Ben noticed the two characters were walking past him. They didn't seem to notice him. So he tried to follow them, to get a better look at the two. One of them was a short robot holding what looked like a toy dart gun? He had seen stranger while he was in this city. Like the skeleton man with a blue fur coat and pink slippers that was walking next to the robot. He ran up to approach the duo.

"Hey, you two new here?" Ben asked, still not used to how differently his voice sounded now.

Balcony

The balconies of the city were hardly the best places to be taking a nap, but that was precisely what Zelda seemed to be doing. In reality, she was out cold, presumably the result of whatever events she had been going through before being brought here.

Fortunately for her, it didn’t take long after arrival for her to come to. Her blue eyes opened up, and she pushed her upper half off the ground as she took in her surroundings with a mixture of confusion and worry on her face. She appeared to be human with pointy ears; she had long blonde hair, with two sidetails held in place with intricate bands plus a third such band holding the bottom end of her hair in place. She wore a mostly dark pink dress, with a blue sash sporting an avian-influenced design on it, and a pair of dark brown boots. She looked to be somewhere around eleven in age, although that was likely due to the local conditions.

She then got up fully, picking up the harp that had been lying on the ground beside her in the process. One part of her mind told her that she probably should have put that back once its purpose had been served, although another part was sure she would need it for something. Something seemed different about it now, however; it seemed more like...a toy than anything?

That wasn't the only thing that felt off, either. She wasn't the tallest person in Skyloft, but she wasn't the shortest either. She definitely remembered being taller than this. On that thought, she looked herself over. She'd probably need a mirror to make sure, but it looked like she'd aged backwards some years.

Confusion took hold over worry for a few moments. What was this?

She decided not to worry about it too much for now; she still needed to figure out exactly where she was. Wherever this strange place was, it definitely wasn’t Skyloft. No grass beneath her feet, just pavement of a sort that didn’t match Skyloft’s. None of the structures before her looked familiar either; in fact, she’d never seen anything like them. There was no sun in the sky, and clouds were sparse. What clouds there were seemed to be made out of...paper?

She then walked up to the edge of the balcony and looked down. Instead of the familiar cloud barrier she expected, she saw nothing but an endless void that just looked like an extension of the sky. That ruled out the surface, too. She was probably far above even Skyloft, if she was even in the same world as the one she left.

She turned away from the edge of the balcony and back towards the city, trying to recollect her memories of everything that had just happened. She remembered the Wing Ceremony; that went really well despite Groose trying to be a cheater. Then afterwards she suggested to Link that they fly around Skyloft. She was going to ask Link about...what was she going to ask Link about, again?

Then there was the tornado. Oh Goddess, the tornado. She remembered getting torn off the back of her Loftwing and away from Link. Just as they lost sight of each other, she remembered the strange feeling of the world just...stopping. Then everything went black.

She then took another look around, her worry overtaking her confusion. No sign of Link or his Loftwing, or her own Loftwing for that matter. Did they get brought here too, or did the tornado just toss them all away? She had no way of knowing, although some feeling deep within her told her they were all still alive.

She didn’t recognize anyone here. Not only Link, but also her father, Pipit, Karane.... Not even Groose. They were all going to be so worried about her, and she had no way of letting them know she was still alive if somewhat different than before. Furthermore, it meant she was going to have to brave this strange new world alone.

Was it all bad, though? It may not have been the world she knew, but that in itself was the upside. This new land looked much bigger than Skyloft, with lots of new things to see. There were other people around and so far nobody had tried attacking her, which meant that it probably wasn’t a monster infested wasteland. Who knew; maybe she’d make some new friends in her time here.

One way or another, she’d get through this. With a sense of purpose and a lack of better options, she took a deep breath before taking her first steps into the city proper.

edited 15th Feb '16 9:37:21 AM by Yomegami

HK-47 followed Sans along, looking around until a human with a green jacket appeared.

"Answer: Affirmative, Meatbag. The two of us appearred in this planet for no reason. Query: Do you know what's going on?"

Mary - The Boy Who Wanted To Be A Real Puppet

In mere moments, both Mary and Sadness were sitting at a small table, with a single loaf of bread in front of each of them, while the elder poured some water on a couple of mugs. Outside, the chimes signaling the end of the day started ringing, although she didn't pay them much attention.

"I know it is not much, but it is all I can offer you at this time. My boy was going to bring back some food after he came back from studying at the library, but he has yet to return. I fear he might have gotten lost out there..."^note He died like over twenty pages ago.

DING

Mary gnawed at the bread in front of her. It was a bit hard, but it got far softer after she poured a bit of water on it. It wasn't very tasty, but after a bit she came to the conclusion that it wasn't bad either. And even if it was just okay, it was important to thank the old man for doing something so nice.

"Thank you for the food, sir," the girl exclaimed cheerfully, taking another bite from the bread.

DONG

"You are welcome," the carpenter stated, unable to hold back a smile. "I always have something to spare for visitors. Specially since Pinocchio doesn't need to eat."

DING

"Hmmm? Why is that?"

DONG

"Becaue... well, Pinocchio isn't a real boy just yet."

DING

Mary froze completely solid on the spot, the bread stopping inches away from her mouth. Had she heard those words right? Had he truly said "not a real boy"? And more importantly, had he truly said the word "yet"? Was it possible for him to become a real boy at some point? And what about her?

DONG

Sadly, she never got the chance to ask the old man what he meant by that, for the twelfth chime came before she could speak, and everything slowly became a blur.

Many hours later...

It was so comfortable wherever Mary was that for several minutes she simply remained there, resting calmly. It was soft and warm, and it felt very pleasing. Upon opening her eyes, she noticed her head was resting over something very soft and white. At first she thought it was a cloud, but upon further inspection she realized she was inside a room, and clouds did not belong inside rooms. "Pillow" is what the thing was called.

Eventually, she got curious as to where she actually was.

It was a rather nice bedroom in a small house. The walls were heavily decorated, and there seemed to be all kinds of toys lying around. The only thing that completely white was the bed she was now sitting on. It all looked very colorful and pretty and... a bit small. Why did it look so small?

She stood up, and it all looked even smaller. Maybe the room was made for a smaller person? Maybe someone like Sadness? Or the whole house? No. She fitted perfectly fine in the room, but everything looked smaller. And then she looked down at herself...

Could it be...

She rushed towards the bathroom, where she had no trouble looking at herself in the mirror. And boy was she surprised when she did.

She looked... older. First of all, she was quite taller than before, and her face was a bit sharper. Turning sideways, she noticed there were also a few curves in her body that weren't there before. That part simply felt odd for her. Her arms and legs were also longer than before, although her hair still reached down to her lower back. For some reason her dress was not only fixed and clean, but also sleeveless, and she was no longer barefoot, but wearing a pair of nice sandals.

"This is so... strange..." the now adult young woman exclaimed, quickly noticing how much her voice had changed. Alright, it was time to call out to see if her friend was there. "Sadness? Are you there?"

edited 15th Feb '16 9:17:05 AM by Katarsus

Ben opened his mouth to begin to explain how the city worked, then stopped and shot HK-47 a look.

"Meatbag?" Ben asked, sounding insulted and looking rather upset. He crossed his arms and glared at the now child-sized robot. "What's that supposed to mean, you bucket of bolts?!" It seemed like despite his age up, his maturity hadn't aged up with him.

Yesterday..

Sonic hit the wing. Then, everything seemed to turn into a blur....

??? Zone/ Act ??

Sonic woke up, on a bed. He was now in some kind of apartment, and for some reason, felt different. He felt sligthly older. Upon looking down at himself, the knigth costume was gone, but he has grown a bit taller. He also noticed his shoes were sligthly bigger.

Suddenly, he heard a shriek. It was a bit high pitched. Sonic was worried, So, Sonic went to the apartment next door, the place where he thinks the shriek came from. He noticed that the door seemed locked, so Sonic banged on the door.

"Hey! Are you okay!?! It's me, Sonic!"

For some reason, Sonic's voice was a bit deeper, but not quite as much. But Sonic was worried from the shriek, he barely noticed it.

"Explanation: It's just...you have all these squishy parts, and there's also the fact that you are also made of water. I will never understand how organics aren't driven mad by hearing the sound of water moving when they move their bodies every second."

HK-47 then gave a shrug.

Ben sighed, a bit upset but calming down. "I don't notice anything like that. Anyway..." he muttered, clearing his throat. "A bunch of us from all these different universes are being kept here by this guy who can warp reality. He's using us for inspiration or something, and he keeps changing up this stupid city every day. Innocent people are getting hurt, and when they die they come right back. It's like some kind of prison. And I'm trying to find a way to bust out and get back home to my own universe!" He balled up a fist and grinned. "I'm Ben Tennyson, and I'm a hero!"

Koishi had made it to the room, now more like an open-air amphitheater, and got to see the very last second of the dragon's death. Good riddance, as far as she was concerned.

The rest of the combatants gathered there, lots of them people she had met in the last few hours, all seemed fine (minus Lune, who seemed to not notice she was missing a head). Maybe she was just a little hasty in having come here, they all seemed perfectly capable of handling themselves. There were congratulations and whatnot to be in order, now that Koishi had enough time to do so! She should start with Rex, he was still overdue for gratitude from that incident earlier, and-

Her sword was there. It was still gleaming as usual, despite having a coating of dragonblood near the pointy-end. And it was unattended.

Well, everyone mostly seemed fine, they could wait just a second for her to go pick up something. She became unnoticeable and dashed to the dragon's back, her hands now trying their best to pull up on the stuck armament a second time. With a disgusting "splortch" sound, the sword fell loose of the meat and Koishi started falling backwards as well. Before she could hit the ground, everything went dark once more.

An alarm clock blared, the electric tones nothing like the ones she was used to. Koishi opened her eyes much faster this time, staring out at an unfamiliar black box with glass on the front. The rest of the room was odd, too, as her eyes darted around and scanned everything. Carpet, a little calendar that was illegible besides some box in the middle being circled in red, a fragrant candle (which she was very quick to extinguish), a modern-looking desk with accompanying chair...where was she now?

She quickly shuffled her way out of bed, and noticed a few things. One, she was back in her usual clothes! Gone were the itchily uncomfortable robes of yesterday, replaced with her usual frilly stuff. Her Third Eye and accompanying veins were visible as usual instead of stuffed underneath her clothes, and her much higher-quality sunhat was hanging on a rack next to the bed. Second, she must be imagining it but she felt like she gained a couple of inches. Maybe it was just her shoes...

She looked around the room some more, trying to figure out what exactly had happened between then and now. It felt like she had slept a reasonable amount, so had it been a whole night since then? Did she dream all of that? She usually hadn't had such incredibly vivid dreams, let alone with such nice people in them. She ducked and lifted the sheets, and something that hinted towards last night being real was there: her sword! Well...almost her sword.◊ It looked a bit shorter, and it didn't even look like it could cut anything right now. She picked it up and waved it around, and it felt like it was made out of foam instead of shining steel. How disappointing.

The front door was unlocked, and it lead to a hallway with many more doors, but she put her hat on and opted to take the quick route: right out her window. The forest of yesterday, if it was actually the same place, transformed into what looked like her vision of the Outside World, all mortar and glass. She flew out of her odd bedroom and out into the odd street below. This was a little less bewildering than her first arrival, but she still wasn't sure what was going on. She walked along the very helpful yellow line on the black stone street, hoping it would lead to a familiar face.

Day 5: Random House

When Specter Knight awoke, he found himself in what looked to be a bedroom. Oddly enough, he actually felt refreshed, for once.

As soon as he got out of bed, he attempted to levitate. Sure enough, he was able to levitate a few feet off the ground. He even found his scythe -his usual scythe, not the boring one from yesterday- leaning against the wall! Perhaps today wouldn't be as bad as the last two days...

...Wait a second. As soon as he picked up the scythe, he knew it wasn't his. The handle was made out of ordinary wood, and the blade -if it could be called that- was spongy and harmless. Clearly, this "scythe" was a toy, meant for a child. Deciding to see the current day conditions, he looked out the window, and saw quite a few children about.

Oh dear God.

He looked in a nearby mirror, and saw that his fears were confirmed, much to his horror. He was a child. An undead child, but still a child, nonetheless. Even worse, he was wearing a sorry excuse for a hood. He checked the dresser close by, and found his cloak, neatly folded, with his armor next to the door. Without hesitation, he put them on. "I am going to kill that entity..." He muttered as he left the house.

Today was going to be a terrible day...

edited 15th Feb '16 1:06:20 PM by astrokitty

Balconies -> Somewhere in the City Interior

Zelda kept walking through the city, noting that many of the other people she passed by also happened to be children. There was the possibility that they were always children, but it seemed more likely that they got aged down just like she did. For what reason, though? Was it just the nature of the place?

Whatever her thoughts were on that subject, they were quickly replaced by even more confusion as she realized she was very lost. Furthermore, it seemed like the buildings were changing. Nothing moved right before her eyes, but if she turned to look at something else it felt like the location moved around behind her back.

It may have just been her imagination, coupled with the fact that she was just wandering aimlessly at this point rather than looking for any one location in particular. It was probably time to see if anyone else here could tell her more about this place and what was going on. After all, if they were monsters they probably would have attacked her by now. Wouldn't they?

So she looked around, searching for a good person to ask. The first person who caught her attention also happened to be one of the few people who wasn't a child, or at least didn't seem to be one; a young woman in a decidedly frilly outfit, sporting a fancy hat and...was that thing supposed to be a heart^note Koishi? It looked like one. Either way, the woman seemed to be wandering just as aimlessly as herself right now.

"Excuse me," she said, trying to sound polite but instead getting confused by the higher-pitched sound of her own voice, "...Do you know where we are?"

edited 15th Feb '16 11:17:41 AM by Yomegami

Sadness could hear a voice calling her name. Her face creased, and she rolled away slightly, clutching her pillow tighter.

...pillow?

She opened her eyes. She was in a light green bed filled with stuffed animals. A white bed was nestled against the far wall, along with a plethora of toys scattered along the wall; there was also a slightly ajar door with light coming out of it in the corner of her field of vision, which she chose to ignore. It was so familiar and comfortable that she burrowed back under the fluffy blanket and pretended she was in a safe place again.

The voice was still looking for her.

"I'm not here," Sadness mumbled, closing her eyes and rolling over to face the wall. "Tell Mary...just tell her it's not time to wake up yet, okay?"

edited 15th Feb '16 11:20:38 AM by Syrika

As they were suddenly approached by what was clearly a human, one that seemed older than the kid even, Sans chose to just listen for a bit and try to gauge whether he should trust the man or not. He provided some interesting information if nothing else, the most notable thing about it being that apparently you couldn't die in that city. So right now he was just like the kid with their resets that allowed them to come back every time they died, except hopefully without the rewinding time every time it happens bit. That actually sounded kinda nice.

The weirdest part was the why they were all there, apparently someone just wanted to watch them do their thing in order to get inspiration for a book or whatever? Sounds like even all powerful deities can get bored eventually, at least he could only guess it was some sort of deity if they could do something like bring people to this strange city with no problems.

Lastly, the man introduced himself as Ben and called themselves a hero, judging by their expression and how sincere he said it, maybe he was a nice human, if nothing else knowing that he can't die in there made Sans more willing to take risks, although he didn't really have any confirmation about it other than just Ben's word.

"a hero huh..." said Sans, his eyes looking away for a moment as he began to think of other things, but then his gaze returned to Ben "how long have you been in this place, buddy?" he asked out of curiosity "the name is sans, by the way."

edited 15th Feb '16 11:33:06 AM by FullMoon

Sans Group - Angry Goth Girl

This was not good at all.

Well... it beat the itchy medieval clothing, for sure. Still, Sawyer was not happy. Although her eyes were brighter and more alive and not quite as sunken-in as usually, her scowl remained the same.

She kept the Ultravoice on her still, mostly out of habit. It was no longer needed, but... she welcomed its presence.

It seemed there were some new people she didn't recognize: a skeleton in a blue hoodie, kind of a shortie; and some sort of tiny robot. Granted, she had to expect that these people looked differently when aged-up. The loud, handsome teen seemed to be famili-oh. Oh that Ben kid. Well here was an answer to people who were children to begin with.

"...morning." She greeted the group, not at all happy with her predicament. At least she seemed to be treated fairly lightly in terms of appearance' change; she only aged down a couple of years.

Mary - Living Alarm Clock

After taking a few moments to look at herself some more, Mary came to the conclusion that she looked very, very pretty. And, seeing that she'd always wanted to grow up^note and be a real girl, and be a princess, and be an artist, and be a confectionist, and own a jewelry shop, and play in the snow, and so on and so forth, was invaded by a sensation that wasn't very uncommon in her: nigh unending excitement.

She heard Sadness' voice replying to her that she should tell... herself... wait, what? Oh, right, her voice had changed. Well, at least she knew she was there now. It just meant that she'd have to go and wake her up in person.

The young woman walked towards Sadness' room at a normal pace, not wishing to push her luck with her recently lengthened legs. The last thing she wanted to do was to trip and fall to the floor yet again. Once she got there, she made sure to at least knock on the door... before opening it completely and bursting into the room as if it was her own.

"Sadness, wake up! Look at this!"

Either Koishi had grown a lot taller, or everyone was short today. There were all sorts of people out and about on some business or another, none of them familiar or particularly interested in talking to her, but they must've been all midgets. Or kids, but why would they all be unattended like this, just wandering around the streets with no parents in sight? Entirely irresponsible.

One dwarf girl/small child walked towards her, and she seemed pretty confused. "Don't worry, little girl," she said as she crouched down to her height and started ruffling her head. "I honestly have no idea, but I'm sure we can figure out together!" She noticed that the girl was also staring at her Third Eye as it faintly and irregularly beated. She shouldn't have any idea what it does though, right? No harm in talking about it.

"Uhh...that's just my eye." She gingerly grabbed at the thing and pulled back the lids manually, revealing a very heavily cataracted eyeball that stared blankly ahead. "It's not gonna hurt you, or anything, see? Just a normal eye."

HK-47 listened to what ths Ben explained. It seemed that they were kidnapped by some kind of entity to play their sick game for a long while.

That means...

"Exasperation: But I am supposed to be helping my master and complete my primary functions! Commentary: It seems that my master will be unable to use me for a while.."

HK heard what Sans said and also wondered how long this human was.

"Recitation:"As Sans said, how long have you been stuck here, meatbag?"

HK also took notice of a female child introducing themselves, but his focus was on Ben for the moment.

Ben nodded at Sans with a smile. "Pleasure," he told the skeleton. Maybe he was some kind of alien?" He then shot another look at HK-47. "Stop callin' me meatbag and I'll tell you." He cleared his throat. "Sorry. I've been here for almost a week. 5 days, tops." Ben then heard Sawyer (the creepy woman from before) approach, and he turned towards her and nodded. "Hey. It's me, Ben, from yesterday," Ben introduced. He then gestured towards Sans and HK-47. "This is Sans, and this is.... I don't think you told me your name, rustbucket," he muttered to the droid.

edited 15th Feb '16 12:26:10 PM by AllHailThrall

"his name is HK, it's an acronym for hugs & kisses" Sans joked, giving Ben and Sawyer a playful wink "so, five days? what happened before we got here?"

edited 15th Feb '16 12:35:19 PM by FullMoon

"Annoyance: I couldn't stop calling you meatbag even if I wanted to, meatbag. My original master programmed me to call every organic meatbags that excluding my masters."

HK then turned around to look at Sawyer along with Ben.

"Introduction: I am HK-47..." He then gave a very annoyed sigh as if whatever he said next was something he was forced to say everytime. "Protocol droid of a Jedi."

edited 15th Feb '16 12:38:51 PM by Darkomega245

Ben nodded. "HK-47, huh? You know what? I like 'rustbucket' better," he teased. He then put one of his hands underneath his chin to think, resting that arm on his other arm. "Let's see here. First day, we all get brought here, we stop an evil knight who's trying to kill people. Second day, the city turns into a jungle and we have to cut down a giant plant and its bee friend. Then the third day it's a blizzard with deadly hail. And finally yesterday was a day where we were all fairy-tale creatures and we had to stop a dragon from burning down the whole city, now some magic forest." He shrugged. "It sounds crazy, I know, I barely believe it myself. I think today is some sort of weird age-shifting day. Not sure. I'm usually a 10-year-old kid." He smirked a bit, looking down at himself.

"Y'know, I actually like being a grown-up. Feels good." He then blinked, getting back on track. "Anyway. We should get to the library and introduce you two to Miss Tairee. She works for the guy who's keeping us trapped her but I have a feeling she's just as trapped here as we are. C'mon, let me lead the way." He then began to walk towards the library, looking back at the three as he did so.

edited 15th Feb '16 12:47:58 PM by AllHailThrall

"I see you are still immature inside. At least that much hasn't changed." Sawyer grunted grumpily at Ben's... words. It seemed that whatever he said was tailor-made to annoy her.

The way her actual voice differentiated from her "normal" one was really telling.

She looked at Sans and HK. "Sawyer. Pleasure." She introduced herself in kind.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow...wait, I think someone made this joke already in the City Interior

The good news was that the woman appeared to be friendly enough. The bad news was that Zelda was now being treated as the little girl she seemed to be rather than her actual age. This was going to take some getting used to, wasn't it?

"Um, I'm supposed to be older than this...." she started to correct, before the woman showed her that the "heart" was actually a third eyeball of sorts.

She fell silent for a couple moments after this, expression somewhere between even more confused and somewhat grossed out. This woman probably wasn't a human. Definitely wasn't a monster, but probably not human. A couple of moments later, she realized she was probably acting rather rude. In a couple moments she'd managed to replace her previous expression with a pleasant smile instead.

"That's new," she said, "Anyway, I'm Zelda."

She bowed her head in respectful greeting. "I'm actually a little older than I look. I just got here and found myself stuck with this appearance. And it looks like I'm not the only one." She looked over the woman again. "I'm just trying to figure out what's here. It's been a while since I've seen a new place; Skyloft is kind of small. I don't suppose you've heard of Skyloft?"

She knew the answer was going to be a definite no, but it couldn't hurt to ask.

Little City Zone/ Act 1

Sonic heard no anwser, so he left. As he walked out, he saw a bunch of people, now as kids, and some now grown-up. He also noticed a skeleton man, and a robot, and assumed that these are newcomers. The city was back.

Sonic wanted to go and talk to the skeleton guy, but then something else caugth his eye. He saw Koishi talking with some kind of dwarf princess. Sonic decided to go over there.

"Hey! What's up!?"

edited 15th Feb '16 1:55:23 PM by DGAMER

"Offended: My chassis is made of very high quality metals such as durasteel and cortosis! but I'll humor you with that name...meatbag"

HK then followes Ben along, it seemed like many meatbags were child sized now...hopefully his tiny form is temporary, the blasted T3 unit would be laughing at him if he could see him right now!