Spinning With A Startling Lack Of Survival Instinct

Hmph! Of course the suspicious mutant lady gravitated towards the musclehead. Well, they could go and frolick in the woods for all he cared. The skull-decked guy left, likely having lost his own patience with the nonsense around him. "Now that's a good question." Unfortunately, the four-legged lady(?) decided to focus on other things - apparently Spinner just wasn't good company.

And just when Shuichi entertained going and not wasting any more time - he had to make sense out of this situation one way or another - the musclehead decided to pay attention to him now. And, of course, to ridicule him and his cause - scratch that, to ridicule Stain himself! Spinner stared at Conan, feeling a vein somewhere in his temple twitch with indignation.

"First you blow me off when I try to explain, then you try and mock me when you don't have even an ounce of the full picture..." He gnashed his teeth, glaring at Conan from below. "You know what? It's been a really shitty day so far, and I'm getting itchy to fix that. It just so happens, you're the kind of arrogant blowhard with a giant ego that I'm looking to be purging."

"So howsabout we go down that hill, musclehead" Spinner pointed towards the northern foot of the hill, where the steps ended and the road began. "and see if those muscles are for show or not?"

Edited by FergardStratoavis on Aug 29th 2022 at 9:45:13 PM

Ashe & Grey (Hill)

As both of them gathered their bearings and stood up, trying to assess the situation and figure out what they ought to do next, Krillin's waving caught their attention, and so Ashe focused her attention on him, offering a strained grin.

"Just peachy. Going to bed at home, and waking up not at home. It's the best." She said, sarcasm layered on pretty thick there.

"We're definitely not at the Hunter's Guild anymore." Grey added, feeling the need to state such but opting to primarily leave the talking to Ashe.

Castelia City: The Greatest Ambassadors of the Frontiers!

Despite the adamantine grip unclamping itself from their shoulders, the demons elected to stay where they flew; after all, just because the Lugia wasn't holding them didn't mean they were free.

The demonic duo turned to face the gijinka. Their tilting heads and quizitive clicking suggested that they understood most (but not all) of the words spoken to them; even if the Crossbreed fluently spoke the tongue of Lost Izalith, those three and four-syllable terms were a bit hard to comprehend.

But the creatures did their best to reply. Armed with a new language and many many charade gestures, the demons gave Lugia the best answers they could.

"Fly from..." a point to the sunset-draped city to the North "Anor Londo. Sunlight Gywn Land. Sent by..." there was a pause, since this was a hard term for the beast to explain. It settled on leaving a few inches gap between its thumb and index finger. "Little King—"

"Queen!" the other demon corrected.

The negotiator nodded. "Little King-Queen Gwyndolin. Sunlight Gwyn Child, little god. Sent to see things and say what is seen, but..." it waved its arms and lowered its voice to denote some kind of importance: "'Do not engage, or face wrath!'"

"Fight is 'engage.' Talk is 'engage?'" the quieter demon stated, and both demons shrugged. Evidently they were trying to explain why they had been so reluctant to speak sooner; even they weren't sure what the rules were.

"Crossbreed say 'don't want hurt.'" the negotiator continued. "Crossbreed Anor Londo...friend?"

"Or Crossbreed Anor Londo foe?" The other demon bared its jagged teeth, less to be threatening and more to stress this was "the bad choice."

Hill

Rolling her eyes at the arguments breaking out, Amako walked over to pick her scroll back up off the ground and brushed it off before rolling it back up and sticking it in her pack again. "Well, let us allow these oh-so-manly men with their great bravado to fight out their differences, Yoriichi-kun. Please thank Qilby-san for his advice, but you and Ourselves will head East. We have a plan to procure provisions and shelter, do not worry," she assured the ronin, gesturing for him to follow her as she began walking down the steps in the direction of the rising sun.

Igno would find that it was tough to make out where the river was coming from with all the tree coverage nearby, but from what he could glimpse through the canopy, it seemed like it continued stretching North upstream until at least the Northern edge of the ruins to the East. As for where it led, well it led to the clearly visible ocean in the Southeast... or at least it did, until a couple moments after Amako began to make her way down the hill to the East.

Suddenly, there was an enormous, earthquake-like rumbling, though the ground beneath their feet didn't more, and a great, scintillating light of shifting colors quickly stretched around the shoreline to the East and South, like some kind of ground-bound aurora. Then the tremendous sound and beautiful light faded, and in their place sat an entire, gleaming city that looked like a new and lively version of the ruins now to its North, similar to the skyline West of the hill.

"Oh... Well, that was certainly remarkable!" Amako commented with a hand to her chin, looking perplexed.

Domino City, Kaiba Corp. HQ

You had been standing atop your tower and staring out at your domain - for you are Queen of your domain, this City of Domino, in all but name - and waiting for your helicopter to arrive so that you could make a flight to the airport and then head overseas for some business meeting or game tournament or other. The exacts of your prior plans escape you for a moment, because it seems that you have somehow fallen asleep while standing on the rooftop of the Kaiba Corporation main headquarters building. As you awaken, feeling somewhat groggy, you find that things are not as they were.

To the East, the sun is rising, as it had been, but the world it illuminates in the distance is foreign. Instead of the rest of the country visible beyond the Eastern border of Domino, the glimmering sea is visible. The South and Southeast are basically as you remember them, although perhaps the sea is a bit deeper blue. To the Southwest, you can see what looks like an amusement park - not an unfamiliar sight in Domino, entertainment capital of the world, except that this one wasn't there yesterday. Its main structure seems to have a giant heart shape carved out of it, and they also seem to be putting on some kind of fireworks display, which is odd for this hour, needless to say. Past that, you can spot the dilapidated ruins of what was probably once a modern city, now overgrown with absurdly massive trees.

To the West lies a forest of trees that are also unusually massive, moreso than perhaps any that you have seen before today, though not so large as the ones in the Southwestern ruins. Over the treetops, you can spot what seems to be the steeple of an ancient stone castle peeking out into the air. To the Northwest, you can see what appear to be two vastly different settlements, one a city akin to your own - actually it looks sort of like what you remember of Manhattan from this distance - and another city that looks acutely primitive - I'm sorry, medieval - although the latter is strangely bathed in what seems to be the light of sunset, whereas everything around it is clearly experiencing dawn. Between these two cities and you is what appears to be a hill with a lone tree. To the East of the hill, or in other words, to your North, is a similar set of overgrown ruins to the one in the Southwest, these ones surrounded by a large, crumbling wall of stone, although these ruins markedly don't include massive trees, save for one in their Northwestern corner.

You suddenly get the feeling that you're going to have to deal with a lot of absurd magical bullshit again, possibly involving your hated rival, Yugi Muto. Goddamnit.

Desert

"Oh, I'm sure we Machines of the Desert feel the same way, yes!" the taller of the bipedal bots agreed with a nod. "As long as people are willing to follow the law, they should be allowed to live peacefully as they please! Not that the Androids will ever let us live in peace if they can help it..." He sighed heavily, slumping his shoulders.

"And speaking of breaking the law..." he continued, turning toward the floating Machine just as all his fellows did the same.

"W-W-What are you looking at me like that for?!" the flying Machine protested nervously.

"Well, you've broken the Rules. You know what that means," the taller Machine said, eyes turning red as he raised his blade into a battle stance. "Time to die!"

"Wait!" the hovering one pleaded. "I've decided that I quite like living after all!"

"TOO BAD!" As one, all the other assembled Machines lunged for the one in the flotation device, who cowered with his hands over his head, unable to muster the courage to even fire a shot from his gun.

Edited by darksidevoid on Aug 31st 2022 at 11:51:05 AM

Domino City, Kaiba Corp. HQ

Kaiba sucked in air loudly and gasped as she woke up from her sudden nap. She gives a reflexive growl as the annoyance of her sudden bout of narcolepsy slowly gives way to the realization that something is greatly different. She rises to her feet and surveys the land. A massive ocean, far deeper and bluer than the waters surrounding Japan. A towering heart shaped amusement park. Two cities, one belonging neither in geography and the other belonging not in the same time period as Domino City. And a number of ruined remains of what must have once been thriving civilizations but are long dead, glorified grave markers like the ancient pyramids of Egypt were for their kingdoms.

Seto Kaiba scowled. Shocking, I know. But this was not a scowl of contempt. It was of introspection. She remembered being dragged involuntarily to other worlds before, but they were always just simulations. Fake replicas of worlds designed by humans, trying to fruitlessly emulate the things found in their imaginations. This felt...different somehow. Whether it's how the air tasted or gut instinct, but this wasn't just another virtual reality simulation. This was, in fact, a very real situation...which meant that something potentially otherworldly was going down. And that the rumbling of the vibrating cell phone in her pocket is likely from her kid brother, since she can't have been the first to notice this strange matter.

Casually bringing the phone to her ear, she hears the squeaky voice of her little brother barely able to call out "Seto! What's going o-" before she cuts him off curtly.

"Mokuba. Cancel all my calls for today. There's something I need to see. And I'm **not** planning on taking any questions before I do."

Before Mokuba can even muster a "wh-", Kaiba hangs up the phone. She felt a very tiny sting for not explaining, but she was never one to sit around to find answers. She's a woman of action. She puts in another call. A helicopter, much like the one that was meant to take her afar but will likely never arrive at this rate, lands on the rooftop. Briskly walking in with her hand firmly gripping her suitcase, she tells the pilot to begin flying to the southwest. The two sets of ruins near her suggest something bad happened, so for now, that heart-shaped structure will have to do. Fireworks suggest civilization...and civilization means answers. She sits down and crosses her arms as the helicopter lifts into the air, muttering under her breath the whole while.

"I don't know what's going on, but this is somehow your doing, Muto, I am really going to have it out for you for messing with Seto Kaiba."

Rachel, Desert

No! Good lord… Ray really thought these machine people were going to be normal.

They were not being normal.

“What the hell are you people doing?!”

Ray rushes in to grab the flying Machine and hopefully get them out of the way of their assailants.

“What law did this one even break? What transgressions do all of you even deem worthy of death? How can you call this brutality justice?! I… cannot stomach allowing this to happen on my watch!”

She’s not attacking - in fact, she’s fully prepared to fly the floating machine to safety should the others react with further violence, as she is readily expecting at this point.

Castelia City

The Lugia listened as the creatures explained themselves.

“So you were sent by the ruler of Anor Londo to look at the city. Ok, I suppose that is reasonable. And I don’t know about Gwyn, but I wouldn’t consider speaking an act of aggression, so… I’m not going to get upset over you speaking to me, at least.”

She looked perplexed at the use of a term that she had never been called before.

“Crossbreed? I’m just a Lugia, actually… eh, that’s not really important. Well, does Anor Londo wish to have friendly relations with Castelia? If so, then yes, you can consider me its friend. I don't believe anyone here wishes to make enemies with the other lands here for no reason.”

Edited by HilarityEnsues on Aug 31st 2022 at 11:29:59 AM

Conan - Hill

The barbarian certainly hadn't expected for the mage to answer his rebuff with a smile and calm acceptance, as if they were two old academics debating in some crusty library! Well, the sorcerer's nonchalence certainly hadnt' made him a friend of Conan, who still bore a frown on his chiseled visage. "I have no reason to believe your claims of sensing a nebulous energy which I have never heard of, and which you have no way to prove exists. So I wouldn't be surprised."

The little sea cat's explanation didn't lower Conan's puzzlement about her nature much, especially when the sight of her body actually turning water caused his blue eyes to widen in surprise. "I... think you may be speaking of animals and beasts, but very few of them have abilities as fantastical as yours. And I have seen others like the people you're speaking of, but they have never refered to themselves as 'Pokemon'."

But to Spinner, he only gave a look of disdain. Even tough it was rather hard to tell for a serpent man, it was clear through his brash demeanor that he was but a a novice with not much experience of the world. "You speak of preening fools, and yet here you are, trying to start a cockfight due to a few words wounding your pride. I have better things to do than fight a foolish whelp, and you are a poor hunter if you need to ask your prey to go to a better spot."

And so the muscular Cimmerian would turn to move on, only for him to be confronted by a city appearing before them through brilliant sorcery, not out of the lake but replacing it! "Crom!" He tensed up out of reflexes, only allowing himself to relax when there was no signs of further magic. Then, he turned towards the others. "So this accursed land manifest new parts out of the ether. There is a new city much more convenient to access, but I shall still explore the ruins first. In my experience, ancient homes are much easier to deal with than so-called civilization, especially one appearing out of nowhere. And the people there should be more in need of help, if any remain. Again, companionship wouldn't be rebuffed." And so the sword-wielding adventurer set out, fully intent on walking all the ways to the strange, ancient-looking buildings.

Edited by Alecoene on Sep 1st 2022 at 9:03:56 PM

Amusement Park

The reason you could tell this was an amusement park from a distance, besides the cheesy heart and fireworks, was the fact that the edge closest to you contains a huge roller-coaster that wraps around the big building with the heart-hole. Although it would have been pretty cool to fly through the heart symbol, your pilot instead flies above it, because any lower would risk being hit by the fireworks, which seem to be in infinite supply, if the constant firing of them every couple of seconds is anything to go by.

After you pass over the large tower with the heart, your flight takes you over a circular building that looks like it could be an opera house or theater, although there is a gaping hole in its domed roof. After that comes a well-constructed bridge perhaps twenty yards long, lined with streetlights, which are on at the moment, followed by a worn-looking semicircular plaza past an open iron gate, where a few people are standing. From the middle of the plaza's far end begins a series of stairs and landings leading gradually downward in a straight line between buildings that seem for the most part worn and ruined, yet very well-lit and vibrantly colored in pastels, with a couple of alleys to the side. On the left side, through one of the alleys, you can spot an aerial carousel that doesn't seem to be functional currently, the elevated platform for getting on the aforementioned roller coaster, and - is that some kind of battle tank, adorned with festive lights and firing confetti and balloons from its turrets?

At the far end of the main thoroughfare's stairs is another, larger plaza, this one squarish and surrounded by a rusted iron fence, housing a large golden statue standing in what was once probably a fountain at the center but is now just a dry circle. This second plaza has more patches of grass than the other one, and at the far end of it is a little area that's probably the proper entrance to this amusement park - if you can even call it a proper park. Past the entrance is another stone bridge, which leads into a small wooded area with an empty, grassy clearing just past the beginning of the treeline. Beyond the patch of woods is a large wall, followed by ruined skyscrapers of the type that you saw from the top of your own skyscraper.

The people in this place, from what you can see of them from up top, seem to almost exclusively wear either multicolored jester hats or purple top hats, and all are dressed in vibrant colors. As noted, there are three people standing to the side in the first plaza you came across, but also several people in the alleyways and standing on the intersections with the side streets, eight or so people marching in formation up and down the steps and throwing confetti, and perhaps a little over a dozen people milling about in the second, larger plaza. The last of those include some people with what at first seem to be guns, but shortly reveal themselves to simply fire dozens of inflated balloons up into the air at once. Oh, and there was one person sticking up out of the tank that was firing confetti and streams of balloons.

Your pilot informs you that the only safe places he can see to land are the smaller, semicircular plaza or the clearing just outside the entrance; everywhere else is either too crowded with people or too narrow.

Desert

"I- What-" The taller of the Machines jerked to a halt, as did the others while Rachel successfully pulled their brother who had so offended them out of their immediate reach.

"Oh, my savior!" cried the floating Machine. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'm so sorry I even considered trying to shoot you before!"

"What do you mean 'what law did this one break', Ray?" the tall one asked, more confused than cross. "I already said, Rule 15,392: Visitors should not be killed! And when somebody breaks the rules, you kill them!"

"Yeah!" concurred the child Machine. "Kill! Kill!"

"Isn't that how it works where you come from, Ray?" the mid-sized bipedal one questioned. "How else are you supposed to deal with rule-breakers, if you don't kill them?"

Edited by darksidevoid on Sep 1st 2022 at 3:41:39 PM

Nia and Pyra, The Hill: We Interrupt Your Journey to Bring You a City Based on a Children's Card Game

Pyra was willing to lead the way to the North and (in Nia's perspective) leave the idiots to fight themselves until the tremors reached the Hill. Almost immediately, they turned to see the lights and sounds coalescing to form something, finally settling on a city, much like the ones they had seen from far away. The Cimmerian's summary did not help matters at all, with the Gormotti complaining out loud, "Great. Whoever's running this place isn't satisfied with just us. No, no. They just had to drag entire bloody cities here too. Why not throw in a few Titans while you're at it?"

Pyra looked at the city with a mix of awe and fear. Just who or what is causing these civilizations to appear out of thin air? Pyra looked at the one-armed Eliatrope with concern in her ruby eyes, "Qilby? I'm not sure if we might get our answers over there. If the city appearing before us is any sign, it's likely the other places we see now appeared the same way. The people living there might just be as confused as we are."

Ever the optimist, Pyra brought up a counterpoint, "But that doesn't mean we might get some assistance for other things such as food and shelter. We'll protect you if you need our help."

Nia couldn't argue with Pyra at this point, not that she wanted to. Initially, she had her misgivings about involving others, yet considering going alone with just a girl she met a few days ago could mean certain death, she's willing to take what she can get. She looked at Qilby with an inquisitive look, "Can you put up a scrap?"

Spinning Off The Hill > En Route To Domino City

Predictably, the big muscles looked to be only for show. "Yeah, you better run, wuss!" Spinner hollered after the fakebarian. "And make sure to find some pants along the way, Coward of Cimmeria!" Alright. Truth be told, he wasn't sure of his chances in an open fight with a giant guy like the aforementioned Conan of Tail Between Legs, but it wasn't about fighting easily won fights! Stain held a lone crusade against the entire society! Picking fights you were sure to win... that was what fakes did.

Spinner made a little vow deep down; Conan of Cimmeria would be going down should they cross paths again. Well, unless the guy changed his ways, but at this point they were more lucky to see an entire brand new city just replacing the ocean like it was nothing. Which, it kind of did. In the heat of the moment, Shuichi didn't pay that much attention to it. Maybe he could even go there first. Initially, he planned to head West - it looked like the closest thing to his modern-day sensibilities around these ruins - but the new place...? That was spanking new shininess.

Shuichi's expression soured. Hm, but then did that mean the place too was infested with fakes? Well, not necessarily. Plus, Codumb of Idiotia (he needed better monikers for the musclehead) wasn't going there, which instantly made the place a better option. Plus plus, he wouldn't have to brave the forests ahead. Shuichi was from the boonies, but he was very much a city-dwelling creature first and a ranger never.

"Alright." He ran a hand through his hair. The styling was holding up strong. Good, he needed to be as strong in the coming time. "Later, you lot. Stay clear of fakes, and help the helpless before you help yourselves." Thus, with his hands in his pockets and a slouched posture, Spinner skulked off the Hill and towards the gleaming city to the Southeast.

Edited by FergardStratoavis on Sep 1st 2022 at 10:40:22 AM

The Hill

"I will follow your judgement, Amako-sama." Yoriichi merely nodded in agreement as he prepared to follow her. He cast a sidelong gaze at where the lizardman was fruitlessly challenging the warrior of the west. Thankfully, they did not come to blows.

This Conan was skeptical of those with abnormal abilities, it seemed. Most likely he had faced demons of his own. Yoriichi could understand that; those without the sense for it could easily mistake Amako's divine power for a demon blood art. Still, he hoped Conan would learn to understand it.

"Lady Amako thanks you for your advice, Qilby-san, but we will be heading East." He bowed to Qilby once more before making to follow Amako, only to pause at the suddenly appearing city. "...have you ever seen such a massive village, Amako-sama?"

Makura, for her part, was growing increasingly annoyed with Spinner. He was really fortunate that Makura wasn't like her old comrades; some of them would have shot him just for mouthing off.

As it stood, she merely rolled her eyes at him and his outburst. Conan's spat with the wizard guy caught her attention, however.

"Hey, I believe him." She said. She gestured to her two orangutans, who were currently approaching Elaine, curious as to what kind of creature she was. "I can talk to these two telepathically, because of my bond with them. That's not something you can see, but I know it exists. His 'wakfu' thing is probably something like that."

She held up her hands. "I'm not saying we should blindly trust him, but you don't gotta be so rude, y'know? He's clearly not a bad guy."

Then Makura turned and waved to the new girl. "Hiya! I'm Makura, and these little guys are Kongara and Seitaka! I'm not a 'pokemon', whatever that is. We don't have those where I'm from. Just humans and animals. I'm actually a human, technically. It's a long story. I can tell you guys while we walk, if you still wanna come with."

She nodded her head towards the ruins and began to walk alongside Conan.

Elaine, the Hill > path to the Ruins.

The reptilian largely going ignored, Elaine does her best to rein in that increasingly-perturbed look as Conan, and now Makura, explain things. "Okay, maybe they just don't call us that where... any of you guys are from. Cool." she shrugs, reiterating her earlier assumption even as evidence mounts that this isn't the whole story—in truth, she's merely trying very hard not to think about the implications presenting themselves. What is an animal if it's not a pokémon? What 'others'?

"Oh, uh, hey." she greets 'Kongara' and 'Seitaka' in pokéspeak as the two approach—something that under most other circumstances would have been a series of indecipherable chittering chirps to most human bystanders save for particularly keen trainers. "So what's you twos' deal? Type? Cool moves? We vaporeon are water. I got bubble beam, quick attack, ice beam. Last one freezes shit, it's badass. I can show you guys..." she trails off, beginning to doubt they understand a word she's saying before she even finishes speaking, taking the wind out of her already-halfhearted bragging. Though curious, there isn't quite as much going on behind the eyes as most of the pokémon she knew back home, she can't help but notice.

She glances back toward Makura. "What did you mean by 'we don't have those whe-'"

Before that train of thought can reach the station, though, a thunderous rumbling is heard and a bright light is seen to the southeast, grabbing Elaine's attention and leaving in its place another city skyline not dissimilar to the one toward the west, but foreign to her all the same. Alright, the fuck kind of legendary does that? Weird existential questions can wait.

Not long later, though, does she gather her bearings and pick up the pace toward those ruins again, almost pulling ahead of even Conan with renewed vigor. "Doesn't matter. We've got an ass to kick and it had better not turn out to be yours, ninetales." she calls back, catching sight of the fox-lady's own surprised gawking at this new development—Elaine had been running with the gut assumption that the scaled one was wrong, that fox-lady isn't the one responsible, and seeing that gives her little reason to doubt it now... though she isn't off the hook by any means. Just filed away for later.

Edited by Chortleous on Sep 2nd 2022 at 10:31:25 AM

The Hill: An Old Favorite of Mine from Battleworld

"It's natural to be wary of things one does not understand." Qilby replied to the barbarian with gentle patience. "Should you have an interest in learning more I would be delighted to share what I know, but I've lived long enough to respect that there are all matters of paths one might take in life; they do not need to merge."

The Eliatrope gave Conan a friendly wave goodbye before turning his attention elsewhere.

Qilby's patient smile withered a hair as Yoriichi informed him that he and Amako had decided to head for the ruins. Nevertheless, he nodded his head and thanked the swordsman, wishing him and his charge luck in the East.

As an entire metropolis apparated into existence, the Eliatrope raised his brow in surprise. However, the shock seemed to be short-lived as the surprise was swiftly replaced with intrigue. Qilby stared at the latest arrivals and stroked his beard in thought.

"I fear you're exactly right, Miss Pyra—there goes my earlier hypothesis. Still, I see no reason to stay here and twiddle our thumbs. Expeditions from these cities will start sooner or later, if our little winged scouts were any indication. Better to be prepared for that eventuality—and there's no better way to prepare than to learn more about our 'neighbors.'"

Turning his attention to Nia, the sorcerer blinked in puzzlement. Universal language or no, "put up a scrap" took a moment to translate.

"Can I...? Oh! Can I fight!" Qilby laughed, then swiftly dropped to a sober "Not well, no. I detest violence, but I am fully capable of defending myself if necessary." He glanced at his missing left arm, recalculated, and amended: "I am mostly capable of defending myself. At the very least, I can remove myself from dangerous situations. I have no intentions of sparking conflict, or getting in your or Miss Pyra's way should conflict find us.

"So if you're interested in being traveling partners, Miss Nia, do you have any thoughts on our destination? Apart from prioritizing one of the civilized regions, I'm impartial!"

...

The policeman gave Ashe a small chuckle as she spat sarcasm at him; funny to think it won't be much longer till Maron starts talking to him like that.

"Yeah, this isn't my best morning either." he offered a hand to shake. "The name's Krillin. We're all trying to figure out what's going on right now, and it's starting to look like folks want to spread out and find out where we are. If you're up for—"

"So howsabout we go down that hill, musclehead, and see if those muscles are for show or not?"

The police officer sighed, his shoulders sagged. He was hoping that everyone was going to keep their priorities straight and work together; or at the very least not get in each other's way. But he should've known better. People deal with stress in all sorts of ways, and this was the mother of all stressful situations. A fight was bound to break out, and judging by the ki readings of the parties involved, it was bound to be a short fight. "Frieza vs. Yamcha" level of short.

Not if I have anything to say about it...

Krillin's free hand clenched into a fist...but just as he turned towards the would-be combatants, the big half-naked guy decided to take the high road. The policeman let out another shoulder-sagging sigh, albeit this one was a sigh of relief.

"Guess that's one crisis averted." he muttered before turning back to Ashe and Grey. "Anyways, like I was saying: if you're up for it, we could use some help checking this place out. I'm gonna be heading that way, if you'd like to tag along."

He thumbed over his shoulder to where Spinner had begun walking, only for the scaly villain to take a turn for an entirely new location that popped into existence behind Krillin's back.

"Oh. Wait. Sorry, I meant going that way." the policeman chuckled. "Was that city always there?"

Castelia City: More Diplomacy for the Greatest Ambassadors of the Frontiers!

The demons turned to each other in puzzlement; evidently they weren't told what the long-term strategy was for Anor Londo.

"Crossbreed Anor Londo friend speak with...King-Queen Gwyndolin?" the diplomat half-proposed, half-asked. This wasn't part of their orders, but who could better explain the landscape beyond the Lost City than someone from outside its walls?

In a rare moment of brilliance, the quieter demon spoke up and offered a possible summit:

"Crossbreed Anor Londo friend give message to King-Queen Gwyndolin. Find place to meet. Meet King-Queen Gwyndolin. All friends!"

The diplomat nodded its brainy head in approval. What a smart idea!

Hill -> Ruins

"Hmmm..." Amako considered, flicking her tail. "Aye, upon the Celestial Plain, mayhaps. That place is no more, however..." She sighed, ears pressed flat, then shook her head.

"Well, moping about here will be no help! Onward!" She charged down the Hill to the East past Conan and company, a flash of light preceding the blurring of her figure with speed, and fresh flowers springing up out of the ground in her wake. Once across the bridge and through the wide-open gate, she paused, looking around at the ruins and sniffing curiously.

"We can smell various animals about, but no people as of yet, as Qilby-san predicted, although it mostly smells of wolf and... these things," she informed Yoriichi once he had caught up, crouching to inspect a passing line of little, inch-tall creatures in several colors with green leaves sticking out of their heads. Suddenly, their leaves erupted into white flowers, at which Amako clapped happily.

"Oh, these teensy-weensy friends are so adorable~!" she cooed, lowering her hand into their path. They climbed easily into her palm, which she proceeded to raise up to eye level to inspect more closely.

Nia and Pyra, The Hill: Oh, the Places They'll Go!

Upon seeing the missing arm (as well as the fact that Qilby hates fighting), Nia realized that she and Pyra will have to do the heavy lifting. The last time they did so, they had to protect a kid, likely no older than 15 years, so a seemingly middle-aged one-armed man wouldn't be that much of an issue, right? Normally, Nia would say no out of not wanting to drag more people with her, but she didn't want to be in this place with all these random people either.

Seeing that it's her turn to take the initiative, Nia looked at the direction they looked at and took in the lands. Another quiet flinch came when she looked at the land of perpetual sunset Northwest. It's more golden than the usual stark-white associated with Indol, but she couldn't trust that place. She looked at her (currently two) travel partners and responded to Qilby's question, "Let's just head over to that village and try our luck there. After that, we might go right and see what's over there."

"What about that castle over on the left?"

Of course she'd bring that up, the Gormotti groused internally. A part of her wanted to object, but that would bring out questions. Questions that Nia did not want to answer. She couldn't fault the Aegis for her curiosity. After all, one would have to be blind or near-sighted to not notice a castle town that clearly warps the light around its area. Nia added to Pyra's question, "If we have to, we'll head over there too."

Pyra can tell that Nia is rather hesitant on visiting the land in the Northwest, but she gave a nod to her Driver. The look of Anor Londo did remind her of Indol too, but she had to put that thought aside to let Nia know that she's there for her. With Nia's shoulders lowering and her ears relaxing slightly, Pyra made her response clear along with a question to the Eliatrope, "Then it's settled. We'll head to the village up North and any area surrounding it. Should we wait for the others to join in?"

Edited by Ore-O on Sep 18th 2022 at 3:35:42 PM

Conan - Hill to Ruins

Conan rolled his eyes at the serpent-man's childish insults. If his skill with the blade was as developed as his wit, then the Cimmerian had nothing to fear. And so the swarthy warrior walked towards the the strange ruins with his companions of circumstances. A beautiful woman with canine traits and a showcase of mystical powers, a warrior with strange clothes who seemed to be the only one who could hear her, and the curiously pretty ape-woman. Speaking of which, he would adress her thought towards the mage by shaking his head. "If I have learned something, it's that with wizards, you can never be sure of what's real or not. So it would take an act of great bravery for me to ever say he's 'clearly' thrustworthy."

Meanwhile, he still wasn't any more sure about Elaine's nature even as she spoke. Tough the fish-cat hybrid's words towards the canine girl caused his chiseled feature to grow a bit more confused. "I see only one tail on that woman." And as he watched the later moves around the wilderness, she stroke the fighter as being less of a sorceress and more of a true beast, as if magic just naturally appeared in here wake. Then, he curiously looked at the tiny things within her palm. "Are those... vegetable men? Are they able to talk as well?" He adressed them directly with a pensive finger upon his shin.

Edited by Alecoene on Sep 3rd 2022 at 10:46:58 AM

Hill > East Ruins

Yoriichi followed at Amako's heels. When she exploded in a burst of motion, he matched her pace without effort. His breathing was steady as he dashed behind her, and when they reached their destination he was not winded in the slightest. The whole time, he had carefully avoided stepping on any of the flowers that bloomed in her wake.

He swept his gaze around the ruined land, but nothing was revealed to him even in the See-Through World. "I would concur. There are no humans here but us."

Then he turned his gaze to the tiny creatures in her palm. Flowers bloomed on their heads, and when he looked within them, their bodies indeed had similarities to plants. "Perhaps these are spirits of nature? I sense no malice from them, at any rate."

Makura walked more slowly, with Conan and Elaine. When the latter called the miko 'ninetails', Makura spared a glance towards her. "Where I'm from there's a legend of a fox with nine tails who can do magic. Elaine's some kind of magical creature herself, so maybe she's met one of those. Foxes and wolves do kind of look similar, if you squint."

She couldn't recall any yokai that looked like a dog-fish, but she'd never bothered learning that much about them. And yokai probably looked different in different worlds. A world full of yokai actually sounded pretty interesting.

As they walked, Makura fanned herself a bit, before deciding it was too hot and unzipping the top of her catsuit. She pulled the top half off and tied it at her waist, leaving her upper body clad only in a black sports bra. One could see white fur give way to reddish-brown skin at her chest and stomach. "Lotta sun here. No wonder the little plant guys like it so much."

The orangutans, meanwhile, had begun to climb one of the nearby buildings, excitedly chasing each other across broken floors. Makura mentally warned them to not stray too far. Not that they'd ever go far enough to be out of telepathy range, but in case there was an enemy hidden around somewhere, she wanted to make sure they were safe.

Elaine, path to the Ruins > the Ruins

As the group travels over the bridge, Elaine's attention is momentarily drawn away from the path ahead or any existential questions and toward the rushing river beneath as she stops en route to peer over the edge. Barely-distinct slivers of green, brown, and silver dart to and fro, beneath the notice of most but standing out like a buffet line to her own keen predatory eye.

Without further adieu, the vaporeon leaps over the edge and plunges into the cool water without making so much as a splash, navigating the current with an unparalleled instinctive ease, almost as if the water were totally still. She pauses for a moment, letting the water filter through her gills, taking in her surroundings and basking in her element as the surface world is reduced to little else but a muffled blur before she herself entirely fades from view.

Elaine soon zeroes in on her prey: A freshwater fish. Plump, green, and flanked in red, just as alien as it is familiar, the animal doesn't look quite like any aquatic pokémon she remembers seeing—most disconcerting of all, though, is its wall-eyed stare. Fish pokémon aren't usually the deepest thinkers, but this thing looks downright vacant in comparison, and Elaine finds herself more than a little disturbed at the sight.

Fuck it.

A brief while later, after the group had already passed over the bridge and begun to make their way into the (oddly modern-looking, she notices on approach) ruins, she gracefully hops out onto the riverbank and hurriedly catches up... with a fish the size of a strongman's bicep clamped firmly in her jaws and flapping madly in distress, possessing only enough intellect to know its fate, which suits Elaine just fine.

"Breakfast time!" she chimes happily, rendered as indistinct mumbling by her mouthful of struggling trout. She's greeted, though, by the sight of the fox lady fawning over something in her hand and Conan looking at it in apparent puzzlement. Aw, fuck, what is it now?

Dropping the fish and pinning it down with a paw as it slowly stops flopping, she peers up and just barely glimpses what the fox lady holds in her hand: A group of what appear to be unusually tiny, colorful nuzleaf, and with some apparent intelligence to boot. Like everything else in this strange place, though, they only appear familiar at a glance.

"One way to find out," Elaine says in response to Conan's pondering before clearing her throat, rearing up on her hind legs for a better view, and addressing the little ones in pokéspeak, silently praying that they understand her for once. "Hey, little guys, you know where we are? You know this place?"

Edited by Chortleous on Sep 4th 2022 at 11:11:07 AM

Igno - Descending the Hill

"Welp, I'm off for now. Y'all stay safe, alright?" Igno speaks up, to the people who haven't departed yet. Before heading out, he takes a few moments to silently cast a spell, magically marking the location to allow him to return to it later. With that final preparation done, he heads out eastwards, trailing behind the group headed to the ruins.

Which is when he witnesses the light show preceding the sudden appearance of a whole new town replacing the ocean to the southeast. Now that is some Dawn Era-style nonsense! And unlike the ruins further east, this town seems to still be inhabited. As much as this sudden appearance piques his curiosity, he decides to stick to his plan for now; the more people get displaced into this world, the more important his next moves might be. Thus, he keeps heading forward.

However, unlike his predecessors, he has no intention to cross the bridge, as his destination lies below. Approaching the stony structure, he witnesses from afar the water-aspected quadruped dive off the bridge... And climb back up with a meal in her mouth; just the kind of thing he hoped to see. Igno's reasoning was that in Tamriel, water is the primordial requirement for life; animals congregate there to sate their thirst, and the nearby lands are fertile, the latter of which sounding extremely important to him right now considering a massive city sprung out of the aether minutes ago, without a single field or farm in sight.

That rationale is the reason why instead of getting across the bridge, Igno walks down the slope towards the riverbank, getting a good look at the fish swimming underneath the surface; that confirms the water is at least good enough for them. But is it good enough for people? Finding this out is exactly what he came here for: he takes a knee and lowers his hand into the river, cupping a handful of water and bringing it up to his face to take a sip. While he doesn't seem to outwardly react, the shapeshifter is busy remolding himself internally, changing his stomach into a series of separate chambers, dissecting the liquid he just swallowed, analyzing it for any evidence of pathogens or other harmful elements.

After a few moments, satisfied with his lack of concerning results, he gets back up on his feet, a long wooden pole growing out of the palm of his hand, the end of the vegetal appendage flattening and widening before changing colors, displaying in bright letters the words "Safe to drink". Pushing aside the questions regarding how he came to know that new language, he separates the newly-made sign from himself before planting it into the ground, leaving it in plain view of anyone who would happen to walk near or across the bridge.

With that indicator on display, Igno decides to continue his route to address the second most urgent concern: food. He starts walking downstream along the riverbank, casting a spell every now and then to ping the area for any life forms, staying on the lookout for any wandering animals or plants to forage.

The Hill: Thinking with Portals

Qilby smiled at the Driver's proposal, but if he sensed any reluctance to explore the city bathed in unnatural sunlight, he didn't say anything.

"Your logic is sound, Miss Nia: those scouts clearly came from that city, so it would be wise to avoid it until we know more. Perhaps they are new arrivals just like us and the city to our backs, or perhaps they were waiting for us and wanted to know our condition. Venturing towards the small settlement will get us close enough to observe the palace, yet far enough to avoid conflict—a wise decision indeed."

The Eliatrope raised his hand, which emitted a soft green-blue light along his palm. In a moment, a round flat shape◊ appeared in front of the three explorers. It stood vertically, tall enough to encompass Qilby and his rather exotic choice in headwear, and wide enough for a person to walk right through. Were the Blade and Driver familiar with the concept (if not the details in which they work), they might accurately deduce that it was a portal.

"I may not be much help in a fight, but there's few species who can transport goods and people faster than an Eliatrope!"

Qilby gestured towards the edge of the forest North of the hill. Sure enough, a portal identical to the one in front of them appeared.

"That said, I believe small hops are more appropriate for this little venture. We don't completely know what's out there, so it's better to be safe than sorry."

He would gesture to invite Pyra and Nia to enter the portal first, or would do so himself if they projected reluctance—just to demonstrate that it was perfectly safe. When they were all on the forest's edge, Qilby would close his eyes for a moment to focus, glance around the area with glowing eyes, and point the party in the direction of the small settlement.

Ashe & Grey (Hill)

"I'm Ashe, and this is my servant - "

"Friend."

" - friend, Grey."

Before she could say much else about themselves, the duo could see that Krillin was just a bit distracted by the other people nearby, though he was then further distracted by a new city apparently just appearing nearby. Looking at each other, both of them evidently decided that they wouldn't get anything done just standing here, and so Ashe spoke up again.

"Count us in!" She said, and looked much peppier now that she actually had an objective in mind...though as Grey would attest to, that objective would be finding treasure, or as she called it, 'booty'.

The Hill: Holding Out for A Hero

Krillin blinked at the disagreement between the teens' relationship, but chose not to dwell on it. Kids could be a little weird around each other, especially at Ashe and Grey's age.

"Right. Well, there's no time like the present. Let's get going!"

And with that, the policeman rushed to catch up with the scaly villain.

Krillin hadn't caught the entire gist of Shuichi's shpiel, but he did hear about how he was a (possibly self-proclaimed?) disciple of a figure called the "Hero Killer." An unsettling moniker to be sure, but that wasn't the only thing that caught Krillin's attention. The lizard man went out of his way to distinguish "heroes" from "fake heroes," and he seemed to cling loyally to that difference.

Any of you better not be no fake "hero" for your own good.

You're the kind of of arrogant blowhard with a giant ego that I'm looking to be purging.

Stay clear of fakes, and help the helpless before you help yourselves.

This wasn't the language he was expecting to hear out of someone who idolizes a supposed murderer. It was misguided to be sure, but also had a kernel of good intention.

Perhaps the villain would hear the footsteps approaching his left shoulder. Perhaps he'd also expect that the cop was the one following him—he was a villain, after all.

"S'cuse me. Spinner, was it? About what you said back there..."

Here we go.

"If you have it out for 'fake' heroes, then what do you consider a real hero?"

Edited by TheodoreHastings on Sep 4th 2022 at 8:58:49 AM

Nia and Pyra, The Hill —> Northern Forest: Portal-A-Vertigo-go

Nia nods at Qilby's proposal to just simply observe from afar. Looking at it gives her bad vibes, but she'll settle for that over going inside it. Although the concepts of portals are unfamiliar to them, they quickly picked up what Qilby put down. An almost instant way to go from one location to the next sounds rather handy. There's some reluctance between the two (mainly from Nia), but they might have to trust him for a bit. Pyra takes the lead and enters the Eliatrope's portal, with Nia following immediately after.

The sudden feeling of vertigo washed over the two girls after they walked through the portal, yet Nia suffered the feeling worse than her partner. Her steps are uneven and her vision blurry. She reached around for something to keep her steady and felt something warm, smooth, and soft on her hand. Unfortunately, that warm thing was also wobbling around, causing Nia to fall flat on her ass, taking the thing with it. Once her vision straightens out, she looks to see what she grabbed and promptly let go. She grabbed Pyra's arm.

The dizzying effect is not nearly as pronounced for Pyra, but the unexpected weight on her left arm did send her down to the ground. She looked to see her Driver pulling away to get her bearings. After a few minutes, they got up to shake off the dizziness and look to their new travelling partner, Nia starting a complaint, "Ugggghhhh... I'm not one to get motion sick, but that felt like I just a Titan just flung me."

The Aegis shakes her limbs to get some feeling back into them, "I know what you mean, Nia. Whew."

With their vertigo subsided, they proceeded to move North as planned. Pyra took point and Nia followed her closely, mostly to keep a hold on to something in case the dizziness comes in waves.

Rachel, Desert

Truthfully, Rachel didn’t even fully register the attempt on her life as being one because of how… frankly bad it was. Perhaps that was verging on a dangerous level of overconfidence, but seeing a gun shoot out a slow mo beach ball at her was some seriously silly shit.

“Well… as you can see, I’m very much alive. And I’m willing to show mercy to someone who made a foolish decision out of fear, given the extraordinary and unusual circumstances we find ourselves in now.”

She sighed at the explanation of how their society’s system of crime and punishment worked.

“We don’t simply execute everyone who breaks the law in Castelia. We give them fines, or put them in a prison for a number of years depending on the severity of their crimes. Execution is… highly controversial as a means of punishment, one we try to avoid using whenever possible. We don’t believe it to be very humane, and that using it frequently would reflect very poorly on us as a society. So I’m not comfortable with someone dying in my name when I feel like that sort of escalation isn’t necessary.”

I glance towards the offending machine in question.

“I’m giving you just this one chance. Do not do this again unless you wish to face the consequences.”

Castelia City

“You wish for me to speak with your King?”

The Lugia thought it over.

“I’ll do it. Tell him I’m willing to meet him wherever he is comfortable doing so.”

Spinning With Interest - En Route To Domino City, Now With Krillin (And The Kids)

Someone was following him. The steps didn't sound heavy enough for the Musclehead or for the 100 yen store video game boss, and he didn't recall anyone else expressing interest in the newfound city. Spinner peered past his shoulder, only to find a short guy in a police helmet and... wait. The scaly villain's eyes narrowed as he swiveled to look at Krillin. He didn't have it out for cops, despite the logic dictating that he would; in the end of the day, these guys were just doing their jobs and cleaning up messes left behind by backalley thugs. They did a good job, far as he was concerned, and he didn't enjoy the thought that his crusade could pit him against some.

The kids were the newcomers, alongside the weird four-legged creature lady that went off with Musclehead and his Suspicious Furry Friend. They were kind of inconsequential, weirdly futuristic getups aside. "Hmph. You better not blow me off like that nudist wonder earlier, officer." He grumbled, shaking his head. "The shortest of it though is this: at some point back home, being a hero became a job; a cushy position for vapid celebrities and shameless ad mannequins."

Spinner grit his teeth. "The whole point of being a hero is that you jump in not expecting thanks or recompense! You don't do it for cash or likes and shares on your flavor-of-the-month social app! Stain understood that, hence his crusade; to purge the world of those fakes and ensure the heroes remember who their predecessors were. I'm continuing that; the whole hero industry's a rotten pile of crap, and there ain't no saving it beyond burning it to the ground." Shuichi scratched at the back of his head, his earlier anger abating slightly. "Some exceptions exist, of course; there's All Might, chiefly - but if you haven't heard of him, then we really were all isekai'd from different worlds to here like in a shlocky light novel."