Battleworld 2.0

Lucy and Happy - 100 Rads - Rostok - Zone

"Hmmm... maybe," Lucy replied to Shovel. "That guy was a real jerk, so I wouldn't mind teaching him a lesson. See how he likes being the one to eat dirt."

"He sure sounded like a meanie," Happy commented, having finally recovered and hopped back up to the counter again so he could keep sipping at his glass of milk.

"Buuuuuuuuut...." Lucy drew it out as she tried to continue. "I'm so new in town and just got in, I probably shouldn't do something crazy right? Even if it would probably be useful to have these Duty guys on our good side. I mean, you guys don't seem to use magic at all so it probably wouldn't even be allowed."

Juvia - Common Room

"Nothing, nevermind." Juvia scrunched her face up slightly and waved her hands about to drop the topic.

"Okay. So you're people that just look like rats," Juvia said to Veigar, nodding. Though she inclined her head and pointed at Twitch. "Except him."

She shook her head.

"Very well, I'll respect you just fine. But just keep in mind what my new friend here said about cleanliness."

She leaned over and put a hand on Vatista's shoulder.

...

...This umbrella...

...It quacked. Like a duck.

...

...The fact that this was the strangest thing about her current situation only made it more disturbing for poor Satori.

She couldn't take in the sight of the damage that this umbrella had caused for too long, with the worm's mind echoing in her own as she gave one more look at the black ooze coming from it. The way it thought was just another piece of its alienness; even the most pathetic creatures of the world could think of their situation more eloquently than this thing. For its size and formidableness, it was nothing more than a simplistic insect.

Satori couldn't kill it, but she'd try.

The tip of the umbrella was jammed into the wound she had made, and the quack it made was just as jarring as before. She would try to twist it in the wound, but the feeling of the ground moving out from beneath her feet stopped her.

Not long enough to keep her out of the air. The second she saw a crack forming in the concrete she reflexively hovered in the air, and yanked the umbrella hard out of the worm, leaving it to join the thousands of others beneath it. She...she really couldn't kill all of those. She caught a note of the thoughts they all shared, and its cacophony was deafening. It honestly made her feel a little hungry, just hearing them think about it...

...More thoughts to ignore.

Satori rose higher, continuing upward. The sephirot in her view was in the middle of a berserker frenzy, and was going to be of no help. They had already spoken their peace about how they view her existence. Satori didn't want that.

Now, Yesod, on the other hand! Satori's eyes eventually drifted to the man, who in comparison to everyone else that wasn't Binah seemed like a rock of collectedness in a sea of uncertainty. That sea is why I said eventually, because the first things that she took in were the corpses, the burnt corpses, the hung-up corpses and the unusually threatening tree.

Good thing Satori was in the corpse business.

The others were dismantling a tree, which was going to be her first concern once she was done feeling like she was about to burn to a crisp. This was a painful heat, like the one of Hell itself! It seared her, and against her better judgement she pulled off the ornate blouse she was wearing. The ruffles were just too much.

Now with a slip on, and the veins of her third eye melding into her body out there for all to see, she tried to aid the group in a frenzy of umbrella whacks. No matter how much it quacked, no matter how much her body cried for her to stop, she'd try to beat this tree to pieces! And, you know, read its mind. In case it tried something funny.

Edited by wikkit on Feb 5th 2019 at 6:02:02 AM

Velvet Room

As the superpowered assassin and the policewoman trained their gaze on her, Minako's smile took on a wry edge. "This is the part where I say 'what are you looking at me for?'," she quipped, "except I know exactly what for. Unfortunately, I only have partial answers. We know the shapeshifter - let's call it 'Nyarly' for short - is from my universe because it uses the same spells as us, because of the effect its name seems to have on this room, and because it can be identified by our sensors as a unique kind of Shadow, which are the monsters we used to fight back home, but that's about it. We have a theory that Nyarly has shifting resistances and weaknesses to certain kinds of attacks based on that and The Cure's idea of 'fairness', but we won't know until we attack it directly."

"In terms of what it plans to do next, well, we know that it likes to sow division inside of and between chunks, and that it would be in favor of wiping out all life on Battleworld, since it was directly aiding the leader of the Galactic Empire during their attempt to blow the planet up. Considering the implied finality of it, Nyarly's end goal is probably something like the latter scenario. Beyond that, we can only guess at its next immediate objective. It could achieve its short-term ends in a wide variety of ways, after all. Since we can't grasp the exacts of its next move, our best bet for foiling it is to act as a preventative and warn all people of power and influence in chunks about it."

"As for actually finding Nyarly, I have a few ideas. Dracula's Death was one, and although he's been recalled to his master's side, he did tell us he had observed the shapeshifter talking to the leader of City 17, which was why we originally decided to go there: to talk to their Administrator. Unfortunately, it was a trap, and Nyarly had ordered Wallace Breen and his army to attack us on sight. So, we snuck through the city, hitched a ride up to Wallace's office, and deposed him because he was working for the thing trying to wipe out all life on the planet. In the process, we learned about many other crimes against humanity Wallace had committed straight from the man himself, and then Nyarly ambushed us in-person. Apparently, the thing can now summon a seemingly endless swarm of Shadows to attack whatever it feels like... which really stretches the limits of 'fair', but I digress. Anyway, we weren't getting anywhere fast with the exits sealed and an infinite number of enemies coming after us, and by that point it wanted to kill Wallace too, so the former Administrator used an emergency teleportation device to zorp us all to the Common Room."

"Getting back to methods of tracking it down, though, I have one or two other ideas, but first, let's see if Wallace has anything to add," The Fool suggested, rising from her seat and weaving her way through the couches to the arch leading to the dining room. "Oh Wally~! You have visitors~!" she announced in a sing-song voice to the man in black-and-white stripes as he hunched over his breakfast — and it was a breakfast orders of magnitude better than prison food, to say the least.

Mitakihara - Mirai Building

“Well, the mall inside has several clothing stores — assuming their merchandise is restocked, there might be something there to your liking. Though I don't know what kind of currency you use, so...” Kanda had only a brief moment of respite before Cana brought up the BattleWorld thing. “Well, we've had a couple of giant robot incidents and that big space empire invasion, but other than that nothing out of what we’d consider ordinary. Though apparently we’ve got some magic superpowered threats as well, but that was something we only learned about a few days ago and we haven’t seen hide or hair of anything supernatural.”

At that point, the car stopped next to the curb in front of the garage entrance to the Mirai building, the glass doors leading to a small atrium with an elevator bank and a parking ticket validation machine. Kanda got out of the vehicle and opened the rear door of the police car to let Cana out. “There’s a directory inside if you want to look over a map before you go in.”

CXZ - Bunker -> Mill

Homura nodded in acknowledgement. "I will be back," was all she said before she went up the stairs and back out, heading in the direction she was directed. She kept her eyes out at her surroundings as she approached the bus stop, both for threats of bloodsuckers (and any other hostile creatures) and for any inhabitants she happened to pass by en route.

Edited by megarockman on Feb 6th 2019 at 8:54:19 AM

As Homura made her way to the mill, she would not find any threat in the way, excluding for a few dogs in the distance, but they did not notice her presence. Eventually, she would find herself at the bus stop, empty with nothing but dust and emptiness. Extremely close to the bus stop, was the lumber mill, it seemed pretty empty and didn't had any signs of life, until...

Homura would see a stalker slowly limping completely covered in blood and missing his whole right arm coming out one of the open doors of the mill, the dismembered limb bleeding profusely and dropping blood on the ground. He barely made it outside before he collapsed, dying of his wounds. He was not alone, as another stalker came out from the mill door too, hhe was crawling on the ground , with multiple claw marks on his back. He noticed Homura and was slowly reaching out to her, pleading for help.

"H-help me...please, help me. Help-"

Immediately, a invisible force suddenly grabbed him by his legs, the stalker's eye widening in fear as he desperately tried to hold on to the ground, but the unknown force was too strong and dragged him back to the mill, the stalker screaming helplessly.

"NONONONOAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Homura would hear the combined sounds of the unfortunate stalker screaming along with flesh being torn apart.....before being silenced.

Now the mill became quiet.

Too quiet.

"Well. The Arena doesn't have much rules except taking down your opponent. So many stalkers there use every dirty little trick in the book to survive there, I'm sure that if you keep your magic subtle enough, nobody will complain." Shovel said, a part of him hoped she would fight the mercs in the Arena to give them a taste of their own medicine with her tricks.

"Besides," Fiodor spoke next. "Those mercs need a wake up call that they're not better than us stalkers just because they have good gear and training. If you decide to fight them, we'll cheer for ya."

The Dutyers screamed as they were blinded by Utsuhos blinding light, some of them firing blindly in the air as they were desperately attempting to hit her, but to no avail. She would successfully manage to get out of the Checkpoint just as their sight returned to them, flying to the way to Rostok with no trouble.

The Warrant Officer rubbed his eyes and grunted, looking around in the air. "Where did she go?!"

"I think she escaped, sir."

"Crap. Warn the other dutyers in Rostok. Tell them that a woman with wings breached illegally the Checkpoint and that she must be arrested."

Edited by Darkomega245 on Feb 6th 2019 at 6:45:04 AM

Togami & Nevermind- Facility X-394 w/Some Bad Ideas

"Alright, thank you, sir." The princess addressed the old man, before turning to her fellow schoolmate, who was deep in thought. "You got a plan?"

"I'm going down the Disciplinary Route. Come along if you don't want to be here. Or don't."

The boy started stepping down the red line, the girl trying to catch up.

"Hey! Wouldn't this be more dangerous?" Soina shouted as she made it to Togami's position.

"Perhaps, but it's not like the other way is safe. Besides, if we're lucky, the department either has equipment to defend ourselves, or things it confiscated to be of use. At least, a lot more than the welfare department."

"And if not?"

"Make do with what's available."

"Ah... w-what if we die here?"

"I can tell you I'm not dying, at the very least."

"Why?"

"My name is Byakuya Togami."

"... Uh... Well, I suppose my people need me back home...and my friends...s-so yeah, I-I'll survive too!"

"Then let's go."

And the two continued to walk into the down the route, towards the unknown.

"Yeah, she's correct. Even if you don't want us to search ourselves, it would be safer for the everyone stuck here if you at least conducted a through search, and stay on guard." The beastkin (or, well, she at least thought she was) did have a point. The last thing anyone here wanted was a massacre due to negligence.

Lucy (and Happy) - 100 Rads - Rostok - Zone

"Hmmmmm...." Lucy thought out loud. "So I'd be really popular with the STALKERs if I helped beat up these out-of-town mercenaries, huh? Well then...."

She thought back to the bandits they had fought earlier. Sure, she had mostly provided support while the other guys did most of the actual fighting, but in her humble opinion it was only possible for them to have because of the bandits being completely unprepared for said magical support. So she would just need a way to help out again, except this time she wouldn't just be helping whatever team she was on, she would also have to try saving the lives of her very enemy. Some way of immobilizing her foes enough that they can call it a win....

"Can we take a look at the arena you fight in, first?" she asked. "I might have an idea. As long as we don't have to kill our opponents to win, I'm not going to do that just for some stupid game! Besides, I want to see their faces when they announce that they lost and we won."

Erza and Wendy (and Carla) Facility X-394

Wendy finished sucking in the air, and tried not to puke when she saw the chicken get stabbed by Erza, and all of the other things getting killed. And the bodies. Those were definitely unpleasant. She didn't have long to rest and muse about what the most disgusting thinig around was, though, as the big fire bird was starting to heat things up. A lot.

"Wendy... too... hot..." Carla said from Wendy's shoulder, her furry body really sweating in the heat.

Wendy panicked.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Wendy shouted, letting out all of the air she had been eating in an explosion of force, mixing it in with the air her own lungs could generate. She blasted it all around her, trying to put out as much of the fire as she could and buy herself some time to cool down, all while nervously squeezing the rooster handpuppet she had clutched in her hands.

Erza switched to her Flame Empress Armor◊ in a flash, sighing in relief as it helped her deal with the increasing heat. She didn't summon its sword, though, as she highly doubted any flame launched at the phoenix would harm it, short of something outrageously powerful. Wendy was trying to put out the fire, which meant they might have a small extra bit of time to stay alive, but either way, they had to act fast.

"Wendy, get to safety, I'll find you!" she shouted at the blue-haired girl. In the middle of her screaming, Wendy seemed to have got the message, and she and her cat scrambled towards the Welfare Department.

"Now then," Erza said, gritting her teeth. As far as she could tell, the red-haired swordswoman was going berserk. If only she could be going berserk on the phoenix instead of the worms. The two of them just might be able to....

She took off running, leaping high in an arc that had her landing behind Gebura, back-to-back. As she did so, her sword vanished from her hand, replaced with her gigantic holy hammer◊, which she slammed with tremendous force at the nearest rock worm and into whatever remained of the ground below.

"We can beat this!" she shouted at Gebura. "Get a hold of your anger, focus it, point it elsewhere! That bird is going to burn everyone to death if you can't! We have to give them time to escape!"

With that, she squeezed the handle of her hammer tightly, her knuckles whitening slightly as she hefted it up once more.

"Or just keep slaughtering them!" She slammed the hammer with a mighty force, launching one of the monsters that Gebura had slaughtered flying at the bird like a massive missile. "I can use the ammunition!"

She got to work hammering as many as she could in the same way, hoping that Gebura would at least keep up the pace.

CXZ - Mill

Homura had stopped when the first stalker stumbled out of the door, watching silently the final moments of both unfortunate souls. Gruesome deaths weren’t an unfamiliar sight for her — how many times had she seen overconfident Magical Girls get in over their heads against a Witch — though she still needed a moment to recompose before beginning her approach. She began her scan of the area around the mill with a slow, deliberate walk on its perimeter, keeping at least 25 meters away as she surveyed the outside of the mill — specifically, the location of all doors, windows, and any points in the wall which appeared weak. The first rule when going into a new situation is figuring out how you will get out.

Homura kept an eye out for anything out of place outside as she began her scan, on the chance that one of those bloodsuckers tried to hide in plain sight outside by using their invisibility outdoors. It was too bad she didn’t have any thermal equipment to detect them — though, to be honest she wasn’t sure if they’d show up, not knowing exactly the nature behind their invisibility ability. Perhaps if there was a working faucet with a garden hose or something nearby so she could spray around and let the water reveal them. Also, they seemed to be keeping to the inside of the mill, or at the very least seemed loathe to roam around in daylight — could whatever sunlight that was filtering through the clouds here harm them in some way?

Assuming there were no nasty surprises by the time the bus stop came back in her field of vision, Homura would stop and carefully approach the door where the stalkers had previously attempted to escape the mill from, sticking outside for now to see if the corpse might hold anything scavengable to use — not like he’d be able to use it now. It would be foolish to try to use that door to enter, though — she’d pick a different way to get inside. But the more she could ascertain about these bloodsuckers’ behavior, the better her odds of coming out of this unscathed.

Common Room - Mitakihara Portal

Mami replied first after a moment’s silence. “Oh, that sounds serious. I’m afraid I haven’t heard of any such man within our borders, though — have you, Sa-”

“Haven’t seen that guy.”

Mami blinked for a moment at Kyoko’s almost-preemptive response, leaving Kyubey to speak up...so to speak: <I did see someone who matches your description, although that was several days ago.>

“You have?!” Mami turned first to Kyubey in surprise, as did Kyoko though she kept quiet. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

<When I encountered him he was already leaving the city through this portal. The business he had with Minako Arisato had been completed.>

“Business?” Kyoko parroted?

“Arisato-san?” Mami parroted.

The two of them turned to the others, looking for an explanation.

Castlevania to Common Room

"Let's just go!" Trevor seemed like he really did not want to go, especially after that attack against Tatl, but it was probably better to do so at this point. Amazingly enough, Trevor and Shanoa did know their way out of Dracula even if the castle actually looked different from when they entered into the place. Eventually, they all entered back in the Common Room.

"I really need a drink after that," Trevor sighed, sounding like he was channeling Ruby and Yang's Uncle Qrow at the moment. "But Sypha will just yell at me if I do."

"I see ya got the whip back," said a man who walked up to the group dressed as a pirate, before introducing himself to the others, namely Mirajane. "Name's Grant."

"This is one of my allies, and the one who was to watch over the Common Room during our venture into Castlevania," Trevor explained to the others, before turning back to Grant. "It could have gone better."

Morrigan & Lilith, Sakura Dungeon Garden to Inn

"Of course," Morrigan nodded to Yomi, before she and Lilith followed Yomi and the others to the Inn. This was certainly the typical sort of fantasy inn which made it all rather boring for the two succubi. Having said that, both Delfi and Ceri's reactions would likely still prove entertaining for the Aensland Sisters.

"I could never really get into books myself," Morrigan said as she looked at the back of her hand. "I've always preferred actual experiences to those written down on the page by someone else."

B.B. Hood, Red Sprite

"Yeah, the Catwoman is right," B.B. Hood stated to Garnet. "At the very least, go inform your leader about Vergil."

Homura would see from a safe distance that the corpse of the stalker held a Winchester 1300 shotgun on his arm that wasn't dismembered.

Some of the walls of the Mill seemed weak, and there plenty of open windows. Surely if a large explosion happened there, the walls would break, giving her a chance to make a sudden entrance or exit.

There seemed to be no activity from the Bloodsuckers in the outside, though if she paid attention, she would hear the noises of breathing coming from the inside of the mill, surely coming from the bloodsuckers. She would notice that a pair of glowing lambent eyes shining through the darkness, staring at her in the dark corridors of the mill.

Then they disappeared.

At the same time the eyes disappeared,loud roaring came out from the mill.

The Bloodsuckers now knew Homura was here. And they're out for blood.

"Think a non lethal way MIGHT work for a victory. But who knows." Fiodor spoke.

"Sure. Follow me." Shovel said, before giving some rubles to the Barkeep, paying for the drinks they asked, who gave a nod to the group.

"Aw man, not even a chance to get a drink?" Anatoli sighed. "Guess I have to save it for the fight."

The group would move away from the bar, passing through the mercenary who still insisted them to "Come in and not stand there" even though they were leaving. After a few minutes of walking, the group would arrive near the Arena, Shovel would then point to Lucy a window nearby, which showed what seemed to be the Arena, a large warehouse building with multiple boxes and plenty of places to take cover.

Meanwhile near them in the Arena entrance, she would see the Mercenaries arguing with a group of 4 Duty stalkers, with a Stalker in his mid 40's attempting to calm both of them down.

Ruby and Yang - Getting A Heads Up; Outside Mitakihara Portal, Common Room

"Oh." Ruby said, suddenly realizing where exactly the fight between Vergil and Minako had gone down. "Minako beat him in a fight, and made him promise to work for her. He broke his promise."

"And now we're tracking him down, because he joined up with someone even worse." Yang added.

A beep suddenly came from Ruby's pocket, and with a muttered "Sorry." she pulled out her Scroll, leaving Yang to continue without her.

"Even if you haven't seen him, can you help us narrow it down? Tell us parts of the city someone like him could hide in, maybe point us towards someone who can help us search?"

As Yang spoke, Ruby looked up and across the room at a group arrived at the Castlevania portal, nodding back at a boy and a girl who had just nodded at her.

As Weiss waited for Dmitri to finish receiving directions to the local Kishin Chief, Weiss cast her eyes on the fourth member of their team, who'd walked off and placed an order at a food stall.

A larger order. An insanely large order.

And that was saying something, especially coming from Weiss. Huntresses and Huntsmen lead active lives, and had supercharged metabolisms on top of that. Whole turkeys and swordfish were common sights at the Beacon Cafeteria's breakfast table.

But insane amounts of food came at insane prices.

"Please tell me she has the money to pay for all that." She muttered under her breath, hoping that nobody but Lady would catch it.

"It could also have gone a lot worse." Ren added to Trevor's words, casting a glance at Link. While doubtless Link would probably end up preferring to have this conversation somewhere more private, this was safe place, and they didn't know what he'd do next.

"Link?" Nora asked, looking at the young boy with concern. "What exactly were you trying to do to Death back there, before Dracula grabbed you?"

There was no use accusing him of anything if they simply had interpreted his actions wrong.

Meanwhile, Jaune took a look around the Common Room, and spotting Yang and Ruby talking to some other girls, he pulled out his phone and sent a message to Ruby. After a few seconds he got a message back, read it, and looked back towards the younger girl and nodded, before showing it to Pyrrha, who did much the same.

Returning from an invasion of a gothic castle of the undead with nothing to show for it but some dried bloodstains on her armor, Ozen still kept abreast of the rest of them for the moment. She was good enough at hiding her feelings, but perhaps the fact that she wasn't smiling evilly and constantly alluding to people's bones being broken might be a sign of things.

...Well, then. I think I'm going to have to be productive somewhere else today, she thought to herself as she stood aside of the group. Obviously, I just wasn't suited for this.

"I wouldn't put it like that," Ozen said, casting a critical eye on Trevor. "You got what you came here for. No one is dead. Out of all of us, you seem to be in the best straits. Don't bemoan your good luck."

Her eyes turned to the private rooms, where she knew food was waiting...though, it was nothing but nigh-inedible delver's rations. She fixed her hat, and began to walk off.

"Unless you have anything else you'd like me to observe, I'll be in my room."

Yes, good! The really loud noise of human-born danmaku stopped echoing across the ruined city, and now she was free to travel until the next inconvenience. Utsuho counted this as another little victory!

She'd poke her head out and start taunting them from the safe distance she was at, but the mental manifestation of Orin's good advice echoed in her head: There ain't so safe distance to taunt, sis!

Shucks.

Well, at least until she could move a little further outward, she'd fly low and then swoop up into the sky. Unlike the powerplant, which may have decayed and become unrecognizable to her 1980s knowledge base, a lake is pretty easily discerned no matter where or when. Let's just hope that there's only one!

Vector — Imperial Palace

The Emperor listened curiously as Strelok desribed an area he was familiar with, the Zone. "You wouldn't be making things up about this 'Zone' to deter me from taking a glance there, would you?"

The Emperor laughed, as if he had just told a joke. "Of course not. I can tell you've been around undesirable places just by your attire. Well, truth to be told, not every part of Battleworld is going to be suited for the joys of civilization."

When Ryuuou described the lands of Former Hell, to the south, everybody on the Emperor's side of the table lit up. The Emperor stroked his beard, deep in thought.

"You say there's monsters living underground in this region? Well, nobody likes monsters. They're nuisances, but luckily, most of them aren't too bright," The Emperor added, before taking another piece of lobster and eating it properly.

General Cristophe worked on a bit of his salad before he added himself to the conversation. "If these monsters all live underground, there's no reason to bother them. If the natural inhabitants of Former Hell aren't using an entire portion of their habitat, they shouldn't object if we use some of their land for our uses. They're just monsters, after all."

The court jester took a bite of some fruit from a fruit fork. "Don't be a fool, Leo Cristophe. We don't know what kind of creatures we'd be dealing with, here. They could be dangerous, or sentient."

General Cristophe shot a tired glance over to the jester. "Fine, Kefka. I guess we could use the Tunnel Armor to establish contact and assess the nature of Former Hell's inhabitants."

The blonde woman in yellow just continued to eat her salad, not looking like she had anything to provide to the conversation. The Emperor reached over for a piece of chicken before he started talking again.

"I suppose that settles that, then. I'll be making preparations to scout Former Hell as soon as we're done eating. You've been most helpful to the Empire's efforts, visitors. I realize food might not be enough of a reward for your contributions, so I'd like to give you something that's unique to our nation."

The Emperor looked over to General Cristophe, then over to Celes. "General Cristophe, General Chere, when our guests are finished here, I'd like you to see if there's anything here in Vector they'd like to get their hands on, within reason of course."

The blonde woman nodded, along with Cristophe. "Consider it done, Emperor," General Chere said.

Strelok's glance turned to Maeve who asked him how dangerous were the mutants of the Zone.

"Well, there are plenty of dangerous mutants in the Zone, but the one's that are pretty dangerous are mutated humans with psychic powers that can force you to kill yourself or turn you into a zombie, chimeras that can cut flesh apart with ease and jump high distances, ghosts who can telekinetically throw objects so hard to someone they can kill them, and a large mutated flesh being with combination of animals and humans who can shake the ground with each step. The Zone's wildlife is pretty dangerous."

Eventually, the Emperor decided the Zone was not worth it and this "Former Hell" place was the best choice. He also wanted to reward them with anything for their aid in informing them of the places in here. Well, this took a good turn, after all. Hopefully he could get something good out of here.

The stalker gave a nod to the Emperor. "Thank you, your highness." He would then sit down in one of the chairs, and then eating some of the food in the plate.

Holy crap, this is real good. Real good.

As Utsuho flied away to Lake Yantar, she would find it to be somewhat...boring. There was really not much happening as she filed through the empty plains of the Zone. There seemed like a few animals walking around, but other than that is was pretty empty...hell, was she even going the right way?

As she moved on, she would start for some reason to feel a slight headache, her vision turning grey slightly and starting to hear what seemed to be whispers. What was causing this?

She would notice what seemed like some distortion in columns in front of her, visibly covering the light of the sun from passing through it. If she were to attempt to pass through it, she would feel the headache slowly intensifying and the color of her sight turning even more grey, with the voices being more louder.

Interestingly, the artifact she carried started to shine brightly as she approached the psy anomaly, and if she were to hold it close to her, she would feel the pain of the headache decreasing significantly, as if it were protecting her from the anomaly.

Edited by Darkomega245 on Feb 8th 2019 at 8:09:46 AM

Lady shook her head at Bond as he tried to guess what she was here for. "You're half right. One person, I want surveillance on. The other, I'm more actively hunting."

She withdrew a picture of Vergil, taken from the video of his fight with Minako.

"This is the man I'm hunting, I believe you've been warned about him before. His name is Vergil. Yesterday, during the City 17 attack, we found out that Minako unwisely decided that she knew better then the rest of the planet, and that she had attempted to take custody of Vergil and press him into working for her. Predictably, he decided to betray her during that attack, and he's now working for the shape shifting demon we've all been fighting. So, first, I want him found. I'm not asking you to take to the field and search in person, I've already assembled a good number of people for that."

"What I'd ask out of you is for you to make some calls, poke around with your contacts, see if anyone's seen any sign of him recently. Watch whatever cameras you have in the Common Room, in case he passes through there. And then, for actual surveillance, I want Minako and her people watched. I've already told her she's done with Vergil and that she's forbidden from interfering any further then she already has, and I need someone to make sure she doesn't turn around and do something stupid again once I leave. This is for her own good, she clearly does not understand what she's dealing with if she still thinks Vergil can be reasoned with after all of this."

Lady nodded as Weiss and Demirti both chimed in with ideas, and she was told where she should go ask questions. She was prepared to start walking when Weiss brought something to her attention, causing her to facepalm.

-"If she doesen't, I'm not paying for it for her. She decided to wander off like a puppy on her own, pretend you don't know her until we're sure what's going to happen. Follow my lead."

Lady then started walking up to the chef that Saber had ordered her food from.

"Hi there, sorry to bother you, but we're looking for a Kishin Chef, goes by the name of Suiki? Any chance you could point us in their direction?"

The guard gave the other man who had the paper a look, and he glanced at it.

"Nope, no one by that description."

"Right. We'll put you down in the log then. Archades is open to visitors, but keep in mind that you are expected to follow the laws, just like everyone else. No causing trouble, or you'll see another side to Archades, understood?"

He stepped to the side and allowed them to walk past. Somewhere up ahead, the group would spot a small, white thing◊ standing on a ladder and hammering in the last nail on a poster. On it, in large font, it said-

"CLAN CENTURIO NOW ACCEPTING NEW CONTRACTS! HAVE A MONSTER PROBLEM? NEED A HUNTER? WANT TO POST A BILL WHERE HUNTERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD CITY CAN SEE IT? COME SPEAK WITH ONE OF OUR REPRESENTATIVES! WITH OVER 500 YEARS COMBINED EXPERIENCE, OUR HUNTERS NETWORK IS PREPARED TO ANSWER THE CALL, NO MATTER THE MARK!"

It would seem that yes, these things did in fact have to breath, a fact that would become clear as one of the things grabbed at where its throat was and started reacting in a manner Havoc was no doubt accustomed to. Two of the fruits ran over to the thing's side, just outside of the bubble, and moved back and forth, as if searching for a way into the bubble. The other two, meanwhile, did not seem happy. In fact, there was literal steam coming out of their heads, as if Havoc was in some kind of cartoon. As the kicked away pumpkin picked itself up, the onion ran over, delivering a hard kick to the pumpkin's rear, sending him hurtling at high speed straight for Havoc. Said onion continued to run after the kick, and regardless of whenever or not Havoc dodged or was hit, he would attempt to deliver yet another kick to her, this time one aimed directly for the groin.

As the group was led by Minako to Breen, the Thieves hung in the back, quietly discussing what had been said among themselves. They would enter where he was being held to see Breen seated at a fancy table with a blue handkerchief on his neck, and what appeared to be a continental breakfast in front of him. He was trying his best to look unpreturbed, but the bruises on his face betrayed the fact that he was probably feeling much worse then he appeared. He looked up as the group entered, wincing as he was called "Wally", something he had tried and failed to get the girl to stop doing.

"Ah, good morning. I take it it's time for me to uphold my end of the deal? Who are these other people?"

As the thieves filed in, they each looked at Breen, mostly with wary, cautious looks. The cause for this would swiftly become clear as Makoto spoke up, looking the most unhappy out of them after what had been said about him.

"He's being treated quite well for a war criminal and a dictator. Not even a set of restrains?"

Breen winced again. "Come now, I thought we were past this?"

Common Room: The Problem with Killing Death

Mirajane's praise helped raise Link's spirits, and he was thankful that his cheeks were already flushed to hide his bashfulness. Though perhaps his confused reaction to the cookie offer was a little unexpected—he had no idea what a cookie was, despite the fact he'd been carrying one around in a bottle since yesterday. He gave Mirajane a great big grin, regardless.

"We help each other out." Tatl stated, not caring how the Fairy Tail wizard chose to present her critique. This lady was a little too familiar (and way to scaly) for comfort. She was a complete stranger to everyone else in the group, and unlike Miss Tall Dark and Gruesome, she was trying to play against her apparent nature. Hard to trust a flatterer who can grow a Dinolfos tail and speaks with a demonic voice. Besides that, she'd already demonstrated that she can change her shape whenever she wanted; the pretty face probably wasn't even the real Mirajane.

Link's tears dried as the group departed Castlevania. Nora would find that the little hero didn't fall or waver in his steps; quite the contrary, he hopped on matching floor tiles and hummed to himself with a smile on his face. This had been quite the adventure, and even if he couldn't rid the world of Death, he still got something out of the battle. Tatl was okay, and he had a nifty new shield! Plus he now knew of another threat to the good people of Battleworld. He planned to return to Castlevania when he was a little bit stronger, and free the land from the Count Dracula for good.

Back in the big white room, Link greeted Mr. Belmont's friend with a wave. Nora's question, however, turned his attention over to the Hunters.

It was a weird question, and his face scrunched a little wondering why it was asked. Fortunately, Tatl fluttered over to summarize what he was thinking:

"What do you think he was trying to do? Give Death a shave?"

Link chuckled at the image, but the sight of Ozen walking away caught his attention. He followed her, his little notepad in hand.

As her partner left, Tatl studied Nora's face for a solid moment.

"You have a problem with that, don't you?" the stunning realization seeped into the fairy's soft tone. "Are you seriously trying to defend that monster?"

Tatl's wings flapped faster, turning her back and forth in the fairy equivalent of angrily pacing.

"Y'know something I don't get? How a fight like that is supposed to be friendly. Termina might not be the safest place ever, but at least the people there don't try to make matters worse by swinging swords at each other for fun! They train with dull blades or with dummies, and in the rare moments they have to fight someone for real, they fight to defend themselves and others. There's no sport in it, and even if there were, it's not like Death surrendered! A quick glance around the arena will show you how Death and Dracula think a 'friendly' fight should end, and I don't see any problem with what the kid tried to do."

She was acutely aware that she now had an emotional investment in seeing Death get what's coming to him, and avoided the subject.

Meanwhile, Link caught up to the Unmovable Lord a few steps into the Commons Corridor. He tugged on her right gauntlet to get her attention, then showed Ozen what he'd been meaning to say before they left for Castlevania:

Red Sprite, Med Bay: The Problem with Sheltering Terrorists

Amber answered the easier questions first:

"I don't know if Amagiri's really tested the range of his power, but I know he can at least strike things more than a hundred feet away. Can't say how accurately, though; his target was the size of an office building. I'd advise against testing the limits, Captain. Every power comes with a price, regardless of why it's used. I'm sure the rest of the crew would appreciate still having eggs to eat."

She laughed, and continued:

"Luca's limits lie in what she can kick or throw off the ground. It can't be too big or too heavy, so no couches or cannonballs. There's also the need to aim her projectiles—no doubt you agree, Captain, that a weapon's useless if it can't even hit the target. Not having to worry about size or weight gives Luca time to focus on the shot, and that's why she prefers things like rubber bands. They're easily accessible, and can still get the job done; I've seen those things pierce a militia helmet and shoot out the other side."

As they reached the med bay door, Amber paused with Tatsu.

"I suppose I'm just shocked you're letting us join the crew." she confessed. "We're wanted criminals, and the more of us there are here, the more likely our enemies will make you a priority target.

"That said," she added, almost as an afterthought, "I never said 'all.'"

Entering the med bay, Amber's eyes explored her new workplace with the curiosity of a girl her own age. She smiled at the resident doctor/medic and his assistant.

"That's alright," she chuckled, "I'd barely call myself a school nurse, let alone a medic. But I'm eager to learn!"

The thought suddenly occurred to her that Daichi would be an invaluable teacher here, if only she had the slightest clue where he was. Oh well. It was safer for everyone if she avoided drawing too many Evening Primrose members to one place—that was one of the hard lessons she'd learned in Genosha.

Velvet Room, Dining Room: The Problem with Sheltering Dictators

"In this situation, the carrot works better than the stick." Misaki replied to Makoto's outburst. "If a suspect has vital information they're willing to trade, house arrest isn't too tall an order."

"Besides," Hei added, shooting Breen the subtlest of scowls "it's not like he doesn't know what would happen if he left. This monster wants him dead now; Minako's the least of his problems."

On that note, Misaki stepped towards the dining room table.

"Which is why we're here. I take it your 'deal' with Miss Arisato involves disclosing some secret about this creature?"

Garnet was pretty that he was exactly that certain this 'Virgil' wasn't hiding anywhere on the ship, considering how every part of it was usually frequently traveled and everyone knew everyone else. He groaned quietly as the others quickly jumped to agree catwoman(?), running a hand down his face. "Alright, alright! You know what? Fine. We'll do a search. Happy? Going to have to fix up the defenses now anyway, with more weirdos being around..."

Disgruntled, he brought his hand down and looked the girls over once again. Not quite as on guard before, but still watching them. "Alright so you've warned us, so thanks. Is there anything else you want? Anything that should be done if we find this guy you're looking for? Or should we just kill him?"

"I can't say I have much experience with libraries, to be honest." Delfi replied as she looked out over the garden. "I was never allowed to. So I wouldn't know many differences, regardless. It should be interesting."

When they began to movie, she wheeled herself after Yomi; Doing her best to keep up on the uneven paths and beginning to sweat from the effort and the sun. She made note of the quaint little village as they approached it, but didn't give it more than a passing look over at the time. Their arrival at inn was silently welcomed by the woman, her arms burning from the exertion she wasn't used to. By the time she wheeled herself in and out of the sun, she was grateful for the chance to rest and barely paid any attention towards the weird residents of the room.

"I'll have some water." Delfi replied politely to the barmaid, doing her best to look more put together than she was feeling at that moment.

Tatsu filed away the information on the abilities for later, simply nodding along to show he was listening. Then he shrugged at the girl's admittance she was surprised he was letting them join. "We're all wanted criminals too, remember. All our lives are in danger, since if Edenia ever caught up with us we'd all be dead. And The Cure already said that people would be after us here, so it's not like it wasn't going to happen at some point. No use hiding and hoping when you can make the first move."

He made a small humming noise then, glancing over at Amber. "True, but I just assumed that you'd want all your friends together and safe, I guess."

Back to the meeting with Seagull, the young man looked surprised at the girl's reply. "Oh? Learn?"

"Yeah!" Tatsu stepped up and wrapped his arm around the taller man with a grin, shaking him slightly. "Amber wants to help out in here. And she even has a cool power that lets her repair injuries, like damaged tissue! It's why she's glowing."

Seagull chuckled lightly at that, smiling down at Amber. "I was wondering about that. We'd be happy to have you, and grateful for the help. You'll have to meet Yuki, she's my assistant. Though really she does just as much as me around here."

"S-Seagull!" Said girl protested with red cheeks from where she was cleaning up after finishing up treating the young man, looking flustered by the praise.

Edited by Alleydodger on Feb 10th 2019 at 8:41:40 PM

Cana - Mitakihara

"Guess you guys don't take Jewels, huh?" Cana said, pulling a few bills◊ out of her pouch. "Guess my money's no good here, ehhhhh."

"Wow, a map? I guess this place is preeeeetty big, must be a lot of stores in one place if you need a map just to navigate." She got out of the car, taking a look at the parking area. It was very, very different from the sorts of things she was used to, though at least it led to an atrium, so it wasn't all new territory.

"So what sort of magical threats are you talking about? That's the sort of threat I know how to handle!"

Maeve and Ryuuou - Vector

"Zombies, aye?" Maeve said, interested in Strelok's warnings. "I'll have to pay this place a visit sooner rather than later. I've been practicing new sword techniques for taking out unholy abominations."

When she was halfway through slicing a chicken breast, the knife in Ryuuou's hand snapped in two. She slowly lifted her gaze up from her food to the Emperor.

"What did you say about monsters, you filthy human?" she asked sternly, though it didn't seem like she was expecting an answer. "Because it sounded as though you were such a buffoon that you'd dare to insult monsterkind in my very presence. If you happen to be blind in addition to stupid, then you should know that I am no mere rabbit or cat. I am Ryuuou, and I will be respected. So as for your question, the only thing I'd care to get my hands on is your miserable neck, so that I can show you just how much of a nuisance we can be."

"We're guests here...." Maeve said uncomfortably, half-whispering and putting a comforting hand on Ryuuou's shoulder. "It's not worth causing a stir." She cleared her throat and spoke up. "She just needs an apology, your highness. I once thought like you, but over time I learned that monsters can be... wonderful. Simply express your regrets at your words, and it should be redressed, so that we can leave the battle for the battlefield."

Ryuuou crossed her arms, looking grumpy.

Mirajane - Common Room

"Mirajane," Mirajane said gruffly to Grant with a grim smile. Now that they were back in the safety of the common room, Castlevania behind the, she morphed back into her regular look. She smiled a little more sweetly. "Nice to meetchya!"

"There you go, always looking on the positive side of things. Though maybe you should be extra nice to Link for taking some lumps to help you out," she gave Trevor the lightest, most harmless punch on the shoulder that was possible in the Common Room, and winked. "Don't wanna seem unappreciative!"

"Hey wait!" she called out, skipping her way over to Ozen. "Leaving already? Why not stick around for a while, at least until we can get something to eat and drink. Isn't that what people do on your world after going on a mission? Besides, it looks like Link likes you, wouldn't it be easier to talk at a table instead of standing around a big white empty room, teehee?" She smiled more and sightly tilted her head to the side.

Lucy and Happy - Rostok Arena - Zone

"Sure thing," Lucy said to Fidor, setting her drained glass on the countertop and pulling out her key. "Thanks for stopping by, Lyra, I'll make sure to call you back when I can."

"Bye Miss Lucy!" Lyra said with a happy wave before disappearing.

That dealt with, Lucy and Happy set out, following their guide to the Arena.

"Oh, so that's it. I was expecting something... different," Lucy said as she looked through the window and took a glance at the arena. It was... yeah.

"Woooooooooooooooooooow," Happy dragged it on as he looked around the arena. "This place is a piece of junk!"

"Hey jerk!" Lucy called out at the American mercenary from earlier, noticing him and his goons getting into trouble with some STALKERs. "What, you got a bone to pick with everyone today or something? It's been ten minutes since I turned your butt down and now you're picking fights with the first people you see? I'm trying to think here and talk to my friends, and you're being very distracting."

Yomi and Ceri - Sakura Dungeon Inn - Sakura Dungeon

"I'm not good at books too," Ceri said shyly to Morrigan. Her eyes widened. "I'm not good at dancing either...."

"Of course, just a moment," the Innkeeper said to Delfi with a nod and went back to the counter.

"Oh you poor thing, being denied the chance to see the library? That's just dreadful," Yomi frowned slightly at Delfi in sympathy. "There must be a particularly cruel reason for that to be the case. Still, the past is the past, all that we can change is the future, so this injustice ends now. Before we go on, Isabella should be able to assist you with your housing situation...."

"Indeed I can, my humble master," Isabella said, returning with a tall, cool glass of water with a few small ice cubes in it, a wedge of lemon adorning the rim. She smiled at Delfi and held the glass out in front of her. "Why, there's an empty room just down the hall from here, near mine and Cha- mine, it would be no trouble to allow your cute little friend to use it."

The Innkeeper leaned in a little closer to Delfi, speaking softly. "You know, from what I've seen of Ceri and Maeve, it seems as though humans loathe asking for help due to their sense of pride. But if you were to need a... push... from time to time, there's no shame in it."

Trevor, Common Room

Seemingly ignoring Mirajane, Trevor stood between Team JNPR and Tatl holding his hands out as if he knew this situation was about to deteriorate fast.

"Death nearly killed Tatl during that battle, so I do not blame Link for wanting to avenge his friend," Trevor stated his opinion of the situation to Team JNPR, although he seemed to look worried himself. "Having said that, I believe I shall have to treat him to this food called a strawberry sundae that Dante seems to live off of along with pizza."

"I do not know what your kind eats, Tatl, but I shall also try to treat you after what you just suffered," Trevor looked over at Team JNPR. "Feel free to come along if you wish."

Edited by GameGuruGG on Feb 10th 2019 at 7:49:46 AM

With the sound of conversation growing silent, Ozen felt someone grabbing at her hand. She pulled away instinctively and raised it high, only stopping when she looked down. Link.

She stared at him coldly for a moment from the thin gap between her hat and her arm, until he showed what he had to say.

...Is there something that makes you smile?

What an odd question. A stupid question, even. He must've seen how much she was smiling when that wolf-thing came apart in two. For someone who fights for his life, to think that her world was sad was shortsighted, but that moment of killing should encapsulate all that she was. That was all there is to it. Ozen the Immovable enjoyed pain, and nothing...

Ozen turned to him, rubbing one armored finger on her chin. Was that really all?

"Of all the things to ask," she grumbled. Such an insolent little kid. "I smile when I'm enjoying myself."

That was a very vague answer, Ozen! He's going to have to waste even more time drawing out questions at this rate. Put some more effort into it.

She continued after another pause. "...and I enjoy myself because I see the looks on people's faces when they fear me and my strength. Or, maybe, when they understand things I've taught them. Or even...why are you asking me this?"

Squatting low, she placed her hat on the floor and looked at him from up close. "That's not a question someone can really answer just off the top of their head. If you want a good answer, I'd need to think about it..."

Which was a great time for Topknot Demon Girl to run in, all happy and disgusting and chipper. She had offered one of two things that could've gotten her to return to that group, and at the perfect moment.

There was one thing that she said that stuck like a burr in her side. Link likes you. Either she was lying, or he was stupider than she had thought...

"Is that so?" Ozen stood back up, and pulled at one of the latches securing her armor in place. "I think I'll oblige, then. Eating and drinking, it just so happens, also makes me smile."

Mirajane - Common Room

"Perfect!" Mirajane said happily. "I'm glad you can take some time out of your super busy schedule! After all that, though, I bet you could eat a whole roast turkey and a rack of ribs in one sitting, huh?"

She smiled at Ozen and put her hand on her chin.

"You know, you remind me of my brother in a way. You're so big and strong and macho, but you can't hide that deep down you're a big softie, aren't you? It was already really nice of you to help out Trevor with getting his whip back, but now we can get to know all about each other some more without having to fight a bunch of wolves while we do it!"

She winced slightly as she looked over at the arguing group.

"Plus... you look like you could help out with stopping a fight once we're out of this place.... ehehe...."

Common Room (Tatl): "Your Sustenance Means Nothing to M—Wait, What's A Sundae?"

The vampire intervened mid-rant. At first, Tatl expected the unwanted middle-man to add fuel to the roaring fire in her core, but as it turned out Trevor agreed with her. Ha ha! Glorious recognition! "Tatl is right"—the three most magnificent words in this or any world!

...then again, she hadn't convinced anyone yet. If the Hunters were going to back down, it was because Trevor had brought up her physical frailty and her partner's temper. And she couldn't push her other points uninhibited, otherwise she'd look like a know-it-all jerk.

"Yes. Well." Tatl stated, the fire in her core doused to an ember. "I wasn't even going to mention that. But, well...there you go."

Way to kill the will to rant, Belmont!

Next came an invitation to celebrate the successful quest, complete with free food. For her part, Tatl scoffed at Trevor's notion of some kind of "fairy food." "I'm a being of pure magic. Fairies don't need food, drink, or sleep like the rest of you mortals."

Still, she possessed the same five senses as the other intelligent races of Termina, and she'd had a nibble or two of wild berries deep in the forests. A berry made of straw sounded absurd, but this Dante guy had his name on the Devil May Cry door, and her partner practically inhaled that triangular dish earlier. Maybe these Straw Berry Sun Days weren't as silly as they sounded.

The fairy fluttered to Trevor's eye-level, and asked with a nonchalant tone that was undoubtedly forced:

"Though I wouldn't say no to a little sample. Just to make sure it's not poisonous to Terminans like my partner."

A sharp pang hit her as second later. She might be misunderstood.

"Not that I think you'd poison him!" she frantically added. "It's just...y'know how Gorons eat different kinds of rocks, but Zoras can't eat them? Wait, you wouldn't actually know that. Well, you remember that big tan-colored creature he turned into? That's a Goron, and a Zora is...goddess, I'm just rambling now. Y'know what? No more beating around the bush: yes, I would like to taste this Straw Berry Sun Day. There. I said it."

Common Room (Link): Those are A Few of My Favorite Things

The boy blinked at Ozen as she fumbled around for an answer. Was it really that hard?

There were lots of things that made Link smile! Dogs, wolves, rabbits, monkeys, frogs, turtles, bugs, funny-looking fish, horses (especially Epona), cows (especially his cow), the little woodland creatures in the Lost Woods, snowfall, the ocean breeze, falling autumn leaves, summer swimming, the smell of fresh bread, cold and refreshing water, the taste of milk, the sizzle of cooking meat, the dance of Deku Scrubs, the "Gorrrooooooooo" sound the Gorons make, the way Zoras make the tiniest splash as they dive into water, the skill of a Gerudo archer, the crow of a cucco at dawn, games, music, dancing, jugglers, musicians, dancers, actors, funny merchants, nice guards, thinking about all the friends he's made on his adventures, and...well, the thought of smiling!

But if Ozen couldn't think of something right away, that was okay too! Link just smiled back at the Unmovable Lord as she kneeled to his eye-level and paused to think about what made her smile. He held his hands behind his back and shifted his weight from foot to foot, idly humming to himself until Mirajane arrived.

They were going to share a meal to celebrate? Yay! Maybe he could learn what these Cook Keys were, and why they came in batches. Were they like bread? He hoped so! The smell of fresh bread was #16 in his (heavily abridged) list of 35 things that made him smile!

Taking the Fairy Tail wizard's cue, the little hero shot Ozen a great big grin. He did like her, and almost exactly for the reasons Mirajane stated through mentioning her brother. In fact, knowing when someone was a good person or not was one of the reasons why Link liked Mirajane!

Wow, all of a sudden he was feeling really happy! He'd made eight new friends in record time, and not even Tatl picking a fight with them could—wait a minute.

Beckoning Ozen and Mirajane to accompany him, Link ran over to his fairy companion just as she was finishing her request for some food as well. Her confession forced the little hero to hide a laugh behind his hand, the sight of which made Tatl grumble.

Former Hell, Market District: ...Well, She is Eating for Two...

Dmitri nodded along as one of the (prettier) gatekeepers mapped out directions to their best lead. He didn't really understand half as much as he pretended to—for starters, he wasn't Japanese, and knew nothing about Japanese culture except "those pointy-roofed buildings look like the ones in my Tokyo tourist brochure"—but what did that matter? He had four, three, FUCK! two companions who were on the case with him!

He didn't want to think about Majin Saber anymore. She'd been much more agreeable back in Devil May Cry; back when she hadn't decided to share her demon-slaying background or whatever would make half the chunk want her dead on sight, and back when she hadn't decided to draw attention to herself and her twenty hungry tapeworms. Dmitri found it all too easy to nod along with Lady's suggestion as he handed her the note and walked across the street to a vendor to ask the same question.

"Hey." he stated to the merchant; it was hard to call such a dull monosyllable a greeting. "Know where I can find the Kishin Chief Suiki?"

HGT Freeway: Know Your Friends

If Mr. Chou had felt Kai'sa's feet stomp on the bed of the cab, or spot the other members of K/DA try to quietly restrain her, he didn't mention it. No reason to trouble them; they'd be heading away from the Gate in just a minute.

He laughed on cue at the "alien from Earth" joke. "I'm not really sure what the difference is, but I'll take your word for it. Long as you're not trying to play tricks on me, I can't complain! Ha ha ha ha!"

Was that a little forced? It felt a little forced. Better change the subject.

"So that guy who paid your fare, you uhh...know him? Kinda got a bad vibe off of him myself. And the address he's sending you guys? It's a hop and a skip from Kabukicho—a.k.a. the Red Light district. I don't know how similar your Earth is to ours, but where we come from you might find a lot of tattoos under that guy's suit, if you know what I mean...oh crap, there I go being cynical again! Eh heh heh heh!"

He laughed again, in a flimsy attempt to lighten the mood he'd clumsily managed to darken STUPID!

The Mercenary and his team looked over angrily at Lucy, his voice dripping with contempt. "You again? What we do is not your god damn business. So why don't you go piss off somewhere else, bitch."

Shovel and his group looked angry at the Mercenary. "Take a hike, asshole."

One of the dutyers in the argument wearing a exoskeleton shot a glance after the merc insulted Lucy. "Cut that shit out merc, you're gonna fight us, not the stalker."

The Loner looked annoyed at the Merc's rudeness too it seemed. "Yeah, Merc, save the threats and insults for the fight, not to other stalkers who have nothing to do with it. Remember, I can lower the pay of your victory if I want."

The Mercenary stayed quiet, before grunting. "Fine. Start the fight very soon Arnie. Our patience is wearing thin." The Mercs headed inside the Arena Complex building, glaring daggers to Lucy and the other stalkers.

The Dutyer wearing a Exoskeleton shook his head, before returning his attention to Lucy.

"I'm sorry about that, stalker. The Mercenarys are not a very pleasant bunch. Anyways, are you here to spectate and bet in the Arena?"

CXZ - Mill

So much for surprise. Though Homura still found it curious that the bloodsucker chose to remain inside the mill, as if daring the next challenger. Or maybe it did better in groups.

At any rate, Homura would carefully retrieve the shotgun and retreat back to the outside corner before checking to see how many and what kind of shots were already loaded in there before starting up a plan of attack. Sneaking was out, so the best option for an outnumbered attacker was to maintain the initiative. That meant she’d have to keep them guessing: a distraction from one entrance before coming in from another. Thankfully, she had the proper tools for this plan — a flashbang and the Howa Type 89. The large machine guns would be too unwieldy in the relatively cramped mill even if their stopping power would probably be enough — it’d be too easy for them to get too close. Even the assault rifle would be better served if the bloodsuckers weren’t already on top her, so her plan was to toss a flashbang inside the door where the poor stalkers had tried to escape, then use the extra burst of speed from her modified Time Shield to enter the mill from a window hopefully far away enough so that when the bang went off and drew her targets’ attention, she’d be entering from their behind and get an extra advantage.

Once she entered through the window her first weapon would depend on how many shells she was able to retrieve for the shotgun — enough for at least a full load and she would begin with that, switching to her Type 89 if she ran out or there were too little to be comfortable going in with. Either way, from there her strategy would be about speed — since bloodsuckers prefered to hit and run, they likely would be able to find her faster than the other way around if she tried to stealth it, so she would be better off trying to isolate them and pick them off quickly before they could bring numbers against her at once. She’d have to keep moving, preferably with her back towards a solid wall so as to prevent any unpleasant surprises from behind, and keep an eye out for those glowing eyes that would give them away. The fragmentation grenades she had might be useful either to flush them out and force them to show themselves, or in covering her escape if one or two were to pursue her. And if things looked too hairy, running out in retreat would be the way to go, even from a second floor window — she’s had plenty of practice jumping from height. Fight another day on her terms.

With her tools ready (assuming they didn’t decide to try to surprise her with a bum rush), Homura would get back on her feet and take a quiet breath before pulling the pin and tossing the flashbang to begin her distraction. It was time to test whether the Cure’s handicap would prove not to be too much of a hindrance.

Common Room - Mitakihara Portal

Mami’s face scrunched mildly in thought. “Hmm...Perhaps we can ask the police or military to help now that we can talk with them directly. Although you mentioned he is aligned with someone more dangerous — how dangerous are we talking about here?”

<He did show an interest in Walpurgisnacht.>

“Wait, what?!” The shock in Mami’s voice would be obvious.

<Prior to Homura Akemi’s request to the Cure, he saw the aftermath of your battle against her and expressed a desire to take that power for himself.>

“That…”

“So he’s either power-hungry or an idiot. Or both.” Verbal swipe aside, Kyoko kept a good poker face as to how she was reacting to this news when Mami made a glance at her.

<I had suspected he wasn’t pleased with the arrangement made with Arisato-san. I can’t say I’m surprised he would try to change allegiances.> Kyubey got up on all fours and slowly padded over to Ruby until he was maybe a foot away before sitting back down on his haunches again, as if he knew she was holding back. He did turn his head to face Yang when she picked up where her sister left off, but he didn’t move from his spot. <From what you have said, it seems he has succeeded.>

“Do you suppose he might plan to try to capture a Witch somehow?”

<With so many different universes and rules at work here, I can’t rule out that possibility.>

“Hmm, this could be bad indeed if he tries…oh, I’m sorry! I suppose we got caught up. We should at least introduce ourselves.” The blonde from Mitakihara stood up straight and gave a proper bow. “My name is Mami Tomoe. That is Kyoko Sakura—”

“Yo.”

“—and that is Kyubey.”

<Greetings.>

Mitakihara - Mirai Mall

“Quite a few stores, yes. This mall is — was — one of the largest in Asia when it opened.” Kanda watched her partner drive off to park the vehicle once Cana stepped out. “As for what kind of magic, honestly, no idea — like I said, I haven’t seen or heard anything here that’d I’d consider magical, even before this whole BattleWorld thing. The stuff that’s been happening here has been more science fiction, if that makes sense. I’m only repeating what City Hall’s been saying about this situation; honestly, it’d be nice if they said more.” Kanda looked around the area once more. “If it’s fashion you’re interested in, most of those stores are on the third floor. I believe there are cosmetics on the fourth as well.”

Manhattan, Sugar Hill

"I see..." Father Frost brought up a hand to scratch at his blessedly full head of white hair at the two humans' suggestion, and exchanged a look with Officer Ward. "Well, if you think that's best, Captain, Miss. You all follow me. We'll talk in my church."

The priest turned to guide the group to the building's side door, the policeman apparently waiting to take up the rear. Suddenly, a bold cocoa-skinned youth stepped up from the semicircle crowd of onlookers, one of the ones with some kind of rectangle thing held up to his face. "Hey, people!" he shouted, scowling, "Where do you think you're going? What are you tryin' to hide, huh?! What are you tryin' to keep from the public, huh?!"

Manhattan, East Midtown Rooftop

"Xanatos?" Spider-Man put a hand to his chin. "Name doesn't ring a bell. Neither does the Eryie Building, for that matter, and I know every inch of Manhattan like the back of my hand. Besides, how would you have a meeting with this Xanatos guy, anyway? Manhattan only got pulled into Battleworld an hour or so ago, and you're not from here. You sure you're not confused?"

"What's Battleworld?" the thug stuck to the wall asked curiously.

"Nevermind that!" the wallcrawler pronounced, pointing accusingly at the victim of his webs.

Edited by darksidevoid on Feb 13th 2019 at 2:26:55 PM