Shantae's eyes widened when Mai explained the predicament Galo and Lio were in.
"Oh no! You're right, we have to help them! We should try and find the boys as soon as we can. But they could be anywhere in this giant forest..." she sighed. Her attention was piqued when the group said that they had recognized some of the people in the City from... video games? Anime? She turned towards the people at the table.
"You know us?" she asked. "You don't look like you're from Sequin Land. Have stories about me travelled that far?" She looked fascinated with the concept. She had never travelled beyond Sequin Land in her life. But apparently people knew about her from as far afield as a completely separate universe, as little sense as that made.
I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither.Stocking, Star Building
Upon realizing that the wasp was, in fact, a person, Stocking paused. Her sword was still in her hand, and there was a brief moment where she debated just doubling down and slicing the bug's head off, but Akechi had already apologized.
"Kind of a bad day to be walking around looking like that, y'know." Stocking grumbled. She lowered her sword, but kept it out in case the wasp decided to make her day and turn violent. "Like Pancake Boy says, we thought you were one of those giant bugs wandering around, and didn't feel too keen on being stung. If you wanna fight about it I'll gladly kick your ass, otherwise, feel free to buzz off."
She gestured towards the station with her sword. "Also, this building is ours. Finders keepers. Bitch."
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?Mai, Arcade
"I feel like they would come here first," Mai answered Shantae, before turning to the group again. "So you recognized some of us from anime and video games?"
Mai glanced over at Zan again, as if she was trying to recognize her from any Heavy Metal album cover she could remember... She had no such luck and just shook her head. Mai then glanced over at a Neo Geo Arcade Cabinet. If they had their own video games and they were in an arcade, did this mean that she could... play her own video game? Shantae's video game? Daisy's video game?
"...Daisy?" Mai asked, trying to figure out where she heard that name yesterday. Even though both had been in the same room at points, they haven't formally met.
Edited by GameGuruGG on Mar 2nd 2023 at 6:15:19 AM
Wizard Needs Food BadlyTeemo trying to calm the soldier
Well new people got in, cool but Bucky didn't seem to like them one bit in fact Teemo has seen this behavior before with other armies, bandlewood or otherwise this happens quite a lot in the line of duty.
Whatever HYDRA did to bucky it wouldn't have been pretty and its clear it leaved scars, Teemo attempted to ease Bucky. Even if he is wearing a silly bee suit, who knows that may help?
"Nobody is going to take you anywhere Bucky. No one will hurt you. They are not HYDRA its just a misunderstanding."
Teemo spoke in short sentences sounding reassuring and calm to not startle the soldier.
"You should lay down a bit. Breathe in and out. Collect your thougths."
Donnie, Plan B
Oh boy. This was going downhill fast. Why, oh why couldn't he be like Mikey and know exactly what to do in these situations? At this rate, they'd all be dead before they ever made it to the Arcade.
So Donnie tried a different tactic.
"Logically speaking, if they were HYDRA soldiers, wouldn't they attack us immediately instead of trying to de-escalate the situation?"
Would this work? Probably not. But it was worth trying.
"Look inside yourself and to the stars; there, you will find your answers."Brigitte Lindholm - Grön armor - Inside the Arcade - Hello, operator? One key to the future please.
After Brigitte walked into the Arcade, she didn't look around that much at the change of the interior, but instead just looked for a way to the prize booth where Tester was. She was aware of seeing a few figures in here which she remembered seeing as part of the colorful group that was there the previous day, but right now she had a more important matter to attend to.
"Excuse me, Tester? I have a couple of questions," Brigitte started, raising a hand as she approached the counter. "I know many of us here are from different worlds, apparently, but it seems like Daisy and I are from pretty much the same world, but two different points of time. Is that right?" she asked, going with the heavy question first before adding, "and, does this city have a library anywhere?"
You are reading this."A-aren't they from a different Earth or something? How would they be with these HYDRA people?" Lachesis said to Bucky, although from the sound of it she already knew it would fall on deaf ears. "They probably just panicked a-and used ice magic 'cause they were panicked, right? ...That was a stupid sentence, but you get the idea. Uh...hey you two!" She pointed her staff at Galo and Lio. "Explain in your own words! What did you do to spook him? Because I have no idea what's going on."
As Nia hit the Yes button, the floating sign glowed green and the text of the second condition changed.
"A large enemy should appear in the evening; that should qualify as one challenge. It will not persist past the end of this day, though there will be more like it in the future," TESTER helpfully informed Nia. "I believe it will be at ground level when it shows itself. Another is a group of three that are roaming about. This group will fulfill the bonus challenge requirement, and will remain into the next day if not defeated. I would suggest watching for signs of fire, ice, or electricity not channeled by someone you have seen before.
"Another thing," he added after a moment. "Remember that there are others seeking this same reward. Do not worry about competing with them for it; so long as you participate against a challenge in some form, you will receive credit for it. That said, it would be unfortunate if they were to best it without your involvement; perhaps some coordination would aid in avoiding this."
"Greetings," TESTER then said to the newly-entering party that had immediately asked him a question. "The last instance of this experiment did feature an omniversal library, but unfortunately, at present, this one does not. This building can provide some amount of information on any universe, but not more than an incomplete lore guide of the corresponding media." An image of the shelf of strategy guides appeared on one of his screens; if Brigitte looked closely...was that a guide with the Overwatch insignia on it?
"And, for better or worse, you and Mrs. Daisy are not from the same universe; rather, most universes with a version of earth have a similar arc of history up to a certain point. Is there something you intended to do with this knowledge?"
At the table, the girl (Tabby?) answered Shantae. "Uh...yeah, I guess. Apparently 'fictional' media isn't actually fictional, least I think that's how it works." She rubbed the back of her neck.
"Uhh, that Daisy," the guy in the T-shirt said, pointing at...well, Daisy, at the counter. "From uh, Gatsby. The book that's required reading in American high school. Huh, guess she'll be getting a bunch of name recognition."
"But yeah, a bunch of guys are characters from stories." Greg held up two of the strategy guides. One featured a bunch of strange colorful creatures crowding a treasure chest, and another had Trevor amongst a few other faces. "Sayaka's an anime character, that Daisy lady is from a book, and you're from a video game, Ms. Shiranui. Trippy, right?"
"Uh, the same thing happened to me earlier..." piped up Frosmoth. "I'm not a Ditto, there's not much I can do about it. I didn't realize it was because I'm a bug-type at first; apparently it's not normal in other worlds to get attacked over nothing..."
"...Well." Crow frowned over something, and jumped down from the bridge, back to ground level; his not-so-dark bee-striped suit remained on him. "Considering you've already made your sapience obvious, I doubt you'll have that problem again here. Just so long as you don't start the fight yourself, of course. If you do, I won't hesitate." He gestured to the ray gun at his side.
"Uh...can do, Beedrill Man!" Frosmoth answered, a bit awkward but mostly chipper. ...Still, it seemed to get under Akechi's skin, as he tensed and his clothes finally returned to normal.
"It's...Akechi," he corrected, turning away in faint embarrassment.
"Frosmoth," said Frosmoth. "Heey, isn't that the guy who was trying to map the city yesterday? Mr. Chimney, right? Hi, Mr. Chimney!" He moved one of his wings up and down in a way that resembled a wave.
i guess you can watch me shitpost i guessGalo and Lio, The Anthill With Bucky And Co
"I think this guy's pissed off because I froze him with my Matoi Tech?" Galo responded with a shrug. "Which, to be honest, is kinda fair. Ice isn't really a pleasant thing to get hit with, and Lio knows that from experience."Lio shuddered as he remembered every unpleasant encounter he'd had with the Freeze Force.
"Indeed I do." he muttered. "I get the sense that using ice triggered some kind of emotional memory within this guy. And not a pleasant one. One that made him react violently."
"Yeah, what Lio said." Galo agreed. "But we swear, we totally mean you no harm! And if your memories are causing you to get angry and upset...we can help with that! Or at least try!" He moved over to Bucky, and offered out his hand in a gesture of comradery. "Look, buddy...we're not trying to hurt you. We would never do something like that. In fact, if anything I would love if it we could be friends. Is that okay with you?"
Edited by SushiKraken6414 on Mar 3rd 2023 at 5:54:50 AM
Something's Fishy Here...Zan, Arcade
Having walked away from the counter, Zan only just managed to miss learning more about the challenge. Her focus taken instead by the goings on in front of her, of which there were several that caught her attention. "King of Fighters tournament? This is some sort of warrior trial where you come from, I assume?"
There seemed to be growing interest and curiousity in the half-orc's gaze now, taking on a more clinically assessing feel as she looked the other woman over once more. "If I'm trapped here for long enough, I'd like to train against you if you were interested."
At some point she would need to find this Lio and Galo, knowing that their situation was so dire back home. If she was going to find a way to break this system, and take the heads of those who caused it, she'd need allies.
Then her attention shifted as someone new arrived, or not fully new. It was the elf from earlier, dressed in dancing clothes. Carrying herself with a grace and litheness that let Zan know that it wasn't just her choice in clothes, but a skill she definitely could do. "Hello again. I... apologize for not introducing myself earlier. My name is Zan the Bonebreaker."
"What are 'video games' and 'anime'?" She had little clue what was being discussed, and was a little disgruntled at how seemingly common and known it was by most everyone at the table.
Nia, Arcade: Go Among Famous People
Nia made a few notes to herself: find a big monster on the ground and hunt it down (simple enough, she handled a few of these so-called "Unique Monsters", what's one more?) and find three people that shoot fire, ice, and electricity (could be difficult, but like the wall of monitors noted, she's not the only one looking for them, so if she can gather up a few people, that can be handled).
With a thanks to TESTER, she returned to her previous group and asked them, "Whatta ya all doing over here?"
Her tone of voice is curious to see all sorts of books that apparently has several of them on the cover. Her ears swiveled from back to front when she hears the terms "video game" and "anime", completely unfamiliar with quite a bit of the terminology. She looked at a few of them and back at the covers, "Apparently, I'm travelling with a bunch of celebrities! Who would have thunk it?"
Then again, she did have quite a few notable people around her like the Aegis, the Special Inquisitor and her Crown Jewel, and the exiled Prince of Tantal and his Blade. It's not like she was a stranger to people of high status or notoriety.
"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, MythraMai, Arcade
When the guy pointed to the counter, Mai turned to see Daisy, "Oh right, the fainting flapper."
"Yeah, it is trippy," Mai turned back to the table looking at all the strategy guides. She couldn't really deny it, especially since these strategy guides did have pictures of all of them. Looking back over at the counter again, TESTER basically confirmed it.
Mai turned back to Zan as she asked her about the King of Fighters tournament, "I guess you could call it that, though it often ends with the winners having to stop from threat to the world."
"I'd love to train with you," Mai nodded to Zan, but then Zan asked about what anime and video games were.
"Shantae and Zan, we are in an arcade," Mai waved her hand around pointing at the various arcade cabinets and consoles that littered the place. "Every device here can play video games."
"As for anime, it is... uh, basically moving drawings with sound," Mai tried to explain what an anime is in the simplest way possible, before turning back to the counter where Nia was. "Also, Nia might've just activated the challenge that Galo and Lio need to complete."
Edited by GameGuruGG on Mar 4th 2023 at 2:56:02 PM
Wizard Needs Food BadlyBrigitte Lindholm - Grön armor - Inside the Arcade - Guide Dang It!
"The last instance?!" Brigitte first repeated, having to take in for a moment that this was not some isolated occurrence. At least Tester's next statement alleviated one particular worry. "Well, I guess we don't have to worry about that part now, Daisy," the engineer noted, though her tone of voice was a bit strained, still coming to grips with what she'd just been told. "I was hoping to get some history books, to teach her about..."
Brigitte trailed off, the book with the Overwatch symbol catching her attention in the corner of her vision. She reached out and pulled the book out, turning to the front cover where there was a large picture of Lena, aiming her pistols towards something off to the side. "What?" Brigitte muttered, and opened the book, starting to flip through the pages. "This is a... A game? A shooter game?" she thought aloud, going through page after page of guides on how to play different characters, and use their abilities. She stopped on one particular page, her eyes widening as she saw it. There at the top in big letters, 'Torbjörn'. Sure enough, there was an image of her father, and what were apparently screenshots from the game when playing as him.
Edited by FirockFinion on Mar 4th 2023 at 2:58:10 AM
You are reading this.A wild Bucky
Narancia looked askance at Galo and Lio as they tried to shake hands with the raving soldier.
"Guys? I think it's not gonna work... He's obviously, uuhhh, not fully there, you know? Maybe you should just avoid showing yourselves to him."
He sighed. Everyone were concerned about this Bucky guy, but Narancia doubted they could calm him down that easily. Waving his hands around, he suggested: "Hey. Hey, how about we just, ummm... take him to the Arcade, and ask that Tester guy for some medicine? Something to calm this guy down. Who knows, maybe we'll get it if we ask nicely... eeeehhh..." He rubbed the side of his head and sighed, not liking the idea of asking Tester for help. However, he didn't really see any other way to help Bucky at the moment.
Arcade
"A challenge?" Cheetor, who'd been tapping experimentally at an unfamiliar game console, looked up at TESTER. "Whoa... any universe?" he murmured aloud, slowly making his way over to the counter. Rhinox would've given his right servo to be here, he knew-he'd always been interested in the science behind this stuff, but whenever he'd tried to explain it to the younger Maximal his optics quickly glazed over. "You're saying you're like some kinda... Cybertron Infocore, but... bigger? Hey- you ever heard of Vector Sigma? Maybe you're cousins, or somethin'."
Shantae didn't know what to think about other peoples' worlds being fictional in her world. It was strange— she had never once heard of any of these worlds before, or any of these people. Before she could ask about anime, Zan, who had just introduced herself, asked the question for her, and Mai explained.
With that explanation out of the way, Shantae nodded at Mai, then smiled warmly at Zan.
"I'm Shantae! It's wonderful to meet you, Zan!" she exclaimed. She looked sheepishly over at Nia when she called the group 'celebrities'. "I'm not really that famous, I guess," she laughed shyly. "Just a guardian genie doing her duty. Helping people, protecting Scuttle Town. It's just a thing," she admitted.
I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither.Sayaka
Arcade
"Hello Zan! My name is Sayaka, and I am a magical girl from Japan." She introduced herself to Zan.She grabbed a guidebook with her picture and flipped the pages until she found the section about the PMMM verse. After skimming through, she saw that it was mostly stuff she already knew.
Edited by minseok42 on Mar 6th 2023 at 8:39:55 AM
"Enshittification truly is how platforms die"-Cory DoctorowZan, Arcade
"Excellent." The horned woman smiled down at the other fighter, pleased at the chance to spar with the human. She'd never fought one in such a way before, and she would be interested to see what the woman could do. Part of her mind wondering if she'd be doing so in the outfit she currently wore...
Zan looked about once more at the rows of 'video games' as Mai spoke, idly curious and willing to learn as much as she could about the place. She could recognize them as machinery of some sort, though much more colourful and simple than what she had seen back home. But that didn't really tell her what a video game was.
"I don't know what a video game is. But I doubt it matters." She grunted. This 'anime' on the other hand. Drawings that could move and had sounds? That was something she could understand much easier, and could quickly and easily see the appeal. Depending on how long she was here before she could find a way out, it could be something to look into. She looked over the group as a whole as she asked, "But this anime, it's popular?"
"And you too, Shantae." The half-demon returned the greeting, her gaze once more turning towards dark-skinned dancer. Appreciation obvious in her expression before she looked elsewhere once more. This time towards Sayaka.
"Magical? Are you a shaman or some form of mage?" Zan would be impressed if so, considering how young the human girl appeared to be. Though she wasn't the most knowledgeable on such things.
As soon as Nia returned to the group, she called everyone celebrities thanks to the people and their strategy guides that were on the table. Buzz, while considered a well known figure in his world to the point that he had a fan club that did visit Star Command once albeit it was done behind his back, cough, cough XR, cough. Anyways he was so well known that he might as well be considered a celebrity but tell you the truth, Buzz upon hearing Nia call everyone celebrities kind of turned to her bashfully, his cheeks turning a shade of red, embarrassed, he put his arms behind his back and then said: “Uh…well…uhhh…I…wouldn’t say that about me. I mean sure I have…fans back where I come from but…I’m just doing my part in the galaxy. Yeah just doing my job as a…space ranger.” He lightly kicked a ground as he did this, once he had addressed this, he turned to Zan who Shantae and Sayaka where introducing themselves to, he just about managed to regain his composure to do the same.
“Greetings Zan, I am Buzz Lightyear, I come in peace.”
He turned to one of the people at the table he would’ve asked if they had anything about him in terms of the books but he decided on a different question altogether. “So if you guys are from other worlds, and happen to know who we are, do you happen to know who I am? If that makes any sense.”
Mai Shiranui, Arcade
"Well, a video game is... uh, sort of like an anime, but you can control the action in it with a device," Mai further explained to Zan. "And these devices in the arcade allow you to play various video games."
Even Mai knew it was a extremely simplified explanation, but neither Shantae nor Zan had the context for a more detailed explanation.
Wizard Needs Food BadlyNia, Arcade: Know Thy Ally
Nia brought out a white-gloved hand to the at-least-twice-her-size blue woman, "Name's Nia."
With the handshake done, she looked at Mai, overhearing the bit where this "anime" is akin to a "moving drawings with sound" and remarked, "Moving and hearable pictures? What a concept. Y'know, I think we have something similar in theatre, if you guys have it in your worlds."
The next part is finding those "Galo and Lio" guys. Sure, she ran into them after the green-haired fire guy just nearly burned the place down, but she wasn't sure if she knew who they were by name. Sure, Mai told her their names, but at the time, she was in a blind (deaf?) rage. With a bit of hesitation, Nia asked the ninja, "Uh... who's Galo and Lio again?"
"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, MythraConfrontation
Bucky...didn't seem at all mollified by the people trying to calm him down, if anything, he seemed to get more tense than ever.
"I...don't want drugs. I don't...I don't want any more drugs, any more...ice, I don't want any of that again, I can't...I just want to be away from it all. I don't...want to be put back there."
Still, he was...trying to take breaths, and get himself calmed, even if he shied quickly away from Galo and Lio's presence, clearly not wanting to be anywhere near them.
"...where is this...this...Arcade. Will that...is that part of a base?"
Easing back into life one step at a timeMai, Arcade
"Well, it is kind of like theatre, yeah," Mai nodded to Nia when she compared anime to theatre.
Then Nia asked who Galo and Lio were, "Lio's the guy who nearly burned down the Arcade yesterday because he was stuck here. Galo is his friend with the mech."
Wizard Needs Food BadlyLunafreya || Anthill, sans Ants? || That feels like tempting fate, actually.
Luna was not unfamiliar with soldiers, with war, and whatever the cause, this was clearly PTSD. The desperation to get away, while still trying to protect Mr Tello, behind him, meant that, as awful a thought as it was, it was clear that he had been a good one. Still, that meant that she had to change her approach to the situation.
It was unfortunate, then, that she wasn't sure she had the strength for this.
She stood back, and watched for a moment. It was all she could do, since it was clear that her previous attempts were achieving nothing.
"No," she said to Narancia, her voice sharp. "Medication will not fix this." It could help, but only if the person was receptive (there was no point being Oracle if she didn't also have an approximate knowledge of other medical techniques), and if medication was a trigger in of itself, nothing would be achieved.
Speaking calmly, but forcibly, Luna forced herself into standing up properly, years of etiquette training, of being the Oracle, allowing her to pitch her voice so that it was just slightly louder than everyone else's. She wasn't shouting, merely speaking loudly, like a teacher or public speaker.
"Take a few steps back, everyone," she directed. "Particularly you two, Lio and...? I'm afraid I don't know your name. Mr Tello, you should stay close, and everyone else just simply step back, and be quiet." Hmm. That was slightly more snappish than she normally chose to be.
She stood by it.
Demonstrating that she could follow her own instruction, Luna took a few steps away from the group, and would then be quiet. Unless someone disobeyed her, of course.
She did find herself hoping that this got sorted soon, however. The world was beginning to go blurry around the edges.
[TOP SECRET]

Hunk said nothing, and holstered his Lightning Hawk, he wasn't the negotiator for good reason. He preferred to let the others talk.