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> New Game

It seemed to form almost spontaneously, beginning life as a mishmash of polygons before settling into the form of a miniature metropolis. Well, "miniature" was a relative term; it still had adequate space for perhaps 1000 or so inhabitants, though was still far short of being a great population center. In fact, for the moment, it had no population at all, making it incongruously still but for a light breeze and the movement of unusually blocky clouds.

But that was soon to change.

With an electronic beep, each feature of the city including the ground itself began shuffling positions unpredictably, and it began to fill...

---

Much of the multiverse continued to move as it always had, but for an unfortunate few, the world began to lag without warning. Perhaps they turn a wrench and find that their arm jitters along its path. Perhaps someone's words stop and start and become less clear. A spell inexplicably moves in slow motion. Or maybe there's no such moving object to make obvious what is happening, only a sudden thickness to the air. And after a short moment of this, it freezes, misplaced blocks of color and phantom images filling the whole of each one's vision.

And then blackness.

Well, not quite. There is one thing in view: a neon green loading bar. It's close enough to touch, or would be if they could move. It fills rapidly though, in only a second or two, before each person finds themself...seated in a tavern?

DAY 1: The Tutorial Level

There were a good few such taverns peppered around the City, all of which were quite large, which was a blessing given the myriad interdimensional abductees being deposited on the first floors of each. This particular one had a typewriter at one end of its bar, and a tiny park bench fit for a small beetle on the other, among other bits of disparate decor scattered across the establishment. For what it was worth though, the building itself was lined consistently with lacquered wood, with furniture to match. For all the new patrons finding themselves seated at the bar, booths, and tables might collectively shout "What the hell just happened!?", they couldn't deny these were some high quality seats.

And that was indeed what the patrons were collectively shouting. Already, in a booth near the entrance, a group of four girls with bunny ears were frantically slapping one another in an attempt to wake the other three. A middle-aged man with the misfortune of being caught in swim trunks fell backwards out of his seat with all the grace of a drunk elephant. At the bar again, a teen dressed for colder weather had grabbed his stool as if preparing to use it as a weapon.

"Where is this!?"

"Wait, this isn't the river I was just hallucinating..."

"The hell—!? What sick trick is he up to this time?"

Thankfully, no one yet seemed to be getting physical apart from the aforementioned bunny girls, but the din wasn't exactly doing much to calm the handful of stragglers summoned slightly belatedly who were being met with immediate panic.

Edited by Oceanstuck on Mar 18th 2023 at 4:09:16 AM

i guess you can watch me shitpost i guess

Somewhere in the Eagle Union

In the dark of night, the shipgirl known as Enterprise, or Enty to her friends, sat on the cushioned alcove in her borrowed bedroom, nursing a cup of hot cocoa and gazing up at the stars as she thought back on her travels. So far, her solo road trip vacation had been a long, meandering journey across the North American section of her homeland, and in the past couple days, she had left the hustle and bustle of the city behind to travel through the countryside in the middle of the continent. The Heartland, as its residents liked to call it. Amber waves of grain, purple mountain majesties, and wide-open skies awaited. Before she had reached the rustic farmstead bed and breakfast she was staying the night at, the clouds above had even seen fit to empty themselves and began snowing! Her nature as a shipgirl, or KAN-SEN, meant that the cold hardly bothered her, however. Rather, she found it quite beautiful and a precious experience, considering how rare it was for her to be out driving her bike while it snowed. It was the first snowfall in the area that year, according to the kindly couple who were running the place.

That memory led to her thinking of the elderly farmer and his wife, sleeping soundly across the hall. They'd made a fantastic, hearty dinner for her after she'd arrived and shaken the snow off of herself, and given her this cozy room to stay the night in. It had been their daughter's room, apparently, before she'd moved away to the city for college and then work, only rarely returning to her parents' homestead. They had each other, of course, but Enty had to wonder whether the married couple ever felt lonely out here in the middle of nowhere. Well, they'd seemed overjoyed to have humanoid company, at least, and had been more than happy to introduce her to the rest of their little family, their dog and the assortment of animals they kept in the barn during these cold months. Introducing them to her pet bird, Grim Reaper, had been a treat as well! She chuckled as she recalled how wide their eyes had gotten at the chance to see a real Bald Eagle, their national bird, up close and personal.

Speaking of the feather-brain, she supposed she wasn't truly traveling alone as long as she had her stalwart avian companion, was she? She knew he was somewhere up there, perched comfortably in the room's rafters, though she couldn't see him in the dark. He's probably sleeping soundly, after all that traveling. Let's not bother him. Wouldn't want him to get cranky without his beauty sleep, hehe!

Enty suppressed a giggle and smiled contentedly, downing the last of her drink and placing the empty mug carefully on the floor. Then she spent a long time staring out the window, up into the starry sky. Out here in the country, in the dead of night, there were no man-made lights for miles around, so the only illumination came from the pearly-white full Moon above and the absolutely breathtaking view of the Milky Way. She sat there and silently named what heavenly bodies and constellations she could, then began counting stars until she completely lost track, and finally simply gazed out at the majesty of the universe, drinking in the raw vista without thoughts or words.

Eventually, her eyelids began to droop, but her limbs felt warm, heavy, and comfortable, and she was loath to rise from her position in the windowsill. I'll get up and crawl into the bed in a minute..., she assured herself tiredly, Just need to... rest my eyes... for a... bit...

---

She was drifting through a memory, or perhaps a dream, her own, or perhaps someone else's. Whatever the case, she was laying on her back with her most precious person at her side in the starlit blackness of night, staring up at the grand spectacle of the Milky Way.

"Commander, there are so many stars tonight... could they all be different civilizations, like you said? Could they be just like us? Do they eat food, play, and chit chat like we do?"

"Yes, we're not alone in this universe, after all."

"So, will we meet them? I have so many questions that I want to ask them..."

"Yes, one day... we’ll meet them for sure. You have to believe that humans are inherently enterprising. That is exactly why we gave you that name. Actually... do you like that name?"

"I do!"

"Then... let’s make it a promise!"

Suddenly, the stars distorted with blocky squares and rectangles of color, as if she'd been watching a monitor that was now glitching out. And then everything went completely dark for a few, long moments, until the familiar sight of a green loading bar appeared in front of her for a brief couple seconds.

And when that vanished, she found herself in...

---

The City of Lost Characters, Tavern

Well, that dream certainly took a strange turn... was Enterprise's dry first thought upon regaining consciousness, seated upon one of the bar's stools. For a few moments, she assumed that she was still dreaming, but the ringing in her ears from all the panicked shouting attested otherwise. She quickly glanced about, battle instincts in full gear as she assessed the room.

Fine, lacquered wood and comfortable seats. No evident bartender or staff. Young man holding barstool like a weapon... threat? No, he seemed as if he was in a defensive posture, unlikely to strike unless directly provoked. Young ladies with bunny ears slapping each other in desperation to wake up, not yet realizing they were in the waking world... Real or false ears? The former would perhaps point to Sakura Empire origin, while the latter was the fashion among some Eagle Union girls she knew. A man in swim trunks, certainly not attire that belonged in the snow-blanketed landscape she'd been gazing out at earlier, who had just had what looked like a painful fall out of his chair onto the hardwood floor. On the floor beside herself, she found her backpack, which she knew for a fact had been across the room from where she'd originally conked out. Her wallet, keys, and her phone were in her pockets, as well, in spite of the fact that she'd left them on the nightstand in the bedroom.

And directly in front of her, standing atop the bar, was her faithful companion, Grim Reaper, looking this way and that and seeming a bit skittish as he spread his wings to their maximum and chittered, trying to look intimidating. "Easy, Grim... Easy..." she cooed, reaching up to stroke the bird's white-feathered head softly. "It's alright... I'm confused, too." Her soothing words and motions seemed to calm the avian somewhat, and he folded his wings back to his sides, although he still continued to peer warily about the room.

"Smart bird, Grim!" she congratulated, smiling slightly as she leaned down to haul her bag up into her lap and began quickly and silently taking an inventory of what else among her possessions had come along with her. Although she was unsettled at being suddenly transported to a foreign location, she didn't sense any immediate danger, and it was best to assess what resources were at her disposal before acting further. She considered summoning her Rigging just to make sure she hadn't somehow been parted from it, but openly displaying weapons in this uncertain situation could easily lead to things taking a nasty turn. At least by the presence of her keys on her person, she had some hope that her bike might be outside, too...

GM of AGOG S4: Frontiers RP; Sub-GM of TABA, SOTR, & UUA RPs

Donatello

Ka-chink! "Oh, there is nothing like cracking open a car and getting a goldmine!"

No, Donnie was not breaking into someone's car. What he was doing was going through the trunk of a car that didn't belong to anyone and would've been compacted anyway...after breaking into a junkyard, but semantics.

He wasted no time grabbing anything that looked interesting—a few things with his hands, most from the robotic limbs sprouting from his shell. Most of the stuff was then passed to Mikey to carry. "Here, hold this— and this— and these— and that— Can you go look through some other cars? I'm gonna be here a while."

Mikey looked a little off-put, but grinned nevertheless. "Sure thing!" And he ran off to a nearby car.

Maybe sending him away had been a bad idea, though, because as Donnie was reaching for another interesting thing in the trunk, his arm suddenly stopped, jittering in place—and then froze altogether.

It only lasted a second, but that second was enough for Donnie's eyes to go wide and for him to yank his arm back. He stared at it in stunned silence, unsure of what had just happened. Was it broken? Breaking? Did he need an artificial one? It wasn't like he couldn't make one, he'd already made a shell cover, but still.

Donnie turned to tell Mikey what had just happened—

And everything froze.

He couldn't move. The world didn't move. Donnie's breath caught in his throat, the onset of panic settling in—and then, in bursts of blocks of color and phantom images, everything went black.

...

"Hey, Donnie, I found something! ...Donnie?"

---

Loading...

Donnie, Newly Displaced

Donnie jerked in place, as though waking up from a nightmare.

...

Oh, no, he had just entered a nightmare, his bad.

He was in some sort of...tavern? It definitely looked like a tavern, just with a typewriter and a bit...nicer, than he expected taverns to be. He wouldn't know, his only experience with taverns was from fantasy stories.

More pertinently, it was full of people.

Even more pertinently, those people were mostly humans.

Even more pertinently, everyone was panicking.

...

Oh my gosh, we were abducted.

How did this happen? Alien technology? Some kind of hyper-advanced tech he'd somehow never heard of? Magic (Donnie suppressed a scowl at the thought)? Whatever it was, he did not want to stay abducted.

Fortunately, Donnie problems called for Donnie solutions!

Donnie dug out his phone and started trying to call his brothers. Mostly just to explain the situation, try to give a feel for where he was, and...well, Leo could probably portal there so they could pick him up.

...

He probably shouldn't rely on that.

"Kept me waiting, haven’t you? Tch. No matter. Dawdle all you’d like. In the end, your defeat remains inevitable."

"HACHOO!"

Aqua sniffles, rubbing her nose.

"It was... it was right...."

She casts her gaze around the bar, eyes watering as she trembles. Everything looked different. So that meant... she had wandered to the wrong seat in the tavern!

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, where's my seat? I wasn't in the bathroom that long, I KNOW I went right back to my spot! I had a full bottle of extra special triple proof victory sake with a fancy little wax seal on the bottle and the cute little ribbon that makes you feel like you're drinking in a palace instead of a stupid dirty tavern in the middle of nowhere, aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!"

She desperately rubs at her eyes with her hands, drying the water from her face, and stands up, on moving around the tavern, looking at each spot with an intense, scrutinizing gaze for a brief instant, then switching back to a lazy grin, and back and forth, back and forth as she analyzes.

"...I must have gone to the wrong wing, that's all... that's all... where's the door!!!!!????"

She looks around one more time in absolute confusion.

And then starts to cry.

But no, not just crying, like she was doing. Oh no. Crying buckets. Gallon by gallon her tears fell, drenching her in water and starting to splash all over the floor around her.

"Waaaah, someone tell me where my seat is before I drown this place in one of the biggest rivers of sorrow and righteous misery you've ever seen!!!"

Stocking

The first thing Stocking thought upon yawning and opening her eyes to a bar she didn't remember falling asleep in was, predictably, where am I?

Her second thought, after noting the bar was full of maniacs, was somehow, this is Panty's fault.

"I swear to god I'm gonna shove my fist up her ass so hard even she can't enjoy it." Stocking mumbled, rubbing tiredness from her eyes. Her other hand reached out to grab Honekoneko, who had thankfully come with her. The cat doll's eyes were narrowed, making him look as tired as Stocking felt.

She swept her gaze across the bar's inhabitants, pausing a moment to stare at the weeping blue-haired girl. Yeah, not touching that. She determined that pretty much everyone here was insane, and decided to do the only logical thing.

Clutching Honeko to her side, Stocking gracefully front-flipped over the bar counter and began to look for the booze.

What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?

Hunk let out a singular exhale of relief, the mission was over. The sample was being delivered back to base, yes all of Alpha squad had been wiped out. Dr. Birkin mutating himself in a desperate bid to live was unexpected, but not something Hunk wasn't prepared to face.

He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, he had spent the past several days fighting, the mission completed he could rest.

He opened his eyes, suddenly alert. Mind racing as he tried to calculate where he was, he fell back on old training as his brain slowed.

1. Assess the situation.
2. Assess current objectives.
3. Assess supplies.

With these in mind, he was in a foreign location, his current mission was to get out then, he was armed with the supplies he had escaping racoon city, as well as some spare ammo.

He loaded his LE5, and with a heavy smack closed the bolt, he didn't need to draw it yet but keeping it loaded had always been the difference between failure and success. Operational objective clear, Hunk said nothing as he looked about the area.

The Average Mountain Time Strip

[A man and a woman are standing on the sidewalk.]

Woman: Look, Paul, I know our relationship's been through some rough patches.

Woman: But even though I cheated on you, and stole all your money, and framed you for arson...

Woman: ...and we're stranded on a raft in the middle of the ocean...

[The scene has suddenly changed to what the woman described. The man looks around in shock.]

Woman: ...and I stole your identity, and I cheated on you again since I started talking, that doesn't mean we can't still be together, right?

[There are several beat panels of the man looking around his new environment before turning to face the woman.]

Man: You've got to wake up, Rivers.

---

Chimneyfoot, The Tavern (2023 Is Not a Real Year)

"...of sorrow and righteous misery you've ever seen!"

Uuugh, not again. This is how it always happens. Chim's having some weird dream that he's not even in, then suddenly someone says "Wake up, Rivers" or something stupid like that, and then he (who, may he remind you, is not Rivers) wakes up from being passed out drunk and it turns out someone nearby said the word "rivers" for a completely unrelated reason. He wished it would stop.

...Admittedly the loading bar was new, but Chim understood it. It was loading reality. (Reality loaded surprisingly fast for how complex it is.)

"Uugh, where am I? Who said 'rivers'?" He was pretty hungover and it came through clearly in his voice. "Was it—why are you crying?" he said to the blue-haired girl next to him.

Suggested wine pairing: pinot noir.

The tavern

Those nearby would see a surprised youth appear in their midst; because of the kilt they were wearing, and their stark, almost feminine eyes, it was hard to tell at first glance if they were male or female.

Narancia blinked a few times and glanced around, stupefied.

"...Eh? Eh? Eeeeeeeh?!"

He whipped his head around frantically, increasingly confused with every moment. His eyes went wide and his jaw dropped. What had just happened? For a moment, he had seen something strange, like a creepy hallucination, and then— Just a moment ago, hadn't he been outside, sitting at a restaurant table with the rest of his team? Why was he indoors?

"Wha... what is this?! Guys! There's something strange going on! Where the hell are we?"

It took him a moment to realize that Bucciarati, Giorno, and the others were nowhere to be seen. Instead, he was surrounded by a crowd of people (some of them in... weird costumes?), most of whom looked equally confused.

What the fuck?! Was that weird hallucination just now... a Stand attack?! Did an enemy separate us from each other? Where am I... where are the others?

Ignoring the other people around him, he rushed towards the exit door, intending to open it and see where exactly this place was.

Edited by Korodzik on Jan 1st 2023 at 2:41:27 PM

Kobeni really didn't want to return to her parent's home. But... she never really was brave enough to... remove her association with them. Not entirely on her own.

Which was why, being targeted by her former boss, being forced on the run... it gave her just the excuse necessary to finally, finally, cut off ties to her family. Yeah! I-if that's what happens, then she really can't help it, can she?!

Maybe this time, after everything cools down... she can finally have a fresh start. No more life-or-death work environment. No more being brought to Hell, or being bullied by Devil co-workers. No more overbearing bosses in her part-time job. She's- she's going to live life her own way!

And- and maybe save enough, to finally go to college! Yeah!

....

... Um... What's- what's that strange green bar doing there? It looked almost like a loading bar, from one of thos-

Eh? EHHHH?!? Why is everything suddenly black? Don't tell her, is it a Devil attack?!

Oh no! Oh god! Why is this happening now, of all-

---

The Tavern - Kobeni

That was before-

And now.... she finds herself seated. At a local bar.

"Eh?"

Was her first response.

"... Eh? Eh?"

Was her second response.

"EHHHHHHHHHHH?!?!"

That was her final 'calm' response- looking around like a lost puppy, a deer struck by the headlights.

.... Before the dam broke.

"D-d-d-did we get kidnapped? Wait- Are these- loan sharks? Yakuzas? Triads?! O-o-o-or Devils?!? Am I- Am I going to get my organs harvested, or fed to the devils? No, please, I just got away from that life! 'Aa-a-A-a-Aah....!"' the girl stuttered at the end.

How fortunate, then, that another girl seems to be panicking just as much as her... albeit for entirely different reasons. Kobenin points at the goddess.

"W-why are you worried about seats at a time like this, y-you- you cosplayer?! Or- d-don't- did YOU bring us here? Wha- Are-are you trying to play dumb, and-and drown us all in, and-!"

... Yeah. She's not helping with the situation. Someone should probably do something about Aqua or even herself.

Or, you know, ignore the wreck. It's fine. It's not the first time Kobeni gets ignored...

Edited by JustSomeGuy732 on Jan 1st 2023 at 10:03:46 PM

"A post per day keeps the GMs away!"

Miki Sayaka

Mitakihara city, nightlife district

Sayaka was walking down a dark alley flanked by bars and clubs with a blue egg-shaped crystal in her hand. While the shady parts of Mitakihara were much safer than their counterparts in New York or Paris, they still weren’t places where a middle schooler had much business walking alone. Sayaka was not afraid of any thugs who might steal her purse, but she was on her alert for threats of a magical kind. These parts of town, like anywhere where people fall into deep despair, are the natural habitats of witches and their familiars, monsters born from negative emotion. The soul gem in Sayaka’s hand notified Sayaka of an anomaly in magical energy.
‘’A witch?’’ Sayaka thought.
Sayaka looked around, carefully checking for possible entrances to a witch’s labyrinth. Her soul gem pointed her toward a small izakaya which was closed. On the door was a notice from the power company, saying they would cut power starting tomorrow. She slid open the door and walked into the dark pub. She tried flicking the light switch on the wall. Instead of the lights turning on, the whole world started looking like a TV on a dead channel.

The Tavern

When the color returned to the world, Sayaka was sitting on a bar stool in what looked like a Western-themed pub. Her body immediately jerked, almost causing her to fall off her stool.
I'm in a bar, wearing my school uniform. Why didn't the owners kick me out? Am I...kidnapped?' Sayaka was starting to panic. Sayaka looked around. There were girls in bunny suits slapping each other, and in another corner, there was a bar brawl waiting to happen. The one thing that caught her eye, however, was a huge turtle standing upright, dressed in a purple cyberpunk costume.
Is that a familiar? Am I in a witch's labyrinth? Sayaka thought. If Sayaka was not in a panic, she might have assumed she had walked into an underground cosplay club, and would have just asked for the exit. However, with her nerves on a hair trigger, she chose to transform into her magical girl form. With a blue flash, her school uniform disappeared and was replaced with her magical girl outfit. She was ready to take drastic action.

"Enshittification truly is how platforms die"-Cory Doctorow

Aqua, ft. Kobeni and Chimneyfoot

"I'm crying because my special sake isn't at my seat and I saved up mission reward money for it for a month and finally got to have a sip and then when I got up to use the little goddess's room and then came back and couldn't find it and...."

Aqua somehow manages to rattle out an answer to Chimneyfoot in between deep breaths and gulps.

"W-whaaaaaaaaaaaaat!?!?!"

She only stops in her crying to look at Kobeni with a sad expression.

"Do what?"

She keeps glancing around, starting to think.

THINK.

It's a hard, arduous, agonizing process, but she focuses her gaze on Kobeni.

"I couldn't have... I don't think... it's been a while since I... and.... But if you're not from the Fantasy World..................."

She gulps.

"Y-y-y-y-you aren't from Japan, are you?"

Edited by nman on Jan 1st 2023 at 6:21:51 AM

Mai Shiranui, Seated at the Bar in the Tavern

Mai Shiranui blinked a few times as if she was trying to process what the heck just happened. One minute she was walking into the Pao Pao Cafe to meet with her own Prince Charming Andy Bogard, and the next, everything went... wonky? Now, she found herself seated in... admittedly a very high quality seat at the bar. She looked around at the tavern she had somehow found herself in. There seemed to be four bunny girls slapping each other, some drunkard in shorts, some teen grabbing a bar stool ready for a fight, a blue-haired woman crying buckets, and a woman who... would actually look at home wherever Terry Bogard hangs out.

"Oh, the Pao Pao Cafe must've gotten a redesign," Mai came to the absolutely wrong conclusion. "But then where is Richard Meyer... and everyone else for that matter?"

Mai seems not to have figured just what happened out as of yet. It was about this time that someone decided to jump over the bar to look for the booze. Speaking of which, where is the bartender if this was supposed to be a bar?

"Wait..." Mai seemed to have gotten an idea, before addressing Stocking. "Hey, if you do find drinks there, I'd like some as well."

She has somehow agreed with Stocking that getting booze was in fact the right course of action. However, then someone mentioned Japan.

Mai turned to see who mentioned Japan to find it was the crybaby.

"I'm from Japan."

Edited by GameGuruGG on Jan 1st 2023 at 8:31:38 AM

Wizard Needs Food Badly

The Tavern - Kobeni, watery interrogation by Aqua and other Madness

"E-Eeeeeek, I'msorryI'msorry! I didn't mean anything by it! P-p-please don't kill and harvest me, Idon'ttastegood!"

Having gotten the ones (presumed) responsible for all this, Kobeni began cowering under the tavern table-

Then she heard the question, peeking her head by juuuust a bit out.

"E-Erm... y-y-yes...? I'm- I'm Kobeni... 20... from Japan... An-"

Then she saw a teenage schoolgirl literally transforming into a new outfit. Like-like one of those Magical Girl shows that she remembered...

And... is that a giant turtle? Standing upright? With a bandana over its head? Using a phone? A turtle Devil?!

Oh god, this really is a Devil's den!

Kobeni flips her table over, and... cowered under it, shaking a tad, to avoid Donnie's gaze- Maybe if it doesn't see her, it'll go away...

Edited by JustSomeGuy732 on Jan 1st 2023 at 10:34:02 PM

"A post per day keeps the GMs away!"

The Sequin Land Sea

On the rough, stormy seas south of Scuttle Town, a purple-skinned pirate queen in skimpy skull-themed attire stood on the deck of her ship. Her dark, skeletal minions in pirate regalia, the Tinkerbats, were piloting their mechanical pirate ship off to escape. Risky grinned and held the artifact, a strange object that looked like a metal urn, aloft, then handed off to a Tinkerbat.

"Put it in the hold, lovelies! I don't want our little prize to get any water damage in this storm!" Risky shouted over the howl of the winds and the crashing waves. Obediently but silently, the Tinkerbats grabbed the artifact and went below deck with it. Risky then looked towards the others, who were steering the ship, as a lurch shook the entire ship. "Watch where you're driving, you dingbats!" Risky exclaimed angrily. "You're going to damage my beautiful ship!"

The Tinkerbats held their course as much as they could, but the wild storm was battering around the ship. High above, and far behind, a large purple bird was flying in the same direction of the ship. On the back of the bird were two young women— one, a young blonde woman with a tube top and white pants, controlling the bird, while a tanned young lady with purple hair tied up in a ponytail and in a red and gold dancer outfit clung for dear life.

"Shantae, there she is!" the woman guiding the bird exclaimed, pointing at the Tinkerbats' pirateship. Shantae grinned.

"You're the best, Sky!" Shantae cheered. "Take us in close! I need to get that artifact back from Risky! It belongs to Uncle Mimic!" Sky looked worried.

"Those winds look intense though... I don't know if Wrench is going to be able to take it!" Sky replied, looking down at her bird.

"Wrench will be fine! He's your most prized war bird!" Shantae insisted. Sky looked unsure, but nodded, and with a whistle, Sky gestured and Wrench turned and dived towards the gale-force winds below.

Below, a sudden shake of the ship nearly made Risky lose her balance again.

"I told you to be careful!" Risky snapped. She then looked up and her eyes widened. There was a giant whirlpool in the center of the typhoon, swirling and sucking water into it. "Hard starboard! Twister off the port bow!!" Risky ordered, but a lurch brought the ship towards the swirling maelstrom. Sky and Shantae dove towards the pirate ship. Shantae let go of Sky and prepared to make a jump towards the ship, but a sudden gust of wind caught her before she could jump.

"Whoaa—AAA!" Shantae screamed, and Sky quickly reached for her, to no avail. Shantae plummeted down towards the water. At the same time, Risky shoved a Tinkerbat aside and reached for the helm, trying to correct the course, also to no avail.

"Man the escape pods, boys! Looks like the ship is taking on water!" Risky ordered, before another sudden lurch brought the ship right into the maelstrom. Risky screamed herself, clinging to the deck. A loud splash erupted as Shantae fell into the cold, dark sea.

"SHANTAAAAEEEE!" Sky shouted, reaching for her, but she was gone. Sky looked worried and sad, then whistled and pulled up, flying back in the direction of Scuttle Town.

Meanwhile, Shantae winced, trying to swim up to the surface. However, as she swam, she noticed her swimming becoming slower and slower, her movements jerky. Was she freezing to death? What was going on?? She noticed her vision becoming blocky and unfocused. Was this what drowning was like? She frantically tried to swim upwards, then her vision went dark.

But it was strange. She could breathe again. She felt dry. A green... thing appeared in her vision. Then there was sudden noise, and light.

---

A tavern in the City

At once, Shantae bolted up, having been sitting at a seat in a tavern, looking around in utter confusion at he sight she was seeing. Loads of people, all in a state of total panic, people crying (with others trying to keep them calm). Shantae stood, looking around for someone, something that made any sort of sense to her. She had to find a way back, to let Sky know she hadn't drowned.

A reptilian humanoid was hunched over... something or other, trying to do... something. He seemed to be in quite a state. Shantae tapped the humanoid turtle gently on the shoulder, looking for a place that wasn't covered by strange machinery.

"Pardon me, do you know where we are, Mr. Turtle?" she asked. "I gotta get back to Scuttle Town. People are worried about me!"

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

Bandlewood forests.

Normaly not many people or creatures know how to access the Bandlewood unless they come from the Bandlewood, their odd portals and how to access them are a secret only yordles know how to but sometimes these are left open by accident and by proxy cause some unsavory people to enter. Afther all yordles are sold for big money in the black market of Bilgewater, taking down these intrudents is Teemo's current mission one he is doing solo as always. Prowling trough the foliage he took care of a group of three peopl by shooting poisoned darts behind their back.

Now it was a matter of getting rid of the bodies, afther all, a bandle scout leaves no trace.

He got to work in diggin 3 graves for 3 men when the dirt felt odd when digging like its lagging behind, scratching the back of his neck he felt his hand slow down and suddently. He vanishes.

Lost city- Tavern

Suddently a small badger looking fella appears sitted on one of the many chairs of the tavern watching all the chaos unfold, people slapping eachother, people with odd clothes...

Was he on a bilgewater bar? it dint seem like it on accounts of the smell. Somehow he got here without warning but a bandle scout never fears! He just should ask the people

And so he goes near the blue haired woman who was crying her eyes out just minutes ago.

"Excuse me miss, by any chance do you know where am i?"

He sounded cheery for he was optimistic nothing would go wrong.

Donnie, Accidentally Terrifying

Donnie blinked, then looked over his shoulder, casting an annoyed glance at Shantae. "What is a 'Scuttle Town'?"

Of course, someone quite suddenly flipping a table got his attention, because why wouldn't it?

Donnie's eyes snapped over to Kobeni, starring at her in confusion. "What are you—?"

And then he realized.

Wait. It's me. I'm the problem.

"Uh..." He awkwardly hesitated, before trying for a smile. "No need to worry, for I, like you, am a normal human, wearing a...alien turtle costume who got lost in the middle of my...normal, everyday human life, nailed it."

...

Maybe Leo had a point that he needed to make it to rehearsal.

Edited by LilyTheLitten on Jan 1st 2023 at 6:49:34 AM

"Kept me waiting, haven’t you? Tch. No matter. Dawdle all you’d like. In the end, your defeat remains inevitable."

Edited by jherhmeigringer on Jan 1st 2023 at 11:42:17 AM

Daisy Buchanan, on her way to Chicago

Daisy sat in the shotgun seat, looking out in the distance mindlessly. Her husband, Tom, was driving her and their daughter to Chicago. After the death of... A certain someone, they needed to get their asses out of East Egg. Tom and Daisy didn't spoke to each other, so there was a persistent silence over the ride outside of their child, Pammy, occasionally murmuring to herself as part of play pretend.

Jay. Jay Gatsby. That's not even the bastard's real name.

Yet, he still lingered in Daisy's heart. She did indeed loved him and "Gatsby" loved her back, even though she was a completely different woman from the one five years ago.

Daisy reflected on the circumstances that led to them moving to Chicago. She flashed back to when she met him again after so long and began an affair. She flashed back to when they were at the Plaza Hotel where Daisy's infidelity was revealed, leading to Tom and "Gatsby" getting into a heated confrontation which was made worse when she confessed that she loved them both. She flashed back to when they left the Plaza Hotel, she ran over Tom's mistress who jumped in front of their car. They ran off and "Gatsby" offered to take the blame for the mistress' death. She flashed back to when news of "Gatsby"'s death broke out, leading to the Buchanan getting out of East Egg as quickly as possible. They wanted nothing to do with him after all. They didn't even attend "Gatsby"'s funeral.

However, as Daisy lingered on these events, there was something aching her.

Maybe I should've gone to his funeral, She thought to herself.

By night, the Buchanans arrived at their new home in Chicago. It wasn't as big as their previous Georgian home but it's still a nice looking, three floor house.

"Look at that Pammy, our new home." She said towards her daughter.

Pammy smiled excitably. "It looks nice!"

Daisy hopped off the car and headed to the door. She opened it and stepped right inside.

Daisy, taken to the Tavern

"Hold up, is this a speakeasy?"

Daisy took a quick look around her surroundings. It's certainly not what she expected and there's a bunch of bars within this building. She doesn't see Tom anywhere. Instead, she sees rather peculiar folk that includes a giant humanoid turtle, a blue-haired girl, a purple-haired girl showing off way too much skin by her standards, a couple of robots and so on.

"Tom? TOM!" Daisy shouted as she searched around the Tavern. "Where are you Tom?!"

Edited by Cutegirl920fire on Jan 1st 2023 at 6:40:44 AM

Victor of HGS S320 | "There's rosemary, that's for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember."

"Waaaaaaaah..... I'm sorry!"

Aqua stumbles forwards and tightly hugs Kobeni with freakish strength.

"I didn't... I didn't mean to isekai you people! The Fantasy World needs a hero to save it from the Demon King, but... but I don't usually take anyone from Japan when I'm drunk!"

Chimneyfoot, Still the Tavern (2023 Is Moving Too Fast to be a Real Year)

Chim rolled his eyes at Aqua's blubbered response. "Geez, lady, save some punctuation for the rest of us," he muttered under his breath.

He then thought for a moment about how (and whether) to actually help her and swivelled around on his stool to face her. His chimney foot was on full display now, and easily noticeable to anyone who was looking in his direction. "Well, given that people are popping into existence all over the place, I think it's a safe bet someone summ—"

Chim was interrupted by the loud and violent crashing of a table being flipped over. He then watched Aqua bear-hug the table flipper (Kobeni) and... "You drunkenly summoned all of us? What are you even the goddess of? Inebriation?"

Suggested wine pairing: pinot noir.

The Tavern - Kobeni, still in-hiding- being hugged to death

"Y-Yes! You're right! Totally right! Y-y-you're totally a normal human being, haha! A-a-and definitely not a man-eater or nothing, aha-hahaha...!"

... Yeah, no, she totally doesn't believe you, Donnie. If anything, she's even more scared that you're trying to impersonate as one- as if trying to lure her into a trap.

It's one thing if they're Devils or Fiends from the Safety Bureau. It's another matter entirely, if one's not sure where they're from. Such is the lesson she learnt, while still serving the Bureua.

"S-s-s-so- just- I- I mea- I- That is- I- probably don't taste good- A-a-and there's- like, there's many-"

"EEEEEEEK- GUHRK?!?"

Unfortunately due to being too focused on Donnie, Kobeni... did not expect to be suddenly hugged by the surprise goddess. If she's panicking before, now she's outright hyperventilating! Shaking constantly as she saw her life flashes before her. Oh god....

Doesn't help that Aqua utterly surprised her with her goddess-tier strength.

"... can't... breath..."

"A post per day keeps the GMs away!"

Nia, Indoline Praetorium: Dramatic Irony, Thy Name is Nia

The last few days have been rather crazy for Nia and her group. Saving her Nopon buddy's father from a war profiteer, running into Torna again, getting an invitation from the Praetor himself, teaming up with the Special Inquisitor herself, and Shellhead returning and also being sent by the Praetor. Now, she's within the white marble halls and the bluish-green pillars of the Indoline Praetorium itself, on a mission for the Driver of the Aegis to talk with another of his kind. They took the time to look around the place, knowing that their audience with the Praetor is not until tomorrow, taking in the diverse population, the beautiful sights, the warm welcomes from the native Indolines.

To be honest with herself, Nia felt incredibly uneasy in this place. The look of the warrior monks scattered across the city gave her memories. Bad memories at that. And yet, she put on a brave face for everyone's sake, most of all herself. And if anything went down, she'd have her team to back her up, right? She tried not to let shouts of the protesters and war refugees get to her. She had half a mind to smack some sense into those idiots for thinking that Blades are what's causing the wars, yet she restrained herself, knowing Rex, the earlier-stated Driver of Aegis, has a more preferable solution than just lashing out at the Blades.

They soon received their lodging for the night to prepare for the meeting ahead. When she gets some privacy between her and Dromarch, a white-furred tiger-like Blade, she took a sigh of both relief and stress, "Big day, huh?"

"Indeed. Not many get to see the Praetor himself."

"Yeah. You know I'm not a praying girl, but it's almost like the Architect himself's guiding us."

A pause emerged before the bestial Blade broke it, "If there's any problems, my lady..."

"Hey, I can handle it, alright? I've got Rex, Pyra, Tora, Poppi, all those guys and you. We took on Malos, we can take a few of those bloody zealots."

Dromarch smiled at his Driver's reassurance, "I never doubted you for a moment."

"Thanks, Dromarch. Least I got someone by my side."

"Of course, my lady."

The tiger-like Blade bowed his head for what seemed like forever. In fact, he hasn't raised his head in a little bit which caused some concerns for Nia before the room around her started to look... off. And then, she too wasn't moving. Her vision filled up with strange-colored squares before it all went black, the only thing replacing it being a large green text and a filling bar before that too vanished.

---

Nia, Tavern: Strangest Barfellows

Nia's eyes shot wide open after she saw her Blade just stood stock still and the world around her literally break apart into strange shapes and some strange green bar that filled her vision. Why is she in a pub of all places? She was pretty sure a place as religiously centered as Indol would not have any taverns, let alone one like this. Did she eat some bad fish? Did a monster knock her upside the head? Was she drinking until she blacked out? She looked around to see that there are no faces she recognizes. Not her Blade, not her partners, no one.

Her heart was pounding like a Bunnit running away from its predator. Shite, she thought, shite, shite, shite, SHITE! She breathed in and out, a cold sweat forming on her face. D-don't panic! There... there's gotta be a reason why you've ended up here with a bunch of strangers, yeah.

She stood up and pinched herself. Then a few more times. Then a slap across her face. Nothing. She's not dreaming, or at least, she doesn't feel like she's dreaming. She looked all around her for anyone to understand what the bloody hell's going on, but they're all in various states of confusion, panic, and for one case, almost crying like a baby. There are a few girls in strange outfits (one that looks too dressed up and another that looks not dressed up enough), a man decked out in armor that looked scarier than anything Mor Ardain has and, of all things, a stark white figure with a chimney for a foot. Seeing as she's not the only stranger in the pub, Nia lowers her guard slightly before she looks at a pair of panicked girls screaming bloody murder. Their wailing is starting to grate on her ears, so she shouted at them, Oi, quit with the whining! You two aren't bloody helping!"

"I treasure every day with you, darling." "No need to be so sappy, love." "You know that's how she is, Nia." - AU!Pyra, Nia, Mythra

Hunk weighed his options, so far... nothing. He opened the door to the tavern and was faced with... the city.

Current objective was to survive, this was unfamiliar ground, and quite frankly what he saw was nothing like what he was familiar with. This would pose complications.

Edited by EchoingSilence on Jan 1st 2023 at 10:14:54 AM

Cybertron

Cheetor thought that their return to Cybertron would've gone differently. A long time ago, when this all began, he'd imagined that the war would've ended with them returning to Cybertron and slipping back into some semblance of their old lives while Big Bot filed some incident report or another. Then, as the Beast Wars began heating up, Cheetor began to wonder if they'd receive some kind of commendation for their heroism-surely they deserved a medal for stopping Megatron and his cronies from fragging the entire space-time continuum or whatever, didn't they?

What he got, the moment he regained consciousness in an empty industrial park, his short-term datatrax corrupted beyond repair, was the sight of a massive tank barrel pointing down at him. It had taken him a few minutes to realize that this was Cybertron at all, or even what had had become of him-where had everyone gone, and why had he been stripped of every hard-won upgrade he'd obtained over the stellar cycles? His old beast mode felt... wrong, somehow, like returning to a house where all the furniture had been shuffled around... and if he tried to transform?

"Cheetor, maximize!"

System error. System error.

The world briefly went red as error messages piled up in his vision and panels and gears ground and twisted against one another; feline figure hissed in a mixture of irritation and pain as his body rebelled against itself. He'd been trapped in cat mode before, but this was something different-like if a professional athlete suddenly forgot how to run minutes before the final race. No robot mode, no memories, no idea how or why he'd been dragged back to an empty Cybertron... nothing to do now but fade. Some people claimed that Cheetor treated life like one big game. Games had rules, and as the feline figure trotted along a tangle of pipelines, he reflected on the new rules of the game: run. Run fast, run far, run as fast as you can before they find you. Who "they" wasn't exactly clear, but there were dozens of them, never far behind, their searchlights cutting through the gloom like terrible knives. An automated cargo monorail slid underneath him, and with the stealth and agility afforded by his beast mode-one of the few advantages he had left—he leapt...

... seconds before the world went green...

Somewhere in the city

This tavern was a heap of crumbling brickwork and mouldering wood-any attention to aesthetics or cleanliness had long since gone out the window. It shouldn't have been possible for a building, of all things, to lurk ominously, but this is exactly what it managed to do, sandwiched between two other buildings like some kind of malevolent mollusc.

Inside was little better-there were the barest of furnishings, a scant few electric bulbs whose defiant flickers illuminated grease, dirt, what some unidentifiable bottles of liquid behind the bar, and a mixed crowd of beings who'd found themselves abruptly yanked into... wherever this was.

And this was before a full-grown Southeast African cheetah materialized above them, and, in adherence with the laws of physics, slammed into a table at 9.81 meters per second. A few people screamed.

As best he could with thick cat paws, Cheetor tried to scrape what remained of the table together into a workable shape, then eyed the crowd. His memories were still coming together, but above all, there was one thing that told him he couldn't be on Cybertron anymore, something he'd only ever seen in old historical recordings.

"Jumpin' gyros! You're... humans!"

Edited by Locoman on Jan 1st 2023 at 10:28:28 AM

Star Command base, Buzz’s Quarters

Ah fighting the forces of evil was always satisfying to the great Buzz Lightyear, righting wrongs, foiling any plans the Evil Emperor Zurg at his disposal, or possibly taking on the likes of Warp Darkmatter, Gravitina, the robot vampire of NOS-4-A2 or even Torque, whatever the case, the possibilities were endless for a space ranger of his caliber because after all saving the galaxy was what he was proud of most, to be a hero of millions. Unfortunately for Buzz, he was not doing a mission, at least not at the moment anyway, Commander Nebula had not issued him a mission to either him or his team which was really rare because usually they WERE on a mission, always busy with whatever was happening on that occasion but today he was in his quarters just pacing back and forth, back and forth around the same area, essentially bored out of his mind.

“Why did it have to be a slow day?” Buzz grumbled, normally he wouldn’t have a lot of time being spent on his quarters, usually they’d be reserved for reports to the commander or what have you. Nora had offered to give Buzz something to do but Buzz being a gentleman to decline the offer in the hope that something would eventually come up and that he went be on a mission. There wasn’t.

Buzz sighed: “I can’t be stuck in this room, not when evil maybe present. I need something, anything, I need action that’s what a space ranger. Well…anything that won’t be staring at a random wall.” As if to make his point quite clear, he gestured to one of the walls supporting the room itself.

Then the room started turning black and pixelating everywhere around Buzz: “Huh what? What’s going-?” Is all the space ranger could say before everything slowed down and without another word, Buzz Lightyear, vanished from his quarters.

Tavern The next thing Buzz knew he was sitting at a table in an unfamiliar setting what looked like an ol’ fashioned tavern. But it was clearly not the diner, and there were certainly a lot of weird folks about. The first thing Buzz noticed was a giant turtle humanoid standing on two legs wearing a bandana and a little girl with purple hair in a belly dancer outfit?

Perhaps they could help understand what was going on. “Uh pardon you two.” Buzz said not before clearing his throat to let both Donnie and Shantae in particular to know where he was there behind them. “But I don’t suppose…you know…where we are…?”