CoLC crossover RP, main thread

Cole paused, looking at her for a moment in clear confusion. "But...you said I should go...go find somewhere to sleep. Don't you...want me to go away and..."

He looked around again, then back at her. "I...you don't...have to stay with me if you don't want to. I can...I can take care of myself..."

Sunset Shimmer| Buffet | "I.... think you're misunderstanding the situation."

Sunset blinked (she was doing that a lot lately). "I said you should go find somewhere to sleep because you seem tired. If you're not, there are other things we can do." She looked at him disbelievingly. "You're a kid. I'm not letting you go out alone. Besides, this is fun."

"Okay! Only one more! I'll use my Hero Punch on it!"

They were progressing at a very quick pace. With two enemies defeated that turn, and only one remaining, they would surely end the fight in no time at all!

However, the group did not seem to be doing so well... they seemed to be having a very intense argument about... romance or movies or something like that and... was that man crying? Well, she couldn't quite tell because he was far away, but from his posture she could tell he was at the very least quite distressed. And Caboose sounded... well, not smart, but... were those drawings on the ground next to him?

Either way, it looked like they could all use a bit of a morale boost. And she had the perfect way to deliver it.

"There's a movie place here?!" she exclaimed all of a sudden, her eyes lit up with enthusiasm that, while mildly exaggerated, was still mostly genuine. "That's great! Can we all watch a movie together once we're done to celebrate? Maybe we can invite Silanea too! Then we can all get to know each other!"

Prison

Hearing voices and fearing nothing, the Riddler withdrew his piece and dashed down the hallway away from the voice and towards the sound of what appeared to be some kind of dog? He'd never much had experience fighting canines while being the size of an action figure but he did suppose that how to escape this situation would make a good riddle. Now, he just needed to find the answer to the riddle.

"Church is a—!?"

No. Breathe. You're not even from the same damn world. "I'm...I'm just saying, a big part of friendship is also not doing mean things like that in the first place. So I wouldn't really...count this guy?" Why was I still debating this? It wasn't like he was going to get it, and this whole conversation was stirring up a lot of unpleasant feelings.

This and other conversations.

"Well, technically we never broke it off. 'Cause I don't think being killed violently counts, ergo."

"Wait, no. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." Rex spoke without realizing that reminding Arcade of Eve was a bad move. Sans was understandably angry at him but calling him the most insensitive person he had ever met was a huge exaggeration that still hurt. Rex could ignore Tairee's words but Sans wasn't nearly in the same category "I'm sorry, ok?"

Rex didn't show it but he completely ignored the discussion about Lewis' girlfriend—he already knew about her and his death, anyway—and focused back into attacking the Fighter. He was the one in need of an ass-kicking and Rex was more than happy to provide it.

"Ok, Tester, pay attention. I'm going to kick the Fighter's butt and I want music—good music—while I'm doing that. Play whatever you can find under 'British Rock'"

At least someone wasn't a killjoy that poke holes in Rex's ego. Yuna was very excited to learn that the city had a cinema and asked everyone if they would like the idea of watching something together after this was over.

"Sounds like a plan. What kind of movies are you into?"

Lewis was really into this one girl to the point that even after dying he still considered them to be in a relationship. That seemed a little bit on the obsessive, maybe even possessive and suddenly things were getting just a little bit creepy. Still, it was better to question Lewis' love unlife after this was done.

"yeah, sure." Sans shrugged.

Meanwhile Rex did seem to actually feel bad about what he just said to Arcade and quickly tried to change subjects to something less pleasant. Well, it wasn't worth it getting on his case for this, plus keeping all the negative feelings around could end up making things harder for them. Luckily there wasn't someone suggesting a movie night.

"i'll pass, but you guys have fun if you try that."

There was no current response to Ben outside. If they looked closely at the bottom of the front gate, there was some kind of small hole blasted into it.

Stepping to where he could see through the gated door and down the hallway, Riddler would see why the sound was off. Though the figure coming towards the room had dog-like paws, it only had two feet, not four. Also, it was Fastanook the gremlin, the member of the militia who was not shrunken by the day conditions, and still stood at 4'2". And to top the things bad for Riddler off, Fastanook was carrying the shrunken Lieutenant Wells in one cupped hand, who spotted Riddler.

"Mister Riddler, I didn't expect to see you here so soon" Lieutenant Wells said with a very faux politeness. "I'd ask if you're turning yourself in, but people doing that generally knock; not blow a hole in the door" the soldier commented simply, then started shooting towards Riddler with his phaser pistol.

"I shgrhgtthrpghrsht." Rick swallowed the onion rings. "I... you know, portal, me, and... him..." Rick nudged vaguely at Arcade, "in range to... fighter guy."

"Hey, you, uh, want some onion rings?" asked Rick as he proferred the cardboard tray to Arcade.

edited 14th Sep '17 8:42:25 PM by Locoman

Arcade ignored Rex's attempts at an apology. He knew that whatever Rex did, it inevitably ended up making things worse for him.

Rick offering him something was enough to get him to lift his head slightly. He stared at the rings in confusion for some time before finally asking, "what's an onion?"

Mindscape

Ignoring all the drama bombs going off around him out of sheer obliviousness so bad one wouldn't be remiss in assuming he failed a spot check with a one, Caboose looked at Two and considered what she asked him. What made Church his friend? It was a pretty good question, a really philosophical one. Why are people friends? Is it meaningful or just a pitiful attempt to make ourselves feel less alone? Of course, Caboose was just focused on the more relevant meaning of the question.

"Well, I'm not entirely sure," Caboose said happily. "It was only him and Tucker when I got sent to Blood Gulch to replace Captain Flowers, and Tucker is just... well, he is just awful. Church is the one who told me what I was supposed to do, and he introduced me to Sheila, and was always there when I needed help and Tucker was using his rock. He didn't even leave when he died! We're just the best friends ever. I even made a song and everything about our friendship!"

Having said his piece on the matter, at least assuming further questions weren't asked, Caboose gave his opinion on the movie theater idea. "OH," he said with delight, "We can watch Reservoir Dogs! It will be just like Blood Gulch movie night, except with less burning film."

Cole sort of scowled a little bit, then sighed, looking off to the side and crossing his arms, looking almost as though he were sulking.

"Before I was made to be this I was one of the taller people around...at least with the people I spent the most time with," he muttered. "Then I became a real child, a real boy, and I was smaller than everyone, and I liked it. It...it was nice, people liked me better this way, they understood me better this way, they smiled more and they...liked to pick me up and hold me and that felt...safe, and nice..."

He kicked at the floor lightly, lowering his head, sighing. "And then today everyone's small and I'm bigger again. It's like being teased."

Prison

Riddler dove into the nearest cover he could find in the hallway, trying to avoid the phaser pistol. If there were any cells nearby that housed some inmates, he'd priortize diving into them through the bars to gain some potential allies.

"Can we at least talk before we blast each other you insipid cretin?" he called out.

Sunset Shimmer| Buffet | "... I can hug you."

Sunset nodded, kind of understanding. The most she could equate it to was her experience adjusting to the human world, after Equestria. Nevertheless, she tried. "You want to be a child," she said softly. "And today has taken that away from you, and you miss it."

"It's...silly, I know...tomorrow it will likely be something else. ...honestly, the last two days have been...fairly easy ones. ...tomorrow may hurt."

Cole grimaced slightly, a look of possible real fear on his face, before he reached up to take off his hat, walking to the buffet. "If you would like to bring food with us, we can, but...I-I think we should try to get to the library as quickly as possible..."

Sunset Shimmer| Buffet | "Oooo, a library!"

"It's not silly to want to have a colthood. It's normal." Sunset looked at Cole when he mentioned that tomorrow might be worse than today. Choosing to trust the person who had clearly been here longer she nodded. "Okay, since you think it's what's best. As for food, I'm fine. The apple was surprisingly filling."

Cole nodded a little frantically. "There are good days and bad days in the city...days where things are okay and then days when things are...are just terrible. The last two days have been okay ones. I...I am afraid we will be due a terrible one. The library...isn't guaranteed to be safe, but...it has the best chance of being safe. I...I would be happy to be wrong, but..."

He looked to be practically shaking where he was, holding the hat out to Sunset for her to get back into. "There are days with monsters...terrible monsters that attack, that kill, that want to rip you to pieces...we haven't...haven't had that day in too long, it...we need to find safety..."

Sunset Shimmer| Buffet|"Monsters! But my dress!"

Sunset looked at Cole with pity and nodded. Apparently the city wasn't always this nice. She had to prepare for that, then. "Then let's head to the library," she said, clambering into the hat. As Cole began to shake, she laid a reassuring hand on his, and her eyes went white.

Prison

The prison's size was even more pronounced compared to her own as they reached the building. Makoto came to a stop near the front entrance as Ben knocked on the door, but she kept her bike out in case it was needed. After a long moment of silence, something near the bottom of the front gate caught her attention.

“Hey, look at this!” Makoto got closer to the hole to inspect it. It was definitely big enough for a shrunken person to pass through. “Either someone just broke out, or they were breaking in.” But breaking into a jail didn’t make much sense…. Unless someone was trying to help the other prisoners escape. And since there apparently wasn’t anyone to answer the front door, this looked like the beast entrance to her. “I’m going to see if they're still around,” she said. Unless Ben could shrink himself again, he wouldn’t be able to follow her anyway.

Anat disappeared, and Makoto ran through the crudely made hole in the gate.

Cole looked down at Sunset as she tried to comfort him, stopping when he saw her eyes seeming to glow white, and he paused, staring at her a moment. "Sunset Shimmer? A-are you...are you...all right?"

Looking into his mind, Sunset would be aware of a barrage of images. Dimmer ones, of an ancient, rotting farmhouse in a barren wasteland of prairie, an oppressive, dark stone room, tiny and enclosed and cold, pictures of dragons, monsters, of death and destruction and a giant creature, red crystals bursting out through its body, brandishing waves of magic-

More recent, more fresh...walking zombie-like creatures, shrieking beasts with talons, fangs and claws, what seemed like a giant toy chicken and then a man with a giant blade, a giant creature that seemed like some demon had made its best attempt to look like a bird, all of it following fear and pain and hurt and confusion.

Cole would still be looking at her in some concern by the time the vision ceased, looking much more worried than downright afraid now.

"The actions have been processed. We will begin the next turn now, with free actions and defensive actions" Tester said. As Rex's body morphed on its own to form the punk busters, music started to play from Tester. Then one of his screens lit up with info:

Something still felt off, but Two managed to keep a clear head.

"Now special actions" Tester went on.

Rick's portal gun appeared in hand, and he shot it into the air next to him to form a portal. An opposite portal appeared not too far away, and Rick and Arcade stepped through to appear through the other portal. Sans pointed his arm at Two, and gently moved it over, sliding Two next to the Fighter, who turned slightly to face her directly.

"Next is melee attacks" Tester continued.

Two's large sword appeared, and she took a swing at the Fighter, but with a move of his arm, he intercepted it with his kite shield and deflected the blow.

The Fighter then retaliated, sweeping the shield to force Two's sword aside so he could get a quick slash in on her chest.

"Unfortunate. We now move on to ranged attacks" Tester then mentioned, with a slightly apologetic tone.

Curly's spur appeared, and she leveled it towards the Fighter to unleash a beam of death. The Fighter raised his shield, and though managed to keep it up without falling down, was still clearly feeling the pain from the attack. Once it passed though, there was a distinct feeling that it could have done more damage than it did.

Caboose's rifle appeared, and he opened fire on the Fighter; two shots glanced off the shield, but one shot hit the Fighter's other arm and made him flinch slightly.

Arcade's plasma defender appeared in hand, and he fired a shot towards the Fighter, but it missed, narrowly passing by Two's head as it went.

"With that, we now move on to charge attacks" Tester informed the party simply.

Rex charged forward with his massive boots / feet, and tripped, face planting right in front of the Fighter.

Lewis flew in quickly next, throwing a high punch that was not shabby in its form, but the Fighter managed to intercept the punch with his shield. With a clash of ethereal fist and shield, flames shot out parallel to the shield, making an impressive ring of fire effect.

Yuna took another mighty leap, her gauntlet glowing and ready to deliver some justice with extreme prejudice. But the Fighter brought up his shield and blocked that blow as well, standing unharmed despite a flash of energy blasting out from the impact.

"That ends the turn" Tester concluded, though one of his screens showed one more bit of info:

The Fighter glanced back and forth at the four people in melee range of him now, and readied his sword again as he faced towards Yuna specifically.

Setting aside the critical flaw in Riddler's thinking of how to possibly get help from a prison inmate by slipping into their cell, with a look down the hall he'd see that the cells had been outfitted with a wire mesh in addition to their cell bars, which was too thin for even anyone shrunken to be slipping through.

Worse though was that this was just an empty hallway. There wasn't really anywhere to go for cover that he could reach, except right back into the waiting room he'd come from. "No" Wells answered Riddler simply, as Fastanook easily closed the distance to the lobby with his considerably larger stride. "Get the door" Wells ordered the gremlin, who nodded and set Wells down on the seat of one of the waiting chairs. Wells kept firing at Riddler from there, while Fastanook slid the gated door to the hallway closed, then moved over to the front door and removed the chair propping it open, so that it swung shut. Riddler was now trapped in the room.

Outside, Makoto would see Fastanook removing the chair and the door swing closed.

edited 15th Sep '17 1:05:01 AM by FirockFinion

Sunset Shimmer| Buffet| "That is the opposite of fun!"

A wave of images, memories and emotions entwined flitted in front of her eyes, none of them pleasant. Sunset jerked back from the terrible images, hitting her head on the other side of the hat. She rubbed the sore spot that this created, the orange pendant glowing with a soft aura that was barely visible. She looked up at the toddler with pity and sadness in her eyes. "....oh Cole... I'm so, so sorry..." As she did so, her hair grew out into a ponytail, she sprouted small horse ears, and her clothes went slightly glittery.

Gon, just passing by

"Ah, it looks like there's progressing in figuring out what the ants are doing."

Gon said when he saw Ant Man speak to Garrett.

"Interesting. What could get worse?"

sans gave this 'I'm not convinced but I don't want to argue' shrug. It ticked as condescending, but I didn't want to push the subject either. I didn't want to think about it, as it stood. Too depressing, and there were other things that demanded my attention, anyway.

Amazingly, this guy withstood almost everything. It led to a funny faceplant, but other than that it was just annoying.

I mumbled "Just the same thing, again," wrapping my arms around myself morosely. "Don't see reason to do anything else."

Cole watched as Sunset flinched back from the touch, then seemed to...change, gaining odd ears and longer hair and...becoming very sparkly. She sounded so sad, all of a sudden...

"I'm...I'm sorry, did I...I didnt...I didn't mean to hurt you, what...I'm sorry...whatever I did, I...I won't do it again..."