword?!
Huang muttered something to himself and fished in his coat pocket for a cigarette. "Call me Huang. The girl's Yin, and the furball's Mao."
"Not that I don't doubt you can cut things," said the cat, "but have you ever dealt with anything past...y'know, the nineteenth century?"
...
Dmitri had fucking scored. The chick in charge, the serious silver-haired kid (the one who wasn't a Doll), and weird fusion Tits Mc Gee. With a shotgun and ammo aplenty tucked away in his duffel bag, the Contractor glanced at the Grimm Hunter to admire her weapon of choice.
"...you often get close enough to use this thing?" he mused. To be entirely fair, he liked how the sword looked to be in such great shape. In this bizarre world of Japan, Japan, and yet still more Japan, it was refreshing to see something of European descent.
...
Maria tucked a compact handgun into her jacket pocket, and turned to her partners for this little hunt: red hair, red hood, and black hairbow. She felt like the odd-woman out just looking at them; the fact she was at least ten years older then them wasn't helping, either.
"So." Maria hummed. "You three ever meet anyone from this Red Sprite place?"
Archades, Dungeon: Thanksgiving's Come Early!
Havoc grimaced just looking at the rolly-polly poultry. "Ugly little fuckers, aren't they?"
Turning her super gun at the flock, she smirked: "Let's see if they can fly!"
...turns out they couldn't. After ten seconds of firing, four of the creatures collapsed in pools of blood. Havoc left the remaining two for her companions, in case they wanted to know what Archadian chicken tasted like.
So with her flasks filled with fresh blood, Havoc stepped away from the monsters to admire the scenery.
She shouted over her shoulder to Vergil. "Those books of yours explain why a city this big's on top of the goddamn Mammoth Cave? Or how?"
Utsuho said, in a loud and clear voice, "Ooooooooh!"
It had worked in the completely wrong way! This raven intended to carefully mark off the boundaries and see if the anomaly was tied to the soil or a fixed point relative to the earth, but turning it into a rock works! Maybe...
In the interest of safety, Utsuho lightly tossed another pebble at the slowly descending stone to make sure she wouldn't explode by touching it.
Mirajane - Castlevania
"I don't think the darkness is the one doing the touching," Mirajane said cockily as she watched the fight down below. "But you're not far off from the truth, it's accurate enough."
She winced slightly when it looked like Link was inches away from getting a particularly nasty cut. But then Link went and.... Awww, he turned into a cute lil' monster. The creature almost reminded her of one of Elfman's beast soul transformations. Though that was about where the similarities with her brother ended, considering Link's own softspoken personality. It was a relief to see that he could do some sort of transformation magic, though, as now they didn't have to be as worried about a bad slash cutting into the boy's skin. This new form of his looked like it would handily survive a scything.
This talk of wishes and wives was interesting, though, so she turned back from the fighting for a short bit to focus on it.
"So tell me, Dracula, what's your goal here?" she asked. "There's always at least two sides to everything. Right now all we have is Trevor's summary of the situation, and you can probably guess what that was."
Lucy (and Happy) - The Zone
"Uh... huh...." Lucy said slowly, nodding along. She was not happy. She also wasn't Happy, since he was a different person. Still, she didn't know why she had expected anything different. Maybe it was the bleak, desolate lifestyle these people seemed to lead, which led her to think they might be a little more serious. But no. It seemed like no matter what planet you were on, there were always people who wanted to get wasted and make fools of themselves.
"Okay so Duty and the other S.T.A.L.K.E.R.s, got it," Lucy shook her head, trying to focus herself again after that... tangent. "I'll see what I can do. Come on Happy, let's go."
"Aye sir!" Happy said, hopping up and assuming the position. He grabbed onto Lucy like a backpack once more and took off.
"Thanks again for the help, see you guys later!" Lucy waved at the soldiers as they flew away, heading towards Chernobyl's popular fun-zone, Dutyland.
Erza and Wendy (and Carla) - Lobotomy Corp
Erza gritted her teeth, her robes vanishing in a flash and returning to the armor and sword she had been wielding moments before.
"Bring it on, you damned chicken!" she growled, then leaped at the oncoming bird. She reached to grab the monster's neck with her left hand, and ram her sword at one of its many body-eyes with the other.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Wendy let out a tremendous gulp, trying to eat all the 'loud' air in the area that she could. First it was the sand, and now that it was gone it was focusing on loudness. If this thing relied on using air attacks, Wendy was going to try and deprive it of a medium. Not all of it, of course, but at least she could try.
Yomi - Common Room
"I'd say it's as much of an invitation as I can give, no? How could I turn away a woman with such a scientific sense of curiosity?" Yomi asked Moira, giving her a look. Her tailed swayed back and forth gently, as if in a breeze.
"Oh far from it, I am just a humble one-tailed fox. While we're perhaps the single most numerous type of monster, most monsters on the whole belong to other species," Yomi explained for Delfi's sake. "Aside from those like me, we have quite a variety of monsters who share traits with other animals such as rabbits, cats, wolves, dragons, and pandas. There's also quite a few who you wouldn't even be able to tell apart from a human just by observation."
"Of course, it's a matter of terminology as well," she added. "There are spirits such as reapers, guardians, angels, and others who aren't truly monsters, but who tend to be classified as such as far as human perspective goes."
She paused a moment and exhaled.
"Well then, shall we be going?" She looked over at where Ceri was... dancing?... with Lillith. "Come along now, Ceri."
Ceri nodded and made a hasty retreat from the succubus sisters.
Sakura Dungeon Portal
After going through the common room and into the shimmering blue portal for the Sakura Dungeon, it opened up into the gardens
◊. Many monsters were hanging around in the gardens, most trying to get some time in the sun, either by playing around or being lazily sprawled out in the calm of the garden. A cat witch and an abyssal goat were standing inside a little kiosk made out of bamboo branches, with a big cloth banner suspended from the top that said "SAKURA DUNGEON". A demolitionist and infantry fox were standing on either side of the kiosk, watching the portal area.
There were a Tribeswoman and Mud girl laying down on their stomachs and elbows, watching a Genie practice her new dance routine, while the demolitionist and infantry were intermittently peeking over in that direction. A Fox Tamer was walking her foxes, strolling through the gardens alongside a Forest Spirit who was petting the bird on her shoulder. A few bees were out, pollinating flowers so they could eventually return to the hive and make honey. An enterprising and cheerful cat witch was selling ice-cold drinks made with fruit and cream, while a pair of redheaded women were just sitting leisurely in the grass, drinking two such fruity-looking drinks.
Edited by nman on Jan 4th 2019 at 12:01:23 PM