Swordnament - A

A does not allow this extremely high-stakes situation to get out of hand. Calmly pulling the Monado back, A activates its edge and, in turn, the talent art "Vision".

A single golden wing appears, as the Monado shines a bright and shimmering white.

Once again aware of the oncoming future, A's eyes close. Stepping quietly and elegantly, A takes a single step to avoid Clone One's crescent sword beam, and then, A raises the Monado in time with each slash that might have hit A's location, precisely deflecting each one with a considerable effort. Any lesser weapon might shatter, anything less than perfect movement would not have been sufficient.

A then turns, and delivers a slash.

"Vanishing End!"

Exactly like Blade did before, but without such a drawn-out fanfare, slashes from the Monado fill the air around A, carving apart anything that comes near from countless direction. Adam, Goemon, and Blade are all in the radius of this hail of swordstrikes!

Swordnament - Apothea

Apothea's shattered sword meets gut's prosthetic, her rather high strength causing it some damage, probably. His intent to leverage his weight and strength against her was a good plan. But it did not account for one thing.

She does not need leverage to use magic.

Flicking her wrist to just barely slash with her shattered sword, Apothea unleashes a large X-shaped projection of fire against Guts from range point-blank. Whether or not this would outright kill her target, she would have the opportunity to break their clash, stepping away.

Then, aware of The Dorf's oncoming wrath by nature of her sight without sight, she backflips out of the way of his strike, her footing steady on the opposite edge of the roof as she lands.

Edited by Whoma on May 6th 2024 at 5:10:44 AM

The DROUGHT

Earlier in Astil, in Nitori's workshop

"Remind me why I'm going? I thought plumbing was your thing, partner." says a green clad girl◊ to a familiar bluenette◊.

"Because I'd dry out like a fish on a stove in the desert, partner." Nitori begrudgingly admits as she tinkers with a spare backpack, more compact than her own. "Otherwise I'd go myself."

"Huh, guess being a salamander isn't always great then." the green girl smugly replies.

"Shut up Takane, you overgrown tortoise." Nitori grumbles before standing up and handing a chuckling Takane the backpack.

"Well I'm the marketing whiz anyway so it's probably for the best that I go." Takane hums as she puts it on.

"Yeah, yeah. Call me when you get there." Nitori says as she pushes her towards the exit ladder.

Back in the present

Takane is in town, scoping the place out and raises an eyebrow at Lupin's shouting. She approaches out of curiosity.

Albaz - Mission

Albaz is instantly forced back by the Raging Sky Burst. Seeing as his fire breath isn't doing as much damage as he'd like, Albaz/Albion goes for a supercharged Sargas-like lariat on Desghidorah.

The Mountain - Makai

The Mountain covers his face in pain. And as he tries to get his bearings, he drops Peppino on safe ground. The Mountain tries to stomp the ground for another mighty shockwave. However, Peppino can take advantage of this lag in The Mountain's attack animation.

Mahke Etstop - Sword Tournament

Watching the Dantes clash against each other, Mahke is determined to make her sword slash count. In an attempt at copying Star Gladiator's Hayato Kanzaki, Mahke unleashes an electric Engetsu shockwave barrage from her katana at them before moving in closer.

Vanilla Cream Sherbet - Drought

A familiar yeti-elf wanders around the desert town until she hears Lupin's shouts from a far. As such, she approaches the strange man in nice outfit with pure curiosity.

Edited by josh6243 on May 6th 2024 at 8:46:28 AM

Loki twirls a dagger in his hand.

"For all we know, Mara could be the mastermind behind this ordeal. Resurrecting Ishizu's long-dead love, only to have him twist G.E.M. into a tool for evil, threaten to render all of the good she's done moot, and have her and her infant child hunted down? A ploy this cruel and sadistic is exactly her style," he chimes in. "I even know what her reason for engineering this atrocity might be: because she can."

Sylvie leans back against a nearby tree.

"Ishizu had tests run on 'Seth' to make sure he wasn't an imposter, and he cleared every single one of them. You want to know how I think he passed them? Someone or something with a grudge against G.E.M. is using his body as their meat puppet to destroy it from the inside," she posits.

Thor shakes his head.

"Maybe we're dealing with a grudge-carrying shapeshifter with the ability to bypass any precautions that would expose their true nature," he says.

Edited by IchigoMontoya on May 6th 2024 at 6:30:32 AM

Chrysos - Drought

Four Antmen◊ popped out from a hole on the ground, and approach the crowd.

   Are you talking about that fat creature lying in the desert? It's who caused the scarcity of seeds? We need to do something with it.   

Swords!

Cardboard

Cardboard wasn't expecting to being not slashed, but hit, and thus she got flung towards the battling group of the Shezes and Vergil... But on mid-flight, she thought a good idea.

She starts to spin with her sword unsheathed, like a shuriken, hoping to slash any opponent with her improvised Fastball Special.

...

Sawdust

Meanwhile, Sawdust exits from the house, and runs towards William and Sam, and then attempts a single spinning slash for them.

Kaiju Centralis

The Explorers managed to sew the balloon back, but there is a new problem:

...The gas burner is damaged.

Indeed: it got crushed by the fall. Damaged beyond repair.

Maxi, you are a genius inventor. Would you build a new burner!?

With what? I need some ideas. Focus...

Pica-Verse

It looks like a... TV remote?

The three heroes finally wake up. Drawing!Belén is the first one to talk them.

Greetings, heroes. Thank you for saving us! Do you remember anything?

They say something, but from their mouths no sound can be heard.

How weird...

Sora, use the control on them. If it caused their muteness, maybe it can unmute them.

Edited by BombonBombin on May 6th 2024 at 10:19:27 AM

Drought

A short blonde woman◊ in a white dress runs towards Lupin.

"A quest, you say? This sounds like a fun quest! Lay it on me."

Upon noticing Luna, she crouches down and blinks slowly, as if trying to make friends with a cat. Then, she stretches out an arm and opens her hand, revealing a nicely roasted drumstick. It smells sweet...

"Oh hey there, little buddy."

Edited by Hotpizza on May 6th 2024 at 11:40:35 PM

Star Wars - Finale

385333 Previous

A few moments after Emma boards, Joshua peers past the anti-mage psychopath to look for Arad, a perplexed look on his face, a question of the Tenno's whereabouts about to pass his lips until the landing pad gives out from beneath the shuttle and the group begins to fall.

   "FLY US YOU FOOL!"   

Wrustoiz shouts as Joshua clasps his hands around the yoke of the ship and yanks up, giving the shuttle as much throttle as possible to cancel out the fall an instant before the group would've crashed into the jungle below, erupting from the treeline with a triumphant fanfare of the academy's collapsing rubble. A sigh of relief erupts from the back of the cabin, Wrustoiz, Izawano, and Zeloai in sync for only a moment. As the shuttle rocketed away, the rear door sealed, and the echoes of the crumbling academy quieted to a whisper beneath the engine's roar.

Laxin vs Arad

   "Especially given the great blow your ilk have dealt to my Empire today."   

Laxin steps away from Arad to one of the gaping holes in the academy's walls, looking out to the broader region with a blank stare. Suddenly, all the weight crushing down on Umbra is lifted, enough for Arad to move out from beneath it.

   "Your death will not be utterly meaningless, but it will be close. Academies can be rebuilt, but strong, loyal allies?"   

He paused, chuckling.

   "The Jedi will feel your loss in more ways than one."   

Umbra glanced back at the wall of rubble…then ahead to the Sith Lord. The Warframe crouched down and took hold of its blade’s grip, the weapon half-buried under dust and pebbles of cement. Never did it glance away from Laxin.

I had a good run, didn’t I? Arad thought to himself with a sad smile, invisible on the Warframe’s featureless face. Far longer than I had any right to, at least. In that moment, standing before his doom, he thought not of his impending demise, all but promised, nor of the choices he’d made that led him there. He thought only of his family, born of the second chance granted to him. Jenna, Pearl…

I made precautions to guarantee their safety. He reminded himself. They’re beyond my reach now. All I can do now is hope everything works out as it’s supposed to.

“I don’t need your Force to know what comes next—I’ve known this day was coming for a long time.” Umbra’s black fingers swept over the blade, brushing off the dust and particles of debris. “Now…you gonna keep blabbing, or can we get this over with already?”

Said Arad, as Umbra lifted the Skiajati towards Laxin. The Dark lord slowly pivoted to face Umbra, his gaze peering past the Warframe's shell to stare deeply into Arad’s own eyes. He felt terror clutching his heart as the Sith seemed to peer beyond his assumed form and into that which didn’t truly exist. Coiling a gentle grip on the lightsaber affixed to his belt, Laxin draws his crimson blade and ignites the crossguard blade, the deep hum of the kyber crystal within a quiet ambience against the loud rumble of crumbling stone and steel. The academy’s infrastructure failed all around them, but to Arad and Laxin, none existed in that moment save the other.

   "So be it."   

Laxin's response is short, the Dark lord releasing a stifled sigh, he had hoped perhaps Arad would beg for his life, or pledge allegiance. The outcome, however, would have been the same, an equal part of Laxin that prefers a fight over an execution smiling. Lowering his blade so the tip hovers just above the floor, Laxin begins to step forward, his gaze locked on Umbra.

Arad clenched his Warframe's grip upon the Skiajati, rocketing forward at breakneck speed, a speed mirage behind him as he struck at Laxin's stomach with a Slash Dash. As Arad passed Laxin, his blade was parried away with a swift motion of the Dark lord's lightsaber, the speed of the exchange kicking up plumes of dust that hovered overhead like a halo. Arad continues to press forward, not giving Laxin an inkling of a moment to rest as he whips around to swing at Laxin with a series of swift slashes from above.

Laxin begins to backpedal, battering away each of Arad's Warframe's strikes, sparks scattering across the air like firecrackers, flashing slivers of orange casting a brighter light upon the pair's battle. Arad pressed forward with all of his and his Warframe's strength and speed, deadly to most foes but inadequate in the face of the infamous Dark Lord. Though he continued to pelt Laxin's guards with strikes he was met with no avail; and he might’ve continued for hours longer had Laxin not executed a parry strong and sudden enough to throw Arad off kilter.

Laxin swiftly strikes low and there was a flash of blue as Umbra's shields were torn apart by the heat, the very edge Warframe’s waist singed, but the Tenno presses forward through the pain, raising an bent arm and driving his elbow deep into Laxin’s nose. Blood streamed down Umbra's arm and Laxin responded swiftly, tightly gripping Arad by the forearm and kicking out his leg from beneath him, bringing the Tenno down to the floor and snapping Umbra's arm to a straightened position.

Raising his lightsaber into the air, Laxin thrusts his weapon straight down to pierce Arad and Excalibur Umbra through the chest, but Umbra howled suddenly with a hateful ferocity; a rageful and raw force knocking Laxin back just enough for him to escape the Sith’s grip and drive a spinning kick into the dead center of the Dark Lord’s chest, sending Laxin rocketing away. Grasping his blade, Arad launches forward at the fallen Laxin, swinging for his neck, but the Dark lord rolls out of the way and strikes upward with his lightsaber to slash a decent gash into Umbra's arm.

Rising from the ground with a ferocious roar as though responding to Umbra’s own, Laxin unleashes a three-piece slashing combo, a rising slash that Arad weaves, a sideways strike that the Tenno parries, and an overhead battering that scathes Umbra's shoulder as Arad dodged out of the way. Both spinning around for a final slash, Laxin and Umbra clash against each other with all their tremendous might before being forced away by the shockwave.

The pair lock gazes with one other and begin circling around the other, a brief respite as another wave of debris made their arena even smaller.    “Better than I expected,”    Laxin allowed a malicious grin as he lifted a hand to his broken nose, wiping away the blood.    “But it won’t be enough.”   

“You like that?” Arad lifts his Skiajati in a single-handed grip, pointing it at Laxin. “There’s plenty more where it came from.”

They circled eachother still, like beasts meeting in the wild, apex over their domains. But who would be the predator, and who would be the prey? A pale blue radiance erupts from his free hand as the Exalted Umbra Blade materializes, the Warframe wielding both its signature weapons in dual fashion. The dark lord shakes the blood off the back of his hand and flourishes his lightsaber, and the two explode towards the center of their circle at blinding speed. The ensuing dance of strikes sunders the fallen stones and remaining furniture in the room, ember-colored streaks impressed upon the crumbling walls around them. Strikes were exchanging so quickly that the noise of one passing of blades was truly the sound of three strikes, Arad pressing with all his might to end Laxin once and for all.

Yet no matter how he tried, the Tenno could not find a single opening in Laxin's guard, nor so much as a hint of a mistake to capitalize on. Laxin was matching Arad blow for blow with a casual and placid, if not bored expression on his face, one that turned to gritted teeth when Arad forced their dancing of blades to a halt with a twin strike carrying all his might, forcing Laxin into a blade lock. Arad fell silent as he pressed as hard as he could with both blades against Laxin, commanding his Warframe to do the same.

Laxin's focus had been on Arad, the Tenno beneath, but at this moment, Laxin's mind wandered to the Warframe; this wasn't just a suit of armor. The realization strikes Laxin like a ton of bricks, his eyes widening as his mind finally comprehends what he has been sensing. This was two separate beings, combined into one. It was a subtle link between them, and Laxin smirked.

   "Interesting."   

He mutters through his gritted teeth, pushing back against Arad, forcing him to lean back, the Tenno slowly losing balance. Arad twitched, his mind racing at Laxin's comment.

"Are we finished yet?"

Arad spits out, spiteful as can be.

   "Indeed we are."   

Suddenly, Arad is ejected from Excalibur Umbra, forced back into his body, an onlooker in the blade lock between Laxin and his Warframe. Umbra pushes hard against Laxin, but the Warframe is little more than a savage weapon; and without a mind to guide or hone it, the Dark lord’s advantage is undoubtedly absolute, pulling away from the blade lock before disarming Umbra with a swift strike that sends Arad's blade scattering across the ground toward him.

Raising a hand to the Warframe, Umbra suddenly freezes before being rocketed into the crumbling academy, buried deep into the falling stone. Laxin's gaze moves to Arad, who stares up at Laxin with a stone-cold gaze, moving swiftly to grasp his Skiajati. But when it finally reached the sword, his hand only rested on the grip. He paused and sighed, and pulled himself to his knees, hands hanging limply between them. He let his head droop, let his chin fall to his chest. The Tenno felt the searing heat of the lightsaber as Laxin held it over his neck, felt the dark presence of the Dark Lord. He closed his eyes and suddenly Laxin was gone, the academy was but a distant memory, and he was somewhere else; miles away and in a different time.

And it was there Arad died.

Luna's ears pirk up hearing people come towards Lupin. Looking towards Lumina, she smells the scent of cooked meat. She looks up at her, confused. Luna, being a Pokémon dosn't understand the human language without the means of either a translator, a translation device or if someone knows how to talk to Pokémon. All that anyone could hear is Luna saying her species name, Rabright, over and over, except for Lupin who is wearing a translation device in one of his ears.

|Hello humans. There's... a lot coming already Lupin.|

Luna looks towards the Four Antman, confused as to who they were.

Who are they? And how did they appear out of the ground like that?

Luna's eyes then looks towards Takane, noticeing the green-haired girl.

I never realized that humans are really different from one another. I never notive this before until now.

Luna then notices Vanilla, which she haven't seen one of her kind before.

Humans seem to have different appearances as well... How does this one somehow survive when it's scorching hot out?

Tossing the lightsaber that had previously belonged to Zeloai's mentor to the Jedi Master, Ben suddenly feels a distinct chill run down his spine as he senses Arad's untimely demise in the Force.

"It... it can't be. He had a clear path to escape, unless... Laxin did survive what should have finally destroyed him once and for all.""

Rising from his seat, he balls his hand into a tightly clenched fist before slamming it directly into the closest bulkhead, his Force-enhanced strength causing the blow to leave a sizable dent upon impact.

"How? How many more lives have to be crushed beneath Laxin's heel before he's finally stopped? What is it going to kriffing take to finally end that monster's reign?" Ben hisses to himself, his otherwise quiet tone practically dripping with barely restrained fury.

Edited by IchigoMontoya on May 6th 2024 at 9:20:37 AM

The Amazing Roadtrip of Zamba and the Agents of ITIEI - Prologue of Ashes of Nohr + Epilogue of Star Wars + Teaser for Rainbow City & Knuckles: Electric Boogaloo

In the ship to Esche, Bombuccia is telling a story. Rosita, Loinball, Zamba, Cardboard, Sawdust (already wearing the Scorpion suit), Fores and other passengers are listening.

... After the battle, we couldn't help but mourn silently the death of Arad, and cry along Ben. We simply returned to our HQ, thinking about all what a war entails.

And this is how it went our latest mission.

But a voice interrupted the moment:

Yes! I landed the finishing blow! We did it, Cardboard! *snore*

It was Zamba, who like the last time, fell asleep during the trip. Everybody laughed at his non sequitur, except Cardboard: she just blushed.

Yum! Kenjaku's brain is made of chipa! *slurp*

Dear passengers: the ship is about to arrive to Esche. Please have all your things ready and make sure you don't forget anything. Thanks for travelling with us.

Zamba, wake up. We are about to arrive.

As the group stepped on the dock, Crisol and Pipeta approach them.

You finally returned! We received a package from your boss.

And we forgot to give you a last thing.

Rosita received both packages. In the Boss one, there are new uniforms, for Zamba, Cardboard and Sawdust. The girls felt excited because they will finally wear new clothes... But Zamba almost puked here.

As for Pipeta's present, it is a helmet similar to what he wears always: a metal helmet, with three bulbs of different colors. What's the point of this helmet? No idea. But something is something.

Zamba and co. ride the Zamba Bus, parked at the Quimirock lot, and they went to the bridge to Hub Centralis, but...

"I'm sorry, but the bridges of Onyxis and Reprium are currently closed because of a battle between kaiju. Please find another way in."

They then decided to drive through the region and get to Lourent, passing by Aurum and Chrysos, and going through the regional bridge.

At the HQ, Zamba and the Agents prepared their things, and then treat themselves with a huge feast of chipa and other meals and drinks.

Tomorrow will be an exciting day.

Throne Room, Rainbow City Castle

Accompanied by two knights, Pampín walks into the throne room. Unlike other throne rooms, it is located outdoors, the throne itself resting near a steep cliff.

They stop ten steps away from the throne. When they stopped walking, the court musicians began to play a thriumphal fanfare, and oddly enough, clouds went away, leaving way for light to pour on the throne.

A Rainbow appeared, stopping on the throne, and clouds manifested on it, forming its beard, eyes and brows. Everybody kneels before him.

Greetings, Luli Pampín. I, the Rainbow King, called you for an important mission.

From the sky, a bright beam of light shines in front of Pampín, and from it, a book materialized.

This is the Greatest Tresaure of all the Rainbow Kingdom: the Musical Book. It is said to contain multitude of powerful musical spells, collected through centuries of our people. But only a child, curious and energetic as none other, can understand those spells and use them.

In the wrong hands, the knowledge of this book is dangerous. But We consider you a nice woman, one of the best allies of this Kingdom. So, We grant you the mission to find a fit user of this book.

Pampín nods, and takes the book.

Take good care of it, and good luck.

It quickly becomes apparent to the raven-haired lady that moving in closer was, in fact, a very risky maneuver. The crossfire from any particularly large kaiju's attack being flung in a bad direction could seriously threaten her. She can feel the energy signatures from Machinedramon's dual blasts even though she's not close to either one, the rush of displaced air from Godzilla's sheer mass moving at the speeds his buffed self is capable of, the concerning amount of heat coming from Deghid- actually she should get away from that like right now

The woman turns sharply in the air and zips directly away with both wing constructs going all out, not quite fast enough to escape the Raging Sky Burst altogether but at least managing to dull the impact. The sheer level of energy manages to overwhelm her personal shielding, flames lashing at and igniting her robes while scarring her skin and searing her flesh. By the time she's fully clear of the efforts, it's obvious she's been badly hurt... To her credit, she manages to tank through the pain part of being violently burned quite well. The wing constructs flicker, noticeably cracked and reduced in size due to their direct exposure to the flames, but hold for now...

"Alright, you little..."

While Machinedramon is arguably a major cause for concern as well, if not a bigger threat in the immediate since Desghidorah staggered itself temporarily, the raven-haired woman is putting that aside for now. She has a hope for how things will unfold - Desghidorah can maybe be finished off quickly during its moment of weakness, then Godzilla would probably focus on taking down Machinedramon afterwards.

Besides, she straight up ain't built for doing things alone.

Now, what to address... The speed advantage should help Godzilla out plenty as is, no need to tamper any further with that right now. She hasn't got enough experience with how the Arena or other beings react to her spellcodes yet, if she were to try to apply another empowerment it could risk canceling out the first one she applied. However, that's not the only thing in her arsenal, and she has something in mind to press the advantage even further. Gliding down closer to reduce the travel time, she concentrates a more malevolent power in the staff's crystal.

"Impediment - Ensnare."

She then takes aim with the staff, maneuvering a bit to line up a good shot, then fires a bolt at Desghidorah's center of mass. This one is faster than her buff projectile but doesn't have quite the same level of trajectory-altering nonsense as the empowerment she gave to Godzilla. It could miss. But she has done her best to minimize the chance of that, and added a safety precaution - if it would accidentally hit Godzilla (a very real risk given the two kaiju are in melee range of each other), the projectile would just fizzle before contact instead.

Should this latest malevolent energy projectile make contact with Desghidorah and function as intended, it'll have utterly negligible direct damage but would considerably slow down the hydralike being's combat reflexes and movements, making it more difficult for Desghidorah to avoid incoming attacks and easier for Desghidorah's opponents to set up their counterattacks. She's counting on giving enough of a speed advantage to Godzilla for him to have free reign on blitzing the other kaiju.

The second Blade enters Adam's purifying field, he sees the oily black aura around her disperse like a bad dream, and with this, her superspeed attack comes to a forceful end. Whatever mysterious force dwells within her doesn't survive contact with Gram's nullifying powers, and with that, it becomes amply clear that, despite what she and Polyphemus may insist, there's more to Blade than raw skill.

That said, even without that crutch, she's hardly a pushover. Despite the sudden shock of being thrown right out of her trance of hatred, she is able to bring her katana to bear to parry Gram, provoking a shower of sparks. Whirling her entire body around the axis of a single leg like a ballerina, she attempts, in a single smooth movement, to force Gram to the ground with a downward while delivering a sideways crane kick to his temple to daze him.

Whether this succeeds, she then has to jump back as Goemon's blade comes down upon the spot where she was fractions of a second ago. Unceremoniously dropping the Ender of Paths, she whips out two tanto and attempts to throw them with lethal precision at the heads of Adam (while he's hopefully reeling from her kick) and Goemon (hopefully before he has a chance to get back into fighting stance after his leaping slash).

However, even a fighter as hardened as herself has limits. Two enemies at once she could handle, but add to that a third...

Her attention taken by Adam and Goemon, there is simply nothing she can do about A's attack. She doesn't even have a chance to utter a final curse as the countless slashes from the Monado turn her into a fine red mist.

She respawns on the roof of the building near Nelo Angelo, surveilling him and Mahke as she ponders her next move.

Dawnguard, Stained, SW

Radahn turned as Perceval slid. Once the Blade held out his hand he made no effort to stop the coming attack—he wanted to see where this was going.

When the tornado lashed out, Radahn’s slight resistance to magic chipped off about a fifth of the overall attack’s damage, but the remainder was enough to send him into a backwards stagger. He righted his footing ere long, though, and grinned at Perceval. Suddenly the demigod surged forwards at the Blade, arms widespread but swooping in to catch him in his grasp; at which point (if successful) he’d leap a sizable distance into the air and bodyslam Perceval into the ground.

——

"Yeah, he…"

Luin trailed off as the wind hit her skin. "You feel that?" She asked Sebastien suddenly as she slowed to a halt and tightened her grip on Lannéadrom, risking a glance backwards at Rime and Deluge to see if they smelled anything deeper within the tunnel.

——

Lorelai watched wide-eyed as the last of the academy crumbled away, through the quickly closing shuttle doors. Soon the last few slivers of light outside had been engulfed, and all that remained was the overhead cabin lights. She wrung her fingers and tapped her foot, glancing away from the door and to the ground between her feet with furrowed brows. She was well beyond the point of no return now.

The pureblood sith was in a shuttle now, filled with those who had been her enemies only an hour ago. She felt her heart racing in her chest and shook her head. Had she made the right choice? What awaited her now? Turning on her former brothers and sisters, training under the Betrayer? Lorelai brought her hands up and buried her face within them, stranger to the humming of the engines and hiding from the lights of the cabin.

Hotel

Corrin could feel that tension in the air.

He didn't know if it was a sixth sense or something a bit deeper, like fate whispering in his ear, but he felt a knot in his stomach, continuously wrapping itself tighter and tighter as if weaved by expert hands. There was an invisible tension in the air, akin to constantly feeling the very tip of an extraordinarily sharp sword on his head at all time. Such that he feared moving it around sometimes.

And Beruka knew this, because she knew him, and also because that very same sensation was plaguing her. It always had, ever since Kenjaku's attack on them, but today felt like an especially ominous omen. And Beruka wasn't one to really consider her feelings when accounting for threats: that she could be grasped by such anxiousness as to ignore that rule was telling.

The both of them stewed on their feelings while awkwardly eating cornflakes in their hotel room, the sounds of (quiet) chewing and drinking standing as the only barriers against complete and utter silence. He'd tried to turn the TV on to distract himself but considered against, lest he hears that their hotel was currently being targeted by a spatial weapon or something grotesquely powerful like that.

What he tried to tell himself was to live in the present and ignore the ominous future. And what Beruka told herself was to consider the ominous future at all costs, and keep herself on the lookout for anything that could happen. Like Kenjaku suddenly bursting into their room. Or Julius crawling in from the window. She didn't know which she wanted to see the least at the moment but-

I'll need the both of you to ready ourselves. He's back. And running another experiment - his last, as he'll dicover.

Corrin gulps, while Beruka frowns at the interruption. Neither realize that it's the first time they've heard each other talk for the whole morning.

H-huh, he is? Should we go, erm, gather our allies then?

There's silence, and Corrin look around somewhat awkwardly. Gunter was a whole floor down. Had he heard them? He coul-

No. We'll head there immediately. We cannot let another group supersede us to Kenjaku's experiment. Prepare quickly. I'll leave ahead of you to hold your... places for you, if you will.

...

Still the Hotel

Beruka is the first to have her armor and weapons on, as if she had slept in either. And Corrin find himself a little bit envious to see her being ready in so little a time when he feels like he's putting on his own armor with two left hands. He knows it's useless to try and buy time when the goal is to show up to that place as quickly as possible - lest Kenjaku be allowed to throw some other people to the wolves, but he's almost hoping for Kenjaku to be a no-show. Or to run away when seeing them.

It'd be a non-answer to their question. Because he'd still be around. But at least, they could pretend like they wouldn't be going into that weird world to see Azura again. And to fight an immortal warlord, too. Hadn't he had enough of them by this point?

Corrin's scale-armor wraps itself around his figure as he put it on, but as he start reaching for his sword, he's mildly miffled to see that it's not on his hip. Here. Beruka reach forward with Yato in her hands, the weapon resting in its sheath. Corrin stands there dumbly for a second, then nod and delicately grab it out of her hand, moving to put it on his belt. Don't. Command it to. She says, her small hand moving itself to touch his draconic claw, lowering it slightly.

The prince lick his lips, a bit embarrassed. It had come off as a reflex back in Nohr, and now - still, he calm himself down and command the sword, half-expecting it to fly out of the window or into the wall. And instead of doing either, the universe smile upon him for once, having the sword move itself to his right hip, and his armor seem to take life of its own, the scales shifting together to form a ring around its sheath, holding Yato in place.

Beruka wasn't really expecting this, and neither does Corrin, but she brush it off. Perhaps it was due to its odd transformation during a certain bloodsport event. You don't need some sword to tell you if you're worthy or not, but you can take it as a sign if you want, Beruka tells him, moving her hand over to his cheek. I can't tell you it'll be okay. But we'll overcome this for good together. I can promise you that much.

Corrin sighs, not feeling very reassured by her words. For good and then what? There'd just be someone else around the corner, wouldn't it? But he move on to grab his hand, resting his head against her cold palm for a little while, a slight smile on his lips. You and me - we've got this, right?

Beruka smiles, and lean in, raising herself on the very tips of her feet to press her forehead against his. We've got this.

ASHES OF NOHR

Across the Streets of Hub Centralis, there's a new message for Arenagoers all, and one that should be familiar to those prowling the streets. From the less-fortunate of District 8 all the way to the golden city center, all will see the now-familiar picture of an handsome young man (with a distractingly nasty scar running over the side of his forehead) in a monk outfit mugging the camera with a confident grin on his face, arms folded, but still carrying the connotation of directly pointing at the viewer.

'''LOOKING FOR ADVENTURE?! LOOKING FOR THRILLS?! LOOKING FOR RIGHTEOUS PUNISHMENT?! LOOKING FOR REWARDS?! LOOKING FOR LOVE BLOOMING ON THE BATTLEFIELD?!

ADVENTURERS! SCIENTISTS! SPIES! SOLDIERS! WARRIORS! SORCERERS! WIZARDS! ABOMINATIONS FROM BEYOND THE STARS ALL ALLOWED IN!

SUGURU GETO WANT YOU TO HELP HIM OUT AND SAVE A WORLD!

And to those taking up the challenge, there'll be an address on the poster itself. It leads somewhere into the outer portion of Hub Centralis, by a familiar (and empty) movie theater.

And those who came in will discover that they weren't the first.

Standing first is an incredibly tall and muscular man with a white beard and graying hair pulled back into a man-bun, wearing khaki pants with a high collared, short-sleeved compressed black shirt, combat boots, a watch on his right wrist and scars all over his mighty arms, with a notable scar on the right side of his face, like a burn mark. He's carrying a belt with some pouches on it and has a cigar in his mouth, but people are more likely to notice the big round shield he's wearing, like a hoplite shield, but much thicker.

That's Leonidas I, the famous Spartan King who died fighting at the Battle of Thermopylae in a bid to stop Xerxes's Persian army from rampaging all across his homeland of Greece.

This better be worth the fucking wait.'''

At a total contrast, sitting on a bench near the entrance to the theater, is Ramon Salazar, the diminutive man who was in Nohr. He's rocking his usual mallet and look, but to show that he's very serious now he's wrapped some tape on his hat to stop it from flyong off. He's also visibly packing a fat fucking handgun in his right hand, one that looks so big, he probably couldn't put it in its holster without looking awkward.

Despite everything, he's still rocking the castellan outfit. But then again, it's not like he'd be looking very serious in proper gear.

I'm sure it will! And if it isn't, well, you can always rampage around Hub Centralis and give us all a reason to come here! Leonidas doesn't bother answering Salazar, though he look over in his direction, pointedly not looking down before expressing fake confusion.

The next one is different from the rest : a half-elf woman, of average height (making for a good trio between Leonidas and Salazar) with raven hair braided down her back and porcelain skin. She's not going into battle unarmored like the other two, wearing a suit of armor to cover her chest and shoulders. For the rest, she's happy to use chainmail for her arms or brown fabric for her legs, perhaps knowing that she only need to not get slashed there to have a good time. On her head, she wore a silver circlet, but most notably, she also carried a mace on her back.

The people around her were less armored, wearing studded leather vests for some, plain white robes for others. The woman, Shadowheart, stood as their leader. And they were happy to have her handle the discussion, short as it might be.

Those are some... bold words for a man who apparently has naught but a shield on his person, isn't it? She says, eyeing Leonidas's shield with amused suspicion. As for Salazar, she could deduce that the mallet was a container for his true weapon, and while she didn't know what his gun was, she could tell that it was a weapon.

That shield in my hands is a deadlier weapon than any other. Now shut the fuck up, pipsqueak. Leonidas answers, glaring at her slightly. Shadowheart seems taken aback at the blunt answer, but quickly composes herself.

Here's hoping you won't be throwing it around wh-. Leonidas take his cigar off his mouth and exhale in Shadowheart's direction, the smoke causing her to cough as she bats it away with her hands. Salazar has a brief laugh, while the people around Shadowheart simple disperse to avoid the smoke, forcing her to wave it off. What was that for?!

I'd encourage you to keep the immature banter to a minimum - but perhaps it'll be useful for some of you to get it out of your system now rather than later. Gunter enters view, and Leonidas, Salazar, Shadowheart and anyone else on the scene will feel a sort of cold sensation in their brain, though for those, at least, the sensation and the memories around it are quick to vanish.

Gunter was an older man with silver hair and a weathered face, with a long scar running down its length. He had a black suit of armor that covered his entire body, with blue cloth around his hips and as a sash on his chest. He come to the fight prepared, wielding a towering black shield that might have been crafted out of a fortress wall, and also a black axe with golden leaves running down its length, with the edges of the blade a pure white.

Gunter glances at Shadowheart right afterwards, glancing at her for two seconds before looking away. She glances back, deciding not to mention it. Beware old men in a profession where men die young, they say. But I won't be tending to you if you fall asleep or can't carry those huge weapons for long. Leonidas, for his part, simply give a brief approving nod. He could tell a warrior when he saw one.

As for Salazar, he simply raised his hand in greeting. Oh hello, Gunter! You're carrying some mighty armament on you!

Yes. I might have grown weaker with age, but this shield and axe have not. There are plenty of Hoshidans who will tell you that.

Shadowheart narrows her eyes, not really guessing what he meant by Hoshidans. Ah, well, multiverse stuff.

But before we begin - I have some news to tell you. I will need to establish a... mental network between me and you, all of you, as to communicate it quietly and efficiently. Worry not, I do not intend to do anything more than establish a communication. And I'll manage it - to avoid stray thoughts and all. You will not see your mental privacy broken, I can insure that.

Letting some unknown old man sneak into his mind? Leonidas and Shadowheart weren't going to have any of that shit.

Sure. He says.

Fine by me.

...

Once everyone has walked in and introduced themselves, Corrin and Beruka are the very last to arrive. Uniquely, it's because Corrin is carrying two orbs on his person, instead of just one. And Beruka and him are both wearing backpacks, with Beruka, of all people, carrying the bigger one. We're on time - I take it Suguru Geto was successfully moved by your pleas, old man.

Hi everyone! Corrin says, waving his hand, and accidentally letting go of his orb. He luckily pick it up, and Leonidas grunt, rolling his eyes at the sight of that. Corrin chuckles, getting back up on his feet, hoping the full crowd of people somehow didn't see that.

But before he can try to deflect the conversation, the door of the theater swing open as dramatically as old wood can. And Gunter's eyes narrow as Kenjaku walk out of the theater room. Corrin and Beruka's eyes widen seeing the face of the man apparently so hell-bent on torturing them : after all, there was a world of difference between a paper and reality (weird as it was in the Arena).

For a hot second, there's complete silence from the group of four and the couple, Kenjaku appearing to scan the room. His eyes set upon Gunter for a second longer than most, in a manner that's very deliberate.

And as he begin reaching into his pocket, Corrin begin to almost relish the opportunity of a straightforward fight here and now. No need for torment, no need for a fight with Ketheric Thwhoever. They'd kill Kenjaku and scope out his brain to crush it, and that'd be that.

... And then Kenjaku pull a water bottle out of his pocket.

It's rather hot outside. Want a drink?

...

Theater Room

Abandoned or not, the place look nicely furnished, there's no needle on the seats (nor weird stains) and the area below the seats does not look like a graveyard for sugary treats and drinks. Shadowheart is still lightly confused by it all as she and her groupies sit on a bunch of seats in the middle. Leonidas manspread over several seats at once, while Salazar sits front row, leaving Gunter, Beruka and Corrin sit at the end of the room.

Kenjaku wait for everyone to get ready - there's a bunch of water bottles and candy bars at the entrance, the latter of which he's munching on as he observes everyone coming over.

When everyone's properly sitting on their seat, the screen light up to display... a thin, sickly-looking pear, nevermind the weird shade of green it had as "skin"

The Pear of Ignorance is a food item that erases the memories of the one who eat it - specific memories, mind you. It's an item of great importance that I'd like to acquire to add to my collection of esoteric objects. Pretty facinating, huh?

Shadowhearts lean forward on the seat in front of her, apologizing quietly if her elbows bump into the back of the head of whoever's sitting in front of her.

The pear then miniaturize itself, and slide to the left of the screen, before sliding right into a towering structure on top of a frozen mountain, the background progressively going darker and darker as the pear approach the structure.

Sadly for me, it's been taken by a warlord named Ketheric Thorm as an offering to the god of decay Myrkul. Some of you are familiar, I think? Short story, he's not a nice deity. And Ketheric Thorm is not a nice man either. Sadly, he's also not much of a mortal man anymore. The screen zoom on Moonrise Crypt, which appears to be an incredibly wide castle, so enormous as to have been carved out of the mountain it's currently inhabiting.

That said, it has a rather straightforward structure. It's essentially a medieval castle, with its fortifications in a rectangular shape and a courtyard the size of a city in the middle of it. An incredibly tall gate block the access to it from outsiders (with a metal bridge above a moat glowing with sickly green energy) and at the end of the courtyard sit a smaller black door, leading to an incredibly tall tower, poking out of the structure and into the sky.

The camera zoom to the top of that tower, showing a picture of an elderly man sitting on a throne. His silver hair are slicked back and he has a dirty beard with hints of black in it. His eyes are weary and dark, sitting on top of a weathered face, and he wears a suit of armor that evokes a skeleton, with golden skulls sitting on his shoulders for emphasis and a "rib cage" for emphasis.

He has an incredibly large golden hammer by his side, and a shield as mighty as Gunter's, but both are weary, looking like they'd been hastily thrown aside as he sat down.

Leonidas leans forward, he doesn't apologize if he block the view.

Ketheric Thorm is immortal. Weapons and powers and magic and technology and words? They can't kill him. It's a gift from his god - and one you could break if you find the "Nightsong". What the Nightsong is, you'll have to see. Sadly, my scouts and even I haven't been able to find out what that is. But I know it's somewhere in the world he inhabits and overlook from his fortress of Moonrise Crypt.

The view zoom out of the fortress to the city below, a mish-mash of various cities and worlds crammed together into a circular platform, with "districts" wildly different from one another. But the general ambiance for all is wintery, with an endless dark sky and falling snow over the world.

And Ketheric is not alone - he has an army of undead soldiers and a head necromancer he use to maintain them. On top of that, Moonrise itself is... twisted due to the pear's prolongated presencen without proper seals. Its halls may form phantoms from your own past to hunt you down. I had one happen to me - and my friend wasn't very friendly anymore, he points to his scar with a wink. It's a very dangerous place. But you'll need to go there because I know that the head necromancer apparently has kept tabs on the Nightsong. You might be able to get some information out of him.

If you succeed, you'll gain some wild rewards, I can promise you. I've got a lot of stuff to give to you. And I can assure you that, even if you aren't interested in those, letting an evil god get what it want is never a good idea.

Corrin frowns, a pear of oblivion? A way of erasing memories? And one where he could pick them? He could forget about a lot of nasty things and get off to a clean start in the Arena.

Of course, he'd remember Beruka, Gunter, Anna and the others, mind you. But he could forget the torture, Garon, Iago... he could be free of that anxiety gnawing at him ever since he left Nohr.

He could be free.

Before we do a FAQ - my scouts are dead. I can transport you to a safe room to begin the operation and supply you means of leaving but if you leave, you won't be able to come back under your own power. I can give you a map if you want. I'm not taken. And be careful of the undead - even with their heads gone, they can keep going. You need to aim for their limbs unless you have radiant damage to wipe them out cleanly. That, or some mean of easily severing their souls from their bodies, of course!

But I can insure you - if you go there, you better be ready. And if you don't feel like participating, then, ah, you can still take a snack or two on the way out!

Ashes of Nohr - Theater Room

Noah and Pyre are already in the room, with a rock-like being sitting next to Noah, about half his height. Notably, Noah and Pyre are both dressed differently.

Instead of his school uniform, Noah Is wearing a simple grey shirt and black pants, held in place by a belt around his midsection. He also has on a simple black cloak. Pyre, on the other hand, is wearing a simple cloth shirt, and some brown pants. She's wearing a blue cloak, and looks a lot better than she did before. Her eye and hands are no longer bandaged, showing the symbol of Selune proudly on her right hand. Her hair has grown out, though it's still somewhat messy.

Pyre's horns are bonked into by Shadowheart's elbow, to which Pyre just leans back slightly.

"This guy enjoys his theatrics, doesn't he?"

"Guess so."

Noah taps the rock golem on the side of her head.

Nu, wake up.

The golem's eyes flicker open, and she yawns.

Mmmmhhhhh... What is it, Master..? Oh, we're here?

Nu looks around before sitting back down and looking ahead. She records the information to one of the spare Mystic Crests she has unused on her body, including both video and audio. Convenient. Noah is making sure that something's right on his cloak. Pyre is watching the video... she doesn't react to it, but she's internally panicking, just a bit. They're going...

...there. Great!

Edited by RainbyPlays on May 7th 2024 at 5:00:47 AM

Through the streets filled with people from different walks of life, some even from different universes entirely, it seems that there was one person walking along wearing what looked like traditional "wizard" clothing, even with a massive staff with the design of two arms twisting together — the hands at the top holding the sign for "rock on". His big hat covered his completely black face, only two big yellow eyes could be visible through the shadow... Or maybe that was just how his face looked. Nonetheless, he most likely didn't look too different from the masses, especially with types of people he'd never seen before in his life.

Either way, he wasn't here to sightsee. He had his fill of that the first time he came here, and now he felt it was time to do some actual adventure. Just like a real wizard, you know? Although he would have preferred to do it with his friends, he doesn't even know if they had shown up with him in this strange new world. Though he wasn't worried. He knew that they could take care of themselves. And he knew that they would meet again, sometime soon. For now, he wanted to check the job board that was around here. He had asked about it after staying a bit in a hotel in the area... Luckily for him it seemed that they took gold pieces.

Luckily for him, as soon as he had ended this inner monologue, the job board seemed to be in sight, which was filled with a bunch of fodder requests that didn't really catch his eye. The wizard moves through them with a non-chalant expression, unpinning them from the board as he read them, before pinning them to the sides for someone else to take. It was way under his level, you could say. He wanted something new, something that he could learn from.

"Slimes, slimes, more slimes... What the —"

His dialogue was cut short as he sees the new piece of paper, buried under the newer slimey requests. It looked much different immediately, the pose of the young man almost beckoning him to pick it up as he pulled it off the wall, putting it to gis face as he read it. Adventure... Battles... Thrills... REWARDS! This was definetly what he was looking for! Nothing like those mook ambush ones he had been just bombarded with. And here he had thought that coming here was a waste of time. But, you know what they say... Good things come to those who wait. Even the address was there for him, made things a lot easier. And so... Walking away from the board, the wizard began his adventures in the Avatar Arena.

Once finding his way to the movie theater, looks up and inspects it, before taking a step in and opening the door slowly, peeking inside as he tried to get a load of who else was in here. It's not like they were going to be fighting eachother, they were supposed to be working together. Though, he couldn't help just trying to gauge their strength anyway. He'd never seen them before, after all. The wizard eventually fully walked in, holding his hand up with the now rolled up ad for everyone to see.

''' "Is this the... Saving the world meeting? "

He then walks forward, holding his hand to his chest as he looks to all of the others that were here. He didn't have much expression besides his eyes, but he was excited to finally work with a party after having to work alone due to losing his own party for... He wasn't even sure for how long at this point. It couldn't have been that long... He thinks.

"Name's Wiz, resident high level wizard. I'm excited to work with all of you guys.

He then moves to take a seat with the others, grabbing a generic brand chocolate bar as he is turning his focus to the board that Kenjaku was displaying the mission statement. He takes off the staff from his back as well, holding it in his lap as it was too big to be comfortable sitting down. He seemed rather excited about the whole thing, really — he was a big dungeons guy after all. This (basically) was the same thing! He wasn't worried, at least not for now.

Sith Academy

In the escape vessel, Ascended Laxin's grip on his own lightsaber tightens as he feels Arad's presence fade. Amaterasu rests on the floor at his feet.

"I should have been the one," he mutters.

Warrick sighs. "What a shitshow."

{{"hey swearing is my thing"}}

Ignoring the Droideka, he continues, "And those three Sith we had to tango with also made it out alive."

—

Outside, the Lizardman army watches the Academy fall.

As far as they are concerned, their duty is done. No more losses, no more pointless aggression. It is time to return to their temples and rest.

Terra boards his Keyblade Glider, with Raeii grabbing on to his back, and they fly off.

Fort Dawnguard

Perceval's eyes narrow at Radahn's grin. He doesn't see the grab coming, though, and he gets caught and smashed into the ground.

He's back at it the very next instant. If Radahn is still holding on, he fights to break free; otherwise, he immediately shoots up onto his feet, performing a quick three-hit combo of a horizontal, diagonal up, and overhead slash.

The Drought

"They're not all humans," Lupin whispers to Luna.

Various townsfolk (and Chihiro, still wearing his poncho to keep his identity hidden) gather at Lupin's meeting.

"No, no, no!" Lupin protests. "No questing and no dealing with that thing! It's 'god of the earth'-level, way above anyone's pay grade."

In truth, Lupin totally has a plan to get rid of Groudon, and he's already thinking of how to put these special people he sees to work in it. But being the greedy dirtbag he is, he wants to see how much he can get out of the town before he actually does it.

A man in a suit, greying in hair but well-groomed, steps to the front of the crowd. "I am the mayor of Chrysos," he states. "You called this meeting. If you don't have a plan, you could be arrested for disturbing the peace without a good reason."

Lupin grins smugly. "That's why I called everyone here. We're gonna build a well."

"That's your plan?" the mayor growls. "Who knows when the next rain will be?"

"Ah-ah-ah! Not just a well to catch rain!" Lupin pulls out a roll of paper and stretches it out, showing the blueprint for an entire underground network of pipes and pumps to get water from elsewhere and bring it to the well.
"This baby's gonna reach all the way outside Groudon's heat zone!"

"But...construction could take months..."

"If anyone has extra hands to offer, step right up!"

OOC the plan is for Lupin and the other player characters, by some means, to form a committee that gets paid by the city for their work. Takane will probably be at the forefront of it, since kappa and yamawaro are builders and engineers by nature. The plan to deal with Groudon itself comes later.

Movie Theater - Ashes of Nohr

Out of curiosity more than anything, Thel 'Vadam arrives at the theater, accompanied by a pair of Mgalekgolo bodyguards. He doesn't recognize anyone, but he finds his gaze fixated on Leonidas (get it cause Spartan), constantly glancing over at him as they enter, and as Kenjaku explains their objective.

"Intriguing. I believe I should help dethrone this god."

He doesn't take any of the offered snacks, but one of the Hunters grabs a candy bar. The other helps it peel the wrapper, they break it in two, and the halves of the treat disappear beneath masses of wriggling orange worms.

Edited by KiriK on May 10th 2024 at 12:31:43 PM

Chrysos - The Drought

|I see... Then, they are also different kinds of human-like people around here too.| Luna replied back to Lupin.

Luna wasn't sure what the mayor said. As, she could only understand Lupin and Lumina at this point. Luna loses interest in the mayor's and Lupin's conversation. She begins sniffing the ground, scanning the sand for some plant roots in the ground.

Rabrights naturally know how to search for roots, as they can sense the roots off plants about 5 feet deep into the ground. When they find one, they dig to uproot the entire plant and eats it, obtaining water and food at the same time. Rabrights are herbivores, so they can eat fruits, vegetables and plants. They also don't drink water, so this well is of no use to her, at least until it's done.

|Don't mind me Lupin and the other people. I'm just trying to search for some food. Is there like a bunch of plants nearby here? Like, a lot of plants? I'm starving!|

Ashes of Nohr

Save

• > Ashes of Nohr
• Nailed It

Setting up two saves, “Pyra” and “Pyra” (2) go separate ways - “Pyra” adventures while (2) does the courier and school work.

Joined by the Kagura Squad at the parking lot, the eight boards the Typhoon (with the Squad hiding in the storage cart), and heads towards the Theatre.

At the Theatre, the eight lowers their presence by stepping without a sound (and “Pyra” wearing long sleeves so their burns don’t stand out - gotta be careful in case of a combat encounter). The Squad uses Wall Cling to cling to the walls as “Pyra” sticks to a corner seat at the back.

The Pear of Oblivion… no use, they don’t have memories to begin with anyways, AND Ravenos’s entire existence is being forged by digital memories in the form of usage history.

Speaking of, Ravenos is scanning the screen.

School

Save

• Ashes of Nohr
• > Nailed It

Meanwhile, (2) is on their way to school (with their own copy of Ui and Ravenos because they are one).

At the zebra crossing, they see a hammer flying from the school field towards them and quickly dodges it.

Approaching the school field to investigate, they meet 5 bipedal, helmed turtle-men… things?

“Pyra” can hear the Hammer Bros music play. Guess they’re just from another class or year for “Pyra” to have never met them before.

| You |

“E…excuse me… your hammer… flew out of the school grounds…”

The Hammer Bro responds.

“Sorry! We were practicing our throwing techniques but I threw my hammer too hard.”

The two parties do a quick self introduction - these 5 call themselves the Bonanza Bros, a 5-person squad consisting of a Hammer Bro, a Boomerang Bro, a Fire Bro, an Ice Bro and a Gold Bro. Separated from the main troop during combat, these 5 have decided to stay in Hub Centralis while finding Lord Bowser.

So far no one knows of the entire “finding Lord Bowser” thing yet (other than maybe (2) courtesy of UI and omake.txt), and they don’t plan on directly telling anyone that isn’t other scattered Koopa Troop members this. (OOC this paragraph is an excuse to call Bonanza Bros Clandestine Hammerbros in-Academy wwwww)

For now though, (2) waves goodbye and heads to the usual break room to practice chords - hey, the squad’s training throws and (2)’s training chords. What a way to start the day.

Edited by TheTropingAlliancer on May 7th 2024 at 9:52:31 AM

Drought

   "God of land" my antennae! I think we could deal with him alone!   

Garofalo, the strongest of the ants, said smugly.

After hearing Lupin's proposal, π (other of the Ant-Men, and yes, this is his name) says:

   Somebody said "build"? We, the Ant-Men, are expert on this! We'll help this town.   

Hub Centralis, theater

Zamba and co. arrive to the theater, and sit on a place. They wear the uniform for the ITIEI Agents (including a red nose), while Sawdust is already wearing the Scorpion suit.

Zamba picks some candies, just because he's a child. He gives one of his to Cardboard. The adults of the group only pick one candy.

When Kenjaku appeared, Zamba is preparing to fight him... But then, he felt confused: they are about to fight for him?

The group watches the "movie"... Well, almost everybody. Loinball slept during the presentation, as usual.

After the movie ended, Bombuccia asks: A "Pear of Oblivion"? Do you have it already, o we need to get it?

Also, upon hearing about rewards, Zamba remembered that nightmare about chipa and the British invasion... They need to be careful with him.

Ashes of Nohr - Theater

The door gets kicked open in a needlessly dramatic fashion (even if it's a pull or sliding door, in which case it gets kicked off its hinges) as Rumia cheerily walks in. She saw the ad for adventure and thrills and other stuff like maybe getting to eat bad people so she of course wanted to sign up. She walks past Shadowheart but stops and smells the air, giving her a weird look before moving on to take a seat next to Salazar, idly kicking her legs in the air as she waits.

   "Hm? Okay. Miss Satori said there's not much going on in there anyway."    Rumia shrugged at Gunter when he arrives and makes his request.

Eventually they move to the theater room, whereupon she locks on to the candy bars meant for everyone to use. Of course unless someone gets to them first (like the Hunter), all of them quickly find their way in her hands in a clumsy tower of confectionaries. She unsteadily takes a seat, dropping them all on the one next to her own, and starts munching.

Kenjaku might be slightly annoyed that during most of his presentation she's loudly chewing on all that.

Oltura Tunnel

Sebastien nodded.

"Let's pick up the pace, carefully." he said as he did so, nudging for Brutus to do the same as they proceeded through the tunnel. Slowly they could see a light ahead as the tunnel began spreading larger in size until they finally reached the end of it.

"Holy..." Sebastien mutters as before them stretches out a massive cavern, full of of odd looking trees along with other plants of all things and they can also see a flowing stream cutting through it. The source of light becomes more noticeable if they look up, a distant sinkhole exposing the sky to the giant pit.

There's a rumble and past them flies an almost metallic looking dragon, though thankfully for them not a Kushala Daora. It stops to roost at a distant outcropping amidst the treeline.

"...This complicates things." is all Sebastien has to say for now.

Drought

Oho? Plumbing and engineering work?

"Ahem, I could help with that." Takane says as she steps forth. "When it comes to building pipelines you can't outclass us yamawaro... and kappa of course. We can build it in no time at all!"

After a marketing pause she adds.

"Though I of course would need the required funding. Pipes don't grow on trees after all."

Hub Centralis, Abandoned Theater, Theater Room

Red Hood◊ is currently sitting in a chair in the front row, leaning back as he watches Kenjaku's little presentation. Truth be told, Jason wanted nothing more than to whip out a gun and save everyone here a boatload of trouble by just blasting the body-jacking psychopath in the head mid-speech. That not being part of the plan aside, though, he had a feeling Kenjaku might anticipate such a gambit and react accordingly.

Although, if Kenjaku loved the sound of his own voice this much, Red Hood could see about using that to his advantage when it was time to put him down. Depending on how this mission pans out, if he played his cards right, he could potentially get the drop on Kenjaku while the latter was otherwise preoccupied with smugly monologuing to his opponents.

"That's if the old guy isn't in league with Kenjaku and helping him play us all like a goddamn fiddle."

He casts the briefest of glances in Gunter's direction before returning his attention to the presentation.

Meanwhile, sitting to the left of the vigilante, Bucky◊ looks over at Leonidas and the others who hadn't attended the meetup at Empire Arms Hotel while listening to Kenjaku's briefing.

"Oh, they're gonna be in for one nasty surprise. Guess it's up to us to make sure they don't wind up drafted into that creep's zombie army."

In the chair to Red Hood's right, Vi◊ leans forward in her seat as Kenjaku speechifies, her gauntlets resting on the floor to either side of her. Having never seen anyone or anything like Thel before, she raises an eyebrow at the alien.

"The hell kind of vastaya are you supposed to be?"

Edited by IchigoMontoya on May 7th 2024 at 4:29:13 AM

Astil

"The Divine Guardian Mara? Hopefully not. Going up against a Divine Guardian, a superior being, is considered taboo for angels like us."

"Don't they dislike being called superior?", Areui reminds his brother.

"I-... yes, true. ... regardless, if Mara is behind this, then I will still turn my blade on her in favor of my friends.", Kirue promises.

"My big brother? Going against tradition? I'm also hoping this isn't Mara's doing, but now I'm also kinda curious if you'd be able to back up your words."

For some reason though, the thought of a shapeshifter makes both Kirue and Yazur pale.

"... well, now I'm hoping it is Mara. I mean, depending on the kind of shapeshifter it'd be."

"I don't think we can really confirm anything until we get to them. Unless this Seth walks up to us and tells us what's going on himself.", Iris says. "I think we should work on getting ready then. I'll go with Thor so we can have that private talk, so it'll be goodbye for now."

"I guess so. I'll see if I can't procure some holy spells in case we are somehow dealing with a demon.", Kirue says.

Sword Tournament

"Yes!", M!Shez says. Surely that counts as a kill, ri-

Cue him getting neckstabbed by Liana.

"... crap-"

And so he hits the ground. Welp.

F!Shez tries to go after the fleeing Vergil, but she gets completely taken by surprise by the flying Cardboard speen attack and fucking dies. Hey, turns out Cardboard got revenge for the start of the tournament...

Well, against the wrong Shez, but hey, it's still a Shez.

-

M!Shez and F!Shez respawn in the northernmost house.

"... that was embarrassing.", F!Shez grumbles.

"At least you lost to a cool attack.", M!Shez says, crossing his arms.

"You're not doing a good job advertising your skills to the audience, are you?", Arval snickers.

"Arval, please shut up."

Ashes of Nohr, Theater

The time has come, and Lord Vladek is ready. Having seen the message he heads over towards the theater. Once he gets there he simply observes in silence, looking at everyone there, trying to get a quick read on his temporary allies.

From behind his helmet he narrows his eyes a bit when Gunter mentions the 'mental network' he'd have to make. Just like Beruka, he'd been guessing something was up, and to make himself fully vulnerable would be risky.

Yet, if that's what he'd have to do in order to come on this mission and have a chance to obtain the dark powers hinted at...

He simply grunts in agreement. He doesn't say anything else unless someone asks him his name, to which he would respond 'Lord Vladek' and nothing more.

When Corrin and Beruka arrive, he turns his head to look at them. And when Kenjaku of all people arrives, he... doesn't really react all that much, mainly because he has no idea who the guy is, only the silence and stares from others tipping him off that this guy is not supposed to be here. ... why is this strange man offering everyone water and some rectangular-shaped candy?

Hah. He'd have to be a fool to accept a supposed boon from the enemy. The water is probably spiked. Maybe the food bar is too. Besides, he's far from thirsty and thus not desperate enough to risk it.

Only once he notices other people moving to sit down does he do the same. ... huh, these odd chairs are surprisingly comfy, even though he's still wearing armor.

Then the presentation begins. This 'Pear of Ignorance' sounds potentially intriguing. Perhaps, once he has the dark powers he's hoping to obtain, he can take it for himself and use it to render that foolish king back home useless. As for Moonrise Crypt... he wouldn't mind having a castle fort similar to that for himself one day.

Ketheric Thorm... immortal... if Vladek had the crystal ball on his person, they could use it to simply seal the fool away. Alas, that's not an option.

He silently scoffs at the insinuation that the castle would be able to use his past against him. There's nothing there worth remembering that would shock him into weakness if he were confronted by it again. Whoever it would spawn into existence to attack him, he would slay it without a second thought.

And that's the end of what he chooses to mentally address. At the end of it, he decides he'd get himself a map from the guy and nothing more. Having one on him would be paramount to help him strategize, both for this mission and for his own purposes. In fact, he's considering asking for three maps, hesitating mainly because he wonders if it'd be suspicious of him to do so. In the best case scenario, he'd have one for himself, and the other two would go to Karzon◊ and Dracus◊, his Rogue Knights, who he's capable of summoning. Same for his Shadow Knights◊, but they are more like mindless grunts instead of elite warriors.

Regardless, at the end of the presentation, he stands up and goes to receive a map.

   "I have no pouch to keep it in. Is it only one map per person, or can I have a few in case I lose one?"   , he asks, making the request as inconspicuous as possible. And if told he can only have one, he would nod and accept that. He'd just have to improvise later.

Ecclesia - Theater

Somehow, our silly little glutton has found her way into the theater without warning. Albaz told her to branch out and do stuff without him, after all. Thankfully, Albaz has packed her favorite kind of donuts: the jelly-filled kind! Hunger is Ecclesia's worst enemy in her opinion.

Vanilla Cream Sherbet - Drought

Vanilla raises her hand in anticipation to Lupin's question. "Can I help...?"

Edited by josh6243 on May 7th 2024 at 3:05:22 AM

Swords

Annoyed at having her kill stolen, Clone One opts to get high ground again to survey the area. Getting on top of a nearby building in one exciting bound, she looks around and just so happens to spot Sawdust running out of another nearby house.

Waiting just long enough to not be flagged for spawn camping, she leaps down and makes a vampiric dash at Sawdust, thrusting Laevateinn with one hand like a fencing sword to try and gore Sawdust from behind in a dastardly sneak attack!