Rick's Forge

"Aaaaaaaaaaand we're back!" Rick kicked open the door and slouched inside, staring around at what had once been his lab in a mixture of resignment and resentment. The workbench had been replaced by a large anvil, with a crackling wood-burning forge occupying the other corner of the room. Scattered across a large table off to one side was a variety of blacksmith appropriate tools. Morty wandered over to the opposite side of the room; Rick's various works in progress had been replaced by what looked like whimsical wooden toys. It probably went without saying that even now, Rick's lab was still littered with empty alcoholic beverages.

"Uh, Rick..." said Morty, picking up what looked like some kind of wooden duck and staring at it. "I think this guy was really serious about makin' everything... uh, you know, medieval."

"Aw, shit, dog." Rick pulled up a wooden chair and tossed a lump of iron into the forge before grabbing some chemicals - now in some whimsical alchemical setup- out from under a cabinet, mixing them absentmindedly as he watched the iron slowly grow brighter and brighter. A few minutes passed before Rick poured something into his flask and noisily slurped it down. "You know, Morty, the, the thing is about these spacio-temporal distortions, is that they always gotta have a theme, you know? Two days ago it was, jungle theme, then yesterday it was, blizzard theme, and now it's, uh, fairy tale day. Everything's gotta be a f-fairy tale today." Rick blinked as the hair of the dog started to kick in, then cracked his knuckles and shoved some things off the anvil.

"Robot, pass me those tongs." There was a long, conspicuous silence.

"Robot! Okay, Morty, you do it, j-just pass me those-" Before Rick could finish, something small and wooden came clomping across the room, whistling a merry tune to itself. Morty turned around slowly at the sound of footsteps and whistling... and then started screaming at the top of his lungs. Even the normally unflappable Rick backed up and fumbled for a nearby hatchet as the thing lurched closer to them. "Stay calm, Morty! J-j-just stay calm!" Whatever it was, it looked like a small wooden doll - or perhaps a puppet- operating under its own power. Its face was frozen in a painted, almost maniacal looking grin.

"Holy crap, Rick, what the hell is that thing? Did you make it?" The puppet shambled toward the tool rack.

"I didn't make it! I-I-I-I-how, I, don't know what it is, Morty! Keep it away from the tool rack before it gets the- oh wait, calm down, Morty, it-it's probably the robot; you know, i-it got all Grimmed up just like the rest of us." said Rick after a few seconds of staring at it. "Jesus, that-that thing is creepy."

"Are you my poppa?" asked the puppet as it handed the tongs to Rick.

"No. Go upstairs and don't come back."

"But I wanna be a real boy, Poppa!" said the robot/puppet as he tried to hug Rick's leg; the scientist looked vaguely repulsed and did his best to shake off the horrible thing. "I wanna walk, and talk, and learn right from wrong-"

"No, you don't." Rick chugged back some more hair of the dog as he stood up, knocking the puppet onto the floor. "Do-don't let your conscience be your guide, pupp-I mean, robot, whatever." Rick stomped on a nearby bug and scraped the gunk off of his shoe and onto the wooden floor. "If you *urp* let your conscience be your guide you're gonna w-wind up in some reeaaal deep shit down the line."

"Aw, come on Rick, that's a little-

"If you wanna get anywhere in this multiverse, you gotta f-focus on the science, and... all the science is upstairs. Go there. Now."

"Rick, this thing is really creeping me out." Morty flinched as the robot swung its wooden head around to stare at Morty and wave. "It's like one of those scary ven-ventriloquist's dolls, but worse."

"Yeah, Morty, I'm with you there." Rick lightly nudged his creation with one foot. "Puppet...robot, whatever, go upstairs and don't come down until-"

"Oh, Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii've-"

"Aw jeez-"

"got no strings, to-"

"Shut the FUCK up!" Rick grabbed his axe off the table and swung it down into the puppet's head, which obligingly splintered into a mass of wood. One painted chunk of eye rolled across the room and stared at the duo. Morty, wide-eyed, poked the now headless body, which didn't respond.

"Boy, Rick, uh, I mean... you kind of headed that one off at the pass, huh?"

"Morty, I'll rebuild him tomorrow, when it'll, you know, be a mindless robot again and not just some annoying pile of fairy tale crap. But since he's gone, Morty, I got a job for you."

"A job..."

"Morty, you gotta be my little helper here. Like an elf. Like a magical fairy tale elf. Can you do that?"

"Yeah, okay, Rick, but, uh, what kind of-"

"I need fairy tale stuff! Magic carpets... suits of... mag-magic armour... enchanted... broomsticks... I dunno, Morty, just find whatever sparkly, whimsical things you can get and bring 'em back here. I'm starting to *urp* clue in on how this guy operates, and I'm gonna need all the stuff I can get before, say, late afternoon?"

Morty shot a glance back at his grandfather before heading out the door. "Uh, okay Rick, see you soon, I guess?"

"Just, you know, don't lick any poison apples there, Morty. Don't get eaten by big bad wolves or wicked witches." Rick hefted the lump of iron onto the anvil, where it landed with a resounding clang.

"Time to *urp* time for an industrial revolution."

edited 16th Jan '16 9:46:19 PM by Locoman

Outside PK's lab/pub

"Well, if you think you can leave, go ahead. Good luck with the, oh I don't know, hundreds-of-miles fall"

Specter Knight had a theory that the entity that had kidnapped them also made them understand everything they said to each other.

"Well, it wouldn't be the weirdest thing that has happened today but it's still a bit odd. For example, can you understand this? '¿Dónde está el baño?'"^Translation "Where's the bathroom?"

edited 23rd Feb '16 1:31:42 PM by DeisTheAlcano

"That's...cultists or not, that's a whole lot to take in!" Koishi wasn't even sure what a cultist was, or what they did, but it sounded like something that would only serve to further exacerbrate the situation they were in.

The place she was at, the more she looked around, seemed faker by the second. She finally noticed the oddities of the plantlife, and noted how generally trees aren't supposed to be books. How would they even stack up like that, let alone not burn down the moment someone lights a candle? She looked over at the jester, obviously worried. "Are you sure we're not just dreaming? Is there no escape?"

Inside the library

Miss Tairee didn't respond right away, slowly sitting down on the floor completely and wiping her sleeve on her face. Her composure was still completely gone, but she didn't seem to be crying anymore. "... I just..." Miss Tairee looked up at the door that Mary and the woman had left out of. "... I don't like... Children getting hurt" she managed slowly.

The librarian picked herself off the floor and stood up, but kept looking towards that door. "And that little girl, she's not like other little girls. I'm worried that normal people might not be willing to accept her for what- who she is; I think she's worried about the same thing" Miss Tairee said to Asgore, though it almost seemed like she was just thinking out loud. "She needs help from someone who can accept her. I could help her, but I'm not allowed to leave the library except for special events" she explained, looking down at her scratched knuckles with a lightly defeated expression; though it still didn't look like she was in any pain from it.

As one of the other sets of doors opened with Crono setting foot inside, Miss Tairee looked over his way, and let out a deep breath through her nose as she closed her eyes. "Duty calls" Miss Tairee muttered to Asgore, then walked back over towards her desk and brushed off her dress. "Welcome to the city library. Is there something I could help you with?" she asked Crono very non-enthusiastically.

---

Outside Plague Knight's pub lab

"YOU THERE!"

That booming voice was easily recognizable to all who'd heard it before. Even without, one look and it was clear who it was. The armor may have been transformed into a full suit of knightly plate mail, but it still shined with a blue glint, and the symbol of a two headed eagle on the chest and upside-down Omega symbol on the left shoulder were unmistakable. Brother Marcus stood a little ways down one of the forest paths, large and imposing as ever, but his weapons were put away and he was not advancing any closer.

"I AM SEARCHING FOR AN IMPOSTOR OF ONE OF THE EMPEROR'S SAINTS! HAVE YOU SEEN A GIRL WITH WHITE WINGS?!" Brother Marcus yelled towards them; there was clearly anger in his voice, but from the way it seemed restrained it did not seem to be directed at them.

edited 16th Jan '16 10:27:29 PM by FirockFinion

You are reading this.

Library

Asgore listened to Miss Tairee's dilemma, feeling sympathy as well as some degree of pity for the librarian. "I do not like to see children get hurt either, but..." he then sighed as he reminded himself of his wrongdoings.

He then saw Crono makes his way inside the library, he seemed to be another child, an older one compared to Mary. "Ah, hello there. Are you a new arrival?" he asked him, trying his best to make a good first impression on him by giving a welcoming smile.

The fact that Miss Tairee seemed to know more about Mary, however, meant that she likely knew about them beyond just what she had seen of them so far. Most likely she wouldn't be allowed to explain it to him just what was wrong regarding Mary, but at the same time, there didn't seem to be anything as far as the eye could see. Nevertheless, before trying to talk to the librarian again it would be better to find out more about the newest arrival, especially as by that point Mary could be anywhere.

edited 16th Jan '16 11:06:32 PM by FullMoon

"...So be it."

Darth Marr then holstered his sword, though still keeping an eye on Peridot.

Marr found what seemed to be some kind of musical instrument sound and some red thing floating to be strange, but right now be paid more attention on their situation.

"And I am Darth Marr...and you are? He asked Peridot, still keeping an eye on her.

-Spider Lizard Noises-

Outside the Pub

Trevor responded to Specter Knight's warning with an angry grunt and pushing him to the side. He just wanted to leave, and these people kept stopping him. What's a guy got to do to walk more than five feet in this place?

Apparently a lot more than Trevor was already doing, since not very long after that, another nutjob showed up, yelling his head off at all of them about imposters or saints or whatever. Trevor stopped in his tracks yet again and faced the crazed knight, his patience diminishing just a bit more. "A girl with wings, huh? I actually saw her just a moment ago, she uh, she jumped right off the edge there -" He pointed towards the balconies, "- and I think you'll reach her if you dive right off there yourself!"

Grimlock; Dragon form

Outside a House near Rick's Forgery

"It's all right. I ain't hungry," Grimlock said to the wolf man that reminded him so much of Steeljaw. "It's not like this is Cybertron."

Kieri then asked if anybody lived here and the wolf guy sincerely answered he didn't see anyone living here. Grimlock was glad they weren't stealing anybody's food. He knew food was important, but stealing was wrong. Then there were weird sounds and then a big strawberry appeared nearby. Everyone was surprised, and Grimlock was too. At least, until he smelled the scent of human from the red fruit as well. He remembered Ben (was it?) was able to transform and he was human, so maybe that strawberry thing was one of those humans too? A person turning to a strawberry was a little weird though, even for him. He didn't dwell on it long before Kieri suggested to find out later and talked to him.

He blinked. Now that he thought about it... He gave the air another sniff and the smell of various foods entered his nose. Despite not being hungry, felt like eating whatever he smelled. He looked at the one supposedly cooking. He remembered Denny doing that for himself and Russel. Apparently, kind of like refining Energon for humans.

He finally answered Kieri as he stared at the cauldron (or was it a pot?), "Yeah, I got what you said." A moment passed. "What's that stuff in there?" he said, refering to the meat the man was preparing.

"You said you had a dream... That dream... Make it come true! ... If anyone can, it's you!" - N (shortened) Oh, and I'm a girl.

The forest

Ben glanced back over at Darth Marr, who seemed to be taking care of his assailant. He began to look back at Ranma when he saw a familiar sight some distance away. It was fairly difficult to mistake Grimlock for anything else, even though he was currently in the form of a dragon.

"Grimlock!!" Ben exclaimed, running over to the Dinobot. "Am I glad to see you! Where's Rick and Morty?" he asked. "I've been looking all over for those guys who were outside last night, are they all right?"

I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither.

Hamlet nearby Rick's Lab

Lune watched the unusual strawberry bounce all over the place while eating the bread in her hands and watched the man cook that beef in a pot. Was this how people cooked their beef back then?

Suddenly, a chorus of trumpets started to play in the background. It seemed strange for today. Well, stranger than usual, though.

Suddenly, Lune noticed a sight for sore eyes: Ben! It seemed he knew Grimlock from what she heard. What a coincidence, eh?! Lune waved at Ben from a distance. Ben’s outfit seemed very different than usual. In fact, Ben had a very spiffy hat and a rather nifty robe. Could this be the change to Ben that Lune theorized earlier?

“Hey, Ben,” exclaimed Lune. “How’s it going?”

Mary (Running Away from the Library) - Fabricated World 2.0

"I'm Mary! I'm Mary! I'm Mary Mary Mary Mary Mary Mary Maaaaaaaaary! Ohohohohoho!"

Mary spent the following couple of minutes rambling and laughing and running through the woods as fast as her legs allowed her to. At no point did she slow down, or run out of breath, or even notice the woman running after her or any of the people she ran past. It was only after she unsurprisingly tripped again that she temporarily grew silent and took the time to look around.

She did not like what she saw at all.

She saw trees made of book covers, most of them with words on them. She saw people walking idly without purpose, or just staring into space like lifeless mannequins. She saw her own dirty, injured, very unprincess-like reflection on a window nearby.

A fake girl who had become a fake princess, surrounded by fake trees and fake people in a fake world.

A fabricated world.

"Please stop it."

A fabricated world that mocked her own existence.

I said stop.

Nothing in that world was real. Not the sky, not the city, not her friends...

"Stop it stop it stop it!"

And of course, not herself.

"STOP MOCKING ME!"

The hamlet

As soon as Lune spoke up, Ben turned towards the girl, who seemed to be wearing a really awesome suit of armor. He grinned and ran up to her.

"Lune!" he exclaimed. "Nice to see you! Doin' pretty good. Was wondering where you guys were last night," he told her, moving his hand to give Lune a high-five. "Rex and I were looking everywhere for you guys!" He then turned back towards Ranma. "Hey, these are my friends," Ben told Ranma, gesturing to the two as he said their names. "That's Lune, and this is Grimlock," he introduced.

edited 17th Jan '16 7:44:51 AM by AllHailThrall

I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither.

Well, that embarrassing display of the Sengoku Driver worked. It ended up distracting the kid and preoccupying the arm cannon-using monster. He was sure it was not an Inves. After fighting several Inves, he picked up a sort of pattern to tell the Inves apart from other monsters he might end up fighting.

"So uh... you like strawberries and trumpets, eh?" The girl asked him.

"W-well, not really. It's just how my belt is... Well, not really..." Kouta can't really just say 'I transform with an orange instead and I have more of a Japanese trumpeting', but at this point, it would be better to show her what he means, since she'll just assume it's an alarm. "Just look at my transformation." With that, he cut the Lockseed.

COME ON! STRAWBERRY ARMS! SWOOSHING SPARK!

The Strawberry rammed right for Kouta's head, crashing into the bushes in the process. The bottom opened up so that his head could fit into the strawberry. As it fitted him, the topside of the strawberry unfolded to fit his shoulder while the bottom snugged to the other side. The front of the strawberry simply moved down to become Kouta's breast armor.

As the armor locked into place, the armor parts squished out a bit of strawberry juice. Ranma could now see that Kouta had a helmet on. However, to Kouta's dismay, instead of his classical samurai helmet, the helmet was akin to that of a knight's, much like his rival's. As he transformed, Ben explained what the situation was. Kidnapped by some guy to 'inspire' him? Well, at least it's not "fight to the death".

Then Grimlock arrived. Kouta got up, holding a pair of kunai. Crap! He probably should have asked Micchy for the Suika Lockseed before he went out into the forest, though then again, he wasn't expecting gigantic dragons. The way Ben interacted with him, it seemed like the dragon was his friend. He lowered his guard.

"So... I'm Kouta. So, Grimlock... Lune... Ben..." Kouta smiled underneath the helmet. He was about to cancel the transformation, but he knew one thing was left before he could be safe in knowing the kid's also safe. "Ben, is that monster over there your friend as well?" He said as he pointed to Peridot. He also kept an eye on the Darth Marr, but from what he could see, he was also Ben's friend.

From the Sky, above the hamlet

From above, this strange place certainly seemed a lot like ALO to Sinon. Right down to the dropoff at the edge, just like the floating castle of Aincrad.

However, something below caught her eye, and she swooped down, her boots squeaking softly on the ground as her yellow wings◊ disappeared.

"OK, I've seen some strange things before, but what was going on with that strawberry?"

"Yup. That tasted purple."

The Forest

Specter Knight decided that the lowlife was a lost cause, and left him to his own devices. He turned to answer Rex.

"Yes, I understand what you're saying, and why would I know where it is?"

Somebody once told me the world was macaroni, I took a bite out of a tree

Library

"I don't know what we're doing here," Sadness admitted to Cole. "I tried to run away from you because, um, you didn't like me...and then I met up with Twilight and, um, them." She gestured vaguely towards where Rick and Morty had run off to track down their lab.

"Um, I don't know if Mary needs help, but- she's my friend. She helped me when I got stuck here and I was all alone and sort of scared..."

And that was when Mary herself ran out of the library and into the forest, seemingly laughing and screaming at the same time; Sadness jumped violently. "Th—That's her! Mary? What's wrong?!" To Cole: "I-if you still wanna help - um, come on!"

Sadness started to run in Mary's direction, stumbling every few yards.

Currently writing something. Currently procrastinating.

Outside PK's lab pub

Specter Knight understood what Rex was saying. He was right, the guy in charge made it so they could understand each other no matter what language they were speaking.

"It's just a common phrase"

The girl seemed more worried than the hooded man who wished them luck and went on his merry way. She asked Rex if they were dreaming and if escaping was possible.

"We don't if we're dreaming or not, for all we know it could be true but believe me when I say that we're going to get out of here"

Trouble found them sooner than later because now Marcus had found them. He also seemed affected by the change of clothing, sporting a medieval armor.

Rex weighted his possiblities. On the one hand, Marcus had a weaker armor and apparently didn't recognize Rex. On the other hand, he was severely weakened because he hadn't eaten anything all day and his machines were made of wood and steel.

"Ok, Specter Knight, you hide behind a bush or something. Remember that this guy doesn't like non-humans. And take care of the girl, I will handle this"

He got close to the hooded man who had stopped telling the ultramarine that the little girl he was looking for had jumped off of the city.

He tried to whisper to him what exactly was going on "Look I know this sounds crazy but he doesn't like non-humans, just be quiet and everything will be all right"

The supersoldier was probably talking about Kieri. Twilight told Grimlock that Kieri was with Rick, Morty, and Lune. Had Marcus killed anyone?

"Ah, yes! That girl. Yeah, she jumped off the city. It's a shame really, you were this close to capturing her"

edited 29th Jan '16 8:38:04 PM by DeisTheAlcano

Cole nodded a little at Sadness's talk, though he still seemed rather puzzled-probably understandable considering the entire situation. Before he could comment on this though, Mary went rushing past them, and Sadness was in pursuit, as best she could.

"I can help! I will!" He was quick to hop back onto his feet, running to catch up to Sadness, and without any preamble he was grabbing Sadness under one arm, holding her carefully against his side as he raced after Mary. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you! I've done this before!"

The Forest

Specter Knight teleported into a nearby tree. Although he had been human at one point in his existence, it probably wouldn't be enough to spare him.

Somebody once told me the world was macaroni, I took a bite out of a tree

Koishi opted to simply run behind the same tree as the reaper-fellow. Her head was still reeling with what she had been told, but she was more worried about keeping herself safe enough to get back home. Even if she was apparently immortal now.

She hid behind the reaper's voluminous black robes, and watched the Knight closely. "Are you sure he's a human himself? He's much taller than them," she whispered to her new-found cover.

Cole and Sadness seemed to be developing a friendship over their similar abilities. Good.

Rick and Morty then left for their lab.

And then Mary ran out of the library. Sadness and Cole followed after her.

"Hey, wait for me!"

Twilight followed close behind.

What is this "signature" of which people speak?

Peridot reluctantly lowered her arm and let it hang near her side. Should she even answer this person? Um...I am Peridot. A peridot.

(holds pool noodle threateningly) Do you want to know what we do to artists?

The Forest

Specter Knight quietly replied to the girl, feeling somewhat awkward that she was hiding in his cloak.

"Well, unless he's a man-made construct, it would be strange of him to kill all non-humans if he wasn't one."

Somebody once told me the world was macaroni, I took a bite out of a tree

Surprisingly plush cover, outside

Koishi pondered the reaper's last statement. If he was somehow human, then he must be pretty uneducated. The humans back home, they hated others simply because they didn't know any better, from her point of view.

Though it's a rare event indeed, this line of reasoning produced the desire to test it out, and therefore the barest idea of a plan. All that was needed to make Koishi act.

"Quickly, the girl he's looking for," she asked the Psychopomp-looking Knight. "What does she sound like?"

Outside Plague Knight's pub lab

"Oh, really?" Marcus said, sounding doubtful as he started to march forward, his armor clinking with every heavy step. "And you are aware that attempting to deceive a space marine is heresy?" he added as if to remind Trevor and Rex of something they should already know. As he walked past them towards the edge, they would see that on the back of his armor the jump pack had been replaced with a set of large, metal wings currently folded up against his back; they were swaying as he walked, clearly capable of moving independently from his armor.

As he moved out onto the clearing of the balcony to look over the edge, Marcus placed a hand on his sword handle, ready to draw it.

---

Edge of the hamlet near Rick's lab

"Well, it's uh, beef. Dead muscle and fat from a cow" the man cooking the meat answered Grimlock, stirring the pot and briefly taking one of the pieces out to check it. "At least I think it's beef. If we're going with the 'food magically shows up at the start of each day' idea, then I suppose it could be anything" he admitted with a shrug.

"But hey, it smells like beef, it probably tastes like beef. It's probably edible" the man added, and looked on towards the interesting conversation between the very colorful people.

"I'm not really sure what's going on, but at least it's not a fight" the werewolf man said to the recently-arrived Sinon.

---

Chasing Mary through the forest

It didn't take long after Mary had tripped for the woman to catch up, almost sliding to a stop as she got to her knees in front of Mary. "Kid, kid, calm down; nobody is mocking you" the woman said as reassuringly as she could. "Come on, we've just gotta fix your bleeding and you'll be fine; I've got some bandages" she continued, grabbing what had been a medkit she'd found the previous day but was now a rolled up pack containing some bandages and medical herbs.

"Ah come on" the woman muttered to herself in frustration as she noticed the change, but nevertheless started looking through the small pack for anything that might help. If only she could tell what medical herb was supposed to be for what.

You are reading this.