Vayne nods at Dracula's request.
"To be clear, our scouts have only rumors and heresy to go on. We have proven unable to penetrate the walls of Shao Kahn's own fortress with our scouts. But, there are a number of interesting tidbits we picked up on. First and foremost, Shao Kahn has been doing recruiting. Among his inner circle, it is said new faces walk, for reasons that will become clear soon, many of his old guard are no longer counted among them. There are, in no particular order, a self proclaimed "Cowboy" who claims to be a mercenary, a woman clad in purple who has been named Shao Kahn's new "Daughter" and seems to be in charge of management of the Koopa Kingdom, a red haired woman who is said to wield "Blood Magicks", and who is apparently Shao Kahn's new personal enforcer, a reptile who is said to wield magicks that allow him to make himself and others invisible, and what has only been described as a "Bug woman"."
He shrugs at that last one. "In addition, others have remained in his employ. A mutant with yellow skin and large teeth, as well as arm blades, who is said to lead and command the respect of his people, as close to a champion as they probably have. Supposedly, he once paid a visit to this castle on the first day of this planet's existence, so you would know him better then I. There are a number of what are called "Shokan", some giant species of four armed brutes that, I am told, make Shao Kahn look like a weakling next to them. Yet, he commands their loyalty and respect somehow, perhaps a reminder not to underestmate the man.
"Second, there was apparently a man who once worked for Shao Kahn, a man with a metal eye who peddled wares not native to Shao Kahn's land. He is now a wanted man. It would seem that, in the wake of that "Galactic Empire" attack, he attempted to betray Shao Kahn and join with this empire, but failed to do so. Somehow, through methods we are unclear on, he has escaped, and is likely taking shelter in another land or creating as much distance between Outworld and him as he can. But, this has had an adverse effect on Shao Kahn's ability to use these other, non-native weapons, as he lacks the ability to repair them and procure ammunition for them. That is not to say that he lacks them at all, but his ability to field them in open warfare is, for now, limited."
"Third, Shao Kahn has, at this moment, two main advisers. Two men known as Shang Tsung and Quan Chi. Both feared wielders of magicks, the former is rumored to steal souls, and is said to be able to take the form of any who's soul he has stolen, while the later is said to rule a land of the dead. But, these two men have not been seen in public for some time now. It would seem that they are going out of their way to hide. I suspect that there is a chance that these "Advisers" have begun to see the sinking ship they are on, and are doing their best to distance themselves from the situation as much as they can."
"Lastly, the arena that Shao Kahn owns has seen nearly 24 hour usage for some days now. It would seem that, in a bid to increase his own manpower, he is hosting mandatory fights between individuals of his realm chosen by random lottery, with the objective of identifying individuals who have unknown talents for fighting, and forcibly conscripting them for his army. It is unknown how successful this "Program" has proved to be, but what is clear is that the people, as a whole, are dissatisfied. His military still backs him, which, for a brute such as him, is the only thing he cares about, but it would make the installation of a new leader easier to accept for the people."
He pauses to let Dracula take this information in.
The Velvet Room (Link): The Ending Blow
Link laughed at the gloomy man's unintended pun; yes, a sharp tip to the cane's end did seem like the point! Though as the man explained the purpose for this modification, the little hero became a less cheerful.
He used the cane to stab enemies while they were lying down? That didn't seem very fair. But then again, the gloomy man just confessed that he didn't have the strength to jump into a fight anymore. This was probably the only way he could lend a hand.
Even though it wasn't as bright as before, Link still smiled at the gloomy man. He wasn't able to hold his own in a fair fight, but he was still here. He was still trying to stop this monster and rescue the Lady. That was really brave.
The little hero unsheathed his Razor Sword and tried to mimic the gloomy man's move. At first, he tried to stab an imaginary foe while holding the blade like he normally did, but that didn't feel natural and left him vulnerable. So he tossed the blade in the air and grabbed it the other way, with his thumb by the pommel and the blade facing the ground. With this grip he could easily strike a prone enemy, since all he'd need to do would be to jump on its body and thrust the blade down.
It wasn't exactly an honorable finisher, but with monsters like Death and Nyarlathotep wandering about this planet, Link couldn't afford to be picky. He flipped the Razor Sword back to its usual grip, and sheathed it once again. Then, the smile still on his face, he pulled out his notepad again and wrote another message for the gloomy man:
The smile sharpened with determination as the little hero gave V a thumbs up. He liked the gloomy man. A sword wields no strength unless the hand that holds it has courage—in that light, V definitely wasn't as weak as he thought.
Hearing the group being called to order, Link waved goodbye to the gloomy man, and walked over towards his fairy.
The Velvet Room (Tatl, Hei, Link): The Song of Healing
Naturally, Link wasn't one to raise his voice and ask questions during the meeting. He just walked over towards Tatl and crossed his arms in thought.
This monster knew everything bad about someone? That was one scary power, but most of the people here seemed to be really good (ignoring the big guy with green skin and pointy red nails, among a few others) so these Shadows couldn't be that big of a problem, right? Unless some of the warriors here weren't sure that they were good people, in which case Link would just have to cheer them up!
Miss Mitsuru's point about facing this monster with positivity earned an enlightened "Oooohh!" from the little hero. So that's what the butterfly was doing! To remind everyone of all the good things they'd done and all the friends they were fighting to protect! What a smart little bug!
Though it seemed that Ozen wasn't convinced that the strategy would work. Maybe if it were said another way...
Link reached for his notepad once again and scribbled out a suggestion for the Unmovable Lord:
Perhaps Ozen had forgotten the short list of "things that make me smile" she'd shared with the little hero yesterday. The Unmovable Lord wasn't the type to think of protecting the innocent from monsters, but Link recognized that "positivity" could mean just what made one person happy. If people fearing her strength was what made Ozen smile, then maybe that would count!
Meanwhile, Tatl had been quietly putting some much-needed pieces together. If Shadows were the embodiment of someone's negativity, and Lady was somehow corrupted by a Shadow like Sypha said, then it seemed safe to assume that whatever this monster had done involved evil magic. And even if it didn't, calling Lady's spirit "troubled" was a bit of an understatement.
The fairy turned away from Trevor and the masked guy for a second and fluttered over to her partner, who once again appeared to be barking up the wrong tree by trying to make Ozen his friend.
"You remember what the Happy Mask Salesman told us? Back when he taught you that song?"
Link looked at his partner with a puzzled look, and shrugged. He'd been so relieved that he wasn't trapped as a Deku Scrub that he hadn't really focused a lot on what the Happy Mask Salesman had said—the big key note he got out of that encounter was to never ever ever go back to him without Majora's Mask in hand. He didn't want to be shaken again!
Holding back an irritated sigh, Tatl refreshed her partner's memory. "He said that song heals dark magic and troubled spirits. So if you played that song to this Shadow-corrupted Lady..."
Now Link was on the same page. His eyes shined with the realization: if he could get the Lady to listen to the Song of Healing, then she should return to normal!
With her partner filled in on the plan, Tatl returned to Trevor and the masked man.
"You're lucky that the kid and I got called in to help." the fairy said, her voice practically drowning in confidence. "Now that we know what we're dealing with far as Shadows go, there's a strong chance we can turn this Lady back to normal."
"That so?" said Hei. The Black Reaper's attention seemed to be on a door opening as Dr. Breen emerged to make an announcement. Seems everything was ready.
"Let's hope you're right, then."
The Velvet Room, Breen's Portal: Any Last Words?
With the good doctor leading the fifty-some warriors into the portal room, it was just about time to start the assault. Link and Tatl took to the middle of the pack, where the little hero adjusted his belt and did some last-minute stretching before he equipped his trusty sword and shield.
"So this portal might kill us just by walking through it?" the fairy muttered in summary. "These guys sure know how to give pep talks."
On Nora's request, Maki fell to the rearguard. He lacked the ability to generate Aura, and the combat armor he'd assembled the night before could only do so much. Besides, his crossbow wasn't going to be much use at the front of the pack; unlike Crescent Rose and the other Huntsman and Huntress weapons, the only close-range function Rupture Truss had was defensive.
...speaking of which, Maki converted the crossbow into its kite shield mode after a few moments of thought. They had no idea what would be lying beyond that portal, and with so many people around him, he wasn't about to make any blind shots.
Hei gave Trevor a short nod at the gesture. He took a step forward, but felt compelled to stop for a moment.
"If we don't make it back..." he said, his mask turning to face the vampire hunter, "It's been an honor, Trevor."
It seemed strange to feel like the vampire hunter was a friend, given that Hei and Trevor hadn't known each other even a week ago. But throughout this mission, the Belmont had been the ally Hei had associated with the most. Trevor knew about Hei's history with Amber, and the reason why the Black Reaper showed mercy to Havoc. Although they had only fought together once, it was against the Belmont's arch nemesis and the shape-shifter they were now preparing to defeat. Hei trusted Trevor. Hei liked Trevor. And if they were about to lose their lives defending the people of Battleworld against this monster, then the vampire hunter deserved to know that Hei viewed him as a friend.
Those parting words said, the Black Reaper stepped forward and joined the forming front line. With a dagger in his hand, he waited for the all-clear to charge.
The grunts started coughing as their vision was engulfed by the smoke.
Strelok nodded to Shadow. "Come on. This might get bloody." He got up from his knees, pulling out his AK-74, and moved to the stunned soldiers, moving out to knock out one with a swift rifle butt to the head, before moving to the other and doing the same thing, as they fell to the ground unconscious
Unfortunately, it seemed the other soldiers took notice of this development, as when Strelok, Shadow and Interceptor were about to move out, 3 grunts guarding the other side of the base took notice of the situation, and aimed their rifles at them.
"Stalker!"
"Open fire!"
The grunts started to open fire on them, and a alarm siren could be heard as the situation escalated. Strelok dove to cover to avoid being shot, quickly peeking out of it to fire at one of the soldiers, one of them falling to the ground dead due to a headshot, the two soldiers looked panicked at the death of their fellow soldier, but still attempted to take down the intruders.
Meanwhile in one of the barracks, the sound of the alarm, along with gunfire was waking up some of the Spetsnaz Operators that guarded the night shift, as they immediately went to gear up and ready their guns for this threat.
I have a plan.
Former Hell - Terra
Terra looked at the youkai who had gathered to see the skylight. Just seeing the sun was enough to make the various townsfolk, monstrous and humanoid alike, nervous. She couldn't blame them. The Empire wasn't made up of nice people, and now they had a very obvious entrance leading into what was supposed to be a reasonably safe city. Oh, and people who lived underground their entire lives probably didn't like so much light coming into their home. That too.
"I see a lot of tough looking people here," Terra said. "But most of them look scared or confused... Still, there's got to be someone here who can fight back against the Empire, at least one."
Terra put her thumb on her chin, and glanced around at the gathered youkai again. There had to be someone who stood out from the crowd, who didn't look up into the sunlight with fear. Someone they could warn, who wouldn't lose their wits.
Zone - Military Checkpoint - Shadow
Shadow rushed behind a convenient pile of rubble to take cover. Interceptor, for whatever reason, took safety with Strelok and not his owner.
Shadow only had to peek above his cover for a moment to see where the remaining two soldiers were to figure out what to throw, and where. When it felt like the two grunts weren't firing anymore, Shadow rose out of safety and threw two sharp kunai, one aimed at each grunt's chest.
"@[=g3,8d]&fbb=-q]/hk%fg"
Vampire Hunter
The Velvet Room
"That... that could work," Trevor noted when Tatl suggested the plan. "I will do what I can to let you have a chance to play the song."
When Hei suggested that they might not make it back, Trevor replied, "I'm Trevor Belmont, of House of Belmont. And dying has never frightened me."
Trevor Belmont thought about all the allies he had made on Battleworld. While he gravitated towards those with a similar job description as him like Devil May Cry, SEES, Teams RWBY & JNPR, and even lone heroes like Ozen and Link, he understood that his friendship with Hei to be the odd one out. Somehow he had befriended all three of the leaders of Hell's Gate Tokyo, which he figures was no easy feat. Yeah, Hei may be a bit stupid at times, but he could call him friend. Trevor looked over to try to grab Sypha's hand, but she seemed to have disappeared. Looking around, he noticed that Sypha has moved next to the absurdly dressed teenage witch. Aww, Sypha found someone to apprentice in magic. It's touching.
"I am going to give you two a bit of advice as a adult witch to student witches," Sypha began as she bent down to their eye level, worried for the safety of Akko and Constanze, but feeling as if she was not going to convince either from not coming along. "This will be a battle and thus dangerous... Stick to what magic you are good with and can rely on for this."
Trevor, Sypha, Shanoa, Morrigan, Lilith, Jon Talbain, and Felicia were all ready to enter into the portal.
Wizard Needs Food Badly
Chireiden - Former Hell
"Inside?" Mave asked, raising a eyebrow in confusion. "I'm not quite certain what you mean by that, I may be a good deal taller than you but I hardly believe you'd be able to fit-"
"She meant it metaphorically," Ryuuou commented uninterestedly from her arms. "Strange that her mind's eye needs to be an actual eye, but perhaps they enjoy having more literal implementations of their magic in this land."
"Ah, I see," Maeve nodded. She shifted her posture so that she stood with one leg up, allowing her lifted thigh to support Ryuuou's legs, freeing up her right arm. With her right hand now free, she balled up one hand into a fist and pressed the side of her hand against her temple.
"Read away, my thoughts shall undoubtedly be the solemn truth." Mave nodded. Her thoughts were.... Well, Satori was there, wearing a noble outfit of some sort, signing a scroll alongside a pink-haired fox woman who also signed it, and then the two shook hands. Then a girl in armor with black hair and a sword nodded at Maeve, who was watching this all.
"Stupendous work, Maeve, this peace was all possible thanks to you and your unparalleled skill and honor. I'm so glad you're part of my life, and respect you more than all others, except for the dungeon lord who I now love more than myself. But such is the fate of all children, to one day find a woman who fills the void in their heart which no mother can. It is a difficult truth to understand, but a hero such as yourself shall have no trouble with this."
"Of course I understand, Ceri. This deed, the latest of my triumphs, I merely wish to dedicate to you, and to make it known that I shall forever be a rock upon which you can lean on in times of challenge and struggle," the Mental Maeve replied. "For now, let us enjoy the era of peace and prosperity before us."
That... that wasn't the end of Maeve's speech. Apparently her mind already has an hours-long speech prepared.
Anyway....
Ryuuou's mind seemed abnormally guarded, like trying to read a brick. She just... sat there eating a piece of mochi. Nibbling at it like nothing else in the world mattered. Though she quirked a small smile, tilted her head slightly at Satori, and then there were quite a few images visible now that probably weren't very comfortable for her to watch, but the audio basically amounted to Maeve boasting about how she had secured a great victory by forging a peace between neighboring lands that would last for a thousand generations, and that her perfectly conditioned olive-toned biceps could break the silver inkwell they were signing the document with by flexing with it in the crook of her arm, and how people would be free to travel between Former Hell and Sakura Dungeon and be friends, and how she was going to do a thousand chin lifts while she ate ice cream, and that now she would need to find a grand adventure to go on, as she could not do something while the world still needs help. Also a lot of filler thoughts on the pros and cons of dango vs mochi.
Tatsu and Yori's minds were very to the point - they were there because they needed to be there. No more, no less, and their minds hand an unshakable focus on the current situation, taking in all the information they could perceive, filtering it in an instant for what was important and if they needed to aid in any way, and not being distracted by any errant thoughts throughout the process.
Also the cat on Maeve's shoulder was thinking about birds. It could smell something. Something birdy. But not a normal bird, it smelled nicer. That meant a bird had been nearby. It may even still be nearby.
Common Room
"Okaaaaay...." Lucy whistled when she and Happy had managed to get out of the Zone with Grant. "That was... different."
"Aye sir...." Happy said with a frown, his lil paws rubbing at his eyes.
"Is that normal around here?" Lucy asked Grant. "You've been here longer, right? That just how things go?"
Sakura Dungeon Inn - Delfi's Safe Space
"What? I don't think I could just ask her that, she must be busy all day and - oooooh, wait, do you mean just talking to her? Nevermind, that sounds like a good idea! I'm sure she knows a whole lot of things, and you could probably get special access to all sorts of important people since you're... you know...." She used one hand to gesture at Delfi. "Human. That's really interesting to see, you know?"
The Wolf Spirit finished her brushing, hopped off the bed, and set the hairbrush down on the nightstand again.
"Oh, but would you want to have breakfast first? I saw the innkeeper whipping cream earlier when I came in. A whole bunch of it! She even had someone helping her just so they could make a ton for the day. She said she was going to make waffles with lots of strawberries and syrup and needed all that whipped cream to put on top of them. I bet she's still got plenty."
She stepped over to the chair and brought it closer, nodding her head up and down.
Velvet Room - Day 6
Kyubey looked up at Sypha. <“Strengthened” is probably a more accurate term to use. If Nyarly is a personification of negative emotions, it would certainly explain why that Witch was unusually powerful, the strongest that we had encountered since Walpurgisnacht.> His gaze would turn from Sypha to her two apparent apprentices, letting Sypha do the talking before chiming in with his own comments: <I do not believe it is wise to preemptively preclude any option for fighting, especially against an adversary as potentially dangerous as Nyarly. If one method is shown not to work, trying the exact same thing and expecting something different is usually considered a mark of insanity.>
“I doubt it will be as simple as that,” Mami replied to Ozen. “Even from the brief glimpses I have seen of his work, if Nyarly is the embodiment of human despair, a fake smile put up for the sake of itself wouldn’t do anything to help. He would see through it.”
Out of her line of sight, both Homura and Sayaka would take a timeout from their staredown to glance at their fellow Magical Girl. Nothing was said between them verbally; only the subtle softening of their hard gazes would indicate their mutual agreement to a detente as the call from Dr. Breen drew everyone's attention. They turned first towards the door, leaving Mami to look on in quiet confusion. Something definitely happened between those two.
She just couldn't figure out how concerned she should be that neither of them were saying a word to her about it.
Eternal Princess
Constanze raised an eye brow when the girl taking questions didn't recognize her drawing. While she was pretty adept at drawing up plans and blue prints, free form drawing like this wasn't her forte. Was it really that bad as to be unrecognizable though? No, tentacle faces were pretty distinct. Even Illithids were more a homage then an original creation. Her brow furrowed as some black haired medieval woman confirmed that of the entire Lovecraftian mythos, the one they were hunting was the only to make the journey. She let out a low frustrated grunt.
However, at least it seemed some one else was familiar with the reference material. She quickly turned the screen over and erased her drawing, quickly making a new one to show the black haired medieval woman. First a picture of fish-men hybrids, then of a giant mass of tentacles and eyes, then of a little girl with a keyhole in her fore head, then of a...rainbow in a cancel sign? She didn't quite know how to draw color not of this world. One of them was even blank, invisible creatures as hard to draw as they were. With each drawing she showed the woman, she got closer and closer until she was almost putting the screen to her nose. Insistent in her silent questioning to see if there were any other Lovecraftian horrors on Battleworld.
Reisen nodded along as Mitsuru laid out her points, seemingly satisfied with the answer given. The girl's answer showed an understanding of the complex surreal dream like logic that rules those who are no longer governed by the laws of reality. While she would have still liked an omniyoji or a hermit well on their path of obtaining divinity for this little quest, this girl had showed she had thought things through at the very least. Reisen couldn't even help but give a smile, the kind one gives when a joke is being made at their expense, when the girl even had the forethought to withhold the potion until after Reisen returned alive. Perhaps this group wouldn't be so bad.
Then the big black and white thing opened her big dumb mouth. Reisen slowly turned her head toward the woman drinking at the bar, her face somewhere between disappointment and being dumbfounded. Was she serious? She got that she was being sarcastic. But the point the woman seemed to be trying to make...it wasn't that it was just wrong...and dumb...but the arrogance and self assuredness in which she was making the statement. It was like listening to a human try to educate her that the Earth was flat.
What made it particularly frustrating, was that positive feelings was probably the only way to kill this thing! If you want to kill a god, you cut off its supply of faith. Given this thing's connection to the negative aspects of the human psyche, only by humanity collectively ridding themselves of these negative aspects can they be rid of Nyarthotep. But given that was an impossible undertaking, they were merely going with the easier option of killing the physical presence of an immortal then taken advantage of its then lack of anchor to the real world to then seal off its ability to manipulate future events. At least from what she could gather.
Reisen held the side of her heads as if she could feel a migraine coming on. She was here to network and see if she could bargain a wish out of these people. She really shouldn't...but like she could let something so dumb slip by with out a word! She turned toward Ozen and opened her mouth to give her a piece of her mind! When...
Good news everyone! The portals were finished! Reisen stood there, a finger raised as if to say wait a moment, I haven't had the chance to retort yet.... But everyone was already moving on, all but confirming something she already knew. No one really cared what she had to say.
Her shoulders slumped as others walked by her, she had to admit, she was being rather presumptuous her self. Applying what she knew of divinity from her own dimension to a creature she had never even met. But if it walks like a god, and quacks like a god...Actually, come to think of it, chances were that the Cure wouldn't even allow the level of divinity Reisen was thinking of to Battleworld. Too much competition. She supposed it didn't really matter in the end. The way these things usually worked was by simply hitting the trouble maker until they stopped making trouble.
All while the internal struggles of the bunny girl was happening, Akko was dealing with her own. Mainly remembering who this red head was. She recalled the picture shown the first night, all them lined up together. She wasn't the robot, or the guy with the cap...Wait! Now she remembered!
"You were there!"
She looked rather pleased with her self, as of she had some how accomplished something with the simple recollection. But what was with this Kagari business. Akko waved dismally, as if saying don't be so formal.
"Please, its Akko. Ak-ko. Nice to meet you Mitsuru!"
Akko also seemed to have a reaction to Ozen's little comment. While perhaps usually she would be the first to raise a fuss that such a route was not heroic like at all, a detail caused the girl to feel off balance. H-high!? Like drugs!? And under age drinking!? Amanda said American schools were kind of like that, but it wasn't like that for her growing up. While she would say no, I mean what would Shiny Chariot think of her, Akko took a glance around the room to get a feel for how many of them were going to call her a lame square. Luckily it didn't seem that was the case. A pretty blonde girl with twin drills even beat her to the punch of responding to the strange big lady.
With the announcement, Akko went to collect Constanze when they were stopped by the Super Hero Witch from yesterday. She began lecturing them about what was to come. The shorter of the two gave a look like she didn't appreciate being coddled like a child, but such things were expected of girls her age. Plus, maybe it was just the thick eyebrows, but it also looked like that was just her default expression. Akko her self smiled and waved off the concern.
"Don't worry. Its going to be ok, you'll see. I'll have you know that I am pretty good at being in danger."
Constanze looked toward her friend. She didn't think Akko quite worded that right. Plus the problem with Sypha's advice was that Akko wasn't good with any magic.
Before the witches could move to the portals, a guy seemed to strike up a conversation with Akko. She turned in her usual chipper mood.
"Hi, I'm..."
What she saw caused her to recoil and take a step back. No matter how she looked at it, the guy standing before her was a Japanese delinquent through and through! What was one these guys doing here!? Was he going to bully her or take her money!? With a concerned look on her face, she finished her sentence.
"...A-akko Kagari..."
He was real tough and scary looking. He also had the kind of voice that would sound right at home making cat calls and cheap threats. But as she got a good look, he seemed to have rather kind eyes. She seemed to ease up a little. While his voice was deep, what he was saying showed concern for...HEY! Wait a minute!
"I'm here to fight the bad guy too! Don't go underestimating me!"
The Japanese witch pouted before turning to march toward the portals, picking up her pace as if trying to be the first one in line. As if that would prove she was supposed to be here with the rest of them.
Constanze for her part just stared at the strange teenager from another world. It was hard to tell what the short German girl was thinking with that face of hers.
Edited by ImmortalNeet on Feb 24th 2020 at 5:43:56 AM
How do you kill that which has no life?
Slowly, with everyone assembled and ready, the time had come. Breen nodded at the giant group of assembled people, typed something on a keyboard, and slowly, a dark, black portal opened, seeming to clash with the room around it, as if its very existence violated it on a fundamental level.
"Alright, it's time! Go!"
Thus, the group would walk forward and enter it. One by one, they vanished, until everyone had entered. Unfortunately, not every person who tried to enter was so lucky, and once the last person vanished, those who had not been chosen, so to speak, would start getting spat back out the other end of the portal. As for the rest.......
They stood in darkness.
Not your standard, night darkness. Not even pitch black, middle of the woods with no moon darkness. This was true darkness. You could cover your face with your hand and not even so much as see the finger in front of your eyes. Any attempt to cast ones arms out to find someone else would fail, and yelling would amount to nothing, as no one heard any yells from the others and the yells were, in turn, unheard.
Then, the laughter started.
Finally. What took you so long? I was beginning to think you'd all abandoned the plan and written the fool woman off as lost. But now, finally, we can dispense with this. For too long, I've been hamstrung. Forced to play by the child god's rules. My power limited. Until now. Perhaps you don't realize the extent of the error you all made. Or perhaps you're all foolish enough to think yourselves strong enough to survive it. For you see, you have all finally done what you no doubt wished since your kidnapping at the hands of the child god. You've escaped. Left the Battleworld. No longer are you on the child god's world, and even he has no power here. No, now, you are in my world. My domain. And here, I am master and creator. The alpha and the omega. All kneel to me here. And soon enough, you will learn this.
They each felt the wind before them shifting, blowing. It was clear that something was happening now, something they could nether see nor prepare for.
This experiment, this latest test, is reaching its end. And so it is only fitting that now, at the end, we can stop dancing around this. I've gone through quite a bit of effort to set the stages of what is to come. All I ask is that you don't die too quickly.
He laughs again as reality shifts in front of everyone.
Who will be the first to break? I'm so very curious to find out.
At this point, each character will find themselves in one of the three following areas. Please check this
◊ chart for each character's location.
The theme here was grey
◊. Everything around them, from the half destroyed and fully destroyed buildings, to the smoke covered air, to the ash covered streets, were grey. The only color that seemed to be apparent in this land was yellow and red flames, which existed in spots here and there throughout this land, continuing to burn with no end in sight. Somewhere nearby, almost as if placed so they'd see it, a large sign sat in front of them, somehow still readable if you squint.
For the party as a whole, all they could hear was the crackling of flames, nothing more. No one else seemed to be around.
For this group, they were instantly greeted by a very distinctive smell. If you've ever been in a hospital, you probably know this smell. The smell of unnatural levels of disinfectant, air that's just a little too clean and stale from being ran through one too many filters. It's the smell of a hospital. Only that doesn't quite seem to be what you're in. Not that you'd be able to tell from looking around, you're in a clean, crisp, hallway that seems to be lit a light shade of green. Very, very clean, almost unnaturally spotless. But two things probably stand out, for those familiar with such places. First, there's a very clear lack of signs or maps hanging anywhere. Second, well, it's quiet. Very, very quiet. One might almost think the place deserted.
As for the hallway, it's very narrow. Two normal sized people might be able to stand shoulder to shoulder next to each other, with an inch between them and the two walls. Behind the group was.....nothing. A blank, solid wall, identical to the ones around you, stood where there probably should be a door. There was clearly no exiting that way. Only one path stands before you, a door marked "Reception". As you approach it, with about 100 feet between your starting position and the door itself, you'll all start to hear a series of hysterical, pitiful sounds that are clearly someone crying at the top of their lungs.
"WHAT IS UP!?"
The shear volume of sound will be the first thing that hits you all. There's the loud ass yelling of some DJ coming from what feels like everywhere at once. There's the music, played at a volume that threatens to blow out everyone's ear drums. And there's all the other usual sounds one expects to hear at a nightclub, crowds of people yelling and cheering, dancing, and such.
The second thing that will hit you all is the sheer darkness of the place, not like the last place you were in, you can still see some things around you. But as you pass through this
◊ entryway and turn the corner, this
◊ is pretty much all you can see as you enter this room, as dark, shadowy silhouettes that are clearly meant to be people walk around. But a closer look reveals that they don't become any clearer or easier to see, even if you get right up in ones face. They just appear to be shadowy, human shaped blobs.
"TONIGHT, WE GOT A SPECIAL TREAT FOR YA ALL! THE OWNER'S BROUGHT IN SOME VERY SPECIAL GUESTS! YA ALL KNOW WHO YOU ARE! LET'S GIVE IT UP FOR THEM!"
The noise grows louder, as roaring and yelling grow loud enough to make it feel like the very ground is shaking for a moment until it dies back down. The shadows shift, for a moment, and you can all see a sign up above the bar.
Okuyasu, Josuke and Yukako - Velvet Room
Josuke bumped his fists together when he saw people beginning to enter the portal. "Well, I'm ready to go kick some wannabe god ass." And with that said, he went through the magical gate, with Yukako following soon after.
Okuyasu was too dumbfounded by Akko's frantic mood swings to really say anything beyond a confused apology. "...sorry?" He stood for a second awkwardly staring back at the girl even shorter than Koichi, until he noticed that his friends were going through the portal. Still a bit confused, he blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. "Err, sorry, I gotta go. See ya later?" And after saying that, he took off towards the portal.
??????
The stand users immediately tensed up when they landed in complete darkness. Their reactions to Nyarly's speech was fairly unanimous. They all thought to themselves something like "Oh my god, shut the hell up."
Josuke and Okuyasu - Morgue
And then Josuke and Okuyasu found themselves in some creepy-ass hospital, with Okuyasu standing behind Josuke. The latter looked around and noticed, that two-third of the group was gone, including Yukako. The japanese teenager sighed, then spoke up so that everyone in the hallway could hear it. "Great. He split us up. At least this means he must be worried about us working together. And if he let us alive, there's no reason to assume he didn't do the same for the others. As long as nobody panic, we should be able to manage." Of course, he himself wasn't feeling that sure about their chances, but he wouldn't give up in a million years.
Okuyasu looked around him nervously. He couldn't lie, the empty hospital was kinda nervewracking. And the flying woman in revealing clothes was kinda distracting. But let no one say that Okuyasu wasn't a man that knew when to focus on the task at hand! So he did his best to get his bearings and speak with confidence. "Y-yeah, you're right, Josuke! This is nothing! Err, what do you think we should do?"
The first teen that spoke looked around to confirm to himself that yep, there was only one way. "Well, I don't think we have any choice besides going through this door." And so Josuke started to walk towards the Reception door with great caution. Of course, the sudden crying caused him to stop in surprise. "Holy shit!" Thankfully, he steeled himself quickly and spoke reassuring words partly for himself. "Alright, just ignore that. It's probably just another one of this bastard's tricks." And with that said, the pompadoured young man continued to walk towards the door. Assuming he wasn't stopped, he would grab its doorknob and slowly open it.
Yukako - Nightclub
Of course, Yukako's first reflex upon hearing the cacophony was to cover her ears. There was so much noise that she felt like she had been hit with Koichi's Echoes again. Still, she shrugged that off then, she could do the same here! So she removed her hands from her ears and began to walk down the hallway. She also noticed that a good part of the group was missing. That coupled with the noise pushed her anger near the point of uncontrollable rage, but she bottled it in. She also noted that a redhead girl with pigtails who seemed even younger than her was wearing something that couldn't even be called clothing. Maybe it was because she needed an outlet for her anger, but she commented on that, and as loudly as possible to make sure she was heard over the noise. "What the hell are you wearing?"
Still, they were on a mission, so regardless of Etna's question, Yukako began to walk down the passageway. She walked until she reached the end of the path: a shadowy nightclub. Okay, she had to make a comment there. "Okay, is that thing also made of all of humanity's bad taste or what?" As she said that, she raised her hair with Love Deluxe and began walking towards the bar, ready to fight if any shadowy figure tried to attack.
"Ahaha, what? You wouldn't enjoy a bit of a warm-up fight with the demon-bastard?" Ozen asked Trevor, obviously mocking. "If you're serious, I'll oblige. We'll be meeting him soon enough."
Another young girl* warned her of just how ineffective the boozehound plan was going to be. "I'll put on my best one, regardless. There's no reason to be sad right now; this is the first real action I've gotten since coming here. That tease of a fight in Castlevania wasn't anything..." she said to Mami, trailing off into a mumble at the end.
And, of course, Link was being helpful. Ozen was beginning to wonder if there was a point to protecting him if he was going to throw himself into fights with gods out of his own volition. He wasn't going to be cowed, either...
Regardless, his advice made her genuinely smile. Smile bright, and wide, and happily, as the dim light of the room curved around her and cast her into complete shadow, with only her smiling mouth visible.
"Ahahahaha...yes, Link. That's a wonderful idea."
A pitch-black hand reached down from her black mass and ruffled his hat a little bit.
"I hope you have something just as fun to think about."
This day was going well, because she got out of that meeting with minimal bullshit on her part. After a parting word to Link* she sauntered out of the Velvet Room, ran as fast as her legs could take her back home to get her armor on, sprinted back, and then casually walked into the portal.
A very unfamiliar sight. Ozen would've made out rubbing alcohol in the air if her nose wasn't bombarded by dozens of other acrid smells. This place was very still, and ultimately just too...unexpected to let Ozen keep her smile up.
She expected to be thrown into, say, a dank ruin filled with thousands of corpses and enemies, or something like that. None of this build-up hogwash.
The two young men who seemed far too jumpy to be on the killing-the-entity-that-feeds-on-fear squad got an obscured eye-roll from underneath Ozen's wide hat. Yes, of course it's his trick, he just said he controlled everything here...
"Keep on your toes," she said to them and everyone with them. "I'll be sorely disappointed if there aren't any traps here."
She took up point alongside the door as Josuke opened it, ready to get to work on whatever was crying in the room beyond.
Tough and intimidating was a very wide field, depending on your tastes in youkai. Sure, many of the people they saw out in the market that day were either inordinately beautiful humans with mild supernatural features, children in frilly dresses and kimonos, or large crows, but the rest certainly ran the gamut.
Aside from the many hulking brutes of oni that went about their business, their horns as sharp as their tusks and their forms as huge as their skin was red, they could take their pick of most anyone for "intimidating".
The skeleton of a giant hawking his wares at a stall, flaming heads rotating on the spokes of burning wheels walking a small dog on a leash, black figures with only their piercing white eyes visible rolling dice in the corner, multiple varieties of frightening half-spider entities, a big-ass frog, something that happened to look very much like Godzilla, and several spirits floating forward in varying states of decay altogether gave the impression that if the people of Former Hell wanted to win a psychological war, they'd be able to do it very quickly.
The air of uncertainty that was all but omnipresent seemed paradoxical in comparison to the frightening visages and terrible powers found amongst half the population. If they were all some kind of Japanese villager's nightmares made flesh, why did all of them look suspicious at best, outright fearful at worst? You could see one of those brutish oni guards with a club as long as a human speaking to an oni woman of much smaller stature and hear the worry plainly evident in his voice. "If I knew what was going on," you could overhear, "I'd be a little happier, but what's going to change?"
Terra's eyes could spot a few people who seemed to have their wits about them, in comparison to the rabble. A stately woman standing on a strangely decorated rock which was being carried by a number of fairy porters seemed unaffected, some of the visibly older-looking youkai were squabbling in a group and just seemed annoyed rather than bothered, and also there was Suika Ibuki drunkenly talking down to someone she had apparently just beaten up.
Like I said, take your pick.
Why can't these people actually think about anything important, Satori thought to herself separately from all of these idiots. A rare break from depression and self-loathing! There was something usable in the dragon-kin's mind, but surrounded by so much garbage that it was as if these people couldn't think about any one thing clearly.
Something told her sleepless mind that these folks were indicative of the average Dungeonite.
"...Stop think about food," she plainly said to Ryuuou. "I'm not in the mood to be hungry and you're making it worse."
"So you're here to be diplomats on the one day I'm not in a position to act as emergency administrator. Great."
Satori slumped and fell onto the floor.
"The seat of Chireiden welcomes you," she said in an utterly joyless way. "You are free to wander whatever halls remain standing and take your fill of all of the ice cream I haven't eaten in a bleary haze. As for diplomacy, I feel less powerful than the average fairy, so go find one and bother them if you want everlasting peace. They'd be able to enforce it better."
Meanwhile, at that very moment, a Malayan Great Argus turned around the corner with its beautiful plumage tailing behind. It made a very loud noise that wounded like "WOO-WOOOOO".
Vampire Hunter
Grant, Common Room
"A, um, portal standoff is something none of us want to be involved in," Grant began tersely. "Those who can access this Common Room are usually the most powerful or important people on this mish-mash of a planet, so a few portal guards aren't exactly going to stop them."
"Hell's Gate Tokyo, in particular, found that out the hard way," Grant crossed his own arms. "This asshole half-demon named Vergil entered Hell's Gate Tokyo through the portal and massacred all of their guards."
Dracula, Castlevania
"Sounds like Shao Khan's been using his wishes," Dracula made a comment on the new recruits as he listened to Vayne before describing someone who he himself would know. "Ah yes, Baraka... Having him tour my castle was part of the agreement for having Death tour outworld."
"We traded right-hand men for a bit," Dracula chuckled a bit at his comparison, before continuing to listen. As Vayne described the Shokan, the Dark Lord of Castlevania made another comment, "Shao Khan is powerful enough to beat the Shokan if they were to fall out of line despite how he looks. Even I have large, powerful brutes under my command who obey me. The late Bowser was a large, powerful brute compared to Shao Khan."
Dracula raised an eyebrow when hearing about what happened with Kano, "Ah right... Shao Khan has been building weapons that are more common in the other lands, but less so in his, yours, and my land. The 'guns' that some of the people on this planet wield."
Finally, Dracula closes his eyes to consider everything that Vayne has said, "It seems Shao Khan is weak right now, likely overstretched from having to keep the Koopa Kingdom in line. His technological specialist has fled and is hurting him as a threat. Shang Tsung and Quan Chi could probably be persuaded to sit out any battle that has a real chance of taking down Shao Khan, even if they become threats later."
"I believe I have enough information now to come up with an actual plan of attack against Outworld," Dracula sighed slightly as he knew that even though this would be the best time, he had to wait to go through. "Do I have permission to say I got this information from Archades?"
Wizard Needs Food Badly
PANDORA: To More Pleasant Business!
Wesker's indifference only threw fuel on the fire, though much like the mad scientist talking as if his life (let alone his job) wasn't on the brink of peril, the Research Director refused to let his frustration show.
...not to say Nishijima's stone-faced expression didn't have its cracks. A flare of the nostrils, an involuntary twitch of an eyebrow, Wesker didn't need inhuman eyes to spot that this minuscule flex of Umbrella's power had its desired effect. Indeed, just to avoid escalating the conflict beyond words, Eric didn't make his response till he was out the door and well on his way down the hall:
"Nor you me, Albert."
Nishijima's phone rang, and his secretary informed him that there was a group of supposed scientists from another state here to see him. Eric thanked Miss Bailey, and let out a sigh that expelled as much frustration as he could.
Hopefully his next meeting would prove less aggravating.
...
After waiting for about ten minutes just beyond the initial screening area, the Ecologists would be greeted by a relatively young man in a stiff suit with even stiffer posture.
◊ He smiled politely to the newcomers, and addressed them as a group before turning directly to Professor Kruglov.
"My apologies for the wait, gentlemen; welcome to PANDORA. I am Eric Nishijima, Research Director of this facility. From what I understand, you all come from the state known simply as 'The Zone' on the Common Room map? What can I do for you?"
Former Hell, Marketplace: Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover
As Misaki and the Dog did some subtle people (demon?) watching, they steered clear of the obvious pitfall of equating "scary-looking" with "violent" or "competent in combat." More than any sight of skeletons or spinning wheels of eyes, ears, and mouths, they focused on the anxiety that charged the air. How the demons stared at the sky, how they talked about it, how they walked at a brisk pace around that foreign phenomena called "rain" that pooled into puddles on the cave bed. While there were still plenty who chose to ignore the clouds above, it was tough to distinguish between "indifference" and "denial," especially in a place with no humans.
Maybe this called for a different approach. Closing her eyes for a moment, Misaki concentrated on relaying a thought to the piece of Magicite in her coat pocket:
Can Espers sense magical energy? she asked Maduin. That might make this search a little easier.
The Velvet Room: CHAAAAAAAAAARGE!!!
Link's smile didn't waver as the Unmovable Lord seemed to absorb the shades around her; he even giggled as she patted his head in approval! It felt good to help people, and as Ozen offered some parting words, the little hero felt more determined than ever to save the Lady.
Get ready, Nyarlagatholatobep: the Hero of Time's coming to beat you up!
At the very edge of the room, a black cat walked along the walls of the portal room. With the signal given, he watched everyone charge through the portal and—to his disappointment—witness about a dozen of said warriors (mostly teenagers) be spat straight back out.
"Is everyone alright?" the cat asked the group. The doctor didn't seem completely confident in the portal's safety, and there was a big gap between "not being atomized" and "emerging unharmed."
Thankfully, at least one of the fighters who didn't make the cut had stepped forward as a healer. Small miracles.
?????????
Link, Hei, and Maki took the unfathomable void in different ways:
With Tatl as his figurative (though sadly not literal) light in the darkness, Link listened to maybe half of the monster's monologue before he started banging the Mirror Shield with the side of his Razor Sword. The BANG BANG! BANG BANG BANG! BANG BANG! BANG BANG BANG! of the weapons didn't do much to drown out the omnipresent noise, but that wasn't the point. Link was just pumping himself up.
Hei chose to take the abyssal intermission as a chance to close his eyes and focus—focus on this thing's weaknesses, not strengths; on its inabilities, not invulnerabilities; on (as much as he hated to admit it) the fact the Cure wouldn't provide an unbeatable foe, nor a means to truly travel outside its domain. This was all part of the Defeat condition, and this thing was either too arrogant or too ignorant to notice.
His cries for his fellow Huntsmen and Huntresses unanswered, Maki felt a chill creep up his spine. He stumbled forward and reached out into the void, only to touch nothing and lose his balance. As he fell on a floor that somehow was and was not there, a laugh pierced his ears. Facing an enemy beyond a Contractor's rationale and ''well' beyond his tolerance for fright, the boy could do little but hug the kite shield against his chest, and soak up Nyarlathotep's words like a sponge...
And then—the world changed.
The Ruined City: Well It's Population 12, Now...
Link smelled the fires before he saw them. The distinct scent of smoke, but fueled by something the little hero had never smelled before: gasoline. For the first half-instant, the Crossroads seemed to be more like a playful mystery than a depiction of absolute ruin, like a game of "guess that smell!"
But then Link opened his eyes, and saw what looked like miles upon miles of dust and dirt, crawling across and along some of the biggest and most incredible buildings the little hero had ever seen!
"Look at the size of those things!" Tatl shuddered as she peeked out from under her partner's cap. "It's like this place has six, no ten Stone Towers!"
Link stared in awe at the skyscrapers, and as the rest of the party adjusted their senses to the place, it'd be fairly obvious to them that the elf kid and his talking light bulb with wings were prooooooooooobably missing the point of this place.
They'd already ventured through a dead city. To them, this was just a super-sized Ikana Kingdom.
The Morgue: Check Your Six
Hei couldn't agree more with Josuke's initial assessment, and hugged the wall to let the Stand Users and Ozen pass. Though while most of the party would likely focus on the door straight in front of them, the masked man turned his gaze to the wall behind them instead.
This thing controlled its environment, there was little doubt about that. But the Unmovable Lord made a point that deserved more attention:
"Traps that include drawing our attention in one direction." the Black Reaper added. "We should keep an eye on corners, and our six."
As if to demonstrate this point, Hei walked to the rear of the party and raised his dagger in a defensive stance. Ridiculous as it looked preparing to fight a blank wall, he'd rather see a trap coming and warn everyone than suffer the consequences of a horror movie cliche.
The Nightclub: Definitely Too Young to be in A Nightclub
As scraps of light returned to his mismatched eyes, so did Maki's cries for his friends.
"Nora! Blake! Pyrrha! Where are you?!"
Though even if they were here, it's not like they could hear the boy's call over that music. The sheer sound of the bass notes vibrated through Maki's armor and into his muscles. He wanted to cover his ears, but he was worried about missing an answer from Team RWBY or JNPR. Besides, he couldn't seal off his ears and hold Rupture Truss at the same time.
The (partial) sight of some other figures convinced Maki to lower his guard and check for familiar faces. Apart from the masked man who associated with the mascot cat, he saw none.
"Have any of you seen my friends?!" Maki tried to shout over the music. "A girl with orange hair about this tall, a girl with black hair and ears like..."
As the music crescendo'd into the chorus, nothing the lost little Contractor could be heard anymore. Not that his descriptions would help find what his eyes could not.
They weren't here. Team RWBY and Team JNPR weren't here.
He was alone.
Anti-Gnosis Weapon
?????????
While her enemy prattled on about how they were doomed and had made a terrible mistake, Minako felt neither fear or anxiety. No, instead a white-hot rage blossomed in her chest, and she unconsciously balled her fingers into fists. She couldn't place what about Nyarly's speech made her so mad, as if the answer was floating just outside her consciousness, but the sentiment it was evoking in her was something like: "How dare you? How dare you? HOW DARE YOU!"
Not that she was saying this out loud, mind you. She was simply standing there fuming silently and grinding her teeth.
As for Spider-Man, he began to grow a bit worried at the Big Bad's declaration that he was all-powerful in his own realm. If true, this would certainly be the most trying challenge he had ever faced, and he steeled himself with thoughts of... Oh, who am I kidding? I pretty much knew that going in, didn't I?
Faced with the prospect of an omnipotent enemy, the webslinger simply did what came naturally: He raised a flat hand, fingers all together except for the thumb, which he pressed underneath the other four. Then he began working them open and closed in time with the eldritch thing's speech.
"Blah blah blah! Blah blah blah, blah blah blah, blah blah! Blah blah, blah blah blah blah, blah blah, blah..."
The Ruined City
"Blah, blah blah... Oh boy, what a great welcome!" the arachnid-attired man commented aloud after surveying the bleak scenery for a couple moments, "You sure know how to make a guy feel at home, Nyarly! That, and you love the sound of your own voice!" He shuddered slightly in spite of himself as a vision of his own city being ruined like this one flashed before his eyes. Fortunately, Link and Tatl were there to distract him!
"I think there's a bit more than ten," he corrected the green-clad youth, scratching his cheek with a gloved finger, "and if you think they look impressive like this, you should come by Manhattan and see what skyscrapers look like when they're not destroyed! How about it? Oh, I'm Spider-Man, by the way. What's your name, buddy?"
For Minako's part, she unballed her fists and coughed lightly at the pungent, smoky air, frowning at the landscape. So you're trying to intimidate us, huh? As expected of a lowlife like you! Well, you know what I say to that? she thought to herself, planting her hands on her hips. "Hhhhhmph!" she harrumphed, marching forward until she was several paces in front of the group, then spinning on her heel to regard them and summoning her favorite Vel to her hand. As she turned, her face was lit up with a sunny smile, in stark contrast to the environment around them.
"Your attention, please!" she chirped, tapping the butt of her spear into the ground like a judge calling her courtroom to order, "There is no need to panic! I had a feeling something like this might happen! So, first of all, I know we didn't get this fully out of the way back in the Velvet Room, but we need to know each other's names and specialties if we're going to work together properly and get through this! I'm Minako Arisato, but just call me Minako! I have experience dealing with Shadows by leading small groups into battle, and I specialize in summoning spirits called Personas to aid me by attacking from close up and at range and casting spells for me. My spells vary between elemental attacks, healing spells, and spells that temporarily boost endurance, strength, or reaction time. I'm also pretty good with spears and polearms." She pointed to her Vel for emphasis.
GM of AGOG S4: Frontiers RP; Sub-GM of TABA, SOTR, & UUA RPs
She almost asked what the woman had thought she meant, but in the end Delfi realized it was probably best she didn't know. On top of that, what was said next greatly piqued her curiousity. "Oh? Is being human really that interesting enough to get special access and powerful connections? Why is that? As a human, I can say that we're not that special."
Them mention of food made the girl's stomach rumble, her body telling her it was time to eat. Smiling, she nodded. The thought of something like that for breakfast was novel and appealing, and she felt herself getting a little excited. "Breakfast sounds good."
Throwing off her covers, Delfi shifted herself to the edge of the bed before picking up her legs and lifting to to hang over the edge. Then she leaned out to grab the wheelchair's arms and lifted herself quickly into it, her legs being moved into place a moment later. As she smoothed out her dress though, she frowned. "I'm going to need some new clothes as well. Do you know a place where I can do that?"
As the darkness disappeared, and the voice filled with malice and dark amusement along with it, Alfred found himself in familiar enough surroundings. He took a moment to gather himself after that experience, and quickly set to work scoping out the immediate area. He frowned as he noticed a large number of the group missing, but pushed it aside for the moment.
His rifle came up as he stepped away from the group around him, head on a swivel as he searched the oddly monochrome ruins for any signs of movement. Hearing a voice, the young soldier turned his head towards the source; Spotting Link and Tatl. "Quiet, for now we don't know who could be around. So keep your voice low."
And then others just started to outright shout, throwing away any hope of going unnoticed even slightly. A heavy frown and very unamused look spread across Alfred's face as he looked between both Spiderman and Minako. "Congratulations, you've just made any enemy forces nearby aware of exactly where we are." He turned his attention solely towards Minako. "Maybe that should have been something that was done before we entered enemy territory. We should at least get out of the open, if you can wait that long."
Standing there alone in the absolute darkness, with nothing in his immediate vicinity, Tatsu was reminded of the moment he'd stood before David Atlas and his officers. The dark voice that seemed to fill the area around him set off those same warnings in his mind, that he was standing before something that could and would tear him apart with little effort; And greatly enjoy doing so.
The feeling helped focus him, his hand on his blade as he stared forward into the darkness. Slowly, a grin spread across his face as he felt his drive harden; The feeling of his electricity dancing through him with a hum. "We'll see."
And then everything returned at once, and the sharp smell of chemicals hit his nose. A quick head count showed that people were missing, Alfred and Mono among them. The young captain's brow furrowed but there wasn't anything that could be done. He doubted anything had happened to them. Seeing people already moving, Tatsu was quick to join them. As a guy around Alfred's age with a weird hairstyle went to open the door, he fanned out and kept watch of the area.
Covering his ears did nothing, yet Mono had no choice. The voice seemed to reach right into his head, clawing at his brain as it mocked and jeered. Speaking of experiments and tests, words all too familiar to the scarred, mutilated youth. He didn't know where he was, he couldn't see anything and his friends were nowhere to be seen. All Mono could do was curl into a ball on the floor and wait for it all to stop.
And it did, eventually. Only to be replaced with shouting voices, and loud, pounding sounds that made him think of a big, monstrous machine. The roar of an engine and pounding of the different mechanisms. It set his nerves on edge and his heart pounding harder, and so he tore his eyes open to find that his vision had returned.
Relief filled him for a moment, but as he looked about the faintly familiar faces, desperation and fear returned as he couldn't find two in particular. "N-no..."
Mono staggered to his feet with his lightning rod still clutched to his chest, pale eyes wide and wild as she twitched and jerked about looking for his friends. "Tatsu?! Alfred?! T-Tatsu! Tatsu!" He stumbled past others of the group as he searched desperately for what he knew wasn't there, on the verge of a breakdown. "TATSU!"
Edited by Alleydodger on Feb 27th 2020 at 11:03:15 PM
The two kunais hit the chest of each soldier, the two of them falling to the ground, blood coming out of their mouths as they could only see in shock the sharp blades stuck on their chest.
"Come on boy, we gotta go!" He said to Interceptor, finding this their best chance to get out of here before this turns even worse, he motioned to Shadow to follow him out of here.
The sounds of gunfire behind their backs rang, as the trio would notice 5 Spetsnaz soldiers coming out of one the buildings as they ran to the road. Strelok struggled to avoid the combined gunfire of Groza OC-14, AN-94 and Saiga-12’s.. He would then pull out a flashbang from one of his armor's pockets, and then throw it to the group. While the three of them dived away thinking it was a grenade, two of them noticed it was just a flashbang, and turned their backs to avoid the blinding flash. While the sound was quite loud, these two returned to opening fire on the group who were running away as fast they could.
After a few minutes of waiting(and the mercenaries waiting impatiently) the group would meet the man who seemed to run this facility. While the Ecologists spoke to this man, their bodyguards merely settled on leaning on a wall and seeing how the conversation would go, the only thing heard from them being the sounds of the servomotors of Mist's exoskeleton as he moved ever so slightly.
Kruglov smiled at the arrival of Nishijima, and spoke after he was done.
"A pleasure to meet you, Nishijima. I am Kruglov Pavelko, a biology scientist from Kiev's research Institute and one of the head scientists in the Zone of Alienation. We were studying the Zone itself, the wildlife, anomalies and conditions before...being dragged to this Battleworld. While study of the Zone is still a priority, we decided to document this land, it's inhabitants and share our knowledge to fellow men of science."
As he said that, Pietro would open the bag he carries, grabbing a strange object from it, before revealing it to him, A strange ball shaped object which shined brightly
and floated gently on his hand. Kruglov continued.
"These are artifacts. Objects born from anomalies of the Zone, which we discovered grants beneficial abilities to those who use it. Regenerating damaged tissues and organs while also stopping not only external bleeding but internal in a manner of minutes, creating a protective field that can block the user from bullets, purging radiation from the body of the user safely and without side effects, and so on. We are finding ways to use these objects to not only improve modern medicine, but also for cures for diseases and improve technology."
"Though we have to admit, we are not sure ourselves if your land happen to be another universe where the Zone, or atleast, something close to it was born in Japan instead of Ukraine." Pietro spoke, remembering the large wall itself and the heavy amounts of guards.
"Ah yes," Kruglov then remembered. "We did took notice of the giant wall while we were taken here. That and the abandoned buildings were quite a reminder of our expeditions with some of...these gentlemen" He pointed to the Mercenaries, who only gave a small nod. "I assume you and your science team are studying whatever phenomenon is happening in Tokyo?"
Well, it seemed like this whole city was carpet bombed for a whole week..kind of if he had his way with Bandle City's artillery. Eh, a shame he can't bomb this annoying talking evil thing right now.
He raised his plasma rifle on his right hand, while his gauntlet on his left hand was also raised in case of a hostile.
"No hostiles on our tail...yet. Best be ready for any ambush, folks." The tiny yordle looked at Minako, whispering. "Veigar, Omega Squad's artillery expert. If you need me to lock down an area with lots of targets with a large electric fence and blow them up with magic, I'm the yordle for the job."
"Well, that guy sure likes to talk." Tristana grumbled in annoyance after the whole evil god guy blabbering. Black Ops missions were better than this, let me tell ya. She found herself along with other humans and not human guys...in some creepy hospital place, that and there wasn’t that much space to walk around, even with her small size. And considering this place was this creepy fellow’s cozy home and could turn it into everything, she definitely agreed with the whole idea of watching their backs. Creepy things could even appear from the roof as far as she was concerned.
Readying her plasma cannon, as it started to softly glow green, she leaned near one of the walls, ready for whatever spooky thing was crying in that room...or something came outta the walls, or the roofs.
Sounds. So many loud sounds. Just like when his ears rang when the cacophony of explosions came in his last mission before this place. This music wouldn’t let him know just where exactly the enemy was. He readied his poisonous rifle as he walked along the others in the hallway and ended up in the nightclub. He noticed how two of the people in the team seemed to yell out in panic over people that seemed to be lost, but the music drowned them out.
Attachments lead to weakness. Weakness leads to death. Survival is the priority here.
"Is there a way out of here?" Teemo said as loud as he could to the person closest to him, as he eyed cautiously the shadowy figures that were walking, rifle ready in case something happened.
Edited by Darkomega245 on Feb 27th 2020 at 8:55:19 AM
Perhaps it was Goht's gentle encouragement that had calmed Koishi down, or merely that enough time had passed for her to forget.
Forgetfulness...even she was cognizant that this had become less of an issue out of nowhere, almost as soon as she had let Goht in. Memory, and emotion, and rational thought: all things that were now within her grasp. Did she want to grasp at it yet? Was it natural for her to be able to think like this...or given the circumstances of how she had lost mental sight in that eye, was it a return to normalcy?
Koishi had a bit of time to think about these things.
The night was spent around the skies and the fields of her familiar surface world. Gawking at the aftermath of the battle and more gentle nudging from Majora to be less melancholic took up a good part of that night. Though this was downplaying her new friend's role. Goht was just as eager, if not more so, to see Koishi smile again! The strange creeping sensation onto her reawakened psyche felt more and more like kind encouragement from a good buddy of hers...
...and by the time of the morning of the 6th day, Koishi had reached her highest point yet: she craved the adventure that Majora had promised.
Faaaaaar to the Northeast they had flown, past the dreary land of the Zone ("I think we can do better than this," Goht had said) and to the twilight land of the Netherworld.
No, not that Netherworld. That one was always pleasantly foggy and had a lot of flowers. And not the land next to the Netherworld, or the river, or actual Hell...or even Former Hell; she was sure that some humans have called it a Netherworld before, but they were mistaken. And not even the outside world's mysterious Netherland, where presumably the dead spirits of Europe resided in peace.
This Netherworld was gothic but pleasantly moonlit, and...and also a lot of lava, too, so it wasn't all that foreign, even!
Overlooking it all, Koishi slowly waved her arms as she passed through the air with the same level of lethargy. "It's...hmm...I swear I've seen a place like this before," she said, "But I don't know wheeeerrreeeee..."
Eventually she gave up on that recollection (just because she could now doesn't mean she was great at it) and flopped over in the air to look towards Majora. "Heeeeyy, Majora...have you ever been here before? Know anywhere to...adventure, and stuff?"
"Thank you for volunteering," Ozen simply said back to Hei, over the wailing beyond the door.
Vampire Hunter
The Velvet Room
"None of those things came with Nyarly," Shanoa stepped back slightly from Constanze as she tried to draw Lovecraftian things. "The first two drawings as well as invisible spirits do exist in Castlevania... And this place is supposed to be a subconscious realm."
At least, Shanoa confirmed that some of them did exist on Battleworld. Sypha frowned and looked more worried when Akko said she was good at being in danger.
Sypha, The Ruined City
The only thing that kept Sypha from trying to blast Nyarlathotep while he was ranting in the realm of utter blackness is not being able to see anyone else nearby. Eventually, she would appear with the others in the Ruined City, the twelve of them all alone. Sypha seemed to have the top of her staff pointed outward as if she was ready to fire on whoever showed up, but no enemy has yet.
"Nyarly can read our subconscious mind," Sypha retorted to Alfred when he complained about people talking. "I do not think we would be able to hide from him given that power unless you know how to quiet your own subconscious."
"I am Sypha Belnades, a witch who serves as a vampire hunter for the church and commands the elemental forces of fire, ice, and lightning." Sypha introduced herself, pointing to Mami as she needed to clarify what that means. "Nothing like the Witches your group faces, though."
"She is Constanze, a witch who is a student at Luna Nova who doesn't talk," Sypha pointed to Constanze since she knew she could not introduce herself. "Her skill is in fusing magic with technological devices."
"They are Link and Tatl," Sypha pointed each member of the pair in turn since she knew Link could not introduce himself. "Despite his young age, Link was a skilled enough warrior who would have beaten Death if Dracula did not interfere. From what Trevor told me, he is a blessed warrior with a large variety of varied weapons."
"We do need to get out of the open, though," Sypha nodded to Alfred, agreeing with his advice on that.
Morrigan, The Morgue
Between being stuck in the realm of utter blackness just to hear Nyarlathotep rant before being sent to an unnaturally clean sterile hospital, Morrigan did not look the least bit entertained by this. She glanced over the area. It didn't look like Lilith was anywhere here.
"Lovely place," Morrigan sarcastically said as she flew to keep an eye for anything attacking from below. It seemed like the others were choosing directions to look in and her ability of flight was well suited for looking down.
Trevor, The Nightclub
Trevor knew that this particular realm was unnatural darkness... utter blackness that no one could see through. He simply tried to ignore Nyarlathotep's ranting. Eventually, Trevor would find himself in a place with very loud and strange music. He wanted to cover his ears, but he needed his hands free to wield his weapons.
"This place looks like the Velvet Room," Trevor frowned slightly as he saw the sign above the bar. He seemed to almost instantly clutching his Vampire Killer to use. Even if it was a tavern unlike any he ever seen, it was still a tavern so he was already preparing himself for a possible bar fight. Two of the group were already starting to panic, though. When Mono pushed past him, he turned toward him.
"Focus!" Trevor attempted to calm him down. "If we survived the trip then your friends are okay somewhere else, so you need to hold it together!"
The Velvet Room
Shanoa, Lilith, Felicia, and Jon Talbain were spat back out of the portal, tumbling out with the rest who weren't chosen.
Lilith stood up first and looked around. "Morrigan?"
Both Felicia & Talbain looked over themselves, making sure every's limbs were in the right place.
"Yeah, we're fine," Felicia frowned slightly as she dusted herself off and looked down at Mao. "But not all of us are here."
"I do not think we should risk trying to go back into the portal," Talbain stated to the others there. "For all we know, everyone else was atomized."
"SISTER!!!" It seemed like Lilith was about to try to fly back into the portal when Felicia and Talbain grabbed both of her arms to stop it. Lilith fell on her knees, clutching her fists and broke down crying, "Sister..."
Felicia seemed to be trying to console her.
Edited by GameGuruGG on Feb 28th 2020 at 10:49:13 AM
Wizard Needs Food Badly
Flonne, The Ruined City
Oh dear! That Nyarly was a pretty bad guy! And so was the desolate city Flonne now found herself in. The aura of death and decay was truly disheartening for the poor angel. And where were Laharl and Etna?! This day just continued to get worse…
There were some of the people from the Velvet Room, at least. Wait a minute… was that Arachna-Dood?! It must be! Flonne recognized him from her many years of reading comics. The boy from New York who protects the city with his amazing arachnid powers! But now was not the time to fangirl – things are serious right now. Still, maybe once this is over, she can get an autograph.
Alfred seemed perturbed that the others were making themselves known in a land that could be ull of hostiles, but… well, it was probably too late to worry about that at this point.
“I’m Flonne,” she greeted the others in turn. “I can perform elemental magic, and my specialties are archery and healing. But yes, you’re probably right about that. Maybe one of these abandoned buildings would be a bit more discreet.”
Laharl, The Morgue
Laharl was starting to get impatient with Nyarly’s speech. He was… not a patient person, to put it plainly. But he didn’t have to wait long, as he soon found himself in a strange new location.
A... distracting demon woman, some guys from the Wacky Ghost Punch Brigade – or just some guys really, since Laharl didn’t know about that part – a tall woman, Batman, and whatever not actually very descriptive identifiers one could think up for Tristana and Tatsu. These were the people assembled at this maudlin land of the dead. It smelled of the Netherworld Hopsital, and he had no desire to stay here longer than necessary.
“So this is his game,” Laharl muttered quietly. “I don’t know what kind of tricks I should be expecting, but I’ll be damned if I go out in a place like this.”
Laharl followed behind the others, taking out his sword and keeping an eye out for any imminent threats.
Etna, The Nightclub
The blaring lights. The roaring crowd… this wasn’t one of the Castle’s parties. It was a trap set by their cunning adversary. And by the looks of it, panic was already setting in for some of the gathered party. At least the vampire hunter had his head on straight.
“I don’t know,” she said to Teemo. “But if I had to guess, we’re going to have to fight our way out.”
Etna took out her spear, watching cautiously to see what these shadowy creatures did.
And then some hussie got all up in her grill.
“Clothes,” she replied to Yukako in annoyed tone. “A lot of demons dress just like this, you know.”
Edited by HilarityEnsues on Mar 1st 2020 at 1:05:45 PM
Eternal Princess
As they exited the darkness, Constanze seemed transfixed with a little hand held device. With the press of a button, the German girl held the device to her ear but all she could hear was static. With a disappointed grunt, she put it away. None of it recorded! There was Nayarthotep giving them a monologue straight out a super villain's hand book and she was unable to capture any of it! It was so frustrating! She supposed there was still opportunities for souvenirs. Still though, what a missed opportunity.
In stark contrast, Reisen seemed to be trying to avoid eye contact with everyone, unable but to feel embarrassed for Nyarly in his place. Seriously, while all Yokai seemed to enjoy bragging and smack talking, she doubted any of them could deliver that whole thing with a straight face. Then again, they did often come up with weird convoluted threats.
Still, something Nyarly said stuck with the lunarian bunny. They weren't on Battleworld anymore? That carried with it a whole set of questions. She wondered if this place would be easier to break out of. She closed her eyes and emitted some long range ESP waves out of her ears and into the universe, seeing if she could pick up any other luanrian signals or perhaps a stray god who could pick up the SOS. She wasn't holding her breath for any results though. Besides, that sign was really distracting.
The two took a closer look and studied the sign as if was on display at a museum. Reisen couldn't help but feel embarrassed for Nyarly all over again as she let little criticisms escape her lips.
"Isn't fifteen billion a bit much?"
The implication was truly terrifying. It was genocide at an unfathomable scale. But she just couldn't take it seriously. In part because she simply couldn't wrap her head around such a large number. She simply couldn't imagine fifteen billion people. She didn't think there were even half that many humans in the outside world, let alone all of them populating a single city. To top it off, this world was supposed to something of the Nyarly's creation, making the whole thing seem like a fantasy or wishful thinking rather then a testament of something that had happened.
"Also, who did the graffiti if everyone was dead? While there is an obvious culprit, isn't a god doing something like this kind of juvenile and petty..."
Then again, all the gods she knew were juvenile and petty.
For her part, the German girl simply silently took out a camera and took a picture.
click
As Minako made her announcement, the two turned their attention from the sign to her.
Sypha took the initiative to introduce Constanze in her place. While the older witch talked, the little engineer provided some visual aid. Turning her device back into a tablet like screen, she pulled up a picture and held it up for the SEES girl to see. It was a character sheet, something she whipped up just for this scenario.
Name: Constanze Amalie von Braunschbank-Albrechtsberger
Class: Magi-gunner/Engineer
lvl: 16
Stats:
- Str: 8
- Dex: 21
- Con: 7
- Int: 28
- Wis: 14
- Cha: 0
Skill Specialization:
- Crafting
- Piloting
- Marksmanship
Achievements:
- Participating in the Wild Hunts
- Breaking into Fafnir's lair
- Getting all trophy's in over 100 games
There was also a profile pic. She didn't really like getting her photo taken and wasn't much one for selfies, so she had to resort to using that pic.
◊
As almost an after thought, Constanze realized that Akko was gone. They were in hostile territory, but somehow the girl felt her friend was alright. Akko had the tenacity of a cockroach. She doubted even an Old One would be able to get that girl off his back. And if she wasn't ok...those kind of thoughts served no purpose right now. Until she could observe one way or another, Akko was simply both dead and alive, like a cat in a box.
Reisen was however distracted by the boy refusing to answer. There was a logic to what the boy said, she had to admit. Still, it kind of annoyed her to hear that from someone who was as vocal as a potted plant during the meeting. To top it off, he was going about this in a way too human of a manner.
Alfred would possibly notice the Bunny girl's eyes glow red, but other then that she didn't appear to move. Manipulating both the light and sound, Alfred wouldn't be able to see or hear the bunny girl until she was already behind him. Thanks to her ability to fly, he wouldn't even be able to feel the vibrations of foot steps. Once in position, she would attempt to bring down a karate chop on to his head with the same amount of force someone uses when hitting another with a news paper.
"Are you stupid, or did you just tune out that thing's whole little speech? It out right admitted to knowing we were here. It doesn't sound like it wants to take any cheap shots either. No, this is all going to be a whole thing. If it was looking to kill us as soon as we landed, it would of teleported us above bottomless pit from the get go. So stop being so bratty and answer the girl, boys should be gentlemanly like that you know."
Turning her attention to the SEES girl, Reisen studied her for a moment. She didn't remember her being in the meeting before the portal. Which meant...she didn't get a card. Turning up the charm and smiles, Reisen flew over to properly hand over one of her business cards.
"You are with that girl who organized this whole thing right? If you ever need a heroine for hire again in the future, please think of me. I already gave a card to your colleague, but here is another in case she doesn't make it."
On the card read Magical Moon Warrior Reisen. Rank 3 of the UAA. There was even a pair of bunny ears for a logo.
As Akko exited the pitch black realm into the night club, she had her eyes closed. She held her Shiny Rod like a bat and swung it wildly in front of her. The likes of Sayaka would perhaps feel something brush quickly past the back of their head as she just avoided getting concussed by the wild flailing.
"That's not scary! You're not scary at all!"
But despite the girl's proclomation, Akko couldn't keep her knees from shaking. Seriously, what was that!? Nobody said that thing would be so scary!? Ok, maybe they did, but its not like she actually believed them! That was like a nightmare!
She barely had a chance to open her eyes when a loud voice rang out and caused her to jump and look around. While she was initially startled, as she took in her surroundings and what was said to her, she seemed to be more confused then frighten. A night club? She was expecting something perhaps a little more creepy for the lair of an evil god.
She barely had any time to consider her situation when it seemed like two little kids were on the verge of tears. They seemed to be lost, calling out for their guardians who were no where to be found. HEY! Constanze was gone too!? She didn't have time to worry about that right then though. She couldn't even consider what this Nyarly was up to. The two kids in need of help were her priority. She quickly moved in front of the Mono, not wanting the kid to wander away from the group.
"Metamorphie Faciesse"
The teenage witch turned into an elephant
as she got ahead of the kid. Well, it was an elephant and not an elephant. The form was exaggerated and cutesy, looking more like a cartoon or a plush then a majestic beast. Her orange hide was hopefully eye catching against the rest of the darkness. But just to be sure to catch the kids attention, she straightened out her trunk and played out a little trumpet melody to cut through the dub step.
"Toot toot ta-tooot"
Once she had their attention, she would smile and introduce her self in her chipper tone.
"Hi! I'm Akko! What's your name? I lost my friend too. Did you want to look for them together?"
She turned around and offered them a piggy back ride (elephant back ride?) as they made their way around the corner into the main room. Whether they took the offer or not, she would try to stay close to them, making small talk to keep their minds off of their missing friends.
"You two probably haven't been to a club like this before huh? People come to places like this all the time to dance and have fun! This music isn't really my type, but I can see how some one could boogie to it."
Getting a feel for the beat, the elephant shook her big butt as she strutted, giving a little excitement for the ride should they have gotten on, or seeing if she could pass along that Saturday night fever should they have decided to walk on their own.
As they got to the dance floor, there didn't seem to be anywhere else to go, or perhaps suffice to say that right there felt where they were supposed to go. This was all but confirmed as the DJ introduced them and the room went up in an uproar. Seeing as something seemed to be happening, she was going to have to cut any piggy back rides short.
Turning back to a human, she looked at the strange shadowy figures. Were they g-ghosts? What ever they were, she wasn't quite used to being introduced to such reception. She scratched the back of her head rather embarrassed and waved to her apparent shadowy fans.
As the sign became clear, she gave it a rather stern look. She had no idea what Momento Mori meant, but the line underneath did not sit well with her at all. Then a smirk formed on her face, the girl looking rather confident. While she was pretty fearful for her own mortality, nothing was going to go killing her dreams. Of that she was sure.
She raised her wand and cast a spell. If successful, the sign would alter and then read "Where dreamers come to dance."
Edited by ImmortalNeet on Mar 1st 2020 at 3:09:33 AM
How do you kill that which has no life?
I have a plan.
Zone - Military Checkpoint - Shadow
Interceptor's barking could almost be heard over the gunfire cracking out of the Spetsnaz's weapons, though that might be because he was running right by Strelok's side. Shadow ran at a silent but brisk pace after Strelok, not even glancing behind himself as he ran.
"What kind of weapons are these fools using? They're a pain!" Shadow yelled.
Former Hell - Terra & Her Dad
Well, okay... Now that Terra really tried and paid attention to the citizens of the Former Capital, it became apparent that some of the young men in town looked really, really... Was weird the right word? Weird in a good way.
Wait, no, focus, Terra!
The same vibe of doom and gloom was coming from most of the locals, even as she witnessed merchants of all shapes and sizes selling goods in all shapes and sizes, kids running through the city, weird wheel heads walking their dogs, a few men who Terra couldn't help but stare at for a moment... The people who weren't sitting or standing around looking upset were too busy to bother, it seemed.
So, Terra decided to look for someone who maybe wasn't tough or calm, but maybe important instead. It was worth a try. Someone important would take notice of a foreigner and spare some time, right?
So of course, Terra quickly spotted a woman who looked like she had a lot of people doing work for her. In fact, they were literally carrying her, and a big rock. Maybe she was in charge of Former Hell? Terra ran up to the side of of the woman standing proud on her boulder, and waved her hand.
"Hey... Hello! I'm Terr—I'm Jane Doe, my friends and I are new in town! Could you... Spare us a moment? We'd like to talk to you."
Maduin's voice rang in Misaki's mind, meanwhile.
"We can indeed sense the magic emanating from our own kind, but I've no clue if my daughter can as well. Her blood is a lot more... Human than most of us. Still, I trust her intuition."
?????????
The monster just kept talking and it wouldn't shut up. It wouldn't be so smug when it tasted some Ghestalian sword and sorcery.
The Ruined City — General Celes Chere
As usual, General Chere didn't really react to anyone collected with her. The children were already oblivious to their surroundings and bickering with each other. Why did all these kids agree to participate in what was basically going to be a war against powerful monster? Did they think they were in for some big adventure?
Chere shook her head. When she was their age, she thought her Army enlistment would be just like the schoolhouse all over again.
...The acrid smell of smoke drifting off the flaming rubble brought very fresh memories of the sacking of Maranda into Chere's mind. Only, there was no sign of any survivors, or even casualties, in this particular city.
General Chere placed her hand on her sword's scabbard and ignored everyone else as she looked down the street for any disturbances.
The Nightclub — General Leo Christophe
The civilians who made the mistake of walking into the Velvet room for this battle immediatley began to grate on General Christophe's nerves. He placed his hand on his crystal sword's hilt, looking at the various shadows in front of him.
"@[=g3,8d]&fbb=-q]/hk%fg"
The Ruined City: Making New Friends in A Barren Hellscape!
Link turned towards the colorful spider man and tilted his head in curiosity. There was a place like this on Battleworld? A place that wasn't such a mess? The way the costumed hero talked about them, it seemed like these "sky scrapers" weren't all that uncommon. That somehow made Link both excited to see them, and a little sad they were typical. After all, how could the people of Man Hat In see the heavens with tons of Stone Towers blocking out the sky?
Setting that thought aside, the little hero stowed his weapons away for a moment to grab his notepad again. He already had an introduction written thanks to his chat with the gloomy man, so with a few hasty edits he raised the notepad to Spider-Man with a great big grin:
"Wait a minute." Tatl said after a quick skim of the message. "Who can't fight?"
Link paused, and realized that he never learned the gloomy man's name! He'd completely forgotten to ask!
Seeing her partner struggle with the question, Tatl amended her question with impatience laced in her tone. "Are they here?"
Link studied the party, and shook his head with a hint of worry in his face. He hoped the gloomy man was alright.
"My partner's more of an 'actions speak louder than words' kind of person." the fairy explained to Spider-Man. "I'm Tatl."
Hearing the witch introduce her and the little hero, Tatl excused herself and fluttered over to the small huddle forming.
"He did beat Death." the fairy corrected. "All the Count did was stop the fight before that bag of bones got what's coming to it."
The wings turned to face Minako, which served as the sole indication that Tatl was about to address the Persona user.
That's pretty much the gist of it: ask him to do something, and there's a fair chance my partner can do it. And yes, I am including things like 'control the weather.'"
A chuckle in her voice betrayed something Tatl wouldn't dare tell that dim-witted kid anytime soon: she admired him.
Just a little.
Let's not get carried away, here.
Speaking of Link, the little hero's curiosity had brought him over to the sign marking the city limits. The bunny lady had said a few things about it, but he'd been too focused on meeting Mr. Spider Man to hear her. Now that he had a free second, he wanted to know what it said.
Crossroads, huh? That was a strange name. And...popyou, poopuh...he waved over to Tatl as a silent means to ask for help. Begrudgingly, the fairy excused herself from the huddle and flew over to the word Link pointed to.
"'Population?'" she recited. Spotting the little hero's confused expression, she guessed he wanted to know what the word meant.
"It means 'how many people live here.' Which going by the sign, is 15...billion?"
The impossibly high count didn't puzzle the fairy—she just had no honest clue what a "billion" even was. It's not like there was much need for such a measurement in her life, or any Terminan's life for that matter.
But there was that pointing finger again, which meant her partner didn't know what a billion was either.
"It's just a shorthand way of counting." Tatl replied with a shrug in her voice. "Like how a dozen is just another way to count by twelve."
The little hero stretched his arms from side to side, as if to ask if a billion was a large number.
"Eh, there are bigger. I'd say 15 billion people would be...maybe ten times the population of Clock Town. It's big, but not that big."
Link nodded in understanding. He was lucky to have someone as smart as Tatl helping him!
The Nightclub: You Must Be This Smol to Ride This Ride
Focus.
The vampire hunter's one word echoed in Maki's mind. He was right, of course; it was foolish to fret about others when one's own safety is far from certain. He was breaking Rule #1 of Contractors without even realizing it—for whatever reason, he suspected Nora would be proud of that.
Yes, the vampire hunter was making a lot of sense. There were ten people here, apparently selected at random, which must mean that the remaining forty or so were somewhere else, facing whatever this monster had in store for them. Obviously, Teams RWBY and JNPR were just in one of those other groups, randomly tossed together with all other parties but this one. Yeah, when he did the math, it seemed plausible that his friends were just divvied up across this dimension.
...all eight of them.
With fear creeping back into focus, a bizarre elephant(-like?) creature emerged and tried to cheer Maki up, along with another frightened boy not much older than him. In contrast to Akko's bright in-your-face presentation, Maki responded with a polite yet melancholy tone that could barely be heard over the music.
"I'm Maki. It is nice to meet you, Akko."
He refused the offer to ride on the cartoonish creature's back. He wasn't that young, and he definitely didn't have the kiddish personality Akko must've been expecting. And he wasn't about to cry, the strong scents of the nightclub were just making his eyes water!
...but he wasn't about to be rude, so he kept close to Akko.
"This place is strange." the Huntsman-in-training frowned. A more obvious statement there never was, but it was all he could think to say right now. He wasn't about to distract himself with chitchat in the heart of enemy territory.
"Just because the enemy has certain capabilities, it doesn't mean you just throw caution to the wind. That's a good way to get people killed." Alfred replied to the woman with a sharp tone and unimpressed look for a moment, before turning back to scan the area. "And the longer we stand here complaining and not moving, the bigger that risk grows. A rifleman could take a shot from dozens of places at us right now, and we wouldn't see it coming."
Seeing that no one felt like moving from the open, and instead decided to have a little introduction circle, the young soldier growled under his breath and began to move towards the nearest sheltered area; Scanning everywhere around him. It was safe to say that he was ready and expecting something to happen sooner or later.
And then, something hit him in the back of the head. Acting on instinct, Alfred spun about at the same time as he almost struck at whatever had hid him, pausing when the butt of his rifle was barely inches from the rabbit girl's face as she moved backwards. If his face had looked sour before, now it was thunderous. "No, but you obviously are." He growled, stepping back up to stare Reisen down. "Not even getting into why your arrogance and ignorance would be a good way to get people killed, the fact that you thought it was a good idea to strike an armed person and your own ally from behind shows me that you shouldn't have anything to do with this mission. If you've got a problem with me, leave it till after we're done."
The anger disappeared then, though a coldness lingered, as he looked out over the rest of the group. "Alfred Mc Innes, soldier of Nalbion and rifleman. I can control metal as well. Now are you all going to keep standing around, or actually move?"
"But-" Mono's head was spinning, filled with thoughts of what could have happened to them and memories of the things he'd seen. His ruined fingers twitched as phantom pain returned to them, despite them being almost entirely lost of feeling nowadays. He knew that being alive didn't mean someone was safe. It was his fault somehow, he was sure of it. And now he was alone again, like he deserved. "But I-"
Thankfully, seeing a girl suddenly turn into a strange, bright orange with big ears and a long nose was enough to cut his spiraling panic short with sheer strangeness. The androgyne looked up at Akko with something akin to disbelief, blinking as his mind reset itself. "I-I'm, um, Mono..."
He nodded at the offer to look, though completely missing the offer for a ride, simply shuffled along after the currently transformed girl and trying not to panic over the sheer wall of sound hitting him.
The Morgue
"Oh no, we've been split up already...?" Mirajane commented. Without delay she shifted to her standard Satan Soul form, taking a look behind her and to the sides to get a quick view of the general surroundings, holding one hand up in a fist defensively while resting the other on her hip.
"Hmmph," Mirajane sniffed in her new form. "Trying to scare us with this all of this imagery of death? Or does he just like being dramatic?"
With the crying starting and Morrigan taking to the air, Mirajane's own wings moved and brought her up towards the succubus's level.
"I'll watch your back up here," she grunted, nodding at Morrigan. "No one should be alone when we're dealing with this guy."
Edited by nman on Mar 2nd 2020 at 12:08:04 PM
Velvet Room
"Philemon," Trevor basically sighed out the name as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Please do not say the demon's name here, Ozen... This place is where the barrier between Nyarly's Realm and the rest of Battleworld is at its weakest, and just saying the demon's full name here adversely affects the sanctity of this place which needs basically a counterspell to reverse."
Before Trevor could continue, Dr. Breen interrupted the conversation.
"Finally, it was getting rather boring with all the chitchat here," Morrigan made a big play of yawning.
"This is yours and SEES's plan, so after you," Trevor offered to let Hei go first.
Castlevania
"Hmm," It seemed like Dracula was indeed listening to Vayne's advice and continued to listen as he described the duo of terrorists causing havoc across Outworld. Vayne asked if he knew who the man that was named Raiden was.
"No, but..." Dracula snapped his fingers as he made an educated guess. "Your Empire has not been here long enough to get a wish from the Cure, has it?"
"That sounds like someone brought in by a wish... Not Shao Khan's clearly, but likely the wish from another land's leader," Dracula smirked ever so slightly. "Clearly, Kitana had found help from a land and then lost it when the Cure got bored of said land."
"I actually still have a wish that I have yet to use," Dracula mused to Vayne as he began having ideas. "Ah well, I will share whatever I know about Outworld if you share with me whatever you know about Outworld."
"If I am to help destroy Shao Khan, I need as much information on Outworld as possible," Dracula concluded to Vayne.
Edited by GameGuruGG on Feb 17th 2020 at 8:48:31 AM
Wizard Needs Food Badly