Castle Oress Pool

Yorito and Matsuri were talking; well, Yorito was doing all of the talking, and Matsuri was listening. Yorito had his back towards Sileny, so he didn’t notice her staring; he didn’t have spidey sense abilities or anything like that. Also, the pool was pretty big and there were a bunch of Unreal people walking around; that made Sileny even harder to notice. But...
…..
…
”Jane Doe”
She was at the pool. Damn, she would have loved to just take everything off and go in for a dip, without any worries; in addition, Preston wasn’t even here. But, it would be suspicious as hell; maybe she should leave for a bit? That wasn’t an option though… Even in this place, she could be attacked anytime; that bitch with the glasses was obviously suspicious. Also, she was tired from using her Oress last night; she shouldn’t swim in a condition like this. But, she didn’t hate the Oress; it was extremely fun to use, especially with “that” function. Even Preston and Durnam wouldn’t stand a chance if she played her cards right… Well, she felt that she should tell Yorito about the glasses girl; maybe she would see a fun show…
….
…
Matsuri interrupted Yorito mid-sentence.

“W-who is that, Yorito?”
“Hm?”

Yorito turned around to see what she was pointing at. At first, he didn’t really notice, but then he finally saw her.

“Oh… I don’t know, but I don’t think she wants any trouble… Good thing you noticed her. Let’s switch spots, Matsuri.”
“Huh? Oh, okay…”

They switched places; it seemed to be a pointless move, but Yorito was now able to see Sileny’s movements. If she pulled something odd, Yorito would be ready to react.

“Well, let me continue. Where was I again…? Oh, yeah…”

Yorito continued to talk.

Mr. Thorren
~Castle Oress Pool~

Mr. Thorren began rousing from his slumber. And woke up by sneezing lightning all over Yorito's back and in the pool, frying the Unreal people swimming in it. Yeah.

Skar + Co.
~There~

Santa Coconut and his french fry reindeer swarmed onto the poor little snake, beating it over the head with perogies, while Beatrice continued bitchslapping Skar because she could. While she was doing this, her evil twin sister, Lola Vontrofsky, another loli lesbian except worse - she was made of pineapple smothered in pasta sauce; or blood - decided it would be a good idea to put the moves on the trippin' Charteuse.

The lack of sanity over There is arousing amazing.

Fellmund
~The Mall~

Fellmund's face gleamed like a fangirl who had just met her idol, and he hopped up and down as he shouted: "YES! YES! YEEEEEEEES!"

He mainly did that to annoy Larya. And because he thought Tzila was hot. Fellmund coughed.

"Erm.. but yeah, you can come. That is, if you don't mind stealing.. but judging from the 'statues', I assume that you don't."

Charles
~Umbra's Mansion~

"She's at the Cafe, you say? I thank you greatly, madame." Charles did a little floating olive bow, "But alas, me and my friend must go, because a misadventure is long overdue for a strange fellow like me."

AND SO HE FLEW OUT THE DOOR - literally - AND WENT TO THE GRAVEYARD and then him and Loret had little olive/human ghost babies and they were all named George

"I say, Loret, we now have knowledge of the location of one those lovely Head Reaper people!"

Garune stepped out to the pool area to a blast of lightning frying everything in sight. He looked around him, finally spotting a rather large man who looked capable enough to fry thirty Unreal people in a heartbeat. The faun walked over to him nervously, stopping a few feet away. "Pardon the intrusion," Garune said quietly, "but I just happened to notice your... 'sneeze,' I guess I could call it. That was, how you say, impressive." He sat down beside the man, twiddling his thumbs. "Salute." He said, which is the Italian way of saying "God bless you."

Yorito was talking to Matsuri, but was still slightly unnerved by Sileny's staring; her "I'm watching you" gesture caused Yorito's eyebrows to jump in surprise. He was about to get up and confront her, but then Mr. Thorren's lightning sneeze happened. Luckily, no lightning hit Matsuri, but it did hit Yorito. However, when he was hit by it, he didn’t react at all; he just continued talking to Matsuri (and watching Sileny) as if he didn't even feel it. Matsuri, however, witnessed everything.

“…-ere. Then, we-“
“Umm, Yorito? Are you alright?”
“Hmm? Yeah, why do you a-.”

Yorito stopped himself; if he were Preston, what would he do? Having that thought, Yorito looked around; he saw some Unreal people that were fried and Mr. Thorren, who was finally awake. Putting two and two together, Yorito turned to face Mr. Thorren.

“Hey, you al-“

But, Garune appeared. Yorito looked a bit surprised at first, but he let the faun finish. From what Yorito observed, Garune didn’t seem to want to fight. That was a relief; but, Yorito didn’t let down his guard. Nonetheless, Yorito got up from his seat, walked towards Garune, and extended a hand for a handshake. Whether Garune took it or not, Yorito would talk to him.

“Hey there. I’m Yorito. What’s yours?”

Meanwhile, Matsuri just remained sitting, looking a bit frightened (presumably) by what happened to the Unreal people.

Garune's ears twitched as he awaited Mr. Thorren's reply. He felt eyes burning into his head but did not care to look around. He was quite content where he was and didn't want to disrupt his peace. As the silence continued, he started whistling a song to himself.

When Yorito spoke, the faun jumped, his daydreaming interrupted by the human. He quickly caught his breath and looked at Yorito with a smile. "Nice to meet you, Yorito. I'm Garune." He stood, taking the other's hand tentatively. These people, the ones by the pool, were there first people he had seen since his awakening here.

Mr. Thorren
~Castle Oress Pool~

Mr. Thorren did not answer the faun. He instead stared blankly at the ground, with tears in his eyes. He had lost his shop. He had lost his friends. He was badly wounded, and he had multiple enemies now. Overhead, a small cloud had formed and started drizzling on the group of people standing around Mr. Thorren. He clenched his fists as he solemnly spoke but one thing:

"Kim-Ko..."

A lightning bolt managed to home in on Mr. Thorren's position and.. because of that lovely powder.. he lit on fire. But yet he still did nothing but cry for his now-lost friend. Though the fact he was pretty much surrounded by water would probably discourage the flames from staying for too long.

Fellmund
~The Mall~

"Well, we can start off with a lovely introduction.. involving a certain little person hiding in the back room." Fellmund shot a glance at the Chillies, "ACTION!"

And so, Fellmund turned to the camera and began the movie by saying a few things.

"Good day. My name is Fellmund, a member of the totally bitchin' band of thieves The Thieving Threesome. With me today are my fellow members Larya and Spark - the blonde and the Pikachu - and this sexy beast over there is.. uhh.. shit, I never asked you what your name was.." Fellmund slapped himself on the forehead, "CUT!"

derp

Charles
~Graveyard~

"Supposedly one of them resides in a lovely little cafe place somewhere around here." Charles paid no attention to Loret's most noticeable crush on this sexy, manly, floating olive, "..I say, I do believe I have absolutely no idea where that is. TO THE SKIES!"

And so he floated up to the sky and looked for a neon cafe sign. So yeah.

Yorito smiled back.

“Garune, huh? Wel-“

“Well, it’s nice to meet you,” was what Yorito was going to say; but, he noticed rain drops overhead. Briefly, he wondered who could have done it, but…

Kim-Ko…

That word pierced Yorito like a knife; once again, before he could ponder on it, a lightning bolt struck Mr. Thorren and lit him on fire. Why? Oh, yeah… Crap, removing the phosphorus totally slipped Yorito’s mind; since Durnam was gone, Yorito had the assumption that it wouldn’t ignite. For a moment, Yorito stood there in surprise, but…

“KYAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!”

Matsuri’s scream brought him back to reality. He didn’t know how many seconds had passed, but that didn’t matter. Yorito summoned a bunch of sand and dropped it down on Mr. Thorren; the fire went out. But, Mr. Thorren was no longer visible; what remained in his place was a tall mound of sand. Maybe Yorito summoned too much? Well, at least it did the job. He hoped that Mr. Thorren was still alive; the amount of phosphorus on Mr. Thorren wasn’t nearly the same amount as what Yorito experienced, but it could still do significant damage.

"Ha... Ha... Scared the heck out of me..." Yorito clutched his chest with a hand; by now, he completely forgot about Sileny.
…..
…
”Jane Doe”
Tsk. She wished that he died. That weird guy too; what the hell was his name again? Gayone? Whatever. This shit sucked…

"What the--" Garune tumbled backward as the bolt of lightning struck, and ignited, strangely enough, Mr. Thorren. Everything was flashing and moving quickly to the faun, and all he could do was sit, paralyzed, on the ground where he stumbled back to. The immense heat was dangerously close to burning him; he quickly stood up and joined Yorito as he watched the flames, unsure of how to go about fixing the situation.

The feeling of helplessness lasted merely a heartbeat when he heard a scream from behind him. Yorito snapped out of his daydreaming beside him and dumped god-knows-how-much sand on top of Mr. Thorren, both drowning the fire and suffocating the burnt man. "Well," he said as he caught his breath from his second scare in five minutes, "that's one way to fix the situation..."

(thanks, roller. Misread your post.))

Mr. Thorren
~Castle Oress Pool~

Mr. Thorren did indeed manage to dig himself out of the sand.. but then he immediately collapsed into the pool. I have no idea if Tested are immune to drowning or not, but I'd rather not find out.

Fellmund
~The Mall~

"Hey! It's totally not cool to extinguish the flames of a woman's introduction!" Fellmund glared at the newcomer, "But, considering you've got X's on the back of your hands, and that you have control over fire, I'm just going to forget about your rudeness."

Fellmund relaxed a bit, then continued talking to Durnam.

"We are in the middle of making a movie right now, so if there's anything you want to ask any of us, please wait until after the first scene is done. Unless of course, you wanted to help us with the film.. in which case, you could be the one that holds FLO down while my cloth handkerchiefs strip her of her clothes.. hehe." A sinister homicidal, perverted laugh echoed from Fellmund's throat.

Charles
~Graveyard~

And so the two travelled to that cafe place. Noticing the exiting Exuro at the entrance, Charles decided to question him.

"I say, my good fellow, by any chance have you seen anyone called Vitara around here?"

Yorito’s attention turned to Sileny after the Mr. Thorren fire incident was over. He jumped a bit; he completely forgot about her.

“Well, not really bu-“

Then, Mr. Thorren. This time, Yorito facepalmed himself. What was up with Mr. Thorren today? Granted, Yorito didn’t hang out much with him, but his behavior was ridiculous. Was it due to his injuries? Even if that were the case, it was still pretty ridiculous. Preston was right on the money about him. Nonetheless, Yorito was about to go jump in the pool to save Mr. Thorren, but stopped when he saw Garune. Huh. So he was the holder of Quasea, huh? Wait… Was he? Yorito thought something was off, but he shrugged it off. He turned back towards Sileny.

“You’re not really interrupting anything. But, were you staring at us? Who are you, anyways? I’m Yorito, by the way.”

There were many more questions Yorito wanted to ask her, but he thought more might be rude.

Preston sure is taking a while… It shouldn’t have taken this long, right?

Meanwhile, throughout this whole time, Matsuri didn’t move from her spot; she was apparently even more disturbed by the recent events from the look on her face.
…..
…
Preston
Yorito hit the nail on the head. Preston was in fact near Castle Oress, a few moments after Peylet and DBA entered it; however, he was not present to hear their conversation. One, he was too far away to listen. Two, he didn't even know that they were there in the first place (due to his sensing ability failing). And three, he found himself unable to move. He was gripping a tree and biting it. Hard. His fingernails were cracked and bleeding, and his teeth looked like they might fall out any second. Needless to say, Preston looked out of place among the Unreal people. Of course, there was a reason behind this behavior: his urge to kill appeared again. This time, Preston couldn’t even think of wanting to stop; that would take too much effort. But, he would repress it; he would cal-

Slice. Swish. Splurt.

Ah, he was too naïve. That last time was just a fluke. It couldn’t be calmed down by his simple reactions. Before he even noticed, Preston already took out his knife and was slicing the Unreal people to bits; he had already dropped the first aid kit on the ground. Finally, the urge died down, but not before Preston quickly murdered around 53 Unreals. If Narelle was watching, she could notice three disturbing facts (besides the fact that the Unreals were killed so quickly). One, that Preston didn’t make a sound out of his mouth. No hysterical laughing or anything like that. Just silence. Two, Preston killed each Unreal with perfect efficiency, making sure not to use unnecessary movements; each action of his had a purpose. Third, and possibly most disturbing, was the fact that Preston had a smile on his face the whole time. It looked like he had a great weight lifted off of his shoulders.

“Ha… Ha…”

Preston didn’t appear to notice Narelle’s presence, even when she was now close to him (around 13-19 feet, due to unintentionally moving closer towards her during the killing spree). Of course, that was assuming that she remained stationary throughout the whole incident and didn't back away even a little bit.

She didn’t explain why she was staring at them; maybe Yorito was mistaken? Maybe there was something really interesting behind him? Ah, whatever. She introduced herself, at least. A bit confusing, but it would do he guessed.

“Them? Reaper? Did I miss something? Uh… Wait, did you need something?”
“Hic… Hic…”

Yorito turned to the source of the noise. It was Matsuri. Yorito ran over to her, once again forgetting about Sileny.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”
“I-I-I’m scared… Yorito…!”

She threw herself into his arms, crying even more. Yorito looked surprised for an instant, but then embraced her.

“It’s ok. I’m here. It’ll be fine, I promise.”
“…”

She silently continued to cry in Yorito’s arms, slightly trembling.
…..
…
Preston
The more Preston calmed down, the more his smile disappeared as well. Thus, when Preston fully regained his composure, his smile disappeared. So then, he finally noticed Narelle’s presence; even without his super sensing Tested ability, he was still able to tell if there was a pair of eyes staring at him from a good distance.

“Come down from that tree.”

There was no “if you don’t come down, I’ll kill you” or “please”. Also, there wasn’t any killing intent emitting from Preston or anything like that. Preston just believed that whoever was in that tree would come down; if she/he didn’t, well… He/she wasn't that stupid, right?

Then, giant robot thing flew over Preston’s head and landed on the roof, it seemed.

“…”

Well, that could prove to be a problem. Fortunately for Preston, it seemed that they didn't notice the Unreals that he just killed.

Mr. Thorren
~Castle Oress Pool~

Mr. Thorren is fucked. The oversized shopkeeper continued to sleep like nothing was wrong, but that accursed corruption on his leg.. uhh.. yeah. There was something wrong.

Fellmund
~The Mall~

Fellmund looked at the crazy antics of his fellow thieves.

"..If you two are done, where do you think we should go? And what in the name of Bruce Willis are we going to do with all these Chillies?"

Charles
~That One Cafe~

Charles was utterly speechless from joy. But then he spoke:

"I say, madame, what maniacally mind-raping misadventures shall we have now?"

Skar
~There~

Skar, annoyed by the antics of all of his food creations, decided to rip Beatrice's poisonous potato heart out from her chest and forcefeed it to Santa Coconut, causing him to choke on it and pop into non-existence.

And then Skar and Naj were all alone.

...

...

oh lord

{{I apologize for not posting for so long. And the fact this post absolutely sucks. But I've been busy as a beaver lately doing other things. Silly me.}}

Yorito continued to hold Matsuri in his arms, but glanced at Garune and smiled awkwardly.

“Ah, that would be great.”

Then, he looked back down at Matsuri; he didn’t notice Sileny. Since she was communicating through the board instead of talking, it didn’t make that much noise. Also, the pool area was somewhat noisy as well. The pitter patter of the Unreals’ footsteps, the pool’s water, etc, proved sufficient enough to drown out the whiteboard’s squeaking. Most importantly (for Yorito), he was more concerned with the girl quivering in his arms; that is why he gave Garune such a curt response. So, Mr. Thorren’s curse went unnoticed for now.
…..
…
Preston
Preston took a look at her hands as she got out of the tree. So, she was a Tested...

“What were you doing? Also, who or what did that?”

He pointed to the tree that was riddled with bullet holes. Preston decided to stop thinking for a few moments; he actually felt pain in his head, despite not using his MEODP. Perhaps it was because of the restraint he went through. Regardless, Preston wanted to lie down after he got sorted through this business.

Vers was more interested in Thorren's injury than started up a fight with Yorito, or anyone else present, so he began scanning Thorren's injury with the gauntlet on his right arm. You know, the one made of metal and those shiny lights. After looking at the results on a little holographic display, Vers shrugged.

"Yup, this is definitely your field of expertise. I'm not familiar with this sort of thing. There is something troublesome, though. Whatever's causing that discoloration is passing through his system. I'm not sure what that's going to do to him, but when you see its effects on his leg, it doesn't look too bright for him..."



Koren folded his arms, not amused by Muri's ominous behavior..

"I get the idea. But, for now, my soul is safe. After all, I don't think you'd want to make me into a thrall or consume my soul right now. That would be rather... useless, if I may say so myself, when compared to the possibilities."

When Lokk mentioned Water Magic, Garune froze. "W....water magic... could have done this?" He said, half-under-his breath, yet loud enough for people to hear. No. All he did was save Mr. Thorren from drowning, right? It couldn't have been him... It couldn't. Garune's hands started shaking, and he sat down on his furry haunches, slightly rocking back and forth. He stared at his rattling hands without saying a word.

Mr. Thorren
~Castle Oress Pool~

Mr. Thorren grumbled as he awoke from his slumber; why were all these people gathered around him? He still hadn't taken notice of the rather nasty wound on his leg.

"..Move." Mr. Thorren mumbled, as he pushed right through Vers and started heading towards the elevator. How was he able to stand with a wound like that? idunnolol

Regardless of that, more rain clouds appeared in the sky. Mr. Thorren is a sadface. :(

Skar
~There~

He slept some more trololololol

Fellmund
~Doll Shop~

"..Well, what happens if you take the doll without signing the paper? Then what?"

I wonder what Fellmund is up to. I honestly have no idea..

not

Garune didn't listen; Yorito didn't have the time to say "I told you so," since Yorito heard the click of a camera. It was Sileny. She got out her cell phone camera and took a picture. She had that same emotionless look as she took the shot and put it away. Then, she did nothing.

What the fuck?

How could she be so callous? Was she really just going to do nothing?

Dark vines entangled Yorito's soul. They weren't there originally though; it was planted there a few days ago, when he first saw the death of Loret. Subsequent events helped to feed them little by little. They almost choked his soul completely when he saw the state of Matsuri; if she didn't wake up, Yorito would have mentally died then and there. But, that little cellphone camera click was not the last straw. It just helped to feed the vines. For an instant, anyone with a strong sense could have felt the palpable darkness that emanated from Yorito; but, as instantly it came, it disappeared.

No, no... There's gotta be a good reason, right? Yeah, I mean... Maybe it has to do with why she writes with a whiteboard or something... Yeah... I'm just stressed, probably. This thing shouldn't bother me... That's gotta be the case. Chill...

Just as Yorito calmed down, he heard voices.

"...I've seen something like this before. By the Alchemy, I swear it. This is undoubtedly a curse of Tyrian origin... I've seen evidence of similar attacks brought in by scouts to the Academy for research. It's normally accompanied by signs of severe trauma from Air or Water Magic. That, and we've never run across a living victim of the infliction. Who discovered him like this?"

"Yup, this is definitely your field of expertise. I'm not familiar with this sort of thing. There is something troublesome, though. Whatever's causing that discoloration is passing through his system. I'm not sure what that's going to do to him, but when you see its effects on his leg, it doesn't look too bright for him..."

He finally realized Vers and the newcomer (Lokk) were right near Mr. Thorren. When did they...? No, more importantly, what were they doing?

Ah...?

The vines grew inside Yorito until it took over his very consciousness. This was unacceptable. Casual observation at a time like this? When Mr. Thorren was injured like this? Especially Vers. Did Vers really think that he would just stand by and do nothing? Yorito was ashamed that he let the two get so close. Garune's words and actions, along with Mr. Thorren, were completely disregarded by Yorito. In his mind, there only existed three things in the world right now: Vers, Lokk, and himself.

Two had to go.

He took a step closer to the two.

By now, even the most clueless person would be able to tell something was drastically different about Yorito. Without uttering any words, Yorito formed and held a porcelain baseball bat in one hand and had hundreds of small obsidian shards behind him that were ready to launch. He had his head down the whole time, looking at the ground.
.....
...
"Jane Doe"
She did not think it would go so smoothly. But, it could prove to be more effective than she hoped for; if Yorito launched those shards, she (along with the others) would undoubtedly get hit by some of it. Sigh, looked like she had to intervene once more...

The rocking continued as Mr. Thorren stood up, walking towards the exit. Not me... it couldn't have been me... he froze when a hand came into view in front of him. Looking up, he saw Sileny. Sileny? The silent, creepy staring person. Thinking of nothing better to do at the moment, Garune took her hand (shakily) and attempted standing. His small, goat-like tail was still twitching as he stood, but he didn't lose his balance. He looked into Sileny's eyes without saying a word; he was worried that if he talked something would go wrong.

Vers raised a hand towards Mr. Thorren as he left, but no words left his lips. Unable to stop the former Flower Shop's owner, Vers returned his attention to the holographic interface of his gauntlet, and resumed examining the result, while Yorito had not yet conjured his porcelain bat or the obsidian shards. That is, until multiple lines of red text began glaring at him from the neon-blue interface.

Code: Select all

WARNING: Projectiles detected.
Collision chance: 93.7%
Material composition: Obsidian
Hazard Level: Fatal

Aw, fuck.

After closing the holographic interface, Vers whirled around to face Yorito and his obsidian shards, glancing only momentarily at the porcelain bat. His right arm stiffened - which would be the closest expression for a robotic arm (although the arm itself wasn't visible) - indicating his readiness, if the worst should happen. Instead of making a smartass comment here about Yorito's weaknesses, Vers decided to leave this one to Lokk. After all, if he lived through this, Durnam would have a nice report about that kid's behavior.



Koren sighed. "Oh, I don't know. Shadow powers like those you have, or possibly even greater development of my own powers with Sytel. I was generally under the impression that a weak soul might be less satisfying for one such as yourself."



Somewhat impatient with the lack of one FLO with chemistry supplies, Durnam opened his door, and walked back downstairs, holding his hand cannon in his right hand.

Garune nodded, reading Sileny's board quickly. He looked at Yorito, who looked like he was about to explode. Mr. Thorren was being a strange injured person and Garune was just... Garune. "Y-yes, okay. Let's go." His words were shaky but clear, and he made his way towards the exit.

Another step.

Yorito still had his head down, ignored Lokk’s words, and asked two questions of his own.

“Do you know what Vers’ brother did? And what this guy’s response was after he knew about it?”

Yorito let Vers get away. He was a bit tired after all, from the fight with Durnam. Preston wasn't here to back him up either. It would be best if he just let Vers get away for now and cook up a detailed plan to deal with Vers later. Unlike his fight with Durnam, this area was slightly disadvantageous; he still could manipulate the earth here, but it would require a bit more energy. So, letting Vers go would not be a bad thing to do. Those things...

Are what Yorito would never consider in a time like this.

In reality, Yorito remained silent as he let Lokk and Vers talk; during one point of Vers’ rant, Yorito looked up slowly. His eyebrows rose in surprise and then he let his head down. As Vers was walking towards the door, Yorito spoke softly, his voice barely louder than a whisper.

“Well, you heard him. His brother killed a girl that did nothing wrong. Backstabbed her. If you still stand by him knowing that, then you too are my enemy. But for now…”

He walked towards Vers; the instant that Vers blew down the door, a new porcelain one stood in its way. They were about 12 feet away from each other. Yorito’s head was still looking down on the ground; why was he not looking at Vers?

“Rip me apart then. I’ve never seen such evil people in my life; it’s hard to believe you and I come from the same species. Last time we fought, my heart hesitated, since I didn't know much about you; I didn't know whether I should have really killed you. But that rant of yours showed me your feelings. Here I go.”

Yorito launched the hundreds of obsidian shards behind him and ran at Vers, porcelain baseball bat in hand. He looked up, but didn’t appear to be looking at Vers exactly; what was he staring at…?
……
…
”Jane Doe”
This would be fun, for sure. Even if it meant Yorito would die, she would not let this one escape unscathed. That man was the holder of Craya; it would be for the best if she got rid of him ASAP. She realized her mistakes from the previous battle; if she just let this one get away too, she would explode in fury. No doubt about it. The feeling she felt right now… Was like being at the point of climaxing, but then being forcibly stopped at that moment. It was unbearably frustrating. She could possibly blow her cover and use up all of her energy by doing this, but no matter; if she let this one get away, it would be the same as dying. Speaking of death, where the hell was Presto-. Oh, there he was. What a sneaky bastard; when did he get there? If she didn’t have Neladi, she would have never found out. Tsk, it looked like Vers would be killed quickly; she would have to settle for that little rat looking thing to vent out her anger, if it decided to fight at all. But for now, she would support Yorito; to Vers, it looked like a 1 on 1, but it was actually a 3 on 1. The question on her mind was not "Is Vers going to die?" but "How fast?"
……
…
Preston
There. It was getting painful to see ya in such a wretched state; ya still are, don’t get me wrong. Anyways, it would be nice to see a real person die for once; hell, I could easily take over your body now and murder the living shit out of everyone... Although for one, it wouldn’t really be satisfying killing weaklings. Two, and most importantly, even I don’t want to mess with that fuckin’ monster. So, don’t expect me to save your ass if you’re near death; I ain’t gonna be some Hollow or demon fox or other deux ex machine shit. If ya die, ya die; if ya live, ya live. You don’t have plot armor, sorry. The outcome of this doesn’t really matter… I’m just here to adjust your powers a bit in accordance with everyone else’s, since his prediction about you not using the Sola Oress was spot on the dot. Eh, I’ll stop here; not like you’ll remember this when you wake up… Don’t fuck this up, but you probably will. Not that anything matters... We're both toys in that fucker's hands. FUCK!

With that, Preston woke up; how the hell did he get here? This was…
……
…
Pool Area
The Castle Oress pool area was quite large. If one looked around, one would see the aforementioned glass ceiling with clouds above, a pool, some vending machines, snack bars, palm trees, lounge chairs, and showers. One could easily play a game of hide-and-seek in here; there were a multitude of hiding places…

Vers wasn't all too surprised that Yorito blocked his exit. Still, it wasn't anything too troublesome. Porcelain, from the looks of it. Thermite ought to do the trick. Still, that wasn't his problem. The twat Yorito proved his persistence, and probably wouldn't want to let him get away. Well, looks like he'd have to take this kid out quickly. That is, until the obsidian shards smashed into his body. Well, that is to say, a decent amount of them. As quickly as he could react, Vers unleashed another concussive blast, knocking the rest of the obsidian shards off course.

Vers whirled around, and looked at Yorito. Immediately, an eyepatch - with a crystalline lens at its center and wires connecting it with Vers' robotic arm - and a futuristic firearm, attached to Vers' gauntlet, appeared on Vers' person. Without further ado, he pointed the gun at Yorito.

Code: Select all

Weapons systems online.
Capacity: 100%
Issue command?
Execute command: Lock-on.
Provide locations...
- Solar Plexus
- Left foot
- Right eye
- Forehead
- Auxiliary Equipment.
Specify Auxiliary Equipment...
- Composition: Porcelain
Energy level adjusted for ROUND 5.
Locations loaded.
Execute command: Load

For Yorito, he would only have a moment between Vers pointing the gun at him, and the firearm's barrel glowing a bright blue. He just might want to stop running at Vers. As it stood, Vers wasn't even paying attention to Lokk. Why? Well, targeting systems tend to do that to you.

((The bolts are composed primarily of energy, although there is one fairly hot piece of metal at the center. They aren't homing, and probably won't kill on impact.))



Durnam shook his head, and set Fellmund's cards on fire - that is, if they weren't made of metal. If they were, then Fellmund might not want to be touching them - before taking the papers, said a quick "Thanks" and walked back upstairs.

In his room, Durnam sat down on his bed, and slowly began reading through the papers with info on the Oress ((GSG, if you think this is way too long for a post or not meant for public eyes, then just PM me the stuff)). Oh, and anyone trying to get into his room would find a wall of fire at his door. Not cool, Durnam. Not cool.



Koren stroked his chin - he now has an evil goatee, mind you - and processed that new piece of information. This would make things troublesome, but it wouldn't be too difficult to bypass.

"Then I won't do it. I'll just use someone. Add in one extra person to the mix. As for how I died, well, every fiber of my being was shredded to bits by tendrils of shadow. Not exactly the most fun experience."

Yorito felt anger at the fact that the obsidian shards didn’t kill Vers; he wasn’t even wearing armor and Yorito made a bunch. Was his heart still hesitating? Even if it was, it didn’t matter. He couldn’t stop now.

Yorito was already prepared for Vers’ attack; he had his eyes on the gauntlet, after all. He felt (for some reason; he wouldn’t be able to explain in concrete terms) that Vers would undoubtedly attack with the gauntlet. So, just as the firearm’s barrel turned blue, Yorito summoned a good-sized granite rock to smash on top of it; it wouldn’t be enough to destroy it, but hopefully deflect Vers’ aim. He did this without stopping his run; if all things went well, Yorito would be close enough to Vers to utilize the porcelain baseball bat at Vers’ left side (the side without the gauntlet). If Vers got hit by that, the impact would be similar (or greater) to getting hit by Mr. Thorren’s hammer (while he is using both hands).

But, what about Frederick (who was behind Yorito)? Its entrance and attack were completely ignored by Yorito; fortunately for Yorito, one of the many Unreals in the area conveniently (and casually) walked in front of the attack and took it instead. Was that a mere coincidence?

Anyways, Yorito felt… Different, than usual.
......
…
”Jane Doe”
The concussive sound wave was unexpected, but it wouldn't work again. Anyways, this was perfect. Among other games, this one was the best. No doubt about it. Yorito would probably feel a bit unlike himself, but that was to be expected; she was controlling him after all. Even the Unreals were her allies. Now, when would Preston shoot?

Lokk (and perhaps Vers) would notice that a good number of Unreals were converging upon Frederick. Quickly. As for Vers, he would find that his sense of hearing was disabled at around the same time Yorito summoned the granite rock. And as such, he would be unable to hear the sound of gunfire coming from Preston’s M16.
……
…
Preston
He was at the pool area, in a snack bar. He had the M16 on him, which was obtained from Yorito’s room. Backpacks from the room were strewn across the floor as well; how everything got here, he didn’t really know. After murdering the Unreals outside of Castle Oress, he planned to go on in; but, he noticed other beings in the lounge area and thus took a different entrance. From there, he blacked out and appeared here. Although he was a bit disoriented, he knew what he had to do.

Preston looked into the scope of the M16. The distance between him and Vers was around 60 feet. Normally, a headshot from this distance would be a simple task for Preston, even if the target was moving; even if Preston had no scope, it was nighttime with barely any light, and he wasn’t in a prone position, etc., a headshot would be simple. But, as stated many times before, Preston wasn’t feeling normal. So, a headshot would be impossible. Shots to the body, however…

Preston fired five shots in succession.

The moment the block of granite hit downward, Vers instinctively dropped to the ground, and rolled towards the left, feeling a bullet punch through his right leg and upper chest, but harmlessly deflect off his right shoulder. Knocking an arm downwards was a common practice of Durnam's unarmed style, which Vers had learned to combat over years of sparring with his brother. Once he got back up, he aimed his weapon at Yorito and fired a single round at Yorito - after all, the granite had busted the targeting system, so the eyepatch was just there for looks now - and yelled for Lokk to teleport the two of them out of here.

Before Lokk teleported them - that is to say, if he does teleport them - Vers would drop a lighter-like device, apparently by accident.



Durnam stood outside the Cafe, staring at the sky over the other buildings of the Test Reality. This one little push, however deadly it was, was all he needed for some suspicion to be raised towards Vers. After all, it was his reactor, and the gamma radiation would be too much at the epicenter, so a proper investigation would be rather difficult for at least a day or two, depending on how quickly Vers could clean it up. Nonetheless, Durnam felt rather guilty about the whole ordeal, but he had far more important affairs.

Durnam walked into the cafe, and saw Elia and Verity at the same table. Inferring that something mildly important was going on, he decided to sit at a different table ('cause less awkwardness), and just stared off into space, deep in thought.



"Hmm, well, we could start off with a lone Tested or two. There is one benefit to the evening: long shadows. Patrolling the roads would be perfect, and we wouldn't even need to be too close to the person in order to take them out."

Still being controlled by Neladi, Yorito did not stop moving after his baseball bat missed the mark. Unlike Vers, Yorito was unfortunately less lucky in where the bullet full of energy hit him. Right on top of his right chest. Yorito dropped the bat as a result. For a few seconds, all functions of Yorito stopped; even Neladi wouldn’t be able to move him.
……
…
”Jane Doe”
What the hell? She had that Vers pegged as a non-combatant type, but he showed some physical prowess. Fucker didn’t even flinch when he got hit by the bullets; what sort of shit was that? Did everyone possess Preston’s numbness or something? She was pissed. Then, she heard Vers’ voice for Lokk to teleport them out of here.

Oh, hell no.

Fuck, how could she have forgotten? Pixet had the ability of teleportation. She had completely forgotten. No matter; she was familiar with teleportation, and would try something to prevent that. Good thing that she sent the Unreals; it proved to be a good stalling tactic.
…….
…
Yorito
After those seconds of inactivity, Yorito proceeded to create a whole lot of sand in the immediate area and jumped away from Frederick and Vers; he made so much sand that it would be hard to see anything. Next, he summoned an enormous granite boulder that would fall right on top of Vers’ area. It was at least the size of a small house and just a bit short of being tall as a palm tree. Finally, Yorito passed out; he was out of fuel. Also, to add to his situation, one of the scythe blades had to slice clean through Yorito’s left arm as he was falling; even with the rocky toughness that came with using Arode, it easily bypassed that defense. Not that he could feel it; he was unconscious after all.
......
...
”Jane Doe”
This was how she would disrupt the teleportation and kill Vers. Only the best could teleport others in a situation where it was impossible to see anything. Vers had the special pleasure in witnessing 63% of Yorito’s energy; specifically, it took 45% to create a boulder like that on short notice, and 18% to create the sandstorm instantly. Well, it would be impossible for him to see the boulder; she still had blocked out Vers’ sense of hearing, and the sandstorm would obscure the boulder from view. By the time he saw it, it would be too late. She was confident of this. So, she decided to speak for the first time in a while.

“HAHAHAHAHA!!! DIE DIE DIE!!!”

Well, that was more of a yell; it didn’t matter. She was confident that nobody would find out her identity, with the sandstorm and all.
……
…
Preston
What great luck. Vers just had to drop to the ground at the instant Preston fired. He wasn’t sure how many bullets hit from this distance, but from the subtle tearing of Vers’ clothes, it seemed that some hit. Preston prepared to fire some more until a sandstorm engulfed his vision. It would be impossible for him to fire without accidentally hitting Yorito. Preston quickly got out of his prone position and stood up. He was unable to see anything except the huge boulder and sand. But, even he could hear “Jane Doe’s” maniacal yell. He quickly located the source of the sound; from this distance, it was hard to tell. No, it wasn’t hard to tell. Preston just didn’t want to believe it at first. It came from a figure from outside of the sandstorm. In addition, it seemed that she was she was wearing a maroon beret, a dark maroon skirt, navy blue stockings, and black wedge boots…

Was that… Matsuri?

A loud crashing sound, then silence. When the sand and boulder settled, there was nobody to be seen. Fortunately for Yorito, “Jane Doe”, and Preston, the Penning trap went unnoticed and untouched; with the circumstances and surroundings, it was impossible to notice.
……
…
“Jane Doe”
Anger. That’s what she felt. How the fuck was that even possible? Was that rat that skilled in teleportation? Pixet's main power was technology, not teleportation right? Fuck damn. Fuck, fuck, fucking bullshit. Well, she managed to escape before Preston came, so that was a plus…
......
…
Preston
Preston went as fast as he could towards the familiar figure, but he was too late; she was gone. He would have liked to search for her, but something else took priority: Yorito.
……
…
Eventually, Preston managed to rescue Yorito and carried him to the snack bar (from where he shot Vers from). Unfortunately, there were no convenient tourniquets or anything like that around, so Preston had to make do with what he had. Preston took off his shirt and cut some pieces off of it in order to tightly seal Yorito’s severed arm back with his body. It wasn’t completely effective though; blood slowly dripped from the arm. It wasn’t a tourniquet after all. Now, all Preston could do was wait; going outside to get medical supplies and leaving Yorito here would be dangerous. The sounds that occurred in this pool area were pretty loud; Tested could get curious. There were a bunch of other negative possibilities that could arise from going outside as well. It was unfortunate that he would be unable to keep his promise with that eccentric girl in the park, but it couldn’t be helped.

For once, Preston was grateful towards the Tested anatomy; without it, Yorito wouldn’t possibly survive such an injury. But with it, he had a chance. Feeling suddenly fatigued, Preston drifted off into sleep.
…..
…
???
Heheheh… Well, you failed. As I predicted. Well, time for me to get to work…
…..
…
Day 5
Preston awoke and looked to his side to face Yorito. But, Yorito wasn’t there.

“…”

Preston sensed nothing in the immediate area. Well, it could be that his sensing abilities were still broken, but…

“…”

So, Yorito was dead? Well, Preston expected such a possibility; Tested anatomy or not, Yorito wasn’t guaranteed to survive. So, that’s how it ended, huh?

“…”

Preston didn’t feel any great emotions. At most, he was annoyed that Yorito was unable to kill Vers despite all that effort; he should have summoned that boulder from the very beginning. Well, it was Preston’s fault too; he couldn’t even get a headshot at that distance. Just as Preston decided to head towards the park, he heard a familiar voice.

“Hey Preston! Where you going!?”

He turned around. There were some Unreals blocking his vision, but he saw him right away; it was Yorito.

Or was it?

Instead of running towards Yorito feeling all relieved and happy, Preston activated his MEODP. After looking at Yorito, he shut them off. Indeed, it was Yorito. Preston did such an action since Mikimi’s holder could have taken on Yorito’s form; but, Mikimi couldn’t possibly copy the normally invisible lines of death inherent on Yorito’s body.

“So yeah Preston… Have you seen Matsuri? I can’t find her anywhere.”
“…”
“Preston?”

Well, Preston considered this possibility as well. As such, he had an answer prepared.

“…After you passed out, Vers… Took her away.”

Yorito’s face went blank. For what seemed like a year, Yorito didn’t blink or say anything. Eventually, a hoarse voice, no louder than a whisper, escaped from Yorito’s mouth.

“…I see. So I was unable to kill him… And to top it off, he even took her away.”

Then, Yorito shut his eyes. After a few moments, a loud crashing sound was heard. Yorito summoned another boulder (albeit smaller than the one from yesterday) and quickly launched it towards the boulder from yesterday. From around 60 feet away. Immediately afterwards, Yorito’s knees hit the ground and he collapsed face down.

There was another long silence. Then…

“Hey, Preston. Am I doing something wrong? Am I actually the bad guy? Didn’t I train hard? Why couldn’t I win? Why? Why…?”

Yorito wept. Preston stayed silent.
……
…
The trip to the park was a quiet one. Neither of them talked. Preston followed his usual procedure in going to locations: he avoided people he sensed while going there. Thankfully, it seemed like his sensing abilities were functioning today. Then, they arrived to the cave where they were yesterday. After Yorito moved the rock blocking the entrance and deposited their stuff there, Preston spoke.

“I apologize for not showing up yesterday. Please talk to me if you are still here.”

It was actually possible that she was here; an eccentric person like her was hard to read in his present condition. And even if she wasn’t, it’s not like Preston exerted too much energy.

---

"Really? She just wanted to talk? Very strange."

While looking around, Peylet stepped on yet another oddly-colored tile, which caused a low rumbling noise to echo throughout the room. Peylet seemed to notice something underwater and held her hand out to ask for a momentary silence. One deep breath later, she transformed into a sexy swimsuit model cute li'l fishie in mid-dive. Moments later, she surfaced, but with less gills and more humanity.

"Some kind of tunnel opened up near the bottom of the pool. Follow me."

After turning into FISHIE PEYLET again, she returned underwater.

...If a hole opened up in the pool, wouldn't the water kind of drain out or something?

---

AND THEN GSG WAITED FOR KRESNIK AND/OR LODNIR

---

Stan waved after Flare as she left, because waving is cool and stuff. (:

Then he got out the taser and Arella was all taken care of.



Larya waved back enthusiastically, not even noticing that Spark totally joined another allia---

"Wait, what?!" Oops, never mind. "Y-You're cheating on the Thieving Threesome?! How could you?!" Larya asked, dramatically crying clearly fake tears.

---

"D-Don't you know who those people are?!" Cel exclaimed, surprised.

"There were at least three crazy murderers in that group, and one of them was...one of Them! Going over there would be total suicide!" she exclaimed, trembling at the thought. "That was a close one..."

Fredericks' reply was pretty much the same thing, lolololololololol.



Mr. Thorren would find that her scythe wasn't very conductive at all...upon closer inspection, it looked like it was made out of some weird bluish material...

"Well, if you insist~! Oh, this'll be fun! ♥" She laughed in a disturbingly lighthearted matter, rushing towards Mr. Thorren with her scythe aimed for his left arm. No fun if you go for the head right away, right?

Meanwhile, Ciess and Shan immediately gestured for Joe to grab the stuff so they could get the hell out of here.

---

Verity was silent for a good long time, and her expression didn't look very happy...

Finally, after a tense silence, she spoke up:

"Very well. My contract requires that I listen to your every request, and this one is no exception. If we're going to do this, then it needs to be convincing, however. I wouldn't think that they'd be so easy to fool, but perhaps I'm overestimating them based on your description. Either way, I know from experience that it's best to play safe. Why would we be enemies?"

---

Seraye seemed a little unnerved by that comment...semi-lolis and dangerous weapons just don't get along that well. Actually, they do get along pretty well...too well, is the problem.

"W-Well, what'd you do to it?" she asked, not sure if she wanted to know.

Meanwhile, Fray actually seemed rather offended by Ignis' comment, and semi-loli intuition prompted her hot-bloodedness to take over temporarily in the face of losing what dignity she had left.

"H-Hey! I'm perfectly capable of defending myself!" she huffed, not realizing that she was speaking out loud until Dicro turned around.

"What?"

"U-Um...y-you know, I can totally defend myself and stuff! S-So, like, no pressure!" Fray jumped.

"Uh...okay." he probably would've poked at that subject a little more if it wasn't that fact that he noticed Exuro and Seraye. Taking that as a sign to get back to business, Dicro turned back around and continued on towards the basement. You tend to get pretty good at picking up vibes when you chill in subconsciouses a lot, y'know. Embarrassed, Fray returned to being silent and basically making Ignis do all the work. (':

"...Wait, you need me to do something for you? Uh...what is it?" she asked, clearly hesitant to find out what Ignis could possibly want.



Noticing this change in behavior, Halyn immediately got back to invading his personal space.

"Oh, what's this? Are you worried about something, Julie~? What could possibly be existing out there that would concern you?"



then the spiders were dead

...And everything smelled like cherries and cinnamon for some weird reason.

---

"Really? So then, that's good!" Mariol smiled, her face brightening. As quick as her frown flipped upside-down, it flipped downside-up. "But, wait...if she kills herself and then the jewel-lady dies...doesn't she technically win? Is that okay? she asked, not quite understanding that Nika couldn't really kill the King if she died.

Meanwhile, Nika's grip tightened around the handle of her dagger as she glared down her glassy self. As Amethyst plunged the dagger into her thigh, Nika didn't make a move (aside from an obvious pained twitch, since getting stabbed is painful and all). Instead, focusing on her goals rather than her pain, Nika brought the dagger over her head and prepared to send it right through Amethyst's skull.

---

"Everything is decided by Us as a whole. However, due to my Request, They generally can't deny anything I do pertaining to the Test Reality. As for what makes the perfect conditions..."

Smoke, butterflies, and repeated silence. Opine turned her chair around before replying, making her quiet voice even more of a pain to hear. Fortunately for Aita, it was still quiet enough to hear a pin fall.

"The Test Reality must satisfy me. When the Test Reality is perfect, I'll be nostalgic. The day the Test Reality is perfect is the day that the world he showed me is replicated by my own hands..."

More smoke. More silence.

---

Bunny simply laughed and shook his head. :3

"Simple, my beloved brother! I love everyone! We're all bros here, we can all love and be friends..." :3

WHY CAN'T WE BE FRIENDS~♪
WHY CAN'T WE BE FRIENDS~♫
WHY CAN'T WE BE---GODDAMN IT TCC LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO ME

---

AND THEN DBA WAS SUDDENLY A CUTE LITTLE FISHIE

Except he was near the edge of the pool.

FLOP FISHIE, FLOP~

---

Relieved that Vers wasn't rushing back, Cel got back on track.

"Well, let's see...I guess we could---"

"A-ha, there you are!"

Cel whirled around to see Tzila standing only a yard or two away. That lovably nonchalant pyro-murderer had her hands on her hips and her grin wide, apparently pretty satisfied with finding Durnam again. Except, you know, Vers wasn't Durnam.

"Huh...you look a little different, but you can't fool me! You're that same jerk from yesterday! I knew we'd meet again!"

And then Cel was like "wut".

---

Verity nodded.

"Then consider it arranged. They need evidence that you're actually my enemy. But don't just cut me or something. It has to be absolutely undeniable that you did it to me." she explained, deciding to question his whole double-self situation another day.

---

Naturally, Halyn followed him into the closet to regain her dignity.

Halyn decided to get serious, considering the fact that she kind of liked a lot of people in this mansion. She folded her arms and bit her lip, wondering briefly what a proper response would be. She was about to comment on the whole Ara thing (no one else knows about the whole Jesus Loli thing, after all), but decided that Julias correctly assumed that she didn't have any way to defend herself like the others did.

"Damn, he sure has a lot of enemies hanging around here. Either way, don't expect me to stay out of this completely...I'm not fond of making enemies, but you're still my responsibility whether my contract states it or not! No one hurts my precious little Julie and gets away with it~ ♥"

I mean, who else is she going to creep on, right?

On a totally unrelated note, Umbra is apparently one damn heavy sleeper.



"Well, that sounds kind of inconvenient. If it's just going to dangerously blow up when you stab someone with it, then what do you use it for?" Seraye asked, because ADD exploding knives are more important than killing magicians. Yes.

Meanwhile, Fray felt totally D: about the knife now, but she remained silent both physically and mentally for a while. A while being the key word, here.

"D-Does it, uh...h-have anything to do with this knife?"

Meanwhile part two, Dicro was apparently pretty eager to get this over with from the way those chains were driving themselves into those boxes. It almost seemed like he knew exactly where Fellmund was, given how he started as far away from him as possible (which sort of contradicts the 'wanting to get this over with' part, but okay). By now, those chains were getting worryingly close, and chains + self = sadface.



Once Flare arrived at the Mansion, she'd find that everything was conveniently unlocked. That's almost suspiciously convenient...

Well, never look a gift horse in the mouth, yeah? The main room was totally empty with the exception of Lun asleep behind the couch (how long has he been there? ಠ_ಠ) and maybe the faint sounds of life elsewhere in the mansion.

Exciting post is exciting.

---

The silence was even longer this time, but Opine eventually decided to speak up.

"That is correct. And it is because of that world that I created the Test Reality - it is because of that world that I am the person I am." she said, seeming to be intentionally avoiding the subject of this other world.

---

"I don't mind it! But...how can she become someone other than herself? Is that even possible?" Mariol asked, tilting her head to the side.

Nika was about to jump back, but the pain in her thigh suddenly became obvious. After cringing, she ripped the dagger out of her thigh and, despite her angry mumblings, silently thanked Tested anatomy for not having especially-dangerous stab zones. Kind of got an important artery right up in your thigh and all. Instead of rushing to stab Amethyst again, Nika took a moment to catch her breath...although, admittedly, she was mainly giving her wound a chance to heal.

"Well," she smiled, "I suppose I've learned that I'm a pain in the ass."

DAMMIT NIKA, LESS TALKING AND MORE STABBING. STABBING IS, LIKE, YOUR ONLY PURPOSE.

---

"Whoa, whoa, we're not that kind of threesome! Not unless I'm getting paid, anyways..." Larya explained, a little bit of a blush evident on her face, as well. She was quickly distracted by Preston's behavior...was that, like, respect? She could get used to this!

"What? Me? The name's Larya Tayl, and the Thieving Threesome is the best alliance of all time! It started with just me and Sparkle Rat over here, but then we added Magic Man...he turned into a doll and got kidnapped by an almighty little girl and we haven't seen him since, though." Larya shrugged. She paused for a moment, then began stroking her chin as if she had an awesome wiseman beard.

"Say, you guys wouldn't happen to have anything valuable on you, would you?"

it's always a good thing to ask for money after telling people that you're a thief

totally

---

SO MUCH FISHIE

Anyways, Fishlet led DBFishie over to a nice, clean-cut hole near the bottom of the pool. Yeah, that's not weird or anything. Kind of looks like something that would be noti---aw, whatever, this is Lila! We have no reason or logic here!

One MAGICAL TUNNEL ADVENTURE later, the duo would arrive...on some kind of underground glass shore? This shit just gets weirder and weirder, man. After flopping on 'land', Fishlet turned back into Peylet and DBFishie would turn back into A FISHYSTICK DBA. By now it would be noticeable that the walls, floor, and ceiling were made out of...an aquarium?! And you thought Castle Oress' architecture made no sense before!

Deciding not to let the weirdness get to her, Peylet started gazing at the 'ceiling' in awe as she made her way towards the note on the wall at the back of the room.

---

EVEN THE KING KNOWS ABOUT POKEYMANS

THEY'RE EVERYWHERE

Mariol listened intently, her eyes growing bright and wide as the King continued on with his speech. The last bit about forgetting yourself seemed to pique her interest, and she edged closer.

"Do you think that maybe I'm not myself, then? That maybe I was someone else, and that someone forgot themselves because they wanted to change?" she tilted her head back, glancing up at the neon sky. "Do you think that maybe we're all like that sometimes?"

Nika, meanwhile, attempted to dodge Amethyst's attack...but due to the fact that she's not as ninja as implied, she only succeeded in getting an uppercut to the jaw. Naturally not really digging the pain, she reeled back, nearly dropping both of the daggers in the process.

Struggling to get a grip, Nika continued her backwards track, tossing one of the daggers at Amethyst to mix things up a little. Given the fact that she wasn't in the greatest state of mind of her life, it was perfectly possible for her to miss Amethyst by a mile. But it's the murderous thoughts that count!

---

After yet another pause, Opine turned back around. She spent a good long time thinking of what she could possibly ask a loli...and decided that there was only one thing to ask.

"SO WHAT WAS IT LIKE RAPING IGNIS? How did you manage to get Neren to bring you Here? And, perhaps more importantly, what is she wearing?"

Neren nonchalantly looked down at her outfit, just now realizing that she never changed out of her booty shorts. She simply shrugged in response. (:

---

So then they were alone in the room, and Halyn decided that rape was the only option.

Halyn nodded and backed off towards the wall nearest the window (well, what used to be a window), getting the sense that someone was coming.



Ara's door was closed, but unlocked, which was pretty normal. What wasn't normal was the fact that Umbra was in Ara's room, chillin' in a chair next to the sleepy loli's bed.

That's kind of random.

Umbra seemed to be more interested in texting than the guards given how short that glance was, so I guess that's...good?



Seraye was about to respond, but then Fellmund happened and yeah. She was kind of tempted to just beat the shit out of them all, but decided that not acting on impulse was usually a good thing. Besides, Dicro apparently had this handled: said Marionettiste stepped forward, unclipped the spade pin from his badass longcoat (it wasn't nearly as badass as Exuro's, though, but it's pretty hard to top that...), and watched as the pin extended into some kind of crazy awesome pointy shovel.

Initially he thought about just cheating and using his vibe-sensing abilities to pick the right one from the start, but then he decided that that would just be totally boring and uncool. Not feeling stupid enough to actually physically touch the boxes, however, he used that spade thing to poke at the nearest box.

"Let's go with that one." he shrugged, sounding completely unconcerned with the situation.

Fray, meanwhile, was more concerned about getting her stabbity-stab on than boxes...which is surprising, because semi-lolis love boxes!

"H-How would anything involving an explosive knife not end with me getting hurt?! People aren't that hesitant to hit semi-lolis around here!"

---

Bang, direct hit! She was sent flying back into a bench, where She looked completely unresponsive aside from electricity-induced twitching...for a while. After a suspenseful pause, Her maniacal laughter started up again, and She swung up from a bench like a vampire coming out of its coffin.

"Ahahaha, beautiful! No mercy~!"

Looking almost completely unaffected by being electrocuted (well, there were some pretty visible burns, but She was basically too insane to look pained), She half-stumbled, half-ran towards Mr. Thorren again. Her scythe suddenly lifted into the air and started zooming towards Her outstretched palm...yeah, might wanna step out of the way. Might be kind of painful to get hit by that.



Tzila seemed pretty insulted by 'Durnam' not remembering her, judging by how fast that innocent little palm tree over there suddenly burst into flames.

"Um, duh? I'm Tzila! C'mon, we met yesterday! Did you forget about ruining my fun yesterday already?! Being a jerk is one thing, but don't be a dick!" she huffed, prompting another confused "what" from Cel.



"W-Well, what kind of store do you think crazy murderers wouldn't go in?" Fredericks asked, trying to speak and run in a panicked manner at the same time.

---

"Of course I do! I have every game imaginable, my newfound bro!" Bunny explained. As he spoke, the monitor suddenly switched between displaying all kinds of beautiful, beautiful games. :3

"Need a controller? Just use your imagination! All things are possible in my domain!" :3

i wanna be bunny's bffl now :3

---

Verity didn't bother with dodging a thing, and took every blow directly. More surprisingly, she didn't even flinch...if she was feeling any pain, she was doing a damn good job of internalizing it. Once that was over with, without any sign of weakness, she glanced back up at the two.

"Of course. I requested this, so I have no reason to hold anything against you. If you require me again, then you know what to do."

With a nod, that bamf of a reality-bending semi-loli vanished into thin air.



AND THEN GSG WAITED FOR ROLER

---

"Well, I'd assume so, since this place is called the 'Test Reality'...but, I mean, why would They need or want to add to Their ranks? Why don't They seem to be more entertained with us? Why haven't They---"

Peylet stopped herself before turning away from DBA.

"Why do you want to win the Competition? What is your wish? Do you want power? Do you want to feel as though you've accomplished something? Do you just want to go home? Or, perhaps you don't want to win at all...?"

unexpected personal questions

---

"Hmph! You'd better have your life fucked! You deserve it! So, what the hell are you doing here? Come back to finish off the job?" Narelle hissed, clearly not happy with Fellmund's arrival.

---

YEAAAAAAAAH BEIN' A CRAZY BASTARD

Tzila's contacts...well, she had a shitload of them. There were all kinds of different beings with all kinds of different vibes from all kinds of Realities across Entirety...although, of course, it's not like you can pick up on that just by looking at a list of names. Either way, she clearly had too many 'friends' for her own good...

"Sounds good to me!"

TRA-LA-LA-LA-LA MAGICAL MALL ADVENTURE~

...Up until Cel started walking backwards so she could face Vers.

"Say, Vers...I know it seems like a kind of ridiculous question...but do you believe in anything I said about the previous cycles? I mean, I know you apparently don't remember anything, but do you even think that anything I said could be remotely possible?"



She didn't move, and Her face was obscured due to the fact that She was mostly on Her stomach...so, was that it? Was She dead? Did Mr. Thorren actually do it...?

Only one way to find out!

POKEPOKEPOKEPOKEMON

---

"Ah, that's good to hear!" Neren smiled, unaware that Aita was totally lying about Neren's teleporting talent. )':

"As for the book...well, I'm not done reading it, simple enough. Quite a bit to take in, not to mention that I find it a bit difficult to skip over things." she explained, pausing afterwards.

"What an odd coincidence. I can sense Mr. Corrune's vibe somewhere in this mansion...quite the convenient timing for a visit."



Halyn was actually surprised by Julias' sudden attack, if only because she was extra jumpy today. As with before, though, she recovered quickly and backed away from Flare.

"My, my! How violent of you, Julie! ♥ Truth be told, I wasn't entirely sure if you had it in you!"



By now Dicro had returned to his own body as implied and yeah.

"Unfortunately. I was kind of looking forward to killing that guy, too."

"Ugh, join the club. But, I guess we can't do much about it unless we want to spend our time hunting the guy down." Seraye shrugged with a sigh. "So, what now?"

Fray, meanwhile, returned her attention to Mr. Mind Creeper, surprised that Dicro didn't mention it about it.

"Normally this is the part where I'd D: and call you creepy, but I actually kinda agree with you...that guy was, like, a total jerk!"

Because Ignis was totally looking forward to the justice and not the violence. Totally.

"B-But, now that that's over with...w-what was that favor you wanted?"

---

Naturally, the King wouldn't get a response...the shadowy figures continued drifting silently, some passing through walls while others shuffled aimlessly towards the blank horizon.

Yeah. ):

---

Something was totally weird here...all of the enemies were rabbits, and everything else in the game was made of either carrots or cheez burgers. Or both. What. :3

Meanwhile, Bunny leaped out of the way with enough grace to make a grown man cry. But Bunny wouldn't want anyone to cry, so you know! :3

"Whoa, whoa, easy, bro! We're all cool here!" :3

---

Verity managed to pick herself up shakily, but it looked like she was in danger of collapsing again at any moment. Despite her injuries, Verity looked more irritated than pained. In particular, Preston bothered her...she wasn't entirely sure if this guy was just being a dick or if he could sense vibes and was suspicious of her motives...just to be safe, Verity assumed both were true.

Superior being or not, Verity was still capable of feeling pain and being impaired by injury - in fact, she was only bringing a little drama into this. Otherwise, she was completely genuine. Being a reality-bender and all, Verity could probably get this healed up without too much effort...but it wasn't like she was incapable of dying. If she wasn't, then Verity decided it was safe to assume that she wouldn't be here - hell, she might've never discovered the Test Reality in the first place.

Mentally rambling wasn't going to do much, though...Verity had a job to do.

"Hmph. Aren't you pleasant?" she huffed, miserably attempting to straighten herself out. "If you must know, my name is Verity. As for my purpose...I don't need to explain myself to a stranger. I'm only here to try and throw my bastard of a contractee off of my trail." Verity explained, because explaining yourself to a stranger immediately after claiming you don't need to explain yourself to a stranger always makes sense. But, you know semi-lolis.

---

For a while, there was a silence. Peylet's expression faded back into nothingness before suddenly...brightening? Was she...was she smiling?! As if this moment couldn't get any more maddening, Peylet suddenly rushed over to DBA and hugged him.

"I feel the same way. In a way, I am grateful for the Competition. For the first time since birth...I finally feel that I'm not alone." she backed off slightly and grabbed DBA's hands, happiness quite visible on her face. "So let's not think about the future! If the end of the Competition...if our deaths are inevitable, then that's a bridge that can burned when we get to it. Why worry about something so sad now when it's so far away, right?"

---

"Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy---" Cornet rushed off towards Aya's room...which is odd, because Aya never showed them her room or anything. Fortunately, Spinet answered that question before it could be asked:

"Angels? Not quite. We aren't angels, but we aren't demons, either...I suppose you could call us gods? We're higher than gods, technically: Cornet and I are two of 'Them', the highest beings known on the Chain. It essentially means that we're superior to the rest of existence, but we don't act like it. Inferior beings are far more interesting, anyways, especially you Tested. The Test Reality is very popular amongst Us, you know, but perhaps that's because we created it." she explained.

---

"That shouldn't be too much of a problem. I'd like to get away from...that as soon as possible. But, more importantly, what do you mean by 'important matters'?"

"Ah, of course. Please stand still."

With a single snap of Neren's fingers, the King would finally find himself to feel pretty much 'human' again. Eager to avoid further awkward silence, Sileny scribbled down a quick [k cool thanks bye], waved to Dicro (who waved back), and starting dragging the King back upstairs.

[Where was the last place you saw Mariol?]

Once that awkward moment was over with, Neren made a suspicious quick glance at Dicro before turning back to Aita.

"I believe it's getting late, Aita. We can discuss this matter tomorrow." she suggested. Fray looked absolutely ecstatic at the thought of Aita leaving. (':



"Hm...so all of this was just a coincidence? Damn weirdest coincidence I've ever witnessed, but I guess we can't do much about it."

Halyn suddenly realized that she was alone with Julias again, and decided that she still needed to get her creep on today.

"So, Julie~! ♥" she began in her 'rape is imminent' voice. "It's getting pretty late, huh? And, I mean, you certainly can't sleep in here now that everything's all burnt and ruined..."

SUGGESTIVE EYEBROW RAISE IS GO

D:

---

SO THEN LARYA PLOPPED DOWN NEXT TO THE SPOT WHERE SPARK 'DISAPPEARED' IN AN EXTREMELY DESCRIPTIVE AND EXCITING MANNER

---

Seraye quickly backed off, not really digging pain.

"G-Got it! But, how exactly are you going to take care of this radiation? I mean, aren't you going to get hurt from it too or whatever?" she asked, radiation not being a very well-known thing in either Chase or the Test Reality.

---

"O-Of course I want to know about the mystery!" she huffed. "I-It's not like I'm afraid or anything..."

Yes, because that makes you sound sooooo much more convincing! Well, either way, Cel the Totally Brave I Swear led the way towards the same area Lorelei and her groupies were nearing. Cel didn't pay much attention to those crazy punks in the distance, suddenly holding her head as the continued on.

"Ugh...there's a really weird vibe coming from up ahead. Really intense, too...I swear I've felt this somewhere before..." she groaned, trying not to slow her pace.

---

Several whacks to the head later, Muri the Aggravated basically just repeated her actions while slowly and ominously making her way towards Koren the Mentally Unstable.

"Oh yeah, your soul definitely isn't safe now."

RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN



Fredericks was clearly relieved that Cinda was okay, given that hug. He backed off quickly, though, in order to more properly answer her question.

"Well, weeeeeeird stuff happens when a Tested eats. Their soul vibrates and stuff to try and break down the food, but that usually ends up feeling really good or hurting really bad..."