CoLC crossover RP, main thread

Cole paused a moment, looking as though he were thinking that over, before shifting to sit on the floor next to Ben. "Psychic...I...not precisely. It's...I'm...not like anyone else back in my home. I'm a spirit that made a body, that became someone. A spirit of Compassion. I sense when people hurt and ways to try to make them feel better. I want to make people feel better. It...hurts when I can't." He winced, rubbing at his arm. "Wh-when I can't help...when spirits can't do what they exist to do, when people hurt them...they...become demons...like I...just did..."

He paused before reaching out to touch Ben's shoulder in as comforting a manner as he could. "I'm sorry...I didn't want to upset you so much..."

Ben took a deep breath when Cole explained what he was, and how he was sorry that he had made Ben so upset. He would have trouble forgiving the things that Cole had did earlier, the things he had said when he was in his demon form, and the thing he had said on Day 6. But at the same time, he acknowledged that he had to move on.

Ben stood. "It's fine," he told the spirit, even though he could probably tell by the way Ben was carrying himself that it nearly wasn't. "I guess I have needs like that too. I'm a hero and it... it hurts when I can't save people. I hate being helpless. I hate not being able to rescue those I care about, or keep people from getting hurt, or dying..." He thought back to how so many people had gotten upset at him for getting in the way. How he had used Upgrade to latch onto Marcus' armor and then got shot by a sniper rifle on Day 1. How he awakened Queen Bee and Plantera as XLR8 and nearly died from his foolhardy actions on Day 2. How completely ineffectual he was in dealing with Brother Marcus in the forest on Day 4.

"...and I hate when I screw up. When people say I'm just a stupid kid, in over his head, getting in the way. In my world, I'm a hero. In here, I'm not...."

edited 30th Apr '16 10:20:31 PM by AllHailThrall

"You're young, and you're still learning. I know how that is. I'm almost to my third autumn and I feel as though I've barely learned anything." He tried to offer a smile, before sighing softly. "Going up against adults who have come from worlds where they've been training professionally as whatever sorts of soldiers they are nearly from birth would be daunting for anyone. You've still tried your best, and you've still helped. ...you just stopped me. I...don't know how much of a help you think that was, but I'm...grateful. I might have really hurt someone if you hadn't. I hurt people when I was a demon before. I killed them. I...I remember planning to go after other people when I got away from the rest of you." He cringed, looking away, then pulling away slightly. "I should...you should find the others. They might need you."

Middle layer — The Big Kerfuffle

Garrett swore once again — much more profanely, and out loud this time — as a gun-toting hulk made a sudden, violent entrance. The thief wasn't sure if this was another Mechanist-style automaton, or an actual human in armor, but one thing was certain: he was outclassed. He very much doubted if any of his arrows could hope to pierce this armor — the fire arrows, maybe, but it wouldn't do to draw attention to himself.

Therefore, Garrett turned and ran away into the web of alleys, looking for the nearest elevator or staircase that would take him to the top layer. If he found one without being molested on the way, he'd take it and begin looking for the library.

There wasn't much that could be done on his part. Hol Horse jumped to the conclusion that this new combatant was just about as immune to bullets as the last heavily armored one, and this one didn't have a gun, but a rocket launcher. It wasn't until Ranma decided to throw a lamppost, right about when he was halfway to cover, that he realized he could do at least something. That girl was so fast, dodging those rockets should be a piece of cake for her. He could probably do it himself. Acting in the role that a #2 Guy works best, distractions, could work!

Hol Horse immediately pulled a 90 degree turn and started running past the green monstrosity, firing wildly at it and trying to draw as much fire as possible for Ranma to get up close, and for Sawyer to get away.

The fact that Zelda was insinuating that Sadness should be the leader made her more nervous than ever. She was no leader, not really. At best she was a niche support member. Not that she was overanalyzing herself or anything.

"Right," she said. "Let's...go...?"

The emotion struck off in the opposite direction of the fight going on, or had gone on, some distance away. It wouldn't necessarily help, with the nature of the city, but she hoped that their little group could stay out of anything too dangerous.

"Stairs," she said aloud. "Let's just head towards the edge of the city. Then we can go around the, uh, the perimeter, and see if we can find something. Twilight, you can fly, so you'll probably see them first...I wish we could fly down there," Sadness added, surprising herself; the idea of flight should have been as nerve-wracking as ever. "But I guess you couldn't carry us. And I wouldn't want to make you sad on accident."

Leadership sure was difficult. Sadness led the Small Cute Girls Brigade onwards.

Mary apparently had just realized that Rex's lower half was an orange hoverbike because she started trying to ride it when Kelsey pointed out its existence.

Her enthusiasm was cut short after Rex asked them if they had seen a big talking bird. Mary tilted her head innocently and wondered if it was his pet. This was getting ridiculous. Mary was a young kid, sure, and she seem didn't like the sharpest knife in the drawer^note Thank you, thank you. I will be here all week. but not knowing who the Ruckus were, getting an older sister out of nowhere, and avoiding the question about the Lord of Change clearly meant she was hiding something.

"No, he's just... Look, he hurt Cole, Ben, and Twilight. And he will try to hurt everyone he can. So it's very important you tell me if you've seen him"

edited 30th Apr '16 11:00:01 PM by DeisTheAlcano

Grimlock; Dino mode -> Robot mode

The City, Middle Tier

Grimlock only really glared at blue guy, then started to snarl when he held Sawyer. He didn't want to make him attack her, so he just kept quiet and still. Besides, it seemed he just wanted to talk to her. Aaaaaaand Hol Horse decided to take his old role and do something stupid, which was pointing his gun at blue guy's head.

Thankfully for them, blue guy didn't take it as a threat, nor Gon. However...the other girl who was with Cole yesterday just told the blue guy about Cole and Ben and made him want to kill Cole...and them. Scrap. First kitten's caused him problems yesterday, now—he assumed—the kitten owner caused him problems.

Grimlock made to tackle blue guy when he was about to slice Sawyer but then blue guy got hit, twice. The second time pushed blue guy to the ground. He was glad that Sawyer was all right but...as he looked to the source, he knew it wasn't friendly.

After all, missiles heading straight for you wasn't exactly a friendly greeting.

They were surprisingly slow which let him to move and have them hit him in a less important area, his tail. Then the sick green robot started shooting. He headed in front of Sawyer and kitten owner in order to block any shots that might head their way. He looked to blue guy for a moment, then back at sick green robot. Ranma and Hol Horse seemed to be handling him.

So he stayed in between Sawyer and the gunfire, his eyes on blue guy. Unless Ranma and Hol Horse needed his help, he'll keep his attention on blue guy. After all, they weren't sure who he'll fight now, the robot, them, or both. He wasn't going to have the duo fight two enemies at once.

He seriously hoped that kitten wasn't nearby, he wouldn't forgive himself if Sawyer or any of his friends got hurt because he couldn't move.

edited 30th Apr '16 11:39:43 PM by ShoutmonZ

Ben smiled slightly at Cole when he tried to explain how he was a hero. "Thanks," he told the spirit, nodding. "That means a lot." He looked back towards Miss Tairee, who was no doubt confused about the whole thing.

"Okay, so basically, I head out to explore the city. I meet up with Sans, Cole, and a bunch of other guys. Sans and Cole go off to chat, apparently the Ruckus ambushed 'em or something cause Sans died and Cole got captured. Cole, you said you were held by Old Feather Beak and got killed by Mary?" he asked the spirit, crossing his arms and looking concerned. He then looked back towards Miss Tairee.

"Anyway, so a bunch of us go off and try and find Cole. I get separated from the others and end up meeting up with Hol Horse and Ranma. There's this fight that I mess up trying to deal with, I end up meeting up with Rachel and a bunch of people... we go to get food, then Cole shows up as that demon form you saw!" Ben explained. He winced at the next part.

"Then he started threatening me, saying he'd hurt my cousin and my grandpa. I thought they were in danger... I had to know what he'd done with them. Then Brother Marcus showed up, he tried to kill Cole, and I tried to save him. Ranma suggested I come over to you so we could cure Cole, and here we are," Ben explained, shrugging slightly. His stomach groaned loudly after he finished, reminding him he never did get to eat after all this. Ben looked at his stomach and smiled sheepishly.

edited 30th Apr '16 11:37:21 PM by AllHailThrall

Miss Tairee wasn't responding, just staring forward at nothing with a shocked expression that became increasingly angry in a calm sort of way. "Did ya' say," she finally started, still looking at neither Ben nor Cole, "that the demon, has Mary? It took, that special little girl, and made her murder ya', fer its own ends?" Slowly, she stood up straight, and started walking downstairs at a regular pace.

"Now ain't that somethin'" Miss Tairee muttered, her teeth clenching and her hands trembling as she slowly went down towards the first floor.

"If it's just a big bird, then what are you so worried about?" Kelsey asked, a bit mockingly as she walked over to beside Rex and Mary, "you can turn your legs into a motorbike; I don't know of any birds that can top that."

edited 1st May '16 1:00:01 AM by FirockFinion

Top layer — Library

Garrett arrived a moment ago, just in time to hear the end of Ben's explanations for Miss Tairee, and her subsequent reply.

"Are you okay now, boy?" he said, trying to hide the concern in his voice. "Did I hear right? They kidnapped you... just to have you stabbed by a little girl? Whatever they did that for? And what the hell happened to you to make you end up like this? Is that gonna happen every time you die?"

edited 1st May '16 1:23:55 AM by Korodzik

Aigis apologized for not staying and helping out Cole like she promised. As soon as Aigis encounters Cole again, she is going to ask Cole to forgive her for abandoning him like that. As soon as Sans greeted Plague Knight, Aigis asked if Sans knew him and called him “Sans-San”. Did she just make an accidental pun? As soon as Lune put two and two together, she asked, “Wait, what…?”

Sans was just as confused as Lune and asked, “What did you call me?” Plague Knight exited the store again and handed Sans a grenade. Isn’t that dangerous in the wrong hands? As soon as Plague Knight greeted Aigis again, Lune waved at Plague Knight this time. Caro noted Sans and Aigis’s apologies for their failure to protect Cole. Caro likened it to a situation she had been in earlier. A girl Caro was kidnapped and was used for something nefarious. In both situations, no one saw it coming. To make sure the search does not end in failure, the group needs to get going now.

Caro also explained that the “San” suffix is used a lot in Japanese language. A lot of the Steel Dragons Lune knew came from Japan and thus spoke the language. Fortunately, Lune was fluent since her father taught her the language at a young age. Caro also introduced herself and Fried to Plague Knight. Lune decided to follow suit.

“And I’m Lune… It’s nice to meet ya!”

Aigis confirmed Caro’s explanation, and explained that she was built in Japan, so she was programmed to speak in Japanese. She apologized to Sans and asked if she met Plague Knight earlier.

Middle Layer Boss Fight

Rather regrettably - and perhaps just a little obviously - Brother Marcus proved non-negotiable. The unlikely aid came from an unknown robotic combatant who, sadly, was not on their side, seeing as he went right for Grimlock afterwards.

Sawyer stumbled back to where Hol Horse was. "Pull back, people!" She droned out an order, keeping the chainsaw revved up just in case to defend herself or the others. "Let the robot fight him!"

Middle Layer- OH DEAR LORD

Upon seeing the imposing green figure fire missiles, Specter Knight found himself at a loss for words (and actions, apparently). He was, to put it lightly, going to be utterly useless in this battle. That being looked as though it could -and likely would- split his scythe in two.

Following Sawyer's advice, he teleported away from the being. Perhaps it was time to find a way to the top layer...

edited 1st May '16 10:46:44 AM by astrokitty

"it sounds kinda silly when applied to a name like mine, kinda funny too, i like it," said Sans, letting out a chuckle in amusement and then turning to flamingo face as he handed him a grenade, "... why are you giving me a bomb?"

He knew how the thing worked, but still he never actually used one and all things considered he probably wouldn't have much of an opportunity to. He could see it being useful at some point still, so he just accepted the weird gift anyway, who knows when such a thing could end up saving his non-existent hide. He then turned to Caro remembering that she mentioned having to find a way to get down to the other layers

"well, you could probably get down to the other layers by flying on your dragon friend, us... we're gonna have to find an elevator or a staircase, hopefully the former."

Ben was stunned at how angry Miss Tairee seemed to become at the mention of what Mary did. Ben went silent, and simply followed Miss Tairee downstairs in order to see what she was going to do. He gestured for Cole to follow him down, eyes on alert. He wanted to make sure he would not be shot again.

God, today was awful, Karkat thought as he made his way to his block, tired of today's assload of shitty events. They had passed through nearly ten dreambubbles today—ten!—and each one was worse than the last. One particular bubble contained another Karkat who had reached the god tiers, and Terezi actually wanted to talk to HIM instead of the actual, living Karkat!

But whatever. Right now, he just needed to lie down in his broken movie pile, put on some trashy romcom, maybe light a few candles, and—

Everything stopped.

Karkat had a mini seizure as the world disappeared before him. Oh God, what now? This can't be happening. This can NOT be fucking happening. He had to deal with enough shit today, and he was NOT going to—

The Balcony

After what felt like ages, the world was suddenly rushed back into his eyes, and light blinded him as he fell back. He waited for his eyesight to adjust before standing up again. WHAT THE FUCK? he said, more as an exclamation than a question. He looked around. There were other people here, too, all just as confused as he was. And "people" wasn't a good way to describe them. There were...things of all shapes and sizes. Hell, he was probably the only normal one here. To his left, he noticed a walkway leading to...oh God, what is that? Some sort of...garbage place. Ugh. Karkat debated between staying here and entering the trash-filled place, and the latter option one out. Surprisingly. Hesitant, he made his way towards the garbage lands.

edited 1st May '16 9:44:46 AM by ProTrash

"I believe we may have met each other after the events of yesterday, in the library perhaps?" Plague Knight said, himself not remembering clearly. "I do remember complimenting you on your arsenal of arm canons at least." He then waved to Lune was she waved to him.

It was then from the snippets of conversation that Plague Knight managed to pick up on what this group was planning at least. "So my earlier hypothesis that the Ruckus rampaged through the City earlier as a distraction to kidnap Cole was correct, then?" the alchemist asked Sans, as he walked over to Lune and gave her a grenade as well. Then to answer Sans's question: "Well, my major form of weaponry are explosives anyway, and I felt these devices would be somewhat redundant for me," he explained.

Cole looked up at Garrett when he approached, and grimaced, lowering his head again, rubbing at his arms slightly. "It...it wasn't the dying so much..." he said softly. "That hurt, that was frightening enough to set me on edge, but..."

Ben motioned for Cole to follow him, and Cole hesitated before getting back on his feet, keeping his head down to walk after him. "I...I'm sorry. I didn't...I wish I hadn't hurt anyone..."

The Trio's Search for Stairs; Top Layer

Twilight was mildly concerned with the tone Sadness was taking, but then again it was probably because she was a living embodiment of, well, sadness. Twilight responded to Sadness requesting she search from the air while they stayed on the ground.

"Alright."

Twilight actually did think she could carry Sadness fine, but it's true she didn't really know how a living emotion would affect her. And Zelda was probably too tall for Twilight to lift at all. She took flight and looked around for a staircase. But she avoided straying far, and made sure Sadness and Zelda were close. She wanted to be able to intervene if they got in trouble.

"Yeah, sure," said Arthur pleasantly. "Could give us a chance to get to know the city."

The group disembarked from the elevator, and got a good look at the middle layer of the metropolis. Tick sighed happily. "Now this seems like the high life, and not just because it's higher than the grimy neighbourhood from just now. Look around, and you'll see everything a high-tech city has to offer. The flying automobiles, the humble neon glow, the...distant sounds of war and chaos- Arthur! The city's in peril again!"

"It's gotta have something to do with that explosion!"

"Well then, let's give those villains something to explode about. Come, Arthur! To glory and hallelujah!" In one great bound, Tick leaped to the top of the nearest three storey building, and bounded from rooftop to rooftop, crunching masonry in his wake.

Arthur unfurled his wings, when suddenly he remembered his new acquaintances. He glanced back at Redring and Cassiopeia, with a rather sheepish expression. "I should really go after him. Would either of you want to come with?"

edited 1st May '16 12:16:16 PM by LizardOfAus

Top layer — Library

"Hang on," Garrett said, following after Ben. "You might want to know, someone else showed up after you left. Big fella, green armor, tinny voice. Looks kind of like this brother Marcus actually, and seems hell-bent on shooting indiscriminately at anyone he sees. I got a hunch he might be this— this challenge we're supposed to be fighting today. Am I right?" he asked Miss Tairee. "Anyway, he was still on the middle level last I've seen him, so... well, if you're itching to get into a scrap, you know where to find him. Me, I'm staying out of this business."

Ben glanced at Garrett as he approached the group, and he looked up at the figure, who apparently saw someone in green armor a lot like Brother Marcus wrecking stuff up on the middle layer after Ben ran off to the library to get help for Cole. Ben crossed his arms, sighing, and shook his head. "I'd love to go stop this guy and show him how we do things Hero style and all, but my watch is still cooling down. I used it a lot, it might be a bit before it comes back on. I can go, though I wanna make sure my family is safe before I do. You understand, right?" he asked Garrett. At that point, he remembered that he had rudely cut off Sans earlier on the phone.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket, choosing Sans' number, and put the phone up to his head, calling the skeleton up.

Cole silently stopped walking with Ben and Garrett as they reached about midway down the stairs, wringing his hands together, then sitting down on the step where he was, hugging his knees and resting his chin on them, just staring down into the library from that vantage point. "I...I think I should stay here. I...don't want to go out there where those p-people are again, not yet. I don't want to hurt anyone else."

Looked like flaming face there was a bomber, a very irresponsible one considering he just handed a grenade to a mostly random skeleton who happened to be hanging around at that.

"well, kinda, the shooting only started after cole was taken away," he answered him

Then his phone began ringing again and he saw that it was Ben again, hopefully that meant that whatever trouble he had ran into had been dealt with now. The thought of someone having taken Ben's cellphone came into his mind for a moment, but then he figured that there wouldn't be much of point of calling him anyway so he didn't think much of it

"'sup kiddo, what was going on earlier? you sounded like you got yourself in a lot of trouble," he said as he answered the phone.