Eastern Ruins, Guardhome: Have You Seen This Viking Murderhobo?
"Wait a minute." Tatl paused. "Somebody came back here? How's that even possible?"
It couldn't have been one of the folks fighting Ridley and his goons, right? She hadn't been paying close attention to their reactions at the time, but it didn't seem like Eyepatch recognized the Wolfos fanatic or the guy with the weird scar on his forehead. The half-naked dude was a likely candidate, though; she didn't get an impression that he was the friendliest person around, and picking a fight with the Stinky Lizard might've been his form of sport.
But it wasn't wise to just leave it to guesswork. Like it or not, the Hollows had let one too many secrets slip. Tatl had to know a little more.
"So what's this troublemaker's name? Got a description?"
She half-expected Starrk to refuse to answer, so she immediately followed up with: "If I know something that'll give this guy an edge, I need to at least know who to keep the big secret from. Otherwise I'm gonna have to lie or keep my mouth shut with every stranger we meet. That'll make it really hard for potential allies to trust us, and I can't count on my partner's antics to shake off every suspicion."
The fairy turned towards Link, still sleeping soundly, before shifting her position back to Starrk. "Might go without saying, but I'm being very patient with all this talk about secrets. You and your friends saved the kid's life, so despite my own curiosity I won't ask questions I don't have to. But if we're going to be friendly, I'd at least like to know who we should be 'less-than-friendly' to—if only for the kid's sake. Unless they're literal monsters, this idiot is way too trusting for his own good."
Hyrule, Death Mountain Pass: Magic Barriers, You Say?
Felkin joined the jovial rock creature in laughter. Despite his girth and musculature, this Goron seemed like quite the lighthearted fellow!
And quite the informative one, as it turned out! From a volcanic culture to armies of monsters to a mysterious barrier surrounding the heart of the kingdom...were he more skeptical of the stranger, Felkin might wonder if he were trying to butter him up with all this intrigue!
"A most peculiar conundrum." hummed the Channeler. "Mayhaps a coup d'etat hath befallen this land of High Rule. What a troubling thought..."
Felkin turned his helmet towards Lillian: "Ne'er the less, His Grace would most benefit from a survey of this kingdom. Mayhaps mine knowledge of sorcery can shed light on this barrier over the castle. After all, a similar spell hath been cast to bar entry to His Grace's archives for many a year!"
The Channeler turned towards the path to Kakariko Village, but not before giving the friendly Goron a warm goodbye.
"Fare thee well, my friend! May our paths cross again!"
And with that, Felkin was gone.
Ordon Village: Connecting Some Dots
While the thoughts whirring through Purah's mind at these revelations might be tough to guess, her expression suggested the ponies were no longer her top priority. Her eyes shifted focus as she stared at the imagined possibilities, drafting a hypothesis as she crossed her arms and pinched her chin in thought.
Perhaps things weren't as hopeless as she'd feared. They might not be in ancient Hyrule after all...or rather, yes they technically could be in an ancient form of the kingdom, but that wasn't due to a displacement on the Cure's end. Perhaps their former host lied to them all, and this was another "game" with new boards and players. What a revolting thought. It was bad enough that she and Link had been dragged into this cosmic playground, but the entire kingdom as well? Goddess knows what sort of threats Hyrule may find at her borders—or what outsider meddling could do to the flow of history. Perhaps even the presence of Link and herself would somehow throw time into disarray!
But...no, don't worry about that right now. There wasn't enough evidence to jump to those conclusions, and even if there were it's not like she had much control over the situation. She was royalty, but she wasn't their royalty. Besides, if the Great Calamity was in power during this era, perhaps outside assistance would help history make a turn for the better. There were stories about the hero traveling back and forth in the river of time to defeat Ganon; compared to the legends, this situation didn't sound that far off course.
Meanwhile, in the here and now: Robbie had managed to successfully calm down the stallion and mare after the ponies' "liberation." Now that tensions were starting to cool a bit, the swordsman reached into the pouch on his hip and retrieved two apples, which he held in both hands for the steeds to bite. They'd been put through quite a scare, but had calmed down rather quick—that deserved a treat!
Should the ponies turn towards the sound of munching behind them, the Hylian swordsman would reach into his pouch again and pull out two more apples, which he'd wordlessly invite the strange Pegasuses to eat.
Breath of the Sun
Eastern Ruins, Northwest
"Huh. Must be really advanced tech to make a robot that convincing. And for healing, too. Where I'm from you'd be used as disposable soldiers." Makura mused. There was no bitterness in her voice, but it was clear she was speaking from experience.
The healers went off to work on the wolf-lady (and an actual wolf that had showed up), so she turned to Conan, smiling at him almost shyly. "I'm glad you're alright, Conan. Sorry again I wasn't there to help. Didn't think you'd get that banged up."
Yoriichi observed the healing magic, nodding in satisfaction once he observed the injuries being mended. Though not a doctor by trade, his knowledge of the See-Through World gave him great insight into anatomy.
"Thank you, doctors. From myself, and from Amako-sama." He bowed his head once more.
Meanwhile, the pair of orangutans peered at the wolf with suspicion, hiding behind Makura as though afraid the other animal would jump at them at any moment.
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?
Hill
The purple-skinned man, upon being summoned into this new world, didn't immediately react to his surroundings. As a matter of fact, it was about a minute or two before his body even moved, as if it took his body and mind that long to register the change to the status quo. But once he did move, said movement took the form of him going wide-eyed and on high alert, with him looking every which way as he turned his head back and forth.
Once the man had gotten that out of his system, his hand slowly moved towards his face, and then to the trunk of the tree, as if he was testing to see if he could interact with things. Apparently, wherever he had been prior to his being called here, it had done enough to him that being out of it left him questioning his existence and that of the world around him. Despite this, the other two new arrivals would be able to notice that not once had he turned his back to either of them, and would be giving them both glances of threat assessment from time to time.
Hyrule - Death Mountain
As it turned out, the Goron before them had enough information to give them that asking further probing questions proved to be unnecessary, at least for the time being. With Felkin opting to take the path to Kakariko Village, the Ivalice party talked out their options amongst themselves. For now, at least, they would stay on the mountain and see how the Gorons lived, but as they bade the Goron farewell and moved further up the mountain, they tried to decide if it would be better to investigate the royal capital of Hyrule or if it would be best to journey back home and deliver the news of who and what they'd discovered.
Eastern Ruins, Northwest
Once Alma had finally managed to catch her breath and recover, it was with Ramza all but hovering over her that she got back up to approach Makura, offering a slightly tired wave to both her and the orangutans.
"Well, now that that's over, where were we again? I forgot what we were talking about with all the excitement." She said, acting like it was no big deal.
"There's still plenty of excitement here that I can see." Ramza said in response, eyeing Conan and the other new arrivals with a wary gaze, even if he wasn't planning on making a move unless one of them did so first.
Proud member of the AGOG community.
Fuuka East
“Alright.” Fernandez sat back in his seat, mulling over what questions to ask, knowing that they’ll get one back on him. “First question: who are you guys, because you don’t exactly look like United States military to me even though I know what Manhattan is and from what we could see from our end your city looks pretty familiar to us. Second question: seems pretty clear this isn’t your first rodeo, what with you saying this — whatever “this” is — is the second time around in as many days. Other than being obviously more aggressive about seizing the bridge, what exactly happened yesterday for you?”
Karakucho, In Front of De La Mancha
Briefly, Oriko looked over at Leif to try to see whether he understood what was being said. No sense in leaving a job unfinished if one could.
Given the speed of the introductions and the urgency to move the important discussions to a secure location, Mami simply made a small curtsy while holding her Soul Jar for her introduction to Ringo’s friends before she began to join the rest of the group in heading off. She wouldn’t get far before the ethereal voice of Homura using Magical Girl telepathy spoke up without warning: <Keep walking forward. Do NOT re-enter the alley — you are being watched.> For the moment only Mami, Oriko, Minako, and Aigis would receive Homura's warning, as Homura did not trust any of the others yet to introduce herself, especially out of the blue. <They are using street cameras and a white mechanical drone hovering overhead to track you — do not look around. They saw us exit the Velvet Room into the alley. I don't know if they can hear audio, though. I have a bead on it — see if you can lure it to a spot where I can take it out quietly.>
<Akemi-san, how did you find out about this?>
<We can discuss that later.> From the rooftops above the group, Homura kept as low a profile as she could while keeping eye contact on the hovering drone that was tracking the group. In her earlier loops she might have gone straight for taking the thing out, but while she wasn't completely opposed to the notion of acceptable casualties she had learned from enough failures that recklessness can come back to bite her in the ass, especially when it came to currying favor with more…rigid people. This was a situation where she couldn't simply reset the board and try another move, only proceed from the position she had in front of her. Thus, this particular play. With Minako taking the lead for the group on the street, Homura figured she would be able to lead them away from the Velvet Room entrance with more social grace to avoid tipping off this Society that they knew, especially if they believed that this "Yatagarasu'' was responsible for taking out the cell that had been monitoring them. Even if the Society knew about the hidden entrance, by having SEES and company's last recorded move be walking away from it towards some other destination there was at least a chance that they might waste time chasing a red herring. It's a game of cat and mouse now, and Homura intended to get a hold of every card she could to play later, especially now that she'd thrown her lot down with her last pipe bomb. She may not know exactly who "Orin", "Cleucas", or their friends were, but she wasn't going to be picky about exploring potential alliances, and one based on mutual enemies was at least pretty solid ground to use.
Whatever it took to keep her safe.
All rolls are available for public viewing Here
Baldric stood up slowly, the city had finally stopped shaking, was it an earthquake? Felt like one. The alchemist readjusted his bucket helmet and looked over to his “companions”, his fellow destined chucklefucks who had been blessed with the great power of Auntie Drown.
Though in the case of Vaali and Oran, being blessed was putting it nicely. “Alright everyone okay?” he asked.
“I am operational!” growled out the familiar rage filled voice of Tannhauser, revolutionary magus who stood up and dusted himself off. “Our comrades however, we best check on Vaali and Oran to ensure they haven’t expired once more!”
“They’re good, they’re still here, not wet!” came the voice of Rehua, the conrasu cleric was overlooking the Strix druid and the Silf Swashbuckler, both looking incredibly confused.
“So, where in the hells are we?” Vaali asked.
“I dunno, did the sky always look like that?” Oran said, looking upwards.
Baldric turned his head upwards and muttered a rather subdued “damn it” as he saw it. Rather than the familiar near eternal twilight of Tyne, the sky was utterly alien to them. “Did the gods get bored?”
Tannhauser continued to dust himself off and flexed his mechanical fingers. “Whatever the case, I doubt that Outset is where it should be, this does not change our current mission. To escape and find help for Vaali and Oran.”
“Kind of does Tannhauser,” Baldric countered.
“W-What do you mean Mr. Baldric?” Oran asked, concerned. “We’re gonna go to the swamps and get help right?”
“Kid, I think if we got a new sky, the swamps of the Solitude are probably gone.”
Oran in an instant took off into the sky with a flap of his wings hoping to see outside of the city.
◊ He came back down shortly later, looking even more frazzled.
“You okay buddy?” Vaali asked, placing a concerned hand on the young druid’s shoulder. “What did you see?”
“N-Not much, I think I saw a few towers, different from what’s in Outset. I-I think Mr. Baldric is right, the Solitude is gone!”
Tannhauser let out a huff. “Naturally… can’t make anything easy, reactionary garbage…”
“Do not worry Oran,” Rehua said, coming over and giving him a hug. “We shall find another way, you and Vaali are important to us, we shall ensure that no further Rot comes to you.”
Baldric said nothing, but began looking through his reagents for materials, Tannhauser just gave him a nod and cleared his throat.
“My comrades! We are in an alien world, my beloved Zescore is far far from here! But do not lose heart, for this new world holds new possibilities! Our goals are unchanged, our methods are, we must still leave Outset and begin exploring! The heat is still on us, and we must lie low for now, but if we find powerful allies in this new world then possibility is endless! The revolution has not died today! NO! IT HAS ONLY BEGUN ANEW!”
Oran looked to Tannhauser, and in a weird way his fervor helped, Baldric gave Tannhauser a groan and a sigh… and then a quick pat on the back. Panic wasn’t useful and while he may not like Tanny’s tirades, they had their uses.
The 5 gathered their things and began to head towards the city walls, they had to get out while they could.
“REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEB!” came the scream of the automata Pi-Braine as he rushed out from his spot. “REEEEEEEEEEB WE GOT TROUBLE!” he screamed grabbing the cleric by the shoulders and shaking him.
“IIIIM WEEEEEELL AWAAAAAARE PIIIII NOOOOW STOOOOPP SHAAAAAKING MEEEEE!” Reeb responded.
Pi dropped him and tapped his metal fingers nervously. “I’m sorrrrryyyy… but Reeb, did you feel that? The entire city shook!”
“Pi it’s an earthquake, perfectly normal, probably just means a new sinkhole opened up,” Captain Zedek, the gunslinger owner of the former Airship said. “Either that or the regular one got bigger.”
“Well Captain,” began their wizard, Lorn Barnes. “We could be in big trouble, so we’re probably gonna get people wanting to drown those troubles.”
“Oh you’re right Lorn! Quick, Reeb! Mark up everything and make it more expensive!”
Reeb rolled his eyes with a grunt, walking past the Elf champion who looked rather confused. “Uhm… Mr. Captain Zedek Sir, are ya sure that’s… right?” she asked.
“Zilyana, my dear dear new hire… yes! Do you know how expensive it is to live in Outset?” Zedek responded.
“Not really, I mean I got a room upstairs that you deduct from my wages, so…”
Zedek stared vacantly, then looked to Reeb who said. “She needed a room, Zedek we have plenty of space, especially since Pi doesn’t sleep.”
“Can’t sleep, the ghost might get out again!” Pi snapped.
As if on cue, the 5 of them looked up as they heard a faint ”Oooooooo! My legs!”
“See!” Pi added.
Zedek put his hands on the shoulders of Reeb and Pi. “Regardless, things happened, people are going to want drinks. Reeb, get your accounting book ready, we may be able to hire a cook after this!”
“Now that, dear captain, I could actually agree with.”
Pi said little and proceeded to backflip back into his corner, and wait.
◊
The first to awaken was Seth Jonah, he groaned about his titanium spine aching as he looked about the area. "Where the fuck am I?" he asked.
Seth dug through his pockets, looking for the Teleportalponder he got from the Big MT... it wasn't there... shit.
It was at this point he heard the Metal Giant suddenly shift, and he became very quiet. Over a loudspeaker he heard. "Oh my aching head!"
Leon Helstrand was awake, and unhappy. Last thing he remembered was the Argo docking with a Jumpship, and then the Jump hit. Had a Misjump happened? Where the hell was he?
He looked down to the purple man, and the redhead in the leather coat, he turned the speaker system back on and asked. "Hey, do you two know where we are?"
Seth was just wondering what god he pissed off to get stuck here.
Edited by EchoingSilence on May 2nd 2023 at 11:24:17 AM
Lucia and Helia, Castelia City, Town Square
“Ah,” Helia nodded in understanding. “So you don’t come from an existing territory. That discredits my initial theory that everyone was brought here with their homelands. And Domino City, hm?”
“I’m Lucia,” Lucia introduces herself. “The Guardian of the Seas.”
“And I’m Helia,” the phoenix incarnate replies. “Guardian of the Skies. A pleasure to meet you, Krillin.”
“Our ruler is our Prime Minister Rachel,” Lucia explains. “Or Ray, as she is commonly referred to. She is currently fielding questions in the town square, so If you wish to speak with her, now would be an excellent time.”
Ray, Castelia City, Town Square
Ray had to ponder Brobot’s question for a moment. Truthfully, one could make a pretty compelling argument that even letting him into the city was a mistake, given that his very first action upon meeting her was a violent one. But at the very least, the Machine seemed genuinely contrite about that incident, and the Desert society’s policy of enacting the death penalty for seemingly every infraction was so mind-bogglingly against basic pokemon morals that she would really prefer if there were less Machines living there and more of them forging a more peaceful life in other lands.
“I will extend an invitation to the Machines who wish to come to Castelia as well,” Ray replied after some contemplation. “I will simply emphasize that, just as with the humans, this is a gesture of goodwill I expect to be honored. Harmonious relations between all kinds of beings is a dream shared by many pokemon, but we will also do what is necessary to protect ourselves from those who do not share this ideal.”
Lola and Arturia, Castelia City, THE THUNDERDOME
Lola pondered these questions, before deciding on a ruleset.
“Let’s do a two on two ring-out,” Lola said. “We don’t do enough doubles matches around here as it is. Also, powers are fine. All pokemon use powers in combat, so that’s pretty standard. As for weapons, I’m the only one here who doesn’t actually use one. But considering I can punch and kick boulders to pieces, and I’ve knocked guys out with my ears before, I’m gonna say I don’t feel like I’m at a huge disadvantage here regardless. You’ve been in some similar sort of fighting league by the sound of it, Hekwii, so I trust you a good deal here.”
“Sure thing,” Arturia replied to Hekwii. “I won’t hold back, then!”
Arturia briefly charges up some sort of large ball of shadow
(a shadow ball, perhaps) and sends it flying towards Hekwii. She also flies right next to it, apparently intending to hit Hekwii with this projectile attack and swing her blade at him at the same time.
Lola then looks over at Seven.
“That leaves you and me. Show me what you’ve got, then. Since your partner was kind enough to let my partner go first, I’ll give the same offer to you.”
Within the audience is a wide variety of pokemon, as one might expect. But of particular note is one that can only be described as The Very Big Red Man
◊, who sticks out like a sore thumb.
“Wooo!” the Groudon cheers. “Kick some ass, ladies! Show them what pokemon can do!”
You might remember this particular individual from their hit diss track, Fuck Water, I’ll Drink Three Glasses of Magma a Day, which was penned after Ray forced him and Kyla to channel their disagreements into a nonviolent medium. Actually, Seven actually might, given that it’s conceivable he heard some music with his radio wave intercepting ears.
Eastern Ruins: Sniffing for Answers!
For obvious reasons, Popola's medical question to the (non-talking) canine was met with a somewhat ambiguous response. However, judging by how the wolf could rest weight on his left hind leg again—not to mention the wagging tail that accompanied this accomplishment—the android could rest assured that the procedure had been a success.
With the more urgent problem put to rest, the wolf proceeded to investigate the area and the many scents to find in it. The orangutans certainly caught the beast's attention, as did their timid body language. The wolf elected to leave them be for now; he'd rather present disinterest than invade their space trying to convince them he wasn't a threat.
That said, the primates might find another animal trotting along the edges of the ruins: a young chestnut-colored foal with a white mark down her forehead came into view, though if Kongara and Seitaka were to try to make friends with the herbivore, they'd find her to be even more skittish than they were around the wolf. Still, she didn't run very far—barely out of eyesight, and never for very long. Seems as if she wanted to insist on keeping her distance, but not enough of a gap to lose track of this group of strangers...
Meanwhile, the wolf stumbled upon the piece of evidence he was hoping for: a powerful stench of blood that matted the grass red. About a foot away lied the amputated tail that had wounded his leg less than an hour ago, but the Space Pirate's wounds weren't what concerned the wolf.
"Arooooo!" he exclaimed as he sniffed the blood-stained ground and clawed into the grass where the victim should have been. "Arooooo!"
Seems the beast was rather insistent on getting some answers.
Castelia City: Looking for Leads!
Krillin blinked at the introductions, and not for the reasons Lucia and Helia might expect. "Guardians of the Sea and Sky" might seem like impressive titles to most, but for someone with Krillin's experience these were pretty low-tier positions. They had ki rivaling that of Frost or Caba—warriors and peacekeepers on a galactic scale—but their job titles made them sound like Kami's secretaries.
Mr. Popo would FLIP if he knew people this strong were working on his level.
...
...should I tell Helia and Lucia that they're WAY overqualified?
Oh, great. He'd stayed quiet too long. And he had a funny look on his face. Fantastic!
"Uhh, thanks. Though I'm not sure..."
Taking a look around, it wasn't tough to spot where the Prime Minister was speaking. The bigger problem was that she had plenty of people asking her questions right now, and he didn't want to march over there just to ask something she'd already answered. Talk about embarrassing!
"I'm not sure if my questions are good for a press conference." the martial artist finished his thought, before turning to the legendary gijinkas:
"Have you heard any running theories about where the rest of these territories came from?"
The sharp look in Krillin's eye hinted that he had a few ideas of his own.
Eastern Ruins, Northwest
For a man who came from a world of swords and sorcery and not one of computers and machinery, the explanation didn't do much to explain the nature of the women acting so reverently towards him just for being human. Still, the Cimmerian warrior did his best to understand even as he looked quizically at the two. "So... You were made by some magical means, not born. I indeed would have never be able to tell..." While he wasn't one to refuse adoration, the fact the two girls where showing him such dedication just for being human didn't really sit well with the adventurer in a way he couldn't quite place, but he still showed them a smile. "Well, I hardly know any man who would refuse such excellent healing. Very good work, you two."
Then, he would turns towards Makura, returning her smile with his own comforting one. "There is no need to apologize; as you said, you could not have known there would be such perils in this venture. Anyway, I have lived through far worse scuffles than this, and the wounds have already disappeared, so there is no need for sorrow to stain your lovely face."
His piercing blue eyes would then focus on the other healer and the lad she was talking to. While most of the outfits he had seen so far had been too alien for him to comment much on them, he could see that their outfits were those of the wealthy. And so the bare-chested warrior would walk towards Ramza. "You seems to be rather wealthy, boy. Are you another one stranded in these strange lands, or do you come from one of those cities that appear out of nowhere?"
Edited by Alecoene on May 4th 2023 at 8:32:50 PM
Wulfrik, Chocobo Swarm
-Wulfrik sighs wearily as the birds attempt to pierce through armor plate forged by the most expert sorcerers in the Wastes. When the next one tries to peck him, he grabs it by the neck, twisting its beak to look it in the eyes.-
[Show me the biggest, scariest predator you know of, you overgrown barnfowl.]
Hill
"No idea." Vaati answered in a raspy sort of tone, one that sounded like he hadn't actually spoken in a long time. After saying this, a few seconds passed, and then it dawned on him that by all rights, he shouldn't have been able to understand what had just been said. And yet he had. How...odd.
Given that now he could no longer pretend he hadn't noticed them, the purple man turned to face the duo proper, making sure to have his back against open air as he properly assessed them to see how much of a threat they were.
Eastern Ruins, Northwest
Predictably, as Conan approached and spoke to the Beoulve duo, Ramza tensed up as if prepared to square off, only for Alma to clear her throat at him, a sign for him to cool it and talk like a civilized person. Heeding his sister, Ramza took in a deep breath and exhaled, letting his posture relax just a little bit even if he was still on alert.
"The latter. If we got pulled in, Ivalice itself has to have been dragged along as well." Ramza admitted, then glanced away briefly. "We're not as wealthy as you might think. Things...happened."
"What my brother is trying to say is that we're the last of a noble house that wasn't as noble as the common man thought." Alma clarified.
Proud member of the AGOG community.
Castelia City - Chillin’ With Krillin’
“I did learn something when I went over to Manhattan and spoke to their mayor,” Lucia replies to Krillin. “The territory just next door to us, I mean. Apparently their city had been dragged into some sort of land called the ‘Battleworld’. A very powerful being known as The Cure agitated the various cities he had captured into fighting each other for his own twisted amusement. And then, somehow, they ended up here. My working theory is that maybe The Cure sent them away to here because they were bored and wanted the Battleworld to end. And given that they don’t exactly sound like a particularly good person, shoving all their cities into the middle of nowhere rather than their home worlds like he promised to do at the end of his little game seems like the kind of careless thing they might do.”
“Hm,” Helia thought about this for a moment. “Well, that makes sense to me. But what I don’t understand is why we’re here, or why people like Krillin are. None of us were in this Battleworld, after all.”
“That’s true,” Lucia admitted. “I don’t think we can pin all the blame on this Cure individual for that reason. There has to be some explanation for the territories and people that ended up here who didn’t come from Battleworld, and that’s something I don’t have enough information to determine at this time.”
Helia put her chin in her hand with a curious expression on her face.
“I think that’s about the extent of what we know so far, Krillin. Hopefully we can uncover more by exploring this land and seeing if we can find any clues.”
Eternal Princess
Even with how different things were, the people from Jirga Para Lhao felt right at home Karakucho. It was a place where money talks, morals were flexible, and with just the perfect amount of grime. Actually it could use a little more grime. The buildings all looked practically brand new compared Jirgha Para Lhao. It was almost unnerving how clean a city of this size was. But it was a place where profit was to be made so no one was complaining.
The electronic money system seemed to throw them for a loop. Most were used to dealing with only cold hard cash. More then one seemed skeptical, having had to deal with their fair share of scams. It certainly didn't help that by enlarge they didn't seem too tech savvy. To the locals helping their new neighbors, it probably felt like helping grandma with her first smart phone. But when all was said and done, they took to the new system. Already there was a budding business of those willing to exchange currencies, for a service fee of course.
Karakucho probably wasn't the type of place you would expect to see many kids, catering its entertainment more toward adult interests. Still, Kyubey might find a few candidates among the visitors from the flying city. Daughters helping in the family business, either as cooks or barkers. A few would even give the beady eye thing a curious look. The kind of look you give the puppy in the pet store window. But none approached. They had work to do and the strange creature seemed to be the pet of that rich girl, and they knew how much trouble you can cause for so much as inconveniencing the rich.
Two thugs squatted in front of the Don Quiote from another world.
"This sucks..."
Things started out so well for them too. They discovered this thing called Pachinko, and hit it big early. They were rolling in it. They had enough to take it easy for awhile and do some real good in Lei Elgona. But you don't quit on a hot streak and another big jack pot was just around the corner, they could feel it. A losing streak later, and they were drinking away the last of their money. They didn't even have enough money to get back home.
But that was alright, they knew how to get cash on the fly. They just had to shake some one down, and they already had a target. This tool in a bowler hat. Jerk probably spends more money on dry cleaning then either of them would see in a year. He wasn't alone, but its not like a bunch of school girls or a little bug mascot was going to give them much trouble. They stood up, ready to make their move. But something they over heard caused them to pause.
"Did that girl...just talk about buying guns...?"
After a moment to process this, the two decided to sit back down. Looks like they were going to have to find another target. Still, their interest was peaked. If they knew a seller, they wanted in. Guns were hard to come by in Jirga Para Lhao if you weren't part of the Garrison. While they didn't have money at the moment, if they knew a guy, they wanted to know him too. They began listening in, trying not to be so obvious they were eaves dropping.
They started by trying to be inconspicuous. They were just a couple of guys enjoying a drink and taking in the views in a public area. But somewhere between collective consciousness and raising the dead, the two couldn't help but show their astonishment. They looked right at the group with a look of utter disbelief. So when the group began their departure, the thugs originally planning to mug them stayed behind, merely looking around to see if anyone else was catching this crazy stuff being said out on the street or if they were just imagining the whole scene.
"Bro...how much alcohol is in these drinks...?"
"Zero."
"...so what now?"
"...want to check the vending machines up and down the street? See if anyone left their change behind?"
"Electronic money remember?"
"Right...this sucks..."
Between the general disarray and the fact that most the guards looked like push overs, many were willing to push their luck and try to enter the city through unofficial means. Those that were able to make it into the city were perhaps surprised at how panicked the residents were. It was as if they never heard of being displaced by a gravity storm. Still, many were willing to turn even this situation into an opportunity.
"With things as they are, you have no idea what tomorrow brings! Can you really afford to go one more day with out trying our amazing kabobs!?"
"These are trying times, cool off and refresh with our ice cream!"
"Their ice cream sucks! Try ours!"
"I fore saw this calamity, and I can predict tomorrow's! Come get your future read so you can prepare!"
"You look tense, come get a professional massage."
"You look tense, come get a professional massage
While countless were peddling their wares, others had come looking to invest. Either in the new real estate opportunities that now presented themselves or in trade goods to sell at a mark up back in Jirga Para Lhao. For these people looking to see what the city offered, they couldn't help but notice a certain card game that seemed all the rage.
Unfortunately for the dock fore man, the man from Sun Shipping didn't think something like it being physically impossible was a good enough excuse to have him wait.
"Huuu UUH!? Isn't your job!? You know about priority treatment right!? Waiting in line is for poor! You really expect someone of my standing to wait!?"
Still, there was little the man could do but throw a tantrum, whine, and wait.
Sea Wasp's lance pierced into the torso of the strange new enemy quite easily. Of course, her lance was created for piercing Nevi cores, this rust bucket's armor was no match. Besides, it wasn't the first time she had to destroy machines like this thanks to Dr Brahman and his army of drones. Still something was off. She could feel it in the tip of her lance. Her instincts was proven right a moment later when the thing grabbed her arm, tethering her to the machine warrior.
What a pain. Looked like she missed all the critical bits. She will have to learn where these things' cores are through some trial in error. But in the mean time it seemed she got her self in a bind. She weighed her options. She could detach the arm if she needed to, but losing her main weapon like this at the start of a mission was unacceptable. She was a lot more durable then she appeared, perhaps she could tank the blow, sacrificing her left arm if she needed to. She didn't have much time to decide however as the decision was made for her.
A flash of the blade, as she was saved. Her head turned to see the Yo RHA there. Rather then giving the expected thanks, she could not help but snap.
"I DON'T NEED YOUR..."
She stopped herself before she could finish. She was being too emotional for a soldier. She had to keep her head in the game. But it was still so frustrating. Especially since 2b's heroics gave her a moment to take in the state of the battle.
The soldiers were used to these odds. It was the same with the Nevi. Those monsters just taking everything they throw at them as they continue to rampage. But they weren't invincible. The soldiers merely needed to hold steadfast. Keep at it, wear it down, and victory was theirs! Then their allies made their desperate struggle seem trivial as they dispatched some incredibly advanced projectiles.
Unlike Yunica, the soldiers welcomed the aid. The two Xenosaga girls might have even noticed a change in the soldiers body language and tactics. The girls didn't need to be protected because they were some civs in need of escort, but because they were the heavy guns. They were the mvps that was going to bring them victory. They now made sure to keep a line sight free for their companions.
It seemed the enemy took advantage of this as they made a charge right toward the back lines where the small girl was. With that bow of hers, the thing probably was able to properly guess that she was the greater threat here. The soldiers were quick to try to run interference, but their fleashy bodies provided little resistance to the rushing machine. The broken line turned around, fully expecting to see the horrors of their failure, but were instead greeted with the sight of the small girl absolutely man handlining the machine 2 to 3 times her size.
While the battle was going their way, it was just as Yunica feared. The others had all but taken out the enemies while she had been standing here like an idiot with her arm in the machines chest. No, it was worse then she feared. She had expected that she was going to have to prove her viability in the face of the Yo RHA, but even the side kick, scientist, and kid were completely showing her up.
The whine brought her attention back to the task at hand. She recognized what the thing was doing. Dr Brahman's drones had a similar functionality. The first priority was to get it away from the group. Sea Wasp would charge her jet pack again, taking off with the machine in tow. She would recall her Stingers, changing their target to the arm gripping her. With enough time, she would try to sever the machine's arm, then use the forward momentum and a good push to send the machine flying off to die on its own. With out enough time, she would just have to take the brunt of the attack and repair what damage was done afterwards, assuming she survived.
And then there was one. With all its friends dead, it would seem the final machine would have its choice of execution.
Edited by ImmortalNeet on May 9th 2023 at 3:37:36 AM
How do you kill that which has no life?
Dracula's Castle, Colosseum: "So What's Next?"
Majora didn't dare answer the Mawkin chief; for all the mask knew, talking directly to Raven Beak was enough to tip the scale towards annihilation. And as awesome as that might be to watch happen to someone else, Majora couldn't have much fun if it were dead.
So the beaten Incarnation laid there, supine with a pool of who-knew-what slowly seeping into the dirt floor. The Count tossed Majora a potion—which it promptly failed to catch, since its only functioning eye didn't see it from its blind spot—before informing the mask that Raven Beak's technology was nothing special. There was a pile of corpses under the castle drawbridge to prove it.
For a moment, Majora wondered if there was even a lick of truth in that statement. It seemed like a scare tactic to keep the mask in line, the way a parent might frighten her child from playing in the woods after dark. But if it were true, and there were more people like this crazy giant armored bird, then what was Raven Beak doing here at all? Shouldn't he be mad that Mister had killed people like him? Or worse: shouldn't he be mad that Mister was comparing him to a bunch of dead people in a moat?
The mask couldn't tell how much of that message was for it, or for Raven Beak. Maybe Mister had the upper hand, and somehow knew how tough the Mawkin chief really was. Or maybe Mister didn't care, and trusted that they wouldn't fight each other over something silly like "who's stronger?"
Whatever the case, Majora wanted none of it. The messages from both leaders rang loud and clear: keep your head down, and stay out of the way—otherwise you'll wish you were dead.
While Majora was feebly applying the potion to its bodynote , Ganondorf meditated on the news that Dracula delivered.
"They make for the castle, yet keep a sheltered distance." the Gerudo King hummed. Something wasn't adding up. Heading here was tantamount to suicide, but scouting the castle from the mountains only delayed their discovery. Even if Carmilla thought she could talk her way out of the dungeon, would Belmont's witch seek to change sides so easily?
No. This wasn't right. The castle couldn't be their destination, or their objective—it'd make no sense to target it, not when Carmilla would have a sense for what awaited them here. So if they weren't traveling through the mountains to come here...
"...my lord, the city in perpetual sunset lies beyond the mountains, does it not?" Ganondorf proposed. "According to Death's account, twould make a more obvious destination than the sands to the East. And if even just Carmilla is familiar with my lord's power to keep the dawn at bay..."
Ganondorf kept the thought unspoken. No need to spell it out for the Count.
Anor Londo, Streets: A Match Made in...Well I Wouldn't Call It HEAVEN...
"He commands even Death?" echoed the Dark Sun. For the first time in this conversation, Gwyndolin's tone betrayed their shock. Though as if to apologize for the reaction, they replied:
"Such a parallel exists in our world as well: Gravelord Nito, the First of the Dead. He was an old ally of mine father in the war against the Eternal Dragons, yet once the battle was won, he sought solitude in a deep dark hole where he may slumber undisturbed. This 'Dracula' must be quite the motivational speaker; if thine Death be like Nito, then he be quite a slothful fellow by-nature."
A soft but intentional chuckle escaped Gwyndolin's lips. Death was not a figure for the likes of them to fear, but it didn't hurt to ensure these visitors of this fact.
"To willingly spread the Undead curse amongst the living is a crime most abominable. Whilst I take comfort in the knowledge this 'Dracula' hath lost most of his forces, the thought of others compelled his ranks through some dark sorcery sends a chill to mine heart."
If there was even a glimpse of truth behind these strangers' claims, then a foe rivaling the Darkwraiths lurked just over the mountains. Only this time Gwyndolin couldn't hope to drown this new threat like they did the Abyss infecting New Londo.
What to do...
At the very least, the City of Castelia should be warned. Perhaps Lady Helia could assist in bringing this eternal night over the Undead stronghold to a close. Barring that, at least Castelia and Anor Londo could present a united front against these monsters; anything to dissuade the forces of Dark from spreading, and to draw a line in the sand should this "Dracula" fail to understand his place.
"Were we in Lordran, this 'Dracula' would have proven ideal pray for mine Darkmoon Knights." Gwyndolin answered after a few moments of silence. "Though they be few in number, each hath sworn to exact vengeance on the wicked, and cut down creatures of the Dark. But alas, I know not what brought us here, nor for what intent. Until I do, I shall practice patience—and keep a stern eye on the dark clouds beyond the mountains."
Duke's Archives, Seath's Chambers: When Your Frenemy's Threatened with A Terrible Fate and You're Like...
The Eternal Dragon turned his long neck towards Carmilla for a moment, possibly to try and smell if there was any fear on her. But whether he detected anything or not would remain his secret, since he soon turned back to Sypha as she delivered her "ultimatum."
An "ultimatum" with an explicit expiration date, it seemed. Seath let out another low growl-like noise that served as his form of "chuckling." "A most benevolent proposition, Sypha Belnades. T'were not for the final conditions, I wouldst think this Undead someone precious to thee; what a tragic bond that wouldst be."
He let out another chuckle before getting to the point: "Dost thou knowest the fate of all Undead? They art cursed and imperfect creatures, sharing a Dragon's longevity yet not our preservation. Be it a day or a decade, in time they all lose their minds. Their bodies rot, their souls hollow, until nought remains but a feral husk of a thing. The Undead are doomed to live and die only to live again as before, until the end of this Age—mayhaps even the end of time."
A hand the size of Carmilla turned in her direction, before Seath stretched his fingers and flicked his wrist, in a lazy gesture that suggested "you may go now."
"Tis a subject I grew wearisome of long ago. I can learn nought from thee, so begone and ne'er return...lest mine curiosity in the Undead of other worlds get the better of me."
Assuming that Carmilla decided to take this "Get Out of Crystal Jail Free" card, she would be escorted out of the chambers by the Channeler, who would wordlessly guide her to the entrance of the archives, and repeat the Duke's decree that she was never to set foot in the archives again.
What Carmilla did once the Channeler went back inside was up to her...
Midbus
Dracula's Castle
With just one leap, Raven Beak jumped away from the arena's center and landed near Dracula and Ganondorf. The Chozo wasted no time getting back to the matter at hand, that he had listened toduring his "sparring match" with Majora.
Apparently, one of Dracula's toys has been mingling with the ennemy near the castle. But whether this was a betrayal or not remained yet to be seen.
"Whatever the case, we must deal with this matter as soon as possible. If the Aliorumnas is not enough to learn the truth of it, my men are at your disposal if needed, Lord Dracula."
"Now it is time! Now we will fight! Then you will lose! And you will cry!"
Earth 11945, Forest Kingdom - Igno: Play for time
A small "Thanks. And, Ow." escapes Igno's mouth as the two are locked in this position for a few seconds, their blades grinding against each other's and their fist in the other's face. Feeling her pushing his own sword further out of the way, Igno briefly considers augmenting his own strength to match his opponent's, but decides against it; Not only would that make him use up more energy at a time when his next meal is in no way guaranteed to happen anytime soon, But that also goes against his attempt to not kill his opponent, unlike the android herself. Besides, he'd like not to reveal his hand just yet.
Instead, he withdraws his hand that's lodged in the android's cheek and brings to his blade, half-swording his weapon for more strength and ducking just a bit as he pushes the android's sword up and aside, letting it sail over his head instead of trying to overpower her head-on, taking a step back for safety and putting both hands back on his grip to the side of his head, blade pointing towards his foe.
"Anyways, I was wondering," Igno pipes up, sounding just a tad too casual for a swordfight, "Let's say you succeed in wiping every last scrap of sentient still off the face of, uh... Whatever this place is. What do you do then?" He asks as he lifts his blade, making a full circle with his arms to launch a rising slash.
Castelia City, THE THUNDERDOME - Seven: Initiate sparring
"Understood, thank you." Seven bows to Lola before taking a fighting stand, their visible eye and mutated right hand turning green while the little mechanical grasshopper crawls out of the furred creature's collar and jumps away from the impending fight, getting itself in a good spot to watch.
"Let's see how things work around here...!" They add as they step forwards and feint a punch towards Lola's shoulder, turning their upper body ever so slightly for the strike to actually miss narrowly to the outside, opening their palm to strike with the edge of their hand on the backswing.
Castelia City: SOOOOO Much Worse Than He Expected!
Krillin's lips quivered in fear as Lucia recalled what Mayor Osborne had told her. A god that kidnapped entire cities so they could fight each other as their way of fun?! Hadn't this Cure guy heard of TV or anything?!
And I thought Lord Xeno was scary. Wiping out entire universes is bad enough, but to make EVERYBODY in a city fight to survive, and for no reason other than entertainment?! That's just BEYOND evil!
The police officer locked his jaw, his fear of the idea shifting over into anger. To think that somebody—even a god—would be so heartless to put thousands, maybe even millions of people through such a terrible ordeal, and then just lie about sending them all home when things were growing "boring." It was almost beyond imagining.
Almost.
As Lucia concluded her summary of this "Battleworld" hellscape, the two goddesses might notice their pint-sized guest was clenching his fists. For half a second, Krillin wondered if Goku had felt this way about Freiza back on Namek. To recognize something so impossibly cruel that you just want to shout it away with your rage. But the martial artist caught himself when he sensed his own ki beginning to swell; a sensation the Guardians of Sea and Sky might detect as a slight breeze, or a subtle shift in the air pressure.
Get a grip, Krillin. There's nothing you can do about this thing from here. Besides, even if you could power up like a Saiyan, it's not like you have any hair to turn blonde anyways.
The officer took a breath and exhaled; the air returned to normal.
"Well, that's a whole lot more than what the folks in Domino City know." Krillin replied with a shrug and apologetic smile. "Far as they can tell, this is completely unheard of. No Battleworld experience or anything. And while I've got some experience with multiverse stuff, most of my Earth believes 'the universe' is as big as existence gets.
"So at the very least, we can write out 'needs to know about different worlds or timelines' as a prerequisite for being here. Wish I could say that's a helpful clue, but it'd make the situation a lot easier if this wasn't a crash-course for millions of people. When I arrived in Domino City, the people were out in the streets demanding answers from a CEO, if you can believe it. They've got no idea what's going on, and it's got them on the brink of panic."
Krillin took another breath, as if just mentioning the tension was enough to make his shoulders stiff. "So my thinking's that the more I can learn about this planet, the more I can bring back to put their minds at ease. With that in mind, Ma'ams...Ladies...Your Holinesses? What can you tell me about this city?"
she/her friend to the hooved
Hewkii, Castelia City, Castelia Battle Stadium, THE THUNDERDOME
Under normal circumstances Hewkii would have been alarmed by the use of what seem to be shadow powers—that's typically the domain of either the Makuta or those who have likewise shunned their inner light—but in a different world with different rules, he pushes that aside and focuses on the fight. "So we're going all-out, huh? I can deal." he remarks.
First priority is that energy attack; the Toa's first instinct was to raise a stone barrier, but he isn't sure if that would block it and isn't about to take the risk. Instead, he rolls to the side, narrowly putting him out of the ball's path but directly in Arturia's, where he then concentrates on using his mask's power to increase the weight of her sword eightfold, to the point he reckons it would either be too heavy to effectively wield or at the very least throw off her charge.
Anti-Gnosis Weapon
Eastern Ruins, Northwest -> Southwest
"Maybe he's easily riled up by taunts?" Nel suggested to the Vaporeon. "If so, that's very good to know! If you can make your opponent lose their reason and move out of anger or pride, that can be an important advantage in battle!"
Meanwhile, the pink-haired twins were over the moon at Conan's compliment. "Thank you very much, Master Conan!" they chorused, beaming.
"Oh, we're not that advanced, though!" Devola corrected Makura cheerfully. "This tech is pretty ancient, actually! Thousands of years old by now!"
"Yes, we aren't exactly new models," Popola agreed, shaking her head with a smile of her own. "There are models nowadays that are much more advanced than we are."
"As I said earlier, I just call these ruins 'Home' now, although they used to have another name, Alma," Nel re-explained, standing, then addressed all those gathered. "Now, if you don't mind, let's all head to the place the other Guardians and I are staying. We should be able to get you some proper breakfast there! And of course, we can finish our introductions and I can answer any questions you have along the way... Well, most questions, that is."
"Sounds good to me!" Devola opined, still on cloud nine from Conan's praise.
"Breakfast! What a concept!" Popola agreed.
Assuming there were no objections, Nel would begin to lead the group first out of the overgrown side-street to the West, the direction that the majority of them had originally come from. Then she turned left and began guiding them South down the road, eventually crossing past the main street that the people from the hill had first turned at. Of course, if anyone wished to talk amongst themselves or ask her anything along the way, they were more than welcome to...
Eastern Ruins, Guardhome
"Well, you do have a point. His name's 'Wulfrik the Wanderer'," Starrk answered with a sigh.
"And some crazy number of other, more ominous titles besides," Lilynette added. "Always announces himself wherever he goes."
"Red hair. Long, braided beard."
"Armor covered in skulls."
"Challenges anyone and everyone - hell, everything - he meets who he thinks might be a worthy foe to a duel to the death."
"Had a flying ship with a crew of bandits and some mechanical beasts he tamed, but I dunno if they're around."
"Considering he was walking around by himself, you gotta figure they're not, right?"
"Eh, you never know."
"Anyway, that a good enough answer for you, Tatl?" Starrk finished with a look to the fairy, scratching his cheek with a finger.
Fuuka/Manhattan Border
"Ah-ah-ah!" Howard tisked, wagging a finger. "No freebies! Remember, Fernandez, my man, we all put the same question into the pot, meanin' everybody who lost the hand has to answer it. If you wanna ask those questions you said just now, better put 'em in the pot next round. When I said you could go first, I meant answering the question you owe. Then me and Bozo here will answer the same for our side. You get it?"
Tokyo 205X, Karakucho
<Hey, can we get in on this convo?> Ringo interjected suddenly.
<WHOA!> came Saizo's psychic shout, which caused Ringo's comrades and Minako to twitch mightily as they continued down the street past the alleyway where the Velvet Room was located. <How come you're talkin' in my head now, Ringo? Is the inner sanctum of my mind not sacred anymore?!>
<Yeah, how are you doing this?> Minako asked.
<Oh, this is just a trick I picked up from observing the weird ferret thing from earlier! It's simple, really, just like radio waves! I could tell you and somebody else were talking using the same method, although I'm not good enough to eavesdrop yet! So, what's the sitch? We need to bail on the earlier plan to head to your place?>
<Well, don't look now, but there's a drone trailing us. Apparently it belongs to someone who's bad news, so we don't want to lead 'em back to our hideout. Also, we don't know if it can pick up audio, so don't say anything out loud about this.>
<Oh, that? Yeah, I noticed. What do you think, Arrow, Milady?>
<The only ones who'd bother to keep tabs on us are our enemies in Phantom. Yatagarasu can just read Raven's reports to know what we're up to,> Arrow deduced.
<I concur,> Milady agreed.
<So, can they overhear us?>
<No, it shouldn't be capable of capturing our voices at this distance.>
<Oh, that's good. So, what should we do? Maybe we could summon a demon to blow it up?>
<You're gonna summon a demon in the middle of town just for that? No way. We need a different plan. Why don't you just hack it?>
<Awwww! But then Phantom will figure out how I've been hacking them.>
<We actually have another member tracking the drone. She wants us to lure it someplace she can destroy it inconspicuously,> Minako explained.
<Oh! Well, if you want inconspicuous, there's that alleyway we passed a couple minutes ago!>
<No, that's our destination.>
<Ah. Hmmmmmmm. Tell ya what, I know another place. A nice, deserted alley where nobody ever goes! Turn right at this intersection, then right, then left when I tell ya.>
<Alright...>
As promised, Saizo's wisdom led the group to an absolutely inconspicuous little alley, totally barren except for a dumpster loaded with bags of uncollected garbage. Absolutely reeking garbage, if Minako's clamping of her nostrils was anything to go by.
<Homura-chan, can you go ahead and take it out now?!> Minako pleaded as the drone predictably followed them in. <My poor little nose can't take it much longer!>
<I've smelled much worse. Suck it up, kid.>
<Homura-chan, huh...?>
Earth 11945, Forest Kingdom
Igno's manuever to create some space to talk was successful, as rather than pressing forward, the android woman mirrored his stance, evidently waiting for him to attack again so she could pull another fancy dodge. At his question, she scowled.
"I dunno. Guess I'll die," she rasped, with a dry lilt that was either sarcastic or frankly honest. "It's not like I have anything else to live for. Besides, my friends are waiting for me, in whatever place comes after for people like me."
Earth 11945, Commercial Facility
Luckily for Yunica's health, her manuever worked, hurling the offending Machine off her lance-arm and sending it crashing into a former storefront on the second floor, where it exploded on impact in an impressive fireball.
"Nicely done," 2B complimented with a small smile when Sea Wasp came back down. "Like you said, you don't need my help."
"Now for the last one..." she trailed off, raising her sword to point vertically, then commanding: "Pod!"
"Command received. Charging laser," 042 announced as a circle of white glyphs formed in front of him, and then three seconds later added, "Charging complete."
2B swung her blade down to point directly at the last Machine, which was still dancing about and avoiding her allies' fire. With a sound like a turbine whining to a stop, Pod 042 fired a line of pure ivory light instantaneously from point A to point B, peircing a massive hole of melted metal through the enemy's center. Then, predictably, the Machine exploded like its fellows, although its head curiously remained intact, dropping with a clang and rolling several feet away. After that, something curious happened.
The Machine head split perfectly down the middle, and its two hollow halves fell to either side, revealing... some kind of creepy, skull-like ball.
"Uhhhhh... Hey, guys!" the ball began in the voice of a young boy, somehow speaking in spite of its uncanny teeth being frozen in place. "What's up?"
"What is that?" 9S wondered aloud.
"I don't know..." 2B answered, just as flummoxed.
"It looks weird! Let's kill it!" 9S decided, drawing his sword.
"Right!"
"NNNNNNN-N-N-N-NO-" the ball-boy stammered in panic.
"Wait!" Shion interjected hurriedly. "Stand down, you two! That's an order!"
2B stiffened, then immediately sheathed her blade, an action followed by 9S doing the same. "Yes, Mistress," the B-Type said, bowing her head submissively.
"We're so sorry, Mistress! We didn't think you'd want to talk to it!" 9S added, suddenly ashamed.
Shion sighed in relief. "It's alright," she assured kindly. "You didn't actually go through with it, after all. But you really need to not attempt to kill everything strange you come across. It's not right!"
"Understood, Mistress!" the androids chorused.
"And like I said, you don't need to call me 'Mistress'. Just Shion is fine."
"Right, Shion!" 9S agreed with a smile, seeing as he'd be forgiven.
"I'm sorry, but I can't do that, Mistress. It would be improper," 2B protested, frowning.
"Well, gee, thanks for saving me, Shion!" the ball-skull-head boy said, turning to face the scientist. "I'm Emil! Nice to meet you! Wait... the androids are calling you 'Mistress'! Does that mean...?"
"That's right; I'm a human!" Shion imparted, smiling down at him. "Nice to meet you as well, Emil! My full name is Shion Uzuki, but you can just call me Shion! And these people are MOMO Mizrahi, Yunica, 2B, 9S, and... um, sorry, I don't think I got your names..." she trailed off sheepishly, scratching her head at the Jellyfish grunts.
"You can just call me MOMO, Emil! Nice to meet you!" MOMO said, giving him a little curtsy.
"Okay, Shion and MOMO! It's nice to meet all the rest of you as well! But wow, to think humans have come down from the Moon!" Emil rocked from side to side in wonderment, or perhaps excitement.
"It's, um, a little more complicated than that, but we can explain later," Shion said. "I have to ask, though, what were you doing inside a Machine Lifeform's head, Emil?"
"Oh, that? I was trying to infiltrate and learn more about the Forest Machines! They're very secretive!"
"Oh, the same as us, then! Well, minus the infiltration part. We're supposed to be investigating the Forest Machines," 9S explained, evidently having gotten used to the weirdness of the skull-boy.
"Proposal: Allied units should join forces with unit 'Emil' to complete the mission," 042 suggested in his usual monotone.
"Obviously," 2B agreed, crossing her arms.
"I'd be alright with that, too!" Emil added cheerfully.
"Then it's settled!" Shion determined, beaming. "Good to be working with you, Emil!"
"You as well!" Emil returned.
"I can carry you if you need it," Shion offered.
"Oh, it's alright! I can roll around on my own just fine!" Emil assured, demonstrating by rolling in a wide circle at surprising speed.
"Sure, but what if you run into a tree root or a sheer incline?"
"Hmmmm... Good point!"
And so, Shion crouched down to lift the skull boy... or attempted to. "Ooooof! No offense, Emil, but you're really heavy!" she grunted, strained, then gave up and dropped him back to the ground, which resulted in a loud THUNK! and a small quake.
"Sorry, eheheh..." Emil chuckled bashfully.
"I should be able to carry you if you want!" MOMO said, returning her 'bow' to subspace and stepping over to kneel and attempt the same, managing it easily. Apparently her earlier show of strength hadn't been a fluke.
"Wow, you're strong, MOMO!" Emil complimented.
"Hee-hee! Thanks!" she giggled, making sure he was facing forward so he could see what was going on.
"So, what next?" 2B asked.
"Oh! The way into the forest is over that way," Emil indicated by turning a little to face the back-left corner of the former mall. "It was blocked off by the Machines, though. I can break through if you want!"
"No need; I can handle it," Shion assured, patting the device on her arm. Quickly pacing over, she lined up a shot with the obvious fencing, braced her arm, and fired off another... something with another SHUMP! sound. And, just as before, the traget was utterly disintegrated, and Shion was knocked on her ass.
"Wow!" Emil exclaimed, amazed. "You're really strong in a different way, Shion!"
"Why thank you!" Shion replied, picking herself up and dusting off, then turned to Sea Wasp. "Yunica - or, sorry, Sea Wasp - would you like to lead the way?"
Castelia City, Town Square
"Hooraaaaaaaaaay!" Brobot cheered, waving his little arms with great enthusiasm. "Three cheers for the Prime Minister! Long live the great and benevolent Ray! You won't regret this, I promise!"
Castelia City, THE THUNDERDOME
"Magnificent!" the albino man breathed rapturously as he leaned in and watched the action closely. After a few moments, he seemed to start bobbing his head in time to a beat, which if anyone was listening to big red guy's music they would recognize as exactly in time with the bass of the song. But it didn't seem like this individual had any kind of earbuds in...
Edited by darksidevoid on May 29th 2023 at 2:01:01 PM
GM of AGOG S4: Frontiers RP; Sub-GM of TABA, SOTR, & UUA RPs
she/her friend to the hooved
Elaine, Eastern Ruins, Northwest Oasis -> Southwest
"Pfft, everyone's vulnerable to taunts." Elaine shrugs, still very much in Battle Analyst mode. "Just have to find out what they're insecure about. In Ridley's case, I'm pretty sure it's 'everything he can't kill'."
When Nel proposes the group migrate over to the Guardians' home base, the vaporeon opens her mouth to interject, that she and her makeshift adventuring party had made a deal to leave once the whole Ridley situation had been rectified, but the mention of one thing in particular clouds her judgement and supersedes all else:
"Oh fuck yeah, free breakfast!" she exclaims with what would have been a fistpump had she the requisite anatomy, instead substituted for a stomp of her forefoot. "Pink and Pinker got the right idea."
She'd eaten not long ago, of course, but after the fight she finds herself getting hungry again... and who knows what food they might come across on their travels from here on? After a moment's hesitation she takes point behind Nel, and nods back over her shoulder for Makura and Conan to follow suit.
Her priority in the meantime becomes gathering information. "So," she begins to ask of Runway Cubone as they walk, given that she'd demonstrated at least some knowledge about this place and promised to answer questions. "How'd these get to be ruins? What is this place, like, generally speaking, and how do we leave, back to where we all came from? Why's it look like a bunch of other places mashed together? What's the green kid's deal, is he alright?"
She squints. "...and what do you mean 'most questions'?"
Edited by Chortleous on May 16th 2023 at 1:31:19 PM
Duke's Archives, Seath's Chambers: "That was A Fine Trade"
The following few hours proved to be the start of a most promising partnership between the dragon and the witch. Eager to witness the young speaker's adaptability and ingenuity, Seath insisted on tutoring Sypha on a few sorceries of her choosing. To the Eternal Dragon's delight, her selections were enough to bring a chuckle from her instructor.
The first of Sypha's two lessons was to learn a spell from the Dragon School of Vindheim. Hush was originally the invention of a rather surreptitious student; whether he designed the spell to sneak late into classes or tiptoe into the women's' dormitory was a mystery, but soon enough the ability to suppress all noise the caster made found its way into a very...discrete line of work. Seath was half-tempted to share the dark history behind this sorcery, but he suspected Miss Belnades had already guessed who would use such magic.
Perhaps she even planned to put Hush to a similar use. Insidious little maiden.
The second of the two lessons was a more arduous task, though at least Sypha's interest in Hush informed Seath what she might ask to learn next. Hidden Body was one of the ancient sorceries of Oolacile that the Eternal Dragon had mentioned earlier. As it turned out, "an approximation of an approximation" was a rather apt description. In his lesson, Seath discouraged Sypha from trying to actually make herself invisible; even if the act could be accomplished through will and wit alone, it would be far too taxing to prove viable. Instead, the key was to focus on reflecting the light around her, to mirror what one might see if they could see straight through her, and present that image instead.
The indirect avenue of the spell meant it left much to be desired. It was most effective when the caster could stand perfectly still and focus on reflecting imagery; any movement tarnished the façade with a noticeable shimmer, and strenuous acts like running, jumping, or swimming would ruin the spell entirely. The manipulation of light was a difficult art to master, and the Eternal Dragon warned of such at the start of the lesson.
"Tis nought like wielding pyromancies." informed Seath. "At least with flame, thou hast more than sight to guide thee.
Speaking of pyromancies, when it came for Sypha to honor her side of the bargain, the only thing Seath seemed interested in was her Holy Fire. The Eternal Dragon explained that in the world of Lordran, fire "magic" has its own origins that came completely separate from his invention of sorceries. Flame predated the mystic arts, and held its own dominion focused on the intimacy between one's flame, and their very soul. As a sickly-born creature whose "soul" was something bequeathed to him later in life, Seath lacked the connection to fire that many of his brethren possessed.
Until now, it seemed. Though he could not see the fires Sypha could produce, her methods of conjuring flames aligned more closely to sorceries than he'd expected. There was a practice to it, a methodology, something that could be mimicked until perfected and—eventually—reinvented to the wielder's strengths.
To think that his interest in pyromancy would be revived with just a different tutoring style. No more of the transcendentalist "it's mostly a feeling" dribble of the hermits from the Great Swamp.
In time, and with the gusto of a gleeful student, Seath could manage to conjure sparks with the snap of his claws. A most promising breakthrough, one which produced a crystal-shaking laugh from the Eternal Dragon.
"Thy tutelage is most impressive, Sypha Belnades." he grinned. "Hast thou considered it a calling? Thou hast promise to someday rival the Headmasters of Vindheim in thy knowledge of sorcery—mayhaps Big Hat Logan himself. I look forward to seeing the magician thou shall become."
Another snap, and the dragon's attention seemed to drift over to his new promising ability. "Though I suppose this should be enough lessons for today. I must return to mine other tasks, and thou hast an Undead pet to attend to. Shouldst thou wish to embark on another trade in knowledge, please return another day. I shall inform my Channelers to grant thee safe passage to the library, the courtyard, and mine chambers—though I must insist on the rest of these archives remain off-limits. Alas, not all whom I command will treat thee as an honored guest."
Assuming that Sypha agreed to the restrictionsnote , the witch would be escorted out of the crystal-lined room, down the winding staircase and the first lift, through the first floor of the library, down a second lift, and finally through two long stone hallways out to overlook the city bathed in an eternal sunset.
Where Sypha chose to venture next was up to her...
Anor Londo, Streets: "We're On Our Way to Cerulean Castelia City!"
With their intentions clear (enough for now), Gwyndolin wasted little time with the questions, and instead guided the trio of visitors to the nearest Silver Knight outpost. From there, the Dark Sun informed the commander on-duty to escort the visitors to the gate facing Castelia City, and to grant them safe passage to the land of Pokemon.
"We hath forged a budding alliance with the people of Castelia." Gwyndolin explained. "Inform either Prime Minister Rachel, or Ladies Lucia, Helia, or Zariah that I hath sent thee in search of thy maiden in blue robes. Shouldst she find her way there, the gijinka will surely aid thee."
With a wave of their scepter, Gwyndolin engulfed themself in a mystic light, and disappeared—though their gentle voice lingered on the wind:
"Farewell, travelers. May the flames guide thee."
Eastern Ruins, Guardhouse: Like Ellie, Tatl ALSO Knows the Art of the Many Questions!
"Armor covered in what now?" echoed Tatl. "Yeesh. Think we'd probably steer clear of someone like that even without knowing he's trouble. Least it sounds like I'll hear this guy long before the kid sees him."
It was "good enough" of an answer, as Mr. Eyepatch put it. But it did leave Tatl in a bit of a bind. She didn't want to ask much more about this place, since she'd been warned not to push her luck when it came to uncovering secrets. That said, the sheer amount of secrecy—not to mention the apparent dependence on it, if describing this Wulfrik guy was any indication—made the fairy uneasy around these two, almost on principle.
By their own admission, they amounted to Poes who could puppet a body whenever they wanted to, guarding a thing they refused to name after an event they refused to describe led to the vast majority of this city falling to ruin. Every other resident was also something that could stick around for a real long time, but something told Tatl they'd be even more tight-lipped than these two.
Besides, she wasn't eager to leave the kid's side. They saved his life, and she couldn't repay them for that, but it didn't change the fact that Tatl didn't really know these guys, let alone trust them beyond saving someone who basically did their job for them.
So. Might as well start with backgrounds. She hoped at least those wouldn't be quite as touchy a subject.
"So...what's home like? Your world, I mean. There a lot of folks who can do that semi-Poe semi-mortal deal? Or that thing where you turn into awhat did that masked guy call 'em'Firey Arm?'"
Tatl shifted her wings to let her scan the room they were in, as well as to glance outside to the modern city blocks outside.
"Can't say Termina looks much like this. This area's a lot...cleaner, than Clock Town."
Breath of the Sun
Eastern Ruins, Northwest
She briefly considered trying to explain to Conan what a robot was, but any motivation to do so went out the window at his compliment. She flushed and pressed her hands to her cheeks.
"Ah, you're such a charmer." Makura smiled in what she hoped was a coy way. "You're not half bad yourself, handsome."
Kongara and Seitaka looked up at their friend and handler with amusement, evidently familiar with her flirtatious antics.
She fortunately snapped out of it when she remembered other people were around. Turning to Ramza and Alma, she mulled over their words. "We don't really have nobles anymore where I'm from. Guess the closest you'd get are military dictators, and those have been on the decline."
Mostly because us beast soldiers overthrew a bunch of them went unsaid, because it was neither relevant nor the kind of thing to share in polite company.
"So it doesn't look like there's any rhyme or reason for who got taken. I guess maybe we all know how to fight? Is that it?"
Meanwhile, Yoriichi quietly followed after Nel alongside his lady.
"Those with wicked hearts are often quick to anger." He mused aloud. "Whether through pride, or perhaps guilt when facing one who did not succumb to evil desire."
At Elaine's question, he recalled what he had seen. "I believe the boy in green was the rock creature from before, having changed shape through some means. The boy was accompanied by the same tiny spirit. As for his health, he should recover. I witnessed the end result of the healers' work, and his injuries were almost completely gone."
Then he realized something, and explained further: "Ah, I should mention, I am able to see inside the bodies of living things. I call it the See-Through World. It is a power I have possessed since birth, though I have heard of others attaining it through intense training."
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?
Earth 11945, Forest Kingdom - Igno: Of all the possible flavors you could be...
"Wow, that's pretty mucked up. With a capital F, even!" Igno remarks as he pushes the offensive, more with the aim of giving his opponent something to keep busy with than actually hitting her; he spins his blade above his head to give the weapon some momentum before striking from the left, then once again from the right as she easily blocks or evades his strikes.
"You know you can just walk away from all this, right? Just go out there and find something to live for. Hell, there's no better time than today to get on that! I dunno if you've peeked outside of this here forest, but things out there are a lot different than they used to be a couple hours ago; it's like someone mashed a buncha different worlds together!"
Left, right, left, right...
"What I'm tryna say is, afterlife is forever; your friends sure won't mind if you decide to take the long way there." The shapeshifter punctuates his sentence by breaking the tempo he'd established, feinting his next attack from the left by stepping back just enough to let the tip of the blade sail right in front of the android, conserving the sword's inertia as he swings it all the way to his right side and behind his back, drawing a wide arc over his head as it comes crashing down towards his opponent.
Ray, Castelia City Press Conference
Brobot does manage to get a bit of a group cheer going on, partly because the government is legitimately popular, and people do seem to like Ray. But also it's because it's hard not to like Brobot's infectious positivity, plus an impromptu cheer starting during a press conference is kind of funny so that's what's going to happen.
"Hip hip hooray!"
To prevent this entire section from being entirely a shitpost, someone does ask another question.
"Prime Minister Ray, much of the questions today have centered around our border security and immigration. What I'm curious about is whether or not you and the Parliament have any long-term plans/goals for our diplomatic relations with the other territories beyond simply agreeing to do trade and avoid aggression with each other?"
"This is something I've discussed with Mayor Osborne," Ray answers. "He has proposed attempting to create something he calls the 'United Nations' in which member territories may voice diplomatic concerns to each other and work out their differences peacefully. This is of course very similar to the Global Alliance we had in the Pokemon World, in which the various Regions would do very much the same thing. In an effort to facilitate dialogue and prevent war, Castelia will be one of its founding members."
Questions eventually stop trickling in from the pokemon, and assuming the outsiders don't have any of their own to ask Ray, the conference starts winding down.
Castelia City, Castelia Battle Stadium, THE THUNDERDOME
Arturia is taken by surprise as she feels herself lose her grip on her suddenly much heavier sword, which falls out of her hands and lands on the ground with a loud clanging noise before she can reach Hekwii."Whoa!" Arturia takes a moment to gather herself. "So one of your moves must have something to do with changing density."
She then attempts to quickly bash her shield into Hekwii and push him backwards before he can react, using it as a sort of improvised battering weapon.
"But I've got more than just swordplay up my sleeve!"
Seven successfully backhands Lola, who is surprised by his feint and gets pushed back by the force of it.
"That's quite an arm you've got on you!" Lola remarks, figuring something must be up with that given its unusual coloring. "Let's see what else ya got!"
She loses the gap between them by essentially teleporting in front of Seven in a remarkable burst of speed. After this blinding maneuver, she kicks Seven which, should it connect anyway, hits like a truck. This bunny definitely didn't skip leg day.
Meanwhile, the big red man notices the moderately sized albino man.
"Oh yeah, you likin' my jams? Wait, what are you listening to it on...?"
Helia and Lucia, Castelia City, The Bald and the Beautiful
The Guardians do take notice of Krillin's surge of ki pressure, and though they aren't really aware of ki as a concept that exists within all living things, they know enough to recognize that there is something within the air manifesting from Krillin.
"Hm," Lucia nodded along as Krillin spoke. "I suppose we should count ourselves lucky that we have an ally and neighbor that has been in this situation before, if nothing else."
"I'm inclined to agree that we should probably learn everything we can about each other," Helia replied. "Well, for starters, the inhabitants of Castelia are a varied bunch collectively referred to as 'Pokemon'. In summation, Pokemon are bestial creatures capable of taking human form, as we are now. If we didn't deign to do that, we'd both be gigantic birds right now. Though the forms Pokemon can take aren't necessarily limited to animalistic ones - some are more mechanical, or may even resemble ordinary objects. Pokemon can have all sorts of abilities - control over the elements, incredible strength, psychic abilities, and so on."
Though the ki levels of the pokemon Krillin can see vary, all of them, even ones that don't particularly look strong, still have a considerable amount more ki to them than the regular Joe Farmer that he'd be familiar with on earth, suggesting that they all do indeed have some sort of power to them.
"Our god and the creator of all Pokemon is called Arceus," Lucia continued. "Though they do not often intervene in affairs directly, as, well… God, they of course command incredible reverence from all our kind. That's something to keep in mind while you're here, let alone if you ever end up meeting them."
Helia raised an eyebrow.
"Meeting them? Do you think they're actually here?"
"I do," Lucia nodded, and both of them seem remarkably casual about discussing whether or not their motherfucking God is present on the Frontiers. Almost as if Arceus is just their old friend or something. "They are capable of appearing in multiple places - even multiple worlds - at the same time, so it's certainly possible for them to remain in the Pokemon World and have some presence here as well. It's a certainty, if that's the case, that their divine powers hold no hold over this realm - or else this whole mess would've been sorted by now - but still, their presence would be a most welcome one."
You can't help but wonder if this Arceus is yet another intimidating tall person. Unfortunately for the short king ki practitioner, the answer is almost certainly 'yes'.
"Regardless of that particular issue," Helia shifts gears. "Pokemon are generally a peaceful sort - except when it comes to our combat sports, which we take incredibly seriously. In fact, more than anything else, fighting is the single most important part of our culture as far as entertainment goes. That may come across as a bit unusual, I understand, but it's just one of our eccentricities."
This is further supported by the presence of the 'Battle Stadium' somewhere in the distance, along with various advertisements for particularly high profile fights playing on electronic billboards.
"That's about Castelia in a nutshell," Lucia concluded. "Also, is Domino City relatively nearby? We're currently in the process of creating diplomatic relations with our neighbors, and we'd be quite interested in saying hello to them."
Edited by HilarityEnsues on May 20th 2023 at 12:08:31 PM
she/her friend to the hooved
Hewkii, Castelia City, Castelia Battle Stadium, THE THUNDERDOME
"You're half right. It's my mask," Hewkii explains in the interests of being a good sport, using Arturia's confusion to get back to his feet and ready himself for her next move. "lets me control the pull of gravity on things, temporarily. Weigh them down or send them flying."
His feet firmly planted in a wide stance and yielding little, bolstered by his own considerable weight and strength, Arturia would find it difficult to knock the Toa off-balance with brute force alone as he raises his own weapon defensively against her shield-bash, and promptly counters by shoving back hard to put some distance between the two of them. "Thought so! Good thing the mask isn't the only trick I've got either-"
Then, he twirls the blade theatrically and plunges it tip-first into the arena's floor, which with a practiced application of his elemental powers begins to buckle and ripple violently beneath his opponent's feet, as if it were suddenly made of roiling, turbulent liquid. Should this disorienting maneuver succeed, he would free the warblade and transition into offense, lunging forward with a mighty sweeping strike.
Should it not, the pokémon may be met with an opening before he can raise his defenses again, however narrow.
Edited by Chortleous on May 21st 2023 at 9:20:46 AM
At The Hill
With the errant Teen Titans having vamoosed off to who-knows-where, the hill was silent and tranquil once again. As the wind blew through the leaves of the massive oak tree, however, a handful of newcomers appeared: A pointy-eared male about the height of a human teen, with light purple skin and shrewd, malice-filled eyes; A tall, wild-eyed redheaded man; and lastly, an enormous, 15-meter titan of metal whose top was nevertheless far below the topmost branches of the tree.
Whoever these strangers were, their lives were about to get a whole lot more complicated...
Eastern Ruins, East
Unfortunately for Wulfrik, he at first encountered no other living things but beasts on his trek to the East. And not only nothing but beasts, but not even beasts willing to fight! Finally, at the Eastern edge of the buildings, he came across the remains of what was likely a trail or road leading further in the same direction.
If he proceeded along it, he would soon find himself surrounded on either side by formations of leafy green plants that were just uniform enough not to be natural. These remains of farmland were absolutely overrun by hordes of tall fowl of every color. Once they noticed him approaching, however, they let out loud warning cries to one another, and soon enough, a swarm of chocobos closed the distance and began encircling the Wanderer on every side, squawking war-cries and attempting to peck at him! How terrifying...ly droll!
Eastern Ruins, Guardhome
"Heh, good to see you have a sense of humor, Miss Fairy! I was starting to worry!" Lilynette chuckled with a smug, teasing smile. "Well... eh, to be honest, I dunno who originally came up with the name, but back in the day, we called it the Frontier, or the Frontiers. We've been trying to keep that hush-hush, since we were concerned some other, less-than-friendly old-timers might show up again and use it as an excuse to make a messa things for the same old reasons."
"Sure enough, one showed his face already, although I don't think you or the kid saw or heard him, since you were focused on Big, Purple, and Ugly. The longer we go without him realizing he's back in the same place with the same rules, the longer we avert the disaster of him making use of what he knows. And that, Tatl, is one of the reasons why we're keeping so many secrets," Starrk concluded, winking.
"Ooooooh, look at me! I'm Starrk! I'm so suave!" Lilynette mocked, rolling her eyes.
"Hey, I wasn't trying to be suave, alright? Don't get mad just 'cause I finished what you were gonna say. Geez!" Starrk sighed deeply, probably long since used to his partner's heckling.
Hyrule, Death Mountain
"Yes, Gorons, Felkin! Gorons! Ha-ha-ha-ha!" the Goron corrected, letting out a resounding laugh. "In any case, good to meet you both, Lillian and Felkin! As for our home, Death Mountain, well... it's home, but there's not much to say about it. Death Mountain is a volcano, and we're blessed with hot springs, which are the main attraction for outsiders, and mines, which are our main source of food and exports. We Gorons eat rocks, you see!"
"Ah!" the Goron exclaimed, lightly pounding his fist into his palm. "I guess you'll probably want some directions and an idea of where you are, right? Well, if you continue that way-" he pointed down the trail away from the mountain, "-You'll end up in Kakariko Village. The wider area Death Mountain, Kakariko, and part of the fields to the West are in is called Eldin, a province of the wider Kingdom of Hyrule. From what we've managed to see up on the Mountain, the rest of Hyrule seems to have come along with us to this strange new place. If you keep West across the field after Kakariko, you'll reach Castle Town, the Kingdom's capital city and where the Royals live... or, where they're supposed to live."
He paused to scratch his head, then continued, "You see... How should I explain... There have been strange things afoot as of late. A dark army of monsters invaded Hyrule Castle some time ago, and whole provinces of Hyrule, including Kakariko and Death Mountain, were wrapped in an odd, perpetual twilight afterward, where strange and dangerous monsters lurked — more dangerous than the usual, I mean. We don't rightly know what caused it, or what dispelled it, but one thing that's remained afterwards is a huge magical barrier over Hyrule Castle in Castle Town. So, we don't know what's become of Hyrule's rulers. But we Gorons have our own Chief, and things have mostly settled into normalcy again, besides monster attacks being more frequent on the road."
"Anyway, I figured you'd probably want to head towards Kakariko rather than stick around here, but if you do want to explore the mountain, my brothers and I would gladly welcome you as guests! The only place that's off-limits is the interior of the volcano — partly because it's sacred to us Gorons, and partly because nobody but a Goron can endure the heat rising up from the lava!" the Goron said, still with a big smile. "Either way, got any other questions for me, Brothers?"
Ordon Village, Outside
Although his expression had hardened at being accused of enslaving a sapient being, Rusl's stance wavered uncertainly at the words of the pairs from Alrest and the Last Outpost, and then he relaxed and sheathed his blade with a sigh. "Well, this is certainly the strangest circumstance I've yet beheld..." he admitted, crossing his arms, then added to Pyra, "You surely didn't mean any harm by it, Pyra, so I'll forgive you, but please keep in mind the rudeness of such a thing. Not everyone would be so understanding."
He turned to the princess incognito and the duo from Ponyville. "As my friends here have said, everywhere and everyone South of Ordonia seem to have shifted to something else entirely," he explained. "I don't know the extent of the changes so far, but I wouldn't be surprised if that holds true in every other direction out of Hyrule as well. And my friends are also correct that those horses you're attempting to 'rescue' there are beasts lacking the intelligence of the races of beings we consider to be people, though they are usually smart enough to follow cues and simple commands. We use them to carry people, as well as pull things such as carts or wagons behind them."
Castelia City, Press Conference
The mystery albino man, who might have been named Adam, watched Kyla's interjection with a satisfied smirk, but ultimately decided to leave. Before he departed, however, he spotted a certain Machine Lifeform floating over to hover above the crowd. As the white-haired agitator departed for the Battle Stadium, Brobot asked his own question while certainly sticking out from the crowd like a sore thumb:
"'Scuse me, Miss Magnificent Prime Minister! I've heard from a bunch of other Machines like me who say they'd like to immigrate here as well! Is that okay? We won't take up any resources other than electricity and maybe some space, and we promise we'll be peaceful!"
Castelia City, Battle Stadium
Having paid for his ticket with a credit card he had gotten from who-knows-where, but which apparently all checked out as legitimate, the antagonistic albino man settled into a front-row seat with a dynamaxed drink in his cupholder and a dynamaxed tub of popcorn on his lap.
"Good luck to you all!" he called down to the quartet on the field with a friendly wave. "I look forward to a good show, weapons or no!"
Earth 11945, Amusement Park
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" the little Machine screamed in terror as Kat's gravity powers had it falling up into the air, thankful for Kaiba's grabbing it as it gripped her for dear life. Quickly adjusting to being in the air, however, it soon enough began whooping for joy as they orbited the gravity-shifter and were pulled this way and that.
"WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! MISS KAIBA, MISS KAT, THIS IS SO MUCH FUN!" it exclaimed, before registering that these extremely strange new equine creatures were introducing themselves like people, which reminded it of its actual job.
"Oh, welcome to the Land of Dreams, Miss Pie and Miss Maud! We hope you enjoy your stay! We don't have any food courts, but we do have plenty of other wonderful attractions! We have balloons, and flowers, and a shop, and confetti, and costumes, and a roller-coaster, and even a recently reopened theater! We don't discriminate, either! Both Machines like me and Androids like Miss Kaiba, and even humans like Miss Kat are welcome here, so I'm sure whatever the two of you are will be welcome as well! So have a look around, relax, don't worry, and be happy!"
"Oh," it added as an afterthought, "I would give you flowers, but I'm afraid I gave my last ones to our most recent guests. My apologies!"
Earth 11945, Forest Kingdom
Just as predicted, the android woman attempted the illusory splitting trick again just before Igno's sword hit, her next attack coming in from the right and being blocked by his blade. However, she seemed to have anticipated that, because, holding her own weapon with only her right hand, she seamlessly brought her fist up and swung for Igno's face just as he did the same for hers!
CROSS... COUNTER!
"Not bad," she ground out against his hand, though her head had barely moved, and geez, her skull was hard, as if she, too, was made of metal. Though their blades were locked together, the android's strength meant that her own was inexorably forcing Igno's back and edging closer to his flesh.
Earth 11945, Desert Oasis
"Eep!" the blindfolded woman squeaked, holding up her hands defensively, "How are you talking?! You're not supposed to be able to talk! ...Although..." she paused, then put a hand to her chin, suddenly deep in thought. "If you're the juvenile form of horses and not camels, then... then this changes our whole understanding of extinct ancient animal species! Incredible!"
Beaming, she clapped excitedly, and offered the ponies a little bow. "Thank you so much for your contributions to science! ...And sorry if I offended you; I didn't mean it! It's just been so long since ponies, horses, or camels existed that we only have vague records of what any of them were like, sooo... you two are a once-in-a-lifetime find!"
"Oh, I'm YoRHa No. 7 Type R, meaning Research Type; you can just call me 7R, if you want!" she added happily.
Ponyville/Manhattan Border
"Of course, Ma'am!" the Sable grunt agreed eagerly. "We'll be careful; don't worry!"
That said, he and a partner got to looking through Rarity's belongings... only to quickly find a trio of stowaways!
"Uhhhh...," the grunt who'd been talking to Rarity before stared at the littler ponies and trailed off, and motioned for the adult equine to come over. "I take it you're not deliberately smuggling, uh, people into the city? Whoever these kids are, they're welcome to come with you, as long as you keep a close eye on them..."
Fuuka/Manhattan Border
Howard's confident expression didn't change as he looked between his compatriots, although he shrugged in an 'aw, shucks' sort of way as he laid his cards down. "One-pair, twos," he declared. "Seems ya got me beat, Fernandez!"
"One-pair, fives," the second announced, setting his own on the table.
"Flush," the last enunciated with relish as he spread his cards on the cheap plastic.
"Hot damn!" Howard whistled. "Well, looks like you win this round! Let's see, we all put the question into the pot, so that means each of us losers has to answer, even though obviously all we Manhattanites already know our side's answer. You can go first, Fernandez." He nodded, winking at the Searrs grunt.
Fuuka Bay
"Affirmative, and understandable. You have your own superiors to deal with, of course. Well, assuming all goes well, we may talk later. Take care, Ragnarok."
And with that, the SS Ashtapadi dove, vanished into the depths, and there were no signs on the surface of the water that it was even there to begin with. The Searrs forces equipment, however, could easily pick up the sub as it traversed underneath them and headed East, staying 2000 meters abreast of the shore, as agreed.
SS Ashtapadi, Mess Hall
Karen listened solemnly, and with some shock, as Alice explained the history of nuclear weapons. Surely such a thing would have been useful for deterring Britannia... but it was clear that pursuing them was a game with no winners. Idly, she wondered what the historical turning point had been that prevented the same technology from being developed on her own Earth. Hopefully, nobody from her own universe would end up inventing nukes... or get the idea to do so from someone who knew about them.
That said, she shook her head, partly to clear her thoughts, partly in uncertainty as Alice asked her a question. "I want to finish my schooling, go to a good college, get a good job so I can support my mom and I, that sort of thing, but.. I don't know exactly what I'd want to do for a living, you know? I'm a pretty good pilot and bodyguard — heck, I'd even say I'm great at it — but those skills don't really translate well to peacetime occupations, aside from maybe security work. Also..." she paused, looking away as she blushed slightly, "there's someone I want to spend the rest of my life with, after all this is over..."
As the redhead took a bite of her sushi, someone else piped up from the next table over:
"ZERO! IT'S ZERO, RIGHT, KAREN?! GYAHAHAHA!" the annoying man from before — Tamaki? — chortled.
Karen's face went as red as her hair and she began coughing, though whether this was because she was embarrassed, because the food had gone down the wrong pipe, or both wasn't completely clear.
"HEY, NO NEED TO BE SHY ABOUT IT! EVERYBODY SEES IT! PROBABLY EVEN ZERO HIMSELF, HEH! I MEAN, HE'D HAVE TO BE BLIND NOT TO! BUT I MEAN, IT'S GOT TO BE KIND OF AWKWARD, RIGHT? SINCE HE HAS A MISTRESS AND ALL!"
"I'll only say this one more time, so this time get it through your thick skull, vulgar man who only thinks with his lower half:" the long green-haired woman a couple seats down from the pair of new roomies bit out, glowering from behind her pizza, "I'm not his mistress. And don't make light of a girl's feelings, you ingrate."
Recovering from her coughing fit, Karen briefly glared daggers at Tamaki, then mouthed a quiet "Thank you!" to the verdant-haired woman, who nodded elegantly. Finally, she turned back to Alice, still a bit crimson in countenance. "A-Anyway, what about you, Alice?!" she asked, desperate to turn the conversation to another topic. "I mean, I know it's not even your universe, so maybe I shouldn't be asking so soon, but if you could do anything after all the fighting is done with, what would you do?"
Tokyo 205X, Karakucho, In Front of De La Mancha
"Oh, wow, how are you speaking like-" the well-dressed man paused in realization. "Whoa, I can do it too! Wow, that's amazing! I gotta pay you back somehow, yeah? Maybe a free night at our host club? But first... pictures!" He deftly snapped several angles.
"Aw yeah, you look incredible, man!" he congratulated Leif, repositioning himself shoulder-to-shoulder so he could show the bug the fruits of his labor. Indeed, the moth did look quite heroic in the light of the pictures!
"Thanks so much, man!" the enthusiastic host club employee cheered, grinning ear to ear. "If there's ever anything you need, just ask, and I'll do my best to help you out, alright?"
Meanwhile, Homura's plan to steal the dead man's phone and shoot out the cameras went off without a hitch. Now with a lead to this mysterious "Phantom Society", she took to a nearby fire escape and up to the rooftops. She made it back to the roof of De La Mancha just in time to see Ringo's allies emerge from the same. From the raven-haired Magical Girl's vantage point, perched on the roof like Batman, she had a clear line of sight, and clear shot, at the drone that was circling below. It was low enough that it hadn't spotted her, but at the same time, the angle meant that if she missed or the attack ricocheted, innocent people below might be hurt. Acceptable casualties, perhaps?
At the same time, Ringo, Saizo, and the trio of girls from Battleworld met Ringo's
◊ companions
◊ as they emerged. The two newcomers seemed on edge and were sneaking glares and side-eye at one another, but a quick interrogation by the Agent of Aion sorted out the cause:
"This sleazeball was hitting on Yume! As if I didn't have enough reasons to hate him!" the sharply-dressed, red-clad woman declared, crossing her arms with a scowl.
"Please! You're really going to claim I'm that sort of person?! All I did was say her hair looked nice, and ask if she did something new with it!"
"Her hair was the same as always!"
"No it wasn't! It was more... wavy, and uh... you know!" He gestured vaguely.
"Uh, Milady," Ringo interjected, pronouncing it 'Mill-ah-dee', "I don't think Arrow's a sleaze. I think he's just dense."
"Ugh, he might not be a sleaze after all, but he has no clue about women's fashion!" Milady palmed her face.
"Hey, it's not my fault that wasn't part of my education!" Arrow protested, holding up his bag-filled hands defensively.
"Well, whatever! Did you get the stuff?" Ringo demanded.
"Take a look for yourself," he replied, holding one of the bags open and offering it to her to dig through.
"Awwwww yeah, that's the good shit!" the green-haired lady crowed. "We're gonna be set on healing items for a while now! Good job, Arrow!"
"Hmph. I helped," Milady proclaimed haughtily.
"Good job, Milady!"
"So, who're these three?"
"Oh, these are Minako-chan, Aigis-chan, and Mami-chan. The first two are from our universe but time-displaced, and the third is from a completely different universe!"
"Huh..." Arrow and Milady's eyes swept over them, and it was clear they were being evaluated and judged.
"And you've confirmed this?" Milady asked.
"I sure have!" Ringo proclaimed, planting her hands on her hips. "What do you take me for?"
"Fair enough," the blonde acquiesced with a rueful shake of her head.
"Can we get movin', already?" Saizo requested. "I'm startin' to get antsy out in the open like this."
"Yeah, yeah," Ringo agreed. "Lead the way, girls!" She motioned for her companions to follow, and the gaggle of weirdos began making their way back down the street toward the alleyway where those from Battleworld had emerged.
Edited by darksidevoid on May 5th 2023 at 8:11:06 AM
GM of AGOG S4: Frontiers RP; Sub-GM of TABA, SOTR, & UUA RPs