Outside the Library - Oh Come Now, For Liddle Ol' Me? Surely You Jestin'!

"Well...with all the issues I've been having with being useless compared to everyone else here, I guess I jumped on the opportunity to actually do something meaningful. Especially since it was for a friend who I still don't think deserves the fate that's waiting for him," Zelda said with a frown, "But...we all saw how that turned out." She paused for a moment. "...I know Caro's apologized for it already, but I think you deserve to hear it from me as well. I'm sorry for all of that."

Then Sans presented her with a present. She...wasn't sure what to think of this. One part of her thought she didn't deserve it, especially given what she just talked about, another part of her was flattered, other parts were relieved that Sans at least didn't think of her as a third wheel after all, and yet another part was just flat out confused anyone would want to give her something of their own volition.

"Well, I...um...." She then took the box from Sans. "...Thank you very much, Sans."

At that, she started opening it up, very curious as to what it might be.

Zelda would find the very same blue heart bracelet Sans had given to Caro before.

"it's just a cheap little trinket to help you remember me once we're done with this place. you can give it back if you'd rather not keep being reminded of the dead skeleton that was your friend for a little while before you went home." He shrugged.

Sans stopped to think about whether to further confront her regarding the letter, but maybe it would be better to do it later. Even though Zelda apologized for what had happened yesterday, he had to wonder just what was the contents of that letter so he still would want to get the truth out of her later.

"but anyway, if you really want to help me that much, you could start by actually opening up to us every once in a while when you're feeling bad. and also try to take better care of yourself instead of only caring about what happens to others. self-sacrifice is nice an' all but there is such a thing as going too far."

Ben winced back at Miss Tairee. "Sorry, it's just I—" he started to explain, when Rachel burst in explaining about the problem. He listened to the chatter (including from Brother Marcus) about the threat in the oceans. The Ruckus, sadly, would have to wait. People were in danger.

Ben took out his own walkie talkie, making sure the headset was plugged into it, and turned it to the Militia's channel. Already, people were chattering on it and he could hear it.

"Militia, this is Ben Tennyson of the City Knights," he said into the walkie talkie. "I read you loud and clear. I can go Ripjaws and scout out this thing, but it'd probably be safer if I go into the tunnels and try and get as many civilians out as possible," he told them. "City Knights are on channel 10, if anyone needs anything, contact me there. Over," With that he let go of the speaker and waited for a response, moving towards the door to try and see into the water.

Gon, now seeing the problem Brother Marcus mentioned.

"Shit...!"

Gon muttered out loud when he saw how sections of the tunnels were getting destroyed by some kind of monster. He couldn't determine what it was though.

"We need to head back!" The assassin shouted. He gripped his weapon tightly.

edited 20th Sep '16 5:58:00 PM by Ominae

As Curly listened to the conversation at Miss Tairee's desk, she started to get a little bit distracted by the radio conversations happening at the same time until Rachel shouted to get people's attention, allowing her to focus on it.

"Has anyone started clearing that cinema out? Anyone watching movies during that convention thing they probably won't hear this thing until it's too late. And any clues how deep those possible turret structures are?" She said, both aloud and through the radio "headphones" as she fiddled with the pair of phones again, quickly saving the numbers before quickly walking over to the tea party and setting one on the table in front of Lucas "Sorry to interrupt, but I gotta go. Here's a phone and I already saved my number in it so if something dangerous happens you can call me, 'kay?"

She didn't pause long for a response before turning to Rachel "What's the quickest way into the tunnels from here?"

edited 20th Sep '16 5:57:58 AM by BlitzTrain

"Ben?" Lieutenant Wells' voice responded, sounding confused for a moment about these new voices on his channel, but must have quickly shook it off, as he continued just a moment later. "Listen, the longer whatever that thing is is swimming around, the more people are going to get hurt. Don't you and any of your friends have some way to fight it?" Lieutenant Wells asked Ben.

There was no response to Curly over the radio yet; whether that meant that the militia members who could answer those questions were busy or just waiting for a chance to speak, Curly obviously wouldn't know yet. Rachel in the meantime, did look at her. "Well if you can swim good" Rachel said, and simply pointed down, "but otherwise what you'll have to do is find a sub or go to another building and find a tunnel."

Meanwhile Thomas moved up to the desk and looked at the headsets and the walkie talkie Ben plugged his into with increasing confusion. "Some kind of communication trinkets? I've never seen ones like this before" Thomas commented. Miss Tairee gave a light sigh and typed on her computer for a moment; then another instructional pamphlet like the one she gave to Sir Redring and then Zelda appeared on the desk in front of Thomas, which just made him looked more confused as he took a look at it.

edited 20th Sep '16 6:52:29 AM by FirockFinion

Jack glanced at Morty, but said nothing else. The kid was obviously struggling with it on his own, and he felt that anything else he might have to say wouldn't make things better. And possibly even make things worse. Any further thoughts on the subject swiftly left the spirit's mind as, after following the blue titan further up the tunnel, he found himself standing in a part with nice, big windows that looked out into the abyss.

A wave of shock, fear and what might have been nausea swept through the immortal teen as he got his first clear view out into the water surrounding them; Ready to burst in and crush and down them at any moment. His hands clenched so hard on his staff he swore he heard something crack, and magic crackled down it and onto the ground around them; Some even creeping up the walls after spread that far. Trying to swallow the lump in his throat and keep himself from losing it, Jack edged forward to try and see what the man had seen.

Seeing that... thing down below had the spirit's eyes widening and jaw falling slack. His voice was shaky when he spoke. "That's... that's big..."

When its tail tore off a section of the tunnels below with no effort, he knew it was time to move. He had to get the hell out of there! The words were barely leaving Marcus' mouth when Jack grabbed hold of Morty's hand. "Time to go!" And the spirit was off running.

Jack grit his teeth as he sprinted as fast as he could, slowed down by the teenager in tow. It wasn't fast enough. Calling to what little air and wind that existed in the tunnel, he willed it to help them move faster. Slowly, the air in the tunnel seemed to change, a breeze impossibly coming from back the way they had came. Soon, Morty would feel like each of his steps were going further than they normally would; Almost like he was walking on air. The speed at which the duo were moving began to pick up greatly, and soon they were tearing up the tunnel and towards what was hopefully a way out.

Upon hearing Lt. Wells' response, Ben frowned a little. "Ben to Militia. Understood. I'll go Ripjaws and check it out. Maybe I can lure it to the surface where the rest of the City Knights can deal with it easier. Over and out." With that, Ben approached Rachel near the door. "I can swim good," he told her. "Or rather, Ripjaws can swim good." With a solemn look on his face he readied the Omnitrix, turning towards the fishy alien and pressed the button attempting to turn into him for real this time.

There was a bright flash of green light and soon Ripjaws was standing near the door of the library. "You guys prepare for a fight," he told the others. "I'll get his attention. If he's trying to get me, he won't be trying to get civilians," he explained. With that, Ripjaws ran towards the edge of the dock and dove into the water, trying to swim down to see if he could spot whatever was causing so much destruction.

....It was getting dark. Hopefully Ghostfreak couldn't swim.

For his part, Cole just looked...deeply confused by Nails's sudden and rather frantic reaction. He stood where he was, looking at Frederick beside him in bewilderment, before the militia man returned and gave him what looked like water and some kind of bread, leaving Cole looking even more baffled, looking at the offered items as though they were the most bizarre things he had ever held in his hands.

"N-no, they wouldn't do that, they...they're not th-that way, they..."

He didn't continue as there seemed to be chatter from the walkie-talkie about something in the water, and Cole paused, listening to all of this with a gradually increasing concern.

"...th-that...that sounds very bad...I...I, we...we have to do something to help..."

The ghost, after the reassurance that the young man was alright, took in all the sights and sounds that were going on around him, not quite sure what to answer first, until met with the sudden prompting by Garrett about sending messages to one's home universe.

And there was the returning raw energy that had been stirring in his soul, that rondo of romance and revenge; the answer was obvious.

"Absolutely! I have matters to take care of at home and I won't stop until they've been fulfilled."

(Suddenly shit started hitting the fan. Apparently there was a massive sea monster. But fire probably wouldn't help with that. He decided he would finish this matter first before trying to get involved.)

Library - In deep, deep trouble

Caro quietly listened to the agitated discussion happening the desk. Ben once again tried to get Miss Tairee to break the rules to help everyone, which didn't seem to have worked, but at least they got a more convinient way to communicate out in the field. She picked up a headset, connecting it to her phone. She took her hat off for a moment and put on the headset, then put the former back on. When Rachel came to warn them about something, apparently indicating that they should to the radio chatter, she turn the walkie-talkie app on and tuned in to the appropriate channel.

Her eyes widened in shock when it turned out that there something really big, down deep in the water, destroying entire sections of the tunnels.

Ben offered their help in evecuating everyone out of the tunnels, but was asked to fight off the creature instead, at which point he turned into an aquatic alien and went to lure it out. She wasn't entirely sure about that. Bringing it to the surface would likely cause more tunnels to be ripped apart. She didn't have a full idea of the full extension of the underwater maze those comprised, but it was likely massive. Then again, Ben would likely try to avoid that possibility as much as possible and it was likely their best shot. It didn't seem like many of them were exactly capable of fighting well underwater and it didn't seem like there many armed vehicles either, so if they had to fight whatever it was that had emerged, it would have to be at the surface. Even then, it would be a long shot, because if the target was massive, most of it would likely stay underwater and be able to submerge completely if needed, making it almost impossible to hit.

Another thought occured to her. This creature had appeared just as the day had began to end. Going by the pattern set by the previous days, this would indicated that this would part of the challenge today. If that helf true, then it was even more reason to fight it off. They could keep it from endangering anyone else today and by beating it, earning a prison and does a more permanent way to keep people like Ruckus out the way.

Turning around to the rest of the City Knights present, but speaking so that she could be more generally heard, she said, "Right, we to get ready and sort out some kind of plan for when Ben manages to attract whatever that is up here. When don't know where they will emerge, though Ben will probably warn us when they do, but at least need to get some sort of transport ready. For myself, when the time comes, Fried and I can take one more person flying with us. Being able to fight whatever that is from above would probably be to our advantage. As such, someone who can fight well from long range would be the best to join us."

Ocean - Chaser

"of course! that's why we're going back to the library," John said."if we have more people with us, we can defend ourselves more easily. hang on!"

At this time, the boat was speeding like a motorboat on steroids. With John fully exerting his powers, it was like racecars on steroids instead.

edited 20th Sep '16 12:11:22 PM by NagisaStick

Karkat - On a Boat - NYOOM

Karkat did, in fact, hang on to the sides of the boat to prevent flying away like a plastic bag. WHY THE LIBRARY?! He shouted over the roaring sounds of water whipping against the boat. FUCK THE LIBRARY! THIS SHIT HAPPENS EVERY DAY, WE CAN JUST FIND THE DINER AND HIDE THERE!

Eve|Library

She breifly considered going with Ben, but from what she had heard, the deeper it went, the darker it became. Since she needed her eyes ro fight (and she wasn't sure if pressure was a factor), it was probably best if she was part of the teap, no t the bait.

Then she heard Caro planning, and though Eve did have a projectile weapon, it was designed to be non-lethal, and probably wouldn't be much use. Grabbing the bluetooth headsets, she walked over to the others.

"I'm a short range fighter, so I shouldn't be up with Caro."

She proffered the headsets.

"These are for hands-free communication, so that what happened on the balcony will not happen again."

Ocean - Wide-Eyed Idealist

"but think about it," John muses optimistically, "if that giant sea tentacle thing is the boss or whatever, it could end this whole predicament of being underwater. plus, we could have some help fighting. i mean, don't you have your fraymotifs?"

The boat slowed down to a halt by the entrance of the library. "okay, we're heeeeaaaaaaugh!" John, having made the mistake of letting go of the boat, flung into the...

Library, unceremoniously.

He then tumbled and landed finally, lying face down. When he stood up, there was glass shards scattered all around him.

"ow."

edited 20th Sep '16 4:25:46 PM by NagisaStick

Ben angrily told Rex to not piss off Tairee. The kid also asked him if he really looked like a serial killer.

"I'm talking about Mary, Ben. She's the only person Tairee seems to like around here" he adressed the librarian "I bet she reminds you of you as a kid. Did you also have trouble making friends and decided to join a cult?"

Tairee didn't seem that bothered and told him to go ahead and put Mary in prison whenever he saw her.

"Don't you worry, I will"

Rachel and called out everyone—well, the heroes, anyway—to listen to the militia channel "What's going on now?" Looks like the boss had finally showed up. It was about damn time it did.

In the other side of the radio, Marcus himself warned everyone of the monster, saying that it had collaped several tunnels without problem. And the scariest thing was that Marcus was requesting help "Whoa, it must be a pretty big deal if Mark is asking for backup"

Rex was ready to help out but he was taken aback by Ben's attitude and how he mentioned something about being part of the 'City Knights'.

"What's he talking about?" he asked Tairee, rethorically

There wasn't time to ask the kid himself because Mirai answered Rex's inquiry about her abilities by taking off her bandages and creating a reddish sword apparently with her own blood.

"Nice blade. Is that really your blood?"

Unfortunately, while this was going on, Ben told everyone to prepare for a fight and left as the giant fish that had attacked Jackson earlier that day. He wanted to lure the monster away from the tunnels so people could be evacuated.

"And... he left. Whatever" Rex would complain but it's not like he wasn't guilty of the exact same thing "Ok, listen up guys, we need every flier and swimmer to set up an evac party"

Right at moment, a guy with glasses bursted through the library's door. Seems like he had and unfriendly encounter with something.

"Okay, not so fast. No one is going to steal your place"

edited 20th Sep '16 4:49:36 PM by DeisTheAlcano

Outside Library - Thanks for a Memory

Zelda looked over the bracelet as Sans explained what it was. As he said, it was just a simple trinket; nothing big or overly fancy. All the same, she made a small smile before slipping it over her right wrist.

"Well, if I keep any memories from this city, being friends with a goofy skeleton is certainly one of the better ones I could keep," she replied, "And considering that if I had followed your advice from the start this conversation probably would have never happened...I'll certainly try to be more open from here onwards. And getting your phone number would be a good start...well, once I get my phone again, anyway."

Well she wasn't returning the bracelet at least. Now Sans had to think of where he was going to get another one to give Cole since he only had gotten two. That was going to be a hassle, was that shop even around anymore or was it something exclusive to the beach theme of yesterday? Well, that would be something for him to deal with later.

"speaking of phone, i'm guessing you knew about the stuff that was happening in the balconies because i reported it to the non-human group. why were you spying on them?" he asked her, frowning slightly.

Library - Quick, Sea Monsters

"yeah, sorry for a sudden entrance. i guess i'll pay for that door." John stood up, and shook off the water sprayed onto him. "but there's a problem. there's a sea monster coming, i have a hunch that it's the boss thing of the day, and we can probably fight it together. that's why i'm here, so we can fight the giant tentacle thing. oh yeah, i got karkat too."

John walked over to the boy about his age with the goggles. "my name's john egbert. what's yours? and what's going on?"

edited 20th Sep '16 5:18:39 PM by NagisaStick

"Nope. I've got my air tank to keep me from drowning, but I sink like a rock" Curly said, shaking her head for emphasis. "Guess I'm headed for a building then"

She barely had time to finish her sentence before fish!Ben said something about luring the monster to the surface and Caro started rallying the other hero Knights. And goggle-boy continued badmouthing Miss Tairee, there wasn't time to try and figure out what all that was about "Look, If this thing is big and strong enough to rip up the tunnels and have whoever this Marcus guy asking for heavy ordinance, then I don't want to see what that thing's gonna do the the Library when it gets here"

edited 20th Sep '16 5:24:57 PM by BlitzTrain

Outside Library - A Friend for the Damned

"That's actually tied into that whole mess from yesterday."

Zelda frowned. "I'm guessing you've probably heard this already, but when Caro and I discussed what to do after getting those letters, I suggested that we just keep being your friend for now instead of going through with any of the options the storyteller god gave us. Which got me thinking...you probably aren't the only person in the city who has nothing to look forwards to when they go back home. And I imagine that at least some of these other people would probably appreciate some company until that day comes.

"So I asked Miss Tairee to help me find some of these people. She didn't give me anybody specific to look for out of respect for their privacy, which is fair considering even you weren't that open about it for a while, but she suggested that I look into joining the anti-humans as a starting point. Since the day wasn't exactly the best to go out and meet them personally, I decided to listen in for a while to get an idea of how to make a good impression."

Her frown got a little heavier. "I hope it was nothing I did that contributed to your decision to join them. On the bright side, since I'm already friends with you that should make my job a little easier...assuming you're willing to help me."

Sans seemed confused at first by what Zelda was saying but he simply shrugged it off initially.

"i joined them before i knew you two were up to something, it was as early as the supermarket trip."

The fact Zelda wanted to help the group by simply trying to be friends with them was... odd to say the least. Considering how listening to other's problems ended up causing her some issues he couldn't imagine that listening to more of that stuff would do her any good, especially Silanea's. Still, at the same time that would be one way of trying to cool down things between humans and non-humans, even if so far there haven't been too many problems, that one creep aside.

"you went straight for hard mode eh? trying to befriend even one of those people is going to take a lot of effort and our boss is especially going to be super suspicious of you," he said, thinking back to what exactly caused all of Silanea's woes, "the most i can do for you is try to arrange a meeting for the two of you, but considering i'm a recent addition i'm not sure if the boss really trusts me all that much, especially since she knows how close i am to caro." He shrugged again.

Lucas didn't know what to make of the fact that there was some sort of sea monster. As he was thinking about it, Curly dropped a phone by him. Lucas didn't know how to use it but before he could ask Curly, she had already turned away. Lucas decided to pocket the phone and learn how to use it later.

It seemed like Ben's group was planning their attack on whatever beast lurked below the water. Lucas decided that he wanted to help out somehow, so he walked up to the group and said "I c-can help. If you w-want, I c-can heal you all while you fight."

Lucas was scared of what he might face and was slightly hoping they would refuse his help, but he knew that it was important and therefore wouldn't hesitate if they wanted his help.

With the tunnels like a maze and plenty of closed, hatch-like doors throughout it, Jack and Morty alas simply could not move with the kind of speed Jack would like. But between another sloped tunnel and a couple of ladders through vertical tunnels, they were getting closer to the surface. There was also still glimpses and near run-ins with hostile robots, and the occasional drifting sound of people trying to find their own way out in a panic before the city shifting cut them off again. Finally, there was one last wide open room that had some more subs docked on one side and tunnels leading up to buildings on the surface; some kind of floating boardwalk with buildings on either side to be specific.

There was also the wreckage of some robots close to the center of the room, only one still twitching to some extent as a lady bashed it with a metal rod until its frame was caving in. With multiple bleeding injuries, including some clear gunshot wounds, an obviously broken arm, and the way she was breathing heavily, Kelsey didn't exactly look so great herself. But even as she saw Jack and Morty enter the room and fell to one knee, she didn't call out for help, and quickly swung the rod down again when the robot's arm weakly tried to raise up.

Meanwhile, not that far away, Nails looked incredulously at Cole. "Do something to help?! What could we do against a giant sea monster?" Nails asked, and tried to think. "I guess we can try to help with the evacuations, but that's it. It's still down into the tunnels we go" the militia member figured.

"What about me?" Frederick asked.

"I, er... Fuck" Nails muttered, looking very uncertain of how to proceed.

"Well... My spells work at a range, but they're just for stunning and utility; I-I don't think they'd do much to a giant sea monster" Thomas admitted, then kept skimming the little instructional pamphlet. "This is... Muggle technology? How is this possible?" he thought out loud, seeming very confused.

Meanwhile, Miss Tairee sighed in irritation when John Egbert came crashing through one of the doors. "Pay for it with what, sir? Currency is useless here" Miss Tairee said to John, typing on her computer for a moment; with a blur, the broken pieces of the door vanished and the door was fixed again. "Now I hope that this sort of disruption isn't going to be commonplace and that you'll be more well behaved than your friend. Or else I will have to evict you as well" the librarian warned John.

As Ripjaws moved down, between his eyes meant for the depths and the lights from the tunnels, he was able to start making out the shape of the boss moving around. Of course the city shifting kept suddenly moving it, (and himself, if he looked up he'd realize he was no longer under the library) but still it was plainly evident that this thing was massive. He could also clearly hear it idly calling out as it moved, its deep, rumbling call like a pod of whales with a metallic tinge to it. It was hard to estimate the size since he couldn't even be sure how big the tunnels it was occasionally clipping were, but it seemed this thing might measure upwards of a whole kilometer. And as for the shape, it seemed like a giant... Lobster?

Suddenly with another shift, it was closer, and closing rapidly as it moved in Ripjaw's direction; it probably wasn't even aware of him, as it seemed its two, glowing red eyes were not focused on him, but its sheer bulk threatening to hit him made that currently irrelevant.

Atlantean Leviathan

edited 20th Sep '16 5:56:40 PM by FirockFinion

Ripjaws swam deeper and deeper, searching and trying to see what was causing such havoc. His eyes widened and he froze for a moment when he saw just how massive this creature was. It was probably a mile long, and Ripjaws was positively puny compared to it. He was so stunned that he didn't realize it was swimming right towards him and hadn't seen him yet. He gasped, then at the last moment ducked off to the side and clung onto its stony hide with his claws.

Sparks lit up the water as his claws slid down the outside of the creature— statue— whatever it was, and he tried to clamber up towards its face. Hopefully now he could get the beast's attention. As he climbed up, he noticed that it was covered in strange, ornate markings all over, as if it was something truly ancient. Ben couldn't even comprehend it, but he noticed it looked vaguely like a lobster so he'd go with that.

If he managed to make it towards one of the Leviathan's eyes, he would move in front of it, and shout, "Hey! Crab legs! Over here!" He'd then detach and move towards the surface as fast as his fins allowed.

edited 20th Sep '16 6:11:50 PM by AllHailThrall