As the battle raged on around them, Nyarly and the two demon hunters continued to clash. Vergil and Nero were giving a good account of themselves, but it was clear that all they were really doing was keeping Nyarly busy, not actually dealing any major damage to him. As Kyubey questioned him, he would hear Nyarly's laugh in his head.
Indeed not. Such a simple thing would be.....easy. And there are other purposes these two will serve in my greater plans, even if they don't realize it.
Nero, after being sent backward by another sword swipe, rushed Nyarly again, swinging his fist and aiming directly for Nyarly's face. Nyarly lifted a hand and caught the fist, causing a shockwave to be unleashed from the point of impact. Sensing Vergil coming up behind him, Nyarly used his strength to lift Nero off his feet, still holding the demonic arm as he swung him around, knocking Vergil away and causing Nero to drop his sword. He lifted Nero's arm high into the air, causing him to dangle from the ground. Nero drew his gun and shot Nyarly in the shoulder of the arm he was being held with, dealing damage but not severing it. Nyarly, meanwhile, sent a mental command out to the owner of this place, ordering her to strike now.
Lady looked slightly sheepish as she saw the reaction of the guards, realizing she probably should have called ahead first. Still, she diden't have time to waste, and quickly gave a very short, quick bow to him.
"My apologizes for not calling first, but we have an emergency situation going on. We've lost contact with the people we sent earlier, and there's a very real chance they're all in danger as we speak. Did they happen to tell you where they were going?"
The Cure just grinned at Isooc's question.
"Now, where would the fun be in that? Just as I have not told you about anyone else, I have not told anyone else anything of you, save your groups name, the name of your leader, and the fact that you are now a participant on my world. Anything else, you may rest assured remains between you and me.
As the great beast was mounted like he'd just walked out of a Monster Hunter game, the behemoth roared, standing up on his back legs. The dinosaur, seeing his chance, rushed forward, clamping his jaws around the behemoth's head and biting down. There was a moment where the two struggled with each other. Then, the behemoth opened its mouth, and launched a burst of fire out of it, forcing the dinosaur back. Jack would, however, see that it had done damage, as part of the behemoth's neck was now split open, the hardened, thick hide giving way to a much fleshier bloodier interior. However, the beast wasn't done, and started bucking and jumping at random, attempting to shake the samurai from his back, at one point even going to far as to try to roll over its back, which would require some fancy moves from Jack to avoid being flattened while remaining on the beast. The dinosaur, not wanting to risk injuring Jack with another attack, was remaining back for now, but ready to rush forward again if it had an opening.
Assuming he could keep this up for 20 seconds, the beast would start to slow, as blood loss took as slow toll, and fatigued the behemoth. This would be Jack's chance to preform a divisive blow, and his greatsword was big enough and the bite deep enough that he could probably end the fight in one blow.
Edited by Meanken on Jul 25th 2019 at 9:37:00 AM
"So it's only the kind of place a very desperate person, or one with nothing else, would enter." Tatsu stated, his tone carrying an amount of weight and understanding in it that was at odds with his age. Until he shrugged and continued. "Well, that and greedy idiots, I suppose. Has PANDORA managed to get anything else from it that you might know about? Anything that could be a risk?"
But before anyone could reply, there was a crackle from a speaker in the corner of the room, and a young man's voice filtered through it with an electronic buzz. "Captain, Helmsman Fall wants to see as soon as possible on the bridge. She believes there's something you'd like to know about."
There was another crackle, and the speaker fell silent. Looking at the Coordinators, Tatsu said. "You guys haven't seen the bridge yet, but now that you're part of Magonia you can come along if you want."
If they chose to come along, after a short walk the Coordinators would find themselves stepping through another metal door and into one of the largest open spaces on the entire ship
◊. A large glass dome ran from directly above the door and down the length of the room before curving down to meet the floor at the far end of the room. To their direct right was a metal wall of some sort of raised platform, with a set of steps leading to the top. And to the left, were banks of consoles and terminals that were being manned by more uniformed men and women.
As they walked further in, the blonde woman
◊ standing at the helm of the ship glanced back at them with a polite smile. "Captain."
"What's going on, Fall?" Tatsu asked, right to the point. Though not harshly. He stopped beside her, waiting.
Nodding, the young woman replied. "Not too long ago, we spotted signs of combat in an area of land not far from where we are. I'm certain it's the place our large guest from yesterday was from. The lookout spotted smoke, bright lights and some sort of rockets being fired. It's died down for now, but fires are still burning. Do you want to move closer?"
The young captain was thinking. So far things had been fairly quiet on the so-called Battleworld, but he supposed it wasn't going to last. From what he'd learned yesterday, the inhabitants of that land lived largely underground. Which meant that whatever reason the fighting was for, it was started by someone else. Finding out more would be worth the possible risk of getting closer. Finally, he nodded. "I do. Keep the Cloud Ruler running and keep us with the clouds for now."
Fall got to work immediately, calling out orders to the crew as she began to turn the ship towards their destination.
"They're reporting that there's signs of a conflict pretty clearly, but it's definitely over." One of the men sitting at a console relayed to his superiors. "And there are bodies scattered around, though we're too high up to see much else. No signs of movement."
The Red Sprite had been making its way around the combat zone in a slow circle for half an hour or so, ensuring that there wasn't any one left that may be a possible threat. It seemed like there might have no been anyone left. Tatsu figured that meant that whoever the attackers had been, they had either lost or had moved on to their true target. Perhaps this land had just been the meeting of two enemies and not related to the inhabitants themselves. But the only way they might find out was to get a closer look. He turned to address the soldiers. "Send a message to Alfred telling him to meet us in the rear hangar for a scouting mission. We're going to see if we can find out what this was about, or who was involved. And take whatever might be useful."
With his plan relayed, the young captain moved towards the exit. He had to go get himself ready quickly too.
Delfi was quiet for a moment after the wolf woman's question, wondering just how much she should tell her. If anything at all. She supposed with the... others running around somewhere eventually the existence of Thundercore humans would get out, and she didn't see any really threat from telling the monster at least the basics.
"You're right, ordinary humans aren't." The young woman replied, lifting her free hand up and facing it palm forward towards the other woman, so the metal bars were visible. "But like I said, I was created to be a tool. I'm what is called a thundercore human. Implanted with a material that fuses with our bones and replaces our marrow, and makes us generate electricity naturally. When I say tool, I mean it literally. We're used as batteries and power sources."
Netherworld, Laharl's Palace: Jai Thinking Counts as Air Pollution
The Princess of Prettiness listened to Flonny Flonne intently...probably. That resting "super tired and/or bored" face is like a goddamn sphinx.
Though whether she understood what the prize was or not, the topic spurred something in that place behind her eyes and between her ears, summoning those pictures and words that were invisible to everyone else.
What were those called?
Eh. Whatever. They made an argument, and she didn't have anything better to do, and she might just get some pudding out of this!
"Sure." Princess Jai said blankly. "Sounds fun."
Luna Nova, Cafeteria: Activate 'Helpless Child' Decoy!
Tsuchi caught Sypha's look. The witch was suspicious, but why? Had she said something out of place? Had an involuntary tell popped up? No, that should be impossible—she was a Contractor, after all: the perfect liar. So that must mean this stranger knew something. Something about PANDORA, maybe even something about Mr. Nishijima.
Taking a small but notable step backwards, Tsuchi's eyes flashed with intimidated nervousness; an expression she didn't have to fully feign.
"I don't understand, Miss Belnades. What did my Tokyo do?" her tone was hesitant, as if she didn't know what Sypha wanted from her. As if she didn't know what an adult witch from a foreign land (who couldn't be bothered to approach the Professors upon arrival) wanted from a transfer student who's only cause for suspicion was her influential uncle. With any luck, Professor Finnelan would pick up the body language.
At best, Sypha might seem to be expecting too much from a high school kid; at worst, she might seem to be intimidating a new student by barking up the entirely wrong tree.
It took Reisen's offer to heal the sick for Tsuchi to turn her eyes from Sypha's.
"What?" she blinked. "Oh! It's not that kind of quarantine, sorry. I just mean that it's a restricted area, that's all. Uncle Eric says it's really dangerous, so you need lots of clearance to even get close to Hell's Gate."
For the rest of the discussion, Tsuchi simply approached the table and reached for a scone, happy to act like this topic was flying over her head. Truth be told, there wasn't much she knew about the Cure, and she knew even less about representatives for every land brought to the planet. There was no need for her to know, and so like the perfectly rational Contractor that she was, she never asked.
...that said, the idle whistling earned Lotte and Reisen a puzzled look. She could feel safe knowing her own ignorance, but overlooking something like an obvious nervous tick was something a niece of Eric Nishijima wouldn't do; especially if it meant placing a fellow student in pointless danger.
And a teenaged goofball going up against an interdimensional deity sounds about as pointlessly dangerous as it comes.
Vector, Chocobo Stables: And So they Rode Off, Clucking into the Sunset
July and the Dog stared at the bizarre poultry steed with veiled skepticism. On one hand, this was an obvious stable, and these creature were clearly large enough to ride. On the other hand, it was a giant chicken! To entrust a delicious dinner to serve as a beast of transport felt even more off-putting than the fact magic existed on this world or that Misaki could talk to a ghost.
...well, it wasn't like they had any other ride out of the city. Plus the Chocobo came with the potential benefit of a swift rescue for Terra, or a spare body for the Dog.
Not that she really wanted to think about that...
Wordlessly, the Contractor grabbed July under the armpits and hoisted him up onto the Chocobo's back. She then climbed aboard herself, and seized the reigns.
"Thank you, Doctor." she nodded to Cid as they bade each other farewell. "I'll bring news as soon as I'm able. Till then, let's keep this confidential—for both our sake."
And with a click and a kick into the steed's sides (which might be unnecessary, for all she knew) the Dog and July rode away from Vector, towards the border to Former Hell.
Vector, One Lake of A Street Puddle: Finding Leads Elsewhere
April and Misaki watched the soldiers spring back into action almost as soon as they arrived.
"Alright." April waved goodbye sarcastically. "Cheers, your help's been invaluable!"
"It actually might be." Misaki mused. "An 'aerodrome' must have something to do with wind or air, right? 'Aero' means 'wind,' if memory serves, so perhaps it's an airport."
The Contractor shrugged. "Fuck if I know, but if the Imperials are heading there because they suspect rebels, I doubt that's where we'll find one of our little friends. Unless they thought a large monster could sneak past the security line."
Misaki furled her brow. If Catoblepas' intel was accurate, it was safe to assume the other Espers were trying to escape Vector in whatever way they could. That said, trying to sneak aboard a plane seemed like an implausible escape route, especially if they were nearing death. Besides that, it seemed unlikely that Vector even had any flights available; the entire city had been abducted, it's not like anyone was ready to fly over foreign states for a vacation.
But what if...
"What if Bismark has already lost his body?" the Section Chief thought aloud. "Someone could smuggle him out of the city, like I did with Maduin."
"Possible." hummed April. "These rebels might also have him."
"If they do, it's too risky to approach them right now. We'd be forced to drop our cover, probably with Imperials present."
April sighed, and began to patiently wring the water out of the edges of her coat. "So what's our next move?"
"I'll call my contact in the Common Room, see if anyone entered through Vector's portal after we arrived. If someone has, they might be Bismark's new partner."
"And if they're not?"
Misaki pulled her phone from her pocket, and started dialing.
"Then we put all our focus on getting Terra out of Vector."
Red Sprite: Permission to Disembark, Captain?
Amber, Luca, and Amagiri followed the captain to the bridge. True enough, the heart of the Red Sprite didn't disappoint Luca, who proceeded to excavate every inch of the place...or at least as much as she could before someone told her to knock it off. Amber remained a polite distance behind Tatsu as business began; Amagiri stood just a foot behind Amber, an eye opened and focused on Frampt's back.
As the decision to scout the battlefield was made, and the captain departed for the rear hanger, the three Contractors consulted each other with silent glances. It was decided.
"I should return to the med bay." Amber smiled. "Take care, Captain!"
"Mind if I tag along, Tatsu?" Luca grinned, apparently having already forgotten (or chosen to ignore) the notion of 'rank.' "I've got sharp eyes for modern tech, and it feels like ages since I've been able to flex my powers!"
"I also request permission to join the scouting party." Amagiri stated formerly. "While the battle may have died down, we cannot rule out that the victors may be nearby. Should they seek to engage us, the scouting party might benefit from having a weapon more..."
The big man paused, peeking out the glass circle in his jacket pocket.
"devastating, than rifles."
Common Room: Have You Seen This Pokemon Crystal?
Over the course of the past hour or so, Goro Kobayashi's position by Tokyo's portal had grown considerably dull. Apart from a new group of arrivals (who were called into a Meeting Room by none other than Nishijima) and the comings and goings of a large group featuring the Hunters and some known EPR agents, the lion's share of this post had been silent.
Silent until his phone rang, with Misaki on the other end asking if anyone had been seen leaving Vector's portal. Goro replied that he'd spotted one individual who had appeared from that portal just recently: a soldier in olive armor making a request from the Cure—a wish, perhaps—who had yet to leave the Common Room. Misaki hung up without another word.
Less than ten minutes later, and Misaki emerged from Vector's portal with a sopping wet agent April in tow.
"May I ask what is the matter?" Goro offered as a greeting.
"In a moment." the Section Chief replied. "First, I want to see if my hunch is right."
With Goro
shadowing her left shoulder and April
◊ her right, Misaki Kirihara
approached Strelok.
"Excuse me, you were just in Vector, correct?" she asked with as much politeness she could with a sense of urgency hastening her heartbeat. "Would you happen to have come across a certain crystal? My friend Bismark and I were just there; he dropped it earlier today, and the Imperials are just plain clueless about where it's gone."
It was a gamble, but compared to what she'd just endured in the lion's den, the stakes here were impressively low. He didn't look like an Imperial, and he'd have little reason to talk to the Cure if he didn't want something from Battleworld's creator: either answers or a wish. At worst, he was a clueless Imperial sympathizer who could be quickly put at ease with the 'demon hunter' cover. At best, he possessed the crystal to an Esper; if not Bismark, then Shiva, Unicorn, or Ifrit.
So she stood silent, politely smiling, waiting for the Stalker's answer.
Edited by TheodoreHastings on Jul 27th 2019 at 3:25:47 AM
Rohan's Group - Outside Tonio's
"The portal... It's outside the school!" Upon hearing Hei's answer, Yukako dropped him like a bag of potato and rushed toward the place. Upon seeing that, Rohan and Mikitaka followed behind her.
Hei received no thanks or apology.
Josuke's Group - Morioh Streets
Josuke intently listened to Trevor's warning. "A blue swordsman named Vergil and a freak called Nyarlathotep, huh? Got it. When we see him, we'll kick his ass. And yeah, I can fight." To prove it, he summoned Crazy Diamond besides him.
The group walked through the streets of Morioh until something interrupted them. That someone was Yukako running from a corner. When she noticed Koichi, she perked up and rushed toward her boyfriend to hug him. "Oh thank God, you're alright, Koichi! I feared I may have lost you forever."
Rohan soon arrived after her, tough he was walking more slowly. He added to her comment in a quite satisfied tone. "Of course he's okay! It'd take more than a simple portal to harm him."
Tough Koichi was surprised by the sudden hug, he was nonetheless happy to see his girlfriend again. "Huh, thanks. I'm glad you're alright too, Yukako."
After those two, Mikitaka arrived. He walked over to Josuke and Okuyasu and waved to them. "Hello. It is good to see you again, Josuke and Okuyasu." He bent to the right to look at Trevor and Yukari, if she followed them. "And who are those fellows behind you?"
Nightmare Investigators - Common Room
Isoc nodded at the Cure, grateful that their true nature as harbringer of humanity's destruction wasn't common knowledge here. "Thank you for your answer."
Gate noted some interesting things. The scientist he adressed must have come from a significantly less technologically developed world if the simple sight of a Reploid impressed him so. Which only made the numerous questions that showed how easily impressed the old man was even more annoying. But the purple android kept a calm facade. "Oh, I wouldn't say my creators were amazing. All they did was copy the schematics of an ancient piece of technology, really. My truly astounding qualities are the result of random chance and of my own work. And I would really appreciate not calling me a ma…"
He was interrupted by another human who seemed to be the annoying one’s superior. At the very least this one seemed much more level-headed and not revel in gratuitous shock. "Greetings, Mister Nishijima. My name is Gate and I am reploid; an advanced kind of android with the same free will and capacity as that of a human, if not superior. I, myself, am a researcher specialized in the creation of new reploids and the creators of most of the members of the Nightmare Investigators, a team of Reploids specialized in the investigation of strange phenomenons."
The group listened with great attention to Nishijima's explanation. The human's offer was answered with a small smile. "Of course, I would very much like to see what it looks like." After all, it would be important to see what the place where potential enemies would meet looked like. And so the would-be world conqueror and his followers followed.
Gate noticed that the figure standing beside Nishijima was robotic in nature. Of course, it was far less advanced than Gate himself and might only be called a mechaniloid at best. Still, even if it held no real interest beyond a potential foot soldier, it showed that the human was at least competent by his own world's standard. Which means he could be worthy of some respect, depending on his opinion toward true progress.
Did you know this section has a character limit?
Jaune and Pyrrha - Rushed Goodbyes… Unless Mash and Ritsuka Want To Join the Party?; Team Room, Chaldea
Before Jaune could respond, his scroll began to chime in his pocket. With a mumbled “Excuse me.”, he stood up and stepped away from the conversation.
“Speaking of threats, there’s something else we’d like to ask of you.” Pyrrha began, as Jaune’s expression grew graver behind her. “Our friends are helping to look for a man named Vergil, and we were wondering if you could also keep an eye out for him? He has white hair, a blue coat, and carries a katana-”
“Ruby and Yang are in trouble.”
Pyrhha spun around in her seat to face Jaune at his interruption, her eyebrows furrowing.
“Two friends of ours, they’ve gone missing looking for him. No-one can contact them or the people they’re with.” Jaune explained for Ritsuka and Mash’s benefit. “Ren, Nora, Weiss and Blake have gone to Mitakihara after them, with a bunch of other people. They think they’ve been attacked.”
“We should go. Help.” She turned back to face their hosts. “Thank you again for the tea, but we really must go.”
“Really sorry we have to run out like this.”
Ruby and Yang - Aka The Point Where I Realize Meanken Doesn’t Want To Fight Himself All Day; Labyrinth, Mitakihara
Ruby saw her blade wasn’t cutting it, literally, and with a twirl of her scythe, folded it back down to it’s rifle form
, firing high-calibre shots at each familiar coming towards her. She looked over her shoulder just in time to see Yang get caught by a lightning blast in the process of dodging another. Yang went down on one knee, but fired a shot off at the familiar that had struck her.
Kyuubey and Mami were relaying a plan, but they were having enough trouble with the familiars without losing two people to go after the Witch. And with Vergil and Nero having so much trouble with Nyarly-as-Dante…
Dante and Vergil.....they have a long history. The details, they're not for me to say, it's personal, and I won't talk about it without his permission. But they've clashed many times in the past.
And Dante's already had to kill Vergil. Twice.
But despite everything, regardless of whenever he'll admit it or not, Vergil is the only family he has left. And I know, firsthand, what it's like to have to kill someone you once considered family, even someone like Vergil.
Oh.
“Vergil, Nero, switch out!” She called out to the father and son, before spinning in place and firing a shot off at the shoulder of Nyarly’s Nero had already injured. “He’s taken that form specifically to fight you two! Nero, go with Mami, kill the Witch! Vergil, take the familiars!”
Ruby burst upwards with her semblance, nearly scraping the roof of the cavern as her momentum petered out. Crescent Rose unfolded once more and Ruby fired a shot into the roof, using the recoil to launch herself towards Nyarlathotep.
Mid-way through her flight, she flipped her scythe around once more and unfolded it further into it’s Warscythe form
, looking to impale the false Dante through the chest on it’s mighty blade.
Yang, meanwhile, followed her sister’s lead, firing both vambraces behind her, letting the recoil launch herself towards Nyarlathotep. Just before she reached him, she fired another shot off to the left, sending her flying past his left. With another shot, she went into a spin, and used that spin to kick at the back of Nyarly’s head while in mid-air.
Blake, Weiss, Nora, Ren - They Re-Enact The John Wick 2 Poster
Twice A Day; Common Room -> Just Outside Portal, Mitakihara
Nora frowned at Maki’s words as Ren finished his call and rejoined them.
“Maki, if it’s the difference between you dying and the guy attacking you dying, we like you better alive than the other guy.”
With that, the pair stepped through the portal to join the rest of the group, hopefully taking Maki with them. The sight at the other end was mildly familiar.
“Why is it always people with guns on the other side of these things?”
“It is getting a little tedious.” Blake added, mirthlessly.
Weiss checked her scroll again as she stepped across the threshold, hoping that Nyarlathotep would be one to repeat his tricks.
“Still can’t get through to Ruby or Yang. It’s different this time.” She spat.
They do have medals for almost, and they're called silver!
Chireiden, Gao-San's Room: And Then Everything Went Wrong
It was too soon to care about someone?
Link was unconvinced. He cared about a lot of people he'd only known for a staggeringly short amount of time. Just today, he'd made friends with Mr. Belmont, Mr. Grant, Mirajane, Ozen, Shanoa, Minako, Ren, Nora, Pyrrha, and even Lady and Jaune after he'd learned a little more about them. Satori's melancholy words struck an impenetrable wall of optimism, and fell useless to the ground. Without concluding much in terms of thought, the elder Komeiji could sense that the child's mind had not been moved. He would offer his friendship until Satori chose to accept it, apparently ignorant or indifferent to the emotional vulnerability such selfless affection brought.
Of course, whatever spark of silent protest Link could make was snuffed out by a sudden bang on a nearby door. The stilts-lady from earlier appeared with another lady—one of Satori's "people pets," judging by their conversation—and together, the five of them opened the door.
...
The moment that green cap and tunic came into sight was the moment Majora's happiness died. How long had it been? A minute? Five? Surely not more than ten. Compared to its millennia-long existence, it had only taken a second after Goht had been revived for its executioner to stand in the doorway.
It was unfair.
It was cruel.
It was terrifying!
Suddenly, a painful sensation pierced Majora to the core; an invisible, intangible spear drilling through its innermost thoughts—if one could call those things true thoughts. For Satori would earn a painful reminder that her ability to pierce the mind was a double-edged sword: she could unravel any secret, but at the cost of exposing herself to that which should never be seen.
In Majora's case, the curtain Satori peeked behind revealed a boiling pit of chaos: a rampage of madness, malice, terror, hatred, and a desperate desire for The End. Instead of a coherent thought, the master of Chireiden was bombarded with images akin to tempest waves, and sounds akin to a thousand screaming rats. No plan—not even sense—lay at the heart of this monster, just a writhing horror who's sheer existence was a blight upon the world.
"R-run...Koi—shi..." the mask shuddered as the Husk curled, twitched, and finally burst into a puff of purple smoke. Its final disguise discarded, Majora uttered a shriek harmonized with a lower, deeper, battle cry:
"RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!!!"
"Light arrows! NOW!"
Link didn't hesitate. Having sheathed his Razor Sword and Mirror Shield, the little hero retrieved his bow and focused his magic into the tip of an arrow. Letting the arrow fly, a soft yellow followed its path like the tail of a comet, its destination: right between the mask's giant eyes.
The arrow met its mark. Majora's shriek pitched even higher, but apart from the twitch of holy magic searing its surface, the strike had only spurred the monster's wrath. It spun itself like a throwing disk towards its assailant, the spikes on its edges somehow larger and sharper than they had appeared before.
Effectively defenseless with just a bow in his hands, Link had only one option:
"DUCK!"
Link threw himself to the ground, and not a moment too soon. The spinning mask soared an inch from shaving off his cap, hair, and scalp. Unfortunately, this unmolested trajectory served Majora's needs just fine: it freely flew out of the room and down the hall.
"Get up! It's trying to run away!"
Accompanied or not, the little hero scrambled to his feet, and dashed down the labyrinthine halls of Chireiden.
HGT, Tanaka's Noodles: Last Call
The cook paused as Kai'Sa shared the band's name and their upcoming gig. Then, surprisingly, he asked when the concert would be.
Though apart from learning about the concert, the cook seemed to have little else to say. Some more customers were entering the little noodle stand, and since the seating space was strictly limited and most (if not all of) K/DA's food had been eaten, now seemed like a good time to leave Tanaka's Noodles.
Meanwhile, Evelynn would emerge into the alleyway to find it completely empty—save for a stray cat rummaging through an open garbage can. It seemed the buffoon from earlier had left this hiding spot a while ago.
However, as the rest of K/DA left the noodle stand, they might hear a pair of whispers from around the corner of the shack:
"So you're sure she didn't call herself a kitsune?" one whisperer asked, clearly female.
"If I said I'm sure, then I'm sure." the other whisperer spat back; it was the man from earlier. "She isn't from our universe, so how the hell could she be Japanese? She mentioned gummy-somethings and Yodelers and how it was weird we didn't have any walking around."
"Yodelers?"
"That's what she said! If that's not evidence enough that they're not from our world then I don't know what is!"
Morioh, Portal Area: What Took You So Long?
Hei landed effortlessly on his feet once Yukako dropped him, and seemed unfazed that not even an apology was thrown his way. They were adjusting to this chaos, and could be forgiven for some rude behavior.
Besides, etiquette wasn't something he really cared about.
The Black Reaper followed the Stand Users to the high school and the other arrivals at the blue portal, among them were Trevor and a member of Minako's group.
Reinforcing his indifference to etiquette, Hei didn't waste time with introductions and instead spoke directly to Trevor. "Havoc's been here. She killed some civilians soon after this city arrived...and it turns out she had backup."
Glancing to the dying sound of sirens, the Black Reaper mulled over the facts as he knew them.
"We're missing something. Slaughtering harmless civilians isn't Havoc's style; she doesn't gain anything from it, and she's not one to lure unknown enemies to her. She's reactive, she only strikes to protect her reputation or to carry out orders—and she works best alone."
Hei paused, then asked out of the blue: "You said you encountered Dracula when you went to retrieve your whip. If she were following his orders, do you think he'd value her over that weapon?"
Meeting Rooms: Battleworld 101 with Professor Nishijima
Gate might spot something waver in Nishijima's eyes when the Reploid stated its capacity and free will were superior to human beings. Was it intrigue, or bemusement? Well whatever it was, a smile beyond politeness graced his face at the mention of 'strange phenomena.' It seemed that this was an interest they had in common.
Nishijima accompanied Gate into one of the private Meeting Rooms: a comparatively smaller area with little more than a large table, some chairs, and a switch to open and close the door. The Research Director would wait for Gate and whatever Nightmare Investigators decided to join in the debriefing. Once everyone was seated, Nishijima would hit the switch to close the door, and seat himself at an end of the table.
"I have no doubts that the Cure has already enlightened you on the premise of its creation: we are here to participate in a planet-wide conflict for its amusement. However, the means and restrictions of this conflict are left purposefully ambiguous. Our host seems to care little about what way we choose to wage battle against each other or even who we choose to strike, so long as the target is not the Cure itself—but before you ask, I have documented evidence that any attempts to challenge this world's creator will end in complete failure, and likely death.
"Because the definition of conflict is supposedly fluid, this grants us abductees the freedom to establish alliances and trade. The stated reason for this liberty is to pool resources and manpower to support larger, more entertaining conflicts for the Cure; to our host, it is the difference between watching a skirmish between Greek phalanxes and a planet-wide conflict like the World Wars.
"While the purpose of this planet is to engage in conflict, you will note that there is one area where all violence is forbidden: the Common Room. There is some sort of pacification field deployed in this No Man's Land that restricts an individual's ability to inflict harm on others. As you can imagine, there are some uncivilized brutes who would seize any advantage they can over their enemies, including striking them down on neutral territory. For now, the Common Room is the only place where one can be sure that a knife will never land in one's back.
"In essence, there are two categories of collectives on this planet: those who arrived with a native city or institution, and those who arrived with a smaller base of operations. I fall into the former category, while you and the Nightmare Investigators fall into the latter. As of this moment, there are 18 states that compose the landmass of Battleworld, and 16 groups who arrived with whatever lies beyond their door just past the Common Room, in a hallway that might be called the Commons Corridor. The apparent reason for these landless collectives is to provide untethered support or enmity to the states of Battleworld; they are the 'wild cards' who need not worry about establishing costly defenses, but are also substantially limited in resources and manpower as a result of their size.
"You have arrived on the fifth day of this planet's existence. Since Hell's Gate Tokyo was among only four remaining states that have endured a full work week of this planet's trials, I can safely claim to be among one of the experts of the comings and goings of Battleworld. You will notice that there are some states and doors that will disappear without warning; this is a natural occurrence on this planet, though the reason behind it or the answer to where that matter suddenly goes remains a point of conjecture. The Cure will answer many questions, but he refuses to answer that. Likewise, you will note that states and doors will spontaneously appear on the planet or in the Commons Corridor. This too is a natural occurrence, for the Cure deems it fit to provide 'fresh blood' for his amusement.
"Depending on your innate abilities, you may discover that some of your features are not operational on Battleworld. The reason behind this disability is the Cure's insistence on 'fair play.' Since the purpose of this planet is for our host's amusement, the Cure disdains abilities that provide groups or individuals an insurmountable advantage over their adversaries. The ability to travel through time, the power to seize complete possession of another's mind and body, the invincibility of a god, all of these and more have been stripped from those who would otherwise decimate their enemies. While there are obvious disparities between one individual and another, a hopelessly one-sided fight is simply not amusing.
"Lastly, as the leader of the Nightmare Investigators, Gate will periodically be granted a favor from the Cure, as a gift for participating in this planet-wide Battle Royale. This favor is often called a wish, and like the fantastic concept derived from the word, its limitations are not bound by the reality of our homeworlds. These wishes can raise allies from the dead, create cures for otherwise incurable conditions, or summon a weapon to better combat a particular foe. While the wishes may provide some much-needed aid, be aware that the Cure's demand for 'fair play' still applies; it will refuse to grant a favor if the wish is too powerful, or it will hinder the wish's abilities as a condition to bringing it to Battleworld."
Nishijima paused, and turned his eyes to each of the present Reploids.
"Those are the basics. I will be happy to indulge some more specific inquiries, but I do reserve the right to refuse disclosing sensitive information regarding PANDORA or its allies."
And with that, the Research Director waited patiently for questions.
Mitakihara - Industrial Area
"You mean the ones who were looking for Vergil? Yeah, they're with our contact and said they were investigating the hospital, but we've heard nothing weird going — well, more than usual." Anderson scanned around at the size of the group again. "The Captain'll have my head in a vise if I let all of you go without escort, so...Craig! Romero! Get a truck ready. Carpenter, Cooper, you're riding along."
"Yes, sir." The four soldiers in question double-timed it to a nearby 1 ½ ton truck
◊, prepping it to go as soon as possible. Anderson turned back to Lady and company: "It'll probably be a tight fit for every last one of you to ride, but at least you'll get there quicker." Anderson then turned towards the radio operator off to the side and made a brief signal with his thumb and pinky extended from a closed fist up against his own ear. "HQ, the hospital, the cops."
It wouldn’t be long before the truck pulled up ready for pickup, Craig and Romero inside the cab while Carpenter and Cooper would help the group up into the bed as quickly as possible. There’d be room for one more inside the cab — the rest would have to ride in the back, the Americans getting on last to act as a buffer between the group and the outside road. If the group’s size was just over the personnel limit of the truck, the other Americans except for Craig could hang off the outside once the truck begins to drive — it’d be a little less attention-drawing to civilians as it passed by.
Labyrinth - Nyarly Knockdown
<They are more useful to you alive, in other words, even when they oppose you. I wonder what purpose that is supposed to serve.> Kyubey continued to stare at the false Dante as he made his move.
Who is that?
Outsiders.
Intruders.
There are intruders.
Leave me alone.
Intruders should not be here.
Where are intruders?
Intruders are not welcome.
Intruders must be destroyed.
Go away.
They must be found.
Over here.
We see it.
Die.
You will pay.
DIE.
Ruby’s call out drew Kyubey’s attention behind him, tracking the Huntresses as they launched themselves towards the creature he had been addressing. With Mami now impeded from progress towards the lair where the Witch lay without active assistance to deal with the flock of moths and Kyoko having to pull double duty with both fending off her own batch of lightning strikes and whirlwind blades while trying to protect her fellow Magical Girl’s progress, that meant there was nothing to stop the screech from the twin-twinblade approaching Nyarlathotep from behind as he raised Nero’s arm up. All it would take was one split second as it passed by the demonic creature, arms flinging wildly en route to most rather conveniently blocking the kick from Yang meant for Nyarly’s head as they passed by. It stopped and turned around again with a roar towards the guys, its blades and one of its faces drizzled red.
For a moment, time might seem to stand still. (Though of course it actually didn’t — the Cure had made sure of that.) Even the Familiars seemed to go quiet for that moment as what happened seemed to sink in.
It would be Kyubey who broke the silence of words, if not the silence of sound. <I see now. They can’t feel pain if they are dead.>
As he waited for the Cure's response, he was met by a woman who asked him if he had any sort...of crystal. Not only that, but he mentioned his Espers name, Bismarck. He also noticed that she was accompanied by two folk, possibly guarding her.
...Shit. Guess he has been discovered. Seems like news come from everywhere in this place.
The Stalker looked at Misaki, his expression hidden by his screen helmet, and then would then answer her. Atleast the pacifying field here could protect him in case she was affiliated with the imperias and would try to take Bismarck by force.
Hopefully this wouldn't backfire horribly.
"Yes...I do have Bismarck with me. I hope for your sake that you and your friends here aren't Imperials. If you are, don't expect me to hand Bismarck to you freely."
Common Room: Just Checking! :P
For a moment, Misaki's eyes flickered; the only way she could've been more lucky was if Terra and the other Espers strolled into the Common Room right now! Bismark was free from Vector, and in the hands of someone who disdained the Ghestahl Empire. She couldn't have asked for a better outcome.
Though no matter how much she wanted to sigh in great relief, she still had to keep up appearances. She didn't know this man—with that helmet in the way, she didn't even know what his face—so his claim wasn't foolproof. After all, the Imperials knew the name of the Espers, too.
"I'm sorry, would you mind if I saw it?" the Section Chief asked, reaching into her pocket and sneaking Strelok a peek of Maduin's Magicite. "It should look something like this."
She waited, and assuming that the stranger trusted her enough to reveal Bismark's Magicite, Misaki finally allowed herself a small sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness. We were confident about the others' locations, but Bismark fell off the grid."
Well. Now she sounded like an Imperial. Quickly catching her slip-up, Misaki cleared her throat and offered a hand for Strelok to shake.
"My name's Misaki Kirihara, I'm Cure-appointed delegate for Hell's Gate Tokyo. My associates and I visited Vector to discuss a diplomatic project. We were in the middle of a tour in the research facility when the breakout happened. Needless to say, after speaking to some of the locals," here she patted the coat pocket where Maduin's Magicite was placed "we decided that the Imperial government had little interest in diplomacy."
Noting that they had interrupted something, Goro quickly retrieved a business card and handed it to the Stalker.
"We can see that you are preoccupied; should you wish to know about our endeavors, please contact us at this number."
"Thank you." Misaki bowed to the stranger. "Sincerely."
And with that, the trio left Strelok to his business.
Vampire Hunter
Trevor, Morioh Portal
"Trevor Belmont," the vampire hunter introduced himself to this group, before looking over at Hei when he asked his question. "Of course he would, except that if Havoc was following Dracula's orders, I would be dead by now."
"Besides, there are too many threats to himself on Battleworld to do something so... random," Trevor concluded to Hei. "Either attacking me for my whip or attacking random civilians."
Trevor then looked over towards Rohan and Mikitaka, "Did this backup look like a white-haired swordsman in a blue coat?"
Sypha, Luna Nova Cafeteria
Sypha turned to both Finnelan and Tsuchi, trying to be quieter so that she wouldn't frighten the students, "The Cure has had to switch the leader of Hell's Gate Tokyo twice so far and warned its third leader that if she failed to lead the land, he would wipe it off the map."
"I do not think he will put up with other lands switching representatives, so Akko is likely stuck with the role," Sypha frowned as if she wasn't happy with the situation. "As for what I can do..."
"I can command fire, ice, and lightning," Sypha said as she created a small controlled flame floating over her palm as she had shown to Akko and her friends. Then she began to toast another scone over it as if she was cooking it. Once Sypha was satisfied with the toasting, she dismissed her flame and took a bite of the scone. "These are good toasted."
Dracula, Throne Room, Castlevania
Dracula seemed to stand up and look over the outfit, walking around his counterpart in the process.
"...So how long do I wait for this?" Dracula was not exactly sure this was a proper question, but he really did want to get to his wife and son as soon as possible.
Wizard Needs Food Badly
Fairy Tail Guild Hall
"Oh, well, it's good to be open-minded, I guess?" Mirajane said pleasantly, then backed away from the door, heading towards another door. "But might as well consider all your options first!"
This room looked more like a library than a bedroom,
◊ considering that it had several shelves and a desk that were all piled high from floor-to-ceiling with books.
"You definitely wouldn't get bored in here..." she commented, then shook her head. "If you like reading, that is, I know quite a few of my friends who'd rather go back to the previous room than be forced to read a book. Do you like to read, Shanoa?"
After a a touching and heartfelt reunion back in the Common Room, Erza, Wendy, Carla, Juvia, and the recently-revived Mavis strolled into the Guild Hall.
"I'm back! Teeheehee!" Mavis giggled as she ran into the building, feeling the floor below her with her own two feet. "Oh.... Right, not everyone came here...."
She slumped her shoulders slightly. What good was being alive (again) if you couldn't share it with all your friends, and the ones that were there were only there because a deranged being had trapped them into a war world?
"Mira! Cana! Lucy! If you're here, we've returned," Erza called out loudly, her voice carrying into the rest of the building.
Vampire Hunter
???, Common Hallway
"Jon, I never, ever, ever want to go through anything like that ever, ever again!" Felicia complained to Jon Talbain which pretty much everyone in the Fairy Tail Guild Hall and in the Common Hallway could overhear.
"I will admit, it was exhausting," Talbain sighed as he agreed with Felicia. The two would then go into their own particular room.
Shanoa, Fairy Tale Guild Hall
"This is much better than the previous place and more to Alucard's tastes," Shanoa nodded before she continued. "It also would do well as a room for Sypha and—"
And it was then that she heard yelling from downstairs.
"Mirajane, I believe some of your friends are back," Shanoa nodded to her guide.
Wizard Needs Food Badly
Zi-Jin Cheng, Roadways: Big Brother Crossed with the Illuminati, Sporting Team Rocket's Motto
The three Contractors made no comment or expression of appreciation for Nancy or the Precentor's concern; Daichi viewed it as a simple formality, while Hanna was preoccupied watching the Memorial Park drive by, with Eli leaning over her shoulder to see the sights.
When the possibility of Syndicate-loyal Contractors was raised, Daichi nodded.
"As I've said, our kind make the ideal spies and assassins; even if the Syndicate wants us dead, that does not mean it will discard a useful asset for a reason as feeble as 'principle.' Hypocrisy is a foundation of the human condition, is it not?"
Perhaps only someone as straight-laced as Ion Rush would recognize that Daichi was trying to make a sarcastic joke.
"It stands to reason that Contractors working for the Syndicate are ignorant of their employers' plans. However, I doubt they would trust the claims of strangers and abandon their posts without reason. At this point in time, it seems plausible that whatever Contractors in the Syndicate's employ are safe from execution, so long as they prove their worth. The Syndicate's enemies are those who lie outside its influence; namely, members of the Evening Primrose such as us.
"As for the Syndicate's other assets, I only know of a few. Apart from Contractors and the now-useless super weapon, the Syndicate has access to dozens of Dolls: Gate-influenced individuals with the ability to project their senses through a specific medium, such as water, rubber, or glass. These projected senses manifest in a figure known as a Specter, which is something only Contractors and other Dolls can see and hear. As you can imagine, these Specters make the ideal monitoring system: they have no need for batteries or electricity, can appear and disappear miles away from their source, and can only be detected by precious few individuals. The Syndicate has a network of Dolls projecting Specters across Hell's Gate Tokyo. This network has now reached the size that it could potentially locate any individual in the city within an hour, plucking out a needle in a million-straw haystack.
"However, due to the sheer size of the city and a Doll's own limitations, I doubt this Doll network patrols far outside Hell's Gate Tokyo. In order to deploy Specters in another area—Zi-Jin Cheng, for example—the Syndicate would need to transport a Doll to the state in question, which in and of itself may be troublesome. Contractors and Dolls may obtain our abilities from the same source, but the price for their power is far greater than ours."
"They can't do anything unless somebody tells them to." Hanna chimed in, bored with the sights now that the Memorial Park had fallen away. "They can't even go to the bathroom by themselves!"
"Psychic vegetables." Eli confirmed softly.
Not at all disgruntled by the interruption, Daichi nodded in affirmation. "There are methods to reduce these crippling limitations, but the Syndicate monopolizes the technology needed to grant a Doll semi-independence. The technology is called M.E., and from my understanding, it involves closing and opening certain neural passageways in the memory banks of the human brain. M.E. is what has allowed not only the Syndicate, but all the world governments to keep Contractors and Dolls a secret from the public. When a human is changed by the Gates, the powers that be arrive and abduct them; their family and friends have their memories altered to convince them that the nascent Doll or Contractor never existed."
Daichi paused to subtly shift his eyes towards Hanna and Eli. While the children wouldn't spot the gesture from their point of view, it would be clear to Nancy, Ion, and the Precenter that no matter if their parents were alive or dead, Hanna and Eli were orphans.
"There is one more asset that can be called exclusive to Hell's Gate Tokyo: Hell's Gate itself. While the quarantine zone that was once the heart of Japan's capital is now an inhospitable wasteland, scouting parties occasionally uncover objects of immeasurable value to the outside world. These items vary in use and replication, but the most important to the Syndicate's plans is a small circular object known as the Meteor Shard.
"In essence, a Meteor Shard is capable of amplifying the abilities of Gate particles, no matter their origin. A Meteor Shard is the final key to the Syndicate's super weapon, but it can also be used by a Contractor to strengthen their ability beyond measure. The unknown Contractor I mentioned earlier—the one who wiped out part of a continent twenty-two hundred kilometers wide—used a Meteor Shard to protect Heaven's Gate. I could not tell you what such a weapon would do here, if it would do anything at all, but if the Syndicate can locate another Meteor Shard and entrust it to a loyal Contractor, they would have a devastating weapon at their disposal."
Daichi leaned back in his seat, a hint of exhaustion cracking through his stoic face.
"Everything that I have shared until now is restricted to what the Syndicate could access within Hell's Gate Tokyo; if only that were the extent of its power. Were I in the position of its ringleaders, my first objective would be to expand the Syndicate's influence into other states, starting with the neighbors. We have been present on this planet since its apparent genesis; at this point, there is no doubt in my mind that Syndicate allies exist all across Battleworld. Perhaps these allies are ignorant of the Syndicate's past, perhaps they do not care. Whatever the case, they provide an unknown factor to our enemy's arsenal, and I cannot disclose what I do not know."
The Grand Re-Vizier
Archades Crevasse
Jack held on to the handle of the sword as desperately as he could, though as the beast rolled over he had to briefly let go of the handle and run counter to the beast's rotation like a sort of deadly Japanese lumberjack before snatching at the grip again as it came back around.
As the beast's desperate rampaging finally slowed, Jack ripped the greatsword from its bloodied hide and leaped high into the air once more, the massive sword raised over his head.
"HIIIIIIIIII-YAAAAAH!
And brought down like a guillotine in that same spot where the neck met the back.
I have a plan.
Former Hell/Zi-Jin Cheng Border — Wedge and Terra
Wedge sighed as he was surrounded by the Capellan infantry, in a heavily guarded camp. After seeing Biggs succumb to whatever foul magitek the Capellan forces had access to, he knew now was when to fold. "I am Sergeant Wedge Lawson of the 41st Ranger Platoon."
He motioned to Terra. "This is Terra Branford, Magitek Knight. She doesn't speak."
Terra looked up at the supposed commander of the unit, but did not form a response. In fact, her eyes looked downright dead.
"We were ordered by Colonel Falken to scout the region of Former Hell for possible subsurface activity. Then you all showed up," he said, barely hiding his aggravation.
Edited by TailsDoll on Aug 3rd 2019 at 9:34:40 AM
"@[=g3,8d]&fbb=-q]/hk%fg"
Eternal Princess
The train continued to barrel toward the group, its large singular eye growing ever larger as it approached. As it drew closer, they could hear that infernal engine. The sound of twisted metal only barely masking the sounds of muffled screams. As if people were being burned alive within the machines boiler. Time was up. It was on them and they were all going to die!
Yesod didn't question Satori's orders, turning to gaze at the box with his purple eyes. It seemed like suicide, but what did it matter if they were already dead with the way things were going. Hod was too busy defending herself to even hear the request. Meanwhile Netzach turned around as he ran away clutching his bleeding stump, ironically complying as he yelled back.
"Are you fucking insane!?"
The safe like creature, Schadenfreude, began to rumble as it felt more and more eyes on in. Stop. It began to shake violently as whatever was inside that thing became more and more agitated. Stop it! They could hear the wet sound of something breaking as four mechanical legs sprang forth from its body and raised it from its stationary position. Each leg ended in in a drill. Accompanying the legs were two new arms that ended in large circular saws. It was like some industrial monstrous crab
. Stop looking at me!
The things first act was to swing its saws around in a large arc. The sound of metal eating through metal sounded as soon as its saws made contact with large mechs. It dragged along their surface, cutting out their red glowing eyes. It then quickly turned its attention to the train and the giant single eye at its forefront. The floor clicked with its every step as it charged the train, saws out front. The confrontation went as about as expected, Schadenfreude taking the full brunt of the train upon impact. It shot back toward the rest and down the hall like a five foot wide bullet, tearing through anything in its path.
At the very least it seemed to be enough to divert the train's path. It turned ever so slightly, just missing the party as it slammed against the wall. The sound of crushing metal was deafening as it tore through all the rooms, one after the other, on the left side of the hall. Debris flung every where like shrapnel. The whole section of the facility seemed to shake from the impact. So much so, that a few of the containment units
◊ on pulleys came lose, crashing down on to the bridge. When all was said and done, the train remain ebbed into the wall. Its engine sounded like an infernal heart beating as it tried to start up once more.
The lights came back on, revealing the path before them. Nearly another dozen more of the humanoid robots stood in their way. They seemed almost comatose at first, as if the derelict machines were merely pondering their own existence. With the return of the light, they seemed to remember their purpose once more as they strode forth like mechanical zombies, intent to kill the hated humans that abandoned them. Behind them the safe like creature was shakily getting to its feet. It was missing one of it's arms and its outer shell was cracked. Regardless, it was no less enraged. The crab like mechanical monstrosity strode forward, cutting down anything in its path.
Beyond Schadenfreude, at the end of the hall, was what seemed to be the trains final destination. A portal remained opened to some strange destination. In their stomachs, they knew where it was. They could feel heat coming from it like an open oven. The smell of brimstone came seeping out the dimensional tear, carried with embers and the smell of burning flesh. Before them was the gateway straight to Hell. It waited to receive the train and its passengers of the damned. But the train marooned, it merely sat wide open. Perhaps it was just their imagination, but those who gazed at it could swear something was coming toward them.
With the return of the light, all the doors in the hall opened again once more. It seemed the rooms that had been crushed were not completely empty. From one of the broken doors came rush of spiders. Their swarms blanketed the floor like a moving black carpet, spreading out as they fled their confines. Another just oozed out some inhuman looking blood. Another one could hear the whimpers and cries of a small child. Finally, one open to allow a small smiling drone out
. The small machine simply looked about at all the mess and happily got to cleaning.
Back on the bridge, containment units that had fallen were opening up. From one cell crawled out what appeared to be a human woman, though her behavior betrayed her as something else. Her skin was pale white and her long straight black Godiva hair was long enough to reach her ankles.
It was hard not the think of the Japanese Yurei when looking at her, especially that famous one who crawled out of tvs. She kept her fore head pressed to the floor as she crawled forward in a human's imitation of a spider's crawl, moving down the hall.
The other creature to crawl from its containment unit was perhaps the most unnatural creature they had seen, even by Facility X-394's standards. It looked like a child's drawing
. A 2d object some how occupying a 3d space. Its out line constantly shifted, as if it was poorly animated. It stood tall and still as it exited its chamber.
Netzach was loosing alot of blood. If the missing arm wasn't bad enough, the several cuts from flying shrapnel was now adding to the trail of blood he was leaving in his wake. Clutching his stump, he looked forward to see the rampaging safe like creature charging them, then behind to seen the newly escaped abnormalities. It seemed they went from being boned to being boned. At least the train looked like it might have been a quick death. Still, he wasn't quite ready to die quite yet. But as he considered his situation, he could only sum it up one way.
"Well, shit..."
Hod seeing her rescuers instantly began thanking them. She was still in something of a panic after having almost been brutally stabbed to death. She tried to reach up to cling to them. Her ankle was still horribly mangled so she couldn't walk. It seemed the cat girl and wolf would have no room for her since they were already carrying the two human. Even so, she still wanted to so desperately to live.
Yesod kept his eyes on the strange drawing like creature. He very calmly spoke out to Satori.
"Close your ears."
Perhaps she already knew, mind reader that she was. He took a few steps toward the creature. It wasn't malicious, but that didn't stop it from being dangerous. He reached out toward the creature, trying to calm it down. He spoke out slowly, trying to communicate with the drawing.
"Friend. Friend."
It was hard to tell what exactly the creature was thinking, featureless as it was. However, the heart shaped antennae atop its orb like body opened up like a mouth. What came out was some unearthly sound, completely incomprehensible. The closest thing it could be described to was singing. Those who heard it would not be able to enjoy it. It would feel as if their entire mind was erased then rewritten within a fraction of a second.
They were still themselves, at least they think they were, but among their memories was a host of all new information. Information that was impossible for them to understand. Their perception seemed all off. They could hear color and taste sound. They would feel how paper thin this thing they knew as reality was. As if they simply scratched at the surface, they would see all the eyes that stared at them from the dark. Then there were the words. Just rows and rows of words chronicling their suffering with complete indifference. As if all they had to endure was nothing more then the entertainment of interdenominational watchers, the Cure being the only one to actually present themselves before them. Through it all, there was a nagging sensation at the back of their brain, like trying to remember something told to them in a different language from a dream withing a dream.
The influx of information did not come without its price. A throbbing debilitating headache racked the skulls of any who listened. It felt their brain was three times to large for their head. It almost felt sane to crack your skull open just to stop the crushing pain. From the looks of things, they were getting off easy. Yesod had fell to his knees, convulsing in a seizure. Blood trickled down his nose and stained the front of his suit, as if his brain was being liquefied.
"Shit, shit shit shit!"
Netzach flung himself to the ground, pressing one ear to the ground and covering his other with his only hand. Of all the times to have your arm cut off...couldn't cover his ears, couldn't properly use a weapon either. He was pretty fucked all right.
Hod unable to stand with her leg wounded as it were, clutched her ears and began screaming, desperately trying to keep the drawing's song from reaching her ears. As the two of them laid helplessly on the floor, the small spider swarms saw fit to crawl over them, completely ignoring their screams of protest.
How do you kill that which has no life?
"I am not sure what this Danmaku is but if you are better with ranged weapons or magic than you are with bladed instruments, then that will be something worth celebrating. Perhaps we can make it rather festive, with streamers and balloons?" Keeping up the pace due to being a Servant who specialized in speed even if she was wearing stupidly off-balanced and impractically designed geta, the tan Majin dashed down the corridor with an almost rhythmic clattering noises after that particular innocently disparaging comment given...
Only to run into pure unfiltered chaos as Touhou hat girls and Zelda archnemeses clashed against each other in one good old giant tumble of disorder that culminated in the mask that seemed to be the thing that was causing all the trouble flying off into the distance.
"What... should we do now? Normally I would charge in swinging but everyone here is... childish. And I do owe you a debt. You have my aid for one request so point out a direction for me to take. I am not that good at thinking on my own."
Taking an aside glance to Rin while being completely serious even as she watched the squabbling going on, Majin Saber resheathed her katana and got ready to use it as a smacking instrument instead since she saw no one here worthy of cold steel.
Edited by Makaioh on Aug 4th 2019 at 8:29:23 AM
Former Hell, Chireiden: Children's Games
Link panted as he turned the hallway corner. It was the fifth or maybe sixth turn since he and Tatl had left the others behind, and with every gap between sightings of that heart-shaped mask, he was a little more worried about running into a trap. Fortunately he hadn't lost the trail through the daedalic halls of Chireiden; his games with Dampe and the Deku Butler had trained him for a race like this.
Tatl had noticed something in those brief glimpses of the mask. It had been large enough to cover the Skull Kid's face back in Termina, but since this chase started it had somehow grown in size little by little. By now it might even be as tall as her partner, but the way it spun horizontally through the halls made that a hard claim to prove.
Turning the ninth (or was it the tenth?) turn approached, boy and fairy exited the little hall and emerged into...part of a temple? That wasn't the case, but the large columns and open space and arches holding a roof a hundred feet above reminded him of the Temple of Time. And much like the Temple of Time, Link discovered a monster on that sacred ground.
The boy glared at the mask. He'd once failed to protect a holy place; he wouldn't let evil defile another. With bow and arrow in hand, the little hero pulled the string taught and aimed for the floating mask, a target that had easily grown to five feet tall.
"Why?" Majora asked, its orange eyes made more luminescent by the fiery glow of the window glass. "Why won't you leave me alone?"
"You've got a lot of nerve asking that!" Tatl huffed. "Does 'crashing the moon into Termina' ring a bell?!"
"I can't do that here!" the mask hurriedly replied. "I can't do a lot of things I could do before. I...don't want to destroy this world. All I want is to bring back my friends."
A lower, venomous voice emerged as Majora added: "The friends you took away from me."
"Save your sob story; it's not going to work twice." Luckily for the fairy, it seemed she was right. The fire in Link's eyes didn't waver, the point of the arrow glowed with sacred light.
"It doesn't matter where we are. All worlds are better off without you."
Majora paused. Not because it expected sympathy, but because it realized exactly where they all were. This was the main hall of Chireiden. This was where Koishi had brought it yesterday, soon after they first met. This was where it had learned the layout of this manor. So this was where it could finally get this horrific menace of its trail.
Link let the light arrow fly. The soft glow soared straight for the mask's left eye, only to miss its mark as the mask dove in for another saw blade-like strike. But the little hero was ready this time: in a moment, he had another light arrow ready and rolled to safety. As he emerged from the roll, he aimed the holy weapon for the mask spinning by and—
"Look out!"
THWACK!
Something the size of a basketball hit Link in the side, which forced him to fire the light arrow into a window as he flew across the floor. Tatl saw everything that'd happened from her elevated point of view: as the mask spun closer, four limbs suddenly sprout from its sides; the thing that struck her partner was its left arm as the humanoid form spun around and around and around, finally skidding across the marble floor in an act that a modern-age onlooker would call "break dancing."
A little head emerged from the top of the mask, a skull occupied mostly by a single piercing eye. Its transformation complete, Majora's Incarnation
sprung off its back with startling agility, and began to mockingly chatter at the child sprawled on the ground.
In a moment, Link was back on his feet with little worse for wear; the strike was more of a push or a slap than anything dangerous, but he'd just wasted another light arrow. At this rate, his magic would run out long before the finishing blow. He'd just have to keep both eyes on this thing and predict its movements.
The Incarnation clapped and cheered as the little hero returned to his feet, which was something that made both Link and Tatl's blood boil.
"Ignore its taunts, just aim for the center and bring it down."
Link nodded, and studied the creature's sudden burst of frantic energy. The thing hopped, sprung, sprinted, and even moon walked from place to place with an incessant chatter. It. Would. Not. Stay. STILL! He fired another arrow (one without magic infused in the point) just to see what it would do, and to Link and Tatl's surprise, the Incarnation leaped into the air and did a full split over the projectile!
As it landed, Majora bent its knees and pulled its arms behind the mask-torso: time to strike back.
Without warning, the Incarnation rapidly threw a dozen energy balls at Link in a "front stroke" motion. The attacks struck the startled hero before he could even think about reaching for his shield, stunning him in place as eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve orbs of dark magic hit their mark. Link cried in pain as the onslaught ceased, and fell to the ground.
"You okay?!" Tatl cried as she flew to her downed partner's head. Link winced, and gave a grunted affirmation. The pain would numb in a few moments; if anything, he was surprised that a powerful sting was all that attack could cause. But as he rose back to his feet (once again to mocking applause) Link felt his face flush and an insatiable heat grow in his belly.
This thing was too fast. It could see every move he made, and had a reach twice as long as his own. He couldn't get close to it, so he had to trust in the only long range weapon that was swift enough to even hope to hit it. But he also couldn't switch between his bow and shield fast enough to protect himself from those energy balls!
He was stuck. He didn't have a weapon to easily match Majora's speed, and Darmani's Goron Roll wasn't nimble enough to be useful here. If he could get close enough to throw a deku nut, then maybe—
"Move!"
Another volley of energy balls flew towards Link; Majora had grown tired of waiting. While he successfully managed to roll away from the first three strikes, the remaining nine struck Link as he tried to rise, and once again he cried in pain and fell to the ground.
That.
Was.
IT!
Staggering back to his feet to a third round of applause, Link put away his bow and retrieved his secret weapon: the mask with white hair and tribal markings. The mask he had used to defeat Death itself!
"What're you stupid?!" Tatl cried. "It gave you that thing! It's a trick! Put it down RIGHT NOW!"
But it was too late. In a scream and a flash of light, the Hero of Time was gone.
As the light faded, a new figure emerged: one wielding a greatsword crossed in a double helix and bearing the marks of an ancient deity. He glared at Majora with pupil-less eyes and a snarl that said "enough of these childish games."
He gripped his blade with both hands, and charged.
Chireiden, Elsewhere: Tom and Jerry Antics
Moments later, the first of a series of rumbles could be heard in the Komeiji's manor. Perhaps those struggling to free Koishi of this haunted mask would feel a tremor or two, or perhaps they heard the roar of something neither monster nor child. The animals would likely know more than any of the servants, Servant, or Satori could, possibly because a bird or two had witnessed the scene themselves.
Should they fly to their master, or simply fly close enough for her to listen, perhaps the elder Komeiji would discover that another stranger had arrived; or rather, he had somehow replaced the boy in green. This stranger was a man garbed in white and silver, carrying a giant blade and hounding a mask-like figure so aggressively that every blow that missed its target (and even some that didn't) caused the main hall to shake from the impact.
He was a furious, reckless, and powerful being. And blow by blow, he was destroying Chireiden.
Satori had a bad day so far, and it seemed to be getting worse by the minute.
The immediate torrent of violence and bizarre, haphazard destruction coming from the child...no, the mask's mind was cut off as fast as Satori could manage. It couldn't be called a line of thought; it jumped everywhere like wild scratch marks against a door! Even Utsuho's madness was orderly in comparison, and she also sought only destruction!
The shock was enough to make Satori recoil briefly, and that was enough for Koishi to finally wrench Goht away from her.
Majora's screaming command was only repeated once by Goht, who devolved into a pained mixture of hysteric sobbing and bellowing as it yanked Koishi away from the group. Rin tried to grasp at Majora before he could flee from the room, uncaring for her own safety or fingers as she leaped to catch the passing mask, but found herself only the slightest bit short: its spinning spikes painfully tore off one of her long, nails as it left.
She grasped at her hand and recoiled in pain, and she finally responded with "...J-Just go save Koishi! The green one, she..."
...wasn't where she was a moment ago, as Satori and Rin found out.
...What is this...?
Koishi, it's me. Goht. Your friend.
...What did I just do?
You're part of me. I'm part of you now...doesn't it make you happy?
But...you shouldn't be able to hear this. I closed off my heart! There's nothing here!
I see lots of things, Koishi! Every time you've been sad, every time you've been happy! It's your whole life!
You can't know that! I don't even know that!
...You haven't been happy in a long time, have you, Koishi?
Stop looking at that!
You're like me, aren't you? You're alone.
I said STOP!
But you just want to be happy, don't you? I like that feeling just as much as you do, when your heart feels lighter after something good happens to you...and we can be work together to make ourselves happy.
...
You're scared, aren't you?
I'm not supposed to feel scared.
...Remember the time you wore the other mask? Maybe it's like that!
...And I can see all of your memories, too...
Uhhh...I think you can. That means you can see—
The time you were killed. You were...running the whole time...
What if they want to do that again? What if they do it to you...because you were friends with me? They're frightened by you, now.
...I'm just as scared as you are.
Koishi was hanging from the ceiling. The veins of her third eye clung to the surface, tensing strangely as her body scratched at it, trying to find a handhold there. Underneath the brim of her hat, the strange, menacing grimace of Goht was over her face.
Satori, unable to think for a moment as she looked up at her in confusion and fear, raised a hand towards her. "...Koishi, please...get down from there."
Koishi responded with by screaming far louder than she should have been able to. The younger sister scrambled across the ceiling in an unnatural way, almost spiderlike as she huddled in the corner of the room.
More out of fear than anything, Satori jumped backward and shouted "Orin! Lady with a sword! Get that thing off of her, destroy it!"
Koishi screamed once again, a drawn out cry of "NO!", and this time a bright, unnatural light filled the room. The ceiling were immediately taken out as the flash dissipated, only leaving the silhouette of some strange, four legged thing that cracked against the ceiling.
The shaking going on elsewhere in Chireiden was met with another rumble, as a massive ox broke free of its barriers, piercing the ceiling and breaking apart the rooms above them, and started to tear down the walls around it in a mad flail!*
Edited by wikkit on Aug 4th 2019 at 12:33:50 PM
"I am getting the mixed signals from everyone here." Remarking rather blandly as the whole shitshow of clashing ideals and stressed out women-folk, rampaging children, and masks caused a veritable cluster of a situation, Majin Saber nodded slightly at Rin's heartfelt request. "Your wish, I shall grant." Holding out her hand once more, blue hellfire (of a different kind than this native hell's) burst out from the ground to coalesce in her hand.
"I am the one who cleaves demons, pierces gods, and manages the prayers of men. I am Majin Okita Souji."
Intoning even as her sword twirled and floated in midair so that the sheathe began to slide off in a hiss of rasping steel, the inordinately long odachi was now in her grip as she stared up at the target specified by Rin. "Rengoku, my old friend... are you ready to cut only what is needed?"
Most people probably would have thought the eccentric woman to be even more loony for talking to her sword, if not for that fact that the weapon was vibrating slightly even as a crimson light glowed from within its depths as if in affirmation.
"Hell yeah I'm ready, Boss! I was growing bored and rusty just being kept about all the time in the sheathe! You point me at something and I cut them, that's the arrangement even after all these years! Just don't throw me, okay? Please don't throw me, I'm not meant for that sorta stunt!" Somehow, a sword could indeed grow nervous in its user's hands.
"I am Majin Okita Souji... she who reached the extremities of endlessness... and quite frankly, everyone here needs to have a nice long chat with each other once everything is over. Go consult a family councilor already." Seeing that the Fierce Deity was pretty much destroying the whole place in his endless flailing (this had to be finished before the bucko can bumble on into the scene and make things even worse), Majin Saber pointed the tip of her weapon towards Koishi before blasting off like a damn rocket from all the fire that suddenly burst from her geta after she leaped up a good distance so as to prevent the floor from having char marks. She was nothing if not polite after all.
"Something Amazing Majin Saber Wake Up Slash!" Pelting off that rather ridiculously named attack, the Servant that became a homing projectile flashed towards her target with a rising diagonal slash that had been repurposed from decapitating heads towards slicing 'bonds'. It was a very animu maneuver where thousand-folded Nippon steel flashed forward to cut only what needed to be cut... in this case the bonds that kept Goht and Koishi forcibly stuck together without damaging either the mask or the girl all that much. If it could connect that was.
"Well... at the very least we know they aren't... Hostile. Or competent if my ears are to be believed." Having finished their meal, the K/DA members who were simply ambling about to digest both food and information given could be heard the stage whispers that were coming from the area, which at least put some of their fears down.
Akali for her part decided that it was about time to have some fun as well as see what would actually happen when the bumbling duo was given a good scare and thus creeped on her tiptoes forward, flashing a couple of handsigns before continuing on her way forward. In the daylight, there was no change at all to her ordinary if rather flashy outfit...
once she entered the building's shadows however, there was now a neon street demon just posing menacingly. Even more strange was the fact that the static design on the face mask was shifting as though the very paint used to represent its toothy maw was moving, pulling off some rather nifty optical illusions to power up the prank even further. "Boo."
"We'll keep an eye out. You do what must be done." Nodding as they waved off the social faux-pas for a more pressing concern of people going missing, Ritsuka nodded gravely before wishing them well on their mission before turning to Mash with an implied question on her face once the duo was gone from the area in what was presumably their mad rush to save their friends.
"Indeed, if so much people have suddenly gone missing out of the blue then there must be something grave happening there. Still, heading out as we are now without information would be foolhardy, especially since Chaldea itself is not entangled in this situation." Though her face looked a bit sour about this, the Demi-Servant still kept a cool enough head to address the issues to her Master.
"...You're right. We are already low on manpower as is... and heading into the situation in a bone-headed manner will only make things harder on us in the long run. If they were suddenly cut off all of a sudden then it's either communications black out or something along the lines of a Bounded Space in the case of a more supernatural threat. Get Da Vinci to scan Mitakihara for levels of magic to see if that's the case. We'll need to plan accordingly after the verdict's been reached."
Both standing up at the same time, Ritsuka and Mash began to head on out towards the Bridge Area while throwing on their combat ready field uniforms on the move so as to be ready in case they were to be deployed on a scouting mission.
Fairy Tail Guild Hall
"Oh good, well they're free to use it then," Mirajane said to Shanoa, happy that at least two of the folks from Castlevania were able to appreciate a normal room.... Well, more normal than a torture chamber, at least. "Oh, that's Erza. C'mon, you should meet her and the others."
She shuffled down the stairs, heading towards the entrance.
"Hey guys! I made a new friend, she's going to stay with us for a while!" Mirajane called out as she reached the bottom of the stairs. "Well her, and some of her friends, they need a place to.... Mavis?"
She came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs, pausing for a bit, then rushing over to tackle the newly-revived Guild Master, hugging and crying all over her.
"Well now I'm going to cry...." Wendy said through tears and then scurried over to get in on the hugpile.
Erza sidestepped away, and headed over to Shanoa.
"So Mira said you need to stay here," Erza said firmly to the woman, more a statement than a question. She smiled, and held out her hand to grasp. "I'm Erza Scarlet. Welcome to Fairy Tail. Would you care to explain the situation? I don't think Mira's going to be able to do so any time soon."
Abandoned Farm Checkpoint - The Zone - Lucy and Happy
"Bloodsuckers?" Lucy grimaced?
"Uh oh...." Happy shook his lil' cat head side-to-side. "That sounds scary."
"Well, I'm sure we'll be fine if we just don't go off the road, so let's make sure to do like they said, okay?" Lucy assuaged the cat.
Then she grabbed Happy's paw in her hand and hightailed it the hell outta there, heading down the road. When she got near the guards, she asked them to redirect her to Skinflint and Ashot.
"We're going to need to be able to fit in, so we've got to get you something that lets you look like a local," she quietly explained to Grant.
Labyrinth - Cana with Madoka and Sayaka
"It looks like they're letting up," Cana started to say with relief, then slowly turned her head back towards the spooky scary rumbling sounds that were coming from behind them.
"Alright, screw it, we're getting out of here. Run for it!" she shouted, then she unceremoniously reached out to try and scoop Madoka up into her arms, sling her over her shoulder, and then run like hell towards the exit.
Nitocris' Room -> Common Room - Hiriko
Leading Nitocris to the Common Room, Hiriko stopped by the map to take a look at it.
"It appears as if it has changed once again," she said. "Well then, let us pay a visit to this Netherworld, shall we?"
With that, she walked over to the Netherworld Portal and hopped in.
Whitewood Shrine - Sakura Dungeon
"Oh, that doesn't sound good...." The Spirit Guardian said. She looked lost in thought, just idly petting her wolf while gazing into the forest.
"I guess we both know what it's like," she spoke up. "What it's like being used like things and not getting to do what we want. And after spending so much time like that... I don't know what I want anymore. But you're a human, you have to worry about a short life and dying. You should do something with it!"
Panda Town Gates - Sakura Dungeon
A Panda with her hands on her hips strutted out from a corner, heading near the gate Jade had opened.
"Fwaaaa, why do we have to be stuck guarding the gate during dinnertime? Agaiiiiiiiiin?" a voice suddenly said. The guard panda turned away from the gate, looking back to face yet another panda who had been following along at a short distance.
"Well it's not all bad," she said. "Just the two of us out here, not sure when the enemy might attack, living each moment like it could be our last. Isn't it romantic?"
"It's stupid. I don't want to fight anyone, I just want to farm bamboo and not deal with stupid monsters attacking us. If we didn't have to sit our asses on the front lines, then we could sit on-"
"Hey, is the gate open?"
"-huh?"
Both the Pandas looked over towards the entrance, though still not noticing Jade due to her being all tiny.
"You too." The young captain replied as Amber departed, before turning his focus towards the other two. He mused over their request for a moment as he glanced between the two thoughtfully. It would be a good chance to see how they acted out in the field, and possibly get a proper look at what they could do. "Sure, I don't see any reason why not. You'll want to head to the rear cargo bay right now, then. Ask someone to show you the way, I'll meet you both there."
The open space was as busy as usual, with people moving about as they did their assigned jobs. More of the work than usual was focused on the single gunboat that was sitting in the middle of it, with several people in overalls giving it a quick look over as a group of armed men and women formed nearby; Each one carrying a rifle and ammo pouch. Standing at the head of it and waiting patiently, a bundle of multiple rifles wrapped in cloth on his back, Alfred McInnes stood with arms crossed. Obviously sizing up the two newest Magonians with a trained eye.
It wasn't too long after Luca and Amagiri arrived at the cargo bay that Tatsu would return, now clad in his full uniform. His jacket around his shoulders and his officer hat perched atop his head. He'd also belted his sword to his hip once again, which might leave the two coordinators wondering what the point of it was. Striding past them, he didn't slow as he said, "Alright, everyone into the gunboat!"
The group clambered inside, and quickly took up position in the seats lining the walls. It was fairly spacious for a transport and fit the group of 8 easily. Once they were inside, the door slid shut; Sealing them in as a humming sound began to rise. At the same time, the sound of hyrdraulics filled the cargo bay and was quickly joined by the wind, as the bay door slowly raised itself up and out of the way. A moment later, the gunboat lifted off the deck and began to hover backwards and out into the open sky.
The flight was silent and relatively short, as the gunboat descended from the clouds some distance away from their target in case anyone was nearby, and quickly dropped altitude to fly low as they came in for a silent approach. As the sight of the battle came into view, the pilots scanned the area before bringing the ship to a hover and then lowering it to the grass with a soft thump. Thanks to the magic of electromagnetic engines, the entire approach had been almost entirely silent. The doors of the gunboat opened, and the group quickly moved out; Weapons at the ready as the spread out and secured the area.
Tatsu, followed by Alfred, did the same. Looking over the carnage of the scene and anything they could spot of interest.
"Like what?" Delfi asked bluntly, a hint of annoyance creeping into her tone. She paused patting the wolf for a moment, her hand simply resting on its head as she stared at the other woman. It was stupid, but the wolf girl's words almost sounded like a command to her, something that pushed a nerve. "Anything I might have wanted to do once is long dead, taken from me." Memories of a plan, drawn by multiple hands and promised to each other, gave her frown a bitter tinge. "I can't even go everywhere by my own ability anymore. I get stopped by stairs."
Realizing she was getting herself worked up a bit, Delfi took a slow breath in, held it, then let it out. "It's not so easy, like you said. Up until earlier today I was still a prisoner. I'll need time to think before I can do anything. Which is one of the reasons I came out to here."
Well, as a result of the witch's attack, Nero fell to the ground, screaming, as he was now minus an arm. Nyarly diden't bother to respond to Kyubey's observations as he laughed.
"Nero!" Vergil yelled as he advanced on Nyarly, who was still holding the severed arm. That arm twisted, and formed into an exact copy of Vergil's sword. With Ruby's blade sticking out of his chest and Yang kicking a a chunk of his head off, he had no time to waste. But he only required another second to preform the rest of the plan. He impaled Vergil through the chest, and with a twist of his blade, a second body suddenly shot out of Vergil's back, a second man
◊ in a black coat, who suddenly looked very freaked out. Vergil's old body fell to the floor, hand still clutching the sword as dark energy started to overtake him.
Luckily for you, Vergil, I still have a use for you. Well.....half of you, anyway.
Meanwhile, the packed as shit army van pulled up in front of the hospital that Nero and the rest had entered. Lady was among the first out, and to the probable panic of the american military, she was holding her giant rocket launcher in both hands as she rushed the door and kicked it open, rushing inside.
The blow did the job, and the beast fell to the ground, finally dead. It hadn't quite been beheaded, but the giant sword in the neck was lethal all the same. The giant t-rex lowered its head in respect to Jack, but it went no further. It would seem it sensed that it was not welcome past this point. Jack would have time to say his goodbyes, claim a trophy from the behemoth if he was into that sort of thing, and then he would be able to advance.
Soon, he was no longer in the pit, and clearly approaching the city. But before he reached it, he would hear the familiar sounds of combat, and sense the shockwaves of power that are only created when two fierce combatants clash. If he investigated, he would be just in time to see a man with a curious sword
fall to one knee before another man
◊
"Impossible....." The kneeling man muttered.
"Is there still doubt?" The other man asked. "Dare you continue to question me? To question if I have the "might of a ruler"?"
The man shook his head. "No.....by right of combat, you have defeated me."
"Good. Now, allow me to explain your role here, in my forces, and what our ultimate objective is...."
Whenever Jack decided to interrupt and approach, or stay hidden and try to eavesdrop, was up to him.
Whitewood Shrine
"Awoooooooo... what... I... I don't know." The Wolf deflated. "I was never able to come up with something. I was hoping you'd get an idea and I could find a purpose that way...."
She nervously scratched behind an ear with one hand.
"Because I um... I don't really know what's out there in the human lands, but you're a human. You should know all sorts of stuff about how the human world works and what's out there and what sort of things are worth doing!"
Her tail wagged as she thought about things.
"But if you have trouble going places.... Maybe I could help you go places? That would give me something to do! I don't know where to go, and you can't get where you want to, but together we're almost like a normal person!"
The fairy, even for all of her bravado, didn't expect to actually come out the victor in such a heroic fashion! The mere sight of her unimaginable danmaku prowess caused the iron golems to flee before the sight of the terrible, the death-dealing, the all-conquering Lyre Robin!
Oh and Daily was still there, too. Her jaw would've dropped to the floor if she wasn't so high up.
Lemon Shine, back in the treeline, cursed her friend's good fortune, because it was about to make her look like a liar. She hated looking like a liar!*
Lyre, the tiny angelic fairy, immediately gave chase with a renewed passion! She fired off a whole three more volleys of beach ball bullets, ones that the Cappellans would literally have to turn around and run into to be menaced by, before her two friends managed to pull her away from the fight.
It was a victory for fairykind everywhere!
To cut short the incredibly long-winded boasting and "did you see how he"s that they all shared, the three of them finally settled down in the scorched earth of the burnt forest beneath them. Pinewood smells pretty nice when it's on fire, after all, and the fact that large swathes of the woods were still on fire around them didn't concern them none.
Also the dead guys, but they were too busy celebrating to notice.
The eventual outcome of all of this was a simple statement, one that would be questioned repeatedly and restated with the same conviction for the next few minutes. Lyre Robin pointed to where the Battlemech footprints trailed off, and shouted "I want a rematch!"
"That sounds like something a person who's never heard of Chernobyl would say." Her face gave the impression that she happened to know quite a lot about the subject and would go on about it for a very long time if given the chance. The pistol-to-the-face surprised her briefly, but more in the way that someone would react if a bird had stolen a single french fry from them.
"Chernobyl represents the pinnacle of nuclear failure, and the ultimate symbol of everyone's fears on the matter personified! It's a big disaster that killed thousands of people, and for every time you hear the word 'nuclear reactor' in some kind of historical context, people jump to this single incident above every step of progress that's been made with them! It's nothing short of emblematic! People practically worship this thing!"
She almost grew too excited for her own good there, just one step below normal speaking with her whispers that could've earned her a bullet in the head to keep their stealth intact.
"...But, if you wanna be honest, it's also something else." Utsuho was a very practical girl at the same time, even if her sense of dressing didn't suggest that. "Since it's abandoned, it's one of the only reactors in the world you can walk into. No guards or...well, okay, these guys are guards, but if I explain it they'll probably let me in."
"...Crappy kni—whatever, I don't have time to contest that!" Rin peeled out of the room at speed, hoping the mystical super-samurai fusion danced servant from another world would be able to keep up with her feline agility. Rin turned to Majin in the air, nodding at her.
"You can help me, sure. I'm not throwing away anything I can get today. But I just wanna say, if it's a danmaku fight, my knife skills aren't going to be anywhere near as crappy. You'll see!"
Link's disappointment was almost palpable. Satori was certain that, if she looked back, the boy would be giving her a look stronger than the pleading eyes of any puppy dog. Of course, Satori was stronger than that.
Imagine if Koishi received any more than what Satori already buckled for, when she broke out those sad peepers. She was down an eye compared to her, but she made up for it with a spirited sense of simulated sadness that few others could hope to match.
"Link, I shall reward you in such a way that you deserve. Do not worry," she said, as vaguely and noncommittally as possible.
Now, their surprise at her odd family situation was rare, but not unheard of. She sighed, and rolled her eyes. Mostly at Tatl.
"They are more like family than any kind of servants. They enjoy my presence, and I enjoy theirs, and we work together as family should. I definitely do not take care of them like...like that," she specifically repudiated Link. "However, I do pet them. Honestly, Utsuho pets me back often enough. It's...nice..."
Link's observation was correct, unfortunately. Sure, he did not specifically deduce it, but even within his young mind perhaps he understood that there were few people in this woman's life just by her forlorn gaze.
"...I am afraid such things are not so easy."
She turned away from him, and continued scanning the corridors with her eyes and ears astute.
"The fact is, we have only just met. You do not just choose to care about another person in the span you and I have known each other...and I am certain that, with time, you will find out why this can't happen."
And then, a hard bump on the door to their right. The roar of a lion, and a quick hush.
"I think we're already doing that, Goht. Just you being in the family will make us all happy. It's only been us four for a really long time, and even then Utsuho was a bird until a few years ago!"
"...You have a sister who's a bird?" Goht's mask couldn't express confusion in any way except verbally, but it seemed to manage that fine.
"No, she's not my sister, silly. And she's still a bird, just...less of a bird. But she can still sing like a bird! And hop, and dance!" Koishi began to hop like nothing more mattered, dancing just like she had with Majora around the room. Her long sleeves twirled in the air, and the two of them laughed to themselves.
"And she can still fly like one, too!"
Just to add emphasis to that statement, because it was literally the first idea that came to her waning mind, she threw Goht like a frisbee.
Surprisingly aerodynamic for something with such a strange design, Goht coasted across the room with a yelp and then slammed into the door. Evidently this got Gao-san riled up, as he shifted his furry bulk upward to roar in their direction.
"Nooo, no I didn't mean...shhhhhhh! Shh shh shh!" Koishi ran over to Goht, who met her halfway in the path as he floated closer to him.
Just as Satori went to open the door, her instinct telling her to at least give Gao-san's room a cursory inspection, Rin and Majin Saber rounded the corner like the Devil was at their heels.
"Ah. Rin. I see you've brought a guest," The lord of the house said to the tan saber. "You should properly introduce me to them at a later time, as we..."
*crreeeeaaaaak*
The door opened, and the two groups were joined. Satori took a precious second to process what she was looking at, and she soon stood aghast at the sight of it. Her sister was here, with the mask hovering behind her ominously, its piercing orange eyes staring endlessly...and a second one in her hands.
Satori said "...Koishi?"
Koishi said "Satori?"
Rin said "Miss Satori, is that..."
Koishi replied "Rin?! Big sis?!"
Goht added "Koishi...?"
"GAOOOOOOOO," Gao-san stated.
"Koishi," Satori finally said, putting an end to that nonsense with truly grim tone. "Step away from those things, right now. Drop it."
The earlier happiness that Koishi showed was gone. Even the enraged outbursts the two masks had made earlier hadn't shook her even a tenth as much as Satori's finality. She took a few steps back reflexively, and clutched Goht tight to her chest. "Sister, I can explain...! They're our friend, it's..."
"Koishi! That's HIM!" Goht's voice was nothing short of terrified as he finally realized who he was staring at, in the doorway. "That's HIM! The one who killed all of my friends! The one who killed ME!"
The younger satori was at first very confused, as when she imagined this horrible hero in her head, she didn't picture someone so short, or...well, pleasant-looking and soft. He had a nightcap on his head; if it weren't for the sword, she'd have thought that Satori had invited him for a slumber party or something cool like that.
But, the irritated, fearful shaking of the mask in her hands told her enough. Goht was afraid, and therefore, Koishi was too.
"Satori, he's just scared! These two are the nicest people I've ever met...and that boy isn't, y'know, any good! He did do that!"
"I don't care." Satori strode confidently, right up to Koishi, and she put a firm hand on the mask in her sister's grasp as she tried to pull it away from her. "You're in danger, so be quiet and listen to me, now. This thing—"
"Koishi," Goht said, "help...help me! They're going to—"
"Sister, let go of him!"
Satori seemed to be very firmly fixated on wrestling the overly ornate mask from Koishi, but she happened to be a very good multitasker. In her eyes, she didn't wait to strike at Majora's mind...and strike as hard as she could. Perhaps the mask could resist it, but he'd feel nothing short of a mental drill digging into his psyche emanating from the short woman, clawing at his secrets with a painfully uncomfortable sensation.
Edited by wikkit on Jul 23rd 2019 at 10:07:16 AM